I wonder how can all these laws restrict (real) freedom for Internet users. I suppose that companies are concerned with P2P file sharing and (maybe) governs are concerned with pedophilia and terrorism.
On the first field there is little they can really do but limiting the usage of Internet itself as a bidirectional medium. If everyone used a strong encription P2P protocol mapped over, say, TCP port 80 or 25 to do my P2P, then I'd like to see how could they stop me. Only by avoiding incoming traffic to my systems. That's almost the same as old fashioned TV and averyone would skip such a stupid technology.
On the second field there is little to do without leaking into organisations in order to grab ciphers. A simple message (email, IM, etc.) like "Let's meet at the usual pub for a couple of beers at 10" could mean everything, from a friends party to a terrorist action meeting. Who knows?
Do they think they have enough resources to fight such a battle, 24 hours a day, 365 day a year all over the world? Even by "controlling" the Internet they cannot stop people from creating VPNs (in a general sense) to do whatever they want. Unless 1984 is much more in the near future than in near past!
"I use this OS named Windows. Files and programs appears every while without any intervention of mine. For example some days ago I was playing that nice disk by Sony BMG and some new programs and file appeared on my PC disk. I have asked about this to Microsoft and Sony and both say it's normal. So I don't mind when new files appear on my disk!"
Moreover, if Mrs. Santangelo stopped her firewall/antivirus/low-caffeine program, if any, she could also prove that strange things happen to her computer thanks to a number of "special features" (someone dares to call them "bugs") of her pre-bundled PC.
I love this British humor!
Let's imagine there we'd like to keep track of any vehicule position every 5 minutes.
So, if Maths still works on both sides of the Channel, we have about 105K positions for each vehicule in one year.
If we suppose that the UK has only 50 million vehicules, we end with 5.2 trillions of positions in one year.
The funny guys there would then need to store those data and possibly do some calculation over them.
Nothing really impossible nowadays, but I'd use that storage, computing power and money for something more useful.
The weak point in phishing seems to be the people's reason... lack of, I mean.
Sometimes we tend not to use reason and this is what phishers try to exploit.
I receive a dozen of such emails every month. Almost all of them are pitiful attempts, clearly showing they are fake without any special check.
Nonetheless is seems that lots of people get trapped into them.
Maybe people needs more real education in "Internet etiquette" than anti-anything software.
It would be much better for the communities to have Larry talk about PHP and maybe Rasmus provide his thoughts about Perl. At least we'd get an interesting cross-flame session!
Whell you are right. But I'm talking about software.
So, completing the comparison with cars, I would accept a car with the printed manual filled with ads and put beneath the seat.
I would then tear those ads away and put the manual in the drawer. The car would actually be the very same!
I bet that in the near future (it really depends on how strong the CocaCola Company is) someone will find out that mixing coffee with, say, carbon bioxide would lead to some mistyerious and tragic disease, just like decaffeinated coffee.
What about a cup of the plain old coffee, made with real coffee powder and boiling water? What about the plain old stuff in reasonable amounts?
I was supposing that the US Air Force was meant to "do whatever the US Governement asked them for" and not just what is written in their mission statement!
I wonder whether there will remain enough CPU power to run the applications once I will install three to four ofthose scanners. Maybe some major fix in the operating system (as well as in the users' brain) could help a little bit.
If they've been able to insert such a subtle bug into the PSU, we all waiting to see the jewels that have been stuffed inside the box!
By the way, this also means that at MS they have never tested the units longer than 20 minutes. Or maybe they never succeded to. Cool!
This story (I suppose is true) shows how important is that things like the browser or the operating system should be opensource! None is perfect and (software) mistakes are very common among Humans! At Microsoft have practiced a lot this. But with an opensource Javascript engine this damned bug could be fixed in few hours. We can bet it will take a couple of days just to see the announcement in the Microsoft site and a full week for a real fix. And related side bugs. That in turn will take more time for fixes and side bugs...
The real problem is the people tend to be stupid and not able to assign money and things the right value.
No medical doctor will prescribe you to download songs from your wireless carrier in order to keep you alive.
So it's only your choice. A choice to be stupid or not.
The other side is that we hve companies relying on people stupidity. But this topic will be covered in another/. story.
Well the privacy problem remains even if this story has been posted already a zillion times.
We only need to convince ourself that the world can go fine even if we turn that cell phone offAs well as our life!
Instead of spending money in something that is supposed to be born dead like digital TV, we could foucs our attention and money in giving broadband Internet a big push. TVoIP is the real digital TV and is already here: so why investing in a duplicate? Other countries in Europe have tried the same with a lot of money wasted and very little success!
By the way, I live on the other side of the Channel.
I would require Microsoft to ship software with fewer bugs and which doesn't waste 90% of the resources to do simple things like (real) operating system or email servers!
It is a matter of equilibrium
on
Drink Decaf and Die
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Life could be more a matter of equilibrium. It is known that a small quantity of caffeine is not poison for our bodies rather it has a number of good effects on it. When we start to do things out of the equilibrium, the situations become unstable (as seen in physiscs). It is the same as sugar, fat, proteins, vitamins alcohol and the likes. Maybe the right move could be to get small amounts of plain coffee with a little of sugar (thus no sweeteners and no decaffeinated powders). If it is not healthy, it will be by little.
Limiting the spread of technology and knowledge because of FUD (and also some
shorter term money) can give the story a sharp turn... a U-turn actually.
What if the very first digital computer had been restricted (or "regulated") to only the USA? No Linux at all (because it's Finnish) and no World Wide Web (because it is world wide!) for example!
And if other countries did the same, no GSM (because it's European) and no spaghetti (becuase they're Chinese)!
Open Source is one thing, somewhere in between phylosophy and religion.
Finance speculation and stock market games are more like the roussian roulette.
You choose.
Slashdot Mirror
I wonder how can all these laws restrict (real) freedom for Internet users.
I suppose that companies are concerned with P2P file sharing and (maybe) governs are concerned with pedophilia and terrorism.
On the first field there is little they can really do but limiting the usage of Internet itself as a bidirectional medium. If everyone used a strong encription P2P protocol mapped over, say, TCP port 80 or 25 to do my P2P, then I'd like to see how could they stop me. Only by avoiding incoming traffic to my systems. That's almost the same as old fashioned TV and averyone would skip such a stupid technology.
On the second field there is little to do without leaking into organisations in order to grab ciphers. A simple message (email, IM, etc.) like "Let's meet at the usual pub for a couple of beers at 10" could mean everything, from a friends party to a terrorist action meeting. Who knows?
Do they think they have enough resources to fight such a battle, 24 hours a day, 365 day a year all over the world?
Even by "controlling" the Internet they cannot stop people from creating VPNs (in a general sense) to do whatever they want.
Unless 1984 is much more in the near future than in near past!
I love this British humor!
Let's imagine there we'd like to keep track of any vehicule position every 5 minutes.
So, if Maths still works on both sides of the Channel, we have about 105K positions for each vehicule in one year.
If we suppose that the UK has only 50 million vehicules, we end with 5.2 trillions of positions in one year.
The funny guys there would then need to store those data and possibly do some calculation over them.
Nothing really impossible nowadays, but I'd use that storage, computing power and money for something more useful.
The weak point in phishing seems to be the people's reason ... lack of, I mean.
Sometimes we tend not to use reason and this is what phishers try to exploit.
I receive a dozen of such emails every month. Almost all of them are pitiful attempts, clearly showing they are fake without any special check.
Nonetheless is seems that lots of people get trapped into them.
Maybe people needs more real education in "Internet etiquette" than anti-anything software.
It would be much better for the communities to have Larry talk about PHP and maybe Rasmus provide his thoughts about Perl.
At least we'd get an interesting cross-flame session!
Is DOS+Tetris weird enough?
Whell you are right. But I'm talking about software. So, completing the comparison with cars, I would accept a car with the printed manual filled with ads and put beneath the seat.
I would then tear those ads away and put the manual in the drawer. The car would actually be the very same!
The important is that the hardware is powerful and the price is good.
Later you can install your favourite OS and run your best games!
I bet that in the near future (it really depends on how strong the CocaCola Company is) someone will find out that mixing coffee with, say, carbon bioxide would lead to some mistyerious and tragic disease, just like decaffeinated coffee.
What about a cup of the plain old coffee, made with real coffee powder and boiling water?
What about the plain old stuff in reasonable amounts?
I was supposing that the US Air Force was meant to "do whatever the US Governement asked them for" and not just what is written in their mission statement!
I wonder whether there will remain enough CPU power to run the applications once I will install three to four ofthose scanners.
Maybe some major fix in the operating system (as well as in the users' brain) could help a little bit.
... and it was happening on both the sides of the Ocean, not just Europe!
If they've been able to insert such a subtle bug into the PSU, we all waiting to see the jewels that have been stuffed inside the box!
By the way, this also means that at MS they have never tested the units longer than 20 minutes. Or maybe they never succeded to.
Cool!
We all expect it being "hot!"
This story (I suppose is true) shows how important is that things like the browser or the operating system should be opensource! ...
None is perfect and (software) mistakes are very common among Humans! At Microsoft have practiced a lot this.
But with an opensource Javascript engine this damned bug could be fixed in few hours.
We can bet it will take a couple of days just to see the announcement in the Microsoft site and a full week for a real fix. And related side bugs. That in turn will take more time for fixes and side bugs
The real problem is the people tend to be stupid and not able to assign money and things the right value. /. story.
No medical doctor will prescribe you to download songs from your wireless carrier in order to keep you alive.
So it's only your choice. A choice to be stupid or not.
The other side is that we hve companies relying on people stupidity. But this topic will be covered in another
Zonk is right! You left things half done and he's simply finishing the job!
Well the privacy problem remains even if this story has been posted already a zillion times.
We only need to convince ourself that the world can go fine even if we turn that cell phone offAs well as our life!
Instead of spending money in something that is supposed to be born dead like digital TV, we could foucs our attention and money in giving broadband Internet a big push.
TVoIP is the real digital TV and is already here: so why investing in a duplicate?
Other countries in Europe have tried the same with a lot of money wasted and very little success!
By the way, I live on the other side of the Channel.
... don't forget the quantum CPU for better experience!
I would require Microsoft to ship software with fewer bugs and which doesn't waste 90% of the resources to do simple things like (real) operating system or email servers!
The Revenge of the Sick (with copy protections)!
Life could be more a matter of equilibrium. It is known that a small quantity of caffeine is not poison for our bodies rather it has a number of good effects on it.
When we start to do things out of the equilibrium, the situations become unstable (as seen in physiscs).
It is the same as sugar, fat, proteins, vitamins alcohol and the likes.
Maybe the right move could be to get small amounts of plain coffee with a little of sugar (thus no sweeteners and no decaffeinated powders). If it is not healthy, it will be by little.
Limiting the spread of technology and knowledge because of FUD (and also some shorter term money) can give the story a sharp turn ... a U-turn actually.
What if the very first digital computer had been restricted (or "regulated") to only the USA?
No Linux at all (because it's Finnish) and no World Wide Web (because it is world wide!) for example!
And if other countries did the same, no GSM (because it's European) and no spaghetti (becuase they're Chinese)!
Open Source is one thing, somewhere in between phylosophy and religion.
Finance speculation and stock market games are more like the roussian roulette.
You choose.