I expected this reponse, of course, but you are missing something..like the point of the site. If the Net and the Web can be used to communicate content like books apart from entities like big publishes, big media (big software manufacturers), that's very newsworthy. I want other people who create content to understand how this could work.So I think you are missing something. There are many better venues to promote a dog book than on Slashdot, but I really feel strongly that writers, artists, individuals, etc. should understand that mailing lists, blogs, etc. are a huge opportunity to bypass the big company/big media marketing systems. To me, that's a big OS idea, the reason I came to write for the site in the first. It's essential that this message get out, I think,as so many music writers, book writers, etc., are not able to deal with big marketing realities.
I guess my response to this interesting post is this: are people supposed to be interested in learning technology? The problem to me isn't that people don't understand this stuff, it's that people like you ought to be made available by the companies that sell it, as is true in almost every other retailing industry...I don't blame anybody for not wanting to understand how their cell works or how software is written, but when companies like Apple and MS actually charge them for priority tech support..that is, to get through to somebody on the fone for $35 a pop..that's extortion. First off, the thing ought to work. Secondly, the company ought to stand visibly and accessibly behind it for free when it doesn't..It's great your friends have you to call, BSD, but you don't charge them for it or keep them on hold for hours..I assume.
I don't really know how much tobacco or gun companies care about their customers..not much I guess..but I suspect when a gun doesn't work, which is probably rare, you can get somebody on the fone pretty quick to help you out. As for tobacco, it's a different issue. People who smoke (especially adults) are usually well aware of the risks, and choose to take it, seems to me. People who buy computers are set adrift...
Junis, Money, me and /. Q and A
on
Message from Kabul
·
· Score: 2, Funny
I was out of town yesterday and didn't get to read all of these posts till last nite.. Thanks for them..Some responses:
l. Yes, I am quite certain I haven't been had. Junis has been e-mailing me since my Hotwired days, and if he unveiled a plot to deceive me, it's pretty complex and worthy of Le Carre. Lots of people posting are pretty assertive opinions about e-mail from Kabul, but as is often the case with people who know nothing, they are the most enthusiastic about demonstrating it. Many individuals, agencies, foreign and domestic in Afghanistan have been on the Net through the conflict and getting online is not a huge deal with the relatively affluent middle-class survivors around Kabul. I am quite confident about Junis's identity (but for obvious reasons, don't want to dwell on it), and that his e-mail is also genuine.
2. Some of you have kindly offered to send money. He didn't ask for any and doesn't want any.
3. A huge number of people have e-mailed me asking if he might do a Q and A..I'm sure he would, and I think it's a great idea. I'll try and set it up.
Isn't this a media problem.As the media itself have been swallowed up by cost conscious companies, the number of foreign bureaus and the quality of foreign reporter goes down..we get little news from overseas...
I think you're solution is a good one, truly, but this really is me, and I think you're definitely losing altitude..seeing Katz everywhere, eh? Scotch might help, too....This made my week
Pedrito makes a good point about big media, but this isn't just preaching to the choir. Journalists and the public don't have to understand the intracies of the DMCA to get that a gadfly has been jailed under copyright law for critiicizing a large corporation...Part of the problem here is that most journalists, as well as most members of the public, just click off when they hear another hacker has been thrown into jail..They figure he stole something and deserves it..But the First Amendment issues are what could get the companies even owned by AOL TIme Warner to perk up..Time and People also depend on those protections to do their normal work in reporting on government, even entertainment..If this arrest holds, their work will be curtailed..That is something even corporatist media would respond to..
I feel I learned a long time ago that you can expect very few people to really practice respect for the First Amendment..just look at the threads on/. where people routinely hate and attack people for having opinions they don't like..The First Amendment is an abstract only a few people really get or protect.
But I think this is a story that will affect big media, and a surprising number of them read/. Stand by..
I think he is functioning exactly as a journalist functions..gathering information,using it to challenge a potent institution..The fact that he and his company may or may not have hoped to profit is irrelevant..The NYTimes sold the Pentagon Papers as a book also...
I think Sklyarov is entitled to the same protections as any reporter..and Ralph Nader, for that matter...who gathered confidential governmental or corporate information for a public purpose..
Op ed pages are ghettoized corridors of opinion in tepid media where opinion is discouraged. I think the best course here is to show reporters and media institutions that their ox is being gored too..If Sklyarov can be jailed for using documents to criticize a powerful corporation, then so can reporters getting proprietary governmental and other information online, thus in violation of the D.M.C.A. Journalists don't understand that the DMCA threatens FIrst Amendment protections, and thus, their own freedom to operate, especially if the law goes unchallenged. Once they do understand that...and they will...they do read places like Slashdot, you'll hear a big bang. But op-ed pages apart from the NYTimes have little or no impact..When's the last time you read one?
The public never gets interested in First Amendment cases, from Larry Flynt to Dmitri Sklyarov..even here on/., many of the posters don't believe in free speech: if you disagree, you're a jerk, should be blocked or banned or filtered, or leave. So why should the general
public be any more enlightened? The point is to apply pressure via the media and other pressure points -- bad PR for Adobe, etc. -- so that the government lets this kid out of jail. I predict there will be some media attention and the charges will be dropped. But not because the public is aroused..All you have to do to see the state of First Amendment consciousness is read the Threads on/., a very enlightened place comparatively...
This is a good and reasoned point, but I don't completely agree. The reason I wrote the column is that/. is read by some in the mainstream media..I've already had e-mails from the Phila Inquirer, Boston Globe and UsaToday inquiring about Sklyarov..The public doesn't know enuf about the issues to really care about him, I agree. They think it's just another thieving hacker caught..
But the media has a vested intererst in this case..if Sklyarov can be jailed for what he did on a copyright DMCA violation, then reporters can be jailed for obtaining confidential and copyrighted info via the Net..horrific implications for them...So my hope is they will get aroused out of self interest if nothing else and will focus pressure on his case..
A bunch of people have e-mailed me about whether the Usual Suspects was better than Momento..The two are among the best movies I've seen in years, but I guess I'd go with US..Be interested in other opinions tho...
..is one of the great movies I've ever seen..I actually didn't mention it deliberately, as I don't think it compares as well to that movie..specially the ending. Now that was an ending, when you scan the posters behind the desk?
Please ..turn it on! Or get CyberPatrol
on
Review: Memento
·
· Score: 1
I hate it when your blocking software doesn't it work? You can also get Cyberpatrol..I'm blocked there as well..(CyberNanny too)
I don't know. One, I think people are tired of Hollywood formulas.
Two, I think it made clear that the marial arts stuff..the Matrix did this too..is deeper than just action/adventure..it had a creative and soulful quality to it..But I suspect it has been overhyped, mostly in contrast to the usual sludge they crank out..
if this is for real, but read a story from a western paper saying dealers much prefer the Net, once they personally establish ID and contact, then use mail with special, sniff-proof wrappings..but if true, why aren't law enforcement types and others shrieking about it. It certainly seems plausible.
Many people here disagree with the premise of the piece, and with my writings about it. Also I find mainstream media responsible for much of this stereotyping, and feel odd pitching them on ideas like this..It has a patronizing feel.
Slashdot Mirror
I expected this reponse, of course, but you are missing something..like the point of the site. If the Net and the Web can be used to communicate content like books apart from entities like big publishes, big media (big software manufacturers), that's very newsworthy. I want other people who create content to understand how this could work.So I think you are missing something. There are many better venues to promote a dog book than on Slashdot, but I really feel strongly that writers, artists, individuals, etc. should understand that mailing lists, blogs, etc. are a huge opportunity to bypass the big company/big media marketing systems. To me, that's a big OS idea, the reason I came to write for the site in the first. It's essential that this message get out, I think,as so many music writers, book writers, etc., are not able to deal with big marketing realities.
I guess my response to this interesting post is this: are people supposed to be interested in learning technology? The problem to me isn't that people don't understand this stuff, it's that people like you ought to be made available by the companies that sell it, as is true in almost every other retailing industry...I don't blame anybody for not wanting to understand how their cell works or how software is written, but when companies like Apple and MS actually charge them for priority tech support..that is, to get through to somebody on the fone for $35 a pop..that's extortion. First off, the thing ought to work. Secondly, the company ought to stand visibly and accessibly behind it for free when it doesn't..It's great your friends have you to call, BSD, but you don't charge them for it or keep them on hold for hours..I assume.
I don't really know how much tobacco or gun companies care about their customers..not much I guess..but I suspect when a gun doesn't work, which is probably rare, you can get somebody on the fone pretty quick to help you out. As for tobacco, it's a different issue. People who smoke (especially adults) are usually well aware of the risks, and choose to take it, seems to me. People who buy computers are set adrift...
I was out of town yesterday and didn't get to read all of these posts till last nite.. Thanks for them..Some responses:
l. Yes, I am quite certain I haven't been had. Junis has been e-mailing me since my Hotwired days, and if he unveiled a plot to deceive me, it's pretty complex and worthy of Le Carre. Lots of people posting are pretty assertive opinions about e-mail from Kabul, but as is often the case with people who know nothing, they are the most enthusiastic about demonstrating it. Many individuals, agencies, foreign and domestic in Afghanistan have been on the Net through the conflict and getting online is not a huge deal with the relatively affluent middle-class survivors around Kabul. I am quite confident about Junis's identity (but for obvious reasons, don't want to dwell on it), and that his e-mail is also genuine.
2. Some of you have kindly offered to send money. He didn't ask for any and doesn't want any.
3. A huge number of people have e-mailed me asking if he might do a Q and A..I'm sure he would, and I think it's a great idea. I'll try and set it up.
Isn't this a media problem.As the media itself have been swallowed up by cost conscious companies, the number of foreign bureaus and the quality of foreign reporter goes down..we get little news from overseas...
But the Net copyright laws eliminate fair use..there's really no such thing under the DMCA..offline, fair use still applies..
I think you're solution is a good one, truly, but this really is me, and I think you're definitely losing altitude..seeing Katz everywhere, eh? Scotch might help, too....This made my week
Pedrito makes a good point about big media, but this isn't just preaching to the choir. Journalists and the public don't have to understand the intracies of the DMCA to get that a gadfly has been jailed under copyright law for critiicizing a large corporation...Part of the problem here is that most journalists, as well as most members of the public, just click off when they hear another hacker has been thrown into jail..They figure he stole something and deserves it..But the First Amendment issues are what could get the companies even owned by AOL TIme Warner to perk up..Time and People also depend on those protections to do their normal work in reporting on government, even entertainment..If this arrest holds, their work will be curtailed..That is something even corporatist media would respond to..
I feel I learned a long time ago that you can expect very few people to really practice respect for the First Amendment..just look at the threads on
But I think this is a story that will affect big media, and a surprising number of them read
I think he is functioning exactly as a journalist functions..gathering information,using it to challenge a potent institution..The fact that he and his company may or may not have hoped to profit is irrelevant..The NYTimes sold the Pentagon Papers as a book also...
I think Sklyarov is entitled to the same protections as any reporter..and Ralph Nader, for that matter
Op ed pages are ghettoized corridors of opinion in tepid media where opinion is discouraged. I think the best course here is to show reporters and media institutions that their ox is being gored too..If Sklyarov can be jailed for using documents to criticize a powerful corporation, then so can reporters getting proprietary governmental and other information online, thus in violation of the D.M.C.A. Journalists don't understand that the DMCA threatens FIrst Amendment protections, and thus, their own freedom to operate, especially if the law goes unchallenged. Once they do understand that...and they will...they do read places like Slashdot, you'll hear a big bang. But op-ed pages apart from the NYTimes have little or no impact..When's the last time you read one?
The public never gets interested in First Amendment cases, from Larry Flynt to Dmitri Sklyarov..even here on
public be any more enlightened? The point is to apply pressure via the media and other pressure points -- bad PR for Adobe, etc. -- so that the government lets this kid out of jail. I predict there will be some media attention and the charges will be dropped. But not because the public is aroused..All you have to do to see the state of First Amendment consciousness is read the Threads on
This is a good and reasoned point, but I don't completely agree. The reason I wrote the column is that
But the media has a vested intererst in this case..if Sklyarov can be jailed for what he did on a copyright DMCA violation, then reporters can be jailed for obtaining confidential and copyrighted info via the Net..horrific implications for them...So my hope is they will get aroused out of self interest if nothing else and will focus pressure on his case..
More e-mail about whether the Matrix or Momento relate more to geek culture..I vote for Momento actually on that score..
A bunch of people have e-mailed me about whether the Usual Suspects was better than Momento..The two are among the best movies I've seen in years, but I guess I'd go with US..Be interested in other opinions tho...
..definitely would kick the pants off of me..whew..
IMDB hasn't asked me (Slashdot has) and I do think it's a geek culture movie, even more so than the Matrix, actually...You obviously haven't seen it..
..is one of the great movies I've ever seen..I actually didn't mention it deliberately, as I don't think it compares as well to that movie..specially the ending. Now that was an ending, when you scan the posters behind the desk?
I hate it when your blocking software doesn't it work? You can also get Cyberpatrol..I'm blocked there as well..(CyberNanny too)
...to go see this movie is with a group of friends..you will be arguing about it for hours.
Does this game move back and forth in reality?
to even say what the ending was..I had my squawks with it, but I too thought it was a brilliant movie..But not a perfect one..
I don't know. One, I think people are tired of Hollywood formulas.
Two, I think it made clear that the marial arts stuff..the Matrix did this too
The director -- citing the Blair Witch Hype..said he didn't want a traditional marketing campaign with the websites, etc...
if this is for real, but read a story from a western paper saying dealers much prefer the Net, once they personally establish ID and contact, then use mail with special, sniff-proof wrappings..but if true, why aren't law enforcement types and others shrieking about it. It certainly seems plausible.
Many people here disagree with the premise of the piece, and with my writings about it. Also I find mainstream media responsible for much of this stereotyping, and feel odd pitching them on ideas like this..It has a patronizing feel.