It is one of the cardinal rules of running a search engine service, with its corresponding spidering efforts that we ensure we comply with the owner's requests regarding examining their site as contained within a Robots.txt file. I work for a search engine company and we certainly make every reasonable effort to do so.
If E-bay has such a file on their system which requests that spiders NOT search their site, then it seems reasonable to say that no-one should index it. If they do not have such a file, then it ought to be open season. Of course, this would exclude them from being listed in regular search engines - but you can't have it both ways.
The most disturbing thing about this to me is the threat that this may affect linking period - as rediculous as it would be to me to say that in order to link to a site you must obtain the site owner's permission - it might not seem so to a US court (who seem capable of making the most patently(every pun intended) absurd decisions where the internet is concerned).
Mind you, threats like this have come and gone before, but I still expect some US judge in some tiny court somewhere to make some pronouncement that threatens the entire Internet - out of ignorance no doubt, but that may not matter.
While the internet should be an international medium of communications, in reality it is a US means of communications and is directly controlled under US laws. As long as this is true, it will continue to be subjected to threats like this. What we need is an international body of law which governs internet communications that acknoledges the rest of the world as being part of the whole picture.
While you are counting coup on who did what during the war, please don't ignore the Canadian contribution. We were in the war 2 years before you folks joined in, had some great Campaign successes and had the 4th largest navy in the world by the end of the war. We are a small country but we fought our ass off in WWII. Americans tend to forget that the Commonwealth had something to do during those years too. The US, historically, was slow to commit itself to the global conflicts - late into both WWI and WWII.
Not that I am ignoring the central point here. Without Russia, we might all be learning German as a second language right now. I stood at a monument in St Petersburg to those who died during the siege, it was surrounded by hundreds of large mounds of eartch - each of which contained thousands of bodies of those who had died. I was told (IIRC) that there were 900,000 people buried there.
Western casualties, while nothing less than tragic, are dwarfed by those of the Soviet Union during the war. Mind you, we gave them a lot of aid and equipment to keep them going, but nothing compared to what they produced themselves.
Its too bad that this is ignored almost universally in High School teaching of the war.
Just my $.006 cents worth (allowing for the Cdn exchange rate to the US dollar).:)
I consider the claims of indexing 800 million pages to somewhat exaggerated, since no one else is oing this at this time simply because the hardware required to do so is so intensive. The figure is now doubt based entirely on an "estimate" performed on a much smaller sample and extrapolated - and these are often wrong.
I suggested we should consider a graphic to display on one's website that links to this story, and one appeared in my email. Matt sent me this image located here.
He told me I could "do with it what you will" - well I suggest anyone who feels inclined should post this on their website, and link it back to this story here on/.
If you have a website and you choose to add this graphic to it, let me know your site URL - you can email me at atho@pagans.org
If I get a chance and enough folks to this then I will create a site that lists all the ones that display this banner.
Its all part of the American Empire. The US is the functional equivalent of a world Empire - courtesy of their economic strength and the US military which backs it.
Somehow we have let corporations become the law of the world. They have greater rights than the individual - because they have more money than that individual. This case is going to be *very* important - if Etoys.com wins this, then the entire domain name scheme is meaningless. If I register a good name, all that matters is how much money someone has if they want to take it from me. And what about.net and.org? I own a.net and the.com equivalent is registered to a company already, what if they dislike my content, can they have me shut down? I sure as hell can't afford a lawyer for more than a day.
In an equally meaningless lawsuit, and to show how patently stupid this judgement is, if I were the folks at Etoy I would now turn around and sue Network Solutions for selling them the Etoy.com domain when it was going to violate another company's copyright only a few years after the sale. Surely NS should have seen that, right? It would make as much sense as this lawsuit.
Of course the biggest problem that the Etoy.com folks have is that their not US citizens. Were they US citizens there would be much more of a public and media outcry in the States, but since they are foreigners(sic) they have less attention/importance/rights in the world.
I suggest we promulgate a complete ban on dealing with Etoys.com - and try to convince as many other folks to boycott it as well. How 'bout a "Why I don't shop at Etoys.com" graphic you can display on your website and link to this story? Perhaps a grass roots democratic demonstration of our collective displeasure might garner some results...
The problem here is simply that even Amazon, the acknowledged leader in e-commerce book sales is still not turning a real profit. So, someone there decided to look shortterm and register this *rediculous* patent and now start a lawsuit. If they win, they will probably do more to hurt e-commerce than any other organization - simply because they will scare away other potential e-commerce businesses.
The only good thing here will be if the result of this lawsuit is a legal finding that you *cannot* patent software or webdesign techniques. Copyright the code - sure I can see that - but not the methodology. Absolute fscking B$.
Maybe I should patent "1-click" browsing:
"A method by which the user can be transferred from 1 Universal Resource Locator to another Universal Resource locator, automatically by simply using their pointing device to select an underlined word, phrase, symbol, or graphic image, and requiring only 1 click of the button on their pointing device. This method also to be available using the keys of their computer keyboard as an alternative."
Then I could sue every webmaster who has a page on the web and demand royalties!
Of course there would be no problem showing prior art - but then prior art undoubtedly existed *somewhere* before some Amazon programmer wrote a few lines of code that created some cookies on the user's computer.
The thing that gets me the most about the whole Echelon thing is the sheer hubris of the NSA and the US Government to take upon themselves the right to invade the whole world's privacy by intercepting telephone calls, faxes, and emails - and still insist that the Right to Free Speech is enshrined in the US Constitution. I suppose what this really means is "You can say whatever you want, but if we don't like it you may disappear".
Luckily for the US they are the biggest and nastiest dog in the junkyard, so other countries in the world cannot afford to complain. Sadly, Might does make right it seems.
Whereas the version of the legend that I read was that Poul Anderson, Niven and Hubbard were gathered in a bar at some science fiction convention having a drink after some panel meeting. They got into a discussion of science and religion and Hubbard bet the others that he could start a religion bassed on pseudo science and make it so convincing that people would fall for it. A few years later Scientology was born, and the biggest scam in the world today started taking place.
What I plan on doing is redesigning my system layout so that it is a dual-boot Linux/Win98 system, with nothing important under Win98 because it will be there solely for the purpose of playing games (which is about all its good for it seems), and all of my personal information, and written materials safely over on the linux side (and now it seems, probably encrypted as well). I don't have anything to hide from anyone in particular, but I sure dislike the idea of a foreign government agency (I am Canadian) being able to pry through my information, without my permission and in complete violation of the law.
Mind you the US is heading towards becoming a World Empire anyways - First Echelon, now this bs.
Also keep in mind that while you *do* pay higher taxes here than in the US, you're medical care is covered cheaply/freely, and we have a crime rate which is so far below that of the US that a comparison is probably meaningless.
All we are discussing here is what the military refers to as TEMPEST hazards. Your computer system (particularly the monitor) broadcasts signals in the radio frequency which, given the correct equipment, can be intercepted and interpreted intelligently. We used to have an $18000 286 System when I was in military communications - the only reason it was so expensive (a regular 286 was only $2200 or so) was because the whole thing was lined with lead to prevent TEMPEST emmissions. Like it or not your use of the computer can be monitored completely by someone sitting outside your house or apartment with a directional antenna and the correct equipment in a van.
Now the fact that someone is affecting their emmissions to play music is another matter that is quite cool. I remember a little program that someone wrote that would play "El Condor Pasa" on my Amiga's floppy drive.
Slashdot Mirror
It is one of the cardinal rules of running a search engine service, with its corresponding spidering efforts that we ensure we comply with the owner's requests regarding examining their site as contained within a Robots.txt file. I work for a search engine company and we certainly make every reasonable effort to do so.
If E-bay has such a file on their system which requests that spiders NOT search their site, then it seems reasonable to say that no-one should index it. If they do not have such a file, then it ought to be open season. Of course, this would exclude them from being listed in regular search engines - but you can't have it both ways.
The most disturbing thing about this to me is the threat that this may affect linking period - as rediculous as it would be to me to say that in order to link to a site you must obtain the site owner's permission - it might not seem so to a US court (who seem capable of making the most patently(every pun intended) absurd decisions where the internet is concerned).
Mind you, threats like this have come and gone before, but I still expect some US judge in some tiny court somewhere to make some pronouncement that threatens the entire Internet - out of ignorance no doubt, but that may not matter.
While the internet should be an international medium of communications, in reality it is a US means of communications and is directly controlled under US laws. As long as this is true, it will continue to be subjected to threats like this. What we need is an international body of law which governs internet communications that acknoledges the rest of the world as being part of the whole picture.
While you are counting coup on who did what during the war, please don't ignore the Canadian contribution. We were in the war 2 years before you folks joined in, had some great Campaign successes and had the 4th largest navy in the world by the end of the war. We are a small country but we fought our ass off in WWII. Americans tend to forget that the Commonwealth had something to do during those years too. The US, historically, was slow to commit itself to the global conflicts - late into both WWI and WWII.
Not that I am ignoring the central point here. Without Russia, we might all be learning German as a second language right now. I stood at a monument in St Petersburg to those who died during the siege, it was surrounded by hundreds of large mounds of eartch - each of which contained thousands of bodies of those who had died. I was told (IIRC) that there were 900,000 people buried there.
Western casualties, while nothing less than tragic, are dwarfed by those of the Soviet Union during the war. Mind you, we gave them a lot of aid and equipment to keep them going, but nothing compared to what they produced themselves.
Its too bad that this is ignored almost universally in High School teaching of the war.
Just my $.006 cents worth (allowing for the Cdn exchange rate to the US dollar). :)
I consider the claims of indexing 800 million pages to somewhat exaggerated, since no one else is oing this at this time simply because the hardware required to do so is so intensive. The figure is now doubt based entirely on an "estimate" performed on a much smaller sample and extrapolated - and these are often wrong.
Hey folks, if you believe God exists, then surely you don't believe that merely creating life is enough to equate yourself with him/her/it?
Now, when we get to the point where we can create Universes then were talking the stuff of Deities.
Of course, I am a Polytheist - so the idea of new Gods and Goddesses coming into being doesn't bother me a bit :)
Polytheism and Modern Paganism == "Open Source in Religion" :)
I suggested we should consider a graphic to display on one's website that links to this story, and one appeared in my email. Matt sent me this image located here.
He told me I could "do with it what you will" - well I suggest anyone who feels inclined should post this on their website, and link it back to this story here on /.
If you have a website and you choose to add this graphic to it, let me know your site URL - you can email me at atho@pagans.org
If I get a chance and enough folks to this then I will create a site that lists all the ones that display this banner.
Its all part of the American Empire. The US is the functional equivalent of a world Empire - courtesy of their economic strength and the US military which backs it.
Somehow we have let corporations become the law of the world. They have greater rights than the individual - because they have more money than that individual. This case is going to be *very* important - if Etoys.com wins this, then the entire domain name scheme is meaningless. If I register a good name, all that matters is how much money someone has if they want to take it from me. And what about .net and .org? I own a .net and the .com equivalent is registered to a company already, what if they dislike my content, can they have me shut down? I sure as hell can't afford a lawyer for more than a day.
In an equally meaningless lawsuit, and to show how patently stupid this judgement is, if I were the folks at Etoy I would now turn around and sue Network Solutions for selling them the Etoy.com domain when it was going to violate another company's copyright only a few years after the sale. Surely NS should have seen that, right?
It would make as much sense as this lawsuit.
Of course the biggest problem that the Etoy.com folks have is that their not US citizens. Were they US citizens there would be much more of a public and media outcry in the States, but since they are foreigners(sic) they have less attention/importance/rights in the world.
I suggest we promulgate a complete ban on dealing with Etoys.com - and try to convince as many other folks to boycott it as well. How 'bout a "Why I don't shop at Etoys.com" graphic you can display on your website and link to this story?
Perhaps a grass roots democratic demonstration of our collective displeasure might garner some results...
The problem here is simply that even Amazon, the acknowledged leader in e-commerce book sales is still not turning a real profit. So, someone there decided to look shortterm and register this *rediculous* patent and now start a lawsuit. If they win, they will probably do more to hurt e-commerce than any other organization - simply because they will scare away other potential e-commerce businesses.
The only good thing here will be if the result of this lawsuit is a legal finding that you *cannot* patent software or webdesign techniques. Copyright the code - sure I can see that - but not the methodology. Absolute fscking B$.
Maybe I should patent "1-click" browsing:
"A method by which the user can be transferred from 1 Universal Resource Locator to another Universal Resource locator, automatically by simply using their pointing device to select an underlined word, phrase, symbol, or graphic image, and requiring only 1 click of the button on their pointing device. This method also to be available using the keys of their computer keyboard as an alternative."
Then I could sue every webmaster who has a page on the web and demand royalties!
Of course there would be no problem showing prior art - but then prior art undoubtedly existed *somewhere* before some Amazon programmer wrote a few lines of code that created some cookies on the user's computer.
The thing that gets me the most about the whole Echelon thing is the sheer hubris of the NSA and the US Government to take upon themselves the right to invade the whole world's privacy by intercepting telephone calls, faxes, and emails - and still insist that the Right to Free Speech is enshrined in the US Constitution. I suppose what this really means is "You can say whatever you want, but if we don't like it you may disappear".
Luckily for the US they are the biggest and nastiest dog in the junkyard, so other countries in the world cannot afford to complain. Sadly, Might does make right it seems.
Whereas the version of the legend that I read was that Poul Anderson, Niven and Hubbard were gathered in a bar at some science fiction convention having a drink after some panel meeting. They got into a discussion of science and religion and Hubbard bet the others that he could start a religion bassed on pseudo science and make it so convincing that people would fall for it. A few years later Scientology was born, and the biggest scam in the world today started taking place.
Very amusing translation by Babelfish. I remember fondly my Tea Rodent years....
What I plan on doing is redesigning my system layout so that it is a dual-boot Linux/Win98 system, with nothing important under Win98 because it will be there solely for the purpose of playing games (which is about all its good for it seems), and all of my personal information, and written materials safely over on the linux side (and now it seems, probably encrypted as well). I don't have anything to hide from anyone in particular, but I sure dislike the idea of a foreign government agency (I am Canadian) being able to pry through my information, without my permission and in complete violation of the law.
Mind you the US is heading towards becoming a World Empire anyways - First Echelon, now this bs.
Linux Here I come, full steam!
Also keep in mind that while you *do* pay higher taxes here than in the US, you're medical care is covered cheaply/freely, and we have a crime rate which is so far below that of the US that a comparison is probably meaningless.
Canada is a great place to be!
All we are discussing here is what the military refers to as TEMPEST hazards. Your computer system (particularly the monitor) broadcasts signals in the radio frequency which, given the correct equipment, can be intercepted and interpreted intelligently. We used to have an $18000 286 System when I was in military communications - the only reason it was so expensive (a regular 286 was only $2200 or so) was because the whole thing was lined with lead to prevent TEMPEST emmissions. Like it or not your use of the computer can be monitored completely by someone sitting outside your house or apartment with a directional antenna and the correct equipment in a van.
Now the fact that someone is affecting their emmissions to play music is another matter that is quite cool. I remember a little program that someone wrote that would play "El Condor Pasa" on my Amiga's floppy drive.