> It is quite easy to imagine a very, very successful researching mathematician with > almost no knowledge of PDEs, or ODEs.
Certainly, but it is much harder to imagine a math major avoiding them until the third year of his PhD. And, as others have noted, the type of problems he mentions are typical of undergrad courses.
I went to Michigan Tech and studied physics and electrical engineering (getting a BS in the latter). I had plenty on PDEs both in the required math department courses and in the physics and EE departments.
> As a third-year PhD math student, I am currently taking Partial Differential Equations.
What are you saying here? That you are in your third year of a PhD program? At Michigan Tech in the 1960s diff. eq. was a lower division undergrad course.
> Can anyone recommend physics books for someone in my position? I don't want to just pick > up a book for undergrads.
Well, do it anyway. Read "The Feynman Lectures on Physics".
You are in for a crushing disappointment (unless you are a True Believer). While Obama does not appear to be a moron himself there will be plenty in his administration.
How does PGP prevent the recipients of supposedly confidential messages from releasing them (or choice out-of-context bits thereof), intentionally or otherwise? And there is the Presidential Records Act to deal with.
You mean one that values appearance over substance, is full of malware and bugs, crashes a lot, and isn't even compatible with itself? That's the usual kind. We've already got one. Worldwide, we've got hundreds.
> Yes he could. The problem is that Harry didn't ignore it, but responded to it. Toyota's > lawyers have full right to claim for damage as a result of his 'request'(if the case is > going to be proceeded, that is)
Nonsense.
> DMCA broadly covers not just "Anti-circumvention exemptions"...
The DMCA "safe harbor" provision, the only part of it relevant here, applies only to copyright infringement claims. However, as others have noted, this may very well be a trademark case to which the DMCA does not apply at all.
> Second if you are distributing material that infringes on trademark, you are liable > under current US law, even if you or some third party owns the copyright. So if it is a > trademark notice, then the site operator is already be in a whole lot of legal trouble > already.
That does not follow. It is much harder to infringe a trademark than a copyright. Merely distributing photos of a product does not suffice. Toyota will have to prove that the site was either confusing the public by selling something that they were likely to mistakenly believe came from Toyota or that the site was "diluting" their mark by doing something like associating it with something repugnant.
> At the end of the day, the best question is that asked by Mr Maugans, "Has DMCA abuse > really gotten this bad?"
How can you call this DMCA abuse when the article clearly states that Toyota has not sent DMCA takedown notices? Are they really alleging copyright infringement or is it trademark they are exercised about? The DMCA does not apply to the latter.
I'm not a lawyer, but I think the law is fairly clear. The provider can ignore copyright infringement C&D notices that are not in the proper form. As for the cost of a lawsuit, Toyota would certainly run up a substantial tab, but for the defendant there's pro-bono work, the EFF, legal defense funds, and, of course, counter-claims.
From the article: "Perhaps it is even better to shut down the Internet entirely."
As Europeans are wont to say about the US, there is more to the Internet than France. I'd be sorry have to move my domains away from Gandi, but if the French want to leave the Internet they are free to do so.
> They are in a situation that they could actually have to pay this. I'd rather them do > this than pay the fee, as I would expect someone to dump the records onto the black > market anyways after they got paid. Why would you expect honor from a thief?
No need to postulate honor. He may be planning on doing this again.
On the other hand, perhaps he has done it before and did as you suggest, with the result that you see. Besides, whether they pay the ransom or not the company must behave as if the extortionist will follow your advice as there is no way he can prove that he has not retained a copy. Therefor why pay the ransom when it would save them no money?
Hey. Surely it all to the good that these cowboy capitalists have been brought properly under regulation, isn't it? Can't have people going around doing things without permission!
Slashdot Mirror
> It is quite easy to imagine a very, very successful researching mathematician with
> almost no knowledge of PDEs, or ODEs.
Certainly, but it is much harder to imagine a math major avoiding them until the third year of his PhD. And, as others have noted, the type of problems he mentions are typical of undergrad courses.
I went to Michigan Tech and studied physics and electrical engineering (getting a BS in the latter). I had plenty on PDEs both in the required math department courses and in the physics and EE departments.
But that was forty years ago. Kids these days...
> As a third-year PhD math student, I am currently taking Partial Differential Equations.
What are you saying here? That you are in your third year of a PhD program? At Michigan Tech in the 1960s diff. eq. was a lower division undergrad course.
> Can anyone recommend physics books for someone in my position? I don't want to just pick
> up a book for undergrads.
Well, do it anyway. Read "The Feynman Lectures on Physics".
> I follow my heart in all decisions I make even when my logical self is decrying another
> avenue.
This is very, very clear. Unfortunately, you are far from alone in this.
How long it takes is rather important.
How do you guarantee that the recipients of your secure emails keep them secure?
You are in for a crushing disappointment (unless you are a True Believer). While Obama does not appear to be a moron himself there will be plenty in his administration.
Referenda over the Net? And you thought touch-screen voting machines were bad!
Joseph Stalin: "He who votes decides nothing; he who counts the votes decides everything."
And you want to try use the Internet for "direct democracy". Sure.
How does PGP prevent the recipients of supposedly confidential messages from releasing them (or choice out-of-context bits thereof), intentionally or otherwise? And there is the Presidential Records Act to deal with.
You mean one that values appearance over substance, is full of malware and bugs, crashes a lot, and isn't even compatible with itself? That's the usual kind. We've already got one. Worldwide, we've got hundreds.
> Yes he could. The problem is that Harry didn't ignore it, but responded to it. Toyota's
> lawyers have full right to claim for damage as a result of his 'request'(if the case is
> going to be proceeded, that is)
Nonsense.
> DMCA broadly covers not just "Anti-circumvention exemptions"...
The DMCA "safe harbor" provision, the only part of it relevant here, applies only to copyright infringement claims. However, as others have noted, this may very well be a trademark case to which the DMCA does not apply at all.
> Second if you are distributing material that infringes on trademark, you are liable
> under current US law, even if you or some third party owns the copyright. So if it is a
> trademark notice, then the site operator is already be in a whole lot of legal trouble
> already.
That does not follow. It is much harder to infringe a trademark than a copyright. Merely distributing photos of a product does not suffice. Toyota will have to prove that the site was either confusing the public by selling something that they were likely to mistakenly believe came from Toyota or that the site was "diluting" their mark by doing something like associating it with something repugnant.
> At the end of the day, the best question is that asked by Mr Maugans, "Has DMCA abuse
> really gotten this bad?"
How can you call this DMCA abuse when the article clearly states that Toyota has not sent DMCA takedown notices? Are they really alleging copyright infringement or is it trademark they are exercised about? The DMCA does not apply to the latter.
I'm not a lawyer, but I think the law is fairly clear. The provider can ignore copyright infringement C&D notices that are not in the proper form. As for the cost of a lawsuit, Toyota would certainly run up a substantial tab, but for the defendant there's pro-bono work, the EFF, legal defense funds, and, of course, counter-claims.
Or they could end up with their own private French "Internet". This is all silly speculation, though. It won't come to that or even near it.
From the article: "Perhaps it is even better to shut down the Internet entirely."
As Europeans are wont to say about the US, there is more to the Internet than France. I'd be sorry have to move my domains away from Gandi, but if the French want to leave the Internet they are free to do so.
To "call their bluff" you must sell the data to someone. That someone just might decide he could use another $1M.
> Covered by personal data protection laws; you seriously need one of those in the US.
Sure. Then we can have police cameras in the restrooms, too.
> Any pharmacist who would leak this info in the first place would quickly lose his license...
Yes, that is the case in the US.
> They are in a situation that they could actually have to pay this. I'd rather them do
> this than pay the fee, as I would expect someone to dump the records onto the black
> market anyways after they got paid. Why would you expect honor from a thief?
No need to postulate honor. He may be planning on doing this again.
On the other hand, perhaps he has done it before and did as you suggest, with the result that you see. Besides, whether they pay the ransom or not the company must behave as if the extortionist will follow your advice as there is no way he can prove that he has not retained a copy. Therefor why pay the ransom when it would save them no money?
Don't be silly. This is far too small a project to interest the White House.
I like the original look better.
This prison sends its dirty laundry out via FedEx? Isn't that a little pricey?
Hey. Surely it all to the good that these cowboy capitalists have been brought properly under regulation, isn't it? Can't have people going around doing things without permission!
More than fine. Quebec Hydro . Data connections would be more of a problem, but laying fiber isn't that expensive. Taxes, on the other hand...
> If you had 100,000 servers, would you put them on top of a former nuclear fuel facility?
If you had 100,000 servers, would you put them on top of a former toaster factory?