Re: VPN
"Would using an offshore VPN effectively blindfold this surveillance?"
Of course, but you may as well just run your own. Either way you'll be bypassing the point of surveillance.
2726 publicly visible posts • joined 27 Apr 2007
The Navy bought 38 licenses but denies that a license was required to install it on others. One might wonder why a license was required for those particular machines and not for others, or why there was a license in the first place. Nevertheless the argument is a common one in the, so called, world of piracy, though I wouldn't have thought the Navy was of that persuasion.
"Do you use that rule for property / personal theft?
That is not even remotely related. We're talking about the FBI - the prime security service of the United States of America and that nation's federal law enforcement agency. They have a duty to maintain a high level of security. It is preposterous that a singe individual can, or could, access their "secure" information on-line.
I'm not sure where that line is. Certainly ransomware and other clearly malicious activity is on the wrong side from my perspective. Having a go at an FBI site is just petty vandalism in my books. For one thing, they should expect that from young and immature "hackers", and for another they should not be at the level where a lone person like Love can penetrate their system to the extent that he supposedly did.
Social scientists and psychologists have long concluded that if people hear the same information from multiple sources – typically between three and five – they become convinced of its truth.
And that's the problem right there. Religious nuts and conspiracy theorists have fertile ground in an uneducated and religious fundamentalist society. Until that changes we're going to keep seeing this kind of crap.
I have no love for Google or Facebook, but they can rank and publish all they want and I still won't make up my mind based on the number of times I read something or how high up it is in my search results.
The US recognised this problem at the begging of the 1980s and tried unsuccessfully to turn it around. Things have only gotten more precarious since then. Will Trump be able to stimulate American manufacturing to the levels of 40 years ago? I doubt it. So the only way forward it to be very, very careful. I personally think that the best case scenario is that he learns that lesson. Hopefully before it is too late.
"the simple reality is that the Cloud can benefit if one knows exactly why one is intending to use it."
Marketing has trouble understanding that what they're selling isn't the best solution for everything. Hopefully these prominent examples will filter into management culture and help get some sanity into the cloud craze.
"Did you mean it was an order by the Napoleon sitting in the Kremlin?"
It's just a law. Everybody else is just following it like they do with all laws in whatever country they operate. This is not unlike a parking infraction in that arguing that you didn't get a letter with your personalised warning delivered to your preferred address is not going to get you off. Note too that pretty much everybody in the world with an interest in internet regulations is aware of this Russian legal requirement. Most countries (Including Canada, where I live) have had similar laws for quite a while now.
Tossers is probably a bit mild. Facebook and Google had this stuff sorted a year ago. It's not like it comes as a surprise to anybody who is even mildly cognisant of reality. In any case we would all be better off without LinkedIn. I, for one, am tired of getting people's stupid invitations.
"If we continue down this route in 10 years time you will need to have a license or video proof that you have a garden in order to buy some fertiliser."
Another 10 years after that and garden books will be censored. Growing your own food can easily be turned into a charge of interfering with commercial or government interests. And so on it goes. (sigh) Better to just not go down that road at all. Efforts to control information never lead to information going away, and only leads to freedom going away.
Now they'll be getting flack from other gang members. A Reuters article shilling for the gang says this: CSIS could now also have trouble working with its allies in the so-called Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network, which also includes Britain, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, said a leading security expert.
One of mine says "VIRUS ALERT!". I was hoping that it would scare people away or get a giggle. However, I would not expect to be charged with false advertising or causing public panic. Presumably the young French chap had the same idea. I am certainly not spreading or promoting any virus.
"I can't help wondering if automation of the cargo logistics and load/unload would be a better target for robotics and systems."
I'm no expert either, but follow the shipping news because it just seems so important to our modern commercial world. Here is an article on Marine Insight you will like: How to Plan Cargo Containers Stowage on Container Ship
Edit: Actually another article about container ship design is fascinating. Here's a quote:
This complicity of container ship design is therefore solved by means of special computer programs specially designed to generate container loading plans for a particular loading case, which keeps in mind, the series of ports a vessel needs to call, and also the strength and stability aspects of the ship.
Crew is cheap. The fuel cost for a container ship is about $5 million dollars for a single ocean crossing at the usual 27 knots. Even in slow steaming mode (18 knots) it is $2.5 million. The few weeks salary for crew for that trip is indeed peanuts.
Also, Maersk's triple E class is 400 metres long and carries over 18 thousand 20 foot containers. Nobody is going to trust that kind of value to a computer. As an aside, the computer program for cargo management is specific to the ship and is quite complicated, as well as indispensable.
"the US insists on being able to extradite people to its courts, but refuses to allow extraditions of US citizens when they need to face the music."
That is indeed the status quo. If this was bilateral we would be seeing FBI agents extradited to Romania and US citizens would lose faith in their insular world.
"surely you have an IDS/IPS in place to detect MIRAI and its variants (MEMES is a recent discovery) and drop their connections in the crapper... why let that stuff even get in the front door when you can stop it at the perimeter??"
You've making an assumption about the kind of server. I drop responses for repeat queries and that works quite well, but dropping connections from seemingly random and continually changing IPs would result in blocking legitimate queries. Also, thanks for keeping my account going. :)