Question for the wire-heads out there - radar usually operates by doppler / pulse mode. I'm assuming these are similar. How hard would it be to build a device that sync'd to the pulse and returned a variable-amplitude return? That should, in theory, severely degrade the quality of their signal.
Also, what about aluminum siding on homes? If you grounded it, you'd have a pretty effective faraday box.
The "moral majority" is at it again, so it would seem. Now, ask yourself how they're going to keep track of this. I can tell you right now there's only one way that's even moderately reliable - honesty. If the parents want to sacrifice their kids' privacy, they're welcome to do it. I can tell you right now how most parents will react to this. "Not my child!"
so what's left? Peer pressure (so and so didn't disclose xyzzy so they must be hiding something!), voluntarily disclosing the information, legislation requiring you to disclose it.
No doubt, the latter of the three will be tried in congress under some "Children's we-want-to-save-the-world Act of 2000", because we know what's best for you - even if you disagree! And it sounds good politically to "save the children" by profiling them and monitoring them. And when school shootings from depressed and distraught kids reach record numbers, we'll put more metal detectors, and armed security guards.. and.. and...
Obviously, if you're a child rights' activist, you need to stop this right now. But for the rest of us, take comfort in the fact that this style of legislation will kill itself. After they get done finger-pointing, of course.
I am reminded of a quote - "To judge a country, look at how they treat their children."
Didn't anybody tell the aussie's that only certain north american countries with 3 letter initials could order the rest of the online world around?:)
Seriously now, what we need is a international movement to eliminate regulation of the internet. Otherwise one of two scenarios are going to result:
1) the internet becomes hopelessly fractured into hundreds of mini-nets ala the Great Firewall of China.
2) It becomes impossible to do anything online because some other country might have made it illegal. And quite frankly, e-commerce has it bad enough right now with national legislation, let alone the international problems that would arise by regulation of the internet. Witness the crypto jihad the US is on.
Either way, we lose, and the internet in it's present form ceases to exist. I simply don't believe that there is a technical solution yet to stop legislators from passing stupid laws short of using shock collars everytime they vote stupidly.
Whoah. Reality check: "JAR JAR MUST DIE!" must be written atleast 50 times on any public posting about Star Wars.
It's inscribed on the inside of Rob Malda's magic ring (you know - one ring to rule them all, one ring to bind them..) that he uses to wield control over the 11 major news organizations....
I know this isn't much of an answer, but it's the only one that works - you just know you're a geek. There is no single definition of a geek that's going to cut it. It's like trying to explain Tao, or how Microsoft products seemingly fail randomly. The culture has grown to a sufficient size now that the word "geek" has become more general, and stereotyped.
There's also plenty of posers / wannabe's now, apparently due to the incredible amount of money you can earn by "knowing computers". This has contributed so something akin to a cultural identity crisis.
I can't offer a single answer... all I can say, is that you just know if you're a geek. Don't try to become a geek, it's utterly doomed to failure.
Those who are searching for a definition of geekyness are encouraged to look up the definition of Hacker in the Jargon file. It's the best, and most authoritative, definition to date. I would also recommend Appendix B, portrait of J Random Hacker. It's also the only text I have found that gets anywhere close to the Right Thing(tm) on this topic.
Well, if this is true then nobody knows how to play quake on the pub servers - "only 16% know how to circle-strafe".
This must translate to: 84% use zbot to assist with their aiming, because they don't know how to properly navigate.
Sad. I'm not sure what to make of this - I'm better than 98% of quake players, but that isn't saying much if 84% of them suck worse than Bill Clinton. No, wait... that's not what I meant...
Considering that Altavista hasn't even indexed, what, 20% of the available webpages? That makes for a considerable margin of error. What's worse, a lot of those might have gone 404. So let's take the results with a grain of salt, okay people?
I'd also like to point out that politicians tend to note the presence of things, not the absence - just because good outweighs evil online doesn't mean they see it that way. They think that kids *enjoy* watching pornography, and they're on a holy mission to save them from themselves. Nevermind that the average 9 year old would just be grossed out at the concept of boys and girls.. well.. you know.
New measurement: the Megabork. Measures stupidity in committees by the sum of their IQs.
Why must committees break perfectly good, working standards? Computers use zero-based counting are usually binary - which means byte-boundaries occur in powers of two. If the average idi^H^H^Hperson can't understand this simple fact, Steve Jobs would love to sell them their next computer.
I think God's way of seeking vengance is to put everybody on a committee...
Jesse Ventura's campaign is supposed to be the model.
I live in minnesota, and I can safely say the majority of us regret participating in this practical joke against conventional politics. Nobody here, and I mean nobody thought he'd win - they voted for him in good humor. Now that we've realized we've hired Jesse the Body with No Mind, we're eagerly awaiting the next election to undo that mistake.
Basically, I don't think a web based party has any hope whatsoever of suceeding.
I have to disagree. You just need to find a focal point. We only need to wait for the right opportunity. I have a feeling the Republicans won't let us down.
Question: How does one organize a group of people entirely online? I have seen several attempts at getting a movement off the ground - setting up a listserv, website, discussing the issues.. but that's usually all the farther it goes, and then the whole thing sinks.
What's the best way to get in touch with people and get something off the ground?
Once again slashdotters have seen the trees, and missed the forest.
High school was, and still is, hell for alot of people. The fact that our politicians immediately seized on the opportunity to "profile" geeks and outcasts rather than identify the root of the problem is evidence of why sites like this are necessary. There are several support groups that have already sprung up to address these issues. Hopefully, in time, they will form a grass-roots efforts to help sanitize our schools' policies. I, for one, welcome it. My high school experiences were less than memorable, and I'm very, very happy that I graduated before the columbine hysteria.
Now, some quick Q&A, because I already know how this is going to be taken:
"It's only 4 years, what's the big deal?" The ages of 13-19 are the years that the vast majority of kids develop their outlook on life. If they're spending that time being beat up and oppressed... well, you do the math.
"I never had any trouble in high school, what's the big deal?" Thousands of people didn't get in a car accident today because you didn't either, right?
"You suck! Die you commie bastard!" Another victim of public education, I see...
Why do politicians pass legislation like this? Good question! It's because it makes for "good public policy". It sounds good, like a title for a book. And alot of people only judge a book by it's cover. And besides - minors can't defend themselves politically(can't vote!), so what incentive to politicians have to protect their rights?
Instead of freeing Kevin, how about we free *all* political prisoners, him included. Free Kevin can wait if the time is used to Free Everybody.
An excellent point. I would counter though by saying that you should "pick things big enough to matter, and small enough to win."
It's a noble goal, but I'm abit more practical - I can't stop world hunger by myself, but maybe I can get enough people together to get Mitnick sprung from jail. And that would be a small, but significant victory. Situational morality, I guess.
For someone so concerned about research and fact checking, you sure seem to make a lot of grand statements about the nature of politics and epistemology without any evidence to back you up. Who made you the sole arbiter of knowledge?
freekevin is a good starting point, though granted it is biased. You can also sift through the archives of HNN, which has reliably documented the Mitnick case. They also have external links to various news organizations' stories on the issue. I speak based on having read those stories, read the website, and also read numerous newspaper articles over the years.
Well, there's an objective statement of fact. Nothing gets people going like an irrational fear that "they're next". I suppose you believe in slippery-slopes, too.
Yes. And my style of writing is persuasive, not informative. Keep that in mind while you critique.
OTOH, I've got to wonder where you've been. This sort of thing has been happening for decades (centuries, even).
I suppose that you're right, I mean, afterall.. if it's been going on for that long, it must be more OK than something that's only been going on for a few weeks... And as to where I've been - I've been in college, online, I've been through public schools, I've had an interesting life. And I also believe that other people are entitled to those same freedoms. That's where I've been.
I'm submitting this in response to several comments posted to this thread, and elsewhere under this article...
There have been a number of comments about how Mitnick is a criminal, how he deserves what he got, how his rights weren't violated. There have even been a few posts to the effect of "love it or leave it" politics. Our government is great, and how dare you.. blah blah blah.
My response to all of you will be the same: Get the facts. The reason these people continue to believe the lies despite ready access to the truth is because they are afraid of the responsibility that knowing the truth bestows on people. The moral responsibility to DO something. When you know what's really going on, when you have all the facts laid out in front of you and can see for yourself what these gross injustices will do to our country, you have the responsibility to say something, to get other people to listen, and to take action. Not a responsibility many people want to take on.
Ever wondered why nobody believes somebody when they say they were raped? "They must be lying - so and so could never have done that!" The parents search the kids house for drugs, submit them to psychological counseling, etc. Why they would make up something like that is beyond me - and it's fairly easy to see when somebody is going through emotional trama. The reason people ignore the obvious is because they don't want to believe that it could happen to anyone... or themselves. So they ignore the truth, they may even ignore the victim, because they don't want to accept the responsibility for making sure it doesn't happen to anybody else. And you know what - for their apathy, these crimes continue.
You're welcome to ignore the truth. Online, nobody knows where you've been, or what you've read. Your secret is safe with your computer. But when you come out and post publically, in places like Slashdot, it's expected that you've done your homework. We have a special account reserved for people who haven't - Anonymous Coward. Please use it, so we can save ourselves the trouble of skipping over your posts.
The only TRUE injustice is that Kevin Mitnick does not have competant legal council.
And since when were you the sole arbiter of truth? The truth is only strained from the facts by careful research, fact checking and fact finding, and sometimes alittle luck.
He has sat in jail for four years. That is a fact. It is also a fact that felony charges statistically take far less time than this. Further, if you familiarized yourself with the case, you'd realize that he fell through the cracks of the administrative process - and not entirely by accident. That is why it has taken so long for the case to be heard. Since you show little inclination to familiarize yourself with the case, I won't bore you on details.
Yes, in many cases he IS a political prisoner. And while slapping Free Kevin stickers on your bumper might bring awareness to an issue that most American's have probably never heard a word of, but in the long run, it really does nothing to help him.
First, there are not many cases; There is one case. Secondly, it is only by raising public awareness and education that will ever cause any change to occur. There are no visible signs that the ozone is being destroyed, yet we know this is so because people have told us. Would you know about Linux if somebody had not told you about it? Would you know about the national debt if somebody hadn't told you? It is simply incredible how much of your knowledge of the world comes from media, and by word of mouth. That is why the bumper stickers, the press, the articles, the protests, will do something. People need to be made aware of why this happened. It must be prevented from happening again. Who will America's next political prisoner be? Who's rights will be sacrificed next? Mine? Yours?
HNN debunked the story about how he "cost" the company millions with an internal memo requesting that companies up the amount as high as possible.
And the "love it or leave it attitude" for America is no longer in vogue. All progress depends on unreasonable men. And change is the only way to improve matters - go back to despotism if you want to "love it or leave it".
Kevin Mitnick was in the wrong place at the wrong time. This story has been going on for longer than slashdot has been in existance. This story was going on before Linux was more than a twinkle in somebody's eye, and before the Web was anything more than the province of colleges.
So you'll forgive me if I am alittle irate at the idea of people comparing him to a "script kiddie", because not only don't they know the story, but they are doing a grave dis-service to the community by saying something like that.
Kevin Mitnick, in short, is a political prisoner. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and has paid for it with over four years in jail without a trial. That's what makes this story significant to the community - that our government was, and still is, so ignorant of how computers and networks work, that they will imprison people for years and years without a trial because they don't understand. Kevin is in jail because of political posturing - the SS and FBI needed to make an example, and that came in the form of one Kevin Mitnick, a petty thief with just enough knowledge of computers to fool the public into thinking he was some super-terrorist.
And that, fellow slashdotters, is why this story is important. Somebody's right to due process was stripped away; Because of ignorance, apathy, and political posturing, a man has been sitting in jail for four years, unable to contribute anything to society. Rapists spend less time in jail than this person has.
Keep that in mind before you try to dismiss this as just another script kiddie who got caught...
> Howcome americans insist on putting disclaimers on everything? Oh, that's right, your legal system sucks!;-) In most other contries people don't even attempt these kinds of lawsuits because the jugde will laugh them out of the courtroom.
To put it as succinctly as possible - it's because our society values money above most anything else. So as a side-effect we get large numbers of what I call the "something for nothing" crowd. That in turn causes corporations to seek a legal remedy to protect their assets, which comes in the form of excessively dense legal precidents.
Capitalism is built on the premise that enlightened self-interest will lead to the highest possible productivity. Our legal and social systems are heavily influenced by that idea. Hence, our legal system does not "suck" any more so than your legal system sucks. It's tailored for a specific purpose.
Now, whether you think this is right or not is another story...
Sigh. Another reason you should not watch TV. False advertising. I think Pepsi should lose this one. There are disclaimers on *everything* these days. If Pepsi was too lazy to put one in their contest rules, they should be held liable. They made a contract with this person - now they're trying to get out? The moral of this story is left as an exercise for the reader.
I have to agree with an earlier AC posting to this article. The approach is fundamentally flawed because it uses the past to predict what is happening in the present as it's guidepost. Such a system could easily be subverted by simply doing such operations at a very low frequency, and ramping it up until the system believes it is "normal". Such tactics can even fool people - as any sysadmin will tell you.
Besides, how would you be able to tell the difference between a system administrator modifying sendmail's configuration files, and a systems' cracker trying to bypass security? They both look the same in my version of syslog.
You know, before I even hit submit for that post, I already knew some clueless fool was going to say the obvious... well then, without further ado...
The definition for both biological and computer viruses is a entity (program) which inserts itself into another entity in order to propigate itself. I guess this means when I get a plugin for netscape, that's a virus? Or how about when I upgrade my system from windows 95 to windows 98? My my, by your definition, that would be a virus too. What about the "melissa virus" I described above. That was only an e-mail attachment. It didn't insert itself into anything.
Any time when system performance or integrity drops because of the virus. So I should immediately upgrade to Linux, dispite corporate policy saying that I'll be fired if I do so? Afterall, running Windows *does* lower both system performance and integrity. Whups. Try coding something (anything), that can detect "system performance or integrity drops" - and determine that it's a virus, and not somebody playing solitare.
Humans are machines, so this is not a logical comparison. Gosh, last time I took a shower, I didn't start rusting. Funny, maybe I missed something? And I guess when my HDD dies I should be sued for "wrongful death"? Sorry, but the distinction is obvious. If you can't tell the difference between a human and a machine, you've been spending too much time on hold.
You know, the whole point of my post was that you can't code away stupidity. People need to use their computers responsibly. That means regular maintenance, an understanding of what to do when it breaks, and practicing safe hex. If you can't do that, return your computer, and stay the #$@! away from mine!
Slashdot Mirror
Question for the wire-heads out there - radar usually operates by doppler / pulse mode. I'm assuming these are similar. How hard would it be to build a device that sync'd to the pulse and returned a variable-amplitude return? That should, in theory, severely degrade the quality of their signal.
Also, what about aluminum siding on homes? If you grounded it, you'd have a pretty effective faraday box.
--
Just incase you want to strip out the legalise internic has stuck in their whois, put this into your .bashrc or .bash_profile:
alias whois=`whois $* | tail -7`
Enjoy.
--
The "moral majority" is at it again, so it would seem. Now, ask yourself how they're going to keep track of this. I can tell you right now there's only one way that's even moderately reliable - honesty. If the parents want to sacrifice their kids' privacy, they're welcome to do it. I can tell you right now how most parents will react to this. "Not my child!"
so what's left? Peer pressure (so and so didn't disclose xyzzy so they must be hiding something!), voluntarily disclosing the information, legislation requiring you to disclose it.
No doubt, the latter of the three will be tried in congress under some "Children's we-want-to-save-the-world Act of 2000", because we know what's best for you - even if you disagree! And it sounds good politically to "save the children" by profiling them and monitoring them. And when school shootings from depressed and distraught kids reach record numbers, we'll put more metal detectors, and armed security guards.. and .. and...
Obviously, if you're a child rights' activist, you need to stop this right now. But for the rest of us, take comfort in the fact that this style of legislation will kill itself. After they get done finger-pointing, of course.
I am reminded of a quote - "To judge a country, look at how they treat their children."
--
Didn't anybody tell the aussie's that only certain north american countries with 3 letter initials could order the rest of the online world around? :)
Seriously now, what we need is a international movement to eliminate regulation of the internet. Otherwise one of two scenarios are going to result:
1) the internet becomes hopelessly fractured into hundreds of mini-nets ala the Great Firewall of China.
2) It becomes impossible to do anything online because some other country might have made it illegal. And quite frankly, e-commerce has it bad enough right now with national legislation, let alone the international problems that would arise by regulation of the internet. Witness the crypto jihad the US is on.
Either way, we lose, and the internet in it's present form ceases to exist. I simply don't believe that there is a technical solution yet to stop legislators from passing stupid laws short of using shock collars everytime they vote stupidly.
--
Whoah. Reality check: "JAR JAR MUST DIE!" must be written atleast 50 times on any public posting about Star Wars.
It's inscribed on the inside of Rob Malda's magic ring (you know - one ring to rule them all, one ring to bind them..) that he uses to wield control over the 11 major news organizations....
--
I know this isn't much of an answer, but it's the only one that works - you just know you're a geek. There is no single definition of a geek that's going to cut it. It's like trying to explain Tao, or how Microsoft products seemingly fail randomly. The culture has grown to a sufficient size now that the word "geek" has become more general, and stereotyped.
There's also plenty of posers / wannabe's now, apparently due to the incredible amount of money you can earn by "knowing computers". This has contributed so something akin to a cultural identity crisis.
I can't offer a single answer... all I can say, is that you just know if you're a geek. Don't try to become a geek, it's utterly doomed to failure.
Those who are searching for a definition of geekyness are encouraged to look up the definition of Hacker in the Jargon file. It's the best, and most authoritative, definition to date. I would also recommend Appendix B, portrait of J Random Hacker. It's also the only text I have found that gets anywhere close to the Right Thing(tm) on this topic.
--
Well, if this is true then nobody knows how to play quake on the pub servers - "only 16% know how to circle-strafe".
This must translate to: 84% use zbot to assist with their aiming, because they don't know how to properly navigate.
Sad. I'm not sure what to make of this - I'm better than 98% of quake players, but that isn't saying much if 84% of them suck worse than Bill Clinton. No, wait... that's not what I meant...
--
Considering that Altavista hasn't even indexed, what, 20% of the available webpages? That makes for a considerable margin of error. What's worse, a lot of those might have gone 404. So let's take the results with a grain of salt, okay people?
I'd also like to point out that politicians tend to note the presence of things, not the absence - just because good outweighs evil online doesn't mean they see it that way. They think that kids *enjoy* watching pornography, and they're on a holy mission to save them from themselves. Nevermind that the average 9 year old would just be grossed out at the concept of boys and girls.. well.. you know.
--
Maybebytes: It could be a byte. Then again, it might not.
Gibytes: How many bodies are on the floor after you get done playing Quake.
Kilibytes: What you call somebody who has contributed to the Gibytes of another player.
--
New measurement: the Megabork. Measures stupidity in committees by the sum of their IQs.
Why must committees break perfectly good, working standards? Computers use zero-based counting are usually binary - which means byte-boundaries occur in powers of two. If the average idi^H^H^Hperson can't understand this simple fact, Steve Jobs would love to sell them their next computer.
I think God's way of seeking vengance is to put everybody on a committee...
--
Jesse Ventura's campaign is supposed to be the model.
I live in minnesota, and I can safely say the majority of us regret participating in this practical joke against conventional politics. Nobody here, and I mean nobody thought he'd win - they voted for him in good humor. Now that we've realized we've hired Jesse the Body with No Mind, we're eagerly awaiting the next election to undo that mistake.
Basically, I don't think a web based party has any hope whatsoever of suceeding.
I have to disagree. You just need to find a focal point. We only need to wait for the right opportunity. I have a feeling the Republicans won't let us down.
--
Question: How does one organize a group of people entirely online? I have seen several attempts at getting a movement off the ground - setting up a listserv, website, discussing the issues.. but that's usually all the farther it goes, and then the whole thing sinks.
What's the best way to get in touch with people and get something off the ground?
--
Once again slashdotters have seen the trees, and missed the forest.
High school was, and still is, hell for alot of people. The fact that our politicians immediately seized on the opportunity to "profile" geeks and outcasts rather than identify the root of the problem is evidence of why sites like this are necessary. There are several support groups that have already sprung up to address these issues. Hopefully, in time, they will form a grass-roots efforts to help sanitize our schools' policies. I, for one, welcome it. My high school experiences were less than memorable, and I'm very, very happy that I graduated before the columbine hysteria.
Now, some quick Q&A, because I already know how this is going to be taken:
"It's only 4 years, what's the big deal?"
The ages of 13-19 are the years that the vast majority of kids develop their outlook on life. If they're spending that time being beat up and oppressed... well, you do the math.
"I never had any trouble in high school, what's the big deal?"
Thousands of people didn't get in a car accident today because you didn't either, right?
"You suck! Die you commie bastard!"
Another victim of public education, I see...
Why do politicians pass legislation like this?
Good question! It's because it makes for "good public policy". It sounds good, like a title for a book. And alot of people only judge a book by it's cover. And besides - minors can't defend themselves politically(can't vote!), so what incentive to politicians have to protect their rights?
--
Instead of freeing Kevin, how about we free *all* political prisoners, him included. Free Kevin can wait if the time is used to Free Everybody.
An excellent point. I would counter though by saying that you should "pick things big enough to matter, and small enough to win."
It's a noble goal, but I'm abit more practical - I can't stop world hunger by myself, but maybe I can get enough people together to get Mitnick sprung from jail. And that would be a small, but significant victory. Situational morality, I guess.
--
(Watch me get accused of being a troll...)
:)
Troll!
For someone so concerned about research and fact checking, you sure seem to make a lot of grand statements about the nature of politics and epistemology without any evidence to back you up. Who made you the sole arbiter of knowledge?
freekevin is a good starting point, though granted it is biased. You can also sift through the archives of HNN, which has reliably documented the Mitnick case. They also have external links to various news organizations' stories on the issue. I speak based on having read those stories, read the website, and also read numerous newspaper articles over the years.
Well, there's an objective statement of fact. Nothing gets people going like an irrational fear that "they're next". I suppose you believe in slippery-slopes, too.
Yes. And my style of writing is persuasive, not informative. Keep that in mind while you critique.
OTOH, I've got to wonder where you've been. This sort of thing has been happening for decades (centuries, even).
I suppose that you're right, I mean, afterall.. if it's been going on for that long, it must be more OK than something that's only been going on for a few weeks... And as to where I've been - I've been in college, online, I've been through public schools, I've had an interesting life. And I also believe that other people are entitled to those same freedoms. That's where I've been.
--
I'm submitting this in response to several comments posted to this thread, and elsewhere under this article...
There have been a number of comments about how Mitnick is a criminal, how he deserves what he got, how his rights weren't violated. There have even been a few posts to the effect of "love it or leave it" politics. Our government is great, and how dare you.. blah blah blah.
My response to all of you will be the same: Get the facts. The reason these people continue to believe the lies despite ready access to the truth is because they are afraid of the responsibility that knowing the truth bestows on people. The moral responsibility to DO something. When you know what's really going on, when you have all the facts laid out in front of you and can see for yourself what these gross injustices will do to our country, you have the responsibility to say something, to get other people to listen, and to take action. Not a responsibility many people want to take on.
Ever wondered why nobody believes somebody when they say they were raped? "They must be lying - so and so could never have done that!" The parents search the kids house for drugs, submit them to psychological counseling, etc. Why they would make up something like that is beyond me - and it's fairly easy to see when somebody is going through emotional trama. The reason people ignore the obvious is because they don't want to believe that it could happen to anyone... or themselves. So they ignore the truth, they may even ignore the victim, because they don't want to accept the responsibility for making sure it doesn't happen to anybody else. And you know what - for their apathy, these crimes continue.
You're welcome to ignore the truth. Online, nobody knows where you've been, or what you've read. Your secret is safe with your computer. But when you come out and post publically, in places like Slashdot, it's expected that you've done your homework. We have a special account reserved for people who haven't - Anonymous Coward. Please use it, so we can save ourselves the trouble of skipping over your posts.
--
Yes, he was. He also butchered alot of people. Why do you bring this up, troll?
--
The only TRUE injustice is that Kevin Mitnick does not have competant legal council.
And since when were you the sole arbiter of truth? The truth is only strained from the facts by careful research, fact checking and fact finding, and sometimes alittle luck.
He has sat in jail for four years. That is a fact. It is also a fact that felony charges statistically take far less time than this. Further, if you familiarized yourself with the case, you'd realize that he fell through the cracks of the administrative process - and not entirely by accident. That is why it has taken so long for the case to be heard. Since you show little inclination to familiarize yourself with the case, I won't bore you on details.
Yes, in many cases he IS a political prisoner. And while slapping Free Kevin stickers on your bumper might bring awareness to an issue that most American's have probably never heard a word of, but in the long run, it really does nothing to help him.
First, there are not many cases; There is one case. Secondly, it is only by raising public awareness and education that will ever cause any change to occur. There are no visible signs that the ozone is being destroyed, yet we know this is so because people have told us. Would you know about Linux if somebody had not told you about it? Would you know about the national debt if somebody hadn't told you? It is simply incredible how much of your knowledge of the world comes from media, and by word of mouth. That is why the bumper stickers, the press, the articles, the protests, will do something. People need to be made aware of why this happened. It must be prevented from happening again. Who will America's next political prisoner be? Who's rights will be sacrificed next? Mine? Yours?
--
You're both wrong. See freekevin.com
HNN debunked the story about how he "cost" the company millions with an internal memo requesting that companies up the amount as high as possible.
And the "love it or leave it attitude" for America is no longer in vogue. All progress depends on unreasonable men. And change is the only way to improve matters - go back to despotism if you want to "love it or leave it".
--
For the full scoop, check out freekevin
Kevin Mitnick was in the wrong place at the wrong time. This story has been going on for longer than slashdot has been in existance. This story was going on before Linux was more than a twinkle in somebody's eye, and before the Web was anything more than the province of colleges.
So you'll forgive me if I am alittle irate at the idea of people comparing him to a "script kiddie", because not only don't they know the story, but they are doing a grave dis-service to the community by saying something like that.
Kevin Mitnick, in short, is a political prisoner. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and has paid for it with over four years in jail without a trial. That's what makes this story significant to the community - that our government was, and still is, so ignorant of how computers and networks work, that they will imprison people for years and years without a trial because they don't understand. Kevin is in jail because of political posturing - the SS and FBI needed to make an example, and that came in the form of one Kevin Mitnick, a petty thief with just enough knowledge of computers to fool the public into thinking he was some super-terrorist.
And that, fellow slashdotters, is why this story is important. Somebody's right to due process was stripped away; Because of ignorance, apathy, and political posturing, a man has been sitting in jail for four years, unable to contribute anything to society. Rapists spend less time in jail than this person has.
Keep that in mind before you try to dismiss this as just another script kiddie who got caught...
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> Howcome americans insist on putting disclaimers on everything? Oh, that's right, your legal system sucks! ;-) In most other contries people don't even attempt these kinds of lawsuits because the jugde will laugh them out of the courtroom.
To put it as succinctly as possible - it's because our society values money above most anything else. So as a side-effect we get large numbers of what I call the "something for nothing" crowd. That in turn causes corporations to seek a legal remedy to protect their assets, which comes in the form of excessively dense legal precidents.
Capitalism is built on the premise that enlightened self-interest will lead to the highest possible productivity. Our legal and social systems are heavily influenced by that idea. Hence, our legal system does not "suck" any more so than your legal system sucks. It's tailored for a specific purpose.
Now, whether you think this is right or not is another story...
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Sigh. Another reason you should not watch TV. False advertising. I think Pepsi should lose this one. There are disclaimers on *everything* these days. If Pepsi was too lazy to put one in their contest rules, they should be held liable. They made a contract with this person - now they're trying to get out? The moral of this story is left as an exercise for the reader.
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I have to agree with an earlier AC posting to this article. The approach is fundamentally flawed because it uses the past to predict what is happening in the present as it's guidepost. Such a system could easily be subverted by simply doing such operations at a very low frequency, and ramping it up until the system believes it is "normal". Such tactics can even fool people - as any sysadmin will tell you.
Besides, how would you be able to tell the difference between a system administrator modifying sendmail's configuration files, and a systems' cracker trying to bypass security? They both look the same in my version of syslog.
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You know, before I even hit submit for that post, I already knew some clueless fool was going to say the obvious... well then, without further ado...
The definition for both biological and computer viruses is a entity (program) which inserts itself into another entity in order to propigate itself.
I guess this means when I get a plugin for netscape, that's a virus? Or how about when I upgrade my system from windows 95 to windows 98? My my, by your definition, that would be a virus too. What about the "melissa virus" I described above. That was only an e-mail attachment. It didn't insert itself into anything.
Any time when system performance or integrity drops because of the virus.
So I should immediately upgrade to Linux, dispite corporate policy saying that I'll be fired if I do so? Afterall, running Windows *does* lower both system performance and integrity. Whups. Try coding something (anything), that can detect "system performance or integrity drops" - and determine that it's a virus, and not somebody playing solitare.
Humans are machines, so this is not a logical comparison.
Gosh, last time I took a shower, I didn't start rusting. Funny, maybe I missed something? And I guess when my HDD dies I should be sued for "wrongful death"? Sorry, but the distinction is obvious. If you can't tell the difference between a human and a machine, you've been spending too much time on hold.
You know, the whole point of my post was that you can't code away stupidity. People need to use their computers responsibly. That means regular maintenance, an understanding of what to do when it breaks, and practicing safe hex. If you can't do that, return your computer, and stay the #$@! away from mine!
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No, grep does not qualify. I said *detect*, as in see a pattern without you telling it where to look. Take this example:
Red. green. red. green.
What's the next color?
How about this: 2 3 5 6 7 9 10 11
What's the next number?
Get a computer to do that, and you'll be world-famous.
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