I wonder how the supreme court's recent 10x damages cap might affect these cases. Sure, RIAA gestapo claim 98B actual damages (not punitive), but still....
Excuse me, but what exactly is the problem? Yes, in a court of law whoever rents out the infrastructure would argue that, at 120 baud rates, your download cost the company $2600, and so with legal fees you are liable for $200,000 in damages. And in these greed-oriented, legislator-bought, owners-take-all, times, they might get it.
But there is no doubt in my mind who the criminals are.
Yes, the suits and 3rd parties are the market and they don't OC, which makes this move pretty mysterious. Dell, HP, etc. and even the corner clone shop are not going to OC their boxes and make them less reliable for a speed difference that most users won't really notice.
Why alienate tinkerers, when their enthusiasm helps build the brand?
What could they possible hope to gain from this, except *Control* ? Seems like they have more to lose.
Cops find access to mobile broadband data useful, begin building out APs to more hotspots throughout City. Citizens note how much of the bandwidth goes unused and could be made useful by citizens whose tax $ put it there. City learns how to provide secure infrastructure traffic (cops, fire dept., public works, etc.) while making excess bandwidth available to citizens. Before too many years, City is pretty well provisioned with free (tax-funded) wireless.
There are several questions posted here regarding the government's (USA and others) ability to crack what is publically considered to be good encryption. I hope you answer one of them. James Bamford's books on the NSA tell us that government security agencies have a long and documented history of obtaining back doors (political engineering?) or outright cracking codes. I remember a very public government effort several years ago to lobby for backdoors ("clipper chip" and others), an effort that seems to have stopped and which worries me because I am left to assume that they have their solutions. Someone else here has asked if your company has ever been approached for backdoors to your products.
In summary, as we use PGP, SSL, and other commonly available and easy-to-use tools, how secure are we from the one organization that we know of, our government, that has the resources and the mission to pry into private "secured" communications?
The last time (2 yrs ago?) I brought my laptop into McDonalds and fired up my Ricochet connection, the manager angrily trod out and demanded that I unplug from their AC power plug. And kept coming out every 5 minutes to give me angry looks, to be sure I didn't re-power, and to intimidate me to eat and get out.
Culturally, I can't see hanging out there and connecting with anything.
11/30/1998: So the same computer that will transmit you a reminder to buy hamburger buns when you pick up the patties will raise prices for you as you approach the lettuce. If your desire for a lettuce purchase lags, you'll be stimulated by additional promotions designed to whet your appetite. The supermarket will be alive, and the deities that govern it will operate in real time.
My personal unproven hypothesis is that the gov'ment stopped publically lobbying for encryption backdoors early in the Clinton administration because they found an algorithm(s) that made current encryption models irrelevant. Reading James Bamford's NSA books "Body of Secrets" and "The Puzzle Palace" tells us that the NSA employs many top-notch mathemeticians and keeps their results largely secret. If, as others here have said, the solution to the Riemann hypothesis does indeed leave current encryption schemes wide-open, perhaps they cracked it 8 - 10 years ago.
But I can't begin to prove anything, just thinking out loud.
Why is SF so badly written?
on
Ask Larry Niven
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Dear Mr. Niven, I ask this respectfully. With the exception of yours (which I have enjoyed very much)and a very few other author's works, why is so much SF so badly written? Does the focus on unusual ideas mean that the quality of the literature must suffer, do we readers have low expectations,did the evolution from Pulp culturally imbue trashiness, or what? It seems that so many readers who love this genre feel "I can write SF too", and I've always felt we really mean "I can write better stuff than this", but I'd rather that other writers do it so I can continue to enjoy reading it. In any event, thank you for yours.
Privacy issue explained
on
NYT on RFID Tags
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Geez, I can't believe how many posts don't understand the privacy issue. Let me summarize:
1). the tags cannot be deactivated, are not deactivated when you purchase the item.
2.) each tag has a unique ID - buy 3 identical pants, 3 tags have 3 different ID numbers.
3.) pay with a traceable currency, like a credit card, and into the database goes your credit card info AND the IDs of the things you bought.
4.) From now on, anyone with a scanner and access to the database where you bought stuff can know who you are, where you are. Walk into a Walmart on the other side of the world, and your RFID tag can identify you (or at least the purchaser of the goods). Have not only your buying habits, but your shopping habits tracked, stored, and datamined. Buy a shirt at a garage sale and get arrested for being someone else! Have more of your info make it into the Total Information Awareeness uberdatabase.
It seems inevitable that as information technology, anthropology, marketing and research technologies (and everything else) are brought to bear on the tasks of predicting, identifying, and capitalizing on an emerging fad ASAP, this will inspire the creative forces that generate new culture to avoid generating it. Creative forces (artists, "the hip", those who do this kind of stuff) want to be differently expressive. If ideas are co-opted for mass exposure and profit as soon as they begin to emerge, those ideas will stop emerging. Those creative forces will inevitably learn to generate anti-fads (new, different, difficult to co-opt in the current culture), whatever that turns out to be.
The requirement to exploit emerging creative difference will change those fads to something else.
There's nothing virtual about the theft - as you say the money was real, so the theft was real.
The property that was stolen was virtual, but the value of the virtual property in our meatspace was real, therefor the theft was real. I don't play Ultima Online, but the meatspace value of the property, according to other posts, was about $414.00. I suspect that the virtual value of the house was much more, at least tens of thousands of virtual dollars. I also suspect that the thief is being charged with stealing around $414, not tens of thousands.
Now when the first person gets prosecuted in meatspace for virtual values (such as kicking a virtual dog in Ultima), that's news.
Seriosly. I'm sure this has been covered but I have not found it: If I figure out how to unscramble the signal "irradiating my backyard" and use it myself and don't sell the info or signal to anyone, I can't see how I am liable. If I am, I'd like to know how they got that legislation through Congress. Ethically, I should be able to demand that the Sat company cease broadcasting to my house if they insist on charging me for intercepting it. I'll accept that selling the info is illegal, but simply sharing it for free, hmmm, seems OK to me too.
Can someone explain or point me to the justification for this (besides the obvious need to protect a business plan)?
I'd like to learn more about the history and status of the "corporation" as a legal entity - where should I go? Where do you see the status of the Corporation as a legal entity going in 50 years?
As I understand it, corporations were developed as an investment risk-avoidance mechanism, and prior to 1800 were required to be of limited time and to show proof of (probable) public benefit before incorporation, since avoiding responsibility was not a desired side-effect of avoiding risk. Over time lobbying efforts removed the time-limit restriction and granted "person-hood" to the corporation (which I don't really understand), turning it into a pretty strong legal entity.
These days it seems that the Corporate entity, under the unspoken pretense of creating jobs and stimulating the economy, is gaining power and status beyond that of mortal men, and reducing its own liability - forget about needing to show benefit.
Why did we let this happen? Could there be parallels with the history of the Corporation and the evolving status of IP law, and what can we learn from them?
Please check out Peet's (www.peets.com). It's where the folks who founded Starbucks learned to roast coffee. I live down the street from their first store in Berkeley, and while I loathe snobbery my wife and I have become complete coffee snobs and have been for years. A bit expensive, they start at around $9 a pound and go up to $40 a quarter pound (I hope I got that right - I've never bought this expensive stuff) for Kona beans. Their Mocha Sanani (at about $18 a pound) is heavenly - smooth, strong, great - I indulge in a pound of this around the holidays. Part of the great taste comes from the freshness of the roast: while unroasted beans become better with age, roasted beans should be drunk right away, within a week if possible or the taste tends to begin to sour.
They ship coffee. Buy beans, grind them just before brewing. French press is most recommended, melitta filter is OK too. But it's all according to taste so do what you enjoy most.
Aside from being a dedicated addict, I have no business affiliation with Peets.
I hate to sound trollish, but we as consumers have more options than "take it or leave it".
We can look for alternatives in our present situation. We can share information about alternatives. We can tell providers/vendors/paid-pushers that their terms are limited by our needs, not the other way around (and they can "take it or leave it"). We can educate each other on ways we have found to make our living places better by ourselves, rather than moving until we find someone willing to offer what we need, and not take it away later. I think that's why a lot of us are reading and writing here.
Still, I think yours is an interesting perspective.
Are you free to tell us what you really think?
on
Ask Kevin Mitnick
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Kevin,
How free are you to tell us what you really think about things, and how much is your freedom of speech being moderated by the terms of your parole? For example, if you felt that (this is purely hypothetical), in response to IP issues you believed in taking actions that might be interpreted as criminal, would there be reprecussions for you if you stated them here?
Slashdot Mirror
Such as, "What do you want to pay to hear today?"
Excuse me, but how do I run my car on jet fuel?
I think I can help make up for the market glut on this product.
I wonder how the supreme court's recent 10x damages cap might affect these cases. Sure, RIAA gestapo claim 98B actual damages (not punitive), but still....
Excuse me, but what exactly is the problem?
Yes, in a court of law whoever rents out the infrastructure would argue that, at 120 baud rates, your download cost the company $2600, and so with legal fees you are liable for $200,000 in damages. And in these greed-oriented, legislator-bought, owners-take-all, times, they might get it.
But there is no doubt in my mind who the criminals are.
One possibility: Produce a single chip that operates across a range of speeds, and license it for a specific speed at a specific price.
For example, pay $100 to run the proc at 2.4Mhz, or $180 to run it at 2.8 Mhz.
Such a scheme would require a reliable lock. Inventory costs would, theoretically, go down.
Yes, the suits and 3rd parties are the market and they don't OC, which makes this move pretty mysterious. Dell, HP, etc. and even the corner clone shop are not going to OC their boxes and make them less reliable for a speed difference that most users won't really notice.
Why alienate tinkerers, when their enthusiasm helps build the brand?
What could they possible hope to gain from this, except *Control* ? Seems like they have more to lose.
Cops find access to mobile broadband data useful, begin building out APs to more hotspots throughout City. Citizens note how much of the bandwidth goes unused and could be made useful by citizens whose tax $ put it there. City learns how to provide secure infrastructure traffic (cops, fire dept., public works, etc.) while making excess bandwidth available to citizens. Before too many years, City is pretty well provisioned with free (tax-funded) wireless.
This makes too much sense - it'll never happen.
Create the following addresses on hotmail: kidrip0000000 through kidrip9999999.
Submit.
That should be good for $2.5Million.
Take your school on a field trip to Jamaica.
There are several questions posted here regarding the government's (USA and others) ability to crack what is publically considered to be good encryption. I hope you answer one of them.
James Bamford's books on the NSA tell us that government security agencies have a long and documented history of obtaining back doors (political engineering?) or outright cracking codes. I remember a very public government effort several years ago to lobby for backdoors ("clipper chip" and others), an effort that seems to have stopped and which worries me because I am left to assume that they have their solutions. Someone else here has asked if your company has ever been approached for backdoors to your products.
In summary, as we use PGP, SSL, and other commonly available and easy-to-use tools, how secure are we from the one organization that we know of, our government, that has the resources and the mission to pry into private "secured" communications?
The Onion reports the oldest evidence ever found for athlete's foot.
How can i make my underwear scan like a can of ravioli?
Can I fool scanners into thinking I'm wearing original kilobuck designer duds, or that they scan as tools from the hardware store?
I can forsee the web sites popping up for scan code exchange, and I know there will be tons of creative hacks that I can't yet imagine.
The last time (2 yrs ago?) I brought my laptop into McDonalds and fired up my Ricochet connection, the manager angrily trod out and demanded that I unplug from their AC power plug. And kept coming out every 5 minutes to give me angry looks, to be sure I didn't re-power, and to intimidate me to eat and get out.
Culturally, I can't see hanging out there and connecting with anything.
With a half-life of 24,000 years, it takes a lickin' and still keeps you from tickin'.
And no, it wasn't a pr0n site.
11/30/1998:
So the same computer that will
transmit you a reminder to buy
hamburger buns when you pick
up the patties will raise prices
for you as you approach the
lettuce. If your desire for a
lettuce purchase lags, you'll be
stimulated by additional
promotions designed to whet your
appetite. The supermarket will
be alive, and the deities that
govern it will operate in real
time.
My personal unproven hypothesis is that the gov'ment stopped publically lobbying for encryption backdoors early in the Clinton administration because they found an algorithm(s) that made current encryption models irrelevant. Reading James Bamford's NSA books "Body of Secrets" and "The Puzzle Palace" tells us that the NSA employs many top-notch mathemeticians and keeps their results largely secret. If, as others here have said, the solution to the Riemann hypothesis does indeed leave current encryption schemes wide-open, perhaps they cracked it 8 - 10 years ago.
But I can't begin to prove anything, just thinking out loud.
Dear Mr. Niven, I ask this respectfully. With the exception of yours (which I have enjoyed very much)and a very few other author's works, why is so much SF so badly written? Does the focus on unusual ideas mean that the quality of the literature must suffer, do we readers have low expectations,did the evolution from Pulp culturally imbue trashiness, or what? It seems that so many readers who love this genre feel "I can write SF too", and I've always felt we really mean "I can write better stuff than this", but I'd rather that other writers do it so I can continue to enjoy reading it. In any event, thank you for yours.
Geez, I can't believe how many posts don't understand the privacy issue. Let me summarize:
1). the tags cannot be deactivated, are not deactivated when you purchase the item.
2.) each tag has a unique ID - buy 3 identical pants, 3 tags have 3 different ID numbers.
3.) pay with a traceable currency, like a credit card, and into the database goes your credit card info AND the IDs of the things you bought.
4.) From now on, anyone with a scanner and access to the database where you bought stuff can know who you are, where you are. Walk into a Walmart on the other side of the world, and your RFID tag can identify you (or at least the purchaser of the goods). Have not only your buying habits, but your shopping habits tracked, stored, and datamined. Buy a shirt at a garage sale and get arrested for being someone else! Have more of your info make it into the Total Information Awareeness uberdatabase.
It's a wonderful world.
It seems inevitable that as information technology, anthropology, marketing and research technologies (and everything else) are brought to bear on the tasks of predicting, identifying, and capitalizing on an emerging fad ASAP, this will inspire the creative forces that generate new culture to avoid generating it. Creative forces (artists, "the hip", those who do this kind of stuff) want to be differently expressive. If ideas are co-opted for mass exposure and profit as soon as they begin to emerge, those ideas will stop emerging. Those creative forces will inevitably learn to generate anti-fads (new, different, difficult to co-opt in the current culture), whatever that turns out to be.
The requirement to exploit emerging creative difference will change those fads to something else.
Let's figure out what it will be and sell it!
There's nothing virtual about the theft - as you say the money was real, so the theft was real.
The property that was stolen was virtual, but the value of the virtual property in our meatspace was real, therefor the theft was real. I don't play Ultima Online, but the meatspace value of the property, according to other posts, was about $414.00. I suspect that the virtual value of the house was much more, at least tens of thousands of virtual dollars. I also suspect that the thief is being charged with stealing around $414, not tens of thousands.
Now when the first person gets prosecuted in meatspace for virtual values (such as kicking a virtual dog in Ultima), that's news.
Seriosly.
I'm sure this has been covered but I have not found it: If I figure out how to unscramble the signal "irradiating my backyard" and use it myself and don't sell the info or signal to anyone, I can't see how I am liable. If I am, I'd like to know how they got that legislation through Congress. Ethically, I should be able to demand that the Sat company cease broadcasting to my house if they insist on charging me for intercepting it.
I'll accept that selling the info is illegal, but simply sharing it for free, hmmm, seems OK to me too.
Can someone explain or point me to the justification for this (besides the obvious need to protect a business plan)?
Thank you!
I'd like to learn more about the history and status of the "corporation" as a legal entity - where should I go? Where do you see the status of the Corporation as a legal entity going in 50 years?
As I understand it, corporations were developed as an investment risk-avoidance mechanism, and prior to 1800 were required to be of limited time and to show proof of (probable) public benefit before incorporation, since avoiding responsibility was not a desired side-effect of avoiding risk. Over time lobbying efforts removed the time-limit restriction and granted "person-hood" to the corporation (which I don't really understand), turning it into a pretty strong legal entity.
These days it seems that the Corporate entity, under the unspoken pretense of creating jobs and stimulating the economy, is gaining power and status beyond that of mortal men, and reducing its own liability - forget about needing to show benefit.
Why did we let this happen? Could there be parallels with the history of the Corporation and the evolving status of IP law, and what can we learn from them?
Thanks - I completely agree. Fresh roasted coffee beans freshly ground and properly brewed is more important than where you buy the beans from.
Please check out Peet's (www.peets.com). It's where the folks who founded Starbucks learned to roast coffee. I live down the street from their first store in Berkeley, and while I loathe snobbery my wife and I have become complete coffee snobs and have been for years. A bit expensive, they start at around $9 a pound and go up to $40 a quarter pound (I hope I got that right - I've never bought this expensive stuff) for Kona beans. Their Mocha Sanani (at about $18 a pound) is heavenly - smooth, strong, great - I indulge in a pound of this around the holidays. Part of the great taste comes from the freshness of the roast: while unroasted beans become better with age, roasted beans should be drunk right away, within a week if possible or the taste tends to begin to sour. They ship coffee. Buy beans, grind them just before brewing. French press is most recommended, melitta filter is OK too. But it's all according to taste so do what you enjoy most. Aside from being a dedicated addict, I have no business affiliation with Peets.
I hate to sound trollish, but we as consumers have more options than "take it or leave it".
We can look for alternatives in our present situation.
We can share information about alternatives.
We can tell providers/vendors/paid-pushers that their terms are limited by our needs, not the other way around (and they can "take it or leave it").
We can educate each other on ways we have found to make our living places better by ourselves, rather than moving until we find someone willing to offer what we need, and not take it away later.
I think that's why a lot of us are reading and writing here.
Still, I think yours is an interesting perspective.
Kevin,
How free are you to tell us what you really think about things, and how much is your freedom of speech being moderated by the terms of your parole? For example, if you felt that (this is purely hypothetical), in response to IP issues you believed in taking actions that might be interpreted as criminal, would there be reprecussions for you if you stated them here?