Though I'm pretty sure that being out of the running for the presidential post makes it pretty easy to take a contrarian stance. While we will never know for sure, it would be interesting to see how any of these people voted on similarly controversial bills while they're in the middle of a campaign.
... as well as some somewhat less excellent usage of guillotines on people who were disliked by those in power. There's a reason that the times immediately following the revolution in 1789 were simply called "The Terror".
I had mod points, but here's something I'd like to point out that's been bugging me for a while:
Liberals have their talk radio in San Francisco, and it's called KQED. The reason that liberal talk radio fails is that most liberals I know abhor the rhetoric espoused by right-wing talk radio. They prefer news to opinion.
Also, I'd like to point out that the objective scale for the Stanford/UCLA paper was anything but - it was a count of how often stories referenced certain think tanks, with think tanks being assigned to a certain spot on the liberal/conservative scale. If you know anything about data mining, you'd know that this is the absolute worst way of going about this study. As a matter of fact, you can infer exactly zero from this.
"Apart from that, people are the same everywhere, and it scares the shit out of me that all sorts of government agencies are getting more power and less oversight. That's just begging for trouble..."
is what I wanted to quote from n dot I. And yes, it is indeed one of the most important things to remember when discussing different times and places - especially tragedies and horrors.
Gah. Lost my response. Here's what I was saying though: There is no event that justifies this type of response. None. Not unless you think that the Gulags in Russia and the Ghettos in Germany were justified either. This idea is so monumentally bad that it should have been laughed out of the room the instant it came up. That someone deems this "conceivable" is utterly horrifying to me.
Again - there are some things that are so stupid and bad that they should be dismissed within seconds of being considered. That they aren't tells me where the government is heading. I'm just hoping we make it through the next 6 months.
Apart from that, people are the same everywhere, and it scares the shit out of me that all sorts of government agencies are getting more power and less oversight. That's just begging for trouble... Thank you. It scares the living daylights out of me that no one learned this lesson from Hitler and Stalin: the people who went along with them are exactly the same that live anywhere else. They just thought that all the bad stuff happened for a reason and was justified, because it didn't happen to them, or because they instigated it.
The only thing that preserves us from that crap are processes and institutions that allow anybody to challenge crap like that with a minimum of hassle. That process and institutions are hollowed out to replace them with personal judgment and whim does indeed scare the crap out of me.
Somebody with a backpack nuke, on the other hand, is just a fly on history's windshield.
You're right - most of the applications mentioned in that letter are for security applications by law enforcement or military.
However, there's still the matter of one little sentence: "In addition, it is conceivable to envision a use to improve air security, on passenger planes."
I'm sorry, but anybody who envisions that this is conceivable has no fucking clue what it is that they're trying to protect anyone from. I realize that this is the beginning of an invitation to participate in a bidding process, and that the application to passenger security is a side blurb. However, applying this to passenger security should have never, ever even come up. Especially not when the paragraph talked about the bracelet as a restraint tool.
Sometimes, I'd rather smack an idea into oblivion before it has even had time to take root, rather than just wait for someone else to realize how much of a mistake this is.
True. Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren't. And sometimes, they are your subconscious telling you that that guy is evil because he's got a funny accent.
However, there is no way to distinguish between the two situations other than outcome, which is why it isn't used as any sort of evidence.
No, really. There's a ton of R&D done in Israel or with Israelis in the US, and knowing Hebrew will give you a massive leg up during discussions with them.
Alternatively, Chinese. At some point, they will have quality R&D of their own, and knowing Chinese will again be invaluable.
Actually, any second language will help you. It's how you get into fun business trips that will expand your knowledge.
The point though is that nowhere was there anything remotely resembling "unauthorized access of a computer". This was nothing but regular bullying done over the internet.
The equivalent of this is the popular girls in high school convincing the local star to be friendly with the ugly girl, only to humiliate her in the most public fashion possible. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is not the proper way to deal with this.
The point is that it's incredibly easy to track someone down with very little starting information. Some time ago, I managed to find the resume of a person on a dating website with nothing more to go on than her handle. Needless to say, it kinda freaked her out. Or, see above where I found the myspace page of a guy running a shady dating site, with only his slashdot handle and Kentucky to start with.
It's difficult to automate this, but it is entirely possible to steal someone's identity this way. Beyond that though, it is also easy to track someone down... stalkers are the big danger here, or sociopaths with a grudge.
The media is actually reporting things right this time. It's just that people infer what they want to believe.
The biggest obstable to an informed population is the population itself. The media, however nebulous of a concept that is anyway, ranks pretty low on that totem pole.
Sadly, most people are far too willing to blame their ignorance on someone else.
That's the point. If a politician does this under the guise of economic promises and government hand-outs, it's good policy. If it's done by a citizen, it's illegal. If it's done through buying the vote of a politician, it's legal. But if a single citizen wants to be paid for his vote, it's illegal.
It's a sham, really. The political system in this country is corrupted beyond imagination. Only the appearance of bribery is prohibited - but the mechanisms are all institutionalized.
I take it someone with mod points and no knowledge of France had a stick up his butt.
Look. I lived there for nearly 20 years. Some things are great about it, some things suck. But there are a couple of things that are critical to know if you want to have any chance at understanding how the French work: - The state - and its bureaucracy - is the foundation of the nation. - It's a country that is split along many lines. - It's a country with a (self-defined) mission. - It is conservative, but has a history of progressing through revolutions. - Art and culture come first. - Anglo-Saxon style survival of the fittest and invididualism is abhorred.
Short answer: No. Long answer: there are a ton of things that are taken for granted in the US in terms of individual rights that are completely foreign concepts in France.
Presumption of innocence, right to self-defense, etc. - where the US is focused on the right of the individual, France is focused on the well-being of society.
It also helps to understand that macro-economic impacts of various policy decisions are largely poorly understood. The French won't understand the impact that this decision has until everyone and their brother decides that EULAs and similar concepts designed to kill second-hand markets are generally bad for everyone.
There isn't. The system that allows you to instantly track criminals is the one that allows you to instantly track everybody. This is the definition of a police state.
You know, I like some inefficiencies in my government. It makes sure that some dimwit who can't get a regular job doesn't get a Napoleon complex and institutes some harebrained regulation.
Yes, it means some crimes go unsolved. I prefer that to some stupid crimes being solved.
Nevermind someone hacking the FBI DB - what if some data entry monkey just screws up their data entry?
"And now, entering data for serial killer John Doe, III" while having the record open for Jon Do, II. How will this be changed? Updated?
I have a trivial mistake in my passport file (they have the wrong passport labeled as lost), and it is costing me 2 hours at immigration every time I fly. I have checked, and it is not possible to correct it. I fear to think what would happen with a more serious mistake. I'm pretty sure there'd be a lengthy trial involved, if not outright conviction and lengthy appeal.
Probably, actually. Anybody who works with software installs downloads the latest versions/patches via VPN connections to the corporate network. That's several gigs worth of downloads for one connection. That's size though, not number of IPs. If they check for numbers of IPs, they can filter out corporate users.
That said, watch P2P protocols evolve to account for this.
Slashdot Mirror
Though I'm pretty sure that being out of the running for the presidential post makes it pretty easy to take a contrarian stance. While we will never know for sure, it would be interesting to see how any of these people voted on similarly controversial bills while they're in the middle of a campaign.
... as well as some somewhat less excellent usage of guillotines on people who were disliked by those in power. There's a reason that the times immediately following the revolution in 1789 were simply called "The Terror".
I was somewhat surprised to see my normally idiotic senators vote the correct way for once.
However, I'm disappointed that Obama voted yes. He'll be getting some angry email from me.
I had mod points, but here's something I'd like to point out that's been bugging me for a while:
Liberals have their talk radio in San Francisco, and it's called KQED. The reason that liberal talk radio fails is that most liberals I know abhor the rhetoric espoused by right-wing talk radio. They prefer news to opinion.
Also, I'd like to point out that the objective scale for the Stanford/UCLA paper was anything but - it was a count of how often stories referenced certain think tanks, with think tanks being assigned to a certain spot on the liberal/conservative scale. If you know anything about data mining, you'd know that this is the absolute worst way of going about this study. As a matter of fact, you can infer exactly zero from this.
Looks like I borked my quotation tags...
"Apart from that, people are the same everywhere, and it scares the shit out of me that all sorts of government agencies are getting more power and less oversight. That's just begging for trouble..."
is what I wanted to quote from n dot I. And yes, it is indeed one of the most important things to remember when discussing different times and places - especially tragedies and horrors.
Gah. Lost my response. Here's what I was saying though:
There is no event that justifies this type of response. None. Not unless you think that the Gulags in Russia and the Ghettos in Germany were justified either. This idea is so monumentally bad that it should have been laughed out of the room the instant it came up. That someone deems this "conceivable" is utterly horrifying to me.
Again - there are some things that are so stupid and bad that they should be dismissed within seconds of being considered. That they aren't tells me where the government is heading. I'm just hoping we make it through the next 6 months.
You're right - most of the applications mentioned in that letter are for security applications by law enforcement or military.
However, there's still the matter of one little sentence:
"In addition, it is conceivable to envision a use to improve air security, on passenger planes."
I'm sorry, but anybody who envisions that this is conceivable has no fucking clue what it is that they're trying to protect anyone from. I realize that this is the beginning of an invitation to participate in a bidding process, and that the application to passenger security is a side blurb. However, applying this to passenger security should have never, ever even come up. Especially not when the paragraph talked about the bracelet as a restraint tool.
Sometimes, I'd rather smack an idea into oblivion before it has even had time to take root, rather than just wait for someone else to realize how much of a mistake this is.
True. Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren't. And sometimes, they are your subconscious telling you that that guy is evil because he's got a funny accent.
However, there is no way to distinguish between the two situations other than outcome, which is why it isn't used as any sort of evidence.
No, really. There's a ton of R&D done in Israel or with Israelis in the US, and knowing Hebrew will give you a massive leg up during discussions with them.
Alternatively, Chinese. At some point, they will have quality R&D of their own, and knowing Chinese will again be invaluable.
Actually, any second language will help you. It's how you get into fun business trips that will expand your knowledge.
The point though is that nowhere was there anything remotely resembling "unauthorized access of a computer". This was nothing but regular bullying done over the internet.
The equivalent of this is the popular girls in high school convincing the local star to be friendly with the ugly girl, only to humiliate her in the most public fashion possible. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is not the proper way to deal with this.
The point is that it's incredibly easy to track someone down with very little starting information. Some time ago, I managed to find the resume of a person on a dating website with nothing more to go on than her handle. Needless to say, it kinda freaked her out. Or, see above where I found the myspace page of a guy running a shady dating site, with only his slashdot handle and Kentucky to start with.
It's difficult to automate this, but it is entirely possible to steal someone's identity this way. Beyond that though, it is also easy to track someone down... stalkers are the big danger here, or sociopaths with a grudge.
For anyone interested in some more information on this guy, see below for his LinkedIn and MySpace page.
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/4/335/230
http://www.myspace.com/ehrichweiss
Fascinating stuff.
But you're defrauding the people who think that your dating site actually has real members.
It's nice to see how warped a crook's mind is.
Wow - that's a novel use of the AC. I hope that just for that, your original post gets modded into oblivion.
No balls, no brain, and no insight. Interesting combination.
The media is actually reporting things right this time. It's just that people infer what they want to believe.
The biggest obstable to an informed population is the population itself. The media, however nebulous of a concept that is anyway, ranks pretty low on that totem pole.
Sadly, most people are far too willing to blame their ignorance on someone else.
That's the point. If a politician does this under the guise of economic promises and government hand-outs, it's good policy. If it's done by a citizen, it's illegal. If it's done through buying the vote of a politician, it's legal. But if a single citizen wants to be paid for his vote, it's illegal.
It's a sham, really. The political system in this country is corrupted beyond imagination. Only the appearance of bribery is prohibited - but the mechanisms are all institutionalized.
Scientology connection? That's a new one. Hadn't heard that one before... got a source for that?
I take it someone with mod points and no knowledge of France had a stick up his butt.
Look. I lived there for nearly 20 years. Some things are great about it, some things suck. But there are a couple of things that are critical to know if you want to have any chance at understanding how the French work:
- The state - and its bureaucracy - is the foundation of the nation.
- It's a country that is split along many lines.
- It's a country with a (self-defined) mission.
- It is conservative, but has a history of progressing through revolutions.
- Art and culture come first.
- Anglo-Saxon style survival of the fittest and invididualism is abhorred.
Pretty much everything follows from that.
Short answer: No. Long answer: there are a ton of things that are taken for granted in the US in terms of individual rights that are completely foreign concepts in France.
Presumption of innocence, right to self-defense, etc. - where the US is focused on the right of the individual, France is focused on the well-being of society.
It also helps to understand that macro-economic impacts of various policy decisions are largely poorly understood. The French won't understand the impact that this decision has until everyone and their brother decides that EULAs and similar concepts designed to kill second-hand markets are generally bad for everyone.
How about Reagan? There is significant evidence now that in the last years of his presidency, he was suffering from advanced stages of Alzheimers'.
Haven't thought about this. Good point - especially since I've had some email interaction with my congresscritter already.
There isn't. The system that allows you to instantly track criminals is the one that allows you to instantly track everybody. This is the definition of a police state.
You know, I like some inefficiencies in my government. It makes sure that some dimwit who can't get a regular job doesn't get a Napoleon complex and institutes some harebrained regulation.
Yes, it means some crimes go unsolved. I prefer that to some stupid crimes being solved.
Nevermind someone hacking the FBI DB - what if some data entry monkey just screws up their data entry?
"And now, entering data for serial killer John Doe, III" while having the record open for Jon Do, II. How will this be changed? Updated?
I have a trivial mistake in my passport file (they have the wrong passport labeled as lost), and it is costing me 2 hours at immigration every time I fly. I have checked, and it is not possible to correct it. I fear to think what would happen with a more serious mistake. I'm pretty sure there'd be a lengthy trial involved, if not outright conviction and lengthy appeal.
Probably, actually. Anybody who works with software installs downloads the latest versions/patches via VPN connections to the corporate network. That's several gigs worth of downloads for one connection. That's size though, not number of IPs. If they check for numbers of IPs, they can filter out corporate users.
That said, watch P2P protocols evolve to account for this.