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posted by Fnord666 on Monday January 09 2017, @06:57AM   Printer-friendly
from the just-call-me-Harriet dept.

President-elect Donald Trump is clearly antagonistic toward the mainstream media. That attitude is unlikely to change after Inauguration Day. His disdain for journalists and reluctance to release details about his finances and business ventures may force journalists to rely increasingly on anonymous sources, a strategy that reputable news organizations have long frowned upon.

So in the age of Trump, how should a reader approach coverage that relies primarily on anonymous sources?

Read the news like a spy.


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  • (Score: 2) by jmorris on Monday January 09 2017, @04:39PM

    by jmorris (4844) on Monday January 09 2017, @04:39PM (#451495)

    That's very true, but at that point you should probably invest in some more effective defense than just a lock. And if you are of that much interest to possible thieves, should the rest of us bear the expense of your defense?

    The point is there is no purely passive defense that is effective. When they stand around your house with lock picking tools the police carry them away. Same for more secure locations. Sure we expect a bank to have a vault and a security system as basic precautions. But again, we don't allow any old dickhead to stand in front of the door with power tools and give it a go with no consequence. And that is the biggest part of the security, the fact you have to be able to get in, get through the door and clean away in one go with no previous attempt.

    If somebody gets past my lock into my home and takes my property, I no longer have my property. If somebody gets into my computer and copies my bits, I still have my bits.

    And if most of the value of those bits was in you knowing them and nobody else knowing them, that value is now stolen. And if those bits were your banking information and your account is now cleaned out, you still having those bits means nuthin'. What if they access your system, command your garage door to open and drive away in your spanking new Benz? And if they encrypted all of your bits and now want you to wire money to a dodgy bitcoin account in exchange for the decryption key, then what? Or what is they are just assholes and replaced all of your bits with zeros for the lulz? Bottom line is if we are to entrust computer system with valuable bits we have to be able to trust the security systems.

    So take all that "information wants to be free" hacker weenie bilge and flush it, time to grow up and join the real world. We depend on computers for securing life and property on a daily basis, we need to start building and defending them like it matters.

    Starting Score:    1  point
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  • (Score: 2) by jdavidb on Monday January 09 2017, @06:11PM

    by jdavidb (5690) on Monday January 09 2017, @06:11PM (#451542) Homepage Journal

    So take all that "information wants to be free" hacker weenie bilge and flush it, time to grow up and join the real world

    I'm looking for a higher level of conversation than this.

    --
    ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
    • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday January 09 2017, @06:18PM

      by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Monday January 09 2017, @06:18PM (#451545) Journal

      Might as well look for diamonds in a septic tank. I was wondering why the hell J-Mo runs around carrying a dull knitting needle, until I realized it's actually an axe that he's ground to within an inch of nonexistence.

      --
      I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...