Begin Sarcasm - This is another violation of our privacy and should not be tolerated. - End Sarcasm
Seriously, I'm sick and tired of stories like this. This is supposed to be "News for Nerds. Stuff that matters." but its turning into "Slashdot, where you can be paranoid about anything related to a camera/government/big company/etc".
If this stuff keeps up I'm outta here. I thought this is supposed to be a place for professionals and serious hobbiests to use rational thought to discuss topics in technology but it seems its becoming a breeding ground for paranoid anti-capitalist anarchists.
And I'm sorry if I'm mistaken and the submitter is simply interested in the technology behind this surveilance technique, but I feel that my post applies retroactively to numerous other story submissions in the past.
Next people will reply to this saying "well that kind of attitude will make our freedom disappear" but I don't know if you people noticed but security cameras have been around for years, they are nothing new, they've been used to help solve numerous crimes, and I still have my freedom.
And before you moderate this down, think about how hypocritical it is to mod down a message and yet be oh so passionate about freedom of speech. Are people only free to say things as long as its what you agree with?
Re:Can the internet community sue microsoft?
on
Code Red III
·
· Score: 1
I have a question though. You make good points about the EULA, but is the EULA printed on the outside of the box? If it isn't, does this mean that a class action suit could be filed against Microsoft because people paid for the software only to find that they'd have to agree to the restrictive EULA, and since it wasn't printed on the outside of the box they didn't know thats what they were getting into? I could be completely wrong. Could anyone on Slashdot who's a lawyer fill me in on this?
If a trademark looses its validity when the term becomes "diluted" or a commonly used word to describe something, does that mean that the "Coke" trademark has lost its validity because people also frequently use the word to describe cocaine? Or is it only if people use the term "Coke" to describe a cola beverage. (which many do by the way).
This is just another fine example of what I see as corporations gaining too much power (financial, legal, etc) and misusing/abusing it.
I mean don't get me wrong, I'm all for capitalism, and I tend not to be socialist, but things are just getting out of hand, and the government is doing nothing about it.
The same government that was established during the end of colonial times, to protect the rights of the people.
When things like this happen, I tend to loose a lot of hope in humanity.
Why is this happening? Its happening because the vast majority of people are letting it happen. So many people claim that they're all for freedom of speech, yet they do nothing about it.
Is the reasoning for this that we are simply a reactive society, if so its time for us to react. My personal opionion for this is that many people like myself are simply frustrated and loosing hope in freedon, and don't think that they can make a difference, so they carry on in veign, not trying to make change.
I don't mean for this to sound like a rant, I just believe its a very serious issue that is so overlooked and ignored so often by the vast majority of people, and I just wish there was some way to reach these people and let them know just whats going on, and whats at stake. I believe that if the trend of abusive corporations continue, that maybe not our children or our grandchildren but our great-grandchildren could be living in a restrictive opressive world much like the many of our ancestors.
History does tend to repeat if it is forgotten.
I look forward to hearing other people's opinions on this subject.
Re:Vigilantes aren't all bad.
on
Eco-Terrorism
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· Score: 1
Furthermore, we have interesting statistics which tells us that in situations where guns are fired, armed citizens are significantly less likely to shoot the wrong person than police officers.
Did you know that over 76% of statistics are made up?
Did I make a point? (Please include the statistical numbers and the source when stating such things.)
In this case the technology (USGS Satellite) is being used to prevent insurance fraud. How is this meddling in the business afairs of private businesses and individuals when they (government) is only protecting themselves from fraud? (Which by the way costs you extra money in the form of taxes.)
I agree with you in that I don't think I'd like to be followed around 24/7 by government surveilance, and when I said "You only have reason to be afraid if you're doing something illegal" I was meaning to this instance of how this satellite was used (keep in mind this is not a spy satellite but a geological survey satellite).
But the fact is, if the government did not "spy" (monitor) on its own people, do you have any idea how many more acts of domestic terrorism might occur, how many more dollars you'd be paying in taxes for misuse (fraud) of government financial aid, and the list goes on...
I don't always agree with government policies but I think people just need to be a little more aware of how the situation the goverment is in, and look at things from more than just their own point of view. Walk a mile in their (government's) shoes to find out how hard it must be to keep the population of America from falling into total anarchy. Its a tough job and some civil liberties may be compromised but in my opinion I think its worth it if it keeps us from heading towards total (or even partial) disorder.
Feel free to debate my points, and I'd enjoy debating with you further. Thanks.:)
First of all, saying "you're probably doing something illegal anyways, otherwise you should have little to no reason to be frightned." is NEVER a valid argument.
Care to explain why? Seems you didn't present a very valid argument either. (Pot calling kettle black? Hmmm....)
With that past, even if Gore was voted into power this sort of thing (the insurance fraud bust) probably would have happened. If the majority of people were opposed to such busts, they'd be talking with their congressmen/women whom they voted into power, in order to get these laws changed. This sort of thing happened under the Clinton government too, so don't go blaming it on the president. Its not like he personally did it on his own.
All of the sudden there will be tons of posts "This is frightning! Evil big brother spying on us!!! Evil!!!". You people (the ones writing posts such as I mentioned) don't realize that this is probably going to save you money as a tax payer in the long run (as less insurance fraud will mean this part of the government doesn't have to shell out false insurance claims, meaning they can spend their money on other, less wasteful things).
Besides, if you're so frightned by the use of this technology, you're probably doing something illegal anyways, otherwise you should have little to no reason to be frightned.
Sorry if this sounds like flaimbait but you people have to realize the government doesn't just do this to be mean or be bad or think they're cool, they're doing it to protect their (and the vast majority of their citizens) interests. And don't try to tell me that its not in the vast majority of their people's interests, after all, the majority did vote them into power.
I ordered my ADSL right after we got the big ice storm when phone lines and hydro lines went down all over the place, and Bell Canada (Sympatico) was still able to come and install it after two weeks. When they came out they determined there was too much line noise on my line for the ADSL installation, so they strung a whole new line (well 20 ft of it from my house to the box) at no cost, and my ADSL works really well to this day!
Thanks Bell;)
PS. (I just wish they'd have stuck with the 2.2Mbps modems like mine instead of switching to the Alcatel ones... they seem to have a few little problems...)
What if there's life on Mars that we don't know about, or even if there isn't life on Mars, wouldn't sending spacecraft from Earth risk contaminating Mars? Not contaminating in such a sense as to cause damage to Mars but isn't it possible we'd find life on Mars that was accidentally brought over on a probe from Earth? Same with some of the other interplanetary missions.
The Game Designer is the one who comes up with the idea, figures out what the game will include as far as gameplay goes, produces the game design document, etc.
The Game Programmers take this design document and build a game from it. Think of it like constructing a building, the architect draws up the plans, and the contractors build it to specifications.
The days of writing a game from complete scratch with no plans are long gone, and it is generally a bad idea these days since game projects generally tend to be advanced and complex.
A good read for you would be "Game Architecture And Design" written by Andrew Rollings and Dave Morris. ISBN: 1-57610-425-7
Plus with payphones there is generally less radio signal emitted, so it frees up a lot of bandwidth in the RF spectrum for other more necessary uses. (like other things that can't be attached to a phone line)
I don't think thats a very good example because an establishment blocking cell phones with a jammer would very likely have a phone line in to the place, which would not affected by the jammer.
...just what we need, more movies based on a video game. Will the hero of this one point and click his/her way to victory like its video game counterpart? =P
This is great news and all, but how long before we the consumer can actually purchase this technology?
How long will it be before they finally come up with a standard for these increased density CDs, or are we going to have a bunch of different propriety formats to keep track of?
...the good old days before big providers like AOL started providing internet access. Back then the internet was about communication, not forcing ads down people's throats.
I wonder what percentage of the total bandwidth taken up on the net is from ineffective spam and advertising (stuff that people receive that doesn't make them want to buy anything). Anyone have any figures?
Aparently the crew module was intact after the Challenger exploded, and the crew was alive until impact with the water. After NASA did all their investigations to find out what went wrong I believe they installed parachutes on the crew module, among many other minor modifications to the Space Shuttle and its launch system.
Slashdot Mirror
...You just made my point, thank you.
Begin Sarcasm - This is another violation of our privacy and should not be tolerated. - End Sarcasm
Seriously, I'm sick and tired of stories like this. This is supposed to be "News for Nerds. Stuff that matters." but its turning into "Slashdot, where you can be paranoid about anything related to a camera/government/big company/etc".
If this stuff keeps up I'm outta here. I thought this is supposed to be a place for professionals and serious hobbiests to use rational thought to discuss topics in technology but it seems its becoming a breeding ground for paranoid anti-capitalist anarchists.
And I'm sorry if I'm mistaken and the submitter is simply interested in the technology behind this surveilance technique, but I feel that my post applies retroactively to numerous other story submissions in the past.
Next people will reply to this saying "well that kind of attitude will make our freedom disappear" but I don't know if you people noticed but security cameras have been around for years, they are nothing new, they've been used to help solve numerous crimes, and I still have my freedom.
And before you moderate this down, think about how hypocritical it is to mod down a message and yet be oh so passionate about freedom of speech. Are people only free to say things as long as its what you agree with?
I'm glad to see you still have the freedom to mispell "freedom".
I'm glad to see a decision for freedome can still happen in this country.
If you password protect your disk and printer shares you should be okay using the file and printer sharing directly on the net.
Well said my friend. :)
I have a question though. You make good points about the EULA, but is the EULA printed on the outside of the box? If it isn't, does this mean that a class action suit could be filed against Microsoft because people paid for the software only to find that they'd have to agree to the restrictive EULA, and since it wasn't printed on the outside of the box they didn't know thats what they were getting into? I could be completely wrong. Could anyone on Slashdot who's a lawyer fill me in on this?
Not only is this funny but its also quite insightful and true.
Didn't they learn from all the other failed e-business sites? People will pay for products and services that are actually useful and convienient.
Enough said...
Very good points.
Mod this one up please moderators.
If a trademark looses its validity when the term becomes "diluted" or a commonly used word to describe something, does that mean that the "Coke" trademark has lost its validity because people also frequently use the word to describe cocaine? Or is it only if people use the term "Coke" to describe a cola beverage. (which many do by the way).
Just a thought...
This is just another fine example of what I see as corporations gaining too much power (financial, legal, etc) and misusing/abusing it.
I mean don't get me wrong, I'm all for capitalism, and I tend not to be socialist, but things are just getting out of hand, and the government is doing nothing about it.
The same government that was established during the end of colonial times, to protect the rights of the people.
When things like this happen, I tend to loose a lot of hope in humanity.
Why is this happening? Its happening because the vast majority of people are letting it happen. So many people claim that they're all for freedom of speech, yet they do nothing about it.
Is the reasoning for this that we are simply a reactive society, if so its time for us to react. My personal opionion for this is that many people like myself are simply frustrated and loosing hope in freedon, and don't think that they can make a difference, so they carry on in veign, not trying to make change.
I don't mean for this to sound like a rant, I just believe its a very serious issue that is so overlooked and ignored so often by the vast majority of people, and I just wish there was some way to reach these people and let them know just whats going on, and whats at stake. I believe that if the trend of abusive corporations continue, that maybe not our children or our grandchildren but our great-grandchildren could be living in a restrictive opressive world much like the many of our ancestors.
History does tend to repeat if it is forgotten.
I look forward to hearing other people's opinions on this subject.
Furthermore, we have interesting statistics which tells us that in situations where guns are fired, armed citizens are significantly less likely to shoot the wrong person than police officers.
Did you know that over 76% of statistics are made up?
Did I make a point? (Please include the statistical numbers and the source when stating such things.)
In this case the technology (USGS Satellite) is being used to prevent insurance fraud. How is this meddling in the business afairs of private businesses and individuals when they (government) is only protecting themselves from fraud? (Which by the way costs you extra money in the form of taxes.)
:)
I agree with you in that I don't think I'd like to be followed around 24/7 by government surveilance, and when I said "You only have reason to be afraid if you're doing something illegal" I was meaning to this instance of how this satellite was used (keep in mind this is not a spy satellite but a geological survey satellite).
But the fact is, if the government did not "spy" (monitor) on its own people, do you have any idea how many more acts of domestic terrorism might occur, how many more dollars you'd be paying in taxes for misuse (fraud) of government financial aid, and the list goes on...
I don't always agree with government policies but I think people just need to be a little more aware of how the situation the goverment is in, and look at things from more than just their own point of view. Walk a mile in their (government's) shoes to find out how hard it must be to keep the population of America from falling into total anarchy. Its a tough job and some civil liberties may be compromised but in my opinion I think its worth it if it keeps us from heading towards total (or even partial) disorder.
Feel free to debate my points, and I'd enjoy debating with you further. Thanks.
First of all, saying "you're probably doing something illegal anyways, otherwise you should have little to no reason to be frightned." is NEVER a valid argument.
Care to explain why? Seems you didn't present a very valid argument either. (Pot calling kettle black? Hmmm....)
With that past, even if Gore was voted into power this sort of thing (the insurance fraud bust) probably would have happened. If the majority of people were opposed to such busts, they'd be talking with their congressmen/women whom they voted into power, in order to get these laws changed. This sort of thing happened under the Clinton government too, so don't go blaming it on the president. Its not like he personally did it on his own.
All of the sudden there will be tons of posts "This is frightning! Evil big brother spying on us!!! Evil!!!". You people (the ones writing posts such as I mentioned) don't realize that this is probably going to save you money as a tax payer in the long run (as less insurance fraud will mean this part of the government doesn't have to shell out false insurance claims, meaning they can spend their money on other, less wasteful things).
Besides, if you're so frightned by the use of this technology, you're probably doing something illegal anyways, otherwise you should have little to no reason to be frightned.
Sorry if this sounds like flaimbait but you people have to realize the government doesn't just do this to be mean or be bad or think they're cool, they're doing it to protect their (and the vast majority of their citizens) interests. And don't try to tell me that its not in the vast majority of their people's interests, after all, the majority did vote them into power.
I ordered my ADSL right after we got the big ice storm when phone lines and hydro lines went down all over the place, and Bell Canada (Sympatico) was still able to come and install it after two weeks. When they came out they determined there was too much line noise on my line for the ADSL installation, so they strung a whole new line (well 20 ft of it from my house to the box) at no cost, and my ADSL works really well to this day!
;)
Thanks Bell
PS. (I just wish they'd have stuck with the 2.2Mbps modems like mine instead of switching to the Alcatel ones... they seem to have a few little problems...)
Me too. I think it was a Readers Digest issue from two years back or so.
If I remebmer the story correctly, he took apart lots of smoke detectors to get some of the fissile materials he needed.
What if there's life on Mars that we don't know about, or even if there isn't life on Mars, wouldn't sending spacecraft from Earth risk contaminating Mars? Not contaminating in such a sense as to cause damage to Mars but isn't it possible we'd find life on Mars that was accidentally brought over on a probe from Earth? Same with some of the other interplanetary missions.
Just a thought...
The Game Designer is the one who comes up with the idea, figures out what the game will include as far as gameplay goes, produces the game design document, etc.
The Game Programmers take this design document and build a game from it. Think of it like constructing a building, the architect draws up the plans, and the contractors build it to specifications.
The days of writing a game from complete scratch with no plans are long gone, and it is generally a bad idea these days since game projects generally tend to be advanced and complex.
A good read for you would be "Game Architecture And Design" written by Andrew Rollings and Dave Morris. ISBN: 1-57610-425-7
Plus with payphones there is generally less radio signal emitted, so it frees up a lot of bandwidth in the RF spectrum for other more necessary uses. (like other things that can't be attached to a phone line)
I don't think thats a very good example because an establishment blocking cell phones with a jammer would very likely have a phone line in to the place, which would not affected by the jammer.
...just what we need, more movies based on a video game. Will the hero of this one point and click his/her way to victory like its video game counterpart? =P
This is great news and all, but how long before we the consumer can actually purchase this technology?
How long will it be before they finally come up with a standard for these increased density CDs, or are we going to have a bunch of different propriety formats to keep track of?
...the good old days before big providers like AOL started providing internet access.
Back then the internet was about communication, not forcing ads down people's throats.
I wonder what percentage of the total bandwidth taken up on the net is from ineffective spam and advertising (stuff that people receive that doesn't make them want to buy anything). Anyone have any figures?
Aparently the crew module was intact after the Challenger exploded, and the crew was alive until impact with the water. After NASA did all their investigations to find out what went wrong I believe they installed parachutes on the crew module, among many other minor modifications to the Space Shuttle and its launch system.