It would seem to me that innocent party is anyone who hasn't posted the source code or contributed to the developement of DeCSS. Therefore, EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU WHO DOWNLOADED THE SOURCE IS AN INNOCENT PARTY, since its not a crime to browse the internet. I would like to also point out that none of this really means anything. Developement will continue in other countries reguardless of what happens in the U.S. Courtrooms. Just like GnuPG. I do like the whack the mole concept. But the image that comes to my mind is CSS trying to convince the judge to hold back the waters with his bare hands when Hoover Dam just broke. He's not Moses and he probably knows it. But he has to give CSS a fair court hearing, and be objective, even if it doesn't really affect much. I have to look at the bright side of all this. Even outside the U.S., DeCSS is getting mucho publicity in the Linux community. No project looks sweeter to work on. So it will probably produce some of the most finely honed pieces of software available for Linux. Not many of us don't know about places like, say, this wonderful site not based in the U.S., so its all going to be accessible to us regardless of any ruling that is made. Even if you can't get it from a U.S. mirror, it will still be there. The people who really need to be concerned with this is, say, RedHat, Caldera, SuSe, etc. because not being able to include such nifty tools in thier package could really affect the biz. The bottom line is CSS is not worried about much else besides thier ability to regionalize. They will sink lots of cash into this, because they anticipated regionalization into thier business plan, and now they can't do it. but again, unless they get Moses on thier side, all they are going to see is a white wall of water coming down on them, because it is too late to stop up the dam.
It's all about that warm fuzzy feeling. We put on a coat because it protects us from the cold, cold, winter wind. AOL is like that coat. Joe Internet Average out there, he sees the internet as this cold cruel place with boogiemen and pitfalls and deadly traps. Naturally he wants something to help him deal with all of it. Enter AOL. AOL's software says, "I will protect you and steer you toward the things you want and need from the internet and keep you away from all those nasty HACKERS out there. It's a perception thing. A carefully fostered perception. Then you can add on top of that the fact that people DO NOT LIKE CHANGE. Exhibit A: How many people do you know who have switched from x86 machines to Macintosh systems, or vice versa? Not many, I'll bet. Even though (in my opinion) Macintosh has the better product, Most folks are just too stuck in their ways to make the switch. (I am not talking about us/. readers, we love to be frustrated, otherwise we wouldn't be using Linux/BSD/etc.) One last point I would like to make is that they really do have good content sometimes. Before there was an ISP in my hometown, I used aol. Then I got on with an ISP, and still used AOL through my ISP. Why? Content. They had things I liked. Next time you put on your coat, you think about AOL. To millions of users out there, AOL is just as comfy as that coat you're putting on. Barring an act of God, AOL is here to stay. Because to get rid of them you must ask all those millions to throw away thier favorite coat.
On Cloning: Science is an evolutionary thing. Every step has to be proceeded by the step before. Consider this oversimplified example: In order to put your computer on your desk, two major lines of scientific research had to be done. First, we had to really understand how electricity worked(not just discover its existence)Thank you Nicola Tesla. Second, we had to discover how to actually make a computer, which we can thank many people, but the one that comes to mind right now is Madam Currie. THEN we had to figure out how to make the two sciences compatible. My point is these are all baby steps getting the scientists closer to the end goal, actual cloning.
On Media: The media is very much like a snake with its head cut off. It lashes out at anything it senses, and has no concept of what it is doing. Take for instance the story ran just yesterday about DeCSS and its "piracy" software, versus the "Good Guys," the DVD industry. CNN makes me wretch. By the way, the hearing is tomorrow(today, my time.) Big turnout, please! Nothing would make me happier than Open Source supporters standing in the streets because the entire courthouse was chock full. Anyone who can, go support the cause.
It only makes sense if you think about it. 0. They have access to every line of code, so there are no surprises(unlike some OTHER OSes which has problably been burning them from time to time for years.) 1. They are still using an OS with strong features. 2. They can also see the source for every single app they decide to use(or not to use) 3. Now that there are multiple wordprocessing/Office packages out there which are able to handle MS Office's formats, the biggest complaint of all the nay-sayers from within has lost its footing. From NSA's standpoint, this will finally give them control over the operating system on thier computers. They have probably had this in mind for years and only been waiting for Linux to mature to the point that it was highly useful and definitely beyond the point of losing its momentum. I can only see good in this right now(I have blinders on) because once NSA developes this, all the other branches of govornment will tend to jump on the bandwagon with them. Lets face it: that will only be good for Linux, having all those users in the govt being forced to use Linux at work. Then many will use it at home, too.
The U.S. Govornment can be accused of many things, but relinquishing its grip on paranoia is definitely not among them. Wasn't there a/. article a couple of months ago about a university in Israel that managed to crack a major London bank in milliseconds? here's the link Now, if I were just a tad bit paranoid myself, I would suspect that the govornment is loosening their grip simply because they are able to crack anything out there now, based on that story. Just a little something for all you slashdotters to think about. Every silver lining has a dark cloud. -You can never go back. FREE MARS-
They in fact flat out refused to display a bust made for them of Nicola Tesla. Now, this is the man who singlehandedly influenced nearly EVERYTHING WE OWN TODAY. Look around you and find something that wasn't made using AC. If you do find something, then ask yourself if that thing was made using TOOLS created using AC. Bet your list is pretty slim. Yes, Einstein was a great man. But Nicola Tesla was our greatest influence in the last century without question. He certainly needs some recognition here on/. I feel that the icon for science posts should be changed to a picture of Tesla, instead of Einstein. ~~~~~May the Source be with you... Always.~~~~~~~
Nikola Tesla has certainly influenced us more than ANYONE else this century. Anyone who doesn't believe me can get rid of thier computers(powered by AC), their cars(Alternators),thier lights in thier homes, just about every appliance they own, the entire electronic media network, and modern medicine, just to scratch the surface of what he influenced. Hoover Dam was engineered and built by him. Radio Broadcasting owes him everything it is. As far as I can tell, his biggest mistake was getting sucked in by businessmen who were greedy, such as Thomas Edison(the Bill Gates of the first half of this century) who stole his invention of the AC Generator, and Marconi,who supposedly invented the Radio, but actually copied Tesla's work, as proven by The U.S. Supreme Court,June 21, 1943, Case No. 369.
If you want to find out about what is happening to honor the man who truly influenced your life the most, visit here:
When you tell someone, "Here are all the parts to build a car, its free if you can get it running!" it is generally implied that that person is responsible for the car's functionality. Not so if you sell the car.
'Bottom line is that I have no problem with this "profiling" you whine about Jon. But I wish they would concentrate more on what to do with the kids once they find them. It comes down to love. And no one in our society is ready to make that kind of commitment.' The road to Hell is paved with GOOD INTENTIONS. I have to agree on all accounts, except the morality of it. I think a little direction would have been in order. See, the problem is these kids(whom I was one of, once) have enormous potential, more than basically everyone else they come in contact with. But without something worthwhile to do, They resort to whatever they can find that is interesting. Often that interesting thing is the wrong thing. However, just because they decided to profile these kids doesn't mean much. As yet I have seen no plan for helping the kids they profile. This amounts to nothing more than a modern-day witchhunt. 15 years from now, either nothing will have come of this at all(hopefully), or you will be thinking about the horrible things that were done to your kids because of this. Because lets face it, if you are reading/. your offspring are probably going to match the profile. How do you want THEM affected by all of this crap
Slashdot Mirror
It would seem to me that innocent party is anyone who hasn't posted the source code or contributed to the developement of DeCSS. Therefore, EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU WHO DOWNLOADED THE SOURCE IS AN INNOCENT PARTY, since its not a crime to browse the internet.
I would like to also point out that none of this really means anything. Developement will continue in other countries reguardless of what happens in the U.S. Courtrooms. Just like GnuPG. I do like the whack the mole concept. But the image that comes to my mind is CSS trying to convince the judge to hold back the waters with his bare hands when Hoover Dam just broke. He's not Moses and he probably knows it. But he has to give CSS a fair court hearing, and be objective, even if it doesn't really affect much.
I have to look at the bright side of all this. Even outside the U.S., DeCSS is getting mucho publicity in the Linux community. No project looks sweeter to work on. So it will probably produce some of the most finely honed pieces of software available for Linux. Not many of us don't know about places like, say, this wonderful site not based in the U.S., so its all going to be accessible to us regardless of any ruling that is made. Even if you can't get it from a U.S. mirror, it will still be there. The people who really need to be concerned with this is, say, RedHat, Caldera, SuSe, etc. because not being able to include such nifty tools in thier package could really affect the biz.
The bottom line is CSS is not worried about much else besides thier ability to regionalize. They will sink lots of cash into this, because they anticipated regionalization into thier business plan, and now they can't do it. but again, unless they get Moses on thier side, all they are going to see is a white wall of water coming down on them, because it is too late to stop up the dam.
One should never take moderation to extremes.
It's all about that warm fuzzy feeling. /. readers, we love to be frustrated, otherwise we wouldn't be using Linux/BSD/etc.)
We put on a coat because it protects us from the cold, cold, winter wind. AOL is like that coat. Joe Internet Average out there, he sees the internet as this cold cruel place with boogiemen and pitfalls and deadly traps. Naturally he wants something to help him deal with all of it. Enter AOL. AOL's software says, "I will protect you and steer you toward the things you want and need from the internet and keep you away from all those nasty HACKERS out there. It's a perception thing. A carefully fostered perception.
Then you can add on top of that the fact that people DO NOT LIKE CHANGE. Exhibit A: How many people do you know who have switched from x86 machines to Macintosh systems, or vice versa? Not many, I'll bet. Even though (in my opinion) Macintosh has the better product, Most folks are just too stuck in their ways to make the switch.
(I am not talking about us
One last point I would like to make is that they really do have good content sometimes. Before there was an ISP in my hometown, I used aol. Then I got on with an ISP, and still used AOL through my ISP. Why? Content. They had things I liked.
Next time you put on your coat, you think about AOL. To millions of users out there, AOL is just as comfy as that coat you're putting on. Barring an act of God, AOL is here to stay. Because to get rid of them you must ask all those millions to throw away thier favorite coat.
Bill Gates/Steve Balmer =
Bill let Steve grab same.
Get your anagrams here
Does this mean Billy Boy really isnt the ANTICHRIST?
First Y2K fails, now this. Boy the doomsayers are really running out of fuel, huh?
On Cloning:
Science is an evolutionary thing. Every step has to be proceeded by the step before. Consider this oversimplified example: In order to put your computer on your desk, two major lines of scientific research had to be done. First, we had to really understand how electricity worked(not just discover its existence)Thank you Nicola Tesla. Second, we had to discover how to actually make a computer, which we can thank many people, but the one that comes to mind right now is Madam Currie. THEN we had to figure out how to make the two sciences compatible.
My point is these are all baby steps getting the scientists closer to the end goal, actual cloning.
On Media:
The media is very much like a snake with its head cut off. It lashes out at anything it senses, and has no concept of what it is doing.
Take for instance the story ran just yesterday about DeCSS and its "piracy" software, versus the "Good Guys," the DVD industry. CNN makes me wretch. By the way, the hearing is tomorrow(today, my time.) Big turnout, please! Nothing would make me happier than Open Source supporters standing in the streets because the entire courthouse was chock full. Anyone who can, go support the cause.
It only makes sense if you think about it.
0. They have access to every line of code, so there are no surprises(unlike some OTHER OSes which has problably been burning them from time to time for years.)
1. They are still using an OS with strong features.
2. They can also see the source for every single app they decide to use(or not to use)
3. Now that there are multiple wordprocessing/Office packages out there which are able to handle MS Office's formats, the biggest complaint of all the nay-sayers from within has lost its footing.
From NSA's standpoint, this will finally give them control over the operating system on thier computers. They have probably had this in mind for years and only been waiting for Linux to mature to the point that it was highly useful and definitely beyond the point of losing its momentum. I can only see good in this right now(I have blinders on) because once NSA developes this, all the other branches of govornment will tend to jump on the bandwagon with them. Lets face it: that will only be good for Linux, having all those users in the govt being forced to use Linux at work. Then many will use it at home, too.
The U.S. Govornment can be accused of many things, but relinquishing its grip on paranoia is definitely not among them. Wasn't there a /. article a couple of months ago about a university in Israel that managed to crack a major London bank in milliseconds? here's the link Now, if I were just a tad bit paranoid myself, I would suspect that the govornment is loosening their grip simply because they are able to crack anything out there now, based on that story. Just a little something for all you slashdotters to think about. Every silver lining has a dark cloud. -You can never go back. FREE MARS-
This is how the Smithsonian feels about the most influential man of the twentieth century(and my personal hero).
They in fact flat out refused to display a bust made for them of Nicola Tesla. Now, this is the man who singlehandedly influenced nearly EVERYTHING WE OWN TODAY. Look around you and find something that wasn't made using AC. If you do find something, then ask yourself if that thing was made using TOOLS created using AC. Bet your list is pretty slim. Yes, Einstein was a great man. But Nicola Tesla was our greatest influence in the last century without question. He certainly needs some recognition here on~~~~~May the Source be with you... Always.~~~~~~~
...so we can view it on our Linux machines using DeCSS
the entire electronic media network, and modern medicine, just to scratch the surface of what he influenced. Hoover Dam was engineered and built by him. Radio Broadcasting owes him everything it is. As far as I can tell, his biggest mistake was getting sucked in by businessmen who were greedy, such as Thomas Edison(the Bill Gates of the first half of this century) who stole his invention of the AC Generator, and Marconi,who supposedly invented the Radio, but actually copied Tesla's work, as proven by The U.S. Supreme Court,June 21, 1943, Case No. 369.
If you want to find out about what is happening to honor the man who truly influenced your life the most, visit here:
http://www.concentric.net/~Jwwagner/
When you tell someone, "Here are all the parts to build a car, its free if you can get it running!"
it is generally implied that that person is responsible for the car's functionality.
Not so if you sell the car.
'Bottom line is that I have no problem with this "profiling" you whine about Jon. But I wish they would concentrate more on what to do with the kids once they find them. It comes down to love. And no one in our society is ready to make that kind of commitment.' The road to Hell is paved with GOOD INTENTIONS. I have to agree on all accounts, except the morality of it. I think a little direction would have been in order. See, the problem is these kids(whom I was one of, once) have enormous potential, more than basically everyone else they come in contact with. But without something worthwhile to do, They resort to whatever they can find that is interesting. Often that interesting thing is the wrong thing. However, just because they decided to profile these kids doesn't mean much. As yet I have seen no plan for helping the kids they profile. This amounts to nothing more than a modern-day witchhunt. 15 years from now, either nothing will have come of this at all(hopefully), or you will be thinking about the horrible things that were done to your kids because of this. Because lets face it, if you are reading /. your offspring are probably going to match the profile. How do you want THEM affected by all of this crap