You are correct. Posters above have totally lost sight of what is right and what is wrong.
It appears that if you say something [copyright infringement == theft] often enough, then people eventually begin to believe it, no matter how untrue the statement. It's sad.
btw... no need for posting as AC, especially if you're right... and you are.
As far as I know (IANAL), downloading music, or copying games, etc was not theft... it was copyright infringement.
Every time a story like this breaks, and it's called theft again, there are fewer and fewer people saying "hey wait a minute, it's NOT theft". Instead, we are now just griping about how the theft of music isn't so bad as it's made out and how it has little impact.
So which is it today -- copyright infringement, or theft?
It is a big deal. Why? Because EV1 buying into SCO's FUD lends said FUD credibility. Now in court SCO can point to EV1 specifically as an example of one of the largest DC's agreeing to their terms. It may not lend any credibility to those of us with a clue, but who knows how the demented minds of our courts will interpret this? I'm afraid the interpretation will be one of lending credence to SCO's claims. Dunno if I'm making my frustration/worry clear here, but I hope you get my drift. I view this as a fairly dark day in the Linux/SCO battle.
I'll tell you why. Not so much for home use, but in a business, the users are not the ones that are ultimately responsible for the data that they use. The IT staff is. And when you have a couple hundred users suddenly creating access databases 'just real quick' because 'it's handy' and 'I won't need it permanently', they are always wrong. Eventually, someone keeps using that DB, and eventually that DB becomes a critical business asset. And eventually, they want to share that data with everyone and their cousin. Ok now then you have a situation where you've got all this data is one god-awful mess of a 'database' and now we're tasked with porting it to something real -- and doing it NOW. Just wonderful. The point is that a company's data storage needs must be planned and the data itself needs to be accounted for. Not only for security reasons but also for retention and accessability.
Paying some shmo to use their copyrighted headers is a bad idea. All it's led to so far is a few spammers using those headers to get through SA with it's -8 default scoring, until I realized what was up. Obviously this is the intent, and obviously Spamassassin developers were taken in by it. I hope they come to their senses. Personally, I score habeas headers +8. Never had a single mail come through with habeas headers that wasn't spam. So yes I think it's time to start filtering habeas headers -- at least for now.
Indeed. It's not Spamcop's fault. Spamcop blocks nothing, they only provide a useful list which we just happen to use to block mail.
I use Spamcop's RBL company-wide. Also SORBS and ORDB. Believe me, you'll hear from a customer when they are bounced. And it's a simple enough process for any half-way competent admin to mark their mails OK at the MTA level.
No exaggeration, RBL's have cut the SPAM that our users and servers have to deal with by 84% since we began filtering and tagging. And my mail servers are breathing a huge sigh of relief!:)
It's not hipocrisy. When I skip a television ad, that's my right. You may argue that the only reason that the television program I'm watching even exists is because of advertising revenue. Know what? That's not my problem. I have NO contract with any advertisers, and no obligation to watch their drivel. I have no contract with any broadcasters, and no obligation to hold up their end of a bargain with said advertisers.
Broadcasters sell commercial spots on the basis that the advertising will be broadcast with the show, and offer the advertiser some sort of assurance that a certain demographic will be OFFERED that advertisement for viewing. However, I never said I'd watch it. Neither did you.
Now, spammers such as the dipshit in question here are literally STEALING bandwidth and cpu cycles from servers worldwide. They are INFECTING systems and using them as zombies to mail their crap. There is a world of difference between commercial skipping and theft.
As an aside here, Ralsky also says that we have no clue what he's mailing? Maybe I can't pinpoint mail-for-mail the ones that dipshit sends, but spam is spam and very recognizable no matter who it's from, whether it's a legit business, or a single spamming schmuck.
There's TONS to do. Just as spammers devise ever-more-devious ways of sneaking around your filters, you must also devise ways to stop them. It is war. A war which (time and money aside) I will win.
Same with crackers.
As far as the general 'system' goes, you can't just plop a system on the Net and leave it to happily grind away. You MUST keep patched and watch your back, otherwise you're owned. Hell, you can't even bring a system online INSIDE you're LAN and expect to just let it sit there. You got one laptop user? Then you better be on top of your systems, and their workstation. Same for routers, switches, firewalls, etc. Systems Admin is not for the lazy. That's a myth.
Re:How harmful is spam... REALLY?
on
The Life of a Spammer
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Well, I'll give you my own numbers.
73% of all the mail hitting my servers during the last week were either rejected via RBL, via access.db, or via SA. For the mail that was actually allowed to be delivered, 48% was tagged as SPAM -- meaning it met SA criteria for the thresholds I have set to be SPAM.
In the last month I've spent ~30hrs (not all at once) dealing with spam and spam-related tasks such as user Q&A, dealing with false-positives, dealing with false-negatives, RBL related, server maintenence and patching, etc. That's almost 4 working days.
Do I feel it's 'worth it'? YES. It's necessary at any rate. I'd rather cull out the crap or block it entirely, and my users are much happier, my backup jobs are quicker, and my servers are healthier for it. Do I enjoy it? NO! Are there other things I could do or that my employer would like done? YES!
I know you know this, and no it's not always a huge time-sink, but when it is it's a big one.
I hope spamcop.net doesn't go down the tubes. They are only one of 5 that my mail servers use, but have been one of the more reliable RBLs around.
But what if they become unreliable disreputable? What are some other reliable blacklists to talk to? Especially now that SORBS has instituted a fine to be removed.
Slashdot Mirror
NO
Aye... or CutePDF!
http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.
Free form personal and commercial use. Works well!
Does it really matter?
No matter what it would track, or where it takes us, or whether legal to block/remove, it's still a bad idea. Actually, it's just a stupid idea.
You are correct. Posters above have totally lost sight of what is right and what is wrong.
It appears that if you say something [copyright infringement == theft] often enough, then people eventually begin to believe it, no matter how untrue the statement. It's sad.
btw... no need for posting as AC, especially if you're right... and you are.
Fine! Then let'em buy an Apple!
On the other hand, that's probably the best vocal rendition of the Star Spangled Banner that I've ever heard.
Remote Installer - http://www.compulsionsoftware.com Saved me the $50.00 reg fee first time I used it.
ftp://ftp3.usa.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/3.5/
As far as I know (IANAL), downloading music, or copying games, etc was not theft... it was copyright infringement.
Every time a story like this breaks, and it's called theft again, there are fewer and fewer people saying "hey wait a minute, it's NOT theft". Instead, we are now just griping about how the theft of music isn't so bad as it's made out and how it has little impact.
So which is it today -- copyright infringement, or theft?
It is a big deal. Why? Because EV1 buying into SCO's FUD lends said FUD credibility. Now in court SCO can point to EV1 specifically as an example of one of the largest DC's agreeing to their terms. It may not lend any credibility to those of us with a clue, but who knows how the demented minds of our courts will interpret this? I'm afraid the interpretation will be one of lending credence to SCO's claims. Dunno if I'm making my frustration/worry clear here, but I hope you get my drift. I view this as a fairly dark day in the Linux/SCO battle.
Doesn't this act allow certain types of political spam as well?
It might, but I don't!
I'll tell you why. Not so much for home use, but in a business, the users are not the ones that are ultimately responsible for the data that they use. The IT staff is. And when you have a couple hundred users suddenly creating access databases 'just real quick' because 'it's handy' and 'I won't need it permanently', they are always wrong. Eventually, someone keeps using that DB, and eventually that DB becomes a critical business asset. And eventually, they want to share that data with everyone and their cousin. Ok now then you have a situation where you've got all this data is one god-awful mess of a 'database' and now we're tasked with porting it to something real -- and doing it NOW. Just wonderful. The point is that a company's data storage needs must be planned and the data itself needs to be accounted for. Not only for security reasons but also for retention and accessability.
Paying some shmo to use their copyrighted headers is a bad idea. All it's led to so far is a few spammers using those headers to get through SA with it's -8 default scoring, until I realized what was up. Obviously this is the intent, and obviously Spamassassin developers were taken in by it. I hope they come to their senses. Personally, I score habeas headers +8. Never had a single mail come through with habeas headers that wasn't spam. So yes I think it's time to start filtering habeas headers -- at least for now.
Indeed. It's not Spamcop's fault. Spamcop blocks nothing, they only provide a useful list which we just happen to use to block mail.
:)
I use Spamcop's RBL company-wide. Also SORBS and ORDB. Believe me, you'll hear from a customer when they are bounced. And it's a simple enough process for any half-way competent admin to mark their mails OK at the MTA level.
No exaggeration, RBL's have cut the SPAM that our users and servers have to deal with by 84% since we began filtering and tagging. And my mail servers are breathing a huge sigh of relief!
Guess you were wrong ;)
But seriously, you could replace 'stealing' with hijacking, trespassing, fraud... let's see what else? BAH... you know what I mean!
It's not hipocrisy. When I skip a television ad, that's my right. You may argue that the only reason that the television program I'm watching even exists is because of advertising revenue. Know what? That's not my problem. I have NO contract with any advertisers, and no obligation to watch their drivel. I have no contract with any broadcasters, and no obligation to hold up their end of a bargain with said advertisers.
Broadcasters sell commercial spots on the basis that the advertising will be broadcast with the show, and offer the advertiser some sort of assurance that a certain demographic will be OFFERED that advertisement for viewing. However, I never said I'd watch it. Neither did you.
Now, spammers such as the dipshit in question here are literally STEALING bandwidth and cpu cycles from servers worldwide. They are INFECTING systems and using them as zombies to mail their crap. There is a world of difference between commercial skipping and theft.
As an aside here, Ralsky also says that we have no clue what he's mailing? Maybe I can't pinpoint mail-for-mail the ones that dipshit sends, but spam is spam and very recognizable no matter who it's from, whether it's a legit business, or a single spamming schmuck.
Telstra, eh? Hmmmm.....
Amsterdam, eh? Hmmm...
There's a Drunken Master 2??
I didn't know... but now I'm gonna see it one way or another!
There's TONS to do. Just as spammers devise ever-more-devious ways of sneaking around your filters, you must also devise ways to stop them. It is war. A war which (time and money aside) I will win.
Same with crackers.
As far as the general 'system' goes, you can't just plop a system on the Net and leave it to happily grind away. You MUST keep patched and watch your back, otherwise you're owned. Hell, you can't even bring a system online INSIDE you're LAN and expect to just let it sit there. You got one laptop user? Then you better be on top of your systems, and their workstation. Same for routers, switches, firewalls, etc. Systems Admin is not for the lazy. That's a myth.
HA! Yeah, in a way, I guess so! :)
Well, I'll give you my own numbers.
73% of all the mail hitting my servers during the last week were either rejected via RBL, via access.db, or via SA. For the mail that was actually allowed to be delivered, 48% was tagged as SPAM -- meaning it met SA criteria for the thresholds I have set to be SPAM.
In the last month I've spent ~30hrs (not all at once) dealing with spam and spam-related tasks such as user Q&A, dealing with false-positives, dealing with false-negatives, RBL related, server maintenence and patching, etc. That's almost 4 working days.
Do I feel it's 'worth it'? YES. It's necessary at any rate. I'd rather cull out the crap or block it entirely, and my users are much happier, my backup jobs are quicker, and my servers are healthier for it. Do I enjoy it? NO! Are there other things I could do or that my employer would like done? YES!
I know you know this, and no it's not always a huge time-sink, but when it is it's a big one.
What's going to happen when genetically modified cats, dogs, birds, fruit bats, orangutans, ad naseum, become the new trend?
We'll have some fun for a change?
I hope spamcop.net doesn't go down the tubes. They are only one of 5 that my mail servers use, but have been one of the more reliable RBLs around.
But what if they become unreliable disreputable? What are some other reliable blacklists to talk to? Especially now that SORBS has instituted a fine to be removed.