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1. Human rights are granted on the basis of human need for compassion not dehumanization.
2. Abortion's main proponents are the rich and middle class who rationalize that a child risen in poverty is a burden on not just the mother but society. Bill gates as Ted Turner have donated to population control groups. Here are some "choice" quotes from Margeret Sanger the founder of Planned Parenthood,

"The maternity facilities for slum mothers are injuirious to the community and the race. Charity will only prolong the misery of the unfit"

"We do not want word to get out that we want to exterminate the Negro population"
3.The chicken littles of population control do not realize that to expand into space colonization we may need the kick in the ass of overpopulation not a stable population or population death.

My website does not resolve and I'm fighting with my webhosting provider to get it working.

To avoid the trap of bitching and moaning without offering any solutions, I'll try to mention a couple positive things we should work towards:

1. The primary reason my household switched from cablemodem to dsl was that the cablemodem service sucked balls. A secondary reason is that our provider blocked port 80 requests to all customers, and the upload bandwidth was severely throttled (1/3 i think of the download)-- obviously they don't think web publishing is something its customers want or need to do. Of course getting the DSL installed was a serious pain in the ass, but it works pretty well.

We need more competing home-broadband providers. Local area (community area) wireless providers may be the answer, I think. Like reverse-TV stations-- if they can retain independence and competition and not be bought up by AT&T/Comsat and AOL/TW, and swallowed up by mergers, the way TV is/has.

2. smaller, competing web hosting companies (like the one i use) are an excellent thing for the web, but they need protection against criminal suits pertaining to copyright and freedom of speech for their customers. This is unfortunately a problem that may not be resolved soon.

Minor clarification: meant to say that the *converse* of all three points applies to me (as in, I use Linux, code frantically, and use the GPL).

Thanks :).

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• slashdot
• google
• amazon
• troll

Speaking of LAN parties, drinks, etc... the last true LAN party I attended was at a friend's house back in Atlanta. 'Twas a merry eve, as we were all sitting around (around 20 people), playing Quake and Unreal, eating pizza, and occassionally taking a dip in yon pool.

Late in the evening, as we were all sitting around talking, hacking, and whatnot, I made the biggest party foul to date. I'm a smoker, and I couldn't seem to, ummm... locate my ashtray. So, I casually ashed in a glass of expensive scotch, which happened to be attached to my friend's hand. My friend (name withheld, of course) is a LARGE guy, and thankfully took mercy on me. Due to this incredible foul, I had to take a "time out" on the balcony for 30 minutes.

Note to moderators: no, it's not offtopic, the story's about a massive LAN party for god's sake :).

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Well said, indeed! I've had a LOT of music store folks help me out big-time when I couldn't find something, or wanted a recommendation on new stuff. People are either good at their jobs or not, and a lot of these people are very good.

Hmm... my first real job was serving soda and popcorn at a movie theater. I'd actually been programming for several years (started *young*), but couldn't find an employer who would take a 16 year old guy for a coding gig. I'd done some freelance stuff, but nothing big.

I don't like to hear people get down on people just because of their line of work. Honest work is, well, honest work. :)

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That, sir, is a key point in all this mess. People are, more and more, wanting the ability to play their media in such devices as DVD players, the XBox, their PCs, etc. The RIAA must be completely blind.

How long before the majority of their customer base (music lovers at large) are primarily using "all in one" equipment (with PC-like capabilities) to play most of their CDs? I'd wager it won't be too long. People, seemingly by nature, love buying gadgets that do everything but clean the kitchen sink, and audio equipment is no exception. The technology is here to stay, regardless of whether or not the RIAA wants to cry about it.

My question is this: how long before the major manufacturers of such hardware get together and sue organizations like the RIAA for everything they're worth, el class action style, because their consumers can't play CDs on the equipment? Think about it: I'm a consumer, and the hardware I just bought says it can play CDs. Except it *can't* play these "protected" CDs without some sort of wierd hackery. If I'm not a geek (okay, I am, but just play along here), I won't (a) know *how* to get around it, and (b) won't *want* to get around it. I'd just want my hardware to work, damnit.

So, I complain to the hardware manufacturer, at which point they tell me it's not their fault, it's the fault of music distributors using stupid protection schemes. Uh, oh. I might get a wild hair to find out how many other people had been hurt by this, and toss my own personal class-action suit on top of the heap. Looks like the RIAA is headed for a major dent in the bank accounts.

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that this continuous bullshit actually ends up hurting the already-ailing economy (here in the States). Sure, they're trying out their lovely "technology" on less-than-outrageously-popular CDs, but that doesn't help retail outlets any...

A lot of folks here are talking about sticking it to them where it hurts, namely by buying the CSs and then returning the after they're opened. This *will* hurt retail outlets who stock the discs. Unfortunately, we don't really have any other true recourse in the matter, so I have to support this course of action.

Yes, it's true that after a few thousand returned CDs, the retail guys and gals will probably get fed up and refuse to stock such "protected" CDs. The RIAA will eventually have to stop playing these stupid, asshole games with their customer base if they want to see their precious money continue to flow. How long it will take to get this through their thick heads is anybody's guess.

In the end, IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT "PROTECTION" THEY ATTEMPT TO USE. If I can play the damned thing, I can use hi-fi equipment to dupe it. From there, I can do anything I want with the information. I can keep it for my personal, private fair-use play, or I can post it to every file-swapping network in existence. Will I personally post music ripped in this manner? Probably not (although the temptation is growing, yes indeedy). I'm CERTAIN that many, many other people will post the ripped tracks, however.

The folks behind this insanity are just plain stupid. They've been slow to embrace the concept of selling their music properly over the net, and choose instead to spend their money on dead-end paths such as paying attorneys to harass people. I laugh my ass off at them every time one of these stories breaks.

RIAA and pals, have fun hurting the economy while you can. You're only hurting yourselves in the end.

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Geezus, I just called Linus Torvalds "Linux Torvalds". Damn this beer... :)

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• Level 1: Ability to use rm, ls, cp, and mv commands.
• Level 2: Understanding how to use RPM and DEB packages to update and modify a system.
• Level 3: Ability to use fdisk to create and manipulate partitions.
• Level 4: Actually got Mandrake running with help from the friendly neighbor kidz.

• Level 1: Ability to quote verbatim the man pages for all Mandrake 8 standard linux commands (doesn't necessarily require deep understanding, just inhuman memory).
• Level 2: In-depth knowledge of kernel configuration and compilation, demonstrated by ability to correctly by hand [no Xconfig for you, for added flavor] compile a 2.4.x kernel for every known supported platform in existence.
• Level 3: Linux Torvalds willingly calls you Daddy, and calls you up for kernel hacking advice. Alan Cox routinely shows up at your pad asking for tree contributions.

Dear CmdrTaco (Rob),

Thank you for your time spent testing our review system. We hope you enjoyed the awesome sound this system is capable of producing. We have noted from a review of our server logs that your "Slashdot" reader base has purchased a lot of our units, and therefore we extend our gratitude for your indirect financial support as well.

Since our unit has given you so much joy, you can extend your listening pleasure by visiting us on the web at http://cheesyecommerce.com/musik/payusnowdammit.as p. Your demo unit's hardware capabilities are set to self destruct in 15 days if payment is not received.

Please note that our hardware's self destruct mechanism is protected against tampering by advanced ROT13 encryption. Any attempt (which undoubtedly will fail) to modify the hardware control routines attached to our patented C4 explosive destruct device contained within will result in our special Linux edition "Magic Lantern U.K." software reporting you directly to the FBI, and may result in loss of life or limb as well.

Once again, thank you for trying our unit. To avoid accidental explosions, please remit payment in full ($20,000 USD) within 15 calendar days. We appreciate your business!

Sincerely,

Linn.Co.Uk Sales Team

--------

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I've seen the movie that's most often pointed to as an example of the "birth of the hyperlink" (in multiple segements for easy fun downloading :] ). It's actually very entertaining (well, okay, I am a geek) and extraordinary informative.

I can't find the link at the moment, but I believe you have the general date right (late 60s). This patent is completely invalid, and I hope BT gets their asses countersued straight off for attempting such bullshit. I'm not a huge fan of Prodigy, but they've definitely got better things to do with their time than defend themselves against idiotic suits.

Here's the one thing that has me curious: if BT wanted to establish a precedent in U.S. courts for the validity of this patent, why the hell did they choose to sue an national ISP (which has the cash to fight back with decent [is that possible for lawyers?] attorneys? Why not pick a very small online company without deep pockets? I'm not encouraging such behavior, but it only seems to add to BT's idiocy that they'd muck up the "who to sue" question as well...

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Very nice indeed :). This method seems like the definite best solution for NT/IIS platforms! One quick question: are you aware of a way to produce a similar setup for NT/Apache/Perl-PHP users? I know a few people using NT as their server OS, but Apache for the web server in place of IIS.

NT might not be my choice of server platforms, but a lot of folks are "standardized" on it. There's a lot of people beginning to use alternative scripting languages and web servers, though. It would be neat if there were a similar way to access an MS-SQL server using those tools.

Thank you for the great reply! This is very useful information.

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Very good questions, actually :). I haven't done ASP in a long, long time, but I recall that there is a mechanism built in that allows you to retrieve login information from a file that isn't publicly available. There's probably other neat hacks to get the info from the registry, too.

Under Perl or PHP, you can do it by storing the login info in a file that's chmod'ed to disallow access to all but your userid. Now, in this scenario, your script has to run as your userid (instead of the web server uid [Apache or Nobody]), which can be accomplished via suEXEC or a cgi wrapper. Either way, same effect. In this event, there are only a few ways someone could snag the password (running a proggy to directly interface to the memory space of your program [unlikely], get root access to the server [you'd have more to worry about in that case], or monitoring the network wire [if you were accessing the password on a remote machine via cleartext]).

I guess my point is this: there are ways to avoid the "passwords in the script" problem in most languages/systems. Of course, if the target environment is Winows 9x, you're going to have oodles of problems with access permissions, but nobody runs productions servers on 9x, right? :)

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"Although this can be a fairly malicious worm, it is very unlikely to infect many servers due to the fact that majority of Microsoft SQL servers have administrator passwords."

Not in my experience, sadly. In most of the corporate environments I've seen MS-SQL Server installed, the sa account has had no password. You may wonder what their logic was... "nobody would know how to hack it, and it's just a development server anyhow."

Yeah, right... a development server exposed to the net. That's not the worst of it, though. I've seen shops where the sa account was kept blank so ASP "programmers" wouldn't have to bother with remembering a password. This shitty practice is amazingly common.

It's usually very difficult to reason with the management types on this sort of thing. Most of these people view the database server as a magic box where their information is kept, not as a system that needs to be properly secured. By and large, most corporate types I've talked to actually believed you'd have to have physical access to the machine. I can't say how many times I've heard them say things like "oh, that's what the Administrator logon password in NT is for, right?". Uh, no try again...

It would probably be impossible to accurately say how many people are running with open sa accounts, because to stand up and admit it would be career suicide for any "database admin". Then again, given the lack of knowlege concerning this among the management types, maybe they wouldn't take so much flack after all. In the end, they could always blame Microsoft for letting them set up the account with a blank password to begin with (dumb, but I can see them saying that).

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Actually, B is more interesting than some people may realize. Allow me to illustrate:

If we take the stance that such software (Magic Lantern) *would* have to be frequently modified to remain stealthy, we end up with a whole new problem on our hands. In order to keep up with the newest "ignore versions", McAfeee would have to release new descriptor files/lists containing this info.

So, now that we have the concept of an "ingore list" rather than just "detect lists", let's say that a virus author decides to exploit some weakness in the McAfee product itself to add his/her nasty code to the ignore list. It's not that I think the McAfee coders are *completely* incompetent... I just think any company willing to take "ignore" action on finding an unauthorized program (worm) can't be very intelligent in the first place.

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As long as we're gonna go around modding out rugby balls to give us "most excellent" visual shots, why not continue with this new tradition of improving on the game...

You could place internally stabilizing gyroscopes inside the thing to ensure the "always perfect" pass. Heck, if you're gonna do that, why not mod it out with anti-intercept electronic countermeasures too? Opposing player tryin' to snag the ball? No worries, mate... it's packing more punch than a hand-held taser.

Geez, this game could be really fun. :)

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MODERATORS: Please mod parent up! That has got to be the most effective, concise insight into my (sadly) nation's disgusting actions I've seen to date. All I can say is "wow". Nathaniel, thank you.

Oh, and before anyone starts flaming me for being a "bleeding heart liberal", you should probably know I'm a staunch Libertarian. I know insanity when I see it, and this the current "war" the U.S. is waging is fucking insane.

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Hmm... doesn't fly. I understand what you're *trying* to say, but I think you fall short on the overall consequences of this action.

Here in the U.S. (and most other Western nations), everybody seems to be making a huge deal out of how "if you can't compete in the electrontic marketplace, you're out of business". Now, whether this is truly a fact or not remains to be seen, but it's almost certainly becoming more true every day.

Think about it. From that standpoint, a single company lacking the resources to compete in the digital marketplace, or even to leverage technology to compete in pure "meatspace", risks losing big-time. Now, extend that concept to the economy of an entire nation. Pretty ugly, eh? Yep, it sure is... I for one feel bad for the doubtless *many* legitimate businesses in Somalia that will suffer from this.

What's the end consequence? You can't really say "oh, they'll just get their access elsewhere", because any nation that reconnects them is begging for U.S. backlash. As a nation (and yes, I am an American citizen), we have a disturbing habit of not only "taking our ball and going home", but dropping bombs on anyone else who wants to let others use *their* ball to play. This tendency is only becoming more pronounced. I don't know how much longer the rest of the world will tolerate the cry-baby tactics of this nation, but hopefully it won't be too much longer.

Just my thoughts, eh?

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Yes, this is my protest to the sig char limit :).

I don't think it'll be illegal to use a secure system due to this, but I *do* think they're really asking for trouble if this thing "flies".

WARNING: The remainder of this post may in fact be advocating "terrorism" under the new definitions put forth by the U.S. gov with respect to "computer crimes". Why am I logged in? Because, quite simply, they can kiss my A$$.

Do you really think tens thousands of server admins would let this go without retribution? I for one sure as hell wouldn't. Invasion of my servers is, in my book, precisely the same as invading my home (maybe even worse). Okay, so how do we fix their little red wagon?

Go HoneyPot on their asses. Set up a bunch up of machines all over the place to get compromised, and have firewall software monitoring the destination of the nasty outgoing packets. From there, use a P2P model to distribute the destinations of such data, and D-E-N-Y the living hell out of their servers. For added flair, you could always include repetitious, highly profane strings in your denial actions (use your imagination).

I would especially advocate this concept for all technies living in various foreign nations whose citizens might get "bugged" by the our wonderful boys in blue. Yes, I am openly advocating retaliatory strikes against this sort of disgusting behavior.

And I think it's damned well warranted. :(

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Yes, this is my protest to the sig char limit :).

It isn't so much the actual current lockups (1 to be precise) that matter the most. It's the fact that countless researchers are probably wondering if they should ever publish their research again given the specter of arrest and lengthy imprisonment. I find it hard to believe you consider Dmitry to be nothing more than a "salesman pitching his product". In truth, his presentation in the States was more to do with findings of fact concerning his research into the system than anything else. The documents are all online, please check your sources.

No, I'm not screaming "Corporate polic state!". I'm actually screaming "Screwed up crap in the legal code!" which is quite different. The fact that you find it acceptable for innocent people to get their lives ruined in the "short term" (explain that to their families) over this is somewhat galling.

As for government employees doing their jobs, do we really have to go into the nasty details of other government employees "just doing their jobs"? Harsh example here, but I'm fairly sure a number terrorists groups (meaning their individuals actually doing the dirty work) are confident that they are (1) just doing their jobs, and (2) morally correct for doing so. It doesn't make it RIGHT.

As for supporting the EFF, according my bank statement I do that on a routine basis. Have you contributed recently?

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Yes, this is my protest to the sig char limit :).

the folks over at Secure Computing aren't really offering anything truly novel. Maybe I just skimmed their site too quickly, but what exactly do they do that couldn't be implemented via open source software?

*NIX operating systems have always been designed from the ground up to have fine grained access control features. This has been extended to all sorts of network environments spawned from that model. Perhaps they're playing up the "one box total solution" angle, but if that's the case they're on shaky ground.

Of course, I don't support government use of any sort of access controls to limit citizens' access to information, with the exception of info that is *truly* sensitive with respect to national security (sorry, info on water treatment plants found in libraries doesn't count IMO).

Then again, it's not my country. I don't agree with the extremist policies with respect to global data access enforced by many nations, but I also don't believe those policies can last forever. Sooner or later, the people will get fed up. This might mean rapid revolution, or gradual internal change, who knows?

Besides, recently (here in the U.S.) the apple hasn't fallen too far from the proverbial world tree in this respect. We're creeping toward a similar government view on what we can and can't access on the net. To all U.S. citizens: don't waste too many mental cycles worrying about the problems of other nations right now. The most pressing concerns and threats to our freedoms are right here at home.

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Yes, this is my protest to the sig char limit :).

And once again, SUCH intellectual elitism sickens me..."Joe Sixpack". I'm glad you're so much better than everyone else "Slashdot Geek Nerd Dork". I don't like giving labels like that to people, simply because I feel that somehow I'm better than they are.

Wow, guess what? I consider myself a "Joe Sixpack" who happens to know how to code Perl. Funny, eh? Before you snap out with clever knee-jerk reactions, you might want to consider alternate meanings.

The term "Joe Sixpack" is generally used to denote the average consumer or products/services/information. Now, I *do* know that I am, to a degree, a bit better informed compared to the average citizen about a range of issues. Does this make me a "better person"? Fundamentally, no. It does, in many respects, make me a smarter consumer. Knowledge is available to anyone who wants to learn. A lot of people make a conscious choice to stay in the dark, and that I can't help.

Dmitri IMO was DEFINITELY not a "scientist" he made a commercial program specifically designed to circumvent copyprotection laws. In other words, he was making money off of selling pirated goods, indirectly.

Geez, you're off the deep end with that one. How do you define "scientist"? I think it's pretty clear that the term "computer scientist" could VERY WELL be applied to Dmitry, given the fact that his focus was largely on core research and not just coding. You're a bit misinformed concerning the issue of "piracy promotion" as well; please tell me how people with sight disabilities are supposed to access an Adobe E-book? Is that silence I hear?

The whole point of the "copy protection circumvenstion" was to allow for FAIR USE OF DIGITAL MATERIAL. Thank you.

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Yes, this is my protest to the sig char limit :).

Let me see if I understand you correctly... you are in favor of allowig the government to eavesdrop on your private communications *without* a warrant or true just cause? In case you weren't aware, given the recent expansion of police powers in the U.S., "just cause" now has a very loose definition.

Slashdot is like any other information source... you can take or leave whatever you like. The mass media conglomerates in America are QUITE different; community feedback and participation are only performed under the guise of cheap "we care about our viewers/listeners" stunts. Everything is pre-digested so Joe Sixpack can suck it into his brain with minimal effort. To illustrate: Slashdot is full of posts deriling the editors for being wrong, overly biased, etc. When was the last time you saw a CNN anchor reading viewer letters about how much he/she sucks on the air? Slashdot isn't designed to limit expression in the same way (well, unless you consider the moderation system evil, as some do).

Don't worry, your desired examples of citizens being locked up for releasing research will be forthcoming shortly, if my guess is correct. Sadly, we've already jailed Dmitry, who IMO definitely counts as "a scientist presenting his research". From what I can gather, lots of foreign groups and even entire nations aren't very happy with us for that. Of course, since we're the U.S., we can just barge onto the world scene and do whatever we like, right? Sure thing, no problem. That won't last forever, rest assured.

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Yes, this is my protest to the sig char limit :).

Wow, that does make one think. You're absolutely right... our nation has a bad habit of frowning down upon other governments (throughout history) and their people as being stupid, evil, or confused. It would seem the coin truly does have two sides.

Moderators, mod parent up! In the words of the /. FAQ, the parent post is "a true gem", IMHO.

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Yes, this is my protest to the sig char limit :).

Your post is slightly off topic, but what the hell. Here we go.

Sorry to say it, but you'd have to have an awful lot of resources to break even a 128-bit encrypted message. As in, more resources than most corporations are prepared to devote to such a task, and more resources than the gov would dedicate without a fairly damned good reason (well, at least a "good reason" in *their* view).

Second, you'd have to have INSANE computing resources to break a 1024-bit or 4096-bit PKI encrypted message. As in, more resources than are practical to assemble in reality these days. Your argument just doesn't hold water. Yes, people who *claim* to use cryptography (when in fact their systems are fundamentally broken/flawed) are setting themselves up for a nasty fall, but folks who use encryption properly are far more immune.

Until, of course, the government decides to arrest folks for using crypto to begin with :(.

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Funny, yes, but rings sadly true. My guess is that it won't be long before the boys in black pay these fellows a visit for a friendly chat. I can't say how much the fact that this scenario is likely disgusts me.

I read the cryptanalys, and although I don't pretend to competely understand the concepts contained therein, it was nonetheless very interesting, and IMHO valuable, information (bad grammar there?).

Here's a question that comes to mind related to all the legal ramifications of this disclosure. I hate to say it, but I somehow got the impression during the start of the whole Dmitry thing that it was easier for the Feds to go after him because he is Russian. In the case of these guys, however, they don't have that added bit of leverage in the public eye. These individuals are all highly respected members of the cryptography community, and have strong ties to universities here in the States.

I get the feeling that legal action taken toward any of them would generate a FAR greater public outcry than we've seen with Dmitry. I'm not saying this is right or fair AT ALL, but at least it might buy some leverage in favor of true justice. Then again, under true justice people wouldn't be prosecuted for such "crimes" to begin with :(.

I can't decide how to feel. On the one hand, I have an insane degree of respect for them for publishing their research, and on the other I still have many fears for their freedom.

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Yes, this is my protest to the sig char limit :).

Well put indeed. At one of my old developer jobs, the company was a 100% Microsoft shop. NT servers, IIS on the web side, ASP for scripting, MS-SQL Server for database stuff. Needless to say, I tried time and time again to introduce *anything* related to *NIX and/or open source software, without any luck.

I tried bringing in PHP and Perl for scripting. I even set up a test server running NT 4.0 and ActiveState Perl, complete with a demo app that could be used for the customer's needs. Did they buy it? Nope. The customer was "sold" on Microsoft, and was convinced that anything else was second-rate.

Interestingly enough, from talking with a couple of friends still working there, they actually have a PHP coder on staff full-time now, and are running a number of Linux servers for various purposes. While it's frustrating that they couldn't "see the light" while I was there, it's also good to see them expanding their reach. Their primary focus is still on NT solutions, but I can't entirely knock that, since they *do* keep up with security patches and such far better than most "home grown" admins I know.

It all comes down to money. I run a web hosting company based on Linux. We don't do NT, period. Our customers are people who want Linux web hosting, plain and simple. There are hosts out there (lots actually) that only do NT. To each his own. All you can do is try to do the morally correct (in your own view, highly subjective) thing while still earning a living.

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Yes, this is my protest to the sig char limit :).

Hmm... actually, if the network itself had insane levels of physical (totally isolated) and human (good resistance to dumb-ass social engineering exploits) security, you could really run anything you want on it and be fine.

Of course, that said, there's no way in hell I'd want to admin a Windows network (err... again... I used to do that sort of thing a while back). ;)

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Yes, this is my protest to the sig char limit :).

For God's sake MODERATORS PLEASE MOD PARENT UP! :D. This has got to be the funniest shit I've ever seen. Here's my favorite excerpts from the ponolized version:

"10% Gangbangs "Pimp Mastah" To Support "Butplug" Your Christian "Son of a whore" Coalition."

"Simply complete the unclefucking form below and sign up for totally clean FreedomISP service."

"ACTIONALERTS directly from Christian "Ass-stitcher" Coalition's sucking team on CapitolHill"

That last one echoes sentiments I've had for a long, long time now...

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Yes, this is my protest to the sig char limit :).

"I'm all for fixing as many problems as possible but just waiting for large scale chemical attack while doing it is not a very good thing to do."

Shameless prediction on my part: This will in no way whatsoever reduce the chance of a large-scale chemical attack. It will however, get Joe Sixpack more accustomed to the idea of large-scale government censorship. Which will probably turn out to be more useful for the government than we can possibly imagine.

"Some problems can't even be fixed. There are a number of terrorists out there that wants to destroy everyone that doesn't have the same religion for no particular reason at all. How do you fix that? You can't."

I agree completely that there will always be insanity in this world. However, this isn't the way to reduce it or diminish its effect. This *is* a fine example of our citizens paying their government to strip freedoms away using our own tax dollars.

I think the best we can do is work on the social problems that cause such unrest. If madmen still feel intent on pursuing recourse via terrorist acts, the best we can do is deal with those individuals and groups.

It's agreed that the world is not black and white. We will always have a hard time balancing the freedoms of the people with national security. This issue is rather clear, however.

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Your mention of "Utopia" as it were reminds me of another good work in this vein: Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World". VERY good reading for people disturbed by trends like this.

OT, but IMHO the "sequel", "Brave New World Revisited" is crap, though. Huxley mostly wrote it under the influence of various narcotics, and damn if it doesn't show (sentences that go on for half a page).

Just my thoughts, nothing more. Thank you for your reply.

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Indeed, if things keep going in the direction they're headed, we'll be very close before long.

"Yes, but if it's going to take lots of time and resources to find out they can be discovered."

Sounds like you're advocating security through obscurity, something which (1) doesn't work in the world of software, and (2) doesn't work in the world at large. How about fixing the problems in our world that lead to such devastating consequences in the first place, instead of taking extreme measures after the fact?

The medical community has started to truly focus on preventive medicine only in the last couple of decades. Perhaps governent should take a cue. And no, enforcing the removal of this information is NOT preventive medicine. I mean that in the sense of looking into the underlying social problems that cause violent eruptions in the first place. Our nation hasn't been particularly good at that througout most of our (brief) history.

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Wow, Orwell couldn't have said it better. The implications here are quite frightening. Our (U.S.) government has taken the current situation as a green light to go on the offensive against a whole host of civil liberties and freedoms, and this is just "another brick in the wall" (gratuitous Floyd reference).

You know, growing up, I told myself I'd never need to own a firearm. I'm sad to say my view on that has changed recently. The most disturbing thing is the possibility that before long, we'll have a hard time deciding who's doing us the most damage: (1) evil people who terrorize our nation and others, or (2) governments that poison the minds of our children.

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If the damned terrorists want to know all about our nation's infrastructure, the information is readily available in A LOT OF PLACES, not all under government control. The ways of getting at such data are simply innumerable.

This is wrong, and yes, I'm going to mention 1984 here. How much closer do we have to get? The government is, in effect if not by intent, enforcing the concept of revisionist history. I don't pretend to understand how to deal with our current problems (here in the U.S.), but this isn't the way.

Maybe it's time to really step up efforts to archive data in places out of the reach of such efforts. Data warehousing might be what saves us in the future from this sort of insanity. Yes, it would have to have significant funding to work, but that funding could come from anywhere, anonymously if necessary. I for one would contribute.

Of course, even given that, the government would no doubt make accessible such digital troves illegal at some point, potentially classifying the very action of such access as "terrorist in nature".

Nobody is going to tell me I can't access public domain information and knowledge. No matter what, people will find a way. Sorry about the rambling here, this just pisses me off.

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Very good point. Does anyone have reference material indicating Adams' actual wishes or concerns on this topic?

Perhaps today's influential authors might want to make their wishes on this topic publicly known. After all, we're all mortal, but our work can (and sometimes does) live on for a long time.

It's kinda like organ donation; I'm an organ donor, but in order to take my parts that has to be verified. I can't help but support the notion that Adams' wishes may in fact be acted against through this.

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Yes, this is my protest to the sig char limit :).

Yes, you're right that I'm now at the point that I'm even getting my posts confused. My blood pressure has got to be spiking at this point... let's clarify if I can:

My original post was simply stating the person posting the EXTREME anti-Nazi stuff (the parts about bashing heads in with bats and such) really should get a life. Now, this does NOT make me a Nazi-sympathizer in any sense. I actually pretty much DESPISE them (NAZIS, that is), but (related to another of my posts) I feel conflict over this because in my book I'm not supposed to hate ANYBODY, although I happen to hate Nazis (which is wrong under my religious views, just as it would be wrong to hate anyone else I disagree with).

ANYBODY who's still consfused about this (and I know, I added to the confusion by getting mixed up myself), please email me a ceo@trilucid.com. Hell, I'll be happy to call anyone (long distance or not) to discuss this if need be. Thank you.

Being a Jew, I get so angry seeing people like you posting anti-Semite comments here and parroting Nazi propoganda. DreamSynthesis, it's your right to hate me just because of who my ancestors are, but I'm going to call you out on it, and so are all the other liberal and compassionate people in the world who will note tolerate racist drivel.

I'd seriously like you to examine why you hate Jews so much. Maybe you'll realize that you're just an intolerant farkwad and change your mind. I urge you to read some anti-racism sites... unless you're afraid to challenge your beliefs, that is.

The Anti-Nazi League -- Unite against racist murder!

American Jewish Committee -- Advancing religious, ethnic, and racial understanding worldwide.

Internet Centre Anti-Racism Europe -- Giant portal for Anti-racism resources.

Jewish Anti-Defamation League -- Fighting Anti-Semitism, Bigotry and Extremism Since 1913

I've sent copies of your Slashdot posts to a friend of mine at the ADL, so don't be surprised if you hear from him (and many others) very, very soon Mr ceo@trilucid.com.