kevin_b_er (u/kevin_b_er)

kevin_b_er commented on Microsoft only lets you opt out of AI photo scanning 3x a year hardware.slashdot.org/sto... · Posted by u/dmitrygr

hshdhdhehd · 5 months ago

Almost feel like we are getting to class action or antitrust when you connect the dots. Almost all PCs come with Windows. Defacto you need to create a M$ account to use Windows locally. They opt you into one drive by default. They sync your docs by default. They upload all your photos into AI by default.

kevin_b_er · 5 months ago

By "class action" I presume you're referring to the US. If so, no, the courts of law are forbidden to you. You will instead go to a secret tribunal where the laws do not matter. The arbiter will only continue to be paid if they continue to rule for corporations.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/servicesagreement#15_binding...

kevin_b_er commented on Techno-feudalism and the rise of AGI: A future without economic rights? arxiv.org/abs/2503.14283... · Posted by u/lexandstuff

drdaeman · 8 months ago

> Almost nobody applies critical thought to politics

Because they have different concerns, and time and attention are scarce. With all possible social changes like the article suggests this focus could change too. Ultimately, when things will get too bad, uprisings happen and sometimes things change. And I hope the more we (collectively) get through, the higher are the chances we start noticing the patterns and stopping early.

kevin_b_er · 8 months ago

And that's where drones and robots come in. The goal is to make sure there's no more uprisings, ever again.

You need only look at the US, where the rich are given all the benefits in changes in law, and the commoner gets nothing except some get the perverted glee of causing someone else to suffer first, not realizing they're on the menu to be sacrificed later.

kevin_b_er commented on Modifying an HDMI dummy plug's EDID using a Raspberry Pi downtowndougbrown.com/202... · Posted by u/zdw

tverbeure · 9 months ago

I did a tear down of this Monoprice dongle: https://tomverbeure.github.io/2023/11/26/Monoprice-Blackbird....

It terminates as an HDCP 2.0 endpoint and converts to HDCP 1.4. You’d still need an HDCP 1.4 sink to make it work though.

kevin_b_er · 9 months ago

That was written by you?

I don't agree with this section:

> The HDCP converter simply announces itself as a final video endpoint… yet still repeats the content to its output port. Without a very expensive HDMI protocol analyzer, we can’t check if the source is tagging the content as type 0 or type 1, but there is no reason now to think that it’s not type 1.

There's no magic in the HDMI protocol that says type 1 vs type 0. Its just another HDCP message over DDC, but it is only sent to repeaters. In this case, since the HDCP Repeater is lying about not being a repeater, it isn't getting sent the StreamID Type information.

kevin_b_er commented on Over 90% of U.S. airport towers are understaffed, data shows cbsnews.com/news/over-90-... · Posted by u/rustoo

cozzyd · a year ago

Those personnel numbers don't really make sense to me. Like, sure I believe O'Hare has 57 trained ATC staff, but Kalamazoo has 47 while La Guardia has 29, all at comparable percentages of trained staffing. Something is off...

It's good to see that both Chicago airports are at full staffing though (when counting staff in training ).

kevin_b_er · a year ago

Kalamazoo is the result of consolidation. The graph incorrectly just lists them as "Kalamazoo Tower", but its also a TRACON facility.

They're handling multiple airports remotely. In 2016, this was planned to be Grand Rapids, Lansing, Muskegon, Flint, and Saginaw, though I'm not sure all of them were consolidated.

kevin_b_er commented on Cryptocurrency doesn't address the hard parts of financial inclusion (2022) wave.com/en/blog/crypto/i... · Posted by u/sebmellen

kevin_b_er · a year ago

Because none of that is the purpose of cryptocurrency. It for tax evasion by the rich, and for the cryptocurrency to seize when its used for crimes or when its defrauded out of someone else. And for riding a seemingly permanently rising currency to riches.

In any case, it boils down to "I can make money off cryptocurrency". It doesn't "help" people. If someone says that, they just want to evangelize it because they think that's the key to 'crypto go up'.

kevin_b_er commented on Fixing America's elevators is becoming a heavy lift axios.com/2025/01/05/elev... · Posted by u/ecliptik

scoofy · a year ago

Strong Towns writes about a lot of this stuff. America loves to build but are loathe to care about maintenance.

Something as simple as municipal cash accounting (instead of double entry accounting) is how tons of cities are finding themselves broke after a maintenance cycle without growth.

kevin_b_er · a year ago

America loved to build _in the past_. Now the workers cost too much, even when paid poorly, and the top must profit on an exponential curve.

kevin_b_er commented on Shizuku: App that lets you use system APIs with higher privileges without root shizuku.rikka.app/... · Posted by u/thunderbong

TheDong · a year ago

Yes it's valid. I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice.

As programmers, our instinct is to try to interpret things literally, as if they can be represented by math or code.

Copyright is a thing of the law, and laws are not like that. Laws are interpreted by humans, who generally attempt to interpret the spirit, and generally apply reasonable interpretations.

It's clear the author of the code intends it to be available under the Apache 2, and that's good enough.

kevin_b_er · a year ago

The author intends it to be a modified Apache 2.

   2. Grant of Copyright License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
      this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
      worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
      copyright license to reproduce, prepare Derivative Works of,
      publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute the
      Work and such Derivative Works in Source or Object form.


  
    For the project as a whole, it is not free. You are FORBIDDEN to distribute the apk compiled by you (including modified, e.g., rename app name "Shizuku" to something else) to any store (IBNLT Google Play Store, F-Droid, Amazon Appstore etc.).

This is not Apache licensed, because the author is explicitly declaring its terms altered.

It is NOT open source, it violates freedom 1:

Freedom 1

   The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources. The license shall not require a royalty or other fee for such sale.

kevin_b_er commented on Türkiye Bans Roblox turkiyetoday.com/turkiye/... · Posted by u/moneil971

kevin_b_er · 2 years ago

That name is not in English, as evidenced by the non-English letter.

kevin_b_er commented on More disabled Americans are employed, thanks to remote work bloomberg.com/news/articl... · Posted by u/petethomas

no_wizard · 2 years ago

The entire US business culture, which extends deeply into US culture as a whole, puts employers over employees at almost every turn. What protections workers in the US do have, businesses try to circumvent all the time, not to mention many things, such as the ADA have no concrete definitions for things like what a reasonable accommodation must be (they do have examples of generally accepted things, but it isn't a decree) which allows for all kinds of ways of non compliance.

Not to mention, its unfortunately common that exercising any rights workers have will often work against you, being passed up for promotions etc.

Its strange how much power we give employers over employees, and how regular people defend this, even when its actively working against them.

kevin_b_er · 2 years ago

> Its strange how much power we give employers over employees, and how regular people defend this, even when its actively working against them.

"Because, one day, I will be a rich person, and I will be able to be cruel to the little people. I don't want to prevent me being able to abuse people if I'm in that position!"

kevin_b_er commented on Tesla owners file class-action alleging repair, parts monopoly driving.ca/auto-news/indu... · Posted by u/RickJWagner

fallingknife · 2 years ago

Do you have a source for this? Because it doesn't sound credible.

kevin_b_er · 2 years ago

You can read their Motor Vehicle Order Agreement. Mandatory Binding Arbitration.

https://www.epi.org/publication/the-arbitration-epidemic/https://centerjd.org/system/files/ArbitrationWhitePaper.pdf

You can even read Hall Street Associates, L.L.C. v. Mattel, Inc, where even when the agreement said the courts could review. Where, no, courts of law may not review an arbiter's decision if you both agree it would be able to after arbitration.

You can read Mitsubishi Motors Corp. v. Soler Chrysler-Plymouth, Inc., where SCOTUS explicitly declared the American Arbitration Act overrides the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.

You can read Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant, where you find out you have no substantive rights where the AAA is involved.

There's still weak attempts to save it, but the The National Labor Relations Act is also likely superseded by the American Arbitration Act, basically voiding the NLRA from being ever applicable.

Courts of law are barred where arbitration is inserted, anywhere, whether you know it or not. You lose basic rights where arbitration is concerned.