Posts by Wade Burchette

Dear Reg:

The US Copyright office is not yet taking comments. This is just a preliminary notice. According to the link: "Specific instructions for submitting comments will be posted on the Copyright Office website on or before February 1, 2016." If you could be so kind as to check every day as to when comments are being allowed so that we will know when to submit our comments.

I personally am going to tell the copyright office that none of the copyright protections implemented have stopped copyright infringement nor will they ever. The only accomplishment is to make life miserable for those who do not infringe. The DMCA should not be allowed to override fair use. There has to be a better way to prosecute copyright infringement without violating my fair use rights. (I haven't worked out the exact wording yet.)

"What's worse is that fake news has taken on a much more unpleasant tone, with people creating fake news stories in order to reflect their own hatred and prejudices."

Uh, Mrs. Dewey just described the Washington Post, the Washington Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, ... well actually all modern day newspapers and TV news sources. It is impossible to find honest, objective news. Each news outlet puts their slant on a story and ignores any story contrary to their belief. And now each news outlet is willing to push aside mandatory research for a good story. Why do think people so readily seek out different sources of news? It is because the entire MSM are so hopelessly biased that they are beyond redemption.

It has been said the US has the best government money can buy

This is just one of many example of politicians being bought and paid for. I can give you examples from both political parties where big money is behind their decisions. The US political system is a billion (thousand million for those across the pond) dollar industry. To me, that is wasted money. Think about how just some of that money could be used to feed the homeless. Or provide jobs for the homeless.

Thankfully, I figured out how to block it at the router level

I have the Asus RT-AC66U router. If you can install the Merlin firmware on your Asus router or if you can install DD-WRT on your router, you can block all this tracking at the router by modifying the DNSMASQ settings. I didn't install DD-WRT on my Asus router, but the Merlin firmware still lets you modify the DNSMASQ. It is a lot easier with DD-WRT, but install it can be a chore.

The short version is I used a SSH shell to connect to the router, went to the /jffs/configs/ folder, used the Linux command cat > dnsmasq.conf.add and finally just copied and pasted all the commands for every bad Windows domain name (i.e. address=/a.ads1.msn.com/0.0.0.0). The DNSMASQ domain names are available on many sites, such https://github.com/WindowsLies/BlockWindows. After a router restart, no computer on my network can connect to any of these tracking websites.

There is an easy fix

Malvertising would die right now if the ad networks followed these simple rules, rules that were the de-facto standard when the internet became a necessity: Absolutely no javascript in ads, absolutely no tracking in ads, and absolutely no ads that require a plug-in. No exceptions will be allowed.

Those rules worked once, they can work again. But I already know the advertising companies won't listen. These same companies have no respect for my privacy so why do you think they would have any respect for my security? Greed is a powerful force.

Dear Mr. Nadella

I have been using Windows since 3.11 came out and I've been using MS-DOS since Tandy still made computers and I've been using Office since you called Office XP. I've used your product for years, but I am thinking about throwing in the towel. Your constant hard kicks to the groin of my privacy is what did it. Sure there are other things too, but the last straw was how you treated my privacy. I was willing to put up with those other things, but I am not willing to suffer your abhorrence for my privacy. But it is not too late, you can win my trust back. Here is how.

First, respect my privacy. Bing and Windows shouldn't be integrated. You should be selling an operating system; not selling a cloud platform or renting an OS. If you want to see a near perfect design, look at Windows 7. Now take Windows 7, improve it, and for the love of God do not disable F8. If you made a better Windows 7 I can promise you people would people lining up to buy it. All you made was a worse Windows 8 with a slightly better GUI. But I would be willing to buy Windows 10 if it respected my privacy. Now you couldn't pay me to take it. Well, maybe you can pay me to take, but you don't have enough money to make me keep it. All because of the lack of privacy.

Second, you are Microsoft. You are not cool and you never will be cool. Whenever I see you in a T-shirt that looks like it came from the church charity bin it just shows me you just don't get it. The way you dress tells me you want to be hip, but you will never ever be hip. Ever. Stop trying to be hip. I am not a hipster so I care more about my device working well and nothing about how cool it is.

Third, try listening. Like when I said in testing Windows 10 to respect my privacy, return Aero, and return F8. Three things that are not optional, three things left out of Windows 10. I realize some people do not like Aero, but Windows 7 and earlier gave us a choice. Why do you hate giving us choices? Do you think we are so stupid we don't know what is best for us? Or are you just a pompous douchebag who thinks he knows best? Either way, everybody likes choices and by not giving it to us, you are once again adding to your foibles.

Finally, preaching security is all well and good. But what good is it to have to most secure house in the neighborhood if no one wants it? You are angering all the wrong people with your cloud first, mobile first, privacy last, customer last approach. What good is a secure OS with few customers? Keep this up and you will be the most secure OS because your marketshare is so small no hacker will care.

All this has convinced me Win10 is bad for you

Do you really think a publicly-traded multi-billion dollar corporation is giving away an expensive piece of software because they felt sorry for Windows 8? Why is such a corporation practically demanding you to take such an expensive program from them? Just because something doesn't cost money does not mean it is free. How is Microsoft making money on Windows 10 if they are using dirty tricks to make you install it without cost?

What I want

I want my internet provider to deliver all data that I request and that I pay for without discrimination. If there is congestion due to services like Netflix, then I want my internet provider to upgrade their network quickly so that the data I request will be delivered at the speeds I pay for.

What I don't want is for my internet provider to charge the sender and receiver the privilege of using their network. Imagine if FedEx charged a fee to deliver a package and before they dropped it off there was a fee to receive the package. A fee has already been paid! Such a practice is unacceptable; you should not be able to charge both ends. Now replace FedEx with ISP and package with data. Those that argue against net neutrality are essentially saying it is acceptable in businesses to charge everyone for the privilege of going through their network.

Questions

There are a finite number of prime numbers that use 2048 or less bit. What prevents the NSA or hackers from generating a rainbow list of all these prime numbers and crack the encryption that way? Why limit yourself to just prime numbers?

$1500

When I saw the previous Surface models, I immediately said "me-wanty!" Then I saw the price tag. Immediately I said "no way". For $1500, I would want a laptop with a 500 GB 10 year warranty SSD, Blu-Ray burner, 16GB of memory, AMD Carrizo core CPU (for gaming and full H.265 decoding; my Intel desktop will handle all the video encoding), 1920x1080 IPS display with 99% sRGB but absolutely positively no touchscreen, Windows 7, backlit keyboard, 802.11ac and Bluetooth support, 4 USB 3.0 ports, DisplayPort 1.2 and VGA outputs, and docking station support.

It doesn't matter how good the product is, if it is too expensive nobody will buy it. $400 Android tablets work quite well for what people need and want. Do you really think they will pay almost 4 times as much just because it has the Microsoft name on it? If only Microsoft would stop trying to make the desktop/laptop OS the same as the tablet OS. Then they could have reasonably priced tablets that people would buy. One ring to rule them all doesn't work in computing.

Does this mean

Does this mean that all the tracking Windows 10 has will go to China instead of Microsoft?

A few things are needed to make Office great again

(1) It needs to be faster. Why does every version take longer and longer to load? That is unacceptable.

(2) It needs to be robust. I have had to do a full repair on 3 different Office 2013/365 installations. That is unacceptable. Once in unacceptable, three much more so.

(3) We need an option to have the old menu interface or the ribbon. That way you can choose which interface you like. Why does Microsoft hate giving customers choices?

(3a) MENUS SHOULD NEVER EVER BE IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS!!!

(4) The flat look needs to die, immediately. After it is dead, it needs to be thrown in a sack, the sack thrown in a safe, and the safe hurled into the sun. (P.S. I am also looking at you, Windows 10.)

(5) At no time should "save to onedrive" be default, ever and without exception. Saving files to your computer should be easier and not confusing like it is in Office 2013.

Message to advertisers

I have some very easy to satisfy criteria that, if you meet, I will disable NoScript + Ghostery. It is easy to satisfy because the internet became as important as it is when these requirements where standard.

(1) Absolutely no tracking of any kind, no exception.

(2) Absolutely no ads that obscure part or all of a website or require some interaction from me to dismiss, no exception. This means no pop-up or pop-under ads.

(3) Absolutely no ads that use my IP address to attempt to determine my location, no exception. For example: no ads that says "Shocking secret [city name] man discovers".

(4) No videos ads except before a video in which I explicitly told to play; a video should never ever autoplay, no exception.

(5) Absolutely no ads that require javascript or require an add-on of any kind, such as Flash, no exception.

(6) Absolutely no ads with sound, except video ads before a video that did not autoplay.

If advertisers were able to profit once when my requirements were met, then they can profit again.

Intel "security"

Consider that McAfee antivirus couldn't find water standing neck-deep in the ocean, I don't trust this report. You would think that with all the cash Intel has that McAfee would turn into an efficient, fast, and effective antivirus product. Sadly, it has not. If you cannot do the basics correct, can I expect you to get something more complicated correct?

There is one way to fix this problem forever

Malvertising would die tomorrow if advertisers follow these rules. The internet became an essential part of life when my rules were being followed. So, if it worked in the past, it can work today. Following those 3 rules would block targeted malverts and remove the attack vectors.

(1) Absolutely no javascript in the ads, no exception. A side benefit is that ads would not be allowed to track us without clicking on it. (2) No ads that require an add-on to the browser in any way. Thus no Flash or Java ads. An ad may play before these add-ons are allowed to load, but may not be a part of the applet itself. (3) No geolocation using an IP address, no exception.

I use Ghostery+NoScript in my Firefox browser. A note to advertisers: I will happily turn off those add-ons once you obey my 3 rules above plus these additional rules: (4) Absolutely no tracking of any kind, no exception. (5) An advertisement may not block part or all a website at any time, no exception. (6) Videos may not autoplay except before a video I chose to watch; a video on a web page may not start playing until I push the play button and only then may the video ad begin.

It worked once, it can work again.

There is one way to fix this problem forever

There is a guaranteed way to prevent malware from spreading through dodgy ads: make web advertisements like they were when the world wide web first took off. If web ads follow the rules below, I will turn off my Ghostery+NoScript add-ons.

(1) Absolutely no tracking, no exception. This means no ads may contain javascript nor may there be any hidden beacons doing things we don't know about.

(2) Absolutely no flash ads, no exception. This cuts off another attack vector.

(3) Absolutely no autoplay video ads except before a video I chose to view. This means when I visit a web page that has a video, the video does not begin, nor the ad before it, until I push play. Not a security risk, but a huge annoyance.

(4) Absolutely no ads that obscure part or all a website, no exception. Again, just annoying.

(5) Absolutely no ads that use my IP location to personalize the ad. This mean no ads that say "Surprising secret [your city name] man discovers" type ads. Or "Contact your local Acme car insurance agent Alan Smithee today for a great quote" type ads. Again, just annoying.

Oracle is wrong

"At the same time that Android has become truly ubiquitous, the Java platform has suffered greatly, in large part because Google provides Android to device manufacturers at no charge."

Um, WRONG! You caused Java to suffer because it is a security nightmare that requires frequent updates and the constant demand to bundle some junk toolbar with your product.