So, other than my own connotations for "support" and "encourage" what do they mean to the rest of the world? By this, I mean the people who actually control policy/pursestrings?
"Encourage" could be syntacially stronger than "support" if "encourge" was used in this community to mean financial support in addition to moral support.
I strongly doubt this is true, but someone reading has to have seen enough of these things to actually know what the between the lines meaning is.
Motivating my curiousity was a discussion I had today about some GPL'ed code, and what exactly could be done with it. I realized that past a certain point, all I was comfortable saying was: "Well, to my understanding... blah, but you really outta talk to a lawyer before assuming anything" Words mean different things to different audiences.
I believe (speaking from no expertise save high school civics classes in the USA) the "double jeopardy" provision is intended more to prevent the government from harassing citizens.
We tend to perfer (on paper at least) to err on the side of the innocent, since we see it as a greater wrong to imprison the wrong person.
Without double jeopardy, a well funded person with a grudge could just continue to retry a case until they got the result desired (i.e. conviction)
Now, I realize a bunch of people are going to nitpick on the symantics, and it's easy to take cheap shots, but I think I have the original intent correct.
I actually did read the letter, and I do realize the majority of their complaint is about the use of the trademark and logo. I also agree that PCI-SIG has the right to be upset about the use of their logo without permission.
However, the letter also states PCI-SIG doesn't wants the owner of the site to "discontinue all use of the name PCI and the associated logo and any similiar name or logo" It's the details I'm worried about.
IBM will come after you with big guns if you are selling computers and have IBM logos plastered all over your site without permission. And I beleive they have to or they dilute the trademark. But, if I want to write a website called "How to Install Bob's Super OS on the IBM(r) Thinkpad(r) Super Zippy 2000(r)" I should be allowed to as long as I don't imply endorsement.
For example, how could I review a device if I can't use its name? "For this article I install the version of the video card which has connectors about 3 inches long, and looks a little squashed... you know..."
A lot of users (like me) buy hardware often. If a device doesn't have official support for Linux, I am less likely to buy it... If the kernel doesn't even recognize it... well, they aren't gonna be selling me one.
I can't see how this group is going to come out ahead by doing this. The small amount of money the y (might) take in selling the information is going to be dramatically offset by the much larger amount of money their sponsors/patrons lose in sales.
Blah, blah, blah. There are a lot of paranoid folks out there who run TripWire (or some other) integrity checker on their systems. The "exploit" claims to "infect" the player's software. Somehow I think someone from the paranoid masses would have started asking questions about their checksums by now.
I'm confused. If the standard is "open" it means the format of the data and the algorithims used to produce it as disclosed, right? (Among other things...)
But for MPEG-4 someone wishing to write code which is compatiable has to pay money to license the technology for every copy distributed, correct?
What is the good of that? A "closed" system couldn't be legally reversed (DMCA.. grrr...) but any implementor's could license the spec from the owner and then do it.
So what has been gained? The ability to go to jail for writing the application rather than for cracking the format?
"Open? Sure it's open! Just click here... and *poof* your document is open. What's that? You mean you want to open it with something other than M$ Office? Oh, well in that case maybe not..."
I'd love to see the figure for sales of ALL CD's broken down by year, artist, and volume. I suspect that since the introduction of P2P the sales of a lot of older CD's has actually gone up.
Of course, getting the information is probably next to impossible because of all the various channels, accounting differences, etc...
My mother runs a public library. I was "exploring" the basement, and came across a funny looking metal rack with a bunch of telco wires coming out of it. Sliding the drawer open revealed tons of unconnected fiber. I asked my mom about it, and she said that when the local telcom (SWB) had laid fiber somewhere part of the deal was they had to run dark fiber to all the public schools and libraries in the district. Of course it's useless now (as I suspect most of the fiber the telco actually wanted to lay is) but you better beleive I keep an eye on the price of the head end equipment. In a few years, my mom's library is gonna rock. Well, at least for kids looking for books.:) I wonder if there are a lot of these "bonus" runs around the I-5 route?
Many people who read slashdot are very interested in "open" software and would like to see it prosper. While the EFF does not exist to promote open software, the issues it tackles almost always also benefit open software. How many of you would be insufferably proud if you could submit a tiny patch to the Linux kernel? Or a new feature to one of your favorite projects? (I'd be)
Many of us would be, but either we don't program, don't have the time, or don't have the legal ability. So, stop sitting on the fence and do something. It doesn't have to be a ton. $500 USD is a lot to most people. $15 isn't. If you can give 500, do it... If you can give 15, then do that, and I can assure you that you have done more for something you beleive in than 90% of the other geeks you know. And that's something to be proud of.
Writing a check is sometimes more valuable than writing code.
Benchmarks aside, I'm really pleased to see what appears to be a serious alternative to Intel and AMD. Just as AMD's success has been good for the CPU market in general a third competitor will almost certainly lead to improvements across the board.
The Crusoe is cool, but since it is sorta a "niche" product, it never really got the penetration I had hoped to see. Hopefully Astro will be viable as an option for main-line PC makers. (IBM, Dell, etc...)
While I agree with you in principle, I feel obligated to point out a flaw in your logic: What if there is no "elsewhere"?
I am fortuate enough to have a cable modem through TimeWarner. Do I want a cable modem? No. Do I want TimeWarner? No. Do I have a choice? No.
What I want is broadband. Just a pipe and no screwing around with ports. Oh, and I don't want to pay hundreds of dallars. See, I can't get DSL, and there is no wireless within range, and I can't do satellite (even if I wanted to) because I face the wrong way and my apartment community has rules about dishes anyway...
Now, I realize I could move. I realize I don't have a divine right to broadband in my house at a decent price. At the same time, I would really love to be able to do something other than whine about it.
I thought part of the "deal" with the telco/cable comglomerates was that they get to merge and use a lot of public resources and in exchange they had to provide access to competitors. So, where is that?
Yeah, but I thought journalist's couldn't be compelled to reveal their sources. (I know this is true for some things, but I don't know the scope...)
CNN's reporter would only go to jail if there was a trial and the judge asked them and they refused. I doubt you can be held "In contempt of XYZ Corp.":) (Well, I suppose you could, but you're not gonna go to jail for it.)
Okay... I've read the story.. browsed the site, and I still have a serious question:
Is this site posting sale infomation before it is made generally available to the public?
The tone of most the responses indicates they are simply reporting what they have observed (in the store, on TV, etc) and not publishing information about sales which have yet to be announced they got because the submitter's friend is an employee with loose lips.
Of course, even if they are "leaking" ad material, doesn't that fall under the same protection as say, leaks to the media about confidential informantion? I doubt you could sue CNN for running a story in which they say: "Sources close to XYZ Corp. tell us next week the price of widgets is going to be slashed 15% across the board"
Perhaps XYZ Corp. can take action against the employee who leaked the infomation, but I have trouble believing they would stand a chance (well-paid CNN lawyers aside) of winning in a fair court.
If you don't report a break-in, how is anyone gonna know it happened? (Unless an employee narcs, at which point it becomes a messy paper/email/word-of-mouth trail)
Seriously, it's not like the CA government is gonna be able to "audit" companies like they do if they suspect fraud in other self reported areas. (Like tax fraud, emissions, etc...)
I suspect you got a small/weird batch of 300PL's. I work for IBM in software development. (so I know nothing about the hardware) Nevertheless, I can tell you that the 300PL used to be the standard issue PC to all developers. We've got zillions of them around, and most are still in service. These things have the crap beat out of them all the time disk-wise, but I've never seen (or heard) of a disk failing. I certainly don't debate that you got a bad batch of HD's, and it's possible IBM hasn't responded as well as they could, but they might have internal reasons. (Legal restrictions/haggling over who is allowed to claim a part is defective, possible libel... etc...)
My mom is the director of a public library. A few months back I went home to visit, and the subject of our dinner time conversation was: "Will Mom go to jail?"
The short version is that she had been visited by some very "official" FBI agents, who informed her they had reason to beleive a patron was looking up "terrorist material" on the internet, and wouldn't she be so kind as to hand over her records and start watching said individual. My mom told them they'd need a warrant or subpoena, and she'd have to call the state's lawyers to see just where the PATRIOT act was these days.
Needless to say, the bitched and moaned that she wasn't a good citizen or patriot, and was quite possiblely negatively impacting the "War on Terror".
The truly ironic part is that most libraries, my mom's included, don't keep records around for any longer than absolutely necessary for just these reasons. Once you return a book, *poof* the record is gone. These sorts of requests have gone on for years. My mom has been asked to provided "lending histories" for suspects in murder trials, and other fun things. It amazes me that attorneys don't realize that by law (in some places) such records are not keep.
The Fed's should be required to obtain a warrant. Just like they had to when they wanted to tap the pay phone in my mom's library lobby. Libraries are a public resource, and should be treated accordingly.
Man, it really sounds like my mom's library is a hotbed of criminal activity huh?
I suppose it depends on your provider, but to my knowledge, you shouldn't need a damn thing. Wanna test it easily?
1) Borrow a laptop with an ethernet card, unplug the power from the cable modem (some of them will only give a DHCP address to one MAC address at a time, and need to "forget" what they have seen)
2) Plug in the cable modem
3) Attach the laptop
Didja get an IP? If so, I'd say you can pretty safely whack the offending software. I seriously doubt it's needed. A lot of things (like a lot of those "connection sharing" firewall/router devices) would fail to work if it was.
My girlfriend is a political type (who's worked in DC for a Congressman, among other things, so she's pretty farmiliar with these sorts of things) and she assumes me that everything on a US House website must be approved by the bipartisan Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards or the "Franking Commission". (Commission on Congressional Mailing) I know this doesn't cover all viewpoints, but at least the two major parties have a say in the approval process.
We use AOL and MSN messenger clients heavily at work. (yeah yeah, but it's what we can teach the PHB's to use) A lot of people have been having trouble signing on and/or staying connected. I know Raleigh and Austin are both having issues. (I suppose I should try to take into account where the IM servers are, but nah... )
"...workers e-mail each other spoken messages, or videos of themselves delivering messages"
Here I am in this next scene, walking to Sue's office delivering her the memo on a Post-It, written in crayon. The Digital "Rights" Management system intergrated at great expense into everyhting from the coffee maker to my car dashboard is fsck'ed up again and the entire office is broken.
What worries me most is MS's extremely poor prior record on security. The most recent holes discovered reveal that almost anyone could trick an end user into running "digitally signed" code. The problem wasn't with the security method, but in MS'es implimentation.
So what happens if everyone is running DRM and it turns out there is a hole? Does this mean that suddenly pirates can start whacking files at random?
Do we take the system offline to "fix" it? And if we do, what happens to all those nice encrypted files? Hopefully they're not all the word documents you need to run your business...
Slashdot Mirror
So, other than my own connotations for "support" and "encourage" what do they mean to the rest of the world? By this, I mean the people who actually control policy/pursestrings?
"Encourage" could be syntacially stronger than "support" if "encourge" was used in this community to mean financial support in addition to moral support.
I strongly doubt this is true, but someone reading has to have seen enough of these things to actually know what the between the lines meaning is.
Motivating my curiousity was a discussion I had today about some GPL'ed code, and what exactly could be done with it. I realized that past a certain point, all I was comfortable saying was: "Well, to my understanding... blah, but you really outta talk to a lawyer before assuming anything" Words mean different things to different audiences.
I believe (speaking from no expertise save high school civics classes in the USA) the "double jeopardy" provision is intended more to prevent the government from harassing citizens.
We tend to perfer (on paper at least) to err on the side of the innocent, since we see it as a greater wrong to imprison the wrong person.
Without double jeopardy, a well funded person with a grudge could just continue to retry a case until they got the result desired (i.e. conviction)
Now, I realize a bunch of people are going to nitpick on the symantics, and it's easy to take cheap shots, but I think I have the original intent correct.
I actually did read the letter, and I do realize the majority of their complaint is about the use of the trademark and logo. I also agree that PCI-SIG has the right to be upset about the use of their logo without permission.
However, the letter also states PCI-SIG doesn't wants the owner of the site to "discontinue all use of the name PCI and the associated logo and any similiar name or logo" It's the details I'm worried about.
IBM will come after you with big guns if you are selling computers and have IBM logos plastered all over your site without permission. And I beleive they have to or they dilute the trademark. But, if I want to write a website called "How to Install Bob's Super OS on the IBM(r) Thinkpad(r) Super Zippy 2000(r)" I should be allowed to as long as I don't imply endorsement.
For example, how could I review a device if I can't use its name? "For this article I install the version of the video card which has connectors about 3 inches long, and looks a little squashed... you know..."
"I'm speaking purely as an individual who has, over the past seven years, made some contribution to the XXX community."
Man, and most of us just take, take, take... Open source, or open pants?
A lot of users (like me) buy hardware often. If a device doesn't have official support for Linux, I am less likely to buy it... If the kernel doesn't even recognize it... well, they aren't gonna be selling me one.
I can't see how this group is going to come out ahead by doing this. The small amount of money the y (might) take in selling the information is going to be dramatically offset by the much larger amount of money their sponsors/patrons lose in sales.
Blah, blah, blah. There are a lot of paranoid folks out there who run TripWire (or some other) integrity checker on their systems. The "exploit" claims to "infect" the player's software. Somehow I think someone from the paranoid masses would have started asking questions about their checksums by now.
I'm confused. If the standard is "open" it means the format of the data and the algorithims used to produce it as disclosed, right? (Among other things...)
But for MPEG-4 someone wishing to write code which is compatiable has to pay money to license the technology for every copy distributed, correct?
What is the good of that? A "closed" system couldn't be legally reversed (DMCA.. grrr...) but any implementor's could license the spec from the owner and then do it.
So what has been gained? The ability to go to jail for writing the application rather than for cracking the format?
"Open? Sure it's open! Just click here... and *poof* your document is open. What's that? You mean you want to open it with something other than M$ Office? Oh, well in that case maybe not..."
I'd love to see the figure for sales of ALL CD's broken down by year, artist, and volume. I suspect that since the introduction of P2P the sales of a lot of older CD's has actually gone up.
Of course, getting the information is probably next to impossible because of all the various channels, accounting differences, etc...
IBM plans to buy Rational? IBM is just needs shareholder approval (from Rational) and the government to approve it.
My first reading of the article lead me to beleive the sensors "blast the data" to the inflation unit via wireless signals of some type.
:)
I hate to think of the fun/damage a script kiddie could have with a transmitter...
My mother runs a public library. I was "exploring" the basement, and came across a funny looking metal rack with a bunch of telco wires coming out of it. Sliding the drawer open revealed tons of unconnected fiber. :)
I asked my mom about it, and she said that when the local telcom (SWB) had laid fiber somewhere part of the deal was they had to run dark fiber to all the public schools and libraries in the district.
Of course it's useless now (as I suspect most of the fiber the telco actually wanted to lay is) but you better beleive I keep an eye on the price of the head end equipment. In a few years, my mom's library is gonna rock. Well, at least for kids looking for books.
I wonder if there are a lot of these "bonus" runs around the I-5 route?
Many people who read slashdot are very interested in "open" software and would like to see it prosper. While the EFF does not exist to promote open software, the issues it tackles almost always also benefit open software. How many of you would be insufferably proud if you could submit a tiny patch to the Linux kernel? Or a new feature to one of your favorite projects? (I'd be)
Many of us would be, but either we don't program, don't have the time, or don't have the legal ability. So, stop sitting on the fence and do something. It doesn't have to be a ton. $500 USD is a lot to most people. $15 isn't. If you can give 500, do it... If you can give 15, then do that, and I can assure you that you have done more for something you beleive in than 90% of the other geeks you know. And that's something to be proud of.
Writing a check is sometimes more valuable than writing code.
Benchmarks aside, I'm really pleased to see what appears to be a serious alternative to Intel and AMD. Just as AMD's success has been good for the CPU market in general a third competitor will almost certainly lead to improvements across the board.
The Crusoe is cool, but since it is sorta a "niche" product, it never really got the penetration I had hoped to see. Hopefully Astro will be viable as an option for main-line PC makers. (IBM, Dell, etc...)
While I agree with you in principle, I feel obligated to point out a flaw in your logic: What if there is no "elsewhere"?
I am fortuate enough to have a cable modem through TimeWarner. Do I want a cable modem? No. Do I want TimeWarner? No. Do I have a choice? No.
What I want is broadband. Just a pipe and no screwing around with ports. Oh, and I don't want to pay hundreds of dallars. See, I can't get DSL, and there is no wireless within range, and I can't do satellite (even if I wanted to) because I face the wrong way and my apartment community has rules about dishes anyway...
Now, I realize I could move. I realize I don't have a divine right to broadband in my house at a decent price. At the same time, I would really love to be able to do something other than whine about it.
I thought part of the "deal" with the telco/cable comglomerates was that they get to merge and use a lot of public resources and in exchange they had to provide access to competitors. So, where is that?
Yeah, but I thought journalist's couldn't be compelled to reveal their sources. (I know this is true for some things, but I don't know the scope...)
:) (Well, I suppose you could, but you're not gonna go to jail for it.)
CNN's reporter would only go to jail if there was a trial and the judge asked them and they refused. I doubt you can be held "In contempt of XYZ Corp."
Okay... I've read the story.. browsed the site, and I still have a serious question:
Is this site posting sale infomation before it is made generally available to the public?
The tone of most the responses indicates they are simply reporting what they have observed (in the store, on TV, etc) and not publishing information about sales which have yet to be announced they got because the submitter's friend is an employee with loose lips.
Of course, even if they are "leaking" ad material, doesn't that fall under the same protection as say, leaks to the media about confidential informantion? I doubt you could sue CNN for running a story in which they say: "Sources close to XYZ Corp. tell us next week the price of widgets is going to be slashed 15% across the board"
Perhaps XYZ Corp. can take action against the employee who leaked the infomation, but I have trouble believing they would stand a chance (well-paid CNN lawyers aside) of winning in a fair court.
If you don't report a break-in, how is anyone gonna know it happened? (Unless an employee narcs, at which point it becomes a messy paper/email/word-of-mouth trail)
Seriously, it's not like the CA government is gonna be able to "audit" companies like they do if they suspect fraud in other self reported areas. (Like tax fraud, emissions, etc...)
I suspect you got a small/weird batch of 300PL's. I work for IBM in software development. (so I know nothing about the hardware) Nevertheless, I can tell you that the 300PL used to be the standard issue PC to all developers. We've got zillions of them around, and most are still in service. These things have the crap beat out of them all the time disk-wise, but I've never seen (or heard) of a disk failing. I certainly don't debate that you got a bad batch of HD's, and it's possible IBM hasn't responded as well as they could, but they might have internal reasons. (Legal restrictions/haggling over who is allowed to claim a part is defective, possible libel... etc...)
My mom is the director of a public library. A few months back I went home to visit, and the subject of our dinner time conversation was: "Will Mom go to jail?"
The short version is that she had been visited by some very "official" FBI agents, who informed her they had reason to beleive a patron was looking up "terrorist material" on the internet, and wouldn't she be so kind as to hand over her records and start watching said individual. My mom told them they'd need a warrant or subpoena, and she'd have to call the state's lawyers to see just where the PATRIOT act was these days.
Needless to say, the bitched and moaned that she wasn't a good citizen or patriot, and was quite possiblely negatively impacting the "War on Terror".
The truly ironic part is that most libraries, my mom's included, don't keep records around for any longer than absolutely necessary for just these reasons. Once you return a book, *poof* the record is gone. These sorts of requests have gone on for years. My mom has been asked to provided "lending histories" for suspects in murder trials, and other fun things. It amazes me that attorneys don't realize that by law (in some places) such records are not keep.
The Fed's should be required to obtain a warrant. Just like they had to when they wanted to tap the pay phone in my mom's library lobby. Libraries are a public resource, and should be treated accordingly.
Man, it really sounds like my mom's library is a hotbed of criminal activity huh?
I suppose it depends on your provider, but to my knowledge, you shouldn't need a damn thing. Wanna test it easily?
1) Borrow a laptop with an ethernet card, unplug the power from the cable modem (some of them will only give a DHCP address to one MAC address at a time, and need to "forget" what they have seen)
2) Plug in the cable modem
3) Attach the laptop
Didja get an IP? If so, I'd say you can pretty safely whack the offending software. I seriously doubt it's needed. A lot of things (like a lot of those "connection sharing" firewall/router devices) would fail to work if it was.
My girlfriend is a political type (who's worked in DC for a Congressman, among other things, so she's pretty farmiliar with these sorts of things) and she assumes me that everything on a US House website must be approved by the bipartisan Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards or the "Franking Commission". (Commission on Congressional Mailing) I know this doesn't cover all viewpoints, but at least the two major parties have a say in the approval process.
We use AOL and MSN messenger clients heavily at work. (yeah yeah, but it's what we can teach the PHB's to use) A lot of people have been having trouble signing on and/or staying connected. I know Raleigh and Austin are both having issues. (I suppose I should try to take into account where the IM servers are, but nah... )
"...workers e-mail each other spoken messages, or videos of themselves delivering messages"
Here I am in this next scene, walking to Sue's office delivering her the memo on a Post-It, written in crayon. The Digital "Rights" Management system intergrated at great expense into everyhting from the coffee maker to my car dashboard is fsck'ed up again and the entire office is broken.
What worries me most is MS's extremely poor prior record on security. The most recent holes discovered reveal that almost anyone could trick an end user into running "digitally signed" code. The problem wasn't with the security method, but in MS'es implimentation.
So what happens if everyone is running DRM and it turns out there is a hole? Does this mean that suddenly pirates can start whacking files at random?
Do we take the system offline to "fix" it? And if we do, what happens to all those nice encrypted files? Hopefully they're not all the word documents you need to run your business...