"MSN was always a blatant example of Microsoft anti-competitive actions. It was launched because Bill Gates came to realise that AOL was a bigger force on the Net than Microsoft, and he "invested" heavily in the Microsoft Network.
Say what they like, it was an attempt to crush AOL. It was a successful attempt, insofar as it crushed other major online service providers - who remembers Prodigy, or The Source? - but AOL survived."
So to clarify: if you were odd enough to actually want this music, you could either:
(a) pay $20 for a non-CD which doesn't work, doesn't play in your computer, and is incompatible with any portable devices you use
(b) download it off IMesh.
They must have a rock-solid business plan for this one. "This is my CD, criminal scum. I detest every one of you who listen to my music, and to prove it I'm going to sell you a broken CD, HAHA!"
Sounds like an ideal recipient for the clue-by-four
"Did you read that article on politechbot.com that they wouldn't let some guy wearing a little button that read "Suspected terrorist" fly on an airplane?"
You're right: there are 300 million suspected terrorists. But their names don't need to be stored - they took a hint from verisign, and just used a wildcard.
Select * from americans where police_badge = NULL;
"More children get killed in car accidents.. in fact it's the biggest killer of under 12's if i recall correctly.."
And who is speeding around in a big van they don't really know how to drive, without much visibility, at about the time that kids are walking home from school?
Ah yes, the mothers.
So who is parking on double-yellow lines, on pedestrian crossings, and on the no-parking zones outside school, meaning that nobody can see the kids about to cross the road?
Ah yes, the mothers.
Let's ban communication, it seems much simpler than this traffic-safety business.
"Just redirect lookups on the.verisign.com (and.net and.org) domains to my local DNS servers which strangely enough don't seem to point the inquiries to verisign... Just had to clear it with Management first as a "privacy issue"..."
Anybody got some good recipes for blocking sitefinder on individual computers? Does putting an IP address in your hosts file work, or is it possible to null-route verisign from a Windows PCs?
Those of us without our own DNS servers would quite like to avoid the delay in getting NXDOMAIN responses - ideas?
Previously: You think of a domain-name you want, go look at it. If it's not there, you can get it. If it's been taken by another company, or a domain squatter, you choose a different name.
Now: You think of a domain-name you want, go look at it. It's been taken by a domain-squatter. The same thing happens for every one of the domains you try and check. You give up, and have to pay the person whose site is on the domain you want.
Ignoring for a moment anybody technical enough to recognise Verisign scum as being different to normal scum, how can anyone possibly know what domains are available under this new regime?
"By the time they decide if they really broke everything they broke, and whether they should temporarily suspend SiteFinder, everybody else will have routed around them."
Using what? ICANN?
How long since we expected the 200 new top-level domains which theoretically makes navigation a lot more efficient, to the detriment of Verisign's control over it?
Verisign: "All indications are that users, important members of the internet community we all serve, are benefiting from the improved web navigation offered by Site Finder"
Mike Tansca: "This reminds me of the Iraqi Information minister and his lunatic counterfactual arguments.... All indications indeed!"
"any "technical effect" on the user, such as saving mouse clicks by using cookies when shopping online, for example, can be patented"
If you allow Amazon to store your credit-card for long enough that one-click ordering is useful, you're leaving yourself wide open to theft.
Do you have any idea how many dictionary-attacks there are on your account password each day?
I'd tend to suggest that if anyone with access to your Amazon cookie (and how many people shopping from work computer think their cookies are secure?) can order items on your credit card, to any address, with less effort than it takes you to view a cover-photo, you might consider not leaving your credit-card in their hands.
Did you ever open a tab in a bar saying "serve anyone who knows x password?" Try that with books.
"viterbi's algorithm is a clever way of "pruning" the number of paths so that the number of possible sequences is reduced to a manageable size. modern, low-cost, digital communications would not be possible without dr. viterbi's algorithm (which he, by the way, never patented.)"
Uh, if you invented something like that, it would give you a massive competitive advantage in selling communications equipment for as long as you could keep it a trade secret. Looking at the cost of comms equipment, and at the cost of books, I'm guessing that that will net you a lot more money than copyright gives to a good author.
The problem?
Patente-apologists would prefer that humankind struggle along without such technology for 20 years, as its use is limited to only one company?
"Also I think there are a lot of people on file sharing networks that are pack rats, they download everything they think might even be vaguly interesting even though a lot of it they will never use it. This f's my ping and I hate that too.:-)"
And therein lies the problem with broadband. It's slow. It's like, twice the speed of a modem average, for 3 times the cost*. Who knows how many people are going to get packed onto the same line as you?
* Bring on the angry corrections!
When the public are surveyed "so what's the opposite of broadband?" "narrowband". Yeah right. They think broadband is some super-fast technology. What's the opposite of broadband? Baseband, like DSL, where you get the whole line to yourself, no annoying neighbours fucking your connection with the latest Outlook virus. No drop in capacity each time someone connects. Just a plain old internet connection*.
* Heh. yeah right an internet connection. More like, a consumer entertainment connection, with ports 25, 35-39, 135, 80, and 31337 blocked and heavy monitoring on your every move.
Try DemandBroadband.com for this stuff. People actually want it. 40 per month for something which is likely not as good as a couple of phonelines, especially if you have two or more people with computers, which is load-balanced anyway without dumb-ass connection-sharing tricks.
Trust your housemates not to read your email? Ever try actually using SSL-POP and SSL-SMTP?
C'mon, broadband was a consumer-piddly idea the moment it was brought out; it's time to roll-out the grid networking already, and it has been for years. Until you've got more wireless connections than you have landlines, your connection is just some cable-TV-alike, subject to whatever monitoring, censoring, and throttling policies your ISP decides is fashionable this week.
"And further suppose that some spook analyst (or government supercomputer) somewhere takes a personal interest in you (for whatever reason) and requests that a GPS device be attached to your car."
Got a mobile telephone?
Ever wonder how the network knows where to send the signal when you get a call?
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\DRM was the thin end of the wedge. This is the hint to jump ship and get a stable operating system before you go down with all the other Windows users.
"Besides, two letter codes are too limiting. SIL has organized a very thorough set of three letter codes (usable according to their terms) for every language as part of the Ethnologue project, including artificial languages and sign languages."
You'd suggest a standard proposed by someone with a Terms Of Use statement attached to it?
If we want to pick a standard for something, it should typically be about 20 pages of text, with an RFC number at the top, and copyight notice, if absolutely required, with the words "verbatim copying is permitted without limitation". Anything else is just not suitable for use in public systems
"How long until you need to get license for your child when he is born so that he can speak his native language? How about a license to learn/teach a foreign language in shool?"
Take that idea further, and you've got the start of an essay similar to right to read
"I think the real solution is this: If Verisign wants to continue this practice then Verisign should have to pay to register each mis-typed domain."
Well that's the obvious answer. If it cost us all $20 to register a domain, there's no reason why verisign should be any different. They want an infinite number of domains? Sure. And they pay $6.386e+125 for them. Note that paying themselves is considered cheating.
Slashdot Mirror
"On Microsoft closing chat rooms:"
http://theregister.co.uk/content/6/33032.html
"MSN was always a blatant example of Microsoft anti-competitive actions. It was launched because Bill Gates came to realise that AOL was a bigger force on the Net than Microsoft, and he "invested" heavily in the Microsoft Network.
Say what they like, it was an attempt to crush AOL. It was a successful attempt, insofar as it crushed other major online service providers - who remembers Prodigy, or The Source? - but AOL survived."
"I'm at work and don't have the time to research a link."
Yeah right! We'll expect a reply in a few minutes then...
So to clarify: if you were odd enough to actually want this music, you could either:
(a) pay $20 for a non-CD which doesn't work, doesn't play in your computer, and is incompatible with any portable devices you use
(b) download it off IMesh.
They must have a rock-solid business plan for this one. "This is my CD, criminal scum. I detest every one of you who listen to my music, and to prove it I'm going to sell you a broken CD, HAHA!"
Sounds like an ideal recipient for the clue-by-four
"Did you read that article on politechbot.com that they wouldn't let some guy wearing a little button that read "Suspected terrorist" fly on an airplane?"
Some guy being John Gilmore:
http://freetotravel.org/terrorist.html
You're right: there are 300 million suspected terrorists. But their names don't need to be stored - they took a hint from verisign, and just used a wildcard.
Select * from americans where police_badge = NULL;
"More children get killed in car accidents.. in fact it's the biggest killer of under 12's if i recall correctly.."
And who is speeding around in a big van they don't really know how to drive, without much visibility, at about the time that kids are walking home from school?
Ah yes, the mothers.
So who is parking on double-yellow lines, on pedestrian crossings, and on the no-parking zones outside school, meaning that nobody can see the kids about to cross the road?
Ah yes, the mothers.
Let's ban communication, it seems much simpler than this traffic-safety business.
"All the Kids who used to chat on msn will now find "cooler" chat rooms (perhaps IRC)"
No, please don't let those people on IRC.
Clippy: "It looks as if a cat has just jumped onto your lap. Would you like me to open the catflap?"
"Just redirect lookups on the .verisign.com (and .net and .org) domains to my local DNS servers which strangely enough don't seem to point the inquiries to verisign... Just had to clear it with Management first as a "privacy issue"..."
Anybody got some good recipes for blocking sitefinder on individual computers? Does putting an IP address in your hosts file work, or is it possible to null-route verisign from a Windows PCs?
Those of us without our own DNS servers would quite like to avoid the delay in getting NXDOMAIN responses - ideas?
Previously: You think of a domain-name you want, go look at it. If it's not there, you can get it. If it's been taken by another company, or a domain squatter, you choose a different name.
Now: You think of a domain-name you want, go look at it. It's been taken by a domain-squatter. The same thing happens for every one of the domains you try and check. You give up, and have to pay the person whose site is on the domain you want.
Ignoring for a moment anybody technical enough to recognise Verisign scum as being different to normal scum, how can anyone possibly know what domains are available under this new regime?
"A few hours beating someone with a rubber hose can be considerably more effective at cracking keys than a supercomputer."
Or telling them they can be imprisoned for two years if they fail to provide their encryption keys on demand.
In democratic England, RubberHose protects you
"By the time they decide if they really broke everything they broke, and whether they should temporarily suspend SiteFinder, everybody else will have routed around them."
Using what? ICANN?
How long since we expected the 200 new top-level domains which theoretically makes navigation a lot more efficient, to the detriment of Verisign's control over it?
Interestingly, www.weLoveTheVerisignInformationMinister.com seems to be a website run by Verisign...
Verisign: "All indications are that users, important members of the internet community we all serve, are benefiting from the improved web navigation offered by Site Finder"
Mike Tansca: "This reminds me of the Iraqi Information minister and his lunatic counterfactual arguments.... All indications indeed!"
"So? 99.999% of the population can't determine good programming even if the source is open."
/dev/ass"
Could we implement a slashdot filter to detect any percentage figure above or equal to 99?
"Error: please only use statistics which exist, and not ones you obtained from
"any "technical effect" on the user, such as saving mouse clicks by using cookies when shopping online, for example, can be patented"
If you allow Amazon to store your credit-card for long enough that one-click ordering is useful, you're leaving yourself wide open to theft.
Do you have any idea how many dictionary-attacks there are on your account password each day?
I'd tend to suggest that if anyone with access to your Amazon cookie (and how many people shopping from work computer think their cookies are secure?) can order items on your credit card, to any address, with less effort than it takes you to view a cover-photo, you might consider not leaving your credit-card in their hands.
Did you ever open a tab in a bar saying "serve anyone who knows x password?" Try that with books.
"viterbi's algorithm is a clever way of "pruning" the number of paths so that the number of possible sequences is reduced to a manageable size. modern, low-cost, digital communications would not be possible without dr. viterbi's algorithm (which he, by the way, never patented.)"
Uh, if you invented something like that, it would give you a massive competitive advantage in selling communications equipment for as long as you could keep it a trade secret. Looking at the cost of comms equipment, and at the cost of books, I'm guessing that that will net you a lot more money than copyright gives to a good author.
The problem?
Patente-apologists would prefer that humankind struggle along without such technology for 20 years, as its use is limited to only one company?
Ah, you should have said. All these years of not understanding the gun-rights people, you should have told this story.
C'mon, let's have uzis for sale in England already. Are you allowed to carry them holstered when you're cycling to work?
"Also I think there are a lot of people on file sharing networks that are pack rats, they download everything they think might even be vaguly interesting even though a lot of it they will never use it. This f's my ping and I hate that too. :-)"
And therein lies the problem with broadband. It's slow. It's like, twice the speed of a modem average, for 3 times the cost*. Who knows how many people are going to get packed onto the same line as you?
* Bring on the angry corrections!
When the public are surveyed "so what's the opposite of broadband?" "narrowband". Yeah right. They think broadband is some super-fast technology. What's the opposite of broadband? Baseband, like DSL, where you get the whole line to yourself, no annoying neighbours fucking your connection with the latest Outlook virus. No drop in capacity each time someone connects. Just a plain old internet connection*.
* Heh. yeah right an internet connection. More like, a consumer entertainment connection, with ports 25, 35-39, 135, 80, and 31337 blocked and heavy monitoring on your every move.
Try DemandBroadband.com for this stuff. People actually want it. 40 per month for something which is likely not as good as a couple of phonelines, especially if you have two or more people with computers, which is load-balanced anyway without dumb-ass connection-sharing tricks.
Trust your housemates not to read your email? Ever try actually using SSL-POP and SSL-SMTP?
C'mon, broadband was a consumer-piddly idea the moment it was brought out; it's time to roll-out the grid networking already, and it has been for years. Until you've got more wireless connections than you have landlines, your connection is just some cable-TV-alike, subject to whatever monitoring, censoring, and throttling policies your ISP decides is fashionable this week.
-1: Flamefest. I'm on a modem.
"The fact of the matter is, you can't do anything in Java you can't do in C++ or C or assembly language or raw machine language for that matter."
You can write an arbitrarily complex program in any language... you just have to use that language to write a Lisp interpreter first...
"And further suppose that some spook analyst (or government supercomputer) somewhere takes a personal interest in you (for whatever reason) and requests that a GPS device be attached to your car."
Got a mobile telephone?
Ever wonder how the network knows where to send the signal when you get a call?
You're already carrying a GPS tracker equivalent.
This is the thin end of the wedge.
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\DRM was the thin end of the wedge. This is the hint to jump ship and get a stable operating system before you go down with all the other Windows users.
"Besides, two letter codes are too limiting. SIL has organized a very thorough set of three letter codes (usable according to their terms) for every language as part of the Ethnologue project, including artificial languages and sign languages."
You'd suggest a standard proposed by someone with a Terms Of Use statement attached to it?
If we want to pick a standard for something, it should typically be about 20 pages of text, with an RFC number at the top, and copyight notice, if absolutely required, with the words "verbatim copying is permitted without limitation". Anything else is just not suitable for use in public systems
"How long until you need to get license for your child when he is born so that he can speak his native language? How about a license to learn/teach a foreign language in shool?"
Take that idea further, and you've got the start of an essay similar to right to read
"Intellectual property is as real as the chair I'm sitting on."
That must hurt! Do you just fall, or do you have to crouch in position?
"I think the real solution is this: If Verisign wants to continue this practice then Verisign should have to pay to register each mis-typed domain."
Well that's the obvious answer. If it cost us all $20 to register a domain, there's no reason why verisign should be any different. They want an infinite number of domains? Sure. And they pay $6.386e+125 for them. Note that paying themselves is considered cheating.