Are you seriously arguing that because "citizen" is not mentioned in the Constitution that it applies internationally? And I really don't care about the rights of a foreigner and I am pretty sure they would reciprocate the same feelings in spades. There are only so many hours of the day so I need to limit the time I spend worrying about things that really don't effect me. And I believe the original poster acknowledged the fallibility while you have declared the entire judicial system as defunct. I would be interested in what you think should take its place? It is not enough to issue blanket denunciations and protest against something without a good idea of what realistic alternative you would support.

My original post was in response to someone claiming the Maldives should fear the Russian Oligarchs. The very few individuals targeted are considered Oligarchs and close to Putin and extremely wealthy. Your average Russian citizen is not being effected by the sanctions. Those sanctioned have to be wary of having their foreign assets and bank accounts fall victim to the sanctions.

The richest and most powerful Russian oligarchs are currently having some difficulties managing and funding their foreign enterprises due to targeted sanctions. I think the Maldives will get along just fine in the future. All they did was honor and fulfill their responsibilities and treaty obligations with Interpol. The guy arrested is the son of a top level and powerful Russian nationalist and a long standing party member. If this guy really wants his son back they could always exchange him for someone the US wants back. It would not be the first time this type of exchange was made.

They were disabling the domains not selling them to another company to use. And it seems like this incident was settled by using the protections built into the judicial system. In the end the company was compensated and MS got the offending domains disabled. The bigger question is why does MS even make the effort to root out malware and shut it down? Identifying and taking down malware networks benefits everyone using the internet not just MS.

Why would you take a person with a college degree and no experience over a person with 5-6 years of experience if all other factors were equal? A college degree can show a persons general aptitude, work ethic, and show a solid grounding in the basics but they have never worked in a professional programming environment. Like I mentioned before you can easily gauge a persons programming and related technical skills just by asking the right questions and questions about their college degree are at the bottom of the list to be asked if you have not exceeded the interview time limit. I have a 1989 CS degree and a 2008 IT MS degree and when I got my first job that CS degree really didn't help all that much. However, the job experience I accrued rapidly diminished the importance of the college degree to where it just became resume fluff.

He should have limited his releases to domestic data but he did not stop there and released information about foreign intelligence. Programs that did not harm any US citizens or break any US laws. And to top things off the domestic related programs were not secret. He could have used the foreign intelligence data as a bargaining chip to cut a deal with the government to drop or greatly reduce the criminal charges related to the domestic data so he could return to the US.

Google and the internet in general is fantastic resource and denigrating those who take advantage of those resources is silly. And college may be heavy on the theory behind computer science concepts it does not put much effort into teaching the intricacies and pros and cons of the various frameworks floating around today. It is also pretty easy to tailor interview questions to get a good understanding of the applicants skillset and knowledge. Judging someone's programming skills is a lot easier than gauging someone's accounting skills or general business administration skills. The tricky part falls on the interviewer to make the questions and topics relevant and fair for both beginners and experts depending on the position. I have found that introducing a general concept and letting the applicant explain their understanding of the concept is better than asking direct questions about things such as language syntax or esoteric discussions on compiler directives. I could probably come up with 5 legitimate questions about C++ or any other related technical area that even a hardcore veteran would be hard pressed to answer correctly. I have conducted technical interviews on and off for almost 20 years and I can't remember a single time where a candidates college degree ever factored prominently in evaluating an applicant. And get real. I will take someone with 10 years of experience over a college graduate with 3 or 4 years every day of the week. Don't get me wrong a college degree is a definite plus but it is not a very good indicator of how well the person will perform on the job.

The statement "If you want peace prepare for war" says it all. Damn near every dispute or argument of any importance over the past 5000 years has been solved by military force. Russia did not bale out the US over Syria it was the lack of domestic US political and military support that nixed any bombing plans. US inaction in this case has emboldened others who no longer need fear US involvement. Without a direct attack on US interests the US public will never support a military action no matter how much suffering takes place. I am not advocating US involvement I am just commenting on the effects of doing nothing. Personally I am glad the US is disengaging from these areas of non-ending conflict. The middle east is already on it's way to a catastrophic and generational war without end, Russia is free to assume control of it's former client states, and China can continue to take over the south pacific oceans and islands. The warlords in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and various African countries have a free hand to commit atrocities of the worst type because they have nothing to fear from their own governments and outside assistance is disappearing.

Without the war mongering Air Force and Navy or the military in general most of the technology you enjoy using today would be non-existent or significantly less advanced. Technology advances in general have been accelerated ever since the Chinese, Persians, Greeks, and Romans began trying to conquer the world. Civilian companies working on space technologies today are all taking advantage of work pioneered by the warmongers to advance science and make profits. They have all benefited from the trillions of dollars spent by governments who put no price tag on one upping their potential adversaries to build the better mousetrap. And while NASA might have budget problems the military sure doesn't which is where new material sciences, advanced computer technologies, and new propulsion systems are being created.

"Google is well on its way to becoming the new MS "

Google has already become just like MS and Apple. They all rank at the top of the most successful companies in the world. These companies have been an integral part of the PC and Internet technical revolution. A revolution that has changed the world of communications and commerce. You can question some of their methods but you should try and balance the good and bad when forming your opinions on their "evilness". None of these companies have ever claimed to be philanthropic organizations.

Secret courts? If you know about them how are they secret? FISA courts have not been secret since it's inception. And why should the US surrender it's capabilities just to give Russia or China an advantage of any type? All this hyperventilating about foreign intelligence gathering is being done without putting the entire matter in it's proper context. Without context all the arguments against the US are hypocritical and meaningless.

Sane people all over the world eh? That's about 10 people tops so they are definitely a minority. If you are upset about the international intelligence operations please keep in mind that spying on foreign competitors and adversaries is a time honored tradition going back to the time of the Pharaohs. It's a time honored rule that countries have no friends they only have interests. And thankfully US interests in other countries are finally taking a backseat to it's own domestic interests. The narrow minded individuals complaining about US foreign intelligence operations should try pulling their heads out of their asses for a few minutes and put any arguments they have in context and that context includes acknowledging that the US does not operate in a vacuum and the US Constitution and Bill of Rights are not international in scope and while some of the domestic ones have taken a beating they are still in place and are being practiced everyday of the week. If you think international espionage should be banned from existence then go get Russia, China, and pretty much every other country on the planet to eliminate all their activities and then you can berate the US if they don't jump on the happy train. Until that magical day arrives you will just need to persevere and stoically face the mighty winds of injustice and unfairness blowing around the world. There are support groups that can help you through times such as these so remember you are not alone!

Alright a show of hands. Who thinks changing telecom providers will keep the NSA or any other international intelligence service from achieving the same level of access they achieved with Verizon? If the Germans are upset about being spied on they should remember what happened the last time the international community took their eye off the ball when keeping tabs on Germanys government and military.

I have made a very good living working with the Wintel platform. I have never been a zealot preaching one platform over another because in the end I really don't give a shit. Software development has provided stable and high paying employment for 28 years. Prior to Wintel I earned my living working on Unix and C so of course I was appalled when trying to make the switch from Unix to Windows. However right about that time for $100 an hour I stopped my bitching and tried to make the best of it.

Software development requires balancing functionality and security with the amount of time and money you are willing to spend. Defining and enforcing internal basic safety related development guidelines on every project can help reduce the risk. Software has a relatively short shelf life. By the time you totally secure something you will be lucky if the software is still relevant. We have operating systems over 25 years old that are no where near 100% secure because the technology environment the software runs on has never stopped changing. Plus you usually start adding new functionality and correct functionality bugs and other short comings immediately after each release. It's not as bad today as it was in the late 80's and 90's when new operating systems, hardware, and development platforms were being rolled out on what seemed like a weekly basis. I think people are trying to do their best today and the security awareness has increased where once upon a time it was almost a non-factor when organizing development projects. Most of todays cyber crime exploits take advantage of atrocious system administration, social engineering, and inside information. Companies that tightly restrict or even forbid internet access from within the corporate network can drastically reduce or even eliminate vulnerabilities if you also tightly restrict the use of external storage devices. Stuxnext is one of the most publicized hacks and it was delivered on a USB drive but it was hardly the first or last example of this type of attack.