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Demon-Haunted World

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Re: Demon-Haunted World

#171

Post by computator »

to3m wrote: post #34
SubiculumCode wrote: post #10

This is what I think about at the pump. More and more I see gas pumps ask if you want a receipt BEFORE the gas is dispensed. This seems risky. If you decline the receipt and then dispense gas, the pump could cheat on the amount of gas dispensed with less risk, as a papered record of the purchase amount and price is not produced. If on the other hand, the pump waits to ask if you desire a receipt until after the gasol…

But according to this theory, it sounds as if one should ask for the receipt afterwards?

I see the misunderstanding. You're thinking that the pumps should be designed to always give the receipt afterward. Yes, that would be the ideal way to reduce the possibility of cheating.

However, in the pumps he's talking about, the machine prompts you beforehand: "Click here for a receipt". The receipt decision (yes or no) is always before. There is no way to ask for a receipt afterwards.

He always asks for a receipt (even if he doesn't need the receipt) because he figures that the machine is less likely to cheat him in that case.

Re: Demon-Haunted World

#172

Post by LolWolf »

javajosh wrote: post #99
luckyt wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, this part was confusing to me as well. How would a VM "simulate" the internet? Does it return a dummy page? I don't understand what mental model of VM behavior that the virus creators had in mind when they designed this killswitch.

The part about how to simulate a site isn't confusing, the part about why you'd want to do that is the confusing part. If I was researching malware in a VM I'd want to take a very passive approach, and allow it to talk to the real internet, and inspect the traffic.

It does do that, but in order for it to inspect what's going on, the VM has to accept an outgoing connection as legitimate.

Re: Demon-Haunted World

#174

Post by eksemplar »

jordigh wrote: post #145

There is so much "Stallman was right" in all of these examples... non-free software always manages to eventually sneak in malicious anti-user features, where the user has no recourse. At least with free software there's always the fundamental freedom to fork. You think systemd is a Red Hat plot to destroy Linux, then go use Devuan. You don't trust what Google could be doing with Chrome, take your pick of alternatives…

Free software wouldn't protect you in a lot of these cases though. Fuel pumps could run on free software, but since you didn't install it, it could've been easily altered by the people who did.

Hell these days, you'd have to build the hardware yourself to make sure someone didn't put something malicious in it.

Re: Demon-Haunted World

#175

Post by TeMPOraL »

leggomylibro wrote: post #38
zaroth wrote: post #17

Why do our phones, which certainly felt damn snappy the day we bought them, inevitablely seem to slow down to the point of unusability after a couple dozen months? Even after a factory reset and installing no apps at all... I know it didn't take that long to open/close the built in apps when I bought that iPhone 4, 5, 5s... The only thing I can think of is the flash drive is slowing down as it wears. Or, the CPU cloc…

I don't get this; everyone says it, but I've never seen it in smartphones. Laptops, sure, but Windows really DOES accumulate a lot of cruft, and OSX's updates never seem to improve performance. Smartphones, though? The only slowdown I've noticed is when the battery starts to go. And then you can usually tell; the device gets hot as the battery pushes up against all the ESR it's accumulated, the CPU steps back a bit..…

I've felt it on my Samsung Galaxy S4, and on my SO's Samsung Galaxy S3. Both of which are high-quality devices, not some random el cheapo smartphones. Over the course of two-three years they both went from smooth&crisp to annoyingly laggy to (in case of S3) pretty much unusable even for making phone calls.

Now in this story I'm just an alchemist with no experimental controls, but then again, the experience is not isolated. I'm not saying it's purposeful software slowdowns - maybe it's general bloat + flash memory wearing out? I don't know. But seeing as others report similar cases too, something is going on.

Re: Demon-Haunted World

#176

Post by ThrustVectoring »

lobster_johnson wrote: post #151
layble wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know of a large printer company who approached a large media company with a deal that would have had the large media company change the color of the text on their printer friendly pages to something near black but requiring the color cartridge instead of true black. As I recall they were willing to pay seven figures annually. The media company did not take them up on their offer. The underhandedness/cleverness of t…

Wouldn't such a move benefit all printer manufacturers?

If you're big enough, it'd still be profitable even with the other manufacturers free-riding on it.

Re: Demon-Haunted World

#177

Post by lobster_johnson »

zaroth wrote: post #17

Why do our phones, which certainly felt damn snappy the day we bought them, inevitablely seem to slow down to the point of unusability after a couple dozen months? Even after a factory reset and installing no apps at all... I know it didn't take that long to open/close the built in apps when I bought that iPhone 4, 5, 5s... The only thing I can think of is the flash drive is slowing down as it wears. Or, the CPU cloc…

My own iPhone 7 is plenty fast, but I have noticed that the older models seem to be getting slower.

Presumably this is because Apple keeps adding features and animations and so on, and so iOS grows bigger and more resource-hungry, as are apps, and developers aren't optimizing by running their stuff on old iPhone 5 models anymore.

Re: Demon-Haunted World

#178

Post by jorblumesea »

SubiculumCode wrote: post #48
harrisi wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Certainly having the receipt doesn't actually do anything? Do you measure the volume of gas in your tank before and after filling up? Regardless, this seems very easy to test. Just fill up a gas can and check that you're paying the right amount for the amount of gas in the can.

Without a receipt there are two things that can be a problem: 1) Less gas is pumped, 2) Charged more than the pump said. True the receipt protects against 2) more than 1) because the car's tank does not have an accurate guage. I remember listening to a story once about a fraud at the gas tank in which the normal amount of gas was only given out when requested in an even increment a five gallons which was how much The…

Gas is common enough and such a hot button issue that mass fraud like that would be easily noticed on credit card statements and in the tank. It's easy to test, confirm and verify, and can be done by just about anyone. Pull up to the station, fill up your gas canister, and check the price, volume etc.

The places where this fraud is most likely to exist are niche markets and places where it's hard to verify. Walled gardens of software or hardware with few outputs to measure.

Re: Demon-Haunted World

#179

Post by daurnimator »

computator wrote: post #168
jordigh wrote: post #145

There is so much "Stallman was right" in all of these examples... non-free software always manages to eventually sneak in malicious anti-user features, where the user has no recourse. At least with free software there's always the fundamental freedom to fork. You think systemd is a Red Hat plot to destroy Linux, then go use Devuan. You don't trust what Google could be doing with Chrome, take your pick of alternatives…

> Whenever someone refuses to show source code I always think, "what are you hiding in there?" There's usually something. There's a dilemma that developers face when deciding to release source code that's bigger than fear of software theft or the desire to hide something evil in the code. It's a fear of being scrutinized, ridiculed, or humiliated over the quality of their code. Imagine 2 programs that do something us…

The way out is to assume the worst: if no source is available, then assume they're hiding it due to it being "bloated, ugly, poorly organized, and with many potential bugs or defects".

Re: Demon-Haunted World

#180

Post by taberiand »

Tsagadai wrote: post #152
zackmorris wrote: post #52

Startup idea: Form a company that explores new markets in legal liabilities. It could bring lawsuits with little risk where the payoff could be billions of dollars. Off the top of my head: * Research whether channels were engineered into smartphones to allow water to leak in (since they have no moving parts and should self-evidently be watertight). * Find the planned-obsolescence parts in things like car doors that w…

Watertight is a hard engineering problem to solve. If it isn't a vacuum or loaded with some other gas then you will get water coming in because of temperature cycles causing the device to act like a pump, which in a phone are a problem because you will have temperature fluctuations caused by charging, usage and environment.

And even if that argument wasn't true, it doesn't have to be - it just has to convince the court that it is.
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