The way around this is Whonix. You can't be totally sure there are no zero-days in your web browser, so you browse in a VM that's only connected to the Internet through ANOTHER VM and THAT VM is running Tor. So, the VM the web browser is running in doesn't know your MAC address and doesn't know your IP and has no way to get it.

Then, when you're done, you reset the entire VM to a known state ("snapshot") so that any virus they managed to installed can't stick around and probe for ways out of the VM jail.

This isn't perfect. Nothing is. They could find a 0-day in the Tor project software, or they could find a way to break out of the VM after they compromised Firefox, but this is still REALLY good protection.

And I have no problem with the FBI using malware to catch bad guys. Like others have said, the problem is (was?) with the Tor Browser, not with the FBI. They're just doing their job, and I applaud them for using all tools they have available.

Now, they "blew their cover" with this tool by using it, so this particular vulnerability won't ever work again. I hope it was worth it.

The endgame, of course, is going to be that the FBI doesn't have tools like this. Whonix, software like Whonix, and just plain better security practices in coding will make exploits like this rarer and rarer. Is that a good thing? I guess we'll see. If organized crime starts flourishing because of Internet anonymity, then I guess it's not a good thing. If not, it probably is. But, as long as law enforcement has a tool, it's their job to use it.

You're surprised about this?

This is Google being Not Evil by not censoring people. Hate speech isn't illegal in the US. It's protected political speech, the kind most protected by the First Amendment. Google could remove it anyway, but Google is one of the few corporations out there with brass balls and a willingness to stand up for its users.

You must not be from the US. If you were, you'd know there was not and could never be such a law here.

Are you an American? Please say no.

I think it's a testament to how great we are that the American Nazi Party can field a candidate for President if they want.

I also think it's a very, very good thing they would lose horribly.

No one should not be able to run for office just because of what they think. No one should not be allowed to express their thoughts just because of what they think. Everyone has equal rights. Even the asshats.

It's not like extremist groups don't run for office in Europe. They just use dog whistles instead. Are you going to erode your democracy further by trying to ban political groups that look-nativist-but-aren't-explicitly-nativist-but-we-don't-like-them-so-let's-ban-them? How would you make sure giving the current government the power to ban rival parties from elections wouldn't be abused?

I have an idea, how about you not let the current government ban political parties, but have a direct vote on the matter instead?

Wait...

I'm almost a free speech absolutist. Like, really really close. Look at my posting history here and on SoylentNews especially if you don't believe me.

And I disagree with you here.

Yes, the people panicking are partly to blame. But, so is the guy who falsely shouted fire in a crowded theater. In a civil suit, both would be liable for damages to the people trampled. And that's the right result.

People are responsible for being dumbasses. But people are also responsible for manipulating other people to do harm, even if the people they manipulate are dumbasses.

Oh geez.

Shouting "Kill the Jews!": protected speech unless they're seriously inciting imminent murder. Stupid and horrible, yes. Protected speech, yes.

Attacking a nearby synagogue: that would fall under assault and arresting people who are using violence is totally okay.

Speech doesn't hurt people. Violence does. Ban violence, not speech.

Hear hear. I HATE Wikipedia for math.

Dude, it's not polite to ask strangers about their fetishes.

History is not always written by the winners. A good example is the history of the Roman Empire. The history of the Roman Empire consists partly of the Roman Senate gradually and consistently losing more and more power to the Emperor. But, Senators were still independently wealthy politicians and statesmen, and many wrote treatises on the history of Rome which survive to this day. In these treatises, they typically vent about how assholeish past emperors were. Now, they couldn't ever say the CURRENT emperor was an asshole, but, after the guy died, the next emperor typically didn't care too much about what was written about his predecessor.

So, here, it so happens that history was written by the losers, who channeled their butthurt about losing political power struggles into great treatises on the history of Rome.

Amusing. It seems to be riffing off Community.

If you try to make your own Subway sandwich, you'll end up spending more than $5. Comparing whether you can build EXACTLY the same thing is a fool's game. The correct comparison is building something of roughly equivalent power.

I had a power supply on my Lenovo go bad by the tip of it PHYSICALLY BECOMING DISCONNECTED FROM THE WIRE. Messed up my laptop so it randomly turns off now. I needed to replace the computer. Mad as hell.

I hadn't thought of that. You'd need to be telling the compiler, "focus on space to the complete exclusion of execution speed", but you're right. I'd call that a pathological case, though.

We really don't, actually. I mean, yes regarding employment -- if you're worth it, people will put up with you, but you'd be MORE valuable and probably PAID more if you were less "high maintenance" -- but not with the law. Look at Justin Bieber, for instance. Having money can unfortunately help with legal issues, so it may look like we go easy on celebrities, but, if anything, politically motivated prosecutors probably like the publicity they get for being "tough" on people who think they're "above the law".

Yes, GCC has bugs. So do ALL optimizing compilers.

GCC, relative to other compilers, has a pretty good track record of stability, actually. Try using the Intel compiler sometime. I used it for 20 minutes and it segfaulted on me. That's better than generating incorrect code, I'll grant you, but damn.

I'm not saying GCC didn't do something very wrong in this instance ... spilling immediates is insane by itself ... but compilers are hard, and GCC is a solid one overall.

Linus Torvalds is paid by the Linux Foundation to work on Linux kernel development full-time.

Here's a list of who funds the Linux Foundation: http://www.linuxfoundation.org...

Do you think all those companies are irrational?