The current mortgage crisis was caused by a bunch of well meaning, but otherwise lazy or stupid people... You assume ignorance in an activity where ignorance is not an excuse.
This is just another excuse for tracking people. It's a Total Control/Total Surveillance initiative. Haven't heard of it yet? It's happening slowly throughout the world. In the "free" world it happens slowly and in the guise of protecting people.
Of course an educated and relatively egalitarian public (that is a public were economic abuses and monopolistic practices don't occur) will be naturally immune from abuses. But this is not what the Elite wants. The Elite would rather have a small percentage of poor people selling drugs and robbing liquor stores to excuse their abuses. Yep mortgage fraud may not be in the same category, but it is still an excuse.
Sometimes I wish that the people who are so adamant about their right to bear arms would actually demonstrate their rights against those that wish to oppress them (well not them, but the common folk). I can't see this happening however as power massages power.
Donate to anonymous and open source (unlikely to have back-doors) Internet communication systems like Freenet or Tor. These systems are often disparaged by people because they offer (theoretically) unfettered communication between peoples who have a desire and need to remain anonymous. These systems are important because they offer freedom from reprisal (economic, social, legal, physical, etc) for their THOUGHTS (expressed in text, pictures, videos, etc).
Many people disparage such anonymous communication methods because (in the West) they don't want "child pornography" to be distributed. This of course is FUD and an exaggeration (and a reality of course; so if you believe in repression based on your moral standards, then obviously you don't have any and should not donate). But if you believe that sharing thoughts or ideas (however they may be expressed) should not be a crime (a Thought Crime) then these mechanisms (Freenet and Tor, et al) should be the way to go. These projects lack in funding and support simply because of their 'controversial' nature.
If you believe in Freedom and Liberty, then support Tor and Freenet.
Quote: "I worry about my child and the Internet all the time, even though she's too young to have logged on yet. Here's what I worry about. I worry that 10 or 15 years from now, she will come to me and say 'Daddy, where were you when they took freedom of the press away from the Internet?'" --Mike Godwin, Electronic Frontier Foundation
Perhaps there needs to be a constitutional amendment allowing Freedom to Download and File Share. It seems much more practical (from a populous perspective) than the Right to Bear Arms.
BTW, what is the whole "friends, fans and freaks" thing for,anyway? I guess you would have to ask cmdrtaco. It seems to be more symbolic than utilitarian, although it can be used as a Favourites bookmark (to follow the posts of interesting people), and for people who don't read at negative 1 you can make sure that you read your Friends (or Foes) comments by setting the appropriate preferences. Also, I've noticed one person who had their Slashdot Journal set to "No Foes", apparently to avoid asshats from spamming his Journal.
And I am really sorry about your dad. Thanks, but things are really more complicated than they appear. I never really knew him or talked to him much (seeing as how we were from two totally different worlds). One thing I learned in my twenties is that he had a grade 2 education (so he was pretty ignorant) and worked on a farm during his childhood. He appeared to get much of his "education" from television, church and the Readers Digest. I remember once my dad told me that I fit the profile of a Drug Abuser based on what he read in the Readers Digest (I was about 14 at the time), and that is I had long hair and listened to heavy metal music amongst other things. It was also the time of the "Just say No" Reagan campaigns, and the Drugs will Scramble your brain commercials (with an egg representing the brain, and a cracked egg being fried in a frying pan representing the brain on Drugs). I blame the government more than I blame my parents for their attitudes, because the government was just taking advantage of the ignorant and the naive (and so it is a never ending story...).
The nice thing about rednecks like my dad is they feel only THEY are qualified to discipline their families. I remember once (I was about 16) the vice principal phoned my mom up because I was late for school. He told me (with a smile on his face) that she instructed him to spank me. He explained that they weren't allowed to do that any more.
In general I've always taken things with a great deal of stoicism (and no I do NOT have a criminal record lol). People often don't act out of malice but out of ignorance. To his dying day my father thought I was weird (and actually I'm sure a lot of people still do think I'm weird). I suppose it's quaint being 'eccentric', but it does grow tiring. People just need to chill out and except people for what they are (instead of making even more rules, laws, and social mores) to weed out and punish those with a different world-view.
You're lucky you had an intelligent dad. Mine was of (Nazi German origin... nahh he was too young to be a Nazi or a soldier), but I can tell you that I heard him call the police on me when he thought that I was using "Drugs" (when I was a teenager). I can only say that I'm "spacey" (through thought and NOT through Drugs), and so people who think too much are not only perceived as spacey but when they actually express their thoughts (which are usually outside of the norm [i.e. Ignorance and Folklore]) then this just manifests itself.
BTW Congratulations; you got yourself on my Fan list:)
Well, now that we've settled this, maybe we can just agree to agree?;) Haha. That would be against my nature. I'm being serious however; it does seem to be my nature to find faults in other people (and in myself BTW, to be fair), but I think that is mainly because I see so much hypocrisy and self-contradictions. With myself I try to limit (or eliminate) the contradictions (i.e. ideals versus actual behavior), and so when I am dealing with people I try to be idealistic (as opposed to realistic). Hence I have VERY few friends (one could say none), but on Slashdot at least I have developed a few "Fans".
Yeah I'm very weird (to the general public) I will admit, but I have learned that one cannot ultimately change one's personality. Yeah there are things like psychoactive drugs and medical procedures (like a lobotomy), or mental conditioning like the use of shock therapy (with caddle prods, etc); but these are extreme measures which ultimately cannot change one's genetic makeup. I am what I am. I will have to live with it and you (the general public) will have to live with it as well.
I have contemplated changing and I have tried to change but I realize in the end this is a futile process; one cannot ultimately change what they are. So I am bound to criticize (in constructive and non-constructive ways). I only hope that I can continue to express my thoughts and opinions. I am however doubtful. The future does not look bright.
Damn. By quietly admitting you made a mistake instead of viciously snarling back you've made me feel bad about the tone I used. That was mean of you:( I find it far too easy (for myself) to get defensive, and in some regards I also find it far too easy to 'slam' (other people's) arguments. Some thought and perspective is needed... though in the "heat of the moment" (of posting) this is sometimes lacking.
I'm not sure how you interpreted my comments as a call for more laws nor do I know how it became intertwined with the court system in any case. My reply; never assume. Just take the comments as-is. I never interpreted your comments as a call for more laws (read more carefully please). I do agree with your comments but was just adding a supplement.
There's a lot I could say about your comment(s), but to put it simply; things are always more complex than they appear. People like to pigeonhole things, and so it goes...
"Ignorance is not an excuse" is obviously an effective methodology when used by politicians (and the Powerful, who have professionals vetting them). Ignorance is of course a reality, especially considering that laws and regulations are becoming more plentiful. Today (it seems) even the average person needs a lawyer to know and understand if they are violating a particular law, and even in that case one must hope that the lawyer is up-to-date on the current laws and regulations, and is sufficiently intelligent enough to interpret them (or more specifically intuitive enough to know how a Court of Law may interpret these laws and regulations).
There are too many laws IMHO. Unfortunately this is the trend.
Naval gazing is looking at ships. Navel gazing is looking at your bellybutton, or figuratively obsessive self contemplation. Granted, I admit that I was wrong. No excuses. My brain!:(
Your reply and the previous anon reply are very appreciated. Your perceptions are accurate but in the minority (and so are especially appreciated). When I read your post I was thinking of the Rudyard Kipling poem If:
If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you But make allowance for their doubting too, If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:... ... Slashdotters can Google for the rest.
Yes if you can "keep your head" in a time of moral frenzy then you are indeed wise.
I'm not a prude or anything As most hypocrites do; you are trying to prop up your self image by using words to displace your ideology. Yes of course you are a prude, you are not only condoning censorship, but you are condoning censorship of art. Your obvious dismissal of people opposing your views (in this instance) as being "music fans" (or more specifically Heavy Metal fans) speaks volumes.
According to the article you are not wrong. Album art spurred an FBI investigation (you'd think they'd have better things to do, like trying to stop people from flying airplanes into buildings).
1. First they banded the album (cover art) 2. Then they banned digital copies of the art 3. Then they banned news articles that referenced the art 4. Then came a ban of the news articles about the banning of the art
It's a sad and Kafka-esque world in which we live.
I will disclaim beforehand; I realize that you are (probably) being sarcastic. In case you are not being sarcastic then I will tell you that the site was likely censored because of unmitigated use of keyword flagging. I deduce that the references to "child pornography" likely flagged this Web site.
I can't even access my own ISP home page through these Parental-type filters. I believe in this case it is because there is a reference to "P2P" and "file sharing" buried deep within the site. Yep censorship is bad.
I wonder how much of this is just a thoughtless mistake. Wikipedia itself has a quote in (at least) one of it's help sections (pertaining to article editing): "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." And let's face it, the top management at Wikipedia (and many other organizations) often do a lot a stupid things despite themselves.
Also talk about FUD; the "child pornography" they were talking about is of album art from a famous heavy metal rock band:
The cover is from a 1976 album of the Scorpions titled 'Virgin Killer' and has the image of an underage girl, posing nude, with an crack crossing over her genitals, but nothing blocking out her breasts. The girl appears to be around 10-years-old. - Ref. http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Wikinews_suppressed_Wikipedia_pornography_investigation
I'll address your last example. I certainly don't want to belabor the 'assumptions' argument, but you (and I'm sure many other people) are probably reading more into people's impulsive and emotional writing quirks than may be apparent (the question is; how much of what and how they are writing are just meant to be emotional appeals, rather than their actual moral outlook on the subject). As I've stated before already, it is just my opinion, but I think once (most) people get over their knee-jerk reactions, they settle down a bit. I could go over the posts myself, but I think this is one of the more extreme posts. There are certainly many people like yourself that make counterpoints.
Your point being? As I've stated:
It's not usually wise to assume anything. Point: avoid making assumptions.
And I've stated:
It seems to me that people just want the courts to decide if she is guilty. The point is that people (in my opinion) are not assuming she is guilty, but rather want justice for an apparent crime that has 'allegedly' happened. In other words I believe that people would rather have the woman brought before the courts to have a fair trial of her guilt or innocence. Merely wanting a person charged with a crime does not necessarily imply prejudice (but wanting that person charged and convicted without a fair trial would).
So, you fully support putting people in jail for violating "terms of service" agreements (essentially, an EULA)?
Dangerous DANGEROUS precedent to make yourself feel better about a depressed kid doing the inevitable Maybe. If it was a bank account or an eBay account and not a MySpace account I'm sure people may feel differently. In the former cases it is not so much the violation of the "terms of service" that causes the harm, but what exactly the violation is and how it effects people.
Perhaps this woman should be charged with 'child abuse', as "Child abuse is the physical, psychological or sexual maltreatment of children." (Ref. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_abuse). If this woman (or more likely if it was a man) was sexually enticing this girl then 'child abuse' charges would likely be filed. It is sad when people put such little emphasis on psychological abuse (of other people, and especially children) though I've always found much hypocrisy when it happens to themselves.
Your first post:
So, it's ok to assume she's guilty? Your follow-up post:
I read 'into' your post stuff you didn't write... It's not usually wise to assume anything.
And you also wrote:
It seems that the majority (all? apart from mine) of posts here have assumed she's guilty already. It seems to me that people just want the courts to decide if she is guilty.
Sounds like a small price to pay in order to protect my right to liberty. This isn't about liberty; it's about the arbitrary and warrantless invasion of privacy. Email, pictures, video's and even 'hacking' tools do not blow up airplanes.
Of course any tool can be used by a terrorist, including the human mind. Since this seems to be what the government is after (what we are thinking about), the next phase in this privacy assault is to allow customs agents to perform 'lie' detector tests on travelers. Just like these agents can snoop for things in laptops, I'm sure they can ask any number of personal questions to 'snoop' or phish for any type of information in a person's mind and flag those areas that cause stress to the traveler. I'm sure all this information will be kept in a big database for profiling.
You almost seem to be asking to be modded Offtopic (which I hope you aren't, but only because I have some empathy for you).
Your comment is not (obviously) relevant to either the Parent post or the discussion in general, so it would seem obvious to me that you would be rated negatively (off topic for example). If you related your opinions of animal cruelty to the discussion (about anonymity) in any way then you wouldn't have anything to worry about. Just expressing an opinion is viewed as Bullshit here. Sorry, but that's the way it goes. Be articulate and on-topic and/or relevant and you shouldn't have anything to worry about.
BTW: Karma just means you're more likely to Moderate. High Karma (plus mod points for your post) means your posts are more likely to be read by millions of people as opposed to thousands of people.
The corrosive effect you mention can be countered by putting the child or now-adult grown child in a safe, warm environment and providing the necessary education/de-programming. I agree. Especially about religious de-programming (de-programming was a term first used for religious cults). Read my post: http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=547480&cid=23343872
Slashdot Mirror
This is just another excuse for tracking people. It's a Total Control/Total Surveillance initiative. Haven't heard of it yet? It's happening slowly throughout the world. In the "free" world it happens slowly and in the guise of protecting people.
Of course an educated and relatively egalitarian public (that is a public were economic abuses and monopolistic practices don't occur) will be naturally immune from abuses. But this is not what the Elite wants. The Elite would rather have a small percentage of poor people selling drugs and robbing liquor stores to excuse their abuses. Yep mortgage fraud may not be in the same category, but it is still an excuse.
Sometimes I wish that the people who are so adamant about their right to bear arms would actually demonstrate their rights against those that wish to oppress them (well not them, but the common folk). I can't see this happening however as power massages power.
Donate to anonymous and open source (unlikely to have back-doors) Internet communication systems like Freenet or Tor. These systems are often disparaged by people because they offer (theoretically) unfettered communication between peoples who have a desire and need to remain anonymous. These systems are important because they offer freedom from reprisal (economic, social, legal, physical, etc) for their THOUGHTS (expressed in text, pictures, videos, etc).
Many people disparage such anonymous communication methods because (in the West) they don't want "child pornography" to be distributed. This of course is FUD and an exaggeration (and a reality of course; so if you believe in repression based on your moral standards, then obviously you don't have any and should not donate). But if you believe that sharing thoughts or ideas (however they may be expressed) should not be a crime (a Thought Crime) then these mechanisms (Freenet and Tor, et al) should be the way to go. These projects lack in funding and support simply because of their 'controversial' nature.
If you believe in Freedom and Liberty, then support Tor and Freenet.
Ref:
http://www.torproject.org/
http://freenetproject.org/
Quote:
"I worry about my child and the Internet all the time, even though she's too young to have logged on yet. Here's what I worry about. I worry that 10 or 15 years from now, she will come to me and say 'Daddy, where were you when they took freedom of the press away from the Internet?'"
--Mike Godwin, Electronic Frontier Foundation
Perhaps there needs to be a constitutional amendment allowing Freedom to Download and File Share. It seems much more practical (from a populous perspective) than the Right to Bear Arms.
In general I've always taken things with a great deal of stoicism (and no I do NOT have a criminal record lol). People often don't act out of malice but out of ignorance. To his dying day my father thought I was weird (and actually I'm sure a lot of people still do think I'm weird). I suppose it's quaint being 'eccentric', but it does grow tiring. People just need to chill out and except people for what they are (instead of making even more rules, laws, and social mores) to weed out and punish those with a different world-view.
Best regards,
UTW
You're lucky you had an intelligent dad. Mine was of (Nazi German origin... nahh he was too young to be a Nazi or a soldier), but I can tell you that I heard him call the police on me when he thought that I was using "Drugs" (when I was a teenager). I can only say that I'm "spacey" (through thought and NOT through Drugs), and so people who think too much are not only perceived as spacey but when they actually express their thoughts (which are usually outside of the norm [i.e. Ignorance and Folklore]) then this just manifests itself.
:)
BTW Congratulations; you got yourself on my Fan list
Yeah I'm very weird (to the general public) I will admit, but I have learned that one cannot ultimately change one's personality. Yeah there are things like psychoactive drugs and medical procedures (like a lobotomy), or mental conditioning like the use of shock therapy (with caddle prods, etc); but these are extreme measures which ultimately cannot change one's genetic makeup. I am what I am. I will have to live with it and you (the general public) will have to live with it as well.
I have contemplated changing and I have tried to change but I realize in the end this is a futile process; one cannot ultimately change what they are. So I am bound to criticize (in constructive and non-constructive ways). I only hope that I can continue to express my thoughts and opinions. I am however doubtful. The future does not look bright.
Best regards,
UTW
Best regards,
UTW
Best regards,
UTW
There's a lot I could say about your comment(s), but to put it simply; things are always more complex than they appear. People like to pigeonhole things, and so it goes...
"Ignorance is not an excuse" is obviously an effective methodology when used by politicians (and the Powerful, who have professionals vetting them). Ignorance is of course a reality, especially considering that laws and regulations are becoming more plentiful. Today (it seems) even the average person needs a lawyer to know and understand if they are violating a particular law, and even in that case one must hope that the lawyer is up-to-date on the current laws and regulations, and is sufficiently intelligent enough to interpret them (or more specifically intuitive enough to know how a Court of Law may interpret these laws and regulations).
There are too many laws IMHO. Unfortunately this is the trend.
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
Yes if you can "keep your head" in a time of moral frenzy then you are indeed wise.
Thanks for your comment,
UTW
Long live MotorHead!!
According to the article you are not wrong. Album art spurred an FBI investigation (you'd think they'd have better things to do, like trying to stop people from flying airplanes into buildings).
1. First they banded the album (cover art)
2. Then they banned digital copies of the art
3. Then they banned news articles that referenced the art
4. Then came a ban of the news articles about the banning of the art
It's a sad and Kafka-esque world in which we live.
I will disclaim beforehand; I realize that you are (probably) being sarcastic. In case you are not being sarcastic then I will tell you that the site was likely censored because of unmitigated use of keyword flagging. I deduce that the references to "child pornography" likely flagged this Web site.
I can't even access my own ISP home page through these Parental-type filters. I believe in this case it is because there is a reference to "P2P" and "file sharing" buried deep within the site. Yep censorship is bad.
Navel gazing is the practice of staring at bellybuttons.
Idiot. An idiot is a person who cannot distinguish figurative language from literal language.
"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." And let's face it, the top management at Wikipedia (and many other organizations) often do a lot a stupid things despite themselves.
Also talk about FUD; the "child pornography" they were talking about is of album art from a famous heavy metal rock band: The cover is from a 1976 album of the Scorpions titled 'Virgin Killer' and has the image of an underage girl, posing nude, with an crack crossing over her genitals, but nothing blocking out her breasts. The girl appears to be around 10-years-old. - Ref. http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Wikinews_suppressed_Wikipedia_pornography_investigation
I'll address your last example. I certainly don't want to belabor the 'assumptions' argument, but you (and I'm sure many other people) are probably reading more into people's impulsive and emotional writing quirks than may be apparent (the question is; how much of what and how they are writing are just meant to be emotional appeals, rather than their actual moral outlook on the subject). As I've stated before already, it is just my opinion, but I think once (most) people get over their knee-jerk reactions, they settle down a bit. I could go over the posts myself, but I think this is one of the more extreme posts. There are certainly many people like yourself that make counterpoints.
:)
And BTW, your mum sounds intelligent
Best regards,
UTW
And I've stated: It seems to me that people just want the courts to decide if she is guilty. The point is that people (in my opinion) are not assuming she is guilty, but rather want justice for an apparent crime that has 'allegedly' happened. In other words I believe that people would rather have the woman brought before the courts to have a fair trial of her guilt or innocence. Merely wanting a person charged with a crime does not necessarily imply prejudice (but wanting that person charged and convicted without a fair trial would).
Regards,
UTW
Dangerous DANGEROUS precedent to make yourself feel better about a depressed kid doing the inevitable Maybe. If it was a bank account or an eBay account and not a MySpace account I'm sure people may feel differently. In the former cases it is not so much the violation of the "terms of service" that causes the harm, but what exactly the violation is and how it effects people.
Perhaps this woman should be charged with 'child abuse', as "Child abuse is the physical, psychological or sexual maltreatment of children." (Ref. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_abuse). If this woman (or more likely if it was a man) was sexually enticing this girl then 'child abuse' charges would likely be filed. It is sad when people put such little emphasis on psychological abuse (of other people, and especially children) though I've always found much hypocrisy when it happens to themselves.
And you also wrote: It seems that the majority (all? apart from mine) of posts here have assumed she's guilty already. It seems to me that people just want the courts to decide if she is guilty.
Of course any tool can be used by a terrorist, including the human mind. Since this seems to be what the government is after (what we are thinking about), the next phase in this privacy assault is to allow customs agents to perform 'lie' detector tests on travelers. Just like these agents can snoop for things in laptops, I'm sure they can ask any number of personal questions to 'snoop' or phish for any type of information in a person's mind and flag those areas that cause stress to the traveler. I'm sure all this information will be kept in a big database for profiling.
You almost seem to be asking to be modded Offtopic (which I hope you aren't, but only because I have some empathy for you).
Your comment is not (obviously) relevant to either the Parent post or the discussion in general, so it would seem obvious to me that you would be rated negatively (off topic for example). If you related your opinions of animal cruelty to the discussion (about anonymity) in any way then you wouldn't have anything to worry about. Just expressing an opinion is viewed as Bullshit here. Sorry, but that's the way it goes. Be articulate and on-topic and/or relevant and you shouldn't have anything to worry about.
BTW: Karma just means you're more likely to Moderate. High Karma (plus mod points for your post) means your posts are more likely to be read by millions of people as opposed to thousands of people.
Best regards,
UTW
I can see (by merely observing your excessive use of CAPS) why you call yourself spazdor :)