Does anyone want to bet that this firm get's hired to go start looking for DeCSS on the internet should the court battle go the way of the DVDCAA/MPAA?
From the Article,
"We've set up with the intention of offering copyright protection services to not just the music industry, but the videogame and movie businesses," says Ward, who worked at "a few unknown software companies" before starting NetPD last year."
This sounds pretty much an offer to help the MPAA/DVDCAA to me - even though I wonder how the actual program would identify and make sure that the so labeled software actually is CSS code.
Which brings me to my next point. If I was trading non-copyrighted music through Napster (after having renamed it to Metallica music) and may have got my name on the list - does that mean that I can be prosecuted for violating the law?
At the moment, I dunno. Still I do not think programs like this will ever be effective. Hotline (ftp client program like Wrapster) has an infamous bot - known as the Sadwyw Spider - that searches HL servers for warez. It was news when it came out, but people quickly figured that by simply requiring an l/p to view items on the server the bot would be defeated - or by renaming the items and listing the actual name as part of the info tag.
Couldn't Napster do - something of the like, to defeat bot searches? For Instance - require that a specific always changing login that is displayed at several different locations on the screen be entered for the Bot to search - that would at the very least require a human there to punch in the login, which should make the popularity of programs like this go down alot. Overall, I don't think this is something to worry about - more scary would be if Metallica put a bot user on Napster with thier songs and displayed the IP's of anyone that dl'ed their songs (Like the webpage that does Gnutella porn) Anyhow - what if I download a song that I legally own, the bot cannot check that either so I'm not that worried...
I agree with all the advancements/inventions that are on the list. From an engineering standpoint they are also in the right order. IMO - they could have added a few extra...
They could have added: Architecture (Major Building advances - factory and like - i.e. Chicago Sears Tower) Genetic Engineering (Cloning) Boats (Submarine anyone?) Communication Technologies (Wireless Cell Phones, GPS, Satellite) Environmental Advances (Conservation work - ability to make ink out of plant seed juice, Earth improvement work - Hoover Damn) Construction/Processing advances (from the sledgehammer to the robot)
That's just a few I can think of at the moment. Overall the list is very nice and for the most part covers a wide range of topics - however some of them - highways for example, I question if they were real engineering achivements in this century because the Romans, Mayans, Chinese, and like all had highways a long time ago - way back when...
It's easy for Metallica to prove a case by case basis. (i.e. This is no scare tactic) Metallica would simply show the Napster people a screenshot showing people with Metallica Mp3's and then say that they have not given permission for their music to be in mp3 format. Then Napster is required to block everyone who uses the Metallica Mp3's or at least everyone who came up when Metallica did a search and their name came up.
Duh - it's easy to prove a case by case basis. Yes, usage of Napster does not demonstrate copyright infringment, but if used IMPROPERLY (piracy) it might be illegal (at least in the courts - i.e. it's okay to own a gun, most of the time however it's not okay to use the gun to kill a person. - While the gun company is not responsible - the police still take the gun away. So look at it this way - Napster is not responsible for the illegal trading of mp3's, but the Fed's can still confiscate the program if it is being used in that way.)
Understand? - Honestly though, Napster probably will lose in the courts. If the tabacco industry loses for not doing enough to prevent people from smoking - even when they made the choice to smoke (recent florida court case) Napster will lose also - eventually.
Hotline and like programs have not gotten sued by the industry because they actually have a group that goes and looks for pirated software (for Hotline it's known as the infamous Sadwyw Bot and Room 22). Because they take SOME preventave action they are left alone. Correct me if I'm wrong - but Napster takes NONE. That is why they will lose...
This post is not troll, flamebait or like - it is simply my opinion. Also if you're responding to this post please don't pick it apart when you reply - because combined Ideas make sense, split up anyone can criticize them. Thanx.
It would be interesting to see which put more pressure on INTEL the boycott or the House Democrat denoucing the chip and the Chinese goverment telling people not to use it. This would be a good way to judge the effect of/.'s boycotts on MPAA and DVDCAA and eToys.
Still I am glad by the move - even though I prefer AMD
Hmmm... the community will not purchase Abit's products if they violate the GPL. Simply put - Abit needs to release the code or noone will buy there stuff. Also this may be an excellent time to do a court test of the GPL - contact Abit - get them to agree to release their code but hold off until the issue has gone to court. Have them put up only a token defense and get a precendent for the GPL set.
Abit - release your source - Many of the community, me included will NOT buy your products if you do not release your source code.
Studies can be used for anything. If I wanted I could do a study that would prove that video games are a great way to relax and release tension. The study also could be taken to say instead of:
"We found that students who reported playing more violent video games in junior and (senior) high school engaged in more aggressive behavior"
to
"We found that students who were more aggressive in junior and senior high engaged in playing more violent video games"
Studies like this prove something - but what is hotly debated. All I know is - I play Quake I,II,and III, and I am probably one of the most non-aggressive people on the planet - being a undertall lightweight programmer (meaning I avoid fights as much as possible - however I still get revenge).
Oh well - another day another study - another condemnation...
One of the reasons we never hear about protests like this ahead of time is because the Geek community is fragmented. There are a few central hubs in the commmunity like RMS and Slashdot - but they are too busy to go all out and organize something of >10k.
What someone needs to do in order to have an effective protest - is to set up a webpage - something like the ElectroHippies page that Protests the WTO and contact major websites that Geeks visit. An mailing list should be started so people can subscribe - find out details and contact other local geeks. (Even though this may sound like dilbert) Committees need to be formed with people in charge of transportation and like.
Now - why the above will probably never happen. We Geeks (at least a fair amount of those on/.) are computer oriented so a DoS attacks like the one the ElectroHippies staged on the WTO would appeal to us far more than standing on some corner holding signs. Furthermore many of us (judging by the responses to the articles that were posted about the elections) don't have faith in Congress any more. We simply face the facts that because we are not a all-godly lobby so we will not ever influence joeblow senator/representative.
I hate being pessimistic - so I'll end on an upbeat note. This year (at least in the US) is an election year. Many politicians will be going back to their home states and campaigning. If a politico should come to your area and hold a forum, go ask him his/her opinion on the DCMA. The protest comming up is one I cannot attend (due to limited finances and distance). However, I should like someone to run a webcam (anyone know if one is gonna be up?) and I will tune in (from work). I would also be willing to snail mail the politicians that live in the area around me.
The above poster also said that this protest would get no media attention... WRONG! I bet it gets a fair amount - when was the last time that white color enginneers/technicians protested at the White House? - At least on the Net it will be covered.
SIDE NOTE: - Someone should see if we could get some Enginneers Unions and like to protest it also - the unions (at least the one at Boeing) seem to have a fair amount of power.
I meant that the server serves up files where as napster just gives the users IP and you take the files off their machine. Hotline requires the server to be fast - while a basic 56k machine could be a napster server as long as the client and the machine the client was pulling the file from was fast.
There exists no banner trackers for hotline also - simply visit one of the tracker websites and get their ip. freedownload.dhs.org is an example of a no banner tracker..
HL is still around - in fact its up to version 1.8 now. Hotline, though requires a server and can require a l/p, while naspter/wrapster simply goes from ip to ip. That is what makes napster different.
I still prefer Hotline though.... better interface easier to use and you can preview files. You can get Hotline off download.com - simply ad tracked.group.org as a tracker and you're off...
The Lego Arena II looks great. There are many different types of Myth II plugins out there - A World War II one exists with tanks and such and there is a Star Wars one also. I have not tryed Lego My Myth yet (but will as soon as I have a copy) but this looks like a very nice plugin. I certianly like the description of the Jar Jar Binks Unit.
Description: JarJar Binks Only found in hunting (read: Stomp JarJar!)
There are quite a few projects like this one out and operating to preserve forms of media long past.
An example is the Historical Film Society which is working to catalog 16 millimeter films taken in the early 1900's. MPR (Minnesota Public Radio) ran a feature on them. One of the things they mentioned was that it cost around 15,$000 to restore one silent movie (on average).
Projects/Organizations like the Dead Media Project help society quite a bit. I feel the sad thing is that they do not get all that much publicity and very little funds. I for one have never heard of some of the types of "Dead Media" that are listed. - "The phenakistoscope. The teleharmonium. The Edison wax cylinder. The stereopticon. The Panorama. Early 20th century electric searchlight spectacles. Morton Heilig's early virtual reality. Telefon Hirmondo. The various species of magic lantern. The pneumatic transfer tubes that once riddled the underground of Chicago."
An example of one is: phenakistoscope - a toy that works on a scientific principle known as "persistence of vision - invented by Joseph Plateau in 1832.
Telefon Hirmondo - Telefon Hirmondo was a Budapest information service created by Tivadar Puskas - a Hungarian engineer who workded with Thomas Edison. Information was transmitted over telephone wires into homes of subscribers.
The few I have heard of I have heard little about. I think that preserving types of "Dead Media" is crucial to science - the ideas that they represent my one day be useful again.
(Funny that I find might find one of the listed above if I were to drive two miles away and open my great granddads attic...)
Disclaimer: This post is not flame or troll - just my opinion.
The article says, "Edinburgh-based company PPL Therapeutics hopes such animals will help meet the anticipated demand for pig organs if they are approved for use in human transplants." - It also mentions that the pigs will need heavy modification before use. That will take some time and hopefully by that time the human genome project will be done and someone will have figured out how to grow human organs (I though someone grew skin away from the human body a while back)
I also thought (will someone correct me if I'm wrong) that the pig heart transplant experiment (or something like) in a human failed... I also would like someone to post the info or a link to the clinical trials that say pig organs could be used for humans in 4 years.
Overall I think the cloning technique is a big step forward, however, it uses adult cells. What I am interested in is growing two identical copies of a creature that will mature/develope on its own using a simple eggs and sperm. I think that this technique may have the same problem Dolly the Sheep did. - The cloned sheep aged faster. Still it will be interesting to see what happens in the future...
I agree that releasing the data to the public is a good thing, but I do not think it is the safest thing to do. Releasing it to the public will allow any scientist with a little bit of funding to go beserk and start expermenting.
I think that the politico's are not thinking long term on this. Nobody may screw around with genes now, but somewhere down the line - someone will.
Another problem I have with the releasing of the Human Gene Code is that discoveries/drugs/cures developed from it do not have to be made public and or can be copyrighted... In other words - forks can be kept closed source.
If I had to have someone look after the gene code - I would almost prefer a company because I can count on companies to be fairly rational - Governments are not.
DISCLAIMER: Post is not flame or troll. Please do not moderate as such - is simply my opinion.
The money angle is something I have tried on the college I attend. They (the staff) are all for it. However the computer people are against it.
The problem is tech support. As a college/high school the computer techs say that ordinary students will not know how to use Linux and other open sourced software and could impede their grades as they (the students) do not have computers at home that run Linux. I then pointed out that quite a few students run Linux, I was told it would be unfair to those that don't because the computer programs that are used to created documents, powerpoint presentations and such are not "compatable" with current Linux programs 100%.
I think the fact that Linux can be as very cheap is nice, but without trained tech people and teachers, getting it installed at a high school is something of a near impossiblility. Needless to say the college did not adopt Linux because it would mean the retraining in of their staff and students they (the dean of tech) said.
I don't mean to be pessimistic but... I don't think you have much chance of getting Linux installed on your high schools computers unless you can convince the community (parents and others alike) that it is far better then windows... and that means educating a whole lot of people with no knowledge in computers at all (to the average non-geek high schooler - Linux is just a word if they have even heard of it)
On new schools or places that emphazize degrees that involve computers and such their is much more of a chance that Linux can get installed on some computers. New schools especially should be focused on because they are trying to save money when they build the school... so there is an extra chance.
Until Linux conquers the desktop world or becomes fully compatable with Win32 programs and files, putting it on computers in public places will be quite a task unless the population suddenly wakes up to the advantages of open source.
DISCLAIMER: This is just my personal opinion... not a troll or flame. (annoying but necessacery because some people can't moderate)
I am willing to bet that he registered the websites before mp3.com became very popular. Remember that it's success is fairly recent. As another poster mentioned above - he was in search engines. At the time he registered mp3.com. He probably was not thinking about making it into the music giant website that it is now.
IMO however, now that mp3.com is one of the best music websites, he may change his opinion. If a website I had has become as successful as mp3.com, I would not want to ruin my reputation on the internet, by being labled a domain name squatter.
Give him some time to recognize that domain name squatting is not the thing to do and I am willing to bet he will give up those webpages... anyways - just because someone wanted to make some money (by selling domain names - that he probably registered a while back - before it - cybersquatting - was the problem that it is now) is not a reason for the slashdot crew to slam him.
Nice and all... but I think this release illustrates one of Linux's main weaknesses. New products go to the Windows OS first.
I will get the Realplayer 7 and use it, even though it is out for Windows already, simply because it is the best streaming media player (IMO). I also think bundling with RealPlayer RedHat is a great idea.
Should one arise, however that came out for Linux first, I should switch instantly...
(in no way shape or form is the comment above a troll or flamebait... it simply expresses an opinion)
"The human instructors have told it some equations for swinging and the distance between the rungs - it must do the rest." - The monkey knows how far it has to go to get to the next rung. What would be amazing is if it could sense where the rung is and calculate that distance itself. It does not solve the problem (to quote the article again) of "bumping into the object" because the monkey knows the object is there.
While it may be great for the mechanics of a robot, (able to swing) it is not that new of a technological developement. I have toured several car making plants. At one plant they had a robot that cleaned the floors and all it had was a map of the building... it simply sensed when objects (people and trash cans) where in the way. The monkey has everything told to it and it also uses trial and error.
What may be new is the fact that they managed to fit all that info and technology into something fairly small (judging from the pictures). Robots that are small and can do what the monkey does are rare (I do not know of any others that exist). I just don't think the swinging (kick legs/hands out until object is caught - then repeat) is a breakthrough.
Remember - this is just my opinion (not flamebait or troll) and I may be wrong... but I have seen far better robots (judging by usefulness, size, and technology) around.
It has been noted in several articles that your case was mentioned in the Norwiegen Parliament.
Have they done anything about the treatement you, and your father received from the Police? Or have they decided to sit on the and let the MPAA run the show of things?
What overall is the people's (that are in charge) reaction to your arrest and questioning by the police and the manipulation of the media (somewhat) by the MPAA?
I think it is good Corel is in the Linux business, but why did they get into it? They were in trouble and needed a new market. Their current attitude (which looks like it hasn't changed from when they made closed products) makes me not trust them so much.
If they should make a comeback on the Windows market... they may go closed source again. During the interview the CEO things sound all nice and stuff, but one wonders about their motives.
(Were this ties in with post I replying 2) If they were truly open source... they would have released the beta and the community would have fixed the bugs, evaluated it, and helped Corel make a better product.
It seems to me that they don't trust us (think people will just use beta and not purchase full product) or they are not full open source. Even though I run Corel Linux and think it is a nice product... I still don't trust the company.
The average AOL'er will be influenced by webpages. People that read/. probably will not as we are generally not mainstream and the canidates that are mainstream are not targeting us.
The article states, "On the eve of the first series of primaries and caucuses in the 2000 presidential campaign, Democrat Bill Bradley and Republican Sen. John McCain are in the best position to win over a critical group of potential voters: Americans who use the internet for news."
I do not think that this means us - or highly advanced users. It means people that might get on and visit msnbc.com or do a little bit of Online trading. - We as a whole on/. will not be swayed by canidates cheap website buying and such, but you must remember that the 10 million AOL'ers will be.
If I was an AOL'er, I would care about the candiates view on the Net somewhat and would visit thier page...
Also note that the average AOL'er is far more likely to vote for a mainstream canidate than a/.er. This is because we are informed of canidates views on specific issues while AOl'ers are generally not (They get what they know from TV ads).
TV and News is fading... and probably will be gone sooner than you think, even though net voting doesn't exist - it is very popular for people like Gov. Ventura of MN to host virtual forums. - Internet voting will appear soon... even though people may/may not trust it.
Why not just do webcasts? On MPI (Minnesota Public Radio) this morning they were discussing that issue. The FCC is trying to make the radio arena more diverse. One thing that they hope is that these small stations may someday go to the stars.
They are doing this because radio is becoming one big conglomerate - no diversity. The FCC also is amming this at private orgranizations like churches and hobby groups.
However if you wish to reach a large group of people - a webcast is far better, but remember in many areas of the world - people still have a standard 28.8 and cannot hear your broadcast (if this was not so, AOL wouldn't exist).
I think that this will be very helpful for several reasons.
1. It will get people interested in radio more - attract more people to the business.
2. It will create more stations and make some non-licensed broadcasters settle down because a fair amount will be content with a range of a couple miles.
3. It will force the industry to become more competitive and that will means more money put into research equaling more new tech.
I'm glad the FCC is finally trying something like this.
DVD CCA is courting the press for several obivous reasons.
1. Judicial Opinion. I don't care if justices are supposed to be impartial and whatnot, but they do watch the news and I am willing to bet that a fair amount of them study the case before it starts. If DVD can influence the judge in any way they will.
2. NSI Opinion. Remember eToys vrs eToy? eToys worked darn hard to make sure that everyone thought eToy was in the wrong. Because they did it successfully, they got NSI to step in remove the website from its DNS.
3. Public Opinion. DVD CCA is not an idiot and realizes that people may be the deciding key in the case. If the laywers for DVD can convince the judge that the public is against DeCSS (maybe by Xpert witnesses and such) or show that the public does not yet have the DeCSS source code enough to prevent CSS from be a trademark anymore they win the case.
The DVD CCA is doing an excellent job at its game. We (open sourcers) are doing miserably. Does anyone know of any article in FAVOR of us at any major news site? Probably not. I on the other hand have seen articles decrying us in my local paper (Minneapolis Star Trib, Pioneer Press) and heard about it on local radio stations. Nowhere (outside of/. and like sites) have I heard our story. If we are planning on winning the case, we need an effective publicity campaign also.
Laws be dammed, history has shown that public opinion often decides cases. (If it didn't we would probably have far less supreme court cases and the thing about that cuban boy Elian - wouldn't exist)
E-Commerce sites have had problems like this from the beginning. Just last week I read a story in the news about someone saying that their credit card got stolen from Amazon.
What is scary about this heist is the fact that the cracker posted the page online and doled out card #'s to anyone in the world that wanted to get one... that is a first. The blackmail thing has been done b4.
However, I believe that the majority of credit card #'s that are stolen or taken advantage off w/out the owners knowledge over the internet are taken by kiddies and their credit card # generators. Most sites are secure and are not broken into by hackers. If (the myth that) most sites were broken into was true... someone with a fair amount of brains would have cracked a college application website and got ssn #'s and addresses and other crap and done a whole lot more damage to a person, or cracked an online banking service by now and screwed over thousands.
Also, the fact that stuff like this gets major news stories shows that it is not common place, if it were the news sites/people would not cover it because viewers want sensationalism.
Personally, I doubt that this guy did what he says he did. Had he done it, Interpol/Russian Cops would have gotten involved right away and tossed him in the chink - or at least payed the blackmail $.
Lawyers and Judges both have to go to Law school (and take bar exams). They know all the Laws about technology and such very well.
However, they also know how to manipulate them to let them win their case. The DVD lawyers really do not have a case to the majority of the world, but for the lawyers arguing the case for DVD, if they can stretch a little bit of law here and there they can win the case.
Most lawyers also that we see taking cases like eToys vrs eToy and DVD vrs us, do not care if they win or lose either. Remember the old quote about lawyers that goes:
"You win some, You lose some, But You get PAID for all of them"
Anyways, if what we here about smart people taking well paying jobs, then lawyers and judges aren't dumb, they are just interested in $$$. (Or re-election if your a judge). They may not know how to use Linux, but they sure as hell understand its legal status...
Slashdot Mirror
Thanx... I was under the impression that the client NetPD wrote was one that interacted with the Napster program.
I guess this is a downside of having protocols that are easy to reverse engineer and modify.
Does anyone want to bet that this firm get's hired to go start looking for DeCSS on the internet should the court battle go the way of the DVDCAA/MPAA?
From the Article,
"We've set up with the intention of offering copyright protection services to not just the music industry, but the videogame and movie businesses," says Ward, who worked at "a few unknown software companies" before starting NetPD last year."
This sounds pretty much an offer to help the MPAA/DVDCAA to me - even though I wonder how the actual program would identify and make sure that the so labeled software actually is CSS code.
Which brings me to my next point. If I was trading non-copyrighted music through Napster (after having renamed it to Metallica music) and may have got my name on the list - does that mean that I can be prosecuted for violating the law?
At the moment, I dunno. Still I do not think programs like this will ever be effective. Hotline (ftp client program like Wrapster) has an infamous bot - known as the Sadwyw Spider - that searches HL servers for warez. It was news when it came out, but people quickly figured that by simply requiring an l/p to view items on the server the bot would be defeated - or by renaming the items and listing the actual name as part of the info tag.
Couldn't Napster do - something of the like, to defeat bot searches? For Instance - require that a specific always changing login that is displayed at several different locations on the screen be entered for the Bot to search - that would at the very least require a human there to punch in the login, which should make the popularity of programs like this go down alot.
Overall, I don't think this is something to worry about - more scary would be if Metallica put a bot user on Napster with thier songs and displayed the IP's of anyone that dl'ed their songs (Like the webpage that does Gnutella porn) Anyhow - what if I download a song that I legally own, the bot cannot check that either so I'm not that worried...
I agree with all the advancements/inventions that are on the list. From an engineering standpoint they are also in the right order. IMO - they could have added a few extra...
They could have added:
Architecture (Major Building advances - factory and like - i.e. Chicago Sears Tower)
Genetic Engineering (Cloning)
Boats (Submarine anyone?)
Communication Technologies (Wireless Cell Phones, GPS, Satellite)
Environmental Advances (Conservation work - ability to make ink out of plant seed juice, Earth improvement work - Hoover Damn)
Construction/Processing advances (from the sledgehammer to the robot)
That's just a few I can think of at the moment. Overall the list is very nice and for the most part covers a wide range of topics - however some of them - highways for example, I question if they were real engineering achivements in this century because the Romans, Mayans, Chinese, and like all had highways a long time ago - way back when...
It's easy for Metallica to prove a case by case basis. (i.e. This is no scare tactic) Metallica would simply show the Napster people a screenshot showing people with Metallica Mp3's and then say that they have not given permission for their music to be in mp3 format. Then Napster is required to block everyone who uses the Metallica Mp3's or at least everyone who came up when Metallica did a search and their name came up.
Duh - it's easy to prove a case by case basis. Yes, usage of Napster does not demonstrate copyright infringment, but if used IMPROPERLY (piracy) it might be illegal (at least in the courts - i.e. it's okay to own a gun, most of the time however it's not okay to use the gun to kill a person. - While the gun company is not responsible - the police still take the gun away. So look at it this way - Napster is not responsible for the illegal trading of mp3's, but the Fed's can still confiscate the program if it is being used in that way.)
Understand? - Honestly though, Napster probably will lose in the courts. If the tabacco industry loses for not doing enough to prevent people from smoking - even when they made the choice to smoke (recent florida court case) Napster will lose also - eventually.
Hotline and like programs have not gotten sued by the industry because they actually have a group that goes and looks for pirated software (for Hotline it's known as the infamous Sadwyw Bot and Room 22). Because they take SOME preventave action they are left alone. Correct me if I'm wrong - but Napster takes NONE. That is why they will lose...
This post is not troll, flamebait or like - it is simply my opinion. Also if you're responding to this post please don't pick it apart when you reply - because combined Ideas make sense, split up anyone can criticize them.
Thanx.
It would be interesting to see which put more pressure on INTEL the boycott or the House Democrat denoucing the chip and the Chinese goverment telling people not to use it. This would be a good way to judge the effect of /.'s boycotts on MPAA and DVDCAA and eToys.
Still I am glad by the move - even though I prefer AMD
Hmmm... the community will not purchase Abit's products if they violate the GPL. Simply put - Abit needs to release the code or noone will buy there stuff. Also this may be an excellent time to do a court test of the GPL - contact Abit - get them to agree to release their code but hold off until the issue has gone to court. Have them put up only a token defense and get a precendent for the GPL set.
Abit - release your source - Many of the community, me included will NOT buy your products if you do not release your source code.
Studies can be used for anything. If I wanted I could do a study that would prove that video games are a great way to relax and release tension. The study also could be taken to say instead of:
"We found that students who reported playing more violent video games in junior and (senior) high school engaged in more aggressive behavior"
to
"We found that students who were more aggressive in junior and senior high engaged in playing more violent video games"
Studies like this prove something - but what is hotly debated. All I know is - I play Quake I,II,and III, and I am probably one of the most non-aggressive people on the planet - being a undertall lightweight programmer (meaning I avoid fights as much as possible - however I still get revenge).
Oh well - another day another study - another condemnation...
One of the reasons we never hear about protests like this ahead of time is because the Geek community is fragmented. There are a few central hubs in the commmunity like RMS and Slashdot - but they are too busy to go all out and organize something of >10k.
/.) are computer oriented so a DoS attacks like the one the ElectroHippies staged on the WTO would appeal to us far more than standing on some corner holding signs. Furthermore many of us (judging by the responses to the articles that were posted about the elections) don't have faith in Congress any more. We simply face the facts that because we are not a all-godly lobby so we will not ever influence joeblow senator/representative.
What someone needs to do in order to have an effective protest - is to set up a webpage - something like the ElectroHippies page that Protests the WTO and contact major websites that Geeks visit. An mailing list should be started so people can subscribe - find out details and contact other local geeks. (Even though this may sound like dilbert) Committees need to be formed with people in charge of transportation and like.
Now - why the above will probably never happen. We Geeks (at least a fair amount of those on
I hate being pessimistic - so I'll end on an upbeat note. This year (at least in the US) is an election year. Many politicians will be going back to their home states and campaigning. If a politico should come to your area and hold a forum, go ask him his/her opinion on the DCMA. The protest comming up is one I cannot attend (due to limited finances and distance). However, I should like someone to run a webcam (anyone know if one is gonna be up?) and I will tune in (from work). I would also be willing to snail mail the politicians that live in the area around me.
The above poster also said that this protest would get no media attention... WRONG! I bet it gets a fair amount - when was the last time that white color enginneers/technicians protested at the White House? - At least on the Net it will be covered.
SIDE NOTE: - Someone should see if we could get some Enginneers Unions and like to protest it also - the unions (at least the one at Boeing) seem to have a fair amount of power.
I meant that the server serves up files where as napster just gives the users IP and you take the files off their machine. Hotline requires the server to be fast - while a basic 56k machine could be a napster server as long as the client and the machine the client was pulling the file from was fast.
There exists no banner trackers for hotline also - simply visit one of the tracker websites and get their ip. freedownload.dhs.org is an example of a no banner tracker..
HL is still around - in fact its up to version 1.8 now. Hotline, though requires a server and can require a l/p, while naspter/wrapster simply goes from ip to ip. That is what makes napster different.
I still prefer Hotline though.... better interface easier to use and you can preview files.
You can get Hotline off download.com - simply ad tracked.group.org as a tracker and you're off...
The Lego Arena II looks great. There are many different types of Myth II plugins out there - A World War II one exists with tanks and such and there is a Star Wars one also.
I have not tryed Lego My Myth yet (but will as soon as I have a copy) but this looks like a very nice plugin. I certianly like the description of the Jar Jar Binks Unit.
Description:
JarJar Binks
Only found in hunting (read: Stomp JarJar!)
There are quite a few projects like this one out and operating to preserve forms of media long past.
An example is the Historical Film Society which is working to catalog 16 millimeter films taken in the early 1900's. MPR (Minnesota Public Radio) ran a feature on them. One of the things they mentioned was that it cost around 15,$000 to restore one silent movie (on average).
Projects/Organizations like the Dead Media Project help society quite a bit. I feel the sad thing is that they do not get all that much publicity and very little funds. I for one have never heard of some of the types of "Dead Media" that are listed. - "The phenakistoscope. The teleharmonium. The Edison wax cylinder. The stereopticon. The Panorama. Early 20th century electric searchlight spectacles. Morton Heilig's early virtual reality. Telefon Hirmondo. The various species of magic lantern. The pneumatic transfer tubes that once riddled the underground of Chicago."
An example of one is:
phenakistoscope - a toy that works on a scientific principle known as "persistence of vision - invented by Joseph Plateau in 1832.
Telefon Hirmondo - Telefon Hirmondo was a Budapest information service created by Tivadar Puskas - a Hungarian engineer who workded with Thomas Edison. Information was transmitted over telephone wires into homes of subscribers.
The few I have heard of I have heard little about. I think that preserving types of "Dead Media" is crucial to science - the ideas that they represent my one day be useful again.
(Funny that I find might find one of the listed above if I were to drive two miles away and open my great granddads attic...)
Disclaimer: This post is not flame or troll - just my opinion.
The article says, "Edinburgh-based company PPL Therapeutics hopes such animals will help meet the anticipated demand for pig organs if they are approved for use in human transplants." - It also mentions that the pigs will need heavy modification before use. That will take some time and hopefully by that time the human genome project will be done and someone will have figured out how to grow human organs (I though someone grew skin away from the human body a while back)
I also thought (will someone correct me if I'm wrong) that the pig heart transplant experiment (or something like) in a human failed... I also would like someone to post the info or a link to the clinical trials that say pig organs could be used for humans in 4 years.
Overall I think the cloning technique is a big step forward, however, it uses adult cells. What I am interested in is growing two identical copies of a creature that will mature/develope on its own using a simple eggs and sperm. I think that this technique may have the same problem Dolly the Sheep did. - The cloned sheep aged faster. Still it will be interesting to see what happens in the future...
To quote, "To Pigfinity and Beyond."
Disclaimer: Not flame or troll - just my opinion.
I agree that releasing the data to the public is a good thing, but I do not think it is the safest thing to do. Releasing it to the public will allow any scientist with a little bit of funding to go beserk and start expermenting.
I think that the politico's are not thinking long term on this. Nobody may screw around with genes now, but somewhere down the line - someone will.
Another problem I have with the releasing of the Human Gene Code is that discoveries/drugs/cures developed from it do not have to be made public and or can be copyrighted... In other words - forks can be kept closed source.
If I had to have someone look after the gene code - I would almost prefer a company because I can count on companies to be fairly rational - Governments are not.
DISCLAIMER: Post is not flame or troll. Please do not moderate as such - is simply my opinion.
The money angle is something I have tried on the college I attend. They (the staff) are all for it. However the computer people are against it.
The problem is tech support. As a college/high school the computer techs say that ordinary students will not know how to use Linux and other open sourced software and could impede their grades as they (the students) do not have computers at home that run Linux. I then pointed out that quite a few students run Linux, I was told it would be unfair to those that don't because the computer programs that are used to created documents, powerpoint presentations and such are not "compatable" with current Linux programs 100%.
I think the fact that Linux can be as very cheap is nice, but without trained tech people and teachers, getting it installed at a high school is something of a near impossiblility. Needless to say the college did not adopt Linux because it would mean the retraining in of their staff and students they (the dean of tech) said.
I don't mean to be pessimistic but... I don't think you have much chance of getting Linux installed on your high schools computers unless you can convince the community (parents and others alike) that it is far better then windows... and that means educating a whole lot of people with no knowledge in computers at all (to the average non-geek high schooler - Linux is just a word if they have even heard of it)
On new schools or places that emphazize degrees that involve computers and such their is much more of a chance that Linux can get installed on some computers. New schools especially should be focused on because they are trying to save money when they build the school... so there is an extra chance.
Until Linux conquers the desktop world or becomes fully compatable with Win32 programs and files, putting it on computers in public places will be quite a task unless the population suddenly wakes up to the advantages of open source.
DISCLAIMER: This is just my personal opinion... not a troll or flame. (annoying but necessacery because some people can't moderate)
I am willing to bet that he registered the websites before mp3.com became very popular. Remember that it's success is fairly recent. As another poster mentioned above - he was in search engines. At the time he registered mp3.com. He probably was not thinking about making it into the music giant website that it is now.
IMO however, now that mp3.com is one of the best music websites, he may change his opinion. If a website I had has become as successful as mp3.com, I would not want to ruin my reputation on the internet, by being labled a domain name squatter.
Give him some time to recognize that domain name squatting is not the thing to do and I am willing to bet he will give up those webpages... anyways - just because someone wanted to make some money (by selling domain names - that he probably registered a while back - before it - cybersquatting - was the problem that it is now) is not a reason for the slashdot crew to slam him.
Nice and all... but I think this release illustrates one of Linux's main weaknesses. New products go to the Windows OS first.
I will get the Realplayer 7 and use it, even though it is out for Windows already, simply because it is the best streaming media player (IMO). I also think bundling with RealPlayer RedHat is a great idea.
Should one arise, however that came out for Linux first, I should switch instantly...
(in no way shape or form is the comment above a troll or flamebait... it simply expresses an opinion)
IMO, this is not that great. Heres why:
The article states:
"The human instructors have told it some equations for swinging and the distance between the rungs - it must do the rest." - The monkey knows how far it has to go to get to the next rung. What would be amazing is if it could sense where the rung is and calculate that distance itself. It does not solve the problem (to quote the article again) of "bumping into the object" because the monkey knows the object is there.
While it may be great for the mechanics of a robot, (able to swing) it is not that new of a technological developement. I have toured several car making plants. At one plant they had a robot that cleaned the floors and all it had was a map of the building... it simply sensed when objects (people and trash cans) where in the way. The monkey has everything told to it and it also uses trial and error.
What may be new is the fact that they managed to fit all that info and technology into something fairly small (judging from the pictures). Robots that are small and can do what the monkey does are rare (I do not know of any others that exist). I just don't think the swinging (kick legs/hands out until object is caught - then repeat) is a breakthrough.
Remember - this is just my opinion (not flamebait or troll) and I may be wrong... but I have seen far better robots (judging by usefulness, size, and technology) around.
It has been noted in several articles that your case was mentioned in the Norwiegen Parliament.
Have they done anything about the treatement you, and your father received from the Police? Or have they decided to sit on the and let the MPAA run the show of things?
What overall is the people's (that are in charge) reaction to your arrest and questioning by the police and the manipulation of the media (somewhat) by the MPAA?
I think it is good Corel is in the Linux business, but why did they get into it? They were in trouble and needed a new market. Their current attitude (which looks like it hasn't changed from when they made closed products) makes me not trust them so much.
If they should make a comeback on the Windows market... they may go closed source again. During the interview the CEO things sound all nice and stuff, but one wonders about their motives.
(Were this ties in with post I replying 2)
If they were truly open source... they would have released the beta and the community would have fixed the bugs, evaluated it, and helped Corel make a better product.
It seems to me that they don't trust us (think people will just use beta and not purchase full product) or they are not full open source. Even though I run Corel Linux and think it is a nice product... I still don't trust the company.
The average AOL'er will be influenced by webpages. People that read /. probably will not as we are generally not mainstream and the canidates that are mainstream are not targeting us.
/. will not be swayed by canidates cheap website buying and such, but you must remember that the 10 million AOL'ers will be.
/.er. This is because we are informed of canidates views on specific issues while AOl'ers are generally not (They get what they know from TV ads).
The article states, "On the eve of the first series of primaries and caucuses in the 2000 presidential campaign, Democrat Bill Bradley and Republican Sen. John McCain are in the best position to win over a critical group of potential voters: Americans who use the internet for news."
I do not think that this means us - or highly advanced users. It means people that might get on and visit msnbc.com or do a little bit of Online trading. - We as a whole on
If I was an AOL'er, I would care about the candiates view on the Net somewhat and would visit thier page...
Also note that the average AOL'er is far more likely to vote for a mainstream canidate than a
TV and News is fading... and probably will be gone sooner than you think, even though net voting doesn't exist - it is very popular for people like Gov. Ventura of MN to host virtual forums. - Internet voting will appear soon... even though people may/may not trust it.
Why not just do webcasts? On MPI (Minnesota Public Radio) this morning they were discussing that issue. The FCC is trying to make the radio arena more diverse. One thing that they hope is that these small stations may someday go to the stars.
They are doing this because radio is becoming one big conglomerate - no diversity. The FCC also is amming this at private orgranizations like churches and hobby groups.
However if you wish to reach a large group of people - a webcast is far better, but remember in many areas of the world - people still have a standard 28.8 and cannot hear your broadcast (if this was not so, AOL wouldn't exist).
I think that this will be very helpful for several reasons.
1. It will get people interested in radio more - attract more people to the business.
2. It will create more stations and make some non-licensed broadcasters settle down because a fair amount will be content with a range of a couple miles.
3. It will force the industry to become more competitive and that will means more money put into research equaling more new tech.
I'm glad the FCC is finally trying something like this.
DVD CCA is courting the press for several obivous reasons.
/. and like sites) have I heard our story. If we are planning on winning the case, we need an effective publicity campaign also.
1. Judicial Opinion. I don't care if justices are supposed to be impartial and whatnot, but they do watch the news and I am willing to bet that a fair amount of them study the case before it starts. If DVD can influence the judge in any way they will.
2. NSI Opinion. Remember eToys vrs eToy? eToys worked darn hard to make sure that everyone thought eToy was in the wrong. Because they did it successfully, they got NSI to step in remove the website from its DNS.
3. Public Opinion. DVD CCA is not an idiot and realizes that people may be the deciding key in the case. If the laywers for DVD can convince the judge that the public is against DeCSS (maybe by Xpert witnesses and such) or show that the public does not yet have the DeCSS source code enough to prevent CSS from be a trademark anymore they win the case.
The DVD CCA is doing an excellent job at its game. We (open sourcers) are doing miserably. Does anyone know of any article in FAVOR of us at any major news site? Probably not. I on the other hand have seen articles decrying us in my local paper (Minneapolis Star Trib, Pioneer Press) and heard about it on local radio stations. Nowhere (outside of
Laws be dammed, history has shown that public opinion often decides cases. (If it didn't we would probably have far less supreme court cases and the thing about that cuban boy Elian - wouldn't exist)
E-Commerce sites have had problems like this from the beginning. Just last week I read a story in the news about someone saying that their credit card got stolen from Amazon.
What is scary about this heist is the fact that the cracker posted the page online and doled out card #'s to anyone in the world that wanted to get one... that is a first. The blackmail thing has been done b4.
However, I believe that the majority of credit card #'s that are stolen or taken advantage off w/out the owners knowledge over the internet are taken by kiddies and their credit card # generators. Most sites are secure and are not broken into by hackers. If (the myth that) most sites were broken into was true... someone with a fair amount of brains would have cracked a college application website and got ssn #'s and addresses and other crap and done a whole lot more damage to a person, or cracked an online banking service by now and screwed over thousands.
Also, the fact that stuff like this gets major news stories shows that it is not common place, if it were the news sites/people would not cover it because viewers want sensationalism.
Personally, I doubt that this guy did what he says he did. Had he done it, Interpol/Russian Cops would have gotten involved right away and tossed him in the chink - or at least payed the blackmail $.
Lawyers and Judges both have to go to Law school (and take bar exams). They know all the Laws about technology and such very well.
However, they also know how to manipulate them to let them win their case. The DVD lawyers really do not have a case to the majority of the world, but for the lawyers arguing the case for DVD, if they can stretch a little bit of law here and there they can win the case.
Most lawyers also that we see taking cases like eToys vrs eToy and DVD vrs us, do not care if they win or lose either. Remember the old quote about lawyers that goes:
"You win some, You lose some, But You get PAID for all of them"
Anyways, if what we here about smart people taking well paying jobs, then lawyers and judges aren't dumb, they are just interested in $$$. (Or re-election if your a judge). They may not know how to use Linux, but they sure as hell understand its legal status...