But this situation is more like a lottery than an increased level of service. Buying a first class ticket will guarantee you a seat in first class and (on United) early boarding. Buying a luggage upgrade will put you in the pile with all the other people that bought a luggage upgrade. What's our recourse if our bags get lost, delayed, or aren't taken off the cart before the regular bags? Can I demand a refund? I wish they'd apply this logic to all their services, just to see how stupid it is. Give us $5 before you get on, and you get a chance to get a box mean. Give us $1, and you may get headphones that work. Swipe your credit card, and the SkyPhone may work. Think about the ads! "I won the right to fly where I wanted to!"
I'm also surprised that no one has mentioned the change in United's overweight baggage policy from a couple years ago. It used to be 80 pounds, like the rest of the industry. Now it's 50. I can pack a large rolling bag that pushes that new limit.
I'd thought about that option: that the telcos were being granted immunity in exchange for testimony. If this is the case, then I'd rather see the administration punished for breaking the FISA laws rather than the telcos punished for breaking the laws. Now I'm not saying that the telcos should be excused for breaking the law, but I think it's more like an organized crime investigation: get testimony from a lower-ranking member in exchange for immunity in order to bring down the heads of the organization.
But what we're complaining about is the fact that we're inconvenienced and still not safe. TSA is only one aspect of the "I've done nothing, I've got nothing to hide" mentality that is prevalent in this country. Since you feel that way, we know who should be a the front of the line for mandatory rectal screenings, once someone swallows something dangerous and gets it through the "security" line.
I agree that 3oz of Anthrax is too much to bring on a plane. However, 12oz of hairspray is fine. To throw out 3oz of anything today, and you didn't do it yesterday, because someone arbitrarily decided that 3.1oz is "not safe" is lunacy.
Here's some news for you: you're going to die. You may live a long life, you may get hit by a car while walking down the street. No one and nothing will ultimately protect you against every bad thing that may happen. I know that, you should too.
But that's assuming that this is an A || !A problem, a "black or white," a "you're with us or against us" set of options. So what happens if $PRESIDENT calmly explains "People of $COUNTRY, today we have had a unique experience. We have become a closer part of the global society. We were attacked not because of any action from the citizenship, but because of the mistakes by me and my predecessors. Many other countries have suffered through this sort of attack, from within and from their enemies. Today we were reminded of the true cost of our freedoms: that we are vulnerable. This attack could have come from any one at any time. But the most important thing we can do is keep on living our lives. We must grieve for those we lost, but we will rebuild and we will move on. So do not forget those we lost, but do not live in fear."
Then let the government deal with weaknesses in the existing security systems (like re-enforcing cockpit doors, for example) and get back to our lives. I like to compare the attacks on the U.S. with the subway bombings in London. It seems to me that as a whole, the English are better equipped to handle Bad Things happening to them and accepting them as part of life.
I'm sure you could find a homeless illiterate paranoid schizophrenic with multiple felony convictions and substance abuse problems who still meets all the Constitutional eligiblity requirements for the Presidency.
Sure you can. He's currently at 1600 Pennsylvania avenue. (Ok, he's not homeless and probably hasn't had multiple felony convictions)
Why continue to confuse people with MORE tlds? Since.org,.com, (ok,.edu and.mil are still pretty well maintained) and.net are basically used interchangable anyway, what benefit are we going to receive from being able to go to www.usps.com versus www.usps.post? This seems like it give more opportunities for domain squatting and lawsuits over similar sites. I wonder if the owners of the the previous domains will get first crack at the new ones anyway, rendering the whole thing pointless and just a big money grab for icann. Oh, wait, I think I just made my own point.
Lets put it differently, what would you call someone who is charged with rape and ordered to donate DNA for investigation and then says NO because it may finger me in previous rapes I commited?
Let's put it differently, if all new immigrants or newborns in this country (bear with me, I'm trying to keep the new car analogy going) were required to submit a sample of DNA for the government to store in case they spit on the sidewalk, would there be a large public outcry?
In case you missed, the point of the parent as I read it was not using the technology to prove guilt, it was the violation of the fifth ammendment (self-incrimination) that was in question. By your logic, it should be OK for Sony to get a law passed requiring everyone to walk around with camcorders strapped to them and always running to prevent people from committing any crime.
Did you retype this same text or did you cut and paste it? We have every right (at the moment) to be pissed that these bills get introduced. They show that our representatives are not representing us or our interests. Introducing a bill like this should be reason enough to vote the author out of office. What possible benefit does Hatch see this providing to his true constituents, a.k.a the people of Utah?
Every buck spent on out of print CD's is a buck they won't get for Brittany.
But this is not the scope of the problem. You forgot option three: buy nothing. If I can't buy what I want, I'm not very inclined to buy something else just for the sake of being a good consumer. Wow, I hope the music executives aren't that bad at economics.
Don't forget that GPS devices can also determine velocity. So it only takes a little more data send during the transmittal and we can all get automated speeding tickets! Now that's a great revenue stream for the local/state police.
Especially for those of us in states with No-Call lists (or possibly the National No-Call list if it ever comes to pass). Opt-out once and you're off the list for good. Oh, wait. These two ideas are probably opposed for the same reason by the telemarketing industy's lobby.
Bah, this is nothing new. When I was in college years ago, the procedure was the following: get (or shoulder-surf) uniquename. Send uniquename to X.500 for phone number/address/favorite drink/etc. Send address to Mapquest = "Oh, hi, I was just passing..."
Better plan: A modest proposal for campaign finance reform. 'Donations' may go to a specific party, but into a general fund for all election-related funds. Period. Anyone running on that party may draw from the fund up to a set limit. This now seperates the money from the receiver. Why would this idea never work? Because both sides (the PACs and officials) both know they are directly buying votes.
Just as independant contractors have specific rules about taking gifts, no elected official may take any direct donation from an interested party. This idea is a little socialist but prevents, say Mr. Bloomberg from running God knows how many dollars worth of ads on his own stations to win an election and Mr. Hollings from being called "The Senator from Disney."
If you can't afford a car, because of collusion and price fixing, is it OK to steal a car from the dealer?
If you see a desire in the market for providing a service for people to share a legally purchased car and create a company that provides this service, is it OK?
Civil disobedience (downloading music) seems to be the most common answer to the problem of the recording and motion picture (and other) monopolies. Now, if you were a government, which would be easier: attempting to stop the disobedience or attempting to fix the reason for the disobedience, especially when the reason has been making large campaign contributions for years?
In light of last week's statements by Philips that copy-protected cd's are not really cd's, I wonder if this cause the RIAA to begin pushing DVD music formats. We won't really mind region-encoded, can't-play-on-your-computer, enhanced-for-your-pleasure music DVDs (for $30 each), will we?
I just can't see the RIAA/MPAA sitting idly by as we start burning DVD's full of music rather than piddly CD's.
Step 1: Forward it to whitehouse.gov and get President Bush to proclaim it an "Attack on the American Way of Life" or something.
Step 2: Get President Bush to fire up some cruise missles and remove said spammer in the name of Homeland Defense. And since most email probably passes through American servers at some point anyone can apply.
If you would pay attention, they are asking for a legal justification to execute a DoS to protect their copyright. So any retaliation will still be illegal.
I've encountered this same idea before, though. When I was six, my big sister used to pick on me trying to provoke me. When I would react, she would cry to my mom and I would get in trouble. They are trying to get us to react so the DMCA and all their other purchased legislation will seem justified. The next step will involve Cue:Cats somehow, I just know it.
I'd love this option on Kazaa. I hate having to kill all the connections that are going to take 10 hours to download. A minimum connection speed for download would be a good addition for the next version (if there will be one).
"We are both shocked and oddly prepared. Sci-fi and other forms of popular culture have been preparing us for this kind of Techno-Armageddon for years. Technology can do all sorts of amazing things, but it can't protect us from a handful of determined people. We've never seen anything like it, yet in a strange way we have thought of it for years."
So showing NYC getting hit by a tidal wave will somehow prepare us for a catastrophic attack that kills thousands? Yes, we may have thought about it for years but almost in a comical light. "Haha, lookit that. That couldn't ever actually happen." But when I saw the video of the second plane hitting the tower I immediately thought of Deep Impact. So what that sci-fi has been preparing us for this possibility? Are we now just supposed to say "Told you so" and act like there was never a building there?
Let me drop a pair of hundred story buildings on you, Jon and we'll see how "oddly prepared" you are. At least show some compassion for the hundreds of thousands who have lost loved ones today.
Slashdot Mirror
But this situation is more like a lottery than an increased level of service. Buying a first class ticket will guarantee you a seat in first class and (on United) early boarding. Buying a luggage upgrade will put you in the pile with all the other people that bought a luggage upgrade. What's our recourse if our bags get lost, delayed, or aren't taken off the cart before the regular bags? Can I demand a refund? I wish they'd apply this logic to all their services, just to see how stupid it is. Give us $5 before you get on, and you get a chance to get a box mean. Give us $1, and you may get headphones that work. Swipe your credit card, and the SkyPhone may work. Think about the ads! "I won the right to fly where I wanted to!"
I'm also surprised that no one has mentioned the change in United's overweight baggage policy from a couple years ago. It used to be 80 pounds, like the rest of the industry. Now it's 50. I can pack a large rolling bag that pushes that new limit.
I'd thought about that option: that the telcos were being granted immunity in exchange for testimony. If this is the case, then I'd rather see the administration punished for breaking the FISA laws rather than the telcos punished for breaking the laws. Now I'm not saying that the telcos should be excused for breaking the law, but I think it's more like an organized crime investigation: get testimony from a lower-ranking member in exchange for immunity in order to bring down the heads of the organization.
But what we're complaining about is the fact that we're inconvenienced and still not safe. TSA is only one aspect of the "I've done nothing, I've got nothing to hide" mentality that is prevalent in this country. Since you feel that way, we know who should be a the front of the line for mandatory rectal screenings, once someone swallows something dangerous and gets it through the "security" line.
I agree that 3oz of Anthrax is too much to bring on a plane. However, 12oz of hairspray is fine. To throw out 3oz of anything today, and you didn't do it yesterday, because someone arbitrarily decided that 3.1oz is "not safe" is lunacy.
Here's some news for you: you're going to die. You may live a long life, you may get hit by a car while walking down the street. No one and nothing will ultimately protect you against every bad thing that may happen. I know that, you should too.
IHBT
But that's assuming that this is an A || !A problem, a "black or white," a "you're with us or against us" set of options. So what happens if $PRESIDENT calmly explains "People of $COUNTRY, today we have had a unique experience. We have become a closer part of the global society. We were attacked not because of any action from the citizenship, but because of the mistakes by me and my predecessors. Many other countries have suffered through this sort of attack, from within and from their enemies. Today we were reminded of the true cost of our freedoms: that we are vulnerable. This attack could have come from any one at any time. But the most important thing we can do is keep on living our lives. We must grieve for those we lost, but we will rebuild and we will move on. So do not forget those we lost, but do not live in fear."
Then let the government deal with weaknesses in the existing security systems (like re-enforcing cockpit doors, for example) and get back to our lives. I like to compare the attacks on the U.S. with the subway bombings in London. It seems to me that as a whole, the English are better equipped to handle Bad Things happening to them and accepting them as part of life.
Why continue to confuse people with MORE tlds? Since .org, .com, (ok, .edu and .mil are still pretty well maintained) and .net are basically used interchangable anyway, what benefit are we going to receive from being able to go to www.usps.com versus www.usps.post? This seems like it give more opportunities for domain squatting and lawsuits over similar sites. I wonder if the owners of the the previous domains will get first crack at the new ones anyway, rendering the whole thing pointless and just a big money grab for icann. Oh, wait, I think I just made my own point.
In case you missed, the point of the parent as I read it was not using the technology to prove guilt, it was the violation of the fifth ammendment (self-incrimination) that was in question. By your logic, it should be OK for Sony to get a law passed requiring everyone to walk around with camcorders strapped to them and always running to prevent people from committing any crime.
We have every right (at the moment) to be pissed that these bills get introduced. They show that our representatives are not representing us or our interests. Introducing a bill like this should be reason enough to vote the author out of office. What possible benefit does Hatch see this providing to his true constituents, a.k.a the people of Utah?
I bet you said the same thing about the DMCA.
Don't forget that GPS devices can also determine velocity. So it only takes a little more data send during the transmittal and we can all get automated speeding tickets! Now that's a great revenue stream for the local/state police.
Yeah, who is enforcing our privacy laws anyway? Oh right, I forgot: the former head of Doubleclick. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/04/16/18 44222&mode=thread&tid=158
Especially for those of us in states with No-Call lists (or possibly the National No-Call list if it ever comes to pass). Opt-out once and you're off the list for good. Oh, wait. These two ideas are probably opposed for the same reason by the telemarketing industy's lobby.
Bah, this is nothing new. When I was in college years ago, the procedure was the following: get (or shoulder-surf) uniquename. Send uniquename to X.500 for phone number/address/favorite drink/etc. Send address to Mapquest = "Oh, hi, I was just passing..."
Better plan: A modest proposal for campaign finance reform. 'Donations' may go to a specific party, but into a general fund for all election-related funds. Period. Anyone running on that party may draw from the fund up to a set limit. This now seperates the money from the receiver. Why would this idea never work? Because both sides (the PACs and officials) both know they are directly buying votes.
Just as independant contractors have specific rules about taking gifts, no elected official may take any direct donation from an interested party. This idea is a little socialist but prevents, say Mr. Bloomberg from running God knows how many dollars worth of ads on his own stations to win an election and Mr. Hollings from being called "The Senator from Disney."
And you don't see the correlation to network tv, radio and McDonalds?
All hail Constantine, I mean Bush!
Civil disobedience (downloading music) seems to be the most common answer to the problem of the recording and motion picture (and other) monopolies. Now, if you were a government, which would be easier: attempting to stop the disobedience or attempting to fix the reason for the disobedience, especially when the reason has been making large campaign contributions for years?
In light of last week's statements by Philips that copy-protected cd's are not really cd's, I wonder if this cause the RIAA to begin pushing DVD music formats. We won't really mind region-encoded, can't-play-on-your-computer, enhanced-for-your-pleasure music DVDs (for $30 each), will we?
I just can't see the RIAA/MPAA sitting idly by as we start burning DVD's full of music rather than piddly CD's.
Step 1: Forward it to whitehouse.gov and get President Bush to proclaim it an "Attack on the American Way of Life" or something.
Step 2: Get President Bush to fire up some cruise missles and remove said spammer in the name of Homeland Defense. And since most email probably passes through American servers at some point anyone can apply.
I see no downside to this approach.
Two intelligent court decisions in one day? I'm going to buy lottery tickets or something.
This is really bad news for William "Wild Bill" Slater XIII, however. Long live Lowtax!
Wow, sign this judge up for any and all upcoming RIAA/MPAA litigation. There just may possibly be hope for us yet.
I'd trade one gravity well for what's behind the curtain.
If you would pay attention, they are asking for a legal justification to execute a DoS to protect their copyright. So any retaliation will still be illegal.
I've encountered this same idea before, though. When I was six, my big sister used to pick on me trying to provoke me. When I would react, she would cry to my mom and I would get in trouble. They are trying to get us to react so the DMCA and all their other purchased legislation will seem justified. The next step will involve Cue:Cats somehow, I just know it.
I'd love this option on Kazaa. I hate having to kill all the connections that are going to take 10 hours to download. A minimum connection speed for download would be a good addition for the next version (if there will be one).
"We are both shocked and oddly prepared. Sci-fi and other forms of popular culture have been preparing us for this kind of Techno-Armageddon for years. Technology can do all sorts of amazing things, but it can't protect us from a handful of determined people. We've never seen anything like it, yet in a strange way we have thought of it for years."
So showing NYC getting hit by a tidal wave will somehow prepare us for a catastrophic attack that kills thousands? Yes, we may have thought about it for years but almost in a comical light. "Haha, lookit that. That couldn't ever actually happen." But when I saw the video of the second plane hitting the tower I immediately thought of Deep Impact. So what that sci-fi has been preparing us for this possibility? Are we now just supposed to say "Told you so" and act like there was never a building there?
Let me drop a pair of hundred story buildings on you, Jon and we'll see how "oddly prepared" you are. At least show some compassion for the hundreds of thousands who have lost loved ones today.