I didn't read the entire press release, but I did notice the subtitle:
"International Team of Scientists Have Discovered How to Reduce the Expression of Practically [emphasis mine] Random Information Sequences "
So I guess the data does have at least some redundancy in it. I'm not an expert, so I don't if this makes their claim more likely to be true, but I thought it should be pointed out.
Well, the thing about this whole mess is, they jumped on Dmitry to, in my opinion, try and make an example out of him, or maybe set some precedent for the DMCA. There was a huge backlash about it. Even Adobe left it alone after all the protesting began. I think everyone pretty much agreed that it was a rediculous case to try this guy for doing something that isn't illegal in his country. So the government tried to get out of it. And lying about it was a lot better than telling the truth, cause the truth was basically, "We were wrong." Whereas the lie came out like the government actually had some right in the matter.
You're a bit arrogant to assume that you're right in your assumption about what's right and wrong. Just because something is illegal, does not mean that it is wrong. Someone made the decision that it is wrong and made it illegal, but that just means that that person thinks it's wrong. I always laugh when I hear someone counter an argument about piracy with "stealing is stealing and it's wrong." Well, what if I don't think pirating is stealing? What if I don't feel that victimless crimes, in general, are wrong? Then the argument doesn't stand.
You have to realize that, while you believe pirating is moraly wrong, not everyone feels this way. Some things have been outlawed not because their morality is doubtful, but because of political reasons (I'm sorry, I wish I could give you some examples, but I don't have any right now, although I think opium and marijuana might be examples).
Next time you hear about something like this, instead of asking yourself "is what they did illegal?" maybe you should ask yourself "should what they did be illegal?"
Here it is: These mod chips have been around for a while. Just like pirating has been around for a while. When the economy is booming, and these companies are making phat money, they don't care so much about the pirating, 'cause they're still making money. But when the economy takes a downturn, they, in desperation, unleash the lawyers to try and stop any losses they might be incurring from the pirating (or the potential of pirating). When the economy pics back up, I think they'll do more looking the other way, so to speak.
Frankly, I always liked Sony. I never really heard anything bad about them in the news, and they put out a really good product. But if they're going to start pulling stunts like this, they might receive the bane of people who don't like corporate control so much (ala Microsoft). The only people that can make me stop liking them as a company, is them, really. And I'm sure others share the same sentiment. So I'd be careful if I was them.
I don't have a link on this, but I've heard that California did not, in fact, have competition in the electricity market. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I heard.
God, that comic says it all. I was actually wondering about that. Didn't the airline industry get huge ammounts of money from the government to help them keep their employees, and then went and laid off a bunch of them anyway? I would make them pay back that money if I was the gov.
This is a bit off topic but, personally, I think the government should not help the airline companies. They provided shitty security, and are going out of business because of it. Isn't that capitalism? Their service sucked, so now people aren't going to buy it. I see that as just deserved. Sure it might cost people jobs, but that's how the economy works. They'll find other jobs. I know it sucks, (hell, I'm unemployed myself), but that's how it works. Anyway, don't want to rant too much. Just my thoughts.
How can anyone keep up with Micro$oft? Seriously, while we're all focusing on this antitrust suit, they've got like 50 other projects in the works, from M$ TV, the XBox,.NET, Passport, Windows XP, Explorer, and a whole lot more. By the time we hear about an M$ development, it's already too late, 'cause they've got something else in the works. You can't even stop and say, "Hey, Windows XP has some seriously troubled activation issues" because they've got some other product out before you can finish your sentence. They're pushing stuff out so fast that it's not even possible to discuss your misgivings because it's old news in a day. Kind of like a new tendrils poping up that reach into everything we do. M$ encompasses almost everything in the average person's life, from computers to news to the military. And with the xbox, they're trying to get their products into our living rooms. M$ wants to have your entire house running on their software.
Now, I realise that there is always the option of simply not using M$ products, but what about all those other people out there who aren't as "enlightened"? To them, Windows is the computer, not simply an OS. While some might not care what John Q Public is running on his home computer, I do, because with more market dominance, M$ gets more power. And with more power, they can start affecting the lives of everyone, even those people who don't touch M$ products. What if Micro$oft really did manage to pass litigation through that banned OSs without DRM?
Something needs to be done about M$, and not using WinXP isn't going to cut it. If the antitrust suit fails, perhaps we, the people, need to put something into action.
Slashdot Mirror
I didn't read the entire press release, but I did notice the subtitle:
"International Team of Scientists Have Discovered How to Reduce the Expression of Practically [emphasis mine] Random Information Sequences "
So I guess the data does have at least some redundancy in it. I'm not an expert, so I don't if this makes their claim more likely to be true, but I thought it should be pointed out.
Well, the thing about this whole mess is, they jumped on Dmitry to, in my opinion, try and make an example out of him, or maybe set some precedent for the DMCA. There was a huge backlash about it. Even Adobe left it alone after all the protesting began. I think everyone pretty much agreed that it was a rediculous case to try this guy for doing something that isn't illegal in his country. So the government tried to get out of it. And lying about it was a lot better than telling the truth, cause the truth was basically, "We were wrong." Whereas the lie came out like the government actually had some right in the matter.
just my 2 cents
Can he sue for being wrongfully imprisoned? I mean, he was jailed for 5 months, does he get some kind of reparation for his trouble?
You're a bit arrogant to assume that you're right in your assumption about what's right and wrong. Just because something is illegal, does not mean that it is wrong. Someone made the decision that it is wrong and made it illegal, but that just means that that person thinks it's wrong. I always laugh when I hear someone counter an argument about piracy with "stealing is stealing and it's wrong." Well, what if I don't think pirating is stealing? What if I don't feel that victimless crimes, in general, are wrong? Then the argument doesn't stand.
You have to realize that, while you believe pirating is moraly wrong, not everyone feels this way. Some things have been outlawed not because their morality is doubtful, but because of political reasons (I'm sorry, I wish I could give you some examples, but I don't have any right now, although I think opium and marijuana might be examples).
Next time you hear about something like this, instead of asking yourself "is what they did illegal?" maybe you should ask yourself "should what they did be illegal?"
Just my opinion.
Here it is: These mod chips have been around for a while. Just like pirating has been around for a while. When the economy is booming, and these companies are making phat money, they don't care so much about the pirating, 'cause they're still making money. But when the economy takes a downturn, they, in desperation, unleash the lawyers to try and stop any losses they might be incurring from the pirating (or the potential of pirating). When the economy pics back up, I think they'll do more looking the other way, so to speak.
Frankly, I always liked Sony. I never really heard anything bad about them in the news, and they put out a really good product. But if they're going to start pulling stunts like this, they might receive the bane of people who don't like corporate control so much (ala Microsoft). The only people that can make me stop liking them as a company, is them, really. And I'm sure others share the same sentiment. So I'd be careful if I was them.
I don't have a link on this, but I've heard that California did not, in fact, have competition in the electricity market. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I heard.
God, that comic says it all. I was actually wondering about that. Didn't the airline industry get huge ammounts of money from the government to help them keep their employees, and then went and laid off a bunch of them anyway? I would make them pay back that money if I was the gov. This is a bit off topic but, personally, I think the government should not help the airline companies. They provided shitty security, and are going out of business because of it. Isn't that capitalism? Their service sucked, so now people aren't going to buy it. I see that as just deserved. Sure it might cost people jobs, but that's how the economy works. They'll find other jobs. I know it sucks, (hell, I'm unemployed myself), but that's how it works. Anyway, don't want to rant too much. Just my thoughts.
How can anyone keep up with Micro$oft? Seriously, while we're all focusing on this antitrust suit, they've got like 50 other projects in the works, from M$ TV, the XBox, .NET, Passport, Windows XP, Explorer, and a whole lot more. By the time we hear about an M$ development, it's already too late, 'cause they've got something else in the works. You can't even stop and say, "Hey, Windows XP has some seriously troubled activation issues" because they've got some other product out before you can finish your sentence. They're pushing stuff out so fast that it's not even possible to discuss your misgivings because it's old news in a day. Kind of like a new tendrils poping up that reach into everything we do. M$ encompasses almost everything in the average person's life, from computers to news to the military. And with the xbox, they're trying to get their products into our living rooms. M$ wants to have your entire house running on their software.
Now, I realise that there is always the option of simply not using M$ products, but what about all those other people out there who aren't as "enlightened"? To them, Windows is the computer, not simply an OS. While some might not care what John Q Public is running on his home computer, I do, because with more market dominance, M$ gets more power. And with more power, they can start affecting the lives of everyone, even those people who don't touch M$ products. What if Micro$oft really did manage to pass litigation through that banned OSs without DRM?
Something needs to be done about M$, and not using WinXP isn't going to cut it. If the antitrust suit fails, perhaps we, the people, need to put something into action.