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Comment Re:everyone is talking past each other (Score 2, Insightful) 780

by sdkmvx (#27834645) Attached to: Bill Would Declare Your Blog a Weapon

the most hardcore free speech zealot understands why you cant shout fire in a crowded theatre. therefore, everyone recognizes that yes, there actually ARE limits to free speech.

There is no law that says you cannot shout "fire" wherever you want to. Any limits on that are the property owner's. They can say that you shouting "fire" is dangerous to their business and ask you to leave if you want to do so. The converse applies too, get the owner's permission and you can go around shouting "fire" all you want.

So no, that does not limit free speech, because it's long established that property owner's have control over what goes on at their property.

Comment Re:Yes, and no. (Score 1) 1127

by sdkmvx (#26883021) Attached to: Draconian DRM Revealed In Windows 7

Well, a normal user couldn't go removing libraries, you would elevate to root if you need to. So it seem reasonable that Windows wants Administrator access to do the same. I've noticed in Win7 that I can't just go playing around with stuff in C: without granting permission.

So they are making it (where it is the consumer version, the servers are locked down properly) more secure, and we shouldn't be bashing them for that.

Of course, removing a Photoshop DLL and finding it doesn't work anymore is hardly evidence for DRM. I wonder what happens if I remove libgimp...

Comment Security? (Score 1) 352

by sdkmvx (#25808557) Attached to: Secure OS Gets Highest NSA Rating, Goes Commercial
Doesn't the security of a computer system rely on a good sysadmin? I could open every port known to man, but I don't need to and its insecure, or I could only run services I need, and keep them patched and up-to-date. This should be factored into security levels.
Government

President Signs Law Creating Copyright Czar 555

Posted by kdawson from the ip-con dept.
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "President Bush has signed the EIPRA (AKA the PRO-IP Act) and created a cabinet-level post of 'Copyright Czar,' on par with the current 'Drug Czar,' in spite of prior misgivings about the bill. They did at least get rid of provisions that would have had the DOJ take over the RIAA's unpopular litigation campaign. Still, the final legislation (PDF) creates new classes of felony criminal copyright infringement, adds civil forfeiture provisions that incorporate by reference parts of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, and directs the Copyright Czar to lobby foreign governments to adopt stronger IP laws. At this point, our best hope would appear to be to hope that someone sensible like Laurence Lessig or William Patry gets appointed."
Privacy

Homeland Security's Space-Based Spying Goes Live 289

Posted by samzenpus from the eye-in-the-sky dept.
BountyX writes "While America's attention has shifted to the economic meltdown and the presidential race between corporate favorites John McCain and Barack Obama, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) National Applications Office (NAO) 'will proceed with the first phase of a controversial satellite-surveillance program, even though an independent review found the department hasn't yet ensured the program will comply with privacy laws.' NAO will coordinate how domestic law enforcement and 'disaster relief' agencies such as FEMA use satellite imagery intelligence (IMINT) generated by US spy satellites. Based on available evidence, hard to come by since these programs are classified 'above top secret,' the technological power of these military assets are truly terrifying."
Government

US House Adopts New Third-Party Web Site Rules 49

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the more-information-not-a-bad-thing dept.
GovIT Geek writes to tell us that third-party websites will no longer be off limits for members of the US House, provided that they use it for "official purposes" and not personal, commercial, or campaign purposes. "The rules are seen by House Administration Chairman Robert Brady as a compromise between several proposals under consideration in recent months and are closely aligned with those circulated by the Senate Rules Committee last week. [...] 'These new guidelines are a step in the right direction for a Congress that has been behind the technological curve for too long,' Boehner said. 'By encouraging the use of emerging and established new media tools, Congress is sending the message that we want to speak to citizens, and receive feedback, in the most open and accessible manner possible.'"
Supercomputing

Modeling Supernovae With a Supercomputer 64

Posted by Soulskill from the fight-super-with-super dept.
A team of scientists at the University of Chicago will be using 22 million processor-hours to simulate the physics of exploding stars. The team will make use of the Blue Gene/P supercomputer at Argonne National Laboratory to analyze four different scenarios for type Ia supernovae. Included in the link is a video simulation of a thermonuclear flame busting its way out of a white dwarf. The processing time was made possible by the Department of Energy's INCITE program. "Burning in a white dwarf can occur as a deflagration or as a detonation. 'Imagine a pool of gasoline and throw a match on it. That kind of burning across the pool of gasoline is a deflagration,' Jordan said. 'A detonation is simply if you were to light a stick of dynamite and allow it to explode.' In the Flash Center scenario, deflagration starts off-center of the star's core. The burning creates a hot bubble of less dense ash that pops out the side due to buoyancy, like a piece of Styrofoam submerged in water."

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