Comment Re:"cyber 9/11" (Score 1) 433
With as out of touch as a number of politicans are, I'm sure they believe it completely plausible.
Comment Re:To play Devil's advocate here... (Score 1) 433
True, but the average citizen has no ability to do any outgoing communication with TV and radio, whereas the internet is linked with numerous avenues of communication to a variety of sources.
This could cut basic lines to a number of people for important things too (911 etc).
Comment Re:This poll should be run again (Score 1) 957
I bet there'd be 40% less responses, I don't know if they'll give everyone internet access in the clink.
Comment Re:Or how about... (Score 1) 305
That is so win in such an obnoxious way!
Submission + - Say no to a government Internet 'kill switch' (infoworld.com)
GMGruman writes: In the name of national security, the feds are considering a law that would let the government turn off the Internet — or at least order broadband providers and ISPs to disable access. InfoWorld blogger Bill Snyder explains why this is a bad idea. Does the U.S. really want to be like China or Iran?
Submission + - Is HTC in violation of the GPL?
An anonymous reader writes: It has been almost 3 weeks since the HTC EVO 4G officially went on sale on June 4th and a month since it was available to Google IO attendees, yet, HTC has yet to release their modified linux kernel source code as required by the license (GPL V2) of the Linux kernel in the Android operating system. Requesting the source code through HTC only garners this response:
"Thank you for providing us with the request for the sourc code for your EVO 4G, to which I understand you are entitled. I also understand that in the legal information of the phone it says to contact Customer Service with this request, although that is not entirely correct. From Technical Support, we can only pass along your request to the appropriate department, and as they do have your request it will be posted. This is not a gambit of any sort nor a desire to keep anything from our users; as to why it is not available yet, I do not know, nor do my supervisors. If we at Technical Support did have access to either send out the code or post it on the website, I would be more than happy to do so as I understand that you are anxious for it and I would love to be able to provide it. The request has been made to the appropriate department, and when the code is posted it will be available at developer.htc.com. I apologize that it is not available at this very moment, and I thank you for your patience in this matter. If you have any other questions, feel free to contact us again."
Does the source have to be released at the same time as the product or is there a grace period? What responsibility do the retailers (Sprint, Best Buy, Radio Shack) share in the responsibility to ensure HTC complies with the GPL?
"Thank you for providing us with the request for the sourc code for your EVO 4G, to which I understand you are entitled. I also understand that in the legal information of the phone it says to contact Customer Service with this request, although that is not entirely correct. From Technical Support, we can only pass along your request to the appropriate department, and as they do have your request it will be posted. This is not a gambit of any sort nor a desire to keep anything from our users; as to why it is not available yet, I do not know, nor do my supervisors. If we at Technical Support did have access to either send out the code or post it on the website, I would be more than happy to do so as I understand that you are anxious for it and I would love to be able to provide it. The request has been made to the appropriate department, and when the code is posted it will be available at developer.htc.com. I apologize that it is not available at this very moment, and I thank you for your patience in this matter. If you have any other questions, feel free to contact us again."
Does the source have to be released at the same time as the product or is there a grace period? What responsibility do the retailers (Sprint, Best Buy, Radio Shack) share in the responsibility to ensure HTC complies with the GPL?
Comment Re:Redbox is for new releases (Score 3, Informative) 213
Older movies seem to be a Netflix specialty, especially with streaming content (whereas streaming new content is spotty at best!)
Comment Re:Burning through taxpayer cash? (Score 1) 68
FEMA had bigger PR issues to deal with, and I would guess they still do. If they money can't go to the people who need it why not blow it on a game? They'll have something better than minesweeper to play at their desks now!
Comment They're finally starting to get it (Score 3, Insightful) 213
Alternative distribution methods are definately here to stay.
Companies like Blockbuster (who may just consider this another coffin nail) had a purpose 10-15+ years ago, but were incredibly slow to react to market changes (Netflix in particular) and are all having rather violent death fits (they're using the last of their influence with the big production companies to try and force Red Box to carry childrens movies only or not carry any new releases).
Comment Burning through taxpayer cash? (Score 1) 68
This strikes me as something they could develop in flash for 1/100000th of the budget and get the same point across seeing as you have to wonder how interested anyone would be.
Submission + - The Scariest Computer Viruses (mainstreet.com)
rexjoec writes: Beware Malware: The most malevolent computer viruses
Computer viruses have racked up damages estimated to average more than $8 billion a year. They’ve been around for years, and have evolved with the technology. In the early days, hackers were pranksters who would spread viruses to other computers by distributing them on discs that generated gotcha-type messages. Once modems become common and personal computers even more prevalent, transmission became quicker and more dangerous.
Computer viruses have racked up damages estimated to average more than $8 billion a year. They’ve been around for years, and have evolved with the technology. In the early days, hackers were pranksters who would spread viruses to other computers by distributing them on discs that generated gotcha-type messages. Once modems become common and personal computers even more prevalent, transmission became quicker and more dangerous.
Comment Re:It comes down to... (Score 1) 1318
Christianity isn't a religion of peace given it's history, but it's more modern history is far, far less violent than a religion that TRIES to pass itself off as a religion of peace.
The media isn't worries about the Swiss Guard cutting a swath of hate and intolerance filled destruction across Italy anytime soon.
Submission + - Xbox 360 "Slim" Eats Discs 9
blackholepcs writes: A video on YouTube of a demonstration for the Xbox 360 "Slim" model at E3 2010 shows that moving an Xbox 360 "Slim" with the disc running is mabye not such a good idea. View the video here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdOjzuJByXg&feature=player_embedded
Submission + - German Publishers Want Monopoly on Sentences (blogspot.com)
Glyn Moody writes: You think copyright can't get any more Draconian? Think again: in Germany, newspaper publishers are lobbying for "a new exclusive right conferring the power to monopolise speech e.g. by assigning a right to re-use a particular wording in the headline of a news article anywhere else without the permission of the rights holder. According to the drafts circulating in the internet, permission shall be obtainable exclusively by closing an agreement with a new collecting society which will be founded after the drafts have matured into law. Depending on the particulars, new levies might come up for each and every user of a PC, at least if the computer is used in a company for commercial purposes." Think that will never work because someone will always break the news cartel? Don't worry, they've got that covered too: they want to "to amend cartel law in order to enable a global 'pooling' of all exclusive rights of all newspaper publishers in Germany in order to block any attempt to defect from the paywall cartell by single competitor." And rest assured, if anything like this passes in Germany, publishers everywhere will be using the copyright ratchet to obtain "parity".
Submission + - Stem Cell Tourist Dies From Treatment in Thailand (discovermagazine.com) 1
An anonymous reader writes: Last week, news that Costa Rica was shutting down a large stem cell clinic sparked a debate here on Slashdot about whether patients should be allowed to take the risks that come with untested treatments. Now comes news of what can happen when patients go looking for a shortcut. A patient suffering from an autoimmune disease that was destroying her kidneys went to a Bangkok clinic, where doctors injected her own adult stem cells into her kidneys. Now she's dead, and a postmortem revealed that the sites of injection had weird growths — "tangled mixtures of blood vessels and bone marrow cells." Researchers say the treatment almost certainly killed her.
