The solution is here now for windows users. You can get a firewall that runs on your machine, and allows you to specify exactly what programs are allowed to connect to the internet and how. No more html e-mails and web bugs. No more spyware issues, and best of all, you are protected from hackers out on the internet scanning for insecure machines. And best of all, it's FREE!
Get ZoneAlarm from Zone Labs. Simply restrict outlook to be only able to connect to your mail ports. Then all that html spam is blocked automatically at your firewall. In fact, it's sorta fun to watch what evil things are trying to escape get shot down by your firewall:)
Oh, and you don't have to be a system administrator to use it. It's easier than entering your personal info in outlook. ---
I've always found that one of the strengths of e-texts is the ability to search them. Why not combine this into a service?
It would interface similar to Google. You would enter a search like "How do you secure a Linux box?". Up would come a list of search results, from a database of the content of a few ebooks. The results would link to at most a paragraph from that book (and perhaps the first page of the chapter, like Amazon). This would allow users to know if they wanted to buy that chapter/book, without revealing the whole answer. A click to add it to your cart (or join a subscription for unlimited ebooks). Then viola! I have my answer, and you have my money.
What about opt-in advertising? If advertising is designed to let you learn about new products that might interest you, why not let the user specify what catagories they are interested in?
I would gladly see ads from thinkGeek, particularly if they listed the latest items they have added to their store. I am sure there are people who would enjoy tracking the prices of certain commodity items as well (RAM, HD, CPUs).
This is already available to some extent, but I am not sure if SlashDot is getting any revenue from having a ThinkGeek Slashbox. Perhaps Slashdot could have a whole section of advertisers slashboxen that we could choose from, and in trade for selecting sufficient numbers of them, we could turn off banner ads completely. Heck, if this model worked, the default should be to set people up with advertising slashboxen, and only have a banner ad if users choose to turn off too many advertising slashboxen.
It's not a question of if SDMI gets off the ground anymore... SONY already makes SDMI complaint memory sticks and players.
The challenge is to not accept the easy way out. We are not going to be forced into accepting these invasions of privacy by one draconian law, but we will choose to give up our rights in trade for discounts on products. For example, windows media player is free. However, it is set up so that it can report on every song you play via Digital Rights Mangement (an oxymoron if you ask me, given that it can only take away your ability to play). But most users are willingly going to give up their rights in trade for the free stuff.
And we are going to keep having to decide... is it worth the cost to protect our privacy? When microsoft requires everyone to phone in and register their Office products. Or when we choose to run the next windows operating system which will require registration to run? Can you swear off windows systems? There is an alternative (Linux), but are you willing to pay the price for your freedom?
Check it out here:
Abit KT7A-RAID.
It's got the on-board IDE RAID you dreamed of, AND it's been acclaimed on Anandtech... their mobo pick for many of their high-end systems.
Ultra ATA-100, 3 DIMMs, 1 AGP, 6 PCI and you even get to keep your one ISA card:)
I am sure many/. readers, upon reading this excellent rant, want to go kick some ass and start their own un-encrypted everything. But laws in this country are not decided by what is right, but by what the majority thinks is right. Thus our challenge is not to defeat these copy-protection measures in the courts, or on our computers, but in the court of public opinion.
Along those lines we need a mantra, and an explanation of the limits to freedom, put into terms which are understood but 50%+ of Americans.
Mantra (perhaps): Keep your digital fingers and eyes out of my house!
People don't want anyone invading their house. By convincing the populous that DivX (pay-per-play dvds) was actually companies coming into their house and restricting and recording what they watch, people responded by rejecting the intruders.
Only by alerting people to the corporate surveillance they are becoming forced into, only by revealing the menacing hand which is about to control our computers, will we be able to change the complacent in our society into the outraged.
So get out there and tell your friends about the encroachment on their freedoms. Post this rant on your door/cubicle. E-mail it to those who already care, and talk with those who aren't aware yet. Spread the knowledge before we find ourselves trapped like animals in corporate pens: counted, force-fed, and milked.
1) A huge number of possible converts to Linux use windows.
2) A user interface is designed to help people access the power of the computer in terms they already understand (like files being movable with the mouse, or text showing up like it will print, or the keyboard matching that of a typewriter)
Why not create a distribution that puts everything in the same places, and with similar naming/iconagraphy as is available in a default install of Windows ME?
Why not make as much functionality identical to windows as possible (with exception of the crashing). MACs stole their interfaces from Xerox; Windows from MACs; now Linux should take their design from Windows.
I would think the easiest interface for Linux would have to be the one that new users already know, windows! Only when there is a linux distribution that looks and feels like Windows will there be a flood of windows users to linux.
>Firewall-like controls:I'd like to be able to tell Netscape/Mozilla to "block traffic from doubleclick.net", or whatever. I can do this if I mess with the firewall, but I'd rather leave it alone.
For windows users, there is another way to block doubleclick.net from tracking you. Go to the Start Menu, click on Find/Seach and search for the word "hosts". At least one little file should pop up called "hosts" (with no extension). Double click on that file, and then select notepad to edit it. Paste into that file the following text (you can add your own too, this is just an example):
Then your computer will stop downloading the ads (technically, when a web page requests an ad from ad.doubleclick.net, your computer will just fail to find the ad because it is looking in the wrong place).
And viola! you had ad blocking without a firewwall:)
"How can we teach our children that every vote counts, if we are not willing to make a good faith effort to count every vote."
-Sen. Joe Lieberman, on the decision of the State Secretary of Florida to use an old, and inaccurate machine count instead of accepting any of the newer hand counts.
Has anyone thought of countersuing the BSA? If I kept good enough records (and the right number of copies of software), and some anonymous tip turned me in... Hmm... (apparently store reciepts are sufficient, so my previous dilemma is moot:)
I have a couple of laptops, all running win2k. When I bought them they had boxes of manuals and crap. But I move around a lot in my work, so I chucked the manuals etc. Does this mean I can't run the software anymore? I had to re-install office 97 on a machine that crashed. I have purchased a copy of office 97 for each of the machine, but due to my manual destructive tendencies, I had to use a serial number from the internet. Did I lose ownership to the software then? If the SPA came kicking in my door, could they sue me for not maintaining a copy of some little piece of paper I never read/signed?
Even I can answer this... Carnivore will catch the same criminals that are caught by wiretaps.... or by fingerprints. Both of these techniques can be mitigated by careful use of technology (or gloves), and yet they are powerful and effective tools.
Criminals are generally dumb because they commit crimes, and because they are dumb they tend to get caught. Think of it this way. There is a set of people who know how to use the internet, and the security tools that would keep them from getting caught. There is another set of people who prefer, for monetary or personal reasons, to commit crimes over normal legal behavior. The intersection of these sets is very small. The technoliterate with criminal intent are a rare breed, and will escape carnivore. Hoever, carnivore is going to catch all the dumb criminals. Carnivore was built because like AOL users, dumb criminals are flooding to the net, and the FBI needed a way to crack down on the majority of criminals who have net access, but not the saavy to have secure net access.
Slashdot Mirror
The solution is here now for windows users. You can get a firewall that runs on your machine, and allows you to specify exactly what programs are allowed to connect to the internet and how. No more html e-mails and web bugs. No more spyware issues, and best of all, you are protected from hackers out on the internet scanning for insecure machines. And best of all, it's FREE!
:)
Get ZoneAlarm from Zone Labs. Simply restrict outlook to be only able to connect to your mail ports. Then all that html spam is blocked automatically at your firewall. In fact, it's sorta fun to watch what evil things are trying to escape get shot down by your firewall
Oh, and you don't have to be a system administrator to use it. It's easier than entering your personal info in outlook.
---
> imagine if we had solar-powered food-generation machines
I couldn't resist.... you mean, like plants?
>"Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft Corp. a fiercely competitive company(...)" - Microsoft Encarta, 1996
>"Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft is a contributor to several charitable causes, including...(...)" Microsoft Encarta 2000
So if Microsoft used to be a competitive company, but isn't anymore, does that make them an anti-competitive company?
I'm not sure if this could be profitably wrapped into dead-tree form, but maybe this will help you in your quest.
A Nerd's guide to sex
Casanova's Tips
Sex Tips for Geeks
Oh, and you should probably also get some new clothes.
I've always found that one of the strengths of e-texts is the ability to search them. Why not combine this into a service?
It would interface similar to Google. You would enter a search like "How do you secure a Linux box?". Up would come a list of search results, from a database of the content of a few ebooks. The results would link to at most a paragraph from that book (and perhaps the first page of the chapter, like Amazon). This would allow users to know if they wanted to buy that chapter/book, without revealing the whole answer. A click to add it to your cart (or join a subscription for unlimited ebooks). Then viola! I have my answer, and you have my money.
What about opt-in advertising? If advertising is designed to let you learn about new products that might interest you, why not let the user specify what catagories they are interested in?
I would gladly see ads from thinkGeek, particularly if they listed the latest items they have added to their store. I am sure there are people who would enjoy tracking the prices of certain commodity items as well (RAM, HD, CPUs).
This is already available to some extent, but I am not sure if SlashDot is getting any revenue from having a ThinkGeek Slashbox. Perhaps Slashdot could have a whole section of advertisers slashboxen that we could choose from, and in trade for selecting sufficient numbers of them, we could turn off banner ads completely. Heck, if this model worked, the default should be to set people up with advertising slashboxen, and only have a banner ad if users choose to turn off too many advertising slashboxen.
It's not a question of if SDMI gets off the ground anymore... SONY already makes SDMI complaint memory sticks and players.
The challenge is to not accept the easy way out. We are not going to be forced into accepting these invasions of privacy by one draconian law, but we will choose to give up our rights in trade for discounts on products. For example, windows media player is free. However, it is set up so that it can report on every song you play via Digital Rights Mangement (an oxymoron if you ask me, given that it can only take away your ability to play). But most users are willingly going to give up their rights in trade for the free stuff.
And we are going to keep having to decide... is it worth the cost to protect our privacy? When microsoft requires everyone to phone in and register their Office products. Or when we choose to run the next windows operating system which will require registration to run? Can you swear off windows systems? There is an alternative (Linux), but are you willing to pay the price for your freedom?
Only you can choose to be a Micro-serf.
IDE RAID on the MOBO has already been done.
:)
:(
Check it out here: Abit KT7A-RAID. It's got the on-board IDE RAID you dreamed of, AND it's been acclaimed on Anandtech... their mobo pick for many of their high-end systems. Ultra ATA-100, 3 DIMMs, 1 AGP, 6 PCI and you even get to keep your one ISA card
Sadly, no dual processor support yet
I am sure many /. readers, upon reading this excellent rant, want to go kick some ass and start their own un-encrypted everything. But laws in this country are not decided by what is right, but by what the majority thinks is right. Thus our challenge is not to defeat these copy-protection measures in the courts, or on our computers, but in the court of public opinion.
Along those lines we need a mantra, and an explanation of the limits to freedom, put into terms which are understood but 50%+ of Americans.
Mantra (perhaps): Keep your digital fingers and eyes out of my house!
People don't want anyone invading their house. By convincing the populous that DivX (pay-per-play dvds) was actually companies coming into their house and restricting and recording what they watch, people responded by rejecting the intruders.
Only by alerting people to the corporate surveillance they are becoming forced into, only by revealing the menacing hand which is about to control our computers, will we be able to change the complacent in our society into the outraged.
So get out there and tell your friends about the encroachment on their freedoms. Post this rant on your door/cubicle. E-mail it to those who already care, and talk with those who aren't aware yet. Spread the knowledge before we find ourselves trapped like animals in corporate pens: counted, force-fed, and milked.
1) A huge number of possible converts to Linux use windows.
2) A user interface is designed to help people access the power of the computer in terms they already understand (like files being movable with the mouse, or text showing up like it will print, or the keyboard matching that of a typewriter)
Why not create a distribution that puts everything in the same places, and with similar naming/iconagraphy as is available in a default install of Windows ME?
Why not make as much functionality identical to windows as possible (with exception of the crashing). MACs stole their interfaces from Xerox; Windows from MACs; now Linux should take their design from Windows.
I would think the easiest interface for Linux would have to be the one that new users already know, windows! Only when there is a linux distribution that looks and feels like Windows will there be a flood of windows users to linux.
>Firewall-like controls:I'd like to be able to tell Netscape/Mozilla to "block traffic from doubleclick.net", or whatever. I can do this if I mess with the firewall, but I'd rather leave it alone.
:)
For windows users, there is another way to block doubleclick.net from tracking you. Go to the Start Menu, click on Find/Seach and search for the word "hosts". At least one little file should pop up called "hosts" (with no extension). Double click on that file, and then select notepad to edit it. Paste into that file the following text (you can add your own too, this is just an example):
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.1 ad2.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ads22.focallink.com
Then your computer will stop downloading the ads (technically, when a web page requests an ad from ad.doubleclick.net, your computer will just fail to find the ad because it is looking in the wrong place).
And viola! you had ad blocking without a firewwall
"How can we teach our children that every vote counts, if we are not willing to make a good faith effort to count every vote."
-Sen. Joe Lieberman, on the decision of the State Secretary of Florida to use an old, and inaccurate machine count instead of accepting any of the newer hand counts.
Has anyone thought of countersuing the BSA? If I kept good enough records (and the right number of copies of software), and some anonymous tip turned me in... Hmm... (apparently store reciepts are sufficient, so my previous dilemma is moot :)
I have a couple of laptops, all running win2k. When I bought them they had boxes of manuals and crap. But I move around a lot in my work, so I chucked the manuals etc. Does this mean I can't run the software anymore? I had to re-install office 97 on a machine that crashed. I have purchased a copy of office 97 for each of the machine, but due to my manual destructive tendencies, I had to use a serial number from the internet. Did I lose ownership to the software then? If the SPA came kicking in my door, could they sue me for not maintaining a copy of some little piece of paper I never read/signed?
> Who would Carnivore really catch?
Even I can answer this... Carnivore will catch the same criminals that are caught by wiretaps.... or by fingerprints. Both of these techniques can be mitigated by careful use of technology (or gloves), and yet they are powerful and effective tools.
Criminals are generally dumb because they commit crimes, and because they are dumb they tend to get caught. Think of it this way. There is a set of people who know how to use the internet, and the security tools that would keep them from getting caught. There is another set of people who prefer, for monetary or personal reasons, to commit crimes over normal legal behavior. The intersection of these sets is very small. The technoliterate with criminal intent are a rare breed, and will escape carnivore. Hoever, carnivore is going to catch all the dumb criminals. Carnivore was built because like AOL users, dumb criminals are flooding to the net, and the FBI needed a way to crack down on the majority of criminals who have net access, but not the saavy to have secure net access.
There are a few more high-res pictures buried on thier site, including some neat pics of the Olympic Stadium!