Let's face it folks, there are some things you just can't legislate! Whenever something becomes an annoyance or a nuisance we, as Americans (mostly), run to the apron strings of our House and Senate, and demand that they pass a law to make that nuisance illegal. While this is fine and dandy in some cases there are a few cases where this just isn't possible.
There are a few resons why legislation just doesn't change things! We have legislated equality, but that didn't end racism because we can't legislate stupidity. We have legislated anti-trust/monopoly laws, but that hasn't stopped monopolies because we can't legislate what consumers purchase. We can legislate spam but that won't end spam! I think the reason's are mainy because: A.) No matter what you believe as an American, our laws do not legislate the world! I may not be able to legally send spam from Arizona, but what if I drive on down to Tiajuana? B.) Spammers have just as much right to send you a spam email as the local Bashas has to send you a flier!
The problem and eventual solution lies within statement 'B' above. You see, Bashas foots the bill for said flyer....what does it cost the spammer? Little to nothing. There are two main approaches to effectively controlling spam and both approaches have little to do with legislation. First is technologically. I like the idea of an authenticated email system. If I had the brainpower to draft such a system I'd be hard at work on it instead of posting on/. If I had to have a special key, or invitiation to send someone an email, and that someone had to have a key or invitation to send me an email, that would make the spammers job much harder. Second is financially. We need to somehow reduce the amount of money to be made in the spamming market while increasing the costs of spamming. This will cause the market to shrink....of course one guy with an army of infected drones could probably produce as much email as the whole lot of them. Therefore, we, as in the internet community in general, need to become more dilligent and keep our systems from becoming tools of the spammer.
Yes I know I spoke in generalities. There are a lot of demands to stop spam and too few answers as to how. I, for one, am thoroughly convinced that legislation is not an effective answer though.
The number one reason I switched to Firefox is the LiveHTTPHeaders extension. This handy little gadget docks in your sidebar and displays outgoing HTTP requests and incoming responses in real time. It's a must for anyone who works with server side application technologies, load balancing, content switching, or caching. Good stuff.
Oh, yeah, the pop-up blocking is great too, so is tabbed browsing.
I use linux at work and linux at home, so I can keep my files fairly secure like so:
Make sure you have cryptoloop and cryptogoraphy APIs enabled in your kernel.
mount/dev/sda1/mnt/jumpdrive
dd if=/dev/urandom of=/mnt/jumpdrive/mycrypt.img bs=1k count=256000
losetup -e blowfish/dev/loop0/mnt/jumpdrive/mycrpyt.img
Enter password:
mkreiserfs/dev/loop0
mount/dev/loop0/mnt/my_crypt
Copy your files to/mnt/my_crypt, then unmount it and run:
losetup -d/dev/loop0
To remount it, use:
losetup -e blowfish/dev/loop0/mnt/jumpdrive/mycrypt.img
mount/dev/loop0/mnt/my_crypt
Pretty simple to use, but it's for linux only. The only caveat is really with the enter password: dialogue. There is no verification and you can't ever really enter the wrong password. The crypto APIs use the password you enter as the crypto key, so if you subsequently offer the wrong password, it will apply the specified algorithm (blowfish in this case) using the wrong key! That means the decrypted info will still be unreadable gibberish.
screen
Start a process, detach the process from you tty, log out, goof around, go to work, login remotely, reattach said process to your pty. Very useful.
I think it's a bit more than that. Every dollar they make from the OSS communities work just validates the ridiculous claim that they own it. If companies buckle and pay for it because SCO threatens them, it's just the same as said company publicly announcing that they are supporting SCO in this fiasco.
Plus, even the Joe and Jane users that I know are savvy enough to realize that "linux users" believe their cause is right, and are fighting SCO wholeheartedly. They aren't as stupid as most "tech savvy" people portray them to be. Joe and Jane know that the question of right and wrong is up in the air at the very least. They also seem to be a bit more sympathetic for the little guy taking ont he big corporations. Of course I can only apply this to people I talk to on a daily basis, it's hardly the Gallop.
The older community, like my grandparents, of course support IBM. Because back in the day companies like IBM, GMC, and General Electric helped to build this country and helped win WWII. They still remember that.
I think I believe wholeheartedly in the spirit in which patent law was created. Put plainly, this spirit was to protect the inventor of a specific item. Such as a specific blender with a specific motor, and specific blades. In this way, larger competitors could not produce the exact same item, undercut him, and recieve the fruits of his labors.
Times have changed though and unfortunately they have changed for the worse. Now it seems that coprorations are using the patent system as a tool to stifle competition. The claims for patents are getting more and more vague, thus covering a broader and broader scope. In the not too distant past it would have been unheard of to pantent "Software Compression", it would be considered imprudent, where patenting as specific method of software compression using a specific library and a specific algorithm would have been ok. I think the current patent laws would suffice quite nicely if the US Patent Office would wake up and reject patents applications that are frivilous and obviously not in accordance with the spirit of U.S. Patent Law.
You guys are worse than those stupid jocks in HS who used to try to pigeonhole us into the glasses-wearing computer nerd category
Who's us? Do you have a mouse in your pocket?
BTW, The "non-standard" sports comment was right on. I love UFC and grappling. Not to mention the fact that Most Extreme Elemination Challenge is the best sport to watch. Hands down.
Personally I cannot fathom the source of motivation that drives someone to undertake a task such as this willingly. Perhaps if she was being chased by a small, hairy, fat guy or fleeing a country in political upheaval I would be more empathetic.
To each thier own I guess. I hope she brought a PowerBar.
I guess that depends on the context. I mean, if you are a large company reselling entire PCs that were scrapped due to a recent departmental upgrade, then you might recover some value. Those PCs that were sold still contain information on their HDDs.
Here in AZ, there are many auctions every weekend where one can purchase used PCs that were scrapped by some company by the pallet load. I'm sure if one wanted to spend the time, then one coudl obtain a wealth of information from the drives contained therein.
I certaintly can't answer for the rest of the Linux PVR community, but I for one think my Linux PVR works great! I don't watch nearly enough TV to purchase a TiVo, and since my PVR was frankensteined from dead machines I had laying about, it cost me nothing but time. Of course I enjoy configuring and tweaking systems in spare time.:)
The sum and substance is: If you like playing around with this kind of stuff, go for it, and enjoy the fringe benifits of having some level of use. If you don't like spending the time, then buy a TiVo and support an emerging company. It's all about choice, and having a choice is just awesome in my opinion.
If you find the Linux community lacking in eagerness to support one too lazy to help themselves, I appologize. I think we all tire of answering the same questions over and over again no matter what the material subject is.
Slashdot Mirror
Ingenious! Downtown Phoenix needs something like this.
An even more extravagant way for my wife to spend our money faster than I can make it. Please...don't tell my wife about this.
There are a few resons why legislation just doesn't change things! We have legislated equality, but that didn't end racism because we can't legislate stupidity. We have legislated anti-trust/monopoly laws, but that hasn't stopped monopolies because we can't legislate what consumers purchase. We can legislate spam but that won't end spam! I think the reason's are mainy because: A.) No matter what you believe as an American, our laws do not legislate the world! I may not be able to legally send spam from Arizona, but what if I drive on down to Tiajuana? B.) Spammers have just as much right to send you a spam email as the local Bashas has to send you a flier!
The problem and eventual solution lies within statement 'B' above. You see, Bashas foots the bill for said flyer....what does it cost the spammer? Little to nothing. There are two main approaches to effectively controlling spam and both approaches have little to do with legislation. First is technologically. I like the idea of an authenticated email system. If I had the brainpower to draft such a system I'd be hard at work on it instead of posting on /. If I had to have a special key, or invitiation to send someone an email, and that someone had to have a key or invitation to send me an email, that would make the spammers job much harder. Second is financially. We need to somehow reduce the amount of money to be made in the spamming market while increasing the costs of spamming. This will cause the market to shrink....of course one guy with an army of infected drones could probably produce as much email as the whole lot of them. Therefore, we, as in the internet community in general, need to become more dilligent and keep our systems from becoming tools of the spammer.
Yes I know I spoke in generalities. There are a lot of demands to stop spam and too few answers as to how. I, for one, am thoroughly convinced that legislation is not an effective answer though.
The number one reason I switched to Firefox is the LiveHTTPHeaders extension. This handy little gadget docks in your sidebar and displays outgoing HTTP requests and incoming responses in real time. It's a must for anyone who works with server side application technologies, load balancing, content switching, or caching. Good stuff.
Oh, yeah, the pop-up blocking is great too, so is tabbed browsing.
I use linux at work and linux at home, so I can keep my files fairly secure like so: Make sure you have cryptoloop and cryptogoraphy APIs enabled in your kernel. mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/jumpdrive
dd if=/dev/urandom of=/mnt/jumpdrive/mycrypt.img bs=1k count=256000
losetup -e blowfish /dev/loop0 /mnt/jumpdrive/mycrpyt.img
Enter password:
mkreiserfs /dev/loop0
mount /dev/loop0 /mnt/my_crypt
Copy your files to /mnt/my_crypt, then unmount it and run:
losetup -d /dev/loop0
To remount it, use:
losetup -e blowfish /dev/loop0 /mnt/jumpdrive/mycrypt.img
mount /dev/loop0 /mnt/my_crypt
Pretty simple to use, but it's for linux only. The only caveat is really with the enter password: dialogue. There is no verification and you can't ever really enter the wrong password. The crypto APIs use the password you enter as the crypto key, so if you subsequently offer the wrong password, it will apply the specified algorithm (blowfish in this case) using the wrong key! That means the decrypted info will still be unreadable gibberish.
screen Start a process, detach the process from you tty, log out, goof around, go to work, login remotely, reattach said process to your pty. Very useful.
I agree.
Mail Fraud. I don't care what the case is about, if the defendant sent a letter during the period in question, mail fraud is always there.
I think it's a bit more than that. Every dollar they make from the OSS communities work just validates the ridiculous claim that they own it. If companies buckle and pay for it because SCO threatens them, it's just the same as said company publicly announcing that they are supporting SCO in this fiasco.
Exactly!
Plus, even the Joe and Jane users that I know are savvy enough to realize that "linux users" believe their cause is right, and are fighting SCO wholeheartedly. They aren't as stupid as most "tech savvy" people portray them to be. Joe and Jane know that the question of right and wrong is up in the air at the very least. They also seem to be a bit more sympathetic for the little guy taking ont he big corporations. Of course I can only apply this to people I talk to on a daily basis, it's hardly the Gallop.
The older community, like my grandparents, of course support IBM. Because back in the day companies like IBM, GMC, and General Electric helped to build this country and helped win WWII. They still remember that.
Times have changed though and unfortunately they have changed for the worse. Now it seems that coprorations are using the patent system as a tool to stifle competition. The claims for patents are getting more and more vague, thus covering a broader and broader scope. In the not too distant past it would have been unheard of to pantent "Software Compression", it would be considered imprudent, where patenting as specific method of software compression using a specific library and a specific algorithm would have been ok. I think the current patent laws would suffice quite nicely if the US Patent Office would wake up and reject patents applications that are frivilous and obviously not in accordance with the spirit of U.S. Patent Law.
Actually I need to grapple more with typing at this hour than spelling. You were close though.
You guys are worse than those stupid jocks in HS who used to try to pigeonhole us into the glasses-wearing computer nerd category Who's us? Do you have a mouse in your pocket? BTW, The "non-standard" sports comment was right on. I love UFC and grappling. Not to mention the fact that Most Extreme Elemination Challenge is the best sport to watch. Hands down.
To each thier own I guess. I hope she brought a PowerBar.
I guess that depends on the context. I mean, if you are a large company reselling entire PCs that were scrapped due to a recent departmental upgrade, then you might recover some value. Those PCs that were sold still contain information on their HDDs. Here in AZ, there are many auctions every weekend where one can purchase used PCs that were scrapped by some company by the pallet load. I'm sure if one wanted to spend the time, then one coudl obtain a wealth of information from the drives contained therein.
I certaintly can't answer for the rest of the Linux PVR community, but I for one think my Linux PVR works great! I don't watch nearly enough TV to purchase a TiVo, and since my PVR was frankensteined from dead machines I had laying about, it cost me nothing but time. Of course I enjoy configuring and tweaking systems in spare time. :)
The sum and substance is: If you like playing around with this kind of stuff, go for it, and enjoy the fringe benifits of having some level of use. If you don't like spending the time, then buy a TiVo and support an emerging company. It's all about choice, and having a choice is just awesome in my opinion.
If you find the Linux community lacking in eagerness to support one too lazy to help themselves, I appologize. I think we all tire of answering the same questions over and over again no matter what the material subject is.