What are "Taxi laws", where are they codified, and how does Uber "break" them.
Note: break a law is not a technical term. You probably mean "act in an unlawful manner". That's typically done by people, not a corporation... but hey, your words.
That's not just arbitrage... that's crazy-stupid-arbitrage™.
A $16 pizza doordash will give him $24 for ... well let's do some math.
Typical food cost = 20-30%. Pizza isn't "fine dining" and he currently probably doesn't pay a bunch of servers to bus, serve, clean, and handle an empty COVID dining room. Why not go with 25% then because it's definitely over his cost.
So that "$16 pizza" cost him $4 to make (prep, bake, pan, box, etc.) and he sold it to DoorDash for $24. Last time I checked 24/4 means 600% profit.
This guy should just put dried pieces of paper in a box for his own pseudo-fake orders and ship them to himself. He could shave off $3.99 per box ;)
Tomorrow the mechanism we use to have our web server track the path of browsing will be different. Should we have to recode our web servers then?
Fundamentally there is stateless browsing, where one just browses to whatever page, and there you are. There is no logging in. There is no option to log in. No login/no credit card/no auth = no ecommerce.
Then there is stateful browsing. Parameters are established, maintained, and hopefully secured throughout "a browsing session". It can be cookies... a generated custom part of the URL ("tracking URL")... or whatever clever people come up with next. Key here is "session" means it's stateful from a "start" to an "end".
The point is that these are REQUIRED in order for ecommerce to work. Ecommerce can even be as simple as "Hey do you want to save your TechDirt settings so you don't have to re-enter them every time? Log in here."
The GDPR is mostly out of touch with its requirements. TD should get a hiking trail map and hand it to the ICO, addressed to "Jack" with a note that says "take a hike."
I'm going to have to ask this in the simplest way possible. Wendy writes about AC:
He already knew.
How do you, Wendy, know what AC has knowledge of and what he does not?
Asking for a friend.
Ehud
P.S. You caught sarcasm in my post? Seriously? Would you swear to that under oath in a court of law in front of a judge. Because that part would be true.
Not sure if that's who "told" the original poster, but it is the law. This is complicated to understand but it generally means "This is the law." If you are confused about who told me that just google search "the law." (Without the period at the end, Dunsel.)
I see these pseudo press-conferences where some guy is pointedly rude to the journalists who are there to cover the event. None of them get up and leave. I, and like-minded people I talk to, think that if he starts to be rude or call someone "nasty" for asking a perfectly reasonable question, all [but two] of them should get up and leave.
Why is it, then, that a European law should apply to TechDirt? Why not just have a banner at the top that says "If you're coming from a country that supports the GDRP you should close this browser window"?
I understand that the little countries in Europe think this is a good idea... and some parts of it are a good idea. Some are not. This is me speaking both as an IT person who implements things, and as someone who respects the rule of law as a person, and someone who thinks we should not be beholden to every jurisdiction in the world.
Here's the Godwin angle: What if tomorrow China passes their own version of the GDPR and it says we have to call Hong Kong and Taiwan "by their proper names of Slaves-Of-China-Rule™"? Would every website in the world (including TD) now have to change all references to be that way? Would we retroactively have to go edit all references to be that way? Would wikipedia do it?
If yes, then we've lost.
If no, then f the GDPR and run your website the way you want to run it. Let those who live under repressive regimes enjoy their newfound "freedoms" without costing everyone else time, effort, and money.
Mike, what kind of cookies does your writing staff prefer? I'm assuming you're working from home... if so I'll need that address... but if there's a group of you in an office we're good there.
Chocolate chip?
Peanut butter?
Oatmeal raisin?
Please don't say M&Ms... those don't ship well in this heat.
Also how many staffers? I can have those cookies to you on Tuesday.
Also if you DO NOT WANT THESE COOKIES click "GOT IT".
:)
E
P.S. Can I claim I'm a proud supporter of TechDirt Cookies if you take me up on it?
Anyone who disagrees, just be sure to post here on TechDirt, which is based in the US where we do actually allow people to disagree... or call assholes what they are... assholes.
In the US prior to the magical date of 9-11 the purchase of a weapon from a store required filling out a form. The form stayed at the store. When LEOs wanted to take a weapon recovered from a crime scene and trace it back to owners they'd have to backtrace it based on S/N to the store... then get the store to pull up that paper record.
There was no way to list "weapons owned by Mr. X" only backtrace a specific S/N of a weapon to Mr. X once the S/N was known.
This idea of "keep track of everyone who eats here... when... where... who with..." is anathematic to that. It wouldn't be harmful, much like an online order, if all diners signed off on a credit card slip and listed other diners. THEN if the LEOs want that... they have to go to the restaurant to get it, not build a magic online database of who ate with whom.
Note: Nothing in the governor's original orders NOR in his modified orders suggests keeping track of who wore masks, gloves, etc., essentially treating everyone as infection monsters... whether we're sneezing, coughing, covered, uncovered, gloved, or clear.
Trump is an idiot. So is the governor of Washington. What can you do?
I like the idea of a Geigner Test... and a Masnick test... and a cook test.
You gentlemen (and I use the expression like Red Reddington in The Blacklist, not like I talk in real life) really make this world a better place (ok, that part is me talking).
Thanks, Tim, TIm, and Mike!
E
P.S. Also a should out to occasional op-eds from EFF counsel et al who make for more entertaining education.
No, there's nothing you must. You chose not to respond -- twice by your admission -- so all you're doing is trolling. TD allows that, so troll on. Sadly you're shitting on all the ACs that really do have something to contribute. That's a shame.
Sucks to be the anonymous coward who knows very little but then wants to call me out for discussing the topic because I happen to know about it and not be a chickenshit about posting my name.
Thanks for your homily. You don't like my use of "you" then then use the word five times. Pick one - either we don't use "you" or we do.
YOU have no idea how to
encrypt
authenticate
ensure / verify
So until YOU can actually offer suggestion that real security researchers (hint: not YOU) agree provides those, Internet voting is worse than in-person or mail-in ballots.
Right now because of the hodgepodge of different systems (see my original posts) we're back at 20 years ago's "hanging chads" issue. Until that's solved, adding additional methods to introduce non-verifiable voting is going to introduce more issues.
We have an idiot in charge who claims without proof that voting is being corrupted, by illegal aliens, and some are voting many times. A paper trail, authentication, and encryption would solve those.
Why is it "American Idol" can count millions of votes in one hour... but the United States can't in 30 days? Hint: They don't have any incentive to change the system.
E
P.S. I'm well aware American Idol lets one vote more than once, and doesn't provide a paper trail. And yet... they can process 10,000 more vote per hour than the government processes in one day. Go figure.
Mail in ballots, what is your problem with them?
I'm not a ballot official so my "problem" is not relevant. Also they're fine.
Balls to sign a name?
Yup.
Got any great insights there[sic] Ehud?
Sure. Read up top. Follow the words, left to right, up to down, punctuation counts.
Paper voting is a proven thing. Internet voting has the three issues I've mentioned twice now, which, as an anonymous wiseass with nothing to add, you've ignored twice.
Technical reply from an IT person who has been doing protocols for a long time:
Email is not the answer. The reasons are as I explained earlier that security researchers want to ensure
no man in the middle attack (MITM) so encryption is important
authentication so you ensure WHO is voting and ONLY ONCE
verified trail so you can see your vote
Email end-to-end encryption doesn't functionally exist. It could. It doesn't. You might use SSL/TLS to send to your ISP who then sends it in the clear to another ISP who may have it fetched by SSL/TLS... but it's not end to end encryption.
Email authentication doesn't exist. It could. It did. It turns out S/MIME was too (rub crying eyes) hard for people. That, btw, was the Internet solution to PGP/GPG which was too (rub crying eyes with sandpaper) very hard for people.
Verification trail has never really been an issue EXCEPT that the government needs to ensure YOU get to view YOUR votes, can't change them, can complain if they're wrong, and NOBODY ELSE can view your votes... but the government gets to see the total. This is the authentication problem all over again.
So yes, vote by email is nice if we can solve the issues. Do we have to pay Shiva a license fee if we do solve these problems?
I think it is the paper trail that some do not like...
Yes, Mr. Diebold, we know. You hate accountability. How could 5,000 Kentucky voters cast 10,000 votes for Mitch McConell (who should keep his white supremacist mouth shut) if we have a PAPER TRAIL.
Great point! Thank you so much! That clarifies things greatly.
DO let me know the next time someone who doesn't have the balls to sign their name starts a sentence with "I think". Your right to comment anonymously doesn't mean your anonymous opinion has a value any higher than my dog's opinion.
When it suits the US Federal Government they happily say "I'm not responsible" and "It's up to the States" and other such things.
When it suits them they happily say "Here are the guidelines you must follow... to open your state... to have voting... etc."
DHS and the Feds could take a role in fixing an election system that has been broken long before "hanging chads" (that was 20 years ago) but instead they've insisted it's up to states, counties, parishes, cities, etc.
Yet here they are shown to have drawn up guidelines ... about a "problem" they aren't solving, merely indicating what should NOT be done.
Security researcher Bruce Schneier has said it best. We need a paper trail -- and it doesn't have to be on paper. Internet voting would be fine if it was
secure [your connection cannot be intercepted in the clear]
authenticated [only you can cast YOUR vote and only once]
verifiable [at ANY time you can verify your vote was cast for the candidate(s)/position(s) you chose]
There's no incentive on the part of any of the players who make money, including the jurisdictions "leasing the machines", Premier Election Solutions (formerly Diebold, to be easily confused with the same company who just had their ATM backend hacked), etc.
Until the US moves from a "you grease my pocket, I buy from you your inferior product and then complain if the result isn't what I wanted" system, nothing will improve.
Donny voted by mail.
Me, I just want my "I voted" sticker so I can shame the kids on my lawn.
Closure is good! Glad someone is working outside the box. Now if only F1 and NASCAR and the lesser racing series would do the same that would be awesome. While I'm imagining Valhalla (ok, that's Norse not Finn) why not start NEW eSports! GT, Forza, etc. all offer many different formats. Cost to enter is a little less than the millions of dollars for an IRL racing series.
Little known facts... F1 teams "interview" drivers and "practice tracks" using GT/Forza because of track-time limitations (to cut costs). Why not make these public... and make them competitive? Top 64 with 8 rounds of double-elimination?
...and then there's basketball, baseball, football, all of whom have eSport software. Why not a tournament there?
Cost of production: some Internet bandwidth, likely which some CDN will donate for rights to put ads on it. Players to play. That seems like a no-brainer.... make $0 to sit out and collect on your contract or make MORE than $0 to play a video game so YOUR FANS can CHEER for you and DISCUSS your play for the next three years.
I never thought I'd be a fan of eSports as a spectator sport for a major series, but ... have to hand it to them... NASCAR convinced me... and the Finnish have hit the nail on the head!
On the post: The Great Pizza Arbitrage Scheme Of 2020 Is Spotlighting The Strangeness Of Food Delivery Services
"Taxi laws"
What are "Taxi laws", where are they codified, and how does Uber "break" them.
Note: break a law is not a technical term. You probably mean "act in an unlawful manner". That's typically done by people, not a corporation... but hey, your words.
Ehud
On the post: The Great Pizza Arbitrage Scheme Of 2020 Is Spotlighting The Strangeness Of Food Delivery Services
OMG Clever!
That's not just arbitrage... that's crazy-stupid-arbitrage™.
A $16 pizza doordash will give him $24 for ... well let's do some math.
Typical food cost = 20-30%. Pizza isn't "fine dining" and he currently probably doesn't pay a bunch of servers to bus, serve, clean, and handle an empty COVID dining room. Why not go with 25% then because it's definitely over his cost.
So that "$16 pizza" cost him $4 to make (prep, bake, pan, box, etc.) and he sold it to DoorDash for $24. Last time I checked 24/4 means 600% profit.
This guy should just put dried pieces of paper in a box for his own pseudo-fake orders and ship them to himself. He could shave off $3.99 per box ;)
Ehud
On the post: Yes, This Site Uses Cookies, Because Nearly All Sites Use Cookies, And We're Notifying You Because We're Told We Have To
Cookies, stateful browsing, ecommerce
So today we use cookies.
Tomorrow the mechanism we use to have our web server track the path of browsing will be different. Should we have to recode our web servers then?
Fundamentally there is stateless browsing, where one just browses to whatever page, and there you are. There is no logging in. There is no option to log in. No login/no credit card/no auth = no ecommerce.
Then there is stateful browsing. Parameters are established, maintained, and hopefully secured throughout "a browsing session". It can be cookies... a generated custom part of the URL ("tracking URL")... or whatever clever people come up with next. Key here is "session" means it's stateful from a "start" to an "end".
The point is that these are REQUIRED in order for ecommerce to work. Ecommerce can even be as simple as "Hey do you want to save your TechDirt settings so you don't have to re-enter them every time? Log in here."
The GDPR is mostly out of touch with its requirements. TD should get a hiking trail map and hand it to the ICO, addressed to "Jack" with a note that says "take a hike."
E
On the post: Does The US Copyright Office Not Know That Copyright Policy's Main Stakeholders Are The Public?
Wendy knows
I'm going to have to ask this in the simplest way possible. Wendy writes about AC:
How do you, Wendy, know what AC has knowledge of and what he does not?
Asking for a friend.
Ehud
P.S. You caught sarcasm in my post? Seriously? Would you swear to that under oath in a court of law in front of a judge. Because that part would be true.
On the post: Does The US Copyright Office Not Know That Copyright Policy's Main Stakeholders Are The Public?
Re:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/chapter-1 *
Clear enough for ya?
E
On the post: Yes, This Site Uses Cookies, Because Nearly All Sites Use Cookies, And We're Notifying You Because We're Told We Have To
Balkanization
So... throwing it out there...
I see these pseudo press-conferences where some guy is pointedly rude to the journalists who are there to cover the event. None of them get up and leave. I, and like-minded people I talk to, think that if he starts to be rude or call someone "nasty" for asking a perfectly reasonable question, all [but two] of them should get up and leave.
Why is it, then, that a European law should apply to TechDirt? Why not just have a banner at the top that says "If you're coming from a country that supports the GDRP you should close this browser window"?
I understand that the little countries in Europe think this is a good idea... and some parts of it are a good idea. Some are not. This is me speaking both as an IT person who implements things, and as someone who respects the rule of law as a person, and someone who thinks we should not be beholden to every jurisdiction in the world.
Here's the Godwin angle: What if tomorrow China passes their own version of the GDPR and it says we have to call Hong Kong and Taiwan "by their proper names of Slaves-Of-China-Rule™"? Would every website in the world (including TD) now have to change all references to be that way? Would we retroactively have to go edit all references to be that way? Would wikipedia do it?
If yes, then we've lost.
If no, then f the GDPR and run your website the way you want to run it. Let those who live under repressive regimes enjoy their newfound "freedoms" without costing everyone else time, effort, and money.
Also the cookie offer is still open.
V/r
Ehud
On the post: Yes, This Site Uses Cookies, Because Nearly All Sites Use Cookies, And We're Notifying You Because We're Told We Have To
Cookie?
Mike, what kind of cookies does your writing staff prefer? I'm assuming you're working from home... if so I'll need that address... but if there's a group of you in an office we're good there.
Chocolate chip?
Peanut butter?
Oatmeal raisin?
Please don't say M&Ms... those don't ship well in this heat.
Also how many staffers? I can have those cookies to you on Tuesday.
Also if you DO NOT WANT THESE COOKIES click "GOT IT".
:)
E
P.S. Can I claim I'm a proud supporter of TechDirt Cookies if you take me up on it?
On the post: Philippines Government Uses Cybercrime Law To Arrest A Citizen For Calling The President An 'Asshole'
Duterte is an Asshole
There. I said it.
Anyone who disagrees, just be sure to post here on TechDirt, which is based in the US where we do actually allow people to disagree... or call assholes what they are... assholes.
Duterte is an asshole.
E
On the post: As Some Are Requiring People To Give Up Their Info To Dine, Stories Of Creeps Abusing That Info Come Out
Re: Covid influence our daily life behavior
Thanks. I needed something like this. I'm going to go buy auto bearings from your illiterate spam with the bad links right now.
On the post: As Some Are Requiring People To Give Up Their Info To Dine, Stories Of Creeps Abusing That Info Come Out
Re: Re: Re:
That's so clever, because everyone knows that number.
I use (911)911-1911. Because they autodial it and then they have to deal with the PSAP.
What's a PSAP? No worries, if you're smart enough to google Jennie's number, you can google what happens when you dial this number.
On the post: As Some Are Requiring People To Give Up Their Info To Dine, Stories Of Creeps Abusing That Info Come Out
Gunzezez
In the US prior to the magical date of 9-11 the purchase of a weapon from a store required filling out a form. The form stayed at the store. When LEOs wanted to take a weapon recovered from a crime scene and trace it back to owners they'd have to backtrace it based on S/N to the store... then get the store to pull up that paper record.
There was no way to list "weapons owned by Mr. X" only backtrace a specific S/N of a weapon to Mr. X once the S/N was known.
This idea of "keep track of everyone who eats here... when... where... who with..." is anathematic to that. It wouldn't be harmful, much like an online order, if all diners signed off on a credit card slip and listed other diners. THEN if the LEOs want that... they have to go to the restaurant to get it, not build a magic online database of who ate with whom.
Note: Nothing in the governor's original orders NOR in his modified orders suggests keeping track of who wore masks, gloves, etc., essentially treating everyone as infection monsters... whether we're sneezing, coughing, covered, uncovered, gloved, or clear.
Trump is an idiot. So is the governor of Washington. What can you do?
E
On the post: National Geographic Defeats Trademark Suit Over 'Wild America' and 'Untamed Americas' Claim
Geiner test
I like the idea of a Geigner Test... and a Masnick test... and a cook test.
You gentlemen (and I use the expression like Red Reddington in The Blacklist, not like I talk in real life) really make this world a better place (ok, that part is me talking).
Thanks, Tim, TIm, and Mike!
E
P.S. Also a should out to occasional op-eds from EFF counsel et al who make for more entertaining education.
On the post: Unpublished Guidelines Show The DHS Is Steering States Away From Insecure Internet Voting Options
Re: Re: Re: Re: Paper Trail
No, there's nothing you must. You chose not to respond -- twice by your admission -- so all you're doing is trolling. TD allows that, so troll on. Sadly you're shitting on all the ACs that really do have something to contribute. That's a shame.
E
On the post: Unpublished Guidelines Show The DHS Is Steering States Away From Insecure Internet Voting Options
Re: Re: Re: 10th Am?
Agreed. PKC solves this, but it's too "hard" for most people to use.
What we need is a tool (EFF? Are you there?) so we can use PKC to
The back-end tech is there. The friendly front-end stuff... no.
E
On the post: Unpublished Guidelines Show The DHS Is Steering States Away From Insecure Internet Voting Options
Re: Re: 10th Am?
Sucks to be the anonymous coward who knows very little but then wants to call me out for discussing the topic because I happen to know about it and not be a chickenshit about posting my name.
Thanks for your homily. You don't like my use of "you" then then use the word five times. Pick one - either we don't use "you" or we do.
YOU have no idea how to
So until YOU can actually offer suggestion that real security researchers (hint: not YOU) agree provides those, Internet voting is worse than in-person or mail-in ballots.
Right now because of the hodgepodge of different systems (see my original posts) we're back at 20 years ago's "hanging chads" issue. Until that's solved, adding additional methods to introduce non-verifiable voting is going to introduce more issues.
We have an idiot in charge who claims without proof that voting is being corrupted, by illegal aliens, and some are voting many times. A paper trail, authentication, and encryption would solve those.
Why is it "American Idol" can count millions of votes in one hour... but the United States can't in 30 days? Hint: They don't have any incentive to change the system.
E
P.S. I'm well aware American Idol lets one vote more than once, and doesn't provide a paper trail. And yet... they can process 10,000 more vote per hour than the government processes in one day. Go figure.
On the post: Unpublished Guidelines Show The DHS Is Steering States Away From Insecure Internet Voting Options
Re: Re: Paper Trail
Paper voting is a proven thing. Internet voting has the three issues I've mentioned twice now, which, as an anonymous wiseass with nothing to add, you've ignored twice.
E
On the post: Unpublished Guidelines Show The DHS Is Steering States Away From Insecure Internet Voting Options
Re: Isn't there a push to vote by mail?
Technical reply from an IT person who has been doing protocols for a long time:
Email is not the answer. The reasons are as I explained earlier that security researchers want to ensure
Email end-to-end encryption doesn't functionally exist. It could. It doesn't. You might use SSL/TLS to send to your ISP who then sends it in the clear to another ISP who may have it fetched by SSL/TLS... but it's not end to end encryption.
Email authentication doesn't exist. It could. It did. It turns out S/MIME was too (rub crying eyes) hard for people. That, btw, was the Internet solution to PGP/GPG which was too (rub crying eyes with sandpaper) very hard for people.
Verification trail has never really been an issue EXCEPT that the government needs to ensure YOU get to view YOUR votes, can't change them, can complain if they're wrong, and NOBODY ELSE can view your votes... but the government gets to see the total. This is the authentication problem all over again.
So yes, vote by email is nice if we can solve the issues. Do we have to pay Shiva a license fee if we do solve these problems?
E-male
On the post: Unpublished Guidelines Show The DHS Is Steering States Away From Insecure Internet Voting Options
Paper Trail
Yes, Mr. Diebold, we know. You hate accountability. How could 5,000 Kentucky voters cast 10,000 votes for Mitch McConell (who should keep his white supremacist mouth shut) if we have a PAPER TRAIL.
Great point! Thank you so much! That clarifies things greatly.
DO let me know the next time someone who doesn't have the balls to sign their name starts a sentence with "I think". Your right to comment anonymously doesn't mean your anonymous opinion has a value any higher than my dog's opinion.
E
On the post: Unpublished Guidelines Show The DHS Is Steering States Away From Insecure Internet Voting Options
10th Am?
When it suits the US Federal Government they happily say "I'm not responsible" and "It's up to the States" and other such things.
When it suits them they happily say "Here are the guidelines you must follow... to open your state... to have voting... etc."
DHS and the Feds could take a role in fixing an election system that has been broken long before "hanging chads" (that was 20 years ago) but instead they've insisted it's up to states, counties, parishes, cities, etc.
Yet here they are shown to have drawn up guidelines ... about a "problem" they aren't solving, merely indicating what should NOT be done.
Security researcher Bruce Schneier has said it best. We need a paper trail -- and it doesn't have to be on paper. Internet voting would be fine if it was
There's no incentive on the part of any of the players who make money, including the jurisdictions "leasing the machines", Premier Election Solutions (formerly Diebold, to be easily confused with the same company who just had their ATM backend hacked), etc.
Until the US moves from a "you grease my pocket, I buy from you your inferior product and then complain if the result isn't what I wanted" system, nothing will improve.
Donny voted by mail.
Me, I just want my "I voted" sticker so I can shame the kids on my lawn.
E
On the post: Finnish Hockey League Championship Decided Via Stand-In Esports Playoff
Heartwarming!
Closure is good! Glad someone is working outside the box. Now if only F1 and NASCAR and the lesser racing series would do the same that would be awesome. While I'm imagining Valhalla (ok, that's Norse not Finn) why not start NEW eSports! GT, Forza, etc. all offer many different formats. Cost to enter is a little less than the millions of dollars for an IRL racing series.
Little known facts... F1 teams "interview" drivers and "practice tracks" using GT/Forza because of track-time limitations (to cut costs). Why not make these public... and make them competitive? Top 64 with 8 rounds of double-elimination?
...and then there's basketball, baseball, football, all of whom have eSport software. Why not a tournament there?
Cost of production: some Internet bandwidth, likely which some CDN will donate for rights to put ads on it. Players to play. That seems like a no-brainer.... make $0 to sit out and collect on your contract or make MORE than $0 to play a video game so YOUR FANS can CHEER for you and DISCUSS your play for the next three years.
I never thought I'd be a fan of eSports as a spectator sport for a major series, but ... have to hand it to them... NASCAR convinced me... and the Finnish have hit the nail on the head!
Ehud
Next >>