Posts by Charles 9 16605 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009
"At that point, any carrier who has the audacity to screw with the network can instantly be substituted with another carrier who offers a better policy. Doesn't matter anymore whether it's data, voice, or video."
And if there's only ONE carrier in the immediate area, such as in the boonies?
The very article you cite states Washington's approach is risky. An offshoot of the Interstate Commerce Clause known as the "dormant commerce clause" states that because the Federal government has the overriding authority concerning interstate commerce, state regulations can be overridden, even without direct Congressional action, if they step on the Fed's toes, so to speak, and intrude too much into other states' matters. The approach taken by nearby Montana (which focuses on state agencies rather than ISPs) is more likely to hold up.
What I remember is the breakup of AT&T into the Baby Bells. And look what happened. They just glommed themselves back together so now we not only have AT&T we have Verizon and all the rest as well. I don't think breaking things up is all it's cracked up to be, as they'll just find ways to come back together, probably using competition from rival firms as a justification.
Guess it's a case of YMMV. Because in many places, especially in the US, the Google maps are more accurate and up-to-date than the Here maps. Same with OSM, which is the Wikipedia of maps. Because it's all user-input, quality can be hit-or-miss.
OK, riddle me this, Batman.
Do you send EVERYTHING on postcards? Because that's what unencrypted HTTP is, essentially. With an envelope of encryption, the contents of your postcard cannot be sure to be the same as that which you originally sent. Things can be inserted, removed, or altered, and there is no way you can stop it because it all happens in transit.
"And for most websites it doesn't matter one bit. No one is going to put up a spoof website of say diptera.info, britishbugs.org.uk, or tolweb.org. There are millions of websites like those, none of which need SSL certs."
They don't have to spoof you. They don't even have to pwn you. ANY unencrypted HTML, regardless of its source, can be altered and hijacked...IN TRANSIT. Think Verizon's supercookie or the Chinese Cannon: both concrete examples of this.
"Public pay phones with clearly visible surveillance cameras seldom get treated this way and installing the same things into elevators has had a remarkable effect on vandalism levels."
I don't know about you, but the phone booths in places I go are STILL filthy. And they're SUPPOSED to have cameras in them, but guess what happens? The cameras get targeted FIRST, and if they can't steal it or break it, they'll paint it, tape it, or otherwise cover it, THEN tear up the rest of the booth. I think an episode of Adam-12 put it best. Police respond to a burglary at a place that had a security camera installed. Operative word 'HAD'. The burglars stole the camera first.
"Wearing all black at night and masking up too is a criminal offence in large parts of the world for obvious reasons, and I don't mean at political protests."
Depends on where you live, but I would think just dressing in black wouldn't in itself be a crime. After all, it could be Halloween or you could be an actor. Unless you can cite the law?
As for being seen, they just need to nip off around a corner somewhere with lots of egress points. Any good prankster (or burglar) is sure to have carefully planned out the escape routes, particularly in regards to getting out from Big Brother's eye (and unless you're a place like China, there WILL be blind spots to prevent privacy suits). Trying to cover ALL of them's going to result in asymettric warfare. Plus there's always impersonation. SWAT a car AND pin the blame onto someone else.
"A lot of CCTV systems have specific alarm settings for dazzlers or something masking the camera, so doing either will likely get you noticed even faster than if you just wore a mask. (hint: if you try walking into a bank with a dazzler active, you can expect the shutters to come down almost instantly)"
You're inviting a Cry Wolf incident, then, by launching such a device from out of sight.
"there's no natural right for a corporation to get special tax treatment from the state."
It's called "We pay taxes in your state rather than another state." It's the same threat that maintains Big Oil's tax breaks. Better 10% of something than 100% of nothing, especially considering the business Atlanta gets as an airline hub.
The trouble is, and it's been mentioned before, that Your Mileage May Vary, depending on where you're trying to connect. A lot of contention experienced by end users is caused by things outside the ISP's control, and the ISP cannot be expected to be held responsible for these holdups although they are going to be the ones to face all the flak from their customers regardless. It's basically a situation where "truth", or even conservative estimates, cannot really be made even if it's the thing upon which customers base most of their decisions concerning ISPs.
"If every conversation was recorded and sent back for analysis, that would be a SHIT load of data, which would be nigh on impossible to shift through with any degree of accuracy."
Isn't that the purpose of that data center in Utah (well, that and act as a cover for the working quantum computer)? And let's not forget China's ambitions.
"Camera? How about just "No"? I don't know of anyone who hasn't taped over the damn thing or painted the lens black. Waste of money to have a camera and never use it."
But how do you know the camera can't operate in the infrared which can pass through tape or paint?
Plus what if (GASP!) you actually use the thing on occasion? Say for a vidcall to your kid or gran?
You can always buy a separate one if you really need it. Otherwise, you'd need an extremely big laptop screen to have a full-sized full-spec keyboard complete with numpad. Separate pad also gives you the ability to position it better for your calculating hand (which could be the left).
"Why should your place of birth be an employment qualification at all?"
Two words: jus soli. It a matter of citizenship, and that IS very important for the host country since that has significant effects on populations, taxes, benefits, etc. ANY sovereign nation will and general DOES prefer its own citizens to foreigners.
"how about pay people more, they'll have more money to purchase expensive shit and all companies will make more profit"
Because one of the competitors will get the smart idea to STAY low, undercut the competition, and steal all the business for themselves. This will force everyone else to react similarly in order to not get priced out of business. Remember, SOMEONE'S gonna cheat. And there are those who are banking on the economy breaking down.
I would think a DOMESTIC invasion would be the ULTIMATE motivator, as it would prove the Founders and all the "nuts" right. Plus, consider that all those military people come from those same hometowns. How many of them do you think would stay in the ranks if ordered to move seriously against their own people?
Yes, because by the use of the term in 1790, "well-regualted" meant "well-equipped". Isn't that why the British Army were known as "regulars"?
I think what it is is that societal pressure is getting too great now (unlike before) and as a result people are snapping. My thing, though, is that violence will happen regardless of the means. Like with suicide, take oneears away and they'll just find another. Remember, the worst nonmilitary massacres in American history didn't use guns.
"And as for the laughable "I need it to defend myself from the ebil guvernment"... good luck with taking on a squad of marines armed with M-16s, grenade launchers and able to call for A10 back up if things get tough....... Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrpppppppppppp and the problem is gone."
Seemed the Vietnamese, Iraqis, and Somalia did all right given their disadvantages (and the A10 was in Vietnam, too). Why can't we?
But it's not the beach that's at issue. It's the route TO the beach. And Khosla can counter, "Why not treat the beach like one of those cliffside beaches?" (which are PHYSICALLY impossible to reach by land because they're secluded by cliffs). Plus there are likely other beaches similarly sealed off by private property, meaning he can claim he's being singled out.
Khosla can still challenge eminent domain on the grounds that it's an abuse of power. At he least, he can limit the extent of the sale to just the amount of land needed to make a right of way for the access road. He can also challenge the valuation on bias grounds to get a second opinion. Both happened near where I lived about 15 years ago and triggered reassessments.
The easement argument favors Khosla because the property owner is still legally responsible for the upkeep of an easement. This means liability gets attached which means an easement to a popular publicly-accessed location may require liability insurance to be attached lest he be sued up the wazoo for any "accidents" that occur in the easement.
What would be preferred is an outright sale, but Khosla is demanding top dollar due to the demand. And eminent domain isn't being risked because Khosla can retaliate with an indirect smear campaign against the government (in particular Lt. Gov. Newsom, who's running for full governor this year). Screw the rules; he's got enough money to make following the rules a Pyrrhic victory.
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