• Does the End Justifiy the Means?

    From nospam@21:1/5 to Norton on Mon Aug 9 10:09:32 2021
    In article <0001HW.DD36A769020AEC00B02919BF@news.astraweb.com>, Ed
    Norton <norton@nowhere.com> wrote:

    < Sorry for the duplicate post but my NSP doesn't allow cross-posting>

    get a better nsp.



    The argument appears to be that because Child Pornography is vile,
    Apple (or anyone else for that matter) is justified in violating normal expectations of privacy in a free society and spying (but just a
    little, mind you) on their users and presumably reporting their
    findings to the authorities.

    they're not spying.

    if you upload photos that are in a database of child porn, you might
    have some explaining to do. this applies to not just apple, but google, facebook, twitter etc.

    if you do not upload such photos anywhere, then nobody will know.




    So what is my solution for Child Pornography? I don't have one. But
    _this_ isn't it.

    until you come up with something better, this *is* it.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ed Norton@21:1/5 to All on Mon Aug 9 09:35:37 2021
    < Sorry for the duplicate post but my NSP doesn't allow cross-posting>

    So I have been reading with interest all the threads about Apple's plan
    to scan images for "Child Pornography". (I ignore the fact that the definitions of "child" and "pornography" are not even universally
    agreed upon.)

    The argument appears to be that because Child Pornography is vile,
    Apple (or anyone else for that matter) is justified in violating normal expectations of privacy in a free society and spying (but just a
    little, mind you) on their users and presumably reporting their
    findings to the authorities.

    Surely this logic applies as well to many other evils, culturally so
    defined. Why is it that Child Pornography is unique in this respect?
    How about Murder, torture, terrorism, "hate speech", "white supremacy", "homophobia", Copyright violations, etc., etc. Shouldn't Apple be
    looking for these also? Shouldn't the makers of, say, Baby Monitors be monitoring for child abuse? Shouldn't Alexa monitor conversations for objectionable content? How about Zoom meetings, telephone calls, and
    text messages? Shouldn't Psychologists be reporting the bad thoughts
    of their patients to the government? Is this really the type of
    society we want to live in?

    The question is not whether laws should be enforced but rather who
    should be responsible for enforcing them. If the Government did any of
    these things it would be a violation of the First and/or Fourth
    Amendments. So private vigilantes should do it instead?

    This isn't "Apple Bashing". "Everyone else does it too". Indeed. And
    that is at best appalling and at worst scary. We are moving, perhaps
    have already moved, into our own version of the Red Guard. "1984"
    imagined a dystopia run by the government. It is no less dystopic if
    it is run by private companies. Perhaps worse.

    So what is my solution for Child Pornography? I don't have one. But
    _this_ isn't it.

    --
    Ed

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Auric__@21:1/5 to nospam on Mon Aug 9 16:26:03 2021
    nospam wrote:

    In article <0001HW.DD36A769020AEC00B02919BF@news.astraweb.com>, Ed
    Norton <norton@nowhere.com> wrote:

    < Sorry for the duplicate post but my NSP doesn't allow cross-posting>

    get a better nsp.

    Seconded.

    --
    It doesn't need to be dumb to get us to watch it and have fun.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ed Norton@21:1/5 to All on Mon Aug 9 18:34:58 2021
    XPost: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On Mon, 9 Aug 2021 12:26:03 -0400, Auric__ wrote
    (in article <XnsAD815FF8679A8auricauricauricauric@144.76.35.252>):

    nospam wrote:

    In article <0001HW.DD36A769020AEC00B02919BF@news.astraweb.com>, Ed
    Norton <norton@nowhere.com> wrote:

    < Sorry for the duplicate post but my NSP doesn't allow cross-posting>

    get a better nsp.

    Seconded.



    I stand corrected. Astraweb does allow crossposts. I tried it a few
    times before and it didn't work. But it does now at least in the test
    groups. I will add the other group in future (if any) replies.

    --
    Ed

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Your Name@21:1/5 to All on Tue Aug 10 10:33:55 2021
    On 2021-08-09 16:26:03 +0000, Auric__ said:
    nospam wrote:
    In article <0001HW.DD36A769020AEC00B02919BF@news.astraweb.com>, Ed
    Norton <norton@nowhere.com> wrote:

    < Sorry for the duplicate post but my NSP doesn't allow cross-posting>

    get a better nsp.

    Seconded.

    And don't bother trying to post conspiracy nutter garbage in the first
    place. :-\

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ed Norton@21:1/5 to Your Name on Mon Aug 9 20:06:23 2021
    XPost: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On Mon, 9 Aug 2021 18:33:55 -0400, Your Name wrote
    (in article <sesagj$1h6b$1@gioia.aioe.org>):

    On 2021-08-09 16:26:03 +0000, Auric__ said:
    nospam wrote:
    In article <0001HW.DD36A769020AEC00B02919BF@news.astraweb.com>, Ed
    Norton <norton@nowhere.com> wrote:

    < Sorry for the duplicate post but my NSP doesn't allow cross-posting>

    get a better nsp.

    Seconded.

    And don't bother trying to post conspiracy nutter garbage in the first
    place. :-\


    6.000 more conspiracy nutters I guess:

    Open letter warns of expanding surveillance uses

    Over 6,000 people signed an open letter urging Apple to reverse course, saying, "Apple's current path threatens to undermine decades of work by technologists, academics and policy advocates towards strong privacy-preserving measures being the norm across a majority of consumer electronic devices and use cases."

    The letter quoted several security experts, including researcher Nadim Kobeissi, who wrote, "Reminder: Apple sells iPhones without FaceTime in Saudi

    Arabia, because local regulation prohibits encrypted phone calls. That's just

    one example of many where Apple's bent to local pressure. What happens when local regulation mandates that messages be scanned for homosexuality?"

    The letter also quotes Johns Hopkins University cryptography professor Matthew Green, who told Wired, "The pressure is going to come from the UK, from the US, from India, from China. I'm terrified about what that's going to

    look like. Why would Apple want to tell the world, 'Hey, we've got this tool'?"

    https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/08/apple-says-it-will-refuse- govt-demands-to-expand-photo-scanning-beyond-csam/

    --
    Ed

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Your Name@21:1/5 to Ed Norton on Tue Aug 10 16:03:18 2021
    XPost: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On 2021-08-10 00:06:23 +0000, Ed Norton said:

    On Mon, 9 Aug 2021 18:33:55 -0400, Your Name wrote
    (in article <sesagj$1h6b$1@gioia.aioe.org>):

    On 2021-08-09 16:26:03 +0000, Auric__ said:
    nospam wrote:
    In article <0001HW.DD36A769020AEC00B02919BF@news.astraweb.com>, Ed
    Norton <norton@nowhere.com> wrote:

    < Sorry for the duplicate post but my NSP doesn't allow cross-posting> >>>>
    get a better nsp.

    Seconded.

    And don't bother trying to post conspiracy nutter garbage in the first
    place. :-\


    6.000 more conspiracy nutters I guess:

    Open letter warns of expanding surveillance uses

    Over 6,000 people signed an open letter urging Apple to reverse course,
    saying, "Apple's current path threatens to undermine decades of work by
    technologists, academics and policy advocates towards strong
    privacy-preserving measures being the norm across a majority of consumer
    electronic devices and use cases."
    <snip>

    ^ 6000 is a mere drip in the ocean of morons ... you just have to look
    at the *millions* of idiots in America alone (home of the conspiracy
    nutters!) who believe Covid is a world-wide government hoax. :-\

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ed Norton@21:1/5 to Your Name on Tue Aug 10 07:31:00 2021
    XPost: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On Tue, 10 Aug 2021 00:03:18 -0400, Your Name wrote
    (in article <sestq6$127u$1@gioia.aioe.org>):

    On 2021-08-10 00:06:23 +0000, Ed Norton said:

    On Mon, 9 Aug 2021 18:33:55 -0400, Your Name wrote
    (in article <sesagj$1h6b$1@gioia.aioe.org>):

    On 2021-08-09 16:26:03 +0000, Auric__ said:
    nospam wrote:
    In article <0001HW.DD36A769020AEC00B02919BF@news.astraweb.com>, Ed
    Norton <norton@nowhere.com> wrote:

    < Sorry for the duplicate post but my NSP doesn't allow cross-posting> >>>>>
    get a better nsp.

    Seconded.

    And don't bother trying to post conspiracy nutter garbage in the first
    place. :-\


    6.000 more conspiracy nutters I guess:

    Open letter warns of expanding surveillance uses

    Over 6,000 people signed an open letter urging Apple to reverse course,
    saying, "Apple's current path threatens to undermine decades of work by
    technologists, academics and policy advocates towards strong
    privacy-preserving measures being the norm across a majority of consumer >>> electronic devices and use cases."
    <snip>

    ^ 6000 is a mere drip in the ocean of morons ... you just have to look
    at the *millions* of idiots in America alone (home of the conspiracy nutters!) who believe Covid is a world-wide government hoax. :-\

    I doubt if there are millions who believe that. A few loudmouths on
    the internet who the media plays up for their own purposes. I've never
    met any. I think the real reason is that people have lost trust in the government and the media after being lied to so often and don't know
    what to believe. First it was don't wear masks, then it was wear
    masks. Then it was it didn't come from a lab in China, now it's maybe.
    Then there were all the scare stories about the levels of death that
    never happened. Then the hypocricy of the politicians. Then the
    conflictiong stories about the effectiveness and the side effects ahd
    the dhrill self-righteousness of the politicians on both sides. Trust
    as broken dow and people are thrown back on their own intuitions. And,
    since the vast majority of the people will recover from the virus if
    they get it, it probably seems less risky than a mismash of hurriedly
    developed vaccines. Then of course there is human nature which
    discounts threats as a means psychological self preservation in order
    to get on with life.

    Reasonable people can make different choices in ambiguous situations. Dismissing everyone who makes a different choice than yourslf as a
    "conspiracy nutter" makes you sound like a "nutter" yourself.



    --
    Ed

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From nospam@21:1/5 to Norton on Tue Aug 10 12:25:56 2021
    XPost: uk.comp.sys.mac

    In article <0001HW.DD37DBB4024C44D4B02919BF@news.astraweb.com>, Ed
    Norton <norton@nowhere.com> wrote:

    Over 6,000 people signed an open letter urging Apple to reverse course, >>> saying, "Apple's current path threatens to undermine decades of work by >>> technologists, academics and policy advocates towards strong
    privacy-preserving measures being the norm across a majority of consumer >>> electronic devices and use cases."
    <snip>

    ^ 6000 is a mere drip in the ocean of morons ... you just have to look
    at the *millions* of idiots in America alone (home of the conspiracy nutters!) who believe Covid is a world-wide government hoax. :-\

    I doubt if there are millions who believe that.

    believe it.

    a *substantial* number of people think covid is hoax, some sort of plot
    to overthrow the government, a bioweapon to depopulate the planet or
    some other bizarro nutjob conspiracy theory.

    A few loudmouths on
    the internet who the media plays up for their own purposes. I've never
    met any. I think the real reason is that people have lost trust in the government and the media after being lied to so often and don't know
    what to believe. First it was don't wear masks, then it was wear
    masks. Then it was it didn't come from a lab in China, now it's maybe.

    nobody lied.

    the virus is new, never seen before.

    early on there was very little information on how it spread or how to
    treat it. many assumptions about it were made based on existing
    viruses, because that's the only data that was available at the time.

    as more information was learned about covid, some of the early
    assumptions turned out to be wrong, so the guidance on how to deal with
    it changed.

    decisions must be based on actual data. that's what builds trust.

    Then there were all the scare stories about the levels of death that
    never happened.

    630k dead in the usa alone is not scary enough?

    piles of bodies in other countries because there's nowhere to put the
    corpses is not scary enough?

    even funeral homes in the usa had months long waiting lists because so
    many people were dead and they simply couldn't handle it.

    Then the hypocricy of the politicians.

    that never changes.

    Then the
    conflictiong stories about the effectiveness and the side effects ahd
    the dhrill self-righteousness of the politicians on both sides. Trust
    as broken dow and people are thrown back on their own intuitions.

    the only conflicting stories are from the conspiracy websites and quack
    doctors that spew crazy shit just to get the clicks and grift money off
    of ignorant people.

    And,
    since the vast majority of the people will recover from the virus if
    they get it, it probably seems less risky than a mismash of hurriedly developed vaccines.

    not quite.

    most people recover, in that they didn't die, but they may have spent a
    week or two very, very sick, some of whom had to go to the hospital,
    possibly in intensive care.

    roughly a third to a half of those who had covid continue to have long
    term issues for months after they 'recovered'.

    so technically, they 'recovered' in that they didn't die, but their
    lives are forever changed, and not for the better.

    as for the vaccines, they were not rushed.

    the vaccines went through full phase i, ii & iii trials, with far more volunteers than normal, in an environment where waiting for people to
    get infected was very short.

    the only 'rush' was a financial risk where the vaccine makers started manufacturing doses *before* knowing if it would be safe. that did not
    in any way affect safety.

    had it turned out to be unsafe, they would had to have discarded the
    doses and incur a significant loss. fortunately, it turned out to be
    safe, so they had doses ready to go, cutting months off the process.

    Then of course there is human nature which
    discounts threats as a means psychological self preservation in order
    to get on with life.

    actually, people greatly misunderstand threats.

    people are scared of flying, but have no issues driving, despite flying
    being far safer.

    people are also afraid of well tested vaccines that has been given to
    billions of people so far worldwide with almost no issues (nothing is
    perfect), but will happily will take some random 'cure' pushed by some
    crackpot doctor on some newly created website.

    Reasonable people can make different choices in ambiguous situations.

    the science is clear.

    Dismissing everyone who makes a different choice than yourslf as a "conspiracy nutter" makes you sound like a "nutter" yourself.

    dismissing those who ignore science and make choices based on some
    wacko website is the very definition of conspiracy nutter.

    one of the more amusing ones is don't take the vaccine because you'll
    end up being magnetic causing your house keys to stick to you, despite
    the fact that keys are normally *not* ferromagnetic and won't stick to
    actual magnets.

    it might have started out as a joke, but there are actually people who
    believe that shit, one of whom testified at some hearing.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ed Norton@21:1/5 to nospam on Tue Aug 10 19:04:11 2021
    XPost: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On Tue, 10 Aug 2021 12:25:56 -0400, nospam wrote
    (in article <100820211225561785%nospam@nospam.invalid>):

    In article <0001HW.DD37DBB4024C44D4B02919BF@news.astraweb.com>, Ed
    Norton <norton@nowhere.com> wrote:

    Over 6,000 people signed an open letter urging Apple to reverse course, >>>>> saying, "Apple's current path threatens to undermine decades of work by >>>>> technologists, academics and policy advocates towards strong
    privacy-preserving measures being the norm across a majority of consumer >>>>> electronic devices and use cases."
    <snip>

    ^ 6000 is a mere drip in the ocean of morons ... you just have to look
    at the *millions* of idiots in America alone (home of the conspiracy
    nutters!) who believe Covid is a world-wide government hoax. :-\

    I doubt if there are millions who believe that.

    believe it.

    a *substantial* number of people think covid is hoax, some sort of plot
    to overthrow the government, a bioweapon to depopulate the planet or
    some other bizarro nutjob conspiracy theory.

    A few loudmouths on
    the internet who the media plays up for their own purposes. I've never
    met any. I think the real reason is that people have lost trust in the
    government and the media after being lied to so often and don't know
    what to believe. First it was don't wear masks, then it was wear
    masks. Then it was it didn't come from a lab in China, now it's maybe.

    nobody lied.

    the virus is new, never seen before.

    early on there was very little information on how it spread or how to
    treat it. many assumptions about it were made based on existing
    viruses, because that's the only data that was available at the time.

    as more information was learned about covid, some of the early
    assumptions turned out to be wrong, so the guidance on how to deal with
    it changed.

    decisions must be based on actual data. that's what builds trust.

    Then there were all the scare stories about the levels of death that
    never happened.

    630k dead in the usa alone is not scary enough?

    Almost eight billion people on earth. The odds of survival seem pretty
    good to me.


    piles of bodies in other countries because there's nowhere to put the
    corpses is not scary enough?

    The 1918 pandemic was much worse but people muddled through without
    shutting down the whole world.

    even funeral homes in the usa had months long waiting lists because so
    many people were dead and they simply couldn't handle it.

    Then the hypocricy of the politicians.

    that never changes.

    Then the
    conflictiong stories about the effectiveness and the side effects ahd
    the dhrill self-righteousness of the politicians on both sides. Trust
    as broken dow and people are thrown back on their own intuitions.

    the only conflicting stories are from the conspiracy websites and quack doctors that spew crazy shit just to get the clicks and grift money off
    of ignorant people.

    If I were you I'd call you a liar but I realize you are just using
    hyperbole as a figure of speech.


    And,
    since the vast majority of the people will recover from the virus if
    they get it, it probably seems less risky than a mismash of hurriedly
    developed vaccines.

    not quite.

    most people recover, in that they didn't die, but they may have spent a
    week or two very, very sick, some of whom had to go to the hospital,
    possibly in intensive care.

    roughly a third to a half of those who had covid continue to have long
    term issues for months after they 'recovered'.

    so technically, they 'recovered' in that they didn't die, but their
    lives are forever changed, and not for the better.

    as for the vaccines, they were not rushed.

    the vaccines went through full phase i, ii & iii trials, with far more volunteers than normal, in an environment where waiting for people to
    get infected was very short.

    the only 'rush' was a financial risk where the vaccine makers started manufacturing doses *before* knowing if it would be safe. that did not
    in any way affect safety.

    had it turned out to be unsafe, they would had to have discarded the
    doses and incur a significant loss. fortunately, it turned out to be
    safe, so they had doses ready to go, cutting months off the process.

    Then of course there is human nature which
    discounts threats as a means psychological self preservation in order
    to get on with life.

    actually, people greatly misunderstand threats.

    Agreed. And COVID is one of them. Show me a table that ranks causes
    of death over the last two years with COVID anywhere near the top.



    people are scared of flying, but have no issues driving, despite flying
    being far safer.

    people are also afraid of well tested vaccines that has been given to billions of people so far worldwide with almost no issues (nothing is perfect), but will happily will take some random 'cure' pushed by some crackpot doctor on some newly created website.

    Reasonable people can make different choices in ambiguous situations.

    the science is clear.

    No, it is most definitely not. If you believe that you don't
    understand the Scientific Method. The science was clear to the French
    Academy when they declared that rocks don't fall from the sky. What is
    clear is opinions based on incomplete data and less than two years of experience with a constantly changing phenomenon.


    Dismissing everyone who makes a different choice than yourslf as a
    "conspiracy nutter" makes you sound like a "nutter" yourself.

    dismissing those who ignore science and make choices based on some
    wacko website is the very definition of conspiracy nutter.

    Straw man.

    one of the more amusing ones is don't take the vaccine because you'll
    end up being magnetic causing your house keys to stick to you, despite
    the fact that keys are normally *not* ferromagnetic and won't stick to
    actual magnets.

    it might have started out as a joke, but there are actually people who believe that shit, one of whom testified at some hearing.



    --
    Ed

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Alan Baker@21:1/5 to Ed Norton on Tue Aug 10 16:48:49 2021
    XPost: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On 2021-08-10 4:04 p.m., Ed Norton wrote:
    On Tue, 10 Aug 2021 12:25:56 -0400, nospam wrote
    (in article <100820211225561785%nospam@nospam.invalid>):

    In article <0001HW.DD37DBB4024C44D4B02919BF@news.astraweb.com>, Ed
    Norton <norton@nowhere.com> wrote:

    Over 6,000 people signed an open letter urging Apple to reverse course, >>>>>> saying, "Apple's current path threatens to undermine decades of work by >>>>>> technologists, academics and policy advocates towards strong
    privacy-preserving measures being the norm across a majority of consumer >>>>>> electronic devices and use cases."
    <snip>

    ^ 6000 is a mere drip in the ocean of morons ... you just have to look >>>> at the *millions* of idiots in America alone (home of the conspiracy
    nutters!) who believe Covid is a world-wide government hoax. :-\

    I doubt if there are millions who believe that.

    believe it.

    a *substantial* number of people think covid is hoax, some sort of plot
    to overthrow the government, a bioweapon to depopulate the planet or
    some other bizarro nutjob conspiracy theory.

    A few loudmouths on
    the internet who the media plays up for their own purposes. I've never
    met any. I think the real reason is that people have lost trust in the
    government and the media after being lied to so often and don't know
    what to believe. First it was don't wear masks, then it was wear
    masks. Then it was it didn't come from a lab in China, now it's maybe.

    nobody lied.

    the virus is new, never seen before.

    early on there was very little information on how it spread or how to
    treat it. many assumptions about it were made based on existing
    viruses, because that's the only data that was available at the time.

    as more information was learned about covid, some of the early
    assumptions turned out to be wrong, so the guidance on how to deal with
    it changed.

    decisions must be based on actual data. that's what builds trust.

    Then there were all the scare stories about the levels of death that
    never happened.

    630k dead in the usa alone is not scary enough?

    Almost eight billion people on earth. The odds of survival seem pretty
    good to me.

    8 billion on Earth...

    ...along with nearly 4.5 million deaths.

    How do you like your odds now?

    And where do you live? Are your local odds better or worse?



    piles of bodies in other countries because there's nowhere to put the
    corpses is not scary enough?

    The 1918 pandemic was much worse but people muddled through without
    shutting down the whole world.

    It wasn't much worse, sorry.

    With far greater efforts, we've limited the number who have died from
    COVID-19.

    Imagine how much worse it would have been with only 1918 medicine.

    Then of course there is human nature which
    discounts threats as a means psychological self preservation in order
    to get on with life.

    actually, people greatly misunderstand threats.

    Agreed. And COVID is one of them. Show me a table that ranks causes
    of death over the last two years with COVID anywhere near the top.

    Done:

    <https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2778234>

    Only cancer and heart disease killed more in 2020

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ed Norton@21:1/5 to Alan Baker on Tue Aug 10 23:04:43 2021
    XPost: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On Tue, 10 Aug 2021 19:48:49 -0400, Alan Baker wrote
    (in article <sev393$eqn$1@dont-email.me>):

    On 2021-08-10 4:04 p.m., Ed Norton wrote:
    On Tue, 10 Aug 2021 12:25:56 -0400, nospam wrote
    (in article <100820211225561785%nospam@nospam.invalid>):

    In article <0001HW.DD37DBB4024C44D4B02919BF@news.astraweb.com>, Ed
    Norton <norton@nowhere.com> wrote:

    Over 6,000 people signed an open letter urging Apple to reverse course, >>>>>>> saying, "Apple's current path threatens to undermine decades of work by >>>>>>> technologists, academics and policy advocates towards strong
    privacy-preserving measures being the norm across a majority of
    consumer
    electronic devices and use cases."
    <snip>

    ^ 6000 is a mere drip in the ocean of morons ... you just have to look >>>>> at the *millions* of idiots in America alone (home of the conspiracy >>>>> nutters!) who believe Covid is a world-wide government hoax. :-\

    I doubt if there are millions who believe that.

    believe it.

    a *substantial* number of people think covid is hoax, some sort of plot
    to overthrow the government, a bioweapon to depopulate the planet or
    some other bizarro nutjob conspiracy theory.

    A few loudmouths on
    the internet who the media plays up for their own purposes. I've never >>>> met any. I think the real reason is that people have lost trust in the >>>> government and the media after being lied to so often and don't know
    what to believe. First it was don't wear masks, then it was wear
    masks. Then it was it didn't come from a lab in China, now it's maybe. >>>
    nobody lied.

    the virus is new, never seen before.

    early on there was very little information on how it spread or how to
    treat it. many assumptions about it were made based on existing
    viruses, because that's the only data that was available at the time.

    as more information was learned about covid, some of the early
    assumptions turned out to be wrong, so the guidance on how to deal with
    it changed.

    decisions must be based on actual data. that's what builds trust.

    Then there were all the scare stories about the levels of death that
    never happened.

    630k dead in the usa alone is not scary enough?

    Almost eight billion people on earth. The odds of survival seem pretty
    good to me.

    8 billion on Earth...

    ...along with nearly 4.5 million deaths.

    How do you like your odds now?

    ~0.06%... not too bad.

    And where do you live? Are your local odds better or worse?

    Worse. US.
    ~ 0.1% according to the figures from your table. Still not too
    shabby.




    piles of bodies in other countries because there's nowhere to put the
    corpses is not scary enough?

    The 1918 pandemic was much worse but people muddled through without
    shutting down the whole world.

    It wasn't much worse, sorry.

    17 - 500 Million vs 4.5 Million. Sounds much worse to me.

    With far greater efforts, we've limited the number who have died from COVID-19.

    Imagine how much worse it would have been with only 1918 medicine.

    Then of course there is human nature which
    discounts threats as a means psychological self preservation in order
    to get on with life.

    actually, people greatly misunderstand threats.

    Agreed. And COVID is one of them. Show me a table that ranks causes
    of death over the last two years with COVID anywhere near the top.

    Done:

    <https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2778234>

    Only cancer and heart disease killed more in 2020

    Interesting data. Thanks. Still not too worried. About 10% of the
    deaths were attributed to COVID but only about 1% of the people died of anything. (not sure if homicides and auto accidents are included)


    --
    Ed

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From nospam@21:1/5 to Norton on Wed Aug 11 00:02:30 2021
    XPost: uk.comp.sys.mac

    In article <0001HW.DD387E2B027258A1B02919BF@news.astraweb.com>, Ed
    Norton <norton@nowhere.com> wrote:


    Then there were all the scare stories about the levels of death that
    never happened.

    630k dead in the usa alone is not scary enough?

    Almost eight billion people on earth. The odds of survival seem pretty
    good to me.

    major math fail.

    the calculation is number of deaths out of number of cases, for
    whatever region you want, but even that is misleading.

    as i said, survival isn't the only bad outcome.

    those who get covid can be sick for a week or two, possibly in the
    hospital, some of whom are in icu, maybe even on a ventilator in a
    coma, and if they recover, they often have lingering symptoms for
    months later, which may mean being unable to work.

    there have been reports of people who used to jog 5 miles or play
    tennis or whatever, but now get winded when walking up a flight of
    stairs, long after they've recovered.

    also, people who have had covid are at a higher risk for heart disease,
    kidney disease and various other ailments.

    piles of bodies in other countries because there's nowhere to put the corpses is not scary enough?

    The 1918 pandemic was much worse but people muddled through without
    shutting down the whole world.

    the current pandemic isn't over yet, so it's premature to compare it to anything.

    you're also ignoring that the current pandemic has numerous effective
    vaccines, which did not exist in 1918. comparing the raw numbers of one pandemic which has effective vaccines to one without is not valid.

    people also wore masks in 1918, without the bitching and stubbornness
    that exists today.

    even funeral homes in the usa had months long waiting lists because so
    many people were dead and they simply couldn't handle it.

    Then the hypocricy of the politicians.

    that never changes.

    Then the
    conflictiong stories about the effectiveness and the side effects ahd
    the dhrill self-righteousness of the politicians on both sides. Trust
    as broken dow and people are thrown back on their own intuitions.

    the only conflicting stories are from the conspiracy websites and quack doctors that spew crazy shit just to get the clicks and grift money off
    of ignorant people.

    If I were you I'd call you a liar but I realize you are just using
    hyperbole as a figure of speech.

    nothing about that is hyperbole. that's exactly what they do, and they
    know it.

    the governor of florida is selling anti-fauci swag and making quite a
    bit of money. it's absolutely disgusting. his actions are causing
    people to die and all he cares about is fundraising and his political
    future.

    the grifting is not limited to only covid either.

    trump's anti-free speech lawsuit is so incredibly frivolous that it is guaranteed to be dismissed, with the lawyers who filed likely to be
    sanctioned for having filed it.

    except that doesn't actually matter, since winning the lawsuit was
    never the goal.

    getting people to donate money was the goal, with one way by sending
    money to 'join' the lawsuit (it doesn't work that way), despite the
    lawsuit guaranteed to be dismissed, at which point he'll claim the
    judges are corrupt and ask for more money.

    trump also had a fundraising site to fight the mythical election fraud
    he claimed was widespread, except the fine print stated that donations
    are not required to be used for that purpose, which of course they
    weren't.

    Then of course there is human nature which
    discounts threats as a means psychological self preservation in order
    to get on with life.

    actually, people greatly misunderstand threats.

    Agreed. And COVID is one of them. Show me a table that ranks causes
    of death over the last two years with COVID anywhere near the top.

    covid is currently the third leading cause of death, for a disease that
    did not exist less than 2 years ago.

    that's quite the impressive feat, and not in a good way.

    covid is still spreading out of control in the southern part of the
    usa, particularly florida, where it's about to get *very* bad, as well
    as many other countries worldwide, where cases are also climbing.

    people are scared of flying, but have no issues driving, despite flying being far safer.

    people are also afraid of well tested vaccines that has been given to billions of people so far worldwide with almost no issues (nothing is perfect), but will happily will take some random 'cure' pushed by some crackpot doctor on some newly created website.

    Reasonable people can make different choices in ambiguous situations.

    the science is clear.

    No, it is most definitely not.

    what part isn't clear??

    If you believe that you don't
    understand the Scientific Method. The science was clear to the French Academy when they declared that rocks don't fall from the sky. What is
    clear is opinions based on incomplete data and less than two years of experience with a constantly changing phenomenon.

    what data are you claiming is incomplete or constantly changing?

    Dismissing everyone who makes a different choice than yourslf as a
    "conspiracy nutter" makes you sound like a "nutter" yourself.

    dismissing those who ignore science and make choices based on some
    wacko website is the very definition of conspiracy nutter.

    Straw man.

    that is not in any way a straw man.

    what would you call people who believe the crazy nutjob theories, ones
    which are easily proven wrong, some of which are so fucked up that it's
    amazing that anyone even thinks they might be true, let alone actually believing it.

    'nutters' doesn't even begin to describe these people.

    one such claim is that the covid vaccines cause sterility, despite
    vaccinated women getting pregnant and having healthy babies, along with
    the vaccinated men who impregnated them. it's bullshit, yet people
    believe it anyway.

    early on, there were claims that 5g cellular service caused covid
    because covid outbreaks were in areas where 5g had been deployed,
    therefore the cause could only be 5g, resulting in people vandalizing
    5g towers. not surprisingly, that did not help.

    <https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-04-21/conspiracy-theori sts-burn-5g-towers-claiming-link-to-virus> <https://www.cnet.com/health/5g-coronavirus-conspiracy-theory-sees-77-mo bile-towers-burned-report-says/> <https://www.pcmag.com/news/over-50-cell-towers-vandalised-in-uk-due-to- 5g-coronavirus-conspiracy-theories>

    another one claims the vaccines actually contain poison and that people
    who have been vaccinated will be dead in a year or two because it's a
    secret plot to depopulate the planet. somehow, multiple pharmaceutical companies and many thousands of people are all in on this plan with not
    a single person ever confessing. they never actually say why this is
    even a desirable goal either.

    several sites claim that the vaccines cause sorts of side effects and
    even deaths, citing numbers they don't actually understand, and instead
    suggest that people use various drugs, vitamins and even herbal
    treatments, never mentioning that clinical trials have shown that none
    of it is in any way effective and usually makes things worse.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From JF Mezei@21:1/5 to nospam on Wed Aug 11 01:34:09 2021
    On 2021-08-09 10:09, nospam wrote:

    if you upload photos that are in a database of child porn, you might
    have some explaining to do.


    No. The software degrades you photo into a "context" and if the
    "context" of an image in that database matches, then your onw image is
    flagged as child porn, and when it goes to iCloud, Apple looks at that
    flag and takes action.

    Because the logic to create that context is secret and not open source,
    nobody can verify it. Nobody can verify what are the odds of a fasle
    positive.

    The fact that Apple has had to resort to confusing terminology such as "hashtag" and "cryptography" to confuse people is telling instead of
    being honest about what its software actually does.

    For all we know, the software created a few thumbnails after cropping
    out irrelevant portion of image keeping only what AI has decided is a
    human subject. We know they ditch colour, and likely have few thumbnails (horizonal flipped, vertical flipped etc). Once you crop contect from
    an image, the remainig image of a child can no longer be distinguisehd
    from a family pictuire from a chipd porn picture. That is the danger.

    Nbecause false positives have serious impact on a person's life, the
    risk of false accusation of pedophile cannot be taken likely.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ed Norton@21:1/5 to nospam on Wed Aug 11 06:32:32 2021
    XPost: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On Wed, 11 Aug 2021 00:02:30 -0400, nospam wrote
    (in article <110820210002309386%nospam@nospam.invalid>):

    In article <0001HW.DD387E2B027258A1B02919BF@news.astraweb.com>, Ed
    Norton <norton@nowhere.com> wrote:


    Then there were all the scare stories about the levels of death that
    never happened.

    630k dead in the usa alone is not scary enough?

    Almost eight billion people on earth. The odds of survival seem pretty
    good to me.

    major math fail.

    the calculation is number of deaths out of number of cases, for
    whatever region you want, but even that is misleading.

    as i said, survival isn't the only bad outcome.

    those who get covid can be sick for a week or two, possibly in the
    hospital, some of whom are in icu, maybe even on a ventilator in a
    coma, and if they recover, they often have lingering symptoms for
    months later, which may mean being unable to work.

    there have been reports of people who used to jog 5 miles or play
    tennis or whatever, but now get winded when walking up a flight of
    stairs, long after they've recovered.

    also, people who have had covid are at a higher risk for heart disease, kidney disease and various other ailments.

    piles of bodies in other countries because there's nowhere to put the
    corpses is not scary enough?

    The 1918 pandemic was much worse but people muddled through without
    shutting down the whole world.

    the current pandemic isn't over yet, so it's premature to compare it to anything.

    you're also ignoring that the current pandemic has numerous effective vaccines, which did not exist in 1918. comparing the raw numbers of one pandemic which has effective vaccines to one without is not valid.

    people also wore masks in 1918, without the bitching and stubbornness
    that exists today.

    even funeral homes in the usa had months long waiting lists because so
    many people were dead and they simply couldn't handle it.

    Then the hypocricy of the politicians.

    that never changes.

    Then the
    conflictiong stories about the effectiveness and the side effects ahd
    the dhrill self-righteousness of the politicians on both sides. Trust >>>> as broken dow and people are thrown back on their own intuitions.

    the only conflicting stories are from the conspiracy websites and quack
    doctors that spew crazy shit just to get the clicks and grift money off
    of ignorant people.

    If I were you I'd call you a liar but I realize you are just using
    hyperbole as a figure of speech.

    nothing about that is hyperbole. that's exactly what they do, and they
    know it.

    the governor of florida is selling anti-fauci swag and making quite a
    bit of money. it's absolutely disgusting. his actions are causing
    people to die and all he cares about is fundraising and his political
    future.

    the grifting is not limited to only covid either.

    trump's anti-free speech lawsuit is so incredibly frivolous that it is guaranteed to be dismissed, with the lawyers who filed likely to be sanctioned for having filed it.

    except that doesn't actually matter, since winning the lawsuit was
    never the goal.

    getting people to donate money was the goal, with one way by sending
    money to 'join' the lawsuit (it doesn't work that way), despite the
    lawsuit guaranteed to be dismissed, at which point he'll claim the
    judges are corrupt and ask for more money.

    trump also had a fundraising site to fight the mythical election fraud
    he claimed was widespread, except the fine print stated that donations
    are not required to be used for that purpose, which of course they
    weren't.

    Then of course there is human nature which
    discounts threats as a means psychological self preservation in order
    to get on with life.

    actually, people greatly misunderstand threats.

    Agreed. And COVID is one of them. Show me a table that ranks causes
    of death over the last two years with COVID anywhere near the top.

    covid is currently the third leading cause of death, for a disease that
    did not exist less than 2 years ago.

    that's quite the impressive feat, and not in a good way.

    covid is still spreading out of control in the southern part of the
    usa, particularly florida, where it's about to get *very* bad, as well
    as many other countries worldwide, where cases are also climbing.

    people are scared of flying, but have no issues driving, despite flying
    being far safer.

    people are also afraid of well tested vaccines that has been given to
    billions of people so far worldwide with almost no issues (nothing is
    perfect), but will happily will take some random 'cure' pushed by some
    crackpot doctor on some newly created website.

    Reasonable people can make different choices in ambiguous situations.

    the science is clear.

    No, it is most definitely not.

    what part isn't clear??

    If you believe that you don't
    understand the Scientific Method. The science was clear to the French
    Academy when they declared that rocks don't fall from the sky. What is
    clear is opinions based on incomplete data and less than two years of
    experience with a constantly changing phenomenon.

    what data are you claiming is incomplete or constantly changing?

    Dismissing everyone who makes a different choice than yourslf as a
    "conspiracy nutter" makes you sound like a "nutter" yourself.

    dismissing those who ignore science and make choices based on some
    wacko website is the very definition of conspiracy nutter.

    Straw man.

    that is not in any way a straw man.

    what would you call people who believe the crazy nutjob theories, ones
    which are easily proven wrong, some of which are so fucked up that it's amazing that anyone even thinks they might be true, let alone actually believing it.

    'nutters' doesn't even begin to describe these people.

    one such claim is that the covid vaccines cause sterility, despite
    vaccinated women getting pregnant and having healthy babies, along with
    the vaccinated men who impregnated them. it's bullshit, yet people
    believe it anyway.

    early on, there were claims that 5g cellular service caused covid
    because covid outbreaks were in areas where 5g had been deployed,
    therefore the cause could only be 5g, resulting in people vandalizing
    5g towers. not surprisingly, that did not help.

    <https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-04-21/conspiracy-theori sts-burn-5g-towers-claiming-link-to-virus> <https://www.cnet.com/health/5g-coronavirus-conspiracy-theory-sees-77-mo bile-towers-burned-report-says/> <https://www.pcmag.com/news/over-50-cell-towers-vandalised-in-uk-due-to- 5g-coronavirus-conspiracy-theories>

    another one claims the vaccines actually contain poison and that people
    who have been vaccinated will be dead in a year or two because it's a
    secret plot to depopulate the planet. somehow, multiple pharmaceutical companies and many thousands of people are all in on this plan with not
    a single person ever confessing. they never actually say why this is
    even a desirable goal either.

    several sites claim that the vaccines cause sorts of side effects and
    even deaths, citing numbers they don't actually understand, and instead suggest that people use various drugs, vitamins and even herbal
    treatments, never mentioning that clinical trials have shown that none
    of it is in any way effective and usually makes things worse.

    Well, my original post concerned Apple's plan to scan photos but it
    seems somehow to have forked into a COVID debate which I don't really
    care that much about and which is off topic in this group anyway. I'm
    not sure how that happened but it was probably my fault for responding
    to someone when I should have known better. Although I don't agree
    with you, you may have the last word.

    --
    Ed

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From nospam@21:1/5 to jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca on Wed Aug 11 10:49:04 2021
    In article <mjJQI.39751$Fx8.18242@fx45.iad>, JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca> wrote:


    if you upload photos that are in a database of child porn, you might
    have some explaining to do.


    No.

    yes

    The software degrades you photo into a "context" and if the
    "context" of an image in that database matches, then your onw image is flagged as child porn, and when it goes to iCloud, Apple looks at that
    flag and takes action.

    there's a *lot* more to it than that, but the point is that if you're
    uploading child porn, you will have some explaining to do.

    Because the logic to create that context is secret and not open source, nobody can verify it. Nobody can verify what are the odds of a fasle positive.

    yes they can. it's been audited. the odds are 1 in 1 trillion.

    The fact that Apple has had to resort to confusing terminology such as "hashtag" and "cryptography" to confuse people is telling instead of
    being honest about what its software actually does.

    confusing to you, as is everything, but not to others, namely the
    cryptography experts who audited it.

    For all we know, the software created a few thumbnails after cropping
    out irrelevant portion of image keeping only what AI has decided is a
    human subject. We know they ditch colour, and likely have few thumbnails (horizonal flipped, vertical flipped etc). Once you crop contect from
    an image, the remainig image of a child can no longer be distinguisehd
    from a family pictuire from a chipd porn picture. That is the danger.

    no, that is not the danger.

    the danger is that you don't understand yet another subject and are
    babbling as if you do, making up stuff as you go along.

    Nbecause false positives have serious impact on a person's life, the
    risk of false accusation of pedophile cannot be taken likely.

    that's where the manual review comes in. any matches are verified to
    see if they are a mistake or actually child porn. it's then referred to
    ncmec, who will further investigate and respond appropriately.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)