To be fair, writing.NET code in VB is exactly the same as writing it in C# -- compile them both and you get CIL code. Although I agree that these guys are likely incompetent, it's not fair to say "anyone who writes in VB is incompetent at programming".
I read the comments on that blog post you linked. The main issue is when someone is logged in at two places at once. The summary-of-the-summary of what happens is that OTR doesn't know how to handle that case, freaks out, and goes into a near-infinite loop.
Any encryption can be broken eventually, but in my mind the primary purpose of encryption is making it so that the cost of snooping is sufficiently high that it's not really worth it in most cases. Even if you're able to pinpoint the communication you want to decrypt, with strong encryption you'll have to brute-force it. By the time you decrypt the information, it's likely not relevant anymore.
There's nothing you can do to stop 100% of the instances of snooping or data breaches, but if you don't use encryption, you're making it easy.
Ok, well the safekeeping of private information, and the safekeeping of confidential information both fall under the heading of data security.
Since increased data security can only lead to better protection of information, whether it's private or confidential, I am an advocate of strong data security being included as standard in all operating systems and applications.
What people want laws for is so that private institutions (banks, especially) can be punished for letting customers' private information out.
Obviously, there's only so much you can do about lawbreakers being in government, but there's no need for total apathy. Corrupt politicians can be voted out, and bureaucrats can be fired by new politicians if the public makes enough of a stink.
As for laziness, this is why encryption should be installed as standard in operating systems and applications. I'd love it if Pidgin, for example, came with the Off The Record plugin by default. Then my IMs could be encrypted with all Pidgin users, and not just the ones who bothered to install OTR. I'd also love it if Ubuntu offered TrueCrypt's functionality in its installation partitioner.
If you have information that's super secret, then keeping it off computers is all well and good, but what about things that aren't secret per se, but you still want to remain relatively private?
For these things, modern encryption is perfect. It makes it sufficiently hidden that you can't just "read the text going across the wire". Credit card numbers, remote passwords, the amount of cash you took out from the ATM today, your sexual fetishes... these are all pieces of information that may not be of importance to national security, but I bet you wouldn't want any of those things going out on the wire unencrypted.
Encryption is never a bad thing. The more prevalent it is, the bigger the haystack is when someone sends out that "needle" of really critical encrypted information.
Yes, thank you for the correction. I've read most of that engineer's posts on the album, but in making my post I was trying to go from memory. Bad idea.
So, with it fresh in my mind now: yes, you're right. Ted Jensen was the mastering engineer, and he reported that he received the album with the levels all the way up, and the whole album rife with clipping.
In any case, I think the album is still musically good, I just can't stand listening to the original version because of the clipping.
has now spent the last 10 years making ever-shittier "music" while pulling the ladder up behind him.
...except that the crappy mastering was not done by Lars Ulrich, or Rick Rubin for that matter. Metallica made an album -- a damn good one, I think -- and then the mastering engineer ruined it by participating in the loudness war.
Personally, I think it'd be hilarious if Lars didn't download the original album, but one of the remastered versions that used the Guitar Hero versions as the base. "I made this album, and I can't even get a good-sounding version of it without BitTorrent!"
Well, for one thing, they timed some things that can't be measured easily without a stopwatch, like OS and app start times. Also, some GUI programs don't take command-line options (most proprietary media encoders, for instance), so your only two choices are either a stopwatch, or trusting that the app timed itself correctly.
When you're comparing performance of compressing an 8GB folder with 1000 files, or total time to encode a 2-hour movie, it's perfectly acceptable to use a stopwatch, and have your margin of error be +/- 1 second.
GP likely said "90 years" without looking it up; it's 70 years after the author's death. However, I think you're thinking of corporate-produced material, which is generally 120 years after original creation.
Well, it's like Penn said on one episode of "Bullshit":
"We're biased as all fuck. But, we try to be honest."
Of course you're biased -- you want "The People" to win. But that doesn't mean you let your bias get in the way of your professionalism. I haven't seen you "forget" to include a piece of information in any reporting you've done.
They may have overturned the original ruling, but the analogy still holds: it still would be illegal to falsely shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater, as it would incite a dangerous stampede of theatergoers.
simply because someone yelled "computer!" in a crowded court room.
I say we prosecute anyone who shouts "computer!" in a crowded court room for the mere cause of starting a panic. If we play our cards right, their actions will be exempt from First Amendment protections.
A big thing is the same thing people have against VB: there may not be anything technically wrong with it, but bad programmers are drawn to it because it's easy, so you hardly ever see a good VB program. There's especially nothing wrong with VB now, when writing a program in VB.NET gets you the same result as if you'd written it in C#: you still get CIL code when it's compiled.
However, Javascript gets used for way too much, and historically it's been a huge browser security issue. Even if you use it responsibly, that doesn't mean everyone does.
Slashdot Mirror
Must be awkward for female twins...
To be fair, writing .NET code in VB is exactly the same as writing it in C# -- compile them both and you get CIL code. Although I agree that these guys are likely incompetent, it's not fair to say "anyone who writes in VB is incompetent at programming".
Can I use Firefox or another Browser?
No! For security reasons, and some significant processing issues as well, the only supported Browser is Internet Explorer Release 6 or later.
I read the comments on that blog post you linked. The main issue is when someone is logged in at two places at once. The summary-of-the-summary of what happens is that OTR doesn't know how to handle that case, freaks out, and goes into a near-infinite loop.
Any encryption can be broken eventually, but in my mind the primary purpose of encryption is making it so that the cost of snooping is sufficiently high that it's not really worth it in most cases. Even if you're able to pinpoint the communication you want to decrypt, with strong encryption you'll have to brute-force it. By the time you decrypt the information, it's likely not relevant anymore.
There's nothing you can do to stop 100% of the instances of snooping or data breaches, but if you don't use encryption, you're making it easy.
Ok, well the safekeeping of private information, and the safekeeping of confidential information both fall under the heading of data security.
Since increased data security can only lead to better protection of information, whether it's private or confidential, I am an advocate of strong data security being included as standard in all operating systems and applications.
Is that statement specific enough for you? ;)
What people want laws for is so that private institutions (banks, especially) can be punished for letting customers' private information out.
Obviously, there's only so much you can do about lawbreakers being in government, but there's no need for total apathy. Corrupt politicians can be voted out, and bureaucrats can be fired by new politicians if the public makes enough of a stink.
As for laziness, this is why encryption should be installed as standard in operating systems and applications. I'd love it if Pidgin, for example, came with the Off The Record plugin by default. Then my IMs could be encrypted with all Pidgin users, and not just the ones who bothered to install OTR. I'd also love it if Ubuntu offered TrueCrypt's functionality in its installation partitioner.
If you have information that's super secret, then keeping it off computers is all well and good, but what about things that aren't secret per se, but you still want to remain relatively private?
For these things, modern encryption is perfect. It makes it sufficiently hidden that you can't just "read the text going across the wire". Credit card numbers, remote passwords, the amount of cash you took out from the ATM today, your sexual fetishes... these are all pieces of information that may not be of importance to national security, but I bet you wouldn't want any of those things going out on the wire unencrypted.
Encryption is never a bad thing. The more prevalent it is, the bigger the haystack is when someone sends out that "needle" of really critical encrypted information.
Yes, thank you for the correction. I've read most of that engineer's posts on the album, but in making my post I was trying to go from memory. Bad idea.
So, with it fresh in my mind now: yes, you're right. Ted Jensen was the mastering engineer, and he reported that he received the album with the levels all the way up, and the whole album rife with clipping.
In any case, I think the album is still musically good, I just can't stand listening to the original version because of the clipping.
He probably didn't have his torrent client settings set to download as efficiently as possible, as you undoubtedly do.
has now spent the last 10 years making ever-shittier "music" while pulling the ladder up behind him.
...except that the crappy mastering was not done by Lars Ulrich, or Rick Rubin for that matter. Metallica made an album -- a damn good one, I think -- and then the mastering engineer ruined it by participating in the loudness war.
Personally, I think it'd be hilarious if Lars didn't download the original album, but one of the remastered versions that used the Guitar Hero versions as the base. "I made this album, and I can't even get a good-sounding version of it without BitTorrent!"
Well, for one thing, they timed some things that can't be measured easily without a stopwatch, like OS and app start times. Also, some GUI programs don't take command-line options (most proprietary media encoders, for instance), so your only two choices are either a stopwatch, or trusting that the app timed itself correctly.
When you're comparing performance of compressing an 8GB folder with 1000 files, or total time to encode a 2-hour movie, it's perfectly acceptable to use a stopwatch, and have your margin of error be +/- 1 second.
Alexander Graham Bell.
GP likely said "90 years" without looking it up; it's 70 years after the author's death. However, I think you're thinking of corporate-produced material, which is generally 120 years after original creation.
There's a big table here that explains all of the various possibilities:
http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/public_domain/
Maybe if you buy more CDs from bands who produce concept albums, it'll be worth it!
For this reason, I despise anyone who will buy "1 or 2 songs you like" from Pink Floyd.
However, I'll agree for most pop crap, it's the hit singles you want, and everything else is filler.
Well, it's like Penn said on one episode of "Bullshit":
"We're biased as all fuck. But, we try to be honest."
Of course you're biased -- you want "The People" to win. But that doesn't mean you let your bias get in the way of your professionalism. I haven't seen you "forget" to include a piece of information in any reporting you've done.
Well, a light on each side of the bed is handy for those of us who don't sleep alone...
They may have overturned the original ruling, but the analogy still holds: it still would be illegal to falsely shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater, as it would incite a dangerous stampede of theatergoers.
Red designates new articles ("hot off the press") that have no comments yet.
simply because someone yelled "computer!" in a crowded court room.
I say we prosecute anyone who shouts "computer!" in a crowded court room for the mere cause of starting a panic. If we play our cards right, their actions will be exempt from First Amendment protections.
Troll.
If they're protecting those poor underdog artists, then what's with the extortion tactics they use?
They'd have more success with racketeering than extortion.
Thank you for your coverage of these events, even if you're biased. ;)
Then again, consider the audience!
Yeah, but I don't trade stocks, so I'll start using it now. I mean, nuclear secrets look nothing like stock information, right?
A big thing is the same thing people have against VB: there may not be anything technically wrong with it, but bad programmers are drawn to it because it's easy, so you hardly ever see a good VB program. There's especially nothing wrong with VB now, when writing a program in VB.NET gets you the same result as if you'd written it in C#: you still get CIL code when it's compiled.
However, Javascript gets used for way too much, and historically it's been a huge browser security issue. Even if you use it responsibly, that doesn't mean everyone does.