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Cantbekhan

1,434 karma · joined September 4, 2019

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Cantbekhan··on Why don’t the French celebrate Lafayette?
Napoleon had a tremendous impact on many western nations long after his defeat. The most notable and positive example in my opinion is the base of the modern civil law system still in effect today in many of the conquered countries. The same codes based on the Napoleonic code were also exported to the colonies of those countries and many others which then retained it after their independence. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleonic_Code. And IMHO the civil law is a much better legal system than the common law used in most of the US, the UK and Australia among others. This goes to show that it's never binary and even the worst tyrants and dictators also sometimes achieve good positive things. This is probably valid for all of them.
Cantbekhan··on Lufthansa trialing lie-flat Economy seat concept
So this means that if the plane is empty they'll now forbid passengers from using 3 seats and ask them to pay instead?
Cantbekhan··on Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and the Unfortunate Implications
“History is a set of lies agreed upon.” ― Napoleon Bonaparte.
Cantbekhan··on Taking screenshots isn't allowed by the app after upgrading to Android 11
Alternatively on Android you can use Smali Patcher https://forum.xda-developers.com/apps/magisk/module-smali-pa... with a rooted Android. This program will generate a magisk module that will enable disabling the secure flag for the pesky apps disallowing screenshots. It will also allow you to enable mock locations. At your own risk.
Cantbekhan··on FBI, DHS, HHS Warn of Imminent Ransomware Threat Against U.S. Hospitals
Such responses happened in the past, sometimes with some added sarcasm https://twitter.com/idf/status/1125066395010699264
Cantbekhan··on Man charged for 'liking' photo of murdered French teacher
At some point I think we have to consider the view of Karl Popper: "Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.—In this formulation, I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be most unwise. But we should claim the right to suppress them if necessary even by force; for it may easily turn out that they are not prepared to meet us on the level of rational argument, but begin by denouncing all argument; they may forbid their followers to listen to rational argument, because it is deceptive, and teach them to answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols. We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant."

The problem remains as who defines what is intolerant. But in this case I think the argument is sound. This like was clearly endorsement. And the act was inexcusable no matter how offended anyone can be in their religion.

Cantbekhan··on Show HN: Which DNS servers are you pointing to?
Nextdns.io and cloudflare externally. Pi-hole pointing to those internally. Preferably encrypted. Preferably with Firefox due to esni support.
Cantbekhan··on Don't Use VPN Services (2016)
There are a few VPN services (about 3) that are recommended by both privacytools.io (https://www.privacytools.io/providers/vpn/) and the freedom of the press foundation (https://freedom.press/training/choosing-a-vpn/).

Some accept anonymous cash payments like mullvad and do not require any information.

Everyone here probably knows VPNs are not an all-in solution for privacy nor security but they're certainly a good added layer to add and most likely have better privacy standards than most ISPs.

A person more concerned about privacy should just add one or more layers above/below the VPN ... like ISP > VPN > Tor for instance at the price of substantially lower performance ...

Or you could do the opposite with a cash accepting VPN such as Mullvad ... and only connect to them using ISP > Tor > VPN which would also provide a decent layer that would avoid the massive "maicious high risk flagging" of Tor Exit nodes everywhere while preventing the VPN provider from knowing your IP. You certainly have to hit less captchas with VPNs than with Tor ...

There are also quite a few VPN/VPS providers accepting Monero that can be used and paid for "anonymously" for adding more layers.

If you live in a large city with a decent view on places offering free legal public wifi, you could also buy a long range Wifi Directionnal Antenna and USB Wifi adapter to add such layer while remaining at home and avoid having to move to such places. Mac address randomization is trivial and integrated in most OSes now. Again it's not perfect but it's an added "convenient" layer not requiring physical moving.

Cantbekhan··on Email cannot be encrypted at rest
Couldn't the indexing issue be solved by only having the client/user do the indexing while e-mails are stored encrypted on the server? Ideally on an encrypted device which will keep/maintain the indexing.

Shifting the burden of indexing e-mail (and decrypting/encrypting the at rest) on the client willing to achieve this?

Edit:

The webmail/imap/pop provider would only have to receive an e-mail and use a client provide public key to encrypt the mail and let it rest.

The webmail client could (in browser) or through their app do the decryption/indexing locally. Could be done with an extension.

Cantbekhan··on Russia gives Edward Snowden permanent residency
This might be a valid statement for leaving the EU and US by land in some places of high trust (Switzerland, Norway) but certainly not a general rule by all means and certainly not by any other means (sea/air/train) where your passport or ID will be checked by at least the airlines and other companies (who act as deputies of regulations) and it will be matched against passport validity databases and other various databases (no fly lists, wanted criminals, interpol ...). And I know of several (if not all) EU countries where you have to scan/show your passport to access the departures gates in Airports (into an automated gate that scans it). Some even require such scan just to enter the airport since the last wave of terrorist attacks in 2015-2016.
Cantbekhan··on Religion, Violence, Tolerance and Progress: Nothing to Do with Theology
It's extremely controversial ... in some places. In France right now the topic is extremely controversial due to recent events and will lead to laws proposed at National and EU level for regulating Social networks which are blamed openly by the public opinion for their amplifying effect.

This combined with new laws proposals from Germany could soon have a substantial impact on Tech by mandating various regulations on such platforms.

The effect of such regulations that could be endorsed by the two biggest and most influential members of the EU and could lead to a drastic change in the tech world in Europe.

Cantbekhan··on Bundeskabinett approves draft law allowing trojans on phones to monitor WhatsApp
I'm sorry ... I could not find any English language article on any reliable/reputable media reporting on this matter after searching extensively. Therefore I decided it was best to submit this reputable AFP one in German that could be translated easily using Google translate or whatever.

I thought it was quite important to report on it despite the absence of English media coverage.

I apologize for the title being wrong in this case but some other German media press articles have used the word backdoor instead of Trojan. I should have used the word Trojan instead of Backdoor in relation to this particular article and apologize for the mistake. But I'm not really sure which is worse to be honest... and I also suppose they don't want the suspects aware of the Trojan being on their phone. Which leaves many wondering if they don't mean that they want the Trojans at tech companies instead (which then would become backdoors).

Cantbekhan··on Android App Which Shows Details about Covid19 Exposures (Requires Root)
Currently works for Austria,Belgium,Canada,Czechia,Germany,Netherlands,Poland and Switzerland
Cantbekhan··on Cloudflare One
"One is more than any one will ever need" Bill Gates, 2020 (/sarcasm)
Cantbekhan··on Cloudflare One
Don't forget Oneplus
Cantbekhan··on EU’s high court finds UK, FR and BE surveillance regimes must respect privacy
Such cases have yet to be ruled upon by the ECHR tho (to which the UK still adheres to this date).

Same issue as the US where the Supreme Court should still rule about this whole right to not incriminate yourself / remain silent by not revealing a password.

No such cases have reached those jurisdiction yet as far as I know?

Cantbekhan··on EU’s high court finds UK, FR and BE surveillance regimes must respect privacy
Well it wasn't completely clear before this ruling (see this analysis from a Belgian Law Faculty which lists the previous cases (https://www.law.kuleuven.be/citip/blog/mass-surveillance-and...).

And some member states never really ruled on the matter clearly.

Now it's pretty clear and I have to agree and re-reading this ruling entirely that this is in fact making mass surveillance legal under an apparent cover of limiting it. Making your initial ending remark completely true.

Cantbekhan··on EU’s high court finds UK, FR and BE surveillance regimes must respect privacy
Exactly as I commented too. This ruling could basically make mass surveillance legal in the whole of EU and UK as long as the states set some unspecified limits themselves on how long they keep the data.
Cantbekhan··on EU’s high court finds UK, FR and BE surveillance regimes must respect privacy
Link to ruling : http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf;jsessioni...

And from what I read the summary is wrong.

This ruling applies to all EU+UK (including post Brexit for now) states but was requested by UK/France/Belgium lawyers initially.

This ruling also seems to mandate that all EU+UK states cannot keep metadata indefinitely/permanently unless it's highly targeted (as in "individually targeted"), within a judicial framework and only for specific high security issues.

So it doesn't forbid mass surveillance per se but only seems to mandate that they can't keep the data forever unless strictly necessary.

Some could even interpret this ruling as permission to do mass surveillance as long as they don't keep the data for too long (a year? 10 years? it's unclear)

Cantbekhan··on Putin says Russia and U.S. should agree not to meddle in each other's elections
Why would this be flagged? It's a Reuters UK news about what is clearly an extremely important topic. It's clearly about hacking which is mentioned multiple times in the article. This is not a Russia Today article or something from the Onion...
Cantbekhan··on Putin says Russia and U.S. should agree not to meddle in each other's elections
As someone who still appreciates the "art of trolling". This is indeed quite possibly one of the greatest trollings ever.
Cantbekhan··on Over 90% of Indian techies in the US are upper-caste Indians
I strongly recommend this recent movie https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7142506/ which gives what IMHO seems like quite a realistic view on that topic (and no, it's definitely not the cliché Bollywood movie full of dancing, don't be fooled by any trailer).
Cantbekhan··on Apple to delay privacy change threatening Facebook, mobile ad market
Just as they put this ad online https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l61NE0eqkw ... "Privacy. That’s iPhone. – Over Sharing"
Cantbekhan··on US indictments of piracy group members throw top-tier piracy world into chaos
Here are the direct links to the 3 indictments:

https://torrentfreak.com/images/1-20-cr-00018-US-v-George-Br... https://torrentfreak.com/images/1-20-cr-00018-US-v-Umar-Ahma... https://torrentfreak.com/images/1-20-cr-00018-US-v-Jonatan-C...

Cantbekhan··on Jacques Cousteau’s grandson wants to build the ISS of the sea
Discussed 26 days ago https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23985772
Cantbekhan··on Linux PinePhone has physical kill switches for its cameras, mic, data, BT, Wi-Fi
Absolutely not (yet).
Cantbekhan··on Linux PinePhone has physical kill switches for its cameras, mic, data, BT, Wi-Fi
I don't really see an issue for manufacturers there. We have the same regulatory issue with Wi-Fi power which will adjust transmission power differently based on the country it's sold in. The phone could easily enable to disable a feature depending on where it is. Remember Bolivia dBm limits ? :)

Regarding your German link. It's about tampering with evidence which I suppose means it's about changing the IMEI after a crime to hide yourself. I suppose that would be illegal everywhere?

Regarding your UK example, the law in question (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/31/section/1) mentions circumstances and gives exceptions:

" But a person does not commit an offence under this section if—

(a)he is the manufacturer of the device, or

(b)he does the act mentioned in subsection (1) with the written consent of the manufacturer of the device. "

So I guess it's okay in the UK if the manufacturer allows it and is okay with it?

But of course I'm not trying to promote this feature for illegal use but mostly to hinder "inescapable" tracking from Advertisers , Mobile Operators, ISPs, Phone Manufacturers and ...

Cantbekhan··on Linux PinePhone has physical kill switches for its cameras, mic, data, BT, Wi-Fi
Off-topic but IMHO what is really needed these days is a privacy feature allowing all the UIDs to be changed freely by the user (without the need for rooting and firmware thinkering).

Including randomized IMEIs and randomized Android ID (In addition to the already offered randomized MAC and Ad tracking ID changes). Especially IMEIs which are commonly used by many applications and law enforcement to track users (see Banking apps for instance that all require your phone permissions to read such IDs).

Nor Librem nor Pinephone offer this functionality from what I know.

And no, it's not (yet) illegal (but might be against some ToS) in many countries to change your IMEI including the US (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Mobile_Equipment...).

Cantbekhan··on “Rich People Can’t Stop”: The Luxe Quarantine Lives of Silicon Valley’s Elite
Isn't it more "Struggle of the classes"? Or "Classes struggle"? And not "The Class of Struggles" ?
Cantbekhan··on X-Ray “gun” assembled from Junkyard parts
Interesting is that in their follow up video they effectively measure radiation up to 9 roentgens/h (which is 90 mSv/h if I'm not mistaken) which is the limit of their detection equipment. See https://xkcd.com/radiation/

It's quite a lot.

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