If you can't furnish people with the data they request, then what good is your system in the first place? I don't buy their claim, as I've never heard of a database that couldn't be copied, no matter how old it happened to be. In fact, many older databases were actually easier to copy than newer ones.
Well first of all, all people are asking for is a backup of the database. They don't have backups that they can copy? That's far more incompetence than I would like to imagine in our government. Second, the revamp won't be done until December, conveniently after the election. Coincidence?
The problem is that TCO is almost entirely case-specific, and can include a ton of variables. Most TCO studies just take a handful of these variables (preferably the ones which agree with point of view of whomever is paying for the study) and ignore the rest. Thus, most TCO studies are worthless.
I think you're agreeing with me, but I could be wrong. Copyright is a legal fiction just like most laws are. They exist to control people's behavior. The people that got the DMCA passed wanted to make sure that nobody could use something that they created, except in the way they want it to be used, and with their permission. It doesn't matter whether you purchased a piece of hardware or software. It doesn't matter that you have a good reason. The DMCA is written in such a way that you will almost certainly lose.
This password was not protecting access to any copyrighted works. It was not circumventing copyright access mechanisms.
The controls were only bypassed.
I think you're wrong. The security system was designed to prevent unauthorized access to the maintenance code. I'm sure that StorageTek owns the copyright on that piece of software, so if they put any mechanism in place to control access to it, then the DMCA makes it illegal to circumvent it by any method. If they gain access through any sort of trickery, whether it be replacing files or guessing passwords til they get it right, they are circumventing the protection mechanism. If they weren't trying to circumvent the protection mechanism, then they wouldn't have to use those methods. They would simply be able to access it without any difficulty. I think any thesaurus would list bypass as a synonym for circumvent, and vice versa. The problem is that the DMCA is a bad law and should be done away with. This is just one more example of why it's a bad law.
Perhaps he received a document on the basis of which he had to make his decision with "Show revisions" on, and thought that the highlighted changed text was the actual text of the proposal he was voting on.
Then, like I said, he deserves to be sacked for incompetence at the very least. If you don't know how to use word processor features that have been around for years, then you shouldn't be in a job that requires their use. Besides, are we to believe that this is the first time he's encountered such editing? That given the importance of the document, he couldn't ask someone else with more word processing experience? Bah. He deserves much worse than simply being fired.
And now the Minister of Eco. Affairs claims it was an error in his word processor.
I gotta agree with you. That's about the most farfetched excuse I've ever heard. His word processor made a mistake!? What did it do? Did spellcheck change "No" to "Yes"? The bastard should be investigated thoroughly and don't be afraid to break out the anal probe. Regardless of what the investigation finds, he should be sacked for incompetence at the very least.
The really sad thing is that I would do more time for using a camcorder to record a movie than most of these assholes get for stealing billions. The color of their collar earns them such leniency? No wonder people don't give a damn about corporations losing money. They see that it's all about what you get without getting caught. If corporate leaders are going to ignore the law with virtual impunity, why should anyone else do differently? Don't hate the player, hate the game, right?
One of the robots kills a human by dropping a weight on him, it lets it go, knowing it can catch it safely, so it isn't enandering the human. Then when it is falling, it doesn't have to catch it, becuase it misssing that part of the law. Calvin has to figuire out which one of the identical robots is the killer.
No, that's not what happened. That's just a scenario that Calvin made up to illustrate how the modified robots could possibly get around the first law. It didn't actually happen, and there was no robot killer. She was trying to figure out which of the robots was the one that was "lost".
Why, oh why can't they have designed something more scalable to begin with?
From my experience in software design, it's because nobody wants to put in any effort in planning for the future. They want something that is good enough right now. By the time the bad design decisions become apparent to the average person, it's somebody else's problem.
The only reason this case is any more "high level" than any other is because the defendant is one of the wealthiest companies in the world. Are you saying that whether they broke the law or not is less important than who they paid money to? In court, I think the prosecution proved its case pretty well. They caught several MS employees in lies and uncovered quite a few very incriminating emails. That combined with testimony from several witnesses pretty much sealed the case. I think that Microsoft was very guilty. I also think that the proposed remedies were mostly stupid and did not address the real problems. So I guess it doesn't really matter much whether the DOJ won or lost the case because the problem wouldn't have been solved by their remedies anyway.
Still, the original applies. I suspect he knew what would happen if he got caught, even if it is silly.
I think blue laws are silly. This is farther along the spectrum towards tragic. Given that the law is brand new, I doubt he knew the severity of the punishment. I think copyright laws have gotten way out of hand and I'm hoping they push people too far soon so we can have a severe backlash against those that support these laws. I'd also like to see voice votes disallowed in Congress. I'm sick of them passing laws like this without attaching their name to their vote. Where is the damn accountability?!
He definately falls into the "Minor criminal" in that he was doing something illegal, but there are no immediate victims. Thats why he will get two years maximum, and probably wont even go to jail at all for a first offense.
More like 3 years minimum for a first offense, if he was old enough.
First of all, why the hell do you allow your email program to load remote images? Or indeed autoload images at all? Second, I agree that porn spam is bad and is a problem. There are some pretty good solutions that, when combined with common-sense settings like turning off autoloading of images, pretty much get rid of spam altogether. Slashdot had a story a day or two ago about anti-spam apps. Maybe check that out too.
No. It's quite easy to tell porn links from other links in searches. And it's pretty easy to filter them out as well using things like Google's "Safe Search". If you're seeing porn it's because you're either not concerned enough about it to use the tools available to block it, or you're actually seeking it.
I doubt he'd be that much of a noob. You don't invest that kind of cash in a game that you don't know how to play. Most likely the people doing this stuff have played several characters up to high levels already. At least that's been my experience from knowing quite a few.
I have a friend that plays EQ on 2 computers at the same time. He doesn't use macros, he just has to keep track of both of them. I could see making the argument that using macros is cheating, but I really don't see paying someone else to play for you as cheating. There's still a person playing.
Well, someone had to spend the time ingame to get the money or goods to sell, so it shouldn't really matter one way or the other who currently has possession of the goods. You may not care about time arguments, but for many people, time is valuable. Leveling treadmills aren't very enjoyable for many people, but playing as a powerful character is. So they trade their money for someone else's time. Doesn't seem like cheating to me. I could pay a friend to play my character for me for a month and it would be basically the same thing. Still doesn't strike me as cheating though, at least not anymore than having 16 hours a day available to play is cheating.
It sucks for the game because the person who bought the level 245 Necromancer Dark Elf Paladin is skipping the majority of the world that the developers put their blood, sweat and tears into.
So what? If he paid for the game like everyone else, then the devs got their money for their blood sweat and tears.
It sucks for the players (not all of them) but the ones he might interact with because having skipped the majority of the game, in all likelihood, doesn't know shit about the game and will wreck nothing but newbie havok upon those stupid enough to group with him.
And that's different from about 90% of the rest of the idiot players how exactly?
MMOGs are a game, yes. But it's also a type of business that relies on player retention. When someone skips from the beginning to the end the chance of retention is probably dropped about 90% because the only thing the player will take part in is the endgame.
How is this the player's problem? If the devs made the game more interesting in the beginning instead of just a leveling treadmill, then maybe people would be more inclined to play all the way through.
The person who played 20 hours a week may very well have catassed his way up there. But I can guarantee you he'll generate more free PR through word of mouth than the guy who dropped his wad on a pre-leveled character.
Again, that's someone else's problem, not the player's.
Personally, I kind of like the way the system works now.
Unfortunately, the problem is that the system isn't working very well right now at all. Patents are being handed out like candy for every stupid and obvious idea that someone bothers to fill out an application for.
Games like Max Payne 1 & 2 were linear, but still great games. It's all in how creative you are with the gameplay. Hell, those games were more like movies than a lot of movies I've seen.
Slashdot Mirror
If you can't furnish people with the data they request, then what good is your system in the first place? I don't buy their claim, as I've never heard of a database that couldn't be copied, no matter how old it happened to be. In fact, many older databases were actually easier to copy than newer ones.
Well first of all, all people are asking for is a backup of the database. They don't have backups that they can copy? That's far more incompetence than I would like to imagine in our government. Second, the revamp won't be done until December, conveniently after the election. Coincidence?
The problem is that TCO is almost entirely case-specific, and can include a ton of variables. Most TCO studies just take a handful of these variables (preferably the ones which agree with point of view of whomever is paying for the study) and ignore the rest. Thus, most TCO studies are worthless.
I think you're agreeing with me, but I could be wrong. Copyright is a legal fiction just like most laws are. They exist to control people's behavior. The people that got the DMCA passed wanted to make sure that nobody could use something that they created, except in the way they want it to be used, and with their permission. It doesn't matter whether you purchased a piece of hardware or software. It doesn't matter that you have a good reason. The DMCA is written in such a way that you will almost certainly lose.
They bruteforced a password.
This password was not protecting access to any copyrighted works. It was not circumventing copyright access mechanisms.
The controls were only bypassed.
I think you're wrong. The security system was designed to prevent unauthorized access to the maintenance code. I'm sure that StorageTek owns the copyright on that piece of software, so if they put any mechanism in place to control access to it, then the DMCA makes it illegal to circumvent it by any method. If they gain access through any sort of trickery, whether it be replacing files or guessing passwords til they get it right, they are circumventing the protection mechanism. If they weren't trying to circumvent the protection mechanism, then they wouldn't have to use those methods. They would simply be able to access it without any difficulty. I think any thesaurus would list bypass as a synonym for circumvent, and vice versa. The problem is that the DMCA is a bad law and should be done away with. This is just one more example of why it's a bad law.
Perhaps he received a document on the basis of which he had to make his decision with "Show revisions" on, and thought that the highlighted changed text was the actual text of the proposal he was voting on.
Then, like I said, he deserves to be sacked for incompetence at the very least. If you don't know how to use word processor features that have been around for years, then you shouldn't be in a job that requires their use. Besides, are we to believe that this is the first time he's encountered such editing? That given the importance of the document, he couldn't ask someone else with more word processing experience? Bah. He deserves much worse than simply being fired.
Touché :)
And now the Minister of Eco. Affairs claims it was an error in his word processor.
I gotta agree with you. That's about the most farfetched excuse I've ever heard. His word processor made a mistake!? What did it do? Did spellcheck change "No" to "Yes"? The bastard should be investigated thoroughly and don't be afraid to break out the anal probe. Regardless of what the investigation finds, he should be sacked for incompetence at the very least.
The really sad thing is that I would do more time for using a camcorder to record a movie than most of these assholes get for stealing billions. The color of their collar earns them such leniency? No wonder people don't give a damn about corporations losing money. They see that it's all about what you get without getting caught. If corporate leaders are going to ignore the law with virtual impunity, why should anyone else do differently? Don't hate the player, hate the game, right?
One of the robots kills a human by dropping a weight on him, it lets it go, knowing it can catch it safely, so it isn't enandering the human. Then when it is falling, it doesn't have to catch it, becuase it misssing that part of the law. Calvin has to figuire out which one of the identical robots is the killer.
No, that's not what happened. That's just a scenario that Calvin made up to illustrate how the modified robots could possibly get around the first law. It didn't actually happen, and there was no robot killer. She was trying to figure out which of the robots was the one that was "lost".
Why, oh why can't they have designed something more scalable to begin with?
From my experience in software design, it's because nobody wants to put in any effort in planning for the future. They want something that is good enough right now. By the time the bad design decisions become apparent to the average person, it's somebody else's problem.
I get that sometimes. Seems almost random though. Sometimes they overlap a lot. Sometimes a little, and sometimes they show up right.
The only reason this case is any more "high level" than any other is because the defendant is one of the wealthiest companies in the world. Are you saying that whether they broke the law or not is less important than who they paid money to? In court, I think the prosecution proved its case pretty well. They caught several MS employees in lies and uncovered quite a few very incriminating emails. That combined with testimony from several witnesses pretty much sealed the case. I think that Microsoft was very guilty. I also think that the proposed remedies were mostly stupid and did not address the real problems. So I guess it doesn't really matter much whether the DOJ won or lost the case because the problem wouldn't have been solved by their remedies anyway.
Still, the original applies. I suspect he knew what would happen if he got caught, even if it is silly.
I think blue laws are silly. This is farther along the spectrum towards tragic. Given that the law is brand new, I doubt he knew the severity of the punishment. I think copyright laws have gotten way out of hand and I'm hoping they push people too far soon so we can have a severe backlash against those that support these laws. I'd also like to see voice votes disallowed in Congress. I'm sick of them passing laws like this without attaching their name to their vote. Where is the damn accountability?!
He definately falls into the "Minor criminal" in that he was doing something illegal, but there are no immediate victims. Thats why he will get two years maximum, and probably wont even go to jail at all for a first offense.
More like 3 years minimum for a first offense, if he was old enough.
Maximum PC is pretty thin, but still a good read for what is there. I generally read it cover-to-cover. The reviews are generally spot-on as well.
"The government said an overhaul of the system should be finished by December and copies should be available then."
:)
Umm.. if ya'll can wait til after the election, we can give you all the info you want
First of all, why the hell do you allow your email program to load remote images? Or indeed autoload images at all? Second, I agree that porn spam is bad and is a problem. There are some pretty good solutions that, when combined with common-sense settings like turning off autoloading of images, pretty much get rid of spam altogether. Slashdot had a story a day or two ago about anti-spam apps. Maybe check that out too.
No. It's quite easy to tell porn links from other links in searches. And it's pretty easy to filter them out as well using things like Google's "Safe Search". If you're seeing porn it's because you're either not concerned enough about it to use the tools available to block it, or you're actually seeking it.
I doubt he'd be that much of a noob. You don't invest that kind of cash in a game that you don't know how to play. Most likely the people doing this stuff have played several characters up to high levels already. At least that's been my experience from knowing quite a few.
I have a friend that plays EQ on 2 computers at the same time. He doesn't use macros, he just has to keep track of both of them. I could see making the argument that using macros is cheating, but I really don't see paying someone else to play for you as cheating. There's still a person playing.
Well, someone had to spend the time ingame to get the money or goods to sell, so it shouldn't really matter one way or the other who currently has possession of the goods. You may not care about time arguments, but for many people, time is valuable. Leveling treadmills aren't very enjoyable for many people, but playing as a powerful character is. So they trade their money for someone else's time. Doesn't seem like cheating to me. I could pay a friend to play my character for me for a month and it would be basically the same thing. Still doesn't strike me as cheating though, at least not anymore than having 16 hours a day available to play is cheating.
It sucks for the game because the person who bought the level 245 Necromancer Dark Elf Paladin is skipping the majority of the world that the developers put their blood, sweat and tears into.
So what? If he paid for the game like everyone else, then the devs got their money for their blood sweat and tears.
It sucks for the players (not all of them) but the ones he might interact with because having skipped the majority of the game, in all likelihood, doesn't know shit about the game and will wreck nothing but newbie havok upon those stupid enough to group with him.
And that's different from about 90% of the rest of the idiot players how exactly?
MMOGs are a game, yes. But it's also a type of business that relies on player retention. When someone skips from the beginning to the end the chance of retention is probably dropped about 90% because the only thing the player will take part in is the endgame.
How is this the player's problem? If the devs made the game more interesting in the beginning instead of just a leveling treadmill, then maybe people would be more inclined to play all the way through.
The person who played 20 hours a week may very well have catassed his way up there. But I can guarantee you he'll generate more free PR through word of mouth than the guy who dropped his wad on a pre-leveled character.
Again, that's someone else's problem, not the player's.
Personally, I kind of like the way the system works now.
Unfortunately, the problem is that the system isn't working very well right now at all. Patents are being handed out like candy for every stupid and obvious idea that someone bothers to fill out an application for.
Games like Max Payne 1 & 2 were linear, but still great games. It's all in how creative you are with the gameplay. Hell, those games were more like movies than a lot of movies I've seen.