There's an aweful lot of people missing the point here. To cause trouble for people running their own mail server, they'd need to block INBOUND traffic coming to port 25. That wouldn't stop any of the zombied machines since they're all trying to make OUTBOUND connections going to port 25.
If you block outgoing 25 (thus stopping zombies) what you also accomplish is preventing any of your customers from using anyone else's SMTP server as their outgoing SMTP server. My web host supports TLS encryption which I prefer to use so at least my neighbors aren't reading my mail.
Requiring everyone to use the ISP SMTP server is the wrong solution, and it's a complete pain for laptops. I can take my laptop anywhere, plug it in, and know that I can send mail (using authenticated SMTP) through mail.myhost.com. If everybody starts blocking OUTBOUND 25, then whereever I plugin my laptop, I need to ask, "Hey, what's your SMTP server???" A very poor solution to the problem.
Block 25 for known zombies or just disconnect them completely. When they call ("My Internet's broken!") let 'em know they've gotta patch their box and get some antivirus software (and stop clicking on those damn attachments!!!) before they get their pr0n0 feed turned back on.
Greeaaaaaaaat.... So everybody who tries to use their web host's mail server for sending mail on their hosted domains is S-O-L then, right?
The idea that ISP's can wholesale block their customers' ports whenever they want to really pisses me off. If you've got a zombied PC, they should block you till you get it cleaned up, but please don't punsish the people who either use secure OS's or at least keep Windows properly patched!
As for privacy, my web host supports SMTP/TLS (which I use), so at least my neighbors aren't sniffing my password over the cable or WiFi connection. Hell.... According to the diagnostics in my cable modem, my ISP (not Comcast) hasn't even turned on DOCSIS encryption.
Granted I can always SSH tunnel into work if I really need to, but still...
> > Breaking a contract is not necissarily illegal > > Yes, it is. We even have a term for it: "breach of contract."
No it's not. We have this other term: "unlawful contract." If you signed a contract to be someone's slave and then tried to back out of the contract, you'd have no problem getting out of it. Any contract agreeing to human slavery is illegal on its face.
There's this other law called Copyright which gives you (the consumer) certain RIGHTS to COPY creative works under certain limited circumstances (collectively referred to as FAIR USE).
IANAL, but it's my present understanding that any clause in a contract which attempts to deprive you of your fair use rights would be found unenforcable.
Format shifting is considered fair use. Format shifting includes taping CD's to play in your car. While I'm not aware of any legal tests at this point, I see no reason why format shifting should not also include transcoding / decrypting digital content to play on devices which you own which would otherwise be incapable of playing the content.
Remember: Just because the EULA says one thing and you click OK, that doesn't mean that every single line in the EULA is legal Gospel. That's why they include the clauses that say something like, "If any part of this agreement is found to be unenforceable, the rest of the agreement will remain in force without the unenforceable section(s)."
And as previous posters have mentioned, no one's even really tested click-wrap in court, so it's hardly a given than any part of the EULA is binding.
How 'bout your undieing love, affection, loyalty, honesty, and devotion?
If she thinks a lump of crystalized dinosaur poop on her finger is somehow proof of all that, maybe spending the money on a competent councilor would be better use.
It sounds less like doing "funny things for love," and more like doing funny things to appear the consumerism of a border-line princess.
The previous poster was right on. Starting out your relationship in debt because she wants a rock is just plain silly. Spend the money on making a stable home to live in.
And for the record, I've had the same female companion for three years. No dino poop required to prove my love.
And really... If Slashdot'ers think Microsoft/RIAA/MPAA/etc. are evil corporate empires, you should spend a little time researching the atrocities perpetrated by the diamond cartels. They're not very nice people!
There *IS* a way to make iTMS purchases play on Tivo and any other player you might have -- it's called PlayFair (or any of the other DRM stripping apps).
Without DRM, there would be no technological reason that all of your iTunes tracks couldn't be played on Tivo, et al.
DRM reduces your rights to use works you have paid money for, and you get nothing in return.
U.S. Copyright law says you have an absolute fair use right to format-convert in order to play content on your own equipment. DRM says otherwise. One of them's gotta go.
Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but copyright will always protect me.
Dude... Do you have any idea how much your post conflicts with your.sig???
Copyright SHOULD protect you, but DRM takes away fair use rights. And when they break the programs that restore your rights to you, you say more power to 'em?
Dammit... Why do I never have mod points when something really important shows up???
Would somebody please mod the parent up about 5 points, PLEASE???? This is EXACTLY what's wrong with allowing DRM "Agreements" to trample your RIGHTS granted under the US copyright laws.
All the various 3rd party ICQ/MSN/AIM/Yahoo clients have to go through the same thing to make their software work.
Reverse engineering for purposes of interoperability is generally considered okay. Remember the Lexmark printer ink-chip and the "DMCA violating" garage door openers? Judges in both cases said no laws were broken. This should't be any different.
I think the next time I have to re-activate DVDXcopy because I've upgraded my hardware (again), I'm just going to "activate it myself". Another effort to take back some of the rights we are entitle to when we buy a product.
I always loved the irony of a product whose primary purpose is to duplicate copyrighted material and circumvent and anti-copying device that uses software activation that's arguably more of a pain than M$...
These are rural farming areas. They're not starving. Most of South East Asia has rich soil (or marsh land) for growing rice, soy, and whatever else they may need to eat. Compare that to parts of Africa where people ARE starving because they're in the middle of a desert where food crops won't grow.
Adding effective global communication to the mix allows farmers to market their crops more effectively in a global market. It gives them access to weather forcasts and allows them to plan what to grow, etc. It allows semi-skilled medical staff in the villages to communicate with expert physicians for help with more difficult cases.
This project does all of those things in the context of village schools where students are presumably taught all sorts of useful things.
Rapid long distance communication was largely responsible for tranforming the US from a rural farming economy to industrial, tech, and other more profitable means of making a living. The areas served by this system are probably quite similar to the US in the late 1800's in a lot of ways. Adding rapid communication may well aide them in building their own infrastruture for future development.
And you've got to admit... Packet motorcycle is just brilliant!
I dunno about the spectrum licensing in Cambodia, but that could be a problem. It's also something of a rain forrest, so any line-of-sight system is out. Granted tropospheric scatter doesn't need line-of-sight.
Another important element of the system is the medical uses. Take a picture of some hideous rash & send it to the doc's to see what it is. That can't work without two-way connections.
The bike is probably carying something very much like a small laptop, perhaps without a screen. Even with a modest hard drive (couple of gigs, running Linux), one bike could carry millions of messages with no trouble.
Try carrying even a thousand postcards on the back of a Honda.
I'd be willing to bet that most of the computer hardware is fairly out-dated donated stuff that they got for free. There's tons of businesses looking for a way to unload old Pentium's, but not too many that have extra radio equipment laying around for the asking.
For what it's worth... At least some cable providers don't even give you a SLA when you buy their "business class" plan.
In my neck of the woods, they'll happily charge you extra for a "business" connection, but you get exactly dick for your extra money. Even if you just want static IP, you have to pay for "business" PLUS extra for the static IP. And if it goes out three times a week? Oh well... Sorry... "Services are provided on a best-effort basis only."
Customers who attempt to determine the "then current bandwidth... limitations" through any official channels seem to fail. I should think that would tend to increase the chances of those customers successfully proving fraud. You can't reference some figure in a legal document and then refuse to disclose that figure freely to anyone who should ask.
I mean... If it went something like this:
"Use of the Comcast network infrastructure is subject to payment of the then current monthly access fees."
That's true... Never thought of it quite like that, but to be fair, you could easily replace "corporation" with "well funded entity" in my previous post.
That said, I can't think of any cases of an individual attempting to abuse existing IP law and influence the creation of new and even more abusive IP law. Must be at least a few cases I'm not aware of, though.
I did thrash a bit harshly on the anti-corporate theme in my previous post, but of course I have nothing against corporations per se. What really gets me is anyone who's willing to trample Constitutional rights and disregard the basic liberties of others just to get a little more money or power. That ire applies as much to malevolent "well funded entities" as it does to politicians and appointed officials.
But now we're moving from a story about a bad patent to airing my opinions of Bush & Ashcroft. I'll stop now before the tinfoil hats start popping up...
Behind every "corporate interest" is an individual or collection of individuals
Very true, but the problem begins when the US system is abused. Elections cost money and litigation more so. In general large corporations have far more money at their disposal than do smaller companies and individuals.
The intent of the US system of representative government is that each individual should have an equal say in governmental proceedings. The inbalance of money of corporations versus individuals compromises that goal to the point that a very few (boards of corporations) can disproportionately influence law making. That influence is often used to push through legislation that greatly favors the influential corporations in matters of Intelectual Property while necessarily eroding the rights of the unwashed masses whose rights, by virtue of Majority, should trump those of the corporations.
Even in cases where the law does not necessarily favor the large corporation, the power of the law suit often prevents lesser-funded entities from exercising the rights they do have for fear of being sued into oblivion by well funded adversaries.
I believe that both the US legal system and its copyright, patent, and other IP laws are horribly flawed. Alas, not knowing how to fix them myself, what more can I do that mount my soapbox on/.?
There's nothing sinister about photocopiers not copying currency. I've read in the past that the paper and/or its coatings (at least for US currency) are designed to absorb light in the spectrum that photocopiers use. If nothing gets reflected by the money back to the copier, the copier just sees black.
Your run of the mill photocopier doesn't have the smarts to do that kind of image analysis processing (yet).
Now... I'm waiting for some graphic artist types to start filing suit on First Ammendment grounds. But seeing as we're well on our way to destroying that, who knows...
Slashdot Mirror
There's an aweful lot of people missing the point here. To cause trouble for people running their own mail server, they'd need to block INBOUND traffic coming to port 25. That wouldn't stop any of the zombied machines since they're all trying to make OUTBOUND connections going to port 25.
If you block outgoing 25 (thus stopping zombies) what you also accomplish is preventing any of your customers from using anyone else's SMTP server as their outgoing SMTP server. My web host supports TLS encryption which I prefer to use so at least my neighbors aren't reading my mail.
Requiring everyone to use the ISP SMTP server is the wrong solution, and it's a complete pain for laptops. I can take my laptop anywhere, plug it in, and know that I can send mail (using authenticated SMTP) through mail.myhost.com. If everybody starts blocking OUTBOUND 25, then whereever I plugin my laptop, I need to ask, "Hey, what's your SMTP server???" A very poor solution to the problem.
Block 25 for known zombies or just disconnect them completely. When they call ("My Internet's broken!") let 'em know they've gotta patch their box and get some antivirus software (and stop clicking on those damn attachments!!!) before they get their pr0n0 feed turned back on.
Greeaaaaaaaat.... So everybody who tries to use their web host's mail server for sending mail on their hosted domains is S-O-L then, right?
The idea that ISP's can wholesale block their customers' ports whenever they want to really pisses me off. If you've got a zombied PC, they should block you till you get it cleaned up, but please don't punsish the people who either use secure OS's or at least keep Windows properly patched!
As for privacy, my web host supports SMTP/TLS (which I use), so at least my neighbors aren't sniffing my password over the cable or WiFi connection. Hell.... According to the diagnostics in my cable modem, my ISP (not Comcast) hasn't even turned on DOCSIS encryption.
Granted I can always SSH tunnel into work if I really need to, but still...
> > Breaking a contract is not necissarily illegal
>
> Yes, it is. We even have a term for it: "breach of contract."
No it's not. We have this other term: "unlawful contract." If you signed a contract to be someone's slave and then tried to back out of the contract, you'd have no problem getting out of it. Any contract agreeing to human slavery is illegal on its face.
There's this other law called Copyright which gives you (the consumer) certain RIGHTS to COPY creative works under certain limited circumstances (collectively referred to as FAIR USE).
IANAL, but it's my present understanding that any clause in a contract which attempts to deprive you of your fair use rights would be found unenforcable.
Format shifting is considered fair use. Format shifting includes taping CD's to play in your car. While I'm not aware of any legal tests at this point, I see no reason why format shifting should not also include transcoding / decrypting digital content to play on devices which you own which would otherwise be incapable of playing the content.
Remember: Just because the EULA says one thing and you click OK, that doesn't mean that every single line in the EULA is legal Gospel. That's why they include the clauses that say something like, "If any part of this agreement is found to be unenforceable, the rest of the agreement will remain in force without the unenforceable section(s)."
And as previous posters have mentioned, no one's even really tested click-wrap in court, so it's hardly a given than any part of the EULA is binding.
How 'bout your undieing love, affection, loyalty, honesty, and devotion?
If she thinks a lump of crystalized dinosaur poop on her finger is somehow proof of all that, maybe spending the money on a competent councilor would be better use.
It sounds less like doing "funny things for love," and more like doing funny things to appear the consumerism of a border-line princess.
The previous poster was right on. Starting out your relationship in debt because she wants a rock is just plain silly. Spend the money on making a stable home to live in.
And for the record, I've had the same female companion for three years. No dino poop required to prove my love.
And really... If Slashdot'ers think Microsoft/RIAA/MPAA/etc. are evil corporate empires, you should spend a little time researching the atrocities perpetrated by the diamond cartels. They're not very nice people!
There *IS* a way to make iTMS purchases play on Tivo and any other player you might have -- it's called PlayFair (or any of the other DRM stripping apps).
Without DRM, there would be no technological reason that all of your iTunes tracks couldn't be played on Tivo, et al.
DRM reduces your rights to use works you have paid money for, and you get nothing in return.
U.S. Copyright law says you have an absolute fair use right to format-convert in order to play content on your own equipment. DRM says otherwise. One of them's gotta go.
Dammit... Why do I never have mod points when something really important shows up???
Would somebody please mod the parent up about 5 points, PLEASE???? This is EXACTLY what's wrong with allowing DRM "Agreements" to trample your RIGHTS granted under the US copyright laws.
All the various 3rd party ICQ/MSN/AIM/Yahoo clients have to go through the same thing to make their software work.
Reverse engineering for purposes of interoperability is generally considered okay. Remember the Lexmark printer ink-chip and the "DMCA violating" garage door openers? Judges in both cases said no laws were broken. This should't be any different.
... is to inforce it religiously.
Go to town! There more than enough money at stake for Florida businesses to spend the money to get rid of this.
I always loved the irony of a product whose primary purpose is to duplicate copyrighted material and circumvent and anti-copying device that uses software activation that's arguably more of a pain than M$...
I think you're kind of missing the point...
These are rural farming areas. They're not starving. Most of South East Asia has rich soil (or marsh land) for growing rice, soy, and whatever else they may need to eat. Compare that to parts of Africa where people ARE starving because they're in the middle of a desert where food crops won't grow.
Adding effective global communication to the mix allows farmers to market their crops more effectively in a global market. It gives them access to weather forcasts and allows them to plan what to grow, etc. It allows semi-skilled medical staff in the villages to communicate with expert physicians for help with more difficult cases.
This project does all of those things in the context of village schools where students are presumably taught all sorts of useful things.
Rapid long distance communication was largely responsible for tranforming the US from a rural farming economy to industrial, tech, and other more profitable means of making a living. The areas served by this system are probably quite similar to the US in the late 1800's in a lot of ways. Adding rapid communication may well aide them in building their own infrastruture for future development.
And you've got to admit... Packet motorcycle is just brilliant!
I dunno about the spectrum licensing in Cambodia, but that could be a problem. It's also something of a rain forrest, so any line-of-sight system is out. Granted tropospheric scatter doesn't need line-of-sight.
Another important element of the system is the medical uses. Take a picture of some hideous rash & send it to the doc's to see what it is. That can't work without two-way connections.
The bike is probably carying something very much like a small laptop, perhaps without a screen. Even with a modest hard drive (couple of gigs, running Linux), one bike could carry millions of messages with no trouble.
Try carrying even a thousand postcards on the back of a Honda.
I'd be willing to bet that most of the computer hardware is fairly out-dated donated stuff that they got for free. There's tons of businesses looking for a way to unload old Pentium's, but not too many that have extra radio equipment laying around for the asking.
Works the same way as sending mail to the styx in the US. Users don't need to have a dedicated incoming address.
To: postmaster@somevillage
Subject: ATTN: Whoever
The message will get to the right person the next time they happen to drop in to the post office to check their mail.
For what it's worth... At least some cable providers don't even give you a SLA when you buy their "business class" plan.
In my neck of the woods, they'll happily charge you extra for a "business" connection, but you get exactly dick for your extra money. Even if you just want static IP, you have to pay for "business" PLUS extra for the static IP. And if it goes out three times a week? Oh well... Sorry... "Services are provided on a best-effort basis only."
Customers who attempt to determine the "then current bandwidth ... limitations" through any official channels seem to fail. I should think that would tend to increase the chances of those customers successfully proving fraud. You can't reference some figure in a legal document and then refuse to disclose that figure freely to anyone who should ask.
I mean... If it went something like this:
"Use of the Comcast network infrastructure is subject to payment of the then current monthly access fees."
"What's the monthly access fee?"
"We're not tellin'!"
Is there any question THAT would be fraud?
That's true... Never thought of it quite like that, but to be fair, you could easily replace "corporation" with "well funded entity" in my previous post.
That said, I can't think of any cases of an individual attempting to abuse existing IP law and influence the creation of new and even more abusive IP law. Must be at least a few cases I'm not aware of, though.
I did thrash a bit harshly on the anti-corporate theme in my previous post, but of course I have nothing against corporations per se. What really gets me is anyone who's willing to trample Constitutional rights and disregard the basic liberties of others just to get a little more money or power. That ire applies as much to malevolent "well funded entities" as it does to politicians and appointed officials.
But now we're moving from a story about a bad patent to airing my opinions of Bush & Ashcroft. I'll stop now before the tinfoil hats start popping up...
Behind every "corporate interest" is an individual or collection of individuals
Very true, but the problem begins when the US system is abused. Elections cost money and litigation more so. In general large corporations have far more money at their disposal than do smaller companies and individuals.
The intent of the US system of representative government is that each individual should have an equal say in governmental proceedings. The inbalance of money of corporations versus individuals compromises that goal to the point that a very few (boards of corporations) can disproportionately influence law making. That influence is often used to push through legislation that greatly favors the influential corporations in matters of Intelectual Property while necessarily eroding the rights of the unwashed masses whose rights, by virtue of Majority, should trump those of the corporations.
Even in cases where the law does not necessarily favor the large corporation, the power of the law suit often prevents lesser-funded entities from exercising the rights they do have for fear of being sued into oblivion by well funded adversaries.
I believe that both the US legal system and its copyright, patent, and other IP laws are horribly flawed. Alas, not knowing how to fix them myself, what more can I do that mount my soapbox on /.?
(It's my first time. Please be gentle.)
There's nothing sinister about photocopiers not copying currency. I've read in the past that the paper and/or its coatings (at least for US currency) are designed to absorb light in the spectrum that photocopiers use. If nothing gets reflected by the money back to the copier, the copier just sees black.
Your run of the mill photocopier doesn't have the smarts to do that kind of image analysis processing (yet).
Now... I'm waiting for some graphic artist types to start filing suit on First Ammendment grounds. But seeing as we're well on our way to destroying that, who knows...