Groaker 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: FBI Waking Up To The Fact That Companies With Itchy Trigger Fingers Want To Hack Back Hacking Attacks

    Groaker ( profile ), 02 Jan, 2015 @ 05:36am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Botnets

    A decent A/V relies not only on viruses, but also on heuristics -- the detection of a program which is behaving in an unusual way. Signatures are not required.

    Indeed signatures are often inadequate, as many viruses are created to morph, and change their strings on a regular basis.

    I often worked with a virologist who found the homologous behaviors of organic viruses, and those of the electronic world to be fascinating similar.

  • On the post: FBI Waking Up To The Fact That Companies With Itchy Trigger Fingers Want To Hack Back Hacking Attacks

    Groaker ( profile ), 01 Jan, 2015 @ 08:31am

    FBI

    Does the FBI have any credibility whatsoever?

    In the Ok bombing, the FBI claimed that traces of explosive evidence were a match for that found in the remains of the truck. Yet the head of the explosives section, Dr. Frederic Whitehurst testified under oath that the testing done by the FBI lab could distinguish between urea found in fertilizer, and that found in urine. Whitehurst also testified that many cases and tests came under extreme political pressure to "show" that the test was positive for a particular person.

    Richard Jewel, the actual hero of the Olympic Park bombing, was named as a person of suspicion in that event. Persons of suspicion are not supposed to be publicly named. He won a rather large lawsuit, and of course was innocent.

    The anthrax attacks had five people named, one after another, as the guilty party. Again massive pressure and subterfuge was placed in attempts to prove each of these individuals guilty. Ivins was finally pressured into suicide with no real evidence, and the case closed. Ivins was almost certainly not the guilty party, and would have required the help of four or five additional people working for a year to achieve this attack. The NAS (National Association of Sciences) said that Ivins did not have access to the equipment or containment units that would have been required. A bunch of terms, particularly "ultracentrifuge" were bandied about to make it appear as though he was guilty. As a biochemist, I had an ultracentrifuge in my lab section. So did my ex-wife. Big deal, except that it sounds malevolent.

    Ivins reputedly used acetaminophen to kill himself. Doing so produces a long and extremely pain full death. Any scientist knows how to commit suicide with little or no pain with common objects found in the home or lab.

    How can anyone trust the FBI?

  • On the post: Yet Another Website Kills Comments, Despite Study Showing You Can Have Civil Comments If You Give A Damn

    Groaker ( profile ), 24 Dec, 2014 @ 06:10am

    Re: on that note...

    The best comments (excluding the trolls) are those that wander as they will. Serendipity is one of the most wondrous actors in both academia and blogs.

  • On the post: Yet Another Website Kills Comments, Despite Study Showing You Can Have Civil Comments If You Give A Damn

    Groaker ( profile ), 24 Dec, 2014 @ 06:08am

    The internet is today's public square. It speaks, and it is easy to guestimate it's truth by at hand research.

    The NY Times has finally admitted that the Bush cabal committed torture and murder. They have known this from their readers since the early 2000's. They have known that the CIA and NSA were wire taping the US public since at least 2002, but decided not to publish because it might affect the 2004 elections -- of course it would have.

    The present "public square" tries to keep the politicians clean, and there should be more of them rather than less. After all it is more than Sisyphean task to keep this brood of war mongers and thieves clean.

  • On the post: Rep. Mike Rogers, On His Way Out Of Congress, Slams Obama For Not Launching Premature Cyberwar Against North Korea

    Groaker ( profile ), 22 Dec, 2014 @ 01:21pm

    Re: Re:

    If the US bragged about a cyber attack on NK, NK would have no option but a massive retaliation.

  • On the post: Children Are Leading The Cord Cutting Revolution

    Groaker ( profile ), 22 Dec, 2014 @ 12:20pm

    Re:

    For many it is not the money, but the quality. I stopped watching television at all about 10 years ago. With the box with the most channels, I can find something that justifies my time. Can be enjoyable or instructive.

    Of course for many, it is the cost.

  • On the post: Rep. Mike Rogers, On His Way Out Of Congress, Slams Obama For Not Launching Premature Cyberwar Against North Korea

    Groaker ( profile ), 22 Dec, 2014 @ 11:01am

    Re: Re: Re:

    Without using nuclear weapons, wars are won on the ground. Vietnam was proof of this. As are Iraq, Afghanistan and many parts of Africa.

    North Korea not only has weapons and allies, they have ground based forces trained and disciplined under conditions that 1st world nation forces would not be able to function under.

    South Korea left its capital within artillery range of NK -- possibly one of the stupidest strategic decisions since the invasions of Afghanistan by the USSR and the US.

    A US Vet.

  • On the post: Children Are Leading The Cord Cutting Revolution

    Groaker ( profile ), 22 Dec, 2014 @ 09:54am

    Cord cutting is not limited to the young. I am pushing 70, and not only have I cut my own cord, I help others to do the same thing.

    I start with a demo of the channels available, then show them how to hook up a box, then have them hook up a box, then use a spreadsheet to show them how much they will save.

    It is easier with the tech savvy (and there are many -- I had my first programming job in '65) But I also succeed with oldsters who can barely use a point and shoot camera.

  • On the post: Rep. Mike Rogers, On His Way Out Of Congress, Slams Obama For Not Launching Premature Cyberwar Against North Korea

    Groaker ( profile ), 22 Dec, 2014 @ 09:45am

    How does Rogers even know that NK wasn't attacked in return? Does anyone think that NK would admit it, or that the US would brag about it -- it would give NK an excuse to shell, bomb, or invade SK.

    SONY has terrible security, refuses to improve it, and practically invites crackers in.

    Worse, Sony has committed massive numbers of rootkit attacks, on audio CDs played on computers, against Americans and others. If everybody whose computer was damaged by Sony, attacked in return, Sony could give up computers for ever.

    War doesn't work well for the losers or the winners. Talking, no matter how inane, is a far better solution than destruction, maiming and death.

  • On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt

    Groaker ( profile ), 22 Dec, 2014 @ 05:42am

    Cops v Pro football players

    Just why does this Union head believe that cops know the law any better than pro footballers, or break it less often?

  • On the post: How Congress Secretly Just Legitimized Questionable NSA Mass Surveillance Tool

    Groaker ( profile ), 13 Dec, 2014 @ 08:32am

    Does anyone really believe

    That the law has any meaning anymore? People are beaten and arrested for looking at a cop. If you can't even look at what is in public, without risking a beating, then just what "freedoms" do you have?

    We have created reputed rights to all sorts of things, because calling them privileges are said to hurt some peoples self images. I do not question the validity, good or bad of said grants. But making them "rights" are the mechanism by which the real rights as outlined in the Constitution ad its amendments are diluted into meaninglessness.

  • On the post: Yet Another Study Proclaims U.S. Broadband Awesome If You Intentionally Ignore All The Warts

    Groaker ( profile ), 05 Dec, 2014 @ 11:07am

    It is not just OOKLA. The reputed US government broadband site speed test showed TWC running my downloads at 23Mbs when I had only paid for 6. And nothing was downloading as fast as 6Mbs.

    I sent complaints over this repeated anomaly to the Feds, but of course nothing happened.

  • On the post: Like The NSA And GCHQ, Germany's Foreign Intelligence Agency Uses A Legal Loophole To Spy On Its Own Citizens

    Groaker ( profile ), 03 Dec, 2014 @ 10:12am

    We (law enforcement) wanted to commit this act, therefore it was legal.

  • On the post: Another California Cop 'Shares' A Suspect's Intimate Photos With His Fellow Officers

    Groaker ( profile ), 03 Dec, 2014 @ 10:10am

    I strongly agree that this was a molestation. But the auditors belief that the original should be destroyed is the willful destruction of private property, and illegal.

  • On the post: The Repeated Failure Of The US And UK Governments' 'Add More Hay' Approach To Surveillance

    Groaker ( profile ), 03 Dec, 2014 @ 10:04am

    I am beginning to think that these agencies couldn't find a needle in a needle stack. Are they incapable of understanding the consequences of false positives?

  • On the post: If You Don't Mind A Little Perjury, You Can Convict Two People For The Same Crime

    Groaker ( profile ), 02 Dec, 2014 @ 06:23am

    Nothing new

    Prosecutors have been known to try more than one person (sometimes at the same time, in the same courthouse,) for the same crime that only one person could have committed.

    Prosecutors like to say that they are only interested in a search for the truth, but they are more interested in conviction rates.

  • On the post: Connecticut Court Ignores First Amendment, Blocks Paper From Publishing Article Based On Public Court Document

    Groaker ( profile ), 01 Dec, 2014 @ 01:43pm

    Re:

    Few judges like to be overruled, as it embarrasses them. It is about the only thing that keeps them in line. Impeachment is all too rare.

  • On the post: Dutch Government Details How It Will Allow Bulk Cable Interception For Intelligence Services

    Groaker ( profile ), 01 Dec, 2014 @ 12:58pm

    Re: Re:

    To work with random bits they would need a hardware random number generator. There is always at least one determinant key for a pseudo random number generator.

  • On the post: Dutch Government Details How It Will Allow Bulk Cable Interception For Intelligence Services

    Groaker ( profile ), 01 Dec, 2014 @ 12:56pm

    TOR

    As I recall, the FBI said that it was just collecting TOR's data to "have it." A month later they announced they had taken down Silken Road 2.0 by breaking TOR's encryption.

  • On the post: Dutch Government Details How It Will Allow Bulk Cable Interception For Intelligence Services

    Groaker ( profile ), 01 Dec, 2014 @ 07:07am

    Flood them with one time pad encryptions of work that is out of copyright or otherwise in the public domain. Easily generated in massive amounts.

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