The General Technology Thread

[BugI02]

Yep there were quite a few alphabet agencies as well as idiots who dont understand civil liberties ranting about how awful it was that Apple wouldnt help crack iphone encryption of the San Bernadino shooters. Apple knew it would be a major security breach if they helped and put the rest of us at risk of unreasonable searches. Whats next?

I read a bit recently about so called 'geofencing' subpoenas ramping, where police agencies short of other leads on a crime subpoena metadata about what phones etc were in the area of the scene around the time of the crime

IMO too new to have been seriously tested via the courts, police agencies of course interpretting it as legal because data doesn't have personally identifying information - at least not until they identify an 'account of interest' and go after the personal data

Would seem to have major fourth amendment issues

 

[DoggyDaddy]

So you are in favor of the government being able to see all Internet communication to possibly try to catch some people sharing kiddie porn?

That is right there with the that was in the "Patriot" Act. I am not in favor in giving them any more power to surveil the people in this country. Not for kiddie porn, not for drugs, and not for terrorists.

Hence my "slippery slope" disclaimer. What's your solution for going after those that deal in kiddie porn and the like?

 

[maxwelhse]

I read a bit recently about so called 'geofencing' subpoenas ramping, where police agencies short of other leads on a crime subpoena metadata about what phones etc were in the area of the scene around the time of the crime

IMO too new to have been seriously tested via the courts, police agencies of course interpretting it as legal because data doesn't have personally identifying information - at least not until they identify an 'account of interest' and go after the personal data

Would seem to have major fourth amendment issues

Not that I'm into any nefarious activities, but this kind of thing is exactly why I won't own a phone that I can't remove the battery and SIM from or a car with any integrated telemetry. I don't even trust automatic transmissions to make good decisions...

 

[KLB]

Hence my "slippery slope" disclaimer. What's your solution for going after those that deal in kiddie porn and the like?

The same way they have been. I am not willing to give up my rights/privacy to enable to government to try to catch any kind of bad guy.

Technologies biggest downside is the control it gives the .gov over its citizens. We are headed for a dystopian future where technology gives governments the ability to watch and control their citizens lives. I'd like to delay that as long as possible.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

The same way they have been. I am not willing to give up my rights/privacy to enable to government to try to catch any kind of bad guy.

Technologies biggest downside is the control it gives the .gov over its citizens. We are headed for a dystopian future where technology gives governments the ability to watch and control their citizens lives. I'd like to delay that as long as possible.

Point taken. I just can't stand kiddie diddlers. (Not big on terrorists either.) But yeah, you do have a good point.

 

[jkaetz]

Hence my "slippery slope" disclaimer. What's your solution for going after those that deal in kiddie porn and the like?

It's not about kiddy porn or terrorism, it's about being able to read/hear/see everyone's communications. Those are simply the trumpets that are sounded because they gain the most support and if someone doesn't agree with the proposed laws they can be labeled as supporters of those illicit activities.

 

[Phase2]

It's not about kiddy porn or terrorism, it's about being able to read/hear/see everyone's communications. Those are simply the trumpets that are sounded because they gain the most support and if someone doesn't agree with the proposed laws they can be labeled as supporters of those illicit activities.

Another instance of this technique is: We must confiscate your guns because some people use them to commit crimes. Or the NRA supports terrorism.

 

[wtburnette]

It's not about kiddy porn or terrorism, it's about being able to read/hear/see everyone's communications. Those are simply the trumpets that are sounded because they gain the most support and if someone doesn't agree with the proposed laws they can be labeled as supporters of those illicit activities.

Yep, same as the old "think of the children" refrain that we've all heard for years.

 

[actaeon277]

Course, now I can't find the video.
Some idiot out there is complaining that "gamers" need to cut back, or game at night, because they are stealing bandwidth from people trying to watch movies.
Of course, the guys articles showed that all he seemed to do, was be a Hollywood shill.

What an idiot.
Video uses A LOT more bandwidth than games.

 

[Phase2]

Facebook Lowers Video Quality In Latin America, Following Europe

On Sunday, the world's largest social network followed the steps of Netflix, Alphabet's YouTube, Amazon and Walt Disney in response to a call by the European Union to stave off internet gridlock as thousands of people work from home due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Networks are getting overloaded. Netflix (the largest bandwidth hog) and other video services may have to force lower resolution to keep things moving.

 

[maxwelhse]

Facebook Lowers Video Quality In Latin America, Following Europe



Networks are getting overloaded. Netflix (the largest bandwidth hog) and other video services may have to force lower resolution to keep things moving.

ISPs were asking Netflix not to stream in 4K in the US like 2 weeks ago.

In Europe they just upped the compression (one of my beefs with streaming replacing physical, but that's a different point) by 25% for the next 30 days.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51968302

 

[JettaKnight]

We've had trouble connecting to Netflix for a couple of weeks, I assume this is why.


I guess I'll stick with stuff on my NAS box for a while.

 

[Phase2]

Yup. Its starting to happen here as well now:

YouTube to Limit Video Quality Around the World for a Month

 

[maxwelhse]

Max laughs as he sits on a pile of 3000+ physical discs...

 

[JettaKnight]

Reminds me of an old Onion article:
Hollywood Refusing To Give Public Any New Movies Until It Can Appreciate Ones It Already Has

The statement indicated that Hollywood wouldn’t even consider making any new movies until viewers demonstrated sincere gratitude for the many cinematic achievements they had already been presented with, including the three-minute, 20-second tracking shot that opens Touch Of Evil, the use of Richard Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra in 2001: A Space Odyssey, the enigmatic ending of The Graduate, and the entire running time of Robert Altman’s Nashville.

 

[jedi]

Max laughs as he sits on a pile of 3000+ physical discs...

Here, here!!!

People would laugh at me for having DVDs when you can just ssssttrrrrreeeeaaammmmm.

Suckers! Who is laughing now!

 

[maxwelhse]

Here, here!!!

People would laugh at me for having DVDs when you can just ssssttrrrrreeeeaaammmmm.

Suckers! Who is laughing now!

The best part will be when I finally get off my butt with another of my projects and rip them all down to digital, but local digital. I've got a 7 drive duplicator tower loaded up with 4 DVD drives and 3 BD drives plus 16TB of HDDs ready to go. All via a USB 3.0 connection. Just plug it in and fire away.

Netflix... Pffft... King King ain't got s*** on me!

 

[Phase2]

Yup. Its starting to happen here as well now:

YouTube to Limit Video Quality Around the World for a Month

Akamai To Slow Video Game Downloads To Minimize Internet Congestion
Akamai is a tech company that helps other large web services deliver their information more quickly around the world. Looks like some large downloadable games will be throttled during the day and only download at full speed during off-hours.

Expect to see more and more of these announcements. The intertubes weren't designed for such rapid growth of data usage and they are doing what they can to keep things flowing at a reasonable rate. If we end up doing a lot more online education, working from home, etc., in the long term, that will drive a lot of additional upgrades.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Here, here!!!

People would laugh at me for having DVDs when you can just ssssttrrrrreeeeaaammmmm.

Suckers! Who is laughing now!

I need to show this story to my family. They think I'm nuts because I wont buy digital copies, only physical. (that I then rip to a local digital copy for my streaming server)

I was always concerned about losing purchases due to streaming provider closing, no internet during a snowstorm, recall, etc. On the last one, there were incidents of e-books being taken away after the fact due to some issue that I dont recall. People were pretty salty over that. You dont want me watching a movie I purchased? Cold dead fingers...

And I'm OK with them not streaming HD. Not a necessity.

 

[maxwelhse]

I need to show this story to my family. They think I'm nuts because I wont buy digital copies, only physical. (that I then rip to a local digital copy for my streaming server)

I was always concerned about losing purchases due to streaming provider closing, no internet during a snowstorm, recall, etc. On the last one, there were incidents of e-books being taken away after the fact due to some issue that I dont recall. People were pretty salty over that. You dont want me watching a movie I purchased? Cold dead fingers...

And I'm OK with them not streaming HD. Not a necessity.

The eBooks thing I think was a licensing issue. The fun part is the heavily impacts video games. Even if you buy physical, they can (and do) install a patch to remove functionality at any time in the future. This has obliterated the soundtracks to several very popular games (the entire Grand Theft Auto series, for instance).

So... even physical copies won't save you all the time.