Recent Posts
Now, I don't know how long the website has been blocked by MBAM, but to me this looks suspiciously like stealthy censorship-IainB (July 14, 2014, 08:48 AM)
http://www.npr.org/2...he-impact-of-obesity-app103 (July 14, 2014, 12:55 AM)
"A certain government agency in town actually purchased 645 of these chairs, for [use] nationwide," he says. "Tremendous amount of demand."
It is a little weird to see Matt Parker and Trey Stone happily chatting around the change as if nothing happened and it's all a big win for their fans. Especially after their original discussion about why it was so important for them to be able to make the entire archive of past episodes freely available when they first started doing it.-40hz (July 13, 2014, 08:22 PM)
Then there's all the commercials and region lockout you get with Hulu. That's something nobody in SP or Hulu will even acknowledge, let alone talk about.
Sad.
Commenter seaborgium over at Ars Technica said it best: Locking your show behind only one method of streaming is a big reason why people torrent.-40hz (July 13, 2014, 08:22 PM)
Replicant developers find and close Samsung Galaxy backdoor
While working on Replicant, a fully free/libre version of Android, we discovered that the proprietary program running on the applications processor in charge of handling the communication protocol with the modem actually implements a backdoor that lets the modem perform remote file I/O operations on the file system.
This is a guest post by Replicant developer Paul Kocialkowski. The Free Software Foundation supports Replicant through its Working Together for Free Software fund. Your donations to Replicant support this important work.
Today's phones come with two separate processors: one is a general-purpose applications processor that runs the main operating system, e.g. Android; the other, known as the modem, baseband, or radio, is in charge of communications with the mobile telephony network. This processor always runs a proprietary operating system, and these systems are known to have backdoors that make it possible to remotely convert the modem into a remote spying device. The spying can involve activating the device's microphone, but it could also use the precise GPS location of the device and access the camera, as well as the user data stored on the phone. Moreover, modems are connected most of the time to the operator's network, making the backdoors nearly always accessible.
It is possible to build a device that isolates the modem from the rest of the phone, so it can't mess with the main processor or access other components such as the camera or the GPS. Very few devices offer such guarantees. In most devices, for all we know, the modem may have total control over the applications processor and the system, but that's nothing new.
While working on Replicant, a fully free/libre version of Android, we discovered that the proprietary program running on the applications processor in charge of handling the communication protocol with the modem actually implements a backdoor that lets the modem perform remote file I/O operations on the file system. This program is shipped with the Samsung Galaxy devices and makes it possible for the modem to read, write, and delete files on the phone's storage. On several phone models, this program runs with sufficient rights to access and modify the user's personal data. A technical description of the issue, as well as the list of known affected devices is available at the Replicant wiki.
Provided that the modem runs proprietary software and can be remotely controlled, that backdoor provides remote access to the phone's data, even in the case where the modem is isolated and cannot access the storage directly. This is yet another example of what unacceptable behavior proprietary software permits! Our free replacement for that non-free program does not implement this backdoor. If the modem asks to read or write files, Replicant does not cooperate with it.
Replicant does not cooperate with backdoors, but if the modem can take control of the main processor and rewrite the software in the latter, there is no way for a main processor system such as Replicant to stop it. But at least we know we have closed one specific backdoor.
The FSF encourages all current Samsung Galaxy owners to appeal publicly to SamsungMobile for an explanation (they can also be emailed). Samsung should release this program as free software, without the backdoor, so that Replicant doesn't have to continue defusing the traps they have apparently left for their users.
The open source standard for decentralized exchange
Colored Coins is a colored bitcoin minting and exchange protocol that works on top of an existing blockchain infrastructure
Why we need an underground Google
Governments are forcing search engines to show wrong results. It's time for search engines to go rogue so they can be right.
The Senate is giving more power to the NSA, in secret. Everyone should fight it
Politicians are still trying to hand over your data behind closed doors, under the guise of 'cybersecurity' reform. Have we learned nothing?
One of the most underrated benefits of Edward Snowden's leaks was how they forced the US Congress to shelve the dangerous, privacy-destroying legislation– then known as Cispa – that so many politicians had been so eager to pass under the guise of "cybersecurity". Now a version of the bill is back, and apparently its authors want to keep you in the dark about it for as long as possible.
Now it's called the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (Cisa), and it is a nightmare for civil liberties. Indeed, it's unclear how this kind of law would even improve cybersecurity. The bill was marked up and modified by the Senate intelligence committee in complete secrecy this week, and only afterward was the public allowed to see many of the provisions passed under its name.
Cisa is what Senator Dianne Feinstein, the bill's chief backer and the chair of the committee, calls an "information-sharing" law that's supposed to help the government and tech and telecom companies better hand information back and forth to the government about “cyberthreat” data, such as malware. But in reality, it is written so broadly it would allow companies to hand over huge swaths of your data – including emails and other communications records – to the government with no legal process whatsoever. It would hand intelligence agencies another legal authority to potentially secretly re-interpret and exploit in private to carry out even more surveillance on the American public and citizens around the world.
I have to say that the mead was the most satisfying -- only because as good as the beer was, and as fun as it was to make, it didn't rival the best store bought beer.-mouser (July 12, 2014, 08:01 PM)
But the cranberry mead I made felt like something really special.-mouser (July 12, 2014, 08:01 PM)
(Living in SE Asia was heaven!) You've got me wondering if I can pull off some simple fruit batches. I wonder what a durian drink would be like... Also thinking of trying for a honey-ginger mead...hmm...-40hz (July 12, 2014, 12:31 PM)
Trying it with a very nice pale ale yeast I've had some very good luck with in the past. S/B interesting to see how it comes out.-40hz (July 12, 2014, 12:31 PM)
Also thinking of trying for a honey-ginger mead...hmm...-40hz (July 12, 2014, 12:31 PM)
Maybe we should start a separate homebrew thread for this?-40hz (July 12, 2014, 12:31 PM)
Remember the concept of the self fulfilling prophecy, and add to that the knowledge that no one really has any power over you unless you give it to them. If we continuously function solely based on the assumption that TPTB have total control over everything ... Then they very soon really will. And we will all die very quietly whenever and wherever we are told too.-Stoic Joker (July 12, 2014, 01:16 PM)
Interesting- I'll have to keep an eye on this. Have you installed it yet?-wraith808 (July 08, 2014, 07:52 AM)
He also brew up a helluva fine Ginger Ale! (Thanks for the recipe and suggestions btw!)-40hz (July 12, 2014, 07:47 AM)
You can regulate what PEOPLE do. But the Bitcoin cat is out of the bag.
Bitcoin is FLOSS software. Can anyone regulate Apache or Linux?-Renegade (July 12, 2014, 07:42 AM)
Hate to say it, but they most certainly can. FLOSS is not immune to government interference and regulation. Both directly and (more insidiously) indirectly. (see: China, Russia, N. Korea, New Zealand, Australia, the USA, ...)
Just like that other great piece of technology that was supposed to liberate us all and serve as the absolute check on the power government: the Internet.
The intelligence agencies of the world are still laughing themselves to silly over that one.-40hz (July 12, 2014, 07:55 AM)
It's happening.-Renegade (July 12, 2014, 06:54 AM)
And as soon as it becomes fully licensed and government regulated it will be universal.-40hz (July 12, 2014, 07:26 AM)
I'm not a virtual reality fanatic but I read it and was unconvinced that there was any substance to his objections.-mouser (July 12, 2014, 06:38 AM)
That's a very cyberpunk future all right, but one I'd prefer not to live in.
"Finnish national digital TV broadcaster Digita co-operates with startup company Koodilehto to start transmission of Bitcoin blockchain and transactions in Terrestrial Digital TV (DVB-T) signal that covers almost the entire Finnish population of 5 million people. The pilot broadcasting starts in September the 1st and lasts two months. The broadcast can be received by a computer with any DVB-T adapter like this $20 dongle. Commercial production phase is planned to begin later this year."
