Is there evidence that profiling passengers based on appearance and behavior is not more effective than randomized screening?
Yes. MIT published a paper entitled "Carnival Booth" that demonstrated that random screening is more secure than profiling, essentially due to the latter's vulnerability to probing:
It was -1 for the "moderator didn't agree" reason. Censorship in plain language.
Hey, you got one too. I'd like one, as well... Have we got any lil' tyrants with mod points to spare?
"Under a forum which down-mods any unjustly, the true place for a just comment is also down-modded... the only comment score on a censored forum with which a free user can abide with honor." — (I'm sorry, Mr.) Henry David Thoreau
On the face of it he did the right thing, but he didn't finish the job. He's holding out on us.
You're referring to Snowden's unreleased documents and his cautiousness in regard to "harming US interests," versus supplying us with the facts we need to accurately identify other crimes and the full extent of those we've learned about? (Assuming I've gotten your meaning,) I agree to a certain extent; as long as the hypocrites in government — and the governed who buy their bullshit — are throwing around labels such as "traitor" and "criminal," perhaps he should go ahead with a complete disclosure of all documents.
On the other hand, a lot of Snowden supports (particularly, prominent public figures) would likely withdraw their support or turn against him for doing so, as the caution he's exercised is frequently brought up in his defense. I don't know how important that support is to Snowden, or how it might affect his ability to remain free/safe/alive. Also, I can't speculate on the gravity of the undisclosed information; that is, if the abuses are serious enough (in contrast to what we've learned so far) to turn the public's attention away from the messenger and back to the message. I have a hard time criticizing his methods, considering what he's already sacrificed (e.g., his home, personal relationships, etc.) and what he has at stake (i.e., his life).
One last thing I'd like to add regarding Snowden's (and Glen Greenwald's) methods: I think the way the leaks have been trickled have been superb, for two reasons: 1) They've helped keep these violations in the consciousness of a public with a very short attention span, and 2) they've given us some opportunities to catch government officials lying in regard to the extent of their abuses.
Yet another tiresome game of charades. It's beginning to sound like another honeypot, like Manning's, or a ploy by mass media for higher ratings and ad rates.
Could you please elaborate (particularly in regard to honeypot(s))? Are you suggesting that Manning's (and possibly Snowden's) leaks are part of a planned disinformation campaign? I'd like to discuss this further if you could please clarify (either here or your journal).
I sure don't expect any change in future elections. All these scandals since Nixon, and republicans and democrats are still running the show for their corporate masters.
I won't argue with you there, but I'll continue to do what I've been doing for most of my life: Voting third-party, donating to ACLU, talking to friends and family, and refuting government/corporate propaganda when and where I see it repeated. What else can I do? My resources are extremely limited, and while the fight I help give may be weak and destined to fail, I can't just roll over and do nothing — the least I can do is not help them, ya know?
Got my first strike from AT&T for downloading broadcast copies of Sons of Anarchy. I subscribe to FX, so I was basically time-shifting.
That sucks.
I've already decided that I won't stop; if I "strike out," I'll just have to wait to get back in the "game"... what is it, like a few weeks of service degradation, if I recall? Like I indicated in an earlier post, I consider uploading an important tool for keeping and maintaining our culture amongst ourselves, and keeping it out of the sole hands of those who've proven that can't be trusted to maintain it — (create some of it, yes — I will give them that).
Out of curiosity, did you quit? (No disrespect if you did, as the risk analysis certainly yours to make.)
The ones entitled "Level 1" and "Primary Threats" are the most important of the free lists*; they cover government entities, anti-P2P NGOs, major imaginary property "owners"/copyright cartels/litigants and their favorite law firms. Those lists are updated on a near-daily basis.
Bogon (invalid/future-reserved/private (local)) IP ranges also get hit a lot (at least for me), but I have no idea whether those connection attempts are being initiated by anti-P2P entities, In any case, a phony IP attempting trying to access P2P ports doesn't spell "friendly peer" to me.
Make sure your favorite trackers** aren't blocked (or make exceptions for them); I also use exceptions for NIST and USNO in order to access their NTP servers.
* I don't have a paid subscription, but the free lists have (apparently) provided me with a sufficient. ** Please be aware that querying trackers*** is a technique favored by anti-P2P entities for harvesting the IPs of their victims-to-be. *** Public trackers especially; I don't know how deeply embedded they are into private tracker communities.
I'm sorry, I neglected to repair the exponents in the text I copied and pasted:
A typical neutron star has a mass between about 1.4 and 3.2 solar masses [...] with a corresponding radius of about 12 km [...] In contrast, the Sun's radius is about 60,000 times that. Neutron stars have overall densities [...] of 3.7×10^17 to 5.9×10^17 kg/m3 (2.6×1014 to 4.1×10^14 times the density of the Sun), which compares with the approximate density of an atomic nucleus of 3×10^17 kg/m3. [...] This density is approximately equivalent to the mass of a Boeing 747 compressed to the size of a small grain of sand.
But isn't that just over 2 earth masses? Still seems small coming from an object the size of a star, let alone two of them.
Note that these are neutron stars being referenced here — they possess some unusual and extreme physical properties. Excerpted from Wikipedia:
A typical neutron star has a mass between about 1.4 and 3.2 solar masses [...] with a corresponding radius of about 12 km [...] In contrast, the Sun's radius is about 60,000 times that. Neutron stars have overall densities [...] of 3.7×1017 to 5.9×1017 kg/m3 (2.6×1014 to 4.1×1014 times the density of the Sun), which compares with the approximate density of an atomic nucleus of 3×1017 kg/m3. [...] This density is approximately equivalent to the mass of a Boeing 747 compressed to the size of a small grain of sand.
It could also potentially help curb many of the plaque related neural issues (I think it was mentioned on slashdot years ago that Down syndrome had plaque buildup similiar to alzheimers.) Assuming this chromosome is in part responsible for that plaque buildup, it might allow more Down syndrome sufferers to continue functioning at their current level rather than degrading further in the future.
The chromosome isn't what's responsible for the plaque buildup; it's the sheer number of them that are awarded to competitors in the Special Olympics.
Add mental health care and therapy to that. Fix the economic incentives and personal problems that can lead back to crime and you could very well create responsible citizens.
Leave it to the US prison-industrial complex to turn "therapy" into (what I consider to be) a violation of the Eighth Amendment.
Some comparative benefits of using torrent sites like Kickass Torrents include near-immunity from US tampering (thanks to foreign hosting), ability to share with others (and thus help keep important works in circulation, and out of the sole custodianship of corporate "imaginary property" cartels and their so-called "vaults," left to decay and be forgotten), and the diversity of works I mentioned earlier — particularly those that have been dropped from sale/publication out of greed.
As for that "six-strike" nonsense, as far as I can tell the whole thing was a psy-op, or is otherwise completely ineffectual; I upload ~120GB per day (six-month average) and have yet to receive a complaint. Though, I think it's worth noting that since that program began, I've been avoiding public trackers and relied more on DHT and PEX, and I've always used anti-P2P IP blocking and forced protocol encryption.
I would love to donate to [their] cause but then I'd be put on a list for increased surveillance because I sided with someone the gov doesn't like. Sounds like tin foil hattery but then so did PRISM until it came to light...
As far as I understand the programs that we know about, the default surveillance level is so extensive that any triggered increase would necessitate physical tracking (e.g., FBI GPS, etc.) and/or manual analysis (e.g., a human listening to your calls, reading you email, etc.) — things that (presently) aren't feasible to perform against the large number for people that are supporting the.
Further, I believe that from the government's perspective, donating to ACLU, EFF, et al. is certainly considered more benign than participating in a protest or joining a class-action lawsuit against them. There are ways to transfer donations anonymously, if you're so inclined (which, for the record, I am). If you have a friend or family member who doesn't wear a foil* hat, I bet one of them would be willing to send a donation on your behalf in exchange for a small fee or out of the goodness of their heart.
* Aluminum foil; I call bullshit on all claims of tin foil hat ownership.
What the fuck does that statement even mean? How does jacking off have anything in common with telling authorities to stop [oppressing] us? You're the moron.
The most depressing aspect to me is how the judicial branch has failed to protect us from repeated attacks by the executive and legislative branches. It only takes one weak-kneed judge and a deferential Supreme Court and the precedent is set. Only one case in 10,000 has to succeed, and eventually all rights are riddled by holes and the excessive deference to precedent.
If rights are at stake, then precedence should count for nothing.
Apparently. someone accidentally hit -1 Overrated instead of +1 Underrated.
[...] various rights granted in the various cited amendments [...]
Protected under those various amendments; enumerated in those various amendments — but most certainly notgranted in those various amendments. This is neither pedanticism nor an attempt to bust your chops, but rather a crucial distinction regarding the origin of those rights, and ultimately, who's really meant to be in charge of this country. If I recall correctly, some of Constitution's framers were opposed to having a "bill of rights" at all due this distinction.
Does not help that tor is abused by child porn seekers and such. Most ISP ban tor now.
It also does not help that Tor is subject to a FUD-based smear campaign to drive people away from a technology that they could use to empower themselves.
Slashdot Mirror
Is there evidence that profiling passengers based on appearance and behavior is not more effective than randomized screening?
Yes. MIT published a paper entitled "Carnival Booth" that demonstrated that random screening is more secure than profiling, essentially due to the latter's vulnerability to probing:
Carnival Booth: An Algorithm for Defeating the Computer-Assisted Passenger Screening System
A Lay Explanation of the MIT Research Paper [Carnival Booth]
Schneier on Security: Profiling
Proxy bombs are also difficult to screen for with profiles.
When he spoke about spying on Americans, he was a whistle blower. Had he been smart, he would have stopped right there.
Sadly, that idiot carried it into treason and has not only harmed America's interest, but his own: his life.
Are you referring to the badly sourced, unsubstantiated allegations made in the The New York Times smear piece? If not, can you please provide a source that backs up your claim that he committed treason, along with what actions of his constitute treason?
It was -1 for the "moderator didn't agree" reason. Censorship in plain language.
Hey, you got one too. I'd like one, as well... Have we got any lil' tyrants with mod points to spare?
"Under a forum which down-mods any unjustly, the true place for a just comment is also down-modded... the only comment score on a censored forum with which a free user can abide with honor." — (I'm sorry, Mr.) Henry David Thoreau
You're referring to Snowden's unreleased documents and his cautiousness in regard to "harming US interests," versus supplying us with the facts we need to accurately identify other crimes and the full extent of those we've learned about? (Assuming I've gotten your meaning,) I agree to a certain extent; as long as the hypocrites in government — and the governed who buy their bullshit — are throwing around labels such as "traitor" and "criminal," perhaps he should go ahead with a complete disclosure of all documents.
On the other hand, a lot of Snowden supports (particularly, prominent public figures) would likely withdraw their support or turn against him for doing so, as the caution he's exercised is frequently brought up in his defense. I don't know how important that support is to Snowden, or how it might affect his ability to remain free/safe/alive. Also, I can't speculate on the gravity of the undisclosed information; that is, if the abuses are serious enough (in contrast to what we've learned so far) to turn the public's attention away from the messenger and back to the message. I have a hard time criticizing his methods, considering what he's already sacrificed (e.g., his home, personal relationships, etc.) and what he has at stake (i.e., his life).
One last thing I'd like to add regarding Snowden's (and Glen Greenwald's) methods: I think the way the leaks have been trickled have been superb, for two reasons: 1) They've helped keep these violations in the consciousness of a public with a very short attention span, and 2) they've given us some opportunities to catch government officials lying in regard to the extent of their abuses.
Could you please elaborate (particularly in regard to honeypot(s))? Are you suggesting that Manning's (and possibly Snowden's) leaks are part of a planned disinformation campaign? I'd like to discuss this further if you could please clarify (either here or your journal).
I won't argue with you there, but I'll continue to do what I've been doing for most of my life: Voting third-party, donating to ACLU, talking to friends and family, and refuting government/corporate propaganda when and where I see it repeated. What else can I do? My resources are extremely limited, and while the fight I help give may be weak and destined to fail, I can't just roll over and do nothing — the least I can do is not help them, ya know?
Thanks.
Here's another one, if you care to read it: Email exchange between Edward Snowden and former GOP Senator Gordon Humphrey [2013-07-16]
Got my first strike from AT&T for downloading broadcast copies of Sons of Anarchy. I subscribe to FX, so I was basically time-shifting.
That sucks.
I've already decided that I won't stop; if I "strike out," I'll just have to wait to get back in the "game"... what is it, like a few weeks of service degradation, if I recall? Like I indicated in an earlier post, I consider uploading an important tool for keeping and maintaining our culture amongst ourselves, and keeping it out of the sole hands of those who've proven that can't be trusted to maintain it — (create some of it, yes — I will give them that).
Out of curiosity, did you quit? (No disrespect if you did, as the risk analysis certainly yours to make.)
Many people took these private express vans into town, fitting 12 people into a single van.
I'm not familiar with this; can you elaborate a little bit? Is this service pre-paid, with scheduled destinations chosen in advance by the customer?
Where is a good place to get a blocklist for anti-P2P IP blocking?
http://www.iblocklist.com/lists.php
The ones entitled "Level 1" and "Primary Threats" are the most important of the free lists*; they cover government entities, anti-P2P NGOs, major imaginary property "owners"/copyright cartels/litigants and their favorite law firms. Those lists are updated on a near-daily basis.
Bogon (invalid/future-reserved/private (local)) IP ranges also get hit a lot (at least for me), but I have no idea whether those connection attempts are being initiated by anti-P2P entities, In any case, a phony IP attempting trying to access P2P ports doesn't spell "friendly peer" to me.
Make sure your favorite trackers** aren't blocked (or make exceptions for them); I also use exceptions for NIST and USNO in order to access their NTP servers.
* I don't have a paid subscription, but the free lists have (apparently) provided me with a sufficient.
** Please be aware that querying trackers*** is a technique favored by anti-P2P entities for harvesting the IPs of their victims-to-be.
*** Public trackers especially; I don't know how deeply embedded they are into private tracker communities.
I'm sorry, I neglected to repair the exponents in the text I copied and pasted:
But isn't that just over 2 earth masses? Still seems small coming from an object the size of a star, let alone two of them.
Note that these are neutron stars being referenced here — they possess some unusual and extreme physical properties. Excerpted from Wikipedia:
(My apologies if you were already aware of this.)
A quick Wikipedia-ing says 50%
Without preimplantation genetic diagnosis, approximately half of the offspring of someone with Down syndrome also have the syndrome themselves.
Thanks, mate. I checked there first; I must've skimmed past it.
I like your new sig, BTW.
If a mother has Down Syndrome, what is the probability of her child being afflicted?
(My own attempts to find this figure failed; much appreciated if anyone knows offhand.)
It could also potentially help curb many of the plaque related neural issues (I think it was mentioned on slashdot years ago that Down syndrome had plaque buildup similiar to alzheimers.) Assuming this chromosome is in part responsible for that plaque buildup, it might allow more Down syndrome sufferers to continue functioning at their current level rather than degrading further in the future.
The chromosome isn't what's responsible for the plaque buildup; it's the sheer number of them that are awarded to competitors in the Special Olympics.
Add mental health care and therapy to that. Fix the economic incentives and personal problems that can lead back to crime and you could very well create responsible citizens.
Leave it to the US prison-industrial complex to turn "therapy" into (what I consider to be) a violation of the Eighth Amendment.
I will however give ten my leftovers. They don't really appreciate that though. Not sure why...
I wouldn't want 1/10th of your table scraps, either.
I appreciate the links, but you don't necessarily need a separate site for every work you want to obtain: https://kickass.to/usearch/Orwell%2B1984/
Some comparative benefits of using torrent sites like Kickass Torrents include near-immunity from US tampering (thanks to foreign hosting), ability to share with others (and thus help keep important works in circulation, and out of the sole custodianship of corporate "imaginary property" cartels and their so-called "vaults," left to decay and be forgotten), and the diversity of works I mentioned earlier — particularly those that have been dropped from sale/publication out of greed.
As for that "six-strike" nonsense, as far as I can tell the whole thing was a psy-op, or is otherwise completely ineffectual; I upload ~120GB per day (six-month average) and have yet to receive a complaint. Though, I think it's worth noting that since that program began, I've been avoiding public trackers and relied more on DHT and PEX, and I've always used anti-P2P IP blocking and forced protocol encryption.
I find this site to be handy: http://isup.me/george-orwell.org
The above site's functionality is available from a right-click using the extension Flagfox.
I would love to donate to [their] cause but then I'd be put on a list for increased surveillance because I sided with someone the gov doesn't like. Sounds like tin foil hattery but then so did PRISM until it came to light...
As far as I understand the programs that we know about, the default surveillance level is so extensive that any triggered increase would necessitate physical tracking (e.g., FBI GPS, etc.) and/or manual analysis (e.g., a human listening to your calls, reading you email, etc.) — things that (presently) aren't feasible to perform against the large number for people that are supporting the.
Further, I believe that from the government's perspective, donating to ACLU, EFF, et al. is certainly considered more benign than participating in a protest or joining a class-action lawsuit against them. There are ways to transfer donations anonymously, if you're so inclined (which, for the record, I am). If you have a friend or family member who doesn't wear a foil* hat, I bet one of them would be willing to send a donation on your behalf in exchange for a small fee or out of the goodness of their heart.
* Aluminum foil; I call bullshit on all claims of tin foil hat ownership.
I prefer to believe that the damage is not too deeply rooted to fix.
Is that because you believe it's more likely to be the case, or because the alternative is too upsetting a prospect to live with?
What the fuck does that statement even mean? How does jacking off have anything in common with telling authorities to stop [oppressing] us? You're the moron.
Support for authoritarian regime + B&D fetish?
Precedent has been set, yes.
The most depressing aspect to me is how the judicial branch has failed to protect us from repeated attacks by the executive and legislative branches. It only takes one weak-kneed judge and a deferential Supreme Court and the precedent is set. Only one case in 10,000 has to succeed, and eventually all rights are riddled by holes and the excessive deference to precedent.
If rights are at stake, then precedence should count for nothing.
Apparently. someone accidentally hit -1 Overrated instead of +1 Underrated.
[...] various rights granted in the various cited amendments [...]
Protected under those various amendments; enumerated in those various amendments — but most certainly not granted in those various amendments. This is neither pedanticism nor an attempt to bust your chops, but rather a crucial distinction regarding the origin of those rights, and ultimately, who's really meant to be in charge of this country. If I recall correctly, some of Constitution's framers were opposed to having a "bill of rights" at all due this distinction.
[...] you sheeple [...]
[...] I suggest you Google [...]
"Oops?"
Does not help that tor is abused by child porn seekers and such. Most ISP ban tor now.
It also does not help that Tor is subject to a FUD-based smear campaign to drive people away from a technology that they could use to empower themselves.