Ah, I gotcha. Use/proc on Linux, but you'll need to read/write to some address with assembly on Windows. Got it.
But a thought occurs to me though...
Everybody thinks you can get to it through/proc? Good.
Just go into whatever driver code that handles the MTRR/proc filesystem and have it spoof writes. The invading rootkit will think "all is swell", and it won't be.
Of course any utilities that expect a working proc for MTRR will bomb, but other than that a patch for this should be trivial.
Comfortable and expecting to make a full recovery --- As comfortable as a dying man can be I'm sure. Makes me wonder why he'd even want to recover.
First thing - we're all dying. Right now. Sure, Mr. Hawking has a name for what he's dying from and you don't (yet), but mortality is pretty much a constant. Just because your fate hasn't been given a label yet doesn't mean you don't have one. You do, just like everyone else. Including Mr. Hawking. I hope you're "as comfortable" as you can be too.
Second thing. Any sick person wants to recover. And that means you too. I guarantee if you were in a similar state you'd want to live just as much as...well, as anyone else. There's more to life than being able to walk around the block. There's art, music, science, math, and a host of other things you don't need a functioning body to enjoy.
My best friend from college has crippling MS. He's wheelchair bound. And he's one of the craziest and most fun people I've ever known. And at the time had an astonishingly hot girlfriend.
at work I'm not allowed to listen to music at all.
Your employers are douchebags.
What the crap could it possibly matter if you have an MP3 player stuck in your ears? I'd love to hear somebody actually make a good case for it. If you're a doctor and you have to listen for pages, or a jet pilot who needs to hear audio alarms - fine. But a coder? Give me a break.
This sort of micro managing "you're still in kindergarten" crap always pisses me right off. It insures an unhappy workplace, and that insures poor results. Who wants to do their very best for someone who treats them like a freaking toddler?
...as a post-graduate he was told he didn't have much longer to live; he's now 67.
Let's not start gearing up for his death just yet.
He obviously has a fantastic will to live, or he wouldn't have made it to 67 with his issues in the first place. There is no reason to think he won't pull through this also.
Any time there is a broad new (read that as "poorly worded") piece of law drafted people always use it to the poorly worded maximum.
No knock warrants were originally to "fight terrorism" - now they're used as a judicial shortcut to bust drug dealers. Often times with horrific results.
We had precedents of poorly worded laws and what happens when we pass them into law. But when it's the government that benefits, it's hard to convince them to stop.
Everything made today is a "cobbled together set of components." The chips come from Taiwan or Korea or Germany, the plastic from China, the metal from the USA or pretty much anywhere else...you name it. That's why we have standards - so you can replace one part with another.
The difference is in the quality of the cobbling.
And the final proof is in dollars per something-or-other, engineering aside. In this case SSL throughput. Let's see some benchmarks and let's see some dollar signs. Then we'll decide what's useless and what isn't.
If they are not, you will be judged by an arbitrary set of rules that you (most likely) did not adhere unless you just happened to guess the right religion. In other words, you will be judged by laws that you did not know you are to uphold, probably laws you did not even know about and had no way of knowing. That's justice?
Well, there's other options you know. Such as Deism.
It may be that there is a mind far surpassing our own that will understand what it is we've done and why we've done it - a perfect Judge. I'd like that. Frank Herbert wrote, "Give me the judgment of balanced minds in preference to laws every time." I heartily agree with him.
The afterlife might be just that, if we're really lucky.
It's not surprising when a pig gets dirty. He's just found a new way to do it is all. I wouldn't be surprised if he started cold calling people on their cell phones next, or sending unsolicited faxes.
The guy has absolutely no clue when it comes to tech issues. None. This whole spam thing is yet another demonstration of that.
I was walking through the basement of our student union building many years ago. The building was mostly closed - we were at a gaming con and minimal stuff was open. I noticed the door to the game room was ajar. I went in and started playing video games with a few of my friends.
Turns out I tripped a silent alarm. About 15 minutes in, campus police busted in and threw us up against the wall at gunpoint. No kidding, I had a gun pressed against the base of my skull.
All that for 3 geeks who were playing video games.
We talked a bit with the cops afterwards. They bragged about how they had us "under surveillance" for over five minutes without any of us noticing. I pointed out that if that were true, did any of them notice the fact that we were *leaving* money there rather than taking it? Blank stares.
So IMHO, they're worse than regular cops. They're bored out of their minds - and have real guns. They so desperately want some crime to deal with, but there just isn't much other than the odd frat house kegger that gets out of control or the occasional parking ticket. I'd be bored to near-insanity too.
Personally I see nothing wrong with the ethics of "Buy American". I do see something wrong with enforcing quality standards on an industry and then forsaking that industry for foreign competitors that have not adhered to those standards.
I used to buy American. Cars, specifically. That's what I owned. A Taurus, a Dodge Grand Caravan, a Mustang. And I developed a strategy. Always have $500 in the bank because as soon as you don't something big will break on your car. Which it did - pretty often in fact. Usually every 6 months or so, something huge and expensive would break. An air conditioner pump. A starter (not too expensive, but still). The Caravan threw not one but two transmissions. You get the idea.
So last time on a lark I bought a Toyota. I'm nearly 50,000 miles into it and you know what I've had to replace so far?
A headlight. Which the dealership paid for.
So, I really have to ask you - if these quality standards you speak of are so bloody restricive, why isn't the end result a superior product? It seems like Toyota has some quality control in house that they're doing on their own, and that it *far* surpasses anything the legislation seems to be doing.
Maybe the answer lies in more quality control, not less.
As others have mentioned, it is easy enough to cut back slowly, and one can avoid withdrawal.
If that works, then yeah - I'd say go for it. My experience was different but if you can skip the week long hangover headache it would definitely be worth a try.
For me though, as soon as I'd have any caffeine at all the headache would stop within fifteen minutes. Like a switch being turned off. Very sudden, almost startling. Then it'd come back full-force with a vengeance. I had to go cold turkey. Nothing else was working.
But as with all things, YMMV. If you can do it slowly then it's certainly worth trying.
I had to give up caffeine. Long story short, I fell while working on a roof and hit my chest hard on a pile of bricks. Most likely damaged my pericardium.
While it healed up, anything that made my heart beat harder made the pain worse. So that meant caffeine - all of it - had to go.
Week long headache. A whopper too, right in the temples. Miserable. But once it's gone, it's gone for good. You can beat it if you have to.
Some advice if you're willing to try. Avoid Excederin. It's a caffeine pill mostly - that's why it cures headaches. It gives you another fix and postpones the withdraw another 8-12 hours. Then you need another one. Avoid chocolate. Read labels. And avoid yerba mate - it has caffeine. If you're going to do it, the only way to do it is cold turkey, 100%. Even the slightest sprinkle of caffeine will halt ALL your progress and you'll have to start from scratch again. And that means another week's worth of headaches.
Anyways, after I healed up I never went back. I am a decaffeinated programmer. Rarest of the rare. It feels great, too. No nervousness, no sweats, my nails look great. And I sleep better than I ever have. That's one of the reasons computer types stay up late - they have to come down off the caffeine before they can sleep.
Once it's out of your life and you have that reference to make a comparison from, you realize just how big of a drug caffeine actually is. It's messing with you more than you probably think it is.
"North Korea has one of the most tightly controlled medias in the world. Unlike most other countries, in North Korea radios and TVs don't have tuners - they only have switches. You can choose one state-run channel, or the other state-run channel. No 'tuning in' to outside broadcasts. Of course no Internet either. On page one I showed you the kind of 'news' found in the newspaper.
A defector once told me of a visit to the hospital he had made while growing up in the North. Alone in his hospital room he was looking at the radio and noticed that a previous patient had somehow broken it open and rigged up a crude tuner. Risking imprisonment he searched for and found a South Korean station and got his first taste of the outside world. Nearly 25 years later he could still recall that first broadcast and what he had heard - a news story that, to his amazement, contained an interview with the South Korean president. An interview with a president?!?! How could such a thing happen?!?"
Unha-2, which was launched at the Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground in Hwadae County, North Hamgyong Province at 11:20 on April 5, Juche 98 (2009), accurately put Kwangmyongsong-2 into its orbit at 11:29:02, nine minutes and two seconds after its launch.
The satellite is going round the earth along its elliptic orbit at the angle of inclination of 40.6 degrees at 490 km perigee and 1 426 km apogee. Its cycle is 104 minutes and 12 seconds.
Mounted on the satellite are necessary measuring devices and communications apparatuses.
The satellite is going round on its routine orbit.
It is sending to the earth the melodies of the immortal revolutionary paeans "Song of General Kim Il Sung" and "Song of General Kim Jong Il" and measured information at 470 MHz. By the use of the satellite the relay communications is now underway by UHF frequency band.
With that kind of info, there should be dozens of observatories that should be able to spot it. Or HAM radio guys to find the signal it's broadcasting.
Here, go read this: War is a Racket, by Major General Smedley D. Butler, USMC.
And before you think he's some kind of whacko, know that he is a two time recipient of the Medal of Honor. Here's a quote from him:
"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."
That whole liberty and justice thing we're so proud of? That only lasted about fifty years in and was sacrificed to capitalism a long long time ago.
If I'm wrong, then why is this guy who is guilty of a single charge of copyright violation being hunted down by the FBI like a serial killer over some trumped up notion of potential lost profits? Anyone else commits copyright violation and the FBI wouldn't give them more than a raised eyebrow. I'll bet there are a dozen teenagers on my block right now who've done it hundreds of times. And strangely enough, the FBI is not pursuing them.
I mean, when a judge is passing sentence on a murderer, do they take time out to figure out how much money the victim might have contributed during his lifetime before they pass sentence? Of course not. So why the urgency with this guy? Because he pissed off a money making machine, that's why. Capitalism is offended, and we don't allow that no sir! And that's why they're going to absolutely crucify this poor bastard when they catch him.
It's unequal justice, and evidence that our government cares far more for big business (and the tax money it generates) than it cares for us.
First. I agree with the OP and the BBC. How the hell does this get some sort of express FBI coverage? It's a freaking movie. Not a bomb threat or a kidnapping. So some sweaty fanboy snagged a pre-release copy. So freaking what?
It's sickening how the government will instantly bend over backwards for big business. Pathetic.
Second thing.
But it is reasonable to pursue something like this, because realistically a work print this early will drive down sales in a major way costing the producers millions, easily.
The FBI may be trying to bust someone who helped, rather than harmed the studio.
The main problem with crap like this is how do you assess damage? We all know that it's possible to skew the numbers in such a way that a single mp3 download is equal to either thousands of hours worth of free advertising, or thousands of dollars worth of lost sales.
Until someone resolves that debate, you really can't call this anything more than a single copyright violation. And certainly not worthy of anything more than a raised eyebrow from the FBI, rather than this gigantic government funded reacharound they're giving the MPAA.
I enjoyed this years' stories. I thought some of them were quite funny, as are the posts
Then perhaps you'd enjoy Fark or 4chan more than Slashdot. Go give it a look.
You may think that makes me an idiot
It's not proof, but it's definitely evidence.
But do you go around to every website on the internet that you think is stupid to post how stupid you think it is?
Is that what I do? Wow. I must be pretty busy. I thought all I did here today was log onto/. and see we're doing the stupid OMG Aprl F001z thing. Again. And again. And again.
Slashdot Mirror
Ah, I gotcha. Use /proc on Linux, but you'll need to read/write to some address with assembly on Windows. Got it.
But a thought occurs to me though...
Everybody thinks you can get to it through /proc? Good.
Just go into whatever driver code that handles the MTRR /proc filesystem and have it spoof writes. The invading rootkit will think "all is swell", and it won't be.
Of course any utilities that expect a working proc for MTRR will bomb, but other than that a patch for this should be trivial.
#ifdef HARDWARE_DQ35 ...
"With Windows this exploit can be used, but requires much more work and skill"
Someone please explain to me exactly how it's harder to get to the MTR registers under Windows than it is under Linux.
Let's assume in both cases you're root. You have to be or they're inaccessible. What happens next? Why is Windows more difficult?
I'm expecting it isn't, and it's about a couple dozen lines of assembler either way.
What about sex?
If sex was a person's only reason for being alive, the highest UID on /. would be in the low 100's. And marriage would be illegal.
BTW, Mr. Hawking has fathered three children, and all after his diagnosis.
Comfortable and expecting to make a full recovery --- As comfortable as a dying man can be I'm sure. Makes me wonder why he'd even want to recover.
First thing - we're all dying. Right now. Sure, Mr. Hawking has a name for what he's dying from and you don't (yet), but mortality is pretty much a constant. Just because your fate hasn't been given a label yet doesn't mean you don't have one. You do, just like everyone else. Including Mr. Hawking. I hope you're "as comfortable" as you can be too.
Second thing. Any sick person wants to recover. And that means you too. I guarantee if you were in a similar state you'd want to live just as much as...well, as anyone else. There's more to life than being able to walk around the block. There's art, music, science, math, and a host of other things you don't need a functioning body to enjoy.
My best friend from college has crippling MS. He's wheelchair bound. And he's one of the craziest and most fun people I've ever known. And at the time had an astonishingly hot girlfriend.
Life has far bigger parameters than you imply.
You can use this or some similar gadget to turn anything into a timed device. About twenty bucks.
at work I'm not allowed to listen to music at all.
Your employers are douchebags.
What the crap could it possibly matter if you have an MP3 player stuck in your ears? I'd love to hear somebody actually make a good case for it. If you're a doctor and you have to listen for pages, or a jet pilot who needs to hear audio alarms - fine. But a coder? Give me a break.
This sort of micro managing "you're still in kindergarten" crap always pisses me right off. It insures an unhappy workplace, and that insures poor results. Who wants to do their very best for someone who treats them like a freaking toddler?
Let's not start gearing up for his death just yet.
He obviously has a fantastic will to live, or he wouldn't have made it to 67 with his issues in the first place. There is no reason to think he won't pull through this also.
Any time there is a broad new (read that as "poorly worded") piece of law drafted people always use it to the poorly worded maximum.
No knock warrants were originally to "fight terrorism" - now they're used as a judicial shortcut to bust drug dealers. Often times with horrific results.
Forfeiture laws were originally to return the goods from a crime to their rightful owners. Now, it's a cash grab by the government. They actually find property guilty. Or sometimes not even that much. Then they find the property (not the person carrying it, mind you) guilty and keep it.
Now we have the DMCA, which is being used to stifle competition and strangle free speech.
Why is anybody surprised?
We had precedents of poorly worded laws and what happens when we pass them into law. But when it's the government that benefits, it's hard to convince them to stop.
Everything made today is a "cobbled together set of components." The chips come from Taiwan or Korea or Germany, the plastic from China, the metal from the USA or pretty much anywhere else...you name it. That's why we have standards - so you can replace one part with another.
The difference is in the quality of the cobbling.
And the final proof is in dollars per something-or-other, engineering aside. In this case SSL throughput. Let's see some benchmarks and let's see some dollar signs. Then we'll decide what's useless and what isn't.
If they are not, you will be judged by an arbitrary set of rules that you (most likely) did not adhere unless you just happened to guess the right religion. In other words, you will be judged by laws that you did not know you are to uphold, probably laws you did not even know about and had no way of knowing. That's justice?
Well, there's other options you know. Such as Deism.
It may be that there is a mind far surpassing our own that will understand what it is we've done and why we've done it - a perfect Judge. I'd like that. Frank Herbert wrote, "Give me the judgment of balanced minds in preference to laws every time." I heartily agree with him.
The afterlife might be just that, if we're really lucky.
It's not surprising when a pig gets dirty. He's just found a new way to do it is all. I wouldn't be surprised if he started cold calling people on their cell phones next, or sending unsolicited faxes.
The guy has absolutely no clue when it comes to tech issues. None. This whole spam thing is yet another demonstration of that.
Nothing he does is really surprising.
True enough.
I was walking through the basement of our student union building many years ago. The building was mostly closed - we were at a gaming con and minimal stuff was open. I noticed the door to the game room was ajar. I went in and started playing video games with a few of my friends.
Turns out I tripped a silent alarm. About 15 minutes in, campus police busted in and threw us up against the wall at gunpoint. No kidding, I had a gun pressed against the base of my skull.
All that for 3 geeks who were playing video games.
We talked a bit with the cops afterwards. They bragged about how they had us "under surveillance" for over five minutes without any of us noticing. I pointed out that if that were true, did any of them notice the fact that we were *leaving* money there rather than taking it? Blank stares.
So IMHO, they're worse than regular cops. They're bored out of their minds - and have real guns. They so desperately want some crime to deal with, but there just isn't much other than the odd frat house kegger that gets out of control or the occasional parking ticket. I'd be bored to near-insanity too.
Personally I see nothing wrong with the ethics of "Buy American". I do see something wrong with enforcing quality standards on an industry and then forsaking that industry for foreign competitors that have not adhered to those standards.
I used to buy American. Cars, specifically. That's what I owned. A Taurus, a Dodge Grand Caravan, a Mustang. And I developed a strategy. Always have $500 in the bank because as soon as you don't something big will break on your car. Which it did - pretty often in fact. Usually every 6 months or so, something huge and expensive would break. An air conditioner pump. A starter (not too expensive, but still). The Caravan threw not one but two transmissions. You get the idea.
So last time on a lark I bought a Toyota. I'm nearly 50,000 miles into it and you know what I've had to replace so far?
A headlight. Which the dealership paid for.
So, I really have to ask you - if these quality standards you speak of are so bloody restricive, why isn't the end result a superior product? It seems like Toyota has some quality control in house that they're doing on their own, and that it *far* surpasses anything the legislation seems to be doing.
Maybe the answer lies in more quality control, not less.
Someone needs to heavily sample this and mix it into some house music, stat!
If you think the RIAA is going nuts now just wait until that shows up on P2P.
...we were supposed to be the good guys?
As others have mentioned, it is easy enough to cut back slowly, and one can avoid withdrawal.
If that works, then yeah - I'd say go for it. My experience was different but if you can skip the week long hangover headache it would definitely be worth a try.
For me though, as soon as I'd have any caffeine at all the headache would stop within fifteen minutes. Like a switch being turned off. Very sudden, almost startling. Then it'd come back full-force with a vengeance. I had to go cold turkey. Nothing else was working.
But as with all things, YMMV. If you can do it slowly then it's certainly worth trying.
I had to give up caffeine. Long story short, I fell while working on a roof and hit my chest hard on a pile of bricks. Most likely damaged my pericardium.
While it healed up, anything that made my heart beat harder made the pain worse. So that meant caffeine - all of it - had to go.
Week long headache. A whopper too, right in the temples. Miserable. But once it's gone, it's gone for good. You can beat it if you have to.
Some advice if you're willing to try. Avoid Excederin. It's a caffeine pill mostly - that's why it cures headaches. It gives you another fix and postpones the withdraw another 8-12 hours. Then you need another one. Avoid chocolate. Read labels. And avoid yerba mate - it has caffeine. If you're going to do it, the only way to do it is cold turkey, 100%. Even the slightest sprinkle of caffeine will halt ALL your progress and you'll have to start from scratch again. And that means another week's worth of headaches.
Anyways, after I healed up I never went back. I am a decaffeinated programmer. Rarest of the rare. It feels great, too. No nervousness, no sweats, my nails look great. And I sleep better than I ever have. That's one of the reasons computer types stay up late - they have to come down off the caffeine before they can sleep.
Once it's out of your life and you have that reference to make a comparison from, you realize just how big of a drug caffeine actually is. It's messing with you more than you probably think it is.
Does North Korea even HAVE Amateur Radio operators?
Not according to this guy. See this page:
"North Korea has one of the most tightly controlled medias in the world. Unlike most other countries, in North Korea radios and TVs don't have tuners - they only have switches. You can choose one state-run channel, or the other state-run channel. No 'tuning in' to outside broadcasts. Of course no Internet either. On page one I showed you the kind of 'news' found in the newspaper.
A defector once told me of a visit to the hospital he had made while growing up in the North. Alone in his hospital room he was looking at the radio and noticed that a previous patient had somehow broken it open and rigged up a crude tuner. Risking imprisonment he searched for and found a South Korean station and got his first taste of the outside world. Nearly 25 years later he could still recall that first broadcast and what he had heard - a news story that, to his amazement, contained an interview with the South Korean president. An interview with a president?!?! How could such a thing happen?!?"
Perfect. From the link you provided:
Unha-2, which was launched at the Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground in Hwadae County, North Hamgyong Province at 11:20 on April 5, Juche 98 (2009), accurately put Kwangmyongsong-2 into its orbit at 11:29:02, nine minutes and two seconds after its launch.
The satellite is going round the earth along its elliptic orbit at the angle of inclination of 40.6 degrees at 490 km perigee and 1 426 km apogee. Its cycle is 104 minutes and 12 seconds.
Mounted on the satellite are necessary measuring devices and communications apparatuses.
The satellite is going round on its routine orbit.
It is sending to the earth the melodies of the immortal revolutionary paeans "Song of General Kim Il Sung" and "Song of General Kim Jong Il" and measured information at 470 MHz. By the use of the satellite the relay communications is now underway by UHF frequency band.
With that kind of info, there should be dozens of observatories that should be able to spot it. Or HAM radio guys to find the signal it's broadcasting.
Anyone been looking for it yet?
according to the US Northern Command and NORAD
Not to get all tinfoil-hat on everyone, but has anyone closer to a neutral third party got any information?
I don't doubt the NORAD report, but it might be nice to have a source without a vested interest make a report as well.
It's interesting you bring up that point. Yes, if the movie sucks then having people preview that for free would drive the sales down.
But I'd love to see the studio try to defend that point.
"We made this awful movie, but because people found out it was awful before going to the theaters we didn't make any money on it."
I think the judge would most likely say "why not make good movies then?"
It's odd that simply kicking the tires before you buy something is somehow a threat, isn't it?
Another simulation here.
Here, go read this: War is a Racket, by Major General Smedley D. Butler, USMC.
And before you think he's some kind of whacko, know that he is a two time recipient of the Medal of Honor. Here's a quote from him:
"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."
That whole liberty and justice thing we're so proud of? That only lasted about fifty years in and was sacrificed to capitalism a long long time ago.
If I'm wrong, then why is this guy who is guilty of a single charge of copyright violation being hunted down by the FBI like a serial killer over some trumped up notion of potential lost profits? Anyone else commits copyright violation and the FBI wouldn't give them more than a raised eyebrow. I'll bet there are a dozen teenagers on my block right now who've done it hundreds of times. And strangely enough, the FBI is not pursuing them.
I mean, when a judge is passing sentence on a murderer, do they take time out to figure out how much money the victim might have contributed during his lifetime before they pass sentence? Of course not. So why the urgency with this guy? Because he pissed off a money making machine, that's why. Capitalism is offended, and we don't allow that no sir! And that's why they're going to absolutely crucify this poor bastard when they catch him.
It's unequal justice, and evidence that our government cares far more for big business (and the tax money it generates) than it cares for us.
First. I agree with the OP and the BBC. How the hell does this get some sort of express FBI coverage? It's a freaking movie. Not a bomb threat or a kidnapping. So some sweaty fanboy snagged a pre-release copy. So freaking what?
It's sickening how the government will instantly bend over backwards for big business. Pathetic.
Second thing.
But it is reasonable to pursue something like this, because realistically a work print this early will drive down sales in a major way costing the producers millions, easily.
Prove it.
How do you know this won't work like an extended commercial, drumming up interest? Studies have shown that people who illegally download music also happen to spend more on music than other people.
The FBI may be trying to bust someone who helped, rather than harmed the studio.
The main problem with crap like this is how do you assess damage? We all know that it's possible to skew the numbers in such a way that a single mp3 download is equal to either thousands of hours worth of free advertising, or thousands of dollars worth of lost sales.
Until someone resolves that debate, you really can't call this anything more than a single copyright violation. And certainly not worthy of anything more than a raised eyebrow from the FBI, rather than this gigantic government funded reacharound they're giving the MPAA.
So you can't quit slashdot for A DAY?
No choice - there's no content here today.
I enjoyed this years' stories. I thought some of them were quite funny, as are the posts
Then perhaps you'd enjoy Fark or 4chan more than Slashdot. Go give it a look.
You may think that makes me an idiot
It's not proof, but it's definitely evidence.
But do you go around to every website on the internet that you think is stupid to post how stupid you think it is?
Is that what I do? Wow. I must be pretty busy. I thought all I did here today was log onto /. and see we're doing the stupid OMG Aprl F001z thing. Again. And again. And again.