stitchy

Even so, the data should not be stored in a plain text file. Doing so gives any iPhone application access to that location data. Apple claims that it manages location preferences by application, but that's not true as long as this file exists in a plain text format.

That doesn't make his statement any less true. The link you provided only covers open source software that Apple included in their OS, and doesn't come close to including all iOS source code.

I think that the issue of open hostility in online communities stems from Anonymity more than anything else. Most people are very conciliatory face to face. Honestly, I'd prefer something between open hostility and straight up pacification. I definitely want constructive criticism, which is why I tend to like Hacker News. The comments that I have seen here tend to be more constructive than other places on the intertubes.

Wow. I was not aware of those policies. I'm suddenly very glad I let my membership lapse.

Wait. Isn't the data on the magnetic strip unencrypted anyway? Sure, your little card reader could encrypt the data, then send little ones and zeros through the headphone jack to be decrypted by your proprietary software, but the original data still isn't encrypted. It's just sitting there on the card in all of it's unencrypted glory. This is essentially security through obfuscation.

Yep, that's why I avoid commercial operating systems like the plague. It's why I initially became a gcc based C++ engineer. It's why I then became a Tomcat/Java engineer. And it's why I'm currently messing around with Android.

Friction is a good word for the problem. Who knows? Maybe in another life I would have actually used Microsoft's stack. I used their tools in college, and at work when they were provided...