This is quite an interesting angle. One that now I think about it makes complete sense. I never really put the online proliferation of music into quite that context. RIAA surely has the intent to stop unsigned artitsts from reaching mass market. The DMCA pretty much gives them carte-blance in protecting their monopoly.
Consider:
An allegation against you, Joe Webcaster, that your site streams copyrighted material. Even though you stream music that is 100% free (or otherwise requested to be mass-distributed by whatever means), the mere allegation and C&D almost requires you to stop streaming until you can be proven innocent (I don't beleive the DMCA actually follows innocent till proven guilty). Meanwhile you are "off-the-air" until it is cleared. An obvious win for the labels, regardless of the outcome in the trial.
It would be nice to know if whether it would be considered libel for an organization to claim copyright infringement when in fact there is none... Of course, this would require that such webcasters be 100% legit, because we do know the lengths to which the RIAA will go to put someone down.
Ah yes, M$ Bob... now _THERE_ was an interface! An excellent combination of appealing GUI, with security and stability built in. They sure don't make them like that anymore. Ho hum.
I would have thought all of us were fully aware of Microsofts tactics to keep money coming in. Each new OS seems to have things the previous ones didn't. Win3.1 to 95 brought 32-bit apps. 95 to 98 and 98SE brought (bug fixes) better hardware support. NT 3.5 brought (mostly) stability and "multiuser-ness." NT 4 brought the "pretty" 95/98 GUI.
Blah blah blah.
But look at each of the OS's. For the most part, they were monumental leaps in GUI design. It seems obvious that M$ has a lot of dependence on their GUI design/research people. Look, they got a lot of idiots to shell out some major casholla for XP when they just two years ago did the same for Win2K. People like the pretty GUI. It's not a matter of "Do I need XYZ functionality" or "What are the privacy implications of..." Most of the world already knows what M$ thinks of us; like all other major corporations, we eat products and shit money. So they give you a "candy-coated" GUI to make everything go down a little bit better.
I'm going to suggest a high-level strategy here. I'd strongly suggest that you get a hold of the corporation's (or whatever you call the "larger company") computing policies and inform your users that they are out of compliance and that was the cause of the major data loss. Now that you've got some high-level policies to follow, implement them according to the (highest-modded) suggestions in this discussion's comments. Let your users know that like-it-or-not, you have been tasked to ensure such a catastrophy doesn't occur again. Find a nice way of telling them that your job is to make sure they can continue to do theirs. There was prolly a lot of lost productivity due to the dataloss. I'd be surprised if the axe wasn't dropped on someone. Anyway, I'm sure they'll all be willing to help you help them.
Since you're a small site, you prolly won't get into too much trouble _not_ following corporate policy to a "t." However, when you find policy that fits your needs, cite it and tell the folks its in their best interest to have such-and-such implemented. Type up an official Memo/email and with all of your (new) policies and how they'll affect your users. Make sure to CC: it to your boss (remember to CYA!)
Of course, if there is no corporate/upper level computing policies, you need to find another job! Seriously though, I've seen a lot of good suggestions here. Make sure you've been given all the resources, policy and authority you need to make things work. You _WILL_ have a lot of pissed off people for the few weeks you'll spend implementing things and ironing out problems. However in the end, your users will be in a better situation and you'll have a nice little paragraph to put on your resume;-)
Hey man, you certainly struck some kind of chord with folks, eh? I just wanted to commend you on your handling of all the rude, nasty, and assinine comments in this thread. If only more/. readers were half as empathetic as you... -Bob
Lets face it... Big companies have lots of money to fight spam with. Regarding the use of chattel laws, its been done before in the industry. Compuserve had a problem with a fellow some time ago and brought suit against him using the same tactics. They won, rightly of course, so Intel actually has previous case material to work with. They seem to have a case. If the man is harrasing Intel's employees, they have an obligation to stop him. Sometimes you can't get your point across to the thick-headed without resulting to drastic measures.
I suggested that Lucasfilm leaked it? George Lucas is BIG (go figure) in the entertainment industry and for some reason, people like to listen to him and value his opinion on how technology relates to the industry. I don't recall, but haven't we seen Lucasfilm involved with M$ regarding DRM development? If not, it seems likely they would be involved in such deals. It seems to me this AotC is a HIGH PROFILE case of piracy. Imagine if the MPAA or Lucas himself took his "piracy report" to Congress, asking them to do something to make us behave. "Oh please, make those wretched pay this... Just look how much money I am losing." Of course, we are supposed to ignore the fact that the movie WILL MAKE 100+ BILLION dollars at the box office during the first week! Damned pirates.
I can't blame them for wanting to curb piracy as much as possible. I think, however, it would be a real harm to the computing industry to let media moguls and megalomaniacs dicate hardware and software standards to ensure legal compliance on behalf of end users. Or maybe the level of pre-release piracy is equivalent to that for Episode I; I don't remember. Just an interesting thought to mull around.
Little did Mr Bach know that he had invited a lawsuit from the 600lb gorilla. Do States witness' have indemnity for their testimony? If so I guess he has no problem. I imagine that Bill's lawyers are drawing up dockets against Mr Bach at this very moment. -Bob
I'm always paranoid about collection devices that have the ability to beam data back to a central repository. I'm concerned with the abuse of such systems. Instead (in addition, who knows) of raising your rates, insurance companies would have data available to them that would allow them to completely drop policies, or give them impetus to call you, suggesting you "raise your premium or coverages" due to your driving habits! On the other hand, if this device has the ability to beam back driving data, what keeps it from beaming back position information? Law enforcement/ insurance might ask to have such functionality available to them to make it "easier to recover stolen vehicles" or to "keep track of 'rehabilitated' cons."
Personally, I would be more in favor of a standardized system that would allow Police to pull data off a wrecked car to find out more about the crash. Since, as other people have mentioned, it would be hard put to use such a device to determine LIABILITY, Police (and Insurance) will still need to be satisfied with witness testimony. Being required to actively "pull" data from such a system, the potential for abuse will be greatly diminished.
Check out Kennedy Western for professional education. They take work experience and attempt to work that into college credits. When I called these people up, they weren't interested in me for a few more years. I think 5 years is enough for them. They may not want to count the stuff prior to your employment, but you can at least call, email, whatever, and find out! Be warned, of course there is a fee for them to even look at your resume. Might be something to look into, however. Also look at University of Phoenix Online for other college-type professional education.
A nice thought, but keep in mind the new legislation that says they don't even have to inform you that you've been searched. Lee could easily have come home one day and found a keyboard logger or some other devices attached to his computer, lamps, toothbrush, etc. It makes me wonder, given the current national situation, as to why the SS _asked_ him in the first place if he'd consent. Ashcroft knows certainly well they (SS) didn't have to. Or perhaps Lee is caucasion...
Right now, people are pretty much forced into using Office. They also don't know any better. "It's what everyone uses." However, if you found that M$ Office was available for Linux, there'd be a lot of clued system admistrators who might be able to con their bosses into making the switch. "Consider, Boss, the stability of Linux (which is running your 1Meg-hits-a-second webserver;-) coupled with the 'friendliness, supported-ness, whatever-ness' of M$ Office?" He'd cream his pants. But you've got to wean your users off the operating system first. Because Office is _ONLY_ available on Winblows, customers have no choice for OS if they must/want/choose to use M$ Office. Getting those users off the bloat, I mean boat is the first step to competition. Whether or not it'll ever fly is another thing. And is it truly a good thing to have a _court_-mandated_ software development strategy?
Which Supreme Court? I assure you the US Fed Supreme Court will not hear any cases regarding DMCA. Remember they refused to hear the M$ case. If ever there was case (and a violation against the Sherman Anti-Trust Act is pretty important) the Supremes needed to hear, it was M$. But you need to realize they (US Suprememes) are just as corrupt as the Legislators who enacted the DMCA. Or do I sound too curmudgeon? -Bob
There is a problem with most Americans when November rolls around and its time to vote... They either don't care, or are not educated (enough) in the way our Government and Country operate. They assume that elected officals will keep their best interests at heart. They also seem to think that the only options are the ass and elephant.
You know, we've had several "political groups" in this country over its history. However, the only thing that is permanent, insofar as you and I are responsible citizens and vote is the following: senators and representatives (and pretty much any other "public figure," like entertainment figures, stars and musicians) are just like you and me. Sure those senators and representatives may have different educations and ideals, but that really doesn't mean anything on election day. They're Americans, they were born of woman, live, pay taxes, and die. (You/We) Americans have a responsibility on election day to vote for the person who best represents _OUR_ ideals. Since the Roman Republic proved that a citzenry that votes on _everything_ is too archaic, our system of representation is _PERHAPS_ the best thing; time will tell. I don't think most people truly grasp how great our Founding Fathers were when it came to philosphy, politics, economics, etc. Their brilliance is one of the reasons you and I able to sit here and discuss this. To keep our system running the way our Founding Fathers intended (and those of us RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS), we must vote. But being a responsible voter, a responsible citizen requires more than one day a year.
Every day a law is debated, every day we don't stay in contact with our represenatatives is another day they work without guidance. Get in contact with them! Also try to be a little keen on the issues. Every elected official in this coutry SWEARS to uphold and defend the Constitution.
Another important document that most people know nothing about is the US Code. It has more impact in your daily life than the Constitution. The Constitution serves as a GUIDE; US Code contains actual LAWS that citizen must ABIDE by. Look it up; it's pretty important.
Basically it boils down to: become informed. You can't vote responsibly if you don't know whats going on. -Bob
All you guys that were lucky enough to get the Netpliace (before the stockholders got wind) had better throw out your boxes! Box hacking is a thing of the past now. Screw fair use.
-Bob
Something Washington is lacking. I'm sure that GW is already well aware that the military (and select contractors) have the SIPR Net (secure net) in addition to NIPR Net (unsecure). GW prolly wants to model a "new" network (that will cost us more tax-paying dollars) on SIPR. It has always boggled my mind that gov't services (military and otherwise) choose to have some (critical) things connected to the internet in the first place. In addition, the media needs a little more intelligence too... Reporting that the FBI, CIA, NSA, etc.. website(s) were hacked has no bearing on the fact that those organizations have _SECURE_ systems to which _NO_OUTSIDER_ has access. It is on these _DIS_CONNECTED_ systems where the truly important work in resarch, command and control, etc gets done. But like I said, it takes an apparently more enlightened reader/reporter/President to understand these things and act appropriately.
"Mr Moron goes to Washington" would be a big production, considering the Senate and House (not including aides) is what 600+?! Anyway, just kidding you;-) All we can do is vote, folks... -Bob
Anyone who has gone on a tour at any of our major lankmarks in this country already know the tactical wealth of knowledge that the tour-guides spew. You can find out almost anything, including building materials, height (obviously), depth, thickness in (some) location. Take for example, the wonderous tidbits at this site. Now assume you have malicious intent AND a background in XYZ (ballistics, explosives, nuclear theory, etc). Hell, Atta et al prolly went on a couple of tours in the WTC towers. We _KNOW_ for a _FACT_ that most criminals "CASE" a joint before committing their acts. It doesn't take a genious to figure out that _ANY_ information can and do serve both purposes, malicious and good. Considering all these things, I think it is imperative that _ALL_ major US (and possibly World-Wide) Landmarks be closed indefinately, at least untill we can be certain the world is safe for all civilized people.
Thank you, Bob
PS. If you can't tell, I'm speaking facetiously. I think I have made my point.
I hate these damned debates. Can we avoid them please?? Folks, here's the deal. Every software package fits a niche; such is the case with Linux software especially! We all know the beauty of Open and Free software... We get to "try before we buy." Sometimes you don't _have_ to buy. Those of us who appreciate the work and effort that's put into these packages buy the Linux distributions, send money to the FSF/GNU, etc.
Personally I've been using Slackware since like forever. It's perfect for me. I prefer a simple, straightforware installation. For a user who knows something about Linux/Unix, it's pretty simple to configure. I'll admit, however that it's not as easy to install/configure as some other distributions; I've tried a lot of others for shits and giggles. RedHat, Storm, SuSE, Mandrake... They're a _LOT_ simpler I'll agree. But I can't tell ya how many times friends of mine have asked me "where can I find an xyz server?" to which I reply "It's not installed; check/usr/sbin."
Linux distros are no different than other software packages... they fit niches too. The "common" end-users, servers, development platform, etc... I guess what I'm getting at is that we shouldn't be condemning a distro, this distro, to death because of what it hasn't got in relation to the other distributions. Slackware fits nicely in its niche and I'll keep paying for _my_ subscription. Pat V. gets my support. It's a shame he won't getting David C's.
Slashdot Mirror
MOD THIS GUY UP -Bob
I am the FCC and I just screwed up, again.
-Bob
Consider:
An allegation against you, Joe Webcaster, that your site streams copyrighted material. Even though you stream music that is 100% free (or otherwise requested to be mass-distributed by whatever means), the mere allegation and C&D almost requires you to stop streaming until you can be proven innocent (I don't beleive the DMCA actually follows innocent till proven guilty). Meanwhile you are "off-the-air" until it is cleared. An obvious win for the labels, regardless of the outcome in the trial.
It would be nice to know if whether it would be considered libel for an organization to claim copyright infringement when in fact there is none... Of course, this would require that such webcasters be 100% legit, because we do know the lengths to which the RIAA will go to put someone down.
Anyway, thats my 0.02.
-Bob
-Bob
Blah blah blah.
But look at each of the OS's. For the most part, they were monumental leaps in GUI design. It seems obvious that M$ has a lot of dependence on their GUI design/research people. Look, they got a lot of idiots to shell out some major casholla for XP when they just two years ago did the same for Win2K. People like the pretty GUI. It's not a matter of "Do I need XYZ functionality" or "What are the privacy implications of ..." Most of the world already knows what M$ thinks of us; like all other major corporations, we eat products and shit money. So they give you a "candy-coated" GUI to make everything go down a little bit better.
Just my .02.
-Bob
-Bob
Since you're a small site, you prolly won't get into too much trouble _not_ following corporate policy to a "t." However, when you find policy that fits your needs, cite it and tell the folks its in their best interest to have such-and-such implemented. Type up an official Memo/email and with all of your (new) policies and how they'll affect your users. Make sure to CC: it to your boss (remember to CYA!)
Of course, if there is no corporate/upper level computing policies, you need to find another job! Seriously though, I've seen a lot of good suggestions here. Make sure you've been given all the resources, policy and authority you need to make things work. You _WILL_ have a lot of pissed off people for the few weeks you'll spend implementing things and ironing out problems. However in the end, your users will be in a better situation and you'll have a nice little paragraph to put on your resume ;-)
Good luck!
-Bob
Hey man, you certainly struck some kind of chord with folks, eh? I just wanted to commend you on your handling of all the rude, nasty, and assinine comments in this thread. If only more /. readers were half as empathetic as you... -Bob
--Bob
I can't blame them for wanting to curb piracy as much as possible. I think, however, it would be a real harm to the computing industry to let media moguls and megalomaniacs dicate hardware and software standards to ensure legal compliance on behalf of end users. Or maybe the level of pre-release piracy is equivalent to that for Episode I; I don't remember. Just an interesting thought to mull around.
-Bob
Little did Mr Bach know that he had invited a lawsuit from the 600lb gorilla. Do States witness' have indemnity for their testimony? If so I guess he has no problem. I imagine that Bill's lawyers are drawing up dockets against Mr Bach at this very moment. -Bob
Over my COLD DEAD hands!!!
Personally, I would be more in favor of a standardized system that would allow Police to pull data off a wrecked car to find out more about the crash. Since, as other people have mentioned, it would be hard put to use such a device to determine LIABILITY, Police (and Insurance) will still need to be satisfied with witness testimony. Being required to actively "pull" data from such a system, the potential for abuse will be greatly diminished.
-Bob
-Bob
-Bob
-Bob
Hmm.. I guess cmdrtaco is just going to have to wait until someone creates a flash plugin suitable for terminal/lynx browsing!
Which Supreme Court? I assure you the US Fed Supreme Court will not hear any cases regarding DMCA. Remember they refused to hear the M$ case. If ever there was case (and a violation against the Sherman Anti-Trust Act is pretty important) the Supremes needed to hear, it was M$. But you need to realize they (US Suprememes) are just as corrupt as the Legislators who enacted the DMCA. Or do I sound too curmudgeon?
-Bob
You know, we've had several "political groups" in this country over its history. However, the only thing that is permanent, insofar as you and I are responsible citizens and vote is the following: senators and representatives (and pretty much any other "public figure," like entertainment figures, stars and musicians) are just like you and me. Sure those senators and representatives may have different educations and ideals, but that really doesn't mean anything on election day. They're Americans, they were born of woman, live, pay taxes, and die. (You/We) Americans have a responsibility on election day to vote for the person who best represents _OUR_ ideals. Since the Roman Republic proved that a citzenry that votes on _everything_ is too archaic, our system of representation is _PERHAPS_ the best thing; time will tell. I don't think most people truly grasp how great our Founding Fathers were when it came to philosphy, politics, economics, etc. Their brilliance is one of the reasons you and I able to sit here and discuss this. To keep our system running the way our Founding Fathers intended (and those of us RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS), we must vote. But being a responsible voter, a responsible citizen requires more than one day a year.
Every day a law is debated, every day we don't stay in contact with our represenatatives is another day they work without guidance. Get in contact with them! Also try to be a little keen on the issues. Every elected official in this coutry SWEARS to uphold and defend the Constitution.
Another important document that most people know nothing about is the US Code. It has more impact in your daily life than the Constitution. The Constitution serves as a GUIDE; US Code contains actual LAWS that citizen must ABIDE by. Look it up; it's pretty important.
Basically it boils down to: become informed. You can't vote responsibly if you don't know whats going on.
-Bob
All you guys that were lucky enough to get the Netpliace (before the stockholders got wind) had better throw out your boxes! Box hacking is a thing of the past now. Screw fair use.
-Bob
my .02
-Bob
"Mr Moron goes to Washington" would be a big production, considering the Senate and House (not including aides) is what 600+?! Anyway, just kidding you ;-) All we can do is vote, folks ...
-Bob
Thank you,
Bob
PS. If you can't tell, I'm speaking facetiously. I think I have made my point.
Personally I've been using Slackware since like forever. It's perfect for me. I prefer a simple, straightforware installation. For a user who knows something about Linux/Unix, it's pretty simple to configure. I'll admit, however that it's not as easy to install/configure as some other distributions; I've tried a lot of others for shits and giggles. RedHat, Storm, SuSE, Mandrake... They're a _LOT_ simpler I'll agree. But I can't tell ya how many times friends of mine have asked me "where can I find an xyz server?" to which I reply "It's not installed; check /usr/sbin."
Linux distros are no different than other software packages... they fit niches too. The "common" end-users, servers, development platform, etc... I guess what I'm getting at is that we shouldn't be condemning a distro, this distro, to death because of what it hasn't got in relation to the other distributions. Slackware fits nicely in its niche and I'll keep paying for _my_ subscription. Pat V. gets my support. It's a shame he won't getting David C's.
just my .02
-mrbob