DISCLAIMER: Not knowing Canadian regulations, my post treats this event from a U.S. perspective only, as it relates to wireless networks here. I'm addressing the network access issue only, not defending kiddie porn, driving naked, or driving in the wrong direction.
As I see it, there was no theft of "communications". He didn't break into any computers, nor block/alter/view data coming in and out of them. There is no indication that he did anything to bypass security measures of either the network or the machines on it. There is no indication that he did nor intended any harm to the network or its users. He used net connectivity, apparently with all hardware functioning as designed and configured. It is the operator of the network that is responsible for configuration including access permissions. Many run hot spots intentionally, some through ignorance. In either case, the host is functioning as an ISP. What's relevant here is regulation of the wireless access to the ISP.
In the U.S., 802.11b hardware is allowed unlicensed use of spectrum, as regulated by part 15 of the F.C.C. rules. Part 15 products are required to include a notice: "Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) this device may not cause harmful interferrence, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undersired operation." Harmful interference refers to that affecting licensed communications only. Are there licensed users of this spectrum? Yes.
All ham radio licensees (except Novices) are authorized by the FCC Rules, Part 97.301(a) to use all operating modes in the 2390-2450 MHz band. 802.11b equipment is not allowed to interferre. A ham could reasonably ask anyone using 802.11b gear to stop operating if they cannot otherwise correct an interferrence problem (typically by changing channels, lowering power, reducing antenna height, changing location, using a directional antenna etc). The 802.11b gear operator has no regulatory protection against interference from the ham operator, other 802.11b users, or even microwave ovens which operate in-band at 2450 MHz.
In summary, 802.11b gear is unprotected from interference, and the operator of such gear is on their own to try to make it work as desired, with no guarantee of success. 802.11b hardware is being used as designed when people, known to the host or not, access open networks. It isn't communications theft nor is it tresspassing.
Some incentive would be helpful, both for getting out the vote, and for getting people to double-check the receipt. Perhaps if they had to read it to get a code allowing them to get a discount on auto registration? Maybe pay the old rate, instead of the triple one that was temporarily in effect but overturned by Arnold. This would bring out more people, Arnold could still say he'd axed the tax, and the state would get some added revenue from those that didn't vote.
I'm disturbed that changes, adequate or not, won't take effect well before the November 2004 election. Perhaps we should all be urging people to bypass the first-level machines by voting absentee? If only the spam people got suggested that instead of trying to sell a bigger penis...
>You'd think the FBI would have been smarter then this. What would have happened if the suspect had a flat tire and tried to use his roadside assistance?
Well, they really should have been the ones to respond. After all, the blowout could have knocked-out the RFID device in the tire!
"Has it occured to anyone that by patenting an anti-anti-spam technique, AT&T can legally forbid spammers from using that technique?"
Sure! And with a little luck, they'll patent methods of distributing anthrax, and we'll be safe from that too.
Maybe Cowboy Neal can protect us by taking out a patent on "Voter contentment mechanism: Moderation bots automatically regulate medications in water supply based on Slashdot postings"
I can see people having trouble with Time's use of the word "invention". It's their language, not Apple's. So many have used patents in an abusive way, it's easy to get into a defensive posture on even hearing the word invention. In the context of the Time article, "creative consumer offering" would better fit what they are talking about. A product is more than a list of features. It's also about philosophy. Fairness, paying attention to the overall experience, and caring about behind the scenes detail is all part of this. Most consumers aren't likely to know that Apple is paying for the high-quality Fraunhofer IIS MP3 codec to let them use it for free in iTunes. Don't expeect to see things like that from MS/Napster. As any Linux user can tell you, beauty is more than skin deep.
MS can go into protective mode, but the effectiveness of paying a hacker bounty is of limited scope. It may put a damper on those that'd write or modify a hack as a prank, but it certainly won't deter terrorists or off-shore spammers with serious bad intentions. A sense of greater security gained from having fewer media-covered exploits may even leave many consumers less likely to get prepared for a more aggressive attack. The public that'd fall for MS PR doesn't seem to realize that most of the exploits we've had could have easily been designed to be far more damaging. It is unfortunate that MS seems more interested in PR actions than in fixing problems at the source.
Hopefully the indie labels will do well with Apple's iTunes support. The big five are doing poorly enough to be looking at buyout/merger deals. Aside from the EMI - Warner deal that's been in the works, it looks like a Sony - BMG music unit merger is also brewing
They should have designed the systems such that a trigger would cause the light to go RED in all directions. The cross traffic would stop, and any real emergency response vehicle could run the red, of course being given authority to do so in emergencies.
I'm surprised I haven't seen SPAM offering these thing yet.
Problems with WEP encryption aside, 802.11b gear operates under part 15 of the F.C.C. rules which deal with unlicensed equipment. As one can see from the required F.C.C. notice in the manual for any part 15 equipment, it is unprotected from interferrence, as is not allowed to cause any. "Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) this device may not cause any harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference that may cause undersired operation"
All ham radio licensees (except Novices) are authorized by the FCC Rules, Part 97.301(a) to use all operating modes in the 2390-2450 MHz band. 802.11b equipment is not allowed to interferre. A ham could reasonably ask anyone using 802.11b gear to stop operating if they cannot otherwise correct an interferrence problem. The 802.11b gear operator has no legal protection against interference from the ham operator. (or a nearby microwave oven at 2450 MHz either)
Being behind behind NAT boxes has greatly reduced the public address space needed by many I'm sure, but it cripples our ability to function as equals on the net. Just as there have been moves to allow people to retain a phone number when changing cellular carriers, Having a permanent IP (or range of IPs) could have many uses.
All willing to have IPs starting with something along the lines of a social security number please raise your left foot. All spammers wanting my IPs, raise both feet.
It'll be interesting to see how Novell's stock does after this. While the fate of SUSE on the desktop may be uncertain, this has to be a good thing for Linux awareness and acceptance in general. I see this as a wise move at a time when whole countries are migrating away from MS. A top-down migration would start with the enterprise. And that allows a little more time for the load-the-CDs-and-go desktop distributions to get a little more polish. The Linux migration paper (translated from German I believe) here recently had made the strongest case for server and sizable environments.
As for the desktop, it seems like its about time for Mandrake.iso's with the latest patches to appear. Eagerly awaiting new torrents...
Let's hope no one starts attacking people in crowds with stick-on spam-radios. I can just see poor souls wandering around helplessly with their heads turned into speakers playing ads. I think I'll stick with something safer like a good ole' flame speaker...
I ran across
this Flame Speaker Project
If the courts won't fix the system, perhaps California's voter initiative process can. How hard would it be to get a proposition on the ballot requiring a system with a full PAPER audit trail? Something like this in California might help to raise awareness enough to generate action in other states or at the federal level.
(Something like this needed, among other things: Paper printout generated when voter makes choices, top of which is to be reviewed and confirmed by voter before hitting "submit", which marks the bottom of the paper form "submitted")
Of course one must hope that the vote on such a proposition isn't tampered with...
- - - - - - - - No Arnold, the machines weren't supposed to be props
Apple Computer should sue because Claria sounds too much like Claris and would reflect negatively
Apple Records should sue because anything that reflects negatively on Apple Computer may reflect negatively on them.
Farmers should sue because anything that reflects negatively on apples is bad for them.
Microsoft is in there somewhere too, as groundwater contamination from Windows-loaded drives in discarded PCs is known to cause worms in apples, at least on Halloween.
Zoo-keepers should sue because Gator carries a more negative feeling than those lovable reptiles deserve.
Maybe no one should sue, just feed the Gator execs to the gators instead? Season to taste adding lawyers.
Pardon? He'll take credit for MS, citing that it was all part of the plan to distribute those "security weaknesses", put in to aid intelligence gathering in the fight of terrorism.
What are the odds we'll be shipping Diebold boxes to Iraq for those elections? He did promise elections...
It looks as though X11 is one of a number of included resources. Browsing through the package files on the Pather discs I saw one containing the GIMP print drivers!
>This article is completely pointless. All it says is that the people investing in SCO have dealings with other companies, "including Microsoft." And then the guy from BayStar disputes the claim anyway.
Of course Bayview would dispute the claim. Doesn't it seem unusual that Bayview would be doing this with "their own money" with SCO being unprofitable and having such questionable future prospects? Surely with the transactions they're into, they must have more attractive places to invest. This seems a VASTLY more valuable investment for MS, for its FUD value instead of direct profit, as they've previously acknowledged Linux as their biggest threat. 50 million is nothing to Microsoft, and it doesn't seem like it would be hard at all to have padded that much extra in via Bayviews profits handling the deal when MS invested in Roxio (now parent of Napster). Given Microsoft's history of being punished very little even when proven in the wrong, why wouldn't they do something like this? It is completely consistent with their business goals.
I'm looking forward to using Panther but I'm disappointed that machines that didn't ship with USB are being orphaned with this round. For a workaround we'll have to wait for XpostFacto to be updated. I really doubt that a Wallstreet G3/300 is significantly different to support than a Lombard PowerBook. This looks very much like a purely marketing driven decision rather than one based on technical issues. The drivers already in 10.2.x supported my USB 2/Firewire combo PCMCIA card right out of the box. I wish Apple would understand that many like myself are eager to buy new machines as justified for GOOD reasons (like vastly improved performance for demanding tasks), and that dropping support without good technical cause just breeds resentment and costs them OS upgrade sales. I generally avoid running unlicensed software but I'm feeling very reluctant to actually pay for copies of the OS that need 3rd party hacks to install on unsupported machines. Running Panther here isn't essential, but I'd sure like to see the same version of the OS on the old and new machines. Retiring machines prematurely is not only a waste of money, it is environmentally irresponsible.
I suspect that in some settings having a portion of the installed machines orphaned would give Mac-hostile managers an excuse to jump platforms.
It's a bit ironic that default OS installs include hundreds of megabytes for printers and languages we won't use, but not the little extra it'd take for slightly older Apple hardware.
Shades of "Gil killed my dog" I guess...
>Say I take my laptop to Starbucks..... They certainly won't be able to find me
Beware of Cookies and JAVA! If they don't bully the hotspot provider into filtering ports, they'll be tracking you by dropping a sugar coated RFID bug in your coffee. That's in case your location or the weather don't allow the satellites to scan the UV-readable barcode on your forehead, and you're out of view of the cameras in-store, at nearby traffic signals and those watchful ATM machines. Although your IP is more than likely changing from one location and session to the next, chances are you don't alter your MAC (hardware) address, so they're tracking use of your machine too. - - - - - - Todays theme: "Sweet Sixteen" George W. - 16 Words, Arnold S. - 16 Women
Slashdot Mirror
DISCLAIMER: Not knowing Canadian regulations, my post treats this event from a U.S. perspective only, as it relates to wireless networks here. I'm addressing the network access issue only, not defending kiddie porn, driving naked, or driving in the wrong direction.
As I see it, there was no theft of "communications". He didn't break into any computers, nor block/alter/view data coming in and out of them. There is no indication that he did anything to bypass security measures of either the network or the machines on it. There is no indication that he did nor intended any harm to the network or its users.
He used net connectivity, apparently with all hardware functioning as designed and configured. It is the operator of the network that is responsible for configuration including access permissions. Many run hot spots intentionally, some through ignorance. In either case, the host is functioning as an ISP. What's relevant here is regulation of the wireless access to the ISP.
In the U.S., 802.11b hardware is allowed unlicensed use of spectrum, as regulated by part 15 of the F.C.C. rules. Part 15 products are required to include a notice: "Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) this device may not cause harmful interferrence, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undersired operation." Harmful interference refers to that affecting licensed communications only. Are there licensed users of this spectrum? Yes.
All ham radio licensees (except Novices) are authorized by the FCC Rules, Part 97.301(a) to use all operating modes in the 2390-2450 MHz band. 802.11b equipment is not allowed to interferre. A ham could reasonably ask anyone using 802.11b gear to stop operating if they cannot otherwise correct an interferrence problem (typically by changing channels, lowering power, reducing antenna height, changing location, using a directional antenna etc). The 802.11b gear operator has no regulatory protection against interference from the ham operator, other 802.11b users, or even microwave ovens which operate in-band at 2450 MHz.
In summary, 802.11b gear is unprotected from interference, and the operator of such gear is on their own to try to make it work as desired, with no guarantee of success.
802.11b hardware is being used as designed when people, known to the host or not, access open networks. It isn't communications theft nor is it tresspassing.
Some incentive would be helpful, both for getting out the vote, and for getting people to double-check the receipt. Perhaps if they had to read it to get a code allowing them to get a discount on auto registration? Maybe pay the old rate, instead of the triple one that was temporarily in effect but overturned by Arnold. This would bring out more people, Arnold could still say he'd axed the tax, and the state would get some added revenue from those that didn't vote.
I'm disturbed that changes, adequate or not, won't take effect well before the November 2004 election. Perhaps we should all be urging people to bypass the first-level machines by voting absentee?
If only the spam people got suggested that instead of trying to sell a bigger penis...
>You'd think the FBI would have been smarter then this. What would have happened if the suspect had a flat tire and tried to use his roadside assistance?
Well, they really should have been the ones to respond. After all, the blowout could have knocked-out the RFID device in the tire!
"Has it occured to anyone that by patenting an anti-anti-spam technique, AT&T can legally forbid spammers from using that technique?"
Sure! And with a little luck, they'll patent methods of distributing anthrax, and we'll be safe from that too.
Maybe Cowboy Neal can protect us by taking out a patent on "Voter contentment mechanism: Moderation bots automatically regulate medications in water supply based on Slashdot postings"
I trust AT&T. I do believe, I do, I do...
FCC Proposes Fining AT&T Over DNC Violation
Do Not Call Site Has AT&T Stats Tracker?
A couple of seconds in a microwave oven should do the trick!
I can see people having trouble with Time's use of the word "invention". It's their language, not Apple's. So many have used patents in an abusive way, it's easy to get into a defensive posture on even hearing the word invention. In the context of the Time article, "creative consumer offering" would better fit what they are talking about.
A product is more than a list of features. It's also about philosophy. Fairness, paying attention to the overall experience, and caring about behind the scenes detail is all part of this. Most consumers aren't likely to know that Apple is paying for the high-quality Fraunhofer IIS MP3 codec to let them use it for free in iTunes. Don't expeect to see things like that from MS/Napster. As any Linux user can tell you, beauty is more than skin deep.
MS can go into protective mode, but the effectiveness of paying a hacker bounty is of limited scope. It may put a damper on those that'd write or modify a hack as a prank, but it certainly won't deter terrorists or off-shore spammers with serious bad intentions. A sense of greater security gained from having fewer media-covered exploits may even leave many consumers less likely to get prepared for a more aggressive attack. The public that'd fall for MS PR doesn't seem to realize that most of the exploits we've had could have easily been designed to be far more damaging. It is unfortunate that MS seems more interested in PR actions than in fixing problems at the source.
Hopefully the indie labels will do well with Apple's iTunes support. The big five are doing poorly enough to be looking at buyout/merger deals. Aside from the EMI - Warner deal that's been in the works, it looks like a Sony - BMG music unit merger is also brewing
Or wrap the tin foil around the GPS antenna...
They should have designed the systems such that a trigger would cause the light to go RED in all directions. The cross traffic would stop, and any real emergency response vehicle could run the red, of course being given authority to do so in emergencies.
I'm surprised I haven't seen SPAM offering these thing yet.
Problems with WEP encryption aside, 802.11b gear operates under part 15 of the F.C.C. rules which deal with unlicensed equipment. As one can see from the required F.C.C. notice in the manual for any part 15 equipment, it is unprotected from interferrence, as is not allowed to cause any. "Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) this device may not cause any harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference that may cause undersired operation"
All ham radio licensees (except Novices) are authorized by the FCC Rules, Part 97.301(a) to use all operating modes in the 2390-2450 MHz band. 802.11b equipment is not allowed to interferre. A ham could reasonably ask anyone using 802.11b gear to stop operating if they cannot otherwise correct an interferrence problem. The 802.11b gear operator has no legal protection against interference from the ham operator. (or a nearby microwave oven at 2450 MHz either)
Being behind behind NAT boxes has greatly reduced the public address space needed by many I'm sure, but it cripples our ability to function as equals on the net.
Just as there have been moves to allow people to retain a phone number when changing cellular carriers, Having a permanent IP (or range of IPs) could have many uses.
All willing to have IPs starting with something along the lines of a social security number please raise your left foot. All spammers wanting my IPs, raise both feet.
It'll be interesting to see how Novell's stock does after this.
.iso's with the latest patches to appear. Eagerly awaiting new torrents...
While the fate of SUSE on the desktop may be uncertain, this has to be a good thing for Linux awareness and acceptance in general. I see this as a wise move at a time when whole countries are migrating away from MS. A top-down migration would start with the enterprise. And that allows a little more time for the load-the-CDs-and-go desktop distributions to get a little more polish. The Linux migration paper (translated from German I believe) here recently had made the strongest case for server and sizable environments.
As for the desktop, it seems like its about time for Mandrake
Maybe it's time for Apple to come out with "iVote"?
Let's hope no one starts attacking people in crowds with stick-on spam-radios. I can just see poor souls wandering around helplessly with their heads turned into speakers playing ads. I think I'll stick with something safer like a good ole' flame speaker... I ran across this Flame Speaker Project
If the courts won't fix the system, perhaps California's voter initiative process can. How hard would it be to get a proposition on the ballot requiring a system with a full PAPER audit trail? Something like this in California might help to raise awareness enough to generate action in other states or at the federal level.
(Something like this needed, among other things: Paper printout generated when voter makes choices, top of which is to be reviewed and confirmed by voter before hitting "submit", which marks the bottom of the paper form "submitted")
Of course one must hope that the vote on such a proposition isn't tampered with...
- - - - - - - -
No Arnold, the machines weren't supposed to be props
Apple Computer should sue because Claria sounds too much like Claris and would reflect negatively
Apple Records should sue because anything that reflects negatively on Apple Computer may reflect negatively on them.
Farmers should sue because anything that reflects negatively on apples is bad for them.
Microsoft is in there somewhere too, as groundwater contamination from Windows-loaded drives in discarded PCs is known to cause worms in apples, at least on Halloween.
Zoo-keepers should sue because Gator carries a more negative feeling than those lovable reptiles deserve.
Maybe no one should sue, just feed the Gator execs to the gators instead? Season to taste adding lawyers.
Pardon? He'll take credit for MS, citing that it was all part of the plan to distribute those "security weaknesses", put in to aid intelligence gathering in the fight of terrorism.
What are the odds we'll be shipping Diebold boxes to Iraq for those elections? He did promise elections...
It looks as though X11 is one of a number of included resources. Browsing through the package files on the Pather discs I saw one containing the GIMP print drivers!
>This article is completely pointless. All it says is that the people investing in SCO have dealings with other companies, "including Microsoft." And then the guy from BayStar disputes the claim anyway.
Of course Bayview would dispute the claim. Doesn't it seem unusual that Bayview would be doing this with "their own money" with SCO being unprofitable and having such questionable future prospects? Surely with the transactions they're into, they must have more attractive places to invest. This seems a VASTLY more valuable investment for MS, for its FUD value instead of direct profit, as they've previously acknowledged Linux as their biggest threat. 50 million is nothing to Microsoft, and it doesn't seem like it would be hard at all to have padded that much extra in via Bayviews profits handling the deal when MS invested in Roxio (now parent of Napster). Given Microsoft's history of being punished very little even when proven in the wrong, why wouldn't they do something like this? It is completely consistent with their business goals.
I'm looking forward to using Panther but I'm disappointed that machines that didn't ship with USB are being orphaned with this round. For a workaround we'll have to wait for XpostFacto to be updated. I really doubt that a Wallstreet G3/300 is significantly different to support than a Lombard PowerBook. This looks very much like a purely marketing driven decision rather than one based on technical issues. The drivers already in 10.2.x supported my USB 2/Firewire combo PCMCIA card right out of the box. I wish Apple would understand that many like myself are eager to buy new machines as justified for GOOD reasons (like vastly improved performance for demanding tasks), and that dropping support without good technical cause just breeds resentment and costs them OS upgrade sales. I generally avoid running unlicensed software but I'm feeling very reluctant to actually pay for copies of the OS that need 3rd party hacks to install on unsupported machines. Running Panther here isn't essential, but I'd sure like to see the same version of the OS on the old and new machines. Retiring machines prematurely is not only a waste of money, it is environmentally irresponsible. I suspect that in some settings having a portion of the installed machines orphaned would give Mac-hostile managers an excuse to jump platforms. It's a bit ironic that default OS installs include hundreds of megabytes for printers and languages we won't use, but not the little extra it'd take for slightly older Apple hardware. Shades of "Gil killed my dog" I guess...
>Say I take my laptop to Starbucks..... They certainly won't be able to find me
Beware of Cookies and JAVA!
If they don't bully the hotspot provider into filtering ports, they'll be tracking you by dropping a sugar coated RFID bug in your coffee. That's in case your location or the weather don't allow the satellites to scan the UV-readable barcode on your forehead, and you're out of view of the cameras in-store, at nearby traffic signals and those watchful ATM machines. Although your IP is more than likely changing from one location and session to the next, chances are you don't alter your MAC (hardware) address, so they're tracking use of your machine too.
- - - - - -
Todays theme: "Sweet Sixteen"
George W. - 16 Words, Arnold S. - 16 Women