"I'm concerned about the people this is going to put out of work," said David Bottoroff, an editor.
All those poor convenience store clerks. They spent thousands of dollars on their education, spent years practicing their profession, and now they're being put out of work by a box. Unfair! Strike! Boycott!
He keeps trying to sue them. But whenever a process server finds one, they wave their hand and say "I'm not the Jedi you're looking for" and they go away...
This strikes me as an area where Declan McCullough's position makes sense. We already have PGP and friends to protect email. Projects like Infranet, Anonymizer and Freenet can protect surfing and file-sharing. Laws to criminalize such tools, or mandate key escrow, will lag behind and won't be very effective, particularly if the tools are widely used.
Not that political action won't help too, but it's easier to get a law defeated or repealed if it doesn't work anyway.
The times I've considered starting an ISP, it's always been thorny legal issues that made me decide "not yet". Specifically, issues where the law says one thing, and conscience says something else. Demands for censorship using copyright as a bludgeon, as from the Co$. Law enforcement searches and taps (now warrant-free, courtesy of your friendly neighborhood Congress!)
The FAQ will probably be slashdotted real soon, so here's the list of questions, at least:
Frequently asked questions about the Coop
Why all this struggle with Qwest? Why didn't you simply use a wireless solution instead of renting subloops from Qwest? Why didn't you simply bury your own cable instead of renting subloops from Qwest? Why don't you simply use a broadband satellite connection? Why are the modem speeds provided on Qwest phone lines so slow? And why won't Qwest provide DSL? Infrastructure What equipment are you using? What did it cost? System design issues Why are you using SDSL? Why are you not using line sharing? Exactly what DSL technology are you using? What DSL chip are you using? What line speeds do subscribers get? Do they get a dedicated IP address? Can they operate servers? Why did you place the DSLAM at the cross-connect box rather than at the SLC (remote terminal)? How exactly does your temperature monitor work? Implementation issues What exactly do you order from Qwest to hook up a new subscriber? What quality of lines has Qwest provided? How reliable is your point-to-point microwave link? How do you monitor your system? What do you suggest your subscribers use for lightning protection? Financial planning issues What were your startup costs? What are the non-recurring costs associated with adding a subscriber? What are your recurring costs? What do you charge your subscribers to sign up? What will you charge your subscribers per month? How many subscribers did you need to decide to launch service? Diagrams and maps May we see a system diagram? May we see a neighborhood map? May we see a map showing the neighborhood and the telco central office? Other Internet Coops and local broadband efforts Are there other Internet Coops? How have others set up local broadband systems? From the first concept to launch What was the time line?
I suggest you read the first chapter of "Stupid White Men" by Michael Moore, which goes into how the Florida GOP stole the state by illegally disenfranchising thousands of blacks.
The Debian community recently became more aware of font licensing issues after one of the developers noticed there are a lot of non-free fonts in main. So I expect there will be some shaking out and reorganizing of non-free fonts anyway.
For the (hopefully significant) fraction of readers who want to find out more about this, instead of issuing snappy comebacks with no facts or logic behind them, let me recommend Diet for a New America, and parts of Small Wonder.
A huge dinosaur, covered with ants, each taking a tiny little bite out of its flesh. It rages and storms and roars. It stomps its feet and slams its body against trees. It kills lots of ants. But there are lots and lots of them, and they continue to patiently nibble away at it. It's very big, and it fights hard, and it's gonna take a long time to die. But you know who's gonna win in the end.
Well, leaving aside the issue of whether this is a good thing to do or not, here's one way to do it:
algorithm = blowfish; hard to optimize in hardware, nothing better than brute force known
b = number of key bits for which average brute-force time is "short" (12-168 hours), assuming a large distributed effort
t = average brute-force time for b bits
T = delay until message should be revealed
N = T / t
choose b, t, N so that 50 <= N <= 200
smaller N means smaller final message
larger N means less variation of delay
Here's another point to consider: what happens if someone gets their tape edited, then decides to sell it? It would be all too easy for them to "forget to mention" the tape's been bowdlerized; it would be less desirable if they revealed that little fact. The buyer might not even realize they'd been screwed, if the edit is smooth enough.
Perhaps we need a law requiring the editors to mark their edited tapes as such, prominently and irreversibly.
Anyone wishing to sell stuff by email may only do business through a single email address, and they must publish that email address. They can't use filters, either.
Yeah, but remember that it could be attatched as a rider to something comepletely unrelated... happens all the time.
Even then, the amendment would have to be voted on. It's just too easy to abuse this thing. If they did pass it, they'd have to repeal it really quickly, and they'd look like complete idiots.
Slashdot Mirror
...we could make him a violin small enough.
If widely deployed, less than six months.
...will be on the Slashdot effect.
All those poor convenience store clerks. They spent thousands of dollars on their education, spent years practicing their profession, and now they're being put out of work by a box. Unfair! Strike! Boycott!
He keeps trying to sue them. But whenever a process server finds one, they wave their hand and say "I'm not the Jedi you're looking for" and they go away...
Dyslexia...
Sounds like a powerful idea with a lot of potential. Could transform the online world. Hope these reports are well grounded.
Not that political action won't help too, but it's easier to get a law defeated or repealed if it doesn't work anyway.
Yep, machine translation still ain't there yet :)
How problematic have you found such issues?
The FAQ will probably be slashdotted real soon, so here's the list of questions, at least:
Frequently asked questions about the Coop
Why all this struggle with Qwest?
Why didn't you simply use a wireless solution instead of renting subloops from Qwest?
Why didn't you simply bury your own cable instead of renting subloops from Qwest?
Why don't you simply use a broadband satellite connection?
Why are the modem speeds provided on Qwest phone lines so slow? And why won't Qwest provide DSL?
Infrastructure
What equipment are you using?
What did it cost?
System design issues
Why are you using SDSL? Why are you not using line sharing?
Exactly what DSL technology are you using? What DSL chip are you using?
What line speeds do subscribers get? Do they get a dedicated IP address? Can they operate servers?
Why did you place the DSLAM at the cross-connect box rather than at the SLC (remote terminal)?
How exactly does your temperature monitor work?
Implementation issues
What exactly do you order from Qwest to hook up a new subscriber?
What quality of lines has Qwest provided?
How reliable is your point-to-point microwave link?
How do you monitor your system?
What do you suggest your subscribers use for lightning protection?
Financial planning issues
What were your startup costs?
What are the non-recurring costs associated with adding a subscriber?
What are your recurring costs?
What do you charge your subscribers to sign up?
What will you charge your subscribers per month?
How many subscribers did you need to decide to launch service?
Diagrams and maps
May we see a system diagram?
May we see a neighborhood map?
May we see a map showing the neighborhood and the telco central office?
Other Internet Coops and local broadband efforts
Are there other Internet Coops?
How have others set up local broadband systems?
From the first concept to launch
What was the time line?
I suggest you read the first chapter of "Stupid White Men" by Michael Moore, which goes into how the Florida GOP stole the state by illegally disenfranchising thousands of blacks.
The Debian community recently became more aware of font licensing issues after one of the developers noticed there are a lot of non-free fonts in main. So I expect there will be some shaking out and reorganizing of non-free fonts anyway.
IIRC, the Washington Times is a rather biased, right-wing paper owned by the Unification Church. Or used to be, anyway. Anyone have recent data?
For the (hopefully significant) fraction of readers who want to find out more about this, instead of issuing snappy comebacks with no facts or logic behind them, let me recommend Diet for a New America, and parts of Small Wonder.
Don't tell us. Tell a heath hen, or a moa, or a passenger pigeon, or a dodo. If you can find one.
A huge dinosaur, covered with ants, each taking a tiny little bite out of its flesh. It rages and storms and roars. It stomps its feet and slams its body against trees. It kills lots of ants. But there are lots and lots of them, and they continue to patiently nibble away at it. It's very big, and it fights hard, and it's gonna take a long time to die. But you know who's gonna win in the end.
Banzai!
algorithm = blowfish; hard to optimize in hardware, nothing better than brute force known
b = number of key bits for which average brute-force time is "short" (12-168 hours), assuming a large distributed effort
t = average brute-force time for b bits
T = delay until message should be revealed
N = T / t
choose b, t, N so that 50 <= N <= 200
smaller N means smaller final message
larger N means less variation of delay
inner_msg = cleartext
for i = 1 to N publish final outer_msg, scheme, parameters, cracking program
Even if most people don't take it seriously, a few will. Of course then it'll take much longer. For T over a few years, factor in Moore's law.
Y'know, I just can't help but wonder what they call this robot. Hmmm...nah, couldn't be.
Perhaps we need a law requiring the editors to mark their edited tapes as such, prominently and irreversibly.
Yep. They have nowhere to go but down. And we have nowhere to go but up.
Anyone wishing to sell stuff by email may only do business through a single email address, and they must publish that email address. They can't use filters, either.
Ayn Rand, We the Living - early Soviet Union, by someone who lived there.
Those are novels, as requested. Also:
THX 1138 - film by George Lucas.
House of Stairs - play by William Sleator.
I won't start listing short stories, I'd be doing it all day :)
Even then, the amendment would have to be voted on. It's just too easy to abuse this thing. If they did pass it, they'd have to repeal it really quickly, and they'd look like complete idiots.
P.S. Whoops. Four reps, not one.