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Slashback: Folding, Cursing, Exporting

Slashback tonight brings updates and clarifications on the odds of Apple Computer buying Universal Music, the Evil Bit RFC, and more, including Niels Provos' reasons for moving his cryptographic research tools off-shore.

The more numerous the laws ... friscolr writes "The Register has an article about security researcher Niels Provos's (creator/collaborator for systrace, honeyd, openssh, various steg tools, and more) struggle to continue his Ph.D. studies amidst an increasingly restrictive set of U.S. and Michigan laws. This isn't the first time a prominent security researcher in Michigan has voiced serious concerns over new laws."

You may remember several earlier stories mentioning Provos' research, such as this article on his honeynet creation tool honeyd.

Apple Records has a certain ring, though, doesn't it? egoff writes "The Apple/Universal Music deal is unlikely, according to the New York Times (reg req), nor would it be a sure hit with investors. However, if the deal did go through, it would be because of Steve Job's vision for the future of digital music. Said one former Apple exec: 'Apple always needs to pull a rabbit out of its hat. Universal is a pretty big rabbit.'"

Swearing in another language doesn't count. Chilliwilli writes with an update to the recent Anger As a Software Design Philosophy: "Anyone that took a look at the foul language feckfeck might be amazed to see that somebody has actually risen to one of the three challenges and written a quine in this more irritating of languages. Congratulations go to 'hoser'."

Upping their meds. Elyjah writes "Steve Bellovin has compiled a short list of emails he got regarding his most recent RFC (3514) which appeared this last April 1st. (I believe you may have seen something on Slashdot about it.) Some people just...don't...get it."

If you go beyond the Enterprise, doesn't that invalidate their theme song? Built enough floppy-disk Enterprises? GaryK writes "With Dell getting rid of 3.5" disk drives, I'm quite sure we'll have to come up with creative uses for the hundreds and hundreds of floppies we have around our offices. This guy should serve as an inspiration to us all.

48 of 161 comments (clear)

  1. Floppy disks... by sleeperservice · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...also knows as "Old School Coasters", for those of us who remember a time before AOL CD-ROMs.

    1. Re:Floppy disks... by pro-mpd · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Ah, yes, AOL floppy disks. I turned in many a-C++ assignment on these. I also recall using Compuserve and Prodigy disks, but those just aren't as pervasive.

  2. One easy answer by Dicky · · Score: 4, Funny
    Good Afternoon,

    What or who determines the "evilness" or "goodness" of the packet? If a security admin or OS can determine or flag bits as good, what keeps the hacker from spoofing this process by setting the bit to "good"? Does the bit change based on behavior? Or maybe a database with signatures of "bad" bits?

    (name deleted)
    Microsoft Corporation

    Not to worry, good sir - there is a simple and easy answer to your question. All Microsoft software and systems should automatically set the bit to evil! On the off-chance of the packet passing through a clean system, the bit could be set to good, but all data originating from a Microsoft system are, by definition, evil.

    HTH, HAND...

    --
    Paranoia isn't an infectious condition, it's a way of life
    1. Re:One easy answer by inertia187 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yes, that is truely scary. Especially the part where he or she says, "Or maybe a database with signatures of "bad" bits?" Man, that's gotta be a tiny database:

      create table good_bad_bits (
      bit boolean not null primary key,
      evil boolean not null
      ) ;

      insert into good_bad_bits ( bit, evil ) values ( true, true ) ;
      insert into good_bad_bits ( bit, evil ) values ( false, true ) ; /* Ok, I guess I'm done. */

      --
      A programmer is a machine for converting coffee into code.
    2. Re:One easy answer by Krondor · · Score: 5, Funny

      ... all data originating from a Microsoft system are, by definition, evil.

      Nevermind that "Evil" is a relative term, but I was under the impression that in fact all FreeBSD packets should in fact be "Evil". I mean they have a daemon (albeit a cute one for a mascot). I think they are more then deserving for that fact alone, but hasn't the FreeBSD crowd been the one primarily pushing for this bit to begin with?

    3. Re:One easy answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      I was under the impression that in fact all FreeBSD packets should in fact be "Evil".

      Yes, this is true. For proof, simply ask anyone who's ever configured BSD packet filtering.

  3. Universal is a pretty big rabbit by djupedal · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...and Steve wears a pretty big hat.

  4. Re:apple records by pro-mpd · · Score: 2, Informative

    macos : xerox parc :: apple records : [napster|kazaa|gnutella] ?

    In Apple's favor, although they might not be first on the scene with digital music (duh), they will probably put out a product that will revolutionize the industry.

    Remember, it wasn't just the GUI, but it was rather the personal computer with a GUI that started it all.

  5. CD Sculptures? by mungeh · · Score: 2, Funny

    Surely these would be more interesting (and much more shiny) than boring old floppy clips. I guess I'll just wait till 40gb DVD's render CD's useless and lots of boring nerds start wandering what the hell to do with their now useless 500 cd pr0n collection. Surely you could make life size models with CDs. they seem a lot more sculptable!

    1. Re:CD Sculptures? by boomgopher · · Score: 4, Interesting
      --
      Your hybrid is not saving the environment. Its purpose is to make you feel good about buying something.
  6. Apple Records? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    um, there's already a company called Apple Records. They put out music by an obscure group called the Beatles.

    I know, most /. ers are too young to remember those days...

    or the days when record labels had actual labels smack dab in the middle of those black disks.

    1. Re:Apple Records? by Nintendork · · Score: 4, Informative
      When Apple ran into the legal problem of using the name Apple, the record company said they could use it so long as they didn't go into the music business. Hence the system beep, "Sosume".

      I just did a google search and found another /. post explaining this in more depth.

      -Lucas

  7. The Beatles aren't gonna be happy about this... by CPgrower · · Score: 3, Funny

    Apple Records? I don't think the Beatles will go for it.

    rob

  8. Microsoft Records? by SHEENmaster · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'd really rather apple buy out the company. Despite my complaints about QuickTime, apple has been rather nice about keeping iTunes using mp3 for output, and more recently support Ogg Vorbis for playback. They might start including digital copies of music in addition to the CD tracks, and definitly wouldn't go to the extreme of copy protection schemes that crash macintoshes (anyone have a link?)

    --
    You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
  9. "Apple Records" by PeekabooCaribou · · Score: 2, Informative

    Actually, didn't apple have some sort of agreement with Apple Corps. (The Beatles' label) about this very thing?

    --
    "I'll say it again for the logic-impaired." -- Larry Wall.
  10. Floppy women? by saskboy · · Score: 4, Funny

    http://sdcc15.ucsd.edu/~mrossmas/recycle.html

    I think the fellow "recycling" floppies into star ships should construct a floppy woman. It may be the only chance he will get.

    High density

    Double sided

    write protect hole

    --
    Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
    1. Re:Floppy women? by Alsee · · Score: 4, Funny

      Top 10 reasons floppies are better than a woman:

      10. You may have to format them before you use them, but heay, it's cheaper than buying them dinner.
      9. You friends are always willing to give you one of their floppies they aren't using at the moment.
      8. You can pick them up ten at a time.
      7. They only remember what you want them to remember.
      6. Drive as long as you want, they never tell you to stop for directions.
      5. Foreplay consists of A:[enter]
      4. If you get bored you can always use them as frisbies.
      3. It's a lot easier to get rid of a virus you caught from a floppy.
      2. Floppies don't need an instruction manual.

      And the number one reason floppies are better than a woman...

      Floppies never ask FAT (Y/N)?

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  11. Apple Trademark violation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Back when Apple Computers(AC( was founded, Apple Records(AR) (who put out the Beatles records in America) sued AC for the name Apple. AC had to agree not to go into the music recording business in order to use the name Apple. If AC makes this move into music recording, would they not be violating that agreement?

    1. Re:Apple Trademark violation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      AR sued AC for including a MIDI adaptor (i think) with the apple II (i think). AC settled for a large sum and bought out the previous agreement.

      So no.

    2. Re:Apple Trademark violation by prockcore · · Score: 4, Interesting

      AR sued AC for including a MIDI adaptor (i think) with the apple II (i think). AC settled for a large sum and bought out the previous agreement.

      Um, no. Apple Records sued Apple Computers because of the Apple][gs. The ][gs contained an Ensoniq synthesizer, making it the most powerful music composer on the market. Part of the agreement was that Apple Computers couldn't ever have a hardware synth solution. This is still true today. Apple Computers didn't buy any rights, and they are still not allowed to enter the record business.

      Search the web for "Ensoniq Apple lawsuit" for more information.

  12. Dell's Usb keychain offer is pants by Loosewire · · Score: 3, Informative

    Apparently from a freind's company who buys lots of dells their Free USB keychain drive offer (Here in the UK at least) was only good for 1 week after they announced the removal of floppy disks. Please someone else tell me this is wrong :-(

    --
    Slashdot - The one stop shop for procrastination
  13. Email regarding Evil Bit RFC by Bradee-oh! · · Score: 4, Funny

    Good Afternoon,

    What or who determines the "evilness" or "goodness" of the packet? If a security admin or OS can determine or flag bits as good, what keeps the hacker from spoofing this process by setting the bit to "good"? Does the bit change based on behavior? Or maybe a database with signatures of "bad" bits?

    (name deleted)
    Microsoft Corporation


    Dear (name deleted),

    The complete protocol is not yet formalized, but you can be assured that any packet from your companies domain should have the bit set.

    Signed,
    -All irrational slashdot readers who flame MS as a reflex

    (it's a joke, people)

    --
    "This is Zombo Com, and welcome to you who have come to Zombo Com" - www.zombo.com
  14. Apple pulled a what out of its what?! by no_opinion · · Score: 5, Funny

    Said one former Apple exec: 'Apple always needs to pull a rabbit out of its hat. Universal is a pretty big rabbit.'

    You don't save a drowning man by throwing him another drowning man.

    1. Re:Apple pulled a what out of its what?! by Tokerat · · Score: 2, Funny


      What are you talking about? Why would SCO buy Universal?

      --
      CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
  15. AOL Floppy disks... by saskboy · · Score: 2, Informative

    Don't use those disks man:
    http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewIte m&item =3603092159&category=4291

    Sell them on eBay to suckers looking for junk mail that takes their memories way back to the 1990s when AOL was hip.

    --
    Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
  16. What's a Quine? by _xeno_ · · Score: 5, Informative
    I hope I'm not the only one who didn't recognize what a "Quine" was, so here we go:

    A quine is a program that, when run, exactly reproduces its source code. Nifty - although not particularly useful, it's still kinda neat.

    Anyway, find quines in, uh, many languages at The Quine Page.

    --
    You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
    1. Re:What's a Quine? by Ptolemarch · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Nifty - although not particularly useful, it's still kinda neat.

      Quines are particularly useful, actually. It proves that there can, conceptually at least, exist a machine capable of replicating itself in full.

      As an example, nanotechnology presumes that we'll be able to build machines that could build exact copies of themselves, in order that we don't have to make machines to stamp out billions of microscopic nanites. Well, is this possible? It's tempting to just say "sure, of course", and it is indeed possible, but not obviously so.

      If a nanite's going to make an exact copy of itself, it has to copy its brain. Which means it has to store the blueprints for its brain. Which means it has to be able to replicate *that*. Et cetera.

      Try it! Try writing your own quine. It isn't trivial. But it is possible, which makes nanotech doable in theory. If quines didn't exist, or let's say they were provably impossible, nanotech would be that much more implausible.

  17. RFC by genka · · Score: 5, Funny

    It should be noted that if evil bit (RFC 3514) is used with TCP by Pigeon (RFC 1149), evil bit is dropped. In fact, a lot of evil bits are dropped

  18. Quine by FosterSJC · · Score: 4, Informative

    For those not so programming-savvy (i.e. me, 5 minutes ago), a quine is "a program that generates a copy of its own source text as its complete output."

    Apparently Douglas Hofstadter (of GEB fame)coined the phrase after logician Willard van Orman Quine.

    For more see: http://www.nyx.net/~gthompso/quine.htm

  19. Floppy RAID is cool. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Excuse me for "hanging" this on your funny-post, but the FDD-RAID project is just soo funny and I'd like more people to see it.

    It is really cool when you access the drives the way they flash each light and spin in no particular order that I can discern. It is of course faster than a standard single drive. I was able to transfer "DEVO Uncontrolable Urge.mp3" which is 3.6 MB in 32 seconds. Which is pretty good I think.

    (Really, with people posting "what's vorbis?" with every Vorbis story, I'm sure there must be persons out there for which this is new)

  20. evil bit by dna_(c)(tm)(r) · · Score: 4, Funny

    "[...]April 1st. (I believe you may have seen something on Slashdot about it.) "
    Yes, but could you please post a full story on it.

  21. Upping their meds by coupland · · Score: 3, Funny

    What did the very last guy say in Steve Bellovin's update? The guy from Microsoft? Sorry but my browser came up with a message "Error: content blocked (RFC3514)". Please tell...

  22. Niels Provos, crypto and Super-DMCA by Cthefuture · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What the hell is all that about?

    I didn't even know (or maybe chose to forget) about this Super-DMCA crap.

    What states has this passed in? It seems overly broad in scope and extremely scary. According to the article the laws are mainly meant for people hacking satellite and cable services. But damn, they're so broad it makes all sorts of things illegal.

    I find it completely bizzare that this is even going on... How stupid are our (US) government leaders?!

    --
    The ratio of people to cake is too big
  23. no such thing by minus_273 · · Score: 4, Funny

    There are no AOL users on the Internet there will never be, never!. AOL users are commiting suicide at the gateways of the internet and we will contune to encourage more suicides. AOL has never had any share of the market and at the moment is a small stupid little company that has no power what so ever. AOL never distrubited CD's or floppies. The author of the article is a liar. These are lies! lies i tell you!
    -Mhmd al-sharif, former iraqi information minister

    --
    The war with islam is a war on the beast
    The war on terror is a war for peace
  24. Actually my reaction was: by einhverfr · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Good Afternoon,

    What or who determines the "evilness" or "goodness" of the packet? If a security admin or OS can determine or flag bits as good, what keeps the hacker from spoofing this process by setting the bit to "good"? Does the bit change based on behavior? Or maybe a database with signatures of "bad" bits?

    (name deleted)
    Microsoft Corporation


    Now I understand why Microsoft products have troubled security records..... I don't think I will be buying your products any time soon....

    --

    LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
  25. Let this be the proof... by zurab · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... that Microsoft employees are extremely devoted to RFCs and all public standards. Here's a Microsoft employee who, in good faith, researched and tried to contribute to the development of a new RFC - all this before (s)he even got and read the manager's memo saying it was April 1st.

  26. Clarification by birdman666 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Am I the only person who assumes Apple Computers would keep the name of Universal if they were to buy the record company, therefore flying under the radar. The agreement with Apple Corps was to avoid confusion in the marketplace. If the music products still carried the Universal name, wouldn't Apple Computers be in the clear even if they were the parent company?

    --

    Nothing from nowhere I'm no one at all
  27. Slashback tonight brings... by kubrick · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Slashback tonight brings updates and clarifications on ... the Evil Bit RFC

    Nooooooo! Make it stop!

    --
    deus does not exist but if he does
  28. An exerpt from the quine by Perdo · · Score: 3, Funny
    Just in case it gets slashdotted of course.



    cock boob!!!! cock tits!!!! cock boob!!!! cock tits!!!! cock! tits cock!!! fuck smeg!! arse tits smeg boob fuck arse tits fuck! boob smeg! butt smeg! arse tits fuck!



    Reason: Please use fewer 'junk' characters.

    Reason: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.

    If it won't make it through the lameness filter, how does it get posted as a non-lame story?

    --

    If voting were effective, it would be illegal by now.

  29. Robot parts! by Smidge204 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Granted, the motors in floppy drives are pretty weak... but each drive contains two stepper motors, one uni-directional servo motor, at least 3 input switches (either optical or mechanical), and all the electronics to drive them!

    The whole thing can be controlled with simple pulses to the various pins on the cable connector, which means an old floppy drive is a cheap (free) way to add motor controls to any microcontroller project, or even drive it with the PC's printer port. Ideal for science fair projects and other low-low budget / non critical / fun stuff.

    Here and here are just some of many examples.

    Fun fun!
    =Smidge=

  30. Build a hard drive wind chime... by Jonah+Hex · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Since the days of the death of MFM hard drives I've been stripping dead drives of their platters and using them for wind chimes. The platters resonate with crystal clear tones when struck against each other, and I've never had one I couldn't use from notebook drives to IDE/SCSI drives.

    Besides the usual nylon line and a wooden dowel or two for the upper support, you do need a few different type of screwdriver bits, since most drives use odd shaped star/torx screwheads. If you have any trouble just grab a drill and destroy the screws, at this stage who cares about what the case ends up looking like. And a final tip, you may want to spray the platters with a thin clear coat if your putting them outside.

    Jonah Hex

  31. evil bit by shadowbolt · · Score: 3, Funny
    Maybe somebody could re-iterate the evil bit story for me... I must have missed that one.

    Sometimes, when I eat something, I drink something. [www.homestarrunner.com]

  32. Floppy Disks vs. Hard Disks by Iffy+Bonzoolie · · Score: 2, Informative

    This is as opposed to hard disks, where the platter is actually hard (if you ever disassemble a HD, you'll notice those platters are pretty heavy duty). Even though the 3.5" disk's case is rigid, the disk itself is floppy, which is what makes them floppy disks.

    Does anyone know if Zip disks are floppy or hard?

    -If

    --
    Run a pencil-and-paper RPG campaign with your far-off friends: Gametable!
    1. Re:Floppy Disks vs. Hard Disks by The+Almighty+Dave · · Score: 2, Informative

      Zip disks are floppy, I just checked.

  33. Apple Records by Niscenus · · Score: 2, Informative

    Yes, Paul thought it had a ring to it, too. It's been a sub-division of EMI since just before Revolver.

    John and I, however, used a later song, and out of that (in dual non-pseudo-semi-indirecty-partnery-sub-divisionism ismism), we created Subafilms for our toonery attempts at an animaty-musi-movie.

    --Ringo

    --
    "Yeah...it was the numbers that were irrational, not the murderous cult of vegetarians...." -- Hippasus of Metapontum
  34. Embrace and extend - was "One easy answer" by AltGrendel · · Score: 4, Funny
    I believe that there is a secret memo floating around Microsoft to extend this standard by one bit:

    0x00 - If set to 0, the packet has no evil intent, as it was sent by a Microsoft product. There is no need for any security measures as all Microsoft products are inherently secure.

    0x01 - If set to 1, the packet may have no evil intent other than taking away market share from Microsoft and should be regarded with suspicion. These packets should be randomly dropped by all Microsoft products and blame put on the third party vendor.

    0x10 - If set to 2, the packet MAY have evil intent, but since it comes from a Microsoft product, there is no need for any security measures as all Microsoft products are inherently secure. Any Microsoft product that receives this packet should be setup to automatically notify Microsoft marketing and it's legal staff to start blaming Open Source software in the media.

    0x11 - If set to 3, the packet has evil intent since it comes from a third party, most likely an Open Source developer. All packets should be dropped immediately, any Microsoft product that receives this packet should be setup to automatically notify Microsoft marketing and it's legal staff to start blaming Open Source software in the media.

    --
    The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination

    - Douglas Adams

  35. Actually by xant · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It is pretty easy to write a quine in the sense of "a program that prints its own source code", just open the file that contains the source code and dump it to stdout.

    This is not what über-coders think of as a quine, because it is a cheat, but it is (probably) what you want if you're producing a nanomachine that replicates itself. You don't want to reproduce the current state (which would lead to evolution and inevitably, if you believe Scott McNealy, gray goo) but the original state.

    --
    It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.
    1. Re:Actually by arkanes · · Score: 2, Insightful

      All (worthwhile) operating systems let you open files that don't exist. Printing them usually isn't very usefull, though :P