This is not a lawsuit or countersuit. Instead, it is a Rule 37 Motion for Sanctions regarding discovery. (See Fed. R. Civ. P. 37.) The claims are an awful lot like a Rule 11 motion, though. I would think they'd try to move for sanctions under Fed. R. Civ. P. 11(b)(3) (stating that the claims have no evidentiary support). Maybe Mr. Beckerman could comment on whether he's been served under Rule 11(c)(2) prior to filing with the court?
The plus side is that Plaintiffs are moving for dismissal, but they're trying to get the court to order it, probably so that they won't have to pay attorney's fees.
BlakeReid,
I'm about to start law school, so I can't really talk either, but the patent seems a whole lot broader than the lawsuits lead on. They claim basically a database of lists of information about items. It seems like MySQL's JOIN operations in one of its incarnations (sorry, I don't know much SQL) is pretty damn good prior art.
Your hypothesis makes sense. They're suing the little guys who don't have the money to take this to court, not the big ones who have the muscle to fight (and win).
Yes, but just because it's aimed at a particular group doesn't mean that it doesn't apply to other groups. It's a matter of what a "private security consultant company" is.
Let's say that I'm a computer repairman and I've been hired to 1) set up and secure a new wireless network and 2) fix someone's e-mail configuration on, just for the heck of it, Outlook Express. I need to open OE to look at the config and fix it, and, in the process, I see their e-mail. It's an investigation, and I could be classified as a "private security consultant." So could I be charged under this law?
Basically, we need a test case. Some computer repair technician needs to be charged with violating Tex. Occ. Code s 1702.104(a) and appeal the case to the Courts of Appeals and/or the Court of Criminal Appeals. Then we'll find out what it really means.
That's what I do. I've been glared at by TSA agents, liquor store sales clerks, and cashiers, but they've always taken it. My college police department got pretty upset when I didn't want to provide them with my address, student ID (which, at the time, was your SSN), and driver license number. I threatened to escalate the issue to the Chief of Police when a Sergeant took me aside and allowed me to use a passport as ID.
I always have two responses to the question, "Why are you giving me a passport?" They are:
"Did you know that the maximum punishment for fraudulent use of a driver license in the State of North Carolina is a maximum of six months in prison, while the minimum punishment for fraudulent use of a United States Passport is a minimum of fifteen years in prison?"
"My address and driving record have no connection to my legal ability to purchase alcohol, and therefore you don't need that sensitive information in order to confirm my age."
Usually, if I'm given a hard time, I'll also say something along the lines of, "I have given you a form of photographic identification issued by the United States Department of State, an agency of the federal government. If you choose not to accept it as valid identification, then I choose to do business elsewhere."
But, the downside is that passports are very standardized and machine-readable, so if they want to scan it, they certainly can do so easily with nothing more than an optical scanner.
While I'm a supporter (and member) of the EFF, I don't see the strategy in not filing a counter-notice. Under the DMCA, if a copyright holder files a DMCA takedown notice (Section 512), the service provider has to take down the content and notify the account holder. The account holder can file a counter-notice explaining why the content is not infringing, then 14 days after the counter-notice, the content can be put back if no lawsuit has been filed. (See http://www.chillingeffects.org/dmca512/faq.cgi) S ince the method of restoring content is well established, why didn't MoveOn.org/EFF use it? Why was no counter-notice filed?
There's a difference - I doubt that anyone will claim that airbags infringe on a constitutionally-protected right. (I really want to know if someone does.)
If you don't like it, don't buy a car with it. That's the beauty of the free market.
In the United States, I would think that making it mandatory for cars to require the use of such a system would infringe upon a right to travel and a right to freedom from illegal searches. We have a presumption of being innocent until proven guilty (Article 11). A law stating that we must consent to a search of our person in order to drive and and restricting our right to travel if we don't would seem to me (an untrained observer) to be unconstitutional. But then again, implied consent laws have been upheld time and again.
Current Russian law (and, yes, it will probably change) makes that not matter. Statutory licensing allows Allofmp3 to pay ROMS, the licensing society (like ASCAP and BMI), a certain amount, no matter who owns the copyright.
You two have just hit a small number of things that are illegal to import. My understanding of the customs laws and regulations are that goods that are illegal in the United States or that may damage the ecosystem are illegal to import. (There are probably others too, but not many.) Tobacco and alcohol have limitations on them, and goods over a certain amount are subject to duty (tax). Since audio recordings are legal to hold in the United States, as long as they're not further pirated in the US and they were legally obtained in Russia (as, under today's laws, recordings from Allofmp3 are), I don't think there's a legal issue there, though I really have no idea. This, of course, only applies to personal importation. If you've never been to Russia, you might have a problem, as I don't know how "importation" is construed.
Last time I checked, AllOfMP3.com only claimed to be legal inside Russia, and outside of Russia it was the buyer's responsibility to determine legality of the purchase. Which, of course, no one paid any attention to. Therefore, the response from VISA and MasterCard seems proper.
Actually, it wouldn't, at least to me. VISA and MasterCard aren't just US companies; they're international alliances. So taking the action of yanking privileges for a service that's legal in Russia just because it's illegal in the United States (supposedly; there's still no court decision on that) would deny customers the opportunity to use their legally-obtained card to purchase legal goods in countries where the service is legal. Suppose Saudi Arabia demands that, because pornography is illegal in Saudi Arabia, nobody be allowed to purchase pornography using their VISA or MasterCard. VISA and MasterCard have to not give the opportunity to process their cards to pornography merchants in Saudi Arabia because they're conducting an illegal activity there, but they do not need to take away that permission from US pornography merchants, because pornography is legal in the US. Allofmp3 is currently legal in Russia. I can't see how an organization can say to Russians that they can't use their card to purchase legal goods. MasterCard is currently a non-profit org, at least in the US. It's hard to justify that action as a non-profit.
Depends where you are. (I was in Russia a few months ago.) In Moscow, most people wouldn't take US Dollars if I tried to get them to take it. In St. Petersburg, a few times, I had to argue with the store clerk to give me the price in rubles. She'd give it to me in Euros, and I'd tell her I didn't have Euros, so she'd give it to me in dollars, but I didn't have dollars, so she'd give it to me in Euros again. It took quite a while every time to get a price in rubles out of her. That said, there were exchange places on what seemed like every block, and the rates were all very similar and fair. Most in Moscow accepted only dollars and Euros, but many in St. Petersburg took Scandinavian currencies too.
While I was there BBC World did a story on an increasing number of Russians requesting their paychecks, which, up to now, have been in dollars, in rubles. The dollar is weakening.
There definitely are kopeks. I picked up a 1 kopek coin off the ground, and when I tried to pay in exact change at a Moscow market with a 5 kopek piece, I got some comment I didn't entirely understand about a Swiss bank. On the other hand, a different clerk at the same market demanded a 50 kopek coin from me at one time. Admittedly, though, kopeks are mostly useless when a loaf of bread is around 9 rubles.
I didn't see uslovnaya ednitsa (y.e.) very much either.
It seems to me that the fault was your teacher's for not teaching basic concepts, as opposed to the language's. If you were taught the basic concepts, C++ is a fine first language.
If you want an introduction to OOP, try Karel the Robot. If you want a C++ book, consider Maria and Gary Litvin's C++ for You++. (Absolutely ridiculous title, I agree, but you learn what you need to know without getting bogged down in the nitty-gritty.) It's designed for AP Computer Science, but you certainly don't have to teach to the test.
But in that case, what company B does is detrimental to company A's business where companies A and B are not directly competing. Something about that seems wrong to me.
This is all really cool stuff. I'll admit, I'm biased. I go to a school that competed in iGEM, I'm good friends with a student team member, and I work for one of the faculty members on our iGEM team. My school's team modified E. coli bacteria to solve the burnt pancake problem. It's essentially a biological computer, albeit extremely specialized.
My ultimate point is that you shouldn't dismiss this stuff as useless or without practical application. Understand that the technology is just in its infancy, and that with time, genetically engineered machines and their products will probably be more that we could ever guess now.
I have to admit, I personally have no problem with the US requiring passports to enter or leave the country, even from US citizens. That's the internationally-accepted document proving that you have a right to be in the United States. But I shouldn't have to ask the government if it's OK if I go to to London for spring break. (I may have to ask the UK, and, again, I have no problem with that, but I don't like my government telling me where I can and can't go.) And I have no problem with my government asking me where I've been, but they're my government and I should always be allowed to enter my country.
Some CBP agents are very well trained to watch behavior. I think telling them that a computer will decide who comes in and who doesn't is an insult to them.
I can't find a button for XROST on the site. In English, I only get the option for credit card. In Russian, I see credit or debit card, Yandex.Dengi (Yandex.Money), and allPay cards. Got a link to the XROST option?
1) What about those US citizens who've been to Russia? The RIAA would have no ability to claim that the transactions took place in the United States, and US citizens, when in Russia, should US and Russian law be contradictory, should obey Russian law. It seems that then the import would be the only illegal act, in which case, the worst thing that the government could do would be to file smuggling charges against you. But then Customs would have to inspect your computer upon arrival in the US, as any other search would violate the Fourth Amendment. If they don't...is there a law against possessing smuggled goods? And do files really count as goods?
2) In Russia, piracy is big business. When I was in St. Petersburg, there were multiple stores on Nevskii Prospekt (think Oxford Street, London) called "Pyatsot Pyat" or "Five Hundred Five." (See http://www.505.ru/.) Basically all these stores sell are pirated movies, CDs, and software. One could buy upwards of USD1000 in software (say, Adobe Creative Suite 2 Premium) for about RUR200 (~USD8) and charge it to a US-based Visa card. One could buy a CD for as low as RUR100 (~USD4). And these are full quality CDs with album art, looking just like originals. They're not burned copies; they're pressed. One could use an in-house CD player to preview the CDs, or use an in-house DVD player and TV to preview the DVDs. (Sidenote: Because of stores like these, and huge markets in Moscow like Gorbushkin Dvor (http://www.gorbushkin.ru/), AllOfMp3 is only competitive in Russia.) Visa takes no action against these retailers, who, if I may say, commit far more egregious copyright offenses. It's just political pressure. If they really thought they'd get sued for processing transactions for illegal goods, why don't they cut off places that sell illegal software, since the BSA has no qualms coming down hard on businesses for illegal software? Why don't they cut off gomusic.ru (formerly mp3search.ru)? AllOfMp3 is the new Napster, the new KaZaA. Politics wants a scapegoat for IP offenses. AllOfMp3 is probably more capable of mounting a fight than the other two as Napster was based in the US where the laws existed and KaZaA was based in Australia where the laws can be more draconian that the US ones and the Australian government has no problem bowing to US demands. A Russian company may not cave, and the Russian government will only cave Putin decides they should.
It's a publicity stunt, of course, for MySpace and News Corp. The difference between this and Live 8 is that the locations they scheduled (with the exception of Philadelphia and Seattle) are pretty small and the bands aren't that popular. Not as popular as the Live 8 bands, anyway. The point is, it's pointless, yet I still want to know why they picked the cities they did (partially because I'm from one of the smaller ones).
Well, that's kind of ridiculous, but the point is, you had the choice to take that class or not, and you were told ahead of time that your work became property of the school. In this case, the students have no choice as to whether or not to take the class that requires them to submit your to Turnitin (they're public school students who are districted for the school).
Of course there is! Don't you read the OMGFANBOI nexus of digg?
http://www.google.com/romance/ = this year's Google April Fools joke.
Oh, and this is highly off-topic. Well, not really; it still is an April Fools joke...
Which is precisely what I mean by being anti-Russian - he's pulling Ukraine away from Russia's (and, effectively, Putin's) influence. I view it as anti-Russian, but he's not overtly saying that he is against Putin or Russia.
I disagree...
You're saying that all countries in the EU lose their power to Brussels? While there are people who believe that, and, to some extent, a good number of economic decisions are made in Brussels, I don't see that entering the EU is a downside for most countries. Usually, it gives the countries that join a huge economic jump; take Ireland for example.
I don't believe Ukraine will lose its distinctive culture. Half of Ukraine is ethnically Russian anyway, not ethnically Ukrainian. In the election, it was clear that this region was pro-Russian and pro-Yanukovich.
But, let's see what happens in the upcoming parliamentary elections now that Tymoshenko is fired.
You know there's more to this story than just piracy legislation. Also in the news today, Ukraine's Yushchenko Wants to Join EU. That's a trend; Yushchenko is a pro-Western, mostly anti-Russian leader. Is there any doubt that the US is going to help a nation trying to reform its democracy as Ukraine is doing? This is just one of the ways the US will help.
I'm quite interested in these Palm statistics. My high school a few years ago implemented what we called the Palm Project. They offered incentives to students and teachers who used them in classes. There was a contest for students to program the best educational application for Palm (the prize was PALM stock). I used it for two things:
1) To take notes in history class
and
2) for my math class which required this application we were beta testing called FrontRow developed by some Harvard computer scientists. (And I know that class grades went down because of using the app - nobody except two people could figure out how to submit homework for the first two weeks!)
The Palm project ended up as a miserable failure. After that and another year of mandated Palm posession (by the way, most people bought Palms and left them in their boxes), the school's IT Director declared that they were no longer required. No teacher used them and maybe three students in the whole Upper School of 400 would ever be seen with one on any given day. (One of those had a Pocket PC instead.)
Now, that was all four years ago. The school doesn't want people to know about its failed endeavor. A quick Google search for "fcds palm project" (without the quotes, of course) turns up little of interest, except this one press release.
If this Kansas school district can make it work, I'd be interested in following it. Textbooks, besides Project Gutenberg ones, weren't really available for Palm, and even Gutenberg textbooks needed an 3rd party app to read them well. Again, we were using IIIcs, which were outdated when we got them.
To bring this back closer to topic, I think a $100 laptop would do a whole lot more good to students (I know my $700 laptop was amazing for me in high school!) and would probably be cheaper than handhelds.
Slashdot Mirror
The RIAA is not suing Ray Beckerman!
This is not a lawsuit or countersuit. Instead, it is a Rule 37 Motion for Sanctions regarding discovery. (See Fed. R. Civ. P. 37.) The claims are an awful lot like a Rule 11 motion, though. I would think they'd try to move for sanctions under Fed. R. Civ. P. 11(b)(3) (stating that the claims have no evidentiary support). Maybe Mr. Beckerman could comment on whether he's been served under Rule 11(c)(2) prior to filing with the court?
The plus side is that Plaintiffs are moving for dismissal, but they're trying to get the court to order it, probably so that they won't have to pay attorney's fees.
BlakeReid,
I'm about to start law school, so I can't really talk either, but the patent seems a whole lot broader than the lawsuits lead on. They claim basically a database of lists of information about items. It seems like MySQL's JOIN operations in one of its incarnations (sorry, I don't know much SQL) is pretty damn good prior art.
Your hypothesis makes sense. They're suing the little guys who don't have the money to take this to court, not the big ones who have the muscle to fight (and win).
Also:
Examiners Robinson and Lewis are EPIC FAIL.
Yes, but just because it's aimed at a particular group doesn't mean that it doesn't apply to other groups. It's a matter of what a "private security consultant company" is.
Let's say that I'm a computer repairman and I've been hired to 1) set up and secure a new wireless network and 2) fix someone's e-mail configuration on, just for the heck of it, Outlook Express. I need to open OE to look at the config and fix it, and, in the process, I see their e-mail. It's an investigation, and I could be classified as a "private security consultant." So could I be charged under this law? Basically, we need a test case. Some computer repair technician needs to be charged with violating Tex. Occ. Code s 1702.104(a) and appeal the case to the Courts of Appeals and/or the Court of Criminal Appeals. Then we'll find out what it really means.
In the words of Judge Kozinski, "The parties are advised to chill." Mattel, Inc. v. MCA Records, 296 F.3d. 894, 908 (9th Cir. 2002).
I always have two responses to the question, "Why are you giving me a passport?" They are:
- "Did you know that the maximum punishment for fraudulent use of a driver license in the State of North Carolina is a maximum of six months in prison, while the minimum punishment for fraudulent use of a United States Passport is a minimum of fifteen years in prison?"
- "My address and driving record have no connection to my legal ability to purchase alcohol, and therefore you don't need that sensitive information in order to confirm my age."
Usually, if I'm given a hard time, I'll also say something along the lines of, "I have given you a form of photographic identification issued by the United States Department of State, an agency of the federal government. If you choose not to accept it as valid identification, then I choose to do business elsewhere."But, the downside is that passports are very standardized and machine-readable, so if they want to scan it, they certainly can do so easily with nothing more than an optical scanner.
While I'm a supporter (and member) of the EFF, I don't see the strategy in not filing a counter-notice. Under the DMCA, if a copyright holder files a DMCA takedown notice (Section 512), the service provider has to take down the content and notify the account holder. The account holder can file a counter-notice explaining why the content is not infringing, then 14 days after the counter-notice, the content can be put back if no lawsuit has been filed. (See http://www.chillingeffects.org/dmca512/faq.cgi)
S ince the method of restoring content is well established, why didn't MoveOn.org/EFF use it? Why was no counter-notice filed?
There's a difference - I doubt that anyone will claim that airbags infringe on a constitutionally-protected right. (I really want to know if someone does.)
If you don't like it, don't buy a car with it. That's the beauty of the free market.
In the United States, I would think that making it mandatory for cars to require the use of such a system would infringe upon a right to travel and a right to freedom from illegal searches. We have a presumption of being innocent until proven guilty (Article 11). A law stating that we must consent to a search of our person in order to drive and and restricting our right to travel if we don't would seem to me (an untrained observer) to be unconstitutional. But then again, implied consent laws have been upheld time and again.
Current Russian law (and, yes, it will probably change) makes that not matter. Statutory licensing allows Allofmp3 to pay ROMS, the licensing society (like ASCAP and BMI), a certain amount, no matter who owns the copyright.
You two have just hit a small number of things that are illegal to import. My understanding of the customs laws and regulations are that goods that are illegal in the United States or that may damage the ecosystem are illegal to import. (There are probably others too, but not many.) Tobacco and alcohol have limitations on them, and goods over a certain amount are subject to duty (tax). Since audio recordings are legal to hold in the United States, as long as they're not further pirated in the US and they were legally obtained in Russia (as, under today's laws, recordings from Allofmp3 are), I don't think there's a legal issue there, though I really have no idea.
This, of course, only applies to personal importation. If you've never been to Russia, you might have a problem, as I don't know how "importation" is construed.
Actually, it wouldn't, at least to me. VISA and MasterCard aren't just US companies; they're international alliances. So taking the action of yanking privileges for a service that's legal in Russia just because it's illegal in the United States (supposedly; there's still no court decision on that) would deny customers the opportunity to use their legally-obtained card to purchase legal goods in countries where the service is legal. Suppose Saudi Arabia demands that, because pornography is illegal in Saudi Arabia, nobody be allowed to purchase pornography using their VISA or MasterCard. VISA and MasterCard have to not give the opportunity to process their cards to pornography merchants in Saudi Arabia because they're conducting an illegal activity there, but they do not need to take away that permission from US pornography merchants, because pornography is legal in the US. Allofmp3 is currently legal in Russia. I can't see how an organization can say to Russians that they can't use their card to purchase legal goods. MasterCard is currently a non-profit org, at least in the US. It's hard to justify that action as a non-profit.
Depends where you are. (I was in Russia a few months ago.) In Moscow, most people wouldn't take US Dollars if I tried to get them to take it. In St. Petersburg, a few times, I had to argue with the store clerk to give me the price in rubles. She'd give it to me in Euros, and I'd tell her I didn't have Euros, so she'd give it to me in dollars, but I didn't have dollars, so she'd give it to me in Euros again. It took quite a while every time to get a price in rubles out of her. That said, there were exchange places on what seemed like every block, and the rates were all very similar and fair. Most in Moscow accepted only dollars and Euros, but many in St. Petersburg took Scandinavian currencies too.
While I was there BBC World did a story on an increasing number of Russians requesting their paychecks, which, up to now, have been in dollars, in rubles. The dollar is weakening.
There definitely are kopeks. I picked up a 1 kopek coin off the ground, and when I tried to pay in exact change at a Moscow market with a 5 kopek piece, I got some comment I didn't entirely understand about a Swiss bank. On the other hand, a different clerk at the same market demanded a 50 kopek coin from me at one time. Admittedly, though, kopeks are mostly useless when a loaf of bread is around 9 rubles.
I didn't see uslovnaya ednitsa (y.e.) very much either.
It seems to me that the fault was your teacher's for not teaching basic concepts, as opposed to the language's. If you were taught the basic concepts, C++ is a fine first language.
If you want an introduction to OOP, try Karel the Robot. If you want a C++ book, consider Maria and Gary Litvin's C++ for You++ . (Absolutely ridiculous title, I agree, but you learn what you need to know without getting bogged down in the nitty-gritty.) It's designed for AP Computer Science, but you certainly don't have to teach to the test.
But in that case, what company B does is detrimental to company A's business where companies A and B are not directly competing. Something about that seems wrong to me.
This is all really cool stuff. I'll admit, I'm biased. I go to a school that competed in iGEM, I'm good friends with a student team member, and I work for one of the faculty members on our iGEM team. My school's team modified E. coli bacteria to solve the burnt pancake problem. It's essentially a biological computer, albeit extremely specialized.
My ultimate point is that you shouldn't dismiss this stuff as useless or without practical application. Understand that the technology is just in its infancy, and that with time, genetically engineered machines and their products will probably be more that we could ever guess now.
I have to admit, I personally have no problem with the US requiring passports to enter or leave the country, even from US citizens. That's the internationally-accepted document proving that you have a right to be in the United States. But I shouldn't have to ask the government if it's OK if I go to to London for spring break. (I may have to ask the UK, and, again, I have no problem with that, but I don't like my government telling me where I can and can't go.) And I have no problem with my government asking me where I've been, but they're my government and I should always be allowed to enter my country.
Some CBP agents are very well trained to watch behavior. I think telling them that a computer will decide who comes in and who doesn't is an insult to them.
I can't find a button for XROST on the site. In English, I only get the option for credit card. In Russian, I see credit or debit card, Yandex.Dengi (Yandex.Money), and allPay cards. Got a link to the XROST option?
That's right. Two more things:
1) What about those US citizens who've been to Russia? The RIAA would have no ability to claim that the transactions took place in the United States, and US citizens, when in Russia, should US and Russian law be contradictory, should obey Russian law. It seems that then the import would be the only illegal act, in which case, the worst thing that the government could do would be to file smuggling charges against you. But then Customs would have to inspect your computer upon arrival in the US, as any other search would violate the Fourth Amendment. If they don't...is there a law against possessing smuggled goods? And do files really count as goods?
2) In Russia, piracy is big business. When I was in St. Petersburg, there were multiple stores on Nevskii Prospekt (think Oxford Street, London) called "Pyatsot Pyat" or "Five Hundred Five." (See http://www.505.ru/.) Basically all these stores sell are pirated movies, CDs, and software. One could buy upwards of USD1000 in software (say, Adobe Creative Suite 2 Premium) for about RUR200 (~USD8) and charge it to a US-based Visa card. One could buy a CD for as low as RUR100 (~USD4). And these are full quality CDs with album art, looking just like originals. They're not burned copies; they're pressed. One could use an in-house CD player to preview the CDs, or use an in-house DVD player and TV to preview the DVDs. (Sidenote: Because of stores like these, and huge markets in Moscow like Gorbushkin Dvor (http://www.gorbushkin.ru/), AllOfMp3 is only competitive in Russia.) Visa takes no action against these retailers, who, if I may say, commit far more egregious copyright offenses. It's just political pressure. If they really thought they'd get sued for processing transactions for illegal goods, why don't they cut off places that sell illegal software, since the BSA has no qualms coming down hard on businesses for illegal software? Why don't they cut off gomusic.ru (formerly mp3search.ru)? AllOfMp3 is the new Napster, the new KaZaA. Politics wants a scapegoat for IP offenses. AllOfMp3 is probably more capable of mounting a fight than the other two as Napster was based in the US where the laws existed and KaZaA was based in Australia where the laws can be more draconian that the US ones and the Australian government has no problem bowing to US demands. A Russian company may not cave, and the Russian government will only cave Putin decides they should.
It's a publicity stunt, of course, for MySpace and News Corp. The difference between this and Live 8 is that the locations they scheduled (with the exception of Philadelphia and Seattle) are pretty small and the bands aren't that popular. Not as popular as the Live 8 bands, anyway. The point is, it's pointless, yet I still want to know why they picked the cities they did (partially because I'm from one of the smaller ones).
Well, that's kind of ridiculous, but the point is, you had the choice to take that class or not, and you were told ahead of time that your work became property of the school. In this case, the students have no choice as to whether or not to take the class that requires them to submit your to Turnitin (they're public school students who are districted for the school).
Of course there is! Don't you read the OMGFANBOI nexus of digg? http://www.google.com/romance/ = this year's Google April Fools joke. Oh, and this is highly off-topic. Well, not really; it still is an April Fools joke...
Which is precisely what I mean by being anti-Russian - he's pulling Ukraine away from Russia's (and, effectively, Putin's) influence. I view it as anti-Russian, but he's not overtly saying that he is against Putin or Russia.
I disagree... You're saying that all countries in the EU lose their power to Brussels? While there are people who believe that, and, to some extent, a good number of economic decisions are made in Brussels, I don't see that entering the EU is a downside for most countries. Usually, it gives the countries that join a huge economic jump; take Ireland for example. I don't believe Ukraine will lose its distinctive culture. Half of Ukraine is ethnically Russian anyway, not ethnically Ukrainian. In the election, it was clear that this region was pro-Russian and pro-Yanukovich. But, let's see what happens in the upcoming parliamentary elections now that Tymoshenko is fired.
You know there's more to this story than just piracy legislation. Also in the news today, Ukraine's Yushchenko Wants to Join EU. That's a trend; Yushchenko is a pro-Western, mostly anti-Russian leader. Is there any doubt that the US is going to help a nation trying to reform its democracy as Ukraine is doing? This is just one of the ways the US will help.
I'm quite interested in these Palm statistics. My high school a few years ago implemented what we called the Palm Project. They offered incentives to students and teachers who used them in classes. There was a contest for students to program the best educational application for Palm (the prize was PALM stock). I used it for two things:
1) To take notes in history class
and
2) for my math class which required this application we were beta testing called FrontRow developed by some Harvard computer scientists. (And I know that class grades went down because of using the app - nobody except two people could figure out how to submit homework for the first two weeks!)
The Palm project ended up as a miserable failure. After that and another year of mandated Palm posession (by the way, most people bought Palms and left them in their boxes), the school's IT Director declared that they were no longer required. No teacher used them and maybe three students in the whole Upper School of 400 would ever be seen with one on any given day. (One of those had a Pocket PC instead.)
Now, that was all four years ago. The school doesn't want people to know about its failed endeavor. A quick Google search for "fcds palm project" (without the quotes, of course) turns up little of interest, except this one press release.
If this Kansas school district can make it work, I'd be interested in following it. Textbooks, besides Project Gutenberg ones, weren't really available for Palm, and even Gutenberg textbooks needed an 3rd party app to read them well. Again, we were using IIIcs, which were outdated when we got them.
To bring this back closer to topic, I think a $100 laptop would do a whole lot more good to students (I know my $700 laptop was amazing for me in high school!) and would probably be cheaper than handhelds.