"maybe I don't get it, but how are RFID tags a violation of your privacy. They have an effective range of a few feet."
From the article, it's because the tags are unique per instance of an article, not per class of an article.
So next time you have a party on the beach and leave some beer-cans? Someone will be able to scan the tags, and indentify the person whose credit-card (or numbered banknote from an ATM) bought those cans.
Kind'a like mobile phones: not invasive enough to cause widespread outrage, just subtly eating away at your ability to do stuff without being watched.
"We are building on advanced work at Microsoft Research in fields such as machine learning â" the design of systems that learn from data and grow smarter over time."
"All the filters have a bias, some political, some religious, doesn't matter. Figure out the bias and correct for it."
And who pays for this? Does the federal library funding now officially cover only the cost of censorship, and not that of books? In which case, why not turn the places into state-funded libraries, with free access to information?
"The heat must get unbearable when those things start churning. Maybe he should use the water cooling system to cool himself off instead"
Uh, isn't the point of water-cooling / air conditioning etc. that you put the radiators outside? Perhaps the next project will involve a steam-powered turbine to provide combined heat and power to the neighbour's home.
10% discount for hosting your server-farm near to a power-station, water-cooling provided for free...
"why do so many posters here put NOSPAM variations in their email addresses?"
It's added automatically by slashdot
"Ever hear of a guestbook? That's a goldmine for a spambot."
You're right. I was referring to anybody who might want to index my site, and needed a quick way to filter the thousands (infinite number) of random.name@[microsoft.com|senate.gov|yahoo.co.|ao l.com] entries that I, and many other people, use to pad-out our contact pages.
"The whole DeCSS thing was a big publcity stunt\scare tactic to try to frighten people into not developing thisngs like it. It just didn't work."
Which is why DeCSS is now in use in a dozen Free Software video players, including the gnome-player, kmovie, apache-mod-dvd, and Emacs' own "M-x play-dvd"
Or is it still being printed on T-shirts and traded underhand on freenet like some sort of illegal drug?
If you want the censorship to have not worked, we need to get such a surplus of video-players on linux that it becomes the default platform for video-work. DeCSS is not a success when nobody dares even to link to it, and the top google hit is a fake.
"Luckily that was myid-ebay@my_domain.org, which will soon be removed in favour of a slightly different permutation."
Okay, serious questions from folks at work then:
If you have x users with a firstname.lastname@domain email address each, is it possible to setup a mailserver such that firstname.lastname.*@domain reaches each person's mailboox, * being a wildcard?
I know this is possible using the 'default' account and filtering: I do this myself, but we'd need to integrate it into a 'proper' email server, with lots of people accessing their own accounts.
We use microsoft servers at the moment, but they could probably be convinced to upgrade to real software if it could solve the multiple-address problem.
I have a similar system, but the problem is that it's very easy to filter for "only list email addresses on the same domain as the website", which would invalidate most of the hollings@senate.gov entries.
And there's little point listing fake addresses on your own domain, because your mailserver still has to handle them.
It might be worth using an email address on another domain if you have such a system, which should get your email address filtered out by spammers.
It's also worth considering people who filter for "reject anything listed on a page entitled *spam*", which would let them delete the fake addresses relatively easily. So if you have such a system put your own email address on it, and use a special section of the address-generator as your own contact page.
As for blacklisting any IPs (or worse, FROM: addresses) which email these special accounts, think for a moment how easy it is to blacklist other peoples' computers with such a system. One email from me, and your mailserver might be rejecting everything from hsbc.com. Tarpitting seems like a much better option, as it only inconvniences a computer which is known to be using the address.
The only real solution is to track down anybody who sends spam to you, and inform their local police station (all spammers are american, even if the IP addresses look chinese)
Anybody who wishes to make those 80 people responsible for all spam 'disappear' overnight has my full support.
"Be kind to it, only fetch if you're going to do something useful with the code."
If you have downloading problems, put the file onto Konspire or Freenet
But dammit, change the name and make sure the project development continues. Don't just treat the whole thing like a legal hot-potato just because somebody's spoken nasty words to the project.
"Why do open source products have to name their products as close as possible to the product from which they are ripping all their ideas off?"
Because in most cases they're intended as a direct, drop-in replacement for the offending proprietry software.
If there's something which Free Software can't do, and that people want, then the free version will be written, it'll trounce any proprietry alternatives, and that will be the end of that. We have no need to support software companies who aren't contributing anything to the community. If they can't release software under a free license, their software will have to be replaced with a working alternative.
"if you were presented with the task of either: # helping a sole individual who had his box cracked, or # a company like eBay, who hypothetically just had their credit card db broken into and copied, which would you go for?
The one who doesn't already have the support of a 20-strong security team?
"my 24 year-old sister *insists* on using MSN Search, as she "finds it easier to access and use MSN Search" for some God forsaken reason. I guess because it's just easier to hit the "Search" button on IE's toolbar than it is to go to Favorites and click on Google."
In the last 5 years, I don't think I've seen a single corporate computer whose home-page isn't Google, and most of these computers are still running Internet Explorer.
Microsoft does not have control of browser searches.
"Google will only die if they stop returning good results."
Or, unfortunately, if it becomes in every salesman's financial interests to fuck-up the google search results to promote their own pitful one-page banner site.
Slashdot Mirror
"If you make the sender pay, then you're severely reducing the usefulness of the service."
Yep, the postal service is pretty useless: we should go back to having the recipient pay for the post they receive...
"If SCO's aim is to shake the tree and see if any money falls down..."
Can't beat a quote like that!
"So, anybody else know of an effective tag killer that doesn't involve destroying the item and/or setting it on fire?"
Destroying and/or setting on fire the people who try to sell stuff with these tags?
"maybe I don't get it, but how are RFID tags a violation of your privacy. They have an effective range of a few feet."
From the article, it's because the tags are unique per instance of an article, not per class of an article.
So next time you have a party on the beach and leave some beer-cans? Someone will be able to scan the tags, and indentify the person whose credit-card (or numbered banknote from an ATM) bought those cans.
Kind'a like mobile phones: not invasive enough to cause widespread outrage, just subtly eating away at your ability to do stuff without being watched.
"We are building on advanced work at Microsoft Research in fields such as machine learning â" the design of systems that learn from data and grow smarter over time."
They're going to install Mozilla Mail?
"Alternatively, you could take the same amount of effort to raise money for your local library so that it can pay for its own internet access."
Or start your own web-café. Until they decide that web-cafés have to pay for filtering too. (and of course, you have to pay for DCMA requests, paralegal police information requests, and spyware access, etc. etc.)
"All the filters have a bias, some political, some religious, doesn't matter. Figure out the bias and correct for it."
And who pays for this? Does the federal library funding now officially cover only the cost of censorship, and not that of books? In which case, why not turn the places into state-funded libraries, with free access to information?
"The heat must get unbearable when those things start churning. Maybe he should use the water cooling system to cool himself off instead"
Uh, isn't the point of water-cooling / air conditioning etc. that you put the radiators outside? Perhaps the next project will involve a steam-powered turbine to provide combined heat and power to the neighbour's home.
10% discount for hosting your server-farm near to a power-station, water-cooling provided for free...
"why do so many posters here put NOSPAM variations in their email addresses?"
o l.com] entries that I, and many other people, use to pad-out our contact pages.
It's added automatically by slashdot
"Ever hear of a guestbook? That's a goldmine for a spambot."
You're right. I was referring to anybody who might want to index my site, and needed a quick way to filter the thousands (infinite number) of random.name@[microsoft.com|senate.gov|yahoo.co.|a
"The whole DeCSS thing was a big publcity stunt\scare tactic to try to frighten people into not developing thisngs like it. It just didn't work."
Which is why DeCSS is now in use in a dozen Free Software video players, including the gnome-player, kmovie, apache-mod-dvd, and Emacs' own "M-x play-dvd"
Or is it still being printed on T-shirts and traded underhand on freenet like some sort of illegal drug?
If you want the censorship to have not worked, we need to get such a surplus of video-players on linux that it becomes the default platform for video-work. DeCSS is not a success when nobody dares even to link to it, and the top google hit is a fake.
the current crop
Also check out Konspire2B, a blog-like freenet for recent information, as opposed to archived content like freenet
"Luckily that was myid-ebay@my_domain.org, which will soon be removed in favour of a slightly different permutation."
Okay, serious questions from folks at work then:
If you have x users with a firstname.lastname@domain email address each, is it possible to setup a mailserver such that firstname.lastname.*@domain reaches each person's mailboox, * being a wildcard?
I know this is possible using the 'default' account and filtering: I do this myself, but we'd need to integrate it into a 'proper' email server, with lots of people accessing their own accounts.
We use microsoft servers at the moment, but they could probably be convinced to upgrade to real software if it could solve the multiple-address problem.
I have a similar system, but the problem is that it's very easy to filter for "only list email addresses on the same domain as the website", which would invalidate most of the hollings@senate.gov entries.
And there's little point listing fake addresses on your own domain, because your mailserver still has to handle them.
It might be worth using an email address on another domain if you have such a system, which should get your email address filtered out by spammers.
It's also worth considering people who filter for "reject anything listed on a page entitled *spam*", which would let them delete the fake addresses relatively easily. So if you have such a system put your own email address on it, and use a special section of the address-generator as your own contact page.
As for blacklisting any IPs (or worse, FROM: addresses) which email these special accounts, think for a moment how easy it is to blacklist other peoples' computers with such a system. One email from me, and your mailserver might be rejecting everything from hsbc.com. Tarpitting seems like a much better option, as it only inconvniences a computer which is known to be using the address.
The only real solution is to track down anybody who sends spam to you, and inform their local police station (all spammers are american, even if the IP addresses look chinese)
Anybody who wishes to make those 80 people responsible for all spam 'disappear' overnight has my full support.
"This is why I only use Kazaa to get my music. That way I know the artist is getting 100% of the 0.00$ I spend."
Actually it means that Sharman Networks is selling processing-time on your computer.
"Dude, it's a distributed computing project. Theoretically, with enough computers, it could be done in a few years."
With enough computers and an efficient algorithm
I think one part of that equation (at least) is missing from the xbox project.
"You mean there are vendors giving out pants? That's just awesome."
Do debian panties count?
Or a KDE thong?
"Be kind to it, only fetch if you're going to do something useful with the code."
If you have downloading problems, put the file onto Konspire or Freenet
But dammit, change the name and make sure the project development continues. Don't just treat the whole thing like a legal hot-potato just because somebody's spoken nasty words to the project.
"Why do open source products have to name their products as close as possible to the product from which they are ripping all their ideas off?"
Because in most cases they're intended as a direct, drop-in replacement for the offending proprietry software.
If there's something which Free Software can't do, and that people want, then the free version will be written, it'll trounce any proprietry alternatives, and that will be the end of that. We have no need to support software companies who aren't contributing anything to the community. If they can't release software under a free license, their software will have to be replaced with a working alternative.
"if you were presented with the task of either:
# helping a sole individual who had his box cracked, or
# a company like eBay, who hypothetically just had their credit card db broken into and copied,
which would you go for?
The one who doesn't already have the support of a 20-strong security team?
"These are taxpayer dollars we're talking about. Shouldn't they be spent on something where the user is completely free to modify"
Shouldn't they be spent on something where future versions of the software are guaranteed to be available to use free-of-charge?
The GPL protects your software from people who would steal it and prevent people from using it.
"my 24 year-old sister *insists* on using MSN Search, as she "finds it easier to access and use MSN Search" for some God forsaken reason. I guess because it's just easier to hit the "Search" button on IE's toolbar than it is to go to Favorites and click on Google."
In the last 5 years, I don't think I've seen a single corporate computer whose home-page isn't Google, and most of these computers are still running Internet Explorer.
Microsoft does not have control of browser searches.
"Google will only die if they stop returning good results."
Or, unfortunately, if it becomes in every salesman's financial interests to fuck-up the google search results to promote their own pitful one-page banner site.
"most Linux-zealot's attitudes about Windows are still stuck in the pre-Windows 2000 days when Microsoft made shit-poor OSes"
As opposed to WindowsXP, which contains a 386-emulator (in terms of speed), and confuses even Windows 2000 users?
"But the government is supposed to work for us. We are their employers in a perfect world."
Put it this way: the BSA just wrote a European law. Still think the government are working for us?
"But aside from the mathematical reasons, why take away the human element even more from baseball?"
... different ... to see them replacing humans on the field.
Why limit ourselves to computer umpires? Surely we can create a robot which bats more accurately than a human?
We already have bowling machines (don't know if these work with baseball), but it would be
And who needs human outliers to catch the balls? Why not just string a really big net to catch them? Much more efficient.