You can be as harsh as you need without being a dick. Just address the content and what's wrong with it, not how stupid you think the author is. On the very rare occasion that it's useful to talk about someone's intelligence, you should say more than "you're an idiot".
I don't want to get into an argument about definitions or semantics. Those phrases are different, but they come across similarly to me and many others, at least in this context. That's really all that matters in a casual discussion like this.
I understand not everyone will have the same reaction. I don't pretend to speak for everyone, but I suspect I speak for the majority.
You're right. If the author lied, say that. Don't just say "idiocy".
Also, those sentences aren't contradictory. "Note that this result does not depend on whether you are using an SSD, a disk, or any other storage for your filesystem." Meaning the attack might apply to someone using an SSD, but the SSD has nothing to do with the vulnerability. It is useful to precisely define a model case in the paper so your results can be easily reproduced, even if some details are not required to demonstrate the vulnerability.
