5 ms·

We also had an article today about a Bluetooth RCE: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22971863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22971863

by Cpoll 6y ago

walterbell 6y ago
Even Singapore, a virtual police state, barely got 20% of people to use contact tracing apps. As a silver lining, if Apple/Google surrender location privacy on their platforms, it might finally give Purism and the other "libre" phones a chance in the marketplace. And those $1000 flagship "mobile" phones can be replaced by a $300 iPad without a GPS. As for the "kids" who "don't care" about privacy? Ask them that question after their first unnecessary 2 week quarantine-in-isolation-hotel due to glitchy bluetooth.
- AmericanChopper 6y ago
  > As for the "kids" who "don't care" about privacy? Ask them that question after their first unnecessary 2 week quarantine-in-isolation-hotel due to glitchy bluetooth. People don’t revolt against the tyranny of the state just because it starts affecting their peers. Western democracies all over the world lock up thousands of innocent people every year. It happens all the time, it could happen to you, me, or anybody reading this comment. Very few people care. If it did happen to you, and you wanted to complain about it, you’re unlikely to convince many additional people to care.
  - walterbell 6y ago
    No revolt needed. Economic natural selection will run its course. States can make their own choices. Talent can do the same. This does assume that states will compete to attract the top tier of creative professionals who can work from home, create high-value digital businesses with remote workers and an industrial tax base. Unless there are walls between states, top talent can and will move.
    - AmericanChopper 6y ago
      This assumes that people will proactively leave, instead of just not caring, until such a point in time when it may be too late for them personally. It also kinda assumes that even if people were to leave, that the state would realize the error of its ways. Which is quite optimistic, because there’s many cases where it’s rather easy to measure the negative impact of a policy, and then watch the policy makers use those negative impacts as a basis for further negative-impacting policy. It also seems this advice would really only help people who had the economic freedom to arbitrarily choose where they live and work.
      - walterbell 6y ago
        The virus has shown that a relatively small number of humans wielding incorrect models (disproven in mere weeks!) were able to influence the leaders of hundreds of millions of people. After the first human ran a four-minute mile, that feat was repeated by other humans. Don't underestimate the lessons learned by the non-winners of the last two months. More than a few HN readers could work from home and people in some states are about to make very different choices from their neighbors in other states. Time will tell who wins. If you listen to the rhetoric, it is claimed that some will literally die because of the policy choices of their governor. It is true that past behavior does not support the migration theory, but the near future does not (sadly) look much like the past.
- Mediterraneo10 6y ago
  > As a silver lining, if Apple/Google surrender location privacy on their platforms, it might finally give Purism and the other "libre" phones a chance in the marketplace. And those $1000 flagship "mobile" phones can be replaced by a $300 iPad without a GPS. There has been speculation that if some European countries make a contact-tracing app obligatory for everyone or for some subset of people, saying “My phone doesn’t run Android apps” will be no excuse. If you don't have a smartphone that can run the required app, then you will be given a Bluetooth fob instead and told to carry that around.
  - zucker42 6y ago
    That's incredibly dystopic. Do you have a link?
    - walterbell 6y ago
      Not EU, but here's a Montana story about excluding visitors. Could there be an "arm band lobbyist" somewhere in the story, both in Montana and the EU? https://montanadailygazette.com/2020/04/14/montana-county-demands-people-wear-government-issued-arm-bands-to-do-business/ https://montanadailygazette.com/2020/04/14/montana-county-de... > In what might be one of the most over-the-top and draconian responses to coronavirus yet seen in Montana, Valley County is mandating that people wear government-issued pink arm bands in under to purchase products inside of stores. The measure, enforced by the Valley County Health Department, insists that store-owners keep customers out unless they have the pink arm-bands, which denote the customer has been in the area more than 14 days and submitted to quarantine protocol.
    - Mediterraneo10 6y ago
      It has been several weeks now since I read the article that I had in mind, but I have found this other article[0] on the use of wristbands to enforce quarantines, and towards the end it mentions the possibility of wristbands for contact tracing that I posted about above. It is easy to assume that if such tech exists, then governments will expect you to use it if you are one of those weirdos like us (or very elderly) who don't have an Apple or Android smartphone. [0] https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52409893 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52409893

We also had an article today about a Bluetooth RCE: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22971863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22971863

by Cpoll 6y ago

We also had an article today about a Bluetooth RCE: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22971863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22971863

walterbell 6y ago

Even Singapore, a virtual police state, barely got 20% of people to use contact tracing apps. As a silver lining, if Apple/Google surrender location privacy on their platforms, it might finally give Purism and the other "libre" phones a chance in the marketplace. And those $1000 flagship "mobile" phones can be replaced by a $300 iPad without a GPS. As for the "kids" who "don't care" about privacy? Ask them that question after their first unnecessary 2 week quarantine-in-isolation-hotel due to glitchy bluetooth.

AmericanChopper 6y ago
> As for the "kids" who "don't care" about privacy? Ask them that question after their first unnecessary 2 week quarantine-in-isolation-hotel due to glitchy bluetooth. People don’t revolt against the tyranny of the state just because it starts affecting their peers. Western democracies all over the world lock up thousands of innocent people every year. It happens all the time, it could happen to you, me, or anybody reading this comment. Very few people care. If it did happen to you, and you wanted to complain about it, you’re unlikely to convince many additional people to care.
- walterbell 6y ago
  No revolt needed. Economic natural selection will run its course. States can make their own choices. Talent can do the same. This does assume that states will compete to attract the top tier of creative professionals who can work from home, create high-value digital businesses with remote workers and an industrial tax base. Unless there are walls between states, top talent can and will move.
  - AmericanChopper 6y ago
    This assumes that people will proactively leave, instead of just not caring, until such a point in time when it may be too late for them personally. It also kinda assumes that even if people were to leave, that the state would realize the error of its ways. Which is quite optimistic, because there’s many cases where it’s rather easy to measure the negative impact of a policy, and then watch the policy makers use those negative impacts as a basis for further negative-impacting policy. It also seems this advice would really only help people who had the economic freedom to arbitrarily choose where they live and work.
    - walterbell 6y ago
      The virus has shown that a relatively small number of humans wielding incorrect models (disproven in mere weeks!) were able to influence the leaders of hundreds of millions of people. After the first human ran a four-minute mile, that feat was repeated by other humans. Don't underestimate the lessons learned by the non-winners of the last two months. More than a few HN readers could work from home and people in some states are about to make very different choices from their neighbors in other states. Time will tell who wins. If you listen to the rhetoric, it is claimed that some will literally die because of the policy choices of their governor. It is true that past behavior does not support the migration theory, but the near future does not (sadly) look much like the past.
Mediterraneo10 6y ago
> As a silver lining, if Apple/Google surrender location privacy on their platforms, it might finally give Purism and the other "libre" phones a chance in the marketplace. And those $1000 flagship "mobile" phones can be replaced by a $300 iPad without a GPS. There has been speculation that if some European countries make a contact-tracing app obligatory for everyone or for some subset of people, saying “My phone doesn’t run Android apps” will be no excuse. If you don't have a smartphone that can run the required app, then you will be given a Bluetooth fob instead and told to carry that around.
- zucker42 6y ago
  That's incredibly dystopic. Do you have a link?
  - walterbell 6y ago
    Not EU, but here's a Montana story about excluding visitors. Could there be an "arm band lobbyist" somewhere in the story, both in Montana and the EU? https://montanadailygazette.com/2020/04/14/montana-county-demands-people-wear-government-issued-arm-bands-to-do-business/ https://montanadailygazette.com/2020/04/14/montana-county-de... > In what might be one of the most over-the-top and draconian responses to coronavirus yet seen in Montana, Valley County is mandating that people wear government-issued pink arm bands in under to purchase products inside of stores. The measure, enforced by the Valley County Health Department, insists that store-owners keep customers out unless they have the pink arm-bands, which denote the customer has been in the area more than 14 days and submitted to quarantine protocol.
  - Mediterraneo10 6y ago
    It has been several weeks now since I read the article that I had in mind, but I have found this other article[0] on the use of wristbands to enforce quarantines, and towards the end it mentions the possibility of wristbands for contact tracing that I posted about above. It is easy to assume that if such tech exists, then governments will expect you to use it if you are one of those weirdos like us (or very elderly) who don't have an Apple or Android smartphone. [0] https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52409893 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52409893