Sorry, but I think MSFT has a very long way to go before their "ship goes turtle". $50 Billion USD can buy an awful lot of "pontoon outriggers", in the form of (1) USA software patents, (2) DCMA, (3) buying their way into EU software patents, and (4) SCO-like attacks against F/OSS.
Unless, of course, there is a "sea change" in American politics, and an honest-to-goodness populist regime comes to power (Executive Branch AND Legislative Branch). Given the current SITREP, those are some very long odds to hope for.
Ooohh! (temporarily removing tinfoil hat to put on the beefier 3.0 mil copper skullcap w/ground)
And what makes you think that the great bargain that MSFT got from the Ashcroft DoJ didn't already have secret provisions for a law enforcement back- door into their OS(es)? When the regime changed hands in 2001, MSFT got off with a slap on the wrist that they practically wrote themselves. And when the DHS was formed, MSFT was rewarded with a huge contract with DHS (in spite of warnings from independent security experts to the contrary).
The appointment of the Gator CPO to their (DHS) security commission merely underlines the melding of government and corporate America into the same mindset - spy on everyone, colate data, and share all datasets between government and industry. CARNIVORE has (reportedly) gone away, replaced
with COTS software (from where?). Dubya and the "neo-cons" in Congress have repeatedly supported large corporate interests over "free enterprise", as well as the greater public good. The United States Supreme Court basically overturned the USA's democratic (by/of/for the people) republic in 2000 in favor of corporate interests - its called Corporate National Socialism (by/of the corporation, for the people).
A new revolution at the voting booth (presuming they're not all Diebold electronic voting machines by the time the people wake up to the
danger), is the only way to turn this "ship of
state" back on course.
But I'm not particularly hopeful.
Meehh! (adjusts anti-DHS 3 mil copper skullcap to fit the original tinfoil hat on top...)
So, Dubya's "Great March To Mars" has finally been exposed. As a source of new/very old bugs for the next generation of WMD. Anybody else not see this coming?
(And I only thought that Dubya just needed more
room than Camp X-Ray, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
could provide... maybe I was wrong after all.)
I think I'll just wait until the dual core Opteron is available as an option. The only thing better than a 4x 64-bit processor setup in a 3U chassis is a 8x setup (unless you're paying Oracle's per processor tax).
Grants? I have it on good authority that the US government is not interested in subsidizing the energy industry (ha.ha.ha). The problem that the government has is with subsidizing competition to the big oil/energy companies.
Start-up companies do not, as a rule, have big bucks to spend on re-election campaigns, lavish "fact-finding" conferences, and the like. Don't expect to get much traction on this issue with your congresscritters.
Wait, dammit! Now I'm confused. A "monopoly of one" (AT&T aka Ma Bell) was broken up in order for there to be competition in the marketplace, and to help foster innovation. In what way is a group of "big" regional communications companies that band together to protect their "God-given" rights to their "protected" marketplace NOT A MONOPOLY?
If these legislative initiatives to protect market share are allowed to proceed unchallenged, what is to stop the next "brick in the wall" like regional power companies banding together to eliminate their "power company cooperative" competition?
The big players are using big government to force out any possible municipal "cooperative" competition, in spite of the fact that many of these local entities have been ignored and bypassed in the reach of the monied interests for regions that offer the best financial return.
Sure sounds like a return to the Roaring 1890's style old fashioned MONOPOLY to me. Or is this the the dawn of the Dubya age of Corporate National Socialism, where voters are pee-ons and corporations run the government?
Trust is a terrible thing to waste. RedHat cannot be trusted to continue support of their (largely orphaned) client OS. Because of that lack of trust, I have abandoned any thought of using their server (RHEL) product, also. When the wool was pulled off from my eyes, other linux distributions that can be used as both client & server, and can use a generic kernel, stated to make more sense. Given the improved stability, why go back?
While RedHat has been focused on their RHEL products, to the detriment of their (formerly loyal desktop user base), time has marched on. The RH/Fedora releases have been (shall we say?) problematic, with buggy installations and limited upgrade paths (excepting full installs). I no longer use any RedHat desktop OS. There are other linux desktop distributions to compete with RedHat, and their absence from this market has left the door wide open for the competition. One of the things that bothers me about RedHat's marketing "prowness" is just when will they pull the support out from under their current desktop users?
My problem with RedHat's desktop support got me to looking at other linux distributions, including server distributions. And once the "trust threshhold" has been broken, alternative solutions become apparent. I know what the difference between a Microsoft client OS and a Microsoft server OS is - primarily Client Licenses. And I know what the difference between a SCO client OS and a SCO server OS is - limiting client access. The differentiation for linux is more vague - which services are installed, how the kernel and i/o are tweeked, etc. Any linux distribution that readily permits the installation of a generic kernel, eases installation of applications from source, and can install without the GUI becomes a fair replacement for that expensive RHEL license and support contract.
And for those who do need a support contract for their server and desktop needs, there is (thankfully) a viable alternative in Novell/SUSE. RedHat's marketing "gurus" have (IMHO) shot themselves in the foot.
Mode parent post up. Hydrogen is a scam, at least as an "alternative" to fossil fuels. Generating hydrogen from electrolysis is also a scam, even given the DoE's early claim that nuclear energy "will be too cheap to meter". The problem with hydrogen is its storage costs - to be effective, it must be liquified. Refrigeration necessary to liquify hydrogen is not (and will never be) inexpensive. Any government mandated push to a hydrogen "economy" will benefit the multinational energy companies and the major players in the automotive field - the cost of entry will be too high for innovative "bit players". This is also the reason why PV (photovoltaics) are still priced so high - the very last thing that the energy companies and power companies want to see is an independent and self-sufficient customer.
The real improvements in transportation will come with the widespread adoption of "renewable" fuels, as opposed to the fossil fuels we now use. Use of natural gas as the source for hydrogen makes as much geopolitical and economic sense as Icarus' waxed wings for flight. Plant-based ethanol and biodiesel are true renewable sources, and should be the focus of future transportation development. In conjunction with photovoltaics, this is the answer to fossil fuel use. It is not the answer that the Bush administration, or the multinational energy companies are inclined to push. Too bad.
One thing about the neo-cons, multinational corporations, and megopolists that run this country - they don't want the government to interfere with their "business plans", but are damn quick to seek a government handout in the form of tax credits, specially created tax loopholes, or outright grants & subsidies to their businesses.
The telecos have been quick to complain about local government (Philadelphia comes to mind here) competeing with their "markets", but have not been willing to spend their money to provide the level of services requested by those same localities. Since the breakup of "Ma Bell", the regional "Baby Bells" have been under more relaxed Federal regulations, as well as some level of regulation by the states. The state regulatory boards have not been doing a very good job of making certain that the regional telcos have been providing a uniform level of service to their citizens. OTOH, most counties have enough regulatory power over the cable companies by granting temporary county monopolies that DTV and broadband Internet access has flourished. A temporary grant of monopoly status along with specific goals and guidelines for improved digital service seems to work well with the cable companies.
That being said, Dubya and his neo-cons, as well as the WTO and World Bank, have used other countries debt service as a means of forcing the opening of their public utilities to foreign/multinational corporate competition. The provision of clean potable water has become a new "profit center" for the World Bank's corporate allies. Invariably, the quality of service has gone down, municipal workers layed off, and the price of clean water has gone through the roof. Some services, such as potable water, should be deemed too important a "human right" to turn over to a foreign multinational corporation for profit.
A terrorist bent upon building a dirty bomb does not have to raid a military installation or a nuclear plant to obtain what he/she needs. Any radioactive source that can be powdered, to be dispersed by conventional high explosives would do.
Russia lost track of most of its Cesium-60 seed sterilizers, and there were upwards of 1000 of those built. Radioactive cores are frequently used in industry, for such things as radiological inspection of pipelines. An American oil company operating in Nigeria reported numerous radioactive cores stolen from their inventory. Even hospitals engaged in radiological cancer therapy have enough radioactive material to become targets of theft by terrorists.
So, the odds are far greater that the USA will be stricken by dirty bombs than by a rogue nuclear bomb (presuming negotiations with North Korea & Iran don't go completely tits-up). The material is also far easier to smuggle into the USA through our porous borders, as well. Depending upon the exact radioactive materials used, the effects (increased cancer deaths plus denial of access) might last for several months to several millenia.
information slipped out about a confidential real estate conference in Crawford, TX, concerning the opportunities for land barons and real estate developers in Texas after Pu-238 dirty bombs have been exploded over Washington, DC.
The 20,000 year half-life of Pu-238 was proffered as an excuse to move the Federal government's vast bureaucracy to Texas. An unnamed source was quoted as stating "Nobody will ever associate the Bush administration's meager efforts to improve the USA's border, seaport, and air cargo security with our land development plans."
The repeated statements made by Bush admin- istration officials that "It is not a matter of IF new terrorist attacks occur on USA soil, it is only a matter of WHEN" were never taken by the press as a policy goal, but merely as a pre- conceived excuse for the Federal government's failure to prevent such an attack. The same unnamed source was quoted as saying "The buck doesn't stop in the White House; it stops right in our private offshore bank accounts."
When the newest and largest government organization doesn't perform "Due Diligence", and adopts Microsoft OSes and Apps wholesale, it doesn't bode well for their "Mission Statement". The Department of Homeland Security inked a multi-year multi-billion USD contract with Microsoft for their OSes and Apps, in spite of warnings from independent IT security experts.
"Dubya" has embraced policies that are contrary to his stated "war on terror" (such as border & seaport security understaffing and underfunding), and the DHS has embraced Microsoft as their "IT" solution by choice. That's enough "irony" to build another Golden Gate Bridge.
The "corporate" interests in the USA has brought us NAFTA, WTO, DMCA, the DoJ enforcing civil crimes for the **AA as "conspiracy", re-import- ation of USA pharacuticals illegal, "Tort Reform" that favors business interests over individuals acting collectively, and "software" patents. The USA is now a democracy in name only - a more apt description is "Corporate National Socialism". A government by, of, and for the corporations.
The EU (IMHO) is working as quickly as it can to put a European "face" on their brand of the same type of government, so as not to be disadvantaged in the coming global trade war(s) over "software" patents. It still works out to the same thing - "Corporate National Socialism". The EU faces the same threat from the same (and other) corporate interests, with all the money to buy influence (and the jobs to hold hostage) that the USA has been extorted with.
The EU Ministers would do well to note recent USA history, and rebel against the monopolistic corporate interests. Any deal the EU intends to make regarding the retention of jobs will be short-lived. Once their stranglehold on the EU economy is assured, the jobs will (like water) still flow into the lowest cost labor markets.
Software can in no way be compared to physical patents - algorithyms define mathematical (okay, Boolean) constants. Little software has been written in the last 40 years that didn't rely upon some prior art - software evolves. The corporations that are fighting so hard for S/W patents are treating it as "immaculate conception".
The fight boils down to (as in the USA) a conflict between "creationism" and "evolution". With Bush in power, the "creationists" and his corporate sponsers are winning/have won the contest,
regardless of its illogical basis.
Congress just passed a corporate "get out of jail, free" bill called "Tort Reform". This law illegally (IMHO) strips the rights of state courts to pursue class action lawsuits against corporations. Short of really getting "Dubya&Co" pissed off, Microsoft will not see any further anti-monopoly actions from the DoJ.
I suspect that challenges to the "Tort Reform Act" will quickly make their way up to the US Supreme Court. And get trashed, just like so many other of "Dubya's" attempts to short-cicuit the Bill of Rights.
I see this action on MSFT's part as just one more brick in the wall that SteveB and BillG will be stood against (rhetorically speaking). MSFT does everything BIG, so I expect the next series of class action lawsuits against them to total in the 10's of Billions USD.
I do so hope that Massachussetts government is closely watching MSFT's actions these days, and gives them the (well-deserved) boot...
is the best route to go to track children. The RFID ID card system is just too easy to circumvent - like one child holding several cards while his/her chums cut classes. This is done with family pets, and with race horses, so why not do the same with children?
Also, this would make it far easier to determine which juvenile delinquents have been "tagging" highway signs in the middle of the night, or boosting an auto for a joy ride. I like it!
Actually, next week's news has already been cancelled. Due to circumstances (beyond?) MSFT's control, the US Congress has passed a tort reform bill that effectively strangles all class action lawsuits that the Feds don't approve. The class action lawsuit against MSFT for their buggy vulnerable OSes and Apps (to the tune of Billions of US Dollars) has been averted.
Oh, and thank you MSFT for finally providing (some?) countermeasures for your buggy vulnerable OSes and Apps (so there, parent post)...
I don't want to pick "nits" with this parent, but that is "Sarbanes-Oxley" and NOT "Banes-Oxley".
BTW: Both corporations AND government (as currently practiced in the USA) would benefit from tightening access to internal electronic documentation (such as emails). Do not expect a level playing field for the average citizen when it comes to electronic evidence, however. Illegal P2P downloads will continue to be considered just short of "terrorism" in the eyes of government. Since government benefits from the wrongdoing of their corporate sponsers, and illegal P2P downloads threaten their sponsers' revenue streams, the government can easily draw the conclusion that such illegal activity threatens government as well.
Slightly OT, but the recent push to move class action lawsuits into the exclusive venue of the Federal court system will not benefit the average citizen one bit -- this is yet another example of the Federal government (and our elected "representatives" there) accommidating their true constituents -- the fat-cats and the corporations that provide the lion's share of their bribes and campaign contributions.
The good old USA has stopped being a government of, by, and for the people for a long time -- the process has just not been as rapid nor as obnoxiously apparent before the "Dubya" regime came to power. America's democracy has morphed into "Corporate National Socialism", and the rights of the average citizen have been usurped. Citizens today only have those rights that the corporations deem necessary to "their" survival.
Correction to parent post: "NSA did not have jurisdiction to spy on USA
citizens on USA soil."
That is why the ECHELON project was started. The British spy on USA citizens, the USA spys on Canadian citizens, the Canadians spy on the Australian citizens, and the Australians spy on the British citizens (or some other variation thereof). That way, no one country can be charged directly with spying on its own citizens,
but all the information goes into the black bag.
Today, however, the USA has the USA Patriot Act, so the government can do what it damn well wants, when it wants, and how it wants. This is also why the Intelligence Reform law places more (and new) powers for domestic surveillance in the hands of the Department of Defense (rather than the FBI). Because Dubya?Co can get away with it, and because that is the way "Rummy" likes it.
Besides, both the CIA and the NSA have been using a portion of their undisclosed funding to buy up US shell companies as fronts for aggregating their domestic footprint. CEOs are ex-military, ex-intelligence, or ex-government types who have regularly crossed the "Chinese Wall" between government and commercial ventures. This is part of what President Dwight Eisenhower warned the public about 45 years ago regarding the military-industrial complex.
If you don't like it, try teleporting into one of the other dimensions, because that is the way it is, and even your vote will not get you any reprieve from this reality.
because either (1) MSFT gets its way and the EC approves software patents (and then MSFT does the layoffs in 18 - 24 months), or (2) MSFT doesn't get software patents in the EC (and then KMSFT retaliates with immediate layoffs.)
The Danish government is in a position more commonly called a "Hobson's Choice". And they are essentially screwed either way. There is, however, a third choice: (3) tell MSFT to get stuffed regarding software patents, and then fine MSFT another $500 Million USD for illegal and immoral monopolistic practices. Seems that with the third option, MSFT still has the Danes over a barrel with their pants down around their ankles, but they would at least get some compensation out of the deal.
"The ISP industry has become a realy, really dirty one, and needs cleaning up."
You can say that again. It shouldn't matter whether a dial-up ISP is a "low price leader" or not, they should be made legally responsible for any/all breech of contract. For a time, I used "Copper.net" as my ISP. Big mistake. They claim in their published ToS that they limit connect time to 5 hours. They will not acknowledge any change in their ToS via email, only by voice after getting bumped up to a CS manager (leaving no legal proof behind). Their CHAP/DHCP/DNS servers are frequently swamped, largely because of over-subscription and inadequate infrastructure. Email (when using BCC to check) often took 4 or more hours to process through their POP servers. The final straw for me was when I found out that exceeding their 200 hr/month limit more than once constituted "user abuse", with a prepaid annual contract abruptly cancelled after 4 months. These assholes are real stinkers...
No doubt this is the PRC's way of limiting the number of dissidents it will have to arrest. You can't expect their government to build hundreds of new prisons without having new labor contracts already signed by Western corporations. The PRC government does have rudimentary knowledge about supply and demand, and staying in the "sweet spot" for labor costs.
I know this because George Dubya (&Co.) has told me so. And I have it on good authority that he gets his info directly from THE MAN.
Anyway, what is the problem with NASA? Aren't they supposed to present a unified front of THE party line, like the rest of the Executive Branch? Do they really want to jeopardise their funding (or risk another SST being used for target practice by US Space Command)?
Come on, NASA! Toe that line! Tote that bale! Get onboard the Bush BS bandwagon, or you'll get "Bush-whacked"!
committed to a multi-billion dollar contract with Microsoft for their OS and Apps needs, in spite of warnings from IT security experts. (Considering short-sheeting INS & BP from needed
funds, lame border & seaport security, etcetera, doesn't this make Department of Homeland Security an oxymoron?)
I believe that the CIA also uses MSFT products extensively, but also uses Sun servers. The NSA doesn't advertise just what they spend their funds on, so just how deeply entrenched MSFT is there is unknown, but they have made significant contributions to GNU/Linux security.
It would be nice to believe that Los Angeles will actually switch to F/OSS OpenOffice, but the cynic within keeps saying "negotiating ploy".
Slashdot Mirror
Sorry, but I think MSFT has a very long way to go
before their "ship goes turtle". $50 Billion USD
can buy an awful lot of "pontoon outriggers", in
the form of (1) USA software patents, (2) DCMA,
(3) buying their way into EU software patents,
and (4) SCO-like attacks against F/OSS.
Unless, of course, there is a "sea change" in
American politics, and an honest-to-goodness
populist regime comes to power (Executive Branch
AND Legislative Branch). Given the current SITREP,
those are some very long odds to hope for.
Ooohh! (temporarily removing tinfoil hat to put
on the beefier 3.0 mil copper skullcap w/ground)
And what makes you think that the great bargain
that MSFT got from the Ashcroft DoJ didn't already
have secret provisions for a law enforcement back-
door into their OS(es)? When the regime changed
hands in 2001, MSFT got off with a slap on the
wrist that they practically wrote themselves. And
when the DHS was formed, MSFT was rewarded with
a huge contract with DHS (in spite of warnings
from independent security experts to the contrary).
The appointment of the Gator CPO to their (DHS)
security commission merely underlines the melding
of government and corporate America into the same
mindset - spy on everyone, colate data, and share
all datasets between government and industry.
CARNIVORE has (reportedly) gone away, replaced
with COTS software (from where?). Dubya and the
"neo-cons" in Congress have repeatedly supported
large corporate interests over "free enterprise",
as well as the greater public good. The United
States Supreme Court basically overturned the
USA's democratic (by/of/for the people) republic
in 2000 in favor of corporate interests - its
called Corporate National Socialism (by/of the
corporation, for the people).
A new revolution at the voting booth (presuming
they're not all Diebold electronic voting
machines by the time the people wake up to the
danger), is the only way to turn this "ship of
state" back on course.
But I'm not particularly hopeful.
Meehh! (adjusts anti-DHS 3 mil copper skullcap
to fit the original tinfoil hat on top...)
So, Dubya's "Great March To Mars" has finally
been exposed. As a source of new/very old
bugs for the next generation of WMD. Anybody
else not see this coming?
(And I only thought that Dubya just needed more
room than Camp X-Ray, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
could provide... maybe I was wrong after all.)
Yawn!
I think I'll just wait until the dual core
Opteron is available as an option. The only
thing better than a 4x 64-bit processor setup
in a 3U chassis is a 8x setup (unless you're
paying Oracle's per processor tax).
Grants? I have it on good authority that the
US government is not interested in subsidizing
the energy industry (ha.ha.ha). The problem
that the government has is with subsidizing
competition to the big oil/energy companies.
Start-up companies do not, as a rule, have big
bucks to spend on re-election campaigns, lavish
"fact-finding" conferences, and the like. Don't
expect to get much traction on this issue with
your congresscritters.
Wait, dammit! Now I'm confused. A "monopoly of one" (AT&T aka Ma Bell) was broken up in order for there to be competition in the marketplace, and to help foster innovation. In what way is a group of "big" regional communications companies that band together to protect their "God-given" rights to their "protected" marketplace NOT A MONOPOLY?
If these legislative initiatives to protect market share are allowed to proceed unchallenged, what is to stop the next "brick in the wall" like regional power companies banding together to eliminate their "power company cooperative" competition?
The big players are using big government to force out any possible municipal "cooperative" competition, in spite of the fact that many of these local entities have been ignored and bypassed in the reach of the monied interests for regions that offer the best financial return.
Sure sounds like a return to the Roaring 1890's style old fashioned MONOPOLY to me. Or is this the the dawn of the Dubya age of Corporate National Socialism, where voters are pee-ons and corporations run the government?
Oh, wait... Doh!
Trust is a terrible thing to waste. RedHat cannot
be trusted to continue support of their (largely
orphaned) client OS. Because of that lack of
trust, I have abandoned any thought of using their
server (RHEL) product, also. When the wool was
pulled off from my eyes, other linux distributions
that can be used as both client & server, and can
use a generic kernel, stated to make more sense.
Given the improved stability, why go back?
Amen!
While RedHat has been focused on their RHEL products, to the detriment of their (formerly loyal desktop user base), time has marched on. The RH/Fedora releases have been (shall we say?)
problematic, with buggy installations and limited upgrade paths (excepting full installs). I no
longer use any RedHat desktop OS. There are other linux desktop distributions to compete with RedHat, and their absence from this market has left the door wide open for the competition. One of the things that bothers me about RedHat's marketing "prowness" is just when will they pull the support out from under their current desktop users?
My problem with RedHat's desktop support got me to looking at other linux distributions, including server distributions. And once the "trust threshhold" has been broken, alternative solutions become apparent. I know what the difference between a Microsoft client OS and a Microsoft server OS is - primarily Client Licenses. And I know what the difference between a SCO client OS and a SCO server OS is - limiting client access.
The differentiation for linux is more vague - which services are installed, how the kernel and i/o are tweeked, etc. Any linux distribution that readily permits the installation of a generic kernel, eases installation of applications from source, and can install without the GUI becomes a fair replacement for that expensive RHEL license and support contract.
And for those who do need a support contract for
their server and desktop needs, there is (thankfully) a viable alternative in Novell/SUSE.
RedHat's marketing "gurus" have (IMHO) shot themselves in the foot.
Mode parent post up. Hydrogen is a scam, at least
as an "alternative" to fossil fuels. Generating
hydrogen from electrolysis is also a scam, even
given the DoE's early claim that nuclear energy
"will be too cheap to meter". The problem with
hydrogen is its storage costs - to be effective,
it must be liquified. Refrigeration necessary
to liquify hydrogen is not (and will never be)
inexpensive. Any government mandated push to a
hydrogen "economy" will benefit the multinational
energy companies and the major players in the
automotive field - the cost of entry will be too
high for innovative "bit players". This is also
the reason why PV (photovoltaics) are still priced
so high - the very last thing that the energy
companies and power companies want to see is an
independent and self-sufficient customer.
The real improvements in transportation will come
with the widespread adoption of "renewable" fuels,
as opposed to the fossil fuels we now use. Use of
natural gas as the source for hydrogen makes as
much geopolitical and economic sense as Icarus'
waxed wings for flight. Plant-based ethanol and
biodiesel are true renewable sources, and should
be the focus of future transportation development.
In conjunction with photovoltaics, this is the
answer to fossil fuel use. It is not the answer
that the Bush administration, or the multinational
energy companies are inclined to push. Too bad.
I guess I'll have to send all my friends an
eBook on CDROM for use as a "one time" pad.
Clearly, SHA-1 is broken. And given the low
cost of clustered computing power, SHA-256
can't be too far behind.
One thing about the neo-cons, multinational corporations, and megopolists that run this country - they don't want the government to interfere with their "business plans", but are damn quick to seek a government handout in the form of tax credits, specially created tax loopholes, or outright grants & subsidies to their
businesses.
The telecos have been quick to complain about local government (Philadelphia comes to mind here) competeing with their "markets", but have not been willing to spend their money to provide the level of services requested by those same localities. Since the breakup of "Ma Bell", the regional "Baby Bells" have been under more relaxed Federal regulations, as well as some level of regulation by the states. The state regulatory boards have not been doing a very good job of making certain that the regional telcos have been providing a uniform level of service to their citizens. OTOH, most counties have enough regulatory power over the cable companies by granting temporary county monopolies that DTV and broadband Internet access has flourished. A temporary grant of monopoly status along with specific goals and guidelines for improved digital service seems to work well with the cable companies.
That being said, Dubya and his neo-cons, as well as the WTO and World Bank, have used other countries debt service as a means of forcing the
opening of their public utilities to foreign/multinational corporate competition. The provision of clean potable water has become a new "profit center" for the World Bank's corporate allies. Invariably, the quality of service has gone down, municipal workers layed off, and the
price of clean water has gone through the roof.
Some services, such as potable water, should be deemed too important a "human right" to turn over to a foreign multinational corporation for profit.
Exactly so.
A terrorist bent upon building a dirty bomb does
not have to raid a military installation or a
nuclear plant to obtain what he/she needs. Any
radioactive source that can be powdered, to be
dispersed by conventional high explosives would
do.
Russia lost track of most of its Cesium-60 seed
sterilizers, and there were upwards of 1000 of
those built. Radioactive cores are frequently
used in industry, for such things as radiological
inspection of pipelines. An American oil company
operating in Nigeria reported numerous radioactive
cores stolen from their inventory. Even hospitals
engaged in radiological cancer therapy have enough
radioactive material to become targets of theft
by terrorists.
So, the odds are far greater that the USA will be
stricken by dirty bombs than by a rogue nuclear
bomb (presuming negotiations with North Korea &
Iran don't go completely tits-up). The material
is also far easier to smuggle into the USA through
our porous borders, as well. Depending upon the
exact radioactive materials used, the effects
(increased cancer deaths plus denial of access)
might last for several months to several millenia.
information slipped out about a confidential
real estate conference in Crawford, TX, concerning
the opportunities for land barons and real estate
developers in Texas after Pu-238 dirty bombs have
been exploded over Washington, DC.
The 20,000 year half-life of Pu-238 was proffered
as an excuse to move the Federal government's vast
bureaucracy to Texas. An unnamed source was quoted
as stating "Nobody will ever associate the Bush
administration's meager efforts to improve the
USA's border, seaport, and air cargo security
with our land development plans."
The repeated statements made by Bush admin-
istration officials that "It is not a matter of
IF new terrorist attacks occur on USA soil, it
is only a matter of WHEN" were never taken by
the press as a policy goal, but merely as a pre-
conceived excuse for the Federal government's
failure to prevent such an attack. The same
unnamed source was quoted as saying "The buck
doesn't stop in the White House; it stops right
in our private offshore bank accounts."
When the newest and largest government organization doesn't perform "Due Diligence", and adopts Microsoft OSes and Apps wholesale, it doesn't bode well for their "Mission Statement".
The Department of Homeland Security inked a multi-year multi-billion USD contract with Microsoft for their OSes and Apps, in spite of warnings from independent IT security experts.
"Dubya" has embraced policies that are contrary to his stated "war on terror" (such as border & seaport security understaffing and underfunding), and the DHS has embraced Microsoft as their "IT" solution by choice. That's enough "irony" to build another Golden Gate Bridge.
Exactly so! Mod parent up!
The "corporate" interests in the USA has brought
us NAFTA, WTO, DMCA, the DoJ enforcing civil
crimes for the **AA as "conspiracy", re-import-
ation of USA pharacuticals illegal, "Tort Reform"
that favors business interests over individuals
acting collectively, and "software" patents. The
USA is now a democracy in name only - a more apt
description is "Corporate National Socialism". A
government by, of, and for the corporations.
The EU (IMHO) is working as quickly as it can to
put a European "face" on their brand of the same
type of government, so as not to be disadvantaged
in the coming global trade war(s) over "software"
patents. It still works out to the same thing -
"Corporate National Socialism". The EU faces the
same threat from the same (and other) corporate
interests, with all the money to buy influence
(and the jobs to hold hostage) that the USA has
been extorted with.
The EU Ministers would do well to note recent
USA history, and rebel against the monopolistic
corporate interests. Any deal the EU intends to
make regarding the retention of jobs will be
short-lived. Once their stranglehold on the EU
economy is assured, the jobs will (like water)
still flow into the lowest cost labor markets.
Software can in no way be compared to physical
patents - algorithyms define mathematical (okay,
Boolean) constants. Little software has been
written in the last 40 years that didn't rely
upon some prior art - software evolves. The
corporations that are fighting so hard for S/W
patents are treating it as "immaculate conception".
The fight boils down to (as in the USA) a conflict
between "creationism" and "evolution". With Bush
in power, the "creationists" and his corporate
sponsers are winning/have won the contest,
regardless of its illogical basis.
NOT!
Congress just passed a corporate "get out of
jail, free" bill called "Tort Reform". This
law illegally (IMHO) strips the rights of state
courts to pursue class action lawsuits against
corporations. Short of really getting "Dubya&Co"
pissed off, Microsoft will not see any further
anti-monopoly actions from the DoJ.
I suspect that challenges to the "Tort Reform Act"
will quickly make their way up to the US Supreme
Court. And get trashed, just like so many other
of "Dubya's" attempts to short-cicuit the Bill of
Rights.
I see this action on MSFT's part as just one more
brick in the wall that SteveB and BillG will be
stood against (rhetorically speaking). MSFT does
everything BIG, so I expect the next series of
class action lawsuits against them to total in
the 10's of Billions USD.
I do so hope that Massachussetts government is
closely watching MSFT's actions these days, and
gives them the (well-deserved) boot...
is the best route to go to track children. The RFID ID card system is just too easy to circumvent - like one child holding several cards while his/her chums cut classes. This is done with family pets, and with race horses, so why not do the same with children?
Also, this would make it far easier to determine which juvenile delinquents have been "tagging" highway signs in the middle of the night, or boosting an auto for a joy ride. I like it!
Actually, next week's news has already been cancelled. Due to circumstances (beyond?) MSFT's control, the US Congress has passed a tort reform bill that effectively strangles all class action lawsuits that the Feds don't approve. The class action lawsuit against MSFT for their buggy vulnerable OSes and Apps (to the tune of Billions of US Dollars) has been averted.
Oh, and thank you MSFT for finally providing (some?) countermeasures for your buggy vulnerable OSes and Apps (so there, parent post)...
I don't want to pick "nits" with this parent, but that is "Sarbanes-Oxley" and NOT "Banes-Oxley".
BTW: Both corporations AND government (as currently practiced in the USA) would benefit from tightening access to internal electronic documentation (such as emails). Do not expect a level playing field for the average citizen when it comes to electronic evidence, however. Illegal P2P downloads will continue to be considered just short of "terrorism" in the eyes of government.
Since government benefits from the wrongdoing of their corporate sponsers, and illegal P2P downloads threaten their sponsers' revenue streams, the government can easily draw the conclusion that such illegal activity threatens government as well.
Slightly OT, but the recent push to move class action lawsuits into the exclusive venue of the Federal court system will not benefit the average citizen one bit -- this is yet another example of the Federal government (and our elected "representatives" there) accommidating their true constituents -- the fat-cats and the corporations that provide the lion's share of their bribes and campaign contributions.
The good old USA has stopped being a government of, by, and for the people for a long time -- the process has just not been as rapid nor as obnoxiously apparent before the "Dubya" regime came to power. America's democracy has morphed into "Corporate National Socialism", and the rights of the average citizen have been usurped. Citizens today only have those rights that the corporations deem necessary to "their" survival.
Correction to parent post:
"NSA did not have jurisdiction to spy on USA
citizens on USA soil."
That is why the ECHELON project was started.
The British spy on USA citizens, the USA spys
on Canadian citizens, the Canadians spy on the
Australian citizens, and the Australians spy on
the British citizens (or some other variation
thereof). That way, no one country can be
charged directly with spying on its own citizens,
but all the information goes into the black bag.
Today, however, the USA has the USA Patriot Act,
so the government can do what it damn well wants,
when it wants, and how it wants. This is also
why the Intelligence Reform law places more (and
new) powers for domestic surveillance in the
hands of the Department of Defense (rather than
the FBI). Because Dubya?Co can get away with it,
and because that is the way "Rummy" likes it.
Besides, both the CIA and the NSA have been using
a portion of their undisclosed funding to buy up
US shell companies as fronts for aggregating
their domestic footprint. CEOs are ex-military,
ex-intelligence, or ex-government types who have
regularly crossed the "Chinese Wall" between
government and commercial ventures. This is
part of what President Dwight Eisenhower warned
the public about 45 years ago regarding the
military-industrial complex.
If you don't like it, try teleporting into one
of the other dimensions, because that is the way
it is, and even your vote will not get you any
reprieve from this reality.
because either (1) MSFT gets its way and the EC
approves software patents (and then MSFT does
the layoffs in 18 - 24 months), or (2) MSFT
doesn't get software patents in the EC (and then
KMSFT retaliates with immediate layoffs.)
The Danish government is in a position more
commonly called a "Hobson's Choice". And they
are essentially screwed either way. There is,
however, a third choice: (3) tell MSFT to get
stuffed regarding software patents, and then
fine MSFT another $500 Million USD for illegal
and immoral monopolistic practices. Seems that
with the third option, MSFT still has the Danes
over a barrel with their pants down around their
ankles, but they would at least get some
compensation out of the deal.
"The ISP industry has become a realy, really dirty one, and needs cleaning up."
You can say that again. It shouldn't matter whether a dial-up ISP is a "low price leader" or not, they should be made legally responsible for any/all breech of contract. For a time, I used "Copper.net" as my ISP. Big mistake. They claim in their published ToS that they limit connect time to 5 hours. They will not acknowledge any change in their ToS via email, only by voice after getting bumped up to a CS manager (leaving no legal proof behind). Their CHAP/DHCP/DNS servers are frequently swamped, largely because of over-subscription and inadequate infrastructure. Email (when using BCC to check) often took 4 or more hours to process through their POP servers. The final straw for me was when I found out that exceeding their 200 hr/month limit more than once constituted "user abuse", with a prepaid annual contract abruptly cancelled after 4 months. These
assholes are real stinkers...
No doubt this is the PRC's way of limiting
the number of dissidents it will have to
arrest. You can't expect their government to
build hundreds of new prisons without having
new labor contracts already signed by Western
corporations. The PRC government does have
rudimentary knowledge about supply and demand,
and staying in the "sweet spot" for labor costs.
I know this because George Dubya (&Co.) has
told me so. And I have it on good authority
that he gets his info directly from THE MAN.
Anyway, what is the problem with NASA? Aren't
they supposed to present a unified front of
THE party line, like the rest of the Executive
Branch? Do they really want to jeopardise their
funding (or risk another SST being used for
target practice by US Space Command)?
Come on, NASA! Toe that line! Tote that bale!
Get onboard the Bush BS bandwagon, or you'll
get "Bush-whacked"!
committed to a multi-billion dollar contract
with Microsoft for their OS and Apps needs,
in spite of warnings from IT security experts.
(Considering short-sheeting INS & BP from needed
funds, lame border & seaport security, etcetera,
doesn't this make Department of Homeland Security
an oxymoron?)
I believe that the CIA also uses MSFT products
extensively, but also uses Sun servers. The NSA
doesn't advertise just what they spend their
funds on, so just how deeply entrenched MSFT is
there is unknown, but they have made significant
contributions to GNU/Linux security.
It would be nice to believe that Los Angeles will
actually switch to F/OSS OpenOffice, but the
cynic within keeps saying "negotiating ploy".