There is a pretty fast algorithm for factoring prime numbers.

Which you can also do in Gnome with GPaste.

Good for you! Interestingly, your message confirms RdRand *could* be subverted. Luckily now we also know that you would notice, and I'm sure in that case you would let us know ;)

Parent it saying it's not supposed to do that, but it *could*. What makes you sure it couldn't?

Right now, you're probably right. As far as I can see it's not much used yet. But as usage grows, so would the number of contributors looking at the code, to add a new feature of fix a bug, each time increasing the chance malicious code or vulnerability would be found.

Right. Open source does not magically guarantee the absence of vulnerabilities (accidental or intentional). But it makes them easier to detect by the community, and harder to hide malicious code. Take the snooping revealed to be happening in Skype. Would it be that easy to do with open-source clients and servers?

An answer to that is that even though only 0.1% of users can read source code, ...

• - 5% know somebody who can read code;
• - 30% know somebody who knows somebody who can read code;
• - ...
• - 100% know a newspaper who would publish the story if a single expert read the source code and discovered there is snooping hidden in it (by then a host of other experts can simply confirm this fact)

Given this, it's quite likely that if an open source tool contains malicious code, and it is widely used, this will be revealed eventually. Of course there is no 100% guarantee. But this claim is far from worthless. You can have much higher confidence that an open-source tool does not have hidden snooping compared to closed-source, and this even if you can't or won't read the source code yourself.

Are you quoting this?

That would be worth reporting for investigation.

I don't think so. From TFA: "To facilitate repeat booting (and to make the pre-bootloader useful for booting hard disks as well as USB keys or DVDs) the pre-bootloader will also check to see if the platform is booting in Setup Mode and if it is, will ask the user for permission to install the signature of loader.efi into the authorized signatures database. If the user gives permission, the signature will be installed and loader.efi will then boot up without any present user tests on all subsequent occasions even after the platform is placed back into secure boot mode."

Can you back up that claim?

Actually, even the U.S. Agencies See No Move by Iran to Build a Bomb.

Interesting point: you should not only consider the risk (for instance of climate change), but rather compare the cost of doing something and the cost of doing nothing. Of course that process alone does not guarantee it is objective: it matters greatly how you define and estimate such costs. This specific economist is accused by some of bias in this regard.

Wrong. The GPL doesn't force the copyright owner to do anything, it only give obligations (and rights) to people accepting the license.

They could BSD or GPL the non-business value code, and still release the whole under whatever license they choose (including proprietary).

Alternatively, they could relase the business value code under the GPL, which might solve their dilema. This would attract attention and allow community contributions, but proprietary competitor could not legally use it in their produce. This is where the GPL shines.

Reminds me how the way drives recognized 1.44MB floppies (3.5") from 720KB ones was by checking if there was a hole in the bottom-right corner (the bottom-left corner being for write protection). And sure enough, if you made a hole in a 720KB floppy it would be possible to format it as 1.44. There might have been a few more errors, but I remember when HD floppies were 3-4 times more expensive, so it was definitely worth it. At least for a teenager with only pocket money. Ah, those floppy drilling afternoons... Mais où sont les neiges d'antan?

French trader Kerviel was sentenced to $6.7 billion. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/business/global/06bank.html