Comment Re:Sounds like they should ban the cabbies (Score 1) 295
It's almost as if France, instead of capitulating to whichever corporation throws the most money at them, instead listens to ordinary people who exercise their democratic voice.
Eric Schmidt: To Avoid NSA Spying, Keep Your Data In Google's Services 281
jfruh writes Google Chairman Eric Schmidt told a conference on surveillance at the Cato Institute that Edward Snowden's revelations on NSA spying shocked the company's engineers — who then immediately started working on making the company's servers and services more secure. Now, after a year and a half of work, Schmidt says that Google's services are the safest place to store your sensitive data.
Comment Re:French politicians.... (Score 3) 168
Also (I know, going for the jugular a bit here) do you want me to talk about Comcast? Cos I can talk about Comcast.
Comment Re:French politicians.... (Score 5, Interesting) 168
Yes, France's public transport system, for example is an example of the sort of failure that we, for instance in the UK, shudder at.
Cheap fares, efficient operation, a boon to the country and its people.
Ours in the UK, meanwhile engages in double-dipping (making shareholder profits while receiving public subsidy), has terrible roling stock and fucking high ticket prices that rise regardless of the economics of the country, all along with local monopolies(!!!!)
Those bloody French socialists and their incompetence!
Apple's iPod Classic Refuses To Die 269
Nerval's Lobster writes A funny thing happened to the iPod Classic on its way to the dustbin of history: people seemed unwilling to actually give it up. Apple quietly removed the iPod Classic from its online storefront in early September, on the same day CEO Tim Cook revealed the latest iPhones and the upcoming Apple Watch. At 12 years old, the device was ancient by technology-industry standards, but its design was iconic, and a subset of diehard music fans seemed to appreciate its considerable storage capacity. At least some of those diehard fans are now paying four times the iPod Classic's original selling price for units still in the box. The blog 9to5Mac mentions Amazon selling some last-generation iPod Classics for $500 and above. Clearly, some people haven't gotten the memo that touch-screens and streaming music were supposed to be the way of the future.
Comment Re:Growing Isolation (Score 1) 157
Again, I find myself agreeing with you largely, and would merely add that the President is mostly a figurehead (albeit one with *some* clout) and there are a body of people behind the scenes, who are not elected that run the show. And that includes corporate and wealthy power outside but with access. The US isn't a dictatorship, but the people who control what happens are just as unconcerned with the little people as any dictator.
Comment Re:class act (Score 1) 171
It's worth remembering that during the Edward Snowden revelations, the Independent tried its hand at a bogus leak, lying to make it appear as if it had come from the Snowden documents and leaking the sort of information that could have had serious implications for people's safety (which the Guardian/Greenwald had taken care not to do). Greenwald at the time revealed that no such information had come from them, and the Independent were exposed with their pants round their ankles and their cock in the family dog (so to speak).
I view them as a newspaper that's quite happy to whore iteself out to spread black and grey propaganda for the UK/US powers that be.
Comment Re:Growing Isolation (Score 3, Insightful) 157
I feel what you say is entirely true, and yet am compelled to add
NSA (mass surveillance proven), CIA (torture, kidnapping, coups against democratic countries, assasinations, propaganda, funding of insurgents/terrorists/narco terrorists proven), America being instrumental in creating Al Qaeda, ISIS, etc (blowback) and
At a certain point the difference between Russia under Putin and America under any number of presidents is largely that the USA has a more polished public relations strategy.
Google Closing Engineering Office In Russia 157
An anonymous reader writes: The Wall Street Journal reports (paywalled) that Google is closing its engineering office in Russia. This follows ever-increasing crackdowns from the Russian government over internet freedoms, and intrusive data-handling requirements on internet companies. "[A] new law that takes effect next year requires information on Russian citizens to be stored in data centers in Russia. The law will also penalize Web firms for infringing on personal data rules in the country. Another law passed earlier this year requires bloggers with 3,000 or more daily readers to register with the government and provide their home address. The ruling prevents these bloggers from using foul language and forbids them from spreading false information."
Julian Assange Trying To Raise Nearly $200k For a Statue of Himself 171
Rei writes Julian Assange, from his refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy, has recently taken to Twitter to try to raise nearly $200,000 for a life-size bronze statue of himself. The statue would have him standing front and center between Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning (with Manning pictured as male); the art piece would be then shipped around the world on tour.
Bellard Creates New Image Format To Replace JPEG 377
An anonymous reader writes Fabrice Bellard (creator of FFMPEG, QEMU, JSLinux...) proposes a new image format that could replace JPEG : BPG. For the same quality, files are about half the size of their JPEG equivalents. He released libbpg (with source) as well as a JS decompressor, and set up a demo including the famous Lena image.
Comment Re:Why is the signing useful (Score 1) 80
If true
Um
Should I be worried? [Serious answers only, plz]
Court Orders Uber To Shut Down In Spain 280
An anonymous reader writes with word that a Spanish judge, after complaints from taxi associations that the competition Uber brings to the transportation market is unfair to existing firms' drivers, has ordered the company to cease operations in the country. From the BBC article:
In his ruling on the temporary ban, the judge said Uber drivers didn't have official authorisation to drive their cars and was "unfair competition." The move follows a complaint by the Madrid Taxi Association. The Spanish ban comes just a day after Uber was blacklisted in the Indian capital Delhi. Drivers "lack the administrative authorisation to carry out the job, and the activity they carry out constitutes unfair competition," the Spanish court services said in a statement after the ruling. In Thailand, too. And stateside, the government of Portland, Oregon thinks Uber's a big enough threat to justify a sting operation. Business Insider's keeping score.
POODLE Flaw Returns, This Time Hitting TLS Protocol 54
angry tapir writes: If you patched your sites against a serious SSL flaw discovered in October you will have to check them again. Researchers have discovered that the POODLE vulnerability also affects implementations of the newer TLS protocol. The POODLE (Padding Oracle On Downgraded Legacy Encryption) vulnerability allows attackers who manage to intercept traffic between a user's browser and an HTTPS website to decrypt sensitive information, like the user's authentication cookies.
Every Weapon, Armored Truck, and Plane the Pentagon Gave To Local Police 191
v3rgEz writes You may have heard that the image-conscious Los Angeles Unified School District chose to return the grenade launchers it received from the Defense Department's surplus equipment program. You probably have not heard about some of the more obscure beneficiaries of the Pentagon giveaway, but now you can after MuckRock got the Department of Defense to release the full database, letting anyone browse what gear their local department has received.
