Why stop there? The casinos could program the device you propose to tweak the speed to _minimize_ their payout on every round, based on a scan of where the bets have been placed. (And don't think they wouldn't do it if they thought they could get away with it.)
Aside from providing the software, does the LimeWire company play any role at all in the Gnutella network?
If the LimeWire company were to be completely closed down, wouldn't users already possessing the LimeWire software be able to continue using it as before? Or do I not understand how this whole P2P system works.
For simple thoughts, the structure of the English language is such that a lot of rules can be broken without affecting correct understanding. However for more complex thoughts, the possibility of ambiguity and confusion rises dramatically when proper grammar is not used.
I'm not a linguist, but suspect that the structures of many other languages would at least raise a flag when the possibity of ambiguity is encountered.
A not uncommon situation in my experience is to receive an email with run on sentences and with little or no punctuation or capitalization. The possible interpretations can often vary as dramatically as in the example you quoted.
While the example you quoted is funny, your post should have been moderated as insightful.
I had to look twice at the sentence, and anything like this which interrupts the flow of thought is less than perfect grammar even though it's strictly correct according to the dictionary. For clarity and smooth flow the word "reputable" would have been better.
The second definition you quote leaves room for some doubt, which is obviously not what he meant.
There are several dictionary definitions of "reputed". The one which he no doubt intended is synonymous with "reputable". But another definition is "Generally believed to be", which leaves room for some doubt.
Thanks for the clarification. It appears that my understanding of BitTorrent was incorrect and my speculation about the case based thereon was unfounded.
My understanding of BitTorrent is that different chunks of a download are routed to and temporarily stored for retransmission on the PCs of a number of individuals who have BitTorrent software running, but with each chunk being encrypted so that an individual has no idea of what's passing through his/her PC.
It would certainly seem that the MPAA would view BitTorrent as a major threat that needs to be cut off at the knees in its infancy.
Could it then be that Hogan's PC was just one of the first in line to the source of the movie, a PC operated by one of the MPAA's stooges, and that the MPAA is trying to establish a legal principle that any participant in a BitTorrent network is guilty of contributory infringement if any chunk of a copyrighted work happens to pass through their PC on its way to the ultimate destination? I.e., that BitTorrent is not the same as a Common Carrier - that participants are responsible for infringement even if they're unaware of it and have no way of becoming aware of it?
If so, then to establish that legal principle they'd have to pick on an individual who was willing and able to defend himself through an expensive court case to its conclusion.
But then this may all be unwarranted speculation and the MPAA just happened to pick on the wrong guy. I guess time will tell.
Thanks for the example - I hadn't been aware of Van Gogh's history.
Another example in more recent years are the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, which after initial popularity went out-of-print and were ignored for decades. Imagine if he had been published only as uncopyable DRM-enabled ebooks.
Any well-informed individual who values our cultural heritage and wishes to preserve it for our children will go out of his/her way to acquire DRM-free versions of media content, whether by legal purchase, from hackers, or if necessary even from commercial pirates.
The history of our civilization over the ages teaches us that media stored in one or only a few repositories will most likely be lost - prime examples being the great libraries of Alexandria and Constantinople. But while these libraries flourished for hundreds of years, the volatile nature and rapid change of digital storage technology of the current era practically quarantees that the majority of works stored in digital form which cannot be readily copied will vanish within our lifetimes.
Highly acclaimed works often have an initial spike in popularity but then languish in near obscurity for years or decades until rediscovered. And of course some works considered valuable in later years never even achived that initial spike. But rediscovery requires that a work remains available, which will not be the case if a DRM-enabled work goes out-of-print for very long. It's difficult to judge apriori which works will be recognized as having lasting value and it takes considerable resources for a publisher to continually re-archive all works for the sake of preserving the unknown few.
"The records could not be discarded until at least one year after the user's account was closed."
I've been using my present ISP for about 9 years and may continue to do so for 10, 20, or even 30 years more. Can you imagine the size of data storage that would be required as the years roll by. It's not clear that offline storage on optical or magnetic media would even survive that long.
Hmmm... This might be a good use for all those old 180K or 360K 5.25" floppy diskettes. Imagine handing the police 100,000 floppies when they come calling.:-)
the costs of keeping some poor slob in prison for 20 years - probably around $2 million - I rarely listen to or watch this stuff.
Since this proposed law is for the benefit of the IP owners, why shouldn't the costs of enforcement and incarceration be fully funded by a special tax on the value of IP for which protection is claimed under this law. So if 1000 individuals per year are sentenced to 20 years for violations involving music IP, then music sales should be taxed at a rate sufficient to raise a minimum of $2 billion per year.
I'll leave it to someone else to figure out what effect this would have on the price (and therefore sales) of CDs or legally downloaded songs.
Junk phone calls ruined the POTS telephone system as a means of quick personal communication and junk messages are ruining FAX the same way.
I got tired of spending money on FAX supplies to support the junk FAX messages which comprised 95% of those received (over an unlisted phone line no less) and now keep the FAX machine turned off. If someone calls and says they have a FAX for me, then I'll turn it back on.
The FCC does practically nothing to enforce the regulations they generate, so it makes little difference what they are. I filed a few dozen complaints with them, taking care to provide all required information, but 6 months later I was still getting junk FAX from the same sources.
If my understanding of the facts is correct, it looks to me like the probability of NTP prevailing in this case is rapidly approaching zero. And that's too bad!
Regardless of how we judge the merits of NTP's position (RIM is hardly above reproach in this case), the best thing that could possibly happen is for Blackberry service to be shut down in the USA.
Whoa you say - everybody and their brother has a Blackberry... how can rendering them all useless be a good thing?
Simple... the ensuing bitching and moaning and screaming and yelling would quickly force Congress to reexamine the wisdom of allowing software patents, and probably at least force Congress to severely limit the type of software idea which could be patented.
I recall a Usenet post about five or eight years ago where the poster complained that he could find nothing on the Internet on the subject of the Irish "potatoe famen". Today, I notice that Google makes a good guess at interpreting that phrase.
However I'm not sure what could be done with an email I once received asking for information. (I'm sorry I didn't save it.) It had no punctuation or capitalization, and little indication where one sentence ended and the next began. I tried to figure out what the individual wanted, but gave up on the realization that I could interpret what he wrote as at least _three_ entirely different questions, depending where I inserted punctuation.
If I have the story straight, the CSS encryption on DVDs was limited to 40 bit keys just because of the US government restriction on exporting cryptographic schemes with stronger keys. Once Jon "DVD Jon" Johansen succeeded in breaking CSS, the government was quickly persuaded (by he-who-must-not-be-named) to lift that restriction.
it'll be a bit difficult to hit the car once the driver tromps on the gas pedal and takes off. So a policeman will probably have to tag every car he's intending to pull over, "just in case".
If the glue is as good as the news release claims, then every poor slob who gets stopped for any reason will be faced with a large bill for repairing the damage to his car's paint job.
RIM has hardly been above reproach in court or in its prior dealings with NTP, which after all does hold what are valid patents - at least the patents haven't yet been invalidated in a final declaration by the US Patent Office. And NTP is the company of the now-deceased inventor as opposed to a cabal of speculators who buy up patents wholesale and wait like vultures for a chance to strike.
But the primary reason for my position is the hope that NTP will succeed in obtaining the injunction to shut down RIM's operation in the US. Only then will the discomfiture of millions of Blackberry owners raise a big enough stink to force Congress into a reevaluation of the wisdom of allowing software patents at all.
may be good for the USA. If the members of Congress and a large number of their constituents have to scrap their Blackberries, the thought may finally penetrate their noggins that software patents aren't such a good idea after all. And who knows, the Canadians might even rise to meet the challenge.
I recently saw a demo of a Stirling engine. It can generate energy from hot air. All they need to do is ship a few of these to the Governor's Mansion in Albany NY and that state's energy problems will be history.
Easier said than done when they're offshore, or simply scams to get your credit card number or bank information, or truly anonymous.
A large number of spams I'm getting recently are touting a variety of penny stocks, no doubt hoping suckers will buy in and drive the price up so the scammers can sell off at a profit. How do you distinguish the scammers from the not-quite-suckers who may be going along for the ride, or even legitimate penny-stock speculators?
I agree with the "...making email unusable." But the questions of exactly where to draw the line and how to enforce it are not quite as simple as might first appear. E.g., I don't see how any LAW could stop the spam that arrives in my mailbox via zombie PCs, which appears to be the bulk of it nowadays.
Slashdot Mirror
Why stop there? The casinos could program the device you propose to tweak the speed to _minimize_ their payout on every round, based on a scan of where the bets have been placed. (And don't think they wouldn't do it if they thought they could get away with it.)
Aside from providing the software, does the LimeWire company play any role at all in the Gnutella network?
If the LimeWire company were to be completely closed down, wouldn't users already possessing the LimeWire software be able to continue using it as before? Or do I not understand how this whole P2P system works.
For simple thoughts, the structure of the English language is such that a lot of rules can be broken without affecting correct understanding. However for more complex thoughts, the possibility of ambiguity and confusion rises dramatically when proper grammar is not used.
I'm not a linguist, but suspect that the structures of many other languages would at least raise a flag when the possibity of ambiguity is encountered.
A not uncommon situation in my experience is to receive an email with run on sentences and with little or no punctuation or capitalization. The possible interpretations can often vary as dramatically as in the example you quoted.
While the example you quoted is funny, your post should have been moderated as insightful.
'Whose brilliant idea was it to use "stop," anyway?'
The 5-bit teletype code in use at the time did not include punctuation characters in its encoding.
I had to look twice at the sentence, and anything like this which interrupts the flow of thought is less than perfect grammar even though it's strictly correct according to the dictionary. For clarity and smooth flow the word "reputable" would have been better.
The second definition you quote leaves room for some doubt, which is obviously not what he meant.
There are several dictionary definitions of "reputed". The one which he no doubt intended is synonymous with "reputable". But another definition is "Generally believed to be", which leaves room for some doubt.
Thanks for the clarification. It appears that my understanding of BitTorrent was incorrect and my speculation about the case based thereon was unfounded.
My understanding of BitTorrent is that different chunks of a download are routed to and temporarily stored for retransmission on the PCs of a number of individuals who have BitTorrent software running, but with each chunk being encrypted so that an individual has no idea of what's passing through his/her PC.
It would certainly seem that the MPAA would view BitTorrent as a major threat that needs to be cut off at the knees in its infancy.
Could it then be that Hogan's PC was just one of the first in line to the source of the movie, a PC operated by one of the MPAA's stooges, and that the MPAA is trying to establish a legal principle that any participant in a BitTorrent network is guilty of contributory infringement if any chunk of a copyrighted work happens to pass through their PC on its way to the ultimate destination? I.e., that BitTorrent is not the same as a Common Carrier - that participants are responsible for infringement even if they're unaware of it and have no way of becoming aware of it?
If so, then to establish that legal principle they'd have to pick on an individual who was willing and able to defend himself through an expensive court case to its conclusion.
But then this may all be unwarranted speculation and the MPAA just happened to pick on the wrong guy. I guess time will tell.
Thanks for the example - I hadn't been aware of Van Gogh's history.
Another example in more recent years are the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, which after initial popularity went out-of-print and were ignored for decades. Imagine if he had been published only as uncopyable DRM-enabled ebooks.
Any well-informed individual who values our cultural heritage and wishes to preserve it for our children will go out of his/her way to acquire DRM-free versions of media content, whether by legal purchase, from hackers, or if necessary even from commercial pirates.
The history of our civilization over the ages teaches us that media stored in one or only a few repositories will most likely be lost - prime examples being the great libraries of Alexandria and Constantinople. But while these libraries flourished for hundreds of years, the volatile nature and rapid change of digital storage technology of the current era practically quarantees that the majority of works stored in digital form which cannot be readily copied will vanish within our lifetimes.
Highly acclaimed works often have an initial spike in popularity but then languish in near obscurity for years or decades until rediscovered. And of course some works considered valuable in later years never even achived that initial spike. But rediscovery requires that a work remains available, which will not be the case if a DRM-enabled work goes out-of-print for very long. It's difficult to judge apriori which works will be recognized as having lasting value and it takes considerable resources for a publisher to continually re-archive all works for the sake of preserving the unknown few.
"The records could not be discarded until at least one year after the user's account was closed."
:-)
I've been using my present ISP for about 9 years and may continue to do so for 10, 20, or even 30 years more. Can you imagine the size of data storage that would be required as the years roll by. It's not clear that offline storage on optical or magnetic media would even survive that long.
Hmmm... This might be a good use for all those old 180K or 360K 5.25" floppy diskettes. Imagine handing the police 100,000 floppies when they come calling.
the costs of keeping some poor slob in prison for 20 years - probably around $2 million - I rarely listen to or watch this stuff.
Since this proposed law is for the benefit of the IP owners, why shouldn't the costs of enforcement and incarceration be fully funded by a special tax on the value of IP for which protection is claimed under this law. So if 1000 individuals per year are sentenced to 20 years for violations involving music IP, then music sales should be taxed at a rate sufficient to raise a minimum of $2 billion per year.
I'll leave it to someone else to figure out what effect this would have on the price (and therefore sales) of CDs or legally downloaded songs.
After this meeting I imagine Red Flag Linux will be toast.
Junk phone calls ruined the POTS telephone system as a means of quick personal communication and junk messages are ruining FAX the same way.
I got tired of spending money on FAX supplies to support the junk FAX messages which comprised 95% of those received (over an unlisted phone line no less) and now keep the FAX machine turned off. If someone calls and says they have a FAX for me, then I'll turn it back on.
The FCC does practically nothing to enforce the regulations they generate, so it makes little difference what they are. I filed a few dozen complaints with them, taking care to provide all required information, but 6 months later I was still getting junk FAX from the same sources.
If my understanding of the facts is correct, it looks to me like the probability of NTP prevailing in this case is rapidly approaching zero. And that's too bad!
Regardless of how we judge the merits of NTP's position (RIM is hardly above reproach in this case), the best thing that could possibly happen is for Blackberry service to be shut down in the USA.
Whoa you say - everybody and their brother has a Blackberry... how can rendering them all useless be a good thing?
Simple... the ensuing bitching and moaning and screaming and yelling would quickly force Congress to reexamine the wisdom of allowing software patents, and probably at least force Congress to severely limit the type of software idea which could be patented.
I recall a Usenet post about five or eight years ago where the poster complained that he could find nothing on the Internet on the subject of the Irish "potatoe famen". Today, I notice that Google makes a good guess at interpreting that phrase.
However I'm not sure what could be done with an email I once received asking for information. (I'm sorry I didn't save it.) It had no punctuation or capitalization, and little indication where one sentence ended and the next began. I tried to figure out what the individual wanted, but gave up on the realization that I could interpret what he wrote as at least _three_ entirely different questions, depending where I inserted punctuation.
If I have the story straight, the CSS encryption on DVDs was limited to 40 bit keys just because of the US government restriction on exporting cryptographic schemes with stronger keys. Once Jon "DVD Jon" Johansen succeeded in breaking CSS, the government was quickly persuaded (by he-who-must-not-be-named) to lift that restriction.
it'll be a bit difficult to hit the car once the driver tromps on the gas pedal and takes off. So a policeman will probably have to tag every car he's intending to pull over, "just in case".
If the glue is as good as the news release claims, then every poor slob who gets stopped for any reason will be faced with a large bill for repairing the damage to his car's paint job.
RIM has hardly been above reproach in court or in its prior dealings with NTP, which after all does hold what are valid patents - at least the patents haven't yet been invalidated in a final declaration by the US Patent Office. And NTP is the company of the now-deceased inventor as opposed to a cabal of speculators who buy up patents wholesale and wait like vultures for a chance to strike.
But the primary reason for my position is the hope that NTP will succeed in obtaining the injunction to shut down RIM's operation in the US. Only then will the discomfiture of millions of Blackberry owners raise a big enough stink to force Congress into a reevaluation of the wisdom of allowing software patents at all.
may be good for the USA. If the members of Congress and a large number of their constituents have to scrap their Blackberries, the thought may finally penetrate their noggins that software patents aren't such a good idea after all. And who knows, the Canadians might even rise to meet the challenge.
Quaero won't have a chance if the EU insists on legalizing software patents. Google and Yahoo and countless others will eat their lunch.
I recently saw a demo of a Stirling engine. It can generate energy from hot air. All they need to do is ship a few of these to the Governor's Mansion in Albany NY and that state's energy problems will be history.
Easier said than done when they're offshore, or simply scams to get your credit card number or bank information, or truly anonymous.
A large number of spams I'm getting recently are touting a variety of penny stocks, no doubt hoping suckers will buy in and drive the price up so the scammers can sell off at a profit. How do you distinguish the scammers from the not-quite-suckers who may be going along for the ride, or even legitimate penny-stock speculators?
I agree with the "...making email unusable." But the questions of exactly where to draw the line and how to enforce it are not quite as simple as might first appear. E.g., I don't see how any LAW could stop the spam that arrives in my mailbox via zombie PCs, which appears to be the bulk of it nowadays.