Slashdot Mirror

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4217130a11.html

A full account of what happened.

Unfortunately they withdrew the Tazers last month leaving the police with no alternative to using a pistol.

By and large, music fans think that music is too expensive, and that much of what is available isn't very good.

You're damn right. I wouldn't even waste my bandwidth on the vast majority of shit that the record companies are pumping out. But, what am I saying? I'm sure Linday Lohan's next album would sell millions of copies if it weren't for piracy.

The poor are now having more surviving children than the rich. So are we now going to go back to the middle ages?

Over a month ago (26 June 2007), this decision was made.

On 6 July 2007, one of the 2 major politic parties decided to rethink the ban after media companies gave the NZ parliament the finger.

Over 3 weeks later, after talkback radio and online discussions have done to death, it gets posted to Slashdot.

Over a month ago (26 June 2007), this decision was made.

On 6 July 2007, one of the 2 major politic parties decided to rethink the ban after media companies gave the NZ parliament the finger.

Over 3 weeks later, after talkback radio and online discussions have done to death, it gets posted to Slashdot.

Over a month ago (26 June 2007), this decision was made.

On 6 July 2007, one of the 2 major politic parties decided to rethink the ban after media companies gave the NZ parliament the finger.

Over 3 weeks later, after talkback radio and online discussions have done to death, it gets posted to Slashdot.

I still don't see why the Slashdot crowd cares one way or the other about the length of copyright terms, apart from it providing an opportunity to post generic anti-copyright rambling without being moderated offtopic.

That's because the Slashdot crowd has a lot of programmers in it, and the lines of code we write is also covered by copyright. The entire free-software movement greatly depends on copyright laws. In addition, copyright is one part of the mess of "IP" that has become a political issue, with "IP" based patents becoming a serious threat to our industry. As a photogapher, imagine if someone patented a particular arrangement in a photo - and then realise that's already happening with applications and even data-structures in the software industry.

"The question is: would it even work? Or would those contractors get big bucks for possibly the dumbest idea in history?"

Nope, this is the dumbest idea that they come up with:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4107333a4560.html/

The idea is plain stupid, but looks like not more than the people that actually pass it

That very thing thing may well have occurred anyhow.

Telecom New Zealand has a new Go Large plan. The advertising says no limits but the conditions say more than 750Mb in one day is deemed excessive. Then there is the Traffic Managment that is not advertised. mmmm

Some links:
Traffic Management on the Go Large plan
Telecom to refund $8m to broadband customers
Telecom New Zealand backpedals and remove un-capped broadband plan Go Large

I read an article about this elsewhere and they mentioned that it has been tested on 10,000 people without a single injury requiring medical attention.

best of all, the robot won't freak out and go all Ginsu on your penis!

A fleet of icebergs is heading north from Antarctica

Did anyone else parse that as a grammatical error because of the placement of the hyperlink? I think something fun and insightful would come of a study on the different ways hyperlinks interact with their surrounding verbiage.

You seem to think the whole world is a very reasonable and honest place. I'm sorry to break it to you, but that just isn't so.
Thanks for the newsflash, kid. Your conclusion seems to be that there is no hope for nations to cooperate, ever, because not everyone is 100% honest and reasonable. Bullshit.

India has a shitload of people who would be threatened by sea level rise. China has atrocious air quality, and at some point their citizens are going to be pissed about their kids dying from asthma (increased wealth leads to people caring about these things- see: US, Clean Air Act). Keep in mind China has a wee problem with civil uprisings already.

You are asking me to provide The Solution. I'm not that smart. But if you have a global carbon emissions cap and trade system, for instance, who benefits? Perhaps those countries with, say, low-cost labor that can crank out solar panels at $0.50 per Watt? Whom might that be? And would it be advantageous to have an agreement that stimulates global demand for such products?

The point is, it's conceivable to have a framework that are potentially beneficial for these countries, and not overly injurious to us.

Your powers of recall appear weak. Canada says it remains in Kyoto climate pact, posted 12 hours ago. Australia didn't follow through because the US didn't. Sure, Canada's waffling and having a hard time. But that doesn't exactly excuse the US for failing to offer any constructive alternatives to the (admittedly flawed) Kyoto protocol.

In the CO2 game, compared to our peers in Europe, we are the bad guy, if you think CO2 is a problem. If you don't, we're frickin heroes. I am rightly critical of the US when our leaders do not act in a fashion that is consistent with our country's greatness. I criticize not because I hate my country, but because I love what it stands for.

Do you remember the Non-Proliferation Treaty? It was created at the height of the Cold War. I would submit that the world is collectively much, much better off than if this treaty had never come into place. Sure, you have Iran and North Korea, and we have to deal with that.

And how about the Montreal Protocol on CFCs? Did we have to go to war over that one? Or did countries see a mutual problem and actually agree to do something? Did the switch to CFC alternatives lead to massive economic upheaval?

War (used to) require an immediate threat. No one (myself included) is going to send their kid to die invading another country to reduce their CO2 emissions. The threat is too vague. Like CFCs, it'll have to happen through diplomacy.

Anyway, I'm done here. Good luck.

I'm in New Zealand, where everything's clean and green.

Our "Ministry of Fisheries" is downplaying the report.

However, according to the "Best Fish Guide" published by the "Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand", no New Zealand fishery qualifies as "well managed, with low habitat damage, and/or bycatch".

In New Zealand it is being reported that the studios have pulled out because Jackson and Walsh were refusing to reduce their share of the profit, which is also why LoTR and King Kong changed studios early in production.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3834956a10,00. html

this cartoon was in the local (NZ) paper last week

Actually that is kinda what happened in NZ recently - kinda funny, but also pertinant.

The core is that an earthquate happened in the alutians earlier this year in the night. The early warning system went off - some govt official here look at it and decided the risk was too low, and ignored it.

Somehow information about the earthquake and "possible" wave was picked up by overseas press and reported as roughly a "tsunami is heading for the east coast of NZ".

Overseas people began calling NZers they knew on the east coast telling them to run for the hills. The locals did (at about 5:30am), grabbing their neighbours and dogs.

In the end the govt official was right - there was no tsunami. Be nice if they told someone.

Anyway, point is that calling someone *did* work. People overseas called NZ and the word spread *fast*. I don't know whether it was fast enough to be useful, but there's something in there thats useful. Dont call people here - broadcast the news on the internet and news. *Someone* listening will know people in the affected area and the mass phone calls will start.

Actually that is kinda what happened in NZ recently - kinda funny, but also pertinant.

The core is that an earthquate happened in the alutians earlier this year in the night. The early warning system went off - some govt official here look at it and decided the risk was too low, and ignored it.

Somehow information about the earthquake and "possible" wave was picked up by overseas press and reported as roughly a "tsunami is heading for the east coast of NZ".

Overseas people began calling NZers they knew on the east coast telling them to run for the hills. The locals did (at about 5:30am), grabbing their neighbours and dogs.

In the end the govt official was right - there was no tsunami. Be nice if they told someone.

Anyway, point is that calling someone *did* work. People overseas called NZ and the word spread *fast*. I don't know whether it was fast enough to be useful, but there's something in there thats useful. Dont call people here - broadcast the news on the internet and news. *Someone* listening will know people in the affected area and the mass phone calls will start.

Another study:

"PhD candidate Stephen Murray spent $61,000 over three years conducting hundreds of experiments to prove that people are worse at crossing the road - and more likely to be hit by a vehicle - if they are talking on a cellphone at the same time."

http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/thepress/0,2106,3717695a6 009,00.html

Car makers in Europe and Japan have manufacturerd and tested Hydrogen cars already. They are ready for the market as soon as the Hydrogen manufacturing and distributuion network is in place. Why waste tax dollars reinventing the wheel?

Alternative fuels are coming along fast. Look at today's post from New Zealand on a sewage effluent to biodiesel via algae system that is claimed will be in production this time next year

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3665147a11,00. html

Don't get me wrong; NZ is probably the freest english-speaking country there is right now. Please, make sure it stays that way.

Islands like Kiribati and Tuvalu in the Pacific ocean have already been experiencing rising sea-levels over a period of 13 years according to a tide-gauge project run by Australia's Bureau of Meteorology.

The rate of about 6mm (0.236 inches) per year is quite slow, but it is significant for low-lying islands like these ones.

Reminds me of a recent story on fark.com, where a tunnel under the US-Mexico border was found. The linked article doesn't specifically mention it, but I'm sure the original article mentioned finding it using some sort-of below-ground radar. Google news has a whole lot of articles if you search for "mexico tunnel".

[IT specialist Abdelfattah Qasem] is from Palestine and has an IT degree from a private institute in Texas.

He had more than 20 years experience in the industry as an IT manager and consultant in Kuwait, earning about $NZ100,000 a year, before he came to New Zealand.

Most of his rejection letters said the firms had found someone who met their requirements better than he did, Qasem said.

When he applied for lower positions, he was told he was over-qualified.

...

Over half of Christchurch's adult Muslim migrants are unemployed - the worst rate in New Zealand, Muslim groups say.

The publically available summary of the research doesn't give much information on whom was surveyed. Perhaps the survey group was primarily composed of small businesses, which make up the largest number of enterprises here. Those businesses would likely not be using servers, which is where you'd expect to find more Linux users (cf. the desktop).

The survey aside, there are lots of companies using Linux in New Zealand (including yours truly). In a week's time we are hosting one of the three biggest Linux conferences right here in Dunedin. And even companies like Microsoft are making the most of Linux down here.

The end is perhaps not quite nigh.

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One of those rare antipodean companies using Linux

The latest General Electric 3MW turbines are so big they're only being considered for offshore installation

I'm not sure if they're GE turbines, but the proposed wind farm near Wellington, New Zealand seems to have 3MW turbines (70 turbines, producing 210MW). They're 125 metres (375 feet?) tall.

Luckily, New Zealand has large hydro-electric power plants and lots of wind so wind-power is quite a viable clean energy source. The theory is that when the wind is blowing, the dams can fill up, storing energy and when the wind is not blowing, the hydro-electric plants can run.

don't worry the rest of the world is on to him

Here's a working link

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3440360a10,00. html

I did a little Googling and found this Stuff article which talks about these cases. And, it appears, the article we were reading omits one vital word: Promotional. It was a promotional copy that he gave away, and in violation of a contract he had signed.

So it's really nasty that they're going after him for this, since no one ever asks for promo copies back, but they're within their rights. And it's a totally different case than if he had just given away a copy of a retail DVD.

NOTE TO MODS: You can include any combination of the introduction, question 1, 2, 3, or 4. Just: if you send more than one question, try to include them in sequential order.

INTRODUCTION
--------------
Microsoft's Ryan Hamlin recently made a statement statement about "the amazing vehicle of e-mail marketing" said in New Zealand. Representing Microsoft, he essentially argued that the New Zealand Government's Unsolicited Electronic Messages Bill is too broad. He doesn't like that it
-prevents corporations from gaining any advantage out of collecting masses of information about the public, using it, and selling it to third parties.
-makes it so when a user opts out of one companies e-mail service, he opts out of all of these.
Now why this is such an issue for Microsoft I don't know, I wouldn't go so far as to venture that they might be (planning on) selling personal information gathered from their users without their knowledge. (With their right to do so hidden in some thirty page long EULA, of course.) Or perhaps granting third parties the addresses of their users with MSN e-mail accounts. I can't say for sure whether they would do something like that or not. But this calls into question multiple ideas.

So here are my questions:

*Do you think that "e-mail marketing" is an "amazing vehicle", as Microsoft's Ryan Hamlin so aptly worded it? (In other words, do you think that there is any merit to the claim that e-mail is used honestly and effectively for corporate marketing purposes? Even if unsolicited?)

*What is your position/opinion on e-mail marketing in general, whether "legitimate" or not?

*Should Companies have any right to sell personal information collected from users to third parties? Or is it that it's their god-given right and if we don't want that mail, it's our duty to protect ourselves? Where are you on that spectrum?

and finally:

*Do you think penelties and anti-spam laws are too soft on spammers, or are they just right? If you could make any changes, would you, and what?

If we could make it a one-way trip, I'm sure that we could get several groups to come up with that kind of money. The passenger doesn't have to be willing, do they?

Can we choose from this list?

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3356782a5620,0 0.html

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3348057a28,00. html

New Zealand's Ministry of Education has inked a deal to provide GNU/Linux under the Novell banner for public schools.

I feel that this is nothing other than an incredible breakthrough for us Kiwis. By giving our kids the opportunity to become aware of alternatives, we could definitely see some great change coming soon.

"Um... it's probably worth pointing out that Wales is actually in the Union"

Yup, and that really helped them get Welsh players into the test matchs in the Lion's tour to New Zealand.

So we get things like this:
Disgusted Lions fan auctions burnt jersey

The display was also seen in the South island of New Zealand http://www.stuff.co.nz/inl/common/imageViewer/0,14 45,189919,00.jpg

The Civil Union Act took effect yesterday in New Zealand. I'd like to congratulate all those who 'tied the knot'.

I'm quite proud that we managed to get this though despite the expected fundamentalist fist waving.

And in a not unrelated story: Hacker takes 3 minutes to get your cash

A New Zealand computer hacker has accessed the private bank accounts of dozens of unsuspecting Kiwis, showing how easy it is to break into our internet banking system.

The hacker installed software in a Wellington internet cafe that allowed him to gather the user names and passwords of people banking online at the cafe.

Police e-crime national manager Maarten Kleintjes says he has been urging banks "for years" to introduce systems that ensure internet banking is safe, but most have been slow to respond.

Kleintjes says the problem is that internet banking access relies on a simple password "which can easily be stolen". Other countries use "two-factor identification" where, in addition to a password, the customer is given a new security password for each internet banking session.

Only two local banks, ASB and BankDirect, have a two-part identification system, where the customer is sent a text with a security password to use before transferring money.

Online bankers can follow the advice on bank websites about using anti-virus software to detect and avoid key-logging programmes on home computers, but the software provides no guarantees. Kleintjes says it is "unreasonable and unrealistic" to expect all customers to know how to do this. He said the banks should introduce safe systems that have been available overseas for years.

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Linux VPS Hosting you can Bank On

Anyone else noticed that Firefox crashes on the link mentioned http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3189925a28,00. html

but rather more encouraging: A police employee who used the police computer to check progress of an investigation into his drug dealing has been jailed for three years

There's another article here that provides a little bit more detail. It's pretty much software... a quick snippet from that article to summarize it all: "The artificial chromosome is a software system. It means that the information - their 'genes' - can be easily sent to other robots," he said. "So if I send the chromosomes to another robot, that robot can then reproduce by itself. In that sense the robots will be created by the 'genes'. The personality of robots will be created by artificial genes." Dr Kim said there was no danger that such self-reproducing robots would take over the world as portrayed in movies such as this year's blockbuster I, Robot. "If we design the chromosomes quite safely, then we can avoid such a bad situation," he said.

-Tom

Indeed. Looking at the stats for Stuff.co.nz - one of New Zealand's largest news sites - I see Firefox currently at around 8-9% and the total for all of Mozilla at around 13-14%. That's on traffic of around 7-8 million hits per day.

Not a geek site this one - Linux usage is around 1%.

I saw this article via fark, briefly mentioning that that service involved the exposed fuselage due to warmer temperatures.

There are news bites coming out about Firefox everywhere you could possibly imagine.

Thanks, but we've already heard about Google News.

Of course, some folks would not be happy with this.

You think that's good? In australia, if you're buying heroin and get ripped off, you can claim it as a tax deduction :) (http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3082455a4560, 00.html)

Will the British Royal Navy suffice?

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3075505a4560,0 0.html

There's an outfit called Woosh Wireless in New Zealand that looks like it is already looking to serve the kayaking market, as demonstrated by their chief executive, Bob Smith.

Personally, I whitewater kayak so need two hands on the paddle at all times and would need some seriously waterproof, shock-resistant gear. :-)