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Comment Re:And so therefor it follows and I quote (Score 2) 353

by TheP4st (#48229821) Attached to: Italian Supreme Court Bans the 'Microsoft Tax'
The question at hand is whether the software is free, which it is if you obtain it via the download link found here. Whether you can install it legally on non-apple hardware or not is not relevant to the context but since you asked; doing so is in breach with their EULA and at least in the US courts have reached the conclusion that even selling Hackintosh friendly hardware is illegal when done in the manner that Psystar used to do when they provided the OS asa bundle together with their hardware. http://www.lockergnome.com/osx...

Submission + - ISPs Violating Net Neutrality, Blocking Encryption And Putting Users At Risk (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: In July, VPN provider Golden Frog (creators of the VyprVPN service) debuted front and center in the debate over net neutrality. One of their customers, Colin Nederkoorn, published a video showing how switching to VyprVPN increased his network performance by a factor of 10 on Verizon while streaming Netflix. Now, Golden Frog has filed a brief with the FCC, discussing both this incident and another, more troubling problem for security advocates — the detection of ISPs performing man-in-the-middle attacks against their own customers. According to information cited in the briefing, one wireless provider was caught blocking the use of STARTTLS encryption. STARTTLS is used to encrypt traffic sent over SMTP — email, in other words. Because an email from Point A to Point Z may travel through a number of unsecured routers to reach its final destination, unencrypted email is intrinsically insecure. STARTTLS was developed to mitigate this problem. What Golden Frog documented was the interception and modification of multiple requests to begin using STARTTLS into an entirely different set of commands, thereby preventing the encrypted link from ever being established. The problem of overwritten encryption is potentially far more serious than an issue of Netflix throttling, even if the latter tapped consumer discontent more readily.

Submission + - Microsoft serves takedown notices to videos not infringing on anything (wired.com)

Submitted by mrnick
mrnick writes: Microsoft serves youtube takedown notices on many youtube videos that do not appear to have any DRM issue. They say there was an algorithm problem and that non offending notices will be removed. The premise was that these videos had embedded windows keys in the comments. Is the video creator responsible for the comments on their video?

Submission + - FBI: backdoors in software may need to be mandatory (nytimes.com)

Submitted by wabrandsma
wabrandsma writes: The New York Times:

The director of the F.B.I., James B. Comey, said on Thursday that the "post-Snowden pendulum" that has driven Apple and Google to offer fully encrypted cellphones had "gone too far." He hinted that as a result, the administration might seek regulations and laws forcing companies to create a way for the government to unlock the photos, emails and contacts stored on the phones.

But Mr. Comey appeared to have few answers for critics who have argued that any portal created for the F.B.I. and the police could be exploited by the National Security Agency, or even Russian and Chinese intelligence agencies or criminals. And his position seemed to put him at odds with a White House advisory committee that recommended against any effort to weaken commercial encryption.

Comment Re:It's time to start a trade war. (Score 1) 106

by TheP4st (#48162033) Attached to: FBI Warns Industry of Chinese Cyber Campaign
My intention were not to lump everyone in the US together which is why I used the term 'muricans which in the context refer to a specific category, namely the ones that blindly believe everything uttered by the likes of Glenn Beck or whatever the flavour of right wing pundit is nowadays in other words the same ones that think it is perfectly fine when NSA use undercover agents in foreign corporations but cry foul when other nations have the audacity to do the same.
And at no point did I attempt to change the opinion of the OP as I quite frankly believe that anyone that someone who voice a belief that extreme is beyond reason, or a troll. In either case reason and logic is failed cause, thus I vented my frustration rather than attempted to fuel some innate sense of superiority as you suggest.

Comment Re:It's time to start a trade war. (Score 1, Informative) 106

by TheP4st (#48161325) Attached to: FBI Warns Industry of Chinese Cyber Campaign
I should have added this little reality check:
NSA Has Undercover Operatives in Foreign Companies
The latest Intercept article on the Snowden documents talks about the NSA's undercover operatives working in foreign companies. There are no specifics, although the countries China, Germany, and South Korea are mentioned.

Comment Re:It's time to start a trade war. (Score 1, Insightful) 106

by TheP4st (#48161243) Attached to: FBI Warns Industry of Chinese Cyber Campaign

Free trade doesn't work if both sides are not playing the same game.

Right, the US would never consider spying on Chinese companies and government branches. /sarcasm
I like to believe that you are just trolling, but based on the inane world view frequently voiced by 'muricans online it is very hard to tell.

Comment Re: Are you patenting software? (Score 3, Funny) 224

by TheP4st (#48157163) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Handling Patented IP In a Job Interview?

And also the abuses of software patents cause economic harm that FAR outweighs the benefits.

Indeed, just look at all the productivity that goes to waste whenever /. posts an article containing the word patent. In a nanosecond hordes of well paid tech professionals stop coding, innovating and creating just to read through all 389 posts and post a couple of their own. By the time they are done posting others have posted too, generating a whole bunch of new posts that have to be read and replied to, severely delaying the calculation of the Ultimate question

Comment Re:Outrage (Score 1) 60

Lockheed Martin storing F-35 design data make sense. They build it which would be quite hard without access to the design data. Company XYZ storing DoD data that they have not created, do not contribute to or work with is poor security and will increase the possibiliy of another Snowden scenario happening which is plainly idiotic from a security perspective.

Comment Re:No (Score 2) 264

by TheP4st (#48080837) Attached to: Brits Must Trade Digital Freedoms For Safety, Says Crime Agency Boss

If you aren't doing anything illegal online (pirating, illegal pornography, planning terrorism) these laws won't affect you.

The problem with that is that what can label someone as a person of interest with subsequent consequences as ending up a no-fly list often is nothing more than very vague connections to a suspected terrorist, visiting a site or video deemed illegal etc, for an example look at this statement from the London Metropolitan police:

The MPS Counter Terrorism Command (SO15) is investigating the contents of the video that was posted online in relation to the alleged murder of James Foley. We would like to remind the public that viewing, downloading or disseminating extremist material within the UK may constitute an offence under Terrorism legislation.

The Metropolitan police are unable to currently name the law that citizens could be arrested under for watching the video that depicts the beheading of photojournalist James Wright Foley, despite earlier releasing a statement that said any British nationals watching the video could be committing a criminal offence.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140820/12004128267/theres-reasonable-debate-to-be-had-about-showing-james-foley-beheading-video-claiming-its-illegal-to-watch-is-ridiculous.shtml

If you can't even know what is deemed illegal or not how can you be expected to act within the law?

Comment Re:May not take apart? What? (Score 1) 175

by TheP4st (#48020169) Attached to: When Everything Works Like Your Cell Phone
I grant you that I indeed could have worded that better. You are entirely correct that phones of today do more power intensive tasks than they did back then, causing greater drain on the batteries. But that does in no way invalidate the point I were trying to make; that there are very good arguments for being able to easily swap batteries and that apart from the "ooh... shiny" factor there are absolutely none for non-swappable ones as the only real benefit is that manufacturers can shave off a couple of tenths of millimetres of thickness and easier create a seamless design. Neither of which have any usability benefit with the possible exception of hipsters with jeans so tight they do need that extra tenth of an millimeter to fit it into the pocket.

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