nikolak

> But check out the exact wording of the SMS/MMS Permission, and that of the Contacts one.

It's impossible to word it in any different way, no matter what you want to do with messages - even if your code is written to read message from one specific number and not even do anything with it the permission text will stay the same. This is text that was set by google.

> What honest and useful reason can Facebook have to get access to my texts?

If the author googled it he would would have noticed official facebook page that explains the permission used. It's used only to confirm your phone number - if you want to.

> Yet as I say time and time again, this has to be opt-in

Android permissions don't allow opt-in, or opt-out for that matter.

> All it wants are numbers, pure and simple, and the data that comes with these numbers to sell to the highest bidder.

Use something equivalent of privacy settings in CM, I think they're using the AppsOps (sp?) and you'll see that non of the data was even accessed let alone sold to highest bidder.

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This article is unresearched, paranoid, bullshit.

There are tools that show you when permission was last used by an app.

I've had the official facebook application installed for months and they never read the SMS messages.

Sorry, delusional about which part?

In my experience, people are more likely to hire US/UK based workers for higher paying jobs than for example Indians or people from countries. Does that happen always? No, of course not. I've had clients from a bunch of different countries. Hell, maybe I'm completely wrong - but that's how it seems to me. Maybe it's just me. I'm not excellent programmer, nor do I claim to be, maybe that's it.

As far as the part about finding work in EU goes, the biggest hurdle (that I've been told) is getting paperwork for someone without college degree.

Maybe I'm delusional, maybe I'm a shitty coder, maybe I just had bad experiences, maybe you're right. I don't know.

Oh and I'm from Bosna/Serbia - don't even get me started about getting a job that pays acceptably in those countries....

I compete with people who are willing to work for $1/hr, on freelance sites like oDesk - occasionally someone picks me so I earn few bucks to get by. If I try to charge more people usually accept workers who charge the same amount as me but are from more western countries.

Ideally I'd settle for some junior dev type of position with reasonable(read: low/acceptable) salary, but without college degree and living in Europe, but not EU (thus no work permits for those), there's small chance of that happening - I've tried and eventually gave up on that...

Oh and today I got sued by govt for failing to send in (literally) an empty paper for my previous company and I'll (most likely) have to pay an equivalent of one month american-level-salary fine. So I've got that going on in my life too, which isn't really the best situation you want to be in if you earn your money like I do...

I don't even know why I'm writing this, I don't have any tips or suggestions for you, and even if I had you can see from the above that I'm probably not the best person to give out advice. And I understand what you're saying but... things could be worse.

You at least have options: build dreams for yourself, or for others. There's nothing stopping you (as far as I can tell) from working on both your projects and/or for someone else.

This is not streaming, this is just torrenting and it includes uploading. The only difference between this and other torrent clients is that it downloads torrent files sequentially by default and opens the file as soon as you have enough data to start watching. From the FAQ:

Popcorn Time works using torrents, fair enough. Am I seeding while watching a movie?

Indeed, you are. You're going to be uploading bits and bits of the movie for as long as you're watching it on Popcorn Time.

http://getpopcornti.me/faq

Couldn't the same be said for open source torrent clients/libs which are fairly popular? I don't see anyone going after those, even though they also don't have money for legal teams.

>I feel like some sort of manual component to two-factor authentication is the whole point

It's not really. The point is to verify that the device used for 2FA is still with you, whether you entered the code manually or it got entered automatically isn't the point of the system - and in practice has no real difference (unless your 2FA app requires password for access)

>What exactly are we achieving here in terms of security?

Verifying that the phone is still using allowed SIM card/phone number.

If you switch phones you can still get the confirmation message and access your account and if needed invalidate all other sessions.

If your phone is stolen you can do the same thing. The app password caching doesn't matter then.

It is no different than 2FA app that you have on your phone except that it's more tied to your SIM card than your phone.

They're not accessing your messages unless you use it as default SMS application.

I'm not sure what you're saying exactly.

Why facebook doesn't disable it? Because people use it.

Why don't users disable/deny it? Because you can't select which permissions you want to grant to application upon installation, it's either all or nothing, even though the permissions may never be used.

And it's not really a shitty feature, the auto confirmation is pretty good - the permissions needed for it are shitty though, but they don't really have a choice other than completely disabling that part of application and having users enter the code manually.

1. This has been a thing for quite a while now, there have been numerous articles about this. This is nothing new, although it may have not rolled out to all users.

2. Facebook gives explanation of all the permissions they need, including read SMS one, here: https://www.facebook.com/help/210676372433246

3. This is more android permission issue than specifically Facebook app one. Facebook, in order to implement automatic confirmation, didn't really have a choice.

And fwiw, I use the app daily and I've had this update for at least a month and the read sms permission was never used according to various privacy tools which allow you to see, disable and view usage history of app permissions.

Until facebook starts abusing this feature/permission I don't think it's really an issue like most articles about this make it look like.

By that logic, would you agree that police should use any force necessary(beatings, etc) to cut through peaceful demonstrators and arrest those who are not peaceful, throwing Molotov's and such, because after all these peaceful protesters are just protecting those who aren't?

Further, the police in the video only hit protesters and then leave them alone. That is astonishing control.

Yeah, that definitely justifies setting someone on fire.

The protesters are just this peaceful bunch of people who would never do something like that, hurt other people who are just standing there... /s

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=959_1390672028

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuO53xeZkm8

> * It doesn't appear that the wiki even references their use against individuals so much as against vehicles.*

No need for wiki citations when you can see it clearly being used against police forces here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuO53xeZkm8

True, I didn't mean to imply that there have been deadly casualties, but that's the goal of throwing Molotov cocktail on someone. Saying that the protesters aren't using violence is wrong.

None have been killed because they have firefighters and fire extinguishers with them, doesn't change the fact that throwing Molotov cocktail into someone's face can, and probably will, kill them.

They also use Molotov cocktails to burn/kill police officers and some of them are using those air(?) guns.

You can go and work in any EU country and you're trapped!!?? Jesus Christ.

> I tried to look away, apply for a job/internship in the U.S. but the reason is always the same: visas are hell. I would do anything to get my way out.

Just a random suggestion, since you'd do anything to get out, but have you considered perhaps (I know it sounds really crazy, but hear me out) applying for jobs that aren't in US?

The money spent mining bitcoin for electricity and hardware could have been used to buy stocks.

It's not really different, for both mining bitcoins and investing in stocks you need to spend some money. You aren't issuing anything for free.

Not OP. But someone who's also in a country where an average salary would be around 3 USD per hour. If you work and charge local rates you're pretty much restricted to either saving longer time for new average, not high end, laptop or shorter time for used one. Ordering used hardware online is much cheaper because prices are much lower, but there's about 50% chance that it will be "caught" by customs and then you have to pay ~27% (tax+customs) of the purchase price, additionally. Prices of new stuff locally is pretty much the same as in other countries in my experience. For reference I'm in Bosnia right now and prices are same or very similar to those in Italy,Germany and Austria.

From a US based dev's perspective, I'd agree with you.

But it really depends on your definition of "horrible" and "well paid".

$5/hr in US is horrible.

$5/hr in a developing country is awesome and well paid - Even for talented freelancers.

And finding clients who are ready to pay you, as a developer from outside US, an standard/decent/well US wage for the job is pretty hard - almost impossible - at least in my experience.

Do you have any tips on finding well paid (generally better paid than oDesk) jobs for freelancers outside US/Western europe?

Or serious flaw will be discovered and it will go from $? to being worthless.

Or it will be declared illegal (unlikely IMO) so the businesses won't be able to accept it and it will be only used in markets dealing with illegal stuff, like SilkRoad.

Or it will be stable enough to be used as currency, and it will coexists with EUR/USD and other currencies.

I think that any of the above is more likely than your scenario.

Because it doesn't have chargebacks.

A lot of services that allowed its users to purchase bitcoins without having to verify their identity and buy bitcoin using PP or CCs were abused by people using stolen PP and CC info. So they lost money if the real owner issued chargeback and bitcoins were already transferred.

>I have more hassle with credit cards than you might, specifically they are always getting flagged for fraud because I'm not where they expect. Yes, this isn't an issue if you live in the states at a permanent address.

I have lived, well more of a stayed for few months than lived for longer period of time, in various countries in EU and I only had one time paypal block my payment with credit card issued in Bosnia. That was when I installed new OS(W8), different browser(trying out FF) and different country(Italy) - it made complete sense to block the purchase. And that was resolved in about 15 minutes after I contacted their support.

>Not sure why you are using quotes

I was quoting the scenario you named where bitcoin has advantages. I probably shouldn't have used quotes though...

>Getting a credit card is pretty annoying and expensive in Rwanda.

I don't know about Rwanda, but in most countries (even the developing ones) you do have access to CC. I'm pretty sure that everyone who can afford PC and internet access can also afford CC.

Of course there are exceptions, but those exceptions aren't really suitable for bitcoin either because it would be more complicated than just using cash - because you need phone or PC to make (normal) transaction.

>The vast majority of people do not have bank accounts, much less credit.

So how do you buy bitcoins? In person transactions? Isn't it worth it then, for someone who makes online payments frequently, to go through annoying process of getting the CC instead of finding people who are willing to sell bitcoins? Or go to a bank and make a wire transfer or WU transfer (which is, I assume, more expensive for large quantity of transfers than paying for CC)?

>Much, much better than having to pull out my credit card, type in 16 numbers, make sure I use the right zip, then remember what crazy authorized by mastercard password I used. Especially for digital goods, not having to do all the address verification etc.., sure makes the transaction nicer.

IMHO you are heavily exaggerating how complicated it is to use CC and/or other payment options and how easy it is to use btc.

I select paypal, which already has me logged in to my account (or lastpass automatically logs me in), click "Pay Now". Instantly done.

Same goes for google wallet and similar services. Lastpass even has my CC info which I can use to fill out forms if I don't have an account. Even without lastpass I know my CC number, and I never have to make sure I use the right zip (how complicated is that to remember, seriously?)

It's much easier than having to pull out my phone (which is god knows where), open app, enter PIN (because security...), scan QR code from the screen and pay.

Or log into web wallet like blockchain.info by entering wallet ID, password and 2FA code,copy/paste bitcoin address somewhere and send money to it and if I get one letter/character wrong the money is forever gone because fk chargebacks, right?

(Did I chose one of the more complicated scenarios? Yes, just like OP did in parent comment for CC payments)

It's good that they offer multiple payment options, but comments which highlight best case scenario when using bitcoin and worst case scenario(in terms of how easy it is) when using CCs/PP/etc are really annoying.

>though I think there is real potential in developing countries

I bet you that it's insanely easier to get CC than bitcoin in a lot of "developing countries", and average people from developing countries, which I assume have lower than most income, should really avoid bitcoin due to the price fluctuation. In theory it's great, in practice... not so much.

Technically you're correct, but realistically there is a very very small chance of that happening. And the chance of bitcoin changing it's value in the next year significantly, compared to fiat currency, is much higher.

My experience is completely different. I run 2 subreddits, one with ~15k subscribers and one with ~2k, and I don't remember last time I even saw spam being submitted - and when it got submitted 95% of the time spam filter caught it. If I remember correctly number of spam posts that got through spam filter was a lot higher a year ago than now.

>You actually can pay employees in BTC, if they prefer that.

Most don't.

>Thousands of people work for BTC already.

Hundreds of millions don't.

>Utility companies will start accepting bitcoins soon enough, as it becomes more popular.

They don't accept it now.

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Just because you could do this stuff with bitcoin doesn't mean you can. It's only doable in theory and in very very small amount of companies in practice, that's why "bitcoin businesses need banks”.

>It's obvious to me that many of the Bitcoin critics in this thread have never actually used it.

I've used it, not much though - maybe $100 worth of bitcoins.

>Purchases aren't tracked

List of transactions from your wallet is visible to anyone.

>being sucked up by some SIGINT program

As far as you know, but I wouldn't be surprised if your transactions are "sucked up" by some SIGINT program. Or maybe they aren't because there are websites that enable anyone to easily view transactions.

>no fees (even in exchanging, if you do it right)

I'd love to hear more about this. How can you buy bitcoin online without fees? Meeting with someone and buying them in person kinda defeats the purpose, you could go out and buy the items you want with cash - there are no fees for that either. And is the effort really worth the small transaction fees? Not to mention that by the time you get back home from cash-purchase the price may have gone down and you can't even buy the item you wanted now.

>I don't have to give my CC # to the vendor.

That one is true.

Also, when paying with bitcoin you (in most cases) don't have absolutely any customer protection.

So technically, I could buy items cheaply on ebay or similar sites, ship them to amazon warehouse and sell it there for profit and also have them handle pretty much everything from selling to customer support?

Or am I missing something and this wouldn't work?

As far as I remember they said that Germany can't consider asylum request from Snowden if he isn't on German soil, according to the law, and if he gets there and files an asylum request they'll consider it.

I don't remember Merkel, or anyone else, saying that they won't even accept asylum request or that they'll refuse the request if it's made according to the law.

You could ask the user via email to send some small, but "unique", amount of bitcoin from that same address again and then refund it after you've verified that the person emailing you is indeed owner of that bitcoin address.