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Comments · 488

  1. Re:antiquated system on New, Privacy-Oriented, FOSS Web-mail: Mailpile · · Score: 1

    Those five corporations have demonstrable incentives to not make email secure.

  2. Re: Mod parent up! on Dropbox Wants To Replace Your Hard Disk · · Score: 1

    This meme HAS To die. Orwell's 1984 explictly included a manual as very long epilog.
    Helpful hint: don't talk about books you haven't read as if you've read them. Whenever I do that, I end up looking like an idiot. Your mileage won't vary.

  3. Re:Sigh. on Virtual Imaging Tech Helps People Get Over Social Anxieties · · Score: 1

    The world is a better place that you aren't allowed to recommend treatment. Your definition of extreme needs work, too.

  4. That's Confusing. on US Hacked Chinese University Network · · Score: 1

    So, all those attempts to break into our networks were really the fault of the Americans, and not the Chinese?

  5. Re:Before some wise guy says it on FBI Admits To Domestic Surveillance Drone Use · · Score: 1

    In case you haven't noticed, the USA has already turned very nasty.

  6. Re:Disposable cell phone on Ask Slashdot: How To Bypass Gov't Spying On Cellphones? · · Score: 1

    Thank you, makes sense now. Mind you, I'm still of the opinion that avoiding standing out is the weaker solution, possibly even counterproductive. The results are a lot more rapid.
    s/earned/obtained/

  7. Re:Disposable cell phone on Ask Slashdot: How To Bypass Gov't Spying On Cellphones? · · Score: 1

    Pardon my ignorance, but google is unable to provide me with a definition of the word "refuser" that I can parse in the context of your post.

    What is a refuser? And, what makes them different from people doing illegal stuff, yet readily lumped into the same group?

    You may need to get clear in your thinking. "Hiding in plain sight" is a reaction, not a solution, to a panopticon. A solution means ending it, not making your life unlikely to draw attention.

  8. Re:Snowden is fucked on Snowden's Big Truth: We Are All Less Free · · Score: 1

    I must have missed the memo. What damage? How does the world knowing that the NSA spies on a sizeable fraction (likely a majority) of US citizens (and residents) with a phone or net connection damage the US or "the West"? Embarrassment at the illegality and/or supreme wrongness of it doesn't count as damage.

    Oh, and just to pre-empt the obvious objection: If I record when you call who and how long you keep the connection open, and I'm not the phone company preparing a bill for airtime and long-distance charges, I'm spying on you.

  9. Re:Can't have it all. on Keeping Your Data Private From the NSA (And Everyone Else) · · Score: 1

    I feel the need to say this explicitly, rather than by the inference of moderation or the suggestion of Foeing you.
    Your view is ignorant.
    There. Now you can't say nobody ever told you. How you see it has little to do with the reality of the situation. Typing in complete, coherent sentences can't hide that.

  10. Re:Yes! on Google Rolling Out Gmail Redesign · · Score: 1

    First clue of troll post: stating that email is part of the web.

    Second clue: every email client above the level of /usr/bin/mailx for the past few decades has user-defineable folders and multiple sort criteria. With the advent of filters, you don't even have to file manually.

    Well done! See the coatcheck staff for your prize.

  11. Re:Very weird priorities on Congressional Report: US Power Grid Highly Vulnerable To Cyberattack · · Score: 1

    Did you even read the article? The authorship in this particular case is irrelevant - unless... can you point out what lies were presented in that article?

  12. Very weird priorities on Congressional Report: US Power Grid Highly Vulnerable To Cyberattack · · Score: 4, Interesting

    OMNI magazine recently set its archives loose online. Check the January 1989 issue, "The Rules of the Game" (http://archive.org/stream/omni-magazine-1989-01/OMNI_1989_01#page/n17/mode/2up, flip to page 42) for the low tech nightmare. If you think the nation without a power grid would make for a seriously bad month, you lack imagination. Try a seriously bad year, or longer. Pretty much every piece of infrastructure is built with the assumption that electicity is somewhere close at hand.

    The physical infrastructure of the power grid is an infinitely easier target, with gigantic ROI for terrorists or actual enemy agents. The $100,000 you could spend for a good 0-day would be better spent on a few RPGs and some half-decent watches. Network attacks are a fool's errand. If you want to prevent awful things, your money is better spent on guards.

    That OMNI article may be the first "How can I unknow this?" moment of my literate life.

  13. Re:Well, he's not afraid his company might fire hi on Larry Page: You Worry Too Much About Medical Privacy · · Score: 1

    ask Brits and Canadians the same question. Would they rather replace their healthcare system with the US version?

    Oh $LC_DEITY no. It's bad enought that there's this giant push to privatize everything, because pretty much every function that has been privatized has degenerated into crap. Thankfully, cleaning operating rooms hasn't yet been put on the outsourcing block so companies can charge the government twice for paying staff minimum wage, but I won't be surprised when some asshole suggests it.

  14. a small thought exercise on In Australian Town, Public CCTV Off Over Privacy Concerns · · Score: 2

    There's a difference between being observed and being recorded. Given:

    • Constable Alice is earnest, honest, and clever, but a little bit lazy.
    • Captain Bob is not so lazy, believes in delegating where ever possible, and will listen to a good argument for something - but only if it's short.
    • Carol met some nice ladies at the country club last month, two of whom have sons of suitable age for her daughter to date. They're all kinds of fun to hang with!
    • Detective Dave sees Carol (previously unknown) hanging out a lot recently with some probable high-end fences he's been investigating, and asks Captain Bob to get someone to put Carol under surveillance.

    What is the minimum amount of work and paperwork required by Alice before Dave can say (without perjury) on the stand, "We put Carol under surveillance", and Bob can say, "I can't fire her, she did her job exactly as I put to her"?

    You'll note that I didn't specify the kind or depth of surveillance. This is deliberate and not an attempt to be vague. I believe you'll figure out for yourself that the bar for Constable Alice can be very very low, and folk more imaginative than you or I could make it lower. Alice, having an actual incentive, might make it much lower than that. This might be the most important legal question society can discuss at the moment; being in a public place and able to be seen by the police doesn't mean you should be recorded by the police. Oddly, applying the same question and reasoning to "Automatic Number Plate Recognition" devices makes them look exceptionally intrusive. Oh, wait...

  15. Easy test! on Ask Slashdot: How Do You Assess the Status of an Open Source Project? · · Score: 1

    If the latest version and the version available in debian differ by either one full version or at least three .points, we're good to go.

  16. Whoosh. In any given interaction, you're dealing with one who's actively malfeasant, or one who's actively covering for their co-worker's malfeasance. Just maybe you could be dealing with someone partway through their first week on the job.

  17. Re: WTF is a Cyber Terrorist? on Cyber-Terrorists Attacking U.S. Banks Are Well-Funded · · Score: 1

    Uh, wait. +5? Here's a hint, mods: buy a dictionary if your OS doesn't come with one installed. Read it more than one minute per week, and not just for words you have not seen before. buchner.johannes, nice troll. It is factually incorrect, but looks plausible, so you get double points.

  18. First clue on Creationist Bets $10k In Proposed Literal Interpretation of Genesis Debate · · Score: 3, Informative

    The man has a Ph.D. in kinesiology. According to the Chart of Woo, that's at the corner of Quackery Bol. and Pseudoscientific Bol.

  19. Re:But that's a false reason on Ask Slashdot: Encrypted Digital Camera/Recording Devices? · · Score: 3, Insightful
    You're reading this poorly.

    Encryption is only useful if he wants to be able to cover his tracks, and selectively release video.

    ...or have an officer believe "This is not evidence that can be used against me." Count yourself lucky that you don't have enough experience with corrupt police officers to understand how they operate.

    "I was recorded committing a crime, but I can use as much force as I want without any consequences in order to change how much evidence becomes available to prosecutors, who are mostly my buddies. Plus, my partner has been inculcated to back me up on anything and everything with a straight face. If I fire my gun, though, there's going to be a hell of a lot of paperwork."

  20. Re:My handle is more unique than my real name on Vint Cerf: Google Shouldn't Require Real Names · · Score: 1

    I'd rather use my handle than my real name, because then people will not confuse me with any of the other guys. My handle is practically unique

    I face the exact opposite problem. It's kinda tough locating things I've written on the net.

  21. Re:Can't control the message on Shooting Yourself In the Foot, 21st Century Style · · Score: 1

    In this particular case, negative comments are not lies.

  22. Re:Some ideas on Ask Slashdot: Dealing With an Advanced Wi-Fi Leech? · · Score: 1

    If you do find out who he is, change your SSID to *his* name and address. That should freak him a bit.

    I love you. I would give up my first cup of coffee for you. I already did, and you owe me a new keyboard.

  23. Re:Betteridge's Law has been beaten on Ask Slashdot: Is the Bar Being Lowered At Universities? · · Score: 1
    You wrote,

    The end result of all this is, at some point, you're going to hit a bump where tons of ex-students default on their student loans because they don't have decent jobs and can't repay the loans, and it's 2008 all over again, with banks crying to the government and getting bail-out checks, with the students still not able to get a job or allieviate this debt, so they can never get a decent job (what's the point? Their wages will be garnished so they won't make any more than flipping burgers, so they won't even try).

    If the banks get a bailout from the government for student loans and then still come after the students for money, a whole bunch of lawyers will get rich off the resulting class actions. Rich, I tell you. I would throw my morals out the window, emigrate there, and take the bar exam.

  24. Nice job of framing the debate on Mark Shuttleworth Addresses Ubuntu Privacy Issues · · Score: 2

    The issues have not been addressed.

  25. Re:hey, my engine is pinging! on Elon Musk Lays Out His Evidence That NYT Tesla Test Drive Was Staged · · Score: 0

    Only old people use ifconfig, it's been deprecated by ip.