But broad band ISPs are effectively monopolies in their local markets in large part as a result of government granted monopolies to provide cable TV service and local telephone service. The monopoly status of local telcos is the reason common carrier status was created in the first place. Bringing ISPs under common carrier rules is long overdue.
Communications privacy is a huge issue in a democratic society. Do not just kvetch on Slashdot. Write to your congressman and senators to tell them that this matters to you.
Do not just kvetch on Slashdot. Communications privacy is a serious issue for a democratic society. Write to your congressman and your senators and tell them that this matters to you.
The HUGE difference is that your telephone communications are carried under "common carrier" rules. There is a legal expectation that your telephone conversations are private, that you can use your telephone to talk to anyone and that all common carriers will inter-operate. These rules were put in place because local telephone companies are government grants monopolies.
When it is acting as your ISP, your telephone company is not governed by common carrier status. USA Today has an article today pointing out that essentially all ISP service agreements give them the right to inspect your communications, alter the contract without notice, block access to sites and terminate your service at will. For example, these agreements allow and ISP to block access to competitor web sites if they feel that the site has objectionable content like claims to provide better service at lower costs.
The problem with all the "encrypt everything" posts is that encryption costs money. Why doesn't Slashdot offer? Because it would cost them a fortune to add all the server hardware needed to meet the demand.
The problem with all of the "I dropped my ISP" posts is that in most communities you have little or no choice in broad band providers, basically the cable company and the phone company. Just like local telephone companies, broad band ISPs are effectively local monopolies and should be governed by the same common carrier rules.
What is the potential harm? How would you feel if you learned that you weren't hired for a job because your name was on a list of potentially disruptive employees who read (or even worse, post to) Slashdot?
Don't just kvetch on Slashdot. Write to your congressman and senators and tell them that this is a serious issue for you.
Actually, hardware sales spike every time a new OS is released. Many machines running XP now may be quite capable of running Vista, but many older machines won't and they will get replaced by new power hungry models. Remember, if you look at it as computations per Watt of electricity consumed, Moore's law pretty much ended a few years ago. Most of the growth has been in bigger power supplies (200 Watts used to considered a high power "server" supply) and heat syncs (a 386 didn't need one).
Balmer claims Windows will hit and installed base of 1 billion this year. Assuming half the Windows PC are turned on at any given moment, this means that XP => Vista will consume an additional 0.5 * 1e9 * 200 Watts => 100 gigawatts of power. By comparison, the Three Gorges Dam in China is expected to produce 12 gigawatts, the largest nuclear plant (Kashiwazaki-Kariwa in Japan) produces 8.2 gigawatts and the sum of all window power worldwide is estimated to be 94 gigawatts. So Microsoft phasing our XP is going to consume as much energy as all of the wind power generated worldwide.
Another name for these microdeletions is copy number variation, a normal form of variation in the human genome. There is also a fundamental concept in population genetics called genetic load which are recessive lethal alleles present in any population as a result of new mutations and limited selection against rare recessive alleles. Just be glad we are not all the same because then a single bad virus like the 1918 influenza could wipe us all out. Besides life would be so boring.
Slashdot Mirror
Communications privacy is a huge issue in a democratic society. Do not just kvetch on Slashdot. Write to your congressman and senators to tell them that this matters to you.
Do not just kvetch on Slashdot. Communications privacy is a serious issue for a democratic society. Write to your congressman and your senators and tell them that this matters to you.
Communications privacy is a serious issue. Write to your congressman and senators and tell them that this matters.
When it is acting as your ISP, your telephone company is not governed by common carrier status. USA Today has an article today pointing out that essentially all ISP service agreements give them the right to inspect your communications, alter the contract without notice, block access to sites and terminate your service at will. For example, these agreements allow and ISP to block access to competitor web sites if they feel that the site has objectionable content like claims to provide better service at lower costs.
The problem with all the "encrypt everything" posts is that encryption costs money. Why doesn't Slashdot offer? Because it would cost them a fortune to add all the server hardware needed to meet the demand.
The problem with all of the "I dropped my ISP" posts is that in most communities you have little or no choice in broad band providers, basically the cable company and the phone company. Just like local telephone companies, broad band ISPs are effectively local monopolies and should be governed by the same common carrier rules.
What is the potential harm? How would you feel if you learned that you weren't hired for a job because your name was on a list of potentially disruptive employees who read (or even worse, post to) Slashdot?
Don't just kvetch on Slashdot. Write to your congressman and senators and tell them that this is a serious issue for you.
Actually, hardware sales spike every time a new OS is released. Many machines running XP now may be quite capable of running Vista, but many older machines won't and they will get replaced by new power hungry models. Remember, if you look at it as computations per Watt of electricity consumed, Moore's law pretty much ended a few years ago. Most of the growth has been in bigger power supplies (200 Watts used to considered a high power "server" supply) and heat syncs (a 386 didn't need one).
Wonder how many tons of green house gas will be emitted as a result of this decision? Minimal hardware configs:
Vista - 1 GHz CPU, 1 GB RAM, DirectX9 graphics ~ 300 Watts
XP - 233 MHz CPU, 128 MB RAM, SuperVGA graphics ~ 100 Watts
W2K - 133 MHz CPU, 64 MB RAM, VGA graphics ~ 60 Watts
Linux - 386 CPU, 16 MB RAM, VGA graphics ~ 30 Watts
Balmer claims Windows will hit and installed base of 1 billion this year. Assuming half the Windows PC are turned on at any given moment, this means that XP => Vista will consume an additional 0.5 * 1e9 * 200 Watts => 100 gigawatts of power. By comparison, the Three Gorges Dam in China is expected to produce 12 gigawatts, the largest nuclear plant (Kashiwazaki-Kariwa in Japan) produces 8.2 gigawatts and the sum of all window power worldwide is estimated to be 94 gigawatts. So Microsoft phasing our XP is going to consume as much energy as all of the wind power generated worldwide.
Another name for these microdeletions is copy number variation, a normal form of variation in the human genome. There is also a fundamental concept in population genetics called genetic load which are recessive lethal alleles present in any population as a result of new mutations and limited selection against rare recessive alleles. Just be glad we are not all the same because then a single bad virus like the 1918 influenza could wipe us all out. Besides life would be so boring.