For some time I have felt unappreciated by some members of the Linux community. Far too many of you like to whine and cry, saying "My patches aren't being accepted by Linus, but they are by Alan or Michael!" It seems that some of you are too stupid to follow the simple instructions that I have made clear on more than one occasion. This, combined with the fact that today is my last day at Transmeta, has prompted me to consider rediscovering that balance I had in my life before you all took my hobby and made it into a mass movement. I have not decided who should take over maintenance of the kernel myself, for I believe that this decision should be made in a quasi-democratic fashion. While democracy has not worked well with this group of people before, I am willing to give it one last chance.
However, I do have some opinions on who should succeed me as leader of kernel development. I will provide my opinions below as I am entitled to do so. Below is an alphabetical list of my nominations. I include a brief explanation of why I nominated them and any concerns I may have. You all should do the same for your nominations.
Alan Cox: Alan has done a spectacular job of maintaining the 2.2 branch ever since I embarked on the development branch. He would have been an automatic choice for this job, except for his childish refusal to travel to the US, where all the real kernel hackers hang out. Marcello has proven to me, however, that you do not need to live in a technology-rich country such as the US to be a leader of kernel development.
Matt Dillon: Whenever someone moans about the 2.4 VM fiasco, I think to myself, "I wish Matt hadn't left the Linux kernel development for FreeBSD!" I believe that if Matt were to be chosen as leader, we would have had a sane and working VM on par with FreeBSD's months ago. While he has little leadership experience, he is a member of FreeBSD-core, a position which certainly demands respect.
Eric S. Raymond: Being leader of kernel development involves fielding a significant amount of media attention. ESR has shown on many occasions that he can talk shit and still sound just as convincing as anyone on this list, all the time being completely oblivious to any contrasting viewpoints. While his kernel-configuration-adventure-game contribution to Linux just screams out "worthless bloat", I must admit to having enjoyed many a lonely night playing the game. If he could lay a similar interface over gdb, I'm sure that more kernel hackers would actually debug their work before submitting it.
Richard M. Stallman: RMS has an exceptional track record in the open-source field, being largely responsible for my favorite text editor, compiler, and debugger. No other open-source hacker has come as close as he has to replicating the integration available with Microsoft Visual C++ 6 years ago. I fully endorse him as a candidate, assuming he's willing to drop his puerile "GNU/Linux" ego stroking.
Theo de Raadt: Theo is an exceptional candidate. Not only is he a more than adequate hacker; he attracts exactly the type of people to OpenBSD that he wants, and will jettison those who are not up to the task. While purging out all the less-than-adequate hackers in the Linux project will inevitably attract negative publicity from Slashdot and other "community" sites where these feeble hackers hang out, it will no doubt strengthen Linux in the future. Just look at what Theo's strong leadership has done for OpenBSD! He turned around the worthless "research project" that was NetBSD and made it an enterprise-class firewall system. I can only imagine the effect his Midas touch could have on the Linux kernel.
You have until the end of April 1, 23:59 Pacific Time to submit your nominations to the list. The most nominated person will become the leader of kernel development. I will examine the list of nominations and, assuming that the winner wants the job, I will hand full control over to them. I know that this is short notice, but knowing how obsessively most of you check your inboxes, I figure you should have more than adequate time to submit your recommendations. The decision will be final and no discussion will be considered after it has been made, so choose carefully.
Being one of the many users of your software. I think that it would be in the best interest of your company to spend your money not on "anti-Unix" propaganda. Yet you should focus that money internally. How about taking that money and dedicating your vast resources to auditing your code? While I'm on that subject. If Windows is far superior to all flavors of *nix. Then why is it that you are afraid to show us "what's under the hood?" Just a friendly bit of advice from your above average user.
I would love to see what Dell has to say about the OEM agreements with MS. After all they did support Linux for a little while. Now that seems to have gone by the waist-side. I also wonder what the reprecussions of Gateway speaking out against MS.
FAQ from the SerialATA.org website
on
Serial ATA Coming
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Q1: What is Serial ATA and Why is it being developed?
A1: Serial ATA is an evolutionary replacement for the Parallel ATA physical storage
interface. Serial ATA is scalable and will allow future enhancements to the computing
platform.
Q2: Previous efforts to transition to a serial bus were not successful. Why do you
believe that Serial ATA will be successful?
A2: Serial ATA is a drop-in solution in that it is compatible with today's software, which
will run on the new architecture without modifacation. It will provide for systems which
are easier to design, with cables that are simple to route and install, smaller cable
connectors, improve silicon design, and lower voltages which alleviate current design
requirements in Parallel ATA.
Q3: Will there still be a parallel ATA bus when Serial ATA comes out?
A3: Serial ATA's adoption by the industry will follow a phased transition path. There
will be a point where both Parallel and Serial ATA capabilities are available.
Q4: You stated that PCs implementing Serial ATA will be in the marketplace in
2002. Why does it take so long to implement?
A4: The goal of the working group is to ensure the Serial ATA transition happens as
smoothly and quickly as possible. The Serial ATA specification is expected to be
complete in the fall of 2000 with adoption to happen in the following 12 to 18 months.
Q5: What are the end user benefit of Serial ATA?
A5: End users will benefit by being able to easily upgrade their storage devices.
Configuration of Serial ATA devices will be much simpler, with many of today's
requirements on jumper and settings no longer needed.
Q6: What is the cost to implement Serial ATA in a system?
A6: The cost of Serial ATA technology will be on par with today's Parallel ATA
technology.
Q7: Who are the members of the Serial ATA Working Group? Can new companies
join?
A7: The Serial ATA promoters group includes APT Technologies Inc, Dell Computer
Corporation, International Business Machines, Intel Corporation, Maxtor Corporation,
Quantum Corporation, and Seagate Technology. Information on joining the working
group is available at www.serialata.org and new members are welcome.
Q8: Hard disk data rates don't seem to be pushing the limits of current ATA66
technology. Why is Serial ATA being planned now?
A8: Serial ATA is an evolutionary replacement for the Parallel ATA physical storage
interface and will allow future enhancements to the computing platform. Specifically, the
thinner Serial ATA cable addresses OEM's concerns regarding airflow around the
Parallel ATA cable, and enables design of smaller PC chassis, as well as silicon vendors
concerns regarding 5 volt tolerance support in future designs.
Q9: Will Serial ATA be compatible with today's PCs?
A9: Serial ATA electronics and connectors will differ from Parallel ATA, however the
technology is software compatible and OS transparent. It is anticipated that there will be
adapters to facilitate forward- and backward-compatibility of hard disks on PC systems.
Q10: What is the impact of Serial ATA on OEMs?
A10: Industry benefits of Serial ATA include systems which are easier to design with
cables that are simple to route and install, smaller cable connectors with improved silicon
design, lower voltage which alleviates current design requirements in Parallel ATA and
compatibility with today's software which will run on the new architecture without
modification.
Q11: Beyond hard disks, will Serial ATA be used on floppy drives, optical drives,
DVDs, and ZIP drives?
A11: Serial ATA supports all ATA and ATAPI devices, including CDs, DVDs, tapes
devices, high capacity removeable devices, zip drives, and CDRW's.
Q12: What is the impact of Serial ATA on IEEE1394 (aka Firewire) and on USB2
in terms of PC system function?
A12: Serial ATA is planned to be the primary storage interface inside the PC system,
and is not planned as an external interface to PC storage or peripherals. USB2 and
IEEE1394 connections on the PC can be used where required as peripheral interfaces.
Q13: When does Microsoft plan to support Serial ATA in its OS's?
A13: Serial ATA is software compatible with Parallel ATA and requires no changes to
Microsoft operating systems, or any other OS as well.
Q14: What are the licensing requirements and costs of Serial ATA to companies
that want to use the technology?
A14: When the Serial ATA specification is complete, it will be made available at no
charge. The working group expects to complete the specification later this year.
This is the second time this week that it has happened. Yesterday there was the "Internet Use Becomes More Purposful" headline. Which I have to say was fixed later in the day. I have to agree with you though. It would take about a minute or two to check the spelling of a posting. I'm talking about manually checking it!
...and a third: people who don't get the channels, or can't rent or afford to buy the DVDs, but want to watch the shows all their friends are raving about.
Exactly, even if these people can afford to buy/rent the DVDs or cable channels. They might not bother if they can get the show they want for free. That's the just what the Entertainment people fear loss of potential revenue.
I think this phone/PDA is a real step in the right direction of alleviating the clutter of many gadgets. It's a bit price, but hey it's new. This unit coupled with Nextel's direct connect feature would be great. That is if Nextel or Motorola figures out how to get direct connect to work outside of users local calling areas.
I can only think of one ISP that offers a rate plan that caters to bandwidth needs. That the one offered by SpeakeasyDSL. They seem to understand that most people want. That is bandwidth and an IP address.
I have seen some mention of localized caching. @Home used to use some sort of proxy server and localized caching to speed up content delivery. I think their downfall was the content or Excite portion of the business.
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Servers
CoxCom Customers may not operate, or allow others to operate, servers of any type or any other device, equipment, and/or software providing server like functionality in connection with the CoxCom residential service.
Misuse of Service
CoxCom Customers are responsible for any misuse of the Services, even if a friend, family member, guest, employee or customer committed the inappropriate activity with access to the CoxCom Customer account. CoxCom Customers must therefore take steps to ensure that others do not gain unauthorized access or misuse the Services.
Hacking/Attempted Unauthorized Access
CoxCom Customers may not use the Services to breach or attempt to breach the security of another user or attempt to gain access to any other person's computer, software, or data without the knowledge and consent of such person. The equipment and the Services may not be used in any attempt to circumvent the user authentication or security of any host, network or account. This includes, but is not limited to, accessing data not intended for Customer, logging into or making use of a server or account Customer is not expressly authorized to access, or probing the security of other networks or computers for any reason. Use or distribution of tools designed for compromising security, such as password guessing programs, cracking tools, packet sniffers or network probing tools, is prohibited.
Security
CoxCom Customers are solely responsible for the security of any device connected to the Services, including any data stored on that device. CoxCom recommends that users take appropriate security precautions for any systems connected to CoxCom Services.
Disruption of Services
CoxCom Customers may not disrupt the Services in any manner. Nor shall CoxCom Customers interfere with computer networking or telecommunications services to any user, host or network, including, without limitation, denial of service attacks, flooding of a network, overloading a service, improper seizing and abuse of operator privileges or attempts to "crash" a host.
Equipment
CoxCom Customers may not alter, modify or tamper with any CoxCom-owned equipment or service, or permit any other person to do the same that is not authorized by Cox.
Viruses, Trojan Horses, Worms and Denial of Service Attacks
Software or other content downloaded from the Service may contain viruses and it is Customer's sole responsibility to take appropriate precautions to protect Customer's computer from damage to its software, files and data. Customers are prohibited from posting, transmitting or disseminating any information or software that contains a virus, Trojan horse, worm or other harmful program or that generates levels of traffic sufficient to impede others' ability to send or retrieve information. Prohibited conduct of this type includes denial of service attacks or similarly disruptive transmissions, as well as transmissions containing other harmful or malicious features.
Electronic Mail
CoxCom Customers may not use the Services to send unsolicited bulk or commercial e-mail messages ("spam"). Any unsolicited e-mail must also not direct the recipient to any web site or other resource that uses the CoxCom Service. The Services may not be used to collect responses from unsolicited e-mail sent from accounts on other Internet hosts or e-mail services that violates this Policy or the acceptable use policy of any other Internet service provider. In addition, "mail bombing," the sending of numerous copies of the same or substantially similar messages or very large messages or files with the intent to disrupt a server or account, is prohibited.
You may not reference Cox, CoxCom or any portion of the Cox network (e.g. by including "Organization: Cox" in the header or by listing an IP address that belongs to the Cox network) in any unsolicited email even if that email is not sent through the Cox network. Further, forging, altering or removing electronic mail headers is prohibited.
Bandwidth, Data Storage and Other Limitations
CoxCom Customers must comply with the current bandwidth, data storage and other limitations on the Services. Customers must ensure that their activities do not improperly restrict, inhibit, or degrade any other user's use of the Services, nor represent (in the sole judgment of CoxCom) an unusually large burden on the network itself. In addition, Customers must ensure that their activity does not improperly restrict, inhibit, disrupt, degrade or impede CoxCom's ability to deliver the Services and monitor the Services, backbone, network nodes, and/or other network services. CoxCom may terminate, suspend, or require a Customer to upgrade its Services and pay additional fees if CoxCom, in its sole discretion, determines that that a CoxCom Customer is using excessive bandwidth.
Newsgroups
Messages posted to newsgroups must comply with the written charters or FAQs for those newsgroups. Advertisements, solicitations, or other commercial messages should be posted only in those newsgroups whose charters or FAQs explicitly permit them. You are responsible for determining the policies of a given newsgroup before posting to it.
Posting or cross-posting the same or substantially similar messages to more than eight newsgroups is prohibited. Our news software will automatically cancel any messages posted to nine or more newsgroups.
Binary files may not be posted to newsgroups not specifically named for that purpose. Users posting binary files to groups with policies concerning the permissible daily volume of posted files are required to observe those limitations.
Forging, altering or removing header information is prohibited. This includes attempting to circumvent the approval process for posting to a moderated newsgroup.
CoxCom reserves the right to discontinue access to any Usenet newsgroup at any time for any reason.
You may not attempt to "flood" or disrupt Usenet newsgroups. Disruption is defined as posting a large number of messages to a newsgroup which contain no substantive content, to the extent that normal discussion in the group is significantly hindered. Examples of disruptive activities include, but are not limited to, posting multiple messages with no text in the body, or posting many follow-ups to messages with no new text. Messages may not be canceled, except by the author or by official newsgroup moderators performing their duties.
The Usenet news service included with a CoxCom residential service account is provided for interactive use by the subscriber, using a commonly-available NNTP client such as Netscape Communicator. Non-interactive clients that download Usenet articles in bulk are prohibited.
Conflict
In the event of a conflict between the Subscriber Agreement and this Policy, the terms of the Subscriber Agreement will prevail.
COX COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
PRIVACY POLICY
Cox Respects Your Privacy
At Cox Communications, Inc., we respect your privacy. This privacy policy explains our commitment to your privacy and describes how your information is maintained and used by us.
Information We Collect
Information You Provide to Us. When you sign up for our services, including Internet, cable television, and/or video on demand (the "Services"), you provide us with information including your name, address, telephone number, and other billing information. We maintain this information along with billing, payment, deposit, complaint, and service information, and your choices regarding equipment and service options.
Information Used in Connection with Service Management, Maintenance, or Security. We collect information about your usage of our services for network management, maintenance, performance, and security. We may collect information regarding the choices that you make in connection with your use of the Services we offer, any Services ordered, and Internet usage, including the Internet Protocol number assigned to you, bandwidth utilization, and Internet resource requests (e.g. requests to view a web page) made by you.
Information for Personalization Services. We may collect and maintain information such as your address and content and service preferences to provide a more personalized online experience.
We Do Not Monitor Your Personal Communications in the Course of Normal Operations. We do not read your email messages, instant messages, online chats, or the content of other online communications that reside on or pass through our Services. We may however, retain and provide such communications in accordance with a valid court order or if we are otherwise legally required to do so or in response to an emergency situation. Please be aware, however, that once your communications leave our network and enter the public Internet on their way to their recipient, your communications may be monitored or intercepted by third-parties or other Internet service providers over which we do not have control.
We Do Not Record Any Information You Provide to Non-Affiliated Web Sites in the Course of Normal Operations. We will not record any information that you provide to third-party websites or Internet services in the course of our normal operations. When you submit information to any website or Internet service operated by us or an affiliated company, that information will be used only in accordance with the terms of service and privacy policy on that website or Internet service. Since we cannot control websites or Internet services operated by third-parties, we recommend that you review the terms of service and privacy policies of those websites.
Information Usage
We May Use Your Information for Service Related Purposes. We may use the information we collect to maintain and manage the Services, verify billing accuracy, communicate with our customers about service-related issues and maintain financial, tax and legal records. We also may transfer the information we collect in connection with the sale, merger, or transition of our system to a third-party.
We May Use Your Information for Our Internal Business Purposes. We may make your information available to our employees, agents and contractors for our internal business purposes, as well as to our outside auditors, attorneys and accountants, potential and actual purchasers of our business, and local franchise authorities. We also may disclose your information to collection services to the extent such disclosure is necessary to collect past due bills, or to other third-parties as may be necessary to render the Services and conduct other legitimate business activities related to your use of the Services. Third-parties that we retain to perform activities on our behalf (such as executing e-mail communications or collecting past due bills) and which necessarily have access to your information to carry out their assignment, are obligated to maintain the privacy of your information. We require those third-parties to use your information only for the limited purposes for which the disclosure is made and in accordance with this privacy policy. The frequency of any such information disclosure will vary in accordance with our business needs.
We Will Not Provide Your Information to Non-Affiliated Third-Parties for Marketing Purposes. We will not provide your information to any third-party for its use in connection with mailing lists or marketing purposes, other than those parties that we retain to conduct our mailings, surveys, contests, or marketing campaigns, or who act on our behalf.
We May Use Your Information to Send You Our Marketing and Service Related Information. We may send you marketing and informational materials from us or on behalf of our business affiliates or partners. If you do not wish to receive marketing or informational materials from us or our partners, please let us know by sending us a written request, including you name, address, and account number to the address listed on this notice.
Disclosure Policies
We Treat Your Information as Confidential. We treat the information we maintain about you as confidential and take precautions to prevent unauthorized access to your information.
We May Disclose Aggregate, Anonymous Information. We may disclose aggregate, anonymous information (i.e., information that does not reveal your name and address in connection with your general viewing or usage habits or any other transactions made using our Services that are personally indefinable to you) collected from our Services. This aggregate, anonymous information cannot be linked to you or any other individual.
We May Disclose Your Information if Required To Do So for Law Enforcement Purposes. We may disclose your information, including your name, address, email address, and other information, to a government entity if required to do so pursuant to law and as otherwise provided in the Acceptable Use Policy.
We May Disclose Your Information for Certain Other Purposes. We may disclose your information, including your name, address, email address, and other information to other system administrators at other Internet service providers or other network or computing facilities if necessary pursuant to our Acceptable Use Policy or in response to emergency conditions such as imminent threat to life or damage or destruction of property.
Limitations on Disclosures If you wish to prohibit or limit our disclosure of your information, you must notify us in writing at privacy@cox.com, and include your name, address, account number, and the information that you do not wish to be disclosed. Please note that we still may be required to disclose certain information if required to do so by law.
Retention
We maintain your information in our regular business records as long as you are a customer and for a longer time if necessary for our business purposes. Unless a court has asked us for access to this information, we will destroy it once it is no longer necessary for our business purposes.
Inspection
We will make personally identifiable information about you contained in our business records available to you within ten (10) days of our receipt of your written request to examine such information. You may only inspect records containing information about you. You are responsible for the cost of copying any documents you request. We will make this information available during normal business hours at the Cox office listed on the front cover of this notice, and will give you an opportunity to correct any error in the information we maintain.
Other Issues to Beware of - When you travel across the Internet, you may come across the following:
Spam - We do not condone or encourage the sending of unsolicited email, often called spam. Although we take steps to block spam from coming onto our network, no spam prevention method can stop all spam. You can help reduce the amount of spam you receive by not posting your email address on Internet news groups and message boards, and by not providing it to services that are unknown to you.
Cookies - Websites may use cookies to provide you with customized services and other features to enhance your experience. A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent to your browser by a website and is stored on your computer's hard drive that may contain data that allows that website to identify you. A cookie cannot read unrelated data off your hard drive. Every website you visit, and the advertisers on that website, can send cookies to your browser if your browser's preferences allow it. Although cookies can help websites provide you with customized features, they may also allow your activities and choices to be tracked. If you are concerned about cookies you may opt out of major advertising networks use of cookies at http://www.networkadvertising.org/optout_nonppii.a sp or you may disable cookies on your browser as follows:
Internet Explorer (IE) users:
On the main toolbar of your browser, go to View (IE 4.0 or earlier) or Tools (IE 5.0 or later):
Select "Internet Options"
Go to the "Security" tab
IE 4.0 or earlier, look for "cookies" and select "enable" or "prompt" to enable cookies or "disable" to disable cookies
IE 5.0 or later select "custom level", scroll down to "cookies" and select "enable" or "prompt" to enable cookies or "disable" to disable cookies
Netscape users:
On the main toolbar of your browser:
Go to "edit"
Select "preferences"
On the left half of the window, select "advanced"
Select "accept all cookies" to enable cookies or "disable cookies" to disable cookies
Clear GIFs - Web pages may contain invisible electronic images, often called clear GIFs or web bugs, that allow third-parties to gather information about users who have visited the web page containing the clear GIF. Email you receive also may contain clear GIFs that may allow the sender to know if you have opened the email.
Malicious Activity - People with malicious intent may try to access or otherwise damage your computer when you are on the Internet. We therefore recommend that you take precautions to protect your computer when you are online. A firewall will help protect your system from attackers, and a virus checker will help prevent a virus from damaging your system.
Changes to this Policy
We may change this privacy policy from time to time to take into account new or changing circumstances. In the event that we change this privacy policy, we will provide you with written or electronic notice at least 30 days before the changes take effect. Any changes to this privacy policy will be prospective and will therefore not change the way we use information collected prior to the changed policy. Additionally, any written notices you provided to us regarding your preferences as to how we use your information will remain in effect.
I wish MS would just focus on making their OS stable instead of stealing other people's idea and integrating them into their OS. When are they going to be held accountable for their shoddy workmanship?
Donate money to the EFF. I was listening to an episode of "Off the Hook", and they had two people from the EFF speaking. They said that comsumers will see more an more of these types of resrtictions in the coming years. You're going to see a change in the culture of how we "own" CDs, DVDs and other forms of entertainment. Hollywood and the RIAA will dictate to you just how you can view/listen to their product.
This is an uphill battle, but there's no better time to start than now.
When are the Record people going to get it. The music buying public want to buy their music at a fair price and play/store it on whatever device they please.
Slashdot Mirror
Page views must be down.
Fellow hackers,
For some time I have felt unappreciated by some members of the Linux
community. Far too many of you like to whine and cry, saying "My patches
aren't being accepted by Linus, but they are by Alan or Michael!"
It seems that some of you are too stupid to follow the simple
instructions that I have made clear on more than one occasion.
This, combined with the fact that today is my last day at Transmeta,
has prompted me to consider rediscovering that balance I had in my life
before you all took my hobby and made it into a mass movement. I have
not decided who should take over maintenance of the kernel myself, for I
believe that this decision should be made in a quasi-democratic
fashion. While democracy has not worked well with this group of people
before, I am willing to give it one last chance.
However, I do have some opinions on who should succeed me as leader
of kernel development. I will provide my opinions below as I am
entitled to do so. Below is an alphabetical list of my nominations.
I include a brief explanation of why I nominated them and any concerns
I may have. You all should do the same for your nominations.
Alan Cox: Alan has done a spectacular job of maintaining the 2.2 branch
ever since I embarked on the development branch. He would have been an
automatic choice for this job, except for his childish refusal to
travel to the US, where all the real kernel hackers hang out.
Marcello has proven to me, however, that you do not need to live
in a technology-rich country such as the US to be a leader of
kernel development.
Matt Dillon: Whenever someone moans about the 2.4 VM fiasco,
I think to myself, "I wish Matt hadn't left the Linux kernel
development for FreeBSD!" I believe that if Matt were to be chosen
as leader, we would have had a sane and working VM on par with
FreeBSD's months ago. While he has little leadership experience, he
is a member of FreeBSD-core, a position which certainly demands
respect.
Eric S. Raymond: Being leader of kernel development involves
fielding a significant amount of media attention. ESR has shown
on many occasions that he can talk shit and still sound just as
convincing as anyone on this list, all the time being completely
oblivious to any contrasting viewpoints. While his
kernel-configuration-adventure-game contribution to Linux just
screams out "worthless bloat", I must admit to having enjoyed
many a lonely night playing the game. If he could lay a similar
interface over gdb, I'm sure that more kernel hackers would
actually debug their work before submitting it.
Richard M. Stallman: RMS has an exceptional track record in the
open-source field, being largely responsible for my favorite text
editor, compiler, and debugger. No other open-source hacker has
come as close as he has to replicating the integration available
with Microsoft Visual C++ 6 years ago. I fully endorse him as a
candidate, assuming he's willing to drop his puerile "GNU/Linux"
ego stroking.
Theo de Raadt: Theo is an exceptional candidate. Not only is he a
more than adequate hacker; he attracts exactly the type of people
to OpenBSD that he wants, and will jettison those who are not up to
the task. While purging out all the less-than-adequate hackers
in the Linux project will inevitably attract negative publicity
from Slashdot and other "community" sites where these feeble hackers
hang out, it will no doubt strengthen Linux in the future. Just
look at what Theo's strong leadership has done for OpenBSD! He
turned around the worthless "research project" that was NetBSD and
made it an enterprise-class firewall system. I can only imagine
the effect his Midas touch could have on the Linux kernel.
You have until the end of April 1, 23:59 Pacific Time to submit your
nominations to the list. The most nominated person will become the leader
of kernel development. I will examine the list of nominations and,
assuming that the winner wants the job, I will hand full control over to
them. I know that this is short notice, but knowing how obsessively most
of you check your inboxes, I figure you should have more than adequate
time to submit your recommendations. The decision will be final and no
discussion will be considered after it has been made, so choose
carefully.
Thank you.
Linus
-
It seems that a major underground letter writing campaign... This has to be an April Fool's joke! Who writes letters anymore?
I had to check the date on this story. I was wondering what the prank was going to be this year.
Being one of the many users of your software. I think that it would be in the best interest of your company to spend your money not on "anti-Unix" propaganda. Yet you should focus that money internally. How about taking that money and dedicating your vast resources to auditing your code? While I'm on that subject. If Windows is far superior to all flavors of *nix. Then why is it that you are afraid to show us "what's under the hood?" Just a friendly bit of advice from your above average user.
John Q. Public
Thanks for the correction. :)
I would love to see what Dell has to say about the OEM agreements with MS. After all they did support Linux for a little while. Now that seems to have gone by the waist-side. I also wonder what the reprecussions of Gateway speaking out against MS.
Q1: What is Serial ATA and Why is it being developed?
A1: Serial ATA is an evolutionary replacement for the Parallel ATA physical storage
interface. Serial ATA is scalable and will allow future enhancements to the computing
platform.
Q2: Previous efforts to transition to a serial bus were not successful. Why do you
believe that Serial ATA will be successful?
A2: Serial ATA is a drop-in solution in that it is compatible with today's software, which
will run on the new architecture without modifacation. It will provide for systems which
are easier to design, with cables that are simple to route and install, smaller cable
connectors, improve silicon design, and lower voltages which alleviate current design
requirements in Parallel ATA.
Q3: Will there still be a parallel ATA bus when Serial ATA comes out?
A3: Serial ATA's adoption by the industry will follow a phased transition path. There
will be a point where both Parallel and Serial ATA capabilities are available.
Q4: You stated that PCs implementing Serial ATA will be in the marketplace in
2002. Why does it take so long to implement?
A4: The goal of the working group is to ensure the Serial ATA transition happens as
smoothly and quickly as possible. The Serial ATA specification is expected to be
complete in the fall of 2000 with adoption to happen in the following 12 to 18 months.
Q5: What are the end user benefit of Serial ATA?
A5: End users will benefit by being able to easily upgrade their storage devices.
Configuration of Serial ATA devices will be much simpler, with many of today's
requirements on jumper and settings no longer needed.
Q6: What is the cost to implement Serial ATA in a system?
A6: The cost of Serial ATA technology will be on par with today's Parallel ATA
technology.
Q7: Who are the members of the Serial ATA Working Group? Can new companies
join?
A7: The Serial ATA promoters group includes APT Technologies Inc, Dell Computer
Corporation, International Business Machines, Intel Corporation, Maxtor Corporation,
Quantum Corporation, and Seagate Technology. Information on joining the working
group is available at www.serialata.org and new members are welcome.
Q8: Hard disk data rates don't seem to be pushing the limits of current ATA66
technology. Why is Serial ATA being planned now?
A8: Serial ATA is an evolutionary replacement for the Parallel ATA physical storage
interface and will allow future enhancements to the computing platform. Specifically, the
thinner Serial ATA cable addresses OEM's concerns regarding airflow around the
Parallel ATA cable, and enables design of smaller PC chassis, as well as silicon vendors
concerns regarding 5 volt tolerance support in future designs.
Q9: Will Serial ATA be compatible with today's PCs?
A9: Serial ATA electronics and connectors will differ from Parallel ATA, however the
technology is software compatible and OS transparent. It is anticipated that there will be
adapters to facilitate forward- and backward-compatibility of hard disks on PC systems.
Q10: What is the impact of Serial ATA on OEMs?
A10: Industry benefits of Serial ATA include systems which are easier to design with
cables that are simple to route and install, smaller cable connectors with improved silicon
design, lower voltage which alleviates current design requirements in Parallel ATA and
compatibility with today's software which will run on the new architecture without
modification.
Q11: Beyond hard disks, will Serial ATA be used on floppy drives, optical drives,
DVDs, and ZIP drives?
A11: Serial ATA supports all ATA and ATAPI devices, including CDs, DVDs, tapes
devices, high capacity removeable devices, zip drives, and CDRW's.
Q12: What is the impact of Serial ATA on IEEE1394 (aka Firewire) and on USB2
in terms of PC system function?
A12: Serial ATA is planned to be the primary storage interface inside the PC system,
and is not planned as an external interface to PC storage or peripherals. USB2 and
IEEE1394 connections on the PC can be used where required as peripheral interfaces.
Q13: When does Microsoft plan to support Serial ATA in its OS's?
A13: Serial ATA is software compatible with Parallel ATA and requires no changes to
Microsoft operating systems, or any other OS as well.
Q14: What are the licensing requirements and costs of Serial ATA to companies
that want to use the technology?
A14: When the Serial ATA specification is complete, it will be made available at no
charge. The working group expects to complete the specification later this year.
I love the fact that this whole thread; which was at Score:5 has not been rated down to 2 or worse.
This is the second time this week that it has happened. Yesterday there was the "Internet Use Becomes More Purposful" headline. Which I have to say was fixed later in the day. I have to agree with you though. It would take about a minute or two to check the spelling of a posting. I'm talking about manually checking it!
Internet Use Becomes More Purposeful. That's more like it
Exactly, even if these people can afford to buy/rent the DVDs or cable channels. They might not bother if they can get the show they want for free. That's the just what the Entertainment people fear loss of potential revenue.
Damn! I wish I had saved a couple of my moderator points. This would be a good thread to use them.
I think this phone/PDA is a real step in the right direction of alleviating the clutter of many gadgets. It's a bit price, but hey it's new. This unit coupled with Nextel's direct connect feature would be great. That is if Nextel or Motorola figures out how to get direct connect to work outside of users local calling areas.
I can only think of one ISP that offers a rate plan that caters to bandwidth needs. That the one offered by SpeakeasyDSL. They seem to understand that most people want. That is bandwidth and an IP address.
I have seen some mention of localized caching. @Home used to use some sort of proxy server and localized caching to speed up content delivery. I think their downfall was the content or Excite portion of the business.
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10. Customer Information
a. Credit Inquiries. Customer authorizes CoxCom to make inquiries and to receive information about Customer's credit history from others and to enter this information in Customer's file.
b. Information Collection and Disclosure. Customer agrees that CoxCom may collect and disclose information concerning Customer and Customer's use of the Service in the manner and for the purposes set forth in CoxCom's privacy policy currently available at http://www.cox.com/, and as the same may be modified from time to time in accordance with its terms.
11. Customer Service
CoxCom expressly reserves the right to institute fees for providing certain customer support services if, at its sole discretion, it determines such fees are warranted. Except as expressly provided herein, CoxCom shall not be liable for any damage to Customer's equipment resulting from or arising in connection with its provision of technical service and support for the Service, even if such damage results from the negligence or gross negligence of the CoxCom installer, technician or customer service representative.
12. Terminations and Expiration
a. Termination Rights. Either party may terminate this Agreement at any time without cause by providing the other party with no less than twenty-four (24) hours written notice of such termination. In the event of termination by Customer, Customer must notify CoxCom by telephone or by a non-electronic written submission. E-mail submissions shall not constitute effective notice. In the event of termination by CoxCom, CoxCom may notify the Customer of such termination by electronic or other means. In those cases where annual prepayment terms are elected by Customer, Customer agrees and understands that the calculation of any refund for unused Service will be based upon the normal rate for the Service and not upon the discounted annual prepayment rate.
b. Obligations Upon Termination. Customer agrees that upon termination of this Agreement:
1. Customer will pay CoxCom in full for Customer's use of any CoxCom-owned Equipment and Service up to the later of the effective date of termination of this Agreement or the date on which the Service and any CoxCom-owned Equipment have been disconnected and returned to CoxCom. Customer agrees to pay CoxCom on a pro-rated basis for any use by Customer of any CoxCom-owned Equipment or Services for a part of a month.
2. Customer will permit CoxCom to access Customer's premises at a reasonable time to remove any CoxCom-owned Equipment and other material provided by CoxCom.
3. Customer will ensure the immediate return of any CoxCom-owned Equipment to CoxCom. Customer will return or destroy all copies of any software provided to Customer pursuant to this Agreement.
4. CoxCom is authorized to delete any files, programs, data and e-mail messages associated with such account.
c. CoxCom Retention Rights. Nothing contained in this Agreement shall be construed to limit CoxCom's rights and remedies available at law or in equity.
13. Limited Warranty
ANY COXCOM-OWNED EQUIPMENT AND SERVICE ARE PROVIDED BY COXCOM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. COXCOM DOES NOT WARRANT UNINTERRUPTED USE OF THE EQUIPMENT OR THE SERVICE. COXCOM DOES NOT WARRANT THAT ANY DATA OR ANY FILES SENT BY OR TO CUSTOMER WILL BE TRANSMITTED IN UNCORRUPTED FORM OR WITHIN A REASONABLE PERIOD OF TIME. ALL REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES OF NONINFRINGEMENT, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND MERCHANTABILITY ARE HEREBY EXCLUDED AND DISCLAIMED. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of implied warranties, so the above exclusions or limitations may not apply to you.
14. Back-Up Requirements
Customer agrees that he/she understands that the installation, use, inspection, maintenance, repair and removal of the Equipment may result in service outages or potential damage to Customer's computer. Customer therefore accepts full responsibility for backing up all existing computer files prior to such activities involving the Equipment. Customer expressly releases CoxCom from any liability whatsoever for any damage to or loss or destruction of any of Customer's software, files, data or peripherals.
15. CoxCom Performance and Reliability Rights
Although CoxCom will make commercially reasonable efforts to deliver a high quality residential Internet access service, unless otherwise specified by CoxCom in writing, Customer is purchasing a residential data service with no performance or reliability warranty either expressed or implied. CoxCom reserves the right to manage its network for the greatest benefit of the greatest number of subscribers including, but not limited to the following: rate limiting, traffic prioritization, and protocol filtering. Customer expressly accepts that such action on the part of CoxCom may affect the performance of the service. CoxCom reserves the right to enforce limits on specific features of the Service, including, but not limited to, e-mail storage and web hosting maximums.
16. Damage to and Encumbrances on Equipment, Computer, Software
a. Ownership of Equipment. All Equipment, except for equipment purchased and paid for in full by Customer, will at all times remain the property of CoxCom. Customer may not sell, transfer, lease encumber or assign all or part of the CoxCom-owned Equipment to any third party. Customer shall pay the full retail cost for the repair or replacement of any lost, stolen, unreturned, damaged, sold, transferred, leased, encumbered or assigned Equipment or part thereof, together with any costs incurred by CoxCom in obtaining or attempting to obtain possession of any such Equipment. Customer hereby authorizes CoxCom to charge Customer's Visa, Master Card, other credit card or other payment method authorized by Customer for any outstanding Service and Equipment charges. CoxCom may, at its option, install new or reconditioned Equipment, including swapping existing Customer equipment for DOCSIS-compliant equipment, for which the Customer may incur a fee.
b. Customer's Hardware and Software. Should the hardware of Customer's computer be damaged as a result of the gross negligence of CoxCom or the gross negligence of an authorized agent of CoxCom, CoxCom will pay for the repair or replacement of the damaged parts up to a maximum of $3,000.00. CoxCom shall have no liability whatsoever for any damage to or loss or destruction of any software, files or data, including any damages or losses resulting from any virus, lock, key, bomb, worm, Trojan horse, or other harmful feature.
c. Customer Purchased Equipment. Customer agrees to only connect CoxCom-approved equipment to the CoxCom network.
17. No Liability for Content
There may be content on the Internet or otherwise available through the Service that may be offensive to some individuals, or that may not be in compliance with all laws, regulations, and other rules. CoxCom assumes no responsibility for the content contained on the Internet or otherwise available through the Service. All content accessed by Customer through the Service is accessed and used by Customer at Customer's own risk, and CoxCom shall have no liability whatsoever for any claims, losses, actions, damages, suits or proceedings arising out of or otherwise relating to access to such content by Customer. CoxCom specifically disclaims any responsibility for the accuracy, quality and confidentiality of information obtained through the Service.
18. No CoxCom Liability For
a. Eavesdropping. Other cable and Service subscribers may be able to access and/or monitor Customer's use of the Service. The risk of such "eavesdropping" exists not only with cable transmission facilities, but also on the Internet and other services to which access is provided by CoxCom as part of the Service. Any sensitive or confidential information (such as credit card numbers or other financial information, medical information or trade secrets) sent by or to Customer is sent at Customer's sole risk, and CoxCom shall have no liability whatsoever for any claims, losses, actions, damages, suits or proceedings arising out of or otherwise relating to such actions by Customer.
b. Security. Customer agrees that when using the Service to access the Internet or any other online service, there are certain applications, such as FTP, HTTP, proxy, peer-to-peer based applications, or gateway server applications, which may be used to allow other Service users and Internet users to gain access to Customer's computer. CoxCom shall have no liability whatsoever for any claims, losses, actions, damages, suits or proceedings resulting from, arising out of or otherwise relating to the use of such applications by Customer, including, without limitation, damages resulting from others accessing Customer's computer or from any loss of data maintained on any network.
19. Limitation of Liability
Customer agrees to indemnify CoxCom from any claims arising from Customer's use of the Service, including the use of the Equipment or the Service in any manner prohibited under this Agreement. Unless otherwise specifically provided in this Agreement, CoxCom shall not be liable to Customer or to any third party for any claims, damages, losses, liabilities expenses, or costs (including legal fees) resulting directly or indirectly out of or otherwise arising in connection with any allegation, claim, or proceeding based on:
a. The use of the Service by Customer or any other use of the Equipment, including, without limitation, any damage resulting from or arising out of Customer's reliance on or use of the Equipment or Service, or mistakes, omissions, interruptions, deletion of files, errors, defects, delays in operation, failed deliveries, misdeliveries, transmission failures, or any other failures of performance whether from a failure of the Equipment or Service or from any other computer or network;
b. The termination or reclassification of Customer's account by CoxCom pursuant to this Agreement;
c. A contention that the use of the Equipment or Service by Customer or a third party infringes the copyright, patent, trademark trade secret, confidentiality, privacy, or other intellectual property rights or contractual rights of any third party;
d. In no event shall CoxCom have any liability for any consequential, special, incidental, or indirect losses or damages, including lost profits, loss of data, lost business opportunities, and personal injuries (including death). The limitations set forth in this Section 20 apply to the acts, omissions, negligence and gross negligence of CoxCom, and each of its respective affiliates, subcontractors, employees and agents, which, but for this provision, would give rise to a cause of action in contract, tort or any other legal doctrine; and
e. Customer's sole and exclusive remedies under this Agreement are as expressly set forth herein. Some states do not allow the limitation or exclusion of incidental or consequential damages, so such limitations or exclusions may not apply to you.
20. Installation/End User Software Licenses
a. If the installation of an Ethernet card is required, it may be necessary to open Customer's computer. System files on Customer's computer may be modified as part of the installation process. CoxCom neither represents, warrants, nor covenants that such modifications will not disrupt the normal operations of Customer's computer. CoxCom shall have no liability whatsoever for any damage resulting from the above or other file modifications. CoxCom is not responsible for returning Customer's PC to its original configuration prior to installation.
b. CoxCom or its agents will supply and install certain software, and if required an extra cable outlet, a cable modem and an Ethernet card for a fee determined by CoxCom. CoxCom will also provide a "getting started guide" and online instructions on how to use the Service. CoxCom shall use reasonable efforts to install the Service to full operational status, provided that Customer's computer fulfills the minimum computer requirements set out above in Section 1.
c. Customer agrees to comply with the terms and conditions of all end user license agreements accompanying any software or plug-ins to such software distributed by CoxCom in connection with the Service. All end-user software licenses shall terminate upon termination of this Agreement.
d. Customer may transfer the software provided by CoxCom to additional computers within the home, but service and support for these additional machines is limited and/or may incur an additional fee. Customer agrees that CoxCom has no responsibility to provide service and support for in-home networks. If Customer intends to transfer the software, Customer must give CoxCom prior notice of such transfer.
21. Multiple Users
Customer agrees that Customer is executing this Agreement on behalf of all persons who use the Equipment and/or Service provided to Customer. Customer shall have sole responsibility for ensuring that all such other users understand and comply with the terms and conditions of this Agreement. Customer further agrees that Customer is solely responsible and liable for any and all breaches of the terms and conditions of this Agreement, whether such breach is the result of use of the Service and/or Equipment by Customer or by any other user of Customer's computer.
22. Governing Law
This Agreement shall be exclusively governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of Georgia. Customer may not bring any claim, suit or proceeding more than one (1) year after the date the cause of action arose.
23. General
This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement and understanding between the parties with respect to its subject matter and supersedes and replaces any and all prior written or oral agreements. In the event that any portion of this Agreement is held to be unenforceable, the unenforceable portion shall be construed in accordance with applicable law as nearly as possible to reflect the original intentions of the parties and the remainder of its provisions shall remain in full force and effect. CoxCom's failure to insist upon or enforce strict performance of any provision of this Agreement shall not be construed as a waiver of any provision or right. Neither the course of conduct between the parties nor trade practice shall act to modify any provision of this Agreement. This Agreement may not be assigned or transferred by Customer. This Agreement is freely assignable by CoxCom to third parties.
Acceptable Use Policy
CoxCom, Inc. and any Cox affiliate and/or distribution partner referenced on the order form/Subscriber Agreement (collectively "CoxCom") provides a variety of Internet services that allow Customers to connect to CoxCom's high-speed Internet network ("Services"). In order to provide Customers with high quality Service, CoxCom has adopted this Acceptable Use Policy ("Policy") for CoxCom Customers. Please read this policy prior to accessing the CoxCom Services. By using CoxCom Services, CoxCom Customers agree to abide by, and require others using the Services to abide by, the terms of this Policy. CoxCom may revise this Policy from time to time without notice. Accordingly, CoxCom Customers should consult this document regularly to ensure that their activities conform to the most recent version. ANY USER WHO DOES NOT AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS SHOULD IMMEDIATELY STOP USE OF THE SERVICES AND NOTIFY THE COXCOM CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT SO THAT THE USER'S ACCOUNT MAY BE CLOSED. For any questions regarding this Policy, complaints of violations, or cancellation notices please contact CoxCom via E-mail at abuse@cox.com, by mail to the cable system address listed on the Subscriber Agreement or by telephone to your local cable system office.
Prohibited Activities
CoxCom Customers may not use the Services in a manner that violates any applicable local, state, federal or international law, order or regulation. Additionally, CoxCom Customers may not use the Services to:
Conduct, participate in, or otherwise facilitate pyramid or other illegal soliciting schemes.
Take part in any fraudulent activities, including impersonating any person or entity or forging anyone else's digital or manual signature.
Invade another person's privacy, stalk or otherwise harass another.
Post, transmit, or disseminate content that is threatening, abusive, libelous, slanderous, defamatory, incites hatred, or is otherwise offensive or objectionable.
Restrict, inhibit, or otherwise interfere with the ability of any other person to use or enjoy the equipment or the Service, including, without limitation, posting or transmitting any information or software which contains a virus, lock, key, bomb, worm, Trojan horse or other harmful feature.
Collect or store personal data about other users.
Use an IP address or client ID not assigned to Customer.
Use the Services on more than a single computer, unless otherwise authorized by CoxCom.
Violate any other CoxCom policy or guideline.
Harm to Minors
CoxCom Customers may not use the Services to harm or attempt to harm a minor, including, but not limited to, by hosting, possessing, disseminating, or transmitting material that is unlawful, including child pornography or obscene material.
Intellectual Property Infringement
CoxCom Customers may not use the Services to post, copy, transmit, or disseminate any content that infringes the patents, copyrights, trade secrets, trademark, or propriety rights of any party. CoxCom assumes no responsibility, and CoxCom Customers assume all risks regarding the determination of whether material is in the public domain, or may otherwise be used by Customer for such purposes.
Copyright
If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide CoxCom's Copyright Agent the following information:
An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright or other intellectual property interest;
A description of the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that you claim has been infringed;
A description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the site;
Your address, telephone number, and email address;
A statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright or intellectual property owner, its agent, or the law;
A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information provided in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright or intellectual property owner or authorized to act on the copyright or intellectual property owner's behalf.
CoxCom's Agent for Notice of claims of copyright or other intellectual property infringement can be reached as follows:
By mail: Cox Communications, Inc.
Attn: Wanda Moore
Leslie Spasser
1400 Lake Hearn Drive
Atlanta, GA 30319
By fax: Attn: Wanda Moore
Leslie Spasser
404-843-5845
By email: copyrightabuse@cox.com
User Content
CoxCom Customers are solely responsible for any information that they publish on the web or other Internet services. CoxCom Customers must ensure that the recipient of the content is appropriate and must take appropriate precautions to prevent minors from receiving inappropriate content. CoxCom reserves the right to refuse to post or to remove any information or materials from any CoxCom Service or system, in whole or in part, that it, in CoxCom's sole discretion, deems to be offensive, indecent, or otherwise inappropriate.
Commercial Use
The CoxCom residential Services are designed for personal use of the Internet and may not be used for commercial purposes. CoxCom Customers may not resell or otherwise charge others to use the residential Services. The residential Services are for personal use only. Customer agrees not to use the Service for operation as an Internet service provider, or for any other business enterprise, including, without limitation, virtual private network ("VPN") usage, IP address translation, or similar facilities intended to provide additional access.
Servers
CoxCom Customers may not operate, or allow others to operate, servers of any type or any other device, equipment, and/or software providing server like functionality in connection with the CoxCom residential service.
Misuse of Service
CoxCom Customers are responsible for any misuse of the Services, even if a friend, family member, guest, employee or customer committed the inappropriate activity with access to the CoxCom Customer account. CoxCom Customers must therefore take steps to ensure that others do not gain unauthorized access or misuse the Services.
Hacking/Attempted Unauthorized Access
CoxCom Customers may not use the Services to breach or attempt to breach the security of another user or attempt to gain access to any other person's computer, software, or data without the knowledge and consent of such person. The equipment and the Services may not be used in any attempt to circumvent the user authentication or security of any host, network or account. This includes, but is not limited to, accessing data not intended for Customer, logging into or making use of a server or account Customer is not expressly authorized to access, or probing the security of other networks or computers for any reason. Use or distribution of tools designed for compromising security, such as password guessing programs, cracking tools, packet sniffers or network probing tools, is prohibited.
Security
CoxCom Customers are solely responsible for the security of any device connected to the Services, including any data stored on that device. CoxCom recommends that users take appropriate security precautions for any systems connected to CoxCom Services.
Disruption of Services
CoxCom Customers may not disrupt the Services in any manner. Nor shall CoxCom Customers interfere with computer networking or telecommunications services to any user, host or network, including, without limitation, denial of service attacks, flooding of a network, overloading a service, improper seizing and abuse of operator privileges or attempts to "crash" a host.
Equipment
CoxCom Customers may not alter, modify or tamper with any CoxCom-owned equipment or service, or permit any other person to do the same that is not authorized by Cox.
Viruses, Trojan Horses, Worms and Denial of Service Attacks
Software or other content downloaded from the Service may contain viruses and it is Customer's sole responsibility to take appropriate precautions to protect Customer's computer from damage to its software, files and data. Customers are prohibited from posting, transmitting or disseminating any information or software that contains a virus, Trojan horse, worm or other harmful program or that generates levels of traffic sufficient to impede others' ability to send or retrieve information. Prohibited conduct of this type includes denial of service attacks or similarly disruptive transmissions, as well as transmissions containing other harmful or malicious features.
Electronic Mail
CoxCom Customers may not use the Services to send unsolicited bulk or commercial e-mail messages ("spam"). Any unsolicited e-mail must also not direct the recipient to any web site or other resource that uses the CoxCom Service. The Services may not be used to collect responses from unsolicited e-mail sent from accounts on other Internet hosts or e-mail services that violates this Policy or the acceptable use policy of any other Internet service provider. In addition, "mail bombing," the sending of numerous copies of the same or substantially similar messages or very large messages or files with the intent to disrupt a server or account, is prohibited.
You may not reference Cox, CoxCom or any portion of the Cox network (e.g. by including "Organization: Cox" in the header or by listing an IP address that belongs to the Cox network) in any unsolicited email even if that email is not sent through the Cox network. Further, forging, altering or removing electronic mail headers is prohibited.
Bandwidth, Data Storage and Other Limitations
CoxCom Customers must comply with the current bandwidth, data storage and other limitations on the Services. Customers must ensure that their activities do not improperly restrict, inhibit, or degrade any other user's use of the Services, nor represent (in the sole judgment of CoxCom) an unusually large burden on the network itself. In addition, Customers must ensure that their activity does not improperly restrict, inhibit, disrupt, degrade or impede CoxCom's ability to deliver the Services and monitor the Services, backbone, network nodes, and/or other network services. CoxCom may terminate, suspend, or require a Customer to upgrade its Services and pay additional fees if CoxCom, in its sole discretion, determines that that a CoxCom Customer is using excessive bandwidth.
Newsgroups
Messages posted to newsgroups must comply with the written charters or FAQs for those newsgroups. Advertisements, solicitations, or other commercial messages should be posted only in those newsgroups whose charters or FAQs explicitly permit them. You are responsible for determining the policies of a given newsgroup before posting to it.
Posting or cross-posting the same or substantially similar messages to more than eight newsgroups is prohibited. Our news software will automatically cancel any messages posted to nine or more newsgroups.
Binary files may not be posted to newsgroups not specifically named for that purpose. Users posting binary files to groups with policies concerning the permissible daily volume of posted files are required to observe those limitations.
Forging, altering or removing header information is prohibited. This includes attempting to circumvent the approval process for posting to a moderated newsgroup.
CoxCom reserves the right to discontinue access to any Usenet newsgroup at any time for any reason.
You may not attempt to "flood" or disrupt Usenet newsgroups. Disruption is defined as posting a large number of messages to a newsgroup which contain no substantive content, to the extent that normal discussion in the group is significantly hindered. Examples of disruptive activities include, but are not limited to, posting multiple messages with no text in the body, or posting many follow-ups to messages with no new text. Messages may not be canceled, except by the author or by official newsgroup moderators performing their duties.
The Usenet news service included with a CoxCom residential service account is provided for interactive use by the subscriber, using a commonly-available NNTP client such as Netscape Communicator. Non-interactive clients that download Usenet articles in bulk are prohibited.
Conflict
In the event of a conflict between the Subscriber Agreement and this Policy, the terms of the Subscriber Agreement will prevail.
COX COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
PRIVACY POLICY
Cox Respects Your Privacy
At Cox Communications, Inc., we respect your privacy. This privacy policy explains our commitment to your privacy and describes how your information is maintained and used by us.
Information We Collect
Information You Provide to Us. When you sign up for our services, including Internet, cable television, and/or video on demand (the "Services"), you provide us with information including your name, address, telephone number, and other billing information. We maintain this information along with billing, payment, deposit, complaint, and service information, and your choices regarding equipment and service options.
Information Used in Connection with Service Management, Maintenance, or Security. We collect information about your usage of our services for network management, maintenance, performance, and security. We may collect information regarding the choices that you make in connection with your use of the Services we offer, any Services ordered, and Internet usage, including the Internet Protocol number assigned to you, bandwidth utilization, and Internet resource requests (e.g. requests to view a web page) made by you.
Information for Personalization Services. We may collect and maintain information such as your address and content and service preferences to provide a more personalized online experience.
We Do Not Monitor Your Personal Communications in the Course of Normal Operations. We do not read your email messages, instant messages, online chats, or the content of other online communications that reside on or pass through our Services. We may however, retain and provide such communications in accordance with a valid court order or if we are otherwise legally required to do so or in response to an emergency situation. Please be aware, however, that once your communications leave our network and enter the public Internet on their way to their recipient, your communications may be monitored or intercepted by third-parties or other Internet service providers over which we do not have control.
We Do Not Record Any Information You Provide to Non-Affiliated Web Sites in the Course of Normal Operations. We will not record any information that you provide to third-party websites or Internet services in the course of our normal operations. When you submit information to any website or Internet service operated by us or an affiliated company, that information will be used only in accordance with the terms of service and privacy policy on that website or Internet service. Since we cannot control websites or Internet services operated by third-parties, we recommend that you review the terms of service and privacy policies of those websites.
Information Usage
We May Use Your Information for Service Related Purposes. We may use the information we collect to maintain and manage the Services, verify billing accuracy, communicate with our customers about service-related issues and maintain financial, tax and legal records. We also may transfer the information we collect in connection with the sale, merger, or transition of our system to a third-party.
We May Use Your Information for Our Internal Business Purposes. We may make your information available to our employees, agents and contractors for our internal business purposes, as well as to our outside auditors, attorneys and accountants, potential and actual purchasers of our business, and local franchise authorities. We also may disclose your information to collection services to the extent such disclosure is necessary to collect past due bills, or to other third-parties as may be necessary to render the Services and conduct other legitimate business activities related to your use of the Services. Third-parties that we retain to perform activities on our behalf (such as executing e-mail communications or collecting past due bills) and which necessarily have access to your information to carry out their assignment, are obligated to maintain the privacy of your information. We require those third-parties to use your information only for the limited purposes for which the disclosure is made and in accordance with this privacy policy. The frequency of any such information disclosure will vary in accordance with our business needs.
We Will Not Provide Your Information to Non-Affiliated Third-Parties for Marketing Purposes. We will not provide your information to any third-party for its use in connection with mailing lists or marketing purposes, other than those parties that we retain to conduct our mailings, surveys, contests, or marketing campaigns, or who act on our behalf.
We May Use Your Information to Send You Our Marketing and Service Related Information. We may send you marketing and informational materials from us or on behalf of our business affiliates or partners. If you do not wish to receive marketing or informational materials from us or our partners, please let us know by sending us a written request, including you name, address, and account number to the address listed on this notice.
Disclosure Policies
We Treat Your Information as Confidential. We treat the information we maintain about you as confidential and take precautions to prevent unauthorized access to your information.
We May Disclose Aggregate, Anonymous Information. We may disclose aggregate, anonymous information (i.e., information that does not reveal your name and address in connection with your general viewing or usage habits or any other transactions made using our Services that are personally indefinable to you) collected from our Services. This aggregate, anonymous information cannot be linked to you or any other individual.
We May Disclose Your Information if Required To Do So for Law Enforcement Purposes. We may disclose your information, including your name, address, email address, and other information, to a government entity if required to do so pursuant to law and as otherwise provided in the Acceptable Use Policy.
We May Disclose Your Information for Certain Other Purposes. We may disclose your information, including your name, address, email address, and other information to other system administrators at other Internet service providers or other network or computing facilities if necessary pursuant to our Acceptable Use Policy or in response to emergency conditions such as imminent threat to life or damage or destruction of property.
Limitations on Disclosures If you wish to prohibit or limit our disclosure of your information, you must notify us in writing at privacy@cox.com, and include your name, address, account number, and the information that you do not wish to be disclosed. Please note that we still may be required to disclose certain information if required to do so by law.
Retention
We maintain your information in our regular business records as long as you are a customer and for a longer time if necessary for our business purposes. Unless a court has asked us for access to this information, we will destroy it once it is no longer necessary for our business purposes.
Inspection
We will make personally identifiable information about you contained in our business records available to you within ten (10) days of our receipt of your written request to examine such information. You may only inspect records containing information about you. You are responsible for the cost of copying any documents you request. We will make this information available during normal business hours at the Cox office listed on the front cover of this notice, and will give you an opportunity to correct any error in the information we maintain.
Other Issues to Beware of - When you travel across the Internet, you may come across the following:
Spam - We do not condone or encourage the sending of unsolicited email, often called spam. Although we take steps to block spam from coming onto our network, no spam prevention method can stop all spam. You can help reduce the amount of spam you receive by not posting your email address on Internet news groups and message boards, and by not providing it to services that are unknown to you.
Cookies - Websites may use cookies to provide you with customized services and other features to enhance your experience. A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent to your browser by a website and is stored on your computer's hard drive that may contain data that allows that website to identify you. A cookie cannot read unrelated data off your hard drive. Every website you visit, and the advertisers on that website, can send cookies to your browser if your browser's preferences allow it. Although cookies can help websites provide you with customized features, they may also allow your activities and choices to be tracked. If you are concerned about cookies you may opt out of major advertising networks use of cookies at http://www.networkadvertising.org/optout_nonppii.
Internet Explorer (IE) users:
On the main toolbar of your browser, go to View (IE 4.0 or earlier) or Tools (IE 5.0 or later):
Select "Internet Options"
Go to the "Security" tab
IE 4.0 or earlier, look for "cookies" and select "enable" or "prompt" to enable cookies or "disable" to disable cookies
IE 5.0 or later select "custom level", scroll down to "cookies" and select "enable" or "prompt" to enable cookies or "disable" to disable cookies
Netscape users:
On the main toolbar of your browser:
Go to "edit"
Select "preferences"
On the left half of the window, select "advanced"
Select "accept all cookies" to enable cookies or "disable cookies" to disable cookies
Clear GIFs - Web pages may contain invisible electronic images, often called clear GIFs or web bugs, that allow third-parties to gather information about users who have visited the web page containing the clear GIF. Email you receive also may contain clear GIFs that may allow the sender to know if you have opened the email.
Malicious Activity - People with malicious intent may try to access or otherwise damage your computer when you are on the Internet. We therefore recommend that you take precautions to protect your computer when you are online. A firewall will help protect your system from attackers, and a virus checker will help prevent a virus from damaging your system.
Changes to this Policy
We may change this privacy policy from time to time to take into account new or changing circumstances. In the event that we change this privacy policy, we will provide you with written or electronic notice at least 30 days before the changes take effect. Any changes to this privacy policy will be prospective and will therefore not change the way we use information collected prior to the changed policy. Additionally, any written notices you provided to us regarding your preferences as to how we use your information will remain in effect.
Who is actually buying these X-10 cameras? This company must have an obscene amount of money for advertising?
I wish MS would just focus on making their OS stable instead of stealing other people's idea and integrating them into their OS. When are they going to be held accountable for their shoddy workmanship?
Donate money to the EFF. I was listening to an episode of "Off the Hook", and they had two people from the EFF speaking. They said that comsumers will see more an more of these types of resrtictions in the coming years. You're going to see a change in the culture of how we "own" CDs, DVDs and other forms of entertainment. Hollywood and the RIAA will dictate to you just how you can view/listen to their product.
This is an uphill battle, but there's no better time to start than now.
Yeah you see the Gateway Destinations with their 36" Monitor/TV. I think that Gateway still sells them but only to large businesses, but I'm not sure.
CmdrTaco writes, "Frequent readers of Slashdot know that I'm an MP3 junkie."
When are the Record people going to get it. The music buying public want to buy their music at a fair price and play/store it on whatever device they please.
All circuits are busy please try your call again when so many of our customers aren't palying mobile Quake 3! Thank you...Goodbye!
Yeah....@Home's downfall was partenring with that life-sucking portal Excite.
If you can't read this post your are not connected. Thank you and have a nice day!