I'm not an avid user of TOR, but as I understand it, it can be used in the same situations as proxies. Although lately, it has not been working for most people, so they may have found a way to block TOR specifically.
There are at least a couple of methods to the GFW. One, which you mentioned, is the bi-directional RST packet method. This is typically reserved for the higher infractions, such as searching in google or yahoo for the religious group "Fa1unG 0ng" ( i can't actually spell it out, lest the RST packets disconnect me from slashdot for a while). Or sometimes, there will be something similar, like tÂbet (inverted exclamation used here for 'i' - ) in a web page - the page will load halfway, the GFW will see that and then the page will disappear with a "the connection was reset" (in firefox, of course). Different keywords are bad at different times for different people. Lack of reliable and clear No-No words keeps people unsure and reluctant to take chances, which is undoubtedly more effective than telling people exactly what they can't do. For the *most* part, domains are not blocked this way. There *are* some exceptions, like xanga.com, for whatever reason.
Second: Usually, IP blocks (or full-domain/subdomain blocks, which i think are just IP blocks) come in the form of a connection that times out, or firefox resulting in a "The server at sourceforge.net is taking too long to respond." (IE produces the same error for both the above mentioned situations). It is my belief that the method in one of the parent posts (null-route or something to that effect) is used for these type of blocks.
The reason, I guess, is that the first kind of block, where the server is sending out lots of RST packets, and has to *SCAN* the entire payload of each POST/GET, and its entire response, is very resource-heavy, and having to scan for too much stuff would be a lot more expensive than just Null-routing a bunch of IP addresses.
For the second kind of block, a proxy server works quite well (furthering my suspicion that it's actually just an IP block). For the first kind (RSTpacket kind), you need a secure connection like a VPN, or other terminal-type connection where plaintext is not so visible.
Agreed. Or at least have the cart do SOMETHING useful besides holding groceries, which all other carts can do. The increased annoyance of ads should be balanced with some feature which benefits the user, right?
I guess I just don't consider typing your whole list into the computer, uploading it to someone who's going to do god knows what with it, then getting to the store, swiping my card on special carts, and re-downloading the list... is easier than just writing the list on a sticky note and sticking it on the handlebar of a regular cart.
Perhaps, instead of just showing you ads based on your location, perhaps the cart could ALERT the user that they are near something which is on their list, so that they don't pass it by?
And if you are uploading your grocery list anyway, then it would make a lot of sense to just have the groceries prepared for you when you get there or something to that effect.
The concept of convenience in exchange for useful information (personal or otherwise) is not brand new. It REALLLLLLLY seems like MSFT would see that this trade-off makes people want to participate.
If it's going to happen somewhere, it's going to be in the places where the government is having trouble keeping up with what's going online. China is the perfect place. With all the "internet addiction" hospitals, it's clear that the powers that be aren't able to address/get their minds around what the citizens are doing online. Soon enough, a critical mass of people will have so much invested in what theyr'e doing in virtual worlds, that the gov't will have no choice but to adapt to the people... or just outlaw everything which they're having trouble controlling... (which honestly, is one of their typical approaches).
But with the rate of adoption of online currencies (due in great part to population of young, tech-savvy people), and the inability for the "Old Dudes" to fully comprehend the dynamics of the online world, will cause them to have to adapt to current situations, instead of just manhandling the status quo to what conform to they can comprehend.
The momentum of the current situation in China leave the youth with some serious leverage (by virtue of pure numbers, and their already-existing habits), just by doing their transactions, and actually gaining what they consider to benefit -- this (in my view from living in Shanghai for 4 years) will be a force that will behoove the gov't to adapt to accommodate, instead of just using the typical heavy-handed paths of legislation.
go, kids, go! play those games! invest your money in your online games! See what they think they can do to prevent you!
In some ways... it's just another one of the repeated peasant/working class uprisings, so periodic to China.
Even better is Yahoo Address Plus (only for subscribers). You choose a new moniker (which is necessarily different from your yahoo ID), and then add a dash-whatever after the new ID. This way, you don't have to expose your actual yahoo ID to spammers. A smart spammer could look at a gmail+ address and immediately remove the '+' and then you're back to square one. With the yahoo address plus, you can just delete the temporary address and not worry about it anymore.
I live in Shanghai. I have not seen one change, or raid, or disappearance of a pirated DVD distributor - Not the little, table-on-the-street guys, nor the established, fixed stores. No noticable difference whatsoever.
This means that EITHER 1) the number 537,000 is complete BS. OR 2) 537,000 is a TINY fraction of the total number.
On certain entertainment channels in Shanghai, China, during the day (not yet on primetime), they broadcast games of Warcraft III, and a couple of the most popular RPGs. You can watch the whole game, and they do a decent job of cutting to the "action", making it almost as interesting as sitting on a stool slightly behind and to the right of the player.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm not an avid user of TOR, but as I understand it, it can be used in the same situations as proxies. Although lately, it has not been working for most people, so they may have found a way to block TOR specifically.
Posting from Shanghai.
There are at least a couple of methods to the GFW. One, which you mentioned, is the bi-directional RST packet method. This is typically reserved for the higher infractions, such as searching in google or yahoo for the religious group "Fa1unG 0ng" ( i can't actually spell it out, lest the RST packets disconnect me from slashdot for a while). Or sometimes, there will be something similar, like tÂbet (inverted exclamation used here for 'i' - ) in a web page - the page will load halfway, the GFW will see that and then the page will disappear with a "the connection was reset" (in firefox, of course). Different keywords are bad at different times for different people. Lack of reliable and clear No-No words keeps people unsure and reluctant to take chances, which is undoubtedly more effective than telling people exactly what they can't do. For the *most* part, domains are not blocked this way. There *are* some exceptions, like xanga.com, for whatever reason.
Second: Usually, IP blocks (or full-domain/subdomain blocks, which i think are just IP blocks) come in the form of a connection that times out, or firefox resulting in a "The server at sourceforge.net is taking too long to respond." (IE produces the same error for both the above mentioned situations). It is my belief that the method in one of the parent posts (null-route or something to that effect) is used for these type of blocks.
The reason, I guess, is that the first kind of block, where the server is sending out lots of RST packets, and has to *SCAN* the entire payload of each POST/GET, and its entire response, is very resource-heavy, and having to scan for too much stuff would be a lot more expensive than just Null-routing a bunch of IP addresses.
For the second kind of block, a proxy server works quite well (furthering my suspicion that it's actually just an IP block). For the first kind (RSTpacket kind), you need a secure connection like a VPN, or other terminal-type connection where plaintext is not so visible.
Agreed. Or at least have the cart do SOMETHING useful besides holding groceries, which all other carts can do. The increased annoyance of ads should be balanced with some feature which benefits the user, right?
I guess I just don't consider typing your whole list into the computer, uploading it to someone who's going to do god knows what with it, then getting to the store, swiping my card on special carts, and re-downloading the list... is easier than just writing the list on a sticky note and sticking it on the handlebar of a regular cart.
Perhaps, instead of just showing you ads based on your location, perhaps the cart could ALERT the user that they are near something which is on their list, so that they don't pass it by?
And if you are uploading your grocery list anyway, then it would make a lot of sense to just have the groceries prepared for you when you get there or something to that effect.
The concept of convenience in exchange for useful information (personal or otherwise) is not brand new. It REALLLLLLLY seems like MSFT would see that this trade-off makes people want to participate.
If it's going to happen somewhere, it's going to be in the places where the government is having trouble keeping up with what's going online. China is the perfect place. With all the "internet addiction" hospitals, it's clear that the powers that be aren't able to address/get their minds around what the citizens are doing online. Soon enough, a critical mass of people will have so much invested in what theyr'e doing in virtual worlds, that the gov't will have no choice but to adapt to the people... or just outlaw everything which they're having trouble controlling... (which honestly, is one of their typical approaches).
But with the rate of adoption of online currencies (due in great part to population of young, tech-savvy people), and the inability for the "Old Dudes" to fully comprehend the dynamics of the online world, will cause them to have to adapt to current situations, instead of just manhandling the status quo to what conform to they can comprehend.
The momentum of the current situation in China leave the youth with some serious leverage (by virtue of pure numbers, and their already-existing habits), just by doing their transactions, and actually gaining what they consider to benefit -- this (in my view from living in Shanghai for 4 years) will be a force that will behoove the gov't to adapt to accommodate, instead of just using the typical heavy-handed paths of legislation.
go, kids, go! play those games! invest your money in your online games! See what they think they can do to prevent you!
In some ways... it's just another one of the repeated peasant/working class uprisings, so periodic to China.
Even better is Yahoo Address Plus (only for subscribers). You choose a new moniker (which is necessarily different from your yahoo ID), and then add a dash-whatever after the new ID. This way, you don't have to expose your actual yahoo ID to spammers. A smart spammer could look at a gmail+ address and immediately remove the '+' and then you're back to square one. With the yahoo address plus, you can just delete the temporary address and not worry about it anymore.
I live in Shanghai. I have not seen one change, or raid, or disappearance of a pirated DVD distributor - Not the little, table-on-the-street guys, nor the established, fixed stores. No noticable difference whatsoever.
This means that EITHER 1) the number 537,000 is complete BS. OR 2) 537,000 is a TINY fraction of the total number.
ouch.
On certain entertainment channels in Shanghai, China, during the day (not yet on primetime), they broadcast games of Warcraft III, and a couple of the most popular RPGs. You can watch the whole game, and they do a decent job of cutting to the "action", making it almost as interesting as sitting on a stool slightly behind and to the right of the player.