Can someone give me a quick rundown of what happened here?
The way I remember it, Jon was arrested in Norway because the MPAA told the Norwegians he was being a bad boy. Was that a DMCA thing or before that? If it's a DMCA thing, why the fuck is he being tried in Norway, with Norwegian attornies and Judge, for breaking a US law outside the borders of the US?
Jon didn't even give anyone the finger by showing up in the US to deliver a talk about DeCSS, unlike Skylarov and his piece of code.
If the Norwegians caved in because the MPAA threatened them, here's how the conversation should have gone:
MPAA: we want you to prosecute Jon for breaking CSS. Norway: Fuck off! MPAA: we'll embargo DVD shipments to Norway! Norway: Fuck off! We've got diplomats and tourist all over the world that can ship us DVDs. MPAA:But they won't work in your region coded players! Norway: Fuck off! We've got Jon-boy and DeCSS...
If this actually happens, and Microsoft hands over source code for Windows, several things happen:
1) All Indian programmers will be unable to work on Open Source projects, because they "might be pirating Microsoft Intellectual Property".
2) India may/will have the code that some MS exec told the judge was "so buggy we can't open the source for fear of bringing down Civilisation".
3) Corrolary to #1 is that all programmers are deemed tainted by access to Microsoft IP as soon as MS can prove that the source 'escaped' from India. This will probably happen 30 seconds after they hand over the CD set, thereby effectively shutting down all Open Source projects.
1) Give it away till they are hooked... 2) ??? 3) Profit!!
Sorry, somebody had to say it...:)
Re:You've yet to see station selling suitable fuel
on
239 MPG Car
·
· Score: 2
You're right - the combustion products will be CO2, H20 and whatever other crap got sucked into the air intake, minus whatever fraction burns or welds itself to the inside of your engine.
Oh, wait, doesn't the catalytic convertor take care of that crap??
Re:You've yet to see station selling suitable fuel
on
239 MPG Car
·
· Score: 4, Informative
A well-tuned diesel engine puts out CO2 and water. Nothing else. Read that in a fairly reputable motoring magazine back in England about 10 years ago.
Of course, well-tuned diesel engines are about as common as hips on a snake...
OK, so Cisco wre involved. My point was that the technology for rolling your own sniffer, etc, has been available for years.
6 years ago, the TIS Firewall toolkit contained a very simpleminded SMTP daemon that was just smart enough to receive mail and put it to disk. A matching daemon would pick up the mail and hand it off to sendmail. The idea was that allowing an untrusted external site to talk directly to sendmail was asking for trouble.
So how does that relate to China and Cisco? You set up your network to route outbound SMTP to border servers with the above software. Between receiving the email and handing it over to sendmail, the server can do what it likes to the email. Wanna take a bet on transparent http proxies being able to to the same?
I'll probably get flamed for this, but from a purely mercenary point of view, Cisco brought in money from overseas, bolstering the US economy while providing a service to China that the Chinese could have built for themselves. Does that make it right? Probably not.
If I recall correctly, some of the software used by public libraries to filter questionable content also filters out certain other things that are supposed to be freely available. Things like websites that provide info about the Democrat and Republican parties, info about breast cancer research, and so on. In fact, didn't one package bar access to the US Constitution??
I may be having a Senior Moment, but wasn't the Bible also blocked? That would be state-mandated censorship of religion, and I'm thinking that's a big NO-NO in this country.
I believe your First Amendment rights apply on US soil... Try claiming your First Amendment rights on the streets of Beijing when the police haul you away for urging the peasants to revolt.
Besides which, not all code is free speech under the First Amendment. Check out the US stance on exporting encryption products, for example. That's software classed as munitions... It doesn't even have to be US-written encryption software. Import something from Europe and re-export it and suddenly you're illegally shipping munitions.
The CNN article says that the Chinese government has passed a law prohibiting transmission of "state secrets" overseas via the Internet. If that's what those 33 folks did (and I don't know either way), then they broke their own country's law and got locked up. End of story.
Next thing we know, Amnesty International will be after the states for depriving certain US citizens of their freedom by locking them up for driving while drunk... (Yeah, that was suppose to be funny - it's 3:40am and I'm tired)
The only mention of 'law' in CNN's article is a Chinese law prohibiting transmission of state secrets to overseas organizations via the Internet.
Anyway, the bag is already open and the cats have escaped - there are way too many different ways and means to block sites at the borders. NetBSD, FreeBSD, Linux (all distros), Solaris, etc are all capable of acting as routers, never mind the routers and switches that Cisco and other network providers push out. Any fraggin' box with two NICs can do it. Heck, even one NIC would be enough if you're careful.
About 7 years ago I put together a firewall for a small company's dialup. While I was poking around looking for software I came across Drawbridge, from tamu.edu. It's a packet filter that runs on a DOS-based PC, for crying out loud - give it a couple of NICs and a set of rules and it too could be part of the Great FireWall of China.
And another thing - there's what, 3 billion Chinese? Anyone stop to think that among all those folks there might be a few individuals smart enough to actually produce their own blocking software? How many Chinese attend Universities in the Western hemisphere? I know the Uni I was at had a sizeable population of Orientals, some of them even pursuing PHD's in computer studies of one kind or another.
I'm not saying that makes it right for China to stop their citizens from accessing certain sites on the Internet. I'm saying that if there is actually a law being broken (and that's doubtful) by letting China get blocking software, then it's being broken by a hell of a lot more people than MS, Sun and Cisco. Pretty much every computer OS from DOS up to mainframes supports TCP/IP and can therefore be used to create blocking software.
OK, this is bound to be modded down as Commie-loving flamebait, but I don't care. Moderators, do your worst! And as you do, remember that there are Commies on both sides of this argument - the communist government of China is suppressing the communist people of China, so whichever side you support, you're a Commie-lover!
Yes, it's possible to get certain specific bits of the code after signing Non-Disclosure Agreements and/or handing over large amounts of money. Get the whole of Windows source? Nope. Understand it all in any reasonable amount or time? Nope. Get busted by Microsoft for using part of their code in an OSS project? Almost certainly, and if in the process of trying to prove you didn't, you have to show Microsoft your code, expect to see a competing product soon after.
Now, the other thing to deal with is your local building code. Would they let you live in what is, essentially, sewer pipe?
I'd imagine that around here (Tornado Alley, Oklahoma), that would qualify as a tornado shelter... Having a Hobbit Hole in the backyard would probably increase the property value, too:)
How much impact do you think this letter (however good their arguments are) will have on these government officials compared to Bill Gates spreading $millions all over India to buy off these officials?
If nothing else, it serves notice to the government that the people are getting irritated by current government policy. Are their government officials elected? Elected or not, it generally pays to take into account the preferences of a substantial segment of the population.
Mircosoft will of course also need to market Windows at substantially lower prices than in the US (possibly selling stripped down export-only versions of its software?), not a difficult task given Microsoft's high profit margins.
Stripped down?? No, no, surely not!! What could MS possibly strip out? Everything is so tightly interwoven in the OS that not even the browser can be stripped out!
Yes, I know about 98lite and so on, but just think for a minute - if MS even hints that such a seperation could occur, they'd be leaving themselves open to charges of perjury. Various judges have heard from MS that they can't split the OS and <whatever> and to turn around now and say they lied in court...
That'll be so that other sites using Anti-Leech to chastize popup blockers can customize their message box. Of course, the correct way to do it would be to use some kind of validation key to make sure the php script was being used by an authorized (by paying money) subscriber.
I'd say that the theft occurs when the ad-space seller convinces the ad-placer that they have a sure-fire way to grab your eyeballs. It's well known (at least here) that popups are extremely annoying, and therefore not to be tolerated where possible. The very fact that popup blockers exist demonstrates that enough people don't want popups that the blockers get created...
The ad-placers and popup-ad merchants may or may not have a constitutionally protected right to display the ads. But I cannot be forced to watch the ads. I believe I have a constitutionally protected right to walk away from obnoxious street-corner entrepreneurs, and the case of popups, that means blocking them. Or simply disabling javascript...
As usual, Microsoft has built this into the OS - Network Neighborhood... Sure, it doesn't have a fancy searching or indexing engine, but it's there, and it has been for years.
Microsoft charges high tariffs on their products because they know most people won't buy an alternative product.
Not won't, but can't.
It works like this: someone at work emails me a Word doc, or an Excel spreadsheet, expecting updates to be made and emailed back. They have the latest "security" patches at somehow also subtly change the default save format so even if I can read it in whatever OSS prog I have on my Linux box, I have little chance of saving the changes in a way that doesn't screw up the formatting. So I would also have to use Word/Excel with the latest patches, simply for compatibility with my own manager, etc.
The entire company (of 150,000 folks around the world) would need to almost simultaneously switch to some other product. But the story doesn't stop there. Sure, we'd all be compatible with each other within the company, but the sales force (and others) talk to external customers, and those customers have the latest and greatest Microsoft products. So, in order to maintain compatibility with our own customers (and probably suppliers too) we'd have to maintain some Windows boxes and an army of trained monkeys to copy docs from one system to the other.
Another example - I've seen job ads where the employer requests that you email your resume in Word97 (or whatever) format. Why would a plain text file not be acceptable?? The implication is that if you don't send them the correct format, they trash it immediately, as if having Word97 is a prerequisite for employment. And presumably that means that you have to have Word97 (at enormous expense) on your home PC because: a) you wouldn't work on your resume at work, right? and b) you wouldn't have a pirate copy of Word97, right?
Closure of the site means that articles from several small scientific publications "that aren't available anywhere else will no longer be available," she said.
If there were articles on the DOE's site that are not available anywhere else, couldn't the DOE ditch the rest and keep just those available. At the very least, it would irritate the money-grubbing assholes who wanted the entire site shutdown.
You missed a step - even a copyright search would not have helped in this case. Bill-Wyman-the-journalist was born, and presumably named, several years before Bill-Wyman-the-Stone spontaneously picked that name.
So, anyone planning on having kids needs to do the copyright search and then register the kid's name as a trademark, in as many careers/businesses as possible.
Oddly enough, there's a zoo in Kansas that has the same name as me. I went there once and was going to pay by check, just for the humor value, but it's a free, walk-in when you feel like it zoo.
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The way I remember it, Jon was arrested in Norway because the MPAA told the Norwegians he was being a bad boy. Was that a DMCA thing or before that? If it's a DMCA thing, why the fuck is he being tried in Norway, with Norwegian attornies and Judge, for breaking a US law outside the borders of the US?
Jon didn't even give anyone the finger by showing up in the US to deliver a talk about DeCSS, unlike Skylarov and his piece of code.
If the Norwegians caved in because the MPAA threatened them, here's how the conversation should have gone:
MPAA: we want you to prosecute Jon for breaking CSS.
Norway: Fuck off!
MPAA: we'll embargo DVD shipments to Norway!
Norway: Fuck off! We've got diplomats and tourist all over the world that can ship us DVDs.
MPAA:But they won't work in your region coded players!
Norway: Fuck off! We've got Jon-boy and DeCSS...
Probably a cereal killer checking out new victims...
Disclaimer: No, I don't know if that happened. I'm just speculating out loud like 10K other Slashdot readers do.
1) All Indian programmers will be unable to work on Open Source projects, because they "might be pirating Microsoft Intellectual Property".
2) India may/will have the code that some MS exec told the judge was "so buggy we can't open the source for fear of bringing down Civilisation".
3) Corrolary to #1 is that all programmers are deemed tainted by access to Microsoft IP as soon as MS can prove that the source 'escaped' from India. This will probably happen 30 seconds after they hand over the CD set, thereby effectively shutting down all Open Source projects.
I'm guessing someone from Microsoft "suggested" the list...
2) ???
3) Profit!!
Sorry, somebody had to say it... :)
Oh, wait, doesn't the catalytic convertor take care of that crap??
Of course, well-tuned diesel engines are about as common as hips on a snake...
6 years ago, the TIS Firewall toolkit contained a very simpleminded SMTP daemon that was just smart enough to receive mail and put it to disk. A matching daemon would pick up the mail and hand it off to sendmail. The idea was that allowing an untrusted external site to talk directly to sendmail was asking for trouble.
So how does that relate to China and Cisco? You set up your network to route outbound SMTP to border servers with the above software. Between receiving the email and handing it over to sendmail, the server can do what it likes to the email. Wanna take a bet on transparent http proxies being able to to the same?
I'll probably get flamed for this, but from a purely mercenary point of view, Cisco brought in money from overseas, bolstering the US economy while providing a service to China that the Chinese could have built for themselves. Does that make it right? Probably not.
I may be having a Senior Moment, but wasn't the Bible also blocked? That would be state-mandated censorship of religion, and I'm thinking that's a big NO-NO in this country.
Besides which, not all code is free speech under the First Amendment. Check out the US stance on exporting encryption products, for example. That's software classed as munitions... It doesn't even have to be US-written encryption software. Import something from Europe and re-export it and suddenly you're illegally shipping munitions.
Next thing we know, Amnesty International will be after the states for depriving certain US citizens of their freedom by locking them up for driving while drunk... (Yeah, that was suppose to be funny - it's 3:40am and I'm tired)
The only mention of 'law' in CNN's article is a Chinese law prohibiting transmission of state secrets to overseas organizations via the Internet.
Anyway, the bag is already open and the cats have escaped - there are way too many different ways and means to block sites at the borders. NetBSD, FreeBSD, Linux (all distros), Solaris, etc are all capable of acting as routers, never mind the routers and switches that Cisco and other network providers push out. Any fraggin' box with two NICs can do it. Heck, even one NIC would be enough if you're careful.
About 7 years ago I put together a firewall for a small company's dialup. While I was poking around looking for software I came across Drawbridge, from tamu.edu. It's a packet filter that runs on a DOS-based PC, for crying out loud - give it a couple of NICs and a set of rules and it too could be part of the Great FireWall of China.
And another thing - there's what, 3 billion Chinese? Anyone stop to think that among all those folks there might be a few individuals smart enough to actually produce their own blocking software? How many Chinese attend Universities in the Western hemisphere? I know the Uni I was at had a sizeable population of Orientals, some of them even pursuing PHD's in computer studies of one kind or another.
I'm not saying that makes it right for China to stop their citizens from accessing certain sites on the Internet. I'm saying that if there is actually a law being broken (and that's doubtful) by letting China get blocking software, then it's being broken by a hell of a lot more people than MS, Sun and Cisco. Pretty much every computer OS from DOS up to mainframes supports TCP/IP and can therefore be used to create blocking software.
OK, this is bound to be modded down as Commie-loving flamebait, but I don't care. Moderators, do your worst! And as you do, remember that there are Commies on both sides of this argument - the communist government of China is suppressing the communist people of China, so whichever side you support, you're a Commie-lover!
Yes, it's possible to get certain specific bits of the code after signing Non-Disclosure Agreements and/or handing over large amounts of money. Get the whole of Windows source? Nope. Understand it all in any reasonable amount or time? Nope. Get busted by Microsoft for using part of their code in an OSS project? Almost certainly, and if in the process of trying to prove you didn't, you have to show Microsoft your code, expect to see a competing product soon after.
I'd imagine that around here (Tornado Alley, Oklahoma), that would qualify as a tornado shelter... Having a Hobbit Hole in the backyard would probably increase the property value, too :)
If nothing else, it serves notice to the government that the people are getting irritated by current government policy. Are their government officials elected? Elected or not, it generally pays to take into account the preferences of a substantial segment of the population.
Stripped down?? No, no, surely not!! What could MS possibly strip out? Everything is so tightly interwoven in the OS that not even the browser can be stripped out!
Yes, I know about 98lite and so on, but just think for a minute - if MS even hints that such a seperation could occur, they'd be leaving themselves open to charges of perjury. Various judges have heard from MS that they can't split the OS and <whatever> and to turn around now and say they lied in court...
That'll be so that other sites using Anti-Leech to chastize popup blockers can customize their message box. Of course, the correct way to do it would be to use some kind of validation key to make sure the php script was being used by an authorized (by paying money) subscriber.
I'd say that the theft occurs when the ad-space seller convinces the ad-placer that they have a sure-fire way to grab your eyeballs. It's well known (at least here) that popups are extremely annoying, and therefore not to be tolerated where possible. The very fact that popup blockers exist demonstrates that enough people don't want popups that the blockers get created...
The ad-placers and popup-ad merchants may or may not have a constitutionally protected right to display the ads. But I cannot be forced to watch the ads. I believe I have a constitutionally protected right to walk away from obnoxious street-corner entrepreneurs, and the case of popups, that means blocking them. Or simply disabling javascript...
As usual, Microsoft has built this into the OS - Network Neighborhood... Sure, it doesn't have a fancy searching or indexing engine, but it's there, and it has been for years.
Not won't , but can't .
It works like this: someone at work emails me a Word doc, or an Excel spreadsheet, expecting updates to be made and emailed back. They have the latest "security" patches at somehow also subtly change the default save format so even if I can read it in whatever OSS prog I have on my Linux box, I have little chance of saving the changes in a way that doesn't screw up the formatting. So I would also have to use Word/Excel with the latest patches, simply for compatibility with my own manager, etc.
The entire company (of 150,000 folks around the world) would need to almost simultaneously switch to some other product. But the story doesn't stop there. Sure, we'd all be compatible with each other within the company, but the sales force (and others) talk to external customers, and those customers have the latest and greatest Microsoft products. So, in order to maintain compatibility with our own customers (and probably suppliers too) we'd have to maintain some Windows boxes and an army of trained monkeys to copy docs from one system to the other.
Another example - I've seen job ads where the employer requests that you email your resume in Word97 (or whatever) format. Why would a plain text file not be acceptable?? The implication is that if you don't send them the correct format, they trash it immediately, as if having Word97 is a prerequisite for employment. And presumably that means that you have to have Word97 (at enormous expense) on your home PC because: a) you wouldn't work on your resume at work, right? and b) you wouldn't have a pirate copy of Word97, right?
If there were articles on the DOE's site that are not available anywhere else, couldn't the DOE ditch the rest and keep just those available. At the very least, it would irritate the money-grubbing assholes who wanted the entire site shutdown.
If anyone finds out which they are, is there any chance of Google-caching the good stuff?
So, anyone planning on having kids needs to do the copyright search and then register the kid's name as a trademark, in as many careers/businesses as possible.
Oddly enough, there's a zoo in Kansas that has the same name as me. I went there once and was going to pay by check, just for the humor value, but it's a free, walk-in when you feel like it zoo.