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Slashback: Cheats, Entries, Loki
From the email I've gotten on it, it seems like a whole passel of schools have at least a homegrown solution to CS cheats.
Perhaps the cute dog will end up changing Sony's stance? CodeMonkey555 writes "Here is a story that chronicles Sony's little foray into the DMCA with a hacker who added software for the Aibo robot."
It's nice to see that publications like SciAm are following the results and consequences of the DMCA.
Care to help edit an online software reference? SteveMallett writes "We at Open Source Directory (OSD) have opened the directory to volunteer editors now that we've given app authors and maintainer's a good chance to start and/or maintain their own listings.
Those interested may wish to visit our volunteer page which outlines what we're looking for. Don't worry. We're not that picky. The outline includes guidelines and tips for being a volunteer. Unlike dmoz, which has volunteer editors, we _will_ delete unupdated or neglected editor work in accordance to our Social Contract.
We hope that editors will help fill in the missing apps, take over those listings that they can do a better job of or have become neglected, and find those diamonds in the rough."
See our earlier post about the project if you're not sure what this is about.
Yes, someone has to read all those emails. kcurtis writes "Boston.com's tech site has this AP article about the large response to the Court's request for comment on the MS case's proposed settlement."
Now all they need is a trowel with an emblazoned smiley. enigma48 writes "Looks like the C'T article a little while ago about Smoothwall prompted some changes after all. Juergen Schmidt even gets a little credit. Shadow passwords are now in, but it looks like the ppp secrets file is still open (they describe it as being a "non-vulnerability"). A-patchin' I will go, a-patchin' I will go..."
So you don't have to stop playing your games ... Scott Draeker of Loki has some encouraging words for those who thought the announced (upcoming) closure of Loki would mean the loss of Loki's code and community. Draeker sent word of this a few days ago, but here are more details.
He writes:
"We have prepared tarballs of the public CVS, FAQs, mailing list archives, demos and Loki_Update which will be available for people to host. That's exactly what's going on with icculus.org.The official repository will be hosted by the SEUL group at MIT. Once that site is set up we'll point the loki domains that direction. They'll also be adding some Loki projects to public CVS which were never completed."
No it means the preservation of loki's already open source code (SDL, OpenAL). Loki can't open their game code. They licensed the source from the original Windows versions under proprietary terms so they could port them. Unless Loki managed to convince every company they ported a game for to open the Windows versions as well then its not going to happen.
"Encryption was brought about for a variety of reasons, but one of the reasons wasn't to make sure that a product was used in a specific way"
Yes, but the DMCA was designed so that products can only be used a certain way. A really really stupid, really really bad law, yes, but that's how it is.
As for Sony's original position, the Scientfic American article leaves out an important factor. Originally, the AiboPet site had backups of Sony's software, obtained through crecking the encryption, available for download. Sony had a legitimate concern that these would be used improperly. Sure, no other hardware platform will run the stuff now, but it does make it easier to make clones or illegal copies of the code. Once Sony turned the lawyers loose, I think they went overboard, basically demanding that the entire site be shut down, originally. After the protests, they moderated their position quite a bit, but the "backups" are still gone.
I hope the open source directory takes off and actually takes in editors. I applied to DMOZ for a not too large category and got an instant rejection saying new editors should apply for a smaller category. Ok, I reapplied on for a much smaller category. That was about 2 months ago. (Both categories needed an editor, BADLY). Still haven't heard back. I begin to wonder if DMOZ is even using editors anymore.
Hi,
One of the reasons that I submitted the link to the software used at my University was to point out how routine this kind of thing has become.
The idea of automated cheat detection is fundamentally a good one, it helps to remove complete weeds from around us. However, at the same time we must remember that software is only as good as what you put in to it. False positives and other negative aspects quickly displace the usefulness of such applications in my mind - especially when you may find that the analysis of "similarity" between submissions is publically available for all to see.
The problem in my mind is when automated cheat detection develops in to other forms of automated assessment, which in my opinion are wrong. I do not believe that even the best current AI software is able to judge submissions in quite the same way as a human being, we should remember this.
In any case, I suggest that you guys take a look around at the information each organisation has on its assessment software - it's become quite an interest of mine of late.
--
Jon Masters
http://www.jonmasters.org/
http://www.jonmasters.org/
I, for one, believe that reading those comments would be a very instructive exercise.
Your local federal repository library (my local university's library is onesuch) keeps back copies of the Federal Register around. If you're in the US, you probably have one nearby, too.
I do agree, however, that online copies would be a Good Thing.