They have created a device/algorithm/system whose sole purpose is to circumnavigate security devices, therefore violating the DMCA.
There device has no other application than to put phony files on a P2P network, they overcame the P2P's security by modifying the files but still retaining the same file size (and checksum?).
They get a patent on something that is illegal, while others go to trial for it..
Gotta love america
Philly area doesn't have mandatory 11 digit dialing, it has 10 digit dialing. About 5 years ago though, you used to HAVE to dial the initial 1 (making it 11 digit dialing). But I guess the phone company figured out that adding a one to every dialed number isn't required.
There are 2 major reasons not to have mandatory certification: 1) Public Safety concerns 2) Liability and Certification
The reasons for most mandatory certification is public safety, which is (one of) the purposes of a government.
To use your examples, it's not just the mechanics and the hairdressers that are certified. It's everything involved. The cars are certified and tested to be safe, the chemicals and equipment the hairdressers use are certified to be safe, etc,etc..
Think about the liability on a certified auto-mechanic if the car isn't certified safe? Whose fault is a crash? Must be the mechanic, he worked on the car, right? But what if the car had fundemental safety flaws? Since cars are certified to be safe (yes, there are recalls and such, but that's all part of the certification mostly (and corporate liability) then major problems are avoided because the mechanic knows exact specifications (like how many PSI to tighten bolts).
Last I checked, not having a computer work (personal desktops that is, not medical equipment, etc) is not a matter of public safety. If Joe can't surf the web or Play Quake, no one is hurt. Other professions require certification for safety reasons: plumbers, electricians, HVAC techs, building contractors, etc. The other reasons to have certification is for consumer protection (as opposed to physical safety). Real-Estate brokers, lawyers, and lenders ussually need licenses. Ussually because the law is complicated in these professions and knowing the correct process is important for consumer protection
Anyway, the point is, to have a certified computer technician would cause a lot of problems:
1) No certified hardware
2) No certified software
Imagine Joe consumer goes to get him computer repaired by Certificated Steve. Steve cannot fix the problem because the drivers are bad. The liability on Steve is greater now because he is certified. Consumer Joe calls up the local certification office and have Steve's license revoked. Now Steve cannot make an income because US Robotics modem drivers crash in Windows 2000.
You pinned the nail on the head.. That's the entire POINT of this. I can afford $9.95 for HBO, but I have to spend $15.95 to get it because of all the other crap I have to buy.
In you're analogy, it's not that you have to buy a car to get the leather seats. It's that you have to buy the heated glove box (ok, I made that up I hope) to get the leather seats.
The problem with the duplicate network is that it can fall victum under the same problems the original had. Say the first network goes down because of this problem. Ok.. first you have to re-patch all the network nodes into the new network (probably not an easy task). But the new network, if designed the same way, the professor replugs into the new network and starts his number crunching again. Now the new (2nd) network is down..
Worse, with the 2nd network as a backup, they may never know what caused the problems, and therefore it wouldn't get fixed.
It's kinda like putting a "backup" engine on a plane because the fuel is dirty and kills the engine.. it will kill both engines.. cleaning the fuel is a better fix..
I just burn all my MP3's to CD and give them to my friends to hold for safekeeping... they keep calling them Mix CD's for some reason.
And don't get me started about my porn collection..
As an Office11 beta user, I can tell you that the new word saves as XML. It is not the default, but I saved a file as XML, and looked at the XML file in notepad. It is straight-up XML, no binary, no encrption.
Of course, XML is a data definition language (ok, not really a language), if you have no idea what the tags mean, it's not very meaningful.
There is one problem with Binary files, and thay is byte order. Sparc and Mac (I think) write bytes high-bit first, then low bit. Where-as Intel's write low bit, then high bit. (I might have high/low bit order mismatched though.. it's been awhile since I've done that stuff). So a standard document written on an Intel processor is meaningless on a Sparc processor unless you tell it to swap the bytes.
Still, I guess I would much rather have smaller files and have to specify the platform a document was made in than have to deal with the 100K XML files that have 2 sentences in it..
And profiling customers is a bad thing? Here's my take on it:
1) Advertising isn't going away, it's increasing, we are getting bombarded everywhere, now even in video game.
2) Why not give enough information to the sellers so that they can give me offers that I might actually like?
Example, if everytime I passed the Diaper isle, I was told about the sale on Pampers, I would ignore because I don't need diapers. Worse, it would become annoying. But if everytime I walked down the soda isle and was told Mountain Dew was on sale, I would buy it, even if I didn't need it, because we all know you can never have too much Dew..
For those privacy advocates out there, do you REALLY care that the managers of a supermarket know you buy a pack of pringles every shopping trip? Yes, I do care if the government wants to know, but not some store managers .
I don't understand this approach, it is exactly the opposite way that we work in the "real world." I know that this has been said here before, but I would like to point out my view points.
For example, we do not create seperate retail stores that are "just for kids" that contain kid-safe stuff (don't confuse kidmarketing stores like the Kids Gap stores). Instead, we create special stores that are allowed to sell non-kid friendly product. (Examples: Adult Bookstore, Bars, Strip Clubs, etc).
The best method is to say we are not kid-friendly as opposed to we are kid friendly.
Why is/should the internet be treated differently? Here's a real world analogy. There is a park at the corner of my street. Imagine putting up a big sign that says we are totally kid-friendly at the park. Would you (as a parent) feel safe leaving your kid at the park? Of course not, any pedifile (sp) could walk into the park too. The only way to keep it safe is to ensure that only kids go into the park. But on the internet, that's impossible to do. Why would I, as a parent, (and not being technical) let my kids roam freely in a place that is the best known target to pedifiles?
From Press Release Afilias Limited, a global domain name registry services provider and current registry operator of the.INFO top-level domain (TLD), will provide PIR with a full range of back-end registry services to support.ORG.
Uhhh.. didn't Afilias has a boat load of problems when they launched.INFO?
Judges, however, are as human (and imperfect) as the rest of us. We all have our biases and beliefs, and we should not expect a judge to be any different.
I think this is the crux of our problem. We SHOULD expect a judge to be impartial. No matter how wrong the defendant is in any case. If I know a judge hates my guts, and I have to stand up in his courtroom and face his judgement, I EXPECT that he will use the law, and not his personal opinions of me in his judgements.
Judges are people, yes, but they are Judges too. If a judge cannot give an unbiases legal opinion because of their own opinions, they should not be judges. It's part of their job to be impartial. It isn't a "nice to have" trait, it is a requirement.
I suppose you also think that cars sold in the US should have automatic throttling devices that prevent the driver from going over the speed limit too.
I just don't get it sometimes.
I do file sharing. I like a song I hear on the radio, I then find more of the band's music. If I like it, I buy the CD, if I don't, I don't buy the CD, and delete the songs. With the quality of (mainstream) music these days, I think that I'm perfectly entitled to do this. And until I can take a CD back to bestbuy and say that it's crap and want my money back, I will defend my right to do that. The problem is, that you don't think it's a right because there's a law that says it's illegal. It was also illegal to attack the British King's Soldiers back in the 1700's.. if it were up to you, I guess the US would still be part of the UK.
Anyone that says "but It's illegal" is just as stupid as the DCMA in my opinion. Something isn't wrong because it's illegal. Most American's get it backwards - something should be illegal because it is wrong.
And Unicron, do you really want the government to block access to Kazaa? What happens when they say porn is bad. Or people talking about the DCMA on Slashdot is illegal (Not too far fetched since slashdot links to pages that link to circumvention devices all the time). The government is here to provide justice, not babysit us.
I would, except I'd probably be arrested.
I'd tell the rest of the American's that keep voting for our idiot leaders to go fuck themselves, but I'd probably be arrested too.
So I'll continue to vote for the person that everyone wants to win, but no-one votes for because he/she won't win.
Not very worried about all this. This is all marketing stuff.
Inside Sun Product Management Meeting:
Product Mgr: "Why are people going to buy this? I mean, they have systems that work now. They have a staff to make the systems work. Why are they going to spend the thousands of dollars for this?"
Marketing Manager: "Ok. here it is. If they buy our software, for say, $1,000,000, the can then reduce their staff by 5 people. That's only half the people they had. So, they say $500k per year with out software, so it pays for itself in 2 years. "
Product Manager: "Ok. So who installs it"
Marketing Manager: "Oh we've got specialized people for that, only $4k per day."
Ok, we know that a system like this is not going to be absolutely dependable and accurate. We may not like it, but what if it starts being used?
Now we have minimum wage "security" guards in the airports reading a computer screen that ranks people as "Normal" and "Possible Terrorist".
After awhile these people will be totally dependant on these systems that even the most obvious possible terrorists would get through because the computer has taken away the use of human instincts from the security guards. The terrorist (if they ever try to fly again) will find work arounds to "clean up" their people so they get a low "terrorist ranking." Now the only people being searched are innocents and unskilled terrorists.
I mean seriously, how many of the terrorist would actually use their real passport to get onto a plane anyway? What happens if you do not show up in the database? "We're sorry, you don't exist, therefore you cannot fly today.. please try the local bus station."
You Say Forgive?
Here's a little something for you:
In a recent interview, General Norman Schwartzkopf was asked if he didn't think there was room for forgiveness toward the people who have harbored and abetted the terrorists who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks on America.
His answer was classic Schwartzkopf. He said, "I believe that forgiving them is God's function. Our job is simply to arrange the meeting."
Ok, it's an urban legand now, but pretty much still relates my feelings a year later.
Although I agree with your point of view about companies hanging onto the technology way too long, I have to disagree somewhat about the cost of adding fibre to the infrastructure.
It will not be the case in every situation, but these companies ussually didn't just dig a trench and throw a wire in it. They ussually ran a conduit (plastic or metal) to protect the wire, and then pulled the cable through the conduit. Where I live, most of the wiring is in the air on phone poles, which means just pulling the fibre from pole to pole. This is probably more expensive than pulling it through the conduit though.
I think that even if it was cheap, the phone companies wouldn't run the fiber. There has to be a better reason for them to run the fiber aside from better services. From their point of view, no-one is going to spend the hundreds of dollars on a residential fibre termination unit which will split out internet access and analog phones. (I would of course if I had the chance for higher/cheaper bandwidth). That means they have to supply the addition end-unit equipment (or rent it out).
So in otherwords, you are a really good perl coder when you are the only one that can read your code.
Sounds like a perl snob to me, not an experienced coder who knows that readability is as important as functionality.
Wow.. if all you have to say is something bad about Microsoft, then please shut the fuck up. I am sick of comming to slashdot for news, and finding every other post is anti-microsoft. We all live with it, some of use work with it, some of us like it.
You all know that if I posted something like "linux and smart.. I smell a disturbance in the force" this post would be a troll or moded to -1, but as soon as someone says "IIS and smart.. I smell a disturbance in the force" it gets moded up to 4 and funny.
Article really isn't about Spam exactly...
on
Spam Doesn't Work?
·
· Score: 1
This article only takes into account the physology of someone receiving an email. If the reader sees that the email is addressed to many, many people, then they are less likely to take action because of the email. If they are see that the email is only addressed to themselves, then they are more likely to take action. Pretty accurate. Seeing multiple addressee (especially of people I don't know) for new mail in mail box is a pretty sure sign that the email was spam, and it gets deleted right away. However, if I see it was only to me, then it MAY get some attention (until I realize it is spam).
I once accepted a counter-offer.
The counter offer was about 20% higher than the other company's offer. It was a no brainer when you're talking about the amount of money involved.
As part of the counter offer, I asked for a year long "contract" in which I had to give 30 days notice to leave, and they had to give me 8 weeks. (This is pre-dot com bubble pop, and I could surely find a new job in 8 weeks.)
I stayed around for another 18 months, and eventually did leave because of personality issues that can't really be resolved with more money.
I made out big time by accepting the counter offer:
1) I drastically increased my percieved market value so I could ask for more money in future interviews
2) I made out well money wise, more that the original offer.
3) I got some actually job security out of the deal (8 weeks is better than most severance packages)
Of course a Headhunter is going to tell you to not accept a counter offer. They NEED you to accept the new offer because that's how they make their money. They'll push you into a pigeon holed job with no advancement, no challenges, etc in a heartbeat. Anybody whose naive enough to believe that a headhunter cares our YOUR interest is wrong.
Slashdot Mirror
They have created a device/algorithm/system whose sole purpose is to circumnavigate security devices, therefore violating the DMCA. There device has no other application than to put phony files on a P2P network, they overcame the P2P's security by modifying the files but still retaining the same file size (and checksum?). They get a patent on something that is illegal, while others go to trial for it.. Gotta love america
Philly area doesn't have mandatory 11 digit dialing, it has 10 digit dialing. About 5 years ago though, you used to HAVE to dial the initial 1 (making it 11 digit dialing). But I guess the phone company figured out that adding a one to every dialed number isn't required.
There are 2 major reasons not to have mandatory certification:
1) Public Safety concerns
2) Liability and Certification
The reasons for most mandatory certification is public safety, which is (one of) the purposes of a government.
To use your examples, it's not just the mechanics and the hairdressers that are certified. It's everything involved. The cars are certified and tested to be safe, the chemicals and equipment the hairdressers use are certified to be safe, etc,etc..
Think about the liability on a certified auto-mechanic if the car isn't certified safe? Whose fault is a crash? Must be the mechanic, he worked on the car, right? But what if the car had fundemental safety flaws? Since cars are certified to be safe (yes, there are recalls and such, but that's all part of the certification mostly (and corporate liability) then major problems are avoided because the mechanic knows exact specifications (like how many PSI to tighten bolts).
Last I checked, not having a computer work (personal desktops that is, not medical equipment, etc) is not a matter of public safety. If Joe can't surf the web or Play Quake, no one is hurt. Other professions require certification for safety reasons: plumbers, electricians, HVAC techs, building contractors, etc. The other reasons to have certification is for consumer protection (as opposed to physical safety). Real-Estate brokers, lawyers, and lenders ussually need licenses. Ussually because the law is complicated in these professions and knowing the correct process is important for consumer protection
Anyway, the point is, to have a certified computer technician would cause a lot of problems:
1) No certified hardware
2) No certified software
Imagine Joe consumer goes to get him computer repaired by Certificated Steve. Steve cannot fix the problem because the drivers are bad. The liability on Steve is greater now because he is certified. Consumer Joe calls up the local certification office and have Steve's license revoked. Now Steve cannot make an income because US Robotics modem drivers crash in Windows 2000.
So what if you cannot afford HBO or Animal
You pinned the nail on the head.. That's the entire POINT of this. I can afford $9.95 for HBO, but I have to spend $15.95 to get it because of all the other crap I have to buy. In you're analogy, it's not that you have to buy a car to get the leather seats. It's that you have to buy the heated glove box (ok, I made that up I hope) to get the leather seats.
So what cable company do you work for?
The problem with the duplicate network is that it can fall victum under the same problems the original had. Say the first network goes down because of this problem. Ok.. first you have to re-patch all the network nodes into the new network (probably not an easy task). But the new network, if designed the same way, the professor replugs into the new network and starts his number crunching again. Now the new (2nd) network is down..
Worse, with the 2nd network as a backup, they may never know what caused the problems, and therefore it wouldn't get fixed.
It's kinda like putting a "backup" engine on a plane because the fuel is dirty and kills the engine.. it will kill both engines.. cleaning the fuel is a better fix..
I just burn all my MP3's to CD and give them to my friends to hold for safekeeping... they keep calling them Mix CD's for some reason. And don't get me started about my porn collection..
As an Office11 beta user, I can tell you that the new word saves as XML. It is not the default, but I saved a file as XML, and looked at the XML file in notepad. It is straight-up XML, no binary, no encrption.
Of course, XML is a data definition language (ok, not really a language), if you have no idea what the tags mean, it's not very meaningful.
There is one problem with Binary files, and thay is byte order. Sparc and Mac (I think) write bytes high-bit first, then low bit. Where-as Intel's write low bit, then high bit. (I might have high/low bit order mismatched though.. it's been awhile since I've done that stuff). So a standard document written on an Intel processor is meaningless on a Sparc processor unless you tell it to swap the bytes. Still, I guess I would much rather have smaller files and have to specify the platform a document was made in than have to deal with the 100K XML files that have 2 sentences in it..
And profiling customers is a bad thing? Here's my take on it:
1) Advertising isn't going away, it's increasing, we are getting bombarded everywhere, now even in video game.
2) Why not give enough information to the sellers so that they can give me offers that I might actually like?
Example, if everytime I passed the Diaper isle, I was told about the sale on Pampers, I would ignore because I don't need diapers. Worse, it would become annoying. But if everytime I walked down the soda isle and was told Mountain Dew was on sale, I would buy it, even if I didn't need it, because we all know you can never have too much Dew.. For those privacy advocates out there, do you REALLY care that the managers of a supermarket know you buy a pack of pringles every shopping trip? Yes, I do care if the government wants to know, but not some store managers .
I don't understand this approach, it is exactly the opposite way that we work in the "real world." I know that this has been said here before, but I would like to point out my view points.
For example, we do not create seperate retail stores that are "just for kids" that contain kid-safe stuff (don't confuse kidmarketing stores like the Kids Gap stores). Instead, we create special stores that are allowed to sell non-kid friendly product. (Examples: Adult Bookstore, Bars, Strip Clubs, etc).
The best method is to say we are not kid-friendly as opposed to we are kid friendly.
Why is/should the internet be treated differently? Here's a real world analogy. There is a park at the corner of my street. Imagine putting up a big sign that says we are totally kid-friendly at the park. Would you (as a parent) feel safe leaving your kid at the park? Of course not, any pedifile (sp) could walk into the park too. The only way to keep it safe is to ensure that only kids go into the park. But on the internet, that's impossible to do. Why would I, as a parent, (and not being technical) let my kids roam freely in a place that is the best known target to pedifiles?
From Press Release .INFO top-level domain (TLD), will provide PIR with a full range of back-end registry services to support .ORG.
.INFO?
Afilias Limited, a global domain name registry services provider and current registry operator of the
Uhhh.. didn't Afilias has a boat load of problems when they launched
Judges, however, are as human (and imperfect) as the rest of us. We all have our biases and beliefs, and we should not expect a judge to be any different.
I think this is the crux of our problem. We SHOULD expect a judge to be impartial. No matter how wrong the defendant is in any case. If I know a judge hates my guts, and I have to stand up in his courtroom and face his judgement, I EXPECT that he will use the law, and not his personal opinions of me in his judgements.
Judges are people, yes, but they are Judges too. If a judge cannot give an unbiases legal opinion because of their own opinions, they should not be judges. It's part of their job to be impartial. It isn't a "nice to have" trait, it is a requirement.
I suppose you also think that cars sold in the US should have automatic throttling devices that prevent the driver from going over the speed limit too.
I just don't get it sometimes.
I do file sharing. I like a song I hear on the radio, I then find more of the band's music. If I like it, I buy the CD, if I don't, I don't buy the CD, and delete the songs. With the quality of (mainstream) music these days, I think that I'm perfectly entitled to do this. And until I can take a CD back to bestbuy and say that it's crap and want my money back, I will defend my right to do that. The problem is, that you don't think it's a right because there's a law that says it's illegal. It was also illegal to attack the British King's Soldiers back in the 1700's.. if it were up to you, I guess the US would still be part of the UK.
Anyone that says "but It's illegal" is just as stupid as the DCMA in my opinion. Something isn't wrong because it's illegal. Most American's get it backwards - something should be illegal because it is wrong.
Reminds me of drug policy:
Don't do drugs? Why? Because drugs are illegal. Oh. OK. This country was founded by a coke head - Yes, Washington Did Cocaine, and Jefferson farmed pot!!
And Unicron, do you really want the government to block access to Kazaa? What happens when they say porn is bad. Or people talking about the DCMA on Slashdot is illegal (Not too far fetched since slashdot links to pages that link to circumvention devices all the time). The government is here to provide justice, not babysit us.
I would, except I'd probably be arrested. I'd tell the rest of the American's that keep voting for our idiot leaders to go fuck themselves, but I'd probably be arrested too. So I'll continue to vote for the person that everyone wants to win, but no-one votes for because he/she won't win.
Not very worried about all this. This is all marketing stuff.
Inside Sun Product Management Meeting:
Product Mgr: "Why are people going to buy this? I mean, they have systems that work now. They have a staff to make the systems work. Why are they going to spend the thousands of dollars for this?"
Marketing Manager: "Ok. here it is. If they buy our software, for say, $1,000,000, the can then reduce their staff by 5 people. That's only half the people they had. So, they say $500k per year with out software, so it pays for itself in 2 years. "
Product Manager: "Ok. So who installs it"
Marketing Manager: "Oh we've got specialized people for that, only $4k per day."
etc.....etc...etc..
Ok, we know that a system like this is not going to be absolutely dependable and accurate. We may not like it, but what if it starts being used?
Now we have minimum wage "security" guards in the airports reading a computer screen that ranks people as "Normal" and "Possible Terrorist".
After awhile these people will be totally dependant on these systems that even the most obvious possible terrorists would get through because the computer has taken away the use of human instincts from the security guards.
The terrorist (if they ever try to fly again) will find work arounds to "clean up" their people so they get a low "terrorist ranking." Now the only people being searched are innocents and unskilled terrorists.
I mean seriously, how many of the terrorist would actually use their real passport to get onto a plane anyway? What happens if you do not show up in the database? "We're sorry, you don't exist, therefore you cannot fly today.. please try the local bus station."
Here's a little something for you:
In a recent interview, General Norman
Schwartzkopf was asked if he didn't think
there was room for forgiveness toward the
people who have harbored and abetted the
terrorists who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks
on America.
His answer was classic Schwartzkopf. He
said, "I believe that forgiving them is God's
function. Our job is simply to arrange the
meeting."
Ok, it's an urban legand now, but pretty much still relates my feelings a year later.
Although I agree with your point of view about companies hanging onto the technology way too long, I have to disagree somewhat about the cost of adding fibre to the infrastructure.
It will not be the case in every situation, but these companies ussually didn't just dig a trench and throw a wire in it. They ussually ran a conduit (plastic or metal) to protect the wire, and then pulled the cable through the conduit. Where I live, most of the wiring is in the air on phone poles, which means just pulling the fibre from pole to pole. This is probably more expensive than pulling it through the conduit though.
I think that even if it was cheap, the phone companies wouldn't run the fiber. There has to be a better reason for them to run the fiber aside from better services. From their point of view, no-one is going to spend the hundreds of dollars on a residential fibre termination unit which will split out internet access and analog phones. (I would of course if I had the chance for higher/cheaper bandwidth). That means they have to supply the addition end-unit equipment (or rent it out).
So in otherwords, you are a really good perl coder when you are the only one that can read your code. Sounds like a perl snob to me, not an experienced coder who knows that readability is as important as functionality.
Another important criteria for their success in this? Do not make it cost 3 to 4 times an equivalent device.
Wow.. if all you have to say is something bad about Microsoft, then please shut the fuck up.
I am sick of comming to slashdot for news, and finding every other post is anti-microsoft. We all live with it, some of use work with it, some of us like it.
You all know that if I posted something like "linux and smart.. I smell a disturbance in the force" this post would be a troll or moded to -1, but as soon as someone says "IIS and smart.. I smell a disturbance in the force" it gets moded up to 4 and funny.
This article only takes into account the physology of someone receiving an email. If the reader sees that the email is addressed to many, many people, then they are less likely to take action because of the email. If they are see that the email is only addressed to themselves, then they are more likely to take action.
Pretty accurate. Seeing multiple addressee (especially of people I don't know) for new mail in mail box is a pretty sure sign that the email was spam, and it gets deleted right away. However, if I see it was only to me, then it MAY get some attention (until I realize it is spam).
I once accepted a counter-offer. The counter offer was about 20% higher than the other company's offer. It was a no brainer when you're talking about the amount of money involved. As part of the counter offer, I asked for a year long "contract" in which I had to give 30 days notice to leave, and they had to give me 8 weeks. (This is pre-dot com bubble pop, and I could surely find a new job in 8 weeks.) I stayed around for another 18 months, and eventually did leave because of personality issues that can't really be resolved with more money. I made out big time by accepting the counter offer:
1) I drastically increased my percieved market value so I could ask for more money in future interviews
2) I made out well money wise, more that the original offer.
3) I got some actually job security out of the deal (8 weeks is better than most severance packages)
Of course a Headhunter is going to tell you to not accept a counter offer. They NEED you to accept the new offer because that's how they make their money. They'll push you into a pigeon holed job with no advancement, no challenges, etc in a heartbeat. Anybody whose naive enough to believe that a headhunter cares our YOUR interest is wrong.
Because we all know that it couldn't be the developer's fault or anything like that. Blame Microsoft? No.. blame the developer first.