Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions

[Formfiller]

Crazy thread on Techbroil with a Microsoft employee apparently:

http://www.techbroil.com/2013/12/merry-christmas.html?showComment=1388609591251#c1432342518922817001

All that drama is about the "temp"-directory in Windows.

MS employees are surely persistent, as seen with their W8 shilling.

[jaclaz]

Back to the usual Off-Topic , the new middle age (in the sense of barriers preventing the exchange of information and culture) is coming to the UK:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/03/david-cameron-internet-porn-filter-censorship-creep

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/12/camerons-internet-filter-goes-far-beyond-porn-and-was-always-plan

The actual "available settings" are IMNSHO:

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/46809/kw/parental%20controls/c/346,6679,6680/related/1

besides being "too generic", also seriously outdated/out of the world, I mean, if "Nudity":

This category will block sites that contain full or partial nudity. The content blocked will not be necessarily be of a sexual nature. This will include sites where the main purpose is to advertise or sell lingerie, intimate apparel, or swimwear.

is ON, a British kid won't be able to see this page (please note how the word "bondage" is in the url address, which is a pejorative , most probably including it into "Pornography" as well):

http://www.swimmer.com.au/funkita-form-black-bondage-split-strap-one-piece-swimsuit.htm

or this one (which has "skull and bones" which would probably be included also in "Obscene and Tasteless"):

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/lidia-skull-bones-swimsuit-id_8270651.html

but will be able (of course) to see this one:

http://www.swimbritain.co.uk/whats-involved/

which could actually deliver a message vaguely reminiscent of pedopornography

Now, anyone may argue that good ol' p0rn should be blocked to protect the innocent , but the issue here is where exactly is the limit to be placed,

http://adrianshort.org/2013/12/22/some-websites-should-be-unblockable/

jaclaz

[TELVM]

Back to the usual Off-Topic , the new middle age (in the sense of barriers preventing the exchange of information and culture) is coming to the UK:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/03/david-cameron-internet-porn-filter-censorship-creep

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/12/camerons-internet-filter-goes-far-beyond-porn-and-was-always-plan

"It's for the common good, it's for our security. They're just censoring depraved things after all, ain't them? ..."

Edited January 4, 2014 by TELVM

[jaclaz]

"It's for the common good, it's for our security. They're just censoring depraved things after all, ain't them? ..."

Yep ,

They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

jaclaz

[JorgeA]

The detailed numbers follow ...

As always reading the data, even if already smoothed/adjusted/whatever, gives some insight.

Who can now negate the great success of the April 2013 "Run your NT" initiative?

Windows NT was in April 2013 a 0.11% (a dramatic 57% increase from March 2013 0.07%) and ramped up to an astounding 0.22% (please read it as a 300% increase) in May 2013!

BUT let's take Dec 2012 "ALL Windows data":

0.00+1.72+0.05+0.01+45.11+5.67+39.08+0.04+0.04+0.00+0.00+0.00+0.00=91.72%

vs. Dec 2013:

3.60+6.89+0.00+0.00+47.52+3.61+28.98+0.03+0.09+0.00+0.00+0.00+0.00=90.72%

I.e. in one year MS Operating System (according to those data which BTW place Linux going from 1.19 to 1.73%) lost globally 1.00 % of "share".

That is evidently a success of the MS marketing strategies, and a clear sign of the appreciation that customers have for their products .

jaclaz

As usual , yove've done a fantastic job of analysis the numbers. Very nice.

More evidence that Microsoft's strategy of pushing its users into a mobile platform hasn't exactly been a resounding success.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Crazy thread on Techbroil with a Microsoft employee apparently:

http://www.techbroil.com/2013/12/merry-christmas.html?showComment=1388609591251#c1432342518922817001

All that drama is about the "temp"-directory in Windows.

MS employees are surely persistent, as seen with their W8 shilling.

The conversation (from that point) was civil and reasonable until the guy jumped in with sarcasm and name-calling. I guess they figure they can't win based on facts or logic, so they yell really loudly and insult their opponents. In my book, that's an automatic disqualification and loss.

--JorgeA

Edited January 5, 2014 by JorgeA

[JorgeA]

NSA won't say whether it spies on Congress

Not even elected officials are safe from the snoops!

The permanent (and growing) bureaucracy is setting itself up for longterm domination of society by collecting as much actionable data it can, not only on citizens but also on the people who would be in the best position to rein them in -- members of the legislature. Because no one is perfect, at some point the NSA's growing databases will mean that everyone will be vulnerable either to blackmail that keeps him quiet, or to "exposure" that ruins him politically.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Metro madness infects another major software vendor.

Whomever decided windows on the desktop should have no borders and look entirely different from the system theme (however bad Microsoft made it) should be demoted, IMO.

+1
But I think this is going to be a requirement from Microsoft going forward, especially if Microsoft eventually requires any program be installed through the Microsoft store.

Norton/Symantec has gone this way too, so maybe there is something to the idea it's Microsoft who's pushing it. Certainly customers haven't been clamoring for their interfaces to be uglified and dumbed down.

An idea that is entirely too reasonable:

Avast and other vendors should deal with this problem by having two versions of their product, one for the horrible Win 8 and touch screens and one for Windows 7 users who use a mouse and keyboard and need / want granularity and appropariate stale / themes. Avast had better get used to the idea that Win 7 users are going to be around until at leat 2020 and will go to another product who fulfills their needs if Avast cannot.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

The reasons for puttin' your stuff online just keep getting better and better:

Facebook Sued Over Alleged Scanning of Private Messages

Facebook Inc. (FB) was sued over allegations it systematically intercepts its users private messages on the social network and profits by sharing the data with advertisers and marketers.

When users compose messages that include links to a third-party website, Facebook scans the content of the message, follows the link and searches for information to profile the message-sender’s Web activity, violating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and California privacy and unfair competition laws, according to the suit.

The practice compromises privacy and undermines Facebook’s promise of “unprecedented” security options for its messaging function, two Facebook users said in the complaint filed in federal court in San Jose, California.

Now normally I am more concerned about government snooping than about private company snooping: a private company "threatens" to offer to sell me something I might want, whereas a government can arrest me or worse. But then company tracking data can be subpoenaed by government and then used against me, which is why I've always said that the only safe online data is that which doesn't exist (i.e., no tracking). The following piece shows me that I've been excessively incautious in my assessment, as any more not even a subpoena is necessary --

NSA uses Google cookies to pinpoint targets for hacking

The National Security Agency is secretly piggybacking on the tools that enable Internet advertisers to track consumers, using "cookies" and location data to pinpoint targets for government hacking and to bolster surveillance.

The agency's internal presentation slides, provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, show that when companies follow consumers on the Internet to better serve them advertising, the technique opens the door for similar tracking by the government. The slides also suggest that the agency is using these tracking techniques to help identify targets for offensive hacking operations.

For years, privacy advocates have raised concerns about the use of commercial tracking tools to identify and target consumers with advertisements. The online ad industry has said its practices are innocuous and benefit consumers by serving them ads that are more likely to be of interest to them.

[...]

According to the documents, the NSA and its British counterpart, GCHQ, are using the small tracking files or "cookies" that advertising networks place on computers to identify people browsing the Internet. The intelligence agencies have found particular use for a part of a Google-specific tracking mechanism known as the “PREF” cookie. These cookies typically don't contain personal information, such as someone's name or e-mail address, but they do contain numeric codes that enable Web sites to uniquely identify a person's browser.

In addition to tracking Web visits, this cookie allows NSA to single out an individual's communications among the sea of Internet data in order to send out software that can hack that person's computer. The slides say the cookies are used to "enable remote exploitation," although the specific attacks used by the NSA against targets are not addressed in these documents.

[emphasis added]

One small bit of relief regarding this particular practice is that it's not (yet) a tool for continuous mass surveillance:

The NSA's use of cookies isn't a technique for sifting through vast amounts of information to find suspicious behavior; rather, it lets NSA home in on someone already under suspicion - akin to when soldiers shine laser pointers on a target to identify it for laser-guided bombs.

Check out the whole piece for additional angles and all the gory details.

Finally, chew on this:

NSA seeks to build quantum computer that could crack most types of encryption

In room-size metal boxes, secure against electromagnetic leaks, the National Security Agency is racing to build a computer that could break nearly every kind of encryption used to protect banking, medical, business and government records around the world.

According to documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the effort to build “a cryptologically useful quantum computer” — a machine exponentially faster than classical computers — is part of a $79.7 million research program titled, “Penetrating Hard Targets.” Much of the work is hosted under classified contracts at a laboratory in College Park.

[...]

A working quantum computer would open the door to easily breaking the strongest encryption tools in use today, including a standard known as RSA, named for the initials of its creators. RSA scrambles communications, making them unreadable to anyone but the intended recipient, without requiring the use of a shared password. It is commonly used in Web browsers to secure financial transactions and in encrypted e-mails. RSA is used because of the difficulty of factoring the product of two large prime numbers. Breaking the encryption involves finding those two numbers. This cannot be done in a reasonable amount of time on a classical computer.

[...]

Experts think that one of the largest hurdles to breaking encryption with a quantum computer is building a computer with enough qubits, which is difficult given the very fragile state of quantum computers. By the end of September, the NSA expected to be able to have some basic building blocks, which it described in a document as “dynamical decoupling and complete quantum control on two semiconductor qubits.”

“That’s a great step, but it’s a pretty small step on the road to building a large-scale quantum computer,” Lloyd said.

A quantum computer capable of breaking cryptography would need hundreds or thousands more qubits than that.

Our debt of gratitude to Edward Snowden grows on a daily basis.

--JorgeA

[Monroe]

This is interesting ... remember the stories awhile back about the spook place being built in CA and how much water and electricity it needed to operate. Some people want to shut the supply off ... like that will happen but maybe there is hope for one "last stand".

I agree with you JorgeA on your comment ... Our debt of gratitude to Edward Snowden grows on a daily basis.

California Legislators Introduce Bill To Banish NSA

Bipartisan duo wants to cut NSA's utilities, ban research at state schools and impose sanctions on contractors

By Steven Nelson

January 7, 2014

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/01/07/california-legislators-introduce-bill-to-banish-nsa

A bipartisan team of California state senators introduced legislation Monday that would prohibit the state and its localities from providing "material support" to the National Security Agency.

If the bill becomes law, it would deny NSA facilities access to water and electricity from public utilities, impose sanctions on companies trying to fill the resulting void and outlaw NSA research partnerships with state universities.

Companies with state contracts also would be banned from working with the NSA.

"I agree with the NSA that the world is a dangerous place," state Sen. Ted Lieu, the bill's Democratic co-author, said in a statement. "That is why our founders enacted the Bill of Rights. They understood the grave dangers of an out-of-control federal government."

Lieu said the NSA's surveillance programs pose "a clear and present danger to our liberties."

"The last time the federal government massively violated the U.S. Constitution," he said, "over 100,000 innocent Americans were rounded up and interned."

State Sen. Joel Anderson, a Republican, is Lieu's co-author. The California state senate has 40 members.

"I support this bill because I support the Constitution, our Fourth Amendment rights and our freedoms to live in the United States of America," Anderson said.

also ... from December

New Legislation Would Ban NSA From Arizona

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/12/09/new-legislation-would-ban-nsa-from-arizona

State senator says 'the NSA isn't welcome in Arizona unless it follows the Constitution'

...

Edited January 7, 2014 by duffy98

[MagicAndre1981]

Win8.1 will get a larger Update later this year.

http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-81-spring-update-screenshots-leak-ie11-gets-a-small-update

Let us see what it fixes.

[ricktendo]

You cant even fart without the NSA knowing

https://vine.co/v/hY2PPurVtxH

Edited January 9, 2014 by ricktendo

[jaclaz]

Now normally I am more concerned about government snooping than about private company snooping: a private company "threatens" to offer to sell me something I might want, whereas a government can arrest me or worse. But then company tracking data can be subpoenaed by government and then used against me, which is why I've always said that the only safe online data is that which doesn't exist (i.e., no tracking). The following piece shows me that I've been excessively incautious in my assessment, as any more not even a subpoena is necessary --

Have you ever seen a 1776 "continental" coin?

or a "Fugio" cent?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugio_Cent

Wouldn't there be a reason if Benjamin Franklin designed it with the words "Mind you business" on it?

Coins or more generally money were the only "mass media" available at the time, that was essentially the first "large audience" message given by the Founding Fathers to their people, it must have had some meaning.

jaclaz

Edited January 9, 2014 by jaclaz

[Monroe]

Very interesting about the 1776 Continental Coin ... I never knew that. So what did old Ben really have in mind ... good question. I can see it having two meanings ... but I don't want to touch on politics, even from over 200 years ago.

These coins or the logo should be minted again !

[jaclaz]

... but I don't want to touch on politics, even from over 200 years ago.

Well, I thought more along the "philosophical" or "historical" side of it, as in "history repeats itself":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historic_recurrence

This document has always been for me a very interesting reading :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence

jaclaz