The contacts legally includes tethering tax. However, the weak point is false positives -- users wrongly charged for tethering.
A certain user is suspected for tethering due to an unusual network usage pattern. AT&T charges him for extra $45 for tethering. Since he did not use tethering, they cannot charge him the extra tethering tax. He takes AT&T to the court, and AT&T fails to prove he was tethering. One successful class action is all that is needed to put an end to tethering tax.
You must have visited Israel a long time ago, as I can't really remember when was the last time Ben Gurion Airport was bombed. Probably way before my time...
The Ministry of Communication regards such malpractices with an unfavorite eye:
Communications Ministry spokesman Dr. Yechiel Shabi said in response, "The research materials relayed to us paint a picture which arouses the need for thorough examination. After we become familiar with the study's findings, we shall consider the need for interference, supervision or regulation of the matter."
The MoC declared their commitment for the principle of Network Neutrality after a previous case of VoIP blocking by one of the cellular operator in Israel. However, beyond declarations actions are yet to be seen.
The Israeli census is freely available everywhere... It's a shame that the same people who are in charged for the census fiasco, are those are will be in charged for securing the biometric database.
The conquistadors at the 15th century were able to travel long distances on ships full of diseases, and yet conquered and eliminated the native civilizations of America. Diseases may be a difficulty, but they won't prevent space travel.
I know, the coordination is not what it used to be, and it's not that easy to swap cassettes that fast nowadays. Luckily, one good thing came out of MS Word---the magical Cut & Paste mechanism---which can help you to continue to enjoy your favorite games on your favorite minicomputer...
A. Record the loader on a new cassette.
B. Open the loader cassette, and cut the magnetic tape after the location of the generic loader.
C. Open the game cassette, and carefully paste the tape of the generic loader just before the game tape starts.
D. Et voilà, you have a new loader to your Atari game.
Who have though this day will come – promoting nmap using the surfaris;)
Let me add a minor correction to the description:
"The 1962 song Wipe Out, with its energetic drum solo started, was the impetus for many people to take up playing the drums. Similarly, Nmap, the legendary network scanner, likely interested many in the art of hacking, and for some, started a career for security professionals and hackers. Nmap and its creator Fyodor need no introduction to anyone on Slashdot. With that, Nmap Network Scanning: The Official Nmap Project Guide to Network Discovery and Security Scanning, is a most useful guide to anyone interested in fully utilizing Nmap."
You bought a CD. You have the right to use it. You have the right to play it using another CD player.
You bought a song. You have the right to hear it. You have the right to transfer it to another playing device (i.e., computer).
Your CD is a property. The right to hear a licensed song is a property too, despite what the license may claim.
Now, the second party pulls the license away. It renders your property nontransferable, hence eliminating some of your property rights. The court may monetize the lost rights into compensation.
A successful class action may discourage future DRM schemes, once DRM owners are forced to keep their servers up and running forever.
Some people are doing that for years! A guy I know tried to figure out how much time it will take Microsoft to fire him.
So he didn't do anything, not even touching the keyboard.
But it didn't work. At the end, he became too bored, and decided to quit himself..
A. I'm still using rotary phone. B. In my previous job, I wrote in assembly. C. I'm still missing the BASIC of my good old BBC... Ok, I'll crawl back into my cave.
Technically and legally Microsoft is right.
However, ethically Microsoft is wrong. If somehow this case does get to court, it may become another McLibel case, where the big Goliath facing David. They will win the case in court, but will probably loose in the long term. Microsoft knows that and that's why this case won't get to court.
Let's face it. EVERY software violates hundreds of active US patents. This is an inherent problem of the USPTO, which was already discussed too many times. Linux is no different, and as far as I see it, there are three possibilities.
Nothing will happen. Microsoft is afraid of a total patent war, which will harm everybody.
There will be a special "US Linux" version, inferior to the "INT Linux" version. Thinking about it, there is already a superior international Linux version. (MPlayer anybody?)
Microsoft will try to slower down Linux distribution using their patents. Most likely move is selling licenses to whoever would like to use Linux without the fear of a patent lawsuit.
The last possibility will probably lead to a patent war between Microsoft and IBM. Big portion of IBM Servers market is Linux-powered. Therefore, if Microsoft threatens IBM Linux market, they will eventually pull up their 40,000+ patents, most of them "software patents", and start threatening Microsoft back. The result will be a total patent war, which both companies are very much afraid of. Therefore I believe Microsoft will be extremely careful not to wake up (blue) giants from their sleep. Still, it will be fun to watch from a safe distance (Hey, I do not live in the US;-)
In Israel a similar tax on audio and video cassettes (not CDs or DVDs) was imposed about 10 years ago. The blank media tax was legislated together with changes of the IP law which legitimated violations of copyrights by individuals for private and domestic usage, as long as it is non-commercial violation. The tax goes to the federation of the phonographic industry in Israel (IFPI Israel).
A few years ago, IFPI Israel tried to prosecute libraries that lent audio CDs for domestic use, since people were violating their copyrights by copying those CDs. The result was that the supreme court ruled that copying an audio CD is the same as copying audio cassette, hence it legitimate as of copying audio cassettes, as long as it is for non-commercial bla-bla use...
About a year ago, IFPI Israel threaten (through the press) that they are planning to start legal actions against individuals who are downloading music and movies, similar to the RIAA and MPAA in the US. However, they were force to fold back from their initial intensions after they were told that there is a high possibility that the court shall rule that downloading music and movies for home use is legit. The final result is that now the recording industries cannot prosecute anyone for downloading music or movies for home use (i.e., burn on CD or DVD and watch at home), as it does not count as an offence according to the law and the supreme court interpretation of the law.:-)
Will linux have DRM in the future? Maybe. It could be mandated by law, or some other dirty trick.
The bad side is that it will happen in the future. The reason may not be the DRM or DMCA staff, but a patent lawsuit that will outlaw use of something under Linux, unless done as the patent holders intend it to be used.
The good part is that it won't happen in the EU. I will be able to use my European Linux distro, with all the non-US packages. This situation is not so far fetched. For example mplayer is illegal in the US, and distributed only by non-US distros. And not to forget the Penguin Liberation Front which is dedicated for all the outlawed packages...
The bottom line is that users in the US are already legally allowed to use only a crippled version of Linux. But on the other hand, I'm not living in the US:-)
Slashdot Mirror
The contacts legally includes tethering tax. However, the weak point is false positives -- users wrongly charged for tethering.
A certain user is suspected for tethering due to an unusual network usage pattern. AT&T charges him for extra $45 for tethering. Since he did not use tethering, they cannot charge him the extra tethering tax. He takes AT&T to the court, and AT&T fails to prove he was tethering. One successful class action is all that is needed to put an end to tethering tax.
A better idea: to the number of patents and patent applications of the company.
You must have visited Israel a long time ago, as I can't really remember when was the last time Ben Gurion Airport was bombed. Probably way before my time...
Communications Ministry spokesman Dr. Yechiel Shabi said in response, "The research materials relayed to us paint a picture which arouses the need for thorough examination. After we become familiar with the study's findings, we shall consider the need for interference, supervision or regulation of the matter."
The MoC declared their commitment for the principle of Network Neutrality after a previous case of VoIP blocking by one of the cellular operator in Israel. However, beyond declarations actions are yet to be seen.
The Israeli census is freely available everywhere... It's a shame that the same people who are in charged for the census fiasco, are those are will be in charged for securing the biometric database.
The conquistadors at the 15th century were able to travel long distances on ships full of diseases, and yet conquered and eliminated the native civilizations of America. Diseases may be a difficulty, but they won't prevent space travel.
My guess for Ring -3 is some kind of microcode manipulation inside the CPU. Probably persistent too.
I know, the coordination is not what it used to be, and it's not that easy to swap cassettes that fast nowadays. Luckily, one good thing came out of MS Word---the magical Cut & Paste mechanism---which can help you to continue to enjoy your favorite games on your favorite minicomputer...
A. Record the loader on a new cassette.
B. Open the loader cassette, and cut the magnetic tape after the location of the generic loader.
C. Open the game cassette, and carefully paste the tape of the generic loader just before the game tape starts.
D. Et voilà, you have a new loader to your Atari game.
Let me add a minor correction to the description:
ALL the anonymous cowards are so dumb.
Touché!
Me, back to Word for fixing me grammar.
The next thing you know someone will ask for a replacement for vi.
Us, who saw the light, already use Emacs.
You bought a CD. You have the right to use it. You have the right to play it using another CD player.
You bought a song. You have the right to hear it. You have the right to transfer it to another playing device (i.e., computer).
Your CD is a property. The right to hear a licensed song is a property too, despite what the license may claim.
Now, the second party pulls the license away. It renders your property nontransferable, hence eliminating some of your property rights. The court may monetize the lost rights into compensation.
A successful class action may discourage future DRM schemes, once DRM owners are forced to keep their servers up and running forever.
That's probably the reason they limited the TLDs to four letters only.
Some people are doing that for years! A guy I know tried to figure out how much time it will take Microsoft to fire him.
So he didn't do anything, not even touching the keyboard.
But it didn't work. At the end, he became too bored, and decided to quit himself..
A. I'm still using rotary phone.
B. In my previous job, I wrote in assembly.
C. I'm still missing the BASIC of my good old BBC...
Ok, I'll crawl back into my cave.
Technically and legally Microsoft is right.
However, ethically Microsoft is wrong. If somehow this case does get to court, it may become another McLibel case, where the big Goliath facing David. They will win the case in court, but will probably loose in the long term. Microsoft knows that and that's why this case won't get to court.
- Nothing will happen. Microsoft is afraid of a total patent war, which will harm everybody.
- There will be a special "US Linux" version, inferior to the "INT Linux" version. Thinking about it, there is already a superior international Linux version. (MPlayer anybody?)
- Microsoft will try to slower down Linux distribution using their patents. Most likely move is selling licenses to whoever would like to use Linux without the fear of a patent lawsuit.
The last possibility will probably lead to a patent war between Microsoft and IBM. Big portion of IBM Servers market is Linux-powered. Therefore, if Microsoft threatens IBM Linux market, they will eventually pull up their 40,000+ patents, most of them "software patents", and start threatening Microsoft back. The result will be a total patent war, which both companies are very much afraid of. Therefore I believe Microsoft will be extremely careful not to wake up (blue) giants from their sleep. Still, it will be fun to watch from a safe distance (Hey, I do not live in the USAccording to the transaction history of the patent (Sorry for the long url – http://portal.uspto.gov/external/portal/!ut/p/_s.7 _0_A/7_0_CH/.cmd/ad/.ar/sa.getBib/.ps/N/.c/6_0_69/ .ce/7_0_3AB/.p/5_0_341/.d/5?selectedTab=fileHistor ytab&isSubmitted=isSubmitted&dosnum=10260471#7_0_3 AB), the patent was rejected only once. The main cause was (not surprisingly) that "a method of traversing a list... is an abstract idea or the mere manipulation of an abstract idea." However, some other claims were rejected as prior art according to US Patent 5,950,191 (See http://www.pat2pdf.org/pat2pdf/foo.pl?number=59501 91).
Saying that, the mentioned patent may not be so obvious as seems at first sight. The idea is not a simple linked-list or doubly-linked-list, but somewhat more sophisticated linked-list with auxiliary pointers.
In Israel a similar tax on audio and video cassettes (not CDs or DVDs) was imposed about 10 years ago. The blank media tax was legislated together with changes of the IP law which legitimated violations of copyrights by individuals for private and domestic usage, as long as it is non-commercial violation. The tax goes to the federation of the phonographic industry in Israel (IFPI Israel).
:-)
A few years ago, IFPI Israel tried to prosecute libraries that lent audio CDs for domestic use, since people were violating their copyrights by copying those CDs. The result was that the supreme court ruled that copying an audio CD is the same as copying audio cassette, hence it legitimate as of copying audio cassettes, as long as it is for non-commercial bla-bla use...
About a year ago, IFPI Israel threaten (through the press) that they are planning to start legal actions against individuals who are downloading music and movies, similar to the RIAA and MPAA in the US. However, they were force to fold back from their initial intensions after they were told that there is a high possibility that the court shall rule that downloading music and movies for home use is legit. The final result is that now the recording industries cannot prosecute anyone for downloading music or movies for home use (i.e., burn on CD or DVD and watch at home), as it does not count as an offence according to the law and the supreme court interpretation of the law.
The bad side is that it will happen in the future. The reason may not be the DRM or DMCA staff, but a patent lawsuit that will outlaw use of something under Linux, unless done as the patent holders intend it to be used.
The good part is that it won't happen in the EU. I will be able to use my European Linux distro, with all the non-US packages. This situation is not so far fetched. For example mplayer is illegal in the US, and distributed only by non-US distros. And not to forget the Penguin Liberation Front which is dedicated for all the outlawed packages...
The bottom line is that users in the US are already legally allowed to use only a crippled version of Linux. But on the other hand, I'm not living in the US :-)