Rabbit80 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (145)

• On the post: Apple May Want To Protect Your Phone Data From Snooping, But It's Snarfing Up Your Local Desktop Searches

  

  Rabbit80 ( profile ), 21 Oct, 2014 @ 02:27am

  Testing by The Washington Post found that the locations revealed in Spotlight searches can be strikingly precise, placing a user within a particular building in Washington, D.C., even though the disclosure box on Spotlight refers to collecting “your approximate location."

  
  Is this the same Washington Post that thinks there is a difference between a 'Golden Key' and a backdoor?
  
  According to an Apple statement published on Ars Technica:
  

  For Spotlight Suggestions we minimize the amount of information sent to Apple. Apple doesn't retain IP addresses from users’ devices. Spotlight blurs the location on the device so it never sends an exact location to Apple. Spotlight doesn't use a persistent identifier, so a user's search history can't be created by Apple or anyone else. Apple devices only use a temporary anonymous session ID for a 15-minute period before the ID is discarded.
  
  We also worked closely with Microsoft to protect our users' privacy. Apple forwards only commonly searched terms and only city-level location information to Bing. Microsoft does not store search queries or receive users' IP addresses.

• On the post: 5 Year Old Who Drew A Gun In Crayon Forced To Sign No-Suicide Contract With School

  

  Rabbit80 ( profile ), 17 Oct, 2014 @ 07:02am

  Re: Re: Re: Re: A minor can't agree to a contract

  Where I am from, that would be in t'day (pronounced int day) not int he day!

• On the post: UN Says Mass Surveillance Violates Human Rights

  

  Rabbit80 ( profile ), 17 Oct, 2014 @ 04:28am

  Re:

  I remember when 1984 was a work of fiction, and not a instruction manual!

• On the post: Dutch IT Contractor Suggests Letting Police Have Direct Real-Time Access To All Of Your Devices… For Your Safety

  

  Rabbit80 ( profile ), 07 Oct, 2014 @ 08:10am

  Of course..

  If it is all voluntary then it is doomed from the start.. What mugger / rapist / vandal (and dare I say terrorist / paedophile) would volunteer to be tracked 24/7 and commit a crime whilst carrying all the stuff that tracks them?

• On the post: Apple's Responds To Tech Mag Showing The Amazing Bending Phone By Freezing Them Out Of Bendy Apple Products

  

  Rabbit80 ( profile ), 03 Oct, 2014 @ 08:52am

  Re: Re: Re: Did you contact Apple for a quote?

  Nope. Flexible implies that it will return to its original shape.
  
  It is more MALLEABLE!

• On the post: Apple's Responds To Tech Mag Showing The Amazing Bending Phone By Freezing Them Out Of Bendy Apple Products

  

  Rabbit80 ( profile ), 03 Oct, 2014 @ 08:22am

  Re: Getting the facts right

  The problem with these tests is that they are misleading.
  
  In the Consumer Reports test, they apply pressure evenly across the middle of the back of the device - not stressing the weakest area of the device, but most likely putting stress on the battery and the stronger side structures. Numerous videos have shown that the phone is much more easily bent if applying pressure to a localised area on the back of the device near the volume buttons.
  
  How that affects the way the phone reacts in a pocket is still unclear - however I would think in a pocket the phone could be subject to uneven pressure and twisting which could have an effect.
  
  Also unclear is how the phones react to repeated bending under much smaller pressure - since the iPhone does not have any springiness, over a period of months a much smaller pressure could lead to the same effect and result in a bent phone.

• On the post: FAA: Drones Are Okay For Hollywood, But Not Okay For Sports

  

  Rabbit80 ( profile ), 26 Sep, 2014 @ 04:55am

  Meanwhile...

  Over in Germany, the delivery service DHL has been granted permission to use fully autonomous drones to deliver parcels to an island over 7 miles away from its starting point.

• On the post: City Of London Police Turn Down Torrentfreak's FOIA Request Because It Would Take Too Long To Fulfill

  

  Rabbit80 ( profile ), 26 Aug, 2014 @ 08:09am

  Re:

  Speaking of the limit, can Torrentfreak file the same request, with the additional clause that once the work required hits the 18 hour mark, whatever's gathered so far at that point is sent over? Seems like that would be at least a passable workaround to the strict time limit imposed.

  
  
  No - TF can't do that. However, they can break down the request into lots of smaller more specific ones - the plan as far as I can tell is to ask for 'just' the electronic documents first of all and then expand upon the search from there.

• On the post: Awesome Stuff: Flying Cars, Hover Bikes And Ultrasonic Levitation

  

  Rabbit80 ( profile ), 17 Aug, 2014 @ 10:30am

  Why the hell can't we just have small, cheap personal quadcopters - much like the cheap drones you can buy? eg.. a full size one of these: http://www.brentfordrc.com/281-thickbox_default/ares-ethos-qx130-ultra-micro-rtf-quad.jpg

• On the post: Learning From History: How One Lying Liar Almost Screwed The Comic Book Industry

  

  Rabbit80 ( profile ), 08 Aug, 2014 @ 01:42pm

  Re: Re:

  You have a fair point, and my view is most likely obscured by the media - however my impression of say the early 1900's (aside from the wars) are not ones of teenagers threateninbg OAPs on street corners or breaking in and murdering them and robbing them so they could score some smack. These days, it seems almost daily!
  
  This may simply be a result of 'rose tinted specs' from the media and the OAPs I interact with daily!

• On the post: Learning From History: How One Lying Liar Almost Screwed The Comic Book Industry

  

  Rabbit80 ( profile ), 08 Aug, 2014 @ 01:32pm

  Re: Re:

  Agreed - I cannot cite evidence and this is just a viewpoint. However this is a strong impression I have and will accept it is is wrong if proven.
  
  What is the percentage of violent crime today compared to say the 1910's? How many murders or violent beatings per 100K population per annum?

• On the post: Learning From History: How One Lying Liar Almost Screwed The Comic Book Industry

  

  Rabbit80 ( profile ), 08 Aug, 2014 @ 01:01pm

  OK - many may disagree with my viewpoint, but here it is..
  
  Violence, sexual assaults and the like appear to have been on the increase since at least the last century. Why this is I have no idea - however, media - be it games, comics, video - may well have played a part in it.
  
  I don't see the fears as unfounded, although I also do not see these things as a direct causation of the problems we face.
  
  Violent video games, comics. books, movies may have an effect on people who have already got tendencies towards unbefitting behaviour, but are unlikely to be the cause - however, as the standards of what is acceptable to view are relaxed the underlying behaviour is normalised.
  
  As this process is gradual, such tendencies cannot be attributed directly to the behaviour of the individuals, however as a society these behaviours become more frequent until they are the norm.
  
  I know I might attract people clicking the 'report' button, but I feel it is a discussion worth having - why do we see more delinquents and serious crime today than we did 50 years ago?

• On the post: Behind The Veil Part 2: Let's All Look At Comcast's Customer Retention Playbook For Its Employees!

  

  Rabbit80 ( profile ), 06 Aug, 2014 @ 02:29pm

  Monty Python

  For some reason, this whole fiasco reminds me of this...
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vuW6tQ0218

• On the post: President Obama Claims CIA Torture Was Okay Because People Were Scared And The CIA Is A 'Tough Job'

  

  Rabbit80 ( profile ), 04 Aug, 2014 @ 11:34am

  I'm scared...

  ... of visiting the toilet after my flat mate has been in there. I find it very stressful and emotionally disturbing (Not to mention nauseating, asphyxiating and horrifying). Does that mean I can torture him over it?

• On the post: DRM Performs Another Miracle, Turns Purchased Childrens Books Into Nothing At All

  

  Rabbit80 ( profile ), 01 Aug, 2014 @ 11:40am

  This is Internet 101. Posts don't come down because of errors. Errors are corrected and acknowledged, but posts aren't simply removed because someone with a financial interest in the subject matter at hand thinks mistakes should result in disappearances.

  
  
  Errors happeb all thw tome and cab;t be correctwd!

• On the post: How Serious Is James Clapper About Cybersecurity When His Office Can't Even Get Its SSL Certificate Right?

  

  Rabbit80 ( profile ), 24 Jul, 2014 @ 03:38pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Erm..

  The problem as I see it with mixed content warnings is that as the average user can not tell which parts are secure and which are not, if they start seeing this warning on trusted sites they will learn to ignore the warning on any site. This ultimately leads to a less secure internet.

• On the post: How Serious Is James Clapper About Cybersecurity When His Office Can't Even Get Its SSL Certificate Right?

  

  Rabbit80 ( profile ), 24 Jul, 2014 @ 08:57am

  Re: Re: Erm..

  I never said the cert was invalid. I said "there is still a problem with SSL here on Techdirt"

• On the post: How Serious Is James Clapper About Cybersecurity When His Office Can't Even Get Its SSL Certificate Right?

  

  Rabbit80 ( profile ), 24 Jul, 2014 @ 08:56am

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Erm..

  On mine, the padlock symbol on the address bar has a warning symbol. Opera plain refuses to open the page unless I OK the warning.

• On the post: How Serious Is James Clapper About Cybersecurity When His Office Can't Even Get Its SSL Certificate Right?

  

  Rabbit80 ( profile ), 24 Jul, 2014 @ 06:55am

  Erm..

  You realise there is still a problem with the SSL here on Techdirt right?? According to Chrome there are still elements that are not secure! Opera throws an error about akamai technologies when I try to visit TD.

• On the post: Would You Compromise Your Computer For One Cent An Hour? New Study Says Many Are Happy To Do Exactly That

  

  Rabbit80 ( profile ), 26 Jun, 2014 @ 04:50am

  Can I still participate? I have a spare VM just waiting to make me money!

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