Someone posted the opinion that $780,000 is just a slap on the wrist for a company as big as AT&T. Somehow, I doubt that AT&T will agree with that sentiment. IMHO, a fine of $10,000 per phone call is excessive. Perhaps the FCC has previously warned AT&T to honor DNC requests; the article fails to mention this fact & I couldn't be bothered to read the FCC's press release. If they've never even warned AT&T in the past, this is overkill. I'm not a big fan of AT&T, not for that matter the FCC... I'm just of the opinion that the punishment should fit the crime.
Unless the execs of AT&T have spent the last 6 months in a cave on Mars with their fingers in their ears, they were adequately warned.
Tell you what: go to someone's house, smash a window, and steal their television set in broad daylight, while they are home. When the cops come to get you, tell them that you think you deserve a warning first. If it works, please let me know.
I hope I'm not alone in thinking this
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TV's Tipping Point
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· Score: 1
but instead will resemble more of a kaleidoscope
Seriously, this has got to be in the top 10 of stupidest phrases ever to appear in a "news" article.
That's the trouble with protocols... once they're set good luck ever getting rid of them.
Yes, heaven forbid that existing programs affecting 80% of all Internet users (such as your ISP's spam-blocking software, which now lets 50X the spam through because it no longer filters out emails with invalid from/sender/return paths in the header) continue to work after one corporation decides it wants to change a protocol.
The $64,000 question is, can the domain not found response be modified at all without breaking the protocol? For instance, to have older programs recognize the error, but next generation programs (web browsers mainly) be able to return useful information like possible alternatives? This would allow for smarter, more functional programs without breaking legacy apps.
Yes. In fact, EVERYBODY who was using IE or Mozilla had this feature already on their systems, and it worked unless they explicitly turned off the feature.
I wonder how they will get around the legal issues
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Track a Soda Can with GPS?
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· Score: 5, Insightful
In general, in the US, it is illegal to have a sweepstakes-style contest that requires a purchase for entry (because it is technically gambling).
If you want to force companies to relocate to a state that doesn't charge sales taxes on internet purchases, this is the way to go! I hope that most of the states pass this, then all the companies will relocate to Oregon, where we have no sales tax, period.
Since sales taxes are a tax on the BUYER, the sales taxes are not collectable by the state that the company is in, but by the state that the buyer is in.
We don't really need lines carrying solar power from sunny areas to the rest of the world. There are plenty of environment-friendly ways to generate power; solar in the sunny areas, hydro-electric in areas with lots of waterfalls, etc, windmills in the plains...
Of course, because there are no areas in the world that do not have either sun, rivers suitable for hydroelectric power, lots of wind, or geothermal vents.
Unless Hormel starts marketing either email filters or bulk email software, I don't see how it's an issue. Trademarks only cover things withing a specific trade.
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. As someone else pointed out, famous trademarks, of which "SPAM"(r) is certainly one, are applicable universally (at least in the USA), which means that trademarks like "SPAM", "McDonalds", "KMart", etc., are protected across regions and across industry boundaries.
I think it's sufficient to cancel the scammer's account. Then they lose feedback. Subsequently, if you buy from the same scammer (who now has no feedback), then you assume a risk. Even that risk can be mitigated further by escrow.
Also, we should stop putting people convicted of other felonies in prison, and start putting them on probation instead. If you associate with a convicted felon on probation, then you assume a risk. God forbid we violate anyone's rights by actually incarcerating them.
Is there a compiler other than gcc that can compile a Linux kernel and all the supporting utilities and libraries? Including monsters like XFree86.
You can't really distribute binaries compiled with gcc and claim to have a gnu-free system. Legally, yes. Philosophically, no.
So, you're saying that when I compile a program on Windows using MS tools, that, philosophically speaking, Microsoft wrote my software? I don't think so!
Besides, there are plenty of C compilers out there that aren't gcc, I'm sure one of them is capable of compiling C code into binaries!
Product Activation was simply a way to fight piracy and honestly, the one to two minutes of my time it takes to activate something I bought doesn't bug me that much.
Yes, but the hours that it takes me to "activate" something that I "borrowed" from the office is a huge pain!
Bloated code isn't just the fault of the sales & marketing people, or the engineers (if you are looking from the POV of sales & marketing). The customers choose their products by comparing features that they will never use. Unless you have no competition, the bells & whistles are what sells, even though (or, maybe, especially because) the customers don't know how to use them, wouldn't know what to do with them if they ever did, and don't need to do it anyway.
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In general, in the US, it is illegal to have a sweepstakes-style contest that requires a purchase for entry (because it is technically gambling).
Besides, there are plenty of C compilers out there that aren't gcc, I'm sure one of them is capable of compiling C code into binaries!
Bloated code isn't just the fault of the sales & marketing people, or the engineers (if you are looking from the POV of sales & marketing). The customers choose their products by comparing features that they will never use. Unless you have no competition, the bells & whistles are what sells, even though (or, maybe, especially because) the customers don't know how to use them, wouldn't know what to do with them if they ever did, and don't need to do it anyway.