Could someone please point me to the real DeCSS source code? I have yet to mirror it. Also, If I mirrored several versions with different file sizes--adding whitespace and comments like:
/*BUFFER: This comment changes file size*/
then the argument of distinguishing between the 2 DeCSS utils based on file size becomes less relevent. Anyone else willing to do the same? Sure, we aren't high profile sites like/., but if enough of us do it, then at least DeCSS will survive.
Re:More harm than good?
on
A New DeCSS
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· Score: 1
From the press releases that have come out, including the interview with the MPAA prez, I think that the MPAA people that are the assholes are also idiots.
Everything published by the MPAA or quoting the MPAA makes it entirely clear that they have no clue about anything online--except that there are a lot of evil hackers that are trying to steal DVDs so that they can pirate every DVD movie and fit them all on one floppy disk. ehhh... right. idiots.
Hard drive space is cheap, but not really cheaper than just buying the damn DVD in the first place (unless you live in France. Sorry French dudes). How big is an unencrypted DVD? A few GIGs? I disagree with Boss Hogg on this one. The MPAA people are idiots.
One more question, could someone point me at the real DeCSS source code? I have yet to mirror that. Also, I am planning on rewriting it so that it has a different file size, without changing anything else (hello whitespace and comments). That will solve the problem of file size checks on both fronts.
I worked in Professor Phil Lubin's lab at UCSB. Mos Eisley, the computer confiscated (I like the articles that said the computer was turned over to the FBI. The FBI gave them a lot of choices...NOT) by the FBI, was, among other things, the email server for the lab. I'm wondering what they'll think if/when they read my email. I have a bunch of links mailed to myself when I was browsing the web. I've got links in there to l0pht, attrition, etc etc. I think I even mailed myself a copy of the html'd source code for a TCP/IP spoof code library.
Does anyone maintain a list of blocked sites? I would be curious if http://xxx.lanl.gov/ was one of the sites blocked. This site lists reprints of papers printed in scientific journals. I am just curious if the xxx in lieu of www causes it to be blocked by some of the blocking software.
If anyone maintains a list of blocked sites other than those mentioned in the article or on the article's links, please post.
LEGO Machine gun vs. LEGO Grenades.
on
Lego Machine Gun
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· Score: 1
Yeah, machine guns are a bit morbid. So was every kid I played with as a child. We'd stack the 8x4 bricks to make a hollow "sphere" (more like a cube with protrusions) to make grenades, which we'd lob at each other. They'd shatter on impact! I think I'd rather get shot by a 2x4 brick than have a lego grenade nail my head.
Given that Network Solutions, Inc. was willing to discontinue the www.etoy.com propogation, etoy had no choice but to respond. As far as a judge ruling on something outside his jurisdiction, what are we, f**kin' mind readers:) ? You want my logical conclusion based on my personal review of all the facts? The judge ruled because he was ignorant of the consequences and of all the facts in the case.
Actually, this reminds me of an art exhibit that a student made at UCSB last year. She took hard-core porn that she found on the internet and used photoshop to place the images into popular advertisements that were scanned in from magazines. You know that RCA ad with the two dogs sitting in front of the TV? You couldn't imagine the filth they were watching. Anyway, I'm betting that her art work material-gathering research would have been banned under this bill. Censorship stinks.
I have one question: Exactly what are students with high speed connections supposed to use their bandwidth for now?
All right, you've convinced me to give them a shot. I prefered the Mandrake distro, but if they are as user friendly as they hype... I'm set to purchase a copy of Corel Linux. Does Corel have an online download site? Or, can someone tell me before I spend the time downloading a 300 Meg file what exactly is ftp://ftp.corel.com/pub/linux/CorelLinux/iso/corel linux-oc_1.0.iso? I have a CDROM Image Burner, but I am really referring to what is included in the download. Also, I didn't notice any license document in the FTP directory. Can someone tell me if there are any restrictions (again, before I download)?
Now, can someone tell me how the deluxe version differs from the standard version? Post or email me please.
I think that this is the most rediculous thing ever. I equate this to a newspaper printing an article about defective airbags and getting sued by the auto manufacturer. Or, even more on the money, say there was a code like 4453 that worked on all those keyless entry locks. If a website posted the news they could get sued. In fact, this is exactly the same thing! Only in this case it hurts the manufacturer more than the consumer. 2600 provided a public service by reporting on the DeCSS and they are being bent over by the man because of it.
God Bless America! Land of the free! Of course, to protect that freedom, you'll need to hire a lawyer. That isn't free. Sorry, but if you want to complain, you'll have to file a suit. How? Well, that requires hiring a lawyer...
(embarassing to admit but...) I was watching Judge Judy. A little boy bought about 100 bucks in Pokemon Cards from a comic book store. The 100 bucks was stolen out of his mom's wallet. Judge Judy said that the comic book store was responsible for refunding the whole ammount. The defendant claimed that the little boy did not bring back all of the Pokemon cards, and so the refund could only partially happen. The judge ruled that it doesn't matter: If a business enters into a contract with a minor, that business is completely liable. In this case, the boy gave back probably half of the cards he bought but received the whole dollar ammount from the transaction.
Anyway, stupid anecdote, but the point is that Corel is right. A minor can do anything he pleases after agreeing to a license agreement. There is little recourse that can be had. Of course for that child to get the business license and whatnot to resell that code...;)
Second thought: imagine an army of little kids setting up their own "Code Mafia." They steal your code, kick you in the shins, then run away, thier high-pitched laughter haunting you in your dreams for years to come. Now THAT would be a movie story line to rival them all!!
In case you are wondering, I am copywriting that story line... Unless you are a minor, you can't touch it;)
I applaud the efforts of Corel to bring the average Joe to Linux (of course I would prefer FreeBSD). And I think that many people will switch only because they know that they can get their work done using Corel Office Products. I still use my Win98 machine for MS Office 2000. I happen to have more than one machine. I think that the average joe doesn't, and if I was put in the position where I could either have a stable desktop with no solid business apps or an unstable desktop OS with productive business apps, I'd stick with the productivity. Now for the but...
But, the responses given irked me a little. The answers seemed geared toward the general business public, not for the "News for Nerds" crowd. I can't think of a better marketer response than: Corel recognizes this, and is positioned at the forefront of the Linux movement. This sounds only like a self promoting ad. Not that a CEO shouldn't hype his company every chance he gets, but it shouldn't sound like pure business BS if it is to a technical audience.
His response to the Giving Back to the Community response irked me even more. It sounds like he thinks that joining the market is the single greatest thing a commercial company can do. What about IBM? They produce code and give money to development projects. What about COMPAQ (or DELL, or any others that provide computers to the public with the option of Linux pre-installed)? I think the ability for a consumer to get Linux pre-installed on a computer is even more beneficial to the spread of Linux than a single commercial company's software suite. This just seems like the marketing man's way of saying, "We can't really afford to give back that way right now. We don't really have any plans other than releasing the source code to help our apps print better."
Kudos on the printing API, even if I think that it is a token effort.
Seems to me like he is buying fame, but anyone who complains about someone giving 2 grand away to a charity for purposes of achieving another few minutes in the spotlight isn't gauging the situation properly. He deserves a lot more praise than, say, a large corporation that shells out advertising bucks to hype a product that squashes a consumer market and fails to deliver on 95% (arbitrary number, yes?) of it's promises. I think everyone should buy a little fame this way. This man is an example to be emulated.
Emacs does a whole bunch of stuff in one package. It is my prefered editor on *nix.
PERL is a do everything glue language that helps people write tools so that they can use a bunch of the "do one thing and do it well" tools together.
STAR office and Corel Office are composite tools.
I prefer to develop in an IDE. I think a lot of people do. And in order for Linux and other OS's to reach the mainstream, they are going to have to embrace multiple philosophies, not just the "Do one thing and do it well" philosophy.
Here's the part that I think is rediculous. I don't think "all serious Linux users will avoid them like the plague". I think a great many will, but I think that pissing off a community of hackers and crackers with a stupid PR stunt/Monopolization attempt is more detrimental than simply getting a group of customers to turn their back on you. I wonder what their web address is. I'd be curious to see how quickly it gets defaced.
Actually, one of the goals of information warfare is to reduce fatalities. If the enemy doubts the validity of the information his computer is giving him, then he will have to think twice about using that information. When leaders stop to think about the consequences of their actions, they are less likely going to throw lives away at something that might be a hacker induced error. We can disrupt the enemy communications systems by bombing the shit out of them or by bringing their systems down by other methods. I would prefer the method that doesn't involve the bombs. If you pin your enemy down without intelligence, the enemy cannot effectively fight.
ALSO, the government is interested in patching up its own systems. Check out the DoD SBIR proposals. Half of the Information Warfare topics are about defensive measures.
Actually, I'm against working for the government anyway. I do have moral qualms with giving anything to the US Gov't that could be used to aggrevate an assault. However, I'd rather have a war that kills systems by crack than by bomb. If nothing else, it's a lesser of two evils.
At the place I'm consulting at now, the sysadmin volunteered to stay and work NYE. I'm not really sure why, but I now appreciate it a lot more. Monday morning we only had one Y2K glitch, which may have been caused by the installation of Service Pack 6. Our mail client dropped (changed, actually) the information about our proxy. In other words, things went off smoothly. Thank you for being the watchdog and making sure that we were able to party our collective ass off. And thanks, Roland, for giving up your NYE for us at the ISERA Group.
To those people who think that it is so easy to find a job, if the guy has a family, it is quite possible that he was worried about dealing with any period of unemployment. And some people assumed that they were going to get NYE off until the last moment. Losing his job and spending a month unemployed while he searched for another job might not have been a workable scenario.
Anyone who says: "I would like to talk to my lawyer" Memorize this!! Has probably never used their own advice.
Last year I spent an hour on my stomach with an officer's gun to my head. I missed the friggin' X-Files! I'd rather not say what I did, but in the end I was able to walk home ONLY because I did not ask to talk to a lawyer. If I had done that, the officer would have brought me downtown, booked me for a crime (I was instead issued a citation on the spot) and I would have spent the night in jail, waiting to talk to a lawyer. As was, I only had to show up for a hearing, get everything straightened out, and pay a small fine. Had I talked to the laywer and/or been otherwise uncooperative, I was risking (however slim the odds of conviction) a three year prison sentence. No joke. I was a senior in college looking forward to graduating with high honors! Plus, I am a very handsome man, quite afraid of large cellmates.
My observation: Government views job candidate IQ like a golf score. The man takes pride in his job, and he has a gun. It is not a good idea to upset him. Let the man know that he is in power and in control of questioning, regardless of the actual situation. In my situation he was in control... and he was still visibly nervous. Ask yourself: "Here is a man who is pointing a gun at me. He is shaking. Do I really want to jar him with an attitude?"
The article makes it sound like Quantum Physics hasn't had a commercial application. Hey folks, you are using a commercial application of Quantum Physics right now! Yeah, the semiconductor technology or "Solid State" (now aka condensed matter) physics products can only be explained through quantum physics. If classical physics was correct, all p-n junctions would have to short out to pass current (incidently, this is often what happens when you fry a transistor in your cpu). Solar Cells, CCDs (the things that take the pictures in camcorders and digital cameras), diode lasers (like in a CD player), hospital nMRIs (nuclear magnetic resonance imaging), and Pokemon are all commercial devices that would not work if quantum physics was replaced by classical physics. Ok, so Pokemon was made up, not even quantum physics can explain that. I hope that this guy's theory can be debunked before he garners more press. On the other hand, if his energy and materials research produces results, I don't really care if the guy hasn't got a clue as to why they work. The nobel prize in chemistry was awarded to a hairstylist a few years ago because he invented/discovered (your pick, he was the first to make it) a ceramic that could be formed at common temperatures and then survive nuclear temperatures. He didn't really know why anything he did worked either... But at least he didn't come up with a pseudo-science explanation for it. As far as (super)string theory goes, it tidies up all of the problems that physicists had with the mathematics of quantum physics. You could argue that quantum physics can all be derived from (super)string theory. That is just an extension of the equivalence principle, which says that all of Classical Physics can be derived from Quantum Physics, and any place that they differ requires an experiment to prove one over the other--Quantum Physics wins over Classical Physics in all of the above applications I mentioned. Many astrophysicists look to the sky in the hopes of finding something that can verify (super)string theory. Hopefully we can find darkmatter clusters of sufficient size to be viable candidates for supersymmetric partical clusters. All currently observed darkmatter microlensing events can be explained without supersymmetry.
Slashdot Mirror
/*BUFFER: This comment changes file size*/
then the argument of distinguishing between the 2 DeCSS utils based on file size becomes less relevent. Anyone else willing to do the same? Sure, we aren't high profile sites like /., but if enough of us do it, then at least DeCSS will survive.
Everything published by the MPAA or quoting the MPAA makes it entirely clear that they have no clue about anything online--except that there are a lot of evil hackers that are trying to steal DVDs so that they can pirate every DVD movie and fit them all on one floppy disk. ehhh... right. idiots.
Hard drive space is cheap, but not really cheaper than just buying the damn DVD in the first place (unless you live in France. Sorry French dudes). How big is an unencrypted DVD? A few GIGs? I disagree with Boss Hogg on this one. The MPAA people are idiots.
One more question, could someone point me at the real DeCSS source code? I have yet to mirror that. Also, I am planning on rewriting it so that it has a different file size, without changing anything else (hello whitespace and comments). That will solve the problem of file size checks on both fronts.
Should I pack my bags?
If anyone maintains a list of blocked sites other than those mentioned in the article or on the article's links, please post.
I don't have many childhood memories. Go Figure.
Given that Network Solutions, Inc. was willing to discontinue the www.etoy.com propogation, etoy had no choice but to respond. As far as a judge ruling on something outside his jurisdiction, what are we, f**kin' mind readers :) ? You want my logical conclusion based on my personal review of all the facts? The judge ruled because he was ignorant of the consequences and of all the facts in the case.
I have one question: Exactly what are students with high speed connections supposed to use their bandwidth for now?
Now, can someone tell me how the deluxe version differs from the standard version? Post or email me please.
God Bless America! Land of the free! Of course, to protect that freedom, you'll need to hire a lawyer. That isn't free. Sorry, but if you want to complain, you'll have to file a suit. How? Well, that requires hiring a lawyer...
Anyway, stupid anecdote, but the point is that Corel is right. A minor can do anything he pleases after agreeing to a license agreement. There is little recourse that can be had. Of course for that child to get the business license and whatnot to resell that code... ;)
Second thought: imagine an army of little kids setting up their own "Code Mafia." They steal your code, kick you in the shins, then run away, thier high-pitched laughter haunting you in your dreams for years to come. Now THAT would be a movie story line to rival them all!!
In case you are wondering, I am copywriting that story line... Unless you are a minor, you can't touch it ;)
I applaud the efforts of Corel to bring the average Joe to Linux (of course I would prefer FreeBSD). And I think that many people will switch only because they know that they can get their work done using Corel Office Products. I still use my Win98 machine for MS Office 2000. I happen to have more than one machine. I think that the average joe doesn't, and if I was put in the position where I could either have a stable desktop with no solid business apps or an unstable desktop OS with productive business apps, I'd stick with the productivity. Now for the but...
But, the responses given irked me a little. The answers seemed geared toward the general business public, not for the "News for Nerds" crowd. I can't think of a better marketer response than: Corel recognizes this, and is positioned at the forefront of the Linux movement. This sounds only like a self promoting ad. Not that a CEO shouldn't hype his company every chance he gets, but it shouldn't sound like pure business BS if it is to a technical audience.
His response to the Giving Back to the Community response irked me even more. It sounds like he thinks that joining the market is the single greatest thing a commercial company can do. What about IBM? They produce code and give money to development projects. What about COMPAQ (or DELL, or any others that provide computers to the public with the option of Linux pre-installed)? I think the ability for a consumer to get Linux pre-installed on a computer is even more beneficial to the spread of Linux than a single commercial company's software suite. This just seems like the marketing man's way of saying, "We can't really afford to give back that way right now. We don't really have any plans other than releasing the source code to help our apps print better."
Kudos on the printing API, even if I think that it is a token effort.
Seems to me like he is buying fame, but anyone who complains about someone giving 2 grand away to a charity for purposes of achieving another few minutes in the spotlight isn't gauging the situation properly. He deserves a lot more praise than, say, a large corporation that shells out advertising bucks to hype a product that squashes a consumer market and fails to deliver on 95% (arbitrary number, yes?) of it's promises. I think everyone should buy a little fame this way. This man is an example to be emulated.
PERL is a do everything glue language that helps people write tools so that they can use a bunch of the "do one thing and do it well" tools together.
STAR office and Corel Office are composite tools.
I prefer to develop in an IDE. I think a lot of people do. And in order for Linux and other OS's to reach the mainstream, they are going to have to embrace multiple philosophies, not just the "Do one thing and do it well" philosophy.
Here's the part that I think is rediculous. I don't think "all serious Linux users will avoid them like the plague". I think a great many will, but I think that pissing off a community of hackers and crackers with a stupid PR stunt/Monopolization attempt is more detrimental than simply getting a group of customers to turn their back on you. I wonder what their web address is. I'd be curious to see how quickly it gets defaced.
ALSO, the government is interested in patching up its own systems. Check out the DoD SBIR proposals. Half of the Information Warfare topics are about defensive measures.
Actually, I'm against working for the government anyway. I do have moral qualms with giving anything to the US Gov't that could be used to aggrevate an assault. However, I'd rather have a war that kills systems by crack than by bomb. If nothing else, it's a lesser of two evils.
To those people who think that it is so easy to find a job, if the guy has a family, it is quite possible that he was worried about dealing with any period of unemployment. And some people assumed that they were going to get NYE off until the last moment. Losing his job and spending a month unemployed while he searched for another job might not have been a workable scenario.
Anyone who says: "I would like to talk to my lawyer" Memorize this!! Has probably never used their own advice.
Last year I spent an hour on my stomach with an officer's gun to my head. I missed the friggin' X-Files! I'd rather not say what I did, but in the end I was able to walk home ONLY because I did not ask to talk to a lawyer. If I had done that, the officer would have brought me downtown, booked me for a crime (I was instead issued a citation on the spot) and I would have spent the night in jail, waiting to talk to a lawyer. As was, I only had to show up for a hearing, get everything straightened out, and pay a small fine. Had I talked to the laywer and/or been otherwise uncooperative, I was risking (however slim the odds of conviction) a three year prison sentence. No joke. I was a senior in college looking forward to graduating with high honors! Plus, I am a very handsome man, quite afraid of large cellmates.
My observation: Government views job candidate IQ like a golf score. The man takes pride in his job, and he has a gun. It is not a good idea to upset him. Let the man know that he is in power and in control of questioning, regardless of the actual situation. In my situation he was in control... and he was still visibly nervous. Ask yourself: "Here is a man who is pointing a gun at me. He is shaking. Do I really want to jar him with an attitude?"
Remember, the police are your friend.
The article makes it sound like Quantum Physics hasn't had a commercial application. Hey folks, you are using a commercial application of Quantum Physics right now! Yeah, the semiconductor technology or "Solid State" (now aka condensed matter) physics products can only be explained through quantum physics. If classical physics was correct, all p-n junctions would have to short out to pass current (incidently, this is often what happens when you fry a transistor in your cpu). Solar Cells, CCDs (the things that take the pictures in camcorders and digital cameras), diode lasers (like in a CD player), hospital nMRIs (nuclear magnetic resonance imaging), and Pokemon are all commercial devices that would not work if quantum physics was replaced by classical physics. Ok, so Pokemon was made up, not even quantum physics can explain that. I hope that this guy's theory can be debunked before he garners more press.
On the other hand, if his energy and materials research produces results, I don't really care if the guy hasn't got a clue as to why they work. The nobel prize in chemistry was awarded to a hairstylist a few years ago because he invented/discovered (your pick, he was the first to make it) a ceramic that could be formed at common temperatures and then survive nuclear temperatures. He didn't really know why anything he did worked either... But at least he didn't come up with a pseudo-science explanation for it.
As far as (super)string theory goes, it tidies up all of the problems that physicists had with the mathematics of quantum physics. You could argue that quantum physics can all be derived from (super)string theory. That is just an extension of the equivalence principle, which says that all of Classical Physics can be derived from Quantum Physics, and any place that they differ requires an experiment to prove one over the other--Quantum Physics wins over Classical Physics in all of the above applications I mentioned. Many astrophysicists look to the sky in the hopes of finding something that can verify (super)string theory. Hopefully we can find darkmatter clusters of sufficient size to be viable candidates for supersymmetric partical clusters. All currently observed darkmatter microlensing events can be explained without supersymmetry.
ccoakley@candleconsulting.com