I carry cash at all times. I have no choice as I frequently work in places where there are no ATMs and where hotels and restaurants don't take plastic. If I'm in Mogadishu or Kabul (both places I have worked this year), the risk of being robbed is invisible compared with the risk of a fast, violent death by other means. So am I afraid of being robbed? No.
In fact, the only place I've ever been robbed was on a train travelling to Geneva Airport in Switzerland. I nodded off and the thief picked a travel wallet from my (unzipped, contributory negligence) cabin bag. Luckily, my passport was in my jacket pocket so my journey could continue. But I was robbed of a fairly substantial amount of cash. Does this make me afraid of being robbed? No.
Since that incident, I am more disciplined about zipping up and securing my personal belongings. I have a wallet that is attached to my person with a chain. I have taken these precautions and am therefore able to travel, without fear, with cash.
All the cash I carry can be traced to the bank account from which I withdrew it, or the cashier at the organizations I'm working for that issues cash for expenses. So I am unafraid of being arrested or have cash confiscated by police. It's a truth that in Switzerland (where I live), people frequently tender very large bills (CHF500 or even CHF1000) to pay for a pint of milk. Nobody raises an eyebrow, never mind calls the cops.
I spent some time writing billing data analysis by candlelight. This, of itself, is not unusual in a developing country (where I lived at the time). But since the client was the electricity company and it was their data being analysed, the irony was not lost on my client who insisted that I never mention this fact to anyone... Well, that's all over now!
The article (sorry, TFA) says they witnessed twenty such catches per day. Yet the only video they captured was the one linked? [Strokes chin skeptically...]
Do you think there are parallels between the way the charlatans of the paranormal manipulate their victims and the manner in which some highly dubious, if plausible, technologies are promoted?
I don't know a single person - literally not even one - who still uses local mail.
Well now you do - consider the many, many people (such as myself) who are frequently offline or in places where internet connectivity is limited, intermittent and very expensive. Offline email is not an option for me - it's a way of life.
The most striking thing about the linked Microsoft launch site http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en/us/about.aspx is that it is almost completely free of Microsoft logos or brand style. Could be a brochure from an OEM. Startling.
(1) Net Centric Diplomacy database Appears to have been trivially downloadable. Manning used Wget to automate the capture of cables from this database. Manning had access to secure networks (SIPRNet) and it was this, rather than any technical expertise, that allowed him to pull all the cables.It seems as if the Net Centric Diplomacy database and its interface (presumably a web front end) lacked any functionality to inhibit automated / bulk downloads, to track or log downloads or to alert operators to suspicious or anomalous patterns of access.
Contrast this with the logging that was available in IntelLink (the SIPRnet internal search engine) that helped link incriminating keywords (Assange, Wikileaks etc) to the IP address assigned to Manning's computer. The defense cannot refute that, while they may be able to undermine the (very poorly gathered) computer forensics from Manning's computer.
(2) Microsoft Share Point server Appears, also, to have been wide open to anyone on SIPRnet and to have permitted automated (scripted) bulk downloading of files. And, like (1), appears to have lacked any functionality to alert operators to suspicious behaviour.
Contrast this, also, with the logging that was available in IntelLink.
(3) Manning is no expert First, he used the same password for both his operating system (presumably, his Windows username/password) as for his encryption. Second, he claims to have "zero-filled" his hard disk but had not done so. Third, he used his own computer for the IntelLink searches thereby leaving a trail of evidence.
(4) Lack of expertise seems quite widespread... The computer environment at the FOB where Manning worked was risible. In testimony, an officer described how "soldiers would store movies and music in their shared drive on the SIPRnet. The shared drive, called the “T Drive” by soldiers, was about 11 terabytes in size, and was accessible to all users on SIPRnet who were given permission to access it, in order to store data that they could access from any classified computer." In other words, in practise, no distinction between storage for movies and music and the storage for classified materials. While the officer told soldiers not to use it for music and movies (and used to delete same as well as reporting the abuse), the practise was prevalent. And despite the 11 terabytes (that is 11 thousand Gigabytes) available for music and movies, this officer cites lack of storage as the reason that some logs (that may have contained evidence) were not maintained. This officer, Capt. Thomas Cherepko, received a "letter of admonishment" for the lax enviroment at this base.
Has the buck stopped at the Captain? I believe that points 1, 2 and 3 suggest a culture of information security so poor as to merit serious enquiry in its own right. Manning probably did break several laws in gathering and communicating the cables to WikiLeaks and, if convicted, must face the music. But the ease with which he did this ought to be cause for far more concern than we are seeing in the media. The US Army appears to be throwing Manning under a bus, but only a slap on the wrist for Cherepko. That is unjust. Lets see how this unfolds...
A reporter from The New York Times, an American of Norwegian rather than Afghan extraction, voluntarily submitted to a test screening with the B.A.T. system. After his fingerprints and iris scans were entered into the B.A.T.’s armored laptop, an unexpected “hit” popped up on the screen, along with the photograph of a heavily bearded Afghan.
The “hit” identified the reporter as “Haji Daro Shar Mohammed,” who is on terrorist Watch List 4, with this note: “Deny Access, Do Not Hire, Subject Poses a Threat.”
Hilarious, until this "hit" is used to trigger a missile strike on your house. this example illustrates why outputs of biometric comparisons should be human-adjudicated when anything other than a parking-space is at question.
Google has released two phones ever, both of which are easily rootable.
Easily by the average/. reader - but I suspect that HTC would like to see that bar lowered significantly. I imagine that a hardware vendor (HTC, for example, but it could be anyone) wanting to put a serious hand-held device into an enterprise environment would like to make it simple to cut the umbilical chord to Google.
Or just to offer power users more options to rid themselves of the constant sucking noise of Google (and Facebook and Yelp and the rest of the bottom-feeders) eavesdropping on our every action, thought, movement.
This may be FUD, but there's a grain of truth in there somewhere!
FTA: It seems right now that this particular niché is not being served: or is it?
Why do so many people have a problem with this word? I can put up with the US pronunciation (i.e. "nitch") though I grew up in Ireland and England pronouncing it what I presume to be a slightly French way - i.e. "neeesh"
For all their guff on http://www.eg8forum.com/en/accessibility/ about making it accessible, you still have to download the PDF via the Flash "app". It all looks like the sort of shiny UI that is necessary when your key customers are heads of state and the like - frequently clueless about and impatient with technology.
FTA: Somehow, I'm thinking that Steve Jobs circa 1984...would have told U.S. senators sending threatening letters about computer-based info sharing to take a hike.
All companies that go public will eventually drop or morph core values when these conflict with shareholder value (variously defined as profit or share price). Apple are no different.
As pretty as thas is, this is Slashdot and I'd have expected one or more of the following features:
(1) Internet connection
(2) Out of circuit, redundant internet connection
(3) A link to some DHS Threat Level status source with automated update of the status on the device
(4) some stupid social networking linkage (since it's so bloody ubiquitous...)
Just as soon as there is something similar in other countries, expect a LOT of people to get on twitter to organise dissent.
Not necessarily. Once a country gains the capacity not merely to block Twitter/Facebook/Whatever (that's too simple) but to trace the messages back to their sources - not necessarily on the day or in real time - then it's game over. If you know that the goons will come knocking at three in the morning, you'll be loathe to use the likes of TwitBook.
What's needed is a truly secure solution - because we know that the bad guys are likely to find needles in the haystack...
"Conclusion: Steve Jobs was right; flash doesn't belong on phones and I'm glad he is killing it, even if he is still an annoying control freak."
How about just make Flash work on phones - in the very, very near future, I will stop carrying a notebook or a netbook with me. Billions of others round the world will never buy a netbook - but they will buy a powerful phone. The argument for making any platform mobile is too strong.
Slashdot Mirror
I carry cash at all times. I have no choice as I frequently work in places where there are no ATMs and where hotels and restaurants don't take plastic. If I'm in Mogadishu or Kabul (both places I have worked this year), the risk of being robbed is invisible compared with the risk of a fast, violent death by other means. So am I afraid of being robbed? No.
In fact, the only place I've ever been robbed was on a train travelling to Geneva Airport in Switzerland. I nodded off and the thief picked a travel wallet from my (unzipped, contributory negligence) cabin bag. Luckily, my passport was in my jacket pocket so my journey could continue. But I was robbed of a fairly substantial amount of cash. Does this make me afraid of being robbed? No.
Since that incident, I am more disciplined about zipping up and securing my personal belongings. I have a wallet that is attached to my person with a chain. I have taken these precautions and am therefore able to travel, without fear, with cash.
All the cash I carry can be traced to the bank account from which I withdrew it, or the cashier at the organizations I'm working for that issues cash for expenses. So I am unafraid of being arrested or have cash confiscated by police. It's a truth that in Switzerland (where I live), people frequently tender very large bills (CHF500 or even CHF1000) to pay for a pint of milk. Nobody raises an eyebrow, never mind calls the cops.
The future involved less, but not zero, cash.
I spent some time writing billing data analysis by candlelight. This, of itself, is not unusual in a developing country (where I lived at the time). But since the client was the electricity company and it was their data being analysed, the irony was not lost on my client who insisted that I never mention this fact to anyone... Well, that's all over now!
The article (sorry, TFA) says they witnessed twenty such catches per day. Yet the only video they captured was the one linked?
[Strokes chin skeptically...]
Do you think there are parallels between the way the charlatans of the paranormal manipulate their victims and the manner in which some highly dubious, if plausible, technologies are promoted?
I don't know a single person - literally not even one - who still uses local mail.
Well now you do - consider the many, many people (such as myself) who are frequently offline or in places where internet connectivity is limited, intermittent and very expensive. Offline email is not an option for me - it's a way of life.
The most striking thing about the linked Microsoft launch site http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en/us/about.aspx is that it is almost completely free of Microsoft logos or brand style. Could be a brochure from an OEM. Startling.
So yeah, email has become transparent to me. I receive next to no correspondence through it.
But not no correspondence. So you still use email. And, so long as we still use it, it will not go away.
Just the thing for this Tuesday morning. Thanks to MuseScore and Kimiko!
...if they are not named Mitt Romney, then they are all AGAINST Mitt Romney.
If they are named Mitt Romney, they are FOR Mitt Romney.
They are ALL AGAINST Barack Obama.
They are ALL AGAINST tax increases.
They are ALL FOR invading Iran. No, wait, that's not quite right....
It's a Republican primary. Don't expect too much clear blue water between candidates....
(1) Net Centric Diplomacy database
Appears to have been trivially downloadable. Manning used Wget to automate the capture of cables from this database. Manning had access to secure networks (SIPRNet) and it was this, rather than any technical expertise, that allowed him to pull all the cables.It seems as if the Net Centric Diplomacy database and its interface (presumably a web front end) lacked any functionality to inhibit automated / bulk downloads, to track or log downloads or to alert operators to suspicious or anomalous patterns of access.
Contrast this with the logging that was available in IntelLink (the SIPRnet internal search engine) that helped link incriminating keywords (Assange, Wikileaks etc) to the IP address assigned to Manning's computer. The defense cannot refute that, while they may be able to undermine the (very poorly gathered) computer forensics from Manning's computer.
(2) Microsoft Share Point server
Appears, also, to have been wide open to anyone on SIPRnet and to have permitted automated (scripted) bulk downloading of files. And, like (1), appears to have lacked any functionality to alert operators to suspicious behaviour.
Contrast this, also, with the logging that was available in IntelLink.
(3) Manning is no expert
First, he used the same password for both his operating system (presumably, his Windows username/password) as for his encryption. Second, he claims to have "zero-filled" his hard disk but had not done so. Third, he used his own computer for the IntelLink searches thereby leaving a trail of evidence.
(4) Lack of expertise seems quite widespread...
The computer environment at the FOB where Manning worked was risible. In testimony, an officer described how "soldiers would store movies and music in their shared drive on the SIPRnet. The shared drive, called the “T Drive” by soldiers, was about 11 terabytes in size, and was accessible to all users on SIPRnet who were given permission to access it, in order to store data that they could access from any classified computer." In other words, in practise, no distinction between storage for movies and music and the storage for classified materials. While the officer told soldiers not to use it for music and movies (and used to delete same as well as reporting the abuse), the practise was prevalent. And despite the 11 terabytes (that is 11 thousand Gigabytes) available for music and movies, this officer cites lack of storage as the reason that some logs (that may have contained evidence) were not maintained. This officer, Capt. Thomas Cherepko, received a "letter of admonishment" for the lax enviroment at this base.
Has the buck stopped at the Captain? I believe that points 1, 2 and 3 suggest a culture of information security so poor as to merit serious enquiry in its own right. Manning probably did break several laws in gathering and communicating the cables to WikiLeaks and, if convicted, must face the music. But the ease with which he did this ought to be cause for far more concern than we are seeing in the media. The US Army appears to be throwing Manning under a bus, but only a slap on the wrist for Cherepko. That is unjust. Lets see how this unfolds...
A reporter from The New York Times, an American of Norwegian rather than Afghan extraction, voluntarily submitted to a test screening with the B.A.T. system. After his fingerprints and iris scans were entered into the B.A.T.’s armored laptop, an unexpected “hit” popped up on the screen, along with the photograph of a heavily bearded Afghan.
The “hit” identified the reporter as “Haji Daro Shar Mohammed,” who is on terrorist Watch List 4, with this note: “Deny Access, Do Not Hire, Subject Poses a Threat.”
Hilarious, until this "hit" is used to trigger a missile strike on your house. this example illustrates why outputs of biometric comparisons should be human-adjudicated when anything other than a parking-space is at question.
Is it like "Ewen"? "Yawn"? "Evan"? "Yohan"? "Eeeeeeee-yooooo, e-yo, eleven"?
It's Irish and is pronounced Owen (O-wen). Naturally, Mr. Casey may have a different view!
Other great Irish names - Niamh (Neve), Saedbh (Sive) and Maedbh (go on, guess - "bh" is like "v")
Google has released two phones ever, both of which are easily rootable.
Easily by the average /. reader - but I suspect that HTC would like to see that bar lowered significantly. I imagine that a hardware vendor (HTC, for example, but it could be anyone) wanting to put a serious hand-held device into an enterprise environment would like to make it simple to cut the umbilical chord to Google.
Or just to offer power users more options to rid themselves of the constant sucking noise of Google (and Facebook and Yelp and the rest of the bottom-feeders) eavesdropping on our every action, thought, movement.
This may be FUD, but there's a grain of truth in there somewhere!
FTA: It seems right now that this particular niché is not being served: or is it?
Why do so many people have a problem with this word? I can put up with the US pronunciation (i.e. "nitch") though I grew up in Ireland and England pronouncing it what I presume to be a slightly French way - i.e. "neeesh"
But how in heavens did we arrive at "niché "??
The agency's five-member panel of commissioners is preparing to send its formal demands for information to Google within days, these people said
Can't they simply google the information?
For all their guff on http://www.eg8forum.com/en/accessibility/ about making it accessible, you still have to download the PDF via the Flash "app".
It all looks like the sort of shiny UI that is necessary when your key customers are heads of state and the like - frequently clueless about and impatient with technology.
Anyone actually read it? It's still downloading
FTA: Somehow, I'm thinking that Steve Jobs circa 1984...would have told U.S. senators sending threatening letters about computer-based info sharing to take a hike.
All companies that go public will eventually drop or morph core values when these conflict with shareholder value (variously defined as profit or share price). Apple are no different.
As pretty as thas is, this is Slashdot and I'd have expected one or more of the following features:
(1) Internet connection
(2) Out of circuit, redundant internet connection
(3) A link to some DHS Threat Level status source with automated update of the status on the device
(4) some stupid social networking linkage (since it's so bloody ubiquitous...)
But, nice box.
One San Francisco brewery is offering a free beer to people from Yahoo who show their termination letters.
I see a huge business opportunity there - www.yahooterminationletters.com
because it's not Microsoft they just can't consider it "reliable".
Tell them Open Office comes from Oracle.
God no - don't tell them that - they'll think they have to pay for Larry's yachts....
Just as soon as there is something similar in other countries, expect a LOT of people to get on twitter to organise dissent.
Not necessarily. Once a country gains the capacity not merely to block Twitter/Facebook/Whatever (that's too simple) but to trace the messages back to their sources - not necessarily on the day or in real time - then it's game over. If you know that the goons will come knocking at three in the morning, you'll be loathe to use the likes of TwitBook.
What's needed is a truly secure solution - because we know that the bad guys are likely to find needles in the haystack...
....."you seem a little tense, would you like me to book you a massage?" will be beaten to a pulp and thrown over the side of a bridge.
I'd like Intel to focus more on power efficiency and less on emotional claptrap.
"Conclusion: Steve Jobs was right; flash doesn't belong on phones and I'm glad he is killing it, even if he is still an annoying control freak."
How about just make Flash work on phones - in the very, very near future, I will stop carrying a notebook or a netbook with me. Billions of others round the world will never buy a netbook - but they will buy a powerful phone. The argument for making any platform mobile is too strong.
Daring Firewall has this to say:
"The App Store platform could turn into a long-term de facto standard platform."
I'm sorry, but App Store is a revenue model, not a platform.
....yawn.....