March 30, 2016

CNBC Tried, and Massively Failed, to Teach People About Password Security

With the court fight between Apple and the FBI as a news peg, CNBC tried to teach people that accounts secured by simple passwords can easily be guessed or brute-forced with a custom-coded tool that analyzed reader’s passwords. But the first capital sin of this article was asking users to type in their own passwords in order to check how secure they were—over a website that doesn’t use HTTPS web encryption, no less.

This was first noticed by Google security engineer Adrienne Porter Felt:



That means that after a user typed in her password, the password was initially sent to a Google spreadsheet, travelling completely insecurely through the internet. Anyone on the way—say, a hacker snooping on the Starbucks’ WiFi connection you were reading the article on—can now steal it.

Did you type your real password? Congratulations, it’s now been shared not just with CNBC and that friendly Starbucks hacker, but also with more than 30 third parties, such as advertisers and analytics providers who pull data from CNBC.com, as noted by independent security and privacy researcher Ashkan Soltani. (Also please stop using one password for everything and start using a password manager. Hackers know that people reuse passwords and will test it against Facebook, Bank of America, and so on.)

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/cnbc-tried-and-massively-failed-to-teach-people-about-password-security

March 29, 2016

Salon.com - Democratic elites and the media sold out to Hillary (abbrev. title)

TUESDAY, MAR 29, 2016 05:00 AM CDT

Full Title - We must smash the Clinton machine: Democratic elites and the media sold out to Hillary this time, but change is coming

Neoliberals, D.C. careerists and the pundits lined up this time. They won't be able to rig contests moving forward

Quote from the article:

The tyranny of tactical thinking surely led some progressives to Clinton despite knowing she’d likely let them down again. It even infects the minds of voters. In hopes of catching a Democratic ear or two, I’ll illustrate the point using polls.

Eight month ago Bernie was a stranger to Democrats. In a recent CNN poll his popularity among them surpassed Clinton’s. (85 percent /10 percent versus 76/19). The Times poll shows the gap widening. In it, 56 percent of Dems say if he’s the nominee they’ll support him “enthusiastically.” Just 40 percent say the same of her. On issues his lead is far greater; that’s why she mimics him rather than the other way around.

Yet this is the same poll in which she beats him by 5 percent. Some Democrats who prefer him vote for her. I put it down to tactical thinking. In that same poll 72 percent of Democrats say regardless of how they feel she’ll be the nominee. Seventy-eight percent say her ideas are “realistic”; 56 percnt say his are. The case she makes is purely tactical; she can win; she can pass her program; she has more delegates. They’d be reasonable arguments if they were true, but all evidence says they aren’t. That so many smart people buy into them only proves my point: ideology makes you stupid.


http://www.salon.com/2016/03/29/we_must_smash_the_clinton_machine_democratic_elites_and_the_media_sold_out_to_hillary_this_time_but_change_is_coming/

March 28, 2016

What people say when they don't know what to say | Adrianne Haslet-Davis | TEDxBeaconStreet

March 28, 2016

The prison of your mind | Sean Stephenson | TEDxIronwoodStatePrison

March 19, 2016

To The San Patricios

To the brave Irish soldiers who joined the Mexican ranks in defense of the country against the invading American army and became Mexico's sons.

March 17, 2016

I supported HRC in 2008

I supported her all through her campaign up to the moment when she conceded the race to BHO.

It was not easy, especially on this DU forum. Passions were heated and I was maligned and attacked for my support of HRC over BHO.

From the point when Obama won the nomination on, I supported BHO as the Democratic nominee with all the enthusiasm I could muster.

I voted for him in 2008 and 2012.

Now, I am supporting Bernie Sanders.

I will continue to support Bernie until he wins the nomination or concedes the race to HRC.

It's not going to be easy, especially on this DU forum. Passions are heated and I will be maligned and attacked for my support of BS over HRC.

But I'm used to it.

I will support my candidate until he wins or concedes.

Trying to make me abandon my loyalties is pointless.

All I can say is, if HRC wins, God forbid, I will support her with all the enthusiasm I can muster.

So think about that, and try not to diminish whatever enthusiasm I may have left down the road, should my candidate lose.

March 16, 2016

John Kasich has won one. Count it, one state - and he's still in the fight

So to those who are throwing in the towel for Bernie:

Get a grip.

March 13, 2016

Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth 1967

March 11, 2016

President Obama keynote @ SXSW - Live stream by Brightcove

http://live.sxsw.com/detail/videos/sxsw-live/video/4797213730001/sxsw-live-streaming-now?autoStart=true

SXSW® is always one of the hottest conferences of the year — whether you are looking to catch Charli XCX play, J.J. Abrams speak about advances in digital storytelling, or Slack’s CEO Stewart Butterfield interviewed by The New York Times. The annual race to get a hotel room in Austin is nearly as celebrated a tradition as the event itself. And this year promises to be bigger than ever with the festival celebrating its 30th year and the announcement that President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will both have keynotes at the event. Brightcove and SXSW are teaming up once again to provide live and on demand video services for this incredibly popular, ground-breaking event.

This year, SXSW plans to stream over 60 sessions during SXSWeek®. The on-demand video content will enable fans to catch up on sessions they missed, replay sessions they attended, or to experience the conference remotely online. For an event at this scale, video provides a powerful gateway to extend the reach of the festival experience to a global digital audience and ensure that participants who do attend in person can access content they may have missed.

To deliver attendees and fans a video-forward experience, SXSW is using Brightcove Video Cloud, Brightcove Live, and Brightcove Gallery. Video Cloud enables SXSW to efficiently manage and deliver its high-quality live and on-demand video for every version of its properties so that SXSW fans from around the world may view and interact with festival content. The Brightcove Live module reduces the need for expensive onsite encoding hardware and allows SXSW to stream more of its events. Lastly, Brightcove Gallery powers the beautiful and responsive video experiences that assemble SXSW’s content for viewing anytime across any device.

https://blog.brightcove.com/en/2016/03/sxsw-2016-plans-stream-over-60-sessions-powered-brightcove

March 10, 2016

What a Difference a Day Makes