The ethics counsel for the American Bar Association, George Kuhlman, said in Chicago that people should not be expressing views on Rehnquist's statement and that he himself would not.
You guys are so damned irresponsible! Let's just go over this again - "people should not be expressing views".
Don't you get it! The freedom to express an opinion does not extend to issues such as this and if you computer-types don't stop abusing the First Amendment, the U.S. Goverment may be forced to introduce laws to restrict these rights which you are exercising so irresponsibly, c.f. DeCSS.
</sarcasm>
Right, well the UK is no good because of the RIP Bill. The US is heading the same way, so I guess I'm going to be moving back home to Ireland.
Gee, what a pity. I'll be forced to drink Guinness and date Irish girls. 8-)
There's a file called dodger@slashdot.txt in a Cookies directory on my hard disk. It contains various encrypted codes. It is now apparent to me that Slashdot are tracking my every move on their website, profiling me by what news items I read, what sort of comments I post, what sort of comments I moderate, and meta-moderate!
MY GOD! THEY MUST HAVE A FULL PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE OF MY PERSONALITIES BY NOW!!!!!*runs off screaming over the horizon*
D.
Electronic text for FTP...
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Hackers
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If you don't feel like spending the next three months of your life tracking down an original copy, you can always download the Project Gutenberg Etext and read at your leisure.
when we finally got it into his head that [a firewall] was a necessity he allowed so little time for our linux guru to work on it that it was still not operational when I finally resigned.
This is a very common problem. Many organisations are not as secure as they should be because they are underresourced, technically.
Security is often regarded as being the responsibility of the systems engineers/administrators. However, day-to-day business often places a higher priority on non-security-related engineering and admin jobs than security, and this can mean that security-related work, which does not have an apparent immediate urgency (unlike, say, getting a new mail system implemented or something like that), unless a security breach has recently occurred or is in progress.
As a result, the IT staff find themselves under pressure from the business groups, and security ends up sliding to the bottom of the "to do" list.
In essence, this is a management problem, which can only be solved by putting in place stringent security policies (e.g. "Yes, the new mail system is working, but it has not been passed as secure, so we are NOT putting it live, and I don't care how crucial it is to your quarterly comission that you are able to send attachments larger than 2MB...") and proactively allocating resources to security.
..to actually check the thing out, here's the readme.txt from the ZIP package:
Compaq Personal Jukebox
Example Filesystem Code
Copyright (C) 2000 Compaq Computer Corporation
NOTE: The Personal Jukebox is not a Compaq product. It was developed
by Compaq Corporate Research and was licensed to Remote Solution.
You can read a little more about the research effort for the PJB
by visiting: http://www.research.digital.com/SRC/pjb
You can purchase a Personal Jukebox by contacting Remote
Solution, or by visiting the web site at http://www.pjbox.com
This kit is released under the GNU Public License. There should be
a file 'gpl.txt' containing this license. You can read more about
the GPL by visiting http://www.gnu.org
This kit contains enough code to communicate with and manipulate the
file system of a PJB-100 Personal Jukebox.
It is not a complete Jukebox Manager application. Instead, it is
an open-source version of some of the library routines used in
the PJB's shipping Jukebox Manager. With this library source,
you can write your own Jukebox Manager for Windows, Linux,
or any other operating system that supports USB.
There are some specifications for the file system in the docs/
directory on this kit.
In particular, check out docs/todo.txt.
We hope you find this useful.
Thanks!
Compaq Corporate Research
So, what we have here is a classic case of most of Slashdot jumping to not just one wrong conclusion, but several, ranging from the assumption that the source code is a customised version of Linux, to the accusation that Compaq is in deliberate violation of the GPL.
Admittedly, the licensing agreement you have to agree to in order to download the source probably shouldn't be there, but this is obviously an accidental oversight, because the file gpl.txt is included, and it is the GPL.
D. ..is for dumb people who jump to conclusions without checking the facts first.
If you take Clarke's Third Law, then it's obvious how hackers could be perceived as modern magicians - by doing stuff that other people cannot do within a medium which others don't understand. However, the public in general is, I think, becoming more jaded and jaundiced with technology. It's like one of those E. E. "Doc" Smith novels, where the characters keep building nth-power projectors and ships which go so fast as to be beyond all human conception of speed... After a while you just cease being impressed.
I would say that many hacker-types would identify more with Jedis or ninjas. The Force is kind of the equivalent of a natural hacking ability - you've either got the right mindset, or you haven't, but even if you have got it, you've still got to practise it. The interesting thing about ninjas is that there is nothing supernatural about them - they're just normal flesh-and-blood human beings who have, though devotion and practise, developed skills and abilities which seem supernatural to normal people, who don't possess these extraordinary abilities.
The other interesting thing about both Jedis and Ninjas is that neither worships gods or demons. There is no structured religion dictating what they should and should not do, and no deity or need to seek redemption, although the concepts of Good and Evil do exist within those frameworks, as they do in hacking.
Douglas Rushkoff, in his book Cyberia covered some interesting ground within the topics of hacking, drugs and technoshamanism. A lot of it's just wanking, but it's thought-provoking stuff and worth reading. I identified particularly with some of the sections dealing with rave culture. I used to be a club/rave DJ and I've experienced the uplifting feedback loop you get when you've got 2,000 people getting higher and more euphoric as a direct result of the music you're playing for them, and you're a buss from their reaction, which is spurring you on to lift them even higher... It's a unique experience and that whole mystical thing is something I've experienced in hacking as well.
Many hacker-types have the ability to adjust their mindset and way of viewing the world from the normal, physical reality of the ground, sky, buildings, doors, roads, etc., to one of networks, nodes, routing, directory structures, processes and so on. It's kind of like a different consciousness, an ability to perceive and inhabit a different world - i.e. cyberspace (to use what has become a cliched term).
And finally, we come right back round full circle to today, with films like the Matrix, which portrays a hacker-type who develops Jedi-like powers, and the ability to see beyond the facade which most normal people see (try drawing parallels with a Windows-style GUI or HTML, and the underlying shell, OS or protocols). It even includes Kung-Fu, which isn't a million miles away from Ninjas.
Even Neal Stephenson ventures into this sort of territory in Cryptonomicon, when we read Randy's classifications of different types of people, which he draws from Tolkein - men, elves, dwarves, wizards, etc.
These memes or themes permeate the hacking culture and there must be a reason for that.
As for religious beliefs, I personally think that many hacker-types are probably agnostic to a large extent, something which is often associated with scientists and other "intelligent" people.
And me? Well I just don't fucking know. I'm rather drunk and I'm going to bed now.
Re:Who really needs a lesson
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The reason stories about RIP don't get posted to Slashdot is because it's an American site, edited by seps.
Perhaps we need a UK version of Slashdot.
D.
Re:Who really needs a lesson
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Lawsuits Suck
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As for the RIP act in my own country. I'm nothing short of appalled. I've written to my member of parliament but to no avail - didn't even acknowledge me.
I thought MPs had to reply to letters sent them by their constituents.
Re:Who really needs a lesson
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Lawsuits Suck
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The american corporations and legal system that seem to think they reign supreme over the internet.
Did you read the article? Wake up and smell the roses, pal. The corps and lawyers don't think they rule the 'Net, but they're taking steps to make sure that they will do. In the meantime, we're all sitting around on our collective fannies doing absolutely nothing about it. From RIP in the UK to DMCA in the US, right down to the completely intolerable situation with Network Solutions, control of the 'Net is being carved up, packaged, signed and sealed, and all because people want to make money out of it.
Suck is right. Geeks need to wise up and realise what the important issues are. Fuck Napster. They are breaching copyright, and I, for one, am sick and tired of hearing about it. DeCSS? That's a different story, but it's an issue because you guys allowed the DMCA to become law. ICANN, NSI, etcetera? That's a real pile of shit, but what do 99.99% of geeks do about it? Bitch on Slashdot and go back to playing Quake/Everquest/UO/whatever.
Whinging that it's "not fair" isn't going to make a damned bit of difference. And this "parallel" you've drawn? That's just wanking (as defined by Bobby Shaftoe in Cryptonomicon).
As I understand it, this only has a direct effect in the US - the various products that we in the rest of the world have been using for ages haven't been subject to this patent because it's a US-only patent.
I'm not going to open the can of worms that would result from me flaming the US Patent Office...
So, what this means is that it will now be possible for non-US companies like Baltimore (Irish company) to sell RSA-based products in the US without having to worry about having to licence the PSA algorithm from the RSA company.
There's a point - I wonder if a patent could be contested on the basis that it is anti-competitive.
Anyway, getting back to the point, the other advantage will be that open source products which use the RSA algorithm and which, until now could not be used for commercial purposes in the U.S., can now be deployed by companies.
Considering that a large percentage of open source developers and projects are based in the United States, is this likely to lead to more widespread and better integration of cryptography with open source software packages?
D. ..is for Downloading PGP from a US host instead of being forced to put up with the International version...
..and I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to cease and desist from utilising my Global Domination process (tm) until you've agreed a suitable licensing framework with my lawyers. Failure to do so will result in my adapting the "Kill the Chairman" sub-procedure for use on your sorry ass.;-)
Has Linux (or any BSD) ever been certified as POSIX-compliant? Or subjected to the X/Open groups testing to determine whether it can be registered as a "true" UNIX?
No we don't, which is probably why a post entitled "Tenchi for the Uninitiated!" is the highest-rated comment at the moment.
Will someone please explain to me how some manga series fits into the "News for Nerds. Stuff that matters." definition?
I think it would be interesting to be able to see what sort of stories get rejected by Slashdot's editors, to make way for stuff like this. And it shouldn't be too difficult to extend meta-moderation to allow us to approve or disapprove of editor's acceptance or rejection of stories, either.
Read the Sealand website again. A ship from the British tax collection agency (Exise) tried to go to Sealand and was fired upon. Prince Roy was eventually hauled into court on tax and gun charges and the court ruled that England had no jurisdiction in Sealand, giving them de-facto recognition of sovereignty
I can't believe you really think that a judgement by a magistrate can really be relied upon as proof of a SeaLand's sovereignty. The only reason that Sealand has been tolerated until now is because, until now, Roy was viewed as a mere eccentric.
Anyone who believes that the status quo will continue if HavenCo starts pissing off the British Government is a complete naif. For God's sake, UK Immigration stated only weeks ago that they regard "SeaLand" as British territory. That was why they refused a HavenCo employee flying in from America entry to the UK.
Look, I'm a libertarian. I'm against the RIP Bill. I'd love to see a real datahaven. I'd probably be one of the first to sign up! But I also live in the real world, and I long ago came to the conclusion that a real datahaven which thumbs it's nose at powerful governments will not last very long, and that the use of strong crypto is a better way of ensuring data security.
The only way that HavenCo is going to be able to operate without intervention by the UK authorities is if it treads very carefully indeed and avoids doing anything which pisses off the UK Government.
As anyone who's interested in issues such as extraterritoriality will be aware, even the hallowed tax havens of Jersey and Anguilla have recently found themselves targeted by the OECD.
All this posturing is a front. Anyone who believes that the UK Government isn't afraid of a bit of bad PR doesn't know much about Britain. These guys play hardball and they don't take any shit, as everyone from the IRA to the Israelis have found out.
Okay, I have to admit that I'm about a quarter-convinced of HavenCo's SeaLand facility's long-term viability.
However, I still find it "interesting" that they're steadfastly declaring their sovereignty from the UK, and relying upon the UK Government's desire to avoid bad PR to prevent them from interfering with SeaLand, on the one hand, whilst relying upon the Royal Navy to protect them from attack, on the other. Given that a HavenCo employee flying into Heathrow on his way to SeaLand from America was turned back at UK immigration a few weeks back, because he didn't have a UK work permit, I'll be interested in seeing how this actually pans out.
Also, I'd be interested to see what happens if SeaLand's sovereignty ever is contested in a courtroom, or what will happen if a government does order their communications links cut off.
But, if they do succeed in setting up a real, viable datahaven, which can actually host information and services with impunity, then the best of luck to them. I'll probably be one of their customers.
If you consider that only one OS is supposed to run on the Palm, it does kinda make sense that they could supply a software patch which would check to see if there was faulty memory and, if there was, make an alteration to the OS to stop it from accessing that area of memory.
Of course, there's quite a large margin for fuck-up if you're doing this sort of thing, and if someone can prove that their Palm's functionality/performance is affected by this, they should be able to get a replacement.
[..]some source ports use up to 3 different licenses, among them the GPL. So doesn't this make it GPL'd?
This doesn't sound right to me. If someone takes two pieces of code, one GPL and one which isn't GPL (but is open source), and sticks them together into one program, the GPL can't infect the other code, no matter what the GPL itself says.
What's happening in that situation, is the the person who used both sets of code in the one program would be guilty of violating at least the GPL, and possibly both licences.
In my opinion, actually, this "feature" of the GPL (i.e. it's incompatibility with other licences, due to it's viral nature) goes against the spirit of the free software/open source movement. It's supposed to liberate us from having to worry about software licensing and so on, rather than restricting what we can do with it.
It seems to me sometimes that people regard the GPL as being something holy and untouchable, but I believe that given the way in which the economy is changing and so on, such things should be critically reviewed on a regular basis.
What exactly is HavenCo offering? On the one hand, you refer to yourselves as "the world's most secure managed colocation facility" (setting aside for the moment the fact that HavenCo is not a co-location facility) and on the other, your website makes vague references to the fact that Sealand is a sovereign territory.
Five years ago, when I first heard of Sealand and it's alleged sovereignty, I looked into it as a potential site for a hosting facility. However, I concluded that Sealand's claim to sovereignty wasn't anywhere near strong enough to ensure that it could avoid being subjected to British law (in particular financial law). Given the fact that it exists, in my opinion, because it's owners are viewed as relatively harmless eccentrics by the British authorities, and that it is not recognised as a bona fide principality by any other nation (notwithstanding the visit by a German diplomat), I concluded that if a hosting facility were to be established on Sealand from which, subsequently, actions were carried out or services provided, which sufficiently antagonised a bona fide government, steps would be taken to ensure that such actions or services ceased.
In short, whilst the idea of Sealand existing as the world's smallest independent nation is a good read in the newspapers, and makes for terrific brochure blurb for a company like HavenCo, I don't believe it to be a truly tenable position.
Security was something else I looked at. I looked at four methods of connectivity - fibre, microwave, sattelite and packet radio. Any means of connectivity (except, perhaps, for packet radio), exposes a "Seahouse" to the prospect of it's connectivity being shut off at the mainland (whether it be in the UK or the Continent). From a pure security point of view, fibre is obviously the best option. Microwave, sattelite and radio can be snooped both from Earth and space. Sattelite and radio links have their own problems with regard to latency.
The provision of traditional utilities to a "Seahouse" present further problems - unless a cable could be installed to bring power from the mainland (which, again, leaves the facility open to being shut down by mainland authorities), such a facility must generate it's own power. I dismissed wind and wave as too unreliable, leaving diesel-based generation. This would be expensive and the possiblity of being unable to resupply because of bad weather arises (note that, at one point, Sealand was abandoned because of bad weather). Any interruption to power would result in disruption of environment control (AC, fire suppression systems).
The actual environment itself was also a concern - I'm not sure how suitable a sea-tower is, as a facility for hosting sensitive computer equipment.
Finally the security of Sealand itelf was a concern. I conducted an analysis aimed at examining what sort of operation would be required to attack, conquer or destroy Sealand. With the help of an individual with experience of this type of military operation, I determined that carrying out a professional operation designed to invade and seize terporary control of the tower, would cost somewhere in the region of £200,000 (around $320,000). This would involve sourcing weapons and experienced personnel, as well as arranging for a suitable method of accessing the target.
Conquering the tower would be a different matter, requiring a long-term commitment to both the security and logistics of the tower. Destroying it by UDT methods would not be easy or cheap, although severaly disrupting it's habitability by something like mortar attack would be a lot cheaper.
In the end, I decided that Sealand sovereignty/legal position, security and suitability as a hosting location were not up to scratch.
I find it interesting that HavenCo have found otherwise. I note with interest that the HavenCo website indicates that they intend to open hosting facilities in other countries, and I find myself wondering whether the SeaLand thing is merely a publicity stunt/gimmick, purely for the purpose of impressing the press, potential clients and investors.
Finally, addressing that issue of the definition of co-location. A co-location facility allows companies (typically telcos, ISPs) to locate equipment within the same building, to enable interconnect/exchange of IP traffic. HavenCo says that it will not allow clients to place it's own equipment in the facility. If this is the case, then HavenCo's Sealand facility will be a hosting facility, where clients are constrained to choosing equipment which HavenCo can supply/support.
This all sounds well and good, but given NASA's recent track record, I'm wary of getting over-excited.
Up to the 90s, NASA's exploits and feats of engineering have amazed us again and again, producing exploits like The Apollo 13 rescue and interplanetary probes which have continued operating long past their planned life.
However, in recent years, NASA has been in the news more often for bad reasons than for good. It would be interesting to find out why this has occurred. Potential causes include reduction in funding, increasing pressure to deliver results, and a brain-drain towards the private sector.
In the post-Cold War era, with private companies beginning to plan exploitation of space, perhaps NASA's mission needs to be re-examined.
So, if I've read TOR's articles correctly, we're going to end up in a situation where corporations pay companies like Linuxcare to provide them with support and services for their Linux installations. If the client wants the OS customised, then they'll probably pay for that too...
So, at the end of the day, from the client's point of view, the model isn't that different from that for proprietary software. You pay a fee up front (except it's for customisation, installation and training services, rather than for a licence) and an ongoing fee for support.
</DEVIL'S_ADVOCATE>
D. ..is for DEVIL'S ADVOCATE, for the benefit of stupid people.
I've been using CDs now for a long time, and I believe that the quality of the CDs themselves (i.e. the physical production quality, as opposed to the music quality) has declined over the years, to the point where the CDs I buy today don't last as long as ones I bought ten years ago... They're thinner, scratch easier, etc.
Slashdot Mirror
Does Slashdot, as a distinct business, make a profit? And how much VA equity do CmdrTaco et al now own? D.