Slashdot Mirror
Going Back To The Past of the Internet
*no comment* writes "deadly.org currently has a story about a new grassroot network springing up. It consists of free shell access, and is trying to revitalize the olden days of the Internet. Free speech, free information are the key features, but I wonder if this is jsut another free DDoS drone as well."
I didn't want to get slashed so I avoided that like the plague.
Thanks again,
Scott
Well, there goes that idea.
El riesgo vive siempre!
w3rd. props to rowtow krew
Where pr0n was free and the only pop-ups were in your pants.
Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.
I'd be too afraid to give anyone (random strangers especially) a free shell on any of my machines these days. I know there are some existing free shell services, but IMO most of them are so tightly restricted so as to be useless, even for trying to learn on.
I don't think it's possible to provide "free as in speech && beer" computing resources anymore, the potential for abuse is just too great.
I bet if the bandwidth is kept down on each machine it would be a viable non ddosing service that alot of people could both donate to and use. I run a linux box that alot of windows users at my work use to start to learn about windows and post stuff that requires php/mysql. If there was a secure way I could donate part of the resources of that box and like 15k/sec to the group I would.
... when those "I'm Heidi, want to make mad love to me and my college friends?" messages still had a one in a million chance of being real. Where does the time go?
You can never return to the past, instead live in the present and create the future.
Take what was good and move on.
From the article:
Just wanted to give a thanks for posting this. I have registered in Open Directory and on other search engines but I am sure you know how long that takes. I didn't want to get slashed so I avoided that like the plague.
Thanks again,
Scott
Well done slashdot!
Here is is just a couple of examples of free shell providers. Services like this have existed in about every country or bigger city since internet was born.
To give credit, I first heard this phrase coined by Steve of Secure Design Software.
PJRC: Electronic Projects, 8051 Microcontroller Tools
I suppose the obvious should be asked. In this day and age is there really any need for "shell accounts"?
Ahhhh... reminds me of dialing into various BBS's that I could get numbers for on my 8088 (When my parents had went to bed and I sneaked back down to the computer) Or making the long distance call to the nearest CompuServe node and racking up enormous phone bills (the enjoyment wasn't worth the punishment I got from my parents in return though:) )
But seriously... I loved those times... logging onto servers that you had little clue about.. seeing what was there... who was there... etc.
This seems like a good project to play around with.
... that within a few years, there'll be informal networks across the country. I can just see my apartment complex linking all the computers together via 802.11 and sharing what they got. Once you've got a network at an apartment complex (for example), then it isn't hard to link it to a neighboring complex. Anybody remember that story of the guy getting a 3-mile LOS wirless connection going in San Fran? (I may have the details wrong, but the idea mostly works..)
If/When that becomes popular, before long people'll be able to look to these informal nets when the corporate internet lets them down. Maybe I'm just fantasizing, but I do think networking has become cheap and easy enough, and I think the internet is getting regulated enough that people will have interest in doing these kinds of things.
"Derp de derp."
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
Any of your nearby coastal beaches has shells aplenty.
Aparently, the site is already /.d. Can anyone else get to it? Perhaps we can just discuss free shell access amongst ourselves, and theorize on what the article might have said...
-- -- Warning. Do not stare directly at the sun.
Ok here is the plan/possibility. Request slashdot feedback:
The idea mentioned in the story is a noble one, but what about this:
Already 801.11a-b networks are emerging. And soon UWB networks as well. What is to keep new protocols and p2p networks, and what Crngley mentioned as ad-hoc wireless mesh networks from popping up spontaneously all over the globe, and eventually having this island wireless networks start to connect and talk with each other - and before you know it - we have a whole NEW internet, one that does not go thru the big boys, one that is anarchistic, spontaneous, unregulated and wireless.
With 802.11 being built into all future chips, such a possibility seems more and more likely. Imagine the new internet - NAN's, WAN, LANS, all over the place.
Is this where things might go, or is it also doomed to invasion from large corporate and governmental forces?
www.enthea.org
The article is Slashdoted. I hope that the actual ISP's site can withstand a bit more traffic...
"Do I dare disturb the universe?"
I missed the good old days of the Internet by about 15-20 years or so having never really gotten into the Internet until college (fall of '95). Unfortunately I bet this just turns into a haven for IRC bots and the like.
If you are looking for something cool to be involved in and has a sense of community i'd advise checking out the 6bone (www.6bone.org), the IPV6 testbed. Everyone there is very helpful and friendly and there is a sense of some greater good. Hehe its kind of cool because not everything works in IPV6 so people are working on porting old taken for granted apps like different MTA's and other servers. I wonder if the way the 6bone folks work togather is similar to the old days of the Internet.
I came to the datacenter drunk with a fake ID, don't you want to be just like me?
Before the days people tryed to change the entire net into one giant advert/money spinner/spam sender (insert whatever else here).
It's too late, in that the non-geeks have become too entrenched with their internet supplemented lives. Loving the sound coming from their computer speakers saying "You've got mail!" (AOL voice)
access to information and an evergrowing supply of places to visit. and Free speech, free information
...How long before the usual suspects (RIAA, MPAA, FCC - or anyone else for that matter) start taking an interest.
The good old days are gone, as the saying goes 'ignorance is bliss', pleople can't go back to that. Plus in the old days, people didn't have to experience things like Denial of Service, or the Slashdot effect.
Are you local? There's nothing for you here!
I'll bet you a wooden nickel that two of them go under because this hit slashdot.
My
Limekiller
This is his site.
I remember my first expirence with the internet. A dialup line to a unix box, it did cost a fortune.
The amount of machines was small and there were no such thing as a web browser.
Personally I found it to be a great source of lyrics and guitar tabs in ascii format. Could find a tab for every song I wanted to play.
The signal to noise level was good since it was free for spam, ads. etc.
It had little use for my daily work, a few computer companies(like HP) had servers up where you could ftp latest patches, but mostly I had to rely on my CompuServe account to get the latest drivers and patches.
The problem I remeber with my CompuServe account was that there were no dial in lines in my country, it came later on though.
I remeber that hardly any of my friends or co-workers found it interesting, I got the account from by boss who had ordered but didn't really find any use for it.
I have always been hooked on computers my primary drive for working with them is that I like the concept of making them work for me, and when I got this fancy new internet console, it was interesting simply by the fact that could access a computer on the other side of the world. Normally one would dial a BBS locally and sometimes when one could afford the 2$ pr min. for a call to the US, I would try it with one eye on my watch.
When the place I worked at later on, got the first internet connection with the fancy new blazing fast ISDN standard(still to expensive for private users), the new mosaic browser came to my attention and we had to open up for port 80 since no one was using the connection for browsing.
I also remember something about we couldn't access all parts of the internet. There was some US backbone parts that were closed, that only got open to us because we were a goverment owned research institution so we could get access to the same lines as the US univ.
Then we started running dual IDSN and my friends had begun showing interest into that internet thing and their envy were hard to hide for them. I woked in a place where I could download with 14 kilobytes pr second!!!. Then we got our 256kb line and I had my friends visiting me at work, just to see this line where I could download with over 20 Kilobytes pr second.
Ah, and these days, no one is amazed by my 2048 Kbit ADSL line with 512Kbit upstream that I have at home....
my sig
Sorry, Here's the right one.
http://shells.open-network.net
is that what you're trying to tell us?
http://shells.open-network.net
Humm, The good ole days.
1. People on IRC who talked about things other than mod chips/xbox/playstation isos/porn/divx/mp3s...
2. Usenet newsgroups without spam, and the occasional flame war.
3. No Private message forums, only Usenet (sorry Slashdot)
4. Email without spam.
5. Shell accounts used for ppp emulators (no thanks!)
6. More than one tcp/ip stack choice.
7. Any web browser could display a website.
8. FTP search engines that worked.
9. No paying to download files (ala like Fileplanet)
10. The age of unencrypted innocence.
11. No pop ups ads.
12. No mass free-email accounts.
13. Letting the Internet regulate itself, no Government interference.
-
Read at your own risk - Open Letter to America from a Canadian
Someone's gotta get it right.
Don't forget, it is to protect [children | innovation | freedom | life].
Fight Spammers!
HTTP://shells.open-network.net
Screw shell access, give me back the years I spent at failed dot coms and what I lost on internet stocks. That'd be golden days for me, thank you very much.
shells.open-network.net
Search The Open Directory Project - Note: Not this site.
dmoz.org
Just so everyone knows, accounts will generally be added in the evenings as I do have a day job. Just be patient, you're not paying for it anyway.
Damn, Not SLASHDOT!!!!!
Visit the message board
What is this place?
This is the very simple home of shells.open-network.net.
What is shells.open-network.net?
A free shell server. No strings attached, the box isn't the fastest and neither is the connection but if you desire a shell account, let me know.
What will I have access to on this machine?
All normal shell tools available on OpenBSD, Apache, MySQL, PHP, Perl, BitchX, and most other things you ask me to install.
What is an open-network?
By the book:
The overall design of a communication carrier's basic network facilities and services to permit all users of the basic network to interconnect to specific basic network functions and interfaces on an unbundled, equal-access basis.
My Definition:
A set of computers, networks, software apps which allow users to have access not for money or prestige, just for the knowledge gained by running the network. Users should have seemless access to all machines on the network and should not be hindered by the all to familiar "Out-bound connections disabled". Passwords will be shared among all machines on the network thereby allowing users to have a single login on machines belonging to multiple people. The administrators of individual machines wil be responsible for overall system security or choosing a network power-user to assist in administration.
Some Rules:
If you screw up, I will kill your account. No questions, no debating, this is my machine, not yours!
No Hacking (My box or others box from my box) See rule #1.
No DOS-ing to or from my box. See rule #1.
If you find a vulnerability on my machine, let me know, don't ever post the problem on the internet. See rule #1
If you think you are doing anything questionable, See rule #1
Will you host my domain blah.blah.com?
Sure, don't expect miracle from this machine though. The internet connection is 384K/1500K and the machine is not the latest and greatest.
Do not try to make any money in anyway from my box, if you do, you obviously don't know what an open-network is and you need to See rule #1.
Can I get a forward zone from open-network.net?
Of course, it wouldn't be open if you couldn't. Be aware, the final decision is mine.
Why are you doing this?
If you know me, you know my answer, if you don't know me, the answer is "Because I can!"
What other sites do you run?
http://www.open-network.net
http://www.moon-bear.com
and myself and one other administrator run the show at http://www.tissueinformatics.com
Have fun and if you want an account, drop me a line at scotth@open-network.net
This box is powered by:
SPARC
OpenBSD
Apache
PHP
Perl
And a bunch of BASH
00779 hits since August 22, 2002
Another ./ story, another down website =(
But back to the story (which I can't read), seems like an interesting idea, BBSes back in the old days were great...
to the phone system would cause this to explode. Identify on caller ID whether the caller is fax, data, or voice.
Any 1st year sysadmin knows enough to not get slashdoted. Spend some fucking resources and get hardware to support the load. O/W you look like an idiot offering free shell accounts (probably over your DSL). How enticing
The reason the internet was great back then, wasn't because it took 48 hours of hair pulling to get your DOS ip stack configured correctly.
It was because dumbass politicians and greedy politicians hadn't touched it. They've spent the better part of a decade proving to us, that it wasn't because they couldn't.
But what if we could build a network that was extremely difficult for them to mess with?
What if it offered the same services as the regular net, fully routed static IP, DNS, and no restrictions. No one coming after you for posting files, building a website, or registering a domain name that some corps find offensive.
And as a side bonus, it might be just as complicated to get connected to it, as the internet originally was...
Read my unfinished webpage about it.
Yes, you could do most of those things on your own system, but chances are pretty good that you have less bandwidth. This is especially true if you can only afford or only have access to dialup network access.
Then how would you transfer large files from your shell account to your own system?
Will I retire or break 10K?
No real comment, this just seems like a plug moreso than a story.
--
RumorsDaily
I myself have lamented the change of the net. Having only been online for 12 years, I haven't even come close to some of the real old timers. However, the old BBS's, pre-spam Usenet, email, talk, ytalk, and the dread of all the freshman getting online each year...aaaw, the good old days.
One of the biggest problems though is that we now have most people with access to wireless cards and such that I bet you'd see a 1:50 contributor to luser ratio. *sighs*
Do you know why the road less traveled by is littered with the bones of the unwary?
but I wonder if this is jsut another free DDoS drone as well
Yeah, like a Slashdot hyperlink.
Oh boy I miss the days of using nn to read news...and download porn
Free love, free speech and free downloads, man... Just we'll forget to bention that back in the good ol' days the internet was primarily used as a DoD line of communication that couldn't be interupted. Yeah, fight the power!
You need a FREE iPod Nano
It doesn't have to be that way. Any sufficiently planned architecture could deter or eliminate this kind of activity, while still being completely usable as a learning tool. Yes, it would require an *involved* admin, who stays on top of things, but nothing a monkey with perl couldn't handle. Heck, spend the time to identify who your "trusted" users are, and teach them a thing or two about *running* a system, instead of just *using* it. Then not only do you have some people to share the work, but you've got another competitor in your job market. Oh wait, that's bad...
all of the old protocols which have been phased
out by the sprawling Interweb... Anyone remember
Gopher and its Veronica search, WAIS databases, Archie searches?
ah, those were the days.
No, Beowulf clusters can't imagine in Soviet Russia.
http://shells.open-notwork.net seems more applicable.
Malda could have the slashcode automatically create a cache of the victim's site, but by default point the link to the actual site (not the cache.) Allow the webmaster several easy ways to turn caching on. Allow permission to be granted in robots.txt files! Allow permission to be granted in some slashdot form! Allow permission to be granted by email! Allow permission to be granted by phone!
Of course, none of this will be done. Slashdot's coders once tried to innovate; then they became part of a corporation. Nothing kills real progress like hopes of profit.
"Whatever happened to fair use?"
-- Duff-Man
Sigh. Enough ranting =)
"All art is quite useless." -- Oscar Wilde
that would be morally.
At some point, they are advertising something that they want your money for.
Yep. I paid you. You just didn't know it was me.
Some of the Commodore 64 Browsers require a shell account...
"Enjoy what you're doing! If it becomes drudgery, you're doing it wrong!" - Jim Butterfield
Sure... its an admirable goal. And it might be acheivable if it remains a more-or-less private undertaking. But once you include the public, you have to deal with the same problem the Internet at large deals with today... people.
The Internet has always been about people, not technology. Sure, the tech is cool. But what makes it the killer app is the ability to communicate with others. Look at every Internet application that excels and you'll find it facilitates communication (whether it be 'I'm better at this game than you are', 'I know how to do this', 'I like it when people watch', or 'check out this song I like') - or at least is geared to fool people in to believing so (yea, right... "horny coed exibitionists waiting for YOU" indeed). Internet applications that crashed failed to grasp this (push technology - do we need another big business broadcast service? Apparently not.).
The boon and bane to this is it requires people. In theory, the more people the better - akin to the idea that the value of a network increases exponentially with its size. But then... the more people you add, the more wide their beliefs. The more likely you'll find people who do not have the same values... and do not value the network itself. The more likely you will find people who will sacrifice the network for some short-term personal goal.
In other words, the Internet changed when there were more people online who thought the movie Hackers was a "cool movie" and not a "comedy." Until these people change, or you manage to filter them out or exclude them from your network, the Internet of yesteryear will not emerge.
Shell access or not.
For those not in the know, visit the Freenet project. It's a secure, distributed network where, from what I understand, anything goes. The problem with this so far is, like the first days of the web, there isn't a good search capability available.
But, in reading your post, it hasn't been touched by politicians and definately doesn't restrict based on content.
Overrated / Underrated : Moderation
We do something similar. We give out free "Shell" account, but rather than using *nix, we use OpenVMS. The idea is two fold. If gives people a place to play, and use a different operating system. OpenVMS is often considered one of the most secure operating sysems around. :)
IF interested, check out http://deathrow.vistech.net, or you can even
telnet to dahmer.vistech.net or manson.vistech.net.
Just want to thank /. My machine is actually still quite responsive, it's my DSL which is sucking wind. Apache is the highest process and it is only taking 4.5%, not bad. I really think this could be a good thing if people give it a chance and people don't take advantage of the good nature of others.
Yes, I do realize, it is impossible to have everyone be good and no I am not naive. I really do feel this can work if people help by pointing out faults on the network and also by watching your neighbors, not saying spy but bring up 'top' every 5 minutes or so or do a 'ps auxw' and see what your niehbors are doing. If you see something funny, notify the admins. It doesn't do anyone who wants a shell any good to have a machine so riddled with kiddies that it is un-usable.
In regards to DoS droneing, I personaly think, well trained users are the key. I'm not saying users will be trained on my system. I am merely saying, there are already trained users out there. Sys Admins, Net Admins, Sec. Admins, and every other admin or engineer out there. All we need to do is use that 6th sense we have at work to monitor an open-network.
Just my $.02
Scott
Back in the good old days, remember when....
* 99% of the data transmitted on the net was useful informtion; now, 99% of the data transmitted on the net is porn, spam, advertisements, and useless graphics. Pretty soon, even Google won't be able to find a website that actually has text on it.
* You didn't get 1000 e-mails a day telling you about the latest greatest super-duper penis enlargment plan where you could make your penis larger just by "jilking it".
* You didn't get 1000 spam messages a day telling you about easy quick idiot-proof ways to make a million dollars in a few hours.
* The evil forces of the dark side, the raiders of the lost net, the proprietary corporate IP mongers, hadn't yet started bending the internet to their perverse Orwellian ideal of perfect control?
* News groups and message boards actually had mostly intelligent conversaion, as opposed to being flooded with, "YOU SUCK, I'M RIGHT YOU STUPID ****, EAT **** AND DIE".
* Al Gore was busy inventing the net.
social sciences can never use experience to verify their statemen
stupid bastards you killed my deadly.org. what shall i read today instead? /.? hahaha
back when I was younger. Here is my portable setup.
NO! NO! Please don't mod me, I'm too young to die a troll. *click* Oh the pain, the pain...
Mail me at pierre@userid.org.
Check out the box at UserID
...in not recognising that the useful 1% of a godzillion megapieces of information is a hell of a lot more useful than 99% of 100 www pages.
I, too, grew up in the early days and I recall them well. No noise, you could use newsgroups, and receiving email was a real event. Archie, remember archie? And Gopher? Veronica?
BUT... in those days I could not do a tenth of what I can do now. Not one hundredth. Use google. Use google groups (nee dejanews). Look up song lyrics. Bank online. Download videos. Find any company I do business with. And P2P (ha ha... 1200 bps modems, remember those??)
So, the noise is despiccable but do realise it is a side phenomenon of the great cyberworld we are creating.
Give me today's 'net anytime!
---
BDOS ERR ON A:>
These comments (and responses) show just how ridiculous our legislation is becoming.
...it is to protect...freedom
If unregulated read: FREE mediums are allowed...
Sounds completely bass-ackwards to me.
Remember innocent before proven guilty?
Restricting our freedom to make backup copies (because of the abuse of minorities - remember, the majority don't have a clue about copy-protection) in order to protect the freedom of corporations. Restricting our freedom to create our own ISPs and share information freely - again, to protect the 'freedom' of corporations to make a profit.
I have just turned 18 and I am trying to educate myself such that when elections come around, I can change the world with my knowledge. Remember that YOUR VOTE COUNTS and EDUCATE your friends so that they know how important their freedoms are - that they take for granted - and how much power they have: voting, writing local politicians, etc.
The dance music scene in my area (central TX) was just the subject of abuse of freedom by some local politicians, and it really hit home how much I should be doing - not just being an armchair activist. I challenge you ALL to put your $ where your mouth is. If even half of us (Slashdot readers) were to fight openly and strongly for what we rant about daily, I think the difference would be monumental. I know how hard it is, but together we have a chance.
If I had a sig, this is where it would be.
I don't remember the first days of the internet as it sprung up while I was on hiatus from computers enjoying my first few years of college. People have a lot of memories of their youths that seem to shine brighter as time goes on. Mine was of BBS's, I spent many years on line in a world that I like to think of as the proto-internet. Multilined BBS's that were in reality small fiefdoms. A network of relay mail systems called Fidonet, and single-lined systems that were run by hobbyists who were sincerely interested in their area. It was nice. The computers of the day were nice. Amigas, Ataris, and even some PC's had more character than they've had in years, or maybe they didn't and it was just how I remember it. I recently tracked down some telnet'able BBS's and I was in disbelief that I used to love that crap. My point is this, you can't go back. Just as the internet killed the Bulletin Board System, so will something, someday kill the internet. I remember being on a MajorBBS system chatting with the Sysop about this new thing called the Internet, and that we were all dynosaurs. I dismissed it at the time. "What could be better than this?" I thought. Well sometimes, or most of the time, progress isn't better. Yes, radio exercised the imagination more than TV, Yes, they don't make things like they used to, but that's progress. And yes free shell accounts are nice, but so what does that change? Freedom of speech? The internet didn't invent that, create a web page, you can say what you want, you can even say libelous things, but be prepared to face the consequences because the people you're libeling have rights too.
yes.
[With a shell account,] you wouldn't need to [haul big files] very often - you do most of your work in your shell account on the remote box, right?
Much of my current work involves image editing, audio editing, and development of interactive graphical simulations. Do those work well over SSH?
The thought process is that since you have so little bandwidth and probably less power, disk space, memory, etc. at home that there's not much point in using that computer as anything but a glass terminal, and doing interesting things only on the remote system.
I'm still unclear on some of the uses of a shell account. Let's cross-check your thought process against your list of applications:
You can run servers, read mail, send mail, transfer files around, develop software, and so on.
Not according to the AUPs of most of the free shell providers I've seen. (Free shell providers are the subject of this Slashdot article.)
You can run servers, read mail, send mail, transfer files around, develop software, and so on.
Which is limited by the speed of the eyeballs and fingers. How is reading mail over SSH any better than reading mail over SSL'd IMAP? And unless you run a mailing list, why would sending mail need a lot of server bandwidth?
You can run servers, read mail, send mail, transfer files around, develop software, and so on.
To what? To other people's shell accounts? Transferring big .jpg files using a shell account doesn't get them to my screen any faster.
You can run servers, read mail, send mail, transfer files around, develop software, and so on.
I assume you're just talking about logging into a remote machine to maintain a CVS repository such as on OSDN's own service. Otherwise, doesn't a fellow who develops software want a fast connection from the box where the application runs to the box where the application's display runs? That's likely to be a lot faster on localhost than on dial-up. In addition, using a programmer's text editor such as GNU Emacs or Vim over a network connection with a 200+ ms ping is a pain in the donkey.
The shell account is the network pc taken one step further, and is effective even with fairly slow networks.
Unless you want to run anything that's image or audio based and interactive. Take too much intelligence off the client, and you run the risk of having the cumulative effects of long-haul latency (speed of light across a big country such as the United States) and last-mile latency (slow dial-up connection) ruin the interactive experience. Has X11 been optimized to run efficiently over 48 kbps down, 24 kbps up?
Still, if you didn't think thin client computing was a good idea, you probably don't find shell accounts useful either.
Makers of modern network computers recognize that thin client does not mean as thin as a teletype machine's paper. They try to achieve a compromise between the shell account setup (all intelligence on the shell server; client is just a terminal or X server) and the PC setup (all intelligence on the client; only data is shared across the network) by using applets compiled to a cross-platform bytecode and run across the network. For more about this approach, look at Java(tm) technology or its competition.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Everything has changed, and not always for the better. On the other hand, /. is open to the public, isn't it? Yeah, you get goatse trolls and whatnot, but they're easy to ignore, and they're entertaining each other (not sure if that low of a role is really needed in a web "food chain, but whatever. Maybe they'll grow up). Pick what you want to see, then do what you need to do. I know that the analogy is kind of weak for the web in general, but how often do you visit aol.com, msn.com, yahoo.com, etc? To me, large commercial sites are like watching a half hour tv show and seeing 5 minutes of content with the rest commercial. So I don't. I don't browse /. at -1, either. Ignorant users aren't a threat to the web as we know it, really. Politicians (and the companies that pay them) are.
The internet went wrong as soon as someone started regulating it. And no this isn't a support anarchy post, give me a moment to explain.
The internet, as it was envisioned in it's earliest forms (by the government no less) was for open and free exchange of information across a series of service. Anyone who needed access had it. As it expanded out and fell into control of the early hacker/geek community it moved from free flow of information between those in he know to free flow to anyone who had the equipment and the skills to get to it. The internet of the time was a self regulating society. People who wer obnoxious were ignored and shunned, malicious people were fought against by the rigtous vigalantes of the net. Sort of a wild west.
Soon however, the greedy people of the world realized that if they had information that no one else had, and restricted acess, they could control people. If they could control them, they could make money off of them. So they began businesses. This shifted the balance of power away from individuals and toward businesses and corporations with money. Feeling their power threatened, individuals with skills fought back. They were labled hackers, and unfortunately as with any group, it's the fanatics that generate the stereo-type and hackers bacme known as vicious online criminals.
So the businesses did what any business in danger of colapse would do. They complained to the government, and the government steped in. They started regulateing the internet, laws, rules, they took control of the system, the names, the places and it fell inot corporate control, with the lone individuals shut out and shunned. The individual became a criminal, suspect to doing crimes with every move he made.
And so the internet fell into the state it's in now, a pathetic mix of advertisements (because the businesses found you really can't make money off freedom, corporate watchdogs (because everyone online is out to destroy Free America ), porn (because as a society in the real world we have severe issues with sexualitycreatingan extreme and perverted attraction to it), and pathetic wannabie skript kiddies because all the real Hackers:
a) Are in jail
b) Have a real job as a security consultant
c) Gave up
d) Have become greedy
e) Fight on, bu tare shunned as extermists and lumped with scriptkiddies, pirates and warez makers.
f) Have focused on open source in the hopes of creating a free society within the controled one.
Though I wish him luck and will support him as best I can, I feel that unless he does everything in his power to prevent restrictions, he will merely see the same thing that the internet, hotline and p2p has seen. Freedom threatens buiness models of old, freedom must be destroyed.
Idealistic? Skewed viewpoint? Glorifying overy optimistic ideals? Maybe, but without ideals you have no purpose.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
Shell accounts ... have one major use that I can think of right now; people without permanant internet access can use them to run - say - an eggdrop.
Yes, I understand that shell accounts are useful for running services, but that's no help if the most prominent free shell account providers prohibit running such services in their acceptable use policies. For example, according to this list of shells, a prominent shell provider "doesn't allow bots. Don't even bother downloading stuff like Eggdrop, BitchX, psybnc, etc. since [the provider] has filters that won't let them run, and the admins will chase down the files and remove them."
Will I retire or break 10K?
Ahh, Fidonet ... FREQ!
Most of the "special interest" servers and
sites are run by people who have been at this
long before the advent of the Internet at large.
Why not take this technology, (software, protocols, etc.) and create a separate network
independant of the Internet? A real "grassroots"
approach to solving the problems of government
and commercial spoilage of the existing network.
Cut it loose... Make it private and establish
some basic rules, and most importantly eliminate
the possiblity of commerical takeover.
Anyone else feel this way?
Just have links to offsite servers go through a redir script. Then let the script test the server every, say 10,100,1000,whatever hits, store the result of the test somewhere where it can be easily reache and only send redirections to the server when it's up, else use a cache.
web.archive.org is an archive of sites on the web going back to about 1996.
[insert witty comment here]
Got a 20mb file that you want a couple friends to check out.
Not if a free shell provider (the subject of this article; pay shell providers are possibly -1, Offtopic) limits you to 5 MB. Besides, according to my reading of this reply to one of my other comments, if I want "a couple friends" to see a copyrighted and not freely licensed file, I'm apparently supposed to invite them into my home.
my server at home
You keep mentioning logging into your computer at home from work through SSH and X11 forwarding. Is what you're talking about practical on my dial-up connection?
I also play boggle remotely.
Have you tried playing anything like Super Mario Bros. remotely, over dial-up?
Will I retire or break 10K?
Here's a list of some ...
Good ... for a while, I tuned out ... Richard Sexton, while a great fish hobbyist, was the nastiest flamer around ...
oldbie
Why doesn't slashdot inject a site into freenet before publishing it in an article.
This might solve the caching problem (of course not the leal part of it) and promote freenet.
k2r
Compared to some of the slashdot people, I'm new to the internet. I started back in '95 (however before that I had been reading in a popular tech magazin about something new called "the world wide web"). It was a good time, using First Class as the email client (as well as the local network client), and Netscape 1.0 as the browser. No spam, no popups... Just a lot of informative and clean websites. Email and surfing the web was fun, now a big part of it is a big battle against spyware and spam :( I'm worried that new internet users will be scared away when they see their mailbox overloaded with spam, when they see Usenet packed with similar stupid spam, when their computers are infested with spyware and intrusive ad banners. Maybe new novice users will think that it's not worth it, and they wont use internet once they see the bad sides of it.
Will work for bandwidth
A friend has set up a VMS system at the end of a DSL line. Its primary purpose is to run "Notes". No, not Lotus Notes, VMSnotes a.k.a. DECnotes.
:). I used to run a Singles notesfile and that got alot of couples hooked up. I had friends that met "over email and notes" and were married in '85.
We all used to "note" at DEC back in the early 80's. It's still active (somewhat) at Compaq and then HP.
There were topics on everything from sex to pistols
It only took about 10 minutes for all the keypad commands to come back to me. It's great to have it back and with no HR department to worry about, we can say what we want.
What's my Karma Mr. Burns? "Excellent"
Do you or anyone else know if you can change this behaviour, perhaps with javascript in the preferences file... so that the image repeats X amount of times? there's a big difference between infinite and once. I'd like... say 5, or maybe even just 3 *shrug*.
Use the Z-modem protocol between Information Superhighway routers to compress the plaintext. ~LordOfYourPants