1. If somebody is the victim of identity theft, they are held responsible for any debts that the criminal creates in their name until they prove the theft occurred. The victim may not know the theft has occurred until months later, when collection proceedings have begun. The problem here is that it is incredibly difficult to prove that those debts were not created by the victim, and the victim can suffer years of harassing phone calls from debt collectors, and a bad credit rating. I don't know how Swedish debt collectors are, but here in the States many are virulent and threatening. (Even though that's illegal.)
2. The bad credit rating means that the victim will then be charged higher interest rates for mortgages, in most states higher auto insurance rates, and may be unable to get new loans for valid purposes (car, house, school, etc). Some employers run credit histories on potential employees. Some landlords run credit reports on potential renters. Some people find that they have been a victim of identity theft when they are trying to buy a house and get turned down for a mortgage.
It is hard enough to fix genuine mistakes; intentional misuse is a nightmare to unravel. The unending beaurocracy of the credit agencies hinders the solution and it is difficult for individuals to fight such a large system. In a nation built on capitalism, where the worse your credit is the more expensive and difficult your life becomes, this is a big big problem.
Already it is hard enough to clean up an error on our credit reports; for example, one of the big three still thinks I used to work for the Virginia Dep't of Corrections. I can only imagine how hard it will be to correct errors on a national ID card. The bigger the beaurocracy = the harder it is to correct mistakes.
Most large corporations have grant programs. Usually these programs, including application guidelines, are explained near the "about us" or "corporate info" pages with the other "boring" information.
Also, the government publishes a list every so often of all the new government grants offered, their requirements and deadlines. It takes some pretty dedicated hunting to find it online, but you can also write for it (snail mail).
I spent many hours researching grants for a charity last year. I don't have all this information with me right now, but if you want these addresses, just drop me an email. After all the effort, it would be nice to be able to help somebody.
When I was involved with settling an estate a couple years ago, I would have been grateful to have some legal answers about what to do with the three domains owned by the deceased. None of the lawyers and tax accountants involved had any idea how to handle that situation, and the service through which they were registered didn't have an answer either. If domain names are governed under some kind of property law, it will greatly help in these situations.
I have run my own company for 12 years, and one of the great misconceptions out there is that a "for profit" company actually makes a profit. Many companies (like mine) really are out there because they believe in their product (whatever it may be, linux, good food, whatever) and want to make it available to people.
There have been many days when I would have liked to have more food on my table, but I chose instead to keep running my business for idealistic reasons. So, donations to Mandrake? Hey, great. Why not? If they have the nerve to ask, and if we believe in their product, let's try to keep it available.
Except, these computers are in ICUs, which means they are near patients who are already fighting to stay alive.
Yes, I know we are talking about the dust inside the computers, but particles this tiny go everywhere, especially if there is any contact between the person using the computer and the person treating the patient.
Ever been in an ICU? It is a scary place to be. Nobody there needs extra heath problems to worry about.
Re:I wonder if I could...
on
Got Tracks?
·
· Score: 1
Chevy vs Ford flame wars at/. ?
Especially funny considering the truck shown is a Dodge.
Unfortunately, one of the things you need to file a lawsuit is several thousand dollars for the retainer for a good lawyer, and another several thousand dollars to pay for the rest of the expenses associated with lawsuits. Even if you win, and you recoup court costs, you still need a hefty chunk of cash in the outset.
Also, maybe even more importantly, you need many many hours of your time. Kiss your coding time goodbye - your new vocation will be waiting in courtroom lobbies, writing letters, and searching through your old filing cabinets for every paper which ever passed through your hands for the last 7 years.
Add in some extra time for banging your head on brick walls.
That is why these lawsuits are not filed. The system itself prevents it.
No matter how carefully any issue is approached, one person's truth and facts will never be exactly the same as another person's truth and facts.
That is the problem with running a democracy where everyting is in the open. Ever had a story run about you in the newspapaer? Dollars to doughnuts says even if it was a friendly story, they still didn't tell it the way you would.
Also, to prove my point, just read 3 different books about any given time in history. The story changes depending on who is telling it.
Excluding religious views (different issue), there is no such thing as absolute truth.
And, in addition, I actually drive the speed limit of my own volition. I don't want to be punished for what somebody else does.
Re:You're in good company..
on
The Pledge
·
· Score: 1
Thanks to all the uproar surrounding his contributions, opinions, personality, political leanings, intellectual level, and assorted other attributes, Jon Katz was the first contibutor here whose name I actually recognized.
Once again proving that "any publicity is good publicity"... and his detractors even spelled his name right;)
IMHO, I think if you accept money from somebody, that acceptance indicates an inherent agreement to let the source of the money influence what you do.
There is also the fact that if the government were to fund moviemaking, producers would have to allow for X amount of time and $US battling in court over what Congress considered appropriate subjects for publicly funded art. Hmmm, sounds familiar.
Twenty years ago this would have been unheard of, and would have caused serious public outcry if it had been attempted. We are becoming very lazy in our sense of what is OK for us to tolerate.
I can ony assume that many/.ers who are ready to accept this camera thing are simply too young to remember how it was before so many of our freedoms were taken away. (Braced, ready for tomatoes to be thrown.) When it was not the norm to have cameras, numbers, and bar codes tracking our every move.
Don't like the mega conglomerate corporations tracking us with cookies? Why should we like the government tracking us with cameras? For a free thinking bunch I am surprised at how willing/.ers are to be photographed, tracked, and logged.
I am sorry to see that Big Brother in the original sense is so familiar that we no longer see the problem. Go back and re-read George Orwell please.
It would be much better to simply not have these invasions of freedom, rather than have to devise ingenious methods of disabling them after they are already in place.
And as for what this has to do with/. - it has a lot to do with freedom of thought and avoidance of "group-think" - that sheep mindset which I believe most/.ers frown on. Please correct me if I am wrong.
From what I can tell most of these replies are from people outside of CA.
I would like to see the thoughts of the people who actually are living with the rolling blackouts. It is easy for those of us who aren't dealing with the problem to offer suggestions.
Sometimes those of us who are connected to the Internet via an IV and a coffeepot forget how alien this world is to a huge number of people in mainstream society. If banks were to start relying on open source, public perception would not see it as we see it here. The Kmart shoppers of America want to feel that their money IS safe behind old fashioned bars and big blue.
Additionally, many of the "Old Money" folks in this country are also NOT cutting edge with computers, and stil place great value on the "old fashioned" way of doing anything. Including doing business on a handshake with another actual human.
And to 348, "I'm not tailgating, I'm drafting".
Re:how exactly does this impact free speech?
on
Clever Girl Bess
·
· Score: 2
I think the issue is less whether it is a threat to free speech than it is a threat to free thought. When we raise a generation of kids who are used to their every move being watched, we raise a generation who sees no harm in the government overseeing everything we do. (i.e. why else would people think it is OK to have cameras watching intersections in our cities?)
When parents quit relinquishing the right to raise their own children as they see fit, maybe then the government will back off. Until then, people who are too "busy"/ill-equipped/lazy/ ___ (your word here) will continue to demand that the government raise their kids for them.
Then we end up with a generation of kids unable to have independent thought. And that's scary.
If Napster starts actually dispersing royalties for music, I might actually use Napster.
As it is now, I hear customers in my store where I sell CDs say things like "oh, I'll just download it"... I know a lot of the artists personally - let me assure you they are not all part of the mega-conglomerate that I dislike as much as anyone else. Some of the artists who are not getting royalties for the music are very much outside the box.
I want them to keep recording; therefore, I personally want to pay to own their music. That is how they can buy more time in the recording studio.
Slashdot Mirror
The problem is twofold:
1. If somebody is the victim of identity theft, they are held responsible for any debts that the criminal creates in their name until they prove the theft occurred. The victim may not know the theft has occurred until months later, when collection proceedings have begun. The problem here is that it is incredibly difficult to prove that those debts were not created by the victim, and the victim can suffer years of harassing phone calls from debt collectors, and a bad credit rating. I don't know how Swedish debt collectors are, but here in the States many are virulent and threatening. (Even though that's illegal.)
2. The bad credit rating means that the victim will then be charged higher interest rates for mortgages, in most states higher auto insurance rates, and may be unable to get new loans for valid purposes (car, house, school, etc). Some employers run credit histories on potential employees. Some landlords run credit reports on potential renters. Some people find that they have been a victim of identity theft when they are trying to buy a house and get turned down for a mortgage.
It is hard enough to fix genuine mistakes; intentional misuse is a nightmare to unravel. The unending beaurocracy of the credit agencies hinders the solution and it is difficult for individuals to fight such a large system. In a nation built on capitalism, where the worse your credit is the more expensive and difficult your life becomes, this is a big big problem.
Poo-tee-weet?
Already it is hard enough to clean up an error on our credit reports; for example, one of the big three still thinks I used to work for the Virginia Dep't of Corrections. I can only imagine how hard it will be to correct errors on a national ID card. The bigger the beaurocracy = the harder it is to correct mistakes.
Most large corporations have grant programs. Usually these programs, including application guidelines, are explained near the "about us" or "corporate info" pages with the other "boring" information.
Also, the government publishes a list every so often of all the new government grants offered, their requirements and deadlines. It takes some pretty dedicated hunting to find it online, but you can also write for it (snail mail).
I spent many hours researching grants for a charity last year. I don't have all this information with me right now, but if you want these addresses, just drop me an email. After all the effort, it would be nice to be able to help somebody.
When I was involved with settling an estate a couple years ago, I would have been grateful to have some legal answers about what to do with the three domains owned by the deceased. None of the lawyers and tax accountants involved had any idea how to handle that situation, and the service through which they were registered didn't have an answer either. If domain names are governed under some kind of property law, it will greatly help in these situations.
I have run my own company for 12 years, and one of the great misconceptions out there is that a "for profit" company actually makes a profit. Many companies (like mine) really are out there because they believe in their product (whatever it may be, linux, good food, whatever) and want to make it available to people.
There have been many days when I would have liked to have more food on my table, but I chose instead to keep running my business for idealistic reasons. So, donations to Mandrake? Hey, great. Why not? If they have the nerve to ask, and if we believe in their product, let's try to keep it available.
Yes, I know we are talking about the dust inside the computers, but particles this tiny go everywhere, especially if there is any contact between the person using the computer and the person treating the patient.
Ever been in an ICU? It is a scary place to be. Nobody there needs extra heath problems to worry about.
Chevy vs Ford flame wars at /. ?
Especially funny considering the truck shown is a Dodge.
Also, maybe even more importantly, you need many many hours of your time. Kiss your coding time goodbye - your new vocation will be waiting in courtroom lobbies, writing letters, and searching through your old filing cabinets for every paper which ever passed through your hands for the last 7 years.
Add in some extra time for banging your head on brick walls.
That is why these lawsuits are not filed. The system itself prevents it.
That is the problem with running a democracy where everyting is in the open. Ever had a story run about you in the newspapaer? Dollars to doughnuts says even if it was a friendly story, they still didn't tell it the way you would.
Also, to prove my point, just read 3 different books about any given time in history. The story changes depending on who is telling it.
Excluding religious views (different issue), there is no such thing as absolute truth.
Once again proving that "any publicity is good publicity"... and his detractors even spelled his name right ;)
There is also the fact that if the government were to fund moviemaking, producers would have to allow for X amount of time and $US battling in court over what Congress considered appropriate subjects for publicly funded art. Hmmm, sounds familiar.
I can ony assume that many /.ers who are ready to accept this camera thing are simply too young to remember how it was before so many of our freedoms were taken away. (Braced, ready for tomatoes to be thrown.) When it was not the norm to have cameras, numbers, and bar codes tracking our every move.
Don't like the mega conglomerate corporations tracking us with cookies? Why should we like the government tracking us with cameras? For a free thinking bunch I am surprised at how willing /.ers are to be photographed, tracked, and logged.
I am sorry to see that Big Brother in the original sense is so familiar that we no longer see the problem. Go back and re-read George Orwell please.
It would be much better to simply not have these invasions of freedom, rather than have to devise ingenious methods of disabling them after they are already in place.
And as for what this has to do with /. - it has a lot to do with freedom of thought and avoidance of "group-think" - that sheep mindset which I believe most /.ers frown on. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Respectfully submitted.
I would like to see the thoughts of the people who actually are living with the rolling blackouts. It is easy for those of us who aren't dealing with the problem to offer suggestions.
Just a thought.
Additionally, many of the "Old Money" folks in this country are also NOT cutting edge with computers, and stil place great value on the "old fashioned" way of doing anything. Including doing business on a handshake with another actual human.
And to 348, "I'm not tailgating, I'm drafting".
I think the issue is less whether it is a threat to free speech than it is a threat to free thought. When we raise a generation of kids who are used to their every move being watched, we raise a generation who sees no harm in the government overseeing everything we do. (i.e. why else would people think it is OK to have cameras watching intersections in our cities?) When parents quit relinquishing the right to raise their own children as they see fit, maybe then the government will back off. Until then, people who are too "busy"/ill-equipped/lazy/ ___ (your word here) will continue to demand that the government raise their kids for them. Then we end up with a generation of kids unable to have independent thought. And that's scary.
If Napster starts actually dispersing royalties for music, I might actually use Napster. As it is now, I hear customers in my store where I sell CDs say things like "oh, I'll just download it"... I know a lot of the artists personally - let me assure you they are not all part of the mega-conglomerate that I dislike as much as anyone else. Some of the artists who are not getting royalties for the music are very much outside the box. I want them to keep recording; therefore, I personally want to pay to own their music. That is how they can buy more time in the recording studio.