Perhaps Ikea should get involved, I hear they're doing flat-pack apartments these days. Kit it out with their "Luna" range, and there you have it, a base constructed from modular swedish pine components, complete with matching pencil holders...
Technically, I don't think so! It's like overhearing a conversation on a radio scanner. You're perfectly within your rights to listen, but as soon as you act on any information you've recieved, you're breaking the law.
I believe the case was tested out in the UK some time ago, the police wanted to crack down on people using scanners, so they invented a UFO sighting in some nearby woods, and spoke freely about it on their radios (before they were encrypted). They promptly arrested everyone who turned up to watch.
The one thing that puts me off with PDA's is lack of non-proprietary connectivity. All you generally get is a cradle or plug (completely alient to any other manufacturer) that allows you to sync with your PC and charge the batteries.
I want my next PDA to have a USB socket, wireless networking, CF (type I and II) and a standard DC power connector.
Finally a law that actually does something useful. Question is, does this just cover public disclosure of information or does it also cover collection and use of the data for other means (e.g. personal history lists)?
When you build a bridge, you build it to meet certain criteria. If those requirements state that it should take the weight of a bycicle, it damned well should collapse when somebody drives a chieftan tank across it.
When it comes to security on software, it's a completely gray area. Sure you can make something secure to certain angles of attack. The problem is it's never possible to ascertain all the other angles of attack until they've been exploited.
We may not like the "stay informed and keep patching" model that's been adopted, but it's the only way to keep on top of it.
Like i said in another post; companies shouldn't claim security unless they completely screen themselves off from any outside interference, including user intervention, making your PC into a TV again.
"I just bought this lawnmower, but it was light enough to move around and somehow I pushed it down the hill into my fishpond and... I want my money back, and I'm sueing you for the loss of fish!"
Okay, sounds like a nice idea...to anyone that actually believes the product hype. Who's to say what "secure" actually means?
The very nature of security holes are that a great number of them aren't known about until someone spends a few weeks farting around with an app in a way that they shouldn't be doing. Now, if someone came to me and asked me to develop a bespoke application for them, I'm hardly going to say, "It'll cost you £10,000, but then we're going to f**k with it for a few months to make absolutely sure it's secure so we don't get sued by the feds, which will amount to an extra £100,000"
What should be done instead is a preventative measure against companines 'stating' that they're shiny new product is secure, when it's not. But then that's already covered as false advertising. It's about time we actually saw some action on one of those cases instead. (ring any bells?)
Nothing is secure out of the box, and consumers should be made to realise that they have to compromise security in order to get cool stuff.
Personally, I can't stand Linux distro's that are over friendly to windows users (e.g those god-awful Win95 lookie-likey windowmanagers).
I've found SuSE to be just different enough to make you feel like you've completely changed to a bill-free zone, yet not completely alien. I've personally found the boxed distribution of 7.1 an absolute godsend, and you don't need to spend hours downloading everything again.
On the other hand if you really want to 'learn' linux, download a copy of slackware, but be prepared to play with it for a few weeks before you actually start using it in anger.
Whatever you do, get a boxed set for your first distro (otherwise you'll get stuck at the first hurdle and the CD will just end up on the shelf with all those AOL free trials). Spending a little money on it will also help to convince you to give it a fair go, so you'll get beyond swearing at the screen when it doesn't go quite right. It's also well worth having a spare machine that you can surf the net on while you're preparing the linux box (dual booting isn't really a good option!)
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Oh dear... I'm feeling rather ill. Anyone else tried cranking up the MaxBitRate setting on this beauty?
Perhaps Ikea should get involved, I hear they're doing flat-pack apartments these days. Kit it out with their "Luna" range, and there you have it, a base constructed from modular swedish pine components, complete with matching pencil holders...
Technically, I don't think so! It's like overhearing a conversation on a radio scanner. You're perfectly within your rights to listen, but as soon as you act on any information you've recieved, you're breaking the law.
I believe the case was tested out in the UK some time ago, the police wanted to crack down on people using scanners, so they invented a UFO sighting in some nearby woods, and spoke freely about it on their radios (before they were encrypted). They promptly arrested everyone who turned up to watch.
The one thing that puts me off with PDA's is lack of non-proprietary connectivity. All you generally get is a cradle or plug (completely alient to any other manufacturer) that allows you to sync with your PC and charge the batteries.
I want my next PDA to have a USB socket, wireless networking, CF (type I and II) and a standard DC power connector.
Finally a law that actually does something useful. Question is, does this just cover public disclosure of information or does it also cover collection and use of the data for other means (e.g. personal history lists)?
Why not just supply the DVD with some coarse sandpaper and instructions to "deface after use"?
When you build a bridge, you build it to meet certain criteria. If those requirements state that it should take the weight of a bycicle, it damned well should collapse when somebody drives a chieftan tank across it.
When it comes to security on software, it's a completely gray area. Sure you can make something secure to certain angles of attack. The problem is it's never possible to ascertain all the other angles of attack until they've been exploited.
We may not like the "stay informed and keep patching" model that's been adopted, but it's the only way to keep on top of it.
Like i said in another post; companies shouldn't claim security unless they completely screen themselves off from any outside interference, including user intervention, making your PC into a TV again.
"I just bought this lawnmower, but it was light enough to move around and somehow I pushed it down the hill into my fishpond and... I want my money back, and I'm sueing you for the loss of fish!"
...nuff said.
But how many attempts did it take to get
"Hello [yournamehere]!"
to work without dying, on your first visit to a C compiler?
Okay, sounds like a nice idea...to anyone that actually believes the product hype. Who's to say what "secure" actually means?
The very nature of security holes are that a great number of them aren't known about until someone spends a few weeks farting around with an app in a way that they shouldn't be doing. Now, if someone came to me and asked me to develop a bespoke application for them, I'm hardly going to say, "It'll cost you £10,000, but then we're going to f**k with it for a few months to make absolutely sure it's secure so we don't get sued by the feds, which will amount to an extra £100,000"
What should be done instead is a preventative measure against companines 'stating' that they're shiny new product is secure, when it's not. But then that's already covered as false advertising. It's about time we actually saw some action on one of those cases instead. (ring any bells?)
Nothing is secure out of the box, and consumers should be made to realise that they have to compromise security in order to get cool stuff.
8===8 Dog ate my sig...
Anyone noticed any similarities to the word "terrorist"'s use today when compared with the word "communist" about 20 years ago?
Personally, I can't stand Linux distro's that are over friendly to windows users (e.g those god-awful Win95 lookie-likey windowmanagers).
I've found SuSE to be just different enough to make you feel like you've completely changed to a bill-free zone, yet not completely alien. I've personally found the boxed distribution of 7.1 an absolute godsend, and you don't need to spend hours downloading everything again.
On the other hand if you really want to 'learn' linux, download a copy of slackware, but be prepared to play with it for a few weeks before you actually start using it in anger.
Whatever you do, get a boxed set for your first distro (otherwise you'll get stuck at the first hurdle and the CD will just end up on the shelf with all those AOL free trials). Spending a little money on it will also help to convince you to give it a fair go, so you'll get beyond swearing at the screen when it doesn't go quite right. It's also well worth having a spare machine that you can surf the net on while you're preparing the linux box (dual booting isn't really a good option!)