i think it's a lot simpler than anyone's thinking.
yes, government would love to have these powers. but the bottom line is that the US is no longer a manufacturing powerhouse. our economy is gasping breaths on service industries and intellectual property creation, two things where the US can still claim a measure of global superiority. of COURSE the government is going to do everything it can to prop up its two biggest cash cows.
is there anyone watchdogging Spamhaus' watchdog efforts?
You seem to have a basic misunderstanding of Cause and Effect. Spamhaus can't actually withhold anything. They can suggest to others that those other parties might want to withhold their goodwill of an abuser, but by itself Spamhaus is completely powerless. It is only when other people agree with them that the group as a whole acts against those who abuse us through our technology. And that group action is entirely legal.
And Heaven help is if it ever does become illegal.
the problem is that Spamhaus either 1) has their word taken at face value by other ISPs and e-mail services, who automatically block whomever Spamhaus says needs blocking, or 2) has the ability to destroy a person's or company's reputation and goodwill, which can be just as bad in the long run.
i've got no misunderstanding of cause and effect. in this case, Spamhaus apparently believed that the only acceptable remedy in the A2B situation was for an entire datacenter to be blacklisted, and the effect was that a lot of innocent non-spammers got denied e-mail services along with the scummy spammer. Spamhaus is the cause, and a scorched-earth practice was the effect. i'm not understanding why people don't have a problem with this when so many are vocal about similar actions by the DHS to block domain names on sketchy grounds. the effect of a Spamhaus blacklisting has as much severity as a DHS unilateral block.
no need to be hostile, i was simply asking a question. i'm unsure myself whether Spamhaus DOES need its own watchdog. that's why i'm asking.
and it's always good to question authority. i know Spamhaus has a lot of credit on/. but power and abuse go hand in hand. if A2B has a legit complaint, and Spamhaus responds poorly, who checks Spamhaus?
seems like an interesting question here. Spamhaus in essence can withhold an ISP's goodwill in the community, which is arguably a part of an ISP's "property" (and of any business, really). if that theory holds up, what Spamhaus is doing could be considered extortion. A2B could also seek some sort of libel claim against Spamhaus, but how likely would such a claim be enforced over international borders?
is there anyone watchdogging Spamhaus' watchdog efforts?
funny, seems like you can legislate retarding other, more advanced, "better for the market" technologies just fine.
give me a break here. the oil lobby has an invested interest in making sure that your vaunted "market" is limited to their energy resources alone. pure market solutions don't work because they're completely unrealistic. they don't take into account how much resources the entrenched corporations and powers pour into our politics to ensure their place on top. they don't take into account the difficulties of getting people to change their well-worn habits. they don't take into account the resources needed to improve and change an entrenched infrastructure.
and they accuse more left-leaning folks of being "idealistic". the market alone doesn't magically fix things.
yes, the US Judicial System exists. but think about this for a second: do you think every person wrongly pulled aside is going to have the resources to legally challenge state action? do you honestly believe the state-provided counsel is going to do an effective job?
your post assumes that the courts will somehow magically step in and correct wrongs, when in reality a lot of people who can't afford halfway decent legal representation will get convicted or worse.
But as a gamer, I don't give a fuck. A system that I truly enjoyed has become a greater and greater headache, and it all ties back directly to Hotz. And I, like a lot of gamers, just want it to go away.
and this is the woefully-apathetic stance that many gamers apparently take when it comes to rights.
let me ask you this: do you use an iDevice? and i mean an iPhone, iPad, iPod, or any other similar Apple product?
maybe not. do you use an Android-based device then? a PC? a car?
imagine if your ability to use those devices for your own personal use was severely curtailed somehow. no jailbreaking on the iPhone. no modding/building/upgrading your PC. no open-app environment on Android devices.
what's being debated here is whether consumers should be dictating what corporations ultimately produce, or if corporations should ultimately dictate all of the things you can do with their "product". we're rapidly approaching the point where goods produced by corporations are becoming so advanced that the average consumer, not knowing the internal workings of their own products, are legally barred from plumbing the software and hardware behind those products. consumers increasingly have no choice but to accept what a corporation dictates. it's not just a matter of market choice, either. ALL corporations are pushing for increased control over the consumer.
considering that gamers started out historically as hackers themselves, building their own PCs, operating systems, software, game ideas, etc., this is a sad direction to see.
consider the fact that a Fed shutdown will also necessarily shut down certain services like ICE prosecuting attorney offices (like the DAs for immigration) and the Immigration Courts themselves. that's major. a shutdown prevents the immigration system from doing its job, identifying people who should not be present in the US and deporting them, and also identifying those who have genuine claims to asylum or other valid reasons for being allowed to stay.
or the fact that without the EPA, a good number of Fed construction projects will have to be put on hold. like that new courthouse downtown that's so desperately needed to handle additional cases. or that highway maintenance and expansion needed in the face of additional traffic and/or crumbling infrastructure.
it's not "just 800,000 employees". thinking such reflects simplistic binary thinking to a much more complex problem.
based on the level of competence one would need, i think it's fair to say we won't be seeing a Wikileaks cable pointing the finger at U.S. intelligence as the Stuxnet authors any time soon.
i do not know if such a standard would apply in European courts, but at least in the U.S., your logic would find strong purchase, Mr. Neo. after all, for U.S. judges, they "know it when they see it."
i'm not exactly seeing how this has Google owning their "physical" lives. these employees have the choice to live either in off-Google-campus housing, which might be far and/or expensive, or in this new housing. they can choose to work for Google, or they can seek employment somewhere else. indentured servitude this ain't. Google employees' freedom to contract hasn't been eroded in some way. i'd say the only negative factor in all this (and it is a significant one) is Google's gobbling up of previously independent communities. but even there, Google can't just take over peoples' homes and businesses, they have to purchase them just like everyone else.
call me when Google starts making work a contracted requirement for basic living necessities or builds unmaintained, dilapidated tenements, then there'll be something worrisome.
problem is, the average citizen is NOT well-informed.
it's certainly not for lack of trying! take the RIAA for instance: they've been on a "education" campaign in schools for years now, trying to convince kids that copyright law essentially means the RIAA wins, no ifs, ands, or buts.
or like in health insurance and big pharma, where the average citizen simply lacks the needed specialized education to understand complex medical terminology.
and history has borne out that when a corporation or similar entity has unbridled freedom, they WILL do whatever they want to establish their own economic and political dominance. let's look at Microsoft: they essentially HAD an unregulated monopoly, up until the Fed (and the EU) came and put a stop to it. the government solutions were STILL ineffectual; Microsoft simply adapted (and i'm treading dangerously close to Gates of Borg here), and there's really still no viable OS alternative save Mac OS. it took Apple and Google to knock Microsoft down a peg. and both of those companies have really problematic practices, too.
government regulation is NECESSARY. there's a fine balance, but leave corporations alone and they WILL abuse the people. stockholders don't care so long as they make profit. with government, at least we can vote abusive politicians out, no capital required.
RIAA does not care about child pornography. They're hiding behind the issue. They want to be able to claim that those who oppose their position hate children.
considering the RIAA acts like a bunch of spoiled children, this is starting to make a lot of sense!
that isn't so much of a "fix" as it is a warning screen before a user loads any PDF on his or her iOS device.
considering the "typical user", that person will most likely impatiently click to ignore the warning anyway whenever it pops up, assuming that the user bother to install the warning app at all.
Slashdot Mirror
how about a probe of whether Chinese-produced solar panels are actually just planks of wood painted with black paint?
why do you think the US is lobbying so hard for ACTA?
i think it's a lot simpler than anyone's thinking. yes, government would love to have these powers. but the bottom line is that the US is no longer a manufacturing powerhouse. our economy is gasping breaths on service industries and intellectual property creation, two things where the US can still claim a measure of global superiority. of COURSE the government is going to do everything it can to prop up its two biggest cash cows.
is there anyone watchdogging Spamhaus' watchdog efforts?
You seem to have a basic misunderstanding of Cause and Effect. Spamhaus can't actually withhold anything. They can suggest to others that those other parties might want to withhold their goodwill of an abuser, but by itself Spamhaus is completely powerless. It is only when other people agree with them that the group as a whole acts against those who abuse us through our technology. And that group action is entirely legal. And Heaven help is if it ever does become illegal.
the problem is that Spamhaus either 1) has their word taken at face value by other ISPs and e-mail services, who automatically block whomever Spamhaus says needs blocking, or 2) has the ability to destroy a person's or company's reputation and goodwill, which can be just as bad in the long run.
i've got no misunderstanding of cause and effect. in this case, Spamhaus apparently believed that the only acceptable remedy in the A2B situation was for an entire datacenter to be blacklisted, and the effect was that a lot of innocent non-spammers got denied e-mail services along with the scummy spammer. Spamhaus is the cause, and a scorched-earth practice was the effect. i'm not understanding why people don't have a problem with this when so many are vocal about similar actions by the DHS to block domain names on sketchy grounds. the effect of a Spamhaus blacklisting has as much severity as a DHS unilateral block.
no need to be hostile, i was simply asking a question. i'm unsure myself whether Spamhaus DOES need its own watchdog. that's why i'm asking.
and it's always good to question authority. i know Spamhaus has a lot of credit on /. but power and abuse go hand in hand. if A2B has a legit complaint, and Spamhaus responds poorly, who checks Spamhaus?
seems like an interesting question here. Spamhaus in essence can withhold an ISP's goodwill in the community, which is arguably a part of an ISP's "property" (and of any business, really). if that theory holds up, what Spamhaus is doing could be considered extortion. A2B could also seek some sort of libel claim against Spamhaus, but how likely would such a claim be enforced over international borders?
is there anyone watchdogging Spamhaus' watchdog efforts?
funny, seems like you can legislate retarding other, more advanced, "better for the market" technologies just fine.
give me a break here. the oil lobby has an invested interest in making sure that your vaunted "market" is limited to their energy resources alone. pure market solutions don't work because they're completely unrealistic. they don't take into account how much resources the entrenched corporations and powers pour into our politics to ensure their place on top. they don't take into account the difficulties of getting people to change their well-worn habits. they don't take into account the resources needed to improve and change an entrenched infrastructure.
and they accuse more left-leaning folks of being "idealistic". the market alone doesn't magically fix things.
leading scientists and thinkers are still trying to figure out what went wrong with "Don't copy that floppy!".
your post assumes that the courts will somehow magically step in and correct wrongs, when in reality a lot of people who can't afford halfway decent legal representation will get convicted or worse.
they always tell the truth, too.
But as a gamer, I don't give a fuck. A system that I truly enjoyed has become a greater and greater headache, and it all ties back directly to Hotz. And I, like a lot of gamers, just want it to go away.
and this is the woefully-apathetic stance that many gamers apparently take when it comes to rights.
let me ask you this: do you use an iDevice? and i mean an iPhone, iPad, iPod, or any other similar Apple product?
maybe not. do you use an Android-based device then? a PC? a car?
imagine if your ability to use those devices for your own personal use was severely curtailed somehow. no jailbreaking on the iPhone. no modding/building/upgrading your PC. no open-app environment on Android devices.
what's being debated here is whether consumers should be dictating what corporations ultimately produce, or if corporations should ultimately dictate all of the things you can do with their "product". we're rapidly approaching the point where goods produced by corporations are becoming so advanced that the average consumer, not knowing the internal workings of their own products, are legally barred from plumbing the software and hardware behind those products. consumers increasingly have no choice but to accept what a corporation dictates. it's not just a matter of market choice, either. ALL corporations are pushing for increased control over the consumer.
considering that gamers started out historically as hackers themselves, building their own PCs, operating systems, software, game ideas, etc., this is a sad direction to see.
or the fact that without the EPA, a good number of Fed construction projects will have to be put on hold. like that new courthouse downtown that's so desperately needed to handle additional cases. or that highway maintenance and expansion needed in the face of additional traffic and/or crumbling infrastructure.
it's not "just 800,000 employees". thinking such reflects simplistic binary thinking to a much more complex problem.
Hugs Bosom.
nah, scientists are unlikely to find THAT particle...
based on the level of competence one would need, i think it's fair to say we won't be seeing a Wikileaks cable pointing the finger at U.S. intelligence as the Stuxnet authors any time soon.
i do not know if such a standard would apply in European courts, but at least in the U.S., your logic would find strong purchase, Mr. Neo. after all, for U.S. judges, they "know it when they see it."
...that the park actually evolved from lower forms of parks, each being incrementally better than the previous park. It is just a rumor.
correction: it's a just a theory.
call me when Google starts making work a contracted requirement for basic living necessities or builds unmaintained, dilapidated tenements, then there'll be something worrisome.
Hi Doctor Nick!
it's certainly not for lack of trying! take the RIAA for instance: they've been on a "education" campaign in schools for years now, trying to convince kids that copyright law essentially means the RIAA wins, no ifs, ands, or buts.
or like in health insurance and big pharma, where the average citizen simply lacks the needed specialized education to understand complex medical terminology.
and history has borne out that when a corporation or similar entity has unbridled freedom, they WILL do whatever they want to establish their own economic and political dominance. let's look at Microsoft: they essentially HAD an unregulated monopoly, up until the Fed (and the EU) came and put a stop to it. the government solutions were STILL ineffectual; Microsoft simply adapted (and i'm treading dangerously close to Gates of Borg here), and there's really still no viable OS alternative save Mac OS. it took Apple and Google to knock Microsoft down a peg. and both of those companies have really problematic practices, too.
government regulation is NECESSARY. there's a fine balance, but leave corporations alone and they WILL abuse the people. stockholders don't care so long as they make profit. with government, at least we can vote abusive politicians out, no capital required.
RIAA does not care about child pornography. They're hiding behind the issue. They want to be able to claim that those who oppose their position hate children.
considering the RIAA acts like a bunch of spoiled children, this is starting to make a lot of sense!
that isn't so much of a "fix" as it is a warning screen before a user loads any PDF on his or her iOS device. considering the "typical user", that person will most likely impatiently click to ignore the warning anyway whenever it pops up, assuming that the user bother to install the warning app at all.
Wrex
Steve Jobs (and the rest of Apple) stopped thinking differently a while ago.
actually right now he's busy filtering out all the new galaxy mapping apps being submitted to the App Store.
i understand their position, but they're got to realize ours. hours wasted cleaning out malware/spyware does not make for a good browsing experience, period.
i time my activities in femtoseconds. ...yes, i realize i just burned myself, but i can't resist using the word "femtoseconds".