DannyB 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Key Congressional Staffers Who Helped Rein In Surveillance Overreach In The 1970s Ask Obama To Pardon Snowden

    DannyB ( profile ), 30 Nov, 2016 @ 10:41am

    Re:

    You could have also added:

    . . . and therefore you are ideally suited for public office.

  • On the post: Key Congressional Staffers Who Helped Rein In Surveillance Overreach In The 1970s Ask Obama To Pardon Snowden

    DannyB ( profile ), 30 Nov, 2016 @ 10:39am

    Re: THE PUBLIC INTEREST

    I think that what TD exposes is hardly petty.

    Snodwen gave up his comfortable life to expose wrongdoing. It remains to be seen whether he will die of natural causes. Not pardoning Snowden goes way beyond petty.

    Abuses of the DMCA are hardly petty. They are deliberate misuses of a draconian law that cause genuine economic damage.

    Similarly are abuses of CFAA by prosecutors, except the damage can be imprisonment or worse.

    SOPA and similar efforts to destroy the internet are hardly petty.

    I could go on.

  • On the post: Key Congressional Staffers Who Helped Rein In Surveillance Overreach In The 1970s Ask Obama To Pardon Snowden

    DannyB ( profile ), 30 Nov, 2016 @ 10:31am

    Translation Guide

    TechDirt needs a Government Speak translation guide to plain English. I'll start with your "proper channels".


    Go Through Proper Channels
    means...
    Turn yourself in and go to prison

    "Work together" and "Cooperate"
    menas...
    Do what the government tells you and act like it was your idea.

    Golden Key
    means...
    Back Door

    Secure Encryption with a Golden Key
    means...
    Insecure System with Back Door

    Traitor
    means...
    Whistleblower

    Parallel Construction
    means...
    Conspiracy of prosecutors and law enforcement to commit perjury by lying to the court and the defense about what their evidence actually is.

    "Don't worry, you'll be well taken care of"
    menas...
    You're gonna die

    "Shelter in place"
    menas...
    Stay off the roads so that the rich and powerful people can escape to safety.

    Citizens
    means...
    Slaves to the 1%.


    Any others ?

  • On the post: Your Earbuds Can Be Made Into Microphones With Just A Bit Of Malware

    DannyB ( profile ), 30 Nov, 2016 @ 06:45am

    Re: Re:

    The fact that the headphone jack shouldn't be that shocking either.

    Years ago, weren't there devices, like a credit card reader, that connected to the phone only via the headphone jack?

  • On the post: Your Earbuds Can Be Made Into Microphones With Just A Bit Of Malware

    DannyB ( profile ), 30 Nov, 2016 @ 06:43am

    Re: Re: Not the most earth shattering discovery

    Don't forget laser microphones.

    Don't forget that if you use a CRT at night in a dark room, like back in the covered wagon days, a van on the street can capture the glow of the CRT on the wall or ceiling and re-create a fairly decent readable copy of what is on the CRT. It just takes a few guesses at the refresh rate and how many scan lines tall the screen image is.

    Another thing. Suppose there is some subject that you are not supposed to see. It is in an area not exposed to public view. But part of the walls of the area are visible to public view. So you could capture the color of the light reflecting on one of those walls visible to the subject. Now suppose you could replace a light source in the secure area with digital projector such as used in a conference room. The projector would, like a flood light, project light upon the subject. But that light is a rectangular array of pixels. And it would illuminate the area, one pixel at a time, at high speed. Now it is possible to capture the reflected light on the wall, from a public area, and re-create what the light source can "see". The recreated image looks as though you "see" it as through the projector (eg "light bulb") as if it were a camera. I'm not sure of the practicality of this, but I know there was a good article about the success of the technique on Slashdot some years ago.

  • On the post: Your Earbuds Can Be Made Into Microphones With Just A Bit Of Malware

    DannyB ( profile ), 30 Nov, 2016 @ 06:31am

    Re: Re:

    Based on my experience, I would recommend that when you fashion your aluminum headwear that you use TWO layers of tin foil rather than just one. This more than doubles the effectiveness. The reason is that a resonance effect develops between the two layers, at exactly double the frequency of the government's invisible brain lasers. In addition, if you create two antennas on the top instead of one, it further increases the effectiveness by an additional 37 percent.

  • On the post: Your Earbuds Can Be Made Into Microphones With Just A Bit Of Malware

    DannyB ( profile ), 30 Nov, 2016 @ 06:27am

    Re: Re: Re:

    I don't need the doom and gloom preface either. Especially since I generally engage in the doom and gloom outlook myself. But some people DO need it. Wake up! That is the message. From TFA . . .

    paranoiacs take note
    No matter how paranoid and tin foil hat crazy sounding my concerns have been over the years, it always turns out that things are already worse than I imagined. I DO NOT need to now be told of every example of new malware that can listen through my ear buds. The general purpose takeaway message is: unplug earbuds when not in use. Just as with the camera, put black tape over it when not in use. But I don't need to know about every new instance of web cam spyware. I DO need to know about every new capability, such as using the earbuds as microphones.

  • On the post: Cameroonian Government Calls Social Media A 'New Form Of Terrorism'

    DannyB ( profile ), 29 Nov, 2016 @ 02:41pm

    What the US needs to do

    If social media is terrorism, then we need to use social media to combat terrorism.

    The incoming administration, which has demonstrated its adeptness at using Twitter, should immediately make it possible to use Twitter to give the nuclear launch orders.

  • On the post: Comcast Takes Heat For Injecting Messages Into Internet Traffic

    DannyB ( profile ), 29 Nov, 2016 @ 09:52am

    How big of an issue is this with HTTPS? (TLS)

    How many sites are still using HTTP instead of HTTPS?

    I can understand how Comcast can inject anything into an HTTP result. But what about when you are using TLS?

    Aren't more and more sites secure against this type of attack? And Comcast's injection of anything IS an attack! At least in its implementation, even if the motivation is different.

    Even traffic in other protocols, how much is in plain text these days?

    Any useful or informative information?

  • On the post: Manhattan DA Cy Vance Wraps Up 2016 With Another Call For Gov't-Mandated Encryption Backdoors

    DannyB ( profile ), 29 Nov, 2016 @ 09:46am

    Working Together

    I love the "working together" euphemism. Tech needs to "work together" with government in order to compromise everyone's security and privacy.

    A phone is either secure, or it is not. If it is secure, then it is impervious to search warrants. Otherwise it is insecure. If the government can get into that phone, then so can others.

    The euphemism of "work together with government" really means to do as I say.

    How about if government would "work together" with reality?

  • On the post: Comcast Takes Heat For Injecting Messages Into Internet Traffic

    DannyB ( profile ), 29 Nov, 2016 @ 06:45am

    It's all okay, because we posted a public notice

    It's okay if we sneak into your (and everyone's) home and post notices on your refrigerator. We posted a public notice about what we were up to, so it's okay.

  • On the post: Alex Halderman Clarifies: Not Sure If Election Was Hacked, But, Uh, Shouldn't Someone Be Checking To Make Sure?

    DannyB ( profile ), 28 Nov, 2016 @ 11:09am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Elections no longer exist in the US

    You forgot Mangle.

    Mangle is my favorite.

    There are low level manglers. Middle manglers. And higher level manglers.

  • On the post: Paul Levy Discovers Head Of Reputation Management Company Signed Off On Forged/Fraudulent Court Docs

    DannyB ( profile ), 28 Nov, 2016 @ 11:02am

    Re:

    But it's not just the Profile Defenders scam! I love the last sentence . . .

    Pissed Consumer is also asking courts to take a closer look at some suspicious libel lawsuits that have resulted in delisting of its content -- lawsuits that follow the same M.O. as the ones spotted by Levy.
    So we may learn of more pissed off judges and other companies such as Profile Defenders. Righthaven. Prenda. Profile Defenders. Popcorn is starting to get old. Pretzles in a bag are gratification without waiting for it to pop.

  • On the post: Media Critic Calls On Journalists To Be Obedient Stenographers

    DannyB ( profile ), 28 Nov, 2016 @ 10:25am

    Talking Heads, Cover the Controversy

    The press needs Talking Heads in order to give equal time to all points of view. Be "fair and balanced".

    Some people say the moon causes the tides.
    Other people say the tides cause the moon.

    Both viewpoints get equal treatment. Cover the controversy, not the facts or science, etc.

    The "tides cause the moon" people also can back up what they say with studies by think tanks, and so that deserves extra time.

    Just because one guest makes a logical sensible argument with valid points and reproducible results and hard data is no reason you should listen to him or her.

  • On the post: Trump Telecom Advisor Doesn't Think Broadband Monopolies Are Real, Wants To Dismantle The FCC

    DannyB ( profile ), 28 Nov, 2016 @ 09:24am

    Are broadband monopolies real?

    "No. Broadband monopolies aren't any more real than cord cutting is real." -- said corporate spokesdroid

  • On the post: Alex Halderman Clarifies: Not Sure If Election Was Hacked, But, Uh, Shouldn't Someone Be Checking To Make Sure?

    DannyB ( profile ), 23 Nov, 2016 @ 12:41pm

    Who would not want an investigation?

    If the election actually were hacked, then the hackers are the ones who would not want an investigation.

  • On the post: Twitter Says Its API Can't Be Used For Surveillance, But What Does It Think The FBI's Going To Do With It?

    DannyB ( profile ), 23 Nov, 2016 @ 06:00am

    Assurances

    I'm sure Comey would assure us that the FBI would never use the data to undermine people's rights. The data would only be used for purely statistical purposes. In order to better understand what eyeballs to put warrants in front of. The FBI wants to protect everyone's first amendment right to agree with the FBI.

  • On the post: Another State Court Says Speedy Fourth Amendment Violations Are Still Just Fourth Amendment Violations

    DannyB ( profile ), 22 Nov, 2016 @ 07:42am

    Re: Re: Re: That pesky Constitution

    It's not about Obama or Bush. Bush's dictator comment would mean the same thing if Obama had said it. The only difference is that Obama is smart enough not to say it in public.

    But the truth of it remains no matter who said it. It REALLY WOULD be easier in a dictatorship. Just ask any dictator. From either political party. They all want that power.

    If you think one party is substantially better than the other, then you have been conned. Just see the two recent presidential candidates who were our choices.

  • On the post: State Senator Wants To Turn First Amendment Activity Into 'Economic Terrorism'

    DannyB ( profile ), 22 Nov, 2016 @ 07:38am

    Re: Re: No Protests Allowed

    But I don't use InstaFaceTwit. Yes, really. Never have. Never will.

  • On the post: Junk Scientist Greets Skepticism With Legal Threats, Sues Blogger For Criticizing Him And His Work

    DannyB ( profile ), 22 Nov, 2016 @ 07:34am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Shouldn't we welcome all viewpoints?

    You must patent that idea!

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