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Comment: Sigh...fucking slashdot (Score 2, Insightful) 683

by magamiako1 (#47398519) Attached to: TSA Prohibits Taking Discharged Electronic Devices Onto Planes



Comment: Re: The eventual redefinition of "privacy" and the (Score 1) 89

by magamiako1 (#47253415) Attached to: Help Crowd-FOIA Stingray Usage Across America
That depends. What is the definition of "reasonable". In this day and age we are massively Internet connected with a great many software developers . Software dev is one of the highest paid professions today. "Big data", "cloud", "Hadoop", all are used for correlating this data.

It's reasonable to assume a LOT of people not only know they're being spied upon but are actively participating in this process.

So to me, a "reasonable" person should be able to infer they're being tracked by every thing they do online. Google and Facebook have made no attempt to hide it.

Comment: Re:The eventual redefinition of "privacy" and the (Score 4, Insightful) 89

by magamiako1 (#47251633) Attached to: Help Crowd-FOIA Stingray Usage Across America
I think you're underestimating just how easily it is to collect data on you or how much data is actually collected.

You're assuming there are many hands in the pot, so to speak. That is, the information your wife and your doctor find can be different.

What if I told you that the wife and the doctor are storing the stuff they find in the same database, and are acting as both your wife AND your doctor?

Let me ask you this question: Can you list every single company that runs the rewards programs at various retail outlets? Grocery stores? Pharmacies? Who owns who? Who was purchased by who? etc.

You can't, you ignore it, it's too complex to figure out--but I guarantee you they have already shared every bit of data on you that is humanly possible to collect. And you do it all in the name of saving $0.10 on a box of cereal.

Comment: Re:The eventual redefinition of "privacy" and the (Score -1) 89

by magamiako1 (#47251619) Attached to: Help Crowd-FOIA Stingray Usage Across America
For what it's worth, the government has yet to use any of the information to actually destroy lives, at least lives of people that it wasn't coming to. At least nobody I know has ever been negatively affected by these systems. In fact, most people around where I live, where the DOD and US Government are primary IT employers, benefit from the existence of these programs and the careers they provide in "Cyber Security" and "Information Systems".

I think you're unduly putting a lot of weight to the 'government' argument when in reality the most pressing issue for a good 80% of the populace is what can private organizations do with this data?

Comment: Re:The eventual redefinition of "privacy" and the (Score 1, Redundant) 89

by magamiako1 (#47251597) Attached to: Help Crowd-FOIA Stingray Usage Across America
Do you really think there are expenses?

A single entity can gain the contract for wireless in all of a particular operator's malls. Say, the Mills malls. That's say, 4 malls in the Maryland region for which one operator could potentially connect. The wireless operator scores a contract to install wifi. They can work out a deal where the wireless operator can work with the mall to provide coupons for various stores inside of the mall and work as a central mall hub. They can make it appear like it's helping the shopper out! "Sign up for a Mills Account to earn great deals during your shopping experience today!"

Next thing you know, this vendor is keeping tabs on your authentication to MAC address storage. Even when you visit other malls where you might not have an account in that mall, they can still track your whereabouts because hey--they have your MAC on file. Got a different phone? No big deal. As soon as you sign back in to your "Mills Account" from the new phone, the tracking starts anew with a new device.

Then start using some of those coupons...

Before you know it, they've collected a massive database of your shopping habits. AT the very least, location tracking. At worst, intimate knowledge of which stores you like to purchase from.

Let's not forget what can then be done by analysts with access to that data. Like to shop at Spencer's and Victoria's Secret? I bet you're a freaky girl in touch with her sexuality, not conservative.

Think the UNICRU test that Best Buy employed for personality-based hiring to the extreme. A complete profile that you've built for yourself through all of the websites you have visited with "SHARE THIS!" links (Even if you don't actually share it, they're tracking.)

What the hell do you think "big data" is?

Comment: Re:The eventual redefinition of "privacy" and the (Score 2) 89

by magamiako1 (#47251561) Attached to: Help Crowd-FOIA Stingray Usage Across America
This is absolutely, technically true.

However, since most people think of computing as the magic box with voodoo magic that makes my cell phone use wireless, they wrongfully assume that there's some sort of inherent "protection" of this data. What we are seeing on Internet forums everywhere are people kind of peeling back the onion layers of how the technology works and they're getting frightened by what they see.


by magamiako1 (#47251549) Attached to: Help Crowd-FOIA Stingray Usage Across America
Well, I don't necessarily separate tracking for LEO purposes (and by extension, government agencies from top to bottom) and privatized tracking for "marketing" when I think of how we should proceed with privacy laws. More importantly, it's hard to apply the "spirit" of the law when there was never really a precedent for which the laws could have even begun to apply.

If you limit the scope of your privacy arguments to Constitutional protections, you may find at one point in the next 10-20 years your employer may know every bit of your shopping, browsing, buying, and daily habits at the request of a "background check". We're not too far off from this reality, credit bureaus are already using the credit reports of your Facebook connections to adjust your credit score.

So yes, LEO may be prevented from listening to your conversation--but every person in your HR organization knows exactly the type of person you are and can build a personality profile on you, and keep track of that. And if you think "privacy settings" on Facebook mean jack shit, I've got a mean boat in the desert to sell you.

Comment: The eventual redefinition of "privacy" and the 4th (Score 4, Insightful) 89

by magamiako1 (#47251375) Attached to: Help Crowd-FOIA Stingray Usage Across America
I know a lot of people whom like to put on their tinfoil hats and cry about government surveillance at every chance, but the reality is that we have never actually defined what is or isn't private in the digital age. The Internet is an amazingly complicated set of patents, protocols, technologies, and developments over the past 30-40 years of computing.

All of this is boiling over to what exactly is considered "YOUR" information in the digital age? Nobody seems to be asking this question. What information on your digital phone device belongs to you? And what information can the company/provider share with whomever they want?

Tracking your IMEI, Wifi MAC Address, and other tools is considered part of the network operations. The providers routinely keep logs of all of this information and use it to track you for a whole host of reasons. It's correlated across the organizations that control the hot spots. Companies do this all of the time, in perhaps significantly more intrusive ways than LEO using their "stingray" system, which no doubt is something that is a targeted-type application. Whereas the LEO will utilize these systems to target specific groups, events, or behaviors--marketing companies will track you and your device until the end of time. And, at the behest of a warrant, will provide as much information on your whereabouts, shopping habits, and intimate information as quickly as they can.

Comment: Re:I can't buy one (Score 2) 377

by magamiako1 (#47250071) Attached to: Are US Hybrid Sales Peaking Already?
I didn't "hyper mile" or any of the other weird tricks that some hybrid users use. I made liberal use of cruise control except on the 10-15% mountain grades in Quebec. I maintained roughly about 65-70mph over the speed limit on all US highway driving, with 100-110km/h in Quebec.<br><br>You have to learn NOT to lead foot your car, not tailgate, and just cruise. Ease into your stops, and try to limit the stark contrasts in speed. Don't tailgate the next guy, slam your breaks until you're at 0-5, then floor it to 60 to do it again.

Comment: Re:I can't buy one (Score 2) 377

by magamiako1 (#47250011) Attached to: Are US Hybrid Sales Peaking Already?
They are a bit pricey, yes; HOWEVER, my Fusion Hybrid works out pretty well in hills without issues. Granted, hills tend to reduce the hybrid benefit going up them--but that's beside the point.<br><br>Let me give you some numbers.<br><br>I drove from Baltimore, Maryland to Quebec City, Canada last month. Not only did I drive it to Quebec City, but I drove it up into the mountains of "Parc National des Grand-Jardins" in Charlevoix, Quebec. This mountain drive took us up into the clouds and down again, with 10% grades or more. This drive also took me through the Adirondack Mountains on I-87. While the bulk of the drive was done on highway, I made a couple of hour pitstop in Jersey City, NJ; and it was mine and my buddy's commuter around Quebec City when we needed it to go to the movie theater, etc.<br><br>All in all, the 1600 mile or so round trip drive achieved 46.1 MPG. Note: I didn't reset the trip timer until I was somewhere on Route 1 in Pennsylvania (I avoided 95 for the first portion of the trip until just past Philadelphia).<br><br>http://i.imgur.com/Vv7Y8Lf.jpg is a picture of the trip stats.

Comment: Re:So there's 100 or so unimmunized? (Score 3, Insightful) 387

by magamiako1 (#47240749) Attached to: California Whooping Cough Cases "an Epidemic"
There are many reasons the flu vaccine "doesn't work", for the most part, because it's only around 80% effective to begin with. They also target specific strains that they think will be the most common in a given region. They do not target every strain of the flu out there.

So yes, 80% effective, only targeting key specific seasonal strains they think will cause the most havoc.

But, at the end of the day, it's a gamble. Do you want to take your life or the lives of loved ones at such risk? I don't get a flu vaccine, in part because I haven't had the flu in a long, long time (Colds and I, however, have problems). Also because I'm not around little kids or super elderly folks, and don't work in a hospital/doctor's office, etc. But it's a choice I make. If I were to get the flu more often, I'd probably get vaccinated.

Comment: Re:So there's 100 or so unimmunized? (Score 1, Interesting) 387

by magamiako1 (#47240709) Attached to: California Whooping Cough Cases "an Epidemic"
Ugh, I'm with you on this one. I'm allergic as well, and I have respiratory issues as-is. Just found out I'm allergic to codeine, too, this week...(I've taken it before, never had issues, but I took it this week and it did quite a number on my stomach. The next day I had been talking to my mother and said I was taking codeine and she said "You need to watch that, your aunt and uncle can't take it as it gave them severe stomach issues."

Thanks mom...

Comment: Re:Rebooting is not a fix (Score 1) 136

by magamiako1 (#46729839) Attached to: Seven Habits of Highly Effective Unix Admins
The good news is the modern desire to 'web all the things' with stuff like ROR, PHP, Tomcat, etc; you can generally find in the code where something is an issue without having to necessarily trace system calls. You don't have quite that luxury on compiled applications. Though occasionally you could run into issues with the interpreted languages that just don't compile properly and cause problems--then you're back to the same problem...
