I haven't bought a RIAA member company CD in years (since they sued Napster), and I still buy plenty of music. There are tons of independent labels out there, with music just as good (if not better) than the big-wigs.
...whereas the majority of the "customers" the RIAA is suing, did not.
So do you have some proof of this? Who says that the people the RIAA are suing didn't buy anything from them? Almost all of my friends who swap MP3s also buy CDs (many from RIAA member companies).
Before using a statement like the "majority", it helps to cite your sources.
Many, many people who download MP3s also buy albums; they are not mutually-exclusive of each other. I suspect several of the named defendents in these RIAA cases are also customers.
Customers can be thieves, and thieves can be customers.
So the rest of the packages included don't amount to anything? This is precicely why a version number shouldn't be based on the included kernel-- the distro is much more than just a kernel.
At the same time, if you left your doors unlocked when you went on vacation (which is the equivalent of what these companies have been doing with their web servers), I certainly wouldn't be sympathetic to your blight either.
I think both sides should share some of the blame here. Adrian wasn't right in going into these systems, but neither was the NYTimes for leaving their systems easily available to this sort of activity (I'm sorry, but I do not consider someone using a malformed URL in a web browser as a cracker or script-kiddie). If a company is not providing due dilligence in keeping their own systems secure, then they should also be punished.
Agreed. My main point (which after looking over my original post is rather hidden) is that intent should have a much greater weight on these sorts of activities. Some prosecutor is going to try and make an example out of Lamo and get him 20 years, all for trying to educate people for their lack of security.
I honestly don't agree with his methods of education, but I think his intent will go largely unnoticed if he gets caught.
So if someone had broken into my house without permission, then told me about it afterwards, am I supposed to feel better about it?
Maybe I didn't install a deadbolt and an alarm system, but who made this guy the "helper" of my problems?
I'm sure you'd be singing a very different tune if you were alerted to this before some crazed psychopath used the same method to break into your house and murder your family. There is a great deal of difference in education versus exploit, and paranoid types who don't know the difference only serve to make the matters worse.
There are no white-hat, gray-hats or black-hats. Only criminals and law-abiding citizens.
That's the biggest sham I've ever heard. Do you believe every picture government prosecutors paint for you? mindless sheep
I've gotten quite a bit of help via IRC for OpenBSD; you just have to make sure you look for available resources online BEFORE requesting help. I personally don't think that is a big deal-- I don't want someone wasting my time with a simple question that is answered on the openbsd.org web page.
Those who are flamed are often ones who don't do any due dilligence when it comes to solving their own problems. This isn't always the case, as there are morons out there who feel the need to flame every question-asker (I've run into a few myself), but in my personal experience OpenBSD users are more than helpful when you prove you are truely interested in helping yourself find the answer.
That could have been solved with a simple "edit post" button (or at least with me being more diligent about making sure I said all of what I wanted to before hitting submit), but that opens up a whole different can-o-worms.
As I'm not a port maintainer (just an active user) so I cannot authoritatively answer this question, but based on my experience with the ports I have installed, the MD5SUMs are for the actual packages downloaded from ftp.gnu.org. BSD- or package-specific patches are applied to the software compilation after the MD5SUMs are checked, as the patches themselves generally have a seperate MD5SUM that they are checked against.
Ever heard of the KX Project? Its a small group of people who have released alternative SB Live drivers for Windows. I've been using their beta release for the last few months and I can say that these drivers are MUCH better than anything Creative Labs has put out. Finally, I can get decent ASIO performance with my Live! The KX drivers also allow you to do some extra-nifty effects loading and output routing things that the Creative Labs drivers won't do. I highly reccomend trying them if you haven't already. I don't know if they work in an SMP environment, as I don't have one, but it might be worth investigating.
Taking a brief glance over my FreeBSD server, all of the entries in the Ports tree have the MD5SUMs in the "files" file. The Ports tree includes many many FSF software package installs.
I find that watching stupid people work often yields wonderful examples of how NOT to do something, which is IMO quite a bit more useful than knowing the right way.
No, PUBLIC places include smokers too. If you don't appreciate smoking in a public resturant (where the resturant owner has no problem offering a smoking section), which I can certainly understand, then you can choose to go to another resturant that shares your lifestyle choices or simply sit in the non-smoking section.
I'm an ex-smoker, but I find laws like this ridiculous. A resturant/pub owner should be able to make-up his own damn mind about whether or not to allow smoking on the premisses. If I put up the money to build a resturant, it should be my decision (and mine alone).
but anyone who is used to Windows freeware and shareware knows that their interfaces are typically as high-quality as any other commercial application.
I offer as a rebuttle to this argument, any shareware/freeware ever designed with Visual Basic. I've yet to find a VB app that has sensible button placement or sizing. Sure, the buttons may have the same color as other professional-quality apps, but the likeness stops there.
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I haven't bought a RIAA member company CD in years (since they sued Napster), and I still buy plenty of music. There are tons of independent labels out there, with music just as good (if not better) than the big-wigs.
...whereas the majority of the "customers" the RIAA is suing, did not.
So do you have some proof of this? Who says that the people the RIAA are suing didn't buy anything from them? Almost all of my friends who swap MP3s also buy CDs (many from RIAA member companies).
Before using a statement like the "majority", it helps to cite your sources.
If someone, even a shoplifter, pays for something, then they are by definition a customer.
The RIAA is suing customers.
Many, many people who download MP3s also buy albums; they are not mutually-exclusive of each other. I suspect several of the named defendents in these RIAA cases are also customers.
Customers can be thieves, and thieves can be customers.
There's one called PDFCreator in Windows that emulates a printer and allows you to "print to PDF".
So the rest of the packages included don't amount to anything? This is precicely why a version number shouldn't be based on the included kernel-- the distro is much more than just a kernel.
At the same time, if you left your doors unlocked when you went on vacation (which is the equivalent of what these companies have been doing with their web servers), I certainly wouldn't be sympathetic to your blight either.
I think both sides should share some of the blame here. Adrian wasn't right in going into these systems, but neither was the NYTimes for leaving their systems easily available to this sort of activity (I'm sorry, but I do not consider someone using a malformed URL in a web browser as a cracker or script-kiddie). If a company is not providing due dilligence in keeping their own systems secure, then they should also be punished.
Agreed. My main point (which after looking over my original post is rather hidden) is that intent should have a much greater weight on these sorts of activities. Some prosecutor is going to try and make an example out of Lamo and get him 20 years, all for trying to educate people for their lack of security.
I honestly don't agree with his methods of education, but I think his intent will go largely unnoticed if he gets caught.
So if someone had broken into my house without permission, then told me about it afterwards, am I supposed to feel better about it?
Maybe I didn't install a deadbolt and an alarm system, but who made this guy the "helper" of my problems?
I'm sure you'd be singing a very different tune if you were alerted to this before some crazed psychopath used the same method to break into your house and murder your family. There is a great deal of difference in education versus exploit, and paranoid types who don't know the difference only serve to make the matters worse.
There are no white-hat, gray-hats or black-hats. Only criminals and law-abiding citizens.
That's the biggest sham I've ever heard. Do you believe every picture government prosecutors paint for you? mindless sheep
Employees of member companies, and laywers.
I *think* you're referring to Yggdrasil Linux. Man, I'm old (at least in distro-years).
I've gotten quite a bit of help via IRC for OpenBSD; you just have to make sure you look for available resources online BEFORE requesting help. I personally don't think that is a big deal-- I don't want someone wasting my time with a simple question that is answered on the openbsd.org web page.
Those who are flamed are often ones who don't do any due dilligence when it comes to solving their own problems. This isn't always the case, as there are morons out there who feel the need to flame every question-asker (I've run into a few myself), but in my personal experience OpenBSD users are more than helpful when you prove you are truely interested in helping yourself find the answer.
In SOVIET RUSSIA, your passwords forget YOU.
Does your cousin ever call you for technical support regarding her Internet connection?
*unplug*
Problem solved!
That could have been solved with a simple "edit post" button (or at least with me being more diligent about making sure I said all of what I wanted to before hitting submit), but that opens up a whole different can-o-worms.
As I'm not a port maintainer (just an active user) so I cannot authoritatively answer this question, but based on my experience with the ports I have installed, the MD5SUMs are for the actual packages downloaded from ftp.gnu.org. BSD- or package-specific patches are applied to the software compilation after the MD5SUMs are checked, as the patches themselves generally have a seperate MD5SUM that they are checked against.
Ever heard of the KX Project? Its a small group of people who have released alternative SB Live drivers for Windows. I've been using their beta release for the last few months and I can say that these drivers are MUCH better than anything Creative Labs has put out. Finally, I can get decent ASIO performance with my Live! The KX drivers also allow you to do some extra-nifty effects loading and output routing things that the Creative Labs drivers won't do. I highly reccomend trying them if you haven't already. I don't know if they work in an SMP environment, as I don't have one, but it might be worth investigating.
And yes, I have emailed gnu@gnu.org to inform them of this if they didn't already know.
Oops... its the "distinfo" file that contains the MD5SUMs, not "files".
Taking a brief glance over my FreeBSD server, all of the entries in the Ports tree have the MD5SUMs in the "files" file. The Ports tree includes many many FSF software package installs.
Wait until you get married, then you're not ever allowed to socialize any more, EVER.
I find that watching stupid people work often yields wonderful examples of how NOT to do something, which is IMO quite a bit more useful than knowing the right way.
No, PUBLIC places include smokers too. If you don't appreciate smoking in a public resturant (where the resturant owner has no problem offering a smoking section), which I can certainly understand, then you can choose to go to another resturant that shares your lifestyle choices or simply sit in the non-smoking section.
I'm an ex-smoker, but I find laws like this ridiculous. A resturant/pub owner should be able to make-up his own damn mind about whether or not to allow smoking on the premisses. If I put up the money to build a resturant, it should be my decision (and mine alone).
The Google Toolbar 2 beta also offers the ability to block pop-ups in IE. Compared to some other 3rd party IE popup blockers it works wonderfully.
but anyone who is used to Windows freeware and shareware knows that their interfaces are typically as high-quality as any other commercial application.
I offer as a rebuttle to this argument, any shareware/freeware ever designed with Visual Basic. I've yet to find a VB app that has sensible button placement or sizing. Sure, the buttons may have the same color as other professional-quality apps, but the likeness stops there.