Actually, the watermarking sounds like a much better idea in comparison. Actually, all you'd really need is something that embeds a piece of text such as "photocopy" or "not legitimate currency" in section of the bill that is unobtrusive yet still easily visible.
It's not that there's a problem with something to help prevent the forgeries, the problem is that it isn't made very apparent to those that purchase the product. Having a "duplicate" tag on a copied bill is much nicer than wasting a bunch of ink only to discover that your printer has been rejecting the anti-copy marks.
To heck with that... too bad I can't tattoo it, but maybe I'll just have it inscribed with felt-marker on my forehead before going through areas which I don't want my picture being recorded.
Because though currency is detectable via a five circle pattern, one could suppose that it is only detected as "currency" as opposed to a specific bill.
Vending machines, on the other hand, need to detect which bill is inserted (for obvious reasons). It's easier in countries with dollar-coins, though it seems that the higher the coin-value goes the higher the cost of vending machines which use them.
If I wanted pr0n I'd buy a subscription on the internet or a game of that rating. If I want gameplay/plot I will buy a game. When I buy a game in a series noted (at least from my personal experience) for decent plots/play, I'd expect it to capitalize on those factors and not cheap sexualization.
Furthermore, pixelated 3d rendered females and sappy innuendo dialogue don't get me off... I'm not gay but I guess I just have higher standards for you in both the gaming and internet categories.
If we can nominate console games, I'm going to FFX-2. As the first FF sequel, it's a huge dissappointment. Gameplay is decent, but it's got way too much focus on sexuality (there's a scene where the girls compare boob sizes... how sad) as opposed to plot.
Yes, previous FF games has some of these aspects (FF7 ending scene anyone?), but they were backed up with decent plots.
FFX-2 is a combination of several mini-quests, many often fairly unrelated, using much of the original maps/graphics/etc of FFX.
The problem with any site where the email address is publicly viewable is that it is harvested by bots. As per my own similar experience, I think that somewhere a spammer rubs his/her hands in glee every time somebody uses an unobfuscated slashdot email.
The first time I got an article up on slashdot, the associated email was non-obfuscated.
I knew the article was posted before I even checked/., due to a sudden deluge of spam going to the alias linked in the article.
The second article I had posted, I obfuscated my address. Thus far no spambots have managed to hit me on that alias.
I'd say that the obfuscation definately worked in this case. It wouldn't fool a spammer doing a visual search for victims, but it was enough to trick the bots.
I wonder though, if slashdot (being very anti-spam) is given special attention by spammers... or if it just goes along with being a highly popular website and thus a good place to harvest addresses.
Several others on that thread listed a virus that did just that... use your machine as a gateway for others to swap their underage smut
You make a good point about the "recent docs" etc etc though... but if those weren't there I'd say the guy could be interested.
Hell, we had an FTP hacked at work and what was it used for? Storage of illegal material, including warez, hacks, and porn. I didn't view the JPEG's, mainly because I don't want to know what they were, nor do I want to be caught viewing something that could very well end up being illegal.
Mount the drive safely off a static machine, wiped it out. Probably some residuals there but god only knows what could happen it were one of my home boxen and a cracker led the police to me.
Theoretically yes, but a suspect can still be detained, have his/her possessions confiscated (in relation to the crime) and many other things that happened here. It's when you go from that step of "presumed 100% innocent" to "presumed innocent but under suspicion" (with evidence) where they get a warrant.
You don't have to be "proven innocent" so much as guilt must be proven. But you do have to be "found not guilty" in order to get your life back in order. I'm wonder what - in that eventuality - steps one may take to restitute the disruption on one's life.
I mean, the guy may never see his PC's again. Probably won't... as all it takes is a bit of pirated/cracked software, maybe a bad item cached from the web-browser, or maybe even some pirated mp3's?
I remember using a doom modding program to play with the BFG. If I remember correctly, the images were chain and tied to the effects. There was an effect for "BFG blast" which afterwards triggered "BFG aferaffect" (the direct hit Vs the area damage).
If you changed the "aferaffect" to the full blast, they'd keep spawning little flashes until everything nearby was quite dead. Quite an amusing modification.
The sad thing... I tricked zdoom awhile back and remembered all those. Sad that I played doom/doom2 so much for them to become ingrained in my memory (or maybe it's more sad that I obviously was a frequent cheater).
b) If your computers are for business use, can you sue for lost revenue?
c) If they find something illegal (who doesn't have a "hack for program x" or keygen etc), but it is found that they came after you mistakenly, are your computers still lost?
d) You got no card, how can you call to find out about your stuff?
e) 9 computers, decent chance one is a server. How about if the server was hacked (cmon, if they hack valve wouldn't they redirect through dummy servers)
mikerowesoft is a far cry from some scam sites that have popped up.
No, they don't have a right to this one at all. In fact, they shouldn't have a right at all... wrong word. What they would have, at least in part, is my agreement that if somebody grabbed the domain say "microsoftupdates.com" and tried to use it for malicious or profitable means (on the MS name) that MS should go after him/her.
I should have rephrased that "a right to (try and) protect websites of name microsoft.xxx"
Personally, I think corps have all too many rights along this area, but I wouldn't argue that they should defend themself if somebody took "microsoftpc.com" or something with obvious intent to profit on the MS name.
In this case, the site is the guy's freaking name... I think MS is out-to-lunch and should be shot down... with a cannon.
Indeed, but it almost looks as if it is intended to make a computer-keyboard somewhat portable?
I mean, if you were at home you could (as mentioned) do just fine by going cheaper with a seperate PC and keyboard, MIDI controller, etc.
However, with the pricetag on this thing I'd be scared sh*tless to take it out very often. Road trips are not easy on musical equipment. Having some dumbass drop a coke on a $8000 keyboard-computer would kill me.
It's not that there's not usefulness in the item, even for the price... it's that I could do otherwise at home and would be paranoid taking something so expensive out.
OK. Let's picture the average younger male geek. He knows a lot about computers, but crap about computers. When a male customer comes in who can talk about computers/stereos, he talks it up and go for the sale. Heck, when he meets somebody anywhere who talks tech he mind find it interesting conversation
Now picture this... that same person has very little ability to converse with the opposite sex. Now throw this a bit farther... maybe the female is cute. Now we have a socially inept male geek trying to communicate with a cute female geek. Hell, is he going to do well even outside of the sales setting.
What will he do? Maybe he stumbles a bit, but makes a sale without ending up looking too much like an idiot. But maybe... hey, what do guys of any colour do? Guys with muscles flex them... maybe geeky male sales-staff try to act all-knowing and "helpful" but end up sounding obnoxious, superiorist, and pushy?
Throw this a bit farther. The girl has a boyfriend. Now the geek can avoid even talking to the girl. Moreover, if he's having a problem keep his eyes above neck level, perhaps he decides to talk to the guy just to avoid conflict?
I'm not saying it's true... I don't think like this, but I could think of at least a few guys who would. Maybe it's not so much that the female purchases are technically inclined but that the male sellers are socially inadept with females? Maybe we need more female salespeople.
Thinking about your average salesgeek and their performance with women out of the work environment, I wouldn't be surprised if it contributes to lack of performance in it.
I have a (female) friend who has a big subwoofer in her car, progams quite well in various languages, and is in the process of doing a rather sweet case-mod on her computer.
I'm actually seriously thinking of pointing her at this slashdot article and asking how she is treated at a computer store. She also recently held a tech job before returning to school (practicum), I wonder if she was treated differently as a female tech
Personally, I'd like to see more women in the technical field. However, if people insist on promoting the "women can't program the VCR" stereotype then it's not going to happen anytime fast. Technology is not a man's field, frick I know any number of women who would do very well at it if they gave it a go. Yet, in my college course less than 25% of the students were women, I rarely see female retail salespeople (except cashiers) in a computer store.
I think that men here need to drop the superiorist complex. If you want to keep perpetrating the idea that women are technically inferior, then you really shouldn't be surprised that you're hugging your pillow at night. Can't find a smart girl who's interested in tech stuff like you... maybe it's because people like you scare them away and make them feel like morons. Who wants to learn when it makes you out-of-place?
Also, if you're going to insist on pounding your chest and insinuating that women are better off pounding keyboard at a secretary desk than a coders one... don't be surprised when the smart techie girls out there either ignore you or dump your asses when they find out how ignorant you are.
Many women are less technical because people make them feel technically incompetent, so many simply don't try. Grow up, listen to the parent and go make your own damn "sammich" you dumbasses.
Women definately tend to be portrayed as less technically adept than males. I think that in a general sense this comes from a few personality characteristics common to the genders though:
Woman: Will try to figure something out. If she can't will ask somebody who probably knows it works
Man: Will f*** with it, swear at it, and eventually either get it working, break it, or screw it up so badly that the woman hires a professional when he's not looking.
It's somewhat like the "asking directions" thing.
Unforuntunately, women shortchange themselves in this area as well. Many defer to men as the "authority figure." Maybe this is because many men are intimidated by a capable woman? Personally, I'd love to meet more women who could help me pull apart a car/computer/etc.
It's funny that when a female actually does watch the process, I know she's probably thinking "I could probably do that," whilst many non-technical guys are simply thinking "fr*cking geek crap."
Another big problem is gender-placement in retail. You don't really notice it, but let's look at the following: fast-food/restaurants. Men are often in the back (cooks, etc), women are the front line. Yes there are male servers, but especially in fast-food women tend to dominate (except for later hours, in which case the men get more shifts).
Now shift to a large computer or electronics store. Salespeople: men, cashiers: women
I don't know if it is because they consider women less technically adept or simply because they're not as agressive salespeople. I myself wouldn't mind having a nice female salesperson in the computer department who knows what she's doing. Also, is there a better way to get geek buyers than having a female geek in the electronics section? Still, I wonder why women tend not to get these positions, so far in the local shops they are there, but tend to hold positions either at the register, the returns desk, or the camera dept.
However, she'll only wear it once a month or less when she's wearing something else from her wardrobe that co-ordinates.
This isn't a joke, though. Do you think a man would get away with "Yes dear, but I need the green laser pointer because it goes with my shirt, and this red one for my other outfit"
The closet I get to co-ordination is making sure my CD-ROM matches my computer case (not black with white or something very obvious), and stuff in my car.
I can almost understand the labels. Cover up the CD logo, leave lots of whitespace for writing large text. I might even do this myself (hell, a lot of people buy labels and just print off little text descriptions without cool graphics anyhow). Non-labelled CD's work too though.
I can't justify selling Jaguar to an XP user. Not that it isn't an upgrade over windows, too bad it won't work (work be a hoot if you could upgrade from XP to Jag though). I wonder if Apple will make a Mac OS for a PC, maybe just sell it at an increased price to offset the hardware sales-loss?
How about they create a "service" that indexes the names of a pr0n item's creator, as well the names of the prominent "actors/actresses."
When I find something I like, I could find more items with the same "actress" and perhaps make a purchase. Hell, I already know some places that put their logo on small clips for distribution... I'm guess the reason that pr0n isn't so bashed by industry as movies/music is that they probably do noticed they are pulling in some profit from it (site subscriptions, etc).
Who exactly are the victims? Everybody that received the spam? That's a lot of people
What they need is an "anti-spam" department. Partially gov't funded to start things off, but also supported by the proceeds of whatever spammers get busted/fined. I don't think I'd see part of the pie for nailing spammers, but I wouldn't mind donating my portion to nailing some more.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, the watermarking sounds like a much better idea in comparison. Actually, all you'd really need is something that embeds a piece of text such as "photocopy" or "not legitimate currency" in section of the bill that is unobtrusive yet still easily visible.
It's not that there's a problem with something to help prevent the forgeries, the problem is that it isn't made very apparent to those that purchase the product. Having a "duplicate" tag on a copied bill is much nicer than wasting a bunch of ink only to discover that your printer has been rejecting the anti-copy marks.
To heck with that... too bad I can't tattoo it, but maybe I'll just have it inscribed with felt-marker on my forehead before going through areas which I don't want my picture being recorded.
Because though currency is detectable via a five circle pattern, one could suppose that it is only detected as "currency" as opposed to a specific bill.
Vending machines, on the other hand, need to detect which bill is inserted (for obvious reasons). It's easier in countries with dollar-coins, though it seems that the higher the coin-value goes the higher the cost of vending machines which use them.
Actually, that was almost exactly my impression. This isn't a game, it's a somewhat playable and badly scripted episode of CA.
Somewhere along the line I think that the demons behind Charlie's Angels and Sailor Moon combined to make this mess.
If I wanted pr0n I'd buy a subscription on the internet or a game of that rating. If I want gameplay/plot I will buy a game. When I buy a game in a series noted (at least from my personal experience) for decent plots/play, I'd expect it to capitalize on those factors and not cheap sexualization.
Furthermore, pixelated 3d rendered females and sappy innuendo dialogue don't get me off... I'm not gay but I guess I just have higher standards for you in both the gaming and internet categories.
If we can nominate console games, I'm going to FFX-2. As the first FF sequel, it's a huge dissappointment. Gameplay is decent, but it's got way too much focus on sexuality (there's a scene where the girls compare boob sizes... how sad) as opposed to plot.
Yes, previous FF games has some of these aspects (FF7 ending scene anyone?), but they were backed up with decent plots.
FFX-2 is a combination of several mini-quests, many often fairly unrelated, using much of the original maps/graphics/etc of FFX.
Cash-grab anyone? Squaresoft should be ashamed.
The problem with any site where the email address is publicly viewable is that it is harvested by bots. As per my own similar experience, I think that somewhere a spammer rubs his/her hands in glee every time somebody uses an unobfuscated slashdot email.
The first time I got an article up on slashdot, the associated email was non-obfuscated. /., due to a sudden deluge of spam going to the alias linked in the article.
I knew the article was posted before I even checked
The second article I had posted, I obfuscated my address. Thus far no spambots have managed to hit me on that alias.
I'd say that the obfuscation definately worked in this case. It wouldn't fool a spammer doing a visual search for victims, but it was enough to trick the bots.
I wonder though, if slashdot (being very anti-spam) is given special attention by spammers... or if it just goes along with being a highly popular website and thus a good place to harvest addresses.
Remember the outcome of the clueless cop's crusade against Steve Jackson Games
Nope, never heard of it. Got a link?
Several others on that thread listed a virus that did just that... use your machine as a gateway for others to swap their underage smut
You make a good point about the "recent docs" etc etc though... but if those weren't there I'd say the guy could be interested.
Hell, we had an FTP hacked at work and what was it used for? Storage of illegal material, including warez, hacks, and porn. I didn't view the JPEG's, mainly because I don't want to know what they were, nor do I want to be caught viewing something that could very well end up being illegal.
Mount the drive safely off a static machine, wiped it out. Probably some residuals there but god only knows what could happen it were one of my home boxen and a cracker led the police to me.
Theoretically yes, but a suspect can still be detained, have his/her possessions confiscated (in relation to the crime) and many other things that happened here. It's when you go from that step of "presumed 100% innocent" to "presumed innocent but under suspicion" (with evidence) where they get a warrant.
You don't have to be "proven innocent" so much as guilt must be proven. But you do have to be "found not guilty" in order to get your life back in order. I'm wonder what - in that eventuality - steps one may take to restitute the disruption on one's life.
I mean, the guy may never see his PC's again. Probably won't... as all it takes is a bit of pirated/cracked software, maybe a bad item cached from the web-browser, or maybe even some pirated mp3's?
I remember using a doom modding program to play with the BFG. If I remember correctly, the images were chain and tied to the effects. There was an effect for "BFG blast" which afterwards triggered "BFG aferaffect" (the direct hit Vs the area damage).
If you changed the "aferaffect" to the full blast, they'd keep spawning little flashes until everything nearby was quite dead. Quite an amusing modification.
You mean:
iddqd
idkfa
idspispopd
The sad thing... I tricked zdoom awhile back and remembered all those. Sad that I played doom/doom2 so much for them to become ingrained in my memory (or maybe it's more sad that I obviously was a frequent cheater).
If you are found innocent...
a) What countermeasures/damages can you persue
b) If your computers are for business use, can you sue for lost revenue?
c) If they find something illegal (who doesn't have a "hack for program x" or keygen etc), but it is found that they came after you mistakenly, are your computers still lost?
d) You got no card, how can you call to find out about your stuff?
e) 9 computers, decent chance one is a server. How about if the server was hacked (cmon, if they hack valve wouldn't they redirect through dummy servers)
mikerowesoft is a far cry from some scam sites that have popped up.
No, they don't have a right to this one at all. In fact, they shouldn't have a right at all... wrong word. What they would have, at least in part, is my agreement that if somebody grabbed the domain say "microsoftupdates.com" and tried to use it for malicious or profitable means (on the MS name) that MS should go after him/her.
I should have rephrased that "a right to (try and) protect websites of name microsoft.xxx"
Personally, I think corps have all too many rights along this area, but I wouldn't argue that they should defend themself if somebody took "microsoftpc.com" or something with obvious intent to profit on the MS name.
In this case, the site is the guy's freaking name... I think MS is out-to-lunch and should be shot down... with a cannon.
Indeed, but it almost looks as if it is intended to make a computer-keyboard somewhat portable?
I mean, if you were at home you could (as mentioned) do just fine by going cheaper with a seperate PC and keyboard, MIDI controller, etc.
However, with the pricetag on this thing I'd be scared sh*tless to take it out very often. Road trips are not easy on musical equipment. Having some dumbass drop a coke on a $8000 keyboard-computer would kill me.
It's not that there's not usefulness in the item, even for the price... it's that I could do otherwise at home and would be paranoid taking something so expensive out.
OK. Let's picture the average younger male geek. He knows a lot about computers, but crap about computers. When a male customer comes in who can talk about computers/stereos, he talks it up and go for the sale. Heck, when he meets somebody anywhere who talks tech he mind find it interesting conversation
Now picture this... that same person has very little ability to converse with the opposite sex. Now throw this a bit farther... maybe the female is cute. Now we have a socially inept male geek trying to communicate with a cute female geek. Hell, is he going to do well even outside of the sales setting.
What will he do? Maybe he stumbles a bit, but makes a sale without ending up looking too much like an idiot. But maybe... hey, what do guys of any colour do? Guys with muscles flex them... maybe geeky male sales-staff try to act all-knowing and "helpful" but end up sounding obnoxious, superiorist, and pushy?
Throw this a bit farther. The girl has a boyfriend. Now the geek can avoid even talking to the girl. Moreover, if he's having a problem keep his eyes above neck level, perhaps he decides to talk to the guy just to avoid conflict?
I'm not saying it's true... I don't think like this, but I could think of at least a few guys who would. Maybe it's not so much that the female purchases are technically inclined but that the male sellers are socially inadept with females? Maybe we need more female salespeople.
Thinking about your average salesgeek and their performance with women out of the work environment, I wouldn't be surprised if it contributes to lack of performance in it.
I have a (female) friend who has a big subwoofer in her car, progams quite well in various languages, and is in the process of doing a rather sweet case-mod on her computer.
I'm actually seriously thinking of pointing her at this slashdot article and asking how she is treated at a computer store. She also recently held a tech job before returning to school (practicum), I wonder if she was treated differently as a female tech
Personally, I'd like to see more women in the technical field. However, if people insist on promoting the "women can't program the VCR" stereotype then it's not going to happen anytime fast. Technology is not a man's field, frick I know any number of women who would do very well at it if they gave it a go. Yet, in my college course less than 25% of the students were women, I rarely see female retail salespeople (except cashiers) in a computer store.
I think that men here need to drop the superiorist complex. If you want to keep perpetrating the idea that women are technically inferior, then you really shouldn't be surprised that you're hugging your pillow at night. Can't find a smart girl who's interested in tech stuff like you... maybe it's because people like you scare them away and make them feel like morons. Who wants to learn when it makes you out-of-place?
Also, if you're going to insist on pounding your chest and insinuating that women are better off pounding keyboard at a secretary desk than a coders one... don't be surprised when the smart techie girls out there either ignore you or dump your asses when they find out how ignorant you are.
Many women are less technical because people make them feel technically incompetent, so many simply don't try. Grow up, listen to the parent and go make your own damn "sammich" you dumbasses.
Women definately tend to be portrayed as less technically adept than males. I think that in a general sense this comes from a few personality characteristics common to the genders though:
Woman: Will try to figure something out. If she can't will ask somebody who probably knows it works
Man: Will f*** with it, swear at it, and eventually either get it working, break it, or screw it up so badly that the woman hires a professional when he's not looking.
It's somewhat like the "asking directions" thing.
Unforuntunately, women shortchange themselves in this area as well. Many defer to men as the "authority figure." Maybe this is because many men are intimidated by a capable woman? Personally, I'd love to meet more women who could help me pull apart a car/computer/etc.
It's funny that when a female actually does watch the process, I know she's probably thinking "I could probably do that," whilst many non-technical guys are simply thinking "fr*cking geek crap."
Another big problem is gender-placement in retail. You don't really notice it, but let's look at the following: fast-food/restaurants. Men are often in the back (cooks, etc), women are the front line. Yes there are male servers, but especially in fast-food women tend to dominate (except for later hours, in which case the men get more shifts).
Now shift to a large computer or electronics store. Salespeople: men, cashiers: women
I don't know if it is because they consider women less technically adept or simply because they're not as agressive salespeople. I myself wouldn't mind having a nice female salesperson in the computer department who knows what she's doing. Also, is there a better way to get geek buyers than having a female geek in the electronics section? Still, I wonder why women tend not to get these positions, so far in the local shops they are there, but tend to hold positions either at the register, the returns desk, or the camera dept.
It's more like a $75 item over a $50 one.
However, she'll only wear it once a month or less when she's wearing something else from her wardrobe that co-ordinates.
This isn't a joke, though. Do you think a man would get away with "Yes dear, but I need the green laser pointer because it goes with my shirt, and this red one for my other outfit"
The closet I get to co-ordination is making sure my CD-ROM matches my computer case (not black with white or something very obvious), and stuff in my car.
I can almost understand the labels. Cover up the CD logo, leave lots of whitespace for writing large text. I might even do this myself (hell, a lot of people buy labels and just print off little text descriptions without cool graphics anyhow). Non-labelled CD's work too though.
I can't justify selling Jaguar to an XP user. Not that it isn't an upgrade over windows, too bad it won't work (work be a hoot if you could upgrade from XP to Jag though). I wonder if Apple will make a Mac OS for a PC, maybe just sell it at an increased price to offset the hardware sales-loss?
How about they create a "service" that indexes the names of a pr0n item's creator, as well the names of the prominent "actors/actresses."
When I find something I like, I could find more items with the same "actress" and perhaps make a purchase. Hell, I already know some places that put their logo on small clips for distribution... I'm guess the reason that pr0n isn't so bashed by industry as movies/music is that they probably do noticed they are pulling in some profit from it (site subscriptions, etc).
Who exactly are the victims? Everybody that received the spam? That's a lot of people
What they need is an "anti-spam" department. Partially gov't funded to start things off, but also supported by the proceeds of whatever spammers get busted/fined. I don't think I'd see part of the pie for nailing spammers, but I wouldn't mind donating my portion to nailing some more.
Maybe because some spammers are female?
I'm personally liking the words "ants" "stake" "syrop"
Alternatively, the words tar/feathers have a nice ring to them also.