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Submission + - Judge rules that government can force Glassdoor to unmask anonymous users online (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by pogopop77
pogopop77 writes: An appeals court will soon decide whether the US government can unmask anonymous users of Glassdoor—and the entire proceeding is set to happen in secret. Federal investigators sent a subpoena asking for the identities of more than 100 anonymous users of the business-review site Glassdoor, who apparently posted reviews of a company that's under investigation for potential fraud related to its contracting practices. The government later scaled back its demand to just eight users. Prosecutors believe these eight Glassdoor users are "third-party witnesses to certain business practices relevant to [the] investigation." The name of the company under investigation is redacted from all public briefs.

Comment Consistency... (Score 1) 515

by pogopop77 (#54627055) Attached to: Developers Who Use Spaces Make More Money Than Those Who Use Tabs
Spaces are always one character, tabs can be interpreted differently on different platforms/editors, etc. I use spaces, so I know exactly what the code will look like in any monospaced font. M-x untabify and C-M-\ fix non-compliant code nicely in emacs. Interesting correlation with salary, but I don't think there's any specific causation.

Comment Firefox really has improved a lot... (Score 4, Interesting) 189

It wasn't too long ago that Firefox was viewed as an amazing browser (ob: https://xkcd.com/198/ ), far better than the alternatives, and FOSS to boot. But like it's predecessors, it got slow, bloated, and bogged down in trying to implement features too far outside the core mission of a browser. Chrome came along and snatched the performance crown and mindshare. If you have already conceded that Google is allowed to harvest all your data in exchange for free products/services, then by all means keep using Chrome. However, if you value your privacy, it is time to give Firefox another chance. It really has improved a lot in the last couple of years in terms of stability and performance, to the point where it meets or exceeds Chrome in every aspect. Give Firefox an honest chance, you might switch back.

Submission + - Oregon fines man for writing a complaint email stating "I am an engineer..." (vice.com) 2

Submitted by pogopop77
pogopop77 writes: In September 2014, Mats Järlström, an electronics engineer living in Beaverton, Oregon, sent an email to the state's engineering board. The email claimed that yellow traffic lights don't last long enough, which "puts the public at risk." "I would like to present these facts for your review and comments," he wrote. This email resulted not with a meeting, but with a threat from The Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying stating "ORS 672.020(1) prohibits the practice of engineering in Oregon without registration — at a minimum, your use of the title 'electronics engineer' and the statement 'I'm an engineer' create violations." In January of this year, Järlström was officially fined $500 by the state for the crime of "practicing engineering without being registered."

Comment Simple calculation, dumb idea... (Score 1) 837

by pogopop77 (#49736163) Attached to: Oregon Testing Pay-Per-Mile Driving Fee To Replace Gas Tax
The gas tax is $0.30 per gallon. Instead of paying that $0.30, I can choose to pay $0.015 per mile traveled. Paying per mile, I can only go 20 miles for $0.30. Unless I drive a gas guzzler that averages less than 20 mpg, I am being taxed more. Plus this removes one of the benefits to driving an efficient or alternative fuel vehicle. Plus (as many prior posters have pointed out), weight of a vehicle is proportional to the amount of road damage it causes, and would be a far better metric for assessing taxes to repair roads. Dumb.
Government

Submission + - Is The Government Building a DNA database?

Submitted by pogopop77
pogopop77 writes: CNN has an interesting story about how newborn babies in the United States are routinely screened for a panel of genetic diseases. Since the testing is mandated by the government, it's often done without the parents' consent. However, many states store that DNA information indefinitely, and even make it available to researchers with little or no privacy safeguards. Sometimes even the names are attached! There is information on state-by-state policies of the handling of the DNA information here (warning: PDF link).

Comment Re:Stupid question (Score 1) 388

by pogopop77 (#28778291) Attached to: Laser Ignition May Replace the Spark Plug
What kind of diesel engine truck do you have? Most consumer diesel engines (including mine) are direct injection, at least in the U.S. They intake air, compress it, and then inject the fuel directly into the combustion chamber (hence the term "direct injection"). It is the heat of the compressed air that lights the fuel. No spark plug required.
Security

FAA Network Hacked 110

Posted by CmdrTaco from the in-good-company dept.
coondoggie writes "The Federal Aviation Administration has joined the growing list of government agencies that have had their supposedly safe systems hacked. The agency this week notified about 45,000 employees that one of its servers was hacked into and employee personal identity information was stolen. The FAA was quick to say the server that was accessed was not connected to the operation of the air traffic control system or any other FAA operational system. It did say two of the 48 files on the breached computer server contained personal information about more than 45,000 FAA employees and retirees who were on the FAA's rolls as of the first week of February 2006."

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