SanDisk and M-Systems Flash Disk Pioneers launched a thumb drive with an intelligent U3 chip that can store and launch applications.
Hmmm, storing and launching applications, I seem to remember something else capable of this... oh yeah, any operating system with any kind of disk storage! Does this chip do something to prevent launching applications? Would make sense as nowadays the digital "enhancements" are always just restrictions on what you can do.
Guess what, it was we who changed our way of life (or at least stood by while other American citizens did so). The terrorists were just an excuse to carry out things that many people already wanted. For a preview of things to come, just look at what today's parents are doing to monitor and dominate their children.
Let's try this: Let's conspire with a telecom provider to monitor government employee's communications and try to figure out what the government is thinking and what they're doing. [...] If the government is taking actions like these that are illegal for us to take ourselves, it's starts to sound less like we're on equal footing with the government and more like the government is demanding we "do what they say not what they do."
Your example is odd, as such a thing should be legal because we're not on equal footing with the government; they must answer to us, not the other way around. We have privacy, while the government does (should) not, except where it is necessary to carry out tasks that we have asked it to do.
I'm sorry sir, you'll have to come with me for suggesting a terrorist plot, including plans. In the future, keep your thoughts to yourself and keep your head down. Thank you for playing.
(maybe it's just me, but that's the kind of climate I detect nowadays)
Sure, it's claimed to be a war on the caps lock key, but you know it'll end up a war on caps lock users! An ever-expanding program of monitoring users and locking them up for the mere possession of a caps lock key. Even though caps lock keys are part of the natural keyboard environment and cause no serious harm to anyone, they will be demonized with a propaganda campaign. "Caser madness" or some catchy-sounding phrase will be used to describe those who occasionally use the caps lock key. Let's not go down this slippery slope.
Re:Read "The Pianist's Talent"
on
The Expert Mind
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· Score: 1
Wow, thank you very much for this post! I'll definitely be reading more about this subject!
I have the opposite opinion: linking directly to the printable version just makes it more likely that the feature will be pulled due to "misuse". If the reader wants to avoid clutter, he or she can find the "printer friendly" link and for all the webmaster knows the document is being printed rather than read without interference.
Electronic freedom is nice, but freedom in the real world is all that matters in the end.
I really hate it when people treat online as any less real than offline. Both involve communication between humans, and that communication is important for survival. As more things become dependent on online communications, "the real world" is expanding to cover it.
Or, as suggested in many other comments to this article, will we realize that we need to fight this war with diplomacy and social change rather than high-technology and mass murder?
No way we'll admit any possible contribution until we've exhausted all techological fixes for this social problem! The terrorists won't win common decency that easily.
Recent events have seen passengers forced to pack only the barest of essentials into clear plastic bags
At first I read breast. Sorry...
and the restriction on all liquids force even mothers with young children to have to test bottled milk to prove that it isn't a dangerous liquid.
Aha! I must have been reading ahead of myself. While I'm on the topic, will they ban breasts, since they contain liquids, or will children be able to drink the natural way without restriction?
So people can clean their clothes while they purchase \ play games. This is a great idea considering alot of gamers need to clean their clothes anyways.
Maybe I shouldn't ask about the gamers who don't need to clean their clothes.
Well, I've come up with one argument in favor of allowing GPL software on closed hardware: it means that the hardware maker won't be paying a closed-source vendor for the software, which might be some small benefit to the free software movement, though perhaps outweighed by the user's loss of freedom when using that hardware.
On the one hand, the x86 is a terrible design. It doesn't have enough registers, and the assembly interface is awkward (especially in the FPU). On the other hand, the openness of the architecture has freed us from the shackles of dependency on a single company for hardware (which DRM would like to lay back on us).
And it won't be an actual button, but more some sort of fancy transparent widget.
And when you click it, it'll change to a plain old button without any transparency (along with all the rest of the user interface), thus making the computer run twice as fast.
Re:I fear a repeat of the Bison fiasco...
on
The FSF, GPLv3 and DRM
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· Score: 3, Insightful
I haven't heard the Bison story before, so I'll go by what you wrote. The difference is that the proposed GPL v3 restrictions will only affect those wanting to make closed hardware that runs a particular binary built from GPL software, while the Bison example affects anyone not wanting to use the GPL on the output. Unless I'm missing something, these differences are vast.
How would the proposed GPL v3 affect average programmers in a negative way, other than denying us pieces of hardware that come with GPL binaries and source code but which we can't use with modified versions of the source?
Those master tapes were all almost certainly ruined in the process, but at least there is a backup on modern DAT using tape which is supposedly not susceptible to the problem.
Fortunately DAT is digital so it can be copied losslessly as often as necessary.
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Hmmm, storing and launching applications, I seem to remember something else capable of this... oh yeah, any operating system with any kind of disk storage! Does this chip do something to prevent launching applications? Would make sense as nowadays the digital "enhancements" are always just restrictions on what you can do.
Guess what, it was we who changed our way of life (or at least stood by while other American citizens did so). The terrorists were just an excuse to carry out things that many people already wanted. For a preview of things to come, just look at what today's parents are doing to monitor and dominate their children.
Your example is odd, as such a thing should be legal because we're not on equal footing with the government; they must answer to us, not the other way around. We have privacy, while the government does (should) not, except where it is necessary to carry out tasks that we have asked it to do.
You talk as if the lack of a patent keeps Sony from implementing this feature.
I think "zero" pretty much sums up politics.
Oh come on, if you're going to accuse Fox of this you'll have to do likewise for The Onion.
What, Fox News isn't a satire program you say? No way!
I don't know if I'm exaggerating, but...
I'm sorry sir, you'll have to come with me for suggesting a terrorist plot, including plans. In the future, keep your thoughts to yourself and keep your head down. Thank you for playing.
(maybe it's just me, but that's the kind of climate I detect nowadays)
Sure, it's claimed to be a war on the caps lock key, but you know it'll end up a war on caps lock users! An ever-expanding program of monitoring users and locking them up for the mere possession of a caps lock key. Even though caps lock keys are part of the natural keyboard environment and cause no serious harm to anyone, they will be demonized with a propaganda campaign. "Caser madness" or some catchy-sounding phrase will be used to describe those who occasionally use the caps lock key. Let's not go down this slippery slope.
Wow, thank you very much for this post! I'll definitely be reading more about this subject!
I have the opposite opinion: linking directly to the printable version just makes it more likely that the feature will be pulled due to "misuse". If the reader wants to avoid clutter, he or she can find the "printer friendly" link and for all the webmaster knows the document is being printed rather than read without interference.
I really hate it when people treat online as any less real than offline. Both involve communication between humans, and that communication is important for survival. As more things become dependent on online communications, "the real world" is expanding to cover it.
No way we'll admit any possible contribution until we've exhausted all techological fixes for this social problem! The terrorists won't win common decency that easily.
Wait a minute, are you saying that some AOL users are not human?!?
At first I read breast. Sorry...
Aha! I must have been reading ahead of myself. While I'm on the topic, will they ban breasts, since they contain liquids, or will children be able to drink the natural way without restriction?
Sorry, anything which uses the word "incentivize" does not involve intelligence, natural or artificial.
Dirty countertops everywhere are the number one cause.
Maybe I shouldn't ask about the gamers who don't need to clean their clothes.
Well, I've come up with one argument in favor of allowing GPL software on closed hardware: it means that the hardware maker won't be paying a closed-source vendor for the software, which might be some small benefit to the free software movement, though perhaps outweighed by the user's loss of freedom when using that hardware.
They probably really do mean "burning movie downloads", using the old-fashioned definition of "burn".
Here's the 56K modem version:
* 10th speed not usable due to FCC momentum regulations
Argh never mind about the hands joke, I was reading too fast and missed "one" on the first mention.
How many hands do you have?
And when you click it, it'll change to a plain old button without any transparency (along with all the rest of the user interface), thus making the computer run twice as fast.
I haven't heard the Bison story before, so I'll go by what you wrote. The difference is that the proposed GPL v3 restrictions will only affect those wanting to make closed hardware that runs a particular binary built from GPL software, while the Bison example affects anyone not wanting to use the GPL on the output. Unless I'm missing something, these differences are vast.
How would the proposed GPL v3 affect average programmers in a negative way, other than denying us pieces of hardware that come with GPL binaries and source code but which we can't use with modified versions of the source?
Fortunately DAT is digital so it can be copied losslessly as often as necessary.