That was the idea. Someone else asked about bribing a Supreme Court Justice.
Given how close those old incompetent fuckheads are to retirement, a promise of a very nice job doing nothing in particular as a Trustee of a large non-profit foundation with a salary of $5,000,000 or more a year might sound awfully good after a lifetime in government service.
Bill Gates could easily provide several such jobs. The good news is that this would get several dangerous computer-illiterates off the court.
The bad news is that their replacements will probably understand computers and cyberspace, and also that their owners are the people who got them their jobs, not the American people.
And that it'll be a long, long time before any will have to retire.
The only solution I can see is . . . find out how to make them irrelevant.
Wrong. This is exactly the kind of standoff our Founding Fathers had in mind. To use an analogy, citizens have guns. The government has guns. Government gets sufficiently annoying and won't allow elections to replace it? It gets replaced anyway. Read the historical debates / discussion of the 2nd Amendment sometime. We of the US are NOT supposed to trust our government. We are supposed to watch it.
Government always tries to expand it's law enforcement powers into invasion of privacy. It'll reach out until the citizens stop them.
The real problem with PGP for "ordinary" users as I see it is that the vendor seems to expect people to read all the documentation before using it.
As a result, I've had to walk just about everybody I've persuaded to use PGP through it, even the reasonably competent users.
The solution is my PGP Quick Start Guide. It's based on the v6.5.8 (ADK-fix) release, I'm in no particular hurry to do anything about getting V7. It's a step-by-step guide for the new user for using PGP, from telling them NOT to install the PGP-net VPN to creating key pairs, and especially use of the PGPtray icon.
It's only a few pages long, it presents a bare minimum (how but not why) of information required to communicate securely with PGP. Users can find out why from the manual later.
Too many cases regarding technology, computing, and the Net are being resolved by judges who literally have never seen a C: prompt or a Mac Finder screen.
However, the MS antitrust case isn't one of them. It appears that Judge Jackson did get the issues at stake and ran through them from A to Z in his court decision.
How many of you whining about that EVIL, NASTY judge DARING to "stop MicroShit from innovating" have bothered to read it?
Try here for excerpts and the URL of the decision itself.
If a special technical issues court is put together, Judge Jackson and the Federal judges who wrote the anti-CDA decision should be on it.
Vinton Cerf just blew a lifetime of credibility in one ill-considered article. Did he personally review the code? (snicker)
At this point, even his technical opinions can be considered suspect, I'd wonder what his political agenda was in the context of figuring out what should be taken seriously in anything he says for the rest of his life, assuming I bothered to read what he's got to say.
The good news... the rest of us can bet against any technical initiatives he's involved in for the rest of his career, with the exception of IPv6 if he has anything to do with that. (however, if he is involved with it, it's our responsibility to check it for ugly surprises, but it would be anyway)
When I say bet, I mean taking the short side of any stock in any company he's involved in.
Re:Shooting the messenger
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Lawsuits Suck
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· Score: 3
This got a "5" for insight? Ever wonder if slashdot needs a new moderation system? (one that requires moderators to have a clue)
Volunteering is a good idea, but if a politician has a choice between one volunteer's opinion and even a $50K campaign contribution, you've got one guess as to how that politico will vote.
You want freedom in cyberspace? Organizing is only the first step. You, me, and a shitload of us had better be ready to sign checks to fuel our own PAC which will represent our interests, and enable us to buy elected officials and high-priced lobbyists just like the scumbags that funded the DMCA did. Our money is just as good as that of Seagrams and Sony. We can spend it to defend ourselves or watch what we've worked for disappear into a mass of corporate sludge. DMCA happened because we let it happen.
Certainly, we need new judges with a clue about how technology works. A good judge can make a hell of a difference. Like the judges who tanked CDA and Son of CDA. They took the trouble to learn cyberspace and actually knew the Constitiution. Why don't we have more judges like that? Federal judges are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Because Clinton and his GOP predecessors don't WANT that kind of Federal judge, they only get appointed by accident. You want better judges? Buy some Federal elected officials.
It's a free market, and the best organized and funded win. We have the tools and collectively, we've got the bucks to reshape the political process in any manner that amuses us. Unlike the corporate opposition, we understand the tools, so we should make better use of them.
Is freedom worth cashing in a chunk of your post-IPO options for? Is freedom worth putting off that hot tub for? Is freedom worth taking a chunk out of of your way-above average IT salary and contributing it to a political action group?
If you're a student or otherwise low on cash, are you willing to volunteer for political campaigns and to help out pro-freedom cybergroups.
If your answer is no, stop whining and soon, the Internet of a hundred thousand shopping malls in which your opinion will be given to you by the traditional mass media via streaming full screen video that our elected officials, mass media, and corporations want to see will be your future. You will deserve it.
Re:These kids never saw a recession
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Selfish Society
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· Score: 1
> But these gains in efficiency will go only so far >until we hit the next wall of automation.
The next wall is service industry automation, as in "how do we make the minimum wage jobs more productive"? While this breaks down to a shitload of smaller problems, many of which are solvable within what's off the shelf with current tech, the solutions don't exist within the context of the insiders with ready access to the VC community, making their implementation real problematic.
You have one guess as to what I'm working on right now.
The answer to your question is ORGANIZE a high-tech user oriented PAC (Political Action Committee), around a very small core of common issues in a way that will have impact on politicians.
We have computer skills, and as a group, we have enough money to *buy* every elected official in the US, even leaving out the multibillionaire suits. What the hell else do we need to get what *we* want out of the politicians?
The ACLU gets a lot of what it wants because it has a mailing list of people who can send a fax to their elected official on the ACLU's current favored issue with a few clicks on their issue Webpage they got to via the URL in the Webpage. There's no reason why we can't do this.
The non-tech people who think that Windows is a real operating system have something at stake and need to be brought into this. We can't reach these people via the Internet only and we can't reach these people through ordinary news coverage.
The solution is a media budget. Once we are buying megabucks of media ads, we'll get friendlier media coverage. Once we're in a position to object to particular news coverage and reporters and get them booted off the air, we'll get much friendlier coverage.
We're going to get fucked by our President (no matter who wins), Congress, state and local elected officials until there's a critical mass of us.
This means:
a few of us to set up the political action Internet site
a few paid professionals; lobbyists, political consultants, and support staff to go to Congress in person, figure out how to help our friends and zap our enemies
a shitload of us willing to participate at the level of receiving an e-mail every few days and a few mouseclicks...
a shitload of us willing to cough up $100-$1000 a year to keep things going.
Such an organization is going to have to organize around a few, simple issues on which there is consensus among the informed, the issues bearing on our freedom as citizens, the issues that affect our ability to do business. (crypto, for instance)
"Let George do it" is what got the Brits the RIP act and the Aussie situation where the government can break into people's computers at any time without a warrant. It got us the DMCA, CDA and Son of CDA, and it's likely to get us Internet taxation and even per-minute taxes if we don't DO SOMETHING.
"People always get the local governments they deserve" - E.E. "Doc" Smith
What does the passage of CDA, DMCA say about us?
The bottom line here is that one has to pay to stay free. We are lucky in that all we have to spend is a little bit of time and relatively speaking, a little bit of money. Spending a little time and money now might mean not having to take up arms to defend our freedom a few years from now. You know, those nasty situations where you get to shoot at people who are shooting back? Kind of like a video game except with real blood, some of which might be your own. Perhaps the right to speak freely is worth losing one camping trip a year or delaying a major computer upgrade. If you don't find it worth it, you may find that you can't even whine online about your loss of freedom anymore.
The hole in this specific argument on the wonders of gun control is that it's bullshit.
Britain a nice, peaceful, gun free paradise?
Crime and Justice in the United States and in England and Wales, 1981-96 "U.S. crime rates -- whether measured by surveys of crime victims or by police statistics -- generally fell in the early 1980's, rose thereafter until around 1993, and then fell again (figures 1-10). For most U.S. crimes (survey estimated assault, burglary, and motor vehicle theft; police-recorded murder, robbery, and burglary), the latest crime rates (1996) are the lowest recorded in the 16-year period from 1981 to 1996. By comparison, English crime rates as measured in both victim surveys and police statistics have all risen since 1981. For half of the measured English crime categories, the latest crime rates (1995 for rates from victim surveys; 1996 for rates from police statistics) are the highest recorded since 1981 "
Crime Wave Sweeps Britain"Despite its reputation as a genteel and pleasant land, a new government report depicts Britain as one of the most violent urban societies in the Western world, a place where a person's chances of being assaulted, burgled or robbed are substantially greater than in the United States."
Here's an article. Decide for yourself whether it was written about you. When liberals lie about guns. It was written by the well known bunch of raving right-wing crazies at Salon Magazine.
I'm not a Napster user. I consider this promotional stunt sufficiently offensive (I don't like false advertising) that I won't EVER be buying Ms. Fix's music, going to her concerts, and I'll actively discourage my friends form doing this as well.
I'm not giving her full name here because I think she's had her 15 minutes and I'm not giving her another second of publicity.
I suspect that the Napster users her husband is in essence, lying to in order to get her name and music out will react similarly.
I hope this kills that woman's music career beyond hope of recovery.
Check out http://www.iuniverse.com and http://www.xlibris.com .
You submit your book to them in a specified format. They get it an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) and make it available through distribution that can be ordered through almost any bookstore.
They print it on demand, collect from the bookstore, and pay you a royalty on each book sold... better than that in most conventional book contracts.
It's free. If you want value-added services like proofreading, editing, more illustrations than the standard package provides, you pay for them,
Getting people to buy it is YOUR problem. Presumably you don't need Web-based marketing explained to you.
The science fiction/fantasy writer Piers Anthony has already made his entire list of out of print books available through one of the two, I can't remember which.
Of course I'm thinking of doing a book this way.
to the DMCA supporters around here
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At The Crossroads
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I find it interesting that nobody around here who supports the DMCA status quo says anything about the:"fair use" concept of copyright law.
I do not support copyright infringement or other theft of intellectual property.
I have a patent pending right now, so I have a certain interest in protecting intellectual property in general.
However, copyright, like patent, was intended to provide a service to society as a whole, not just the intellectual property owners. Why should we as a society pay for the mechanisms of intellectual property protection? Why should we as taxpayers allow the use of the courts for enforcing patent and copyright law? Because intellectual property law is intended to benefit more than just the owners of intellectual property.
Things have gotten to the point where even quoting something in passing or even hyperlinking to a site that offends a corporate intellectual property interest can bring DMCA-equipped lawyers down on one's neck. Does society as a whole benefit from this? Is the public interest served by making it illegal to discuss Microsoft's attempt to bastardize open-source protocol in a technical context?
There are certainly imbeciles around here who support these insane notions.
Should it be illegal for a public library to lend out an e-book or music CD? Should it be legal for companies to publish e-books or music CDs which it is technically impossible for a public library to lend?
That sort of thing is what the concept of "fair use" is intended to cover.
The apparent intention of the DMCA is to allow corporate interests to redefine "fair use" of copyrighted material in any way that does not directly and immediately profit them out of existence. This happened because they bought enough legislators to get the DMCA passed.
An example of concrete action that might be helpful? I think it's time to start a campaign to get the DMCA repealed or drastically changed to make it impossible for corporations to use it to interfere with freedom of speech.
Anybody who's ever had to take down an Internet page because of a letter / e-mail from a law firm should appreciate that we are entering a period where "free speech" is whatever a group of self-serving corporate thugs allows us. This is due to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act that major corporations bought from our elected officials.
Metallica is just another bunch of corporate thugs.
I hope the fallout from their actions puts them out of business.
The system has been moved to Area Systems but remains affiliated with Spies. Referencing URL's should point to the wiretap.area.com address, though we will attempt to keep the old address active.
The above is a paragraph from the home page. My guess is that ""No, we don't know where it went." is their 404 Error... due to a temporary outage or something like that.
Check it yourself. y2k info - http://www.ecis.com/~alizard/y2k.html
It's time for the current Librarian of Congress to be terminated with extreme prejudice, the grounds are functional incompetence. The basis is that he has forgotten who he is working for.
The only way the Library of Congress can make meaningful access to its storehouse of information is to digitize this all and put it online. A Librarian of Congress who can't figure this out and expects his customers, i.e. US, to come physically to DC to use "his facility doesn't need to be feeding at the public trough anymore. The only arrogance I see with respect to whatever he was blathering about is his own, and I think he should be nurturing it at his own expense, not ours.
It's a bit frightening that Congress didn't pull his plug as soon as Billington's speech hit public domain, but I think it's gotten obvious to all of us that Billington works for people as obsolete as he is.
Remember, Billington works for the people who were bribed or duped into voting for the DMCA, CDA-I, CDA-II, and other legislation apparently intended to endanger the economic future of the USA.
Congresscrittters get more cooperative with end users during an election year. I suggest you send a copy of that article to yours... with a polite note asking that Billington be fired immediately and that you'll be remembering what was done and wasn't done on Election Day. y2k info - http://www.ecis.com/~alizard/y2k.html
I think that the way to handle this is not only to submit false information claims to the WaveAmerica site, but to start an organized Webcampaign to encourage people (it doesn't have to be just kids) do so with a dedicated site, banners, and the whole nine yards.
The site should probably be offshore to prevent Pinkerton's lawyers (aka corporate thugs) from attacking the freedom of speech of the persons putting up the site by advocating things Pinkerton doesn't like.
If the campaign gets big enough, this really can be stopped in its tracks.
Black banner, anyone? y2k info - http://www.ecis.com/~alizard/y2k.html
All AOL in Germany needs to do is... shut down their German user access... if I were doing this, I'd make the German AOL start page...
"Sorry, users, your government has decided we can no longer do business in Germany. Contact this phone number (number of state court that made the decision) for further information, the case is docket number #xxxxxxxx .
Also, you can complain to your local legislator, to get his phone number, enter your postal code and click here.
If this situation continues, we will stop billing your credit card and refund money for days on which your service couldn't be used due to your government" y2k info - http://www.ecis.com/~alizard/y2k.html
Appeals to decency and common sense aren't going to work.
The place to hit Mattel is in the pocketbook. This kind of campaign is a way that embarasses Mattel without taking any legal risk with respect to source code. If the word can be circulated around the Net that "buying Mattel isn't cool", that should cost them money.
BTW, while boycottmattel.com is taken, boycottmattel.org and boycottmattel.net are still available. y2k info - http://www.ecis.com/~alizard/y2k.html
2) Don't trust a stupid young hippie who is touting something simply because it lets him scream "down with the man!" at the top of his lungs. 3) Don't trust anyone with a personality/philosophical defect or belief that forces their self esteem to be based on the success of a product/OS. Hmmm.. so who else is there in linux advocacy? -------- end quote 4) Don't trust anything an anonymous MS shill or worse, a religious fanatic who is too stupid to repeat MS press releases without being on MS payroll says.
I have used every personal computer environment from C-64 onward. I'm currently in Windoze ONLY because I need true file compatibility with MS Office apps. I waste an hour of so a week babysitting Windows. I'm looking forward to the day when *any* other OS and a new set of business apps becomes dominant so I can start running a MS-free desktop and stop babysitting my computer.
This is what hotmail is really running (from netcraft) www.hotmail.com is running Apache/1.3.6 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.8 SSLeay/0.9.0b on FreeBSD y2k info - http://www.ecis.com/~alizard/y2k.html
I'd love to be able to read the article, but I can't get into the Computer Currents server. Perhaps it's because they made the "safe" choice of NT.:-)
The only other reasonable thing to say about the article is that it can be considered a challenge to the cracker community to write a bot that can be implanted on Windoze environments and run without the user's knowledge that will do a targeted DDos attack. I predict if this happens, it will be pointed at microsoft.com .
A.Lizard y2k info - http://www.ecis.com/~alizard/y2k.html
I suggest checking his actual positions (i.e. what Net-related measures he's authored and voted on) before saying anything nice about him in public.
Go to the US Senate site and look for yourself using the onsite search engine. Get the bad news for yourself.
Hint: his Internet platform is so far, based on Federal censorship to "SAVE THE CHILDREN FROM EVIL [fill in the block]". IIRC, he authored "Son of CDA".
He's just another drooling tard with delusions of adequacy. His sole virtue is that he might make clinton look good, but is that a reason to vote for him? y2k info - http://www.ecis.com/~alizard/y2k.html
Somebody's already doing the software side of this. Perhaps you can offer to help them out with the hardware side. y2k info - http://www.ecis.com/~alizard/y2k.html
>They didn't respond until Weemba posted a >message with the subjectline "AOL top brass >joins Satanic cult in ritual sacrifices" or the >equialent, within hours of which the spigot went >off.
Like to bet that no such story will ever appear in a Time-Warner media property EVEN IF IT IS PROVA BLY TRUE AND CARRIED BY OTHER MEDIA?
Though participation in Satanic cult ritual would probably be spiritually uplifting compared to the customary everyday activities of AOL suits.
A.Lizard y2k info - http://www.ecis.com/~alizard/y2k.html
That problem was solved back in the 1960s. Take a polymer blob, insert thermite and a small amount of water. Ignite thermite. The heat expands the blob into a sphere and catalyzes the plastic, the evaporated iron coats the inside of the sphere.
Cut the sphere in half and you have two hemispherical mirrors. Do I need to add that thermite does NOT need an oxygen atmosphere to burn?
>Furthermore, there must reasonable cause to >assume that it is a matter of security. Think of it >like an electronic warrant. Warrants and >sub-poenas are served with due cause, when it is >believed that issuing such will produce evidence. >We trust (i know i am speaking optimistically)
I know that you have no clue as to what you are talking about. "Reasonable cause" means some law enforcement bureaucrat has a bug up his ass.
A warrant or subpoena has to be requested from a judge in a court session where the person or organization who wants it has to explain to a person who is not part of his organization what the hell he wants it for.
Trust in government?
Anyone who trusts in the competence of elected government officials hasn't read a newspaper or watched TV in the last generation and therefore has no business commenting on public policy issues.
Trusting in good intentions? Without competence, good intentions don't matter, this kind of power inevitably winds up in the hands of those who have no business with it. y2k info - http://www.ecis.com/~alizard/y2k.html
Slashdot Mirror
Given how close those old incompetent fuckheads are to retirement, a promise of a very nice job doing nothing in particular as a Trustee of a large non-profit foundation with a salary of $5,000,000 or more a year might sound awfully good after a lifetime in government service.
Bill Gates could easily provide several such jobs. The good news is that this would get several dangerous computer-illiterates off the court.
The bad news is that their replacements will probably understand computers and cyberspace, and also that their owners are the people who got them their jobs, not the American people.
And that it'll be a long, long time before any will have to retire.
The only solution I can see is . . . find out how to make them irrelevant.
Government always tries to expand it's law enforcement powers into invasion of privacy. It'll reach out until the citizens stop them.
As a result, I've had to walk just about everybody I've persuaded to use PGP through it, even the reasonably competent users.
The solution is my PGP Quick Start Guide. It's based on the v6.5.8 (ADK-fix) release, I'm in no particular hurry to do anything about getting V7. It's a step-by-step guide for the new user for using PGP, from telling them NOT to install the PGP-net VPN to creating key pairs, and especially use of the PGPtray icon.
It's only a few pages long, it presents a bare minimum (how but not why) of information required to communicate securely with PGP. Users can find out why from the manual later.
However, the MS antitrust case isn't one of them. It appears that Judge Jackson did get the issues at stake and ran through them from A to Z in his court decision.
How many of you whining about that EVIL, NASTY judge DARING to "stop MicroShit from innovating" have bothered to read it?
Try here for excerpts and the URL of the decision itself.
If a special technical issues court is put together, Judge Jackson and the Federal judges who wrote the anti-CDA decision should be on it.
At this point, even his technical opinions can be considered suspect, I'd wonder what his political agenda was in the context of figuring out what should be taken seriously in anything he says for the rest of his life, assuming I bothered to read what he's got to say.
The good news... the rest of us can bet against any technical initiatives he's involved in for the rest of his career, with the exception of IPv6 if he has anything to do with that. (however, if he is involved with it, it's our responsibility to check it for ugly surprises, but it would be anyway)
When I say bet, I mean taking the short side of any stock in any company he's involved in.
Volunteering is a good idea, but if a politician has a choice between one volunteer's opinion and even a $50K campaign contribution, you've got one guess as to how that politico will vote.
You want freedom in cyberspace? Organizing is only the first step. You, me, and a shitload of us had better be ready to sign checks to fuel our own PAC which will represent our interests, and enable us to buy elected officials and high-priced lobbyists just like the scumbags that funded the DMCA did. Our money is just as good as that of Seagrams and Sony. We can spend it to defend ourselves or watch what we've worked for disappear into a mass of corporate sludge. DMCA happened because we let it happen.
Certainly, we need new judges with a clue about how technology works. A good judge can make a hell of a difference. Like the judges who tanked CDA and Son of CDA. They took the trouble to learn cyberspace and actually knew the Constitiution. Why don't we have more judges like that? Federal judges are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Because Clinton and his GOP predecessors don't WANT that kind of Federal judge, they only get appointed by accident. You want better judges? Buy some Federal elected officials.
It's a free market, and the best organized and funded win. We have the tools and collectively, we've got the bucks to reshape the political process in any manner that amuses us. Unlike the corporate opposition, we understand the tools, so we should make better use of them.
Is freedom worth cashing in a chunk of your post-IPO options for? Is freedom worth putting off that hot tub for? Is freedom worth taking a chunk out of of your way-above average IT salary and contributing it to a political action group?
If you're a student or otherwise low on cash, are you willing to volunteer for political campaigns and to help out pro-freedom cybergroups.
If your answer is no, stop whining and soon, the Internet of a hundred thousand shopping malls in which your opinion will be given to you by the traditional mass media via streaming full screen video that our elected officials, mass media, and corporations want to see will be your future. You will deserve it.
The next wall is service industry automation, as in "how do we make the minimum wage jobs more productive"? While this breaks down to a shitload of smaller problems, many of which are solvable within what's off the shelf with current tech, the solutions don't exist within the context of the insiders with ready access to the VC community, making their implementation real problematic.
You have one guess as to what I'm working on right now.
We have computer skills, and as a group, we have enough money to *buy* every elected official in the US, even leaving out the multibillionaire suits. What the hell else do we need to get what *we* want out of the politicians?
The ACLU gets a lot of what it wants because it has a mailing list of people who can send a fax to their elected official on the ACLU's current favored issue with a few clicks on their issue Webpage they got to via the URL in the Webpage. There's no reason why we can't do this.
The non-tech people who think that Windows is a real operating system have something at stake and need to be brought into this. We can't reach these people via the Internet only and we can't reach these people through ordinary news coverage.
The solution is a media budget. Once we are buying megabucks of media ads, we'll get friendlier media coverage. Once we're in a position to object to particular news coverage and reporters and get them booted off the air, we'll get much friendlier coverage.
We're going to get fucked by our President (no matter who wins), Congress, state and local elected officials until there's a critical mass of us.
This means:
- a few of us to set up the political action Internet site
- a few paid professionals; lobbyists, political consultants, and support staff to go to Congress in person, figure out how to help our friends and zap our enemies
- a shitload of us willing to participate at the level of receiving an e-mail every few days and a few mouseclicks...
- a shitload of us willing to cough up $100-$1000 a year to keep things going.
Such an organization is going to have to organize around a few, simple issues on which there is consensus among the informed, the issues bearing on our freedom as citizens, the issues that affect our ability to do business. (crypto, for instance)"Let George do it" is what got the Brits the RIP act and the Aussie situation where the government can break into people's computers at any time without a warrant. It got us the DMCA, CDA and Son of CDA, and it's likely to get us Internet taxation and even per-minute taxes if we don't DO SOMETHING.
"People always get the local governments they deserve" - E.E. "Doc" Smith
What does the passage of CDA, DMCA say about us?
The bottom line here is that one has to pay to stay free. We are lucky in that all we have to spend is a little bit of time and relatively speaking, a little bit of money. Spending a little time and money now might mean not having to take up arms to defend our freedom a few years from now. You know, those nasty situations where you get to shoot at people who are shooting back? Kind of like a video game except with real blood, some of which might be your own. Perhaps the right to speak freely is worth losing one camping trip a year or delaying a major computer upgrade. If you don't find it worth it, you may find that you can't even whine online about your loss of freedom anymore.
Now watch this get moderated to -1
Britain a nice, peaceful, gun free paradise?
Crime and Justice in the United States and in England and Wales, 1981-96 "U.S. crime rates -- whether measured by surveys of crime victims or by police statistics -- generally fell in the early 1980's, rose thereafter until around 1993, and then fell again (figures 1-10). For most U.S. crimes (survey estimated assault, burglary, and motor vehicle theft; police-recorded murder, robbery, and burglary), the latest crime rates (1996) are the lowest recorded in the 16-year period from 1981 to 1996. By comparison, English crime rates as measured in both victim surveys and police statistics have all risen since 1981. For half of the measured English crime categories, the latest crime rates (1995 for rates from victim surveys; 1996 for rates from police statistics) are the highest recorded since 1981 "
Crime Wave Sweeps Britain"Despite its reputation as a genteel and pleasant land, a new government report depicts Britain as one of the most violent urban societies in the Western world, a place where a person's chances of being assaulted, burgled or robbed are substantially greater than in the United States."
Here's an article. Decide for yourself whether it was written about you. When liberals lie about guns. It was written by the well known bunch of raving right-wing crazies at Salon Magazine.
I'm not giving her full name here because I think she's had her 15 minutes and I'm not giving her another second of publicity.
I suspect that the Napster users her husband is in essence, lying to in order to get her name and music out will react similarly.
I hope this kills that woman's music career beyond hope of recovery.
You submit your book to them in a specified format. They get it an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) and make it available through distribution that can be ordered through almost any bookstore.
They print it on demand, collect from the bookstore, and pay you a royalty on each book sold... better than that in most conventional book contracts.
It's free. If you want value-added services like proofreading, editing, more illustrations than the standard package provides, you pay for them,
Getting people to buy it is YOUR problem. Presumably you don't need Web-based marketing explained to you.
The science fiction/fantasy writer Piers Anthony has already made his entire list of out of print books available through one of the two, I can't remember which.
Of course I'm thinking of doing a book this way.
I do not support copyright infringement or other theft of intellectual property.
I have a patent pending right now, so I have a certain interest in protecting intellectual property in general.
However, copyright, like patent, was intended to provide a service to society as a whole, not just the intellectual property owners. Why should we as a society pay for the mechanisms of intellectual property protection? Why should we as taxpayers allow the use of the courts for enforcing patent and copyright law? Because intellectual property law is intended to benefit more than just the owners of intellectual property.
Things have gotten to the point where even quoting something in passing or even hyperlinking to a site that offends a corporate intellectual property interest can bring DMCA-equipped lawyers down on one's neck. Does society as a whole benefit from this? Is the public interest served by making it illegal to discuss Microsoft's attempt to bastardize open-source protocol in a technical context?
There are certainly imbeciles around here who support these insane notions.
Should it be illegal for a public library to lend out an e-book or music CD? Should it be legal for companies to publish e-books or music CDs which it is technically impossible for a public library to lend?
That sort of thing is what the concept of "fair use" is intended to cover.
The apparent intention of the DMCA is to allow corporate interests to redefine "fair use" of copyrighted material in any way that does not directly and immediately profit them out of existence. This happened because they bought enough legislators to get the DMCA passed.
An example of concrete action that might be helpful? I think it's time to start a campaign to get the DMCA repealed or drastically changed to make it impossible for corporations to use it to interfere with freedom of speech.
Metallica is just another bunch of corporate thugs.
I hope the fallout from their actions puts them out of business.
The above is a paragraph from the home page. My guess is that ""No, we don't know where it went." is their 404 Error... due to a temporary outage or something like that.
Check it yourself.
y2k info - http://www.ecis.com/~alizard/y2k.html
The only way the Library of Congress can make meaningful access to its storehouse of information is to digitize this all and put it online. A Librarian of Congress who can't figure this out and expects his customers, i.e. US, to come physically to DC to use "his facility doesn't need to be feeding at the public trough anymore. The only arrogance I see with respect to whatever he was blathering about is his own, and I think he should be nurturing it at his own expense, not ours.
It's a bit frightening that Congress didn't pull his plug as soon as Billington's speech hit public domain, but I think it's gotten obvious to all of us that Billington works for people as obsolete as he is.
Remember, Billington works for the people who were bribed or duped into voting for the DMCA, CDA-I, CDA-II, and other legislation apparently intended to endanger the economic future of the USA.
Congresscrittters get more cooperative with end users during an election year. I suggest you send a copy of that article to yours... with a polite note asking that Billington be fired immediately and that you'll be remembering what was done and wasn't done on Election Day.
y2k info - http://www.ecis.com/~alizard/y2k.html
The site should probably be offshore to prevent Pinkerton's lawyers (aka corporate thugs) from attacking the freedom of speech of the persons putting up the site by advocating things Pinkerton doesn't like.
If the campaign gets big enough, this really can be stopped in its tracks.
Black banner, anyone?
y2k info - http://www.ecis.com/~alizard/y2k.html
"Sorry, users, your government has decided we can no longer do business in Germany. Contact this phone number (number of state court that made the decision) for further information, the case is docket number #xxxxxxxx .
Also, you can complain to your local legislator, to get his phone number, enter your postal code and click here.
If this situation continues, we will stop billing your credit card and refund money for days on which your service couldn't be used due to your government"
y2k info - http://www.ecis.com/~alizard/y2k.html
The place to hit Mattel is in the pocketbook. This kind of campaign is a way that embarasses Mattel without taking any legal risk with respect to source code. If the word can be circulated around the Net that "buying Mattel isn't cool", that should cost them money.
BTW, while boycottmattel.com is taken, boycottmattel.org and boycottmattel.net are still available.
y2k info - http://www.ecis.com/~alizard/y2k.html
3) Don't trust anyone with a personality/philosophical defect or belief that forces their self esteem to be based on the success of a product/OS.
Hmmm.. so who else is there in linux advocacy? -------- end quote 4) Don't trust anything an anonymous MS shill or worse, a religious fanatic who is too stupid to repeat MS press releases without being on MS payroll says.
I have used every personal computer environment from C-64 onward. I'm currently in Windoze ONLY because I need true file compatibility with MS Office apps. I waste an hour of so a week babysitting Windows. I'm looking forward to the day when *any* other OS and a new set of business apps becomes dominant so I can start running a MS-free desktop and stop babysitting my computer.
This is what hotmail is really running (from netcraft) www.hotmail.com is running Apache/1.3.6 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.8 SSLeay/0.9.0b on FreeBSD
y2k info - http://www.ecis.com/~alizard/y2k.html
The only other reasonable thing to say about the article is that it can be considered a challenge to the cracker community to write a bot that can be implanted on Windoze environments and run without the user's knowledge that will do a targeted DDos attack. I predict if this happens, it will be pointed at microsoft.com .
A.Lizard
y2k info - http://www.ecis.com/~alizard/y2k.html
Go to the US Senate site and look for yourself using the onsite search engine. Get the bad news for yourself.
Hint: his Internet platform is so far, based on Federal censorship to "SAVE THE CHILDREN FROM EVIL [fill in the block]". IIRC, he authored "Son of CDA".
He's just another drooling tard with delusions of adequacy. His sole virtue is that he might make clinton look good, but is that a reason to vote for him?
y2k info - http://www.ecis.com/~alizard/y2k.html
Somebody's already doing the software side of this. Perhaps you can offer to help them out with the hardware side.
y2k info - http://www.ecis.com/~alizard/y2k.html
>message with the subjectline "AOL top brass
>joins Satanic cult in ritual sacrifices" or the
>equialent, within hours of which the spigot went
>off.
Like to bet that no such story will ever appear in a Time-Warner media property EVEN IF IT IS PROVA BLY TRUE AND CARRIED BY OTHER MEDIA?
Though participation in Satanic cult ritual would probably be spiritually uplifting compared to the customary everyday activities of AOL suits.
A.Lizard
y2k info - http://www.ecis.com/~alizard/y2k.html
Cut the sphere in half and you have two hemispherical mirrors. Do I need to add that thermite does NOT need an oxygen atmosphere to burn?
>assume that it is a matter of security. Think of it
>like an electronic warrant. Warrants and
>sub-poenas are served with due cause, when it is
>believed that issuing such will produce evidence.
>We trust (i know i am speaking optimistically)
I know that you have no clue as to what you are talking about. "Reasonable cause" means some law enforcement bureaucrat has a bug up his ass.
A warrant or subpoena has to be requested from a judge in a court session where the person or organization who wants it has to explain to a person who is not part of his organization what the hell he wants it for.
Trust in government?
Anyone who trusts in the competence of elected government officials hasn't read a newspaper or watched TV in the last generation and therefore has no business commenting on public policy issues.
Trusting in good intentions? Without competence, good intentions don't matter, this kind of power inevitably winds up in the hands of those who have no business with it.
y2k info - http://www.ecis.com/~alizard/y2k.html