Oh no! They've infiltrated another layer in. 'Legit' sharers' IP addresses are suddenly appearing in the 'banned' list! We forgot to elect 'centralized authorities' who are allowed to post IP addresses and user IDs to the list!
Whoops. The whole concept of peer-to-peer just crumbled.
I would like to know when this is all going to come to a head,
Umm, it stops when the consensus model of content sharing breaks down horribly because it's entirely possible to do this kind of thing. Unless a 'centralized authority' happens along or some form of 'peer authentication' method is devised (which requires some form of centralized authority) they eventually win.
'Consensus model' schemes only work in subcultures. They fail dramatically when scaled to the whole world. That in a nutshell describes all the problems with the 'net as it exists today.
Well, it's chock full of the kind of people who think 'Metaphysics' is a bookshelf full of crappy paperbacks from Llewllyn Publishing.
So yes, it's sort of 'alternative' and all that, and bound to be crowded with cranks. It's sort of like 'The People's Almanac' from back in the 70s that way.
I got my set of Britannicas for fourty cents per volume at a thrift store.
People are throwing out their classic paper encyclopedias.
And lets face it: for many topics, i.e. mathematics, history, etc. an old edition of Britannica is damned fine.
People go out and buy a CDROM version of Britannica and say 'why do we need these books.'
Ten years from now I will still have my Britannica set. Their CD-ROM won't access in whatever is the latest-greatest-shiney OS.
Sorry for being a curmudgeon, but it's things like traditional books in traditional libraries that are the basis of our cuture, that got us to the Moon.
Actually, Kevin 'socially engineered' things so that it was impossible to grant him bail. He skipped out the first time, and didn't just run, he ran off and continued to engage in the same activities he was caught doing the first time.
In such circumstances, it's not appropriate to grant bail again. And it wasn't "the systems" fault that Kevin wouldn't behave in such a fashion that he could have been granted bail. It also isn't "the systems" fault that Kevin engaged in the kind of immature behavior with regard to his case that it got pulled off the schedule and his trial delayed.
It's simply amazing that Mitnick's sheer legal incompetence can get spun into victimhood.
One of the caveats I have received from tech friends is that moving away from the tech field, even temporarily, will kill me when I come back, if I come back.
Only if not knowing all the latest buzz-word acronyms and fad 'technology' crap would be a disaster.
I mean, let's be real. Knuth's books were written how many years ago, and they're still of great value. In spite of all the hype, people still design circuits for useful purposes using TTL gates.
Anybody who has a core understanding and a determinitation to learn and USE the tech has durable skills that will last a lifetime. Perhaps not the buzzword vocabulary to break past the HR drones and make the 'big bucks' but when has that ever been what it's about??
Now, if your skills consist of version-number oriented software-product dabbling, yeah, you'd better keep at it. I mean, just think about how far behind you'll get if you don't run (the latest Windows XP release | the latest Linux kernal) on your machine...
Five years of his life 'erased' by his determination that any time he got out on bail he was gonna keep on keepin' on, going at it some more to rip off people.
I don't think we can blame a judge for the fact that he established a pattern of behavior that made it a certainty he would NEVER be released on bail again.
The dude shit in his own bed, then he was forced to sleep in it, metaphorically speaking. That's just plain DUMB. To then turn around and act like a 'victim of justice' would seem just plain DUMB if it wasn't so transparently phony.
Re:Now can we settle it once and for all?
on
Ask Kevin Mitnick
·
· Score: 1
Well, now....
A 'hacker' is somebody who writes good machine code, often late at night, and with a wizard-like talent. Examples some might pick would be Torvalds, or Alan Cox, or someone like Bill Joy or Kirk McKusik.
A 'cracker' is the term for someone who is expert with debugging tools and can step through the code of a copy-protected game or other computer program and find the bits to NOP out or otherwise circumvent.
Those are both the sorts of skills that it takes time to acquire, and that an attention-deficit loser with no moral sense will probably NEVER acquire.
Really, in the case of Mitnick and his ilk, the term is 'pathological lying anti-social S.O.B.'
But that lacks the all-important 'image of coolness' that's so important.
Oh well.
Re:What are the ten worst Windows vulnerabilities?
on
Ask Kevin Mitnick
·
· Score: 1
Wouldn't finding out what Linux's weakest areas are and fixing them before Linux becomes widspread enough on "Dumb User" hardware that it becomes the next great hacking target?
Agreed, that is an important task. But, some of us may ask, what qualified Mitnick to answer any such questions? Now, if the question were "how do we keep stupid people from answering your questions when you lie to them on the phone and tell them you need their password?" then it might be an area where 'Kevin' has greater expertise.
The guy is not a tech expert. I wish people would quit hyping him up like he is.
Yes, but I think you're in a conversation with people who use the incorrect defintion of the term 'hacker.'
Agreed, they're the sort of people who think Mitnick is a hero. It just goes to show that there are other forms of ignorant people called 'crackers,' not just the poor white trash sort.
There are lying S.O.B.s out in used car lots all across America who would pay good money to learn Mitnick's 'Social Engineering' skills. He should start a seminar program on Swindling and Deceit on one of the cable networks. I can see the infomercials already. "How to fool knobs even stupider than you are into giving you their passwords over the phone, etc. etc."
There's little or nothing tech-related that is impressive about this duff. Why do people continue to pay attention to him??
Apple didn't make the core OS of their current offering. They failed, dismally, several times to come up with the 'next generation MacOS' that they huffed and puffed and made up cute names for in the 80's and early 90's. Finally they threw in the towel and threw a layer on top of NextStep, which they conveniently got for "free" by bringing Steve Jobs back in.
I am not sure if that was the 'oh wait' that you wanted, but no, Apple didn't invent BSD.
I don't think Apple has entered the area of Unix computing so much as they poured millions of dollars down a number of high profile sinkholes (Taligent, Pink, whatever the rest of those cute codename projects they had back in the early nineties that completely failed....) and finally gave up and threw a GUI layer on top of NextOS because that's the best they could do.
Yes, but is 'a lack of management' management's fault?
Let's be realistic. Linux is very freewheeling. Part of the freedom is that there's no single managing body writing product specs and expecting the developers to conform to them. The flipside is a lack of consistency.
Most people choose to buy online because they don't have to deal with the festering, parochial 'local' vendors. What are my options for buying CDs of Linux software? What possibility is there that I can get an UltraSparc 1? If I go to the local stores they're still obsessing about 3-chip versus 9-chip SIMM memory.
The markets have changed dramatically. The local economies need to figure out how to change with them.
Fast processors are easy... COOL processors that are faster for their heat output is where the market goes.
You know, I was at Best Buy last night and noticed some people were admiring the new PCs out there in their plastic cases with all the gloss and whatnot.
I didn't see anybody asking how much heat they put out. I didn't see anybody caring.
Hell, I haven't seen anybody on the hardware sites clamoring for parts that run cooler. Sure it's a concern. A secondary concern. Even in big rendering pools it's a secondary concern.
Yeah, Alpha has a loyal following. Unlike software, however, it requires a big expensive centralized foundry to produce the chips, and a big expensive engineering team to put them together.
There won't be groups of hackers contributing new microcode to the Alpha core in 2005. There probably will be hackers contributing new code to the Linux kernal.
Hey, IBM is a Business Machine company. They probably still support the time clocks they were making in 1957 and the Photocopiers and Typewriters they were making in 1973 if you're a big Business and want to sign the support contract.
It's trivial to turn such a process into a copyright violation. Some developers at a place I worked did so by setting up a particular instrument they were developing to use a copyright notice and trademark as part of the handshake string to communicate with it.
You say your 'white thing' doesn't just implement an algorhythm? It also contains one of our trademarks?
Slashdot Mirror
So.
What you're really saying is Microsoft is inherently evil, and there's nothing that can ever be done, nothing they can ever do, to change that.
Wow. I bet you dream every night about Actimate Barney toys who strangle small children.
Is your religion tax deductable?
Welcome to the world of user authentication.
Oh no! They've infiltrated another layer in. 'Legit' sharers' IP addresses are suddenly appearing in the 'banned' list! We forgot to elect 'centralized authorities' who are allowed to post IP addresses and user IDs to the list!
Whoops. The whole concept of peer-to-peer just crumbled.
I would like to know when this is all going to come to a head,
Umm, it stops when the consensus model of content sharing breaks down horribly because it's entirely possible to do this kind of thing. Unless a 'centralized authority' happens along or some form of 'peer authentication' method is devised (which requires some form of centralized authority) they eventually win.
'Consensus model' schemes only work in subcultures. They fail dramatically when scaled to the whole world. That in a nutshell describes all the problems with the 'net as it exists today.
Clearly, they're choosing content from their client base who approve ahead of time that they do this.
You didn't seriously think they were doing it at random to tunes from 'random-loser-in-a-garage twang-clang and his shitty punk tracks' did you?
Is it far from coming: "Worst syllabus ever!"
Well, it's chock full of the kind of people who think 'Metaphysics' is a bookshelf full of crappy paperbacks from Llewllyn Publishing.
So yes, it's sort of 'alternative' and all that, and bound to be crowded with cranks. It's sort of like 'The People's Almanac' from back in the 70s that way.
I got my set of Britannicas for fourty cents per volume at a thrift store.
People are throwing out their classic paper encyclopedias.
And lets face it: for many topics, i.e. mathematics, history, etc. an old edition of Britannica is damned fine.
People go out and buy a CDROM version of Britannica and say 'why do we need these books.'
Ten years from now I will still have my Britannica set. Their CD-ROM won't access in whatever is the latest-greatest-shiney OS.
Sorry for being a curmudgeon, but it's things like traditional books in traditional libraries that are the basis of our cuture, that got us to the Moon.
Actually, Kevin 'socially engineered' things so that it was impossible to grant him bail. He skipped out the first time, and didn't just run, he ran off and continued to engage in the same activities he was caught doing the first time.
In such circumstances, it's not appropriate to grant bail again. And it wasn't "the systems" fault that Kevin wouldn't behave in such a fashion that he could have been granted bail. It also isn't "the systems" fault that Kevin engaged in the kind of immature behavior with regard to his case that it got pulled off the schedule and his trial delayed.
It's simply amazing that Mitnick's sheer legal incompetence can get spun into victimhood.
One of the caveats I have received from tech friends is that moving away from the tech field, even temporarily, will kill me when I come back, if I come back.
Only if not knowing all the latest buzz-word acronyms and fad 'technology' crap would be a disaster.
I mean, let's be real. Knuth's books were written how many years ago, and they're still of great value. In spite of all the hype, people still design circuits for useful purposes using TTL gates.
Anybody who has a core understanding and a determinitation to learn and USE the tech has durable skills that will last a lifetime. Perhaps not the buzzword vocabulary to break past the HR drones and make the 'big bucks' but when has that ever been what it's about??
Now, if your skills consist of version-number oriented software-product dabbling, yeah, you'd better keep at it. I mean, just think about how far behind you'll get if you don't run (the latest Windows XP release | the latest Linux kernal) on your machine...
Five years of his life 'erased' by his determination that any time he got out on bail he was gonna keep on keepin' on, going at it some more to rip off people.
I don't think we can blame a judge for the fact that he established a pattern of behavior that made it a certainty he would NEVER be released on bail again.
The dude shit in his own bed, then he was forced to sleep in it, metaphorically speaking. That's just plain DUMB. To then turn around and act like a 'victim of justice' would seem just plain DUMB if it wasn't so transparently phony.
Well, now....
A 'hacker' is somebody who writes good machine code, often late at night, and with a wizard-like talent. Examples some might pick would be Torvalds, or Alan Cox, or someone like Bill Joy or Kirk McKusik.
A 'cracker' is the term for someone who is expert with debugging tools and can step through the code of a copy-protected game or other computer program and find the bits to NOP out or otherwise circumvent.
Those are both the sorts of skills that it takes time to acquire, and that an attention-deficit loser with no moral sense will probably NEVER acquire.
Really, in the case of Mitnick and his ilk, the term is 'pathological lying anti-social S.O.B.'
But that lacks the all-important 'image of coolness' that's so important.
Oh well.
Agreed, that is an important task. But, some of us may ask, what qualified Mitnick to answer any such questions? Now, if the question were "how do we keep stupid people from answering your questions when you lie to them on the phone and tell them you need their password?" then it might be an area where 'Kevin' has greater expertise.
The guy is not a tech expert. I wish people would quit hyping him up like he is.
Yes, but I think you're in a conversation with people who use the incorrect defintion of the term 'hacker.'
Agreed, they're the sort of people who think Mitnick is a hero. It just goes to show that there are other forms of ignorant people called 'crackers,' not just the poor white trash sort.
There are lying S.O.B.s out in used car lots all across America who would pay good money to learn Mitnick's 'Social Engineering' skills. He should start a seminar program on Swindling and Deceit on one of the cable networks. I can see the infomercials already. "How to fool knobs even stupider than you are into giving you their passwords over the phone, etc. etc."
There's little or nothing tech-related that is impressive about this duff. Why do people continue to pay attention to him??
Yes. "Oh, wait a minute..."
Apple didn't make the core OS of their current offering. They failed, dismally, several times to come up with the 'next generation MacOS' that they huffed and puffed and made up cute names for in the 80's and early 90's. Finally they threw in the towel and threw a layer on top of NextStep, which they conveniently got for "free" by bringing Steve Jobs back in.
I am not sure if that was the 'oh wait' that you wanted, but no, Apple didn't invent BSD.
Dismissing things solely because of the source is just ignorant.
However, dismissing things because of the source, and because there are better ways to spend one's time is not 'ignorant.'
But what would I know? I haven't written any crappy non-peer-reviewed glossy books, NOR am I on any of the nutcase 'science' programs on Cable TV.
I don't think Apple has entered the area of Unix computing so much as they poured millions of dollars down a number of high profile sinkholes (Taligent, Pink, whatever the rest of those cute codename projects they had back in the early nineties that completely failed....) and finally gave up and threw a GUI layer on top of NextOS because that's the best they could do.
Bad habits are management's fault
Yes, but is 'a lack of management' management's fault?
Let's be realistic. Linux is very freewheeling. Part of the freedom is that there's no single managing body writing product specs and expecting the developers to conform to them. The flipside is a lack of consistency.
Most people choose to buy online because they don't have to deal with the festering, parochial 'local' vendors. What are my options for buying CDs of Linux software? What possibility is there that I can get an UltraSparc 1? If I go to the local stores they're still obsessing about 3-chip versus 9-chip SIMM memory.
The markets have changed dramatically. The local economies need to figure out how to change with them.
I know! I know! VA name-ending-of-the-quarter could buy Alpha and use it to revive their sagging brand.
Or Corel could throw together a NetWinder II that runs on Alpha.
Fast processors are easy... COOL processors that are faster for their heat output is where the market goes.
You know, I was at Best Buy last night and noticed some people were admiring the new PCs out there in their plastic cases with all the gloss and whatnot.
I didn't see anybody asking how much heat they put out. I didn't see anybody caring.
Hell, I haven't seen anybody on the hardware sites clamoring for parts that run cooler. Sure it's a concern. A secondary concern. Even in big rendering pools it's a secondary concern.
Yeah, Alpha has a loyal following. Unlike software, however, it requires a big expensive centralized foundry to produce the chips, and a big expensive engineering team to put them together.
There won't be groups of hackers contributing new microcode to the Alpha core in 2005. There probably will be hackers contributing new code to the Linux kernal.
Hey, IBM STILL supports OS/2,
Hey, IBM is a Business Machine company. They probably still support the time clocks they were making in 1957 and the Photocopiers and Typewriters they were making in 1973 if you're a big Business and want to sign the support contract.
(By the way, IANAL in the technical sense, but I do have a law degree in addition to a computer science degree.)
So you're telling us, as way of qualifying your opinion, that you didn't pass the bar exam, eh?
It's trivial to turn such a process into a copyright violation. Some developers at a place I worked did so by setting up a particular instrument they were developing to use a copyright notice and trademark as part of the handshake string to communicate with it.
You say your 'white thing' doesn't just implement an algorhythm? It also contains one of our trademarks?