"If you're replicating data between all three offices (and a fourth backup system?) then you are making backups."
Replicating data is NOT backing anything up - I learned this the hard way almost a decade ago. The system I was working was a huge LDAP system, replicating across 20+ servers - everyone assumed that there was more than enough redundancy going on, until that fateful day when the front end triggered some obscure bug somewhere that started deleting the data from the bottom up. And guess what? The replication worked just fine - now all 20 servers were deleting the same data:-(
You NEED to have snapshots of your data, no two ways around it.
My guess would be that we are either very comfortable with the way things are, or we are to stressed out with the day-2-day stresses of our chosen lifestyle to bother with any possible fiasco that could occur - while the powers that steer us are corrupt and only concerned with their money and taking more of ours.
You have a very good point here - why are these things even doing all the "tallying" on there own? Wasn't the overall MAIN issue was the validity of "hanging chads" and the like - why in the hell can't we have a simple machine with all the same bells and whistles that simply punches the damn things for us?!?!
On a side note - how hard can this stuff be? It's not like they aren't making a fortune from these things - it's seeming like they are barely able to break even so they have to hire "below the barrel" talent...
From the way it was explained to me on this very topic - you are the one who chooses to fly, your not forced to. So when you choose this, your also choosing to put up with all the B.S. - your "rights" do not apply here.
Just like if you "chose" to continue dining out at your favorite restaurant when they decided to change the menu.
Your dealing with a private industry, not the government - regardless of any oversite. What they want you to do, you will do if you desire to continue using there services.
Disclaimer of sorts: I haven't flown since the airspace opened back up after 9/11/01 - best plain ride I've ever had, no one was on it!
Doesn't work for everyone... Here on windstream.net they seem to randomly block queries to other nameservers unless you use theirs - unless of course freedns, earthlink and rackspace all went down at the same time when the windstream local DNS would still work - anything is possible I guess.
They do have the 'opt-out' option although all it does is give a fake IE DNS error page instead - I'm using FireFox so it's obvious...
The page cannot be displayed The page you are looking for is currently unavailable. The Web site might be experiencing technical difficulties, or you may need to adjust your browser settings.
Please try the following:
* Click the refresh.gif (82 bytes) Refresh button, or try again later.
* If you typed the page address in the Address bar, make sure that it is spelled correctly.
* To check your connection settings, click the Tools menu, and then click Internet Options. On the Connections tab, click Settings. The settings should match those provided by your local area network (LAN) administrator or Internet service provider (ISP).
* See if your Internet connection settings are being detected. You can set Microsoft Windows to examine your network and automatically discover network connection settings (if your network administrator has enabled this setting).
1. Click the Tools menu, and then click Internet Options.
2. On the Connections tab, click LAN Settings.
3. Select Automatically detect settings, and then click OK.
* Some sites require 128-bit connection security. Click the Help menu and then click About Internet Explorer to determine what strength security you have installed.
* If you are trying to reach a secure site, make sure your Security settings can support it. Click the Tools menu, and then click Internet Options. On the Advanced tab, scroll to the Security section and check settings for SSL 2.0, SSL 3.0, TLS 1.0, PCT 1.0.
* Click the Back button to try another link.
Cannot find server or DNS Error Internet Explorer
[ Manage Opt-In/Out settings ]
To make matters worse, I'm still getting redirected to search.grandecom.com for other typos - no rhyme or reason (as far as I can tell) as to which you get redirected to.
What they don't do is document things they don't want you to know, like formats and protocols...
Dude, are you blind or just stupid?!?! That's the whole point to being open and having other people work with your stuff! IE - NOT A MONOPOLY and keeping the competition at bay!!!!!
If their stuff was quality work and was worth the $$$ they expect you to pay, I seriously doubt there would be such a hub-bub about it all - you don't see ANYTHING like this occurring in the Linux community...
Take it one step farther - you just finished running, your heart rate is up, body temp is up and sweating - your about to commit a crime according to the DHS...
Idiotic or not (point of view thing I suppose) I personally view it as more scary than anything - how you could possibly raise a kid to be prepared for and deal with crap like this. The Minority report and BigBrother scenarios are only going to be the tip of iceberg in 30+ years...
Your average utility/store credit card is not a registered bank.
Well, duhh... That's not their business, but they are BACKED by such in such lender/bank who are regulated. I just did a simple random search of a few stores, and all the cards are backed by such a place.
Comparing Paypal to a utility bill, or ANY bill is not even close to being fair let alone accurate - if you overpay someone, they are required to refund you your money or you can go after them. This 'refund' usually is just applied to your next bill - although, if you close your account they send you a check regardless if you were a bad customer or not.
Comparing them to 'gift cards' is more accurate although at the same time, gift cards are not used as banks in which Paypal actively encourages you to do so, and makes them selves "look" like one. Essentially it should come down to something as simple as how much money goes through the account - a gift card usually has a max limit of a $100 or something like this, Paypal has $1000's upon $1000's going through it.
Even the quick payday loan shops who charge 30% interest and worse than any given collections joint - even they are regulated at some extent. Paypal is just exploiting loopholes to the max.
the solution is simple. more, quality mass transportation.
But then you would be catering to the needs of the many, and not the desires of the minority - and then where would you get all those votes you need to stay employed, and finance your daily commute on your new 747?
Ya know, if he saw a flaw he should have reported it to the IT department.
I couldn't tell you if I'm in the minority here, but every time I've "reported" such a flaw in such-n-such given system - I either hear "That's not a problem sir, it's suppose to work that way..." or they simply don't do anything about it.
I agree it's not the REPpresentatives fault, although I don't blame *anyone* getting upset at them, as in *reality* (regardless of ignorance on the part of the rep) the said rep is REPpresenting either the store that wants extra money to back the products they sell, or REPpresenting the manufacturer selling the said crappy products.
It wasn't all that long ago that most products were *NOT* made to crap out in a matter of months, intentionally or not.
If you can't deal with the heat of a product your representing as quality - when it turns out it's not, then why in the hell do it in the first place? Either take the responsibility of what your representing or make it damn clear your not... It's not rocket science guys, it's called taking responsibility for what your saying - unless of course you know in advance your lieing to everyone then it's a moot point all around.
This is a very scary precedent, and it seems to blur some historical distinctions between federal agencies and private interests.
Thats not what is really scary, it is - but not as bad as what is to come from all of this down the road. The "Federal Government" will now be getting into "civil affairs" (and the government is immune to law suits AFAIK - IANAL though) which is a contradiction in terms and with the power to take *entire* server farms with no recourse - it just adds more power for those who are in the right spot to do as they want. If this was in place a few days ago when the Sci-Pots declared thousands of said infringements on youtube - the government would have had the power to go in permanently shut down the ENTIRE operation, regardless if it was b.s. in the first place or not.
All in all, what is really scary is that when you give someone an inch - the next guy down the road is going to go for the mile, and eventually gets it... This is just another nail in our coffin when your precious government can storm down your door and take your life style away from you - just because of a suspicious accusation from some elite entity, that kind of sounds familiar for some reason - don't know why though...
Mark these words, right now they can only take the things that provide you your life style. It won't be long (5-10 yrs max) before they will be taking your life - IE: throwing you behind bars for decades. All that needs to happen, is that this "civil matter" turn to a federal crime since the feds are dealing with it anyway and they only deal in criminal matters.
IANAL by any means, although with todays world of so much civil action going around and being 'guilty' before proven 'innocent', the DMCA is probably meant for immediate action and *only then* would an investigation take place to see if it is/was legit or not... Besides, if you think about it, if it *is* legit - an investigation could be drug out for ever, while the offending material would still be offending...
While I agree with everything you've said, I think there is more to it which is why this comes back up every once in a while. Personally, I'm getting out of the field for the same reasons mentioned as the 'pros' for said unionizing... I've never been in a union my self although after seeing what I've gone through various and numerous times - those in my family that are or were in a one, expressed how fortunate they are/were to be so, that they simply don't have to put up with this crap.
On the fees, I would think that as a collective whole we could set them - and they could be as much or as little as just another certificate. Out of all the peeps I've worked with over the last couple of decades though, I would much rather work with someone who has a 'license' so to speak simply because they would be required to know at least so much, and I've worked with too many bullshit artists that just added more work for me to not be interested in some kind of bar. Also realize that a 'license' can be revoked if you really don't know what your doing, so it's far from being the same as just another cert...
One of the many problems with IT is that there is no standard for performance or know how - if your good at selling yourself, you could con your way into almost any position - and just end up creating more work for others, or much worse and bankrupt an entire company.
Not to mention that stomping on your idiot managers toes because he has zero clues on what is going on, and you get shit for it and even fired because of it - would not happen... How many times has this happened to the/. crowd for stepping on others precious EGO? (that on top of it, they have no right too)
Skype also has the API that you could always write a simple bash script to use, I believe it uses DCOP for the calls. Don't know how extensive it is, but any API can be very useful in obtaining the ultimate '1 click' stop and shop deal... Not sure if it is still active but they used to have it where communication between Skype accounts were free, there is also a ZOOM modem like thing for Skype now, pretty cheap at Wally world, that you can hook a normal phone up to it.
I wouldn't say it as much as being professional as it is in COMMUNICATING.. I used to have a contract position for coding a new online app, no big deal but when I came to a cross in the roads that I needed direction on, I emailed the "Boss" and explained the situation and that I was at a stand still until receiving feedback - I never did, in fact a week later when he emailed me asking for an update and progress report and I replied back saying I was waiting on him - he had the gall to blame it on me saying that he forwarded everything on to his boss and was waiting for a reply... How was I suppose to know that?!?! Shortly after I nixed the whole thing, sending an email to everyone involved that the communication was just not there and making it impossible to be productive.
That would probably be a good thing, considering that if you *do* try and provide security you'd prolly be liable for what ever does happen... IANAL though:-)
the authors of a piece of software could be so inept that they would fail...
Wasn't one of diebolds first blunders to be recognized when they developed the app (that couldn't add right) in M$ Access or something really stupidly lame?
conceive of a team of actual software engineers who could be that inept.
I seriously doubt legit coders are doing this, it feels to me like it is wan-a-be politicians/management throwing something together because they made promises they have no idea how to keep, but as long as something is there - they get the millions the government promised them.
iptables -A OUTPUT -s x.x.x.x/x -d x.x.x.x/x -j DROP
The above seems to work just fine, granted this is iptables but I would be very disappointed in CISCO if their switches/routers/firewalls couldn't support something as simple this. Makes me wonder if 'engineers' are just making up the difficulty level because they too are tired of this...
This is not suing someone for downloading a song. This is about putting the song up for everyone on the Internet to download - potentially at least thousands or tens of thousands of people.
Unless I'm missing something, it's not about that either. If that was the case wouldn't it be more prudent to go after the really 'bad boys' who post to usenet? IMHO, this has been nothing more than your typical 3rd rate asshat elites who needed some easy money - whats easier than taking candy from baby? Taking money from college kids and the like. They are just kids after all (relatively speaking) and they are just breaking into the real world, and have no clue what to do when a (supposedly) legitimate organization, let alone a bunch of attorneys, starts threatening them and demanding money - I sure as hell didn't 20 years ago, and I've learned a hell of a lot since about how things work around here...
I worked for a very prominent hosting corp that had a lot of this going on everywhere - movies, songs, software, you name it. If they were serious about this crap, they would have nailed them to the wall and been set for life - they had what they needed to show cause after all and plenty of it, although all that happened was a warning or some such... In the end, it didn't change much of anything but still no big bad wolf knocking down the door which is what happens to those who can barely afford the settlement in the first place.
My point is simply that this isn't about stopping anything, this is all about money and getting rich easily - or rather richer... How much money goes back to the artists again?
Give them a hard time and they will make your life hard, because they can.
That is the one over all major problem, and the only one really, that have with all this - regardless of whether or not something f'd up happens. Seriously, what is the over all difference between street thugs and the government anymore - you need to kiss both over their respective asses, the former to come out alive and the later to come out with the same life style (IE: confiscating someones cell phone and/or laptop could have a serious impact on anyones life anymore these days, whether it is social, business or financial).
There actually used to be valid reasoning behind being innocent before proven guilty rather than guilty before proven not-guilty, and it's all on them whim of how you treat the respective agent? Come on...
No I won't, what I will do though is grab the nearest bat I can find, or something preferably more powerful and step into the middle of it - like I mentioned earlier, I would much rather deal with a few thugs that will be over with in 24hrs (minus any hospital time) as to deal with arrogant power mongers who can throw me in a one room cell with butch, the friendly neighborhood ass raper for years to come...
I would think that two if it wasn't for the other cruisers that were already there and prolly the biggest is the cop telling me he was looking for warrants and anything bad that I should be taken in for - he was at least honest about it, I'll give him that.
Ironically, I didn't go into the one story that would have been a little more relevant here - where a simple bust for a joint, was attempted (by a rookie and senior cop) to 1) turn a tiny 4~5" chain that attached my wallet to my belt (the Harley Davidson versions) into a concealed weapon, 2) tried to plant a quarter of weed on me *after* they had patted me down 5 times already (noobie on the force) and then 3) the best of all was when I asked the desk sergeant what I was nailed with - more out of curiosity than anything since I was never told, he proceeded to tell me about the felony possession which IIRC was like and ounce or something - enough to distribute, anyway from the the look on my face I guess he asked how much I had and he didn't even bother with semantics - as soon as I told him it wasn't even half a joint, he immediately crossed it out and put down a misdemeanor - now there is something VERY VERY SEVERELY WRONG SOMEWHERE when then desk sergeant believes the criminal over the arresting officer about what really happened - not even a question asked...
I will be fair and say though that this was in northern Oklahoma, ironically (at least to me) the police that actually have impressed me, after dealing with crap like this, were the really big city cops from LA where I would have expected corruption and bad cops to thrive - but no, they actually nailed you for exactly what you did, no need apparently to look for anything or make anything up, and I had one female go out of her way to help once - so the LAPD would get my trust, maybe they have so much crap going on they don't have time to play these games which everyone else seems to do - I will say though, that northern Oklahoma and southern Texas outright sucks!
I wish it was just me, but it's not - here in this city I'm in now it's almost to the point of being lawless when it comes to traffic and pedestrians at least - and it's only because the cops are NOT doing there job - they could care less if you break 5 laws at once making a right hand turn from the left hand lane and right in front of them no less, and when they technically do their job - they give you the 3rd degree. Don't know where your from, but do your police cars have the phrase "to protect and serve" on them anywhere? The last time I actually could find that phrase on one, it had been shrunk down to where it was the size of a bumper sticker, they use to have it plastered in very big letters so you couldn't miss it when I was growing up - I don't see that anymore anywhere, only 911 in big letters. And if you would read the other comments - I'm not alone on this.
Slashdot Mirror
"If you're replicating data between all three offices (and a fourth backup system?) then you are making backups."
Replicating data is NOT backing anything up - I learned this the hard way almost a decade ago. The system I was working was a huge LDAP system, replicating across 20+ servers - everyone assumed that there was more than enough redundancy going on, until that fateful day when the front end triggered some obscure bug somewhere that started deleting the data from the bottom up. And guess what? The replication worked just fine - now all 20 servers were deleting the same data :-(
You NEED to have snapshots of your data, no two ways around it.
My guess would be that we are either very comfortable with the way things are, or we are to stressed out with the day-2-day stresses of our chosen lifestyle to bother with any possible fiasco that could occur - while the powers that steer us are corrupt and only concerned with their money and taking more of ours.
You have a very good point here - why are these things even doing all the "tallying" on there own? Wasn't the overall MAIN issue was the validity of "hanging chads" and the like - why in the hell can't we have a simple machine with all the same bells and whistles that simply punches the damn things for us?!?!
On a side note - how hard can this stuff be? It's not like they aren't making a fortune from these things - it's seeming like they are barely able to break even so they have to hire "below the barrel" talent...
From the way it was explained to me on this very topic - you are the one who chooses to fly, your not forced to. So when you choose this, your also choosing to put up with all the B.S. - your "rights" do not apply here.
Just like if you "chose" to continue dining out at your favorite restaurant when they decided to change the menu.
Your dealing with a private industry, not the government - regardless of any oversite. What they want you to do, you will do if you desire to continue using there services.
Disclaimer of sorts: I haven't flown since the airspace opened back up after 9/11/01 - best plain ride I've ever had, no one was on it!
Doesn't work for everyone... Here on windstream.net they seem to randomly block queries to other nameservers unless you use theirs - unless of course freedns, earthlink and rackspace all went down at the same time when the windstream local DNS would still work - anything is possible I guess.
They do have the 'opt-out' option although all it does is give a fake IE DNS error page instead - I'm using FireFox so it's obvious...
The page cannot be displayed
The page you are looking for is currently unavailable. The Web site might be experiencing technical difficulties, or you may need to adjust your browser settings.
Please try the following:
* Click the refresh.gif (82 bytes) Refresh button, or try again later.
* If you typed the page address in the Address bar, make sure that it is spelled correctly.
* To check your connection settings, click the Tools menu, and then click Internet Options. On the Connections tab, click Settings. The settings should match those provided by your local area network (LAN) administrator or Internet service provider (ISP).
* See if your Internet connection settings are being detected. You can set Microsoft Windows to examine your network and automatically discover network connection settings (if your network administrator has enabled this setting).
1. Click the Tools menu, and then click Internet Options.
2. On the Connections tab, click LAN Settings.
3. Select Automatically detect settings, and then click OK.
* Some sites require 128-bit connection security. Click the Help menu and then click About Internet Explorer to determine what strength security you have installed.
* If you are trying to reach a secure site, make sure your Security settings can support it. Click the Tools menu, and then click Internet Options. On the Advanced tab, scroll to the Security section and check settings for SSL 2.0, SSL 3.0, TLS 1.0, PCT 1.0.
* Click the Back button to try another link.
Cannot find server or DNS Error
Internet Explorer
[ Manage Opt-In/Out settings ]
To make matters worse, I'm still getting redirected to search.grandecom.com for other typos - no rhyme or reason (as far as I can tell) as to which you get redirected to.
What they don't do is document things they don't want you to know, like formats and protocols...
Dude, are you blind or just stupid?!?! That's the whole point to being open and having other people work with your stuff! IE - NOT A MONOPOLY and keeping the competition at bay!!!!!
If their stuff was quality work and was worth the $$$ they expect you to pay, I seriously doubt there would be such a hub-bub about it all - you don't see ANYTHING like this occurring in the Linux community...
Take it one step farther - you just finished running, your heart rate is up, body temp is up and sweating - your about to commit a crime according to the DHS...
Idiotic or not (point of view thing I suppose) I personally view it as more scary than anything - how you could possibly raise a kid to be prepared for and deal with crap like this. The Minority report and BigBrother scenarios are only going to be the tip of iceberg in 30+ years...
Your average utility/store credit card is not a registered bank.
Well, duhh... That's not their business, but they are BACKED by such in such lender/bank who are regulated. I just did a simple random search of a few stores, and all the cards are backed by such a place.
Comparing Paypal to a utility bill, or ANY bill is not even close to being fair let alone accurate - if you overpay someone, they are required to refund you your money or you can go after them. This 'refund' usually is just applied to your next bill - although, if you close your account they send you a check regardless if you were a bad customer or not.
Comparing them to 'gift cards' is more accurate although at the same time, gift cards are not used as banks in which Paypal actively encourages you to do so, and makes them selves "look" like one. Essentially it should come down to something as simple as how much money goes through the account - a gift card usually has a max limit of a $100 or something like this, Paypal has $1000's upon $1000's going through it.
Even the quick payday loan shops who charge 30% interest and worse than any given collections joint - even they are regulated at some extent. Paypal is just exploiting loopholes to the max.
the solution is simple. more, quality mass transportation.
But then you would be catering to the needs of the many, and not the desires of the minority - and then where would you get all those votes you need to stay employed, and finance your daily commute on your new 747?
Ya know, if he saw a flaw he should have reported it to the IT department.
I couldn't tell you if I'm in the minority here, but every time I've "reported" such a flaw in such-n-such given system - I either hear "That's not a problem sir, it's suppose to work that way..." or they simply don't do anything about it.
Not the sales reps fault.
I agree it's not the REPpresentatives fault, although I don't blame *anyone* getting upset at them, as in *reality* (regardless of ignorance on the part of the rep) the said rep is REPpresenting either the store that wants extra money to back the products they sell, or REPpresenting the manufacturer selling the said crappy products.
It wasn't all that long ago that most products were *NOT* made to crap out in a matter of months, intentionally or not.
If you can't deal with the heat of a product your representing as quality - when it turns out it's not, then why in the hell do it in the first place? Either take the responsibility of what your representing or make it damn clear your not... It's not rocket science guys, it's called taking responsibility for what your saying - unless of course you know in advance your lieing to everyone then it's a moot point all around.
This is a very scary precedent, and it seems to blur some historical distinctions between federal agencies and private interests.
Thats not what is really scary, it is - but not as bad as what is to come from all of this down the road. The "Federal Government" will now be getting into "civil affairs" (and the government is immune to law suits AFAIK - IANAL though) which is a contradiction in terms and with the power to take *entire* server farms with no recourse - it just adds more power for those who are in the right spot to do as they want. If this was in place a few days ago when the Sci-Pots declared thousands of said infringements on youtube - the government would have had the power to go in permanently shut down the ENTIRE operation, regardless if it was b.s. in the first place or not.
All in all, what is really scary is that when you give someone an inch - the next guy down the road is going to go for the mile, and eventually gets it... This is just another nail in our coffin when your precious government can storm down your door and take your life style away from you - just because of a suspicious accusation from some elite entity, that kind of sounds familiar for some reason - don't know why though...
Mark these words, right now they can only take the things that provide you your life style. It won't be long (5-10 yrs max) before they will be taking your life - IE: throwing you behind bars for decades. All that needs to happen, is that this "civil matter" turn to a federal crime since the feds are dealing with it anyway and they only deal in criminal matters.
IANAL by any means, although with todays world of so much civil action going around and being 'guilty' before proven 'innocent', the DMCA is probably meant for immediate action and *only then* would an investigation take place to see if it is/was legit or not... Besides, if you think about it, if it *is* legit - an investigation could be drug out for ever, while the offending material would still be offending...
While I agree with everything you've said, I think there is more to it which is why this comes back up every once in a while. Personally, I'm getting out of the field for the same reasons mentioned as the 'pros' for said unionizing... I've never been in a union my self although after seeing what I've gone through various and numerous times - those in my family that are or were in a one, expressed how fortunate they are/were to be so, that they simply don't have to put up with this crap.
On the fees, I would think that as a collective whole we could set them - and they could be as much or as little as just another certificate. Out of all the peeps I've worked with over the last couple of decades though, I would much rather work with someone who has a 'license' so to speak simply because they would be required to know at least so much, and I've worked with too many bullshit artists that just added more work for me to not be interested in some kind of bar. Also realize that a 'license' can be revoked if you really don't know what your doing, so it's far from being the same as just another cert...
One of the many problems with IT is that there is no standard for performance or know how - if your good at selling yourself, you could con your way into almost any position - and just end up creating more work for others, or much worse and bankrupt an entire company.
Not to mention that stomping on your idiot managers toes because he has zero clues on what is going on, and you get shit for it and even fired because of it - would not happen... How many times has this happened to the /. crowd for stepping on others precious EGO? (that on top of it, they have no right too)
Skype also has the API that you could always write a simple bash script to use, I believe it uses DCOP for the calls. Don't know how extensive it is, but any API can be very useful in obtaining the ultimate '1 click' stop and shop deal... Not sure if it is still active but they used to have it where communication between Skype accounts were free, there is also a ZOOM modem like thing for Skype now, pretty cheap at Wally world, that you can hook a normal phone up to it.
I wouldn't say it as much as being professional as it is in COMMUNICATING.. I used to have a contract position for coding a new online app, no big deal but when I came to a cross in the roads that I needed direction on, I emailed the "Boss" and explained the situation and that I was at a stand still until receiving feedback - I never did, in fact a week later when he emailed me asking for an update and progress report and I replied back saying I was waiting on him - he had the gall to blame it on me saying that he forwarded everything on to his boss and was waiting for a reply... How was I suppose to know that?!?! Shortly after I nixed the whole thing, sending an email to everyone involved that the communication was just not there and making it impossible to be productive.
That would probably be a good thing, considering that if you *do* try and provide security you'd prolly be liable for what ever does happen... IANAL though :-)
the authors of a piece of software could be so inept that they would fail...
Wasn't one of diebolds first blunders to be recognized when they developed the app (that couldn't add right) in M$ Access or something really stupidly lame?
conceive of a team of actual software engineers who could be that inept.
I seriously doubt legit coders are doing this, it feels to me like it is wan-a-be politicians/management throwing something together because they made promises they have no idea how to keep, but as long as something is there - they get the millions the government promised them.
iptables -A OUTPUT -s x.x.x.x/x -d x.x.x.x/x -j DROP
The above seems to work just fine, granted this is iptables but I would be very disappointed in CISCO if their switches/routers/firewalls couldn't support something as simple this. Makes me wonder if 'engineers' are just making up the difficulty level because they too are tired of this...
This is not suing someone for downloading a song. This is about putting the song up for everyone on the Internet to download - potentially at least thousands or tens of thousands of people.
Unless I'm missing something, it's not about that either. If that was the case wouldn't it be more prudent to go after the really 'bad boys' who post to usenet? IMHO, this has been nothing more than your typical 3rd rate asshat elites who needed some easy money - whats easier than taking candy from baby? Taking money from college kids and the like. They are just kids after all (relatively speaking) and they are just breaking into the real world, and have no clue what to do when a (supposedly) legitimate organization, let alone a bunch of attorneys, starts threatening them and demanding money - I sure as hell didn't 20 years ago, and I've learned a hell of a lot since about how things work around here...
I worked for a very prominent hosting corp that had a lot of this going on everywhere - movies, songs, software, you name it. If they were serious about this crap, they would have nailed them to the wall and been set for life - they had what they needed to show cause after all and plenty of it, although all that happened was a warning or some such... In the end, it didn't change much of anything but still no big bad wolf knocking down the door which is what happens to those who can barely afford the settlement in the first place.
My point is simply that this isn't about stopping anything, this is all about money and getting rich easily - or rather richer ... How much money goes back to the artists again?
Give them a hard time and they will make your life hard, because they can.
That is the one over all major problem, and the only one really, that have with all this - regardless of whether or not something f'd up happens. Seriously, what is the over all difference between street thugs and the government anymore - you need to kiss both over their respective asses, the former to come out alive and the later to come out with the same life style (IE: confiscating someones cell phone and/or laptop could have a serious impact on anyones life anymore these days, whether it is social, business or financial).
There actually used to be valid reasoning behind being innocent before proven guilty rather than guilty before proven not-guilty, and it's all on them whim of how you treat the respective agent? Come on...
No I won't, what I will do though is grab the nearest bat I can find, or something preferably more powerful and step into the middle of it - like I mentioned earlier, I would much rather deal with a few thugs that will be over with in 24hrs (minus any hospital time) as to deal with arrogant power mongers who can throw me in a one room cell with butch, the friendly neighborhood ass raper for years to come...
I would think that two if it wasn't for the other cruisers that were already there and prolly the biggest is the cop telling me he was looking for warrants and anything bad that I should be taken in for - he was at least honest about it, I'll give him that.
Ironically, I didn't go into the one story that would have been a little more relevant here - where a simple bust for a joint, was attempted (by a rookie and senior cop) to 1) turn a tiny 4~5" chain that attached my wallet to my belt (the Harley Davidson versions) into a concealed weapon, 2) tried to plant a quarter of weed on me *after* they had patted me down 5 times already (noobie on the force) and then 3) the best of all was when I asked the desk sergeant what I was nailed with - more out of curiosity than anything since I was never told, he proceeded to tell me about the felony possession which IIRC was like and ounce or something - enough to distribute, anyway from the the look on my face I guess he asked how much I had and he didn't even bother with semantics - as soon as I told him it wasn't even half a joint, he immediately crossed it out and put down a misdemeanor - now there is something VERY VERY SEVERELY WRONG SOMEWHERE when then desk sergeant believes the criminal over the arresting officer about what really happened - not even a question asked...
I will be fair and say though that this was in northern Oklahoma, ironically (at least to me) the police that actually have impressed me, after dealing with crap like this, were the really big city cops from LA where I would have expected corruption and bad cops to thrive - but no, they actually nailed you for exactly what you did, no need apparently to look for anything or make anything up, and I had one female go out of her way to help once - so the LAPD would get my trust, maybe they have so much crap going on they don't have time to play these games which everyone else seems to do - I will say though, that northern Oklahoma and southern Texas outright sucks!
I wish it was just me, but it's not - here in this city I'm in now it's almost to the point of being lawless when it comes to traffic and pedestrians at least - and it's only because the cops are NOT doing there job - they could care less if you break 5 laws at once making a right hand turn from the left hand lane and right in front of them no less, and when they technically do their job - they give you the 3rd degree. Don't know where your from, but do your police cars have the phrase "to protect and serve" on them anywhere? The last time I actually could find that phrase on one, it had been shrunk down to where it was the size of a bumper sticker, they use to have it plastered in very big letters so you couldn't miss it when I was growing up - I don't see that anymore anywhere, only 911 in big letters. And if you would read the other comments - I'm not alone on this.