Well, this isn't going to be a popular opinion around here, but here goes.
The legal liability issues surrounding public Internet access terminals in privately-owned businesses are strong enough, especially in this case, that the techniques required are going to be very different than an unregulated home Internet connection.
The possibility arises in this scenario that young children will probably be exposed a variety of controversial subject matter, which means that Surf 'n Wash will possibly be making themselves liable for what is accessible. A business in this country can be sued over anything, and freedom of speech vs. contributing to the delinquency of a minor is not a battle that any business wants to face in court. It would, in fact, probably bankrupt them.
So, how will they do it? Well, filtering software is interesting, but it's been shown that it is not very effective, easily bypassed, and prone to manipulation by the software company.
A possibility (and this is what is going to get some of you all riled up) is to start with a minimal list of approved sites, and then, instead of relying on a third party to generate lists, approve sites on a case-by-case basis. I know that this would be a pain in the ass, and that it would require someone on staff to continually be reviewing sites for approval, but it's one of the only ways I can think of for a business such as Surf 'n Wash to protect themselves from liability.
Anyway, I'll be really interested in seeing what happens with this and other other cases like it.
Oh my god I am slightly embarrassed. I just had a cup of coffee, went back to re-read my original comment, and 100% agree with your above assessment.;-)
The O'Reilly MySQL book is great, so are some of the other third-party docs... I should have qualified that statement to say, the MySQL online docs and info that comes with MySQL is sorely lacking.
As you pointed out there are numerous good alternatives. I'd just rather have 'sparse' and well-written docs than the bramble of babblings that is the MySQL online docs.
Well, first I'd like to say that I'm not good at Interbase, just to get that out of the way.
;-)
In answer to your question, though, here is a short summary of why you might find Interbase more appealing that MySQL.
a) Interbase has a high degree of SQL-92 compliance. This is very nice for portability and compatibility; it makes it easier to import and export databases and scripts that call SQL statements.
b) MySQL recently was GPL'ed, but they were still trying to charge for 'commercial use' up until that time. I think it took the looming InterBase release to force their hand; MySQL always had an, um, unusual licensing scheme.
c) InterBase supports some really cool features, including support for multi-dimensional arrays, triggers, stored procedures, event alerters, and shadowed databases. These features are incredibly advanced; they may not be necessary to your business now, but you might find them "useful" in the future.
Anyway, there are plenty of other things I could go into, but as I said before, I'm not that great at InterBase just yet. Give me a few weeks to tinker with it and I'll get back to you.
I'm glad that they finally released the source to this; I've been looking at databases for a while, and out of the top three choices Interbase was my first, followed by MySQL and then closely thereafter by PostGre.
I was kind of forced to go with MySQL because I had to have my system up and running a couple months ago, but perhaps now I can re-evaluate them.
I am a bit concerned about the MPL and how long it has taken for the Mozilla builds to be released; I know they essentially had to rewrite the entire code base, but two years? Come on. Anyway, hopefully Interbase is well-written enough that it will only require minor modifications and developer extensions, and can avoid the two or three year development cycles.
My biggest issue with MySQL vs Interbase vs PostgreSQL is kind of overlooked, though; it's not transaction support, concurrent sessions, etc, although those factors are important.
The worst part of MySQL is the absolutely horrid documentation. It is the worst document set I have ever encountered that didn't come from Redmond. If I knew MySQL better I would rewrite it myself; lord knows it needs it.
I personally hope that the Interbase code release forces MySQL to completely rewrite their documentation. I'm just glad we have choices and competition.
I can't wait to see what type of success Mr. King has with this. He will *never* see 75% of the people pay for the book if it is enforced only through the honor system, but I'd be impressed if he got 10 million people to read it. That's a huge audience, and would certainly show that the right promotion can make online sales a success, even if only 10% choose to pay.
10 million downloads * 10% = 1 million * $1 'donation' = $1 million!
If I were you, I'd try out IPsec and PGP.net. IPsec is included with the default OpenBSD install(if you can install Debian you can install OpenBSD) and PGP.net is a component of the free Windows PGP client. They interoperate just fine with eachother, and the client will work on a standalone computer or as a gateway for a VPN linking two LANs into a WAN.
Officially (which means nothing of course) I think the Defense Department mandates that 7 random read/write passes be made over data before it is cosidered securely destroyed. However, it has long been hypothesized that no matter how many times the data is written over, there is still a discernable and recoverable trace of the original information, mostly due to an extremely slight positional variation in the read/write heads as they pass over the original.
Still, the equipment necessary to recover a 7 times read/write-over pass is probably out of the price range of all but the most well-funded groups; I wouldn't worry too much about it, especially if you use an encrypted file system and encrypted swap files.
Sounds like they worked really hard to make this release top-notch. I'm going to try out 4.0 when I get my hands on another box.
I've been using OpenBSD; the focus on security and the excellent docs make it my OS of choice. I'm glad to see FreeBSD taking the cue and incorporating OpenSSH. It is a great improvement over connecting through telnet, especially if you need to go SU occasionally.
FreeBSD sounds tempting, though, especially for my laptop (where speed is probably more important to me than security.) One security feature I'd miss, though, is encrypted file system features; does anybody know what's available for FreeBSD? I am going to check it out; I really want more experience with the various BSD flavors.
Isn't this the opposite of what we had just heard from Esther Dyson, who basically had said the ICANN was in the process of determining the process of applying for a new TLD? I forget where the article was published; can anybody help out with a link?
It's terrific that the ACLU are seeking some disclosure for Carnivore. I am hoping, however, that the prevelant tabloid-esque "Shocking revelation! The FBI may be monitoring your email!" attitude dies down a bit here. Are people that naive to think this is the first time the FBI (or other government bodies) has been actively monitoring traffic? The Internet was designed by and for the government!
Look; not only are the FBI monitoring your network traffic, so are the Internet pedophile police, your ISP, the ACLU, Russian spy satellites, the National Baseball League, and my Aunt Bonnie.
So please, all you sysadmins and DSL-packin' home-web-server 'l33t out there, please try to learn about the benefits of retiring legacy protocols like Telnet and FTP (which happen to send your password in plain-text), in favor of newer, robust, secure data types like SSH, scp, IPsec, and PGP.
And if you're really gonna get all worked up about "ooh, the FBI is spying on me using meat-eating computers co-located at my ISP", then consider using a secure operating system.
Cringley's column gave me shivers. I don't know that he's right, but it's definitely going to be a problem if the FBI installs the Carnivore boxes in-line with the main routers.
I think it's great that the FBI is using Carnivore, though. I mean, what better way to promote the usage of newer, secure protocols such as IPsec, Secure Shell, SCP, and privacy suites such as Pretty Good Privacy? And what better way, I ask you, to promote the retirement of older, flaky, insecure protocols like telnet and FTP?
Well, something will eventually make people switch. Might as well be the Feds.
Still, I think Earthlink is justified in denying the FBI the ability to shut off their service at random. That's just too much power, plain and simple. I hope they take this to court and win.
As far as I know, the only official book on OpenBSD is Building Linux and Openbsd Firewalls, which as you can see is hardly a comprehensive text. My advise is to just jump in and start tinkering; do an installation on a spare box if you can get one.
The problem with dual booting is that the boot managers are a little tricky to configure from what I've been told. One of the nice parts about OpenBSD is that it has what are widely regarded as the highest quality man pages for almost any OS.
Yes, once my girlfriend at the time actually beat me up for shutting down my computer, thereby completely erasing a 10+ hour term paper for poetry. I couldn't figure out why she kept hitting me for shutting off the computer at first; then it slowly dawned on me that she hadn't saved her paper at all, the entire time she was working on it. I still can't believe she beat me up over that...
I wonder if Archimides would have beat me up for erasing his math essays? Who knows...
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The legal liability issues surrounding public Internet access terminals in privately-owned businesses are strong enough, especially in this case, that the techniques required are going to be very different than an unregulated home Internet connection.
The possibility arises in this scenario that young children will probably be exposed a variety of controversial subject matter, which means that Surf 'n Wash will possibly be making themselves liable for what is accessible. A business in this country can be sued over anything, and freedom of speech vs. contributing to the delinquency of a minor is not a battle that any business wants to face in court. It would, in fact, probably bankrupt them.
So, how will they do it? Well, filtering software is interesting, but it's been shown that it is not very effective, easily bypassed, and prone to manipulation by the software company.
A possibility (and this is what is going to get some of you all riled up) is to start with a minimal list of approved sites, and then, instead of relying on a third party to generate lists, approve sites on a case-by-case basis. I know that this would be a pain in the ass, and that it would require someone on staff to continually be reviewing sites for approval, but it's one of the only ways I can think of for a business such as Surf 'n Wash to protect themselves from liability.
Anyway, I'll be really interested in seeing what happens with this and other other cases like it.
kidding....just kidding...put down the stick, Taco.... taco....????
Seriously, does anyone else feel like half the point was in feeling like you were doing something 'wrong'?
=P
Oh my god I am slightly embarrassed. I just had a cup of coffee, went back to re-read my original comment, and 100% agree with your above assessment. ;-)
"Hey, baby, I can C right through your shirt!" Sorry, first story I checked today, and the first thing that popped into my head... *g*
Why not just skip that step and have them write on the screen?
As you pointed out there are numerous good alternatives. I'd just rather have 'sparse' and well-written docs than the bramble of babblings that is the MySQL online docs.
;-)
In answer to your question, though, here is a short summary of why you might find Interbase more appealing that MySQL.
- a) Interbase has a high degree of SQL-92 compliance. This is very nice for portability and compatibility; it makes it easier to import and export databases and scripts that call SQL statements.
- b) MySQL recently was GPL'ed, but they were still trying to charge for 'commercial use' up until that time. I think it took the looming InterBase release to force their hand; MySQL always had an, um, unusual licensing scheme.
- c) InterBase supports some really cool features, including support for multi-dimensional arrays, triggers, stored procedures, event alerters, and shadowed databases. These features are incredibly advanced; they may not be necessary to your business now, but you might find them "useful" in the future.
Anyway, there are plenty of other things I could go into, but as I said before, I'm not that great at InterBase just yet. Give me a few weeks to tinker with it and I'll get back to you.It doesn't. Hopefully. ;-)
I was kind of forced to go with MySQL because I had to have my system up and running a couple months ago, but perhaps now I can re-evaluate them.
I am a bit concerned about the MPL and how long it has taken for the Mozilla builds to be released; I know they essentially had to rewrite the entire code base, but two years? Come on. Anyway, hopefully Interbase is well-written enough that it will only require minor modifications and developer extensions, and can avoid the two or three year development cycles.
My biggest issue with MySQL vs Interbase vs PostgreSQL is kind of overlooked, though; it's not transaction support, concurrent sessions, etc, although those factors are important.
The worst part of MySQL is the absolutely horrid documentation. It is the worst document set I have ever encountered that didn't come from Redmond. If I knew MySQL better I would rewrite it myself; lord knows it needs it.
I personally hope that the Interbase code release forces MySQL to completely rewrite their documentation. I'm just glad we have choices and competition.
10 million downloads * 10% = 1 million * $1 'donation' = $1 million!
It tastes great melted on a crust with tomato sauce, a little oregano, and some basil sprigs. Anything else I can help you with?
I just can't believe you're still posting at +1.
yes. chmod 575 haiku.
Well, they've already demo'ed 1.2 Ghz Athlons at room temperature, so you never know.
If I were you, I'd try out IPsec and PGP.net. IPsec is included with the default OpenBSD install(if you can install Debian you can install OpenBSD) and PGP.net is a component of the free Windows PGP client. They interoperate just fine with eachother, and the client will work on a standalone computer or as a gateway for a VPN linking two LANs into a WAN.
Still, the equipment necessary to recover a 7 times read/write-over pass is probably out of the price range of all but the most well-funded groups; I wouldn't worry too much about it, especially if you use an encrypted file system and encrypted swap files.
I've been using OpenBSD; the focus on security and the excellent docs make it my OS of choice. I'm glad to see FreeBSD taking the cue and incorporating OpenSSH. It is a great improvement over connecting through telnet, especially if you need to go SU occasionally.
FreeBSD sounds tempting, though, especially for my laptop (where speed is probably more important to me than security.) One security feature I'd miss, though, is encrypted file system features; does anybody know what's available for FreeBSD? I am going to check it out; I really want more experience with the various BSD flavors.
Isn't this the opposite of what we had just heard from Esther Dyson, who basically had said the ICANN was in the process of determining the process of applying for a new TLD? I forget where the article was published; can anybody help out with a link?
Look; not only are the FBI monitoring your network traffic, so are the Internet pedophile police, your ISP, the ACLU, Russian spy satellites, the National Baseball League, and my Aunt Bonnie.
So please, all you sysadmins and DSL-packin' home-web-server 'l33t out there, please try to learn about the benefits of retiring legacy protocols like Telnet and FTP (which happen to send your password in plain-text), in favor of newer, robust, secure data types like SSH, scp, IPsec, and PGP.
And if you're really gonna get all worked up about "ooh, the FBI is spying on me using meat-eating computers co-located at my ISP", then consider using a secure operating system.
I think it's great that the FBI is using Carnivore, though. I mean, what better way to promote the usage of newer, secure protocols such as IPsec, Secure Shell, SCP, and privacy suites such as Pretty Good Privacy? And what better way, I ask you, to promote the retirement of older, flaky, insecure protocols like telnet and FTP?
Well, something will eventually make people switch. Might as well be the Feds.
Still, I think Earthlink is justified in denying the FBI the ability to shut off their service at random. That's just too much power, plain and simple. I hope they take this to court and win.
Actually, you can throw OpenBSD off a building; but nobody else can see it falling on the way down. And just forget about taking pictures...
The problem with dual booting is that the boot managers are a little tricky to configure from what I've been told. One of the nice parts about OpenBSD is that it has what are widely regarded as the highest quality man pages for almost any OS.
I wonder if Archimides would have beat me up for erasing his math essays? Who knows...
*ducks to stop moderators from knocking his teeth out*