Posts by Vociferous

Re: Pretty obvious - a keylogger was installed

> The install collates the data into a form ready to send, checks the privacy settings, then reports that the diagnostic data can't be sent due to said, settings.

I will bet you ten quatloos that all the privacy settings in Windows 10 you've turned off will be turned back on without any notice during some software update. It doesn't even require intentional effort by Microsoft (even though I expect there will be) because such is the nature of default settings.

Re: The true Microsoft facts

You're living in a dream world.

Re: Traitor to the USA (not America)?

> but hero to the free world?

In a way. He got publicity for things which were already known (very little of what he leaked about the spying on EU citizens hadn't already been published), and it's good that it finally got EU citizens to realize that their data isn't safe. And hardening data against NSA spying automatically means it gets harder for the Russians and Chinese to steal too, which is a good thing.

I'm not sure that outweighs the damage he did to the spying on the non-free world.

> I'll get back to you whem I can confirm exactly where the free world is

You should travel more. You need to spend some time in, let's say, United Arab Emirates, China, or Russia. Try criticizing the government, or get in a legal spat with an official while you're there. Because it seems as if you think you're being oppressed, living in the UK.

Re: Hands on…

Couldn't agree more. Also...

"when I looked to my right there was a pedestrian standing very close to the curb, giving the awkward body language that he was planning on jaywalking"

God, I hate people who do that. Or the tits who stand at a zebra crossing, talking on their phone. Do they intend to cross? Are they aware of the traffic? Are they going to suddenly take a big step out right in front of my car when they finally agree on what to buy for dinner?

> If Baidu was not censored by the Chinese government, I might just use it.

Censored? It's RUN by the Chinese secret service.

Re: Why not have the server automatically shut down

> needs him to input his PGP

Not handing over encryption keys when law enforcement asks for them is a serious crime in the UK, punishable by up to five years imprisonment. The situation is much the same for intentionally destroying the information on the server. I guess the best is to make the server forgetful by design, e.g. not storing logs of anything sensitive, with small and regularly flushed caches, and those who happen to be using it when it's seized by the secret service, well, they're just SOL.

Re: Geneva Convention

> Blinding them is the problem

Yes it is. We really don't want little 5 watt lasers mounted on aircraft or tanks panning over the surroundings tens of times per second, instantly and permanently blinding anyone who happen to look towards that tank or aircraft.

Re: How to censor the internet.

Do I really have to remind you that "limited and focused" censoring of the internet in the EU currently includes all porn, supporting unpopular political isms, "trolling" (i.e. causing someone to get upset), anything which anyone might consider copyright infringement, consensual S&M sex, insulting Islam, and google supplying completely accurate and publicly available information to EU citizens if the subject of the information doesn't want it known.

This list is growing rapidly.

The EU is strongly, deeply, fully, committed to censorship of the internet and control over the information flow to its citizens. It has absolutely zero commitment to freedom of speech.

Re: Defence Defence Defence!

> use the usual best practices for clients. Harden your operating systems, use application servers whenever possible, do not have persistent OS partitions between boots

Let's start with "do not store passwords unencrypted in a textfile named "passwords"". Then we can graduate to more advanced stuff. Like "don't place hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars worth of unreleased media files on an internet-connected computer".

Re: Mephistro

> I'm more inclined to think this is Sony's lawyers, looking for a bit of payback

Pretty sure you're right. With the enthusiastic cooperation of the EU security services.

Re: Scrap metal?

Yes. Artisan gunsmiths in Afghanistan can and do build AK47's from scratch. Imports and salvaged guns fetch better prices, but there are perfectly usable and completely home-made AK47's for sale there.

Re: There's no such thing as "great CGI effects".

> it is still a big improvement on plasticine stop motion animation, crude mattes and cardboard flying saucers

I honestly don't see that, unless we're talking 1950's Plan 9 type special defects. The last generation of physical props, in the 1990's, were more real-looking than the current generation of CGI.

> , the CGI is the best available option and its state-of-the-art is unquestionably getting better

Getting better, yes, but still far from good. Surely you agree that it's easy to spot CGI in blockbusters, and not just because of the subject matter?

Re: "That's a flawed argument if ever I saw one."

> comparing a 2000 year old book with a recently released videogame isn't a flawed argument?

Not if the claim is that "fictional violence (such as in GTA5) should be banned because it causes real violence".

Then it's perfectly logical to point out that the claim is ridiculous, as showcased by the fact that the supposed source of morality and goodness is brimming with worse fictional violence than GTA5.

Your argument, on the other hand, was that "the bible is good because there are even worse", which is fallacious.

Re: More counter-evidence for the irrational Google hate.

> The other big problem Google is getting itself into repeatedly in other areas of the world is a rather unclear attitude towards privacy

The "right to be forgotten" directive is nothing but government-enforced censorship. The same is true of the demands to block/censor Google Earth, and the RIAA/MPAA lobbying to ban Google from showing certain search results. Google was forced out of China because it refused to give the Chinese secret service access to gmail, and is now being forced out of Russia for the same reason.