Don't be so sure of that. I've had paypal do very strange things to my account before. While I finally figured out what they were doing it wasn't a fun experience. I had to call my bank before I figured it all out.
The best part was when the guy on the phone told me he didn't use paypal, had dealt with too many paypal horror stories, and offered to close my account and make a new one that paypal didn't know about for me.
Don't forget all the special software the Army likes to use to lock the systems down.
On a slightly different note, It's going to be interesting watching the lawsuits when XP officially becomes unsupported next year. Especially after the first remote OS vulnerability is found.
Try looking up the way chargemaster prices are set up. Insurance gets around the issue via collective bargaining. Sadly, people who go to the hospital, especially the ER, need treatment now, and can't afford to shop around. Especially since you don't know the total cost until after treatment.*
They might give a number, but if anything happens expect to pay several times that amount.
Facebook constantly updates their UI, so how the privacy settings are set changes every couple of months. What's worse, they had a nasty habit of resetting the privacy stuff to the default.
I share things with friends that at worst might be mildly embarrassing if an employer could see them, but that's it. If I don't need a security clearance, then there's no reason for anyone not on my allow list to have access to the data. Sadly, I can't trust that the settings won't get changed without me knowing it.
This is Facebook's big hurdle. People are realizing that Facebook is not inherently private, so they're self censoring. That decreases the value of the website, and turns people to things like snapchat.
Given the importance of user trust to a site like Facebook, I'm surprised by them walling this report off. Then again, it is Facebook....
Wow. What a bunch of entitled little shits they are. Why do people allow their kids to join that organisation, given what I've seen from my (completely non-US) spot? Then again, given that they seem to be run by a group that favours conformity over all else, probably shouldn't be surprised.
Because most local groups are fine. It's only when you get to the upper levels that problems really start to become apparent. You have a vocal minority who are huge douchebags, but most people in the organizations just don't care.
Of course, that might also be selection bias. Scouting is popular in rural American communities. These are typically areas that have a high percentage of Christians.
The fun starts when being an Eagle Scout is equated with leadership skills. In many ways it's true. Being an Eagle Scout takes time, dedication, and at least some leadership abilities. This results in many men in leadership roles being Eagle Scouts.
Keep in mind that the cut off age to become an eagle scout is 18. That means these men who are now leaders probably did not deal too much with Boy Scout internal politics while they were in the organization. Combine this with Rosy Retrospection and you have politicians who give favors to an organization that they remember fondly from their childhood.
Of course, all this is supposition. I have no facts to back it up. So please, feel free to draw your own conclusions.
Ahh, but no one knew to look for it. That's why the NSA doesn't consider it a "search." It's also why these programs are of no use when it comes to stopping terrorist attacks.
Every time you visit a website your browser tells that website where you came from.
The trick is that embedded images and videos also count as visiting a new website. Companies use this to track people all the time. In this case, they're blocking the video because the browser is saying that the last place we looked at was techdirt.com
It's very common to make the browser either not tell the website at all, or lie to the website about where you are coming from. That's what Refcontrol forge does.
It's pretty obvious that the standards bodies that created the internet don't care about privacy. Otherwise many of these things would happen by default without needing special extensions.
It could be that they're either running an ultra secure system with per person encryption. What's more likely though, is they're running a POC custom system build by a government contractor twenty years ago for way too much money.
On the bright side, if Nat Geo uses Gmail as their backed, they they could just use PRISM to find everything they're looking for. ;)
Put a big enough bear in a room and everyone will stop fighting.
In this case the companies probably aren't even allowed to deny the allegations being made against them. That's not just bad for transparency, it's bad for business.
It's similar to a politician getting a speeding ticket, but his opponent saying he was arrested for drunk driving with underage girls in the car. If he can't say anything about why he was pulled over (national security) then he can't refute the claims.
The analogy isn't perfect, but it gives you an idea of why almost everyone wants the numbers released.
That's the thing about the internet. You can't stop people from knowing who you're talking to. You can only stop them from knowing what you're saying. Even then, they can probably guess how you're saying it (Skype, tor, https, etc...). All tor and VPNs do is forward your messages for you.
Of course, if nothing ever hits a US data tap they can't see it, but as the parent said MS moved all the Supernodes in house.
You'll occasionally hear stories about some foreign government department moving to Linux, then never hear anything about it again. That's because moving to Linux is mostly used as a bargaining chip when negotiating Microsoft Volume Licenses.
Now it turns out that the NSA can snoop on almost anyone using Windows or other big name Microsoft products. How will China and Russia, among others, deal with the fact that MS is telling the NSA about exploits in their software before patching them?
Some European countries already are stopping schools from using the cloud, or things like Gmail. Unlike the US, Europe has privacy laws.
In the end US businesses are being harmed by all this. Mainly because any country with sense is going to switch to Linux and in house/country operations.
I'm pretty sure that it's part of the courts rules to have a valid E-Mail address on file. The same goes with physical addresses, and telephone number.
So he's been violating the rules, and the judge called him on it.
I really think Judge wright is this close to slapping him with sanctions for all the bullshit he's pulling. On the other hand, he might be giving Steele enough rope to hang himself several times over. Especially in the appellate court.
My bet is that the government and insurance companies did not share data between each other. So she had multiple insurance companies that knew nothing about each other. Kind of like how in the past people would take out multiple loans using the same piece of property as collateral.
The natural reaction is for insurance companies to share information, but that has it's own sticking points. Now the government/corporations all know who you're getting your insurance from, and what's covered.
My guess is this is what actually happened, especially after someone got suspicious. Hello IRS? Of course, with Obamacare (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) all this information is automatically shared with the government. This makes future schemes more difficult to pull off.
What is legal, is modifying your own copy, creating a patch file containing only the modifications and distributing that. Then anyone who has a (preferably legal) copy of the game can use the patch to play on a PC.
The sad thing is the anti DRM provisions of the DMCA still probably make this illegal in the US. Even just a wrapper that gets around DRM is illegal here.
Of course, he just released the whole thing as a torrent file. It would have been much more interesting, legally and morally, if he'd done what we are talking about.
Media companies have constantly argued that it's illegal at Case 3. They argue that converting from OTA to a digital form is creating a derivative work. They've mostly failed, but that's where it is in there fantasy world.
Case 7 would probably have resulted in Aero being found illegal, even if it's one antenna going to multiple TV tuners. That's because judges are normally not technically competent, and would say that a "Copy" of the signal is being made for each tuner.
Is it crazy? Hell yes. Sadly, that's the problem with judges and politicians deciding on things that they know nothing about except what lobbyists and lawyers tell them.
Now this judge got it right. We need more like him.
On the post: Insanity: PayPal Freezes Mailpile's Account, Demands Excessive Info To Get Access
Re: If a bank...
On the post: Insanity: PayPal Freezes Mailpile's Account, Demands Excessive Info To Get Access
Re: Re:
The best part was when the guy on the phone told me he didn't use paypal, had dealt with too many paypal horror stories, and offered to close my account and make a new one that paypal didn't know about for me.
On the post: Officer Brings Security Flaw To Army's Attention; Army Threatens Him With Jail If He Talks About It
Re: Re: Re:
On a slightly different note, It's going to be interesting watching the lawsuits when XP officially becomes unsupported next year. Especially after the first remote OS vulnerability is found.
On the post: PA Hospital First To Open Inpatient Treatment Program For Addiction To The Internet
Re:
Try looking up the way chargemaster prices are set up. Insurance gets around the issue via collective bargaining. Sadly, people who go to the hospital, especially the ER, need treatment now, and can't afford to shop around. Especially since you don't know the total cost until after treatment.*
They might give a number, but if anything happens expect to pay several times that amount.
On the post: Best Response To A Copyright Threat Ever? Lawyers Explain Why ABA Is Full Of S**t In Claiming Copyright On Routing Numbers
My Professors Would Fail The People Who Wrote This Letter.
They cited Wikipedia. That was considered an auto fail by many of my professors.
It's still an awesome letter though.
On the post: Facebook Finally Joins Google, Twitter & Microsoft With A Transparency Report; But Locks It Behind A Registration Wall
Facebook Privacy
I share things with friends that at worst might be mildly embarrassing if an employer could see them, but that's it. If I don't need a security clearance, then there's no reason for anyone not on my allow list to have access to the data. Sadly, I can't trust that the settings won't get changed without me knowing it.
This is Facebook's big hurdle. People are realizing that Facebook is not inherently private, so they're self censoring. That decreases the value of the website, and turns people to things like snapchat.
Given the importance of user trust to a site like Facebook, I'm surprised by them walling this report off. Then again, it is Facebook....
On the post: Congress Gave Boy Scouts Special Law To Let Them Be Obnoxious Trademark Bullies
Re:
Because most local groups are fine. It's only when you get to the upper levels that problems really start to become apparent. You have a vocal minority who are huge douchebags, but most people in the organizations just don't care.
Of course, that might also be selection bias. Scouting is popular in rural American communities. These are typically areas that have a high percentage of Christians.
The fun starts when being an Eagle Scout is equated with leadership skills. In many ways it's true. Being an Eagle Scout takes time, dedication, and at least some leadership abilities. This results in many men in leadership roles being Eagle Scouts.
Keep in mind that the cut off age to become an eagle scout is 18. That means these men who are now leaders probably did not deal too much with Boy Scout internal politics while they were in the organization. Combine this with Rosy Retrospection and you have politicians who give favors to an organization that they remember fondly from their childhood.
Of course, all this is supposition. I have no facts to back it up. So please, feel free to draw your own conclusions.
On the post: Not Only Will The NSA Store All Our Data In Bluffdale, Utah, Now They'll Get A Tax Break On Their Electricity Too
Re: Not Possible
On the post: Two Key Points: Copyright Isn't The Only Business Model; And When Done Wrong Makes Other Models More Difficult
The web cares not about privacy.
The trick is that embedded images and videos also count as visiting a new website. Companies use this to track people all the time. In this case, they're blocking the video because the browser is saying that the last place we looked at was techdirt.com
It's very common to make the browser either not tell the website at all, or lie to the website about where you are coming from. That's what Refcontrol forge does.
It's pretty obvious that the standards bodies that created the internet don't care about privacy. Otherwise many of these things would happen by default without needing special extensions.
See also:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_referer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Referer_spoofing
h ttp://ip-check.info/
http://samy.pl/evercookie/
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
Pattent
The MPAA has a similar one, but it's for "ON A TV SCREEN."
On the post: NSA: Sure We Can Search Your Emails, But Not Ours
Re: Re: You, I don't know...
It could be that they're either running an ultra secure system with per person encryption. What's more likely though, is they're running a POC custom system build by a government contractor twenty years ago for way too much money.
On the bright side, if Nat Geo uses Gmail as their backed, they they could just use PRISM to find everything they're looking for. ;)
On the post: DailyDirt: Parenting Tips
Re: What about Ritalin for kids w/o ADHD?
If there was a study saying that people study better while standing up, you'd see a ton of people doing just that.
Anything to get that little extra edge, to pass that one class, or to just have more time to spend goofing off.
On the post: If 'Just Metadata' Isn't An Issue, Why Can't Tech Companies Reveal 'Just Metadata' About NSA Surveillance?
The bear in the room
In this case the companies probably aren't even allowed to deny the allegations being made against them. That's not just bad for transparency, it's bad for business.
It's similar to a politician getting a speeding ticket, but his opponent saying he was arrested for drunk driving with underage girls in the car. If he can't say anything about why he was pulled over (national security) then he can't refute the claims.
The analogy isn't perfect, but it gives you an idea of why almost everyone wants the numbers released.
On the post: Microsoft Fires Off Rebuttal To Latest Leak; Angry Letter To Eric Holder
Re: Centralisation
That's the thing about the internet. You can't stop people from knowing who you're talking to. You can only stop them from knowing what you're saying. Even then, they can probably guess how you're saying it (Skype, tor, https, etc...). All tor and VPNs do is forward your messages for you.
Of course, if nothing ever hits a US data tap they can't see it, but as the parent said MS moved all the Supernodes in house.
On the post: Microsoft Fires Off Rebuttal To Latest Leak; Angry Letter To Eric Holder
Re: Re: Re: Damage control
You'll occasionally hear stories about some foreign government department moving to Linux, then never hear anything about it again. That's because moving to Linux is mostly used as a bargaining chip when negotiating Microsoft Volume Licenses.
Now it turns out that the NSA can snoop on almost anyone using Windows or other big name Microsoft products. How will China and Russia, among others, deal with the fact that MS is telling the NSA about exploits in their software before patching them?
Some European countries already are stopping schools from using the cloud, or things like Gmail. Unlike the US, Europe has privacy laws.
In the end US businesses are being harmed by all this. Mainly because any country with sense is going to switch to Linux and in house/country operations.
On the post: John Steele Shows Up In Judge Wright's Court; Bet He Wishes He Hadn't
Re:
So he's been violating the rules, and the judge called him on it.
I really think Judge wright is this close to slapping him with sanctions for all the bullshit he's pulling. On the other hand, he might be giving Steele enough rope to hang himself several times over. Especially in the appellate court.
On the post: Fugitive Tweets 'Catch Me If You Can' While On The Run, Is Promptly Caught Due To Tweet
Re:
The natural reaction is for insurance companies to share information, but that has it's own sticking points. Now the government/corporations all know who you're getting your insurance from, and what's covered.
My guess is this is what actually happened, especially after someone got suspicious. Hello IRS? Of course, with Obamacare (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) all this information is automatically shared with the government. This makes future schemes more difficult to pull off.
On the post: Fugitive Tweets 'Catch Me If You Can' While On The Run, Is Promptly Caught Due To Tweet
PRISM
Wait, you mean they probably just got a warrant/subpoena?
Well....
Nevermind.
On the post: Russian 'Pirate' Unofficially Ports Xbox Live Arcade Game To The PC; Moral Conundrums And Fractured English Ensue
Re: Re: Re:
The sad thing is the anti DRM provisions of the DMCA still probably make this illegal in the US. Even just a wrapper that gets around DRM is illegal here.
Of course, he just released the whole thing as a torrent file. It would have been much more interesting, legally and morally, if he'd done what we are talking about.
On the post: CBS Tells Court: No One Could Possibly Read Our Statements 'We Will Sue Aereo' To Mean We Will Sue Aereo
Re: Re: The prior case isn't exactly over.
Case 7 would probably have resulted in Aero being found illegal, even if it's one antenna going to multiple TV tuners. That's because judges are normally not technically competent, and would say that a "Copy" of the signal is being made for each tuner.
Is it crazy? Hell yes. Sadly, that's the problem with judges and politicians deciding on things that they know nothing about except what lobbyists and lawyers tell them.
Now this judge got it right. We need more like him.
Next >>