>"Will the old trick of outlining your license plate with a bunch of high power IR LEDs obscure your plate from the camera, while still allowing human eyes to read them....?"

1) That won't work in the daytime.
2) Many States have laws against anything that would tamper with the ability of cameras to video/photograph plates (and I am sure more laws will be coming).
3) Flock and others are gathering non-plate fingerprinting so they can get around depending on the plate. Vehicle make/color/accessories, bumper stickers, accident damage, WiFi/bluetooth/TPMS broadcasts, etc.

This is a fight that you cannot win, other than making the surveillance, itself, illegal. And I fear that is going to be a losing prospect as well.

>"Unfortunately that give the police a reason to kill you."

An outcome that is statistically almost zero, if you follow instructions and common sense. But I guess trying to escape, run over officers, fight officers, and/or brandish weapons (or look like it) makes more sense.

Your chance to resist/correct/fight law enforcement is in court, not on the street.

>"Russia's Foreign Ministry issued criticism of America's move, saying "In pursuit of its narrow self-interests, Washington is ready to completely ignore the catastrophic consequences for humanity of any armed conflict in orbit."

Yeah, I don't think we care much about Russia's take on this. They have little to no moral high ground when it comes to "humanity" and "armed conflict". And China has been, no doubt, moving forward steadily with weapons in space.

Anyway, killer space satellites and sentient AI possibly coming... has there ever been a more clear indication of Sykynet?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

That might be on by default in later versions. But it can be disabled and will remain disabled. And that doesn't mean it isn't being "private."

Some people don't want automatic updates, or automated checking. It also depends on which OS and which Firefox you have installed. For example, under Linux, Firefox from the distro will typically have zero notifications or updating because it is handled elegantly by the distro updates.

>"Apparently Mozilla isn't interested in simple. Like so many other companies, the object is to make things as complicated, convoluted, and inconvenient as possible."

Their objective is to make sure web browsing is secure and that you are aware of updates. Look, I agree with you that there should be an easy way to turn it off, even if just in about:config. But they made it clear when they took it away (many years ago) that they aren't going to bring that back, due to security. And I do have some sympathy for that position, considering many users would just never update- giving themselves a sub-optimal experience and possibly giving Mozilla a bad reputation.

But complaining about it to others in Slashdot over and over makes zero difference. All it does is stir up unnecessary and unneeded negativity while also making it sound like there is NO way to disable update checking/warning, which is not true. And that they are incompetent on this, which is also not true, because it was/is intentional.

>"That's true now that pocket is gone, perhaps."

I don't think pocket did anything to collect data unless you had it configured and were actually using it, though. I am not certain. I just disabled pocket in settings or about:config and paid it no mind.

The funny thing is, although it is a bogus "bug" report, they treated it like it was real.

In any case, Mozilla only collects anonymized data by default. And you can happily, quickly, and easily turn that off and it will turn it off and it will remember that across updates.

>"For all they keep doing, the one thing they can't seem to do is make a checkbox to stop being harassed about updates."

You literally post this on every article about Firefox. Aren't you tired yet? I have replied numerous times that they are *NEVER* going to do that. And then I pointed you to using policies, which will disable updates.

Then you are using the wrong tool for the job. Whatever AI is right now, it can not judge. It can simulate judging, but it can not actually judge. You are asking too much of AI.

To be honest, the stench of magical thinking is strong here. AI is a semi-random output of what has gone before. No actual judging is possible.

Spent decades in North Dakota and Alaska.
Yes, 0C was still T-Shirt and Shorts weather until I got over 45 or so.
Went back to college, saw a dude still in shorts and tshirt at ~-20F, which is getting close to -20C.

I've now spent ~4 years in Florida, have worn pants like once.

Dude, you never received the memo: Rules are for losers and poor people. Us winners don't have time to follow the rules or else we lose our edge. So, of course the government is involved with suppressing labor demands. The government is ran by winners and we currently have the winningest Executive since the dawn of America.

Let me fix that for you:

Likewise, you do realize that Flock and Axon have no rights beyond what normal citizens with money have?

It is cute that you believe that... but since that ruling, the police left a woman handcuffed in a car on train tracks and a train (unsurprisingly) killed her. What can be derived from that incident is that the police do not have a duty to protect even if you are in their custody.

To be honest, I am unsure of what duties a police officer has anymore. They do shoot people, so I guess THAT is in their remit.

There is no way you understand the current situation if you believe what you are saying. Flock will be one of the largest quasi-governmental agencies for the next hundred years. You have no idea how intensely those who control everything WANT Flock. It will be implemented even if it causes the entire population to go into full rebellion. There is literally no stopping this. Once technology made this situation possible, it became inevitable.

(CAPTCHA = crooked, ROFLCOPTER)