The local cable ISP where I live (western Canada) has been experimenting with selling "highspeed lite" internet access, capped at 16KB/s ("five times as fast as dialup" is the way they put it). It's considerably cheaper than the regular service ($25 cnd/month vs $40 cdn/month). They haven't capped download rates for users of their regular service. The download cap just lets them offer service at a price point they couldn't otherwise.
"we need something like the automobile industry's recall system, but it's too bad nobody tunrs in those registration cards..."
True, but most people are reasonably sure that Toyota isn't going to sell your personal information to anyone who'll pay for it. Can you honestly say that about any company in the IT industry?
Also, when an automobile is recalled, you don't need to be on file with the car company to get the work done - just owning the model in question is enough.
Sadly, the increasing automation of offshore drilling rigs means that there are no longer enough crews of misfit (but, of course, expert) drill operators to man such expeditions to incoming asteroids.
NASA has also dropped the ball on this, by failing to move ahead with the stainless steel space shuttle, and by screwing up the prototypes of experimental drill designs (found whilst rummaging around the US patent office).
In a meaningful way, they may have just made it possible for people to use any non-commercial trademark in a way that doesn't infringe on the original use.
Not really. IANAL, but since the decision was made by an arbitrator, not a court, I don't think its decisions can create a binding precedent. In any case, the decision won't have any effect outside the UK.
Regarding the Metropolitan Police's desire to have a trademark on something: they might've just been following the lead of the RCMP here in Canada. The mounties have trademarks on their traditional image (ie the red-coated, wide-brimmed hat wearing cop on a horse), ostensibly so that they have control over how the image is used, and on what products. The only really objectionable thing they've done with the trademark is sign a contract with Disney (shudder) to act as their agent for those licensing the image (IIRC, this contract has run out and not been renewed).
Mind you, the RCMP is probably in a unique position on this - I doubt there are many other police forces with as distinctive an image, in any country.
Do the math again. 10BaseT is 10 _megabits_ per second, not megabytes.
10 megabits/sec = 1.28 megabytes/second
And that's the theorectical max, which you won't get in any real world application, and it doesn't take into account the overheadfor the transfer protocols, etc.
You might be able to try this on a 100BaseT network, if you didn't care about one device hogging that much bandwidth on your home network.
This same "unscrupulous political party" would probably find it easier to forge extra ballots (in a paper ballot system) than it would to create a hardware hack that allowed the arbitrary modification of memory.
I can't remember the last time I saw someone write a check for something in a store. Everyone just pays with their debit/atm card. Maybe it's different down in the states, but almost every store up here in Canada takes Interac.
Did you even read the story? The people who study these things are still divided as to whether mammoths were the victims of climate change, or whether humans hunted them to extinction.
I was lucky in that my girlfriend (now my wife) didn't particularly like diamonds. So I looked around and got her one with a really nice sapphire instead. The (artificial) price difference also meant that I could get a ring with a much larger stone than I could have afforded if I'd bought a Diamond.
Can you honestly defend pronographic pictures on Mary as "religious freedom"? As I've understood it, religious freedom is about the right to practice your own beliefs without interference. I really can't see how an image can be defended as "religious freedom" when it's only intent is to offend believers of another faith, rather than for promoting your own faith.
It's interesting to see how almost any slur or insult directed towards a christian church is deemed acceptable by some people, when a similarly derogatory remark about hindus, muslims, jews, or buddhists would likely be labelled "hate speech".
...scaremongering that equates "hacker" with "terrorist" helps to justify draconian laws regarding "cyberterrorism". It's a lot easier to justify a law using the worst case scenario (saying you want to be able to throw an al-Qaida member in jail for 20 years when he tries to hack into the LA power grid), even when you really want it mostly so that you can throw the book at minor cybervandals and script kiddies.
What about the interception of SMS messages? This is basically a telephone service, which the average person WILL expect to have the same level of privacy as a telephone call.
Your main argument misses the point also. Just because any number of people may be able to read your email without you consent doesn't make it ok for the government to do so any time it feels like it (it also doesn't make it right for anyone else to read your mail either).
Any joe off the street can walk up to your mailbox and read your snail mail before you get it. Does it then follow that people are "shedding crocodile tears" if they complain when the government decides it wants to read everyone's mail without a good reason?
Which schools are you talking about religion in? Many provinces have public Catholic school systems. However, every province that has these also has a non-religious public system as well, so where's the harm?
You've got a few misconceptions about how the notwithstanding clause actually works. (Digs out first year political studies text).
!!!!Pedantic Lecture Alert!!!!
The rights that can be overridden by the notwithstanding clause is really a strange grab bag. Only certain sections are subject to section 33 (the notwithstanding clause) - section 2, and sections 7-15.
These do include an appalling (and indefensible, IMHO) assortment of basic liberties, such as freedom of expression, freedom of conscience, freedom of association, freedom of assembly, the right to life, liberty and security of the person, freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, and freedom from arbitrary arrest or detention.
A lot of other freedoms are not subject to section 33, such as democratic rights, mobility rights, language rights, minority language education rights, and the guaranteed equality of men and women. Legislatures are also not allowed to make laws that interfere with the enforcement of the charter.
Another (minor) point: municipalities can not make use of section 33. In Canada, municipalities do not have _any_ constitutional powers, and are consequently much weaker than those in the US. Municipal governments are entirely entities of the province that created them, and only have those powers which their province has expressly delegated to them. None of the provinces are going to let the little kids in municipal politics play with big kid toys like overiding charter rights:)
"It's also a democracy, where you can elect a new government to install new laws if you disagree with the current state of affairs. Elected officials (who presumably represent a majority of the populace)"
Except for the current president. He's the guy who came in second and got elected anyway.
Well, global warming might be kicking in in Boston, but it sure as hell doesn't feel like it in Saskatoon (it was -27 C last night). But that's what I get for living in Canada...On the upside, getting up at the crack of dawn isn't so hard when dawn comes at 9am.
Slashdot Mirror
Depending on how they are implemented.
The local cable ISP where I live (western Canada) has been experimenting with selling "highspeed lite" internet access, capped at 16KB/s ("five times as fast as dialup" is the way they put it). It's considerably cheaper than the regular service ($25 cnd/month vs $40 cdn/month). They haven't capped download rates for users of their regular service. The download cap just lets them offer service at a price point they couldn't otherwise.
"we need something like the automobile industry's recall system, but it's too bad nobody tunrs in those registration cards..."
True, but most people are reasonably sure that Toyota isn't going to sell your personal information to anyone who'll pay for it. Can you honestly say that about any company in the IT industry?
Also, when an automobile is recalled, you don't need to be on file with the car company to get the work done - just owning the model in question is enough.
Sadly, the increasing automation of offshore drilling rigs means that there are no longer enough crews of misfit (but, of course, expert) drill operators to man such expeditions to incoming asteroids. NASA has also dropped the ball on this, by failing to move ahead with the stainless steel space shuttle, and by screwing up the prototypes of experimental drill designs (found whilst rummaging around the US patent office).
Wow, my wrist doesn't even hurt.
Myself, I would've read things over before I posted my project page for the world to see. Or does he really think it's spelled "envoroment"?
In a meaningful way, they may have just made it possible for people to use any non-commercial trademark in a way that doesn't infringe on the original use.
Not really. IANAL, but since the decision was made by an arbitrator, not a court, I don't think its decisions can create a binding precedent. In any case, the decision won't have any effect outside the UK.
Regarding the Metropolitan Police's desire to have a trademark on something: they might've just been following the lead of the RCMP here in Canada. The mounties have trademarks on their traditional image (ie the red-coated, wide-brimmed hat wearing cop on a horse), ostensibly so that they have control over how the image is used, and on what products. The only really objectionable thing they've done with the trademark is sign a contract with Disney (shudder) to act as their agent for those licensing the image (IIRC, this contract has run out and not been renewed).
Mind you, the RCMP is probably in a unique position on this - I doubt there are many other police forces with as distinctive an image, in any country.
Ahh, finally we know what alias Steve Gibson uses on Slashdot.
Do the math again. 10BaseT is 10 _megabits_ per second, not megabytes. 10 megabits/sec = 1.28 megabytes/second And that's the theorectical max, which you won't get in any real world application, and it doesn't take into account the overheadfor the transfer protocols, etc. You might be able to try this on a 100BaseT network, if you didn't care about one device hogging that much bandwidth on your home network.
This same "unscrupulous political party" would probably find it easier to forge extra ballots (in a paper ballot system) than it would to create a hardware hack that allowed the arbitrary modification of memory.
I can't remember the last time I saw someone write a check for something in a store. Everyone just pays with their debit/atm card. Maybe it's different down in the states, but almost every store up here in Canada takes Interac.
Did you even read the story? The people who study these things are still divided as to whether mammoths were the victims of climate change, or whether humans hunted them to extinction.
You could specifically ask for a ring made using Canadian diamonds, which have become available in the last 5 years or so.
I was lucky in that my girlfriend (now my wife) didn't particularly like diamonds. So I looked around and got her one with a really nice sapphire instead. The (artificial) price difference also meant that I could get a ring with a much larger stone than I could have afforded if I'd bought a Diamond.
Can you honestly defend pronographic pictures on Mary as "religious freedom"? As I've understood it, religious freedom is about the right to practice your own beliefs without interference. I really can't see how an image can be defended as "religious freedom" when it's only intent is to offend believers of another faith, rather than for promoting your own faith. It's interesting to see how almost any slur or insult directed towards a christian church is deemed acceptable by some people, when a similarly derogatory remark about hindus, muslims, jews, or buddhists would likely be labelled "hate speech".
...scaremongering that equates "hacker" with "terrorist" helps to justify draconian laws regarding "cyberterrorism". It's a lot easier to justify a law using the worst case scenario (saying you want to be able to throw an al-Qaida member in jail for 20 years when he tries to hack into the LA power grid), even when you really want it mostly so that you can throw the book at minor cybervandals and script kiddies.
What about the interception of SMS messages? This is basically a telephone service, which the average person WILL expect to have the same level of privacy as a telephone call. Your main argument misses the point also. Just because any number of people may be able to read your email without you consent doesn't make it ok for the government to do so any time it feels like it (it also doesn't make it right for anyone else to read your mail either). Any joe off the street can walk up to your mailbox and read your snail mail before you get it. Does it then follow that people are "shedding crocodile tears" if they complain when the government decides it wants to read everyone's mail without a good reason?
Which schools are you talking about religion in? Many provinces have public Catholic school systems. However, every province that has these also has a non-religious public system as well, so where's the harm?
You've got a few misconceptions about how the notwithstanding clause actually works. (Digs out first year political studies text).
!!!!Pedantic Lecture Alert!!!!
The rights that can be overridden by the notwithstanding clause is really a strange grab bag. Only certain sections are subject to section 33 (the notwithstanding clause) - section 2, and sections 7-15.
These do include an appalling (and indefensible, IMHO) assortment of basic liberties, such as freedom of expression, freedom of conscience, freedom of association, freedom of assembly, the right to life, liberty and security of the person, freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, and freedom from arbitrary arrest or detention.
A lot of other freedoms are not subject to section 33, such as democratic rights, mobility rights, language rights, minority language education rights, and the guaranteed equality of men and women. Legislatures are also not allowed to make laws that interfere with the enforcement of the charter.
Another (minor) point: municipalities can not make use of section 33. In Canada, municipalities do not have _any_ constitutional powers, and are consequently much weaker than those in the US. Municipal governments are entirely entities of the province that created them, and only have those powers which their province has expressly delegated to them. None of the provinces are going to let the little kids in municipal politics play with big kid toys like overiding charter rights:)
"It's also a democracy, where you can elect a new government to install new laws if you disagree with the current state of affairs. Elected officials (who presumably represent a majority of the populace)" Except for the current president. He's the guy who came in second and got elected anyway.
Well, global warming might be kicking in in Boston, but it sure as hell doesn't feel like it in Saskatoon (it was -27 C last night). But that's what I get for living in Canada...On the upside, getting up at the crack of dawn isn't so hard when dawn comes at 9am.