So, you're complaining because you got exactly what you paid for, why? I realize that you don't care about the chips inside, which is why you went cheap, because Rodex Watch keeps time just like a Rolex, looks like a Rolex even. You can't get mad at Rolex when your cheap watch doesn't work when you upgrade it using Rolex technology.

And you got that. You got exactly what you paid for. A cheap counterfeit.

Now that's a good problem to occupy the attention of Google's "UI designers", who clearly have nothing useful to do with their time!

If they brick many US government computers, and it was deliberate they're in deep. The DoJ isn't so vigorous for consumer protection, but screw with government computers, especially those holding confidential information, and they get quite upset.

Bad analogy. If this was deliberate, which seems likely, there's no legal loophole which lets you destroy someone else stuff. With a court order you can go after unsold inventory with a vengeance, but not consumer gear.

None of which will matter if they end up bricking government PCs, no matter what their excuse is.

Sony was slapped with a fine so large the shareholders winced. The CEO resigned. The DoJ said they got the benefit of the doubt that the effect on government computers was unintended, but if Sony didn't learn the DoJ would simply ... end ... Sony America.

The class should be expanded to cover everyone in the profession not just employees of the companies. Many more people were damaged by this illegal conspiracy because these companies were in large part influencing the setting of wages for the industry. By illegally restraining trade they illegally depressed salaries for the entire market.

You'd think companies would have learned from the Sony rootkit fiasco, but no.

What did companies learn from the Sony rootkit? That the criminal penalty for perpetrating literally tens of millions of felonies on behalf of a corporation is... absolutely nothing? Sure, that'll teach'em!

The NSA disagrees: all email ever sent is stored now, in their datacenters, next to the recordings of every voice call for the past decade. Your tax dollars at work..

That's good info, but they do push their annoying-as-fuck unneeded "improvements" by default. I'm tired of it - I've migrated my important email to Outlook.com now, and I'm sorting out my personal email now (harder to change as I search history more there than the financial stuff).

I've said it before on /., but I'll repeat it: Outlook.com doesn't suck. Gmail was the only sane answer 12 years ago, but my how times have changed.

Through the class-action lawsuit settlement, one presumes. This is pretty far over the line, and is likely criminal if it breaks any US government gear.

In the Sony rootkit fiasco, the DoJ made it clear that the only reason Sony would continue to exist in America was the presumption that the damage to government computers wasn't intentional. This was clearly intentional.

Indeed. This will end badly for whoever thought this was clever. You'd think companies would have learned from the Sony rootkit fiasco, but no.

FTDI just bought a ticket to the "fuck with the DoJ lottery". If they happen to brick anything used by the US Government for any official purpose, they're a winner! Who's that at the door, Ed McMahon with a giant check? No, it's the the DoJ with a giant fine! You may also have won: "being made an example of", with complementary federal prison time!

Yes they did. Buy buying a knockoff product (counterfeit) directly harms the maker of the real, and diminishes the value of the real. If you buy a Rodex watch, expecting it to be exactly like a Rolex watch, you have harmed Rolex. If you buy a Frod Car, instead of a Ford Car, you have harmed Ford.

And while bricking a device is harsh, I have no problem with an updated driver for FTDI chips harming faked FTDI chips. None at all.

I've had banks screw that up, is the thing. Wells Fargo, is there no paperwork you can't get wrong?

You gain no privacy or right-mindedness by not letting mail "stay" on their servers.

The law disagrees. Stored e-mail is different than e-mail that passes through a server.

For the idiots that don't comprehend because their rose tinted liberal glasses don't work, here is the relevant portion highlighted:

You see, you're deliberately changing the parameters to make fun of me. I get it, you're too stupid to have a valid argument against what I actually said, in context, so you change the context. The reality is, it makes you look stupid.

But okay, lets go with the hypothetical "cardiac arrest" mentioned below. Okay, you're cardiac arrest is because your shop is being overrun by a mob of thugs on a rampage, do you think that calling 911 for an ambulance is going to help you while they are rioting in the street outside your shop?

If you're going to change the parameters, so can I.