Now there's a great way of starting WWIII. Think, you've got hotshot, trigger happy pilots on both sides flying near each other. How long before somebody shoots? I hope you like fallout.
Before 1914, it was "common knowledge" in Europe that no war could be fought because of the level of trade between the countries. We all know what happend next.
It would seem to me that this is very similar to the arguement that the globalization of trade will stop war. The Guns of August got set off by nationalism. If the Guns of April get set off, there may be no one left to record the folly.
This wouldn't be legally binding. The key to the MS and other licenses is that the user is performing an action to imply his consent. In this situation, the computer is performing the action, and as the computer's actions have no legal significance, the whole thing goes down the tubes. Actual human intervention would be required by someone at MS or Amazon to make this binding. Also, how would you prove the agreement existed at all? This is basically like having somebody's cat sign a document that allows you to wiretap their home. It's totally unenforceable.
I find it sad that Slashdot cares more about the censorship of the internet then the sponsorship of terrorism and war against civilians by many countries around the globe. I mean, let's face it. This is annoying. Nobody's going to die, and nobody's going to be physically hurt. I think that it's time we faced up to much for serious threats, like the huge nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons around the the world that threaten to unleash a holocaust to dwarf the Nazi one (which currently holds the title of most horrible crime perpetrated by humans) at any time. Or crisis with China in which threatens to plunge the world into another cold war. Let's get some perspective. While this would suck, it would hardly be the end of the world. Some other problems could be.
PGP, and ciphers like it are already compromises. PGP is crackable given sufficient effort. True security is obtained only through one-time pad ciphers and methods so extreme only the KGB has admitted carrying them out. For something that you want to never be found out, use a bingo set and create a one-time pad. No amount of government snooping or computer hacking will ever reveal the content of that message. (Unless of course they are able to break into your house and take the key) Now the main problem is key distribution. This is where you use snail mail. The government cannot and does not open all snail mail. This should be fairly secure. This has the disadvantage of being slow, but unless the USPS opens the letter in route it is theoretically impregnable.
The Germans and the Soviets in WWII are an interesting contrast in the use of one-time pads. The Germans built the Enigma machine, confident in it's security because of their confidence that the allies couldn't perform the calculations. The Enigma was of course cracked, with dramatic consequences for Germany. The Soviets by contrast used one-time pads, totally foiling German and Allied intelligence. The only cracked Soviet communications were pads that were used twice, and those took decades.
I think WWII may afford a lesson that all of us PGPers could learn from. Never have complete confidence in your cipher, unless it is a one-time pad.
I'd say it's definitely not a Mac. Linux or UNIX would be much better choices because of the ability to make much quicker changes as we learn about the aliens and their computers. But we'd essentially have to build an entire software base from the ground up, especially if the aliens are more advanced than us. Even the binary language may not be shared. (Quantum or biological computers anyone?) The aliens certainly won't be running ASCII. (If they are, they'll be thoroughly more mysterious) Unlike in Independance Day, they won't use TCP/IP. Our computer languages and protocols may seem the most logical and efficient to us, but aliens will probably have other ideas.
On Earth: Final Conflict, I assumed the aliens had been watching the humans for a while and so modified their systems to be compatible. The Tailons are fairly bogus aliens anyway. (Oh yeah, we're made of energy, and yet we have DNA...)
Slashdot is on American soil, and so it would be subject to any news/info blackout imposed by the DOD. If you though the Church of Scientology and the DMCA issue was bad, incurring the wrath of the DOD will be many times worse. Slashdot would effectively become an organ of US propaganda during a war. All info they could publish would be supplied by the DOD. (I'm assuming WWII precedents) Slashdot could defy the DOD and publish reality, but I doubt it would last long. I think it would be more the decentralized internet that would foil the DOD. AIM, ICQ, and chat rooms would spread the truth and horror of the war. The internet was designed for war pigs, but the communication that it creates could well result in the end of war. (Or at least the effective waging of it by nations.)
The company suing to stop the employee from leaving often won't reap any benefits. Think about (especially with grunt programmers etc.) the actual cost of the person's departure, versus the cost of fighting a huge legal battle against them and their perspective employer. Especially since in today's legal system it is possible to sue more or less anyone for any reason, or fund lawsuits by other people against them, the suing employer also has to think about the wrath of the perspective employer. If I were running a company I wouldn't sue in this circumstance unless the knowledge that a compeititor could gain was truly devastating.
The censors to me seem to be in a very odd job. They have to look at all the smut and violence on the internet supposedly because other people can't handle it. What's their slogan? "Protecting you by looking at smut?"
Franklin may not have done that out of the goodness of his heart. 18th century patent law was unreliable at best. The odds that he would actually be able to enforce his patent were pretty low. Also, his invention had the disadvantage of being very easy to copy. So instead of wasting his time engaged in endless lawsuits that ultimately could not stop the copying of his stove, he innovated and did other things. This is truly a lesson that the RIAA and others should learn from him. If you can't stop people from copying it, why not let them?
I think David Brin stated the problem with an economy of ideas. There are too many ideas and too much information. Also, how would you attach value to ideas? Also, what about stuff that's not software? Wouldn't that still require money?
This is the kind of proposal that's dangerous, because it sounds reasonable but is on the slippery slope to tyranny. Once the government starts using people's poiessions to spy on them, where does it end? Why not place cameras in eyeglasses to prevent drug use? Or random breathalyzer tests everywhere? There are unfortunately groups in American society that would support those ideas I'm afraid...
I did feel that the final pro-gun comment at the end was unwarranted. Armed rebellion against the government is not a form of recourse! It's STUPID! Especially since America is a democracy and thus elections can be used to change things, which everyone seems to forget.
I would suggest Railroad Tycoon I or II instead of Airport Tycoon because they are more fun to play. Also, I remember some time ago there was a game called Capitalism which was supposed to be a direct simulation of business. Finally, why not Alpha Centauri, easily the best turn based strategy game ever made.
Well, that's the treaty but it won't stand up to the greed and national rivalries of colonization. Let's hope it doesn't have to start WWIII like in Green Mars...
If we're paying to colonoize it, why don't we annex it?
I disagree. I think that the same force that motivated the colonization of North America will motivate the colonization of Mars, namely greed. Also, it would not suprise me if overpopulated countries jumped on the bandwagon to alleviate their problems. Also, a fully terraformed Mars would be a pretty big place to settle, if not another Earth. There's also the principle that we shouldn't have all of our eggs in one basket.
Slashdot Mirror
It would seem to me that this is very similar to the arguement that the globalization of trade will stop war. The Guns of August got set off by nationalism. If the Guns of April get set off, there may be no one left to record the folly.
The Germans and the Soviets in WWII are an interesting contrast in the use of one-time pads. The Germans built the Enigma machine, confident in it's security because of their confidence that the allies couldn't perform the calculations. The Enigma was of course cracked, with dramatic consequences for Germany. The Soviets by contrast used one-time pads, totally foiling German and Allied intelligence. The only cracked Soviet communications were pads that were used twice, and those took decades.
I think WWII may afford a lesson that all of us PGPers could learn from. Never have complete confidence in your cipher, unless it is a one-time pad.
On Earth: Final Conflict, I assumed the aliens had been watching the humans for a while and so modified their systems to be compatible. The Tailons are fairly bogus aliens anyway. (Oh yeah, we're made of energy, and yet we have DNA...)
The censors to me seem to be in a very odd job. They have to look at all the smut and violence on the internet supposedly because other people can't handle it. What's their slogan? "Protecting you by looking at smut?"
I did feel that the final pro-gun comment at the end was unwarranted. Armed rebellion against the government is not a form of recourse! It's STUPID! Especially since America is a democracy and thus elections can be used to change things, which everyone seems to forget.
I would suggest Railroad Tycoon I or II instead of Airport Tycoon because they are more fun to play. Also, I remember some time ago there was a game called Capitalism which was supposed to be a direct simulation of business. Finally, why not Alpha Centauri, easily the best turn based strategy game ever made.
Well, that's the treaty but it won't stand up to the greed and national rivalries of colonization. Let's hope it doesn't have to start WWIII like in Green Mars... If we're paying to colonoize it, why don't we annex it?
I disagree. I think that the same force that motivated the colonization of North America will motivate the colonization of Mars, namely greed. Also, it would not suprise me if overpopulated countries jumped on the bandwagon to alleviate their problems. Also, a fully terraformed Mars would be a pretty big place to settle, if not another Earth. There's also the principle that we shouldn't have all of our eggs in one basket.