Just shows how crazy the so-called IP laws have gone. Maybe I'll trademark the names Cary Sherman and Jack Valenti. Sue those bastards into the ground.
How would you really know what "internet Explorer" and "Outlook Express" do if you never heard of them. Yeah, you might suppose IE has something to do with the internet, but the name doesn't tell you it's a web browser. What does the word "outlook" have anything to do with email?,p>How would you know what "Quake" was if you just saw the name? Wouldn't you think it was some sort of earthquake simulation software? What about "Windows"? If you were a heavy Unix user and knew nothing about the Microsoft world, you'd probably think it's some sort of window manager for X11. If you knew nothing about computers, you'd have no idea. In fact, quite a few casual computer users don't even seem to have a single clue what "Windows" really does.
A quote from this page seems to indicate she may not be as evil as many assume:
O'Connor Kelly addressed consumer information security and the delicate balance between security and civil liberties.
In the search, I also saw an interview with some women's group. I didn't find much, but I didn't look for very long. Kind of eases my worries though--at least in terms of why they hired her. She doesn't seem to be a shill intented to fool the public, but it's hard to say from the information.
I do know I want to date her. She's really hot and seems to be a cool person. I wonder if she's a lesbian?;-)
Your sex toys example is good, but there is a much more difficult situation it could put one in.
Let's say your gf buys the toys with your CC. A year later you are walking down the street, and the police pick you up. A woman was raped and murdered two blocks away, and you vaguely fit the description of the guy. The police may use the sexual CC purchase as "evidence" you are a sexual deviant and must have done it. They may even stop looking for the guy who really did it.
Then you go to court. The purchase is used there as "evidence" of "your" crime, and let's say you live in an area heavily influenced by the Taliban or the Christian Coalition, so the jury decides you must have done it.
Allowing the courts to use every purchase you made (or purchase you have appeared to make), and every word you have spoken as "evidence", is a very dangerouse thing. How many of you can really be confident you haven't made any purchases or said anything which, if used as "evidence" in any given trial for any given crime, would make you look guilty?
Yeah, if you bought a 3' LotR sword and a box of Hammerhead condoms the day of the crime, and those same items were used in the crime, then it may be circumstantial evidence linking you to it, but using everything you may have said and bought in your lifetime isn't.
I wonder exactly who the U.S. has employed in its counterterrorist operations.
During the Clinton years, the CIA was said to be restricted in who they were allowed to use. They weren't allowed to do business with a guy if say, he was involved with human rights violations.
One guy talking to the press after Sept. 11 said these restrictions hampered investigations which could have prevented the bombings...
In Mozilla, clicking a link with the middle button opens it up in a new tab. I find it quite convenient and use it often.
With rxvt, xterm, and gpm the middle button is used to paste a selection, though I don't use the right button feature--click the start of a selection with the left, and the right marks the end of it. I just drag the left button or sometimes double click it to select a word.
In fact, several X applications seem to use the middle button in a similar way. Nedit (a text editor) does. The textarea of Mozilla does too--just tried it out. Makes pasting much easier...
1 & 2. My understanding is the first generation will allow other OSs to run on a Palladium board, and programs not signed by MS will run on Palladium Windows. You will have to ask MS to sign drivers for them to work with Palladium Windows. If your program needs to access DRM data, it will also have to be signed by MS.
3. It'll probably let them "rent" streamed internet movies from MPAA companies. It will supposedly also make virus writing more difficult among other things--I don't have confidence here because MS has such a poor track record. I doubt it'll work any better than a system with real security (such as Unix and clones).
4. As stated, AMD is also on the DRM bandwagon. As to Sparc and PowerPC, only the future will tell.
5. It appears MS will be the only one who will sign software. I'm not sure exactly where you'll get certificates so you will be able to publish content. Some sources indicate the chip on the motherboard does it. Others seem to suggest there'll be a central organization (such as Verisign). I'm mostly guessing though.
The real problem is that in the 2nd generation Palladium, MS may sway motherboard manufacturers to only run Palladium OSs. MS may also change their OS to refuse to run any unsigned program.
There are also indications MS (and media companies) may use the system to check the contents of your hard drive (you won't know what's going on because all the communications will be encrypted). They may also use it to delete files they don't like, and they may even reject the certificates of people they don't like (meaning disable their ability to publish or perhaps even use the computer). The potential for abuse is immense, and even greater than anything Microsoft or the entertainment cartel has been able to do at this time. I'm not sure I'd trust the best government with these powers, let alone greedy organizations who frequently in the past have shown they have no ethics whatsoever.
I notice you've marked me as a foe. I take it when people disagree with you, they automatically are foes, right?
I didn't declare you a 'foe' on just the basis of this conversation. Though saying factional statements like "Your liberalism is disgusting" just because I disagree with you, you deserve it.
It is a common ploy of extremist "conservatives" to label everyone who disagrees with them as a "liberal" and vice versa. I think both sides are idiots--not because I dislike what they say, but because they have pushed themselves into a cookie cutter mold. I do not want to be labeled under the name "conservative" or "liberal" or whatever, becase I don't like being told what to think. I doubt very many people naturally fall under the political beliefs of either party, but decide they must pick one and change themselves to conform.
I also looked at several of your past messages. You seem quite pissy and lame at times, plus your handle "acidic diarrhea" sounds boderline trollish to me.
I also strongly suspect you may be writing pissy replies to your replies as anonymous coward. AC should only be used when you are worried you might get in trouble at work or men in black suits may visit your doorstep. I think using AC to keep from getting a karma hit is out of line. I've posted as AC before, but only because I was afraid some spook wouldn't like what I said, and I'd "mysteriously" disappear.
I've made a bunch of pissy remarks, but mostly because I am mad at Microsoft (for creating a monopoly and delivering shoddy products), and the media companies (for trying to shut down p2p, making false DMCA complaints, and all sorts of crap). I also took karma hits for some of those posts. You don't even seem to have any purpose to your pissyness.
Setting you as a slashdot "foe" isn't anything personal. If I saw you on the street, I would not try to beat you up or anything. Most of the time I add someone as a "foe" because they seem to be a troll, shill, or stupid. You don't necessarily fit into these categories (in fact, some of your posts seem insightful), but half your posts seem to be annoying and pointless.
I noticed you marked me as a "friend" could this be to try and get a score bonus when I view your posts?
The government should not build roads. Nor should they operate water, sewage, or trash systems. They shouldn't even run the military. Why should a country have a military anyway? It's not as if any other country will ever try to invade or attack. Let's forget about the police too. All they do is help repressive regimes like Saddam Hussein.
Those in private enterprise value their customers, and hold their costomer's privacy with the highest regard. They would never sell out their customers. Especially not News Corp, Disney, AOLTW, Sony, or Microsoft. These are the most ethical companies in the world. We should let them handle not only our internet access, but all our banking, housing, and shopping. Parents are too irresponsible, so they should take care of our children too! In fact we should let them create a DRM censorship system where they can limit your access to your own computer, read all your files, and delete the ones they don't like. We also need a Church of DRM, so we can worship them as well!
Yeah! If only these dreams could come true! We'd have a perfect world!
Did you read the story? Sulli compared the execs using the boards to everyday internet trolls. In the story, it said many of those execs posted false messages, trying to screw with people's lives, and all sorts of crap. Sounds like a bunch of trolls to me.
None of them write the scripts, they just select them.
So selecting a bad script is better than writing a bad script?
I didn't say anything about the lord of the rings books, I was talking specifically about the movie.
Yeah, but the books are the original source of the movie. You said: "these 'trolls' are the same one's who made the matrix and lord of the rings. Movies which the people on slashdot seem to worship." One of my points was there are plenty people on slashdot who don't worshop those people. Another was even if they did do a part in creating decent movies, that doesn't mean they aren't trolls and evil people. Also slashdot isn't one big collective. There are many people with different opinions.
Was the guy you responded to even one of these people who "worshiped" the movies you mentioned? Your generic language suggests you don't even know, and even if he did, his point was still valid anyway. He also trashed slashdot in the same way. Even if he loved the movies and was only trashing hollywood, why should they have any special status. If the guy who serves you at Arbys craps on your lawn, would you dismiss it because he gave you a bunch of sandwiches you paid for? Just having an economic relationship doesn't mean one should ignore bad behavior.
My point was that the same culture everyone is so apalled at, is exactly what got these movies made, regardless of where the script came from.
Perhaps this culture did get those movies made, perhaps better movies would have been made if they didn't exist. From my perspective, these sleezebags are a bunch of theives and liars who screw everyone over. The way they operate in these boards proves it. I think 'troll' is a kind word for what they do. These are the guys who are obviously trying to control the internet by false DMCA complaints, absurd lawsuits, and establishing a DRM censorship system.
If they had their target on the internet a decade ago, we wouldn't be having this conversation. The web as we know it wouldn't exist. Only large corps would be able to put up web pages, and they'd all be static. No web boards, no personal pages, no small time ecommerce, all other protocols would be blocked off (except for limited email).
My rights are worth far more than even the greatest movies. If I'm not violating their copyrights myself, they don't have the right to control me, yet that is exactly what they are trying to do.
I don't see that getting people on high-speed for $40 a month (to the government) outweighs the cost of having the government tightly coupled with my flow of data.
So you'd rather have the big media companies and the cable companies tightly coupled with your flow of data? You obviously have never tried "broadband" cable internet. I'm on it now. They'll ass-fist you. Poor service, absurd restrictions in the AUP, and total crap. I only use it is because my landlord won't let me get a second phone line, and my roommates will bug me if I use the first one for net access.
Carnivore fans? Are you out there? Pipe in.
How do you know your ISP isn't capturing all your packets and selling the data to anyone who'll pay? This includes the government. In fact, half of them are probably being "patriotic" and sending this info to the feds anyway.
Governments run trash duty, water, sewage, the road systems, the military, and many other things. Some things are just more practical for the government to maintain, but if they do run a computer network, they should not put restrictions on it--like a "no servers" policy. Some might say they'll try to use it to control everyone, so you have to watch them. Obfiscating your packets to protect yourself from criminals, zealots and spooks is a good idea too. If your country isn't free and they restrict such technology, then you're under an oppressive regime. If your country is full of whackos, then you're screwed anyway.
I'm not saying the government should run everything, nor am I saying others should be banned from competing with the government either. Nor am I saying they run everything well. For example, public schools should be eliminated. Seriously, when everyone is taught for 13 years, and most of them can barely read & write at a third grade level, then there is a big problem!
By RIAA logic, the internet is just a device for copyright infringement, so it should be banned. A CD burner is a device for copyright infringement, so it should be taxed by them. Encryption is just a device to hide copyright infringement, so it should be banned.
Unless of course they want to use those devices to run their businesses or for a DRM censorship system, then it's okay.
You are a few decades late. The police already could do this before the "RAVE" act.
Here in the US, the police can do anything they want. The criminals can do anything they want. The politians can do anything they want. The corporations can do anything they want. But the common people aren't allowed to live their lives. Plus they get the added bonus of working their lives away for nothing, having everything stolen from them, and being arrested for crimes they didn't commit.
Funny, I thought this country's ideals were the exact opposite.
So, did the confederates use guns on their own people when they were killing the North?
Okay, so the north was justified in fighting the southern confederacy. It was also justified the years after the war where confederate soldiers weren't allowed to hold political office. What does your post have to do with this thread?
Oh, but THAT'S DIFFERENT.
This statement makes no sense, considering the north won the civil war.
You can't be serious. If "evildoers" were planning on using SARS as a biological weapon, they would not download the gene sequencing information from the internet. They would need lots of expensive equipment to manufacture the virus from that data. If they wanted SARS, they'd just get some real samples somehow--like kidnapping an infected person. Much cheaper. Much easier. Requires no scientific knowledge.
Also, if we don't really understand the sequence of letters that make up the genome, why post it on the internet for the world to see? What good is it going to do?
Hmm...could they be posting on the internet, so every scientist in the world can work on it if they want to, so a cure may be discovered more quickly? Naahh...they just want to give to terrorists!
Isn't it better if we spend our time understanding what the letters mean rather than just putting the sequence up for viewing?
What are you saying? That "we" should keep all the knowledge about this disease locked up in a single room, so only a handful of reasearchers can work on it?
Maybe posting the genome on the net is good, maybe it isn't. And as you said, if an evildoer wants to get something, he will get it anyway. All I'm saying is, why make his task easier?
You sound like the "zero tolerance" schools, homeland security, and the DRM cartel. "We have to act like jack-booted thugs and take everything away. Lest one single person may use a 'weapon of mass destruction' / 'tweety bird keychain' / P2P to wipe out the entire world!"
Finally! An AC who makes some sense. With all the trolls posting as ACs, I was beginning to lose faith.
BTW, I think the RIAA and members do consider such uses. I think they know full well this technology will allow any musician to make high quality recordings. They are more afraid of the competition than any copyright infringement. In a free market, the media companies and the RIAA would only control a small portion--unlike today.
Any centralized search engine will be subject to such problems as censorship. They'll have to give in to litigation threats, threats by police, and even threats from organized crime. Things may become censored without their knowledge. A government agent (or mobster or script kiddie) may break into their network and delete entries.
This is why projects like Freenet are important. Maybe such projects won't solve all the problems, but I think they will make censorship more difficult. The problem is oppressive governments (or corporations, cults, etc) go after developers (sometimes users too), and try to shut down the project / stop distribution. However, it is likely those who have free governments (are there any?) will still be able to use and develop the project without problems. (but watch out for trojan horses.)
I would like to use and work on Freenet, but not only does my ISP have a restrictive policy using virutally any two way communication program--they call almost anything a server and ban them--but also my government has a very restrictive policy on "exporting" sekret coding systems--even putting the program on a web page could get me arrested, and they see Freenet as only a tool for evil childpron and criminals.
I went to xwin.org but could not find any type of list of what they hope to achieve.
It looks like they want to achieve extreme openness. They even put up Wiki, which means they're so open and carefree, they must emulate the goatse.cx guy.;-)
I think the place to put your requests is WantonDesires. I think you have to register, though IIRC some Wiki sites don't require it, so maybe not. (I haven't used Wiki much.) It may be a good idea to learn how Wiki works first though...in some ways it's easy to use, but there are specifics you should understand. For example, the formatting has different rules than html. The HelpPage is a start.
As to your ideas, here are my thoughts:
It may be possible to optimize XFree some, but it sounds like you don't want XFree, but something else. Taking out the socket based communications would not only remove the remote abilities, but it would also reduce security.
You are probably thinking something along the lines of DirectFB and XDirectFB. Programs use those libs to access the framebuffer device directly. From what I understand, you have to open the permissions on your framebuffer device or just run all your programs as root. Not good if you need decent security (or protection from a buggy program)--this is almost like running Win98.;-)
I think there are arguments for and against enforcing specific standards, but I think most of the problems are either caused by applications not using X properly (it seems too many developers don't understand X, Unix, or even makefiles at all) or are outside the realm of X itself. I also think GNOME and KDE are unnecessary for the most part. They have probably caused a greater rift in standards...
Hardware configuration has always been a problem, not only for XFree86, but many other systems. PCI should help solve the problem. The PCI bus gives a vendor string, so determining the hardware you use should be easy. You'll need a massive database, but it should work. Same with USB. I wouldn't be surprised if they already have PCI and USB autodetect functions in xf86cfg, but I don't know because I manually edit my XF86Config file. I'm anal.;-)
I agree the store's policy is stupid, but try checking every once in a while to see if they fixed the policy. You should end the boycott when they change their mind. There is no incentive for them to change if they think you'll never go back anyway.
There is a christian sect who make up the majority of people where I live. They have a very hard rule against doing business on sundays. (though they break it all the time.) One of the church leaders declared a boycott on a grocery store because they were open on sundays. (I don't agree they should tell others when to do business, but that is what they did.) At any rate, soon all the church goers started boycotting the store. After a while, the store changed its policy. It was now closed on sundays. (Sucks for me, BTW) To this day, some people still boycott this store--they probably don't even remember why. I noticed the other day, on one of their fliers, they still write CLOSED SUNDAY in big bold letters.
The moral of the story is: boycotts can be effective, but there is no point in continuing one if your target has fixed the problem. Well, unless they murder your family or something. Well, there is a second one: anyone who demands change in policy which is made to stop others from going about their own life is a friggin' bastard--that can apply to banning video games or forcing a store to close on sundays. Hmmm...maybe boycotting the boycotters is a good idea.
Slashdot Mirror
Just shows how crazy the so-called IP laws have gone. Maybe I'll trademark the names Cary Sherman and Jack Valenti. Sue those bastards into the ground.
How would you really know what "internet Explorer" and "Outlook Express" do if you never heard of them. Yeah, you might suppose IE has something to do with the internet, but the name doesn't tell you it's a web browser. What does the word "outlook" have anything to do with email? ,p>How would you know what "Quake" was if you just saw the name? Wouldn't you think it was some sort of earthquake simulation software? What about "Windows"? If you were a heavy Unix user and knew nothing about the Microsoft world, you'd probably think it's some sort of window manager for X11. If you knew nothing about computers, you'd have no idea. In fact, quite a few casual computer users don't even seem to have a single clue what "Windows" really does.
I don't know exactly what her involvement with DoubleClick was, but a quick search turns up some interesting information.
This site gives a little more information about her. ...and a picture too.
A quote from this page seems to indicate she may not be as evil as many assume:
In the search, I also saw an interview with some women's group. I didn't find much, but I didn't look for very long. Kind of eases my worries though--at least in terms of why they hired her. She doesn't seem to be a shill intented to fool the public, but it's hard to say from the information.
I do know I want to date her. She's really hot and seems to be a cool person. I wonder if she's a lesbian? ;-)
Either that, or everyone just doesn't bother talking about it anymore, and are firewalling out doubleclick servers like I am.
Why not just name it using mcookie? An "original" name every time. Very little chance of someone becoming angry because you stole their name.
~# mcookie
d541a9e368e166a0f328394805f11081
d541a9... Well, one or two problems. It may be hard to remember the name, and how do you pronounce it? ;-)
Your sex toys example is good, but there is a much more difficult situation it could put one in.
Let's say your gf buys the toys with your CC. A year later you are walking down the street, and the police pick you up. A woman was raped and murdered two blocks away, and you vaguely fit the description of the guy. The police may use the sexual CC purchase as "evidence" you are a sexual deviant and must have done it. They may even stop looking for the guy who really did it.
Then you go to court. The purchase is used there as "evidence" of "your" crime, and let's say you live in an area heavily influenced by the Taliban or the Christian Coalition, so the jury decides you must have done it.
Allowing the courts to use every purchase you made (or purchase you have appeared to make), and every word you have spoken as "evidence", is a very dangerouse thing. How many of you can really be confident you haven't made any purchases or said anything which, if used as "evidence" in any given trial for any given crime, would make you look guilty?
Yeah, if you bought a 3' LotR sword and a box of Hammerhead condoms the day of the crime, and those same items were used in the crime, then it may be circumstantial evidence linking you to it, but using everything you may have said and bought in your lifetime isn't.
During the Clinton years, the CIA was said to be restricted in who they were allowed to use. They weren't allowed to do business with a guy if say, he was involved with human rights violations.
One guy talking to the press after Sept. 11 said these restrictions hampered investigations which could have prevented the bombings...
In Mozilla, clicking a link with the middle button opens it up in a new tab. I find it quite convenient and use it often.
With rxvt, xterm, and gpm the middle button is used to paste a selection, though I don't use the right button feature--click the start of a selection with the left, and the right marks the end of it. I just drag the left button or sometimes double click it to select a word.
In fact, several X applications seem to use the middle button in a similar way. Nedit (a text editor) does. The textarea of Mozilla does too--just tried it out. Makes pasting much easier...
If they're using prior art, it should be a perfect defense, but through stupidity of courts and the patent office, they may lose anyway...
1 & 2. My understanding is the first generation will allow other OSs to run on a Palladium board, and programs not signed by MS will run on Palladium Windows. You will have to ask MS to sign drivers for them to work with Palladium Windows. If your program needs to access DRM data, it will also have to be signed by MS.
3. It'll probably let them "rent" streamed internet movies from MPAA companies. It will supposedly also make virus writing more difficult among other things--I don't have confidence here because MS has such a poor track record. I doubt it'll work any better than a system with real security (such as Unix and clones).
4. As stated, AMD is also on the DRM bandwagon. As to Sparc and PowerPC, only the future will tell.
5. It appears MS will be the only one who will sign software. I'm not sure exactly where you'll get certificates so you will be able to publish content. Some sources indicate the chip on the motherboard does it. Others seem to suggest there'll be a central organization (such as Verisign). I'm mostly guessing though.
The real problem is that in the 2nd generation Palladium, MS may sway motherboard manufacturers to only run Palladium OSs. MS may also change their OS to refuse to run any unsigned program.
There are also indications MS (and media companies) may use the system to check the contents of your hard drive (you won't know what's going on because all the communications will be encrypted). They may also use it to delete files they don't like, and they may even reject the certificates of people they don't like (meaning disable their ability to publish or perhaps even use the computer). The potential for abuse is immense, and even greater than anything Microsoft or the entertainment cartel has been able to do at this time. I'm not sure I'd trust the best government with these powers, let alone greedy organizations who frequently in the past have shown they have no ethics whatsoever.
I didn't declare you a 'foe' on just the basis of this conversation. Though saying factional statements like "Your liberalism is disgusting" just because I disagree with you, you deserve it.
It is a common ploy of extremist "conservatives" to label everyone who disagrees with them as a "liberal" and vice versa. I think both sides are idiots--not because I dislike what they say, but because they have pushed themselves into a cookie cutter mold. I do not want to be labeled under the name "conservative" or "liberal" or whatever, becase I don't like being told what to think. I doubt very many people naturally fall under the political beliefs of either party, but decide they must pick one and change themselves to conform.
I also looked at several of your past messages. You seem quite pissy and lame at times, plus your handle "acidic diarrhea" sounds boderline trollish to me.
I also strongly suspect you may be writing pissy replies to your replies as anonymous coward. AC should only be used when you are worried you might get in trouble at work or men in black suits may visit your doorstep. I think using AC to keep from getting a karma hit is out of line. I've posted as AC before, but only because I was afraid some spook wouldn't like what I said, and I'd "mysteriously" disappear.
I've made a bunch of pissy remarks, but mostly because I am mad at Microsoft (for creating a monopoly and delivering shoddy products), and the media companies (for trying to shut down p2p, making false DMCA complaints, and all sorts of crap). I also took karma hits for some of those posts. You don't even seem to have any purpose to your pissyness.
Setting you as a slashdot "foe" isn't anything personal. If I saw you on the street, I would not try to beat you up or anything. Most of the time I add someone as a "foe" because they seem to be a troll, shill, or stupid. You don't necessarily fit into these categories (in fact, some of your posts seem insightful), but half your posts seem to be annoying and pointless.
I noticed you marked me as a "friend" could this be to try and get a score bonus when I view your posts?
Fine, you are right. All praise Acidic Diarrhea!
The government should not build roads. Nor should they operate water, sewage, or trash systems. They shouldn't even run the military. Why should a country have a military anyway? It's not as if any other country will ever try to invade or attack. Let's forget about the police too. All they do is help repressive regimes like Saddam Hussein.
Those in private enterprise value their customers, and hold their costomer's privacy with the highest regard. They would never sell out their customers. Especially not News Corp, Disney, AOLTW, Sony, or Microsoft. These are the most ethical companies in the world. We should let them handle not only our internet access, but all our banking, housing, and shopping. Parents are too irresponsible, so they should take care of our children too! In fact we should let them create a DRM censorship system where they can limit your access to your own computer, read all your files, and delete the ones they don't like. We also need a Church of DRM, so we can worship them as well!
Yeah! If only these dreams could come true! We'd have a perfect world!
Did you read the story? Sulli compared the execs using the boards to everyday internet trolls. In the story, it said many of those execs posted false messages, trying to screw with people's lives, and all sorts of crap. Sounds like a bunch of trolls to me.
So you'd rather have the big media companies and the cable companies tightly coupled with your flow of data? You obviously have never tried "broadband" cable internet. I'm on it now. They'll ass-fist you. Poor service, absurd restrictions in the AUP, and total crap. I only use it is because my landlord won't let me get a second phone line, and my roommates will bug me if I use the first one for net access.
How do you know your ISP isn't capturing all your packets and selling the data to anyone who'll pay? This includes the government. In fact, half of them are probably being "patriotic" and sending this info to the feds anyway.
Governments run trash duty, water, sewage, the road systems, the military, and many other things. Some things are just more practical for the government to maintain, but if they do run a computer network, they should not put restrictions on it--like a "no servers" policy. Some might say they'll try to use it to control everyone, so you have to watch them. Obfiscating your packets to protect yourself from criminals, zealots and spooks is a good idea too. If your country isn't free and they restrict such technology, then you're under an oppressive regime. If your country is full of whackos, then you're screwed anyway.
I'm not saying the government should run everything, nor am I saying others should be banned from competing with the government either. Nor am I saying they run everything well. For example, public schools should be eliminated. Seriously, when everyone is taught for 13 years, and most of them can barely read & write at a third grade level, then there is a big problem!
By RIAA logic, the internet is just a device for copyright infringement, so it should be banned. A CD burner is a device for copyright infringement, so it should be taxed by them. Encryption is just a device to hide copyright infringement, so it should be banned.
Unless of course they want to use those devices to run their businesses or for a DRM censorship system, then it's okay.
85% of American children don't even know what the phrase 'adult pictures' or the word 'pornography' means.
You are a few decades late. The police already could do this before the "RAVE" act.
Here in the US, the police can do anything they want. The criminals can do anything they want. The politians can do anything they want. The corporations can do anything they want. But the common people aren't allowed to live their lives. Plus they get the added bonus of working their lives away for nothing, having everything stolen from them, and being arrested for crimes they didn't commit.
Funny, I thought this country's ideals were the exact opposite.
Okay, so the north was justified in fighting the southern confederacy. It was also justified the years after the war where confederate soldiers weren't allowed to hold political office. What does your post have to do with this thread?
This statement makes no sense, considering the north won the civil war.
Why not use Google's translation of the page?
You can't be serious. If "evildoers" were planning on using SARS as a biological weapon, they would not download the gene sequencing information from the internet. They would need lots of expensive equipment to manufacture the virus from that data. If they wanted SARS, they'd just get some real samples somehow--like kidnapping an infected person. Much cheaper. Much easier. Requires no scientific knowledge.
Hmm...could they be posting on the internet, so every scientist in the world can work on it if they want to, so a cure may be discovered more quickly? Naahh...they just want to give to terrorists!
What are you saying? That "we" should keep all the knowledge about this disease locked up in a single room, so only a handful of reasearchers can work on it?
You sound like the "zero tolerance" schools, homeland security, and the DRM cartel. "We have to act like jack-booted thugs and take everything away. Lest one single person may use a 'weapon of mass destruction' / 'tweety bird keychain' / P2P to wipe out the entire world!"
Finally! An AC who makes some sense. With all the trolls posting as ACs, I was beginning to lose faith.
BTW, I think the RIAA and members do consider such uses. I think they know full well this technology will allow any musician to make high quality recordings. They are more afraid of the competition than any copyright infringement. In a free market, the media companies and the RIAA would only control a small portion--unlike today.
Any centralized search engine will be subject to such problems as censorship. They'll have to give in to litigation threats, threats by police, and even threats from organized crime. Things may become censored without their knowledge. A government agent (or mobster or script kiddie) may break into their network and delete entries.
This is why projects like Freenet are important. Maybe such projects won't solve all the problems, but I think they will make censorship more difficult. The problem is oppressive governments (or corporations, cults, etc) go after developers (sometimes users too), and try to shut down the project / stop distribution. However, it is likely those who have free governments (are there any?) will still be able to use and develop the project without problems. (but watch out for trojan horses.)
I would like to use and work on Freenet, but not only does my ISP have a restrictive policy using virutally any two way communication program--they call almost anything a server and ban them--but also my government has a very restrictive policy on "exporting" sekret coding systems--even putting the program on a web page could get me arrested, and they see Freenet as only a tool for evil childpron and criminals.
It looks like they want to achieve extreme openness. They even put up Wiki, which means they're so open and carefree, they must emulate the goatse.cx guy. ;-)
I think the place to put your requests is WantonDesires. I think you have to register, though IIRC some Wiki sites don't require it, so maybe not. (I haven't used Wiki much.) It may be a good idea to learn how Wiki works first though...in some ways it's easy to use, but there are specifics you should understand. For example, the formatting has different rules than html. The HelpPage is a start.
As to your ideas, here are my thoughts:
You are probably thinking something along the lines of DirectFB and XDirectFB. Programs use those libs to access the framebuffer device directly. From what I understand, you have to open the permissions on your framebuffer device or just run all your programs as root. Not good if you need decent security (or protection from a buggy program)--this is almost like running Win98. ;-)
You forget. If one is to become like the Nazi regime, one has to behave like the Nazi regime!
I agree the store's policy is stupid, but try checking every once in a while to see if they fixed the policy. You should end the boycott when they change their mind. There is no incentive for them to change if they think you'll never go back anyway.
There is a christian sect who make up the majority of people where I live. They have a very hard rule against doing business on sundays. (though they break it all the time.) One of the church leaders declared a boycott on a grocery store because they were open on sundays. (I don't agree they should tell others when to do business, but that is what they did.) At any rate, soon all the church goers started boycotting the store. After a while, the store changed its policy. It was now closed on sundays. (Sucks for me, BTW) To this day, some people still boycott this store--they probably don't even remember why. I noticed the other day, on one of their fliers, they still write CLOSED SUNDAY in big bold letters.
The moral of the story is: boycotts can be effective, but there is no point in continuing one if your target has fixed the problem. Well, unless they murder your family or something. Well, there is a second one: anyone who demands change in policy which is made to stop others from going about their own life is a friggin' bastard--that can apply to banning video games or forcing a store to close on sundays. Hmmm...maybe boycotting the boycotters is a good idea.