Remember the recent fiasco about the National Weather Service wanting to give us access to our data, and people like Accuweather wanting to stop them? We screamed, and they listened.
Granted, it was under a completely different set of circumstances. The govt. agency *wanted* to give us the data, it was a relatively minor threat of us losing access to it, etc. However, the point remains that we still live in a democracy. If enough people make enough noise, some politician is bound to at least raise a minor stink about it, if for no other reason than to pander to some people for some votes.
So, having said that, write to your congressman and request that the data you paid for, and deserve to have, be made available to you.
I feel that white worms, when done correctly, are a good thing. This is a case where the ends justify the means, even if it does mean comprimising vulnerable systems.
You decided to access their content.
Nothing there says that by accessing their content, I agree to anything.
Within the parameters set by the NYT.
Obviously, it is possible to access their content without registration (reference the link generator). The generator only generates a different URL, so obviously, that's within NYT's parameters.
It's also possible to get a fake drivers license without giving the government any "privacy inhibiting" information.
The government has a need to know that information when I apply for a driver's license. The NYT, however, does not.
It's also a problem with snail mail. Anyone can brute force mass mailings by sending mail to [1-9999] Main Street (just like email). Sure, some will bounce (just like email). However, some people will buy whatever crap you are peddling (just like email), which makes it profitable in the long run (just like email). That is why you haven't seen a decrease in the amount of junk mail you get in your snail mail box, just like your email box. For that matter, until the no-call lists came about, telemarketing followed the same principle.
Which proves my original point, that if you don't protect your privacy at every turn, you will lose it quickly.
The NYT is not in my crosshairs, bugmenot provides me with credentials to access lots of other sites as well. In fact, it's even faster then providing a junk registration, because as an earlier post points out, the firefox extension automatically fills it in for me. If it doesn't work, it just tries the next one.
Also, it's not about registration. It's about my right to be able to access the Internet in privacy. I also use an anonymous proxy, because my ISP seems to think it's cool to provide a hostname like this:
[neighborhood].[city].[isp-name].net
Anyone who has the same (national) ISP knows what I am talking about. It's a cable provider who segments their network by neighborhood, and names all of those segments by the name of the neighborhood. Seems logical, right? What if my kid (and yes, I do take safeguards against this) posts in a forum that his dad's red suv was just in a wreck? Well, let's just resolve that IP to its neighborhood then go drive around till we find a wrecked red SUV... I know that's pushing it, but it still proves my point.
BTW You give as much when you subscribe to a newspaper/magazine.
Er, no. Not when I cruise down to my supermarket in my disguise, taking a 100-mile detour to ensure that I'm not being followed, driving my car with fake license plates and a stripped VIN, buy a magazine/newspaper, and pay with cash that has been altered to remove the little tiny RFID tags.
BTW, the tin foil hat is getting hard to integrate with my disguise. Damned black ops making all the good disguises impossible to use... THOSE BASTARDS!
Sorry pal, but you are wrong. Try filling in only the username, password, and email fields, and watch the following appear:
There is a problem highlighted in red below. For help, click here.
# Please enter a GENDER. # Please enter a BIRTH YEAR. # Please enter a ZIP CODE. # Please select an INCOME RANGE. # Please select an INDUSTRY. # Please select a JOB TITLE. # Please select a JOB FUNCTION. # Please select a NEWSPAPER USAGE.
So? That's when you go and make a throw-away account at yahoo and give the offending site false information, then share the new name with bugmenot. That's why the system works, if everyone took that pacifist attitude, then it would never work.
And before you ask "why shouldn't I just make myself an account on a throw-away email address?" I would submit that if enough people contribute, you won't *have* to. I would wager that at higher-volume sites like nytimes.com, each set of credentials gets at least 100 uses before being blocked. And BTW, I have only gotten a few bad logins for lower-volume sites (like my local newspaper) but in all cases, clicking the "this login doesn't work" button produces another that does work.
http://www.bugmenot.com/ offers a way around this stupid registration requirement for this and many other websites. For example, I just got in thanks to them using the following:
user: suckerdj
pass: suckerdj
If enough people start using bugmenot, these bastards just might stop requiring us to give them our life history to access a bit of information.
In my experience, no. There was a time when I was naive enough to think that they would, but unfortunately, experience has proven otherwise.
In fact, I did an informal experiment of my own. I created an email address specifically for this purpose, and posted that address on a few sites. I was getting spam within 2 days (3 messages on day 2). After I got the first spam, I removed my email address from the sites. I also used the unsubscribe link on just one email. Guess what? The volume of spam jumped 400% within 24 hours (12 more messages came in).
Most effective weapon against spam? The delete key.
Dude, trust me. You haven't lived until you (as a coder) have worked with a good designer who you get along with. When that hapens, things click, you both agree on code, graphics, usability, layout, accessibility, etc. etc. and real work gets done. The results can be quite impressive. I do not want to spam my sites on slashdot, but I guess if you want examples I can post them...
Linux simply is not windows, will not be windows and should not be windows
Agreed.
however what distros like xandros try to provide is a linux environment that is accessible and easy to use for people familiar with windows
Mostly agreed, but I still see huge parellels between YaST (or whatever config engine - including RPMDrake, HardDrake, and even the KDE control center... And need I mention RedHat's 'Install/Remove Applications') and the Windows control panel
if you, like me, don't like these kind of distros with all their wizards and stuff Obviously you have never used Windows 2000/XP with all of its wizards;-) In fact, remember when Windows 2000 was released? One of the major marketing points I heard was "more wizards, easier administration/configuration"
Slashdot Mirror
no... are you?
... I think I will bid and if I win I will make him display www.gnaa.us
Remember the recent fiasco about the National Weather Service wanting to give us access to our data, and people like Accuweather wanting to stop them? We screamed, and they listened.
Granted, it was under a completely different set of circumstances. The govt. agency *wanted* to give us the data, it was a relatively minor threat of us losing access to it, etc. However, the point remains that we still live in a democracy. If enough people make enough noise, some politician is bound to at least raise a minor stink about it, if for no other reason than to pander to some people for some votes.
So, having said that, write to your congressman and request that the data you paid for, and deserve to have, be made available to you.
was not even asked.
Richard, have you showered anytime in the past 20 years since you founded GNU?
Why don't you ... just shut the fuck up!
No.
... until this one is banned because of potential use by terrorists.
Sure, and thanks! I appreciate it. My ip is 127.0.0.1. Let me know if you find anything worth patching!
And viruses and worms don't cause even more "major havoc?"
I feel that white worms, when done correctly, are a good thing. This is a case where the ends justify the means, even if it does mean comprimising vulnerable systems.
GNU/Linux
You decided to access their content.
Nothing there says that by accessing their content, I agree to anything.
Within the parameters set by the NYT.
Obviously, it is possible to access their content without registration (reference the link generator). The generator only generates a different URL, so obviously, that's within NYT's parameters.
It's also possible to get a fake drivers license without giving the government any "privacy inhibiting" information.
The government has a need to know that information when I apply for a driver's license. The NYT, however, does not.
You're most welcome. It's been fun, g'nite :D
I never agreed to anything. And, since the means exists for me to access their content without registration, why shouldn't I?
By the way, it is also possible to access their content without logging in at all, with fake user/pass or not. This link generator works nicely.
It's also a problem with snail mail. Anyone can brute force mass mailings by sending mail to [1-9999] Main Street (just like email). Sure, some will bounce (just like email). However, some people will buy whatever crap you are peddling (just like email), which makes it profitable in the long run (just like email). That is why you haven't seen a decrease in the amount of junk mail you get in your snail mail box, just like your email box. For that matter, until the no-call lists came about, telemarketing followed the same principle.
e
Which proves my original point, that if you don't protect your privacy at every turn, you will lose it quickly.
PS. If you have ever wondered how you can opt-out of at least some of those snail mail ads you get, look here:
http://www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailinglistdav
The NYT is not in my crosshairs, bugmenot provides me with credentials to access lots of other sites as well. In fact, it's even faster then providing a junk registration, because as an earlier post points out, the firefox extension automatically fills it in for me. If it doesn't work, it just tries the next one.
Also, it's not about registration. It's about my right to be able to access the Internet in privacy. I also use an anonymous proxy, because my ISP seems to think it's cool to provide a hostname like this:
[neighborhood].[city].[isp-name].net
Anyone who has the same (national) ISP knows what I am talking about. It's a cable provider who segments their network by neighborhood, and names all of those segments by the name of the neighborhood. Seems logical, right? What if my kid (and yes, I do take safeguards against this) posts in a forum that his dad's red suv was just in a wreck? Well, let's just resolve that IP to its neighborhood then go drive around till we find a wrecked red SUV... I know that's pushing it, but it still proves my point.
one of the country's best papers
Um, that's debatable at best.
you're not paying anything
Yes I am. My privacy is valuable to me.
the Times doesn't sell your soul to the devil.
Yes it does.
BTW You give as much when you subscribe to a newspaper/magazine.
Er, no. Not when I cruise down to my supermarket in my disguise, taking a 100-mile detour to ensure that I'm not being followed, driving my car with fake license plates and a stripped VIN, buy a magazine/newspaper, and pay with cash that has been altered to remove the little tiny RFID tags.
BTW, the tin foil hat is getting hard to integrate with my disguise. Damned black ops making all the good disguises impossible to use... THOSE BASTARDS!
Are you outraged now?
Yes!!
LOL that was great thanks. I haven't had a good hearty laugh all day.
Sorry pal, but you are wrong. Try filling in only the username, password, and email fields, and watch the following appear:
There is a problem highlighted in red below. For help, click here.
# Please enter a GENDER.
# Please enter a BIRTH YEAR.
# Please enter a ZIP CODE.
# Please select an INCOME RANGE.
# Please select an INDUSTRY.
# Please select a JOB TITLE.
# Please select a JOB FUNCTION.
# Please select a NEWSPAPER USAGE.
So? That's when you go and make a throw-away account at yahoo and give the offending site false information, then share the new name with bugmenot. That's why the system works, if everyone took that pacifist attitude, then it would never work.
And before you ask "why shouldn't I just make myself an account on a throw-away email address?" I would submit that if enough people contribute, you won't *have* to. I would wager that at higher-volume sites like nytimes.com, each set of credentials gets at least 100 uses before being blocked. And BTW, I have only gotten a few bad logins for lower-volume sites (like my local newspaper) but in all cases, clicking the "this login doesn't work" button produces another that does work.
http://www.bugmenot.com/ offers a way around this stupid registration requirement for this and many other websites. For example, I just got in thanks to them using the following:
user: suckerdj
pass: suckerdj
If enough people start using bugmenot, these bastards just might stop requiring us to give them our life history to access a bit of information.
.. is $4.11 in after hours trading.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=scox
In my experience, no. There was a time when I was naive enough to think that they would, but unfortunately, experience has proven otherwise.
In fact, I did an informal experiment of my own. I created an email address specifically for this purpose, and posted that address on a few sites. I was getting spam within 2 days (3 messages on day 2). After I got the first spam, I removed my email address from the sites. I also used the unsubscribe link on just one email. Guess what? The volume of spam jumped 400% within 24 hours (12 more messages came in).
Most effective weapon against spam? The delete key.
that sounds -perfect- to me.
Dude, trust me. You haven't lived until you (as a coder) have worked with a good designer who you get along with. When that hapens, things click, you both agree on code, graphics, usability, layout, accessibility, etc. etc. and real work gets done. The results can be quite impressive. I do not want to spam my sites on slashdot, but I guess if you want examples I can post them...
Linux simply is not windows, will not be windows and should not be windows
;-) In fact, remember when Windows 2000 was released? One of the major marketing points I heard was "more wizards, easier administration/configuration"
Agreed.
however what distros like xandros try to provide is a linux environment that is accessible and easy to use for people familiar with windows
Mostly agreed, but I still see huge parellels between YaST (or whatever config engine - including RPMDrake, HardDrake, and even the KDE control center... And need I mention RedHat's 'Install/Remove Applications') and the Windows control panel
if you, like me, don't like these kind of distros with all their wizards and stuff
Obviously you have never used Windows 2000/XP with all of its wizards