Mike Acker 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (42) comment rss

  • On the post: Hey Mark Zuckerberg: Don't Lock Down Everyone's Data, Open It Up To Services That Give Your Users More Control Over Their Data

    Mike Acker ( profile ), 24 Mar, 2018 @ 04:01am

    a wakeup call, --perhaps?

    methinks this, like a summer shower, will blow over and Big Corporations will continue doing what they do.

  • On the post: Consumer Broadband Privacy Protections Are Dead

    Mike Acker ( profile ), 29 Mar, 2017 @ 05:15am

    Also Read:

    Felony charges for 2 who secretly filmed Planned Parenthood

    reference

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/felony-charges-2-secretly-filmed-planned-parenthood-020232055.html


    gov't tyranny becomes more and more blantant every year.

  • On the post: Tim Berners-Lee Endorses DRM In HTML5, Offers Depressingly Weak Defense Of His Decision

    Mike Acker ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2017 @ 05:09am

    analyzer

    makes me kinda think maybe i should not have taken that old 386 'puter my daughter gave me to the recycle place

    we still have a couple boxes with older AMD Phenom II's in 'em

  • On the post: Tim Berners-Lee Endorses DRM In HTML5, Offers Depressingly Weak Defense Of His Decision

    Mike Acker ( profile ), 01 Mar, 2017 @ 02:50pm

    Re: Re: Re: no way

    "no independent checking"

    true

    still it is possible to route the internet connection through an analyzer and that would reveal at least a traffic analysis

    the extra traffic -- if any -- would certainly be encrypted and there would certainly be serious resistance to full disclosure.

    interesting topic

  • On the post: Tim Berners-Lee Endorses DRM In HTML5, Offers Depressingly Weak Defense Of His Decision

    Mike Acker ( profile ), 01 Mar, 2017 @ 02:00pm

    Re: Re: no way

    thanks for the info

    question though-- are you referencing the Ubuntu versions -- or also the Debian based Mint?

    I only run the Debian base ( LMDE/2 )

  • On the post: Tim Berners-Lee Endorses DRM In HTML5, Offers Depressingly Weak Defense Of His Decision

    Mike Acker ( profile ), 01 Mar, 2017 @ 12:55pm

    no way

    no way in H3LL will i allow a drm "blob" on any of my systems.

    it is unlikely that the FOSS community will go along with building their DRM programming into the FOSS browsers

    ( Linux/Mint user )

  • On the post: Legal Threats By Charles Harder & Shiva Ayyadurai Targeting More Speech

    Mike Acker ( profile ), 26 Jan, 2017 @ 10:55am

    History of e/mail

    http://www.nethistory.info/History%20of%20the%20Internet/email.html

    excerpt

    Ray Tomlinson is credited with inventing email in 1972

  • On the post: WhatsApp Finishes Rolling Out End-To-End Encryption; Now Covers Group Messages, Media

    Mike Acker ( profile ), 06 Apr, 2016 @ 05:15am

    Intel Management Engine

    the security battle is shifting into the firmware

    AMD has this too: Platform Security Processor

    stuff is related to UEFI

    it will appear in ARM as sure as sunrise as various commercial and government interests will hike through hell before they give up access to, and control over computers and networks

  • On the post: Apple Tells Court That The DOJ Is Lying About It Advertising The Fact That Encryption Keeps Out Law Enforcement

    Mike Acker ( profile ), 16 Mar, 2016 @ 01:43pm

    important read

    http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/03/fbi-v-apple-is-a-security-and-privacy-issue-what-about-civil-rights/

    something about "the right of the people peaceably to assemble"

  • On the post: Senator John McCain Weighs In On 'Going Dark' Debate — Insists That He Understands Cryptography Better Than Cryptographers

    Mike Acker ( profile ), 09 Feb, 2016 @ 10:53am

    homework

    anyone who thinks surveillance is about fighting terrorism and protecting the people needs to do their home work.

    suggested start

    http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/dhs-isis-destroy-records/2016/02/06/id/713047/

    the control of information has always been about protecting the organization -- whether that be a corporation or a government. the real target is unwanted exposure. in the case of government this refers to dissidents .

  • On the post: Prosecutors Argue Cell Site Location Data Is Something Every User Shares With 'The Rest Of The World'

    Mike Acker ( profile ), 05 Feb, 2016 @ 02:43pm

    Illegal on any level

    the "stingray" is illegal on any level: it is unlawful interference with licensed radio communications

  • On the post: ACLU, EFF Join Fight To Suppress Evidence Illegally Obtained With A Cell Tower Spoofer

    Mike Acker ( profile ), 08 Jan, 2016 @ 10:35am

    interfereing with radio

    last i knew interfering with legal radio communications would get you in serious trouble with the FCC

    where is Charlie on this issue anyhow ?

  • On the post: Second OPM Hack Revealed: Even Worse Than The First

    Mike Acker ( profile ), 15 Jun, 2015 @ 05:45am

    Much worse than Edward Snowden affair

    the OPM disaster is MUCH worse than the Edward Snowden affair. Snowden only exposed illegal government activity -- much like Watergate -- which we now regard as an heroic action.

    OPM is a REAL disaster

    as far as China and Russia having Ed Snowden data: if they did they sure wouldn't let you know about it. The latest on Ed Snowden is just static to help cover up the OPM mess

    hot mess, make that

  • On the post: Law Enforcement's Cluelessness On Display In Congressional Hearing On Undermining Encryption

    Mike Acker ( profile ), 30 Apr, 2015 @ 03:13pm

    yelling and screaming -- of course

    everyone familiar with cryptography knows: it is critical to government or military that the opposition thinks their cryptography is effective when in fact it is not.

    don't listen to the government. work on the math.

  • On the post: Amazon Quietly Bricked Jailbroken Kindle Devices Last Year

    Mike Acker ( profile ), 24 Mar, 2015 @ 12:04pm

    this is a nasty trend

    hopefully we will see more BLANK devices for sale at NewEgg.
    I see some nasty rumors that MSFT wants to remove the option to switch UEFI off. the next step of course is to use the keys to control what o/s you are allowed to install.
    I don't think they will get too far

  • On the post: Why Even Justified Criticisms Of GNU Privacy Guard Miss The Point

    Mike Acker ( profile ), 05 Mar, 2015 @ 03:09pm

    a signature which can be recognized, but not faked

    this thought is from Whitfield Diffie -- as expressed in his tesimony on behalf of NewEgg v TQP Holdings

    to do business in a digital network world we need a means by which we can authenticate a document in public and at the same time retain personal control over the means of doing that

    For example: the IRS should expect you so offer a digital signature on your 1040 -- and if you don't -- or if an invalid signature is offered -- the the form would be rejected as invalid . this programming could be included with tax software; all the user would need to do is enter his|her passphrase for the signature just before the submit is transmitted

    the same thinking is applicable to transmittals of any importance,-- software, e/mail, online commerce,... the Thunderbird eMail client provides an excellent interface th GPG -- in the ENIGMAIL plug-in .

    x.509 certificates would be a lot better -- if they were distributed with only marginal trust -- you would need to countersign just the ones you actually needed to use

    local services such as credit unions should become involved in authenticating personal user keys and getting them uploaded to help with this

    the thing that should be totally obvious is: if we continue business into the future on the same basis that we have used in the recent past -- hackers will make fools of us all.

  • On the post: Encryption Backdoors Will Always Turn Around And Bite You In The Ass

    Mike Acker ( profile ), 04 Mar, 2015 @ 11:37am

    re: "the don't get it"

    ="Let's repeat that last line, because it still seems that the powers that be don't get it: "

    IMHO the understand it perfectly. and, as the song says "as soon as one door closes another door will open"

    and so the game of whack a mole continues ad nauseum. another "sophisticated" (my ass) attack . another CVE. and then another patch, and another door is opened.

    the business model of the internet is surveillance. i think this was noted by Bruce Schneier recently, if memory serves. and this is exploited by commercial interests, government, and crooks alike. Truly "a fool's paradise".

    Open source should help. I hope. I use it, anyway.

  • On the post: We Now Know The NSA And GCHQ Have Subverted Most (All?) Of The Digital World: So Why Can't We See Any Benefits?

    Mike Acker ( profile ), 28 Feb, 2015 @ 04:06pm

    Re: It's Obvious

    good post. surveillance as carried out by governments is to identify dissidents: opposition to power.

    this is why governments censor or suppress communication. it is why we have a First Amendment.

  • On the post: Verizon At Least Shows It Has A Sense Of Humor About Net Neutrality, Even If It's Incapable Of Respecting It

    Mike Acker ( profile ), 27 Feb, 2015 @ 08:13am

    ad novitam fallacy

    verizon is essentially presenting a fallacy know as argument ad novitam: claiming x is right because it is new.

    the opposite is also a fallacy: contending something is right because it's old.

    experience is a better basis for evaluating any proposition.

    our experience is that monopolies need to be regulated.

    cable broadband clearly qualifies,-- we don't want 5 sets of cables handing on the poles.

    this is and will continue to be a contentious issue.

    Here in Michigan the Title II rule will bring broadband under the purview of the Michigan Public Service Commission -- which will give us a channel in which to resolve service issues -- a bit more effective than getting called an a-hole by some a-hole company.

  • On the post: A Bit Late, But Lenovo CTO Admits The Company Screwed Up

    Mike Acker ( profile ), 22 Feb, 2015 @ 09:13am

    Superphish

    Torvalds notes (p.95) of "Just for Fun" "If money was to get involved things would get murky. If you don't let money enter the picture you won't have greedy people".

    greedy people we got and the lust to get adverts and recons into everyone's computer is stunningly vicious

    I ran across this in a blog post today

    oldschoolh4ck3r
    Welcome to the brave new world, where industries and governments collude to dissolve privacy and establish a digital battlefield. Deep-pocketed agencies can fund corporations towards their agendas of tainting technology in their favor, all the while pointing the finger at software 'bugs'. We're in a lot of trouble.

    OpenSource and FSF software is the "Last Best Hope" for privacy and security

    IMHO

Next >>