The state should have made him sign an agreement ensuring all code belonged to the state. They have some toe hold because he used inside information.
He should have had written permission to write the code on his own and plug it into the state's system for testing or use.
Both messed up, and I am not sure that there isn't some comeback on the origin of the source before he modified it. If license was on the basis of non-commercial use, he probably can't sell it.
On the bright side, with this kind of publicity, he probably will have no trouble finding a new job.
Government + IT + copyright/IP Law = messy business
How to share and categorize information is an ages old problem. One man's trash is another man's treasure, likewise, one man's bread is another man's dietary problem.
I'm not sure, but haven't we already figured out that tagging would require more tags than the actual information being tagged to accomplish what the original poster was asking for?
I think that you should check your facts on that. I don't own a gun, and won't have one in the house, but the right to carry concealed handguns has had an effect of reducing crime in the states.
Now, these stories are rather scary in that they say its safer when you don't know who has a gun. Where I live, the biggest crimes now are theft when no one is looking, so an alarm system keeps things pretty safe.
More and more, an armed populace is looking like a good idea to me and I get this view by living amongst concealed handguns rather than looking from the outside in.
But last time I checked, Google was not the ONLY place to get satellite imagery, its just a public one. Can't we track the IP addresses from Iraq that are accessing Google images? I would hope that a military force as formidable as the US armed forces would have a way to hide targets, and protect them. I didn't read the article, but from what I can tell otherwise, those same targets are subject to Iraqi people reporting them to 'insurgents' as well. There are probably a dozen ways to find targets inside US bases. Shutting down Google in any way will not prevent them from being visible targets to the 'insurgents'.
This story seems a lame attempt to drum up business for the warmongers? I thought the real problem was IEDs?
On a side note, do they have that much Internet access in Iraq? or is it maybe some other country that is doing this? Not really sure on that one.
FTFA: "Sharing information in this way is currently prohibited by the 'over-zealous' data protection legislation."
The use of the phrase over-zealous.. legislation is interesting. I think that many if not most of the citizens or subjects would consider any legislation that permits such information sharing to be over-zealous.
My doctor doesn't need to know what my taxes were, nor does the tax man need to know what speeding tickets I've had. The only probable useful use of this information sharing by the government is to track people of covertly wrong reasons.
I'm pretty certain that the MI5 doesn't need to know how many people reported to the doctor for STD treatments, so what they are tracking is information that they shouldn't be collecting anyway. In spite of the surprisingly vast amount of information about private citizens that is available on the Internet, collating all government owned information about citizens will provide nothing useful in the war on terror or the war against drugs.
In case nobody was paying attention, the attacks in NYC and London were perpetuated by people that either already should have set off security bells, or by people who would not set off security alerts anyway. Creating this type of spying system will not deter terrorists, criminals, or any other group they might claim to be fighting.
Like gun control, if you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have them, and if you outlaw privacy, only outlaws will have it.
Its time that governments, especially elected ones, start learning that you don't force peace, but encourage it, protect it and these can only be done WITH the cooperation of citizens, not in spite of their rights or through sacrificing their rights for them.
Sure, they can read and record this and it still won't help them find any subversives. In fact, they will have only wasted money tracking my statements instead of focusing on using currently implemented laws and methods of upholding those laws.
I'm not against sharing data, but when it can be tracked back to individuals it necessarily becomes a kind of evil. Knowing the eating habits of all 37 year old men who have had minor heart attacks can be a very useful set of data, But also knowing their names and addresses, voting records, tax numbers, and what type of car they drive is not necessary to the usefulness of the information.
If this has been announced, rest assured that the implementation phase is already underway.
As has been said, now is the time to make this an election issue. I'm pretty sure that those present at the signing of the Magna Carta would not approve of this. Hmmmmmm
is the press it is getting. At best, its just a new phone with a couple of nice features. On a more realistic note, its iJust a iFreaking iPhone that is shackled with Apples iDRM and the Cingular network.
This is ignorant to give a phone this much press/talk time.
I personally don't care two toilets full of crap how Nelly Furtado's career turns out, but I DO CARE what the RIAA et al do about this type of situation. Here they have the perfect opportunity to show the youth of the world that copying is NOT okay... OR... they can demonstrate first hand how it IS OK to copy people's work.
WWNFD? Can we get some bracelets printed up now? You only have to wear them when you're downloading MP3s off the Internet. Oh, please make them pink with ponies on them too.
Seriously, I hope the RIAA backs up all their BS by going after this guy for giving their whole effort a black eye if nothing else. They should make him apologize to the world, and give away free NF MP3 downloads, or divert CD sales profits to the original musician.
Does anyone else out there have examples of artists ripping off smaller unknown artists?
appealing. http://www.electroauto.com/index.html Examples of some that are available. They are less shiny, less costly, and still get the same performance as standard plugin systems that are new. I just don't like the way that such cars seem to require a special new look. meh! Just build a nice commuter car with fantastic mileage, that's what we really want.
I know the fanboys will have trouble not seeing that as a troll, but who does care? Why do they care?
At $500+ per unit and a goal of 1% of the phone market, it won't really make itself into THE platform to write apps for, now will it? Its not going to replace the Blackberry or even the Danger HiptopIII.
So, who and why would care about what OS the iPhone runs on?
There are already similar phones on the market with the main features of the iPhone sans the iCool name, the finger mode GUI, and the iPrice.
What is with all the hype? Its just a ifreaking iPhone iFrom iApple. The hype is starting to be more of a liability to this product than being restricted to the Cingular network is.
comedy awards? This is hilarious. Spending all that money on DRM, implementing new media, only to have the encryption cracked before launch day (practically) must be like trying to nail jello to the wall using $100,000 nails. (Has Mythbusters tried nailing jello to a wall yet?)
The real question is not how they will respond, but when will they learn?
Do we end up paying for new methods to make the Internet safe (supposedly) or should we spend the money trying to educate people to recognize when they are being sent to a phishing site?
I predict (brave of me, I know) that no matter what efforts are made to protect Internet users, there will still be phishing on the Internet.
Actually, I wasn't inclined to set up the cameras until the egging incident... are you a moron? The eggs on my car added 15% value to it. It was just inconvenient, and it is a case of people not respecting basic rights of others, specifically, My rights. You probably need to lay off the pipe for a bit.
What you describe is called invasion of privacy. Prove it and you have a court case. Anyone that is spying on you is invading your privacy. If they catch you by accident doing something that is against the public morals or public decency, that is your problem. If they are filming you for hours each day, that is stalking and/or invasion.
For too long, society in large part has not been focussed on what other people think, rather it has been several decades of the ME generation. If I had already installed my X10 motion activated cameras, perhaps I could have caught the little fscks that egged my car within a week of moving to a very nice new neighborhood.
I really don't think that there is anything wrong with someone physical, and personally filming people doing bad things and posting them to the web. Its little to no different than them telling their friends, or passing the gossip around the local grocery store... just a little more convincing:)
The point here is simple; its a bit of advice: if you don't want to have people on youtube seeing you pee off the back patio, don't pee off the back patio.
Sure, there are other cases where things seem to be exaggerated, but for most of this, its not, and it is good to see the community cleaning up in their own back yards.
Now, if this is from police cameras that are perusing neighborhoods on a regular basis, I'm going to shout out against that. But if your neighbor catches you doing something bad, sorry, you shouldn't have been doing that... 'you plays, you pays' as the saying goes.
First, start off by googling for examples of BAD web design. If you can avoid those, you're 15% of the way to your goal.
Second, Look for web design award sites. If you can absorb what they did right, you're 30% of the way there.
Third, ask yourself why there is a difference between losers and winners. If you can figure it out, you're 60% of the way there.
Now, actually get hold of a web graphics program. If you need me to tell you what the names of them are because you can't find it using Google or other search engines, then this advice is really not going to do you any good. Then painstakingly work your way through all the menus and what each option can do. Google for help if you need it. If by the time you have done this you have not acquired all the general knowledge you would get in a 2 year course, you have saved yourself the cost of 2 years worth of school, and can move quickly on to the 'do the stuff you know how and outsource the rest' method.
Fourth, I have explained to you what should be common sense. If this doesn't seem like common sense, you might want to consider a new vocation.
drastic than imagined. This one case of a school board deciding what is science and comparing it to fundamentalist beliefs. Please note that they are 'beliefs' not proven facts which are being compared to hard science. I'm not going to tell you whether humankind is responsible for global warming or not, but the globe is getting warmer. That's proven on many levels.
When ever, and I mean WHEN EVER we let 'beliefs' guide our views and legislation regarding what is safe for the world or community, then we are lost. To ignore science in preference of 'beliefs' is to endanger those you love... children, family, etc. and perhaps we should enact legislation against such dangerous behavior.
Sure, its fine for you to believe what you want at home, but when you start bringing it into politics... time for you to be put in jail for crimes of endangerment and encitement... Okay, that's probably overkill, but that's what comes to mind when I hear this stuff...
Is DRM Intrinsically Distasteful? Would a monitor and speed regulator on your car be Intrinsically Distasteful? Would a monitor that reports your TV viewing habits to the govt. be Intrinsically Distasteful? Would a monitor that only allows you to buy certain foods be Intrinsically Distasteful? Would a police force that inspects your home every day to ensure that you are not harboring criminals be Intrinsically Distasteful? Would a monitor that ensures you don't cook microwave food on the bbq be Intrinsically Distasteful? This list can go on for a long time...
You are exactly right. Every day I run into a question about how to use an office program that has been on the market for years, if not closer to a decade. In my opinion, this is why moving people to F/OSS is a no brainer. If they have to be trained anyway, why not move them to F/OSS?
Simpler still is the fact that the complexity of MS office applications is what generally causes the questions for many people. They feel that there should be a way to do something, but don't know how. Even if 'clippy' was meant to help, its so annoying that nobody wants to use it.
If someone were to create a FAQ information base that answers questions for Linux and Linux apps, then... oh wait, I forgot, they did that already. So the problem then is that people, end users, generally don't want to learn to use computer applications, they just want them to work. Perhaps with a few big buttons at the top so they can access common functions and a big help button that summons an IT guy visitor pronto.
The cost of training is not small, and most enterprises pay that cost like the death of a 1000 cuts each time someone asks a coworker how to do xyz in Excel, or how to setup bullets in Word.
If that death of 1000 cuts will always happen, why not let it happen on applications that don't cost you a leg and an arm every couple of years?
I have to agree with your sentiment... to a point. The government IMO has no business telling anyone what to think or fantasize about. On the other hand, it is likely that children are being exploited in one way or another. The existence of the childporn website, and the fact that German citizens are paying for this only helps promote its existence.
I also feel that spending the money working with the appropriate foreign government to arrest the purveyors of the child porn for sale is the better course of action. Without buyers, it would not be up for sale. Without sellers it would not be purchased. Neither options stops child exploitation and pornography, so I think it is more effective to stop those who are selling it.
They may have the buyers on an 'importing child pornography' type charge, but I still don't think that is wrong... at least not the act of buying. Yes, I know there are those that will disagree. I'm more or less all for the police just posting a list of those who bought the child porn and let society takes its normal course of false morality and prejudice against them. Lets spend the money stopping the source of the child porn rather than try to choke off a small portion of their income and punish people that more than likely represent no harm to society at large.
Perhaps, in a lenient society, the list of buyers might be used to offer them counseling? That's probably a bit optimistic though.
With all the medical discoveries regarding genetic contribution to other human circumstances, perhaps they will one day find a cure for pedophiles? Oh, wait, we should probably cure other non-normal traits too... homosexuality, people who like country and western music, and things like that. Yes, sarcasm, but this whole thought police thing is moronic.
I was thinking that 'meh, Telvin is probably right' but I thought about it again. Not to take an opportunity to diss you or anyone, but rather to explain my point a bit better.
Anyone, almost, can get a license to drive a car. The few that will put power steering fluid in their oil because they know nothing about cars will learn a very expensive lesson. There are many examples here where just a grounding of common sense would save people from very costly and perhaps embarrassing episodes. There are awards everywhere for people that do very stupid things such as the Darwin awards. The evidence of my point is all around us, but for some reason people think that technology should simply work as simple as a toaster. Those same people forget to think about all the people that put pop-tarts in the toaster with the wrapper still on, or worse, put them in the microwave.. resulting in the required shower of sparks. All of the technology around us is capable of doing things the wrong way. It is only through common experience and learning that most people manage to not fsck things up. At this point I should say how very glad I am that people are not want to buy their own table saw or jack hammer. These can do way more damage than a George Foreman grill mixed with some Jack Daniels. I still worry every time they allow the sale of fireworks to joe public.
Even people who are only mildly aware of how a vehicle works are usually able to determine that something is wrong because its making a new sound, or not steering right etc. This is not so with computers. People are so perplexed at how complex it must be that they remain clueless as to what might be wrong when it stops working as well as it seemed that it used to work.
Some people think that all emails they get should be opened, and out of curiosity, they open nearly every attachment they receive under the mistaken notion that their ISP or AV software is going to protect them.
Perhaps they need not know how to administer a Windows network, but they should have some clues, like they have with almost every other kind of technology they use. BTW, yes, I believe that everyone who has a flashing 12:00 on their VCR/DVD player should be fined until they know how to fix it. I also think I should be able to sell them clocks that never need to be set... but that is an open market forces kind of thing. The flashing clock doesn't really hurt anyone while allowing a botnet to p0wn your machine does. If there is a license to make sure only responsible drivers are on public roads, perhaps we need something similar for computer users. There are certification programs that people can take. Its just common sense that I think they need, not the ability to rewrite the kernel.
to think that Acer and others have not been doing this for years? Put on the tin foil hat now, they may be doing so in conjunction with governments. Lets not stop there, your ISP and phone company might also be doing the same thing?
I bet that buried in the EULA somewhere is a statement about remote support or some other such thing that would negate any complaints about this code as far as culpability goes. Wonder what they will do now that the botnet boys know its there? Just one more reason that people who want to have a safe computer should learn how to administer one properly... IMO.
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did he write this book using 12 sided dice and a lot of caffeine?
The state should have made him sign an agreement ensuring all code belonged to the state. They have some toe hold because he used inside information.
He should have had written permission to write the code on his own and plug it into the state's system for testing or use.
Both messed up, and I am not sure that there isn't some comeback on the origin of the source before he modified it. If license was on the basis of non-commercial use, he probably can't sell it.
On the bright side, with this kind of publicity, he probably will have no trouble finding a new job.
Government + IT + copyright/IP Law = messy business
How to share and categorize information is an ages old problem. One man's trash is another man's treasure, likewise, one man's bread is another man's dietary problem.
I'm not sure, but haven't we already figured out that tagging would require more tags than the actual information being tagged to accomplish what the original poster was asking for?
I think that you should check your facts on that. I don't own a gun, and won't have one in the house, but the right to carry concealed handguns has had an effect of reducing crime in the states.
n _Jerry_Patterson_1_6_2006_Guns.htms /part2/gunside1.html
Here are a couple of links:
http://www.texasinsider.org/election_watch/Opinio
From the next link:
Both sides cite statistics to bolster their claims.
The author of the only comprehensive study on the issue to date has reached a controversial conclusion that concealed-carry laws translate into less crime.
http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/nation/gun
http://www.ncpa.org/ba/ba324/ba324.html
Now, these stories are rather scary in that they say its safer when you don't know who has a gun. Where I live, the biggest crimes now are theft when no one is looking, so an alarm system keeps things pretty safe.
More and more, an armed populace is looking like a good idea to me and I get this view by living amongst concealed handguns rather than looking from the outside in.
But last time I checked, Google was not the ONLY place to get satellite imagery, its just a public one. Can't we track the IP addresses from Iraq that are accessing Google images? I would hope that a military force as formidable as the US armed forces would have a way to hide targets, and protect them. I didn't read the article, but from what I can tell otherwise, those same targets are subject to Iraqi people reporting them to 'insurgents' as well. There are probably a dozen ways to find targets inside US bases. Shutting down Google in any way will not prevent them from being visible targets to the 'insurgents'.
This story seems a lame attempt to drum up business for the warmongers? I thought the real problem was IEDs?
On a side note, do they have that much Internet access in Iraq? or is it maybe some other country that is doing this? Not really sure on that one.
FTFA: "Sharing information in this way is currently prohibited by the 'over-zealous' data protection legislation."
.. legislation is interesting. I think that many if not most of the citizens or subjects would consider any legislation that permits such information sharing to be over-zealous.
The use of the phrase over-zealous
My doctor doesn't need to know what my taxes were, nor does the tax man need to know what speeding tickets I've had. The only probable useful use of this information sharing by the government is to track people of covertly wrong reasons.
I'm pretty certain that the MI5 doesn't need to know how many people reported to the doctor for STD treatments, so what they are tracking is information that they shouldn't be collecting anyway. In spite of the surprisingly vast amount of information about private citizens that is available on the Internet, collating all government owned information about citizens will provide nothing useful in the war on terror or the war against drugs.
In case nobody was paying attention, the attacks in NYC and London were perpetuated by people that either already should have set off security bells, or by people who would not set off security alerts anyway. Creating this type of spying system will not deter terrorists, criminals, or any other group they might claim to be fighting.
Like gun control, if you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have them, and if you outlaw privacy, only outlaws will have it.
Its time that governments, especially elected ones, start learning that you don't force peace, but encourage it, protect it and these can only be done WITH the cooperation of citizens, not in spite of their rights or through sacrificing their rights for them.
Sure, they can read and record this and it still won't help them find any subversives. In fact, they will have only wasted money tracking my statements instead of focusing on using currently implemented laws and methods of upholding those laws.
I'm not against sharing data, but when it can be tracked back to individuals it necessarily becomes a kind of evil. Knowing the eating habits of all 37 year old men who have had minor heart attacks can be a very useful set of data, But also knowing their names and addresses, voting records, tax numbers, and what type of car they drive is not necessary to the usefulness of the information.
If this has been announced, rest assured that the implementation phase is already underway.
As has been said, now is the time to make this an election issue. I'm pretty sure that those present at the signing of the Magna Carta would not approve of this. Hmmmmmm
is the press it is getting. At best, its just a new phone with a couple of nice features. On a more realistic note, its iJust a iFreaking iPhone that is shackled with Apples iDRM and the Cingular network.
This is ignorant to give a phone this much press/talk time.
Yeah, sure, mod me down for this, but its true.
I personally don't care two toilets full of crap how Nelly Furtado's career turns out, but I DO CARE what the RIAA et al do about this type of situation. Here they have the perfect opportunity to show the youth of the world that copying is NOT okay... OR... they can demonstrate first hand how it IS OK to copy people's work.
WWNFD? Can we get some bracelets printed up now? You only have to wear them when you're downloading MP3s off the Internet. Oh, please make them pink with ponies on them too.
Seriously, I hope the RIAA backs up all their BS by going after this guy for giving their whole effort a black eye if nothing else. They should make him apologize to the world, and give away free NF MP3 downloads, or divert CD sales profits to the original musician.
Does anyone else out there have examples of artists ripping off smaller unknown artists?
Google is your friend. There are electric conversion cars for sale. Its becoming something of a cottage industry...
appealing. http://www.electroauto.com/index.html Examples of some that are available. They are less shiny, less costly, and still get the same performance as standard plugin systems that are new. I just don't like the way that such cars seem to require a special new look. meh! Just build a nice commuter car with fantastic mileage, that's what we really want.
I know the fanboys will have trouble not seeing that as a troll, but who does care? Why do they care?
At $500+ per unit and a goal of 1% of the phone market, it won't really make itself into THE platform to write apps for, now will it? Its not going to replace the Blackberry or even the Danger HiptopIII.
So, who and why would care about what OS the iPhone runs on?
There are already similar phones on the market with the main features of the iPhone sans the iCool name, the finger mode GUI, and the iPrice.
What is with all the hype? Its just a ifreaking iPhone iFrom iApple. The hype is starting to be more of a liability to this product than being restricted to the Cingular network is.
meh
comedy awards? This is hilarious. Spending all that money on DRM, implementing new media, only to have the encryption cracked before launch day (practically) must be like trying to nail jello to the wall using $100,000 nails. (Has Mythbusters tried nailing jello to a wall yet?)
The real question is not how they will respond, but when will they learn?
Do we end up paying for new methods to make the Internet safe (supposedly) or should we spend the money trying to educate people to recognize when they are being sent to a phishing site?
I predict (brave of me, I know) that no matter what efforts are made to protect Internet users, there will still be phishing on the Internet.
I think we're better off with the training.
Actually, I wasn't inclined to set up the cameras until the egging incident... are you a moron? The eggs on my car added 15% value to it. It was just inconvenient, and it is a case of people not respecting basic rights of others, specifically, My rights. You probably need to lay off the pipe for a bit.
What you describe is called invasion of privacy. Prove it and you have a court case. Anyone that is spying on you is invading your privacy. If they catch you by accident doing something that is against the public morals or public decency, that is your problem. If they are filming you for hours each day, that is stalking and/or invasion.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA that made me laugh, but keep your day job!
For too long, society in large part has not been focussed on what other people think, rather it has been several decades of the ME generation. If I had already installed my X10 motion activated cameras, perhaps I could have caught the little fscks that egged my car within a week of moving to a very nice new neighborhood.
:)
I really don't think that there is anything wrong with someone physical, and personally filming people doing bad things and posting them to the web. Its little to no different than them telling their friends, or passing the gossip around the local grocery store... just a little more convincing
The point here is simple; its a bit of advice: if you don't want to have people on youtube seeing you pee off the back patio, don't pee off the back patio.
Sure, there are other cases where things seem to be exaggerated, but for most of this, its not, and it is good to see the community cleaning up in their own back yards.
Now, if this is from police cameras that are perusing neighborhoods on a regular basis, I'm going to shout out against that. But if your neighbor catches you doing something bad, sorry, you shouldn't have been doing that... 'you plays, you pays' as the saying goes.
First, start off by googling for examples of BAD web design. If you can avoid those, you're 15% of the way to your goal.
Second, Look for web design award sites. If you can absorb what they did right, you're 30% of the way there.
Third, ask yourself why there is a difference between losers and winners. If you can figure it out, you're 60% of the way there.
Now, actually get hold of a web graphics program. If you need me to tell you what the names of them are because you can't find it using Google or other search engines, then this advice is really not going to do you any good. Then painstakingly work your way through all the menus and what each option can do. Google for help if you need it. If by the time you have done this you have not acquired all the general knowledge you would get in a 2 year course, you have saved yourself the cost of 2 years worth of school, and can move quickly on to the 'do the stuff you know how and outsource the rest' method.
Fourth, I have explained to you what should be common sense. If this doesn't seem like common sense, you might want to consider a new vocation.
drastic than imagined. This one case of a school board deciding what is science and comparing it to fundamentalist beliefs. Please note that they are 'beliefs' not proven facts which are being compared to hard science. I'm not going to tell you whether humankind is responsible for global warming or not, but the globe is getting warmer. That's proven on many levels.
When ever, and I mean WHEN EVER we let 'beliefs' guide our views and legislation regarding what is safe for the world or community, then we are lost. To ignore science in preference of 'beliefs' is to endanger those you love... children, family, etc. and perhaps we should enact legislation against such dangerous behavior.
Sure, its fine for you to believe what you want at home, but when you start bringing it into politics... time for you to be put in jail for crimes of endangerment and encitement...
Okay, that's probably overkill, but that's what comes to mind when I hear this stuff...
Is DRM Intrinsically Distasteful?
Would a monitor and speed regulator on your car be Intrinsically Distasteful?
Would a monitor that reports your TV viewing habits to the govt. be Intrinsically Distasteful?
Would a monitor that only allows you to buy certain foods be Intrinsically Distasteful?
Would a police force that inspects your home every day to ensure that you are not harboring criminals be Intrinsically Distasteful?
Would a monitor that ensures you don't cook microwave food on the bbq be Intrinsically Distasteful?
This list can go on for a long time...
Yes, it IS Intrinsically Distasteful?
You are exactly right. Every day I run into a question about how to use an office program that has been on the market for years, if not closer to a decade. In my opinion, this is why moving people to F/OSS is a no brainer. If they have to be trained anyway, why not move them to F/OSS?
... oh wait, I forgot, they did that already. So the problem then is that people, end users, generally don't want to learn to use computer applications, they just want them to work. Perhaps with a few big buttons at the top so they can access common functions and a big help button that summons an IT guy visitor pronto.
Simpler still is the fact that the complexity of MS office applications is what generally causes the questions for many people. They feel that there should be a way to do something, but don't know how. Even if 'clippy' was meant to help, its so annoying that nobody wants to use it.
If someone were to create a FAQ information base that answers questions for Linux and Linux apps, then
The cost of training is not small, and most enterprises pay that cost like the death of a 1000 cuts each time someone asks a coworker how to do xyz in Excel, or how to setup bullets in Word.
If that death of 1000 cuts will always happen, why not let it happen on applications that don't cost you a leg and an arm every couple of years?
1.Create rootkit
2.Create new HD Disc spec
3.Shoot feet
4.??????
5.Profit
I have to agree with your sentiment... to a point. The government IMO has no business telling anyone what to think or fantasize about. On the other hand, it is likely that children are being exploited in one way or another. The existence of the childporn website, and the fact that German citizens are paying for this only helps promote its existence.
I also feel that spending the money working with the appropriate foreign government to arrest the purveyors of the child porn for sale is the better course of action.
Without buyers, it would not be up for sale. Without sellers it would not be purchased. Neither options stops child exploitation and pornography, so I think it is more effective to stop those who are selling it.
They may have the buyers on an 'importing child pornography' type charge, but I still don't think that is wrong... at least not the act of buying. Yes, I know there are those that will disagree. I'm more or less all for the police just posting a list of those who bought the child porn and let society takes its normal course of false morality and prejudice against them. Lets spend the money stopping the source of the child porn rather than try to choke off a small portion of their income and punish people that more than likely represent no harm to society at large.
Perhaps, in a lenient society, the list of buyers might be used to offer them counseling? That's probably a bit optimistic though.
With all the medical discoveries regarding genetic contribution to other human circumstances, perhaps they will one day find a cure for pedophiles? Oh, wait, we should probably cure other non-normal traits too... homosexuality, people who like country and western music, and things like that. Yes, sarcasm, but this whole thought police thing is moronic.
I was thinking that 'meh, Telvin is probably right' but I thought about it again. Not to take an opportunity to diss you or anyone, but rather to explain my point a bit better.
Anyone, almost, can get a license to drive a car. The few that will put power steering fluid in their oil because they know nothing about cars will learn a very expensive lesson. There are many examples here where just a grounding of common sense would save people from very costly and perhaps embarrassing episodes. There are awards everywhere for people that do very stupid things such as the Darwin awards. The evidence of my point is all around us, but for some reason people think that technology should simply work as simple as a toaster. Those same people forget to think about all the people that put pop-tarts in the toaster with the wrapper still on, or worse, put them in the microwave.. resulting in the required shower of sparks. All of the technology around us is capable of doing things the wrong way. It is only through common experience and learning that most people manage to not fsck things up. At this point I should say how very glad I am that people are not want to buy their own table saw or jack hammer. These can do way more damage than a George Foreman grill mixed with some Jack Daniels. I still worry every time they allow the sale of fireworks to joe public.
Even people who are only mildly aware of how a vehicle works are usually able to determine that something is wrong because its making a new sound, or not steering right etc. This is not so with computers. People are so perplexed at how complex it must be that they remain clueless as to what might be wrong when it stops working as well as it seemed that it used to work.
Some people think that all emails they get should be opened, and out of curiosity, they open nearly every attachment they receive under the mistaken notion that their ISP or AV software is going to protect them.
Perhaps they need not know how to administer a Windows network, but they should have some clues, like they have with almost every other kind of technology they use. BTW, yes, I believe that everyone who has a flashing 12:00 on their VCR/DVD player should be fined until they know how to fix it. I also think I should be able to sell them clocks that never need to be set... but that is an open market forces kind of thing. The flashing clock doesn't really hurt anyone while allowing a botnet to p0wn your machine does. If there is a license to make sure only responsible drivers are on public roads, perhaps we need something similar for computer users. There are certification programs that people can take. Its just common sense that I think they need, not the ability to rewrite the kernel.
Hopefully that clears up what I meant to say?
to think that Acer and others have not been doing this for years? Put on the tin foil hat now, they may be doing so in conjunction with governments. Lets not stop there, your ISP and phone company might also be doing the same thing?
I bet that buried in the EULA somewhere is a statement about remote support or some other such thing that would negate any complaints about this code as far as culpability goes. Wonder what they will do now that the botnet boys know its there? Just one more reason that people who want to have a safe computer should learn how to administer one properly... IMO.