Recent Posts

2901

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

« Last post by 40hz on August 23, 2013, 04:49 PM »

If a chain of trust has links which are intentionally obfuscated the default assumption is, or should be, that they're potential vulnerabilities. If those links happen to be in the control of organizations with an established pattern of both failing to be trustworthy and lying to cover it up, there's no reason to give them the benefit of the doubt and every reason not to.

-Vurbal (August 23, 2013, 01:41 PM)

This.

"Fool me once - shame on you. Fool me twice - shame on me."

2902

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

« Last post by 40hz on August 23, 2013, 04:48 PM »

Remember there was a time when hardware based viruses were discovered and folks yelled for an encrypted/protected boot sector ... Now they have one ... and they're mad about it. I really just don't get that part.

-Stoic Joker (August 23, 2013, 01:12 PM)

That's not what they're yelling at. The complaint stems from Microsoft co-opting UEFI, adding their own proprietary Secure Boot to the mix - when the fully open CoreBoot already existed and was fully compatible with UEFI - thereby attempting to force Secure Boot down everybody's throat using Microsoft's classic "Embrace/Extend/Extinguish" strategy.

People don't object to having a more secure OS. But they are objecting to Microsoft setting itself up as the de facto gatekeeper when it's not even their technology or initiative.

What's hard to get about that?

2903

Living Room / Re: Ballmer Stepping Down

« Last post by 40hz on August 23, 2013, 12:02 PM »

I know it's "the thing" to sing the praises of powerful men...but seriously, what has Ballmer brought to the table in concrete terms besides a lot of spleen and bluster? I mean sure, if Microsoft was a power company, and they sat him in front facing one of their wind turbine farms, yeah that would be something. But just spreading FUD and bully-threatening Linux and FOSS developers isn't much of an accomplishment in my book. At least Gates could code. Doing little more than being a major instigator of legal attacks (by proxy no less) for bogus IP and patent claims isn't much to be proud of. Not in my book anyway.

 

2904

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

« Last post by 40hz on August 23, 2013, 10:37 AM »

Use a proprietary closed operating system, and that's a risk you take.

With Microsoft, you get what you pay for. And a whole lot more besides.

2905

Living Room / Re: Ballmer Stepping Down

« Last post by 40hz on August 23, 2013, 10:31 AM »

Welcome news. However, I'll believe it when I see it. Still I wouldn't want to be the man at the helm when it finally becomes obvious to even the most fervent Windows 8 fanboy that the last six or seven years have been one complete disaster for Microsoft. And furthermore, that this is directly attributable to the miscalls and hubris of the topmost layer of management.

What I really wanted to say...

 

2906

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

« Last post by 40hz on August 22, 2013, 12:09 PM »

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.

-Renegade (August 22, 2013, 11:27 AM)

I'm at the point where I'd almost welcome climbing into one of Kyrathaba's immersion pods. I sense many tentacles around us.  

2907

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

« Last post by 40hz on August 22, 2013, 10:53 AM »

^I think in Groklaw's case it's more a matter of their not being able to protect their sources under a journalist's shield and their inability to guarantee private communication channels that are the deciding factors. Which is not the same thing as capitulation or self-censorship.

 Rather than set an unwitting leaker or correspondent up should they be served with some secret court order they're neither allowed to challenge or talk about, they've called it for what it is. And they've (correctly IMO) decided that any further attempt to operate under the current system makes you a part of the problem. And there's no getting around it. That took serious guts. Unlike Microsoft, Google et al who are wringing their hands and claiming they're doing their best to fight it while still "cooperating" at every level.

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

2908

Living Room / Re: One man's Google Interview Experience

« Last post by 40hz on August 21, 2013, 02:57 PM »

Some companies seem to confuse "technical interview" with an excuse to be rude to the applicant. I've seen this happen in big and small companies although the worst offenders seem to be the giant corporations, many of whom won't even notify interviewees when they're not selected. I've seen the phrase "only successful applicants will be notified" on more than a few job listings. I guess if you don't hear from them in a reasonable amount of time after an interview you're left to assume they aren't going to make you an offer. That is flat out rude - and becoming increasingly common.

Some have argued that companies are so afraid of litigation that they're minimizing contact with applicants during the hiring process. From what I've seen however, I think it's more due to the increased number of "new generation" employees they have working for them that have spent much of their lives hiding behind a computer screen and have now grown up to be acutely uncomfortable in one-on-one or F2F situations. Especially with strangers. And even more so in situations where they would be the bearer of bad news.

And it's not confined to hiring. I know two people who have been "let go" that were notified of their company's decision by mail. And to add to the insult, their subsequent "exit" interviews were handled by outside service firms that specialize in employee terminations and layoffs. Just like George Clooney's character Ryan Bingham in the movie Up in the Air. There are such people.

I think Renegade hit on it with the comment about human resources. Resources are things to be consumed. Human or otherwise.

2909

General Software Discussion / Re: Linux distros that work with Dell Laptops' 1397 mini-wifi card & Broadcom router

« Last post by 40hz on August 20, 2013, 08:48 PM »

I'm running Linux Mint Cinnamon on a Dell Inspiron 1525 with no hassles.

Because the required Broadcom driver for the 1397 wifi card is proprietary, it isn't included by default although Mint does detect it's absence and offers to install it for you if needed.



The only catch is you need to be connected to the Internet to download - so you'll need to have a wired connection in order for Mint to automatically install it for you. (The alternative is to download it yourself, copy it to media, and then install it manually from that.)

Once wifi is running a few moments later you won't need a wired connection again.

2910

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

« Last post by 40hz on August 20, 2013, 11:58 AM »

This is probably the most disturbing bit of news to date. Groklaw, long-time champion of online freedoms and laws which respect liberty and The Constitution is saying it can't continue under the present state of affairs. Pamela Jones issued this statement today.

It's been covered by several prominent websites such as Popehat

Faced With The Security State, Groklaw Opts Out
Aug 20, 2013
By Ken White.
Politics & Current Events   

For ten years Pamela Jones has run Groklaw, a site collecting, discussing, and explaining legal developments of interest to the open-source software community. Her efforts have, justifiably, won many awards.

She's done now.

Running a blog long-term can be exhausting, irritating, and sometimes discouraging. Creative efforts have arcs, with a beginning and an end. If Jones were closing up shop because she's had enough and has accomplished what she set out to do, I would be sorry to see her go, but it would be the kind of sorry you feel when you finish a good book.

That's not why she's stopping.

Pamela Jones is ending Groklaw because she can't trust her government. She's ending it because, in the post-9/11 era, there's no viable and reliable way to assure that our email won't be read by the state — because she can't confidently communicate privately with her readers and tipsters and subjects and friends and family.

    "I hope that makes it clear why I can't continue. There is now no shield from forced exposure. Nothing in that parenthetical thought list is terrorism-related, but no one can feel protected enough from forced exposure any more to say anything the least bit like that to anyone in an email, particularly from the US out or to the US in, but really anywhere. You don't expect a stranger to read your private communications to a friend. And once you know they can, what is there to say? Constricted and distracted. That's it exactly. That's how I feel.

    So. There we are. The foundation of Groklaw is over. I can't do Groklaw without your input. I was never exaggerating about that when we won awards. It really was a collaborative effort, and there is now no private way, evidently, to collaborate."

In making this choice, Jones echoes the words of Lavar Levison, who shut down his encrypted email service Lavabit. Levison said he was doing so rather than "become complicit in crimes against the American people"

<more>

and Techdirt.

More NSA Spying Fallout: Groklaw Shutting Down
from the the-pain-of-being-watched dept


A few months ago, after the NSA spying stories first broke, we wrote about a bit from This American Life where the host, Ira Glass, was interviewing lawyers for prisoners detained at Guantanamo, about the impact of knowing that the government was listening in on every single phone call you made. The responses were chilling. The people talked about how it stopped them from being emotional with their children or other close friends and relatives. How they had trouble functioning in ways that many people take for granted, just because the mental stress of knowing that you have absolutely no privacy is incredibly burdensome. PJ, the dynamo behind Groklaw, has written a powerful piece explaining the similar feeling she's getting from all the revelations about government surveillance, in particularly the shutting down of Lavabit by Ladar Levison, and his suggestion that if people knew what he knew about email, they wouldn't use it.

Because of this, she's shutting down Groklaw.

You really need to read the entire piece, but it clearly lays out the sort of mental anguish that you get with the realization that what you thought was private and personal, might not be any more. She compares it to the feeling of having her apartment robbed, and the creepy feeling you get that some stranger was riffing through all of your personal belongings. And, from there, she riffs on the importance of privacy and intimacy, and how the totalitarian state takes those things away, quoting a powerful passage from Janna Malamud Smith's book Private Matters. You should go read the full quotes, but it notes the psychological impact of not having privacy.

And that's how PJ feels right now. The fact that the NSA is collecting all emails in or out of the US, as well as all encrypted messages, means that it's impossible to have that privacy and intimacy that she feels is necessary to run the site:

    "There is now no shield from forced exposure. Nothing in that parenthetical thought list is terrorism-related, but no one can feel protected enough from forced exposure any more to say anything the least bit like that to anyone in an email, particularly from the US out or to the US in, but really anywhere. You don't expect a stranger to read your private communications to a friend. And once you know they can, what is there to say? Constricted and distracted. That's it exactly. That's how I feel.

    So. There we are. The foundation of Groklaw is over. I can't do Groklaw without your input. I was never exaggerating about that when we won awards. It really was a collaborative effort, and there is now no private way, evidently, to collaborate.

    I'm really sorry that it's so. I loved doing Groklaw, and I believe we really made a significant contribution. But even that turns out to be less than we thought, or less than I hoped for, anyway. My hope was always to show you that there is beauty and safety in the rule of law, that civilization actually depends on it. How quaint."

<more>

This is indeed a day of national mourning.

2911

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by 40hz on August 20, 2013, 09:25 AM »

Go on... gloat. Haterz gonna hate.  

http://www.telegraph...ned-in-Thailand.html

-Renegade (August 20, 2013, 06:08 AM)

No need to hate. I'm sure our governments already LOVE the possibilities presented by Bitcoin. And they'll be behind it 100% once they take over the idea and run with it themselves...

The really sad part is that, although Bitcoin will either submit to regulation or be hounded out of existence, the concept behind it (at least the protocol/security and 'wallet' part) will probably be incorporated into official government e-currencies sooner or later. I'm guessing sooner. Figure 5 years max. The public - thanks to Bitcoin's advocates - has already shown they're open to this type of currency. And businesses and securities exchanges are already champing at the bit (no pun intended) to get a crack at it.

Right now it looks very much like this experiment in anarcho-economics will be co-opted. And in Bitcoin's case, it will provide (as a side benefit) even greater levels of monetary surveillance than are possible with our current e-currency systems.

Be careful what you wish for.

2912

General Software Discussion / Re: Replacing the Control Panel

« Last post by 40hz on August 20, 2013, 09:15 AM »

@V - Certainly hope you make some money off of this when it's finished. Seems to me like a huge amount of effort being expended to reverse engineer and improve something made by a company that's notoriously tight-lipped about how their stuff actually works - and who should be doing this themselves considering what they charge for their products.
 

2913

Living Room / Re: Sci-fi novel now available from DC member kyrathaba!

« Last post by 40hz on August 19, 2013, 12:43 PM »

Thanks, 40hz!

Music to my ears....

I think you'll really enjoy the read

Note: you have to have downloaded a book at least 48 hours earlier before Smashwords will let you review it. So, I will PM you a 100%-off coupon code, good through Aug 22nd.

-kyrathaba (August 19, 2013, 12:18 PM)

No need for the coupon, but thanks.

I purchased a copy from SW earlier. It's currently residing on my Nook. But I read faster and enjoy things far more when they're printed in ink on old-fashioned paper. So when I saw you were going to do a hardcopy version, I stopped reading your opus on the Nook and decided to wait.
 

2914

Living Room / Re: Sci-fi novel now available from DC member kyrathaba!

« Last post by 40hz on August 19, 2013, 12:01 PM »

My copy just arrived in today's mail. Nicely packed, it arrived in excellent condition. Not even a dinged corner - which is a lot more than I can say for my last few Amazon deliveries.

The book is nicely bound, has very readable type, plus that great cover art. And it's signed by The Man himself!

Professional in every way.

Thx Bryan! (Can't wait for the second installment.}

P.S.

I haven't forgotten I owe you a review.

2915

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: H. P. LOVECRAFT Bundle! Pay what you want!

« Last post by 40hz on August 19, 2013, 02:18 AM »

I'm fairly disappointed with the video streaming of the movie Die Farbe which was about the only thing in the bundle I bought it for.

Between the lags and freeze-ups, it's unwatchable.

Anybody else having this problem?

2916

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

« Last post by 40hz on August 18, 2013, 11:54 AM »

Google's response has always been the same: not interested.

-4wd (August 18, 2013, 12:27 AM)

Besides, it would be just one more thing to wring their hands over and whine about "not legally being able to talk about it" next time the NSA comes calling...

Wired's response is basically, "Shut up. This is normal."

-Renegade (August 17, 2013, 10:55 PM)

Wired is no longer Wired as many of us remember it - and hasn't been since 1998. Wired is now owned by Advance Publications and managed by their Conde Nast <*choke*> subservient subsidiary company.

Need more really be said?

 

2917

Living Room / Re: OK - lets get to know each other... who are you, what do you do, where from?

« Last post by 40hz on August 18, 2013, 11:39 AM »

Welcome fredimeister.

Always good to see a new name around here. With your wide range of interests and work experience I'm sure you'll find you fit in quite well with this crowd. Also my special welcome to a fellow Linux user. We may be in the minority as of now. But it's only a matter of time before that changes.

Be seein' ya around the campus!

2918

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

« Last post by 40hz on August 18, 2013, 11:26 AM »

Whoever made this one must know Renegade:



 

2919

Living Room / Re: Hacker Posts About FB Flaw to Zuckerberg's Wall (gets way worse)

« Last post by 40hz on August 18, 2013, 07:09 AM »

From my experience, NIH is invariably the default reaction of most large organizations to outside input. Even if such input is well intentioned - and requested by the organization itself - the knee-jerk tendency to circle the wagons and stonewall is just too ingrained. Because you're far less likely to be punished for inaction than you are for doing something, refusal to take action is often the smarter strategy in a corporate setting. Dilbert referred to this behavior as "Learned Helplessness."

Bug identification is much like whistleblowing. The very businesses encouraging you to "participate" usually prefer that you don't.

In management circles, such behavior is generally seen as an early indication an organization has passed it's prime and started its decline.

2920

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

« Last post by 40hz on August 17, 2013, 02:07 PM »

While not directly related to Snowden, the following article in the WSJ by Nicholas Quinn Rosencranz (professor of law at Georgetown and a senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute) offers a telling look into the mindset and proclivities of our current president when it comes to obeying the Constitution and observing the limits to his powers as the US president:

The Obama administration announced last month via blog post that the president was unilaterally suspending ObamaCare's employer mandate—notwithstanding the clear command of the law. President Obama's comments about it on Aug. 9—claiming that "the normal thing [he] would prefer to do" is seek a "change to the law"—then added insult to constitutional injury. It also offers a sharp contrast with a different president who also suspended the law...

A very well written and reasoned article that's worth reading in it's entirety. Find the rest of it here.

2921

Living Room / Re: Google Goes Dark for Two Minutes. Panic Ensues.

« Last post by 40hz on August 17, 2013, 01:44 PM »

...They were updating the NSA's backdoor is my call...

-wraith808 (August 17, 2013, 09:31 AM)

SNAP! An almost exact same thought occurred to me - and probably a million other people on the planet, upon reading of this news.
I recall sometime in (I think it was) 2008/9 reading of a spate of mysterious outages in international undersea cable telecoms links to some countries in the the Middle East and elsewhere. The comment was vouchsafed that a deep-sea fishing trawler's net must have accidentally snagged the cables, or something...
At the time, I thought to myself "Yeah, right. I wonder if they snagged the satellite transmissions network too?"

-IainB (August 17, 2013, 11:43 AM)

+1 w/Wraith and IainB- Sure sounds like "government work." That'd be my guess too.

And 2 minutes would be more than enough time to insert a middle man into a data stream or install a passive tap on it.

2922

Living Room / Re: Please help superboyac build a server (2013 edition).

« Last post by 40hz on August 16, 2013, 08:24 PM »

I'm getting excited...I don't know why I love storage so much.  I must be like a virtual packrat or something.

-superboyac (August 16, 2013, 06:22 PM)

Could be part of it.

But servers are cool tools. Period. I love 'em.

Having one of your very own opens up so many possibilities beyond just a desktop that it's a rush for most people.
 

2923

Living Room / Re: Google: Gmail users shouldn't expect email privacy

« Last post by 40hz on August 16, 2013, 08:15 PM »

I think that asks a bigger question: Why shouldn't we expect it? Seriously.

-40hz (August 16, 2013, 05:07 PM)

So, you are saying that in my example of a hand to hand delivered postcard or post-it note, that you would expect privacy and security? You would not expect anyone along the chain to read it, and funny looks from a prudish neighbor that was part of the delivery chain would come as a complete surprise and shock to you, and you would expect the $10,000 in cash to remain perfectly safe, and feel no need to change the pin on your credit cards?

-app103 (August 16, 2013, 06:14 PM)

Expectation may be one thing. But using expectation as a justification or an argument for the inevitability and necessity of a certain behavior is another.

To my mind, part of your argument strays dangerously close to the tendency of some to blame the victim.

Just because something bad happens is not the same thing as establishing that it must happen...
 

2924

Living Room / Re: Movies or films you've seen lately

« Last post by 40hz on August 16, 2013, 07:48 PM »

Can I watch the movie first without first getting into the series?

-superboyac (August 16, 2013, 06:08 PM)

@SB - Absolutely. I watched the movie long before I got into the series. It takes  place late in the game so the characters are fully worked out as opposed to the series where there are a few rough patches.

Disregard the fact it takes place on a terraformed Mars because the space flight part of BeBop doesn't really apply in this story. Just think of Mars as yet another Neo-Tokyo.

Reading up on the background and character bios on Wiki here would be helpful because oddball characters like hacker-wiz Edward (a girl btw) and the escapee "data dog" Ein will probably be hard to slot into the plot unless you saw the series. Ditto for the motivations behind each of the principle characters.



Since you're a jazzer you'll definitely appreciate Yoko Kanno's jazz stylings in the soundtrack.

2925

Living Room / Re: Google: Gmail users shouldn't expect email privacy

« Last post by 40hz on August 16, 2013, 05:07 PM »

I have not heard of a single case of a postal worker being fired or brought up on charges for reading a postcard, which is a lot different than opening an envelope or package.

-app103 (August 16, 2013, 04:04 PM)

Apologies. I was talking about a letter.

Does anyone still expect any privacy or security?

-app103 (August 16, 2013, 04:04 PM)

I think that asks a bigger question: Why shouldn't we expect it? Seriously.

A lot of the arguments I hear about privacy and security always beg the question that we're somehow "asking for it" for doing the electronic equivalent of walking into a bar with a dress that's a little too short or a blouse that's a little too tight.

I don't buy that, nor do I concede the point that I should have to do anything much other than say "this is not intended for sharing or pubic perusal" and "mind your own business please."

I refuse to accept the argument that a certain level of craven behavior is the norm and absolutely must be expected. Because if I go down that road, then I'd be justifying much of what our government is currently doing and saying. Because their attitude is that we can't be trusted and must always be regulated and monitored and dealt with by those who are "the real Americans" and the "True Patriots."

And cynical as I may be under most circumstances, I still do not accept that attitude, either as a given, or as an unassailable truth.

I make contingency arrangements in the event of the worst. But I still keep hoping for the best. And I'm happy to say people surprise me (in good ways) at least half the time.


         "We can't 'get it together' Piglet. It is together..."