General

Re: Is school really necessary?

Clayton — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 03:59:47 GMT

@The Muff: Not to my knowledge.

Clayton -

Re: Is school really necessary?

DanielMuff — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 03:56:27 GMT

Clayton:
[...] All those tutorials and yet no one has managed to cobble together a solution? I don't know how, exactly, they do it but I see this as evidence of tampering in the market. Either they suppress startups that challenge their envisioned model, or they subsidize startups that are in line with their vision, or some combination of both. In any case, I don't think it's an accident.

Certainly there is tampering in market if you consider how many PhDs in security-related fields are at the NSA.

Has not anyone developed client-sde software that automagically sends encrypted data to DropBox?

Re: Is school really necessary?

Kelvin Silva — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 03:03:48 GMT

You serious?

It was right there in front of me the whole time as i used slackware?

I searche dit on wikipedia and now i see- Off the record messaging.

Thanks.

Re: Is school really necessary?

Clayton — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 03:00:02 GMT

Pidgin.

Clayton -

Re: Is school really necessary?

Kelvin Silva — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 02:51:20 GMT

I see but is there anything like a secure isntant message?

I was thinking of cbox (only person with the link can view the room) but that isnt secure enough ( no encryption).

Re: Is school really necessary?

Clayton — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 02:46:22 GMT

@Kelvin: A bit exaggerated. You can store and transmit your data securely, but there's no automatic or fool-proof way to do it. PGP 2.6.2, TrueCrypt, any AES or Twofish algorithm that pre-compresses the data before encryption (compression is a crucial step to ensure security).

Clayton -

Re: Is school really necessary?

Kelvin Silva — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 02:38:45 GMT

My friends always ask me; what is the safest place to talk on the internet?

THey ask me cuz they know i know a bit about technology and what i tell them:

No such thing- Have you openedyour eyes and realize what the internet is, anyone can view, anyone can post, anyone can view a page source, anyone can transmit data, interconnected between millions of computer networks?

Pen and paper ( no mail ).

Or your mouth.

Re: Is school really necessary?

Clayton — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 07:51:16 GMT

Forgot the punchline: And we're supposed to believe that this bizarre state of affairs where you have to hitch together at least two pieces of software (TrueCrypt + cloud client software) in order to provide the most obvious form of cloud storage (open-source, client-side encrypted) has arisen through "market failure"??? Just search "dropbox encryption" and see how many tutorials there are on how to actually secure your files before sending them off to the prying eyes of Dropbox's servers. All those tutorials and yet no one has managed to cobble together a solution? I don't know how, exactly, they do it but I see this as evidence of tampering in the market. Either they suppress startups that challenge their envisioned model, or they subsidize startups that are in line with their vision, or some combination of both. In any case, I don't think it's an accident.

Clayton -

Re: Is school really necessary?

Clayton — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 07:47:37 GMT

Dropbox - like several other "cloud storage" solutions, including the much-vaunted Google Drive - is a "plaintext" cloud storage solution. This is insanity if you plant to store any data more sensitive than your favorite Beatles MP3s. How can anyone just stick their credit card numbers, compromising photos, private political views, and so on, out there in the wild, with nothing but "username and password" protection?? The link above illustrates the obvious problem with username/password protection. And that's assuming you trust Dropbox and Google to keep your data safe from their own employees or to refuse to hand it over to the prying eyes of the USG (cf post-911 telecom cooperation with NSA Internet-backbone wiretapping...)

To my knowledge, there isn't a single open-source, client-side encrypted cloud storage solution in existence. Even Spideroak - which boasts of being the only truly secure cloud storage - is closed-source! Closed source is simply not appropriate for this kind of software where there is so much to gain from a hidden back-door. In 2012, the best you can do is to use TrueCrypt (yay!) in combination with one of these half-ass cloud storage solutions to protect your data before their client can get their grubby hands on it and ship it off - in the clear - to their "secure" servers which might as well be the loving arms of the NSA, for all anybody knows.

Clayton -

Re: Is school really necessary?

DanielMuff — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 05:07:36 GMT

What's the back story?

Re: Is school really necessary?

Clayton — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 04:37:45 GMT

The true point of schooling is to get children used to working in factories.

I want to note that the schools are not just the neglected, archaic dinosaurs of 18th-century Industrial Revolution models... it is true they are that but they are changing because the leaders of modern industry are forward-thinking - unfortunately for us. We are moving into a future where every form of economic activity is to be reduced to a "job", a set of rote tasks requiring little more than hand-eye coordination and the capacity to follow a decision-making flowchart.

Our rulers still believe in communism, that is, in complete State ownership and central-planning of every aspect of society and the economy. When you and I look at the Information Revolution (computers, PCs, Internet, "gadget" technology, etc.) we see the possibilities for de-centralization, distributed decision-making and autonomous entrepreneurialism. But our overlords see quite the opposite... they see more opportunities for expanding the control-grid, regimenting daily life, central-planning, and so on.

They are, in fact, moving to "capture" and "tame" the Internet. Google, YouTube, Facebook, Microsoft - among others that I won't mention - are part of this gang of technology-tamers. On the extreme end, you have the RIAA and MPAA playing the "heel"... they are the mean, old "property-rights" conservatives by comparison to the young, fresh, vibrant and "relevant" tech giants. But make no mistake, there is an iron fist behind the velvet glove. Whether this gambit will work in the long run has yet to be seen.

This taming over the tech universe is part of the larger war to centralize all economic and social power into a single, central point. The cell-phone and the Internet are having a regularizing effect on the entire globe and this regularization bodes ill for liberty through secession and slowing down or reverse the long process of political aggregation which has been underway.

We are being regularized into point-and-click robots. Every vocation is to consist of a limited set of manual tasks and a corresponding set of point-and-click routines on a computer or mobile device in order to facilitate central tracking and control. The computer can be seen as the ultimate engine of centralized command and control every bit as much as it can be seen as an engine of decentralization.

It is the height of folly to underestimate the people who have been dominating the pinnacles of world power as far back as memory goes. They have not stayed on top of the pile by refusing to change. They've always stayed ahead of the curve and they're continuing to do so* today.

Clayton -

I'll give the back-story for this link if someone asks

Re: Is school really necessary?

Kelvin Silva — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 03:00:25 GMT

The true point of schooling is to get children used to working in factories. Doing monotonous things all the time at a schedule, with people same age, etc, etc.

Ive posted this quite a bit of times but i want more to look at it..

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Re: Is school really necessary?

Ajones — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 02:53:17 GMT

The point of High school is not really to learn anything. Its just to stick it out till the end to show you can put up with bullshit enough to where you don't just up and quit, because if you can't finish the bullshit in school what is to say you wont just walk off the job site after spending most of the day surrounded by bullshit. Most people who get a GED are just as smart as people who finish high school, in fact some are smarter, but they still have a harder time getting a job especially when they are young and just starting out...High school is about learning to put up with bullshit. When you graduate you will have a degree in doing shit you don't want to do, and that will be an important quality to your future employers. If its worth anything,I know where your coming from, I wanted to drop out too.

Re: Is school really necessary?

Luminar — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 02:32:29 GMT

Education =/= degree.

But yes, I'm getting both. An online course I can tolerate at least.

Re: Is school really necessary?

Andrew Cain — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 21:07:36 GMT

"I don't know what everybody is talking about now. I've decided to try for an online college degree... so calm down a bit."

I don't think that anyone is flying off the handle. You asked for advice and I think people presented their ideas. Anyways, it is good you are continuing your education. Good luck!