But according to the article, these would be privately-owned laptops. Meaning that the IT staff at the school couldn't reasonably expect to SSH and stop unauthorized use, since they would have no reasonable expectation of knowing the laptop's su password. I know if my child's school required this, I would make damn sure that I locked it down to where the school couldn't do anything on it. The loaners are a different story, but then they should be locked down anyway to prevent abuse.
In the US, a company like 3M...$4 billion a year in profits...lobbying the Government to give $1 billion to a consortium of 20 companies.
So why can't an interested company with $4 billion a year in profits invest 1/4 of a year's profits to this consortium rather than begging the Government for help? Seems to me that if they are truly interested in innovation, they can take some of the risk as well.
If there are parallel universes, are there also parallel dimensions? And if that is true, what about differing matter phases?
So, based upon all these theorems, in all actuality, there is the possibility of 4 completely different sets of atoms for a given universe and dimension, each vibrating at exactly 90 degrees to each other. Then, there is the possibility of an infinite number of both universes and dimensions....so you would have a total possibility of (I*I)*4 for the total physical mass of all possible atoms in any given space-time. So now we have an infinite number of universes, each with an infinite number of dimensions, and each dimension having 4 different "phases" for the infinite diversity contained within?
I wish the scientific community would hurry up and decide what is actually possible, or even probable, and what's only good fiction.
Maybe then the Vorgons will be able to build their interstellar bypass, and Ford Prefect will know the question that the answer is 42.
True, but if it is only disclosed to the people with the capacity to fix them, how do you know that they actually will? By making the public aware of a security vulnerability, yes, you do risk the script kiddies taking advantage of that, but it also gives those with the capacity to fix the gap a reason to.
Ah sweet innocence! I tell you, the 70's was the last great decade to be born in.
Kinda off-topic, and possibly flame-bait and troll in one, but I would disagree...I was born in 1980, and I still remember the early days of computing. I started with an old TRS-80, and I still have several games that I'll run on my computer from the old text-based adventure "era".
And I fully agree that kids brought up in the younger generations just don't have the appriciation of the older games. I was showing one of my friends younger brother Adventure (yes, I still have a working copy:p:p) and the old text-and-ASCII version of NetHack, and all he could ask was, "How can you play that? You can't see anything!"
I don't know if you can really claim the status of oppressed minority based on a behavioral trait. Race and gender are a lot different than preference and habit.
While I agree that race and gender are different than preference and habit, it does not mean that I have less rights to fair treatment than others. If you look at the laws as they are now, I am banned from entering some establishments because of something I do. I make a distenction here because if an individual establishment doesn't allow smoking, then I won't go into that establishment, if it is posted that it is a non-smoking building. But now, the government is trying to tell me that in some places, I can't smoke at all, even if that particular place wants to allow it. In California (if I've read the law correctly) I'm not allowed to some anywhere that it might be seen by the public, except for within my home or in my car. (I don't live in Cali, so if I'm wrong, please correct)
It is the government trying to tell me not to do something because it adversly effects my health. Well, so does all the grease that they cook the french frys in at McDonalds. In fact, I saw a study done a while back, and it said something to the effect of obesity killing more people annually than cigarette-related cancer and automobile accidents combined. So when is the government going to outlaw eating fried foods, or overeating, or any other habit/preference that causes obesity? It's a fact that those habits kill just as easily as cigarette smoking, possibly moreso. Now, I'm not trying to say that there aren't medical reasons that cause obesity, and I'm not trying to say that eating fast food will kill you. What the point is, is that like most other things, if you partake too much, it can harm you. It is the same with alcohol, any prescription or illict narcotics (don't believe me? watch Pulp Fiction), and several things.
Cigarettes do not belong to this group, because it is a fact that you can, hypotheticlly, get lung cancer from smoking even a single cigarette. But, taking the risk of cancer is something that I understand and accept when I choose to smoke. The risk of death from smoking is just as great as bungee-jumping, but the government hasn't attempted to outlaw that, because it is something that people choose to do, and most that do, enjoy doing. I enjoy smoking, and it is a choice that I make everytime that I buy a pack, or light one up. There's been no solid evidence that just because I smoke, that someone else will get cancer (unless you're close enough to take lungful after lungful of my exhaled smoke) from exposure to it.
Don't get me wrong: I don't think that you ought to be harassed, beaten, denied a job, etc. It just seems a little disingenuous to call it discrimination....
I know of several companies here in Oklahoma that will not accept an application from me, because I smoke. They quite clearly state in their job advertisement "Non-smokers only". If you don't call that discrimination, I don't know what is. As for harassment, what about all the non-smoking laws, and all the taxes they levy against cigarettes? Wouldn't you consider that harassment, discrimination, and oppressive?
In response, I think that you need a smoker's opinion.
I am a smoker, and have been for years. Granted, it's a choice I made all those years ago to pick up a cigarette and smoke it, but now I've become part of a ridiculed and oppressed minority, with none of the benefits of other minority groups (weither based on gender, race, etc) such as legal representation, there is no "smokers rights" groups, and, of course, I'm very much discriminated against.
I am part of the most taxed segment of the United States a)because I make less than $20,000/year, b)I'm unmarried, and c)because I'm a smoker. When I buy cigarettes, not only do I have to pay a sales tax on the actual cost of the cigarettes, but also on the tax that the states place on each pack already! Then, I can only smoke in certian areas, and in some states, I can't smoke at all except for in my home or car.
To forestall any arguements that I can quit, I relize this, but I enjoy smoking, and don't want to stop right now. The government continually raises taxes and oppresses me, and fellow smokers.
Now that the governement and/or states are attempting to tax internet sales, you are all experiencing the same thing that us smokers have been experiencing for years: taxation of a habit that you (typically) enjoy, and don't want to quit doing.
As soon as the sender has to pay you'll see spam practically drop off the map except for "legitimate" product offers and announcements.
The only problem with that idea, is that the major benefit of using e-mail instead of snail mail is that it doesn't cost anything.
If you make it so that the sender has to pay for every email they send, I think you would get less and less people using email and other internet services every year. The internet and e-commerce is the way you pay for "free" services like hotmail, not by putting a "postage fee" on every email sent.
And besides, to be able to charge someone for the email, you have to be able to track them down. How many spammers do you know of stupid enough to do their spamming from their home computer, using their actual email addy?
of the Slashdot Effect on servers? Are we seeing a new paradigim of intelligent sysadmins that reformat their pages for when the link is posted to/.???? The universe will end if the Slashdot Effect is countered!!!
Granted, but computer virii, root hacks, and engine seizes can all be proven to happen if you don't do X. This study shows nothing...
We have proof that asteroids have hit the Earth in the past, but no solid proof that it can, or will, happen again. Until we can find that proof, let's stop wasting time on projects like this.
Answer:
We really shouldn't worry about things like this until we have to. It's just a waste of government money and time at this point (even though it is British money....). Perhaps that money could be spent better elsewhere? Like, on a cure for cancer? or maybe an effictive treatment for the AIDS/HIV epidimic?
I could be wrong, but this whole article seems like nothing more than a bunch of under-worked, over-paid scientists sitting around, trying to think of a way to make it appear that their valuable to the British Government, so they don't get fired.
It's a classic example of how to keep a job.
Create perceived need for position (ie the inevetable collision of an asteroid into the Earth)
Propose a study for possible eliminiation of this threat, however small the chance might be
Send regular and lengthy papers to the funding orginization
Collect paycheck
It's an old tune, simply more modern technology. Until the scientists are willing work for free on this kind of thing, and until the governments and other investors stop paying them, they will always take the "Doomsday" approach to every project and thought that crosses their mind.
Not trying to say that science hasn't cause some great leaps in technology, but I think that researchers and other associated personel that want to try and prevent things like this, that could concevieably effect all of the flora and fauna on the planet, should work for as little as possible, and receive funding from ALL the world governments. I would hate to see science turn into a pay-driven career, like professional sports.
Scientists do deserve to be paid for their services, and their dedication to learning all that they can. But, I think that research with world-spanning possibilities (cancer or AIDS cures, prevention of a "killer asteroid", etc.) should be funded by everyone, and the scientists should work for only a reasonable fee, and shouldn't use money as their primary motivating factor.
It's not like you have to actually use those apps... install whatever alternatives you want. Although I do use IE most of the time, it is not because it is *there already*, I use it because it loads pages faster than other browsers (which I won't mention lest I invoke another browser flame war). But I detest Outlook (express or non) and installed my own preferred email client. Same case with media player... I know the privacy issues involved with it, hence I don't use it. It REALLY is *THAT* simple!
I don't think it's so much the fact that the bundled software is there, but the fact that some of the software parts (most noticably IE) is so integrated into the OS that there is no possible way to uninstall it!
Yes, Linux, BSD, Unix, et al. come with browser and other software bundled, but IME, you can choose wiether or not those programs are installed, and can fully uninstall them later if you want to.
That's the reason that the anti-trust lawsuits exist, is because once they integrated their software packages so far as to preclude any uninstallation, they forced other companies' competing products into niche markets at best (i.e. Netscape).
That practice is both unethical and unlawful, and if any of the Linux, Unix, BSD, etc. distributors started doing it, I would expect the same backlash that Microsoft is now receiving.
The most prominient of these uninstallable programs are Internet Explorer and Outlook Express. If you go to any computer loaded with Windows 95 or newer (IIRC) you can find the executeables for both IE (iexplore.exe) and Outlook Express (msimn.exe) hidden somewhere in the system root directory (typically %system_root%/program files/internet explorer/ or.../outlook express/ for their respective programs), and if you delete these files and/or directories, WINDOWS WILL NOT LOAD.
If you don't believe me, try it on your own computer.....just make sure you have the Windows Install disk handy.
Rules after having brain-chip implanted.....
on
Going Cyberpunk
·
· Score: 3, Funny
Rule 1: Never give your brain-node's IP to Slashdot!!!
Rule 2: See Rule 1
Don't forget that SUN, IIRC, still has a contract with the American Military to supply "hardened" computers and other hardware for use in it's tactical LAN and phone switch systems.
Anyone seen the TV commercials for the.NET framework?
It's almost frightening as to how integrated and easy they try to make everything look.....especally the "1 deg. of Seperation" they tout.
IMHO, this massive ad campaign by MS will cause the average customer base to require the services that the.NET platform is supposed to offer. And, before long, they'll be wanting.NET-enabled appliances so they can check and see if they turned the stove off from his/her cellphone!
Is there anything in the works for an open source solution similar to.NET?? If there's not, someone really needs to start on the development cycle for that. If the MS Marketing juggernaut convinces Joe Average Consumer that he needs and wants this supposed "interoperability" and "interconnectivity" that MS promises (and they will convince Joe Average Consumer that they need it), then the OSS movement will be relegated to those of us considered "computer geeks" and the general populace will never get that OSS is much better than the MS Tax that they have to pay.
What would you offer as the best legal advice to make Linux and other GPL projects more palitable to large businesses and other investors, other than the fact the source code is completely open and free for modifications?
Here's a brilliant idea for the government to chew on: Rescend all patents on electronics-based technology!
That way, we wouldn't have companies coming up with a Good Thing, patenting(sp?) it, then waiting until someone else starts making money off of it, then sueing them for all that they've gained!
I don't think I'm alone in saying that the way the US Patent Code works is extremely frelled up, and needs some MAJOR revisions NOW. I'm tired off all the sue-happy people and companies in US, but I guess that's the way a capitalistic democratic republic is supposed to work. I figure if we get rid of most of the big, monopolistic companies, and give more of the marketshare to the smaller, more diverse companies, maybe then we could start truly competing with Japan, Korea, et al. in the electronics marketplace.
And, as an added bonus, maybe then the politicians in the government will start to work for the betterment of the people, rather than whichever mega-corp hands them the most money that month.
Not trying to say that America is a bad country, because I'd rather live here than anywhere else, and the ideals of America are great. It's the people running the country that are corrupt and amoral. Get someone in the Presidentcy that truly doesn't care about money, and I'm pretty sure that we'd all see MAJOR changes in the way the government handles big corporations, and possibly giving fair taxation to everyone (you know....if you make more money, you pay more taxes, if you make ALOT more money, you pay less taxes?!?!? What the frell is up with that?????)
However, they have implemented an innovative load-balancing system: when they think you have been on long enough, your call will be dropped to give someone else a chance.
Interesting.....so Verizon's EvDO network will disconnect me just before I finish downloading the new demo for UT2003? No thanks, I'll stick with my land-line connections....more secure as well:p
Slashdot Mirror
I would actually argue the opposite: piracy exists because of DRM.
They already record all that, so where's the downside?
But according to the article, these would be privately-owned laptops. Meaning that the IT staff at the school couldn't reasonably expect to SSH and stop unauthorized use, since they would have no reasonable expectation of knowing the laptop's su password. I know if my child's school required this, I would make damn sure that I locked it down to where the school couldn't do anything on it. The loaners are a different story, but then they should be locked down anyway to prevent abuse.
suggests either anchor drag or someone who cares enough to make it look that way.
It can't have been simple anchor drag...I need my daily conspiracy fix, damn it!
In the US, a company like 3M...$4 billion a year in profits...lobbying the Government to give $1 billion to a consortium of 20 companies.
So why can't an interested company with $4 billion a year in profits invest 1/4 of a year's profits to this consortium rather than begging the Government for help? Seems to me that if they are truly interested in innovation, they can take some of the risk as well.
If there are parallel universes, are there also parallel dimensions? And if that is true, what about differing matter phases?
So, based upon all these theorems, in all actuality, there is the possibility of 4 completely different sets of atoms for a given universe and dimension, each vibrating at exactly 90 degrees to each other. Then, there is the possibility of an infinite number of both universes and dimensions....so you would have a total possibility of (I*I)*4 for the total physical mass of all possible atoms in any given space-time. So now we have an infinite number of universes, each with an infinite number of dimensions, and each dimension having 4 different "phases" for the infinite diversity contained within?
I wish the scientific community would hurry up and decide what is actually possible, or even probable, and what's only good fiction.
Maybe then the Vorgons will be able to build their interstellar bypass, and Ford Prefect will know the question that the answer is 42.
True, but if it is only disclosed to the people with the capacity to fix them, how do you know that they actually will? By making the public aware of a security vulnerability, yes, you do risk the script kiddies taking advantage of that, but it also gives those with the capacity to fix the gap a reason to.
Right....this one definatly can't be laid at the feet of MS...this is definatly a user problem :p
I don't really remember much about that period in my life, mainly due to subconsious blocking :D
One thing I do remember though, is that Thundercats and Voltron RULED!!!!!
Ah sweet innocence! I tell you, the 70's was the last great decade to be born in.
:p:p) and the old text-and-ASCII version of NetHack, and all he could ask was, "How can you play that? You can't see anything!"
Kinda off-topic, and possibly flame-bait and troll in one, but I would disagree...I was born in 1980, and I still remember the early days of computing. I started with an old TRS-80, and I still have several games that I'll run on my computer from the old text-based adventure "era".
And I fully agree that kids brought up in the younger generations just don't have the appriciation of the older games. I was showing one of my friends younger brother Adventure (yes, I still have a working copy
I swear...kids today.....no imaginations.......
Just my 2% of a dollar worth....
I don't know if you can really claim the status of oppressed minority based on a behavioral trait. Race and gender are a lot different than preference and habit.
While I agree that race and gender are different than preference and habit, it does not mean that I have less rights to fair treatment than others. If you look at the laws as they are now, I am banned from entering some establishments because of something I do. I make a distenction here because if an individual establishment doesn't allow smoking, then I won't go into that establishment, if it is posted that it is a non-smoking building. But now, the government is trying to tell me that in some places, I can't smoke at all, even if that particular place wants to allow it. In California (if I've read the law correctly) I'm not allowed to some anywhere that it might be seen by the public, except for within my home or in my car. (I don't live in Cali, so if I'm wrong, please correct)
It is the government trying to tell me not to do something because it adversly effects my health. Well, so does all the grease that they cook the french frys in at McDonalds. In fact, I saw a study done a while back, and it said something to the effect of obesity killing more people annually than cigarette-related cancer and automobile accidents combined. So when is the government going to outlaw eating fried foods, or overeating, or any other habit/preference that causes obesity? It's a fact that those habits kill just as easily as cigarette smoking, possibly moreso. Now, I'm not trying to say that there aren't medical reasons that cause obesity, and I'm not trying to say that eating fast food will kill you. What the point is, is that like most other things, if you partake too much, it can harm you. It is the same with alcohol, any prescription or illict narcotics (don't believe me? watch Pulp Fiction), and several things.
Cigarettes do not belong to this group, because it is a fact that you can, hypotheticlly, get lung cancer from smoking even a single cigarette. But, taking the risk of cancer is something that I understand and accept when I choose to smoke. The risk of death from smoking is just as great as bungee-jumping, but the government hasn't attempted to outlaw that, because it is something that people choose to do, and most that do, enjoy doing. I enjoy smoking, and it is a choice that I make everytime that I buy a pack, or light one up. There's been no solid evidence that just because I smoke, that someone else will get cancer (unless you're close enough to take lungful after lungful of my exhaled smoke) from exposure to it.
Don't get me wrong: I don't think that you ought to be harassed, beaten, denied a job, etc. It just seems a little disingenuous to call it discrimination....
I know of several companies here in Oklahoma that will not accept an application from me, because I smoke. They quite clearly state in their job advertisement "Non-smokers only". If you don't call that discrimination, I don't know what is. As for harassment, what about all the non-smoking laws, and all the taxes they levy against cigarettes? Wouldn't you consider that harassment, discrimination, and oppressive?
In response, I think that you need a smoker's opinion.
I am a smoker, and have been for years. Granted, it's a choice I made all those years ago to pick up a cigarette and smoke it, but now I've become part of a ridiculed and oppressed minority, with none of the benefits of other minority groups (weither based on gender, race, etc) such as legal representation, there is no "smokers rights" groups, and, of course, I'm very much discriminated against.
I am part of the most taxed segment of the United States a)because I make less than $20,000/year, b)I'm unmarried, and c)because I'm a smoker. When I buy cigarettes, not only do I have to pay a sales tax on the actual cost of the cigarettes, but also on the tax that the states place on each pack already! Then, I can only smoke in certian areas, and in some states, I can't smoke at all except for in my home or car.
To forestall any arguements that I can quit, I relize this, but I enjoy smoking, and don't want to stop right now. The government continually raises taxes and oppresses me, and fellow smokers.
Now that the governement and/or states are attempting to tax internet sales, you are all experiencing the same thing that us smokers have been experiencing for years: taxation of a habit that you (typically) enjoy, and don't want to quit doing.
Just my $.02 worth
As soon as the sender has to pay you'll see spam practically drop off the map except for "legitimate" product offers and announcements.
The only problem with that idea, is that the major benefit of using e-mail instead of snail mail is that it doesn't cost anything.
If you make it so that the sender has to pay for every email they send, I think you would get less and less people using email and other internet services every year. The internet and e-commerce is the way you pay for "free" services like hotmail, not by putting a "postage fee" on every email sent.
And besides, to be able to charge someone for the email, you have to be able to track them down. How many spammers do you know of stupid enough to do their spamming from their home computer, using their actual email addy?
of the Slashdot Effect on servers? Are we seeing a new paradigim of intelligent sysadmins that reformat their pages for when the link is posted to /.???? The universe will end if the Slashdot Effect is countered!!!
Granted, but computer virii, root hacks, and engine seizes can all be proven to happen if you don't do X. This study shows nothing...
We have proof that asteroids have hit the Earth in the past, but no solid proof that it can, or will, happen again. Until we can find that proof, let's stop wasting time on projects like this.
We really shouldn't worry about things like this until we have to. It's just a waste of government money and time at this point (even though it is British money....). Perhaps that money could be spent better elsewhere? Like, on a cure for cancer? or maybe an effictive treatment for the AIDS/HIV epidimic?
I could be wrong, but this whole article seems like nothing more than a bunch of under-worked, over-paid scientists sitting around, trying to think of a way to make it appear that their valuable to the British Government, so they don't get fired.
It's a classic example of how to keep a job.
- Create perceived need for position (ie the inevetable collision of an asteroid into the Earth)
- Propose a study for possible eliminiation of this threat, however small the chance might be
- Send regular and lengthy papers to the funding orginization
- Collect paycheck
It's an old tune, simply more modern technology. Until the scientists are willing work for free on this kind of thing, and until the governments and other investors stop paying them, they will always take the "Doomsday" approach to every project and thought that crosses their mind.Not trying to say that science hasn't cause some great leaps in technology, but I think that researchers and other associated personel that want to try and prevent things like this, that could concevieably effect all of the flora and fauna on the planet, should work for as little as possible, and receive funding from ALL the world governments. I would hate to see science turn into a pay-driven career, like professional sports.
Scientists do deserve to be paid for their services, and their dedication to learning all that they can. But, I think that research with world-spanning possibilities (cancer or AIDS cures, prevention of a "killer asteroid", etc.) should be funded by everyone, and the scientists should work for only a reasonable fee, and shouldn't use money as their primary motivating factor.
I don't think it's so much the fact that the bundled software is there, but the fact that some of the software parts (most noticably IE) is so integrated into the OS that there is no possible way to uninstall it!
Yes, Linux, BSD, Unix, et al. come with browser and other software bundled, but IME, you can choose wiether or not those programs are installed, and can fully uninstall them later if you want to.
That's the reason that the anti-trust lawsuits exist, is because once they integrated their software packages so far as to preclude any uninstallation, they forced other companies' competing products into niche markets at best (i.e. Netscape).
That practice is both unethical and unlawful, and if any of the Linux, Unix, BSD, etc. distributors started doing it, I would expect the same backlash that Microsoft is now receiving.
The most prominient of these uninstallable programs are Internet Explorer and Outlook Express. If you go to any computer loaded with Windows 95 or newer (IIRC) you can find the executeables for both IE (iexplore.exe) and Outlook Express (msimn.exe) hidden somewhere in the system root directory (typically %system_root%/program files/internet explorer/ or
If you don't believe me, try it on your own computer.....just make sure you have the Windows Install disk handy.
Rule 1: Never give your brain-node's IP to Slashdot!!!
Rule 2: See Rule 1
Previous post RE: patents.
I'd use the same words, only much stronger emphisis on LARGE, GREEDY, MONOPOLISTIC corporation.
I stand corrected....perhaps the question should read:
[...]other than the fact the source code is completely accessable to anyone who wants to view it, and free for modifications and use.
Don't forget that SUN, IIRC, still has a contract with the American Military to supply "hardened" computers and other hardware for use in it's tactical LAN and phone switch systems.
Anyone seen the TV commercials for the .NET framework?
.NET platform is supposed to offer. And, before long, they'll be wanting .NET-enabled appliances so they can check and see if they turned the stove off from his/her cellphone!
.NET?? If there's not, someone really needs to start on the development cycle for that. If the MS Marketing juggernaut convinces Joe Average Consumer that he needs and wants this supposed "interoperability" and "interconnectivity" that MS promises (and they will convince Joe Average Consumer that they need it), then the OSS movement will be relegated to those of us considered "computer geeks" and the general populace will never get that OSS is much better than the MS Tax that they have to pay.
It's almost frightening as to how integrated and easy they try to make everything look.....especally the "1 deg. of Seperation" they tout.
IMHO, this massive ad campaign by MS will cause the average customer base to require the services that the
Is there anything in the works for an open source solution similar to
What would you offer as the best legal advice to make Linux and other GPL projects more palitable to large businesses and other investors, other than the fact the source code is completely open and free for modifications?
Here's a brilliant idea for the government to chew on: Rescend all patents on electronics-based technology!
That way, we wouldn't have companies coming up with a Good Thing, patenting(sp?) it, then waiting until someone else starts making money off of it, then sueing them for all that they've gained!
I don't think I'm alone in saying that the way the US Patent Code works is extremely frelled up, and needs some MAJOR revisions NOW. I'm tired off all the sue-happy people and companies in US, but I guess that's the way a capitalistic democratic republic is supposed to work. I figure if we get rid of most of the big, monopolistic companies, and give more of the marketshare to the smaller, more diverse companies, maybe then we could start truly competing with Japan, Korea, et al. in the electronics marketplace.
And, as an added bonus, maybe then the politicians in the government will start to work for the betterment of the people, rather than whichever mega-corp hands them the most money that month.
Not trying to say that America is a bad country, because I'd rather live here than anywhere else, and the ideals of America are great. It's the people running the country that are corrupt and amoral. Get someone in the Presidentcy that truly doesn't care about money, and I'm pretty sure that we'd all see MAJOR changes in the way the government handles big corporations, and possibly giving fair taxation to everyone (you know....if you make more money, you pay more taxes, if you make ALOT more money, you pay less taxes?!?!? What the frell is up with that?????)
However, they have implemented an innovative load-balancing system: when they think you have been on long enough, your call will be dropped to give someone else a chance.
:p
Interesting.....so Verizon's EvDO network will disconnect me just before I finish downloading the new demo for UT2003? No thanks, I'll stick with my land-line connections....more secure as well