"The battle of privacy and safety is going to begin in earnest now."
Mark those words. I agree wholeheartedly. I don't know if any of us really realize how significant an event this whole ordeal is quite yet. We are in the first war of the 21st century against an enemy we haven't really identified which will be used as an excuse to strip us of rights-- sometimes rightfully and necessarily so, though at the same time perhaps not for the better. The airports are just the beginning.
As I keep trying to do in this situation, I look for the positive. I can say that this event has unquestionably brought us closer as a nation-- I never considered myself much a patriot, but I do now, even with my normal libertarian anti-corporate bent. More importantly, though, this tragedy is making us face the limits and realities of technology. We are on the brink of a huge leap in where we can go technologically and what that will mean, and there has been virtually no public discussion of this. I think this event will force us to have that discussion as a nation, and we need to be very, very present for this battle.
My boyfriend and I are going to Goveurnor's on the Lower East Side. You can also call 800.933.BLOOD (800.933.2566) for locations, but good luck getting through.
All of this dicussion of WAP/WML/blah blah blah ignores the real problem behind the lack of Internet-On-My-Phone acceptance: the interface. The interface for Internet phones sucks. You can talk about byte-size transmissions and protocol errors, but that doesn't really matter: you can transmit data over Xmodem just fine, thank you, if that's what it comes down to. The problem is that it takes ages to find your info, due to the hideous menu structure the phones have and the inherent limitations of using 10 keys to input a selection of 127 characters. This is mainly because Sprint and its brethren have high-value contracts with AOHell, M$N, and Yahoo (oops, Yahoo!, I mustn't forget the "!") so that they appear as the first things in your minibrowser, when in fact the most useful thing you can do with the phone is look up weather and movie times. The day I can attach an address-book entry to a Net bookmark, like I currently can with a phone number, is the day the mobile Internet will become useful. Imagine how much simpler that scenario is: by assigning "New York Weather" to number 2 on my keypad, I can hold the button down and have the weather. Why has no one thought of this? Take a cue from M$ and integrate the browser into the OS.
I remember being in my 2nd grade class In Maumee, OH. Miss Hipp had riled us all up in anticipation of this historic occasion. We had been studying random space factoids and things of that nature for weeks leading up to the explosion. I was the ever-present geek, always proffering up my opinions on space travel and planetary blather and the nascent info I knew of relativity. I can distinctly remember the cold in the air outside, and that it was a sunny day, and that we all watched eagerly on television. I can remember reading about Christa McAuluff in those random newsprint things they gave you when you were little, about how her kids begged her not to go, about what an amazing and historic thing this was going to be.
I can also remember watching the pre-liftoff show and getting goosebumps just as I am while I write this, and being horribly confused and dismayed and sad and lost when the cameras caught the shuttle exploding before my little 6-year-old eyes. I can remember feeling Miss Hipp's loss for words, her confusion as to what she was supposed to do next, her sadness, and her shock. She sat there staring at the TV for a few moments, walked over to it, and shut it off. I asked, knowing full well the answer, "What happened?"
"I don't know, kids. Take out your math books."
--
this article is true. Having worked for the last three years for one of the crazier Silicon Alley companies known for its wild parties and crazy employees, I for one can vouch that there is a large amount of drug use going on in the techie world, especially in urban dotcom-heavy areas. From SF to LA to here in NYC, there is a noticeable sure-I-will-take-that attitude among dotcom workers (including myself).
I do have to say that marijuana seems to be the drug of choice, though. Coke is used less but is still present, whilst meth seems to be largely a California thing, since the NYPD has made it their primary mission (aside from harming innocent minorities) to eradicate any and all sources of the drug.
Does this mean that products such as OpenSSH and will start shipping with standard distros (other than SuSE)? It's about time telnet came turned off on everything.
Please note that I stole some other people's comments from this post because the were so succinct. Sorry if that offends you.
Rep. Nadler-
I am deeply troubled by two bills going through Congress right now- HR 2987, the so-called "Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act," as well as HR 833, the "Bankruptcy Reform Act." Both of these bills ostensibly serve the common good by limiting access to information that could be considered dangerous to society, but instead radically limit Free Speech and are obvious violations of Americans' Constitutional rights. It troubles me first and foremost that such a bill would even be considered by the very individuals who are supposed to be protecting those freedoms, but I am troubled by other facets of the scenario, as well.
In the case of the Bankruptcy Reform Act, it troubles me that the whole rider-system, while technically allowed by law, is once again being used to put into effect laws that have nothing to do with the intended purpose of the bill (bankruptcy reform). I've noted that a tiny little rider in the bill alters the general requirements for search warrants so that you need never be informed of a search -- notification can be delayed indefinitely, which is a fundamental violation of the Fourth Amendment. How Congress can even consider violating rights which are so dear even to them is a mystery to me.
In the case of the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act, the violations of our rights are even more perverse. H.R. 2987 would allow the government to order Web sites censored and shut down without any due process of law and without any notice given to the website's owner. One provision of the bill would allow agencies like the FBI to make judgment calls on the intent of online statements regarding drug use -- a power usually reserved for the courts. Internet service providers would then be ordered by law enforcement to take down any of these statements within 48 hours -- without notifying the Web site owner. As someone who works in New York's New Media industry, I find these sorts of things upsetting and confusing. Why would Congress want to do such a thing to American people-- to deeply hurt them and to take away the very rights that founded this country?
Both laws are in such clear violation of our rights that I do not doubt that, like each of the right-breaking laws that have come before them, the Supreme Court will shut them down. That Congress apparently does not see these as grave actions and is willing to cost the public the money it will take to fight such folly is wildly upsetting and shows a great deal of disrespect for the American people.
I urge you to vote this bill down and to encourage your peers in Congress to do the same. I have written to you before about issues like this and you have always been responsive in kind, and I very much appreciate that. I feel this issue is of greater importance than many we're facing today, and I hope that you feel the same way.
For those of you interested, I've ordered a few servers from Telenet, all of them Linux boxen. They are a tad expensive, but their support is very good, their salespeople knowledgeable, and their products solid and built with standard products. I recommend them to anyone looking for good servers...
Anyone interested can check out Best of Moog. It's a collection of the most popular Moog music from the heydey of Moog's era. Kind of maddening to listen to, but interesting nonetheless.
Slashdot Mirror
"The battle of privacy and safety is going to begin in earnest now."
Mark those words. I agree wholeheartedly. I don't know if any of us really realize how significant an event this whole ordeal is quite yet. We are in the first war of the 21st century against an enemy we haven't really identified which will be used as an excuse to strip us of rights-- sometimes rightfully and necessarily so, though at the same time perhaps not for the better. The airports are just the beginning.
As I keep trying to do in this situation, I look for the positive. I can say that this event has unquestionably brought us closer as a nation-- I never considered myself much a patriot, but I do now, even with my normal libertarian anti-corporate bent. More importantly, though, this tragedy is making us face the limits and realities of technology. We are on the brink of a huge leap in where we can go technologically and what that will mean, and there has been virtually no public discussion of this. I think this event will force us to have that discussion as a nation, and we need to be very, very present for this battle.
I think it is indeed a war.
You can find a listing here and good old MapQuest here.
My boyfriend and I are going to Goveurnor's on the Lower East Side. You can also call 800.933.BLOOD (800.933.2566) for locations, but good luck getting through.
Peace, everyone.
All of this dicussion of WAP/WML/blah blah blah ignores the real problem behind the lack of Internet-On-My-Phone acceptance: the interface. The interface for Internet phones sucks. You can talk about byte-size transmissions and protocol errors, but that doesn't really matter: you can transmit data over Xmodem just fine, thank you, if that's what it comes down to. The problem is that it takes ages to find your info, due to the hideous menu structure the phones have and the inherent limitations of using 10 keys to input a selection of 127 characters. This is mainly because Sprint and its brethren have high-value contracts with AOHell, M$N, and Yahoo (oops, Yahoo!, I mustn't forget the "!") so that they appear as the first things in your minibrowser, when in fact the most useful thing you can do with the phone is look up weather and movie times. The day I can attach an address-book entry to a Net bookmark, like I currently can with a phone number, is the day the mobile Internet will become useful. Imagine how much simpler that scenario is: by assigning "New York Weather" to number 2 on my keypad, I can hold the button down and have the weather. Why has no one thought of this? Take a cue from M$ and integrate the browser into the OS.
The Lynx, the Game Gear, the TurboGrafx Whatever and various and sundry PDAs have all been horizontal.
I remember being in my 2nd grade class In Maumee, OH. Miss Hipp had riled us all up in anticipation of this historic occasion. We had been studying random space factoids and things of that nature for weeks leading up to the explosion. I was the ever-present geek, always proffering up my opinions on space travel and planetary blather and the nascent info I knew of relativity. I can distinctly remember the cold in the air outside, and that it was a sunny day, and that we all watched eagerly on television. I can remember reading about Christa McAuluff in those random newsprint things they gave you when you were little, about how her kids begged her not to go, about what an amazing and historic thing this was going to be.
I can also remember watching the pre-liftoff show and getting goosebumps just as I am while I write this, and being horribly confused and dismayed and sad and lost when the cameras caught the shuttle exploding before my little 6-year-old eyes. I can remember feeling Miss Hipp's loss for words, her confusion as to what she was supposed to do next, her sadness, and her shock. She sat there staring at the TV for a few moments, walked over to it, and shut it off. I asked, knowing full well the answer, "What happened?"
"I don't know, kids. Take out your math books."
--
I do have to say that marijuana seems to be the drug of choice, though. Coke is used less but is still present, whilst meth seems to be largely a California thing, since the NYPD has made it their primary mission (aside from harming innocent minorities) to eradicate any and all sources of the drug.
Does this mean that products such as OpenSSH and will start shipping with standard distros (other than SuSE)? It's about time telnet came turned off on everything.
Rep. Nadler-
I am deeply troubled by two bills going through Congress right now- HR 2987, the so-called "Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act," as well as HR 833, the "Bankruptcy Reform Act." Both of these bills ostensibly serve the common good by limiting access to information that could be considered dangerous to society, but instead radically limit Free Speech and are obvious violations of Americans' Constitutional rights. It troubles me first and foremost that such a bill would even be considered by the very individuals who are supposed to be protecting those freedoms, but I am troubled by other facets of the scenario, as well.
In the case of the Bankruptcy Reform Act, it troubles me that the whole rider-system, while technically allowed by law, is once again being used to put into effect laws that have nothing to do with the intended purpose of the bill (bankruptcy reform). I've noted that a tiny little rider in the bill alters the general requirements for search warrants so that you need never be informed of a search -- notification can be delayed indefinitely, which is a fundamental violation of the Fourth Amendment. How Congress can even consider violating rights which are so dear even to them is a mystery to me.
In the case of the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act, the violations of our rights are even more perverse. H.R. 2987 would allow the government to order Web sites censored and shut down without any due process of law and without any notice given to the website's owner. One provision of the bill would allow agencies like the FBI to make judgment calls on the intent of online statements regarding drug use -- a power usually reserved for the courts. Internet service providers would then be ordered by law enforcement to take down any of these statements within 48 hours -- without notifying the Web site owner. As someone who works in New York's New Media industry, I find these sorts of things upsetting and confusing. Why would Congress want to do such a thing to American people-- to deeply hurt them and to take away the very rights that founded this country?
Both laws are in such clear violation of our rights that I do not doubt that, like each of the right-breaking laws that have come before them, the Supreme Court will shut them down. That Congress apparently does not see these as grave actions and is willing to cost the public the money it will take to fight such folly is wildly upsetting and shows a great deal of disrespect for the American people.
I urge you to vote this bill down and to encourage your peers in Congress to do the same. I have written to you before about issues like this and you have always been responsive in kind, and I very much appreciate that. I feel this issue is of greater importance than many we're facing today, and I hope that you feel the same way.
Thank you for your time.
For those of you interested, I've ordered a few servers from Telenet, all of them Linux boxen. They are a tad expensive, but their support is very good, their salespeople knowledgeable, and their products solid and built with standard products. I recommend them to anyone looking for good servers...
Anyone interested can check out Best of Moog. It's a collection of the most popular Moog music from the heydey of Moog's era. Kind of maddening to listen to, but interesting nonetheless.