Actually, you're both right, in the sense that (A) there are many "legitimate", non-suspicious reasons to search for "controversial" subjects, and (B) more importantly, no search has to justify its own "legitimacy" (which is your point) because of fundamental rights of privacy, particularly investigation without due process and probable cause.
GPP was suggesting perfectly good answers to a question. You're pointing out that the question shouldn't have to be answered at all without some other evidence-based reasonable suspicion.
Shit, if I was a bug, I'd leave the affected program voluntarily, just to avoid that TPS-report-fest in the making and give the lower employees time to breathe.
See? The standard marketing spiel that intense process-driven testing drives out defects is absolutely supportable.
except for a few very-deep-pocketed legacy customers who are willing to pay crazy money to avoid migrating' stage....
So, what you're saying, is that HP is trying to serve the best kind of customers possible (from a marketing perspective): locked in, conservative, change-averse, and rich enough to afford it.
Can you really blame HP for getting upset with Oracle screwing with their money tree?
Especially with Oracle spouting lame crap like "Yeah, Intel said they'd support Itanium, and yeah, their product roadmap shows continued Itanium development for several years, but we know better than Intel. Really. Itanium is dead. Trust us."
The affect of prior incompetent leadership is debatable and indirect. The only speculative link I can come up with is a combination of lowered expectations (i.e., the board might be willing to hire a near-total clinker for CEO because he's still an improvement) and reduced recruiting leverage (smart candidates know enough to avoid that sinking ship, except for the borderline-pathological "turnaround specialist" types whose general business style strongly resembles corporate vivisection).
It's ludicrous that one could purchase a system and then not be allowed to install arbitrary software on it
Indeed, and yet startlingly popular (iDevices, Tivo, consoles, etc.).
The idea of a general-purpose computer in the hands of the masses is dying. It's being killed by the mediocre middle (consumer use focusing on such simple-minded appliance-level functions as social media and entertainment consumption).
The computer and the Internet were once Freedom Machines. Looks like that'll be gone within my lifetime.
And you don't have to aim at one side or the other. They're both legitimate targets!
For my own part, I hope Lodsys manages to at least tire Oracle out a little, and maybe draw a small amount of blood, before being squashed into troll paste. Actually hurting elephantine Oracle is a task beyond any besides maybe Oracle itself (witness Oracle v. Google), but giving Oracle scars it will remember on a cold winter's night would be a worthy goal.
You don't pay up front though, that's a stupid idea.
Stupid as it sounds, the alternative -- not be able to buy gasoline anywhere, because the protocol is absolutely universal in the U.S. -- is far more stupid.
Yeah, the basic method of dispensing fuel is biased towards people who can swipe debit or credit cards, and as mentioned elsewhere, if you overpay when pre-paying, you go back in and get your change. Inconvenient, but again, considering the alternative... (and no, the alternative isn't magically changing retailers change their risk-avoidance behavior. We don't encourage fantasy thinking here.)
I don't think that fire ring was purely self-defense. I suspect the survivor party brought their doom onto themselves by poaching some of the younger, smaller, tastier coconut crabs. After that, the crab community at large was forced to take forceful action to defend themselves.
A lot of combat vehicle engineering trades safety away for effectiveness. Combat aircraft were the first to depend on fly-by-wire automation to overcome relaxed dynamic stability; for instance, without computer control, an F-16 is always on the verge of flying itself out of control and tumbling into pieces, but because the airframe isn't inherently keeping itself stable, it also doesn't resist maneuvers and consequently had the highest G onset rate of any warplane in history (i.e., most responsive and maneuverable).
I always thought the "wingtip" placement of the engines of the B5 Starfury precisely analogous: a risky engineering decision made in order to enhance maneuverability and combat responsiveness.
I think the "cheap as fuck" bit is probably the most important, since many clamshells still use press-locks instead of hermetic sealing (and press-locks are obviously useless at theft prevention).
I've seen a few packages with both hermetical sealing AND press-locks...with the press locks OUTSIDE of the hermetical seal. This would be closer to "stupid as fuck", since cutting away the seal cuts away the press-locks too.
And ejectable, magazine-fed primary beam projectors.
That one always blew my mind. "Here's one of our primary batteries. Everything you see here except the barbette is ejected after firing once and replaced from an automatic feed."
If you're a shoplifter, and you need a pair of scissors (or more likely, a bolt cutter) to open the package, they have succeeded.
After all, once the damn thing is paid for, the manufacturer certainly doesn't care how hard it is to open. They've got theirs. Whereas losses from pilferage take (prospective) money out of their pocket, so THAT is not gonna happen if they have any say in the matter.
And what makes you think the DJ will actually get out of paying these licensing fees by not playing music licensed by "Re:Sound"? I'll bet anything that the DJ will be charged on the basis of his mere presence with equipment at a function, regardless of the contents of his playlist. These "rights agencies" have a track record of extorting their fees whether or not they have any legal rights to the music being played.
So a contractual pledge to avoid such music simply guarantees that the customer won't be getting what they have no choice but to pay for, since the DJ for damn sure isn't eating the unavoidable license fee just because the customer thinks they can avoid it. It'll be buried in the overall fee.
I wonder of Oracle will start a frantic search for Linux kernel checkins from Judge Alsup. That would be hilarious. (And kinda horrifying if they find some, since they might have an think they have an avenue of appeal based on failure to recuse.)
Yeah. I know. They'd be worse than wrong if they did try an appeal on that basis, but judging from the bizarre and self-contradictory legal theory they've put forth during the trial, I am convinced that it wouldn't be beyond them.
there's nothing you can do to a phone that a savvy user can't also do (or undo).
And if you are a phone manufacturer, (A) it's easy to more-or-less do what you're saying, and (B) there will still be people to can find work-arounds to break out of the lockdown.
The only reason I mention this is that Android has an energetic modding community, in spite of platform security built into some of these. (Locked bootloaders, S-ON partitions, etc.)
Just using your "for example" as an example... if you can put flash Cyanogenmod onto the phone, your users can flash a completely different ROM and defeat a lot of the things you want to do. The tools you would use are available to anyone, and if you try to deny your users root (for instance), there are plenty of root exploits available to break that jail.
In general, I think smartphones are too much general-purpose computers to really secure in the static way you're thinking about.
As to the (perhaps more weighty) matters like all-storage encryption, I have never seen a good answer. Anything you could install as an app would probably be too shallow (i.e., not effective before booting). In fact, I don't know if the standard Android Linux kernels are amenable to that; you'd need a custom bootloader or 2nd stage, and I haven't seen those specifically tailored for storage decryption.
I dunno. Sounds like you have a challenge ahead of you.
Slashdot Mirror
Programming languages must have a certain elegance, a flow or symmetry that entices the mind.
Actually, you're both right, in the sense that (A) there are many "legitimate", non-suspicious reasons to search for "controversial" subjects, and (B) more importantly, no search has to justify its own "legitimacy" (which is your point) because of fundamental rights of privacy, particularly investigation without due process and probable cause.
GPP was suggesting perfectly good answers to a question. You're pointing out that the question shouldn't have to be answered at all without some other evidence-based reasonable suspicion.
"I don't think it would be ethical to use this to screen for late-onset diseases like Alzheimer's or cardiovascular diseases, for example."
To which I have to say, "No shit, Sherlock".
Let's hope those ethical concerns have some weight when this process rolls out as a voluntary, or perhaps even mandatory, screening process.
Shit, if I was a bug, I'd leave the affected program voluntarily, just to avoid that TPS-report-fest in the making and give the lower employees time to breathe.
See? The standard marketing spiel that intense process-driven testing drives out defects is absolutely supportable.
except for a few very-deep-pocketed legacy customers who are willing to pay crazy money to avoid migrating' stage....
So, what you're saying, is that HP is trying to serve the best kind of customers possible (from a marketing perspective): locked in, conservative, change-averse, and rich enough to afford it.
Can you really blame HP for getting upset with Oracle screwing with their money tree?
Especially with Oracle spouting lame crap like "Yeah, Intel said they'd support Itanium, and yeah, their product roadmap shows continued Itanium development for several years, but we know better than Intel. Really. Itanium is dead. Trust us."
The affect of prior incompetent leadership is debatable and indirect. The only speculative link I can come up with is a combination of lowered expectations (i.e., the board might be willing to hire a near-total clinker for CEO because he's still an improvement) and reduced recruiting leverage (smart candidates know enough to avoid that sinking ship, except for the borderline-pathological "turnaround specialist" types whose general business style strongly resembles corporate vivisection).
Actually, I think Bradbury underestimated the state of things.
Books aren't even worth burning. Apparently, for a lot of people, they just don't really exist at all.
It's ludicrous that one could purchase a system and then not be allowed to install arbitrary software on it
Indeed, and yet startlingly popular (iDevices, Tivo, consoles, etc.).
The idea of a general-purpose computer in the hands of the masses is dying. It's being killed by the mediocre middle (consumer use focusing on such simple-minded appliance-level functions as social media and entertainment consumption).
The computer and the Internet were once Freedom Machines. Looks like that'll be gone within my lifetime.
And you don't have to aim at one side or the other. They're both legitimate targets!
For my own part, I hope Lodsys manages to at least tire Oracle out a little, and maybe draw a small amount of blood, before being squashed into troll paste. Actually hurting elephantine Oracle is a task beyond any besides maybe Oracle itself (witness Oracle v. Google), but giving Oracle scars it will remember on a cold winter's night would be a worthy goal.
You forgot your "Hurr, durrr...".
Hey, what's that "Whoosh" noise?
You don't pay up front though, that's a stupid idea.
Stupid as it sounds, the alternative -- not be able to buy gasoline anywhere, because the protocol is absolutely universal in the U.S. -- is far more stupid.
Yeah, the basic method of dispensing fuel is biased towards people who can swipe debit or credit cards, and as mentioned elsewhere, if you overpay when pre-paying, you go back in and get your change. Inconvenient, but again, considering the alternative... (and no, the alternative isn't magically changing retailers change their risk-avoidance behavior. We don't encourage fantasy thinking here.)
I don't think that fire ring was purely self-defense. I suspect the survivor party brought their doom onto themselves by poaching some of the younger, smaller, tastier coconut crabs. After that, the crab community at large was forced to take forceful action to defend themselves.
A lot of combat vehicle engineering trades safety away for effectiveness. Combat aircraft were the first to depend on fly-by-wire automation to overcome relaxed dynamic stability; for instance, without computer control, an F-16 is always on the verge of flying itself out of control and tumbling into pieces, but because the airframe isn't inherently keeping itself stable, it also doesn't resist maneuvers and consequently had the highest G onset rate of any warplane in history (i.e., most responsive and maneuverable).
I always thought the "wingtip" placement of the engines of the B5 Starfury precisely analogous: a risky engineering decision made in order to enhance maneuverability and combat responsiveness.
Not that the other chemistry teacher was much better. Replace "Remember the Titans" with self-written poetry readings.
OMG. You got a Vogon chemistry teacher. My hearty congratulations and deeply-felt respect on surviving that captivity.
Serious currencies, I see, not funny money. Like bitcoins.
I think the "cheap as fuck" bit is probably the most important, since many clamshells still use press-locks instead of hermetic sealing (and press-locks are obviously useless at theft prevention).
I've seen a few packages with both hermetical sealing AND press-locks...with the press locks OUTSIDE of the hermetical seal. This would be closer to "stupid as fuck", since cutting away the seal cuts away the press-locks too.
Correction: Meant to type 'inertialess" planets. Inert planets are so mainstream.
And ejectable, magazine-fed primary beam projectors.
That one always blew my mind. "Here's one of our primary batteries. Everything you see here except the barbette is ejected after firing once and replaced from an automatic feed."
That and inerted planets. And the Lens.
If you're a shoplifter, and you need a pair of scissors (or more likely, a bolt cutter) to open the package, they have succeeded.
After all, once the damn thing is paid for, the manufacturer certainly doesn't care how hard it is to open. They've got theirs. Whereas losses from pilferage take (prospective) money out of their pocket, so THAT is not gonna happen if they have any say in the matter.
See? You're doing it wrong.
You should robo-dial them all hours of the day and night until someone answers.
And what makes you think the DJ will actually get out of paying these licensing fees by not playing music licensed by "Re:Sound"? I'll bet anything that the DJ will be charged on the basis of his mere presence with equipment at a function, regardless of the contents of his playlist. These "rights agencies" have a track record of extorting their fees whether or not they have any legal rights to the music being played.
So a contractual pledge to avoid such music simply guarantees that the customer won't be getting what they have no choice but to pay for, since the DJ for damn sure isn't eating the unavoidable license fee just because the customer thinks they can avoid it. It'll be buried in the overall fee.
I wonder of Oracle will start a frantic search for Linux kernel checkins from Judge Alsup. That would be hilarious. (And kinda horrifying if they find some, since they might have an think they have an avenue of appeal based on failure to recuse.)
Yeah. I know. They'd be worse than wrong if they did try an appeal on that basis, but judging from the bizarre and self-contradictory legal theory they've put forth during the trial, I am convinced that it wouldn't be beyond them.
"UEFIBoot* isn't done until grub** won't run!"
*Yeah, I just made that up. Whatever the UEFI handoff to initial bootloader is, the part that depends on the One Key.
**Or the linux bootloader of your choice. The "your choice" part is the real target of this.
Cuz the carnival wasn't in town, so the sideshow freak house wasn't available.
The same reason anyone watches Dr. Phil, really. Right up there with NASCAR and reality TV.
Crashes and other disasters are quite entertaining.
there's nothing you can do to a phone that a savvy user can't also do (or undo).
And if you are a phone manufacturer, (A) it's easy to more-or-less do what you're saying, and (B) there will still be people to can find work-arounds to break out of the lockdown.
The only reason I mention this is that Android has an energetic modding community, in spite of platform security built into some of these. (Locked bootloaders, S-ON partitions, etc.)
Just using your "for example" as an example... if you can put flash Cyanogenmod onto the phone, your users can flash a completely different ROM and defeat a lot of the things you want to do. The tools you would use are available to anyone, and if you try to deny your users root (for instance), there are plenty of root exploits available to break that jail.
In general, I think smartphones are too much general-purpose computers to really secure in the static way you're thinking about.
As to the (perhaps more weighty) matters like all-storage encryption, I have never seen a good answer. Anything you could install as an app would probably be too shallow (i.e., not effective before booting). In fact, I don't know if the standard Android Linux kernels are amenable to that; you'd need a custom bootloader or 2nd stage, and I haven't seen those specifically tailored for storage decryption.
I dunno. Sounds like you have a challenge ahead of you.