"If you're going to commit crimes, son, start with the legal ones."
This was at Crocker Bank in the 80s, which was subsequently bought by Wells Fargo, who laid off thousands, including me. When that happened, I suddenly saw his point.
As with Napster. As with all themed file sharing sites or systems. Take one down and 10 grow in their place. As long as there are internets, telephones, newspapers or writing, this will not change, ever.
There will always be a con-man or scammer who will claim that the internet can be controlled. What easier way to extract money and power from fools? Moreover, government officials *want* to believe this, so I don't doubt that the Chinese government, and other governments, will be made to believe it's possible.
China can control (sort of) the internet within its jurisdiction - for the moment. Let any significant civil unrest start in China and you can watch even the weak control that they now have break down pretty quickly. No government can control ALL of the people who *directly* control its technology. It only takes one hacker with a virus or a disruptive technology to change the rules and there are a *lot* of them. No amount of technology and/or social engineering can stop them all. Attempting to do so would bankrupt any government that tried.
Assange is a distraction and knows it. Chasing him wastes law enforcement resources and he knows that too. Wikileaks, the organization goes on while idiots chase their tails by chasing him. Moreover, if Wikileaks goes away, 10 more Wikileak clones will arise.
Governments, apparently, never learned the lesson of Napster. When Napster went, other free music sites were created. When those went, distributed torrent sites were created. When torrent sites go, another as yet unknown solution will occur.
With cameras, computers and the internet, almost nothing can be hidden anymore. Information leaks in the USA can't be stopped, except by regaining the respect and trust of the American people. In a wired world, the only way to do that is to play it straight, not lie and do what you say you'll do. As of yet, no political organization or movement in the USA is up to that task. When they appear, I'm sure they will be regarded as dangerous radicals by the mainstream media.
Of course, Assange made himself a highly visible target. And now thousands of agents of one flavor or another are spending resources and chasing their tails by chasing after him.
Meanwhile, the wikileaks organization and it's imitators are busy making sure that they have multiply redundant servers in countries of multiple jurisdiction so that they can release their data on schedule. He is a beautifully visible target in a world which seems determined to shoot the messanger and never, ever look in the mirror.
As long as resources are focused on the man, the message will get out. Quite ingenious actually.
I tend to agree with this. The RNC isn't stupid. A republican win going into an economic downturn would have been a disaster for them, particularly after 8 years of Bush. Palin was a guaranteed loser.
And it worked. Now they can position themselves as economic saviors in 2012. They weren't bright enough to figure out that the economy will still be bad and going to worse in 2012, but that's a whole other discussion.
She's political entertainment television for the cognitively challenged. just like O'Reilly, Hannity, Beck, et. al.
She's also the darling of a rather large viewing demographic - not-so-bright, lower middle class housewives whose self-assessment of their own intelligence and skills are (ahem) somewhat inaccurate (exaggerated to the point of hilarity).
She's like them, and people like, and vote, for people like themselves.
What is the difference between a bunch of terrorists who fly planes into building to cripple the US economy and an international collection of finance executives and bankers with the same intent? Both are using the tools at hand to cause the disruption of as many lives as possible with the goal of bringing in a new world order, but the folks who sit on interlocking company boards of multinationals are doing it solely to enrich themselves, while Mr. Assange hopes to prevent the impoverishment of the world's troublesome middle-class population who feel they deserve a decent living and basic human rights.
In the final analysis, Assange only reports what is. If the politicians of the world can't handle that, the problem is with the politicians , not Mr. Assange.
A more accurate sentiment might be an "anti-hidden-incompetence organization." After the bank docs are released revealing just how intentionally and thoroughly the USA's middle class has been scammed, it might be more of an "anti-worldwide government of the wealthy oligarchy" organization.
...is making the USA's government look desperate and pathetic. If they don't understand how unstoppable this is now, they look technically impaired. If they don't understand what "out of your jurisdiction" means, they look disingenuous, dangerous and as hamfisted as the Russians. All it does is to confirm every negative impression that came out of Wikileaks, which by the way, would be immediately replaced by several other similar organizations if the original is somehow made to stop and it's founder killed or imprisoned. Apparently the US government hasn't learned the lesson of Napster.
Bottom line: The American empire no longer commands the respect of its subjects and incidents like this will continue. Thank you very much, conservative republican financial community and all the recent presidential figureheads starting with Reagan, none of whom actually give a rat's patoot about the USA other than as a money generating device.
If you're stupid enough to open source monetizable code under any license, it will be stolen, possibly patented, or otherwise monetized by people NOT stupid enough to give away their work for free in the name of...[insert random sophomoric principle here].
Slashdot Mirror
from a mega company that can revoke it at any time, you sort of get what you deserve for being:
1) Stupid (i.e. Did you think this would never happen?)
2) Gullible (i.e. Did you think Amazon was going to do what they said they were going to do?)
Pity. Great reading. Lot. Now, *that* fellow had some great, er, family values.
Moral relativism exists, like it or not. Morality != (something objectively verifiable)
You see, this is why I always buy Sony.
"If you're going to commit crimes, son, start with the legal ones."
This was at Crocker Bank in the 80s, which was subsequently bought by Wells Fargo, who laid off thousands, including me. When that happened, I suddenly saw his point.
As with Napster. As with all themed file sharing sites or systems. Take one down and 10 grow in their place. As long as there are internets, telephones, newspapers or writing, this will not change, ever.
You kids! Get off my lawn!
will just love this book.
Oh, and by the way, "First!"
Firefly might come back.
There will always be a con-man or scammer who will claim that the internet can be controlled. What easier way to extract money and power from fools? Moreover, government officials *want* to believe this, so I don't doubt that the Chinese government, and other governments, will be made to believe it's possible.
China can control (sort of) the internet within its jurisdiction - for the moment. Let any significant civil unrest start in China and you can watch even the weak control that they now have break down pretty quickly. No government can control ALL of the people who *directly* control its technology. It only takes one hacker with a virus or a disruptive technology to change the rules and there are a *lot* of them. No amount of technology and/or social engineering can stop them all. Attempting to do so would bankrupt any government that tried.
Assange is a distraction and knows it. Chasing him wastes law enforcement resources and he knows that too. Wikileaks, the organization goes on while idiots chase their tails by chasing him. Moreover, if Wikileaks goes away, 10 more Wikileak clones will arise.
Governments, apparently, never learned the lesson of Napster. When Napster went, other free music sites were created. When those went, distributed torrent sites were created. When torrent sites go, another as yet unknown solution will occur.
With cameras, computers and the internet, almost nothing can be hidden anymore. Information leaks in the USA can't be stopped, except by regaining the respect and trust of the American people. In a wired world, the only way to do that is to play it straight, not lie and do what you say you'll do. As of yet, no political organization or movement in the USA is up to that task. When they appear, I'm sure they will be regarded as dangerous radicals by the mainstream media.
Oh dear, you're just not getting this, are you?
Of course, Assange made himself a highly visible target. And now thousands of agents of one flavor or another are spending resources and chasing their tails by chasing after him.
Meanwhile, the wikileaks organization and it's imitators are busy making sure that they have multiply redundant servers in countries of multiple jurisdiction so that they can release their data on schedule. He is a beautifully visible target in a world which seems determined to shoot the messanger and never, ever look in the mirror.
As long as resources are focused on the man, the message will get out. Quite ingenious actually.
Windows will finally be usable?
I tend to agree with this. The RNC isn't stupid. A republican win going into an economic downturn would have been a disaster for them, particularly after 8 years of Bush. Palin was a guaranteed loser.
And it worked. Now they can position themselves as economic saviors in 2012. They weren't bright enough to figure out that the economy will still be bad and going to worse in 2012, but that's a whole other discussion.
He's 50% of the American opinion. More than that on the first Bush/Gore vote if we went by that silly thing called "the popular vote."
She's political entertainment television for the cognitively challenged. just like O'Reilly, Hannity, Beck, et. al.
She's also the darling of a rather large viewing demographic - not-so-bright, lower middle class housewives whose self-assessment of their own intelligence and skills are (ahem) somewhat inaccurate (exaggerated to the point of hilarity).
She's like them, and people like, and vote, for people like themselves.
He's hardly getting rich on this, and have you noticed that he continues to do this at rather significant personal risk?
If not altruism, what do you consider his motivation to be?
Wow.
Reputable News Organizations. Are those related to Santa Clause and Jesus?
Here's a little dose of reality: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2870
Newsflash. "Reputable news organizations" are little more than propaganda mills for the wealthy. In time, they will gain control of the internet too.
I hope you enjoy the new economic feudalism, but somehow I'm guessing you're going to be just another serf that goes by the name of "employee."
What is the difference between a bunch of terrorists who fly planes into building to cripple the US economy and an international collection of finance executives and bankers with the same intent? Both are using the tools at hand to cause the disruption of as many lives as possible with the goal of bringing in a new world order, but the folks who sit on interlocking company boards of multinationals are doing it solely to enrich themselves, while Mr. Assange hopes to prevent the impoverishment of the world's troublesome middle-class population who feel they deserve a decent living and basic human rights.
In the final analysis, Assange only reports what is. If the politicians of the world can't handle that, the problem is with the politicians , not Mr. Assange.
A more accurate sentiment might be an "anti-hidden-incompetence organization." After the bank docs are released revealing just how intentionally and thoroughly the USA's middle class has been scammed, it might be more of an "anti-worldwide government of the wealthy oligarchy" organization.
The least sensational explanation is usually the correct one.
Humanoid reptilians. Even worse, from the reptilian point of view.
...is making the USA's government look desperate and pathetic. If they don't understand how unstoppable this is now, they look technically impaired. If they don't understand what "out of your jurisdiction" means, they look disingenuous, dangerous and as hamfisted as the Russians. All it does is to confirm every negative impression that came out of Wikileaks, which by the way, would be immediately replaced by several other similar organizations if the original is somehow made to stop and it's founder killed or imprisoned. Apparently the US government hasn't learned the lesson of Napster.
Bottom line: The American empire no longer commands the respect of its subjects and incidents like this will continue. Thank you very much, conservative republican financial community and all the recent presidential figureheads starting with Reagan, none of whom actually give a rat's patoot about the USA other than as a money generating device.
If you're stupid enough to open source monetizable code under any license, it will be stolen, possibly patented, or otherwise monetized by people NOT stupid enough to give away their work for free in the name of...[insert random sophomoric principle here].