...that since MANY of the add-ons that are produced by the playerbase end up in the game as a "feature", they do not want anyone to have the ability to say "Your Honor, I can prove this line of code is mine for I have the sales receipts to prove it...", or something along those lines. Simply put, Blizzard does NOT want ANYONE asserting ANY rights, in any way, shape or form, in regards to their cash-cow. I'll cite an old example..
Way back when, Ultima Online had volunteer "Counselors", players that would be able to login a special character to go about answering questions(but have no real GM powers) for players. They were an integral part of the game. One day, one of them(Bitch!) realized that she could get PAID for what she was doing. She only had to sue Origin, and sue she did. The end result was the entire "counselor" program being scrapped(Bitch!) and a very wary Origin. They never let players into the circle of trust again.
Personally, it always peeved me that Blizzard used the playerbase as an ongoing Beta-test and development team for in-game features. THEY should be developing this stuff, then INCLUDING it in the game engine.
They are basically getting their paying customers soak up development overhead for them.
"Insurance Lobby figures out how to use local governments as a vehicle to sell more insurance, as well increase the premiums for existing policies....and pass on the cost of the program to the aforementioned local governments and their citizens."
I just read several articles on this virus, including TFA and some links on that page, as well as few other sources.
Something started bothering me about all this.
I asked myself, "What damage is it doing?", and, aside from some DDOS attacks, which appear unintended and pretty limited in scope, there is really only one thing left.
It appears to be inoculating computers against tampering by MICROSOFT, and not much else. Now, that statement might sound obvious, but the intent may not be so obvious.
Suppose, just for a moment, that the person/persons behind this virus are acting from a purely ALTRUISTIC motivation, and that their goal is not to remove control of computers, but to keep Microsoft from doing whatever the hell it is they want to do?
"Microsoft Genuine Advantage" and numerous other "protections" are used by Microsoft to slipstream DRM onto everyone's machines, this virus blocks it, along with all the other sneaky, under-handed stuff Microsoft does with "patches" and "hotfixes".
I got modded troll in another post when I stated, jokingly, that everything that I did to keep Microsoft's fingers out of my Windows machine, manually, this virus does as well. This virus stonewalls Microsoft in almost precisely the same fashion I did.
Another thing that got me thinking was the fact I could not find a single source that said that this virus cripples AV software, rather then just protects itself from it. If it keeping the rest of the AV software functioning, just what, exactly, is this virus damaging?
Aside from the OBVIOUS issue of having something out of your control on your machine, how is what this thing is doing any different from what Microsoft itself is doing?
Could this all be the efforts of some, well-intentioned, Irate Microsoft Hater trying to protect us all from the Borg assimilation?
An example of huge-scale maskirovka in the Soviet Union was false maps, with distorted locations of settlements, road forks, river shapes, etc. Public transportation maps of cities, while showing correct interaction of traffic routes, were distorted in general appearance.[2] What is more striking is that distance indicators on highway road signs gave false numbers. All this was supposed to confuse a potential invader."
The only problem was that it also created the exact same confusion amongst the residents of Soviet Russia. But then, that was probably an intended effect as well.
My mother has recently been using Google Earth to look at the surrounding neighborhoods when considering houses to purchase for a planned move to my area.
I have to wonder what people will think when they see an area with all these blurred out areas.
Are they resources (schools, churches, government offices) or are they TERRORIST TARGETS? What is that blur at the end of the street? A toxic waste incinerator, or a library?
To be honest, I think this is all to promote a veil of secrecy from which our elected officials can hide things from US, not terrorists.
If this crap is actually brought into a signed treaty, without us, the people subject to it, ever being able to see what is going on, then this needs to be brought into courts.
Ignore the treaty, be prosecuted, then claim that it was illegally signed/partied to because of the FoIA violations.
Take it out of the hands of the "few" and put it into the hands of the many IN A COURTROOM. The guv'ment would have no choice but to make those very same documents available to the courts.
When your government isn't playing by the rules, stop playing hardball, and start pitching ROCKS.
Kind of surprised I got modded "Troll" for that post. Was it the post title?
I was QUITE serious. I use good AV/Firewall software, and the most serious threat to my Windows machine is Microsoft itself, it seems. In order to get anything GOOD from them, in the form of "hotfixes", I have to let them fuck around in my machine. I actually found proof of them fucking around, and the only way to make sure they wouldn't do it again was to sever all ties with their servers.
An explanation and fix, for those of you that haven't come across it yourself.
"Ironically, the purpose of the script is to make the Kindle more useful to its users."
I think someone missed the memo....
"...And henceforth, "Right and Wrong" shall be immediately replaced with "Makes Money and Doesn't Make Money" in all further documentation matters associated with the "Company"(see terms listed in the "Company" Handbook glossary)."
"It spreads primarily through a buffer overflow vulnerability in Windows Server Service where it disables the operating system update service, security center, including Windows Defender, and error reporting."
I disabled all that shit, myself, intentionally. I'm serious.
After I realized that one of the recent "hotfixes" from Microsoft installed a spyware "plugin" in Firefox, off that shit went. For good.
I wonder how the ISPs will react when they amount of people they are "banning" starts to cut into their profits.
At that point, what do they do? Keep losing customers or stop enforcing the laws?
I think this is another case of one industry flirting with another then finding out the other is a wolf in sheep's clothing. I HOPE it REALLY bites them in the ass.
" Is this a clever stealth-marketing ploy for converting Windows users to Linux?"
So what if it is?
As long as it helps to limit the market-share of Microsoft, and promotes open-source, and thus freedom from monopolistic marketing, then it is good, IMHO.
That last statement in the summary makes it sound like some draconian, covert Op.
Anyone have a link for a list of New Zealand musicians?
If such legislation passes, I will not be giving my money to any of these musicians, via any means that supports this sort of legislation.
I will however do business with them DIRECTLY, through band-run websites and such. I just don't want my money going to anyone that supports the limiting of Net Neutrality.
That being said, anyone have a link to a list of bands that direct market?
I'd like to compare the two lists, and shop accordingly.
I posted this in another thread. It is a decent solution to avoid all this, primarily by avoiding the "box". Here are the results he got from making and using this antenna.
""It's really not that tough to make. You could make one yourself just as easily in an hour or two. Construction is as follows:
Make eight Vs from 16" lengths of coat hanger, with stripped insulation at the point(EDIT: Guess he means the plastic coated coathangers). The mouths should open about 3.25".
On a 33" or longer stick, about 2" wide and ½" thick, measure off 8" increments on both sides of the ruler. At each of these marks use a wood screw and washer to hold down a V. It should look like four cats stacked head on head when the stick is upright. These V's, now lying flat, should be pulled forward about 20-35. Just pull on one wire at a time to reduce strain on the screw.
Next the Vs need connected with two more coat hangers. Each of these hangers is bowed, connecting to the two center Vs on one side, and the two end Vs of the opposite side. Insulation needs removed at all eight woodscrew junctions, but must be intact where the wires cross over each other between the end and center bows.
Finally, at the center of these two bows (which should be the width of a ruler apart), also strip insulation, insert two additional screws, and attach a UHF-VHF transformer. This is $2 radio shack item which allows one to hook a 300 ohm spade-lug antenna to 75ohm threaded-tube coax cable. The ideal one should be small tube with male threads at one end, and the two spades at the other end which you will screw to the antenna.
Installation. Hook a 75ohm coax cable between the antenna and the 75ohm air-antenna connector of your tuner. A brass hook in one end of the stick, and another in the ceiling is a convenient method of installation. Mounting it to a pole on the roof would provide even better reception, but then would be difficult to aim if not all your TV stations come from the same direction. Here they all come from Mount Wilson which is 41 East of North from me. Directions of your stations from your zip code and signal strengths can be found at tvfool.com. The cat faces aim at the stations. I pick up all stations with a signal strength of 41 Db or more (the ones shaded in green)."
I guess he used a cool piece of driftwood for structure.
My latest trick, if they have been using Netflix, and thus have Silverlight installed, is a good example of Microsoft being no better then any purveyor of Spyware.
Simply save a Youtube video and view it with Windows Media player.
As soon as you close the player, their firewall will ask them if they want WMP to be able to connect to the Microsoft server. Deny it once, then try it again with another video. Same result, every time. Just make sure they haven't already added WMP to their exclusion list.
WMP is being used to track their video usage. Not just Netflix, but ALL videos.
9 out of 10 people I show this to, who are then introduced to VLC, never use WMP again, other then to view Netflix.
I could go on and on with little demonstrations like this, but I prefer to just plant the seed of distrust and let it ripen on its own. Those that actually care start noticing this stuff by themselves. And more importantly, some of those that didn't care, begin to.
The other thing I do is provide them with Process Explorer. Yeah, I know it is owned by Microsoft, but if you know where to look, version 10.20 is still out there (I carry it, and Revo Uninstaller on my keychain thumbdrive), and Microsoft doesn't have their fingers in that version, as it was the last version put out before Microsoft acquired sysinternals.
Slashdot Mirror
...that since MANY of the add-ons that are produced by the playerbase end up in the game as a "feature", they do not want anyone to have the ability to say "Your Honor, I can prove this line of code is mine for I have the sales receipts to prove it...", or something along those lines. Simply put, Blizzard does NOT want ANYONE asserting ANY rights, in any way, shape or form, in regards to their cash-cow. I'll cite an old example..
Way back when, Ultima Online had volunteer "Counselors", players that would be able to login a special character to go about answering questions(but have no real GM powers) for players. They were an integral part of the game. One day, one of them(Bitch!) realized that she could get PAID for what she was doing. She only had to sue Origin, and sue she did. The end result was the entire "counselor" program being scrapped(Bitch!) and a very wary Origin. They never let players into the circle of trust again.
Personally, it always peeved me that Blizzard used the playerbase as an ongoing Beta-test and development team for in-game features. THEY should be developing this stuff, then INCLUDING it in the game engine.
They are basically getting their paying customers soak up development overhead for them.
It is nice to know that you do not have to represent a government to engage in "spycraft".
It is also nice to know that the People have moles in governments and in corporations. Kudos, to whoever you are.
Sad state of affairs that it is required, though.
"Insurance Lobby figures out how to use local governments as a vehicle to sell more insurance, as well increase the premiums for existing policies....and pass on the cost of the program to the aforementioned local governments and their citizens."
Yay for us! Da economicy is saved!
"Think your pathetic EEE will make it on that flight to Japan? "
Good luck getting that thing on a plane.
While it may be possible, the lingering taste of latex gloves at the back of your throat will get tiresome.
Personally, if you opened that thing next to me on an international flight, I'd be inclined to smash your head in with it. ...but pretty cool, though!
Maybe Octopii are the apogee of biological advancement, and all species, despite genetic drift and mutation, all end up evolving into Octopii.
It will sure come in handy for multi-tasking (think circular desks!), but then again, all those Octopii species seem to have given up on technology.
Does anybody know if Microsoft has ever offered a reward for the capture of a virus creater, as they have with this one?
Reference:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/feb09/02-12ConfickerPR.mspx
I just read several articles on this virus, including TFA and some links on that page, as well as few other sources.
Something started bothering me about all this.
I asked myself, "What damage is it doing?", and, aside from some DDOS attacks, which appear unintended and pretty limited in scope, there is really only one thing left.
It appears to be inoculating computers against tampering by MICROSOFT, and not much else. Now, that statement might sound obvious, but the intent may not be so obvious.
Suppose, just for a moment, that the person/persons behind this virus are acting from a purely ALTRUISTIC motivation, and that their goal is not to remove control of computers, but to keep Microsoft from doing whatever the hell it is they want to do?
"Microsoft Genuine Advantage" and numerous other "protections" are used by Microsoft to slipstream DRM onto everyone's machines, this virus blocks it, along with all the other sneaky, under-handed stuff Microsoft does with "patches" and "hotfixes".
I got modded troll in another post when I stated, jokingly, that everything that I did to keep Microsoft's fingers out of my Windows machine, manually, this virus does as well. This virus stonewalls Microsoft in almost precisely the same fashion I did.
Another thing that got me thinking was the fact I could not find a single source that said that this virus cripples AV software, rather then just protects itself from it. If it keeping the rest of the AV software functioning, just what, exactly, is this virus damaging?
Aside from the OBVIOUS issue of having something out of your control on your machine, how is what this thing is doing any different from what Microsoft itself is doing?
Could this all be the efforts of some, well-intentioned, Irate Microsoft Hater trying to protect us all from the Borg assimilation?
I had to ask myself, WHY would anyone spend this kind of money on this machine, other then a good E-Peen stroking?
I still haven't found an answer.
It is total over-kill for every single thing that comes to mind.
Unless the guy is some kind of closet physicist that likes running complex models for a hobby, I just don't get it.
Even for gaming, it is about $13,000 of overkill.
Can ANYONE give me an example of a valid, non-Epeen stroking reason to build such a machine?
An excerpt from Wikipedia...
"Soviet Maskirovka
An example of huge-scale maskirovka in the Soviet Union was false maps, with distorted locations of settlements, road forks, river shapes, etc. Public transportation maps of cities, while showing correct interaction of traffic routes, were distorted in general appearance.[2] What is more striking is that distance indicators on highway road signs gave false numbers. All this was supposed to confuse a potential invader."
The only problem was that it also created the exact same confusion amongst the residents of Soviet Russia. But then, that was probably an intended effect as well.
My mother has recently been using Google Earth to look at the surrounding neighborhoods when considering houses to purchase for a planned move to my area.
I have to wonder what people will think when they see an area with all these blurred out areas.
Are they resources (schools, churches, government offices) or are they TERRORIST TARGETS? What is that blur at the end of the street? A toxic waste incinerator, or a library?
To be honest, I think this is all to promote a veil of secrecy from which our elected officials can hide things from US, not terrorists.
If this crap is actually brought into a signed treaty, without us, the people subject to it, ever being able to see what is going on, then this needs to be brought into courts.
Ignore the treaty, be prosecuted, then claim that it was illegally signed/partied to because of the FoIA violations.
Take it out of the hands of the "few" and put it into the hands of the many IN A COURTROOM. The guv'ment would have no choice but to make those very same documents available to the courts.
When your government isn't playing by the rules, stop playing hardball, and start pitching ROCKS.
Kind of surprised I got modded "Troll" for that post. Was it the post title?
I was QUITE serious. I use good AV/Firewall software, and the most serious threat to my Windows machine is Microsoft itself, it seems. In order to get anything GOOD from them, in the form of "hotfixes", I have to let them fuck around in my machine. I actually found proof of them fucking around, and the only way to make sure they wouldn't do it again was to sever all ties with their servers.
An explanation and fix, for those of you that haven't come across it yourself.
http://ffextensionguru.wordpress.com/2009/02/08/how-to-remove-microsoft-net-spyware-extension/
"Ironically, the purpose of the script is to make the Kindle more useful to its users."
I think someone missed the memo....
"...And henceforth, "Right and Wrong" shall be immediately replaced with "Makes Money and Doesn't Make Money" in all further documentation matters associated with the "Company"(see terms listed in the "Company" Handbook glossary)."
Yeah, and with a little luck we'll start finding the heads of "legitmate business owner" hackers in ice chests left in a Mexican desert....
I thought I had stumbled into another gamer's nightmare (I have them often)....
Lead Attorney for the Plaintiff: Your Honor, I intend to prove that NCSoft has intentionally, and willfully, violated the....
Lead Attorney for NCSoft: FUCK YOU!!
Lead Attorney for the Plaintiff: Your Honor! I must strenuously object!
Your Honor: Fuck you!
It seems one man's nightmare can be another man's wetdream......
"It spreads primarily through a buffer overflow vulnerability in Windows Server Service where it disables the operating system update service, security center, including Windows Defender, and error reporting."
I disabled all that shit, myself, intentionally. I'm serious.
After I realized that one of the recent "hotfixes" from Microsoft installed a spyware "plugin" in Firefox, off that shit went. For good.
I wonder how the ISPs will react when they amount of people they are "banning" starts to cut into their profits.
At that point, what do they do? Keep losing customers or stop enforcing the laws?
I think this is another case of one industry flirting with another then finding out the other is a wolf in sheep's clothing. I HOPE it REALLY bites them in the ass.
" Is this a clever stealth-marketing ploy for converting Windows users to Linux?"
So what if it is?
As long as it helps to limit the market-share of Microsoft, and promotes open-source, and thus freedom from monopolistic marketing, then it is good, IMHO.
That last statement in the summary makes it sound like some draconian, covert Op.
Anyone have a link for a list of New Zealand musicians?
If such legislation passes, I will not be giving my money to any of these musicians, via any means that supports this sort of legislation.
I will however do business with them DIRECTLY, through band-run websites and such. I just don't want my money going to anyone that supports the limiting of Net Neutrality.
That being said, anyone have a link to a list of bands that direct market?
I'd like to compare the two lists, and shop accordingly.
I posted this in another thread. It is a decent solution to avoid all this, primarily by avoiding the "box". Here are the results he got from making and using this antenna.
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1128309&cid=26860051
Enjoy.
""It's really not that tough to make. You could make one yourself just as easily in an hour or two. Construction is as follows:
Make eight Vs from 16" lengths of coat hanger, with stripped insulation at the point(EDIT: Guess he means the plastic coated coathangers). The mouths should open about 3.25".
On a 33" or longer stick, about 2" wide and ½" thick, measure off 8" increments on both sides of the ruler. At each of these marks use a wood screw and washer to hold down a V. It should look like four cats stacked head on head when the stick is upright. These V's, now lying flat, should be pulled forward about 20-35. Just pull on one wire at a time to reduce strain on the screw.
Next the Vs need connected with two more coat hangers. Each of these hangers is bowed, connecting to the two center Vs on one side, and the two end Vs of the opposite side. Insulation needs removed at all eight woodscrew junctions, but must be intact where the wires cross over each other between the end and center bows.
Finally, at the center of these two bows (which should be the width of a ruler apart), also strip insulation, insert two additional screws, and attach a UHF-VHF transformer. This is $2 radio shack item which allows one to hook a 300 ohm spade-lug antenna to 75ohm threaded-tube coax cable. The ideal one should be small tube with male threads at one end, and the two spades at the other end which you will screw to the antenna.
Installation. Hook a 75ohm coax cable between the antenna and the 75ohm air-antenna connector of your tuner. A brass hook in one end of the stick, and another in the ceiling is a convenient method of installation. Mounting it to a pole on the roof would provide even better reception, but then would be difficult to aim if not all your TV stations come from the same direction. Here they all come from Mount Wilson which is 41 East of North from me. Directions of your stations from your zip code and signal strengths can be found at tvfool.com. The cat faces aim at the stations. I pick up all stations with a signal strength of 41 Db or more (the ones shaded in green)."
I guess he used a cool piece of driftwood for structure.
Hope this helps."
Did you see the modding on my comment?
*cue sound of 747 blasting overhead*
I said I RECORD everything I see.
I didn't say I have access to it later!
I'm getting the sneaking suspicion my wife does though.
I record everything I see.
The only difference is that I use an organic data storage device.
My latest trick, if they have been using Netflix, and thus have Silverlight installed, is a good example of Microsoft being no better then any purveyor of Spyware.
Simply save a Youtube video and view it with Windows Media player.
As soon as you close the player, their firewall will ask them if they want WMP to be able to connect to the Microsoft server. Deny it once, then try it again with another video. Same result, every time. Just make sure they haven't already added WMP to their exclusion list.
WMP is being used to track their video usage. Not just Netflix, but ALL videos.
9 out of 10 people I show this to, who are then introduced to VLC, never use WMP again, other then to view Netflix.
I could go on and on with little demonstrations like this, but I prefer to just plant the seed of distrust and let it ripen on its own. Those that actually care start noticing this stuff by themselves. And more importantly, some of those that didn't care, begin to.
The other thing I do is provide them with Process Explorer. Yeah, I know it is owned by Microsoft, but if you know where to look, version 10.20 is still out there (I carry it, and Revo Uninstaller on my keychain thumbdrive), and Microsoft doesn't have their fingers in that version, as it was the last version put out before Microsoft acquired sysinternals.
If a Doctor drops such an agreement in my lap, I will be leaving the waiting room before I ever see him/her.
Any Doctor THIS concerned about his reputation is surely NOT earning that reputation for being a GOOD Doctor.
The GOOD Doctors have nothing to worry about, and thus, nothing to hide.