Yes, the CIA is prohibited from spying on Yanks, but the only reason the FBI can spy on a foreigner is if they are investigating terrorist activity directed at the United States.
Now, this makes me wonder if they are restricted to spying on terrorists over here, of if they can investigate such factions abroad. I checked the appropriate section of their FAQ, but it seemed only to hint that they function stateside and rely on others to help them abroad.
Actually, a mailing list I used to be on distrobuted a version of this program. It would pop out the CDROM tray, and play the Coke jingle. Of course, I was running a virus shield at the time, and it detected the attachment as being dubious in nature. The moderator had to send out a second message explaining that he wasn't sending people virii.
If you'ld like to read more about this 'virii', click here. A little description of the faux 'trojan'.
I agree entirely. Somehow, the added magic seemed to detract from the 'man vs. machine' nature of most cyberpunk role playing games. Plus, the added governmental influences (the tribal nations, the elf nation), seemed to detract from the megacorporations.
While katz's point is quite valid, CP2020 is a far better example, IMHO. Look at the current trends of outsourcing governmental departments, and various corporations taking advantages of third-world governments. One of the major themes in most cyberpunk literature and role-playing, other then the 'man vs. machine' trend, is the megacorps acting as the ultimate 'big brother'. Larger then any remaining government, the remaining power blocks of the world. Corporate defections led to warfare in Gibson's 'Count Zero'. Megacorporations built their own orbital stations to avoid taxes in 'Neuromancer'. Arcologies were built in remote areas, where the employee sent their kids to a corporation-owned school, walked through a corporate park, worked, then returned to their corporate-owned housing. Look at some of the major modern corporations, the way they 'move into' a town, and the way the region's identity shifts around the corporation. When IBM stock prices dipped in the mid 90's, I was on vacation visiting a relative that worked for them in upstate NY. Sure enough, the sunday mass included prayers for the corporation. Look at Japan, with corporate songs and corporate housing. This is a fascinating trend, from a socioeconomical view, and has really been taken to the nth degree in cyberpunk literature.
Some of the underhanded moves made by modern companies, can you imagine what they'd do if they WERE more powerful then government? Exactly the 'horror stories' that occur in most cyberpunk literature. The covert killing off of rival researchers that refuse to defect, faking a terrorist attack to sneak out research data from a rival megacorp, etc.
Though to counter your last two lines, I do think that the future's going to look more like a 'Snow Crash' future then a 'Neuromancer' future. As dystopian as I feel the future's going to be, I do think Gibson was a little to far into the darkness.
If you're looking for a good MMRPG cyberpunk game, full of megacorps and fun, be sure to check out CyberSphere.
While the ACLU tends to be a rabid bunch of lawyers with too much time on their hands (the Onion article about the ACLU suing the police for stopping someone from blowing up the ACLU HQ comes to mind), I'd have to go with them on this one. It's like being brought to trial without being allowed to take the stand. They're not asking for completely anonymous postings, they are merely asking that the user is allowed to defend their right to be anonymous before the information is revealed. This is not just a standard practice online, this is a standard practice for print forums as well. Such as the editorial section of your local newspaper. The newspapers are required to know your identity, even if they print it as 'name withheld', but they are not required to give it over unconditionally at any request. If we think of Yahoo's financial boards as such an editorial section (or even/. discussions, considering the recent MS scandal), then Yahoo (and/.) have the right to protect their sources. It is a shame to see that Yahoo doesn't care enough about their sources to even check that the requests for information are valid legal subpoenas. OT: best of luck cleaning up after the DDOS attack(s)
I'd go so far as to call/.'ers a group of communities. The clever trolls, the simple goatse.cxers and spammers, the Linux zealots, the corporate sysadmins sitting bored in their office/.'ing all day, etc. A series of communities, with their own forums for discussion, clashing or joining every so often in an article or secret SID that spans a few of their interests at once.
Regarding MOOs, I think one of the best examples is a MOO that has some of the MUD-drawing aspects as well as the building aspects of a MOO and the roleplaying aspects of a MUSH. CyberSphere, a MOO I've worked on and played for years, combines all of these quite well. All of the dangers that Katz has mentioned in his intro paragraph have come and gone. From flamers to thieves and beyond, and it's still going well after seven years.
The members are quite close, many people have moved across the country or made their college choice through CyberSphere. A few admins on the game got job offers from other admin and players, after seeing that they could code on the game. Recently a few losers (myself included) drove a thousand miles from all over the country to have a party IRL. While there everything from drug deals to job offers went down. Though after the long return trip home, the group of us are still a community in many ways, in almost every sense of the word.
Slashdot Mirror
Somehow I think that there won't ever be any way to "utterly defeat" measures like this
å }DecTÊ@ryptKèÑ6M~f£ÿ ékmeOjDöif*Û0youÄÀúÛcan£ÿ7çdõÊÓÅ3¼Üóßê£>rè15ìðgVÂÌ ÕòÝÇF|ä¾õÖN_ë=ó|)kæøiY5ôãv)hÄ øÊ*e+Úõî
çéLxÕÑætPÑä-£í8JöJ)Ê$ikÙb*SQË©J2ÆZôñ)ä®×ýÜÀéqÚ:
Crack that.
My lord, how could you post such filth in a public forum! How did you get the dog to do that to her, while we're at it?
Yes, the CIA is prohibited from spying on Yanks, but the only reason the FBI can spy on a foreigner is if they are investigating terrorist activity directed at the United States.
Now, this makes me wonder if they are restricted to spying on terrorists over here, of if they can investigate such factions abroad. I checked the appropriate section of their FAQ, but it seemed only to hint that they function stateside and rely on others to help them abroad.
Or Bob Dole. Or Ronald Reagan. I think you're on to something here with this theory of yours.
Actually, a mailing list I used to be on distrobuted a version of this program. It would pop out the CDROM tray, and play the Coke jingle. Of course, I was running a virus shield at the time, and it detected the attachment as being dubious in nature. The moderator had to send out a second message explaining that he wasn't sending people virii.
If you'ld like to read more about this 'virii', click here. A little description of the faux 'trojan'.
I agree entirely. Somehow, the added magic seemed to detract from the 'man vs. machine' nature of most cyberpunk role playing games. Plus, the added governmental influences (the tribal nations, the elf nation), seemed to detract from the megacorporations.
While katz's point is quite valid, CP2020 is a far better example, IMHO. Look at the current trends of outsourcing governmental departments, and various corporations taking advantages of third-world governments. One of the major themes in most cyberpunk literature and role-playing, other then the 'man vs. machine' trend, is the megacorps acting as the ultimate 'big brother'. Larger then any remaining government, the remaining power blocks of the world. Corporate defections led to warfare in Gibson's 'Count Zero'. Megacorporations built their own orbital stations to avoid taxes in 'Neuromancer'. Arcologies were built in remote areas, where the employee sent their kids to a corporation-owned school, walked through a corporate park, worked, then returned to their corporate-owned housing. Look at some of the major modern corporations, the way they 'move into' a town, and the way the region's identity shifts around the corporation. When IBM stock prices dipped in the mid 90's, I was on vacation visiting a relative that worked for them in upstate NY. Sure enough, the sunday mass included prayers for the corporation. Look at Japan, with corporate songs and corporate housing. This is a fascinating trend, from a socioeconomical view, and has really been taken to the nth degree in cyberpunk literature.
Some of the underhanded moves made by modern companies, can you imagine what they'd do if they WERE more powerful then government? Exactly the 'horror stories' that occur in most cyberpunk literature. The covert killing off of rival researchers that refuse to defect, faking a terrorist attack to sneak out research data from a rival megacorp, etc.
Though to counter your last two lines, I do think that the future's going to look more like a 'Snow Crash' future then a 'Neuromancer' future. As dystopian as I feel the future's going to be, I do think Gibson was a little to far into the darkness.
If you're looking for a good MMRPG cyberpunk game, full of megacorps and fun, be sure to check out CyberSphere.
While the ACLU tends to be a rabid bunch of lawyers with too much time on their hands (the Onion article about the ACLU suing the police for stopping someone from blowing up the ACLU HQ comes to mind), I'd have to go with them on this one. It's like being brought to trial without being allowed to take the stand. They're not asking for completely anonymous postings, they are merely asking that the user is allowed to defend their right to be anonymous before the information is revealed. This is not just a standard practice online, this is a standard practice for print forums as well. Such as the editorial section of your local newspaper. The newspapers are required to know your identity, even if they print it as 'name withheld', but they are not required to give it over unconditionally at any request. If we think of Yahoo's financial boards as such an editorial section (or even /. discussions, considering the recent MS scandal), then Yahoo (and /.) have the right to protect their sources. It is a shame to see that Yahoo doesn't care enough about their sources to even check that the requests for information are valid legal subpoenas. OT: best of luck cleaning up after the DDOS attack(s)
Could you call /.'ers a community?
/.'ers a group of communities. The clever trolls, the simple goatse.cxers and spammers, the Linux zealots, the corporate sysadmins sitting bored in their office /.'ing all day, etc. A series of communities, with their own forums for discussion, clashing or joining every so often in an article or secret SID that spans a few of their interests at once.
I'd go so far as to call
Regarding MOOs, I think one of the best examples is a MOO that has some of the MUD-drawing aspects as well as the building aspects of a MOO and the roleplaying aspects of a MUSH. CyberSphere, a MOO I've worked on and played for years, combines all of these quite well. All of the dangers that Katz has mentioned in his intro paragraph have come and gone. From flamers to thieves and beyond, and it's still going well after seven years.
The members are quite close, many people have moved across the country or made their college choice through CyberSphere. A few admins on the game got job offers from other admin and players, after seeing that they could code on the game. Recently a few losers (myself included) drove a thousand miles from all over the country to have a party IRL. While there everything from drug deals to job offers went down. Though after the long return trip home, the group of us are still a community in many ways, in almost every sense of the word.