I guess they would stop using Australia as their map icon? Why would a small island in the Caribbean sea want to identify itself with the largest island in the world? I know 39 square miles is small, but the only thing they have in common with australia is the temperature.
I wonder if www.vaporware.ms or www.windoze.ms is still available?
>The words "no taxation without representation" started the American Revolution. I agree and would be glad to assist any revolution which results in more freedoms for all. >We are the people who are ultimately going to pay for this. Just what is it that ICANN is trying to sell us that is worth paying for? Making you feel secure isn't worth a cent of my money. This has me wondering why microsoft bothered to claim security is their #1 goal. > The whole reason behind the proposal is that that the ccTLDs and other registries can't find a reason to pay what ICANN wants to charge. How much does it really cost to run a root server? How much more than that does ICANN want to charge?
The thing is, there are only 6 domain name root servers in the world. Most in the USA. What happens if the next terrorist act is to blow up the DNS roots? how many businesses and porn sites offline would cost how much to the global economy? >Adding a superbureaucracy to ICANN somehow doesn't seem to add value to the product to me. As an end user and owner of a domain, all I want from whoever is running a root server is reliable enough propagation that if I want to access a domain by e-mail or ftp or via Web, I can with no screwing around. I think the main delay in propagation is due to the highly centralised root servers, 6 is way too few. 36 would be better. > While a true Internet government responsible to the userbase might be an interesting thing, that has nothing to do with the ICANN proposal.
I think that would be workable, we had that here in new zealand until a bunch of corporate stooges paid their way into the domainz AGM. Now we are going to have domainz as a corporate monopoly with NZ$2 m spent on a new registry app. >If you don't feel worthy to be part of the governance of the Internet, I agree completely with you. You aren't. Some of the rest of us might be. Go back to your TV set and believe whatever the pundits on CNN tell you.
I can just imagine the internet domain government being run just like slashdot. Imagine companies paying trolls to get rid of fansites, humor sites & ex-employee sites... >Nobody has to get shot at by anybody to create alternate root servers that ICANN can't touch, and if ICANN actually gets it together far enough to make this happen, the question isn't whether there will be alternate roots, the question is how many. Do you want to have to select an ISP based on which root is most likely to have in its namespace the people and entities you want to communicate with?
All roots are mirrors of current DNS addresses, there can be no dead DNS spaces. See http://new.net for why alternate DNS sucks, try and use their proprietory DNS extensions. >What you have mistaken for a legitimate attempt of the Internet to govern itself is just another political scam to get us to buy services that nobody except a few major corporate and governmental interests who want better tools for intellectual property control and control of Internet content in general want.
Exactly, by giving more power to corporates, the USA is risking the right to free speech in favor of content control. Next thing will be paying to link to sites from yours. >The Internet is screwed up enough as it is and it should be obvious to any informed person that the ICANN proposal isn't even in the right general direction to fix what's wrong.
The main problem is the traffic congestion around California, there are far too many critical parts of the internet there. IP4 is beginning to run out of numbers, IP6 has to make a transition from IP4 soon. >Will this clean up the spam coming out of Asia? Will this make open relay operators fix their servers? The other problems like insufficient bandwidth will be taken care of by the private sector when it becomes profitable to do so.
I think IP6 should access the roots to find out this variable information. A really good thing would be to index known spammers regardless of which region they are from. Bandwidth is not the problem, enough fiber optic has been laid [unlike most slashdot users] it just hasn't been paid for. [unlike most slashdotter's sex lives] >What do corporations do when governmental powers are made available to them? The DMCA, Cybercrime Treaty complete with secret protocols, and the new WIPO restrictions on use of copyrighted material are good examples. A corporate charter says to do things that are good for the stockholders, not for the public interest.
The DCMA is in direct violation of the first amendment and so is the WIPO treaty on copyright. You have the right to ignore unconstitutional laws and treaties. >"Who shall watch the watchdogs?" The ICANN proposal says nobody... perhaps power exercised by backroom deals solely accessible to insiders makes you feel warm and fuzzy. If this is what you want to pay for, write ICANN a check with your money. NOT mine.
I say start a competitive service, spilt ICANN if you have to. let your wallet do the talking, it gets companies to be user friendly.
No, the USA did not pay for the internet and you don't own it. not even the protocols are owned by america. ICANN is just your local monopoly, it has no relevance to the majority of internet users or domains. Just because both Stanford University and MIT have more IP4 numbers than China does not mean they are more important than the world's largest nation. I think IP6 should have areas reserved for AOHELL idiots like you, so we can filter you out as easily as spam from china.
Speaking as a New Zealand and Australian Citizen who lives in the world's most connected city, I take that as another sign of "The USA is the world" that too many americans believe. I'd rather not have the government, particulary a foreign government take control of IP and domain issues. Has anyone heard of Big Brother? Why would I want to become more dependant on the government? or even your government?
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=28386&cid=3059 926 It is national SOCIALIST, which is why they don't bother mention obvious stuff everyone knows already.
Mind you, the following is screwed up: >1. THE FIRST DUTY of the state is to nourish it's OWN citizens. Americans are the fatest people in the world, ever seen Fight Club? I wonder how much soap they could make from liposuction waste. >2. We demand an end to illegal immigration and a cap on non-ethnic minorities entering the nation. who the fuck is going to work in the cleaning jobs then? Trailer Trash or Euro Trash? >3. All citizens of the nation shall enjoy equal rights and duties! Does this mean all Jews, Blacks, Asians, Hispanics and Native Americans are just residents? >4. A non-citizen may live in the nation as a guest. Ok, so what happens when the guest workers are no longer needed? Germany has this problem now with overstayers. >5. The first duty of the citizen is to work for the common good, regardless of his "class" or station. This is pure communism, it won't work even if the trains do start running on time. >6. We demand abolition of monopoly ownership of public necessities: i.e. electricity and gas. A good idea, competition usually works. However, electricity reforms are prone to failure. See California or Auckland, New Zealand. >7. We demand decent housing at decent prices. Yes, subsidise the cost of trailers for all patriotic american fascists! >8. We demand abolition of profit on unearned income. Again, this is communism. If you can profit when you haven't earnt it, that's capitalism. >9. We demand abolition of "foreign" ownership of lands and means of production in our nation that allows monopolistic speculation of life necessities. More communism, this is exactly what Lenin did in the Soviet Union. It can only fail. >10. We demand abolition of all taxes on items of life's necessities: food, clothing, and shelter. Reasonable, but don't make any exceptions. Australia fucked up their GST on food & clothing by exceptions. >11. We demand reconstruction of Social Security into a voluntary system and adequately provide for the security of our retired citizens. How about formalising Florida as the retirement state? Reserve Florida for old farts, NASA and anti cuban defenses. >12. We demand abolition of the current Welfare System that allows parasites to feed at the public though without recompense to the nation. It's not a good idea to remove the income base of your core supporters. Without unemployed whitetrash, you nazis wouldn't exist as a political party. >13. We demand restoration to the American working man, the right to proper ownership of farms, homes, and businesses without fear of bandit taxation or dispossession. I guess this is the unlucky promise that has to be broken if you get elected to office. How do you think they'll be able to raise unforeseen income? >14. We demand an end to war profits and nationalization of profits of all those who profit by distress, maiming, and death of the Nation's youth in defense of their nation. Good idea, how about imposing those requirements on the USA first? No chance in hell? >15. We demand an end to edict laws the interference of the so called high courts and return to Anglo-Saxon law. Yes, let's go back to before the Treason act of 1351. How will you prosecute traitors? >16. We demand complete reformation of the National School System that is turning our children into complete illiterates. better education for your voters would cut down on you supporter base. >17. The State must provide for the improvement of the public health by protecting mothers and children, ending the rudiments of child abuse, labor and drug addiction and support health education for the young. You'd stop your supporters from hitting their kids, get them off dope and educate them? Get used to losing votes... >18. We demand formation of a true national service for defense of the nation without respect to class or station. National conscription like in Israel, Russia, France, etc? Won't be popular with university students. >19. We demand an end to the monopolies in the Media and it's subversive hypocrisy. We demand a national press which represents the nation, not just special interests. Why yes, let's have lies provided by the government instead of lies provided by the companies. This is classic communist crap. You get state censorship that Stalin and Hitler had, the news will kowtow to white house policy. >20. We demand national self determination for all races and peoples. American already has plenty of Native American nations and set up Liberia over a century ago. Liberia is currently as unstable as most African states and the Native Americans only make money by casino resorts.
Only 7, 10 & 11 can work. The rest are junk ideas which have been proven to fail.
> Lessig proposes a five-year term, renewable once (okay so far) with registration required. A total ten-year limit is eminently reasonable based on the short lifespan of software, in fact, ten years may arguably be too long.
Ok, so what about Unix? 30 years and still in use. How about Macintosh? 18 years and still in use. Only microsoft and linux would benefit if they could ripoff Mac OS 7. Wait, they already do that today without all the source code. 25 years is a bare minimum for software copyright, 64 years should be enough for anyone. Sorry, Bill Gates. > Where I see a problem is with Lessig's requirement that software be registered to obtain copyright protection.
This proposal to register to get copyright is stupid. Why would I want to pay for a right I already have? This would catch out every poor student or new business in the costs of red tape.
>So how would registration of software work? Would the copyright office have to run a giant CVS server? Security would be very hard.
No shit! Security would be impossible to protect source code from hackers if it was online. I know people who've broken into microsoft and gotten Bill Gates private phone number. > Then again, maybe that would be a good thing; copyright registration would require disclosure of source to the government and concomitant risk of public disclosure. Sure, why not disclose everything to the government? I'm sure they're trustworthy people. Not in my fucking lifetime, no jackass civil servant gets my secrets for free and no bastard should freeload off my work. > Or maybe the CVS tree should even be public: the only way to obtain legal protection against copying would be to effectively publish the source code?
I'd like to meet you, what planet are you on? What twit thinks you can stop plagiarism by publishing how the thing works? > The ramifications of that idea are interesting. It would certainly be a huge boon for the progress of the art and science of software engineering -- want to see how the scheduler in Windows XP compares to that in Solaris?
The only boon it would be is to the art of cheating in student exams and projects. > Go look. Programmers would be able to take the best ideas from other programmers as long as they just use the insights and don't copy the code -- just like authors and musicians do.
Sure, I believe you. And microsoft windows is the result of devine inspiration. > OTOH, mandatory disclosure of code might also destroy the software industry entirely. Need an operating system? Just download a copy of the AIX source code and build it yourself.
Don't you mean linux? How many distos are just recompilations of existing linux distros? > No need to pay IBM unless you get caught, and catching everyone would be very difficult.
Sure, and I guess IBM pays it's programmers from the magical money trees in their corporate headquarters. > What has become clear to me, at least, is that software is *fundamentally* different from books, movies, paintings and inventions.
Not at all, software is typically written like a book, games have movie style plots, icons are artistic paintings (at least in OS X) and are usually newly invented ways of doing things. [unless it's by microsoft.] > Maybe our real problem isn't in the ways we apply copyright and patent law to code, maybe the real problem is that we need an entirely different approach. I only believe that patents should be innovative and not obvious. This is not that different. > We need to find a way to provide balanced protection that can permit individuals and companies to benefit from the cost and effort of software development. Stallman would have programmers be like bricklayers or lawyers; paid by the hour for services rendered, but IMO that also stifles some kinds of software development.
Really? No Shit! If I was just anyone with no special talent, I'd be a bricklayer or lawyer. I've invested several years in training costs and effort before my stuff is close to completion. Charging by hour would be hard to justify time and money spent on education. Then again, Stallman is a jackass who has difficulty dealing with the real world. No wonder slashdot moderators like him so much. > Games are the common example, but who knows what other kinds of high-risk, high-reward types of software there might be,
Not only am I a Games programmer, I'm a operating system developer. However, no pain means no gain. > where there has to be a good chance of a massive payoff before anyone is willing to take on the challenge. Stallmans's ideal only works in situations where either (a) the software can be created piecemeal, and the pieces can be sufficiently useful to someone willing to pay for them
If that way worked, where's opendoc now? I think apple proved that way can only fail a few years ago. Software is not Lego bricks. > or (b) there is some way of organizing and collecting from a large group of beneficiaries (street performer protocol maybe? I'm skeptical).
You mean we should pool the talents of a bunch of loud and obnoxious drunks? Isn't that what GNU Linux is already?
You're right, IP is not a public good. It costs money to create IP (private funds usually).
I believe that it's fair to only restrict the licensing and royalty fees of the use of IP. I should not author something then have a squad of lawyers come up with dozens of disclaimers for specific situations.
If I say how my new invention works to my friend before I patent it, I can't expect him / her to keep their mouth shut before I get a patent. I'd rather lie about details and just give a general idea to protect myself, it's worked for me when I had an e-commerce idea stolen 4 years ago.
Software isn't obsolete in 5 years. Look at Unix, it's still in use 30 years after publication. Look at Mac OS X, see the state of the art in 1996. look at windows, see the state of art used by macintosh systems in 1999.
I suppose I didn't buy 50 year old Elvis music for my mum's xmas present. I didn't buy DVDs of A Clockwork Orange, Bladerunner, the Alien series, etc. They're too old for copyright in your dreams. I guess I shouldn't bother getting those classic books on computer systems which predate 1992, there's no money value there.
What rubbish, especially fixed rate royalties. You might as well argue in favor of communism.
This is what I'm going to claim if anyone tries to stop me from making my own P2P app, Samizdat. I'll just point out the sheer amount of porn downloaded by Linux hackers who use slashdot.
Check out this site for a perfect example [warning: the pics here require viewer discretion] http://www.linux.org.uk/~telsa/index.html
This sounds somewhat like the Local Area Grid app I'm making. On a LAG, apps are shared by a company, class or organisation over the grid network. You can have the LAG set to say "only a dozen users may use photoshop concurrently" which means someone has to quit and transfer photoshop if a 13th person wants to whiten and brighten their advertisement job. This is entirely legal, involves less HD fragmentaion than swap and delete & fits in with just about any EULA. Even microsoft wouldn't have a problem with this scheme as it monitors use on the LAG.
This is my situation exactly: I'm programming a whole OS from scratch. How do I get around a lot of Slashdot Linux Zealots all wanting GPL programs on a BSD system? I found out that GPL prohibits GPL binaries being used in non GPL. this is a classic communist definition of free software. So I'll allow people to download GPL source code if it's Java and then it can be compiled as a slim binary specifically for the user's hardware.
Ok, first major problem solved. Second problem is open source definitions. I have no problem with being open source as long as: 1. Source is only on the CD users paid for, I have a student loan and freeloaders won't help pay it off. 2. I retain control of the programs. I don't care if you customize the app, it's my investment in code you're using. 3. My code doesn't get used to compete with my programs. I've had major e-commerce sites being set up from stuff stolen from me before. 4. I retain my exclusive technology. I have developed things which are not allowed to be exported from most nations (cryptography, etc). 5. Software meets my requirements. I have no intention to allow people to develop junk that doesn't work. If you want to do that, microsoft is still hiring code monkeys.
I propose that copyright should be 50 years or life + 25 years. This would be whichever is longest. I've already mentioned this perviously in this topic, so I'll mention why it works.
Reasonable profitable lifetime of a work: If Peter Jackson dies after winning the oscars, his defacto wife gets royalties for Lord of The Rings for 50 years. That's long enough for her to live on and bring up children. Life + 25 would mean royalties for LoTR film 2 and film 3 would be active for just 24 & 23 years. However if he lives to be 'eleventy one' then he effectively has 60 years in his lifetime plus 25 for the children to profit.
This is a very fair system for young authors and their families, stars like Elvis or Buddy Holly would be going into public domain now. The point is, a 20 year limit wouldn't work even with software. Look at 30 year old Unix: Unix is still considered a valuable collection of works even though everyone can afford supercomputers now.
No government, especially not "democratically elected" governments do what the voters want. Do you honestly believe President Bush won the state of Florida without the help of his brother the Governor? Does Enron exist in your reality? Why is the Vice President being taken to court by the GAO? Do you think people voted to drill for oil in Alaskan national parks? How come microsoft got a slap on the hand with a wet bus ticket after they were convicted of having an illegal monopoly?
How much money goes from companies to election candidates? Do you still that's democracy? You are a perfect fool if you believe decisions are made based on people's votes.
P2P doesn't need registries, registries are only needed for faster searching. I can usually find more on P2P than I can at my local stores and that's good enough for me.
I don't think the current system of copyright and Lessig's system work well enough.
I think copyright should be 50 years after publication or 25 years after the death of the author, whichever comes last.
For example, what if the author dies a few years after the work is done and has children to support on the proceeds of their work ? say Elvis
In my system, the children benefit for 50 years after the work is done, which is fair because people still use Elvis copyrighted songs today.
For Disney, Mickey Mouse would be public domain by now. The Authors of the first cartoons died by the 70s, so we would have unlimited access to Steamboat Willie, etc.
Micropayments don't work online. NZ has the highest use of EFTPOS and ATMs but charities and street stalls only take cash.
If you want to prove micropayments, why don't you try micropaying for sex?
I'll bet your favorite whore will only ask for a few cents to suck a dick as small as yours.
My ex-girlfriend used to be a christian. 2 minutes after I was at at her flat, I was in the sack. She was very tight at first but I got there again and again for the first few hours.
> No ANAL COCKS were harmed in the production of this post.
When you see his wife: http://www.linux.org.uk/~telsa/index.html you will understand why. WARNING: Mrs ANAL COCKS is a horny witch, viewer discretion is advised!
I guess that explains my nightmares last night, I dreamed about the most ugly family in the world. Yuck, can you imagine her having children? That guy has to have a lot of blindfolds about his bed. That guy has to be crazy married to a witch like her.
1 and 1/4 AMDs for the cost of my Mac when I got it 18 months ago. If my Mac was the current top of the line, they could get 2 dual AMDs. They would still run that crappy windows 2000 and come round to my place if they wanted fast internet.
My point is the internals are better made than any generic junk and the total cost of ownership makes the more expensive brand a better buy than the generic junk. I've only had one thing fail on my Mac and that was cheap PC memory. My neighbour has had to replace his video card, network card and memory just to get enough performance for games and microsoft office.
Slashdot Mirror
has been going for about 21 months now, seems to be working exactly as you described.
This seems to be a good idea, they just need multiple root servers.
[waiting for the slashdot troll about multiple roots]
http://adamsnames.tc/whois/whois2.cgi?names=vaporw are.ms+windoze.ms
I guess they would be cool to have if you wanted to discuss problems with microsoft products.
I guess they would stop using Australia as their map icon?
Why would a small island in the Caribbean sea want to identify itself with the largest island in the world?
I know 39 square miles is small, but the only thing they have in common with australia is the temperature.
I wonder if www.vaporware.ms or www.windoze.ms is still available?
Monsieur, tu es un betard.
>The words "no taxation without representation" started the American Revolution.
I agree and would be glad to assist any revolution which results in more freedoms for all.
>We are the people who are ultimately going to pay for this. Just what is it that ICANN is trying to sell us that is worth paying for? Making you feel secure isn't worth a cent of my money.
This has me wondering why microsoft bothered to claim security is their #1 goal.
> The whole reason behind the proposal is that that the ccTLDs and other registries can't find a reason to pay what ICANN wants to charge. How much does it really cost to run a root server? How much more than that does ICANN want to charge?
The thing is, there are only 6 domain name root servers in the world. Most in the USA.
What happens if the next terrorist act is to blow up the DNS roots? how many businesses and porn sites offline would cost how much to the global economy?
>Adding a superbureaucracy to ICANN somehow doesn't seem to add value to the product to me. As an end user and owner of a domain, all I want from whoever is running a root server is reliable enough propagation that if I want to access a domain by e-mail or ftp or via Web, I can with no screwing around.
I think the main delay in propagation is due to the highly centralised root servers, 6 is way too few. 36 would be better.
> While a true Internet government responsible to the userbase might be an interesting thing, that has nothing to do with the ICANN proposal.
I think that would be workable, we had that here in new zealand until a bunch of corporate stooges paid their way into the domainz AGM.
Now we are going to have domainz as a corporate monopoly with NZ$2 m spent on a new registry app.
>If you don't feel worthy to be part of the governance of the Internet, I agree completely with you. You aren't. Some of the rest of us might be. Go back to your TV set and believe whatever the pundits on CNN tell you.
I can just imagine the internet domain government being run just like slashdot.
Imagine companies paying trolls to get rid of fansites, humor sites & ex-employee sites...
>Nobody has to get shot at by anybody to create alternate root servers that ICANN can't touch, and if ICANN actually gets it together far enough to make this happen, the question isn't whether there will be alternate roots, the question is how many. Do you want to have to select an ISP based on which root is most likely to have in its namespace the people and entities you want to communicate with?
All roots are mirrors of current DNS addresses, there can be no dead DNS spaces. See http://new.net for why alternate DNS sucks, try and use their proprietory DNS extensions.
>What you have mistaken for a legitimate attempt of the Internet to govern itself is just another political scam to get us to buy services that nobody except a few major corporate and governmental interests who want better tools for intellectual property control and control of Internet content in general want.
Exactly, by giving more power to corporates, the USA is risking the right to free speech in favor of content control. Next thing will be paying to link to sites from yours.
>The Internet is screwed up enough as it is and it should be obvious to any informed person that the ICANN proposal isn't even in the right general direction to fix what's wrong.
The main problem is the traffic congestion around California, there are far too many critical parts of the internet there.
IP4 is beginning to run out of numbers, IP6 has to make a transition from IP4 soon.
>Will this clean up the spam coming out of Asia? Will this make open relay operators fix their servers? The other problems like insufficient bandwidth will be taken care of by the private sector when it becomes profitable to do so.
I think IP6 should access the roots to find out this variable information. A really good thing would be to index known spammers regardless of which region they are from.
Bandwidth is not the problem, enough fiber optic has been laid [unlike most slashdot users] it just hasn't been paid for. [unlike most slashdotter's sex lives]
>What do corporations do when governmental powers are made available to them? The DMCA, Cybercrime Treaty complete with secret protocols, and the new WIPO restrictions on use of copyrighted material are good examples. A corporate charter says to do things that are good for the stockholders, not for the public interest.
The DCMA is in direct violation of the first amendment and so is the WIPO treaty on copyright. You have the right to ignore unconstitutional laws and treaties.
>"Who shall watch the watchdogs?" The ICANN proposal says nobody... perhaps power exercised by backroom deals solely accessible to insiders makes you feel warm and fuzzy. If this is what you want to pay for, write ICANN a check with your money. NOT mine.
I say start a competitive service, spilt ICANN if you have to. let your wallet do the talking, it gets companies to be user friendly.
No, the USA did not pay for the internet and you don't own it. not even the protocols are owned by america.
ICANN is just your local monopoly, it has no relevance to the majority of internet users or domains.
Just because both Stanford University and MIT have more IP4 numbers than China does not mean they are more important than the world's largest nation.
I think IP6 should have areas reserved for AOHELL idiots like you, so we can filter you out as easily as spam from china.
Speaking as a New Zealand and Australian Citizen who lives in the world's most connected city, I take that as another sign of "The USA is the world" that too many americans believe.
I'd rather not have the government, particulary a foreign government take control of IP and domain issues.
Has anyone heard of Big Brother? Why would I want to become more dependant on the government? or even your government?
> If that's not flambait, then I'm a giant purple penguin that can, for some reason, use a computer.
As long as you're not a giant purple dinosaur that uses a computer, you will fit in well on slashdot.
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=28386&cid=3059 926
It is national SOCIALIST, which is why they don't bother mention obvious stuff everyone knows already.
Mind you, the following is screwed up:
>1. THE FIRST DUTY of the state is to nourish it's OWN citizens.
Americans are the fatest people in the world, ever seen Fight Club? I wonder how much soap they could make from liposuction waste.
>2. We demand an end to illegal immigration and a cap on non-ethnic minorities entering the nation.
who the fuck is going to work in the cleaning jobs then? Trailer Trash or Euro Trash?
>3. All citizens of the nation shall enjoy equal rights and duties!
Does this mean all Jews, Blacks, Asians, Hispanics and Native Americans are just residents?
>4. A non-citizen may live in the nation as a guest.
Ok, so what happens when the guest workers are no longer needed? Germany has this problem now with overstayers.
>5. The first duty of the citizen is to work for the common good, regardless of his "class" or station.
This is pure communism, it won't work even if the trains do start running on time.
>6. We demand abolition of monopoly ownership of public necessities: i.e. electricity and gas.
A good idea, competition usually works. However, electricity reforms are prone to failure. See California or Auckland, New Zealand.
>7. We demand decent housing at decent prices.
Yes, subsidise the cost of trailers for all patriotic american fascists!
>8. We demand abolition of profit on unearned income.
Again, this is communism. If you can profit when you haven't earnt it, that's capitalism.
>9. We demand abolition of "foreign" ownership of lands and means of production in our nation that allows monopolistic speculation of life necessities.
More communism, this is exactly what Lenin did in the Soviet Union. It can only fail.
>10. We demand abolition of all taxes on items of life's necessities: food, clothing, and shelter.
Reasonable, but don't make any exceptions. Australia fucked up their GST on food & clothing by exceptions.
>11. We demand reconstruction of Social Security into a voluntary system and adequately provide for the security of our retired citizens.
How about formalising Florida as the retirement state? Reserve Florida for old farts, NASA and anti cuban defenses.
>12. We demand abolition of the current Welfare System that allows parasites to feed at the public though without recompense to the nation.
It's not a good idea to remove the income base of your core supporters. Without unemployed whitetrash, you nazis wouldn't exist as a political party.
>13. We demand restoration to the American working man, the right to proper ownership of farms, homes, and businesses without fear of bandit taxation or dispossession.
I guess this is the unlucky promise that has to be broken if you get elected to office. How do you think they'll be able to raise unforeseen income?
>14. We demand an end to war profits and nationalization of profits of all those who profit by distress, maiming, and death of the Nation's youth in defense of their nation.
Good idea, how about imposing those requirements on the USA first? No chance in hell?
>15. We demand an end to edict laws the interference of the so called high courts and return to Anglo-Saxon law.
Yes, let's go back to before the Treason act of 1351. How will you prosecute traitors?
>16. We demand complete reformation of the National School System that is turning our children into complete illiterates.
better education for your voters would cut down on you supporter base.
>17. The State must provide for the improvement of the public health by protecting mothers and children, ending the rudiments of child abuse, labor and drug addiction and support health education for the young.
You'd stop your supporters from hitting their kids, get them off dope and educate them? Get used to losing votes...
>18. We demand formation of a true national service for defense of the nation without respect to class or station.
National conscription like in Israel, Russia, France, etc? Won't be popular with university students.
>19. We demand an end to the monopolies in the Media and it's subversive hypocrisy. We demand a national press which represents the nation, not just special interests.
Why yes, let's have lies provided by the government instead of lies provided by the companies. This is classic communist crap.
You get state censorship that Stalin and Hitler had, the news will kowtow to white house policy.
>20. We demand national self determination for all races and peoples.
American already has plenty of Native American nations and set up Liberia over a century ago.
Liberia is currently as unstable as most African states and the Native Americans only make money by casino resorts.
Only 7, 10 & 11 can work. The rest are junk ideas which have been proven to fail.
> Lessig proposes a five-year term, renewable once (okay so far) with registration required. A total ten-year limit is eminently reasonable based on the short lifespan of software, in fact, ten years may arguably be too long.
Ok, so what about Unix? 30 years and still in use. How about Macintosh? 18 years and still in use.
Only microsoft and linux would benefit if they could ripoff Mac OS 7. Wait, they already do that today without all the source code.
25 years is a bare minimum for software copyright, 64 years should be enough for anyone. Sorry, Bill Gates.
> Where I see a problem is with Lessig's requirement that software be registered to obtain copyright protection.
This proposal to register to get copyright is stupid. Why would I want to pay for a right I already have? This would catch out every poor student or new business in the costs of red tape.
>So how would registration of software work? Would the copyright office have to run a giant CVS server? Security would be very hard.
No shit! Security would be impossible to protect source code from hackers if it was online. I know people who've broken into microsoft and gotten Bill Gates private phone number.
> Then again, maybe that would be a good thing; copyright registration would require disclosure of source to the government and concomitant risk of public disclosure.
Sure, why not disclose everything to the government? I'm sure they're trustworthy people.
Not in my fucking lifetime, no jackass civil servant gets my secrets for free and no bastard should freeload off my work.
> Or maybe the CVS tree should even be public: the only way to obtain legal protection against copying would be to effectively publish the source code?
I'd like to meet you, what planet are you on?
What twit thinks you can stop plagiarism by publishing how the thing works?
> The ramifications of that idea are interesting. It would certainly be a huge boon for the progress of the art and science of software engineering -- want to see how the scheduler in Windows XP compares to that in Solaris?
The only boon it would be is to the art of cheating in student exams and projects.
> Go look. Programmers would be able to take the best ideas from other programmers as long as they just use the insights and don't copy the code -- just like authors and musicians do.
Sure, I believe you. And microsoft windows is the result of devine inspiration.
> OTOH, mandatory disclosure of code might also destroy the software industry entirely. Need an operating system? Just download a copy of the AIX source code and build it yourself.
Don't you mean linux? How many distos are just recompilations of existing linux distros?
> No need to pay IBM unless you get caught, and catching everyone would be very difficult.
Sure, and I guess IBM pays it's programmers from the magical money trees in their corporate headquarters.
> What has become clear to me, at least, is that software is *fundamentally* different from books, movies, paintings and inventions.
Not at all, software is typically written like a book, games have movie style plots, icons are artistic paintings (at least in OS X) and are usually newly invented ways of doing things. [unless it's by microsoft.]
> Maybe our real problem isn't in the ways we apply copyright and patent law to code, maybe the real problem is that we need an entirely different approach.
I only believe that patents should be innovative and not obvious. This is not that different.
> We need to find a way to provide balanced protection that can permit individuals and companies to benefit from the cost and effort of software development. Stallman would have programmers be like bricklayers or lawyers; paid by the hour for services rendered, but IMO that also stifles some kinds of software development.
Really? No Shit! If I was just anyone with no special talent, I'd be a bricklayer or lawyer.
I've invested several years in training costs and effort before my stuff is close to completion. Charging by hour would be hard to justify time and money spent on education.
Then again, Stallman is a jackass who has difficulty dealing with the real world. No wonder slashdot moderators like him so much.
> Games are the common example, but who knows what other kinds of high-risk, high-reward types of software there might be,
Not only am I a Games programmer, I'm a operating system developer. However, no pain means no gain.
> where there has to be a good chance of a massive payoff before anyone is willing to take on the challenge. Stallmans's ideal only works in situations where either (a) the software can be created piecemeal, and the pieces can be sufficiently useful to someone willing to pay for them
If that way worked, where's opendoc now? I think apple proved that way can only fail a few years ago. Software is not Lego bricks.
> or (b) there is some way of organizing and collecting from a large group of beneficiaries (street performer protocol maybe? I'm skeptical).
You mean we should pool the talents of a bunch of loud and obnoxious drunks? Isn't that what GNU Linux is already?
You're right, IP is not a public good. It costs money to create IP (private funds usually).
I believe that it's fair to only restrict the licensing and royalty fees of the use of IP.
I should not author something then have a squad of lawyers come up with dozens of disclaimers for specific situations.
If I say how my new invention works to my friend before I patent it, I can't expect him / her to keep their mouth shut before I get a patent.
I'd rather lie about details and just give a general idea to protect myself, it's worked for me when I had an e-commerce idea stolen 4 years ago.
Software isn't obsolete in 5 years. Look at Unix, it's still in use 30 years after publication.
Look at Mac OS X, see the state of the art in 1996. look at windows, see the state of art used by macintosh systems in 1999.
I suppose I didn't buy 50 year old Elvis music for my mum's xmas present.
I didn't buy DVDs of A Clockwork Orange, Bladerunner, the Alien series, etc. They're too old for copyright in your dreams.
I guess I shouldn't bother getting those classic books on computer systems which predate 1992, there's no money value there.
What rubbish, especially fixed rate royalties. You might as well argue in favor of communism.
This is what I'm going to claim if anyone tries to stop me from making my own P2P app, Samizdat.
I'll just point out the sheer amount of porn downloaded by Linux hackers who use slashdot.
Check out this site for a perfect example [warning: the pics here require viewer discretion] http://www.linux.org.uk/~telsa/index.html
This sounds somewhat like the Local Area Grid app I'm making.
On a LAG, apps are shared by a company, class or organisation over the grid network.
You can have the LAG set to say "only a dozen users may use photoshop concurrently" which means
someone has to quit and transfer photoshop if a 13th person wants to whiten and brighten their advertisement job.
This is entirely legal, involves less HD fragmentaion than swap and delete & fits in with just about any EULA.
Even microsoft wouldn't have a problem with this scheme as it monitors use on the LAG.
This is my situation exactly: I'm programming a whole OS from scratch.
How do I get around a lot of Slashdot Linux Zealots all wanting GPL programs on a BSD system?
I found out that GPL prohibits GPL binaries being used in non GPL. this is a classic communist definition of free software.
So I'll allow people to download GPL source code if it's Java and then it can be compiled as a slim binary specifically for the user's hardware.
Ok, first major problem solved. Second problem is open source definitions.
I have no problem with being open source as long as:
1. Source is only on the CD users paid for, I have a student loan and freeloaders won't help pay it off.
2. I retain control of the programs. I don't care if you customize the app, it's my investment in code you're using.
3. My code doesn't get used to compete with my programs. I've had major e-commerce sites being set up from stuff stolen from me before.
4. I retain my exclusive technology. I have developed things which are not allowed to be exported from most nations (cryptography, etc).
5. Software meets my requirements. I have no intention to allow people to develop junk that doesn't work. If you want to do that, microsoft is still hiring code monkeys.
I propose that copyright should be 50 years or life + 25 years. This would be whichever is longest.
I've already mentioned this perviously in this topic, so I'll mention why it works.
Reasonable profitable lifetime of a work: If Peter Jackson dies after winning the oscars, his defacto wife gets royalties for Lord of The Rings for 50 years.
That's long enough for her to live on and bring up children. Life + 25 would mean royalties for LoTR film 2 and film 3 would be active for just 24 & 23 years.
However if he lives to be 'eleventy one' then he effectively has 60 years in his lifetime plus 25 for the children to profit.
This is a very fair system for young authors and their families, stars like Elvis or Buddy Holly would be going into public domain now.
The point is, a 20 year limit wouldn't work even with software. Look at 30 year old Unix:
Unix is still considered a valuable collection of works even though everyone can afford supercomputers now.
No government, especially not "democratically elected" governments do what the voters want.
Do you honestly believe President Bush won the state of Florida without the help of his brother the Governor?
Does Enron exist in your reality?
Why is the Vice President being taken to court by the GAO?
Do you think people voted to drill for oil in Alaskan national parks?
How come microsoft got a slap on the hand with a wet bus ticket after they were convicted of having an illegal monopoly?
How much money goes from companies to election candidates?
Do you still that's democracy? You are a perfect fool if you believe decisions are made based on people's votes.
P2P doesn't need registries, registries are only needed for faster searching.
I can usually find more on P2P than I can at my local stores and that's good enough for me.
I think copyright should be 50 years after publication or 25 years after the death of the author, whichever comes last.
For example, what if the author dies a few years after the work is done and has children to support on the proceeds of their work ? say Elvis
In my system, the children benefit for 50 years after the work is done, which is fair because people still use Elvis copyrighted songs today.
For Disney, Mickey Mouse would be public domain by now. The Authors of the first cartoons died by the 70s, so we would have unlimited access to Steamboat Willie, etc.
Micropayments don't work online. NZ has the highest use of EFTPOS and ATMs but charities and street stalls only take cash.
If you want to prove micropayments, why don't you try micropaying for sex?
I'll bet your favorite whore will only ask for a few cents to suck a dick as small as yours.
My ex-girlfriend used to be a christian.
2 minutes after I was at at her flat, I was in the sack.
She was very tight at first but I got there again and again for the first few hours.
> No ANAL COCKS were harmed in the production of this post.
When you see his wife: http://www.linux.org.uk/~telsa/index.html you will understand why.
WARNING: Mrs ANAL COCKS is a horny witch, viewer discretion is advised!
I guess that explains my nightmares last night, I dreamed about the most ugly family in the world.
Yuck, can you imagine her having children?
That guy has to have a lot of blindfolds about his bed. That guy has to be crazy married to a witch like her.
1 and 1/4 AMDs for the cost of my Mac when I got it 18 months ago. If my Mac was the current top of the line, they could get 2 dual AMDs.
They would still run that crappy windows 2000 and come round to my place if they wanted fast internet.
My point is the internals are better made than any generic junk and the total cost of ownership makes the more expensive brand a better buy than the generic junk.
I've only had one thing fail on my Mac and that was cheap PC memory. My neighbour has had to replace his video card, network card and memory just to get enough performance for games and microsoft office.
User Info for Christopher Bibbs (14)
http://www.mdlug.org/
Christopher Bibbs has posted 130 comments. Below find the most recent 24 comments.
Only 130? man that's very low for someone with one of the first IDs, maybe he's an editior?
Is it just me, or is NFS an acronym for No Fucking System?
Seriously, I'm doing a journaled database file system that runs way better than some old dog FS which has had it's day.
Any suggestions for Kauri would be good, it's a grid file system with CVS like features.
All Your BSD Are Belong To Us!