Can the police get your phone number based on your name or your name based on a phone number without a warrent.
Just about anyone (even Police officers) can get a phone number for most people given a name - all without a warrant. They can normally use an initial and/or an address to narrow down the search.
The technology has existed for years. It is called the phonebook. It is even possible to access some phonebooks online - http://www.whitepages.com.au/ being one example.
provide largely the same offerings as its US and European stores, delivering access to almost one million songs at between AU$0.99 and AU$1.69 per song
Most replies to this comment have completely missed the point (this is slashdot after all).
The iTunes stores across the globe seem to have settled on a 99 unit price point - be it US cents, Euro cents, British pence, Pacific Island Bananas, etc. I might be wrong about the price point across all the stores, but the principle is the same.
The variation in Australian prices from $0.99 to $1.69 merely reflect the different exchange rates of those other currencies.
In a properly functioning democracy, all government should be open source - that is, it should be open to scruitiny from anyone and everyone.
Some jurisdictions have Freedom of Information and other assorted records laws, which entitle normal citizens the right of access to documents and records, ensure that they are not destroyed to cover things up, etc.
Unfortunately, some governments work extraordinarily hard to subvert these rights. Of course, some people in some countries/states/etc do not have these rights to begin with.
This is archiving, not serving. Archiving, by definition, is where you have data that is important enough to keep but where the immediate need is low enough that the burden for providing it is on the looker.
The definition of archiving in the technology world is different to definition used by recordkeepers and archivists.
If someone wants the data, they can look up the location and find it in room full of DVDs
Do you really want to store terabytes of data on DVDs?
There are lots of off-the-shelf storage solutions with shelf-lives to 2090 and beyond.
Archival institutions around the world would be most interested in these off-the-shelf solutions. Can you provide a reference? Are they just the software and hardware, or do they provide the rest of the system as well?
The leading archival instutions around the world are all building their own solutions (and collaborating), which would tend to suggest that there is nothing suitable available off-the-shelf.
The data is in the hands of one party - who the heck needs to be assured of its authenticity?
Surely there are enough conspiracy theories about the governance of the USA without adding to the mix by not having authentic records. There are recordkeeping mechanisms available to ensure that records are pretty damn authentic - why not use them?
What a waste of money. Massechussets is doing it for free. All you need to do is make sure that all your document file format standards are free and open.
Free?
What are you going to store these open file format documents on?
You are going to need a damn big server of some sort.
You are going to need some other infrastructure as well - to prove that the record is still reliable and authentic (at least).
You will also have to refresh your media regularly.
And many more things you will have to have in place.
Someone has already mentioned the problems for blind users
It would also cause problems for non-English speakers. The sky may be "b"lue in North America, England, Australia and the like, but it would be "blauw" in the Netherlands, "blu" in Italy and "azul" in Spanish speaking countries.
How will your solution cope with these legitimate variations?
You also assume that everyone will know the answer to "what is 2+2=".
You can certainly make a case that gambling should be legalized, but that's a separate issue. It's not in Australia, so you can't go around saying "Come here and gamble!" any more than you can say "Come here and buy heroin!"
Most forms of gambling are legal in Australia. Most of the State Governments run some form of lottery, which raises much revenue (not to mention all the casinos and poker machines).
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I thought that they would have staff to do that for them.
Just about anyone (even Police officers) can get a phone number for most people given a name - all without a warrant. They can normally use an initial and/or an address to narrow down the search.
The technology has existed for years. It is called the phonebook. It is even possible to access some phonebooks online - http://www.whitepages.com.au/ being one example.
The proper penalty, of course, is to say 6 Hail Marys and make a donation to the school building fund
Most replies to this comment have completely missed the point (this is slashdot after all).
The iTunes stores across the globe seem to have settled on a 99 unit price point - be it US cents, Euro cents, British pence, Pacific Island Bananas, etc. I might be wrong about the price point across all the stores, but the principle is the same.
The variation in Australian prices from $0.99 to $1.69 merely reflect the different exchange rates of those other currencies.
Nothing to do with variable pricing at all.
Some jurisdictions have Freedom of Information and other assorted records laws, which entitle normal citizens the right of access to documents and records, ensure that they are not destroyed to cover things up, etc.
Unfortunately, some governments work extraordinarily hard to subvert these rights. Of course, some people in some countries/states/etc do not have these rights to begin with.
So YES, governments should be open source.
That is classic security by obscurity. If you cannot find the links, you cannot access any information.
Well, it made me cry
The definition of archiving in the technology world is different to definition used by recordkeepers and archivists.
If someone wants the data, they can look up the location and find it in room full of DVDs
Do you really want to store terabytes of data on DVDs?
There are lots of off-the-shelf storage solutions with shelf-lives to 2090 and beyond.
Archival institutions around the world would be most interested in these off-the-shelf solutions. Can you provide a reference? Are they just the software and hardware, or do they provide the rest of the system as well?
The leading archival instutions around the world are all building their own solutions (and collaborating), which would tend to suggest that there is nothing suitable available off-the-shelf. The data is in the hands of one party - who the heck needs to be assured of its authenticity?
Surely there are enough conspiracy theories about the governance of the USA without adding to the mix by not having authentic records. There are recordkeeping mechanisms available to ensure that records are pretty damn authentic - why not use them?
Free?
What are you going to store these open file format documents on?
You are going to need a damn big server of some sort.
You are going to need some other infrastructure as well - to prove that the record is still reliable and authentic (at least).
You will also have to refresh your media regularly.
And many more things you will have to have in place.
That will not come cheap.
But, given those circumstances, it would narrow down the list of possible suspects quite substantially
This is slashdot... We got them in abundance (if you believe the stereotype)
Or, you could get a "Cone of Silence" from "Get Smart"
It would also cause problems for non-English speakers. The sky may be "b"lue in North America, England, Australia and the like, but it would be "blauw" in the Netherlands, "blu" in Italy and "azul" in Spanish speaking countries.
How will your solution cope with these legitimate variations?
You also assume that everyone will know the answer to "what is 2+2=".
and the link to GNAA
Its just not cricket.
Microsoft Word Sux?
Lawyers?
The only crack the moderators see is also known as goatse
They are so outraged by the editor's comments, that they fail to notice the links to the fine article.
Hence the phrase "Stop it, or you will go blind"
I thought the shrimp they were referring to, was our Prime Minister, Little Johnnie
But its very, very hard to get a fluid to flow along those wooden hoses.
Most forms of gambling are legal in Australia. Most of the State Governments run some form of lottery, which raises much revenue (not to mention all the casinos and poker machines).
As far as I know, it is only illegal to run (and advertise) an online gambling site from within Australia. There is a press release at http://www.dcita.gov.au/Article/0,,0_4-2_4008-4_15 618,00.html from the man once described as the "world's greatest luddite", Richard Alston, the former Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&c2coff=1&q=w orld's+greatest+luddite&btnG=Search&meta=cr%3Dcoun tryAU
But, if you save some of that daylight http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/20/195 7200&tid=103&tid=185&tid=218, you would have more to use.
We don't want anyone monitoring our actions now, do we?