jarrett

36 ms·

331.
by jarrett 13y ago
Extortion is perhaps not the most accurate word, going strictly by its definition. Anyway, the objection isn't to taxation of taxis, but rather to outright excluding new entrants to the taxi market. Which many cities do, via the meda
332.
by jarrett 13y ago
Yes, this is definitely a problem with rental equipment. Most rented tools I've used are in bad shape, though still usable on a one-off basis. Rental companies tend to charge for excessive damage to the tools (if they bother to inspect
333.
by jarrett 13y ago
Programming languages evolve slowly because they're more like mathematical notation than technology, so said someone smart whose identity I can't recall. Lots of smart people have been thinking for more than a half century about t
334.
by jarrett 13y ago
> Again, I could go rent this stuff, but I want it delivered, and I don't want to pay a price that is pretty close to what it would cost to just buy the tool! This is probably the biggest problem with a sharing/renting economy.
335.
by jarrett 13y ago
> the vuln was not that the JS was bad or untrustworthy, but that the passphrase was sent to the server. Which is one of the most commonly cited vulnerabilities with web-based crypto. The fact that no JS was involved doesn't really
336.
by jarrett 13y ago
This reinforces the point that web-based cryptography (particularly when the JS is provided by a server) is not adequately secure. This vulnerability--sniffing the plaintext prior to server-side encryption--is one of the two most commonly-c
337.
by jarrett 13y ago
I believe it was meant ironically. Similar to the joke "I double rot13 all my emails, but I'm probably just being paranoid." (If you're not familiar with rot13, running it twice results in the original plaintext.)
338.
by jarrett 13y ago
The difficulty is that most recipients of your message will not be willing to use whatever crypto technology you've chosen. PGP is probably the most popular email encryption system, but good luck finding people who use it. I work in
339.
by jarrett 13y ago
That's a very good point that I should have addressed. The cited ACLU article goes on to say: "King and Mauer (2005) estimate that at least 68,000 people were in prison, on probation, or serving a jail sentence for a marijuana off
340.
by jarrett 13y ago
There are significant security flaws in the ways that contracts are traditionally executed. This case illustrates just one of those flaws. Other flaws include alteration after signing, signature copying and forgery, and repudiation (meaning
341.
by jarrett 13y ago
I'm not going to say that that all banks are angelic and innocent. But I would take the long view on this issue, and come down in favor of honesty and transparency in contractual negotiation. You may not like the victim in this case, b
342.
by jarrett 13y ago
If we assume that at least some unethical prosecutors exist (which seems verifiable) then this risk exists any time you do something to annoy someone who has influence over said unethical prosecutors. So then it's no longer a questio
343.
by jarrett 13y ago
You're right that "I didn't read the contract" is an invalid defense in the general case. However, this is an unusual situation. The peculiar circumstances would likely lead the bank to believe they were signing a diffe
344.
by jarrett 13y ago
I have found some more info on good faith and fair dealing as it pertains to this type of case. Robert Summers' 1968 article "'Good Faith' in General Contract Law and the Sales Provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code&q
345.
by jarrett 13y ago
There are (arguably) different forms of addiction: Physical and psychological. Physical addiction is the more dangerous of the two, as it can induce truly horrifying symptoms during withdrawals. (Delirium tremens from alcohol withdrawals, f
346.
by jarrett 13y ago
This data point is over a decade old, but still: "the proportion of state prison inmates who were sentenced for marijuana-only offenses rose from 2.6% in 1990 to 3.6% in 2000" http://www.aclu-wa.org/library_files&
347.
by jarrett 13y ago
This is what I would try to do if I were the bank. They would have to write off the credit card balance, because voiding the contract cuts both ways. But considering that the bank is potentially liable for much greater damages, it might mak
348.
by jarrett 13y ago
Possibly. Though I could also argue that I've been in contract negotiations where drafts are edited by both parties and passed back and forth, yet one party's letterhead remains on the top. In other words, I could say the letterhe
349.
by jarrett 13y ago
I'm going to comment as if the same thing hypothetically happened in the US, because I have no idea what Russian contract law is like. Regarding criminal fraud: That might be tough to prove. See, for example, this part of Virginia&#x27
350.
by jarrett 13y ago
As the owners of SkyMall, how would you cash out on this deal? As I understand it, Xhibit didn't pay cash for SkyMall. I take this to be a stock-for-stock merger. So the owners of SkyMall end up with a stake in Xhibit but not cash. You
351.
by jarrett 13y ago
> Because the precedent is clear: Smith v. Maryland makes it okay to collect phone metadata, done. I should have brought up Smith. My mistake. My opinion of Smith is basically this: It's at odds with other cases, and its logic rests
352.
by jarrett 13y ago
> With metadata the rebuttal is that the Constitution refers to the "right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects..." There is a legitimate argument that AT&T's records about when you
353.
by jarrett 13y ago
Very true, but it's not just socioeconomically disadvantaged schools that are in trouble. Schools serving middle-class populations often have the problems the author enumerates. For example, the author says that classes do not teach pr
354.
by jarrett 13y ago
I submitted a comment a few minutes ago to this effect, but it's as if it never happened, so here goes again. If it should reappear, please forgive the double-posting. > The FISA process concerns surveillance of foreign nationals wh
355.
by jarrett 13y ago
It's a higher bar to reconstitute the court than to block a judicial nomination, though. The former would require both houses to pass the bill, and either the President's signature or a veto-proof majority. For the latter, all you
356.
by jarrett 13y ago
> As I understand it, the warrant process used in domestic criminal law is also not adversarial Not entirely true. The issuance of the warrant is not adversarial. However, due to the exclusionary rule, a warrant can be overturned after t
357.
by jarrett 13y ago
> Saying "we don't think law permits X" should damned well mean "we don't do X", though. I understand that it can eliminate possibilities. But my argument is that it won't confirm that the US engage
358.
by jarrett 13y ago
Remember though, that I'm not proposing the government disclose what it does, but rather what it understands the law to mean. So saying "the law would permit X" doesn't mean "we do X." For example, if I asked
359.
by jarrett 13y ago
> Nothing forces the government, or any other entity, to publicize its interpretation of law until it is challenged in public court. One of the key objections raised during this controversy is that perhaps the executive should be force
360.
by jarrett 13y ago
I understand this stuff, and I believe I can teach it to my friends. But I don't believe I can convince my friends to put up with the software that is currently available. That is the entire reason I can't find anyone to use PGP

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