tldr: AT&T has an account status page that, for mobile devices, did not require any authorization. Something like /status?phone=8367492738 and you see the account data for that phone. It was guarded by a password if you navigated to it on a desktop/laptop, but it was unsecured if you navigated to it with a mobile device.
He spoofed the user agent string to make his laptop say it was a phone (this is extremely common, there is a button in your browser to do this in one click, and the spec that defines UA string specifically says not to use it for authorization for this exact reason), and dumped the account details from every url.
Despite these being pages publicly accessible on the open internet, he went to jail for years for unauthorized access under the CFAA
Well, I mean, that and (I'm sure) the fact that he was a notorious asshole and the authorities would rather make an example out of him than out of a more sympathetic defendant
> I find it interesting how over 20-30 years corporations have reprogrammed people to believe working from home (WFH) is a perk and not a burden. And, people are celebrating how progressive these companies are.
There are a million and one examples I can think of, of companies repackaging burdens as perks while cynically using progressive reasoning to convince people to go along with it. Unlimited PTO, for example. Unlimited PTO is not unlimited, it's limited by whatever your boss gives you permission for. So say it's de-facto limited at 3 weeks. If you had explicit PTO of 3 weeks per year:
* It's a lot harder for your boss to arbitrarily stop you from taking it, especially if the year is almost over and you haven't taken it yet
* If you don't take, it, they're legally obligated to pay it out
But when it's "unlimited"
* Boss mysteriously rejects it, or puts arbitrary constraints like "no more than 3 days contiguous"
* If you don't take it, it's gone
This doesn't make any sense. What does a "60 day cut" even mean? As I understand it, H1Bs get processed now and then get issued in like October. It is more than 60 days from now until October
Wouldn't the only result of this be a backlog of paperwork to process?
Prior to March 3rd, the official position of the WHO was that
"The flu is worse"
I don't expect the WHO to be infalliable, and I don't think this reflects malice or incompetence (they updated as information became available) but that's kind of my point. The WHO is not infalliable. The things they say are not gospel truth. Categorically banning discussion of anything that contradicts what they say is a horrendous measure that will suppress critical information, because _even the WHO_ contradicts the WHO. If the WHO is wrong again, but we are not allowed to discuss it, we will never find out. We will instead _enforce_ incorrect information, and people will die.
> Prior to March 3rd, the official position of the WHO was that "The flu is worse"
That wasn't their position, in fact they instructed other nations to prepare. The R0 and mortality rate they provided in the statement[1] is also much higher than of flu, so please don't spread misinformation.
> Prior to March 3rd, the official position of the WHO was that "The flu is worse"
This is a lie, and the product of many different organizations flat out making up claims about the WHO to deflect blame away from themselves.
The WHO has been telling nations to prepare since January. I mean, I'm an ordinary citizen and I got clued in to preparing in January from their statements.
Now, there've been lots of problems with the WHO's response, but to claim that they were downplaying it until March is outright false, and if the news you're watching is telling you that you should consider watching (or reading) something else.
My news source was the actual WHO press conferences. They've been quite clear on this since January.
If you've only heard what some secondary source says the WHO said, then your perception of the WHO is completely determined by what that secondary source wants you to think.
I'm a foreigner on a work permit. I'll be fine _financially_ in a recession but if I get laid off suddenly my legal residency is threatened, and I need to have an emergency fund to deal with any fallout from that
Fun fact: a used PCR machine is only $2500. And if the prices on tests kits out of asia are accurate... You could literally test yourself in your own home for that price. And then you could test a thousand of your friends. If you wanted to
According to this very report, 80% of cases are "mild or moderate". This can mean anything from getting the sniffles for a while, to full on pneumonia (but not enough pneumonia to have to go to the hospital).
Yes it is technically correct that the majority of cases are mild. I wouldn't call that "inconsequential", or "similar to the flu". Maybe "Similar to the worst flu you've ever had", although the important distinction (need hospital vs get better on your own) remains the same. But that statement is true in roughly the same way (and with roughly the same probability(+)) as saying "the majority of people who play Russian Roulette win". Yes, I have an 83% chance of living. I still don't want to play that game
----
(+) According to this very study that we are all commenting on right now, ~20% of cases need hospitalization, and a majority of those cases will be fatal without it
But, my question remains... what evidence is there that this virus is new as opposed to something that has been in the milieu -- causing pneumonia and deaths in the elderly -- for decades?
Put aside the 'confirmed cases' and the like, and focus on sheer symptoms: is there any statistically significant uptick in the number of seriously ill people in the non-Wuhan populations? (I exclude Wuhan because, frankly, neither I now anyone else knows what the hell is going on there.) I keep hearing of one or two 70- or 80-year olds dying here and there... In the same time-frame thousands in this same cohort have died from, presumably, influenza and any other number of respiratory illnesses.
How do we know that the elderly haven't been getting Covid-19 and dying of it at these rates for decades?
I'm genuinely curious.
At this point, the story is being driven by politicians and bureaucracies with incentives to plan for the worst... I don't expect a logical and rational analysis from them. But, I do from HackerNew posters. Surely I'm not the only one looking at these numbers, the dearth of information about the test's false-positive rates, the utterly inconsistent data coming from Wuhan vs. the rest of the world, and scratching my head? Am I?
I dont have much to add I’m afraid (feel free to downvote me) but I’m quite intrigued of the HN reaction to this thing. The smartest people in the world (kind of) are also just scared I guess. The usual coolheaded rationalism seems for the first time skewed towards ”its bad I just know it”. I look at the numbers and still cant quite understand what they’re seeing that I dont. I guess its the fear doing it, because we really dont know, and thats just plain scary. And maybe a tinge of satisfaction to be part of this huge drama plays a part too :)
