They have the right to a fair trial, and to punishment within the bounds of the law if convicted, just like any other sort of criminal. That's pretty much it.
I mean regardless of whether or not people hate Spam, and whether or not there are existing laws against it, and whether or not there are utils and programs to filter said spam, wouldn't this count as a type of "Free Speech?"
In this context, that should be spelled "Free Speach", lest we forget the semi-literate rationalization contained in a well-known spamware sigline.
The linguistic deficiencies of spammers aside, the answer to your question is "no". This doesn't count as a type of free speech for the same reason painting graffiti on your house or running a sound truck under your window at 3AM do not fall into that category. Spam is a form of theft, trespass, and vandalism; any information communicated thereby is incidental and irrelevant.
Just playing Devil's Advocate here.
The comparison of spammers to the Devil is apt, and the former should go to the abode of the latter.
so long as they just send me text (no pictures, no macros, etc) I'm content with just deleting it
At the risk of invoking Godwin's Law, letting them have the Sudetenland without opposition makes it more, not less, likely that they will want Poland next. /.
Re:Anything that's a deterrent is good in my books
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Suing the Spammers
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· Score: 1
'Course, this raises the question WHY spammers think they make cash out of spam.. They must get some sort of validation for this belief, right? I am someone out there, or more precisely enough people out there, must respond to this junk?
Spammers are hired by one of two types of customer: 1)crooks who count on the fact that any large population will contain a few total suckers and 2)naifs who just want to "advertise on the Internet" without a clue about the right and wrong ways to do so. In either case, the spammer has his money whether or not the mailing gets any positive responses. Someone as ethically depraved as a spammer certainly isn't going to give refunds to dissatisfied customers unless phsically compelled to do so.
In my books: Burn all spammers at the stake.
In my books: You're a candy-assed soft-on-crime wimp.:-) /.
It's true, I'm a cold hearted bastard. No one needs to point that out, but if people can't stay on an even keel while surrounded by the wealth and opulance (sp?) of America then suicide is a decent option.
Your problem isn't that you're "cold-hearted"; it's that you're "muddle-minded". One might just as well say "if people can't stay healthy while surrounded by the natural environment (spelled correctly) of the Third World then suicide is a decent option."
Essentially, your post is an attempt to tie your pet peeves to the problem under discussion, whatever it happens to be at the moment, through a chain or more or less spurious logic. /.
Re:Do privacy advocates stand up to be counted?
on
IDs in Color Copies
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· Score: 1
If so, do we believe that corporations have the same rights to try to protect their works from individuals (recent articles on MP3 and DVD)?
That's not the issue. The issue is the use of abusive methods which interfere with legitimate copying (backups, one's own creations, etc) or impair the right of anonymous speech.
Given that the people who mass-produce illegal copies will obviously continue to do so no matter what "copy-protection" technologies are employed, it's only natural to suspect a hidden agenda. /.
Even Primitive B&W Copies Can Be A Problem
on
IDs in Color Copies
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· Score: 1
There was a story in the Washington Post a few years ago about Metro (the DC-area subway system) losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year because their Farecard machines would accept ordinary B&W photocopies of dollar bills. I understand they've closed the loophole now. /.
At one point [Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu's] censors intercepted some anonymous letters addressed to Radio Free Europe, criticizing the Ceausescus' 'personality cult.' In a fit of rage, Ceausescu ordered his security chiefs to get samples of the handwriting of every school child and adult Romanian, so that their handwriting experts could identify who had written the letters.
Additionally, he wanted every typewriter owned by the state registered with the Securitate, along with a sample of its type.
--Dr. James McCollum (Is Communism Dead Forever?) /.
As I see it (and I'm not a political theorist, but I think my ideas are valid), the basis of a democracy is that everyone in the democracy has equal power, and no one can deprive anyone else of their power.
What you're describing is a Constitutional republic, not a democracy. In a democracy, if you're on an island with two cannibals and they want to eat you for dinner, that's OK because the cannibals are a majority. /.
Taxes, as much a pain in the as as they can be, are what pays for schools, walkway, roads, public services, etc.
Which is precisely why someone running a business in San Diego, California should not be paying taxes to the government of Bangor, Maine. The Bangor schools do not educate his workers. He does not tread upon the Bangor sidewalks. He does not drive upon the Bangor roads. What part of this progression eludes you?
By all means, levy a reasonable property tax on his storage facilities and offices in San Diego (unless you have a better idea of how to pay for the local services he does use and legitimately should support). Internet tax proposals (and mail-order tax proposals generally) are simply government greed. /.
But, are you one of those people who claim that they can tell the difference between CD Audio and high quality analogue?
Or, equivalently, are you one of those people who can spot the crooked seam in His Imperial Majesty's new suit?
The number of people who delude themselves into thinking that they hear a difference, or who just have to have The Next New Thing[tm] is nowhere near enough to displace the CD format in favor of something incompatible with the existing CD base.
Hopefully, because of the vast amount of space on the disc, some videos can be included as well.
Er, how is this any different from existing video DVD? /.
The Evil One has been loosed upon the earth to fulfill ancient prophesies that if he can bed the right virgin at the Millenial hour, the gates of Hell will open so that he and his minions can ravage the earth.
So, does Arnie make the obvious proposition (pardon the expression)?
If not, I suppose it's grist for psychoanalysis about the significance of all those Big Fscking Guns.... /.
Maybe the cop in question was feeling a little vengeful after having to put up with a day full of hotheaded fools?
Maybe you feel like punching your PHB in the nose after having to put up with a day full of BS. You don't (I presume), because you know that it's wrong and illegal, and if you do you will probably be fired and go to jail.
The same principle applies to the police. There are times when force is justified (just as you would be justified in punching your PHB if he physically attacked you), and times when it isn't. When it isn't, personal irritation is no excuse. /.
The WTO has the power to override national governments.
Ghu knows, somebody has to.
The rise of megacorps to the point where they can go head-to-head with governments is a positive development, with the potential to do for economic liberty what the tension between Crown and Church during the High Middle Ages did for intellectual liberty. While neither megacorp nor government (and, for that matter, neither crown nor church) is particularly concerned with the average individual's interests, the conflict serves to keep each in check.
To cite an example familiar to/. readers, do you really think it would have been possible to keep the government from marginalizing strong crypto if corporations didn't see a profit in being able to set up a secure global e-commerce infrastructure? /.
The WTO means that hormone injected beef that has been proven to cause cancer cannot be restricted from being sold in a country whose people don't want it.
If the people in that country don't want it (which I daresay they wouldn't, if the "proven to cause cancer" is solid science rather than another Alar scare), then obviously it can't be sold there, WTO or no WTO. /.
So, my question is this: How can they be sure these planets aren't much smaller, but perhaps with multiple moons? Are they assuming these other planets have no moons?
At most, one of these planets might be a double-planet system, each approximately half the total mass detected from the star wobble (i.e. they'd still be Jupiter-class). Three or more objects just don't maintain long-term stable orbits unless the third, fourth, etc. objects have insignificant masses compared to the first two.
The most likely configuration, based on known objects in the Solar System and planet-formation theory, is a single planet with moons (if any) far smaller than itself. Luna and Charon are anomalously large compared to Earth and Pluto, and their mass ratios are 80:1 and 10:1 -- 1000-1 seems to be more typical. /.
is it Intel that is on the cusp of bringing out Merced, which, combined with RAMBUS technology, sponsored by Intel, represents a virtual processor revolution
Is "virtual" some kind of new poltically correct euphemism for "vaporware"?
The only significant item available in PIIIs and not Athlons is the Big Brother Inside chip ID of the former. /.
As long as the computer is perceived as a (very powerful and advanced) tool, and not as a separate sentient entity, I don't think this clause can be applied here.
Well, yes, if one denies that the premise of this thread (the AI actually invented something itself) then naturally the question raised by this thread does not arise.
The way a quantum computer works is: 1)You define a problem, 2)You configure a set of quantum-entangled qbits in such a way that their quantum state will collapse into the solution to that problem (rather than any of the other 2^n possible configurations of n collapsed qbits), 3)You observe the result of the collapsed-state qbits.
The obvious comparison is to the Sidney Harris cartoon showing a professor who has written on a blackboard: 1)[complicated equation] 2)"Then, A Miracle Happens", 3)[another complicated equation].
In view of the difficulties experienced to date in setting up quantum computers to solve trivially easy problems, has it been proven that the entire quantum computing process is in fact easier than classical computing? /.
New media doesn't have that problem, and if world media DOES move away from top-down distribution then CanCon rules will probably become unnecessary, and soon dead.
On the contrary; the more unnecessary it gets, the more it will be used as a club against new media by the old establishment. /.
Re:Copyright protection bad?
on
Copyright!
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· Score: 1
Sigh. How many times does it have to be stated that, with few exceptions, the objections are not to copyright per se, but to:
1. The open-ended extension and re-extension of copyrights, in a clear attempt to evade the "limited terms" clause of the Constitution,
2. The unethical, if not illegal, tactics sometimes used to enforce copyrights, and
3. The blanket attack on recording and reproduction technologies. (This raises the suspicion that the RIAA's real agenda is to sabotage the ability of small-scale publishers and creators to produce high-quality recordings.)
Slashdot Mirror
They have the right to a fair trial, and to punishment within the bounds of the law if convicted, just like any other sort of criminal. That's pretty much it.
I mean regardless of whether or not people hate Spam, and whether or not there are existing laws against it, and whether or not there are utils and programs to filter said spam, wouldn't this count as a type of "Free Speech?"
In this context, that should be spelled "Free Speach", lest we forget the semi-literate rationalization contained in a well-known spamware sigline.
The linguistic deficiencies of spammers aside, the answer to your question is "no". This doesn't count as a type of free speech for the same reason painting graffiti on your house or running a sound truck under your window at 3AM do not fall into that category. Spam is a form of theft, trespass, and vandalism; any information communicated thereby is incidental and irrelevant.
Just playing Devil's Advocate here.
The comparison of spammers to the Devil is apt, and the former should go to the abode of the latter.
so long as they just send me text (no pictures, no macros, etc) I'm content with just deleting it
At the risk of invoking Godwin's Law, letting them have the Sudetenland without opposition makes it more, not less, likely that they will want Poland next.
/.
Spammers are hired by one of two types of customer: 1)crooks who count on the fact that any large population will contain a few total suckers and 2)naifs who just want to "advertise on the Internet" without a clue about the right and wrong ways to do so. In either case, the spammer has his money whether or not the mailing gets any positive responses. Someone as ethically depraved as a spammer certainly isn't going to give refunds to dissatisfied customers unless phsically compelled to do so.
In my books: Burn all spammers at the stake.
In my books: You're a candy-assed soft-on-crime wimp. :-)
/.
Your problem isn't that you're "cold-hearted"; it's that you're "muddle-minded". One might just as well say "if people can't stay healthy while surrounded by the natural environment (spelled correctly) of the Third World then suicide is a decent option."
Essentially, your post is an attempt to tie your pet peeves to the problem under discussion, whatever it happens to be at the moment, through a chain or more or less spurious logic.
/.
That's not the issue. The issue is the use of abusive methods which interfere with legitimate copying (backups, one's own creations, etc) or impair the right of anonymous speech.
Given that the people who mass-produce illegal copies will obviously continue to do so no matter what "copy-protection" technologies are employed, it's only natural to suspect a hidden agenda.
/.
There was a story in the Washington Post a few years ago about Metro (the DC-area subway system) losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year because their Farecard machines would accept ordinary B&W photocopies of dollar bills. I understand they've closed the loophole now.
/.
If it did, wouldn't people get hosed by innocently copying an envelope for the address information?
/.
/.
What you're describing is a Constitutional republic, not a democracy. In a democracy, if you're on an island with two cannibals and they want to eat you for dinner, that's OK because the cannibals are a majority.
/.
Which is precisely why someone running a business in San Diego, California should not be paying taxes to the government of Bangor, Maine. The Bangor schools do not educate his workers. He does not tread upon the Bangor sidewalks. He does not drive upon the Bangor roads. What part of this progression eludes you?
By all means, levy a reasonable property tax on his storage facilities and offices in San Diego (unless you have a better idea of how to pay for the local services he does use and legitimately should support). Internet tax proposals (and mail-order tax proposals generally) are simply government greed.
/.
Mauve has more RAM.
/.
Or, equivalently, are you one of those people who can spot the crooked seam in His Imperial Majesty's new suit?
The number of people who delude themselves into thinking that they hear a difference, or who just have to have The Next New Thing[tm] is nowhere near enough to displace the CD format in favor of something incompatible with the existing CD base.
Hopefully, because of the vast amount of space on the disc, some videos can be included as well.
Er, how is this any different from existing video DVD?
/.
So, does Arnie make the obvious proposition (pardon the expression)?
If not, I suppose it's grist for psychoanalysis about the significance of all those Big Fscking Guns....
/.
If it didn't turn off when the Vikings were able to grow crops in Greenland, why would a considerably smaller warming effect turn it off now?
/.
Maybe you feel like punching your PHB in the nose after having to put up with a day full of BS. You don't (I presume), because you know that it's wrong and illegal, and if you do you will probably be fired and go to jail.
The same principle applies to the police. There are times when force is justified (just as you would be justified in punching your PHB if he physically attacked you), and times when it isn't. When it isn't, personal irritation is no excuse.
/.
Ghu knows, somebody has to.
The rise of megacorps to the point where they can go head-to-head with governments is a positive development, with the potential to do for economic liberty what the tension between Crown and Church during the High Middle Ages did for intellectual liberty. While neither megacorp nor government (and, for that matter, neither crown nor church) is particularly concerned with the average individual's interests, the conflict serves to keep each in check.
To cite an example familiar to /. readers, do you really think it would have been possible to keep the government from marginalizing strong crypto if corporations didn't see a profit in being able to set up a secure global e-commerce infrastructure?
/.
Any large protest is going to contain a certain number of opportunists, nut-jobs, and agents provacateur. 'Nuff said.
/.
If the people in that country don't want it (which I daresay they wouldn't, if the "proven to cause cancer" is solid science rather than another Alar scare), then obviously it can't be sold there, WTO or no WTO.
/.
At most, one of these planets might be a double-planet system, each approximately half the total mass detected from the star wobble (i.e. they'd still be Jupiter-class). Three or more objects just don't maintain long-term stable orbits unless the third, fourth, etc. objects have insignificant masses compared to the first two.
The most likely configuration, based on known objects in the Solar System and planet-formation theory, is a single planet with moons (if any) far smaller than itself. Luna and Charon are anomalously large compared to Earth and Pluto, and their mass ratios are 80:1 and 10:1 -- 1000-1 seems to be more typical.
/.
Is "virtual" some kind of new poltically correct euphemism for "vaporware"?
The only significant item available in PIIIs and not Athlons is the Big Brother Inside chip ID of the former.
/.
The two boldfaced phrases never belong in the same sentence.
/.
Well, yes, if one denies that the premise of this thread (the AI actually invented something itself) then naturally the question raised by this thread does not arise.
Trivial, unhelpful, but certainly true.
/.
/.
The obvious comparison is to the Sidney Harris cartoon showing a professor who has written on a blackboard: 1)[complicated equation] 2)"Then, A Miracle Happens", 3)[another complicated equation].
In view of the difficulties experienced to date in setting up quantum computers to solve trivially easy problems, has it been proven that the entire quantum computing process is in fact easier than classical computing?
/.
On the contrary; the more unnecessary it gets, the more it will be used as a club against new media by the old establishment.
/.
/.