Growing up in Oregon, there were often strange disappearances around The Dalles. Local folk stories talked about vans of mysterious Google workers kidnapping transients and performing experiments on them for upcoming products.
Yes, I've been hearing about the new Google Implant. I don't think I'll be an early adopter on this one though.
Their policy is not to 'make sense'. Their policy is to frighten people. An insane attack dog is more frightening, and in a number of more ways more effective, than a well-trained guard dog to keep people off the territory where you let the dog loose, even if you do not in fact own that territory and have no legal cause to let that dog hurt anyone.
Plenty of people in the music industry, especially in production and distribution, have mastered this art for many years, against agents, performers, and normal purchasers. This is just another form of the 'trial by champions' or effectively 'trial by mercenaries in suits' that legal systems have provided since the time of the crucifixion of Jesus and Pontius Pilate washing his hands of the mess.
Here, let me condense that for you: Might Makes Right.
I'd say more than that, NYCL is a bona-fide Freedom Fighter.
One man's Freedom Fighter is another man's Terrorist.
Nice quip, but... how many people here are feeling terrified of Mr. Beckerman? Show of hands, please. What? Nobody? No, Mr. Bainwol, you don't get a vote.
Well, keep in mind that, as I said before, the U.S. is a pretty large country, with a lot of different populations and subcultures. If you're a young person and you just want to get away, you only have to hop into your car and drive a few hundred or a thousand miles and you can find yourself in another world.
Still, I personally know many, many people that have gone overseas just for the experience. A number of people (generally older ones that have the resources) where I work regularly take trips to various parts of the world. So we're not all as insular as you might think.
My girlfriend is from Nigeria, and she's occasionally made noises about my taking a trip there with her. I told her no problem as soon as they stop taking Americans hostage for fun and profit. "Ha ha, very funny" was the response. We'll see.
On the other hand, one of my best friends emigrated to Germany about a decade ago, and he's been wanting me to come visit sometime. I would just stay with him, which would keep costs down... yes, I think that's in the cards this coming year. I'm looking forward to the beer, among other things (a friend of his is in the beer shipping business: the contrast between how beer is handled in the U.S. vs Germany is interesting, but that's another story.)
I swear, it needs to become harder for people to form not-for-profit corporations and become "advocates" and activists. Too often such groups are good for nothing other than raising a stink over nothing, suing others, acting in petty, partisan ways, etc.
Why don't you found a 501(c)(3) corporation to work for the banning of such groups?
Ah, that probably means they're just going to be your average run-of-the-mill amount of "ignorant". Ignore Italy, they're special...
No, our politicians are just as ignorant as the other poster said about Italy's... it's just that they have a lot more money and resources to squander on their stupidity.
Pity, Italy's pretty cool. Of course, the average American never leaves the state they were born in let alone the country. It must be nice to live in an area so fucking awesome that you never want to leave it.
Awesome... possibly, depending upon where you live. Big, definitely. And why would you assume nobody ever wants to leave it? Everyone here looks with envy upon those who are able to visit other countries, either for business or pleasure. I know it's popular to look upon Americans as ignorant boobs who think we're the center of the Universe (and, okay, looking at our President for the past eight years I guess I can see why) but really that's an unfair characterization.
Besides, look at the size of a typical European nation compared to the U.S. (or even some of the larger States.) You can travel fairly easily around Europe and visit any number of different countries by just driving or taking the train. On this continent, we have the United States, Mexico and Canada. That's it. Those you can get to easily enough, but international travel is significantly more costly. Most of us just can't afford it, much as we would like to. Personally, I want to visit Greece and Germany (since that's my ethnic background.) Someday I will.
You know you've always wanted an internet where IP law is handled by the Americans, politically controversial material by the Germans, porn by the Iranians, and dissidents by the Chinese.
No, wait, never mind. That's hell I'm talking about.
Can't really argue with your definition of Hell on Earth.
Of course, to be fair, most of the changes in U.S. IP law have been to "harmonize" us with what Europe has already done to itself (e.g. first-to-file patents, extended copyright, etc.) We just take the heat for it.
A startup named Mgestyk Technologies claims that they have an affordable solution for 'Minority Report'-like PC control.
The tech in Johnny Mnemonic predates Minority Report by a number of years, and Keanu Reeves hand-waving while interfacing with the global network was prophetic, it sounds like.
For how much longer will we still be using keyboards, mice and joysticks?
Forever, or until we get a direct neural interface. Most people don't want to hold their hands up in the air all day. It's tiring.
Well, my experience is that a lot depends upon the quality of the inventor's description of his work. I have a couple of patents, one for some work I did for a division of Westinghouse. I spent a couple of days on a clear, detailed summary of the invention and sent it off to their legal department. Their patent lawyer called me up the next day... not to ask questions, but to compliment me on the thoroughness of the document. He took what I wrote, added some appropriate legalese, and sent it off to the Patent Office. His comment was that most of the "inventors" he worked with were incapable of that level of documentation, and he was often forced to fill in the gaps as best he could. My point being that it's not always the lawyer's fault if a patent isn't as clear as it could be.
That's not to say that there isn't a lot of deliberate obfuscation going on. The USPTO should simply reject such patents.
And it has to be detailed enough to enable a person having ordinary skill in the art to practice the invention.
That's the theory. In practice, it's very different: patents are often written in as obscure a fashion as possible. Of course, such patents should not have been granted in the first place. But that's another issue.
The BPI â" the UK equivalent of the RIAA â" is backing the scheme, emphasizing that it will also allow users to identify legitimate stores.
I'd say their willingness to allow a distinction to be drawn between an open format and their restricted garbage is a temporary phenomenon. Odd in a way, since they (and their ilk elsewhere) have spent a lot of money convincing buyers that DRM-infected files are just as good as unencumbered ones. Makes me think that as soon as they have people aware that MP3 is different than whatever it is they're offering, they'll start spending billions vilifying MP3 files. These guys are sneaky and not to be trusted under any circumstances.
They are on a glorified VPN (at least the secret machines I work with routinely both in the USA and Iraq are) with a hardware encryption solution that separates them from the rest of the internet.
I hope that hardware solution wasn't Made in China.
Google changed something very important about the internet. It made bookmarking obsolete by actually being able to find the content you need quicker than browsing through a list of bookmarks.
That's a pretty radical change to before-google-became-all-too-popular times.
Not at all. That's top layer stuff, not a fundamental change in the way the Internet functions.
The Internet (as opposed to the World Wide Web) is still pretty much what it has always been. Bigger of course, and way faster, but it's still nothing more than a way to get binary blobs from here to there with a minimum of fuss. Everything else is just frosting on the cake.
but how hard would it be to create a separate network, with a program that asks you when you start up which network you would like to connect to?
Trivial. But that's not the issue: the mere presence of such a connection allows for possible remote exploits. If you want secure network, it really should be physically separate from the public network. Even then, people will try to tap into your private network and decrypt whatever they can, but they won't be able to sit in a comfortable computer room in China to do it.
Slashdot Mirror
It's true about Google's secret lair.
Growing up in Oregon, there were often strange disappearances around The Dalles. Local folk stories talked about vans of mysterious Google workers kidnapping transients and performing experiments on them for upcoming products.
Yes, I've been hearing about the new Google Implant. I don't think I'll be an early adopter on this one though.
Sort of.
Their policy is not to 'make sense'. Their policy is to frighten people. An insane attack dog is more frightening, and in a number of more ways more effective, than a well-trained guard dog to keep people off the territory where you let the dog loose, even if you do not in fact own that territory and have no legal cause to let that dog hurt anyone. Plenty of people in the music industry, especially in production and distribution, have mastered this art for many years, against agents, performers, and normal purchasers. This is just another form of the 'trial by champions' or effectively 'trial by mercenaries in suits' that legal systems have provided since the time of the crucifixion of Jesus and Pontius Pilate washing his hands of the mess.
Here, let me condense that for you: Might Makes Right.
Shame me for using anecdotal evidence all you want; I know what ten years of near-constant bullying can do to you.
Yes. You never really get over it.
I'd say more than that, NYCL is a bona-fide Freedom Fighter.
One man's Freedom Fighter is another man's Terrorist.
Nice quip, but ... how many people here are feeling terrified of Mr. Beckerman? Show of hands, please. What? Nobody? No, Mr. Bainwol, you don't get a vote.
Amazon has died of dysentery.
No, it was some mystery virus they picked up in the jungle.
All your online data doesn't really live in a big, fluffy cloud.
What? Now he tells me.
Well, keep in mind that, as I said before, the U.S. is a pretty large country, with a lot of different populations and subcultures. If you're a young person and you just want to get away, you only have to hop into your car and drive a few hundred or a thousand miles and you can find yourself in another world.
... yes, I think that's in the cards this coming year. I'm looking forward to the beer, among other things (a friend of his is in the beer shipping business: the contrast between how beer is handled in the U.S. vs Germany is interesting, but that's another story.)
Still, I personally know many, many people that have gone overseas just for the experience. A number of people (generally older ones that have the resources) where I work regularly take trips to various parts of the world. So we're not all as insular as you might think.
My girlfriend is from Nigeria, and she's occasionally made noises about my taking a trip there with her. I told her no problem as soon as they stop taking Americans hostage for fun and profit. "Ha ha, very funny" was the response. We'll see.
On the other hand, one of my best friends emigrated to Germany about a decade ago, and he's been wanting me to come visit sometime. I would just stay with him, which would keep costs down
Why don't you found a 501(c)(3) corporation to work for the banning of such groups?
Nah. Too much work.
Ah, that probably means they're just going to be your average run-of-the-mill amount of "ignorant". Ignore Italy, they're special...
No, our politicians are just as ignorant as the other poster said about Italy's ... it's just that they have a lot more money and resources to squander on their stupidity.
Absolutely. While they're at it, they can close their whole Europe business, too. I wouldn't miss Google.
That's what you say now.
Pity, Italy's pretty cool. Of course, the average American never leaves the state they were born in let alone the country. It must be nice to live in an area so fucking awesome that you never want to leave it.
Awesome ... possibly, depending upon where you live. Big, definitely. And why would you assume nobody ever wants to leave it? Everyone here looks with envy upon those who are able to visit other countries, either for business or pleasure. I know it's popular to look upon Americans as ignorant boobs who think we're the center of the Universe (and, okay, looking at our President for the past eight years I guess I can see why) but really that's an unfair characterization.
Besides, look at the size of a typical European nation compared to the U.S. (or even some of the larger States.) You can travel fairly easily around Europe and visit any number of different countries by just driving or taking the train. On this continent, we have the United States, Mexico and Canada. That's it. Those you can get to easily enough, but international travel is significantly more costly. Most of us just can't afford it, much as we would like to. Personally, I want to visit Greece and Germany (since that's my ethnic background.) Someday I will.
You know you've always wanted an internet where IP law is handled by the Americans, politically controversial material by the Germans, porn by the Iranians, and dissidents by the Chinese. No, wait, never mind. That's hell I'm talking about.
Can't really argue with your definition of Hell on Earth.
Of course, to be fair, most of the changes in U.S. IP law have been to "harmonize" us with what Europe has already done to itself (e.g. first-to-file patents, extended copyright, etc.) We just take the heat for it.
I don't think the majority of slahdotters used to one handed surfing would have a problem with this.
I disagree. In that application, they're still using a joystick.
A startup named Mgestyk Technologies claims that they have an affordable solution for 'Minority Report'-like PC control.
The tech in Johnny Mnemonic predates Minority Report by a number of years, and Keanu Reeves hand-waving while interfacing with the global network was prophetic, it sounds like.
For how much longer will we still be using keyboards, mice and joysticks?
Forever, or until we get a direct neural interface. Most people don't want to hold their hands up in the air all day. It's tiring.
Well, my experience is that a lot depends upon the quality of the inventor's description of his work. I have a couple of patents, one for some work I did for a division of Westinghouse. I spent a couple of days on a clear, detailed summary of the invention and sent it off to their legal department. Their patent lawyer called me up the next day ... not to ask questions, but to compliment me on the thoroughness of the document. He took what I wrote, added some appropriate legalese, and sent it off to the Patent Office. His comment was that most of the "inventors" he worked with were incapable of that level of documentation, and he was often forced to fill in the gaps as best he could. My point being that it's not always the lawyer's fault if a patent isn't as clear as it could be.
That's not to say that there isn't a lot of deliberate obfuscation going on. The USPTO should simply reject such patents.
And it has to be detailed enough to enable a person having ordinary skill in the art to practice the invention.
That's the theory. In practice, it's very different: patents are often written in as obscure a fashion as possible. Of course, such patents should not have been granted in the first place. But that's another issue.
"Another such victory over the Romans and we are undone"
The BPI â" the UK equivalent of the RIAA â" is backing the scheme, emphasizing that it will also allow users to identify legitimate stores.
I'd say their willingness to allow a distinction to be drawn between an open format and their restricted garbage is a temporary phenomenon. Odd in a way, since they (and their ilk elsewhere) have spent a lot of money convincing buyers that DRM-infected files are just as good as unencumbered ones. Makes me think that as soon as they have people aware that MP3 is different than whatever it is they're offering, they'll start spending billions vilifying MP3 files. These guys are sneaky and not to be trusted under any circumstances.
That hardware solution is the KG-175 from General Dynamics. I can't say for certain, but I highly doubt they outsource that to China.
I hope not. COTS programs have their benefits but this is one area we'd best keep in-house.
then there are always ideots and weven
Who are these ideots and weven and how have the managed to penetrate the US Gov't?!? No wonder we need a new internet!
The scariest thing about all this is that some of them are boll weven!
But then there are always ideots and weven normal people forget and make mistakes.
Very true.
They are on a glorified VPN (at least the secret machines I work with routinely both in the USA and Iraq are) with a hardware encryption solution that separates them from the rest of the internet.
I hope that hardware solution wasn't Made in China.
Google changed something very important about the internet. It made bookmarking obsolete by actually being able to find the content you need quicker than browsing through a list of bookmarks. That's a pretty radical change to before-google-became-all-too-popular times.
Not at all. That's top layer stuff, not a fundamental change in the way the Internet functions.
The Internet (as opposed to the World Wide Web) is still pretty much what it has always been. Bigger of course, and way faster, but it's still nothing more than a way to get binary blobs from here to there with a minimum of fuss. Everything else is just frosting on the cake.
but how hard would it be to create a separate network, with a program that asks you when you start up which network you would like to connect to?
Trivial. But that's not the issue: the mere presence of such a connection allows for possible remote exploits. If you want secure network, it really should be physically separate from the public network. Even then, people will try to tap into your private network and decrypt whatever they can, but they won't be able to sit in a comfortable computer room in China to do it.