Slashback: Activism, VOIP, Ivies 165
Until we know how to get to Stallman's Gulch ... sbrown writes: "Public Knowledge responds to Declan McCullagh's call for less activism, more code. Don't fool yourself geeks, political participation is absolutely necessary to maintain the freedom to write code. Public Knowledge has a plan to make geek political participation easy and effective."
Speaking of activism, Roblimo reported yesterday that Bruce Perens might be leaving HP. Today, IDG reporter Matt Berger confirms the break, writing that "Perens says he is leaving HP to pursue political activism. His protests against the DMCA and other legislation that Perens says threatens the open source community, apparently, were too much for HP to handle. So he is becoming an independent consultant and will work with HP as a consultant. He also plans to follow through with a presentation of a DVD player cracking software that he says is in violation of the DMCA. HP stopped him from doing the demonstration at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention last month."
Might these be the basis of a long-distance relationship? AndersBrownworth writes "After Creative nixed their VoIP Blaster, ($20 USB to "plain old telephone line" converter with free software available) ebay prices eclipsed the $200 mark. Now, it seems Creative has found some VoIP Blasters still hanging around and is selling them as refurbished units for $29.99. Ebay prices have reflected the move in Internet time."
Much more fun than a PBS pledge drive. Kodi writes "In case you haven't been watching, Blender's campaign to become open source by raising 100,000 is almost complete, with about 85,000 raised. If you were holding back, perhaps a little doubtful that they would make it, now's the time to chip in and push it over the top."
If your donation happens to be The Last Straw (and the Blender folks can verify it), I will provide you with your choice of ThinkGeek T-shirt ;)
And such pretty campuses, too. guttentag writes "Several weeks ago, Slashdot ran a story about the Princeton admissions dean who used applicant information to hack into a Yale Web site. Today Princeton announced it will remove the official from his position; however, it will offer him another, undisclosed job. It also revealed that Princeton and other Ivy League schools were aware of the break-ins as early as May 15.
MIT's The Tech adds Princeton officials previously said they were unaware of the incident prior to July 24 when Yale's president informed Princeton's, and that Yale notified the FBI the next day (President Bush's niece was among those students whose privacy was violated). It was not until that point that Princeton placed the official on administrative leave.
Apparently, misusing applicant information to commit identity fraud is not a serious offense at Princeton unless the public learns of it (or a member of the president's family is among the victims), and even then it's not serious enough to warrant dismissal. Princeton's president also said other school officials will be disciplined, but declined to provide details, presumably to protect the privacy of those officials or the university."
Hacking = terrorism (Score:5, Funny)
If hacking is now considered terrorism, why isn't the government all over this one?
Easy (Score:4, Insightful)
Because only the poor can be criminals.
Re:Easy (Score:2, Interesting)
That's insightful? Osama is a multi-millionaire. Lindh's family is rather well to do. Stepping out of the terrorism context, what about the recent wave of corporate fraud investigations? Are all those guys poor?
It's sad to see how the amount of left-wing bullshit here is starting to resemble Kuro5hin.
Re:Easy (Score:1)
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Easy (Score:1, Flamebait)
Out on bail [clarionledger.com] right now. give it time.
I'm with you here - it's nuts.
So he filed a bunch of forms late. Big whoop-de-doo.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Easy (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Sore/Loserman (Score:2)
I don't give a fsck whether Clinton got a blowjob or not. But he did lie about it under oath, and last time I read the law, lying about anything under oath, even if it was what you had for breakfast yesterday morning, is a felony. That's right, a felony. Something that W hasn't committed and your hero, x42, has.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Sore/Loserman (Score:2)
Hahaha...you right wing nutjobs would be talking CONSTANTLY about it if what happened to Gore had happened to Bush. You'd be constructing crazy conspiracies, you'd be calling for independent prosecutors, you'd be whining and snivelling on every right-wing talk show in the country and you know it. So spare me the idiotic "get over it" comment. Goddamn hypocrites.
Re:Sore/Loserman (Score:2)
Hope this quote from the USDOJ criminal resource manual helps:
"It has been held by at least one court that simple perjury, the assertion of a false affirmative statement by an individual testifying under oath, is not an obstruction of justice under the omnibus clause of 18 U.S.C. 1503. See United States v. Faudman, 640 F.2d 20, 23 (6th Cir. 1981); United States v. Essex, 407 F.2d 214, 218 (6th Cir. 1969). But see United States v. Griffin, 589 F.2d 200, 203, 204 (5th Cir.) (dicta), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 825 (1979); cf. Smith v. United States, 234 F.2d 385 (5th Cir. 1956) (submission of false affidavits of others violates omnibus clause). "
Re:Easy (Score:2)
That's insightful?
Actually, I think that comment is well grounded in recent evnets. Exampl:, a recently proposed law [slashdot.org] would let media companies break into computers which are believed to be involved in trading copyrighted materials.
Compare that to the way HP treated some white-hat hackers [com.com] who tried to get them to fix an old HP-UX vulnerability.
What does this tell us? Wealthy corporate hacker = good, average joe white hat = bad. I'm pretty sure that's the sort of thing the poster was getting at.
Re:Easy (Score:2)
Re:Easy (Score:2)
Not true! Sometimes the media and/or government will make a criminal out of someone rich for the sole purpose of making sure that the above statement is NOT true!
Therefore, the above statement is NOT true. There are exceptions.
Re:Hacking = terrorism (Score:1)
Re:Hacking = terrorism (Score:4, Funny)
Breaking into computer system = bad
Erosion of personal privacy = good
"Hacking" is the wrong word (Score:2)
The obsession with the word "hacking" -- which you're further propagating with your post -- is exactly why the sensationalist media labeled this a hacking incident. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Re:"Hacking" is the wrong word (Score:2)
In any case, it's the "breaking" part of "breaking and entering" that's the problem.
Perhaps that's why nothing is really being done here in this situation, because technically this isn't a crime! This guy, the dean, and all their lawyers prob. know that too. Gauranteed off and big egg on Yale's face.
I say let the guy keep his job, he walked right in through an open door and caused no damage. If anyone should be fired, it's the sysadmin/page designer at Yale that set up this site! What he/she did qualifies as "gross negligence," "dereliction of duty," and violation of "generally accepted accounting/webdesign practices."
Re:"Hacking" is the wrong word (Score:1)
IANAL, but I don't see how the level of [in]security matters. From the origional article [yaledailynews.com]:
she added that the presence of a disclaimer screen, which warned users of the site that it was only intended for the personal use of the applicant, made Princeton officials' use of the site vulnerable to a lawsuit or even criminal charges.
Re:"Hacking" is the wrong word (Score:2)
I HAVE had the police come into my house "un-announced" throught the "open door" policy. Of course they wouldn't do it if it were illegal...would they? The law about entry of structures says that if the door is open, they (anyone) can come in. Even the television crime shows get this one right....try the doorknob to see if it's unlocked, if open, enter at will....
The best you could get on somebody who does come in through an open door is tresspassing. Ya' see, I got charged with tresspassing for entering a construction site through an "open door." And the best they could get me for was...you guessed it...tresspassing...they would have tried to get me for more too, if they could...but they had nothing!
In most situations, (read taxes, porn and crime) the government wants to make "cyberspace" the same as "meatspace." Why should this case be any different? Why should the laws for this kind of entry be different than the physical world?
In the physical world, people assume a certain level of culpability for their actions. Because there are so many people terrified of computers and technology though, we adopt special laws and give the government extra powers to ward off the demons....perhaps the Bush/Yale connection is the real reason for the "life sentences for hackers" bill...do you really feel that this was hacking?....or was it really more a situation of "hey you kids, get out of my yard!"
Don't you think that if Yale could do something about it, they would? The disclaimer is a bluff.
Re:"Hacking" is the wrong word (Score:2)
Re:"Hacking" is the wrong word (Score:1)
Re:"Hacking" is the wrong word (Score:2)
I don't see anywhere in the disclaimer that "by entering this information, you are claiming to be the person whose information this belongs to"....if there were, you may be right about the fraud/identity theft angle.
Sounds like just some simple data entry fields and the notice about "prosecuted to the fullest extent"...blah..blah...blah...no place where the person entering the information "claims" to be the person described by the entered information. It's pretty hard to claim fraud when the "hacker" hasn't claimed anything at all, other than "here's a valid SSN and it's associated with this name."
I seem to remember that Kevin Mitnik was "claiming" to be a phone company employee, claiming to be whoever during his social engineering, in an attempt to get the information that he wanted (passwords etc). That's fraud. If there's no deception or attempt at deception, how can there be fraud? Also, by obtaining the passwords through fraud, he's effectivly "sealing" the keys and opening a "locked" door, not simply opening an "unlocked" door.
O.K. you say...what about people who attempt multiple passwords then?....arn't they simply "trying the door" multiple times with different data?....well yes, but this starts to look like "lockpicking" after two or three times, doesn't it?....
Who knows how this "hacker" got the information. Some states sell their drivers liscense data, and you can find out people's SSN's legally too. There's no need to resort to theft to find out all you need to know about somebody.
If the information entry fields are simply asking questions which can be entered truthfully without requiring some other crime or claim to be that person, I don't see any theft angle.
Re:Hacking = terrorism (Score:1)
Let's fight the war on terroism and start trading mp3's!!
"I believe in everything in moderation. Including moderation." -Dean DeLeo, Stone Temple Pilots
Re:Hacking = terrorism (Score:3, Insightful)
enforced uniformly. Their purpose is to be
applied *selectively*, to crush your enemies.
Linux and OSS grows up (Score:5, Insightful)
There are not a lot of hippie hackers hanging out, and hardly anyone is wearing funny costumes. The combination Trekkie convention and Renaissance Faire feel a lot of early Linux get-togethers had is gone. This is a business gathering.
The author apparantly meets this with dismay. I would like to argue instead that it's about time.
I hate doing things in stuffy, overly-businesslike ways. I much prefer the more freewheeling, hacker style, and I am sure that many /. readers do also. But these are also the same people that want Linux and OSS in general taken seriously. Well, as unfortunate as it may be, to be taken seriously by business-type people, you have to act like business-type people, or at least hire people to do it.
Like it or not, movements that have gatherings of people in "funny costumes" or that have a "trekkie convention" atmosphere are going to be trivialized. Columnists will report these events in the "for your amusement" part of the newspaper, sandwhiched between Dear Abby and the horoscopes. By adopting a more serious attitude at events like this, now you start to get recognition where it counts, like in the Wall Street Journal.
As much as it galls most hacker types (myself included), appearance is everything. But the OSS community needs to remember that it has something more than just appearance, something that many proprietary vendors are missing: substance. OSS code actually works and delivers on what it claims in most cases.
So OSS hackers should keep coding and wearing funny costumes, or whatever floats your boat. But also let the business people and marketers loose. Let them promote what you're doing (think of it this way: it gives you even more time to code).
Re:Linux and OSS grows up (Score:5, Insightful)
Linux has survived all the dot-com bullshit because it was always by the people and for the people. The companies that have come and gone never effected the sole of the movement. They've helped at times, they've hurt at times, but they never were essential. If they all went away, free software would continue. If all the hackers went away, free software would die -- even if its licenses lived on and were used, even if its code continued to be extended by hired hands, its sole would be gone. It would just be another business efficiency, cast aside at some future date when the suit's whimsy changed.
We didn't get here by asking suits what was important or trying to get their approval. We didn't need them then, and we need them even less now. We might be able to use them -- but they aren't us and never will be. We should not forget that.
Re:Linux and OSS grows up (Score:1)
Dude, it would be nice if most business people took the time to explore ALL of the alternatives and made the best choice, but the fact is that Microsoft and lots of other companies have armies of salesfolk paid to sell their products to businesspeople. Somebody needs to convince these businesspeople that open source stuff is worth using, and the businesspeople need to be able to find a distro they can use productively. Remember, businesspeople are already too busy and probably don't want to have to be sysadmins on top of everything. At worst, they want to be able to hire somebody fairly cheap to watch the systems, necessitating more Linux training courses and unfortunately some kind of certification so the courses will have at least a minimum to teach to -- yeah, it does enhance credibility to have some standards and ways of measuring skills.
OK, so the suits are crucial to commercial success, but why is commercial success necessary? Well, there's Palladium. If GPL software has a installed base including powerful political and business entities who would be inconvenienced and overcharged were all executables to require a Microsoft certificate, they'll be much more likely to resist the changes and might stop them. I'd like to see a future where my own compile of open source software runs on commodity hardware, and where the majority of programmers could enjoy an ethic of sharing code for practical, economical, and educational reasons.
Whew.
Re:Linux and OSS grows up (Score:1)
I couldn't agree more with you. You're absolutely right, and this is what I meant to imply by the last part of my post. Hackers are not suits and should never try to be. But does that mean it's wrong to have suits promote them? Hell, I'd say that was an example of using the system against itself. Sure, the suits are interested in their own agendas and making their money. But if OSS can benefit at the same time, why not?
Certainly, the suits are not the only path to enlightenment. But it's still a way of getting people to pay attention to you. Then once you have their attention, you don't need the suits anymore.
But consider this: Look at the average hacker community. Most of the time, it's a well-knit, cooperative community. But all too often you get stupidity like the Gnome-KDE flamewars, Linux vs FreeBSD jihads, and the Linux vs GNU/Linux crusades. People outside of the hacker community look at this and once again trivialize us.
I'd love to get rid of the suits and not have to depend on them for a damn thing. But we have to clean up our act first. Until then, the suits can serve their purpose.
We didn't get here by asking suits what was important or trying to get their approval. We didn't need them then, and we need them even less now. We might be able to use them -- but they aren't us and never will be. We should not forget that.
You're right, we did not ask them what was important. The beauty of what's happening now is that they're looking at us and adopting (more or less) what we consider important. And, yes, we can use them, and we should use them -- until we don't need them anymore. At that point, they should get the hell out of the way.
Re:Linux and OSS grows up (Score:2)
If you want there to be more fun, well-paying jobs that involve working with open source, on the other hand, getting buyin from the suits is a Good Thing. Do we need them to write good software? Of course not. But will we have better software if some of us are paid to work on it full-time? Hell, yeah!
Re:Linux and OSS grows up (Score:2)
After 20 years sudenly the media was interested, and a year later, finally the scientific community finally was listened to and we saved those old karri stands. Geek activism at it's most primordial.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, via analogy, despite our wierd headed tendency to get all anti-ms (right on!) and pro-free and what not. It's the eric raymonds, the orators, the suits , flutes and not absolutes in our community that will win this fight.
Guys & Gals, finally we have a *real* O/S on our hands, after years of puting our hands over our eyes and saying "make it true" , KDE3 / kernel 2.5, gnome making sense , and all of that, we got there.
Let's not let our ideology ruin it. Truth stands on it's own two feet.
Creative's HTTPS server is more crushed than Wil (Score:2)
But enough about CleverNickName... It seems that Creative's HTTPS order transaction server is also
Hmmmm. Just like a brick and mortar - Plenty of stuff in the store, but not enough damn cashiers....
Re:Creative's HTTPS server is more crushed than Wi (Score:3, Informative)
echo 0 >/proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_ecn
before you place your order.
One more thing (Score:2)
They don't seem to handle ZIP+4 correctly, so you need to give them just the standard ZIP code.
What's wrong w/ filesystem interface to registry? (Score:1)
Why not put that setting in the registry? Using the filesystem to store a bitflag is really fucking stupid.
What's wrong with having an interface to the registry through the filesystem API? That's almost what /proc is.
Almost.
The pendulum is swinging back (Score:4, Insightful)
Then RIAA/MPAA/Politician cartel throws down
Now the pendulum is swinging back...
We need to assault the politicians on all fronts:
- with code
- with law
- with awareness-campaigns
- with boycotts of companies who support politicians
Remember when people ask us to have faith in the law system and that everything will work out we should not trust them. As bleak as it sounds we cannot have faith in many things and should trust only ourselves and that is why WE need to be actively doing all the above bulleted items.
"activism" (Score:5, Insightful)
Do you fight against the DMCA and people's right to exchange information with each other?
Do you fight for clean air? I live in VERMONT and today we have worse smog than fucking LA, which I learned courtesy of online EPA ground level ozone reporting information. I would not have believed that possible. Today southern Vermont is at smog danger levels for children, elderly or those with asthma. I have asthma...
Do you fight against water privatization? The global fresh-water situation is getting desperate at a horrifying rate. Part of the problem is overuse, and part of the problem is- get this- corporations forcing entire countries into privatization because the World Bank demands it as a condition of doing business with the country. Once privatized, in the spirit of 'free trade' the corporation (such as Vivendi out of France) can export the country's water elsewhere- like America, if it wants- and refuse water to those in the original country who can't pay for it.
Or you could fight against corporations polluting, like in Anniston, Alabama. When Monsanto dumps so much poison into the creek that fish fucking explode and fall apart within minutes after being put in the water, you HAVE to buy water that Vivendi exported from some African nation where people die of thirst unable to afford water, because if you dig a well for water and drink it, you die!
Or you could google for 'Operation Northwoods', learn that in the 60s, McNamara repeatedly vetoed proposals from our own military to attack US citizens in order to basically create martyrs, blame it on Cuba and stir up enthusiasm for a war they felt desperately necessary... and ask whether any of that seems familiar, try to see if you can do better than 40 years of silence on what's going on today.
These are either great or horrible times to be an activist. The situation is so bad it forces any sane person to question. But there's too much to be done!
You have to pick a thing and work on that, or you just get ulcers and die early... mind you who can tell with the amount of poison and pollution in our air, our water, our food...
Re:"activism" (Score:1, Funny)
Re:"activism" (Score:2, Funny)
else will the proletariat make its revolution?
Re:"activism" (Score:5, Insightful)
It seems to me the problem is the corruption of money in politics and business. If only there is a way of causing money to loose its political power, then we'd be on the way towards a more perfect union.
Re:"activism" (Score:1, Redundant)
If you can come up with a way to sell people on the value of society instead of the value of money, please do so- you're right that it'd help.
Re:"activism" (Score:2)
Re:"activism" (Score:3, Insightful)
Sure people are pissed that A-Rod (a shortstop for those of you that don't follow baseball) is making a gross amount of money (I think it's in the range of 8 or 9 didgets) but some where someone thinks he's worth paying that much for. And not only that, but the fans that keep paying upwards of $50 for handicapped bleacher seats and upwards of $200 for good seats seem to think so too.
Like it or not, everyone gets what someone thinks they're worth. The best way to stop something is to vote with money. The most powerful parts of the governement are those that have to do with money. If money stops flowing, things change. Money give life and money sure as hell can take it away. Vote with your check book.
Re:"activism" (Score:2)
Great! I'm someone. I think everyone's worth, oh, say, US$40K. So now that I've made my decision, everyone will get that?
The problem is when the "someone" is a person who's not personally paying. And especially if the "someone" is selected by the person whose salary is in question.
Re:"activism" (Score:2)
If you don't like that A-Rod's getting a shit load of money, don't buy baseball tickets, and get others to join you. Nothing get's done by sitting on the fence and whining, you have to get off your ass and actualy do something about it.
Re:"activism" (Score:1)
You are welcome to have it, but other ways of doing things HAVE been tried. They're called 'governments', and sometimes talk about 'rights' and things ;)
I could find someone in a psychiatric ward who believed with all his heart that Bill Gates was worth 31 billion dollars. That person could honestly assert that they believed Bill Gates was worth more than half the amount of paper money the US Treasury prints in a year, and also more than 2/3 of all the gold in Fort Knox, all by himself.
That person would still be fucking crazy!
Like the guy in The Young Ones said, "I don't mean to be negative, but no." Your view of things is not realistic. You simply cannot reduce all of life to free market economics and expect it to work. You only get insane, pathological results- Gates is only the most egregious, as well as being an object lesson in motivation- do you believe for one second that the guy would mellow out if his 'wage' was capped at, oh, one billion? Only people with neither money nor the tenacity to make money believe that- they want to believe in Santa Claus. "Maybe the money fairy will give ME 30 billion dollars some day, how would I feel then?"
Meanwhile, in the real world, Capitalism shakes itself to death for lack of a rev limiter- and in the end days, lots of the big winners end up dead, and the revolutionaries who killed them aren't even better off, because what they should have been killing was not the results of the system, but the inadequacies of the system.
I'm sorry, but after listening to you I am all the more persuaded that a maximum wage is very important. If a million upsets you, how about a billion? Or would that cut into YOUR income too uncomfortably? ;)
Re:"activism" (Score:2)
Re:"activism" (Score:2)
If you are seeing that happen (and you are) that is no endorsement of any economic or political system. It is a BIG RED FLAG that something is horribly wrong- like 'valuations' of dot-com companies, and you know what happened to those? When the 'real world' is giving you results that are stark raving insane, that means something's gonna blow, that something is BROKEN somewhere. In this case, what is broken is the notion that any one person has a legitimate claim to be worth more than 2/3 the money in the Federal Reserve.
Your randroid-baiting with regard to 'wah, taxes are too big' is not relevant or useful either. Maybe your taxes are bigger than they need to be because guys like Gates are not supporting society to the extent of their ability to do so.
Seeing as I have been a humble Mac user since WAY before it was hip and fashionable, I suggest that voting with your money doesn't accomplish as much as you think it does. MS didn't need my money to armtwist PC OEMS and ISPs. They did it anyway without any help from me.
Re:"activism" (Score:2)
Why did all the over valued dot coms fail? BECAUSE THEY HAD NO MONEY FLOW!!!!!
Why does the stock market crash? BECAUSE MONEY STOPS FLOWING!!!!! (Do you realize that theoreticaly, the stock market could neveer crash so long as people keep investing. The market crashes when people start pulling money out. Then people see the market crashing and pull mor emoney out, causing a snowball effect. To stop a crash, start investing money.)
Why does the tobacco industry thrive and the government not care? MONEY MONEY MONEY!!!!!
Why do all things in government (except thiose specificaly provided for in the constitution) go through congress? BECAUSE CONGRESS CONTROLS THE MONEY!!!!!
Money is where it's at. Bill Gates may not be worth that much money to you, but to the thousands of people paying his paycheck, he apparently is.
Re:"activism" (Score:2)
If you are seeing that happen (and you are) that is no endorsement of any economic or political system. It is a big red flag that something is horribly wrong- like 'valuations' of dot-com companies, and you know what happened to those? When the 'real world' is giving you results that are stark raving insane, that means something's gonna blow, that something is BROKEN somewhere. In this case, what is broken is the notion that any one person has a legitimate claim to be worth more than 2/3 the money in the Federal Reserve.
Your randroid-baiting with regard to 'wah, taxes are too big' is not relevant or useful either. Maybe your taxes are bigger than they need to be because guys like Gates are not supporting society to the extent of their ability to do so.
Seeing as I have been a humble Mac user since WAY before it was hip and fashionable, I suggest that voting with your money doesn't accomplish as much as you think it does. MS didn't need my money to armtwist PC OEMS and ISPs. They did it anyway without any help from me.
(argh- someone mind modding down the all-italic one please? :P )
Re:"activism" (Score:2)
Re:"activism" (Score:2)
The way out of the money pit will gradually reveal itself during the middle of this century as nanotechnology transforms our economy of scarcity into one of abundance. Hypercapitalism doesn't have much meaning in that kind of environment- people can focus less on material survival and wealth status, and more on what counts in life.
The gap between the haves and havenots will be MUCH MUCH smaller in a future where the means of material (re)production are as cheap and democratized as current information (re)production is. One of the reasons Gates is so absurdly filthy rich (as compared to just Rockefeller rich or Ford rich) is because he's got a monopoly selling something which isn't really scarce.
Anyway, assuming tyrants haven't been given control of the planet by the meek (who've been frightened by likes of Bill Joy's KillJoy), this'll be another Renaissance period.
I know... I sound like someone with my head up my^H^H^H^H^Hin the clouds... but in fact much of this scifi speculation is based in reality.
--
Re:"activism" (Score:2)
Hmmm...Isn't that completely contradictory?
If Bill Gates, et al., can use IP law and contract law to get a continuing monopoly on a non-scarce resource, why do you think that we will not see the same thing when technology reduces the scarcity of material items? Seems to me that technologies that reduce scarcity can be counteracted by legislation and business practices. The world won't benefit unless we have both the new technology and a new social/economic model to use it.
The technology will be the easy part. Changes to the current social/economic model will be very traumatic. Look at all the junk that's going on with the simple change from analog to digital media technology. Now expand that from a single industry to the majority of industries, and imagine the implications...
Re:"activism" (Score:2)
Much like how millions of people think nothing of "pirating" information, I expect BILLIONS will likewise think nothing of "pirating molecular blueprints" so they can then 'illegally' manufacture that object using the locally available molecules that compose it.
I don't know about you, but I wouldn't feel an ounce of guilt in "pirating" and reproducing a scan of a McDonalds cheeseburger for example... in fact I'd feel orders of magnitude less guilt doing that than dl'ing some poor bands mp3 AT PRESENT, because AT PRESENT that band has to eat expensive food to survive.
Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but I really believe that something this disruptive can't be held back by the status quo that is trying to limit digital freedom. It's all encompassing with nanotech... not just info, but matter.
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Money (Score:2)
Who decided it should be that way? There are hundreds of examples from the last few hundred years of communities and regions implementing an alternative currency - one with a state imposed depreciation rate. I give you $10 in August, its worth $9 in September, and $5 by new year. I'll bet you spend it in August!
Why does that help? Because it keeps the markets liquid. It no longer pays for the rich to save their money - they have to spend it. And on the whole that creates wealth in the economy - it is not the amount of money in a country that matters - its the amount of money MOVING in the market that matters.
Do this and political bribes will still exist - but wealth accruel will be a lesser driver. Bill Gates will still be a rich fucker for the rest of his life - but the rest of us will see more of his money more quickly.
If eBay started a similar currency who's to stop them?
Re:Money (Score:1)
How does money work? I give you some money, you put it in the bank, it earns you interest. If you don't need to spend it you keep it, because it'll be worth more in the long run. Who decided it should be that way? There are hundreds of examples from the last few hundred years of communities and regions implementing an alternative currency - one with a state imposed depreciation rate. I give you $10 in August, its worth $9 in September, and $5 by new year. I'll bet you spend it in August!
Er, well um yes, but then it isn't money. There are traditionally four purposes of money;
-
medium of exchange
-
unit of account
-
standard of deferred payment
-
store of value
Clearly the last of these is somewhat incompatible with your world. In all seriousness though and nit picking aside, all you are really describing is a tax on savings so you will find that people just find an alternative store of value, stock, precious metals, etc. What's even more interesting is that you will then find that there is a market that appears with people who have guaranteed income next month willing to sell it to people who have cash this month at a premium approaching the discount rate you choose and so it wont really have the effect you desire.In truth the way to deal with your issue is a) eliminate capital (been tried, didn't work very well :-) b) use progressive taxation, death duties and gift taxes to redistribute the "money" from those who do, to those who don't, have it. We all gripe about that one, but in many countries outside the US there is much less griping and much better social services... hmmm...
Re:Money (Score:2)
I think you have it all wrong. How about these.
Re:"activism" (Score:2)
True capitalism believes that with the free market, self-interest is also in everyone's interest. That is why greed is considered a good thing and we have oxymorons like "good businessman". The idea is that the most wealthy people have contributed the most to society as a whole.
But look at after the industrial revolution where we have the wealthy class owning the means of production, having control over people who actually produced the goods. No wonder people were looking towards communism as an answer.
And with things like inheritance, people who own wealth aren't necessary the people who earned it. So we have a lot of the most wealthy American's who do not deserve their wealth in the first place, and some of the poorest people are simply not able to become wealthy because of their lack of wealth. This seems to me to put a large dent into at least the spirit of the Libretarian philosophy. Like my dad says, money talks and bullshit walks. He likens anything that isn't money as bullshit--bullshit being things that doesn't matter.
So, somehow, we have to get people looking to benefit everyone rather than themselves. In some ways, this already happens. The Nobel prize is awarded to people whose contributions benefit everyone. A lot of people volunteer for the armed forces out of sheer patriotism.
But with problems such as pollution and our depleting sources of energy, even international wars--people are still looking at what is most beneficial to themselves rather than everyone, looking for short term gains rather than long term progress, would rather use these important issues to enhance their political power rather than attempt to serious work on them.
So maybe you are right. Widespread Social Change may be what we do need. But how do we do that? Have we hired the wrong people into office? How do we elect the right people? How do we put the right people on the ballot? How do we convince people these are the right people? And how do we prevent these people from becoming lazy or corrupt with their power?
The answer, of course, is 42.
Re:"activism" (Score:2, Insightful)
Maybe just pick one where you can focus some good effort. If everybody picked one, we'd still be a lot better off. Instead of trying to save the whole freakin' world all at once, but then, that _would_ be the American way.
Re:"activism" (Score:1)
Just to pick one example -- next time you go to the New England coast, notice all the egrets, cormorants and other shore birds. They weren't there 15 years ago. The Clean Water Act has brought them back.
That doesn't mean there's not a tremendous amount of vital work to be done, but the air of apocalypse is unwarranted.
Which brings us to point two. Of the things you cited, worrying about what some lunatics in the army allegedly considered doing 40 years ago really doesn't make my list of concerns. (Is it even true, as in someone can point to FOIA documents proving it? None of the sites Google comes up with have any such thing.)
(Unless you seriously believe that the World Trade Center was attacked by the US, in which case you can go join Cynthia McKinney and the aforementioned Google links, most of which blame it on the Jews.)
Re:"activism" (Score:2)
richer, cleaner, and freer. Well, assuming that
you're not swarthy, anyway.
You will find the Operation Northwoods documents
at the National Security Archive, at George
Washington University.
I think you have confused Israel (with which I am
in no way affiliated) with the Jews (with whom I
am intimately affliated). The Jews are not
responsible for the WTC attacks; Israel is,
morally at least.
Re:"activism" (Score:2)
I realise it is appealing to go with the 'Long Boom' approach and hypnotize yourself with an 'everything is getting better, cleaner, freer, and full of wealth' mantra, but the cost is too damned high. I can't forgive such wilful ignorance when there are very real consequences- especially when you are persuading yourself that the world is getting "richer" and "freer" in THIS day and age. That's horribly wrong.
I don't know how old you are- I'm 34 and won't be impressed by suggestions to wait and see... "it'll be great, don't be negative". I suggest to anyone under 21 who's concerned about these things- don't wait, STUDY! Study history, learn to place these things in a historical context. With a nick like 'Otter' it may be that Otter is more up to date on specifically sea pollution, oil spills etc. He says bird life has returned to the New England coast. GOOD! Meanwhile, too damned many other things, environmental, social, economic, political, are ready to blow, so enjoy the birds and get busy on the next catastrophe to defuse.
As for point two: I don't think the US military should EVER have seriously planned to kill US citizens and blame it on Cuba. Thank McNamara for vetoing the idea every single time it was put forth... but it's very wrong that this was even considered, and the thinking isn't dead.
Nepitism? (Score:2, Funny)
Maybe she can get C's at Yale too...
Re:Nepitism? (Score:2)
Who cares!?
Re:Nepitism? (Score:1)
Re:Nepitism? - No Nepotism (Score:2)
Re:Nepitism? (Score:2)
Alright then, how would you pluralize 'C'? Cees? No. Cs? No. C's it is then! Oh, and for the record, this joke was funny because C is the lowest grade you can get at yale without shooting a teacher. The "brotherly B" at Yale is what most would consider a C or a D, so no, I can't get F's at Yale.
Stupidity is not a crime. (Score:2)
How about being completely clueless about security? I guess it's a good thing society doesn't incarcerate people for committing stupidity (I'd be the first to take a drink). But seriously, this is like violating the DMCA by uncoding someone's ROT13 email signature.
Thanks Bruce (Score:5, Informative)
In another note, here's [gnu.org] an interesting rebuttal to the Declan article.
Also, know the Digital Speech Project [digitalspeech.org]. Best not reinventing any wheels.
Princeton vs. Yale: editorialization and omission (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm still curious as to three things:
-
Why did the editors post this blurb without indicating that
independent investigators concluded that admissions director
LeMenager intended only to check the security of Yale's
website? The implication that he intended to spy on innocent
applicants who entrusted him with their personal information is irresponsible.
- Given the sheer quantity of Slashdot wailing and chest-beating
about the tragic propensity for computer-security whistleblowers to
get reprimanded, sacked, or prosecuted, the sarcasm of the last
paragraph of the blurb is unexpected, if not downright hypocritical.
- I can understand why the mainstream news calls this a 'hack'. But
Slashdot should know better. I'm not referring to the ESR/RMS
"Editor, when you say hacker, you really mean cracker" lexicographic crusade
-- I'm referring to the fact that using a name/SSN pair obtained legitimately (i.e., from an applicant who mailed it
to you) to access a website is not "hacking" by even the most tortured definition of
the term. It is social engineering, maybe. It is illegitimate, if done with
malice, sure. But it is not "hacking."
I can understand why the mainstream press screws up. Six years ago, how often could you find an article about the Internet that didn't contain enough glaring errors to qualify it for a good MST3King? How much better are they today? Not much [nytimes.com].Quoth the press release [princeton.edu].
If LeMenager was actually committing "identity fraud" for fun and profit, why on earth would he tell Yale exactly what he did at an admissions conference in May? Read the source [princeton.edu]. LeMenager made the mistake of repeating the entry to demonstrate how it was done. That hardly qualifies him for dismissal. Quoth the press release [princeton.edu].
Lest we forget, Yale sat on this story for two months before releasing it. I've no idea why.
I expected better from Slashdot.
Joe
Re:Princeton vs. Yale: editorialization and omissi (Score:1)
Well, there's your problem there. Slashdot is public commentary on news, not an actual news source.
Stop saying "Hacked!" (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm sorry, that isn't a hack.
Unfortunately, I didn't see the web site, so maybe someone who did can say. Where was the "do not enter name other than yourself" disclaimer? In big letters on the login, or buried on the "privacy policy" page?
What a joke.
Re:Stop saying "Hacked!" (Score:1)
Re:Stop saying "Hacked!" (Score:2)
Well done, Bruce! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Strange incentive (Score:5, Insightful)
Doesn't this encourage people to wait longer to make a contribution?
Re:Strange incentive (Score:3, Funny)
Blockquoth cDarwin:
Not if you've got $25K buried in the couch....
b&
No wonder InnoMedia wasn't making money (Score:2)
Well, screw that. I wonder how they managed to keep the product alive so long with such crappy service.
They're watching everyhing (Score:2)
Write more code for sure (Score:2)
They are doing this by writing more code; this is what they mean by "launching new technology".
Code is the key to solving many problems. Like the problem of the RIAA and its inordinately and disproportionately strong political influence.
For example, by writing code, and creating an alternative copyright adminsitration system and organization to gather together the some 80% of copyrights that are not RIAA controlled, the writing of code will have a direct political impact on the issues surrounding compulsory DRM and RIAA / MPAA paid for legislation.
We need to have code written that organizes the scattered power in the world and focuses it to do our collective bidding. Either way, in the end, more code has to be written; Declan is right, and Public Knowledge are acknowledging this by writing code to solve a problem of political imbalance.
Re:Write more code for sure (Score:2, Insightful)
"We need to have code written that organizes the scattered power in the world and focuses it to do our collective bidding. Either way, in the end, more code has to be written; Declan is right, and Public Knowledge are acknowledging this by writing code to solve a problem of political imbalance."
(end quote)
"We reject: kings, presidents, and voting. We believe in: rough consensus and running code." - David Clarke
Bring it on.
It wasn't a meteor that killed the dinosaurs, remember, it was the dust. How can you fight against dust? (This bit of zen makes me want to say only: "I'm disrespectful to dirt! Can you see I am serious! Join me or die. Can you do any less?" (quoting the whole thing would be too weird, and probably expose me to too much thinking about why I linked the two. Mr. Sparkle in the Land of the Lost!)
OK, so that was a nonsensical rambling. Bring on the revolution anyway.
Blender paranoia! (Score:1, Redundant)
The deal [blender3d.com] is to make Blender "'free software' or 'open source' forever". Please note the "or". The term "free software" isn't mentioned elsewhere.
While it would be nice to have an open-source 3D environment, please note that open-source does NOT mean GPL'd or completely free. You might be donating your money for the purpose of creating more commercial software.
Re:Blender paranoia! (Score:2)
Sounds like the GPL to me...
Re:Blender paranoia! (Score:3, Insightful)
Read the very next lines:
"What the NaN Holding shareholders and the Foundation agree on:
- publishing the full Blender sources, including old and new development, under the GNU GPL license ('Free Software'). The NaN mobile technology will not be included in this."
Contrary to what you state, the phrase "Free Software" is right there.
They later mention BSD-style licenses for use in commercial projects.
Stop exaggerating this hacking nonsense... (Score:4, Informative)
Furthermore, there was a very interesting take on the fiasco published on Slate yesterday; go ahead and read the full story there [msn.com]. The independent author makes a strong case saying that the only reason Yale bothered to accuse Princeton of wrongdoing was that the Yale Daily Herald had discovered what was happened, and was about to make the report public; Yale wanted to distract attention away from their inadequate security, and did so by blaming Princeton.
Re:Stop exaggerating this hacking nonsense... (Score:2)
This is the first intelligent thing ive heard said about the whole issue. the blurb on slashdot makes it sound like everyone involved just got cushy packages and shuffled around to sweep the whole thing under the table that's completely untrue. The fact is that two people's lives were ruined by this and in alot of people's opinion what they did was a mistake NOT a crime. LeMeneger wasnt moved to an undisclosed new position, he was reasigned to the communications office. basicly he was demoted several levels and that's the end of his career in the admissions office. Harganon who has worked his ass off for 40 years to try and get not only the brightest but also the most interesting and able students no matter what their background has been forced out of a job which has basicly been his whole life for a long time. This for TWICE disclosing to yale admissions staff that site was unsecure before any investigation was started. If you read the full report youll realize that when the fact that the site was easy to access was brought up at the meeting NOT ONE PERSON mentioned the impropriety of what LeMeneger did but instead they discussed how security is really important for a site like the one yale threw up.
I know im not impartial but im glad that some people arent going to just jump on this becuase of the it's princeton so therefor the elietist bastards got what they deserve argument.
Re:Stop exaggerating this hacking nonsense... (Score:2)
LeMENAGER DID NOT HAVE THE APPLICANTS' PERMISSION TO USE THEIR PERSONAL INFORMATION TO TEST THE YALE SITE'S SECURITY.
Whatever his intent was, he was misusing confidential data that was provided to Princeton's admissions department for purposes clearly and entirely unrelated to Yale's website.
NONE of the accesses (save for the one by a visiting applicant to see if she had been accepted at Yale) are justifiable. Period.
It takes all, and there are all, types (Score:2)
As HP may take, deservedly or not, a black eye over such antics, I would want to relate that there are many types of people who work for a company, and to put one face on a moniker may be an oversight of the people that make up that stock quote.
I purchased a used HP-branded laptop with no supporting documentation or installation disks. I had no luck in finding out much information about the unit on HP's web site, as the model does not apparently exist, according to all of their mechanisms available. I think the unit may have been a very short production run or a contract build for a government agency or private corporation.
My thorough efforts resulted only a few tentative results for BIOS and driver information. I called HP support expecting to pay a per-incident fee. To my suprise, I spoke with an incredibly helpful and interested tech support rep who realized that with what detective work I had done that I do have a rather rare laptop with no online support documentation. Together we found the appropriate most current bios and identified the major system components. With that information and a little more effort I now find myself writing this post on said same laptop just a few hours later, repartitioned for booting my favorite linux distro and all the hardware questions satisfactorily resolved.
This is just a perspective a satisfied person who in this case was not even a customer of HP's yet got what information I needed to accomplish my task with enthusiastic official support. I hope that his attitude holds sway.
Re:It takes all, and there are all, types (Score:2)
I have also had good experiences with HP support. I was given a DeskJet 500 some years ago and ran into some trouble with the feed mechanism. Not only did the support person not ask for a serial number and proof of purchase, yada-yada, she was knowledgable enough to help me fix a mechanical problem over the phone!
Well done!
Good for BP... (Score:2, Insightful)
i agree that the princeton-yale thing was not evil (Score:1)
Artificial Blender3d Numbers (Score:2, Informative)
Paid: 68985
Pending: 15200
Intent: 3470
Total: 87655
So the real value is, in fact, 68985. My employer had "intent" to pay me "pending" money too. Nothing's yours unless it's in the bank. Isn't there a time limit this 100,000 has to be raised by?
Re:Artificial Blender3d Numbers (Score:2)
Nope--nothing offical, anyways.
As for the amount of money that's "pending," that's just money that hasn't gotten through PayPal, or checks that haven't yet been cleared. "Pending" is stuff that is almost guaranteed to come into the bank.
It's the "intent" money that could be tricky. That's money that people have pledged or promised to give. That is far more easy to default on.
You go, Bruce!! (Score:3, Interesting)
Only on /. (Score:1)
Re:VOIP Blaster (Score:1)
I didn't know you hated Nintendo that much (Score:2)
This runs against my prime directive - never to connect to the internet under the influence of Redmond binaries.
I didn't know you hated Nintendo that much. Nintendo's USA headquarters is located in Redmond, WA, not too far from One Microsoft Way. For a while, back in the Windows 3.1 days, they were working together on a legit emulator called (get this) "Wintendo".