Ideas and expressions thereof are not property, and the term "intellectual property" is misleading.
Copyrights and patents are not rights at all but privileges granted by the state in order to "promote the useful arts and sciences", i.e. to get more stuff into the public domain in the long run and to create an exchange of ideas so that even more can be synthesized.
Isn't there a web standard data format for this subscription info? Like an incremental set of groups of info, starting with username/password,...
That would be great. Then someone could write a Firefox extension that automatically does for any registration-requiring site what Majcher's random login generator does for the NY Times!
Some of the comments in the article are just asinine:
Sometimes they even abuse the physical metaphor of tabbed browsing by opening multiple pages - not subpages of the same web site! - in multiple tabs of a browser window. I even know few people who never open more than one browser window, viewing all pages in tabs; I hope they do not try to glue a daily set of newspapers together before reading them...
I use Firefox with tabbrowser extensions set to lock the browser down to one window. I often open a lot of tabs and work through them. According to that writer, I'm abusing my browser because I'm doing something I couldn't do with a book or a newspaper! So by analogy we should never use grep because we can't grep printed matter?
And by the way, most filing cabinets only let you open one drawer at a time (for safety reasons).
Or maybe the government should say that ISP's are NOT responsible for content on their servers? I think they are. I think servers are the properties of their owners, not a shared property of all the users.
Should the phone company and the post office be responsible for the content of phone calls and letters? Should a bookstore be held responsible for the content of books?
(Unfortunately the last one is I believe still true in the UK.)
I don't have a problem with strict enforcement of speed limits, since a car is potentially a deadly weapon. The discrimination you mention is very wrong, however, and should be stopped---by treating every speeder that way.
What concerns me about tracking and surveillance systems is their value for blackmail and witch-hunts.
Globalization as the term is effectively being used means that corporations can force democracies to yield to their interests.
For example, here in the EU it is clear that people do not want GM crops and food. The European governments that listen to their people on this issue are trying to keep GMOs out, but US corporations are using the WTO to override democracy. The same is true of a number of other issues (environment, intellectual property).
Regardless of your views on the science and safety of GMOs, shouldn't the European people rather than foreign corporations have the right to determine such policies?
I'd love to see this guy run a side-by-side comparison of modern software running on six-year-old versions of Mac OS and Linux, and see if he has any stability issues.
I think you're right, but it's also important to consider why so many Windows users are still running old versions: it costs a lot to upgrade Windows (either by buying a new computer or installing on your existing one) and it's a lot of work to get most your data and settings copied onto the new system (and impossible to copy everything).
The relocation problem is caused directly by Microsoft's design choices involving the registry and similar crap instead of putting all user settings in $HOME/.* files and almost all system customizations in/etc/* files.
The law here in the UK is just asinine. I brew my own beer tax-free, so why shouldn't people be able to make their own fuel the same way?
If the tax related strictly to pollution, it would be fair. But the duty applies specifically to products used as road motor fuel, whereas many engines that don't even have to pass an annual emissions test (e.g. farm vehicles, generators, industrial equipment) can legally use untaxed diesel.
The best speedup trick is to install the Flash-Click-to-play extension so you don't download Flash objects unless you need to use them (shoddy sites that require Flash for navigation) or want to (Viking kittens).
My ISP, which is the only broadband supplier in my area, claims that e-mail is provided as a free service to customers who buy internet connectivity and disclaims any liability for problems with it.
But the marketing department shot down a ban on port 25 because of its circa $58 million price tag--so high partially because some subscribers would have to be told how to reconfigure their mail programs to point at Comcast's servers, and each phone call to the help desk costs $9.
The majority of "normal users" just set up their mail client the way the ISP tells them to, so they are already sending all their legitimate mail through Comcast's SMTP servers. They wouldn't notice the block.
The small number of power users, on the other hand, would know how to smarthost their MTAs. They wouldn't need help doing it but they would be justifiably p***ed off so that would involve some support time as they sound off.
If I'm making harassing phonecalls, it is reasonable for my phone service to be terminated.
Of course---after you've done something offensive. That's substantially different from preventing you from dialling any number you want to call before you've done anything wrong.
Personally, the thing I hate most about camera phones is, I can't lie to the wife about where I am. "Prove it", she'll say when I claim to be stuck at some god-forsaken station (when in reality, I'm in my local having a couple of jars on the way home).
I haven't used one of these, but couldn't you just keep a few photos of the station near your work in the phone? When she says, "Prove it", you send one of those. Then delete it so you don't re-use it!
Slashdot Mirror
Any fax numbers?
Copyrights and patents are not rights at all but privileges granted by the state in order to "promote the useful arts and sciences", i.e. to get more stuff into the public domain in the long run and to create an exchange of ideas so that even more can be synthesized.
That would be great. Then someone could write a Firefox extension that automatically does for any registration-requiring site what Majcher's random login generator does for the NY Times!
That Firefox extension is great -- thanks!
Sometimes they even abuse the physical metaphor of tabbed browsing by opening multiple pages - not subpages of the same web site! - in multiple tabs of a browser window. I even know few people who never open more than one browser window, viewing all pages in tabs; I hope they do not try to glue a daily set of newspapers together before reading them...
I use Firefox with tabbrowser extensions set to lock the browser down to one window. I often open a lot of tabs and work through them. According to that writer, I'm abusing my browser because I'm doing something I couldn't do with a book or a newspaper! So by analogy we should never use grep because we can't grep printed matter?
And by the way, most filing cabinets only let you open one drawer at a time (for safety reasons).
Hmm. That sounds as if you were in favour of banning books.
Should the phone company and the post office be responsible for the content of phone calls and letters? Should a bookstore be held responsible for the content of books?
(Unfortunately the last one is I believe still true in the UK.)
What concerns me about tracking and surveillance systems is their value for blackmail and witch-hunts.
That depends on the situation. But if you patent software, you're evil.
For example, here in the EU it is clear that people do not want GM crops and food. The European governments that listen to their people on this issue are trying to keep GMOs out, but US corporations are using the WTO to override democracy. The same is true of a number of other issues (environment, intellectual property).
Regardless of your views on the science and safety of GMOs, shouldn't the European people rather than foreign corporations have the right to determine such policies?
I just tried that link on Firefox 0.8 (on GNU/Linux) which successfully blocked the popups. (I moved the mouse around and clicked a few times.)
I think you're right, but it's also important to consider why so many Windows users are still running old versions: it costs a lot to upgrade Windows (either by buying a new computer or installing on your existing one) and it's a lot of work to get most your data and settings copied onto the new system (and impossible to copy everything).
The relocation problem is caused directly by Microsoft's design choices involving the registry and similar crap instead of putting all user settings in $HOME/.* files and almost all system customizations in /etc/* files.
Of course these days the manufacturers would just bribe^H^H^H lobby legislators to criminalize flipping that switch.
If the tax related strictly to pollution, it would be fair. But the duty applies specifically to products used as road motor fuel, whereas many engines that don't even have to pass an annual emissions test (e.g. farm vehicles, generators, industrial equipment) can legally use untaxed diesel.
The best speedup trick is to install the Flash-Click-to-play extension so you don't download Flash objects unless you need to use them (shoddy sites that require Flash for navigation) or want to (Viking kittens).
That's the point of due process.
My ISP, which is the only broadband supplier in my area, claims that e-mail is provided as a free service to customers who buy internet connectivity and disclaims any liability for problems with it.
The majority of "normal users" just set up their mail client the way the ISP tells them to, so they are already sending all their legitimate mail through Comcast's SMTP servers. They wouldn't notice the block.
The small number of power users, on the other hand, would know how to smarthost their MTAs. They wouldn't need help doing it but they would be justifiably p***ed off so that would involve some support time as they sound off.
Of course---after you've done something offensive. That's substantially different from preventing you from dialling any number you want to call before you've done anything wrong.
Only if the ISP is willing to guarantee the service quality of its mail servers and compensate customers for downtime, delays, etc.
For the 100th time, copyright infringement is not theft.
I ran "genitalia" through BabelFish into Italian: "organi genitali", which is very close.
How about PowerGen Italia --> powergenitalia.com?
Do you have problems with dual income taxation?
I haven't used one of these, but couldn't you just keep a few photos of the station near your work in the phone? When she says, "Prove it", you send one of those. Then delete it so you don't re-use it!