Well, I happen to think that Lincoln made a mistake, too. But that's neither here nor there. The biggest difference I can see is that Lincoln was fighting a tooth-and-toenail war with another organization. He had well-defined goals (preserve the union). This 'War on Terror' is less like the Civil War and more like the War on Drugs or the War on Poverty, and those have been going on for decades with no end in sight.
In essence, Lincoln said 'when we win the war', and Bush says 'whenever'.
There's been a lot of fuss and bother about this issue, but it this question (Do students enjoy Free Speech?) has already been decided. And been decided more than once.
In fact, on such case was decided right here in Des Moines, Iowa, my home town.
First Amendment rights, applied in light of the special characteristics of the school environment, are available to teachers and students. It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.
Looks to me as if the school board in this case should apologize immediately. Maybe they can avoid the law suit I see on the horizon.
For those of you too young to remember, or too lazy to read the case notes:
A couple of High School students wore black armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War. The school suspended them. They sued. They took it to the Supreme Court which said it WAS a Free Speech Issue. The school lost, the kids won.
Maybe the school board needs a refresher course in American History?
It sounds to me as if people are answering two different questions.
1) Is the Google Library Project a Good Thing(tm) for an author?
2) Is it legal for Google to scan books without the owner's express permission?
The answer to question 1 is a guarded yes. What research has been done suggests that the more your stuff is on the net, the more you sell. Check the notes on the 'Baen Free Library' http://www.baen.com/library/ for more details.
The answer to question 2 is a resounding 'No'. Google does NOT have the right to digitize and make available portions of books, chapters of books or even pages of books without the owner's permission.
Those two questions don't really have a lot to do with each other. Please make sure that when the question is "Is It Legal?" you're not answering "Is It Beneficial?"
The reason worms/viruses/etc spread so quickly is the software monoculture. Imagine a company with 300 computer users, evenly spread between Linux, Windows, Mac and Other. With Firefox/IE/Safari/Opera/etc all in use. Now imagine yourself as a virus writer that would like to bring that company to its knees. Sound like more trouble than it's worth?
Suppose all 300 users are running Win98 and IE 5.5. NOW think about writing that virus/worm/malware. Sounds a lot easier, doesn't it? Anything that makes life harder for the bad guys is a Good Thing(tm).
If Linux/FF had a 90% Market Share, I'd encourage everybody around me to use Microsoft Windows and IE. OK, Mac & Safari but you get the idea.
Of course, the next best thing to a multi-cultural environment, is to be the 'odd man out'. Ask any Mac user how he feels when the rest of the company is in a blind panic over the latest Windows Worm.
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Well, I happen to think that Lincoln made a mistake, too. But that's neither here nor there. The biggest difference I can see is that Lincoln was fighting a tooth-and-toenail war with another organization. He had well-defined goals (preserve the union). This 'War on Terror' is less like the Civil War and more like the War on Drugs or the War on Poverty, and those have been going on for decades with no end in sight. In essence, Lincoln said 'when we win the war', and Bush says 'whenever'.
In fact, on such case was decided right here in Des Moines, Iowa, my home town.
The Case was "TINKER v. DES MOINES SCHOOL DIST., 393 U.S. 503 (1969)" http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?c ourt=US&vol=393&invol=503
Let me quote a little of the decision:
Looks to me as if the school board in this case should apologize immediately. Maybe they can avoid the law suit I see on the horizon.
For those of you too young to remember, or too lazy to read the case notes: A couple of High School students wore black armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War. The school suspended them. They sued. They took it to the Supreme Court which said it WAS a Free Speech Issue. The school lost, the kids won.
Maybe the school board needs a refresher course in American History?
1) Is the Google Library Project a Good Thing(tm) for an author?
2) Is it legal for Google to scan books without the owner's express permission?
The answer to question 1 is a guarded yes. What research has been done suggests that the more your stuff is on the net, the more you sell. Check the notes on the 'Baen Free Library' http://www.baen.com/library/ for more details.
The answer to question 2 is a resounding 'No'. Google does NOT have the right to digitize and make available portions of books, chapters of books or even pages of books without the owner's permission.
Those two questions don't really have a lot to do with each other. Please make sure that when the question is "Is It Legal?" you're not answering "Is It Beneficial?"
Thank You.
The reason worms/viruses/etc spread so quickly is the software monoculture. Imagine a company with 300 computer users, evenly spread between Linux, Windows, Mac and Other. With Firefox/IE/Safari/Opera/etc all in use. Now imagine yourself as a virus writer that would like to bring that company to its knees. Sound like more trouble than it's worth?
Suppose all 300 users are running Win98 and IE 5.5. NOW think about writing that virus/worm/malware. Sounds a lot easier, doesn't it? Anything that makes life harder for the bad guys is a Good Thing(tm).
If Linux/FF had a 90% Market Share, I'd encourage everybody around me to use Microsoft Windows and IE. OK, Mac & Safari but you get the idea.
Of course, the next best thing to a multi-cultural environment, is to be the 'odd man out'. Ask any Mac user how he feels when the rest of the company is in a blind panic over the latest Windows Worm.
Dave "20 years of Tech Support" Reed