I agree with much of your _sentiment_. But you really need to learn to slow down. Differentiate between passion and logic. Look;
"As for not putting serial killers in jail because some redneck jury decided that it's a good thing he rid the world of some damn niggers, I guess you're lucky that you don't have many serial...no wait."
We will ignore the fact you resorted to implying all Americans are racists. We could even ignore that Norway is not without serial killers, and has even exported some (ie. Dennis Nilsen ). If you are merely going for a comparison of quantity here, be sure to keep in mind that Norway is a nation of 4.5 million, while the United States is a nation of 275.5 million. Any competent lawyer, anywhere in the world, would use all of this against you. Nothing you said after that would carry much weight with a jury. We will assume that, somehow, the jury or judge is still listening. Still listening so they will be able to hear this;
"I'd prefer the European system any day; we're not executing minors and mentally ill and if some big-ass corp sues you you're not going bankrupt to pay a decent lawyer because the looser pays.
The next time before you're posting your oh so patriotic bs try to actually understand that there are different ways to do something and one's not necessarily worse than the ther."
You made a really good point ( in my opinion ) that it is preferable to not execute minors and the mentally ill. The "big ass corp" example I am not so clear on. You say you don't have to worry if a "big ass corp" sues you because the loser pays. Well, what if a "big ass corp" sues you and you lose? What if you sue a "big ass corp" and the judge rules against you?
In any case, you argue that the european way is better ( is all of europe under the same set of laws? ), and then you tell the parent poster he should not say any system is better than another. Again, I'm sure you just lost the jury and or the judge on that one. Then you attack the original poster. His opinion is now all mindless "patriotic bs," and even if it was not the actions of George Bush somehow make the original poster's opinions worthless. Is this an example of european moderation, oldworld wisdom, or united europe progressiveness?
"...urban centers with no vehicular traffic are meant for the good/protection of the people of the city, whereas laws such as this are good for the protection of one industry's cash flow."
The parallel being drawn was between the levels of inconvenience experienced while complying with two different laws. None of these comments have been about the relative merits of or faults in either of these laws.
That being said, you were quite correct when you said, "...laws such as this are good for the protection of one industry's cash flow."
Let me put a couple of disclaimers forward here. Do I think the executives in the entertainment industry have undue influence over our elected officials? Damn sraight. Do I find most of their work to be shallow and worthless? Affirmative.
Even so, the size and influence of the current industry should not be a factor when deciding to steal or not steal. If I don't want to support a specific effort, I don't give it any of my money. I might even encourage others to not give it any money. But, I am not going to steal their stuff. Most of it is drivel anyway. Why would I want to steal it?
1. To watch it again later. 2. To sell copies. 3. To give copies away to people.
a.,who have seen it before.
b.,who want sell copies.
c.,who want to give copies away... 4. To archive the film for posterity.
It is not yours. You did not work on the set. You did not put up the initial investment. You did not finance, setup, or operate the render farm. You did not build the theater. If you did do any of these things, you deserve a free copy.
If you think movies should be free for all, found a studio, build a theater, make some movies, and let everyone bring cameras to the premier. You have every right to do so.
"After events of Sept 2001, self-service lockers have been virtually criminallized in all crowded US facilities."
I have used such lockers in Chicago, Orlando, New York, LA, Portland, Dallas, and Columbus in the last six months. Some in train stations, some in airports.
"Even aside from the security aspect, it'll never work without huge hassle."
Having a city declare imminant domain, tear down properties (removing them from the taxbase), and build commuter parking lots is a huge hassle too. I do understand the differences between this analogy and the cameras-in-movie-theaters. Please see my post below. ( in a few minutes ).
"Within a few years you might have 50% of the attendees carrying cameras fulltime."
A great topic, for an entirely different conversation. I agree such a thing is inevitable. I believe it to be extremely unfortunate.
We don't know eachother so, I am not aware of your context and you are not aware of mine. Add to that the fact we are communicating via a chatboard. The result is we must cast our argumentative nets a little broader than in a face to face conversation.
Taking that into account, I will attempt to add some context to our conversation.
"Yes, and I could walk to work instead of
driving my car. But that doesn't mean that driving should be made illegal."
Yep. Very true. Can't disagree with you there. Unless you work in one of the many urban centers which are closed to vehicular traffic. At which point you will be required to leave your car in an area designated for such a use.
"When you restrict people's legitimate exercise
of liberties, you need a better argument than, 'Just live with it.'"
If by saying "legitimate exercise of liberties" you mean; the right to exercise _essential_ liberties, then you, I, and Ben Franklin
would all get along famously. Carrying a video recording device into a movie theater is not a legitimate exercise of an essential personal liberty. It is all about context. Refer back to cars and the personal liberty of free travel.
It may be a pain in the ass to park then walk, bus, trolley, or bike another mile to work. In fact I can tell you, it is a pain in the ass. I cannot, however, one day decide this abridgement of my personal liberties is unacceptable and bring my car another six blocks to work. I would go to jail, and my fellow city dwellers would applaud.
"Parking" your camera in a secured manner would be no different. I understand your concern about security. I would not trust my local theatre ticket clerk with my camera. The "camera check" idea might not be a good idea. Secured lockers would work though. Pop in a quarter, pop in the camera. The newer lockers print out a receipt with a pin number on it. Punch in the 6 digit pin and the locker pops open.
You show id, you sign, they sign, camera gets tagged, and put into a locked room on a shelf with
all the other cameras. Or, you walk back to your hotel and store the camera there.
"Just how did RedHat give you the shaft by asking to be paid for their support? You still get the OS for free. I don't understand the leach mentality of the underside of OSS. Give something back, or STFU! Leaches like you are the reason why windows maintains its dominance in the marketplace."
Maybe I missed something, but he did say he has been _buying_ RH since 5.x
Calm, reasoned responses rarely precipitate an actual duscussion on Slashdot. With that in mind, I'll give it a shot.
"As it happens (mar1boro) I'm not particularly anti-USA (and I definitely have sympathy for all the normal folk who live there, as I said in my previous post)" - quote from parent of this reply
"The USA, meanwhile, carries on smoking its crack pipe." - quote from parent of this thread
I note a certain disparity (adrianbaugh). Possibly an outright self-contradiction. Could you please clarify. I am interested in,what I perceive to be, your feeling that while these developments may be bad they aren't happening in your neighborhood - so oh, well. I am wondering why you don't seem to see this as worthy of concern. Would you want all the people of your country ( wherever that is ) stereotyped as all being uncaring of people in other countries?
Why not? You are certainly implying that the "sane" citizens of the USA are a minority.
Now, moving on from the part that made me angry, let us discuss that paradise of intellectual freedom and haven from corporate abuse of power - The EU. Now, I realize that a _huge_ victory against software patents has been won. Maybe I am jaded, but how can you possibly believe the money interests will give up? They won't. They never will. And when the EU Parliment has been around long enough to be bought and corrupted completely by those interests everything will change. Then, you and the rest of the people of the EU will have my sympathy. I promise, even, to not say "I told you so."
P.S. A quick google search for "DMCA" and "EU" might provide several hours of fascinating insights about the future of the EU.
"Microsoft destroys CD-ROM (hypothetically): More proof that M$ is an evil moneygrubbing capitalist pig corporation.
Linux destroys CD-ROM: It's the CD-ROM's fault."
Manufacturers give the _complete_ specs of a piece of hardware to Microsoft. When they don't it is because MS told them how to engineer their hardware to work with Windows.
If Windows killed a CD drive it would be because the manufacturer did not tell the MS devs that a packet writing driver that works in the standard way ( and works on every other drive out there ) would be able to wipe the firmaware on the drive.
Why is it that when people in "someplace far away" are involved in a bad situation, people like you come out and expose yourselves as the small-minded smug peices of shit that you are?
You may not like the US but what the fuck, pal? Have you not noticed the _world-wide_ attempts ( mostly successful ) to stifle the freedom of information, lately? Maybe you think you are safe from this kind of insanity where you live. If you do, you are wrong.
The governing power where you live, is just like the one here in the USA. The US just happens to have the biggest ugliest one at this moment in history. So how about a little less smug trash-talk from you? How about a little sympathy? How about a little moral support?
Otherwise you can take your "dual liscence" and shove it a foot up your ass - saving your legal system the trouble of doing it for you in a few years. Because, if you think the fall of the GPL in the US would be the end of it you deserve no better.
You may be suffering from SCO news overload - I know in the context of Slashdot we get a great deal of it. But the bit about Novell is significant. It may not be a court ruling, but it is a huge legal ( as opposed to philosophical ) point to take note of.
The House Microsoft, and House IBM are wanting to just mount up a few thousand knights and kick the snot out of eachother.
The problem with this plan is that, The King's minions would object strenuously. House Washington would be forced to at least give the impression mighty bitchslaps were incoming for all involved. This would be bad for business.
The minor houses of SCO and Redhat are mobilized. The former is nothing more than a puppet house of the Microsofts. The latter, a young house to be sure, is hungry for new lands.
The Free Peoples(cl) and their outriders have heard the rumors. House SCO has been instructed to collect a new tax! Pay or die!
If the loosley knit tribes of free riders were to band together they might be a factor. If they were to pool their resources and hire some particularly litigious mercenaries, who knows what might happen. Some might even call this a class y action.
When Democracy Failed: The Warnings of History by Thom Hartmann CommonDreams.org, March 16, 2003
The 70th anniversary wasn't noticed in the United States, and was barely reported in the corporate media. But the Germans remembered well that fateful day seventy years ago - February 27, 1933. They commemorated the anniversary by joining in demonstrations for peace that mobilized citizens all across the world. It started when the government, in the midst of a worldwide economic crisis, received reports of an imminent terrorist attack. A foreign ideologue had launched feeble attacks on a few famous buildings, but the media largely ignored his relatively small efforts. The intelligence services knew, however, that the odds were he would eventually succeed. (Historians are still arguing whether or not rogue elements in the intelligence service helped the terrorist; the most recent research implies they did not.) But the warnings of investigators were ignored at the highest levels, in part because the government was distracted; the man who claimed to be the nation's leader had not been elected by a majority vote and the majority of citizens claimed he had no right to the powers he coveted. He was a simpleton, some said, a cartoon character of a man who saw things in black-and-white terms and didn't have the intellect to understand the subtleties of running a nation in a complex and internationalist world. His coarse use of language - reflecting his political roots in a southernmost state - and his simplistic and often-inflammatory nationalistic rhetoric offended the aristocrats, foreign leaders, and the well-educated elite in the government and media. And, as a young man, he'd joined a secret society with an occult-sounding name and bizarre initiation rituals that involved skulls and human bones. Nonetheless, he knew the terrorist was going to strike (although he didn't know where or when), and he had already considered his response. When an aide brought him word that the nation's most prestigious building was ablaze, he verified it was the terrorist who had struck and then rushed to the scene and called a press conference. "You are now witnessing the beginning of a great epoch in history," he proclaimed, standing in front of the burned-out building, surrounded by national media. "This fire," he said, his voice trembling with emotion, "is the beginning." He used the occasion - "a sign from God," he called it - to declare an all-out war on terrorism and its ideological sponsors, a people, he said, who traced their origins to the Middle East and found motivation for their evil deeds in their religion. Two weeks later, the first detention center for terrorists was built in Oranianberg to hold the first suspected allies of the infamous terrorist. In a national outburst of patriotism, the leader's flag was everywhere, even printed large in newspapers suitable for window display. Within four weeks of the terrorist attack, the nation's now-popular leader had pushed through legislation - in the name of combating terrorism and fighting the philosophy he said spawned it - that suspended constitutional guarantees of free speech, privacy, and habeas corpus. Police could now intercept mail and wiretap phones; suspected terrorists could be imprisoned without specific charges and without access to their lawyers; police could sneak into people's homes without warrants if the cases involved terrorism. To get his patriotic "Decree on the Protection of People and State" passed over the objections of concerned legislators and civil libertarians, he agreed to put a 4-year sunset provision on it: if the national emergency provoked by the terrorist attack was over by then, the freedoms and rights would be returned to the people, and the police agencies would be re-restrained. Legislators would later say they hadn't had time to read the bill before voting on it. Immediately after passage of the anti-terrorism act, his federal police agencies stepped up their program of arresting suspicious persons and holding th
quote: "I would think this might add to DLL clutter however."
Please, if you are going to coin a phrase could you come up with one as catchy as DLL Hell? "DLL clutter" just does'nt have as good a hook.
Also, if your argument is that somehow archiving several versions of DLLs will lead to a shortage of storage space or further operator confusion over versioning; *whispers* ever try and draw a dependency tree for the average developers linux box?
_____________________________
It is easier to stay out than get out - Mark Twain
Yes, we should all sit around wringing our hands and composing diatribes against those who aren't as scared as we are.
Instead of writing crap like this [ in like 4 threads now ] why don't you spend your energy making your society stronger and more productive. This would go much further in accomplishing your "stated" ( and I doubt true ) goals.
Do you have a level of conviction which would allow you to die for what you believe in? If so, please remember you live in a country where you are free to do so.
Polls like this are the worst examples of manipulation. The polsters rely on the general public's ignorance, and go out of their way to perpetuate that ignorance. We went once around with this last time the WTC was attacked. And guess what.... the terrorists did _not_ use encryption then either.
"The terrorists responsible for the World Trade Center and Oklahoma City attacks did not use encryption. Furthermore, both the New York and Oklahoma City bombings were solved using traditional law enforcement methods of investigation, not electronic surveillance... Moreover, the validity of the government's demand for unprecedented power to invade privacy in its concern over terrorism has to be considered in light of other preventive efforts." [story here]
And [here] is an interesting story from [U.K. Yahoo] concerning the absolute futility of any effort to hurt terrorists by restricting crypto.
The _Big Deal_ is that this is _another_ incremental step in the destruction of anonymity. Tools like this are all well and good when used by someone who does not want to put _you_ behind bars. What happens when something you do, think, or are becomes an offense in the eyes of the criminal justice system? If it ever happens I'm sure you will view these supposedly harmless developments differently.
The dumbest? Wow! I don't like writing essays online, so I generalized. You like to get right to the personal attack don't you?
I don't recall minimalising the values of Vietnames, Egyptian, Nicaraguan, etc. lives. I did not even intimate it. That you assume I feel this way goes a long way toward expressing how you feel about Americans. I don't know if you are one, but why do you hate them so much?
Seem like pretty nice people to me. Do you assume that their govenment's actions speak for their feelings on these issues? Does yours?
Arguing with dysfuntional and irrational personalities never has been my strong point. Maybe if you answer these questions for me I might become better at it. Thanks in advance. BTW, in "border disputes," I incuded overseas territories and ally's territories requiring protection under international treaty
Less than 100 years ago, the US was one of the weakest nations. Between 1900 and 1950 [almost] every US military action on foreign soil was due to a border dispute, a prior action against the US, or the request of a beleagured ally.
Between 1950 and 1995 most such ventures were part of the not quite war between the US and USSR. Perhaps you would rather the US and USSR had fought a pitched battle in Western Europe? Or maybe you would have liked eating lots of black bread and sending your tax returns to Moscow?
Here's a thought! Why don't we just forget about all of this really annoying political blather, stop the recriminations (I am certain your country, wherever it is you happen to live has committed attrocities in your name.) Maybe you can out yourself, and we'll all have a good cry. Or maybe we can all get back to the good stuff. [good] code, [good] games, [good] beer.
Slashdot Mirror
Lindow is a surname. Rare, and ranked #25385 in the United States. Over here.
Hire a Lindow, make her the Primary Marketing Consultant, and rebrand as Lindow's Operating System.
Nope. V1 was a cruise missile. V2 was ballistic.
We will ignore the fact you resorted to implying all Americans are racists. We could even ignore that Norway is not without serial killers, and has even exported some (ie. Dennis Nilsen ). If you are merely going for a comparison of quantity here, be sure to keep in mind that Norway is a nation of 4.5 million, while the United States is a nation of 275.5 million. Any competent lawyer, anywhere in the world, would use all of this against you. Nothing you said after that would carry much weight with a jury. We will assume that, somehow, the jury or judge is still listening. Still listening so they will be able to hear this;
You made a really good point ( in my opinion ) that it is preferable to not execute minors and the mentally ill. The "big ass corp" example I am not so clear on. You say you don't have to worry if a "big ass corp" sues you because the loser pays. Well, what if a "big ass corp" sues you and you lose? What if you sue a "big ass corp" and the judge rules against you?
In any case, you argue that the european way is better ( is all of europe under the same set of laws? ), and then you tell the parent poster he should not say any system is better than another. Again, I'm sure you just lost the jury and or the judge on that one. Then you attack the original poster. His opinion is now all mindless "patriotic bs," and even if it was not the actions of George Bush somehow make the original poster's opinions worthless. Is this an example of european moderation, oldworld wisdom, or united europe progressiveness?
"...urban centers with no vehicular traffic are meant for the good/protection of the people of the city, whereas laws such as this are good for the protection of one industry's cash flow."
,who have seen it before. ,who want sell copies. ,who want to give copies away...
The parallel being drawn was between the levels of inconvenience experienced while complying with two different laws. None of these comments have been about the relative merits of or faults in either of these laws.
That being said, you were quite correct when you said, "...laws such as this are good for the protection of one industry's cash flow."
Let me put a couple of disclaimers forward here.
Do I think the executives in the entertainment industry have undue influence over our elected officials? Damn sraight. Do I find most of their work to be shallow and worthless? Affirmative.
Even so, the size and influence of the current industry should not be a factor when deciding to steal or not steal. If I don't want to support a specific effort, I don't give it any of my money. I might even encourage others to not give it any money. But, I am not going to steal their stuff. Most of it is drivel anyway. Why would I want to steal it?
1. To watch it again later.
2. To sell copies.
3. To give copies away to people.
a.
b.
c.
4. To archive the film for posterity.
It is not yours. You did not work on the set. You did not put up the initial investment. You did not finance, setup, or operate the render farm. You did not build the theater. If you did do any of these things, you deserve a free copy.
If you think movies should be free for all, found a studio, build a theater, make some movies, and let everyone bring cameras to the premier. You have every right to do so.
"After events of Sept 2001, self-service lockers have been virtually criminallized in all crowded US facilities."
I have used such lockers in Chicago, Orlando, New York, LA, Portland, Dallas, and Columbus in the last six months. Some in train stations, some in airports.
"Even aside from the security aspect, it'll never work without huge hassle."
Having a city declare imminant domain, tear down properties (removing them from the taxbase), and build commuter parking lots is a huge hassle too. I do understand the differences between this analogy and the cameras-in-movie-theaters. Please see my post below. ( in a few minutes ).
"Within a few years you might have 50% of the attendees carrying cameras fulltime."
A great topic, for an entirely different conversation. I agree such a thing is inevitable. I believe it to be extremely unfortunate.
communicating via a chatboard. The result is we must cast our argumentative nets a little broader than in a face to face conversation.
Taking that into account, I will attempt to add some context to our conversation.
Yep. Very true. Can't disagree with you there. Unless you work in one of the many urban centers which are closed to vehicular
traffic. At which point you will be required to leave your car in an area designated for such a use.
If by saying "legitimate exercise of liberties" you mean; the right to exercise _essential_ liberties, then you, I, and Ben Franklin
would all get along famously. Carrying a video recording device into a movie theater is not a legitimate exercise of an essential
personal liberty. It is all about context. Refer back to cars and the personal liberty of free travel.
It may be a pain in the ass to park then walk, bus, trolley, or bike another mile to work. In fact I can tell you, it is a pain in the ass.
I cannot, however, one day decide this abridgement of my personal liberties is unacceptable and bring my car another six blocks
to work. I would go to jail, and my fellow city dwellers would applaud.
"Parking" your camera in a secured manner would be no different. I understand your concern about security. I would not trust my
local theatre ticket clerk with my camera. The "camera check" idea might not be a good idea. Secured lockers would work though.
Pop in a quarter, pop in the camera. The newer lockers print out a receipt with a pin number on it. Punch in the 6 digit pin and the
locker pops open.
You show id, you sign, they sign, camera gets
tagged, and put into a locked room on a shelf with
all the other cameras. Or, you walk back to your
hotel and store the camera there.
What a hollow shell Slashdot has become.
Sellouts are as sellouts do.
"Just how did RedHat give you the shaft by asking to be paid for their support? You still get the OS for free. I don't understand the leach mentality of the underside of OSS. Give something back, or STFU! Leaches like you are the reason why windows maintains its dominance in the marketplace."
Maybe I missed something, but he did say he has been _buying_ RH since 5.x
Calm, reasoned responses rarely precipitate an actual duscussion on Slashdot.
,what I perceive to be, your
With that in mind, I'll give it a shot.
"As it happens (mar1boro) I'm not particularly anti-USA (and I definitely have sympathy for all the normal folk who live there, as I said in my previous post)" - quote from parent of this reply
"The USA, meanwhile, carries on smoking its crack pipe." - quote from parent of this thread
I note a certain disparity (adrianbaugh). Possibly an outright self-contradiction.
Could you please clarify. I am interested in
feeling that while these developments may be bad
they aren't happening in your neighborhood - so oh, well.
I am wondering why you don't seem to see this as worthy of concern.
Would you want all the people of your country ( wherever that is ) stereotyped
as all being uncaring of people in other countries?
Why not? You are certainly implying that the "sane"
citizens of the USA are a minority.
Now, moving on from the part that made me angry, let us discuss that paradise
of intellectual freedom and haven from corporate abuse of power - The EU.
Now, I realize that a _huge_ victory against software patents has been won.
Maybe I am jaded, but how can you possibly believe the money interests
will give up? They won't. They never will. And when the EU Parliment has been
around long enough to be bought and corrupted completely by those interests
everything will change. Then, you and the rest of the people of the EU will have
my sympathy. I promise, even, to not say "I told you so."
P.S.
A quick google search for "DMCA" and "EU" might provide several hours of
fascinating insights about the future of the EU.
"Microsoft destroys CD-ROM (hypothetically): More proof that M$ is an evil moneygrubbing capitalist pig corporation.
Linux destroys CD-ROM: It's the CD-ROM's fault."
Manufacturers give the _complete_ specs of a piece of hardware to Microsoft. When they don't it is because MS told them how to engineer their hardware to work with Windows.
If Windows killed a CD drive it would be because the manufacturer did not tell the MS devs that a packet writing driver that works in the standard way ( and works on every other drive out there ) would be able to wipe the firmaware on the drive.
Why is it that when people in "someplace far away" are involved in a bad situation, people like you come out and expose yourselves as the small-minded smug peices of shit that you are?
You may not like the US but what the fuck, pal? Have you not noticed the _world-wide_ attempts ( mostly successful ) to stifle the freedom of information, lately? Maybe you think you are safe from this kind of insanity where you live. If you do, you are wrong.
The governing power where you live, is just like the one here in the USA. The US just happens to have the biggest ugliest one at this moment in history. So how about a little less smug trash-talk from you? How about a little sympathy? How about a little moral support?
Otherwise you can take your "dual liscence" and shove it a foot up your ass - saving your legal system the trouble of doing it for you in a few years. Because, if you think the fall of the GPL in the US would be the end of it you deserve no better.
You may be suffering from SCO news overload - I know in the context of Slashdot we get a great deal of it. But the bit about Novell is significant. It may not be a court ruling, but it is a huge legal ( as opposed to philosophical ) point to take note of.
In other words this development really matters.
"No, it is not spyware. Is it scumware then?" I do believe a new term has been born. Scumware just has that right ring to it when discussing Gator.
Please, mod parent as insightful.
The House Microsoft, and House IBM are wanting to just mount up a few thousand knights and kick the snot out of eachother.
The problem with this plan is that, The King's minions would object strenuously. House Washington would be forced to at least give the impression mighty bitchslaps were incoming for all involved. This would be bad for business.
The minor houses of SCO and Redhat are mobilized. The former is nothing more than a puppet house of the Microsofts. The latter, a young house to be sure, is hungry for new lands.
The Free Peoples(cl) and their outriders have heard the rumors. House SCO has been instructed to collect a new tax! Pay or die!
If the loosley knit tribes of free riders were to band together they might be a factor. If they were to pool their resources and hire some particularly
litigious mercenaries, who knows what might happen. Some might even call this a class y action.
When Democracy Failed:
The Warnings of History
by Thom Hartmann
CommonDreams.org, March 16, 2003
The 70th anniversary wasn't noticed in the United States, and was barely reported in the corporate media. But the Germans remembered well that fateful day seventy years ago - February 27, 1933. They commemorated the anniversary by joining in demonstrations for peace that mobilized citizens all across the world.
It started when the government, in the midst of a worldwide economic crisis, received reports of an imminent terrorist attack. A foreign ideologue had launched feeble attacks on a few famous buildings, but the media largely ignored his relatively small efforts. The intelligence services knew, however, that the odds were he would eventually succeed. (Historians are still arguing whether or not rogue elements in the intelligence service helped the terrorist; the most recent research implies they did not.)
But the warnings of investigators were ignored at the highest levels, in part because the government was distracted; the man who claimed to be the nation's leader had not been elected by a majority vote and the majority of citizens claimed he had no right to the powers he coveted. He was a simpleton, some said, a cartoon character of a man who saw things in black-and-white terms and didn't have the intellect to understand the subtleties of running a nation in a complex and internationalist world. His coarse use of language - reflecting his political roots in a southernmost state - and his simplistic and often-inflammatory nationalistic rhetoric offended the aristocrats, foreign leaders, and the well-educated elite in the government and media. And, as a young man, he'd joined a secret society with an occult-sounding name and bizarre initiation rituals that involved skulls and human bones.
Nonetheless, he knew the terrorist was going to strike (although he didn't know where or when), and he had already considered his response. When an aide brought him word that the nation's most prestigious building was ablaze, he verified it was the terrorist who had struck and then rushed to the scene and called a press conference.
"You are now witnessing the beginning of a great epoch in history," he proclaimed, standing in front of the burned-out building, surrounded by national media. "This fire," he said, his voice trembling with emotion, "is the beginning." He used the occasion - "a sign from God," he called it - to declare an all-out war on terrorism and its ideological sponsors, a people, he said, who traced their origins to the Middle East and found motivation for their evil deeds in their religion.
Two weeks later, the first detention center for terrorists was built in Oranianberg to hold the first suspected allies of the infamous terrorist. In a national outburst of patriotism, the leader's flag was everywhere, even printed large in newspapers suitable for window display.
Within four weeks of the terrorist attack, the nation's now-popular leader had pushed through legislation - in the name of combating terrorism and fighting the philosophy he said spawned it - that suspended constitutional guarantees of free speech, privacy, and habeas corpus. Police could now intercept mail and wiretap phones; suspected terrorists could be imprisoned without specific charges and without access to their lawyers; police could sneak into people's homes without warrants if the cases involved terrorism.
To get his patriotic "Decree on the Protection of People and State" passed over the objections of concerned legislators and civil libertarians, he agreed to put a 4-year sunset provision on it: if the national emergency provoked by the terrorist attack was over by then, the freedoms and rights would be returned to the people, and the police agencies would be re-restrained. Legislators would later say they hadn't had time to read the bill before voting on it.
Immediately after passage of the anti-terrorism act, his federal police agencies stepped up their program of arresting suspicious persons and holding th
quote: "I would think this might add to DLL clutter however."
Please, if you are going to coin a phrase could you come up with one as catchy as DLL Hell? "DLL clutter" just does'nt have as good a hook.
Also, if your argument is that somehow archiving several versions of DLLs will lead to a shortage of storage space or further operator confusion over versioning; *whispers* ever try and draw a dependency tree for the average developers linux box?
_____________________________
It is easier to stay out than get out - Mark Twain
Yes, we should all sit around wringing our hands and composing diatribes against those who aren't as scared as we are.
Instead of writing crap like this [ in like 4 threads now ] why don't you spend your energy making your society stronger and more productive. This would go much further in accomplishing your "stated" ( and I doubt true ) goals.
Do you have a level of conviction which would allow you to die for what you believe in? If so, please remember you live in a country where you are free to do so.
Polls like this are the worst examples of manipulation. The polsters rely on the general public's ignorance, and go out of their way to perpetuate that ignorance. We went once around with this last time the WTC was attacked. And guess what.... the terrorists did _not_ use encryption then either.
"The terrorists responsible for the World Trade Center and Oklahoma City attacks did not use encryption. Furthermore, both the New York and Oklahoma City bombings were solved using traditional law enforcement methods of investigation, not electronic surveillance... Moreover, the validity of the government's demand for unprecedented power to invade privacy in its concern over terrorism has to be considered in light of other preventive efforts." [story here]
And [here] is an interesting story from [U.K. Yahoo] concerning the absolute futility of any effort to hurt terrorists by restricting crypto.
My recommendation: encrypt your snail mail.
/. was fun, people would have been posting _complimentary_ comments because Menuet is a cool fuckin hack.
Now all we get is trash talk from stunted diploma-mill widgets.
We can always hope... but im feeling rather pessimistic. mar1boro's mixed metaphor of the day (MMMOTD) "...like the fat lady leaving a sinking ship."
The _Big Deal_ is that this is _another_ incremental step in the destruction of anonymity. Tools like this are all well and good when used by someone who does not want to put _you_ behind bars. What happens when something you do, think, or are becomes an offense in the eyes of the criminal justice system? If it ever happens I'm sure you will view these supposedly harmless developments differently.
The dumbest? Wow! I don't like writing essays online, so I generalized. You like to get right to the personal attack don't you?
I don't recall minimalising the values of Vietnames, Egyptian, Nicaraguan, etc. lives. I did not even intimate it. That you assume I feel this way goes a long way toward expressing how you feel about Americans. I don't know if you are one, but why do you hate them so much?
Seem like pretty nice people to me. Do you assume that their govenment's actions speak for their feelings on these issues? Does yours?
Arguing with dysfuntional and irrational personalities never has been my strong point. Maybe if you answer these questions for me I might become better at it. Thanks in advance.
BTW, in "border disputes," I incuded overseas territories and ally's territories requiring protection under international treaty
xoxo
You need to qualify some of your statements.
Less than 100 years ago, the US was one of the weakest nations.
Between 1900 and 1950 [almost] every US military action on
foreign soil was due to a border dispute, a prior action against the
US, or the request of a beleagured ally.
Between 1950 and 1995 most such ventures were part of the not
quite war between the US and USSR. Perhaps you would rather the US
and USSR had fought a pitched battle in Western Europe? Or maybe
you would have liked eating lots of black bread and sending your
tax returns to Moscow?
Here's a thought! Why don't we just forget about all of this really
annoying political blather, stop the recriminations (I am certain your
country, wherever it is you happen to live has committed attrocities
in your name.) Maybe you can out yourself, and we'll
all have a good cry. Or maybe we can all get back to the good
stuff. [good] code, [good] games, [good] beer.