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A major problem starting to crop up is that some areas can't afford to keep the people incarcerated as tax income drops and municipalities go bankrupt.

Having 2% of your population incarcerated starts to be a financial drain. Especially as federal laws are enforced regarding their living conditions and medical care.

Our dumb (tm) drug laws are largely responsible or this. However, large privately run prison corporations are starting to be self perpetuating (even backing new laws that require prison time with lobby money - and yup-- large contributors to keep drugs illegal). (e.g.) http://slingshot.tao.ca/displaybi.php?0059032

Oh.. and I'd bet dollars to donuts that the DNA database will not be flushed. They'll find some way to keep it- including just ignoring the ruling.

in Canada We do it this way
  * http://edibleballot.tao.ca/
I am very close to taking salt and pepper into the voting booth with me.

These people might be to your liking.
  * http://edibleballot.tao.ca/

Damn, man, do you remember the York University protests? I've been talking to some friends from there about it a lot recently. The police were EASILY in the wrong. One notable incident is a 270lb cop pushing over a 90lb vegan, then kicking him in the stomach when the scrawny dork 'was reaching for a gun'.

The pigs even parked their 6 squad cars right in the way of the buses. As classes let out, people couldn't leave! They started to hang around seeing why the cops were wailing on a legitimate protest.

Terrible things... While officers of the law will always have my respect for the job they do, there is a sizeable number of bad apples who bring a disgusting light to their profession

If you're interested, check it out.

""Arresting authorities entered houses usually after dark, breaking down doors, waking up residents roughly, yelling orders, forcing family members into one room under military guard while searching the rest of the house.... They arrested suspects, tying their hands in the back with flexi-cuffs, hooding them, and taking them away. Sometimes they arrested all adult males present in a house, including elderly, handicapped or sick people. Treatment often included pushing people around, insulting, taking aim with rifles, punching and kicking and striking with rifles. Individuals were often led away in whatever they happened to be wearing at the time of arrest--sometimes in pyjamas or underwear--and were denied the opportunity to gather a few essential belongings, such as clothing, hygiene items, medicine or eyeglasses."

Furthermore, "certain CF military intelligence officers" told the ICRC they estimated that between 70 and 90 percent of those rounded up in these terror raids were arrested by mistake.

-FL

If people are interested in alternatives, check out the edible ballot society. Their site is a real laugh, yet their analysis is dead on, and very serious. Their alternatives section has some interesting ideas including deciding elections through sumo wrestling.
Desclaimer: I help them out sometimes.

If people are interested in alternatives, check out the edible ballot society. Their site is a real laugh, yet their analysis is dead on, and very serious. Their alternatives section has some interesting ideas including deciding elections through sumo wrestling.
Desclaimer: I help them out sometimes.

Have Americans forgotten this?

Of course, we Canadians take election ballots very seriously. For example, it is illegal to eat your ballot. This upsets some people. (No, ballot eating has nothing to do with the topic at hand, I just wanted an excuse to post that.)

I would also note that The Lubicon Indians were promised a solution to their problem (no land deal) about a century ago. They still haven't gotten a solution. Every election, the new government promises a fast solution to the problem. The next election we get the same promise from the new government.

The proof of this one is in the pudding, and there's nothing on the table yet.

...please, PLEASE let there be a CowboyNeal option...

Well, if there is no CowboyNeal option, then Destroy your ballot. Might be a bit hard with E-voting though...

Don't vote, it only encourages them!

When I first read about this phenomonon, I thought it sounded familiar to something some prankster did many years ago. Now, in this Age of Google, I have found the original article.

The article deals with the propogation of "memes" -- infectious ideas that take on a life of their own (e.g. "All your base..."). It discusses in particular how the author faced what he thought was a rather impudent question on his college admission form -- asking for his religion -- and, with his cheeky response, inadvertently started a meme. It also discusses how the meme was extinguished by the college administration.

The religious meme thing is about one-third of the way down, but I recommend reading the whole article. It's a good read.

Schwab

I'm the author of the column under discussion.

So how do you see the idea of a parallel system? Without even touching current email systems, someone could implement an "e-squared-mail" system with postage costs, certificates, etc. Getting too much spam in your email inbox? Simply direct your friends and family to use e2mail to contact you. No gateways or entry-points needed; if you want to contact someone without an e2mail address, you can just load your email program and use that. While you're there, take a moment to read all the unsecured email that people have sent using the old system.

If innovation should happen at the edges of the network, it makes sense that a new application would work better than trying to change legacy systems, no matter how simple that change may be. Give a few big companies their e2mail accounts, and see how they do with no spam to distract them.

On a sidenote, I think that anonymous email is probably more important now than ever, and shouldn't need to be a victim of anti-spam efforts. True anonymous email is typically a few emails per month, and there are plenty of people willing to fund the costs of it, although not in a personally-identifiable way.

Some compadres who read /. regularly include:
www.techcoop.info
www.riseup.net
www.resist.ca
www.tao.ca
The collective I work with:
www.shiftcontrol.org
I know that the editor of anarco-nyc.net is a /. reader as well.

The worst part of this new legislation is the associated gag order. If the FBI does come to your library, your librarian is forbidden by law to tell you or anyone else that they have been there, or what they did. If they installed surveillance equipment on the computers, they can't tell you. If they asked for the list of the last 50 books you or everyone who uses the library checked out or purchased, they can't tell you. The same is true for bookstore owners and employees. The USAPA creates an entirely new class of prosecutable criminal: librarians who tell the truth.

As a fairly non-political news junkie in Canada, I can say that the National Post has been factually erroneous (eg. here) more often than any other paper I've ever read here, has never declared a profit since it's conception, is declining in circulation (used to be #3 nationally), and this is all probably resulting from the fact that their news & editorial pieces are generally out of touch with the opinions of most Canadians. Near-xenophobic opinions on refugees & immigrants, (see here and here, for example), as well as intolerant & exclusionary views on the issue of Quebec are all examples of this.

I wouldn't be too worried about yet another jump-to-conclusions inflammatory article from someone at the National Post.

The idea of creating a peer-to-peer attack network, was actually first suggested as a civil disobedience tool, called the WorldWideWrench. However, the original idea was to do it openly, and I am sure the folks that suggested the WWWrench would not be cool with a viral version of their idea. It could be an interesting tool, but I guess it was bound to be used for Evil....

Voting, ha. they can surveille whoever they want now and you think the secret police will allow any real political change to take place in this country. ever heard of CoIntelPro. And that was before environmental resistance and the government said Dancing is terrorism

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joe_ringmaster@gmx.at, sifu@isohypse.org, dk@perm.ru, nobandwidth@bigpond.com, nobandwidth@bigpond.com, luke@strangemonkey.com, mrundataker@optushome.com.au, mcgarry@tig.com.au, chris@think.net.au, Mathias.Burbach@Bigfoot.com, acuteparanoia@optushome.com.au, syzh401@cse.unsw.edu.au, maillist@jasonlim.com, ram@digitalmethod.org, jason@sydneypubguide.net, geek@digitalone.com.au, curious@ihug.com.au, bill@maidment.com.au, kristof@staesis.org, bill@microsoft.com, belle@netset.net.au, ksosez@softhome.net, jruderman@hmc.edu, andyed@surfmind.com, down8@yahoo.com, mozparty@sigkill.com, bulbul@ucla.edu, gavin-mozparty@doughtie.com, roger@digitalfountain.com, matt@linuxschooltorrance.com, mozparty@ventura.nu, rombouts@compuserve.com, ian@freenetproject.org, tristanreid@yahoo.com, groovefx@yahoo.com, jj@lacasabonita.com, gmoudry@hotmail.com, eyezero@yahoo.com, ian@primewave.net, jlawson7@adelphia.net, el_arturo@att.net, janie@freenetproject.org, 145371217@numenor.net, infinite_8_monkey@yahoo.com, charshman@divus.org, mozparty@shadowlurker.net, john@marinapacific.com, ilanterrell@yahoo.com, aafes@psu.edu, bustamam98@yahoo.com, mozparty@myunixbox.com, yaten@sbcglobal.net, joelinux@pacificnet.net, dgc@penguino.net, poserskater69@yahoo.com, lheartb@hotmail.com, ncmother@zimage.com, daniel@likeicare.com, digital.evil@lycos.com, cjeburke@yahoo.com, jblow@hotmail.com, zachary.anthony@verizon.net, boogah@23.org, mebelost@yahoo.com, nickkricheff@netscape.net, mikemcg@ucla.edu, gogomozilla@denofslack.net, mike@mm1.com, seanmcoleman@attbi.com, jsm@bigfoot.com, hoarycripple@crippl3.net, mozparty@nslu.x.myxomop.com, mozparty@camworld.com, mozpartyNYC@isoga.net, ccarlen@netscape.com, h@rediffmail.com, lefever@rcn.com, tedjackson@accounting.org, darren@ny.com, marlon@nyc.com, plui@hyperreal.org, dzeluff@zeluff.com, joel@natividads.com, ken@bigbadapple.com, treebeard@treebeard.net, florent@nyc.com, chad@macristy.com, spud@montelshow.com, gbman_of_gvill@yahoo.com, eam-mozparty@learningpatterns.com, pkrause@primavera.com, tossoffus@yahoo.com, ryan@pantz.com, nichomof@eecs.tulane.edu, billg@microsoft.com, DevilsRejection@msn.com, petergunn@hotmail.com, bagerj@sullcrom.com, isaac@structuredsystems.net, bobk@panix.com, ngellner@hotmail.com, luke@sigterm.org, vivake@yahoo.com, jon@mediavortex.com, groovefx@yahoo.com, brendan@sighup.net, jds@panix.com, bluerose@bluerose.com, chris@allermann.net, dimkal@yahoo.com, preppyl@yahoo.com, blujoker@blujoker.net, nowell_h@hotmail.com, aragorn@cs.stanford.edu, treed@cpr.com, brt204@nyu.edu, andreas@antonopoulos.com, dj@randomwalks.com, lists@pote.com, mike@mhudack.com, reliable57@yahoo.com, jared@geek-boy.com, ondadl@mac.com, floss@myrealbox.com, xod@thestonecutters.net, mozilla@sectae.net, tywonm@screamingmedia.com, Odin_NT@hotmail.com, crooney@panix.com, bg25222@binghamton.edu, eugenem@brainlink.com, dave@downneck.net, romspace@mac.com, sdaejo@yahoo.com, masseo1@yahoo.com, jim@fearandloathing.net, mike@mjoy.us, miles@openly.com, LuciferSD@hotmail.com, nsdilwor@intertechmedia.com, chrisdowden@yahoo.com, pgs10@columbia.edu, sbrennan@ovid.com, lthomiso@rcn.com, paralox@paralox.ath.cx, Jester_458@yahoo.com, jsadove@beltion.net, stuehmke@yahoo.com, mike@realfx.com, alex@risky-roosky.com, shava@efn.org, kra10@columbia.edu, saihung@ix.netcom.com, gropo@mac.com, scottnym@yahoo.com, shaas@vibe.com, roon_toon@hotmail.com, ajaygautam@yahoo.com, jhdaly@mindspring.com, manuel@sphinx.ms, very_itchy_rash@yahoo.com, emeldrum@drew.edu, jeld@mindless.com, as867@columbia.edu, slams@penguin.rutgers.edu, wassa@columbia.edu, tony@vegan.net, zilla@bibliotrack.com, zeno_lee@hotmail.com, fosh@fishnet.cx, linux@gpl.us, jblow@hotmail.com, dkrook@hotmail.com, ivesti@yahoo.com, arek@arekwyderka.com, bljoechang@yahoo.com, brian@tribrothers.com, sparky@marklife.org, charles@softwareprototypes.com, scottkundla@hotmail.com, ccharabaruk@meldstar.com, ian@pottinger.ca, netdemonz@yahoo.com, diatribe@mailcity.com, nick@tomkinet.com, shawnlin@yahoo.com, sculley@pathcom.com, herd.killing@rogers.com, dave@renouf.com, aliyamin@hotmail.com, aswitzer@ispgn.com, netm0nkey@ispgn.com, hyakugei@hotmail.com, geduggan.mozparty@peri.csclub.uwaterloo.ca, lwhite@darkfires.ca, jorel@the-wire.com, js@tap.net, davew@tap.net, tmh@whitefang.com, vid_mozillaparty@zooid.org, anon@foolswisdom.org, morris_mk@yahoo.ca, colinmc@idirect.com, marcus.brubaker@utoronto.ca, akish@kishcom.com, nconway@klamath.dyndns.org, jason@thegeekcave.com, rampaging_simian@hotmail.com, garret@sirsonic.com, piowie@myrealbox.com, m5m5m@yahoo.com, ivan.brovko@net-sweeper.com, returnofthedorks@hotmail.com, axxackall@yahoo.com, tednye@sympatico.ca, darren.fuller@bell.ca, jbailey@nisa.net, swangeo@yahoo.ca, Hercynium@yahoo.com, cinetron@passport.ca, jotaroh@hotmail.com, aghajani@principle.com, fzv@yahoo.com, rocketmail_com@rocketmail.com, foo@bar.com, wolfe@alt.net, drew@xyzzy.dhs.org, jimmiejaz@nixhelp.net, bofh@swma.net, nilesh_mehta@email.com, mslack@rogers.com, m-cahill@rogers.com, tworkowski@sympatico.ca, george@openlight.com, irina@openlight.com, ilia@lobsanov.com, rjs@tao.ca, paul-mp@it.ca, alvarolists@aycuens.com, xan@dimensis.com, ike@lab.org, miguel@asiinfo.net, marevalo@marevalo.net, iolalla@yahoo.com, peluz0n@justice.com, weeddeveloper@yahoo.com, alfonsobugs@terra.es, sgala@apache.org, z_gringo@hotmail.com, santiz@madritel.es, murphy@litio.net, fox@mozilla.gr.jp, party@mozilla.org.uk, danj@fledgeling.com, fun@thingy.apana.org.au, moz@the-allens.net, onelists@hotmail.com, joel@fysh.org, simon.mozilla-party-if-its-in-central-london@rumbl e.net, bigboyjim@excite.com, andrew.and.friends.iff.central.london@sent.freeser ve.co.uk, itwillbecentrallondon@mozilla.org.uk, noahsark2x2@tiscali.co.uk, mmm-central-london@smileyben.com, jonathan-for-central-london@peepo.com, dave-Party-in-Central-London@dgta.co.uk, DJGMOL@netscape.net, srick@europe.yahoo-inc.com, moz-party@zpok.demon.co.uk, moz-party-central-london@trickofthelight.org, marc@brosystems.com, party@budge.net, rillian@telus.net, uphillsurfer@hotmail.com, edward@debian.org, mozilla@robertbrook.com, reagan@technomoose.com, lew@saltbeefsandwich.co.uk, osama@afghanistan.com, barking@insaneworld.org.uk, john@billabong-media.com, leith@cs.bu.edu, mozparty@noseynick.org, jonasj@jonasj.dk, bugzilla@kenneth.dk, chr_damsgaard@hotmail.com, alring@email.com, hp.grondal@get2net.dk, martin@marquentein.dk, Lovechild@foolclan.com, Kim@schulz.dk, kl@vsen.dk, mbendix@dunghill.dk, schnitzer.at@tange.dk, tommy@svindel.net, moz10@pbb.dk, dezral@despammed.com, nick@tioka.com, ask@fujang.dk, gecko@c.dk, spam@deck.dk, bugzilla@gemal.dk, b@bogdan.dk, kenneth@gnu.org, jee@email.dk, daniel@rtfm.dk, umfalvo@yahoo.com, christian@ostenfeld.dk, xor@ivwnet.com, Jason@screaminweb.com, alex@spamcop.net, dustym@riseup.net, rmcgee1@earthlink.net, dr_zeus@hotmail.com, chris.lozano@myrealbox.com, looney_binn@yahoo(dot)com, apendell@attbi.com, dantrevino@wrevolution.org, fireball1244@mac.com, tommyo@hargray.com, natas@redtailboa.net, emmett_in_dallas@yahoo.com, razzbuten@yahoo.com, igdavis@truculent-telephone.org, foobar@null.net, bob@kludgebox.com, cgrimland@yahoo.com, ghamlett@swbell.net, bgood@inceptual.com, slot0k@pogox.org, kwhudson@netin.com, jimjamjoh@softhome.net, jimmys@utdallas.edu, charlesv@mfos.org chris@focus2.com jest6r@hotmail.com steve@ncc.com, usrg@mail.utexas.edu, steve@deltos.com, alex@avengergear.com, mkoenecke@alum.haverford.edu langley@hex.net mordred@inaugust.com swapan@yahoo.com drosoph@hotmail.com, goulash1@mac.com, ean@brainfood.com, vj@vj.com lpret42@hotmail.com bugoff@hotmail.com chad@digitaltriage.net, stewart@digitaltriage.net scottvr01@yahoo.com adam@dfwuptime.com dsaint@gnumatt.org naltrexone42@yahoo.com, webmaster@bast.net, tommyo@hargray.com, ladd@kryp.to, jtaylor5@bayou.uh.edu, jgschmitz@linuxmail.org, enslaver@enslaver.com edfierro@yahoo.com, moz@photonsphere.com, rayw@fuckmicrosoft.com, rfmobile@swbell.net, kevin@unif.com trident5@bigfoot.com Erik_Osterholm@ieee.org, tmunson@houston.rr.com, alessi_brand@hotmail.com, rballa1@lsu.edu, wasted@kewlhair.com, jofficer@martinapparatus.com, idiot@mylinuxisp.com, j0sh01@ev1.net faust@wintermarket.org bouncer@hotmonkeyporn.com tk-mozparty_@perljam.net janisch@students.zcu.cz, aha@pinknet.cz kuzi@atlas.cz scat@reboot.cz, petr@dousa.cz, ruzicka@core.cz, roman@management.cz, hojan@students.zcu.cz, tille@soti.org, cas.tuyn@hetnet.nl, aeon@pandora.be, sensi_millia2000@yahoo.com, crypto@shiftat.com, jan.fabry@vsknet.be, monkeyboy@fruru.com, adulau@foo.be, johan@linux.be, karu@pobox.com, soggie@soti.org nick@tomkinet.com, why_are_you_too_lazy_to_drive_1_hour_to_toronto@yo u_lazy.com try_grammer_class_a_while@get_a_life.com john@interlynx.ca asharp@axo.cc, unionstation@ryder.ca, prade@hotmail.com, 2600@hamilton2600.ca, chris.lozano@myrealbox.com, dantrevino@wrevolution.org, jksteinhauer@netscape.net, i_love_junk_email@yahoo.com, cmiller@surfsouth.com, jan@bestbytes.de, me@phillipoertel.com, sebastian@pixelsalon.de, ccozan@andtek.com, ben@itlib.de, martin.ament@gmx.de, pulsar@highteq.net, muid@gmx.de, cedi@zooomclan.org, soapy@soapy.ch, deep_blue_ocean@gmx.ch, stamp@zooomclan.org, hans@switzerland.com, milamber@zooomclan.org, mtettea@switzerland.com, cylander@zooomclan.org, duke@zooomclan.org, pegirun@gmx.ch, pilif@pilif.ch, mlati@yahoo.com, Mozillzooom@holophrastic.com, erichiseli@yahoo.com, la_burdet@yahoo.com, rkoerber@gmx.de, dotzmasta@hotmail.com, B.Eckstein@cli.de, rtfm@linux.de, info@phosmo.de, gz@disintegrated.de, byronbay@gmx.de, stiwi@mac.com, mage@koeln.netsurf.de, mozilla@portfolio16.de, wrede@fh-aachen.de, ilikemozilla@html.de, cloud@final-fantasy.de, sfricke@sfricke.de, info@flossbau.de, no@dom.de, julian.suschlik@gmx.net, omero@m4d.sm, lapo@lapo.it, alcor78@email.it, info@fuelcat.it, mutato@libero.it, ildella@inwind.it, a.marabini@spinthehumanfactor.com, uomoman@criticalbit.com, thefl74@netscape.net, elbardo@libero.it, clem131@libero.it, t-i-e@bigfoot.com, gng74@libero.it, moz.party.20.gnes@spamgourmet.com, ema.cerqui@libero.it, ubertob@tin.it, mozparty.20.anagoor@spamgourmet.com, gianpaolo@preciso.net, ian@deepsky.com, marco@porciletto.org, planetx2100@hotmail.com, billabong@tiscalinet.it, piofree@libero.it, skunkyboy@tiscalinet.it, vincenzo@mondopiccolo.net, macmatteo@interfree.it, contreras@jce.it, hereandnow@libero.it, pza@students.cs.mu.oz.au, caedwa@students.cs.mu.oz.au, mgi@students.cs.mu.oz.au, bah@humbug.net, mfp@cs.mu.oz.au, nospamplease@indevelopment.org, peter@simplyit.screaming,net, pmj@users.sf.net, xanni@sericyb.com.au, agh@kalcium-is.com, felicityconsult@ozemail.com.au, lucas@lucaschan.com, andrewg@nopninjas.com, andym@abnormal.com, ts@meme.com.au, jasonpell@hotmail.com, syngin@gimp.org, mhammond@skippinet.com.au, szutshi@devraj.org, rmoonen@bigpond.net.au, fawad@fawad.net, ufs@softhome.net, kotrade@yahoo.com, ben@benscorp.com, stevesmith@columbus.rr.com, kkimmelosu@yahoo.com, neal.lindsay@peaofohio.com, pat@linuxcolumbus.com, chrisbaker@iname.com, hiroki2c@yahoo.com, seth@remor.com, jsohn@columbus.rr.com, ross@nanonet.net, mark@cushman.net, swinghammer.2@osu.edu, roberto.12@osu.edu, farhat@hotmail.com, pgunn@dachte.org, jwagner@gcfn.org, bp@osc.edu, joepletch@postmark.net, dsherman@iwaynet.net, glenn@uniqsys.com, bernstein.46@osu.edu, trent_reznor@nothing.com, erikniklas@bobanddoug.com, walters@gnu.org, timo@bolverk.net, annek25@aol.com, jlamb@leader.com, bart@osc.edu, jason@mcvetta.org

Anarchism is a political ideology that advocates the idea that liberty and socialism are inseperable principles, and that embracing one without the other leads to undesirable circumstances - slavery, tyranny, etc. The anarchist critique goes against both capitalism and marxist-communism, commonly reffered to as "state communism" or "state capitalism".

Anarchism is not about chaos, disorder, throwing bombs, or other typical slanders. Such notions come to us from hostile propaganda, both from capitalists and communists. For example, in 1905 US president William McKinley was assassinated by Leon Cslozag [sp?], who is known to have voted in Republican primaries and was a supporter of the republican party. He was labelled an "anarchist" because it was convenient to demonize the anarchist movement as such.

The ideals of the open source movement do fit in line perfectly with anarchist ones, but this does not mean it is anarchism. It means that there is harmony between the two movements, while open source is constantly "at war" with capitalist industrial forms. It is patently obvious that capitalism is not about "free enterprise", but about the monopoly of control by a dominant class. Such ideas as the "invisible hand" and "free market" are too idiotic and weak to even be regarded as fact on this forum.

To give people some idea of what anarchism is, I can only point to practical anarchists today and of yesterday, and of their accomplishments. There is Noam Chomsky, the former Institute Professor of Linguistics at MIT, and one of the world's most important intellectuals.

Albert Einstein, himself considered an anarchist by the FBI [but not in any way directly involved with the anarchist movement, and more of a socialist] had a brilliant newphew named Karl Einstein. Karl, an influential member of the German dada movement and an intellectual in his own right, was an anarchist Shock Trooper in the famed Durruti Column, during the spanish civil war. Over 2.5 million anarchists were involved in the Spanish Civil war, which saw some anarchists from around the world [like Karl] volunteer with columns to fight fascism, rightly regarded as an extreme extension of capitalism. It is no coincidence that todays anti-fascist groups, ANTIFA, ARA, etc. are almost wholly comprised of anarchists.

Anarchism does not conflict with religious beliefs, it conflicts with socio-economic structures that are created by a society to control and regulate religious beliefs. There are many christian anarchists [Tolstoy a famous mention], who are all opposed to the institutionalized church. [Tolstoy wrote "the kingdom of god is within you" on this premise]. When religious sociological and psychological teachings are not changed to fit cultural developement, they become stagnant and rotten, subjected to the degredations of time.

There are, of course, several anarchists like myself and others in the open source movement. We do not advertise anarchism as a fad, fashion statement, or form of psychological "escapism" from the troubles of everyday life. Many of us work and organise openly as anarchists, and some of us advocate anarchist forms of organisation and developement without calling it "anarchism". it makes no difference either way.

I suggest people check out the anarchist communications network, the TAO federation, www.tao.ca.

"Fight the power and the power fights back, you're only as good as the system you can hack" - MDFMK [when you think system, do not think only in terms of a coded language system. think also in terms of social relations, economic structures, etc.. these are also systems]

"The Internet Browser shouldn't be a product bought and sold in the marketplace. It's a very basic product at its heart, and should be included with PCs to begin with."

you know what? That's just what I feel about operating systems.

Ditto. That's what I love about Linux: it doesn't belong to anyone in particular (except perhaps Linus, in a genealogical sense). I think proprietary OSes are a bad idea in general. It's as if someone still had a patent on paper and pencil, and you had to pay them a royalty every time you wanted to doodle or jot down a few ideas. Like public infrastructures, I believe that PC OSes should belong to the community, not private companies, because they are so essential in making PCs work.

But then again, I am partial to anarcho-syndicalism...let's just say that, to me, Friedman's "invisible hand" sounds more like that of Darth Vader crushing an underling's neck that that of YHWH predicting the decadent king's demise.

Have people forgotten CoIntelPro ??

Learn more From this webpage:

COINTELPRO is an acronym for the FBI's domestic "counterintelligence programs" to neutralize political dissidents. Although covert operations have been employed throughout FBI history, the formal COINTELPRO's conducted between 1956-1971 were broadly targeted against radical political organizations.

These people would spread FUD via a deep-dark secret purposeful conspiracy. The FBI actually became involved in destroying people and political movements. Murder, Sabotage, Agent Provocateurs, Misinformation and Criminal-Implicating (framing) were regularly used.

These people are at it again: here and here and here

My main problem with this is that there are huge, massive problems with Monsanto - a total disregard for safety testing, obsession with secrecy and a tendency to corrupt governments,

It's irresponsible to make that kind of broad accusation without background. Here's some:

Round up ready corn contaminating other crops.

The 60 minutes story about how they covered up the fact that working with PVC monomer melts people's bones. This isn't the best possible link, unfortunately.

Ooh! Here's a whole page dedicated to how wicked monsanto is. You can learn about how Monsanto tried to cover up that fact that DDT was wiping out all the birds in California (yes, the evil corporation is the classic Silent Spring is none other than Monsanto.) They also made agent Orange, which had health effects that they tried to cover up.

Those really interested in the subject of chlorinated organics should read Pandora's Poison. The up-shot is that they are a technolgy which simply isn't safe, and that we should abandon them entirely, especially chlorine based pesticides. The book is highly informative, and also a good introduction for someone who's background is more in, say, computers.

So, the long and the short of it is that this is nothing new. Monsanto has been doing lots of stuff like ever since its inception.

Vandana Shiva has been protesting the interference of Monsanto with local communities for years. Biodevastation, Water Rights.

Also watch out for Bechtel, using the same tactics in South America Water War Victory.

These corporations are changing the face of the planet for a quick one-time profit. They lack any ties to the local communities they despoil. Take the money and run... Yet the after affects will be long lasting and world wide. And people wonder why we have a cultural image of mad scientists. Once again, proprietary science has allowed itself to create a monster it thought it could control. We'll see...

The true changes in society are made face-to-face with people you see everyday. Memes are so much more contagious when you are sharing the same air with someone.

I think that even if John Q Public knows nothing about open source, if the services he uses are running open source, it doesn't matter.

Lets make them "Usefull Idiots" eh? I am appauled(sp?) that you believe it fruitfull to mislead people to direct their 'weight'.

What is the purpose in advocating the "moral superiority(sp?)" of Free Software" if you are not willing to take the time to discuss it with the "masses" - jesus man, are the unwashed not smart enough to understand what "we" are talking about? Should we just lead them through the dark with half-truths and bullshite?

Im drunk, a little in-=articulate(sP?), and frankly insulted - what makes you the "saviour of people who dont know whats good for themselves"?

I read a .sig here on /. recently that I found very interesting: "anyone who says that "X" is manipulating you is trying to take "X's" job."

Only full disclosure, education and complete honesty will build our desired future.

Hey whatwhat is this? If what you have to say isnt 'self-evident' its not that important... lets find some basic thruths mmmm, kay?

"During the meeting, factory management confirmed the use of Indonesian (Marinir) soldiers in the factory; workers reported the deployment of several dozen more troops nearby the factory gate." [troops deployed to halt contract negotiations]

"Indonesia has maintained a 'security approach' to labor relations, keeping the military on strike-breaking duty in defiance of a 1994 agreement with then-U.S. trade representative Mickey Kantor. With that pledge, Indonesia was able to keep the prized special tariff treatment of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). But since 1994 Indonesia has made a mockery of its promises, pushing striking workers back into factories at bayonet point and jailing independent union activists."

One more for you:

"For decades, Indonesia's economy achieved dramatic growth. Economists measure growth by such standards as the gross domestic product. It is true that recent decades saw a rapid industrialization in Indonesia. For maybe 200 families, many of whom became multi-billionaires, there also was a rapid growth in wealth. For the great majority of Indonesians, however, this has been a period of immeasurable pain. By design and by default, the agricultural foundation of Indonesia's economy has collapsed, causing millions of peasants to leave the land and to head for the cities, where they became a desperate army of the unemployed, lined up outside the sweatshop hiring gates."

What you're saying is tantamount to saying, "don't blame the slave traders, blame the African governments who sold their people." Such ignorance never fails to astound me.

-Legion

It's along the same lines as the MSNBC piece, but the history and the analysis are much sharper.

This is what she has to say specifically about the 1710 Statute

The development that ushered in the modern era of copyright was the English Parliaments passage of the Statute of Anne in 1710 [18]. On its face, this statute was not only a repudiation of several principal tenets of the stationers copyright system; it was also a redirection of copyright's purpose away from censorship and toward freedom of expression principles and an effort to promote real competition among printers and booksellersthat is, to break the stranglehold that major players in the Stationers' Company had over the book trade. Insofar as that monopoly continued in revised form, the statute provided recourse for those injured by excessive prices of books.

The key aspects of the Statute of Anne for achieving these goals were these: First, the act granted rights to authors, not to publishers. Second, it did so for the utilitarian purpose of inducing learned men to write and publish books. Third, the act established a larger societal purpose for copyright, namely, to promote learning. Fourth, it granted rights only in newly authored books. Thereafter, ancient books were in the public domain and could be printed by anyone. Fifth, it limited the duration of copyright to fourteen year terms (renewable for another fourteen years if the author was living at the end of that term), thus abolishing perpetual copyrights [19]. Sixth, the statute conferred rights of a limited character (not to control all uses, but to control the printing and reprinting of protected works). Seventh, it imposed a responsibility on publishers to deposit copies of their works with designated libraries. Eighth, it provided a system for redressing grievances about overpriced books.

While it took about fifty additional years for pre-modern system to die out [20], the modern law of copyright emerged from the Statute of Anne's precepts. Censorship held no place of honor in this new copyright system which, in the main, embraced Enlightenment values that also influenced the framers of the U.S. Constitution. The clause of this constitution that empowers Congress to promote the progress of science and the useful arts by securing to authors and inventors an exclusive right in their respective writings and discoveries for limited times should be viewed in historical context as an American endorsement of England's repudiation of the speech-suppressing, anti-competitive and otherwise repressive pre-modern copyright system that the English Parliament meant to reshape by the Statute of Anne. Core elements of the Statute of Anne are reflected in Article I, sec. 8, cl. 8's purpose ("to promote Science"), in the persons to whom rights were to be granted ("authors"), and in the duration of rights ("for limited times").

... The constitutional copyright clause, properly construed, embodies first amendment and anti-monopoly principles. ... There is a "dormant copyright clause" waiting to be reawakened in the case law -- and hopefully in Congress -- after a long sleep in which the clause has become a meaningless cliche [22].

The rest of the paper, which analyses the contrast between this history and current recent developments, is strongly recommended.

It's along the same lines as the MSNBC piece, but the history and the analysis are much sharper.

This is what she has to say specifically about the 1710 Statute

The development that ushered in the modern era of copyright was the English Parliaments passage of the Statute of Anne in 1710 [18]. On its face, this statute was not only a repudiation of several principal tenets of the stationers copyright system; it was also a redirection of copyright's purpose away from censorship and toward freedom of expression principles and an effort to promote real competition among printers and booksellersthat is, to break the stranglehold that major players in the Stationers' Company had over the book trade. Insofar as that monopoly continued in revised form, the statute provided recourse for those injured by excessive prices of books.

The key aspects of the Statute of Anne for achieving these goals were these: First, the act granted rights to authors, not to publishers. Second, it did so for the utilitarian purpose of inducing learned men to write and publish books. Third, the act established a larger societal purpose for copyright, namely, to promote learning. Fourth, it granted rights only in newly authored books. Thereafter, ancient books were in the public domain and could be printed by anyone. Fifth, it limited the duration of copyright to fourteen year terms (renewable for another fourteen years if the author was living at the end of that term), thus abolishing perpetual copyrights [19]. Sixth, the statute conferred rights of a limited character (not to control all uses, but to control the printing and reprinting of protected works). Seventh, it imposed a responsibility on publishers to deposit copies of their works with designated libraries. Eighth, it provided a system for redressing grievances about overpriced books.

While it took about fifty additional years for pre-modern system to die out [20], the modern law of copyright emerged from the Statute of Anne's precepts. Censorship held no place of honor in this new copyright system which, in the main, embraced Enlightenment values that also influenced the framers of the U.S. Constitution. The clause of this constitution that empowers Congress to promote the progress of science and the useful arts by securing to authors and inventors an exclusive right in their respective writings and discoveries for limited times should be viewed in historical context as an American endorsement of England's repudiation of the speech-suppressing, anti-competitive and otherwise repressive pre-modern copyright system that the English Parliament meant to reshape by the Statute of Anne. Core elements of the Statute of Anne are reflected in Article I, sec. 8, cl. 8's purpose ("to promote Science"), in the persons to whom rights were to be granted ("authors"), and in the duration of rights ("for limited times").

... The constitutional copyright clause, properly construed, embodies first amendment and anti-monopoly principles. ... There is a "dormant copyright clause" waiting to be reawakened in the case law -- and hopefully in Congress -- after a long sleep in which the clause has become a meaningless cliche [22].

The rest of the paper, which analyses the contrast between this history and current recent developments, is strongly recommended.

I think what is funny is that corporate-sponsored or dot-com sites are dropping off like flies, and the counter-corporate internet's infrastructure is being strengthened again. maybe capitalism doesnt have the stuff to make it online? or maybe the internet really *is* anarchy, and so their stupid models of doing things (profit) just aren't going to work.

either way, i would like to report that TAO is still functioning, indymedia continues to grow as an example of how open collaborative publishing can form real-life networks, and those who *really* need information and communication structures are using them. corporations don't need them. smarmy suck.com writers don't need them.

anyway, good riddance. for me, there isn't much option when it comes to getting local reporting.

Whenever I see rms I think "root mean squared" from my days doing statistics in psychology. What do other folks think when they see RMS (or rms)? Oh, I mean, what do people think besides Richard M. Stallman? This isn't a question out of disrespect. It is question that digs into how people think, and categorize and use TLAs.

Yeah, Katz is doing net boosterism again. Why isn't this article Wired magazine?

As SpinyNorman points out, access to ePorn isn't really addressing social and economic inequality. Access is only part of the "divide" picture. What no-one's doubting is that the rise of the Internet is increasing the gaps between rich and poor.

The information economy facilitates transnational aggregation which kills many Mom & Pop businesses and allows unskilled work to be easily outsourced to areas without labour laws or basic standards of living that Western Economies take for granted. The virtual equivalents of cleaning or trash collection won't be available for those who can't read. Being able to manipulate information in sophisticated ways (such as posting to /. :) is a prerequisite for value creation in this economy. And those information manipulation skills are irrevoccably class-bound for a while yet.

I'm not complaining about it - it allows me to have a lifestyle well beyond what my parents could have expected - but I think it's pretty damn obvious that it's going to be much harder for working class people to make money in the online space than it is in the offline space, so talking about "increased access" = "end of digital divide" is stupid, when the opposite is probably true!

Anyone interested in these issues would do well to check out Charles Steinfield's "Community Level Impacts of Electronic Commerce for a no-nonsense take on the issues from a business perspective.

Danny

Take for example sites like indymedia which holds a public "tribune" where people can submit stories, video, audio and any kind of news, and, damn, get it KNOWN! The demos that happened in Seattle some time ago were covered, say, oddly by the mainstream media (e.g. CNN), that is: they conveniently omitted to mention that plastic bullets were being used and that people were basically getting their ass kicked. When indymedia and other sites published news contradicting this, with audio and video evidence, they had to change their story!

Of course, the problem is that not every one can afford a T1 and start an indymedia. (I'm sure some of ya slashdotters could, but whatever). The thing is that it's easier (or at least possible) to do that than to go broadcast on national tv! And you don't need much.. Just a bit of web space, a color scanner and you're on the run. I covered a demo down here in montreal that turned bad when the police came down on demonstrators with pepper spray and cavalry, I took some pictures and put it on the web. It makes quite an impression.

The industrial police has been there for a while, you know. Heck, thinking about it, police has *always* been industrial. Police forces were initially created by the state to force strikes to stop in the factories in the first days of industrialisation.

It's always been like this, police pretending to "protect and serve" when they "provoke and seize", the state pretending to have a "constitution" or "civil rights", when you're on paper or on a soap opera (like the evening news), it's all beautiful and nice, but when you get busted, it's not funny anymore. Just ask Mumia Abu Jamal...

Check out this deconstruction of Katz. Makes some valid points.

A recent e-mail forward to me read:

"Please sign this petition so we don't lose an irreplaceable resource....NPR On NPR's Morning Edition last week, Nina Tottenberg said that if the Supreme Court supports Congress, it is in effect the end of the National Public Radio (NPR), NEA & the Public Broadcasting System(PBS). PBS, NPR and the arts are facing major cutbacks in funding. In spite of the efforts of each station to reduce spending costs and stream line their services, some government officials believe that the funding currently going to these programs is too large a portion of funding for something which is seen as not worthwhile."

My response? NPR is not an irreplacable resource.

Twenty one years ago, National Public Radio petitioned the FCC to stop accepting applications for the low-power Educational License class. WMUC in College Park was one of the last stations to get a ten watt FM radio license under this plan, but this was a year before the UMBC campus (my school) even established a radio station.

Because of these rules that NPR brought about, UMBC cannot get a license under 1000 watts, and due to the large amount of high-power corporate radio saturation in this area, no higher-powered licenses are available.

National Public Radio has only their own interests in mind, not the interests of smaller communities and people who still want localized, non-corporate free radio.

Forget about NPR. Support your local communities and your universities by advocating for LPFM.

For more information, see the following sites:
Pirate/Free Radio on About.Com
Prometheus Radio Project
Media Democracy Now

And my own letters to the Senators, here and here.

PS: In the interests of full disclosure, this is a revised version of something I posted earlier to my my own web page.

--

"Could I have a source for the Giuliani comment?"

A quick Google search on Giuliani DNA turns up a lot of hits. The comment seems to have been reported in the New York Times in December 1998, for which no free online record exists, but, the New York Civil Liberties Union mentions it in a very dry paper about DNA, if that's reputable enough for you:

"The rounding up of a whole class of people, the collection of physical samples, and the extraction of DNA information from those samples are illegal in the United States of America. Or so we had thought.

"New York Governor George Pataki wants to expand the state DNA databank from violent felons to all felons. New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani wants to include all newborn children. Meanwhile, the New York City Police Department has been collecting DNA samples from suspects without their consent or their knowledge, and without the benefit of court orders."

This news report references thi s 404 NYT page.

And this message-board post gives a specific date in the NYT, which is as close as I could get in five minutes:

"When asked whether all children should have DNA tests at birth, the Mayor said: "...I would have no problem with that, or fingerprinting all children...There is absolutely no reason why people should be afraid of being identified..." It's not invasive," the Mayor said. "It doesn't invade any right of privacy. You don't have a right not to be identified. I don't remember a constitutional amendment that gives you the right not to be identified."-N.Y. Times 12/17/98 "Giuliani Backs DNA Testing of Newborns for Identification"

Finally, check out more of Robert Lederman's comments. As someone who's been falsely arrested over 40 times for painting unflattering portraits of Giuliani, he has a special interest in DNA fingerprinting.

Jamie McCarthy

Check out the definition of violence according to these groups. Pay close attention to the 2nd point:

• We are against violence. We acknowledge the need for self-defense when confronted with the incredible amounts of violence carried out against us by the institutions that oppress. By violence we do not include property damage or swearing, but do include comments or behavior that is sexist, ageist, homophobic, racist, classist or otherwise oppressive. If engaging in property damage and/or self defense we will strive to take the necessary measures to avoid causing intentional harm to others.

These people believe the destruction of property belonging to others (IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO... since only greedy capitalists would own something anyways) is a perfectly acceptable means of furthering their own views.

What I think is interesting about this definition is that if McDonald's were to, for example, have the homes of all the members of this coalition bulldozed while they weren't home, that wouldn't count as oppression. I realize there's a distinction between a home and a business, but that definition doesn't give one.

Trashing.

There are many freedoms we enjoy, but destroying the property of others is not one of them.

Sadly, these neo-revolutionaries like to redefine their definitions of right and wrong, violence and peaceful protest.

Check out the definition of violence according to these groups. Pay close attention to the 2nd point:

We are against violence. We acknowledge the need for self-defense when confronted with the incredible amounts of violence carried out against us by the institutions that oppress. By violence we do not include property damage or swearing, but do include comments or behavior that is sexist, ageist, homophobic, racist, classist or otherwise oppressive. If engaging in property damage and/or self defense we will strive to take the necessary measures to avoid causing intentional harm to others.

These people believe the destruction of property belonging to others (IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO... since only greedy capitalists would own something anyways) is a perfectly acceptable means of furthering their own views.

By definition, anyone who so much as disagrees with them is an "oppressor" and by their first definition, is inextricably linked with "white supremacists", "homophobia", "animal abuse" and a range of other equally distasteful groups.

I harbour no sympathy for Jose or his anarchist compatriots. Society is not built upon anarchy. He deserves whatever he gets.

Jon, next time, please find a "hero" that's worth respecting.

--

While I like this from a crypto standpoint, I can't help but wonder why the sudden change in policy

Most of the EU countries have previously supported encryption (UK and France being notable exceptions). The change in policy is "sudden" only if you consider that previous policy to be the one specified in the Wassenaar agreement, which was pushed down the throats of other countries by US bullies.

I'm guessing that corporations have been pushing for this and exerting power to make this happen. While I'm glad they did, it is another example of money buying policy (and for once, not in the US).

While there certainly are economic incentives to protect the interests of the european cryptography industry, the conspiracy theory is needless in this case. The idea for the change probably came from the Directorate-General for the Information Society, which is spear-headed by Erkki Liikanen (who was also quoted in the article). See these links for more information:

• Mission of the Directorate-General for the Information Society
• Speech by Erkki Liikanen
• The World by Commissioner Erkki Liikanen, European Commission

Trivially, yes. Suppose I write a browser that I distribute in binary form that renders standard HTML except adds the element "". No law obliges me to disclose I've made this change to the standard.

Qualification: It could be contended that the antitrust laws may prohibit a monopolist from doing this. Here is Robert Bork's argument to that effect in his white paper in the DOJ v. MS case:

That a monopolist or virtual monopolist is not free to define its product in ways that stifle competition is clear from Aspen Skiing Co. v. Aspen Highlands Skiing Corp., 472 U.S. 585 (1985). The defendant Skiing Co. owned and operated downhill skiing facilities on three mountains in Aspen; plaintiff Highlands operated on a fourth mountain. For years, the two companies offered a week-long pass, the "all-Aspen ticket," usable at any of the four mountains. The price was usually discounted from the price of daily tickets.

Skiing Co. then initiated various changes that ended its cooperative marketing with Highlands, effectively denying skiers the benefits of the four-mountain pass and diminishing substantially skiers' use of Highland's mountain. In successive ski seasons, from 1976 to 1981, Highlands' share of downhill skiing services in Aspen declined steadily: from 20.5% to 15.7% to 13.1% to 12.5% to 11%. Though it agreed that "even a firm with monopoly power has no general duty to engage in a joint marketing program with a competitor," the Supreme Court said that if the firm attempts to exclude rivals on some basis other than efficiency, its behavior is predatory. The record supported the jury's finding that Skiing Co.'s conduct lacked an efficiency justification. The Court therefore upheld the conclusion that Skiing Co. had monopolized the market for downhill skiing services in Aspen. Aspen Skiing is a direct holding that a monopolist is not free to define its product for the purpose and with the effect of excluding a competitor.

(Emphasis added. Incidentally, whatever you think of Bork as a constitutional theorist, he is recognized as standing among the very top rank of scholars of antitrust law, living or dead.)

However, politically... those of us who actually work in the industry rather than own it (realizing that some folks do both), have very little influence. Politically, we are all over the map with a general spirit of libertarian ethics with a distrust of the megacorporation ingrained into our psyche by personal expierence and cyberpunk literature we have been gobbling for the last two decades.

And, if we formed our own party in the single member-district system of the U.S (sorry, I know the rest of the world is more democratic with parlimentary systems) such would be a third party which would never gain any influence outside of local elections in California and the Pacific North West. We also, as workers, don't have the money to buy...er...lobby politicans. Easy example... if you and AOL/Time-Warner lobby congress about MP3s, who do you think is going to win?

No, fellow workers... we get paid so much because we have power. Power, untapped and unrealized. Middle-management was gutted through downsizing and our network connections have given rise to more "just-in-time" capitalism. Our skills , if you believe the Software Labor Shortage Myth are in such short supply that we can not train and import workers fast enough. Imagine if we can collectively come to agreements in which we decide what things we will work for and will not. Not only can we have influence over technology, but a host of other things that need geeks to be accomplished.

Our power is in action, not the ballot box. We can vote with our feet. We can strike (here is the source. We can slack and slow down. We can sick-in. We can boycott. We can Direct Action. We can be as Electornically Civilly Disobedient, and we can be... it works like we did with Low Power FM through an organized political campaign of radio piracy, we were able to sieze part of the spectrum from corporate monoplization for community interests. We can break mass media blackouts of information, by making our own media, like we did in Seattle, and like we'll do again in DC.

Are you tired of 60-hour work weeks? Of corporations making deals with politicans to undermine over-time pay and encourage permatemping? We don't have to be slaves.

Are you tired of technology developing that penalizes both the worker and the consumer, to the benfit of a handful of the rich and power... anybody remember the Java Class War? Where was our class in that? Complaining about how the standards needed to be independent of propietary control, and largely doing nothing about it! We need to take control of training and make it clear that it is those of us work in the industry that can figure out who knows what, rather than some profiteering third party or a way for leading software companies to gouge folks for certification!

We need non-profit employment services (or hiring halls) so we can dump our contracting companies (ie. pimps, job sharks, etc... ) once and for all.

We need to organize, and organize in a way that maintains our autonomy and democratic values. We don't need any union bosses, telling us what we can and can't do... but we do need to be in solidarity with our fellow workers so we can support each other in struggle. Who among you wouldn't strike to help the workers in hardware manufacture to get a better shake? Some more pay, a safer environment, etc... Who among you wouldn't refuse to work, if you knew by refusing for a short time you could bring in ecological sound practices. We can bring on the Viridian revolution, but innovation won't be enough... we have to force the issue and force companies to clean up their mess.

We have to become responsible, or we have noone to blame for how bad work is but ourselves.

Solid,

Flint

Baltimore IWW Telecommunications and Computer Workers IU560

(San Francisco, Toronto)

Also check out: Syndicat de l'Industrie Informatique, Washington Technical Workers Alliance, FACE Intel, Alliance@IBM, BITE Division of NWU (Business - Instructional - Techincal - Electronic).

We Can Win! No Nerds, No Birds!

As Linux is embraced by more organizations, and used in more ways that are crucial, the demands upon you will increase. New feature ideas and bug reports will no longer go onto a "wish list"; they will go onto a "hot list." You will face pressure to add 50 new items to the next release, when it really ought to have 10. Wealthy organizations, accustomed to getting their way, will demand impossible schedules from you, and then complain if the quality is not perfect.

Here's one point I take issue with. While I don't take issue with its clairvoyant validity, I do take issue with the idea that this should be accepted practice.

The idea that anyone should say yes to an impossible schedule, over-promise, kill themselves to work inhumanly sustainable hours is just ludicrous. But we've been doing it.

It's time to stop it.

Just got this in my mailbox, and I think it says just about everything I want to:

Gold Rush Mindset Undermining Programming Field

Think about it, if you're 20-30 something now, and working 90 hours a week, do you want to be doing that into your 40's? Should you even be doing that now? Why do you accept it?

If we're so valuable, and in such short supply, it's time to start maybe from the grunt programmer on up to put a stop to the acceptable practice of demanding the impossible and change it into delivering the sane.

As Linux is embraced by more organizations, and used in more ways that are crucial, the demands upon you will increase. New feature ideas and bug reports will no longer go onto a "wish list"; they will go onto a "hot list." You will face pressure to add 50 new items to the next release, when it really ought to have 10. Wealthy organizations, accustomed to getting their way, will demand impossible schedules from you, and then complain if the quality is not perfect.

Here's one point I take issue with. While I don't take issue with its clairvoyant validity, I do take issue with the idea that this should be accepted practice.

The idea that anyone should say yes to an impossible schedule, over-promise, kill themselves to work inhumanly sustainable hours is just ludicrous. But we've been doing it.

It's time to stop it.

Just got this in my mailbox, and I think it says just about everything I want to:

Gold Rush Mindset Undermining Programming Field

Think about it, if you're 20-30 something now, and working 90 hours a week, do you want to be doing that into your 40's? Should you even be doing that now? Why do you accept it?

If we're so valuable, and in such short supply, it's time to start maybe from the grunt programmer on up to put a stop to the acceptable practice of demanding the impossible and change it into delivering the sane.

There's a patch for Linux, too, using something called a "SYN-cookie". This is a marginal idea, and I don't know if it made it into any of the standard Linux distributions. But if you're under attack, you might want to turn it on.

I should learn to PREVIEW first. CDC... CDA (Communications Decency Act) Action (hacktivism.tao.ca) Geeks in the Streets (linux.umbc.edu)

From the article, you'd think that the only people who care about politics are "Tech Bosses" who have enough money to lobby politicians with. Perhaps its just that The Economist think its perfectly acceptable that politics is only who can buy which politicians and why... thats not democracy, its an indictment against the corruption in our political system.

The competing interests they talk about are the competing interests of corporations. How it could ever seriously talk about small nimble companies and the death of big business has got to be some kind of joke. Faster than the Federal government (with continually increasing powers and budget) can bust trusts and monopolies, are they not combining into larger and larger corporations.

About the only thing Big that they were right about getting small is Big Unions. This is largely their own damn fault, becaused they stopped being unions that fought on the job and became political machines, lobbying groups and pension/insurance plans. And, suprise, they never have the money to buy politicians like corporations can. Which is ultimately why efforts like Washtech are doomed as long as they try and compete with corporate money in electoral politics. Ofcourse, anti-democratic practices, corruption, organized crime, capital flight to the third world (GATT, NAFTA and the WTO), and being outmoded by new technology have heart Big Labor alot.

If unions are to ever work for geeks, they've got to be portable, decentralized, democratic, focus on direct action (instead of electoral lobbying), free (like in speech, not beer) and of a generally anti-authoritarian/libertarian culture. They've got to be willing to fight over issues like censorship (remember when the Web turned black against the CDC?), privacy, spam, standards, accessiblity, etc... I only know of couple humble attempts at that.

The complete cyberpunk fake book has a better hold on geek politics than the Economist. Fringe parties... if geeks are in parties are all... are like the Libertarians and the Greens. The number of out right anarchists growing in the industry is pretty astounding.

Most geeks don't identify themselves with any particularly ideology (and certainly not any party). They have a patchwork of issues they care about, if they vote registere independent or which ever party has dominance so they'll have a better choice during primaries. Political geeks would rather take action, or support their local communities, in the streets. If geeks want to get rid of propietary software, they out evolve it, they don't try and lobby it away; Anarchism Triumphant! If they think corporations have bought up to much radio spectrum, they help people take the airwaves back from FCC sellout. Or take out satellites.

But none of these things are politics, as far as The Economist is concerned. But then, civil disobedience is pretty hard to buy off.

When geeks start applying what they are already doing on other issues to work... then you'll really begin to see something. Syndicalism might get a rebirth for the new millenium yet.

Demand the Impossible!

I largely agree with your article ( http://cgi.pathfinder .com/fortune/technology/alsop/index.html) proposing the elimination of intellectual property. I have a few things to add:

• it needs to be done slowly, over a period of five years or so, to avoid scaring the investors off and risking a backlash.
• trademark is not intended to grant monopolies as patent and copyright are; it is only intended to allow consumers to reliably identify the folks with which they are doing business. Accordingly, I see no reason to eliminate trademark. (Indeed, most of your arguments pertain only to copyright.)
• eliminating copyright for books would more effectively promote the copying of books than eliminating copyright for software would promote copying of software. Since the distributed versions of software often don't include source code (books always include ``source code'') some method is needed to promote its publication. I suggest the method that was used for books: copyright, but with a term of 18 months, so it doesn't unduly inhibit copying. Copyright protection would only be granted to those works of software for which source code was on deposit at the Library of Congress; when the copyright expired, the source code would be released to the public.
• you neglected to detail the harmful effects of current copyright and patent law. Perhaps you didn't have enough space; here are a few:
  • the inevitable creation of harmful monopolies like Microsoft (see http://www.tao.ca/wind/rre/0579.html for more, search for my name); you did mention this briefly, but a reasonable person might conclude, after reading your article, that Microsoft was simply an aberration.
  • the necessity to crack down on freedom of the press in order to maintain copyright. (What's a press? It's a machine for copying speech. How do you maintain copyright in this Brave New World of digital technology? Restrict access to devices for copying speech. Several proposals have already been put forth that do just this, and one of them (the Audio Home Recording Act) has been passed into law in the US.)
  • the ultimate necessity to outlaw private computer-mediated communication in order to detect violations of copyright
  • the high costs to each individual to make sure they aren't violating the law. (In a couple of years, you'll need a J.D. and a couple of paralegals to write a novel computer program without violating any patents.)
  • the chilling effect it has on innovation. (The other way you can avoid violating patents is to not use any techniques that weren't published ten years ago. This won't keep you from getting sued, given the incompetence of the patent office, but it will probably keep you from losing the case. Needless to say, if you can't afford to be sued, you need to find another business to be in. Washing windows is probably a good choice.) This will get worse and worse as more and more patents are granted.

Some of these evils may be excusable if they produce a greater social good -- like encouraging people to innovate and create by offering them financial rewards -- but the evidence is that they actually do the opposite. (Witness the Internet and Linux.)

--
< kragen@pobox.com> Kragen Sitaker < http://www.pobox.com/~kragen/>
This is exactly how the World Wide Web works: the HTML files are the pithy description on the paper tape, and your Web browser is Ronald Reagan.
-- Neal Stephenson, at http://www.cryptonomicon.com/begi nning_print.html