But once it is free, meaning that you distribute source with the binaries, anyone can give away the software for free (price) after that, effectively making it free as in beer.
It is Jewish tradition not to type the word "God," except in holy books. I think it has something to do with taking the Lord's name in vain, but I'm not sure. I haven't been a Jew for a while now.
Believe me, ATI drivers on Windows blow too. I recently installed their 8500 drivers, and it made some of my games become completely unusable until they released their new drivers some months later. In general, ATI makes really crappy drivers, and that holds them back in the video card market.
KaZaA, Morpheus etc are simply stealing scarce and hard earned money from others.
Well they certainly help others steal music artists' hard earned money, why shouldn't they do the same themselves? You can't expect a music stealing company, of all things, to abide by high moral standards.
It would be pretty hard to take them to court over this, as they are a private organization and are therefore not really liable. Of course, you could always make the argument that ICANN doesn't own the domain names, but I don't know how far you'll go with that.
Or even better, write a letter to your congressman using certified mail. That way they have to sign for it. It probably won't go straight into the statistics room like all the other.
What does this have to do with civil liberties? The government isn't denying us our connections. The companies have every right to deny someone service, since he did agree to the TOS before he accepted their contract. High-speed Internet connection is not a right in any way shape or form.
There is an underscoring theme in many of these threads that I think needs to be addressed. Many people seem to think that we are wasting the potential of a smart young man. What exactly makes you think that he is so smart? That he used somebody's readymade code to attack well known sites? He isn't a hacker; he isn't even a cracker. He's a script kiddie, and I don't think that makes for intelligence at all.
It isn't illegal. Slashdot users tend not to understand a few things. One of these is the sanctity of intellectual property. Another is that PRIVATE BUSINESSES CAN DO WHAT THEY WANT WITH THEIR TRAFFIC. If they want to monitor it, that's fine. If they want to block it, that's legal too. If you don't like it, change ISPs.
So in order to make a protest, you steal? Do you expect people to be proud of you? Just because Microsoft is loathsome doesn't give you the right to take what they earned.
Unfortunatly, there is still the law that requires filtering in public schools. All schools must now have software installed to "protect the children." I wonder if the ACLU is doing anything about this.
People don't seem to understand the issue here. Since it is their network, they can block whomever they want, unless there is a specific clause in the contract that says that they will give you unrestricted access to the Internet, which there probably isn't. Is it legal? Yes. Is it moral? Probably not, but that isn't really the issue.
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But once it is free, meaning that you distribute source with the binaries, anyone can give away the software for free (price) after that, effectively making it free as in beer.
It is Jewish tradition not to type the word "God," except in holy books. I think it has something to do with taking the Lord's name in vain, but I'm not sure. I haven't been a Jew for a while now.
Actually GTA 1 and 2 were on the PlayStation as well.
Believe me, ATI drivers on Windows blow too. I recently installed their 8500 drivers, and it made some of my games become completely unusable until they released their new drivers some months later. In general, ATI makes really crappy drivers, and that holds them back in the video card market.
KaZaA, Morpheus etc are simply stealing scarce and hard earned money from others. Well they certainly help others steal music artists' hard earned money, why shouldn't they do the same themselves? You can't expect a music stealing company, of all things, to abide by high moral standards.
It would be pretty hard to take them to court over this, as they are a private organization and are therefore not really liable. Of course, you could always make the argument that ICANN doesn't own the domain names, but I don't know how far you'll go with that.
Um, I think that was the point
Or even better, write a letter to your congressman using certified mail. That way they have to sign for it. It probably won't go straight into the statistics room like all the other.
What does this have to do with civil liberties? The government isn't denying us our connections. The companies have every right to deny someone service, since he did agree to the TOS before he accepted their contract. High-speed Internet connection is not a right in any way shape or form.
There is an underscoring theme in many of these threads that I think needs to be addressed. Many people seem to think that we are wasting the potential of a smart young man. What exactly makes you think that he is so smart? That he used somebody's readymade code to attack well known sites? He isn't a hacker; he isn't even a cracker. He's a script kiddie, and I don't think that makes for intelligence at all.
Err...
Do they really have a choice? Remember, it is a modification of Linux, so it must be released under the GPL or it would be a GPL violation.
It isn't illegal. Slashdot users tend not to understand a few things. One of these is the sanctity of intellectual property. Another is that PRIVATE BUSINESSES CAN DO WHAT THEY WANT WITH THEIR TRAFFIC. If they want to monitor it, that's fine. If they want to block it, that's legal too. If you don't like it, change ISPs.
So in order to make a protest, you steal? Do you expect people to be proud of you? Just because Microsoft is loathsome doesn't give you the right to take what they earned.
Unfortunatly, there is still the law that requires filtering in public schools. All schools must now have software installed to "protect the children." I wonder if the ACLU is doing anything about this.
People don't seem to understand the issue here. Since it is their network, they can block whomever they want, unless there is a specific clause in the contract that says that they will give you unrestricted access to the Internet, which there probably isn't. Is it legal? Yes. Is it moral? Probably not, but that isn't really the issue.