Right... Just remember to pick the ones with resumes that have an MCSE, or B.S., or some snappy buzzword like Weblogic. And be CAREFUL to avoid the crusty gurus that soak up new technologies like a sponge who never bothered with company politics. Those are the trouble makers that told you what was really wrong with your company. You can't have your day ruined like that, can you? Hey everybody, let's play ship-that-job-overseas, and how-fast-can-I-lay-off-half-of-my-smart-IT-guys-th at-I-can't-do-business-without!!! Me first!
Spoken like a true PHB. What kind of fucking idiot are you? The corporate kind, I see.
The reality is that CEO's are stupid idiots and can't do without smart IT guys. IT guys have to eat and therefore can't do without jobs which have CEO's attached.
There are stupid IT guys, but the dumbass CEO's CAN'T TELL THE DIFFERENCE. So, what's a smart IT guy to do? KEEP HIS FUCKING MOUTH SHUT! That is, if he likes to eat.
don't. It's not your job to tell them what is wrong with their company. You get paid to keep their stuff running. You *should* be worried about repercussions. You don't have any political power to insulate you from the repercussions. You are their *salaried* employee. They get to fire you anytime they want.
The right way (actually the only way business understands) to do this is for them go to a third party consultant who will do an IT audit/review. Since the company chooses the consultant and pays them for their opinion, it'll get listened to.
Businesses rarely take IT seriously. They depend on it. It's their business' lifeblood. Does that matter? Not in the least. As long as they're turning a buck, what do they care? If they shoot themselves in the foot... er, I mean... take a hit because of their incompetent IT people, they can always have a round of layoffs. You know, anything to shore up the CEO's Christmas bonus. (Do I sound bitter?)
Anyway... Don't paint a bullseye on your forhead. Don't *volunteer* to be a scapegoat. Remember, it's not your company. You just work there...
Skype is free and simple software that will enable you to make free calls anywhere in the world in minutes. Skype, created by the people who brought you KaZaA uses innovative P2P (peer-to-peer) technology to connect you with other Skype users. If you are tired of paying outrageous fees for telephony, Skype is for you!
Skype is quick and easy to install. Just download it, register, and within minutes you can plug in your PC headset and call your friends on Skype. Skype calls have excellent sound quality and are highly secure with end-to-end encryption. Best of all, Skype does not require you to reconfigure your firewall or router--it just works!
Hmm.. Let's complain about scary popups. I mean... They're SCARY! Nothing like a scary popup to crap all over a nicely sanitized Internet experience.
Ok then, let's talk about these pre-installed SSL certs. How many of you have taken the time to realize that an installed certificate is supposed to mean that YOU have PERSONALLY VERIFIED at least the cert's thumbprint. Did you install those certs in your browser? No. What does that tell you? Someone else (Microsoft) declared the keys to be valid. Was the installer for the browser digitally signed by a key verified by you? No. Should I go on?
Well then, let's talk about the expiration dates on those certs. I know I feel safer with certs that don't expire until 2020. I mean, what if those darned scary popups started poppin up all over the place. What would we do? Nevermind the fact that this SSL crap uses RSA encryption. Any PGP-heads want to weigh in on how long keys of any kind should be allowed to live? There's the strength of the key in numbers of bits to consider because it determines how "strong" it is to resist being broken. Then there's the simple fact that the length of time that key exists in valid form is the lenght of time someone can use to steal it.
Look, if you have cajones you will de-install ALL your root certs from your browser and re-install them, actually reading the scary popup that comes up showing the thumbprint of the cert asking you ARE YOU SURE THIS IS A VALID CERT? At least then you can't say you didn't know. To help with this, a few years ago someone created a printed book with a copy of all the root certs available at the time. I suggest getting a copy.
FYI: If anyone wants it, I have gotten Clusterknoppix to use non-standard DHCP ports. This means that if you show up at a Windows-only lab, say at your college campus, you can pop in the Clusterknoppix CD into one machine and re-use an Etherboot floppy to get the WHOLE LAB up and running as a HIGH PERFORMANCE PARALLEL SUPERCOMPUTER. I can almost see it... An army of Penguins invades Windows-land!:-) Temporarily! Basically it reuses the existing network and doesn't step on the existing DHCP server. It took me about 10 minutes to get 23 cluster nodes up and running.
Let's just get it over with and have position/mood/political persuasion-sensing chips embedded in our skulls. True, ideal American-style freedom is too difficult to achieve anywhere. However, the U.S. can't afford to operate without AT LEAST THE ILLUSION OF FREEDOM.
Install a firewall and set up egress filtering. Remove the "ANY outgoing" filter line so nobody gets open access to the internet. Add your system in as getting open access. Let your kid request a site they want to visit. You go there yourself. Check it out completely. When you're satisfied with it, program your firewall to allow your kid's computer unfettered access to that ONE IP address of that ONE site. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE PHYSICAL ACCESS CONTROL OF THE FIREWALL, INTERNET CONNECTION, AND YOUR SYSTEM. Your kid must never be allowed to get his hands on them. Also, lock down your BIOSes with passwords, disallow CDROM and password booting, and install DEEP FREEZE on your kids computer to disallow lasting changes in their system. Beyond this, you might look into further content filtering software for installation on your kid's system. If you don't know how to do all these steps, I have reasonable rates.
From the article:
"The mySQL versus NuSphere squabble demonstrates another risk: These disputes might scare companies away from using open source software."
This should read as:
"The mySQL versus NuSphere squabble demonstrates another risk: These disputes might scare companies away from abusing open source software."
Websites should not be monitored by anyone. However, all IT admins have a RESPONSIBILITY TO READ ALL YOUR EMAIL. It's the only way a fully-qualified, professional who gets treated as an information janitor can have any power. When sending your email, be afraid! BE VERY AFRAID!
10 years of experience in IT says: If you're working in IT right now, thank your lucky stars. Don't rock the boat. Realize that you could be replaced in a heartbeat. However, take whatever support you can get. If you're working for a good company then you're set. If you're working at the typical company that's shooting themselves in the foot because they don't get IT... you're screwed. If that's the case, then your only protection is your boss. As a company employee, your job is to follow orders. Anything else will amount to painting a bull's eye on your forehead. When you get hired as a regular employee you instantly lose your voice. You aren't a decision maker. You have no "juice" to make the decisions stick. Never say "no." You can't afford the grief. Don't try to change a broken company. Keep your head down and fly under the radar. Let your micromanaging boss dictate EXACTLY how he wants the job done. Then follow it to the letter, putting the responsiblity back on his shoulders, not yours. Don't fall into the trap of having 50 bosses because you've become the company's IT whipping boy/slave. Never volunteer for something outside the scope of your job description and training. Don't use work to learn. Set up a testbed environment at home and learn there. You'll have more freedom to do it right. Don't use free software for solutions. Make your company pay for it. It's good fiscal training for them. They need to learn the real cost of IT. Beige boxes are not servers. Never use Linux without a support contract for every installation. Learn what a properly deployed Data Center looks like: clean cabling, everything's racked, no beige boxes, only servers, UPS, dedicated air conditioning, physical security/cipher locks on the door, etc. Make the company PAY for training/certifications before attempting to work on the related project.
That said, if you want a voice, be a consultant. Consultants come from the outside and are hired for their expert opinion. It's a fundamentally different experience. You design it, implement it, and train SOMEONE ELSE to run it. Or you could run it yourself on a part-time, outsourced basis.
If you can't be a consultant, keep your head down. Create a priority list and get your boss' agreement. Make the priority list fit what's important to the company as a whole. Create a task list and task submission procedure/website/database/whatever. Don't get sucked in when someone says it will take a second and it ends up taking 3 hours. Spend 5 minutes on their request if they won't submit a task request. If it takes longer than that, tell them you will submit the request for them since you know what the details are now. Always try to offer workarounds until you can officially get around to working on it. NEVER GIVE A PROMISE OF WHEN IT WILL BE DONE. Let the user specify the priority level of their request. HOWEVER, TREAT THAT PRIORITY LEVEL AS SEPARATE FROM THE COMPANY-WIDE PRIORITY LEVEL THAT YOU WILL ASSIGN YOURSELF. This is CRITICAL. This lets the user know you will respect the priority of their request WITH RESPECT TO THE OTHER TASKS THEY HAVE SUBMITTED. It might be the top thing on his plate but if the server's down, nobody can work. YOUR BOSS IS YOUR ONLY PROTECTION. He's the only one you can't avoid completely if necessary. If he's out to get you, look for another job immediately. If he's good, you can rely on him to defend you and not undercut your decisions. He travels in policical circles you don't. Take advantage of his unique perspective. You're in the trenches. He can see poliitical things coming you won't.
Don't stay too long at a bad company. Don't get burned out. There is a right way to do IT. Most companies don't get it. Be aware of the many traps IT people walk into. Be aware that the fear of technology people have will probably be the main thing people will use against you (sometimes knowingly, sometimes unknowingly).
EVALUATE YOUR COMPANY'S LEVEL OF IT QUALITY. Assess the company you're at right now and compare it against any company you want to get hired at. I've found that the information you can get before you get hired gives you just as accurate of a picture of a company's IT quality as the dirt you get after you get hired. Contact me if you want help doing this. I made a spreadsheet to do just that.
Ok. So what if you used your thumbprint to gain access to something. A criminal then fakes your thumbprint and does something bad in your name. Its discovered that it wasn't you that did the bad thing but now you need to change your access method. So you then change your thumbpr... Oh wait... You have THE REAL ONE. How do you change it? Uh... Cut off your thumb? Use the other thumb? What if it happens again? You're gonna run out of fingers.
Biometrics: The measuring of the ORIGINAL copy of body parts for the purpose of identification.
Nothing. That's the problem. They're both just as bad. For the good of all people, NOTHING should be used as *universal* identification. It's too dangerous in the hands of any (past, present, or future) government. This also goes for Social Security Numbers, or any other number we're dumb enough to be convinced by the clerk caste that we must provide upon demand.
Why does this then occur? It's about power. OF COURSE governments know better. It's just another way to take advantage of the common man. If you can identify him, you can know where he goes, what he does, and practically treat him like a criminal *before* he does a crime. How efficient!
Why, in free countries, do we citizens let this happen? It's because we're sheep. We're more ruled by our petty material desires and our fear than by a sense of justice and a sense of goodness borne out of a connection to our fellow man.
Universal identification = ultimately efficient and ultimately dangerous
It's a sick, sad world. However, just knowing that doesn't help. Doing something about it might.
Think of dolphin-safe tuna. If you really want to be a purist on this issue, stop worrying about the can of tuna you buy at the store if you don't also worry about the tuna salad sandwich you're about to eat.
Whatever you do, don't buy used. If you do, you're almost guaranteed to buy a system that was once purchased with Windows installed. Think of it as "Microsoft contamination."
Oh GOD. Don't confuse people with nonsense terms. Language is defined by usage. When people hear "cracker" they think of Saltines.
Instead of saying "cracker", why not just say "security hacker" or "hardware hacker"? Just qualify it with another term. (Try to use the "Rules of definition per genus et differentiam")
If you feel uncomfortable using the term "hacker" in this context, just keep in mind most intelligent, clever people (who are natural hackers) will eventually get themselves into trouble with the witless masses. That's why the term "hacker" has acquired an unsavory connotation. Confusing people with the term "cracker" won't clean up the term "hacker".
I categorize this question as a fallacy of "Complex Question". It asks you to give implied consent to a different conclusion that these people are "Crackpots". Support that conclusion first, then we can deal with your question.
Play the game too. Rather than wring your hands saying "but I pay taxes and I voted them into office", collectively "donate" to the campaign coffers. Buy your politician's ear back.
Think of it. If all of us citizens put our meager resources together we can finally have government on our side. I mean, it's our tax money that runs the government anyway. We've got more than enough (collectively) to make this work. Think of this as the "voluntary" tax we forgot to pay.
And if that doesn't work... REVOLT! (As if that's going to do you any good in this day and age)
Slashdot Mirror
Sounds like a public Waste network.
Right... Just remember to pick the ones with resumes that have an MCSE, or B.S., or some snappy buzzword like Weblogic. And be CAREFUL to avoid the crusty gurus that soak up new technologies like a sponge who never bothered with company politics. Those are the trouble makers that told you what was really wrong with your company. You can't have your day ruined like that, can you? Hey everybody, let's play ship-that-job-overseas, and how-fast-can-I-lay-off-half-of-my-smart-IT-guys-th at-I-can't-do-business-without!!! Me first!
If CEO's are smart enough to become CEO's, they're smarter than IT people and know better than them what's good for their company.
Why fight it? Let them believe they know what's going on because they aren't built to believe differently (even if it's the truth).
Spoken like a true PHB. What kind of fucking idiot are you? The corporate kind, I see.
The reality is that CEO's are stupid idiots and can't do without smart IT guys. IT guys have to eat and therefore can't do without jobs which have CEO's attached.
There are stupid IT guys, but the dumbass CEO's CAN'T TELL THE DIFFERENCE. So, what's a smart IT guy to do? KEEP HIS FUCKING MOUTH SHUT! That is, if he likes to eat.
Oh man... I got your back! I hear you loud and clear. Read my post further on...
don't. It's not your job to tell them what is wrong with their company. You get paid to keep their stuff running. You *should* be worried about repercussions. You don't have any political power to insulate you from the repercussions. You are their *salaried* employee. They get to fire you anytime they want.
The right way (actually the only way business understands) to do this is for them go to a third party consultant who will do an IT audit/review. Since the company chooses the consultant and pays them for their opinion, it'll get listened to.
Businesses rarely take IT seriously. They depend on it. It's their business' lifeblood. Does that matter? Not in the least. As long as they're turning a buck, what do they care? If they shoot themselves in the foot... er, I mean... take a hit because of their incompetent IT people, they can always have a round of layoffs. You know, anything to shore up the CEO's Christmas bonus. (Do I sound bitter?)
Anyway... Don't paint a bullseye on your forhead. Don't *volunteer* to be a scapegoat. Remember, it's not your company. You just work there...
From www.skype.com:
Skype is free and simple software that will enable you to make free calls anywhere in the world in minutes. Skype, created by the people who brought you KaZaA uses innovative P2P (peer-to-peer) technology to connect you with other Skype users. If you are tired of paying outrageous fees for telephony, Skype is for you!
Skype is quick and easy to install. Just download it, register, and within minutes you can plug in your PC headset and call your friends on Skype. Skype calls have excellent sound quality and are highly secure with end-to-end encryption. Best of all, Skype does not require you to reconfigure your firewall or router--it just works!
Oh Jesus, where do I start?
Hmm.. Let's complain about scary popups. I mean... They're SCARY! Nothing like a scary popup to crap all over a nicely sanitized Internet experience.
Ok then, let's talk about these pre-installed SSL certs. How many of you have taken the time to realize that an installed certificate is supposed to mean that YOU have PERSONALLY VERIFIED at least the cert's thumbprint. Did you install those certs in your browser? No. What does that tell you? Someone else (Microsoft) declared the keys to be valid. Was the installer for the browser digitally signed by a key verified by you? No. Should I go on?
Well then, let's talk about the expiration dates on those certs. I know I feel safer with certs that don't expire until 2020. I mean, what if those darned scary popups started poppin up all over the place. What would we do? Nevermind the fact that this SSL crap uses RSA encryption. Any PGP-heads want to weigh in on how long keys of any kind should be allowed to live? There's the strength of the key in numbers of bits to consider because it determines how "strong" it is to resist being broken. Then there's the simple fact that the length of time that key exists in valid form is the lenght of time someone can use to steal it.
Look, if you have cajones you will de-install ALL your root certs from your browser and re-install them, actually reading the scary popup that comes up showing the thumbprint of the cert asking you ARE YOU SURE THIS IS A VALID CERT? At least then you can't say you didn't know. To help with this, a few years ago someone created a printed book with a copy of all the root certs available at the time. I suggest getting a copy.
If someone replied to me, saying "You can't say that," I would respond with "Well, YOU can't say it. However, I CAN."
This is similar to: "Noone should be able to read my email. However, I should be able to read yours."
FYI: If anyone wants it, I have gotten Clusterknoppix to use non-standard DHCP ports. This means that if you show up at a Windows-only lab, say at your college campus, you can pop in the Clusterknoppix CD into one machine and re-use an Etherboot floppy to get the WHOLE LAB up and running as a HIGH PERFORMANCE PARALLEL SUPERCOMPUTER. I can almost see it... An army of Penguins invades Windows-land! :-) Temporarily! Basically it reuses the existing network and doesn't step on the existing DHCP server. It took me about 10 minutes to get 23 cluster nodes up and running.
Let's just get it over with and have position/mood/political persuasion-sensing chips embedded in our skulls. True, ideal American-style freedom is too difficult to achieve anywhere. However, the U.S. can't afford to operate without AT LEAST THE ILLUSION OF FREEDOM.
Freaking pervert... I've gotten mad at my phone, but I never wanted to rape it...
No, no, no... The phones should have a "Fire" button. If it was a rape button, nobody would come help her.
Install a firewall and set up egress filtering. Remove the "ANY outgoing" filter line so nobody gets open access to the internet. Add your system in as getting open access. Let your kid request a site they want to visit. You go there yourself. Check it out completely. When you're satisfied with it, program your firewall to allow your kid's computer unfettered access to that ONE IP address of that ONE site. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE PHYSICAL ACCESS CONTROL OF THE FIREWALL, INTERNET CONNECTION, AND YOUR SYSTEM. Your kid must never be allowed to get his hands on them. Also, lock down your BIOSes with passwords, disallow CDROM and password booting, and install DEEP FREEZE on your kids computer to disallow lasting changes in their system. Beyond this, you might look into further content filtering software for installation on your kid's system. If you don't know how to do all these steps, I have reasonable rates.
This should read as:
"The mySQL versus NuSphere squabble demonstrates another risk: These disputes might scare companies away from abusing open source software."
Which is what they all really want to do anyway.
Websites should not be monitored by anyone. However, all IT admins have a RESPONSIBILITY TO READ ALL YOUR EMAIL. It's the only way a fully-qualified, professional who gets treated as an information janitor can have any power. When sending your email, be afraid! BE VERY AFRAID!
:-)
Oh, and don't forget keylogging.
10 years of experience in IT says: If you're working in IT right now, thank your lucky stars. Don't rock the boat. Realize that you could be replaced in a heartbeat. However, take whatever support you can get. If you're working for a good company then you're set. If you're working at the typical company that's shooting themselves in the foot because they don't get IT... you're screwed. If that's the case, then your only protection is your boss. As a company employee, your job is to follow orders. Anything else will amount to painting a bull's eye on your forehead. When you get hired as a regular employee you instantly lose your voice. You aren't a decision maker. You have no "juice" to make the decisions stick. Never say "no." You can't afford the grief. Don't try to change a broken company. Keep your head down and fly under the radar. Let your micromanaging boss dictate EXACTLY how he wants the job done. Then follow it to the letter, putting the responsiblity back on his shoulders, not yours. Don't fall into the trap of having 50 bosses because you've become the company's IT whipping boy/slave. Never volunteer for something outside the scope of your job description and training. Don't use work to learn. Set up a testbed environment at home and learn there. You'll have more freedom to do it right. Don't use free software for solutions. Make your company pay for it. It's good fiscal training for them. They need to learn the real cost of IT. Beige boxes are not servers. Never use Linux without a support contract for every installation. Learn what a properly deployed Data Center looks like: clean cabling, everything's racked, no beige boxes, only servers, UPS, dedicated air conditioning, physical security/cipher locks on the door, etc. Make the company PAY for training/certifications before attempting to work on the related project. That said, if you want a voice, be a consultant. Consultants come from the outside and are hired for their expert opinion. It's a fundamentally different experience. You design it, implement it, and train SOMEONE ELSE to run it. Or you could run it yourself on a part-time, outsourced basis. If you can't be a consultant, keep your head down. Create a priority list and get your boss' agreement. Make the priority list fit what's important to the company as a whole. Create a task list and task submission procedure/website/database/whatever. Don't get sucked in when someone says it will take a second and it ends up taking 3 hours. Spend 5 minutes on their request if they won't submit a task request. If it takes longer than that, tell them you will submit the request for them since you know what the details are now. Always try to offer workarounds until you can officially get around to working on it. NEVER GIVE A PROMISE OF WHEN IT WILL BE DONE. Let the user specify the priority level of their request. HOWEVER, TREAT THAT PRIORITY LEVEL AS SEPARATE FROM THE COMPANY-WIDE PRIORITY LEVEL THAT YOU WILL ASSIGN YOURSELF. This is CRITICAL. This lets the user know you will respect the priority of their request WITH RESPECT TO THE OTHER TASKS THEY HAVE SUBMITTED. It might be the top thing on his plate but if the server's down, nobody can work. YOUR BOSS IS YOUR ONLY PROTECTION. He's the only one you can't avoid completely if necessary. If he's out to get you, look for another job immediately. If he's good, you can rely on him to defend you and not undercut your decisions. He travels in policical circles you don't. Take advantage of his unique perspective. You're in the trenches. He can see poliitical things coming you won't. Don't stay too long at a bad company. Don't get burned out. There is a right way to do IT. Most companies don't get it. Be aware of the many traps IT people walk into. Be aware that the fear of technology people have will probably be the main thing people will use against you (sometimes knowingly, sometimes unknowingly). EVALUATE YOUR COMPANY'S LEVEL OF IT QUALITY. Assess the company you're at right now and compare it against any company you want to get hired at. I've found that the information you can get before you get hired gives you just as accurate of a picture of a company's IT quality as the dirt you get after you get hired. Contact me if you want help doing this. I made a spreadsheet to do just that.
Ok. So what if you used your thumbprint to gain access to something. A criminal then fakes your thumbprint and does something bad in your name. Its discovered that it wasn't you that did the bad thing but now you need to change your access method. So you then change your thumbpr... Oh wait... You have THE REAL ONE. How do you change it? Uh... Cut off your thumb? Use the other thumb? What if it happens again? You're gonna run out of fingers.
Biometrics: The measuring of the ORIGINAL copy of body parts for the purpose of identification.
So says the clerk caste...
In essence: (begging ensues) "Please, pretty please make my job easier by sacrificing another of your freedoms"
So also says the police caste and the politician caste and the...
Nothing. That's the problem. They're both just as bad. For the good of all people, NOTHING should be used as *universal* identification. It's too dangerous in the hands of any (past, present, or future) government. This also goes for Social Security Numbers, or any other number we're dumb enough to be convinced by the clerk caste that we must provide upon demand.
Why does this then occur? It's about power. OF COURSE governments know better. It's just another way to take advantage of the common man. If you can identify him, you can know where he goes, what he does, and practically treat him like a criminal *before* he does a crime. How efficient!
Why, in free countries, do we citizens let this happen? It's because we're sheep. We're more ruled by our petty material desires and our fear than by a sense of justice and a sense of goodness borne out of a connection to our fellow man.
Universal identification = ultimately efficient and ultimately dangerous
It's a sick, sad world. However, just knowing that doesn't help. Doing something about it might.
Think of dolphin-safe tuna. If you really want to be a purist on this issue, stop worrying about the can of tuna you buy at the store if you don't also worry about the tuna salad sandwich you're about to eat.
Whatever you do, don't buy used. If you do, you're almost guaranteed to buy a system that was once purchased with Windows installed. Think of it as "Microsoft contamination."
Oh GOD. Don't confuse people with nonsense terms. Language is defined by usage. When people hear "cracker" they think of Saltines.
Instead of saying "cracker", why not just say "security hacker" or "hardware hacker"? Just qualify it with another term. (Try to use the "Rules of definition per genus et differentiam")
If you feel uncomfortable using the term "hacker" in this context, just keep in mind most intelligent, clever people (who are natural hackers) will eventually get themselves into trouble with the witless masses. That's why the term "hacker" has acquired an unsavory connotation. Confusing people with the term "cracker" won't clean up the term "hacker".
I categorize this question as a fallacy of "Complex Question". It asks you to give implied consent to a different conclusion that these people are "Crackpots". Support that conclusion first, then we can deal with your question.
So: Are they crackpots?
Oh I got it now...
Block banner ads... Go to jail for obstructing justice.
Nice.
Play the game too. Rather than wring your hands saying "but I pay taxes and I voted them into office", collectively "donate" to the campaign coffers. Buy your politician's ear back.
Think of it. If all of us citizens put our meager resources together we can finally have government on our side. I mean, it's our tax money that runs the government anyway. We've got more than enough (collectively) to make this work. Think of this as the "voluntary" tax we forgot to pay.
And if that doesn't work... REVOLT! (As if that's going to do you any good in this day and age)