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Comment Re:you should be able to... (Score 1) 249

by Jeff Flanagan (#47216253) Attached to: New Permission System Could Make Android Much Less Secure
>Funny, I was expecting this crowd to have fantasies of crippling those apps' developers.

There is a lot of insanity and paranoia at /., But I haven't ever seen calls to cripple anyone.


>I mean seriously, $(app vendor), your app does not need access to my location and/or phone calls in order for me to do $(menial computation X)

No it doesn't have to, but a developer has the right to require whatever permissions they want in return for their (probably priced at $0) work. The user has the right to accept or reject those terms. This just got more complicated, but everyone still has their rights.

Submission + - Comcast adds third party wi-fi to home routers (comcast.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: I got a mailing from my cable internet provider Comcast. They are modifying my cable modem so that other Comcast users can login on a separate Wi-Fi network, and I can do the same around town on all the other hotspots. The goal is to provide cheap data access for Wi-Fi users. Since I don't use their cell phone service, it seems unlikely to me that I get anything but hassle from this. I have several reservations about this;
  • Security. While they are putting it on a separate domain, I am concerned that it gives more exposure to the router software so that it can be breached and access my transmission. I'm underwhelmed by their assurances that nothing will happen although the counter argument is that any current thoughts that it's secure are delusional.
  • Performance they say

    Will my Internet slow down when someone connects to my XFINITY WiFi network? The broadband connection to your home will be unaffected by the XFINITY WiFi feature. Your in-home WiFi network, as well as XFINITY WiFi, use shared spectrum, and as with any shared medium there can be some impact as more devices share WiFi. We have provisioned the XFINITY WiFi feature to support robust usage, and therefore, we anticipate minimal impact to the in-home WiFi network

    Translation, the up to five foreign users are going to eat ithe shared spectrum in addition to my own machines. Since my video streaming usage is already marginal, I don't know if this will drop my performance.

  • Inconvenience Finally, opting out is going to require marching through their website or having the patience and understanding to deal with the delays at their call center hell.

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

Submission + - Thought crime is terror in U.S. (wnd.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: The Justice Department is resurrecting a program designed to thwart domestic threats to the United States, and Attorney General Eric Holder says those threats include individuals the government deems anti-government or racially prejudiced.

The Domestic Terrorism Executive Committee was created in the wake of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing but was scrapped soon after the 2001 terrorist attacks as intelligence and law enforcement officials shifted their focus to threats from outside the country. The committee will be comprised of figures from the FBI, the National Security Division of the Justice Department and the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee.

In his statement announcing the return of the committee, Holder said he remains concerned about the specter of attacks prompted by Islamic extremists, but he said this committee will be tasked with identifying other threats.

“We must also concern ourselves with the continued danger we face from individuals within our own borders who may be motivated by a variety of other causes from anti-government animus to racial prejudice,” Holder said. According to reporting from Reuters, the ACLU is pushing back against the DOJ plan, fearing “it could be a sweeping mandate to monitor and collect controversial speech.”

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