Actually, it will result in a weird genealogy, like Zaphod Beeblebrox, who's father is Zaphod Beeblebrox the Second, who's father was Zaphod Beeblebrox the Third......
Of course, this needs a a contraception device as well;)
-- just got hooked to KDE 3.2 and its automatic text spellchecker./. -- enforce Konqueror 3.2 as the only supported browser --
Since nobody has (yet) taken the pains of posting the mirror list (yea, yea, I know, this is/.) -- here it is:
Hmm.. I wonder if the/. lameness filter was designed so that people couldn't post whole mirror lists themselves. Telling me that I don't have enough characters per line.
I think I'll just ask the KDE people to create a static fast-serving no-css page full of mirrors for KDE whenever a release happens. That way, at least some amount of trouble would be saved.
Goes off to mail KDE team...
Will you for a moment think of "internet access" as something other than Spam, pr0n and/. ?
(of course, this is/.; oh well)
The aim is not to provide "internet access". The aim is to provide farmers with live prices, so that they can sell accordingly. A similar project is on at IIT Kanpur (Digital Mandi -- see http://www.iitk.ac.in/MLAsia/digimandi.htm)
The rationale is that, because (a) farmers (i.e. producers) are not aware of what the current market price is, and (b) $BROKER is going to try to maximize profit by any means, the farmers usually end up selling there wares for waaaaaaaay less than the current market price. The diff is such that market price is anywhere between 2 to 5 times the price the farmers get.
Considering how many farmers have very little cash to spend (even by Indian standards), every extra buck per kilo they make is A Good Thing (tm)
[[ Yes, I am an Indian, living here for *quite* some time, and am aware of these problems despite reading/. ]]
(a) The "official" national language (b) Everyone here has a rudimentary knowledge of hindi, and can therefore understand to a certain extent (c) Support for Indic languages is not yet complete, Hindi is one of the better supported ones
Which F.A. should I read? the/. FA or the BBC FA? I already read the BBC FA (and I'm not new here)
Because the/. quotes from the BBC, which just says that the user be forced to do some sort of (crypto?) computation; but it does *not* suggest that the server use an SA like system to auto-reject spam.
While this seems useful at first glance (at least open relays would stop working), how does your technique address these issues:
1. Clueless admins (of windows or *nix servers) who refuse to use SA or similar? These are the same who leave the mail servers as open relays in the first place.
2. People who use their own SMTP server
Sure, go ahead and say that you can add reverse domain lookups. But registering a domain is quite cheap these days ($4.95 a year) and point the NS to your machine, set up MX records, and you're on your way.
Your solution is useful, but not comprehnsive. I doubt there is a comprehensive solution short of making the spammers incapable of accessing the internet.
-- Clueless People? Everywhere I look, I see them. And some of them, they WORK here!
If there is a wired rollout, there would probably already be tons of dark fiber between all central exchanges. Why not just wire them onwards to consumers' homes?
This give better speeds to your neighbour (which is always the nearest "mirror"), and have CableTV, Voice and Data services all integrated onto the same little strand of glass | plastic that comes to my house.
KDE's Kollab Server may make the "large" enterprise project management task become a little easier.
Combine that with PHPGroupWare or OPT and a Wiki (Twiki, ZWiki, etc) and you'll likely be all set to go
You will need to do a bit of scripting though to integrate all that, but that should be more convenient than going with a commercial solution (eg MS Project Server) and moulding yourselves into that
While it *is* impressive that these people are doing this over 36 miles (56 kms) from non-commercial equipment, IIT Kanpur has already done this over 40 kms (25 miles) using ordinarily available parabolic antennae (no Pringles available;)
And, IIRC, there was a project a while back to do the same over 72 miles (which also succeeded)
CDMA service has started in India just a few months back. If anything, people are not yet ready to switch to CDMA (Reliance or Tata Indicom) simply because it is not a well-established technology, even though it is quite cheap (40p - 100p per minute depending on various factors).
For GSM service, the whole country is divided into "Cellular Circles", and operators need a license PER CIRCLE to operate there. However, with CDMA, there is no such zoning, as CDMA operators are not (yet) allowed the full privilege of supporting Roaming and other facilites enjoyed by regular cellular operators.
GSM has been around in India for close to 8 years (well established? I would think so). CDMA has just about started. So *OF COURSE* people are reluctant to go in for CDMA mobile phones.
As the YIAARI above mentioned, the interconnect deals have been fixed as of 1st may, so there are no more fights (so to speak) amongst cell operators, just price wars.
And one *very good* thing we learnt and implemented early on was to have different codes for cellphones as opposed to land lines. Now actually we have multiple categories --
* All 98aa xxxxxx numbers are cell phones, with the 'aa' being the Area code (so for example 9811 xxxxxx is Delhi, while 9822 xxxxxx is Pune).
* All BSNL (www.bsnl.co.in) cellphones are 94aa xxxxxx
* All reliance phones are 3
* All Tata-Indicom numbers are 5
* All BSNL Landlines are [2] depending on the city of operation.
Makes life very simple for everyone, as they instantly know what number they are calling.
As someone from India, let me enlighten you a little on the Telecom history down here...
Initially, the Telecom dept. was completely under Govt. control. So was internet and all international links (VSNL). Back in 1995, 33.6kbps access used to cost Rs.15,000 per 500 hrs.
Then, as things started becoming a little more.. arhm.. 'Open', there were alternate telcos, alternate ISPs, and these people had to improve their act. The dialup internet access charges finally settled at Rs. 750 for 100hrs of access.
At Rs. 7.5 per hour, this may seem cheap -- till you realize that the PSTN charges (no, it's not free) are Rs 1.20 for every 6 mins (as of today) -- which comes to 12 bucks an hour.. Add that up, it comes to almost Rs. 20 per hour (~ US$ 0.40) for 56k dialup access.
There are some companies in Pune (where I stay) that give 64k internet access service over a LAN, but thats restricted to some small area of the city. The biggest problem here is not the infrastructure cost -- its the recovery time. CAT 5e cable costs the same as it does in the US, but internet access cannot be given as costly, 'cos people don't have the money. (US$ 50 per month == Rs. 2500, which is quite a lot considering that Joe Average earns ~8K - 10K per month, maybe less). I pay Rs. 1250 per month for this connection (24x7, no download cap, 64k)
Also, keep in mind that even most IT companies here dont have more than a few E1 links (2mbps), some survive on just 512k + 512k (from two providers). The problem is that bandwidth is still very costly.
Now, consider the fact that the Govt-owned (not any more actually) BSNL (www.bsnl.co.in) starts providing this access -- they already have all the infrastructure ready (telephone cables). So they don't have to face any rollout charges. Even capped at 500MB, it is a very good deal. As more people start using the 128k connection, there will be some pressure on companies (mostly BSNL itself) to increase the available bandwidth. This should lead to high bandwidth connections soon enough.
One more point in their favour: They say that only 8 such connections per Mbps will be given, which means that the users get True 128kbps, rather than shared 1.5 Mbps (as is the case with cable/dsl in the US). So, hopefully, they will deploy this successfully.
I agree it won't be fully integrated solution, but you may consider some tradeoffs.
Wiki (the interactive collaborative system, implementations I know of being TWiki and MoinMoin Wiki) can be used pretty effectivly for a lot of these things.
I have tried using it. It does take a little getting used to, but once people (developers I am assuming) are hooked to it, there's no turning back. And i'm speaking from experience;)
As T/MoinMoin are open source implementations, you may even be able to integrate it into bugzilla without too much difficulty.
FBI agent charged with hacking Russia alleges agent broke law by downloading evidence By Mike Brunker MSNBC Aug. 15 -- In a first in the rapidly evolving field of cyberspace law, Russia's counterintelligence service on Thursday filed criminal charges against an FBI agent it says lured two Russian hackers to the United States, then illegally seized evidence against them by downloading data from their computers in Chelyabinsk, Russia.
The case was the first in the FBI's history to 'utilize the technique of extra-territorial seizure.' -- FBI PRESS RELEASE
IGOR TKACH, an investigator with Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB, started criminal proceedings against FBI Agent Michael Schuler for unauthorized access to computer information, according to the Interfax news agency.
The agency reported the complaint had been forwarded to the U.S. Justice Department and that the FSB was awaiting a response.
The FBI said Thursday it had no comment on the case, and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.
Interfax quoted sources with the FSB as describing the criminal complaint as an effort to restore traditional law enforcement borders.
"If the Russian hackers are sentenced on the basis of information obtained by the Americans through hacking, that will imply the future ability of U.S. secret services to use illegal methods in the collection of information in Russia and other countries," the news agency quoted one source as saying.
RUSE WAS WIDELY PRAISED
Schuler and other agents were widely praised for an elaborate ruse that led to the arrests of Vasily Gorshkov, 25, and Alexey Ivanov, 20, in November 2000. Court papers described the men as kingpins of Russian computer crime who hacked into the networks of at least 40 U.S. companies and then attempted to extort money.
The pair was lured to the United States after Ivanov identified himself in an e-mail threatening to destroy data at a victimized company, Stephen Schroeder, a now-retired assistant U.S. attorney in Seattle who prosecuted Gorshkov, told MSNBC.com last year.
FBI agents then found Ivanov's resumé online and, posing as representatives of a fictitious network security company called Invita, contacted him to offer him a job.
Once Ivanov and Gorshkov arrived in Seattle, agents posing as Invita officials asked the men to demonstrate their prowess on a computer outfitted with "sniffer" software to record every keystroke. After arresting the men, the agents used account numbers and passwords obtained by the program to gain access to data stored on the pair's computers in Russia.
Fearing that an associate would "pull the plug" on the computer in Russia, the agents downloaded evidence before obtaining a search warrant, according to court papers.
AGENTS HONORED
In a news release issued last week honoring Agents Schuler and Marty Prewett with the director's award for excellence, the FBI's field office in Seattle said the case was the first in the the bureau's history to "utilize the technique of extra-territorial seizure." The procedures employed by the agents had been incorporated into the attorney general's guidelines for law enforcement personnel, it said.
Court papers allege that Ivanov and Gorshkov broke into and obtained financial information from a number of large U.S. companies and penetrated the computer networks of two banks -- the Nara Bank of Los Angeles and Central National Bank-Waco, based in Texas.
They also were accused of orchestrating "a massive scheme" to defraud the Internet-based payment company PayPal, based in Palo Alto, Calif., by using "proxy" e-mail addresses from such institutions as public schools and stolen credit-card numbers to buy goods.
Prosecutors have indicated they also believe the Russians are linked to two other high-profile cases: the theft of data on 300,000 credit cards from the CD Universe Web site and another
15,700 credit cards from a Western Union Web site.
Gorshkov was convicted in Seattle in September 2001 of 20 counts of wire fraud, charges that carry a maximum sentence of 100 years in prison. Sentencing was scheduled for January, but court records do not reflect that a punishment had been imposed.
Ivanov also has been indicted in New Jersey and Connecticut, where he currently is in custody and awaiting trial.
In pretrial motions, Gorshkov's lawyer, Kenneth Kanev, argued that the FBI agents had violated Gorshkov's Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure by secretly obtaining passwords and account numbers.
But U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour of Seattle ruled that Gorshkov and Ivanov gave up any expectation of privacy by using computers in what they believed were the offices of a public company.
NO EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY
"When (the) defendant sat down at the networked computer... he knew that the systems administrator could and likely would monitor his activities," Coughenour wrote. "Indeed, the undercover agents told (Gorshkov) that they wanted to watch in order to see what he was capable of doing."
He also found that the Fourth Amendment did not apply to the computers, "because they are the property of a non-resident and located outside the United States," or to the data -- at least until it was transmitted to the United States.
The judge noted that investigators obtained a search warrant before viewing the vast store of data -- nearly 250 gigabytes, according to court records. He rejected the argument that the warrant should have been obtained before the data was downloaded, noting that "the agents had good reason to fear that if they did not copy the data, (the) defendant's co-conspirators would destroy the evidence or make it unavailable."
Finally, Coughenour rejected defense arguments that the FBI's actions "were unreasonable and illegal because they failed to comply with Russian law," saying that Russian law does not apply to the agents' actions.
NT VULNERABILITY EXPLOITED
Ivanov, Gorshkov and other unidentified associates used the Internet to gain illegal access to the U.S. companies' computers, often by exploiting a known security vulnerability in Windows NT, according to court papers. A "patch" for the vulnerability had been posted on the Microsoft Web site for almost two years, but the companies hit by the cyberbandits hadn't updated their software.
(MSNBC is a Microsoft-NBC joint venture.)
At least one company, Lightrealm Communications of Kirkland, Wash., acceded to a demand that it hire Ivanov as a security consultant after he broke into the Internet service provider's computers, according to court documents. Ivanov then used a Lightrealm account to break into other companies' computers, they indicated.
Eastern Europe and nations of the former Soviet Union have become a hotbed for computer crime aimed at businesses in the United States and other Western nations.
When MSNBC.com first reported on the problem of overseas computer crime in 1999, Mark Batts, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Financial Institution Fraud Unit, said he was not aware of any prosecutions of credit card thieves operating from Eastern Europe and the nations of the former Soviet Union.
SEATTLE (AP) -- Invita Security Corp. looked like a typical Internet company: It had offices, computers, employees and a secure computer system. The only thing missing was the customers.
Far from being a failed start-up, the aptly named Invita turned out to be a bogus company set up by the FBI to ensnare two young Russians accused of breaking into U.S. Internet companies' computers, stealing sensitive data and trying to extort money.
Authorities say Alexey Ivanov, 21, and Vasily Gorshkov, 25, both of Chelyabinsk, fell for the bait. They were arrested and jailed on charges including conspiracy and fraud and are set for trial May 29 in federal court in Seattle.
The FBI declined to comment. But in recently unsealed court documents that read like a spy novel, agents tell how they snagged the alleged thieves by creating the shell company and inviting Ivanov and Gorshkov to try to hack into it.
After Ivanov and Gorshkov succeeded from afar, FBI agents posing as Invita employees invited the two to Seattle to discuss a partnership and further display their hacking prowess.
As the Russians demonstrated their skills at the shell company, the FBI used a computer eavesdropping technique to reach across the Internet and break into the suspects' own computer system in Russia.
Internet security experts say the case illustrates well how the FBI's cybercrime-fighting abilities have evolved -- though the defense is questioning the legality of the agency's methods.
"What they did was phenomenal. It was exceptionally effective," says Kevin Mandia, who worked for the Air Force office of special investigations and taught FBI courses in hacker attacks before joining the Irvine, Calif., Internet security company Foundstone. "Five years ago they wouldn't be able to do that kind of thing."
Mandia says that the FBI, after being ridiculed as ill-equipped to fight computer crime, has made remarkable progress, including adding a program that has trained more than 1,000 agents in cybercrime.
The FBI believes the Russian suspects or their associates could have been involved in hundreds of crimes against U.S. companies, including Kirkland-based Lightrealm.com, an Internet access company, and Palo Alto, Calif.-based PayPal, an online payment business.
First, the FBI alleges, the hackers broke into computer systems. Then, authorities say, they sent e-mails to company officials demanding payment in exchange for not distributing or destroying sensitive documents including financial records.
After tracking down the suspects over the Internet, the FBI invited them to Seattle in November for the Invita gambit.
Court records show that while Gorshkov was using an Invita computer, the FBI secretly used a "sniffer" program that logs every keystroke a person types.
Using passwords recorded by the "sniffer," the FBI was then able to enter the computers in Russia where Gorshkov kept his data and download immense amounts of information.
In court documents, Gorshkov's lawyer, Kenneth E. Kanev, has challenged the FBI's right to use that material, claiming his client's privacy was invaded because he did not consent to have his computer usage recorded. Kanev contends the FBI should have obtained a search warrant before downloading the information.
The investigators say they were forced to follow this procedure because they needed to secure the incriminating information before the two suspects' Russian counterparts destroyed the data.
The Invita case could define how far U.S. law enforcement can go to catch non-citizens who break into American systems.
"This case is going to resolve a very thorny legal question," says Marc J. Zwillinger, a former Justice Department computer expert now in private practice in Washington.
The case could test the admissibility of evidence obtained through the covert recording of computer keystrokes, a technique the FBI also used in a case against an alleged mobster in New Jersey, Nicodemo S. Scarfo Jr., that is expected to go to trial later this year.
Today's most serious hacker threats come from outside the United States or go through computers abroad. Russian hackers, in particular, have been behind several of the biggest Internet theft cases.
These are the stats I have on my machine (p3-733, 512MB ram, IDE-100)
1x - 1 hr 10 mins (total, yes I have had one) 2x - 40 mins (actually something like 38) 4x - 19-20 mins 12x - 7 mins 24x - 5 mins 32x - 4:30 mins 40x - ? (haven't upgraded my drive yet:P )
My point being that as things are right now, IDE hard drives are not quite fast enough even with an 8MB buffer to keep up with the data transfer required (and yes, I am running my 7200 Maxtor 27GB as Primary master, and LG 32X CD-RW as Secondary Master on an Intel 815EEA2 board)
How does overclocking (and possibly destroying the drive mechanism, though rare) really help me burn CD faster? Current software / hardware configs give me no better than 4:30 mins.. (while the 24x gives ~5:20)
I think this is something like the 52x and 60x and 72x CDROM, where the number behind the X stands for MAX ... meaning that with optimal (ideal?) parameters, the drive gives 72x (1x = 150kbps)
I'd much rather stick with my * unmodified * 32x drive, thanks.
Dont quite know about the system used in palms, but I often use the T9 feature in my cell-phone to create non-dictionary words also. Fortunately I dont have a Nokia (with its brain-dead T9 system) but a Panasonic GD-92 where you can abort T9 midway into the word, and start off with something else. The Nokia remembers each word that you T9'ed in the message and its a big pain in a lot of places to insert a half-word anywhere.
Take slashdot for instance - I can type a 'slash' followed by a 'dot' and get slashdot. Not much use for english words, but I live on the other side of the world (above the tropic of cancer though), and REALLY like to talk in my native language. (which is not bork-bork btw...:)
So I can cut up the native word (as spelt in english) and type it, one section at a time..
saves me anywhere upto 80% of the time I would without T9.
Another cool feature I have is that when I type in a word in normal text, it gets added to an alternate T9 dictionary, which makes life easier, as the next time I need the word, I can T9.
Look at things like this: The people who can afford to buy music can afford to buy music online. The point just is that here, Audio CDs cost somewhere around Rs.500-700 EACH. For the average person who DOES buy music CDs, the income is something like Rs.25K per month. However, most people would rather use MP3s here (obviously), as the CD Players themselves are quite costly (compared to the salary yada yada). Now, if this service really catches (and is good, and have a lot of songs, which, as of now, they dont seem to have) I will go for it, as I get a CD, full of __SONGS THAT I WANT__ for Rs.150 max (no more than 15 songs usually fit onto one Audio CD).. which is the same as the price of a tape (of a similar set of songs).
Way to go Indiatimes (no URLs, no slashdotting, please)
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, it will result in a weird genealogy, like Zaphod Beeblebrox, who's father is Zaphod Beeblebrox the Second, who's father was Zaphod Beeblebrox the Third ......
;)
/. -- enforce Konqueror 3.2 as the only supported browser --
Of course, this needs a a contraception device as well
-- just got hooked to KDE 3.2 and its automatic text spellchecker.
Since nobody has (yet) taken the pains of posting the mirror list (yea, yea, I know, this is /.) -- here it is:
Hmm .. I wonder if the /. lameness filter was designed so that people couldn't post whole mirror lists themselves. Telling me that I don't have enough characters per line.
I think I'll just ask the KDE people to create a static fast-serving no-css page full of mirrors for KDE whenever a release happens. That way, at least some amount of trouble would be saved.
Goes off to mail KDE team ...
(pulled from KDE Mirror List)
WARNING: VERY BAD FORMATTING to get around the lame lameness filter.
mirrors.isc.org. . .ibiblio.org. . .ibiblio.org. . .ftp.gtlib.cc.gatech.edu. . .ftp.gtlib.cc.gatech.edu. . . .mirrors.midco.net. . .ftp.oregonstate.edu. . .kde.oregonstate.edu. . .download.uk.kde.org. . . .download.at.kde.org. . .ftp.eu.uu.net. . .ftp.tiscali.nl. . .ftp.du.se. . . .ftp.rutgers.edu. . .ftp.rutgers.edu. . .kde.uk.themoes.org. . .kde.us.themoes.org. . . .ftp.de.kde.org. . .ftp.gwdg.de. . .ftp-stud.fht-esslingen.de. . .ftp-stud.fht-esslingen.de. . . .download.au.kde.org. . .ftp.roedu.net. . .ftp.fi.muni.cz. . .ftp.fu-berlin.de. . . .sunsite.informatik.rwth-aachen.de. . .filepile.tiscali.de. . .ftp.tuniv.szczecin.pl. . .ftp.tuniv.szczecin.pl. . . .sunsite.cnlab-switch.ch. . .ftp.se.kde.org. .
mirrors.midco.net. .
download.at.kde.org. .
ftp.solnet.ch. .
ftp.de.kde.org. .
ftp.uni-kl.de. .
ftp.tu-chemnitz.de. .
sunsite.icm.edu.pl. .
King Arthur: .. Ni!
Aide: Nu!
Arthur: Nono -- you're doing it wrong! n_I_
Aide: Ni!
Both together: Ni! Ni! Ni!
</sorry>
Will you for a moment think of "internet access" as something other than Spam, pr0n and /. ?
/.; oh well)
/. ]]
(of course, this is
The aim is not to provide "internet access". The aim is to provide farmers with live prices, so that they can sell accordingly. A similar project is on at IIT Kanpur (Digital Mandi -- see http://www.iitk.ac.in/MLAsia/digimandi.htm)
The rationale is that, because (a) farmers (i.e. producers) are not aware of what the current market price is, and (b) $BROKER is going to try to maximize profit by any means, the farmers usually end up selling there wares for waaaaaaaay less than the current market price. The diff is such that market price is anywhere between 2 to 5 times the price the farmers get.
Considering how many farmers have very little cash to spend (even by Indian standards), every extra buck per kilo they make is A Good Thing (tm)
[[ Yes, I am an Indian, living here for *quite* some time, and am aware of these problems despite reading
Because Hindi is
(a) The "official" national language
(b) Everyone here has a rudimentary knowledge of hindi, and can therefore understand to a certain extent
(c) Support for Indic languages is not yet complete, Hindi is one of the better supported ones
Take your pick.
(YES, IAAIII)
Which F.A. should I read? the /. FA or the BBC FA? I already read the BBC FA (and I'm not new here)
/. quotes from the BBC, which just says that the user be forced to do some sort of (crypto?) computation; but it does *not* suggest that the server use an SA like system to auto-reject spam.
Because the
--
I RTFA and all I got was this lousy post!
While this seems useful at first glance (at least open relays would stop working), how does your technique address these issues:
1. Clueless admins (of windows or *nix servers) who refuse to use SA or similar? These are the same who leave the mail servers as open relays in the first place.
2. People who use their own SMTP server
Sure, go ahead and say that you can add reverse domain lookups. But registering a domain is quite cheap these days ($4.95 a year) and point the NS to your machine, set up MX records, and you're on your way.
Your solution is useful, but not comprehnsive. I doubt there is a comprehensive solution short of making the spammers incapable of accessing the internet.
--
Clueless People? Everywhere I look, I see them. And some of them, they WORK here!
If there is a wired rollout, there would probably already be tons of dark fiber between all central exchanges. Why not just wire them onwards to consumers' homes?
This give better speeds to your neighbour (which is always the nearest "mirror"), and have CableTV, Voice and Data services all integrated onto the same little strand of glass | plastic that comes to my house.
Slashdot sells rather better than merram-webster ..
Sorry .. couldnt resist.
KDE's Kollab Server may make the "large" enterprise project management task become a little easier.
Combine that with PHPGroupWare or OPT and a Wiki (Twiki, ZWiki, etc) and you'll likely be all set to go
You will need to do a bit of scripting though to integrate all that, but that should be more convenient than going with a commercial solution (eg MS Project Server) and moulding yourselves into that
While it *is* impressive that these people are doing this over 36 miles (56 kms) from non-commercial equipment, IIT Kanpur has already done this over 40 kms (25 miles) using ordinarily available parabolic antennae (no Pringles available ;)
And, IIRC, there was a project a while back to do the same over 72 miles (which also succeeded)
CDMA service has started in India just a few months back. If anything, people are not yet ready to switch to CDMA (Reliance or Tata Indicom) simply because it is not a well-established technology, even though it is quite cheap (40p - 100p per minute depending on various factors).
For GSM service, the whole country is divided into "Cellular Circles", and operators need a license PER CIRCLE to operate there. However, with CDMA, there is no such zoning, as CDMA operators are not (yet) allowed the full privilege of supporting Roaming and other facilites enjoyed by regular cellular operators.
GSM has been around in India for close to 8 years (well established? I would think so). CDMA has just about started. So *OF COURSE* people are reluctant to go in for CDMA mobile phones.
As the YIAARI above mentioned, the interconnect deals have been fixed as of 1st may, so there are no more fights (so to speak) amongst cell operators, just price wars.
And one *very good* thing we learnt and implemented early on was to have different codes for cellphones as opposed to land lines. Now actually we have multiple categories --
* All 98aa xxxxxx numbers are cell phones, with the 'aa' being the Area code (so for example 9811 xxxxxx is Delhi, while 9822 xxxxxx is Pune).
* All BSNL (www.bsnl.co.in) cellphones are 94aa xxxxxx
* All reliance phones are 3
* All Tata-Indicom numbers are 5
* All BSNL Landlines are [2] depending on the city of operation.
Makes life very simple for everyone, as they instantly know what number they are calling.
As someone from India, let me enlighten you a little on the Telecom history down here...
.. arhm .. 'Open', there were alternate telcos, alternate ISPs, and these people had to improve their act. The dialup internet access charges finally settled at Rs. 750 for 100hrs of access.
.. Add that up, it comes to almost Rs. 20 per hour (~ US$ 0.40) for 56k dialup access.
Initially, the Telecom dept. was completely under Govt. control. So was internet and all international links (VSNL). Back in 1995, 33.6kbps access used to cost Rs.15,000 per 500 hrs.
Then, as things started becoming a little more
At Rs. 7.5 per hour, this may seem cheap -- till you realize that the PSTN charges (no, it's not free) are Rs 1.20 for every 6 mins (as of today) -- which comes to 12 bucks an hour
There are some companies in Pune (where I stay) that give 64k internet access service over a LAN, but thats restricted to some small area of the city. The biggest problem here is not the infrastructure cost -- its the recovery time. CAT 5e cable costs the same as it does in the US, but internet access cannot be given as costly, 'cos people don't have the money. (US$ 50 per month == Rs. 2500, which is quite a lot considering that Joe Average earns ~8K - 10K per month, maybe less). I pay Rs. 1250 per month for this connection (24x7, no download cap, 64k)
Also, keep in mind that even most IT companies here dont have more than a few E1 links (2mbps), some survive on just 512k + 512k (from two providers). The problem is that bandwidth is still very costly.
Now, consider the fact that the Govt-owned (not any more actually) BSNL (www.bsnl.co.in) starts providing this access -- they already have all the infrastructure ready (telephone cables). So they don't have to face any rollout charges. Even capped at 500MB, it is a very good deal. As more people start using the 128k connection, there will be some pressure on companies (mostly BSNL itself) to increase the available bandwidth. This should lead to high bandwidth connections soon enough.
One more point in their favour: They say that only 8 such connections per Mbps will be given, which means that the users get True 128kbps, rather than shared 1.5 Mbps (as is the case with cable/dsl in the US). So, hopefully, they will deploy this successfully.
Imagine a beowolf cluster over wireless of these (at 10K + altitude!)
Enough already.
Oh, so we now (mindlessly) slashdot shashdot? poor slashdot. That too in the first (visible) post? Honestly, I ask you. Poor slashdot.
Couldn't you give slashdot a bit of relief?
I agree it won't be fully integrated solution, but you may consider some tradeoffs.
;)
Wiki (the interactive collaborative system, implementations I know of being TWiki and MoinMoin Wiki) can be used pretty effectivly for a lot of these things.
I have tried using it. It does take a little getting used to, but once people (developers I am assuming) are hooked to it, there's no turning back. And i'm speaking from experience
As T/MoinMoin are open source implementations, you may even be able to integrate it into bugzilla without too much difficulty.
Hrishikesh
nope. they won't.
Aliens don't even understand Morse. Remember Independance Day?
http://msnbc.com/news/563379.asp?cp1=1
... he knew that the systems administrator could and likely would monitor his activities," Coughenour wrote. "Indeed, the undercover agents told (Gorshkov) that they wanted to watch in order to see what he was capable of doing."
FBI agent charged with hacking
Russia alleges agent broke law by downloading evidence
By Mike Brunker
MSNBC
Aug. 15 -- In a first in the rapidly evolving field of cyberspace law, Russia's counterintelligence service on Thursday filed criminal charges against an FBI agent it says lured two Russian hackers to the United States, then illegally seized evidence against them by
downloading data from their computers in Chelyabinsk, Russia.
The case was the first in the FBI's history to 'utilize the technique of extra-territorial seizure.'
-- FBI PRESS RELEASE
IGOR TKACH, an investigator with Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB, started criminal proceedings against FBI Agent Michael Schuler for unauthorized access to computer information, according to the Interfax news agency.
The agency reported the complaint had been forwarded to the U.S. Justice Department and that the FSB was awaiting a response.
The FBI said Thursday it had no comment on the case, and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.
Interfax quoted sources with the FSB as describing the criminal complaint as an effort to restore traditional law enforcement borders.
"If the Russian hackers are sentenced on the basis of information obtained by the Americans through hacking, that will imply the future ability of U.S. secret services to use illegal methods in the collection of information in Russia and other countries," the news agency quoted one source as saying.
RUSE WAS WIDELY PRAISED
Schuler and other agents were widely praised for an elaborate ruse that led to the arrests of Vasily Gorshkov, 25, and Alexey Ivanov, 20, in November 2000. Court papers described the men as kingpins of Russian computer crime who hacked into the networks of at least 40 U.S. companies and then attempted to extort money.
The pair was lured to the United States after Ivanov identified himself in an e-mail threatening to destroy data at a victimized company, Stephen Schroeder, a now-retired assistant U.S. attorney in Seattle who prosecuted Gorshkov, told MSNBC.com last year.
FBI agents then found Ivanov's resumé online and, posing as representatives of a fictitious network security company called Invita, contacted him to offer him a job.
Once Ivanov and Gorshkov arrived in Seattle, agents posing as Invita officials asked the men to demonstrate their prowess on a computer outfitted with "sniffer" software to record every keystroke. After arresting the men, the agents used account numbers and passwords obtained by the program to gain access to data stored on the pair's computers in Russia.
Fearing that an associate would "pull the plug" on the computer in Russia, the agents downloaded evidence before obtaining a search warrant, according to court papers.
AGENTS HONORED
In a news release issued last week honoring Agents Schuler and Marty Prewett with the director's award for excellence, the FBI's field office in Seattle said the case was the first in the the bureau's history to "utilize the technique of extra-territorial seizure." The procedures employed by the agents had been incorporated into the attorney general's guidelines for law enforcement personnel, it said.
Court papers allege that Ivanov and Gorshkov broke into and obtained financial information from a number of large U.S. companies and penetrated the computer networks of two banks -- the Nara Bank of Los Angeles and Central National Bank-Waco, based in Texas.
They also were accused of orchestrating "a massive scheme" to defraud the Internet-based payment company PayPal, based in Palo Alto, Calif., by using "proxy" e-mail addresses from such institutions as public schools and stolen credit-card numbers to buy goods.
Prosecutors have indicated they also believe the Russians are linked to two other high-profile cases: the theft of data on 300,000 credit cards from the CD Universe Web site and another
15,700 credit cards from a Western Union Web site.
Gorshkov was convicted in Seattle in September 2001 of 20 counts of wire fraud, charges that carry a maximum sentence of 100 years in prison. Sentencing was scheduled for January, but court records do not reflect that a punishment had been imposed.
Ivanov also has been indicted in New Jersey and Connecticut, where he currently is in custody and awaiting trial.
In pretrial motions, Gorshkov's lawyer, Kenneth Kanev, argued that the FBI agents had violated Gorshkov's Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure by secretly obtaining passwords and account numbers.
But U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour of Seattle ruled that Gorshkov and Ivanov gave up any expectation of privacy by using computers in what they believed were the offices of a public company.
NO EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY
"When (the) defendant sat down at the networked computer
He also found that the Fourth Amendment did not apply to the computers, "because they are the property of a non-resident and located outside the United States," or to the data -- at least until it was transmitted to the United States.
The judge noted that investigators obtained a search warrant before viewing the vast store of data -- nearly 250 gigabytes, according to court records. He rejected the argument that the warrant should have been obtained before the data was downloaded, noting that "the agents had good reason to fear that if they did not copy the data, (the) defendant's co-conspirators would destroy the evidence or make it unavailable."
Finally, Coughenour rejected defense arguments that the FBI's actions "were unreasonable and illegal because they failed to comply with Russian law," saying that Russian law does not apply to the agents' actions.
NT VULNERABILITY EXPLOITED
Ivanov, Gorshkov and other unidentified associates used the Internet to gain illegal access to the U.S. companies' computers, often by exploiting a known security vulnerability in Windows NT, according to court papers. A "patch" for the vulnerability had been posted on the Microsoft Web site for almost two years, but the companies hit by the cyberbandits hadn't updated their software.
(MSNBC is a Microsoft-NBC joint venture.)
At least one company, Lightrealm Communications of Kirkland, Wash., acceded to a demand that it hire Ivanov as a security consultant after he broke into the Internet service provider's computers, according to court documents. Ivanov then used a Lightrealm account to break into other companies' computers, they indicated.
Eastern Europe and nations of the former Soviet Union have become a hotbed for computer crime aimed at businesses in the United States and other Western nations.
When MSNBC.com first reported on the problem of overseas computer crime in 1999, Mark Batts, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Financial Institution Fraud Unit, said he was not aware of any prosecutions of credit card thieves operating from Eastern Europe and the nations of the former Soviet Union.
http://www.canoe.ca/CNEWSTechNews0105/10_hackers2- ap.html
High-tech net snags hackers
By ALLISON LINN-- The Associated Press
SEATTLE (AP) -- Invita Security Corp. looked like a typical Internet company: It had offices, computers, employees and a secure computer system. The only thing missing was the customers.
Far from being a failed start-up, the aptly named Invita turned out to be a bogus company set up by the FBI to ensnare two young Russians accused of breaking into U.S. Internet companies' computers, stealing sensitive data and trying to extort money.
Authorities say Alexey Ivanov, 21, and Vasily Gorshkov, 25, both of Chelyabinsk, fell for the bait. They were arrested and jailed on charges including conspiracy and fraud and are set for trial May 29 in federal court in Seattle.
The FBI declined to comment. But in recently unsealed court documents that read like a spy novel, agents tell how they snagged the alleged thieves by creating the shell company and inviting Ivanov and Gorshkov to try to hack into it.
After Ivanov and Gorshkov succeeded from afar, FBI agents posing as Invita employees invited the two to Seattle to discuss a partnership and further display their hacking prowess.
As the Russians demonstrated their skills at the shell company, the FBI used a computer eavesdropping technique to reach across the Internet and break into the suspects' own computer system in Russia.
Internet security experts say the case illustrates well how the FBI's cybercrime-fighting abilities have evolved -- though the defense is questioning the legality of the agency's methods.
"What they did was phenomenal. It was exceptionally effective," says Kevin Mandia, who worked for the Air Force office of special investigations and taught FBI courses in hacker attacks before joining the Irvine, Calif., Internet security company Foundstone. "Five years ago they wouldn't be able to do that kind of thing."
Mandia says that the FBI, after being ridiculed as ill-equipped to fight computer crime, has made remarkable progress, including adding a program that has trained more than 1,000 agents in cybercrime.
The FBI believes the Russian suspects or their associates could have been involved in hundreds of crimes against U.S. companies, including Kirkland-based Lightrealm.com, an Internet access company, and Palo Alto, Calif.-based PayPal, an online payment business.
First, the FBI alleges, the hackers broke into computer systems. Then, authorities say, they sent e-mails to company officials demanding payment in exchange for not distributing or destroying sensitive documents including financial records.
After tracking down the suspects over the Internet, the FBI invited them to Seattle in November for the Invita gambit.
Court records show that while Gorshkov was using an Invita computer, the FBI secretly used a "sniffer" program that logs every keystroke a person types.
Using passwords recorded by the "sniffer," the FBI was then able to enter the computers in Russia where Gorshkov kept his data and download immense amounts of information.
In court documents, Gorshkov's lawyer, Kenneth E. Kanev, has challenged the FBI's right to use that material, claiming his client's privacy was invaded because he did not consent to have his computer usage recorded. Kanev contends the FBI should have obtained a search warrant before downloading the information.
The investigators say they were forced to follow this procedure because they needed to secure the incriminating information before the two suspects' Russian counterparts destroyed the data.
The Invita case could define how far U.S. law enforcement can go to catch non-citizens who break into American systems.
"This case is going to resolve a very thorny legal question," says Marc J. Zwillinger, a former Justice Department computer expert now in private practice in Washington.
The case could test the admissibility of evidence obtained through the covert recording of computer keystrokes, a technique the FBI also used in a case against an alleged mobster in New Jersey, Nicodemo S. Scarfo Jr., that is expected to go to trial later this year.
Today's most serious hacker threats come from outside the United States or go through computers abroad. Russian hackers, in particular, have been behind several of the biggest Internet theft cases.
trying to hammer the competition into the ground i'd say ;)
1x - 1 hr 10 mins (total, yes I have had one)
2x - 40 mins (actually something like 38)
4x - 19-20 mins
12x - 7 mins
24x - 5 mins
32x - 4:30 mins
40x - ? (haven't upgraded my drive yet
My point being that as things are right now, IDE hard drives are not quite fast enough even with an 8MB buffer to keep up with the data transfer required (and yes, I am running my 7200 Maxtor 27GB as Primary master, and LG 32X CD-RW as Secondary Master on an Intel 815EEA2 board)
How does overclocking (and possibly destroying the drive mechanism, though rare) really help me burn CD faster? Current software / hardware configs give me no better than 4:30 mins .. (while the 24x gives ~5:20)
I think this is something like the 52x and 60x and 72x CDROM, where the number behind the X stands for MAX ... meaning that with optimal (ideal?) parameters, the drive gives 72x (1x = 150kbps)
I'd much rather stick with my * unmodified * 32x drive, thanks.
Hotmail is case sensitive, but MSN Messenger (Dot-Net Messenger v4.6) is not.
Take slashdot for instance - I can type a 'slash' followed by a 'dot' and get slashdot. Not much use for english words, but I live on the other side of the world (above the tropic of cancer though), and REALLY like to talk in my native language. (which is not bork-bork btw... :)
So I can cut up the native word (as spelt in english) and type it, one section at a time.. saves me anywhere upto 80% of the time I would without T9.
Another cool feature I have is that when I type in a word in normal text, it gets added to an alternate T9 dictionary, which makes life easier, as the next time I need the word, I can T9.
Look at things like this: .. which is the same as the price of a tape (of a similar set of songs).
The people who can afford to buy music can afford to buy music online. The point just is that here, Audio CDs cost somewhere around Rs.500-700 EACH. For the average person who DOES buy music CDs, the income is something like Rs.25K per month.
However, most people would rather use MP3s here (obviously), as the CD Players themselves are quite costly (compared to the salary yada yada).
Now, if this service really catches (and is good, and have a lot of songs, which, as of now, they dont seem to have) I will go for it, as I get a CD, full of __SONGS THAT I WANT__ for Rs.150 max (no more than 15 songs usually fit onto one Audio CD)
Way to go Indiatimes (no URLs, no slashdotting, please)