Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Slashback: Eldred, Cruise, SOAP

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the just-where-is-maxwell-afb dept.

Slashback tonight with several updates, ranging from patent encumbrances to SOAP 1.2 to the transcript for Eldred v. Ashcroft, with more bits in the middle on the recent Geek Cruise in the Caribbean, the all-important cable TV lineups, and more. Read on below for the details! A little light reading. hayek writes "The transcript of oral argument at the Supreme Court in Eldred v. Ashcroft is now available online."

And then we saw the sharks. a9db0 writes "Part II of Doc Searl's travelogue recounting his experiences on the Geek Cruise has been posted here by the fine folks over at the Linux Journal"

In an earlier report from Geek Cruise, Linus predicted 2.6 by June 2003. If you liked the list of features being considered for 2.6, you can thank puriots0 for "the list of what's been included in time for the feature freeze for Linux 2.6", as found at kernelnewbies.org.

Peel back your eyelids and let these images flood your brain. strredwolf writes "I think we had half the story when Cartoon Network said they were going to remove Zoids and G Gundam in their Toonami block. It was more like remove Zoids, move G Gundam to Midnight Run with GI Joe, put HeMan and Transformers on full weekdays, and double up on DB and DBZ. The website and broadcast prove it now. (This report was done while watching to Toonami live.)"

And Stalke writes "Recently, rumours about Stargate SG1 7th season included it both being renewed as well as speculation that it might be cancelled. MGM and Scifi put those rumours to rest today by officially announcing a 7th season. It will begin filming next year with a full 22 episodes ordered. No word about Daniel Jackson returning though :("

Cracking down on alien fraudsters. yep writes "Administrators of the alien-hunting distributed computing experiment SETI@home have announced they will crack down on cheats who rort statistics on computing power lent to the project. The announcement follows a united protest from the chief contributors. SETI@home director David Anderson announced SETI@home would do its best to investigate users returning suspiciously high amounts of work and delete their accounts if it uncovered solid evidence of cheating."

Sure they're not. tiltowait writes "The Hartford Courant article "The FBI Has Bugged Our Public Libraries" has been retracted (this was mentioned here - but the older article has been removed). Even if the retraction can be trusted, this doesn't change the fact that the FBI can still bug libraries as freely as the CIA can assasinate with impunity, or that more McCarthyism is on the way."

This story retracts the claims of bugging made in the previous one. Since the FBI has little incentive to tell the truth on this count, I don't see what incentive anyone has to believe their denial.

Cleaning up the future for SOAP. Makarand writes "A major hurdle in finalizing the SOAP 1.2 specification has been removed. Both Epicentric, a subsidiary of Vignette, and WebMethods, which makes integration software, had said in earlier statements that they may have patents that cover the technology used in the SOAP 1.2 specification which would have made SOAP 1.2 non royalty-free hindering approval by W3C. Epicentric has now amended its earlier statement saying they no longer believe they hold any such patents, and even if they did, they are interested in making them available on a royalty-free basis. WebMethods has made no comments yet."

11 of 181 comments (clear)

  1. SciFi by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "MGM and Scifi put those rumours to rest today by officially announcing a 7th season. It will begin filming next year with a full 22 episodes ordered."

    Yea? I remeber when SciFi and Jim Henson annouced more seasons of Farscape and full seasons ordered.

  2. Library by teamhasnoi · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Couldn't some /.er go to the library in question and investigate the computers? See if there is something running in the background or a keylogger on the keyboard? *That* would be interesting, indeeeeed. I would be interested to see what library patrons have been doing to circumvent and/or expose any attempts at skullduggery by the feds.

    1. Re:Library by ender81b · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Allright I work at a university research library so I can possibly answer this for you. For one, no we haven't had the FBI knocking on our door so that is good. But, as to how they would do this i have a few theories.

      I doubt they would run anything on the computers themselves using a program or a keylogger, mainly because it is too much work and ALOT of people would have to know about. I mean, we have 176 public computers and around 200 staff computers throughout all our branches they would have to bug. And to do that they would have to involve at least 3 people PLUS the student techs who administer the machines and work in the labs. I would doubt they would bother with it, considering the work to log 500 some machines. Doesn't seem worth their time.

      Instead, and much more likely, they would track the people's book browsing habits. Our library uses a third-party system called IRIS (innovative research something something) to handle our online card catalog, which happens to be our only card catalog. Now things become more interesting. Since all queries (seaching for books, journals, etc, etc) are tracked by IP and logged automatically by the IRIS machine in the first place - to see interests in books and what we can keep or send to storage, not part of some grand conspiracy - all the FBI would have to do is ask for the logs. Then, assuming they know which computer the suspect was at, match the IP's with the queries. Also if they wanted stuff like book checkout records, etc, etc, they could just grab it from the IRIS machine. Basically, this would be relatively easy for them and only 1-2 people who have to know. And, even better, the general public would be oblivious. You could also set up the database to only report certain queries for books, and the like. I mean the infrastructure is there, all they have to do is turn it on/customize it to what they need.

      The only way you could find out about it is if you had access to the IRIS machine. And, sorry guys, that ain't going to happen unless you work there. So don't go to your local library looking for key loggers you aren't going to find any. Now, personally, I am a lowly student computer tech so I have absolutely no say in this but it is somewhat scary to think of.

      Also, they could just deploy packet sniffers, etc, etc on the LAN.

  3. Re:Vulernability of SETI@home to cheats by cduffy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They do that -- but one of the methods of cheating is copying the results of that one completed work unit and returning it without recomputation when another machine on the same team is asked to double-check it.

    One obvious solution -- distributing a work unit only once to each team -- comes to mind, but without being on the team I can't comment as to relevant practical concerns.

  4. ISPs and e-mail disclosure by wytcld · · Score: 5, Interesting
    The McCarthyism link is to a Wired story about a law now likely to pass the Senate allowing the FBI to gain ISP e-mail records without warrant. All the more reason to get your own fixed IP and run your own mailserver. If I'm my ISP for mail, can they demand I turn over the records of my e-mail from my own computer in my home without a warrant? For those whose cable services block outgoing port 25 ... tough.

    Of course, having read this, Ashcroft's Ashellians will require licenses on mail servers....

    --
    "with their freedom lost all virtue lose" - Milton
  5. Yeah... Riigggghhhhhhtttt... by Lokni · · Score: 3, Interesting

    IMO, the fact that the librarians refused to discuss the matter of the FBI tapping the computers and stuff like that is solid evidence that the FBI is IN FACT doing it. If the FBI was NOT doing it, the Librarian would have said straight up the FBI has not contacted us and is not bugging anything. IMO, the fact that the librarian refused to talk about it, shows that she has been briefed by the FBI on what to say if questioned about the bugging.

  6. Re:the CIA can assasinate with impunity by Lucas+Membrane · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Does Bush's position as Commander in Chief make him a combatant and a legit target of the enemy? If not, why not? If so, is he not an 'illegal combatant', since he is usually wearing neither uniform nor conspicuous insignia?

  7. Re:Eldred's Question Time by The_Steel_General · · Score: 2, Interesting
    It was Lessig who was discussing the case, but given that nit:

    I think that they wanted to look at the two halves of his argument separately, while he kept referring to one as supporting the other. I think they wanted to see if either of them supported the claim individually, and I'd guess they were more interested in looking at the First Amendment issue. (As I understand it, going to the First Amendment for copyright issues isn't normally supported. They might have been looking for an easy out on that side...)

    Further, based on their questions to Olson, they may have been so in favor of the Section 8 limitation argument that they didn't see the need to go any more down that path. (They gave him a *lot* of opportunities to describe the effective limits of the Copyright Clause, and he kept coming back to "Well, that's up to Congress." They didn't seem to like that answer, much.) Which, if true, is a good sign. And might mean that their questioning of Lessig was an attempt to see what help the First Amendment might give them.

    It is a tricky problem for them: They don't like to overrule Congress, but also don't let Congress run wild with its own interpretation of the Constitution. Maybe we'll get lucky.

    TSG

  8. Re:You are a jealous bully by Siniset · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Wow, somebody needs to get off their high horse. God, laugh a little. Enjoy life. I'm all for activism, and I support the idea of free software, but to compare a stupid (and funny) joke combining geeks in general (and I've met RMS, so him in particular) tendency to fear showers, baths and anything else related to hygene and RMS strong views on software patents with "kicking a man" is ridiculous. Or maybe I just don't understand you and your love of RMS. I respect RMS, although he might be a little extreme for me, and his additions to computing have been great. We need people of all viewpoints. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will get you sued for libel.

  9. Better yet... by goldfndr · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Rather than a limit of work units to people, how about a unique identifier attached to each work unit - perhaps a hash or signature for WU and date/time and user? Then filter/reject any duplicate identifiers.

    I'd imagine they have some sort of rejection method right now (in case someone tries to upload /dev/random), but I don't know how much overhead this would involve.

    --
    Copyrights, Patents, Trademarks: temporary loans from the Public Domain, not real property ("intellectual" or otherwise)
  10. If that were true, I'd have been visited by now by brokeninside · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Then again, maybe that's why I was visited by the Secret Service last winter.