Given all the ass hattery out of DC lately I'd say that following Europe might not be such a bad idea in the first place.
Starting with, for instance, the default of awarding attorney's fees to the winner of a lawsuit, instead of making it an opt-in policy. That would cut down on the number of bogus lawsuits.
They're sure to abuse that power somehow. Would you really want the feds "free beer eminent domaining" any patent they felt like? You seem to forget the domestic wiretapping program, so, with the current trend of noting almost anything as "a threat to national security", this "free beer eminent domaining" would amount to nothing more than defacto arbitrary seizure and forfeiture.
Better to put some competent people in the USPTO and give all the asshats there the boot.
I think you should have a PhD in engineering to work at the USPTO. It would probably help cut down the number of bad patents. And if bad patents cease (or at least slow down), then we won't have problems like this in the first place.
Actually, Novell acquiring SCO wouldn't automatically stop the lawsuits. There'd just be a novation as the acquiror absorbs the identity of the acquiree.
But you do have a point about letting SCO get nailed rather than being forced to back out....Is that why Novell, as owner of the UNIX copyrights, isn't forcing SCO to drop it's lawsuits against IBM? Last I heard, they were "entitled in their sole direction to force SCO to drop it's copyright claims against IBM, and SCO would have to comply with that direction".
1. Novell buys up all the outstanding shares of SCO 2. Novell performs a short-form merger with SCO 3. Novell drops all the lawsuits with prejudice 4. Novell milks out what it can from SCO's assets 5. SCO ceases to exist.
The beauty of step 2 is that you don't even need the approval of SCO's directors to do it. All you need is posession of 90 percent of SCO's outstanding shares.
I am getting so SICK SICK SICK of hearing about SCO.
Let's examine the meaning of life!
At least until some of those lawsuits actually get resolved or settled, that's about the only thing more newsworthy than this slowly moving train wreck.
And how is that going to help you if you need to access data that an external DNS server is authoritative for?
Unless you plan on disallowing ALL outgoing traffic altogether, you still need external DNS of some sort. Your internal DNS server is HARDLY going to be authoritative for anything outside of your control.
Plus, what about TTL records that expire? Don't those need to be refreshed?
Having a record of being arrested should ideally not be a problem.
It's thanks to idiots and bigoted assholes who turn up their nose at arrest records that it becomes a problem.
It's just another thing, like black skin, homosexuality, or being female, that people can use to discriminate with. Ideally, prospective employers would not use arrest records except by relevancy, owing to illegality, but unfortunately in the real world, it does slip by.
In general, Murphy will stop at nothing to make things miserable for you. Just recently my cat was senselessly confiscated because my assinine neighbor called the pound for no good reason.
Bad things happen just for the hell of it. There isn't always a reason for everything that goes screwy. Sometimes, the universe is just in a bad mood, and you can't do shit about it.
Yes, anyone can come forward and turn themselves in.
However, you still don't get arrested unless someone feels like charging you. In cases of "We'll let you off the hook because you're an honest guy, or we've got bigger fish to fry", then you're scot free.
In many cases, an aggrieved party has to press charges for there to be charges filed against you.
If you hit me, you probably won't go to jail unless I press charges for assault. I probably will though, but if I decide not to, you are in the clear. I could still sue you for physical injury, but unless I elect to press charges, you stay out of jail. You are pretty much at my mercy, not that of the DA.
There are exceptions of course, but I think copyright law requires an aggrieved party to press charges for there to be a prosecution. So if the RIAA got wise to this swamping, they could simply elect to overlook...the...violations?
Flat rates for X gb/mo, plus overage charges, is too complicated to do correctly, especially if you're banking on.
So just get rid of all the tiers and simply charge a flat rate per megabyte. Easier to budget for, and it's metered directly so the company will have a harder time fudging its numbers and rounding it to the nearest tier, especially if someone's got their own metering installed at home.
AT least this way, if there's a traffic jam, I won't get charged for bandwidth I couldn't use.
While "proof beyond a reasonable doubt" is required for a conviction, it is not required for an arrest, where the standard is merely "probable cause".
If the cop has probable cause, you cannot sue the police for false arrest. If the "probable cause" was based on evidence that turned out to be false, you can only sue the guy who gave it if it was known to be false.
Witness honestly believes you've done something wrong, and tells the cops. They arrest you on probable cause, but since they don't actually have enough to convict, you get let go. Since both the police and the witness acted in good faith, nobody is liable for false arrest. All you can do is pick up your marbles and go back to your life. Nobody screwed up, so tough shit no soup for you.
Witness has grudge against you, and makes up a vicious lie to get you arrested by the police, who as far as *they* know, have reason to believe you are guilty. You spend time in jail, but since you aren't guilty, you get let go once the evidence fails to pile up. The police are faultless and were simply doing their jobs. However, it is foreseeable that the arrest would be made, so you get to sue the witness for false arrest.
Honest witness tells the cops something's fishy about you, and the cops, looking for an excuse to cause trouble for you, pounce on you with cuffs, and you spend the night in jail. Your PD bails you out after showing the lack of probable cause, and you get out. The cops were way out of line to arrest you, so you can sue the police for false arrest. The witness, however, is innocent, because they could not reasonably foresee an arrest based on their mere "suspicions".
Of course, if you get a witness with an axe to grid with a police department waiting for an excuse to pounce, then you can sue both of them.
Thank god for habeas corpus.
However, since ISP's these days usually have "termination at will" clauses in their TOS, it probably doesn't apply. Simply screaming "copyright infringement" could merely provoke such an "at will" termination (against which no user has recourse), and even if the termination was erroneous, if the ISP simply doesn't want the hassle of reinstating your account, they can squat and tell you to go screw yourself. "It's our network and we'll terminate whoever we damn please" is quite relevant when it comes to proprietary hardware and a dictatorial TOS.
Unlike labor law, AFAIK there is legally nothing that will stop an ISP from going texas sharpshooter and unplugging whoever they feel like. You're only "due process" is whatever the ISP felt like including in your service agreement, which is likely to be entirely in their favor.
Interesting how my submission of this got rejected, yet eventually it got submitted. Twice in one day...
Am I getting shafted for credit, or am I simply in a perpetual race condition with other submitters? Oh well. Credit schmedit, at least it got posted. That's really all I care about.
Anyway, here goes:
This is bad news for us all. I sincerely hope someone manages to appeal this. And what business does a federal judge have violating due process and catering to a civil subpoena like this without some sort of evidence?
Someone needs to step in with expert witnesses.
Where oh where, has my FSF gone? Where, oh where, could he be?
Slashdot Mirror
Why doesn't thepiratebay just implement DMCA style ISP takedown notices?
That would immunize them against many lawsuits.
Given all the ass hattery out of DC lately I'd say that following Europe might not be such a bad idea in the first place.
Starting with, for instance, the default of awarding attorney's fees to the winner of a lawsuit, instead of making it an opt-in policy. That would cut down on the number of bogus lawsuits.
THat would be fine, except patents are supposed to be finite in duration.
They're sure to abuse that power somehow. Would you really want the feds "free beer eminent domaining" any patent they felt like? You seem to forget the domestic wiretapping program, so, with the current trend of noting almost anything as "a threat to national security", this "free beer eminent domaining" would amount to nothing more than defacto arbitrary seizure and forfeiture.
Better to put some competent people in the USPTO and give all the asshats there the boot.
I think you should have a PhD in engineering to work at the USPTO. It would probably help cut down the number of bad patents. And if bad patents cease (or at least slow down), then we won't have problems like this in the first place.
Actually, Novell acquiring SCO wouldn't automatically stop the lawsuits. There'd just be a novation as the acquiror absorbs the identity of the acquiree.
...Is that why Novell, as owner of the UNIX copyrights, isn't forcing SCO to drop it's lawsuits against IBM? Last I heard, they were "entitled in their sole direction to force SCO to drop it's copyright claims against IBM, and SCO would have to comply with that direction".
But you do have a point about letting SCO get nailed rather than being forced to back out.
Sorry, but I live in the Tri-Cities.
I do NOT want pollution in my river, TYVM.
Perfect solution to the whole SCO controversy:
1. Novell buys up all the outstanding shares of SCO
2. Novell performs a short-form merger with SCO
3. Novell drops all the lawsuits with prejudice
4. Novell milks out what it can from SCO's assets
5. SCO ceases to exist.
The beauty of step 2 is that you don't even need the approval of SCO's directors to do it. All you need is posession of 90 percent of SCO's outstanding shares.
I am getting so SICK SICK SICK of hearing about SCO.
Let's examine the meaning of life!
At least until some of those lawsuits actually get resolved or settled, that's about the only thing more newsworthy than this slowly moving train wreck.
*bangs head against brick wall*
What about my father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate?
Which is why it's usually illegal to even ask about an arrest record unless it's relevant to the hiring decision.
Of course, you dig deep and snoop hard, you can find out almost anything.
And how is that going to help you if you need to access data that an external DNS server is authoritative for?
Unless you plan on disallowing ALL outgoing traffic altogether, you still need external DNS of some sort. Your internal DNS server is HARDLY going to be authoritative for anything outside of your control.
Plus, what about TTL records that expire? Don't those need to be refreshed?
Having a record of being arrested should ideally not be a problem.
It's thanks to idiots and bigoted assholes who turn up their nose at arrest records that it becomes a problem.
It's just another thing, like black skin, homosexuality, or being female, that people can use to discriminate with. Ideally, prospective employers would not use arrest records except by relevancy, owing to illegality, but unfortunately in the real world, it does slip by.
In general, Murphy will stop at nothing to make things miserable for you. Just recently my cat was senselessly confiscated because my assinine neighbor called the pound for no good reason.
Bad things happen just for the hell of it. There isn't always a reason for everything that goes screwy. Sometimes, the universe is just in a bad mood, and you can't do shit about it.
Which brings me to my main point:
Life isn't fair, get used to it.
Yes, anyone can come forward and turn themselves in.
:)
However, you still don't get arrested unless someone feels like charging you. In cases of "We'll let you off the hook because you're an honest guy, or we've got bigger fish to fry", then you're scot free.
In many cases, an aggrieved party has to press charges for there to be charges filed against you.
If you hit me, you probably won't go to jail unless I press charges for assault. I probably will though, but if I decide not to, you are in the clear. I could still sue you for physical injury, but unless I elect to press charges, you stay out of jail. You are pretty much at my mercy, not that of the DA.
There are exceptions of course, but I think copyright law requires an aggrieved party to press charges for there to be a prosecution. So if the RIAA got wise to this swamping, they could simply elect to overlook...the...violations?
Oh, NOW I get the point
That's my point.
Flat rates for X gb/mo, plus overage charges, is too complicated to do correctly, especially if you're banking on.
So just get rid of all the tiers and simply charge a flat rate per megabyte. Easier to budget for, and it's metered directly so the company will have a harder time fudging its numbers and rounding it to the nearest tier, especially if someone's got their own metering installed at home.
AT least this way, if there's a traffic jam, I won't get charged for bandwidth I couldn't use.
One raindrop raises the sea.
You're assuming that the DA would have no choice but to prosecute.
Last time I checked, the victim had to press charges first.
Alas, the begging us to send you spam is the fly in your pot of honey.
Finally Microsoft actually does something that can land them in hot water.
I actually hope they do this, then they can get their asses fined for computer trespass.
Unless a judge gets out his little gavel and says you "reasonably should have known".
Give a case over to a judge, and they're pretty much "God" when it comes to deciding your fate.
With water, if there's a drought and everyone starts running their sinks dying of thirst, the waterflow slows to a trickle.
I get throttled, but I also don't have to pay for the water I tried but failed to use. I'm only charged:
1. The flat monthly fee for having the water available
2. A per gallon rate that depends on how much flows through my water meter.
The problem with bandwidth throttling is that you are paying for more than you are actually getting.
Make it a one-two "availability is flat, actual usage is metered and charged per unit", and it will be much fairer.
Depends on the market.
If you have a monopoly, you're screwed. Otherwise, if a company pisses you off, you are free to switch.
Of course, internet access isn't mandated by law, so you could always go on strike and do without.
OMG you misspelled cum!
Actually, there's a thing called "probable cause"
While "proof beyond a reasonable doubt" is required for a conviction, it is not required for an arrest, where the standard is merely "probable cause".
If the cop has probable cause, you cannot sue the police for false arrest. If the "probable cause" was based on evidence that turned out to be false, you can only sue the guy who gave it if it was known to be false.
Witness honestly believes you've done something wrong, and tells the cops. They arrest you on probable cause, but since they don't actually have enough to convict, you get let go. Since both the police and the witness acted in good faith, nobody is liable for false arrest. All you can do is pick up your marbles and go back to your life. Nobody screwed up, so tough shit no soup for you.
Witness has grudge against you, and makes up a vicious lie to get you arrested by the police, who as far as *they* know, have reason to believe you are guilty. You spend time in jail, but since you aren't guilty, you get let go once the evidence fails to pile up. The police are faultless and were simply doing their jobs. However, it is foreseeable that the arrest would be made, so you get to sue the witness for false arrest.
Honest witness tells the cops something's fishy about you, and the cops, looking for an excuse to cause trouble for you, pounce on you with cuffs, and you spend the night in jail. Your PD bails you out after showing the lack of probable cause, and you get out. The cops were way out of line to arrest you, so you can sue the police for false arrest. The witness, however, is innocent, because they could not reasonably foresee an arrest based on their mere "suspicions".
Of course, if you get a witness with an axe to grid with a police department waiting for an excuse to pounce, then you can sue both of them.
Thank god for habeas corpus.
However, since ISP's these days usually have "termination at will" clauses in their TOS, it probably doesn't apply. Simply screaming "copyright infringement" could merely provoke such an "at will" termination (against which no user has recourse), and even if the termination was erroneous, if the ISP simply doesn't want the hassle of reinstating your account, they can squat and tell you to go screw yourself. "It's our network and we'll terminate whoever we damn please" is quite relevant when it comes to proprietary hardware and a dictatorial TOS.
Unlike labor law, AFAIK there is legally nothing that will stop an ISP from going texas sharpshooter and unplugging whoever they feel like. You're only "due process" is whatever the ISP felt like including in your service agreement, which is likely to be entirely in their favor.
Mods: Please double check the timestamps before deciding to mod *this* post.
Interesting how my submission of this got rejected, yet eventually it got submitted. Twice in one day...
Am I getting shafted for credit, or am I simply in a perpetual race condition with other submitters? Oh well. Credit schmedit, at least it got posted. That's really all I care about.
Anyway, here goes:
This is bad news for us all. I sincerely hope someone manages to appeal this. And what business does a federal judge have violating due process and catering to a civil subpoena like this without some sort of evidence?
Someone needs to step in with expert witnesses.
Where oh where, has my FSF gone? Where, oh where, could he be?