cmdkeen

56 ms·

631.
by cmdkeen 13y ago
Because you can engage voters to change their minds in the USA, or indeed just engage politicians, whereas in Russia such activity can get you murdered, sent to prison (often a death sentence anyway) or exiled. Look at things like SOPA wher
632.
by cmdkeen 13y ago
"Secret courts" - no, there aren't. The FISA system is about surveillance warrants not trials. It's nothing like the "secret courts" in countries that have given term its meaning. Again men established those la
633.
by cmdkeen 13y ago
America has done some really crappy things over the years, but you know about them, they come out and get reported. In Russia the journalists who report these things get killed, those who speak out get assassinated overseas or put on trial
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
Given what China has done to Tibet over the past few decades it is safe to say the difference is night and day between the levels of "bullying" that occur.
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
Russia's just put a dead lawyers on trial to cover up government corruption. Like to admit it or not but the USA still has a functioning system of laws and an independent judiciary. Disagreeing with those laws or the judiciary is very
636.
by cmdkeen 13y ago
"Hitler had access to American newspapers" - yes and someone in the US military who leaked information useful to the enemy to one would have aided the enemy. This isn't "anyone gives information to the press", it&#x
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
The Economist did an article on Swedish state provided childcare a while back. Cheap nurseries provide by the state are a boon, but also teach what it is to be a Swedish citizen. Immigrants especially are highly incentivised to send their c
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
IF you want to be conspiratorial it is because of the BBC's admitted liberal bias - many of their staff would prefer to live in a Scandinavian style country which they perceive to have none or fewer of the faults that the UK does.
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
I'd be intrigued to see a breakdown between London and the rest of the UK in the "working very long hours" stakes, especially when you add in commuting. It's entirely possible to have a successful career working 9 to 5,
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
This is rubbish. The UK isn't keeping Assange inside the embassy for the USA, we're doing it because we follow the rule of law - he breached his bail after exploring the full extent of the appeals process around his extradition. R
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
Intriguingly this is also very similar to the original scheme by Charles Ponzi in that it purported to make its money from arbitrage opportunities. It's amazing how people will suspend their disbelief when the chance for a "too go
642.
by cmdkeen 13y ago
VCs take a stake in the company and drive the priority towards serious growth. VCs don't want your company to grow sensibly and return their money, they want it to have massive growth or fail. Bootstapping lets you run your own compan
643.
by cmdkeen 13y ago
Except "rich people trying to influence politics" is an easy attack line for those that disagree with the changes you are trying to make. Mr Feeney is clearly someone who prefers operating out of the limelight, which is the exact
644.
by cmdkeen 13y ago
What's worrying is that it always strikes me as the Roman Empire in the last days of the Republic. Vast sums being spent to buy elections, a powerful few getting very rich off wars and the government grinding to a halt, unable to deal
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
But consider how you tap a cable though: you need to be able to analyse it offline to work out what the hell is going on, sift the data you need a warrant for (UK stuff) and whether a warrant applies. Even if that could be done in real tim
646.
by cmdkeen 13y ago
I think it depends what these "selectors" they used to query on were. If a warrant read: "all communications where a participant is based in the UK" signed A Minister Then we'd have a problem. The example given is
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
What's different in the UK case is that a senior politician has to put their name to specific actions and requests. So when a whistleblower, court case or general finding out happens there is a head ready to go on the block. When whist
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
Read up on some of the literature published a decade or so ago. Industrial espionage and economic espionage (more so) were the big things in the 1990s because we had all this intelligence apparatus left over from the Cold War with no idea w
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
Given they need warrants* for each interception it's pretty clear they aren't blanket bringing back all UK records, just the ones they ask for based on specific criteria. So yes, I don't mind that at all. That seems like exac
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
Eight, Bob. So that means that when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will on
651.
by cmdkeen 13y ago
There's a big difference between innovation in the hardware space and the software space. There's a long history of hardware innovations being ripped off immediately by competitors, or even before you're able to bring your ow
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
Huzzah - cracking name as well. I really am going to have to get round to digging out my dissertation work and having a play.
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
Hi Ian, Without being too cheeky - what's happened to TAILOR? The Minion project you work on is a classic example of this problem - an important tool to actually encode problems for the solver has disappeared. In this case it seems it
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
According to released information most of the espionage occurring against Europe is economic. From the UK wanting to know what German interest rate policies were back in the 1980s to Airbus to current the current state of EU finances and wh
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
Embassies are full of secret spying equipment, and indeed spies. Foreign warships that come to visit "interesting" ports have been known to carry extra electronics intelligence equipment. My point was that you don't have to i
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
Ever wondered what many embassies contain? There were serious health concerns about staff in the British Embassy in Moscow during the Cold War from all the stuff the Soviets were throwing at the building trying to work out what the occupant
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
Google was possibly a poor example as they aren't just using the brand fees but claiming they don't actually "sell" anything in the UK at all. Despite having lots of people in their London officer with sales type titles
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
You're missing a step though - which is that these corporations do everything possible to avoid paying the due tax on those foreign profits. I'm all in favour of getting to repatriate profits then - but taking the profits through
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
That's simply not true. Western countries have significant differences in structures that enable them to achieve compared to Russia. The key one that springs to mind is a rule of law that courts actually follow. Compare Russia after si
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
The UK did away with S44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 precisely because there was backlash against the mass use of groundless searches. What was especially galling is that the UK has pretty broad search powers anyway based on reasonable suspic

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