Seriously, let's look at some recent high tech items:
(1) Portable MP3 players (esp players that play MP3s directly off of CD)
(1a) This must be PRIMARILY a "pirate device". Other legitimate uses are irrelevant.
(2) DVD-R burners.
(2a) Another pirate device that cannot be released to mainstream public ($10,000+ players exempt since joe movie goer won't pay that) until anti-copy methods are well established.
(3) High speed wireless data WANs.
(3a) Anonymous surfing, downloading of kiddie pr0n/warez? Can't allow that. Ban the tech or at least keep it slow and useless and expensive.
(4) Satellite cell phones that let you make calls from anywhere on the planet.
(4a) Bypass local PTT monopolies in most nations? Be untrackable by law-enforcement (other than to nearest hemisphere)? Iridium was ordered burned into ashes by TPTB.
(5) New game systems (Dreamcast, PS2, etc.)
(5a) More shake down testing to keep games un piratable, introduce region lockout bullshit, etc. Same with DVD players too.
(6) Non-petroleum based cars.
(6a) Big oil company conspiracy to keep these expensive to buy, expensive to operate, limit vehicle range, draw attention to toxicity (lead in batteries, etc.) and make sure fueling stations exist only in about 5 places in the nation.
(7) Any small xmitter. Watch/pen sized cellphone, etc.
(7a) This must be a "spy device". Even radio shack quit selling their 3x1.5x1.5cm wireless FM transmitter after negative publicity (sponsored by gov't, no doubt).
(8) Any telephone tech.
(8a) Why is LD $.10-$.20/min? Convention. Comm equipment and fiber and sats and cell towers have long since paid for thmselves. Actual per min cost is a fraction of $0.01. A "tech shortage" or "IT shortage" is an EXCUSE to do price gouging.
The list is endless. Gov't is deathly afraid of high tech far exceeding the legislation to regulate its use. It's as simple as that.
Until now musicians, movie stars, software authors, silicon valley startups, Microsoft, etc., have all been living IN THE GUTTER, in impoverished destitution because there were unable to make any money from the furits of their hard labor. These poor souls. THANK GOD for the DMCA which will be a saviour for these poor saps and allow them TO EARN MONEY FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!!!
Who could be against that?
DMCA is about helping the big corps. It was never about rewarding creativity. Never. "DMCA was never about rewarding creativity". Repeat as needed until it sticks.
The.int (international) TLD is so secret that you can't even find out the rules and requirements or see an application form to even apply for a domain in the.int TLD.
(1) What PHILIPINE law did the cracker break? I've seen no cites in any of the news stories. Some (!) actually talk about the US 1984 computer crime law and how this makes it illegal. Huh? He's a Philipine citizen in the Philipines! Someone esplain dis to me.
(2) Did he send the virus to a US site or release it locally where it eventually spread worldwide and to the US (i.e., he himself did not attack a US computer directly).
(3) Why extradite? If this is deemed necessary, then so too must it be necessary to extradite hundreds of thousands of US based web site operators for transmitting porn to places in the world where it's highly illegal like Saudi Arabia. A double standard here?
You see, source code is, for anyone reading this, eternal. With dead democratic congressman Sonny Bono's (we gotta send more 'crats skiing) latest passed amendment to copyrights law, US copyrights now last for the life of the author and then 100 years beyond that! Is this even remotely reasonable? So yes, open source be a GREAT WHACKING HUGE issue because it means that new ideas in coding can be reused and built upon by anyone to improve all software in general, rather than [cool new algorithm] not being widely used because its owners demand rediculous royalties and threaten lawsuits on it use (GIF, RSA, LZW compression, MPEG1/2 video encoders, MP3 encoders, QuickTime, etc.) Proprietary for a while (to let creativity be rewarded) and then free to all to use any what they see fit (to improve society) is the way copyrights should work. They do not. OSS is a way around this. So when lies are spread about OSS, the only possible purpose of those lies to stifle and lock up ideas for a century and a half to milk the public and slow innovation and maintain the greedy corporate status quo. So yeah, OSS supporters will respond with great ferocity to such attacks. And this is not "wrong" behaviour in any way. All phaser banks to full. Arm photon torpedos. Maximum yield. Minimum spread. Fire!
Forget the credit card, I want a linux system installed directly inside my brain! With the video display as a 'heads up' display inside my eyeball which overlays what I'm looking at. I could have some thin coils in my chest/torso area which would allow for an inductive recharging system to be installed inside my matress. Maybe an IR tx/rx module in my eye too for uploading/downloading. Just think. I could store cheat sheets, reference material, the O'Reilly animal book series, etc. for easy on-demand recall. A mouse pad in my palm to navigate too. Borg, schmorg. Where do I go to get it installed?
Now they make ***MORE*** money from video sales than they ever did from theatrical runs.
The recordable cassete tape in the 60s. Recordable 8-Tracks, the xerox machine. The film camera. The motion film camera. The motion film camera with sound recording. The VCR. The video camera, Digital Audio Tape (DAT), Hard drives. The MP3 format. Fast Hack 'Em (C64 copy program). The internet. CD-R burners, CD-RW burners, and just starting now, DVD-R burners. Human memory.
All of this and yet people are still making money producing and selling music/movies/software.
But then no one will buy anything!
Yawn. Your statement doesn't reconcile with history.
This is how copyright should>/I> work. Like patents it's intent is to encourage creativity by rewarding the author with limited exclusivity for a time, then improving society by making the creation free for all to use and build upon. Copyright was once 20 years (like patents), then 50 years, then author's life plus 50 years, then author's life plus 80 years, and now dead congressman Sonny Bony sponsored the last extension to author's life plus 100 years. A fscking century! You see no problem here? And *just* *by* *coincidence* ****ALL**** of these extensions happened just shortly before the earliest Mickey Mouse cartoons were about to have their copyrights expire. Are Disney's interests == the public interests?
Also, does any of us feel guilt at listening to classical music knowing that no royalties are going to the estate or descendants of the creators? And I'm not just talking about the really ancient centuries old stuff where "rightful heirs" are today unknown. Even some artists who wrote songs in the 20th century like Scott Joplin, who would be protected by current law if their copyrights hadn't already expired, get nothing from the use of their work. Do you feel bad for this?
How can anyone support Disney keeping sole control over Mickey Mouse and yet have a clean conscious incorporating 'the entertainer' into their copyrighted movie of slot machine or game program?
BTW, the copyright on pkzip won't expire until the year 2101!!!!!! Is this in any way reasonable?!
As far as the fourth amendment, no one stripped Mitnick's constitutional rights except him! He agreed to the terms.
And the women on trial for being witches in Salem "voluntarily confessed" to being witches and provided the names of several other witches. They would've done ANYTHING to abate the cruel treatment and torture of the "gov't". The Mitnick case was no different. It was and remains a WITCH HUNT. They want Mitnick's head impaled on a stick to set an example to any wannabe h4xx0rz out there. But so long as rapists and murders are getting their trial, and completing their jail time, and being release all in less time than Mitnick was merely waiting for a trial, I maintain that he... that all us... got shafted royally, wrongly, undeservingly, and unjustly. Because it sets a dangerous precedent for the "justice" system to do the same thing with impunity to any one of us for any reason. Maybe some guy in Syria ftp'd your GPL'd crypto utility from some FTP site, used it to hide assassanation plans, and Feds want to make an example of you? You didn't stand up to defend Mitnick. Who will be left to defend you... you terrorist pig.
Feds had been preparing their case and collecting evidence, hiring many lawyers, doing legal research, and coaching their "expert witnesses" for many months prior to Mitnick's actual arrest.
Then they say, you wanna be tried *now* (giving Mitnick no time to prepare his own defense) or forever waive any speedy tial date. Hmmm. Now or whatever Feds decide; maybe 20 years to trial or infinity, but Mitnick remains in jail until whenever. Yah. That's Mitnick's own fault.
When will Slashdotters realize that even trampling on the rights of SCUM like Mitnick is not at all OK and hurts us all?
You don't have to support h4xx0rin6 to support Mitnick.
Free Kevin! He's still being shafted by the gov't.
And just like arrested drug dealers are not allowed to use their "alleged" ill-gotten wealth to hire high priced lawyers to defend themselves with, Mitnick has ill-gotten information in his brain, so he's not allowed to use it in any way to better himself.
"Your software will become one with the GPL. We have analyzed the legalese of your software licenese as not being able to withstand us. Your lawyers are irrelevent! Resistance is futile! Your archaic programming practices are authority driven! We wish to improve outselves. You must comply! Your software will adapt to service us!"
On the 12th day of auction, netters gave to me...
on
UNIX.com On eBay?
·
· Score: 2
12 federal injunctions
11 threatening emails
10 lawyers following me
9 appeals denied
8 subponeas daily
7 counts of theft
6 orders to surrender
5 in-dict-ments!
4 phone calls per minute.
3 wifes-a-leaving
2 bankruptcies filed
and a frog suited federal marshall at the door!
SANTA CRUZ, CA (UPI) - 24 Apr 2000 - Jon Carmack, best known for first person shooter games like Doom, Quake, and the recently released Daikatana, is announcing a soon to be released game based on the frog outfitted shock trooper style raids carried out by the INS upon the orders of Der Fuhrer Janet Reno under Dark Emperor Slick Willie, entitled INS:DaiAssaultRifle.
The game casts the player as an INS agent who must successfully travel from Wachington D.C. to Maimi, FL, without attracting the attention of the omnipresent media. Once in FL, the player must navigate, fight, and get past the roving bands of angry protesters on the street and the random fires and rock/bottle attacks. Timing and strategy are critical if the player is to avoid the promised "human chain" from forming around Elian's house which is said to be impenetrable. Once there, the player must render unconscious several protestors with the butt of his automatic weapon, gas many unarmed women and children, and then enter the house causing as much collateral damage as possible on the quest to hunt down Elian like a dog (don't believe the promises that "no resistance will be offered by the family if agents come to take Elian"!). Extra points are earned for making people scream, panic and for making Elian cry. Other points are earned based on time to capture Elian (quicker is better), number of protesters beat up (more is better) and for duping the public into supporting your heinous actions by releasing poll after poll to CNN that proclaims that "68% of the American people support the forced siezure of Elian". The game is slated for release in early May and carries an ESRB rating of E (Everyone) because if none this stressed the real Elian and their family, then surely it won't bother anyone else.
HDTV is just too 31337 for the average Joe's pocket book. And with gov't mandated HDTV rollout, you're screwing over the little guy because broadcasters won't want to maintain two parallel broadcasting signals for very long. Once viewership reaches some percent level, they'll dump NTSC TV and implement their data plans or whatever on the old channel spectrum. They already can't wait as the article implies.
So mfgs MUST cut the price of the sets of the format won't take off. Period. And rollout the smaller HDTV sets. 13" and 19" 16:9 TVs are needed too. And don't say "but that defeats the point of HDTV". Gotta be there so us poor plebs without $thousands to burn or a palace with room to hold a 60" set can watch the mandated HDTV signals.
16:9 aspect TVs are much cheaper in the UK than in the US. Why?
Also, this whole HDTV thing smacks of an MPAA copy protection scheme. I see a few HDTVs for sale, but... Where are the HDTV VCRs for sale so I can record HDTV programs? HDTV is a view only format. The MPAA must be thrilled.
I have no interest in lining JK's pockets. I do, however, have a RIGHT to know if my comments were included? How about a list, Katz? That's a fair request and wouldn't hurt sales of your book.
Reasons to give *do* matter. Drug money donations?
on
Why Do Open Source?
·
· Score: 2
The End does not always justify the Means, not by a long shot. But if what you do is Good, then your personal reasons for doing this Good are irrelevant, since the Good is still done.
This is completely untrue.
Would you, as a charity, knowingly accept money made from drug sales? From hired assanations? From child prostitution? The money will be used to do good, so there's no problem, right? Wrong. There has to be a conscience in accepting charity. Why they give and where they got what they're giving **does** matter. Otherwise it can lead to bad results such as:
Ever wondered why drug lords haven't been stopped in Colombia? They're evil and we know who they and where they are right? Why not to bust them? Well, that's the US Media view of it. Locally, in Colombia, the drug czars give copiously to many local charity groups, sponsor youth soccer groups, build or donate land to local churches, contribute to fund 30% of the local hospital's operating costs. Arresting the drug dealer would hurt local folk because the drugs are heavily woven into the local economy. Busting the dealer destroys the town. Ask these people if they want the drug lord busted. They'll say no. And the politicians who represent these townspeople know that they can't risk offending their constituents, so the corruption perkalates right to the top, all because people turn a blind eye to the reasons for where their donations come from.
If slashdot supports domain name ownership and brokering and not being forced to yield it to the big corp with a trademark or "similar" name (whatever that means), they Slashdot must support me. So... who want's my nick? I accept cash, 700MHz or better (working) computer systems or 70mm Star Wars film rolls.
It's in in Taiwan. We'll never see it.
on
New mp3 Hardware
·
· Score: 1
Since the player is being marketed by a company in Taiwan, we'll never see it in any of the Berne convention countries. Piracy is legal in Taiwan and local companies like Son May Records do nothing but sell pirated CDs/VCDs/VHS/DVDs/CDROMs. Expect the RIAA to jump all over this to make sure this "pirate device" nevers sees the light of day anywhere else.
Slashdot Mirror
(1) Portable MP3 players (esp players that play MP3s directly off of CD)
(1a) This must be PRIMARILY a "pirate device". Other legitimate uses are irrelevant.
(2) DVD-R burners.
(2a) Another pirate device that cannot be released to mainstream public ($10,000+ players exempt since joe movie goer won't pay that) until anti-copy methods are well established.
(3) High speed wireless data WANs.
(3a) Anonymous surfing, downloading of kiddie pr0n/warez? Can't allow that. Ban the tech or at least keep it slow and useless and expensive.
(4) Satellite cell phones that let you make calls from anywhere on the planet.
(4a) Bypass local PTT monopolies in most nations? Be untrackable by law-enforcement (other than to nearest hemisphere)? Iridium was ordered burned into ashes by TPTB.
(5) New game systems (Dreamcast, PS2, etc.)
(5a) More shake down testing to keep games un piratable, introduce region lockout bullshit, etc. Same with DVD players too.
(6) Non-petroleum based cars.
(6a) Big oil company conspiracy to keep these expensive to buy, expensive to operate, limit vehicle range, draw attention to toxicity (lead in batteries, etc.) and make sure fueling stations exist only in about 5 places in the nation.
(7) Any small xmitter. Watch/pen sized cellphone, etc.
(7a) This must be a "spy device". Even radio shack quit selling their 3x1.5x1.5cm wireless FM transmitter after negative publicity (sponsored by gov't, no doubt).
(8) Any telephone tech.
(8a) Why is LD $.10-$.20/min? Convention. Comm equipment and fiber and sats and cell towers have long since paid for thmselves. Actual per min cost is a fraction of $0.01. A "tech shortage" or "IT shortage" is an EXCUSE to do price gouging.
The list is endless. Gov't is deathly afraid of high tech far exceeding the legislation to regulate its use. It's as simple as that.
Until now musicians, movie stars, software authors, silicon valley startups, Microsoft, etc., have all been living IN THE GUTTER, in impoverished destitution because there were unable to make any money from the furits of their hard labor. These poor souls. THANK GOD for the DMCA which will be a saviour for these poor saps and allow them TO EARN MONEY FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!!!
Who could be against that?
DMCA is about helping the big corps. It was never about rewarding creativity. Never. "DMCA was never about rewarding creativity". Repeat as needed until it sticks.
Don't believe me? Check out their registrar site http://www.nic.int/
That's right. Even the root page on the registrars web site requires a mysterious password. And cypherpunks/cypherpunks does not work.
I guess they think they're 5UP3R 31337, eh?
(2) Did he send the virus to a US site or release it locally where it eventually spread worldwide and to the US (i.e., he himself did not attack a US computer directly).
(3) Why extradite? If this is deemed necessary, then so too must it be necessary to extradite hundreds of thousands of US based web site operators for transmitting porn to places in the world where it's highly illegal like Saudi Arabia. A double standard here?
The media remains silent on these issues.
You see, source code is, for anyone reading this, eternal. With dead democratic congressman Sonny Bono's (we gotta send more 'crats skiing) latest passed amendment to copyrights law, US copyrights now last for the life of the author and then 100 years beyond that! Is this even remotely reasonable? So yes, open source be a GREAT WHACKING HUGE issue because it means that new ideas in coding can be reused and built upon by anyone to improve all software in general, rather than [cool new algorithm] not being widely used because its owners demand rediculous royalties and threaten lawsuits on it use (GIF, RSA, LZW compression, MPEG1/2 video encoders, MP3 encoders, QuickTime, etc.) Proprietary for a while (to let creativity be rewarded) and then free to all to use any what they see fit (to improve society) is the way copyrights should work. They do not. OSS is a way around this. So when lies are spread about OSS, the only possible purpose of those lies to stifle and lock up ideas for a century and a half to milk the public and slow innovation and maintain the greedy corporate status quo. So yeah, OSS supporters will respond with great ferocity to such attacks. And this is not "wrong" behaviour in any way. All phaser banks to full. Arm photon torpedos. Maximum yield. Minimum spread. Fire!
Forget the credit card, I want a linux system installed directly inside my brain! With the video display as a 'heads up' display inside my eyeball which overlays what I'm looking at. I could have some thin coils in my chest/torso area which would allow for an inductive recharging system to be installed inside my matress. Maybe an IR tx/rx module in my eye too for uploading/downloading. Just think. I could store cheat sheets, reference material, the O'Reilly animal book series, etc. for easy on-demand recall. A mouse pad in my palm to navigate too. Borg, schmorg. Where do I go to get it installed?
The recordable cassete tape in the 60s. Recordable 8-Tracks, the xerox machine. The film camera. The motion film camera. The motion film camera with sound recording. The VCR. The video camera, Digital Audio Tape (DAT), Hard drives. The MP3 format. Fast Hack 'Em (C64 copy program). The internet. CD-R burners, CD-RW burners, and just starting now, DVD-R burners. Human memory.
All of this and yet people are still making money producing and selling music/movies/software.
But then no one will buy anything!
Yawn. Your statement doesn't reconcile with history.
Also, does any of us feel guilt at listening to classical music knowing that no royalties are going to the estate or descendants of the creators? And I'm not just talking about the really ancient centuries old stuff where "rightful heirs" are today unknown. Even some artists who wrote songs in the 20th century like Scott Joplin, who would be protected by current law if their copyrights hadn't already expired, get nothing from the use of their work. Do you feel bad for this?
How can anyone support Disney keeping sole control over Mickey Mouse and yet have a clean conscious incorporating 'the entertainer' into their copyrighted movie of slot machine or game program?
BTW, the copyright on pkzip won't expire until the year 2101!!!!!! Is this in any way reasonable?!
And the women on trial for being witches in Salem "voluntarily confessed" to being witches and provided the names of several other witches. They would've done ANYTHING to abate the cruel treatment and torture of the "gov't". The Mitnick case was no different. It was and remains a WITCH HUNT. They want Mitnick's head impaled on a stick to set an example to any wannabe h4xx0rz out there. But so long as rapists and murders are getting their trial, and completing their jail time, and being release all in less time than Mitnick was merely waiting for a trial, I maintain that he... that all us... got shafted royally, wrongly, undeservingly, and unjustly. Because it sets a dangerous precedent for the "justice" system to do the same thing with impunity to any one of us for any reason. Maybe some guy in Syria ftp'd your GPL'd crypto utility from some FTP site, used it to hide assassanation plans, and Feds want to make an example of you? You didn't stand up to defend Mitnick. Who will be left to defend you... you terrorist pig.
Feds had been preparing their case and collecting evidence, hiring many lawyers, doing legal research, and coaching their "expert witnesses" for many months prior to Mitnick's actual arrest.
Then they say, you wanna be tried *now* (giving Mitnick no time to prepare his own defense) or forever waive any speedy tial date. Hmmm. Now or whatever Feds decide; maybe 20 years to trial or infinity, but Mitnick remains in jail until whenever. Yah. That's Mitnick's own fault.
When will Slashdotters realize that even trampling on the rights of SCUM like Mitnick is not at all OK and hurts us all?
You don't have to support h4xx0rin6 to support Mitnick.
Free Kevin! He's still being shafted by the gov't.
And just like arrested drug dealers are not allowed to use their "alleged" ill-gotten wealth to hire high priced lawyers to defend themselves with, Mitnick has ill-gotten information in his brain, so he's not allowed to use it in any way to better himself.
"Your software will become one with the GPL. We have analyzed the legalese of your software licenese as not being able to withstand us. Your lawyers are irrelevent! Resistance is futile! Your archaic programming practices are authority driven! We wish to improve outselves. You must comply! Your software will adapt to service us!"
12 federal injunctions
11 threatening emails
10 lawyers following me
9 appeals denied
8 subponeas daily
7 counts of theft
6 orders to surrender
5 in-dict-ments!
4 phone calls per minute.
3 wifes-a-leaving
2 bankruptcies filed
and a frog suited federal marshall at the door!
The game casts the player as an INS agent who must successfully travel from Wachington D.C. to Maimi, FL, without attracting the attention of the omnipresent media. Once in FL, the player must navigate, fight, and get past the roving bands of angry protesters on the street and the random fires and rock/bottle attacks. Timing and strategy are critical if the player is to avoid the promised "human chain" from forming around Elian's house which is said to be impenetrable. Once there, the player must render unconscious several protestors with the butt of his automatic weapon, gas many unarmed women and children, and then enter the house causing as much collateral damage as possible on the quest to hunt down Elian like a dog (don't believe the promises that "no resistance will be offered by the family if agents come to take Elian"!). Extra points are earned for making people scream, panic and for making Elian cry. Other points are earned based on time to capture Elian (quicker is better), number of protesters beat up (more is better) and for duping the public into supporting your heinous actions by releasing poll after poll to CNN that proclaims that "68% of the American people support the forced siezure of Elian". The game is slated for release in early May and carries an ESRB rating of E (Everyone) because if none this stressed the real Elian and their family, then surely it won't bother anyone else.
So mfgs MUST cut the price of the sets of the format won't take off. Period. And rollout the smaller HDTV sets. 13" and 19" 16:9 TVs are needed too. And don't say "but that defeats the point of HDTV". Gotta be there so us poor plebs without $thousands to burn or a palace with room to hold a 60" set can watch the mandated HDTV signals.
16:9 aspect TVs are much cheaper in the UK than in the US. Why?
Also, this whole HDTV thing smacks of an MPAA copy protection scheme. I see a few HDTVs for sale, but... Where are the HDTV VCRs for sale so I can record HDTV programs? HDTV is a view only format. The MPAA must be thrilled.
I have no interest in lining JK's pockets. I do, however, have a RIGHT to know if my comments were included? How about a list, Katz? That's a fair request and wouldn't hurt sales of your book.
This is completely untrue.
Would you, as a charity, knowingly accept money made from drug sales? From hired assanations? From child prostitution? The money will be used to do good, so there's no problem, right? Wrong. There has to be a conscience in accepting charity. Why they give and where they got what they're giving **does** matter. Otherwise it can lead to bad results such as:
Ever wondered why drug lords haven't been stopped in Colombia? They're evil and we know who they and where they are right? Why not to bust them? Well, that's the US Media view of it. Locally, in Colombia, the drug czars give copiously to many local charity groups, sponsor youth soccer groups, build or donate land to local churches, contribute to fund 30% of the local hospital's operating costs. Arresting the drug dealer would hurt local folk because the drugs are heavily woven into the local economy. Busting the dealer destroys the town. Ask these people if they want the drug lord busted. They'll say no. And the politicians who represent these townspeople know that they can't risk offending their constituents, so the corruption perkalates right to the top, all because people turn a blind eye to the reasons for where their donations come from.
If slashdot supports domain name ownership and brokering and not being forced to yield it to the big corp with a trademark or "similar" name (whatever that means), they Slashdot must support me. So... who want's my nick? I accept cash, 700MHz or better (working) computer systems or 70mm Star Wars film rolls.
Since the player is being marketed by a company in Taiwan, we'll never see it in any of the Berne convention countries. Piracy is legal in Taiwan and local companies like Son May Records do nothing but sell pirated CDs/VCDs/VHS/DVDs/CDROMs. Expect the RIAA to jump all over this to make sure this "pirate device" nevers sees the light of day anywhere else.
--
Cmdr Taco, not affiliated with CmdrTaco.