If you look at history, the first voyages to the New World were all politically funded and motivated. Columbus sailed to the New World (actually it funded as a trip to find a quicker route to India and China) with ships and crew funded by Queen Isabella of Spain. Once gold was found, Spain sent ships and men to go get it (the fact that the gold belonged to someone else was a minor point to the Spanish). Once word of gold and land got out, other European nations started sending ships to the New World, funded by their Governments. Later, as new profit opportunities were found, Corporations (Hudson Trading Company) started getting involved.
The political agenda with space is nothing new. We are still at the stage where Politicans are funding space exploration. We are just beginning to see the beginning of Corporate interest -- mostly in satellites right now.
That said -- the main difference (other than technology and location) is we haven't (yet) found anyone out there. Pioneer 10 was a well built spacecraft that has given us (and the Gov't) much more than asked for. It has traveled over 11 light-minutes in 31 years before giving up the ghost, not bad for 1972 technology!
We need a new space race. In the 1950s and 1960s the U.S. was in competition with the Soviet Union for the exploration of space. The race began with Sputnik and ended with the Moon landing in 1969. Since then, the Soviets/Russians have concentrated on the space station (Salyuts and Mir) and the U.S. has concentrated on the Space Shuttles. This has lead to the current International Space Station.
What we need is a new space race to get us (Humankind) off of our duffs. If China gets their space program off the ground the way they want to, we may see one. Then things will really start to move again. Man back on the Moon, missions to Mars, and more (and better) automated spacecraft exploring the solar system. Pioneer 10 was a well built, wonderful space craft. I'd love to see new ones of that calibur made with today's technology. We just need the incentive.
Perhaps the bill seemed like a good idea until Hollywood saw how many times the RIAA website was hacked after the bill was proposed. I imagine that the last thing the *AAs want to see is all out war between themselves and the Hacker community -- I wonder who would win?;)
Now if the *AAs can just be made to see that attacking individual filesharers is going to have just as big of a backlash as the Berman Bill would have, then perhaps they can get down to the business of finding a business model that will work in the era of p2p. I know that there are no easy answers, but attacking your customers definitely won't work. They may cower in fear at first, but eventually they will strike back. Scared and/or angry customers are not good for any business in the long run...
A free computer with wireless is not a free ticket out of the projects by itself, but it can be an opportunity if it is done right. It looks like the wireless project in the article is more than just "lets give 'em a computer and a wifi card and let 'em do whatever" -- there is a community computer center with volunteers to show and teach the use of computers and the internet.
If the kids learn a little web design, programming, how to do research on the net, etc. that can only help them find a way out of poverty. Using a computer and the net will improve reading skills, writing skills (research can be done and a paper written at home), and even communications skills improved. Yes, there might be some pr0n downloading going on, but overall the good outweighs the bad, especially if they work on maintaining a sense of community in their project.
This community wifi program will not guarantee anyone that any of the kids will go to Harvard or Boston College, but done right, it sure helps in breaking the poverty cycle!
It seems to me any easy way to bypass (or at least extend) quotas at the University level is good old sneakernet -- much like we got our music when I was in School back in the '80s. One would make friends and get to know who liked what -- you want Dead Kennedys talk to Cosmic John, need Billy Joel, talk to someone else. We would build our collections a cassette at a time.
Since CD burners are so common now, why not do the same thing? Pass around CD-Rs with.OGGs or.MP3s around the Dorm (or between classmates) -- instant portable 600MB of "bandwidth" per CD-R. Great way to build up a collection without worrying about sniffers or using up the bandwidth.
You (technically) only have to declare as income any profit you made from an auction sale, yard sale, etc. For example, if I sell an old PC for $50 that I originally bought for $500, I technically lost $450 (assuming I did not take depreciation on it). The same applies to cars, houses (although most people sell houses for more than they paid for them), etc.
The oddest thing about it was I never got a peep from Hotmail's abuse or security departments. Either they knew I was Joe-jobbed or they simply didn't care. I feel it was the latter.
You most likely did not hear from Hotmail because your e-mail address was spoofed and the e-mail was actually sent somewhere else. Since nothing was actually sent from your account, no Hotmail TOS were broken, so no alert to the abuse department. Of course you received the bounces, but since these were incoming e-mails, there would be no abuse (from Hotmail's perspective) involved. Meanwhile evilspammer@spaqmsite.cn doesn't have to deal with the returns....
Once a copyright holder fails to protect his or her copyright, they loose it.
That's only true for Trademarks -- copyrights do not have to be protected to keep the copyright intact. If Disney would have lost, Steamboat Willie would have fallen into the Public Domain, but Mickey Mouse would still remain a trademark of the Disney Corporation. But since We lost, not only does Disney keep the copyright to Steamboat Willie, but more imortantly, other works that may have been forgotten or have no easy way to find the current copyright holder remain locked up under copyright. Some of these works may be lost if no one finds it profitable to license and make them available. The only way to save some of these works may be to "illegally" copy them and make them available on the p2p networks. Otherwise, hundreds of years from now the only "culture" left from our civilization may be the profitable stuff.
Works very well with online music sharing, don't you think?
I know you meant that with a wee bit of sarcasm, but that is actually a good point. The current copyright laws are broken in that many people do not believe that copying and downloading copyrighted material is "wrong." Look at any of the arguements here on Slashdot -- you will see that some believe any copying is wrong, some believe in the "24 hour rule" -- copy it, but buy it or delete it in 24 hours, all the way to all copying where no money is involved is okay. From what I see, a majority of people's views on what is right and wrong when it comes to copyright does not jive with the laws as they are written.
My first direct exposure to the copyright laws was when I was in fifth or sixth grade and in Church Choir back in 1973/4. We could not sing a song because the Choir could not afford to purchase copies of the music for everyone. We all asked, "why can't you (the Choir Director) just make some copies?" That's when I got my first real lesson in copyright law. What I learned (rightly or wrongly as a 10/11 y.o.) -- we could not sing that song because the Music Publishers were greedy and wanted more money than we (as a Church Youth Choir) could afford. This view has colored how I have used copyrighted materials over the years, from taping friends albums (and later CDs) in High School and College to recording songs off of the radio, to downloading MP3s. I have bought albums and CDs over the years, but the ironic thing is I have bought more VHS and DVD Movies because they cost less than CDs. Don't ask me how many paperbacks I have bought over the years -- so I have definitely have spend my fair share.
Now to bring my ramblings back to the topic at hand -- this decision is IMHO just going to further diminish any respect and understanding of the copyright laws that are out there now. I think a good wake up call (for the Government) was the Elcomsoft (Sklyarov) trial. The Jury did could not "understand" that a program that was designed to let a registered user of an e-book exercise their fair use rights could be illegal. The Prohibition era of the 1920's was a good example of what happens when law goes against the wants of the people, the days of the 55 MPH national speed limit is another, less extreme example. I think between this decision, DRM, and DMCA we are just beginning to see another such situation. The public will begin to wake up, then look out -- the backlash will really begin.
Re:So whats the role of the professor that you pay
on
Professors vs. WiFi
·
· Score: 2
I agree that Profs are not there to spoon feed one, but I'm afraid times are changing. When my parents were in College back in the 1950s, higher education was not required to make a good living -- one could make a good living with a "blue collar" job out of high school. Many Farmers had only a High School or even just an Eighth Grade Education.
Today some College or extra education is needed for almost any good paying job - even a Farmer needs higher education to stay afloat in today's market.
This means that many of Today's "Students" are not there to get an education -- they are there to get the Diploma so that they can get a "good paying" job. That along with the hefty Tuition increases in the last 20 to 30 years have turned the University into another product. Big bucks are paid in so Parents/Students expect high grades in return regardless of the effort expended. Wifi isn't the problem, it is just another symptom of the real problem.
That's why I have built my last two computers. I pick the parts I want and install them myself. The only reason I "replaced" the first one is that it is a 200 MHz Pentium and will not run some of the Apps (games) that I want to run. It now lives on a former fishtank stand networked to the new computer. It may not be fast by today's standards, but it still runs fine. My Father-in-law has had several Compaqs in the mean time before deciding to get a homebuilt unit.
The Government's biggest concern about 802.11 is wireless Access Points (APs) being set up by workers behind the firewall. This could allow anyone (including Terrorists) access to Government Information that would otherwise be protected. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Pentagon have banned 802.11 until security concerns can be addressed. I'm sure the Government worries about open APs being used for DoS attacks and such, but access through rogue APs is a bigger concern.
I agree about the RIAA, but at least the MPAA's products (movies) can be rented from any number of Video Stores for $5 or less. Between reviews from friends and the general "word on the street" I can decide if I am going to see a given movie at the Theater, wait for DVD release, or just avoid it. What is really ironic is the movies I have purchased on DVD lately (LOTR, SW:AOTC, Harry Potter I, and Shrek [I have a 12 year old Daughter]) have all been $15 and change including tax.
It as cheap or cheaper for me to buy the DVD than it is to buy the CD -- and I know that the DVD will work in the DVD player while it not a given that the "CD" will work in any CD player. I don't agree with a lot of the MPAA's practices, but at least I can get a fair shake for the buck. Now the RIAA's another story, and that's why P2P is so popular.
We lost control when 1. Congress became a full time job and 2. When it started costing Millions of Dollars to run for office.
When the Federal Government started, Congress was not a full time job. Representatives came to Washington to take care of business, then went back home to Represent. As time went on, being a Representative or Senator went from a service position to a full time job. While this may not seem to be a big issue, it has lead to career Congress People (I don't know any 100 year old Congress People *Strom-cough*, do you?).
The biggest problem today is the amount of money it takes to run for office. A Representative has to run every 2 years, so that means they must come up with Millions to run every even-numbered year. A Senator has it a little better, their term is 6 years, so they have more time to raise the Money.
The result of these costs is that to run for Congress, one must raise the funds to run campaigns. A major source of these funds are (surprise) major Corporations. Most Congress People are not going to do anything to upset those who have helped them get elected -- and since most Slashdotters do not have megabucks to donate, that means we are ignored.
How is this offtopic? While 802.11b (2.4MHz) is the most common form of 802.11x wireless, it has to compete with X10 wireless cameras, 2.4GHz wireless phones, bluetooth, etc. 802.11a (5 GHz) may make sense in cetain areas, especially in the City. I'm not sure how much interferance there is in a park setting, but I could see it being an option as more wireless devices and users appear.
I wonder what percentage of their customer database was phony names and addresses? Between customers using phony names/addresses and sales drones making stuff up when customers say no (to make quota), I imagine at least ten percent of the data was bad. Still, even at ten percent, that leaves ninety percent good data....
It may end up going that way. During Prohibition drinking was done at a Speakeasy, where one knocked at the door and said a passphrase such as "Cmdr Taco sent me" to get in. Many Speakeasies were rigged so that the liquor could be hidden/dumped if a raid occurred. Booze was homemade or smuggled in from Canada.
If the DMCA keeps going the way it is, we will see more secret FTP sites and the offshore "smuggling" of "forbidden" data from outside the U.S.
Oh come on! I got a big laugh out of Limekiller4's comment! The worst part of it is if Disney wins the Supreme Court challenge here in the U.S.A. it will be true -- at least "in the land of the free"...
Maybe this will be the case that breaks the back of "software patients." Cases such as this and the PANIP lawsuits will end up putting the brakes on Software Development in this country. Countries (such as China) who do not recogize or enforce software patients will end up going ahead of the U.S. As much as I think Microsoft abuses its monopoly position, this is not the way to tear them down. It may be Microsoft today, but who's to say it won't be OSS tomorrow...
I think these "Copy Protected" CDs will end up boycotting themselves. The average Joe or Jane doesn't care about copy protection, but let them buy a "CD" that doesn't work in some of their CD players -- then look out!
A good example of this is DVDs. In the USA, most people (other than those who buy Anime or Dr. Who DVDs from overseas) do not know or care that DVD regions exist. It doesn't affect them since they can go to the local Wal*Mart or Blockbuster and buy/rent a DVD and count on it working in the ol' DVD player. In Europe, Asia, and Oz, the situation is different and multi-region/region free hacks to DVD players abound and everyone knows all about DVD regions.
If "copy protection" results in the average Joe or Jane becoming frustrated every time they buy a "CD", then they will stop buying them. After all, there are plenty of other things including DVDs and PS2/X-Box/GameCube games out there competing for their Geld...and p2p is not that hard to do.
One way to do keep the Universe "clean" is to have the original Creator/Writer (or a trusted group) review stories and designate them as "Canon" if it is determined that the story fits into said universe, "Alternate" if the story is good, but violates some item Canon, or "no designation" if the story is bad/does not fit the Universe at all. Readers would be free to decide what works they want to read (the designation or lack thereof would not prevent the story from being put on the net). The original Creator/Writer(s) would still have control through a free copyright license like the GPL. The individual writers would still have control of their works as long as they followed the Universe's GPL license (much like free software today).
As an unpublished writer, I cringe every time people come up with an non-cannonical version of this, that, or the other thing - totally ruining the vision of characters, places, and events simply because the author didn't take the time to do his research.
The above scheme would not eliminate these kind of stories, but it would give you control over what is considered "canon" in your universe, and would also give the fan writer a chance to "fix" his story so it gets a "canon" rating. If the fan writer decides not to "fix" the story, then other fans of your Universe know that this story is not canon, and can decide to read or not to read it as they wish. This allows for you maintain control of your Universe without being nasty.
I learned something new today. I have seen the "click" written as ! in the past (i.e. !kosa for click-kosa). Is using the X new (like the change in Chinese spellings awhile back) or are either correct? I'm just curious.
IANAL, but I don't see how they could extradite Dmitry. He did not ignore his promise to the U.S. courts and ignore U.S. Law -- the facts are Dmitry and Elcomsoft officials intended to be in California on October 21st for the hearing, but the U.S. Consulate was the one who denied entry to the U.S. I think that this alone would be enough for Russia to deny an extradition request if one was presented.
I imagine they will build the device so the actual reaction chamber (artifical gut?) would be enclosed. The hydrogen gas generated by the bacteria is converted to electricity and water vapor. Assuming rotten food is used, there will be waste from that. This leads me to the (obvious) question -- what kind of solid waste will this system produce and how will it be removed from the unit? We all know what the solid waste output from humans and animals is, so will the solid waste output from this unit be similar? I can see it now -- cleaning up dog crap, changing the litter box, and cleaning out the "organic battery" crap! I csn see it now -- "Honey, I got to take the car out to take a dump!"
Oh well, if the price is right, I guess I can handle disposing of a little more crap...
Slashdot Mirror
If you look at history, the first voyages to the New World were all politically funded and motivated. Columbus sailed to the New World (actually it funded as a trip to find a quicker route to India and China) with ships and crew funded by Queen Isabella of Spain. Once gold was found, Spain sent ships and men to go get it (the fact that the gold belonged to someone else was a minor point to the Spanish). Once word of gold and land got out, other European nations started sending ships to the New World, funded by their Governments. Later, as new profit opportunities were found, Corporations (Hudson Trading Company) started getting involved.
The political agenda with space is nothing new. We are still at the stage where Politicans are funding space exploration. We are just beginning to see the beginning of Corporate interest -- mostly in satellites right now.
That said -- the main difference (other than technology and location) is we haven't (yet) found anyone out there. Pioneer 10 was a well built spacecraft that has given us (and the Gov't) much more than asked for. It has traveled over 11 light-minutes in 31 years before giving up the ghost, not bad for 1972 technology!
We need a new space race. In the 1950s and 1960s the U.S. was in competition with the Soviet Union for the exploration of space. The race began with Sputnik and ended with the Moon landing in 1969. Since then, the Soviets/Russians have concentrated on the space station (Salyuts and Mir) and the U.S. has concentrated on the Space Shuttles. This has lead to the current International Space Station.
What we need is a new space race to get us (Humankind) off of our duffs. If China gets their space program off the ground the way they want to, we may see one. Then things will really start to move again. Man back on the Moon, missions to Mars, and more (and better) automated spacecraft exploring the solar system. Pioneer 10 was a well built, wonderful space craft. I'd love to see new ones of that calibur made with today's technology. We just need the incentive.
Perhaps the bill seemed like a good idea until Hollywood saw how many times the RIAA website was hacked after the bill was proposed. I imagine that the last thing the *AAs want to see is all out war between themselves and the Hacker community -- I wonder who would win?;)
Now if the *AAs can just be made to see that attacking individual filesharers is going to have just as big of a backlash as the Berman Bill would have, then perhaps they can get down to the business of finding a business model that will work in the era of p2p. I know that there are no easy answers, but attacking your customers definitely won't work. They may cower in fear at first, but eventually they will strike back. Scared and/or angry customers are not good for any business in the long run...
A free computer with wireless is not a free ticket out of the projects by itself, but it can be an opportunity if it is done right. It looks like the wireless project in the article is more than just "lets give 'em a computer and a wifi card and let 'em do whatever" -- there is a community computer center with volunteers to show and teach the use of computers and the internet.
If the kids learn a little web design, programming, how to do research on the net, etc. that can only help them find a way out of poverty. Using a computer and the net will improve reading skills, writing skills (research can be done and a paper written at home), and even communications skills improved. Yes, there might be some pr0n downloading going on, but overall the good outweighs the bad, especially if they work on maintaining a sense of community in their project.
This community wifi program will not guarantee anyone that any of the kids will go to Harvard or Boston College, but done right, it sure helps in breaking the poverty cycle!
It seems to me any easy way to bypass (or at least extend) quotas at the University level is good old sneakernet -- much like we got our music when I was in School back in the '80s. One would make friends and get to know who liked what -- you want Dead Kennedys talk to Cosmic John, need Billy Joel, talk to someone else. We would build our collections a cassette at a time.
Since CD burners are so common now, why not do the same thing? Pass around CD-Rs with .OGGs or .MP3s around the Dorm (or between classmates) -- instant portable 600MB of "bandwidth" per CD-R. Great way to build up a collection without worrying about sniffers or using up the bandwidth.
You (technically) only have to declare as income any profit you made from an auction sale, yard sale, etc. For example, if I sell an old PC for $50 that I originally bought for $500, I technically lost $450 (assuming I did not take depreciation on it). The same applies to cars, houses (although most people sell houses for more than they paid for them), etc.
The oddest thing about it was I never got a peep from Hotmail's abuse or security departments. Either they knew I was Joe-jobbed or they simply didn't care. I feel it was the latter.
You most likely did not hear from Hotmail because your e-mail address was spoofed and the e-mail was actually sent somewhere else. Since nothing was actually sent from your account, no Hotmail TOS were broken, so no alert to the abuse department. Of course you received the bounces, but since these were incoming e-mails, there would be no abuse (from Hotmail's perspective) involved. Meanwhile evilspammer@spaqmsite.cn doesn't have to deal with the returns....
Once a copyright holder fails to protect his or her copyright, they loose it.
That's only true for Trademarks -- copyrights do not have to be protected to keep the copyright intact. If Disney would have lost, Steamboat Willie would have fallen into the Public Domain, but Mickey Mouse would still remain a trademark of the Disney Corporation. But since We lost, not only does Disney keep the copyright to Steamboat Willie, but more imortantly, other works that may have been forgotten or have no easy way to find the current copyright holder remain locked up under copyright. Some of these works may be lost if no one finds it profitable to license and make them available. The only way to save some of these works may be to "illegally" copy them and make them available on the p2p networks. Otherwise, hundreds of years from now the only "culture" left from our civilization may be the profitable stuff.
Works very well with online music sharing, don't you think?
I know you meant that with a wee bit of sarcasm, but that is actually a good point. The current copyright laws are broken in that many people do not believe that copying and downloading copyrighted material is "wrong." Look at any of the arguements here on Slashdot -- you will see that some believe any copying is wrong, some believe in the "24 hour rule" -- copy it, but buy it or delete it in 24 hours, all the way to all copying where no money is involved is okay. From what I see, a majority of people's views on what is right and wrong when it comes to copyright does not jive with the laws as they are written.
My first direct exposure to the copyright laws was when I was in fifth or sixth grade and in Church Choir back in 1973/4. We could not sing a song because the Choir could not afford to purchase copies of the music for everyone. We all asked, "why can't you (the Choir Director) just make some copies?" That's when I got my first real lesson in copyright law. What I learned (rightly or wrongly as a 10/11 y.o.) -- we could not sing that song because the Music Publishers were greedy and wanted more money than we (as a Church Youth Choir) could afford. This view has colored how I have used copyrighted materials over the years, from taping friends albums (and later CDs) in High School and College to recording songs off of the radio, to downloading MP3s. I have bought albums and CDs over the years, but the ironic thing is I have bought more VHS and DVD Movies because they cost less than CDs. Don't ask me how many paperbacks I have bought over the years -- so I have definitely have spend my fair share.
Now to bring my ramblings back to the topic at hand -- this decision is IMHO just going to further diminish any respect and understanding of the copyright laws that are out there now. I think a good wake up call (for the Government) was the Elcomsoft (Sklyarov) trial. The Jury did could not "understand" that a program that was designed to let a registered user of an e-book exercise their fair use rights could be illegal. The Prohibition era of the 1920's was a good example of what happens when law goes against the wants of the people, the days of the 55 MPH national speed limit is another, less extreme example. I think between this decision, DRM, and DMCA we are just beginning to see another such situation. The public will begin to wake up, then look out -- the backlash will really begin.
I agree that Profs are not there to spoon feed one, but I'm afraid times are changing. When my parents were in College back in the 1950s, higher education was not required to make a good living -- one could make a good living with a "blue collar" job out of high school. Many Farmers had only a High School or even just an Eighth Grade Education.
Today some College or extra education is needed for almost any good paying job - even a Farmer needs higher education to stay afloat in today's market.
This means that many of Today's "Students" are not there to get an education -- they are there to get the Diploma so that they can get a "good paying" job. That along with the hefty Tuition increases in the last 20 to 30 years have turned the University into another product. Big bucks are paid in so Parents/Students expect high grades in return regardless of the effort expended. Wifi isn't the problem, it is just another symptom of the real problem.
That's why I have built my last two computers. I pick the parts I want and install them myself. The only reason I "replaced" the first one is that it is a 200 MHz Pentium and will not run some of the Apps (games) that I want to run. It now lives on a former fishtank stand networked to the new computer. It may not be fast by today's standards, but it still runs fine. My Father-in-law has had several Compaqs in the mean time before deciding to get a homebuilt unit.
The Government's biggest concern about 802.11 is wireless Access Points (APs) being set up by workers behind the firewall. This could allow anyone (including Terrorists) access to Government Information that would otherwise be protected. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Pentagon have banned 802.11 until security concerns can be addressed. I'm sure the Government worries about open APs being used for DoS attacks and such, but access through rogue APs is a bigger concern.
I agree about the RIAA, but at least the MPAA's products (movies) can be rented from any number of Video Stores for $5 or less. Between reviews from friends and the general "word on the street" I can decide if I am going to see a given movie at the Theater, wait for DVD release, or just avoid it. What is really ironic is the movies I have purchased on DVD lately (LOTR, SW:AOTC, Harry Potter I, and Shrek [I have a 12 year old Daughter]) have all been $15 and change including tax.
It as cheap or cheaper for me to buy the DVD than it is to buy the CD -- and I know that the DVD will work in the DVD player while it not a given that the "CD" will work in any CD player. I don't agree with a lot of the MPAA's practices, but at least I can get a fair shake for the buck. Now the RIAA's another story, and that's why P2P is so popular.
We lost control when
1. Congress became a full time job
and
2. When it started costing Millions of Dollars to run for office.
When the Federal Government started, Congress was not a full time job. Representatives came to Washington to take care of business, then went back home to Represent. As time went on, being a Representative or Senator went from a service position to a full time job. While this may not seem to be a big issue, it has lead to career Congress People (I don't know any 100 year old Congress People *Strom-cough*, do you?).
The biggest problem today is the amount of money it takes to run for office. A Representative has to run every 2 years, so that means they must come up with Millions to run every even-numbered year. A Senator has it a little better, their term is 6 years, so they have more time to raise the Money.
The result of these costs is that to run for Congress, one must raise the funds to run campaigns. A major source of these funds are (surprise) major Corporations. Most Congress People are not going to do anything to upset those who have helped them get elected -- and since most Slashdotters do not have megabucks to donate, that means we are ignored.
How is this offtopic? While 802.11b (2.4MHz) is the most common form of 802.11x wireless, it has to compete with X10 wireless cameras, 2.4GHz wireless phones, bluetooth, etc. 802.11a (5 GHz) may make sense in cetain areas, especially in the City. I'm not sure how much interferance there is in a park setting, but I could see it being an option as more wireless devices and users appear.
I wonder what percentage of their customer database was phony names and addresses? Between customers using phony names/addresses and sales drones making stuff up when customers say no (to make quota), I imagine at least ten percent of the data was bad. Still, even at ten percent, that leaves ninety percent good data....
I wonder how Herman Munster explained that? Blamed it on Grandpa? Hopefully Gomez Addams doesn't find out....
It may end up going that way. During Prohibition drinking was done at a Speakeasy, where one knocked at the door and said a passphrase such as "Cmdr Taco sent me" to get in. Many Speakeasies were rigged so that the liquor could be hidden/dumped if a raid occurred. Booze was homemade or smuggled in from Canada.
If the DMCA keeps going the way it is, we will see more secret FTP sites and the offshore "smuggling" of "forbidden" data from outside the U.S.
Where there's a will, there's a way..."
Oh come on! I got a big laugh out of Limekiller4's comment! The worst part of it is if Disney wins the Supreme Court challenge here in the U.S.A. it will be true -- at least "in the land of the free"...
Maybe this will be the case that breaks the back of "software patients." Cases such as this and the PANIP lawsuits will end up putting the brakes on Software Development in this country. Countries (such as China) who do not recogize or enforce software patients will end up going ahead of the U.S. As much as I think Microsoft abuses its monopoly position, this is not the way to tear them down. It may be Microsoft today, but who's to say it won't be OSS tomorrow...
I think these "Copy Protected" CDs will end up boycotting themselves. The average Joe or Jane doesn't care about copy protection, but let them buy a "CD" that doesn't work in some of their CD players -- then look out!
A good example of this is DVDs. In the USA, most people (other than those who buy Anime or Dr. Who DVDs from overseas) do not know or care that DVD regions exist. It doesn't affect them since they can go to the local Wal*Mart or Blockbuster and buy/rent a DVD and count on it working in the ol' DVD player. In Europe, Asia, and Oz, the situation is different and multi-region/region free hacks to DVD players abound and everyone knows all about DVD regions.
If "copy protection" results in the average Joe or Jane becoming frustrated every time they buy a "CD", then they will stop buying them. After all, there are plenty of other things including DVDs and PS2/X-Box/GameCube games out there competing for their Geld...and p2p is not that hard to do.
One way to do keep the Universe "clean" is to have the original Creator/Writer (or a trusted group) review stories and designate them as "Canon" if it is determined that the story fits into said universe, "Alternate" if the story is good, but violates some item Canon, or "no designation" if the story is bad/does not fit the Universe at all. Readers would be free to decide what works they want to read (the designation or lack thereof would not prevent the story from being put on the net). The original Creator/Writer(s) would still have control through a free copyright license like the GPL. The individual writers would still have control of their works as long as they followed the Universe's GPL license (much like free software today).
As an unpublished writer, I cringe every time people come up with an non-cannonical version of this, that, or the other thing - totally ruining the vision of characters, places, and events simply because the author didn't take the time to do his research.
The above scheme would not eliminate these kind of stories, but it would give you control over what is considered "canon" in your universe, and would also give the fan writer a chance to "fix" his story so it gets a "canon" rating. If the fan writer decides not to "fix" the story, then other fans of your Universe know that this story is not canon, and can decide to read or not to read it as they wish. This allows for you maintain control of your Universe without being nasty.
I learned something new today. I have seen the "click" written as ! in the past (i.e. !kosa for click-kosa). Is using the X new (like the change in Chinese spellings awhile back) or are either correct? I'm just curious.
IANAL, but I don't see how they could extradite Dmitry. He did not ignore his promise to the U.S. courts and ignore U.S. Law -- the facts are Dmitry and Elcomsoft officials intended to be in California on October 21st for the hearing, but the U.S. Consulate was the one who denied entry to the U.S. I think that this alone would be enough for Russia to deny an extradition request if one was presented.
I imagine they will build the device so the actual reaction chamber (artifical gut?) would be enclosed. The hydrogen gas generated by the bacteria is converted to electricity and water vapor. Assuming rotten food is used, there will be waste from that. This leads me to the (obvious) question -- what kind of solid waste will this system produce and how will it be removed from the unit? We all know what the solid waste output from humans and animals is, so will the solid waste output from this unit be similar? I can see it now -- cleaning up dog crap, changing the litter box, and cleaning out the "organic battery" crap! I csn see it now -- "Honey, I got to take the car out to take a dump!"
Oh well, if the price is right, I guess I can handle disposing of a little more crap...