The Pippin could have been better with more memory and more apps written specifically for it but the concept was good.
The Newton on the other hand was an incredible machine. Once it got the StrongARM the handwritting recognition was almost 100% accurate. I have two friends that still refuse to give up their MessagePad 2100 even though they're +8 years old. Now with the Strongarm pushing 200MHz or the xscale running at +400MHz, one can only imagine how fast the Newton would be. IMO if the Newton was still being made today it would be smaller (duh), lighter, faster and king of the hill.
I suspect that the only reason Jobs killed it off was because of his deep hostility towards Sculley (I guess you can't blame him). I don't know if Apple transfered the Newton IP to USR -> Palm -> Palmsource or if they still own it. It's possible Inkwell in OS X came from the Newt but I'm only guessing.
I've owned five Palms since my first, the PalmPilot Personal (bought a month before the general release) and they still suck compared to the Newton.
Yet another iPod wannabe. Let's see what Apple and/or Jobs have created in the past:
Mac OS. Man, in some ways Mac OS 9 is still better than Windows XP.
NeXT Cube. What a sweet machine. There was nothing like it then and still respected today.
NeXTStep. IMO still the best OS made. So good Mac OS X uses huge chucks of it.
Newton. Bumpy at first but the last models released are still better IMO than any other pda.
Mac Cube. Very cool looking and quiet. They still get top dollar on ebay today.
iMac. The original iMac gave us style where style had been missing. Beige was dead and you were proud of your Bondi Blue machine.
... and of course the iPod.
I know I've missed a few other marvels and I'm sure there's some cool stuff they never released. With all that said don't you think that Apple already has a working video iPod prototype that could be in production in less than 30 days? The magic eight ball says "Yes".
I have yet to see someone scoop Apple in style and thunder, and IMO MS/Sony won't do it this time. I don't care how good it is, Apple will make their's better.
Millions of holidaymakers going to Greece this summer have been warned they could be jailed for buying pirated CDs after a buyer was imprisoned.
A man was jailed for three months by an Athens court for buying illegal CDs in the country's first case of its kind.
He had been arrested as he bought two CDs from a vendor in Athens last week, said the International Federation of the Phonographic Industries (IFPI).
The group gave a clear warning it would target buyers of counterfeit CDs.
IFPI spokesman Ion Stamboulis said: "This is not a symbolic measure. We are determined to prosecute the buyers and we have the support of the authorities."
Greece has the worst piracy rate in western Europe.
About 10 million pirated CDs are sold in Greece each year - the same number of sales as those of genuine CDs - at an average cost of six euros (4) each.
Travellers from the UK are among the customers for counterfeit CDs sold openly on the streets, outside cafes or on beaches.
The Greek authorities appear to be acting to stave off the threat of an increase in piracy anticipated during this summer's Olympics in Athens.
About 1,000 vendors have been prosecuted during the past few years, but this is the first time a buyer has been jailed.
"Until now, we were focusing on the sellers, but Greek courts generally hand them light suspended sentences and they resume their trade as soon as they are released," said Mr Stamboulis.
He said production and distribution were virtually controlled by what he called a "Nigerian mafia".
He said he expected a big surge in pirated CD trafficking during the Olympics from 13 - 29 August.
All kidding a side I remember reading stories about how some of the early RF keyboards would connect to the wrong computer. I know bluetooth is better, but how much? Is it more or less secure than WEP [on 802.11x]? Would you worry about su'ing on it? There are some people here that have never used bluetooth before.
How secure are bluetooth keyboards? Is it possible to somehow sniff and read the connection? I suspect it's dumb question but the idea of a RF keyboard makes me little nervous. I guess I'm too old school.
My comment "BTW, studies in the Netherlands showed that drug use did not increase with an easing supply." referred only to marijuana. I apologize for the confusion.
One of the more controversial effects claimed for marijuana is the production of an "amotivational syndrome." This syndrome is not a medical diagnosis, but it has been used to describe young people who drop out of social activities and show little interest in school, work, or other goal-directed activity. When heavy marijuana use accompanies these symptoms, the drug is often cited as the cause, but no convincing data demonstrate a causal relationship between marijuana smoking and these behavioral characteristics.
Sited from: Chait LD, Pierri J. 1992. Effects of smoked marijuana on human performance: A critical review. In: L Murphy and A Bartke, Editors, Marijuana/Cannabinoids: Neurobiology and Neurophysiology. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. Pp. 387--424.)
Thirty years later [after the LeDain Commission], we assert that the studies done in the meantime have not confirmed the existence of the so-called amotivational syndrome and add that most studies rule out this syndrome as a consequence of the use of cannabis.
I said: "BTW, studies in the Netherlands showed that drug use did not increase with an easing supply."
You said: "I call BS on this one, unless they happened to all be junkies in the first place. Provide link to this study please.
"
In 1976, the Netherlands adopted a policy of toleration for possession of up to 30 g of marijuana. There was little change in marijuana use during the seven years after the policy change, which suggests that the change itself had little effect.
1. Possession of marihuana for personal use would no longer be an offense, but marihuana possessed in public would remain contraband subject to summary seizure and forfeiture.
2. Casual distribution of small amounts of marihuana for no remuneration, or insignificant remuneration not involving profit would no longer be an offense.
The "Schaffer Report" recommend decriminalizing marijuana. Possession would result in seizure and forfeiture with no ticket and no fine.
"The vast majority of evidence on harmful effects of marijuana is based on smoked marijuana, and, except for the psychoactive effects that can be reasonably attributed to THC, it is not possible to distinguish the drug effects from the effects of inhaling smoke from burning plant material. "
While smoking anything is harmful to the body, THC itself causes no harm.
I'm not saying marijuana is harmless but studies place it's dangers less than alcohol, tobacco and caffeine. IMO it's not worth jailing someone for.
"The societal costs of propagandizing against marijuana and marijuana law reform, funding anti-marijuana 'science', interdicting marijuana, eradicating domestically grown marijuana and industrial hemp, law enforcement, prosecuting and incarcerating marijuana smokers costs U.S. taxpayers in excess of $12 billion annually."
It's safe to say the US spends more than 3 billion on the enforcement of other illegal drugs. My figure seems too low.
I also said: "At least an extra 1 billion dollars a year would be made from the taxation of marijuana."
"By most rankings, America's domestic marijuana crop is easily valued in excess of $10 billion annually and usually ranks in the top 10 cash crops."
Since alcohol is taxed at a rate higher than 10% my figure is actually low. BTW, don't think of just the 1b in tax revenue but the >12b saved. $13b is still $260m to each state each year. That will pay for a lot of teachers, fire fighters and health care.
Anyone care to guess one of the main sources of [a] terrorist['s] income?
Depends on the terrorists. In the middle east it's oil, diamonds and some heroin. In South America for at least the FARC it's the greatly over inflated value of drugs caused by prohibition.
If we end the WoD (war on drugs) by legalizing marijuana and making all other drugs available for prescription for maintance (with the execption of antibiotics) the price of drugs would bottom out. Heroin could be purchased from CVS for $5.00 a dose instead $100 off the street. Lower prices means the end of drugs partly funding bad things. The bonus would be a dramatic drop in property crimes. A few years ago in Bern, Switzerland they tried selling heroin directly to addicts for ~$4.50 per dose. Property crimes dropped by 60%.
Without prohibition illegal drugs would cost 100th of their current price and would save the US over 15 billion dollars every year in law enforcement and prison costs. At least an extra 1 billion dollars a year would be made from the taxation of marijuana. BTW, studies in the Netherlands showed that drug use did not increase with an easing supply.
The economic forces of prohibition fund a lot of bad things including terrorism.
The linksys WAP11s and WMP54g wireless PCI card were just plain terrible. Did not work as advertised. Doing WEP across two WAP11s in AP/Repeater mode causes instant lockup of the repeater. I spent an entire month on the phone with their Indian tech support until one of them finally admitted that it was a known problem that they've duplicated in their lab. Unfortunately after a month the vendors don't take products back and linksys refuses to refund my money so I'm stuck with the crap. On that note... if you DO want to use linksys stuff, let me know... hehe.
You know, I'd think that a hardware vendor like linksys would embrace and encourge people to use their own firmware to gain the functionality needed instead of jerking everyone around about releasing their changes to the GPL code already in their products like they're required to. They sell hardware. The more useful "hacks" there are for their products, the more flexible their hardware becomes, the more in demand their hardware will be. So long as the hacked firmware can be removed by reflashing and the unit is returned to factory condition it's a win-win situation for everyone. Linksys could evaluate the different hacks out there, pick the best/most stable ones and add them to their next offical release.
I realize the battle linksys' current owner (cisco) is going through and their dislike of selling routers so cheap but too TFB. Adapt or perish. GPL software is not their enemy, GPL software is their friend and a money maker.
Didn't fuckcompany move to that a couple of years ago after Ford sued them over the phrases "Looking for a new job at Ford is job #1", "Ford Exploder" and "Flips Over Road Debris"?
As for forums without registration, they allow people to post under whatever name they want. Each posting is tagged with either "registered" and "unregistered". And might I add they have some pretty talented trolls there too. Think of "-1" on/. as the shallow end of the pool and fc as the deep end.
Actually it's the other way around: You CANNOT build 'quantum' repeaters, and switches/routers would be pretty hard without being able to read the stream(reading it would change the data inside the stream, which is a big no-no).
Insert joke here about the need for a "heisenberg compensator." or Farnsworth yelling "you changed the results by checking them!"
All kidding aside you're right on the money: quantum cryptographic traffic can't be routed with our current understanding of physics. Any routing would need to be done using standard methods. Of course one would assume that the start/end points of any quantum cryptographic line would be pretty secure and is still much better than they have now.
Now couldn't they do something like this:
Bob wants to send a message to Alice through the WizBang quantum cryptography network.
Bob knows that Alice is two routers away, wizbang1 and wizbang2.
Bob uses Alice's public key to encrypt the message.
Bob adds routing instructions and encrypts the message again this time with wizbang1's public key.
Bob, for a third and final time adds routing instrustions for wizbang1 and encrypts with it's public key.
Bob sends the message.
wizbang1 gets the message, decrypts and only sees instructions to send the message to wizbang2.
wizbang2 decrypts and only sees routing instructions to send the message to Alice.
Alice gets her message and decrypts to clear text.
Assuming that the private keys to wizbang1 and wizbang2 are secure and all keys are of adequate length wouldn't this be enough to stump Echelon? If enough routers exist add breaking the message in pieces, route differently and delay sending some parts to really make it tough to read. Assuming we're using the RSA algorithm would a message encrypted multiple times with different keys be more secure than just one run with one key? Didn't mixmaster do this like ten years ago?
Of course the kind folks at Echelon could just use bonsi buddy to add the keystroke capture program to the vic's computer or tamper with the firmware on the eth card. While quantum cryptography is very, very secure under ideal conditions it isn't a panacea to one's security concerns.
Granted, while some thinktanks turn out reasonable research Alexis de Toqueville Institution is nothing more than a bunch high priced hoes working for Gates et al. Sweet zombie jesus, just look at their "research". They're not a think tank, they're a PR agency with nonprofit status. At least SCO will pay something in taxes unlike these clowns.
From the article: The ship includes a command and control centre that uses a Windows NT operating system. The Swedes insist that this will not make the vessel vulnerable to hacker attacks, although the navy will not be drawn on the potential for the system - armed with hi-tech cannon and missiles - to crash.
Yeah, not vulnerable? Just wait until some dumb ass downloads "Bonzi Buddy". "You're a WINNER! Click here to launch a missle!"
It is impossible to legally buy a gun without undergoing a background check to verify the likelihood of a person who is purchasing a gun to commit crimes.
This is true. Depending on where you live in the US certain conditions can proclued one from purchasing a long arm. Federal law has additional restrictions on short arms (aka hand guns). If your record is "clean" then you may buy and own a firearm without the guilt of being suspected of committing a crime. The root comment says encryption should be held to a higher standard "guilty until proven innocence". That is against US law.
If you are saying that encryption is as innocuous as buying a Pepsi, then I would have to disagree. Encryption flies in the face of the concept of an open society.
Do you leave your front door open at night? Do you leave the keys to your car in it all the time? Of course not. Even society has theft, and every society has locks. A lock on your car, your house or data files is there for the same reason: to keep those item inwhich you own out of the hands of others. By your logic of an "open society" the goverment should outlaw car ignition locks.
Encryption is a necessary part of our rights and heritage, but it stands to reason that such a powerful tool ought to be licensed and regulated, just as guns are in your analogy.
Licenses cryptography? IMO that's nuts . If the goverment can license something then they can outlaw it. Cryptography is the muscle behind the 4th Admendment. It protects us from unwarranted goverment intrusion and keeps our information safe from theft. Try moving to China were they "license cryptography".
Using your logic posting as an AC and not posting your real name "flies in the face of the concept of an open society". Are you hiding something?
Yes, the US Constitution. Changing the terms of an agreement retroactively (as in affecting items of business dealt with before the change), is illegal and would never hold up in court even if if written into the EULA.
You've assumed that it is not already in the current contract between Apple and the various RCs (recording companies). What if there's a clause that allows for a retroactive price increase if, say, the original royality fee structure was incorrectly calcutated? You and I know that if the RIAA/RCs used this (posssible) clause it's just to make some more money, not to correct a mistake. IMO it would also piss Jobs off and he is truly one man you don't want to piss off. For Jobs "job one" is protecting the name of Apple. It's his child. A retro price increase would most likely kill off iTunes in a week.
In addition, iTunes doesn't phone home each play, only for the first authorization so they can't really lock you out of your collection of songs you've bought. The iTunes Music Store is a STORE, not a subscription service.
Just like Apple killed off streaming out of your subnet (active in iTunes 4.0, dead in 4.1 and they didn't say they were killing it off) so could apple require all music to be reauthorized. Again, Job's loves Apple and I don't see him doing this unless under agreement.
My attitude to iTunes is simple: I continue to buy music and I will continue to burn all my music on music cds and back up my AACs. If (unlikely but possible) they do the above I'll just stop using them, enjoy what I have and continue downloading GD and Phish concerts (which are legal to download and share for noncommercial purposes).
To say that encrypting one's files is automatically suspicious is neither tyrannical nor idiotic. It is absolutely based in reality.
I consult for a very small company with a database of information that is worth >$100k US. It is by far the most complete listing of it's type and there a few people that would love to have it. The owner once turned down $100k for it. Is it encrypted? Of course it is. It would be irresponsible of me as the admin not to encrypt. I personally have a few encrypted files that contain most of the code I've written (on my own time) over the years. Until I decide what to do with it it's better off locked up and safe from theft. Both these actions have nothing to do with crime but the protection from crime.
I think what the grandparent comment might of meant was that the 4th Amendment is a basic right and encryption is a means of exercising that right.
Place it in the same context as gun ownership in the US. Just because you own a firearm, and many crimes are committed with firearms then all those who own firearms must be suspected of an involvement with crime. Of course this is not true and the vast majority of gun owners are peaceful, law abiding people.
A lot of crimes are committed with cars yet the police don't think every driver could be a criminal. "Encryption does not commit crime, criminals commit crime."
In accordance to the iTunes' TOS we are retroactively charging you $.10 per song for all songs you have purchased. Your credit card will be charged $25.30 . Until this payment has been authorized from your credit card company you will not be able to access you music library.
Thank You,
Mr. U. Bend Over
iTunes Customer Service
All kidding aside is there anything keeping the RIAA from telling Apple to do something like this? I seriously doubt Apple would do something like this on there own.
Off topic but does the head of the RIAA run around with a bunch of big guys who only respond to the one command: "Jaffa Kree!"?
bobo is quite right. Fox killed off the Family Guy (IMO one incredible show). I'm guessing that the DVDs in the beginning were seen as a way to squeeze the last bit of life out of it. Well, DVDs fly off the presses, becomes the second best selling tv series collection in history and thankfully FG was brought back from the dead. Moral of the story: in this day and age while network tv to dvd is nice and common it's now no longer a requirement. FG will come back on Fox or CN (hoping for CN because the censors will give them a lot more room.
So what does this have to do with TechTV? Someone with cash could start up a new TechTV style network, have "masters" classes (along with the normal stuff) to teach advanced subjects for advanced users like photoshop, networking, GIMP, etc. and sell the series on DVDs (through themselves and/or retailers like amazon. They could also build a web site that has less flash, more useful information and allow users to interact in a more useful way.
IMO DVDs could be a nice dependable revenue stream for a new network.
Let's hope the NYT doesn't discover the force that destroys thousands of homes and kills millions of innocent trees every year or we'll be eating cold sandwichs for the rest of our lives.
Slashdot Mirror
Stan: "Oh my God, they killed Hypercard!"
Kyle: "You bastards!"
Someone write something as good for GNU/Linux SVP?
The Newton on the other hand was an incredible machine. Once it got the StrongARM the handwritting recognition was almost 100% accurate. I have two friends that still refuse to give up their MessagePad 2100 even though they're +8 years old. Now with the Strongarm pushing 200MHz or the xscale running at +400MHz, one can only imagine how fast the Newton would be. IMO if the Newton was still being made today it would be smaller (duh), lighter, faster and king of the hill.
I suspect that the only reason Jobs killed it off was because of his deep hostility towards Sculley (I guess you can't blame him). I don't know if Apple transfered the Newton IP to USR -> Palm -> Palmsource or if they still own it. It's possible Inkwell in OS X came from the Newt but I'm only guessing.
I've owned five Palms since my first, the PalmPilot Personal (bought a month before the general release) and they still suck compared to the Newton.
Mac OS. Man, in some ways Mac OS 9 is still better than Windows XP.
NeXT Cube. What a sweet machine. There was nothing like it then and still respected today.
NeXTStep. IMO still the best OS made. So good Mac OS X uses huge chucks of it.
Newton. Bumpy at first but the last models released are still better IMO than any other pda.
Mac Cube. Very cool looking and quiet. They still get top dollar on ebay today.
iMac. The original iMac gave us style where style had been missing. Beige was dead and you were proud of your Bondi Blue machine.
... and of course the iPod.
I know I've missed a few other marvels and I'm sure there's some cool stuff they never released. With all that said don't you think that Apple already has a working video iPod prototype that could be in production in less than 30 days? The magic eight ball says "Yes".
I have yet to see someone scoop Apple in style and thunder, and IMO MS/Sony won't do it this time. I don't care how good it is, Apple will make their's better.
All kidding a side I remember reading stories about how some of the early RF keyboards would connect to the wrong computer. I know bluetooth is better, but how much? Is it more or less secure than WEP [on 802.11x]? Would you worry about su'ing on it? There are some people here that have never used bluetooth before.
How secure are bluetooth keyboards? Is it possible to somehow sniff and read the connection? I suspect it's dumb question but the idea of a RF keyboard makes me little nervous. I guess I'm too old school.
My comment "BTW, studies in the Netherlands showed that drug use did not increase with an easing supply." referred only to marijuana. I apologize for the confusion.
Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base by the Institute of Medicine (1999)
"Report of the Senate Special Comminttee on illegal drugs (2002)"I said: "BTW, studies in the Netherlands showed that drug use did not increase with an easing supply."
You said: "I call BS on this one, unless they happened to all be junkies in the first place. Provide link to this study please. "
Linky linky:
Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base by the Institute of Medicine (1999)
While I believe NORML's stats are correct, you are justified in questioning them.
"Report of the Senate Special Comminttee on illegal drugs (2002)":
The Canadian Senate recommend legalizing marijuana.Marihuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding, Commissioned by President Richard M. Nixon (March 1972)
The "Schaffer Report" recommend decriminalizing marijuana. Possession would result in seizure and forfeiture with no ticket and no fine.Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base by the Institute of Medicine (1999)
While smoking anything is harmful to the body, THC itself causes no harm.I'm not saying marijuana is harmless but studies place it's dangers less than alcohol, tobacco and caffeine. IMO it's not worth jailing someone for.
I said: "Without prohibition ... the US [would save] over 15 billion dollars every year in law enforcement"
From NORML Economics Reports:
It's safe to say the US spends more than 3 billion on the enforcement of other illegal drugs. My figure seems too low.I also said: "At least an extra 1 billion dollars a year would be made from the taxation of marijuana."
From NORML Marijuana Crop Reports:
Since alcohol is taxed at a rate higher than 10% my figure is actually low. BTW, don't think of just the 1b in tax revenue but the >12b saved. $13b is still $260m to each state each year. That will pay for a lot of teachers, fire fighters and health care.Living with Schizoaffective Disorder (Part I)
Living with Schizoaffective Disorder (Part II)
Living with Schizoaffective Disorder (Part III)
Depends on the terrorists. In the middle east it's oil, diamonds and some heroin. In South America for at least the FARC it's the greatly over inflated value of drugs caused by prohibition.
If we end the WoD (war on drugs) by legalizing marijuana and making all other drugs available for prescription for maintance (with the execption of antibiotics) the price of drugs would bottom out. Heroin could be purchased from CVS for $5.00 a dose instead $100 off the street. Lower prices means the end of drugs partly funding bad things. The bonus would be a dramatic drop in property crimes. A few years ago in Bern, Switzerland they tried selling heroin directly to addicts for ~$4.50 per dose. Property crimes dropped by 60%.
Without prohibition illegal drugs would cost 100th of their current price and would save the US over 15 billion dollars every year in law enforcement and prison costs. At least an extra 1 billion dollars a year would be made from the taxation of marijuana. BTW, studies in the Netherlands showed that drug use did not increase with an easing supply.
The economic forces of prohibition fund a lot of bad things including terrorism.
You know, I'd think that a hardware vendor like linksys would embrace and encourge people to use their own firmware to gain the functionality needed instead of jerking everyone around about releasing their changes to the GPL code already in their products like they're required to. They sell hardware. The more useful "hacks" there are for their products, the more flexible their hardware becomes, the more in demand their hardware will be. So long as the hacked firmware can be removed by reflashing and the unit is returned to factory condition it's a win-win situation for everyone. Linksys could evaluate the different hacks out there, pick the best/most stable ones and add them to their next offical release.
I realize the battle linksys' current owner (cisco) is going through and their dislike of selling routers so cheap but too TFB. Adapt or perish. GPL software is not their enemy, GPL software is their friend and a money maker.
It's just one person's opinion.
As for forums without registration, they allow people to post under whatever name they want. Each posting is tagged with either "registered" and "unregistered". And might I add they have some pretty talented trolls there too. Think of "-1" on /. as the shallow end of the pool and fc as the deep end.
Insert joke here about the need for a "heisenberg compensator." or Farnsworth yelling "you changed the results by checking them!"
All kidding aside you're right on the money: quantum cryptographic traffic can't be routed with our current understanding of physics. Any routing would need to be done using standard methods. Of course one would assume that the start/end points of any quantum cryptographic line would be pretty secure and is still much better than they have now.
Now couldn't they do something like this:
Bob wants to send a message to Alice through the WizBang quantum cryptography network.
Bob knows that Alice is two routers away, wizbang1 and wizbang2.
Bob uses Alice's public key to encrypt the message.
Bob adds routing instructions and encrypts the message again this time with wizbang1's public key.
Bob, for a third and final time adds routing instrustions for wizbang1 and encrypts with it's public key.
Bob sends the message.
wizbang1 gets the message, decrypts and only sees instructions to send the message to wizbang2.
wizbang2 decrypts and only sees routing instructions to send the message to Alice.
Alice gets her message and decrypts to clear text.
Assuming that the private keys to wizbang1 and wizbang2 are secure and all keys are of adequate length wouldn't this be enough to stump Echelon? If enough routers exist add breaking the message in pieces, route differently and delay sending some parts to really make it tough to read. Assuming we're using the RSA algorithm would a message encrypted multiple times with different keys be more secure than just one run with one key? Didn't mixmaster do this like ten years ago?
Of course the kind folks at Echelon could just use bonsi buddy to add the keystroke capture program to the vic's computer or tamper with the firmware on the eth card. While quantum cryptography is very, very secure under ideal conditions it isn't a panacea to one's security concerns.
Fuck them and the horse they rode in on.
Has anyone here seen the proof? Maybe I'm a bit sceptical but I'd like to see something before believing in it.
The ship includes a command and control centre that uses a Windows NT operating system. The Swedes insist that this will not make the vessel vulnerable to hacker attacks, although the navy will not be drawn on the potential for the system - armed with hi-tech cannon and missiles - to crash.
Yeah, not vulnerable? Just wait until some dumb ass downloads "Bonzi Buddy". "You're a WINNER! Click here to launch a missle!"
It also redefines the term "spyware."
This is true. Depending on where you live in the US certain conditions can proclued one from purchasing a long arm. Federal law has additional restrictions on short arms (aka hand guns). If your record is "clean" then you may buy and own a firearm without the guilt of being suspected of committing a crime. The root comment says encryption should be held to a higher standard "guilty until proven innocence". That is against US law.
If you are saying that encryption is as innocuous as buying a Pepsi, then I would have to disagree. Encryption flies in the face of the concept of an open society.
Do you leave your front door open at night? Do you leave the keys to your car in it all the time? Of course not. Even society has theft, and every society has locks. A lock on your car, your house or data files is there for the same reason: to keep those item inwhich you own out of the hands of others. By your logic of an "open society" the goverment should outlaw car ignition locks.
Encryption is a necessary part of our rights and heritage, but it stands to reason that such a powerful tool ought to be licensed and regulated, just as guns are in your analogy.
Licenses cryptography? IMO that's nuts . If the goverment can license something then they can outlaw it. Cryptography is the muscle behind the 4th Admendment. It protects us from unwarranted goverment intrusion and keeps our information safe from theft. Try moving to China were they "license cryptography".
Using your logic posting as an AC and not posting your real name "flies in the face of the concept of an open society". Are you hiding something?
You've assumed that it is not already in the current contract between Apple and the various RCs (recording companies). What if there's a clause that allows for a retroactive price increase if, say, the original royality fee structure was incorrectly calcutated? You and I know that if the RIAA/RCs used this (posssible) clause it's just to make some more money, not to correct a mistake. IMO it would also piss Jobs off and he is truly one man you don't want to piss off. For Jobs "job one" is protecting the name of Apple. It's his child. A retro price increase would most likely kill off iTunes in a week.
In addition, iTunes doesn't phone home each play, only for the first authorization so they can't really lock you out of your collection of songs you've bought. The iTunes Music Store is a STORE, not a subscription service. Just like Apple killed off streaming out of your subnet (active in iTunes 4.0, dead in 4.1 and they didn't say they were killing it off) so could apple require all music to be reauthorized. Again, Job's loves Apple and I don't see him doing this unless under agreement.
My attitude to iTunes is simple: I continue to buy music and I will continue to burn all my music on music cds and back up my AACs. If (unlikely but possible) they do the above I'll just stop using them, enjoy what I have and continue downloading GD and Phish concerts (which are legal to download and share for noncommercial purposes).
I consult for a very small company with a database of information that is worth >$100k US. It is by far the most complete listing of it's type and there a few people that would love to have it. The owner once turned down $100k for it. Is it encrypted? Of course it is. It would be irresponsible of me as the admin not to encrypt. I personally have a few encrypted files that contain most of the code I've written (on my own time) over the years. Until I decide what to do with it it's better off locked up and safe from theft. Both these actions have nothing to do with crime but the protection from crime.
I think what the grandparent comment might of meant was that the 4th Amendment is a basic right and encryption is a means of exercising that right.
Place it in the same context as gun ownership in the US. Just because you own a firearm, and many crimes are committed with firearms then all those who own firearms must be suspected of an involvement with crime. Of course this is not true and the vast majority of gun owners are peaceful, law abiding people.
A lot of crimes are committed with cars yet the police don't think every driver could be a criminal. "Encryption does not commit crime, criminals commit crime."
In accordance to the iTunes' TOS we are retroactively charging you $.10 per song for all songs you have purchased. Your credit card will be charged $25.30 . Until this payment has been authorized from your credit card company you will not be able to access you music library.
Thank You,
Mr. U. Bend Over
iTunes Customer Service
All kidding aside is there anything keeping the RIAA from telling Apple to do something like this? I seriously doubt Apple would do something like this on there own.
Off topic but does the head of the RIAA run around with a bunch of big guys who only respond to the one command: "Jaffa Kree!"?
So what does this have to do with TechTV? Someone with cash could start up a new TechTV style network, have "masters" classes (along with the normal stuff) to teach advanced subjects for advanced users like photoshop, networking, GIMP, etc. and sell the series on DVDs (through themselves and/or retailers like amazon. They could also build a web site that has less flash, more useful information and allow users to interact in a more useful way.
IMO DVDs could be a nice dependable revenue stream for a new network.
It was a great "boogyman" story though ...