Can the FBI turn on the web cams of linux users?

[MartinN]

Yes it sucks to have your infallible little book thrown at your face. Remember now, it knows no interpretation so you cant deny it without denying your faith!

What exactly, besides one's repulsion to Truth and blind disagreement, do you find "fallible" about the Bible? I love apogetics... give me a verse you think is fallible so I can put it in a .. more contemporary context for you. I get that people have strayed away from truth in a big way... this does not obsolete the truth of God's word. It merely shows our indifference and absolute depravity....

[josipva]

No wonder even your pastors call you children and sheep.

give me a verse you think is fallible so I can put it in a .. more contemporary context for you.

Hmm, how about man living in a whale or maybe noah's ark or talking snake or talking bush or falling popcorn in desert, there's a pretty long list of such BS.

[MartinN]

josip, why dont you tell me why the stuff you mentioned is impossible? amuse me.

No wonder even your pastors call you children and sheep.




Hmm, how about man living in a whale or maybe noah's ark or talking snake or talking bush or falling popcorn in desert, there's a pretty long list of such BS.

[josipva]

josip, why dont you tell me why the stuff you mentioned is impossible? amuse me.

Well unlike you, I like to respond on direct questions and not avoid them. So lets see. At least some of the mentioned stuff is easily testable. Go make a prayer and throw yourself in whale's mouth and come back to report your findings. Or we can be a bit less extreme, make some bible thumper's style excuse for not making such scientific experiment and go burn a bush for some fine conversation. If it's possible please ask Mr. bush to at least say something solid and definitive, something that can't be interpreted however someone likes. I'm waiting to hear the results. Regards.

[steveriley]

Martin, what can be believed without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence. But with evidence, dismissal becomes impossible and belief becomes unnecessary. All that's to say, burden of proof lies on those making claims, not on those doubting them. Yes, I'm sure all your wonderful apologetics training has armed you with pithy responses to these. And I'm sure you'll start "apologizing" any moment here.

BTW, you also haven't answered my questions about biblically acceptable sex. If those examples from 2 Samuel are, in fact, not acceptable, what explanation do you have for their encouragement? King David, god's favorite, had many concubines. Why can't I? Your answer may not be: "those were Old Testament times; in these the days of our lord Jesus and the New Testament, proper sex is between one married man and woman." Jesus said nothing about "proper sex," including homosexual sex. So if Jesus removed the provision for concubines, then Jesus also removed the prohibition against homosexual sex.

[MartinN]

Martin, what can be believed without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence. But with evidence, dismissal becomes impossible and belief becomes unnecessary. All that's to say, burden of proof lies on those making claims, not on those doubting them. Yes, I'm sure all your wonderful apologetics training has armed you with pithy responses to these. And I'm sure you'll start "apologizing" any moment here.

BTW, you also haven't answered my questions about biblically acceptable sex. If those examples from 2 Samuel are, in fact, not acceptable, what explanation do you have for their encouragement? King David, god's favorite, had many concubines. Why can't I? Your answer may not be: "those were Old Testament times; in these the days of our lord Jesus and the New Testament, proper sex is between one married man and woman." Jesus said nothing about "proper sex," including homosexual sex. So if Jesus removed the provision for concubines, then Jesus also removed the prohibition against homosexual sex.

Steve, God's original plan is well summarized in Genesis 2:21-24:

So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man?s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, ?This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ?woman,? for she was taken out of man.? That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

The Bible never explains why God allowed men to have concubines. He allowed divorce and polygamy, too, although neither was part of His original plan for marriage. Jesus said God allowed divorce because of the hardness of men?s hearts (Matthew 19:8). We can assume the same hardness of heart led to polygamy and concubinage.

We can also surmise a reason based on the culture of the day. Unmarried women in ancient times were completely dependent on their family members, such as their fathers, brothers, etc. If for some reason a woman had no family members or her husband had died or divorced her, she would be left with few options for survival. Most women in ancient times were uneducated and unskilled in a trade. Providing for themselves was very difficult, and they were vulnerable to those who would prey upon them. For many women in dire situations, becoming a concubine was a much more suitable option than prostitution, homelessness, or death. At least a concubine would be provided a home and afforded a certain amount of care.

It appears God allowed the sin of concubinage, in part, to provide for women in need, although it was certainly not an ideal situation. Sin is never ideal. Christians should be reminded that, just because God allows a sin for a time, it does not mean God is pleased with it. Many Bible narratives teach that God can take what some people mean for evil and use it for good (Genesis 50:20).

Having said this, it's not that you -CAN'T- have concubines and feed your last ad infinitum. You can....9 out of 10, everyone who has tried this in this day and age, proved it doesn't work. In the cases that it does, one or both partners are dinged in the head ... in some major way.

So the question for you Steve is, now that we're getting down to brass tacks, what is more important to you - being right about your lust.... or do you want to be happy by surrendering your life to God? Your choice .

[MartinN]

Well unlike you, I like to respond on direct questions and not avoid them. So lets see. At least some of the mentioned stuff is easily testable. Go make a prayer and throw yourself in whale's mouth and come back to report your findings. Or we can be a bit less extreme, make some bible thumper's style excuse for not making such scientific experiment and go burn a bush for some fine conversation. If it's possible please ask Mr. bush to at least say something solid and definitive, something that can't be interpreted however someone likes. I'm waiting to hear the results. Regards.

I will do it, right after you put God to the test (Matthew 4:5-7), by doing the same. Or here, I'll be more generous - I will agree to both of us being thrown into the Pacific where whales swim, 20 miles off the coast, as long as we're chained together. How's that? Then we can both report the results...

Now, "josip" - I am sure you didn't register on Phoronix just to prove to me how smart you are - which I grant you, you're the smartest of them all here.... can you amuse us and be honest - what's your beef with God? Luke was honest, he's bisexual, he'd love to continue living in sin. Steve said he'd like to enjoy his lust like an Old Testament dude... There's definitely MORE honesty in that, and they are closer to heaven than you ever will be by continuing to posture and fence here with me over God's existence, so let me ask you - are you even present to what triggered you to sign up and respond? I mean 10 out of 10 it's money, sex or vanity - but those are generic terms... no juice/meat.

We got your vanity alright, now fill us in on some details of your other favorite sins. Confession is the first step... What do you like, lollipops and butter in your ass, to quote Boogie Nights ...? Or something else and you're wondering if it's good or bad? Are you, as Freud said, a solitary sinner... with a bottle of Jergens on his bedside, a pre-requisite for your good night sleep or some "stress relief"?

Here's the one universal thing with non-believers - they tend to see God as something "out there", as if it's some kind of a magical thing in the sky that you can push a button and it'll fire fireballs out its arse or some such crap..... rather than seeing it as the pervasive, ever present influence in ALL you do in your life and the life of others.

[Mike Frett]

I wonder

How would the FBI see anything with the Lens cap on?.

[josipva]

I will do it, right after you put God to the test (Matthew 4:5-7), by doing the same. Or here, I'll be more generous - I will agree to both of us being thrown into the Pacific where whales swim, 20 miles off the coast, as long as we're chained together. How's that? Then we can both report the results...

Just as someone said before me, burden of proof is on those making the claim. Let me put it in a simpler perspective. Imagine me walking up to you and saying something like: "Hey Martin, imagine this, I had a revelation in my sleep last night! Little Leprechaun appeared next to me and said he is the one and only maker of universe and mankind, he also said people won't believe me but I should stay strong and I will be rewarded with bunch of gold and concubines after my death and resurrection."

Obviously when you hear something like that from me your first reaction will be: WTF, is this guy high on some drugs or is he plain nuts ? However I will continue to spread Leprechaun's Divine Truth and I will tell you to prove it wrong if you don't believe me (Which you obviously can't, just like I cant disprove existence of Thor. In the same manner I can't disprove existence of your God, its just extremely unlikely any of those exist, given the facts we have.).

Now, "josip" - I am sure you didn't register on Phoronix just to prove to me how smart you are, so let me ask you - are you even present to what triggered you to sign up and respond?

Nope, I didn't register to prove my intelligence. I was just irked by "God" creeping in on a thread about spying.

what's your beef with God?

It's because I find spreading "Divine Truth" is the equivalent of spreading stupidity and ignorance. Considering stupidity and ignorance slows down progress of science and betterment of mankind I try to "do my good deed" and explain to those that can/wan't to comprehend it's nonsense.

We got your vanity alright, now fill us in on some details of your other favorite sins. Confession is the first step... What do you like, lollipops and butter in your ass, to quote Boogie Nights ...? Or something else and you're wondering if it's good or bad? Are you, as Freud said, a solitary sinner... with a bottle of Jergens on his bedside, a pre-requisite for your good night sleep or some "stress relief"?

Well to satisfy your curiosity I was raised catholic (thanks to (un)common sense and education I found there was no such thing as Santa/Jahweh), I'm hetero and I don't drink except on rare occasions nor do I need help to cope with my stress.

What do you like, lollipops and butter in your ass, to quote Boogie Nights

People's sexual preferences are not my business just like they should not be yours, as long as its not harmful and is consensual. For all I care, Luke could find sticking cabbage up his partners back and sniffing potato super sexy and I would not think any less of the man.

[Nille_kungen]

Back on subject...

Much as I have suspected, many BIOS/firmware exploits against pre-chosen computers are done the old fashoned way: intercept the computer in shipment and reflash the BIOS. The NSA's "Tailored Access Operation" or TAO is confirmed to be intercepting computers being shipped to known customers, and to prefer BIOS modifications to software/hardware changes when modding shipped computers.

http://techreport.com/news/25828/report-nsa-intercepts-computer-shipments-plants-malware

The countermeasure to this is obvious: Never order any device containing firmware or processors by mail/delivery. Always buy it off a store shelf, even if you are an embassy needing twenty machines. In addition, never download a BIOS update to any IP address you can be predicted to be using-unless you honeypotting, seeking to reverse-engineer the code to catch the NSA or their (still-unproven) buddies at the FBI in the act instead of using the code.

Hell I ought to learn some Assembly and do exactly that..

The thing is that if they do want to target someone there seems not to be any limit to how far they will go to do so.

http://leaksource.wordpress.com/2013/12/30/nsas-ant-division-catalog-of-exploits-for-nearly-every-major-software-hardware-firmware/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0w36GAyZIA

Sometimes a tinfoil hat doesn't sound that crazy, but i doubt it will work