Morality and ethics aside - this is done everyday by both sides and is old news. It always surprises me how liberal the average Slashdot reader appears to be. Such a waste.
I can't believe you said such a thing. Morality and ethics aside? What sort of argument is that? Having expectations that government work in a smooth and orderly fashion, in a manner that will express the will of the people, is not a liberal position. Saying "morality and ethics aside" is like saying "notions of civilization aside". If being conniving, crooked and dishonest are your ideas of how a political philosophy should work, please point me to the other side.
The people who masterminded and orchestrated electronic incursions wouldn't be going to jail and becoming felons, unfortunately. It would be the intern/computer tech who gets sentenced.
Question: Senator Frist, did you have any part or have any knowledge of these incursions at any point?
Answer: The first I learned of these incursions were when I read the story on CNN. I am appalled that someone on my staff could do such a thing. Here, have a sacrificial lamb.
It seems like this should be a major scandal. The theft of confidential and private files is not small beans. There's hardly any information about it on the major news sites, however. Looking on Google News, I was able to find a few articles from small publications. I didn't see anything on www.cnn.com, www.msnbc.com, or news.bbc.co.uk.
There's a reply up there about "this is business as usual", but I can't think of any possible excuse or mitigating of extenuating circumstances for this sort of crime. Saying that "well it's been done before" certainly doesn't make me feel any better about it.
It's hard enough to take our government, and my role in it, seriously. Blowing off this kind of scandal certainly doesn't help.
Louis Freeh, the source that you're quoting authoritatively, is also the FBI Director who misallocated funds and agents to investigate Clinton's WhiteWater scandals.
In case you weren't familiar with those, the WhiteWater scandals were shown to be completely baseless. As a matter of fact, several independent government agencies acquitted the Clintons of wrongdoing from the very beginning. Despite this, Freeh continuned to play up to his Republican buddies in Congress.
While we're meditating on this era, let's remember the outrageous scandals that neo-conservatives used to ruin a great presidency.
"They said they were police from the recording industry or something, and next time they'd take me away in handcuffs," he said through an interpreter.
Then:
the incident reports vendors are asked to sign, in which they agree to hand over their discs, explicitly state that the forfeiture is voluntary.
I'm sure that the paper trail that the RIAA says it's building up is all going to be bi-lingual. The more helpless college students and parking lot attendants the RIAA picks on, the more I hate them.
Not that I pirate music, no sir. What, this, it's um, just a free AOL CD...
I thought that the headliner about Open Source software being easily translatable was particularly interesting. I've been trying to learn German through email (my pronunciation is horrible!) with my friend in Leipzig, while she works on her English.
We've both been using babelfish.altavista.com for the occasionaly translation help, but it often just causes confusion. Why is this? Wouldn't an Open-Source translation database with open API's be fairly easy to create?
Bear in mind that I'm not volunteering to start the project...I get yelled at for spending too much time with the computer and not enough with the girl as it is!!!
I'm having a hard time paying attention to these people. Is that what they want?
It seems like there are 3 SCO stories a day on/. Maybe one day we'll actually get down to brass tacks and find out if IBM is going to give them the Sheila or what.
The rich and famous of a society that explore, take chances, and are inexplicably daring are often idolized by the poor and less fortunate. Look at Lindbergh. There are loads of examples.
from the article: In fact, space adventurers will not leap into the unknown to the extent the great terrestrial navigators did. By the time Mars is within reach, the entire solar system will have been explored and mapped by flotillas of tiny robotic craft, controlled by the ever more powerful and miniaturized processors that nanotechnology will make possible
while this is true, there is still a significant amount of risk in traveling in heretofore untested technologies. The types of low cost space planes that will be used will be like the ones that were featured on slashdot previously. The first terrestrial circumnavigators, however, were using techniques and craft that had been slowly developed over centuries of widespread use.
I don't think that the author of the article is trying to downplay the bravery of the explorers of tomorrow, I just think this was a bit of a poor point for the author to try to make.
I'm just studly(?) enough to know how to say "Beer, please" in Elvish, but that doesn't mean that the images you conjured didn't just ruin my breakfast:)
Not that I won't be subjected to another 3 months (more, really, considering RotK is coming in Dec) of my girlfriend saying, "Isn't he dreamy?...I love Legolas!...He's so handsome, won't you learn Elvish, honey?"
Really, there wasn't a whole lot missing from the book that I missed in TTT. There was a lot from FotR, but I understood that they had to leave things like Tom Bombadil out for purposes of keeping the length of the movie reasonable.
I am looking forward to seeing more about how Jackson dealt with the strife in Faramir's family, and why he took the path that he did in the movies compared to the books.
You never had a jam firing with an M16? There's no way. There's no way, especially when you consider the condition of the rifles that are used in boot camp/basic training/whatever you want to call it.
I don't know which defense contractor you're consulting for, or which cog of the propaganda machine you represent, but it's just laughable that you would make a statement like this.
For what it's worth, I shot expert everytime I got a rifle in my hands after basic training, despite jams. Same with the M60 and the M240. The M9 is a different story, but that's neither here nor there.
I can't wait for the day
on
C&W Bails Out
·
· Score: 1
I can't wait for the day that I can lose almost $10 billion (that's 9 frickin zero's) two years in a row, and still be capable of 'restructuring'.
On a similar note, a Trivial Pursuit question the other night said that some crown prince of Brunei spent $16 billion in one year. Had to get a gold plated toilet brush, among other things.
I think that a huge piece of what's wrong with our legal system is the blurring of facts, charging issues with emotion, and obscuring real issues. By saying things like "burglary tool", Lockyer is taking a piece of software and equating it with something the violates the security of an everyday middle class citizen. Admittedly, this is exactly how you should sway a jury in today's legal system. This is also why today's legal system is so fsck'd up.
The truth of the matter is that DeCSS is no more a burglary tool than a Dremel tool, and a middle class jury, who doesn't sit on media corporation boards, isn't going to give a damn about this case. The only way to make them care is to charge the issue with the illusion that someone is going to be "breaking, entering, and stealing" into their house to abduct their kids.
Unfortunately, although Lockyer is successfully relating the issue to something that the jury may be able to comprehend, he's also hopelessly obscuring the truth, and most middle class people aren't going to know the difference between a codec and a hole in the ground, so they aren't going to be able to discern the deliberate obfuscation.
Judges should be educated about technology before trying cases like this, and then prevent counsel from either side from making misleading statements like this. This would greatly even the playing field in the legal arena, and probably stop many of the misinterpretations of the DMCA. If all judges who deal with technology could be educated to at least being literate with the terminology, they would be able to dismiss legal actions that try to use the DMCA in a way that it wasn't intended (if there is such a thing).
Why hard to run something like Amazon as business?
on
Mighty Amazon
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· Score: 2, Interesting
I don't have a background in economics, so I'm asking out of true ignorance.
I don't understand why it is difficult to run something like Amazon like a business. They are simply cutting out the distrubutor, who demands a share of profits, selling items for marginally(in most cases) cheaper than their competitors, and then charging the consumer for shipping.
It seems to me that as long as they can keep their costs below what a distrubutor would charge, they should be making money. Also, because they already have the infrastructure in place, they should have a competetive advantage over newcomers to the market space.
What factors am I overlooking?
I don't see how patents are good in this case
on
Mighty Amazon
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Jeff Bezos and Amazon are one of the pioneering companies, doing what no one thought they could, and doing it right. Amazon has become my favorite marketplace; the only time I actually go to the store and buy something is when I need groceries. If there is something that I want to check out before I buy, I'll go to Best Buy, check it out, and then go home and order from Amazon.
I think that Amazon should be rewarded for having the gumption and wherewithal to blaze this trail, but I don't see how patenting things like "One click purchasing" or the idea of selling used items next to new ones can be beneficial. They have already demonstrated that they are winning market share because of a commitment to improving efficiency and technology, and those are the best reasons to retain market share. Not preventing anyone else from doing something similar.
Ray Bradbury, CS Lewis, and Orson Welles were found hibernating under the polar ice cap.
All three apparently retreated off to the ice caps to hibernate after being bitterly disappointed at what they found on Mars; Welles didn't find anything to drink, Lewis didn't find God, and Bradbury was devastated over the lack of people with shiny coins for eyes.
Slashdot Mirror
Morality and ethics aside - this is done everyday by both sides and is old news. It always surprises me how liberal the average Slashdot reader appears to be. Such a waste.
I can't believe you said such a thing. Morality and ethics aside? What sort of argument is that? Having expectations that government work in a smooth and orderly fashion, in a manner that will express the will of the people, is not a liberal position. Saying "morality and ethics aside" is like saying "notions of civilization aside". If being conniving, crooked and dishonest are your ideas of how a political philosophy should work, please point me to the other side.
The people who masterminded and orchestrated electronic incursions wouldn't be going to jail and becoming felons, unfortunately. It would be the intern/computer tech who gets sentenced.
Question: Senator Frist, did you have any part or have any knowledge of these incursions at any point?
Answer: The first I learned of these incursions were when I read the story on CNN. I am appalled that someone on my staff could do such a thing. Here, have a sacrificial lamb.
I can definitely see some possibility in this, but...that doesn't excuse the person with the honeyed hands.
It seems like this should be a major scandal. The theft of confidential and private files is not small beans. There's hardly any information about it on the major news sites, however. Looking on Google News, I was able to find a few articles from small publications. I didn't see anything on www.cnn.com, www.msnbc.com, or news.bbc.co.uk.
There's a reply up there about "this is business as usual", but I can't think of any possible excuse or mitigating of extenuating circumstances for this sort of crime. Saying that "well it's been done before" certainly doesn't make me feel any better about it.
It's hard enough to take our government, and my role in it, seriously. Blowing off this kind of scandal certainly doesn't help.
Louis Freeh, the source that you're quoting authoritatively, is also the FBI Director who misallocated funds and agents to investigate Clinton's WhiteWater scandals.
In case you weren't familiar with those, the WhiteWater scandals were shown to be completely baseless. As a matter of fact, several independent government agencies acquitted the Clintons of wrongdoing from the very beginning. Despite this, Freeh continuned to play up to his Republican buddies in Congress.
While we're meditating on this era, let's remember the outrageous scandals that neo-conservatives used to ruin a great presidency.
From the article:
"They said they were police from the recording industry or something, and next time they'd take me away in handcuffs," he said through an interpreter.
Then:
the incident reports vendors are asked to sign, in which they agree to hand over their discs, explicitly state that the forfeiture is voluntary.
I'm sure that the paper trail that the RIAA says it's building up is all going to be bi-lingual. The more helpless college students and parking lot attendants the RIAA picks on, the more I hate them. Not that I pirate music, no sir. What, this, it's um, just a free AOL CD...
I thought that the headliner about Open Source software being easily translatable was particularly interesting. I've been trying to learn German through email (my pronunciation is horrible!) with my friend in Leipzig, while she works on her English.
We've both been using babelfish.altavista.com for the occasionaly translation help, but it often just causes confusion. Why is this? Wouldn't an Open-Source translation database with open API's be fairly easy to create?
Bear in mind that I'm not volunteering to start the project...I get yelled at for spending too much time with the computer and not enough with the girl as it is!!!
Buckles, according to the article, was appointed as head of the ATF in 1999, long after the Waco incident, under President Clinton.
The sort of problems that people are joking about us facing because of Buckles should be attributed to his predecessors, not him.
Course, he did receive from Ashcroft, he can't be too clean.
WHO CARES?!
/. Maybe one day we'll actually get down to brass tacks and find out if IBM is going to give them the Sheila or what.
I'm having a hard time paying attention to these people. Is that what they want?
It seems like there are 3 SCO stories a day on
The rich and famous of a society that explore, take chances, and are inexplicably daring are often idolized by the poor and less fortunate. Look at Lindbergh. There are loads of examples.
from the article: In fact, space adventurers will not leap into the unknown to the extent the great terrestrial navigators did. By the time Mars is within reach, the entire solar system will have been explored and mapped by flotillas of tiny robotic craft, controlled by the ever more powerful and miniaturized processors that nanotechnology will make possible
while this is true, there is still a significant amount of risk in traveling in heretofore untested technologies. The types of low cost space planes that will be used will be like the ones that were featured on slashdot previously. The first terrestrial circumnavigators, however, were using techniques and craft that had been slowly developed over centuries of widespread use.
I don't think that the author of the article is trying to downplay the bravery of the explorers of tomorrow, I just think this was a bit of a poor point for the author to try to make.
AND is outdoorsie. Did I ever luck out!
I'm just studly(?) enough to know how to say "Beer, please" in Elvish, but that doesn't mean that the images you conjured didn't just ruin my breakfast :)
For the Ultimate Dragon Tiger Super Edition!
blatant PVP online quote. www.pvponline.com
Not that I won't be subjected to another 3 months (more, really, considering RotK is coming in Dec) of my girlfriend saying, "Isn't he dreamy?...I love Legolas!...He's so handsome, won't you learn Elvish, honey?"
Really, there wasn't a whole lot missing from the book that I missed in TTT. There was a lot from FotR, but I understood that they had to leave things like Tom Bombadil out for purposes of keeping the length of the movie reasonable.
I am looking forward to seeing more about how Jackson dealt with the strife in Faramir's family, and why he took the path that he did in the movies compared to the books.
I was in a line infantry unit in the 82nd. I fired every weapon available to a line infantry company on a regular basis.
The new suits will automatic tourniquets built in. Anytime a Republican president puts on a set, the automatic neck tourniquet will activate.
You never had a jam firing with an M16? There's no way. There's no way, especially when you consider the condition of the rifles that are used in boot camp/basic training/whatever you want to call it.
I don't know which defense contractor you're consulting for, or which cog of the propaganda machine you represent, but it's just laughable that you would make a statement like this.
For what it's worth, I shot expert everytime I got a rifle in my hands after basic training, despite jams. Same with the M60 and the M240. The M9 is a different story, but that's neither here nor there.
I can't wait for the day that I can lose almost $10 billion (that's 9 frickin zero's) two years in a row, and still be capable of 'restructuring'.
On a similar note, a Trivial Pursuit question the other night said that some crown prince of Brunei spent $16 billion in one year. Had to get a gold plated toilet brush, among other things.
Which is a better waste of money? Just curious.
I think that a huge piece of what's wrong with our legal system is the blurring of facts, charging issues with emotion, and obscuring real issues. By saying things like "burglary tool", Lockyer is taking a piece of software and equating it with something the violates the security of an everyday middle class citizen. Admittedly, this is exactly how you should sway a jury in today's legal system. This is also why today's legal system is so fsck'd up.
The truth of the matter is that DeCSS is no more a burglary tool than a Dremel tool, and a middle class jury, who doesn't sit on media corporation boards, isn't going to give a damn about this case. The only way to make them care is to charge the issue with the illusion that someone is going to be "breaking, entering, and stealing" into their house to abduct their kids.
Unfortunately, although Lockyer is successfully relating the issue to something that the jury may be able to comprehend, he's also hopelessly obscuring the truth, and most middle class people aren't going to know the difference between a codec and a hole in the ground, so they aren't going to be able to discern the deliberate obfuscation.
Judges should be educated about technology before trying cases like this, and then prevent counsel from either side from making misleading statements like this. This would greatly even the playing field in the legal arena, and probably stop many of the misinterpretations of the DMCA. If all judges who deal with technology could be educated to at least being literate with the terminology, they would be able to dismiss legal actions that try to use the DMCA in a way that it wasn't intended (if there is such a thing).
I don't have a background in economics, so I'm asking out of true ignorance.
I don't understand why it is difficult to run something like Amazon like a business. They are simply cutting out the distrubutor, who demands a share of profits, selling items for marginally(in most cases) cheaper than their competitors, and then charging the consumer for shipping.
It seems to me that as long as they can keep their costs below what a distrubutor would charge, they should be making money. Also, because they already have the infrastructure in place, they should have a competetive advantage over newcomers to the market space.
What factors am I overlooking?
Jeff Bezos and Amazon are one of the pioneering companies, doing what no one thought they could, and doing it right. Amazon has become my favorite marketplace; the only time I actually go to the store and buy something is when I need groceries. If there is something that I want to check out before I buy, I'll go to Best Buy, check it out, and then go home and order from Amazon.
I think that Amazon should be rewarded for having the gumption and wherewithal to blaze this trail, but I don't see how patenting things like "One click purchasing" or the idea of selling used items next to new ones can be beneficial. They have already demonstrated that they are winning market share because of a commitment to improving efficiency and technology, and those are the best reasons to retain market share. Not preventing anyone else from doing something similar.
when the X10 protocol is already usable, easy, and cheap.
This really helps to put into perspective the ass-whipping I got when I installed Wing Commander 2 on my Dad's new hard drive.
"THAT 800 MB HARD DRIVE COST ME 500 DOLLARS, AND THAT GAME TAKES 72 MB?!!!"
"But dad, in 15 years that will only be 25 cents of space!"
Ray Bradbury, CS Lewis, and Orson Welles were found hibernating under the polar ice cap.
All three apparently retreated off to the ice caps to hibernate after being bitterly disappointed at what they found on Mars; Welles didn't find anything to drink, Lewis didn't find God, and Bradbury was devastated over the lack of people with shiny coins for eyes.