Vice President Mike Pence Says Google Should Halt Dragonfly App Development (reuters.com) 120
On Thursday, the U.S. Vice President Mike Pence weighed in on Dragonfly, a project run by Google to build a censored search engine app for China. He said Dragonfly app would make it easier to track someone's internet searches. From a report: Pence said in a speech that business leaders are now thinking twice before entering the Chinese market "if it means turning over their intellectual property or abetting Beijing's oppression." He added, "More must follow suit. For example, Google should immediately end development of the 'Dragonfly' app that will strengthen Communist Party censorship and compromise the privacy of Chinese customers."
I've no problems with this (Score:5, Insightful)
As long as that involves a direct order banning illegal bulk collection of data and weakening of any encryption.
Re: I've no problems with this (Score:1)
Since you stopped reading the fake news.
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Thou art far less informed than thou thinketh
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Remember, forcing rape victims to marry the perpetrator is only bad if the Muslims do it, if it is good Christians who do it then it is all fine.
Killing gays is fine because the Bible says so, unless it is the Muslims who do it, then it is bad again.
It is almost as if they are following the same book.
could you point out christian leaders forcing rape victims to marry the perpetrator. or same leaders saying its all "fine" if some criminal, falsely calling himself to be "christian", tried doing it? etc.
can you point out where jesus or his disciples said anything of the sort in new testament? or where we can find any doctrine of the kind on the part of any established christian church?
perhaps you have read something of the sort in jewish bible? are you saying modern judaism practice whatever you misunderst
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It was Virginia law until early this year.
If a child was raped but forced to marry the perp, it wasn't rape under Virginia law.
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link and how and why you consider the law, if it existed, as "christian"? again be specific.
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That Christian one where it is alright to rape some virgin girl, as long as you buy her off her parents for fifty shekels https://www.biblegateway.com/p... [biblegateway.com], well you are stuck with it as it is legal to hand out a bible which recommends criminal acts to minors. If you tried to do it today it would be criminal but the bible and Christians get away with handing out publications to minors which recommend criminal acts, saying nobody reads it anyhow, is not an excuse ;D.
The dragonfly app by the way does not mak
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That Christian one where it is alright to rape some virgin girl, as long as you buy her off her parents for fifty shekels https://www.biblegateway.com/p... [biblegateway.com], well you are stuck with it as it is legal to hand out a bible which recommends criminal acts to minors. If you tried to do it today it would be criminal but the bible and Christians get away with handing out publications to minors which recommend criminal acts, saying nobody reads it anyhow, is not an excuse ;D.
you are free to willfully misunderstand a verse in deuteronomy book in jewish bible to fit your antisemitic agenda. but don't expect others to smile at that.
you are obviously ignorant how the bible is interpreted by judaism and christianity. not everything in bible is taken literally as you seem to believe due to your ignorance.
unlike modern judaism, and unlike christianity throughout, lot of leaders and followers in modern islam do take such sayings in the islamic scripture literally. that is the differenc
and apple should give info to the FBI like doChina (Score:3)
and apple should give info to the FBI like they do in China
This seems more like a political ploy (Score:5, Informative)
Still, the GOP has been pretty pro-surveillance (not that the Dems have been helping in that regard, even Bernie's voted on the wrong side at times). Still, he's back in line [feelthebern.org]. Maybe Pence is. Does anyone have any recent discussion on Pence's stance on stuff like warrantless wiretapping?
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you're living in the past when CNN were the good guys and the Democrats knew the meaning of the word liberal.
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>"Still, the GOP has been pretty pro-surveillance (not that the Dems have been helping in that regard"
The "pro-surveillance" State is very much bi-partisan. Don't try weakening it a bit with the "have not been helping".
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Still, the GOP has been pretty pro-surveillance (not that the Dems have been helping in that regard, even Bernie's voted on the wrong side at times)
Awwww...you are so cute with your disingenuous characterization of the Democrats!
Buddy, please. The Patriot Act passed a Democrat majority Senate with a 98-1 vote and a Republic majority House with 70% of House Democrats voting for it. Then the Democrat golden child President Obama signed two extensions of it into law.
And you say, "not that the Dems have been helping."
I stand by my comment (Score:2)
That's not blind hate either. I've got pretty solid evidence to back it up. I can't name a single GOP candidate who refuses corporate PAC money. They killed Net Neutrality first chance they got. Their health care system almost killed a buddy of mine who's type-I diabetic (they took away his insulin, literally because they didn't want to pay for it, an
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And they just let PR twist in the wind for politics.
I am just going to take a stab in the dark and guess that you do not have any family in Puerto Rico or actually even know anybody there. The problems with Hurricane Maria response were much more to do with problems arising from local politics than with any shortcoming on the part of the federal government.
Some mighty fine victim blaming there (Score:2)
We're talking about an island of 3 million vs the United States Government. The US Gov'ts response should have dwarfed any mistakes made by local staff. It didn't because, well, we put people in charge who don't believe in government. So they screw it up. Badly. The only reason they didn't screw up in Florida is that's a swing state and nobody fucks with a swing state, so their usual chronyism gets put on the back burner.
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We're talking about an island of 3 million vs the United States Government. The US Gov'ts response should have dwarfed any mistakes made by local staff. It didn't because, well, we put people in charge who don't believe in government.
Wow. I don't even understand the mental contortions you put yourself through. You obviously know next to nothing about Puerto Rico, so I will help you out, inform you a bit to help you not be ignorant, and I will recommend that you stop making a fool of yourself.
The infrastructure in Puerto Rico has been a dumpster fire for decades. Power, roads, everything, except for maybe the areas in around the touristy part of San Juan and the part in and around the Navy base. It has been nothing but local politica
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This shouldn't be modded down. I come from a very strictly religious, Protestant upbringing. They actually think like this. They literally think they can be as evil as their first impulses and knee-jerk reactions dictate because they believe that God will guide their hands towards righteousness.
Uh huh ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Uh huh, sure ... all while being required to help with US domestic spying.
This isn't a stand of principle, this is saying it's OK to be evil for us, but not for someone else.
He's probably confused (Score:2, Funny)
And think they can use it to track his Handmaid's Tale fanfic pr0n searches.
So let me get this straight. (Score:1, Flamebait)
A leader belonging to a political party who opposes government rules and Regulations on businesses.
Is trying to stop a Business from making and selling a product.
Because the customer is a country that tries to influence companies to make and not make particular products and services.
So he is either a Hypocrite because he is pushing political pressure on a business while he stands for the idea there is too much political pressure on companies.
Or he is a Hypocrite because he is trying to use political pressur
Re:So let me get this straight. (Score:5, Insightful)
Ignoring the politics, do you approve of google working on dragonfly?
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I am mixed.
The Chinese people would be better off with it vs without it. However the tight controls in censoring material means they may not be getting all the ideas and experience needed for a fully informed decision, and gives power back into government trying to stop this.
However I am not a Chinese Citizen, I am an American Citizen. I can sympathize with the Chinese people but with my right to free speech and my ability to vote. I should be able to express when our government is doing something wrong, or
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Not saying it was good or bad. Just inconsistent and unfocused in a particular direction.
Explanation for kids (Score:1)
this is an adult talking,
we, the adults, can hold more than 1 thought in our highly advanced brains,
therefore it's possible to value INDIVIDUAL freedom AND freedom for Businesses and to try to find some practical(REAL-WORLD) status quo.
best regards!
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Normally this is true, However this administration seems to have lacked Adult complex thinking.
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He belongs to a party that prioritizes the protection of basic human rights
They say that "on the internet, nobody knows you're a dog." But your words show that you're a white straight male, probably christian.
Is marrying the person you love a basic right? Is being able to work, have a house, and buy things a basic right? Cause if you're not heterosexual, that party is pretty sure they're not.
Your right not to be oppressed by your own government is more important than eliminating government regulation.
We agree, which is why I don't want the government saying who I can marry.
Political pressure on companies to preserve basic decency and human rights is okay.
I'm glad you agree with the MeToo movement. Too bad most in your party don't.
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Classic confusion between force and suggestion (Score:3)
The party thinks, basically, that Washington politicians too often force people do things, or make things illegal. Republicans generally would oppose a federal law making it a federal crime to hit your thumb with a hammer.
Most Republicans would suggest that hitting your thumb is a bad idea, and would say you shouldn't do that. I think you should avoid doing that != we should make it a federal crime.
I think this is a good idea != the federal government should force everybody to do this.
Pence said Google shou
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The Republicans are quite happy having laws making it a Federal crime to take substances into your body and are once again busy trying to force it to being international law.
The party of criminalizing health issues is not for personal freedom, or rather is for the personal freedom of some to remove freedom from others.
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I think the feds should be attuned to the way marijuana is still used as a gateway drug and how the drug cartels from Latin America use marijuana to get footholds in states.
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Some factors increase the risk of substance abuse in those years deserve emphasis. Casual attitudes toward marijuana and minorsâ(TM) access to cigarettes raise the likelihood that teenagers will make a sad progression from cigarettes to marijuana to more serious drug use and earlier sexual activity
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I donâ(TM)t think that you
Orange Alert! (Score:5, Interesting)
I wonder how Pence feels about technology that would allow a political leader to push instant messages onto every single cellular device, allowing citizens no ability to opt out.
But since he supported giving electro-shock to homosexuals to "cure" them, I think we have a pretty good idea.
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"If this alert were from a real President, you would have received further instructions on..."
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To be fair, I don't always shit on Trump. Sometimes, I just laugh, and sometimes I shrug ruefully. But don't worry, a day will come when Trump is gone and I'll still be here. Then we can go back to dick jokes and ragging on systemd.
You don't have to wonder. I have been voted the most-beloved commenter on Slashdot seven years running now. You can look it up. I get great reviews, and my inauguration wa
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Maybe my sense of humor hasn't changed, but you've lost yours. It's all a matter of perspective.
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The topics have changed, but they're still the same. They're dick jokes, but the dick is an orange mushroom.
So, you just don't find them funny because they are at the expense of someone you love like a family member. I think you just admitted tha
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It was set up during the Bush administration, but for some reason hasn't been used until now. I wonder why now.
Americans don't give a shit about surveillance. (Score:2, Insightful)
Seriously, they just don't.
They'll happily fork all their email over to Google, let Facebook mine the everloving shit out of their lives, run everybody's tracking scripts all around the web, put an Amazon Alexa in their bedroom, and install spyware on their phones in exchange for a $0.50 discount on coffee.
Snowden came along and showed them how much was being collected of their communications, but what did they do? They went right along supporting the companies cooperating with the NSA. They went right al
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Shut up and give me my pumpkin spice latte!
Cant have (Score:1)
ha! (Score:2)
Since when is the US government against tracking of users on the internet. If that were the case they would discontinue their Facebook site.
And meanwhile, Saudi Arabia... (Score:5, Insightful)
Saudi Arabia scores considerably lower when it comes to freedom than China (by aggregate score):
https://freedomhouse.org/repor... [freedomhouse.org]
I mean, women were just allowed to drive in 2018:
https://www.npr.org/2018/06/24... [npr.org]
But they are a favored trade partner focusing on two way oil for weapons deals.
So we arm nations that oppress their citizens more than China. In 2017, Trump signed a $110 billion military sale agreement with Saudi Arabia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
What's this about internet censorship? Oh, Saudi Arabia used Secure Computing, a US corporation, to manage country wide internet monitoring and filtering, not just search.
But oil (and our incessant fear of Iran)...
Alternative may be worse (Score:2)
If Google doesn't build their Censor-A-Matic, some other non-US company will likely fill that niche. How is that better? The Chinese gov't will get their desired censorship engines one way or another because they want it and they control China.
Are you fucking kidding? (Score:4, Insightful)
... and compromise the privacy of Chinese customers."
WHAT ABOUT AMERICA FIRST?
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Nah.
You're as bad as "they" are, because you're so tribal.
The facts are that the Democrats did not bother to court the poor, undereducated, evangelical Christian white women of the rust belt.
Clinton had a shit load of baggage (I voted for her) and Bernie was batshit crazy.
America has voted and it is what it is.
I am not going to convert you and you are not going to convert me.
See you at the polls.
Pence and Privacy (Score:2)
I basically consider everyone who voted for it a criminal. I know they'll never be prosecuted for such an action but I can at least sentence them to life without my vote. This includes Hillary (but not Bernie.)
Google's involvement (Score:1)
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At times like this I just recall that McDonald's mascot is a fun loving clown, while the company itself is a conducer for industrial-scale meat production. Walmart's logo is a big yellow smiley face, and Amazon's logo is similarly cheerful, while many of their employees are on food stamps.
Google needs marking just like every other major corporation that's full of disingenuous suits and MBAs, so there's the source of the virtue signaling. Putting a happy face on surveillance and censorship capitalism was
DragonflyBSD name collision (Score:3)
Re: That's a joke, right? (Score:5, Insightful)
Come on, let's get serious.
The USA has some problems, sure, as do every country. But China is its own level of insane. Censoring half the Web, locking away anyone who believe anything beside communist propaganda, no access to foreign media, blocking vpn websites, torturing falun gong and other religious group, it's absolute bullshit. Also messing with the stability of the region with the south China Sea claims and fucking up Hong Kong and Taiwan to try and turn them into commie States. And that's not even Co sideline the trade war and the new Chinese spy chips discovered in foreign servers.
Fuck China. I love Chinese culture but there is no culture left in China, now only brainwashing and lies.
True but for all those problems (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't think it's that the US is any better than China, it's just that we're wealthier and so our ruling class doesn't have to bother with that sort of thing to keep the working class in line. Go back 50 years and read up on what we did to Unions though. It's the same stuff China's doing. We didn't stop doing that stuff because we became better people, we shipped the factories where that stuff happens overseas.... That didn't really solve the problem of oppression, it just moved it out of sight, out of mind.
At the end of the day we're all just people, and we're all a week's worth of food away from savagery. The best solution is always to make it so that nobody's getting to that point.
Re:True but for all those problems (Score:5, Insightful)
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Europeans (even Scandinavians) have an larger preference for individuality. Chinese and Japanese have the opposite preference for conformity.
Not really. Europeans had their kings just as Asians had their emperors that the proles conform under. Tribalism is the norm across cultures.
Let's also not forget that most of the pioneers of collectivist thought are Europeans. The likes of Mao, Pol Pot, and Imperialist Japan learned from western thinkers. In more recent times you have hippies and ideologies pushing stuff often described as being "SJW": feminism, socialism, progressivism, etc.
The shift towards individualism is a relatively recent thing in t
It's got nothing to do with Race (Score:3)
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>"I don't think it's that the US is any better than China, it's just that we're wealthier and so our ruling class[...]
You are kidding right? Do you really believe that? Really? I mean.... really???
Yeah, yeah I do. (Score:3)
But what did _not_
One more thing I should add (Score:2)
Re: That's a joke, right? (Score:5, Interesting)
I highly recommend Kishore Mahbubani's Long Now Foundation Talk [longnow.org] on China. I am not the expert of eastern geo-politics that he is, so I have no idea if his thinking is correct or not, but it's very interesting.
He states that China's move to democracy is almost inevitable, but it will take a long time. He said that Chinese officials saw what happened with the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union, going briefly into democracy before Russia emerged with totalitarianism and Putin. They don't want to go down that road. But it's clear that there are many democratic reforms happening in China right now. It's not the China I grew up learning about in the 70's and 80's, and the people of that country are benefiting from those reforms.
All of that said, they are still a very long way away from what most of us would deem as acceptable when it comes to human rights. I think in 50 years though, China will look very different from both inside and outside their borders.
Re: That's a joke, right? (Score:5, Insightful)
You forgot Tibet, and the ongoing destruction of Tibetan Buddhism.
Fuck China. I love Chinese culture but there is no culture left in China, now only brainwashing and lies.
That was Mao's direct intention: destroy all traditional Chinese culture, along with the traditions. Everything within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state. He created China's "Lost Generation", by encouraging students to kill all their teachers, then shipping all the educated youth off to farms, breaking all methods by which culture is transmitted across civilizations.
Turns out "no culture" is a bad thing, as anything beyond sociopathy must be learned, and China got a generation of short-sighted greed, pettiness, and poor impulse control (the Baby Boomers have nothing on those guys). Pretty much the opposite of how communes are supposed to work, ironically enough.
Meanwhile, all over the Chinese countryside you'll find crumbling buildings that were once wonderful temples and the like, but no one cares to maintain since Mao (or at least no one with the resources).
NothingBurger (Score:1)
Yeah, keep wishing princess.