Nothing you can own will be as safe as what google can provide. We've uploaded about 10 gb and pay a fixed amount a year. Before that i used doubble external HD backup and also on the PC and yet managed to fuck it up. And, besides reliability of google the grand paraents can get online access on iphone and hope pc and you can set up a screensaver for them. Really, why try to do something yourself that other people can do cheaper and better?
Stdk
I agree completly, though not for me but for my father. He is having a hard time moving, gaining weight every day. He does excesies but it is not enough make him so much better that he can actually travel to the store and do his own shopping. A thing like this would enable him to travel to the store, buy his own stuff and back. And since it is light he will be able to lift it over the curb or other small bumbs.
I've been sending several PC's back to Europe from China. 3 out of 3 came back to Europe with the HD pulled out and thtown losely back into the PC. No attempt to hide what was going on there.
My experience from having lived here in a year is something like this:
It is actively censuring the most common adult *cough*Porn*cough* sites, many news sites, a lot of blogs are inaccessible etc. For about 1/5 of the links from/. I get 404 or something similar.
Sometimes when I get too annoyed about this unreasonable amount of blockage and then cross-check with TOR running I get about 99% functional pages.
It works in another way as well, the basic communication from China to abroad is VERY slow. Basically downloading anything, that be software, articles playing WOW in EU server and so on is excruciating, if at all possible. Downloading from Chinese sites I can max out my band width.
Bigger hotels in international cities such as Shanghai and Beijing seems to by-pass the firewall, so for many visitors they will never notice this. On a related note, the big hotels also have permission to show international TV such as CNN, BBC, HBO, where local people can get StarMovie, TCM and the Hallmark.
If the authorities are actively monitoring what we try to get hold of, I don't know, but the functional effects of 200.000 people actively banning the internet can not be denied.
For anyone who doubt the existence of the firewall, I suggest trying to live in China.
Actually I like the El Al method (though never been a subject, I have heard some stories from people who forgot invitations and such). This add what I think is needed. The subject control aspect. You have to convince someome of your intent. Now, most places can not cough up the $$ to do El Al screening, hence we get this ineffective robot system. Now I simply suggest a "El Al - Light" where it range from no-control to extrem control depending on what the security function dictate.
STDK
All your suggestion does is reduce security by building in back doors of reduced scrutiny.
Actually I am trying to channel money where they do the most benefit.
The rant from my side is NOT about Muslims, please by all means if it turns out after research that the most likely suspect is a Texan family of 4 with a new SUV, then by all means do full body cavity on them when they fly to Ohio for Thanksgiving.
The technical issues of "verification of identity" is not in scope. The examples of "stolen identity" is fine as an example of what could happened if we gave free passes to all platinum-cards, but why would anyone go through all that trouble of hacking/pretending/steal when it is SO easy to do it the old fashion way. If you are willing to do hacking/pretending/steal then you are also willing to carry a stick of dynamite which has less chance of getting caught and higher probability of success.
I see your point on the limited amount of statistical background material. But let us hope that someone somewhere actually had a vague idea about what they wanted to prevent and perhaps even a slight idea who to viewed as potential threats. Then with a fixed amount of money going to security, perhaps it should be spend where it makes most sense.
By not allowed to do racial profiling and suspicion picking because you might offend someone, by treat everybody equal money are wasted. Wasted money could be used for relevant security measures.
It is getting the most "safety" for your $$. It's about the waste of money and time on useless security measures; Money spend unwisely because it makes it looks like "we care and we try". When airports all over the world are doing this the real terrorists will have an easier time.
If the airports wanted to save human life, the airports should rather spend the money in the highways leading to the airport. They pretend to care, and that is what pisses me off.
I am aware that there are suicide bombers among other fractions than Muslims. Though I am not aware of them using planes to get the point across. PKK and LTTE are both organizations involved in civil war, than to global war. The era where terrorists tried to hijack planes for some reason or another seems to be over.
A point is that with a limited amount of money for security; use them where it makes sense. Screen people based on history, information and intelligence, not on "Hey, you are at the airport and just happen to be number 10 in the queue". Stopping a platinum fliers with 25 years of flight history and ask them to remove the belt is useless at best.
I am writing from China so the Wikip-links are blocked - thank you golden shield. However, I can not see how the base-rate applies to my comment since I have never been in a plane, hijacked by Muslims suicide bombers.
....You don't think you'd be walking a little bit funny with all that dynamite up your ass?...
Practice I tell you, practice.
That said, in history of aviation have there even been a white suicide bomber or a woman or anyone but muslims? For the sake of future mental stability, start reviewing history and learn from it.
I've actually send my orignal post to the international airport in Copenhagen, Denmark. Now, wonder if they will answer.
I travel in Europe, Asia and the US. And trust me, even "the rest of the world" is wasting huge amount of money on useless security features. My home carrier (SAS) write on there homepage under security "...in order for you to feel safe..." basically admitting most of it is useless.
Let us take the two most annoying rules:
The Liquid rule:
The 100ml of water rule is an EU rule to prevent us from smuggling large amount of liquid (uh uh) on-board. Can't have all that water. Anyhow, lets say we - evil terrorist group - want to bring 2 liters of, I donno, liquid nitroglycerin onboard. I buy 19 tickets from Helsinki to Munich and 1 from Helsinki to New York. Inside the "safe" zone I bring out my legal 2 liter empty coke bottle and collect the stuff from the other 19 people.
The Drop-Belt-Shoes-Jacket-screening:
IF I am committed to blowing up a plane, which will eventually most likely course my own death, I might be able to accept swallowing 40x5g C4 in condoms. Puke them up once in the plane or time it with the natural urge. And if I dislike puking, let me just stick a few sticks of dynamite up my ass and use my MP3 player to blow the fucking thing up.
Really, how hard can it be. We get NOTHING - except higher air fares - for the 2h wasted in airports all over the world
From The classical Bash.org:
"Is raping a hooker shoplifting?" (and as Nilson would argue, a victimless crime (shoplifting is a victimless crime. like punching someone in the dark)
Or
"Rape is so stigmatic. I prefere the more political correct term Suprise sex"
I can't help wonder what kind of porn the 67000 people are surfing for.
I hate "..sexual material involving consenting adults.'" Now, if only the internet would be be filled with for "sexual material involving none-consenting adults.'"
Yes you are right. The chinese government is well aware of the short commings and are active trying to fix them. As you mention they send 1000 and 1000 to western universites, initiate large scale basic research projects (Luna, material etc). However, the diffrence is "we" have about 500 years of history in the field of science and rational thinking, China don't. However for years the top ranking university people here got degrees on translating english/western research - not original science. Will they catch up. Hell Yes. Will they beat us, perhaps. As you yourself metion we do what we can to nerf innovation and original science in the western world. The other day I read in a Danish newspaper "New evidence suport evolution". However, lets see how long the chinese goverment can keep the 1 billion poor people a bay, how long before they have to funnel money into social wellfare. Then suddenly all the high flying plans (no pun intented) might be slowed down a bit. I guess that's another debate.Chinese are raised with a diffrent mentality, not a bad one, not a subhuman one, just diffrent. They rock at epic contruction. US are proud of Hover Dam, in china it would be a back yard left hand project. China is "efficient" in a bizzar way, at the cost of human rights and the environment. In the west we discard logic and sense due to political correctness (Can anyone say airport security?).
I seem to remember the Bork kicking Picards ass several times, but then I left the US so I dont know the end of the story.
STDK
Local musicians aren't able to sell their CDs. Anything popular from local bands will be sold on the street for maybe fifty cents. There is basically no music scene in China, everything is bootlegged from Hong Kong or Taiwan or the US. I've scanned the car radio for 6 months now without finding western music once. The senario you present is only true for Beijing, Shanghai and to some extent Guandong. The last 1.1 billion lives fine without western-knockoff music.
STDK
I live in China and China while very productive in certain areas, also have major draw backs. From the outside it looks invincible, but the reality is different. We can think even alone, they can not. We are individuals, they are not. They are borks. They work without perspective to the sound of the drum set by none. They are not creative, but HYPER productive - Hive mentality.
I was home in EU for a month this summer. Almost everything I bought to bring back to China was made in China. This is because the stuff you get in china is 3.rate, made for the Chinese market. They do not understand the concept of quality and are not willing to pay for it, why should they, they are not use to have anything, so even crap is better. A TV that have loud background noise:" But the picture is fine, so there is nothing wrong with it". A microscope where the lines is off focus:" Not a problem, you can still see really small things". A program that crashes the PC 4 times a week:" Not a problem, just reboot". But all this leads to problems, since it impeads development and original research. If the western world focuses on know-how and cutting edge they/we will come out on top. However, we must stop this idea that we can "make stuff better than them" because we can not.
China can do electronics, but so could Japan and Taiwan 25 years ago, China is just SO much bigger so we feel it more. Electronic is so... last century, we can not beat them there. CS (sorry to say it here at slashdot) is like cave painting when talking innovation. Move to biotech, nanotech, material science, hardcore physics and you have a population of 1.3 billion just looking at you like you are the freaking Yankee in King Arthur's Court.
STDK
http://www.china.org.cn/english/entertainment/2166 22.htm
Bones and skeletons have disappeared from the Chinese version of the popular on-line fantasy game, World of Warcraft (WoW), sparking fierce criticism from the nation's army of players.
Chinese mainland gamers have waited half a year longer than their US counterparts for the upgraded version of the WoW, only to find the appearances of familiar skeletal characters have been fleshed out.
The skeletons, regular characters, grow flesh in the new version and the bones symbolizing dead characters have been changed to graves.
A staff member with the public relations department of The9, which runs WoW in China, was quoted by a Guangzhou-based newspaper Southern Metropolis Daily as saying the changes were made according to "China's particular situation and relevant regulations".
"It's to promote a healthy and harmonious on-line environment," the anonymous staff said, according to the newspaper.
However, Zhao Yurun, public relations director of The9, denied the explanation in an interview with Xinhua and said the changes were made as part of an "operational strategy".
He said the company updated the game seven to eight times each year, adding patches that required no government approval to the original version.
However, he said the changes in the latest version were the foundations for the first official expansion of WoW, "The Burning Crusade", which was awaiting approval by the State Press and Publication Administration (SPPA) and is expected to be released this summer.
"We hope the expansion pack will successfully get the approval in acknowledgement of the self-discipline of our company," Zhao said.
Wang Guoqing, director with the SPPA Video, Electronics and Internet Publication Management Department, said "The Burning Crusade" was still under expert consideration and she could make no comment till the final decision was released.
The gamers thought the changes made the game dull and voiced their scorn on the official WoW website, filling more than ten pages with criticism.
More than 500 gamers signed a post, announcing they would boycott the game.
"Why should we accept the so-called 'good appearance' without the opportunity of being consulted?" wrote player "Cai Xu".
"We don't need such harmony," wrote "Xue Linglong".
Wang Cong, a journalist who has played the game for two years, said he would continue to play, but "I just think it's funny to make such meaningless changes".
Zhao Yurun said the company had received no formal complaints from gamers, which should be delivered by letters or phone calls with the petitioners real names.
The monster-killing game, first launched by California-based Blizzard Entertainment in 2004, is one of the most popular on-line role-playing games involving multiple players
It has 8.5 million players worldwide, with more than 3.5 million in China.
"The Burning Crusade" was released in other countries on January 16.
The government has been urging Internet companies to clean up websites and offer only legal and "healthy" content.
More than 100 news websites in China published a self-discipline regulation in May, pledging to purify the Internet environment.
The websites vowed to standardize news collection, editing and publication, and eliminate false news and illegal information.
They also promise to exclude pornographic and violent content from their websites.
(Xinhua News Agency July 10, 2007)
Living in China as a European and running a company here is quite interesting. In sticking to the subject let me add something on software. Piracy is not a crime here. People don't think so. The vendors don't think so. Most electronic markets have both the original software and the pirated versions available right next to each other. They will sell the pirate version and say "it's a copy" or the original and say "It's the original". It is not a secret market; you do not have to consult with shady individuals who will steal your credit card. This dual option is also available for most other stuff, like clothing, hardware, cars, food etc.
We, in my company, have an IT policy. In it, it says you can not install 3. party software. However in China there is a thriving market for "Green software". It is basically all your normal software but running without installation. It means you can run it without administrator rights (it works quite well actually). So... our employees do not feel they are installing anything when running Green Software. I have told my employees that if I catch them running green software they will be fired. They obey, but don't understand. Before this threat they were running eMule, QQ (a chat/social network) and a host of ad-hoc application. We also spend quite a bit of time re-installing their PC's since they would get all such of nasties and broken programs from our standard platform. For some reason they could not see the link between "broken PC" and "un-authorized software". Now there is no "Green software", they have taken then threat to heart.
However we have now found that several people swap the hard drive of their laptops when at home so they can use the PC's for private use... It is a never ending story.
Quote: If they really wanted to censor what went on at Tiananmen Square, they shouldn't draw attention to it by blocking half the internet. Instead they'd just have to spread disinformation within their own country,
They do. I work here. the people I work with and who work for me never heard of it. Compltly blocking it from all media works very very well.
S
From Pudon international airport to the center of Shanghai. It's about 30 km and takes 7 min. It is a VERY cool ride. Perfectly balanced you do not feel the G's at all. In the 2 curves it seems to be leaning som 25 degrees but do to the perfecly balanced speed you can not feel it. It is a very strange experience, passing the expresse way and not being able to see what way the cars go because you are soooooo much faster.
The chinese are also building MagLev from Shanghai to Hangzhou and down along the southern coast. Several places you can see the carrier-beams and the holes in the mountains already. The trail will go Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nimbo and streight south.
http://www.smtdc.com/en/index.asp for more information
STDK
This makes me want to download Dream Pinball 3D to see what all the craze is about. Normally I would only download decent games or movies, but this is just to tempting... Viral marketing?
S
The FCC should make it legal if they can find no technical reason not to. Why should they decide what we can or can not do in a plane? Basically all the posts on this subject seems to indicate a huge market for "No talking on the plane"-flights. Let market forces decide. People liked their dry-virus-filled-recycled-air smoke free, hence we can no longer smoke on planes. If all are like Slashdot readers, cell phones will be banned by the companies.
Don't thank governmental organizations for limiting our options.
Thanks.
Slashdot Mirror
Nothing you can own will be as safe as what google can provide. We've uploaded about 10 gb and pay a fixed amount a year. Before that i used doubble external HD backup and also on the PC and yet managed to fuck it up. And, besides reliability of google the grand paraents can get online access on iphone and hope pc and you can set up a screensaver for them. Really, why try to do something yourself that other people can do cheaper and better? Stdk
I agree completly, though not for me but for my father. He is having a hard time moving, gaining weight every day. He does excesies but it is not enough make him so much better that he can actually travel to the store and do his own shopping. A thing like this would enable him to travel to the store, buy his own stuff and back. And since it is light he will be able to lift it over the curb or other small bumbs.
I've been sending several PC's back to Europe from China. 3 out of 3 came back to Europe with the HD pulled out and thtown losely back into the PC. No attempt to hide what was going on there.
S
the report is blocked in China. Actually Reportes website all together is blocked.
My experience from having lived here in a year is something like this:
/. I get 404 or something similar.
It is actively censuring the most common adult *cough*Porn*cough* sites, many news sites, a lot of blogs are inaccessible etc. For about 1/5 of the links from
Sometimes when I get too annoyed about this unreasonable amount of blockage and then cross-check with TOR running I get about 99% functional pages.
It works in another way as well, the basic communication from China to abroad is VERY slow. Basically downloading anything, that be software, articles playing WOW in EU server and so on is excruciating, if at all possible. Downloading from Chinese sites I can max out my band width.
Bigger hotels in international cities such as Shanghai and Beijing seems to by-pass the firewall, so for many visitors they will never notice this. On a related note, the big hotels also have permission to show international TV such as CNN, BBC, HBO, where local people can get StarMovie, TCM and the Hallmark.
If the authorities are actively monitoring what we try to get hold of, I don't know, but the functional effects of 200.000 people actively banning the internet can not be denied.
For anyone who doubt the existence of the firewall, I suggest trying to live in China.
STDK
Actually I like the El Al method (though never been a subject, I have heard some stories from people who forgot invitations and such). This add what I think is needed. The subject control aspect. You have to convince someome of your intent. Now, most places can not cough up the $$ to do El Al screening, hence we get this ineffective robot system. Now I simply suggest a "El Al - Light" where it range from no-control to extrem control depending on what the security function dictate. STDK
The rant from my side is NOT about Muslims, please by all means if it turns out after research that the most likely suspect is a Texan family of 4 with a new SUV, then by all means do full body cavity on them when they fly to Ohio for Thanksgiving.
The technical issues of "verification of identity" is not in scope. The examples of "stolen identity" is fine as an example of what could happened if we gave free passes to all platinum-cards, but why would anyone go through all that trouble of hacking/pretending/steal when it is SO easy to do it the old fashion way. If you are willing to do hacking/pretending/steal then you are also willing to carry a stick of dynamite which has less chance of getting caught and higher probability of success.
I see your point on the limited amount of statistical background material. But let us hope that someone somewhere actually had a vague idea about what they wanted to prevent and perhaps even a slight idea who to viewed as potential threats. Then with a fixed amount of money going to security, perhaps it should be spend where it makes most sense.
By not allowed to do racial profiling and suspicion picking because you might offend someone, by treat everybody equal money are wasted. Wasted money could be used for relevant security measures.
It is getting the most "safety" for your $$. It's about the waste of money and time on useless security measures; Money spend unwisely because it makes it looks like "we care and we try". When airports all over the world are doing this the real terrorists will have an easier time.
If the airports wanted to save human life, the airports should rather spend the money in the highways leading to the airport. They pretend to care, and that is what pisses me off.
STDK
A point is that with a limited amount of money for security; use them where it makes sense. Screen people based on history, information and intelligence, not on "Hey, you are at the airport and just happen to be number 10 in the queue". Stopping a platinum fliers with 25 years of flight history and ask them to remove the belt is useless at best.
I am writing from China so the Wikip-links are blocked - thank you golden shield. However, I can not see how the base-rate applies to my comment since I have never been in a plane, hijacked by Muslims suicide bombers.
STDK
That said, in history of aviation have there even been a white suicide bomber or a woman or anyone but muslims? For the sake of future mental stability, start reviewing history and learn from it.
I've actually send my orignal post to the international airport in Copenhagen, Denmark. Now, wonder if they will answer.
STDK
I travel in Europe, Asia and the US. And trust me, even "the rest of the world" is wasting huge amount of money on useless security features. My home carrier (SAS) write on there homepage under security "...in order for you to feel safe ..." basically admitting most of it is useless.
Let us take the two most annoying rules:
The Liquid rule:
The 100ml of water rule is an EU rule to prevent us from smuggling large amount of liquid (uh uh) on-board. Can't have all that water. Anyhow, lets say we - evil terrorist group - want to bring 2 liters of, I donno, liquid nitroglycerin onboard. I buy 19 tickets from Helsinki to Munich and 1 from Helsinki to New York. Inside the "safe" zone I bring out my legal 2 liter empty coke bottle and collect the stuff from the other 19 people.
The Drop-Belt-Shoes-Jacket-screening:
IF I am committed to blowing up a plane, which will eventually most likely course my own death, I might be able to accept swallowing 40x5g C4 in condoms. Puke them up once in the plane or time it with the natural urge. And if I dislike puking, let me just stick a few sticks of dynamite up my ass and use my MP3 player to blow the fucking thing up.
Really, how hard can it be. We get NOTHING - except higher air fares - for the 2h wasted in airports all over the world
STDK
in my everyday life. Now if they one day invent one that can translate nonsense english into real english I'd be in heaven.
Cool idea though. Wonder if it works, all my texts are in living langaguges. STDK
From The classical Bash.org:
"Is raping a hooker shoplifting?" (and as Nilson would argue, a victimless crime (shoplifting is a victimless crime. like punching someone in the dark)
Or
"Rape is so stigmatic. I prefere the more political correct term Suprise sex"
I can't help wonder what kind of porn the 67000 people are surfing for.
I hate "..sexual material involving consenting adults.'" Now, if only the internet would be be filled with for "sexual material involving none-consenting adults.'"
STDK
Yes you are right. The chinese government is well aware of the short commings and are active trying to fix them. As you mention they send 1000 and 1000 to western universites, initiate large scale basic research projects (Luna, material etc). However, the diffrence is "we" have about 500 years of history in the field of science and rational thinking, China don't. However for years the top ranking university people here got degrees on translating english/western research - not original science. Will they catch up. Hell Yes. Will they beat us, perhaps. As you yourself metion we do what we can to nerf innovation and original science in the western world. The other day I read in a Danish newspaper "New evidence suport evolution". However, lets see how long the chinese goverment can keep the 1 billion poor people a bay, how long before they have to funnel money into social wellfare. Then suddenly all the high flying plans (no pun intented) might be slowed down a bit. I guess that's another debate.Chinese are raised with a diffrent mentality, not a bad one, not a subhuman one, just diffrent. They rock at epic contruction. US are proud of Hover Dam, in china it would be a back yard left hand project. China is "efficient" in a bizzar way, at the cost of human rights and the environment. In the west we discard logic and sense due to political correctness (Can anyone say airport security?). I seem to remember the Bork kicking Picards ass several times, but then I left the US so I dont know the end of the story. STDK
I live in China and China while very productive in certain areas, also have major draw backs. From the outside it looks invincible, but the reality is different. We can think even alone, they can not. We are individuals, they are not. They are borks. They work without perspective to the sound of the drum set by none. They are not creative, but HYPER productive - Hive mentality. I was home in EU for a month this summer. Almost everything I bought to bring back to China was made in China. This is because the stuff you get in china is 3.rate, made for the Chinese market. They do not understand the concept of quality and are not willing to pay for it, why should they, they are not use to have anything, so even crap is better. A TV that have loud background noise:" But the picture is fine, so there is nothing wrong with it". A microscope where the lines is off focus:" Not a problem, you can still see really small things". A program that crashes the PC 4 times a week:" Not a problem, just reboot". But all this leads to problems, since it impeads development and original research. If the western world focuses on know-how and cutting edge they/we will come out on top. However, we must stop this idea that we can "make stuff better than them" because we can not. China can do electronics, but so could Japan and Taiwan 25 years ago, China is just SO much bigger so we feel it more. Electronic is so ... last century, we can not beat them there. CS (sorry to say it here at slashdot) is like cave painting when talking innovation. Move to biotech, nanotech, material science, hardcore physics and you have a population of 1.3 billion just looking at you like you are the freaking Yankee in King Arthur's Court.
STDK
http://www.china.org.cn/english/entertainment/2166 22.htm
Bones and skeletons have disappeared from the Chinese version of the popular on-line fantasy game, World of Warcraft (WoW), sparking fierce criticism from the nation's army of players.
Chinese mainland gamers have waited half a year longer than their US counterparts for the upgraded version of the WoW, only to find the appearances of familiar skeletal characters have been fleshed out.
The skeletons, regular characters, grow flesh in the new version and the bones symbolizing dead characters have been changed to graves.
A staff member with the public relations department of The9, which runs WoW in China, was quoted by a Guangzhou-based newspaper Southern Metropolis Daily as saying the changes were made according to "China's particular situation and relevant regulations".
"It's to promote a healthy and harmonious on-line environment," the anonymous staff said, according to the newspaper.
However, Zhao Yurun, public relations director of The9, denied the explanation in an interview with Xinhua and said the changes were made as part of an "operational strategy".
He said the company updated the game seven to eight times each year, adding patches that required no government approval to the original version.
However, he said the changes in the latest version were the foundations for the first official expansion of WoW, "The Burning Crusade", which was awaiting approval by the State Press and Publication Administration (SPPA) and is expected to be released this summer.
"We hope the expansion pack will successfully get the approval in acknowledgement of the self-discipline of our company," Zhao said.
Wang Guoqing, director with the SPPA Video, Electronics and Internet Publication Management Department, said "The Burning Crusade" was still under expert consideration and she could make no comment till the final decision was released.
The gamers thought the changes made the game dull and voiced their scorn on the official WoW website, filling more than ten pages with criticism.
More than 500 gamers signed a post, announcing they would boycott the game.
"Why should we accept the so-called 'good appearance' without the opportunity of being consulted?" wrote player "Cai Xu".
"We don't need such harmony," wrote "Xue Linglong".
Wang Cong, a journalist who has played the game for two years, said he would continue to play, but "I just think it's funny to make such meaningless changes".
Zhao Yurun said the company had received no formal complaints from gamers, which should be delivered by letters or phone calls with the petitioners real names.
The monster-killing game, first launched by California-based Blizzard Entertainment in 2004, is one of the most popular on-line role-playing games involving multiple players
It has 8.5 million players worldwide, with more than 3.5 million in China.
"The Burning Crusade" was released in other countries on January 16.
The government has been urging Internet companies to clean up websites and offer only legal and "healthy" content.
More than 100 news websites in China published a self-discipline regulation in May, pledging to purify the Internet environment.
The websites vowed to standardize news collection, editing and publication, and eliminate false news and illegal information.
They also promise to exclude pornographic and violent content from their websites.
(Xinhua News Agency July 10, 2007)
Living in China as a European and running a company here is quite interesting. In sticking to the subject let me add something on software. Piracy is not a crime here. People don't think so. The vendors don't think so. Most electronic markets have both the original software and the pirated versions available right next to each other. They will sell the pirate version and say "it's a copy" or the original and say "It's the original". It is not a secret market; you do not have to consult with shady individuals who will steal your credit card. This dual option is also available for most other stuff, like clothing, hardware, cars, food etc. We, in my company, have an IT policy. In it, it says you can not install 3. party software. However in China there is a thriving market for "Green software". It is basically all your normal software but running without installation. It means you can run it without administrator rights (it works quite well actually). So ... our employees do not feel they are installing anything when running Green Software. I have told my employees that if I catch them running green software they will be fired. They obey, but don't understand. Before this threat they were running eMule, QQ (a chat/social network) and a host of ad-hoc application. We also spend quite a bit of time re-installing their PC's since they would get all such of nasties and broken programs from our standard platform. For some reason they could not see the link between "broken PC" and "un-authorized software". Now there is no "Green software", they have taken then threat to heart.
However we have now found that several people swap the hard drive of their laptops when at home so they can use the PC's for private use ... It is a never ending story.
Quote: If they really wanted to censor what went on at Tiananmen Square, they shouldn't draw attention to it by blocking half the internet. Instead they'd just have to spread disinformation within their own country, They do. I work here. the people I work with and who work for me never heard of it. Compltly blocking it from all media works very very well. S
From Pudon international airport to the center of Shanghai. It's about 30 km and takes 7 min. It is a VERY cool ride. Perfectly balanced you do not feel the G's at all. In the 2 curves it seems to be leaning som 25 degrees but do to the perfecly balanced speed you can not feel it. It is a very strange experience, passing the expresse way and not being able to see what way the cars go because you are soooooo much faster. The chinese are also building MagLev from Shanghai to Hangzhou and down along the southern coast. Several places you can see the carrier-beams and the holes in the mountains already. The trail will go Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nimbo and streight south. http://www.smtdc.com/en/index.asp for more information STDK
"...The International Herald Tribune writes about the risk ..."... Perhaps it should be " ...wrote about the risk ..."
This makes me want to download Dream Pinball 3D to see what all the craze is about. Normally I would only download decent games or movies, but this is just to tempting... Viral marketing? S
The FCC should make it legal if they can find no technical reason not to. Why should they decide what we can or can not do in a plane? Basically all the posts on this subject seems to indicate a huge market for "No talking on the plane"-flights. Let market forces decide. People liked their dry-virus-filled-recycled-air smoke free, hence we can no longer smoke on planes. If all are like Slashdot readers, cell phones will be banned by the companies. Don't thank governmental organizations for limiting our options. Thanks.