I for one have carefully avoided jumping to conclusions. But if I had to wager, I'd bet that the DDoS attack was done by some punk who wanted to scare us into thinking that Microsoft did it.
I've noticed a conspicious lack of information from the Slashdot staff about the attack. I assume they are investigating it, with the best help good will can buy. If MS is responsible, then the appropriate charges will be filed.
Also, realize that Microsoft will be monitoring Slashdot closely for a while (whether or not MS is responsible for the attack), and anything you say could end up in court documents or press releases as a "typical example of the anti-Microsoft nature of Slashdot". So maybe when we spout our usual anti-MS rhetoric, we should try to write intelligently. (Not to imply that your post in unintelligent)
...or maybe Slashdot did post a story about the attack, and Slashdot got Slashdotted...
(Who else caught the obscure poison umbrella reference?)
All this press may do a lot of good, for this issue and for geekdom in general.
First of all, there's a big PR factor here. Conventional news sources are reporting this story, so a lot of non-technical people will hear about it. Non-technical people are a big chunk of MS's customer base, so maybe MS will try to play nice.
As much as we rant and rave here, even when we're completely in the right (has that ever happened?), we end up preaching to the choir. With a little attention from mainstream media, we can get our message(s) out.
And perhaps a few "normal" people will visit Slashdot and see that the "evil hackers" have a few good points after all...
I usually agree with the ACLU's side of privacy cases, but this one is pretty borderline. Like a lot of people have said, Yahoo! did receive subpoenas. They might have been able to find a legal way to withold the information at least temporarily, but I don't think it's appropriate to demand that they do so.
The issue seems to be this:
Yahoo! privacy policy says that Yahoo! will not give away private information without notifying the person.
Yahoo! gives away private information, justifiably, but without notifying the person whose information is revealed.
Did Yahoo! screw up? I think so. Should they notify users when their information is given away? Yeah, or at least change their privacy policy to reflect reality.
I guess I see this as more of a contract issue than a privacy issue. The ACLU is exagerating the significance of this lawsuit.
Yeah, this is kinda cool. It's a good thing when you avoid a virus, and it illustrates Linux's overall security advantage over Windows.
But don't get cocky. Hardly any viruses are targeted at Linux because Linux is still pretty uncommon, especially for home PCs which are the main victims of most viruses these days.
When people start writing viruses / worms / scripts / other malicious code that targets Linux machines, then the security will be put to the test.
This story is more alarmist crap. However, I do appreciate that the poster included several excerpts from the actual source; this saved me from chanting "stupid, stupid, stupid" all day.
This would have been a good one to include, if it was posted when this story was submitted:
------- Additional Comments From morse@netscape.com 2000-05-09 00:09 -------
Let me clarify something here. Contrary to popular opinion, this feature was never "yanked" from the product! It's still there, alive and well, and getting compiled into every build. It's all under control of a pref (imageblocker.enabled). The pref is currently defaulted to "false" (in all.js) but an implementation is free to change that if it chooses to do so.
Sure, we've got lots of reasons to fear / hate the AOL continuum. Let's not make up any more unless it's necessary (or really funny).
On one hand, it's good to see a powerful company playing nice with others. This kind of thing sets a good example, although it would be far niftier if AOL were working with some small startup.
On the other hand, there's the obligatory paranoid wild prediction. This could lead to the sort of teamup that spawned such funny names as "Wintel."
Basically, a Windows emulator that runs under Windows. The original will be able to run within itself, and an expansion will be available that assigns a score based on how many nested emulations you have.
We can port to Nintendo 64 once we figure how deal with "Insert Windows 98 CD into cartridge slot" problems.
Mr. Metzler contacted NVidia and approved their plan to sort of sweep this under the rug. Hey, fine, that's a very civilized and decent thing to do. But the rest of us did no such thing. In fact, there are quite a few people pissed off enough to demand NVidia's code.
IANAL, but I believe everybody on the planet has a very legal claim to that code now. We have a right to demand it, and if we don't get it, we have a right to sue for it (and hopefully win).
GPL software is more-or-less communally owned, so the developer's OK just isn't enough. The whole world has to be nice to NVidia and other companies who accidentally include GPL code.
Privacy advocates tend to give rather impractical reasons why privacy should be protected. We say that we should have privacy because it has some implicit value, or because of constitional protection (your mileage may vary depending on where you live), or we may admit that we want to get away with breaking the law in harmless ways.
These arguments have a certain amount of value (and, IMHO, truth) and persuasiveness, but are largely based on personal opinion. Some people don't believe that privacy is inherently valuable, that the constitution "really" guarantees reasonable privacy, or that harmless crimes are really harmless. This limits the power of these arguments.
But this article presents something much more practical, and thus more universal and more persuasive
We should perpetuate the points the writer makes...then take over the world.
I'm pretty ignorant about the structure of the internet as a whole, but is there a concern about communications that pass through Brittain?
Say some major e-mail router is in Brittain, and two people who live outside Brittain send mail (probably unknowingly) through that router. Will this infrastructure make it easier to intercept that sort or communication? What are jurisdiction concerns?
There is a big difference between working alone and being a team player.
When I write code that only I will ever read (which is normal for me), I don't have to worry so much about making it readable (i.e. comments, appropriate labels, overall good design). When I read it, my brain will fill in a lot of the gaps that I've left. Even if I've "forgotten" the details, a lot of information can come back from my subconcious.
When I write code others will have to read (which I've done a few times, badly) everything needs to be much more clear. My co-workers / buddies don't have access to my subconcious. All they know is what I write.
If I try to be a team player without adapting my techniques (cough cough), a Big Ball of Mud can develope.
And with OSS, there may not be a more experienced developer around to badger me into doing it right.
This seems like a nifty idea and all, but doesn't seem well executed. It made no sense to me at all. Maybe it's not supposed to, or maybe I've become dumb.
As for the Eternal Question of interactivity vs. rules, I'll answer it the way I answer most questions: balance.
I know of two big problems with using hard drives for this kind of application.
Power consumption (I think that) Hard drives use more power than RAM-esque storage. More power use -> less battery life -> less play time -> less fun.
Vibrations They're much better than they used to be, but hard drives are still not suited for shaky environments. Think how much shaking the unit would get in your pocket as you walk? Try stairs or jogging.
I think people want their music to be very portable, so it will have to last a long time and take a beating.
I've never heard of any site making use of the processor ID. I use a K6-2, though. If the ID was never used at all, then the wired article is just PR crap.
I think Intel just pulled a useless feature that nobody cared about and reduced costs (I blindly assume). They're just making themselves look good by claiming to bend to the peoples' desires.
Does anyone know of anything these processor IDs were actually used for?
This just illustrates the great evil of our times: peace.
Just think what marvels would have been cooked up during the cold war if it had lasted. But, nooooo, we had to get all warm and fuzzy. Without the "Red Menace" breathing down our necks, we stopped out push for better, faster, cheaper ways to kill people.
All those talented designers...wasted on bridges and curing diseases...
It could be some time before a similar system takes the place of an English court. "It would have to satisfy the authorities that it was absolutely foolproof first," says a spokesman for the Lord Chancellor's office, which oversees courts in England and Wales.
I think this spokesman is mistaken. American judges won't want this system to be foolproof. They would feel jealous.
It's just a matter of time 'til the US federal government decides to take over. After a few more big companies get pissed off that somethint similar to their trademark is taken, Congress will have a surprise vote and write up a set of rule that everyone has to follow.
Spend the money, get the domain...
A few days after, an intern will remind a congressman that other countries use the internet, too...
Well, I'll admit there's a possibility that this is a coincidence, or the reporter was overly enthusiastic, or it the fault of someone other than AOL.
However, damn, this is inscidious.
There is a bright side though: perhaps now some big names will be pissed off at filterware. If the democratic national party is outraged enough, lots of congressfolk will oppose government-mandated filtering.
See, pissing off informed citizens is no big deal. Pissing off a political party...
I think the whole Hubble story could serve as a dose of realism for some of the extreme NASA-naysayers. Space exploration (be it hubble or that unlucky Mars robot thing) is difficult and expensive Put the two together, and you've got the possibility of failure.
We shouldn't be surprised that cutting edge technology fails on its way to another planet once in awhile. It would be downright freaky if every NASA project worked perfectly, on time and underbudget.
Slashdot Mirror
I've noticed a conspicious lack of information from the Slashdot staff about the attack. I assume they are investigating it, with the best help good will can buy. If MS is responsible, then the appropriate charges will be filed.
Also, realize that Microsoft will be monitoring Slashdot closely for a while (whether or not MS is responsible for the attack), and anything you say could end up in court documents or press releases as a "typical example of the anti-Microsoft nature of Slashdot". So maybe when we spout our usual anti-MS rhetoric, we should try to write intelligently. (Not to imply that your post in unintelligent)
...or maybe Slashdot did post a story about the attack, and Slashdot got Slashdotted...
(Who else caught the obscure poison umbrella reference?)
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Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
First of all, there's a big PR factor here. Conventional news sources are reporting this story, so a lot of non-technical people will hear about it. Non-technical people are a big chunk of MS's customer base, so maybe MS will try to play nice.
As much as we rant and rave here, even when we're completely in the right (has that ever happened?), we end up preaching to the choir. With a little attention from mainstream media, we can get our message(s) out.
And perhaps a few "normal" people will visit Slashdot and see that the "evil hackers" have a few good points after all...
---
Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
Quick, somebody adapt the gnutella serverless network to a Slashdot-esque forum, just in case MS takes this to court and wins.
We could even have a wall-of-shame with the IP #s of trolls...
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Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
I usually agree with the ACLU's side of privacy cases, but this one is pretty borderline. Like a lot of people have said, Yahoo! did receive subpoenas. They might have been able to find a legal way to withold the information at least temporarily, but I don't think it's appropriate to demand that they do so.
The issue seems to be this:
Did Yahoo! screw up? I think so. Should they notify users when their information is given away? Yeah, or at least change their privacy policy to reflect reality.
I guess I see this as more of a contract issue than a privacy issue. The ACLU is exagerating the significance of this lawsuit.
---
Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
But don't get cocky. Hardly any viruses are targeted at Linux because Linux is still pretty uncommon, especially for home PCs which are the main victims of most viruses these days.
When people start writing viruses / worms / scripts / other malicious code that targets Linux machines, then the security will be put to the test.
---
Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
This would have been a good one to include, if it was posted when this story was submitted:
------- Additional Comments From morse@netscape.com 2000-05-09 00:09 -------
Let me clarify something here. Contrary to popular opinion, this feature was never "yanked" from the product! It's still there, alive and well, and getting compiled into every build. It's all under control of a pref (imageblocker.enabled). The pref is currently defaulted to "false" (in all.js) but an implementation is free to change that if it chooses to do so.
Sure, we've got lots of reasons to fear / hate the AOL continuum. Let's not make up any more unless it's necessary (or really funny).
---
Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
On the other hand, there's the obligatory paranoid wild prediction. This could lead to the sort of teamup that spawned such funny names as "Wintel."
---
Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
Well, now it's official. No Slashdot regular will ever get laid again. We managed for awhile by sounding smart, but nothing can counteract this.
We'll have to settle for tech groupies who trade sexual favors for processor time. Quick, somebody port breasts to linux!
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Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
We can port to Nintendo 64 once we figure how deal with "Insert Windows 98 CD into cartridge slot" problems.
---
Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
Mr. Metzler contacted NVidia and approved their plan to sort of sweep this under the rug. Hey, fine, that's a very civilized and decent thing to do. But the rest of us did no such thing. In fact, there are quite a few people pissed off enough to demand NVidia's code.
IANAL, but I believe everybody on the planet has a very legal claim to that code now. We have a right to demand it, and if we don't get it, we have a right to sue for it (and hopefully win).
GPL software is more-or-less communally owned, so the developer's OK just isn't enough. The whole world has to be nice to NVidia and other companies who accidentally include GPL code.
---
Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
Privacy advocates tend to give rather impractical reasons why privacy should be protected. We say that we should have privacy because it has some implicit value, or because of constitional protection (your mileage may vary depending on where you live), or we may admit that we want to get away with breaking the law in harmless ways.
These arguments have a certain amount of value (and, IMHO, truth) and persuasiveness, but are largely based on personal opinion. Some people don't believe that privacy is inherently valuable, that the constitution "really" guarantees reasonable privacy, or that harmless crimes are really harmless. This limits the power of these arguments.
But this article presents something much more practical, and thus more universal and more persuasive
We should perpetuate the points the writer makes...then take over the world.
---
Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
I'm pretty ignorant about the structure of the internet as a whole, but is there a concern about communications that pass through Brittain?
Say some major e-mail router is in Brittain, and two people who live outside Brittain send mail (probably unknowingly) through that router. Will this infrastructure make it easier to intercept that sort or communication? What are jurisdiction concerns?
---
Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
There is a big difference between working alone and being a team player.
When I write code that only I will ever read (which is normal for me), I don't have to worry so much about making it readable (i.e. comments, appropriate labels, overall good design). When I read it, my brain will fill in a lot of the gaps that I've left. Even if I've "forgotten" the details, a lot of information can come back from my subconcious.
When I write code others will have to read (which I've done a few times, badly) everything needs to be much more clear. My co-workers / buddies don't have access to my subconcious. All they know is what I write.
If I try to be a team player without adapting my techniques (cough cough), a Big Ball of Mud can develope.
And with OSS, there may not be a more experienced developer around to badger me into doing it right.
---
Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
Ball of mud? Bad ideas? Low quality?
No fair. I've been working on patenting these techniques.
---
Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
This seems like a nifty idea and all, but doesn't seem well executed. It made no sense to me at all. Maybe it's not supposed to, or maybe I've become dumb.
As for the Eternal Question of interactivity vs. rules, I'll answer it the way I answer most questions: balance.
---
Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
I know of two big problems with using hard drives for this kind of application.
(I think that) Hard drives use more power than RAM-esque storage. More power use -> less battery life -> less play time -> less fun.
They're much better than they used to be, but hard drives are still not suited for shaky environments. Think how much shaking the unit would get in your pocket as you walk? Try stairs or jogging.
I think people want their music to be very portable, so it will have to last a long time and take a beating.
---
Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
My life just got much simpler. Or rather, it will be once I figure out how to install linux then set up lilo.
Anything that reduces the amount of fiddling I have to do with those wacky-ass DOS-style partitions is a good thing.
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Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
I've never heard of any site making use of the processor ID. I use a K6-2, though. If the ID was never used at all, then the wired article is just PR crap.
I think Intel just pulled a useless feature that nobody cared about and reduced costs (I blindly assume). They're just making themselves look good by claiming to bend to the peoples' desires.
Does anyone know of anything these processor IDs were actually used for?
---
Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
Who the crap moderated my post as "Insightful?" I shudder to think that someone who would take that post seriously weilds such power...
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Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
This just illustrates the great evil of our times: peace.
Just think what marvels would have been cooked up during the cold war if it had lasted. But, nooooo, we had to get all warm and fuzzy. Without the "Red Menace" breathing down our necks, we stopped out push for better, faster, cheaper ways to kill people.
All those talented designers...wasted on bridges and curing diseases...
---
Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
It could be some time before a similar system takes the place of an English court. "It would have to satisfy the authorities that it was absolutely foolproof first," says a spokesman for the Lord Chancellor's office, which oversees courts in England and Wales.
I think this spokesman is mistaken. American judges won't want this system to be foolproof. They would feel jealous.
---
Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
It's just a matter of time 'til the US federal government decides to take over. After a few more big companies get pissed off that somethint similar to their trademark is taken, Congress will have a surprise vote and write up a set of rule that everyone has to follow.
Spend the money, get the domain...
A few days after, an intern will remind a congressman that other countries use the internet, too...
---
Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
I deleted the email I refer to below, so watch for inaccuracies.
Long ago, I asked Cyber Patrol what justification they have for blocking Peacefire.org in all of their categories.
They said it was because Peacefire describes how to get around certain filters.
They did not respond to my follow up...
Since this article describes a way around AOL blocking (wish I'd thought of that...), will the CNet article be blocked too?
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Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
Well, I'll admit there's a possibility that this is a coincidence, or the reporter was overly enthusiastic, or it the fault of someone other than AOL.
However, damn, this is inscidious.
There is a bright side though: perhaps now some big names will be pissed off at filterware. If the democratic national party is outraged enough, lots of congressfolk will oppose government-mandated filtering.
See, pissing off informed citizens is no big deal. Pissing off a political party...
---
Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
I think the whole Hubble story could serve as a dose of realism for some of the extreme NASA-naysayers. Space exploration (be it hubble or that unlucky Mars robot thing) is difficult and expensive Put the two together, and you've got the possibility of failure.
We shouldn't be surprised that cutting edge technology fails on its way to another planet once in awhile. It would be downright freaky if every NASA project worked perfectly, on time and underbudget.
---
Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!