The RIAA wouldn't need to send the police for your computers since they can subpoena Google to get the evidence that they need. They do that for search queries now. Uploading your personal data gives law enforcement one stop shopping to your information. A "portal" to all of your personal information. How convenient...
In your case, it sounds like a traditional test environment of seperate machines and multiple instances is not the way to go. I would suggest using a virtualization server like VMWare or MS Virtual server or other related software. what this allows you to do is get one environment set up and established, and then make an image of it. Then you can mount this image into a virtual environment where everyone can bang away at it and no matter how bad they destroy the database, all you have to do is mount the image again and you are back where you started from. you could also mount multiple images that each group (developers and QA testers) could have access to, if you do eventually go that route (and you will).
If you do make any changes that need to be kept, you will need to re-image the environment with those changes. you might want to do that every few months and keep several images available in several different states. However, now the developer team need to establish a policy for storing their code. If they hose the virtual environment, it is easy for YOU to mount a new image, but what about their code changes? They will need to have a policy on code storage and maintenance, but that is a different question altogether.
http://www.rootsecure.net/ has been around since 2002 and has custom/exclusive content as well as top stories from other news sources. Not to mention that it offers RSS feeds for syndication, an audio podcast, and daily email newletters.
A lot of people are saying some pretty borderline rude things about someone they don't know (not unusual for/.) so let me state that she is, in fact, one of the nicest and most "normal" people I have ever met. I have known Elonka for quite some time. We meet up a couple of times each year at miscellaneous conferences and I consider her a good friend. The fact that she doesn't answer some of these comments probably makes her more "normal" than most of you now doesn't it?
To make my post more self-promoting, I will point readers to 2 episodes of Binary Revolution Radio that she was on Here and Here.
As far as the personal questions, how about you STFU and GTFO because it is NOYGDB? kthxbye!
As soon as the company went public, it changed. "Don't be evil" immediately took a backseat to "make money" on the day that happened. It is inevitable. Look at the "innovations" that google had come out with in the past year or so since going public.
They have gmail, which sounds like a great idea, but they do scan the content of the emails to put ads there. They claim no humans see the messages, and we have no proof otherwise, but it is a dangerous idea.
So far, this is all fact. Now my fear is definately theory bordering on conspiracy and I admit that. The sad fact is that all of this is possible and it shouldn't be this close.
They have admitted to the New York Times back in November of 2002 that , "Searches are logged by time of day, originating I.P. address (information that can be used to link searches to a specific computer), and the sites on which the user clicked.". Combine that with gmail and you get a database full of privacy violation. But that is just the start.
In the same New York Times article, when asked if they have ever turned any of this information over to anyone, they denied comment and refused to answer. The fact is that if they didn't log all of this data, and make these intrusive privacy policies, they wouldn't be putting our privacy at risk like this.
What about blogger? Do you think they log that also? Of course they do. They log the people who visit and what they read. They log who says what in their blogs. Then there is Picasa, for pictures on your hard drive. Don't even THINK about what they could find out from that desktop search tool that scours your entire hard drive for all of your files. Maybe it doesn't report everything now, but how long before they do? It may just be flipping a switch in the software to "phone home" with the information on the next update. By the time anyone knows, it is too late. the thought police are coming!
Now many many sites track similar information. Google is by no means the only one guilty of this type of tracking. But because of the large number of their "innovations" they have to potential to tie it all together and create a file on each and every user they have by data mining that information. They most assuredly have profiles on all of us and that should scare you to death. What have you used google for?
Yes, I am playing the "what if" game. But the fact is that it is dangerously close. The same holds true for Microsoft. I just don't have the same level of trust for google that I once had. As soon as they sold out to stickholders, I immediately worried that it would only be a matter of time before this huge database of profiles would be sold to the highest bidder (if it is not already). It is just getting too close to my privacy for my comfort which is why I am very careful about how I use Google and all of their wonderful "innovations".
like it or not. Part of the mindset that we have at Binary Revolution is that internet media is the last bastion of free speech. We have said it on our radio show and our TV show for years now. The FCC cannot regulate us (yet) and instead of us catering to the mass media and government, we are using a new medium to take back what is ours.
I could go into a longer rant about this, but you would be better served to listen to our shows and realize for yourself.
I went into a discussion on Binary Revolution Radio (http://www.binrev.com/radio/) episode #80 about the possibility (or rather INEVITABILITY) of Microsoft combining all of its databases from all of its individual services (hotmail, MSDN, spaces, search, etc...) and data mining them for common data. Each individual privacy policy becomes meaningless. They may not sell your data, but they can combine it and put together a pretty powerful profile about you.
The key, and the reason that I pointed it out on this episode, is the new Microsoft genuine program. All of the other databases could have been joined on names, phone numbers, and other PII (Personally Identifiable Information) which is not always reliable. With the new "genuine program" they get a hash of your system as part of the process that uniquely ties you to that computer.
With one anchor like that that *is* reliable (most of the time) they now have a way to tie your visits to your accounts from that PC to all of your other MS service accounts. For example, logging into hotmail from that "marked" PC.
It is not rock solid and may not be completely provable (people do use other peoples computers) but it will work most of the time. That is a very scary data warehouse that could provide extremely targeted advertising which would fetch top dollar from advertisers.
Cryptography discussion with Elonka on BRR #78
on
Decrypting Kryptos
·
· Score: 1
Elonka co-hosted this episode about 2 or 3 weeks ago and we discussed cryptography in general and touched on the specific projects that Elonka has been involved in. If you want to hear her speak, download episode 78 at the archive site.
On episode 60 of Binary Revolution Radio (about 1.5 months ago) we went into great detail on setting up an asterisk PBX from the ground up. You can listen to it (several times if necessary) and be able to set up your own PBX for next to nothing! We have done this and proven that it works and gives immeasurable control to users and huge savings for businesses.
-
http://www.binrev.com/radio/archive.html
I run several sites, some of which contains information that some people do not like. I provide true information in my WHOIS record, but I am considering changing it to protect my privacy (WITHOUT HAVING TO PAY EXTRA FOR IT). I think I should have a RIGHT to privacy, not the ability to pay for a service to provide the privacy that I have a right to. The problem is that with valid information in my WHOIS record, anyone who doesn't like the content of my site (no, nothing about WAREZ or piracy or terrorism or anything like that) can call me up and harrass me about it.
I have gotten calls at 2 in the morning and people who mess with me simply because they have access to my information. I have a right to not be harrassed or attacked. Calling the police or phone company is a waste of time. I just want the RIGHT to privacy that our forefathers established for us.
Acidus was recently on episode 56 of Binary Revolution Radio (http://radio.binrev.com/) where we discussed his 2600 article and went into detail about his stripesnoop project. If anyone is interested in learning about the tech behind it or hearing about the thought processes that went into it, they should check it out.
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The RIAA wouldn't need to send the police for your computers since they can subpoena Google to get the evidence that they need. They do that for search queries now. Uploading your personal data gives law enforcement one stop shopping to your information. A "portal" to all of your personal information. How convenient...
In your case, it sounds like a traditional test environment of seperate machines and multiple instances is not the way to go. I would suggest using a virtualization server like VMWare or MS Virtual server or other related software. what this allows you to do is get one environment set up and established, and then make an image of it. Then you can mount this image into a virtual environment where everyone can bang away at it and no matter how bad they destroy the database, all you have to do is mount the image again and you are back where you started from. you could also mount multiple images that each group (developers and QA testers) could have access to, if you do eventually go that route (and you will).
If you do make any changes that need to be kept, you will need to re-image the environment with those changes. you might want to do that every few months and keep several images available in several different states. However, now the developer team need to establish a policy for storing their code. If they hose the virtual environment, it is easy for YOU to mount a new image, but what about their code changes? They will need to have a policy on code storage and maintenance, but that is a different question altogether.
http://www.rootsecure.net/ has been around since 2002 and has custom/exclusive content as well as top stories from other news sources. Not to mention that it offers RSS feeds for syndication, an audio podcast, and daily email newletters.
A lot of people are saying some pretty borderline rude things about someone they don't know (not unusual for /.) so let me state that she is, in fact, one of the nicest and most "normal" people I have ever met. I have known Elonka for quite some time. We meet up a couple of times each year at miscellaneous conferences and I consider her a good friend. The fact that she doesn't answer some of these comments probably makes her more "normal" than most of you now doesn't it?
To make my post more self-promoting, I will point readers to 2 episodes of Binary Revolution Radio that she was on Here and Here.
As far as the personal questions, how about you STFU and GTFO because it is NOYGDB? kthxbye!
As soon as the company went public, it changed. "Don't be evil" immediately took a backseat to "make money" on the day that happened. It is inevitable. Look at the "innovations" that google had come out with in the past year or so since going public.
They have gmail, which sounds like a great idea, but they do scan the content of the emails to put ads there. They claim no humans see the messages, and we have no proof otherwise, but it is a dangerous idea.
So far, this is all fact. Now my fear is definately theory bordering on conspiracy and I admit that. The sad fact is that all of this is possible and it shouldn't be this close.
They have admitted to the New York Times back in November of 2002 that , "Searches are logged by time of day, originating I.P. address (information that can be used to link searches to a specific computer), and the sites on which the user clicked.". Combine that with gmail and you get a database full of privacy violation. But that is just the start.
In the same New York Times article, when asked if they have ever turned any of this information over to anyone, they denied comment and refused to answer. The fact is that if they didn't log all of this data, and make these intrusive privacy policies, they wouldn't be putting our privacy at risk like this.
What about blogger? Do you think they log that also? Of course they do. They log the people who visit and what they read. They log who says what in their blogs. Then there is Picasa, for pictures on your hard drive. Don't even THINK about what they could find out from that desktop search tool that scours your entire hard drive for all of your files. Maybe it doesn't report everything now, but how long before they do? It may just be flipping a switch in the software to "phone home" with the information on the next update. By the time anyone knows, it is too late. the thought police are coming!
Now many many sites track similar information. Google is by no means the only one guilty of this type of tracking. But because of the large number of their "innovations" they have to potential to tie it all together and create a file on each and every user they have by data mining that information. They most assuredly have profiles on all of us and that should scare you to death. What have you used google for?
Yes, I am playing the "what if" game. But the fact is that it is dangerously close. The same holds true for Microsoft. I just don't have the same level of trust for google that I once had. As soon as they sold out to stickholders, I immediately worried that it would only be a matter of time before this huge database of profiles would be sold to the highest bidder (if it is not already). It is just getting too close to my privacy for my comfort which is why I am very careful about how I use Google and all of their wonderful "innovations".
I think everyone should do the same.
source: "Postcards from planet Google" November 28, 2002.
source: NewsHour with Jim Lehrer November 29, 2002.
source: google-watch.org
source: Binary Revolution Radio episodes 87,86,70,43,42,41.
like it or not. Part of the mindset that we have at Binary Revolution is that internet media is the last bastion of free speech. We have said it on our radio show and our TV show for years now. The FCC cannot regulate us (yet) and instead of us catering to the mass media and government, we are using a new medium to take back what is ours.
I could go into a longer rant about this, but you would be better served to listen to our shows and realize for yourself.
It could get scarier!
I went into a discussion on Binary Revolution Radio (http://www.binrev.com/radio/) episode #80 about the possibility (or rather INEVITABILITY) of Microsoft combining all of its databases from all of its individual services (hotmail, MSDN, spaces, search, etc...) and data mining them for common data. Each individual privacy policy becomes meaningless. They may not sell your data, but they can combine it and put together a pretty powerful profile about you.
The key, and the reason that I pointed it out on this episode, is the new Microsoft genuine program. All of the other databases could have been joined on names, phone numbers, and other PII (Personally Identifiable Information) which is not always reliable. With the new "genuine program" they get a hash of your system as part of the process that uniquely ties you to that computer.
With one anchor like that that *is* reliable (most of the time) they now have a way to tie your visits to your accounts from that PC to all of your other MS service accounts. For example, logging into hotmail from that "marked" PC.
It is not rock solid and may not be completely provable (people do use other peoples computers) but it will work most of the time. That is a very scary data warehouse that could provide extremely targeted advertising which would fetch top dollar from advertisers.
There have been articles in 2600
.
yeah, Acidus wrote the most recent one in Summer 2004 issue at http://store.yahoo.com/2600hacker/summer2004.html
Elonka co-hosted this episode about 2 or 3 weeks ago and we discussed cryptography in general and touched on the specific projects that Elonka has been involved in. If you want to hear her speak, download episode 78 at the archive site.
Do you think implementing a 75 cent fee is going to stop this? Even if a company owns a thousand, this will only cost them 750 bucks more.
Don't get me wrong, the problem you described sucks, but irrelevant to this topic.
Episode 63 of Binary Revolution radio discusses phishing from how it works, to who does it and why to how and why it is on the rise lately.
http://www.binrev.com/radio/archive.html
On episode 60 of Binary Revolution Radio (about 1.5 months ago) we went into great detail on setting up an asterisk PBX from the ground up. You can listen to it (several times if necessary) and be able to set up your own PBX for next to nothing! We have done this and proven that it works and gives immeasurable control to users and huge savings for businesses. - http://www.binrev.com/radio/archive.html
I run several sites, some of which contains information that some people do not like. I provide true information in my WHOIS record, but I am considering changing it to protect my privacy (WITHOUT HAVING TO PAY EXTRA FOR IT). I think I should have a RIGHT to privacy, not the ability to pay for a service to provide the privacy that I have a right to. The problem is that with valid information in my WHOIS record, anyone who doesn't like the content of my site (no, nothing about WAREZ or piracy or terrorism or anything like that) can call me up and harrass me about it.
I have gotten calls at 2 in the morning and people who mess with me simply because they have access to my information. I have a right to not be harrassed or attacked. Calling the police or phone company is a waste of time. I just want the RIGHT to privacy that our forefathers established for us.
Is that really so much to ask?
Either way, I still have no respect for XM. If they are supporting this or turning a blind eye towards it out of fear, either way, they are lame.
Greedy money-grabbers or spineless cowards... Let the consumers sort it out.
Acidus was recently on episode 56 of Binary Revolution Radio (http://radio.binrev.com/) where we discussed his 2600 article and went into detail about his stripesnoop project. If anyone is interested in learning about the tech behind it or hearing about the thought processes that went into it, they should check it out.