Samit Sharma
Published February 19, 2016
Tiens, Compangon!
I reverted back to French because tomorrow I help a twelfth grader write her French State test. I’m her ghost writer. I have no clue how ‘writing’ in this particular sense works. Plus, there’s a catch: I don’t know why she needs a writer. She has hands and legs and seems perfectly coordinated. And her prelims’ scores are pretty good too. Plus, she’s a stunner. Maybe she just has really crappy handwriting. Whatever the case, I’m officially helping a person thus all my mistakes and sins will be reduced to nought. Tomorrow onwards, I’m Saint Sam (hell no) with an assured suite in heaven. All hail non existent sky wizard for forgiveness of thought and action.
I really gotta talk about Pearls Before Swine, by Stephen Pastis. I’ve seen the comic gracing the Mumbai Mirror for years now. I really relate to the guy, too.
Amen to everything Rat, Pig, and Goat say. Especially Rat. I’ve gotten a little picture-intensive, but it’s worth the bytes.
Have you kept up with the Apple versus FBI feud? In case you have, skip the next paragraph. If not:
There was a public shooting at San Bernardino, California in December last year. One of the convicted gunmen had an iPhone 5C, possibly a valuable source of intelligence for conviction of more terrorists. The iPhone was password-protected. The FBI asked Apple to disable the ‘erase iPhone after x number of failed attempts’ and the ‘wait for x amount of time’ feature through a ‘backdoor’ firmware installation. This would enable the FBI to run all possible passwords through the phone by hooking it up to some sort of computer. Apple refused to create any illicit access software, officially through their legal team then publicly in an open letter ( http://www.apple.com/customer-letter/ ). Yesterday we saw Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Facebook supporting Apple’s stand. A lot is going on.
Simply, FBI asked Apple to provide the ‘key’ to the iOS encryption. The very same encryption that make Apple’s firewalls the most secure on this planet. The President of the US uses an iPad for daily Intel briefings. We see other Tech giants joining hands ’cause if Apple caves in and gives the key to encryption of consumers’ devices, they all might have to do the same in the future. It endangers users’ privacy and in wrong hands the key will lead to all sorts of trouble. It’s a big deal, and the Supreme Court and US National Congress (it sort of means parliament over there) have not yet ruled on the matter, but they just might.
Good I started of lightly with comics, isn’t it?
Tis, mate was the Weekly Email Blast, email 48. Happy Weekend !!!
All Things Sam 