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Comment Assumptions (Score 4, Informative) 78

From TFA, regarding a persons prescription history, it says

It is assumed that this information comes from the various backend systems that interlink the pharmacies as described above.

I doubt it. I think it is far more likely that the pharmacy sells this information to insurance, pharmaceutical, and marketing companies. Big data is big business these days. So long patient confidentiality.

That being said, it is unconscionable how lax PillPack.com security procedures were.

Comment Re:Excellent. (Score 1) 324

Because [a] I had to shell out my own money to by a certificate to vouch for my domain name, and [b] It seemed wrong to me to have somebody else to voucth for me.

It seems fundamentally wrong to me too. That's why I created my own CA certificate. I'm reasonably sure I am who I claim to be. Some company half way across the country can not make that assertion with the same degree of confidence as I can. It's easy, and free, to create your own certificates.

The downside is that my visitors must agree to accept the certificate. It's not a big concern in my case, but it may be for some people.

Comment Re:Well.. (Score 1) 174

Is it stupid? Yes no doubt about that...They want this and they will get it one way or another.

No, they won't. When you have have Congress telling you how stupid you are, that's a clue that you aren't going to get what you want. The FBI knows it's a moronic idea too, they are doing this to plant the idea that the reason they appear incompetent and ineffectual is that their hands are being tied. Without a ready excuse, the next time a bad event happens they might have to admit that they made mistakes or that they are incapable of doing the job they are tasked with.

Comment Re:narcissistic spectrum personality disorder (Score 1) 206

It was a closet in a college campus, it's not like he broke into Fort Knox. The door was unlocked. Shenanigans happen all the time on that campus. Students once put a live cow on the roof of what is now the East Campus dorm. Richard Feynman notoriously honed his lock-picking and safe cracking abilities while a student there. Somebody apparently put a campus police car on the Great Dome, replete with flashing lights, a plastic police officer and box of donuts. Should all those people have been arrested and thrown in jail? Do you harbor the same level of vitriol for those "crimes" as you do for Aaron Schwartz?

Has anyone considered that perhaps his script had a bug that allowed it to fetch documents faster than he intended? I ask because I wrote a script that was supposed to access a server every 2 seconds, and first time I fired it up it hit the server every 2 ms. Oops! Should I go to jail? It was my own server, so I'm kinda on the fence about whether I should have myself arrested.

Comment Re:How many other flaws (Score 3, Insightful) 173

They didn't want to think about the balance of probabilities of all the pieces of circumstantial evidence and decide if someone was guilty or not. They wanted cold hard forensic evidence to do that for them.

Isn't that how it's supposed to work? The defendant is supposed to be given the benefit of every doubt. That's part of being presumed innocent until proven guilty. If you've ever been accused of doing something you didn't do, you'll likely appreciate the value of this system.

Comment Re:in my opinion this guy is like Jenny McCarthy (Score 4, Informative) 320

Genuine curiosity, what is he advocating that actually endangers his patients (or anyone else's) health?

Well, the short answer is he isn't, directly. That statement sounds like he's trying to kill his viewers. He's not.

The long answer has to do with his promotion of weight-loss dietary supplements.Since supplements aren't regulated by the FDA, consumers can't always be sure what they're taking. There are some sketchy companies out there and sometimes what's in the pill is not what's on the label.

He also didn't do himself any favors by using incautious language to promote the supplements - things like "magic weight loss cure" and "miracle in a bottle". This earned him a stern talking to by a Senate subcommittee on consumer protection about a year ago.

In his defense he points out these products have studies to show they are somewhat effective when combined with diet and exercise and it's not his fault if companies are misrepresenting product.

Comment Re:Shocked he survived (Score 1) 327

I mean, I do not advocate the death penalty for stupidity, but I am shocked he wasn't hit by a sniper before he even crossed the property line.

I don't know about a sniper, but he was in a no-fly zone. Don't they scramble jets when someone enters a no-fly zone? Especially near the Capitol. I assume they do, but I don't really know.

Comment Re:no need (Score 5, Funny) 294

I think on this issue you'll find that high level GOP officials have an unusually wide stance and are willing to reach around the aisle, pointing fingers when necessary in order to come to a consensus. Many are even willing to bend over backwards to be more accommodating.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Craig_scandal/

Comment Re:In other words (Score 2, Insightful) 279

It would be much better to have a system that HIDES users content by default, than to delete it. Then, people scrolling all posts (including hidden) would be able to report mistakes in the system.

From my experience if you delete content or ban a troll, it just encourages them to troll more using a different account, usually from a different IP address.

The most effective way I found to deal with problem users is to make their bad comments only visible to them. That way it appears to them that they've had their say and no one responded to it. Without feedback to encourage them, trolls either quickly get bored and go elsewhere or sometimes they'll surprise you and produce better quality comments.

Comment Re:Keeping Secrets (Score 2) 134

So... what makes the NSA think that anyone could actually keep these ultimate "keys to the kingdom" secret?

Hubris, most likely. If Bruce Schneier is correct there appear to be a number of NSA and CIA leakers still active. Not to mention the foreign spies within the NSA and CIA that we don't hear about because they are doing their job correctly.

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