Man, I just got through reading your link. That's some scary stuff. I understand the need for security, but this is the problem when a military, trained to deal with hostiles, turns to policing their own countrymen. There should be some kind of way for her to challange/sue for her ticket price back. It's this kind of stuff that really makes me sad for the direction our country could go.
I don't think this is going to make the roads safer at all. The idea that you can slow down repetitive speeders with a stop light is poorly thought out. The type of person that regularly speeds is probably the same type that's going to be more reckless because of this. If someone is getting frustrated by lights hitting red, they're going to speed up between the intersections to beat the red. Why can't we just rely on the current system of cops and tickets? If an intersection is really bad, just put a patrolman there a few days a month for a couple of months. I swear it's thinking like this that's going to get us speed governers or GPS enabled speeding tickets.
"Microsoft is STILL! trying to push users off Windows 95, 98, and NT"
This is a really good point for those worried about compatibility. As far as I understand it, Longhorn(or whatever the real name will be) will require higher hardware specs than Win 9.x or even XP. A lot of people will keep upgrading their hardware like normal, but I think there are a bunch of useful machines out there that won't get tossed out. I'm not sure a 3D interface and a new file system will compel most businesses to invest in all new hardware. There are many people who just need basic word processing and email for work. I think WinXP and the 9.x's will be around for quite a bit. Longhorn probably won't be the "killer app" that gets people to upgrade like Windows 95 was.
What is this CENSORED world coming to. I can't CENSORED stand all the CENSOREDCENSOREDCENSORED people who feel the need to CENSORED censor what we CENSORED watch. I won't buy one of those CENSORED DVD players, you can bet your CENSORED.
OMG, schemanista, you owe me a new keyboard. I may be getting punching before lunch, but that one made me laugh out loud.
I wish I had some mod points.
Just for the record, I don't really believe that this was a secret government weapon. I was just responding to the parents question, "Why would they pick some little village in Italy?? and coming up with a hypothetical answer.
I'll take this hypothetical: If some country were to create this for either defense or offense I think they would test it first. Wouldn't it make sense to test it in some small village in a neutral country? A live test wouldn't make sense if the directed it at a real enemy target...that would defeat the element of suprise.
I'd like to know how many other industries' sales figures dropped in the same time period. The economy is still kind of in the crapper and unemployment is high. Do they consider that with less disposible income, people might not buy extra's like CD's? Maybe this is just propaganda to further their political agenda? I can think of lots of reasons that their figures are dropping: economy, online-sales, p2p, too expensive, crappy new music. I read that convertable cars sales dropped by 2.3% in 2003. Can I link the decline in convertables to piracy with any less acuracy than CD sales?
It will just increase piracy. There's going to be old video capture cards out there for years that ignore the broadcast flag. If people can't do what they want with new equipment, they'll just return it. People will eventually migrate to sources on the internet to get their commercial free, already encoded fix for TV. I think this idea will backfire in a bad way for them. Just my $0.02.
I was under the impression that PGP was pretty widely excepted and closed source. I know there is an OpenPGP, but it's not the original. I may be wrong, but I though PGP was pretty popular. Here is a page describing the history of PGP and the controversy. As to longer encryption algorithms, I think the NSA will have quantum computers before the general public. They may have them now or it could still be 10 years away. That would eat through current encryption pretty fast. I wish I could get my email contacts to trade keys...I'm still trying to get them to stop sending me stories via the "send to a friend" box on web sites.
The NSA's geniuses aren't any smarter than the regular geniuses
...but the NSA's geniuses have much more computing power at their disposal. My point wasn't that the NSA could crack the peer-reviewed encryption, but that if they made it, they could insert a back door.
I agree about foreign intelligence, but that's not what I got from the article. Maybe I misunderstood, but "NSA has a perfect right to monitor all Internet traffic" seems to include domestic traffic too.
There is defiantly a fine balance between freedom and security. Since 9-11, I've seen us slide more and more towards the security side. Most people don't seem too concerned about electronic privacy. I'm not saying that this is all bad, but there is a line that crosses into scary territory. As technology advances, it's inevitable that more and more privacy is lost. Identity theft, direct marketing and capturing criminals/terrorists are all results of this happening. At some point, we could cross over into a much different society, one that most Americans would compare to the old USSR. I know that electronic means of communication can be monitored easily, but my living room can also be bugged with the same ease. I expect privacy in my living room while talking to my girlfriend, and I don't see much difference between that and IM'ing her. The phone is the same way. I know that an employee of the phone company could listen in, but it wouldn't be legal for them to do. How is this really different from Internet traffic?
I think we as a society are getting used to giving up personal information/privacy to corporations. Convenience is the king. How many people do you see filling out contact cards at the mall to win a vacation? These same people wonder why they get so much junk mail. I suppose if most people aren't concerned, that is the way the country will lean. I just wonder if 20 years from now, we'll look back and wish we were more educated about such things.
Okay, tinfoil hat time: I'm not saying I believe this, but why couldn't the NSA develop a great encryption scheme like PGP, release it to the public under the guise of an individual, then scream bloody murder? Everyone grabs it up because they think it can't be cracked, and the NSA sits back decrypting what they want? Misinformation seems kind of easy. No offense to Phil.
I'm all for catching "terrorists", but I agree...scary.
"'Foreign traffic that comes through the U.S. is subject to U.S. laws, and the NSA has a perfect right to monitor all Internet traffic,' said Mr. Farber, who has also been a technical adviser to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission."
I've never been under the illusion that internet traffic was private, but could someone tell me what law give them this power? I'm not being sarcastic here, I'd really like the information.
I hate to admit it, but I'm one of those movie twits. After waiting in line for a couple of hours to see the midnight showing of "The Matrix: Reloaded, I'll never do that again. I think your right though.
This could be a cheaper way for smaller companies to distribute their software. The internet is great for distributing without the publishing costs, but having your software in a store would make a difference. Why not market this idea to companies that can't afford the publishing expense of distributing all over the world. I don't think many would give up the manual and box unless the cost was really less. I mean, if I'm in a CompUSA and want a copy of Microsofts latest and greatest, I'd rather walk down the isle and get the box. If they marketed this towards smaller developers, I think many of them would invest in this kind of distribution. For them, just getting in the stores would be worth the money.
That's true. It also took a couple of years to train my contacts not to put my address into the "email to a friend" boxes. For business email, I think for now, we're stuck with the spam.
Slashdot Mirror
Man, I just got through reading your link. That's some scary stuff. I understand the need for security, but this is the problem when a military, trained to deal with hostiles, turns to policing their own countrymen. There should be some kind of way for her to challange/sue for her ticket price back. It's this kind of stuff that really makes me sad for the direction our country could go.
Can't the merchants just require the 3-digit security code on the back of the credit cards , if they're losing money?
I don't think this is going to make the roads safer at all. The idea that you can slow down repetitive speeders with a stop light is poorly thought out. The type of person that regularly speeds is probably the same type that's going to be more reckless because of this. If someone is getting frustrated by lights hitting red, they're going to speed up between the intersections to beat the red. Why can't we just rely on the current system of cops and tickets? If an intersection is really bad, just put a patrolman there a few days a month for a couple of months. I swear it's thinking like this that's going to get us speed governers or GPS enabled speeding tickets.
"Microsoft is STILL! trying to push users off Windows 95, 98, and NT"
This is a really good point for those worried about compatibility. As far as I understand it, Longhorn(or whatever the real name will be) will require higher hardware specs than Win 9.x or even XP. A lot of people will keep upgrading their hardware like normal, but I think there are a bunch of useful machines out there that won't get tossed out. I'm not sure a 3D interface and a new file system will compel most businesses to invest in all new hardware. There are many people who just need basic word processing and email for work. I think WinXP and the 9.x's will be around for quite a bit. Longhorn probably won't be the "killer app" that gets people to upgrade like Windows 95 was.
What is this CENSORED world coming to. I can't CENSORED stand all the CENSORED CENSORED CENSORED people who feel the need to CENSORED censor what we CENSORED watch. I won't buy one of those CENSORED DVD players, you can bet your CENSORED.
OMG, schemanista, you owe me a new keyboard. I may be getting punching before lunch, but that one made me laugh out loud. I wish I had some mod points.
Just for the record, I don't really believe that this was a secret government weapon. I was just responding to the parents question, "Why would they pick some little village in Italy?? and coming up with a hypothetical answer.
I've read in previous posts that the Register had this story on Feb. 11th.
I'll take this hypothetical: If some country were to create this for either defense or offense I think they would test it first. Wouldn't it make sense to test it in some small village in a neutral country? A live test wouldn't make sense if the directed it at a real enemy target...that would defeat the element of suprise.
Did we cover a story on one of their servers there? Could this all be caused by a severe slashdotting?
doh
I think some of my coworkers have already agreed to participate.
I'd like to know how many other industries' sales figures dropped in the same time period. The economy is still kind of in the crapper and unemployment is high. Do they consider that with less disposible income, people might not buy extra's like CD's? Maybe this is just propaganda to further their political agenda? I can think of lots of reasons that their figures are dropping: economy, online-sales, p2p, too expensive, crappy new music. I read that convertable cars sales dropped by 2.3% in 2003. Can I link the decline in convertables to piracy with any less acuracy than CD sales?
It will just increase piracy. There's going to be old video capture cards out there for years that ignore the broadcast flag. If people can't do what they want with new equipment, they'll just return it. People will eventually migrate to sources on the internet to get their commercial free, already encoded fix for TV. I think this idea will backfire in a bad way for them. Just my $0.02.
I just read that Nvidia is now complying with Macrovision. Here's the Slashdot story.
I was under the impression that PGP was pretty widely excepted and closed source. I know there is an OpenPGP, but it's not the original. I may be wrong, but I though PGP was pretty popular. Here is a page describing the history of PGP and the controversy. As to longer encryption algorithms, I think the NSA will have quantum computers before the general public. They may have them now or it could still be 10 years away. That would eat through current encryption pretty fast. I wish I could get my email contacts to trade keys...I'm still trying to get them to stop sending me stories via the "send to a friend" box on web sites.
The NSA's geniuses aren't any smarter than the regular geniuses
...but the NSA's geniuses have much more computing power at their disposal. My point wasn't that the NSA could crack the peer-reviewed encryption, but that if they made it, they could insert a back door.
I agree about foreign intelligence, but that's not what I got from the article. Maybe I misunderstood, but "NSA has a perfect right to monitor all Internet traffic" seems to include domestic traffic too.
-
There is defiantly a fine balance between freedom and security. Since 9-11, I've seen us slide more and more towards the security side. Most people don't seem too concerned about electronic privacy. I'm not saying that this is all bad, but there is a line that crosses into scary territory. As technology advances, it's inevitable that more and more privacy is lost. Identity theft, direct marketing and capturing criminals/terrorists are all results of this happening. At some point, we could cross over into a much different society, one that most Americans would compare to the old USSR. I know that electronic means of communication can be monitored easily, but my living room can also be bugged with the same ease. I expect privacy in my living room while talking to my girlfriend, and I don't see much difference between that and IM'ing her. The phone is the same way. I know that an employee of the phone company could listen in, but it wouldn't be legal for them to do. How is this really different from Internet traffic?
I think we as a society are getting used to giving up personal information/privacy to corporations. Convenience is the king. How many people do you see filling out contact cards at the mall to win a vacation? These same people wonder why they get so much junk mail. I suppose if most people aren't concerned, that is the way the country will lean. I just wonder if 20 years from now, we'll look back and wish we were more educated about such things.
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Okay, tinfoil hat time: I'm not saying I believe this, but why couldn't the NSA develop a great encryption scheme like PGP, release it to the public under the guise of an individual, then scream bloody murder? Everyone grabs it up because they think it can't be cracked, and the NSA sits back decrypting what they want? Misinformation seems kind of easy. No offense to Phil.
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I'm all for catching "terrorists", but I agree...scary.
"'Foreign traffic that comes through the U.S. is subject to U.S. laws, and the NSA has a perfect right to monitor all Internet traffic,' said Mr. Farber, who has also been a technical adviser to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission."
I've never been under the illusion that internet traffic was private, but could someone tell me what law give them this power? I'm not being sarcastic here, I'd really like the information.
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I hate to admit it, but I'm one of those movie twits. After waiting in line for a couple of hours to see the midnight showing of "The Matrix: Reloaded, I'll never do that again. I think your right though.
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I don't think the one's who can't operate a vending machine are the target market for computer software anyway.
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This could be a cheaper way for smaller companies to distribute their software. The internet is great for distributing without the publishing costs, but having your software in a store would make a difference. Why not market this idea to companies that can't afford the publishing expense of distributing all over the world. I don't think many would give up the manual and box unless the cost was really less. I mean, if I'm in a CompUSA and want a copy of Microsofts latest and greatest, I'd rather walk down the isle and get the box. If they marketed this towards smaller developers, I think many of them would invest in this kind of distribution. For them, just getting in the stores would be worth the money.
-
That's true. It also took a couple of years to train my contacts not to put my address into the "email to a friend" boxes. For business email, I think for now, we're stuck with the spam.