Arthur Moore 's BestNetTech Comments

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  • On the post: EU's Brexit Strategy Shows How Aggressive Transparency Can Be Used To Gain The Upper Hand In Negotiations

    Arthur Moore ( profile ), 13 Jul, 2017 @ 07:09am

    Re: Re: Re:

    There's one major problem with that sort of government propaganda. It may work internally, but it alienates everyone else.

    That's not a good thing when everyone else has the power to take their ball and go home. From the EU perspective, having several million people suddenly unemployed won't be fun. Just like the financial chaos would suck. They're trying to avoid it, but as long as they give advanced notice, they can at least soften the impact.

    On the UK side, a hard brexit without any new trading treaties would wreck their economy. As in prices for any good going to or from the UK could almost double due to tariffs and additional customs restrictions. At least they use their own currency, so that problem has been avoided for now.

  • On the post: How One Game Developer Views Steam's Refund Policy As A Boon In The Face Of Over $4 Million In Refunds

    Arthur Moore ( profile ), 10 Jul, 2017 @ 11:32pm

    Re: Who is paying for the credit card refund fees?

    Probably the developer.

    With that said, it's a cost of doing business. You can think of it in two ways:

    First, the fees are less than a marketing campaign. The safety net factor means more people will try the game.

    Second, a refund policy means if something horrible goes wrong there's less likely to be a public backlash. People can still be unhappy with the game, but if they get there money back, they're less likely to cause as large of a firestorm. Think about No Man's Sky. While it would still have been a horrid game, if players could have gotten refunds they wouldn't have been nearly as upset.

  • On the post: Canadian Supreme Court Says It's Fine To Censor The Global Internet; Authoritarians & Hollywood Cheer…

    Arthur Moore ( profile ), 28 Jun, 2017 @ 12:29pm

    EU Problems

    The fun comes the moment that Google is sued in the EU for de-listing a website because of something like this. It's going to turn into a catch 22, where the EU says Google can't de-list something, and Canada says they must.

    Given that the company that's being de-listed has French assets it's not as far fetched as you think. The EU has a massive anti-Google crusade going right now, and don't seem to be thinking about long term consequences.

    At this point, it looks like Google's best option is to pull out of Canada entirely, and get a US court to rule that the Canadian ruling is overly broad.

  • On the post: Another Judge Says The Microsoft Decision Doesn't Matter; Orders Google To Hand Over Overseas Data

    Arthur Moore ( profile ), 14 Jun, 2017 @ 09:30pm

    Re:

    EU laws may require
    This is going to bite them so hard. The moment it's an EU citizens data in question Google is going to face massive EU fines. Except, if they don't comply they're in contempt in the US. This is exactly the reason why Microsoft has refused to turn over the data. They know that the moment they do so the EU will burn them alive.

  • On the post: Should Tumblr Be Forced To Reveal 500 People Who Reblogged A Sex Tape?

    Arthur Moore ( profile ), 13 Jun, 2017 @ 06:49pm

    Re:

    A prosecutor would have a case against Tumblr. A random citizen, not so much.

  • On the post: UK Government Department Says It Will Cost $7 To Send It An Email, But Only If You Are A Foreigner

    Arthur Moore ( profile ), 02 Jun, 2017 @ 11:52am

    Japan

    When it comes to being racist and blocking immigration, look no further than Japan.

    They have major problems with birth rate, and an aging population. However, "no gaijin" is a common thing that westerners hear if they go into even the wrong restaurant in the multicultural areas.

    Japan is hoping for a robotic revolution, because they aren't allowing people in.

  • On the post: Boston Globe Blocks Readers Using Privacy Modes In Browsers

    Arthur Moore ( profile ), 24 May, 2017 @ 02:17pm

    An issue that will probably be fixed

    The ability for websites to determine if a browser is running in private browsing mode is a concern in general.

    My bet is Mozilla and (maybe) the Chromium team will work on preventing this sort of detection in the future.

  • On the post: Hacker Extortion Attempt Falls Flat Because Netflix Actually Competes With Piracy

    Arthur Moore ( profile ), 03 May, 2017 @ 07:35am

    Re: You gotta love that "contract"

    Oh, that contract was extremely valuable. It let the company stall for quite a while.

    The original deadline was Dec 31, and it's already May. Early leaks become less valuable the closer the media is to public release, especially if there's more work to be done by the production company.

    Also, all this communication they had with the hackers would probably be extremely useful to law enforcement.

  • On the post: Canadian Appeals Court Says Vice Media Must Turn Over Communications With Source To Law Enforcement

    Arthur Moore ( profile ), 03 Apr, 2017 @ 01:15pm

    Does Vice still have it

    Barring an appeal to the Supreme Court, the RCMP will get their man['s communications]

    Serious question. Does Vice media still have those communications? If they turn anything over, they can consider themselves done in comparison to other organizations. Plus, the whole journalistic ethics thing.

    Given all that, I wouldn't be surprised if they've already destroyed everything.

  • On the post: Homeland Security Starts Banning Laptops & Tablets On Planes From The Middle East

    Arthur Moore ( profile ), 21 Mar, 2017 @ 11:22am

    Pilots not exempt!

    Fun fact. These days pilots use iPads instead of a 50lb bag of paper charts. Nothing in the current instructions exempts those pilots. While it obviously means airlines and package services (UPS, FedEx) can't fly their pilots out to these places it's actually even worse.

    If the affected airline's own pilots are exempted they will have to start carrying that extra 50lb bag, and go back to old paper charts. So, best case is pilots considering US trips to be crap duty. Worst case is the latest paper charts haven't been sent to the pilots, so they just can't fly the route. There are in between options, but that's a best/worst case scenario if pilots tools are actually banned.

  • On the post: Indoor Football Team Lets Fans Pretty Much Run Everything From A Phone App

    Arthur Moore ( profile ), 01 Mar, 2017 @ 04:58am

    Re: How to win with such a team...

    Another option is to limit certain voting choices. So, the coach says here's 3 or 5 choices we think will work. Pick one.

    People get points when they pick correctly. That plays in with the possible weighting system, and lets people have a personal score.

    The tricky part is defining what gives points. A goal is obvious, but maybe number of yards traveled?

  • On the post: 'Smart' Stuffed Animal Company Leaves Voice, Other Data Of Millions Publicly Exposed

    Arthur Moore ( profile ), 28 Feb, 2017 @ 11:00am

    Question

    Quick question. Many countries have additional privacy requirements for minors. What's the likelihood that this company is now in breach?

  • On the post: Pennsylvania Court Shrugs Off Microsoft Decision; Says Google Must Turn Over Emails Stored At Overseas Data Centers

    Arthur Moore ( profile ), 06 Feb, 2017 @ 01:32pm

    USPS

    The USPS can open your mail! Under certain circumstances at least. I haven't been able to find too many articles discussing the issue, but here's one: http://www.rstreet.org/2014/11/19/yes-the-government-can-open-your-mail-without-a-warrant/

  • On the post: Pennsylvania Court Shrugs Off Microsoft Decision; Says Google Must Turn Over Emails Stored At Overseas Data Centers

    Arthur Moore ( profile ), 06 Feb, 2017 @ 10:24am

    Re: Re: Filing Cabinets

    See my post about distributed filing systems for more information. My analogy was just that, and isn't perfect.

    The problem with this ruling is it's forcing Google to make huge technical changes to their infrastructure. I'm talking Billions of dollars worth here. At best, Google can spend a couple million to put in hacks and treat the person under investigation as a special snowflake. Except, if those hacks do involve moving data out of say the EU, then Google just broke EU law. Especially since, everyone but this judge believes ordering Google to move things so the Feds can get it is a seizure.

    Even ignoring the dubious international legality, the US really doesn't want to be known for having courts that can force company's to completely restructure their internal organization on a whim. The cost to implement the court order means this will be fought as long as possible. If Google loses, then this is additional (not codified) regulation international companies will be wary of when dealing with US markets.

  • On the post: Pennsylvania Court Shrugs Off Microsoft Decision; Says Google Must Turn Over Emails Stored At Overseas Data Centers

    Arthur Moore ( profile ), 06 Feb, 2017 @ 10:10am

    Distributed File Systems

    I wouldn't be so sure of that.

    Google is a major contributor to distributed file system development. These are things that look like one "disk" to anyone accessing it, but are based on man hard drives running on many different computers.

    These systems are "intelligent". So if I were in Japan, it would see that and slowly move my data over to an Asian data center. Because, that way I'm not waiting for signals to travel halfway across the world and back again every time I want to read an E-mail.

    Here's a more likely example: Someone in Japan sends me (in the US) an E-mail. Google recieves that E-mail at their Asian data center, but knows I'm in the US. So, whenever I read that E-mail, or if the US data center has extra space and Google have spare bandwidth, Google will transfer it over to the US.

    Managing such a system has to be a huge effort. To find where a specific file is, they have to: find all the data blocks, map those blocks to actual disks/machines, and find out where those machines are. The best part is there are multiple copies of each block, so if a machine dies it doesn't take data with it. Then, 5 minutes later the system could shift and move all that data overseas.

    The tools just aren't designed to say that this file must be on this machine. The way Google dealt with China was just setting up an entirely separate network. That is why orders like this, or the possibility of the EU requiring all data to be stored within it's borders scares Google so much. They'd go from one distributed fault tolerant network, to a bunch of small vulnerable networks.

  • On the post: Pennsylvania Court Shrugs Off Microsoft Decision; Says Google Must Turn Over Emails Stored At Overseas Data Centers

    Arthur Moore ( profile ), 06 Feb, 2017 @ 09:52am

    Filing Cabinets

    The best way to think about this is if Microsoft and Google were letter carriers that store copies in filing cabinets. Microsoft keeps their letters all in one place per client. Meanwhile, Google says shipping is cheap and puts the letters wherever they have free space. The court order is telling google to ship the letters to the US so the FBI can then seize it. If the filing cabinets are in the US, then the US can easily get to them. If they're in a foreign country, then you need a foreign country's permission to get to their filing cabinets. Countries don't take it lightly when foreigners raid their businesses. It's that whole sovereign nation thing. The only time this analogy breaks down is in the US you don't actually need a warrant to get old E-Mails. As far as US law is concerned, if those E-Mails have been sitting in the filing cabinets for long enough they're considered "abandoned." Microsoft and Google aren't exactly going to say that the US can do this though. In addition to the business loss, widely publicizing this government over reach jeopardizes multiple treaties these companies rely on.

  • On the post: Appeals Court Upholds Its Denial Of DOJ's Demand For Microsoft's Overseas Data

    Arthur Moore ( profile ), 25 Jan, 2017 @ 03:09pm

    Re: "Filing cabinet"

    Nope, they'd need an Irish search warrant. It's private customer communications, that are protected by EU law.

    The interesting part about this case is that the EU and US have procedures especially designed for just that scenario. Except, in the US E-Mails are considered "abandoned" after a time so they don't need a warrant to force MS to turn them over. The EU and most of the world see this as crazy, and want to see actual probable cause first.

    Yes, I realize the US law that declares E-Mail to be "abandoned" seems to violates the 4th amendment. Funnily enough, US law enforcement doesn't really care about that...

  • On the post: Six Journalists Arrested, Charged While Covering Trump Inauguration Protests

    Arthur Moore ( profile ), 25 Jan, 2017 @ 12:59pm

    Re:

    They report to DC government

    Umm, you know that Congress is the DC government right? Every single thing a normal city council or state legislature does is handled by congress.

    The best part is, DC doesn't even get a vote. If you live in DC you don't even get to vote in the US presidential elections. There's a reason why Washington DC has license plates saying "Taxation without representation." It's not a joke, it's a sad reality.

  • On the post: Appeals Court Upholds Its Denial Of DOJ's Demand For Microsoft's Overseas Data

    Arthur Moore ( profile ), 25 Jan, 2017 @ 12:53pm

    Much worse than that

    If Microsoft were to lose this fight they'd lose much of their overseas cloud hosting business.

    It's much worse than that. Currently most country's (including the EU) laws lets US companies do business as long as they keep data in country. If Microsoft lost this fight it would be a perfect excuse to kick all US companies out.

    Keep in mind, that cording to Irish/EU data privacy laws Microsoft can not legally share that data with law enforcement without an Irish warrant. Meaning, the US is trying to force Microsoft to violate Irish/EU law.

    EU has a data sharing agreement that says US companies can keep EU data in the US, but if this court decision went the other way it would probably have been canceled.

  • On the post: Snowden's Favorite Email Service Returns, With 'Trustful,' 'Cautious,' And 'Paranoid' Modes

    Arthur Moore ( profile ), 23 Jan, 2017 @ 11:45pm

    Re: If that device breaks and needs replacing at some point, are those emails forever unrecoverable?

    No, because the SSL key is separate from E-Mail encryption.

    SSL keys are used to secure communication between machines. In the case of encrypted E-Mail that's the "To" "From" and "Subject" fields that aren't encrypted. So, the metadata.

    The thing about SSL keys is that they prove that a site is who it says it is. They're the reason we trust the green lock icon in our browser. If a website lost one, they could just get another. It would be a bit of a hassle, but isn't too big of a deal.

    We only worry when an adversary has those keys. Then they can sniff traffic, or even pretend to be the website to get the e-mail encryption key.

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