I read the Argentinian edition of Rolling Stone. Such a shame. Some of the articles are excellent, but the rest of the magazine is pure crap, especially the provocative covers (which they, at least, recognize it's for selling more)

Because people already know what the tax is. There's no point in giving it separately. No matter what a product "costs", you still have to PAY the final price, inlcuding the tax.

Do you think the US tax system is even remotely comparable to Argentina's? It's fundamentally different.

An individual doesn't have to "file" any taxes, nor deduct anything. You just pay at the time of paying.

Companies are very different, but individuals don't need to worry about that.

Nope. In most places, the usual is to tell the client the *FINAL* price, all taxes included. Discriminating sales tax is mostly a US thing only.

Here in Argentina it's illegal to tell a (final) client the price without VAT. For non-final clients (resellers for example), it's usually expressed as "Price (+VAT)", and rarely as "Price (VAT included)".

I'm talking about mobile.

And I sincerely doubt there are "7600" (as the article states) "CRITICAL" applications. If you ever connect to the vulnerable ones, chances are they will be a small factory no one cares about.

There is nothing wrong with remote MONITORING, as it happens to be just that: MONITORING. It's not about remotely controlling a process. It's about "the boss" seeing some dumb parameters (production counters). All logic should run in the PLC. Control sould be performed locally, through HMIs. You have to walk 150M inside the factory to set the oven's temp a little lower? Good. It's your job. The boss isn't interested in doing that from his phone.

It all comes down to what kind of facility you're working with.

If it's a nuclear power plant, or a missile factory, then there is no need to "dial in". No employee should need to monitor anything remotely.

If it's a small bread factory and you use SCADA to monitor the production line, who cares? No one is going to want to hack you so badly.

Really, this is all a non-issue.

I just use VPN. Android and iPhone both can dial in. I even use it for my house CCTV. Give them a strong certificate, then let them have any dumb password they want when they are inside the LAN.

You, sir, are an idiot.

SCADA is a reporting tool. SCADA is for your manager. If your managers want access, you provide them with access. Because if you're not a fucking incompetent idiot, you can make a secure system that will let management see factory data in real time.

But you're an idiot who just forwards the SCADA web access port to the internet with no password.

The problem with industrial automation "vulnerabilities" is not SCADA, it's not software, it's not anything you're thinking of. The problem with it is that these programs are designed for MECHANICAL ENGINEERS. They're decided for the really clever people that come up with those amazing designs. Who happen to be a fucking LOT better than most slashdotters at it. They're not "geeks", they're not sitting down in a computer all day. They don't understand (and don't have to) how the internet works.

I know this because I've been in both sides. I currently do some automation jobs (programming PLCs) and I don't know SHIT about mechanics (I didn't know that 3-phase motors could be wired different to work in different voltages, but that's something you learn in first year in TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL). But I can program a PLC, and connect the SCADA to the internet SAFELY.

It's not about being a smug idiot, thinking everyone else is stupid, and management is wrong. That attitude won't get you far in life. It's about convincing management that there are different skill sets involved and it's dangerous to do what they are doing. And offer a solution.

Because this is 2014 and we don't use leased lines anymore.

Heh when my mom goes to church she just waits, sitting down, for THREE MINUTES (OH GOD!) until everyone rushes out the door.

Opium was legal in China. How did that work?

Former.

Gee, I wonder why.

As a network administrator, I can guarantee you that traffic shaping *is* necessary.

Just like in "real life" you drive at a certain speed, and traffic lights decide which cars pass and which ones have to wait.

Just like in "real life" certain vehicles have priority above all (ambulances).

Expecting a fully unregulated internet is dumb. No matter how much capacity you can add to YOUR network, there will still be a bottleneck somewhere. And you really don't want ICMP queueing up at that point, or Bad Things® happen.

And you really don't want SMTP to have the same priority as HTTP. You really don't need that email to arrive in a second. It can take 10, 20, 30 seconds. It can take a minute, and that's OK. But your web browsing can't wait 10, 20, 30 seconds.

Let's not be fools. Traffic shaping IS a need. I get where you're coming from (priorizing one company over another) but it's silly to think it should be completely unrestricted. Real life isn't. Why should the internet be?

Road cones are orange. Fire extinguishers are red. Safety vests are fluorescent orange. Ground wires are green/yellow...

I was talking about lower-level control. The kind of control that happens in the "megahertz" domain, like the feedback loop of a switch mode power supply, which should be done, IMO, in an analog domain.

It was meant to be an analogy. Using a microcontroller to control a SMPS is the same as using a PC to control industrial processes.

But what would you know about that? Filthy electrician. Don't you have some wires to splice?