2.5. What prevents important documents from being discarded?
Freenet is not intended to be an eternal archive. Because the system is completely democratic, it does not inherently distinguish between the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights and my kindergarten drawings - documents are scored solely by requests. It is anticipated, however, that the current low cost of storage will make enough storage available to Freenet that documents will only rarely have to be discarded.
Dropping "unpopular information" from the system is not intended to be a form of censorship, merely a way to save disk space by eliminating seldom-requested or never-requested data. As the author indicates, as disk space gets cheaper and as more freenet servers come on line, the need to drop data will diminish.
As a programmer, I would say that I would much rather see a game that I wrote being pirated than to see it be buried and forgotten by some prudish corporation. The knowledge that someone out there is enjoying the product of my hard work is more important to me than whether or not I receive royalties.
However, I can also see the business perspective. Image is everything in the business world, and if you don't want a certain product to be released with your corporate logo on it, that is your prerogative. I've never seen the game you mentioned, but it sounds as though it could draw a lot of criticism from "concerned parents" and/or religious nuts. Most corporations like to avoid negative publicity wherever possible.
All things considered, though, I don't think that what you did was morally or ethically wrong. Just my $0.02.
I agree, RIAA would make less money if they switched to a micropayment system such as 1$ per song. However, the bottom line is they would still make money. If they continue to fight tooth and nail against new distribution systems and stubbornly refuse to adopt and endorse new technologies, then sooner or later they will cease to be profitable.
Therefore, I don't believe a boycott is useless. Quite the opposite, if enough people get together and force RIAA to listen to reason, I believe a boycott could be a positive catalyst for change.
This site has been around since I first started using the internet around 95 or 96. It's a pretty elitist world view, expecting the internet to be reserved for a select few individuals.
Interesting ideas. However, I don't believe that your suggestion of putting two similar monitors next to each other would make any difference. Again, I am not a physicist, but while reading up on this technology I read that each monitor has its own particular frequency, and in fact you can have two monitors of identical make and model sitting next to each other, and it is still possible to clearly delineate between the two using tempest technology, because of minor variations in components that are introduced in the manufacturing process (i.e. no two monitors are *exactly* alike).
> I'm not sure how one could possibly > tap information from the weak signals > coming from the microprocessor, that > sounds nearly impossible,...
Actually, I have read somewhere that it is not only possible to do this, but it is possible to write a virus which, when run on the target machine, could use emanations from the cpu to transmit a message (say, a file on the hard drive) to a listening antenna by making the cpu perform certain instructions. The victim, of course, would have absolutely no way of knowing that any information had actually left the machine (i.e. a network monitor wouldn't even blink at this, because the data isn't going out over any conventional network connection). Incredibly interesting concept, I'd love to know if anyone has ever actually pulled this off. The closest I've seen in real life is one web site (I don't have the exact url but I'm pretty sure it was one of the links on this page) where this guy had written a program to demonstrate this, and had hooked up an antenna to a microphone, recorded the morse-code style sounds coming from the cpu, and put the sound files up for people to download and listen to. The transmission rate was obviously pretty crappy (we're talking a few bits per second at most), but given enough time and effort, it would be very interesting to see what might come out of that kind of research.
Yes, I've heard of similar technology that allows the NSA to spy not only on television sets or monitors, but any electromagnetic emission such as what comes out of a CPU as it's working. This used to be called TEMPEST (transient electromagnetic pulse surveillance technology, or something along those lines), but is now referred to as EMSec (electromagnetic security). There's a guy called Ross Anderson who has an interesting article on how this works and how to defend against it. I'm not a physicist, but as far as I understand the only way to truly prevent someone from remotely eavesdropping on your computer is to build something called a faraday cage around your computer, which is a pretty hard thing to do. Worse, the technology to perform tempest-style eavesdropping is becoming cheaper and more available all the time. This is the ultimate form of spying because it is non-intrusive (i.e. no more sneaking into your target's office or place of residence to plant a microphone or camera, which may be discovered). As such, it is impossible to know if someone is spying on you. The transmission range of the average home computer is (apparently) up to one or two miles in good conditions. Scary stuff. --
The old system of music distribution expects you to show your support for the artist by paying for the CD before you've had a chance to hear all of the songs on it. This is great for one hit wonder bands, because it suckers a lot of people into paying money for cds that are mostly filler.
The new system (not just Napster specifically, but any kind of mp3 distribution) changes this by allowing you to hear all that an artist has to offer before you decide whether or not to show your financial support. This not only allows you to avoid one hit wonders, as you pointed out, but also allows you to branch off from your established musical tastes and experiment in ways that you couldn't before. For example, I've never walked into a music store and paid for a cd from a band I'd never heard of before... I would be running the risk of throwing my money away. However, through mp3 services like Napster or Scour or mp3.com, I've been able to explore and download stuff just to see what it sounds like. This has led me to discover several incredibly talented bands that I otherwise never would have heard of. I then am able to decide which bands I'll support and which ones I won't.
If the recording industry actually cared about its customers, they would be scrambling to embrace the new system and find a way to make it work better (i.e. find a way to allow listeners to quickly and easily pay a reasonable amount of money to the artist). Instead, they whine and cry and slap lawsuits left right and center in a vain attempt to keep the old system alive. Rather than adapting to the changing environment, they are stubbornly trying to force the world to adapt to their model.
> Why is this the first internet virus > that someone with a brain could > actually fall for?
People "with a brain" wouldn't be using such a horribly insecure mail client in the first place. There's a reason you don't hear about exploits like this affecting users of other mail clients such as Netscape Messenger (for example).
This security hole could potentially become a nightmare, but only to those people who use Microsoft's inferior mail software. Microsoft has set back computer security by years. Take these old pieces of virus protection advice:
You can't get a virus simply by reading a message - not true anymore, thanks to Microsoft.
Viruses cannot be contained in plain text messages - also not true anymore, thanks to Microsoft's Windows Scripting Host and lame VBA viruses such as I LOVE YOU.
Virsuses cannot be contained in image files, sound files, video clips, or other file formats, only executable binaries - still technically true, but thanks to Microsoft's "hide extensions of known types" feature, you can see viruses like "innocent_file.jpg.vbs", which appears in Microsoft clients as "innocent_file.jpg". Launching this file will, of course, trigger the virus.
Microsoft needs to admit that Outlook is fatally flawed. Since this will never happen, it's up to people like you and me to educate and inform anyone and everyone. Companies that mandate the use of Outlook or Outlook Express (I used to work for such a company) especially need to be educated.
I'm having a hard time understanding all the excitement regarding Kylix, considering that it is a closed-source, proprietary development tool that will cost an arm and a leg. I've used several Borland development tools for Dos/Win and I've been impressed by them in the past, but I wouldn't consider going out and spending several hundred (or thousand? how much is Kylix anyway?) dollars on a development tool for linux when there are so many free, open source alternatives.
If there are Pascal programmers out there who want to target Linux, I suggest you check out Free Pascal. If you must have a nice, user friendly GUI rather than a straight command line compiler, then I suggest you check out Lazarus, which is an open source version of Delphi for Linux. It's still in the early stages of development, but it is coming along nicely and shows huge potential, IMO. --
Having lived and worked in Calgary most of my life (so far), I'd have to agree that Calgary is a pretty good city for high-tech jobs. However, you fail to mention in your post some of the other benefits of living in Calgary:
Cheap, fast internet access - cable modems and DSL are available from several different providers, and the prices are very competitive
Excellent night life - lots of clubs, bars, and other such hangouts, no matter what your preference is, chances are you'll find it here
Close to the Rocky Mountains - about an hour away from Banff, which is an amazing tourist-type town with some excellent scenery, skiing, and mountain biking available
Miles of bike paths in the city - if running, jogging, roller blading, or cycling is your thing you'll love it here. The city has an extensive network of bike paths that stretch for miles.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, moving to a city just because of the "techie" factor could be a bad decision. It's better to look at the big picture and see what else the city has to offer. I'll agree that the taxes here are pretty harsh, but that's a Canadian thing that isn't specific to this city.
Don't forget PC Speaker! I remember playing old SSI games (ages ago), which used the PC speaker for sound effects. Actually sounded pretty good (at the time). --
I feel sorry for all the owners of existing *.net domains who will now be assumed to be associated with this new Micros~1 product/service.
I just watched Steve Ballmer's media interview, and he discussed all of the upcoming Micros~1.NET services, like MS Office.NET, Visual Studio.NET, and MSN.NET. The strange part about that is, it seems that msoffice.net, ms-office.net, visualstudio.net, and visual-studio.net are all taken. I imagine Micros~1 is going to be filing quite a few lawsuits in the next few months.
Slashdot Mirror
Dropping "unpopular information" from the system is not intended to be a form of censorship, merely a way to save disk space by eliminating seldom-requested or never-requested data. As the author indicates, as disk space gets cheaper and as more freenet servers come on line, the need to drop data will diminish.
--
However, I can also see the business perspective. Image is everything in the business world, and if you don't want a certain product to be released with your corporate logo on it, that is your prerogative. I've never seen the game you mentioned, but it sounds as though it could draw a lot of criticism from "concerned parents" and/or religious nuts. Most corporations like to avoid negative publicity wherever possible.
All things considered, though, I don't think that what you did was morally or ethically wrong. Just my $0.02.
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Therefore, I don't believe a boycott is useless. Quite the opposite, if enough people get together and force RIAA to listen to reason, I believe a boycott could be a positive catalyst for change.
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http://members.tripod.com/chrome_ribbon/
This site has been around since I first started using the internet around 95 or 96. It's a pretty elitist world view, expecting the internet to be reserved for a select few individuals.
--
> I'm not sure how one could possibly ...
> tap information from the weak signals
> coming from the microprocessor, that
> sounds nearly impossible,
Actually, I have read somewhere that it is not only possible to do this, but it is possible to write a virus which, when run on the target machine, could use emanations from the cpu to transmit a message (say, a file on the hard drive) to a listening antenna by making the cpu perform certain instructions. The victim, of course, would have absolutely no way of knowing that any information had actually left the machine (i.e. a network monitor wouldn't even blink at this, because the data isn't going out over any conventional network connection). Incredibly interesting concept, I'd love to know if anyone has ever actually pulled this off. The closest I've seen in real life is one web site (I don't have the exact url but I'm pretty sure it was one of the links on this page) where this guy had written a program to demonstrate this, and had hooked up an antenna to a microphone, recorded the morse-code style sounds coming from the cpu, and put the sound files up for people to download and listen to. The transmission rate was obviously pretty crappy (we're talking a few bits per second at most), but given enough time and effort, it would be very interesting to see what might come out of that kind of research.
--
Yes, I've heard of similar technology that allows the NSA to spy not only on television sets or monitors, but any electromagnetic emission such as what comes out of a CPU as it's working. This used to be called TEMPEST (transient electromagnetic pulse surveillance technology, or something along those lines), but is now referred to as EMSec (electromagnetic security). There's a guy called Ross Anderson who has an interesting article on how this works and how to defend against it. I'm not a physicist, but as far as I understand the only way to truly prevent someone from remotely eavesdropping on your computer is to build something called a faraday cage around your computer, which is a pretty hard thing to do. Worse, the technology to perform tempest-style eavesdropping is becoming cheaper and more available all the time. This is the ultimate form of spying because it is non-intrusive (i.e. no more sneaking into your target's office or place of residence to plant a microphone or camera, which may be discovered). As such, it is impossible to know if someone is spying on you. The transmission range of the average home computer is (apparently) up to one or two miles in good conditions. Scary stuff.
--
The old system of music distribution expects you to show your support for the artist by paying for the CD before you've had a chance to hear all of the songs on it. This is great for one hit wonder bands, because it suckers a lot of people into paying money for cds that are mostly filler.
The new system (not just Napster specifically, but any kind of mp3 distribution) changes this by allowing you to hear all that an artist has to offer before you decide whether or not to show your financial support. This not only allows you to avoid one hit wonders, as you pointed out, but also allows you to branch off from your established musical tastes and experiment in ways that you couldn't before. For example, I've never walked into a music store and paid for a cd from a band I'd never heard of before... I would be running the risk of throwing my money away. However, through mp3 services like Napster or Scour or mp3.com, I've been able to explore and download stuff just to see what it sounds like. This has led me to discover several incredibly talented bands that I otherwise never would have heard of. I then am able to decide which bands I'll support and which ones I won't.
If the recording industry actually cared about its customers, they would be scrambling to embrace the new system and find a way to make it work better (i.e. find a way to allow listeners to quickly and easily pay a reasonable amount of money to the artist). Instead, they whine and cry and slap lawsuits left right and center in a vain attempt to keep the old system alive. Rather than adapting to the changing environment, they are stubbornly trying to force the world to adapt to their model.
Bah, that's my rant for the day.
--
> that someone with a brain could
> actually fall for?
People "with a brain" wouldn't be using such a horribly insecure mail client in the first place. There's a reason you don't hear about exploits like this affecting users of other mail clients such as Netscape Messenger (for example).
This security hole could potentially become a nightmare, but only to those people who use Microsoft's inferior mail software. Microsoft has set back computer security by years. Take these old pieces of virus protection advice:
Microsoft needs to admit that Outlook is fatally flawed. Since this will never happen, it's up to people like you and me to educate and inform anyone and everyone. Companies that mandate the use of Outlook or Outlook Express (I used to work for such a company) especially need to be educated.
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Ban them! Ban them all!
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If there are Pascal programmers out there who want to target Linux, I suggest you check out Free Pascal. If you must have a nice, user friendly GUI rather than a straight command line compiler, then I suggest you check out Lazarus, which is an open source version of Delphi for Linux. It's still in the early stages of development, but it is coming along nicely and shows huge potential, IMO.
--
- Cheap, fast internet access - cable modems and DSL are available from several different providers, and the prices are very competitive
- Excellent night life - lots of clubs, bars, and other such hangouts, no matter what your preference is, chances are you'll find it here
- Close to the Rocky Mountains - about an hour away from Banff, which is an amazing tourist-type town with some excellent scenery, skiing, and mountain biking available
- Miles of bike paths in the city - if running, jogging, roller blading, or cycling is your thing you'll love it here. The city has an extensive network of bike paths that stretch for miles.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, moving to a city just because of the "techie" factor could be a bad decision. It's better to look at the big picture and see what else the city has to offer. I'll agree that the taxes here are pretty harsh, but that's a Canadian thing that isn't specific to this city.Well, whatever, just my two cents.
--
Don't forget PC Speaker! I remember playing old SSI games (ages ago), which used the PC speaker for sound effects. Actually sounded pretty good (at the time).
--
I just watched Steve Ballmer's media interview, and he discussed all of the upcoming Micros~1 .NET services, like MS Office .NET, Visual Studio .NET, and MSN .NET. The strange part about that is, it seems that msoffice.net, ms-office.net, visualstudio.net, and visual-studio.net are all taken. I imagine Micros~1 is going to be filing quite a few lawsuits in the next few months.
--