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Comment 4th amendment issue? (Score 4, Interesting) 933

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Throwing tents into dumpsters, without issuing a 'vacate or your property is forfeit' order seems like a clear violation to a non-lawyer.

Lawyers? Or have I simply missed something requiring the demonstrators to disperse?

Comment Re:So windows is right (Score 1) 803

No new code (except in the rare case where you are writing a tool to migrate stuff out of the VirtualStore into a new unprivileged user data directory) should reference the VirtualStore. That was created because ignorant devs couldn't wrap their heads around ACLs and didn't listen when MS told them that there's things out there that aren't admins.

Comment Re:Dumb move (Score 1) 803

I agree the wow64 fs and registry direction is confusing as hell. With the benefit of hindsight, I suspect they would have designed that differently (I will just assume it was fundamentally possible, if a bit more work in the short term.)

c:\winnt vs c:\windows vs c:\win vs e:\foo are all theoretically valid windows directories, though. That's why windows has an API for finding the Windows directory.

Comment This shouldn't be an issue (Score 1) 548

I don't see why linux can't adapt to these boot protection schemes. Self-signed or vendor signed, as long as there's a way to import your key information, what's the issue? Frankly, code signing is a good thing, especially if you can perform it from the ground up.

I understand the anxiety, here, especially given that Sinofsky is not a popular figure and nobody wants to trust any initiative he backs. That having been said, MS (and partners) would be opening themselves up to swift antitrust action again if they were to engage in industrywide attempts to lock out OtherOS.

It's also important to recognize that there are deployments out there where people WOULD like systems where you CAN'T disable secure boot, and have really stringent protections around the boot process. It is unlikely that this type of configuration is one that would be used in the general consumer market; there's too much of a need for boot media and utility software. Imagine not being able to run memcheck or a recovery tool, ever.

Now, really, we need to hear this kind of language from BIOS, mobo, and ready-built systems manufacturers. Overall, an initiative like this is a good thing, but everybody needs to be on the same page. Not foaming at the mouth.

Comment Wrong. (Score 4, Insightful) 193

His assumptions about the nature of information sharing and privacy are dangerously wrong.

The problem of information sharing is inequity; if it turns out that he documents his presence at a laundromat on some random dull October day, and later it turns out that some terrorists used to meet up there, his documentation of that random laundromat appearance will put him under scrutiny all over again - without any concrete reason. Meanwhile, some other fellow who rode his bike and paid with cash and didn't document his life on the web will probably never be scrutinized.

There is a fundamental issue with all mass intelligence/data collection: Humans don't understand conditional probabilities.

When we start to use large databases of essentially random data to inform investigations, we greatly increase the likelihood that investigations impact random people.

Comment Re:Not just the apps (Score 2) 725

Native code in Windows is mostly written in both C and C++, in that you will see both .c and .cpp files, but since all DLL interfaces in Windows are C interfaces (C++ interfaces basically require you to be using the same compiler, though you can use COM to wrap C++ classes to build portable OO interfaces), even the .cpp files tend to be more C-like than C++-like.

There are C++ developers at Microsoft who do very ninja C++ things. But for the most part, people using .cpp files might as well be using C - many people just use .cpp so that they can declare variables in the middle of a scope. Some people have a class they internally use to do state management or implement some algorithm.

Basically, the common reason for use of .cpp is to get language features that increase readability. Very little in richly decorated in C++-but-not-COM faces outward, even in small internal components. I won't say none, because I never conducted an audit to check.

Source: me, worked in Windows for 4 years and change.

Comment Re:Watch the video on the linked site. (Score 1) 380

Ignoring the lack of a #4, #1 is not always present, and #2 may be confused with #3.

Here's the reality: You fucking sue the TSA if they ever do this to your possessions. The TSA should be experts on bombs, and it should be their job to be professionals at identifying bombs. The fact that they can't only proves their negligence.

You don't get to decide whether something is or isn't dangerous when you haven't got a 12-year old's knowledge of electronics.

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