Let's face it, they are basically all Republicans.
The only difference is that the "Democrats" are to gutless to admit it.
Although I disagree with Michael Moore on a lot of issues - he has some good points to make on supposed Democrats and their Republican-esque actions (that's right "last-minute-pardon" Clinton, I am looking at you).
I would taunt you and your country for allowing such a situation to evolve - except that the situation here in Australia is amazingly similar...:)
I would become a politician, but I hate myself enough already.
Gentoo Developer Sven Vermeulen uses the following signature for his mails:
"Thanks to DRM, you know that something has been built in environment of unspecified degree of security, from source you cannot check, written by programmers you don't know, released after passing QA of unknown quality and which is released under a license which disclaims any responsibility..."
I can't wait for one of these to be "kidnapped" (preferably with telemetry intact to allow easy retrieval and a good laugh all round) while wandering about in some desert or another.
As I recall, the main focus of it was the rolling logs for long distance transport (pretty well documented, not only by the tracks left, but discarded and broken logs etc., but also historical pictorial records) and also on leverage multipliers.
With the rollers, the key was sustaining momentum wherever possible (moving friction less than initial friction). No need to re-invent the wheel here (bad pun I know).
The materials analysis of the lever and pulley materials was the most interesting part I though. They demonstrated the feasability of several different methods of lifting/propelling the blocks (all dreamed up by a variety of egyptologists, engineers and wackos like Mr Raina) using only materials available at the time.
In contrast to the mental stimulation provided by that documentary, this article was a complete waste of time.
Mr. Raina has never been to Egypt nor have any scientists travelled to his humble home for a demonstration.
Personally I agree with you - purely on a freedom of choice basis - but some of the more "religion endowed" members of my friends would object on religious grounds.
Although a wise (I thought) man once said: "Those most in need of meditation, are those least likely to do it."
Friday absences have dropped dramatically since my work introduced Friday afternoon massages (nothing kinky, just a shoulder rub).
An added bonus is that you don't just spend your weekend recovering from the working week. You feel more inclined to go back to work on monday when you feel you have a life beyond work.
"people who want to hurt their enemies will just steal the relevant IP addresses and start sharing copyrighted material"
Exactly the point I was going to make.
The IP, kazaa login, file list "evidence" that is being touted in this issue are quite analogous to the DNA debacle of the last few decades.
We are already reaching a point where several high profile cases have occurred with blatant mishandling and concoction of DNA evidence. This is not even taking into account the early mRNA days of genetic fingerprinting and it's extremely dubious "proof" that was used as the almost sole basis for conviction
This seems very analogous to the current situation: technologically advanced (and hence only dimly understandable by a lay person) and prone to the problems of that technology.
The "proof" being used by the RIAA is so scientifically meaningless as to be ridiculous. Unfortunately, DNA testing (hopefully) taught us that we can't rely on the courts to show even a modicum of common sense (I wish it really was common...).
As cantabrigian pointed out, it would be a relatively minor affair to subvert someone elses computer and hence implicate them for a crime they did not commit.
Even an average user may well be able to get a radmin user/pass to the pc in the next dorm, install kazaa or similar (you can even hide the system tray icon now with the click of a button), download the latest 30 album releases, set it to share them continually to one and all. So it will not be limited to only a small cadre of l337 hackers.
So at the cheapest rate (the RIAA bulk discount?:) of $750 per song, and an average of say 12 songs per album - your victim is looking at 750 * 30 * 12 = $270,000.
Of course there is a modicum of track covering to do, so the victim has no plausible deniability, but I doubt the RIAA is going to be focussing on auditing hard drives for remote logins. And of course, nuking their disk after a time will leave only the RIAA logfile "proof".
Start lobbying everyone you can.
Please don't let history repeat - we the knowledgable must ensure a clear and correct stream of information to the policy makers. We do not need emotive pleas based on the liberation of information, we need understandable descriptions of the flaws and fallacies in the current method and how it may be exploited.
any legislation that mandates the "consideration" of any specific product(s) over others
Actually the legislation is attempting to oblige only the "consideration"(sic) of any suitable technologies. It does not mandate one over another, instead it is designed to stop the very preferential treatment that is currently enjoyed by Microsoft.
If I hear or see one more illiterate, media mesmerised, teenage reprobate massacring not only the english language but any others they can pretend to have a passing knowledge of - I will have to gouge out my own eyes and perforate my eardrums.
Over-reacting you may say?? Well at least the pain will fade instead of growing ever more powerful as the global IQ diminishes...
The wireless access points were defined as "public access".
So without some authentication method, there is now way of identifying those naughty file sharers (IP's and MAC's are easily spoofed of course).
I am not one to endorse setting up public access hotstpots with no access controls (or internet access) but it might be time to accidently misconfigure that home network.
Q.
Well, I did actually read further than that - and to be honest it ain't impressive.
Automated code generation? Wow...
Linked list matrix? My goodness...
"The same technique could easily be altered to sort the dictionary over multiple systems." and "Search a million word dictionary in much, much less than a second." Mmmm, you need to decide which of the previous statements is most correct - in that the time to transmit a dictionary "fragment" is either greater, smaller or the same as the time to process the dictionary fragment on a single node. Or are you relying on pre-creation of the distributed dictionary fragments (sounds ominously similar to the onerous logistical dependencies you so aptly point out).
Don't get me wrong Robert (I assume it is you), I'm not trying to flame-bait, but I do not like grandious claims of the horrendous oversupply of computing power afflicting the world. What a load of crap and you know it.
While you are at it you may as well address the issue of how will the hacking groups pay for this grid computing power? You don't think it is going to be given away for commercial vendors do you?? At best it would be a processing bank (something I would love) style situation. The volunteer grid group option is already available (as you should be aware creating your own) so no effect their either.
WEP is crap, hash is (mostly) weak - no argument here.:)
On a personal note, I think it is an excellent project in that it (partly) deals with the exact issue that I wished to highlight - the human factor. Current estimates are that by far the majority of systems are compromised by social means, not brute computing power. This appears to be an issue that your tool will partly address in the most obvious of cases.
"Why should I spend my time writing audit tools for PAM modules that don't exist?" Ummm, that is a good question, but perhaps one that you should be answering...
Patent != Copyright != Trademark != Breach of Contract.
Please, please, please can we avoid using the acronym IP? It is not at all a valid concept - these are all completely disparate areas of law and should never be referred to in the same breath without clarification.
It is often used as a term that encompasses patents, trademarks and copyright - but if you ever hire an "IP lawyer"(sic) you will nearly invariably find that they only specialise in one or two of the above areas.
If you can crack a 2k keyed encryption stream using a well regarded encryption scheme (not a simple hash like MD5), then I am impressed.
If all you can do is "to see if the original cleartext is a word found in a given dictionary file" then get a life.
Wow, how revolutionary, and so suited to distributed computing (NOT).
When you have access to REAL computing power, you realise exactly what the government can do with your static keyed vpn connection and PGP (hehe) emails.
It appears that google is placing themselves firmly in the future of distributed computing (as previously mentioned onslashdot).
Can anyone see another player apart from Microsoft having the market penetration required to make themselves the defacto distributed computing platform??
Go Google I say - let microsoft get someone else to beta test their software.
As a web developer, there is no way I will give up my mozilla and assorted mozilla mutants (Javascript debugging is just too damn convenient).
Btw, that is an extremely poor statistical analysis.
To quote the senate hearing: "the rate of fatal rollovers for pickups is twice that for passenger cars and the rate for SUVs is almost three times the passenger car rate" - and using your logic this implies that pickups are twice as numerous as passenger cars, and SUV's are three time as numerous as passenger cars.
Not that I disagree with the majority of historical points, but there is definitely a niche market (of developers no less) who have a vested interest in it's continuation.
My $0.05 (2c is no longer valid currency in Australia).
It kind of goes to prove that old adage (variously attributed to C.S Lewis or Aurthur C. Clarke) science fiction is the only genuine consciousness expanding drug. (Trust me, I have checked).
Mind you, I think someone should have told P. K. Dick that before 1982.
Favourite Quote: "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."
Slashdot Mirror
The only difference is that the "Democrats" are to gutless to admit it.
Although I disagree with Michael Moore on a lot of issues - he has some good points to make on supposed Democrats and their Republican-esque actions (that's right "last-minute-pardon" Clinton, I am looking at you).
I would taunt you and your country for allowing such a situation to evolve - except that the situation here in Australia is amazingly similar... :)
I would become a politician, but I hate myself enough already.
Q.
"Thanks to DRM, you know that something has been built in environment of unspecified degree of security, from source you cannot check, written by programmers you don't know, released after passing QA of unknown quality and which is released under a license which disclaims any responsibility..."
Q.
I'm glad it is a pretty obscure character. Any Aragorn's or Bilbo's out there?
Q.
Q.
As I recall, the main focus of it was the rolling logs for long distance transport (pretty well documented, not only by the tracks left, but discarded and broken logs etc., but also historical pictorial records) and also on leverage multipliers.
With the rollers, the key was sustaining momentum wherever possible (moving friction less than initial friction). No need to re-invent the wheel here (bad pun I know).
The materials analysis of the lever and pulley materials was the most interesting part I though. They demonstrated the feasability of several different methods of lifting/propelling the blocks (all dreamed up by a variety of egyptologists, engineers and wackos like Mr Raina) using only materials available at the time.
In contrast to the mental stimulation provided by that documentary, this article was a complete waste of time.
Mr. Raina has never been to Egypt nor have any scientists travelled to his humble home for a demonstration.
Well surprise, surprise...
Q.
Although a wise (I thought) man once said: "Those most in need of meditation, are those least likely to do it."
Q.
An added bonus is that you don't just spend your weekend recovering from the working week. You feel more inclined to go back to work on monday when you feel you have a life beyond work.
Q.
Exactly the point I was going to make.
The IP, kazaa login, file list "evidence" that is being touted in this issue are quite analogous to the DNA debacle of the last few decades.
We are already reaching a point where several high profile cases have occurred with blatant mishandling and concoction of DNA evidence. This is not even taking into account the early mRNA days of genetic fingerprinting and it's extremely dubious "proof" that was used as the almost sole basis for conviction
This seems very analogous to the current situation: technologically advanced (and hence only dimly understandable by a lay person) and prone to the problems of that technology.
The "proof" being used by the RIAA is so scientifically meaningless as to be ridiculous. Unfortunately, DNA testing (hopefully) taught us that we can't rely on the courts to show even a modicum of common sense (I wish it really was common...).
As cantabrigian pointed out, it would be a relatively minor affair to subvert someone elses computer and hence implicate them for a crime they did not commit.
Even an average user may well be able to get a radmin user/pass to the pc in the next dorm, install kazaa or similar (you can even hide the system tray icon now with the click of a button), download the latest 30 album releases, set it to share them continually to one and all. So it will not be limited to only a small cadre of l337 hackers.
So at the cheapest rate (the RIAA bulk discount? :) of $750 per song, and an average of say 12 songs per album - your victim is looking at 750 * 30 * 12 = $270,000.
Of course there is a modicum of track covering to do, so the victim has no plausible deniability, but I doubt the RIAA is going to be focussing on auditing hard drives for remote logins. And of course, nuking their disk after a time will leave only the RIAA logfile "proof".
Start lobbying everyone you can.
Please don't let history repeat - we the knowledgable must ensure a clear and correct stream of information to the policy makers. We do not need emotive pleas based on the liberation of information, we need understandable descriptions of the flaws and fallacies in the current method and how it may be exploited.
Good luck, we are going to need it.
Q.
any legislation that mandates the "consideration" of any specific product(s) over others
Actually the legislation is attempting to oblige only the "consideration"(sic) of any suitable technologies. It does not mandate one over another, instead it is designed to stop the very preferential treatment that is currently enjoyed by Microsoft.
Q.
Compare and contrast.
Q.
If I hear or see one more illiterate, media mesmerised, teenage reprobate massacring not only the english language but any others they can pretend to have a passing knowledge of - I will have to gouge out my own eyes and perforate my eardrums.
Over-reacting you may say?? Well at least the pain will fade instead of growing ever more powerful as the global IQ diminishes...
Q.
Thanks for the links, very interesting.
Wise din't exactly live up to it's name...
Q.
Easy configuration? Now you don't even need to be aware that you wanted to share your files. :)
Q.
The wireless access points were defined as "public access".
So without some authentication method, there is now way of identifying those naughty file sharers (IP's and MAC's are easily spoofed of course).
I am not one to endorse setting up public access hotstpots with no access controls (or internet access) but it might be time to accidently misconfigure that home network.
Q.
Q.
Automated code generation? Wow...
Linked list matrix? My goodness...
"The same technique could easily be altered to sort the dictionary over multiple systems." and "Search a million word dictionary in much, much less than a second." Mmmm, you need to decide which of the previous statements is most correct - in that the time to transmit a dictionary "fragment" is either greater, smaller or the same as the time to process the dictionary fragment on a single node. Or are you relying on pre-creation of the distributed dictionary fragments (sounds ominously similar to the onerous logistical dependencies you so aptly point out).
Don't get me wrong Robert (I assume it is you), I'm not trying to flame-bait, but I do not like grandious claims of the horrendous oversupply of computing power afflicting the world. What a load of crap and you know it.
While you are at it you may as well address the issue of how will the hacking groups pay for this grid computing power? You don't think it is going to be given away for commercial vendors do you?? At best it would be a processing bank (something I would love) style situation. The volunteer grid group option is already available (as you should be aware creating your own) so no effect their either.
WEP is crap, hash is (mostly) weak - no argument here. :)
On a personal note, I think it is an excellent project in that it (partly) deals with the exact issue that I wished to highlight - the human factor. Current estimates are that by far the majority of systems are compromised by social means, not brute computing power. This appears to be an issue that your tool will partly address in the most obvious of cases.
"Why should I spend my time writing audit tools for PAM modules that don't exist?" Ummm, that is a good question, but perhaps one that you should be answering...
Q.
Please, please, please can we avoid using the acronym IP? It is not at all a valid concept - these are all completely disparate areas of law and should never be referred to in the same breath without clarification.
It is often used as a term that encompasses patents, trademarks and copyright - but if you ever hire an "IP lawyer"(sic) you will nearly invariably find that they only specialise in one or two of the above areas.
Q.
If all you can do is "to see if the original cleartext is a word found in a given dictionary file" then get a life.
Wow, how revolutionary, and so suited to distributed computing (NOT).
When you have access to REAL computing power, you realise exactly what the government can do with your static keyed vpn connection and PGP (hehe) emails.
Q.
Q.
Q.
Can anyone see another player apart from Microsoft having the market penetration required to make themselves the defacto distributed computing platform??
Go Google I say - let microsoft get someone else to beta test their software.
Q.
What ever drugs you are on, double the dose.
Q.
Q.
As a web developer, there is no way I will give up my mozilla and assorted mozilla mutants (Javascript debugging is just too damn convenient).
Btw, that is an extremely poor statistical analysis.
To quote the senate hearing: "the rate of fatal rollovers for pickups is twice that for passenger cars and the rate for SUVs is almost three times the passenger car rate" - and using your logic this implies that pickups are twice as numerous as passenger cars, and SUV's are three time as numerous as passenger cars.
Not that I disagree with the majority of historical points, but there is definitely a niche market (of developers no less) who have a vested interest in it's continuation.
My $0.05 (2c is no longer valid currency in Australia).
Q.
It kind of goes to prove that old adage (variously attributed to C.S Lewis or Aurthur C. Clarke) science fiction is the only genuine consciousness expanding drug. (Trust me, I have checked).
Mind you, I think someone should have told P. K. Dick that before 1982.
Favourite Quote: "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."
Q.