Sorry dude, as one of the guys who bailed out to Canada when Bush first got elected, I can tell you that it is far from easy to move and work in Canada.
Work issues first. Since there is brutal taxation here (49%) it is of course impossible to get a job without a SIN number (equivelent of the yankee SS number). It is also impossible to get health care without the social insurance number. Finally, the US has been actively destroying the economy of most Canadian Provinces. In BC, softwood lumber duties, the destruction of the finacial districts, the obliteration of the high tech field, destruction of the salmon fisheries by US fleets, The complete end of mining and a host of other things forced down the throats of Canadians by the US has led to a lot of unemployment and frustration. Canadians have never been particularly fond of yanks anyway and with massive numbers of Canadians be laid off because of US "free trade" policies, that sentiment has not disappeared. Trying to get a real job in Canada from Canadians is not easy or likely for any American.
Hassle and paperwork are also both easier and harder than you think. If you somehow get here legally and have a SIN then your paperwork nightmare is just begun. Without the magical SIN, your hassles are only just beginning.
Its not a stupid question, it requires some *actual* knowledge of how american politics works.
Howard Berman is the remaining guy of what used to be called the Waxman/Berman Machine. Essentially, this is the political machine that directs most of the Hollywood political contributions. There is no possiblity of him ever running in a district where he could lose and his finacial base is so strong that he could easily outspend any opponent 100 to 1. Berman is the conduit for a major portion of the party funds. He is literally undefeatable. And it is very much in the party interest to make sure the money keeps flowing so his invulnerability will remain for the forseeable future.
on March 20 of this year, I wrote the following letter to Robin Gross of EFF expressing my dismay and anger at the activities of these spyware companies.
Dear Ms. Gross
I am writing to express my concern that my attempts to financially support
EFF have been stolen by Morpheus and similar companies. I have long been
careful to use the Amazon Affiliate Button on your front page for all of my
book purchases. I have felt that doing this combined to support what I
believe in simply and effectively. Since my purchases have been well over
$1000 per year for at least the last two years, I know that it has to have
been worth at least some money to EFF.
It has recently become apparent that Morpheus et al. have been placing
software such as TopText and other scumware on users machines. These
programs have the sole purpose of rewriting affiliate links. This
effectively redirects the financial benefits of these links to the scumware
operators. To put it bluntly, this is theft, no different than if they had
stolen the affiliate checks and written their own names as payee.
I have supported the EFF for years. I supported Morpheus partly because of
EFF's support of them. But I am frankly disgusted by this turn of events. As
the Director of the Campaign for Audiovisual Free Expression, and a staff
attorney for EFF for Fair Use and Intellectual Property, I believe that you
may well be the single best person to let them know they have gone too far.
To take a principled stand on Fair Use is one thing. To pump ads to users
while using the software is also perfectly legit. To actively steal revenue
from other people, companies and organizations, even after the user has
supposedly removed the software, without notice is simply beyond
comprehension.
Shortly thereafter, I recieved this reply from Robin
Thanks for your message and concern. We've been informed that was a very brief test and has been completely disabled. If the company wishes to do this in the future, they will be sure permissions are granted in advance of rerouting trafficking.
Best,
Robin
Perhaps Robin needs to revisit this issue with these scumbags.
But it really doesn't mean anything since everyone who points out the problems with elections equipment are routinely ignored.
Purchasing elections systems has nothing to do with quality, trustworthiness or even sanity. It is a political decision made by politicians. There are only two questions for politicians making this decision. Is it cheap enough that I can't get raked over by the cost? Will it help/hurt the people I need to vote/notvote for me in order to hold on to power?
That second question in particular is the true driving force for all election system purchase decisions. Every politician knows if he needs old folks, poor people, rich people, republicans, democrats, dog lovers, cat lovers and an endless list of possible groups. If the elections equipment is harder for old folks, a politician who needs them will never agree.
Somehow I don't think this would sound like a good idea the next time you appear before a judge or a planning commission or even the local Sheriff. Is there anyone more likely to be able to check in the county computer for your voting history?
If it is possible to identify how a person voted, elections become a method for building enemy lists. That is why the secrecy of the ballot is the first requirement for free elections.
Last I heard, OC was still using a Votematic type punchcard system (PollStar is the variant I think you are describing). Funny how you missed the concept that this is the exact same system used in Florida 2000. So I guess you also missed exactly how so called hanging chad happens.
Hanging Chad: The stylus punched through but didn't tear the last little bit off. This is usually counted as a vote.
Dimpled Chad: For some reason, the chads from previous voters did not fall through, clogging up the space with previous chads. The result is a clear indentation in the chad from the stylus but because the space for the stylus to pass through is full, all it can do is dimple the paper. This is also caused by glue or other stuff in the hole either accidentally or intentionally damaging the guide to change the results in a precinct. If you will recall the bilingual education initiatives of 1994, you will also recall the widespread use of glue in the holes in OC.
Pregnant Chad: The chad is bowed in but not imprinted with the force of the stylus. This is usually caused by the voter placing the stylus in the wrong hole and then pulling it out. The chad is a little bowed but is not otherwise disturbed.
A Dimpled Chad is probably a vote but a Pregnant Chad is probably not. However, determining if a particular chad is one or the other is a problem that would make Solomon nuts. Then of course, simply moving the ballots around is sufficient to dislodge some chads.
As for OC being a pargon of virtue when it comes to elections, look at what happened in the 46th Congressional District in 1996. Nativo Lopez has never gone to jail for rigging the election of a US Congressman. The disaster of 2000 can be directly traced to the decision by congress to ignore a clearly rigged election. That decision lead directly to the free for all that happened in Florida.
Orange County would be my personal favorite example of how not to run an election except that there are so many states and counties that are so much worse.
Open Source vs. Closed Source is a non-issue in elections software. Both sides have advantages and both sides have critical flaws. Fundamentally, the software is utterly simple. The critical issue is security of the associated data files.
There are certification and escrow systems in place already. Essentially, the each states top elections official places a copy of the software and its supporting files into escrow after testing it with specially prepared input (cards etc.) If there is any question about the integrity of the software, the escrow system is used. This obvious precaution is pretty much required regardless of Open or Closed Source. At least, I have never seen an Election Code which didn't require something like this for all software.
Obvious Fact: Counting votes is really simple (10 lines? less?) Not So Obvious Fact: The files telling the counting software how to assign meaning to the count are a critical weakness and rather complex. This can also be said as "Assigning meaning to the counts is very difficult".
An election with winner takes all (congress, governor etc) will also have a "Choose X number" of candidates (school board, city council, party commitee) and probably an initiative with a "Yes/No" option. Then there are things like recalls which are tied questions like "Yes/No to remove him" followed with "Replace him with which candidate". All of these possible methods for counting marks must be described and programmed into the system. Usually by changing values in a lookup table.
Now add in the next problem. Precincts. A vote tallied in the 7th line of the 3rd column could mean a vote for Joe Blow for city council in precinct 301 but in precinct 783 line 7 column 3 means a yes vote for the new park bonds. All the counting software can tell you is that 7,3 is marked. New definition files are needed for every precinct for every election.
Closed or Open Source does not really enter into this problem. Far more insidious is the threats to the security of the definition files. Most counties simply use the mainframe that runs everything else in the county. After all, the counting is only done twice a year, a dedicated computer would cost a lot of money. I will leave it to the slashdot imaginations all of the ways that there are to get into a county computer system.
Close Source: You have to trust that all of the people who see the source and data files have integrity. You have to secure the machines doing the counting.
Open Source: You have to trust that all of the people who see the source and data files have integrity. You have to secure the machines doing the counting.
Either way, most elections involve huge amounts of money and power. A billion dollar bond issue will have somebody willing to put up $50 million in bribes to make sure the election comes out the right way. Even the most hard core zealots are going to be tempted by dollars like that. Not to mention the vast swarms of people who really are true believers in whatever side.
The Sharpe case was about just two of the many many changes against the guy. In essence, the court said that the artistic merit defense was valid for the stories he wrote. Not the pictures etc. He will still be in jail for a very long time for those.
A much better example is the Medical Marijuana case where a judge declared it to be a basic human right under the security clause. The government is growing the weed because the judge declared that if there wasn't a way for the patients to get it, he would stike down the ENTIRE marijuana laws. The government is not happy and dragging its feet but it can't simply ignore it or buy some other result from a different judge.
Current speculation is that the games being played by Health Canada about releasing the weed will result in the judge making good his threat.
The Charter generally works because the judges are free to use common sense and apply basic principles. The US Consitution is failing because judges are required to consider only narrow subjects and are required to accept other judgements which are basically silly to anyone who thinks about them for a few seconds. Thus, in the states, most freedoms are lost by cumulative judgements which get further and further from any basis in reality. The judges are not allowed to simply look at the results and say it is time to change course.
This comparision gets much worse when the two countries are compared. In Canada, the Medical Marijuana activists are called heros by the most conservative papers. Even the police admit that bringing a bunch of sick people into court simply gets the judge pissed off at the police. In California, ALL of the activists who got 215 passed are either in jail, in Canada or DEAD in police custody.
Please read something other than the HSA controlled american media. It will open your eyes.
Stop listening to the FUD from the Homeland Security Agency. Here is fact:
Not one of the terrorists who attacked the US came via Canada. In fact, the only terrorist who has *ever* attempted to use Canada to stage an attack on the US was caught by Canada.
Just because the yanks have decided to have a police state doesn't mean we should. Yes, people who are aren't committing crimes are free to do what they wish, where they wish without any permission/documents/authorization from the Gestapo/KGB/Homeland Security goons.
Its called a free nation, and the US is no longer a free nation, no comparision, not even close.
Sleeping in a youth hostel, about 15 people in one big room. A very small earthquake (5.1) hit at about dawn. Long rocking motion gently awoke the tiered travelers. Then everyone was wide awake as 2 New Yawkers, a Swede and 5 Germans everyone had thought dead of alcohol poisoning launched out of the doors and windows screaming. Wearing mostly nothing. Leaving a Californian and 6 Japanese to get up and try to capture these poor panic souls and explain earthquakes to them in languages we did not have in common.
The ensuing level of bizareness I leave to your imaginations.
"And that somebody else isn't necessarily talented or anything like that; they're just rich enough to afford the creation hardware."
The creation hardware gets cheaper every day. Its done so for many decades. Systems that are perfectly capable of "creating IP" have a value of almost nil. A major environmental issue coming on the horizon is how to dispose of all the excess computers out there, many of which still work when they are trashed. Cost of hardware is not a problem for the forseeable future.
Once upon a time, all the knowledge of the world was assembled at the Great Library and Western Civilization entered a Golden Age. Shall the Second Great Library be sacked? Not by mobs this time, just lawyers in suits and the banging of a gavel. Yeah or Nay, that is the question before us.
Not a chance of this situation happening. One of the side effects of the approaching singularity is that knowledge of how to make something cheaper follows closely upon attaining knowledge of how to make it at all.
Thus, long before any significant racism/resentment would develop over differences, it will be available to everyone at insignificant cost. Becoming as insignifcant as what type of underwear you prefer.
There is a great deal of question as to whether the infrastructure exists to deliver and administer the anti-AIDS drugs even if they we made available at zero cost.
No there isn't. Provide all of the drugs needed at zero cost and I absolutely garantee you that it will get to the people who need it. They are dying and people who Know they are dying will do what ever they have to. Walk a thousand miles to get it... not a problem if the only other option is to die.
Make the money available. $200,000 is nice but not significant in a Senate camapign. Shoot for 5 Million at least. Sounds like a lot but it isn't. Recall the character assasination job done on Newt Gingrich involved at least $100 Million in negative ads. I hear a fair number of Intel executives who have been abused are pretty steamed. Surely, people like Mr. Groves and friends have a few loose pennies for retaliation. Particularly since it is their livlihoods too. Not to mention all of the other technology executives who might see their continued existance at stake. Even the tech workers can be a source of a couple million. Lets face it, geeks generally make plenty of money and they actually understand why its important. A hundred thousand geeks sending $20 each is a lot of political money. Remember, Hollings sold his soul to Mickey for only $300K
Use the money.
1) Choose a sacrificial politician. Hollings doesn't show up in November so he is out. But there were a lot of congresscritters who voted for the DCMA. Choose one.
2)Choose the best remaining campaign manager in that district or state. By this time, most of the best are booked for the campaign but plenty are waiting for the later stages when some campaign manager gets fired. Pay him what he wants which is usually somewhere around 20% of the expenditures. Hire someone else to be the accountant responsible for filings.
3)Make TV, signage, and radio buys. Inform the sacrificial politician that he is about to have $4 Million in negative ads run against him. Then run every one of the most nasty negative ads you can buy. Make him more hated than a child molestor. Then kick him again.
Have a beer on election day. Win or Lose, every single politician in the country will know that you are willing to play real politics and they better damn well listen. Plus, there will likely now be a politician in office who will be known as the Senator/Congressman from the Net.
Does this sound excessively brutal and nasty? Perhaps unamerican? Welcome to politics, a full contact sport.
Microsoft is simply setting the terms of a transaction to which both parties consent. They are NOT preventing anyone from using the material and selling the result. So long as the terms aren't violated, the user can transfer the product. It seems to my admittedly non legal mind that the secret here is to simply describe that sale in an advantageous way.
There are so many fun variations on the idea of selling that this will drive M$ nuts. Remember that a sale occurs when there is an exchange of value. And the long standing definition of value is "The value of a thing is that which it may bring"
Method One
Sell it in exchange for a "survey response". Put up a page that has two bottons and the question MicroSoft Sucks Yes or No? Clicking either takes you to the download page. The "Seller" is exchanging the software and source in exchange for the "valuable" information from the user. I don't see how M$ could possibly go after this type of sale and distribution of source and binaries. Buying survey answers by offering valuable things has a very long history.
Taking it a step further, anyone who adds code to the software "Sells" it to the copyright holder in exchange for access to the results of the survey. The relative value assigned by the consenting parties to the transaction is entirely between the parties. So long as the eula is not violated, which does not seem to be the case in this hypothetical, there really isn't anything MS could sue about.
Method Two
Treat it as a consignment. Something like:
"By downloading this software, you agree to become a licensed distributor and are required to pay the copyright holder by providing the survey results, if any, obtained from further distributions. In the interests of reducing bandwidth costs, the seller and you agree that the reports are to be filed every 50 million copies distributed"
Making changes to the code could be treated as exactly the same as returning damaged goods under consignment. The consignees are not allowed to "sell" damaged goods and are usually required to return them to the consignor. Thus, under the consignement model, anybody who finds a "damaged" piece of software can "return" it by describing the damage and if they are really helpful, suggesting how it can be fixed.
Method 3 Software as "Work for Hire"
The software is being developed as a work for hire which the user will pay for upon "completetion" of the project. Then the developers simply never declare the project completed (How many projects don't get completed in real contract developemnt?). As with almost all work for hire contracts, providing source and interim versions to the purchaser during developement is a normal requirement. It also reinforces the idea that the users should report to the developers any bugs or missing features since the software can't be complete so long as these exist. For the developer side, treat it as also "Work for Hire" under a barter system. This is like doing dishes at a restaraunt in exhange for a meal. The coder provides source code, bug fixes etc in exchange for the software. I don't see how this violates Microsoft's EULA.
None of these are an optimal solution but one truism of laws is that any attempt to gain an advantage by excessive extrapolation of law can usually be countered by another excessive extrapolation of the law. Microsoft continually tortures the law to thier advantage, there is no reason the Open Source community can't do the same thing.
This hydrogen is molecularly trapped in Granite! 1 cubic meter releases 1000 liters of gas. Even if it did, the energy required to completely mill one cubic meter of granite is most likely more than the energy value of the gas.
2nd problem. Isnt 1000 liters exactly equal to the volume of one cubic meter? So where is all the granite?
I am in Vancouver literally across the street from the Vancouver Sun. Nobody reads it for a reason....
How about Arizona? There are *Lots* of empty spaces, where there are in fact 60,000 acres available. Not to mention plenty of employees since the mines shut down....
Its a great language, it only looks like english but it is actually a positional langue. Thus, the MOST important part is the last half of the first paragraph of the report. $17 million just ain't a whole lot of crime for 16,000 cases.
"During this same time period, the IFCC has referred 16,775 complaints of fraud, the majority of which was committed over the Internet or similar online service. The total dollar loss from all referred cases of fraud was $17.8 million, with a median dollar loss of $435 per complaint. "
congresscritters are not very likely to believe anything of value has come from the evil dreaded "hackers". They see businesses as having created these things and "hackers" as being low life thieves and terrorists.
It does not matter that the scum they are refering to should be called script kiddies or 1337 or crackers or spammers. As far as the politician is likely to know, they are all "Hackers". Which equals CyberTerrorist which equals Terrorist.
Believe it or not, every Representative and Senator was intensly interested in the contents of the USA PATRIOT Act. There was no secret made about including Hackers in that Bill. Nor has it been a secret since then. Nor has there been even the attmpt by these same representatives to change it.
Consider the attacks from a social engineering point of view as it pertains to congressmen.
Every single one of them knew personally at least one person who worked in the Pentagon, WTC, CBS, ABC, and of course, his own office. All places attacked by the 911 and the Anthrax terrorist attacks. Every single Member of Congress has been RIGHT THERE during a terrorist attack and knows personally people who have died in them.
And a couple of weeks later, they were working on USA PATRIOT. In between getting swabbed for anthrax. And yes, this same group of massively traumatized people have the power to create any law, take any action up to and including TEOTWAWKI (The End of the World as we Know It). Noticed anybody dying recently on the orders of the President and Congress?
A lot of the problems we are all screaming about here on/. stem from this very powerful meme common to all congressmen. And the only way to get around this meme is to wait for these congressmen to leave office. Its going to be a very very long 30 years for the entire Bill of Rights.
The tech community gets all warm and fuzzy over Free Speech stuff. The Senator won't. Note how many extreme left Senators are supporting the bill. The Senator will believe that the the clauses aready there cover these things. Senators deal with big money, tend to be lawyers and are usually quite pragmatic. Focus on that when choosing arguments. Try these.
1)RIAA states that its entire industry has sales of about $15 Billion. They are asking for something worth more than their entire industry. Think about this strictly on a money basis. Any technology that MUST be incorporated in EVERY computer, phone, fax, PDA, etc etc is worth far more than $15 Billion, no ifs ands or buts. For comparision, the only single source required component for just computers is Windows, therefor a reasonable valuation of the antipriracy product as specified is on the range of the market cap of Microsoft (Around $300B depending on the market that day). It would be cheaper for the US economy if the entire music industry was simply nationalized and all of its products given away. In essence, the entire music industry for the future will not be valued for creating anything, its value will be based entirely its ownership of the anti-piracy technology. Technology which it refuses to develop for itself, prefering to force the cost of development on the tech industry.
2)By moving copyright violations out of the civil court system and into the federal criminal court system, tens of thousands of copyright lawyers will be out of work. Additionally, there will be major increases in costs for the DOJ to hire criminal prosecutors, and since a federal prision population increase of 10000 is quite forseeable, maybe a couple of billion in increased Bureau of Prisions costs. Not to mention extra judges, clerks bailiffs etc. How much further behind on appointing judges will they get when an extra 10,000 cases per year are dropped on them. Of course, 50 Million Americans would currently be indictable under these provisions so that 10000 figure could be quite low. $15 Billion in in annual expenditures for the Feds is very plausible. Again, more than the industry to be saved is worth.
3)The technology which the music industry demands simply does not exist and there are very strong reasons to believe that it is impossible to create. Don't get techie on the guy, he doesn't understand computers. Tell him in easy to understand words. Remember, RIAA is demanding something that will keep a secret for 95 years, despite millions of people around the planet having the decoding device in their hands. Ask him if he has ever heard of something being kept secret for 95 years.
4)The ability to deny usage by denial of permission for any given stream of bits is part of the specification. Ask him how this will help human rights in China if anything they deem offensive can be blocked simply by flipping a switch in a central location. What does he think will be the response of every newspaper in the country when they realize that in order to publish, they have to get permission from Disney? Yes, they all use computers. Point out how hard it is to run his own political campaigns without using computers. Unless he wants to give ALL of his targeting, literature, call list and other campaign information to Disney, RIAA, Sony etc.
5)Giving this power to Disney and RIAA effectively gives complete veto power over every technology developed. In other words, no matter what Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, IBM or CA builds, Eisner must first give his approval before it can be sold. Without this requirement, there is no way the anti-piracy technology can survive. Use big companies that he has heard of since Senators rarely actually deal much with small businesses, despite the lip service.
Do not mention Open Source. If the Senator has even heard of it, his impressions are of a lot of "semi-communist, long haired furriners" trying to destroy major US corporations. Guess which side he is on. Give him rational solid costs and real constituencies he is going to anger.
Like it or not, he doesn't listen to particular people, not even particular industries. He will NOT listen if you point out how this is going to hurt a lot of very important businesses and groups who will actively try to hurt him next election cycle. Never ever even imply that when talking to him since it will make you look like an amatuer and an idiot. Talking points like those given above will get his attention since he knows with excruciating exactness what pissing off newspapers, big tech firms, anti-China nuts, lawyers and such will result in. Or any other group for that matter. He didn't get where he is by being stupid in that subject so making any kind of an implied threat about it will simply get you tuned out.
Good luck and you must have lots of clout to get a Senator to give an appointment during session. Thanks for risking that clout for all of us.
Actually, since the strategy is to TROLL the net, hosting on BSD first would be the right tactic. This story would have died immediately if they had hosted it on IIS. Sure a few script kiddies would have attacked but that happens every day beyond a doubt. This TROLL specifically attacked the worth of Unix Professionals. Then, it gave them something to scream about by hosting on BSD. Only at this point, when the immediate anger of the various Unix communities are at the peak would the great big target be put right in front of them. Ever seen a bull fight? When the bull is incredibly pissed off, it goes after that red cape allowing the matador to dance around and stick knifes into it.
Perfect execution of a devious strategy by a master strategist. He got a priceless resource at no significant cost and only angered the same groups he has aready targeted for destruction. Or is the Unix community not willing to admit it got hacked by elegant social engineering?
Look at the economic realities of the situation. The Feds took many billions of dollars for 3rd Gen licenses just a few years ago. Until five years ago, virtually everything these Telcos did from the rates they charged to the scheduling of service calls to the dollar amount of profit was controlled by the government. Some have existed for close to 100 years in this quasi-state owned condition. Now look at the bond ratings of these companies today with all that debt hanging over them. A very large chunk of that debt is the money given to the Feds. Remember, these are Blue Chip stocks owned by millions of grandparents and teachers and firemen. It is damned easy to make a political case for extortion of these companies by the US Government. Not a legal case, a Political case which is far far worse for politicians. Remember Condit who to this day has not been accused of anything legally.
There is no ethical way out of extortion for either party once the money has been handed over. Now add into the mix the Enron scandal. The only way these Telcoms survice now is by massive creative accounting. The only way they will survive the next few years without going bankrupt is if they can somehow generate a massive profit in a hurry. Avoiding bankruptcy is also the only way the politicians can avoid a massive political scandal far worse than Enron. They must give these companies some way to make a lot of money until the debt is paid off.
Long distance service is rapidly becoming of near zero value. The Net has built and uses a LOT of bandwidth. Digital Subscriber Line is dedicated to the proposition that it is more profitable to provide a flat rate, unmetered, always on connection for communications than to attempt to measure the usage of the communications. This is rapidly become the clear economic basis of the communications industry in the US for at least the near future.
The FCC has a clear and urgent political need to make damn sure the Telco's survive. The Telco's also have a desperate need to survive, they are surviving by accounting gimicks right now. The economic and political powers will conspire to give the telco's those garanteed profits. One of the best hopes for doing that quietly is to give them a monopoly on the only profitable service: DSL.
I Belive this to be a fair reading of the political tea leaves. The kicker is the California PUC. When deregulation came in, they lost the political power to regulate the profits of Telcos. Meanwhile, they also had a disasterous deregulation of the power industry foisted on them by the CA Legislature. The PUC is gambling that everybody is right about DSL. If they are wrong, the PUC is history. Of course, if they don't regain some power pretty quick, they are also history. By reclaiming political power through economic control of the utilities, they can set things up in the largest market just like they were before deregulation. Now note well, if one state can claim that power, EVERY state can do so. This fits well with the Federal need to give a monopoly while not giving back the money or repealing deregulation. It also fits well with the corporate history and attitude of the Telco's.
My cold bottom line analysis:
The CA PUC will be able to claim the political power to regulate all aspects of the communications industry in the state. Their policies will favor the creation of one or two companies to hold monopolies. This will have the effect of returning the entire political and economic situation in telcoms back to the previous quasi-state owned status quo. The only significant change is that rates will be set by the bandwidth and not by minute. Every political and economic entity involved gets what it wants. Except of course, the consumer. But the consumer also gets a nice brite shiny toy to play with, high speed connections at about $100/month. Just about what they were paying for phone service each month on the previous pay per minute plan.
Slashdot Mirror
True Names by Vernor Vinge had the online video game that killed you. Included a sex function BTW. Published early in the 70's if I recall correctly.
Sorry dude, as one of the guys who bailed out to Canada when Bush first got elected, I can tell you that it is far from easy to move and work in Canada.
Work issues first. Since there is brutal taxation here (49%) it is of course impossible to get a job without a SIN number (equivelent of the yankee SS number). It is also impossible to get health care without the social insurance number. Finally, the US has been actively destroying the economy of most Canadian Provinces. In BC, softwood lumber duties, the destruction of the finacial districts, the obliteration of the high tech field, destruction of the salmon fisheries by US fleets, The complete end of mining and a host of other things forced down the throats of Canadians by the US has led to a lot of unemployment and frustration. Canadians have never been particularly fond of yanks anyway and with massive numbers of Canadians be laid off because of US "free trade" policies, that sentiment has not disappeared. Trying to get a real job in Canada from Canadians is not easy or likely for any American.
Hassle and paperwork are also both easier and harder than you think. If you somehow get here legally and have a SIN then your paperwork nightmare is just begun. Without the magical SIN, your hassles are only just beginning.
Its not a stupid question, it requires some *actual* knowledge of how american politics works.
Howard Berman is the remaining guy of what used to be called the Waxman/Berman Machine. Essentially, this is the political machine that directs most of the Hollywood political contributions. There is no possiblity of him ever running in a district where he could lose and his finacial base is so strong that he could easily outspend any opponent 100 to 1. Berman is the conduit for a major portion of the party funds. He is literally undefeatable. And it is very much in the party interest to make sure the money keeps flowing so his invulnerability will remain for the forseeable future.
on March 20 of this year, I wrote the following letter to Robin Gross of EFF expressing my dismay and anger at the activities of these spyware companies.
Dear Ms. Gross
I am writing to express my concern that my attempts to financially support EFF have been stolen by Morpheus and similar companies. I have long been careful to use the Amazon Affiliate Button on your front page for all of my book purchases. I have felt that doing this combined to support what I believe in simply and effectively. Since my purchases have been well over $1000 per year for at least the last two years, I know that it has to have been worth at least some money to EFF.
It has recently become apparent that Morpheus et al. have been placing software such as TopText and other scumware on users machines. These programs have the sole purpose of rewriting affiliate links. This effectively redirects the financial benefits of these links to the scumware operators. To put it bluntly, this is theft, no different than if they had stolen the affiliate checks and written their own names as payee.
I have supported the EFF for years. I supported Morpheus partly because of EFF's support of them. But I am frankly disgusted by this turn of events. As the Director of the Campaign for Audiovisual Free Expression, and a staff attorney for EFF for Fair Use and Intellectual Property, I believe that you may well be the single best person to let them know they have gone too far. To take a principled stand on Fair Use is one thing. To pump ads to users while using the software is also perfectly legit. To actively steal revenue from other people, companies and organizations, even after the user has supposedly removed the software, without notice is simply beyond comprehension.
Shortly thereafter, I recieved this reply from Robin
Thanks for your message and concern. We've been informed that was a very brief test and has been completely disabled. If the company wishes to do this in the future, they will be sure permissions are granted in advance of rerouting trafficking. Best, Robin
Perhaps Robin needs to revisit this issue with these scumbags.
But it really doesn't mean anything since everyone who points out the problems with elections equipment are routinely ignored.
Purchasing elections systems has nothing to do with quality, trustworthiness or even sanity. It is a political decision made by politicians. There are only two questions for politicians making this decision. Is it cheap enough that I can't get raked over by the cost? Will it help/hurt the people I need to vote/notvote for me in order to hold on to power?
That second question in particular is the true driving force for all election system purchase decisions. Every politician knows if he needs old folks, poor people, rich people, republicans, democrats, dog lovers, cat lovers and an endless list of possible groups. If the elections equipment is harder for old folks, a politician who needs them will never agree.
Somehow I don't think this would sound like a good idea the next time you appear before a judge or a planning commission or even the local Sheriff. Is there anyone more likely to be able to check in the county computer for your voting history?
If it is possible to identify how a person voted, elections become a method for building enemy lists. That is why the secrecy of the ballot is the first requirement for free elections.
Last I heard, OC was still using a Votematic type punchcard system (PollStar is the variant I think you are describing). Funny how you missed the concept that this is the exact same system used in Florida 2000. So I guess you also missed exactly how so called hanging chad happens.
Hanging Chad: The stylus punched through but didn't tear the last little bit off. This is usually counted as a vote.
Dimpled Chad: For some reason, the chads from previous voters did not fall through, clogging up the space with previous chads. The result is a clear indentation in the chad from the stylus but because the space for the stylus to pass through is full, all it can do is dimple the paper. This is also caused by glue or other stuff in the hole either accidentally or intentionally damaging the guide to change the results in a precinct. If you will recall the bilingual education initiatives of 1994, you will also recall the widespread use of glue in the holes in OC.
Pregnant Chad: The chad is bowed in but not imprinted with the force of the stylus. This is usually caused by the voter placing the stylus in the wrong hole and then pulling it out. The chad is a little bowed but is not otherwise disturbed.
A Dimpled Chad is probably a vote but a Pregnant Chad is probably not. However, determining if a particular chad is one or the other is a problem that would make Solomon nuts. Then of course, simply moving the ballots around is sufficient to dislodge some chads.
As for OC being a pargon of virtue when it comes to elections, look at what happened in the 46th Congressional District in 1996. Nativo Lopez has never gone to jail for rigging the election of a US Congressman. The disaster of 2000 can be directly traced to the decision by congress to ignore a clearly rigged election. That decision lead directly to the free for all that happened in Florida.
Orange County would be my personal favorite example of how not to run an election except that there are so many states and counties that are so much worse.
Open Source vs. Closed Source is a non-issue in elections software. Both sides have advantages and both sides have critical flaws. Fundamentally, the software is utterly simple. The critical issue is security of the associated data files.
There are certification and escrow systems in place already. Essentially, the each states top elections official places a copy of the software and its supporting files into escrow after testing it with specially prepared input (cards etc.) If there is any question about the integrity of the software, the escrow system is used. This obvious precaution is pretty much required regardless of Open or Closed Source. At least, I have never seen an Election Code which didn't require something like this for all software.
Obvious Fact: Counting votes is really simple (10 lines? less?)
Not So Obvious Fact: The files telling the counting software how to assign meaning to the count are a critical weakness and rather complex. This can also be said as "Assigning meaning to the counts is very difficult".
An election with winner takes all (congress, governor etc) will also have a "Choose X number" of candidates (school board, city council, party commitee) and probably an initiative with a "Yes/No" option. Then there are things like recalls which are tied questions like "Yes/No to remove him" followed with "Replace him with which candidate". All of these possible methods for counting marks must be described and programmed into the system. Usually by changing values in a lookup table.
Now add in the next problem. Precincts. A vote tallied in the 7th line of the 3rd column could mean a vote for Joe Blow for city council in precinct 301 but in precinct 783 line 7 column 3 means a yes vote for the new park bonds. All the counting software can tell you is that 7,3 is marked. New definition files are needed for every precinct for every election.
Closed or Open Source does not really enter into this problem. Far more insidious is the threats to the security of the definition files. Most counties simply use the mainframe that runs everything else in the county. After all, the counting is only done twice a year, a dedicated computer would cost a lot of money. I will leave it to the slashdot imaginations all of the ways that there are to get into a county computer system.
Close Source: You have to trust that all of the people who see the source and data files have integrity. You have to secure the machines doing the counting.
Open Source: You have to trust that all of the people who see the source and data files have integrity. You have to secure the machines doing the counting.
Either way, most elections involve huge amounts of money and power. A billion dollar bond issue will have somebody willing to put up $50 million in bribes to make sure the election comes out the right way. Even the most hard core zealots are going to be tempted by dollars like that. Not to mention the vast swarms of people who really are true believers in whatever side.
The Sharpe case was about just two of the many many changes against the guy. In essence, the court said that the artistic merit defense was valid for the stories he wrote. Not the pictures etc. He will still be in jail for a very long time for those.
A much better example is the Medical Marijuana case where a judge declared it to be a basic human right under the security clause. The government is growing the weed because the judge declared that if there wasn't a way for the patients to get it, he would stike down the ENTIRE marijuana laws. The government is not happy and dragging its feet but it can't simply ignore it or buy some other result from a different judge.
Current speculation is that the games being played by Health Canada about releasing the weed will result in the judge making good his threat.
The Charter generally works because the judges are free to use common sense and apply basic principles. The US Consitution is failing because judges are required to consider only narrow subjects and are required to accept other judgements which are basically silly to anyone who thinks about them for a few seconds. Thus, in the states, most freedoms are lost by cumulative judgements which get further and further from any basis in reality. The judges are not allowed to simply look at the results and say it is time to change course.
This comparision gets much worse when the two countries are compared. In Canada, the Medical Marijuana activists are called heros by the most conservative papers. Even the police admit that bringing a bunch of sick people into court simply gets the judge pissed off at the police. In California, ALL of the activists who got 215 passed are either in jail, in Canada or DEAD in police custody.
Please read something other than the HSA controlled american media. It will open your eyes.
Stop listening to the FUD from the Homeland Security Agency. Here is fact:
Not one of the terrorists who attacked the US came via Canada. In fact, the only terrorist who has *ever* attempted to use Canada to stage an attack on the US was caught by Canada.
Just because the yanks have decided to have a police state doesn't mean we should. Yes, people who are aren't committing crimes are free to do what they wish, where they wish without any permission/documents/authorization from the Gestapo/KGB/Homeland Security goons.
Its called a free nation, and the US is no longer a free nation, no comparision, not even close.
What UK constitution? They don't have one.
Melbourne 1987
Sleeping in a youth hostel, about 15 people in one big room. A very small earthquake (5.1) hit at about dawn. Long rocking motion gently awoke the tiered travelers. Then everyone was wide awake as 2 New Yawkers, a Swede and 5 Germans everyone had thought dead of alcohol poisoning launched out of the doors and windows screaming. Wearing mostly nothing. Leaving a Californian and 6 Japanese to get up and try to capture these poor panic souls and explain earthquakes to them in languages we did not have in common.
The ensuing level of bizareness I leave to your imaginations.
"And that somebody else isn't necessarily talented or anything like that; they're just rich enough to afford the creation hardware."
The creation hardware gets cheaper every day. Its done so for many decades. Systems that are perfectly capable of "creating IP" have a value of almost nil. A major environmental issue coming on the horizon is how to dispose of all the excess computers out there, many of which still work when they are trashed. Cost of hardware is not a problem for the forseeable future.
Once upon a time, all the knowledge of the world was assembled at the Great Library and Western Civilization entered a Golden Age. Shall the Second Great Library be sacked? Not by mobs this time, just lawyers in suits and the banging of a gavel. Yeah or Nay, that is the question before us.
Not a chance of this situation happening. One of the side effects of the approaching singularity is that knowledge of how to make something cheaper follows closely upon attaining knowledge of how to make it at all.
Thus, long before any significant racism/resentment would develop over differences, it will be available to everyone at insignificant cost. Becoming as insignifcant as what type of underwear you prefer.
There is a great deal of question as to whether the infrastructure exists to deliver and administer the anti-AIDS drugs even if they we made available at zero cost.
No there isn't. Provide all of the drugs needed at zero cost and I absolutely garantee you that it will get to the people who need it. They are dying and people who Know they are dying will do what ever they have to. Walk a thousand miles to get it... not a problem if the only other option is to die.
Make the money available. $200,000 is nice but not significant in a Senate camapign. Shoot for 5 Million at least. Sounds like a lot but it isn't. Recall the character assasination job done on Newt Gingrich involved at least $100 Million in negative ads. I hear a fair number of Intel executives who have been abused are pretty steamed. Surely, people like Mr. Groves and friends have a few loose pennies for retaliation. Particularly since it is their livlihoods too. Not to mention all of the other technology executives who might see their continued existance at stake. Even the tech workers can be a source of a couple million. Lets face it, geeks generally make plenty of money and they actually understand why its important. A hundred thousand geeks sending $20 each is a lot of political money. Remember, Hollings sold his soul to Mickey for only $300K
Use the money.
1) Choose a sacrificial politician. Hollings doesn't show up in November so he is out. But there were a lot of congresscritters who voted for the DCMA. Choose one.
2)Choose the best remaining campaign manager in that district or state. By this time, most of the best are booked for the campaign but plenty are waiting for the later stages when some campaign manager gets fired. Pay him what he wants which is usually somewhere around 20% of the expenditures. Hire someone else to be the accountant responsible for filings.
3)Make TV, signage, and radio buys. Inform the sacrificial politician that he is about to have $4 Million in negative ads run against him. Then run every one of the most nasty negative ads you can buy. Make him more hated than a child molestor. Then kick him again.
Have a beer on election day. Win or Lose, every single politician in the country will know that you are willing to play real politics and they better damn well listen. Plus, there will likely now be a politician in office who will be known as the Senator/Congressman from the Net.
Does this sound excessively brutal and nasty? Perhaps unamerican? Welcome to politics, a full contact sport.
Microsoft is simply setting the terms of a transaction to which both parties consent. They are NOT preventing anyone from using the material and selling the result. So long as the terms aren't violated, the user can transfer the product. It seems to my admittedly non legal mind that the secret here is to simply describe that sale in an advantageous way.
There are so many fun variations on the idea of selling that this will drive M$ nuts. Remember that a sale occurs when there is an exchange of value. And the long standing definition of value is "The value of a thing is that which it may bring"
Method One
Sell it in exchange for a "survey response". Put up a page that has two bottons and the question MicroSoft Sucks Yes or No? Clicking either takes you to the download page. The "Seller" is exchanging the software and source in exchange for the "valuable" information from the user. I don't see how M$ could possibly go after this type of sale and distribution of source and binaries. Buying survey answers by offering valuable things has a very long history.
Taking it a step further, anyone who adds code to the software "Sells" it to the copyright holder in exchange for access to the results of the survey. The relative value assigned by the consenting parties to the transaction is entirely between the parties. So long as the eula is not violated, which does not seem to be the case in this hypothetical, there really isn't anything MS could sue about.
Method Two
Treat it as a consignment. Something like:
"By downloading this software, you agree to become a licensed distributor and are required to pay the copyright holder by providing the survey results, if any, obtained from further distributions. In the interests of reducing bandwidth costs, the seller and you agree that the reports are to be filed every 50 million copies distributed"
Making changes to the code could be treated as exactly the same as returning damaged goods under consignment. The consignees are not allowed to "sell" damaged goods and are usually required to return them to the consignor. Thus, under the consignement model, anybody who finds a "damaged" piece of software can "return" it by describing the damage and if they are really helpful, suggesting how it can be fixed.
Method 3 Software as "Work for Hire"
The software is being developed as a work for hire which the user will pay for upon "completetion" of the project. Then the developers simply never declare the project completed (How many projects don't get completed in real contract developemnt?). As with almost all work for hire contracts, providing source and interim versions to the purchaser during developement is a normal requirement. It also reinforces the idea that the users should report to the developers any bugs or missing features since the software can't be complete so long as these exist. For the developer side, treat it as also "Work for Hire" under a barter system. This is like doing dishes at a restaraunt in exhange for a meal. The coder provides source code, bug fixes etc in exchange for the software. I don't see how this violates Microsoft's EULA.
None of these are an optimal solution but one truism of laws is that any attempt to gain an advantage by excessive extrapolation of law can usually be countered by another excessive extrapolation of the law. Microsoft continually tortures the law to thier advantage, there is no reason the Open Source community can't do the same thing.
This hydrogen is molecularly trapped in Granite! 1 cubic meter releases 1000 liters of gas. Even if it did, the energy required to completely mill one cubic meter of granite is most likely more than the energy value of the gas.
2nd problem. Isnt 1000 liters exactly equal to the volume of one cubic meter? So where is all the granite?
I am in Vancouver literally across the street from the Vancouver Sun. Nobody reads it for a reason....
How about Arizona? There are *Lots* of empty spaces, where there are in fact 60,000 acres available. Not to mention plenty of employees since the mines shut down....
Its a great language, it only looks like english but it is actually a positional langue. Thus, the MOST important part is the last half of the first paragraph of the report. $17 million just ain't a whole lot of crime for 16,000 cases.
"During
this same time period, the IFCC has referred 16,775 complaints of fraud, the majority of which was committed over the Internet or similar online service. The total dollar loss from all referred cases of fraud was $17.8 million, with a median dollar loss of $435 per complaint. "
Didn't he take a few years to get Snow Crash out? I say, if it takes him a bit longer to do great work, for gods sakes, don't try to hurry him.
congresscritters are not very likely to believe anything of value has come from the evil dreaded "hackers". They see businesses as having created these things and "hackers" as being low life thieves and terrorists.
/. stem from this very powerful meme common to all congressmen. And the only way to get around this meme is to wait for these congressmen to leave office. Its going to be a very very long 30 years for the entire Bill of Rights.
It does not matter that the scum they are refering to should be called script kiddies or 1337 or crackers or spammers. As far as the politician is likely to know, they are all "Hackers". Which equals CyberTerrorist which equals Terrorist.
Believe it or not, every Representative and Senator was intensly interested in the contents of the USA PATRIOT Act. There was no secret made about including Hackers in that Bill. Nor has it been a secret since then. Nor has there been even the attmpt by these same representatives to change it.
Consider the attacks from a social engineering point of view as it pertains to congressmen.
Every single one of them knew personally at least one person who worked in the Pentagon, WTC, CBS, ABC, and of course, his own office. All places attacked by the 911 and the Anthrax terrorist attacks. Every single Member of Congress has been RIGHT THERE during a terrorist attack and knows personally people who have died in them.
And a couple of weeks later, they were working on USA PATRIOT. In between getting swabbed for anthrax. And yes, this same group of massively traumatized people have the power to create any law, take any action up to and including TEOTWAWKI (The End of the World as we Know It). Noticed anybody dying recently on the orders of the President and Congress?
A lot of the problems we are all screaming about here on
The tech community gets all warm and fuzzy over Free Speech stuff. The Senator won't. Note how many extreme left Senators are supporting the bill. The Senator will believe that the the clauses aready there cover these things. Senators deal with big money, tend to be lawyers and are usually quite pragmatic. Focus on that when choosing arguments. Try these.
1)RIAA states that its entire industry has sales of about $15 Billion. They are asking for something worth more than their entire industry. Think about this strictly on a money basis. Any technology that MUST be incorporated in EVERY computer, phone, fax, PDA, etc etc is worth far more than $15 Billion, no ifs ands or buts. For comparision, the only single source required component for just computers is Windows, therefor a reasonable valuation of the antipriracy product as specified is on the range of the market cap of Microsoft (Around $300B depending on the market that day). It would be cheaper for the US economy if the entire music industry was simply nationalized and all of its products given away. In essence, the entire music industry for the future will not be valued for creating anything, its value will be based entirely its ownership of the anti-piracy technology. Technology which it refuses to develop for itself, prefering to force the cost of development on the tech industry.
2)By moving copyright violations out of the civil court system and into the federal criminal court system, tens of thousands of copyright lawyers will be out of work. Additionally, there will be major increases in costs for the DOJ to hire criminal prosecutors, and since a federal prision population increase of 10000 is quite forseeable, maybe a couple of billion in increased Bureau of Prisions costs. Not to mention extra judges, clerks bailiffs etc. How much further behind on appointing judges will they get when an extra 10,000 cases per year are dropped on them. Of course, 50 Million Americans would currently be indictable under these provisions so that 10000 figure could be quite low. $15 Billion in in annual expenditures for the Feds is very plausible. Again, more than the industry to be saved is worth.
3)The technology which the music industry demands simply does not exist and there are very strong reasons to believe that it is impossible to create. Don't get techie on the guy, he doesn't understand computers. Tell him in easy to understand words. Remember, RIAA is demanding something that will keep a secret for 95 years, despite millions of people around the planet having the decoding device in their hands. Ask him if he has ever heard of something being kept secret for 95 years.
4)The ability to deny usage by denial of permission for any given stream of bits is part of the specification. Ask him how this will help human rights in China if anything they deem offensive can be blocked simply by flipping a switch in a central location. What does he think will be the response of every newspaper in the country when they realize that in order to publish, they have to get permission from Disney? Yes, they all use computers. Point out how hard it is to run his own political campaigns without using computers. Unless he wants to give ALL of his targeting, literature, call list and other campaign information to Disney, RIAA, Sony etc.
5)Giving this power to Disney and RIAA effectively gives complete veto power over every technology developed. In other words, no matter what Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, IBM or CA builds, Eisner must first give his approval before it can be sold. Without this requirement, there is no way the anti-piracy technology can survive. Use big companies that he has heard of since Senators rarely actually deal much with small businesses, despite the lip service.
Do not mention Open Source. If the Senator has even heard of it, his impressions are of a lot of "semi-communist, long haired furriners" trying to destroy major US corporations. Guess which side he is on. Give him rational solid costs and real constituencies he is going to anger.
Like it or not, he doesn't listen to particular people, not even particular industries. He will NOT listen if you point out how this is going to hurt a lot of very important businesses and groups who will actively try to hurt him next election cycle. Never ever even imply that when talking to him since it will make you look like an amatuer and an idiot. Talking points like those given above will get his attention since he knows with excruciating exactness what pissing off newspapers, big tech firms, anti-China nuts, lawyers and such will result in. Or any other group for that matter. He didn't get where he is by being stupid in that subject so making any kind of an implied threat about it will simply get you tuned out.
Good luck and you must have lots of clout to get a Senator to give an appointment during session. Thanks for risking that clout for all of us.
Good Luck!
Actually, since the strategy is to TROLL the net, hosting on BSD first would be the right tactic. This story would have died immediately if they had hosted it on IIS. Sure a few script kiddies would have attacked but that happens every day beyond a doubt. This TROLL specifically attacked the worth of Unix Professionals. Then, it gave them something to scream about by hosting on BSD. Only at this point, when the immediate anger of the various Unix communities are at the peak would the great big target be put right in front of them. Ever seen a bull fight? When the bull is incredibly pissed off, it goes after that red cape allowing the matador to dance around and stick knifes into it.
Perfect execution of a devious strategy by a master strategist. He got a priceless resource at no significant cost and only angered the same groups he has aready targeted for destruction. Or is the Unix community not willing to admit it got hacked by elegant social engineering?
Bill Gates is evil AND a genius at strategy.
Look at the economic realities of the situation. The Feds took many billions of dollars for 3rd Gen licenses just a few years ago. Until five years ago, virtually everything these Telcos did from the rates they charged to the scheduling of service calls to the dollar amount of profit was controlled by the government. Some have existed for close to 100 years in this quasi-state owned condition. Now look at the bond ratings of these companies today with all that debt hanging over them. A very large chunk of that debt is the money given to the Feds. Remember, these are Blue Chip stocks owned by millions of grandparents and teachers and firemen. It is damned easy to make a political case for extortion of these companies by the US Government. Not a legal case, a Political case which is far far worse for politicians. Remember Condit who to this day has not been accused of anything legally.
There is no ethical way out of extortion for either party once the money has been handed over. Now add into the mix the Enron scandal. The only way these Telcoms survice now is by massive creative accounting. The only way they will survive the next few years without going bankrupt is if they can somehow generate a massive profit in a hurry. Avoiding bankruptcy is also the only way the politicians can avoid a massive political scandal far worse than Enron. They must give these companies some way to make a lot of money until the debt is paid off.
Long distance service is rapidly becoming of near zero value. The Net has built and uses a LOT of bandwidth. Digital Subscriber Line is dedicated to the proposition that it is more profitable to provide a flat rate, unmetered, always on connection for communications than to attempt to measure the usage of the communications. This is rapidly become the clear economic basis of the communications industry in the US for at least the near future.
The FCC has a clear and urgent political need to make damn sure the Telco's survive. The Telco's also have a desperate need to survive, they are surviving by accounting gimicks right now. The economic and political powers will conspire to give the telco's those garanteed profits. One of the best hopes for doing that quietly is to give them a monopoly on the only profitable service: DSL.
I Belive this to be a fair reading of the political tea leaves. The kicker is the California PUC. When deregulation came in, they lost the political power to regulate the profits of Telcos. Meanwhile, they also had a disasterous deregulation of the power industry foisted on them by the CA Legislature. The PUC is gambling that everybody is right about DSL. If they are wrong, the PUC is history. Of course, if they don't regain some power pretty quick, they are also history. By reclaiming political power through economic control of the utilities, they can set things up in the largest market just like they were before deregulation. Now note well, if one state can claim that power, EVERY state can do so. This fits well with the Federal need to give a monopoly while not giving back the money or repealing deregulation. It also fits well with the corporate history and attitude of the Telco's.
My cold bottom line analysis:
The CA PUC will be able to claim the political power to regulate all aspects of the communications industry in the state. Their policies will favor the creation of one or two companies to hold monopolies. This will have the effect of returning the entire political and economic situation in telcoms back to the previous quasi-state owned status quo. The only significant change is that rates will be set by the bandwidth and not by minute. Every political and economic entity involved gets what it wants. Except of course, the consumer. But the consumer also gets a nice brite shiny toy to play with, high speed connections at about $100/month. Just about what they were paying for phone service each month on the previous pay per minute plan.