Corrons said both Netkairo and Ostiator told him that while they did indeed maintain the Mariposa botnet, they did not develop the botnet code and had relatively few technical skills.
Knowledge my ass.
What about Kevin Mitnick? He is making a living by switching his hat from black to white, and no one had a problem with that. It would seem that Panda might do better having a few people who know how to make malware so successfully. The question, of course, is "can you trust them?" and only they can answer that.
What did you expect the guys to do for jobs, flip burgers? Become stock brokers? Of course they would pursue careers in security. It seems they must know a fair amount about it to get away with so much, for so long. They certainly know more than someone coming straight from a CS degree.
Fuck that. I wouldn't hire these people even if they paid me. Knowledge is not equal to intelligence, common sense, and above all, ethics that you can bet your reputation and business on as this following quote from TFA reveals:
Corrons said he met with with Netkairo again at Panda’s offices, but said he repeated his previous statement that the company could not hire someone who had been accused of running a botnet.
“So he says to me, ‘But we still haven’t been charged,’ Corrons recalled. “I told him, ‘It doesn’t matterjust the fact that you are involved is a problem when it comes to working for any serious security company.’ And what he then came out with says a lot about him. He said, “Yeah, but nobody else knows that.”
When it became clear that Panda wasn’t interested in hiring him, Netkairo changed his tune, Corrons said, claiming he had found vulnerabilities in the company’s cloud anti-virus software and hinting that he planned to publish the information.
Desperately stupid geek playing racketeering because he can't find a decent job, even if it is for flipping burguers? Nerd-meet-Tony-Soprano? Only a moron would hire that type of person knowing a priori the type of person he is.
We don't write law to serve the public.. In fact, some are written to protect the corrupt politician.. seeing as that we let corrupt politicians write the law
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchanan_v._Warley Yeah, neither laws nor the judicial legislative systems ever work for the people, ever. Tool.
Ok, but in the Palin case, the former governor was using this email address to skirt public disclosure requirements. Palin is trying to play the victim here. She is the worst type of politician, and if our system was fair (which is impossible due to people like Palin), then she would be prosecuted as well.
As far as I'm concerned, Kernell did the public a service in helping to expose a corrupt politician.
What exactly did he exposed?
I wish I could have just gotten 4 years of that newbie experience under my belt instead of spending it on a degree who's only real worth today is to get you that newbie job to begin with.
Sorry to hear that, but we get what we put in. The only way to get some expertise under the belt before graduation is by doing internships if possible, or work in computer labs as a second option. And by working in computer labs I don't mean showing students how to eject the CD drive but doing actual administration and setup (and luckily sysadmin programming/scripting.) The other option is to get an AA/AS degree, then get a job (even if only a data entry/report generating one) while doing the remaining junior and senior year at a 4-year college. With that path, it is almost certain to accumulate 1-2 years of programming experience...
Some anecdotal stories for shits and giggles... When I was in community college, I did everything I could to get a "computer" job. I was working at Home Depot at the time (selling floor/tile stuff and driving forklifts). I pestered management to gave me a job at the store data center (where they ran these old mini-computers and stuff.) Management tried, but there was never an opening. Later I got a part-time job at the comm.college computer lab, setting up software while tutoring and assisting teaching intro-to-micro courses, Pascal, Assembly, C and DBase. First connection was my Pascal professor with whom I got another part-time job doing Visual Basic programming... now I'm programming while getting paid!!!!
Next connection came from another professor with whom I was taking Delphi and Expert Systems programming. Through his class I get to meet a senior developer at one large insurance firm in my city (one of the largest in the country at the time). When I got my AA, he took me under his wing and got a job developing applications with FoxPro (we were doing the transition from procedural to object-oriented programming back then.) I did that while doing my junior and senior year in CS. On my last year, through another connection, I got a part-time job at the computer science department, doing Unix administration. I left my full-time FoxPro job to concentrate on the last 6 months of my senior year while working on that Unix admin job.
I graduated with my BS degree (and 3 years of programming experience already). Through another connection I made with school and work, I got a research job at a research center (distributed systems, formal methods and security were the focus of research). So as I'm plowing my way through the MS program and doing a lot of really good shit in C and C++, network protocol programming, distributed systems and the like, we started working with Java and CORBA...
and alas, through yet, another connection with the research center, I met a group of developers funding a start-up company that was heavy on Java and CORBA. Off I went to my full-time Java development job. 3 years of programming experience and 2 years of research with immediate industrial application sponsored by people doing that for a living. Just a year and a half after graduating with a BS degree and right in the middle of my masters.
After that job, I've had many others, many of them thank exactly for the type of research I did (performance evaluation of distributed authentication systems to be precise.) From SQL and relational database theory to software engineering to network programing to algorithm/complexity theory, each had helped me in a real way in the real world.
My advice to people studying CS - work on your connections and pursue internships/college lab jobs. Many of my friends from college got really sweet jobs right off the bat because they did internships. We get from college what we put in.
Sure I learned some things doing my CS degree, but most of it could have been learned just as well through on the job experience in less than half the time.
Only if you are that naturally talented. I know I wasn't when I started. I don't even think I am. I simply plow my way. Any schmuck can learn how to put pieces together in a programming language and call it a delivered program just by putting the time with programming books (or cruising the CS curriculum.) It takes serious work and effort (or a rare natural talent) to put all the pieces together to program in a manner and style that doesn't suck, that it's maintainable and that it is efficient. Don't fool yourself into thinking that there is just coding in it. There is a lot more into this job, starting with a throughout understanding of modularity, Bohm/Jacobini's structured program theory and Jackson's Structured Programming, top-down decomposition, bottoms-up synthesis, object-orientation and composition, procedural programming (you can't truly get OO right off the bat without understanding procedural programming.)
I guess mileage might vary from one person to the next, but I cannot think of one single undergrad or grad course that hasn't helped me substantially and practically *in the real world*. Actually, I take that back. The only course I can think of that hasn't had a direct impact was a graduate course in semantics of programming languages. After that, all others, even the theoretical courses have helped me. And it is not as if I do rocket science crap. A substantial amount of my work has been plain ol' enterprisey stuff.
Formal education is not supposed to turn you into a rock start. But it should provide you with the mental tools to start from zero, and help you evolve from code monkey to developer to engineer to architect or team lead. 4 years of code monkey experience is simply 1 year of code monkeyism * 4. It's not 4 years of experience. A formal education helps you, if you put your mind to it, turn each year into a year that you can truly count as cumulative experience.
There are people out there that are awesome at software w/o a formal education. But they are far and few between. Unless your education really sucked, believe me, you are better off starting as a newbie with a degree than doing code monkey crap for 4 years thinking your code is actually good. We got too many of those leaving turds in legacy systems.
A lot of it was completely useless to my chosen career. But hey, that's the way the world works I guess. Shame I didn't know anyone who could score me a job in the field back then.
Mileage might vary from one person to another I guess.
No game designer should need to know C++. That's for programmers. You can design excellent games using existing engines without touching compiled code. Scripting in lua, python, SCUMM, whatever is all you really need.
So what is the plan here then? To churn the video game equivalent of javascript/web designers? Equating video web design with simple game scripting is like equating enterprise computing with dynamic web page programming. A 4-year degree just for that, for designing on top of existing engines? No discussions on how to design one, on understanding what it takes to make a game (both vertically and horizontally programming, architecture and integration)?
Unless a person is a natural when it comes to understanding programing (efficient programming that is), I highly doubt (based on what I've seen) the average programming student can get that type of understanding without getting closer to the metal. In particular, if this school is banking on being in the DC area and attract the heavy duty simulation market (in the military and medical fields), they need to provide a bit more than just teaching how to program on top of a engine with a scripting language.
Wouldn't it be more efficient to rely on soy for protein? Even the most efficient methods of growing meat are always going to be less efficient than just eating the plants directly, and the continued survival of the worlds vegan population indicates that there are no major health problems with such a diet.
Do you believe in unicorns too?
I was under the impression that for the most part political speech enjoyed a far higher level of protection than most and this seems to fall very clearly into that category.
You are confusing freedom of speech (politically motivated and otherwise) with fair use. Imagine for example (and just for shits and giggles) that during the last presidential elections, the Republican party decides to make a satire of Obama at the tunes of, say, one of Michael Jackson's songs (say, "Beat It".) You could alter the roles with the Democratic party making a satire of McCain/Palin (as well as changing the name of the artist and type of art being used) but the essence is the same - a satire and form of political speech using copyrighted material without parodying the copyrighted material herein used.
It would be legally reasonable that the Jackson's camp would be entitled for monetary fees due to the usage of those songs for purposes other than parodying the song and the artist. The law would recognize the artist' claim (which should not be construed as an attack to freedom of speech.)
As for the analogy with the removal of the Hitler parody videos, I'm sad to see them go, but the law is clear in that satires are not protected in the same way parodies are (wrt of using copyrighted material). None of this should be construed either as an attack to freedom of speech in the form of satire or parody.
Unfortunately, the law is (or seems to be) clear on this. I hope that someday (sooner I hope) the law gets amended so that satires done for non-commercial purposes get the same protection wrt copyrighted materials (at least so that we can all enjoy Hitler going at it for lolcatz sake).
The holier than thou attitude is what I am taking issue with. "Yay America" is not an opinion, it is mocking another country for its laws. It does not earn any goodwill.
And blasting the person for WHAT YOU DECIDED TO PERCEIVE as Americastan chauvinism and putting into question a country's common law system (of which you have no personal experience to speak of) just because someone made a post that is clearly a joke to anyone that is not brain dead... earns goodwill how?
How does hypocrisy works for you?
If you are going to project e-rage and e-hate towards an American poster (or the American judicial system), at least be honest instead of dressing it with kumbaya calls of goodwill.
But wearing the pissed off person hat
Easy tiger, you are not even Brazilian to take offense, certainly has never lived in the US or Brazil. You are not even from this side of the globe. And look at you, with your panties on fire by e-rage. RAAAARGH!!!
Seriously man, you don't know who you were replying to. For all you know, he's a Brazilian living in the US (yes, a foreign person living in the US preferring the US in some ways over his own country. Incredible, I know.) Take me for instance. I'm Nicaraguan, but I live in the US, and the hell that I will back there again. After having lived half of my life under civil law and my other half under case/common law, I much prefer the later when you take all pros and cons into account. I personally know quote a few Brazilians living here who feel the same.
I'm not saying that the dude is a US-living Brazilian, but you really don't know who you are blasting away with your ARGGH-AMERCUNT! post, do you?
you are an asshole and can shove your nationalistic pride up your ass.
You were just looking for an opportunity to vent some long-built steam against what you *think* is American nationalism. You found something, you built yourself into an e-rage and made up an excuse to blast the living crap out of it. I'm not one to judge people for their proclivities, so do as you please. Just don't complain if you get blisters after screwing that nice straw man you just built here.
You can live in a place where corporations can do anything and people can do nothing. Call it freedom if you want and go away.
See, that's reverse nationalism supported by thick brush painted generalizations of something you barely know of. Projection is the clutch for those who like to feel morally superior. Let me know how it works for you. Or better yet, get some help and stop being such a sensitive e-bitch looking for a gratuitous cause to fight for. It might actually do you some good.
Sounds to me like you have don't actually have any friends. All of your "hundreds of miles away" friends are just people you pretend are your friends because you believe they would actually be your friends if you were local to them
Speculation.
Chances are that isn't the case, you just happened to have a single common interest that connected you online.
See? More speculation, of which you are trying very hard to make it offensive simply because you have no way to defend your position with logic.
Your co-workers won't befriend you because you are boring (or a dumbass or rude or some other negative quality)
Projection. Strawman. Speculation. Offensiveness done simply because that's the only recourse you have when trying to defend an illogical, indefensible argument.
and your online friends would behave in the same fashion.
More speculation.
If you can't find time to hang out with your friends then you're doing something very wrong in life.
Some of those things that are being done wrong in life are having a family and kids, adjusting to a new location after moving from other place. I mean, seriously. The typical life of a college graduate is to move wherever works take you, sometimes across the country, far away from your parents and HS friends. Your college friends will also go their own way. This is not counting migrants or people married with people from other countries (whose friends and relatives you will befriend if you are normal.)
So either you didn't make lifelong lasting friends in HS and college (meaning, it is you who is doing something wrong in life.) Or you sever ties with friends the moment they end up in a state or city different from yours (which doesn't necessarily elicit an interesting and healthy way of life either.)
Again, stop projecting. The problem is not with them, it's with you.
Want to know what's much more social and stores none of your information for random strangers forever? Hanging out with your friends. It also happens to be the fastest way to exchange detailed information with them too!
Question: From where I am (Florida), how do I hang out with my friends, school buddies and relatives in California, Massachusetts, Georgia, Yokohama and Central America? Or do they stop being friends and relatives the moment they are no longer within spitting distance? It got to suck in a very insular way to not have people you care to hang out with but are very far away, in this modern, mobile and to a point, nomadic nation of ours. Either that, or you live in a cow town where everybody you know and care for enough to hang out with stays and dies on the same spot.
Here you are making the leap of thinking that all that information is available to random strangers (when in fact, that only happens if you consciously fiddle your privacy settings to make everything public.) Most people in Facebook do not do that, and, unlike Myspace (and the friend-whoring it seems to support), these same facebook users tend to keep visibility open only to actual friends, relatives and co-workers.
I'm a facebooker myself, some of my information is accessible by every one; other just to those I connect with. Fact is, I'm only connected with family, relatives and people I actually know. It's been the best thing since e-mail to keep in touch with relatives and friends thousands of miles away. With people that I've lost contact 10-15 years ago (by virtue of finishing school and/or migration) we have been able to re-found each others.
With it, and with skype, they have been great tools to communicate with faraway friends and family. It's the only way my grandma in Nicaragua and my in-laws in Japan can get regular, daily updates on my baby's growth. Networking sites are some of the best things that have come from the Internet in terms of human interaction.
When people start seeing those as ZOMG, GEEK+ATTENTIONWHORE, BASEMENT! ditching advise about getting out, that's just projecting.
When did you last use Linux, 2000?
No kidding. The only time I've ever had to search for a module like that in recent years was when trying to install a version of Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex on an AMD64 laptop back in 2008. Before that, I can't remember for the life of me when I had to do that type of search (97-98 maybe.) Maybe this guy was trying to install a long-forgotten slackware CD (circa 1995) - downloaded via CompuServe to boot - on one of those 486SX Frankenstein computers we used to build from cannibalized parts.
Linux installs have gotten so good (they have been that good for quite a while), that you have to have some weird combination of hardware (say really old-tech parts put together with really, really new-tech parts) to get severe installation problems. The only Yaaargh! we get to say now is at the sound of the linux distro spinning flawlessly (most of the time) on the CD/DVD player.
Serves him right for being an idiot. He should get fired, if for no other reason than it might discourage these kinds of people from leaving data devices lying around. Would you still feel the same way if it was a laptop containing 200,000 SSNs or a few million credit card records?
Holy LOLCATS!!! I know!!! What if it was The Football or a snuke? And what if it has been a Na'vi baby, or a puppy???
</facepalm>
Appeal to emotion much? Here, have this link with your sanctimonious kool aid.
He has not acquired a fortune; the fortune has acquired him. -- Bion
