I had a similar experiance with USWest. For 3 months they couldn't keep my router trained. They kept insisting that it was my Linux box, and I kept telling them that the router doesn't even know what it is plugged into. Finally after many angry phone calls they got it fixed. I'm not sure this is the norm, seems to me that USWest is just an awful telco. I heard somewhere that the FCC ranked them last in customer service/satisfaction and after this experiance I can believe it.
This really isn't much different from a retail store hiring someone to go around to other retail stores and price check (which they do). However, in this case they are actually costing the spied on store money through the use of bandwidth and cycles. E-Bay is perfectly within their right to deny someone access to their computers just as a retail store has the right to throw out spies when caught (which they also do).
I agree that it does seem hypocritical to stop all trade with Cuba and not China, however, China never put nuclear weapons right off our shore and pointed them at us. At least not that we know of. Also, the U.S. does not have a huge, almost militant, Chinese population stopping any sort of resolution with said country like we do with Cuba. I don't agree with trade with China because of the human rights issues. However, I do feel that "the powers that be" are hoping that increased trade with China will help to bring about the demise of the old school regime in favor of new more "western" ideas. Given the potential explosion of business and the internet in China, they might be right.
I've traveled in Greece, Italy, Switzerland, France, Holland, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Czech, Hungary and Austria and I would say that they are more socialist than the US. Although I would agree that the US is not more free. At least not at the individual level. However, in groups I think we are. We don't ban religious groups (see France and the Scientologists).
How can anyone possibly be surprised by this? Real obviously has no respect for anyone's privacy. I can't understand why they keep thinking they can get away with this. And why the Linux community seem to grovel for them. I haven't been using Real products since the first privacy issue, streaming video be damned. As for streaming audio, MP3 works just fine for me.
Through all this, the one question I keep asking is: where does this stop? Are they going to sue Lycos for having a search engine capable of find Metallica MP3's? Maybe they should go all the way back and sue the original designers of ARPANET. Without it this never would have happened!
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I had a similar experiance with USWest. For 3 months they couldn't keep my router trained. They kept insisting that it was my Linux box, and I kept telling them that the router doesn't even know what it is plugged into. Finally after many angry phone calls they got it fixed. I'm not sure this is the norm, seems to me that USWest is just an awful telco. I heard somewhere that the FCC ranked them last in customer service/satisfaction and after this experiance I can believe it.
Now if I just had a good use for it. Other than read News for Nerds that is...
This really isn't much different from a retail store hiring someone to go around to other retail stores and price check (which they do). However, in this case they are actually costing the spied on store money through the use of bandwidth and cycles. E-Bay is perfectly within their right to deny someone access to their computers just as a retail store has the right to throw out spies when caught (which they also do).
If anyone cares, here is a list of countries currently under embargo by the U.S.:
Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China (PRC), Cuba, Estonia, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Libya, Lithuania, Macao (Macau), Moldova, North Korea, Romania, Russia, Syria, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Yugoslavia (Serbia), Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam
I agree that it does seem hypocritical to stop all trade with Cuba and not China, however, China never put nuclear weapons right off our shore and pointed them at us. At least not that we know of. Also, the U.S. does not have a huge, almost militant, Chinese population stopping any sort of resolution with said country like we do with Cuba. I don't agree with trade with China because of the human rights issues. However, I do feel that "the powers that be" are hoping that increased trade with China will help to bring about the demise of the old school regime in favor of new more "western" ideas. Given the potential explosion of business and the internet in China, they might be right.
sig this
I've traveled in Greece, Italy, Switzerland, France, Holland, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Czech, Hungary and Austria and I would say that they are more socialist than the US. Although I would agree that the US is not more free. At least not at the individual level. However, in groups I think we are. We don't ban religious groups (see France and the Scientologists).
I can't believe nobody has mentioned Stranger in a Strange Land. This book changed my outlook as much as 1984 and F-451...
Didn't people say that about IBM like two years ago?
Thats nothing compared to the Duron layer! IBM can't possibly produce a chip with as much sensitivity as the AMD!
How can anyone possibly be surprised by this? Real obviously has no respect for anyone's privacy. I can't understand why they keep thinking they can get away with this. And why the Linux community seem to grovel for them. I haven't been using Real products since the first privacy issue, streaming video be damned. As for streaming audio, MP3 works just fine for me.
Through all this, the one question I keep asking is: where does this stop? Are they going to sue Lycos for having a search engine capable of find Metallica MP3's? Maybe they should go all the way back and sue the original designers of ARPANET. Without it this never would have happened!