Lindows has not only a good legal leg to stand on, but an excellent PR strategy as well. This company is getting tons of free press by taking on the 8 ton gorilla of the software industry. Go get 'em boys!
I think it's a relatively simple matter to be sure your keystrokes weren't being detected by the FBI.
Step 1: Buy a laptop.
Step 2: Buy a floppy disk
Step 3: Do all your encryping on laptop
Step 4: Ensure you never connect laptop to internet
Step 5: Use the floppy to transfer disk to encrypted data to internet computer.
Step 6: Send encrypted data
No doubt that saavier criminals are already taking such precautions.
If you stretched all this out to its natural conclusion, one day Linux will become the only OS that still makes it possible to easily circumvent encryption and other methods of gaining free access to intellectual property.
Conceivably, the courts could then rule that Linux, desipite other useful utilities it might have (like some file swapping systems we know), is nothing but a tool for pirates and therefore needs to be stopped. Judges will start outlawing Linux kernels until they begin incorporating their own digitial rights management system. But I then wonder how Linux could get around this patent issue?
What can those of us concerned with the enroachment of intellectual property laws physically do to combat the large corporate intellectual property right owners? Are there clear steps for us to take?
Though I could be wrong, I fear there is no clear agenda for the cause you are championing. And even if there is a game plan in place, no concerted, organized effort exists to carry it out. How do you propose going about drafting a game and who is in the best position to do it? If there is a plan in place, what do you need us to do to push it forward?
Yes, but does anyone care enough to do anything?
on
The Future of Ideas
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· Score: 1
Judging by the number of comments here, the answer is "probably not". There is no real public discourse over copyright issues in our democracy and Lessig's book, as good as it may or may not be, will do little to change that. Unless your definition of public outrage is some twerpy looking Harvard lawyer, there will be none.
No one has the political power to overcome the MPAA or RIAA. You can be assured that congress will bend over backwards to meet their "needs" to gobble up ideas for public consumption. That's all ideas are anyway, right? Just goods, like bananas, Windex, and rubber tires that are good for nothing but getting consumed.
I'm sorry. We're fucked. Get pissed.
Can this really be a cost saver?
on
This is IT?
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· Score: 0, Flamebait
The NY Times article seemed just a tad tolerant of the hucksterism going on here. In addition to the cost of the vehicle, throw in maintenance costs, insurance costs, extra insurance for worker's comp payments when your postman goes down on this thing and the 3 mph that he loses when carrying a 50 lb bag of mail on his back because he "doesn't need" a truck and you got yourself a great big worthless fleet of hype machines on your hands. Someone has friends in high places to get the USPS to want to take these contraptions for a test spin.
On their page describing the security hole with active scripting, you need to have active scripting enabled to read the text that is hidden unless the "+" icon is clicked.
I hate to burst your bubble of scientific evidence but the percentage of physical SPACE humans take up has no direct correlation to how much damage we might/might not be having on the weather.
or sculpt? Why do musicians make music? Not all of them do it for the money. Sure there's a few that hit the big time, but the vast majority, even highly competent ones, struggle to make ends meet and pursue their interest because it is what they know and love.
The act of creation itself is what pays and rewards open source programmers. While programming has a much more practical side to it than the "purer" arts, it certainly isn't a hard science. You can a great sense of satisfaction from knowing that out of nothing you have forged a new tool that others can use and find useful or get enjoyment from.
Once all this hype about capitalism blows over, we will begin to realize that life isn't always about making a buck. It's also about doing stuff you really love.
Progress is progress and this can only give rise to more schools considering this option. I'm sure some techies working in school systems will read this article here on/. thereby giving new awareness about the "Linux for Schools" program. Little gains like this are another crack in MicroShaft's damn.
As the Chinese say, every journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step. Or maybe that was just from some bad movie I saw.
When are people ever going to realize that their deux ex machina solution of a "free" market is just a blindly repeated mantra with no solid reasoning behind it? Why rational people assume that the act of buying and selling goods and services solves very complex issues is completely beyond my comprehension. It's a totally ludicrous assumption.
History shows that there have always been players with lots of power and players with little power. Those with the power have always been able to keep the those with less power down and have by and large controlled them. Whether it be the Catholic Church, German Nazis, Spanish Conquistadors, or global corporations, there has always been some kind of ruling class. Look at modern-day Russia, for example. It's a land of where a handful of captitalists were able to grossly tilt the odds in their favor by any means necessary. They have a very weak government with little regulation but a whole lot of corruption and depression. No society can prosper in such a lawless system.
This world has always been a "free" market. But tt's free only in the sense that anyone who wants power bad enough can seize it by any means necessary, without regard to what's right or good for the whole. Thankfully, we live in one of those rare societies in human history with many checks and balances so that the powerful don't get too powerful. Yet, as good as our sytem is, we still have many, many injustices and inequities that need to be addressed. I see absolutely no validity to the argument that "free" market capitalism is about to reverse selfish and greedy motives that the human race has had to put up with for the past 3,000,000 years.
A "may-the-greediest-corporation-win" laissez faire capitalist approach to running a complex society lacks any checks and balances and is ultimately destructive. A "free" market solution is just one big giant fucking pipe dream. Want a great society? You mix one part capitalism, one part regulation, and a hefty dose of democracy and hopefully, maybe, if we're really lucky, everything will turn out OK.
You would do well to pay no attention to any overly simplistic way of thinking such as "deregulation is the answer". It's plain, straight-up bullshit. This is a complex world and requires complex solutions. Sure it would be nice to find some formulaic answer to our problems, but I think most of you reading this are too smart to think such a solution exists.
Hey, the way democracy is supposed to work is that if people don't like something, they bitch and moan about it and then change it. So get a grip and quit bitching and moaning about people bitching and moaning. Thanks to bitchers and moaners like Tom Jefferson and Martin Luther King, this country has made some real progress.
I personally hit refresh about 10 times to see how fast the number climbed. Figure at least 1000s of othe idiots are doing the same and the meter ins't quite so accurate. Remember the Heisenberg principle?
I'm tired of watching governments expend so much energy passing and considering legislation to protect the interests of the rich and powerful while the average citizen trying to make ends meet watches their rights continually erode and real human needs go unmet. Of course, it all boils down to power, both economic and political. Once the balance of power becomes too unbalanced as I'm afraid it's becoming, those in power always get their way since there is no power to offset them. One of the reasons the US has been so great to live in is that we have been able to keep the powerful in check. Our very government is based on a system of checks and balances to power.
Don't think a situation like Russia's couldn't spread. Their country is a prime example of what happens without a working system to keep the powerful in check. They became too capitalist and too free market. We need a call to action and it needs to happen soon before democracy is left impotent by those seeking to make a buck. It can and will become a very ugly, venal, and petty world unless we make some noise and get pissed before things get much worse.
Well, yeah, I guess we should have "carefully managed" Adolf Hitler's viewpoint of the world and avoided that whold WWII deal. Get out of the ivory tower and come join the sturggle for what's right. There is right and wrong. There are ideas and values that hurt society and ideas and values that help society. Which side are you on?
Well, if the free-market is so great, why the hell is a crap engine like MSN getting 6 times the searches as Google? Excite gets 10 times the number of hits. People don't go to what's best, they go to what corporations lead them to because it makes them money. See http://www.webmasteraid.com/cgi-bin/d.cgi (Select "USA" and "English")
You should look realistically at your free-market mantra and see it for what's its worth: a load of crap. The free market is free only to those who have the power to control it.
Re:Type "rocket" at the MSN search engine...
on
Search Engine Payola
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· Score: 1
Oh, sorry, that's the "Compaq Center". Fuck, capitalism is getting out of control when you have sports stadiums named after a computer.
...you get just what I suspected: a Houston Rockets links. "Go to a Houston Rockets Game". WTF? I live in Massachusetts. And Compaq computer is number 4 on the list? Come on! Microsoft isn't interested in serving consumers. They're interested in making a buck. But you already knew that. Just face it all you free-market capitalist freaks, an unchecked, uncontrolled marketplace just doesn't work. Look at how much traffic the MSN search engine gets and it totally SUCKS...a worthless piece of garbage yet it thrives!
You do not understand the nature of vast amounts of accumulated power. You cannot fight it. Individual consumers are very disorganized. They cannot collectively act together unless it is done conciously. Just as Galileo could not have avoided being burned at the stake, we are at the mercy of large comanies without adequate, organized power to offset their control of the marketplace.
You know, I'm sick of long-winded answers always getting modded up. Style of substance, I guess---nerds are gullible, too. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. As the last user pointed out, networks pay out the ying-yang for the rights to carry sports.
I don't think you are looking at this problem as you should. That is, with an eye to the long term. Because geolocation is not possible now, does not mean we will be free from it in 10 or 20 years. Don't forget that caller ID for phone calls wasn't possible just a couple of decades ago.
Slashdot Mirror
Hobbyists and non-programmers like to read /. to, even articles about programming! What is RSS?
Lindows has not only a good legal leg to stand on, but an excellent PR strategy as well. This company is getting tons of free press by taking on the 8 ton gorilla of the software industry. Go get 'em boys!
I think it's a relatively simple matter to be sure your keystrokes weren't being detected by the FBI.
Step 1: Buy a laptop.
Step 2: Buy a floppy disk
Step 3: Do all your encryping on laptop
Step 4: Ensure you never connect laptop to internet
Step 5: Use the floppy to transfer disk to encrypted data to internet computer.
Step 6: Send encrypted data
No doubt that saavier criminals are already taking such precautions.
If you stretched all this out to its natural conclusion, one day Linux will become the only OS that still makes it possible to easily circumvent encryption and other methods of gaining free access to intellectual property.
Conceivably, the courts could then rule that Linux, desipite other useful utilities it might have (like some file swapping systems we know), is nothing but a tool for pirates and therefore needs to be stopped. Judges will start outlawing Linux kernels until they begin incorporating their own digitial rights management system. But I then wonder how Linux could get around this patent issue?
Professor Lessig,
What can those of us concerned with the enroachment of intellectual property laws physically do to combat the large corporate intellectual property right owners? Are there clear steps for us to take?
Though I could be wrong, I fear there is no clear agenda for the cause you are championing. And even if there is a game plan in place, no concerted, organized effort exists to carry it out. How do you propose going about drafting a game and who is in the best position to do it? If there is a plan in place, what do you need us to do to push it forward?
No one has the political power to overcome the MPAA or RIAA. You can be assured that congress will bend over backwards to meet their "needs" to gobble up ideas for public consumption. That's all ideas are anyway, right? Just goods, like bananas, Windex, and rubber tires that are good for nothing but getting consumed.
I'm sorry. We're fucked. Get pissed.
The NY Times article seemed just a tad tolerant of the hucksterism going on here. In addition to the cost of the vehicle, throw in maintenance costs, insurance costs, extra insurance for worker's comp payments when your postman goes down on this thing and the 3 mph that he loses when carrying a 50 lb bag of mail on his back because he "doesn't need" a truck and you got yourself a great big worthless fleet of hype machines on your hands. Someone has friends in high places to get the USPS to want to take these contraptions for a test spin.
FuckedCompany Bleem posts
On their page describing the security hole with active scripting, you need to have active scripting enabled to read the text that is hidden unless the "+" icon is clicked.
Thanks for straightening me out. I knew all those scientists were making this shit up to get more funding from the government.
One other thing: can you please post some reputable scientific sources for your conclustion?
I hate to burst your bubble of scientific evidence but the percentage of physical SPACE humans take up has no direct correlation to how much damage we might/might not be having on the weather.
The act of creation itself is what pays and rewards open source programmers. While programming has a much more practical side to it than the "purer" arts, it certainly isn't a hard science. You can a great sense of satisfaction from knowing that out of nothing you have forged a new tool that others can use and find useful or get enjoyment from.
Once all this hype about capitalism blows over, we will begin to realize that life isn't always about making a buck. It's also about doing stuff you really love.
As the Chinese say, every journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step. Or maybe that was just from some bad movie I saw.
History shows that there have always been players with lots of power and players with little power. Those with the power have always been able to keep the those with less power down and have by and large controlled them. Whether it be the Catholic Church, German Nazis, Spanish Conquistadors, or global corporations, there has always been some kind of ruling class. Look at modern-day Russia, for example. It's a land of where a handful of captitalists were able to grossly tilt the odds in their favor by any means necessary. They have a very weak government with little regulation but a whole lot of corruption and depression. No society can prosper in such a lawless system.
This world has always been a "free" market. But tt's free only in the sense that anyone who wants power bad enough can seize it by any means necessary, without regard to what's right or good for the whole. Thankfully, we live in one of those rare societies in human history with many checks and balances so that the powerful don't get too powerful. Yet, as good as our sytem is, we still have many, many injustices and inequities that need to be addressed. I see absolutely no validity to the argument that "free" market capitalism is about to reverse selfish and greedy motives that the human race has had to put up with for the past 3,000,000 years.
A "may-the-greediest-corporation-win" laissez faire capitalist approach to running a complex society lacks any checks and balances and is ultimately destructive. A "free" market solution is just one big giant fucking pipe dream. Want a great society? You mix one part capitalism, one part regulation, and a hefty dose of democracy and hopefully, maybe, if we're really lucky, everything will turn out OK.
You would do well to pay no attention to any overly simplistic way of thinking such as "deregulation is the answer". It's plain, straight-up bullshit. This is a complex world and requires complex solutions. Sure it would be nice to find some formulaic answer to our problems, but I think most of you reading this are too smart to think such a solution exists.
Hey, the way democracy is supposed to work is that if people don't like something, they bitch and moan about it and then change it. So get a grip and quit bitching and moaning about people bitching and moaning. Thanks to bitchers and moaners like Tom Jefferson and Martin Luther King, this country has made some real progress.
I personally hit refresh about 10 times to see how fast the number climbed. Figure at least 1000s of othe idiots are doing the same and the meter ins't quite so accurate. Remember the Heisenberg principle?
Don't think a situation like Russia's couldn't spread. Their country is a prime example of what happens without a working system to keep the powerful in check. They became too capitalist and too free market. We need a call to action and it needs to happen soon before democracy is left impotent by those seeking to make a buck. It can and will become a very ugly, venal, and petty world unless we make some noise and get pissed before things get much worse.
Well, yeah, I guess we should have "carefully managed" Adolf Hitler's viewpoint of the world and avoided that whold WWII deal. Get out of the ivory tower and come join the sturggle for what's right. There is right and wrong. There are ideas and values that hurt society and ideas and values that help society. Which side are you on?
Well, if the free-market is so great, why the hell is a crap engine like MSN getting 6 times the searches as Google? Excite gets 10 times the number of hits. People don't go to what's best, they go to what corporations lead them to because it makes them money. See http://www.webmasteraid.com/cgi-bin/d.cgi (Select "USA" and "English") You should look realistically at your free-market mantra and see it for what's its worth: a load of crap. The free market is free only to those who have the power to control it.
Oh, sorry, that's the "Compaq Center". Fuck, capitalism is getting out of control when you have sports stadiums named after a computer.
...you get just what I suspected: a Houston Rockets links. "Go to a Houston Rockets Game". WTF? I live in Massachusetts. And Compaq computer is number 4 on the list? Come on! Microsoft isn't interested in serving consumers. They're interested in making a buck. But you already knew that. Just face it all you free-market capitalist freaks, an unchecked, uncontrolled marketplace just doesn't work. Look at how much traffic the MSN search engine gets and it totally SUCKS...a worthless piece of garbage yet it thrives!
You do not understand the nature of vast amounts of accumulated power. You cannot fight it. Individual consumers are very disorganized. They cannot collectively act together unless it is done conciously. Just as Galileo could not have avoided being burned at the stake, we are at the mercy of large comanies without adequate, organized power to offset their control of the marketplace.
...the world's biggest bullshit factory.
You know, I'm sick of long-winded answers always getting modded up. Style of substance, I guess---nerds are gullible, too. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. As the last user pointed out, networks pay out the ying-yang for the rights to carry sports.
I don't think you are looking at this problem as you should. That is, with an eye to the long term. Because geolocation is not possible now, does not mean we will be free from it in 10 or 20 years. Don't forget that caller ID for phone calls wasn't possible just a couple of decades ago.