Follow Slashdot stories on Twitter

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:GPL Violation? (Score 1) 336

How do you upgrade Android? Do you get a single firmware image from Google containing both the Linux kernel and the Google apps? If it is a single firmware image the GPL says that the full image should be distributable under the GPL. Denying someone the right to remix it would be a GPL violation!

Comment Re:Wonder when MS, IBM and others will publish? (Score 1) 79

What I heard from a Coverity employee doing a presentation is that the best closed source/commercial projects score as good as the best Open Source projects; bad commercial projects do as bad as bad Open Source projects.

In other words, the variation in both categories is so big (more than a factor 10!) that one can not say either side is better with statistical relevance.

Comment Re:Silly question? (Score 1) 408

How can using a username and password, given to you by the owner of the system, be hacking?
Am I hacking when a co-worker allows me to use his account?
Should violation of "MySpace can change these terms and conditions without giving notice" terms and conditions ever give rise to criminal proscecution?

Do you want to make all US Citizens Felons?

Comment Re:Silly question? (Score 1) 408

I have read the article and the verdict and I would call Judge Wu wise and intelligent.
The doorman allowed Mrs. Drew access to the "private club", where she mixed in with the rest of the crowd and talked with Megan, a girl that, because of her age, should not be allowed in the club anyway. Yes, MySpace's door policy leaves something to be desired; it is assumed that the majority of the visitors have not been 100% honest in filling out their application forms.

While Mrs. Drew might have violated the law (Fraud/Impersonation and Harassment), she did not exceed the access to MySpace that she was granted after processing of her application. BTW, we all know that 90% of the girls commit suicide after being dumped by a cyber-boyfriend.

Comment Re:Silly question? (Score 4, Informative) 408

What Judge Wu ruled is that breaking the contract that you have with a website should be seen as a "civil matter", and should not be treated as a crime. (This is for access that the website owner granted you in return for accepting his terms.) When you exceed the granted access and really hack the system, you still risk criminal prosecution.

P.S. Civil action may cost you tons too, in damages and attorney fees.

Comment Standards!!! (Score 1) 633

For the data format: stick to documented standards. ASCII or UTF-8 Unicode will do great for the text of a document; (X)HTML is likely to be available too; PDF maybe. For pictures I'ld bet on JPEG or an uncompressed RGB format, for moving images on MPEG2. There is nothing wrong with storing files in multiple formats for redundancy.
The medium is another issue. Would a CD-R be readable after 15 years? A CD-RW may be more reliable, but can you find a CD-ROM player at that time? A USB stick or SD card are "new" media where readers are likely to be available, but little is known about long-term data persistence. Having a backup of the data on an actively backed up computer does not sound like a bad idea at all.

Summary: with more baskets, the likelihood of remaining eggs increases.

Slashdot Top Deals

For God's sake, stop researching for a while and begin to think!

Working...