I dont know if its naive but i find it a bit depressing that someone with bobby's intellect has to exist anonyomously to avoid the public limelight and scrutiny just to survive - witness the media attacks that form against any succesful person in the public eye these days - depressing that freely available information means a loss of any right to privacy.
Continued - it means we need to find a way to worm within the law NOT try and break it
We can not win at that - but we can force the government to adapt or think a little different - they cant be fought on their own turf, you can mailbomb them and hack them and attack their morals but they will win - they have the majority of the population.
I dont agree that this guy deserves the effort BUT if he does then he needs help in court NOT in the hal hearted attack ways
Yeah 350 million population of the us - 50 people who post this shit on slashdot
What revolution - the 'normal' people (you know the sheep who pay taxes, vote, use MS products, actually buy copyright movies and books etc) would rise up and skull fuck you so fast your eyes would spin.
Whos scared of an overweight big talking pasty faced turd anyway - geez i bet the US military are quaking in their boots.
THE GOVT HAVVE SPOKEN - LIKE MITNICKE ETC FROM NOW ON IF YOU BREAK THE LAW THEY WILL STICK A LARGE BAT UP YOUR ASS - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED BY THIS AND OTHER CASES AND IF YOU IGNORE IT YOU DO SO AT YOUR PERIL
Well most space food is in a paste or freeze dried format to boost nutrient intake anyway so it wouldnt matter.
One would thing the issues with blood polling and muscular atrophy may be more succint on long missions like this, there is a dange that muscles can atrophy very badly with long term exposure to low or zero gravity, this coupled with bone fatigue might mean that an astronaut arriving back on earth after his long trip might just collapse when he is exposed to the earths gravity.
Astronaut pancake anyone ?
Isnt this a redundant concept but ?
on
Data Mining?
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
I like the idea but i was sitting here wondering that in this day of supposedly low cost bandsidth why would you go to the cost of building huge co-los in destruction proof environments ?
There is a secure need for co-lo fdacilites etc but why not just build a mirrod system with 4-5 sites carrying the data - a sort of broadband raid, this would cut down the need for these facilites.
Now this is only an idea and it might have a million logical reasons behind it but would it not be cheaper that concrete bunkers and dedicated power systems and such ? (i am asking would it or not?)
Or is it that clients like a cool ultra secure bunker - it makes them feel good and powerfull ?
Umm im in the middle of a frigging huge SAP implementation - do i know what ERP is ?
Oh god yes and i wish i didnt - ERP=Hell on Earth (BTW this is implementation 2 of this as 2 different companies and i used to sell and support R5 Camms and JD Edwards so yeah i know what ERP is - DO YOU ??
The article talks (from what i can see) about being able to leverage sourceforge code to ERP type solutions
Got modded down - well i thought you could leave it alone but then again who knows - it might have been offtopic there but i have been seeing the misinformed stories all day
Reposted in CORRECT FORUM
the end of the world as we know it
Actually the story says that VA linux is going to sell some investigate ways to make some money from their software development and thus build some applications that move in new ways - this is perfectly reasonable as their employees have mouths to feed.
I quote: (lifted without permission but maybe this wil stop the register being slashdotted)
SourceForge is the new ERP - VA Linux
By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco
Posted: 24/08/2001 at 07:49 GMT
Barely six weeks ago VA Linux Systems was an open source hardware vendor. Now, the company is undertaking a Napoleonic retreat from the hardware business and it's doing the unthinkable: adding proprietary subscription software to its open source software flagship SourceForge.
VA swallowed charges of around $230m in the last quarter - $160 million coming under the category of "impairment of goodwill and intangible assets", and almost $70 million as a one-time charge - contributing to a net loss for the quarter of $290 million as it liquidated its PC manufacturing and sales businesses.
Costs will continue to affect the bottom line for two further quarters, said VA. Its Japanese subsidiary will continue to sell hardware, the company said, but that amounts to chump change.
The new software-only VA expects to make an operating lost of $10 to $13 million on revenue of $3 to $4 million in the forthcoming quarter. With a cash pile of $83 million, that gives the company as little as six months to ramp revenue, or else seek new investment. VA said its burn rate will continue to decline, suggesting that more layoffs are to be expected.
But CEO Larry Augustin is bullish. He says there was no competition for the distributed code management system SourceForge. Current development processes and tools haven't kept pace with geographically dispersed or ad hoc teams, according Augustin, who predicts that the impact of SourceForge could be as great as ERP or CRM.
Typically VA deals with in-house developers using a range of tools (it cites Borland, Rational and Microsoft as well as GNU tools). The company emphasises that seeks to complement rather than supplant existing tools.
VA is gunning for $600 revenue per seat per year - it claims that buyers typically see a return on investment within six months.
Augustin talks of adding "proprietary software features and functionality" to the subscription version SourceForge. That VA is looks at the software-hoarding model to save the business is an irony a few will savour, but we guess that by now badly singed VA investors will simply be hoping it flies. ®
IN OTHER WORDS
They are not 'going closed source' they have had a subscription service for some time - the code is well developed and they are looking at new areas like ERP - they have a right to do it and if they dont they may very well be down the tubes.
From someone who works in MIS and who's company has just spent AU$20 Million on SAP let me tell you that this is a field where some competitors would be good - there arent many new products that ar worth buying and three companies have it tied up - SAP, Peoplesoft and JD Edwards.
And no - no company in their right mind would ever buy a free GPL erp system - these systems are the heart and sould of a business when you implement them - they do all payroll and accounting functions etc and no one would trust a product without a company with cash and controlled development backing it up.
I have been accused in the past of defending MS - so it might seem strange for the people who can't see past the MS sucks argument to defend an open source company but im not that narrow minded.
VA Linux have not sold out the GPL - they are simply running their free software projects and at the same time trying to make enough money to survive and build a new product in the meantime.
And you can only attack them ?
Christ have you stopped to think what this means if these guys get this right - ERP's are run on Windows or Unix Platforms - what this might give the world is a stable lower cost ERP alternative that is built on linux.
The problem with free sourcing applications like this is that VA would be expected by their clients to do all the development work but by the brethern to give everyone that work for free and thus give competitors the chance to profit off their hard work when they adapt the code and havent got to pay for the development.
Open source does not have to mean free IMHO - devlopment of corporate systems costs money - but maybe VA can start the ball rolling and we might win a few of those corporate file and app servers and some corporate desktops.
So please no more meaningless VA have sold out posts - its boring and innacurate and they are only being posted here because they own Slashdot and your trying to be smart (and failing)
Ok look for dirvers for a prosignia 1650 or any thing older than 12 months or so - or better yet ring their support.
You have one laptop ?
How nice i have 394 of them (mainly dell but about 50 are compaq of various ages and types) and yet every time you upgrade one you can never find the right drivers only to ring up and find that no that product is more than 18months old so we dont support it with drivers for newer OSes
Try it on the hard side sometime - i resent the mc donalds crack as well but im not going to flame you as i want to show maturity and i like my karma the way it is - thanks for your post in reply to mine
Actually the story says that VA linux is going to sell some investigate ways to make some money from their software development and thus build some applications that move in new ways - this is perfectly reasonable as their employees have mouths to feed.
I quote: (lifted without permission but maybe this wil stop the register being slashdotted)
SourceForge is the new ERP - VA Linux
By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco
Posted: 24/08/2001 at 07:49 GMT
Barely six weeks ago VA Linux Systems was an open source hardware vendor. Now, the company is undertaking a Napoleonic retreat from the hardware business and it's doing the unthinkable: adding proprietary subscription software to its open source software flagship SourceForge.
VA swallowed charges of around $230m in the last quarter - $160 million coming under the category of "impairment of goodwill and intangible assets", and almost $70 million as a one-time charge - contributing to a net loss for the quarter of $290 million as it liquidated its PC manufacturing and sales businesses.
Costs will continue to affect the bottom line for two further quarters, said VA. Its Japanese subsidiary will continue to sell hardware, the company said, but that amounts to chump change.
The new software-only VA expects to make an operating lost of $10 to $13 million on revenue of $3 to $4 million in the forthcoming quarter. With a cash pile of $83 million, that gives the company as little as six months to ramp revenue, or else seek new investment. VA said its burn rate will continue to decline, suggesting that more layoffs are to be expected.
But CEO Larry Augustin is bullish. He says there was no competition for the distributed code management system SourceForge. Current development processes and tools haven't kept pace with geographically dispersed or ad hoc teams, according Augustin, who predicts that the impact of SourceForge could be as great as ERP or CRM.
Typically VA deals with in-house developers using a range of tools (it cites Borland, Rational and Microsoft as well as GNU tools). The company emphasises that seeks to complement rather than supplant existing tools.
VA is gunning for $600 revenue per seat per year - it claims that buyers typically see a return on investment within six months.
Augustin talks of adding "proprietary software features and functionality" to the subscription version SourceForge. That VA is looks at the software-hoarding model to save the business is an irony a few will savour, but we guess that by now badly singed VA investors will simply be hoping it flies. ®
IN OTHER WORDS
They are not 'going closed source' they have had a subscription service for some time - the code is well developed and they are looking at new areas like ERP - they have a right to do it and if they dont they may very well be down the tubes.
From someone who works in MIS and who's company has just spent AU$20 Million on SAP let me tell you that this is a field where some competitors would be good - there arent many new products that ar worth buying and three companies have it tied up - SAP, Peoplesoft and JD Edwards.
And no - no company in their right mind would ever buy a free GPL erp system - these systems are the heart and sould of a business when you implement them - they do all payroll and accounting functions etc and no one would trust a product without a company with cash and controlled development backing it up.
I have been accused in the past of defending MS - so it might seem strange for the people who can't see past the MS sucks argument to defend an open source company but im not that narrow minded.
VA Linux have not sold out the GPL - they are simply running their free software projects and at the same time trying to make enough money to survive and build a new product in the meantime.
And you can only attack them ?
Christ have you stopped to think what this means if these guys get this right - ERP's are run on Windows or Unix Platforms - what this might give the world is a stable lower cost ERP alternative that is built on linux.
The problem with free sourcing applications like this is that VA would be expected by their clients to do all the development work but by the brethern to give everyone that work for free and thus give competitors the chance to profit off their hard work when they adapt the code and havent got to pay for the development.
Open source does not have to mean free IMHO - devlopment of corporate systems costs money - but maybe VA can start the ball rolling and we might win a few of those corporate file and app servers and some corporate desktops.
So please no more meaningless VA have sold out posts - its boring and innacurate and they are only being posted here because they own Slashdot and your trying to be smart (and failing)
It might suprise some people but microsoft are very low on my list on this one - i can trust them totally as they keep doing business the same way - they are predicatble.
The site i trust least is c/net - might sound strange but think about it this way - think of all the beat up stories you have seen - Optus@home looking at peoples downloads, code red, etc and look at the stories they run - and dont even talk about product reviews or releases - they are almost entirely re written PR blurbs - you cannot rely on them at all for 'news' without bias.
Companies i trust least - Compaq - Another one some wont agree with but i have reasons - they still persist in proprietary systems, their support (speaking from a corporate point of view) is mosty abysmal, their website is confusing, slow and badly thought out (try finding the drivers you want - i dare you) their products are prone to failure (Armada notebooks, prolinea desktops to name 2 i have had major problems with)
Now you may not agree - thats cool - but they are the ones i dont trust
Im not a telstra or optus stooge - i have never spoken to you before i simply disagreed with some of your comments or offered other explanations - i dont comment on Telstra mainy as i have to deal with them at work and they suck - whilst i have optus at my home but they dont - the choice of carrier is up to you. This argument pisses me off more than i can say - if you dont knock something then you must work for them - its used everytime someone defends MS in any way and its an invalid and irrantional argument.
Dail up - lets see why i poke it in the eye (and i had it for 5 years previous to this) it sucks - 56k is a pathetic speed for anyting more than basic web surfing and email.
This country runs 3 years behind in Broadband and high speed access (mainly due to Telstra) and if we start accepting 56k as OK then we will never get change
As for the narrowband - Bandwidth costs money - if you think you know it in this area work in corporates - I am and MIS manager for a global company and run a Win2k AD worldwide lan link, every mb we send costs money -(i am also responsible for Voice Comms by the way and have just renegotiated contracts on Mobile and fixed line costs - i can comment on this area) -whether this is an oncharge or not is irrelevant - the owner of the cable (southern cross) has to recoup the cost so they sell the usage on to the carriers - they can then charge what the market will bear (i think 19c a MB is bullshit but i dont use Telstra at home so i wont comment on your choice)
ADSL in this country is a mess - Telstra cant deliver a working service and we at work contract with another company for DSL for our remote sites and homew workers - this is a constant and painfull headache.
Mobile prices have nothing to do with connectivity in rural areas - you have to run transmission towers every 10-15km to maintain service and they need cabling into them and power etc - forget mobiles (and do some research actually we have some of the cheapest mobile rates in the world and handset costs are on par with a population as small as ours is)
And as for running broadband to remote areas - OK i dont know what it costs per mile to run Broadband trunks (and it has to fiber optic as the current links WONT support the dream of ADSL) but i think you could safely say its more that $10000AU per KM when you take in manpower, digging cable lines, legal costs, surveys, etc etc not to mention all of the equipment and exchange upgrades, servers etc to end on it, so you think about this - my family lives 800km from Brisbane where i am, thats by road, but if you take that and work it out thats Au$8 Million for that one stretch alone - not you wold be running it into a population base of 8000 people - thats a cost per person of $1000 per customer NOT counting the last mile to the home and the installation of service etc etc - and that covers them only - not the regionals - so how do you ever make it a viable financial concern ? tell me as i and many others would love to know.
The government spends $300 million a year on 290 pollies - well that works out to AU$1 million per Electorate per year - it has to cover wages, staffing, admin costs, travel, etc etc - thats a non issue and it obfuscates an issue - thats the sot of crap we see here all the time - and it means that people can just attack the pollies and not even make a suggestion to fix it.
Delivery of service costs money - someone has to pay the bill - when you talk rural australia that means delivery of service across a huge territory - you can do phone service with sattelite (as Telstra does) but its not cost effective - you cant deliver broadband cheaply this way however (latency etc etc)
No more expensive to wire - yep thats maybe true (its not but i wont waste time pointing out why) Do some research on city areas and population sizes in the US and here and densities - australian cities are more spread out and this requires more cost per mile - thats why the argument is fallacious - and the urban areas in australia are the only ones with sufficient population density to support it - 95% of the australian population lives within a 1 hour drive of the coast and over 80% on the eastern seaboard.
Optus at home is a good service - check their customer satisfaction ratings then ask a few people in the industry who know what they are talking about - Telstra screwed up ADSL and cant be bothered fixing it (i suspect an announcment on something else soon)
Southern Cross cable can charge what they want as they own the lines - This is a business NOT a charity - and unfortantely so can Telstra - and dont start with the PSA or Allan Fels - they seem to have staff of 3 blind mice and an aged labrador so i dont expect much from them.
The duopoly is crap - the reason most of the other ISP's dont have coverage is backing - it costs money to do this stuff and they dont have it - thank the Dot.com feeding frenzy - no one wants to invest in telcos and isp's (and not to mention the way ISP's go broke so often) and on the back of One Tel and 3G who can blame them
I was trying to be nice till you called me a stooge - thats a weak argument - check your facts and then think about it next time you lower it to that level - i dont dismiss things beacuse they dont fit with me - i take them in and look at them.
Wish it were ike that here - i nuy in bulk (200+ at a time (about 3 months usage) and that way i pay about 60-70 cents a CD (i could pay less but i buy sony or TDK only) In retail stores they sell for $1.10 to 1.50 (no name / TDK) and up to $10 for CDR Audio (TDK again)
You Said:
Mobile communications required the construction of parallel infrastructures. Ditto for cable infrastructures which was constructed over the last 3 years. No cable existed prior to that time. (Frankly we didn't miss it all that much.)
I say :
Nope under privatisation Telstra had to allow usage of the network infrastructure for most systems - this was before cable was thought of so each vendor ran their own (and fibre links and mobile etc)
You Said:
Since they're a duopoly, there's nothing to stop them from pulling any stunt they want. Their 'unlimited' broadband connections are simply fast pipes for web browsing, nothing more. Download on the Optus network are capped at 10 times the average daily download.
So you can download 400Mbytes/day on Optus@Home.
I say:
I am an optus at home customer and i pull down 600-800 mb a day without problems - they average it out over a 14 day period - so if you have a light day or 2 your are covered - i have gone over 1gb a day and never got chipped - they work an average cutting out the top and bottom 5% - it not as bad as non customers point out.
you Said:
Oh, at around $100/month too. Roughly US$50/month. This is on a 12 month contract after paying setup fees of $350.
I say:
Optus@home - Contract Rate - 18 Months @ $75AU a month (if you have cable tv and phone thru them its less - i pay $53 month - Non Contract rate - $65Au month
Installation is $199 or less if you buy your won cable modem
Telstra( my brother is an ADSL Customer) $75AU/Mnth and a $250 Install fee - plus their service does not work (he hasnt paid for it in 6 months and they havent asked him too until they get it right)
You Said:
This latest move by Optus is a stunt designed to try and cap their broadband expenses. Basically the company is going down and is trimming costs prior to looking for a buyer.
I say:
They have a buyer (see below) and thats not the reason - they are doing this stuff to appear like a nice corporate citizen to the Singaporean Govt - you know they have a major stakeholding in SingTel and they are a right wing and repressive gov
You Said:
Currently they're trying to sell themselves to SingTel, but one of their satellites is also used by the Australian Defence Force for signal intelligence. Naturally we're rather concerned about the Singapore government spying on us should they get their hands on Optus.
I say:
Watch the news or read a paper - this has been resolved and the sale will go ahead - the spying thing is bullshit as the Defense Department uses encyrpted code - they 'control' it in that they maintain orbit and data transfers - its a sealed system - they have the equipment for satellite monitoring and the govt contracted the service to save money - it is a contract that can be pulled so this is non issue
You Said:
Since privatisation, quality of service has declined, prices have risen and rural areas have suffered.
I say:
Grew up in the country and my family lives in the far west of QLD - this is load of crap the oppostion parties and vested interests would love you to listen to - prices have not risen that much but they have a bit as the GOVERNMENT no longer subsidises the services and it costs money to provide them (shock horror). Alternative carriers wont go in there as it does not make economic sense without govt help - we are talking about small numbers of people with huge infrastructre costs - whos going to pay for it - no company will spend billions on a commercially unviable system (think about what happend to iridium) Do you live in the country ?
You Said:
Essentially we're in broadband hell. Just be thankful you're not us.
I say:
Optus at home customer here and i dont live in hell, i have an excellent service and its fast - the fact is that in life you get what you pay for - this is a country with a 18 million population spread across a large land mass, these services are expensive to provide and thus it costs money - you can point at the US and say they have cheap access - they have 350+ million people - thats a lot more customers.
And dont forget the other vendors out there with cable and ADSL - I-hug, Burst net, etc (do a web search)
In closing i offer this comment (lifted from whirlpool)
Why is broadband so damn expensive?
While the price could come down a bit further, it's not really all that expensive. Given our exchange rate, we pay similar prices for broadband as people in America.
Australian users have to absorb the cost of building cross-pacific pipelines like the Southern Cross Cable (http://www.southerncrosscables.com/), which is in itself over 30 thousand kilometres of multi-core fibre optic cable. Even after the pipeline is built, Australian companies have to pay American networks for the ability to "plug in" to the internet.
Dial-up internet can be more costly than you think. You could be paying anywhere between 20 cents to one dollar per day in phone calls (that's between $6 and $30 per month), not to mention the cost of line rental for a second phone line, something that most regular internet users need when using dial-up.
I suspect you are a dial up customer who cannot afford broadband but check your facts OK - other than that i think you made some good points.
good point - i should have indicated the US$ price in my original post - thanks for pointing it out though as i guess many people wouldn't notice that - what sort of price are CDR's in the US - we pay between 70cents to 1.50 here (depending on brand)
They are in trouble in the US not in australia - in australia they belong to Optus@Home - Cable and Wireless Optus - the second largest carrier in the region who are owned by singtel - one of the regions biggest telcos - they have plenty of money and a massive userbase - they are the only reliable cable service - i use them and get speeds approaching 6mb/sec - so please i ask you check facts before posting.
Amreican companies are not the only ones in the world - our economy is not in the toilet - the US's is.
You have a right to your opinion and i think that in the example you mention you are justified.
However there is the other side to the coin - i work as an IS manager and have half a dozen remote sites to support. I use my palm Vx extensively and so do my staff - they are admittedly not the most practical thing for taking notes with (yuck) but they have a great many good uses.
I have the follwing stuff i use every day in mine (and my staff have most of it too)
- Database of file extensions (usefull as hell)
- Database of cable / termination / cable maps
- Netork database with all site info
- Database of common fault types in our environment
- All hone and contact numbers for all offices
- Patch panel diagrams for all sites
- Router configs for sites
- We can download current calls from our call database and take them with us
- Various database on applications etc
I also have a few games and half a dozen books (1984, Brave newq world, etc - what i feel like reading) and can download my mail and jot small qucik notes when onsite - as well as syncing with my out look
The best thing is that all of this software we use is freeware (bar one database program we bought licenses for) we can convert anything into a PDB file by using isoloweb (www.isilo.com) and we use a number of database aps to create smalll database for them - its quick and easy and bloody usefull - and the best thing is with all of it in my palm including meg launcher, a dozen hacks and games i still have 4mb of the 8mb memory free.
My staff dont lug notebooks out to sites unless they have to (and thats very seldom, and i dont need to lug my notebook home each nght (i have my latest emails on it and all my contacts)
In short i think the palm is incredily usefull - and i am a person who thought they were over priced toys - dont forget that just because you meet one moron that all the other people are neccesarily morons (otherwise i would never have used linux - you should have met the first guy i knew with that:) )
I noticed that - Phillips www.phillips.com announced one about 3 months ago - not sure about release date - anyway isnt this splitting hairs - DVD recordable media is about AU$30 and i shudder to think what RW is going to be worth - the upatke on normal RW discs has been a lot less.
Apple Super Drive - DVD Recorder - been around about 6 months or so - www.apple.com\superdrive (Approx $999 i think, included with G4 macs)
Panasonic Sell a DVD recorder for TV use etc - http://www.panasonic.com/consumer_electronics/dvd_ recorder/default.asp (designed admittedly for media creators)
Pioneer have several models (including one with UNIX drivers) - http://www.proh.com/DVD-Recorders.shtml ($820 SRP)
And thats just a quick search - HP are hardly the first consumer level and the pioneer has been out 6 months - add to this offerings by phillips and sony due out soon and you have a bad claim to HP - i dont mean to flame but can we check stories first - even a 5 minute web search would have proven the claim wrong and stopped the hundreds of posts pointing out the error
I dont like to be seen to be attacking anyone but the facts (and i have read all the stuff on him i can find) seem to be
Yes, but if you look at the affidavit
1. He contacts a customer of another (rival) companies services and tries to convince them to use him
2. He seems to decide to get this customer to use him by breaking into the rival companies system - as if aiming to impress them
3. This isnt so easy to do - he needs several hundred attacks to enter the competitors system and then he does it by stealing a password file or hacking one (this is by defenition unauthorised access) Instead of stopping whewn he was sure that he had broken security, he goes one on and goes back logs in using an unauthorised account ans stolen password
4. he then steals files off the system, no doubt trying to prove he was there
5. he boasts about it to the prospective customer at the same time he tells the comany they have a hole in their system (one he had to work hard to find)
6.He then brags that he broke into a bank and looked at their systems - the bank says they dont have a lin to the web - someone is lying here and it think i know who - i suspect he made the claim to establish his bonafides as a l33t haxor but it backfired and that claim is now in court records.
Either that or as another poster said he was making threats that he could do some serious damage here.
You Said :
After all, to truly verify any suspected security hole, one must gain access to at least some information that seems as if it should be protected. Which is in itself a violation of applicable law.
"The term 'exceeds authorized access' under 18 USC | 1030(e)(6) means to access a computer without authorization and to use such access to obtain information in the computer that the accessor is not entitled to obtain." That is so broad, it could apply to looking over your bank teller's shoulder at her computer screen.
I say:
Thats the point it is broad and if the company in question had not hired you to find breaches then you have no right to be attempting to gain access to what is deemed a private system (the fact it has publicly accessible web pages is irellevant) - YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO REMOVE OR COPY DATA FROM ANY SYSTEM WITHOUT PERMISSION. Thats the fact - the thing that pisses me off is the way in which people think that if you say youre working to fix a problem then its ok to hack into a system - its considered illegal and if you get caught (or brag about it) then you will get in trouble. The white hat argument is used so often it is becoming redundant and this guy is not a white hat.
Any way he could have copied 1 file - maybe an old memo or something - please he took hundreds of files including passwords (check it out - its mentioned as being in the court transcript) - this blows away the small amounts of data routine.
I would like to ask a few questions about mr west so i dont look to be seen as attacking him
1. What age is he (speaks to maturity of action)
2. Has he had any prior offences ?
3. How long has he been in business
These are simple things.
The FBI have charged him based on a complaint from the owners of the system he broke into - thats the law and their right - the problem is all the 'whit hat' and hotmail exploit type hackers and code red designers have turned this subject into a hot potato and they are cracking down hard on hackers - this is apparent and has been for a while - you play where you should not there are consequences.
thats the thing that gets me - you need to know that in life there are consequences for every action - these guys think that they can do what they like, and then cry out when caught contray to the law (and you might think the law sucks but its there and if broken it has penalties),
The fact is this guys is going to be hung by his own mouth as much as anything
this issue is more than the newspaper - he is accused (and looks like he admitted it) of hacking into a bank and looking at client account balances etc - the guys screwed sorry
Also he hacked into the newpapers site on a rival web hosting company - he was trying to get the newspapers business and no doubt thought he could poke holes in the other company security thus making them look incompetent and getting him the business - this is a stupid move and guaranteed to fail - instead he got jammed and i would not be surpised if he finds his company on the receivin end of a civil lawsuit for his actions - which can only be determined at undermining the business of the other company.
Also when he gets caught he then places his story on websites in a way which is deigned to garner the voluble support of the free source and white hat community - it looks (IMHO) like a simple attempt to cover himself with support (ala dimitri) of the voluble community who he expected i think to defend him.
A bit of reasearch proves this guy is in trouble because he deserves it - once you start hacking into banks you gurantee deepshit if you get caught (and the bank he hacked appears to have Federal Deposit Insurance thus he committed a federal crime) You cannot hack into banks just to check their security or look around.
Maybe this is a lesson to all the would be white hats out there - just because you can doesnt mean you should
Now im dont want to look like im trolling - i would defend the guy if he was in the right - so please understand me when i say that this person deserves no support from our community
Good analogy and it has a little merit except for the smal fact that if you were found on the premises by said neighbour without permission you are in fact guilty of trespass - the police would maybe charge you - certainly your neighbour would not be happy.
The adage of trying the door is another one i find intersting - point - your neighbour is not home so you go and check if the door is locked just to see ? what do you do if the door is open ? walk in ?
Thats analagous to saying if you leave your door unlocked im justified in stealing everything you own (which would not stand up in a court of law - your insurance company would not pay out but as the thief you would still be charged with theft)
The difficulty comes in trying to apply these standards to computer crime - did he hack it or not ? well from reading all of the linked info the answer looks to be yes he did - including the alleged use of stolen passwords. So he's not the white hat he says he is - if he found a hole and reported it that would be fine - but finding the hole and removing data left him open to charges of hacking or theft of company data - he may have only be doing this in what he saw as a misguided attempt to say - look i got this stuff so your system is compromised you need to fix it - but isnt that asking for trouble ? the company no doubt already feels foolish at having the flaw pointed out so if they find you possess data taken from them they are going to get pissed and try and cover their asses by accusing the user of hacking their systems - the onus of proof then reverts back to him.
Finding the flaw - good thing
Taking file - dumb thing
Does this guy have anything else in his background that would interest the DOJ in him ?? before we simply condemn the company and govt maybe we need to find out if he has a history of cracking systems ? and why was he trying that doot ? (just postulating BUUT) was it that he was looking for a hole for other reasons - found it and maybe got worried he might be caught later so he announced the hole to the company to try and make himself look good ?
I dont know - personally im a IT manager and spend money to keep people out of my systems, that means i dont like the 'just trying to find if you have any holes in your system' excuse - i pay consultants for that and i would consider that anyone looking for an open door to be up to no good - this company wasnt a high profile target and if i was the law and the IS manager at the other company i would be asking what one of my competitors would be doing trying to see if i had any holes in my system - i would immediately suspect corporate espionage (it happens dont laugh) and call in the cops as well.
I think he may have done a silly thing for whatever reasons - but i also wonder if he is being completely honest?
Slashdot Mirror
I dont know if its naive but i find it a bit depressing that someone with bobby's intellect has to exist anonyomously to avoid the public limelight and scrutiny just to survive - witness the media attacks that form against any succesful person in the public eye these days - depressing that freely available information means a loss of any right to privacy.
DAMN - hit the enter key by mistake -
and what i meant to say was that
Continued - it means we need to find a way to worm within the law NOT try and break it
We can not win at that - but we can force the government to adapt or think a little different - they cant be fought on their own turf, you can mailbomb them and hack them and attack their morals but they will win - they have the majority of the population.
I dont agree that this guy deserves the effort BUT if he does then he needs help in court NOT in the hal hearted attack ways
BREAK THE SYSTEM BY MAKING IT WORK FOR YOU
Yeah 350 million population of the us - 50 people who post this shit on slashdot
What revolution - the 'normal' people (you know the sheep who pay taxes, vote, use MS products, actually buy copyright movies and books etc) would rise up and skull fuck you so fast your eyes would spin.
Whos scared of an overweight big talking pasty faced turd anyway - geez i bet the US military are quaking in their boots.
THE GOVT HAVVE SPOKEN - LIKE MITNICKE ETC FROM NOW ON IF YOU BREAK THE LAW THEY WILL STICK A LARGE BAT UP YOUR ASS - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED BY THIS AND OTHER CASES AND IF YOU IGNORE IT YOU DO SO AT YOUR PERIL
Well most space food is in a paste or freeze dried format to boost nutrient intake anyway so it wouldnt matter.
One would thing the issues with blood polling and muscular atrophy may be more succint on long missions like this, there is a dange that muscles can atrophy very badly with long term exposure to low or zero gravity, this coupled with bone fatigue might mean that an astronaut arriving back on earth after his long trip might just collapse when he is exposed to the earths gravity.
Astronaut pancake anyone ?
I like the idea but i was sitting here wondering that in this day of supposedly low cost bandsidth why would you go to the cost of building huge co-los in destruction proof environments ?
There is a secure need for co-lo fdacilites etc but why not just build a mirrod system with 4-5 sites carrying the data - a sort of broadband raid, this would cut down the need for these facilites.
Now this is only an idea and it might have a million logical reasons behind it but would it not be cheaper that concrete bunkers and dedicated power systems and such ? (i am asking would it or not?)
Or is it that clients like a cool ultra secure bunker - it makes them feel good and powerfull ?
Any thoughts?
Good point - so show me one SAP implementation running on linux (i have looked at documents from across the world and i can find none)
Pleant run it on Solaris etc but i have seen no unix
But maybe GPL is an answer for SAP - might make the products a bit cheaper
Umm im in the middle of a frigging huge SAP implementation - do i know what ERP is ?
Oh god yes and i wish i didnt - ERP=Hell on Earth (BTW this is implementation 2 of this as 2 different companies and i used to sell and support R5 Camms and JD Edwards so yeah i know what ERP is - DO YOU ??
The article talks (from what i can see) about being able to leverage sourceforge code to ERP type solutions
Got modded down - well i thought you could leave it alone but then again who knows - it might have been offtopic there but i have been seeing the misinformed stories all day
Reposted in CORRECT FORUM
the end of the world as we know it
Actually the story says that VA linux is going to sell some investigate ways to make some money from their software development and thus build some applications that move in new ways - this is perfectly reasonable as their employees have mouths to feed.
I quote: (lifted without permission but maybe this wil stop the register being slashdotted)
SourceForge is the new ERP - VA Linux
By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco
Posted: 24/08/2001 at 07:49 GMT
Barely six weeks ago VA Linux Systems was an open source hardware vendor. Now, the company is undertaking a Napoleonic retreat from the hardware business and it's doing the unthinkable: adding proprietary subscription software to its open source software flagship SourceForge.
VA swallowed charges of around $230m in the last quarter - $160 million coming under the category of "impairment of goodwill and intangible assets", and almost $70 million as a one-time charge - contributing to a net loss for the quarter of $290 million as it liquidated its PC manufacturing and sales businesses.
Costs will continue to affect the bottom line for two further quarters, said VA. Its Japanese subsidiary will continue to sell hardware, the company said, but that amounts to chump change.
The new software-only VA expects to make an operating lost of $10 to $13 million on revenue of $3 to $4 million in the forthcoming quarter. With a cash pile of $83 million, that gives the company as little as six months to ramp revenue, or else seek new investment. VA said its burn rate will continue to decline, suggesting that more layoffs are to be expected.
But CEO Larry Augustin is bullish. He says there was no competition for the distributed code management system SourceForge. Current development processes and tools haven't kept pace with geographically dispersed or ad hoc teams, according Augustin, who predicts that the impact of SourceForge could be as great as ERP or CRM.
Typically VA deals with in-house developers using a range of tools (it cites Borland, Rational and Microsoft as well as GNU tools). The company emphasises that seeks to complement rather than supplant existing tools.
VA is gunning for $600 revenue per seat per year - it claims that buyers typically see a return on investment within six months.
Augustin talks of adding "proprietary software features and functionality" to the subscription version SourceForge. That VA is looks at the software-hoarding model to save the business is an irony a few will savour, but we guess that by now badly singed VA investors will simply be hoping it flies. ®
IN OTHER WORDS
They are not 'going closed source' they have had a subscription service for some time - the code is well developed and they are looking at new areas like ERP - they have a right to do it and if they dont they may very well be down the tubes.
From someone who works in MIS and who's company has just spent AU$20 Million on SAP let me tell you that this is a field where some competitors would be good - there arent many new products that ar worth buying and three companies have it tied up - SAP, Peoplesoft and JD Edwards.
And no - no company in their right mind would ever buy a free GPL erp system - these systems are the heart and sould of a business when you implement them - they do all payroll and accounting functions etc and no one would trust a product without a company with cash and controlled development backing it up.
I have been accused in the past of defending MS - so it might seem strange for the people who can't see past the MS sucks argument to defend an open source company but im not that narrow minded.
VA Linux have not sold out the GPL - they are simply running their free software projects and at the same time trying to make enough money to survive and build a new product in the meantime.
And you can only attack them ?
Christ have you stopped to think what this means if these guys get this right - ERP's are run on Windows or Unix Platforms - what this might give the world is a stable lower cost ERP alternative that is built on linux.
The problem with free sourcing applications like this is that VA would be expected by their clients to do all the development work but by the brethern to give everyone that work for free and thus give competitors the chance to profit off their hard work when they adapt the code and havent got to pay for the development.
Open source does not have to mean free IMHO - devlopment of corporate systems costs money - but maybe VA can start the ball rolling and we might win a few of those corporate file and app servers and some corporate desktops.
So please no more meaningless VA have sold out posts - its boring and innacurate and they are only being posted here because they own Slashdot and your trying to be smart (and failing)
Ok look for dirvers for a prosignia 1650 or any thing older than 12 months or so - or better yet ring their support.
You have one laptop ?
How nice i have 394 of them (mainly dell but about 50 are compaq of various ages and types) and yet every time you upgrade one you can never find the right drivers only to ring up and find that no that product is more than 18months old so we dont support it with drivers for newer OSes
Try it on the hard side sometime - i resent the mc donalds crack as well but im not going to flame you as i want to show maturity and i like my karma the way it is - thanks for your post in reply to mine
the end of the world as we know it
Actually the story says that VA linux is going to sell some investigate ways to make some money from their software development and thus build some applications that move in new ways - this is perfectly reasonable as their employees have mouths to feed.
I quote: (lifted without permission but maybe this wil stop the register being slashdotted)
SourceForge is the new ERP - VA Linux
By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco
Posted: 24/08/2001 at 07:49 GMT
Barely six weeks ago VA Linux Systems was an open source hardware vendor. Now, the company is undertaking a Napoleonic retreat from the hardware business and it's doing the unthinkable: adding proprietary subscription software to its open source software flagship SourceForge.
VA swallowed charges of around $230m in the last quarter - $160 million coming under the category of "impairment of goodwill and intangible assets", and almost $70 million as a one-time charge - contributing to a net loss for the quarter of $290 million as it liquidated its PC manufacturing and sales businesses.
Costs will continue to affect the bottom line for two further quarters, said VA. Its Japanese subsidiary will continue to sell hardware, the company said, but that amounts to chump change.
The new software-only VA expects to make an operating lost of $10 to $13 million on revenue of $3 to $4 million in the forthcoming quarter. With a cash pile of $83 million, that gives the company as little as six months to ramp revenue, or else seek new investment. VA said its burn rate will continue to decline, suggesting that more layoffs are to be expected.
But CEO Larry Augustin is bullish. He says there was no competition for the distributed code management system SourceForge. Current development processes and tools haven't kept pace with geographically dispersed or ad hoc teams, according Augustin, who predicts that the impact of SourceForge could be as great as ERP or CRM.
Typically VA deals with in-house developers using a range of tools (it cites Borland, Rational and Microsoft as well as GNU tools). The company emphasises that seeks to complement rather than supplant existing tools.
VA is gunning for $600 revenue per seat per year - it claims that buyers typically see a return on investment within six months.
Augustin talks of adding "proprietary software features and functionality" to the subscription version SourceForge. That VA is looks at the software-hoarding model to save the business is an irony a few will savour, but we guess that by now badly singed VA investors will simply be hoping it flies. ®
IN OTHER WORDS
They are not 'going closed source' they have had a subscription service for some time - the code is well developed and they are looking at new areas like ERP - they have a right to do it and if they dont they may very well be down the tubes.
From someone who works in MIS and who's company has just spent AU$20 Million on SAP let me tell you that this is a field where some competitors would be good - there arent many new products that ar worth buying and three companies have it tied up - SAP, Peoplesoft and JD Edwards.
And no - no company in their right mind would ever buy a free GPL erp system - these systems are the heart and sould of a business when you implement them - they do all payroll and accounting functions etc and no one would trust a product without a company with cash and controlled development backing it up.
I have been accused in the past of defending MS - so it might seem strange for the people who can't see past the MS sucks argument to defend an open source company but im not that narrow minded.
VA Linux have not sold out the GPL - they are simply running their free software projects and at the same time trying to make enough money to survive and build a new product in the meantime.
And you can only attack them ?
Christ have you stopped to think what this means if these guys get this right - ERP's are run on Windows or Unix Platforms - what this might give the world is a stable lower cost ERP alternative that is built on linux.
The problem with free sourcing applications like this is that VA would be expected by their clients to do all the development work but by the brethern to give everyone that work for free and thus give competitors the chance to profit off their hard work when they adapt the code and havent got to pay for the development.
Open source does not have to mean free IMHO - devlopment of corporate systems costs money - but maybe VA can start the ball rolling and we might win a few of those corporate file and app servers and some corporate desktops.
So please no more meaningless VA have sold out posts - its boring and innacurate and they are only being posted here because they own Slashdot and your trying to be smart (and failing)
It might suprise some people but microsoft are very low on my list on this one - i can trust them totally as they keep doing business the same way - they are predicatble.
The site i trust least is c/net - might sound strange but think about it this way - think of all the beat up stories you have seen - Optus@home looking at peoples downloads, code red, etc and look at the stories they run - and dont even talk about product reviews or releases - they are almost entirely re written PR blurbs - you cannot rely on them at all for 'news' without bias.
Companies i trust least - Compaq - Another one some wont agree with but i have reasons - they still persist in proprietary systems, their support (speaking from a corporate point of view) is mosty abysmal, their website is confusing, slow and badly thought out (try finding the drivers you want - i dare you) their products are prone to failure (Armada notebooks, prolinea desktops to name 2 i have had major problems with)
Now you may not agree - thats cool - but they are the ones i dont trust
Im not a telstra or optus stooge - i have never spoken to you before i simply disagreed with some of your comments or offered other explanations - i dont comment on Telstra mainy as i have to deal with them at work and they suck - whilst i have optus at my home but they dont - the choice of carrier is up to you. This argument pisses me off more than i can say - if you dont knock something then you must work for them - its used everytime someone defends MS in any way and its an invalid and irrantional argument.
Dail up - lets see why i poke it in the eye (and i had it for 5 years previous to this) it sucks - 56k is a pathetic speed for anyting more than basic web surfing and email.
This country runs 3 years behind in Broadband and high speed access (mainly due to Telstra) and if we start accepting 56k as OK then we will never get change
As for the narrowband - Bandwidth costs money - if you think you know it in this area work in corporates - I am and MIS manager for a global company and run a Win2k AD worldwide lan link, every mb we send costs money -(i am also responsible for Voice Comms by the way and have just renegotiated contracts on Mobile and fixed line costs - i can comment on this area) -whether this is an oncharge or not is irrelevant - the owner of the cable (southern cross) has to recoup the cost so they sell the usage on to the carriers - they can then charge what the market will bear (i think 19c a MB is bullshit but i dont use Telstra at home so i wont comment on your choice)
ADSL in this country is a mess - Telstra cant deliver a working service and we at work contract with another company for DSL for our remote sites and homew workers - this is a constant and painfull headache.
Mobile prices have nothing to do with connectivity in rural areas - you have to run transmission towers every 10-15km to maintain service and they need cabling into them and power etc - forget mobiles (and do some research actually we have some of the cheapest mobile rates in the world and handset costs are on par with a population as small as ours is)
And as for running broadband to remote areas - OK i dont know what it costs per mile to run Broadband trunks (and it has to fiber optic as the current links WONT support the dream of ADSL) but i think you could safely say its more that $10000AU per KM when you take in manpower, digging cable lines, legal costs, surveys, etc etc not to mention all of the equipment and exchange upgrades, servers etc to end on it, so you think about this - my family lives 800km from Brisbane where i am, thats by road, but if you take that and work it out thats Au$8 Million for that one stretch alone - not you wold be running it into a population base of 8000 people - thats a cost per person of $1000 per customer NOT counting the last mile to the home and the installation of service etc etc - and that covers them only - not the regionals - so how do you ever make it a viable financial concern ? tell me as i and many others would love to know.
The government spends $300 million a year on 290 pollies - well that works out to AU$1 million per Electorate per year - it has to cover wages, staffing, admin costs, travel, etc etc - thats a non issue and it obfuscates an issue - thats the sot of crap we see here all the time - and it means that people can just attack the pollies and not even make a suggestion to fix it.
Delivery of service costs money - someone has to pay the bill - when you talk rural australia that means delivery of service across a huge territory - you can do phone service with sattelite (as Telstra does) but its not cost effective - you cant deliver broadband cheaply this way however (latency etc etc)
No more expensive to wire - yep thats maybe true (its not but i wont waste time pointing out why) Do some research on city areas and population sizes in the US and here and densities - australian cities are more spread out and this requires more cost per mile - thats why the argument is fallacious - and the urban areas in australia are the only ones with sufficient population density to support it - 95% of the australian population lives within a 1 hour drive of the coast and over 80% on the eastern seaboard.
Optus at home is a good service - check their customer satisfaction ratings then ask a few people in the industry who know what they are talking about - Telstra screwed up ADSL and cant be bothered fixing it (i suspect an announcment on something else soon)
Southern Cross cable can charge what they want as they own the lines - This is a business NOT a charity - and unfortantely so can Telstra - and dont start with the PSA or Allan Fels - they seem to have staff of 3 blind mice and an aged labrador so i dont expect much from them.
The duopoly is crap - the reason most of the other ISP's dont have coverage is backing - it costs money to do this stuff and they dont have it - thank the Dot.com feeding frenzy - no one wants to invest in telcos and isp's (and not to mention the way ISP's go broke so often) and on the back of One Tel and 3G who can blame them
I was trying to be nice till you called me a stooge - thats a weak argument - check your facts and then think about it next time you lower it to that level - i dont dismiss things beacuse they dont fit with me - i take them in and look at them.
Wish it were ike that here - i nuy in bulk (200+ at a time (about 3 months usage) and that way i pay about 60-70 cents a CD (i could pay less but i buy sony or TDK only) In retail stores they sell for $1.10 to 1.50 (no name / TDK) and up to $10 for CDR Audio (TDK again)
Good Post but a few errors
You Said:
Mobile communications required the construction of parallel infrastructures. Ditto for cable infrastructures which was constructed over the last 3 years. No cable existed prior to that time. (Frankly we didn't miss it all that much.)
I say :
Nope under privatisation Telstra had to allow usage of the network infrastructure for most systems - this was before cable was thought of so each vendor ran their own (and fibre links and mobile etc)
You Said:
Since they're a duopoly, there's nothing to stop them from pulling any stunt they want. Their 'unlimited' broadband connections are simply fast pipes for web browsing, nothing more. Download on the Optus network are capped at 10 times the average daily download.
So you can download 400Mbytes/day on Optus@Home.
I say:
I am an optus at home customer and i pull down 600-800 mb a day without problems - they average it out over a 14 day period - so if you have a light day or 2 your are covered - i have gone over 1gb a day and never got chipped - they work an average cutting out the top and bottom 5% - it not as bad as non customers point out.
you Said:
Oh, at around $100/month too. Roughly US$50/month. This is on a 12 month contract after paying setup fees of $350.
I say:
Optus@home - Contract Rate - 18 Months @ $75AU a month (if you have cable tv and phone thru them its less - i pay $53 month - Non Contract rate - $65Au month
Installation is $199 or less if you buy your won cable modem
Telstra( my brother is an ADSL Customer) $75AU/Mnth and a $250 Install fee - plus their service does not work (he hasnt paid for it in 6 months and they havent asked him too until they get it right)
You Said:
This latest move by Optus is a stunt designed to try and cap their broadband expenses. Basically the company is going down and is trimming costs prior to looking for a buyer.
I say:
They have a buyer (see below) and thats not the reason - they are doing this stuff to appear like a nice corporate citizen to the Singaporean Govt - you know they have a major stakeholding in SingTel and they are a right wing and repressive gov
You Said:
Currently they're trying to sell themselves to SingTel, but one of their satellites is also used by the Australian Defence Force for signal intelligence. Naturally we're rather concerned about the Singapore government spying on us should they get their hands on Optus.
I say:
Watch the news or read a paper - this has been resolved and the sale will go ahead - the spying thing is bullshit as the Defense Department uses encyrpted code - they 'control' it in that they maintain orbit and data transfers - its a sealed system - they have the equipment for satellite monitoring and the govt contracted the service to save money - it is a contract that can be pulled so this is non issue
You Said:
Since privatisation, quality of service has declined, prices have risen and rural areas have suffered.
I say:
Grew up in the country and my family lives in the far west of QLD - this is load of crap the oppostion parties and vested interests would love you to listen to - prices have not risen that much but they have a bit as the GOVERNMENT no longer subsidises the services and it costs money to provide them (shock horror). Alternative carriers wont go in there as it does not make economic sense without govt help - we are talking about small numbers of people with huge infrastructre costs - whos going to pay for it - no company will spend billions on a commercially unviable system (think about what happend to iridium) Do you live in the country ?
You Said:
Essentially we're in broadband hell. Just be thankful you're not us.
I say:
Optus at home customer here and i dont live in hell, i have an excellent service and its fast - the fact is that in life you get what you pay for - this is a country with a 18 million population spread across a large land mass, these services are expensive to provide and thus it costs money - you can point at the US and say they have cheap access - they have 350+ million people - thats a lot more customers.
And dont forget the other vendors out there with cable and ADSL - I-hug, Burst net, etc (do a web search)
In closing i offer this comment (lifted from whirlpool)
Why is broadband so damn expensive?
While the price could come down a bit further, it's not really all that expensive. Given our exchange rate, we pay similar prices for broadband as people in America.
Australian users have to absorb the cost of building cross-pacific pipelines like the Southern Cross Cable (http://www.southerncrosscables.com/), which is in itself over 30 thousand kilometres of multi-core fibre optic cable. Even after the pipeline is built, Australian companies have to pay American networks for the ability to "plug in" to the internet.
Dial-up internet can be more costly than you think. You could be paying anywhere between 20 cents to one dollar per day in phone calls (that's between $6 and $30 per month), not to mention the cost of line rental for a second phone line, something that most regular internet users need when using dial-up.
I suspect you are a dial up customer who cannot afford broadband but check your facts OK - other than that i think you made some good points.
good point - i should have indicated the US$ price in my original post - thanks for pointing it out though as i guess many people wouldn't notice that - what sort of price are CDR's in the US - we pay between 70cents to 1.50 here (depending on brand)
They are in trouble in the US not in australia - in australia they belong to Optus@Home - Cable and Wireless Optus - the second largest carrier in the region who are owned by singtel - one of the regions biggest telcos - they have plenty of money and a massive userbase - they are the only reliable cable service - i use them and get speeds approaching 6mb/sec - so please i ask you check facts before posting.
Amreican companies are not the only ones in the world - our economy is not in the toilet - the US's is.
You have a right to your opinion and i think that in the example you mention you are justified.
:) )
However there is the other side to the coin - i work as an IS manager and have half a dozen remote sites to support. I use my palm Vx extensively and so do my staff - they are admittedly not the most practical thing for taking notes with (yuck) but they have a great many good uses.
I have the follwing stuff i use every day in mine (and my staff have most of it too)
- Database of file extensions (usefull as hell)
- Database of cable / termination / cable maps
- Netork database with all site info
- Database of common fault types in our environment
- All hone and contact numbers for all offices
- Patch panel diagrams for all sites
- Router configs for sites
- We can download current calls from our call database and take them with us
- Various database on applications etc
I also have a few games and half a dozen books (1984, Brave newq world, etc - what i feel like reading) and can download my mail and jot small qucik notes when onsite - as well as syncing with my out look
The best thing is that all of this software we use is freeware (bar one database program we bought licenses for) we can convert anything into a PDB file by using isoloweb (www.isilo.com) and we use a number of database aps to create smalll database for them - its quick and easy and bloody usefull - and the best thing is with all of it in my palm including meg launcher, a dozen hacks and games i still have 4mb of the 8mb memory free.
My staff dont lug notebooks out to sites unless they have to (and thats very seldom, and i dont need to lug my notebook home each nght (i have my latest emails on it and all my contacts)
In short i think the palm is incredily usefull - and i am a person who thought they were over priced toys - dont forget that just because you meet one moron that all the other people are neccesarily morons (otherwise i would never have used linux - you should have met the first guy i knew with that
Please note the AU$ in front of the price - that equates to roughly $15 US - not all of us are american
I noticed that - Phillips www.phillips.com announced one about 3 months ago - not sure about release date - anyway isnt this splitting hairs - DVD recordable media is about AU$30 and i shudder to think what RW is going to be worth - the upatke on normal RW discs has been a lot less.
Then he is old enough to know better IMHO
Apple Super Drive - DVD Recorder - been around about 6 months or so - www.apple.com\superdrive (Approx $999 i think, included with G4 macs)
_ recorder/default.asp (designed admittedly for media creators)
Panasonic Sell a DVD recorder for TV use etc - http://www.panasonic.com/consumer_electronics/dvd
Pioneer have several models (including one with UNIX drivers) - http://www.proh.com/DVD-Recorders.shtml ($820 SRP)
And thats just a quick search - HP are hardly the first consumer level and the pioneer has been out 6 months - add to this offerings by phillips and sony due out soon and you have a bad claim to HP - i dont mean to flame but can we check stories first - even a 5 minute web search would have proven the claim wrong and stopped the hundreds of posts pointing out the error
I dont like to be seen to be attacking anyone but the facts (and i have read all the stuff on him i can find) seem to be
Yes, but if you look at the affidavit
1. He contacts a customer of another (rival) companies services and tries to convince them to use him
2. He seems to decide to get this customer to use him by breaking into the rival companies system - as if aiming to impress them
3. This isnt so easy to do - he needs several hundred attacks to enter the competitors system and then he does it by stealing a password file or hacking one (this is by defenition unauthorised access) Instead of stopping whewn he was sure that he had broken security, he goes one on and goes back logs in using an unauthorised account ans stolen password
4. he then steals files off the system, no doubt trying to prove he was there
5. he boasts about it to the prospective customer at the same time he tells the comany they have a hole in their system (one he had to work hard to find)
6.He then brags that he broke into a bank and looked at their systems - the bank says they dont have a lin to the web - someone is lying here and it think i know who - i suspect he made the claim to establish his bonafides as a l33t haxor but it backfired and that claim is now in court records.
Either that or as another poster said he was making threats that he could do some serious damage here.
You Said :
After all, to truly verify any suspected security hole, one must gain access to at least some information that seems as if it should be protected. Which is in itself a violation of applicable law.
"The term 'exceeds authorized access' under 18 USC | 1030(e)(6) means to access a computer without authorization and to use such access to obtain information in the computer that the accessor is not entitled to obtain." That is so broad, it could apply to looking over your bank teller's shoulder at her computer screen.
I say:
Thats the point it is broad and if the company in question had not hired you to find breaches then you have no right to be attempting to gain access to what is deemed a private system (the fact it has publicly accessible web pages is irellevant) - YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO REMOVE OR COPY DATA FROM ANY SYSTEM WITHOUT PERMISSION. Thats the fact - the thing that pisses me off is the way in which people think that if you say youre working to fix a problem then its ok to hack into a system - its considered illegal and if you get caught (or brag about it) then you will get in trouble. The white hat argument is used so often it is becoming redundant and this guy is not a white hat.
Any way he could have copied 1 file - maybe an old memo or something - please he took hundreds of files including passwords (check it out - its mentioned as being in the court transcript) - this blows away the small amounts of data routine.
I would like to ask a few questions about mr west so i dont look to be seen as attacking him
1. What age is he (speaks to maturity of action)
2. Has he had any prior offences ?
3. How long has he been in business
These are simple things.
The FBI have charged him based on a complaint from the owners of the system he broke into - thats the law and their right - the problem is all the 'whit hat' and hotmail exploit type hackers and code red designers have turned this subject into a hot potato and they are cracking down hard on hackers - this is apparent and has been for a while - you play where you should not there are consequences.
thats the thing that gets me - you need to know that in life there are consequences for every action - these guys think that they can do what they like, and then cry out when caught contray to the law (and you might think the law sucks but its there and if broken it has penalties),
The fact is this guys is going to be hung by his own mouth as much as anything
From memory FBI affadivits are not public property but there is a letter on the links which gives you the gist of it
Read this
http://www.bkw.org/pdf/stigler-news-hack.pdf
this issue is more than the newspaper - he is accused (and looks like he admitted it) of hacking into a bank and looking at client account balances etc - the guys screwed sorry
Also he hacked into the newpapers site on a rival web hosting company - he was trying to get the newspapers business and no doubt thought he could poke holes in the other company security thus making them look incompetent and getting him the business - this is a stupid move and guaranteed to fail - instead he got jammed and i would not be surpised if he finds his company on the receivin end of a civil lawsuit for his actions - which can only be determined at undermining the business of the other company.
Also when he gets caught he then places his story on websites in a way which is deigned to garner the voluble support of the free source and white hat community - it looks (IMHO) like a simple attempt to cover himself with support (ala dimitri) of the voluble community who he expected i think to defend him.
A bit of reasearch proves this guy is in trouble because he deserves it - once you start hacking into banks you gurantee deepshit if you get caught (and the bank he hacked appears to have Federal Deposit Insurance thus he committed a federal crime) You cannot hack into banks just to check their security or look around.
Maybe this is a lesson to all the would be white hats out there - just because you can doesnt mean you should
Now im dont want to look like im trolling - i would defend the guy if he was in the right - so please understand me when i say that this person deserves no support from our community
Good analogy and it has a little merit except for the smal fact that if you were found on the premises by said neighbour without permission you are in fact guilty of trespass - the police would maybe charge you - certainly your neighbour would not be happy.
The adage of trying the door is another one i find intersting - point - your neighbour is not home so you go and check if the door is locked just to see ? what do you do if the door is open ? walk in ?
Thats analagous to saying if you leave your door unlocked im justified in stealing everything you own (which would not stand up in a court of law - your insurance company would not pay out but as the thief you would still be charged with theft)
The difficulty comes in trying to apply these standards to computer crime - did he hack it or not ? well from reading all of the linked info the answer looks to be yes he did - including the alleged use of stolen passwords. So he's not the white hat he says he is - if he found a hole and reported it that would be fine - but finding the hole and removing data left him open to charges of hacking or theft of company data - he may have only be doing this in what he saw as a misguided attempt to say - look i got this stuff so your system is compromised you need to fix it - but isnt that asking for trouble ? the company no doubt already feels foolish at having the flaw pointed out so if they find you possess data taken from them they are going to get pissed and try and cover their asses by accusing the user of hacking their systems - the onus of proof then reverts back to him.
Finding the flaw - good thing
Taking file - dumb thing
Does this guy have anything else in his background that would interest the DOJ in him ?? before we simply condemn the company and govt maybe we need to find out if he has a history of cracking systems ? and why was he trying that doot ? (just postulating BUUT) was it that he was looking for a hole for other reasons - found it and maybe got worried he might be caught later so he announced the hole to the company to try and make himself look good ?
I dont know - personally im a IT manager and spend money to keep people out of my systems, that means i dont like the 'just trying to find if you have any holes in your system' excuse - i pay consultants for that and i would consider that anyone looking for an open door to be up to no good - this company wasnt a high profile target and if i was the law and the IS manager at the other company i would be asking what one of my competitors would be doing trying to see if i had any holes in my system - i would immediately suspect corporate espionage (it happens dont laugh) and call in the cops as well.
I think he may have done a silly thing for whatever reasons - but i also wonder if he is being completely honest?