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SSSCA Editorials
idiotnot writes: "This editorial from the New York Times, by Jonathan L. Zittrain, a professor at Harvard Law School, urges legislators to exercise caution in regulating the PC. Eisner, et. al. want to limit the PC's capability, which will limit what PC users are allowed to do. See this earlier story about Eisner's testimony to Congress. '[W]e should beware the haste with which some would sacrifice flexibility for control.'" Other readers submitted a story in Hardware Central and an AP article. Seems like the ruckus over the SSSCA is finally reaching the mainstream press.
A fresh frost pist before I go to bed... how nice! ... and it hurts.
"Eisner, et. al. want to limit the PC's capability, which will limit what PC users are allowed to do."
Big deal. Microsoft have been doing this for years.
When you page-break, it makes it impossible to surf at -1. Therefore, your fellow trolls are the ones most hurt by this.
Webbed feet are kind of neat.
Liberate your mind in two clicks or less.
Why the hell does this Haaarvaad Genius* think that we should have some kind of thought police running our computer?
I think microsoft has an antitrust trial for doing just that. Who wants this control? The easier it is to use a good, the more people buy it.
* = oxymoron, see interesting article by JonKatz.
- Kaos games and encryption systems developer
Have you? It takes just a couple of minutes, and might mean a lot. This law scares the bejesus out of me, and I hope it does the same to you. Let your Senators and Representatives know.
This applies equality to poor folks living in the ghetto and rich aogrjerianilg who live in Palm Poenigoaenr.
Liberate your mind in two clicks or less.
...are little brown trouts that like to poke out. In fact, I think mine is crowning. brb.
Of course they didn't quite phrase it that way. Michael Eisner, chief executive of the Walt Disney Company, complained that the technology industry made it too easy for "people wanting to get anything for free on their television or computer or hand-held device." Peter Chernin, president of the News Corporation, worried that the Internet's "ability to empower the general public" would lead to the online theft of some of the contents of media companies' digital treasuries.
Both men want the next generation of personal computers to be unable to deliver unauthorized movies, music and other content, and they asked that Congress stand ready to intervene if industry failed to deliver the necessary technology to safeguard its products. A lone executive, from Intel, objected. The market, he said, not Congress, should dictate how technology works.
The debate on Capitol Hill between content providers like Disney and those who make the products to deliver that content, like Intel, was really a proxy for a much larger debate: What do we want our technology to do? How do we want it to work? And do we have any say in the matter?
For most forms of current technology, these questions have long been settled. No executives are worried about illegal uses of televisions or coffee makers, for instance, and no consumers need to worry that these appliances will crash or become infected with viruses and we would never accept it if they did. Our TV's and VCR's don't take ill when we watch infected programs, and our refrigerators never require rebooting.
Yet we have come to tolerate such problems from our personal computers. The PC's fundamental and unique unreliability flows from its construction as a so-called flexible platform a mere staging area for many kinds of software. The point (and bane) of a PC is, essentially, to run whatever software it encounters.
There are plenty of reliable computers: the controls of the modern Airbus 340 are fully given over to a computer, and video-game consoles consistently work as advertised, as do Aegis missile cruisers, cellular telephones and digital watches. All contain transistors. Can technologists figure out how to replicate the reliability of airplanes, telephones, watches and televisions in future versions of Windows and Linux, so that a mischievous 12-year-old half a world away can't erase a thousand far-flung hard drives?
Absolutely. In January Bill Gates sent a memo to all Microsoft employees declaring a new, overarching, even revolutionary mandate: Software must be reliable and "trustworthy." This new focus is both welcome and worrisome, because the very steps needed to secure our computers and networks can be the steps that will deaden them to continued innovation and creative uses while opening them to more intrusive monitoring by mainstream technology manufacturers and content providers.
Mr. Gates and the co-captains of his industry are producing blueprints for so-called "trusted" PC's. They will employ digital gatekeepers that act like the bouncers outside a nightclub, ensuring that only software that looks or behaves a certain way is allowed in. The result will be more reliable computing and more control over the machine by the manufacturer or operating system maker, which essentially gives the bouncer her guest list.
And as soon as there are limits on the software a PC can run, there will be limits on what PC users can do. That's exactly what executives like Mr. Eisner and Mr. Chernin want. They'd like software and hardware companies to build PC's to allow a publisher an exquisite level of control over a book or a song or a movie in the hands of a consumer. Trusted PC users might spend $1.95 for a single viewing of the latest Disney animated feature, or they might pay a similar amount for three listens of U2's most recent single. Security, stability, reliability and control.
Users may buy a trusted PC even if it won't show a digital video lent by a friend, because it will act less like a temperamental computer and more like a crash-free super-VCR like the just-released Microsoft X-box. But in the process of "improving" our PC's, the manufacturers and their partners will be able to determine what software will and won't be allowed to run, what we can and can't do with the information to which we're exposed, and what data about our online activities will be collected and sent to the manufacturer or content provider to assist in future marketing.
Giving your senator a blow job doesn't hurt.
How else do you think they passed NAFTA?
please scratch 'em
thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
Use foobar/foobar to read the article.
Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!
Netcraft has officially confirmed: SSSCA is dying
Yet another crippling bombshell hit the beleaguered SSSCA community when recently IDC confirmed that SSSCA donations to politicions accounts for less than a fraction of 1 percent of all donations from Microsoft. Coming on the heels of the latest Netcraft survey which plainly states that SSSCA has lost more market share, this news serves to reinforce what we've known all along. SSSCA is collapsing in complete disarray, as further exemplified by failing dead last [samag.com] in the recent lawyers comprehensive test.
You don't need to be a Kreskin [amdest.com] to predict SSSCA's future. The hand writing is on the wall: SSSCA faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for SSSCA because SSSCA is dying. Things are looking very bad for SSSCA. As many of us are already aware, SSSCA continues to lose market share. Red ink flows like a river of blood. SSSCA is the most endangered of them all, having lost 93% of its purchased politicions.
Due to the troubles of the RIAA, abysmal sales and so on, SSSCA went out of business and was taken over by MPAA who sell another troubled "lets fuck the consumer" coporation. Now MPAA is also dead, its corpse turned over to yet another charnel house.
All major surveys show that SSSCA has steadily declined in market share. SSSCA is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If SSSCA is to survive at all it will be among OS hobbyist dabblers. SSSCA continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, SSSCA is dead.
Fact: SSSCA is dead
unfortunately, the tactic used in the poast has been to ust gradually reduce the feature set of the products gradually so that he never notices.
hopefully the best hope on this is the quandary seen in companies like sony. Sony music, I believe, grosses 4 billion dollars a year, while Sony Electronics, makers of mp3 players, etc grosses 40 billion dollars. In this case, I wonder which part of the company will win out, given the conflict of interest inside the company.
there are plenty such issues messing up the priorities.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
how the hell do you get counter-strike to work from behind an smc barricade router?
"you sonofabitch i didn't know!"
Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler
Volume One - A Reckoning
Chapter I: In The House Of My Parents
TODAY it seems to me providential that Fate should have chosen Braunau on the Inn as my birthplace. For this little town lies on the boundary between two German states which we of the younger generation at least have made it our life work to reunite by every means at our disposal.
German-Austria must return to the great German mother country, and not because of any economic considerations. No, and again no: even if such a union were unimportant from an economic point of view; yes, even if it were harmful, it must nevertheless take place. One blood demands one Reich. Never will the German nation possess the moral right to engage in colonial politics until, at least, it embraces its own sons within a single state. Only when the Reich borders include the very last German, but can no longer guarantee his daily bread, will the moral right to acquire foreign soil arise from the distress of our own people. Their sword will become our plow, and from the tears of war the daily bread of future generations will grow. And so this little city on the border seems to me the symbol of a great mission. And in another respect as well, it looms as an admonition to the present day. More than a hundred years ago, this insignificant place had the distinction of being immortalized in the annals at least of German history, for it was the scene of a tragic catastrophe which gripped the entire German nation. At the time of our fatherland's deepest humiliation, Johannes Palm of Nuremberg, burgher, bookseller, uncompromising nationalist and French hater, died there for the Germany which he loved so passionately even in her misfortune. He had stubbornly refused to denounce his accomplices who were in fact his superiors. In thus he resembled Leo Schlageter. And like him, he was denounced to the French by a representative of his government An Augsburg police chief won this unenviable fame, thus furnishing an example for our modern German officials in Herr Severing's Reich.
In this little town on the Inn, gilded by the rays of German martyrdom, Bavarian by blood, technically Austrian, lived my parents in the late eighties of the past century; my father a dutiful civil servants my mother giving all her being to the household, and devoted above all to us children in eternal, loving care Little remains in my memory of this period, for after a few years my father had to leave the little border city he had learned to love, moving down the Inn to take a new position in Passau, that is, in Germany proper.
In those days constant moving was the lot of an Austrian customs official. A short time later, my father was sent to Linz, and there he was finally pensioned. Yet, indeed, this was not to mean "res"' for the old gentleman. In his younger days, as the son of a poor cottager, he couldn't bear to stay at home. Before he was even thirteen, the little boy laced his tiny knapsack and ran away from his home in the Waldviertel. Despite the at tempts of 'experienced' villagers to dissuade him, he made his way to Vienna, there to learn a trade. This was in the fifties of the past century. A desperate decision, to take to the road with only three gulden for travel money, and plunge into the unknown. By the time the thirteen-year-old grew to be seventeen, he had passed his apprentice's examination, but he was not yet content. On the contrary. The long period of hardship, endless misery, and suffering he had gone through strengthened his determination to give up his trade and become ' something better. Formerly the poor boy had regarded the priest as the embodiment of all humanly attainable heights; now in the big city, which had so greatly widened his perspective, it was the rank of civil servant. With all the tenacity of a young man whom suffering and care had made 'old' while still half a child, the seventeen-year-old clung to his new decision-he did enter the civil service. And after nearly twenty-three years, I believe, he reached his goal. Thus he seemed to have fulfilled a vow which he had made as a poor boy: that he would not return to his beloved native village until he had made something of himself.
His goal was achieved; but no one in the village could remember the little boy of former days, and to him the village had grown strange.
When finally, at the age of fifty-six, he went into retirement, he could not bear to spend a single day of his leisure in idleness. Near the Upper Austrian market village of Lambach he bought a farm, which he worked himself, and thus, in the circuit of a long and industrious life, returned to the origins of his forefathers.
It was at this time that the first ideals took shape in my breast. All my playing about in the open, the long walk to school, and particularly my association with extremely 'husky' boys, which sometimes caused my mother bitter anguish, made me the very opposite of a stay-at-home. And though at that time I scarcely had any serious ideas as to the profession I should one day pursue, my sympathies were in any case not in the direction of my father's career. I believe that even then my oratorical talent was being developed in the form of more or less violent arguments with my schoolmates. I had become a little ringleader; at school I learned easily and at that time very well, but was otherwise rather hard to handle. Since in my free time I received singing lessons in the cloister at Lambach, I had excellent opportunity to intoxicate myself with the solemn splendor of the brilliant church festivals. As was only natural the abbot seemed to me, as the village priest had once seemed to my father, the highest and most desirable ideal. For a time, at least, this was the case. But since my father, for understandable reasons, proved unable to appreciate the oratorical talents of his pugnacious boy, or to draw from them any favorable conclusions regarding the future of his offspring, he could, it goes without saying, achieve no understanding for such youthful ideas. With concern he observed this conflict of nature.
As it happened, my temporary aspiration for this profession was in any case soon to vanish, making place for hopes more stated to my temperament. Rummaging through my father's library, I had come across various books of a military nature among them a popular edition of the Franco-German War of 1870-7I It consisted of two issues of an illustrated periodical from those years, which now became my favorite reading matter It was not long before the great heroic struggle had become my greatest inner experience. From then on I became more and more enthusiastic about everything that was in any way connected with war or, for that matter, with soldiering
But in another respect as well, this was to assume importance for me. For the first time, though as yet in a confused form, the question was forced upon my consciousness: Was there a difference -and if so what difference-between the Germans who fought these battles and other Germans? Why hadn't Austria taken part in this war; why hadn't my father and all the others fought?
Are we not the same as all other Germans?
Do we not all belong together? This problem began to gnaw at my little brain for the first time. I asked cautious questions and with secret envy received the answer that not every German was fortunate enough to belong to Bismarck's Reich..
This was more than I could understand.
It was decided that I should go to high school.
From my whole nature, and to an even greater degree from my temperament, my father believed he could draw the inference that the humanistic Gymnasium would represent a conflict with my talents. A Realschol seemed to him more suitable. In this opinion he was especially strengthened by my obvious aptitude for drawing; a subject which in his opinion was neglected in the Austrian Gymnasiums. Another factor may have been his own laborious career which made humanistic study seem impractical in his eyes, and therefore less desirable. It was hus basic opinion and intention that, like himself, his son would and must become a civil servant. It was only natural that the hardships of his youth should enhance his subsequent achievement in his eyes, particularly since it resulted exclusively from his own energy and iron diligence. It was the pride of the self-made man which made him want his son to rise to the same position in life, orJ of course, even higher if possible, especially since, by his own industrious life, he thought he would be able to facilitate his child's development so greatly.
It was simply inconceivable to him that I might reject what had become the content of his whole life. Consequently, my father s decision was simple, definite, and clear; in his own eyes I mean, of course. Finally, a whole lifetime spent in the bitter struggle for existence had given him a domineering nature, and it would have seemed intolerable to him to leave the final decision in such matters to an inexperienced boy, having as yet no Sense of responsibility. Moreover, this would have seemed a sinful and reprehensible weakness in the exercise of his proper parental authority and responsibility for the future life of his child, and as such, absolutely incompatible with his concept of duty.
And yet things were to turn out differently.
Then barely eleven years old, I was forced into opposition for the first time in my life. Hard and determined as my father might be in putting through plans and purposes once conceived his son was just as persistent and recalcitrant in rejecting an idea which appealed to him not at all, or in any case very little.
I did not want to become a civil servant.
Neither persuasion nor 'serious' arguments made any impression on my resistance. I did not want to be a civil servant no, and again no. All attempts on my father's part to inspire me with love or pleasure in this profession by stories from his own life accomplished the exact opposite. I yawned and grew sick to my stomach at the thought of sitting in an office, deprived of my liberty; ceasing to be master of my own time and being compelled to force the content of a whole life into blanks that had to be filled out.
And what thoughts could this prospect arouse in a boy who in reality was really anything but 'good' in the usual sense of the word?
School work was ridiculously easy, leaving me so much free time that the sun saw more of me than my room. When today my political opponents direct their loving attention to the examination of my life, following it back to those childhood days and discover at last to their relief what intolerable pranks this "Hitler" played even in his youth, I thank Heaven that a portion of the memories of those happy days still remains with me. Woods and meadows were then the battlefields on which the 'conflicts' which exist everywhere in life were decided.
In this respect my attendance at the Realschule, which now commenced, made little difference.
But now, to be sure, there was a new conflict to be fought out.
As long as my fathers intention of making me a civil servant encountered only my theoretical distaste for the profession, the conflict was bearable. Thus far, I had to some extent been able to keep my private opinions to myself; I did not always have to contradict him immediately. My own firm determination never to become a civil servant sufficed to give me complete inner peace. And this decision in me was immutable. The problem became more difficult when I developed a plan of my own in opposition to my father's. And this occurred at the early age of twelve. How it happened, I myself do not know, but one day it became clear to me that I would become a painter, an artist. There was no doubt as to my talent for drawing; it had been one of my father's reasons for sending me to the Realschule, but never in all the world would it have occurred to him to give me professional training in this direction. On the contrary. When for the first time, after once again rejecting my father's favorite notion, I was asked what I myself wanted to be, and I rather abruptly blurted out the decision I had meanwhile made, my father for the moment was struck speechless.
' Painter? Artist? '
He doubted my sanity, or perhaps he thought he had heard wrong or misunderstood me. But when he was clear on the subject, and particularly after he felt-the seriousness of my intention, he opposed it with all the determination of his nature. His decision was extremely simple, for any consideration of w at abilities I might really have was simply out of the question.
'Artist, no, never as long as I live!' But since his son, among various other qualities, had apparently inherited his father' s stubbornness, the same answer came back at him. Except, of course, that it was in the opposite sense.
And thus the situation remained on both sides. My father did not depart from his 'Never!' And I intensified my 'Oh, yes!'
The consequences, indeed, were none too pleasant. The old man grew embittered, and, much as I loved him, so did I. Ally father forbade me to nourish the slightest hope of ever being allowed to study art. I went one step further and declared that if that was the case I would stop studying altogether. As a result of such 'pronouncements,' of course, I drew the short end; the old man began the relentless enforcement of his authority. In the future, therefore, I was silent, but transformed my threat into reality. I thought that once my father saw how little progress I was making at the Realschule, he would let me devote myself to my dream, whether he liked it or not.
I do not know whether this calculation was correct. For the moment only one thing was certain: my obvious lack of success at school. What gave me pleasure I learned, especially everything which, in my opinion, I should later need as a painter. What seemed to me unimportant in this respect or was otherwise unattractive to me, I sabotaged completely. My report cards at this time, depending on the subject and my estimation of it, showed nothing but extremes. Side by side with 'laudable' and 'excellent,' stood 'adequate' or even 'inadequate.' By far my best accomplishments were in geography and even more so in history. These were my favorite subjects, in which I led the; class.
If now, after so many years, I examine the results of this period, I regard two outstanding facts as particularly significant:
First: I became a nationalist
Second: I learned to understand and grasp the meaning of history.
Old Austria was a 'state of nationalities.'
By and large, a subject of the German Reich, at that time at least, was absolutely unable to grasp the significance of this fact for the life of the individual in such a state. After the great victorious campaign of the heroic armies in the Franco-German War, people had gradually lost interest in the Germans living abroad; some could not, while others were unable to appreciate their importances Especially with regard to the GermanAustrians, the degenerate dynasty was only too frequently confused with the people, which at the core was robust and healthy.
What they failed to appreciate was that, unless the German in Austria had really been of the best blood, he would never have had the power to set his stamp on a nation of fifty-two million souls to such a degree that, even in Germany, the erroneous opinion could arise that Austria was a German state. This was an absurdity fraught with the direst consequences, and yet a glowing testimonial to the ten million Germans in the Ostmark. Only a handful of Germans in the Reich had the slightest conception of the eternal and merciless struggle for the German language, German schools, and a German way of life. Only today, when the same deplorable misery is forced on many millions of Germans from the Reich, who under foreign rule dream of their common fatherland and strive, amid their longing, at least to preserve their holy right to their mother tongue, do wider circles understand what it means to be forced to fight for one's nationality. Today perhaps some can appreciate the greatness of the Germans in the Reich's old Ostmark, who, with no one but themselves to depend on, for centuries protected the Reich against incursions from the East, and finally carried on an exhausting guerrilla warfare to maintain the German language frontier, at a time when the Reich was highly interested in colonies, but not in its own flesh and blood at its very doorstep.
As everywhere and always, in every struggle, there were, in this fight for the language in old Austria, three strata:
The fighters, the lukewarm and the traitors.
This sifting process began at school. For the remarkable fact about the language struggle is that its waves strike hardest perhaps in the school, since it is the seed-bed of the coming generation. It is a struggle for the soul of the child, and to the child its first appeal is addressed:
'German boy, do not forget you are a German,' and, 'Little girl, remember that you are to become a German mother.'
Anyone who knows the soul of youth will be able to understand that it is they who lend ear most joyfully to such a battle-cry. They carry on this struggle in hundreds of forms, in their own way and with their own weapons. They refuse to sing unGerman songs. The more anyone tries to alienate them from German heroic grandeur, the wilder becomes their enthusiasm: they go hungry to save pennies for the grown-ups' battle fund their ears are amazingly sensitive to un-German teachers, and at the same time they are incredibly resistant; they wear the forbidden insignia of their own nationality and are happy to be punished or even beaten for it. Thus, on a small scale they are a faithful reflection of the adults, except that often their convictions are better and more honest.
I, too, while still comparatively young, had an opportunity to take part in the struggle of nationalities in old Austria. Collections were taken for the Sudmark I and the school association; we emphasized our convictions by wearing corn-flowers and red lack, and gold colors; 'Heil ' was our greeting, and instead of the imperial anthem we sang 'Deutschland uber Alles,' despite warnings and punishments. In this way the child received political training in a period when as a rule the subject of a so-called national state knew little more of his nationality than its language. It goes without saying that even then I was not among the lukewarm. In a short time I had become a fanatical 'German Nationalist,' though the term was not identical with our present party concept.
This development in me made rapid progress; by the time I was fifteen I understood the difference between dynastic ' patriotism' and folkish "nationalism'; and even then I was interested only in the latter.
For anyone who has never taken the trouble to study the inner conditions of the Habsburg monarchy, such a process may not be entirely understandable. In this country the instruction in world history had to provide the germ for this development, since to all intents and purposes there is no such thing as a specifically Austrian history. The destiny of this state is so much bound up with the life and development of all the Germans that a separation of history into German and Austrian does not seem conceivable. Indeed, when at length Germany began to divide into two spheres of power, this division itself became German history.
The insignia of former imperial glory, preserved in Vienna, still seem to cast a magic spell; they stand as a pledge that these twofold destinies are eternally one.
The elemental cry of the German-Austrian people for union with the German mother country, that arose in the days when the Habsburg state was collapsing, was the result of a longing that slumbered in the heart of the entire people-a longing to return to the never-forgotten ancestral home. But this would be in explicable if the historical education of the individual GermanAustrian had not given rise to so general a longing. In it lies a well which never grows dry; which, especially in times of forgetfulness, transcends all momentary prosperity and by constant reminders of the past whispers softly of a new future
Instruction in world history in the so-called high schools is even today in a very sorry condition. Few teachers understand that the aim of studying history can never be to learn historical dates and events by heart and recite them by rote; that what matters is not whether the child knows exactly when this or that battle was fought, when a general was born, or even when a monarch (usually a very insignificant one) came into the crown of his forefathers. No, by the living God, this is very unimportant.
To 'learn' history means to seek and find the forces which are the causes leading to those effects which we subsequently perceive as historical events.
The art of reading as of learning is this: to retain the essential to forget the non-essential.
Perhaps it affected my whole later life that good fortune sent me a history teacher who was one of the few to observe this principle in teaching and examining. Dr. Leopold Potsch, my professor at the Realschule in Linz, embodied this requirement to an ideal degree. This old gentleman's manner was as kind as it was determined, his dazzling eloquence not only held us spellbound but actually carried us away. Even today I think back with gentle emotion on this gray-haired man who, by the fire of his narratives, sometimes made us forget the present; who, as if by enchantment, carried us into past times and, out of the millennial veils of mist, molded dry historical memories into living reality. On such occasions we sat there, often aflame with enthusiasm, and sometimes even moved to tears.
What made our good fortune all the greater was that this teacher knew how to illuminate the past by examples from the present, and how from the past to draw inferences for the present. As a result he had more understanding than anyone else for all the daily problems which then held us breathless. He used our budding nationalistic fanaticism as a means of educating use frequently appealing to our sense of national honor. By this alone he was able to discipline us little ruffians more easily than would have been possible by any other means.
This teacher made history my favorite subject.
And indeed, though he had no such intention, it was then that I became a little revolutionary.
For who could have studied German history under such a teacher without becoming an enemy of the state which, through its ruling house, exerted so disastrous an influence on the destinies of the nation?
And who could retain his loyalty to a dynasty which in past and present betrayed the needs of the German people again and again for shameless private advantage?
Did we not know, even as little boys, that this Austrian state had and could have no love for us Germans?
Our historical knowledge of the works of the House of Habsburg was reinforced by our daily experience. In the north and south the poison of foreign nations gnawed at the body of our nationality, and even Vienna was visibly becoming more and more of an un-German city. The Royal House Czechized wherever possible, and it was the hand of the goddess of eternal justice and inexorable retribution which caused Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the most mortal enemy of Austrian-Germanism, to fall by the bullets which he himself had helped to mold. For had he not been the patron of Austria's Slavization from above !
Immense were the burdens which the German people were expected to bear, inconceivable their sacrifices in taxes and blood, and yet anyone who was not totally blind was bound to recognize that all this would be in vain. What pained us most was the fact that this entire system was morally whitewashed by the alliance with Germany, with the result that the slow extermination of Germanism in the old monarchy was in a certain sense sanctioned by Germany itself. The Habsburg hypocrisy, which enabled the Austrian rulers to create the outward appearance that Austria was a German state, raised the hatred toward this house to flaming indignation and at the same time -contempt.
Only in the Reich itself, the men who even then were called to power saw nothing of all this. As though stricken with blindness, they lived by the side of a corpse, and in the symptoms of rotten-
ness saw only the signs of 'new' life.
The unholy alliance of the young Reich and the Austrian sham state contained the germ of the subsequent World War and of the collapse as well.
In the course of this book I shall have occasion to take up this problem at length. Here it suffices to state that even in my earliest youth I came to the basic insight which never left me, but Only became more profound:
That Germanism could be safeguarded only by the destruction of Austria, and, furthermore, that national sentiment is in no sense Identical with dynastic patriotism; that above all the House of Habsburg was destined to be the misfortune of the German nation.
Even then I had drawn the consequences from this realization ardent love for my German-Austrian homeland state.
The habit of historical thinking which I thus learned in school has never left me in the intervening years. To an ever-increasing extent world history became for me an inexhaustible source of understanding for the historical events of the present, in other words, for politics. I do not want to 'learn' it, I want it to in instruct me.
Thus, at an early age, I had become a political ' revolutionary,' and I became an artistic revolutionary at an equally early age.
The provincial capital of Upper Austria had at that time a theater which was, relatively speaking, not bad. Pretty much of everything was produced. At the age of twelve I saw Wilhelm Tell for the first time, and a few months later my first opera, Lohengrin. I was captivated at once. My youthful enthusiasm for the master of Bayreuth knew no bounds. Again and again I was drawn to his works, and it still seems to me especially fortunate that the modest provincial performance left me open to an intensified experience later on.
All this, particularly after I had outgrown my adolescence (which in my case was an especially painful process), reinforced my profound distaste for the profession which my father had chosen for me. My conviction grew stronger and stronger that I would never be happy as a civil servant. The fact that by this time my gift for drawing had been recognized at the Realschule made my determination all the firmer.
Neither pleas nor threats could change it one bit.
I wanted to become a painter and no power in the world could make me a civil servant.
Yet, strange as it may seem, with the passing years I became more and more interested in architecture.
At that time I regarded this as a natural complement to my gift as a painter, and only rejoiced inwardly at the extension of my artistic scope.
I did not suspect that things would turn out differently.
The question of my profession was to be decided more quickly than I had previously expected.
In my thirteenth year I suddenly lost my father. A stroke of apoplexy felled the old gentleman who was otherwise so hale, thus painlessly ending his earthly pilgrimage, plunging us all into the depths of grief His most ardent desire had been to help his son forge his career, thus preserving him from his own bitter experience. In this, to all appearances, he had not succeeded. But, though unwittingly, he had sown the seed for a future which at that time neither he nor I would have comprehended.
For the moment there was no outward change.
My mother, to be sure, felt obliged to continue my education in accordance with my father's wish; in other words, to have me study for the civil servant's career. I, for my part, was more than ever determined absolutely not to undertake this career. In proportion as my schooling departed from my ideal in subject matter and curriculum, I became more indifferent at heart. Then suddenly an illness came to my help and in a few weeks decided my future and the eternal domestic quarrel. As a result of my serious lung ailment, a physician advised my mother in most urgent terms never to send me into an office. My attendance at the Realschule had furthermore to be interrupted for at least a year. The goal for which I had so long silently yearned, for which I had always fought, had through this event suddenly become reality almost of its own accord.
Concerned over my illness, my mother finally consented to take me out of the Realschule and let- me attend the Academy.
These were the happiest days of my life and seemed to me almost a dream; and a mere dream it was to remain. Two years later, the death of my mother put a sudden end to all my highflown plans.
It was the conclusion of a long and painful illness which from the beginning left little hope of recovery. Yet it was a dreadful blow, particularly for me. I had honored my father, but my mother I had loved.
Poverty and hard reality now compelled me to take a quick decision. What little my father had left had been largely exhausted by my mother's grave illness; the orphan's pension to which I was entitled was not enough for me even to live on, and so I was faced with the problem of somehow making my own living.
In my hand a suitcase full of clothes and underwear; in my heart an indomitable will, I journeyed to Vienna. I, too, hoped to wrest from Fate what my father had accomplished fifty years before; I, too, wanted to become 'something'-but on no account a civil servant.
zygomaticum zygomaticus zygomaxillare zygomaxillary zygomorphic zygomorphism zygomorphous zygomycete Zygomycetes zygomycetous zygon zygoneure zygophore zygophoric Zygophyceae zygophyceous Zygophyllaceae zygophyllaceous Zygophyllum zygophyte zygopleural Zygoptera Zygopteraceae zygopteran zygopterid Zygopterides Zygopteris zygopteron zygopterous Zygosaccharomyces zygose zygosis zygosperm zygosphenal zygosphene zygosphere zygosporange zygosporangium zygospore zygosporic zygosporophore zygostyle zygotactic zygotaxis zygote zygotene zygotic zygotoblast zygotoid zygotomere zygous zygozoospore zymase zyme zymic zymin zymite zymogen zymogene zymogenesis zymogenic zymogenous zymoid zymologic zymological zymologist zymology zymolyis zymolysis zymolytic zymome zymometer zymomin zymophore zymophoric zymophosphate zymophyte zymoplastic zymoscope zymosimeter zymosis zymosterol zymosthenic zymotechnic zymotechnical zymotechnics zymotechny zymotic zymotically zymotize zymotoxic zymurgy Zyrenian Zyrian Zyryan zythem Zythia zythum Zyzomys Zyzzogeton
Dog is my co-pilot.
While most of you think it is ridiculous, and I'm sure you've thousands reasons explaining why it doesn't work; stay calm, and think about it. As you can see a lot of people doesn't even have a slight clue of it, we really need to voice out.
Even a professor at Harvard Law School would say something like that! Those guys are supposed to reach a certain degree of clue level. I always think they must be smarter than us in all aspect. Now you can see how serious the matter is - we are surround by professional Cluelessnesses!!
To add insult to injury, they want to redefine the reality to suit their clue level. The worse is that the reality would be changed so that sane people are considered insane and vice versa. It just happens.
Don't just sit there! Write to your senators to voice out your opinions!(write with plain letter, of course)
The Haaarvard Genius is the one arguing against control of computer hardware.
Nice job reading the article dipshit*.
* = Kiwipeso, see post above for interesting example of stupidity.
A a aa aal aalii aam Aani aardvark aardwolf Aaron Aaronic Aaronical Aaronite Aaronitic Aaru Ab aba Ababdeh Ababua abac abaca abacate abacay abacinate abacination abaciscus abacist aback abactinal abactinally abaction abactor abaculus abacus Abadite abaff abaft abaisance abaiser abaissed abalienate abalienation abalone Abama abampere abandon abandonable abandoned abandonedly abandonee abandoner abandonment Abanic Abantes abaptiston Abarambo Abaris abarthrosis abarticular abarticulation abas abase abased abasedly abasedness abasement abaser Abasgi abash abashed abashedly abashedness abashless abashlessly abashment abasia abasic abask Abassin abastardize abatable abate abatement abater abatis abatised abaton abator abattoir Abatua abature abave abaxial abaxile abaze abb Abba abbacomes abbacy Abbadide
I'm very glad to see all the mainstream press that this proposed legislation is getting.
Hopefully, as more and more editorials criticize this law, the general public will begin to see what is at stake and demand that Congress abandon this Disney law.
It is not the role of the government to protect the revenue streams of industry; but somewhere and somehow this has become their sole occupation. In a democratic free-market, the government should ensure fairness (I'm not a libertarian, I have no belief in an entierly market-based system) - unfortunatly in our system the government seems only concerned with appeasing the largest corporations, with no regard for the people they are presumed to serve.
If we all stand up, and let our politicians know that "enough is enough" hopefully they will change their ways. And it seems like more and more "everyday" people are beginning to make their voice heard (witness protests in Seattle, etc.), but the corporate media does its very best to quiet this dissent.
Unfortunatly the American idea of freedom has been transformed, and what remains is solely a concern with the freedom to make money.
I thought the article missed the point. Many people are going to come away from reading it thinking, "I don't want one of these crippled computers, so I won't buy one, no matter how much I see ads for them." They aren't going to appreciate the fact that the media companies don't want this to be a choice we have--they want to ram these things down our throats. They know damn well that, given the choice, no one will want them, so they want to pass a law like the SSSCA to force the issue. That is what people need to understand.
But this article is a great opportunity for anyone interested to write a letter to the editor of the Times. Getting published won't be easy, but it's possible, now more so than ever, since the paper has given this issue publicity. So if you want to write, here's your chance. They have an e-mail address for submissions:
letters at nytimes dot com (munged to prevet spam)
I wasn't able to locate a postal address on the Web site for letters to the editor, but maybe someone else will have that available and post it here.
That light you see at the end of the tunnel might be from an oncoming train.
N n nn nny nnyvv nnz Nnav nneqinex nneqjbys Nneba Nnebavp Nnebavpny Nnebavgr Nnebavgvp Nneh No non Nonoqru Nonohn nonp nonpn nonpngr nonpnl nonpvangr nonpvangvba nonpvfphf nonpvfg nonpx nonpgvany nonpgvanyyl nonpgvba nonpgbe nonphyhf nonphf Nonqvgr nonss nonsg nonvfnapr nonvfre nonvffrq nonyvrangr nonyvrangvba nonybar Nonzn nonzcrer nonaqba nonaqbanoyr nonaqbarq nonaqbarqyl nonaqbarr nonaqbare nonaqbazrag Nonavp Nonagrf noncgvfgba Nonenzob Nonevf noneguebfvf nonegvphyne nonegvphyngvba nonf nonfr nonfrq nonfrqyl nonfrqarff nonfrzrag nonfre Nonftv nonfu nonfurq nonfurqyl nonfurqarff nonfuyrff nonfuyrffyl nonfuzrag nonfvn nonfvp nonfx Nonffva nonfgneqvmr nongnoyr nongr nongrzrag nongre nongvf nongvfrq nongba nongbe nonggbve Nonghn nongher nonir nonkvny nonkvyr nonmr noo Noon noonpbzrf noonpl Noonqvqr
What I can't understand is why the writers of bills like the SSSCA can't just bite the bullet and take the bill to it's logical conclusion. It exists for one reason and one reason only, right? Money. No one has argued anything else. The almighty Right to Compensation. Why stop at simple DRM and hope it doesn't get cracked in the first 20 minutes? Why not just let all the music in the world go free and create a direct music/artist tax for everyone. Cut out the middle man and have the people pay directly into the bank accounts of the copyright holders.
Seriously! Wouldn't this be incredibly efficient? Isn't this the logical conclusion of laws that are designed to guarantee profits for a particular group?
"Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!"
HEIL HITLER!
HEIL HITLER!
Will this work?
... and it hurts.
... om ['O.c' in gap]) on Tuesday March 12, @02:27AM (#3147331)
... om ['O.c' in gap]) on Tuesday March 12, @02:32AM (#3147352)
Can I post the entire site?
If so, that'll be sooo cool. I'll get like +50000
think they must be smarter than us in all aspect. Now you can see how serious the matter is - we are surround by professional Cluelessnesses!!
To add insult to injury, they want to redefine the reality to suit their clue level. The worse is that the reality would be changed so that sane people are considered insane and vice versa. It just happens.
Don't just sit there! Write to your senators to voice out your opinions!(write with plain letter, of course)
"I do not agree with a word you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it" - Voltaire
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Mainstream Press Coverage (Score:3)
by CFN on Tuesday March 12, @02:51AM (#3147413)
(User #114345 Info)
I'm very glad to see all the mainstream press that this proposed legislation is getting.
Hopefully, as more and more editorials criticize this law, the general public will begin to see what is at stake and demand that Congress abandon this Disney law.
It is not the role of the government to protect the revenue streams of industry; but somewhere and somehow this has become their sole occupation. In a democratic free-market, the government should ensure fairness (I'm not a libertarian, I have no belief in an entierly market-based system) - unfortunatly in our system the government seems only concerned with appeasing the largest corporations, with no regard for the people they are presumed to serve.
If we all stand up, and let our politicians know that "enough is enough" hopefully they will change their ways. And it seems like more and more "everyday" people are beginning to make their voice heard (witness protests in Seattle, etc.), but the corporate media does its very best to quiet this dissent.
Unfortunatly the American idea of freedom has been transformed, and what remains is solely a concern with the freedom to make money.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
I thought the article missed the point. (Score:3, Insightful)
by SomeoneYouDontKnow on Tuesday March 12, @02:52AM (#3147415)
(User #267893 Info)
I thought the article missed the point. Many people are going to come away from reading it thinking, "I don't want one of these crippled computers, so I won't buy one, no matter how much I see ads for them." They aren't going to appreciate the fact that the media companies don't want this to be a choice we have--they want to ram these things down our throats. They know damn well that, given the choice, no one will want them, so they want to pass a law like the SSSCA to force the issue. That is what people need to understand.
But this article is a great opportunity for anyone interested to write a letter to the editor of the Times. Getting published won't be easy, but it's possible, now more so than ever, since the paper has given this issue publicity. So if you want to write, here's your chance. They have an e-mail address for submissions:
letters at nytimes dot com (munged to prevet spam)
I wasn't able to locate a postal address on the Web site for letters to the editor, but maybe someone else will have that available and post it here.
That light you see at the end of the tunnel might be from an oncoming train.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
I've written my representatives (Score:2, Interesting)
by nigelthellama on Tuesday March 12, @02:30AM (#3147341)
(User #563606 Info)
Have you? It takes just a couple of minutes, and might mean a lot. This law scares the bejesus out of me, and I hope it does the same to you. Let your Senators and Representatives know.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Re:I've written my representatives by Skuld-Chan (Score:2) Tuesday March 12, @02:46AM
Re:I FUCKED MINE! by Anonymous Coward (Score:-1) Tuesday March 12, @02:34AM
NYT Login (Score:2, Informative)
by markov_chain on Tuesday March 12, @02:38AM (#3147374)
(User #202465 Info)
Use foobar/foobar to read the article.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Are we now so blind to the Constitution (Score:2, Interesting)
by Scareduck on Tuesday March 12, @02:44AM (#3147392)
(User #177470 Info | http://www.scareduck.com)
that Congress feels obliged to ignore the part about
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Those of you who still think FDR's "living document" idea of the Constitution (i.e., it means whatever is politically expedient), please justify your position in light of Disney-bought Senators.
Dog is my co-pilot.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Ad Absurdum and the SSSCA (Score:2)
by gnovos (gnovos AT chipped DOT net) on Tuesday March 12, @03:06AM (#3147450)
(User #447128 Info | http://slashdot.org/ | Last Journal: Wednesday January 30, @04:29AM)
What I can't understand is why the writers of bills like the SSSCA can't just bite the bullet and take the bill to it's logical conclusion. It exists for one reason and one reason only, right? Money. No one has argued anything else. The almighty Right to Compensation. Why stop at simple DRM and hope it doesn't get cracked in the first 20 minutes? Why not just let all the music in the world go free and create a direct music/artist tax for everyone. Cut out the middle man and have the people pay directly into the bank accounts of the copyright holders.
Seriously! Wouldn't this be incredibly efficient? Isn't this the logical conclusion of laws that are designed to guarantee profits for a particular group?
"Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!"
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
text of article (Score:1, Insightful)
by CmdrTaco (editor) on Tuesday March 12, @02:33AM (#3147355)
(User #564483 Info)
Last month the top executives of two of the most powerful media companies in the world traveled to Washington to testify before Congress about the most dangerous threat they face: the American consumer.
Of course they didn't quite phrase it that way. Michael Eisner, chief executive of the Walt Disney Company, complained that the technology industry made it too easy for "people wanting to get anything for free on their television or computer or hand-held device." Peter Chernin, president of the News Corporation, worried that the Internet's "ability to empower the general public" would lead to the online theft of some of the contents of media companies' digital treasuries.
Both men want the next generation of personal computers to be unable to deliver unauthorized movies, music and other content, and they asked that Congress stand ready to intervene if industry failed to deliver the necessary technology to safeguard its products. A lone executive, from Intel, objected. The market, he said, not Congress, should dictate how technology works.
The debate on Capitol Hill between content providers like Disney and those who make the products to deliver that content, like Intel, was really a proxy for a much larger debate: What do we want our technology to do? How do we want it to work? And do we have any say in the matter?
For most forms of current technology, these questions have long been settled. No executives are worried about illegal uses of televisions or coffee makers, for instance, and no consumers need to worry that these appliances will crash or become infected with viruses and we would never accept it if they did. Our TV's and VCR's don't take ill when we watch infected programs, and our refrigerators never require rebooting.
Yet we have come to tolerate such problems from our personal computers. The PC's fundamental and unique unreliability flows from its construction as a so-called flexible platform a mere staging area for many kinds of software. The point (and bane) of a PC is, essentially, to run whatever software it encounters.
There are plenty of reliable computers: the controls of the modern Airbus 340 are fully given over to a computer, and video-game consoles consistently work as advertised, as do Aegis missile cruisers, cellular telephones and digital watches. All contain transistors. Can technologists figure out how to replicate the reliability of airplanes, telephones, watches and televisions in future versions of Windows and Linux, so that a mischievous 12-year-old half a world away can't erase a thousand far-flung hard drives?
Absolutely. In January Bill Gates sent a memo to all Microsoft employees declaring a new, overarching, even revolutionary mandate: Software must be reliable and "trustworthy." This new focus is both welcome and worrisome, because the very steps needed to secure our computers and networks can be the steps that will deaden them to continued innovation and creative uses while opening them to more intrusive monitoring by mainstream technology manufacturers and content providers.
Mr. Gates and the co-captains of his industry are producing blueprints for so-called "trusted" PC's. They will employ digital gatekeepers that act like the bouncers outside a nightclub, ensuring that only software that looks or behaves a certain way is allowed in. The result will be more reliable computing and more control over the machine by the manufacturer or operating system maker, which essentially gives the bouncer her guest list.
And as soon as there are limits on the software a PC can run, there will be limits on what PC users can do. That's exactly what executives like Mr. Eisner and Mr. Chernin want. They'd like software and hardware companies to build PC's to allow a publisher an exquisite level of control over a book or a song or a movie in the hands of a consumer. Trusted PC users might spend $1.95 for a single viewing of the latest Disney animated feature, or they might pay a similar amount for three listens of U2's most recent single. Security, stability, reliability and control.
Users may buy a trusted PC even if it won't show a digital video lent by a friend, because it will act less like a temperamental computer and more like a crash-free super-VCR like the just-released Microsoft X-box. But in the process of "improving" our PC's, the manufacturers and their partners will be able to determine what software will and won't be allowed to run, what we can and can't do with the information to which we're exposed, and what data about our online activities will be collected and sent to the manufacturer or content provider to assist in future marketing.
The real CmdrTaco is User #1 [slashdot.org] but he is an imposter.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Re:text of article Tuesday March 12, @02:37AM
Re:text of article Tuesday March 12, @03:09AM
page-breakers, please read... (Score:0, Offtopic)
by painkillr on Tuesday March 12, @02:21AM (#3147307)
(User #33398 Info)
When you page-break, it makes it impossible to surf at -1. Therefore, your fellow trolls are the ones most hurt by this.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Re:page-breakers, please read... by Anonymous Coward (Score:-1) Tuesday March 12, @02:26AM
Re:page-breakers, please read... Tuesday March 12, @02:32AM
Re:page-breakers, please read... Tuesday March 12, @02:50AM
first serious post (Score:0)
by kiwipeso (andrew.mc@paradise.net.nz) on Tuesday March 12, @02:28AM (#3147335)
(User #467618 Info | http://neural.net.nz/ | Last Journal: Wednesday March 06, @04:03PM)
Why the hell does this Haaarvaad Genius* think that we should have some kind of thought police running our computer?
I think microsoft has an antitrust trial for doing just that. Who wants this control? The easier it is to use a good, the more people buy it.
* = oxymoron, see interesting article by JonKatz.
- Kaos [neural.net.nz] operating system creator
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
and seriously wrong Tuesday March 12, @02:46AM
words (encrypted for your protection) (Score:0)
by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 12, @03:05AM (#3147445)
N n nn nny nnyvv nnz Nnav nneqinex nneqjbys Nneba Nnebavp Nnebavpny Nnebavgr Nnebavgvp Nneh No non Nonoqru Nonohn nonp nonpn nonpngr nonpnl nonpvangr nonpvangvba nonpvfphf nonpvfg nonpx nonpgvany nonpgvanyyl nonpgvba nonpgbe nonphyhf nonphf Nonqvgr nonss nonsg nonvfnapr nonvfre nonvffrq nonyvrangr nonyvrangvba nonybar Nonzn nonzcrer nonaqba nonaqbanoyr nonaqbarq nonaqbarqyl nonaqbarr nonaqbare nonaqbazrag Nonavp Nonagrf noncgvfgba Nonenzob Nonevf noneguebfvf nonegvphyne nonegvphyngvba nonf nonfr nonfrq nonfrqyl nonfrqarff nonfrzrag nonfre Nonftv nonfu nonfurq nonfurqyl nonfurqarff nonfuyrff nonfuyrffyl nonfuzrag nonfvn nonfvp nonfx Nonffva nonfgneqvmr nongnoyr nongr nongrzrag nongre nongvf nongvfrq nongba nongbe nonggbve Nonghn nongher nonir nonkvny nonkvyr nonmr noo Noon noonpbzrf noonpl Noonqvqr
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
frost pist (Score:-1, Offtopic)
by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 12, @02:18AM (#3147299)
A fresh frost pist before I go to bed... how nice!
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
SSSCA is dying. Tuesday March 12, @02:40AM
It's been done before... (Score:-1, Flamebait)
by Anaxagor on Tuesday March 12, @02:21AM (#3147306)
(User #211917 Info)
"Eisner, et. al. want to limit the PC's capability, which will limit what PC users are allowed to do."
Big deal. Microsoft have been doing this for years.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Re:It's been done before... Tuesday March 12, @02:29AM
Sucky suckle my suckiness (Score:-1)
by YourMissionForToday (yourmissionfortod
(User #556292 Info | http://www.yourfriendlymediacorner.com/ | Last Journal: Wednesday February 27, @01:27PM)
Webbed feet are kind of neat.
Have you ever seen the back of a twenty-dollar bill...ON WEED?
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Another neat-o thing.... by herbert_axelrod (Score:-1) Tuesday March 12, @02:32AM
An affront to deceny (Score:-1)
by YourMissionForToday (yourmissionfortod
(User #556292 Info | http://www.yourfriendlymediacorner.com/ | Last Journal: Wednesday February 27, @01:27PM)
This law is tiaeingoaeirnvoeian to decency! Everyone who thinks that Ogjieneosn should be shot on site.
This applies equality to poor folks living in the ghetto and rich aogrjerianilg who live in Palm Poenigoaenr.
Have you ever seen the back of a twenty-dollar bill...ON WEED?
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
my nutz itch (Score:-1, Troll)
by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 12, @02:36AM (#3147366)
please scratch 'em
thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Re:my nutz itch by MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM (Score:-1) Tuesday March 12, @03:06AM
THE REAL QUESTION IS... (Score:-1, Offtopic)
by mar1no on Tuesday March 12, @02:41AM (#3147382)
(User #559482 Info | http://knifeluck.linux-dude.com/)
how the hell do you get counter-strike to work from behind an smc barricade router?
-- you sonofabitch i didn't know!
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Mein Kampf (Score:-1, Offtopic)
by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 12, @02:42AM (#3147386)
Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler
Volume One - A Reckoning
Chapter I: In The House Of My Parents
TODAY it seems to me providential that Fate should have chosen Braunau on the Inn as my birthplace. For this little town lies on the boundary between two German states which we of the younger generation at least have made it our life work to reunite by every means at our disposal.
German-Austria must return to the great German mother country, and not because of any economic considerations. No, and again no: even if such a union were unimportant from an economic point of view; yes, even if it were harmful, it must nevertheless take place. One blood demands one Reich. Never will the German nation possess the moral right to engage in colonial politics until, at least, it embraces its own sons within a single state. Only when the Reich borders include the very last German, but can no longer guarantee his daily bread, will the moral right to acquire foreign soil arise from the distress of our own people. Their sword will become our plow, and from the tears of war the daily bread of future generations will grow. And so this little city on the border seems to me the symbol of a great mission. And in another respect as well, it looms as an admonition to the present day. More than a hundred years ago, this insignificant place had the distinction of being immortalized in the annals at least of German history, for it was the scene of a tragic catastrophe which gripped the entire German nation. At the time of our fatherland's deepest humiliation, Johannes Palm of Nuremberg, burgher, bookseller, uncompromising nationalist and French hater, died there for the Germany which he loved so passionately even in her misfortune. He had stubbornly refused to denounce his accomplices who were in fact his superiors. In thus he resembled Leo Schlageter. And like him, he was denounced to the French by a representative of his government An Augsburg police chief won this unenviable fame, thus furnishing an example for our modern German officials in Herr Severing's Reich.
In this little town on the Inn, gilded by the rays of German martyrdom, Bavarian by blood, technically Austrian, lived my parents in the late eighties of the past century; my father a dutiful civil servants my mother giving all her being to the household, and devoted above all to us children in eternal, loving care Little remains in my memory of this period, for after a few years my father had to leave the little border city he had learned to love, moving down the Inn to take a new position in Passau, that is, in Germany proper.
In those days constant moving was the lot of an Austrian customs official. A short time later, my father was sent to Linz, and there he was finally pensioned. Yet, indeed, this was not to mean "res"' for the old gentleman. In his younger days, as the son of a poor cottager, he couldn't bear to stay at home. Before he was even thirteen, the little boy laced his tiny knapsack and ran away from his home in the Waldviertel. Despite the at tempts of 'experienced' villagers to dissuade him, he made his way to Vienna, there to learn a trade. This was in the fifties of the past century. A desperate decision, to take to the road with only three gulden for travel money, and plunge into the unknown. By the time the thirteen-year-old grew to be seventeen, he had passed his apprentice's examination, but he was not yet content. On the contrary. The long period of hardship, endless misery, and suffering he had gone through strengthened his determination to give up his trade and become ' something better. Formerly the poor boy had regarded the priest as the embodiment of all humanly attainable heights; now in the big city, which had so greatly widened his perspective, it was the rank of civil servant. With all the tenacity of a young man whom suffering and care had made 'old' while still half a child, the seventeen-year-old clung to his new decision-he did enter the civil service. And after nearly twenty-three years, I believe, he reached his goal. Thus he seemed to have fulfilled a vow which he had made as a poor boy: that he would not return to his beloved native village until he had made something of himself.
His goal was achieved; but no one in the village could remember the little boy of former days, and to him the village had grown strange.
When finally, at the age of fifty-six, he went into retirement, he could not bear to spend a single day of his leisure in idleness. Near the Upper Austrian market village of Lambach he bought a farm, which he worked himself, and thus, in the circuit of a long and industrious life, returned to the origins of his forefathers.
It was at this time that the first ideals took shape in my breast. All my playing about in the open, the long walk to school, and particularly my association with extremely 'husky' boys, which sometimes caused my mother bitter anguish, made me the very opposite of a stay-at-home. And though at that time I scarcely had any serious ideas as to the profession I should one day pursue, my sympathies were in any case not in the direction of my father's career. I believe that even then my oratorical talent was being developed in the form of more or less violent arguments with my schoolmates. I had become a little ringleader; at school I learned easily and at that time very well, but was otherwise rather hard to handle. Since in my free time I received singing lessons in the cloister at Lambach, I had excellent opportunity to intoxicate myself with the solemn splendor of the brilliant church festivals. As was only natural the abbot seemed to me, as the village priest had once seemed to my father, the highest and most desirable ideal. For a time, at least, this was the case. But since my father, for understandable reasons, proved unable to appreciate the oratorical talents of his pugnacious boy, or to draw from them any favorable conclusions regarding the future of his offspring, he could, it goes without saying, achieve no understanding for such youthful ideas. With concern he observed this conflict of nature.
As it happened, my temporary aspiration for this profession was in any case soon to vanish, making place for hopes more stated to my temperament. Rummaging through my father's library, I had come across various books of a military nature among them a popular edition of the Franco-German War of 1870-7I It consisted of two issues of an illustrated periodical from those years, which now became my favorite reading matter It was not long before the great heroic struggle had become my greatest inner experience. From then on I became more and more enthusiastic about everything that was in any way connected with war or, for that matter, with soldiering
But in another respect as well, this was to assume importance for me. For the first time, though as yet in a confused form, the question was forced upon my consciousness: Was there a difference -and if so what difference-between the Germans who fought these battles and other Germans? Why hadn't Austria taken part in this war; why hadn't my father and all the others fought?
Are we not the same as all other Germans?
Do we not all belong together? This problem began to gnaw at my little brain for the first time. I asked cautious questions and with secret envy received the answer that not every German was fortunate enough to belong to Bismarck's Reich..
This was more than I could understand.
It was decided that I should go to high school.
From my whole nature, and to an even greater degree from my temperament, my father believed he could draw the inference that the humanistic Gymnasium would represent a conflict with my talents. A Realschol seemed to him more suitable. In this opinion he was especially strengthened by my obvious aptitude for drawing; a subject which in his opinion was neglected in the Austrian Gymnasiums. Another factor may have been his own laborious career which made humanistic study seem impractical in his eyes, and therefore less desirable. It was hus basic opinion and intention that, like himself, his son would and must become a civil servant. It was only natural that the hardships of his youth should enhance his subsequent achievement in his eyes, particularly since it resulted exclusively from his own energy and iron diligence. It was the pride of the self-made man which made him want his son to rise to the same position in life, orJ of course, even higher if possible, especially since, by his own industrious life, he thought he would be able to facilitate his child's development so greatly.
It was simply inconceivable to him that I might reject what had become the content of his whole life. Consequently, my father s decision was simple, definite, and clear; in his own eyes I mean, of course. F
Read the rest of this comment...
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
HEIL HITLER! Tuesday March 12, @03:11AM
words (the last 100) (Score:-1, Offtopic)
by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 12, @02:42AM (#3147387)
zygomaticum zygomaticus zygomaxillare zygomaxillary zygomorphic zygomorphism zygomorphous zygomycete Zygomycetes zygomycetous zygon zygoneure zygophore zygophoric Zygophyceae zygophyceous Zygophyllaceae zygophyllaceous Zygophyllum zygophyte zygopleural Zygoptera Zygopteraceae zygopteran zygopterid Zygopterides Zygopteris zygopteron zygopterous Zygosaccharomyces zygose zygosis zygosperm zygosphenal zygosphene zygosphere zygosporange zygosporangium zygospore zygosporic zygosporophore zygostyle zygotactic zygotaxis zygote zygotene zygotic zygotoblast zygotoid zygotomere zygous zygozoospore zymase zyme zymic zymin zymite zymogen zymogene zymogenesis zymogenic zymogenous zymoid zymologic zymological zymologist zymology zymolyis zymolysis zymolytic zymome zymometer zymomin zymophore zymophoric zymophosphate zymophyte zymoplastic zymoscope zymosimeter zymosis zymosterol zymosthenic zymotechnic zymotechnical zymotechnics zymotechny zymotic zymotically zymotize zymotoxic zymurgy Zyrenian Zyrian Zyryan zythem Zythia zythum Zyzomys Zyzzogeton
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
words (the first 100) (Score:-1, Offtopic)
by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 12, @02:47AM (#3147404)
A a aa aal aalii aam Aani aardvark aardwolf Aaron Aaronic Aaronical Aaronite Aaronitic Aaru Ab aba Ababdeh Ababua abac abaca abacate abacay abacinate abacination abaciscus abacist aback abactinal abactinally abaction abactor abaculus abacus Abadite abaff abaft abaisance abaiser abaissed abalienate abalienation abalone Abama abampere abandon abandonable abandoned abandonedly abandonee abandoner abandonment Abanic Abantes abaptiston Abarambo Abaris abarthrosis abarticular abarticulation abas abase abased abasedly abasedness abasement abaser Abasgi abash abashed abashedly abashedness abashless abashlessly
This could be such a boon to the Canadian IT sector!!
The SSSCA stinks of zionism. Also, I would definitely sacrifice the jews for world peace. Two birds with one fucking stone.
New Slashdot pole:
y Neal's Camera-whoring portal
If the US gov had to sacrfice an industry, which one should it be?
1)Movie/Record
2)Electronics/software
3)Cowbo
I wonder what the results would be if someone sponsored a real poll like this (minus #3) nationwide?
Maskirovka
TODAY'S NEWS:
Linux geek becomes incensed simply by reading an article...calls for action from fellow linux-newbie slashdotters [who buy clothes from thinkgeek yet still don't really 'know' UNIX]..."This law is horrible!" "Take action! Write your reps!"
Suck my c0Xor
Pictures of NAKED, HOT, CHICKS... all free! No registration/age verificdation needed!
If you haven't already done so, please contact your Senators.
why not?
look at these beauties
zogo Zohak Zoharist Zoharite zoiatria zoiatrics zoic zoid zoidiophilous zoidogamous Zoilean Zoilism Zoilist zoisite zoisitization zoism zoist zoistic zokor Zolaesque Zolaism Zolaist Zolaistic Zolaize zoll zolle Zollernia zollpfund zolotink zolotnik zombi zombie zombiism zomotherapeutic zomotherapy zonal zonality zonally zonar Zonaria zonary zonate zonated zonation zone zoned zoneless zonelet zonelike zonesthesia Zongora zonic zoniferous zoning zonite Zonites zonitid Zonitidae Zonitoides zonochlorite zonociliate zonoid zonolimnetic zonoplacental Zonoplacentalia zonoskeleton Zonotrichia Zonta Zontian zonular zonule zonulet zonure zonurid Zonuridae zonuroid Zonurus zoo zoobenthos zooblast zoocarp zoocecidium zoochemical zoochemistry zoochemy Zoochlorella zoochore zoocoenocyte zoocultural zooculture zoocurrent zoocyst zoocystic zoocytial zoocytium zoodendria zoodendrium zoodynamic zoodynamics zooecia zooecial zooecium zooerastia zooerythrin zoofulvin zoogamete zoogamous zoogamy zoogene zoogenesis zoogenic zoogenous zoogeny zoogeographer zoogeographic zoogeographical zoogeographically zoogeography zoogeological zoogeologist zoogeology zoogloea zoogloeal zoogloeic zoogonic zoogonidium zoogonous zoogony zoograft zoografting zoographer zoographic zoographical zoographically zoographist zoography zooid zooidal zooidiophilous zooks zoolater zoolatria zoolatrous zoolatry zoolite zoolith zoolithic zoolitic zoologer zoologic zoological zoologically zoologicoarchaeologist zoologicobotanical zoologist zoologize zoology zoom zoomagnetic zoomagnetism zoomancy zoomania zoomantic zoomantist Zoomastigina Zoomastigoda zoomechanical zoomechanics zoomelanin zoometric zoometry zoomimetic zoomimic zoomorph zoomorphic zoomorphism zoomorphize zoomorphy zoon zoonal zoonerythrin zoonic zoonist zoonite zoonitic zoonomia zoonomic zoonomical zoonomist zoonomy zoonosis zoonosologist zoonosology zoonotic zoons zoonule zoopaleontology zoopantheon zooparasite zooparasitic zoopathological zoopathologist zoopathology zoopathy zooperal zooperist zoopery Zoophaga zoophagan Zoophagineae zoophagous zoopharmacological zoopharmacy zoophile zoophilia zoophilic zoophilism zoophilist zoophilite zoophilitic zoophilous zoophily zoophobia zoophobous zoophoric zoophorus zoophysical zoophysics zoophysiology Zoophyta zoophytal zoophyte zoophytic zoophytical zoophytish zoophytography zoophytoid zoophytological zoophytologist zoophytology zooplankton zooplanktonic zooplastic zooplasty zoopraxiscope zoopsia zoopsychological zoopsychologist zoopsychology zooscopic zooscopy zoosis zoosmosis zoosperm zoospermatic zoospermia zoospermium zoosphere zoosporange zoosporangia zoosporangial zoosporangiophore zoosporangium zoospore zoosporic zoosporiferous zoosporocyst zoosporous zootaxy zootechnic zootechnics zootechny zooter zoothecia zoothecial zoothecium zootheism zootheist zootheistic zootherapy zoothome zootic Zootoca zootomic zootomical zootomically zootomist zootomy zoototemism zootoxin zootrophic zootrophy zootype zootypic zooxanthella zooxanthellae zooxanthin zoozoo zopilote Zoque Zoquean Zoraptera zorgite zoril zorilla Zorillinae zorillo Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism Zoroastrism Zorotypus zorrillo zorro Zosma zoster Zostera Zosteraceae zosteriform Zosteropinae Zosterops Zouave zounds zowie Zoysia Zubeneschamali zuccarino zucchetto zucchini zudda zugtierlast zugtierlaster zuisin Zuleika Zulhijjah Zulinde Zulkadah Zulu Zuludom Zuluize zumatic zumbooruk Zuni Zunian zunyite zupanate Zutugil zuurveldt zuza zwanziger Zwieback zwieback Zwinglian Zwinglianism Zwinglianist zwitter zwitterion zwitterionic zyga zygadenine Zygadenus Zygaena zygaenid Zygaenidae zygal zygantra zygantrum zygapophyseal zygapophysis zygion zygite Zygnema Zygnemaceae Zygnemales Zygnemataceae zygnemataceous Zygnematales zygobranch Zygobranchia Zygobranchiata zygobranchiate Zygocactus zygodactyl Zygodactylae Zygodactyli zygodactylic zygodactylism zygodactylous zygodont zygolabialis zygoma zygomata zygomatic zygomaticoauricular zygomaticoauricularis zygomaticofacial zygomaticofrontal zygomaticomaxillary zygomaticoorbital zygomaticosphenoid zygomaticotemporal zygomaticum zygomaticus zygomaxillare zygomaxillary zygomorphic zygomorphism zygomorphous zygomycete Zygomycetes zygomycetous zygon zygoneure zygophore zygophoric Zygophyceae zygophyceous Zygophyllaceae zygophyllaceous Zygophyllum zygophyte zygopleural Zygoptera Zygopteraceae zygopteran zygopterid Zygopterides Zygopteris zygopteron zygopterous Zygosaccharomyces zygose zygosis zygosperm zygosphenal zygosphene zygosphere zygosporange zygosporangium zygospore zygosporic zygosporophore zygostyle zygotactic zygotaxis zygote zygotene zygotic zygotoblast zygotoid zygotomere zygous zygozoospore zymase zyme zymic zymin zymite zymogen zymogene zymogenesis zymogenic zymogenous zymoid zymologic zymological zymologist zymology zymolyis zymolysis zymolytic zymome zymometer zymomin zymophore zymophoric zymophosphate zymophyte zymoplastic zymoscope zymosimeter zymosis zymosterol zymosthenic zymotechnic zymotechnical zymotechnics zymotechny zymotic zymotically zymotize zymotoxic zymurgy Zyrenian Zyrian Zyryan zythem Zythia zythum Zyzomys Zyzzogeton
they make me hot. hot i say!
Due to excessive bad words from this IP or Subnet, comment posting has temporarily been disabled. If it's you, consider this a chance to sit in the words corner. If it's someone else, this is a chance to hunt words down. If you think this is words, please email jamie@words.vg with your MD5'd IPID and SubnetID, which are "words" and "words" and (optionally, but preferably) your IP number "words" and your username "usrsharedictwords".
hello? helllloooo? hello? hellllooooo? do you need more words? I have some. 234937, in fact. Do you want to see them all? I can show them to you, if you want. words words words. you know, a word is nothing but letters with spaces around it. or maybe not even spaces. word that's a word. spaces or newlines, i guess. word.
LBJ was known to his Mexican whores as "El BJ".
Custer's Revenge: The greatest video
(This will likely cost me a karma point or two, but so what? There's a cap, after all, and it's easy to regain it.)
People get banned from moderating on Slashdot for the simple reason that they have moderated _unfairly_ based upon the _consensus_ of several of Slashdot's meta-moderators.
Moderations that will get you banned from further moderating, if you make a habit of them:
* Moderating down people who you dislike.
* Moderating down posts you disagree with.
* Moderating posts as Troll which aren't trolls.
* Moderating posts as Offtopic that are topical.
* Other moderating stupidities... see above for clues.
Sheesh, some people! You act, then you must accept the consequences of your actions. Screw up, you pay. Welcome to the real world.
Yes, this is off-topic to the article, but it responds to this jerk's whine about having been banned from moderating here. Give me a break.
Ah, but I never moderated. Not even once. But I'd like to have the option.
This is all good, it is a positive to discuss the way we feel about our limited supply of animals. How many of you know how chickens are "kept". The farmers cut off there beaks so they can't defend themselves agains the cruelty inflicted on them. The poo on one another becuase there cages are stacked one ontop of another so they can't move around. "Free range" chickens dont fare much better. They are placed in tiny cages in a field and allowed to run around in a circle. They frequently become frustrated (who wouldn't) and peck other chickens eyeballs out of their haeds. It truly is revolting what happens to the chickens you carnivores place on you dinner plates. I make it a point to tell all people when they eat checiken what kind of treatment they undergo. Many times people can't eat after I'm fimished. I'm doing my part to save the humanity of chickens. Next time you go to get a tub of KFC, consider the poor poo-poo chickens. Then you won't be able to eat it and another chicken will have been saved.
For example, I have no conceptual problem with restricting some traditional fair-use rights when it comes to renting movies. I don't think a renter needs the ability to copy the movie for either time-shifting or back-up purposes. Congress started with that basic thought, and ended up with section K of the DMCA that required copy protection on all new VCR's (CopyGuard/MacroVision). The problem is that the movie industry promptly screwed the consumer!
* They put copy protection on all tapes (and DVDs), not just ones for rental.
* The copy protection removes fair-use (that I think) should still be available in a rental situation: such as "quoting" a section of a movie for review or analysis.
* The copy protection does not expire once the movie becomes public domain, an issue that will cause our future historians fits!
Most the DRM systems I've seen proposed eliminate most of the rights/benefits consumers (and society) normally have under traditional copyright law. If the DRM clauses were put into a "shrinkwrap" contract, they would be ruled unenforceable (for example the courts quashed the publishers attempt to enforce a "do not resell" notice in a book). A DRM system combined with the DMCA anti-circumvention measures puts the consumer at the mercy of the system designer. Your only option is to not buy it, which may mean going without since the publishers/recording-industry are going to be loathe to make any non-DRM content available.
Ignoring all the practical issues with the SSSCA for a moment (and there are a bunch!), the only way the bill should proceed is if it guarantees that no DRM will hamper or eliminate rights in the copyright balance. I'm not talking about Disney's definition of fair-use either (which as best I can tell, is something to the effect that Disney can use public-domain material, but does not have to release any of it's own work into the public domain). To take my rental example, the DRM would have to find some way to accommodate all three bullets (not an easy thing to do).
To be fair, another slant on this is the definition of new "relationships". We can now think of two normal methods of obtaining a movie for example: "purchase" and "rental". The DRM proponents are trying to make new workable models. The original idea behind DIVX went something like this: Electricity used to be charged based on capacity. Edison would count the number of lights in your house, and set the monthly charge based on the potential capacity of how much electricity you might use. Once they designed a power meter (a very tricky area, even now), they could dramatically lower the prices and only charge you for the electricity that you used. DIVX would allow a very low charge per use (planned to be lower than a traditional rental charge), instead of a one-size-fits-all purchase price.
The DIVX problems make a good illustration for almost all the DRM schemes I've seen. I never heard of DIVX being cracked. Secure client software backed up with a centrally managed server can make things pretty bullet proof (up to the point it converts to something outside of the DRM scheme). But security aside, DIVX had a whole host of problems, which frankly I don't know of a way to get past. Aside: I've considered job offers at today's DRM companies, but many of them are just too sleazy. The typical attitude is that public domain and fair-use is unimportant - the copyright holders content needs to be protected at all costs!
* The most obvious issue, is that once the central DIVX system died, all the media became useless. This is the single largest issue with DRM.
* The discs were too machine specific (they did have some theoretical "sharing pool" for people who had multiple DIVX players, which I'm not sure how well it worked). Even if you paid for a life-time access (see above), you could not play the disc on your neighbor's machine.
* There was a large potential for "marketing abuse", since they had to identify each item played on the machine (they would know who played what media, how many times, etc.). Your only protection was voluntary agreement that the data collected would not be misused.
* You are at the mercy of the DIVX operations staff. They could change the price or terms-of-use any time they wanted to.
As to the practicalities of the SSSCA, I think the closest analog the computer industry has experienced is export regulations. I [unfortunately] have lots of experience of just how bad that can be! I worked for a company that used encryption in virtually all of it's products. We once estimated that approximately 20% of the company's resources were used to deal-with, design, and follow export regulations. Of a hundred employees, "only" 3-4 actually dealt with the regulations daily, but virtually the entire design team had to take them into account. What should have been a single product would be split into multiple products to fit the ever changing interpretations of the regulations (resulting in a dramatic increase in development, testing, manufacturing, and marketing). Believe me, very few people in or out of the industry have any idea of how bad the SSSCA would clog our technology industry up!
It is a world in which the craziest ideas of the rich get a lot of attention. If computers are controlled, there will be kits to build uncontrolled ones from ICs. People will bring in uncontrolled computers across the border. Old, uncontrolled computers, of which there are many tens of millions, will go up in value. People will network their old computers to their new computers, so that they can bypass control.
Personal computers have been one of the best things to come along in many years, and rich people want to destroy the growth.
This idea has the same sensibility as the U.S. government trying to outlaw privacy by trying to outlaw encryption.
The craziness is not limited to issues surrounding copyright. The U.S. government engages in violence to enhance the profits of the weapons manufacturers and oil companies. See What should be the response to violence?
Bush's education improvements were
but the above comment is absolutely wrong
----
i do not use drugs, i AM drugs -- Dali
This SSSCA is laying the infrastructure for mass control, not only of software, but also expression.
I can forsee that the SSSCA will be applied so that ISPs are forbidden from accepting connections from non-'trusted' client computers.
'Trusted' computers would contain hardware-based digital certificates, so it would be easy for the ISP to determine if an open-source computer is trying to connect.
That's Linux gone in one fell swoop.
Next, the SSSCA will wipe out all independent software developers - 'trusted' OSs simply won't run software that doesn't have a digital license.
Digital licenses will only be available to approved companies, after passing a thorough security examination, and paying a fortune.
On trusted computers, programming tools will only be available to security-certified corporations. Any software written will have to pass an expensive security audit at source-level before being granted a release certificate (which would allow it to run on other people's PCs).
Media creation tools, such as desktop publishers, audio/video editors etc will produce secure media files that will only be able to play on the computer on which they were created - or, for an extra license fee, up to 5 other designated computers. Licenses to create media for mass distribution will cost a mint, and require security clearance.
Websites are next. Web browsers will only be able to access certified websites. Webmaster security certification will cost a fortune.
Email too - email clients will vet outgoing email messages through an 'Intellectual Property Clearance Server', which will scan the message's text against a huge database of copyrighted texts. So if an email contains more than a few words that happen to appear in the IP database, it won't get sent. The 'IP Clearance Servers' will also scan for phrases which are too controversial.
This is WAR, folks!!!!!
The most significant event in US history since the Declaration of Independence and the Civil War.
Time for everyone to kick up the biggest fuss the country has ever seen.
Or else!
"He loved Big Brother"
-- last words of '1984' by George Orwell
-- In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was UNSIGNED, and the main(){} was without form and void...
This is typically American, Eisner and Chernin both want copy protection. They just want Intel and Microsoft to pay for it.
I had metamoderation here on /. for a week until some moderator decided I was not a member of the /. linux party line.
/. anyway. Metamoderators don't take kindly to the /. party line moderators.I have metamodded down stupid moderations on simple 2 line me too posts.I've metamodded in favor of funny trolls, I've put linux trivia offtopic, I've metamodded up unpopular people and I've metamodded against "informative" moderations which weren't.
All you need is 0 karma, and few posts which have got positive moderations, especially if you got 2 or more positive moderations in 1 post.
I have only moderated on macslash, but that is only a few months of code behind
Moderation would be better if it didn't end up in the hands of the karma whores and linux zealots. I wouldn't pay to view this site until somebody gets some balance to the karma system.
This is comment 666 for user kiwipeso, karma -3, not willing to recite the karma whore mantra of "free software" as defined by Stallman.
So what if it's slightly offtopic, the topic is dealing with censorship anyway. (moderation is just censorship by the unwashed GNU hippie masses anyway...)
- Kaos games and encryption systems developer
(besides my two front teeth) is... a hardware RAID5 SCSI board, some 10K rpm U-160 SCSI disks, and rather more really fast DDR RAM.
I won't ever buy any of that crippled crap they're thinking they'll push on the market. I'll use what works, and they'll have to pry my system from my cold, dead hands before I'll ever install any DRM hardware. Let 'em come and try to take it away! I'll shoot 'em coming in the door!
AOL-TW, Vivendi Universal, Bertelsmann, Disney/ABC, and all those MPAA and RIAA pimps and their whore lawyers can kiss my ass!
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2002 00:41:38 -0800
From: Phil Karn
To: zittrain@law.harvard.edu
Subject: Your NYT editorial
Reply-to: karn@ka9q.net
Jonathan,
I was very interested to read your editorial on the SSSCA in the New
York Times. I strongly oppose the SSSCA, so I certainly agree with
your points about how much useful innovation has come from the
openness of the personal computer.
But I think you severely damage your own argument with statements like
this:
Users may buy a trusted PC even if it won't show a digital video lent
by a friend, because it will act less like a temperamental computer
and more like a crash-free super-VCR ?
There is absolutely no reason to believe that a "closed" PC
architecture would be any more reliable than an open one. Indeed,
there is plenty of evidence for exactly the opposite. If openness
implies unreliability, then why is Linux so stable while Windows
constantly crashes? Why is Linux so rarely affected by worms and
viruses while many thousands of Windows machines are still trying to
propagate countless variations of the Code Red email worm?
By tempting consumers frustrated with unreliable Microsoft software
with the false promise of "reliability", you are playing right into
the hands of those who promote the SSSCA.
Regards,
Phil Karn
Its a warning to USA, you guys will not know how to or be allowed anything in 2010. ASia will be the new FREE WORLD, while USA will be like Hitlers dream dictatorship with crappy rules/laws to benefit only the few corporates ( note all corporates are basicly dictatorships without borders, ie CEOs etc.. are not VOTED in by the 'citizens' sorry , i mean under payed SLAVES )
Taking the bill to it's "logical conclusion" as you call it would be commiting a logical fallacy, invalidating any argument that you have against it. All you have done is set up a "straw man" that anyone can knock down.
I mean... if we are going to use fallacious arguments, there are better ones to use.
Ad Hominem - Jack Valenti is ugly, therefore this bill sucks.
Dicto Simpliciter - Laws that restrict our freedom are *usually* bad. This bill will restrict our freedom, therefore it is bad.
How about we try some logically valid arguments against the bill as it currently stands. That would hold more weight. I'm just glad that you didn't misuse "begging the question". That one's a pet peeve of mine.
one of my favorite sites about logical fallacies is The Fallacy Files
Here's from the article:
> Can technologists figure out how to replicate the reliability of airplanes, telephones, watches and televisions in future versions of Windows and Linux, so that a mischievous 12-year-old half a world away can't erase a thousand far-flung hard drives?
This is a good question, but the problem is he doesn't understand the complexity of computer systems is greater than appliances.
> Absolutely. In January Bill Gates sent a memo to all Microsoft employees declaring a new, overarching, even revolutionary mandate: Software must be reliable and "trustworthy."
The fact he takes the memo seriously is a significant point against his competance in technology issues. It's impossible for that many programmers to get it right regardless of how many billions they can throw at the problem.
>This new focus is both welcome and worrisome, because the very steps needed to secure our computers and networks can be the steps that will deaden them to continued innovation and creative uses -- while opening them to more intrusive monitoring by mainstream technology manufacturers and content providers.
This goes completely against the standard microsoft principal of eliminating innovation and creativity while decreasing security and increasing intrusive monitoring and advertising.
Don't believe me? Try installing windows XP and count how many times it wants you to sign up for a passport to hell. Try using XP for a day and see how many ads for microsoft services you find in the system.
> Mr. Gates and the co-captains of his industry are producing blueprints for so-called "trusted" PC's. They will employ digital gatekeepers that act like the bouncers outside a nightclub, ensuring that only software that looks or behaves a certain way is allowed in. > The result will be more reliable computing -- and more control over the machine by the manufacturer or operating system maker, which essentially gives the bouncer her guest list.
Sure, I guess these are the same reliable certificates of trust that some hacker got issued in microsoft's name?
> And as soon as there are limits on the software a PC can run, there will be limits on what PC users can do. That's exactly what executives like Mr. Eisner and Mr. Chernin want. They'd like software and hardware companies to build PC's to allow a publisher an exquisite level of control over a book or a song or a movie in the hands of a consumer.
This contravenes copyright laws in every western nation, basically they argue that a DVD is a software program not a recording.
Just because a DVD has weak regional encoding and wimpy content encryption does not make the recording a software product.
By this logic, I could record a radio station, encode it as an MP3 and call the MP3 a free software file under the GPL. I don't think they could argue for royalties on public domain information.
> Trusted PC users might spend $1.95 for a single viewing of the latest Disney animated feature, or a single viewing of the latest Disney animated feature, or they might pay a similar amount for three listens of U2's most recent single. Security, stability, reliability -- and control.
Why would pay per view work as well on computers as on TV? You don't get security, stability or reliability on a computer like a TV.
> Users may buy a trusted PC even if it won't show a digital video lent by a friend, because it will act less like a temperamental computer and more like a crash-free super-VCR -- like the just-released Microsoft X-box.
Trust & microsoft in the same sentance? What planet is he on anyway? Will he ever visit earth?
> But in the process of "improving" our PC's, the manufacturers and their partners will be able to determine what software will and won't be allowed to run, what we can and can't do with the information to which we're exposed, and what data about our online activities will be collected and sent to the manufacturer or content provider to assist in future marketing.
This is called "Windows", you can't run Java on XP unless you get an older JVM on XP. Passport is now tied into Windows and the product activation sequence sends off everything it knows about you.
(It would tell Microsoft marketing what color underwear you're wearing if it could.)
> Apart from manufacturers' desire not to define the uses of a PC too narrowly, the public interest in flexible computer platforms and open data exchange remains almost entirely absent from this debate.
In other words, nobody has heard about BSD or Linux commitments to free, flexible and open data. Send a fax or email to your local politician with reasons in favor of flexible systems.
> Disney and its cohort are free to view PC's as delivery systems for Mickey Mouse and friends -- and to make their content available through broadband. But it's an entirely different matter to re-engineer the PC so it becomes simply another appliance.
Not really, Sony has the evilla internet appliance. It's nothing to retrofit existing or even obsolete technology like Be OS for content control.
> The PC platform and the Internet to which it connects is the engine of the information revolution -- as important to our economy and culture as all the movies in Hollywood.
Actually, it's more important. Computer games alone make more than Hollywood does. Microsoft is the best example of how much money can be made from mediocre software.
> A shift from open platforms to closed appliances may be inevitable, as our consumerist desire for trustworthy PC's dovetails with information providers' obsession with control. But we should beware the haste with which some would sacrifice flexibility for control. If we can't at least temper this taming of the chaotic PC, the victims will be competition, innovation and consumer freedom.
It happened when Windows 95 was released, netscape, Be, AOL, Apple, Sun, Oracle are all victims of an anti-competitive monopoly which is hostile to any innovation and cusumer choice.
- Kaos games and encryption systems developer
First, let me state that I do NOT agree with this bill or any restictive legislation like it. BUT, what would happen if it did pass? I see something akin to prohabition. Restrictive bill gets passed. Restrictive bill is repealed. Noone brings it up again. Roe vs Wade is an almost similar case. The bill's that never get passed never seem to go away.
Not that I can hack or mod or even as this bill would imply, CRACK, but I would if I could just for the sake of it. So they block the internet to 'unsafe' computers. Does that mean pirate net wouldn't happen. I figure that once the MPAA and RIAA see that the technology is as hard to control as the people they'll give up. This about who ended up running the show after prohabition. The son of a boot-legger. (JFK) We might actually need this BS to pass so we can all point our collective fingers at Hollywood and laugh at their failures. You never know, we might end up with a leader who knows what a boot-loader is.
Someone hates these cans.
If all distribution of content will be done over the internet in the future will anyone be able to release DRM protected content and be able to demand payment?
If so then couldn't each individual artist release their own music without the need for anyone to print CD's for them. Distribution becomes cheap and easy and the need for publishers disolves.
Perhaps Big Media knows this and is trying to use legislation to make as much money now while it still can. Why should anyone write music so a publisher can take 90% of the profit when you can release it yourself?
You can't win Darth. If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine
Actually you did a better Jew Hating Troll from that Mein Kampf chapter, it looks better when it' s not all bold text on a simple hate subject.
Although I disagree with racism, I would agree that the isreali jews are the troublemakers.
(one of my classmates was a israeli commando, he believes isreal is a racist state now.)
- Kaos games and encryption systems developer
The patriots are alive and well and their trying to control the flow/distribution of data from Arsenal Gear!
298UGH3892HOEWIGH98H2UIEWHG89HGEE
298UH3G92H392RSIDHGHU98UWHEFE9239
23HFUSHHFHOIWE90G9UGHUIHG98UFQOIE
UI2OHG290239URJJHSUIHGEUIHG90EUFH
----
Can't read the above? That's because your SSSCA-compliant computer refuses to decode my SSSCA-compliant message, because you haven't paid Microsoft $1,000,000 for the right to legally decode messages sent to you by your constituents. That you got the above at all was only because I paid Microsoft $10,000 for a license to send messages to Congress.
----
Of course, the above hasn't happened yet. But it will, if the SSSCA passes. Because the SSSCA will give COMPLETE and ABSOLUTE control over what you are allowed to do and not do to only those corporations that are given the privilege to write the operating system and other software for SSSCA-compliant computers.
Some in Congress might actually regard it as a good thing that constituents are no longer able to communicate with Congress, especially by computer. If you are one of those, then I will make it my mission in life to make sure that you never get elected to any public office ever again.
Thank you for your time.
Use 'slashdot stuff' in the subject line in any email you send me if you want to get past the spam filter.
Except that you could code an alternative os on top of just about every software with the microsoft's infamous macro languages (which won't ever get removed even from most obsolete places no matter how draconian laws there will be) and pass any messages you wish using simple steganography.
end of story, please stop writing about it. it's NOT going to happen.
In Australia, we have an old saying for a situation like this... Dont steal, the government hates the competition
By the looks of this bill, the music and movie industry in the states wants to apply our saying to their own means. It's a a pretty basic bill really... "we're right, you're wrong, give us all your money and we wont put you in jail for being a scum-sucking thief who wont give us money".
All I can really see is the computer industry going to hell and taking the rest of the world economy with it. If this law comes to pass, I will not want to buy something from the states because it's cheaper anymore, why should it... all of a sudden, I cant use my computer do make my own music CD's, I wont be able to back up my original software media. I wont even be able to back it up to the hard drive. Hell, the way I read this law, I wont even be able to backup my hard drive in case of a computer crash
Considering that there are a lot more people outside of the states who would have brought hardware from the states because it is dirt cheap than there is in the states. I really dont see the hardware manufacturers bending over to get shafted because of this law. Why make two identical products (one with the SSSCA crap in it) when you only have to make one and not sell it to the US.
I think that it will be cheaper for them to move offshore and stop dealing with the draconian laws of the USA than it will be for them to stay in the states and suddenly have to build a separate manufacturing line to build their products for internal US use. Why should they, they have already spent billions on the current crop of production plants that are working just fine.
How do you think that the defence department is going to react when they develop a custom, top secret, piece of software for their network and they have to submit it to the SSSCA inspectors just to make sure that it conforms to the standard...
I really dont think so...
So is the US government going to really welcome something like this that stops them from being able to innovate and develop their little programs. Ohh I forgot, they wrote the law... so I guess that means that their hardware will be exempt from the law. Ahhhh, it's good to be the king (to quote Mel Brookes, History of the World Part 1)
and now we are back to that old saying in Australia... Dont steal, The government doesnt like the competition (and neither does the MPAA and the RIAA)
This is my view of the SSSCA and it's effects on the rest of the world, it is meant to be a semi-humourous view and should be taken as such. Flame me if you want, but just consider the point of view from outside the cube. If you dont like the implied repercussions, write to your local representative and get them to check out anything that disturbs you.
*** I had a
Ah, but I never moderated. Not even once. But I'd like to have the option.
Keep reading, post occasionally with grace and wit, and you'll get your turn to moderate.
I do my best to avoid politics and stay focused on technology. This issue just gets me fired up. What these greedy people are proposing is anti-constitutional. It is more than a simple minded attack on the 1st amendment. It is trying to force censorship into our personal belongings and all to appease a dying industry. Artists just neeed to find a new model for releasing their work. Just like those who created GPL or OSDN etc.. Linus didn't charge anything and he seems to be doing alright. When your the best money takes care of itself. This proposal is, at best, temp help for losers and a gross infringment on everybody's rights. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
Hmm. I'm clueless about what you're trying to express.
To do what? Register your concerns with their office staff? /. type of interface might be a good choice for writing public bills to submit to congress and senate...you know the song from school house rocks...I'm just a Bill ;) /. type of interface for moderating
/.ers. They've all got so much to say, some of it even intelligent ;)
I'm beginning to think that a
imagine a
*feasibility
*cost (how to finance law)
*repercussions
*forces
*punishment (no punishment= no teeth in law)
*specify agency for enforcement (no jaw for the teeth, see above)
This is about YRO, why not a bill builder for
Put it to use.
DGD
Anyway, it shouldn't be that important - it's not as if you couldn't express your own thoughts...
Kiwaiti
Member of the Legion Of Microsoft Haters
In our Republic, things like the SSCA should be a no-brainer. Like knowing to wear coat when it's cold outside.
I feel like I've been forwarding the issues of freedom forever to a brick wall. Some people just don't get it. The people who value freedom in this country are a solid minority. Like terrans suddenly discovering that they are aliens on their own planet. The louder we scream, the more fringelike we seem to the simpletons.
Look at the people around you. How often have people looked you in the eye and said "But why is privacy so important?"
Human beings deserve no less, that's why. Keep your filthy hands off my life. Molest my liberty no more.
...the rest of the world should also be allowed to vote in the US elections.
What's decided here has a huge impact for the rest of the world. If this gets through, MS and Intel (and other US based companies) will have to enforce it, and that hardware/software gets pushed to the rest of the world. Thus the rest of the world will have to take up DRM too, all because one nation decided it should be so.
Ok,
So if this levy is there to compensate the recording industry for piracy, will it still be in their interests to continue to persue piracy, and moreso, would any revenues created from sueing pirates then go back to the owners of these devices in the form of a tax rebate? Or, more specifically, since society is picking up the bill for piracy, it would presumably be the obligation of the government to stop piracy with the intention of cutting this levy.
It sounds like what the media companies really want are network computers or set top boxes, as defined over the last couple of years.
They *aren't* ubiquitous, despite being available more cheaply than PCs and offering more manageability and lower costs to corporations. This says to me *the public don't want it*.
The media companies want to limit access to their content? What's to stop them using the network computers that already exist and simply limit their content to those platforms? It could be done *right now* without the need for legislation.
Deleted
From article: "Users may buy a trusted PC even if it won't show a digital video lent by a friend, because it will act less like a temperamental computer and more like a crash-free super-VCR." How long would it be before someone produced an equally stable computer that could show copied DV? Not long. In fact, I'm probably using one now.
As a transplanted Vermonter of 20+ years, I think you should place the blame properly, and not with Jim Jeffords.
Blame instead the Religious Right, who have been transforming the Rupublican Party into something Jeffords no longer could reconcile with his conservative-centrist views. I'm an Independent, have never registered with any party, and never will. I vote for whomever I think/feel will do the best job, regardless of party affiliations. That includes Jim Jeffords.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
Seriously, no kidding. The pornographers have cracked the problem. They know how to make money out of the Internet where content can be copied perfectly.
Copy their business model.
Deleted
Here is an article over at my site that may be a bit alarmist and done with the worst case scenario in mind. http://music.tinfoil.net.
end plug
tinfoilmedia
Hope my lawyering background doesn't bias me here, but I thought he did all right for a lawyer.
Too much time on the freedom vs. reliability thing.
Sure, making reliable machines means curtailing freedom, but not the freedoms he thinks. It means curtailing the freedom of developers to do bad things in the code they write, not curtailing their freedom to deliver capabilities to the consumer.
What he missed altogether was the potential for reduced reliability as the result of systems designed to keep you from doing things. As with all things done by mere humans, there will be bugs, there will be shortcuts, there will be...oh, you get the idea.
The end result will be things that don't work that would work in the absence of controls.
OTOH: He is bang-on about letting the market decide and bang-on about the ultimate loss of utility that comes with content providers' desire to clamp down on PCs.
This sounds futuristic but if the SSSCA passes, then this would cripple the PC as we know it. And
would end free speech on the internet. This would
also cause people who believe in free speech to rise up revolt. Why the hell do I have a digital camera or image scanner? I use WinTV theatre and Linux to create home movies, I don't care about
f&#kin& mainstream movies. Mickey Mouse can kiss my a$$.
There's a few paths to follow. First to expose the money trail that links the senetors pockets to the MPAA, try to educate the dumb a$$ people
o why this is wrong, wage protexts until these
senators who march to thier own drummer are ripped out office, put our people there, and get the SSSCA legislation revoked.
OR...
Boycott all crippled hardware. bombard congress and the senate with mail, email and faxes.
Boycott all movies, music, etc.
What i've never understood is, if the RIAA or MPAA folks don't want people to make copies of digital works, why do they keep releasing digital works? If there's no CD available, then i can't copy it.
Piracy is a social problem, not a technical one, yet the recording industry keeps insisting on technical solutions. They released products into the market place which people realised they could use in new and interesting ways which hadn't occurred to the industry folks. So now the RIAA is stomping around shouting, "Wait! Wait! That's not what I meant!" Well, that doesn't mean we need to legislate the rights of the consumer. It means the recording industry should be smarter next time.
You shouldn't get federal legal protection for making stupid business decisions, you should get the opportunity to learn from your mistakes. It seems like we're going about this whole problem bass-ackward.
big brother^H^H^H^H^H^H^H mickey is watching you
in the year i've been using it, every day 10+ hours a day (i'm a developer), i've never crashed Win2k. i rarely ever crashed WinNT, in the years i used it, too.
Windows is far more stable than any Gnome or KDE installation i've ever used; plus it's more coherent, cohesive, comprehensive and easier to use. i'm not fan of the way MS does business, but they have a far superior (desktop) product than anything available for Linux.
get your head out of the sand.
-c
I have discovered a truly remarkable proof which this margin is too small to contain.
You are a total dumbass. I lost my ability to moderate NOT BECAUSE OF META MODERATION.
600 people lost their ability to moderate because they modded the great Slashdot troll investigation as interesting. (It was!).
Admin can, and HAVE taken away people's ability to moderate on whims many many times.. WITHOUT META MODERATION EVER HAPPENING.
I love the line in the article "It makes no sense to let a mouse, even one with deep pockets, run the zoo."
We live in a time where the criteria for defining what should be in the public domain (and why); and making wise policy, which benefits the greatest number over the long term; have never been in such flux or so important.
This SSSCA is certainly legislatable, but hardly enforceable. Ya can't stop people from owning compilers. The US IT economy would stifle itself so fast that foreign heads would spin, no other country would enact similar legislation, and the US IT infrastructure would collapse. That's IFF they actually tried to enforce such legislation.
I do not fear this legislation. Part of me hopes the bozos actually pass it and enforce it, even though it would make me a criminal, just for the sheer fun of watching all the resultant confusion build up as various deadlines approach.
I gather one of the goals for terrorists from Timothy McVeigh to al Qaeda is to sow so much confusion that the target system gets more and more restrictive and finally collapses from within. Sort of like carrying any argument to the extreme just to show how ridiculous it is. This SSSCA is just the ticket to make a mockery of all intellectual property.
Infuriate left and right
Hell, just look at this site. Just yesterday Malda plugged some new shiny object from Sony (a MPAA & RIAA member). All the slashbots who yell "boycott" fawned all over it.
I am officially gone from
In his "proposal" the *AA members would get the money, not the artists.
Note to the reading comprehension challenged: Remember, he was making an Ad Absurdum argument.
critters, the totally amused contempt in which
anywone whose ever heard of a Turing machine holds
for them? Is there any way to get across to them
that if it can't copy and transform information
in any possible way then it isn't a computer?
You'd think that anyone who trades in credibility would run from such idiocy like
a cat from water.
The reality is very plainly and simply that
the universe isn't built the way the entertainment
industry would like. Their "product" is ephemeral
and insignificant in the economics of time-space-matter-and-energy. Trying to make computers enforce copyright is identical to trying to build a machine to make Pi = e = 3. Sorry, but the Truth is that God doesn't believe in copyright.
I wrote about this
last September, and again a couple of weeks ago.
"Finally," indeed!
Hiawatha Bray
Tech Reporter
Boston Globe
The media industry has in effect neutered our availablility to information. Why were we attacked on September 11th? Can anyone say anything other than they were a bunch of savages from caves?
I believe, because the media industry has been so wound up in who is giving who blowjobs, news stories told in 40 words or less, and flat out not telling us about potential problems rising outside our culture and country - they are literally destroying the United States.
Now that they have destroyed effective government in the US, they now are working on the resources the citizenry have to freely communicate with each other after all, it is communications they make their money on.
Hopefully they will not have driven the technology business outside of the United States before I retire, but I fear that they will. Where once I was an innovator, they have now branded me a criminal merely by the programs I have created.
Already tobacco is being smuggled between states because of high taxes. It is certain that tech will become a smuggler's boon and little Johnny will go to jail for possession of a MP3 player.
To all the people who wrote there representitives, and told other people about this bill, Thank you.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Users may buy a trusted PC even if it won't show a digital video lent by a friend, because it will act less like a temperamental computer and more like a crash-free super-VCR
Saying that copy protecting my computer will make it more reliable is like saying that putting copy protection in my car's CD player will improve my gas mileage.
Thank God for this guy, but I wonder if he still has a job at Intel...
Chris
Once all this goes into effect, I'll use my computer until it dies. Then I'll become a farmer and forget about the digital world.
Software currently isn't considered as part of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product). But any legislator who doubts the link between the health of the tech-industry and the general welfare of the economy at large need only examine the .com collapse. Stiffling innovation in the nascent stages of the Internet has disastrous consequences, for both tech and non-tech companies. Irregardless of the design philosophy of the internet (open community), in strictly economic terms, the SSSCA is a bad idea.
Bureaucracies move slowly. The DMCA came into being in 1998 I think, and only now is Europe looking into their own version. The proposed SSSCA has an 18 month waiting period, I think. It would probably take another year or two for the government agency to propose rules if industry doesn't. Then there will be court fights. Meanwhile, the ugly truth will gradually leak to the mainstream press, and the hideous implications come to light. I doubt the implications would be ignored at that point. Instead, the damned law will be repealed and some sanity restored, and Hollywood will be exposed like the fools they are, just as they were for not liking reel-to-reel, cassettes, VCRs, etc. And I see this as the last of those battles -- any new copying technology from now on will be computer based, and tough bananas for Hollywood.
It will be an interesting few years. I would not be surprised if Hollywood wakes up at some point and waters down the SSSCA just because they too will begin to see the collapse of IP if they push it to the max.
Infuriate left and right
Had an article today about taming the consumer
h tml
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/11/opinion/11ZITT.
It talks about taking control away from the users. It also mentions Microsofts "trusted" PCs. The author seems to think mainstream userse will gladly buy a computer with limited capability if its easier to use and less likely to crash (more like a vcr, gaming system, etc.)
Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do.
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I have many points in my comment, if you lack the ability to concentrate on reading a single page, you're dumb.
Actually he is opening up to more control if you read his article carefully.
- Kaos games and encryption systems developer
1.the sssca bars connection to unsecure computers.
2.non american computers,hubs,routers,servers are
non secure computers.
3.all usa computers must not connect to foreign networks.
result: no internet
Wow, I'm writing this on a 400mHz PII. I thought my computer was obsolete, but as soon as this law goes into effect and CD-ROM drives are crippled with regard to ripping, my non-crippled machine will be worth a lot for its content-manipulable hardware. Maybe I'll keep it around a bit longer.
.doc files.
What we need to do is copy as much stuff as we can now to hard disks, before we can do so no longer. Even if they can keep me from transferring a CD to disk, they can't control the circulation of MP3s on the Internet through hardware restrictions. I'll just rename all my MP3s to
"Aren't you going to get into costume?"
"I never get out of it."
-- Tom Stoppard (R&G Are Dead)