Check the format (man 5 passwd): If you're going to supply such niceties as usernames rather than UIDs, or group names rather than GIDs, you must read /etc/passwd. For security's sake, the passwords are no longer kept there (at least in GNU/Linux, and I hope in any other modern OS), but in /etc/shadow or /etc/master.passwd (*BSD) which can only be read by root.

Thus, the encrypted passwords, required for brute-force decryption attempts, are not available to every Tom, Dick, and Mallory.

First, note that I believe rms has the right of it when he decries the use of the term ``intellectual property''. It screws up your thinking because it tosses many contradictory legal regimes into one bag, so that talking about, say, copyright, gets confused by concepts from trademark, or trade secrets, or patent, or....

True, copyright needs a major overhaul---it's outlived its usefulness in its current form. Arguably, patent law is even worse—certainly in the matter of patenting software.

Trademark has its problems, too, but just think about about a marketplace where trademark didn't exist. What's that widget you're buying? Oh, it's from Foo, Inc., and they make good stuff. But how do you know it isn't from Bar Corp., which pushes trash that masks itself as Fooware? You'd need a chain of custody similar to what you see on precision instruments: ``Calibration traceable to the National Institute of Standards and Technology''. Except you couldn't be sure the attestation was kosher. You'd have to do a careful analysis of every object you bought more complex than, say, a spoon, to be sure you got what you paid for.

That's the scenario trademark law is written to avoid. What we have here is a baby/bathwater situation caused by blind use of the term ``IP''.

You have one (faint) advantage with the (U.S.) federal government: they are still somewhat restrained by the Constitution. Nintendo, courtesy of the spineless Congress, has roughly no limitations on what they can do with the info.

Funny you should ask that. When I first submitted the story, I had typed ``Sony'' at one point, instead of ``Nintendo''.

If the info is as presented, this is a vital issue. If you're a subscriber, vote for this as a worthy story. If not, write Cmdr. Taco et al. to move this up to public display.

Damn! I completely forgot the <humor></humor> tags. I guess some folks really need it.

Can't they sample the atmosphere over Europe with meteorology balloons?

Like Brin, Page, and Schmidt? I'm not sure whether that's a typo or genius.

April Fool's Day was one week ago (from the posting of this item). Can't anyone count?

No one seems to have noted the part of Bloomberg's article saying:

Apple applied to register App Store as a trademark in the U.S., and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office approved the application, Apple said in the lawsuit.

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) has opposed the registration and the matter will be the subject of proceedings before a trademark appeal board, Apple said in the court filing.

The people who registered `Windows' think `App Store' is unworthy of a trademark registration?