Let Walnut Creek become an independent CD-ROM reseller again (I think that small company was profitable before, but I may be mistaken) to ensure the independence of FreeBSD.
If they are really serious about FreeBSD, give some funding and bandwidth to the FreeBSD Foundation, and call for other large companies (Yahoo and Apple come to mind) to match their donation.
In short, if they are *not* interested in FreeBSD, which seems to be the case, they should just let it be. As others have pointed out, Wind River was mainly interested in BSD/OS, the closed-source BSD. They have got what they wanted, so firing people makes sense... Unfortunately.
As others have pointed out, it's good that the FreeBSD developers have decided to push the deadline by several (14) months.
But I can't help but wonder if the FreeBSD "core" isn't trying to do too much with too little.
SMPng is great. Porting FreeBSD to dozens of architecture may not be -- I thought NetBSD was the one group that was supposed to focus on portability? Stick with Intel CPUs, guys! =)
Nevertheless, a magnificent OS, and one that I use very often...
ISP thinks you are spreading pirated movies through Usenet
ISP cuts off the line and tells you rudely you are violating whatever idiotic law they'd like to protect
You have no recourse, no information on said pirated movie post and you can't prove anything
I believe that, in such as case, it should be possible to countersue both the ISP, the MPAA and the company doing research for both.
Something like "Unfair termination of service" or "Violation of service agreement" as well as "Slanderous attacks" seem totally possible in this case. Anybody with more legal experience cares to comment?
Is this under GPL? If not, does that mean the FSF can now sue HP, to get the GPL status clarified once and for all?
As many have pointed out already, how is this different than from installing Snort and others pre-configured?
Does this includes all the NSA-supplied patches? with source code included?
Finally, how on earth is HP going to sell this for an outrageous amount of money while things like Linux-Bastille are free?? (Not to mention OpenBSD, yadda, yadda, yadda...)
How can you sign an NDA with a "core" (note: "core", not "dev") team, for an OS which is open source? That does not make any sense.
What on earth are you talking about? BSD/OS? FreeBSD? Open/NetBSD?
Finally, if there was such a thing as "a longjump right into the kernel" with "full root privileges", this thing would be all over Bugtraq right now... This is BSD, after all. Not some closed-source OS.
I think you may have a little bit of explaining to do...
One thing which I did not know (and that I learned recently) is that, at the very beginning of computing, NSA actually ordered every single computer made by the different manufacturers... and very often suggested speed improvement...
I know they did this for ENIAC, for instance. And, of course, Cray Research was always very cozy with "No Such Agency".
Insert requested paranoid conspiracy theory here... =)
I mean, if Microsoft cannot modify your personal page to protect you against 3133t h4x0r, DMCA-violating university professors and cancerous communist open-source software, who is going to? Hmmm?
Thank you, Mr Gates! A clear case of benevolent consumer protection, that's what it is!
(Search order: newest first)
(Showing 7 out of 232 possible hits)
Tsk, tsk. Aren't you the party animal, Mr McNealy? Oh, and about that escort service, don't you think Ms McNealy should know about this?
You mean, she can't have access to this information? Well, due to the fact that it's legal in the USA to sell (quite detailed) consumer information, our crack team of net expert were able to obtain this little report for her for a small fee from the above companies. US$200 for 1,000 names. Cheap, eh?
Please, let us recommend a martial counselor or a divorce lawyer in your neighbourhood -- and may we interest you in a nice French restaurant, for that ?
Have a good day, Mr McNealy, and thank you for contacting NetSnoopers(tm). Remember: your satisfaction is our goal, and we value your business!
NetSnoopers(tm): Whatever it is, we'll find it for you! (tm/sm)!
Here is the situation as I understand it. Standard disclaimers apply: IANAL, I haven't looked at the EU rules and, basically, I don't really know what I am talking about, except that I am going to talk about it, as is my Slashdot-given right. =)
Most countries in the EU have (almost) the same set of basic rules:
Personal information given to a company cannot be sold, exchanged or transmitted to anyone without express consent from the EU citizen it came from. Even if your company goes under, some EU laws may even require you to wipe out your database.
Personal information given to a company should be erased immediately and completely if the customer/EU citizen requires it.
Personal information should be not include possible discrimination-related information (for instance religion, sexual orientation, etc.) If you need that type of info, it should be kept extra-confidential and anonymous, meaning no names, phone numbers or any other data that would allow one to trace back the info to a given individual.
Finally, provision should be made so that the customer can access and rectify the data he/she gave to the company. Especially useful when identity theft has been performed.
That's about all there is. This being said, it's already fairly hard to enforce these laws in the EU (especially the "access" part).
Make sure you give EU customers the above rights and, IMHO, you should be doing OK. But don't sue me if that's not the case... =)
Like many others, I can't help feeling disgusted by all this.
It's one thing to attack everytime someone does something that may be used to circumvent intellectual property rights, but, come on! Threatening someone because he took up a challenge you made?
What I would like to know is this:
would it be possible for ACLU (for insance) to publish this paper and get sued instead of Pr Felten?
Would it be possible to translated and/or publish this paper in a country with a saner legal framework?
This being said, I am almost certain any judge reviewing this case would just throw it out. Suing the SDMI challengers is almost as stupid as suing Galileo for saying the Earth is round and not flat...
Yes, in a way, this is the old "Beowulf cluster" joke, but with a new twist.
If Sony releases this out in the open, with a version of Linux that can really drive the PS2 harware (especially the kick-ass PS-2 graphical chips) and connect to a LAN, you can actually build a rendering farm on the cheap!
Think about it: Sony PS-2 + Linux kit = cheapo cheapo super-duper rendering workstation, with well-supported and well-known OS.
Even better : link a cluster of Athlon PC (for number-crunching, monitoring and data transfer) and a cluster of Sony PS-2 and you probably have something that will blast away 90% of the super-computer competition, for a fraction of the price... Makes you wonder what Saddam Hussein is going to do with all the PS-2 Iraq bought a while ago.
On a lighter note, think about SFX houses -- Hollywood-grade hardware with a twist.
Of course, Sony will have to play ball, and release everything so that crazy coders can optimize, tweak and debug it. But they'll win a dedicated and loyal group of programmers in the bargain. Smart move!
Please note: this is not a flame, just an honest question.
While adding functions to Open-Source system is certainly the whole point of FreeBSD, Linux, etc... I can't help but wonder why this particular function is interesting.
In my experience, most users of NT-based systems do not use ACLs and never bother to set them correctly (if at all). Keeping those (unset) ACLs on a Samba-based BSD server therefore seems like a waste of time... =(
Therefore, having Samba-based ACLs on a *BSD system seems to me totally uninteresting, except if, like a previous poster has remarked, you need some sort of TLA buzzword (Posix-compliant ACLs! Wow!) for your clueless PHB.
Could anyone please explain the interest of such a thing? Many thanks in advance...
Well, actually, they do: the EU (or is it the Council of Europe?) has created a Human Rights Court, which is open to any European citizen.
If you (assuming "you" is a European citizen) believes your human rights have been violated by your (European) government, you have the right to appeal to the European Court of Justice -- but only after all legal recourse have exhausted in your country, which means quite a few years of legal fight.
Since "Free Speech" is a part of the Human Rights, I do believe a local European hacker would have a right to appeal to this court, especially since the study of, say, a copy-protection scheme would probably be within the limits of free speech, right to teach, (computer) research, etc...
So, yes, there is free speech protection within the EU -- it's just that racist remarks and neo-nazi propaganda are not accepted like they are in the US.
Please note that this is not necessarily easy: one has to go through a national legal fight before being able to appeal to the European Court of Justice. On the other hand, it has proven quite "liberal" (read: reasonable and leaning in the direction of individual freedom) in the past, so there is good hope, as far as I am concerned, that this recommendation will be overturned by a future decision.
You can find more information on the European Human Rights Court on its website.
On the other hand, I may be wildly optimistic... =)
This is going to be applied at all. There has been a lot of talks already in the EU about avoiding DMCA-style excess.
If this is really going to affect the local law, which tend to allow copying for personal & backup purposes.
If this could be attacked in front of the European Court of Justice, especially given the free speech implications. Of course, this last solution means anywhere from 5 to 7 years before any case is reviewed...
I might add that there is always the possibility of EU legislation, passed in the European Parliament, overturning this recommendation.
There is also the intriguing possibility that EU-wide protest will make the Commission change its mind pronto, a little bit like the recent protests in France against the proposed media tax...
Interesting times ahead. Can I still read Slashdot, Mr Commissioner? Pretty please? =)
The Internet, like any new technology, has new & unexpected applications. "Open Source" or "Free Software" is one of them.
But the Internet is not a "revolution". Merely the logical evolution of existing technology: computers and telecommunications.
"Open Source" or "Free Software" is not a "revolution", merely the logical evolution of existing technology: BSD/GNU, UNIX and dozens of years in compiler and operating systems design.
These two evolutions are not going to change the world: they are merely going to percolate down within the different world societies which can afford these technologies.
Technologies are not revolutions and, in and out of themselves, they are not going to change the world.
On the other hand, the people who use these technologies to communicate and exchange ideas may create revolutions... but, by definition, revolutions are sudden and quite unpredictable. They come from the bottom before creating their own hierarchies and elites. This is why I believe talking about an Internet "revolution" is complete nonsense.
This is a little bit more serious than my previous post...
I can think of, at least, two or three workarounds for this:
In windows 9x, restart under "DOS command line only" mode, then use an hex editor after copying the.EXE and the protected file to another computer. You can also boot from a FreeDOS or Caldera DOS diskette to do this.
Using WinICE under Windows, while executing the.EXE to "read" a file would certainly yield interesting results...
Under Linux, mount the Windows disk with appropriate rights and use Linux equivalents.
Cracking the encryption scheme is, of course, left as an exercise for the reader. But, come on, how much encryption and "security layers" can you hide in a 300 KB windows executable ?
Additionnal brownie points will be given to the reader who determines which compiler and programming language has been used to create this little thing. (Hint: look at the end of the EXE file for informative compiler strings).
Estimated time to crack: anywhere from 24 hours to 1 month.
Repeat after me: security through obscurity does not work. End of transmission.
Here is something I just posted to Debian Planet. Sums up what I think, based on my real-life experience, your mileage may vary. I do think this is a serious problem, even though for a small and often overlooked minority of users.
---
"Copy-Control" may be a blessing in some cases but I can think of a dozen exceptions to this rule.
In my previous job, a (marvellously stupid) tech writer had managed to totally mangle the protection bits of the main documentation PDF file, in such a way that copying, printing, etc... was totally disabled.
Needless to say, that was a major pain in the neck for Tech Support, Marketing and just about everyone who needed to print or quote from that fscking documentation.
I had to sort the mess out -- which took me all of 5 minutes (uncheck three options and restart Distiller), but it got me thinking: I have a friend who is blind and who has been relying more and more on the Internet for sources of information and docs, like many other blind persons.
What if the poor guy can't use pdf2ps and ps2ascii (for instance) to read an important PDF file, just because some jerk decided his PDF file would not allow text copying? What about the idiotic tech writer mentioned above, who had no clue whatsoever and just locked every PDF file?
What I am saying is: get rid of the fscking copy control. If you post PDF file on the Internet or on any kind of public network, you are, in essence, forfeiting any copyrights you may have had -- any form of protection is futile anyway, since the elite script kiddies mentioned by some other poster will crack it anyway.
Just my US$ 0.02...
---
I might add this: if you'd like to make money off your written work, there's probably a better way to do that than to post your writings in the form of a PDF file... =)
We should all add this snippet of code to our.sigs and use it everyday for every form of electronic communication: Slashdot postings, Usenet, email, you name it!!
Then stand back and watch as lawyers for the DVD Association go crazy, trying to sue everyone! Even better than linking! =)
The DeCSS case will be won, not in the court, but over the Internet -- so fire up that editor today... ROFL
Slashdot Mirror
What I'd like WRS to do is this:
In short, if they are *not* interested in FreeBSD, which seems to be the case, they should just let it be. As others have pointed out, Wind River was mainly interested in BSD/OS, the closed-source BSD. They have got what they wanted, so firing people makes sense... Unfortunately.
Oooops !
I am afraid the stock prices of Red Hat and Mandrake are going to hell in a handbasket...
Gosh, this is just bad news.
As others have pointed out, it's good that the FreeBSD developers have decided to push the deadline by several (14) months.
But I can't help but wonder if the FreeBSD "core" isn't trying to do too much with too little.
SMPng is great. Porting FreeBSD to dozens of architecture may not be -- I thought NetBSD was the one group that was supposed to focus on portability? Stick with Intel CPUs, guys! =)
Nevertheless, a magnificent OS, and one that I use very often...
I believe that, in such as case, it should be possible to countersue both the ISP, the MPAA and the company doing research for both.
Something like "Unfair termination of service" or "Violation of service agreement" as well as "Slanderous attacks" seem totally possible in this case. Anybody with more legal experience cares to comment?
Chilling, nonetheless... =(
Just my US$ 0.02...
Please don't forget to put your name on top of the sheet.
Next week, we'll discuss the ROT-13 encryption used in some EBooks. Class dismissed.
On the other hand, a few points are worth noting:
I use Acrobat, but under the Macintosh, so I am safe.
On the other hand: "[...] Adobe doesn't currently plan to prevent VBScript or other files from running."
I say this is just another reason to boycott Adobe! It's just turning into another Microsoft.
I also think the XPDF programmers should add security features to their (excellent) software, as well.
Just my US$ 0.02...
IMHO, Adobe has LOST the Linux market forever:
Shame on you Adobe!
At least, they have the decency to drop this stupid case...
Hello?
You have "signed an NDA with the BSD dev team"?
How can you sign an NDA with a "core" (note: "core", not "dev") team, for an OS which is open source? That does not make any sense.
What on earth are you talking about? BSD/OS? FreeBSD? Open/NetBSD?
Finally, if there was such a thing as "a longjump right into the kernel" with "full root privileges", this thing would be all over Bugtraq right now... This is BSD, after all. Not some closed-source OS.
I think you may have a little bit of explaining to do...
One thing which I did not know (and that I learned recently) is that, at the very beginning of computing, NSA actually ordered every single computer made by the different manufacturers... and very often suggested speed improvement...
I know they did this for ENIAC, for instance. And, of course, Cray Research was always very cozy with "No Such Agency".
Insert requested paranoid conspiracy theory here... =)
Source: Body of Secrets by James Bamford.
That's not a bug, that's a security feature!
I mean, if Microsoft cannot modify your personal page to protect you against 3133t h4x0r, DMCA-violating university professors and cancerous communist open-source software, who is going to? Hmmm?
Thank you, Mr Gates! A clear case of benevolent consumer protection, that's what it is!
What is the Chicago Sun Times Web site running?
Here is the answer:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: Netscape-Enterprise/3.6
Date: Fri, 01 Jun 2001 17:05:09 GMT
Content-type: text/html
Connection: close
Seems like Mr Ballmer & M$ still have a little work to do... =)
>>> McNealy/SUN AMEX Corporate Account #45223567684
>>> MCNEALY/Visa Gold Account #223356-44558961
(Search order: newest first)
(Showing 7 out of 232 possible hits)
Tsk, tsk. Aren't you the party animal, Mr McNealy? Oh, and about that escort service, don't you think Ms McNealy should know about this?
You mean, she can't have access to this information? Well, due to the fact that it's legal in the USA to sell (quite detailed) consumer information, our crack team of net expert were able to obtain this little report for her for a small fee from the above companies. US$200 for 1,000 names. Cheap, eh?
Please, let us recommend a martial counselor or a divorce lawyer in your neighbourhood -- and may we interest you in a nice French restaurant, for that ?
Have a good day, Mr McNealy, and thank you for contacting NetSnoopers(tm). Remember: your satisfaction is our goal, and we value your business!
NetSnoopers(tm): Whatever it is, we'll find it for you! (tm/sm)!
Here is the situation as I understand it. Standard disclaimers apply: IANAL, I haven't looked at the EU rules and, basically, I don't really know what I am talking about, except that I am going to talk about it, as is my Slashdot-given right. =)
Most countries in the EU have (almost) the same set of basic rules:
That's about all there is. This being said, it's already fairly hard to enforce these laws in the EU (especially the "access" part).
Make sure you give EU customers the above rights and, IMHO, you should be doing OK. But don't sue me if that's not the case... =)
It's one thing to attack everytime someone does something that may be used to circumvent intellectual property rights, but, come on! Threatening someone because he took up a challenge you made?
What I would like to know is this:
This being said, I am almost certain any judge reviewing this case would just throw it out. Suing the SDMI challengers is almost as stupid as suing Galileo for saying the Earth is round and not flat...
Yes, in a way, this is the old "Beowulf cluster" joke, but with a new twist.
If Sony releases this out in the open, with a version of Linux that can really drive the PS2 harware (especially the kick-ass PS-2 graphical chips) and connect to a LAN, you can actually build a rendering farm on the cheap!
Think about it: Sony PS-2 + Linux kit = cheapo cheapo super-duper rendering workstation, with well-supported and well-known OS.
Even better : link a cluster of Athlon PC (for number-crunching, monitoring and data transfer) and a cluster of Sony PS-2 and you probably have something that will blast away 90% of the super-computer competition, for a fraction of the price... Makes you wonder what Saddam Hussein is going to do with all the PS-2 Iraq bought a while ago.
On a lighter note, think about SFX houses -- Hollywood-grade hardware with a twist.
Of course, Sony will have to play ball, and release everything so that crazy coders can optimize, tweak and debug it. But they'll win a dedicated and loyal group of programmers in the bargain. Smart move!
Please note: this is not a flame, just an honest question.
While adding functions to Open-Source system is certainly the whole point of FreeBSD, Linux, etc... I can't help but wonder why this particular function is interesting.
In my experience, most users of NT-based systems do not use ACLs and never bother to set them correctly (if at all). Keeping those (unset) ACLs on a Samba-based BSD server therefore seems like a waste of time... =(
Therefore, having Samba-based ACLs on a *BSD system seems to me totally uninteresting, except if, like a previous poster has remarked, you need some sort of TLA buzzword (Posix-compliant ACLs! Wow!) for your clueless PHB.
Could anyone please explain the interest of such a thing? Many thanks in advance...
(Usual IANAL disclaimer apply)
Well, actually, they do: the EU (or is it the Council of Europe?) has created a Human Rights Court, which is open to any European citizen.
If you (assuming "you" is a European citizen) believes your human rights have been violated by your (European) government, you have the right to appeal to the European Court of Justice -- but only after all legal recourse have exhausted in your country, which means quite a few years of legal fight.
Since "Free Speech" is a part of the Human Rights, I do believe a local European hacker would have a right to appeal to this court, especially since the study of, say, a copy-protection scheme would probably be within the limits of free speech, right to teach, (computer) research, etc...
So, yes, there is free speech protection within the EU -- it's just that racist remarks and neo-nazi propaganda are not accepted like they are in the US.
Please note that this is not necessarily easy: one has to go through a national legal fight before being able to appeal to the European Court of Justice. On the other hand, it has proven quite "liberal" (read: reasonable and leaning in the direction of individual freedom) in the past, so there is good hope, as far as I am concerned, that this recommendation will be overturned by a future decision.
You can find more information on the European Human Rights Court on its website.
On the other hand, I may be wildly optimistic... =)
However, I can't help but wonder if:
I might add that there is always the possibility of EU legislation, passed in the European Parliament, overturning this recommendation.
There is also the intriguing possibility that EU-wide protest will make the Commission change its mind pronto, a little bit like the recent protests in France against the proposed media tax...
Interesting times ahead. Can I still read Slashdot, Mr Commissioner? Pretty please? =)
Jon, please.
The Internet, like any new technology, has new & unexpected applications. "Open Source" or "Free Software" is one of them.
But the Internet is not a "revolution". Merely the logical evolution of existing technology: computers and telecommunications.
"Open Source" or "Free Software" is not a "revolution", merely the logical evolution of existing technology: BSD/GNU, UNIX and dozens of years in compiler and operating systems design.
These two evolutions are not going to change the world: they are merely going to percolate down within the different world societies which can afford these technologies.
Technologies are not revolutions and, in and out of themselves, they are not going to change the world.
On the other hand, the people who use these technologies to communicate and exchange ideas may create revolutions... but, by definition, revolutions are sudden and quite unpredictable. They come from the bottom before creating their own hierarchies and elites. This is why I believe talking about an Internet "revolution" is complete nonsense.
In a way, we ain't seen nothing yet... =)
This is a little bit more serious than my previous post...
.EXE and the protected file to another computer. You can also boot from a FreeDOS or Caldera DOS diskette to do this.
.EXE to "read" a file would certainly yield interesting results...
I can think of, at least, two or three workarounds for this:
In windows 9x, restart under "DOS command line only" mode, then use an hex editor after copying the
Using WinICE under Windows, while executing the
Under Linux, mount the Windows disk with appropriate rights and use Linux equivalents.
Cracking the encryption scheme is, of course, left as an exercise for the reader. But, come on, how much encryption and "security layers" can you hide in a 300 KB windows executable ?
Additionnal brownie points will be given to the reader who determines which compiler and programming language has been used to create this little thing. (Hint: look at the end of the EXE file for informative compiler strings).
Estimated time to crack: anywhere from 24 hours to 1 month.
Repeat after me: security through obscurity does not work. End of transmission.
Here is something I just posted to Debian Planet. Sums up what I think, based on my real-life experience, your mileage may vary. I do think this is a serious problem, even though for a small and often overlooked minority of users.
---
"Copy-Control" may be a blessing in some cases but I can think of a dozen exceptions to this rule.
In my previous job, a (marvellously stupid) tech writer had managed to totally mangle the protection bits of the main documentation PDF file, in such a way that copying, printing, etc... was totally disabled.
Needless to say, that was a major pain in the neck for Tech Support, Marketing and just about everyone who needed to print or quote from that fscking documentation.
I had to sort the mess out -- which took me all of 5 minutes (uncheck three options and restart Distiller), but it got me thinking: I have a friend who is blind and who has been relying more and more on the Internet for sources of information and docs, like many other blind persons.
What if the poor guy can't use pdf2ps and ps2ascii (for instance) to read an important PDF file, just because some jerk decided his PDF file would not allow text copying? What about the idiotic tech writer mentioned above, who had no clue whatsoever and just locked every PDF file?
What I am saying is: get rid of the fscking copy control. If you post PDF file on the Internet or on any kind of public network, you are, in essence, forfeiting any copyrights you may have had -- any form of protection is futile anyway, since the elite script kiddies mentioned by some other poster will crack it anyway.
Just my US$ 0.02...
---
I might add this: if you'd like to make money off your written work, there's probably a better way to do that than to post your writings in the form of a PDF file... =)
Cheers!
Let's have fun, ladies and gentlement!!
.sigs and use it everyday for every form of electronic communication: Slashdot postings, Usenet, email, you name it!!
We should all add this snippet of code to our
Then stand back and watch as lawyers for the DVD Association go crazy, trying to sue everyone! Even better than linking! =)
The DeCSS case will be won, not in the court, but over the Internet -- so fire up that editor today... ROFL
In case of slashdotting, please click HERE.
Very cool story -- even though I won't move solar sails from my "Vaporware" until I actually see one in outer space...
Ladies and Gentlemen, I guess it's time for us to show where we stand on this question.
To do this, there are only two (legal) solutions I can think of:
Support the EFF
Support 2600 Magazine
Please do it now. I know I will.