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Comment Re:You must be stupid, stupid, stupid (Score 1) 311

The linux kernel console; a lightweight, lightning-fast TEXT console not depending on X or anything else.

I guess that you don't use Linux drivers, but rely on third party blobs.

Ever since Linux switched to kernel-based modesetting, the console has switched to a framebuffer console. No accelerated VGA text mode, but pixel blitting.

It is painfully slow.

If you must have pointless cruft like this, add it IN ADDITION to what has ALWAYS worked perfectly, is super reliable, and super simple.

It is fundamentally broken in many scenarios, like multi-seat. I canot use Linux console, for example, because it is not multi-seat aware. It is not only not reliable, it will bork your system because it accepts all keyboard input.

Comment Re:Uh (Score 2) 311

Because the KMS terminal is so slow that anything that outputs stdout or stderr to it will slow down by orders of magnitude.

Note -- the old-style VGA console was HW-accelerated. This is what you get if you use binary blob drivers. The new console, using kernel modesetting and native resolution, isn't. Try compiling something large with lots of console output on a KMS framebuffer. It absolutely hurts.

Comment Re:Yeah, right (Score 1) 245

Like you said, even if you block things in your browser, the web pages with embedded Like buttons already contacted Facebook with your browser information to "help to be friends".

I use FireGloves, so my browser information is randomised and different for each page I visit. Fingerprinting won't work (or at least, it will be extremely difficult).

The only thing that could happen would be if the third-party page sends my IP to Facebook. That would be a rather big stinker.

Comment Re:What does FaceBook have? (Score 1) 245

Can you recommend a page that explains this in more detail? I'm interested, but I don't understand it.

You request a page from NY Times. The NY Times serves you an HTML page (+JS) which includes a "Like" button from Facebook servers. Firefox tries to connect to FB to display the button and run Facebook JS code. Ghostery scrubs such links and you never connect to Facebook. Facebook has nothing, since you've only ever connected to the NY Times. Where's the catch?

Or do you mean that the NY Times will report your IP number to Facebook directly without you being involved?

I never go to Facebook, so any serial numbers embedded in their pages don't affect me.

Comment Re:So? (Score 1) 245

Anything else, is sacrificing privacy for convenience. But that isn't nearly as satisfying as instant access by typing "Lesbian Whores" or "gay anal sex" into Google, is it?

You pick a nice example, that's cute.

How about sending an email to your mother talking about your cancer treatment? Is email supposed to be private? I know you can intercept it, but is it fair to expect to talk about this without Google monetizing it by selling your info to a pharma company?

Or should you lock up in your cave and die of cancer because if you get treatment, then everybody in the world MUST know about it?

Comment Re:Depends on Field (Score 1) 172

This depends on your field. You would not get many particle physicists at a conference with a $1,000 registration fee!

I completely believe you. "Normal" conference fees in Computer Science tend to be in the $300-$500 range. I've mentioned ICPR because there was quite an uproar when the registration fee was announced last year.

There are two things you must keep in mind, though. First is that in Computer Science, conference papers are really, really important. Far more important than in any other field. Journal papers are outdated the moment they are accepted for publication and hopelessly outdated by the time they arrive in your library. So journal papers are reserved for larger breakthroughs which will remain important for a long time.

The second is that top Computer Science conferences have the status of a journal. Their proceedings are widely available, their blind review involves 3-5 reviewers who are likely bigger experts than they would be most journals, lasts more than 3 months and involves a rebuttal phase, just like a journal. So a paper at a conference like ICCV, CVPR, IJCAI, NIPS and the like will do far more for your career than most journal papers. ICPR is not quite that level, but it is just below it, and they are milking it. It's a HUGE conference, with many thousands of visitors, BTW.

I was quite disillusioned when I attended a conference primarily aimed at psychologists, biologists and behavioural scientists. Talks were accepted based on a (barely reviewed) abstract submission and some of the science on display was depressing. Conferences simply don't mean much in many fields, so you're right, it does depend on the field.

Comment Re:What does FaceBook have? (Score 3, Informative) 245

I believe that by "standard browser" he means any browser which does any of the following:

- Javascript
- Cookies
- Flash

If your browser does any of those, you are being tracked every time you open it. You don't even need a facebook account and you don't need to use google. If you wish to stop being tracked, you will have the install at least the following extensions for your browser:

- NoScript (for malicious javascript)
- Ghostery (for cross-site tracking)
- CS lite (for flexible cookie management)
- BetterPrivacy (for Flash-based cookies)
- AdBlockPlus (for more tracking)
- https anywhere (for man-in-the-middle snooping)
- FireGloves (for browser fingerprinting)

and configure all of them to only use a whitelist, and explicitly disable Facebook, Google, Twitter and anything similar. Then you'll need to restart your browser at regular intervals to deter session cookies. You'll also need to reconnect to your ISP regularly to thwart IP-based tracking.

Yes, there used to be a time when using the web was easy. Now Facebook and Google have turned it into THIS.

Comment Re:Yeah, right (Score 1) 245

Facebook doesn't click the like button for you, nor does it ask you to talk about your ED in post, so that it can try to sell you viagra.

They don't need to click it. They serve the link from their servers so they know that you've seen the like button. Then they check your browser fingerprint and, if you are particularly stupid, your facebook cookies and voila -- they know which webpages you read, and when, and they know the exact location where you were when you read it. Every online newspaper you read, they know which stories you like, which stories you don't like.

You don't have to click anything. The "like" thing is a gimmick. As long as you SEE that button on non-facebook pages, they are tracking you. And there are other things that are tracking you that you don't even see.

I'm astonished that even on slashdot people do not understand these things.

Comment Re:Yeah, right (Score 1) 245

Yeah, but "mysteriously not giving information to Facebook" requires advanced computer knowledge and about a week of your time.

You will need to install about 10 different browser extensions, block IP ranges, deal with broken pages because of JavaScript and cookie issues, randomly fake your browser ID and a number of other things. Because every time you connect to the internet, you are "mysteriously giving information to Facebook" even if you don't know it.

I still keep up with it, but my girlfriend gave up on "mysteriously not giving information to Facebook" after doing so broke her online banking (which reports to Facebook) and online payment methods (which pull in mysterious scripts from a dozen mysterious domains).

If you as much as look at "the Internet", they are stalking you. "Simply not giving information to Facebook" is a bit like Jason Bourne.

Comment Re:Difference between GPL and MPLv2? (Score 1) 249

Essentially, MPLv2 is like the LGPL, except it only applies to the same file.

If you modify a file under MPLv2, you have to release the source code to your modifications. If you add your modifications in a separate file and combine the two, then you don't have to release your code.

With LGPL, you would have to release the source code in both cases, since both are derivative works.

Comment Re:Where's CC-BY-SA? (Score 2) 172

Maybe ND doesn't actually prevent any scientists from building on top of one's research, but I think the idea of labeling your research as "ND" is pretty anti-social. If you don't want other people to use your stuff, then fine, don't show it to anyone.

You misunderstand.

You WANT people to use your stuff. You WANT them to build on it. And then you want them to write their own TEXT and publish that.

What you don't want is for somebody who does not build on your work to take your paper, jumble it around until it makes no sense and is completely wrong, and then claim that YOU wrote that mess.

All science is derivative. CC-BY-ND is already a huge improvement over the old situation where the copyright is owned by the publisher and the contents behind a paywall.

Comment Re:What is 'ND' (and 'NC') in research? (Score 1) 172

Both CC-BY-ND and CC-BY-NC-SA have never been clearly defined for research, where it's the ideas, not the specific document used to convey those ideas that matter.

They are not supposed to, because they only deal with copyright. The rest is based on widely accepted academic traditions which are older than copyright and function quite well without licenses.

So, for instance -- if I write a paper on using (MethodX) to solve (ProblemY1), and someone realizes that (MethodX) might also be able to solve (ProblemY2), are they allowed to do it, or using it in new ways a derivitive? What if they wrote a paper about their findings, is that a derivitive? How about if I realize that there's a larger (ProblemY), is that a derivitive? Or if I realized that I could improve on (MethodX), is that a derivitive? Or even if you just have another occurance of (ProblemY1), are you allowed to use this knowledge of (MethodX) to apply it to the problem, or is any application of the research considered a derivitive?

It is derivative in a copyright sense if you modify the original FORMULATION and publish that. Then the license matters.

In terms of science, this is what you do for each one of the listed cases:

1) Cite the original paper and all other related work
2) Explain the new/bigger/different problem and why it is important
3) Explain your solution and how it differs from previously published work (and also it which way it is similar)
4) Publish

In short, do what all scientists do all the time, and licenses play no role whatsoever.

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