Re:Why wasn't it controlled before?
on
At The Crossroads
·
· Score: 1
You're forgetting something. When you said, "So, governments are now faced with corparations [sic] trying to get into this world and being faced with lawlessness..." you forgot that, as Katz said, the Internet not only ignores, but points its tongue out and raspberries international boundaries. The net is (although not for long) and should remain a frontier, where free speech is ensured. I think crackers can play a positive role in this. I doubt corporations would be so eager to squish our rights if they faced repercussions such as, say, a testimonial to the moral injustices they've pressed upon the community replacing the front page of their domain. Posessing the right morals (or lack thereof?) and the skills, crackers could potentially be to the RIAA, MPAA, etc. etc. now what students and other protesters were to the government during Vietnam and during many other incidents and attempts to squelch human rights -- no, not targets, but counterweights. We need more than just words, I think. We need action. Maybe being l337 will account for something more than a mumbled "script kiddy.." in the new age, eh?
You mentioned that you don't like dicatorship. However, in some cases dictatorship can work very well. I mean, think about it -- how long does it take now to pass laws funding all the projects and propositions put up every two years for voting? How much of a waiting period? How hard is it for the nation to activate its military and fight back in the event of a war (not necessarily invasion)? Now think of one guy sitting at his desk, one guy who just happens to be an altruistic, competent, intelligent individual who has earned the respect of the people, who decides that there should be more funding for something or that something should be done about a situation in some part of the world. To do this he has only to say so, and his subordinates would be expected to, with very little prior thought, carry out his orders. He may have heard or asked for opinions on the subject but in the end it is his decision. Compare this to now, where any proposition has to wait two years from the last voting period to get a 75% majority vote, when much more than 75% of the people in this country (the US) are total idiots, and/or mis or uninformed of the things they are voting on -- and even if they do know most of the information is biased and comes from corporately funded ads on TV or radio. Just look at proposition 22 in California (this is my opinion, of course). Dictatorship moves pretty fast in comparison, huh? Granted, the person required for this position is right out of a utopian novel, but that is just what a perfect government (which communism, republic, socialism, monarchy, etc. all strive to be come) is -- a utopian theory. There is no such thing. Some are better or worse than others, but it is impossible to do everything right. I also read later in this thread someone mention slavery as a by-product of capitalism. And convieniently forgetting the gulags in which russian (often political) prisoners were forced to work for the State, except without the pay that our prisoners working in the US recieve. That sounds like slavery to me.
Anonymity on the web is almost entirely focused on the ability to perform porn-related transactions without shame. Anyone who thinks it has anything to do with anything else needs a clue. Slim mentioned the questioning of the "right" to perform porn-related transactions without shame, but I will say something a little different. Speaking of rights, whose right is it to question other people's motives or actions? Morality depends entirely upon the upringing, religion, etc. of the person who takes it upon himself to judge others. Granted, the moral majority has and needs rules and laws to keep themselves "safe" from people who have a slightly... different... perspective on what is right or wrong (i.e. members of Muslim sects who look upon dying for Allah, meaning in some cases driving their TNT - loaded trucks headlong into buildings, as honorable and, indeed, right); but, outside of the personal well-being of yourself, what interest is it of yours if some guy takes his schlong to a Playboy or orders one via the Internet? What right do you have to tell him that he has to, in effect, walk out into the middle of the street and scream "I LOVE SPANKING PICTURES!!" Combine this with other statements about how anonymity has helped people deal with their problems. Whether or not YOU think that their desire for facelessness while speaking of their problems is acceptable or necessary does not matter one whit. If what THEY are talking of does not slander you (in which case it is not protected by the 1st amendment anyway, IANAL), then its their right to speak their mind with their fears of retribution at rest. Yes, anonymity does provide a shield for people engaging in genuinely illegal activity online, but it is nonetheless a marginal one. ISPs keep activity logs, some of them of the sites visited by certain IP addresses, all timestamped. Even removed entries is a clue as to who committed what crime and when. Basically, we are slowly losing rights, not only anonymity, that the majority thinks is unnecessary, as was pointed out earlier, but removed offer openings for things worse than the problems caused by their existence. Yeah, I KNOW I'm long-winded. BITE ME!
Well, in all of the game stores I have visited I haven't yet seen Q3A out for Linux . . . I know Red Alert has been ported, it was on a Slackware distrib a while ago . . . Starcraft would kick arse. So would Rogue Spear and Unreal Tourney -- oh wait, I forgot, Unreal Tournament is already out for Linux *evil grin*. Thats all of what I would need on my system -- then maybe I could destroy the many-GPF'ed behemoth lurking in my computer named Win98 . . . which steals from my HD even the space for Linux, and never fails to screw up LILO whenever I put in a new HD (20 gigs -- heheheheh --) And now I am ranting. Cue for me to shut up, eh? -Ethernet Devices Are Your Friends!
You're forgetting this is the US government we're talking about -- masters of saying one thing and doing another. =] Who cares what they are "chartered" to do, they work for the gov't; they can do perty much anything while our backs are turned.
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You're forgetting something. When you said, "So, governments are now faced with corparations [sic] trying to get into this world and being faced with lawlessness ..." you forgot that, as Katz said, the Internet not only ignores, but points its tongue out and raspberries international boundaries. The net is (although not for long) and should remain a frontier, where free speech is ensured. I think crackers can play a positive role in this. I doubt corporations would be so eager to squish our rights if they faced repercussions such as, say, a testimonial to the moral injustices they've pressed upon the community replacing the front page of their domain. Posessing the right morals (or lack thereof?) and the skills, crackers could potentially be to the RIAA, MPAA, etc. etc. now what students and other protesters were to the government during Vietnam and during many other incidents and attempts to squelch human rights -- no, not targets, but counterweights. We need more than just words, I think. We need action. Maybe being l337 will account for something more than a mumbled "script kiddy .." in the new age, eh?
You mentioned that you don't like dicatorship. However, in some cases dictatorship can work very well. I mean, think about it -- how long does it take now to pass laws funding all the projects and propositions put up every two years for voting? How much of a waiting period? How hard is it for the nation to activate its military and fight back in the event of a war (not necessarily invasion)? Now think of one guy sitting at his desk, one guy who just happens to be an altruistic, competent, intelligent individual who has earned the respect of the people, who decides that there should be more funding for something or that something should be done about a situation in some part of the world. To do this he has only to say so, and his subordinates would be expected to, with very little prior thought, carry out his orders. He may have heard or asked for opinions on the subject but in the end it is his decision. Compare this to now, where any proposition has to wait two years from the last voting period to get a 75% majority vote, when much more than 75% of the people in this country (the US) are total idiots, and/or mis or uninformed of the things they are voting on -- and even if they do know most of the information is biased and comes from corporately funded ads on TV or radio. Just look at proposition 22 in California (this is my opinion, of course). Dictatorship moves pretty fast in comparison, huh? Granted, the person required for this position is right out of a utopian novel, but that is just what a perfect government (which communism, republic, socialism, monarchy, etc. all strive to be come) is -- a utopian theory. There is no such thing. Some are better or worse than others, but it is impossible to do everything right. I also read later in this thread someone mention slavery as a by-product of capitalism. And convieniently forgetting the gulags in which russian (often political) prisoners were forced to work for the State, except without the pay that our prisoners working in the US recieve. That sounds like slavery to me.
Anonymity on the web is almost entirely focused on the ability to perform porn-related transactions without shame. Anyone who thinks it has anything to do with anything else needs a clue. Slim mentioned the questioning of the "right" to perform porn-related transactions without shame, but I will say something a little different. Speaking of rights, whose right is it to question other people's motives or actions? Morality depends entirely upon the upringing, religion, etc. of the person who takes it upon himself to judge others. Granted, the moral majority has and needs rules and laws to keep themselves "safe" from people who have a slightly ... different ... perspective on what is right or wrong (i.e. members of Muslim sects who look upon dying for Allah, meaning in some cases driving their TNT - loaded trucks headlong into buildings, as honorable and, indeed, right); but, outside of the personal well-being of yourself, what interest is it of yours if some guy takes his schlong to a Playboy or orders one via the Internet? What right do you have to tell him that he has to, in effect, walk out into the middle of the street and scream "I LOVE SPANKING PICTURES!!" Combine this with other statements about how anonymity has helped people deal with their problems. Whether or not YOU think that their desire for facelessness while speaking of their problems is acceptable or necessary does not matter one whit. If what THEY are talking of does not slander you (in which case it is not protected by the 1st amendment anyway, IANAL), then its their right to speak their mind with their fears of retribution at rest. Yes, anonymity does provide a shield for people engaging in genuinely illegal activity online, but it is nonetheless a marginal one. ISPs keep activity logs, some of them of the sites visited by certain IP addresses, all timestamped. Even removed entries is a clue as to who committed what crime and when. Basically, we are slowly losing rights, not only anonymity, that the majority thinks is unnecessary, as was pointed out earlier, but removed offer openings for things worse than the problems caused by their existence. Yeah, I KNOW I'm long-winded. BITE ME!
Well, in all of the game stores I have visited I haven't yet seen Q3A out for Linux . . . I know Red Alert has been ported, it was on a Slackware distrib a while ago . . . Starcraft would kick arse. So would Rogue Spear and Unreal Tourney -- oh wait, I forgot, Unreal Tournament is already out for Linux *evil grin*. Thats all of what I would need on my system -- then maybe I could destroy the many-GPF'ed behemoth lurking in my computer named Win98 . . . which steals from my HD even the space for Linux, and never fails to screw up LILO whenever I put in a new HD (20 gigs -- heheheheh --) And now I am ranting. Cue for me to shut up, eh? -Ethernet Devices Are Your Friends!
You're forgetting this is the US government we're talking about -- masters of saying one thing and doing another. =] Who cares what they are "chartered" to do, they work for the gov't; they can do perty much anything while our backs are turned.