I think you hit the nail on the head. It is the intent of the encryption application's author that is the key to determining what purpose the software is "intended" for. Unfortunately, I haven't found the actual full bill text of that amendment which defines what intent is prohibited and what is allowed. News reporters sometimes have the unintended tendency to manipulate the meaning of an original document by only including bits and pieces of it. Nonetheless, just the idea of regulating a programmer's intent is curious.
For one, determining the intent or original purpose of encryption software is a messy, ambiguous world. For example, what criminal in their right mind would deliberately define their software as something for "penetrating and destroying national security defenses" or "exploiting and exporting child pornography"? The obvious implications are a very difficult and treacherous road to defining an author's intent.
Secondly, what situation would we run into if for instance if a programmer unknowingly created an encryption application that was especially fast at encrypting 16 bit JPEG's (a semi- to hi-quality photo realistic image format), and made the picture 3/4 of its original size so that it became easier to transport via network or floppy? If such a hypothetical program, no matter how unlikely, appeared in the market it may just become the preferred vehicle for digital pornography (child or not) on the Internet. Possibly similar to the way MP3's have become the poster child for electronic piracy. If the programmer's intent was benevolent, say encrypting gnome applets, but it becomes a common criminal tool should the software still be allowed under this amendment? As was defined by ninjaz, a car is for people, and a wheelbarrow is for dirt. Regardless, this situation seems sticky, but until the entire amendment is read it is too early to pass judgment.
This service seems a bit like digital music available through major television cable companies. The idea is that you either install a new radio all together in your car, or you can just buy an attenna adapter that will let you use your existing radio. It's not the "free" radio that most of us are use to, where anytime you want you can tune in to any particular channel. Instead, there is a subscription fee ( $9.95 US for the CD Radio service), and supposedly this covers the revenues that commericial radio creates. Thus, commercial-free radio at a price.
Both CD Radio and XL offer 100 different "stations" respectively, with CD Radio dividing it nicely, 50 for news, 50 for music. Both companies have already produced primitive station lineups already: XL Radio and CD Radio.
Even though I have no direct evidence, I imagine many of the stations to be similar to National Public Radio (NPR) in their broadcast procedure. NPR reports news that is broadcast all over the nation, so reporting local events or weather is ineffecient for every single area around the country. Instead, NPR gives regional broadcasters space within the nation-wide program (anywhere from 5 to 60 minutes) to report local news, sports scores, and weather. If the new satellite radio companies really expect people to give up their old radios for the new deal, then they'll probably come up with a system similar to NPR's. The logistics of such an endeavour are beyond the scope of my knowledge.
If you want to get more news on the new technology straight from the horses' mouths check out both companies' websites at:
I'm not really up to date on what Raster's feelings are regarding Gnome. I do know that they work wonderfully together under Redhat and I wonder if Raster's split from RH will hamper the Gnome/Enlightenment relationship. From what I read in his departure recap I felt some vibes like the gnome-enlightenment partnership was one of Redhat's ambitions and not necesarrily one of his own. Does anyone know more about Enlightenment's future plan with Gnome and if they have changed at all with Raster's resignation?
I am really suprised by Katz and Taco's reviews of Matrix. I just saw it tonight, and I couldn't help myself from laughing at it. I thought I would give it a report card, since I seem to be the only one that thought it was bad.
Plot: B- Reason: I have to disagree with Katz... the movie repeatedly tries to explain what the Matrix is, and what the heck is going on. The movie isn't intended anymore for geeks/nerds than from Irish-Catholic school girls. Down to the grit, it's Terminator 2's "Good versus Evil" "Man versus Machine" idea. Nothing new was really added, just an alternate version of Term. 2. Much of it was pretty predictable since it was borrowed from other Sci-fi stories/movies.
Ideas: A- Reason: The basic idea is a bunch of rebels trying to save Earth from evil robots. Sound like anything familar? It does raise interesting philosophical questions that one might ask themself in the tub... What is the difference between real and fantasy?.... Will technology be our own ultimate death? Even though these weren't new ideas they were presented in an interesting manner, which tied into the rest of the movie very well.
Effects: A Reason: Some wicked graphics, including the infamous cinematic panorama shots. Great work with blowing up hotel lobbies and entire city blocks. If what you want to see is fire, blood, fire, bullets and squid-space machines than this will be a lovefest.
Acting: C Reason: Keanu was pretty bad as was the whole lot of them, except some interesting philosophical moments with Fishburne. The jokes, as mentioned in the offical reviews were somewhat choked. Keanu is a pretty horrible kick-boxer, kung fu fighter. He has some pretty messy, overdramatic fighting scenes that left me laughing. The supporting cast is fairly strong, except they don't appear a great deal through out the show. Watch out for the rebel wearing Pleather (Plastic-leather)... She'll give ya a kick.
Final Assessment: See the movie; make an opinion for yourself.
My first question about the new system is regarding the scores the moderators give the posts... Is it the posts that get the scores (say +3) for instance, or does the user who posts get that new score and every posts s/he makes get that +3 score? I could see how moderators might start noticing intelligent, thoughtful posters and it would be nice if these posters were trusted with having a constant +3 score (or anything for that instance). But then again, a poster might have a great comment about a Palm Pilot one moment and then a useless flame towards SuSE the next.
It's also hard being a poster when your default threshold is say +2 but all your comments are logged as +1 initially. It requires that you adjust the threshold on each page that you post to so you can see your own comments and the potential majority of replies. I guess it is just a little complicated but not impossible. I've also noticed that when I change the threshold on a page the new page I am sent to won't print in index mode... only in the expanded threaded form. (I can't remember what it's/. term is:) )
Anyway, I was totally invigorated this afternoon to come home and use/. to see this new moderation techinque. I look forward to only 16 comments on a page, all of which have been pre-approved for my viewing pleasure. I don't post much, or even read others comments that often but I think that might change. Enought with the fluff, give me the meat!!
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I think you hit the nail on the head. It is the intent of the encryption application's author that is the key to determining what purpose the software is "intended" for. Unfortunately, I haven't found the actual full bill text of that amendment which defines what intent is prohibited and what is allowed. News reporters sometimes have the unintended tendency to manipulate the meaning of an original document by only including bits and pieces of it. Nonetheless, just the idea of regulating a programmer's intent is curious.
For one, determining the intent or original purpose of encryption software is a messy, ambiguous world. For example, what criminal in their right mind would deliberately define their software as something for "penetrating and destroying national security defenses" or "exploiting and exporting child pornography"? The obvious implications are a very difficult and treacherous road to defining an author's intent.
Secondly, what situation would we run into if for instance if a programmer unknowingly created an encryption application that was especially fast at encrypting 16 bit JPEG's (a semi- to hi-quality photo realistic image format), and made the picture 3/4 of its original size so that it became easier to transport via network or floppy? If such a hypothetical program, no matter how unlikely, appeared in the market it may just become the preferred vehicle for digital pornography (child or not) on the Internet. Possibly similar to the way MP3's have become the poster child for electronic piracy. If the programmer's intent was benevolent, say encrypting gnome applets, but it becomes a common criminal tool should the software still be allowed under this amendment? As was defined by ninjaz, a car is for people, and a wheelbarrow is for dirt. Regardless, this situation seems sticky, but until the entire amendment is read it is too early to pass judgment.
This service seems a bit like digital music available through major television cable companies. The idea is that you either install a new radio all together in your car, or you can just buy an attenna adapter that will let you use your existing radio. It's not the "free" radio that most of us are use to, where anytime you want you can tune in to any particular channel. Instead, there is a subscription fee ( $9.95 US for the CD Radio service), and supposedly this covers the revenues that commericial radio creates. Thus, commercial-free radio at a price.
Both CD Radio and XL offer 100 different "stations" respectively, with CD Radio dividing it nicely, 50 for news, 50 for music. Both companies have already produced primitive station lineups already: XL Radio and CD Radio.
Even though I have no direct evidence, I imagine many of the stations to be similar to National Public Radio (NPR) in their broadcast procedure. NPR reports news that is broadcast all over the nation, so reporting local events or weather is ineffecient for every single area around the country. Instead, NPR gives regional broadcasters space within the nation-wide program (anywhere from 5 to 60 minutes) to report local news, sports scores, and weather. If the new satellite radio companies really expect people to give up their old radios for the new deal, then they'll probably come up with a system similar to NPR's. The logistics of such an endeavour are beyond the scope of my knowledge.
If you want to get more news on the new technology straight from the horses' mouths check out both companies' websites at:
CD Radio ( www.cdradio.com )
XL Radio ( www.amrc.com )
I'm not really up to date on what Raster's feelings are regarding Gnome. I do know that they work wonderfully together under Redhat and I wonder if Raster's split from RH will hamper the Gnome/Enlightenment relationship. From what I read in his departure recap I felt some vibes like the gnome-enlightenment partnership was one of Redhat's ambitions and not necesarrily one of his own. Does anyone know more about Enlightenment's future plan with Gnome and if they have changed at all with Raster's resignation?
I am really suprised by Katz and Taco's reviews of Matrix. I just saw it tonight, and I couldn't help myself from laughing at it. I thought I would give it a report card, since I seem to be the only one that thought it was bad.
.... Will technology be our own ultimate death? Even though these weren't new ideas they were presented in an interesting manner, which tied into the rest of the movie very well.
Plot: B-
Reason: I have to disagree with Katz... the movie repeatedly tries to explain what the Matrix is, and what the heck is going on. The movie isn't intended anymore for geeks/nerds than from Irish-Catholic school girls. Down to the grit, it's Terminator 2's "Good versus Evil" "Man versus Machine" idea. Nothing new was really added, just an alternate version of Term. 2. Much of it was pretty predictable since it was borrowed from other Sci-fi stories/movies.
Ideas: A-
Reason: The basic idea is a bunch of rebels trying to save Earth from evil robots. Sound like anything familar? It does raise interesting philosophical questions that one might ask themself in the tub... What is the difference between real and fantasy?
Effects: A
Reason: Some wicked graphics, including the infamous cinematic panorama shots. Great work with blowing up hotel lobbies and entire city blocks. If what you want to see is fire, blood, fire, bullets and squid-space machines than this will be a lovefest.
Acting: C
Reason: Keanu was pretty bad as was the whole lot of them, except some interesting philosophical moments with Fishburne. The jokes, as mentioned in the offical reviews were somewhat choked. Keanu is a pretty horrible kick-boxer, kung fu fighter. He has some pretty messy, overdramatic fighting scenes that left me laughing. The supporting cast is fairly strong, except they don't appear a great deal through out the show. Watch out for the rebel wearing Pleather (Plastic-leather)... She'll give ya a kick.
Final Assessment: See the movie; make an opinion for yourself.
My first question about the new system is regarding the scores the moderators give the posts... Is it the posts that get the scores (say +3) for instance, or does the user who posts get that new score and every posts s/he makes get that +3 score? I could see how moderators might start noticing intelligent, thoughtful posters and it would be nice if these posters were trusted with having a constant +3 score (or anything for that instance). But then again, a poster might have a great comment about a Palm Pilot one moment and then a useless flame towards SuSE the next.
/. term is :) )
/. to see this new moderation techinque. I look forward to only 16 comments on a page, all of which have been pre-approved for my viewing pleasure. I don't post much, or even read others comments that often but I think that might change. Enought with the fluff, give me the meat!!
It's also hard being a poster when your default threshold is say +2 but all your comments are logged as +1 initially. It requires that you adjust the threshold on each page that you post to so you can see your own comments and the potential majority of replies. I guess it is just a little complicated but not impossible. I've also noticed that when I change the threshold on a page the new page I am sent to won't print in index mode... only in the expanded threaded form. (I can't remember what it's
Anyway, I was totally invigorated this afternoon to come home and use