To provide more details on the SCO and their efforts to target corporations using LINUX, the Washington Post has a story about these efforts. Their targets in this case are AutoZone Inc. and DaimlerChrysler Corp.
I think the money part depends on how much money we're talking about in most cases.
If we're taking an employee making $40K and looking at one for $30K, that's a big percentage drop in pay. Now if your talking $130k and looking at $120K, that's probably a person who can afford to give up their disposable income. I fall somewhere in the middle and gave up $12K recently to get a position with reasonable hours and better learning opportunity.
I'd have to say that when I first started, making money was the driving factor and giving any of it up was out of the question. Choosing the next job definitely required an increase in pay and a good work environment (not like my former position - although it was described like an ideal job). After you reach a certain level though, the job satisifaction definitely takes a bigger role.
As the others have pointed out, the unplanned road work is generally due to unexpected underground utility problems (broken water, gas, electric, communciation, etc... lines). Any large city will have these types of events almost regularly enough that you would expect them to be planned.
True that areas that congested will have all the alternates backed up as well (DC Metro area can get bad at times too). The signs do help though when a serious accident or unplanned road work is ahead. Of course if everyone else gets the same idea, your probably going to be out of luck anyways.
Sure, the DIY model is not very expensive, but I'm sure the capabilities of the real model far exceed the ones of the this toy.
Video is probably higher quality (and larger camera I'd guess - adding to weight)
Range/duration of flight (more fuel - adding to weight)
Communications (security and range - adding to weight)
And probably a bunch of other things that are not publically available. I'm sure the price tag of the real one is high, but research cost has to be made up somewhere.
Didn't the movie Demolition Man (Stalone, Snipes) have a scene where Snipes used a victims eyeball to open some doors? Been a while since I've seen that movie, but could something like that actually work?
I'm guessing that additional securty methods (security guards) would catch something like this, but I'm sure somebody out there will try it.
Definitely agree with you that networking is the best method to finding new positions. Other than my first job, all accepted jobs have been through networking. I've searched online and I've also used head hunters, but former co-workers have been best for me. The online listing did get me some interviews, but they never lead to a real offer. I wouldn't avoid any method to find a position, especially if I weren't employed, but I'd put more effort into networking (as you pointed out, you'll get the inside scoop on the company/position).
I don't think that you would be able to easily get rid of the spam zombies by blocking ports though. Most people legitimately use port 25 for email so your solution would just cause everyone to have to pay an additional fee to the ISPs. While this might keep some systems from functioning as a zombie, you'll still see a huge number of systems that paid a fee for opening port 25. Spammers will still have access to create zombie systems.
Unless the protocol creates a better way of tracking email (which will ultimately be cracked anyways), I think a better approach would be to target those who start the spam process, the companies who hire spamming service. This won't necessarily get rid of all spam activity, namely the scams and other various illegal activities, but it will cut off funding to spammers. Ultimately, spammers are the middle tier of the process. The top tier being those who employ spammers, and the bottom being the potential consumer. If laws punish the top tier of the spam problem, the middle tier will start to disappear. The identity of the top tier can usually be identified by actually following the links in the email (except with a botched spam message), otherwise the spam is wasted, from the top tier perspective.
Going after the top tier seems the only viable option if the laws are created to support it.
Spammers would simply pay the fee and pass on the cost to those using their spam service. Other solutions would be to bypass port 25 (most likely via a virus/exploit).
I see adding a third approach. Obviously people/companies/organizations are paying the spammers to send out these messages. Consider laws that go after the users of spam based services.
One problem I doubt will be solved by this will be the use of spam for illegal activities (ex. Nigerian Bank scam). While these may be difficult to pursue, any legitimate business that uses these will likely be easy to prosecute.
I've always had good Sun support, pretty much tops compared to any others I've dealt with, although SGI runs a close second. On the PC side, Dell isn't too bad, but they do seem to move at the speed of the shipping company in delivering parts. Their phone support isn't quite as nice as Sun's, but the help is adequate in most cases (just need to get past the first level support staff).
The support problems you mention may be geographically related (not that that should be an excuse in the global workplace).
Just to throw this out, what's the possibility that MS saw some similar routines in WINE and figured to shutdown the project by releasing some portions of the MS code that overlaps? They could essentially say that WINE must be based on MS proprietary code. Even with the code only publicly being leaked now, they could argue that copies may have been floating around for a while. Maybe they are taking some ideas from SCO on how to profit from the OSS community.
Having the redundant systems is great for protecting failure/destruction of the devices, but it doesn't really address file corruption/deletion by users. A "snapshot" system may offer some help, but when data retention is an issue, you'll still need to look at long term backup solutions. As earlier post have stated, backup of these huge amounts of storage is becoming very difficult.
My understanding of snapshots may be a bit out of date (latest employer doesn't have storage with this feature) but snapshots probably wouldn't work too well in a situation where single files are GB's in size.
Mirroring is a good failsafe, but it doesn't really offer the long term protection. Snapshots aren't much better, except for short term recoveries.
I don't think we'll see the masses switching their browsers immediately, but if we start seeing some of the PC manufacturers include Mozilla browsers, people may start using it. Until then, the average user is going to continue using IE, unaware that they have options, and in some cases, better options. Any non-techie family members that I've shown Netscape 7.1 to have commented that they didn't know the browser existed, but they all decided that they liked the non-IE browser after they used it a couple of times (especially with all the publicity IE gets lately with the security flaws). Maybe Mozilla developers need to start inquiring with HP (given their relationship with Apple's iTunes) and other vendors to include the additional browsers.
I haven't tried out all the browsers available, but I must agree that Netscape 7.1 is a nice product. Definitely much better than Internet Explorer.
I've installed this browser on several family members PC's that I support, and they all say never realized that other browsers were available. After they used it a couple of times, they found they actually like it better than IE too.
Some solid state memory card company should start making write once memory that would work in a digital camera.
Unfortunately the benefits of the digital camera are lost then. If I wanted write once media, I would use film. On the other hand, I see where your trying to go with this in setting up a tamper resistant protection scheme. Even so, one could still do some elaborate tampering to bypass security methods. They'd almost have to do it, just for the challenge. Look at all the protection schemes people have developed in the past, only to be thwarted by a teenager with a bit of time on their hands.
We are currently looking at grid computing for running CPU intense algorithms for preprocessing data streams. We are also looking at using P2P technologies for handling data between the systems (although this creates issues in our case for data backups - at least with our current implimentation). In our case, JXTA seems to be the appropriate route, but we are considering others as well.
Most people do not work in scientific computing facilities
True, most people are not involved in this sort of work. Over time, the developments in Grid computing may benefit other applications.
OS's outside of MS Win32 systems aren't as susceptable to the social engineering tactics that some of the latest virus's work with (at least the systems I've been exposed to). If I am sitting on my UNIX box and download a virus as an email attachment, what's the chances I'll actually manage to install the virus so that it runs everytime the system is rebooted? What's the chance of it burying itself inside the OS files? Can it corrupt the OS? No, it can't, unless the user is running as the root account, and what user would actually do that? I don't have any reason to log in as the root account as I can simply "su" to it when (and only when) I need it. How many applications on MS Win32 systems require that you have elevated rights just to access things like the graphics systems? Even software written by MS often requires it (I play Age Of Mythology and I can't run it unless I'm part of the administrator group...software written by ESO, owned by MS). On UNIX, the OS is protected from the users, the applications are generally installed with a separate account from the users (at least if done properly), and the only thing a user can mess up is their own home directory and possibly data directories.
I do believe that if other OS's dominated the market that virus writers would work harder, but I do feel that these other OS's are designed much more securely than MS Win32 systems. Non MS Win32 systems will experience some exploits (nobodys perfect), but I do think the flaws are less severe.
The main problem I have with the percentage of market dominance argument is that if the market leader is a purchased OS, wouldn't you expect that part of your purchase price went to cover the cost of security? In the case of MS, this amount of money (based on volume of sales) should lead to a very secure product (which has gotten better, but slowly in my opinion).
If we look at web servers, why then does a search of the virus library at Network Associates show more virus's for IIS than Apache. I did the search with Apache and IIS as the search words and found the following (word - count):
Apache - 1
IIS - 14
I don't have stats on this, but I've seen many people indicate that Apache holds a large share of the webserver installations. If your argument of popularity and virus writer choice were accurate, why then do we find less in this case?
I also did the search using these keywords too, just out of curiosity (word - count):
UNIX - 26
MacOS - 24 (tried just on Mac, but that returned too many MS Office macro exploits)
Linux - 62
Win32 - 496
Win - 628
Granted that some of the virus's on the Win32 platform are indirect to the OS (caused by flaws in an application), but the ultimate problem appears to be bad system architecture of the OS. Why as a user on the system should should I be able to screw up the system? Even without administrator rights, a user can still take on greater permissions through exploits of the OS (the bad architecture).
Mac may not be a big target for virus writers, but even if it did dominate the market, I don't think it would experience nearly the number of exploits you see with MS Win32 systems.
The cost/speed of printing off multiple copies has come down to the point that carbon copies are getting used less. In the cases where carbon copy forms are still used (mortgage applications, car loans, etc...), the form producers seem to allow for their forms to be used in the impact printers. Typewriters will eventually disappear (just at a very slow rate), especially as people start storing more and more documents in a document retrieval system.
Not being a smoker myself, I find sympathizing on smoking issues a little difficult, but I try to take into account that not everyone shares the same view that I do.
That being said, I do enjoy the restrictions placed on smoking, but in some cases, things have gone too far. Things I do support (and I'll explain my thoughts...probably not shared by all):
Smoking in public places - This comes down to a majority opinion and a matter of health. I as a non-smoker would like to be able to enjoy a healthy/smoke free environment. While this does impose on the freedoms of people who choose to smoke, I believe the imposition of smoke free is less imposing than that of a smoke filled environment (mainly from a health standpoint).
Smoking in restaraunts/bars/clubs/etc... - Should be treated as a public area. Given that, if an establishment wishes to impliment a smoking area, that would work for me as long as a few restrictions were put in place (by the way, I live in Maryland, USA...getting to be fairly strict about smoking, especially some counties). First off, the health of the workers must come to mind. While most people think they are separated from those who don't smoke (smoke/non-smoke designated areas), most people don't take into account the employees. Secondly, smoke definitely disappates, so a special air handling system and a physical divider between the areas is a must. Some places in MD have actually restricted bars all together, much to the disappointment of the owners, especially after implimenting the air systems and such.
Smoking in a vehicle with non-smoking passengers and/or children - Most children have no way of controlling their environment, hence the situation you yourself described...parents smoked, you smoke. A closed environment such as a vehicle ensures high levels of second hand smoke. While a person may certainly affect themselves, the well being of the child must be taken into consideration. I also have a personal problem with riding in vehicles with smokers that relates to my summer jobs while in college. I worked some construction positions (father is in the construction field) and often had to ride to the work sites with various people who smoked. Imagine even in my late teens/early 20's trying to tell a grown man to please not smoke. The chance of that was slim.
What I do disagree with are people who try to completely ban smoking all together. People should be able to smoke in their own homes (although I'd prefer if they have children that they limit the rooms or do it outside). I do believe there is a case going on (sorry, don't know of a link) where in a townhome environment, a neighbor is taking another neighbor to court over smoking on their back decks. This is certainly a big issue and people will have different opinions on it. I tend to think that a persons property is a private place, and that people should be able to pretty much do what they want. Given that, I'd appreciate some consideration from a neighbor to avoid smoking right next to me (say while doing a the family BBQ), but I wouldn't feel it's within my right to ban the neighbors smoking.
I guess to summarize, and this post is way off topic, but does apply to the response to my original post, I do want most of the limitations, but don't want them to go too far. Of course, everyone will have their opinion, and who can say who's opinion is right.
The recording studio may change over time though as technology becomes cheaper. While high end recording studios will always exist, technology improvements are bringing the capabilities to the home users desktop. I can see where the artist of the future will have a lot more control over their media (from concepts to final release).
I can somewhat see your point about tobacco companies, but I don't think the comparisson is accurate. Tobacco companies produce a product that is known to be hazardous to your health and they marketed the product to be used in a method that is hazardous. P2P vendors at least have an argument that their products are use neutral. The products can be used for good or bad, depending on the end user (sort of like the CD/DVD burners...I can use to save off my data or I can use it to copy the latest CD from a friend...the good/bad choice is mine). What would be interesting to see is how many legitimate files are traded via P2P services (definitely differentiating pay/non-pay legal usage).
As for product liability with tobacco vendors, I believe for the most part now that people are educated enough that they should be responsible for their own actions. I can't imagine that any relatively new smokers (within the last what, 15 years...sorry, don't know when all the warnings started coming out) aren't aware of the dangers related to smoking. These users should be aware of the hazards and they are responsible for the consequences.
Slashdot Mirror
To provide more details on the SCO and their efforts to target corporations using LINUX, the Washington Post has a story about these efforts. Their targets in this case are AutoZone Inc. and DaimlerChrysler Corp.
apple - 6th listing
sun - 1rst
solaris - 2nd
linux - 2nd
irix - 2nd
dell - 1rst
sco - 1rst
aix - 1rst
ibm - 1rst
hp - 1rst
java - 1rst
gnu - 8th
gpl - 2nd
aol - 1rst
lindows - 1rst
redhat - 1rst
Obviously ranking keywords has come into play.
I think the money part depends on how much money we're talking about in most cases.
If we're taking an employee making $40K and looking at one for $30K, that's a big percentage drop in pay. Now if your talking $130k and looking at $120K, that's probably a person who can afford to give up their disposable income. I fall somewhere in the middle and gave up $12K recently to get a position with reasonable hours and better learning opportunity.
I'd have to say that when I first started, making money was the driving factor and giving any of it up was out of the question. Choosing the next job definitely required an increase in pay and a good work environment (not like my former position - although it was described like an ideal job). After you reach a certain level though, the job satisifaction definitely takes a bigger role.
As the others have pointed out, the unplanned road work is generally due to unexpected underground utility problems (broken water, gas, electric, communciation, etc... lines). Any large city will have these types of events almost regularly enough that you would expect them to be planned.
The electronic signs can help to some extent.
True that areas that congested will have all the alternates backed up as well (DC Metro area can get bad at times too). The signs do help though when a serious accident or unplanned road work is ahead. Of course if everyone else gets the same idea, your probably going to be out of luck anyways.
Sure, the DIY model is not very expensive, but I'm sure the capabilities of the real model far exceed the ones of the this toy.
Video is probably higher quality (and larger camera I'd guess - adding to weight)
Range/duration of flight (more fuel - adding to weight)
Communications (security and range - adding to weight)
And probably a bunch of other things that are not publically available. I'm sure the price tag of the real one is high, but research cost has to be made up somewhere.
Didn't the movie Demolition Man (Stalone, Snipes) have a scene where Snipes used a victims eyeball to open some doors? Been a while since I've seen that movie, but could something like that actually work?
I'm guessing that additional securty methods (security guards) would catch something like this, but I'm sure somebody out there will try it.
Definitely agree with you that networking is the best method to finding new positions. Other than my first job, all accepted jobs have been through networking. I've searched online and I've also used head hunters, but former co-workers have been best for me. The online listing did get me some interviews, but they never lead to a real offer. I wouldn't avoid any method to find a position, especially if I weren't employed, but I'd put more effort into networking (as you pointed out, you'll get the inside scoop on the company/position).
I don't think that you would be able to easily get rid of the spam zombies by blocking ports though. Most people legitimately use port 25 for email so your solution would just cause everyone to have to pay an additional fee to the ISPs. While this might keep some systems from functioning as a zombie, you'll still see a huge number of systems that paid a fee for opening port 25. Spammers will still have access to create zombie systems.
Unless the protocol creates a better way of tracking email (which will ultimately be cracked anyways), I think a better approach would be to target those who start the spam process, the companies who hire spamming service. This won't necessarily get rid of all spam activity, namely the scams and other various illegal activities, but it will cut off funding to spammers. Ultimately, spammers are the middle tier of the process. The top tier being those who employ spammers, and the bottom being the potential consumer. If laws punish the top tier of the spam problem, the middle tier will start to disappear. The identity of the top tier can usually be identified by actually following the links in the email (except with a botched spam message), otherwise the spam is wasted, from the top tier perspective.
Going after the top tier seems the only viable option if the laws are created to support it.
Spammers would simply pay the fee and pass on the cost to those using their spam service. Other solutions would be to bypass port 25 (most likely via a virus/exploit).
I see adding a third approach. Obviously people/companies/organizations are paying the spammers to send out these messages. Consider laws that go after the users of spam based services.
One problem I doubt will be solved by this will be the use of spam for illegal activities (ex. Nigerian Bank scam). While these may be difficult to pursue, any legitimate business that uses these will likely be easy to prosecute.
I've always had good Sun support, pretty much tops compared to any others I've dealt with, although SGI runs a close second. On the PC side, Dell isn't too bad, but they do seem to move at the speed of the shipping company in delivering parts. Their phone support isn't quite as nice as Sun's, but the help is adequate in most cases (just need to get past the first level support staff).
The support problems you mention may be geographically related (not that that should be an excuse in the global workplace).
Just to throw this out, what's the possibility that MS saw some similar routines in WINE and figured to shutdown the project by releasing some portions of the MS code that overlaps? They could essentially say that WINE must be based on MS proprietary code. Even with the code only publicly being leaked now, they could argue that copies may have been floating around for a while. Maybe they are taking some ideas from SCO on how to profit from the OSS community.
Having the redundant systems is great for protecting failure/destruction of the devices, but it doesn't really address file corruption/deletion by users. A "snapshot" system may offer some help, but when data retention is an issue, you'll still need to look at long term backup solutions. As earlier post have stated, backup of these huge amounts of storage is becoming very difficult.
My understanding of snapshots may be a bit out of date (latest employer doesn't have storage with this feature) but snapshots probably wouldn't work too well in a situation where single files are GB's in size.
Mirroring is a good failsafe, but it doesn't really offer the long term protection. Snapshots aren't much better, except for short term recoveries.
I don't think we'll see the masses switching their browsers immediately, but if we start seeing some of the PC manufacturers include Mozilla browsers, people may start using it. Until then, the average user is going to continue using IE, unaware that they have options, and in some cases, better options. Any non-techie family members that I've shown Netscape 7.1 to have commented that they didn't know the browser existed, but they all decided that they liked the non-IE browser after they used it a couple of times (especially with all the publicity IE gets lately with the security flaws). Maybe Mozilla developers need to start inquiring with HP (given their relationship with Apple's iTunes) and other vendors to include the additional browsers.
I haven't tried out all the browsers available, but I must agree that Netscape 7.1 is a nice product. Definitely much better than Internet Explorer.
I've installed this browser on several family members PC's that I support, and they all say never realized that other browsers were available. After they used it a couple of times, they found they actually like it better than IE too.
Some solid state memory card company should start making write once memory that would work in a digital camera.
Unfortunately the benefits of the digital camera are lost then. If I wanted write once media, I would use film. On the other hand, I see where your trying to go with this in setting up a tamper resistant protection scheme. Even so, one could still do some elaborate tampering to bypass security methods. They'd almost have to do it, just for the challenge. Look at all the protection schemes people have developed in the past, only to be thwarted by a teenager with a bit of time on their hands.
We are currently looking at grid computing for running CPU intense algorithms for preprocessing data streams. We are also looking at using P2P technologies for handling data between the systems (although this creates issues in our case for data backups - at least with our current implimentation). In our case, JXTA seems to be the appropriate route, but we are considering others as well.
Most people do not work in scientific computing facilities
True, most people are not involved in this sort of work. Over time, the developments in Grid computing may benefit other applications.
OS's outside of MS Win32 systems aren't as susceptable to the social engineering tactics that some of the latest virus's work with (at least the systems I've been exposed to). If I am sitting on my UNIX box and download a virus as an email attachment, what's the chances I'll actually manage to install the virus so that it runs everytime the system is rebooted? What's the chance of it burying itself inside the OS files? Can it corrupt the OS? No, it can't, unless the user is running as the root account, and what user would actually do that? I don't have any reason to log in as the root account as I can simply "su" to it when (and only when) I need it. How many applications on MS Win32 systems require that you have elevated rights just to access things like the graphics systems? Even software written by MS often requires it (I play Age Of Mythology and I can't run it unless I'm part of the administrator group...software written by ESO, owned by MS). On UNIX, the OS is protected from the users, the applications are generally installed with a separate account from the users (at least if done properly), and the only thing a user can mess up is their own home directory and possibly data directories.
I do believe that if other OS's dominated the market that virus writers would work harder, but I do feel that these other OS's are designed much more securely than MS Win32 systems. Non MS Win32 systems will experience some exploits (nobodys perfect), but I do think the flaws are less severe.
If we look at web servers, why then does a search of the virus library at Network Associates show more virus's for IIS than Apache. I did the search with Apache and IIS as the search words and found the following (word - count):
Apache - 1
IIS - 14
I don't have stats on this, but I've seen many people indicate that Apache holds a large share of the webserver installations. If your argument of popularity and virus writer choice were accurate, why then do we find less in this case?
I also did the search using these keywords too, just out of curiosity (word - count):
UNIX - 26
MacOS - 24 (tried just on Mac, but that returned too many MS Office macro exploits)
Linux - 62
Win32 - 496
Win - 628
Granted that some of the virus's on the Win32 platform are indirect to the OS (caused by flaws in an application), but the ultimate problem appears to be bad system architecture of the OS. Why as a user on the system should should I be able to screw up the system? Even without administrator rights, a user can still take on greater permissions through exploits of the OS (the bad architecture).
Mac may not be a big target for virus writers, but even if it did dominate the market, I don't think it would experience nearly the number of exploits you see with MS Win32 systems.
Jim
The cost/speed of printing off multiple copies has come down to the point that carbon copies are getting used less. In the cases where carbon copy forms are still used (mortgage applications, car loans, etc...), the form producers seem to allow for their forms to be used in the impact printers. Typewriters will eventually disappear (just at a very slow rate), especially as people start storing more and more documents in a document retrieval system.
Regular - Green
Limited Distribution - Blue
Post-It Notes - Yellow
Secret - Orange
Top Secret - Red
That being said, I do enjoy the restrictions placed on smoking, but in some cases, things have gone too far. Things I do support (and I'll explain my thoughts...probably not shared by all):
Smoking in public places - This comes down to a majority opinion and a matter of health. I as a non-smoker would like to be able to enjoy a healthy/smoke free environment. While this does impose on the freedoms of people who choose to smoke, I believe the imposition of smoke free is less imposing than that of a smoke filled environment (mainly from a health standpoint).
Smoking in restaraunts/bars/clubs/etc... - Should be treated as a public area. Given that, if an establishment wishes to impliment a smoking area, that would work for me as long as a few restrictions were put in place (by the way, I live in Maryland, USA...getting to be fairly strict about smoking, especially some counties). First off, the health of the workers must come to mind. While most people think they are separated from those who don't smoke (smoke/non-smoke designated areas), most people don't take into account the employees. Secondly, smoke definitely disappates, so a special air handling system and a physical divider between the areas is a must. Some places in MD have actually restricted bars all together, much to the disappointment of the owners, especially after implimenting the air systems and such.
Smoking in a vehicle with non-smoking passengers and/or children - Most children have no way of controlling their environment, hence the situation you yourself described...parents smoked, you smoke. A closed environment such as a vehicle ensures high levels of second hand smoke. While a person may certainly affect themselves, the well being of the child must be taken into consideration. I also have a personal problem with riding in vehicles with smokers that relates to my summer jobs while in college. I worked some construction positions (father is in the construction field) and often had to ride to the work sites with various people who smoked. Imagine even in my late teens/early 20's trying to tell a grown man to please not smoke. The chance of that was slim.
What I do disagree with are people who try to completely ban smoking all together. People should be able to smoke in their own homes (although I'd prefer if they have children that they limit the rooms or do it outside). I do believe there is a case going on (sorry, don't know of a link) where in a townhome environment, a neighbor is taking another neighbor to court over smoking on their back decks. This is certainly a big issue and people will have different opinions on it. I tend to think that a persons property is a private place, and that people should be able to pretty much do what they want. Given that, I'd appreciate some consideration from a neighbor to avoid smoking right next to me (say while doing a the family BBQ), but I wouldn't feel it's within my right to ban the neighbors smoking.
I guess to summarize, and this post is way off topic, but does apply to the response to my original post, I do want most of the limitations, but don't want them to go too far. Of course, everyone will have their opinion, and who can say who's opinion is right.
The recording studio may change over time though as technology becomes cheaper. While high end recording studios will always exist, technology improvements are bringing the capabilities to the home users desktop. I can see where the artist of the future will have a lot more control over their media (from concepts to final release).
See: Peter Gabriel and Brian Enu launch MUDDA
I can somewhat see your point about tobacco companies, but I don't think the comparisson is accurate. Tobacco companies produce a product that is known to be hazardous to your health and they marketed the product to be used in a method that is hazardous. P2P vendors at least have an argument that their products are use neutral. The products can be used for good or bad, depending on the end user (sort of like the CD/DVD burners...I can use to save off my data or I can use it to copy the latest CD from a friend...the good/bad choice is mine). What would be interesting to see is how many legitimate files are traded via P2P services (definitely differentiating pay/non-pay legal usage).
As for product liability with tobacco vendors, I believe for the most part now that people are educated enough that they should be responsible for their own actions. I can't imagine that any relatively new smokers (within the last what, 15 years...sorry, don't know when all the warnings started coming out) aren't aware of the dangers related to smoking. These users should be aware of the hazards and they are responsible for the consequences.