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Comment Re:Integral layer of the Trusted-Computing/DRM sta (Score 1) 34

Every time people hear what it actually involves is outrage and opposition, at least all the way back to when Intel first announced that they wanted to hardcode identity numbers inside CPUs in 1999. But the corporations involved have been relentless, and have sunk countless billions of dollars steadily forcing it forwards, and building front organizations to obfuscate and whitewash it.

With Windows 11, Microsoft was finally able to FORCE Trusted computing hardware into every new computer. Not just every new Windows computer, but every computer.

Every new Intel PC CPU has built in Trusted Computing enforcement hardware. Every new AMD PC CPU has built in Trusted Computing enforcement hardware. Every new ARM PC CPU has built in Trusted Computing enforcement hardware. The only processor lines that DON'T have it are the microcontrollers.

There are some unlocked smartphones available, but as far as I can determine it's literally impossible to buy a smartphone that doesn't have hardware trusted computing built in.

I specified that enforcing Trusted Computing at the internet access level is still a long term goal, they couldn't get away with it today. However they are well on the way to success. Virtually all new hardware supporting trusted computing, all the front groups rolling out standards and systems, and as it gets incorporated into things everyone is going to increasingly running into situations where they get locked out of stuff if they're not Trusted Computing compliant. Streaming already restricts you to the worst quality if you're not compliant, and it's only going to get worse as pre-Win11 computers fade out and as more things require it.

Comment Re:Dual purpose age-bracket signal :o (Score 1) 129

I'd hardly call exact date of birth "low information content".

And yes this does reveal exact date of birth, regardless of the bullshit obfuscation that it supposedly only reports age range. The server simply tracks the reported result every time the user connects, and on some specific day the result CHANGES to announce their date of birth.

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Comment Integral layer of the Trusted-Computing/DRM stack (Score 1) 34

This is based on SLSA (Supply-chain Levels for Software Artifacts), brought to you by the same fuckers making Trusted Computing and the TMP (Trusted Platform Module). It's part of the same shitstack to prohibit you from altering your software and to lock you out of your own files, and to send spy reports out over the internet so you can be cut off if you "fail" the Trusted Computing check.

The software can use a TPM's (Trusted Platform Module) Sealing function to encrypt your data such that it's impossible to access your own data if the software is modified. It can then pass control over that data only to software updates that carry a signed security certificate from Broadcom (or any other company using this system).

It is no longer open source, your system no longer works as you can no longer access your Sealed data if you change so much as a single letter of the code. Even recompile unaltered code won't work, unless you magically manage to get your build environment absolutely identical to the company's build environment and get byte-for-byte output. Even that may be impossible with the newer levels of non-deterministic compiler optimizations.

Also, with TMP's Remote Attestation feature can be used to transmit your machine's software configuration over the internet, so that you can be cut off if your system doesn't match Broadcom (or other company's) cryptographically signed certificate.

And then of course there's Network Access Control (NAC) / Trusted Network Connect (TNC). In the long term, the goal is for ISPs to use NAC/TNC to interrogate your computer for Trusted Computing compliance, and deny you any internet access whatsoever if your machine isn't compliant. Software with this sort of "security" certificate would pass inspection, while any attempt to alter the code would be detected as "tampering". You then get "quarantined". What "quarantine" means is that you are denied internet access - with the exception that you do get very restricted access which can only be used to download the approved software to "fix" your computer into Trusted Computing compliance.

Comment "Smaller than a hair" - no (Score 1) 15

If you read the article carefully, they are talking about lenses THINNER than a hair. I see several of the posts here thinking the width/radius of the lenses is this small, a reasonable mistake given the way this was written. Having a radius that small would severely reduce their light gathering ability, requiring very bright light or very dim images or very long exposure times.

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Submission + - 45 years ago CompuServe connected the world before the World Wide Web (wosu.org)

Tony Isaac writes: Silicon Valley has the reputation of being the birthplace of our hyper-connected Internet age, the hub of companies such as Apple, Google and Facebook. However, a pioneering company here in central Ohio is responsible for developing and popularizing many of the technologies we take for granted today.

A listener submitted a question to WOSU’s Curious Cbus series wanting to know more about the legacy of CompuServe and what it meant to go online before the Internet.

That legacy was recently commemorated by the Ohio History Connection when they installed a historical marker in Upper Arlington — near the corner of Arlington Center and Henderson roads — where the company located its computer center and corporate building in 1973.

The plaque explains that CompuServe was "the first major online information service provider," and that its subscribers were among the first to have access to email, online newspapers and magazines and the ability to share and download files

Submission + - Car Software Patches Are Over 20% of Recalls, Study Finds (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Software fixes are now responsible for more than 1 in 5 automotive recalls. That's the key finding from a decade's worth of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recall data, according to an analysis from the law firm DeMayo Law. While that's a sign of growing inconvenience for drivers, the silver lining is that a software patch is usually a much quicker fix than something requiring hardware replacement. "Our analysis suggests we're witnessing a shift in how automotive recalls are handled. The growing number of software-related recalls, coupled with the ability to address issues remotely, could revolutionize the recall process for both manufacturers and vehicle owners," said a spokesperson for DeMayo Law.

In 2014, 34 of 277 automotive recalls were software fixes. The percentage of software recalls floated around 12–13 percent (apart from a spike in 2015) before growing steadily from 2020. In 2021, 16 percent of automotive recalls (61 out of 380) were for software. In 2022, almost 22 percent of recalls were software fixes (76 out of 348), and last year topped 23 percent (82 out of 356). Leading the way was Chrysler, with 82 different software recalls since 2014. Ford (66 recalls) and Mercedes-Benz (60) are the two runner-ups. Meanwhile, Tesla ranks only eighth, with 26 software recalls since 2014, which puts it on par with Hyundai (25) and Kia (25).

Electrical systems were the most common problem area, which makes sense—this is also the second-most common hardware fix recall and would probably be the top if it were not for the massive Takata airbag recall, which has affected more than 100 million cars worldwide. The other common systems affected by recalls requiring software remedies were related to backover prevention—whether that be reversing cameras, collision warnings, or automatic emergency braking—airbags, powertrains, and exterior lighting.

Comment Re:Look Up... (Score 1) 108

I also wonder how much it would cost to have the flight deck track location based on gps _and_ location based on an inertial reference system; then perhaps warnings could be provided if those locations diverge, and the pilot could opt to use one, the other, or neither as appropriate.

A super high-end inertial reference unit is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, but I'd wager that something good enough to get you to the other side of a war-zone should be feasible for low five figures; maybe less if it could reuse components from cars or mobile phones.

Submission + - Encrypted Snapchat message led to panic response (bbc.co.uk) 2

Bruce66423 writes: A Spanish court has cleared a British man of public disorder, after he joked to friends about blowing up a flight from London Gatwick to Menorca.

Aditya Verma admitted he told friends in July 2022: "On my way to blow up the plane. I'm a member of the Taliban."

But he said he had made the joke in a private Snapchat group and never intended to "cause public distress"....

A key question in the case was how the message got out, considering Snapchat is an encrypted app.

One theory, raised in the trial, was that it could have been intercepted via Gatwick's Wi-Fi network. But a spokesperson for the airport told BBC News that its network "does not have that capability".

In the judge's resolution, cited by the Europa Press news agency, it was said that the message, "for unknown reasons, was captured by the security mechanisms of England when the plane was flying over French airspace".

The message was made "in a strictly private environment between the accused and his friends with whom he flew, through a private group to which only they have access, so the accused could not even remotely assume... that the joke he played on his friends could be intercepted or detected by the British services, nor by third parties other than his friends who received the message," the judgement added.'

So does the UK's GCHQ have a hack into Snapchat? Or how else did it get to the security services?

Comment the original comments are interesting (Score 5, Informative) 98

This article was sourced from these two comments on the Leeham News website. I found the original comments more informative than the Seattle Times version, and while I can't be certain, the author seems credible.

I'm half tempted to apply for a job over at Boeing, just so I can understand if they're learning the right lessons from this (about fixing their culture and processes), or if they're doubling down on the post-McD merger nonsense.

Comment Re:I'm very curious about this. (Score 2) 108

I ordered one.

My planned primary use case is to watch movies while I'm traveling for work. I've been on the road a lot, and hotel TVs aren't fun to use; something with a great screen and sound that's always with me seems ideal. The wife has been talking about getting an RV, and it'd be great for that use case too.

Hopefully there'll also be some good games, and ways to do work, but I don't have a clear vision of how that'll work.

Comment Re:If harvard were a Chinese university (Score 1) 172

1) Cultures contain multitudes. The fact that there are negative idioms present in American culture doesn't mean that every American is always acting negatively; nor does it mean there are no positive idioms.

2) You are redefining the idioms to be much narrowly used than they are in practice. Additionally, the list of such idioms is nearly endless... people will say "might makes right" to argue that the more powerful entity can do whatever it wants and shouldn't be restrained... they'll say "history is written by the victors" both as a reminder of the flaws in history, but also as a call to ensure that their team is victorious regardless of what it takes.

3) I'm capable of googling. But the fact that a bunch of weird youtube videos claim something is an idiom does not, in fact, make it an idiom. The phrase exists, but I couldn't find it in a print corpus at all, and when I found it on the web it seemed to be used by people ranting about dishonesty, example translation: "people who steal money, steal food, cheat in school, robbing society, cheating whenever they can, don't they have any shame at all??" or "Taiwan is in a moral depression; some people are not ashamed and will not hesitate to cheat if they can".

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