I love how many people, especially the media, love to generalize any product that has the potential for misuse to be a sinister product...
Historically there are so many other examples, such as lockpick kits which are illegal in many states and countries, or are requiring licenses to use. Let's not forget the old Napster, or Kazaa or any other similar P2P, due to misuse, free use P2P is generalized into a piracy movement alone.
Which reminds me of a joke- A man is at his house during prohibition in the backcountry, when a sheriff comes by and notices that he has all the equipment laid out to make moonshine. Immediately the sheriff arrests the man, citing that having the materials to make moonshine is equivalent to having the contraband itself, though he saw no liquor on the premise. The arrested man takes a long pause, thinks about the situation, and states- "Well, I guess you should arrest me for rape too then, I got all the tools for that crime also!". Embarassed, the sheriff released the man.
I'd recommend you be careful with "beg, borrow, or steal" mentalities, sooner than later you may find yourself in a legal quandary, when you use some code that someone published academically, but is patented and protected against commercial use-
Such as:
1. Lempel-Ziv
2. RSA (in the past)
3. Need I really list more...?
... I make sure that I write in a different programming language every time I change jobs.
Sriously though, the problem with coding, is that it is still more of an art than a science, and therefore the endproduct tends to reflect the style of the developers. It creates legal issues, but it's like asking Da Vinci to paint in a different style for a patron, "because we don't want those Sistine fellas complaining on infringement of copyright"- Ridiculous yes, but very real (IMHO).
What is interesting, is that more likely than not, this bill will not actually make it... Politics being what they are, I really doubt that the parties have already determined their true stance on the issue.
Until that happens, everyone is making an individual decision stating a preference for or against said bill, with the occasional consortium working together. Wait till the car manufacturers make a few choice calls to their representatives, "explaining" the situation in the terms that politicians understand best- $$$. Without the bling bling, the parties will quickly see to it that their opinions become inline with the manufacturers.
All hail the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the MPAA of your Honda.
I may be being presumptious in this world of Microsoft bashing, but I find it curious that people list using the MSN search under the "Your Rights Online" category.
Unless we're all trying to say that Microsoft is governmental in nature and provides us with necessities (unlikely coming from open source community members), then we can hardly consider MSN a right- more like a service provided by MSN for our benefit- we have as much right complaining that they filter certain results, as we do complaining that our rights are being taken away when we can't place AA batteries in an Ipod when it never expressed that it could use them in the first place.
Arguably MSN claims to be a encompassing search engine- but how many car companies or other manufacturers tell you the advantages and (potentially superior) pricing of competitors products???
MSN a right- hardly, it's a voluntary service provided at the cost of another company, not at my cost!
Arguably, how did the earth gain water? With a relatively thin atmosphere, water is hard to come by...
The real question will be how will they determine if water is present on Mars that is not related to simple collisions of asteroids...
Slashdot Mirror
Lawn Darts
I love how many people, especially the media, love to generalize any product that has the potential for misuse to be a sinister product...
Historically there are so many other examples, such as lockpick kits which are illegal in many states and countries, or are requiring licenses to use. Let's not forget the old Napster, or Kazaa or any other similar P2P, due to misuse, free use P2P is generalized into a piracy movement alone.
Which reminds me of a joke- A man is at his house during prohibition in the backcountry, when a sheriff comes by and notices that he has all the equipment laid out to make moonshine. Immediately the sheriff arrests the man, citing that having the materials to make moonshine is equivalent to having the contraband itself, though he saw no liquor on the premise. The arrested man takes a long pause, thinks about the situation, and states- "Well, I guess you should arrest me for rape too then, I got all the tools for that crime also!". Embarassed, the sheriff released the man.
I'd recommend you be careful with "beg, borrow, or steal" mentalities, sooner than later you may find yourself in a legal quandary, when you use some code that someone published academically, but is patented and protected against commercial use-
Such as:
1. Lempel-Ziv
2. RSA (in the past)
3. Need I really list more...?
... I make sure that I write in a different programming language every time I change jobs.
Sriously though, the problem with coding, is that it is still more of an art than a science, and therefore the endproduct tends to reflect the style of the developers. It creates legal issues, but it's like asking Da Vinci to paint in a different style for a patron, "because we don't want those Sistine fellas complaining on infringement of copyright"- Ridiculous yes, but very real (IMHO).
Considering the ringworld idea was one of the primary sci-fi influences of Halo, this should be pretty cool.
I'm looking forward to this series!
What is interesting, is that more likely than not, this bill will not actually make it... Politics being what they are, I really doubt that the parties have already determined their true stance on the issue.
Until that happens, everyone is making an individual decision stating a preference for or against said bill, with the occasional consortium working together. Wait till the car manufacturers make a few choice calls to their representatives, "explaining" the situation in the terms that politicians understand best- $$$. Without the bling bling, the parties will quickly see to it that their opinions become inline with the manufacturers. All hail the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the MPAA of your Honda.
I may be being presumptious in this world of Microsoft bashing, but I find it curious that people list using the MSN search under the "Your Rights Online" category. Unless we're all trying to say that Microsoft is governmental in nature and provides us with necessities (unlikely coming from open source community members), then we can hardly consider MSN a right- more like a service provided by MSN for our benefit- we have as much right complaining that they filter certain results, as we do complaining that our rights are being taken away when we can't place AA batteries in an Ipod when it never expressed that it could use them in the first place. Arguably MSN claims to be a encompassing search engine- but how many car companies or other manufacturers tell you the advantages and (potentially superior) pricing of competitors products??? MSN a right- hardly, it's a voluntary service provided at the cost of another company, not at my cost!
Arguably, how did the earth gain water? With a relatively thin atmosphere, water is hard to come by... The real question will be how will they determine if water is present on Mars that is not related to simple collisions of asteroids...