Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Fedware: Government apps that spy harder than the apps they ban

sambent.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

251–260 of 302 posts

Re: Fedware: Government apps that spy harder than the apps they ban

#251

Post by dotancohen »

HWR_14 wrote: post #231
dotancohen wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was a serious question.

Not all areas are equally good at growing food. That can be because of climate, soil quality, war or simply population density requiring housing and industry.

Is shipping food there the correct solution? For war, an ostensibly temporary condition, by all means ship the population food. But if an area is already overcrowded beyond what the land can sustain (due to climate, soil quality, or population density) then is it productive to further bolster the population? Seems a human catastrophe in the making, supporting population growth in an area where the land can not supply enough food.

Re: Fedware: Government apps that spy harder than the apps they ban

#252

Post by abustamam »

andreygrehov wrote: post #244
abustamam wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"but Biden didn't fix it" isn't the defense you think it is. Is there a double standard? Yes. This administration earned it through their, willful or not, incompetence and malice.

Where in my comments did I say “but Biden didn't fix it”? What I say is the majority of commenters are wrong blaming the administration.

> I verified older versions of the apps and found that the wide permissions were there prior to Trump

This pretty much insinuates Biden (and Trump v1, and Obama, and Bush) didn't fix it.

And the commenter aren't wrong when they blame the administration. They wouldn't be wrong to blame previous administrations either. But the previous administrations aren't in power right now.

Re: Fedware: Government apps that spy harder than the apps they ban

#254

Post by MisterTea »

justonceokay wrote: post #228
kdheiwns wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I realize the decision makers probably don’t even know it’s there Assuming incompetence gives the administration a cover to get away with anything. I'm not quite sure they're as stupid as they all act. Someone is surely using the facade of incompetence to rot things from the inside out.

I read a comment on Reddit that changed my perspective on 90% of recent political commentary: “Y'all are mad about the dog whistle but you forgot about the dog”

Dogs bite so I'll assume most people want to forget.

Re: Fedware: Government apps that spy harder than the apps they ban

#255

Post by thfuran »

abustamam wrote: post #247
SmirkingRevenge wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's like that old saying about bankruptcy - it happens very slowly, then all at once The rise of right-wing propaganda mass media has been simmering brains for 3 decades in a populist, grievance and resentment stew and positioned things perfectly for right-wing propaganda to explode in the internet age - once social media came around, it was a renaissance for the paranoid-style radical right-wing demagogues,…

When I was in high school (or maybe even junior high), I remember learning the bill of rights and the freedom of speech and press and assembly. Our curricula and case studies always focused on freedom of speech because I guess it was absurd to think that the govt would ever attack the press. That was a thing "other" countries did. I can look past some of the stupid shit he says. He gets freedom of speech too, even if…

>I can look past some of the stupid shit he says. He gets freedom of speech too

That just means it’s legally permissible, not reasonable, respectable, or conscionable. Do not look past the things he says.

Re: Fedware: Government apps that spy harder than the apps they ban

#256

Post by iririririr »

they hire one day shell companies that give them a huge chunk of the money back illegally, then turn around and hire a cheap ad agency specialized in churning hotsites and conference apps.

it's literary the same playbook of any developing country when some obviously corrupt group is elected promising to cut government spending

Re: Fedware: Government apps that spy harder than the apps they ban

#257

Post by iririririr »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #105
john_strinlai wrote: post #5

> This thing also has a "Text the President" button that auto-fills your message with "Greatest President Ever!" and then collects your name and phone number. when is the onion going to go bankrupt? it has to be soon, i imagine. no way it can compete with reality at this point. (the rest of the article is a bit too depressing for me to comment on at the moment, other than saying "wow, gross")

I remember when I was young seeing videos of North Korea, of audiences always giving rapt standing ovations and many people fake fainting, and I always thought "How dumb and stupid does everyone have to be to carry on this absurd, ridiculous charade." I don't wonder anymore.

trump saw the meme "north korea is best korea" and said Hold my strawberry mcMilkshake!

Re: Fedware: Government apps that spy harder than the apps they ban

#258

Post by XorNot »

HWR_14 wrote: post #234
XorNot wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is that simply saying you're going to deliver food aid is elliding pretty much the entire problem. You cannot simply deliver food aid, because to do so you might have to fight and win an entire war against one or several insurgent groups or governments. You could turn up reliably and distribute quite a lot of food, and yet at the end of the day find there's still a famine.

Right, which is why I never said I was going to simply deliver food aid like it just required trucks and gas. It's why UN World Food Program, an organization with actual experience, designed a plan to deliver and distribute food. Please explain why they are wrong.

They're not but it also won't end world hunger. Because world hunger is not being caused by accidental deficits in food availability: it's caused by serious local security threats and in many cases deliberate political action.

Re: Fedware: Government apps that spy harder than the apps they ban

#259

Post by vanviegen »

andreygrehov wrote: post #237
wodenokoto wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> HN has created a narrative that everything the current administration does is bad. In all fairness, that narrative has been helped quite a bit by the current administration!

No. That narrative is driven by mass media, which shapes the perception of opinions posted on HN.

Ah.. I'm glad it's just a narrative then, and that there are in fact just as many good things to report and that America is not rapidly becoming an authoritarian state.

Re: Fedware: Government apps that spy harder than the apps they ban

#260

Post by wongarsu »

abustamam wrote: post #212
pocksuppet wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The version I know is a little different: A Russian visits America and meets an American at a bar and they get talking about life in Russia. "How is the propaganda?" says the American. "It's everywhere, but it's easy to ignore it" says the Russian. "Yours is much better." "But we don't have propaganda here" says the American. "Exactly" says the Russian. idk how a person can be forced to pledge allegiance to the flag…

When I was in kindergarten, I refused to do the pledge one day. My teacher was livid. "Are you American or not?" Being 5, I didn't know the difference between ethnicity and nationality (I'm Asian but I was born here and didn't know any life outside of America). So I was afraid that my teacher would not let me be American anymore if I didn't say the pledge. So I said it and never refused to say it in school again. It…

So you were actually pledging under duress. Contracts and statements made under duress are usually treated as null and void, so you have that going for you.

Still highly unethical of that teacher

Post reply on HN