As per TFA: "ANALYSIS: The FBI believes that only well-financed terrorist groups would be able to develop or purchase a laser blinding system. Estimates project it would cost a group approximately $50,000 to obtain a military-grade laser system."
I would personally be more concerned by the potential from "hobby lasers" such as the ones that can be built from non monitored equipment capable of burning through wood blocks and other things depending on the power of the device. This is not to discount the damage a toy laser pointing device can do to the eye, but in terms of the small moving target and distance the laser must travel and medium(s) it must pass through how can they really be a threat? Not being a laser hobbyist, I may speak not knowing the facts but it seems to me if you could get the setup going in your garage why not in a mobile device such as a small Mack truck? If you could get the stability needed to keep the alignment and the power and inert gas needed I can see the potential for a risk here. This would yield a mobile assault platform that would very difficult to track down and have the potential for damage depending on the quality and power of the laser device.
Then again, two can play the disinformation game. In terms of monetary value, a war of attrition forcing more to be spent on securing and investigating blind avenues would be devastating for security budgets. Money and resources would be wasted deterring from a more viable plan on much softer targets. Who is to say this chatter they fall on so much is not anymore accurate than the Uranium connection Iraq had? Many things have the potential to be weapons on many objects, and creating a police state will only force things into the black market which always thrives. For example the war on drugs, they are quite illegal but has that made them purged from American soil?
With Vonage I don't pay for local calls and long distance and that includes calls to Canada! I'll take unlimited to x.x/minute anyday. I never use a code aside from 1+AreaCode and my phone switch is my home phone company allowing me to take "local" calls from my broadband connection at home or from a hotel with broadband in Italy. I also use the options for virtual area codes and elminated large chunks out of the phone bill for my family. All these benefits PLUS the packages you pay out the wazoo for at the traditional POTC such as call forwarding, waiting, voice mail, caller ID etc. HELL YEAH LET A PRICE WAR HAPPEN! I get great service and great service cheaper, this is a fine wine not often served.
With price wars and growth however, how much more appealing of a target to the FCC has VoIP become?
Growing up as a kid, even watching the Challenger explode live in the 4th grade, I had great respect and awe for NASA and it's accomplishments in space exploration and history. I still watch missions in great anticipation, even with the Genesis crash and Columbia accident. However, I now look upon NASA with a different attitude.
If humans were to be on Mars within 20-30 years, it will probably not be done by NASA rather a project from the commercial sector. As an example, look at the progress of the X-Prize challenge where even though they might not have met a goal of the challenge yet they have come further than NASA in new vehicle design and deployment. Americans know from experience, the coporate sector tends to do things better than a governement equivalent. The key to this may be something above and beyond just a corporate profit venture, perhaps maybe even something along the lines of luring people to a new goverment on a Mars colony. Several bright scientists have developed lots of ways to get humans to Mars, and sustain them (In theory of course). Research in areas like the Biodome can be used to fork a new research area like adaptions to the current Mars environment and start plants as natural O2 generators. Chemical recations can also be used to create water or gasses of our choice, and using our limited understanding of our planet apply that knowledge to terraform Mars eventually. All these things will need a company to design, build, and support...more Corporate lure to do the hard task. To say we cannot put somebody on Mars just because a resource we need to live is not in standing waiting for us, is shirking off a challenge.
NASA will become a probe specialist since those missions are pure science, and I think in the future we will look to companies for space travel and NASA to find that space to travel to safely with understanding. Putting humans on Mars will be difficult and dangerous, but once learned quite possibly profitable and the start of a new era.
The burning of books has long been a sign of an oppressive regime flexing it's muscles of propaganda to strike down things that counter their essence. From early Chinese emperors burning scrolls and burying the scholars alive to erradicate knowledge up to the Nazis burning books and sending off their undesirables to death camps. While some have been successful in their campaign to destroy knowledge and hide it, for the most part it is an exercise in futility. Reasons for burning books are typically to keep those sorts of ideas and concepts from the masses, reasons for banning books are to keep those sorts of ideas and concepts from the masses. In the age of the Internet this is a shallow useless act that only shows a repressive nature of somebody or some group.
Some books are banned because they showcase the shame of America, like Huckleberry Finn with the word nigger being used correctly in context as it was for the time the story was wrote in. Does banning this book for printing the word nigger as it was used make bigotry and racism go away, change history and the fact that it was used, miracle away American hypocrisy of liberty and justice for all except slaves? By not learning the truth and being exposed to facts we erradicate the lessons we should have learned. Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. If you have such a serious problem with a book, close the cover and get rid of it. If you are such a failure as a parent you don't want little George reading a book because you don't have the time to invest in your child, don't get them the book. If they have book because they do not want to follow in your silhouette, take it from them or find somebody to be the parent you are not. Nobody is making you read them, why force others down to your level of illiteracy.
Putting a book on a banlist is a quick way to get my attention, and usually much more reliable for a good read than the bestseller listings. Celebrate the banned book list, check them off as you read each one.
No book should be banned, censorship spawns ignorance.
If all ISPs would block port 25 for residential customers, that would channel the mail through their mail servers which they could monitor and disable users till they remove the menace, patch their box, get an AV program and a firewall running. Lie and get disabled for the same thing and on strike three enjoy dial-up. This would also help curtail virii with their own SMTP engines and prevent that deluge from being sent out. The business customers with their own mail servers would not be affected by this, and should have spamcop reports to show if they are spammers and again answer to disabled service till they explain themselves or fix their open relay. "What right would they have to do this!" you may ask, you are a menace to their network (Read the license agreement) and dragging that networks name through the mud if you are contributing to this.
Changing your current SMTP, say for MacMail, to your ISPs would not change the reply-to address that you setup and still allow you port 110 to POP for that email account. Several ISPs already do this and the amount of spam coming from that network drops so drastically they find themselves removed from Blacklists for their domain name. Computers are as much of a responsiblity to maintain as cars are, if not more given the global influence they can have.
"With economy so sluggish we were not getting the usual dose of the hefty 95% payout of other people's work while doing next to nothing for them. Other board members found themselves in a bind looking at having to sell at least one of their private jets and some even having to give up some of the help in one of their mansions. Our dead end battles that cost more money than any other venture trying to stop P2P was not giving our gold lined pockets a fifth coat, and we thought of how else we could spread our propaganda. Needing a scapegoat we thought, let us focus with intensity upon the children! Parents these days tend not to parent and we can force ideas upon these children based upon what laws we have purchased in what country. That is when the epiphany struck us, waste classroom time that could be used to increase math and science skills to drill in the laws we have purchased!
With great enthusiam that should have been invested into better business models more applicable to current times and technology, we found a little island to start our new program. Surely, armed with the knowledge of these laws and ability to recite them these children will be able to do anything they want such as research in the ESA, earn nobel prizes, and anything else. The whole board also agreed this will permanently get them spending money they do not have on needless expenses such as CDs and movies when they can barely afford food and housing. The joy to have four personal chefs on call in my Summer Mansion again!"
The above is a satire meant to give humor while drawing focus on how HORRIBLE it is to waste classroom time on complete shit like this. Schools are for teaching the children the skills they need to succeed and if possible make the great contributions that advance humanity. To waste classroom time on this is to betray the children who suffer it, and their futures.
Not only from not showing what was downloaded and not purchased, but from the fact I could just decide to up and say I did this and that and bought this and that to try and shut them up and weigh the data in the direction I want.
Anything to show decisive proof eliminates most of the anonymous factor unless cash was paid. Even then, if a scapegoat was truly wanted I am sure the transaction ID could be used to pull up store camera footage and use the entry on the website as a confession. Not too paranoid, but enough to sway such a concept from being anything useful at all.
I don't support RIAA, MPAA, or SPA but I do want reality dished out when trying to throw mud back.
It is *NOT* the duty of the FCC to take the place of irresponsible poor exuses for parents. This applies to TV, Movies, Video Games, Radio, and any other medium they make a power grab for. Violence and horrors are a part of human nature, to try and candy coat life by making it disappear only within American borders is not the solution to it. Removing it prevents responsible parents from educating children on this dark side of human nature when the child is ready for such subjects. If a child has access to such things without guidance, the parents need to be penalized not the masses.
If you are offended by something you hear and/or see, change the damn channel. There is enough of a market for that show to be on the air, so the minority who cries the loudest should not be allowed to proxy an already over burdened government agency into their holy crusade. Trying to recreate reality will only add to the problem, it will exist until we evolve past the point of our obsessions with numbers, chunks of metal, and thousand year old compilations of short stories. Humans bleed, humans hurt other humans, and we all to often kill each other. With proper guidance perhaps we can recover our failed society, but guidance is not sweeping under the rug. I watch shows that contain all sorts of content that is not morally modelling, but I sure as shit do not allow my children to watch them. I take the responsibility as a parent to filter what they take in and provide education and guidance as they grow old enough to understand more and more reality. When they are old enough to understand I will explain the difference between fantasy and reality and make sure they understand the full ramifications of violence and immoral actions/words towards their fellow humans. They will understand fully the pain it brings to everybody connected, even if you do not see them right away. I watch these shows, but I'm not running organized crime ordering hits on people and settling things with a pistol. I don't need the government trying to be a parent, that is what the MOTHER and FATHER are for or responsible guardian. The government really needs to try focussing on something else rather than taking on another project they can fail miserably at. Their track record speaks for itself.
See: War on Drugs, Prohibition, Peace keeping in Iraq, Defoliating in Columbia, Supporting Bin Laden, Bay of Pigs Invasion, and Growing Urban Poverty.
Outcries from responsible members of the Internet community are often times ignored by those who can make a difference and finger the right people. Take Verizon DSL for instance, they continue to leave port 25 wide open allowing for a harvest of spam zombies enabling vermin to waste bandwidth, time, and countless other resources with no permission or care. That amounts to theft and an overall decrease in the quality of the internet, sort of like just watching your neighborhood go to shit and doing nothing about it. Those with power ignore this, or see more pressing issues that will get them votes or brownie points with those who need votes. Our community is shrugged off like the bad parts of town and forgotten about until a raid is needed to add a sugar glow to the public's eye or distract them from another issue. IF the bigger players would acknowledge the responsibility they carry, such as Verizon DSL closing port 25, that funnels the traffic to a more traceable medium such as their mail servers. At that time, culprits can be IDed without doubt and removed from the network till they learn to maintain their equipment and thus removing a spam zombie and an outlet to spew their shit across our network. Perhaps even employing that computer with owner consent as a "Honey Pot" to get the IPs of those making the spam connections and track them down well enough that incompetent law enforcement can get around to doing their job with them.
I've read posts about people so worried about Vigilantes going overboard and abusing power...well oddly enough I hear a lot more about Police/Judges/Politicians abusing their power. Nobody is infallible, but unwritten courtesy and etiquette have set standards that most people abide by. So it is just as possible for a Vigilante to go bad as it is a cop or any other person in a position of power. Oddly enough that very system they chose to turn on my just end up regulating them in turn. When the sense that you can get away with almost anything is gone, that cuts out a large portion of people willing to take that risk. The brain-dead spammer that read the how to article and got their spamware and knows *nothing* about the network they are bringing down might think 3 or more times about their part time job knowing their expensive PC they can't possibly fix may end up a permanent paperweight when somebody tired of their shit catches up with them. Vigilantes already act out on their own accord, how about Al-Jazeera getting dropped when they showed pictures of American GIs? (More of a censorship example and there should be NO censorship...but work with me here!) It already exists, rather then pretend it does not we all should try to focus it where it is truly needed: Script Kiddies making Virii/Trojans/Worms and Spammers. Two of the single most abhorrent mutations to pollute our network...since AOL.;)
Mod as you see fit, but it won't change my opinion or actions.
While everybody here sees fit to bash on you or your take on the behavior of deplorable nations like Israel/PLA, I commend you for what you are doing. For all the false accusations firmly rooted in misunderstanding, you very well could have just faded into obscurity sending your family to a safe-haven and going immediately into the employ of terrorists who would gladly welcome you with open arms and large sums of cash. Rather, you openly state your position and offer your services with the stated understanding you will not undermine your personal morals and values to receive compensation for your skills. Other people have been put in similar boats as well through different circumstances, look at the Biological Warfare experts displaced in Russia.
A large number of things taken for granted in this day and age were a direct result of primary military application before being adapted for civilian use, the ability to read and post on/. being one along with 80% of electricity in France. Imagine the state of the world if ignorance prevailed and America sent Albert Einstein to play hide and seek in Sobibor due to the dangers of his research. To discredit your research and experience is to turn one's back on progress. We will never know the possible civilian applications of this techology and research if we hit the panic button and never explore it. This exact mentality has spread like a cancer through NASA since we got a little bloody nose from the Columbia accident that NASA culture allowed to happen. NOTHING in this world is totally safe, there are risks to everything especially exploring and learning new things.
I wish the best of luck to you, especially in finding a civilian application of the knowledge, skills, and experience that you have. The situation you are trying to endure is not one you wanted to be in, and is a direct result of society and government. Human beings are not trash to be thrown out and legislated away when they have been deemed no longer useful.
How about you try securing your OSes up a bit instead!
Doesn't this seem a bit more like extortion? Kind of like saying the Cops suck, but pay higher taxes to have them and then pay an additional fee for a personal security force that may do the job...who is sponsored by City Hall. Don't think about addressing the crime problem or why the police force is a failure.
M$ doesn't want to fix the problems their monopoly pushed out into the world, thats fine. Some people don't want to or can't pay the unresonable fees for an offical series of numbers. Others may even feel that the cost of the OS is offset by the time, effort, and software required to keep such a buggy wide open nearly completely non-secure OS running.
Any way you cut it, one of these days a _programmer_ (NOT a braindead moron script kiddy with a virii generator) is going to release a virus that will paperweight these non-secure machines and remove some pollution from the internet. If this happens to cripple critical components to critical infrastructure it's a lesson well learned. MAINTAIN YOUR COMPUTERS OR PUT THEM BACK IN THE FUCKING BOX. They should have learned by now after all the buggy crap the script kiddies have put out that they will never understand. We really do need a system destroying virus released by somebody who knows what a pointer is and can actually read AND understand code. Not only would this clear up the spam zombies, but also clear up the viral hosts and the trash from them. Go ahead and cry about not caring for critical systems being crashed, personally I'd be more pissed it was unsecure enough to be allowed to happen. Imagine if Al-Qaida/Al-Queera or whatever timed things just right and was able to cripple a system that should have been patched and maintained and since it wasn't hundreds or thousands died. Railway companies with computer controlled switch tracks come immediately to mind. (nitpick if you must, just the first thing to come to mind)
M$'s latest decision will only push people towards a stable and reliable OS. Don't release SP2 to everybody, somebody else will fix your poorly written code problem writing 0s to the MBR or wiping the flash memory or wiping the BIOS etc etc.
Share on USENET. Share on an on a wireless network. Share on invite only P2P networks. Share on LAN parties for MP3 sharing. Share on IRC. Share on an invite only FTP server. Share on VPNs. Share using snail mail burning CDs.
Fuck you RIAA, you will never stop sharing. So maybe check your own shit seeing as you cannot even pass an audit before you make bullshit claims and go after the only thing you can attack.
I have posted this before and will gladly post it again, no matter how many 11 year old girls you extort money from or how many scare stories you purchase to be run on mainstream American media, you have failed. Some of the people you are trying to frighten happen to be the Nerds and GeeKs that will continue to come up with ways to circumvent your bullshit. How much money have you wasted on these tactics which will always be circumvented or skirted? How much do you pay your drones to try to search for victims instead of real talent that can put out an entire album worth a reasonable ten bux as apposed to the T&A no talent losers or one hit per album wonders? Dumbasses, you are invovled in a war of attrition that you cannot possibly win. You are limited by money, we are limited only by our freetime and creativity.
Music will be shared, downloaded, spread amoungst the internet quicker than the next M$ Virii of the day. It will be shared at LAN parties and USENET, it will be shared between wireless networks, and countless other ways that we can dream up since we don't need money to do so. The tighter you squeeze, the more creativity oozes with no love for your Evil Empire. You are the creator of your own worst monstrosity that you chose to confront with hostility. What will you do this article asks, who the fuck cares. We will find a way around it anyway.
Maybe you should try releasing to public record how much money you have wasted and will continue to waste on this failed campaign before you try to accuse other things.
Somebody has to maintain that Cable Plant, so who the fuck is gonna pay for repairs if 3 parasites leach off an expensive city wide setup a company has invested millions in? Little Ma & Pa Leach will offer to replace the $75,000 Booster Amp (And pay for labor and have it done right and not purchase sub standard equipment with their Ma & Pa budget.) with no legal action...pffffttt pull your head out of your ass. It's a perceived monopoly by those too ignorant to do a little REASEARCH to learn the facts behind things. If you want to compete, find the money a cable company has to build a cable plant that brings you what you want, and while your at it design a coax switch so whining bitches like you with nothing better to do can have a company come out and swap you month to month as you decide who to spend your panhandled money on. Then you can patent your coax switch and pay your bills and not get pissed at others because you no future in fast food.
Cable TV was built off of the community anntenae idea, literally a big ass antennae on top of a high point selling the better reception it gets. When greedy channels like ESPN showed up it was no longer a matter of selling access to your better ability to receive signals. Now that company has to pay greedy ESPN for their programming, and in turn resell it to the masses since after all it is a business not a charity. Cable Companies don't EVER want to raise their rates on their customers. But when the industry changed towards reselling programming, and then providing it to all their customers with different options such as analog, digital, HD, internet, and PVR now you are talking about millions more having to be invested into extremely specilized hardware/software, setups, engineers, maintenance, upgrades/updates. It also leaves the Cable Company at the mercy of those greedy channels, just like they get caught in the middle of the DMCA with their broadband customers.
Here are the facts: 1.) If you want just the middle of one slice of bread, you still have to buy the whole loaf. You cant just pull out one slice, trim the crusts and expect to pay for just that at the register. Can you buy smaller or different loaves however, yes! Get serious, this is exactly what McCain is talking about with "Ala Carte." If you are gonna get that picky, use an appropiate analogy. 2.) Should the Government ignore Adam Smith yet again with *their* shining examples of great decisions and money management, consumers will pay up anyway. Additional *everything* needed to make this happen will be financed by somebody. Not to mention maintence and updates. 3.) Cable Companies don't want to raise rates and piss off those who keep them in business. Being in the industry is not the only thing that tells me this. 4.) I find it a little unsettling that with all the other serious problems America has they have to make this any sort of a focal point. I personally think that making sure every American child be able to see a doctor regardless of income a bit more pressing that Billy Ray Joe Bob being able to only tune in ESPN. Maybe even trying to fix the social decay that produces some of this planets most aggressive and violent creatures. (How many serial killers can Canada sport, or mass murders, or wars/"police actions" ?)
Microsoft products and services never suffer any sort of failure that is not announced first. This was not exploited and service was not denied. With our services working, we suspect a massive monitor failure caused by a new virus coded by a member of the linux community. We enjoy providing hotmail, and DEATH TO THE SPAMMER!
Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf Director of Public Relations Microsoft, Inc.
I know for a fact a large majority of computers not only have spyware/adware installed on them, look at how many DMCA complaints are filed on networks that install that shit with their junkware, but the source of it is not addressed. Look for instance at AOL's little bit about PopUp blocking and Earthlink's attempt. That software might stop the visible effect of a compromised machine, but does it shut the ports it may open and stop the sending of data/spam still or local harvesting of email addresses?
As long as Ma and Pa kettle think things are fine because the pop-ups are blocked they are not going to accept responsibility for their computer. Some may try to fault the scientific background of this study but I think it shows a pretty conservative number actually. Of those with compromised machines, how many knew about it? How many cared about it? How many tried to take responsibility for their compuer and fix it? This article shows a true lack of responsibility when it comes to ownership and maintenance of a computer. This same mentality affords the script kiddies what they need to send out their generated packages they wouldn't be able to read the code for and understand to save their lives. So Ma and Pa kettle blindly infect and install the most horrible crap on their machine connected to a global network and share their personal information/habits as well as the malicious love.
Accountability and education needs to stop being replaced by flashy eye candy ads and ignorance as an excuse.
SCO worked directly with Orson Wells to facilitate the Invasion of Earth from Mars. When they could not produce Martians they opted to wait for litigation to start to cripple American life and use lawsuits as the new business model and attempt to take over the world.
This memo was copied to Pinky and The Brain.
Older memos may exist in the form of cave art, but Archeolgists have yet to make the solid connection between the picture of a pile of dung to SCOBCE (SCO Before Common Era) and their exclusive licensing of sticks, mud, dyes, and air.
I must first meet my transwarp sub light vessel on the dark side of the moon. From there I must travel to a black hole which turns into a wormhole that leads to Star Cluster 154-T. From there I shift into the rare 5th dimension where I have hidden this Open Source Code to keep it from spreading all around the internet. Using supreme 256 bit encryption that cannot be scratched by a Beowulf cluster of Crays...I shall unlock these never before seen secrets for glancing at quicker than an eye blinks. That should suffice for showing my evidence, it worked in pre-school...
THEN we shall see who has their day in court!
P.S. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
Odds of dying on an airplane? Odds of dying while operating a motor vehicle? Odds of dying near a motorway? Odds of dying from a biological/chemical terrorist attack? Odds of being struck by lightening? Odds of contracting Human Mad Cow Disease in the United States? Odds of being a homicide victim in America? Odds of food poisoning from a food vendor?
Now how many of the countless risky things we do each day are known threats with predictable vectors that could be addressed by ever advancing technology?
You had better hope that your alarm clock does not shock you when you turn it off to hide under the covers the rest of your lifeless existence. It is this exact type of mentality which is plaguing Americans especially NASA. I think it was best put like this:
"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you oughta go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross; but it's not for the timid."
If VoIP calls are charged, which use the internet which is *NOT* American property or the American Government's to control and tax, how would this effect people in other countries calling into the US using VoIP to a POTS number? How about cell phones, subject to same consequences as VoIP since phone companies have a hand in them?
What about VoIP calls outside the American Reich's territory?
What if my VoIP packets bounce outside of what the FCC considers America's Internet?
Since VoIP packets are delivered and handled similar to email, will this set the foundation for taxed email? What other internet services would this open up to taxing? What are the alternatives to get away from the greedy power hungry hand of the American government?
Isn't this also forcing people to pay a tax for something they are not responsible for, I mean if you use POTS don't you already pay some of these taxes? So the call receiver pays taxes on the lines for regulation and maintenance and now VoIP callers will have to pay all those same fees and taxes just to call? The Right to Call on Already Taxed Lines Tax...fuck that. If I pay the FCC already, such as DSL, would I be taxed AGAIN for lines & services I'm already paying on?
Using a global resource and having the FCC try to dip their fingers in a global pie is going to get interesting. Who to tax when and for how much while proving you are stealing...I mean taxing...the correct target. How can they justify putting American taxes on a global resource, regardless of where the call is routed and what taxes on those resources they have already collected on? Are we getting ready to define "Internet Borders" now? Are they going to ignore the BPL RF pollution for a buck? (RF implications of all that unshielded cable (egress/ingress) and additional noise from the high voltage electricity, I can't imagine great service to begin with. Even in the sub-band from 5-42MHz which is the most reliable for longest distances how many channels are actually available to reserve ~39M/channel for a send and return. What taxes already paid on this service?)
You are a Slashdot Editor...you must duplicate as many stories as possible and shuck off the more interesting submittals. Survive the onslaught of Trolls & Flamebaits while reporting a lot of the same Nerd News that must apparently really matter still. Think you got what it takes to keep Slashdotters dulled into a sleep so they don't start Trolling, then you just may have what it takes to join...
PIGS IN CYBERSPACE!
Rated W by the Who Gives a Fuck Committee.
Geek supervision recommended.
Play at your own risk.
Not responsible for choices individuals choose to make based upon this game, or changes in IQ.
Not responsible for tongues stuck floppies or drooled on keyboards.
CAUTION: GAME REQUIRES READING AND COMPREHENSION SKILLS, sold separately.
Lawyers not included.
This is not a food source.
Do not immerse in 12M Sulphuric Acid.
Not supported by Poison Control.
No Haitians were killed in the making of this game.
Do not immerse in fire or hot coals.
Cowboy hat not included.
Rinse after using.
System Requirements:
Eyes, Mostly Functioning Brain, Coffee, Cigarettes, Short Fuse, Thankfulness that the Government and Lawyers got involved.
Slashdot Mirror
As per TFA:
"ANALYSIS: The FBI believes that only well-financed terrorist groups would be able to develop or purchase a laser blinding system. Estimates project it would cost a group approximately $50,000 to obtain a military-grade laser system."
I would personally be more concerned by the potential from "hobby lasers" such as the ones that can be built from non monitored equipment capable of burning through wood blocks and other things depending on the power of the device. This is not to discount the damage a toy laser pointing device can do to the eye, but in terms of the small moving target and distance the laser must travel and medium(s) it must pass through how can they really be a threat? Not being a laser hobbyist, I may speak not knowing the facts but it seems to me if you could get the setup going in your garage why not in a mobile device such as a small Mack truck? If you could get the stability needed to keep the alignment and the power and inert gas needed I can see the potential for a risk here. This would yield a mobile assault platform that would very difficult to track down and have the potential for damage depending on the quality and power of the laser device.
Then again, two can play the disinformation game. In terms of monetary value, a war of attrition forcing more to be spent on securing and investigating blind avenues would be devastating for security budgets. Money and resources would be wasted deterring from a more viable plan on much softer targets. Who is to say this chatter they fall on so much is not anymore accurate than the Uranium connection Iraq had? Many things have the potential to be weapons on many objects, and creating a police state will only force things into the black market which always thrives. For example the war on drugs, they are quite illegal but has that made them purged from American soil?
Oddly enough...
With Vonage I don't pay for local calls and long distance and that includes calls to Canada! I'll take unlimited to x.x/minute anyday. I never use a code aside from 1+AreaCode and my phone switch is my home phone company allowing me to take "local" calls from my broadband connection at home or from a hotel with broadband in Italy. I also use the options for virtual area codes and elminated large chunks out of the phone bill for my family. All these benefits PLUS the packages you pay out the wazoo for at the traditional POTC such as call forwarding, waiting, voice mail, caller ID etc. HELL YEAH LET A PRICE WAR HAPPEN! I get great service and great service cheaper, this is a fine wine not often served.
With price wars and growth however, how much more appealing of a target to the FCC has VoIP become?
Growing up as a kid, even watching the Challenger explode live in the 4th grade, I had great respect and awe for NASA and it's accomplishments in space exploration and history. I still watch missions in great anticipation, even with the Genesis crash and Columbia accident. However, I now look upon NASA with a different attitude.
If humans were to be on Mars within 20-30 years, it will probably not be done by NASA rather a project from the commercial sector. As an example, look at the progress of the X-Prize challenge where even though they might not have met a goal of the challenge yet they have come further than NASA in new vehicle design and deployment. Americans know from experience, the coporate sector tends to do things better than a governement equivalent. The key to this may be something above and beyond just a corporate profit venture, perhaps maybe even something along the lines of luring people to a new goverment on a Mars colony. Several bright scientists have developed lots of ways to get humans to Mars, and sustain them (In theory of course). Research in areas like the Biodome can be used to fork a new research area like adaptions to the current Mars environment and start plants as natural O2 generators. Chemical recations can also be used to create water or gasses of our choice, and using our limited understanding of our planet apply that knowledge to terraform Mars eventually. All these things will need a company to design, build, and support...more Corporate lure to do the hard task. To say we cannot put somebody on Mars just because a resource we need to live is not in standing waiting for us, is shirking off a challenge.
NASA will become a probe specialist since those missions are pure science, and I think in the future we will look to companies for space travel and NASA to find that space to travel to safely with understanding. Putting humans on Mars will be difficult and dangerous, but once learned quite possibly profitable and the start of a new era.
The burning of books has long been a sign of an oppressive regime flexing it's muscles of propaganda to strike down things that counter their essence. From early Chinese emperors burning scrolls and burying the scholars alive to erradicate knowledge up to the Nazis burning books and sending off their undesirables to death camps. While some have been successful in their campaign to destroy knowledge and hide it, for the most part it is an exercise in futility. Reasons for burning books are typically to keep those sorts of ideas and concepts from the masses, reasons for banning books are to keep those sorts of ideas and concepts from the masses. In the age of the Internet this is a shallow useless act that only shows a repressive nature of somebody or some group.
Some books are banned because they showcase the shame of America, like Huckleberry Finn with the word nigger being used correctly in context as it was for the time the story was wrote in. Does banning this book for printing the word nigger as it was used make bigotry and racism go away, change history and the fact that it was used, miracle away American hypocrisy of liberty and justice for all except slaves? By not learning the truth and being exposed to facts we erradicate the lessons we should have learned. Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. If you have such a serious problem with a book, close the cover and get rid of it. If you are such a failure as a parent you don't want little George reading a book because you don't have the time to invest in your child, don't get them the book. If they have book because they do not want to follow in your silhouette, take it from them or find somebody to be the parent you are not. Nobody is making you read them, why force others down to your level of illiteracy.
Putting a book on a banlist is a quick way to get my attention, and usually much more reliable for a good read than the bestseller listings. Celebrate the banned book list, check them off as you read each one.
No book should be banned, censorship spawns ignorance.
If all ISPs would block port 25 for residential customers, that would channel the mail through their mail servers which they could monitor and disable users till they remove the menace, patch their box, get an AV program and a firewall running. Lie and get disabled for the same thing and on strike three enjoy dial-up. This would also help curtail virii with their own SMTP engines and prevent that deluge from being sent out. The business customers with their own mail servers would not be affected by this, and should have spamcop reports to show if they are spammers and again answer to disabled service till they explain themselves or fix their open relay. "What right would they have to do this!" you may ask, you are a menace to their network (Read the license agreement) and dragging that networks name through the mud if you are contributing to this.
Changing your current SMTP, say for MacMail, to your ISPs would not change the reply-to address that you setup and still allow you port 110 to POP for that email account. Several ISPs already do this and the amount of spam coming from that network drops so drastically they find themselves removed from Blacklists for their domain name. Computers are as much of a responsiblity to maintain as cars are, if not more given the global influence they can have.
Excerpt:
"With economy so sluggish we were not getting the usual dose of the hefty 95% payout of other people's work while doing next to nothing for them. Other board members found themselves in a bind looking at having to sell at least one of their private jets and some even having to give up some of the help in one of their mansions. Our dead end battles that cost more money than any other venture trying to stop P2P was not giving our gold lined pockets a fifth coat, and we thought of how else we could spread our propaganda. Needing a scapegoat we thought, let us focus with intensity upon the children! Parents these days tend not to parent and we can force ideas upon these children based upon what laws we have purchased in what country. That is when the epiphany struck us, waste classroom time that could be used to increase math and science skills to drill in the laws we have purchased!
With great enthusiam that should have been invested into better business models more applicable to current times and technology, we found a little island to start our new program. Surely, armed with the knowledge of these laws and ability to recite them these children will be able to do anything they want such as research in the ESA, earn nobel prizes, and anything else. The whole board also agreed this will permanently get them spending money they do not have on needless expenses such as CDs and movies when they can barely afford food and housing. The joy to have four personal chefs on call in my Summer Mansion again!"
The above is a satire meant to give humor while drawing focus on how HORRIBLE it is to waste classroom time on complete shit like this. Schools are for teaching the children the skills they need to succeed and if possible make the great contributions that advance humanity. To waste classroom time on this is to betray the children who suffer it, and their futures.
Not only from not showing what was downloaded and not purchased, but from the fact I could just decide to up and say I did this and that and bought this and that to try and shut them up and weigh the data in the direction I want.
Anything to show decisive proof eliminates most of the anonymous factor unless cash was paid. Even then, if a scapegoat was truly wanted I am sure the transaction ID could be used to pull up store camera footage and use the entry on the website as a confession. Not too paranoid, but enough to sway such a concept from being anything useful at all.
I don't support RIAA, MPAA, or SPA but I do want reality dished out when trying to throw mud back.
It is *NOT* the duty of the FCC to take the place of irresponsible poor exuses for parents. This applies to TV, Movies, Video Games, Radio, and any other medium they make a power grab for. Violence and horrors are a part of human nature, to try and candy coat life by making it disappear only within American borders is not the solution to it. Removing it prevents responsible parents from educating children on this dark side of human nature when the child is ready for such subjects. If a child has access to such things without guidance, the parents need to be penalized not the masses.
/soapboax /home/nextslashdotter
If you are offended by something you hear and/or see, change the damn channel. There is enough of a market for that show to be on the air, so the minority who cries the loudest should not be allowed to proxy an already over burdened government agency into their holy crusade. Trying to recreate reality will only add to the problem, it will exist until we evolve past the point of our obsessions with numbers, chunks of metal, and thousand year old compilations of short stories. Humans bleed, humans hurt other humans, and we all to often kill each other. With proper guidance perhaps we can recover our failed society, but guidance is not sweeping under the rug. I watch shows that contain all sorts of content that is not morally modelling, but I sure as shit do not allow my children to watch them. I take the responsibility as a parent to filter what they take in and provide education and guidance as they grow old enough to understand more and more reality. When they are old enough to understand I will explain the difference between fantasy and reality and make sure they understand the full ramifications of violence and immoral actions/words towards their fellow humans. They will understand fully the pain it brings to everybody connected, even if you do not see them right away. I watch these shows, but I'm not running organized crime ordering hits on people and settling things with a pistol. I don't need the government trying to be a parent, that is what the MOTHER and FATHER are for or responsible guardian. The government really needs to try focussing on something else rather than taking on another project they can fail miserably at. Their track record speaks for itself.
See: War on Drugs, Prohibition, Peace keeping in Iraq, Defoliating in Columbia, Supporting Bin Laden, Bay of Pigs Invasion, and Growing Urban Poverty.
mv
I support the idea of Vigilantes on the Internet.
;)
Outcries from responsible members of the Internet community are often times ignored by those who can make a difference and finger the right people. Take Verizon DSL for instance, they continue to leave port 25 wide open allowing for a harvest of spam zombies enabling vermin to waste bandwidth, time, and countless other resources with no permission or care. That amounts to theft and an overall decrease in the quality of the internet, sort of like just watching your neighborhood go to shit and doing nothing about it. Those with power ignore this, or see more pressing issues that will get them votes or brownie points with those who need votes. Our community is shrugged off like the bad parts of town and forgotten about until a raid is needed to add a sugar glow to the public's eye or distract them from another issue. IF the bigger players would acknowledge the responsibility they carry, such as Verizon DSL closing port 25, that funnels the traffic to a more traceable medium such as their mail servers. At that time, culprits can be IDed without doubt and removed from the network till they learn to maintain their equipment and thus removing a spam zombie and an outlet to spew their shit across our network. Perhaps even employing that computer with owner consent as a "Honey Pot" to get the IPs of those making the spam connections and track them down well enough that incompetent law enforcement can get around to doing their job with them.
I've read posts about people so worried about Vigilantes going overboard and abusing power...well oddly enough I hear a lot more about Police/Judges/Politicians abusing their power. Nobody is infallible, but unwritten courtesy and etiquette have set standards that most people abide by. So it is just as possible for a Vigilante to go bad as it is a cop or any other person in a position of power. Oddly enough that very system they chose to turn on my just end up regulating them in turn. When the sense that you can get away with almost anything is gone, that cuts out a large portion of people willing to take that risk. The brain-dead spammer that read the how to article and got their spamware and knows *nothing* about the network they are bringing down might think 3 or more times about their part time job knowing their expensive PC they can't possibly fix may end up a permanent paperweight when somebody tired of their shit catches up with them. Vigilantes already act out on their own accord, how about Al-Jazeera getting dropped when they showed pictures of American GIs? (More of a censorship example and there should be NO censorship...but work with me here!) It already exists, rather then pretend it does not we all should try to focus it where it is truly needed: Script Kiddies making Virii/Trojans/Worms and Spammers. Two of the single most abhorrent mutations to pollute our network...since AOL.
Mod as you see fit, but it won't change my opinion or actions.
Kudos to you sir.
/. being one along with 80% of electricity in France. Imagine the state of the world if ignorance prevailed and America sent Albert Einstein to play hide and seek in Sobibor due to the dangers of his research. To discredit your research and experience is to turn one's back on progress. We will never know the possible civilian applications of this techology and research if we hit the panic button and never explore it. This exact mentality has spread like a cancer through NASA since we got a little bloody nose from the Columbia accident that NASA culture allowed to happen. NOTHING in this world is totally safe, there are risks to everything especially exploring and learning new things.
While everybody here sees fit to bash on you or your take on the behavior of deplorable nations like Israel/PLA, I commend you for what you are doing. For all the false accusations firmly rooted in misunderstanding, you very well could have just faded into obscurity sending your family to a safe-haven and going immediately into the employ of terrorists who would gladly welcome you with open arms and large sums of cash. Rather, you openly state your position and offer your services with the stated understanding you will not undermine your personal morals and values to receive compensation for your skills. Other people have been put in similar boats as well through different circumstances, look at the Biological Warfare experts displaced in Russia.
A large number of things taken for granted in this day and age were a direct result of primary military application before being adapted for civilian use, the ability to read and post on
I wish the best of luck to you, especially in finding a civilian application of the knowledge, skills, and experience that you have. The situation you are trying to endure is not one you wanted to be in, and is a direct result of society and government. Human beings are not trash to be thrown out and legislated away when they have been deemed no longer useful.
How about you try securing your OSes up a bit instead!
Doesn't this seem a bit more like extortion? Kind of like saying the Cops suck, but pay higher taxes to have them and then pay an additional fee for a personal security force that may do the job...who is sponsored by City Hall. Don't think about addressing the crime problem or why the police force is a failure.
M$ doesn't want to fix the problems their monopoly pushed out into the world, thats fine. Some people don't want to or can't pay the unresonable fees for an offical series of numbers. Others may even feel that the cost of the OS is offset by the time, effort, and software required to keep such a buggy wide open nearly completely non-secure OS running.
Any way you cut it, one of these days a _programmer_ (NOT a braindead moron script kiddy with a virii generator) is going to release a virus that will paperweight these non-secure machines and remove some pollution from the internet. If this happens to cripple critical components to critical infrastructure it's a lesson well learned. MAINTAIN YOUR COMPUTERS OR PUT THEM BACK IN THE FUCKING BOX. They should have learned by now after all the buggy crap the script kiddies have put out that they will never understand. We really do need a system destroying virus released by somebody who knows what a pointer is and can actually read AND understand code. Not only would this clear up the spam zombies, but also clear up the viral hosts and the trash from them. Go ahead and cry about not caring for critical systems being crashed, personally I'd be more pissed it was unsecure enough to be allowed to happen. Imagine if Al-Qaida/Al-Queera or whatever timed things just right and was able to cripple a system that should have been patched and maintained and since it wasn't hundreds or thousands died. Railway companies with computer controlled switch tracks come immediately to mind. (nitpick if you must, just the first thing to come to mind)
M$'s latest decision will only push people towards a stable and reliable OS. Don't release SP2 to everybody, somebody else will fix your poorly written code problem writing 0s to the MBR or wiping the flash memory or wiping the BIOS etc etc.
Update as usual next time I actually boot into a Windows partition.
Share on USENET.
Share on an on a wireless network.
Share on invite only P2P networks.
Share on LAN parties for MP3 sharing.
Share on IRC.
Share on an invite only FTP server.
Share on VPNs.
Share using snail mail burning CDs.
Fuck you RIAA, you will never stop sharing. So maybe check your own shit seeing as you cannot even pass an audit before you make bullshit claims and go after the only thing you can attack.
Retarded
Idiot
Assholes of
America
Dear RIAA:
I have posted this before and will gladly post it again, no matter how many 11 year old girls you extort money from or how many scare stories you purchase to be run on mainstream American media, you have failed. Some of the people you are trying to frighten happen to be the Nerds and GeeKs that will continue to come up with ways to circumvent your bullshit. How much money have you wasted on these tactics which will always be circumvented or skirted? How much do you pay your drones to try to search for victims instead of real talent that can put out an entire album worth a reasonable ten bux as apposed to the T&A no talent losers or one hit per album wonders? Dumbasses, you are invovled in a war of attrition that you cannot possibly win. You are limited by money, we are limited only by our freetime and creativity.
Music will be shared, downloaded, spread amoungst the internet quicker than the next M$ Virii of the day. It will be shared at LAN parties and USENET, it will be shared between wireless networks, and countless other ways that we can dream up since we don't need money to do so. The tighter you squeeze, the more creativity oozes with no love for your Evil Empire. You are the creator of your own worst monstrosity that you chose to confront with hostility. What will you do this article asks, who the fuck cares. We will find a way around it anyway.
Maybe you should try releasing to public record how much money you have wasted and will continue to waste on this failed campaign before you try to accuse other things.
Somebody has to maintain that Cable Plant, so who the fuck is gonna pay for repairs if 3 parasites leach off an expensive city wide setup a company has invested millions in? Little Ma & Pa Leach will offer to replace the $75,000 Booster Amp (And pay for labor and have it done right and not purchase sub standard equipment with their Ma & Pa budget.) with no legal action...pffffttt pull your head out of your ass. It's a perceived monopoly by those too ignorant to do a little REASEARCH to learn the facts behind things. If you want to compete, find the money a cable company has to build a cable plant that brings you what you want, and while your at it design a coax switch so whining bitches like you with nothing better to do can have a company come out and swap you month to month as you decide who to spend your panhandled money on. Then you can patent your coax switch and pay your bills and not get pissed at others because you no future in fast food.
Cable TV was built off of the community anntenae idea, literally a big ass antennae on top of a high point selling the better reception it gets. When greedy channels like ESPN showed up it was no longer a matter of selling access to your better ability to receive signals. Now that company has to pay greedy ESPN for their programming, and in turn resell it to the masses since after all it is a business not a charity. Cable Companies don't EVER want to raise their rates on their customers. But when the industry changed towards reselling programming, and then providing it to all their customers with different options such as analog, digital, HD, internet, and PVR now you are talking about millions more having to be invested into extremely specilized hardware/software, setups, engineers, maintenance, upgrades/updates. It also leaves the Cable Company at the mercy of those greedy channels, just like they get caught in the middle of the DMCA with their broadband customers.
Here are the facts:
1.) If you want just the middle of one slice of bread, you still have to buy the whole loaf. You cant just pull out one slice, trim the crusts and expect to pay for just that at the register. Can you buy smaller or different loaves however, yes! Get serious, this is exactly what McCain is talking about with "Ala Carte." If you are gonna get that picky, use an appropiate analogy.
2.) Should the Government ignore Adam Smith yet again with *their* shining examples of great decisions and money management, consumers will pay up anyway. Additional *everything* needed to make this happen will be financed by somebody. Not to mention maintence and updates.
3.) Cable Companies don't want to raise rates and piss off those who keep them in business. Being in the industry is not the only thing that tells me this.
4.) I find it a little unsettling that with all the other serious problems America has they have to make this any sort of a focal point. I personally think that making sure every American child be able to see a doctor regardless of income a bit more pressing that Billy Ray Joe Bob being able to only tune in ESPN. Maybe even trying to fix the social decay that produces some of this planets most aggressive and violent creatures. (How many serial killers can Canada sport, or mass murders, or wars/"police actions" ?)
Dear Infidel /.er
Microsoft products and services never suffer any sort of failure that is not announced first. This was not exploited and service was not denied. With our services working, we suspect a massive monitor failure caused by a new virus coded by a member of the linux community. We enjoy providing hotmail, and DEATH TO THE SPAMMER!
Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf
Director of Public Relations
Microsoft, Inc.
Version: 2.2 up to and including 2.2.25, 2.4 up to to and including 2.4.24, 2.6 up to to and including 2.6.2
And me having kept up to date running a 2.6.3 kernel.
The horrors!
I know for a fact a large majority of computers not only have spyware/adware installed on them, look at how many DMCA complaints are filed on networks that install that shit with their junkware, but the source of it is not addressed. Look for instance at AOL's little bit about PopUp blocking and Earthlink's attempt. That software might stop the visible effect of a compromised machine, but does it shut the ports it may open and stop the sending of data/spam still or local harvesting of email addresses?
As long as Ma and Pa kettle think things are fine because the pop-ups are blocked they are not going to accept responsibility for their computer. Some may try to fault the scientific background of this study but I think it shows a pretty conservative number actually. Of those with compromised machines, how many knew about it? How many cared about it? How many tried to take responsibility for their compuer and fix it? This article shows a true lack of responsibility when it comes to ownership and maintenance of a computer. This same mentality affords the script kiddies what they need to send out their generated packages they wouldn't be able to read the code for and understand to save their lives. So Ma and Pa kettle blindly infect and install the most horrible crap on their machine connected to a global network and share their personal information/habits as well as the malicious love.
Accountability and education needs to stop being replaced by flashy eye candy ads and ignorance as an excuse.
SCO worked directly with Orson Wells to facilitate the Invasion of Earth from Mars. When they could not produce Martians they opted to wait for litigation to start to cripple American life and use lawsuits as the new business model and attempt to take over the world.
This memo was copied to Pinky and The Brain.
Older memos may exist in the form of cave art, but Archeolgists have yet to make the solid connection between the picture of a pile of dung to SCOBCE (SCO Before Common Era) and their exclusive licensing of sticks, mud, dyes, and air.
I must first meet my transwarp sub light vessel on the dark side of the moon. From there I must travel to a black hole which turns into a wormhole that leads to Star Cluster 154-T. From there I shift into the rare 5th dimension where I have hidden this Open Source Code to keep it from spreading all around the internet. Using supreme 256 bit encryption that cannot be scratched by a Beowulf cluster of Crays...I shall unlock these never before seen secrets for glancing at quicker than an eye blinks. That should suffice for showing my evidence, it worked in pre-school...
THEN we shall see who has their day in court!
P.S.
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
But it will take me a few years to figure out exactly *WHO*...and try to fabricate a reason with no proof or evidence.
Employment model my ass, this is where the bank is!
Odds of dying on an airplane?
Odds of dying while operating a motor vehicle?
Odds of dying near a motorway?
Odds of dying from a biological/chemical terrorist attack?
Odds of being struck by lightening?
Odds of contracting Human Mad Cow Disease in the United States?
Odds of being a homicide victim in America?
Odds of food poisoning from a food vendor?
Now how many of the countless risky things we do each day are known threats with predictable vectors that could be addressed by ever advancing technology?
You had better hope that your alarm clock does not shock you when you turn it off to hide under the covers the rest of your lifeless existence. It is this exact type of mentality which is plaguing Americans especially NASA. I think it was best put like this:
"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you oughta go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross; but it's not for the timid."
-Q Star Trek: The Next Generation
If VoIP calls are charged, which use the internet which is *NOT* American property or the American Government's to control and tax, how would this effect people in other countries calling into the US using VoIP to a POTS number? How about cell phones, subject to same consequences as VoIP since phone companies have a hand in them?
What about VoIP calls outside the American Reich's territory?
What if my VoIP packets bounce outside of what the FCC considers America's Internet?
Since VoIP packets are delivered and handled similar to email, will this set the foundation for taxed email? What other internet services would this open up to taxing? What are the alternatives to get away from the greedy power hungry hand of the American government?
Isn't this also forcing people to pay a tax for something they are not responsible for, I mean if you use POTS don't you already pay some of these taxes? So the call receiver pays taxes on the lines for regulation and maintenance and now VoIP callers will have to pay all those same fees and taxes just to call? The Right to Call on Already Taxed Lines Tax...fuck that. If I pay the FCC already, such as DSL, would I be taxed AGAIN for lines & services I'm already paying on?
Using a global resource and having the FCC try to dip their fingers in a global pie is going to get interesting. Who to tax when and for how much while proving you are stealing...I mean taxing...the correct target. How can they justify putting American taxes on a global resource, regardless of where the call is routed and what taxes on those resources they have already collected on? Are we getting ready to define "Internet Borders" now? Are they going to ignore the BPL RF pollution for a buck? (RF implications of all that unshielded cable (egress/ingress) and additional noise from the high voltage electricity, I can't imagine great service to begin with. Even in the sub-band from 5-42MHz which is the most reliable for longest distances how many channels are actually available to reserve ~39M/channel for a send and return. What taxes already paid on this service?)
As an American I can only say, Fuckin FCC.
You are a Slashdot Editor...you must duplicate as many stories as possible and shuck off the more interesting submittals. Survive the onslaught of Trolls & Flamebaits while reporting a lot of the same Nerd News that must apparently really matter still. Think you got what it takes to keep Slashdotters dulled into a sleep so they don't start Trolling, then you just may have what it takes to join...
PIGS IN CYBERSPACE!
Rated W by the Who Gives a Fuck Committee.
System Requirements: