Others are what can be best called as control freak fascists. I overheard one in his office one day ranting about how awful Phil Zimmerman and others were for their efforts. All well-known and respected people. It was truly shocking. But that's the type of person he was. He wasn't into security, he was more into control. A real nut-case.
Thomas Edison was a control freak and, from what I've read, an all-around asshat. Didn't stop him from being revered by the public and making millions on his inventions, many of which are still in use today, either in nearly their original form (light bulbs), or in modernized versions (movies, movie cameras).
Today we know that these elements are outweighed by a single critical factor: innovation.
This from Microsoft -- one of the best-known companies in the field for fostering innovation. Stacker? Netscape? CSS? ODF vs. OOXML? Hmmm...
Two steps are critical. First, we must demand strong schools so that young Americans enter the workforce with the math, science and problem-solving skills they need to succeed in the knowledge economy. We must also make it easier for foreign-born scientists and engineers to work for U.S. companies.
Mr. Bill of course does not realize that the first thing he mentions, better education, is largely negated by the second -- more "foreighn-born scientists and engineers". So -- I should go to school for many years, and rack up sizable amounts of debt to pursue a job that will be outsourced to India, or that will be given to the holder of an H1-B visa rather than me, as the visa holder can be had more cheaply... Yes -- this makes perfect economic sense to me.
American competitiveness also requires immigration reforms that reflect the importance of highly skilled foreign-born employees. Demand for specialized technical skills has long exceeded the supply of native-born workers with advanced degrees, and scientists and engineers from other countries fill this gap.
Of course demand exceeds supply. Because companies do not want to pay the wages commensurate with the educational and experience levels of US-born applicants. "Our American workers cost too much. Let's rework the immigration laws so that we can hire some cheaper labor from foreign countries!"
The United States provides 65,000 temporary H-1B visas each year to make up this shortfall -- not nearly enough to fill open technical positions.
So please, congresspeople, raise the visa limit so we can get more people that we can abuse with low pay and long hours!
Permanent residency regulations compound this problem. Temporary employees wait five years or longer for a green card. During that time they can't change jobs, which limits their opportunities to contribute to their employer's success and overall economic growth.
OK -- I don't get this. This hurts Microsoft.... how, exactly? If the visa holder can't change jobs, that means that MS "owns" them, so I do not uinderstand the complaint.
Last year, reform on this issue stalled as Congress struggled to address border security and undocumented immigration. As lawmakers grapple with those important issues once again, I urge them to support changes to the H-1B visa program that allow American businesses to hire foreign-born scientists and engineers when they can't find the homegrown talent they need.
Thus virtually guaranteeing that there will be no home-grown applicants since it will not be economically viable for them to study for any job that can be outsourced on Bill G's whim.
Sorry, but it sounds like more of the same corprate blather to me.
for the drop-off might just be the growth of streaming audio stations that cater to niche markets and that allow the listeners in those markets to purchase music from independant labels and musicians that have no RIAA representation. I can tell you for sure that every CD that I've bought over the last five years or so was recorded by an independant artist that was introduced to me by a station on a streaming audio site (I prefer Live365.com but there are others our there), or I've heard the artist perform live at some local venue and then stopped at the CD table after the performance to pick of a few of their recordings. I control what genres and artists I'm interested in, not the "big media" companies. That fact more than anything else is what scares the hell out of them and that is why they have to try to kill P2P at any and all costs.
An alternative is to ship most of the development or services lifecycle outside, so that H1-Bs are not needed anymore. This is even worse for the US, isn't it? The money wouldn't even get spent in the US. That is, "offshoring" or "bangaloring"
Firstly, the H1-B program is not supposed to be about reducing costs -- its only justification is that it is supposed to allow employers to hire talent unavailable locally at any price. If curtailing the H1-B program leads to outsourcing more jobs, I'd say that that was a cause for investigation, wouldn't you?
I'll be more inclined to look favorably on the whole H1-B "issue" when I see CEO's, CFO's, Board Members and the like being brought in under H1-B visas. Given the ever-widening pool of scandals (Enron, MCI, ADELPHI, more recently Dick Grasso, options backdating, etc.) I'd say it's increasingly difficult to find competant management in the US, wouldn't you agree?
The Federal law doesn't technically force states to implement the ID stuff, it just says that if they don't, they won't get their federal highway money.
"Nice little road system you got here -- be a shame to see it deteriorate!" is functionally equivalent to "Nice little candy store you got here -- be a shame to see something bad happen to it!" Which one is the Mafia, and which is the government?
Anyone else in the Slashdot community up to making a real voting machine, an ATM machine if we get bored. I'm pretty sure we won't make that many slip ups. After all they set the bar low for us.
"...in the long run, it may not be necessary to interface directly with nerves at all. 'In Europe most researchers in this field are using non-invasive EEG,' [an outside researcher] explains... 'The signals are weaker so more complex processing is needed, but not having to perform surgery on the nervous system has many advantages,' [he] says."
Who says? Have you considered perhaps they might have an agenda?
I'm sure they do. As do you. My agenda is to keep eating. If you wish to live in a cave, that is, of course, your choice. But it's not mine, and you have no right to tell me it should be.
Anyway, enjoy fucking up the world while you can. Your children won't have it so easy.
I believe that I've mentioned the efforts I'm making to reduce my environmental footprint. That effort is sufficient for me regardless of whether or not you feel I am "worthy" by whatever standards you hold dear.
As the late Douglas Adams once said: "So long, and thanks for all the fish."
How, for instace, does using a more fuel-efficient method of transport make you lose your job? How does using better insualtion to reduce heating and cooling energy use? You don't have to pollute to have a job.
I live 4 miles from my job. My car gets around 24-25 MPG City, and around 33-35 MPG highway (and that ain't too shabby, especially for a '95 Saturn). I'd love to bike to work in good weather if there was anything resembling a safe route (I've checked -- there isn't). I have good insulation (upgraded w/in the last 15 years), and I have recently installed (w/in the last 5 years) double-pane glazed windows throughout my house, as well as insulated doors. So you see, I really do feel that I've "done my bit" as it were to help reduce fuel usage as much as I can within practical limits. But that's not really the point of the previous post -- I'm concerned about my family's ongoing survival, which is where I and the "save the fucking world" types part company.
How might I lose my job? Well, given that the Kyoto protocols are projected to cause massive economic dislocations if implemented, it's quite possible that my company would go belly up -- either as a direct result, or indirectly as other companies fail and drag down the economy and my company along with it.
Sorry, but I'll opt to keep the job and keep eating.
Of course, you can't lose an economic advantage just because you might SAVE THE FUCKING WORLD. Next quarter's stock prices are the only measure of the right thing to do.
I'll agree that next quarter's stock prices are overrated, but given the number of manufacturing (and, increasingly, engineering/technical) jobs that have been lost, SAVING THE FUCKING WORLD vs. FEEDING MY FUCKING FAMILY BY KEEPING MY FUCKING JOB is not a tradeoff I'm prepared to make. If you are, well then, go right ahead. I'll flip a quarter into your tin cup every now and again...
Not to mention the fact that much Chinsse industry is produced to order for US customers.
Which is where a LOT OF THE FUCKING MANUFACTURING JOBS WENT BECAUSE OF THE LAX FUCKING LABOR AND ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS IN CHINA.
Sorry for the caps, but histrionics should be met with histrionics, don't you agree?
Attend code reviews religiously. Reading other people's code gives you a window into how someone else thinks, and insights into alternative approaches to a given problem.
Write lots of code to develop your own style, even if it's only for your own use. Maybe you can volunteer at an agency that needs free programming support in your local area?.
As others have suggested, pull down some open source code and have a go if you can't get hold of lots of code at the office.
Seek out a mentor -- someone who enjoys and is good at explaining concepts that you might not have been exposed to at school
Read lots of books. I've spent thousands on books over the years. Sometimes there's only one or two good chapters, but if those chapters illuminate some critical point that you don't understand, it's money well spent. These days you have the advantage of things like Safari so that you can preview lots of things inexpensivley before plunking down hard cash for a dead tree copy.
While there is that problem, and related problems, most everyone in the western world (covers me and my family) have mobile devices whether that is a phone, pda, or pager. These devices can be registered with the service in question as the place to send the token for 2nd factor authentication.
I'm referring to the physical token that you have to have in hand in order to supply the second authemtcation factor. For instance, RSA makes a physical device that creates a six digit random number at one minute intervals. This device (the "token") is synced up with the provider's service and you have to supply the number from the physical device along with your password when you log in.
Even assuming that you can set up your laptop or PDA to be "the device" as you seem to suggest, you still have to register with multiple services, most likely loading (potentially conflicting) software for each, with all the problems that entails.
Unless and until the technique is standardized (an institution can recognize physical devices from multiple device providers, or can interoperate with one or more programs provided by security vendors), I don't think we will see widespread adoption. Even then, it can be compromised without much effort. See this link http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/03/the_ failure_of.html/ for a discussion on how easily this can be accomplished
perhaps banks and other people with my personal information stored up will start doing the same??? sigh
You really do not want to go there. Let's say you have the following (reasonably typical) scenario:
You have a checking account
You have a 401(k) through your company
You have a Visa credit card
You have a MasterCard credit card
Each institution where you maintain an account decides to require two-factor authentication.
Do the security keys interoperate, or do you have to now have four seperate tokens?
Your spouse wishes to log in as well, can (s)he use the same tokens, or does (s)he have to have their own?
Spend a lot of time on the road? Want to check your account(s) from your hotel room? Take all your tokens. Which, BTW, means that the spouse cannot check while you are away unless each account issues one token per spouse or other authorized account user (which, BTW, adds cost for the institution).
You have an emergency of some sort and must have access to your account, but forgot/lost your token, the battery died, whatever. Is there a secondary mechanism that will allow you to access your account which does not rely on the use of the security token? If so, you've just doubled the institution's cost of doing business with no net benefit to the institution.
Add to that the scary fact that two-factor authentication does nothing to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks -- someone can still get hold of your session and possibly access your supposedly secure accounts -- and the luster dims for the two-factor scheme.
It works well in some limited instances, but I shudder to think of the possibilities if it's ever adopted on a wide scale.
Are copyright extensions morally neutral? That sword cuts both ways.
No, they are not, IMNSHO. It is a theft from the commonweal, and a breaking of the social contract implicit in copyright laws. Very few people understand that copyright (and patent) law was designed to enrich society at large in addition to the artist/inventor.
by sleazy politicians and bureaucrats, so I guess we're even....
But seriously -- we keep outsourcing our technology and brainpower, and then we're shocked -- shocked that, over time, these selfsame practices come back to bite us in the ass. <sigh>
If I swallow a quarter,....it'll pass. What if I swallowed something that contained a quarter shredded into pieces no larger than 100nm, will that pass?
I am not in chronic pain, but I live with someone who is. For your sake (and hers) I wish you well, and that this product works out both well and quickly.
Eugeneticists may use this information to claim the superiority of Europeans, a counterpoint can be made that these people can't be superior because were having sex with sub-humans.
Yep, this is exactly what every other company wants too: someone who's already an expert in whatever little niche they're working in. Then they wonder why no one's qualified for the job, yet there's plenty of people looking. WAKE UP! If someone is already an expert in whatever you're doing, then they probably already have a job, and aren't looking for a change. If you want someone to come work for you, get over yourself and be prepared to train them. Otherwise, stop complaining so much about a "lack" of qualified candidates.
Absolutly, 100% correct. And where do "experts" come from? From years of moving up from more junior levels. That's one of the arguments I have about doing so much outsourcing. I've heard the argument that "We're only outsourcing the low-skill positions". Yes, but where will the next generation of experts come from if you lay waste to the training grounds that breed them? Farmers have an expression: "Eating your seed corn." The PHB's are only looking to the next quarter though, so it's hard to think a season or two ahead...
Slashdot Mirror
Sorry, but it sounds like more of the same corprate blather to me.
we can generate power for the entire nation by fitting out the halls of Congress. Finally -- a good use for all that hot air!
for the drop-off might just be the growth of streaming audio stations that cater to niche markets and that allow the listeners in those markets to purchase music from independant labels and musicians that have no RIAA representation. I can tell you for sure that every CD that I've bought over the last five years or so was recorded by an independant artist that was introduced to me by a station on a streaming audio site (I prefer Live365.com but there are others our there), or I've heard the artist perform live at some local venue and then stopped at the CD table after the performance to pick of a few of their recordings. I control what genres and artists I'm interested in, not the "big media" companies. That fact more than anything else is what scares the hell out of them and that is why they have to try to kill P2P at any and all costs.
As long as you treat your staff as the enemy, they will be... http://www.accel-team.com/human_relations/hrels_03 _mcgregor.html
I believe that I've mentioned the efforts I'm making to reduce my environmental footprint. That effort is sufficient for me regardless of whether or not you feel I am "worthy" by whatever standards you hold dear.
As the late Douglas Adams once said: "So long, and thanks for all the fish."
How might I lose my job? Well, given that the Kyoto protocols are projected to cause massive economic dislocations if implemented, it's quite possible that my company would go belly up -- either as a direct result, or indirectly as other companies fail and drag down the economy and my company along with it.
Sorry, but I'll opt to keep the job and keep eating.
Which is where a LOT OF THE FUCKING MANUFACTURING JOBS WENT BECAUSE OF THE LAX FUCKING LABOR AND ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS IN CHINA.
Sorry for the caps, but histrionics should be met with histrionics, don't you agree?
Write lots of code to develop your own style, even if it's only for your own use. Maybe you can volunteer at an agency that needs free programming support in your local area?.
As others have suggested, pull down some open source code and have a go if you can't get hold of lots of code at the office.
Seek out a mentor -- someone who enjoys and is good at explaining concepts that you might not have been exposed to at school
Read lots of books. I've spent thousands on books over the years. Sometimes there's only one or two good chapters, but if those chapters illuminate some critical point that you don't understand, it's money well spent. These days you have the advantage of things like Safari so that you can preview lots of things inexpensivley before plunking down hard cash for a dead tree copy.
Good luck!
Even assuming that you can set up your laptop or PDA to be "the device" as you seem to suggest, you still have to register with multiple services, most likely loading (potentially conflicting) software for each, with all the problems that entails.
Unless and until the technique is standardized (an institution can recognize physical devices from multiple device providers, or can interoperate with one or more programs provided by security vendors), I don't think we will see widespread adoption. Even then, it can be compromised without much effort. See this link http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/03/the_ failure_of.html/ for a discussion on how easily this can be accomplished
- You have a checking account
- You have a 401(k) through your company
- You have a Visa credit card
- You have a MasterCard credit card
Each institution where you maintain an account decides to require two-factor authentication.- Do the security keys interoperate, or do you have to now have four seperate tokens?
- Your spouse wishes to log in as well, can (s)he use the same tokens, or does (s)he have to have their own?
- Spend a lot of time on the road? Want to check your account(s) from your hotel room? Take all your tokens. Which, BTW, means that the spouse cannot check while you are away unless each account issues one token per spouse or other authorized account user (which, BTW, adds cost for the institution).
- You have an emergency of some sort and must have access to your account, but forgot/lost your token, the battery died, whatever. Is there a secondary mechanism that will allow you to access your account which does not rely on the use of the security token? If so, you've just doubled the institution's cost of doing business with no net benefit to the institution.
Add to that the scary fact that two-factor authentication does nothing to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks -- someone can still get hold of your session and possibly access your supposedly secure accounts -- and the luster dims for the two-factor scheme.It works well in some limited instances, but I shudder to think of the possibilities if it's ever adopted on a wide scale.
But seriously -- we keep outsourcing our technology and brainpower, and then we're shocked -- shocked that, over time, these selfsame practices come back to bite us in the ass. <sigh>
I am not in chronic pain, but I live with someone who is. For your sake (and hers) I wish you well, and that this product works out both well and quickly.
So -- how does one go about contacting you? I have used a factory pattern professionally as well as others