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Submission + - Firefox: we'll tell websites what you're interested in (pcpro.co.uk)

Barence writes: Mozilla is proposing that the Firefox browser collects data on users' interests to pass on to websites. The proposal is designed to allow websites to personalise content to visitors' tastes, without sites having to suck up a user's browsing history, as they do currently.

"Let’s say Firefox recognises within the browser client, without any browsing history leaving my computer, that I’m interested in gadgets, comedy films, hockey and cooking," says Justin Scott, a product manager from Mozilla Labs. "Those websites could then prioritise articles on the latest gadgets and make hockey scores more visible. And, as a user, I would have complete control over which of my interests are shared, and with which websites."

Submission + - NSA Says It Can't Search Its Own Emails (propublica.org)

An anonymous reader writes: Responding to a Freedom of Information Act request by Justin Elliot, blogger and journalist at ProPublica.com, the NSA regretfully informed him:

"There's no central method to search an email at this time with the way our records are set up, unfortunately," NSA Freedom of Information Act officer Cindy Blacker told me last week. The system is “a little antiquated and archaic," she added.

Maybe a little extra could be included in the next NSA budget for an Outlook license?

Comment Re:ludicrous (Score 1) 272

No you didn't. Since you posted AC I have only the location of your post to make a determination,but nothing above your post demonstrated a lack of ability to write and understand coherent thoughts. I and I am sure many others am willing to entertain a case to the contrary. In order to make such a case you would have to state the coherent thought and how you believe it was misuderstood. Also state the writing you believe does not express a coherent thought and your reasoning Alternatively you are free to withdraw your apparent assertion that some or all of the posts above yours are as you described.

Comment Re:Commies occypied /. ? (Score 2) 272

Once you bring "empirical studies" into it, your statements can no longer be evaluated on whether they are internally logically cnsistent. you have to actually cite at least one relevant "enmpieical study" in order to even stand a chance of being elieved by a rational person. Such relevancy in this case would have to at the least havea rigorous definition of "skill" Of course you are free to withdraw your assertion that mpirical studies show this is not true.

Comment Re:Commies occypied /. ? (Score 5, Insightful) 272

But then, there is the matter of how many people you've met, and how diverse their walks of life are. If you are born into a family known for its success, you are likely to grow up around other children from families that are also known for success. Furthermore, those children are taught to believe that their success is due purely to their own "hard work". They don't actually have to work hard because they are taught how to use their family's advantages such as inheritance and connections with the other families known for success. Utilizing that knowledge is furthermore seen as the end all and be all of "hard work", when in fact it doesn't even begin to compare to the difficulty of the work those not similarly advantaged have to do just to survive much less be successful. Furthermore, those families tend to stick together into adulthood so these notions are all constantly reinforced in addition to your notion that practically everyone you met that "worked hard" were successful. It becomes a tautology. Just how many people have you met that haven't "worked hard" anyways?

Comment Re:Flawed Analogy (Score 1) 107

No, the problem is confirmation bias and vast amounts of historical data being ignored and effectively being treated as stale in favor of scant scraps of more recent data, then in turn being both intentionally and unintentionally misinterpreted,and used to justify redidulous expenditures to collect as much data as possible,which again is both intentionally and unintentionally misinterpreted and secretly dispersed with the intention to benifit a small minority of people with the effect of harming the whole, ironicly even the minority that was ssupposed to benefit. The moster's hunger is never sated by gorging on that which is external to it; it must appese its hunger by devouring itself as well.

Comment Re:well duh. (Score 1) 107

There is no proof that all internet traffic and phone metadata is being collected and mined? All anyone has to do to determine that that is a blatant falsehood is google nsa hdoop mine. Even if that were not the case, you are making the assumption the NSA is not. That is av far more dangerous assumption to make.

Comment Re:Then what do you do then? (Score 1) 107

There is no such thing as a "standard" government worker.and it is just s ludicris if not more so given recent and not so recent historical events to state definitively that there are no plots or a campaign of fear as it is to state definitively that there are. I don't know, maybe it's all a coincidence or maybe collateral damage that the government actions result in no little amount of fear in the general populace

Comment Re:Slashdot Propaganda Machine Working Overtime (Score 1) 107

I would counter that no one in their right mind is 100% certain that no false flag operation have been done. The question is not whether there is some sort of "useful" policy, or even whether aq givengiven operation is a false flag op, but whether false flag operations serve the ends of people with the capacity to make them happen, and given recent and not so recent historical events its even more irrational to suggest or imply that no publicscrutiny should be made as to whether false flag operationsw have been run.

Submission + - German Court Affirms GPL: Source Must Match Executable

Alsee writes: Fantec was found to be distributing Linux based media players with an incorrect (older) version of source code. Fantec blamed their Chinese supplier for the problem, but a German Court ruled Fantec was responsible for ensuring their own compliance with the GPL. "According to the court, the company should have checked the completeness of the sources themselves or with the help of experts, even if that would have incurred additional costs." I propose a better solution. If your company is subcontracting software development simply use the supplied source to compile your executable.

Submission + - An Open Letter to Google Chairman Eric Schmidt on Drones (diydrones.com)

savuporo writes: DC Area Drone User Group has posted an open letter in response to recent comments by Eric Schmidt about banning drones from private use. Closing section:
Personally owned flying robots today have the power to change the balance of power between individuals and large bureaucracies in much the same way the Internet did in the past. And just as the military researchers who developed GPS for guiding munitions could never have imagined their technology would be used in the future to help people conduct health surveys in the world’s poorest countries or help people find dates in the world’s richest, there is a whole world of socially positive and banal applications for drones that are yet to be discovered. We should embrace this chance that technology provides instead of strangling these opportunities in their infancy. Our hope is that you and the rest of Google’s leadership will embrace this pro-technology agenda in the future rather than seeking to stifle it. We would welcome the opportunity to speak further with you about this topic.

Submission + - Netflix allows any device previously registered to your account resign up

hackwrench writes: "When you unsubscribe from Netflix, Netflix allows any device previously associated with the account to renew the account without having to reenter your email address and password. At least, this happened with a Wii where I cancelled a subscription, went out of town and came back to find my Mom had reactivated the account. I used PayPal to pay, so I don't know if using a credit card makes any difference"

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