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Submission + - PureVPN shuts down due to "legal issues" (sendgrid.com) 1

An anonymous reader writes: It looks like PureVPN has shut down due to an as yet undisclosed incident. To quote "We had to handover all customer’s information to the authorities unfortunately. They might contact you if they need any details about the case they are working on. The following information was handed over: your name, billing address and phone number provided during purchase and any documents we had on file..."

Submission + - US Intelligence Chief Defends Attempts to Break Tor

Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Arik Hesseldahl writes that James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, says that the NSA tried to penetrate and compromise Tor, but it was only because terrorists and criminals use it, too and our "interest in online anonymity services and other online communication and networking tools is based on the undeniable fact that these are the tools our adversaries use to communicate and coordinate attacks against the United States and our allies." It was all legal and appropriate, Clapper argues, because, “Within our lawful mission to collect foreign intelligence to protect the United States, we use every intelligence tool available to understand the intent of our foreign adversaries so that we can disrupt their plans and prevent them from bringing harm to innocent Americans. Our adversaries have the ability to hide their messages and discussions among those of innocent people around the world. They use the very same social networking sites, encryption tools and other security features that protect our daily online activities.” Clapper concludes that "the reality is that the men and women at the National Security Agency and across the Intelligence Community are abiding by the law, respecting the rights of citizens and doing everything they can to help keep our nation safe."

Submission + - Google Wants Patent on Splitting Restaurant Bills 1

theodp writes: "In a classic example of parody coming to life," writes GeekWire's Todd Bishop, "a newly published patent filing reveals Google’s ambitions to solve one of the most troublesome challenges known to humanity: Splitting the bill at the end of a meal." In its patent application for Tracking and Managing Group Expenditures, Google boasts that the invention of six Googlers addresses "a need in the art for an efficient way to track group expenditures and settle balances between group members" by providing technology that thwarts "group members [who] may not pay back their entire share of the bill or may forget and not pay back their share at all."

Comment More studies/sites/resources like this please. (Score 1) 387

In addition to this, I also want: 1) A continuous mapping and quantification of the Military Industrial Complex, complete with relations to people, and businesses up and down the chain. 2) Continuously updated Corporate to Lobbyist to Politician studies, with full exposure. I want to make smarter decisions about the people and companies that I choose to deal with and give money to on a day to day basis. And I can't do that without such clear analysis. These people are only in power because _we_ allow them to be.

Comment Re:Sounds fair (Score 0) 458

No and No. You're forgetting the court of public opinion, which allows Wiki-leaks to occupy the moral high-ground, and that makes all the difference in the world. To add a little independence day flavor, this is the equivalent to stating that the British were justified in spying on American Colonies, because the Colonies had spies on the British side. One group uses the tool in the support of unjustness, the other uses the tool because there is no other defense against that unjustness. I have to wonder how much money, time, and effort is being expended on going after Wikileaks, rather then changing our mentality in how we view the world. But like every single problem that Washington faces, it looks at those as one in which the only solutions in the quickly exhausted tool-box are state terrorism, the military, and espionage. To those playing the long game, this is rightfully a sign of weakness, not strength.

Comment Problems and Estimatated Solution Times (Score 0) 297

Estimates seem to be driven mostly by the following forces:

Non-Tech Problem Space

In the worst case, this is the equivalent of walking up to a student and asking how long it will take them to solve a problem in both a subject he/she hasn't studied yet, and in a problem with no similarity to those at hand. Any notion of accuracy gets thrown out the window under these conditions.

Tech Problem Space

What tech is needed? And how long will it take to acquire proficiency in this tech? Since tech is a road well traveled by others, this makes the estimation of the learning curve and the tech application easier.

I think the answer lies in patience, instead of demanding estimates that can be produced in the next hour. In many cases, the problem needs to be inspected and possibly specified further to come up with anything approaching accuracy. I have to wonder if this is something that is understood and being communicated effectively to non-engineers and those on the client side. Nevertheless, if businesses chooses to subjugate informed, honest estimates to salesmanship, then none of this matters anyway.

Comment Re:People are assholes (Score 0) 210

Since the benefit to student is actually in doing the work instead of official credits

LOL, where do people like you get this notion from? Whatever fairly-land of academic value you suggest, it isn't one in which undergraduates around me currently live. My university for example has numerous courses that serve no other purpose than to make payroll and give students a hamster-wheel like challenge. People are realistic and game the system.

Comment Been there, Done That (Score 0) 196

As a self taught guy, people won't code review for free. People may use it, but they won't review it. The only time that people will review your code is if a bug through use is found, or they are trying to learn from it. After having my work taken and used over the years, I just tend to follow the silence is golden rule. And FYI, professors (at-least at my public state university) aren't there to do code review, and the TA graders are often underpaid and under qualified. They are there to check a box to make sure you did the assignment/project. Joining an OSS effort can be an inadvertent source of code review, but this often comes in the form of competing designs and if you're lucky, actual patches to your code. As an example, If my code was understood to the point that someone was able to write a patch, I would consider this an affirmative plus.

Comment Re:Just give it a little thought (Score 0) 90

He was such an atrociously bad leader _for the opposition party_. There, fixed that for you. I don't think there was an solution that Obama offered where he didn't have to pull Republican's along kicking and screaming, along with foaming at the mouth and wild accusations and so forth. I would like to be proven wrong however.

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