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Submission + - SPAM: Linus Torvalds tells anti-vaxxer to shut-up on linux mailing list. 1

Submitted by Hmmmmmm
Hmmmmmm writes: "Please keep your insane and technically incorrect anti-vax comments to yourself.

You don't know what you are talking about, you don't know what mRNA
is, and you're spreading idiotic lies. Maybe you do so unwittingly,
because of bad education. Maybe you do so because you've talked to
"experts" or watched youtube videos by charlatans that don't know what
they are talking about.

But dammit, regardless of where you have gotten your mis-information
from, any Linux kernel discussion list isn't going to have your
idiotic drivel pass uncontested from me.

Vaccines have saved the lives of literally tens of millions of people.

Just for your edification in case you are actually willing to be
educated: mRNA doesn't change your genetic sequence in any way. It is
the exact same intermediate — and temporary — kind of material that
your cells generate internally all the time as part of your normal
cell processes, and all that the mRNA vaccines do is to add a dose
their own specialized sequence that then makes your normal cell
machinery generate that spike protein so that your body learns how to
recognize it.

The half-life of mRNA is a few hours. Any injected mRNA will be all
gone from your body in a day or two. It doesn't change anything
long-term, except for that natural "your body now knows how to
recognize and fight off a new foreign protein" (which then tends to
fade over time too, but lasts a lot longer than a few days). And yes,
while your body learns to fight off that foreign material, you may
feel like shit for a while. That's normal, and it's your natural
response to your cells spending resources on learning how to deal with
the new threat. ...

Get vaccinated. Stop believing the anti-vax lies.

And if you insist on believing in the crazy conspiracy theories, at
least SHUT THE HELL UP about it on Linux kernel discussion lists."
Link to Original Source

Comment Re:Etiquette (Score 1) 418

by Muckluck (#59685390) Attached to: Coffee Shop Refuses an Order Until the Customer Removes His AirPods

Aaaah. Etiquette. And technology related.

You hit the nail on the head here. This IS an etiquette issue. Earbuds / headphones are the modern day equivalent to people wearing a hat.

To be polite, in the past people removed their hat as a sign of respect to others. When you got on an elevator, remove the hat, when meeting another person, remove the hat, when the national anthem plays, remove the hat. We SHOULD be treating others with the same respect when wearing ear buds. When meeting / interacting with another person, as a sign of respect and civility, remove the earbuds.

This shouldn't be hard...

Submission + - How Fake News Is Still Fooling Facebook's Fact-Checking Systems (medium.com)

Submitted by peterthegreat321
peterthegreat321 writes: A recent study from the nonprofit Avaaz found that Facebook's misinformation problem might actually be worse in 2020 than it was in 2016. A closer look at the study suggests that alarming conclusion may be overstated, but it also reveals cracks, loopholes, and limitations in Facebook’s systems that bad actors are busily exploiting as we approach a pivotal year in American political history.

Comment The possibilities are now endless... (Score 4, Funny) 43

Many people can't handle the sensory disconnect of VR sitting still, let alone in a jarring and pitching plane. This has the makings of a chain vomit comet in first class.

>>So, what's that all over your shirt?

>>Guy next to me was wearing the VR headset looking at roller coasters on YouTube and hurled everywhere when we hit some turbulence. Then I threw up on him because his vomit was everywhere. Then the dude across the aisle threw up...

Comment Re:Ugh.... (Score 2) 280

>>all the big players in cloud storage don't take security seriously

Of course they do. They tell me explicitly every time they get hacked. "Here at LaxSecurityCO, we take your security very seriously and are doing everything we can to keep you and your children safe"...

They wouldn't say it if they didn't mean it, right?

Submission + - California Reintroduces 'Right To Repair' Bill After Previous Effort Failed (appleinsider.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: California State Assembly member Susan Talamantes Eggman on Monday announced the introduction of Assembly Bill 1163, which will require manufacturers like Apple to "make service literature and equipment or parts available to product owners and to regulated, independent repair shops." "For nearly 30 years California has required that manufacturers provide access to replacement parts and service materials for electronics and appliances to authorized repairers in the state. In that time, manufacturers have captured the market, controlling where and when we repair our property, and inflating the electronic waste stream," Eggman said. "The Right to Repair will provide consumers with the freedom to have their electronic products and appliances fixed by a repair shop or service provider of their choice, creating a competitive market that will be cheaper for consumers and reduce the number of devices thrown in the trash."

The bill, officially filed as legislation relating to electronic waste, is Eggman's second try at right to repair legislation. Her first attempt, 2018's Bill 2110, was introduced last March and subsequently died in assembly that November. Like the pending Bill 1163, last year's tendered legislation was crafted as a play to reduce e-waste. Eggman's announcement includes a word-for-word reproduction of an explainer included in 2018's press release for the now-dead Bill 2110. In it the lawmaker argues that customers who are unable to pay for manufacturer repairs are forced to replace broken equipment like smartphones, TVs and home appliances. Beyond financial benefits, Eggman also says that the repair and reuse of electronics is more efficient than purchasing a new device, noting that such measures can "stimulate local economies instead of unsustainable overseas factories."

Comment Re:Protectionism by another name NO IT'S NOT (Score 1) 114

by Muckluck (#58078174) Attached to: Apple Reaches Deal With France To Pay Estimated $571 Million In Back-Taxes

being that the agreed to a payment it seems they evaded. Why would they pay back taxes that the legally avoided and do not owe.

Sometimes you pay for other reasons than "being guilty". It may be cheaper (or more profitable) to get the issue behind you and move on.

This is the equivalent of punishing a company because France regulators suck at writing tax code. If Apple is using loopholes, that is tax avoidance. Using the tax laws to your advantage is encouraged in the accounting field. So much so, that a quote about this was on the cover of my tax accounting book in college. The philosophy stuck with me...

Comment Re:Protectionism by another name NO IT'S NOT (Score 3, Interesting) 114

by Muckluck (#58077988) Attached to: Apple Reaches Deal With France To Pay Estimated $571 Million In Back-Taxes

This is just legally due taxes that ANY other corp would have paid in time.

Tax evasion is illegally not paying due taxes, tax avoidance (tax avoidance being the legal use of tax laws to reduce one's tax burden) is legal and encouraged.

Did they avoid taxation or evade taxation?

Submission + - Nest Secure Has An Unlisted, Disabled Microphone (androidauthority.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Owners of the Nest Secure alarm system have been able to use voice commands to control their home security through Google Assistant for a while now. However, to issue those commands, they needed a separate Google Assistant-powered device, like a smartphone or a Google Home smart speaker. The reason for this limitation has always seemed straightforward: according to the official tech specs, there’s no onboard microphone in the Nest Secure system. However, Google just informed us that it is right now rolling out Assistant functionality to all Nest Secure devices via a software update. That’s right: if you currently own a Nest Secure, you will be able to use it as a Google Home very soon. That means somewhere in the Nest Guard — the keypad base station of the Nest Secure — there might be a microphone we didn’t know existed. Either that or your voice commands are going to be heard by another product (like your phone, maybe) but Assistant’s output will now come from the Nest Guard, if you happen to be in the range of that device.

Submission + - Senators To Investigate Carriers Selling Location Data To Bounty Hunters (vice.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: On Tuesday, Motherboard revealed that major American telcos T-Mobile, AT&T, and Sprint are selling customer location data of users in an unregulated market that trickles down to bounty hunters and people not authorized to handle such information. In our investigation, we purchased the real-time location of a cell phone from a bail industry source for $300, pinpointing it to a specific part of Queens, New York. The issue potentially impacts hundreds of millions of cell phone users in the United States, with customers likely unaware that their location data is being sold and resold through multiple companies, with even the telcos sometimes having little idea where it ends up and how it is used.

Now, Senators and a commissioner for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have urged government bodies to investigate, with some calling for regulation that would ensure customers are properly made aware of how their data is being sold. “The American people have an absolute right to the privacy of their data, which is why I’m extraordinarily troubled by reports of this system of repackaging and reselling location data to unregulated third party services for potentially nefarious purposes. If true, this practice represents a legitimate threat to our personal and national security,” Senator Kamala Harris told Motherboard in a statement. Harris explicitly called on the FCC to investigate the issue. “The FCC needs to immediately investigate these serious security concerns and take the necessary steps to protect the privacy of American consumers,” she said.

Submission + - So You Automated Your Coworkers Out of a Job (gizmodo.com)

Submitted by merbs
merbs writes: Automation is too often presented as a faceless, monolithic phenomenon—but it’s a human finger that ultimately pulls the trigger. Someone has to initiate the process that automates a task or mechanizes a production line. To write or procure the program that makes a department or a job redundant. And that’s not always an executive, or upper-, or even middle management—in fact, it’s very often not. Sometimes it’s a junior employee, or a developer, even an intern.

In a series of interviews with coders, technicians, and engineers who’ve automated their colleagues out of work—or, in one case, been put in a position where they’d have to do so and decided to quit instead—I’ve attempted to produce a snapshot of life on the messy front lines of modern automation. (Some names have been changed to protect the identities of the automators.) We’ve heard plenty of forecasting about the many jobs slated to be erased, and we’ve seen the impacts on the communities that have lost livelihoods at the hands of automation, but we haven’t had many close up looks at how all this unfolds in the office or the factory floor.

Comment Re:I for one welcome... (Score 3, Informative) 221

This is normal and common in the United States - often part of the building code for facilities of a certain size. So technically, it is illegal in my city for a company to NOT do it.

In many facilities, particularly large warehouses and tall office buildings, calling 911 will tell the operator the geo-coordinates of the facility, but not the floor or where in a facility the actual problem is. So, for example, in my company (HQ in a 30 story building), we have well known and well publicized alternate emergency numbers and processes that uses our internal phone system's logic to determine, down to the room, where the building emergency number was dialed. Trained first responders that are employees of the company have full and complete access to all locations in the facility and can rapidly escort external fire, police and EMT responders to the appropriate location.

Same process for all of our warehouses and smaller facilities. You have the option of dialing 911 on your cell phone, but we all know it will be more efficient to use the internal system because of the logistics involved in getting responders where they need to be.

Submission + - Prank Calls Brought ICE Hotline To a Standstill, Internal Emails Show (theverge.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: When ICE launched an immigration crime hotline last year, the Trump administration pitched it as a way to provide resources to victims, but activists saw something else: an attack on the immigrant community. The hotline was part of the Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) Office, an outfit established in February 2017. When the office first launched a line for its services the following April, protestors flooded the hotline to call in pranks and slow down response times. The plan picked up even more steam as the protestors shared the hotline number online, encouraging others to call in with fake tips.

According to internal emails and documents obtained by The Verge under the Freedom of Information Act, prank calls fully upended the system, leaving operators unable to answer more than 98 percent of incoming calls during the protest as the media relations team attempted to contain the narrative. In reports and emails produced in the first days of operation, ICE officials described an “overwhelming” amount of calls. The day after the launch, the office received more than 16,400. Of those, only a little more than 2,100 were placed into a queue, and only 260 answered. Callers in the queue waited as long as 79 minutes to reach an operator. An official noted that, should the rate of calls continue, they would need an additional 400 operators to field the hotline.

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