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2676

Living Room / Unsene.com - Secure Communications - Interview & Indiegogo

« Last post by Renegade on August 24, 2013, 09:20 AM »

This should be interesting for a few people.

https://unsene.com/

It's a secure communications platform. Looks like it replaces Skype (IM/chat), FB, Twitter, and Email.

They're currently in beta and funding through Indiegogo:

http://www.indiegogo...oto-and-file-sharing

The head honcho gives an interview to RT here:

Likely that interview will turn a few people off as he's far less afraid to speak his mind than most people. Still, he's got conviction.

Oh, and the other thing... They're moving outside of the US as they've had lots of feedback from people basically demanding that.

For the developers out there, in their Indiegogo levels, you'll see this:

$97
Lifetime Developer Account
All features of 1 Lifetime Premium account + reserve your username + 1 Lifetime Developer Account. 
* Access to our supernode code - so you can run your own supernode to support the Unsene network or your own private network
* Developer support  Early access to our developer program and the API before it's released to the public.
You will also get access to monthly developer calls on Unsene.
Premium account will be available in September, developer program available in December 2013.

Estimated delivery: December 2013

That's pretty wicked cool.

Now, as to whether they deliver, we'll see. It's interesting to have a peek at for now.

2677

Living Room / Re: Ballmer Stepping Down

« Last post by Renegade on August 24, 2013, 08:22 AM »

Seems WilliamBanzai7 has a tribute to ol' Ballmer.


MICORSOFT TITANIC by WilliamBanzai7/Colonel Flick, on Flickr

(via)

2678

Living Room / Re: Are Creative Commons Licenses Even Enforceable?

« Last post by Renegade on August 24, 2013, 07:26 AM »

In fact, the courts have repeatedly said you can't waive it.

-40hz (August 24, 2013, 07:06 AM)

Unless your name is Satoshi and nobody knows who you are.

2679

Living Room / Re: Ballmer Stepping Down

« Last post by Renegade on August 24, 2013, 05:22 AM »

Holy crap... Ballmer made over $800 million from announcing his retirement!

 

2680

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on August 24, 2013, 04:14 AM »

Ren, and anyone else interested,

Instead of discussing copyright and unenforceable contracts in this humor thread, maybe it would be better in the original thread I started with that very link I posted earlier: https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=30129.0

-app103 (August 24, 2013, 03:06 AM)

I used my dark Cthulhu magical powers to raise the necrothread! MWAHAHAHA!

https://www.donation....msg335499#msg335499

2681

Living Room / Re: Are Creative Commons Licenses Even Enforceable?

« Last post by Renegade on August 24, 2013, 04:13 AM »

<darkchanting>
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Pellentesque quis sodales lacus. Pellentesque...
</darkchanting>



NECROTHREAD! ARISE!

Well, IANAL, but I see no reason why you and I can't make an agreement and for both of us to explicitly deny the courts any jurisdiction. We *can* do that. Now, how much any court would respect that, I don't know. They tend to like meddling in people's business. But the point above was that the Copyheart license hasn't been tested.

-Renegade (August 24, 2013, 02:23 AM)

Unless the law is cooler in Aussieland, you *can't* do that - you can't make a contract that is literally unenforceable by law. That's what that last term means.

So no matter how much dear ol' Renny says he wants to, Some Contracts Cannot Be Made. They basically cease to "legally" exist about 0.000000314159236 milliseconds after they are made.

A more silly exaggerated example is "I promise to shoot myself in the head if Microsoft Stock doesn't rise 17 points with Ballmer's departure".

p.s. please take the "anal" out of not being a lawyer. It's the worst tragedy of acronyms ever created!

-TaoPhoenix (August 24, 2013, 02:48 AM)

What do you mean tragedy? Considering how they screw everyone, I think it's rather apt.

Now, herein are some assumptions...

Unless the law is cooler in Aussieland, you *can't* do that - you can't make a contract that is literally unenforceable by law. That's what that last term means.

So no matter how much dear ol' Renny says he wants to, Some Contracts Cannot Be Made. They basically cease to "legally" exist about 0.000000314159236 milliseconds after they are made.

-TaoPhoenix (August 24, 2013, 02:48 AM)

It doesn't matter where we are - you and I *can* contract outside of any court. What matters is the contract between us - not whether or not a court recognises it or enforces it. God knows the courts don't enforce the laws anyways, so what do they matter? Anyone heard of "too big to fail"? The laws are a joke. The courts are a joke. Justice from the system is a farce. Goldman Sachs was just able to get a "do over" for a series of trades that would have lost them 100's of millions. That's law? It's laughable.

No - our ability to MAKE a contract with each other doesn't rest in the hands of a criminal gang of thugs.

However, we are forced into allowing that criminal gang to enforce any contract we make or to resolve any disputes.

That is - the contract and that someone or some entity will enforce it are 2 distinct things.

For example, say I create a graphic under the REAL license. You think it's cute and post it to your Facebook page. Which happens to be a really bad idea because you're taking a vacation in Thailand and the graphic disparages the king. You go, get picked up and thrown in prison, then try to sue me for your use of the graphic. What does the court do? They often simply throw out portions of a contract as "unenforcable" or something. They may simply exclude the clauses about Aldebaran and all that. But whether or not they recognize the courts in the Aldebaran system doesn't have any bearing on the fact that we contracted on that.

2682

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on August 24, 2013, 02:25 AM »

So I'm sitting out on the porch having a smoke when a neighbour drops some stuff in the recycling bin. I say, "You know that by recycling you're denying the landfill miners the opportunity to make a living in the future, eh?" She looks at me like I'm crazy, "Uh, ok."

2683

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on August 24, 2013, 02:23 AM »

Actually Renny, it doesn't fall under contract law.

-TaoPhoenix (August 24, 2013, 12:32 AM)

No?

Since the elements of a contract are
Offer - Acceptance - Consideration - Capacity - Legality, you get stuck because you can't sign a contract that says "no court may make a ruling on this".

-TaoPhoenix (August 24, 2013, 12:32 AM)

Well, IANAL, but I see no reason why you and I can't make an agreement and for both of us to explicitly deny the courts any jurisdiction. We *can* do that. Now, how much any court would respect that, I don't know. They tend to like meddling in people's business. But the point above was that the Copyheart license hasn't been tested.

2684

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on August 23, 2013, 09:53 PM »

It might outline the idea, but reality and the law doesn't quite work like that.

http://c4sif.org/201...es-even-enforceable/

Nothing takes the place of a document spelling out your rights under whatever license the creator decides to grant you, hand signed by the copyright holder. That document is proof of permission. Anything else, no matter how fluffy and feel good it is, is not a suitable legally binding substitute.*

-app103 (August 23, 2013, 09:27 PM)

Well, yes and no.

As the owner, you're able to do whatever you want with it. If you declare your license to be what she's described, then that's it. e.g. If you release something into the public domain, well, there it is. Done.

The reality is that this is a bit of contract law that has never been tested in any court. So, how the courts would deem to screw people over is as of yet unknown.

Here's a license that I'll just pull out of my ass:


THE RENEGADE ETERNAL ALDEBARAN LICENSE (A.K.A. The REAL license)

You are hereby granted an unlimited, perpetual and non-revocable right to do whatever you darn well feel like with the materials pursuant to the following conditions:

a) You may not seek legal recourse for any of your use or non-use of the materials.
b) You agree that no court may make any ruling on your use or non-use of the materials.
c) In the event of any loophole in the above conditions, you agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the Aldebaran system in the Taurus constellation.


It's a simple agreement that falls under contract law, but isn't enforceable by any of our corrupt courts. (Yeah, there are holes in it... it should be a viral license, but whatever - close enough. The point is that it hasn't been tested in court.)

2685

Living Room / Hack This Toilet and Make It Spray Water All Over Someone’s Butt

« Last post by Renegade on August 23, 2013, 08:48 PM »

Too funny!

http://betabeat.com/...-over-someones-butt/

Hey, you pranksters. Have you ever wanted to use your smartphone to hack a toilet, freaking out whoever is enjoying their after-coffee ritual by causing the seat to open and close and water to spray all over their sensitive areas? We’re about to make your Friday: according to information security company Trustwave Holdings, the fancy Japanese toilet Satis is easily hackable using just your cell phone.

Each Satis toilet comes preloaded with the same Bluetooth security pin, “0000,” which you need to enter to control it using the accompanying app. This means that anybody who has the Satis app loaded could control any Satis toilet in their general vicinity.

Links through the link above.

This really takes "toilet humour" to a new level!

Cynical commentary on Wi-Fi devices by Dice:

2686

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on August 23, 2013, 08:27 PM »

NSFW - CAUTION - NSFW - Disgusting, but funny in a sick way

http://www.myzimbabw...ed-by-three-men.html

Chicken dies after being gang-raped by three men

Chicken dies after being gang-raped by three menThree men in Kapiri Mposhi district in Zambia are alleged to have raped a chicken until it died in a case of suspected witchcraft. The three named men, aged 80, 66 and 35 years, are believed to have taken turns in having canal knowledge of a hen which later died yesterday.

...snip...

"It is not the first time that such cases have occurred. We have several of them and it is just that we do not know why these cases are so high," headwoman Chimbuleni added. zambia watchdog

AND IT'S COMMON! 

2687

Living Room / Re: Edward Snowden's Email Provider Shut Down Rather Than Comply With Feds

« Last post by Renegade on August 23, 2013, 07:33 PM »

http://www.theguardi...surveillance-snowden

It appears that Levison – who would not confirm this – has received a national security letter (NSL), a legal attempt to force him to hand over any and all data his company has so that the US authorities can track Snowden and anyone he communicated with. The fact that he closed the service rather than comply may well have opened him up to other legal challenges – about which he also can not comment.

More at the link.

It sounds like he's being hunted for having some principles.

2688

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on August 23, 2013, 06:54 PM »

This should help out:

http://copyheart.org/manifesto/

It outlines the idea.

And you need a new fridge:



In order to get your fridge, you need to pass through here:



Once you have your fridge, make a trip to the supermarket to fill it up. Have some fun while you're there:

2689

Living Room / Re: Ballmer Stepping Down

« Last post by Renegade on August 23, 2013, 06:26 PM »

When I read the title, my first thought was, well, this:

Shares in Microsoft jump 9% after the software giant announces that chief executive Steve Ballmer will retire within the next 12 months. (BBC)

-joiwind (August 23, 2013, 10:23 AM)

I had to read it to believe it!

2690

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on August 23, 2013, 07:46 AM »

WWW => World Wide Wiretap

2691

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by Renegade on August 23, 2013, 07:01 AM »

Hehe! Renny, you're so sweet! You believed their "facts"!

-TaoPhoenix (August 23, 2013, 06:31 AM)

Hahaha! Now THAT'S funny!  

2692

Living Room / German Government Warns Key Entities Not To Use Windows 8

« Last post by Renegade on August 23, 2013, 01:34 AM »

Uh... Yeah. No comment from me. Enjoy.

http://www.testoster...ot-to-use-windo.html

According to leaked internal documents from the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) that Die Zeit obtained, IT experts figured out that Windows 8, the touch-screen enabled, super-duper, but sales-challenged Microsoft operating system is outright dangerous for data security. It allows Microsoft to control the computer remotely through a built-in backdoor. Keys to that backdoor are likely accessible to the NSA – and in an unintended ironic twist, perhaps even to the Chinese.

The backdoor is called “Trusted Computing,” developed and promoted by the Trusted Computing Group, founded a decade ago by the all-American tech companies AMD, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, and Wave Systems. Its core element is a chip, the Trusted Platform Module (TPM), and an operating system designed for it, such as Windows 8. Trusted Computing Group has developed the specifications of how the chip and operating systems work together.

...

Original German article:

http://www.zeit.de/d...indows-8-nsa/seite-1

2693

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by Renegade on August 23, 2013, 01:31 AM »

I guess that's one more reason to celebrate unbirthdays!

2694

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by Renegade on August 22, 2013, 10:11 PM »

New ODNI press release:

http://www.odni.gov/...ational-intelligence

Press reports based on an article published in today’s Wall Street Journal mischaracterize aspects of NSA’s data collection activities conducted under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The NSA does not sift through and have unfettered access to 75% of the United States’ online communications.

The following are the facts:

--Media reports based upon the recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article regarding NSA’s foreign intelligence activities provide an inaccurate and misleading picture of NSA’s collection programs, but especially with respect to NSA’s use of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

--The reports leave readers with the impression that NSA is sifting through as much as 75% of the United States’ online communications, which is simply not true.

--In its foreign intelligence mission, and using all its authorities, NSA "touches" about 1.6%, and analysts only look at 0.00004%, of the world’s internet traffic.

etc. etc.

The interesting part is:

--In its foreign intelligence mission, and using all its authorities, NSA "touches" about 1.6%, and analysts only look at 0.00004%, of the world’s internet traffic.

My guess is that is a statement about just how understaffed they are and how they need more funding to make up for the slack.

Oh, and they have a new blog site:

http://icontherecord.tumblr.com/

Oooooh! It's on tumblr! They must be cool now!

2695

Living Room / Yahoo! Overtakes Google In US Web Traffic

« Last post by Renegade on August 22, 2013, 09:35 PM »

Yahoo!? You mean they still exist? Apparently so!

http://news.sky.com/...le-in-us-web-traffic

Analysis of US internet use suggests Yahoo! attracted more people to its web services than Google for the first time in over two years.

According to the latest audience figures compiled by comScore, Yahoo! sites received 196.6 million unique visitors in July - a 21% rise on the same month in 2012.

Google, which includes YouTube, attracted 192.3 million visitors to its property - a slight increase.

The research does not include search engines - a domain still dominated by Google - or mobile traffic, which analysts say would be likely to benefit Yahoo! as it is seen as being behind its biggest rivals on mobiles.

2696

General Software Discussion / Re: Chrome’s insane password security strategy

« Last post by Renegade on August 22, 2013, 11:33 AM »

Chrome has another gigantic security hole baked in: if you sign in to your Google account, it automatically syncs with Google's servers and caches account information on whatever computer you signed in from.

I won't install Chrome on any of my PCs and will only run it from inside a VM. 

I use Android devices extensively, so I am automatically signed in to my Google accounts at all times, but I use Chrome as little as possible for browsing on those devices and always make sure that I have password saving disabled in any browser I use .  There are plenty of good Android browsers that offer much better privacy options.

-xtabber (August 22, 2013, 10:05 AM)

Huh? Are they syncing passwords and account info?

When I read the first few words of your post, my first reaction was to just pull some smartass stuff like, "Hey, let me fix that for you:"

Chrome has another gigantic security hole baked in: if you sign in to your Google account, it automatically syncs with Google's servers and caches account information on whatever computer you signed in from.

-xtabber (August 22, 2013, 10:05 AM)

But jeez... Not even installing Chrome? Can you point us to any other resources or info?

Also - Stoic Joker - You know a few things about big data - care to jump in?

2697

Living Room / Re: Groklaw shutting down because of our new US survelliance state

« Last post by Renegade on August 22, 2013, 11:27 AM »

When did it start?

-IainB (August 22, 2013, 09:37 AM)

A very, very long time ago. This is just one small battle in the war against humanity.

The computer Joshua was right: An interesting game. The only winning move is not to play. 

-40hz (August 22, 2013, 10:53 AM)

I've said that a few times here - don't play the game. Withdraw as much of your support for the system as possible. etc. etc. etc.

2698

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on August 22, 2013, 11:23 AM »

This is just too damn good. I debated putting it in its own thread, but, well, it's here:

Fuck Copyright

Enjoy! And feel free to copy it if you like.

2699

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by Renegade on August 22, 2013, 08:16 AM »

Update: In response to EFF's FOIA lawsuit, the government has released the 2011 FISA court opinion ruling some NSA surveillance unconstitutional.

-TaoPhoenix (August 22, 2013, 02:09 AM)

  ...So...isn't that the same FISA court that was giving - Instead of Just Saying No.. - them the warrants to do the sneaky unconstitutional stuff in the first place?

-Stoic Joker (August 22, 2013, 06:43 AM)

It's still better than a kick in the balls, which is all we've been getting so far...

-Renegade (August 22, 2013, 07:10 AM)

Bummer ... I was hoping I had/was missing something. But it does at least imply a glimmer of a conscience on FISA's part.

-Stoic Joker (August 22, 2013, 08:01 AM)

Well, as it was all done in secret, we don't know just how bad things are. The FISA court might not be as complicity in the criminality as we're guessing. Who knows? They've not released any of what they've done yet, and we're only getting a tiny glimpse into the crimes they've committed. It might not be all that bad on the court's part... (Perhaps I'm just being naive and hopeful... dunno - we'll see [or we won't].)

2700

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by Renegade on August 22, 2013, 07:10 AM »

Update: In response to EFF's FOIA lawsuit, the government has released the 2011 FISA court opinion ruling some NSA surveillance unconstitutional.

-TaoPhoenix (August 22, 2013, 02:09 AM)

  ...So...isn't that the same FISA court that was giving - Instead of Just Saying No.. - them the warrants to do the sneaky unconstitutional stuff in the first place?

-Stoic Joker (August 22, 2013, 06:43 AM)

It's still better than a kick in the balls, which is all we've been getting so far...