However you slice it, AMT is a backdoor. If you control the backdoor on your own equipment then you can do some cool tricks, but implementing a backdoor massively increases the attack surface of the system.

The question is whether the cool tricks are worth the risk. For managed corporate drone PCs the answer is probably yes. For everyone else it is definitely no. For a personal laptop it's an emphatic FUCK NO.

Badly written Hollywood movies used to give crackers stupid computer-superpowers. Now that AMT is here those kind of fantasies become reality.

Get root to log into X11? Without local access to the administrator and a rubber hose I don't fancy your chances. Of course, that still isn't privilege elevation.

Spoofing a lock screen will only get you the password of the account you've already trojan'd, it can't give you magic root access.

Public filings are not the same as a press release. Companies are free to lie as much as they like as long as it's not to a regulator.

Who do you think approves the pay cheques?

When the actions and outcomes are not only counter to stated goals and purpose but align exactly with the opposite, you want to be really careful you are not holding the wrong side of the Razor.

There is *heaps* of corruption in the gaming press, but this is not what it looks like. Have a look at the actual anti-consumer antics Ubisoft or EA gets away with supported by mainstream publications. The kind of stuff that DOES target the GG market and DOES con you out of good money for shit they know doesn't work.

But Zoe Quinn? the sex-for-reviews thing has been thoroughly debunked and I'm pretty sure you know it, but lets say it was true. It would be like the world's smallest ethics tree falling in an uninhabited GG forrest. We know not a single proto-GGer was harmed because not a single one can say they read the reviews and decided that they wanted to buy it. Seriously. A chose-your-own-adventure game called Depression Quest is niche even in indie circles. The "not a game" crowd that makes up most of GG hates that kind of thing with a passion.

When people say GG is sexist, it's because they hold the work of independent women to a very different standard to the likes of the male-dominated AAA industry. When people say GG is sexist it's because it was started as a slut-shaming exercise and still hasn't moved on.

Let's be real here. When people say GG is sexist its because it is.

Yes that all sounds very nice. The problem is that once you discount the misogyny, ban the harassment, develop a modicum of maturity, gain a sense of proportion and ideally hash out a coherent theory of ethics, you realise that GG is a movement with no actual enemies or goals. It's hard to rationalise this zen-like philosophy with the hysterical defensive posture of GamersGaters though. One naturally begins to suspect the movement is less than entirely honest about who and what it's targets are.

If you don't think Linus has enough C++ experience, how about the man who created of C++ as a hoax, Bjarne Stroustrup:

Interviewer: If we publish this, you’ll probably get lynched, you do realise that?
Stroustrup: I doubt it. As I said, C++ is way past its peak now, and no company in its right mind would start a C++ project without a pilot trial. That should convince them that it’s the road to disaster. If not, they deserve all they get.. You know, I tried to convince Dennis Ritchie to rewrite Unix in C++..
Interviewer: Oh my God. What did he say?
Stroustrup: Well, luckily, he has a good sense of humor. I think both he and Brian figured out what I was doing, in the early days, but never let on. He said he’d help me write a C++ version of DOS, if I was interested..
Interviewer: Were you?
Stroustrup: Actually, I did write DOS in C++, I’ll give you a demo when we’re through. I have it running on a Sparc 20 in the computer room. Goes like a rocket on 4 CPU’s, and only takes up 70 megs of disk..
Interviewer: What’s it like on a PC?
Stroustrup: Now you’re kidding. Haven’t you ever seen Windows ‘95? I think of that as my biggest success. Nearly blew the game before I was ready, though..
Interviewer: You know, that idea of a Unix++ has really got me thinking. Somewhere out there, there’s a guy going to try it..
Stroustrup: Not after they read this interview..

Obviously the BOSS-MULL developers never did read it. You can here.

That's a false dichotomy. And did you realise you are talking about "the feminists" as if they are single monolithic group right after you just finished complaining about how people think gamers are a single monolithic group?

The super-masculine super soldiers are designed to appeal almost exclusively to the power fantasies of teenage boys. Are you honestly trying to tell me you've never heard feminists complain about that? I mean, isn't fear that the nasty feminists will take your boobs and you space marines away exactly what this is all about?

Are you sure you were not spending more hours trolling everydayfeminism.com than a normal human should?

I think you've got the wrong idea about what crowd funding is about. It's just a social network with dollars instead of likes. Sure, you can have legitimate businesses on there (not that a legit operation would ever agree to expense reports) - or you can have people taking the piss with a fifty thousand dollar potato salad. Funny how nobody has a problem with that one.

People donated to Anita because they wanted to show support in the face of the raging misogynistic hate machine that was trying to shut down her campaign. I know that's why I backed her, and I totally got my money worth before the campaign was even over. Honestly I find her videos pretty unappealing.

Depends on where you live. California circuit law holds that obscene works do not promote the progress of science and the useful arts, so cannot be protected by copyright as defined in the constitution.

Wouldn't it be simpler to just pick a flashlight app that doesn't ask for access to gps and network access?

Are you serious? Ciphers and secret writing dates back to pre-history. Both British and American leaders made extensive use of cryptology in the revolutionary war. There is no way the framers of the Constitution didn't know about it.