I actually think you - and many other typosquatters are doing the net a favour...
Let's face it, we all are prone to typos - especially those of us who spend most of their waking days at various keyboards - and most people hate a getting a 404 or server not found.
So, as long as the squatter uses the same content or redirects, and maybe makes a few bucks - good on him.
I would even go as far as saying that the people who force sites into frames and display their own banners are still doing me a service. What takes longer - to load a banner or to retype the url and reload the whole home page?
Furthermore, the commercialization of the net is about visitor numbers, or so they claim. If someone mistypes, lands somewhere else and is still sent to the site he/she wanted to go in the first place, then the squatter just increased the traffic of the target site. So, what could be wrong with that?
I am stationed in Southeast Asia and can give you some first hand statistics:
65% of all those Indians you mention, use English on a regular base - for example to talk to other Indians who happen to speak an entirely different native dialect
[that's about 500'000'000 people]
35% of Malaysians, Singaporeans and 50% of Filipinos speak English fluently
[that's another 40,000,000]
And that's not counting the upper crust and tech savy people in the Middle East, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, IndoChina, Indonesia, etc.
Not to forget the poor Aussies and Kiwis who claim that their gibberish is of English origin as well.
Overall, it seems that over 1,000,000,000 speak quite fluently one of various Englisg flavours, while another 500,000,000 have a basic understanding of the language.
That certainly beats any other language. After all, even the 1.2 billion Chinese, while using almost identical alphabetical characters, speak one of 6 main Chinese languages/dialects and Mandarin [which is usually mistaken for *Chinese*]
is only the 'official' language.
Only about half of the population claims a reasonable command of *Mandarin*, which puts them in second place behind English.
Has it ever occured to you that Corporate Europe is hugely benefitting from the low 'Euro'?
Germany almost got it's champion of world exports status back, Euro stuff sells cheaper in the U.S. than in Europe and payment is made in US$, not in Euros. The the corporations use those $ to buy American corporations.
Overall investment from Euroland into the U.S. is up by 1,700% over the past three years.
Imagine what happens, when those same corporations start dumping all their easy-won US$ on the market...
There is much more to the Euro than meets the untrained eye.
This has been under discussion among some 2,000 net/web gus'n gals for quite a few months now.
The common idea is to create an organization that is NGO, international and ex-territorial.
This same Org is then to seize control of the Internet as the governing body, by passing rules and guidelines and where necessary, enforce them.
We are in contact with ICANN and the U.N., which of course, don't like the idea at all.
On the other hand, they seem to be afraid that we get enough people together to do it anyway.
After all, existing laws are vague and ftb we would still get away with it. Once laws become more comprehensive, then we'll have to abide by them or face the consequences.
To avoid that, more and more people start to think that knowledgable individuals should unite to counter the stupidity that ignorant authorities are likely to pass as laws - before it's too late...
Check around BBSs to find others that are involved.
I guess that's a question of how far they will take the laws.
If they outlaw sites with content like BugTraq, then you might be right. Host the site in Malaysia [or *Seeland*] and your off, free.
But, the article also talke about 'Aiding and Abetting' and about that mere posession of the *tools* would be a crime. In a legal sense, by you visiting a site like BugTraq, your ISP's proxy sevrer and your own cache would automatically contain 'illegal material' and hencve you would have committed a felony...
That's the way DA's like to interpret laws...
Any comments?
The reason why I posted this article was that I wanted to point out, that:
-1- while people in the U.S. are yelling about privacy and the government may or may not listen the Net is international and foreign snoops can do as they please...
-2- while the power of corporations in Europe is arguable less than their US' counterparts, it's usually enough that someone helps law enforcement once to get a 'card blanche' in the public eye
-3- if the FT bothers to actually write about it, then there is likely to be more to it than meets the eye
AND, MOST IMORTANTLY:
-4- if a private company in Europe is attempting what they say they have already accomplished, what about companies [government organizations] in Australasia?
Australia for one has no privacy rights in their constitution and no matter how much activists and officials hype, the government can pretty much do as they please [and are said to have done so for, you guessed it, the U.S.]
okay, I guess you made your point that you won't accept my arguments just as I won't accept yours.
So, I guess we have proven to the poublic that we are stubborn and maybe we can even settle this with agreeing to disagree.
However, it is distrurbing that you immediately had to lash out in a rather childish manner [after having claimed a few lines earlier that different opinions and discussions was all the net was about].
Either way, I don't really 'hail' from any country as such. I mean I've never been longer than a few years anywhere and have lived and worked on four continents.
Quite frankly, I tend to be loyal to whatever country it is I'm at, at any given time.
In my opinion, any type of patriotism of ill concieved pride in a spotty history of anyone's country is just an expression of insecurity or even a hidden fear of not being good enough as a person. But then, that's my personal opinion.
Of course, if 'hailing from' for you means where my parents or their parents 'hailed' from, well, then I'd say part Scott, part German, part U.S.American [South, of course] part something else.
So, what does that make me? A tight-arse, pighead with an attitude?
Slashdot Mirror
I actually think you - and many other typosquatters are doing the net a favour...
Let's face it, we all are prone to typos - especially those of us who spend most of their waking days at various keyboards - and most people hate a getting a 404 or server not found.
So, as long as the squatter uses the same content or redirects, and maybe makes a few bucks - good on him.
I would even go as far as saying that the people who force sites into frames and display their own banners are still doing me a service. What takes longer - to load a banner or to retype the url and reload the whole home page?
Furthermore, the commercialization of the net is about visitor numbers, or so they claim. If someone mistypes, lands somewhere else and is still sent to the site he/she wanted to go in the first place, then the squatter just increased the traffic of the target site. So, what could be wrong with that?
I am stationed in Southeast Asia and can give you some first hand statistics:
65% of all those Indians you mention, use English on a regular base - for example to talk to other Indians who happen to speak an entirely different native dialect
[that's about 500'000'000 people]
35% of Malaysians, Singaporeans and 50% of Filipinos speak English fluently
[that's another 40,000,000]
And that's not counting the upper crust and tech savy people in the Middle East, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, IndoChina, Indonesia, etc.
Not to forget the poor Aussies and Kiwis who claim that their gibberish is of English origin as well.
Overall, it seems that over 1,000,000,000 speak quite fluently one of various Englisg flavours, while another 500,000,000 have a basic understanding of the language.
That certainly beats any other language. After all, even the 1.2 billion Chinese, while using almost identical alphabetical characters, speak one of 6 main Chinese languages/dialects and Mandarin [which is usually mistaken for *Chinese*]
is only the 'official' language.
Only about half of the population claims a reasonable command of *Mandarin*, which puts them in second place behind English.
Has it ever occured to you that Corporate Europe is hugely benefitting from the low 'Euro'?
Germany almost got it's champion of world exports status back, Euro stuff sells cheaper in the U.S. than in Europe and payment is made in US$, not in Euros. The the corporations use those $ to buy American corporations.
Overall investment from Euroland into the U.S. is up by 1,700% over the past three years.
Imagine what happens, when those same corporations start dumping all their easy-won US$ on the market...
There is much more to the Euro than meets the untrained eye.
This has been under discussion among some 2,000 net/web gus'n gals for quite a few months now.
The common idea is to create an organization that is NGO, international and ex-territorial.
This same Org is then to seize control of the Internet as the governing body, by passing rules and guidelines and where necessary, enforce them.
We are in contact with ICANN and the U.N., which of course, don't like the idea at all.
On the other hand, they seem to be afraid that we get enough people together to do it anyway.
After all, existing laws are vague and ftb we would still get away with it. Once laws become more comprehensive, then we'll have to abide by them or face the consequences.
To avoid that, more and more people start to think that knowledgable individuals should unite to counter the stupidity that ignorant authorities are likely to pass as laws - before it's too late...
Check around BBSs to find others that are involved.
I guess that's a question of how far they will take the laws.
If they outlaw sites with content like BugTraq, then you might be right. Host the site in Malaysia [or *Seeland*] and your off, free.
But, the article also talke about 'Aiding and Abetting' and about that mere posession of the *tools* would be a crime. In a legal sense, by you visiting a site like BugTraq, your ISP's proxy sevrer and your own cache would automatically contain 'illegal material' and hencve you would have committed a felony...
That's the way DA's like to interpret laws...
Any comments?
The reason why I posted this article was that I wanted to point out, that: -1- while people in the U.S. are yelling about privacy and the government may or may not listen the Net is international and foreign snoops can do as they please... -2- while the power of corporations in Europe is arguable less than their US' counterparts, it's usually enough that someone helps law enforcement once to get a 'card blanche' in the public eye -3- if the FT bothers to actually write about it, then there is likely to be more to it than meets the eye AND, MOST IMORTANTLY: -4- if a private company in Europe is attempting what they say they have already accomplished, what about companies [government organizations] in Australasia? Australia for one has no privacy rights in their constitution and no matter how much activists and officials hype, the government can pretty much do as they please [and are said to have done so for, you guessed it, the U.S.]
way to go! it's disturbing how funny posts are usually followed by bickering and out-of-place posts... keep the funny coming...
okay, I guess you made your point that you won't accept my arguments just as I won't accept yours.
So, I guess we have proven to the poublic that we are stubborn and maybe we can even settle this with agreeing to disagree.
However, it is distrurbing that you immediately had to lash out in a rather childish manner [after having claimed a few lines earlier that different opinions and discussions was all the net was about].
Either way, I don't really 'hail' from any country as such. I mean I've never been longer than a few years anywhere and have lived and worked on four continents.
Quite frankly, I tend to be loyal to whatever country it is I'm at, at any given time.
In my opinion, any type of patriotism of ill concieved pride in a spotty history of anyone's country is just an expression of insecurity or even a hidden fear of not being good enough as a person. But then, that's my personal opinion.
Of course, if 'hailing from' for you means where my parents or their parents 'hailed' from, well, then I'd say part Scott, part German, part U.S.American [South, of course] part something else.
So, what does that make me? A tight-arse, pighead with an attitude?