Links
The $8 key that can open New York City to terrorists ◆
Sure. Master keys that open millions of locks are fine.
Easily secured and never at risk of compromise or misuse.
Obama tells tech community to solve encryption problem now or pay later ◆
Disappointed in President Obama. From the Verge’s coverage of his appearance at SXSW:
“If your argument is strong encryption no matter what, and we can and should in fact create black boxes, that I think does not strike the kind of balance we have lived with for 200, 300 years. And it’s fetishizing our phones above every other value. That can’t be the right answer. I suspect the answer is going to come down to how do we create a system where the encryption is as strong as possible, the key is as secure as possible, it is accessible by the smallest number of people possible, on a subset of issues we deem is important.”
His suggestions are “compromise security now” or “be forced to compromise security in the future”.
He’s either poorly informed, or doesn’t believe in citizens’ rights to absolute security.
No one ever thinks “let’s ban shredders or fire” so criminals can’t destroy evidence.
They don’t say “let’s force safe makers to make safes that make it possible to open them”.
And no one ever says “let’s force people to tell us what’s in their head”.
Well, perhaps that’s all not yet.
Apple Should Own The Term “Warrant Proof” ◆
If you study our state laws, federal laws, and international treaties, you’ll see many examples of intellectual property that actually are protected against warrants. Yes, there are things in this country that are deemed warrant proof.
[…]
is that our country recognizes many laws and international treaties that support the concept of warrant proof as a valid concept. It is not only well within Apple’s rights to produce a product that happens to be warrant-proof, but it’s actually Apple’s responsibility to create a product that’s capable of enforcing the highest level of security permitted by our country’s laws… not the lowest. Apple is well within not only their rights, but in practices that support and place appropriate locks consistent with the levels of privacy our country recognizes. These products protect everyone – diplomats, doctors, journalists, as well as all of us. Of course they should be this secure. If our own country recognizes warrant proof as a thing, of course our technology should too.
Good idea for future marketing from Apple: Our devices are warrent proof.
I liked it so much, I registered the domain name and pointed it to that article).
What Trump Supporters Believe Will Happen If He Doesn’t Win ◆
Of greatest concern to me is how cheerful they all seem in spouting their opinions.
Well, except for the guy who thinks slavery should still be thing. He wisely covered his face.
I mean, why embarass yourself, right?
Can The Washington Post guess your age and income, based solely on the apps on your phone? ◆
No.
(Adding “Pinterest” to my otherwise “male, 35+” profile makes me “female”. I know Pinterest is primarily used by women, but really?)
Mitt Romney and John McCain Denounce Donald Trump as a Danger to Democracy ◆
New York Times:
A divided Republican Party erupted into open and bitter warfare on Thursday as its two previous presidential nominees delivered an extraordinary rebuke of its current front-runner, Donald J. Trump, warning that his election could put the United States and its democratic system in peril.
Absolutely one of the weirdest things I’ve seen in politics.
The Republican Party is in complete disarray.
One side is railing against the establishment and backing a completely unqualified candidate.
The other side is terrified the party has gone too far to the right.
I never thought I’d see the day when Mitt Romney and John McCain appeared moderate and reasonable.
Maybe Trump really is a Uniter.
McSweeney’s Internet Tendency: List: Let Me Translate My Emails for You. ◆
It’s like the author was sitting over my shoulder the last couple of months.
Grease Live director calling camera shots is as impressive as the show itself ◆
One of Grease Live’s Associate Directors posted a brief video showing her calling the show shots. People often think about how hard the actors/dancers/singers had to work in front of the camera, and forget that there’s a whole other world behind the camera, who have just as much rehearsal and choreography.
I was impressed by what Grease Live managed to accomplish, even though there were several things that made me cringe, as a big fan of the 1978 movie. Just lots of beats and reactions that I’m so used to that didn’t happen in the live version.
I know, you can’t reproduce that moment in film when you’re doing a live TV show, but so much of what was done in the live show seems like it was meant to be a remake of the movie that when something didn’t hit the expected beats, it stood out even more.
But I did enjoy the live show; it was both technically and creatively interesting, and probably the best of the live musicals that have been popping up over the last few years.
Sprint installs MDM profiles on new iPhones without customer permission ◆
Hey @sprint @sprintcare, what’s up with sprint installing MDM profile on a new iPhone 6s at the store?
Twitter is blowing up over this, and Sprint seems incapable of understanding the issue.
Mobile Device Management (MDM) profiles are usually installed by companies managing a large number of devices and allow them to control and configure them (for example, to turn off certain features like, or to automatically add email accounts). There’s no real reason for an MDM profile to be installed by Sprint on a personal device.
Sketchy.
On top of that, Sprint seems clueless about the issue, and their responses on Twitter are—at best—tone deaf, and in fact seem actively obfuscatory, like they’re trying to hide something. Many people are accusing Sprint of using response-bots, and it’s not hard to see why customers would think that.