The problem is that the new scheme wasn't sufficiently privatized - consumer prices were still held fixed, mostly because the power companies thought they could make a bundle that way. There was corporate greed, but also regulatory failure in that the government didn't think though the possible consequences of the new system. Market forces only applied to part of the market, so the system wasn't flexible enough to absorb rapid shifts in other parts of the market - wholesale energy prices. Privatization didn't fail in CA because it was never really tried.
Well, if you simply refuse to give out your SSN, most companies (banks and insurance companies excepted) will
shrug and move on. They are collecting it simply because most people happily and blithely give it to anyone who
asks.
Here's an interesting story on that topic - apparently this man's been mostly successful in his life without an SSN, except for getting a new driver's license.
Remember: it's a "Microsoft virus", not an "email virus",
Even worse - the guy across the hall who is sitting next to his phone but never answers it until it's played quite too much of the annoying Nokia brand of "Fur Elise". I mean, how long does it take to answer a phone which is fucking strapped to your belt! I've resisted many an urge to grab it and throw it as far as I can...
On the plus side, if this special new sound is anything like "Fur Elise" I'll be able to zero in on it instantly - it's 6 feet south of here. Heck, I didn't even have to hear it ring first!
Remember: it's a "Microsoft virus", not an "email virus",
"Guns don't kill people, the Government does." - Dale Gribble
Re:The best way to expose a bad law is to enforce
on
Still in DMCA Prison
·
· Score: 1
That's true, but in reality how many cops really consider all the constitutional aspects of the law when they're enforcing it? They mostly want to not get shot by some lunatic/thug today. Police departments and the FBI aren't exactly favorable conditions for employees to question their duties and the ethics of the laws they enforce, you know - Agent Mulder wouldn't have lasted one season in the real FBI.
Not that this justifies the "just following orders" excuse at all, but I think you will find very few law enforcement personnel willing to thoroughly consider the constitutionality of their orders, especially in a case like this that is already a pretty ephemeral issue of fair use and encryption technology. The police probably know not to shoot peaceful protestors just because the Chief said to, but expecting them to decide for themselves the enforceability of the DMCA is a bit much.
To play the Devil's advocate for a moment - any registrar could just boot offenders once they receive and investigate complaints. As long as that oversight was made a requirement for the domain registration, it wouldn't be that tough to enforce on an as-needed basis.
My main reaction to this article: I can't wait until congress finds out exactly how intractable ICANN is, and charters its own root servers. Who would have thought that the biggest boost to the alternate DNS system would be the U.S. Government:) Of course, if they get NSI/Verisign to run it then we're not much better off...
On the flip-side, how long do you think it will be before people wanting to target-market to children will be
registering.kid domain suffixed domains, thinly guised as a fun site for kids to enjoy and learn from?
I dunno, is that anything like the half-hour commercials for the Transformers, G.I. Joe, and He-Man that I watched as a kid? Not that I didn't love them all, though. Too bad they didn't have any Robotech toys at the time (well, except that one Transformer) or I totally would have bought all of them.
In retrospect I'm surprised that the Star Wars toys didn't spawn their own animated series. Heck, I had Boba Fett Underoos, surely a TV show would be less exploitative than that:)
Re:SETI is against intergalactic law
on
Optical SETI
·
· Score: 1
Maybe if we could get a young, pretty Federal intern to break the DMCA the press would pay attention...
Re:Developers Have a Louder Voice than Speech
on
Still in DMCA Prison
·
· Score: 1
"1 if by land, 0 if by sea":)
Re:Proposed Solution: Boycott Movies & Music
on
Still in DMCA Prison
·
· Score: 1
he solution would be to get the
Movie & Music industries to notice we are fed up with the DMCA. Simply stop buying CD's or going to movies
for a year. The companies will find their profits drying up, the stockholders will want to know why and the
executives will have to come up with better models for selling things to the public instead of sneaking laws like the
DMCA under the fence.
Good points - I wish/. would follow through with them by canning the weekly movie reviews. They've never seemed particularly germane to the site's content in general, other than "geeks watch movies". Time to put your money where your mouth is.
Of course, Big Content might be happy to have all those pesky hackers ignoring it - it's a lot easier to sell Britney Spears when there's no one paying attention to point out how much crap it is. If your biggest critics decide to just remove themselves from mainstream society, haven't the MPAA, RIAA, etc. already won?
I think these issues are ripe for an almost Abolitionist approach - whenever an average citizen hears what these laws are about, they're almost unerringly convinced that they are bad laws and should be repealed. If we can get the word out to enough people, the DMCA is going to be a household name that is almost universally abhorred. Only then will things really begin to change.
Not that I'm that crazy about the Bush administration, but the DMCA passed with flying colors on President Clinton's watch. Neither party appears to be a great friend of civil liberties online.
Not sure if this is an urban legend or not (I'm certain I'll be corrected quickly if I'm wrong:), but I've heard that Habeas Corpus was suspended by President Lincoln during the Civil War, and has never been reinstated.
If patching is so painful, maybe those companies should consider using software which doesn't need as many patches, or open source software where there's a huge community that beta-tests patches as soon as they come out.
Although I bet that even taking a couple days to verify the patch before applying it would still beat most of the worms out there - the Code Red exploit was known for a month or so before the worm hit.
That's an illegal and disgusting practice if I've ever heard one. Perhaps an anonymous tip to the FEC?
You could still vote absentee beforehand since you'll be occupied with something that would prevent you from voting at the correct time.
Moral (as determined by /. readership):
on
The Joys of HDTV
·
· Score: 2
"A fool and his money are soon parted."
:)
Re:HDTV is dead. Long live HDTV
on
The Joys of HDTV
·
· Score: 1
This is what we call the "big plate of crap" theory. Why would consumers spend all that money for a bigger plate of
crap, trading analog noise for digital artifacts which blur the image rendering the higher resolution moot?
I can answer that - it's because the FCC is forcing us to, right? I thought that in 2006 or so there aren't going to be any standard TV broadcasts any more. My plan is to no longer need to watch TV by that point, and just keep my old set for video games, but of course if the PS6 requires HDTV too then I might be out of luck.
Considering the shapes of some of the other members in the Green Lantern Corps, familiarity with alternate sexualities might have been pretty helpful, though...
Slashdot Mirror
The problem is that the new scheme wasn't sufficiently privatized - consumer prices were still held fixed, mostly because the power companies thought they could make a bundle that way. There was corporate greed, but also regulatory failure in that the government didn't think though the possible consequences of the new system. Market forces only applied to part of the market, so the system wasn't flexible enough to absorb rapid shifts in other parts of the market - wholesale energy prices. Privatization didn't fail in CA because it was never really tried.
An informative article on the topic: http://www.feedmag.com/templates/default.php3?a_id =1583
Remember: it's a "Microsoft virus", not an "email virus",
Is that why they play those stupid "Jock Jams" during warmup time at football and basketball games? I'm not sure that I want to be in that Zone...
Remember: it's a "Microsoft virus", not an "email virus",
Here's an interesting story on that topic - apparently this man's been mostly successful in his life without an SSN, except for getting a new driver's license.
Remember: it's a "Microsoft virus", not an "email virus",
Even worse - the guy across the hall who is sitting next to his phone but never answers it until it's played quite too much of the annoying Nokia brand of "Fur Elise". I mean, how long does it take to answer a phone which is fucking strapped to your belt! I've resisted many an urge to grab it and throw it as far as I can...
On the plus side, if this special new sound is anything like "Fur Elise" I'll be able to zero in on it instantly - it's 6 feet south of here. Heck, I didn't even have to hear it ring first!
Remember: it's a "Microsoft virus", not an "email virus",
Actually, any connection between Hitler and some idea invokes Godwin's law :)
"Guns don't kill people, the Government does." - Dale Gribble
That's true, but in reality how many cops really consider all the constitutional aspects of the law when they're enforcing it? They mostly want to not get shot by some lunatic/thug today. Police departments and the FBI aren't exactly favorable conditions for employees to question their duties and the ethics of the laws they enforce, you know - Agent Mulder wouldn't have lasted one season in the real FBI.
Not that this justifies the "just following orders" excuse at all, but I think you will find very few law enforcement personnel willing to thoroughly consider the constitutionality of their orders, especially in a case like this that is already a pretty ephemeral issue of fair use and encryption technology. The police probably know not to shoot peaceful protestors just because the Chief said to, but expecting them to decide for themselves the enforceability of the DMCA is a bit much.
To play the Devil's advocate for a moment - any registrar could just boot offenders once they receive and investigate complaints. As long as that oversight was made a requirement for the domain registration, it wouldn't be that tough to enforce on an as-needed basis.
My main reaction to this article: I can't wait until congress finds out exactly how intractable ICANN is, and charters its own root servers. Who would have thought that the biggest boost to the alternate DNS system would be the U.S. Government :) Of course, if they get NSI/Verisign to run it then we're not much better off...
I dunno, is that anything like the half-hour commercials for the Transformers, G.I. Joe, and He-Man that I watched as a kid? Not that I didn't love them all, though. Too bad they didn't have any Robotech toys at the time (well, except that one Transformer) or I totally would have bought all of them.
In retrospect I'm surprised that the Star Wars toys didn't spawn their own animated series. Heck, I had Boba Fett Underoos, surely a TV show would be less exploitative than that :)
And, we'd also like to build a bypass.
One such Senator was Orrin Hatch, who's been quoted as saying that the law is definitely not working out the way he expected it to.
Maybe if we could get a young, pretty Federal intern to break the DMCA the press would pay attention...
"1 if by land, 0 if by sea" :)
Good points - I wish /. would follow through with them by canning the weekly movie reviews. They've never seemed particularly germane to the site's content in general, other than "geeks watch movies". Time to put your money where your mouth is.
Of course, Big Content might be happy to have all those pesky hackers ignoring it - it's a lot easier to sell Britney Spears when there's no one paying attention to point out how much crap it is. If your biggest critics decide to just remove themselves from mainstream society, haven't the MPAA, RIAA, etc. already won?
I think these issues are ripe for an almost Abolitionist approach - whenever an average citizen hears what these laws are about, they're almost unerringly convinced that they are bad laws and should be repealed. If we can get the word out to enough people, the DMCA is going to be a household name that is almost universally abhorred. Only then will things really begin to change.
Not that I'm that crazy about the Bush administration, but the DMCA passed with flying colors on President Clinton's watch. Neither party appears to be a great friend of civil liberties online.
Not sure if this is an urban legend or not (I'm certain I'll be corrected quickly if I'm wrong :), but I've heard that Habeas Corpus was suspended by President Lincoln during the Civil War, and has never been reinstated.
If patching is so painful, maybe those companies should consider using software which doesn't need as many patches, or open source software where there's a huge community that beta-tests patches as soon as they come out.
Although I bet that even taking a couple days to verify the patch before applying it would still beat most of the worms out there - the Code Red exploit was known for a month or so before the worm hit.
Not only that, but you have to wait 20 seconds between announcing the merger and closing the deal. Lousy frickin' slashcode!
Well, they're cheaper by the dozen, you know :)
That's "luminiferous aether" to you :)
I don't know, somebody could release a nice, polite worm instead. They don't all have to be surly, you know.
"A fool and his money are soon parted."
:)
I can answer that - it's because the FCC is forcing us to, right? I thought that in 2006 or so there aren't going to be any standard TV broadcasts any more. My plan is to no longer need to watch TV by that point, and just keep my old set for video games, but of course if the PS6 requires HDTV too then I might be out of luck.
Hmmm, I must have missed that issue :)
Considering the shapes of some of the other members in the Green Lantern Corps, familiarity with alternate sexualities might have been pretty helpful, though...