There have been a lot of comments along the lines of "The old paper/optical scan system works fine, why go electronic".
There are many reasons to move to a different system. Most of them dealing with accessibility. Electronic voting machines can present a ballot in multiple languages, electronic machines could present an audible ballot for the blind or a large print ballot for the sight impaired. Electronic machines are easier to vote on than filling in circles for those with motor skill issues.
A 2003 article presented error rates for the technologies as: 2.5% punch cards, 2.3% touch screen, 1.8% paper ballots, 1.5% optical scan and level machines. The real mission for electronic voting machines is to allow more people to vote unassisted but to do it in a way that is as accurate or more accurate as existing technology. The technology is clearly not available yet.
It seems a lot of reliability issues result from the use of touch screens and touch screen calibration. It seems that a machine with buttons around the screen (like most ATMs) would make more sense and would more closely duplicate the old lever system that proved to be so accurate. I will admit ignorance of the usability issues for this type of interface.
So the question that needs to be asked is, if a paper audit trail is so important, why is it being universally ignored? The answer lies in the reliability of the printing mechanism and the typical usage scenario that result in voting machines being idle for two years between uses. This was, I believe, the justification for leaving the printer requirement out of the first (defeated) IEEE proposed standard, but also, in some people's opinion, the primary reason why the standard proposal was defeated.
I have already voted in this election. I was offered the choice of touch screen or optical scan ballot, I chose optical scan.
it almost gives me hope that the world might one day be united in space exploration
I guess you missed yesterday's story documenting the US' clear intention to be the single entity with control over access to space; 'The policy calls upon the Secretary of Defense to "develop capabilities, plans, and options to ensure freedom of action in space, and, if directed, deny such freedom of action to adversaries."'
"aims to make podcasting as dead-simple as possible, in order to give everyone a 'voice in public discourse, not just those who own TV towers. [...]"
YouTube and other solutions still require the user to understand and be comfortable with recording and uploading content. This device is aimed at markets serving people afraid to use ATMs. Perhaps many people here are too young to remember the days where the vast majority of VCRs flashed zeros because of the inability of the general public to set the time.
For those who said it was too expensive;
"Aimed at corporations, schools, radio stations, and churches, the "Podcast in a Box" appliance starts recording when a USB key is inserted, and uploads the podcast to a server when the key is removed."
Frankly my problem is that, at this price point, you should get something that has a better form factor. I would think a device that looks like an audio recorder with rewind/fast forward/play buttons and level meters would be appropriate. However it appears that in many cases this device is being used in environments where the content was prerecorded, for example radio stations. In those cases the form factor and controls on this box are appropriate. The company specifically mentions the desire to tailor the box to the customer's needs.
For those who questioned the prominence of Linux in the subject;
"Linux Appliance Brings Podcasts to the People"
The message here is not that "Linux is great, all hail Linux" the message is a marketing one. The term Linux Appliance is gaining great traction in the semi-technical literate community as a piece of hardware that can be dropped on a network to perform computer-like functions with very little configuration or support, like a TiVo. It implies (often incorrectly) a freedom from recurring fees (see TiVo). A customer's comment on the companies web site supports this statement "Our previous Windows solution crashed all the time; we never even think about our Linux appliances, they just work." Please note that the prominence of the term Linux Appliance was not limited to Slashdot, that is how this product was covered on other sites as well.
While the Asterisk server is a great idea and I encourage you to build it, the point of this box is that it can be purchased, it works in tandem with a either the hosting server or the hosting service that is marketed to the same customers that are the target for this device. It does not require connection to a phone system that may incur a monthly charge and should be simpler for a non-technical staff to install and operate. Additionally this box is not subject to quality issues that might be encountered in a phone based system. The key to this solution is the end-to-end nature and hands off operation, the Asterisk solution you propose would be a nifty enhancement to one element of that solution. Frankly I think it has greater potential because content could be recorded and stored and then released for upload on a second call without any greater complexity than a typical voice mail system.
The phone will not be available standalone, but rather as part of a development kit. The kit will be offered under separate licensing terms to open source developers, educational institutions, "major" software vendors, and to "phone designers and manufacturers," Trolltech says.
Comment: No carrier is going to stock this phone. Answer: This phone isn't intended for commercial use. It sales will be limited. It is intended to allow developers to create content so that when real phone manufacturers consider QPE there is a suite of software to make it competitive.
Comment: Carriers won't allow this phone on their network. Answer: It is a GSM phone. If it is certified, it will work on GSM networks.
Comment: Users will screw up their phone reflashing it. Answer: It isn't intended for the average Joe cell phone user, it is intended for developers.
Comment: "Jack of all trades"... Answer: For a development platform having all the functionality you may need to test against is critical. Actual real world usefulness, not so much. This phone could be considered as a piece of test equipment, the fact that it looks like a phone is probably just to spur innovation.
Both the parent and grandparent assume a simple form of blocking. Some (most?) VoIP blocking done commercially is done by NARUS' semantic traffic analyzer. The NARUS STA can simply look at the pattern of the traffic without regard to content and make the assumption that it is voice traffic and block it where required or, more importantly, create call detail records identifying the time and length of calls for use in billing.
One side effect of this type of blocking is that calls can actually be established and are then blocked. This can be an even worse situation for users because they may incur call termination fees before the call is dropped.
I would, however, like to see statistics at how good NARUS is at recognizing Skype traffic since it's signature is not as straight forward as a simple SIP call. Additionally it should be possible to create additional traffic to disguise the VoIP traffic signatures, but this is beyond the capability of the typical user.
Then do what I do, get up on a chair or table and quote Patrick Henry concluding with;
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
Or, if you are in Richmond, VA during the summer you can take them to see the weekly re-enactments at St. John's Church.
For those of us who have benefited from the sacrifice of these patriots to sit idly by while the very rights they gave their lives to gain are slowly eroded is a moral travesty.*
*This comment intended for use in the United States and those countries benefitting directly from the independence thereof.
Technical details of such a system are documented in "Vegas 911" in April's issue of the IEEE Spectrum.
The article document's Jeffery Jonas' development of an anonymized system for the NSA based on his security work in Las Vegas. The work is now being done by IBM. The example in the article demonstrates how anonymized cruise passenger data could be compared with an anonymized watch list by a trusted third party. If the trusted third party finds correlations in the data, the government agency can get a warrant for the specific passenger data from the cruise line.
We don't have Net Neutrality, we haven't had it in a long time.
'Legislating in the absence of real understanding of the issue risks both solving the wrong problem and hobbling the rapidly developing new technologies and business models of the Internet with rigid, potentially stultifying rules.'
Currently a service provider can pay a fee, part of which goes to your ISP, to get prioritized access. It's called Akamai.
Even more insidious are caches. An ISP reduces its peering traffic load by caching the most popularly accessed sites. This improves incumbent site performance for the ISP's customers creating a barrier to market penetration for competitors. The ISP makes money from this by not spending the extra cost to retrieve popular data repeatedly.
Net Neutrality laws would prevent ISPs from providing support for new technologies. For example, if a new Internet only broadcast network were to attempt to establish a new distributed live videocasting service by putting distributed streaming peers hosted by the ISP, these new laws would prevent the ISP from allowing the new venture to pay a fee for this service.
I find it laughable that people is the US are suddenly so concerned about net neutrality while they have been sitting around for the past two years watching the telephone and cable systems converge into monopolies. The two problems are closely related. Even more troubling were the FCC rulings that eventually killed the small independent ISPs.
If you want true, market driven Internet service, the government is going to have to mandate the decoupling of the carrier from the ISP. Specifically I direct you to the Utopia project in Utah as documented in the May issue of the IEEE Spectrum.
The peaceful coexistence of multiple service providers is another thing that distinguishes Utopia.
In any real system there must be some type of common electrical bus or hydrolic system. This prototype system may use batteries at each physical element (the article isn't clear), but that is hardly weight saving.
The article mentions that this technology might first appear in cars, but even entertainment system components are going to need to be powered. It really doesn't make much sense to add an expensive wireless transmitter and receivers to eliminate the need to run speaker cables and while it may be more convenient for the manufacturer to make changes (e.g. moving speakers to accomodate body style changes) it will certainly make it more difficult for the owner to make modifications or upgrades.
The May 10th, 2006 date on this article must be wrong. The article is obviously months or years old. The lack of information about WPA, the discussion of warchalking and the dates of the referenced material all indicate this article was written sometime in early 2005 or late 2004. It was posted on invulnerableit in 11/2005, but I suspect it is older than that.
The whole idea of resource sharing via networks is based on the fundamental concept of
aggregation of demand. The expectation is, that given an operational network, relatively small demands from around a large geographic area can be aggregated and thus be satisfied with one or a few specialized centers. By aggregating specialized service production into fewer centers, the required services can be provided at lower costs than would result from provision of the equivalent services by means of a large number of smaller machines. This principle of demand aggregation, to obtain the advantages of scale, applies to hardware, to software, and to operational costs.
From IEEE Computer Society magazine Computer, August 1973
reprinted in August 2005 in the 32 & 16 Years Ago column.
According to a user on Vonage Forum, Vonage has requested that Zyxel not provide assistance to owners seeking to use this phone with Vonage's SoftPhone service.
Despite the CNET's claim of being banned for release of personal information (or perhaps even Google's claim) I wonder if the ban wasn't instituted more for how the other information in the article was presented.
The personal information wasn't that personal (stock filings, appearance at Burning Man and wife's name).
The tone of the article is almost fear mongering as it focuses on the privacy issues surrounding Google services and not simply search.
Both a sidebar and large print quotes were used to highlight the danger with none of the mitigating text found in the article given such prominent treatment.
The correction implies that the original article had some significantly incorrect information damaging to Google.
One thing to keep in mind if you decide to offer "free" internet is you're going to get people who campout on their laptops and take up table space for hours at a time. Some people even stay there all damn day like it's their personal office space.
This describes me. I have issues working at home being distracted by my toddlers. I often work at Panera in 8 or 9 hour blocks. I wish I had the exact wording, but one Panera flyer invites customers to use the store as a second office.
I have done the same at a Baker's Crust that also offers free WiFi. At both places I have spoken with the managers who tell me that they would rather have my regular business than worry about someone who doesn't buy lunch one day because the store is crowded.
I do tend to work at a Panera that is less busy for this very reason, I also buy my lunch just before the rush so that I am eating when the place is busiest.
In addition I was told by Panera's help desk that some Bakery-Cafes turn off WiFi during the lunch rush.
If you read the article you might notice HP's statement that this technology would require legislative action to become profitable.
That legislation would be the banning of cameras without this technology. The intent of this technology is to allow devices with integrated camera's to be used in places where cameras might otherwise be banned altogether.
I imagine the real-world implementation would allow individuals to instruct camera's to blur faces and institutions to disallow photographs. That way you could still bother me by talking on your camera phone inside a museum or at a movie.
The financial and business effect of browser choice is not felt on the client side, it is not typically a factor in purchase decisions.
It is felt on the server side and determines who gets to drive standards.
Additionally Firefox is carrying the banner for freely available open source software on the client much like sendmail and apache have done on the server. The success of Firefox will encourage other developers and increase the rate of adoption on software such as Open Office.
Virginia law requires that you either a) carry your driver's license or b) present it to either the officer, a magistrate or at court after the fact or c) pay $10.
The DMV will tell you you have to carry it with you while driving. As far as I can tell, they misstate the truth.
46.2-104 "Every person licensed by the Department as a driver or issued a learner's or temporary driver's permit who fails to carry his license or permit, and the registration card for the vehicle which he operates, shall be guilty of a traffic infraction and upon conviction punished by a fine of ten dollars. However, if any person summoned to appear before a court for failure to display his license, permit, or registration card presents to the officer issuing the summons or a magistrate of the county or city in which the summons was issued, before the return date of the summons, a license or permit issued to him prior to the time the summons was issued or a registration card, as the case may be, or appears pursuant to the summons and produces before the court a license or permit issued to him prior to the time the summons was issued or a registration card, as the case may be, he shall have complied with the provisions of this section."
The article and my summary clearly said, "binding Internet vote in a national referendum".
This is as significant as the first solo flight over the Atlantic versus the first solo flight. Both are significant milestones, but they represent different levels of adoption of technology.
Perhaps more important in this story is the reason that electronic voting is being adopted, lack of voter turnout. The adoption of Internet voting has the great potential to shift the voting demographic in the US away from the normally disenfranchized poor and elderly who currently vote to those able to afford computers and Internet connections.
Also important for US voters is the insight into other electoral processes. The contrast between the Swiss popular democracy versus the US representitive democracy as embodied by our electoral college is obviously a topic of interest to many Slashdot readers.
By registering, entrants may sign up to receive email from Eight Days, Inc. ("Sponsor"). You can remove yourself from the email list by following onscreen instructions.
Which is in direct conflict with the entry form;
We only need the following info to contact you if you win. You will NOT get junk mail or spam for signing up.
There is probably more chance that you could get in trouble for attaching a cell phone to someone's car, especially if you connected it to the battery.
Based on some of the news reports the device used was likely some Nextel GPS enabled phone, like the i58sr with the AtlasTrack 2.0 software and service provided by Networks in Motion.
I have had exposure to online courses that were simple replacements for courses offered on videotape and courses that included pupil-teacher and pupil-pupil interaction that facilitated the type of networking available in traditional courses.
Especially for those who work at traditional jobs and are unable to attend physical classes, as well as those of us whose skill sets and geographical dispersal are familiar with networking in nontraditional ways, a well architected online course can accomplish those non-course related goals that you attribute only to physical presence.
I doubt that self-paced instruction can give you that. I think that any technical course that doesn't include chat sessions, discussions of current events and collaborative projects can even provide those non-tangible benefits.
That is now my standard for any program (multi-course, certificate or degree) without that, I'd rather just read the book, thanks.
Slashdot Mirror
There have been a lot of comments along the lines of "The old paper/optical scan system works fine, why go electronic".
There are many reasons to move to a different system. Most of them dealing with accessibility. Electronic voting machines can present a ballot in multiple languages, electronic machines could present an audible ballot for the blind or a large print ballot for the sight impaired. Electronic machines are easier to vote on than filling in circles for those with motor skill issues.
A 2003 article presented error rates for the technologies as: 2.5% punch cards, 2.3% touch screen, 1.8% paper ballots, 1.5% optical scan and level machines. The real mission for electronic voting machines is to allow more people to vote unassisted but to do it in a way that is as accurate or more accurate as existing technology. The technology is clearly not available yet.
It seems a lot of reliability issues result from the use of touch screens and touch screen calibration. It seems that a machine with buttons around the screen (like most ATMs) would make more sense and would more closely duplicate the old lever system that proved to be so accurate. I will admit ignorance of the usability issues for this type of interface.
So the question that needs to be asked is, if a paper audit trail is so important, why is it being universally ignored? The answer lies in the reliability of the printing mechanism and the typical usage scenario that result in voting machines being idle for two years between uses. This was, I believe, the justification for leaving the printer requirement out of the first (defeated) IEEE proposed standard, but also, in some people's opinion, the primary reason why the standard proposal was defeated.
I have already voted in this election. I was offered the choice of touch screen or optical scan ballot, I chose optical scan.
it almost gives me hope that the world might one day be united in space exploration
I guess you missed yesterday's story documenting the US' clear intention to be the single entity with control over access to space; 'The policy calls upon the Secretary of Defense to "develop capabilities, plans, and options to ensure freedom of action in space, and, if directed, deny such freedom of action to adversaries."'
Second to last paragraph that should have been "company's website" or more correctly "Box Populi's website".
For those who said it has been done before;
"aims to make podcasting as dead-simple as possible, in order to give everyone a 'voice in public discourse, not just those who own TV towers. [...]"
YouTube and other solutions still require the user to understand and be comfortable with recording and uploading content. This device is aimed at markets serving people afraid to use ATMs. Perhaps many people here are too young to remember the days where the vast majority of VCRs flashed zeros because of the inability of the general public to set the time.
For those who said it was too expensive;
"Aimed at corporations, schools, radio stations, and churches, the "Podcast in a Box" appliance starts recording when a USB key is inserted, and uploads the podcast to a server when the key is removed."
Frankly my problem is that, at this price point, you should get something that has a better form factor. I would think a device that looks like an audio recorder with rewind/fast forward/play buttons and level meters would be appropriate. However it appears that in many cases this device is being used in environments where the content was prerecorded, for example radio stations. In those cases the form factor and controls on this box are appropriate. The company specifically mentions the desire to tailor the box to the customer's needs.
For those who questioned the prominence of Linux in the subject;
"Linux Appliance Brings Podcasts to the People"
The message here is not that "Linux is great, all hail Linux" the message is a marketing one. The term Linux Appliance is gaining great traction in the semi-technical literate community as a piece of hardware that can be dropped on a network to perform computer-like functions with very little configuration or support, like a TiVo. It implies (often incorrectly) a freedom from recurring fees (see TiVo). A customer's comment on the companies web site supports this statement "Our previous Windows solution crashed all the time; we never even think about our Linux appliances, they just work." Please note that the prominence of the term Linux Appliance was not limited to Slashdot, that is how this product was covered on other sites as well.
While the Asterisk server is a great idea and I encourage you to build it, the point of this box is that it can be purchased, it works in tandem with a either the hosting server or the hosting service that is marketed to the same customers that are the target for this device. It does not require connection to a phone system that may incur a monthly charge and should be simpler for a non-technical staff to install and operate. Additionally this box is not subject to quality issues that might be encountered in a phone based system. The key to this solution is the end-to-end nature and hands off operation, the Asterisk solution you propose would be a nifty enhancement to one element of that solution. Frankly I think it has greater potential because content could be recorded and stored and then released for upload on a second call without any greater complexity than a typical voice mail system.
Answer: This phone isn't intended for commercial use. It sales will be limited. It is intended to allow developers to create content so that when real phone manufacturers consider QPE there is a suite of software to make it competitive.
Comment: Carriers won't allow this phone on their network.
Answer: It is a GSM phone. If it is certified, it will work on GSM networks.
Comment: Users will screw up their phone reflashing it.
Answer: It isn't intended for the average Joe cell phone user, it is intended for developers.
Comment: "Jack of all trades"
Answer: For a development platform having all the functionality you may need to test against is critical. Actual real world usefulness, not so much. This phone could be considered as a piece of test equipment, the fact that it looks like a phone is probably just to spur innovation.
Both the parent and grandparent assume a simple form of blocking. Some (most?) VoIP blocking done commercially is done by NARUS' semantic traffic analyzer. The NARUS STA can simply look at the pattern of the traffic without regard to content and make the assumption that it is voice traffic and block it where required or, more importantly, create call detail records identifying the time and length of calls for use in billing.
NARUS Press Release Specifically Mentioning Skype
One side effect of this type of blocking is that calls can actually be established and are then blocked. This can be an even worse situation for users because they may incur call termination fees before the call is dropped.
I would, however, like to see statistics at how good NARUS is at recognizing Skype traffic since it's signature is not as straight forward as a simple SIP call. Additionally it should be possible to create additional traffic to disguise the VoIP traffic signatures, but this is beyond the capability of the typical user.
Or, if you are in Richmond, VA during the summer you can take them to see the weekly re-enactments at St. John's Church.
For those of us who have benefited from the sacrifice of these patriots to sit idly by while the very rights they gave their lives to gain are slowly eroded is a moral travesty.*
*This comment intended for use in the United States and those countries benefitting directly from the independence thereof.
Technical details of such a system are documented in "Vegas 911" in April's issue of the IEEE Spectrum.
The article document's Jeffery Jonas' development of an anonymized system for the NSA based on his security work in Las Vegas. The work is now being done by IBM. The example in the article demonstrates how anonymized cruise passenger data could be compared with an anonymized watch list by a trusted third party. If the trusted third party finds correlations in the data, the government agency can get a warrant for the specific passenger data from the cruise line.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/apr06/3171 (registration required)
We don't have Net Neutrality, we haven't had it in a long time.
'Legislating in the absence of real understanding of the issue risks both solving the wrong problem and hobbling the rapidly developing new technologies and business models of the Internet with rigid, potentially stultifying rules.'
Currently a service provider can pay a fee, part of which goes to your ISP, to get prioritized access. It's called Akamai.
Even more insidious are caches. An ISP reduces its peering traffic load by caching the most popularly accessed sites. This improves incumbent site performance for the ISP's customers creating a barrier to market penetration for competitors. The ISP makes money from this by not spending the extra cost to retrieve popular data repeatedly.
Net Neutrality laws would prevent ISPs from providing support for new technologies. For example, if a new Internet only broadcast network were to attempt to establish a new distributed live videocasting service by putting distributed streaming peers hosted by the ISP, these new laws would prevent the ISP from allowing the new venture to pay a fee for this service.
I find it laughable that people is the US are suddenly so concerned about net neutrality while they have been sitting around for the past two years watching the telephone and cable systems converge into monopolies. The two problems are closely related. Even more troubling were the FCC rulings that eventually killed the small independent ISPs.
If you want true, market driven Internet service, the government is going to have to mandate the decoupling of the carrier from the ISP. Specifically I direct you to the Utopia project in Utah as documented in the May issue of the IEEE Spectrum.
In any real system there must be some type of common electrical bus or hydrolic system. This prototype system may use batteries at each physical element (the article isn't clear), but that is hardly weight saving.
The article mentions that this technology might first appear in cars, but even entertainment system components are going to need to be powered. It really doesn't make much sense to add an expensive wireless transmitter and receivers to eliminate the need to run speaker cables and while it may be more convenient for the manufacturer to make changes (e.g. moving speakers to accomodate body style changes) it will certainly make it more difficult for the owner to make modifications or upgrades.
The May 10th, 2006 date on this article must be wrong. The article is obviously months or years old. The lack of information about WPA, the discussion of warchalking and the dates of the referenced material all indicate this article was written sometime in early 2005 or late 2004. It was posted on invulnerableit in 11/2005, but I suspect it is older than that.
The Verizon installer specifically mentioned that FIOS TV will require the use of the D-Link router. A statement supported here by an aware user.
If you plan to get FIOS TV in the future, don't throw that D-Link away.
Having used preview it appears the link above http://www.aubreyturner.org/index.php?/orglog/eyeg lazing_geek_stuff/ does not accept referrals from Slashdot.
reprinted in August 2005 in the 32 & 16 Years Ago column.
According to a user on Vonage Forum, Vonage has requested that Zyxel not provide assistance to owners seeking to use this phone with Vonage's SoftPhone service.
See Vonage restricting use of ZyXEL P2000
This is probably because of Vonage's investment in the competing product from UTStarcom.
Despite the CNET's claim of being banned for release of personal information (or perhaps even Google's claim) I wonder if the ban wasn't instituted more for how the other information in the article was presented.
This describes me. I have issues working at home being distracted by my toddlers. I often work at Panera in 8 or 9 hour blocks. I wish I had the exact wording, but one Panera flyer invites customers to use the store as a second office.
I have done the same at a Baker's Crust that also offers free WiFi. At both places I have spoken with the managers who tell me that they would rather have my regular business than worry about someone who doesn't buy lunch one day because the store is crowded.
I do tend to work at a Panera that is less busy for this very reason, I also buy my lunch just before the rush so that I am eating when the place is busiest.
In addition I was told by Panera's help desk that some Bakery-Cafes turn off WiFi during the lunch rush.
If you read the article you might notice HP's statement that this technology would require legislative action to become profitable. That legislation would be the banning of cameras without this technology. The intent of this technology is to allow devices with integrated camera's to be used in places where cameras might otherwise be banned altogether. I imagine the real-world implementation would allow individuals to instruct camera's to blur faces and institutions to disallow photographs. That way you could still bother me by talking on your camera phone inside a museum or at a movie.
For an example of visual search see LTU Technologies product Image Seeker. They have a demo using the 65,000 corbis royalty free images.
Image-seeker is highly scalable server-side software.
The financial and business effect of browser choice is not felt on the client side, it is not typically a factor in purchase decisions.
It is felt on the server side and determines who gets to drive standards.
Additionally Firefox is carrying the banner for freely available open source software on the client much like sendmail and apache have done on the server. The success of Firefox will encourage other developers and increase the rate of adoption on software such as Open Office.
Virginia law requires that you either a) carry your driver's license or b) present it to either the officer, a magistrate or at court after the fact or c) pay $10.
The DMV will tell you you have to carry it with you while driving. As far as I can tell, they misstate the truth.
46.2-104 "Every person licensed by the Department as a driver or issued a learner's or temporary driver's permit who fails to carry his license or permit, and the registration card for the vehicle which he operates, shall be guilty of a traffic infraction and upon conviction punished by a fine of ten dollars. However, if any person summoned to appear before a court for failure to display his license, permit, or registration card presents to the officer issuing the summons or a magistrate of the county or city in which the summons was issued, before the return date of the summons, a license or permit issued to him prior to the time the summons was issued or a registration card, as the case may be, or appears pursuant to the summons and produces before the court a license or permit issued to him prior to the time the summons was issued or a registration card, as the case may be, he shall have complied with the provisions of this section."
The article and my summary clearly said, "binding Internet vote in a national referendum".
This is as significant as the first solo flight over the Atlantic versus the first solo flight. Both are significant milestones, but they represent different levels of adoption of technology.
Perhaps more important in this story is the reason that electronic voting is being adopted, lack of voter turnout. The adoption of Internet voting has the great potential to shift the voting demographic in the US away from the normally disenfranchized poor and elderly who currently vote to those able to afford computers and Internet connections.
Also important for US voters is the insight into other electoral processes. The contrast between the Swiss popular democracy versus the US representitive democracy as embodied by our electoral college is obviously a topic of interest to many Slashdot readers.
Which is in direct conflict with the entry form;
No double standard is evidenced in this story. Simply monitoring someone in public is not normally illegal.
Specifically in California where this occurred there is an eight part test to qualify as stalking and a threat must be made. Is there a crime of stalking/cyberstalking?
There is probably more chance that you could get in trouble for attaching a cell phone to someone's car, especially if you connected it to the battery.
Based on some of the news reports the device used was likely some Nextel GPS enabled phone, like the i58sr with the AtlasTrack 2.0 software and service provided by Networks in Motion.
Phone
Software
Service
Not connecting the phone to the car battery becomes less suprising when you realize the solution in available at the mall.
Especially for those who work at traditional jobs and are unable to attend physical classes, as well as those of us whose skill sets and geographical dispersal are familiar with networking in nontraditional ways, a well architected online course can accomplish those non-course related goals that you attribute only to physical presence.
I doubt that self-paced instruction can give you that. I think that any technical course that doesn't include chat sessions, discussions of current events and collaborative projects can even provide those non-tangible benefits.
That is now my standard for any program (multi-course, certificate or degree) without that, I'd rather just read the book, thanks.