I suppose the thinking is, if you don't trust the government with all your secrets, why do you trust them with nuclear weapons? But the difference is, nuclear weapons aren't much good if you don't know who the jews (substitute favorite target group here) are. And if you do know who the jews are, you don't need nuclear weapons.
It sounds like what they are trying to do here is to refactor the algorythm such that f(x)=y produces the same answer but it's not practical to modify because the new function is mathematically scrambled-- the effect of each component of the code is so obscured that it's not so easy to tell how it contributes to the results. It's like using a neural net to implement your solution, the contribution of each neural node to the overall result can be significantly obscure. Won't stop someone from stealing the algorythm as is, but hacking it to produce an alternate result set will be out of the question, as long as they can't just build a truth table of inputs to outputs...
I'm sure the NSA would be perfectly happy to send you ALL the data they have stored, as long as you're willing to accept it in paper hardcopy and am willing to pay the cost of doing it. All 1.3 Petabytes of it...
It's called the GooGoo syndrome. Good Government. As long as you have one, and they believe we do, there's no problem. Just like the good little Nazis did.
If the NSA wasn't sitting on OS bugs because they want back doors, instead of reporting them, there probably wouldn't be so many infected machines to run as botnets.
So just how many tech companies will end up mired in this BS? A bunch of startups pop into business with security products that the NSA want's backdoors into. So they are contacted and inside info is exchanged, or perhaps even access info of some kind. Before long there are hundreds of developers from these startups all knowledgeable about what the NSA is doing regarding data collection. And we have thousands of NSA employees and contractors in on it too. So just who are all these guys keeping their secrets from if half the world knows about them?
Well, then we'll just have to wait for a hacker who gets into a system and uploads massive lists of plate IDs and their location information to Wikileaks. It'll happen sooner or later. Nothing stays secret forever, which is a good reason not to keep massive databases of them. And once a few Congressmen have their vehicles tagged in places they don't want to admit being, the laws will get changed.
Is someone to post detailed location information of a key Congress member or two to the internet. Now if Snowden had collected some of that, it would really have been impressive to release it about now. It might get them moving on limiting the NsA's powers as well.
Yes, it was pretty clear that Bush et. al., would, in their response to 9/11, kill far more Americans and do more financial damage than the terrorists ever dreamed. I figure the terrorists won that battle far better than their greatest expectations. And that many in the US think otherwise merely due to the fact that more of them have died than have us, just shows how bad we are at keeping score. The terrorists have won because they have caused us to lose our rights, to be treated as would-be terrorists or enemies by our own government, and to flush billions of dollars down the toilet in the process. And we took the bait hook line and sinker. One argument would be that we showed our adversaries that our responses to such things are so totally irrational so they'd better not mess with us in the future because there's no telling what we might do. But the problem with that is, our responses actually *were* totally irrational, it's not that they just appeared to be-- which damages us at least as much as it does anyone else, and is continuing to do so.
If you think you have nothing to hide from the government, maybe you should consider that some 250 people have so far been let off death row due to DNA testing which finally overturned their conviction-- presumably many of these were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time and/or pursued by an over-zealous prosecutor. Now imagine an over-zealous prosecutor with the ability to cherry-pick any bit of information he might want about you-- who you've called, where you've been, any email you've ever written, at any time in the past. You might also want to look at the reliability of the no-fly lists, and what happens to those who mistakenly end up on it or are mistaken for someone on it. When the government gets it wrong, you can go to jail, or worse. And the government gets it wrong on a regular basis.
So how long before one of these information insiders just can't resist using some information they've access to, to enrich themselves via the stock market? Does anyone think the SEC would have a Snowden's chance in Hell of finding out about it?
Software developers have an incessant need to add features regularly in order to induce paid updates. Take Microsoft for example-- who needed a completely new UI in Windows 8? Only Microsoft. The only update features I ever need from Microsoft is stability/security/bug fixes. After about another 7 or 8 major rev levels of those, there would be some chance of having a system stable and secure enough to actually depend on-- but that'll never happen, as they're too busy monkeying with it in order to justify paid upgrades.
What are they going to do when the ENEMY's planes are all drones? Note that an enemy with a big pile of drones can, just like we do now, send them out with relative impunity without worry about casualties in the air. Right now we're fighting against low-tech forces so we've gotten spoiled. Low-tech forces may not always be the enemy.
Slashdot Mirror
Finally, a reason to jailbreak my iOS devices. Facebook integration my arse...
Let's all google a bunch of likely keywords, just so we can meet these guys...
I suppose the thinking is, if you don't trust the government with all your secrets, why do you trust them with nuclear weapons? But the difference is, nuclear weapons aren't much good if you don't know who the jews (substitute favorite target group here) are. And if you do know who the jews are, you don't need nuclear weapons.
It sounds like what they are trying to do here is to refactor the algorythm such that f(x)=y produces the same answer but it's not practical to modify because the new function is mathematically scrambled-- the effect of each component of the code is so obscured that it's not so easy to tell how it contributes to the results. It's like using a neural net to implement your solution, the contribution of each neural node to the overall result can be significantly obscure. Won't stop someone from stealing the algorythm as is, but hacking it to produce an alternate result set will be out of the question, as long as they can't just build a truth table of inputs to outputs...
And actually, the terrorists are using something even more effective than that-- carrier pigeons.
You can't get laid off when you're working on a program that "doesn't exist".
This could be useful, I know quite a few politicians that need to grow new heada...
More likely, the NSA is paying them to do it, or in other words, your tax dollars...
Ex-CIA chief Michael Hayden thinks transparency is not a virtue. That is, as long as we're talking about goverment transparency, and not yours.
I'm sure the NSA would be perfectly happy to send you ALL the data they have stored, as long as you're willing to accept it in paper hardcopy and am willing to pay the cost of doing it. All 1.3 Petabytes of it...
It's probably better the amendment didn't pass and give folks the idea the problem was taken care of.
It's called the GooGoo syndrome. Good Government. As long as you have one, and they believe we do, there's no problem. Just like the good little Nazis did.
Yeah, I hear his last name is Snowden.
If the NSA wasn't sitting on OS bugs because they want back doors, instead of reporting them, there probably wouldn't be so many infected machines to run as botnets.
So just how many tech companies will end up mired in this BS? A bunch of startups pop into business with security products that the NSA want's backdoors into. So they are contacted and inside info is exchanged, or perhaps even access info of some kind. Before long there are hundreds of developers from these startups all knowledgeable about what the NSA is doing regarding data collection. And we have thousands of NSA employees and contractors in on it too. So just who are all these guys keeping their secrets from if half the world knows about them?
Got a problem with drones? Just shoot 'em down: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/18/us-usa-colorado-drones-idUSBRE96H02120130718
Well, then we'll just have to wait for a hacker who gets into a system and uploads massive lists of plate IDs and their location information to Wikileaks. It'll happen sooner or later. Nothing stays secret forever, which is a good reason not to keep massive databases of them. And once a few Congressmen have their vehicles tagged in places they don't want to admit being, the laws will get changed.
Yes, if it were possible to give them a dose of their own medicine here, that's about the only thing that might actually work...
Is someone to post detailed location information of a key Congress member or two to the internet. Now if Snowden had collected some of that, it would really have been impressive to release it about now. It might get them moving on limiting the NsA's powers as well.
There's money to be made! Prepare to be barraged with encryption and other security products in 3........2.........1.........
Yes, it was pretty clear that Bush et. al., would, in their response to 9/11, kill far more Americans and do more financial damage than the terrorists ever dreamed. I figure the terrorists won that battle far better than their greatest expectations. And that many in the US think otherwise merely due to the fact that more of them have died than have us, just shows how bad we are at keeping score. The terrorists have won because they have caused us to lose our rights, to be treated as would-be terrorists or enemies by our own government, and to flush billions of dollars down the toilet in the process. And we took the bait hook line and sinker. One argument would be that we showed our adversaries that our responses to such things are so totally irrational so they'd better not mess with us in the future because there's no telling what we might do. But the problem with that is, our responses actually *were* totally irrational, it's not that they just appeared to be-- which damages us at least as much as it does anyone else, and is continuing to do so.
If you think you have nothing to hide from the government, maybe you should consider that some 250 people have so far been let off death row due to DNA testing which finally overturned their conviction-- presumably many of these were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time and/or pursued by an over-zealous prosecutor. Now imagine an over-zealous prosecutor with the ability to cherry-pick any bit of information he might want about you-- who you've called, where you've been, any email you've ever written, at any time in the past. You might also want to look at the reliability of the no-fly lists, and what happens to those who mistakenly end up on it or are mistaken for someone on it. When the government gets it wrong, you can go to jail, or worse. And the government gets it wrong on a regular basis.
So how long before one of these information insiders just can't resist using some information they've access to, to enrich themselves via the stock market? Does anyone think the SEC would have a Snowden's chance in Hell of finding out about it?
Software developers have an incessant need to add features regularly in order to induce paid updates. Take Microsoft for example-- who needed a completely new UI in Windows 8? Only Microsoft. The only update features I ever need from Microsoft is stability/security/bug fixes. After about another 7 or 8 major rev levels of those, there would be some chance of having a system stable and secure enough to actually depend on-- but that'll never happen, as they're too busy monkeying with it in order to justify paid upgrades.
What are they going to do when the ENEMY's planes are all drones? Note that an enemy with a big pile of drones can, just like we do now, send them out with relative impunity without worry about casualties in the air. Right now we're fighting against low-tech forces so we've gotten spoiled. Low-tech forces may not always be the enemy.