Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Chilean Miner Copyrights Note Announcing Trapped Miners Were OK

    Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) ( profile ), 22 Oct, 2010 @ 11:16am

    Story = $

    So some writer, at the beginning of fiasco before the miners were saved, was already thinking of what a great story this would make and how much money he could make off of it.

    Huneeus, the writer said, "This phrase is a work of art," he said, "and one couldn't choose better words. Using the brain is a way of making money."

    Anybody else sick of the Chilean miner story yet?

  • On the post: Supreme Court Chief Justice Admits He Doesn't Read Online EULAs Or Other 'Fine Print'

    Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) ( profile ), 22 Oct, 2010 @ 10:03am

    It's the laws...all of them

    I think anytime you enter into a contract it is your obligation to read it. Now, is it ridiculous to have to read a 30 page contract (EULA) to use free software for twenty minutes? Probably. But how do corporations protect themselves from people who can sue them for liability on a number of issues ranging from getting your account banned to causing conflicts on any myriad of electronic devices and configurations? Maybe the justice system gives too much consideration to silly lawsuits.

  • On the post: Broken Monitor Still Under Warranty, But Samsung Won't Fix It, Because You Don't Live In Canada

    Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) ( profile ), 21 Oct, 2010 @ 06:34am

    Re: Buyer Beware

    Wow! The two different times I had problems with a Samsung product customer service treated me well. Shoot, they even replaced our digital video camera at no cost even though it was out of warranty. Of course, it has been a few years since I called...

  • On the post: Cyberwar Hype Leaps To The UK, While Electric Grid Expert Calls Claims Of Attacks 'Hooey'

    Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) ( profile ), 19 Oct, 2010 @ 12:58pm

    Re:

    So what if the 'fix' is really just the installation...?
    /tin foil hat

  • On the post: Verizon Wanted To Charge $3.50 To Pay Your Bill… Just Kidding

    Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) ( profile ), 19 Oct, 2010 @ 12:52pm

    Real reason

    These fees are basically there to the advantage of the credit card companies. For the most part you can get a card that gives you 1%-5% in points back on all purchases for whatever (miles, cash, etc.) I have found that generally 100 points is equal to $1 or 1%. If you just want to pay everything with your credit card because you get the rewards you may actually be losing (or at least a near wash) when they charge the fee. The fee discourages credit card use (if people are penny pinching) but some pay up. I am sure the actual transaction cost is not $3.50 so the company gets to skim the overage. But I can mail in a check for no fee. I am sure the cost of processing a check is much more than the cost of charging my credit card.

  • On the post: Cyberwar Hype Leaps To The UK, While Electric Grid Expert Calls Claims Of Attacks 'Hooey'

    Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) ( profile ), 19 Oct, 2010 @ 09:18am

    Re:

    Automation eliminates the need for humans. $40k of equipment can last for 10-20 years. Much less than paying someone to work...unless they are willing to work for $2k a year. But, like you said, hopefully SCADA networks are isolated from external networks.

  • On the post: Cyberwar Hype Leaps To The UK, While Electric Grid Expert Calls Claims Of Attacks 'Hooey'

    Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) ( profile ), 19 Oct, 2010 @ 09:10am

    Re: Internet not required

    stuxnet is a vulnerability found on Windows based systems that targets a Seimens control system. Seimens by far doesn't have a stronghold on power system control software. Now should stuxnet be installed on a machine, again, physical access to the network would be necessary to execute the exploit.

    Iran's nuclear facilities are supposed to be infected.

    I heard rumor that Isreal developed stuxnet to monitor Iran's nuclear facilities. I am sure a lot of governments would like to have access to Iran's nuke info (looks east toward the White House).

  • On the post: Cyberwar Hype Leaps To The UK, While Electric Grid Expert Calls Claims Of Attacks 'Hooey'

    Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) ( profile ), 19 Oct, 2010 @ 08:59am

    Re: energy grid expert

    Go back to school, learn basic electrics and then talk to the 'experts'

    How many electrics courses did you take in school? Just curious.

    Does Mike need to be an expert on something before he writes his opinion based on some industry experts research?

  • On the post: Cyberwar Hype Leaps To The UK, While Electric Grid Expert Calls Claims Of Attacks 'Hooey'

    Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) ( profile ), 19 Oct, 2010 @ 08:52am

    Re:

    The electrical grid is very robust. If a protective device fails there is usually a backup device that will perform nearly the same function. If that device fails then there is another device elsewhere that will isolate the issue. That device and its backup components would have to fail, too. And we are talking milliseconds here. Now coordinate an attack on a bunch of "small" components spread across several states, oh lets say at one hundred sites without anybody detecting. Quite an army, huh. Now we can say that these hundred sites are owned by 25 different utility companies who design their systems in different manners sometimes completely different at each site within the utility. Collecting the data and information on each site will most likely be problematic. Then, if successful, the power is out for a few hours, maybe a couple days, worst case. Customers don't think much about it (the customers served by our utility can expect to see about two outages per year). Shoot, squirrels cause most of the outages here. Wind storms cause some of the lengthier outages. Why isn't the government cracking down on mother nature?! Needless to say, I am sure the terrorists would look for a more dramatic way to reach their goal.

  • On the post: Cyberwar Hype Leaps To The UK, While Electric Grid Expert Calls Claims Of Attacks 'Hooey'

    Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) ( profile ), 19 Oct, 2010 @ 07:47am

    Re: Regulation and control

    'hear' not 'here'...sorry

  • On the post: Cyberwar Hype Leaps To The UK, While Electric Grid Expert Calls Claims Of Attacks 'Hooey'

    Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) ( profile ), 19 Oct, 2010 @ 07:46am

    Regulation and control

    I would agree that the 'cyberwar' on power stations is overstated. For the most part, networks for control systems for generator and transmission line components are physically separated from the networks that access the internet. A terrorist would have to, essentially climb a pole and splice into fiber. Not that the SCADA system would already send an alarm that you lost comm for a short time on the fiber network to which you would send a crew to investigate. You would have a much better chance of someone walking into a power plant and manually throwing breakers than someone accessing the control system and doing so. Heck, bombing one would be easier. Of course, with all the talk about "Smart" grid you will be connecting control systems to essentially a WiFi grid of meters throughout an area. There have been malware exploits that have been discovered and NERC has issued suggested mitigation steps. It does make some sense. Outages have the potential to cause a lot of financial damage not only to the industry but to businesses who are affected by the outages. It is good to have some reliability standards to help avoid unnecessary outages.

    But of course, the more horror stories we here, the more Congress wants to extend their regulatory arm to control something they know very little about. Those that benefit the most from telling the horror stories will continue to do so until they get what they want. Terrorism is used to create FUD so that we pretty much give up everything for a false sense of security.

  • On the post: Fox Extends Cablevision Blackout To Hulu… Temporarily

    Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) ( profile ), 18 Oct, 2010 @ 08:46am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Net Neutrality

    ISP = Dumb pipe
    Fox = content

    If there is no content the pipe is still doing its job.

  • On the post: Wait, So The RIAA Is Offended That Google Won't Do Work For Free?

    Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) ( profile ), 14 Oct, 2010 @ 11:04am

    Re: Waste of Resources...

    It's like YOU pointing to the monkey in a bank vault and saying "Look, there's a lot of money there"

    Wait...did you misspell monkey or money here? =p

  • On the post: Astronaut Sues Dido For Using His Photo In Album Cover

    Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) ( profile ), 06 Oct, 2010 @ 10:32am

    Re: Whe's Danny?

    Hmmm...the shot looks like it is over the ocean. Any chance you could prove you were sailing that day?

  • On the post: The Search For The Mythological Magical Business Model Bullet

    Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) ( profile ), 04 Oct, 2010 @ 11:02am

    Re: Re: Optimism...

    a silver bullet (the one thing that will solve your problem

    Wasn't Coors the silver bullet for a while in commercials?

  • On the post: Verizon Wireless To Pay $90 Million Back To Users For $1.99 Data Fees It Insisted It Never Wrongly Charged

    Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) ( profile ), 04 Oct, 2010 @ 06:33am

    Re: interest?

    If it is the interest that I have been getting on my savings account the last few years then you can forget it! (~0.14% annually...darn economy)

  • On the post: Couple Kicked Out Of Hotel After Manager Accuses Them Of Writing A Bad Review

    Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) ( profile ), 23 Sep, 2010 @ 09:47am

    My favorite bad hotel review

    I was planning a trip and was going to stop at a hotel in Cheyenne, WY. I think I found the best bad review of a hotel that I had ever seen on Trip Advisor. It is the one labeled "Danger! We feared for our lives!". There are a quite a few other gems like "The underpass was cleaner and safer" review.

  • On the post: Police In South Africa Looking To Arrest Guy For Tweeting The Location Of Speed Traps

    Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) ( profile ), 17 Sep, 2010 @ 02:21pm

    Re: Re: Re:

    warns drug dealers not to do their deal on wednesday because the cops are watching on that day

    Is it the right thing to do? Let your morals guide you. But is it illegal? No.

  • On the post: Police In South Africa Looking To Arrest Guy For Tweeting The Location Of Speed Traps

    Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) ( profile ), 17 Sep, 2010 @ 01:46pm

    Re:

    You can only be assisting a criminal if they are accused, and later found guilty. These people may be breaking the law but isn't this guy helping people obey the law? Much like the speed limit signs on the side of the FREAKING HIGHWAY!

  • On the post: Early Warning Signs: App Usage On Mobile Phones Still Not That Impressive

    Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) ( profile ), 17 Sep, 2010 @ 07:44am

    Wired's iPad lovefest

    It has been bugging me all the attention Wired gives to the iPad and their subscription app. Then they come out with articles stating the web is dead and now everybody just wants to pay for apps that give us content...says the media company who would love that source of income.

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