Slashdot Mirror

this policy is subject to change at any time, with or without notice to you.

Borders' Privacy Policy is still available. It doesn't quite seem to say that.

Exactly.

Further, Borders provided an opt-out link on their page.

And their policy statement EXPLICITLY states (since at least 2008) that if they are sold, your info is among the assets that would be transferred.
B&N is doing nothing wrong here.

While IANAL, From my limited understanding of Bankruptcy law, the courts can basically dissolve nearly any contract in place.

I don' think bankruptcy can dissolve anything other than money contracts. (IANAL either).

Physical property, like land and houses are often accompanied with "contracts" such as covenants, easements, etc.
Yet even when these assets get sold thru bankruptcy you can't then claim that the easement or covenant is no longer in force.
These are public contracts that bind all future owners.

Similarly a publicly stated privacy policy, and explicitly restrictions on revealing consumer's credit card information, are public contracts.
The policy was in place at the time B&N bid on the Borders asset.

Borders explicitly stated (since 2008) in their Privacy Policy:

Disclosures in connection with acquisitions or divestitures. Circumstances may arise where for strategic or other business reasons Borders decides to sell, buy, merge or otherwise reorganize its own or other businesses. Such a transaction may involve the disclosure of personal and other information to prospective or actual purchasers, or receiving it from sellers. It is Borders' practice to seek appropriate protection for information in these types of transactions. In the event that Borders or all of its assets are acquired in such a transaction, customer information would be one of the transferred assets.

Similarly, B&N explicitly states (at least since April) in its privacy policy:

Sales, mergers, and acquisitions. If Barnes & Noble becomes involved in a merger, acquisition, or any form of sale of some or all of its assets, personal information may be provided to the entities and advisors involved subject to a confidentiality agreement, and we will provide notice before any personal information is finally transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

So this seems to me to have been in the policy statements of Borders for a long time, most customers knew or should have known about this provision, and Borders provided an opt out link in the page referenced above. Therefore think B&N is well within their rights to use this information.

Updates to this Policy

We reserve the right to update our Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will post a notice on the Websites for a reasonable period of time after such changes are made that this Privacy Policy has been updated and we will revise the "Last Modified" date at the top of this Privacy Policy. We encourage you to check this page periodically for any updates. Your continued use of the Websites following the posting of updates to this Privacy Policy will mean you accept those updates.

[1]

this policy is subject to change at any time, with or without notice to you.

Borders' Privacy Policy is still available. It doesn't quite seem to say that.

Good luck with that.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Help-Topics/In-Store-Return-Policy/pcmcat204400050028.c?id=pcmcat204400050028
"Opened computer software, movies, music and video games can be exchanged for the identical item but cannot be returned for a refund"

http://walmartstores.com/7658.aspx
"Prerecorded music, movies, and software products must be returned unopened."

http://www.borders.com/online/store/CustomerServiceView_returnspolicy
"Return new books, unopened CDs, DVDs, and electronics, including eReaders, in their original condition."

http://www.target.com/Refund-Policy-Returns-Refunds-Help/b?ie=UTF8&node=13685491
"Some items cannot be returned if opened and may only be exchangeable, including music, movies, video games, software and collectibles."

Why are we concentrating on Amazon, Barnes and Nobel lists 12,381 results for VDM Verlag as a publisher. On the US Amazon, I see 25,127 for a similar search. The UK's Blackwell just sets it at an even five thou (but what's the real number?). You want infection, take a gander at Abe Books' hilarious 191,042 results on the same search (even putting it in quotes results in that)!

Now before you fall all over yourself to point in horror at the infected zombie Abe Books lumbering your way, lets engage in a simple mental exercise. We hate expensive books. Online retailers know this and they cater to us by giving us near wholesale prices. Good. Now, they shave a little bit off but in their strive to be number one, they rely on large volumes of sales with razor thin profits on each sale. This means that its in the company's (and your) best interest for them to automate book sales for publishers and remove the human element. But also remove the overhead cost that comes with it. And maybe even encourage several thousand books so their marketplace looks vibrant and full of sellers selling anything imaginable.

Enter VDM Verlag. All too happy to profit off of the above situation. They have freely available material to publish and they have end users ready to pay.

I'm not an expert in any of this but my gut tells me that this is what is going on. Go to Borders and note their 4 VDM "books". Now, if the lack of titles was a matter of principle and ethics, there would be zero titles. If they had a difficult to use process to register book sales with them then you would have few books (likely case) and if you were streamlined like Amazon, Abe Books or Blackwell then you hit the hilarious numbers. Everybody hates the big guy but in this case the One-Click-Demon is not really the culprit nor are they the lone retailer.

There's really no way to fix this except consumer awareness. Be aware that your paying an exorbitant fee for something that is just a few keystrokes away and a bit of link clicking.

Can someone help me out with an example of how they came to an author for each particular "book"? I'm having a hard time tracing these people. Some of them appear to be legit authors published through other publishers like (random example) Michael Sage. Other people appear to

Well, since you can buy books on millions of free things ranging from American Freedom to Zen. Why not have books on a fee operating system.

Well, since you can buy books on millions of free things ranging from American Freedom to Zen. Why not have books on a fee operating system.

The Computer and the Brain.

There is no book that says more what computing is all about, from the historical perspective of appreciating how genius the founders of computer science were to the zen of how digital computers actually operate and to a different perspective on analog computing.

This book is only 110 pages and is 50 years old, but it is still worth more than any other book mentioned.

I believe you're thinking of Borders, not BN. BN and Amazon are still bitter enemies, AFAIK. Amazon has taken over Borders, We Be Toys 'N Shit, and a few others. BN is still separate, but a sad shadow of Amazon.com.

If you really want to Fight the Man(TM), you might want to check out Powell's City of Books

Unfortunately, online, Borders *is* Amazon.

"... but the major obstacle isn't free music online -- it's immature technology."

What I am really eager to see is the growth of CD-text in more products. It's such a cool feature but it just doesn't seem to be spreading fast enough, IMHO.

Despite their lame patents, Amazon is still one of the best places to get books on the internet. Part of their sucess could be their dealings with brick and mortar stores, like Borders. I also like the fact that I can pick up music that I can't find elsewhere like (quick plug) Dispatch. I'm glad this recession doesn't have them belly up.

Did you click on the Borders Bookstore link? It goes to Amazon, bub. so you can support them, or, support them! I suppose there's always barnes and nobles, but are they really any better? They just didn't think of this first.

Why not try building a relationship with a *local* bookstore that'll bend over backward to order or find books for you, and doesn't infringe on your rights? You might be surprised that the concept of customer support can involve friendly bookophiles who treat you respectfully. Might even help out your local economy by putting money back into it directly...

Unix Hints & Hacks has a chapter or two devoted to this subject. It talks about interviewing candidates, and also about being a candidate. Worthwhile reading, even if most of the stuff in the book is for beginners. UH&H is, I believe, a compendium of best practices collected from Unix Guru Universe.

First, I'd like to give a classic example of strongly correlated things with no causation.

Airconditioner useage is very strongly correlated with deaths by heatstroke. It's a very very strong correlation. In the past decade, almost nobody has died of heatstroke while airconditioner usage was low.

In this example, it is very easy to spot the third-variable effect: temperature. Nobody dies of heatstroke when it is cold outside. Also, nobody runs their airconditioner when it is cold. If it is 95 and humid out, many people will die of heatstroke. By the same token, everybody who is able will be running their airconditioner.

So, as you can see, it is very possible for two things to be correlated and not have a shred of causality between them either way. Now that that's done with, I'd like to talk about CD sales patterns amoung college students. There was a study done that quite thoughourly showed that there was a strong correlation between internet access at colleges and CD sales at nearby stores. The more internet access there was, the fewer CD's were sold.

Now, the study was done such that any possible third variable effects were tightly controlled. They compared entering freshmen classes to previous freshmen classes, and they compared classes against themselves (this years sophmores against last year's freshmen). To control any differences between these groups (this year's freshmen aren't into music, older students don't have as much free cash, etc), they also compared different universities against eachother, that as best the researchers could tell, differed only in how fast they rolled out Ethernet in the dorms. By trying very hard to control third-variable effects, the study could then claim to show causality.

The writeup of the study that I saw drew the conclusion that as more and more students got fast internet access, they became able to download their music from Napster, and therefore didn't need to buy CD's. However, a later study showed that students were buying more CDs than before. Now, we have to wonder, why did the earlier study fail?

The moral of the story is: yes, correlation doesn't necessarily mean causation, but if you're careful with third variable effects, it can mean causation. Even so, be sure you choose the correct source of causality.

The Hollywood History of the World by George MacDonald Fraser

People are gonna get sick of my saying this but read The Millionaire Next Door. Just because someone is living high doesn't mean they're wealthy....more likely the opposite. Most truly wealthy people live well below their means....the people who *can* afford to live in fancy neighborhoods generally don't, and vice versa.


if ($user =~ m/shaldannon/i) {
print "\n-- $user :)\n"
}

Read The Millionaire Next Door to see how the average millionaire makes (and keeps) his money. The best part is that the average millionaire made his million or more in 25-30 years. The other interesting thing is that the book you refereced touts "how to get rich and get rid of your job." The average millionaire today still works hard at his job because he loves what he does. Humans were meant to work...and when they have protracted idle time, they get *really* bored and jaded. Trust me...I know from experience :)


if ($user =~ m/shaldannon/i) {
print "\n-- $user :)\n"
}

I'm going to completely scrap all the moderation points I spent on this section and answer you. "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer" is an economic myth. Read The Millionaire Next Door on this subject. The only truism you can apply to wealth is "Those who know how to earn and hold on to their money get richer and those who don't get poorer."

Let me elaborate on an example from the book. We all "know" that doctors, lawyers, stockbrokers, etc, are more wealthy than the average citizen. Right? Wrong. A higher income (or inheritance, etc) does not have a positive correlation to wealth (net worth after discounting gifts and factoring in taxes). For example, a doctor may earn substantially more than the average person, but he also spends an equally large amount on "lifestyle." After all, he can't possibly match the image of a good doctor if he doesn't drive a fancy European car, live in a fancy home in an upscale neighborhood, golf at exclusive clubs, etc.

The examples go on. I highly reccomend the book above. If you aren't living in the way the book suggests, chances are that you may have a high income, but will never be truly wealthy.

That's just my $0.02, but I think that it's probably the sagest comment attached to the entire article.


if ($user =~ m/shaldannon/i) {
print "\n-- $user :)\n"
}

For a more fanciful take on the importance of longitude, check out Umberto Eco's somewhat meandering but very engaging Island of the Day Before.

Like most Eco novels, it's a little on the huge side, which can be mitigated somewhat by getting the book on tape, delightfully read by Tim Curry.

SeekBooks - $10.68
Buy.com - $11.06
Amazon - $11.20
Borders - $11.90
Barnes and Noble - $12.60

Or for those who want an autographed copy, there's one here at eBay selling for $5.50.

Checking the URL, I'm not whoring for some affiliate programs. I did this for the karma.

The Unix Programming Environment, by Brian Kernighan and Rob Pike? It was first published in 1983 but is still very relevant.

This is a comprehensive survey of just about every programming language under the sun. It covers some of their history as well as the syntax and sematics of the languages themselves. It should prove to be a useful starting point for intensive research on language topics.

Tyrannosaurus said:
I love the fact that 2600 can legally print the URL, they just can't embed it within a link anchor. Does this mean that your telemarketer could use your phone number as long as a computer didn't dial the number for him?

Actually, I've been thinking about this a lot recently. What with more and more states using cameras on the highways to monitor my speed, cameras on signal lights to make sure I don't go through on yellow, microphone-networks in public neighborhoods to locate illegal activity, code enforcers fining me for not getting a city permit (with, of course, a clerical fee; ie more taxes) to have a garage sale on my "own" property.... I really see no important difference between my life and that of, say, Winston Smith.

It's taken two hundred years, but bureacracy has finally made the Bill of Rights (the only part of the constitution that really does much for We, The People -- though it was wrong not to have included universal sufferage and equal protection from the beginning) completely irrelevant. The river of human authoritarian bullshit flows ever on, finding new ways to bypass the temporary barriers we place in its path.

I think we should add another rights-of-the-accused amendment in between IV and V with provisions that roughly say:

"Although the course of recent history has shown that systems of power use technology to obliterate the People's Rights, direct judgement by one's peers is essential to the survival of freedom -- because while keeping the citizens honest it also, by providing personal accountability to the prosecutor, helps keep the State honest as well. It is self-evident that as social complexity increases the distance between free men and their governments, those governments use their bureacracy as foils for increasingly heinous violations of Liberty. Therefore, let it be decreed that no federal, state, or municipal agency shall directly infringe upon the People's right to be caught and prosecuted by another human being."

I mean it. I think speed limits are ridiculous (forethought and consideration are far more important to safe driving), but if I'm going to be caught, have Smokey pull me over. It is immoral to have a camera capture my license, collude with a computer for my radar-ed speed and then automagically generate a ticket mailed to my house in five working days without any human involvement other than maybe the Data Processing geek who runs the daily batches.

Our current problems will be as specks of dust next to the injustices that will be dished out if we allow our criminal justice system to become automated.

I am intelligent. I've always loved science, both as fictional entertainment and factual enlightenment. I generally support scientific research and the gadgets that result therefrom. However, if modern geeks: researchers, doctors, hackers, physicists, statisticians, programmers and the like continue to aid and abet the full merger of the Manipulative Technocracy with the Inhibitive Bureaucracy, you can bet grandma's sweet-tater pie that I'll be right at the forefront of the angry, uneducated mob that destroys all technology a la Player Piano and Canticle For Leibowitz

(oh, and please note that we are talking regulations on governments, not people -- private citizens may still automatically videotape their private property and ask to enter such recordings as evidence should their homes/service stations be burgled. yes, it would need some tweaking, but i think the basic idea is valid)


the problem with teens is they're looking for certainties.

there are few things more irritating than a crpto geek . . . ask my wife . .

I recently did an oral book report on the book "Future Shock" by Alvin Toffler, so I am very familiar with it. This is exactly what he is talking about and he wrote it in 1970! He says that people will experience a "future shock" which is analogous to a "culture shock". Those who do not adapt will be left behind. Here are the links at amazon, Borders, and BN

Actually, you can have it both ways. When the pulse enters the chamber, the leading edge enters before the trailing edge. The time difference between when the leading edge exited and when it entered is the same as the time difference between when the trailing edge exited and when it entered. If you would have a fixed observer at the entrance, and another fixed observer at the exit, the fixed observer at the exit would see the pulse before the fixed observer at the entrance.

If you looked at the whole system, this is probably what the experiment would look like: A pulse is emitted from the exit of the chamber, and a mirror copy of that pulse appears to be emitted back up the chamber from the exit. While this pulse is travelling up the chamber, the microwave transmitter emits a pulse towards the entrance of the chamber. The transmitted pulse and the pulse travelling up the chamber meet at the entrance to the chamber, where they appear to destroy each other. Notice that the pulse travelling backwards up the chamber is a mirror image of the other two pulses (which are actually the same pulse.) If the leading edge of the pulse outside the chamber is to the left of the trailing edge, then the leading edge of the pulse is to the right of the trailing edge inside the chamber.

For those who are interested by this subject, Nick Herbert wrote Faster Than Light: Superluminal Loopholes in Physics in 1989; it still remains quite interesting and speculative.

Hey maybe if they really let us see their code then us aspiring programmers can use that, along with their documentation, instead of this book that has become the staple of undergraduate computer science studies:

Writing Solid Code : Microsoft's Techniques for Developing Bug-Free C Programs, Code Ser.

Actually, if you want this subject in some pretty serious depth, try Lolita , by Vladimir Nabokov. It's a really good book, but not a happy one.

Read Bruce Schneier's Cryptogram newsletter.
Bruce Schneier's hotlinks.
Look at Cryptome. Lots of information about Echelon, the MPAA/DeCSS issue, laws, export controls...
Mach 5 cryptography archives.
Designing Secure Software.
Simson Garfinkel and Gene Spafford's book Web Security and Commerce is a very good introduction to cryptography and security issues.

Or even here at Barnes and Noble and Border's.

The author believes, and states, that Borders and B&N have to charge most US residents sales taxes, because they have stores in almost every state. Not so: these stores assert that their online operations are separate companies. borders.com says it has operations only in Michigan and Tennessee, for example; see their pricing policy. Barnes and Noble claim to have online operations in only four states. So large companies can locate their online operations only in states with no sales tax.

Been there, done that.

• fatbrain.com {.}
• bookpool.com
• alldirect.com
• kingbooks.com
• borders.com

And of course, it's always best to do a search for the cheapest price at places like pricescan.com

This would be a great theory, except that it's wrong.

If you check historical newspapers, you will find that the New York Times, for example, ushered in the new century on their front page on January 1, 1901. There has never been widespread confusion about the starting day of a new century until now.

Stephen J. Gould gives this a good treatment in his book Questioning the Millennium, which is a pretty good read.

Pokémon!

Then we can wait for the market values to fluctuate, and dump it off later to make more money.

Ties. (Star Wars, Cirque du Soleil, Wolverine, etc.)
However, I'm in the process of changing jobs, so I don't know if I'll be required to wear a tie at my next job, so this isn't on my list.

When in doubt, the best choice are 'gift cards', from somewhere you know the person shops--
Best Buy, Tower Records, etc.

Of course, one of the biggest problems with buying things over the internet is the problem with returns. I have no problem ordering stuff for myself over the internet, but if I have even the slightest thought that someone may possibly want to return something, chances are, I'll order through Border Books or Barnes and Noble over Amazon.

So, to restate the whole point -- there is no 'one perfect gift'. (even cash may not qualify, if there's someone who never leaves the house, and so, would need for you to handle direct deposit instead, so they could make use of it)

Likewise here in Dallas. Red Hat (and all the Power Deluxe Extra Gold versions), Caldera, and SuSE have been regular shelf denizens in my local Borders' reasonably well-stocked Linux section for quite some time now (at least a year, in Red Hat and Caldera's cases). So has Applixware. Debian (2.0) and FreeBSD have been sighted from time to time as well. They occasionally put Red Hat on their 20% off monthly rotation, too, especially when a new release is imminent.

Now, if we could only get them to convert their in-store computer systems...and maybe make a terminal publicly accessible so you don't have to try to track down a bored college student to do a simple do-you-have-this-in-stock search for you.

CaptainTylor (who has not yet remembered to bring his password in to work)

P.S. This is the Borders on Lovers Lane and Greenville Ave. that I'm talking about, if any Dallasites are curious.

P.P.S. Oh, and Borders is online already.