it will be a significant black mark against them for a long time
And you'll have completely burnt your bridges with the company. This sounds like a pretty severe course of action, more like seeking revenge.
<simpsons>
Lenny: Nothing beats revenge for getting back at people.
Carl: I dunno; vengeance is pretty good too.
</simpsons>
It really depends on your relationship with the company, and whether you perhaps have an interest in doing any work for them in the future.
Considering that the poster is out of work, he may be better off to learn from this experience, and hope that his inadvertent generosity leads them to call him again when they have trouble, at which point he can negotiate a good fee, or maybe get his job back, if they need him so often.
Alternatively, if he needs the money, IANAL, but I think small claims court is a better way to go, rather than seeking the services of a collection agency. A small claims court will affirm (or deny) his legal right to payment for the services, and might get the company to pay any costs associated with bringing them to court. A collection agency would charge him, and it's hard to tack that cost onto your bill to the company, if it hasn't been agreed to beforehand.
Disclaimer(s): Okay, maybe this is a little offtopic, but I'm not trying to sidetrack the discussion of the story, just want to drop my two cents on an issue. DarkSkiesAhead, I have nothing against you. I hope it doesn't sound otherwise.
If people are going to just copy and paste the original article into/., I think it should be practice to only mod up when it's posted anonymously. I just think that in general, it's not especially fair for people to get karma just for posting what someone else originally wrote.
It's ok, you can get down off of the chair now, Daisy.
I dunno, man. We're talking about a whole colony of ants here. In an iBook. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think you're the exception to the rule if you're not thinking "ew! ew!"
for anybody wondering who ellen feiss is
on
Ants Invade iBook
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Take a look at her switch ad. The second I read the parent, I was LMAO. Oh, if only I had points to mod it (+5,Funny).
prof quotes from the univ of waterloo
on
Science Askew
·
· Score: 1
Here are the most recent profQUOTES from mathNEWS (the University of Waterloo Faculty of Mathematics Student Newspaper). They have new ones every issue; for more, check out Google's search results.
My favorite from this issue (courtesy of Prof. Vasiga):
"'Expected' is one of those words you can use at work. I expect to get this job done by Friday... that's not saying it's going to get done. I also expect to win the lottery, quit this job, and tell you all to piss off."
heard in a second-year univ math course
on
Science Askew
·
· Score: 1
In my second-year combinatorics course at the University of Waterloo last winter, when the prof started discussing embedding planar graphs on the sphere, a student asked the following question:
"So, a sphere is like a ball, right?"
Half the class couldn't contain their laughter (I mean, it's a second-year course for math majors), and my row started a pool to get someone to ask:
"So, a cylinder is like a pipe, right?"
It got up to about $10, but unfortunately, there were no takers.
so why can't the democrats kill the bill?
on
HomeSec In the News
·
· Score: 1
The legislative system has many places like this where it is possible to destroy a bill.
So why don't the Democrats kill the bill that way? Then explain to the public why the bill was a Bad Thing, and why everyone should vote Democratic in the next election to keep all this "Homeland Security" stuff from trampling everyone's rights?
the elected reps should read these discussions
on
HomeSec In the News
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Considering the amount of discussion taking place on/. about these issues, maybe people should also ask their representatives to read/. themselves. Maybe it could be set up that/. emails a link to all the senators and congressmen whenever a "Your Rights Online" or "United States" kind of story is archived. Seeing intelligent discussion about this might make them rethink things. Might. If nothing else, they'll know that some of their voters are against this sort of thing.
16 trillion bytes? Why not just say 16 TB? It's a heck of a lot simpler, and there's no confusion between American and European interpretations of "trillion."
Bart (over the radio): "Rod, Todd, this is God."
Rod: "How did you get on the radio?"
Bart: "What do you mean how did I get on the radio? I created the universe!"
Todd: "Forgive my brother. We believe you."
Bart: "Talk is cheap; perhaps a test of faith: Walk through the wall; I will remove it for you..."
(Rod walks into the wall with a thud)
Bart: "... later... hahaha."
Take one hour of broadcast from CNN for example. Once you've removed all the ads, the logos, intros, thankyous, redundancies, credits, and teasers, you have about 6 minutes of content.
But we're talking about when major world news stories like 9/11 hit. On 9/11, most TV stations were showing constant news coverage, preempting regular programming and often commercials too. If the news is important enough, they make time for it.
Due to the increasing numbers of users who choose broadband for Internet access, and the low price of an Ethernet card, many (I would guess most) home computers now DO come with Ethernet standard, or at least it's a matter of "choose one of: modem or Ethernet."
The univeristy doesn't declare certain types of machines illegal, they just refuse to support them.
Read the link; they don't just refuse to give tech support to users of Win2k, they block Internet access to Win2k machines. So, in other words, Win2k is illegal on ResNet.
But if you left them in your house, and forgot to lock your front door, and someone came in and took them (then left a sign by the road saying "this house is unlocked! help yourself!") then that would be a crime.
Well obviously the act of entering your house and taking your beer would be a crime. But is it a crime to leave a sign saying "this house is unlocked!" if you don't take anything?
Nokia has condemned unauthorized access to wireless networks as theft, which slightly makes sense from some point of view (not that I agree with them). But to condemn warchalking as theft too? That's saying that leaving the sign is illegal. IANAL, but I don't think it is.
It's my opinion that having an unsecured network effectively authorizes outside access. Any computer in range will detect the SSID, which is almost like advertising the network. It's a trivial matter to enable WEP, so these companies have no excuse to complain.
I know WEP is not perfect, but by enabling WEP, a company has effectively said "this network is private," and in that case, attempting to gain access should be considered stealing. Also, any hacking of the company's local network should be (well it is) illegal. But simply using the AP for internet access? What's the problem? Just be polite and don't download hundreds of megs of warez and moviez, etc.
his pagerank may go up from all this coverage
on
Mr Anti-Google
·
· Score: 1
Forget about removing the tinfoil hats; chances are his PageRank is going up a bunch right now with all this press coverage he's been getting. What's the PageRank at/.? Salon? Ahh, irony.
They really should sell the Superdrive as an aftermarket accessory. I just took advantage of about $270 in rebates (no longer available, sorry) at amazon.com, and bought myself an iBook. But they were sold out of the 700 MHz ones (with the Combo drives), so I'm stuck with a CD-ROM drive.
I'd like to buy an Apple Combo drive or Superdrive, but they don't sell them as add-ons. I'm certainly not going to replace my brand new laptop just to get a Combo drive or Superdrive, I'm just going to get a drive from another manufacturer. If Apple wants to make money on hardware, they should actually try selling it.
So whats the big difference between this and the logs of your phone calls that get tracked right now ?
Well, for one thing, a list of URLs gives more information about what you were doing or looking at. Phone call records only have the number called and the time, unless there's a wiretap (only by court order).
For frig's sake, you live in a democracy, not a perfect system but the best known to man after many centuries of trying.
Don't want to start a debate about democracy, but have you heard of a meritocracy? The weight of your vote is based on your merits (eg karma). Would be nice if it could be implemented.
Don't assume that everyone in power is corrupt and that all such record keeping is evil.
I'm not assuming that. But a lot of people in general are corrupt, and much of this record keeping is unnecessary. What will access logs tell you anyway? These terrorists (or whoever they're trying to catch) could conduct business just fine over a secure connection, and at the same time, they could bribe a corrupt employee at the ISP to doctor the logs to frame someone else. I'm not expecting this to happen, mainly because I just don't see what point there is in keeping these logs. How will the information be useful? Any specifics? I don't mean just "for catching terrorists."
Okay, I think it's scary that I'm becoming so used to these new crackdowns on my online rights that I don't even think about why they're doing it; I just accept that they're trying yet again to control things they have no business in.
So, here's the question. Why do they need to keep logs of web page accesses?
Just because something seems "obvious" or "inevitable" doesn't mean it can't be patented.
If it's "obvious", there should be prior use, then it can't be patented.
And it's "inevitable" that, for example, we will have faster processors in the future, yet they will be patented, and why not?
The patent must not be too broad, and from the sounds of it, this patent doesn't cover all email forwarding, so it's probably a reasonable patent, if there has been no prior use.
But they aren't legally required to give you a copy. They are required to give you the source code and the right to re-sell or give it away if you got the product from them. If you didn't get the product from them they are under no obligation to provide it to you.
Thanks for that correction. Sorry, I forgot that GPL software is free (as in speech), but not always free (as in beer). Moment of stupidity.:P
I took a look at The Free Software Definition to brush up after my mistake; have a read for yourself if you need. innocent_white_lamb, you seem to know your stuff already, though.:)
Sigma Designs even admitted, at least the first time they were contacted by XVID, that they were infringing. So they shouldn't have to prove asm similarity as closely as they would without this admission of guilt.
XVID could argue that Sigma Designs has now enough time to modify their code just enough to produce different asm, but that the code still infringes.
The actual source code should be brought into evidence, and if possible, Sigma's CVS (or other version-control) history. A judge should be able to force them to reveal source code in court, although perhaps not as part of the public record.
I'm not sure why they stopped coding, but I can understand (possibly) why they stopped distributing the codec. If you look at the project website, you'll see that they advise you to contact Sigma Designs, who will be legally required to give you a copy. This puts more pressure on Sigma Designs, and if they refuse to give out copies of the codec, it provides the XVID team even more ammunition to use against Sigma Designs in a lawsuit.
I've put a copy of my work report up on my webspace. Take a look if you're interested; it provides a good comparison against Java, and shows why C# is, in my opinion, inferior: Every chance they had to do something right, they blew it. Sorry the link took so long to get up.
Slashdot Mirror
And you'll have completely burnt your bridges with the company. This sounds like a pretty severe course of action, more like seeking revenge.
<simpsons>
Lenny: Nothing beats revenge for getting back at people.
Carl: I dunno; vengeance is pretty good too.
</simpsons>
It really depends on your relationship with the company, and whether you perhaps have an interest in doing any work for them in the future.
Considering that the poster is out of work, he may be better off to learn from this experience, and hope that his inadvertent generosity leads them to call him again when they have trouble, at which point he can negotiate a good fee, or maybe get his job back, if they need him so often.
Alternatively, if he needs the money, IANAL, but I think small claims court is a better way to go, rather than seeking the services of a collection agency. A small claims court will affirm (or deny) his legal right to payment for the services, and might get the company to pay any costs associated with bringing them to court. A collection agency would charge him, and it's hard to tack that cost onto your bill to the company, if it hasn't been agreed to beforehand.
If people are going to just copy and paste the original article into /., I think it should be practice to only mod up when it's posted anonymously. I just think that in general, it's not especially fair for people to get karma just for posting what someone else originally wrote.
I dunno, man. We're talking about a whole colony of ants here. In an iBook. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think you're the exception to the rule if you're not thinking "ew! ew!"
Take a look at her switch ad. The second I read the parent, I was LMAO. Oh, if only I had points to mod it (+5,Funny).
My favorite from this issue (courtesy of Prof. Vasiga):
"'Expected' is one of those words you can use at work. I expect to get this job done by Friday... that's not saying it's going to get done. I also expect to win the lottery, quit this job, and tell you all to piss off."
"So, a sphere is like a ball, right?"
Half the class couldn't contain their laughter (I mean, it's a second-year course for math majors), and my row started a pool to get someone to ask:
"So, a cylinder is like a pipe, right?"
It got up to about $10, but unfortunately, there were no takers.
So why don't the Democrats kill the bill that way? Then explain to the public why the bill was a Bad Thing, and why everyone should vote Democratic in the next election to keep all this "Homeland Security" stuff from trampling everyone's rights?
Considering the amount of discussion taking place on /. about these issues, maybe people should also ask their representatives to read /. themselves. Maybe it could be set up that /. emails a link to all the senators and congressmen whenever a "Your Rights Online" or "United States" kind of story is archived. Seeing intelligent discussion about this might make them rethink things. Might. If nothing else, they'll know that some of their voters are against this sort of thing.
Optical Mouse LED Replacement Guide
16 trillion bytes? Why not just say 16 TB? It's a heck of a lot simpler, and there's no confusion between American and European interpretations of "trillion."
1: Feed pigeon massive steroid doses.
2:
3: Big assed bird!!!
4: ???
5: Profit!!!
Bart (over the radio): "Rod, Todd, this is God." ..." ... hahaha."
Rod: "How did you get on the radio?"
Bart: "What do you mean how did I get on the radio? I created the universe!"
Todd: "Forgive my brother. We believe you."
Bart: "Talk is cheap; perhaps a test of faith: Walk through the wall; I will remove it for you
(Rod walks into the wall with a thud)
Bart: "... later
But we're talking about when major world news stories like 9/11 hit. On 9/11, most TV stations were showing constant news coverage, preempting regular programming and often commercials too. If the news is important enough, they make time for it.
Due to the increasing numbers of users who choose broadband for Internet access, and the low price of an Ethernet card, many (I would guess most) home computers now DO come with Ethernet standard, or at least it's a matter of "choose one of: modem or Ethernet."
Read the link; they don't just refuse to give tech support to users of Win2k, they block Internet access to Win2k machines. So, in other words, Win2k is illegal on ResNet.
Well obviously the act of entering your house and taking your beer would be a crime. But is it a crime to leave a sign saying "this house is unlocked!" if you don't take anything?
Nokia has condemned unauthorized access to wireless networks as theft, which slightly makes sense from some point of view (not that I agree with them). But to condemn warchalking as theft too? That's saying that leaving the sign is illegal. IANAL, but I don't think it is.
It's my opinion that having an unsecured network effectively authorizes outside access. Any computer in range will detect the SSID, which is almost like advertising the network. It's a trivial matter to enable WEP, so these companies have no excuse to complain.
I know WEP is not perfect, but by enabling WEP, a company has effectively said "this network is private," and in that case, attempting to gain access should be considered stealing. Also, any hacking of the company's local network should be (well it is) illegal. But simply using the AP for internet access? What's the problem? Just be polite and don't download hundreds of megs of warez and moviez, etc.
Forget about removing the tinfoil hats; chances are his PageRank is going up a bunch right now with all this press coverage he's been getting. What's the PageRank at /.? Salon? Ahh, irony.
I'd like to buy an Apple Combo drive or Superdrive, but they don't sell them as add-ons. I'm certainly not going to replace my brand new laptop just to get a Combo drive or Superdrive, I'm just going to get a drive from another manufacturer. If Apple wants to make money on hardware, they should actually try selling it.
Well, for one thing, a list of URLs gives more information about what you were doing or looking at. Phone call records only have the number called and the time, unless there's a wiretap (only by court order).
For frig's sake, you live in a democracy, not a perfect system but the best known to man after many centuries of trying.
Don't want to start a debate about democracy, but have you heard of a meritocracy? The weight of your vote is based on your merits (eg karma). Would be nice if it could be implemented.
Don't assume that everyone in power is corrupt and that all such record keeping is evil.
I'm not assuming that. But a lot of people in general are corrupt, and much of this record keeping is unnecessary. What will access logs tell you anyway? These terrorists (or whoever they're trying to catch) could conduct business just fine over a secure connection, and at the same time, they could bribe a corrupt employee at the ISP to doctor the logs to frame someone else. I'm not expecting this to happen, mainly because I just don't see what point there is in keeping these logs. How will the information be useful? Any specifics? I don't mean just "for catching terrorists."
So, here's the question. Why do they need to keep logs of web page accesses?
If it's "obvious", there should be prior use, then it can't be patented.
And it's "inevitable" that, for example, we will have faster processors in the future, yet they will be patented, and why not?
The patent must not be too broad, and from the sounds of it, this patent doesn't cover all email forwarding, so it's probably a reasonable patent, if there has been no prior use.
Thanks for that correction. Sorry, I forgot that GPL software is free (as in speech), but not always free (as in beer). Moment of stupidity. :P
I took a look at The Free Software Definition to brush up after my mistake; have a read for yourself if you need. innocent_white_lamb, you seem to know your stuff already, though. :)
XVID could argue that Sigma Designs has now enough time to modify their code just enough to produce different asm, but that the code still infringes.
The actual source code should be brought into evidence, and if possible, Sigma's CVS (or other version-control) history. A judge should be able to force them to reveal source code in court, although perhaps not as part of the public record.
I'm not sure why they stopped coding, but I can understand (possibly) why they stopped distributing the codec. If you look at the project website, you'll see that they advise you to contact Sigma Designs, who will be legally required to give you a copy. This puts more pressure on Sigma Designs, and if they refuse to give out copies of the codec, it provides the XVID team even more ammunition to use against Sigma Designs in a lawsuit.
I've put a copy of my work report up on my webspace. Take a look if you're interested; it provides a good comparison against Java, and shows why C# is, in my opinion, inferior: Every chance they had to do something right, they blew it. Sorry the link took so long to get up.