Aren't other trojans like Back Orifice and NetBus marketed as 'network tools'? How long before anti-virus programs either add this to their lists or are somehow convinced (bought out, coerved) to intentionally keep this from their list like that did with the FBI's Carnivore program? If you purchase the software eblaster you would think it is yours, but that is not the case.
Spector soft designed the software to periodicly register its serial number with there database. This way if the software is installed in one or more machines they disable your software. Sure a firewall would prevent this communication, but it should also prevent the program from working anyway. I also woant to know what level of trust would one place into a company that can then have total control of your system. Are all those emails marked 'confidential' being sent to the company president also being routed to some other location? In this case security is only as strong as this software company's security. Could someone not take over and then have instant access to hundreds of corporate zombies? Sorry, but I am not about to take that chance.
Many people are suggesting that terrorists won't be caught simply because they may already be trusted (have used the airlines multiple times in the past w/o problems) or may have valid IDs. Obviously that isn't the point. The issue is the correlation of data between the scanners and databases of known suspects. If the agencies do not find a way to communicate and share information instead of hoarding it, then this system would be useless. Rarely are these kind of people completely unknown to authorities. How many of the 9/11 hijackers already under some watch list? If this system were to be universally set in place, then the system could conceivably bring up red flags when it identifies several people from the same organization or watch list boarding at the same time. Databases and archives may be able to help track collaborators, if not after the fact. Once you find the person involved, look for patters such as others with whom the suspect traveled. However it all seems to be a moot point when all the security in the world may make air travel more safe, it will to little if anything to stop terrorism. How hard would it be to find a woody area outside some airport, set up a few guys with normal, high powered hunting rifles or assault weapons and take out a landing aircraft. No one would hear it nor figure it out until days or weeks after it is too late. There is so much security at some events like the Super Bowl, but what about things such as the playoffs where just as many people are around and watch the event live. Maybe even a small plane flying into an airport would work as well. Ever sit on the tarmac for an hour with a dozen other planes waiting for take-off? I'm off on a tangent, and this will likely be moded accordingly, but the point is little can be done to really stop the competent, determined person or group. I'm all for this kind of system as it will provide additional tools to law enforcement. They can already track people using electronic ticket trails, it just takes more time. This just allows for more timely information at the critical times in which it is needed.
Go ahead and mark me as a troll or redundant, but I read this piece recently and feel it is relevant. I care not for karm but would just wish more people considered this.
March 11, 2002
I think the vast differences in compensation between the victims of the September 11th casualty, and those who die serving the country in uniform, are profound. No one is really talking about it either because you just don't criticize anything having to do with September 11th. Well, I just can't let the numbers pass by because it says something really disturbing about the entitlement mentality of this country.
If you lost a family member in the September 11th attack, you're going to get an average of $1,185,000. The range is a minimum guarantee of $250,000, all the way up to $4.7 million. If you are a surviving family member of an American soldier killed in action, the first check you get is a $6,000 direct death benefit, half of which is taxable. Next, you get $1,750 for burial costs. If you are the surviving spouse, you get $833 a month until you remarry. And there's a payment of $211 per month for each child under 18. When the child hits 18, those payments come to a screeching halt. Keep in mind that some of the people that are getting an average of $1.185 million up to $4.7 million are complaining that it's not enough. We also learned over the weekend that some of the victims from the Oklahoma City bombing have started an organization asking for the same deal that the September 11th families are getting. In addition to that, some of the families of those bombed in the embassies are now asking for compensation as well.
You see where this is going, don't you? Folks, this is part and parcel of over fifty years of entitlement politics in this country. It's just really sad. "Patriotism is not a short and renzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime." --Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.
Every time when a pay raise comes up for the military they usually receive next to nothing of a raise. Now the green machine is in combat in the Middle East while their families have to survive on food stamps and live in low rent housing. However our own U.S. Congress just voted themselves a raise, and many of you don't know that they only have to be in Congress one-time to receive a pension that is more than $15,000 per month and most are now equal to be millionaires plus. They also do not receive Social Security on retirement because they didn't have to pay into the system. If some of the military people stay in for 20 years and get out as an E-7 you may receive a pension of $1,000 per month, and the very people who placed you in harms way receive a pension of $15,000 per month. I would like to see our elected officials pick up a weapon and join ranks before they start cutting out benefits and lowering pay for our sons and daughters who are now fighting.
The comment was written by (hance my reference to) Joe Michael Strachinski (creator of the SF TV show Babylon 5) in response to the numerous complaints and whinings posted on newsgroups at the end of his series. The basic idea is that one cannot bring together all the little plot threads and dangling ideas and please everyone.
Here is a qote from Orson Scott Card that seems quite fitting;
"...if you're going to criticize me for not finishing the whole thing and tying it up in a bow for you, why, do us both a favor and write your own damn book, only have the decency to call it a romance instead of a history, because history's got no bows on it, only frayed ends of ribbons and knots that can't be untied. It ain't a pretty package but then it's not your birthday that I know of, so I'm under no obligation to give you a gift."
I am sorry if you missed the irony of the point. I had not seen the series very much in probably 2 years and feel that things were placed together nicely. The point of the show isn't to find the end-all-be-all timeline of every little plot point, but to be able to turn off the TV at the end and say to yourself "that was a good story". If that happened, then the author did his job..if not, then pick up the remote and move onto something else.
Dear Mr. Tolkien: I just wanted to say that I think the way you ended THE LORD OF THE RINGS was crap. You didn't provide any closure. Instead of spending time with the hobbits clearing out the shire (come on, urban renwal in LoTR? give me a break) and lots of goodbyes, you SHOULD have shown me what happened to Tom Bombadil, he was an important part of the story, and you just left his story thread there unresolved.
You made a big deal out of the elves going to the west, but we never SAW it! We never found out what was there, or what Bilbo found when he got there, or what happened to the dwarves, or what happened to Merry and Pippin....
You betrayed your audience by not resolving every single plot thread you introduced in your book, and as a result, it is never going to be of value to anyone, ever, and will never go past its first printing.
Don't just make some causal 'place me on your do-not-call list' statement and hang up...mkae them follow through. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 has multiple requirements that would interest readers. 1. The use of prerecorded ads is illegal under this act (with the exception of emergency calls [i.e. evacuation notices]). 2. Upon request, they *must* send you a written copy of their DNR policy. 3. They must train their people in the use of the DNR policy and the implementation of it. e.g. If you ask for a written copy of the policy and they say one does not exist or they know nothing about it, then that can be construed as 2 violations of this federal law.
The actual numbers for those interested in reading up on this is 'Title 47 USC Section 227' and 47 CFR 64.1200.
The great thing about this law, unlike most anti-spam bills, is that it allows private right of action against the telemarketer. That's right, if they violate these rules, you can take them to small claims court. If you tell them to not call you again and they do so again within the next 10 years, that is another $500 violation. If you can demonstrate that they willfully violated this act (i.e. called you several time or used a clearly illegal prerecorded message), then you can ask for triple damages! Other things to remember, there is NO grace period for adding your name to the list. Even if they say it will 'take 8-10 days to completely remove the number' and call again the next day, that is a violation of the federal law.
The FTC is finally working on creating a national DNR list as directed by Congress when the TCPA was passed.
Do not just hang up or ignore these people. Know your rights and exercise them. Keep a log of the calls and get names and numbers. If they call once more it probably isn't worth it, but if they call more than that, then you have case history and the law to ack you up and can easily get a judgement (although collecting is always a different story). One story I remember from my research is a company in NJ was making calls for GM in Ohio. The guy went to court and got a judgement, but the firm in NJ said they wouldn't pay since they were in different states. The guy found that Ohio has a law stating that sompanies that do not pay legal judgements cannot conduct business in the state. The guy wrote the president of GM and said if they ever wanted to sell cars in that state to pay up...a check was sent less than 5 days later.
Many states have their own list, however I am not aware if any of the states allow for private action. Any legal action usually must be done by the state. Get on your state's list. It will help aid you if you persue action under the TCPA.
Here are some links for those interested in reading up:
http://consumer.net/telemarketing/tcpainfo.asp http://www.private-citizen.com/ (private group dedicated to ant-telemarketing intrusions)
http://www.epic.org/privacy/telemarketing/
http://www.dianamey.com/ (story of one woman's fight against the system..to date she has collected over $30,000 since 1999 including $10,000 from Discover Card.
Could this same idea be applied to actually suing slashdot for willfull destruction. For example if slashdots with it's thousands of readers had a big link to the lawyer's website that caused it to crash due to high load, could they turn around and sue. There is a solid history of websites being swamped by readers after following a link to the point in nearly every story in which it occurs, many people have to poin out a cache at some location (usuall google.com) and ask if slashdot could even provide their own cache. That history could demonstrate prior knowledge of the chances of damaging the web site just by the sheer display of the web link. A few years ago a local radion station hid several $100 bills in books at a local public library as a promotional thing to 'encourage' people to visit. What did not expect was the mob of people that rushed the dorrs tearing apart books in search for the free money. They ended up having to pay for several thousand dollars in damage to the property.
Either it is/.ed to hell or the server is having major problems (not that they are exclusive). A lot of people are having the download stop at 10-15%. All this for a simple 2 meg file. If someone already has it, throw it to a binary group and provide a link.
People complain when the same story is posted even twice in 6 months. I can see how they may get frustrated when this was even discussed in another story on the same day! http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/02/12/033421 9&mode=thread&tid=95
One comment made was:
"A similar distinction results from looking at the class data: Warrior is listed as the second-favorite class, but ranks a distant sixth in the list of classes people would like to be, were Norath real. This implies that people would rather be a class or race that isn't their favorite."
It was referring to how demographics of player classes is not what you may think. It is just like a Renaissance Festival. The layman may just think that there is nothing but knights, kings, and princesses running around, but people have a much more broad interest than that. Sure some will join the bounty hunter class, but people still want to be different.
Re:I wonder how the FBI would react to those kinds of sites...
When the SEC is creating fake investment websites (http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/01/30/19332 09&mode=thread) to teach naive investors, then why would the FBI not create fake websites, listservs, and even hacking tools? We know about programs like Magic Lantern and Carnivore, but how many are out there that we do not know about?
Another techniques used by radio broadcasters is to speed up music by 3-4%. This over time gives a lot more room for more commercials or even more songs (since many stations promote X number of songs per hour).
One poster mentioned that this could be used on commercials, thus giving space for more commercials, but this technique would not be allowed. The contracts (at least those that I have seen) stipulate that such measures cannot be taken during their commercials, but that is not usually the case for music.
I worked in the IT department of a local radio network that owned several local stations (I left when Clear Channel bought them out) for a couple of years.
Hopefully Ad Aware (http://www.lsfileserv.com/index.html) will include it in their list soon, but until then it is an easy remove (http://www.vx2.cc/uninstall.html)
The VX2 software is a single program file in the system directory called VX2.dll.
To remove VX2:
1) From the Control Panel select ADD/REMOVE programs. Select "VX2 RespondMiter" and "Remove".
If VX2 RespondMiter is not present:
2) Close all internet explorer browsers.
3) Search your "C" drive for VX2.dll
4) Delete VX2.dll
If the system does not permit the file to be deleted proceed as follows.
5) Select "Start" and then "Run" and type "regedit"
6) Find the and delete the entry named "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{00000000-5eb9-11d5-9d45-009027c14662}".
7) delete the {00000000-5eb9-11d5-9d45-009027c14662}entry.
8) Reboot computer.
9) Search your "C" drive for VX2.dll
10) Delete VX2.dll
It seems to just plug itself in IE, so as usualy Netscapers are pretty safe from this one....for now.
This will have the exact effect that the BSA expects. It will scare people into purchasing more software and then telling others about the scare whom will then do the same thing due to the threat (real or imagined) of being raided .
Do you seriously think that this will convince people to go to open source? People do not see open source products on the shelves at the computer store. Go into any non-computer business (and probably many of those even) and ask them about open source and you will get nothing but a blank look. Even if they look into it, they will se a long learning curve and thus not even try it. Try running a business and see how much time you have to trying to install new system that may or may not work.
The only way to keep this from them is not using unpurchased software in the first place (open source excluded of course) or encrypt your entire computer.
I remember reading about some money laundering operations that had thier system encrypted with the only key on a 5.25 floppy and a commercial grade waffle iron 2 feet away that was kept on at all times. If they were raided, the key would be toast in less than a second.
Why? because as ice they displace the same amount of space as they would if they were water. It is achimedes' principle. It is what keeps ships afloat, what makes submarines work.
You nearly have the right idea, but you are still wrong. Anobject that displaces an amount of water that is equal to the weight of the object, then it will be neutrally buoyant. It will neight float nor sink and will be at the mercy of whatever up and down drafts there are. An object that displaces an amount of water that weighs greater than the weight of the object, then that object will float. A copper penny will sink because it displaces very little water, but an aircraft carrier will float because it displaces and incredible amount of water.
The amount of space that is displaced is illelevent as it is the weight relationship of the object and the weight of the water that is displaced.
Slashdot Mirror
Aren't other trojans like Back Orifice and NetBus marketed as 'network tools'? How long before anti-virus programs either add this to their lists or are somehow convinced (bought out, coerved) to intentionally keep this from their list like that did with the FBI's Carnivore program? If you purchase the software eblaster you would think it is yours ,
but that is not the
case.
Spector soft designed the software to periodicly register its serial number with there database. This way if the software is installed in one or more machines they disable your software. Sure a firewall would prevent this communication, but it should also prevent the program from working anyway. I also woant to know what level of trust would one place into a company that can then have total control of your system. Are all those emails marked 'confidential' being sent to the company president also being routed to some other location? In this case security is only as strong as this software company's security. Could someone not take over and then have instant access to hundreds of corporate zombies? Sorry, but I am not about to take that chance.
Many people are suggesting that terrorists won't be caught simply because they may already be trusted (have used the airlines multiple times in the past w/o problems) or may have valid IDs. Obviously that isn't the point. The issue is the correlation of data between the scanners and databases of known suspects. If the agencies do not find a way to communicate and share information instead of hoarding it, then this system would be useless. Rarely are these kind of people completely unknown to authorities. How many of the 9/11 hijackers already under some watch list? If this system were to be universally set in place, then the system could conceivably bring up red flags when it identifies several people from the same organization or watch list boarding at the same time. Databases and archives may be able to help track collaborators, if not after the fact. Once you find the person involved, look for patters such as others with whom the suspect traveled.
However it all seems to be a moot point when all the security in the world may make air travel more safe, it will to little if anything to stop terrorism. How hard would it be to find a woody area outside some airport, set up a few guys with normal, high powered hunting rifles or assault weapons and take out a landing aircraft. No one would hear it nor figure it out until days or weeks after it is too late. There is so much security at some events like the Super Bowl, but what about things such as the playoffs where just as many people are around and watch the event live. Maybe even a small plane flying into an airport would work as well. Ever sit on the tarmac for an hour with a dozen other planes waiting for take-off? I'm off on a tangent, and this will likely be moded accordingly, but the point is little can be done to really stop the competent, determined person or group. I'm all for this kind of system as it will provide additional tools to law enforcement. They can already track people using electronic ticket trails, it just takes more time. This just allows for more timely information at the critical times in which it is needed.
Go ahead and mark me as a troll or redundant, but I read this piece recently and feel it is relevant. I care not for karm but would just wish more people considered this.
March 11, 2002
I think the vast differences in compensation between the victims of the September 11th casualty, and those who die serving the
country in uniform, are profound. No one is really talking about it either because you just don't criticize anything having to do with September 11th. Well, I just can't let the numbers pass by because it says something really disturbing about the entitlement mentality of this country.
If you lost a family member in the September 11th attack, you're going to get an average of $1,185,000. The range is a minimum guarantee of $250,000, all the way up to $4.7 million. If you are a surviving family member of an American soldier killed in action, the first check you get is a $6,000 direct death benefit, half of
which is taxable. Next, you get $1,750 for burial costs. If you are the surviving spouse, you get $833 a month until you remarry.
And there's a payment of $211 per month for each child under 18. When the child hits 18, those payments come to a screeching halt. Keep in mind that some of the people that are getting an average of $1.185 million up to $4.7 million are complaining that it's not enough. We also learned over the weekend that some of the
victims from the Oklahoma City bombing have started an organization asking for the same deal that the September 11th families are getting. In addition to that, some of the families of those bombed in the embassies are now asking for compensation as well.
You see where this is going, don't you? Folks, this is part and parcel of over fifty years of entitlement politics in this country. It's just really sad. "Patriotism is not a short and renzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime." --Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.
Every time when a pay raise comes up for the military they usually receive next to nothing of a raise. Now the green machine is in combat in the Middle East while their families have to survive on food stamps and live in low rent housing. However our own U.S. Congress just voted themselves a raise, and many of you don't
know that they only have to be in Congress one-time to receive a pension that is more than $15,000 per month and most are now equal
to be millionaires plus. They also do not receive Social Security on retirement because they didn't have to pay into the system.
If some of the military people stay in for 20 years and get out as an E-7 you may receive a pension of $1,000 per month, and the very people who placed you in harms way receive a pension of
$15,000 per month. I would like to see our elected officials pick up a weapon and join ranks before they start cutting out benefits
and lowering pay for our sons and daughters who are now fighting.
The comment was written by (hance my reference to) Joe Michael Strachinski (creator of the SF TV show Babylon 5) in response to the numerous complaints and whinings posted on newsgroups at the end of his series. The basic idea is that one cannot bring together all the little plot threads and dangling ideas and please everyone.
Here is a qote from Orson Scott Card that seems quite fitting;
"...if you're going to criticize me for not finishing the whole thing and tying it up in a bow for you, why, do us both a favor and write your own damn book, only have the decency to call it a romance instead of a history, because history's got no bows on it, only frayed ends of
ribbons and knots that can't be untied. It ain't a pretty package but then it's not your birthday that I know of, so I'm under no obligation to give you a gift."
I am sorry if you missed the irony of the point. I had not seen the series very much in probably 2 years and feel that things were placed together nicely. The point of the show isn't to find the end-all-be-all timeline of every little plot point, but to be able to turn off the TV at the end and say to yourself "that was a good story". If that happened, then the author did his job..if not, then pick up the remote and move onto something else.
Apologies to JMS.
Dear Mr. Tolkien:
I just wanted to say that I think the way you ended THE LORD OF THE RINGS was crap. You didn't provide any closure. Instead of spending time with the hobbits clearing out the shire (come on, urban renwal in LoTR? give me a break) and lots of goodbyes, you SHOULD have shown me what happened to Tom Bombadil, he was an important part of the story, and you just left his story thread there unresolved.
You made a big deal out of the elves going to the west, but we never SAW it! We never found out what was there, or what Bilbo found when he got there, or what happened to the dwarves, or what happened to Merry and Pippin....
You betrayed your audience by not resolving every single plot thread you introduced in your book, and as a result, it is never going to be of value to anyone, ever, and will never go past its first printing.
Heck, we barely dodged the August 29, 1997 Judgement Day, but somehow Sarah Connor prevented it. Can Scully and Mulder do the same?
Don't just make some causal 'place me on your do-not-call list' statement and hang up...mkae them follow through. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 has multiple requirements that would interest readers.
1. The use of prerecorded ads is illegal under this act (with the exception of emergency calls [i.e. evacuation notices]).
2. Upon request, they *must* send you a written copy of their DNR policy.
3. They must train their people in the use of the DNR policy and the implementation of it. e.g. If you ask for a written copy of the policy and they say one does not exist or they know nothing about it, then that can be construed as 2 violations of this federal law.
The actual numbers for those interested in reading up on this is 'Title 47 USC Section 227' and 47 CFR 64.1200.
The great thing about this law, unlike most anti-spam bills, is that it allows private right of action against the telemarketer. That's right, if they violate these rules, you can take them to small claims court. If you tell them to not call you again and they do so again within the next 10 years, that is another $500 violation. If you can demonstrate that they willfully violated this act (i.e. called you several time or used a clearly illegal prerecorded message), then you can ask for triple damages! Other things to remember, there is NO grace period for adding your name to the list. Even if they say it will 'take 8-10 days to completely remove the number' and call again the next day, that is a violation of the federal law.
The FTC is finally working on creating a national DNR list as directed by Congress when the TCPA was passed.
Do not just hang up or ignore these people. Know your rights and exercise them. Keep a log of the calls and get names and numbers. If they call once more it probably isn't worth it, but if they call more than that, then you have case history and the law to ack you up and can easily get a judgement (although collecting is always a different story). One story I remember from my research is a company in NJ was making calls for GM in Ohio. The guy went to court and got a judgement, but the firm in NJ said they wouldn't pay since they were in different states. The guy found that Ohio has a law stating that sompanies that do not pay legal judgements cannot conduct business in the state. The guy wrote the president of GM and said if they ever wanted to sell cars in that state to pay up...a check was sent less than 5 days later.
Many states have their own list, however I am not aware if any of the states allow for private action. Any legal action usually must be done by the state. Get on your state's list. It will help aid you if you persue action under the TCPA.
Here are some links for those interested in reading up:
http://consumer.net/telemarketing/tcpainfo.asp
http://www.private-citizen.com/ (private group dedicated to ant-telemarketing intrusions)
http://www.epic.org/privacy/telemarketing/
http://www.dianamey.com/ (story of one woman's fight against the system..to date she has collected over $30,000 since 1999 including $10,000 from Discover Card.
Could this same idea be applied to actually suing slashdot for willfull destruction. For example if slashdots with it's thousands of readers had a big link to the lawyer's website that caused it to crash due to high load, could they turn around and sue. There is a solid history of websites being swamped by readers after following a link to the point in nearly every story in which it occurs, many people have to poin out a cache at some location (usuall google.com) and ask if slashdot could even provide their own cache. That history could demonstrate prior knowledge of the chances of damaging the web site just by the sheer display of the web link. A few years ago a local radion station hid several $100 bills in books at a local public library as a promotional thing to 'encourage' people to visit. What did not expect was the mob of people that rushed the dorrs tearing apart books in search for the free money. They ended up having to pay for several thousand dollars in damage to the property.
Is that anything like this? Announcing Slashdot Subscriptions http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/03/01/135220 0&mode=thread :-)
Either it is /.ed to hell or the server is having major problems (not that they are exclusive). A lot of people are having the download stop at 10-15%. All this for a simple 2 meg file. If someone already has it, throw it to a binary group and provide a link.
I'm rarely participate in modding, but mod this up for perspective please.
"custom-made black plastic covers made for every modem"
You mean electrical tape?
And a fiasco caused by improperly filled-out ballots is a way to personify your disgust with the electoral system.
I've been moved from one ISP to the other and I've never seen any good come out of it either.
Funny how if your only tool is a hammer, all your problems start to look like nails.
"picked apart and strewn along rivers and fields."
What are they trying to do....grow more computers?
People complain when the same story is posted even twice in 6 months. I can see how they may get frustrated when this was even discussed in another story on the same day! http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/02/12/033421 9&mode=thread&tid=95
One comment made was:
"A similar distinction results from looking at the class data: Warrior is listed as the second-favorite class, but ranks a distant sixth in the list of classes people would like to be, were Norath real. This implies that people would rather be a class or race that isn't their favorite."
It was referring to how demographics of player classes is not what you may think. It is just like a Renaissance Festival. The layman may just think that there is nothing but knights, kings, and princesses running around, but people have a much more broad interest than that. Sure some will join the bounty hunter class, but people still want to be different.
Re:I wonder how the FBI would react to those kinds of sites...
2 09&mode=thread) to teach naive investors, then why would the FBI not create fake websites, listservs, and even hacking tools? We know about programs like Magic Lantern and Carnivore, but how many are out there that we do not know about?
When the SEC is creating fake investment websites (http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/01/30/1933
That reminds me of the scence where the single ornament nearly smites the lowly tree.
"Arrggg, I've killed it!"
Another techniques used by radio broadcasters is to speed up music by 3-4%. This over time gives a lot more room for more commercials or even more songs (since many stations promote X number of songs per hour).
One poster mentioned that this could be used on commercials, thus giving space for more commercials, but this technique would not be allowed. The contracts (at least those that I have seen) stipulate that such measures cannot be taken during their commercials, but that is not usually the case for music.
I worked in the IT department of a local radio network that owned several local stations (I left when Clear Channel bought them out) for a couple of years.
Hopefully Ad Aware (http://www.lsfileserv.com/index.html) will include it in their list soon, but until then it is an easy remove (http://www.vx2.cc/uninstall.html)
The VX2 software is a single program file in the system directory called VX2.dll.
To remove VX2:
1) From the Control Panel select ADD/REMOVE programs. Select "VX2 RespondMiter" and "Remove".
If VX2 RespondMiter is not present:
2) Close all internet explorer browsers.
3) Search your "C" drive for VX2.dll
4) Delete VX2.dll
If the system does not permit the file to be deleted proceed as follows.
5) Select "Start" and then "Run" and type "regedit"
6) Find the and delete the entry named "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{00000000-5eb9-11d5-9d45-009027c14662}".
7) delete the {00000000-5eb9-11d5-9d45-009027c14662}entry.
8) Reboot computer.
9) Search your "C" drive for VX2.dll
10) Delete VX2.dll
It seems to just plug itself in IE, so as usualy Netscapers are pretty safe from this one....for now.
This will have the exact effect that the BSA expects. It will scare people into purchasing more software and then telling others about the scare whom will then do the same thing due to the threat (real or imagined) of being raided .
Do you seriously think that this will convince people to go to open source? People do not see open source products on the shelves at the computer store. Go into any non-computer business (and probably many of those even) and ask them about open source and you will get nothing but a blank look. Even if they look into it, they will se a long learning curve and thus not even try it. Try running a business and see how much time you have to trying to install new system that may or may not work.
The only way to keep this from them is not using unpurchased software in the first place (open source excluded of course) or encrypt your entire computer.
I remember reading about some money laundering operations that had thier system encrypted with the only key on a 5.25 floppy and a commercial grade waffle iron 2 feet away that was kept on at all times. If they were raided, the key would be toast in less than a second.
Why? because as ice they displace the same amount of space as they would if they were water. It is achimedes' principle. It is what keeps ships afloat, what makes submarines work.
You nearly have the right idea, but you are still wrong. Anobject that displaces an amount of water that is equal to the weight of the object, then it will be neutrally buoyant. It will neight float nor sink and will be at the mercy of whatever up and down drafts there are. An object that displaces an amount of water that weighs greater than the weight of the object, then that object will float. A copper penny will sink because it displaces very little water, but an aircraft carrier will float because it displaces and incredible amount of water.
The amount of space that is displaced is illelevent as it is the weight relationship of the object and the weight of the water that is displaced.
The only other thing that would have floored me was if Gimli yelled out "It is a good day to die!"
It can be used when talking about the films (like when the trailers get released).