It's not the limitations -(though I think the terms "security flaws" are more apt); it's the fact that this is the doorway through which electronic ID, microchipping, and everything else is going to come through. If you don't see the problem with carrying around a piece of ID that can be electronically read from a distance now, I think it will become readily apparent soon enough - likely within a couple of years.
I am a technologist by trade and realize that most cell phones can present similar issues, and I am all for progress - I certainly would love the convenience of that (also, keep in mind that often when one part of a process such as a border check gets made faster, the buerocracies and authorities view that as time which can be used for another check - perhaps they'll check more cars and luggage - so all in all, while I appreciate progress - the cost is too high in this implementation; there need to be better safeguards for privacy. We're heading into a fascist nightmare in America IMO and the last thing I want to do is give big brother a way to see everywhere I go in real time effortlessly.
Thank the American God that they solved this problem, because those piece of shit regular passports barely fucking worked and were an accident waiting to happen..(and a fire danger)....
Seriously...with all their "paperness" and "non-electronicky" and all that.
Digg's politics page isn't that bad. Personally I feel that Ron Paul and Kucinich are the only decent choices for President, I would guess that there are many/.'ers who agree. (Not that either of those candidates would ever be allowed to make it to office).
The main reason Slashdot is better than Digg in my opinion is that the level of discourse on/. is much, much higher. Median age, intelligence, and life experience seem higher as well; on Digg the users are higher.
The appearance of incompetience is one of the greatest tools of this manipulative government apparatus. The US Government is entirely competent when they want to be. Usually when big things fail (especially when they faily spectacularly, like Iraq) you can bet that it is because whoever is truly calling the shots wanted it that way, and not just for fun, but usually to an end - to serve a purpose. That purpose may be so that people will cry out for government to fix the big fuckup, which is when these operators' (politicians, those who run intel operations, and favorite son contractors) eyes really glaze over - because that's when the money and power is given away to them; or it may be when they are finally allowed to do things which they wanted to do in the first place but did not have the ability to get done (EG like splitting Iraq into 3 to 5 regions).
Seriously. Though they claim this will only be used against commercial level infringers, we know in practice that isn't how it works. Shit, look at one of the worst, most underhanded peices of legislation in the last century, the TREASON..I mean PATRIOT act - the claimed "Oh, it'll only be used against terrorists" and we find that theyare using it against regular criminals AND as the basis for wholesale surveillance of all Americans. "Oh, it'll sunset in 2005;" yeah, we knew that one was bullshit.
This is the same thing. You'll have some asshole cop or fed (no, I am not saying all or even most of them are assholes, but there are plenty) looking for charges on someone who will decide to take their computer on a fishing expedition.
Eventually the entire population of the world will be criminalzed and marginalized in one way or another. I wouldn't believe it if I wasnt living in these times.
See, I always thought it would be when black bag jobs are done on people and people are arrested and sent to secret torture prisons for no just reason....But yeah, I guess boogers are the real threat here.
Until people can get over the two party scam; (the false parameters perpetrated onto the people of this country and constantly reinforced by the media); until people can get over that, see it for what it is, and look past it - we can't even begin to think about truly reforming things.
Unfortunately I think it's too late to reform the elections system and false two part (opposite sides of the same coin) system. I hope it's not, but I am being realistic. Whether you believe it or not, the US government is being run as a criminal enterprise, and has been for quite some time. We have a group of insiders exploiting and manipulating everything; mainly via intelligence services - disregarding the rule of law; running international drug trafficking rings from production to wholesale for street sale (again, this is a fact, Iran Contra stumbled on to one of these oeprations and the agency's own documents prove this) which help fund all sorts of unamerican things.
This group of people is involved in so many things and is behind the descent into fascism in America. From what I can tell, here is what the future looks like in America:
You're going to see puches for laws (and tons of media coverage) about two things: One, how dangerous the internet is and how it is a tool for both recruiting terrorists and carrying out research and attacks; also that is is being used to "radicalize" american youth. This media and legislative stuff has already started. The internet provides too much information from too many uncontrolled sources and provides too great of a potential for oganization for the powers that be to allow it to continue uncontrolled.
You're going to see media coverage about American citizens being terrorists; especially people who look like good ol American kids. Likely trials of these people being publicized. The collapse of the dollar.
There will likely be another terrorist attack in the next 10 months. It will be (or at least will seem to be) a massive nuclear or biological/checmical attack, probably in multiple cities, definitely in DC. My guess is that it will be blamed on normal looking Americans...Martial law will be declared..The constitution will be suspended which cannot be reviewed by congress for at least 6 mo (yes, this is law, which has been made stronger by the current administration, and our fearless leader who has given himself sole authority to declare a "national emergency event" and to "ensure continuing constitutional government," look it up) Private defense contractors like Blackwater will be on the streets, people will be rounded up. The COG plan will kicxk in, FEMA will be in charge.
If you think this is exagerating, this is a great primer on why we aer in such a precarious position, (without even getting into any of the documentation, etc):
Also, the SPP (or North American Union) will be brought in after the collapse of the dollar or a massive attack.
I know this is dark and depressing stuff and that some people just refuse to even consider it being true. Unfortunately it is all laid out; the legal framework, the political blueprint for what is happening, and plenty of people with inside knowledge of some of this stuff are talking.
So my point really is that if you are comparing the corruption of the Bush administration to that of the Clinton administration you are wasting time and energy. They are both corrupt, they are both working toward the same end, basically. Yes, times were better (especially superficially) when Clinton was president, but overall the sickness in our system had already started long before either of them.
Now that the US has become transparently hypocritical to it's own citizens and the rest of the world in regard to "democracy" and civil liberties, there is no country to serve as the example/beacon/leader of "democracy."
Obviously it isn't quite that simple; I don't for a minute think that the current administration (or many before) even cares about the rights of it's own citizens tpo petition for redress, let alone the citizens of Russia - but now they can't even pretend to pressure these other countries to allow freedom of speech and respect the rights of the individual.
Unfortunately it seems like things are trending toward the corporations and governments getting all of the rights, basically becoming untouchable - while the individual is is losing rights, control and even "having a say" by the day.
Personally I don't need tenative results. I think that the desire for instant gratification and instant results is part of what has enabled the process to become subverted. I would rather wait for as long as it takes to be sure that the votes are being properly counted and are verifiable.
When you look at things like the VNS; what happened in 2000 and 2004 (regardless of who you voted for) you have to wonder.
Everyone should want fair and transparent elections - When people/organizations and governments try to force technological measures on the public when it is clear that there are numerous problems - to me that seems pretty cut and dried that they do NOT want fairness and transparency, they want control.
In my (and many other people's opinions) things are so fucked up in America now; and it's not like they got that way by accident. It's clear there is a trend of taking rights and transparent processes away from the people while at the same time imposing edicts and secrecy.
The DOJ is not about Justice as most people understand it; (at least in this and many other cases they aren't).
It is used as a tool to enforce the wishes of those in power; nothing more, nothing less. When the federal government is corrupt (as they have been for many terms to varying degrees, but never to the degree we see currently) then the DOJ is part of that.
It's not a democrat or republican or conservative or liberal thing; those who think it is are falling prey to a scheme to control how they think about government, which, if you simplfy one aspect of it, is "divide and conquer."
I think that this push by the DOJ illustrates a lot. We have not had valid, untampered with presidential elections for at least the past two; and now the process required to even run is so onerous financially, physically, and practically that only a connected wealthy or famous person can even get their name on the ballot.
They want "black box" voting because those truly in power want black box voting. They want to be able to do what was done in 2000 and 2004 on a larger scale without the numerous telltale signs that something was not right. As long as there aren't redundant checks and balances of the votes, the voting, the voting system, and the "system" system - they will likely get it one way or the other.
and HAVA? Well, one of this government's greatest tricks is to "fix" things, or to "make them better for people" just like HIPAA, it's purpose and result is actually the opposite of it's stated purpose. The HIPPA (people think it;s about privacy, but it's really about giving up some privacy - The purpose of HIPAA was to facilitate the creation of a national health information network by removing privacy barriers
. The PATRIOT act - One of the most unpatriotic, unconstitutional bullshit scams ever.
When this government tells you they are fixing things, run like hell. Chances are they broke them just to fix them, and the fix is worse (or more evil) than the original issue.
I understand your argument; but I think that the two types of issues are related.
First off, if you have overloaded transit lines, that is a problem you need to fix, lest you lose subscribers for providing substandard service.
Asking the content providers (who, really are one fo the main reasons you have subscribers in the first place) to "pay for placement" creates a multi-tiered situation. Once this happens then it is very easy for there to be de facto censorship and all sorts of other things that are the antithesis of what many of us hold to be at the core of what makes the internet great.
So, my point is that the solutions to the things you are classifying as non-"sky is falling" issues are the roots of the things (like censorship) which people are afraid that not having NN will bring.
The stuff in you listed about African Americans, I can see how people would consider that racist. However, the second statement is the truth, and it drives me crazy when people can't tell the difference between a country, "Israel," a political movement "Zionist," and a race/religion "Judaism."
It is likely that the point of that statement about criticism was that whenever people criticize Israel (constructively or not) there are many who automatically cry "anti-semetism," this is used in order to stop discourse or label legitimate criticism as "racism."
Evil may not have been the best choise of words, but without the context who knows what the speaker meant by that; it is exactly this sort of quid pro quo and worse taking place in washington that has corrupted our system to where it is now - plenty of people are suffering because of surversion of the process..
Technologies like this always have good uses and bad uses.
It usually starts off with good uses - but also keep in mind, that when a government wants to have more control over the population or make a change that will have far, wide, and long ranging impacts they ALWAYS initially claim it is for the "good of the people and will never be abused."
Two examples? Your Social Security card. My original one has in big letters on the front" NOT TO BE USED FOR IDENTIFICATION PURPOSES." Because at the time these SSNs were brought about there was a LOT of concern about EXACTLY what has happened, and people were assured it would never happen, and lo and behold, here it is.
The next example is the bullshit USA Patriot Act, which was "going t sunset in 2005" and "would onmloy be used against "suspected terrorists" (well, it seems we are all now suspected terrrorists, we are all being spied on and the legislation has been used in all sorts of non terror cases, many times abusively and illegally).
I am all for parents being able to do this with their children and pets, and for people whose mental faculties leave them vulnerable, but here is the other side that many people generally don't always understand (except for most of us/.'ers here as many of us work in IT):
Once a database has been created, the data is there. Even if it isn't being misused or shared with corporate/govt interests now, it can be at any point in the future if it is not properly managed/secured.
When you consider how powerful using a db in a relational manner is, especially if it is joined with other databases or correlated with other data; the usefulness of it to identify and track increases exponentially.
SO, my point is this: I love this sort of technology; but like any useful tool (be it a car, a firearm, a power saw) it must be respected. Like the objects I mentioned, the technology is not inherently bad and as a non-living object is not responsible for when it is misused - it is the person or company that is using it that is responsible, and just like you wouldn't want to give a firearm or car to someone who has not been trained properly in safety or takes such things lightly or has proven to be irresponsible; the same should be considered when trusting a company with your data. Like with a weapon or car, if you own it you should have it secured, failure to do so can result in the wrong person obtaining it and misusing it.
This is tricky when you are delaing with corporations, because they get sold, personnel changes....so if you use this sort of technology and have concerns about privacy, like a lot of us do (I personally have a HUGE problem with the potential for technology that I would purchase/use being used in an 'off-label' manner against me or my interests). Keep aware of the potential for this sort of technology to be used in a way you're not comfortable with, and do your best to choose wisely.
While there are some exceptions, I think the majority of our congresspeople (especially senators) are complete self serving oligarchs.
I'm not saying don't write; I think it;s important to do so, but I feel like if these peo;le were truly doing their jobs (as we expect them to) then we wouldn't be in half of the messes we are in.
This isn't the first time FEMA has done this sort of thing. The more I've researched this agency, from it's creation through all of it's efforts, it's resources, it's inclusion in executive orders and laws which affect the very core of our ideals and constitutional republic, it's subterfuge and misconduct, it's public face as portrayed in the media vs the reality of it's mandate, and how very little the general public knows about that mandate - the more I find to be concerned about.
While researching FEMA initially I was looking to disprove disturbing things I had heard and read; it was not a case where I went looking to substantiate fears, if anything I went into the research with a "FEMA are the good guys" bias, but what I found was far worse than I imagined it could be, and I am genuinely concerned for the security of my country.
I have posted before about FEMA and the executive orders which created and empower it. Rather than repeat any of that, I would urge anyone reading this to look into FEMA and it's mandate and actions on their own. Google it, especially the executive orders and the current anti-terror laws which have removed a lot of your rights.
"If and when martial law comes to America at large, it will be under the auspices of the shadowy Federal Emergency Management Agency ("FEMA"), a massive, secretive agency operated from a huge, fortified bunker in Virginia, and established by unconstitutional means to carry out an unconstitutional and indeed anti-constitutional program."
- excerpt from RICO complaint pending against Bush II admin (I am not claiming that the RICO case is with or without merit, only that the particular statement quoted is accurate in my opinion).
So there's a small minority of users on P2P searching for financial information (private or otherwise). How does this make P2P any different from Google or the rest of the internet?
I am suspicious of this; it seems to me like part of the this ongoing decentralized campaign: "The Internet is a DANGEROUS place." (Dangerous for children; dangerous for you and your banking/personal information, dangerous to the entertainment conglomerates).. I have seen over the past few years; which has especially intensified lately. I suspect that the goal (and what the government really wants) is for anonymity online to be a thing of the past. They probably want people to have a virtual ID card...I think that thi would destroy a large part of what makes the net great if this is the case.
There are always going to be to people trying to get information that isn't theirs online. The best way for this to be dealt with is for people to learn the basics of protecting their personal information, and if the government is going to do anything (in a regulatory sense) it should be making it easier for people to protect their personal information.
You should try watching videos of the event, which are available. There is a crappy one and at least one high quality one. Your synopsis is incorrect.
The student made no mention of freemasonry. He asked a relevant and important question about Kerry's early concession of the election (which was fishy and exactly what Kerry promised his supporters he would NOT do); now that time has passed and there have been findings from several independent investigations that indicate tampering, official misconduct, and disenfranchisement (among other things).
Yes, he was annoying, but he was also full of passion and emotional. If Kerry didn't have a problem with it, they why do you? If he violated the rules, fine - but the way this was handled, tasering someone who is on the ground was over the top and excessive.
A lot of people talk about asking the tough questions, and about stopping what is happening in our country; but most people just type stuff like this on the net. At least this kid had the balls to actually try to ask some tough questions. It's too bad he wasn't more eloquent
The second question he asked (and what he appeared to be attacked for right after asking by the police) was about which year Kerry was a Skull and Bones member.
Skull and Bones is not a "crackpot conspiracy theory" - both Bush and Kerry have admitted that they were Bonesmen. These people go on to the most powerful positions in the country, actually, in the world.
This is a secret society, to which members swear a lifelong oath that is supposed to be held before all else. There is really only one need for this sort of secrecy - a secrecy that still binds our 'president' to this day.
"Terrorists will simply train themselves to remain calm and lower their heartrate."
You will? (Because realize - with this sort of blanket technology we're all considered terrorists, and must consistently prove we're not every time someone decides to scan/check/whatever).
Something about that seems incredibly 'un=american.'
I see your point, but I disagree with your final statement (EG "If the answer to any of the above is negative, you are just as safe with closed source.")
I think that as a general rule, everybody is safer with open source, the reason (simply put) is transparency.
Claiming that just because a particular USER isn't skilled in reading a particular (or even all) source code doesn't mean tha that user (and every other user) doesn't benefit from the source being open. We all benefit from everybody who is able to look at the code and see that there is no hidden funny business (and that it's hopefully not sloppy ass, poorly written spaghetti code).
I agree. The 200 hours is probably how long it takes to distort/twist or even fabricate (as this administration has been caught doing before) the evidence, (or torture it out of someone).
In fact, to me this whole interview/release of information was done as damage control; it reeks of it. I think the entire purpose of the interview was to get that one line out there, about how it's "less than 100 people" - but since we know that they are recording and data mining ALL communications, I think that is bullshit.
If they can do it to one American citizen, it can happen to me or you.
I still think that most of the public has no clue how dangerous of a situation this country is in. We have lost our republic. The only question in my mind is: how long will it be before we're under complete tyranny? I think this will occur after the next big terror attack, which could be any day now.
Slashdot Mirror
It's not the limitations -(though I think the terms "security flaws" are more apt); it's the fact that this is the doorway through which electronic ID, microchipping, and everything else is going to come through. If you don't see the problem with carrying around a piece of ID that can be electronically read from a distance now, I think it will become readily apparent soon enough - likely within a couple of years.
I am a technologist by trade and realize that most cell phones can present similar issues, and I am all for progress - I certainly would love the convenience of that (also, keep in mind that often when one part of a process such as a border check gets made faster, the buerocracies and authorities view that as time which can be used for another check - perhaps they'll check more cars and luggage - so all in all, while I appreciate progress - the cost is too high in this implementation; there need to be better safeguards for privacy. We're heading into a fascist nightmare in America IMO and the last thing I want to do is give big brother a way to see everywhere I go in real time effortlessly.
Thank the American God that they solved this problem, because those piece of shit regular passports barely fucking worked and were an accident waiting to happen..(and a fire danger)....
Seriously...with all their "paperness" and "non-electronicky" and all that.
Someone call Apple!
Digg's politics page isn't that bad. Personally I feel that Ron Paul and Kucinich are the only decent choices for President, I would guess that there are many /.'ers who agree. (Not that either of those candidates would ever be allowed to make it to office).
/. is much, much higher. Median age, intelligence, and life experience seem higher as well; on Digg the users are higher.
The main reason Slashdot is better than Digg in my opinion is that the level of discourse on
If you have to ask you should head over to Digg for a bit; please only come back once you see the diffrerence.
I agree.
The appearance of incompetience is one of the greatest tools of this manipulative government apparatus. The US Government is entirely competent when they want to be. Usually when big things fail (especially when they faily spectacularly, like Iraq) you can bet that it is because whoever is truly calling the shots wanted it that way, and not just for fun, but usually to an end - to serve a purpose. That purpose may be so that people will cry out for government to fix the big fuckup, which is when these operators' (politicians, those who run intel operations, and favorite son contractors) eyes really glaze over - because that's when the money and power is given away to them; or it may be when they are finally allowed to do things which they wanted to do in the first place but did not have the ability to get done (EG like splitting Iraq into 3 to 5 regions).
USIPER? More like USURPER (of due process).
Seriously. Though they claim this will only be used against commercial level infringers, we know in practice that isn't how it works. Shit, look at one of the worst, most underhanded peices of legislation in the last century, the TREASON..I mean PATRIOT act - the claimed "Oh, it'll only be used against terrorists" and we find that theyare using it against regular criminals AND as the basis for wholesale surveillance of all Americans. "Oh, it'll sunset in 2005;" yeah, we knew that one was bullshit.
This is the same thing. You'll have some asshole cop or fed (no, I am not saying all or even most of them are assholes, but there are plenty) looking for charges on someone who will decide to take their computer on a fishing expedition.
Eventually the entire population of the world will be criminalzed and marginalized in one way or another. I wouldn't believe it if I wasnt living in these times.
See, I always thought it would be when black bag jobs are done on people and people are arrested and sent to secret torture prisons for no just reason....But yeah, I guess boogers are the real threat here.
Until people can get over the two party scam; (the false parameters perpetrated onto the people of this country and constantly reinforced by the media); until people can get over that, see it for what it is, and look past it - we can't even begin to think about truly reforming things.
Unfortunately I think it's too late to reform the elections system and false two part (opposite sides of the same coin) system. I hope it's not, but I am being realistic. Whether you believe it or not, the US government is being run as a criminal enterprise, and has been for quite some time. We have a group of insiders exploiting and manipulating everything; mainly via intelligence services - disregarding the rule of law; running international drug trafficking rings from production to wholesale for street sale (again, this is a fact, Iran Contra stumbled on to one of these oeprations and the agency's own documents prove this) which help fund all sorts of unamerican things.
This group of people is involved in so many things and is behind the descent into fascism in America. From what I can tell, here is what the future looks like in America:
You're going to see puches for laws (and tons of media coverage) about two things: One, how dangerous the internet is and how it is a tool for both recruiting terrorists and carrying out research and attacks; also that is is being used to "radicalize" american youth. This media and legislative stuff has already started. The internet provides too much information from too many uncontrolled sources and provides too great of a potential for oganization for the powers that be to allow it to continue uncontrolled.
You're going to see media coverage about American citizens being terrorists; especially people who look like good ol American kids. Likely trials of these people being publicized. The collapse of the dollar.
There will likely be another terrorist attack in the next 10 months. It will be (or at least will seem to be) a massive nuclear or biological/checmical attack, probably in multiple cities, definitely in DC. My guess is that it will be blamed on normal looking Americans...Martial law will be declared..The constitution will be suspended which cannot be reviewed by congress for at least 6 mo (yes, this is law, which has been made stronger by the current administration, and our fearless leader who has given himself sole authority to declare a "national emergency event" and to "ensure continuing constitutional government," look it up) Private defense contractors like Blackwater will be on the streets, people will be rounded up. The COG plan will kicxk in, FEMA will be in charge.
If you think this is exagerating, this is a great primer on why we aer in such a precarious position, (without even getting into any of the documentation, etc):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjALf12PAWc (The blueprint for crushing democracy, the 10 things which have happened in the US which indicate that we are fucked).
I highly recommend these articles (or anything by Catherine Austin Fits): http://solari.com/learn/articles_risk.htm
Also, the SPP (or North American Union) will be brought in after the collapse of the dollar or a massive attack.
I know this is dark and depressing stuff and that some people just refuse to even consider it being true. Unfortunately it is all laid out; the legal framework, the political blueprint for what is happening, and plenty of people with inside knowledge of some of this stuff are talking.
So my point really is that if you are comparing the corruption of the Bush administration to that of the Clinton administration you are wasting time and energy. They are both corrupt, they are both working toward the same end, basically. Yes, times were better (especially superficially) when Clinton was president, but overall the sickness in our system had already started long before either of them.
Now that the US has become transparently hypocritical to it's own citizens and the rest of the world in regard to "democracy" and civil liberties, there is no country to serve as the example/beacon/leader of "democracy."
Obviously it isn't quite that simple; I don't for a minute think that the current administration (or many before) even cares about the rights of it's own citizens tpo petition for redress, let alone the citizens of Russia - but now they can't even pretend to pressure these other countries to allow freedom of speech and respect the rights of the individual.
Unfortunately it seems like things are trending toward the corporations and governments getting all of the rights, basically becoming untouchable - while the individual is is losing rights, control and even "having a say" by the day.
Personally I don't need tenative results. I think that the desire for instant gratification and instant results is part of what has enabled the process to become subverted. I would rather wait for as long as it takes to be sure that the votes are being properly counted and are verifiable.
When you look at things like the VNS; what happened in 2000 and 2004 (regardless of who you voted for) you have to wonder.
Everyone should want fair and transparent elections - When people/organizations and governments try to force technological measures on the public when it is clear that there are numerous problems - to me that seems pretty cut and dried that they do NOT want fairness and transparency, they want control.
In my (and many other people's opinions) things are so fucked up in America now; and it's not like they got that way by accident. It's clear there is a trend of taking rights and transparent processes away from the people while at the same time imposing edicts and secrecy.
yeah...the funny thing is, (or unfunny thing?) that you had to point out you were joking.
10 years ago you wouldn't have had to.
The DOJ is not about Justice as most people understand it; (at least in this and many other cases they aren't).
It is used as a tool to enforce the wishes of those in power; nothing more, nothing less. When the federal government is corrupt (as they have been for many terms to varying degrees, but never to the degree we see currently) then the DOJ is part of that.
It's not a democrat or republican or conservative or liberal thing; those who think it is are falling prey to a scheme to control how they think about government, which, if you simplfy one aspect of it, is "divide and conquer."
I think that this push by the DOJ illustrates a lot. We have not had valid, untampered with presidential elections for at least the past two; and now the process required to even run is so onerous financially, physically, and practically that only a connected wealthy or famous person can even get their name on the ballot.
They want "black box" voting because those truly in power want black box voting. They want to be able to do what was done in 2000 and 2004 on a larger scale without the numerous telltale signs that something was not right. As long as there aren't redundant checks and balances of the votes, the voting, the voting system, and the "system" system - they will likely get it one way or the other.
and HAVA? Well, one of this government's greatest tricks is to "fix" things, or to "make them better for people" just like HIPAA, it's purpose and result is actually the opposite of it's stated purpose. The HIPPA (people think it;s about privacy, but it's really about giving up some privacy - The purpose of HIPAA was to facilitate the creation of a national health information network by removing privacy barriers
. The PATRIOT act - One of the most unpatriotic, unconstitutional bullshit scams ever.
When this government tells you they are fixing things, run like hell. Chances are they broke them just to fix them, and the fix is worse (or more evil) than the original issue.
I understand your argument; but I think that the two types of issues are related.
First off, if you have overloaded transit lines, that is a problem you need to fix, lest you lose subscribers for providing substandard service.
Asking the content providers (who, really are one fo the main reasons you have subscribers in the first place) to "pay for placement" creates a multi-tiered situation. Once this happens then it is very easy for there to be de facto censorship and all sorts of other things that are the antithesis of what many of us hold to be at the core of what makes the internet great.
So, my point is that the solutions to the things you are classifying as non-"sky is falling" issues are the roots of the things (like censorship) which people are afraid that not having NN will bring.
Hmm...it was funny AND insightful....I mod you: +5 FUNSIGHTFUL.
When I referred to the second statement, I was referring to the statement about the zionist movement.
"Choise" was not the best choice of words either.
The stuff in you listed about African Americans, I can see how people would consider that racist. However, the second statement is the truth, and it drives me crazy when people can't tell the difference between a country, "Israel," a political movement "Zionist," and a race/religion "Judaism."
It is likely that the point of that statement about criticism was that whenever people criticize Israel (constructively or not) there are many who automatically cry "anti-semetism," this is used in order to stop discourse or label legitimate criticism as "racism."
Evil may not have been the best choise of words, but without the context who knows what the speaker meant by that; it is exactly this sort of quid pro quo and worse taking place in washington that has corrupted our system to where it is now - plenty of people are suffering because of surversion of the process..
Technologies like this always have good uses and bad uses.
/.'ers here as many of us work in IT):
It usually starts off with good uses - but also keep in mind, that when a government wants to have more control over the population or make a change that will have far, wide, and long ranging impacts they ALWAYS initially claim it is for the "good of the people and will never be abused."
Two examples? Your Social Security card. My original one has in big letters on the front" NOT TO BE USED FOR IDENTIFICATION PURPOSES." Because at the time these SSNs were brought about there was a LOT of concern about EXACTLY what has happened, and people were assured it would never happen, and lo and behold, here it is.
The next example is the bullshit USA Patriot Act, which was "going t sunset in 2005" and "would onmloy be used against "suspected terrorists" (well, it seems we are all now suspected terrrorists, we are all being spied on and the legislation has been used in all sorts of non terror cases, many times abusively and illegally).
I am all for parents being able to do this with their children and pets, and for people whose mental faculties leave them vulnerable, but here is the other side that many people generally don't always understand (except for most of us
Once a database has been created, the data is there. Even if it isn't being misused or shared with corporate/govt interests now, it can be at any point in the future if it is not properly managed/secured.
When you consider how powerful using a db in a relational manner is, especially if it is joined with other databases or correlated with other data; the usefulness of it to identify and track increases exponentially.
SO, my point is this: I love this sort of technology; but like any useful tool (be it a car, a firearm, a power saw) it must be respected. Like the objects I mentioned, the technology is not inherently bad and as a non-living object is not responsible for when it is misused - it is the person or company that is using it that is responsible, and just like you wouldn't want to give a firearm or car to someone who has not been trained properly in safety or takes such things lightly or has proven to be irresponsible; the same should be considered when trusting a company with your data. Like with a weapon or car, if you own it you should have it secured, failure to do so can result in the wrong person obtaining it and misusing it.
This is tricky when you are delaing with corporations, because they get sold, personnel changes....so if you use this sort of technology and have concerns about privacy, like a lot of us do (I personally have a HUGE problem with the potential for technology that I would purchase/use being used in an 'off-label' manner against me or my interests). Keep aware of the potential for this sort of technology to be used in a way you're not comfortable with, and do your best to choose wisely.
While there are some exceptions, I think the majority of our congresspeople (especially senators) are complete self serving oligarchs.
I'm not saying don't write; I think it;s important to do so, but I feel like if these peo;le were truly doing their jobs (as we expect them to) then we wouldn't be in half of the messes we are in.
This isn't the first time FEMA has done this sort of thing. The more I've researched this agency, from it's creation through all of it's efforts, it's resources, it's inclusion in executive orders and laws which affect the very core of our ideals and constitutional republic, it's subterfuge and misconduct, it's public face as portrayed in the media vs the reality of it's mandate, and how very little the general public knows about that mandate - the more I find to be concerned about.
While researching FEMA initially I was looking to disprove disturbing things I had heard and read; it was not a case where I went looking to substantiate fears, if anything I went into the research with a "FEMA are the good guys" bias, but what I found was far worse than I imagined it could be, and I am genuinely concerned for the security of my country.
I have posted before about FEMA and the executive orders which created and empower it. Rather than repeat any of that, I would urge anyone reading this to look into FEMA and it's mandate and actions on their own. Google it, especially the executive orders and the current anti-terror laws which have removed a lot of your rights.
"If and when martial law comes to America at large, it will be under the auspices of the shadowy Federal Emergency Management Agency ("FEMA"), a massive, secretive agency operated from a huge, fortified bunker in Virginia, and established by unconstitutional means to carry out an unconstitutional and indeed anti-constitutional program."
- excerpt from RICO complaint pending against Bush II admin (I am not claiming that the RICO case is with or without merit, only that the particular statement quoted is accurate in my opinion).
So there's a small minority of users on P2P searching for financial information (private or otherwise). How does this make P2P any different from Google or the rest of the internet?
I am suspicious of this; it seems to me like part of the this ongoing decentralized campaign: "The Internet is a DANGEROUS place." (Dangerous for children; dangerous for you and your banking/personal information, dangerous to the entertainment conglomerates)..
I have seen over the past few years; which has especially intensified lately. I suspect that the goal (and what the government really wants) is for anonymity online to be a thing of the past. They probably want people to have a virtual ID card...I think that thi would destroy a large part of what makes the net great if this is the case.
There are always going to be to people trying to get information that isn't theirs online. The best way for this to be dealt with is for people to learn the basics of protecting their personal information, and if the government is going to do anything (in a regulatory sense) it should be making it easier for people to protect their personal information.
You should try watching videos of the event, which are available. There is a crappy one and at least one high quality one. Your synopsis is incorrect.
The student made no mention of freemasonry. He asked a relevant and important question about Kerry's early concession of the election (which was fishy and exactly what Kerry promised his supporters he would NOT do); now that time has passed and there have been findings from several independent investigations that indicate tampering, official misconduct, and disenfranchisement (among other things).
Yes, he was annoying, but he was also full of passion and emotional. If Kerry didn't have a problem with it, they why do you? If he violated the rules, fine - but the way this was handled, tasering someone who is on the ground was over the top and excessive.
A lot of people talk about asking the tough questions, and about stopping what is happening in our country; but most people just type stuff like this on the net. At least this kid had the balls to actually try to ask some tough questions. It's too bad he wasn't more eloquent
The second question he asked (and what he appeared to be attacked for right after asking by the police) was about which year Kerry was a Skull and Bones member.
Skull and Bones is not a "crackpot conspiracy theory" - both Bush and Kerry have admitted that they were Bonesmen. These people go on to the most powerful positions in the country, actually, in the world.
This is a secret society, to which members swear a lifelong oath that is supposed to be held before all else. There is really only one need for this sort of secrecy - a secrecy that still binds our 'president' to this day.
If you want to know what Skull and Bones is, I highly recommend the book "Fleshing out Skull and Bones," http://www.fleshingoutskullandbones.com/
"Terrorists will simply train themselves to remain calm and lower their heartrate."
You will? (Because realize - with this sort of blanket technology we're all considered terrorists, and must consistently prove we're not every time someone decides to scan/check/whatever).
Something about that seems incredibly 'un=american.'
I see your point, but I disagree with your final statement (EG "If the answer to any of the above is negative, you are just as safe with closed source.")
I think that as a general rule, everybody is safer with open source, the reason (simply put) is transparency.
Claiming that just because a particular USER isn't skilled in reading a particular (or even all) source code doesn't mean tha that user (and every other user) doesn't benefit from the source being open. We all benefit from everybody who is able to look at the code and see that there is no hidden funny business (and that it's hopefully not sloppy ass, poorly written spaghetti code).
I agree. The 200 hours is probably how long it takes to distort/twist or even fabricate (as this administration has been caught doing before) the evidence, (or torture it out of someone).
In fact, to me this whole interview/release of information was done as damage control; it reeks of it. I think the entire purpose of the interview was to get that one line out there, about how it's "less than 100 people" - but since we know that they are recording and data mining ALL communications, I think that is bullshit.
If they can do it to one American citizen, it can happen to me or you.
I still think that most of the public has no clue how dangerous of a situation this country is in. We have lost our republic. The only question in my mind is: how long will it be before we're under complete tyranny? I think this will occur after the next big terror attack, which could be any day now.