Basically, if I understand what you're saying, this outcome means absolutely nothing legally. It sets no legal precedent, meaning that future cases similar to this will not be able to use this outcome in court as a precedent.
Now I have a question: Was this a case about domain names, or about trademarks? I couldn't imagine that this would be about domain names. From the articles, it seems to be about trademarks, not domain names. It's quite common now for a domain name to happen to also be a trademark, say, Amazon.com...
It was my understanding that the way domain names worked was based on a three or two letter "extension" at the end - if it was two letters, than there (should) be at least three dots in the name (as is www.theregister.co.uk - three dots) but if it ended with two, then there should be two dots (www.slashdot.org). I thought therefore you CAN'T have a TLD longer than three letters since that would break the spec...
Oh well, I should probably go read the spec again if I can remember where I found... Anyone know where it is?
I'm glad that they haven't implemented filtering yet where I live, especially because I live in Middlesex County in Massachusetts. I wonder if these filters would block Middlesex/Unisex counties? Especially because those words end up in some URLs...
Blocking the letters "sex" in URLs is foolish anyway, simply because "sex" can appear in other ways than porno sites. (I can't come up with a good example, but I guess resex for "RESearch EXample" might work as one?)
Another question is how filtering would really help? These computers are in public areas anyway. So if you're looking at porn, chances are someone will notice. Besides, I've seen people look up porn in my high school library - they were looking up something for a report, wound up clicking a link off a search engine which turned out to be a porn site. (Even better, the site wiped the Back buffer, and they couldn't figure out how to get off it...)
If the computers are in public areas, why would someone try looking up porn on them in communities that don't allow it anyway? Would anyone out there sit down at your library and start surfing your favorite porn sites? Probably not. And if you do, then the library can ask you to leave by creating policies which state that the USER must not engage in accessing obscene materials. Move the filtering off a computer algorithm and onto the people using it.
Most minors (notice I said most, as in not all, and I'm talking people around the age of 12) I know only use the Internet for reports or to find cheats to the latest video game craze. They aren't looking for porn because they know they'll get caught. And if they wind up on a porn site, then that came from following a poor choice of links anyway. Usually, their parent or teacher (or a librarian) is looking over the person using the Internet anyway.
This is ONLY a problem when someone uses the Internet unsupervised, and most parents should supervise what their children do ANYWAY (especially for TV, another hot issue). This is something that the parent or guardian of the minor should be doing, not something a legal institution. If parents can't be trusted to protect their children, then our society has a real problem.
This is completely offtopic and meaningless, but in Jakob's papers on websites, he keeps on refering to the fact that users don't read, they scan. WELL - SCAN means to anylize something. Skim on the other hand means to glance over quickly.
Sorry about this pointless comment, but it was driving me nuts to read "average users don't read (ie, scan), they scan (ie, skim)!"
Linux may be the only enterprise UNIX but that hardly makes it an enterprise operating system. I'm not even sure if that assurtion that it's the only Enterprise UNIX is even supportable, but it'd be cool if it were true...
Linux NEEDS clustering to become a true Enterprise operating system. It also needs to actually improve its stability... a true enterprise operating system must NEVER, EVER go down. Even for upgrades! Clustering is one solution to this problem, and Linux needs it to gain mass enterprise acceptance. Until then, things like OpenVMS (which isn't open in the open source sense) will still be more feasable in the enterprise market.
I'm not saying that SGI is a savior or something, but this is a weak area in Linux which needs to improve. Until it does, closed operating systems which already implement clustering will be used in Linux's place in enterprise situations. (This is also a lesson Microsoft needs to learn but I'd rather they didn't and keep on trying to sell Win2000 as an "enterprise solution.":)
Slashdot Mirror
Now I have a question: Was this a case about domain names, or about trademarks? I couldn't imagine that this would be about domain names. From the articles, it seems to be about trademarks, not domain names. It's quite common now for a domain name to happen to also be a trademark, say, Amazon.com...
Oh well, I should probably go read the spec again if I can remember where I found... Anyone know where it is?
Blocking the letters "sex" in URLs is foolish anyway, simply because "sex" can appear in other ways than porno sites. (I can't come up with a good example, but I guess resex for "RESearch EXample" might work as one?)
Another question is how filtering would really help? These computers are in public areas anyway. So if you're looking at porn, chances are someone will notice. Besides, I've seen people look up porn in my high school library - they were looking up something for a report, wound up clicking a link off a search engine which turned out to be a porn site. (Even better, the site wiped the Back buffer, and they couldn't figure out how to get off it...)
If the computers are in public areas, why would someone try looking up porn on them in communities that don't allow it anyway? Would anyone out there sit down at your library and start surfing your favorite porn sites? Probably not. And if you do, then the library can ask you to leave by creating policies which state that the USER must not engage in accessing obscene materials. Move the filtering off a computer algorithm and onto the people using it.
Most minors (notice I said most, as in not all, and I'm talking people around the age of 12) I know only use the Internet for reports or to find cheats to the latest video game craze. They aren't looking for porn because they know they'll get caught. And if they wind up on a porn site, then that came from following a poor choice of links anyway. Usually, their parent or teacher (or a librarian) is looking over the person using the Internet anyway.
This is ONLY a problem when someone uses the Internet unsupervised, and most parents should supervise what their children do ANYWAY (especially for TV, another hot issue). This is something that the parent or guardian of the minor should be doing, not something a legal institution. If parents can't be trusted to protect their children, then our society has a real problem.
Funny either way though.
Sorry about this pointless comment, but it was driving me nuts to read "average users don't read (ie, scan), they scan (ie, skim)!"
Linux may be the only enterprise UNIX but that hardly makes it an enterprise operating system. I'm not even sure if that assurtion that it's the only Enterprise UNIX is even supportable, but it'd be cool if it were true...
Linux NEEDS clustering to become a true Enterprise operating system. It also needs to actually improve its stability... a true enterprise operating system must NEVER, EVER go down. Even for upgrades! Clustering is one solution to this problem, and Linux needs it to gain mass enterprise acceptance. Until then, things like OpenVMS (which isn't open in the open source sense) will still be more feasable in the enterprise market.
I'm not saying that SGI is a savior or something, but this is a weak area in Linux which needs to improve. Until it does, closed operating systems which already implement clustering will be used in Linux's place in enterprise situations. (This is also a lesson Microsoft needs to learn but I'd rather they didn't and keep on trying to sell Win2000 as an "enterprise solution." :)