How would you like to spend years in prison for an "Information Crime" that you did not commit?
All it takes is:
a) Some who dislikes you.
b) Physical access to a computer you use.
c) A Microsoft(tm) USB Vista(tm) Backdoor key.
d) Kiddie porn.
e) A dime phone call to the local PD.
Enjoy your time in prison thinking about who to trust next time.
Steve...Stevie buddy...What a monumentally stupid thing to do.
This single action will do more to kill off closed source OS software in private and corporate use than anything else I could imagine.
Mr. Balmer, you have a great deal of explaining to do and if you had one ounce of sense you would offer a test program to confirm this back door's existence on any particular machine and a matching patch to rip out this vulnerability.
Oh...and if you were still clinging to any wild imaginings that Vista had a future, kiss them goodbye. Right now.
Comcast's problems are of it's own making. It is desperately trying to leverage and preserve it's **technologically obsolete and bottlenecked" antique radio frequency cable network. It has frittered away YEARS **not** rolling out multi-mode fiber to its customers knowing full well that fiber was the only way to handle bandwidth hungry Hi-Def programming and ballooning customer internet data throughput demands.
No boo-hoo-hoo for these Bozo's from me.
They can shove their "Bill-of-Rights-and-Responsibilities" and instead, they should start working on their "Bill-of-We-are-Complete-Morons-and-we-Need-to-Start-Digging-Our-Way-Out-of-this-Hole-We-Made-for-Ou rselves".
Computer Science and Computing Systems Engineering seldom get recognized for being one of the few disciplines that feature "Zero Tollerance" structuring.
In other engineering disciplines, you get tollerances. A part a few millimeters or thousandths of out of exact specification either way but still within tollerance and the widget still works. In computing systems, everything has to be working 100% perfectly or the whole thing usually grinds to a halt.
Thanks for reminding me once again that I really, REALLY need to rethink my entertainment choices. Movie DVDs, Movie Tickets and even movie channels on Sat/Cable are now becoming impossible to enjoy because merely looking at these things reminds me that the people who want to sell me this stuff are disgusting, insulting, unethical, immoral and repugnant creatures that do not deserve one red cent of my hard earned money.
Blizzard is apparently claiming this guy's bot tool is infringing because it copies the game into ram. By that very definition, Blizzard needs to be suing anyone who views thier website: http://www.blizzard.com/us/
Social networking for stupid thieves manipulated by clever pranksters while we all watch.
First Post:
Hey guys...I was just driving down the Dixie Highway (31) by the Federal Gold Repository and saw a sign on the fence that said "Too Much Gold! Climb on in and get yours now!" I also saw one guy climb out with some gold and pass it to a friend. He then tore down the sign and climbed back in for some more! As soon as I pick up my boys from little league, I'm gonna head on back there for sure.
5. Offensive anti-piracy "Public Service Ads" from the MPAA.
6. (Dangerously) Reduced house light levels during seating times to permit viewing of "Pre-Show Advertising".
7. Pre-Show, non-coming attractions, television style advertising.
8. Over-selling a showing.
9. Noisy, leaky and unstable three cent bags instead of ten cent cardboard tubs holding the $6.00 popcorn.
If you ever have worked with and around convicted hackers before (and I have), you can get a sense of what drives them as individuals. For some, it's anger and insecurity, some are pranksters that don't know the correct boundary of a joke, others, sadly have a egotistic and sociopathic core personality and then there is this one class of hacker that suffers from a relentless, overpowering curiosity that leads them into risk taking behaviours. This last type mellows with age and can make good hired help. The rest are wild cards in my opinion.
The "Uncanny Valley" subject has facinated me for years. I have come to believe that the Phenom is misnamed and should be re-termed "Android Fidelity Error".
Being "creeped out" is essentially the same as disgust and revulsion except that the situation is novel and unfamilliar enough that no real danger is sensed so curiosity is still actively in play.
A great deal of research has been done to date on the emotions of revulsion and disgust and it is now commonly agreed that these emotions evolved as protective mechanisms to insulate us from diseases.
This makes perfect sense in the "Uncanny Valley" scenario as any robot that is clearly mechanical in nature could not be intrepreted as having a disease. But as the behavorial and appearance fidelity of an andriod increases toward perfection, you will pass through an "Uncanny Valley" region where things will seem a little but off, but in ways difficult to describe, thus triggering our evolutionary disease radar, and leaving us repulsed or "creeped out".
If and when genuine AI is built into andriods in the future, I fear for the fragile psyches of these creations while they are in that valley of poor android fidelity as most humans will avoid, hate and at a minimum, not treat them kindly. This could have serious "Hollywoodesque" consequences.
...oughter be aspending less time afrettin'bout the dang internets and more time aworryin'bout the dang shortage of first cousins in the bluegrass state.
To those of you who take issue with Lee's viewpoint here and claim that Apple is a business first, and how the SDK and App distribution system hobbling is a good thing, I say this:
ANYONE who holds a uses an iPhone for even a brief period, realizes that it is a very powerful handheld computer connected to a data network. Inexplicably, there are those of you who can't seem to shake the "it's a phone and is somehow different because of that fact" nonsense out of your skulls.
25 years ago the Personal Computer exploded onto the scene and set imaginations and busineses spinning with possibilities. The IBM PC, in particular, started a revolution in that it was built from off-the-shelf components and had openly published interface specifications. Over the years people have come to expect THEIR PERSONAL COMPUTERS to be expandable via hardware, software or both. When Apple presented the world with the iPhone, why were they surprised the MANY, MANY people immediately went to work to PRY OPEN THE GATES of the iPhone's walled garden internals (AKA: JailBreaking)? Why are you surprised, angry or offended about that happening? Is it because that somehow Apple is "magically" exempt from popular, normal expectations about what computers should be able to do?? Apple's walled garden approach will fail in the long run because iPhone lovers will continue to work around it via the AppTapp installer, or another, less greedy company, interested in just selling hardware, will deliver the openness that people expect from their p-e-r-s-o-n-a-l computers.
On the post: Microsoft Gives Vista Backdoor Keys To The Police
Re: Re: Re: Who cares!
On the post: Microsoft Gives Vista Backdoor Keys To The Police
Re: Who cares!
How would you like to spend years in prison for an "Information Crime" that you did not commit?
All it takes is:
a) Some who dislikes you.
b) Physical access to a computer you use.
c) A Microsoft(tm) USB Vista(tm) Backdoor key.
d) Kiddie porn.
e) A dime phone call to the local PD.
Enjoy your time in prison thinking about who to trust next time.
On the post: Microsoft Gives Vista Backdoor Keys To The Police
Unbelievable, Mr. Balmer.
This single action will do more to kill off closed source OS software in private and corporate use than anything else I could imagine.
Mr. Balmer, you have a great deal of explaining to do and if you had one ounce of sense you would offer a test program to confirm this back door's existence on any particular machine and a matching patch to rip out this vulnerability.
Oh...and if you were still clinging to any wild imaginings that Vista had a future, kiss them goodbye. Right now.
On the post: If Top Gov't Officials Need To Leave Blackberries Outside A Meeting, Shouldn't Someone Guard Them?
Well...at least he didn't claim...
Ok.
I'll go to my room now.
On the post: But Why Do We Need A P2P Bill Of Rights In The First Place?
Don't fall for ComCast's con game.
No boo-hoo-hoo for these Bozo's from me.
They can shove their "Bill-of-Rights-and-Responsibilities" and instead, they should start working on their "Bill-of-We-are-Complete-Morons-and-we-Need-to-Start-Digging-Our-Way-Out-of-this-Hole-We-Made-for-Ou rselves".
Hey! I think I'm channeling "AngryDude"!
Help Me.
On the post: Debunking The Wikipedia 'Brain Surgery' Myth
Mike Masnick performs brain surgery...
And I are be doing fine again will did soon.
Naw...Just kiddin' Mike.
On the post: Newspaper Guy Worried That Fewer Voices Are Heard Today; Apparently He's Never Been Online
I keep asking my wife...
...And then I have to go make my own dinner.
On the post: Radiohead: Pay Us For A Chance To Make Our Songs Better
Nothing new about this business model...
White-washing the fence or mixing down tracks, what constitutes 'work' is often a matter of perspective.
On the post: Computers Are Programmed By People Not Magic
Another overlooked computing artifact...
In other engineering disciplines, you get tollerances. A part a few millimeters or thousandths of out of exact specification either way but still within tollerance and the widget still works. In computing systems, everything has to be working 100% perfectly or the whole thing usually grinds to a halt.
Not fair, says I!
On the post: TorrentSpy Gives Up; Shuts Down
Thanks Mike.
Hollywood...go stuff yourself.
On the post: Once Again Real World Laws Enter Virtual Worlds: Warcraft Bot Maker Sued
The copyright claim is silly, too..
See!...
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<font face="arial,helvetica" size=1><small><a class="tiny" href="/us/privacy.html">Online Privacy Policy</a></small></font><BR>
<font face="arial,helvetica" size=1><small><a class="tiny" href="/us/legalfaq.html">©2008 Blizzard Entertainment. All rights reserved.</a></small></font>
On the post: If It's On The Internet... Blame The Service Provider (Especially If It's Craigslist)
Hmmm...next big web 2.0 Idea???
First Post:
Hey guys...I was just driving down the Dixie Highway (31) by the Federal Gold Repository and saw a sign on the fence that said "Too Much Gold! Climb on in and get yours now!" I also saw one guy climb out with some gold and pass it to a friend. He then tore down the sign and climbed back in for some more! As soon as I pick up my boys from little league, I'm gonna head on back there for sure.
On the post: Movie Theaters Finally Realizing They Need To Compete With, Not Whine About, Home Theaters
Re: reason number 15342
On the post: Movie Theaters Finally Realizing They Need To Compete With, Not Whine About, Home Theaters
Re: reasons to watch at home
6. (Dangerously) Reduced house light levels during seating times to permit viewing of "Pre-Show Advertising".
7. Pre-Show, non-coming attractions, television style advertising.
8. Over-selling a showing.
9. Noisy, leaky and unstable three cent bags instead of ten cent cardboard tubs holding the $6.00 popcorn.
On the post: Flying Security: Shackle All Passengers With Tazer-Like Bracelets
Let me be the first to point out...
On the post: Does It Make Sense To Hire A Convicted Cracker For Security Work?
Depends upon the individual involved.
On the post: Where's The Line Between Personalized Advertising And Creeping People Out?
Some insight on the
Being "creeped out" is essentially the same as disgust and revulsion except that the situation is novel and unfamilliar enough that no real danger is sensed so curiosity is still actively in play.
A great deal of research has been done to date on the emotions of revulsion and disgust and it is now commonly agreed that these emotions evolved as protective mechanisms to insulate us from diseases.
This makes perfect sense in the "Uncanny Valley" scenario as any robot that is clearly mechanical in nature could not be intrepreted as having a disease. But as the behavorial and appearance fidelity of an andriod increases toward perfection, you will pass through an "Uncanny Valley" region where things will seem a little but off, but in ways difficult to describe, thus triggering our evolutionary disease radar, and leaving us repulsed or "creeped out".
If and when genuine AI is built into andriods in the future, I fear for the fragile psyches of these creations while they are in that valley of poor android fidelity as most humans will avoid, hate and at a minimum, not treat them kindly. This could have serious "Hollywoodesque" consequences.
Additional reading:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3396851.stm
http://www.independent.co.uk/ne ws/science/the-yuck-factor-how-scientific-research-into-revulsion-is-shaping-our-supermarkets-456817 .html
On the post: Kentucky Lawmaker Introduces Bill To Make Anonymous Cowards Illegal
Weelll, I think them fellers in Kin-tucky...
(OK, I admit, that one was harsh.)
On the post: EMI Sticking With IFPI, But Cutting Its Allowance To Sue Music Fans
Somebody please wake the Sex Pistols.
Ya think maybe?
On second thought, even after asking nicely, we might just get called a "piss stain" and get told to "sod off".
On the post: Apple's Walled Garden Will Hurt iPhone Innovation
Walled Gardens Never Grow.
ANYONE who holds a uses an iPhone for even a brief period, realizes that it is a very powerful handheld computer connected to a data network. Inexplicably, there are those of you who can't seem to shake the "it's a phone and is somehow different because of that fact" nonsense out of your skulls.
25 years ago the Personal Computer exploded onto the scene and set imaginations and busineses spinning with possibilities. The IBM PC, in particular, started a revolution in that it was built from off-the-shelf components and had openly published interface specifications. Over the years people have come to expect THEIR PERSONAL COMPUTERS to be expandable via hardware, software or both. When Apple presented the world with the iPhone, why were they surprised the MANY, MANY people immediately went to work to PRY OPEN THE GATES of the iPhone's walled garden internals (AKA: JailBreaking)? Why are you surprised, angry or offended about that happening? Is it because that somehow Apple is "magically" exempt from popular, normal expectations about what computers should be able to do?? Apple's walled garden approach will fail in the long run because iPhone lovers will continue to work around it via the AppTapp installer, or another, less greedy company, interested in just selling hardware, will deliver the openness that people expect from their p-e-r-s-o-n-a-l computers.
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