I'm 30 and in school now, and I love it. Computer Science has always been something I enjoy. I will probably be 32 when I graduate.
I am also lucky that my wife is very supportive and doesn't mind us being poor as dirt while I'm in school.
After I finish here, I plan to go to graduate school. I will probably end up in the 36-38 age range by the time I'm done (depending on what program I pick).
One thing I've noticed is that as long as you're not incompetitent the professors treat you differently and give you more opportunities then the younger students. (However, more opportunities almost always means more work!) Also, expect weird nicknames from the younger ones. I've been called Gandalf a number of times. I think it's the beard.;-P
DRM has a critical flaw when it comes to cryptography. The attacker and the person with permission to decrypt the content are the same. Because of this there can never be a strong DRM scheme.
While I'm not familiar with UK's Sky TV, I bet that the wide variety of TV content already available on bit torrent networks has more to do with it not being cracked then the strength of its crypto algorithm.
I've never taken a biochemistry class before, and I'm trying to keep it that way. However, if a textbook is full of nothing but facts then the the context of the book is NOT copyrightable. However, the page layout is. In other words: if you distributed a text file that contained all of the same information in the textbook, you'd probably be OK. But if you photo copied the book and sold it on e-Bay you'd be in trouble.
Hmm. Maybe a better anaogly is: try getting together with 30 other students and hiring a professor as a group?
Still, a more reasonable solution would be to address your grievance to the schools administration (they are usually very accommodating). If that fails then there is more then one school in Florida.
Agreed! The student's should pressure the school to drop him as a professor. If that doesn't work, then they should try to convince other students to avoid his classes. Maybe then Dr. Bozo would get the hint that his students are his customers. And acting like the RIAA doesn't work.
I think you're forgetting the cable companies are dependent (to some degree) on the MPAA. Otherwise where will all those premium channels and pay per view get their content from?
I think it'll be a while before the cable companies can tell the MPAA to go away. And if the cable companies could have their way, they'd BE the movie studios creating content... which opens a whole new can of worms.
I was going for: Just because their actions may have been illegal, doesn't mean that they were morally wrong. Granted, our examples are different, but our basic argument is similar.
Very clever. I think I'm going to use this one too. Here are some other, real life examples of illegal actions:
the Boston Tea Party
freeing slaves before the Civil War
Gandhi's protests against colonization
Reading the Bible, or other religious text, in nations without Freedom of Religion
There are plenty of illegal actions that are morally correct actions. I usually pull out this list to anyone who suggests that following the law is one and the same with moral actions. Anyone else care to add to this list?
the RIAA is handling things almost exactly as Congress intended in these matters
I don't think so. Nobody even predicted that such a technology as P2P filesharing would exist when the DMCA (or the 1996 WIPO treaty it was based on) was passed. The law doesn't deal with this type of technology well. Which is why there's so many complaints with P2P lawsuits, both from free culture activists and the RIAA.
However, I agree with you that its unlikely that the SCOTUS will even hear the case, and that this court is very conservative and unlikly to make changes to copyright law.
Microsoft responded aggressively, saying that 'there is no such thing as free software. Nobody develops software for charity.'
While I disagree with the statement that no one develops software for charity; I feel like I have to point out that free doesn't necessarily mean charity. There is tons of free software out there. Only a fraction was built with charity in mind.
I read recently that employers are paying $75k to $100k+ for comp sci majors from top tier schools. So, if this kid is going to yale his prospective might be a little different then yours or mine. I'm 29 and back in school. Most people graduating from my not so top tier school are in the high $30k to $50k range.
It must be nice to be able to go to MIT / Carnegie Mellon / Stanford / UC Berkeley...
Now, if anyone can tell me why C's indirection operator is the same as 'multiply', and its address operator is the same as bitwise AND?
I always thought it would make more sense to use '$' = 'value of' and '@' = 'address of' for these. These features are going to be included in C+++
I don't think that the parent was suggesting that microsoft give away windows for free, just that they remove copy protection. You would still be legally required to pay for windows.
I think it's a good suggestion. I have legal and free (well, someone else pays for it) access to most MS OS's. After having to call MS to varify that I don't have a pirated copy of XP/Vista running on my computer for the uptinth time, I finally said "Screw it!" and now use Ubuntu.
Done. Actually, its pretty hard NOT to violate a patent anymore. You just have to use software that violates someones patient somewhere. With vague patients being as proliferate as they are, I find it very easy to imaging that at least one piece of software you use is missing a cross licensing deal with someone.
Violating IP laws has become as common as jay walking, except with $500,000 fines.
I think what he's referring to is the rumors circling the internet stating that several prominent Nazis were charged with war crimes for using waterboarding as as an interrogation technique.
Now I have no idea if there were really Nazis charged with war crimes for using waterboarding. But if there were, then in at least that respect, Bush could be compared to Nazis.
BTW, if someone knows a reference proving or disproving the war crimes charges, I'd like to know it.
I don't think it was ignorance. I use to be an intelligence analyst for the US Army. When I first heard about the wire tapping program (I'd had only been out for about a year) the first thing that came to my mind is "Holy crap, that must have been illegal!" We were clearly briefed about what we could and couldn't listen to. Domestic calls were 100% off limit. US Citizens, in the US, calling someone in a foreign country were also protected. The reason: the US military isn't used against US citizens (unless martial law is declared). We have law enforcement separate from the military for a reason. If it were the FBI instead of the NSA doing the wiretaps, I think it wouldn't have been as big a issue (At lease at the time I though that, I'm not sure if I think that now.)
Good point. We have the technology now to have every government meeting that contains non-sensitive information open for anyone to view online. I also think that discussions about legislation can never be considered sensitive information. Otherwise there's too much room for abuse.
Slashdot Mirror
> You'll understand once you have children
Translation: Your argument is better then mine, so I'll claim you're not capable of understanding.
- Someone with kids, who still doesn't understand all the irrational arguments he heard while in his 20's.
I'm 30 and in school now, and I love it. Computer Science has always been something I enjoy. I will probably be 32 when I graduate. I am also lucky that my wife is very supportive and doesn't mind us being poor as dirt while I'm in school. After I finish here, I plan to go to graduate school. I will probably end up in the 36-38 age range by the time I'm done (depending on what program I pick). One thing I've noticed is that as long as you're not incompetitent the professors treat you differently and give you more opportunities then the younger students. (However, more opportunities almost always means more work!) Also, expect weird nicknames from the younger ones. I've been called Gandalf a number of times. I think it's the beard. ;-P
DRM has a critical flaw when it comes to cryptography. The attacker and the person with permission to decrypt the content are the same. Because of this there can never be a strong DRM scheme. While I'm not familiar with UK's Sky TV, I bet that the wide variety of TV content already available on bit torrent networks has more to do with it not being cracked then the strength of its crypto algorithm.
I think its ironic that a web page called Computing Ethics denies the basic right to privacy to all BU students. Seems ... well, unethical.
Bad teachers are :) Trust me, I've had too many of those!
I've never taken a biochemistry class before, and I'm trying to keep it that way. However, if a textbook is full of nothing but facts then the the context of the book is NOT copyrightable. However, the page layout is. In other words: if you distributed a text file that contained all of the same information in the textbook, you'd probably be OK. But if you photo copied the book and sold it on e-Bay you'd be in trouble.
Hmm. Maybe a better anaogly is: try getting together with 30 other students and hiring a professor as a group? Still, a more reasonable solution would be to address your grievance to the schools administration (they are usually very accommodating). If that fails then there is more then one school in Florida.
Agreed! The student's should pressure the school to drop him as a professor. If that doesn't work, then they should try to convince other students to avoid his classes. Maybe then Dr. Bozo would get the hint that his students are his customers. And acting like the RIAA doesn't work.
I think you're forgetting the cable companies are dependent (to some degree) on the MPAA. Otherwise where will all those premium channels and pay per view get their content from?
I think it'll be a while before the cable companies can tell the MPAA to go away. And if the cable companies could have their way, they'd BE the movie studios creating content... which opens a whole new can of worms.
I was going for: Just because their actions may have been illegal, doesn't mean that they were morally wrong. Granted, our examples are different, but our basic argument is similar.
Very clever. I think I'm going to use this one too. Here are some other, real life examples of illegal actions:
- the Boston Tea Party
- freeing slaves before the Civil War
- Gandhi's protests against colonization
- Reading the Bible, or other religious text, in nations without Freedom of Religion
There are plenty of illegal actions that are morally correct actions. I usually pull out this list to anyone who suggests that following the law is one and the same with moral actions. Anyone else care to add to this list?I don't think so. Nobody even predicted that such a technology as P2P filesharing would exist when the DMCA (or the 1996 WIPO treaty it was based on) was passed. The law doesn't deal with this type of technology well. Which is why there's so many complaints with P2P lawsuits, both from free culture activists and the RIAA.
However, I agree with you that its unlikely that the SCOTUS will even hear the case, and that this court is very conservative and unlikly to make changes to copyright law.
While I disagree with the statement that no one develops software for charity; I feel like I have to point out that free doesn't necessarily mean charity. There is tons of free software out there. Only a fraction was built with charity in mind.
I read recently that employers are paying $75k to $100k+ for comp sci majors from top tier schools. So, if this kid is going to yale his prospective might be a little different then yours or mine. I'm 29 and back in school. Most people graduating from my not so top tier school are in the high $30k to $50k range.
It must be nice to be able to go to MIT / Carnegie Mellon / Stanford / UC Berkeley...
Nope, MSDNAA. One of the best things microsoft has done ever.
I don't think that the parent was suggesting that microsoft give away windows for free, just that they remove copy protection. You would still be legally required to pay for windows. I think it's a good suggestion. I have legal and free (well, someone else pays for it) access to most MS OS's. After having to call MS to varify that I don't have a pirated copy of XP/Vista running on my computer for the uptinth time, I finally said "Screw it!" and now use Ubuntu.
Done. Actually, its pretty hard NOT to violate a patent anymore. You just have to use software that violates someones patient somewhere. With vague patients being as proliferate as they are, I find it very easy to imaging that at least one piece of software you use is missing a cross licensing deal with someone. Violating IP laws has become as common as jay walking, except with $500,000 fines.
I think what he's referring to is the rumors circling the internet stating that several prominent Nazis were charged with war crimes for using waterboarding as as an interrogation technique. Now I have no idea if there were really Nazis charged with war crimes for using waterboarding. But if there were, then in at least that respect, Bush could be compared to Nazis. BTW, if someone knows a reference proving or disproving the war crimes charges, I'd like to know it.
I don't think it was ignorance. I use to be an intelligence analyst for the US Army. When I first heard about the wire tapping program (I'd had only been out for about a year) the first thing that came to my mind is "Holy crap, that must have been illegal!" We were clearly briefed about what we could and couldn't listen to. Domestic calls were 100% off limit. US Citizens, in the US, calling someone in a foreign country were also protected. The reason: the US military isn't used against US citizens (unless martial law is declared). We have law enforcement separate from the military for a reason. If it were the FBI instead of the NSA doing the wiretaps, I think it wouldn't have been as big a issue (At lease at the time I though that, I'm not sure if I think that now.)
Good point. We have the technology now to have every government meeting that contains non-sensitive information open for anyone to view online. I also think that discussions about legislation can never be considered sensitive information. Otherwise there's too much room for abuse.