I don't sign up for these cards just because I can't be bothered, and because of the paranoia some people have about them. I sometimes think that indeed I would make a decent saving off of them if I bought a fuel loyalty card or something (again, who really cares if someone knows when/where you top up on fuel?).
Things like the condom argument just don't have any ground for me, because I'm not the sort of person who does things behind people's backs. If you are so fed up of your marriage that you need to have affairs, you should already have got a divorce..
We really don't. Are you also against library cards? Hey, this guy dun been reading about them lefty wing pollytics, let's get im! I'm surprised you even use the internet if you feel so powerless and paranoid over your own privacy.
With relation to the original talk of using cards, I think it's funny how at 22 minutes into that video the guy mentions the use of a credit card as a possible alibi. In general, if you're not doing anything wrong then having your phone on you and using a credit card could actually be used as an alibi as well as against you.. though of course I wouldn't say it's solid evidence either way.
I know exactly how stuff can be used against me, but I honestly don't care if the government can track what I've bought on debit or credit cards, and I've never heard any evidence that supermarkets even do that - they only do it if you have a loyalty card, which I've never bothered to sign up to apart from at one computer game store. Buying everything with cash is just bizarre, inconvenient, and will result in you potentially losing a lot of money if your wallet is stolen or gets lost.
Then if anyone actually cares, you explain why you bought it. If you are doing it for nefarious purposes, you'd be pretty dumb to buy it with anything trackable.
BTW, I never bother with loyalty cards, but I have no problem buying stuff with my debit card.
I've talked to the Police a few times over the years, and while you do get your share of douches, some of them are nice enough. They're just human beings too.
Well, all those reasons too, that and the iTunes interface is IMO awful (and not sure it even works with Linux, have never tried). And Amazon is cheaper.
I used to love Apple when I was a kid, and I still would choose OSX (though not iOS) over Windows where possible - but I really don't want to encourage Apple right now. Everything about them still screams DRM, even if their music files aren't DRMed.
That's why you have a phone? I have it so that I can browse the web, and send/receive texts. When people actually phone me, I rarely choose to answer, because it's almost always inconvenient.
Umm.. does it really upset you that much that they know how often you buy bread, and what brand of toilet paper you prefer? Why would you even think about caring about that, let alone actually get paranoid about it?
It seems more likely to me that you are unaware what's actually going on in that diagram. I would expect a slashdotter in the 6 digit range to understand this stuff (I already knew how it worked before looking at the diagram just from what others have said about it), so maybe I'm just interpreting what you're saying wrong, but it seems to me that you're just falling for marketing hype without looking into it. How about explain to me in your own words why it's more secure, rather than just linking to a pretty diagram?
From the sounds of it, BB encryption only applies between the device and the BES Server (which is often the same as the Exchange server, especially for small businesses). It is no more or less secure than Exchange<-->mobile communication (which is over HTTPS). BES encryption is not end to end unless both the sender and receiver are Blackberry devices. Likewise anyone sending from one Exchange enabled device to another has the same level of encryption, only without having to pass through 3rd party (ie RIM) servers - apart from your ISP's servers.
The Indian government wouldn't be able to snoop on any company's exchange Exchange<-->mobile communication, any more than it would be able to snoop on any other HTTPS traffic. In our own organisation we use a self signed cert, so nobody else will be able to snoop on us (unless MS have left some weakness in certs issued by Windows servers, but you'd think that would have been discovered by now..).
The main reason we use Blackberries is for the cheap international plans, like I said.
We've never had a problem with DirectPUSH/ActiveSync here. We did however have a problem with BES not playing nicely with the DNS server. Likewise whenever I've left DirectPUSH active on any of my phones, they beep before Outlook gets new mail. Anecdotal evidence is pretty pointless.
Any IT dept can "easily intercept data" just by logging into your Exchange account. IT in fact need to be able to access employees' email if someone is off sick, dies, whatever. Acting as if your IT dept is somehow your enemy is moronic.
Likewise if RIM want to read anyone's email, they will be able to do it. Even if it is currently not possible for them to do so (highly doubtful), it wouldn't take much to modify their system to make it possible. All BB emails go through their private network.
The only compelling reason for us to use Blackberries are the cheap international costs. Using reasoning like "my phone gets an email half a second before Outlook" to say that blackberrys are better than any other mobile email capable devices is incredibly fanboyish - it has very little relevance to the real world. Likewise, DirectPUSH works over HTTPS and so the connection from ActiveSync devices to the Exchange server is just as secure as from Blackberries to BES/Exchange Server.
In addition to all that, once an email is out in the real world it is no longer secure anyway, unless the message has been encrypted somehow. Email is not a secure protocol..
You really think that copyright law should be on the same level as basic human rights? Human rights should be universal on compassionate grounds. Even animals have compassion to an extent. Copyright law is something we as humans completely made up, and if some country chooses to not see "intellectual property" as US law proclaims it, it should not matter.
Such a device would also have full Exchange support without having to have fscking BES. That would be amazing. The only reason we buy Blackberries is because of their international roaming rates, not the devices themselves.. which are generally awful.
It's the same for me, for things like music too. I don't get people who completely dis the music they used to love. I still like everything I used to like. My musical taste just expands with time, rather than shrinking or completely changing.
To my mind it's no different from someone posting up a link to a band's song on YouTube. Well, YouTube does have DMCA agreements in place, and links to buying stuff (presumably on iTunes, I've never clicked those links, I just go to my preferred music store and search for the artist).
You have to remember that pirates will play/send songs to friends who themselves actually like to buy songs (but are not averse to listening to new songs that people send or link to). Even the "pirates" themselves often buy music. I used to get songs sent to me all the time, occasionally copied stuff from friends' collections etc, while I was a student. I still bought some music, but not so much. Since I got a job, I've gone back and bought all the stuff that I really like, and deleted the rest. I think the arguments about people buying when things are convenient and reasonably priced is very true. And I definitely think that an indie band has a lot more to gain than lose from their music being illegally uploaded to YouTube/rapidshare/whatever.
Mod parent +1,000,000.. the above comments actually had me getting a little worried that it was in fact starting to become a dangerous international situation..
Yes, I'm okay with it (not ideologically, but practically) if it doesn't affect me, the consumer.
I dislike DRM which is tied into specific files such that I cannot use on any platform I wish. I don't mind DRM if it's tied to an account and is available on any (open) platform, as is the case with streaming video.
Same with current gen console games, they are not locked down to one console, the discs will work anywhere, and online accounts can be linked to multiple consoles, where you can re-download downloaded games. That is exactly how DRM schemes should be - a convenience rather than a pain.
Ripping my music collection makes sense because I like to be able to listen to music anywhere.. but with movies and TV I generally only want to watch them in places when I already have access to a broadband connection and a comfy seat (ie, home and friend's/family's houses). Other people will have different use cases and opinions, but this is my opinion on the matter.
Fine, happy was a bit of a strong word. I almost just said "but they're happy to" again here.. to me, if they just let it happen, they're "happy" to let it happen. They could have done a lot more to shut illegal copies of Windows down, but they would rather keep people hooked than try to eradicate piracy (because that's impossible).
Slashdot Mirror
I don't sign up for these cards just because I can't be bothered, and because of the paranoia some people have about them. I sometimes think that indeed I would make a decent saving off of them if I bought a fuel loyalty card or something (again, who really cares if someone knows when/where you top up on fuel?).
Things like the condom argument just don't have any ground for me, because I'm not the sort of person who does things behind people's backs. If you are so fed up of your marriage that you need to have affairs, you should already have got a divorce..
We really don't. Are you also against library cards? Hey, this guy dun been reading about them lefty wing pollytics, let's get im! I'm surprised you even use the internet if you feel so powerless and paranoid over your own privacy.
With relation to the original talk of using cards, I think it's funny how at 22 minutes into that video the guy mentions the use of a credit card as a possible alibi. In general, if you're not doing anything wrong then having your phone on you and using a credit card could actually be used as an alibi as well as against you.. though of course I wouldn't say it's solid evidence either way.
I know exactly how stuff can be used against me, but I honestly don't care if the government can track what I've bought on debit or credit cards, and I've never heard any evidence that supermarkets even do that - they only do it if you have a loyalty card, which I've never bothered to sign up to apart from at one computer game store. Buying everything with cash is just bizarre, inconvenient, and will result in you potentially losing a lot of money if your wallet is stolen or gets lost.
Then if anyone actually cares, you explain why you bought it. If you are doing it for nefarious purposes, you'd be pretty dumb to buy it with anything trackable.
BTW, I never bother with loyalty cards, but I have no problem buying stuff with my debit card.
I've talked to the Police a few times over the years, and while you do get your share of douches, some of them are nice enough. They're just human beings too.
Well, all those reasons too, that and the iTunes interface is IMO awful (and not sure it even works with Linux, have never tried). And Amazon is cheaper.
I used to love Apple when I was a kid, and I still would choose OSX (though not iOS) over Windows where possible - but I really don't want to encourage Apple right now. Everything about them still screams DRM, even if their music files aren't DRMed.
That's why you have a phone? I have it so that I can browse the web, and send/receive texts. When people actually phone me, I rarely choose to answer, because it's almost always inconvenient.
Umm.. does it really upset you that much that they know how often you buy bread, and what brand of toilet paper you prefer? Why would you even think about caring about that, let alone actually get paranoid about it?
Exactly. TV adverts have actors, billboard ads have models. People here need to get a grip.
Who here would actually buy a $1000 gadget based solely on a TV ad, without at least looking at the specs and reading some actual reviews first?
A Grand Master is among us. *bows*
Don't forget Parkour :)
Hey, it worked for New Zealand!
It seems more likely to me that you are unaware what's actually going on in that diagram. I would expect a slashdotter in the 6 digit range to understand this stuff (I already knew how it worked before looking at the diagram just from what others have said about it), so maybe I'm just interpreting what you're saying wrong, but it seems to me that you're just falling for marketing hype without looking into it. How about explain to me in your own words why it's more secure, rather than just linking to a pretty diagram?
From the sounds of it, BB encryption only applies between the device and the BES Server (which is often the same as the Exchange server, especially for small businesses). It is no more or less secure than Exchange<-->mobile communication (which is over HTTPS). BES encryption is not end to end unless both the sender and receiver are Blackberry devices. Likewise anyone sending from one Exchange enabled device to another has the same level of encryption, only without having to pass through 3rd party (ie RIM) servers - apart from your ISP's servers.
The Indian government wouldn't be able to snoop on any company's exchange Exchange<-->mobile communication, any more than it would be able to snoop on any other HTTPS traffic. In our own organisation we use a self signed cert, so nobody else will be able to snoop on us (unless MS have left some weakness in certs issued by Windows servers, but you'd think that would have been discovered by now..).
The main reason we use Blackberries is for the cheap international plans, like I said.
We've never had a problem with DirectPUSH/ActiveSync here. We did however have a problem with BES not playing nicely with the DNS server. Likewise whenever I've left DirectPUSH active on any of my phones, they beep before Outlook gets new mail. Anecdotal evidence is pretty pointless.
Any IT dept can "easily intercept data" just by logging into your Exchange account. IT in fact need to be able to access employees' email if someone is off sick, dies, whatever. Acting as if your IT dept is somehow your enemy is moronic.
Likewise if RIM want to read anyone's email, they will be able to do it. Even if it is currently not possible for them to do so (highly doubtful), it wouldn't take much to modify their system to make it possible. All BB emails go through their private network.
The only compelling reason for us to use Blackberries are the cheap international costs. Using reasoning like "my phone gets an email half a second before Outlook" to say that blackberrys are better than any other mobile email capable devices is incredibly fanboyish - it has very little relevance to the real world. Likewise, DirectPUSH works over HTTPS and so the connection from ActiveSync devices to the Exchange server is just as secure as from Blackberries to BES/Exchange Server.
In addition to all that, once an email is out in the real world it is no longer secure anyway, unless the message has been encrypted somehow. Email is not a secure protocol..
You really think that copyright law should be on the same level as basic human rights? Human rights should be universal on compassionate grounds. Even animals have compassion to an extent. Copyright law is something we as humans completely made up, and if some country chooses to not see "intellectual property" as US law proclaims it, it should not matter.
That's not really a big deal for him, considering he works (or at least contracts out) for Microsoft.
Such a device would also have full Exchange support without having to have fscking BES. That would be amazing. The only reason we buy Blackberries is because of their international roaming rates, not the devices themselves.. which are generally awful.
It's the same for me, for things like music too. I don't get people who completely dis the music they used to love. I still like everything I used to like. My musical taste just expands with time, rather than shrinking or completely changing.
To my mind it's no different from someone posting up a link to a band's song on YouTube. Well, YouTube does have DMCA agreements in place, and links to buying stuff (presumably on iTunes, I've never clicked those links, I just go to my preferred music store and search for the artist).
You have to remember that pirates will play/send songs to friends who themselves actually like to buy songs (but are not averse to listening to new songs that people send or link to). Even the "pirates" themselves often buy music. I used to get songs sent to me all the time, occasionally copied stuff from friends' collections etc, while I was a student. I still bought some music, but not so much. Since I got a job, I've gone back and bought all the stuff that I really like, and deleted the rest. I think the arguments about people buying when things are convenient and reasonably priced is very true. And I definitely think that an indie band has a lot more to gain than lose from their music being illegally uploaded to YouTube/rapidshare/whatever.
The actual facts, inclusive of important context.
Mod parent +1,000,000.. the above comments actually had me getting a little worried that it was in fact starting to become a dangerous international situation..
Yes, I'm okay with it (not ideologically, but practically) if it doesn't affect me, the consumer.
I dislike DRM which is tied into specific files such that I cannot use on any platform I wish. I don't mind DRM if it's tied to an account and is available on any (open) platform, as is the case with streaming video.
Same with current gen console games, they are not locked down to one console, the discs will work anywhere, and online accounts can be linked to multiple consoles, where you can re-download downloaded games. That is exactly how DRM schemes should be - a convenience rather than a pain.
Ripping my music collection makes sense because I like to be able to listen to music anywhere.. but with movies and TV I generally only want to watch them in places when I already have access to a broadband connection and a comfy seat (ie, home and friend's/family's houses). Other people will have different use cases and opinions, but this is my opinion on the matter.
Fine, happy was a bit of a strong word. I almost just said "but they're happy to" again here.. to me, if they just let it happen, they're "happy" to let it happen. They could have done a lot more to shut illegal copies of Windows down, but they would rather keep people hooked than try to eradicate piracy (because that's impossible).
Please explain? Something tells me you own an iPad.