Gerald Robinson 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Bloomberg Appears To Flub Another China Story, Insists Telnet Is A Nefarious Huawei Backdoor

    Gerald Robinson ( profile ), 02 May, 2019 @ 10:39am

    The real problem wasn't southern modernization it was northern mills wanted cheap cotton! They didn't want to compete with English mills and didn't want to let southerners establish their own. They couldn't get export tactics so they went the indirect route. The Civak Was wasn't about slavery (The Boston shipping families were major importers) but southErners greed!

  • On the post: Impossible Content Moderation Dilemmas: Talking About Racism Blocked As Hate Speech

    Gerald Robinson ( profile ), 02 May, 2019 @ 10:25am

    Hate speach

    The problem isn't hate speech it's the defination!
    HATE SPEACH is so each i hate!
    The only out for most content moderation is th a ban content moderation, except for a few well defined areas: e.g. obscenity.

  • On the post: Bloomberg Appears To Flub Another China Story, Insists Telnet Is A Nefarious Huawei Backdoor

    Gerald Robinson ( profile ), 01 May, 2019 @ 02:20pm

    Re: Re: Taking away the cookie jar?

    We know that ME has Won 10 Hoover up any accessible information on the system for sale to 3rd parties. Intel potentially does the same. The U.S. Government ha s long had a program of inserting backdoors of dubious legality, why should the Chinese be different. Linux is open source and you can see the code and assemble it from scratch so no WE back doors!

  • On the post: Bloomberg Appears To Flub Another China Story, Insists Telnet Is A Nefarious Huawei Backdoor

    Gerald Robinson ( profile ), 01 May, 2019 @ 10:36am

    Backdoors

    Massive back doors can and do exist! Look at the hidden Intel "service processor" found in all pentiums. A massive computer which even includes a Web server. It was discovered largely by accident and publicized, then largely forgotten. The government should ban and replace all hardware with significant foreign components; including CISCO's™.

    The problem with backdoors is activating them when interesting stuff is happening. Leaving them active for snooping makes detection of many by network traffic analysis simple. But the volume of traffic and garbage versus gold makes this leaving them active undesirable. Yes if the backdoor is as massive as Intel's it could filter things.

    The real backdoor threat is China's or France's, Russa's, (or any hostile power's) ability to shutdown or mess up the network as a part of a real attack!

  • On the post: Shoddy Software Is Eating The World, And People Are Dying As A Result

    Gerald Robinson ( profile ), 27 Apr, 2019 @ 09:50am

    Video Games are a great example of this phenomina

    This leads to the reasons that autonomous cars are inherently dangerious. The SW development process has a lot of reviews, but any SW complex enough to do anything really interesting can not be debuted us ing the normal development cycle.

    The 737 is an example of poor engineering on Boieng's part. Making it difficult for the pilot (driver) to override the computer is criminally bad desighn! Yet this is the goal of current auto design. Years ago I was involved with industrial automation of a chemical plant. We used three computers which voted. If one was wrong it was taken offline an a spare brought in. Law the computers had access to all the instruments, just used different instruments as priority.

    One possible solution is to require all code for cars to be open source, including all design/decision documents. Implement a bounty program for finding errors.

  • On the post: What If Google And Facebook Admitted That All This Ad Targeting Really Doesn't Work That Well?

    Gerald Robinson ( profile ), 30 Mar, 2019 @ 11:03am

    AS targeting

    Something not mentioned is that as targeting is counter productive for the advertiser. Before targeted ads I went to a website from an ad because they had a product or service I did not know about ~once in two weeks. Sense targeting started I haven't done this for a targeted ad. I bought a lot of gear from B&H as I used to own a video company, I don't find their targeted ads anything but annoying as I subscribe to their news letter! I'm cases where folks do business with a business additional ads for that business are at best redundant and at worst annoy customers.

  • On the post: Our Bipolar Free-Speech Disorder And How To Fix It (Part 3)

    Gerald Robinson ( profile ), 01 Dec, 2018 @ 07:09pm

    Something missing

    We are seeing a humpty dumpty trend!
    "When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”
    We need a common dissipating deal with common problems! So I propose the following:

    Hate speech==speech I hate.
    Fake news==news that contradicts my views.
    Dissinformation==delibrate distortion of reality which does not match my weltanschauung.

    There are likely others but they must be felt with if we are to progress. I recently ran across an individual who equated nationalism with NAZISM!

  • On the post: Platforms, Speech And Truth: Policy, Policing And Impossible Choices

    Gerald Robinson ( profile ), 10 Aug, 2018 @ 01:02pm

    shadowbanning etc.

    shadowbanning is a problem because it's covert and not public.

    AS for definitions:
    Hate Speech = SPEECH I HATE!
    Fake News = FALSEHOODS THAT DISAGREE WITH MY RIGHTEOUS BELIEFS!

    Good thought provoking article. One major problem is the tyranny of the masses Group Think has led to all sorts of weirdness e.g. cultural appropriation. IMHO the idiots should be free and untrammeled when they make it evident that they are idiots!

    No compulsion in the world is stronger than the urge to edit someone else's document.
    H. G. Wells

  • On the post: Bill Says US Tech Companies Must Let The Feds Know When Foreign Companies Poke Around In Their Source Code

    Gerald Robinson ( profile ), 08 Aug, 2018 @ 06:50am

    Kerckhoff's principl

    Just require all software sold with critical hardware-weather to a government or a utility - to be open source!

  • On the post: Facebook Asked To Change Terms Of Service To Protect Journalists

    Gerald Robinson ( profile ), 08 Aug, 2018 @ 06:43am

    Hate speach

    Facebook is granting special privileges to folks who have shown that they abuse them! Enabling some class of aristocracy calling them selves "researchers/journalists" is even more ridiculous than maintaining covert accesses.

  • On the post: Uber's Video Shows The Arizona Crash Victim Probably Didn't Cause Crash, Human Behind The Wheel Not Paying Attention

    Gerald Robinson ( profile ), 24 Mar, 2018 @ 08:40am

    Re: Re: Roads are for cars

    The driver will not be alert nor paying attention in any half usable So set-up is just another point is failure. After all when suddenly needing to make a snap judgement he is at least as likely to make the wrong one as the right. Seems like an obvious failure in the Au or sensors. The bike should have been obvious to radar or life and the car react accordingly. A fail in the sensor desighn, the sensors or the Ai?! We likely will never know as AND A makes examination of the code illegal!

  • On the post: Tempe Police Chief Indicates The Uber Self-Driving Car Probably Isn't At Fault In Pedestrian Death

    Gerald Robinson ( profile ), 24 Mar, 2018 @ 08:24am

    Car clearly at fault.

    Obviously the So far was speeding, an allowing the driver to text! It failed to sense incoming traffic off the axis of travel and act approoriately. But none of this will be proven as design details are secret under the DMCA and hidden from any investigation.

  • On the post: Tempe Police Chief Indicates The Uber Self-Driving Car Probably Isn't At Fault In Pedestrian Death

    Gerald Robinson ( profile ), 22 Mar, 2018 @ 01:47pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Thin blue line..where's my tinfoil hat??!!!

    The flight code is not protected from 3rd party audit by the DMCA. YES IT MAY HURT THE CAR COMPANY BUT THEY CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT EXCEPT FIND ANOTHER VENDOR. Looks like there will only be 2/4 vendors. No way to even find out if the vendor is at fault.

    Current cars have a built in problem: the HUI is common to the navigation/entertainment center. Yes the car still has the usual controls but increasingly safety related operations depend on the HUI. As the control/data bus is common what happens when someone plays a video that takes 90% of the bus?

    Ai cars have a major weakness shown in the video, the driver will not be paying any attention after a few minutes and so is likely to do the wrong thing if he overrides the Ai at all. The driver is just another point of failure not a safety backup!

  • On the post: Tempe Police Chief Indicates The Uber Self-Driving Car Probably Isn't At Fault In Pedestrian Death

    Gerald Robinson ( profile ), 22 Mar, 2018 @ 09:06am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Thin blue line..where's my tinfoil hat??!!!

    '"Back at the programming farm..."

    They will constantly be taking in results of every test and making changes/improvements based on the data, since this is a damn beta test and the entire point. In the process, making them even less likely to crash compared to human drivers than they already are.'

    Fat chance! There is little incentive for the vendor (so far most car companies just buy from some one else) to make any changes which are inconvenient or cost money. There is no way to find out what is done and it is illegal to try!

  • On the post: Tempe Police Chief Indicates The Uber Self-Driving Car Probably Isn't At Fault In Pedestrian Death

    Gerald Robinson ( profile ), 21 Mar, 2018 @ 03:48pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Thin blue line..where's my tinfoil hat??!!!

    Having been extensively involved with computers sense 1964 I can say that unless the specifications are published and the programs open source there is no reason to believe this. The corporations will cheat and take shortcuts then lie about it.

    Under at least one interpretation of the DMCA Anti Cimcurvation Provisions any examination of the specs or code is illegal.

  • On the post: Tempe Police Chief Indicates The Uber Self-Driving Car Probably Isn't At Fault In Pedestrian Death

    Gerald Robinson ( profile ), 21 Mar, 2018 @ 08:24am

    The problem isn't Ai cars it's the DMCA Anti Circumvation provision. Unaudited software is dangerious. The auto companies can not be trusted to do so on their own (VW, BMW emissions faking GM, recent airbag scandal, ...).

    The only solution that seems reasonable to me is to require all Autonomous car software to only be open source with full disclosure! Otherwise, in many cases, it will be impossible to determine fault-particularly if the courts follow the bad president of not requiring full disclosure of the code and all supporting docs. Even if disclosure is required review of the code is prohibitively expensive for one person or entity. With open source many people will review the code and some even make money by publishing tweaks or collecting bounties for bugs. e.g. the remote unlock unlocks: just the drivers door, all doors, or some combination; rather than the vendors choice.

  • On the post: Censorship Creep Is Setting In As Social Media Companies Try To Stay Ahead Of European Lawmakers

    Gerald Robinson ( profile ), 16 Mar, 2018 @ 09:00am

    Hate speach

    Hate speach==speech I hate.
    These EU laws are thinly veiled attempts to penalize American companies for their success. Trump should be taking aim at these stupid laws not messing with steel and aluminum. The sad thing is that these laws make the internet less useful and effectively bar the entry of start up competition. Current attempts to grab money from these companies under the guise of fair taxation is just another anti American ploy.

  • On the post: Copyright Law And The Grenfell Fire – Why We Cannot Let Legal Standards Be Locked Up By Copyright

    Gerald Robinson ( profile ), 13 Jul, 2017 @ 10:33am

    Copyright

    Copyright was originally conceived as a mechanism for breaking guild sececry! That has long passed. Now it is for the benefit of big publishers, parasitic government, and crooks like Eesivier, Sage at al. Copyright no longer serves a purpose; rewarding authors, that is better done by Amazon and the rest of the web. It is pastime to abolish it. Most authors write because they feel compelled. Some are outstanding some horrid and many between-just read some of Amazon's free books. There is no justification of Copyright today not for DRM!

  • On the post: Latest Absurd Moral Panic: Parents Complain Amazon Echo Is Creating Rude Children

    Gerald Robinson ( profile ), 11 Jun, 2016 @ 12:15pm

    Mental illness

    This is a clear case of haplophobia "The most common manifestation of hoplophobia is the idea that instruments possess a will of their own, apart from that of their user." Most often applied to weapons but often applied to computers. Unfortunately this mental disease has a very low cure rate. Basically it is due to the inability of the person to recognize an opposing point of view as valid due "all powerful" 'Evil Object's Powers' and the attitude that social problems are susceptible to technical solution. e.g. drugs to cure drug dependence.

  • On the post: Here Comes The Waterfall: 15 MLB Teams To Lift Streaming Blackout For Fox Broadcasts

    Gerald Robinson ( profile ), 19 Aug, 2015 @ 02:38pm

    Reality

    The reality is that while Content may be king Convenience is Queen! MLB has declining attendance at games and because of that declining viewers because the cost of going to a stadium game is out of the reach of most folks (often upwards of $200 for a family of 4). This means that young folks are less interested in all the major league spors and if major league sports wants to get interest they need to be convenient as the content is less compelling. IMHO soccer will drive MLB to where it is like hockey a second tier sport. MLB in particular needs more fans and can't get them through physical attendance so it must be more convenient to watch.

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