...that a portable MP3 player starting at $299 was not engineered to have user-replacable batteries, yet a $10 single-use digital camera was?
I'd really like an iPod... $300 is an awful lot to spend on something that will end up costing $99 more when the battery finally croaks. Yea, I know about the site that sells iPod batteries, but the last thing I pried apart to work on (an old 486 laptop) still has pry marks from when I opened it to replace the CCFT. While the laptop needed the CCFT replaced due to improper handling (I accidentially dropped it), the iPod will eventually need a new battery no matter what. This means a $300 device that I'll either have to spend $99 on at some point, or live with pry marks on the case.
Apple really needs to come out with an updated version of the iPod to address this battery issue. As much as I want an iPod, the battery issue and the format war between WMA and AAC is enough to make me sit on the sidelines and watch instead of buy. If Apple fixed the battery issue and added WMA support (and why not? they claim iTunes is run at a break-even point just to sell iPods.) they'd have hands down the best portable MP3 player on the market.
Oh well, I guess I'll be getting more blank CDs for my portable MP3 CD player this Xmas.
I bought an extended life battery for my cell phone for about $10 and couldn't be happier. The same battery retails at Ratshack for around $50. There seems to be an oversupply of cell phone batteries on eBay, because the prices are really low.
Alright, so when the cable company gives you basic cable, you get all extra encrypted channels that you can't view. So I simplified the whole thing and I just, I decode all of them, with a chip that I bought.
So you're stealing?
Uh no, no, you don't understand, it's uh, it's very complicated, it's uh, it's, it's aggregate so I'm talking about fractions of a channel here and uh, over time, they add up to a lot.
Oh okay, so you're gonna get a lot of channels right?
You must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that someone has committed a crime, or in some cases, that they are about to. And even then there are strong limits (e.g. you must plan or threaten or somesuch--IANAL.) No pre-crime police here.
Agreed. DirecTV should just report the suspected theft to the proper authorities. The police would need a search warrent, and if granted - find out if the suspect has a DirecTV reciever, hacking equipment and a dish. That should be all that is needed for a conviction. As I stated in the previous post, I don't agree with DirecTV's tactics of enforcement... They should just relay the information they have to the real police.
It's the age-old argument about being pulled over with lockpicks in a state where lockpics are not illegal.
What if the lockpicks where purchased from an online retailer named "burglarytools.com", a site which features a forum for burglars to talk about picking locks, disarming alarms and scouting out potential targets? What if the police raided the site and went through the customer list? While the tools are not illegal to posess, the use advocated by the seller indicates intent by the buyer. If I was going to sell a zippo lighter on ebay, I certainly wouldn't list it as a "portable arson tool".
Same with smart cards. As long as it was a legal transaction, the goods were not stolen, no tax laws were violated, whatever, you have not committed any crime,...
While I agree, there are in many places laws where you can be arrested for simply querying a prostitute about her services. Of course, you could be leagally intersted in employing a prostitute as a porn star, so asking her if she wants money to have sex (with another porn star in your movie) could be a perfectly legal question... If the police nabbed you, you'd have to prove your innocence by providing proof that you really do produce adult films and that was your sincere intention.
As to voting with your wallet, I agree. If DirecTV felt a backlash, they'd most likely reconsider their ways. Unlike the RIAA, whom enjoys a stranglehold on pretty much all popular music, DirecTV has competition. You'd think DirecTV's competitors would jump at the chance to fling mud and get the word out about DirecTV's antics, but who knows...
Please take note. This [trb.com] is how you deal with people pirating your signals without being viewed as jackbooted thugs. You find people buying and selling equipment designed specifically to do that.
They're doing exactly what you describe... They're just also going after people that have purchased smartcard equipment from dealers that are known to sell to DirecTV pirates.
While I don't agree with DirecTV's extortion tactics ("settle with us or face certain doom in litigation!"), I do see them as justified in going after people that purchased smartcard equipment from dss hack sites. If you knew a local crack dealer could get you great deals on Tylenol, would you buy from him instead of the local grocery store? If so, would you REALLY be at all surprised when the police who were watching the crack dealer (possibly to catch a bigger fish like his supplier) come knocking on your door?
Let's say in the future, Blockbuster Video decides they have a really big problem with people renting and ripping DVDs. They could conceivably do the same thing DirecTV is doing... Raid the retailers that sell DVD decryption software and revoke the membership of (and/or sue!) their customers who bought the software. If that was the case, I sure as hell wouldn't want to buy a DVD burner from a site that sells software capable of decoding CSS.
A quick search on Google reveals that Digital Cable services have not been hacked. Indeed the only cable descramblers that are/were sold can be broken down into 4 catagories:
1. Analog filters These removed a signal that was placed on a nearby frequency to that of the channel the cable company wanted to "scramble". I'm not even sure if this old form of protection is even used anymore. The end-user benefit of this protection was you did not need a cable box.
2. Chips/jumpers Usually the channel is scrambled by missing a sync signal and you're provided by the cable company with a decoder box that can selectively re-create it. Adding a chip or jumpers tricks the box into decoding channels you didn't pay for. This method of analog protection is also quite old.
3. Digital cable filters Blocks your digital cable decoder from communicating with the mother ship. Briefly get PPV movies for free, then you can't order any more until you remove the filter (at which point it phones home and you get billed anyway). Similar in effect to unplugging the phone line from a DirecTV box.
4. Cable TV "decoder" boxes Found online and in your typical junk magazines... These are basically just an external tuner and remodulator to make a non-cable-ready TV (the old kind that just get VHF and UHF only) analog cable ready.
If this business was really hacking digital cable, that would sure be some big news... Most likely they were selling old analog crap or snake oil products.
Re:Considering...
on
AOL's $299 PC
·
· Score: 5, Funny
I read that as goatsecx too... Sure sign of being on Slashdot too long.
Wonder how many moderators will mod the grandparent post down because they don't read carefully and think goatse.cx has started selling computers. Could you imagine, " - Microsoft Internet Explorer provided by goatse.cx"? The animated page access icon?
Eww.
I remember the I-Opener
on
AOL's $299 PC
·
· Score: 1
It origially sold without a service agreement and you could pay for it with CASH, then walk out the door with it. The Xbox is like this, and so are those one-time-use digital cameras Ritz sells. If you're willing to pay full price for a Sprint cell phone, you can also walk out the store without any contract and use it as a doorstop or an overpriced electronic phonebook.
This computer, however, is being sold on the condition that you are entering into a contractual agreement to continue service for one year and clearly spells out the penalties ($23.90 billed for each remaning month of service plus a $40 breach-of-contract fee). If you bought the machine for $299 with the intention of not using the service, they have every right to hit you with those fees.
It's not an entirely horrible deal for newbies, if there are any of them left... But for everyone else, it's not the next great hack, it's just your average service agreement subsidized hardware.
The days of "All your base are belong to us" Engrish may soon be over? A brand new AirSoft gun I just purchased has the phrase "No point at the creature" molded into the plastic. Don't get me started on the owners manuals for consumer electronics. Japan needs this software, bad. If it comes at a cost of no more "All your base" jokes, well, that's a cost I think society will have to bear.
Clearly demonstrates what happens when you take an analogy too far and your point becomes lost.
Sodomy laws were based on the religious belief that people who practice sodomy were sinning against God. While the laws were largely enforced against homosexuals, they also applied to heterosexual sodomy. The main problem with the religion this law was based on was the clause in which non-believers are damned an eternal afterlife of pain, torture and suffering.
Copyright law is an entirely different beast. It is based on the belief that a copyright holder is entitled certain protections under the law for intellectual property he created. In a capatilistic society, copyright laws are obviously needed since intelectual property has a vaule even though the product is intangable. The subject for how much control is the major issue of debate, and lately it seems to be governed by the golden rule - he who has the gold, makes the rules.
When the parent of your post used sodomy laws getting ruled unconstitutional by public outcry as an example, that made sense because if the public feels a law is unjust, it should rendered null and void by the government. Extending the analogy just doesn't work because copyright law and (now nonexistant) sodomy laws were created for very different reasons. Protecting a valuable intangable commodity is absolutely essencial in our government. Protecting people from a damnation in the afterlife is not the business of a government that exists to serve the living.
Pah... 1,100 files is nothing, why I have... Umm, that's $750 per song minimum. Let's see, multiply by the number of songs on my server, my laptop, the misc. other systems around the house, carry the 1, uhh... Uh oh.
On second thought, NOPE, I have no music at ALL! Nope, I'm entirely pirate music free! You happy RIAA lawyers have a great day and thanks for keeping me honest.
English is a living language. If enough people decide "Googling" means to search the Internet, then guess what, that's what it means. Certainly everyone who complains about "spam" filling up his or her e-mail box is not refering to it being clogged with a meatlike substance. Yes, piracy used to mean looting and plundering on the high seas, and depending on the context of the subject matter, it still can. However, in the context of unauthorized reproduction of copyrighted works, it is still appropriate.
If you still don't believe me, the next time you're in a really good mood, tell everyone you're gay and see how they react. Its original meaning was "happy", afterall.
Seriously. I hate buying gas. Would be nice not to have to buy gas again - ever.
Oh sure, what happens if I get into an accident? Well, that's why you build the reactor compartment the same way as an airplane's black box, if that can survive a plane crash, a car crash should be a walk in the park.
There's a problem with terroists getting uranium and making dirty bombs you say? Not a problem either! Just outlaw radiation suits so anyone that opens the reactor is instantly nuked like a frozen chicken pot pie. Of course, that means no more tinkering with your car, but would you really miss it if you never had to buy gas again?
Don't hit the post button if your joke requires a life support system such as:
"oh, never mind"
Printed backspace symbols^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hcharacters
...pause (Think about it longer, you'll find a new way to make an old joke funny!)
A comment relating to the moderation system or karma
Rehashing all your old Slashdot memes are belong to Natalie Portman's hot grits in Soviet Russia goatse.cx posts YOU!
Using any form of Slashdot cliche as an attempt at humor
Ending your post with @^T#G@#YHB^#@$NO CARRIER
Since this story is a dupe, it's time to go a bit OT... Has anyone else heard similar RIAA propaganda being used as a promo for free CD giveaway contests? One of the rock stations here in Orlando, FL (USA) has been doing a "Win it before you can burn it" contest. It starts out something like:
"This is Billy. Little Billy is doing five to ten for downloading music from the Internet."
And proceeds to pretty much play off prison rape humor (which usually doesn't get taken well on Slashdot when someone posts a "federal pound me in the ass prison" joke) about a young guy getting busted for piracy and being thrown in a pound-me-in-the-ass prison, complete with "I dropped the soap" jokes. One of these days I need to connect my computer to the radio and record it to post it online. (Ah, the irony)
At any rate, it seems like they're poking fun at people who download music, but it's a bit toung-in-cheek, almost as if they do kinda feel the RIAA is overreacting. I'd be interested in hearing if other people have heard similar propaganda on their local radio stations, and what your thoughts are...
I'd say the vast majority of spam that I get is just a vehicle for delivering a URL. The spammers don't want a reply, they want you to go to their website.
Frequently, I get spam that seems to be selling NOTHING. The reply-to is invalid, and they don't bother including any kind of URL.
On the bright side, the vast majority of my spam gets caught in the filters - so I only see it if I check the spam folder. And may the spam rot there...
I plan on drinking my kid's first beers with them, and i plan on smoking the first joint with them as well. Both are very dangerous, but also quite normal and socially acceptable in moderation.
Funny, my parents never cared much either way whether I drink or not... They let me make up my own damn mind and when I finally got around to trying alcohol sometime in my mid teens, I determined BY MYSELF that I really didn't enjoy feeling intoxicated.
Since I never really enjoyed the feeling of being "under the influence" of even cold medicine, I never felt any desire to experiment with other mood-altering drugs. If my parents had asked to smoke a joint or have a beer with me, I would have politely declined.
My younger brother is quite the partier though, so I really think it's a combination of parenting as well as the decisions you make for yourself. As a parent, you have a lot of influence over your children, but your children still have their own free will... That will ultimately determine whether they're smoking pot and drinking beer at 15 or at home working hard on a project for class.
I actually had a discussion about this with one of my friends awhile back. It seemed back around '97 or so you could make a web page, submit it to AltaVista, Infoseek, and HotBot and be almost certain of a steady trickle of hits. For example, my younger brother made a web page about all his pets, and then later added pictures of his wristwatch collection. It used to be just having matching keywords was enough to get your page noticed. Pretty much in the same period of time Google became popular, the hits on his site ground to a halt.
Personal websites are at a disadvantage under Google's Pagerank system. A new page isn't going to have many other pages linking to it, and for the most part, personal webpages won't end up with many other pages linking to them unless the content is very popular. Google has created a kind of catch-22 situation... You have to already be popular to get a good Pageranking. The system is great for indexing an existing web of sites, but poor for allowing new sites to get exposure.
I just remember running into personal webpages far more often back in the days when AltaVista, and Infoseek ruled, before the spam sites started abusing keywords. I'm sure Google didn't intend to turn the Internet into a popularity contest, but it would be interesting if they added user-adjustable features like Slashdot's moderation modifiers so you could give a higher (or lower) bias towards personal webpages.
Slashdot Mirror
...that a portable MP3 player starting at $299 was not engineered to have user-replacable batteries, yet a $10 single-use digital camera was?
I'd really like an iPod... $300 is an awful lot to spend on something that will end up costing $99 more when the battery finally croaks. Yea, I know about the site that sells iPod batteries, but the last thing I pried apart to work on (an old 486 laptop) still has pry marks from when I opened it to replace the CCFT. While the laptop needed the CCFT replaced due to improper handling (I accidentially dropped it), the iPod will eventually need a new battery no matter what. This means a $300 device that I'll either have to spend $99 on at some point, or live with pry marks on the case.
Apple really needs to come out with an updated version of the iPod to address this battery issue. As much as I want an iPod, the battery issue and the format war between WMA and AAC is enough to make me sit on the sidelines and watch instead of buy. If Apple fixed the battery issue and added WMA support (and why not? they claim iTunes is run at a break-even point just to sell iPods.) they'd have hands down the best portable MP3 player on the market.
Oh well, I guess I'll be getting more blank CDs for my portable MP3 CD player this Xmas.
1 word: eBay
I bought an extended life battery for my cell phone for about $10 and couldn't be happier. The same battery retails at Ratshack for around $50. There seems to be an oversupply of cell phone batteries on eBay, because the prices are really low.
Alright, so when the cable company gives you basic cable, you get all extra encrypted channels that you can't view. So I simplified the whole thing and I just, I decode all of them, with a chip that I bought.
So you're stealing?
Uh no, no, you don't understand, it's uh, it's very complicated, it's uh, it's, it's aggregate so I'm talking about fractions of a channel here and uh, over time, they add up to a lot.
Oh okay, so you're gonna get a lot of channels right?
Yea.
They're not yours?
Ah, well they becomes ours.
How is that not stealing?
Back in my old BBS'ing days, I saw more than a few misspelled variations of:
"IF YOUR A COP HANG UP NOW!!!"
"BY PRESSING ENTER YOU AGREE THAT YOU DO NOT WORK FOR OR REPORT TO ANY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENTCY:"
"You MUST delete any file downloaded from this BBS within 24/48/72/etc. hours."
Ah, the memories.
You must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that someone has committed a crime, or in some cases, that they are about to. And even then there are strong limits (e.g. you must plan or threaten or somesuch--IANAL.) No pre-crime police here.
Agreed. DirecTV should just report the suspected theft to the proper authorities. The police would need a search warrent, and if granted - find out if the suspect has a DirecTV reciever, hacking equipment and a dish. That should be all that is needed for a conviction. As I stated in the previous post, I don't agree with DirecTV's tactics of enforcement... They should just relay the information they have to the real police.
It's the age-old argument about being pulled over with lockpicks in a state where lockpics are not illegal.
What if the lockpicks where purchased from an online retailer named "burglarytools.com", a site which features a forum for burglars to talk about picking locks, disarming alarms and scouting out potential targets? What if the police raided the site and went through the customer list? While the tools are not illegal to posess, the use advocated by the seller indicates intent by the buyer. If I was going to sell a zippo lighter on ebay, I certainly wouldn't list it as a "portable arson tool".
Same with smart cards. As long as it was a legal transaction, the goods were not stolen, no tax laws were violated, whatever, you have not committed any crime,...
While I agree, there are in many places laws where you can be arrested for simply querying a prostitute about her services. Of course, you could be leagally intersted in employing a prostitute as a porn star, so asking her if she wants money to have sex (with another porn star in your movie) could be a perfectly legal question... If the police nabbed you, you'd have to prove your innocence by providing proof that you really do produce adult films and that was your sincere intention.
As to voting with your wallet, I agree. If DirecTV felt a backlash, they'd most likely reconsider their ways. Unlike the RIAA, whom enjoys a stranglehold on pretty much all popular music, DirecTV has competition. You'd think DirecTV's competitors would jump at the chance to fling mud and get the word out about DirecTV's antics, but who knows...
Dear DirecTV,
Please take note. This [trb.com] is how you deal with people pirating your signals without being viewed as jackbooted thugs. You find people buying and selling equipment designed specifically to do that.
They're doing exactly what you describe... They're just also going after people that have purchased smartcard equipment from dealers that are known to sell to DirecTV pirates.
While I don't agree with DirecTV's extortion tactics ("settle with us or face certain doom in litigation!"), I do see them as justified in going after people that purchased smartcard equipment from dss hack sites. If you knew a local crack dealer could get you great deals on Tylenol, would you buy from him instead of the local grocery store? If so, would you REALLY be at all surprised when the police who were watching the crack dealer (possibly to catch a bigger fish like his supplier) come knocking on your door?
Let's say in the future, Blockbuster Video decides they have a really big problem with people renting and ripping DVDs. They could conceivably do the same thing DirecTV is doing... Raid the retailers that sell DVD decryption software and revoke the membership of (and/or sue!) their customers who bought the software. If that was the case, I sure as hell wouldn't want to buy a DVD burner from a site that sells software capable of decoding CSS.
A quick search on Google reveals that Digital Cable services have not been hacked. Indeed the only cable descramblers that are/were sold can be broken down into 4 catagories:
1. Analog filters
These removed a signal that was placed on a nearby frequency to that of the channel the cable company wanted to "scramble". I'm not even sure if this old form of protection is even used anymore. The end-user benefit of this protection was you did not need a cable box.
2. Chips/jumpers
Usually the channel is scrambled by missing a sync signal and you're provided by the cable company with a decoder box that can selectively re-create it. Adding a chip or jumpers tricks the box into decoding channels you didn't pay for. This method of analog protection is also quite old.
3. Digital cable filters
Blocks your digital cable decoder from communicating with the mother ship. Briefly get PPV movies for free, then you can't order any more until you remove the filter (at which point it phones home and you get billed anyway). Similar in effect to unplugging the phone line from a DirecTV box.
4. Cable TV "decoder" boxes
Found online and in your typical junk magazines... These are basically just an external tuner and remodulator to make a non-cable-ready TV (the old kind that just get VHF and UHF only) analog cable ready.
If this business was really hacking digital cable, that would sure be some big news... Most likely they were selling old analog crap or snake oil products.
I read that as goatsecx too... Sure sign of being on Slashdot too long.
Wonder how many moderators will mod the grandparent post down because they don't read carefully and think goatse.cx has started selling computers. Could you imagine, " - Microsoft Internet Explorer provided by goatse.cx"? The animated page access icon?
Eww.
It origially sold without a service agreement and you could pay for it with CASH, then walk out the door with it. The Xbox is like this, and so are those one-time-use digital cameras Ritz sells. If you're willing to pay full price for a Sprint cell phone, you can also walk out the store without any contract and use it as a doorstop or an overpriced electronic phonebook.
This computer, however, is being sold on the condition that you are entering into a contractual agreement to continue service for one year and clearly spells out the penalties ($23.90 billed for each remaning month of service plus a $40 breach-of-contract fee). If you bought the machine for $299 with the intention of not using the service, they have every right to hit you with those fees.
It's not an entirely horrible deal for newbies, if there are any of them left... But for everyone else, it's not the next great hack, it's just your average service agreement subsidized hardware.
The days of "All your base are belong to us" Engrish may soon be over? A brand new AirSoft gun I just purchased has the phrase "No point at the creature" molded into the plastic. Don't get me started on the owners manuals for consumer electronics. Japan needs this software, bad. If it comes at a cost of no more "All your base" jokes, well, that's a cost I think society will have to bear.
Clearly demonstrates what happens when you take an analogy too far and your point becomes lost.
Sodomy laws were based on the religious belief that people who practice sodomy were sinning against God. While the laws were largely enforced against homosexuals, they also applied to heterosexual sodomy. The main problem with the religion this law was based on was the clause in which non-believers are damned an eternal afterlife of pain, torture and suffering.
Copyright law is an entirely different beast. It is based on the belief that a copyright holder is entitled certain protections under the law for intellectual property he created. In a capatilistic society, copyright laws are obviously needed since intelectual property has a vaule even though the product is intangable. The subject for how much control is the major issue of debate, and lately it seems to be governed by the golden rule - he who has the gold, makes the rules.
When the parent of your post used sodomy laws getting ruled unconstitutional by public outcry as an example, that made sense because if the public feels a law is unjust, it should rendered null and void by the government. Extending the analogy just doesn't work because copyright law and (now nonexistant) sodomy laws were created for very different reasons. Protecting a valuable intangable commodity is absolutely essencial in our government. Protecting people from a damnation in the afterlife is not the business of a government that exists to serve the living.
Not good, should completely backfire.
/me hides
LOL too true...
For those who don't get the boats part, boating is a VERY expensive hobby.
B.O.A.T. = Bring Out Another Thou$and
or
Broken Or Always Trouble
Pah... 1,100 files is nothing, why I have... Umm, that's $750 per song minimum. Let's see, multiply by the number of songs on my server, my laptop, the misc. other systems around the house, carry the 1, uhh... Uh oh.
On second thought, NOPE, I have no music at ALL! Nope, I'm entirely pirate music free! You happy RIAA lawyers have a great day and thanks for keeping me honest.
English is a living language. If enough people decide "Googling" means to search the Internet, then guess what, that's what it means. Certainly everyone who complains about "spam" filling up his or her e-mail box is not refering to it being clogged with a meatlike substance. Yes, piracy used to mean looting and plundering on the high seas, and depending on the context of the subject matter, it still can. However, in the context of unauthorized reproduction of copyrighted works, it is still appropriate.
If you still don't believe me, the next time you're in a really good mood, tell everyone you're gay and see how they react. Its original meaning was "happy", afterall.
I was under the impression they were the ones who policed the Internet.
Seriously. I hate buying gas. Would be nice not to have to buy gas again - ever.
Oh sure, what happens if I get into an accident? Well, that's why you build the reactor compartment the same way as an airplane's black box, if that can survive a plane crash, a car crash should be a walk in the park.
There's a problem with terroists getting uranium and making dirty bombs you say? Not a problem either! Just outlaw radiation suits so anyone that opens the reactor is instantly nuked like a frozen chicken pot pie. Of course, that means no more tinkering with your car, but would you really miss it if you never had to buy gas again?
I want my nuclear car, damnit.
Don't hit the post button if your joke requires a life support system such as:
"oh, never mind"
Printed backspace symbols^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hcharacters
...pause (Think about it longer, you'll find a new way to make an old joke funny!)
A comment relating to the moderation system or karma
Rehashing all your old Slashdot memes are belong to Natalie Portman's hot grits in Soviet Russia goatse.cx posts YOU!
Using any form of Slashdot cliche as an attempt at humor
Ending your post with @^T#G@#YHB^#@$NO CARRIER
I don't know about penguins but if you annoy a Canadian goose, it will bite you in the nuts.
I think the Internet2 users should use Kazaa Lite and eMule just like the rest of us. Throw caution to the wind, screw the RIAA.
Man, if I drank beer, you would have just sold me one. LOL
Yup, I was just going to say the same thing.
Since this story is a dupe, it's time to go a bit OT... Has anyone else heard similar RIAA propaganda being used as a promo for free CD giveaway contests? One of the rock stations here in Orlando, FL (USA) has been doing a "Win it before you can burn it" contest. It starts out something like:
"This is Billy. Little Billy is doing five to ten for downloading music from the Internet."
And proceeds to pretty much play off prison rape humor (which usually doesn't get taken well on Slashdot when someone posts a "federal pound me in the ass prison" joke) about a young guy getting busted for piracy and being thrown in a pound-me-in-the-ass prison, complete with "I dropped the soap" jokes. One of these days I need to connect my computer to the radio and record it to post it online. (Ah, the irony)
At any rate, it seems like they're poking fun at people who download music, but it's a bit toung-in-cheek, almost as if they do kinda feel the RIAA is overreacting. I'd be interested in hearing if other people have heard similar propaganda on their local radio stations, and what your thoughts are...
I'd say the vast majority of spam that I get is just a vehicle for delivering a URL. The spammers don't want a reply, they want you to go to their website.
Frequently, I get spam that seems to be selling NOTHING. The reply-to is invalid, and they don't bother including any kind of URL.
On the bright side, the vast majority of my spam gets caught in the filters - so I only see it if I check the spam folder. And may the spam rot there...
I plan on drinking my kid's first beers with them, and i plan on smoking the first joint with them as well. Both are very dangerous, but also quite normal and socially acceptable in moderation.
Funny, my parents never cared much either way whether I drink or not... They let me make up my own damn mind and when I finally got around to trying alcohol sometime in my mid teens, I determined BY MYSELF that I really didn't enjoy feeling intoxicated.
Since I never really enjoyed the feeling of being "under the influence" of even cold medicine, I never felt any desire to experiment with other mood-altering drugs. If my parents had asked to smoke a joint or have a beer with me, I would have politely declined.
My younger brother is quite the partier though, so I really think it's a combination of parenting as well as the decisions you make for yourself. As a parent, you have a lot of influence over your children, but your children still have their own free will... That will ultimately determine whether they're smoking pot and drinking beer at 15 or at home working hard on a project for class.
I actually had a discussion about this with one of my friends awhile back. It seemed back around '97 or so you could make a web page, submit it to AltaVista, Infoseek, and HotBot and be almost certain of a steady trickle of hits. For example, my younger brother made a web page about all his pets, and then later added pictures of his wristwatch collection. It used to be just having matching keywords was enough to get your page noticed. Pretty much in the same period of time Google became popular, the hits on his site ground to a halt.
Personal websites are at a disadvantage under Google's Pagerank system. A new page isn't going to have many other pages linking to it, and for the most part, personal webpages won't end up with many other pages linking to them unless the content is very popular. Google has created a kind of catch-22 situation... You have to already be popular to get a good Pageranking. The system is great for indexing an existing web of sites, but poor for allowing new sites to get exposure.
I just remember running into personal webpages far more often back in the days when AltaVista, and Infoseek ruled, before the spam sites started abusing keywords. I'm sure Google didn't intend to turn the Internet into a popularity contest, but it would be interesting if they added user-adjustable features like Slashdot's moderation modifiers so you could give a higher (or lower) bias towards personal webpages.