* Posts by Charles 9

16605 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009

Mozilla sends more snooping Web APIs to smartphone Siberia

Charles 9

Re: The trend is more worrying than the security risks themselves

"Removing them is basically admitting that the browser vendor has no idea how to offer these features in a way that allows safe usage and/or user consent."

It's called dual-use technology, and there's no real way to avoid. The same sharp knife that is essential for cutting in the kitchen also (and intrinsically) makes it a useful tool for murder. So you're left in a dilemma, particularly when you're surrounded by idiots.

Charles 9

Re: the user is king

It IS a can of worms because idiocy affects all of us, if not directly then as collateral damage. So we have to at least try for our own sakes because true idiots can't learn.

As for the header, what if someone messes with it via a malicious proxy?

Rant launches Eric Raymond's next project: Open-source the UPS

Charles 9

Re: Good luck, will be nice to see the third iteration

Given the age of the tools these multi-purpose batteries are supposed to work on (see Ryobi One+, which started with NiCd, moved to related NiMH, and now uses LiPo, and they're ALL supposed to be interchangeable), the battery must have at least similar discharge characteristics so they can work in things from worklights to circular saws. That said, the charger probably needs to be at least be recent enough to detect which of the types of batteries are going into them.

Charles 9

It has been my impression that UPS's fail to "off" precisely because they fail to "pass-through", which in their typical actual use case, means they pass through nothing since they're supposed to operate when the mains is out.

As for power sources, what's wrong with lead-acid? Why not allow us to rig ubiquitous car batteries for the job rather than those tiny "sealed" versions? A case where KISS simpler would be preferred.

Tim Berners-Lee says regulation of the web may be needed

Charles 9

Re: An idea (A problem)

Wrong way. It's a prerequisite question; a foundational question. Money talks, all else walks. Good intentions don't pay bills, and unless you pay the electric and data bills, you're not going anywhere.

IOW, make sure there's backing, THEN move on to the other details.

Charles 9

They could only SMS if they were lucky, were in range, and had money on hand.

And physical visits? It's hard for ME to visit THEM, now consider the other way around.

"Are you really arguing that if Facebook were to vanish, all the families in the Philippines (or anywhere else) would collapse because the family members would no longer be able to communicate?"

It's not outside the realm of possibility. Things are pretty ugly as they are. Something like that COULD light the powder keg.

Charles 9

"That sounds like..."

...the natural condition of the human race. You want better results? You need a better human, first.

Charles 9

Re: An idea (A problem)

I would think, "But who pays the bills?" Is a very concise counterargument, not to mention very grounded in reality. As for why Google could take over, it's all first mover advantage. It's a lot easier to take over a market with no dominant incumbent than one that does.

And I'm leery of crowd-sourced searches. They already exist, after all (see yacy).

Charles 9

Re: So...

He didn't sell out so much as wave the white flag to keep the Web relevant. Facebook and the like have enough collective power to wean users OFF the Web and take us back to the captive portal days of AOL and CompuServe. Do you really want that again? Because I doubt we have enough power to stop it.

Charles 9

"Huh? Your family consists of a bunch of hermits that only communicate through Facebook? I don't buy that for a hot second."

Then you owe me. Try the Philippines, where Facebook is free but e-mail (and any other form of communication, including SMS) costs you in data rates, etc. And I'm certain this is not isolated.

Charles 9
Stop

Re: An idea (A problem)

Point is there's a world of difference between a realistic idea and a pipe dream, and if you want to deal with the consolidation of information, short of a new evolution of man, you need something rather tangible and immediate.

Charles 9

But part of the power of the social media platforms is the "network effects" the platforms themselves provide. It's like a simple HTML blog post in the middle of cyberspace. Without someone directing readers to it, it's not going to get much attention, and that's the kind of thing Facebook provides with its size.

Charles 9

Re: An idea (A problem)

Who pays for its upkeep?

Charles 9

Re: Too true.

And I don't know if that's even possible, as there's no way to simplify imagination. Otherwise, we'd all be publishers.

Charles 9

Re: Don't let the Gummint get involved

"All people have to do is move their fat asses out of their entrenched comfort zone and use other services (how about using DuckDuckGo, Wolfram Alpha, IxQuick, Yandex or Gibiru instead of big G?). It only takes a few percentage points reduction in usage for share prices to tank: et voila – large corporation tamed."

But the counter is that the the incumbent can beat all the upstarts in terms of breadth and quality. Do any of the proposed alternatives approach Google in terms of its reach? I don't think so; otherwise, engines like Altavista would still be around. It's a vicious cycle.

Charles 9

But increasingly things like Facebook are the ONLY form of contact for people too close too ignore, such as family. Unless you're willing to live as a hermit, in which case you wouldn't be on the Internet in the first place...

Charles 9

"Disclaimer: No, this post isn't encouraging more stupid laws, nor is it approving of anything that you may not like. I'm simply saying that the modern world doesn't respect political borders like the government thinks it does."

But there's no solution in sight there. You're basically declaring the world is anarchist, and I don't think that'll be the case for too long as countries will insist on control of their own borders: physical and otherwise. What'll probably happen will be edge control: balkanization at state borders to force controls on everything like the Great Firewall.

Charles 9

Re: The future GDPRs will take care of it

Or the point will be reached when the social networks will find it cheaper to bribe and retool the governments involved to be more amenable. That's how it works in the US: if the government doesn't like you, get a friendlier one elected.

Charles 9

Plus I believe many of these data centers are already guarded by lightning rods and the like. Like trying to smite a clay golem.

Fear the wrath of robots, for their judgement is final and irrevocable

Charles 9

Re: You're never alone with all your online personalities

"Even though many social media sites have Ts & Cs that require you use your own name, none have the wherewithall to validate or even check if that is so. Until they do, this would be a good time to establish all your personas and their individual networks of associates."

And then someone will just establish a private investigation business (outside inappropriate jurisdictions) where they tie these "dissociate" identities together.

Less than half of paying ransomware targets get their files back

Charles 9

Re: "The clear lesson here is the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date offline backups."

And then you find out the ransom ware was an EXTREME sleeper on hopes of beating just that strategy and get into ALL the backups.

Slingshot malware uses cunning plan to find a route to sysadmins

Charles 9

Re: Sort of points out that winning against a multi-faceted adversary will never win

"The military quote of "if you're not mobile, you're a sitting duck" applies."

Problem becomes, what if you don't any choice BUT to sit?

It's begun: 'First' IPv6 denial-of-service attack puts IT bods on notice

Charles 9

Re: Facebook not running IPv4 at all?

Yes, it's that thing that seems to be required in Asia to get everyone connected, given there are more users than IPv4 addresses there. Which raises a problem of unassisted peer-to-peer connections when BOTH ends are behind a NAT or two.

Charles 9

Wasn't the same said about 640KB of RAM?

Charles 9

Re: FUD

"The funny thing is that securing IPv6 means breaking the end to end philosophy many state as one of its positives."

No, it's simply a matter of allowing the capability as and when you need it, without having to forward ports and stuff like that or resort to such kludges as (gasp) UPnP.

Remember that amazing video of the whale leaping out the gym floor and splashing down? Yeah, it was BS

Charles 9

"Looks like you need to learn about the phrase 'damning with faint praise'."

And it looks like YOU need to learn about the trope "Insult Backfire". In this case, someone shallow would take the faint praise for a true compliment regardless of your intentions.

Hackers create 'ghost' traffic jam to confound smart traffic systems

Charles 9

Re: Spoof traffic entering the Intelligent Traffic Signal System

"If you want a stronger guarantee of the provenance of your data, you have to use mechanisms that give you such a guarantee. Moving the sensors from vehicles to infrastructure is not one of them."

Problem is, I don't think such a guarantee exists. ANY kind of authentication mechanism can be subverted if hacked.

Charles 9

Re: In the new automated world we are creating...

And even then, you'll still have to deal with insiders who MUST have clearance in order to do their jobs.

Bots don't spread fake news on Twitter, people do, say MIT eggheads

Charles 9

Re: "the top 1 per cent of false-news cascades routinely diffused to between 1,000 and 100,000"

And what if the response defies Darwinism instead by making the stupid rise up and kill the intellectuals?

Suspected drug dealer who refused to poo for 46 DAYS released... on bail

Charles 9

Re: Ah well...

That's some pretty expensive stuff, though, IIRC. I would think lactulose or milk of magnesia would be more practical.

Hypersonic nukes! Nuclear-powered drone subs! Putin unwraps his new (propaganda) toys

Charles 9

Re: No real commonality in the F35

"Except a wing of jets will be facing a thousand of these drones, and there will be nowhere to hide."

I don't think you've thought this through. In order for them to be cheap enough, they're going to have to be both light and simple. Simple affects their radar cross-section, making them easier to spot. Light makes them vulnerable to techniques that wouldn't affect a real jet, such as an airburst explosion (and since it would be anti-materiel, it shouldn't run afoul of rules of engagement). Plus I don't think it would be possible to swarm a wing of jets in all three dimensions without some sort of advance warning. At the least, they'll probably always be able to climb OVER them.

PS. Why kinetic kills anyway? Most modern munitions use the types of warheads they use now because an air-on-air kill gets tricky at speed and some kind of "shotgun" effect helps in these situations.

Charles 9

Re: Possible scenario

"I mean, how many awesome planes in WW2 received the 'P' designation for PROTOTYPE?"

As in the P-51 Mustang? The P in this case meant "Pursuit" meaning they were designed to pursue and shoot down other aircraft. "Protoype" planes these days get the prefix X for "eXperimental".

Charles 9

Re: Russian kit

But does that also take into account the cost of living in each country?

Charles 9

Re: What's the difference?

Unless you make it ZERO, in which case it's now a decapitation strike and a potential winner.

Charles 9

Re: Saner MAD

Trouble is, what if someone comes along crazy enough to welcome MAD?

You get a criminal record! And you get a criminal record! Peach state goes bananas with expanded anti-hack law

Charles 9

Re: Dumb As Stumps

The problem is that ANY test, regardless of how it started originally, CAN and WILL be corrupted. That's why any test to vote is considered a poll tax (and illegal under Article I, Section 9) in the US.

Wi-Fi Alliance allegedly axed army reservist for being called up. Now the Empire strikes back

Charles 9

Re: Prove that the two were connected

In the US, civil cases are to be judged on the "preponderance of the evidence," weighing one side's story versus the other. It's only in criminal cases where "beyond a reasonable doubt " applies.

Charles 9

Re: Proof

The US term is "preponderance of the evidence".

Washington (no, not that one) to pass hardcore net neutrality law: All ISPs in state must obey

Charles 9

Re: Regulation over a sweetheart deal

Now it makes more sense. It pitted the 21st Amendment against the Dormant Commerce Clause (inferred from Article I), and the SCOTUS used the pre-Prohibition status quo (which the 21st Amendment was meant to restore, as its primary purpose was to repeal the 18th Amendment) to say the Dormant Commerce Clause takes precedence over that part of the 21st Amendment in the case of direct interstate wine sales.

Charles 9

Re: Regulation over a sweetheart deal

"In the case I know about, the SC decided to invalidate part of the 21st amendment--in favour of the feds. (Which demonstrated finally that the US is no longer a constitutional republic.)"

Care to cite the case, then?

MIT gives one-star review to Lyft, Uber over abysmal '$3.37/hr' pay

Charles 9

Re: Sadiq Kahn was right

Nope, zi bet many are CHILDREN of immigrants, making them jus soli citizend.

Boring. The phone business has lost the plot and Google is making it worse

Charles 9

Re: maaen

To those thumbing me down, ask me this. If your ideas were really that much in demand, why hasn't anyone come in, done what you asked, and taken the cell phone world by storm? Why hasn't there been an upstart?

Charles 9

Of course we all have lives. Otherwise, we'd be dead. And if we were zombies, we wouldn't be caring about phones.

Charles 9

Re: meh

Then you can say goodbye to root-aware apps, of which the numbers are growing.

Charles 9

Re: Charging

No thank you. Experience tells me all cordless charging technology present issues of heat which shorten battery lives.

Charles 9

Re: Let's face it..

Roll up displays have been around well before Rail gun or Index. Think Tenchi Muyo! had it with the Galaxy Police.

Charles 9

Re: maaen

Why does everyone keep saying Marketing is blind when their whole purpose is to make money? Could it be instead they see something we don't? You see millions, but perhaps they see tens of millions.

We need baby Googles, say search specialists… and one surprising VC

Charles 9

Re: break it up!

How do you ensure they stay separated without them playing Six Degrees of Separation?

Charles 9

But then they'll just counter that limiting them to a certain size will simply render them too small to be viable, especially if one gets bold enough to break the rules and then bribe the government to look the other way. SOMEONE'S going to cheat.

US Supremes take a look at Microsoft's Irish email slurp battle, and yeah, not a great start

Charles 9

Which makes for Interesting Times when you discover they're the ONLY company you have available to work with due to one obligation or another.