“Two days ago the police came to me and wanted me to stop working on this” • Hacker News Board

Re: “Two days ago the police came to me and wanted me to stop working on this”

#311

Post by jondubois » Sat, Aug 22, 2015, 2:15 PM UTC

I don't see the Great Wall of China as inherently evil. I don't think Chinese people would benefit if we (the west) had free reign to impose all our extreme capitalist beliefs on them. Maybe they are not ready for it.

It's arrogant for us to believe that we are on the 'free' side of the firewall. I don't see how one side is more free than the other - Both sides are subjected to constant brainwashing by various media - Be it at the hands of a suppressive government or those of greedy corporations.

Re: “Two days ago the police came to me and wanted me to stop working on this”

#312

Post by infinite8s » Sat, Aug 22, 2015, 2:20 PM UTC

geff82 wrote: post #210

lomnakkus wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not going to pretend that anywhere's perfect, but I think the Scandiwegian countries score pretty well on your "checklist".

Good idea. I'd also put Switzerland on the list of almost perfect countries. Best democracy there is, good welfare, good income, good environmental protection, acceptable (low) taxes.

Except it's almost impossible to move there and get gainful employment

Re: “Two days ago the police came to me and wanted me to stop working on this”

#313

Post by ColinWright » Sat, Aug 22, 2015, 2:21 PM UTC

nly wrote: post #310

ColinWright wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... usage of which would be detected, and the users arrested and hauled off for "questioning" about spying and/or being a terrorist.

And using a VPN doesn't have these risks?

Of course it does, but they have a less expensive and more effective means of enforcement, which is just to shut it down. That's effective because the actions they take at a single location apply to a large number of infringements.

But if they can't shut it down via technology, they'll most likely shift to individual enforcement and harassment. In that case they have to chase people one at a time, so to get widespread effectiveness they have to make sure that each individual case frightens as many people as possible. That means that the individuals targeted will be punished more severely.

Enforcement 101.

Re: “Two days ago the police came to me and wanted me to stop working on this”

#314

Post by alleycat » Sat, Aug 22, 2015, 2:21 PM UTC

jondubois wrote: post #311

I don't see the Great Wall of China as inherently evil. I don't think Chinese people would benefit if we (the west) had free reign to impose all our extreme capitalist beliefs on them. Maybe they are not ready for it. It's arrogant for us to believe that we are on the 'free' side of the firewall. I don't see how one side is more free than the other - Both sides are subjected to constant brainwashing by various media…

Capitalist beliefs? They're just as capitalist as us, even more so these days (especially in Western Europe).

Re: “Two days ago the police came to me and wanted me to stop working on this”

#315

Post by geggam » Sat, Aug 22, 2015, 2:22 PM UTC

Have we all forgotten corkscrew ?

http://agroman.net/corkscrew/

Re: “Two days ago the police came to me and wanted me to stop working on this”

#316

Post by adventured » Sat, Aug 22, 2015, 2:28 PM UTC

IkmoIkmo wrote: post #308

adventured wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not dishonest in the least. For a country supposedly as violent and dangerous as the US, with the vast number of guns that we have, to have a murder rate on par with Amsterdam is worth noting - it's also worth noting that it has been improving for decades almost non-stop. As we gradually end the war on drugs, it's likely to drop a lot further. If we get that 4.x rate down to a high 2.x rate in the next 20 years,…

1) you're comparing the safest US cities to the 'murder capital' of Europe. That's a total joke. It's like comparing the standard of living of a European billionaire to an American homeless person and saying 'look!'. That's why he's saying it's dishonest. 2) Even if the comparison was reasonable, you completely fail to understand the cause of the numbers and what they say. And they say nothing about safety for ordina…

1) San Diego isn't the safest US city. The safest US cities are on par with the safest eg Scandinavian cities. There are US cities with 100k+ people that regularly have 1.x annual murder rates. If you want to live in a very safe city, the US has plenty to choose from.

2) Nothing you've said refutes or alters Amsterdam's murder rate. Nor is what you said very effective, watch: your statement says nothing about the average safety of someone living in New York City. You completely fail to understand the murder rate in New York City and how it impacts the quality of life of the typical citizen there.

Re: “Two days ago the police came to me and wanted me to stop working on this”

#317

Post by kjs3 » Sat, Aug 22, 2015, 2:31 PM UTC

throwawayaway wrote: post #271

kjs3 wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many bodies do you need before you care?

1, I want to compare atrocities. You need numbers for that.

You mean like "Only 10,000 of your people died. 20,000 of theirs did, so your atrocity isn't as important as theirs."? Helluva world view.

Re: “Two days ago the police came to me and wanted me to stop working on this”

#318

Post by chronial » Sat, Aug 22, 2015, 2:33 PM UTC

kjs3 wrote: post #260

chronial wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, that is not true. Look at the atomic bomb for example. The technology here is not just nuclear fission – the bomb itself has a lot of unique technology. There can be a lot inherently wrong with technology, and there quite often is.

Name one technology used in a fission device that doesn't have other, non-weapon application.

Weapons-grade uranium.

Re: “Two days ago the police came to me and wanted me to stop working on this”

#319

Post by M2Ys4U » Sat, Aug 22, 2015, 2:33 PM UTC

gnur wrote: post #118

mobutu wrote: post #104

On this note, we've been trying to upload gigabytes of data via rsync from Europe to China (we are software company who are trying to deliver tools to our Chinese customers..). Connection used to be fast when it was night time in China, but lately the connection has been really slow or unusable. Is there any alternative way to get lots of packages from Western countries to China?

Ship it on an usb drive. (use encryption)

The latency with that method is going to suck, though.

Re: “Two days ago the police came to me and wanted me to stop working on this”

#320

Post by adventured » Sat, Aug 22, 2015, 2:34 PM UTC

IkmoIkmo wrote: post #297

adventured wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, to the country that is: 1) A leader in freedom of speech, press freedom, property rights protections, general freedom of movement, and is low on the corruption index. One of the few countries with extraordinarily well protected freedom of speech rights enshrined at the core of the nation. 2) Has a rapidly adaptive culture, able to implement changes at a fast pace despite its immense scale. That includes things li…

Good list and I agree on many points. (4) is total bs though. If you look into the better life index, it's a total joke. Here's one quick tidbit, it rates the bottom 10% in Poland as having a better standard of living than the bottom 10% of France or Japan. You think that's a joke? It gets better! It rates the TOP 10% of Poland as better than the top 10% of France or Japan, too! If you know anything about these count…

> You can find an equivalent population in Western Europe (e.g. UK, France, Germany, Benelux, Scandinavia) the size of the US population

If we're going to compare the top 25% of Europe versus the US, then let's use the top 25% of the US for the comparison, and use the bottom 25% of Europe to compare against the bottom 25% of the US. Given the population numbers are a lot closer for that comparison, it makes drastically more sense than trying to compare Finland to the US. It also makes far more sense on a diversity basis, given across all of Europe you get a lot of diversity, and the same is true for the US (with ~140 million minorities, and a vast number of national and cultural backgrounds).

It's absurd to compare solo countries like Norway to the US. There's no scenario under which that can ever make sense.

How does Bulgaria, Moldova, Ukraine, Romania, etc compare to the bottom 25% in America?

How does all of Sweden compare to even the top 50% in the US? (that's 165 million people, so I feel like I'm giving you an extraordinary benefit there, comparing against tiny countries)

It's blatantly obvious what happens when you use a full European comparison, instead of just picking the top European nations. I've been accused a lot in this thread of cherry picking data, well only picking the top European nations is extreme cherry picking.