Some old and new (?) Off-Topic threads

[Ahtiga Saraz]

Question for craigevil:

Re the thread

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forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=74165


would you consider reopening it? There have been some new developments in that incident.

Please note that I made it quite clear in my OP that I don't think hackivists should try to steal money, for at least two reasons

• it plays into the hands of those who want to further grow the Surveillance State
• the charities will wind up being charged for each frauduent transaction

I didn't bother to mention the bit about stealing being wrong because I think everyone knows that already (and I figure I already get enough flack for a supposedly patronizing attitude). I did mention some personal opinions, clearly described as such, but if you reopen the thread I can probably try harder to avoid appearing to laugh at George Friedman's pain.

I'd also like to create a thread in Off-Topic on the recent breach of the credit card data of Israeli citizens, followed by an announcment from the Israeli government that they will treat hackivists as terrorists--- which has some rather lethal implications. I think that's a topic of interest to many here which directly relates to computing. Assuming I can keep political opinionating to a mininum, would you object strenuously if I went ahead?

[hellfire695]

No I personally wouldnt object we all have the right to say and think what we want, but I deffinately think you should start a blog and a youtube channel. Hell the amount of information you post on here you could run a weekly magazine.

[mharrison]

No I personally wouldnt object we all have the right to say and think what we want, but I deffinately think you should start a blog and a youtube channel. Hell the amount of information you post on here you could run a weekly magazine.

The problem is, even toned down, the material that is posted by the OP is clearly political and thus in violation of the terms and conditions of posting on this board that we all agreed to when we signed up. Craigevil was within his right as a moderator to close the thread in question based on the political nature. I don't think the OP can post anything that doesn't have a anti-government and anti-corporation agenda behind it.

[craigevil]

The problem is, even toned down, the material that is posted by the OP is clearly political and thus in violation of the terms and conditions of posting on this board that we all agreed to when we signed up. Craigevil was within his right as a moderator to close the thread in question based on the political nature. I don't think the OP can post anything that doesn't have a anti-government and anti-corporation agenda behind it.

Which is why almost every thread the OP starts either gets locked or moved to spam.

For some reason he doesn't get the "NO Politics" rule.

This is a Debian support forum. not a blog to post all the tin-foil hat uber-paranoid, government conspiracy nonsense.

[Ahtiga Saraz]

Which is why almost every thread the OP starts either gets locked or moved to spam.

Craig, really, you have only locked two or three threads out of dozens I have started here, agreed?

Ironically, I was planning to point interested DUFians at an essay by the beleagured CEO of Stratfor, George Friedman, since the two posts leave the story unfinished and possibly unbalanced. Anyway, while you didn't answer my question directly, I take it the answer is "no". Well, thanks for your consideration, anyway.

[Randicus]

How about Ahtiga Saraz having a single thread that contains only the titles and one-sentence synopses of the content. Members interested in reading the articles could tell him, and he could send the articles in batch e-mails, if Ahtiga would use e-mail for such a purpose. The best way would be to use private messages, but that would only work if he is willing to leave the PMs intact until the recipients read them.

Not likely to happen (unfeasible), but just throwing an idea into the wind that might be to everyone's liking.

[Ahtiga Saraz]

Believe it or not, I'd probably consider something like that if I could find a way to email anonymously en masse.

[EDIT: to subscribers, I mean, not to spam the spooks.]

I am cautiously optimistic that my Squeeze problems might be approaching a good outcome (in the nick of time) and if so I hope to devote more time in the coming weeks to searching for a more appropriate venue for my comments about privacy/anonymity/free-speech/censorship/civil-rights issues. I don't disagree that a blog would appear to be appropriate, but it would seem to be impossible to find a webhost safe from legal threats (or failing that, from "kinetic events").

[nadir]

I

, but it would seem to be impossible to find a webhost safe from legal threats (or failing that, from "kinetic events").

I don't agree, au contraire.

I could have said "i disagree", sure, but then i wouldn't have been able to add "au contraire", which sounds Canadian enough to ...

[Randicus]

I could have said "i disagree", sure, but then i wouldn't have been able to add "au contraire", which sounds Canadian enough to ...

Anything can be made to sound Canadian by finishing the sentence with "eh".
How's it going, eh?
It's warm today, eh?
Au contraire, eh?
Et cetera.

[nadir]

Glad to see that it works
(adding something related to Canada to keep the Americans busy for a while).

'eh' sounds good. I did not know. Added to my toolbox.

[hellfire695]

I could have said "i disagree", sure, but then i wouldn't have been able to add "au contraire", which sounds Canadian enough to ...

Anything can be made to sound Canadian by finishing the sentence with "eh".
How's it going, eh?
It's warm today, eh?
Au contraire, eh?
Et cetera.

I find only people from certain parts talk like that,

I'm from the east coast and its so much that I even end up typing it

Infact people even use it to say hello

Eh dar hows it going ?

[mharrison]

I could have said "i disagree", sure, but then i wouldn't have been able to add "au contraire", which sounds Canadian enough to ...

Anything can be made to sound Canadian by finishing the sentence with "eh".
How's it going, eh?
It's warm today, eh?
Au contraire, eh?
Et cetera.

Don't forget that the word about becomes aboot in Canadian dialect....not to mention everyone is a hoser.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEbUtpPQihM

[Randicus]

Don't forget that the word about becomes aboot in Canadian dialect....not to mention everyone is a hoser.

That is very interesting. In 36 or 37 years living in Canada (I forget exactly how long ago I left.), I never heard aboot. But I heard many Americans say they hear it.

I could have said "i disagree", sure, but then i wouldn't have been able to add "au contraire", which sounds Canadian enough to ...

Anything can be made to sound Canadian by finishing the sentence with "eh".
How's it going, eh?
It's warm today, eh?
Au contraire, eh?
Et cetera.

I find only people from certain parts talk like that,
I'm from the east coast and its so much that I even end up typing it
Infact people even use it to say hello
Eh dar hows it going ?

Sounds like you are a Newfie. Or are you a Maritimer? I love the Newfoundland dialect. It's a little strange, but that is part of what makes it nice to listen to.

[mharrison]

Don't forget that the word about becomes aboot in Canadian dialect....not to mention everyone is a hoser.

That is very interesting. In 36 or 37 years living in Canada (I forget exactly how long ago I left.), I never heard aboot. But I heard many Americans say they hear it.

Guess you lived in the wrong part of Canada, or you said aboot and didn't realize it. Same goes with people from the upper peninsula of Michigan.

[Ahtiga Saraz]

Concerning the thread (which craig locked earlier today)

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forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=74783


I think it will be obvious from my replies in that thread that I tried to do some research and to present less apocalyptic interpretations than did the OP, and I suggested some common-sense tests one can use to assess just how bad tails is at providing anonymity, if that is the case, or to prove that it does in fact provide good anonymity, if that is the case. But when craig simply censors rather than allowing users like me to attempt a balanced discussion of the facts of the matter (to the extent that one can figure them out in a reasonable amount of time), this leaves the impression that ax25 really is being used to harm people.

Right aboot now I wonder if things would be better if the DUF server was located in Canada, eh?

[EDIT: regarding possible innocuous explanations of ax25 modules in tails, at

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www.schneier.com/blog


look at the blog "Going Dark vs.a Golden Age of Surveillance", which has several very good comments and then near the end as I write, a very similar post about the ax25 loadable kernel module, signed "M". If there is an innocuous explanation I expect that someone will provide it there. Bruce S mentions the Wikileaks Spyfiles website; there and at cryptome.org one can find many documents suggesting that if it is possible to surreptitiously bug a specific individual "target" computer with ax25, secret police will do it if easier methods fail, so I don't think it would be wise to dismiss the suggestion out of hand. Rather, if no such scheme could possibly work, explain why not!]