Dark_Arc
@Dark_Arc@lemmy.world
Hiker, software engineer (primarily C++, Java, and Python), Minecraft modder, hunter (of the Hunt Showdown variety), biker, adoptive Akronite, and general doer of assorted things.
- Comment on Biden expected to sign the TikTok ban on Wed. 6 months ago:
Likewise, I think this bill could be used against companies with Chinese investment, like anything Tencent investment (e.g. Fortnite, League of Legends, etc).
IANAL but I believe that would not be covered under this bill. Those games are run by American companies with foreign investment.
Maybe when it gets to the point where the foreign power is the majority shareholder. However, I think in a publicly traded company they’d just be forced to divest and that would likely take a different law.
- Comment on Biden expected to sign the TikTok ban on Wed. 6 months ago:
Just the standard “you can sue if you think this is unfair and have your day in court.”
What it looks like is if China or Russia has a competitor to a US product (say, Yandex or Baidu), a US company (say, Google) could lobby the President to mark them as a threat and ban them from the US. The product doesn’t need to actually have the capacity to cause harm, it just needs to be from one of the adversary countries (currently China, Russia, N. Korea, and Iran).
This is true, but it’s also pretty unlikely. Even TikTok is just a vine ripoff, but a vine that was successfully monetized.
There really hasn’t been much to come out of our “foreign adversaries” that I think most people would care about. If that’s the price we have to pay … I’m not the least bit worried about it really.
Furthermore, China is happy to use public money to back companies (as a sort of “state run venture capital”); that is a threat to competition in the same way venture capital is a threat to competition.
- Comment on Biden expected to sign the TikTok ban on Wed. 6 months ago:
I think you should check out this article in The Atlantic, it goes into the history of the US government’s previous laws to protect against foreign propaganda and manipulation of the media. What you’ll find is this is more of an update (to catch up with the internet era) than a revamp of US domestic policy.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/…/677806/
Also a key point I think you’re missing here:
but it also allows the President to denote any other entity in one of those countries as a significant threat
The president can only do this for apps from the countries covered in the US code as Foreign Adversaries, which means the president can act quickly against threats, but this is a bad avenue for attacking competition in other friendly countries (e.g., shutting down Proton would require congress to pass a law that Switzerland is a foreign adversary – which would not be good for relations – AND a law specifically targeting Proton accompanying that or the president to then act against Proton).
- Comment on Biden expected to sign the TikTok ban on Wed. 6 months ago:
I’m sure it’s just even more detail about the scope of that influence campaign (and possibly an extrapolation of effectiveness on public opinion).
The major thing is manipulation of the public’s information pipeline by a hostile foreign power. There are already existing laws about foreign owned media (as cited by the New York Times this morning www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/…/677806/).
- Comment on Google's Web DRM is Worse than I Thought... 1 year ago:
Gah, I actually meant chain of trust… Oops…
- Comment on Google's Web DRM is Worse than I Thought... 1 year ago:
Web of trust, the site only trusts certain attesters (yes this would be really bad for Linux).
- Comment on HP printer USB port covered with warning sticker in hopes you won't use it | Boing Boing 1 year ago:
The cheapest brother is $120 (USD) www.brother-usa.com/products/HLL2300D
If you want color, sure that’s more ($250). Still not a long shot from what you paid for your HP, plus that ink (and I’d wager you’d still be going without a single follow up purchase of toner).
- Comment on HP printer USB port covered with warning sticker in hopes you won't use it | Boing Boing 1 year ago:
True, but they require a lot of test prints until you get back to an acceptable print quality in my experience
- Comment on HP printer USB port covered with warning sticker in hopes you won't use it | Boing Boing 1 year ago:
The thing is since inkjet printers dry out you spend way more on cartridges over time. Sure toner is more expensive, but you but it way less frequently.
- Comment on HP printer USB port covered with warning sticker in hopes you won't use it | Boing Boing 1 year ago:
Inkjet printers need to be used regularly, or go through several cleaning prints (which are features of HP printers). That’s not HP scamming you, that’s just how inkjet printers are…
That said, IMO, most people are infrequent printers and would be better served by a laser printer. Toner doesn’t dry out. I have had a brother laser printer for 3-4 years now and haven’t had to change the toner once. Every time I need to print something, it fires right up, and prints it without a fuss.
- Comment on Maryland police are using drones from a Chinese company that were banned in four states 1 year ago:
Here’s the problem with these things… Even if it’s not a thing right now, are you 100% certain it won’t be a thing at some point in the future?
Electronics can very easily contain code, or outright hardware that changes after a set time or when given a signal.
It’s the equivalent of having an agent of a foreign dictator and hostile power working as part of your police force. You don’t know when it’s going to turn, maybe it’ll never move against you, but it’s loyalties are elsewhere.
- Comment on Where do you get your gaming news? 1 year ago:
The Polygon RSS feed
- Comment on Help with Port Forwarding (I think) 1 year ago:
I mean… if you’re running millions of sites on one box, and that itself isn’t an issue, I’d assume your port saturation/traffic is pretty low.
- Comment on Netbird vs. Tailscale 1 year ago:
I don’t know anything about Netbird, but I’ll link you to my ZeroTier pitch the last time I noticed someone talking about Tailscale: lemmy.world/comment/1058287.