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Comment Re:I've always been big on free speech... (Score 1) 335

"Who gets to control what to censor?"

It's YouTube's platform. They can censor anything they want and use whatever metrics they want to do that. The right to free speech doesn't mean you get to say whatever you want on social and video platforms. It means you have the right to walk out into a public space and scream at the clouds all day long. It means the press cannot be muzzled.

And, yeah, you're correct that some conspiracy theorists will continue to seek out the conversation that satiates their irrational thought process by visiting 4Chan, 8Chan, Infowars, etc... to get their conspiracy fix, but mainstream websites don't have to assist them.

I applaud these kinds of efforts by YouTube and Facebook.

Comment That appears to be an very high mortality rate (Score 1) 100

by Lucas123 (#59877522) Attached to: Worldwide Coronavirus Cases Surpass Half a Million
Based on 505M people, 22,000 deaths would be roughly a 4% mortality rate; however, and this is a huge HOWEVER, the half a million coronovirus cases are probably the tip of the iceberg and not an accurate number due to the severe lack of testing. Also, according to Johns Hopkins' numbers, the mortality rate in the U.S. is 1.5%, vastly lower than the worldwide average (of course, again based on confirmed cases and to real numbers).

Comment Re:More fake News (Score 2) 295

I'm sorry people who don't like opinions other than their own marked your comment "troll". It's their only way to vent. Your comment is relevant and rational. The U.S. looked to help finance 25 different international companies developing vaccines -- not to mention we have our own promising test vaccines right here. But, hatred for Trump... well, trumps reason. Oh, and I didn't vote for Trump. I just believe in facts.

Comment This is not a First Amendment issue (Score -1, Flamebait) 258

by Lucas123 (#59712288) Attached to: In Amazon's Bookstore, No Second Chances for the Third Reich
For those who may think otherwise, the U.S. Constitution prevents the government from making laws regulating free speech; A private entity can choose to shut you down any time they please. You have no right to your book being sold at Barnes & Noble or on Amazon.com. And, frankly, I'm surprised these books were allowed to be sold on those sites in the first place.

Submission + - SPAM: Largest medical record vendor trying to block patient data sharing rule

Submitted by Lucas123
Lucas123 writes: Electronic medical record vendor Epic Systems is being accused of trying to derail proposed rules from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that would allow patients to access their healthcare information via APIs and share that information with third party apps, such as Apple Health. The rules would also require increased interoperability between proprietary EMRs through the United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) standard, new API requirements, and data export capabilities to ease switching of health IT services or to provide patients their health information directly. Epic claims it's only trying to address privacy concerns, while critics say the company has a history of trying to thwart EMR data sharing so it can maintain its control over health information. This wouldn’t be the first time EMR providers have been accused of actively blocking industry measures to make patient information sharing simpler. “Yet again, Epic is information blocking – this time trying to trick public opinion with privacy concerns,” said Cynthia Fisher, CEO of the non-profit PatientRightsAdvocate.org. “In reality, it is a smoke screen to protect their market share, control, and financial interests. It’s all about the money.”
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Former U.S. Regulator and Accenture Push Digital Dollar Project for Banks (computerworld.com)

Submitted by Lucas123
Lucas123 writes: The former chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) under Presidents Obama and Trump is working with Accenture and others to promote the creation of a cash-backed cryptocurrency as a clearance and settlement tool for central banks. A cryptocurrency based on a blockchain ledger would be a cheaper, faster and more inclusive global financial system than today's analog-based reserve currency that can take two or more days to clear, according to the Digital Dollar Project. The race to integrate cryptocurrency into global banking is speeding up as public sector projects are already driving interest in fiat-backed digital tokens by central and regional banks around the globe but primarily in Europe and Asia.

Comment I can see a day when we're all off grid (Score 1) 133

Imagine when battery technology advances to the point where a home or business can store enough power to last several days or even a week or more. Now you've got solar/wind recharging modular battery systems that no longer need to be connected to a grid, unless it's for the purpose of reselling that electricity.

Frankly, it's not far-fetched at all that this could happen in our lifetime (ahem, depending on how old you are).

Submission + - Self-sovereign ID technology moved forward by security, privacy breaches (computerworld.com)

Submitted by Lucas123
Lucas123 writes: There is a growing movement among fintech companies, banks, healthcare services, universities and others toward disintermediating the control of online user identities in favor of supporting end-user controlled decentralized digital wallets based on P2P blockchain. Self-sovereign identity (SSI) is a term used to describe the digital movement that recognizes an individual should own and control their identity without intervening administrative authorities. The wallets would carry encryption keys provided by third parties and could be used to digitally sign transactions or provide access to verifying information, everything from bank issued credit lines to diplomas — all of which are controlled by the user through PKI. The blockchain ledger and PKI technology is hidden behind user friendly mobile applications. Currently, there are more proof-of-concept projects than production systems involving a small number of organizations. The pilots, being trialed in government, financial services, insurance, healthcare, energy and manufacturing, don't yet amount to an entire ecosystem, but they will grow over the next few years, according to Gartner.

Submission + - Microbes learn to turn microplastics into Omega-3 and Omega-6 (techbriefly.com) 1

Submitted by kkingfisherr
kkingfisherr writes: Someone had to do something and that someone is certainly not us as it appears. For me, it all comes down to "ever growing" system we are in, we are so focused on growth, but how do we reverse this so that we will not produce gigantic amounts of new things and/or use plastics? "Biologists from the University of Jyväskylä in Finland have stated in an article published in Nature Magazine, that microbes in humic lakes can create Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids from microplastics. Scientists found this out by labeling microplastics with carbon isotopes and observing the movement of polyethylene in the nature."

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: What's the best way to take out a drone? (cnn.com) 1

Submitted by shanen
shanen writes: Trying to make lemonade here, though I fear we may be on the verge of a fresh conflagration in the Middle East... I don't think international assassination is a viable or sustainable substitute for diplomacy. It might feel nice, but one country's terrorist is too often another country's national hero. The trick of turning one into the other almost never works... And even Trump wants to walk around his golf courses without worrying about every passing drone. (I also predict Kim Jong-Un is going to be rather less visible going forwards.)

So... The best outcome I can imagine is if the response is limited to ending drone warfare. That would be bad in some ways, mostly because increasingly unrestricted drone warfare has been largely advantageous for America (so far), but I think it's the least bad outcome I can imagine here. Maybe you can see a better glide path for the future?

Which leads to the topical question: What's the best way to take out a drone? And who is most likely to exploit those market opportunities? If China is just in it for the money, then I think they could make a bundle by selling some anti-drone system, though I think they'd have to disguise it or multi-purpose it in some ways. You know, just to confuse the international response (as if Trump was capable of building an international coalition to oppose anti-drone warfare).

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