Interesting, we really have different views on tax. I don't enjoy paying them, being in the highest income-tax bracket in my country (not hard to accomplish, trust me, not making millions) I sometimes think about how much better it'd be if I paid less taxes.
However, I survive on the amount I have left after I pay my taxes. I may not be in the category of richest people but I feel that health care, infrastructure, police, ambulance and so on, are services worth paying for. Why should I pay more (in %) then someone who makes less, well, because the money is needed, and where will it come from otherwise? There certainly are things I want, like a better car and a bigger house, but really, what I have now is not bad.
I believe in two basic things, freedom and helping those that cannot provide for themselves.
I do not believe that everyone has the same opportunities in life, even if my country provides free education (including uni) to all it's citizens.
I pay taxes because I think that free education should be the foundation of any country, I pay them because I think health care should be free for everyone. You shouldn't have to die of a disease because you cannot afford the healthcare, and I believe in helping those who come from countries that require help (I seem to be a minority in Europe having this opinion these days).
I fear that compassion is become rare, it seems to be gone from politics, and especially when talking about taxes. The debate now is often focused on cost, how much immigration costs, how much does free health care cost... rarely do I read debates asking how many lives were saved because we have free health care or because we let people from countries that are at war stay in ours.
and the US has a legal system based on the idea that people are innocent until proven guilty.
Funny, before coming to slashdot I was reading NYTimes, about an afghan farmer being imprisoned for a few years because he had a pair of binocular on him.
Personally I run my own email-server, its not very expensive and you get full control of a domain. Now with all the virtual servers in-the-cloud, the entrycost is next to none, and you get a domain that you control. There are still some good ones out there up-for-grabs.
This way, at least communication between the people on the mailserver cannot be traced (of course, encrypt traffic to and from the mailserver).
If there are people outside this you are communicating with, then email encryption is probably the only resonable way. Same goes for IM, on the MAC I use Adium that can do encryption.
I'm sure there are people who has other suggestions but I do all of the above, and it works not only for me but also my wife, parents and sibblings, who care very little for computer security. Giving them an email address that has firstname@lastname.domain is something they found positive, and getting them to use Adium wasn't that hard as its an all-in-one-client. The security wasn't the selling point which, I think, is the reason I got them to use it.
Just when the cracker thinks they've fixed the game, another one turns up.
One would assume the cracker to change the actual copy-protection check function, always returning true (or whatever number represnts "pass"). Seems like an awful waste of time changing all the places it's called from.
Plus, let's face it, copy protection has been tried in sooo many different ways and forms, and has yet to be implemented so it works. From the color-discs in Monkey Island to the abnormaly large file on whatever that first CD-game was, it's been done before. The only one that seems to work is the one that has game-functionality serverside.
... Or the school could provide the computers pre-loaded with the stuff thats needed, making cheating close to impossible, especially if this clients are used where everything that happens is tracked. Just saing, there are ways to secure computers.
From TFA:
Update: Activision Blizzard has sent a cease and desist notice to YouTube in order to remove the videos showing off the mod. According to various sources, Blizzard's intention is not to stop the project itself, but to protect their properties names, whether they plan to work on a "World of Starcraft" game in the future is anyone's best guess.
Being Swedish myself I unfortunately do not think this is what would happen.
People may have voted for the pirate party in the EU elections due to "FRA Lagen" and "IPRED", but both those laws passed anyways and where are the pirate party votes now when the general elections are coming up?
In fact, I don't even see this being debated in media anymore.
It's easy to think that things would be different here but if Sweden had a government that didn't hesitate when it came to shooting protesters, I don't think too many people would protest.
... and when it comes to the likelyhood of an oppressive government being in power in Sweden, the 4%-ish votes going to "Sverige Demokraterna" right now clearly shows that there are quite a few people in the country who actually wants an oppressive government (look past their immigration agenda and look what they want to do in other areas, its scary to say the least).
It's easy to complain about others and say you would do a better job yourself but you can only know if this is true or not if you are put in the same situation. There are things worth fighting for, and freedom is the big one for me, but maybe the motivation is slightly less when people around you are being shot.
I dont think he is worried about "most of the people" in Alabama, I think he is worried about the people that do not fall into the category of "most of the people". Are you afraid of "most of the muslims" or are you afraid of the ones that do not fall into that category?
Denmark should not be held up as an example of free speech. Denmark is a country where access to thepiratebay was/is blocked by the ISPs without the court having found (at the time the block was initiated) the site guilty of doing anything illegal.
I dont care about mohammed, i do however care about free speech. Denmark is often held up as an example which is wrong. Inface, in this case i have more respect for pakistan then i do for denmark. At least pictures of mohammed are illegal and access to the site was therefore blocked. Exactly what crime has thepiratebay been convicted of in Denmark?
In Sweden I think they got the support they did for a number of reasons.
1) The Pirate Party got the votes in the EU elections, not the national one. The Swedish national elections are coming up too and they don't even show up in the polls yet (meaning they have less than one percent). Basically, it seems like people in Sweden do not care about the EU elections that much, or alternatively they believe copyright is a European issue and not a national one.
2)There is a history of personal freedom where people believe that private citizens should not be monitored unless deemed absolutely necessary for criminal reasons. In the span of a few month, ThePirateBay was sued and in the media it appeared to be a result of pressure from the US. Also, ThePirateBay's servers were seized together with the servers of a number of companies, who made the only "mistake" of putting their servers next to thepiratebay's servers, most likely this was done unknowingly. Furthermore, laws were being discussed that would further reduce personal freedom and allow mass monitoring of the population. Stories were written in media and people got annoyed and began loosing trust in the authorities which resulted in more votes for the PP. Basically, they got votes from unhappy people.
If current polls are an indication, the PP is unlikely to have any impact on the national elections in Sweden. Instead, Sweden is jumping on the European extreme-right bandwagon.
We were unhappy with copyright laws, now we are unhappy with immigrants. My current prediction is that in 2014, we will have anti-dolphin parties (dolphins creep me out).
Re:I rarely get to say this...
on
PS3 Hacked?
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Not sure where you live but where I am, the old PS3 goes for more money then the new slim one, simply because it also allows you to play PS2 games (slim does not).
Sure you can find the odd cheap one off Ebay etc, but its still a big hassle, that is if you get one at all.
I have mixed feelings about the hack, only time will tell if its good or bad.
If it really works without any modchip then it does bring the thoughts to the SEGA Dreamcast, awesome machine but seriously flawed copyprotection.
... and use thepiratebay for posting the torrents, that way their argument (that they are hosting legal torrents too) may actually be true at least for a few torrents:)
... now all we need is "BillionaireITeXchange -- news for rich nerds, stuff that really doesn't matter" so we have somewhere to post stories like this one!
so it shouldn't be a problem for those who aren't modding to play pirated copies.
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but the XBOX 360 mod is basically flashing the DVD drive so that it can load games from backup DVD's.
The mod does not however remove the protection such an extent that homebrews can be loaded.
So, assuming this is still correct (haven't had a a 360 for over a year), what can you possibly do on a modded xbox 360 if you aren't copying games?
Probably not the best description as you correctly pointed out, when I wrote that I was thinking of Demons souls on the PS3, basically you play by yourself but while playing people can join your game and help or hurt you.
IE6 is the only website browser that should be around.
I don't know what all this buzz is about that Firefork website viewer thing, or that Oprah browser. I knew she did a talk show and all but web browsers? Get off my interwebs!"
Seriously considering this as my next signature. "Trying to get your website to work correctly in IE6 is like a puzzle game! Challenging and fun!"
Slashdot Mirror
Interesting, we really have different views on tax. I don't enjoy paying them, being in the highest income-tax bracket in my country (not hard to accomplish, trust me, not making millions) I sometimes think about how much better it'd be if I paid less taxes.
However, I survive on the amount I have left after I pay my taxes. I may not be in the category of richest people but I feel that health care, infrastructure, police, ambulance and so on, are services worth paying for. Why should I pay more (in %) then someone who makes less, well, because the money is needed, and where will it come from otherwise? There certainly are things I want, like a better car and a bigger house, but really, what I have now is not bad.
I believe in two basic things, freedom and helping those that cannot provide for themselves.
I do not believe that everyone has the same opportunities in life, even if my country provides free education (including uni) to all it's citizens.
I pay taxes because I think that free education should be the foundation of any country, I pay them because I think health care should be free for everyone. You shouldn't have to die of a disease because you cannot afford the healthcare, and I believe in helping those who come from countries that require help (I seem to be a minority in Europe having this opinion these days).
I fear that compassion is become rare, it seems to be gone from politics, and especially when talking about taxes. The debate now is often focused on cost, how much immigration costs, how much does free health care cost... rarely do I read debates asking how many lives were saved because we have free health care or because we let people from countries that are at war stay in ours.
No
Bradley E. Manning should get this price, he is the real hero. He put his life on the line to release this information, what did Assange risk?
Manning was held naked in a prison cell without windows for 23 hours a day, Assange won't even go to Sweden to face the charges for sex-crimes (not even after being assured he will not be sent to any other country without britains concent).
Funny, before coming to slashdot I was reading NYTimes, about an afghan farmer being imprisoned for a few years because he had a pair of binocular on him.
Personally I run my own email-server, its not very expensive and you get full control of a domain. Now with all the virtual servers in-the-cloud, the entrycost is next to none, and you get a domain that you control. There are still some good ones out there up-for-grabs.
This way, at least communication between the people on the mailserver cannot be traced (of course, encrypt traffic to and from the mailserver).
If there are people outside this you are communicating with, then email encryption is probably the only resonable way. Same goes for IM, on the MAC I use Adium that can do encryption.
I'm sure there are people who has other suggestions but I do all of the above, and it works not only for me but also my wife, parents and sibblings, who care very little for computer security. Giving them an email address that has firstname@lastname.domain is something they found positive, and getting them to use Adium wasn't that hard as its an all-in-one-client. The security wasn't the selling point which, I think, is the reason I got them to use it.
One would assume the cracker to change the actual copy-protection check function, always returning true (or whatever number represnts "pass"). Seems like an awful waste of time changing all the places it's called from.
Plus, let's face it, copy protection has been tried in sooo many different ways and forms, and has yet to be implemented so it works. From the color-discs in Monkey Island to the abnormaly large file on whatever that first CD-game was, it's been done before. The only one that seems to work is the one that has game-functionality serverside.
... Or the school could provide the computers pre-loaded with the stuff thats needed, making cheating close to impossible, especially if this clients are used where everything that happens is tracked. Just saing, there are ways to secure computers.
In school they still use pen and paper and learn about stuff thats on wikipedia. True story.
People are stupid -- Dr. House
From TFA: Update: Activision Blizzard has sent a cease and desist notice to YouTube in order to remove the videos showing off the mod. According to various sources, Blizzard's intention is not to stop the project itself, but to protect their properties names, whether they plan to work on a "World of Starcraft" game in the future is anyone's best guess.
The Americans wants to rule the world, the only problem is they can't find it.
Maybe a link to the addon would be useful in the story?
Being Swedish myself I unfortunately do not think this is what would happen.
... and when it comes to the likelyhood of an oppressive government being in power in Sweden, the 4%-ish votes going to "Sverige Demokraterna" right now clearly shows that there are quite a few people in the country who actually wants an oppressive government (look past their immigration agenda and look what they want to do in other areas, its scary to say the least).
People may have voted for the pirate party in the EU elections due to "FRA Lagen" and "IPRED", but both those laws passed anyways and where are the pirate party votes now when the general elections are coming up?
In fact, I don't even see this being debated in media anymore.
It's easy to think that things would be different here but if Sweden had a government that didn't hesitate when it came to shooting protesters, I don't think too many people would protest.
It's easy to complain about others and say you would do a better job yourself but you can only know if this is true or not if you are put in the same situation. There are things worth fighting for, and freedom is the big one for me, but maybe the motivation is slightly less when people around you are being shot.
So basically, they changed the app and now its reposted on the appstore, then they get a story on slashdot. I doubt their sales are going down.
I dont think he is worried about "most of the people" in Alabama, I think he is worried about the people that do not fall into the category of "most of the people". Are you afraid of "most of the muslims" or are you afraid of the ones that do not fall into that category?
Denmark should not be held up as an example of free speech. Denmark is a country where access to thepiratebay was/is blocked by the ISPs without the court having found (at the time the block was initiated) the site guilty of doing anything illegal. I dont care about mohammed, i do however care about free speech. Denmark is often held up as an example which is wrong. Inface, in this case i have more respect for pakistan then i do for denmark. At least pictures of mohammed are illegal and access to the site was therefore blocked. Exactly what crime has thepiratebay been convicted of in Denmark?
In Sweden I think they got the support they did for a number of reasons.
1) The Pirate Party got the votes in the EU elections, not the national one. The Swedish national elections are coming up too and they don't even show up in the polls yet (meaning they have less than one percent). Basically, it seems like people in Sweden do not care about the EU elections that much, or alternatively they believe copyright is a European issue and not a national one.
2)There is a history of personal freedom where people believe that private citizens should not be monitored unless deemed absolutely necessary for criminal reasons. In the span of a few month, ThePirateBay was sued and in the media it appeared to be a result of pressure from the US. Also, ThePirateBay's servers were seized together with the servers of a number of companies, who made the only "mistake" of putting their servers next to thepiratebay's servers, most likely this was done unknowingly. Furthermore, laws were being discussed that would further reduce personal freedom and allow mass monitoring of the population. Stories were written in media and people got annoyed and began loosing trust in the authorities which resulted in more votes for the PP. Basically, they got votes from unhappy people.
If current polls are an indication, the PP is unlikely to have any impact on the national elections in Sweden. Instead, Sweden is jumping on the European extreme-right bandwagon.
We were unhappy with copyright laws, now we are unhappy with immigrants. My current prediction is that in 2014, we will have anti-dolphin parties (dolphins creep me out).
Not sure where you live but where I am, the old PS3 goes for more money then the new slim one, simply because it also allows you to play PS2 games (slim does not).
Sure you can find the odd cheap one off Ebay etc, but its still a big hassle, that is if you get one at all.
I have mixed feelings about the hack, only time will tell if its good or bad.
If it really works without any modchip then it does bring the thoughts to the SEGA Dreamcast, awesome machine but seriously flawed copyprotection.
... and use thepiratebay for posting the torrents, that way their argument (that they are hosting legal torrents too) may actually be true at least for a few torrents :)
... now all we need is "BillionaireITeXchange -- news for rich nerds, stuff that really doesn't matter" so we have somewhere to post stories like this one!
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but the XBOX 360 mod is basically flashing the DVD drive so that it can load games from backup DVD's.
The mod does not however remove the protection such an extent that homebrews can be loaded.
So, assuming this is still correct (haven't had a a 360 for over a year), what can you possibly do on a modded xbox 360 if you aren't copying games?
I've used TrackmeNot for a long time, and today I can see why that's been a great idea!
Probably not the best description as you correctly pointed out, when I wrote that I was thinking of Demons souls on the PS3, basically you play by yourself but while playing people can join your game and help or hurt you.
Like the comments on that page.
IE6 is the only website browser that should be around.
I don't know what all this buzz is about that Firefork website viewer thing, or that Oprah browser.
I knew she did a talk show and all but web browsers? Get off my interwebs!"
Seriously considering this as my next signature.
"Trying to get your website to work correctly in IE6 is like a puzzle game! Challenging and fun!"