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What's to prevent the state from putting up a reader on the street corner? On every street corner? On every mile marker sign on the highway?

You're right to be concerned about your privacy, but there's already plenty of tech out there for tracking your car. If you don't want cops to spy on you, you need to make sure there are legal safeguards in place, not worry about a minor technology upgrade.

No offense intended: that link didn't quite post right:

Techdirt: Why Is CNET Trying To Invent A Google VoIP Story?

The evidence that Google is considering VoIP really is pretty thin.

The info below applies to government officials, but I would guess that it might apply to anyone who would ever be required to produce an email for a legal (lawsuit?) issue:

---------------
The Governor of Utah has been sued by news organizations for deleting his email. Apparently, he deletes all of his email after three days. The news organizations say that he is destroying public records. The legal issue is really whether email is a document or a transient conversation like a telephone call. This, of course, is the same reason why President Bush had to stop using email entirely.

With stuff being leaked early all the time, there'll still be plenty of non-DRM'd copies of music and movies floating about the place. The trick will be to track them down and download them without the MPAA/RIAA detecting such things.

It isn't the first time Microsoft forgot to renew a domain.

This thread reminded me of this

I hope you're Mike from TechDirt because you just jacked his coca-cola example. If you're not Mike, then you just jacked his IP and he'll probably sue /. now. I hope you're proud.

Last time I heard this same news, the number was 500. I guess this is what they mean by the high inflation rate in South East Asia.

It's not the online version of an established, well-researched traditional encyclopedia. Instead, Wikipedia is a do-it-yourself encyclopedia, without any credentials. [...] One of these skills is to evaluate the authority of any information source. The Wikipedia is not an authoritative source. It even states this in their disclaimer on their Web site." (quoting of Sue Stagnitta)

Personally I picked my college on the basis of the distance to home (22 km) and college's history (73 years old, older than Free India itself). And all my parents had to spend was the equivalent of a couple of month's salary (~500 USD) on my entire undergraduate course.

--
if you're not a socialist at 18, you've got no heart

One of the middleware products CA has in its catalogue is "Intelligent Warehouse". IW was originally created by HP for internal use, then it was marketed by Platinum which was acquired by CA. CA supported IW (version 3.4.5) until May 2003, but some companies are still using it despite not having support. It is an excellent product, so I would like to ask Mr. Greenblatt to consider open sourcing this program too.

Ford is dumping the online ordering system they bought from Oracle, quoting high integration costs and the fact that the old system just worked better.

While I haven't seen additional confirmation either way, Mike Masnick at Techdirt checked with a friend at Google who stated the the apparent increase to 1TB was a mistake, not a storage upgrade.

I quote from Techdirt Mike's analysis:

It seems that they've screwed up one of the most basic rules in pricing: never take away features and charge for them. You can charge for new features - but taking away features that were included for free before always pisses off your most loyal customers. They feel suckered. They feel like you've pulled a bait and switch on them. In this case, many MT users set up multiple blogs with multiple authors. That's what the software encouraged them to do. Now, they're looking at the pricing and realizing to continue doing so on the new platform would cost them around $600. "Costs more for doing less" isn't a way to make users happy.

It's true. Or, at least, it was published as the truth.

Makes me wanna lay my shower curtain over my keyboard to type...

They tried stuff like this, it sucked.

Note, that's not to be confused with the DivX standard used by those nasty "pirates". There are other types of disposable DVDs floating around. The main one that comes to mind now is the one that oxidizes when you open the package.

Anyway, it especially pissed off the Slashdot crowd.

After worldcom imploded, everyone looked to put the blame on them, but forget to ask about the partners in crime.

Simlar to the illegal practice of swapping bandwidth at the end of the quarter to inflate the value of the company that worldcom, quest and colt were involved in was also practiced by AOL.

But AOL has been deeply involved in Worldcom, as well as Microsoft with both of them.

Worldcom was also hugly overvalued, and way buying up company left and right, until the bubble burst when the MCI merger blew up.

The real question at hand is, when will the AOL bubble burst?

Or is there more to the Microsoft Worldcom AOL Triangle that will we find out when more people lose thier pension funds?

It is also a question, what is the real value of Microsoft? How much of it is hyperinflated, and what if it turns into another worldcom with cooked books full of accounting tricks. If it is anything like its partners, I would not be suprised if they were involved in such practices with them.

Also, Why is it that microsoft was interested in buying corrupt companies like Worldcom?

>> Who would ever subscribe to Dishnet? DirecTV rules! Seriously, I've seen both, and DirecTV won hands down!

How about because DirectTV has used the legal system to enforce its opinion that technology can itself be illegal? And that people who buy the technology for legitimate reasons - even those who don't own a TV or who subscribe to local cable - must pay a $3500 protection fee or be sued?

DirectTV and Racketeering

DirectTV's quality is meaningless when the company's business practices are dirt.

Actually, it was Tele Aid, Mercedes's version of the system. And the practice has been suspended, but not for privacy reasons.

It really depends on what types of games you include. If you lump in online web games (Hearts, Bridge, what have you), then women actually make up the larger percentage. Check it out!

The Dutch courts have ruled that the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, a worldwide analogue of the RIAA), can not sue Kazaa for the transgressions of its users (e.g.). This means Kazaa will be available for legal filesharing, and the recording industry must go after individuals who engage in illegal filesharing.

The Dutch make up about 20% of the world's filesharing individuals, according to the article.

Go ahead, try to buy one! You can't. Offer them some investment money... they'll take it!

Did nobody notice that all images of the "phone" are virtual mockups?

How many promos/how much hype for this have I seen in the past three years?

Hmm, BusinessWeek mag was persuadade that they were available back in 1999 and claimed to have tested one.

It was later shown (by opening the case) that Hop-On's "disposable phones" were really Nokia phones with their own plastic casing put around them. ... and costing WAY more than $30 for the parts.

There were some delays admitted-to long after the 1999 "demo", in June 2002

There was a bit of a problem with a Universal Studios tie-in back in 2001:
"In November 2001, Hop-On announced that it would partner with Universal Studios Home Video to give away a limited number of the disposable phone to purchasers of the "Jurassic Park III" DVD/ home video. The "winners" would get a free Hop-On phone if their copy of the video contained a special coupon. The promotion was cancelled when Hop-On failed to deliver the phones... Universal has advised Stock Patrol that it is sending all of those winners - about 1000 in all - $30 checks (the supposed cost of a Hop-On phone) and a free DVD. "

See also http://www.wirelessreview.com/ar/wireless_cutting_ room_floor_2/

and oh, oopsie!!!!
Disposable Cell Phone Company Hop-On Wireless CEO Indicted For Fraud (April 18, 2003 -- for ANOTHER venture of his, not Hop On, but it looks like a familiar tale)

Last year we had the story of how it looked like disposable cell phone company Hop-On Wireless was a scam. Since then, I've seen the company highly touted in many news stories, talking about how it was this great invention... but which no one seemed to be selling. Now, the CEO of Hop-On has been arrested for fraud, relating to work he did on an earlier company - but which brings up many parallels to Hop-On. The earlier company was an online gambling site, which he raised a lot of money for. However, they did so by showing software that was really someone else's software "cosmetically altered" to look like their own. Hop-On's "disposable phones" were really Nokia phones with their own plastic casing put around them.

From the hop-on website:
Q. When will I be able to buy the Hop-on phone?
A. The release date of our Hop-on phone is contingent on a variety of factors. We are doing everything we can to get our phones into the hands of all those who want and need them as soon as possible. If you like, you can e-mail us your contact information, and we'll let you know as soon as our phone is available in your area.

A post on Techdirt has contact information for DMA (Direct Marketing Association).

A post on Techdirt has contact information for DMA (Direct Marketing Association).

RIAA, Verizon Head Back To Court Over Subpoenas

Contributed by Mike on Tuesday, September 16th, 2003 @ 01:40AM
from the continuing-the-battle dept.
While Verizon failed in its original bid to protect the privacy of one of their users from random RIAA subpoenas not backed up by a lawsuit, the case is still going on. In fact, Verizon has expanded the case. While, originally, they argued that they were exempt from the DMCA subpoenas since they weren't storying anything on their own servers - but that the file sharing was being done on individuals' home computers. Now, however, they're challenging the very constitutionality of the DMCA subpoena power, which makes it possible for anyone to send a subpoena just by filling out a form and claiming that a copyright violation has occurred. There's simply no oversight, and Verizon says they wonder how this can be constitutional. While (obviously), Verizon is doing this out of self-interest (not to be bombarded with subpoenas - and possibly because they know that file sharing is a prime motivator for getting folks to sign up for DSL), the claims do make sense. Already there have been stories of porn sites using the subpoena power to hit up ISPs to get records on everyone who visits their site. Of course, we have a long way to go before a final decision. The latest set of arguments will go before the Court of Appeals, meaning we still have to wait a while before it is (inevitably) appealed again to the Supreme Court. It may be years before a decision is reached. In the meantime, all we can hope for is that some politicians come to their sense and pre-emptively change the law. Update: Meanwhile, the NY Times is reporting that SBC remains the loan holdout refusing to cough up names to the RIAA, claiming that they feel obligated to protect their subscribers' privacy. The RIAA says the case is all about how SBC profits from file sharing - but I'm not sure why that would matter. After all, one assumes the RIAA is filing these lawsuits in the first place because they're hoping (wishfully, it seems) to profit as well.

Lawsuit Filed Against RIAA Amnesty Program

Contributed by Mike on Wednesday, September 10th, 2003 @ 03:00AM
from the coming-from-all-angles dept.
Even more backlash against the RIAA. I'm really surprised that this hasn't gotten more attention. The story is being squeezed in on some copies of the AP report about the RIAA's settlement with the 12-year-old "threat to the future of the music industry", but a California lawyer has apparently filed a lawsuit against the RIAA (warning: PDF file) for their "amnesty program", claiming that it is "unlawful, unfair and deceptive". The lawyer points out that the RIAA does not provide any actual amnesty in their offer. If the offer really is deceptive, then it seems like the sort of thing the government should step in and point out - but it is nice to at least see a lawsuit bringing more attention to the ridiculousness of the amnesty offer. Found via JD Lasica.

Lawsuit Filed Against RIAA Amnesty Program

Contributed by Mike on Wednesday, September 10th, 2003 @ 03:00AM
from the coming-from-all-angles dept.
Even more backlash against the RIAA. I'm really surprised that this hasn't gotten more attention. The story is being squeezed in on some copies of the AP report about the RIAA's settlement with the 12-year-old "threat to the future of the music industry", but a California lawyer has apparently filed a lawsuit against the RIAA (warning: PDF file) for their "amnesty program", claiming that it is "unlawful, unfair and deceptive". The lawyer points out that the RIAA does not provide any actual amnesty in their offer. If the offer really is deceptive, then it seems like the sort of thing the government should step in and point out - but it is nice to at least see a lawsuit bringing more attention to the ridiculousness of the amnesty offer. Found via JD Lasica.

Lawsuit Filed Against RIAA Amnesty Program

Contributed by Mike on Wednesday, September 10th, 2003 @ 03:00AM
from the coming-from-all-angles dept.
Even more backlash against the RIAA. I'm really surprised that this hasn't gotten more attention. The story is being squeezed in on some copies of the AP report about the RIAA's settlement with the 12-year-old "threat to the future of the music industry", but a California lawyer has apparently filed a lawsuit against the RIAA (warning: PDF file) for their "amnesty program", claiming that it is "unlawful, unfair and deceptive". The lawyer points out that the RIAA does not provide any actual amnesty in their offer. If the offer really is deceptive, then it seems like the sort of thing the government should step in and point out - but it is nice to at least see a lawsuit bringing more attention to the ridiculousness of the amnesty offer. Found via JD Lasica.

Since you asked...

To read the second page of this article use subscriber code 079751240X.

Go to "Magazine subscribers: Enter here", then "Sign in using the account number on your subscription label" and enter the account number above.

Courtesy of TechDirt.com

http://techdirt.com/articles/20030812/2144240.shtm l

Accused File Trader Suing RIAA - Claims Sharing Not Distribution

Contributed by Mike on Tuesday, August 12th, 2003 @ 09:46PM

In all the legal accusations flying back and forth over the RIAA's plans to sue everyone they possibly can, none of the individuals who have been subpoenaed have filed counter lawsuits against the RIAA. That's about to change. A lawyer in California is getting ready to file a lawsuit on behalf of one such user with a slightly different argument that has been seen before. He says that just because a user has a particular file available for sharing, that doesn't mean the file was actually shared. In other words, since the RIAA doesn't have actual proof that the individual distributed the file, then they have no case. It's a fine line - and I doubt a judge will see it that way. The RIAA will (I'm sure) respond that just making the file available is the equivalent of distribution, by itself.

Actually, that was the Thai financial minister. You can find one of the many articles referring to it here:

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20030512/1530243. shtml

200+ degrees fahrenheit would kill a man quickly. 212 degrees being the boiling point of water, the minister would have been dead long before it reached 200 degrees. I believe there were several cases in the US where moms locked their kids in the car in summer and returned to find them dead. Temperatures reached only around 130-140 F then.

when I see Final Fantasy XI trailer, I've a rush urge to retire NOW and play online game all days. :)

I know some people actually playing EQ as their full-time job. Any career counciler here could enlighten me to the path of professional online gamer? :D

I remember reading one of the Dilbert books, Is your computer safe from hackers? where it said that marketing will continue to become more and more manipulative Make money with your website! as it builds upon the shoulders of already tried marketing schemes.

I just wonder how long before Specials on Ink Jet refill kits! they start putting ads Long Distance for just 1c per minute! in the middle Spy on your neighbors! of all web content?

The Anti-Turing Test

In fact, this type of thing has already been ruled unconstitutional in New York at least, thanks to the New York Attorney General:

About a year ago, Eliot Spitzer in New York sued Network Associates for telling people they weren't allowed to write a review of their products without Network Associates approving it first. Now, a New York judge has told Network Associates that they have to remove that language from the packaging of their products and the website, and can't do anything that would bar people from writing reviews of their software products.

A possibly less slashdotted version of the TeleZapper article can be found at http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20030225/1553220. shtml.

I want to see the flames!

That techdirt link entitled approximately 500 bounce messages, autoresponders, and angry replies should be a link to the ~500 messages!

People from TechDirt, who earn their living by creating corporate blogs, have a white paper on enterprise blogging available. And then there is this InfoWorld article.

People from TechDirt, who earn their living by creating corporate blogs, have a white paper on enterprise blogging available. And then there is this InfoWorld article.

Eldred v. Ashcroft
... 10 had a favourable piece on Lessig and the lawsuit. ... October 13, 2002 - Amy
Harmon of New York Times: uphill battle over copyright. more news ...
eldred.cc/ - 7k - Cached -

The Limits of Copyright
... it an offense to write code to interfere with this use-controlling code, regardless
of whether the use would be considered fair under the copyright law. ...
www.thestandard.com/article/display/ 0,1151,16071,00.html - 34k - Dec. 12, 2002 - Cached -

Copyright law and roasted pig.
Communications Copyright law and roasted pig Lawrence Lessig on Eldred v. Ascroft
By Lawrence Lessig October 22, 2002. In 1930, 10,027 books were published. ...
www.redherring.com/insider/2002/10/ roast-pig-copyright-102202.html - 29k - Cached -

O'Reilly Network: Free Culture: Lawrence Lessig Keynote from ...
... A flash version of Lessig's presentation, including audio and other source files. ... their
works) instead of exercising all of the restrictions of copyright law. ...
www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/policy/2002/08/15/lessi g.html - 27k - Dec. 12, 2002 - Cached -

High court weighs copyright law - Tech News - CNET.com
... Lessig and his allies are hoping not merely to overturn this law, however, but
to build momentum for an all-out legal assault on many recent copyright ...
news.com.com/2100-1023-961467.html - 28k - Cached -

Lawrence Lessig
... Declan McCullagh of CNET News.com mentions Professor Lessig in Left gets nod from
right on copyright law, on a speech given by Appeals Court Judge Richard ...
cyberlaw.stanford.edu/lessig/ - 23k - Dec. 12, 2002 - Cached -

Home--Berkman Center for Internet and Society
... Also see: Digitial Copyright Law on Trial [CNet]; Google Excluding Controversial
Sites [CNet]; ... the Hard Questions: On October 9 Lawrence Lessig appeared before ...
Description: The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School is a research program founded...
Category: Computers>Internet>Policy
cyber.law.harvard.edu/ - 13k - Cached -

Techdirt:Copyright Law And Roasted Pig - Lessig Pushes His ...
Copyright Law And Roasted Pig - Lessig Pushes His Campaign Forward.
Ramblings Contributed by Mike on Tuesday, October 22nd, 2002 ...
www.techdirt.com/articles/20021022/1311202.shtml - 5k - Cached -

there is only so many times in a day you can "go make coffee" or "check your email".

Geek Slack List

• http://www.subgenius.com/
• http://www.slackersguild.com/
• BBC News
• http://www.memepool.com/
• http://www.plastic.com/
• http://www.arstechnica.com/
• http://www.metafilter.com/
• http://www.techdirt.com/
• http://www.bottomquark.com/ (Science News)
• http://newsforge.com/
• http://www.theregister.co.uk/
• http://www.anandtech.com/
• http://www.bjorn3d.com/
• http://cellar.org - Image of the Day
• http://www.collegehumor.com/
• http://www.everything2.com/
• http://www.kuro5hin.org/
• http://www.theonion.com/
• NASA - Astronomy Picutre of the Day
• http://www.majorgeeks.com - Windows Shareware / Freeware
• http://www.advogato.org/
• http://www.sweetcode.org/
• http://www.disinfo.com/ - Disinformation
• http://www.somethingawful.com/
• http://www.astronomynow.com/ - Astronomy News
• http://www.aip.org/ - American Institue of Physics - News
• http://www.adequacy.org/

• The Effects of Moore's Law and Slacking 1 on Large Computations

Hope this helps =)

So that's all fine and dandy, but it's not like you can just take one from each column and have something that makes sense. For example, were bugs in an operating system due to inefficient code that would be fixed by component-based design with an eye towards cost effectiveness? Well, uhhh, maybe, I think.

It didn't help that so many of the people quoted had no idea what they were talking about, and the ones who did had their quotes taken so far out of context that they made no sense. It seems a lot of people who never worked at Microsoft know how Microsoft develops software. Oh well.

It would make more sense to talk about a particular class of software and bug and then discuss why it is there. E.g. why do Microsoft systems products have buffer overflows. Even then you would get a bunch of different answers.

- adam

P.S. Comment first posted by me on Techdirt.

You don't know of enough tech sites to claim that "almost every tech site" banded together on something. No one does.

- adam

So, now that /. is going to be charging subscriptions, will readers be compensated for having highly modded stories?

This is done in the magazine business. Readers digest does this for their "Humor" section. Family Handyman does it for their "Tips" section. Almost every major magazine out there has a "Readers Comments" section and most pay the ppl that provide content. That being said, there are always alternatives to slashdot .

What you can do:

Go to war!
Sue!
And win!
or...
Join them!

Maybe if it was a decent upgrade or anything about the ubergeek HP 48 series it would matter.

Try techdirt for some real news.

Easy ... so when the go down the crapper in 2 months, your only out $12.

Anyone with a little perl knowledge can go a long way towards making a slashcode site into a customer support, file download, or of course a news and events website.

Anyways, here's the slashsites in case anyone is interested.

• Media-Mixer
• RadioTiki
• ipv6news.org
• PRIME Wrestling
• Knowledgerush
• High Performance Hunting
• marketseat.com
• ExtraCrispy.Net
• YourOfficeGeek
• ITCouncil
• Morrissey Solo
• The Cedar Valley Linux Users Group
• EastVan
• earthDot
• meepdot
• Love9
• MedMeta
• jazz-flute.com
• jazz-sax.com
• SigKill
• University of Utah College of Engineering Computing Facility
• Mr. Lego
• FuelCellTalk
• Portland Geekly News
• The Golden Horde Network
• use Perl;
• MacSlash
• bottomquark
• We Have No Product
• TQY3
• gildot
• Tar Heel State Online
• SlashHosting (Hosting for Slash sites)
• slashhost (Hosting for Slash sites)
• IDM Newsbase
• gosports.org
• Anime Station
• NetGAMES
• OnTopofIT
• Web Crush
• HairyPALM.com: The PDA InfoQuarters
• Myworkflow.com
• Techdirt.com
• Be Route (French)
• Yourtown CLN
• DNS Policy
• BarraPunto (Spanish)
• isrec.org
• AbsolutChaos
• Extreme XL Linux News
• Spam Roaster's Club