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Senator Proposes to Monitor All P2P Traffic for Illegal Files
mytrip writes "Senator Joe Biden (D-Del) has proposed an ambitious plan, costing on the order of $1 billion, aimed at curtailing illegal activities via P2P networks. His plan involves utilizing new software to monitor peer-to-peer traffic on an ongoing basis. 'At an afternoon Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing about child exploitation on the Internet, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) said he was under the impression it's "pretty easy to pick out the person engaged in either transmitting or downloading violent scenes of rape, molestation" simply by looking at file names. He urged use of those techniques by investigators to help nab the most egregious offenders."
Fuck them. Fuck them both.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
. . . this dragnet surveillance "for the children" would never be used to enforce copyright. Right, Senator RIAA?
One CPU cycle wasted on digital restrictions management is ONE TOO MANY.
pretty easy to pick out the person engaged in either transmitting or downloading violent scenes of rape, molestation" simply by looking at file names. Ok, so all my Metallica files will be relabled (Not Metallica_Not Illegal file_Ignore). That should keep the feds off me.
I've never seen a better use for the "whatcouldpossiblygowrong" tag in my life.
There is a war going on for your mind.
The guy just likes to hear himself talk. He's had more failed attempts at the presidential nomination than Ralf Nader running for the Presidency.
Wait... so all I have to do to transfer kiddy porn via p2p is change the name of the file?
And here I have been giving you credit for not being a total tool. How wrong I was...
Post Attachment: Cowboy_Neal_Riding_Congressman.jpg
I understand how these politicians can't get a handle on terrorism, crime, drugs etc.
They think the people that deal in them are as stupid as they themselves are.
What light through yonder window breaks? Tis the clarity of seeing people for what they truely are: idiots.
He wants the filtering done on file names?? Is he serious? That would be one of the easiest filters to get around.
Give them all names like "Senator Joe Biden's Personal Photo and Video Stash.tbz"
Who is general failure, and why is he reading my hard drive?
encr, lbhgu, puvyq, nff, shpx, cvff, yvpx, gbegher, encr, crrcrr, qhatrba, fubj, gryy, gbhpu, gvr, ovaq, fgevc, fcnax, fyvpr, oyrrq, qevax, fvfgre, oebgure, 8, 11, wvmm, ovgpu, fhpx, onfu, xvyy
I hate it when they can't keep the script straight. The dems are supposed to be the stupid ones, the republicans are supposed to be the evil ones. Quit horning in on their territory!
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what your country did to you
Joe Biden has an overinflated sense of importance. Thats what this comes down to. He loves having his name in the news and doesn't seem to mind if its over being dumb.
Don't you just love when politicians try to pass a "law" on a subject they have absolutely no idea about? This leftwing dingbat probably thinks the internet is a bunch of tubes, has no idea how to use a computer or even a cell phone.
I see two approaches here... name every file you transmit a) fluffykitten.jpg or b) underageSexDrugsRockRoll.mpg depending on the actual content
Of course they can do this... They can also stop spam dead in its router or switch feeds... We know where the viruses are originating from, and spam and and and... Since these greasy rogues produce over 90% of the e-mail, then one can take from that that they're also paying big bills to do this... The Golden rule persists, and this InterTubeTechnocrat hasn't a clue.... The thing is probably a work around for the FCC accounting which states that ISP's cannot restrict (reads choke P2P) network feed or else they lose their blanket immunity to prosecution on content.... this guy is trying to build them a trap door...ain't gonna work.
End of Line.
If encryption is used, you can't do it.
If monitoring is heavy-handed AND encryption isn't illegal, it will be used.
The net effect: Wasted CPU time for encryption/decryption.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
...I suppose I should stop sharing the file US_Govt_Rapes_Citizens_Rights.doc lest I be marked as one of "the most egregious offenders"
Yeah. One party will try to enslave us just slightly faster than the other. It's so nice having a clear choice. (sarcasm intended)
Real issues: economy, environment, crime, international relations
Distraction issues: file sharing, gay marriage, abortion, drugs, bosnian snipers
If I was an ISP who wanted to slow the use of P2P on my network, I only have a few options.
Comcast tried the first option, which is to drop the connections. The outrage on tech sites was massive, and eventually led to them being investigated by the FCC.
Barring that option, why not put the burden on the government to handle the filtering. Heck, that is even better because now you don't have to pay for it anymore, your customers pay for it through their taxes.
Java has no friends.
He's the senator from MBNA and Citibank.
Totally different.
From now on, I'm renaming all the tarballs I package.
tar -cvf XXX-9yo-boys-blowjobs-and-crystal-meth.tar dovecot-1.0-stable/
~Wx
sig?
Remember when search engines used to rely on Meta tags? Yeah this is a brilliant plan. There should be a new rule: if you don't know what your talking about when you make a *law* then you get five lashes.
Shh.
I propose we monitor all government communication for evidence of corruption.
If everyone starts putting their crappy family videos of their kids online, I can see a ton of false positives.
But if there's any good, preexisting reason for this to be stopped, This could start happening in America too:
Having Your ID Stolen Leads to Job Loss, Prosecution
... we wait for the Senators to open the file "report_on_perverts_downloading_rape_and_molestation_files.doc" and then BAM! arrest the whole lot of them.
Genius, I tell ya!
- Despite popular opinion, I am not perfect.
Because no one at all knows about using TOR or encrypting your connections.
Where he creates a (filter or firewall or program) to stop a 12 year old in finding 'naughty pictures' on the net. Then you hear a boinging sound and Dilbert says "I hope that is not his eyes popping out'. Lets face the facts. Anyone can build something to get by any type of restrictions on the net. Period.
Guns are for wimps... Use a crossbow.. this way you can pin them to their chair when you go postal.
As much as I'd love to register as a Democrat, it's boneheads like Biden that keep me from doing so. When I read the DNC platform I get excited. When I hear Joe Biden, Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton, et. al. pontificate, I remain registered as a Republican (in the RHINO or Southpark sense only).
Don't believe me? Google for US federal deficit charts...
Dems always suck on IP issues and censorship. That's been the case for decades. They think of the children waaaay too much.
On the other hand, republicans also suck for censorship (dems hate violence, repubs hate boobies), and they are far more likely to get "decency-style" laws passed, than infringe on individual liberty...If you can't buy booze on a Sunday in your state, somewhere, there is a Republican to thank.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
My first thought when I read this was 'Whiskey Tango Foxtrot'. (Well. Not exactly, it was actually the terms that those letters stand for, but hey).
This is really sad, because I just know he's serious about this, and he really does think this 'saves the children'. And he's giving the exact proof why people with no knowledge about these sort of technical things, should not be allowed to even propose a law about it.
You're not going to let a truck driver design your house. You're not letting a CEO have root access to your core machines. You don't accept financial advice from a bum. You can't accept truth from a politician. Uhm. Well. You get my point.
Why the hell would we accept a senator to make laws about something he simply doesn't have the knowledge about? Why on earth do these people even think they can make sensible comments about this?
It's so intensely sad that in a wat it gets funny, if I didn't realize that they're dead serious, and we're going to be stuck with the bullshit.
Can't we forcibly 'retire' these sort of politicians from their position... Bleh.
Coz eternity my friend, is a long *ing time.
Heh, and Wasted CPU time translates to an environmental issue, so the EPA will probably be able to ban that with some bureaucratic regulation rather than going thru the bother of law.
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
Ignorance of technology is unfortunately not something limited to a single party. Most of our current crop of politicians fail to comprehend technology pretty much across the board.
While Luddite bashing is a fun pastime, and probably well deserved in this case, it is probably best used when reserved for individuals, not political parties.
Unbreakable toys can be used to break other toys.
I am sure that Sen Biden's idea has nothing to do with the fact that he has taken $178,358 from the TV/Movies/Music lobby in this last cycle. The ROI on paying off a politician is insane. Just look at Orrin Hatch and the DMCA.
Doesn't the Senator know that the logical response to this will be millions of files with names like 'loli-rape.avi' that contain wonderful Rick Astely videos*? Is Biden up for reelection yet again or is this his normal level of cluelessness.
Don't blame me. I'm writing in Bruce Schneier and Lawrence Lessig!
*Wait. What am I saying. This is already happening...
Um, seeing as the USA is slipping (slipped?) into recession and has a 9 trillion dollar debt, maybe your government should be planning on spending tax dollars a bit more conservatively? (say on public housing for the recently evicted, food stamps etc). Just my 2c.
"I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
And Joe Biden is one of the very worst. He's been a stooge for the credit business in his state for years. So, all we have to do now is send all of our file names as hashes, and pretty soon we can get back to fucking children, which is after all the lone purpose of teh internets.
Can we reverse the age requirements for Congress, so no one over the age of 45 is allowed to serve? Jesus Christ are old people increasingly useless in our culture.
I scream. You scream. I assume that means we're both acquainted with the problem. We proceed.
How the fuck do you expect voting for one of two parties is going to represent the majority of your views? I live in the UK, and I'm fed up of random slashdotters flaming republican this, democrat that, can you please explain what the actual difference is? I've seen more than one person point out that there is none, and I wouldn't find that hard to believe. I think as far as democracy is concerned, people should be able to vote on invidual laws and such (if they consider that law important) rather than vote one party every few years and expect to have things go the way they're wanting them to. Does it really matter whether this guy is Republican or Democrat? I'm sure there are plenty of idiots in both parties..
Apologies for the slightly trollish nature of my post, but it's really pissing me off seeing this inane republican vs democrat stuff, it's like racism or something, except the fairly arbitrary divide being which set of self-important morons you vote for instead of place of birth/skin colour. Admittedly you do have a choice who to vote for, but in the end there are always gonna be problems no matter who you vote for, under the current system at least.
which is totally what she said
that george orwell (1984) was right. it is their playbook, and now, they are following it to the fullest.
If people can get past, can they get future? Best way to confuse a stoner
This is only the beginning, citizens. Every election year, someone proposes this kind of lame idea, hoping that they'll be seen "stalwart defenders of public decency taking a stand against the evils of the Internet" instead of "idiots proposing stupid solutions to minor nuisances in an attempt to garner votes."
Last year, it was then-presidential-contender Senator Brownback of Kansas who was re-proposing the "Truth in Ratings" act, (although I'm sure that it was in NO way related to his "more-family-values-oriented-than-thou" appeal.)
Strike while the irony is hot! -- The Freethinker
So who wants to join me in animating goatse into movies and then naming those files after every popular movie and tossing them on P2P? Let the idiots monitoring this system enjoy their work for once...
You can get rich if you own a politician, but you have to be rich to buy one in the first place.
IOTM = Idiot of the Month With most illegal p2p startin to use encryption and if they start with that even more will, it makes that money spent just a waste when that network can't decode the data.
And America is full of morons. Do you see the problem?
1. guy who has no idea how the intertubes works makes stupid proposal. as if he could matter to p2p traffic
2. guys who know how the intertubes works vent their fury. as if they matter to the political discourse at hand
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Yeah, because they all knew what he was going to do in advance? Gimme a break :0
which is totally what she said
Does somebody want to update that Anti-anti-spam form letter doohickey for P2P grievers? I'm not quite savvy enough with internet & P2P protocol to not screw it up (I'm on here for being a MechE, give me a break). This could be done very well and perhaps show some of these otherwise smart people how useless and/or destructive this kind of legislation would be.
Thanks.
I hear the snow is starting to melt in Canada at this time of year. :-)
Canada took a misguided right turn a few years ago and currently has a government in residence (albeit, thankfully, tenuously) that is nothing more than neocon-lite. We're still better off than you, but the current government likes nothing better than to oil the slippery slope and herd the Canadian sheeple in its direction on behalf of its big-business masters. One can keep hoping the people will wake up and smell the frog sweat, but Canadians tend to be too trusting and easy-going and thus ripe for abuse.
I assume you are reacting to the summaries statement:
But in reality, it invovles FBI agents trying to download the files, then getting the IP of the computer that sent them, and calling the ISP.
The only moderately automatic thing that is done (which is actively ignored by most people in this discussion) is that they are hashing the file to prevent renaming. Since they have to have already downloaded the file, I assume its to try to track it's propogation over the P2P network, presumably so they can target the major distributors/creators.
Your ad here. Ask me how!
.. Ubuntu release their "Sexy Sheep" update?
Please read my Canon EOS tech blog at http://www.everyothershot.com
I think that whenever a "Think of the Children" issue comes up, we should remind the idiots that Michael Jackson also "Thinks of the Children."
Muahahaha, you all fell into my trap. By reading this comment you have displayed your intent to abuse children. FBI agents are on their way.
make thousands of copies of goatsee and tubgirl, then rename them to random filenames (using keywords like "kiddie", "preteen", etc)
Any guesses what step 2 of my cunning plan is?
---
"I can't complain, but sometimes still do..." Joe Walsh
So a senator said something stupid about a subject outside of his domain of expertise. Every slashdotter, if elected to the senate, would say stupid things about SOMETHING. This is not a proposal for a law, or Iâ(TM)d be seeing it on my opencongress.org feed. Just kindly wite to the man and inform him that within a week of any such law coming into play, P2P programs would be randomizing the filenames.
I find your ideas fascinating, and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
--
One billion dollars! (puts pinky to lower lip) I see the tip of an ice berg, but ok since ... "It's for the children"!
Ah! The rest of the iceberg! Now how will we pay for it?
No matter that it cannot possibly work, it is for the children you see. So naturally if it's not working, we'll simply need to provide a bit more funding in this year's budget, and the next, and the next...
That's a great plan, burn more tax dollars on this stupidity, so that all P2P starts using encryption, which will happen sooner or later.
Meanwhile, people in New Orleans are still living in trailers or other temporary housing, and the national debt continues to blast off into space.
I wonder how many people in New Orleans could be helped with $1,000,000,000.
I know, just for fun... a very small house costs around 80K. So... 1000000000/80000 is...
** 12,500 new homes ** Say on average the house contains an adult couple and one kid. That's 37,500 people that could be re-housed for the cost of this plan.
Now who's thinking of the children?
Monitoring traffic on the internet is as simple as putting a road check system on the suspected tube, and inspecting the contents of that truck individually.
I'm in the UK too and it seems much the same as Labour/Conservative back and forth for the last god knows how many years. I think it was Billy Connolly that said "the desire to be a politician should bar you for life from becoming one".
A thistle is a fat salad for an ass's mouth...
...because "2girls1cup" and "tubgirl" are completely indicative of the mental scarring that takes place when you view them.
Didn't congress rule that digital files where considered personal effects just like phone conversations? Seems like this bill is unconstitutional. Not to mention this technology would be abused with warrentless wire taps. Mean while pedophile p2p networks start using encryption and snail mail. Personal privacy is the only thing this technology will stop.
What moron rated this post a troll?
This will finally make encryption in P2P mainstram. About time. And it might also make anonymisation mainstream, again good. Note that there are already networks that have both (GnuNet) and the technological problems are largely solved.
"Looking at filenames" is, however, about the dumbest approach to P2P monitoring I have recently heard of. Anybody can publish anything under any filename. In the ed2K network, for example, filenames are only returned on search, everything else is via file-hash. And quite a few files (hashes) are available under misleading names. My guess is that this will just lead to more disgusting stuff being findable as disney movies and the like.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Why not do what the fine gentlemen at Bang Bros do and name the file something like "BMF350500k"? You get the name of the site (BMF) the episode (350) and the quality (500k). Not that I have a membership or anything. My friend told me about that.
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
I am sadly disappointed with the selection of candidates this election year. We have a criminal, a racists and a geriatric to chose from. All 3 are liberal in their view points, so I guess no matter who wins, the dems will be happy.
Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.
What does it take to foil a billion dollars worth of Joe Biden P2P security?
mv violentanalsodomyincestrapetorturekillkillkill.flv happykittens.flv
How the fuck does a moron like this get elected? Oh, yeah -- fucking morons like us vote for them.
Let's not let Joe Biden EVER design a maximum security prison.
Ed R.Zahurak
You know, oblivion keeps looking better every day.
I live in Delaware. If I ran as a Republican, I would:
a) Protect students from being sued out of an education for silly copyright violations. We need to protect the internet from a storm of lawsuits and so I would bar the likes of RIAA from trying to bully citizens out of their livelihoods.
b) open up everything for drilling but under a mechanism which allows the benefits of high oil prices to be spent upon the people of the United States. Basically, we'd drill ANWR and offshore but would use the money to pay for a few fiscal priorities that seem rather urgent. These include:
1. national health insurance. American manufacturers and small businesses are so screwed by health insurance that it is now sapping american competitiveness. government is rationing of course. real wages have gone up and by a lot in the USA but its all getting sucked into health care. That's crazy.
2. alternative energy. regardless of what you feel about AGW, the USA needs to have a more diversified energy portfolio for its basic national security. We cannot let the threat of terrorists in the middle east or hurricanes in the gulf continue to hold the USA hostage. The compromises the USA is currently making to get energy are beating the goodness out of our national character just as much as a crack junky makes bad decisions to feed his or her habit. We need energy independence. We need a diversied mix of vehicles to fill in around the single fuel portfolio we have - a mix of electric, biofuel, hydrogen...We need to build nuclear plants like they are going out of style, and we need massive research and engineering in all of these technologies.
3. rail everywhere. we need to switch from the overhead electric caternaries in the northeast to more modern hybrid locomotives and upgrade all the passenger rolling stock. we need to upgrade the rails themselves in some places. tearing down all the wires and switching to hybrid locomotives would be more efficient, and would add to property values in every city located on the rails. also, we should encourage superstores to be located near rail lines and have money for cities that are depopulated to tear down blighted buildings.
4. better unemployment retraining. sometimes in the global economy, your job just evaporates. we can't just have 20 weeks of unemployment for people whose job just evaporated and they need to go back to school to learn a new skill.
d. withdraw us military forces from everywhere. The perception of the USA as some sort of an empire is hurting sales of American products. this is a long term thing and we can't just pull up from iraq immediately and we can't quite leave afghanistan, but, ultimately, the USA needs to have its troops leave every base, everywhere around the world. We want to have US businesses with offices around the world, engaging in friendly trade, not US military bases.
e. be pro-free trade. free trade works and has made the world very wealthy, and it is a system that the USA imposed. For the USA to turn its back on free trade will spawn many, many wars throughout the world, as every other attempt to restrain trade has, and the only time I want to see war is on the History Channel, not CNN.
f. aggressively challenge presidential signing statements. The job of a President is to enforce the laws that Congress passes, period. Presidents do not get to pick and choose what laws they are to enforce, except in due course of fiscal priorities. If the President uses a signing statement to violate a law, regardless of political party, then undo pressure must be brought upon him or her to change their tune or face impeachment.
g. Pro 2nd amendment as a right to keep and bear arms and as ultimately a popular check against government. I would oppose all gun control legislation.
h. I'm a global warming skeptic but I would support a cap and trade system so long as it was illegal to purchase CO2 credits from outside the USA. Our republican criticism of AGW is that it is a back handed att
This is my sig.
We need more parties. This huge nation is too diverse to fit into A or B, we need like 20 different parties! Unfortunately, there is little incentive to do this because the politicians who can make the change benefit way too much from the status quo.
I wonder if anyone has a viable stratergy for getting more parties into the mix.
I feel a strong affiliation to the beer and cartoon party.
Blar.
We keep seeing the same thing over and over again. They pull something like this which would cause peasants and pitchforks if they did it with snail mail or monitored all internet usage, or put tracking devices on people physically. So instead, they target one part where MOST people think they won't be affected, and it's for the children and all. So nobody complains because if you do, you're clearly supporting pedophiles or something.
One step forward for the Cardassian States of America. Next step: monitoring all searches 'for the children'. And then the internet. And then, you know, we might as well monitor the children themselves for the parents. And then we must monitor the parents, for the children. And why not snail mail too, since it's the same thing as the entire internet except slower, right? Heck, why not monitor everyone? It's for the good of the children. Handy we happen to get lots of power and money while we're at it, but that's just a side effect. We're really thinking of the children.
I'm (maybe) obviously exaggerating (only) slightly and I don't think every one of these is some conspiracy to control, but seriously, we're slowly giving up our rights little by little for stupid things. The founders of the US country took on their entire country and empire because they felt their rights were being trampled. The same thing's happening again, but now we have TV to distract us and nobody does anything to stop stuff that doesn't seem to directly affect them. So we have stuff like DRM, Patriot Acts, etc, etc. They had serious balls two centuries ago. We, however, have apparently lost them and are losing everything else inch by inch.
Right, Republicans hate taxes, so they lower them and spend like crazy anyway, and just wait for a Democrat to get into office and have to fix their mess. The Democrat gets unpopular because taxes must be raised to pay for the mess, and then the Republicans can win again next time and start with a budget that's all nice and balanced for them.
"His plan involves utilizing new software to monitor peer-to-peer traffic on an ongoing basis."
New software to the rescue!!
With any luck it'll be as good as all the department level software theyve paid hory clap money for lately and eventually decided was worse than the 50's mainframe crap they went back to.
Smack that easy button again.
biden's plan is idiotic. how many times have you downloaded an MP3 that contained a different file than the one you intended? or which was tagged with false or mis-spelled words? the only way to accurately filter content is to put people in charge of the project, which is something that only criminally oppressive societies like China can afford to engage in.
for the record, most of the mp3's i download are of songs i already own on vinyl. so fuck the recording industry. i'm tired of paying taxes on cassettes and cd's for blank media -- tax money which goes to the RIAA -- when i'm using that media specifically to record my own music and videos of my own songs. to hell with those dinosaurs. may they rot in hell.
Remember kids, if you're not paying for the service, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT THAT IS BEING SOLD.
All web searches and all online purchases as well. After all states need their taxes and the fed needs to tuck you in at night. Or we could monitor all politicians receiving payoffs to propose stupid, costly, unnecessary legislation....
I wonder, if these people are only naive or just downright stupid. Monitoring files names will never solve problems like this, is easily circumvented and just a waste of money.
You are preaching to the choir, man!
When voting, I ALWAYS end up selecting the lesser of two evils.
I would like to see more of a parliamentarian form of government in the U.S.
Most of all, I would like to see the abolishment of "winner take all" rules for electoral votes that some states have.
I could rant for days about different ideas and suggested changes, but this is the gist of it.
- I live the greatest adventure anyone could possibly desire. - Tosk the Hunted
It's a lie...
"Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." - Oscar Wilde
Did you bother to read TFA?
File sharing? DRM circumvention? hollywood/music industry??
The only thing that the FA mentions is child pornography, molestation, rape, abuse, etc. Not once do they speak about any of the illegal things you've mentioned.
I'll admit that I've a fear of a legitimate child-porn-tracking system being used to combat other activities, esp. for people in no way involved in such horrific fetishes, but that isn't the point of the system (as stated) that Biden wants.
Further more, you mention why you don't like the two big parties, but in no way explain why you do support another candidate (who, afaik, isn't even running.)
So then, Why is it that you do support Ventura?
What you want would just result in tyranny by the largest plurality.
The entire senate should be ashamed of this waste of senate time.
Until every citizen of the United States has the ability to get an education, a good paying job, live in a safe neighborhood, access to excellent healthcare, and a comfortable retirement none of these "distraction issues" should even be brought up in the senate.
Fix the big problems first - effectively and permanently.
Only then will our legislators have earned the ability to debate lesser issues.
-ted
He's one of the guys that groused about FISA and that was for catching terrorists. But now he wants to track ALL files. Can you imagine..........he even ran for President.
The Republican party wants to take out a loan that will be paid for by the poor and/or young later (because they can't afford it now) and use it to protect the rich and/or old from the poor and/or young. They don't want to hear naughty words or see any sort of sexual content occur in public at all, both because they think their grandchildren might learn something bad from them and because they seem to offend easily.
Both sides share two common issues. They think the children need protection from everything, and seek to protect their interests from the other side 's interests at the other side's expense.
Incidentally, since libertarians get up a lot here I'll include them. The Libertarian party wants the government to get just enough money to carry out the most basic of functions such as protecting everyone in the country from nothing less than invaders and egregious crimes. They rely on each person's intelligent nature to recognize that it is in their own self-interest to stop trying to get someone else to pay for what that person wants. As evidenced by the two parties that are the the powerhouses of the nation, this is unlikely to ever get anywhere.
Last time I did that all I got was a bunch of viruses.
Zing! (No, I really don't download child porn)
Yeah, there are differences. Republicans oppose abortion but support personal gun use, intelligent design, and a smaller government (well, they used to, but in the last 8 years Republican has meant big government...) that restricts the freedoms of its citizens as much as possible. Democrats support the opposite. However, overall they both oppose the use of harsh language in media (Isn't that weird? The root of it is a superstition about magical power in evil words, but I doubt many of them realize that anymore.) and support Christianity (we're basically a theocracy), and whatever their rich corporate masters tell them (true with almost all politicians everywhere).
"I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
Senator Biden doesn't LOOK like a retard, but then he opens his mouth....
Well, the US, and most other "democracies" are representative democracies. Voting on individual laws is a terrible idea. Just look at Athens. Regardless of that though, citizens of the US (in some states) actually do get to vote on individual laws, through "Issues" polls, or on state consitutional amendments. That's how some states get ridiculous "anti-gay marriage" laws passed that a representative body would probably avoid.
The US is not, by law, a 2 party system; it has just developed that way. Democrats and Republicans do not always vote in one big block either. There are "blue dog" Democrats who will occasionally side with Republicans on some things, for example. Middle of the road representatives sometimes team up to challenge their parties. So, in the end, there actually is reasonable representaton.
The problem is that most Americans don't really understand how they are represented. Many don't vote, or only do so when their vote counts the least, the presidential election. The Senators represent smaller areas, and Representatives represent even smaller areas than those, and that's just the FEDERAL government. Most of the stuff that actually affects your life is decided by your State/County/Local/City representatives. Hardly anyone votes for them, or can keep track of them. Which makes those votes the most powerful you can cast.
So, to somehow be on topic, for this issue it doesn't matter at all if they are Republican or Democrat. Pretty much all the federal reps are "it's a series of tubes!" boneheads for technical issues.
Clovis
^ Clovis, look! It's that guy you are!
how can you possibly claim that file sharing doesn't come under the 'economy' tag?
Billions of dollars are spent on digital products, and on products that are increasingly becoming digital ocer time. Eventually the majority of entertainment will be delivered over the web. want to take a guess how many hundreds of thousands of US workers are employed by those industries? and how many people are dependent on them in secondary industries?
If you aren't going to ensure that the digital economy is working correctly (ie, people are paying the producers of content for making content they wish to consume) then you are effectively letting a massive 9and growing) chunk of the future US economy collapse.
You can't say "ignore file sharing and worry about the economy". In the 21st century, the digital economy IS the economy. The sooner they find a way to prevent the basis of that economy collapsing the better.
DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games
It's got a dirty old goat in it!!!
If they do implement this filter it still wouldn't know l337 speak. Which is fine since I've been naming all my files things like: T3h_Ul71m473_ch1ld3_pr0ns!!!!1.avi regardless of content for years anyway.
When stories along these lines (politician identifies problem, proposes unworkable solution), the resulting comments invariably turn into a mixture of mockery and paranoia. This always leaves me wondering - is it just the proposed solution that is being objected to, or the identified problem?
So, to the mockers and paranoics, I ask the following simple questions:
Do you approve of child pornography? That is, do you consider having sexual relations with a child not old enough to give any kind of informed consent, and the distribution of images / videos of these acts a reasonable thing to do?
If you feel that on the whole this is a bad thing, the followup question is fairly obvious - do you think anything should be done about it? If so, do you believe that Sen. Biden's desire to prevent the exchange of such material on P2P networks is reasonable in principle (even if it's infeasible in practice)? If not, why?
For those who agree that this is indeed a problem, are there any constructive suggestions for tackling it? Or do we just give up, let child abusers swap pictures and videos with impunity and shrug our shoulders about the whole thing?
Right Joe, all P2P traffic is used to propagate kiddie porn and allow those child raping Mooshlum terrorists to convert your virgin daughters to abortion-having car bombers.
I'm really starting to hate this fucking country.
There really isn't that much of a difference. Both main US parties are strongly authoritarian, but the Democrats are slightly more economically liberal than the Republicans are. Both parties fall into the same quadrant of a 2-axis political spectrum like this. The site explains it a lot better than I do; it's worth a look.
He's up for re-election this fall.
Bring it bimbo, we'll just encrypt and tunnel our connections. SSH FTW.
Hi, I Boris. Hear fix bear, yes?
Just watch in a year or two the newspapers will be reading "Senator Joe Biden (D-Del) has been arrested for trafficking illegal files."
Could this be anymore disingenuous? Could this be anymore bullshit?
So is is about violence? Take a look at TV. I don't see him concerned about that.
SO this is about porn? I think not as P2P is one of many ways to obtain porn and has nothing to do with the production of it.
So this is really about lobbyists and big business buying support for an assinine policy that goes against the interests of the people this man is supposed to serve.
Now let's look at the technical side. Doe he even know what he is talking about? Obviously not. MAC addresses and IP addresses can be spoofed; neither of them can definitively ID a person.
Does he even understand general technology concepts? Obviously not, because if he did he would realize that the second one technological avenue is closed, the tech community will create a new one. Innovation cannot be stopped by repressive minded politicos who are in the pocket of consortiums.
This is an important issue - one that could be used to basically take away the privacy you have on your computer and internet connection. When this government uses things like this they will take advantage of them to the hilt.
Although his stated intention is to monitor the internet for exchange of child pornography, the same said software could also be used to monitor for illegal exchange of copyrighted material.
Isn't he the very same Senator Biden censured back in 1988 for plagiarizing a paper during his law school years?
I am not your blowing wind, I am the lightning.
IMO, the difference between Repubs and Dems is that they disagree about how they want to screw us. Either way, we're still screwed. :(
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
P2P Users Propose to Monitor All Senators for Illegal Activity:
Including:
Taking of bribes or payment for votes/policy quid pro quo.
Hiring of prostitutes
Possession of Child Pornography
Violation of Campaign lows relating to finances
Violation of Federal "do not call" registry
etc, etc, ad infinitum.
I voted for a [Heavy Leather Ball]
This signature is lame.
With most of the dixiecrats having finally died off, there really isn't much of a difference between republican and baptist.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
We're straddling one of those moments in history when technological advances are at odds with received social and political constructs. Information flow used to be controlled by a few with agendas. Now, due to technological advances, message control has largely gone out the window.
Naturally those who have a vested interest in the status quo, like Joe Biden or the *AA's, either in terms of identity or raw economic reality, will fight the ensuing changes tooth-and-nail. The traditional media, which has for centuries grown accustomed to controlling the public discourse, have been complicit in the effort to shut down the reality of changes on the ground.
It's no small source of consternation for those of us on the ground. But please take comfort in the knowledge and evidence that the tide of history and progress can't be ignored or reversed. The traditional powers-that-be know their time is drawing rapidly to a close and are fighting it, but even they, with all their accumulated power and influence, can't counter, in the end, the teenage girl downloading music files to her laptop.
The struggles will intensify over the next five years, but the traditional power brokers will collapse as suddenly as their influence seemed eternal and ineluctable. Recall: the Warsaw Pact never seemed so indomitable as the eve before they completely collapsed and people streamed across the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.
So fix your courage and resolve. The powers-that-be are fighting as hard as they can now, which means that they're about done. In a couple years they'll be gone, and we'll all breath easier.
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
Post your tech ideas on /. before you open your mouth in public.
Joe Biden, I would guess.
Proud neuron in the Slashdot hivemind since 2002.
24/7 Video Monitoring/Hair Drug Testing/Breathalyzer required before voting for all elected officials. It is clear that we need to watch them closely and since they are paid by our tax dollars, we should have more rights than employers do over us as individuals.
It has gone from children engaged in sexual activities, to pictures which focus on the genitals of children, to fully clothed teenagers in "sexual poses". As the penalties for simple possession are made ever harsher, so too the definition of what qualifies as child pornography becomes more flexible. Current enforcement practices are not holding true to the original intention of the law.
I shall gladly offer my assistance to explain the somewhat subtle differences to you my foreign friend.
It's actually quite simple when you look at it the same way that I do.
They're both horribly corrupt and attempting to run the governing body of this country into the ground. While taxing one class or another into the ground instead of attempting to be conservative financially.
The major difference between these two parties is, of course, the Democrats wish to give the illusion you are "free" and "uncensored" while they take over your existence, while the Republicans simply convince you that giving up your rights and liberties is a good thing.
The sad fact is the American people are far too lazy and/or ignorant of the laws and processes that affect their daily lives to care about passing laws individually.
So that is why "We, the people" continue choosing one corrupt jerk after another, who's interests extend so far as lining their own pockets, from one party or the other to completely screw us all in one manner of governing body or another until we submit and obey like good little sheep and consume whatever fodder is placed in front of us.
I do ponder how much and how difficult it would be to vacate my life here in this ever deepening muddy pit of dispair and travel toward the lands of Europe...
This signature is lame.
Why vote for lesser evils?
Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
Oh look, there it is:
13 TV/Movies/Music $178,358
What a surprise!
What else do i have to say?
Wallace S.
13 Ways of Seeing a Blackbird
Would were! Should is! Could be! And live a hundred times three.
Wish I could mod parent up to 6. We keep voting for the "lesser" or two evils. Sure enough, evil keeps winning. My solution: vote for the best candidate/write-in you can. He will almost certainly lose, but you're screwed no matter *who* wins, and at least you are sending a message.
You are totally blocking my view of the wall. - Dogbert
Idiot.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Don't believe me? Google for US federal deficit charts...
You do know that more wealthy Americans are registered Democrat than Republican, don't you?The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
Did you want a warrant with that surveillance Senator?
C47CH ^^3 N0\/\/ j03 8id3n
You do NOT want a direct democracy. Think about it: Do you really want the hoi polloi, the Great Unwashed voting on things like teaching creationism in the public schools? The point of having a representative democracy is that you have a layer of protection against the tyranny of the majority.
Memo to politicians: Give it up! You're wasting taxpayer money. Want to be smart about this? Find a way to tax it instead! Then everybody gets paid, and everybody gets what they want.
Memo to Big Business: Stop your bellyaching and get into the 21st century already.
Memo to the inevitable, whiny, "I produce $CONTENT and everybody rips me off" guy: STFU, if your content was worth anything then you'd be getting paid for it, and I don't give a rats ASS about what you have to say on the subject.
It's fairly obvious that most of the poeple posting comments here didn't bother to RTFA, or read as far as "Senator" and "P2P" and just assumed the rest. Those that didn't, and still decided that this is a privacy issue (or decide to RickRoll any such system)need thier heads checked.
This is not about monitoring P2P/Bittorrent traffic since all they're doing is logging on the same as any other user. This is not about going after people that download the material, but about going after the people that distribute it. If you "accidentally" download a video of a hillbilly and his 9 year old daughter and then decide to share it, you deserve no sympathy.
This is not the Senator's brainchild - he didn't write the software system being used, so just because he doesn't understand the technobabble involved doesn't automatically mean the system must be junk (After all, tracking a file back to its source isn't that hard, even if verifying it may be).
He also quite plainly states that:
A) They're not going after P2P as a technology - bad car analogy and all (actually, for the many proponents of ISP's being "common carriers" it's a pretty good analogy).
B) They are aware that the person they identify may not actually be the culprit (ie: spoofing, open wireless etc).
I'm also not sure why slashdotville has also decided that anyone involved in distributing the material in question must by default be savvy enough to take the required measures to avoid being tracked. Yeah, and all drug dealers are criminal masterminds...
Unlike RIAA cases, this is criminal. Which means a much greater burden of proof. Which means when the FBI rock up at your door with a warrant to search your PC you'd better be damned sure you haven't got anything incriminating to be found. "I wasn't sharing!" and "That's not my IP address!" isn't going to cut it as a defence when they find the stuff on your system.
I will do my best. Modern American politics all leads back to the Civil Rights bill in the 1960's. Once that was signed (by a democrat - he was quoted afterwards as saying that the Dems had lost the South for a generation, and they did), if you were against segregation, you were a Democrat. If you weren't, you were a Republican.
Ten years later, the feminist movement was in full swing, and Roe v. Wade (legalizing abortion) was decided. People who supported Civil Rights for blacks were also more likely to support feminist causes, and abortion is a feminist cause. Pro-choice activists naturally gravitated to the Democrats, further deepening the division between the two parties.
At the same time, the Vietnam war is coming to a close. Liberal anti-war activists gravitate Democrat, commie hating hawks gravitate towards the Republicans. This further reinforces the notion started by Eisenhower that Republicans are the party of the military. Republicans are more likely to go to war than Democrats, so they become the party of Big Business (remember that whole military industrial complex thing?).
At this point many people like to point out Hollywood's connection to the Dems. All I have to say at this point is that if Hollywood was in Texas instead of the liberal bastion of California you can bet that they would be associated with the Republicans.
Anyway, so what do we have today? Republicans consistently have a more refined and focused message, because the majority of their constituency is voting against something: against integration, against abortion rights, against communists, against appeasement. You'll notice that when Republicans need to get out their base, they will find something else to energize them against (see gay marriage in 2004, precipitous withdrawal in 2008). Big Business remains a part of this party because in order to take a stand against what they hate, this bloc will consistently vote against their own economic self-interest.
(There are a group of people who claim to vote Republican because they are "fiscal conservatives". I humbly submit that this bloc either does not know what this term means, or has not been paying attention for the last 30 years, and will leave it at that).
Who does that leave the Democrats with? Basically, everybody else - which is why their message is so unfocused and largely ineffective.
So, both sides boil it down to a choice between good and evil. Democrats are n****r-lovin' baby killers. Republicans are racist, sexist war mongers. Republicans are far more likely to pass laws and policies that cater to big business at the expense of the individual. Dems are far more likely to pass "wasteful" social programs that benefit their base.
Now isn't that ironic. I generally love "fringe" presidential candidates since they tend to be more candid and spent time listening to what he had to say. He came off as a libertarian conservative. I am rather surprised now.
Time for someone to look at some of the things that "didn't happen" in Stone Harbor or Avalon?
Not that such things would ever happen. Besides, all we gots t' do is reroute a few of da internet tubes an' nobody sees nutin'
In light of the Senator's comments, I suggest that a file (with random or even blank content) should be widely circulated, with this filename:
"Senator_Joe_Biden_rapes_little_girls.mov"
Let's see how accurate he believes filenames are, after that makes #1 on the filesharing popularity charts.
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
tags: democratswantpolicestatetoo or getridofrepublicanstosaveusfrom1984
Obviously just getting rid of Bush is not going to save us. Both democrats and republicans want big intrusive governments. The only difference seems to be that the republicans are in favor of borrowing and inflation to feed their spending addiction while the democrats are quite content to use old fashioned taxes more (in addition to the other methods). Both parties want to be spending a lot more of our money with each passing year. Both parties are funded more than adequately by Big Business. Do the democrats still talk about class warfare while at the same time proposing raising taxes on the poorest segment of the population with regressive tax schemes? I don't see the point to listening to anything they have to say. It is all lies and they will do whatever they please once elected. Idealists, however naive, are not elected anymore. Only pragmatists whose only beliefs are in serving themselves and saying whatever they think will get them elected.
Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
Thanks :)
The libertarian stuff does sound pretty good (compared to the others). Though it does conflict with the idea of a National Health Service, which althought ours is probably flawed, is still preferable to having 'health insurance' IMO. It probably costs more if you have nothing wrong with you, but when it does come to needing surgery or other treatment, it's great. *sheds a little tear*
which is totally what she said
Yep, but I don't tend to see the difference over here either :P It all just seems like a pack of lies and hollow promises[/jaded cynicism]
which is totally what she said
What annoys me about this article is the glorification of the system that they have created. P2P networks use open protocols which are exceedingly well documented. Almost every bittorrent client that I've ever seen has a specific window with which to view the peers you are connected to. Literally, someone could copy and paste code from an OSS project, couple it with a dictionary of keywords, and then end up with this system. It's infuriating that someone could be taking so much credit for it. Finally, and most egregiously, they fail to point out that this entire system is ineffective in monitoring people with even the least bit of intelligence (you would imagine if you were transferring one of the only types of illegal content on the internet, that you would use an encrypted session), further indicating that this system is probably just a totally behind the scenes funded starting point for the enforcement of copyright through active federal monitoring of open P2P systems.
I love violence and boobies--where's the party for ME?
I doubt all republicans support ID? :P
/.ers probably don't consider that a good thing), but a lot of it is just tradition these days rather than anything meaningful. It's the same in the UK, Christian (and therefor what I'd think of as 'family') values are going down the toilet.. everyone is becoming way more liberal in their thinking and just doing whatever they want, when they want, resulting in paper thin marriages, single parent families, yada yada yada.. very sad. Wow, maybe I do have a political view, but it's kind of only when it comes to 'moral' issues rather than the percentage of funds devoted to health/education/transportation and that kind of thing.
Plus, I'm a Christian and I certainly don't think Bush's warmongering actions are justifiable from a Christian point of view.. I like that there are still some Christian values left in the US (though most
which is totally what she said
Yarr, I've seen compasses like those before, with Nazi's and Socialists being at the far right and left etc. Thanks
which is totally what she said
Intrusion is good, extrusion is bad, inclusion is ....
... it is all for their grand, bland, and fleeting glory.
... are just things to play with in a clueless life that has no sense of reality. ... (so they think) or CEO/CFO plutocrats and law breaking holy dogmatist.
... decline for the last 40+ years. Politicians accept corporatists and plutocrats funds and play the almost have some (wealth) folks against the have nothing (need help) folks ... always to the benefit of the PTB members. Fewer more wealth individuals every year and corporate/government and religion (catholic/mormon child molesting) accountability is close to nonexistent for US.
... get use to it ... more to come ... just before ... more to cum in your ears.
... than what has been happening to US for decades.
Government Intrusion into personal life is good for plutocrats and dogmatist.
Government extrusion up your ass is a fact of life in totalitarian countries.
Government body inclusion in the public body is a poison to personal freedom.
Public body exclusion from the Government body is totalitarian decapitation.
Government, Corporatist, TeleClerics, Plutocrats want to get in your pants, under your skin, break your bones, suck your marrow, eat your heart, rot you brains, and finally fuck the dead fetid corpses of the public.
Corporatist/oligarchy government is big business with public resources to exploit, squander, and destroy. Like rich kids with toy soldiers
Depression when it hits is bad for US never them. Toy-soldiers, Suzie-homemaker
Intrusive constant warrantless P2P searches and virtual home invasions for US, does not mean politicians, judges
Have you ever noticed how detached Cheney/Bush or Kennedy/Johnson/Nixon look/act when answering questions about our dead and wounded Warriors? To fools such as they and other PTB members we are just toy-Soldiers for play and fun. Look at the education system, health care, economic, telecommunications
Anyway,
This (P2P intrusion) is not any more obscene, troll
Unaccountable leaders are masters, and unrepresented people are slaves. How do US and EU fare?
Well, in europe I guess you either have to go to the UK if you want to be able to speak english all the time, but it's kind of less 'glamorous' than the USA. Alternatively you could go to one of those more flamboyant European countries like France, Germany or Spain, but then you'd probably have to learn a new language to fit in properly and get a decent job.. :p I quite like it here in Scotland for some reason.. it's not too special, but it's not so bad either!
which is totally what she said
Thankyou. I can see this is a very complicated and in-depth system, which is why I don't get it. It must be kind of boring having only 2 kinds of people in the US? :p >_>
which is totally what she said
OMG, another example of a politician who wants to use this story to help push his popularity, but has no clue what he is asking of his community, just do this and it will work...
Dude, don't you think if it was that easy, it wouldn't have already been done by now?
The thing is that the law should be whatever the majority of the populace consider it to be? I'm a Christian myself, so I don't object to children learning about creationism, but the majority of people in my city (98% I think it is) have no Christian ties whatsoever, so if there were a vote on the issue, then the general result would probably be that children should be educated about all religions equally (or perhaps not at all, who knows). The only law issue I care about at the momen is speeding, because I was stopped recently for speeding, when most of the population does it. There are idiots out there, but there are also those who have a good standard of driving, and their vehicles are capable of travelling in safety at higher speeds than those of 40 years ago when the current speed limits were put in place.. (I agree with the limit of 30mph in an area of habitation btw, I'm just talking about speeds out on country roads and inter-city roads). The governent makes assloads of money off of speeding fines at the moment though so I don't see the system changing anytime soon unless the public actually gets a say in the issue. I hate when people (generally those who have no driving license, and possibly those who get scared shitless when driving at the actual speedlimit) assume that driving 1mph over the speedlimit automatically means you are going to kill someone, it's a mockery of what it means to be a safe driver - ie you need to be attentive, be able to stop within the distance you see to be clear, and have directional control of your vehicle, so in some cases it may be better to be doing less that the speed limit, but in some cases it may be fine to be over it. Anyway, I'm just ranting now. But I think this is one case where the public, and those who are in the know about driving (for example Police driving or 'Advanced driving' instructors) should get to have their say, and the limits should be revised to suit current standards of vehicles, road surfaces and driving standards. :/ A lot of the hoi polloi generally aren't even going to be bothered enough to vote anyway, so it will only be those who care that will be making the decisions :P
which is totally what she said
Hmm. I'm anti-racism and anti-abortion, I guess I just don't fit into the grand scheme of American politics :P Thanks for taking the time to explain all that, I'm getting a decent idea of things now. I still think it's all overly simplistic though.. and causing needless agression between people.
which is totally what she said
...as far as democracy is concernedDemocracy is evil... all the founding fathers knew this. They despised democracy, that is why they gave us a REPUBLIC. Too bad it didn't stick.
"We are now forming a Republican form of government. Real Liberty is not found in the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments. If we incline too much to democracy, we shall soon shoot into a monarchy, or some other form of dictatorship."
-Alexander Hamilton
"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine. "
-Thomas Jefferson
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch."
-Benjamin Franklin
"Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."
- John Adams
"...democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths."
-James Madison
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until a majority of voters discover that they can vote themselves largess out of the public treasury."
- Alexander Tytler
"If we advert to the nature of republican government, we shall find that the censorial power is in the people over the government, and not in the government over the people."
-- James Madison
The problem is that the vast majority of idiots in the US shape their political beliefs and attach themselves to a party the same way they attach themselves to their favorite (American) football team. They don't care about the issues. All they care about is winning, and that if you're not with them then you're against them.
No one cares what your captcha was
Houston TX, USA
karma whoring, or just trying to be helpful? ;)
which is totally what she said
I was a bit young at the time, but I seem to remember reading that they tried this in the 80's too. That was the birth of the word "pr0n".
This is so obviously RIAA. The anti porn aspect of it is front and the ultimate goal is to prevent anything copyrighted being shared; to fine the parents of misbehaving children - no matter how much profit the entertainment industry makes.
The difference? The difference is null...
In Alberta Canada we just had a provincial election. Each of the 4 official parties had the EXACT same platform.
So why vote? My voice is lost because there is no one to represent it.
Oh right, I did vote, Communist.
The most honest of the lot.
I missed the middle part about there was a hearing, so my first impression was, "How does he know its easy to find this stuff just by looking at the file names?"
What we need is for the federal government to back off and give back some of the power that they've taken from the states. That way, we can move to the state which fits us best politically, and everyone's happy. It would work only if federal taxes were flat (for lack of a better term). No more should New York, Connecticut, California, Michigan and New Jersey have their monies redistributed to New Mexico, Arizona, Louisiana, Missouri, etc... This is important, as I for one don't like giving welfare to people who say welfare is bad (as an example)
It's a tough choice. The Fed makes the nation act as one, giving us much power and leverage. Reducing Fed power might result in non-productive squabbling amongst the states.
More parties would make it harder for Federal power grabs like PATRIOT and Warantless Wiretapping to occur.
Blar.
This will surely not end in total failure. 1 Billion dollars for something that has failed before it began? I love the US govt.
Certainly not all Republicans support all of these things. I'm sure very few individuals support them all. They are, however, the party line. In a two-party system, each party needs a stance on every single issue, and they take those stances to appeal to particular segments of voters.
Bush has made a number of statements and political appointments to specifically support ID, and for the last eight years, Bush has basically had his way with the Republican party.
"I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
ill rename a recorded video of you, sen. biden, making a speech to senate, and then rename it 'fookey child porn senator fucking underage teens' and release it to wild. then let me tell how this 'monitoring filename' is going to work.
if you are THAT ignorant in regard to technology, senator, SHUT THE F@CK UP, rather than making a total fool of yourself.
Read radical news here
But I thought that pedophiles used tor or freenet or wi-fi slurping?
So, what, the goal is to catch pedophiles that aren't tech-savy?
The plural form of "anecdote" is "anecdotes", not "evidence".
Did you bother to read TFA? File sharing? DRM circumvention? hollywood/music industry??
The only thing that the FA mentions is child pornography, molestation, rape, abuse, etc. Not once do they speak about any of the illegal things you've mentioned.
I'll admit that I've a fear of a legitimate child-porn-tracking system being used to combat other activities, esp. for people in no way involved in such horrific fetishes, but that isn't the point of the system (as stated) that Biden wants.
Whenever law enforcement at any level says of a tactic or system or program, "Don't worry -- we're only going to use it to go after [insert category of criminals here]," always assume an unspoken "NOT" between "we're" and "only." Hello??? Patriot Act, anyone? Warrantless wiretaps? National Security Letters?
"Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket." -- Eric Hoffer
Yeah, I think you hit the nail right on the head.
It's not about actually catching pedophiles, that's more like a side benefit if it actually happens.
This is about keeping the flow of federal money flowing. Reminds me of how I read somewhere that there's at least one component of the B-2 bomber built in every single state in the US. That way, who wants to cancel it?
Alexis de Toqueville said something about how the US republic will survive as long as congress doesn't figure out they can bribe the people with their own money.
The plural form of "anecdote" is "anecdotes", not "evidence".
"Historically, the Democratic Party has supported organized labour, ethnic minorities, and progressive reform. It tends to favour greater government intervention in the economy and to oppose government intervention in the private, noneconomic affairs of citizens"
The Republican party historically stood for laizzes-faire economics, minimal government, minimal government spending/programs, etc.
Basically, the Republican party of old was much like the Libertarian party of modern times. Sadly, they have been severely corrupted and twisted over time.
Today, the Republican party essentially is full of rich white men who oppose civil rights/personal freedoms/etc and are in the pocket of large corporations. They closely mirror Fascism/corporatism economically but don't really have the dictatorial tendencies of Fascist governments (although recently passed laws such as the "Patriot Act" have effectively legalized many things which Americans historically would have considered oppressive). However, there are some Republicans who support "classic" Republican views (Ron Paul, to an extent), but many of those people have migrated to the Libertarian Party.
Today, the Democrats are somewhat split. There are the "classic liberals" who support many of the same ideals espoused historically by the Republican party. Unfortunately, it seems that the majority of Democrats are seeking to create a "nanny state" and essentially seek to regulate many private affairs of citizens. Democrats also have strong corporatist leanings, but try to hide them.
To a non-American, both parties would appear right of center. I saw an article a few weeks ago comparing the perceived political spectrum between the US and the UK. Even the US Democratic party would be considered "right of center" in the UK, while "slightly liberal" UK parties would be seen as "extremely leftist" in the US (to the point of being called "communist").
It's not about violence, or porn, or catching pedophiles. If it accomplishes anything on those fronts, that's a side-bonus.
Reminds me of how for the B-2 bomber, at least one component is manufactured in every single state. Who wants to run for re-election saying they closed a plant and cost X number of jobs?
Alexis de Tocquville said something about how the US will remain a republic, at least until congress figures out that they can bribe the people with their own money.
The plural form of "anecdote" is "anecdotes", not "evidence".
First post, accidentally did it as anonymous, not sure what this karma deal is.
Dr. Seuss had the best explanation in his documentaries, The Sneetches.
And RHEL 5 works even better :-)
"Oppression and harassment is a small price to pay to live in the land of the free." -- Montgomery Burns.
As the saying goes, Democrats want to be your mommy and Republicans want to be your daddy.
Personally, I think it's time we sit them down and talk about retirement homes and taking away their keys.
Sorry, I think Biden may mean well, and politically, he isn't all that bad, but this kind of incompetence simply shouldn't be allowed in a decision maker. People like him should be retired at the next election.
The Democrats roughly equal Labour while the Republicans (also called the GOP) are the approximate of the conservatives in the U.K. The Republicans are dominated by the neocons (who want the USA to become the next Rome) and the religious right. (who want prayer in school, obscenity laws, anti-gay laws etc.) The Democrats are more liberal (who want socialized healthcare and the like) (who are concerned with pandering to focus-group politics and pander to such issues as combating internet porn (like the religious right) and regulating video games and the like) In general, both parties pander to issues(to varying degrees) like: combating internet porn and child oreda (like the religious right) and regulating video games and stopping illegal-immigration the like.(for votes) They also quietly support the interests of big business (for funding) It is hard for a third party because of the massive amounts of money required to win an election. So these are the two groups we're stuck with Of course, it doesn't really matter since they are both roughly the same. The Democrats raise taxes and the GOP raises inflation. Both parties are mostly for big government. The Democrats want to restrict our liberties "for the children" and the GOP wants to restrict our liberties to "stop the terrorists". We're all screwed in the long run because the GOP is a far more disciplined party than the Democrats so we don't really even have much of an opposition.
"We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security." Dwight Eisenhower
Except that it only works if the third party is approximately the same size as the other two parties.
Right now there are *at least* four viable parties in America: the Dems, Reps, Libertarians and Greens. So far there has been *no* appreciable change in the political system. Your theory falls on the facts.
This is the same reason that IRV doesn't really work: The parties have to all be near to the same size for people to conceive that their candidate (if he/she is from a smaller party) has a chance, and thus is worth voting for.
DNA is a Turing machine. You, however, being dynamic and emergent, are not.
Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) said he was under the impression it's "pretty easy to pick out the person engaged in either transmitting or downloading violent scenes of rape, molestation" simply by looking at file names.
... he's not so much ignorant as he is dissembling. Frankly I'm not sure which is worse.
It really is heartening to know that our lawmakers invest considerable time and effort understanding the complex technical issues put before them.
What an ignorant ass. Actually, Biden is no Ted Stevens
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
Music, Movie, and TV companies paid Joseph Biden $178,358 (plus $193,310 from lobbyists) 2003-2008. But that is just a coincidence.
They frequently vote as a block because they face repercussions within their own party if they break ranks. Consider a case in Minnesota where six Republicans were booted from their committee leadership assignments for breaking ranks. Their own party could have gone further, such as removing them from committees altogether, cutting their staff, or refusing to endorse them at caucuses.
The solution to the child porn problem is to make it illegal to upload any picture of video of anyone under 18 to the internet.
This means making all sites such as MySpace and Youtube 18 and above, and arrest anyone who posts or uploads any picture of a teenager or child anywhere on the internet for any reason.
The banning of children from the internet makes more sense than having illegal filenames and unlawful poses. ""The sexy teenager is sort of a mainstream trope. It's very different from babies being molested, and child pornography law doesn't make a distinction."
Define illegal pose
In a 1986 case called U.S. v. Dost, a federal judge suggested a six-step method to evaluate the legality of images. Here's an excerpt from the opinion:
1. Whether the focal point of the visual depiction is on the child's genitalia or pubic area.
2. Whether the setting of the visual depiction is sexually suggestive.
3. Whether the child is depicted in an unnatural pose, or in inappropriate attire, considering the age of the child.
4. Whether the child is fully or partially clothed, or nude.
5. Whether the visual depiction suggests sexual coyness or a willingness to engage in sexual activity.
6. Whether the visual depiction is intended or designed to elicit a sexual response in the viewer.
That's no exaggeration: The same section of federal law punishes a pedophile who makes a video recording of a baby being molested, as well as someone who possesses an image of a 17-year-old striking an unlawfully racy pose. "
Rather than have subjective laws which apply to certain pictures defined by the DOJ to be childporn. Let's assume any picture of any child is child porn and ban the posting of any of these pictures anywhere.
I know if I had a site or ran a server and any member of my site were to post anything which can be subjectively interpreted as child porn (any picture of a child fits this definition), I'd ban them from my site. I think this is what website owners will have to do to avoid legal liabilities.
Also, every site and chatroom should ban all individuals under 18 who enter. Anyone entering a chatroom who is under 18 should be in a legally defined chatroom designed for under 18s. There should be no sites which mix adults with the under 18 community. That should be illegal as well.
Just my opinions, but doing it this way makes more sense to me than what they are currently doing.
So, what, the goal is to catch pedophiles that aren't tech-savy? Now, I'm not saying children shouldn't be able to access certain sites designed for them, but if we really want to protect our kids from the internet, rather than letting kids have full access to the internet and dealing with all the legal consequences of this, it's easier to just segregate the internet, ban children from accessing sites like Slashdot for example.
If you allow children and adults to mix in chatrooms, it's just asking for problems. All chatrooms should be legally rated between R and PG13, or whatever rating system. Adults should be legally allowed to enter all chatrooms but teenagers should be banned from entering chatrooms which are adult oriented.
Often there are situations where teenagers deliberately go into obvious adult chatrooms LOOKING for trouble, and the only way to solve this is to keep these teenagers from having access to adults, and adult sites.
The website owners should shift the liability to the parents by putting a legal disclaimer on their site explaining that their site is an adult only site.
On this adult only site, all pictures of teenagers, or children of any form should be banned to protect the site owners from the subjectivity of the DOJ's definition of child pornography. All who are under 18 should be banned from posting or chatting on any site which also has adults posting or chatting on it. That should be a law.
And all internet communication between an adult and an under 18 should be reported to the under 18 individuals parents by the ISP by law. When you segregate the internet, a lot of problems will be solved and you'll free up the courts to go after the child pornographers and molestors.
I'd rather we segregate the internet and save the internet, rather than allow an unsegregated internet to be completely regulated by the government and thus destroyed in the process.
Because the Republicans wouldn't actually fix it... they'd spend even MORE rather than be "outRepublicaned" by a Democrat.
Eventually we'd have a government that spends 100s of trillions of dollars yearly and collects no taxes. Say goodbye to the US as you know it, in that circumstance.
We NEED taxes, what we DON'T need are a lot of these unnecessary or redundant services (the entire Dept of Homeland Security, I'm looking at you). Sadly too many people are stupid enough to believe that we can spend as much as we want without taxing anyone anything.
Supply side economics is a failure on paper and in practice. It has been revealed as nothing more than a sham to reduce taxes on the rich, a ploy that was supposed to benefit everyone yet was really only beneficial to the top 5% earners.
The Dem politicians only hate violence when the children are exposed to it. Republicans hate ALL boobies. If you'll notice, there is infinitely more violence on television than there are boobies. The Dems seem to accept the TV rating system as a suitable way to "prevent" kids from violent exposure.
The weird thing is that the Republicans usually come out of the woodwork and try to censor violence (particularly in games today, but before that it was music, movies and TV) whenever there's a school shooting. The Democrats are right there too, but it's funny how you suggested that the Republicans don't to censor violence as much when they really do.
It's a democratic republic. We vote for some laws sometimes. We vote for representatives sometimes.
I don't know why we lack more than two real political parties, it has always been a mystery to me how we're the only "free" modern nation with only two political parties.
Briefly, Republicans favor Christianity, religion in general, traditional families, a strong military, business interests, a hawkish foreign policy, minimal welfare benefits, and harsh punishment for criminals.
Democrats favor secular government, alternative families (such as single-parent or gay), decreasing the military, labor and environmental interests, a dovish foreign policy, generous welfare benefits, and lenient treatment of criminals.
Needless to say, such a brief summary oversimplifies.
Traditionally, Democrats wanted high taxes and spending, while Republicans wanted the opposite. Recently Republicans have greatly increased their appetite for spending; unfortunately there is no counterbalancing decrease on the Democratic side.
When he was fucking with pro-life protesters, how many of you didn't care because you weren't pro-life?
When he was fucking with gun owners, how many of you didn't care because you didn't own guns?
Now that he's fucking with P2P, we have to do something about it?
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
I've never actually thought about it like that before! I'm not a big sports fan usually - the history of football fan violence in the city that I lived right next to kind of put me off. Plus I used to end up just taking players legs out rather than getting the ball (which isn't good in non-American football :P )
which is totally what she said
I think the fact that campaigns are even allowed to take donations is pretty screwed up.. I don't get it. It shouldn't be some big celebrity showdown - government should be about the actual policies and such, not charisma. I think it may actually be illegal to take contributions in the UK, but as you can maybe tell, I'm not big on politics even though I'm trying to become a bit more informed :p
which is totally what she said
Yeah I think I almost agree with that law. The worst case scenario is where someone has been raped (ie no choice whatsoever in the matter of whether they were going to get pregnant - most other unwanted pregnancies are just down to stupidity). I personally would just probably consider the baby a baby once the process has been initiated, but in the case of rape, where someone's life is going to be thrown totally into upheaval (and there has already been a great deal of trauma even before the baby comes along..), it should probably be an option.
which is totally what she said
Law #1: When people want IT work done by someone else, it is always incredibly easy to do and just takes x amount of money. Law #2: Those same people can not update their own AV software even after you give them a how-to document with screenshots.
I predict a marked increase in transfers of cute_kitten_video.avi across the P2P networks.