I guess if they run your equipment where they have good control of the physical environment, they can get by... However, you might want to think about moving to a more secure OS and actually building some security into the software (since you have to change OS anyway due to the expiration of Windows XP).
So... You're shipping new product that you know will be obsolete in the near future and you're worried about how to sell them an upgrade kit when you should be worried about why your company is so pathetically incompetent that they haven't planned for this obsolescence? Not connected to the Internet is not security. Do you remember how Stuxnet made it on to centrifuges which were not connected to the Internet?
"Fun fact: the amount of emergency room treatment went up in Massachusetts when Romneycare passed. Fewer people were seeing their doctors than prior." Nice "fun fact" but it is wrong. This has been carefully studied by many authors and ER visits went down, admissions through the ER went down, more people visited their primary care doctors, etc. Here is a good summary of a real study (not just Fox news "fun facts") with links to the actual studies: http://blog.academyhealth.org/...
Your theory of lawyers being the cause of expensive health care has been studied extensively and it is wrong. Malpractice insurance/ lawsuits/ defensive medicine/ etc. only contributes 1 or 2 % to the high cost of health care. If you'd like to read about this, here are some good places to start: http://theincidentaleconomist.... http://theincidentaleconomist....
I'm glad you made reference to the "Corporate / Government" complex since this is the problem. Our government is completely corrupt since corporations can buy whatever laws they need to keep their profits. Corporations buy politicians who make the laws which benefit corporations. I don't really agree that "it is more profitable for government to allow for this crap" since government doesn't make a profit but the politicians who make our laws certainly can benefit from making laws to benefit corporations or from not enforcing existing laws. In the US, there really is no difference between corporations and government. They act together to serve each others interests. We have reached the point of a fascist state. There is no possibility of a "free market" in the US. It's all corporate control through their corrupt politicians.
"What Shutters wants is irrelevant. What he needs is open interface specifications to the hardware."
I think that's what he wants:
"Declarative firmware that describes hardware linkages and dependencies but doesn’t include executable code is the best chance we have of real bottom-up security. The Linux device tree is a very good starting point."
He didn't say get rid of ACPI. He said get rid of proprietary firmware. You can have an open source ACPI (https://acpica.org/downloads) which you can audit to find the NSA evil bits.
He said "get rid of proprietary firmware". He didn't say get rid of all firmware. There is a difference. Open source firmware can be audited to see if the spooks are getting their hands on your data... not so with the proprietary stuff.
"Here's a very middle-class example: A 50 year old man with three kids under 18. He has $200k equity in his home, and has saved $800k towards retirement. He dies, suddenly. Is it the moral obligation of the government to force the sale of his home and liquidate his retirement account so that they can "wipe the slate clean" for his minor children?"
Except there is a $5 million exemption per person so his heirs don't have to pay anything.
When I receive an inheritance, it is INCOME to me and should be taxed. This fellow bought an insurance policy to avoid having to sell assets when it might not be advantageous. The insurance policy helps with the cash flow problem when he dies. It will increase the amount of his estate (and result in more tax revenue).
I found these two quotes most interesting: "While some members of society might raise the alarm that the system is moving towards an impending collapse and therefore advocate structural changes to society in order to avoid it, Elites and their supporters, who opposed making these changes, could point to the long sustainable trajectory 'so far' in support of doing nothing."
"Collapse can be avoided and population can reach equilibrium if the per capita rate of depletion of nature is reduced to a sustainable level, and if resources are distributed in a reasonably equitable fashion."
I think we can see that we are already in an early state of collapse. Environmental change is a strong driving force to destabilize society. We can see that the elites have their heads firmly stuck in the sand on the issues of over-consumption of resources and unequal distribution. Jared Diamond has covered these issues well (particularly in "Collapse"). I personally am pessimistic that we will be able to avoid collapse due to the political and economic power of the elite.
If you read through TFA, you'll see that many of their exploits take place by exploiting MITM (and similar) attacks on the Internet communication. However, most of these exploits use some type of malware installed on the machines and that is where Windows is particularly vulnerable. It's much harder to compromise a Linux machine. (And please spare me the "But Linux does has bugz too" rant. Security is not absolute. It is a game of making it difficult to get to your data. Windows makes it easy. Linux makes it hard. Which would you rather have?)
Yes, it is very naive to believe that just closing US coal mines will make coal go away. It would be much better to invest in building proven renewable power sources such as solar, wind and geothermal which will reduce demand for coal. Then the coal mine owners will shut down the mines on their own and we don't have to pay them for it.
Actually, she is in the 0.1% elite and got her money the true American way by inheritance, marriage, and political corruption: "On January 20, 1980, in San Francisco, California, finance capitalist Richard C. Blum (born in 1936) and the ambitious Democratic Party politician Dianne Feinstein (born 1933) were married in a wedding ceremony at San Francisco City Hall. This marriage created a family economic and political alliance that in a little over a decade would allow them to become the top power couple in the state of California with a place on the national and world stages. They remain at the pinnacle of power today, he as a billionaire financier, speculator, real estate executive and deal maker; she as the senior Senator (California’s highest federal official), from the largest and most powerful state in the United States. They exemplify power as it is now wielded in the higher circles of the class system of the U.S. today, and illustrate well the dismal results of this system. This system is best characterized as a plutocratic kleptocracy, completely lacking in authentic democracy, operated by and for corporate racketeers, in short, a dictatorship of big capital, the top 1% of wealth holders, which makes up a ruling class. " More background here: http://www.foundsf.org/index.p...... and here: http://www.revolutimes.com/201...
One of the important implications of him being a contractor and not an employee is that the Federal "whistleblower" protections (such as they are) do not apply to him.
The rainforests are just the latest targets of industrial agriculture. In the US, for example, all of the slash and burn to destroy the deciduous forests of the mid-west took place after the natives were sent packing to reservations. Since then, it's been just standard "modern" farming with tractors and chemicals leaving the soil barren most of the year. The dust bowl on the prairies was a direct result of the "sodbusters" removing native vegetation.
NASA is your pet funding project. Everybody has their own. Republicans like lots of military-industrial pork, Democrats tend to favor health and education. Tax at the current level of 15% GDP puts us at less than half that of other developed countries which spend much more on health and education and as a result have much healthier and productive workers. US health is about #37 in the world (just behind Slovenia). Taxes are not a burden on growth if you spend them on health and education plus a social safety net. In fact, they stimulate growth.
First, I never allow my boots to duel. Last time I tried that it was a mess and I'm still limping. Second, ARM duels are hand contact only. As far as I know Google and Microsoft have never dueled, probably because there were no chairs available for the loser to throw so we don't really know who would win. "Liberty and competitive priced computers" ??? What?
Slashdot Mirror
I guess if they run your equipment where they have good control of the physical environment, they can get by... However, you might want to think about moving to a more secure OS and actually building some security into the software (since you have to change OS anyway due to the expiration of Windows XP).
So... You're shipping new product that you know will be obsolete in the near future and you're worried about how to sell them an upgrade kit when you should be worried about why your company is so pathetically incompetent that they haven't planned for this obsolescence?
Not connected to the Internet is not security. Do you remember how Stuxnet made it on to centrifuges which were not connected to the Internet?
Operating room?
Except?
Insurance is a good thing.
"Fun fact: the amount of emergency room treatment went up in Massachusetts when Romneycare passed. Fewer people were seeing their doctors than prior."
Nice "fun fact" but it is wrong.
This has been carefully studied by many authors and ER visits went down, admissions through the ER went down, more people visited their primary care doctors, etc.
Here is a good summary of a real study (not just Fox news "fun facts") with links to the actual studies:
http://blog.academyhealth.org/...
Your theory of lawyers being the cause of expensive health care has been studied extensively and it is wrong. Malpractice insurance/ lawsuits/ defensive medicine/ etc. only contributes 1 or 2 % to the high cost of health care. If you'd like to read about this, here are some good places to start:
http://theincidentaleconomist....
http://theincidentaleconomist....
I'm glad you made reference to the "Corporate / Government" complex since this is the problem. Our government is completely corrupt since corporations can buy whatever laws they need to keep their profits. Corporations buy politicians who make the laws which benefit corporations.
I don't really agree that "it is more profitable for government to allow for this crap" since government doesn't make a profit but the politicians who make our laws certainly can benefit from making laws to benefit corporations or from not enforcing existing laws.
In the US, there really is no difference between corporations and government. They act together to serve each others interests. We have reached the point of a fascist state.
There is no possibility of a "free market" in the US. It's all corporate control through their corrupt politicians.
"What Shutters wants is irrelevant. What he needs is open interface specifications to the hardware."
I think that's what he wants:
"Declarative firmware that describes hardware linkages and dependencies but doesn’t include executable code is the best chance we have of real bottom-up security. The Linux device tree is a very good starting point."
He didn't say get rid of ACPI.
He said get rid of proprietary firmware.
You can have an open source ACPI (https://acpica.org/downloads) which you can audit to find the NSA evil bits.
He said "get rid of proprietary firmware".
He didn't say get rid of all firmware.
There is a difference.
Open source firmware can be audited to see if the spooks are getting their hands on your data... not so with the proprietary stuff.
"Here's a very middle-class example: A 50 year old man with three kids under 18. He has $200k equity in his home, and has saved $800k towards retirement. He dies, suddenly. Is it the moral obligation of the government to force the sale of his home and liquidate his retirement account so that they can "wipe the slate clean" for his minor children?"
Except there is a $5 million exemption per person so his heirs don't have to pay anything.
When I receive an inheritance, it is INCOME to me and should be taxed.
This fellow bought an insurance policy to avoid having to sell assets when it might not be advantageous. The insurance policy helps with the cash flow problem when he dies. It will increase the amount of his estate (and result in more tax revenue).
Interesting article. There's always someone to play the cynic.
I am pessimistic but not that cynical.
I found these two quotes most interesting:
"While some members of society might raise the alarm that the system is moving towards an impending collapse and therefore advocate structural changes to society in order to avoid it, Elites and their supporters, who opposed making these changes, could point to the long sustainable trajectory 'so far' in support of doing nothing."
"Collapse can be avoided and population can reach equilibrium if the per capita rate of depletion of nature is reduced to a sustainable level, and if resources are distributed in a reasonably equitable fashion."
I think we can see that we are already in an early state of collapse. Environmental change is a strong driving force to destabilize society. We can see that the elites have their heads firmly stuck in the sand on the issues of over-consumption of resources and unequal distribution. Jared Diamond has covered these issues well (particularly in "Collapse").
I personally am pessimistic that we will be able to avoid collapse due to the political and economic power of the elite.
When you burn it in the oven, it needs to be peeled first.
Some people do this repeatedly so I imagine there is a market for a meatloaf peeler.
Thanks for the link about Qubes.
Looks very interesting. Uses Xen and Linux to sandbox everything!
Just keep telling yourself that.
Please don't switch to Linux.
If you read through TFA, you'll see that many of their exploits take place by exploiting MITM (and similar) attacks on the Internet communication. However, most of these exploits use some type of malware installed on the machines and that is where Windows is particularly vulnerable. It's much harder to compromise a Linux machine.
(And please spare me the "But Linux does has bugz too" rant. Security is not absolute. It is a game of making it difficult to get to your data. Windows makes it easy. Linux makes it hard. Which would you rather have?)
Yes, it is very naive to believe that just closing US coal mines will make coal go away.
It would be much better to invest in building proven renewable power sources such as solar, wind and geothermal which will reduce demand for coal. Then the coal mine owners will shut down the mines on their own and we don't have to pay them for it.
Linux is more secure.
Also, Linux is less of a target.
I'm glad that I use Linux. I'm also happy that most people don't use Linux.
Google is your friend. Try these links for starters:
http://www.revolutimes.com/201...
http://www.foundsf.org/index.p...
Actually, she is in the 0.1% elite and got her money the true American way by inheritance, marriage, and political corruption: ... and here:
"On January 20, 1980, in San Francisco, California, finance capitalist Richard C. Blum (born in 1936) and the ambitious Democratic Party politician Dianne Feinstein (born 1933) were married in a wedding ceremony at San Francisco City Hall. This marriage created a family economic and political alliance that in a little over a decade would allow them to become the top power couple in the state of California with a place on the national and world stages. They remain at the pinnacle of power today, he as a billionaire financier, speculator, real estate executive and deal maker; she as the senior Senator (California’s highest federal official), from the largest and most powerful state in the United States. They exemplify power as it is now wielded in the higher circles of the class system of the U.S. today, and illustrate well the dismal results of this system. This system is best characterized as a plutocratic kleptocracy, completely lacking in authentic democracy, operated by and for corporate racketeers, in short, a dictatorship of big capital, the top 1% of wealth holders, which makes up a ruling class. "
More background here:
http://www.foundsf.org/index.p...
http://www.revolutimes.com/201...
One of the important implications of him being a contractor and not an employee is that the Federal "whistleblower" protections (such as they are) do not apply to him.
The rainforests are just the latest targets of industrial agriculture. In the US, for example, all of the slash and burn to destroy the deciduous forests of the mid-west took place after the natives were sent packing to reservations. Since then, it's been just standard "modern" farming with tractors and chemicals leaving the soil barren most of the year. The dust bowl on the prairies was a direct result of the "sodbusters" removing native vegetation.
NASA is your pet funding project. Everybody has their own. Republicans like lots of military-industrial pork, Democrats tend to favor health and education.
Tax at the current level of 15% GDP puts us at less than half that of other developed countries which spend much more on health and education and as a result have much healthier and productive workers. US health is about #37 in the world (just behind Slovenia).
Taxes are not a burden on growth if you spend them on health and education plus a social safety net. In fact, they stimulate growth.
First, I never allow my boots to duel. Last time I tried that it was a mess and I'm still limping.
Second, ARM duels are hand contact only.
As far as I know Google and Microsoft have never dueled, probably because there were no chairs available for the loser to throw so we don't really know who would win.
"Liberty and competitive priced computers" ??? What?