A lot of innocent people are having their lives ruined?
I think he's referring to the lawsuits against people who have not done anything wrong but have had lawsuits brought against them.
Also...can you really consider those who download illegal torrents..."innocent"?
You assume that people have no legal right to the files they download using links on the site. I have downloaded several games, CD's and even some books that I do own, but they have either become unreadable, stolen or lost over the years.
Exactly. This is the crux of the issue: intent. Almost all crimes must have an actus reus (act) and mens reus (mental state), depending on the law/state. If the mental state (including criminal neglegence) doesn't fit with the crime, then there is no crime to prosecute (see your state's penal code for definitions for "culpable mental states"; in the Texas penal code it's Title 2 Chapter 6).
Windows 3.1 was released in 1993 (1.0 was 1987); it's been 13 years (20 if you count from 1.0) and Windows is still around, Microsoft Corp has gotten bigger, and more versions are being released. Granted, we don't know what toll Vista and content protection are going to take on all the players (Microsoft, Apple, Linux, businesses, home users, media corporations, etc.); we'll just have to wait and see what plays out.
People complain of how horrid Windows is, but it is still around, and Microsoft is still growing and even branching into new areas (Xbox, Xbox Live, Zune, Windows Live). It doesn't really matter what you think of the corporation or of the product; the fact is that Windows is a major software OS and programming for it can be big business; people know that Microsoft is a major player, has a lot of stock in business applications, and are going to want to go that route in programming. Sure, there are easier (and better) platforms to program for, and you can get paid a lot for them as well, but Windows is a big product and programming for it is big money, if only for support reasons.
People could be right: Vista could be the thing that kills MS, but other OS's have been bad (95, Me) and MS is still going. Up and coming programmers are going to gravitate to what is familliar, what is widely used, and where they think they can get a job (including location, company benefits, proximity to relatives, paycheck). Some will choose to program for some non-MS OS, but many will continue to be drawn to it.
Um, if you're referring to running Ubuntu (in my example), you are already running X. If you're using Ubuntu for CLI only, then why run it when other distributions are better suited for it? As for other distributions, most have an ethereal-without-X package (which it isn't Ethereal, anymore, anyway; it's Wireshark).
But my point remains valid; you don't have to go to the CLI to install anything (or even start it) for some distributions, just point-and-click and it's done for you (like most "Linux newbies" will be more familiar with, anyway). The program "just works" (hopefully), and the new user is unaware what has taken place in the background (and they probably don't even care at this point). Which would bring us to a great learning point for the new Linux user! Object lessons all around!:)
Think about it this way, which is it easier to configure static routing on: a Linksys router web interface (say BEFSR11) or a Cisco 2501 CLI?
The main sticking point of the original article isn't optimization of Linux (which is what Gentoo is good at), but posters are concerned (at least voicing their opinions) about ease of use for newcomers to Linux. Again, as in my above post, it all depends on the goal of the "Linux newbie": casual user or dedicated student?
Or, like Ubuntu, you open the package program (depending on which desktop you're using), select the programs you want, and click install. Doesn't get any easier than that. And, if a program is dependent on another package, it informs you and automatically selects the appropriate packages.
Of course, it all depends on what the new user's intentions are. Learning Linux vs just using Linux are two different things. Ubuntu, Gentoo, Slackware, CentOS, etc. are all geared a little differently and for different levels of expertise. It depends on what you're trying to accomplish and what you're familiar with.
Which is why most other distributions offer packages like:
base package
base package + feature 1
base package + feature 2
base package + feature 1 + feature 2
base package + feature 3
Even so, it's not like the system is going to take a big performance hit because some packages have added support to them (except maybe disk space, depending on the package dependencies). And there's the added bonus of already having built-in support without having to redo the package if you need/want support for a feature later.
That's why there are many backup solutions to choose from: tape, external HDD, backup server, CD-R, DVD-R, and disk imaging. With those you can do backups and archives however you need. Pick any one or any combination of those.
If you can't afford a good backup solution, then I'd suggest doing some financial planning to save up for one; you'll have to deal with the lack of backups for now, but that's just the way things go.
If you don't have a backup solution, then you either can't afford it right now (see previous sentence for solution) or you are saying your data is expendable.
If you take the time to read the papers you sign when you aquire different ID (tickets, too? never flown, so I don't know), you agree to a lot of things. One example (at least in Texas) is, when you get your driver's license, you agree to forefit your license for 180 days if you refuse a blood or breath test (as requested by a peace officer) when arrested for DWI. When you install software, you agree (or not) to the EULA, etc. There's probably fine print that goes along with airline tickets, too.
I think we've discussed this before here. It's not the same person, but it's pretty much the same story (the other one involves a laptop from Dell). One difference is that it looks like the other guy got more of a refund ($89).
Um, yes; maybe 2, depending on what the client wants. Decent tape drives cost 6-7x as much as an external HDD, not to mention the endless supply of tapes you'll be buying each month to replace monthly (or however) archived or worn out tapes. Depending on the amount of data backed up, you can store several months worth to a single HDD (backing up essential data, not making snapshots every week or month). You can always "archive" the drive and put in a new one every so often. Replacing the HDD in the external case (USB2.0 or external SATA) is cheaper than buying tapes, and they're readily available if you need one. You can also pull the information off from just about any workstation and aren't limited to the one with the tape drive.
Most of the small setups I've done have a RAID for storage and an external HDD for backup. In my experience, most tape drives are slow, cumbersome and expensive. These days, a big external HDD is cheaper and a lot easier to work with on today's OS's. Agreed, this solution may not be what works best with older OS's (we have an old IBM AIX machine here that houses our main software, ick).
Windows-run servers are easy; most external HDD come with backup software. On the last one I did, the external HDD (Seagate, I think) came with the "one touch" feature. I just set the software to backup a specific shared folder (small workgroup, public storage; it's for a small newspaper), and all the lady has to do is bring the drive in, plug it in and push the button.
A *NX solution I used before was to write a simple shell script to mount an external HDD and tar.gz the appropriate directories to it for that day. The script can either be run manually or set up in cron.
But, all-in-all, research and experience is the best tool in finding what works best for your solution. I just don't like tapes.:)
Speaking from experience, with most laws, the first part you quoted may be the law in its basic form (i.e: general rule). The part I quoted may be the exception to the basic law. You see this type of thing in just about every code book (Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, Traffic Code, Family Code, etc.).
Read your state's Penal Code sections on use of force, criminal responsibility, assault, terroristic threat, obstructon of passageway (to name a few that come to mind). Some laws will even go so far as to include what is and is not an (affirmative) defense to prosecution. Just because (1) or (a) forbids conduct, doesn't mean that there's not a (2) or (b) that permits conduct contrairy to (1) or (a) under certain circumstances. Sometimes, even an entire section will negate a previously stated law or punishment and redefine it for that section. The word "child" is defined differently from book to book and even within sections of the same code book! Dealing with children in criminal law is a headache.:P
The executive branch shall construe subsection 404(c) of title 39, as enacted by subsection 1010(e) of the Act, which provides for opening of an item of a class of mail otherwise sealed against inspection, in a manner consistent, to the maximum extent permissible, with the need to conduct searches in exigent circumstances, such as to protect human life and safety against hazardous materials, and the need for physical searches specifically authorized by law for foreign intelligence collection.
From the posted article:
"The [Bush] signing statement claims authority to open domestic mail without a warrant, and that would be new and quite alarming," said Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies in Washington.
"You have to be concerned," a senior U.S. official agreed. "It takes executive-branch authority beyond anything we've ever known."
In his signing statement, he refers to "exigent circumstances" and "specifically authorized by law", referring to foreign intelligence in the latter comment. This is something new? No where does it say that the government will be going through peoples' mail, like the tone of the article suggests. Many entities have "exigent circumstance" exceptions. You don't think that if local EMS, fire, or police are bound by a rule, that, if an emergency happens, they don't have authority to exceed that rule? There are many examples in law for this specific purpose (reference Penal Code, Family Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, etc.).
If someone claims to have mailed a nasty toxic substance, or if there is probable cause to believe that something like that has occurred, then law enforcement/EMS better be there to take care of it. The post office doesn't have the resources to handle such tasks; let those who have experience with emergency situations handle it.
I agree that such a claim can be the potential for abuse, but that comes with just about everything.
There are a couple different presentation modes, but when you have dual screen set up with extended desktop, your second screen becomes the actual slides, while the first screen displays your notes, along with a bar of upcoming slides. If older versions could do this, I never encountered it.
In Office2k3 (I'm unsure of earlier versions) you can do this. Under "Slide Show" and "Set Up Show", you can select which monitor to show the slides on. You can also check "Show Presenter View" which gives you a slide show interface. This is how we do it for morning worship services at church.:)
It's not about the availability of data, but of the contents. If I wrote some anti-view pieces (if only in a journal or diary), I don't want other people with potentially dissenting interests to get ahold of it. And what about my Quicken data? What about home-business accounting files? What about my audio/video files that I have backed up from my bought media, but the *AA's don't see it that way? What about porn fetishes?:P
The potential for abuse is too high; I'll stay with my own RAID and backups, thanks.:)
All queries in systems like that are tracked; you can't just go running criminal history checks on someone because you're bored. It'll show up, and you will probably be questioned about it. This may vary from state-to-state and from database-to-database.
OTOH, an officer has to have probable cause to initiate an investigation, otherwise the case will be thrown out. If I find someone walking down the street, I can question them all day long, but they can simply walk away and I can do nothing to stop it unless there is probable cause that they have committed, or are about to commit, a crime. Then again, it's all in how you word your probable cause on the forms and what your video shows.
People that abuse their power will eventually be caught, if only by Death.
Can you determine who was operating the computer at the time of the alleged offense? (I realize that this may be nullified by something like "criminal responsibility"; does this matter in a civil case?)
How do you know that the defendants did not already own the material they were downloading? Or is it merely "distribution" (uploading) that is at the center of the offense?
How is sharing a file considered "distribution"? Why does it apply here and not in other circumstances (cite thoughtful and meaningful scenarios here)?
'There is a lot of potential to know if people have been looking at specific sites'
Spammers say the same thing; so where's the opt-out button? Granted, people could just refuse to use the service, but they have to be aware of what's going on, too.
Of course, it's not like I expect privacy on the Internet, anyway.:P
Probably because of the stress put upon the participants. In the original experiment, the participants weren't "debriefed" after the experiment. "Forced" torture, actual or believed, can do things within a person who is incapable of handling, or doesn't know how to handle, stress or conflicts with their beliefs.
Ask any current or former soldier and see how they felt when they went to war the first time. Some handle it, some handle it well, some handle it very poorly, but it makes an indellible impression on all of them.
*This, at MOST, only applies to websites in Texas
*This may or may not set a precedent for other websites in other states
*Depending on case-specific issues, this may not set any precedence at all (see earlier post about defendant stupidity)
Is all that right?
If a judge is making a ruling, he can see how other judges have ruled in the past. If this (or something similar) comes up again, a judge can take that info into consideration in making his judgement.
Slashdot Mirror
Of all the links posted in the summary, there's no link to the webcast on Sun's site about the story (01/22/07 @ 10:00 PST, Realplayer 10 required). :P
Ya, possibly, but there's no more risk than having your body cut open and worked on by people. Surgery is surgery. :)
You assume that people have no legal right to the files they download using links on the site. I have downloaded several games, CD's and even some books that I do own, but they have either become unreadable, stolen or lost over the years.
Exactly. This is the crux of the issue: intent. Almost all crimes must have an actus reus (act) and mens reus (mental state), depending on the law/state. If the mental state (including criminal neglegence) doesn't fit with the crime, then there is no crime to prosecute (see your state's penal code for definitions for "culpable mental states"; in the Texas penal code it's Title 2 Chapter 6).
This, however, is different in civil courts.
Thunderbird is Mozilla's standalone e-mail client with extensions (addons) like Firefox.
I wonder if the ninjas will have anything to say about this?
Windows 3.1 was released in 1993 (1.0 was 1987); it's been 13 years (20 if you count from 1.0) and Windows is still around, Microsoft Corp has gotten bigger, and more versions are being released. Granted, we don't know what toll Vista and content protection are going to take on all the players (Microsoft, Apple, Linux, businesses, home users, media corporations, etc.); we'll just have to wait and see what plays out.
People complain of how horrid Windows is, but it is still around, and Microsoft is still growing and even branching into new areas (Xbox, Xbox Live, Zune, Windows Live). It doesn't really matter what you think of the corporation or of the product; the fact is that Windows is a major software OS and programming for it can be big business; people know that Microsoft is a major player, has a lot of stock in business applications, and are going to want to go that route in programming. Sure, there are easier (and better) platforms to program for, and you can get paid a lot for them as well, but Windows is a big product and programming for it is big money, if only for support reasons.
People could be right: Vista could be the thing that kills MS, but other OS's have been bad (95, Me) and MS is still going. Up and coming programmers are going to gravitate to what is familliar, what is widely used, and where they think they can get a job (including location, company benefits, proximity to relatives, paycheck). Some will choose to program for some non-MS OS, but many will continue to be drawn to it.
*scratches head*
:)
Um, if you're referring to running Ubuntu (in my example), you are already running X. If you're using Ubuntu for CLI only, then why run it when other distributions are better suited for it? As for other distributions, most have an ethereal-without-X package (which it isn't Ethereal, anymore, anyway; it's Wireshark).
But my point remains valid; you don't have to go to the CLI to install anything (or even start it) for some distributions, just point-and-click and it's done for you (like most "Linux newbies" will be more familiar with, anyway). The program "just works" (hopefully), and the new user is unaware what has taken place in the background (and they probably don't even care at this point). Which would bring us to a great learning point for the new Linux user! Object lessons all around!
Think about it this way, which is it easier to configure static routing on: a Linksys router web interface (say BEFSR11) or a Cisco 2501 CLI?
The main sticking point of the original article isn't optimization of Linux (which is what Gentoo is good at), but posters are concerned (at least voicing their opinions) about ease of use for newcomers to Linux. Again, as in my above post, it all depends on the goal of the "Linux newbie": casual user or dedicated student?
Or, like Ubuntu, you open the package program (depending on which desktop you're using), select the programs you want, and click install. Doesn't get any easier than that. And, if a program is dependent on another package, it informs you and automatically selects the appropriate packages.
:)
Of course, it all depends on what the new user's intentions are. Learning Linux vs just using Linux are two different things. Ubuntu, Gentoo, Slackware, CentOS, etc. are all geared a little differently and for different levels of expertise. It depends on what you're trying to accomplish and what you're familiar with.
And there's always *BSD.
- base package
- base package + feature 1
- base package + feature 2
- base package + feature 1 + feature 2
- base package + feature 3
Even so, it's not like the system is going to take a big performance hit because some packages have added support to them (except maybe disk space, depending on the package dependencies). And there's the added bonus of already having built-in support without having to redo the package if you need/want support for a feature later.That's why there are many backup solutions to choose from: tape, external HDD, backup server, CD-R, DVD-R, and disk imaging. With those you can do backups and archives however you need. Pick any one or any combination of those.
If you can't afford a good backup solution, then I'd suggest doing some financial planning to save up for one; you'll have to deal with the lack of backups for now, but that's just the way things go.
If you don't have a backup solution, then you either can't afford it right now (see previous sentence for solution) or you are saying your data is expendable.
Serious question: how well does the PS3 play Blu-Ray movies?
I'm still waiting a while to get a good HDTV, much less a HD player (waiting to see how things play out a little more).
If you take the time to read the papers you sign when you aquire different ID (tickets, too? never flown, so I don't know), you agree to a lot of things. One example (at least in Texas) is, when you get your driver's license, you agree to forefit your license for 180 days if you refuse a blood or breath test (as requested by a peace officer) when arrested for DWI. When you install software, you agree (or not) to the EULA, etc. There's probably fine print that goes along with airline tickets, too.
I think we've discussed this before here. It's not the same person, but it's pretty much the same story (the other one involves a laptop from Dell). One difference is that it looks like the other guy got more of a refund ($89).
Um, yes; maybe 2, depending on what the client wants. Decent tape drives cost 6-7x as much as an external HDD, not to mention the endless supply of tapes you'll be buying each month to replace monthly (or however) archived or worn out tapes. Depending on the amount of data backed up, you can store several months worth to a single HDD (backing up essential data, not making snapshots every week or month). You can always "archive" the drive and put in a new one every so often. Replacing the HDD in the external case (USB2.0 or external SATA) is cheaper than buying tapes, and they're readily available if you need one. You can also pull the information off from just about any workstation and aren't limited to the one with the tape drive.
Most of the small setups I've done have a RAID for storage and an external HDD for backup. In my experience, most tape drives are slow, cumbersome and expensive. These days, a big external HDD is cheaper and a lot easier to work with on today's OS's. Agreed, this solution may not be what works best with older OS's (we have an old IBM AIX machine here that houses our main software, ick).
:)
Windows-run servers are easy; most external HDD come with backup software. On the last one I did, the external HDD (Seagate, I think) came with the "one touch" feature. I just set the software to backup a specific shared folder (small workgroup, public storage; it's for a small newspaper), and all the lady has to do is bring the drive in, plug it in and push the button.
A *NX solution I used before was to write a simple shell script to mount an external HDD and tar.gz the appropriate directories to it for that day. The script can either be run manually or set up in cron.
But, all-in-all, research and experience is the best tool in finding what works best for your solution. I just don't like tapes.
Speaking from experience, with most laws, the first part you quoted may be the law in its basic form (i.e: general rule). The part I quoted may be the exception to the basic law. You see this type of thing in just about every code book (Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, Traffic Code, Family Code, etc.).
:P
Read your state's Penal Code sections on use of force, criminal responsibility, assault, terroristic threat, obstructon of passageway (to name a few that come to mind). Some laws will even go so far as to include what is and is not an (affirmative) defense to prosecution. Just because (1) or (a) forbids conduct, doesn't mean that there's not a (2) or (b) that permits conduct contrairy to (1) or (a) under certain circumstances. Sometimes, even an entire section will negate a previously stated law or punishment and redefine it for that section. The word "child" is defined differently from book to book and even within sections of the same code book! Dealing with children in criminal law is a headache.
If someone claims to have mailed a nasty toxic substance, or if there is probable cause to believe that something like that has occurred, then law enforcement/EMS better be there to take care of it. The post office doesn't have the resources to handle such tasks; let those who have experience with emergency situations handle it.
I agree that such a claim can be the potential for abuse, but that comes with just about everything.
It's not about the availability of data, but of the contents. If I wrote some anti-view pieces (if only in a journal or diary), I don't want other people with potentially dissenting interests to get ahold of it. And what about my Quicken data? What about home-business accounting files? What about my audio/video files that I have backed up from my bought media, but the *AA's don't see it that way? What about porn fetishes? :P
:)
The potential for abuse is too high; I'll stay with my own RAID and backups, thanks.
All queries in systems like that are tracked; you can't just go running criminal history checks on someone because you're bored. It'll show up, and you will probably be questioned about it. This may vary from state-to-state and from database-to-database.
OTOH, an officer has to have probable cause to initiate an investigation, otherwise the case will be thrown out. If I find someone walking down the street, I can question them all day long, but they can simply walk away and I can do nothing to stop it unless there is probable cause that they have committed, or are about to commit, a crime. Then again, it's all in how you word your probable cause on the forms and what your video shows.
People that abuse their power will eventually be caught, if only by Death.
Of course, it's not like I expect privacy on the Internet, anyway.
Probably because of the stress put upon the participants. In the original experiment, the participants weren't "debriefed" after the experiment. "Forced" torture, actual or believed, can do things within a person who is incapable of handling, or doesn't know how to handle, stress or conflicts with their beliefs.
Ask any current or former soldier and see how they felt when they went to war the first time. Some handle it, some handle it well, some handle it very poorly, but it makes an indellible impression on all of them.