benedict writes: "The article No Shortage of Programmers? sparked a really interesting thread about how to interview programmers. Being a systems administrator, I am curious about the Slashdot community's collective wisdom on how to interview sysadmins. I have come up with a few questions of my own to prime the pump. 'What is tcpdump? What is it good for?' 'How about truss/ktrace/strace? What are they good for?' 'What's the largest number of machines you've maintained? What have you done to make it easier on yourself (e.g. what types of automation, file distribution, etc.)' 'Do you use source code control? What for?' I would also present a couple of 'hypothetical' situations from my own experience and ask how people would approach them. How about you: what kinds of questions would you ask, what situations would you describe, what kinds of answers would you look for?"

Sulka writes: "The latest Sircam outbreak has sent me a lot of documents from total strangers I've never heard of before. This led me to wonder what would happen if a trade secret doc from company X was leaked like this to me -- I guess the secret wouldn't be a secret anymore. But what's the legal standing of this? Is a virus sending a document the same as someone sending email accidentally to a wrong address? Could I send a M$ Halloween memo that popped to my address to the press?" I have now recieved 1.1 gigabytes of sircam virus email attachments. I'm just glad I don't pay for my bandwidth per k.

The popular media's coverage of the Dmitri Sklyarov case is a scandal. 26-year-old programmer and encryption gadfly Sklyarov has been languishing in jail for almost two weeks now, and the popular media has paid almost no attention to his truly outrageous arrest. It's a case that has the ugliest implications not only for the press (online and off) but for open discussion of technology, and especially for the First Amendment, now clearly being undermined in the name of copyright protection by the DMCA. This is the opposite of what copyright law was meant to do.

Basalisk asks: "I've been asked to come up with a list of suggestions for books covering computer subjects that would be appropriate for a public library. Ideally, the books suggested would have a fairly long shelf life and cater to as many different audiences as possible, from the absolute beginner to an experienced geek. What books dealing with computer subjects should a library have on it's shelves?" Considering that library books need to have lasting and generalized value, not just programming fads of the month, what books would you recommend for a desert-island library collection? What books won't you give up on your tech-library?

func writes with a rather strange situation: "Hey, my house was robbed, and they stole my computer, vcr, rc heli, and all my beer (!bastards!). But, on the positive side, the thief has been using the computer, and managed to infect himself with the Sircam virus. Now, some of my friends are getting virii sent to them by my stolen computer! Any way to track this guy via email, or even an ip or something stored in the virus code itself? And if I do find him, do I send the cops, or just my 6-foot-4, 260-lb ex-eastern-block buddy Radek?"

BenTheDewpendent writes: "I am considering buying a Compaq iPaq IA-1 Internet Appliance if it is hackable. The IA-1 is relatively cheap and doesn't seem to be too bad in spec. I was wondering if anyone knows if they are hackable or usable beyond their intended semi-lame designed purpose?" There's a short (and lukewarm) review at TechTV about this machine which lists decent specs but objects to a highish price for what it contains. If you have a bargain, though, it sounds fun. Anyone have a succesful experiment with one of these cute boxes?

slash.monster writes: "I was reading through Canadian Newswire today and came across this. Quoted from their press release: 'Linux DA O/S replaces the Palm O/S within the actual handheld device but still remains fully compatible with Palm's hardware, proving that Linux DA O/S is a flexible and powerful operating system. Using the open source Linux kernel, Empower Technologies has designed Linux DA O/S to be the first Linux compatible O/S scaled down for the Motorola Dragonball CPU platform used by Palm handhelds.'"