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Submission + - ICE uses tool to find "derogatory" speech online (404media.co)

An anonymous reader writes: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has used a system called Giant Oak Search Technology (GOST) to help the agency scrutinize social media posts, determine if they are “derogatory” to the U.S., and then use that information as part of immigration enforcement, according to a new cache of documents reviewed by 404 Media.
The documents peel back the curtain on a powerful system, both in a technological and a policy sense—how information is processed and used to decide who is allowed to remain in the country and who is not.
“The government should not be using algorithms to scrutinize our social media posts and decide which of us is ‘risky.’ And agencies certainly shouldn't be buying this kind of black box technology in secret without any accountability. DHS needs to explain to the public how its systems determine whether someone is a ‘risk’ or not, and what happens to the people whose online posts are flagged by its algorithms,” Patrick Toomey, Deputy Director of the ACLU's National Security Project, told 404 Media in an email. The documents come from a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit brought by both the ACLU and the ACLU of Northern California. Toomey from the ACLU then shared the documents with 404 Media.

Comment So this is why they pinged me (Score 1) 30

I was wondering why they were pinging people like me, supply chain infra specialists. I passed because i couldn't figure out what they'd want with my skill set. Now it makes more sense but I'm wondering just what the hell they'll sale... unless they're going to gobble up Wish, Banggood, and all the other cheap Chinese online stores and get their stuff here faster than six weeks.

Comment I told them go ahead and keep it (Score 1) 113

They wanted the data on my device and I told them no. They then said we can keep the hardware to which I said go right ahead. My company will just deal with it and I'll have replacement equipment waiting for me when I land. (I may have also pointed out that the DoD would have some very pointed questions as well.) Curiously enough they relented.

Submission + - NSA Releases Guidance on Limiting Location Data Exposure (cisa.gov)

AmiMoJo writes: The US National Security Agency (NSA) has released guidance on guidance "Limiting Location Data Exposure" to protect personal information leaks from government agencies and other citizens. The basic advice is:
  • Disable device location services
  • Turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth if you don't use them frequently
  • Enter airplane mode when not using the device
  • Only allow an app to have the minimum required permissions
  • Turn off tracking features such as "find device"
  • Minimize web browsing on your device and do not allow browsers to access location services
  • Use an anonymous VPN
  • Minimize location information stored in the cloud

Submission + - Woz Turns 70th Birthday into Charity Event (wozbday.com)

NoMoreACs writes: Join Apple Computer inventor and co-Founder Steve Wozniak for "11 Days of Wozdom", a social media "Scavenger Hunt" featuring creative challenges that speak to the things he values most: Happiness, creativity, ingenuity and fun.

The challenges will officially begin on August 11th, but you can get a head start by going to WOZBDAY.COM for details.

The first challenge will be to help Woz spread the word about his birthday party and fundraiser on August 11th. All challenges will be due on August 21st at 11:59pm PDT. Challenge winners get special prizes!

Woz also stated:

"Iâ(TM)m lucky to be able to do this for a foundation oriented towards helping children, especially ones in need of finding themselves."

A livestream featuring a star-studded list of performers (see list at the birthday site) and other guests will begin on August 11, 2020 at 5 pm, PDT.

Come celebrate the life of one of the true pioneers in the Personal Computer Revolution. Listen to some music, hear some great stories, and maybe even help some kids in need!

Submission + - The Underhanded C Contest is back (xcott.com)

Xcott Craver writes: After several years of inactivity, the Underhanded C contest has returned. The object is to write a short, readable, innocent-looking computer program that nevertheless performs some evil function for reasons that are not obvious under code review. The prize is a $200 gift certificate to ThinkGeek.

Comment Sir Issac Newton is the deadliest son of a bitch (Score 1) 277

"This, recruits, is a twenty-kilo ferrous slug. Feel the weight! Every five seconds, the main gun of an Everest-class dreadnought accelerates one to one-point-three percent of light-speed. It impacts with the force of a thirty-eight kiloton bomb — that is three times the yield of the city-buster dropped on Hiroshima back on Earth! That means SIR ISAAC NEWTON IS THE DEADLIEST SON OF A BITCH IN SPACE!"

— Gunnery Chief, Mass Effect 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLpgxry542M

Comment ...sigh... and they worked SO hard on the book. (Score 4, Interesting) 91

Read "Stealing the Network: How to own a Continent"

The whole book is this heist.

Literally.

Just check out the summary.

The thing that makes this book series special is that they don't say, "I ran nmap and knew from the output they were running a webserver."

They say "I ran nmap with 'sudo nmap -P0 -T3 -p 80 127.0.0.1 -oA localscan'

And got:

Starting Nmap 5.21 ( http://nmap.org/ ) at 2012-01-17 20:55 PST Nmap scan report for localhost (127.0.0.1) Host is up (0.000083s latency). PORT STATE SERVICE 80/tcp open http Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 0.07 seconds And could see from the line "80/tcp open http"

http://www.amazon.com/Stealing-Network-How-Own-Continent/dp/1931836051

//Has the whole series and still remembers the props I got from Blue bore.

///Yes I know the example is a bit contrived but that is exactly how they present information in the series and I learned a lot from it.

Comment Re:Danger (Score 1) 467

One:

An excursion event in a reactor isn't even close to the kiloton range (the one in reactor 4 at Chernobyl was only 33GW). The explosion you mentioned at Chernobyl was enough to toss a 2200 ton slab... but guess what... it was just steam radioactive as hell due to contamination from damaged rods (normally water in reactors when irradiated creates N-16 which is a short -lived (as in a few minutes) alpha emitter) ... but still just steam. The amount of force in the explosion at Chernobyl was only about 10 tons. Enough to totally jack up the core and it's fuel/control rods but not vaporize the plant which is what would happen if you got into the kiloton range.

Second:

Critical mass only means you've got enough neutrons to maintain a fission reaction, that's it, scale has nothing to do with it. The neutron flux between rods is moderated by steam, water, and other neutron absorbers, adding more fissile material into the equation doens't equal more energy. In fact it can STOP your reaction as enough material will absorb neutrons but not emit them with enough energy to really do anything.

Third:

Yes there is such a thing as passive cooling systems that require no moving parts. Most nuclear subs use molton sodium as a coolant and natural convection moves the sodium in a loop. Fukushima had such a thing but it the command lines to that value were cut and power to open the valve wasn't there anyway. That still didn't matter as the valve could be opened by hand except that the radiation in that part of the plant was too high. Some estimates but it at almost 30Sv MINUTE and no matter how fast you ran or with how much protection you'd still be dead before you could open the valve.

Fourth:

Dumping cold water into a reactor, especially sea water, is a big no-no as that'll immediately cause an excursion in 99% of situations, passive cooling or not. The water would stop the reaction immediately but the excess neutrons would have no place to go, as the water attenuated the neutron flux, and would MELT the fuel rods in a few minutes. If it's sea water you also get corrosion. When ordinary water is irradiated with strong alpha it becomes corrosive, reactor piping is designed to deal with the chemical reaction (peroxide) and so isn't in any danger as long as procedures are followed. Sea water on the other hand is corrosive against the same materials that are generally inert against irradiated water.

Fifth:

Fukushima had a N+2 failure system, you'd need two completely isolated systems to fail before things got ugly and the odds of that happening were extremely unlikely.

Um... what type of reactor are you an expert in as doing what you said in that last post would be a very stupid thing to do?

Comment Re:Danger (Score 2) 467

Jesus... where to start with your post...

First: Say it with me. Nuclear reactors ARE NOT nuclear bombs.

Unless you're dealing with highly enriched materials with proper reflectors and shape (these things REALLY matter) you're generally not going to get any sort of supercriticality, not to mention setting off a nuclear explosion isn't something that you can do just by accident. Even a simple device like 'Little Boy' requires some extreme engineering. A multistage device with a megaton yield....by accident? Not gonna happen... this pesky thing called physics will get in the way.

Second: We don't care about using unenriched uranium. That's a good thing to use as enriched uranium is incredibly dangerous to make (Bing uranium hexafloride), and dealing with weapons-grade anything is always dangerous.

Third:

Traveling wave reactors are fairly hands off deals. Most other reactors require constant attention to maintain their "balance" and if intimate knowledge of the system (along with piss poor planning and bad control rod design) is lacking then you can end up with situations like Chernobyl. If your DR plan doesn't account for a completely passive cooling system, as in Fukushima, or a dark plant... again see Fukushima.

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