So when's someone gonna fess up and admit that the Power Grid is not ready for critical infrastructure either?
Never, the power companies have better lobbiests.
Just wait, they'll try to blame the power grid collapse on the Internet or something. Perhaps it was a butterfly flapping its wings in Kalamazoo that caused it all!
However, one thing I think the University is doing that they need to be VERY CONCERNED with for themselves (and not the students) is that they are now EDITORIALIZING. In other words, they are now saying they have looked at the content and this makes them RESPONSIBLE FOR IT. As soon as you do this, you are legally in a much worse position than you were before.
This was the very first thing I thought of when I read the post (even before the article). Not just Universities, but ISPs as well have used this as a shield, and let's face it, it's a fair one, no software/person(s) could possibly monitor everything that traverses a network and catch 100% of the illegal matierial. If UFL is doing this for file-sharing, what about Usenet? Heaven forbid they provide a Usenet server for the school and it has the binaries groups with illegal Mp3s/CDs/Etc. Even without the binary groups, there are plenty of rogue binaries that are in the other hierarchies.
Besides, while having set themselves up for trouble, their solution isn't very effective. I noticed the post from a UFL student that had moved off campus mentioning the software doesn't catch the file-trading if it goes through a proxy.
This is dangerous because once the law considers it the norm for a university to monitor its bandwidth usage (and not just the amount of bandwidth but the content), they are now open to litigation much more easily. In the end, it is possible that universities might just have to forego much of their Internet access to protect themselves legally. A lose-lose situation for everyone.
I suspect UFL is in for a very rude awakening about their newfound RIAA "friends" before long. The software's not perfect, and as the whole Napster lawsuit showed, the RIAA won't be happy unless UFL can achieve 100% blocking of all illegal Mp3 trading. I suspect as the RIAA gets more desperate, UFL may find themselves sued because they aren't blocking everything. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if it happens within a year to boot. Anyone know if the DMCA provisions to protect ISPs/Etc. will apply if the ISP is actively censoring?
To any University or ISP admins out there thinking about using ICARUS when UFL releases it. I'd advise waiting to see how it holds up legally. Of course IANAL, so take my advice as lightly as you like.
I liked Bloom County the first few years, it go really bad and then to make it official they called it Outland, and every silly over the top idea was cast as precious, every joke an inside joke.
How much did you read of Outland? It was definitely very very strange at first, but after a while it changed and was basically a Sunday only version of classic Bloom County.
Or maybe I just don't get him.
Not to sound condescending or anything, but this is very possible. It seems that with Bloom County people either get it and love it, or they don't get it and dislike/hate it. Never was entirely sure why, but then again I was part of the got it/loved it group.
I do think that the forcing a larger size may be a great thing for comics. They are getting too small. The semi-local paper (the local one doesn't carry comics, but this is from the closest big city) recently built new production and office facilities. They run all the comics in color daily now (which is quite nice), but they're so small that occasionally you can't read some of the text. Wordy strips like Doonsbury are the ones most affected by it.
I can see it now, you're sitting in the board room, the CEO is giving a talk about how the company's needing to cut costs and suddenly your phone beeps with an incoming message which it proceeds to read to you...
"Incoming message: 'Did you know you can increase your penis size overnight?....'"
Of course then you'd at least be able to prove monetary damages due to the spam, since you lost your job over it....
TCP/IP is a TWO WAY PROCESS. Not a one-way transmission. The 50" TV emits light; it doesn't receive it. The person using your wireless LAN without permission is sending and receiving data. They are also initiating packet transfers that might involve a cost to you. That's very different from passively watching a television. Your analogy falls very short.
What about UDP, or just simple packet sniffing? If they're receiving a UDP broadcast of some kind that they didn't send a packet to initiate then is it stealing? Most would probably say not a stealing of bandwidth, because the signal was already being sent. This would be akin to the neighbors watching your TV from across the street that the poster you replied to talked about.
Most would feel differently about packet sniffing I suspect, but in a way it's not different. They aren't initiating any bandwidth use, just watching what's flying by. Of course they may catch your hot -n- steamy IRC chat with some guy pretending to be a super model while they're at it. People have listened in on cordless phones for years. I remember a friend in high school who loved using his shortwave radio to pick them up. Last I checked that wasn't a crime, even though most people find the idea very distasteful, and few would like their conversations monitored.
What the RIAA is doing is stupid and heavy-handed. What the 15 year old did was stupid and illegal. But moral indignation against the RIAA is misplaced.
I disagree here, simply because the moral indignation we feel about it is telling us that something is VERY wrong with the laws concerning copyright, and that (if you follow the thought further) that organizations like the RIAA are becoming more powerful than most law enforcement agencies. We need more people to get morally outraged about this type of thing, or it will never change. Or it will and individual rights will disappear even further and we'll live in a police state run by the RIAA/MPAA and probably MicroSoft (Just cause I can't see Bill allowing the RIAA/MPAA to rule him or his company.)
Yes, what the RIAA is doing is legal, and it is possible the girl knew what she was doing was illegal (although, as I said in another post, at that age, she probably doesn't pay attention to the news so she very well might not have known). None of that lessens the impact of what is happening.
Think of it this way, if it was legal for the RIAA to kill anyone who shared files, would you still think the moral indignation was misplaced? Before you flame me for the comparison, read on. While currently the RIAA is only suing/settling cases for far less than the actual penalties allowed, the amounts are a lot of money. Especially to a family with kids, who are probably at best middle class. I doubt many of the rich kids are file sharing much because they can buy all the CDs they want. (Or download all the music they want from the legal services.)
I don't even have kids and if I got hit with one of these "fair" settlements the RIAA offers, it would utterly destroy my life. Killing me would be kinder, as I'd lose my car, my insurance, my job (no car to get there anymore), etc. This very well may be the case with some of the RIAA's lawsuit victims (and yes, I am intentionally calling them victims.)
I certainly feel that when an organization can use the legal system to cause financial damage without even having a trial, that I should be morally outraged. I suspect many people have settled because they couldn't even begin to afford a lawyer to defend themselves. There might even be cases where innocent people agreed to a settlement because they didn't know what else to do. (Yes, this is conjecture, but with some of the stories we've already heard about the lawsuit victims, I don't think it's too much of a stretch to believe there may be a few cases where this is true.) Remember, our legal system does not provide for a public defender in civil cases, and unless I'm mistaken (someone please correct me if I am), copyright violation suits are not criminal cases.
So get morally outraged, raise cain, tell the RIAA what you think, boycott buying new music (and downloading it illegally or legally), and most importantly write your congressmen/women by snail mail and tell them what you think about all this. They won't pay attention to E-mails, but they need to know what the people think.
And for the record, I do not do the music file-sharing myself. I do boycott the RIAA and pretty much all US Music companies. I listen to only anime soundtracks and Jpop albums that I import. (I try to buy them used mostly.) I started doing this about 5-6 years ago because I finally got totally fed up with the way the US music industry treats artists and consumers.
Nope. C'mon, we all need to get over this stuff. She knew what she was doing was illegal because it has been plastered everywhere across the web and news. She knew she could very easily get caught and that there would be a harsh penalty involved. She gambled and lost, just as many others are doing.
Do you remember what it was like when you were 15, or better yet, had any contact with 15yos lately? It's very likely she didn't have a clue. Kids that age rarely care about the news whether it be local, international, criminal, etc., they just don't care. They're more concerned with what's cool, who's cool, and occasionally homework. I wasn't a popular person in high school, but I distinctly remember I didn't pay any attention to the news until I was well out of it. And I was one of the geeky intelligent kids. How can you reasonably assume anyone in grade school pays any attention to the news? It's just not a "cool" thing to do, so it doesn't happen.
Mind you, I'm not saying what she did was right, but I don't find it terribly hard to believe that she really didn't know what she was doing was wrong or illegal. And yes, I know that's not a defense under the law, but let's at least cut her some slack and believe her, not that it'll help her fight off the RIAA SS troops, umm, lawyers.
And that's why, even though it was dumb to drive with a coffee cup between her legs, the plaintiff was awarded a judgement: McDonald's knew their coffee was too hot and committed itself in writing to the effect they weren't going to change things. And any first year law student will tell you those are the elements for negligence.
Actually she was the pasenger, not the driver, and the car was stopped when she opened the coffee and got so severely scalded. You are correct, while many think that case was just frivolous, it wasn't. McDonald's was also heating their apple pies to obscene tempatures and ignoring complaints about scalding and 2nd and 3rd degree burns caused by them. As a result of the coffee lawsuit, McDonalds finally lowered the tempature of their coffee and apple pies to sane tempatures. That alone probably saved untold numbers of people from very serious injuries. Imagine if your kid had gotten a 3rd degree burn from a super-heated apple pie because McDonalds didn't care they served them too hot.
Perhaps my mind's a tad devious, but from what I read in the article about how BigChampaigne is operating, the "research" they provide to the record companies is very hackable. It looks like they're tracking requests on the Kazaa network, even if they only track requests to actually download a song (and is this even possible? I'm not up on the technical specifics of how Kazaa's network runs), then all someone needs to do is generate a lot of bogus download requests. No need to actually download anything, just as long as BigChampaigne's software logs the request. A fairly small group of people with access to lots of IP addresses could completely screw the statistics up in short order. Even a home user with DHCP could screw with the stats some, by sending out lots of requests for download on one IP, then requesting a new lease for a new IP. Lather, Rinse, Repeat.
Now there's an idea, we could create a company that indy groups pay to have their songs spike higher in the download charts. Nothing illegal about it (well Kazaa's owners might not like it), since you wouldn't actually download the files. Ahhh, to toy with the minds of the RIAA, it'd be such fun.:)
How about setting up a website that lists all the 1-800/866/etc. numbers from spam E-mails. Then everyone who wanted to could call and drag them along as long as possible to run the bill up. Probably wouldn't take too long before their phone costs ate up all their profits and more.
The only downside is I don't think many spammers use this approach, but it'd certainly be effective against those who do. I don't think it'd be illegal (as long as each person didn't call more than once) either, but IANAL.
Did anyone actually read the article about the girl who found out there was a whole website up to torment her? It included a day for her death. That amounts to a death threat, just saying you want to kill someone isn't likely to be considered such, but when you start listing a DATE you've obviously got more in mind that just mouthing off.
I'm really surprised no one commented on this (at least that I could find, maybe they got modded down). This is definitely an example that is well beyond bullying. We'll never know for sure, but if the girl hadn't inadvertantly found out about the site, and the school officials (and others) alerted, she might be dead by now.
The article is slim on details, but I would hope some charges were filed against the site's creator. Before anyone starts yelling about they're just kids, we're talking 15yos here, and they certainly know that death is permanent. They should be held accountable.
We need to start teaching children how to defend themselves. Regardless of school policy, legally you have the right to defend yourself. If bullies are pushing your kid around, if bullies are beating your kid up, give your child the means to defend him/herself. Let your kid know that even if he/she gets in trouble at school for standing up for him/herself, you'll back him/her up.
This does work, I had the same situation, around 7th grade the bullies decided they wanted to actually start punching me. They were rather shocked when I punched back, hard. The bullies in my school were a bit thick-skulled, it took 13 fights in 2 years, but after that noone would even try to touch me, they didn't want to risk the humiliation of losing a fight to the nerdy guy.
Oh yeah, and tell your kids if they're defending themselves to do whatever it takes to win, fighting fair doesn't work with bullies. You get a chance to kick them in the groin, do it!
There is one potential negative, if the school won't support you in the aftermath, you may end up dead. Several times the losers of fights tried gathering up a bunch of friends to attack me after school. The principle was wise to this and met them instead. I seriously doubt I could have won a fight against 7-8 bullies by myself though.
Website links to sites that link to ways that you can possibly illegaly download music.
Using your chain idea, if I search for "free Mp3s" on Google, I'll get links to pages with Mp3s to download, probably not all legal ones either. Using the music industry's logic in this case, wouldn't Google be guilty of copyright infringement as well?
Scary stuff, they can't possibly be thinking through the consequences on this, or they just don't give a damn. (I'm voting for the latter.)
Problem is, of course, that if you're a CS student who has been a bit lax about security, you're probably screwed. People don't understand computers , so your jury won't understand that anybody who is studying computers or has *specific* knowledge isn't a super-1337 hax0r who is probably guilty.
The sad thing is, I could easily see many CS students managing to get infected. When I got my degree, most of my classmates were good at programming, but couldn't admin or secure a paper bag, much less their personal computers.
The scary part is the general public would assume a CS student knows how to secure their computer like you said, while it isn't something taught in many CS programs. (I know mine was focused on programming and theory, there was not a single required course that focused on security of any kind, even on coding securely.)
Don't you take pride in your work? If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well, and all that?
You took what I said out of context, I was a sub-contractor hired to do a particular scripting task, I had no control over what file system Regal used. As far as my work, yes I take great pride in it, and made damn sure what I delivered to them worked flawlessly under all conditions. I even tested it on a box with a failing hard drive, and did deliberate power-downs (without shutdown) on linux boxen to properly test the script.
Right again. However, it's been my experience that few managers are willing to look that far into the future. Most want to consider things only in the short term. New workers will be trained, or the stuff will migrate off of the mainframe, but only at the last minute, when things are forced: last mainframer at the shop announces retirement / gets hit by a cement mixer.
Reminds me of what my music composition instructor used to tell me about being sure to write down all I composed. "If you get hit by a bus tomorrow, all that work goes with you." You simply have to have a longer outlook on things, or you'll get slapped in the face with emergency after emergency. I guess PHBs don't have much long-term memory.:(
I have to agree that ICANN isn't doing a very good job. The only thing that I've noticed they did right in recent memory was jump on top of Verisgn's Wildcard service. But even then, it appeared that ICANN was helpless to really make Verisgn stop.
While I don't want to see governments in charge of regulating the Internet, a truly international organization that does include input from Internet denizons (like ICANN was originally supposed to) would be nice.
Why the hell are those registers running fsck at all? They should be using Reiser, XFS, EXT3 or anything else and have mods to prevent filesystem errors.
Can you say 'readonly root'?
At the time I was sub-contracted to do the work, EXT3 wasn't ready for prime time, and they were standardized on Red Hat, so that's why I guess. Don't look at me, I just did the work, and was quite happy with the pay.:)
This issue is hotly debated at many medium and big companies and organizations. Their biggest fear seems to be finding developers who know mainframe issues. There is a lot of Go-to code and JCL subtleties, for example, in these programs. Go-to programming and JCL is not tought in the schools, especially hacky constructs left over from the 60's where every byte was expensive. Imagine a class called "Go-to Techniques 101":-)
I can't fill very sorry for these companies though as they seem to not be willing to hire in programmers/IT staff and train them up. It wouldn't be terribly hard, and any decent Computer Science graduate should be able to pick up the skills they're missing from the existing programmers quickly enough. (When I got my degree, the program even included a course in programming languages that's purpose was to teach you how they were designed, and why, and cover historical examples. Picking up a new language after that course was a total breeze. I doubt learning the old COBOL techniques would be difficult at all for me, or anyone else who had that course.)
I do speak from some experience here, having lost my IT job over a year ago thanks to the economy, and been seeking a new one since. Every job listing I've seen from companies that maintain big iron and want either a sysadmin, or a programmer, are looking for someone with qualifications that very very few people have. I've seen some listings that are still up a year later, I doubt they'll ever fill them. Companies need to think to the future, if they do feel the need to keep the COBOL apps on the mainframe (and I don't blame them, they do work and are quite stable), they're going to need to bring in lower-level IT/Programmers and make sure they learn the skills needed.
Unless you're a total Linux zealot, you'd see that it's not ready for the business desktop. If it can't inter-op with other Windows desktops with ease (and don't go on about open office, evolution, etc...they're buggy and not proven at all), then it's not ready.
Depends on the circumstances, if you're a business deciding to migrate away from Windows you'll be fine. I had entire labs of nothing but Linux running at a large university engineering dept and we had no problems with them and the classes that stuck to just linux. If a business goes to all linux and Open Office/Evolution/Etc., they'll likely be just fine and dandy, and IT/IS can make sure that the most stable versions of each app is used on the machines, only upgrading when a more stable version is released.
Of course under Windows, there's not much you can say about stability, as BSODs can occur for no discernable reason at random, the OS tends to chew up resources, requiring periodic reboots to keep the system useable, applications that refuse to work properly in a multi-user envioronment (without everyone having administrator privledges), and of course the ever present threat of viruses galore.
You don't have to be a linux zealot to see that Linux can do fine as a business desktop in many circumstances. Would I recommend it for a small Mom & Pop business? Hell no. For a big Fortune 500 company with a knowledgeable IT/IS dept? Sure thing!
I definitely agree it's not ready for home use though.
For the corporate desktop where things should be locked down, Linux with OpenOffice may be a good bet at a good price.
More than just a good bet, a great one. One of the major problems with windows machines as corporate desktops (and computer labs in education) is that it's damn near impossible to lock them down enough to prevent users from modifying them (as least knowledgable users), while keeping them useable! When you just want your desktop users to be able to do E-mail, documents, etc. that are business related, it's much much easier to do with Linux and Open Office. It's also easier to administer, since you don't have to physically go to the machine to work on it. I think businesses are starting to see this, and that it'll save money by lowering IT support costs, raising user productivity (since the machines will be up and functional more often), and costing less on the front end to setup (the software's cheaper). Not to mention a desktop can probably last more than three years since Linux makes much better use of resouces than any Windows OS does.
If Linux is to crash on that things, I'll gladly give it a try and would like to give it a try. Maybe Linux is not ready for that stuff - we don't know. But what we know: Windows is not ready for them, for sure!
Linux is useful in some of the circumstances you mention, and it's been proven. Ever gone to a Regal cinema? All their cash registers run linux. They're nice little systems, come from the manufacturer compactly configured with a LCD touch screen, and the hard drive and motherboard componenets are all in the base of the thing. They've modified linux for their needs, and the boxes will only boot up into the cash register application. You have to have a keyboard to bybass it, but they don't come with one at the theaters (a standard PS/2 keyboard connector is on them for maintenance, as well as a special port for an external floppy drive, but these are kept at central support, not in the theater.)
I know about them because I did some scripting under a contractor for them that modified the bootup to do a totally automated fsck, repairing any errors by default without user intervention. That solved one of their problems they had been having. (Namely that when fsck found errors, the register would have to be taken out of service until it could be fixed by central support.) From what I understand, Regal has been expanding on their linux use since then in fact, so there's no telling what all you see in their theaters that run it.
And that's why you run the tinfoil hat. The real conspiracies, aren't really agreements. They're people who understand the meta-game above the one you're playing. They've got the influence, and know how to use it. Your small time irrational theories that require malice, black helicoptors, or alien technology aren't just silly, they also distract you from the real "threat" (such as it is). Feel free, of course, I'm entertained, and there's something to be said for a little theater while you're stuck in an E-ticket handbasket ride.
Well quite frankly, if you trust Bill Gates, and Microsoft further than you can drop kick them, then I have some lovely lake front property in downtown Atlanta I'll let you have cheap, only $10,000.
It doesn't take grand conspiracy theories to see that Microsoft's past (and continuing) actions make it quite clear that anything resembling goodwill from them probably has a poison pill of some kind attached. Want an example? How about giving Internet Explorer away for free back during the great browser wars? Oh yeah it had a poison pill, kill off the competition, and give us a bug-riddled product that'll help to spread viruses and worms with the greatest of ease. (Ok, granted, the security holes probably weren't planned, but they do seem to be the norm for MS products in any case).
And hey, if our feelings are just nutso theories that distract from the "real threat", why'd you bother posting anonymously? Surely you have nothing to hide/fear?
As they say, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.:P
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So when's someone gonna fess up and admit that the Power Grid is not ready for critical infrastructure either?
Never, the power companies have better lobbiests.Just wait, they'll try to blame the power grid collapse on the Internet or something. Perhaps it was a butterfly flapping its wings in Kalamazoo that caused it all!
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However, one thing I think the University is doing that they need to be VERY CONCERNED with for themselves (and not the students) is that they are now EDITORIALIZING. In other words, they are now saying they have looked at the content and this makes them RESPONSIBLE FOR IT. As soon as you do this, you are legally in a much worse position than you were before.
This was the very first thing I thought of when I read the post (even before the article). Not just Universities, but ISPs as well have used this as a shield, and let's face it, it's a fair one, no software/person(s) could possibly monitor everything that traverses a network and catch 100% of the illegal matierial. If UFL is doing this for file-sharing, what about Usenet? Heaven forbid they provide a Usenet server for the school and it has the binaries groups with illegal Mp3s/CDs/Etc. Even without the binary groups, there are plenty of rogue binaries that are in the other hierarchies.Besides, while having set themselves up for trouble, their solution isn't very effective. I noticed the post from a UFL student that had moved off campus mentioning the software doesn't catch the file-trading if it goes through a proxy.
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This is dangerous because once the law considers it the norm for a university to monitor its bandwidth usage (and not just the amount of bandwidth but the content), they are now open to litigation much more easily. In the end, it is possible that universities might just have to forego much of their Internet access to protect themselves legally. A lose-lose situation for everyone.
I suspect UFL is in for a very rude awakening about their newfound RIAA "friends" before long. The software's not perfect, and as the whole Napster lawsuit showed, the RIAA won't be happy unless UFL can achieve 100% blocking of all illegal Mp3 trading. I suspect as the RIAA gets more desperate, UFL may find themselves sued because they aren't blocking everything. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if it happens within a year to boot. Anyone know if the DMCA provisions to protect ISPs/Etc. will apply if the ISP is actively censoring?To any University or ISP admins out there thinking about using ICARUS when UFL releases it. I'd advise waiting to see how it holds up legally. Of course IANAL, so take my advice as lightly as you like.
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I liked Bloom County the first few years, it go really bad and then to make it official they called it Outland, and every silly over the top idea was cast as precious, every joke an inside joke.
How much did you read of Outland? It was definitely very very strange at first, but after a while it changed and was basically a Sunday only version of classic Bloom County.-
Or maybe I just don't get him.
Not to sound condescending or anything, but this is very possible. It seems that with Bloom County people either get it and love it, or they don't get it and dislike/hate it. Never was entirely sure why, but then again I was part of the got it/loved it group.I do think that the forcing a larger size may be a great thing for comics. They are getting too small. The semi-local paper (the local one doesn't carry comics, but this is from the closest big city) recently built new production and office facilities. They run all the comics in color daily now (which is quite nice), but they're so small that occasionally you can't read some of the text. Wordy strips like Doonsbury are the ones most affected by it.
"Incoming message: 'Did you know you can increase your penis size overnight? ....'"
Of course then you'd at least be able to prove monetary damages due to the spam, since you lost your job over it....
Funny, but rather scary too.
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TCP/IP is a TWO WAY PROCESS. Not a one-way transmission. The 50" TV emits light; it doesn't receive it. The person using your wireless LAN without permission is sending and receiving data. They are also initiating packet transfers that might involve a cost to you. That's very different from passively watching a television. Your analogy falls very short.
What about UDP, or just simple packet sniffing? If they're receiving a UDP broadcast of some kind that they didn't send a packet to initiate then is it stealing? Most would probably say not a stealing of bandwidth, because the signal was already being sent. This would be akin to the neighbors watching your TV from across the street that the poster you replied to talked about.Most would feel differently about packet sniffing I suspect, but in a way it's not different. They aren't initiating any bandwidth use, just watching what's flying by. Of course they may catch your hot -n- steamy IRC chat with some guy pretending to be a super model while they're at it. People have listened in on cordless phones for years. I remember a friend in high school who loved using his shortwave radio to pick them up. Last I checked that wasn't a crime, even though most people find the idea very distasteful, and few would like their conversations monitored.
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What the RIAA is doing is stupid and heavy-handed. What the 15 year old did was stupid and illegal. But moral indignation against the RIAA is misplaced.
I disagree here, simply because the moral indignation we feel about it is telling us that something is VERY wrong with the laws concerning copyright, and that (if you follow the thought further) that organizations like the RIAA are becoming more powerful than most law enforcement agencies. We need more people to get morally outraged about this type of thing, or it will never change. Or it will and individual rights will disappear even further and we'll live in a police state run by the RIAA/MPAA and probably MicroSoft (Just cause I can't see Bill allowing the RIAA/MPAA to rule him or his company.)Yes, what the RIAA is doing is legal, and it is possible the girl knew what she was doing was illegal (although, as I said in another post, at that age, she probably doesn't pay attention to the news so she very well might not have known). None of that lessens the impact of what is happening.
Think of it this way, if it was legal for the RIAA to kill anyone who shared files, would you still think the moral indignation was misplaced? Before you flame me for the comparison, read on. While currently the RIAA is only suing/settling cases for far less than the actual penalties allowed, the amounts are a lot of money. Especially to a family with kids, who are probably at best middle class. I doubt many of the rich kids are file sharing much because they can buy all the CDs they want. (Or download all the music they want from the legal services.)
I don't even have kids and if I got hit with one of these "fair" settlements the RIAA offers, it would utterly destroy my life. Killing me would be kinder, as I'd lose my car, my insurance, my job (no car to get there anymore), etc. This very well may be the case with some of the RIAA's lawsuit victims (and yes, I am intentionally calling them victims.)
I certainly feel that when an organization can use the legal system to cause financial damage without even having a trial, that I should be morally outraged. I suspect many people have settled because they couldn't even begin to afford a lawyer to defend themselves. There might even be cases where innocent people agreed to a settlement because they didn't know what else to do. (Yes, this is conjecture, but with some of the stories we've already heard about the lawsuit victims, I don't think it's too much of a stretch to believe there may be a few cases where this is true.) Remember, our legal system does not provide for a public defender in civil cases, and unless I'm mistaken (someone please correct me if I am), copyright violation suits are not criminal cases.
So get morally outraged, raise cain, tell the RIAA what you think, boycott buying new music (and downloading it illegally or legally), and most importantly write your congressmen/women by snail mail and tell them what you think about all this. They won't pay attention to E-mails, but they need to know what the people think.
And for the record, I do not do the music file-sharing myself. I do boycott the RIAA and pretty much all US Music companies. I listen to only anime soundtracks and Jpop albums that I import. (I try to buy them used mostly.) I started doing this about 5-6 years ago because I finally got totally fed up with the way the US music industry treats artists and consumers.
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Nope. C'mon, we all need to get over this stuff. She knew what she was doing was illegal because it has been plastered everywhere across the web and news. She knew she could very easily get caught and that there would be a harsh penalty involved. She gambled and lost, just as many others are doing.
Do you remember what it was like when you were 15, or better yet, had any contact with 15yos lately? It's very likely she didn't have a clue. Kids that age rarely care about the news whether it be local, international, criminal, etc., they just don't care. They're more concerned with what's cool, who's cool, and occasionally homework. I wasn't a popular person in high school, but I distinctly remember I didn't pay any attention to the news until I was well out of it. And I was one of the geeky intelligent kids. How can you reasonably assume anyone in grade school pays any attention to the news? It's just not a "cool" thing to do, so it doesn't happen.Mind you, I'm not saying what she did was right, but I don't find it terribly hard to believe that she really didn't know what she was doing was wrong or illegal. And yes, I know that's not a defense under the law, but let's at least cut her some slack and believe her, not that it'll help her fight off the RIAA SS troops, umm, lawyers.
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And that's why, even though it was dumb to drive with a coffee cup between her legs, the plaintiff was awarded a judgement: McDonald's knew their coffee was too hot and committed itself in writing to the effect they weren't going to change things. And any first year law student will tell you those are the elements for negligence.
Actually she was the pasenger, not the driver, and the car was stopped when she opened the coffee and got so severely scalded. You are correct, while many think that case was just frivolous, it wasn't. McDonald's was also heating their apple pies to obscene tempatures and ignoring complaints about scalding and 2nd and 3rd degree burns caused by them. As a result of the coffee lawsuit, McDonalds finally lowered the tempature of their coffee and apple pies to sane tempatures. That alone probably saved untold numbers of people from very serious injuries. Imagine if your kid had gotten a 3rd degree burn from a super-heated apple pie because McDonalds didn't care they served them too hot.Now there's an idea, we could create a company that indy groups pay to have their songs spike higher in the download charts. Nothing illegal about it (well Kazaa's owners might not like it), since you wouldn't actually download the files. Ahhh, to toy with the minds of the RIAA, it'd be such fun. :)
The only downside is I don't think many spammers use this approach, but it'd certainly be effective against those who do. I don't think it'd be illegal (as long as each person didn't call more than once) either, but IANAL.
I'm really surprised no one commented on this (at least that I could find, maybe they got modded down). This is definitely an example that is well beyond bullying. We'll never know for sure, but if the girl hadn't inadvertantly found out about the site, and the school officials (and others) alerted, she might be dead by now.
The article is slim on details, but I would hope some charges were filed against the site's creator. Before anyone starts yelling about they're just kids, we're talking 15yos here, and they certainly know that death is permanent. They should be held accountable.
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We need to start teaching children how to defend themselves. Regardless of school policy, legally you have the right to defend yourself. If bullies are pushing your kid around, if bullies are beating your kid up, give your child the means to defend him/herself. Let your kid know that even if he/she gets in trouble at school for standing up for him/herself, you'll back him/her up.
This does work, I had the same situation, around 7th grade the bullies decided they wanted to actually start punching me. They were rather shocked when I punched back, hard. The bullies in my school were a bit thick-skulled, it took 13 fights in 2 years, but after that noone would even try to touch me, they didn't want to risk the humiliation of losing a fight to the nerdy guy.Oh yeah, and tell your kids if they're defending themselves to do whatever it takes to win, fighting fair doesn't work with bullies. You get a chance to kick them in the groin, do it!
There is one potential negative, if the school won't support you in the aftermath, you may end up dead. Several times the losers of fights tried gathering up a bunch of friends to attack me after school. The principle was wise to this and met them instead. I seriously doubt I could have won a fight against 7-8 bullies by myself though.
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Website links to sites that link to ways that you can possibly illegaly download music.
Using your chain idea, if I search for "free Mp3s" on Google, I'll get links to pages with Mp3s to download, probably not all legal ones either. Using the music industry's logic in this case, wouldn't Google be guilty of copyright infringement as well?Scary stuff, they can't possibly be thinking through the consequences on this, or they just don't give a damn. (I'm voting for the latter.)
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Problem is, of course, that if you're a CS student who has been a bit lax about security, you're probably screwed. People don't understand computers , so your jury won't understand that anybody who is studying computers or has *specific* knowledge isn't a super-1337 hax0r who is probably guilty.
The sad thing is, I could easily see many CS students managing to get infected. When I got my degree, most of my classmates were good at programming, but couldn't admin or secure a paper bag, much less their personal computers.The scary part is the general public would assume a CS student knows how to secure their computer like you said, while it isn't something taught in many CS programs. (I know mine was focused on programming and theory, there was not a single required course that focused on security of any kind, even on coding securely.)
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Don't you take pride in your work? If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well, and all that?
You took what I said out of context, I was a sub-contractor hired to do a particular scripting task, I had no control over what file system Regal used. As far as my work, yes I take great pride in it, and made damn sure what I delivered to them worked flawlessly under all conditions. I even tested it on a box with a failing hard drive, and did deliberate power-downs (without shutdown) on linux boxen to properly test the script.-
Right again. However, it's been my experience that few managers are willing to look that far into the future. Most want to consider things only in the short term. New workers will be trained, or the stuff will migrate off of the mainframe, but only at the last minute, when things are forced: last mainframer at the shop announces retirement / gets hit by a cement mixer.
Reminds me of what my music composition instructor used to tell me about being sure to write down all I composed. "If you get hit by a bus tomorrow, all that work goes with you." You simply have to have a longer outlook on things, or you'll get slapped in the face with emergency after emergency. I guess PHBs don't have much long-term memory.While I don't want to see governments in charge of regulating the Internet, a truly international organization that does include input from Internet denizons (like ICANN was originally supposed to) would be nice.
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Why the hell are those registers running fsck at all? They should be using Reiser, XFS, EXT3 or anything else and have mods to prevent filesystem errors.
At the time I was sub-contracted to do the work, EXT3 wasn't ready for prime time, and they were standardized on Red Hat, so that's why I guess. Don't look at me, I just did the work, and was quite happy with the pay.Can you say 'readonly root'?
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This issue is hotly debated at many medium and big companies and organizations. Their biggest fear seems to be finding developers who know mainframe issues. There is a lot of Go-to code and JCL subtleties, for example, in these programs. Go-to programming and JCL is not tought in the schools, especially hacky constructs left over from the 60's where every byte was expensive. Imagine a class called "Go-to Techniques 101"
:-)
I can't fill very sorry for these companies though as they seem to not be willing to hire in programmers/IT staff and train them up. It wouldn't be terribly hard, and any decent Computer Science graduate should be able to pick up the skills they're missing from the existing programmers quickly enough. (When I got my degree, the program even included a course in programming languages that's purpose was to teach you how they were designed, and why, and cover historical examples. Picking up a new language after that course was a total breeze. I doubt learning the old COBOL techniques would be difficult at all for me, or anyone else who had that course.)I do speak from some experience here, having lost my IT job over a year ago thanks to the economy, and been seeking a new one since. Every job listing I've seen from companies that maintain big iron and want either a sysadmin, or a programmer, are looking for someone with qualifications that very very few people have. I've seen some listings that are still up a year later, I doubt they'll ever fill them. Companies need to think to the future, if they do feel the need to keep the COBOL apps on the mainframe (and I don't blame them, they do work and are quite stable), they're going to need to bring in lower-level IT/Programmers and make sure they learn the skills needed.
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I don't know, that paper clip was pretty damn innovative. I mean, who else would think to make something like that?
Torturers?And don't forget Microsoft Bob....
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Unless you're a total Linux zealot, you'd see that it's not ready for the business desktop. If it can't inter-op with other Windows desktops with ease (and don't go on about open office, evolution, etc...they're buggy and not proven at all), then it's not ready.
Depends on the circumstances, if you're a business deciding to migrate away from Windows you'll be fine. I had entire labs of nothing but Linux running at a large university engineering dept and we had no problems with them and the classes that stuck to just linux. If a business goes to all linux and Open Office/Evolution/Etc., they'll likely be just fine and dandy, and IT/IS can make sure that the most stable versions of each app is used on the machines, only upgrading when a more stable version is released.Of course under Windows, there's not much you can say about stability, as BSODs can occur for no discernable reason at random, the OS tends to chew up resources, requiring periodic reboots to keep the system useable, applications that refuse to work properly in a multi-user envioronment (without everyone having administrator privledges), and of course the ever present threat of viruses galore.
You don't have to be a linux zealot to see that Linux can do fine as a business desktop in many circumstances. Would I recommend it for a small Mom & Pop business? Hell no. For a big Fortune 500 company with a knowledgeable IT/IS dept? Sure thing!
I definitely agree it's not ready for home use though.
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For the corporate desktop where things should be locked down, Linux with OpenOffice may be a good bet at a good price.
More than just a good bet, a great one. One of the major problems with windows machines as corporate desktops (and computer labs in education) is that it's damn near impossible to lock them down enough to prevent users from modifying them (as least knowledgable users), while keeping them useable! When you just want your desktop users to be able to do E-mail, documents, etc. that are business related, it's much much easier to do with Linux and Open Office. It's also easier to administer, since you don't have to physically go to the machine to work on it. I think businesses are starting to see this, and that it'll save money by lowering IT support costs, raising user productivity (since the machines will be up and functional more often), and costing less on the front end to setup (the software's cheaper). Not to mention a desktop can probably last more than three years since Linux makes much better use of resouces than any Windows OS does.-
If Linux is to crash on that things, I'll gladly give it a try and would like to give it a try. Maybe Linux is not ready for that stuff - we don't know. But what we know: Windows is not ready for them, for sure!
Linux is useful in some of the circumstances you mention, and it's been proven. Ever gone to a Regal cinema? All their cash registers run linux. They're nice little systems, come from the manufacturer compactly configured with a LCD touch screen, and the hard drive and motherboard componenets are all in the base of the thing. They've modified linux for their needs, and the boxes will only boot up into the cash register application. You have to have a keyboard to bybass it, but they don't come with one at the theaters (a standard PS/2 keyboard connector is on them for maintenance, as well as a special port for an external floppy drive, but these are kept at central support, not in the theater.)I know about them because I did some scripting under a contractor for them that modified the bootup to do a totally automated fsck, repairing any errors by default without user intervention. That solved one of their problems they had been having. (Namely that when fsck found errors, the register would have to be taken out of service until it could be fixed by central support.) From what I understand, Regal has been expanding on their linux use since then in fact, so there's no telling what all you see in their theaters that run it.
Ok, it's not true, but would it terribly surprise anyone at this point? :)
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And that's why you run the tinfoil hat. The real conspiracies, aren't really agreements. They're people who understand the meta-game above the one you're playing. They've got the influence, and know how to use it. Your small time irrational theories that require malice, black helicoptors, or alien technology aren't just silly, they also distract you from the real "threat" (such as it is). Feel free, of course, I'm entertained, and there's something to be said for a little theater while you're stuck in an E-ticket handbasket ride.
Well quite frankly, if you trust Bill Gates, and Microsoft further than you can drop kick them, then I have some lovely lake front property in downtown Atlanta I'll let you have cheap, only $10,000.It doesn't take grand conspiracy theories to see that Microsoft's past (and continuing) actions make it quite clear that anything resembling goodwill from them probably has a poison pill of some kind attached. Want an example? How about giving Internet Explorer away for free back during the great browser wars? Oh yeah it had a poison pill, kill off the competition, and give us a bug-riddled product that'll help to spread viruses and worms with the greatest of ease. (Ok, granted, the security holes probably weren't planned, but they do seem to be the norm for MS products in any case).
And hey, if our feelings are just nutso theories that distract from the "real threat", why'd you bother posting anonymously? Surely you have nothing to hide/fear?
As they say, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. :P