An 80-strong U.S. FBI agents raided the Texas-based host of Arabic Web sites, including that of the Arab world's leading independent news channel, prompting charges on Thursday of an 'anti-Muslim witchhunt.'
Why is it that every time the government does something bad to (e.g. raids) something that is owned primarily by minorities (e.g. Muslims), the victims cry racism? I'd be ignorant to think that it doesn't happen at all, but this is just plain ridiculous. It seems to me that they are just looking for a scapegoat -- the FBI didn't raid us because of our [p0rn || warez || etc.], they raided us because of our [race || religion || etc.]! Give me a break. IMO people like this need to grow up and realize that not everything bad that happens to them is because of their minority status.
Re:Good or bad... - in all seriousness
on
HP Buys Compaq
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Consider the size of these companies. Buying a competitor is just the first step. Truly merging on an operations level will probably take serveral years.
Yay. ANOTHER big corporate merger.
Call me paranoid, but IMO this is just getting ridiculous. I lost all faith in the government's enforcement of the concept of anti-trust when they let AOL and Time Warner merge. Of course, (HP + Compaq) < (AOL + TW), but come on...
How many huge corporate mergers are we going to have? Soon we're just going to have one giant corporation controlling everything. My video card's boot message ("3Dfx Interactive Inc.* \ A subsidiary of the AOL-Time Warner-Microsoft-Intel-ABC-NBC-CBS Corporation") will be true one of these days, at the rate we're going.
Notice the words "buying a competitor" in hillct's post. On a smaller scale, such as at the local-local level, this isn't such a big deal. But when you take two large corps that are competing against one another (plus only a couple others) for business nationwide, and let one buy the other, that's one less choice for the consumer. It's also one (much) larger corp that, due to its size, has to spend that much less time worrying about its competition. In the end, the consumer loses.
* Now owned by nVidia. Granted, 3Dfx was having tough times financially, but still...
If you're under 18 you use the filtered/monitored computer(s) near the librarian's desk. Keep the other computers in the reference area where they are supposed to be
Why 18? If you haven't yet reached the magical age of 18, you can't handle more mature subjects, such as...ohhh, say, AIDS research? Different people mature at different rates, ya know.
The DMCA only applies if the copy-protection is "effective", whatever that means. Possibly encrypting the document with a key which is stored in a constant string in a large binary reader is "effective", but using pkzip and then xoring each byte with 102 (IIRC) is very possibly not.
In fact it is MUCH easier to copy over the air than TCP/IP as the medium is much widely available and accessible
Not only that, you'd probably get better quality that way anyway. Most internet radio stations (at least the ones I've seen) broadcast at rates that are acceptable for streaming, but are incredibly horrid if you wanted to save the stream and listen to it later. 56 kbps, 22 khz at *most*. Or, they broadcast in RealAudio format using more less the same quality.
the DMCA's effect on fair use is called out of scope for the report.
Or in other words, "We know it destroys fair use, but we don't care as long as we keep getting brib^H^H^H^Hcampaign contributions from the large media cartels."
The fact that there are (according to press releases from the EFF) legitimate uses for this software does not mitigate the illegal utility within the software.
By your logic, just about everything on the face of the earth should be banned. VCRs, for example -- they have legal uses, but what about all the people who are using them for piracy? Just ask the Supreme Court what they decided in the Betamax case.
They really don't understand how little their reg. system is helping them vs. hurting them
On the sign-in page, have you noticed the part towards the bottom where they let you opt in to receiving offers from their partners? Presumably, they make money when somebody decides to use this feature. And apparently they are making enough off of it that they feel that insisting on registration is warranted. This is why they require logging in.
Don't get me wrong here -- I am just as opposed to the idea of having to log in to read a freely available newspaper article as most everybody else is. I just see the reasoning behind why they are doing it this way.
There are too many companies getting away with complete incompetance and expecting us to just shut up and put up. What's wrong with making them pay for their own stupidity? They waste your time and get surprised/upset when you express annoyance. I don't know about you, but my time is more valuable than that.
Good point, but Qwest isn't the incompetant company here. Microsoft is. Mind you, it's not all M$'s fault -- people who run any server on any OS, but *especially* an IIS server on Windows -- should be sane enough to secure their systems.
Anyway, I really like Konqueror as well, except for the fact that it seems to like pulling things out of the cache instead of downloading them as it should. Yes, this speeds things up, but on frequently changing sites such as/. and Fark, it gets to be a pain. I've been using Netscape lately, but as everybody knows, it has stability (and bloat) problems.
I'm waiting for someone to use RSA or something similar for copy protection purposes. Then, it will be illegal to do research on prime number theory, because discussing efficient algorithms to factor large numbers will be a violation of the DMCA. Last I heard, this was a semi-hot topic in math research.
Looking at Apache vs IIS, I don't think there is a lot to worry about. From the average user's viewpoint, Linux is a server OS, and Windows is a desktop OS. I don't think normal people will run Linux on their desktop's anytime soon, nor do I think that the majority of people will operate Windows based servers. Of course there are always expections. But of all of the Open Source projects, I think Apache will be the last to go.
What I don't understand is why people insist on running IIS when it is *known* to have security problems a la Code Red. Sure, they could install Linux and run Apache, but then they would *gasp* have to spend more than 5 seconds configuring it! The problem is that whether they know Linux is better or not (in terms of security, it most certainly is), most admins are too damn lazy to want to learn how to use it. They got their pretty little M$ server up and running, and are happy.
All work and no beer make Homer go something something
When I was seventeen
I drank a very good beer
I drank a very good beer
I purchased with a fake ID
My name was Brian McGee
I stayed up listening to Queen
When I was seventeen
The RIAA is not a cartel like Opec. OPEC controls a significant proportion of a limited resource. In contrast, the RIAA controls just some of the music artists of an ubiquitous resource. They just control signed bands; not the majority who are unsigned, don't want to be signed, play bars, etc.
Trouble is, if an artist wants to get anywhere, they pretty much have to sign a contract with a big label. Sure, it is possible to succeed using other methods, but their chances are 10000x better this way.
The Business Software Alliance has been sending out threatening letters to companies across the US hinting that they may be audited for licensing compliance.
If the BSA shows up at your door, just don't let them in. If they force their way in anyway, that's called burglary. Sure, they can use legal force to get in by bringing US Marshals and/or FBI agents with them, but they would then need a search warrant.
I'd love to get the FBI to arrest the MPAA & RIAA board members for reverse engineering or breaking the encryption
They won't do this. The (RI|MP)AA bought the DMCA to use against what they deem to be pirates, not against themselves. So even if they are violating the DMCA -- which, by breaking our encryption, they probably are -- I guarantee you will never see a single RIAA/MPAA board member arrested for a DMCA violation.
This story from BBC News shows a new Thrustmaster device designed to let you actually carry out physical movements for input into fighting games.
Oh man...someone needs to program a virtual Dammit Doll for this. Instead of whacking the crap out of a small DD, punch the crap out of a big (virtual) one!
There is no way this would get past regulatory approval. If the FTC wouldn't allow MCI/Sprint, I can't see how in the world they would allow the number one and number two cable companies to merge operations. This is precisely the type of deal that the Sherman Antitrust Act was designed to prevent.
Just remember, this is the same FTC that allowed AOL and TW to merge.
But more importantly who wants to spend $75 on the wages of 3 or more employees to ruin the day of everyone involved and end up with a customer who hates them even more than they did when they felt they got ripped off? I think I can safely say no one in the US.
Slashdot Mirror
An 80-strong U.S. FBI agents raided the Texas-based host of Arabic Web sites, including that of the Arab world's leading independent news channel, prompting charges on Thursday of an 'anti-Muslim witchhunt.'
Why is it that every time the government does something bad to (e.g. raids) something that is owned primarily by minorities (e.g. Muslims), the victims cry racism? I'd be ignorant to think that it doesn't happen at all, but this is just plain ridiculous. It seems to me that they are just looking for a scapegoat -- the FBI didn't raid us because of our [p0rn || warez || etc.], they raided us because of our [race || religion || etc.]! Give me a break. IMO people like this need to grow up and realize that not everything bad that happens to them is because of their minority status.
Consider the size of these companies. Buying a competitor is just the first step. Truly merging on an operations level will probably take serveral years.
Yay. ANOTHER big corporate merger.
Call me paranoid, but IMO this is just getting ridiculous. I lost all faith in the government's enforcement of the concept of anti-trust when they let AOL and Time Warner merge. Of course, (HP + Compaq) < (AOL + TW), but come on...
How many huge corporate mergers are we going to have? Soon we're just going to have one giant corporation controlling everything. My video card's boot message ("3Dfx Interactive Inc.* \ A subsidiary of the AOL-Time Warner-Microsoft-Intel-ABC-NBC-CBS Corporation") will be true one of these days, at the rate we're going.
Notice the words "buying a competitor" in hillct's post. On a smaller scale, such as at the local-local level, this isn't such a big deal. But when you take two large corps that are competing against one another (plus only a couple others) for business nationwide, and let one buy the other, that's one less choice for the consumer. It's also one (much) larger corp that, due to its size, has to spend that much less time worrying about its competition. In the end, the consumer loses.
* Now owned by nVidia. Granted, 3Dfx was having tough times financially, but still...
If you're under 18 you use the filtered/monitored computer(s) near the librarian's desk. Keep the other computers in the reference area where they are supposed to be
Why 18? If you haven't yet reached the magical age of 18, you can't handle more mature subjects, such as...ohhh, say, AIDS research? Different people mature at different rates, ya know.
The page for Home Full [compusa.com] states that WindowsXP won't be ready until "Thursday, November 01, 2401".
That's just the release date M$ is predicting if they had to remove all the bugs and bloat, which they don't.
The DMCA only applies if the copy-protection is "effective", whatever that means. Possibly encrypting the document with a key which is stored in a constant string in a large binary reader is "effective", but using pkzip and then xoring each byte with 102 (IIRC) is very possibly not.
It applies to CSS though...
In fact it is MUCH easier to copy over the air than TCP/IP as the medium is much widely available and accessible
Not only that, you'd probably get better quality that way anyway. Most internet radio stations (at least the ones I've seen) broadcast at rates that are acceptable for streaming, but are incredibly horrid if you wanted to save the stream and listen to it later. 56 kbps, 22 khz at *most*. Or, they broadcast in RealAudio format using more less the same quality.
the DMCA's effect on fair use is called out of scope for the report.
Or in other words, "We know it destroys fair use, but we don't care as long as we keep getting brib^H^H^H^Hcampaign contributions from the large media cartels."
The fact that there are (according to press releases from the EFF) legitimate uses for this software does not mitigate the illegal utility within the software.
By your logic, just about everything on the face of the earth should be banned. VCRs, for example -- they have legal uses, but what about all the people who are using them for piracy? Just ask the Supreme Court what they decided in the Betamax case.
They really don't understand how little their reg. system is helping them vs. hurting them
On the sign-in page, have you noticed the part towards the bottom where they let you opt in to receiving offers from their partners? Presumably, they make money when somebody decides to use this feature. And apparently they are making enough off of it that they feel that insisting on registration is warranted. This is why they require logging in.
Don't get me wrong here -- I am just as opposed to the idea of having to log in to read a freely available newspaper article as most everybody else is. I just see the reasoning behind why they are doing it this way.
There are too many companies getting away with complete incompetance and expecting us to just shut up and put up. What's wrong with making them pay for their own stupidity? They waste your time and get surprised/upset when you express annoyance. I don't know about you, but my time is more valuable than that.
Good point, but Qwest isn't the incompetant company here. Microsoft is. Mind you, it's not all M$'s fault -- people who run any server on any OS, but *especially* an IIS server on Windows -- should be sane enough to secure their systems.
knoqueror
:P.
/. and Fark, it gets to be a pain. I've been using Netscape lately, but as everybody knows, it has stability (and bloat) problems.
You must mean konqueror
Anyway, I really like Konqueror as well, except for the fact that it seems to like pulling things out of the cache instead of downloading them as it should. Yes, this speeds things up, but on frequently changing sites such as
I'm waiting for someone to use RSA or something similar for copy protection purposes. Then, it will be illegal to do research on prime number theory, because discussing efficient algorithms to factor large numbers will be a violation of the DMCA. Last I heard, this was a semi-hot topic in math research.
Illegal prime numbers do exist already.
Looking at Apache vs IIS, I don't think there is a lot to worry about. From the average user's viewpoint, Linux is a server OS, and Windows is a desktop OS. I don't think normal people will run Linux on their desktop's anytime soon, nor do I think that the majority of people will operate Windows based servers. Of course there are always expections. But of all of the Open Source projects, I think Apache will be the last to go.
What I don't understand is why people insist on running IIS when it is *known* to have security problems a la Code Red. Sure, they could install Linux and run Apache, but then they would *gasp* have to spend more than 5 seconds configuring it! The problem is that whether they know Linux is better or not (in terms of security, it most certainly is), most admins are too damn lazy to want to learn how to use it. They got their pretty little M$ server up and running, and are happy.
Can someone please explain what DRM is?
Digital Rights Management. Watermarking, copy protection, etc.
If, as they claim, Adobe doesn't want him prosecuted any more, then why don't THEY pay the $50000 bail?
Yeah...all we have to do is figure out how to sue them under the DMCA.
You do know what DMCA stands for, do you?
Defending Monopolies' Cashflow Act
-- Homer Simpson
---
The RIAA is not a cartel like Opec. OPEC controls a significant proportion of a limited resource. In contrast, the RIAA controls just some of the music artists of an ubiquitous resource. They just control signed bands; not the majority who are unsigned, don't want to be signed, play bars, etc.
Trouble is, if an artist wants to get anywhere, they pretty much have to sign a contract with a big label. Sure, it is possible to succeed using other methods, but their chances are 10000x better this way.
---
The Business Software Alliance has been sending out threatening letters to companies across the US hinting that they may be audited for licensing compliance.
If the BSA shows up at your door, just don't let them in. If they force their way in anyway, that's called burglary. Sure, they can use legal force to get in by bringing US Marshals and/or FBI agents with them, but they would then need a search warrant.
---
I'd love to get the FBI to arrest the MPAA & RIAA board members for reverse engineering or breaking the encryption
They won't do this. The (RI|MP)AA bought the DMCA to use against what they deem to be pirates, not against themselves. So even if they are violating the DMCA -- which, by breaking our encryption, they probably are -- I guarantee you will never see a single RIAA/MPAA board member arrested for a DMCA violation.
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With news that the number of internet users is shrinking, AOL needs a way to bring in new subscribers
No they don't. With all the recent mergers they've been having, how many tens of millions of subscribers do they have now?
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This story from BBC News shows a new Thrustmaster device designed to let you actually carry out physical movements for input into fighting games.
Oh man...someone needs to program a virtual Dammit Doll for this. Instead of whacking the crap out of a small DD, punch the crap out of a big (virtual) one!
---
There is no way this would get past regulatory approval. If the FTC wouldn't allow MCI/Sprint, I can't see how in the world they would allow the number one and number two cable companies to merge operations. This is precisely the type of deal that the Sherman Antitrust Act was designed to prevent.
Just remember, this is the same FTC that allowed AOL and TW to merge.
---
But more importantly who wants to spend $75 on the wages of 3 or more employees to ruin the day of everyone involved and end up with a customer who hates them even more than they did when they felt they got ripped off? I think I can safely say no one in the US.
Except for RIAA staff members.
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That, or get a CD copy of the cop's video tape ("My arrest, 7/14/2001").
With the part that incriminates the cop conveniently edited out, of course.
---