The government admits that the program exists, but says it is being 'mischaracterized' in significant ways... The Internet firms named in the leaked documents are denying that they have provided 'back doors' to the government for data access. Who is telling the truth? Likely both.
Considering that the government is not saying anything in particular, it is easy to tell the truth here. When they defend the program as a "crucial tool in war on terrorism", that's quite possibly the honest truth since neither that "war" nor "terrorism" has been defined to any degree. Thus anything could be a crucial tool.
Not if you consistently vote in people who aim for reduced spending and smaller government.
As you say, all roads lead to the same place. But a smaller government with a smaller budget can simply only do so much
Oh, that may be true, but wherever can I find people who aim for reduced spending and smaller government?
Surely, you don't mean Republicans, do you? Because they remember about the noble goal of smaller budget/smaller government only while Democrats are in power. And who's idea was it to keep wars in Afganistan and Iraq off the budget (as "emergency supplemental appropriations bills")? Brilliant strategy to keep a low "budget"
So before, Amazon was unfairly competing with local brick & mortar stores because they didn't have to pay the same sales tax.
And now you're saying that they're unfairly competing because they do have to pay the same sales tax?
No, Amazon will unfairly compete with other online stores, because small online stores will not be able to afford a dedicated department (with several attorneys) for the sole purpose of online tax collection.
The playing field with brick&mortar stores may even out a bit as a result, but B&M stores probably still wouldn't have enough in-stock items to remain competitive.
Easy for a large multinational with full-time tax attorneys on staff to implement.
Painful for small businesses.
Isn't it funny how that works?
Same with tax-code -- theoretically, everyone is subject to the same tax codes. However, people with several full-time attorneys on staff seems to do a lot better in minimizing their tax bills.
Coincidence?
Although the X-ray versions have been removed, the equally invasive millimeter-wave versions are still there.
I am pretty certain that the only reason they have admitted that X-ray devices are "bad" is because they were ready to sell the new and improved millimeter-wave devices (without paying back the money or compensating the victims for defective X-ray devices).
I give it a couple more years -- and then the privacy/health risks of new millimeter-wave devices will probably come into question so that they can replaced by super-particle-wave devices.
A few years later... what? They don't detect the latest terrorist explosives? Hey, we've just come out with version 3 and have we got a deal for you.
If only they didn't detect "latest explosives" -- that would be understandable. It had been demonstrated many times that they don't detect shit.
I understand that these are government contractors, but still, shouldn't they pay the money back on every device that cannot detect 99%+ of dangerous items?
Because I think that is all of them so far.
The government still gets the detailed biometric identifying information it wants, the digital 3d model of your nude body still gets stored in the databases they deny exist. They just don't show it to the operator now, so everyone feels better.
I never understood why people just go through these scanners like sheep. I have never been through one despite flying periodically -- one can and should decline the scan.
first-sale doctrine applied... thus prohibiting any software maker from preventing the resale of their software
Ah, but have they also ruled that the game cannot be bound to the first-activated account? Otherwise, you can sell the game all you want, but it won't work without the original owner's account
Kinda like DMCA -- you can do X, but making/sharing/distributing any tool that would allow you to do X is against the law. Good luck exercising your (hypothetical) rights...
If game stores have to sell used games back at market price, why wouldn't they just sell the new game?
Hahahah, probably because 35£ is the used game market price, not the new game market price. Things have gotten so crazy, that 35£ is now the "reasonably low/used game" price?
Billionaire Mike Bloomberg, whose current job is Mayor of New York City, evidently decided to break the mold by advising less academically adept youngsters to consider a career in plumbing
Without reading TFA, the key part is "less academically adept". Not everyone is well suited for a CS degree or an MBA
Perhaps not as plumber specifically, but if someone have no talent or interest for their current degree, they should switch to something else instead of just pushing on (as everyone in CS seems to do)
keep as little information as possible, but we a) are focused on speed, not security and b) must comply with court orders.
Can you please elaborate on that?
I understand the focused on speed part, but what is this about court orders? Is there a preemptive order requiring you to limit privacy?
The people who made this decision need to be removed from office at the very least and potentially criminally prosecuted for endangerment [of a child].
I bet you that they have immunity of some sort. That is the problem
If people who make such decisions knew it could really bite them in the ass (as in fines and jail), they would think twice or thrice on these decisions.
Sorry, can someone explain to a Linux/Android guy how having an iPhone implies you can't kill misbehaving software on your Windows box?
Heheh, no, but as a Linux/Android guy you should be familiar with mandatory services that run on your damn phone. Anything you disable, will re-start shortly and cannot be uninstalled (without rooting and voiding warranty). I had a facebook app and several Sony apps that could not be removed, before I went with a better phone.
If you are in the lobbying game, you have to grease the skids on both sides of the isle.
That may be true, but you would still do the greasing towards a unified goal.
Bringing in people from different sides of the isle into the same lobbying group causes tensions (as to what that goal is), which is presumably what caused Elon Musk to quit.
There are journals and conferences that publish your work for free?
Computer Science conferences and journals (that I interacted with) do not charge fees for publishing itself. You do pay a registration fee in order to attend the conference to present what you published.
The authors and peer reviewers need to be able to afford to live or they can't write!
True as that may be -- if only the authors or peer reviewers got any of that money!
But since they don't, your point is kinda irrelevant.
I have never made any money either submitting or reviewing for journals/conferences. I hear sometimes you even have to pay to get your work published (fortunately not in my field)
Who in their right minds stores credit card information on their web servers these days? To say that's against Best Practices is a bit of an understatement.
I don't see why not. If someone were to breach my account and steal my credit card info, the damage would be limited to an hour it takes for me to replace my auto-paying accounts.
And perhaps the waiting for the replacement card to arrive.
Best practices or not, my credit card account gets unauthorized charges every 2-3 years at least. It's not like I am ever responsible for that.
I'd be more worried about my cell phone number (or even email) going into the wilderness than I would about someone stealing my credit card info.
The airlines would be directly accountable to their passengers and those passengers would provide their feedback by way of ticket purchases and relative pricing.
Not to mention that pissing off a TSA agent is bound to send you to jail or get you on a no-fly list. However, if I pissed of a private security guard, the best they could do is maybe bar me from that particular airport.
Slashdot Mirror
The government admits that the program exists, but says it is being 'mischaracterized' in significant ways ... The Internet firms named in the leaked documents are denying that they have provided 'back doors' to the government for data access. Who is telling the truth? Likely both.
Considering that the government is not saying anything in particular, it is easy to tell the truth here. When they defend the program as a "crucial tool in war on terrorism", that's quite possibly the honest truth since neither that "war" nor "terrorism" has been defined to any degree. Thus anything could be a crucial tool.
Not if you consistently vote in people who aim for reduced spending and smaller government.
As you say, all roads lead to the same place. But a smaller government with a smaller budget can simply only do so much
Oh, that may be true, but wherever can I find people who aim for reduced spending and smaller government?
Surely, you don't mean Republicans, do you? Because they remember about the noble goal of smaller budget/smaller government only while Democrats are in power. And who's idea was it to keep wars in Afganistan and Iraq off the budget (as "emergency supplemental appropriations bills")? Brilliant strategy to keep a low "budget"
So before, Amazon was unfairly competing with local brick & mortar stores because they didn't have to pay the same sales tax.
And now you're saying that they're unfairly competing because they do have to pay the same sales tax?
No, Amazon will unfairly compete with other online stores, because small online stores will not be able to afford a dedicated department (with several attorneys) for the sole purpose of online tax collection.
The playing field with brick&mortar stores may even out a bit as a result, but B&M stores probably still wouldn't have enough in-stock items to remain competitive.
Easy for a large multinational with full-time tax attorneys on staff to implement.
Painful for small businesses.
Isn't it funny how that works?
Same with tax-code -- theoretically, everyone is subject to the same tax codes. However, people with several full-time attorneys on staff seems to do a lot better in minimizing their tax bills.
Coincidence?
Although the X-ray versions have been removed, the equally invasive millimeter-wave versions are still there.
I am pretty certain that the only reason they have admitted that X-ray devices are "bad" is because they were ready to sell the new and improved millimeter-wave devices (without paying back the money or compensating the victims for defective X-ray devices).
I give it a couple more years -- and then the privacy/health risks of new millimeter-wave devices will probably come into question so that they can replaced by super-particle-wave devices.
A few years later ... what? They don't detect the latest terrorist explosives? Hey, we've just come out with version 3 and have we got a deal for you.
If only they didn't detect "latest explosives" -- that would be understandable. It had been demonstrated many times that they don't detect shit.
I understand that these are government contractors, but still, shouldn't they pay the money back on every device that cannot detect 99%+ of dangerous items? Because I think that is all of them so far.
The government still gets the detailed biometric identifying information it wants, the digital 3d model of your nude body still gets stored in the databases they deny exist. They just don't show it to the operator now, so everyone feels better.
I never understood why people just go through these scanners like sheep. I have never been through one despite flying periodically -- one can and should decline the scan.
first-sale doctrine applied ... thus prohibiting any software maker from preventing the resale of their software
Ah, but have they also ruled that the game cannot be bound to the first-activated account? Otherwise, you can sell the game all you want, but it won't work without the original owner's account
Kinda like DMCA -- you can do X, but making/sharing/distributing any tool that would allow you to do X is against the law. Good luck exercising your (hypothetical) rights...
If game stores have to sell used games back at market price, why wouldn't they just sell the new game?
Hahahah, probably because 35£ is the used game market price, not the new game market price.
Things have gotten so crazy, that 35£ is now the "reasonably low/used game" price?
When will the IRS start issuing jack boots to all agents?
I'd be more curious who gets the money if they win? From TFA:
The suit seeks $25,000 in compensatory damages, per violation. The recordsâ(TM) seizure could impact up to one in 25 Americans, UPI said.
I assume they will be passing that money to affected Americans?
Billionaire Mike Bloomberg, whose current job is Mayor of New York City, evidently decided to break the mold by advising less academically adept youngsters to consider a career in plumbing
Without reading TFA, the key part is "less academically adept". Not everyone is well suited for a CS degree or an MBA
Perhaps not as plumber specifically, but if someone have no talent or interest for their current degree, they should switch to something else instead of just pushing on (as everyone in CS seems to do)
keep as little information as possible, but we a) are focused on speed, not security and b) must comply with court orders.
Can you please elaborate on that?
I understand the focused on speed part, but what is this about court orders? Is there a preemptive order requiring you to limit privacy?
The rental car company pays it and charges it to your credit card.
No, no, The rental car company pays it, adds a $30-$50 "convenience fee" and then charges everything to your credit card!
The people who made this decision need to be removed from office at the very least and potentially criminally prosecuted for endangerment [of a child].
I bet you that they have immunity of some sort. That is the problem
If people who make such decisions knew it could really bite them in the ass (as in fines and jail), they would think twice or thrice on these decisions.
Sorry, can someone explain to a Linux/Android guy how having an iPhone implies you can't kill misbehaving software on your Windows box?
Heheh, no, but as a Linux/Android guy you should be familiar with mandatory services that run on your damn phone. Anything you disable, will re-start shortly and cannot be uninstalled (without rooting and voiding warranty). I had a facebook app and several Sony apps that could not be removed, before I went with a better phone.
No one could be worse than Bush!
Hell yeah, if only we could impeach that Bush and get someone new (with promise of hope) instead.
Oh, wait...
The stereotypical argument of the rich always evading taxes typically doesn't happen.
It's not that they always evade taxes (although that happens too), it's that they have full time staff dedicated to not paying taxes.
Sometimes, it's just middle class people not having all the tools to find ways to sidestep taxes that the rich do.
If you are in the lobbying game, you have to grease the skids on both sides of the isle.
That may be true, but you would still do the greasing towards a unified goal.
Bringing in people from different sides of the isle into the same lobbying group causes tensions (as to what that goal is), which is presumably what caused Elon Musk to quit.
There are journals and conferences that publish your work for free?
Computer Science conferences and journals (that I interacted with) do not charge fees for publishing itself. You do pay a registration fee in order to attend the conference to present what you published.
Does it even qualify as scientific knowledge if it's not freely available for peer review?
Uhm... yes?
The peer in peer-reviewed refers to the experts from the same domain who are qualified to review your work. Not to the general population.
The authors and peer reviewers need to be able to afford to live or they can't write!
True as that may be -- if only the authors or peer reviewers got any of that money! But since they don't, your point is kinda irrelevant.
I have never made any money either submitting or reviewing for journals/conferences. I hear sometimes you even have to pay to get your work published (fortunately not in my field)
Who in their right minds stores credit card information on their web servers these days? To say that's against Best Practices is a bit of an understatement.
I don't see why not. If someone were to breach my account and steal my credit card info, the damage would be limited to an hour it takes for me to replace my auto-paying accounts. And perhaps the waiting for the replacement card to arrive.
Best practices or not, my credit card account gets unauthorized charges every 2-3 years at least. It's not like I am ever responsible for that.
I'd be more worried about my cell phone number (or even email) going into the wilderness than I would about someone stealing my credit card info.
Oh, yes, please heap some more insult on Americans. Don't bother with a citation, just dig deep into your sack of bullshit and hurl away.
I didn't say all Americans, but the effect is common and well known. Here's some references for you if you'd like to educate yourself (the CSI thing has a Wiki article for a while now)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSI_effect
http://www.worlddialogue.org/content.php?id=460
Good luck if he thinks he convince the American public that televised fiction isn't fact.
Indeed. From what I understand almost everyone believes TV shows as documentaries.
"24" convinced people that beating the crap out of suspects is often the only (and effective) way
"CSI" convinced people that the crappiest image can be enhanced up to a perfectly clear picture in a few clicks.
The airlines would be directly accountable to their passengers and those passengers would provide their feedback by way of ticket purchases and relative pricing.
Not to mention that pissing off a TSA agent is bound to send you to jail or get you on a no-fly list. However, if I pissed of a private security guard, the best they could do is maybe bar me from that particular airport.