"I believe many, if not all, states restrict the sales of lockpicks and key-cutting machines. So there is precedent."
The point here is, if you tried to use DeCSS to break into a house, you wouldn't get very far. So for someone to say that it's a burglary tool is a blatant lie. And lying in court is illegal. If a california lawyer actually said this in, I expect to see a charge of contempt of court.
DeCSS is part of a video-player. It is in no way comparable to burglary equipment.
Well, you are very welcome to write one [Free Software FPS game]and donate it to the comunity.
You may find some of these projects useful:
OpenSceneGraph -- the standard rendering platform for game graphics. Runs faster than commercial systems. The virtual terrain project -- terrain modelling resources HFTools -- landscape generation tools (admittedly level-design in blender is more likely for FPS) Audio library -- most important bit of a game is the music!
"...you'd probably claim that basic rights like 'freedom of speech' only apply to U.S. citizens"
Why would you need to be a US citizen to have freedom of speech? Surely the constition applies to everyone living in America, regardless of whether they've chosen to become "citizens of the federal government", or simply citizens of the country (state) in which they happen to live?
Naturally, some people will want it pointed out that the US is not alone in guaranteeing free speech, for example the following applies to all 13? countries in the European union:
"Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. this right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information an ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers."
"What is the point of surveyors knowing the latitude and longitude to sub-centimeter accuracy? Continental drift, measured in centimeters per year, will invalidate the reading in only a few months."
I believe the whole building moves at approximately the same rate when the continent drifts.
The GPS 0' meridian hasn't been anywhere near the Greenwich observatory for years.
"Why not, for the sake of simplicity, avoid making bad analogies when the situation is perfectly comprehensible without?"
Because many people, ignoring the evidence on their desktops, make the argument "it's a computer therefore it can't fail"
Many people (technical readers excluded) would be shocked at the idea of trusting one company to count votes, yet would see no problem with allowing a computer programmed by that company to count votes. They've been brought-up to believe that software is something you buy in boxes, and have no understanding that it's possible to get trustworthy (i.e. auditable, open-source) software.
"I have an http server on the internet that I use for my own purposes--development testing, links on my own home page, etc.--and I don't tell anyone else about it. But from time to time someone browses through a few pages."
Yeah, usually "../../../../../../winnt/registry.dat"
Why is it they never even request the front page with "You have just setup an apache server" on it?
Why not, for the sake of simplicity, just take all the ballot-papers, ship them off to a company in the Netherlands, and they can phone us and tell us who won the election? Does anyone else see a problem with this method of vote-counting?
Given that there is a problem with such a system, how about shipping all of the votes off to a secret black box designed and built by a company in the Netherlands, which phones up a central computer and tells us who won the election?
There's a reason that votes are counted in public, and it's not just the entertainment value.
Re:Ads are easily blocked
on
Gator Examined
·
· Score: 1
"Gator's password saving and form filling features are not perfect, but at least acceptable. My only complaint is a relatively large memory footprint."
You mean gator actually does something? I thought it was just a virus.
"Sadly, in the UK, there is a law specific to encrypted data that places the burden of proof on you. If you forget the key to some encrypted data that the government decides it wants to read, you can go to jail."
"I won't call it a mainframe because the software package ran in Win2k Server using some really odd "MCP" (Master Control Program) stuff that is by far the most picky, strangely configured software I've ever come across."
Is it bad that we only know the Master Control Program as a Tron reference?
"While they're at it, maybe they should change the logo as well to something less sinister, and appoint someone who is not a convicted criminal to run it."
Is the 'seeing-eye' masonic logo not on the back of a US dollar bill?
"He's asking anyone who sees the Segway or knows where it might be to call Kent police at 911."
Also, you'd have great difficulty trying to contact the Kent police by telephoning 911. From memory, 999 (UK number) or 112 (international number) would work better.
I monitor the web for child pornography. Can I be arrested for this?
Regardless of your motivations, the police and the FBI can arrest you if you download child pornography from the internet and store it on a disk or a computer. Also, you are breaking the law if you receive or send child pornography. Juries have convicted several defendants who claimed to be acting as reporters and researchers when they downloaded and distributed child pornography.
I should point out that in the US, sex with someone under the age of 18 is considered rape, regardless of whether they consented or not. So pictures of children having sex are definitely evidence of a crime, even if you don't think the pictures themselves are a crime.
If you've been looking at the pictures long enough to conclude that they were taken in the United States, you've probably spent too long looking at the pictures...
"Obviously, one would include some evidence. Send an email which reads "I found this on Foo Bar's computer" and attach one of the images."
Given that it would be illegal to email such an image, this is something you'd only do if the email were truly anonymous.
You and I might be using a mixmaster chain to send anonymous emails, but many potential 'whistleblowers' will consider Yahoo Mail to be anonymous, and will then be the subject of an investigation themselves.
Of course, eventually you'll just be able to say "Found a picture with MD5 hash x", and the feds will compare it to their unsurpassed porn collection to confirm it. I think this will backfire when they get the hundred-billionth message, and end up with more images than MD5 hash-space;-)
What kind of investigation can you run when evidence can be deleted, but it's illegal to copy? If you have enough access to someone's machine to detect something illegal, who's to say you didn't use that access to their machine to plant something illegal?
"It's as if I left my diary in a car that was in the shop, and all the mechanics started reading it. Except for computers, this is the norm rather than the exception. I don't want someone going through all my personal shit."
"the person had vile, disgusting, and illegal content on his computer"
'Illegal' is the only one of those three claims that you can prove, unless you happen to have seen the pictures in question.
p.s. "Thumbnail" pictures to me sounds like a browser cache, which is not completely under the user's control. Do you know anyone who would right-click-save thumbnails and not actual pictures? However, we take the judge's word that it was enough to be illegal [in NY].
"I'm assuming the disc reacts with gasses in the air, so all you have to do to get unlimited viewing time is keep the dvd in a vacuum, nothing major."
Last I heard, it was a plastic which turns opaque after a certain exposure to the laser used to read DVDs. With something like this, you'd be pretty stupid not to make a copy of the DVD while it still played, then just use the copy as normal.
Best stock up on blank DVDs now, before they impose a $15 'madonna's retirement fund' tax on them.
Slashdot Mirror
"Can any europeans or asians comment on this? [region-encoding]"
Region-coding is illegal in Europe (anticompetitive) so it's illegal to sell a DVD with such restrictions.
Theoretically.
"I believe many, if not all, states restrict the sales of lockpicks and key-cutting machines. So there is precedent."
The point here is, if you tried to use DeCSS to break into a house, you wouldn't get very far. So for someone to say that it's a burglary tool is a blatant lie. And lying in court is illegal. If a california lawyer actually said this in, I expect to see a charge of contempt of court.
DeCSS is part of a video-player. It is in no way comparable to burglary equipment.
Well, you are very welcome to write one [Free Software FPS game]and donate it to the comunity.
You may find some of these projects useful:
OpenSceneGraph -- the standard rendering platform for game graphics. Runs faster than commercial systems.
The virtual terrain project -- terrain modelling resources
HFTools -- landscape generation tools (admittedly level-design in blender is more likely for FPS)
Audio library -- most important bit of a game is the music!
"...you'd probably claim that basic rights like 'freedom of speech' only apply to U.S. citizens"
Why would you need to be a US citizen to have freedom of speech? Surely the constition applies to everyone living in America, regardless of whether they've chosen to become "citizens of the federal government", or simply citizens of the country (state) in which they happen to live?
Naturally, some people will want it pointed out that the US is not alone in guaranteeing free speech, for example the following applies to all 13? countries in the European union:
"Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. this right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information an ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers."
Listening on port 1337
Somehow I think this is a very well chosen port...
Is that a BackOrifice reference? (Port 31337)
"you mean I'm actually losing weight without doing diets or a workout !!"
No, it means you're gaining mass (as measured). Your weight fluctuates daily anyway, depending on whether the moon is above or below you.
"What is the point of surveyors knowing the latitude and longitude to sub-centimeter accuracy? Continental drift, measured in centimeters per year, will invalidate the reading in only a few months."
I believe the whole building moves at approximately the same rate when the continent drifts.
The GPS 0' meridian hasn't been anywhere near the Greenwich observatory for years.
"Just for that, Microsoft is removing Munich from its next version of Flight Simulator."
Replacement
Scenery
"Why not, for the sake of simplicity, avoid making bad analogies when the situation is perfectly comprehensible without?"
Because many people, ignoring the evidence on their desktops, make the argument "it's a computer therefore it can't fail"
Many people (technical readers excluded) would be shocked at the idea of trusting one company to count votes, yet would see no problem with allowing a computer programmed by that company to count votes. They've been brought-up to believe that software is something you buy in boxes, and have no understanding that it's possible to get trustworthy (i.e. auditable, open-source) software.
"I have an http server on the internet that I use for my own purposes--development testing, links on my own home page, etc.--and I don't tell anyone else about it. But from time to time someone browses through a few pages."
Yeah, usually "../../../../../../winnt/registry.dat"
Why is it they never even request the front page with "You have just setup an apache server" on it?
Why not, for the sake of simplicity, just take all the ballot-papers, ship them off to a company in the Netherlands, and they can phone us and tell us who won the election? Does anyone else see a problem with this method of vote-counting?
Given that there is a problem with such a system, how about shipping all of the votes off to a secret black box designed and built by a company in the Netherlands, which phones up a central computer and tells us who won the election?
There's a reason that votes are counted in public, and it's not just the entertainment value.
"Gator's password saving and form filling features are not perfect, but at least acceptable. My only complaint is a relatively large memory footprint."
You mean gator actually does something? I thought it was just a virus.
"Sadly, in the UK, there is a law specific to encrypted data that places the burden of proof on you. If you forget the key to some encrypted data that the government decides it wants to read, you can go to jail."
Marutukku or plain old destruction
Does anyone else find it worrying that a privacy system designed to withstand people being tortured is of most use in the UK?
"When the harddrive hits ~600 MB, burn it to CD, erase it, and toss the CD in a filing cabinet drawer."
What, and pay a $1 piracy-tax to Mariah Carey's retirement fund? Bargain!
"I won't call it a mainframe because the software package ran in Win2k Server using some really odd "MCP" (Master Control Program) stuff that is by far the most picky, strangely configured software I've ever come across."
Is it bad that we only know the Master Control Program as a Tron reference?
"While they're at it, maybe they should change the logo as well to something less sinister, and appoint someone who is not a convicted criminal to run it."
Is the 'seeing-eye' masonic logo not on the back of a US dollar bill?
Damned right about Poindexter though. Scandal? What scandal?
"He's asking anyone who sees the Segway or knows where it might be to call Kent police at 911."
Also, you'd have great difficulty trying to contact the Kent police by telephoning 911. From memory, 999 (UK number) or 112 (international number) would work better.
"Distributing child pornography for the purpose of reporting it to law enforcement is not illegal."
The Angry Parents' Association for the burning at the stake of pornographers has this to say on their FAQ:
I monitor the web for child pornography. Can I be arrested for this?
Regardless of your motivations, the police and the FBI can arrest you if you download child pornography from the internet and store it on a disk or a computer. Also, you are breaking the law if you receive or send child pornography. Juries have convicted several defendants who claimed to be acting as reporters and researchers when they downloaded and distributed child pornography.
I should point out that in the US, sex with someone under the age of 18 is considered rape, regardless of whether they consented or not. So pictures of children having sex are definitely evidence of a crime, even if you don't think the pictures themselves are a crime.
If you've been looking at the pictures long enough to conclude that they were taken in the United States, you've probably spent too long looking at the pictures...
"Obviously, one would include some evidence. Send an email which reads "I found this on Foo Bar's computer" and attach one of the images."
;-)
Given that it would be illegal to email such an image, this is something you'd only do if the email were truly anonymous.
You and I might be using a mixmaster chain to send anonymous emails, but many potential 'whistleblowers' will consider Yahoo Mail to be anonymous, and will then be the subject of an investigation themselves.
Of course, eventually you'll just be able to say "Found a picture with MD5 hash x", and the feds will compare it to their unsurpassed porn collection to confirm it. I think this will backfire when they get the hundred-billionth message, and end up with more images than MD5 hash-space
What kind of investigation can you run when evidence can be deleted, but it's illegal to copy? If you have enough access to someone's machine to detect something illegal, who's to say you didn't use that access to their machine to plant something illegal?
"It's as if I left my diary in a car that was in the shop, and all the mechanics started reading it. Except for computers, this is the norm rather than the exception. I don't want someone going through all my personal shit."
PGPDisk
"the person had vile, disgusting, and illegal content on his computer"
'Illegal' is the only one of those three claims that you can prove, unless you happen to have seen the pictures in question.
p.s. "Thumbnail" pictures to me sounds like a browser cache, which is not completely under the user's control. Do you know anyone who would right-click-save thumbnails and not actual pictures? However, we take the judge's word that it was enough to be illegal [in NY].
But then, with unpublished evidence who can tell?
"Is this really a problem for people who have access to DeCSS and a DVD burner?"
You don't need DeCSS to copy a DVD: you can simply make a copy of the original, encrypted disk.
DeCSS is only needed if you want to create a DVD player, or a converter.
"I'm assuming the disc reacts with gasses in the air, so all you have to do to get unlimited viewing time is keep the dvd in a vacuum, nothing major."
Last I heard, it was a plastic which turns opaque after a certain exposure to the laser used to read DVDs. With something like this, you'd be pretty stupid not to make a copy of the DVD while it still played, then just use the copy as normal.
Best stock up on blank DVDs now, before they impose a $15 'madonna's retirement fund' tax on them.
"Do you remember how a year or so ago ATI released a driver set that reduced image quality in Quake 3 to increase frame rate?"
I guess that explains why they don't release open-source drivers. Nothing like fear of being caught cheating to encourage a secretive atmosphere...
"What do you call 100 spammers, chained together"
Sid's coffee