This is not a case of teenagers stumbling across some leaked software and then getting disproportionately punished for the unauthorized access. This is a about a guy who, in one example, tried actively to sell leaked software for profit. This is not about kids just having some harmless fun.
Is it just me or do others out there also get angry when people refer to "crytocurrency" as "crypto"? I know perhaps in their circles it's a handy abbreviated word for "cryptocurrency", which admittedly is a mouthful, but this just makes me angry that they would conflate "crypto" (upon which the whole basis of the modern internet is built on), with a form of currency that people have no idea about and are just mindlessly speculating on. Perhaps it's because I've taken some classes on cryptography and understand how beautiful a subject it is, that I find it demeaning for people to use "crypto" to mean "cryptocurrency".
I am of the opinion that Facebook and Google will continue to be relevant simply because of the perceived value in working for these companies. There was a recent top news on HN about a programmer who self-learned and applied to Google. The line "Feeling more confident, he set his sights high. He began to wonder if he might be able to work at Google" made me realise that as long as people look up to Google as a pinnacle of software engineering (or if pinnacle is too much of a hyperbole, at least I admit that Google has high software engineering standards), there will always be an influx of good engineering talent to these companies. I feel that one way to combat their grip on the Internet would be to change the mindsets of these programmers, and to change the narrative that all good engineers should work at Google et all. Without a constant stream of programmers willing to work for these companies, the quality of their offerings should decrease, hopefully to a point where the average Joe would start to look for alternatives.
Since targeted ads (and sponsored Facebook posts) are the vectors for influencing people, wouldn't it be a great deal easier if people just blocked ads? No matter how much accurate a profile is built off you (through other companies selling your data), you can't be influenced by ads if you don't see them. Especially since we know that ads are not just trying to persuade you to buy things (which is probably still morally acceptable, at least to me), but also to influence your political affiliations without you realising it.
"Click Fraud" is an industry term precisely because that's what the ad networks want you to think. It's fraud when you unintentionally (automatically through a script or otherwise) click on their ads, but when they spy on you, it's not called "spying", it's called "personalised" advertisements. "Standard industry term" is just another way for the big players to justify what they are doing, in essence, a euphemism.
I might be in the minority, but I really dislike reading PDFs on OS X's Preview while using the touchpad because of accidental horizontal scrolling. I do not understand why Apple decided to make the "rubberband" effect when clearly there's nothing to scroll on the left and right sides of the PDF. If anyone has a solution to prevent horizontal scrolling on OS X applications (Safari, Preview etc), please do share.
This was extremely scummy of the real estate developer and I'm surprised it actually happened. Do you have any idea how the real estate developer and their lawyers managed to win the case?
[0]: https://www.macrumors.com/2018/07/02/third-party-email-apps-...