There are the batteries - unto themselves they tend to be particularly nasty, and people generally don't think to take tehse to a proper disposal site. AFAIK, even NiCad batteries are classified as hazardous material.
No, seriously. Gimp, from what I've seen, is highly scalable, so it should not be a problem to set up a few scripts and attach a plotter on/dev/lpr or wherever. Good luck!
As always, IANAL. One typically provides a URL when they spam, which can typically be traced somehow to a physical address. How this is done is left as an exercise, but in the end it'll probably involve a subpoena. The message can be traced by IP (the modern MTA's will implant them in the headers), the provider can take their own action. As for subpoena, if you want to take action, you need one against the ISP providing the account to the user.
One way or another, you *can* find them.`
The "copy-protected" logo, in the tradition of catering to stupid^H^H^H^H^H^H the less adept of consumers, will have to be something recognizeable. I would suggest having a silhouette of a pair of rabbits, one atop the other, with the traditional circle-and-slash combo over it, with text captioning underneath that indicates the disk (theoretically) cannot be copied.
The only problem I see is with dense customers asking, "why would rabbits want to copy compact discs?"
...that this is an election year. CA26 is basically the San Fernando valley, north of Los Angeles. Remember, if we don't like him, we don't have to vote for him again.
Caveat: he's doing this now. I don't think this is a year for him to go on the ballot. Dammit.
I'm not sure what they're trying to do, but the gang at FSF just doesn't fail to disappoint. One can always count on them for dogged persistence, even if something's surpassed them.
OK, this is now third party information, but I have it from a reliable source: one of the attorneys I work with.
Short version: you likely have nothing to worry about.
Longer version: If the CEO goes through with his threat to contact the FBI, they will send a written inquiry to you requesting a response. Respond and explain. If you are sued, bring in your copy and have it ready for defense.
Either way, per his opinion, you probably have nothing to worry about, but definitely get an attorney if you aren't sure.
The late 16th President of the United States said that whoever represents himself in court has a fool for a client, in not so many words. (Remember, Honest Abe was an attorney.)
Be that as it may, your best advice is to address this letter to the legal department of the company. One thing to mention is that klez will say the virus came from whoever it damn well pleases.
Now consider this: in order for our friendly CEO to determine where to send the paperwork, he has to subpoena your ISP. In order to subpoena the ISP, he or his rep needs to go to court. The subpoena is something that the provider has to comply with, but there may be something where the ISP can ask just why this data is being requested. But I digress.
This is indeed a scenario where you need somebody to be at bat for you. Yes, you can represent yourself, and with the details you can probably countersue for lost time and legal fees - but, like many of us here on/., IANAL.
As for the FBI, you probably have nothing to worry about there. They are fully aware of the virus and its actions as explained by NIPC, at this link. In short, the man now looks like a fool in front of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and they will probably dismiss him outright. It is in fact probably the case that this will be the undoing of everything, but again, check with an attorney.
Near as I can tell, there is no technicality. The fourth amendment prohibits unreasonable search and seizure. There are workarounds, like anything, but that's the general rule.
Flamebait me if you will, but something to consider is that these people are still "suspects". It has not yet been made self evident that they are indeed the perpetrators, and as such, they should be considered innocent until proven guilty. As far as the stolen cars go, yes, definitely keep 'em on that (please read the article, people, there were two cars involved) - but if you can acquire evidence against them (even if it's just the plunderings from the bank), even better!
But on the other hand, the ability to get into a system and implement such cracks is, AFAICT, usually due to PEBKAC on the part of either the user or (in rare cases) the admin using an easily guessable password. I know users who I have told again and again to at least l33t their password to hinder a few searchbots. And then there are the people who are just plain too lazy to patch their machines.
Yes, there are the security holes inherent in any operating system, and thank God for Mandrake's patch system (in my case), not to mention the uncanny ability of the open source community to crank out patches within hours of discovering holes. So let's use them.
To clarify, we are not at war. Congress must declare war. I can't remember all due clauses, but if I remember correctly, then and only then can Congress, out of internal security measures, abridge freedom of speech. Yes, it winds up being propaganda, but it's this sort of thing that keeps the likes of Dan Rather from explaining our intended military strategy over the airwaves. For further reference, see the United States Constitution, which if I remember correctly governs declarations of war and all due side effects.
But again, we aren't at war. Accordingly, while this post may be a bit redundant, and also keeping in mind all due disclaimers (IANAL), I don't forsee the patriot act being upheld by the supreme court. What I predict will happen is that the US Supreme Court will strike it down, all the proponents of the act will pull a McCarthy on the Supreme Court, and we will go from there.
Anybody remember this, and that one of the questions was something to the effect of "Have you ever not cared that you were voiding the warranty to a computer you purchased?"
Think of it, this is a game box, and it's not so much for the sake that the machine can be hacked. Point being, it's a game.
On the other hand, we never did see Novell Netware for the Nintendo. Perhaps this is the answer to the lack thereof. =^_^=
Slashdot Mirror
There are the batteries - unto themselves they tend to be particularly nasty, and people generally don't think to take tehse to a proper disposal site. AFAIK, even NiCad batteries are classified as hazardous material.
This kinda looks like a set of gyroscopes in an integrated circut. Impressive....
No, seriously. Gimp, from what I've seen, is highly scalable, so it should not be a problem to set up a few scripts and attach a plotter on /dev/lpr or wherever. Good luck!
ed(1) is the standard editor.
Well, leave it to the US Government to charge exorbiantly high prices just to shoot something up into the air.
As always, IANAL. One typically provides a URL when they spam, which can typically be traced somehow to a physical address. How this is done is left as an exercise, but in the end it'll probably involve a subpoena. The message can be traced by IP (the modern MTA's will implant them in the headers), the provider can take their own action. As for subpoena, if you want to take action, you need one against the ISP providing the account to the user. One way or another, you *can* find them.`
Have an assay done. See what's in it.
The only problem I see is with dense customers asking, "why would rabbits want to copy compact discs?"
Caveat: he's doing this now. I don't think this is a year for him to go on the ballot. Dammit.
That, sir, is Zen and the art of Scheduling Projects.
Good show, RMS.
Short version: you likely have nothing to worry about.
Longer version: If the CEO goes through with his threat to contact the FBI, they will send a written inquiry to you requesting a response. Respond and explain. If you are sued, bring in your copy and have it ready for defense.
Either way, per his opinion, you probably have nothing to worry about, but definitely get an attorney if you aren't sure.
Be that as it may, your best advice is to address this letter to the legal department of the company. One thing to mention is that klez will say the virus came from whoever it damn well pleases.
Now consider this: in order for our friendly CEO to determine where to send the paperwork, he has to subpoena your ISP. In order to subpoena the ISP, he or his rep needs to go to court. The subpoena is something that the provider has to comply with, but there may be something where the ISP can ask just why this data is being requested. But I digress.
This is indeed a scenario where you need somebody to be at bat for you. Yes, you can represent yourself, and with the details you can probably countersue for lost time and legal fees - but, like many of us here on /., IANAL.
As for the FBI, you probably have nothing to worry about there. They are fully aware of the virus and its actions as explained by NIPC, at this link. In short, the man now looks like a fool in front of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and they will probably dismiss him outright. It is in fact probably the case that this will be the undoing of everything, but again, check with an attorney.
Once again, it is demonstrated that corporations and attorneys know what is best for the people.
As usual, management has all the answers to our security problems.
Flamebait me if you will, but something to consider is that these people are still "suspects". It has not yet been made self evident that they are indeed the perpetrators, and as such, they should be considered innocent until proven guilty. As far as the stolen cars go, yes, definitely keep 'em on that (please read the article, people, there were two cars involved) - but if you can acquire evidence against them (even if it's just the plunderings from the bank), even better!
Now the whole world knows that we're spying on On Star users by way of our friends at the CIA.
Yes, there are the security holes inherent in any operating system, and thank God for Mandrake's patch system (in my case), not to mention the uncanny ability of the open source community to crank out patches within hours of discovering holes. So let's use them.
But again, we aren't at war. Accordingly, while this post may be a bit redundant, and also keeping in mind all due disclaimers (IANAL), I don't forsee the patriot act being upheld by the supreme court. What I predict will happen is that the US Supreme Court will strike it down, all the proponents of the act will pull a McCarthy on the Supreme Court, and we will go from there.
They remain bankrupt, and if Mr. Ballmer's commentary is any indication, that bankruptcy is of intellect.
Think of it, this is a game box, and it's not so much for the sake that the machine can be hacked. Point being, it's a game.
On the other hand, we never did see Novell Netware for the Nintendo. Perhaps this is the answer to the lack thereof. =^_^=
If the United States couldn't keep the country legally dry, what is there to make one think that introducing a monkey wrench will stop a hacker?