User: Ckwop

Re:missed opportunity on SPAM fight

On: House Passes Internet Tax Ban

You can do this another way.. you make it computationally expensive to send an e-mail..

Take the md5 of the e-mail you send (include the from and to fields and the data and time the e-mail was set). Then require that every e-mail most contain another value, found by brute-force, that matches that hash in the lower 16-bits.

It quick to check but expensive to send.. i don't know why anyone hasn't done this yet.. but it'd solve the problem.. We don't even have to change SMTP.. (we can add a new x-whateverheader).

Simon

a new standard candle?

On: Planet-Gobbling Star

Perhaps we have a new standard candle in the making here. Perhaps this effect is closely tied to the starting mass and composition of the solar system of the star.. and thus the brightness is roughly the same for each event..

Just a thought :)

Simon

I dunno..

On: British Court Issues Bizarre Copyright Ruling

Well, call me stupid but aren't two airline booking systems always going to be "functionally similar".. They are designed for the same purpose..

Surely this is silly.. As stated somewhere in this thread. Patents are for ideas not copyright.. So it wont pass..

In order for progress to be made.. information and ideas need to be available to everyone to be explored and built on.

Granted, we need intellectual property but we also owe something to the sum of human knowledge.. If the man (or woman :) ) who invented the wheel claimed copyright in the way these guys have.. then the world would not be as it is today..

it is all too far in favour of keeping people bank balances healty but is this preventing new ideas?

Simon

Not much point

On: State Of The Simputer

I don't think there is much point in this.. a mobile phone could encapsulate most of this functionality for a quater the price. Simon.

Re:revolutionary? not yet.

On: Digital Ink On Billboards

They're trying to use fuel cells to get more life out of laptops :P

I don't think you can recharge a fuel cell though.. which sucks

Interesting.. i'd love to see an ISP do this

On: SBC Refuses To Name File-Sharing Users

Thanks for the link

I would love to see an ISP use Oblivious Transfer when assigning an IP to each on of its customers..

That way, this situtation would never have happened since the information the RIAA wanted could not have been obtained from the ISPs since the ISPs wouldn't know who they assigned IPs too.

Simon

It's really a digital vote

On: Post-copyright: Digital Cash and Compulsory Licensing?

What this guy really wants a secure digital vote..

Each cd is assigned a single vote. Each vote carries a value. You want a system with the following constraints:

• You want it to be impossible to stuff the ballot box
• You want it to be impossible for someone other than the voter to work out who the voter voted for.
• You want to be sure that the votes are counted correctly

His scheme is too simple to securely implement these requirements...

It's a good idea but I think it'd cost too much to implement.. and what if i used those cds for copying linux distros? I've paid tax for no purpose

Simon

Re:Benefits?

On: Space Elevator Conference Wraps Up

There are huge amounts of heavy metals in space that could be mined using a Space elevator. There is good chance that large amount of aluminum, iron, uranium and other such useful metals will exist in huge quantities (many billion of tonnes) on close to earth asteroids.

Assuming the technology required to mine such materials existed after the construction of such an elevator.. it would quickly pay for itself..

Simon.

Destroy, don't sell

On: Is Your Banking Information Accidentally On Ebay?

Personally, i think that any hard-drive that has been used for that purpose should be securely destroyed instead of being sold. Simon.