Hacker News Reader

thex86on Mythbusting India's Mars Mission

Someone commented on Reddit that space programs bring us (the human race) closer. The reaction I am seeing in the international press to India's mars mission is quite the opposite - instead of praising India or just reporting the news, all I see is "BUT THEY ARE SO POOR!" and skepticism. I don't want to say this, but I felt journalists were being almost "jealous" that India achieved this.

thex86on MI5, MI6, and GCHQ chiefs public hearing live on the BBC

> Terrorism is not a great threat to either the US or the UK - a tiny number of people have been killed by it, and yet it is painted as an existential threat which must be fought at all costs

"Americans Are as Likely to Be Killed by Their Own Furniture as by Terrorism"

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/06/ame...

thex86on MI5, MI6, and GCHQ chiefs public hearing live on the BBC

I don't know what you are smoking but given your comment history, I am sure you would be fine if the police came knocking at your door at night and randomly wanted to search your place, without a warrant. Right? Since you did nothing wrong, it should be OK for the police to randomly search people's places and arrest them. We should trust the police also and let's remove the judicial oversight they have. Correct?

You should ask yourself why the police should not be allowed to do this. And then if you do understand, you may perhaps realize why the GCHQ should not be allowed to carry out mass surveillance.

thex86on MI5, MI6, and GCHQ chiefs public hearing live on the BBC

The NSA said they prevented 54 attacks but it was widely reported supported by evidence that that was not the case. Not to mention that they repeatedly lied to Congress. If you trust these organizations so much, good for you. But this bogeyman of "terrorism, drug dealers" is not acceptable by most people who understand this. The probability of me getting killed just randomly on the street is far far higher than me getting killed in a terrorist attack in the US. Statistics are important. Why should the government go overboard to prevent this? Have you realized that gun violence in the US for example causes more deaths than all terrorism attacks combined? And yet even a slight mention of this has gun lovers cry about how their second amendment is being violated. Let's not forget that there is a fourth amendment also:

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

There is a reason that democracies around the world don't allow police to just randomly walk into your house and arrest you. A good reason.

Just because terrorism has to be prevented, doesn't mean that our basic rights have to be violated. By that logic, let's go even further and install CCTV cameras and microphones in everyone's homes. All crimes can be prevented. And perhaps the next step can be to have thought control devices even.

thex86on Silk Road 2.0 Launches

A serious question: while I have nothing against Silk Road (the drug war is a waste of money anyways), aren't people afraid of putting stuff in their body that they had an anonymous person send to them? I mean, unless the seller has a reputation, isn't there is a substantial risk of using that drug?

Are my fears unfound? On one hand, the idea of buying drugs online is probably more safe than doing it on the streets, but the anonymity this offers has a potential downside like the one I mentioned above.

thex86on Google Security Team Member on NSA: "Fuck These Guys"

Appreciate Mike speaking up like this. We need more people within the industry to speak up. Not just hackers.

(People within these companies are also hackers, but they have more effect when they speak because they are part of a company)

thex86on After traffic stop, man forced to have x-ray, enema, anal probes and colonoscopy

Unless the people involved are SUSPENDED, there is no justice.

thex86on After traffic stop, man forced to have x-ray, enema, anal probes and colonoscopy

What is shocking is, they conducted everything. I mean, why? It's like they really wanted the drugs to be there.

thex86on Fifth Amendment Prohibits Compelled Decryption, New EFF Brief Argues

Does the Fifth Amendment only apply to US citizens? The reason I ask is this: if I am traveling to the US and the TSA asks me to decrypt my laptop or unlock my phone, am I protected under the Fifth Amendment? Well, are US citizens protected under it at the airport?

thex86on Startups Like Berlin Because Visa Rules Are Nothing Like the U.S.

Same can be said for Canada. As a non-white, I have not faced any discrimination yet in Canada ever since I moved here ten years ago. Sure there may be racism but at least not in the everyday life and certainly not in the tech sector.

thex86on Stalin's Rope Roads

I love the "In Focus" by The Atlantic. There are always mesmerizing and capture the beauty of the subject being talked about. And also, wow - keyboard navigation! Yes!

thex86on Dell XPS 15.6" QHD+ (3200x1800)

See martey's comment above.

thex86on Dell XPS 15.6" QHD+ (3200x1800)

Awesome. Thanks!

thex86on Dell XPS 15.6" QHD+ (3200x1800)

If only Lenovo would take notice and see what is happening in the market. I really want a better screen on my Thinkpad with a higher resolution.

thex86on Extensionizr: Chrome extension boilerplate generator

https://builder.addons.mozilla.org/

Firefox equivalent. Probably not as detailed, but still.

thex86on Steps You Can Take Right Now Against Internet Surveillance

No, I meant low latency because it allows timing analysis if you control the first and the last node.

thex86on Steps You Can Take Right Now Against Internet Surveillance

If you think the government is one coherent entity with all of them wanting to become Big Brother, you are wrong. The fact that Tor gets its funding from the US government is irrelevant. The source code is out there for you to see and inspect and has been done so by many researchers from universities around the world.

Example: The NIST openly went against NSA.

thex86on Steps You Can Take Right Now Against Internet Surveillance

Tor is still the best solution for online anonymity, even with the shortcomings it has. (low-latency for one). The exploits were related to the Tor Browser, not the Tor daemon/network.

thex86on The Architecture of Open Source Applications

Check it out, there is a new book in the series. POSA. The Performance of Open Source Applications.

thex86on Meet the Private Companies Helping Cops Spy on Protesters

It's stupid. That is what it is. The industrial surveillance complex that is being set up, do these companies really think people are that naive?

And what makes me even more sad about this is that #meth and #protest are considered as dangerous.

thex86on Meet the Private Companies Helping Cops Spy on Protesters

I was kinda expecting Palantir to be on the list. In other words, they should have been.

I still find it amazing to see how much true 1984 is becoming. I am sure the next phase is thought control, because "crimes" start there and have to be prevented at all costs. Let's get inside the minds of people and put CCTVs and audio recording devices everywhere. In tables under restaurants, in cars, in buses, every possible place. Crime has to be prevented.

The future is scary.

thex86on EFF Has Lavabit’s Back in Contempt of Court Appeal

So, how does one fight a contempt of court? Is it even possible?

(PS: Great job EFF!)

thex86on LinkedIn ‘Intro’duces Insecurity

> Problem solved, myopic holier-than-thou rant avoided.

There will be many many people who will use it and won't be aware of all these facts. It is important to discuss these things so that everyone knows and possibly, stays away. If you don't know what it does, you may install it. See - it goes full circle.

thex86on Security Check Now Starts Long Before You Fly

Question for the Americans: what is still keeping the TSA in business, even in spite of all these draconian practices? Why can't someone fight the TSA in SCOTUS?

Things like this make me really glad to be living in Canada. At least there is some - if not a lot - expectation of privacy and protection against unreasonable search and seizure.

thex86on Show HN: Simple Hacker News Client for Emacs

Serious question: does anyone know of a similar command-line/vim alternative?

thex86on New effort to fully audit TrueCrypt raises $16,000+ in a few short weeks

Cool! Maybe, finally, as a result of public scrutiny, TrueCrypt will have a public repository. You know, it's 2013. I cannot think of any reason why the software you will possibly trust with your life does not have code in a public repository.

Till then time, we will and we should doubt it.

thex86on VirtualBox 4.3 released

VirtualBox is one of those projects that is a very important part of my daily use. But somehow I feel that it doesn't get much love from the open source community. Is it just me?

thex86on Ask HN: Have you considered switching from OS X to Linux?

Use Beamer for presentations [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beamer_(LaTeX)] and never look back!

thex86on Facebook Removing Option To Be Unsearchable By Name

I do it over email. Or even text. Or voice even. It works just fine.

Really, it is entirely possible to schedule events without Facebook. It was possible to do so when FB was not there, and it is possible to do it now :)

thex86on Facebook Removing Option To Be Unsearchable By Name

"Then, if you'd like your account permanently deleted with no option for recovery, log into your account and fill out this form."

So it is possible to delete your account "completely". I did this once and I have never been more happier. I actually spent time being tense when Facebook rolled out a new privacy blunder and would rush to check all settings. Imagine the time wasted.

So to all those who are contemplating deleting the account but can't - do it. It's totally worth it.