How could I sue a large company in the US if they can just keep filing more and more briefs that have to be responded to, adding to my costs? If they do this in Canada, they'll end up having to pay for my costs as well as their own.
In the US I did sue a big company. But if I, well my family as I was in a coma, had to pay them if we lost we would not have been able to seek justice.
It's called loser-pays. We have it up here in Canada, that and less lawsuits.
And the innocent pay for it. I had an accident and my medical bills came to more than US$120,000. If my family had not been able to sue, or had to pay the defense if we had lost, we would not have been able to sue.
There really needs to be a robust system to punish people/companies that file obvious "nuisance lawsuits". The current system simply doesn't work at all.
Having such a system would allow businesses to get away with a lot. As it is now the system does work. I know, I was a party in a lawsuit. About 12 years ago after my classes in college I was riding my bike when I was hit. The accident left me with a permanent disability, a TBI or Traumatic Brain Injury. I spent about a month in the hospital, some of that tyme in a coma, then I lived in a rehab house another 1 1/2 months. After leaving rehab I spent more than a year in therapy. My hospital bills alone came to more than $120,000. If my family had not been able to sue my life would of been a lot worse than it is now, which is a living hell. My family would also have been left to pay the bills. Don't tell me the system doesn't work. It has problems but it does work.
Look at the history of the light bulb and the early development of the electric grid, and you'll see people making profit while providing a service to everyone.
It wasn't for-profit businesses that developed the electrical grid. Businesses like Edison Electric only operated in cities. Electric coops and Franklin D Roosevelt are responsible for the electrification of rural America. And back then much of the electricity was generated by wind turbines.
Hardly the first time American interests have abused NAFTA to the detriment of Canadians.
And what of Canadian interests in abusing NAFTA to the detriment of Americans? Canadian business Methanex, maker of MTBE a gasoline additive which is a known carcinogen, sued California when the state wanting to protect people banned the use of MTBE in the state.
consider all of these big banks asking for a trillion-dollar handout
Those banks shouldn't get a dime from taxpayers. In a somewhat free market they would go bankrupt while the banks who loaned money responsibly would have survived.
Having said that, not supporting bailouts, if congress really wanted to help people instead of giving banks billions of taxpayer dollars if instead those dollars were to go to people who's houses are being foreclosed on more people would be helped. Not only would the banks be helped, those in default would be able to pay their mortgage so the banks would be paid, but those losing their homes would be helped as well.
There are few things that I have experienced the government doing better than a competitive private sector.
I think this case is a pretty good example of competition. Originally the city asked Bridgewater Telephone to install fiber but the business told them to get lost. So the voters decided to install their own fiber. Once they did the company decided to both sue the city and to install their own fiber. So whereas before no choice for fiber existed but now two infrastructures of fiber are being installed. And tow choices are more than zero.
Exactly. You would need more money than you would under an entirely free system, so here we have government manipulation of the economy dissuading the existence of competition.
So you want to allow 1001 businesses to use an easement? How big is that easement? Are you planning to take more land away from property owners to allow all those businesses to lay fiber?
Do you really consider it competition when the government can arbitrarily cripple your business as need be?
It would be bad if the city had crippled the business from laying fiber, buy the city did not do that. The city even asked the business to offer finer service but it refused to do so. It was only after Bridgewater Telephone refused to offer the service when the city decided to do it themselves. Only once the city approved it did Bridgewater start laying fiber. So, once the city does install fiber there will be two competitors whereas there wasn't any before.
And what if I don't like either service. Where's the 3rd company? Oh, that's right, companies aren't allowed to lay their own fiber - government restriction.
The city is not stopping anybody from laying fiber.
Nvidia? That'd be just awesome. I can't think of any other way to make Apple hardware (already more prone to need warranty service than any other manufacturer's product that I can name) any less reliable.
Apple consistently has high high customer satisfaction year after year. I'm typing this on a MacBook Pro I've had for almost 14 months and the only tyme I've taken it down to an Apple store, there are 4 within half hour's drive, was when I got it. Some software I ordered with it was old. I have not had a single hardware problem whereas with 3 new PCs, a Gateway and an HP with Windows and a no name brand PC with Linux preinstalled, the hdd and mobos failed within the first year.
Apple chose to invest in mobile phones instead of DVRs or tablets because, in proportion, those markets are also shrinking.
According to eWeek the market share for tablet is growing. TFA says between 2006 and 2007 the market share doubled and is more than 7% of the mobile market. I'd love the have a Mac Tablet, though Axiotron makes the Modbook Apple itself doesn't have a tablet Mac. I've often thought it might be a good idea for Apple to buy Axiotron, but I bet anti-trust complaints would be filed.
The Mac Mini is for the 'I can't afford a laptop' market, and this is growing steadily smaller.
Anybody getting a Mac Mini because they can't afford a laptop is stupid and deserves to be separated from their money. A Mini can't be used as a laptop period. Sure it's easy to move but it doesn't have a display.
There are plenty of other, proprietary encryption products which do much the same thing in terms of full disk encryption.
I would pose the same question I did with TrueCrypt, how many people know about these products?
If you go for the "full disk encryption" option (and I strongly suggest you do otherwise you open such a huge can of worms you may as well not bother)
What's this can of worms? What does it contain?
The laptop won't boot without a password and/or some sort of hardware key which is carried separately.
And if you lose the key you're in trouble. Though the laptop I'm using now does bootup without a password or anything I have more than one user account on it, only one can install software. I setup and use an account without permissions and only log into the admin account to install stuff and to run updates. Now I could require a password to bootup but that requires creating a root account and if I lose that password I'm up shit creek.
you can hide the micro sd card in your cell phone behind the battery
They search cellphone as well as laptops: Kamran Habib, a software engineer with Cisco Systems, has had his laptop and cellphone searched three times in the past year.
or inside the laptop, where even Mr. Xray wont notice it. There are a lot of un exciting places to hide that most tiny of cards without raising even the slightest suspicion
They're willing to confiscate not just laptops but cellphones, mpg3 players, and other electronic gadgets as well. If they're willing to take one thing they can take other things also.
uninstall Truecrypt before you reach the border, so it doesn't look like you used any encryption, then put it back again when you get home.
Why uninstall it? Instead change it's name. I quickly looked at the apps installed on my laptop and there's more than 50, how long would it take to start everyone to see what it is? And that's supposing a border agent knows what TrueCrypt is.
Hard to sniff out sd cards, tho. Heroin/explosives have chemical signatures
But can those chemical signatures be detected when the heroin or explosives are in your stomach?
SD cards presumably just smell like every other bit of silicon.
Which can be searched. Kamran Habib, a software engineer with Cisco Systems, has had his laptop and cellphone searched three times in the past year. Once, in San Francisco, an officer "went through every number and text message on my cellphone and took out my SIM card in the back," said Habib, a permanent U.S. resident. "So now, every time I travel, I basically clean out my phone. It's better for me to keep my colleagues and friends safe than to get them on the list as well. "
Homeland Security can seize electronics indefinitely".
Probably the best solution is to have a hidden partition with the secure operating system whereby the secure operating system is only booted if a "key" (typically a USB memory module or other USB device) is inserted during the boot process AND then the corresponding password entered at the prompt. .
It would seem likely that USB key would be taken in for examination as well. If border security sees a key and a lock what happens when they ask you to open the door?
Don't have the key with the laptop, and modify the key. The laptop can be in a backpack and the key, painted or with stickers or whatever, is in luggage, say in a toothbrush holder with the hygienic, toiletry, stuff.
The border police on duty likely have no knowledge of TrueCrypt and its various technical modes (that information is above their pay grade)
That assumption strikes me as pure Geek - just a little too arrogant and careless.
How many people have heard of TrueCrypt? Of those how many know what it is? I only heard of TrueCrypt earlier this year and I think I know more about computers and software than most people so I'd bet most people have never heard of it. Sure, border guards could be taught stuff like how to find it but to learn everything to look for, remember they're also looking for drugs, explosives, and other contraband, they'd have to spend a lot of tyme in classes. It's not arrogance to expect border guards to know everything they need to know to find everything, heck only a small fraction of drugs are stopped.
Such a plan is an invitation for disaster and confiscation. Don't think for a second that encryption isn't a red flag.
CodeBuster is talking about using TrueCrypt though, which hides volumes so they don't even show up on the storage media whether an hdd or a flash drive. The data encrypted is in these volumes.
A recent court decision has affirmed that Fifth Amendment protections apply to encrypted data... if the password is in your head, you can't legally be forced to reveal it.
There's bad news too, judges have ruled US Customs can confiscate laptops. And if they do you don't know when, or if, you'll get it back.
Basically, at the moment an official asks you for your encryption password and you provide the incorrect one, you have probably committed a crime.
You have only committed a crime, perjury, if you are sworn in. Otherwise the 5th amendment protect you from self incrimination.
restricted in getting foreign visas
US government doesn't give visas, the counties being visited do.
being detained for a long and uncomfortable time with a large fine
You can not be held more than 24 hours without being charged. And if you are charged you can sue for false arrest. This almost happened to me, I was at a shopping mall when some mall security personnel came up. They asked me to follow them to a room then called the police. Once the police arrived security asked me for my id and at first I refused to show it, so then they said if I didn't show it they would have me arrested. Not knowing they could do that I asked the officers if they could and they said yes. So I ended up giving security my id. Later I told my brother-in-law who's a laws school graduate about it and he confirmed it. I asked him what I should have done and he said I should have let them arrest me saying I'd have a good case to sue them for false arrest.
However this happened before 911 so it might not apply now.
to be fair a micro sd card is easier to hide then let's say, heroin or explosives...
I think it's easier to swallow heroin and explosives than it is to swallow a micro sd card. Now I don't know if anyone's swallowed explosives but drug carriers do swallow drugs.
However, there is one big note of caution. Do not back up the container. Ever. An attacker could look at the change over time and determine there is a hidden volume. That's probably too paranoid for your case but it's worth mentioning.
If you have two copies of your "big file of random data" and one of them has a small amount of the file changed, then that indicates that there is data in there somewhere that's being changed.
To compare though you need or more things to compare. I can backups all I want but if I don't bring a backup with me there's nothing to compare the state the storage I have with me is to.
Seems like overkill if he is just wanting to transfer his pictures and not get hassled. I am assuming you have a Windows box at home,yes? One that has a nice 24/7 Internet connection like cable/DSL? If that is the case then the answer is very simple:
Actually it's not so simple. If there's a lot of storage used broadband will be needed to send it but it may not be available. A static IP address will also be needed and while cable/DSL is supposed to be "always on" not every cable or dsl provider provides a static address. Also he says he wants to rip movies and music he can enjoy on the flight, this may cause problems though that can be easy to fix. He can bring the original paid for media with him. A possible problem with that though is that airlines are limiting how much baggage and luggage a person can bring.
Slashdot Mirror
How could I sue a large company in the US if they can just keep filing more and more briefs that have to be responded to, adding to my costs? If they do this in Canada, they'll end up having to pay for my costs as well as their own.
In the US I did sue a big company. But if I, well my family as I was in a coma, had to pay them if we lost we would not have been able to seek justice.
Falcon
It's called loser-pays. We have it up here in Canada, that and less lawsuits.
And the innocent pay for it. I had an accident and my medical bills came to more than US$120,000. If my family had not been able to sue, or had to pay the defense if we had lost, we would not have been able to sue.
Falcon
There really needs to be a robust system to punish people/companies that file obvious "nuisance lawsuits". The current system simply doesn't work at all.
Having such a system would allow businesses to get away with a lot. As it is now the system does work. I know, I was a party in a lawsuit. About 12 years ago after my classes in college I was riding my bike when I was hit. The accident left me with a permanent disability, a TBI or Traumatic Brain Injury. I spent about a month in the hospital, some of that tyme in a coma, then I lived in a rehab house another 1 1/2 months. After leaving rehab I spent more than a year in therapy. My hospital bills alone came to more than $120,000. If my family had not been able to sue my life would of been a lot worse than it is now, which is a living hell. My family would also have been left to pay the bills. Don't tell me the system doesn't work. It has problems but it does work.
Falcon
If a competent private company can so easily compete with the city, why does it need to sue?
I was wondering the same thing but maybe GP was saying the company was not competent.
Falcon
Look at the history of the light bulb and the early development of the electric grid, and you'll see people making profit while providing a service to everyone.
It wasn't for-profit businesses that developed the electrical grid. Businesses like Edison Electric only operated in cities. Electric coops and Franklin D Roosevelt are responsible for the electrification of rural America. And back then much of the electricity was generated by wind turbines.
Falcon
Hardly the first time American interests have abused NAFTA to the detriment of Canadians.
And what of Canadian interests in abusing NAFTA to the detriment of Americans? Canadian business Methanex, maker of MTBE a gasoline additive which is a known carcinogen, sued California when the state wanting to protect people banned the use of MTBE in the state.
Falcon
consider all of these big banks asking for a trillion-dollar handout
Those banks shouldn't get a dime from taxpayers. In a somewhat free market they would go bankrupt while the banks who loaned money responsibly would have survived.
Having said that, not supporting bailouts, if congress really wanted to help people instead of giving banks billions of taxpayer dollars if instead those dollars were to go to people who's houses are being foreclosed on more people would be helped. Not only would the banks be helped, those in default would be able to pay their mortgage so the banks would be paid, but those losing their homes would be helped as well.
Falcon
There are few things that I have experienced the government doing better than a competitive private sector.
I think this case is a pretty good example of competition. Originally the city asked Bridgewater Telephone to install fiber but the business told them to get lost. So the voters decided to install their own fiber. Once they did the company decided to both sue the city and to install their own fiber. So whereas before no choice for fiber existed but now two infrastructures of fiber are being installed. And tow choices are more than zero.
Falcon
at least with democratic big government, the people have the opportunity to call a wayward leadership to account.
But that didn't help the people, congress still approved the bailout of large banks.
Falcon
Exactly. You would need more money than you would under an entirely free system, so here we have government manipulation of the economy dissuading the existence of competition.
So you want to allow 1001 businesses to use an easement? How big is that easement? Are you planning to take more land away from property owners to allow all those businesses to lay fiber?
Falcon
Do you really consider it competition when the government can arbitrarily cripple your business as need be?
It would be bad if the city had crippled the business from laying fiber, buy the city did not do that. The city even asked the business to offer finer service but it refused to do so. It was only after Bridgewater Telephone refused to offer the service when the city decided to do it themselves. Only once the city approved it did Bridgewater start laying fiber. So, once the city does install fiber there will be two competitors whereas there wasn't any before.
And what if I don't like either service. Where's the 3rd company? Oh, that's right, companies aren't allowed to lay their own fiber - government restriction.
The city is not stopping anybody from laying fiber.
Falcon
Nvidia? That'd be just awesome. I can't think of any other way to make Apple hardware (already more prone to need warranty service than any other manufacturer's product that I can name) any less reliable.
Apple consistently has high high customer satisfaction year after year. I'm typing this on a MacBook Pro I've had for almost 14 months and the only tyme I've taken it down to an Apple store, there are 4 within half hour's drive, was when I got it. Some software I ordered with it was old. I have not had a single hardware problem whereas with 3 new PCs, a Gateway and an HP with Windows and a no name brand PC with Linux preinstalled, the hdd and mobos failed within the first year.
Falcon
Apple chose to invest in mobile phones instead of DVRs or tablets because, in proportion, those markets are also shrinking.
According to eWeek the market share for tablet is growing. TFA says between 2006 and 2007 the market share doubled and is more than 7% of the mobile market. I'd love the have a Mac Tablet, though Axiotron makes the Modbook Apple itself doesn't have a tablet Mac. I've often thought it might be a good idea for Apple to buy Axiotron, but I bet anti-trust complaints would be filed.
Falcon
The Mac Mini is for the 'I can't afford a laptop' market, and this is growing steadily smaller.
Anybody getting a Mac Mini because they can't afford a laptop is stupid and deserves to be separated from their money. A Mini can't be used as a laptop period. Sure it's easy to move but it doesn't have a display.
Fslcon
There are plenty of other, proprietary encryption products which do much the same thing in terms of full disk encryption.
I would pose the same question I did with TrueCrypt, how many people know about these products?
If you go for the "full disk encryption" option (and I strongly suggest you do otherwise you open such a huge can of worms you may as well not bother)
What's this can of worms? What does it contain?
The laptop won't boot without a password and/or some sort of hardware key which is carried separately.
And if you lose the key you're in trouble. Though the laptop I'm using now does bootup without a password or anything I have more than one user account on it, only one can install software. I setup and use an account without permissions and only log into the admin account to install stuff and to run updates. Now I could require a password to bootup but that requires creating a root account and if I lose that password I'm up shit creek.
Falcon
you can hide the micro sd card in your cell phone behind the battery
They search cellphone as well as laptops: Kamran Habib, a software engineer with Cisco Systems, has had his laptop and cellphone searched three times in the past year.
or inside the laptop, where even Mr. Xray wont notice it. There are a lot of un exciting places to hide that most tiny of cards without raising even the slightest suspicion
They're willing to confiscate not just laptops but cellphones, mpg3 players, and other electronic gadgets as well. If they're willing to take one thing they can take other things also.
Falcon
uninstall Truecrypt before you reach the border, so it doesn't look like you used any encryption, then put it back again when you get home.
Why uninstall it? Instead change it's name. I quickly looked at the apps installed on my laptop and there's more than 50, how long would it take to start everyone to see what it is? And that's supposing a border agent knows what TrueCrypt is.
Falcon
Hard to sniff out sd cards, tho. Heroin/explosives have chemical signatures
But can those chemical signatures be detected when the heroin or explosives are in your stomach?
SD cards presumably just smell like every other bit of silicon.
Which can be searched. Kamran Habib, a software engineer with Cisco Systems, has had his laptop and cellphone searched three times in the past year. Once, in San Francisco, an officer "went through every number and text message on my cellphone and took out my SIM card in the back," said Habib, a permanent U.S. resident. "So now, every time I travel, I basically clean out my phone. It's better for me to keep my colleagues and friends safe than to get them on the list as well. " Homeland Security can seize electronics indefinitely".
Falcon
Probably the best solution is to have a hidden partition with the secure operating system whereby the secure operating system is only booted if a "key" (typically a USB memory module or other USB device) is inserted during the boot process AND then the corresponding password entered at the prompt.
.
It would seem likely that USB key would be taken in for examination as well. If border security sees a key and a lock what happens when they ask you to open the door?
Don't have the key with the laptop, and modify the key. The laptop can be in a backpack and the key, painted or with stickers or whatever, is in luggage, say in a toothbrush holder with the hygienic, toiletry, stuff.
The border police on duty likely have no knowledge of TrueCrypt and its various technical modes (that information is above their pay grade)
That assumption strikes me as pure Geek - just a little too arrogant and careless.
How many people have heard of TrueCrypt? Of those how many know what it is? I only heard of TrueCrypt earlier this year and I think I know more about computers and software than most people so I'd bet most people have never heard of it. Sure, border guards could be taught stuff like how to find it but to learn everything to look for, remember they're also looking for drugs, explosives, and other contraband, they'd have to spend a lot of tyme in classes. It's not arrogance to expect border guards to know everything they need to know to find everything, heck only a small fraction of drugs are stopped.
Falcon
Such a plan is an invitation for disaster and confiscation. Don't think for a second that encryption isn't a red flag.
CodeBuster is talking about using TrueCrypt though, which hides volumes so they don't even show up on the storage media whether an hdd or a flash drive. The data encrypted is in these volumes.
Falcon
A recent court decision has affirmed that Fifth Amendment protections apply to encrypted data ... if the password is in your head, you can't legally be forced to reveal it.
There's bad news too, judges have ruled US Customs can confiscate laptops. And if they do you don't know when, or if, you'll get it back.
Falcon
Basically, at the moment an official asks you for your encryption password and you provide the incorrect one, you have probably committed a crime.
You have only committed a crime, perjury, if you are sworn in. Otherwise the 5th amendment protect you from self incrimination.
restricted in getting foreign visas
US government doesn't give visas, the counties being visited do.
being detained for a long and uncomfortable time with a large fine
You can not be held more than 24 hours without being charged. And if you are charged you can sue for false arrest. This almost happened to me, I was at a shopping mall when some mall security personnel came up. They asked me to follow them to a room then called the police. Once the police arrived security asked me for my id and at first I refused to show it, so then they said if I didn't show it they would have me arrested. Not knowing they could do that I asked the officers if they could and they said yes. So I ended up giving security my id. Later I told my brother-in-law who's a laws school graduate about it and he confirmed it. I asked him what I should have done and he said I should have let them arrest me saying I'd have a good case to sue them for false arrest.
However this happened before 911 so it might not apply now.
Falcon
to be fair a micro sd card is easier to hide then let's say, heroin or explosives...
I think it's easier to swallow heroin and explosives than it is to swallow a micro sd card. Now I don't know if anyone's swallowed explosives but drug carriers do swallow drugs.
Falcon
However, there is one big note of caution. Do not back up the container. Ever. An attacker could look at the change over time and determine there is a hidden volume. That's probably too paranoid for your case but it's worth mentioning.
If you have two copies of your "big file of random data" and one of them has a small amount of the file changed, then that indicates that there is data in there somewhere that's being changed.
To compare though you need or more things to compare. I can backups all I want but if I don't bring a backup with me there's nothing to compare the state the storage I have with me is to.
Falcon
Seems like overkill if he is just wanting to transfer his pictures and not get hassled. I am assuming you have a Windows box at home,yes? One that has a nice 24/7 Internet connection like cable/DSL? If that is the case then the answer is very simple:
Actually it's not so simple. If there's a lot of storage used broadband will be needed to send it but it may not be available. A static IP address will also be needed and while cable/DSL is supposed to be "always on" not every cable or dsl provider provides a static address. Also he says he wants to rip movies and music he can enjoy on the flight, this may cause problems though that can be easy to fix. He can bring the original paid for media with him. A possible problem with that though is that airlines are limiting how much baggage and luggage a person can bring.
Falcon