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User: mindstrm

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  1. Re:Of course it was irresponsible on Controversy Surrounds Huge IE Hole · · Score: 1

    Because those of us with common sense don't excuse the socially irresponsible just because something could have been prevented.

    If you break into my house and steal all my cool shit, should I let you off the hook just because my roommate forgot to lock the door?

  2. Okay. on DMCA bad for Apple Users · · Score: 2, Informative

    The Cable TV Company in Victoria, British Columbia, started doing some questionable billing practices; they upgraded everyone's package for 'free' for a few months, then started billing them if they didn't call in and request NOT to be upgraded.
    This was later deemed illegal.. however.... well before this happened...
    there was a cable revolt. Thousands of people called in and cancelled their cable. It took a week or two before the company buckled and said it would no longer use this method of marketing because "their customers have spoken"

    That is voting with your money.

    Voting with your money WORKS, but it has to be enough people. If only 5% "vote" against something... that's far from majority, so the company won't care.

  3. Let's get something straight. on DMCA bad for Apple Users · · Score: 1

    Tobacco companies BLATANTLY LIED about the health risks of tobacco for YEARS. THey lied in front of congress, they lied in court, and they lied to all the people who they were selling cigarettes to. AT the same time they KNEW they were causing cancer, they were telling people cigarettes were HEALTHY and GOOD FOR YOU.

    The big tobacco lawsuits you see now are not so much about how cigarettes are sold now, but about what led up to now.

    Gun manufactueres.. this is not as clear cut.... but to say that they should have none of the blame is rediculous; where do they think all their weapons of death go? many of them KNOW that their guns are ending up with gangs and kids, and they DO NOT CARE. That's negligence.

  4. Well, that was the parent's point. on DMCA bad for Apple Users · · Score: 2

    They have the right because they are free to develop whatever technical means they like. If they want to make it difficult for you to do something, more power to them.

    The part of all of this that is BAD is the dmca providing legal protection for anyone on the other side of the fence.

    The parent's description of the Satellite TV wars is a perfect example. You can pirate satellite TV if you want, but it's a constant battle between engineers and hackers (heh, what's the difference)

  5. So.. on Black Ops of TCP/IP: Paketto Keiretsu 1.0 Release · · Score: 1

    why not mention those 3 commercial products? Provide some enlightenment here instead of just saying "no big deal"

    The point isn't that he can send raw packets, it's that he can send them in a useful, simple way.

  6. Re:4 Sec? on Black Ops of TCP/IP: Paketto Keiretsu 1.0 Release · · Score: 1

    Keep in mind it probably used some feature of that network that worked via multicast/broadcast. I'm sure it didn't simply scan 2^16 hosts individually.

  7. Re:Now we just need.. on Supercomputer To Use Optical Router · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Actually, what we need is a large broadcast multimode fiber network with tunable transmitters and receivers, no switching involved.

    As a paper I once read.. I think it was called "The Fibersphere".

    Switching is simply a hack to get around a lack of bandwidth.

    The concept is that if we have this large, broadcast fiber network, and tunable receivers sensitive enough, everyone could transmit and receive on the same thing, and talk to anyone else. Tuning in to the right signal is all that would be required... just like RF in the atmosphere.. but with much, much higher bandwidth.

    Problem? WE don't have tunable laser emitters yet.

  8. Re:No you're confused on Supercomputer To Use Optical Router · · Score: 1

    That is true.. but electrical signals in copper go a lot faster than .1c.. they go very near the speed of light. 2/3, more, who knows.. but certainly a lot more than 1/10.

  9. Re:Faster than light is possible, still experiment on Supercomputer To Use Optical Router · · Score: 4, Informative

    The experiment you reference does NOT show information travelling faster than light.. as is explained in the article.

    The waveform appears to exit the apparatus before it enters, but this is not so under scrutiny... as the article says, the beginning of the wave enters the glass (long before the peak) and there is enough information there to re-create the original wave.

    There are several phenomenon that appear at first to be superluminal, but they do not violate relativity, and are not actually moving anything faster than light, nor are they transmitting information.

  10. Re:When Apples Introduces DRM... on Movielink Snubs DRM-less Macs · · Score: 1

    And the missing attribute in this case is this: ease of reproduction.

    It takes a fair amount of resources to copy that book. Time, effort, materials, printing, etctera. You could use a photocopier, but ultimately it's probably cheaper to buy a box full of discounted books from a publisher.

    People still buy books instead of copying them because copying is expensive, and inconvenient compared to just going to the store.
    Of course, when it comes to expensive textbooks, we do see more copying... because it's worth the effort to some.

    With pure digital media, the effort and time taken to make copies is reduced to zero. Books are a pain in the ass, but do you know how many digital books you can fit, compressed, on one CD? Thousands. Why isn't book piracy more popular? Because poeple don't like to read on their computer, and because it takes quite a bit of time and effor to get the book into digital form.

  11. I get a kick out of this. on Movielink Snubs DRM-less Macs · · Score: 2

    DivX is unwatchable. That's why it's so popular I guess.

    We all know DIVX is not the same high quality as a DVD. We know this right away because of the really tiny size compared to DVD.

    I don't know about you.. but I watch movies to get a laugh, to hang out with friends, and to just generally see something new; I don't do it so I can hear and see very tiny spec of detail in the movie, so I can critique how "good" my home theater is.

    I've had several movie parties driven by divx.. and the room full of laughing, joking, relaxed people watching that new movie that just came out on the little 24" TV in my house tells me DIVX is just fine.

  12. Re:Some things on As the Spam Turns · · Score: 1

    What you are missing in your ideal world..
    is that you have made a conscious decision to use devices with no access control. If your friend calls you, but you don't want to talk, has he stolen from you? Whta if someone calls you every 20 minutes while you aren't home, have they stolen from you as well?

    By forwarding your calls to your cellular phone, YOU are accepting that any call will be transferred; there are rules about telemarketing to cellular phones, but it is unrealistic to expect a telemarketer, who CALLED A LANDLINE, IN ACCORDANCE WITH REGULATIONS, to know that your cellular phone is on the other end.

  13. Right. on As the Spam Turns · · Score: 1

    But the organisation, as a whole, needs to change it's policies. Blocking just the end user address space would prevent spam, but not have a great effect on verio.

    Blocking all of verios customers, so that they take action, is another.

  14. Re:A temporary fix on As the Spam Turns · · Score: 1

    Yes, money talks.
    And nobody owns the internet.

    Blocking verio helps because, when verio customers get angry, and leave, verio loses money. Hence, verio has a financial incentive to fix things.

    You can apply financial pressure to people by taking away their money, as well as spending your own.

    Yes, the spammers can go elsehwere, and eventually, the number of places that will deal with them will be small enough that they can simply be barred. Nobody will want to peer with them with their policies.

  15. Re:There ought to be a law... on As the Spam Turns · · Score: 1

    And unless you can show real significant damages, and a real misconduct, you will have no case.
    Spam is in most cases not illegal.

    As much as poeple like to say how it's stealing their time, and how the receiver pays for it.. unless you can show how it really cost you a decent amount of money, you have no case.

    If you received, say, hundreds or thousands of spams in one day from one individual, yes, you could argue that was irresponsible and cost you a great deal of time to sort out.

    Which misconduct is it? The isp is under no obligation NOT to allow spammers unless they choose to.

  16. Re:There ought to be a law... on As the Spam Turns · · Score: 1

    Guess what. Spam in most cases it NOT illegal.
    And it's only an abuse of the terms of service if those terms specify that SPAM is not allowed.

    Guess waht.. I'm sure Worldcom's peering agreements with it's cousins up there in backbone-land don't say anything about spam.

    If I have my own network, and you want to peer with me, it is up to the two of us, and NOBODY ELSE, what the terms of that agreement are going to be.

    Some ISPs sell connections to spammers, knowingly and outright.. because they are paying customers, and because they can.

  17. What is this hostage situation you speak of? on Cell Phone Service Degenerates Further · · Score: 2

    I mean, did you buy the phone at full price, or did you buy it for really cheap or free when you signed a contract?
    How can you complain that you are being "held hostage" by your provider? You are ABSOLUTELY free to buy your own phone outright and activate it where you want.

    Hmm. Did I just dream trapsing around europe and buying phone cards in whatever country I wanted a phone number in? Did I just buy those cards at the corner store? Yup. I did.

    Buy your phone outright,and you won't be held hostage.

  18. Ahh. on Helping Your Ex-Employer? · · Score: 1

    Then I most humbly apologize for assuming you were out of line.

  19. Re:my story, or how I didn't get sued on my birthd on Helping Your Ex-Employer? · · Score: 2, Informative

    The thing is.. you were very clearly in the right. You could have countersued.

    If they didn't pay you for the work, you don't owe them the finished product. You don't even need a lawyer to explain that to a judge.

  20. bad attitude. on Helping Your Ex-Employer? · · Score: 1

    Doing poorly documented hacks that it's difficult for the next guy to pick up on is not something to be proud of.

    You are bang on with your consulting fee... but saying you can't wait until it happens again is almost malicious.
    A better solution would be for you to tell them, as you should have earlier, that there are some non-standard things you've done, and that it would be best if you could sit down for a few hours with someone and walk them through your customizations. Get them to pay you for this. That way they are aware of the problem, as they should be, and you have acted responsibly.

  21. To those who are new... on Helping Your Ex-Employer? · · Score: 2

    it might help to remember this:
    No matter how much you feel like that network is your baby, your creation, and no matter how well you know it... it's not yours, and you are only responsible for it because they are PAYING you to be responsible for it.

    If you leave, you are no longer responsible.
    Now, if you leave to another bigger, better job, and things are going well for you, and you have no hard feelings, and the new guy calls up with a simple question or two... answering it for free is not wrong; that's just being a good person.. keeping your doors open.
    If they want actual labor from you, make them pay. If you feel the need to be generous, give them a reduced rate.

    On the other hand, if they terminated your employment.. fired or laid off, you should NOT answer any questions. You should flatly point out that your responsibility for their system ended the moment you were fired, and that you are not really interested in helping them out.

  22. Re:Here�s my story.... on Helping Your Ex-Employer? · · Score: 1

    Probalby cause your former boss told his boss, after canning you, that you left suddenly for no reason and that's why he wasn't delivering.

  23. Just remember this.. on Helping Your Ex-Employer? · · Score: 1

    Business is business. Don't feel bad about saying "I can help you, but it's going to cost you". Don't feel bad at all.. because if you don't do it, they will pay someone else and arm and a leg to do it.

    Ask for a lot. If they think it's not much, point out that you can probably fix it in half the time that some other outfit could because you are familiar with it, so they'll end up paying the same, and having it fixed that much faster.

    There are some former employers whom I would do a favor for, only because they have done me favors in the past. There are others who I would not help out unless the money was large.

  24. Re:what about? on Radio Waves Employed in Space Construction · · Score: 1

    OR won't move at all... every action has an equal and opposite reaction... with regards to energy involved.

    Radio transmission doesn't tend to move the satellite. RF energy being absorbed by some rock and having some surface debris boiled off into space DOES.

  25. Re:802.11b - learn the truth on Four Simultaneous Access Points OK for 802.11b · · Score: 5, Informative

    You are talking about the 2.4Ghz ISM band in general, not 802.11b.

    You say they use 100% of the spectrum. According to any regulations on ISM spectrum use I've ever heard, that's illegal. For the same reason, you can't time-sychronize a bunch of fhss transmitters to use the entire spectrum, as they would be classified collectively as a single device.
    If you mean it uses FHSS and hops around the entire spectrum, that's different than using the entire spectrum (I'm sure you know that but readers might not.). In FHSS,you set different transmitters to use different hopping patterns, so that interference is minimised.

    The 2.4Ghz ism band is used for lots of things, and many of them can interfere with each other, including leakage from your microwave oven.