Recent Posts

3676

General Software Discussion / Re: Six free security tools from Microsoft

« Last post by 40hz on April 04, 2013, 07:36 AM »

+1 w/the above. I've pretty much standardized on using the MSE/EMET combination with an occasion full system scan with either Super or Malwarebytes "just in case." That plus a little prudence - and regular Windows and definitions updates - has served me well so far (knock wood).

3677

Developer's Corner / Re: The 2013 Game Developer Gender Wage Gap

« Last post by 40hz on April 04, 2013, 07:05 AM »

^FWIW it probably wouldn't matter. Without knowing the sample size and demographics of the respondents (something which it would appear has been unaccountably left out of the survey summary) it's impossible to know if the sample size was large enough to be considered valid or to establish if there is any significant correlations.

That's something I find really odd, because most surveys conducted by "business" magazine have a note somewhere that says something like "This survey was conducted between <date> and <date>. xxx copies of the questionnaire were sent to employees of XXX businesses, broken down as follows: <yadda-yadda>. The results of this survey were tabulated based on information provided by XXX of respondents who completed the questionnaire."

Then there's always the question of how well (or not) the survey itself was designed since it's hard to come up with questions that don't encourage certain biases in their response. And most surveys also neglect to include related questions in order to check the consistency of the survey taker's responses. There's a lot of bad survey design out there, and magazine surveys are notorious for their inaccuracy because of it.

Then there's the problem of the respondent's motivation. When answering a survey like this, there is a tendency for the results to be skewed towards the negative since those who think they have it good usually don't respond for fear of revealing the cards they hold; whereas those who feel they deserve better are more likely to respond in order to "prove" their case.

If you could get direct salary numbers and personnel demographics from the employers (fat chance!) that would go a long way towards establishing if there is in actuality a systemic gender gap in salaries for 'creatives' in the game industry. But no company would willingly share that information for obvious reasons. Even the US Census gets a run for its money when trying to gather data on businesses, despite the fact companies are required by law to cooperate with them.

It's a conundrum! Not to say there isn't a gender-based salary gap. (And my gut tells me there is.) But the information, as reported in things like GDM's survey, don't provide enough of a basis to substantiate it.

We really need to get beyond anecdotal 'evidence' and half-assed surveys - and genuinely get to the bottom of this whole salary issue one way or the other. And let the chips fall where they will.

Because it's the right thing to do.

3678

General Software Discussion / Re: Aaron Seigo on Canonical's recent memory lapses and new corporate vision

« Last post by 40hz on April 04, 2013, 06:11 AM »

*Back On Topic*
I left Canonical back around 9.10 or 10.04 and never looked back.  I saw the direction they were going even then and it didn't look pretty.  Debian treats me right, I think I'll keep her...  

-Edvard (April 04, 2013, 01:43 AM)

Yes indeed. 10.04 was when the "smart money" began bailing out en masse in the wake of what Ubu loyalists were calling "rumors" while simultaneously accusing Canonical's critics of "reading too much" into things.

In many respects these apologists were right. Some of the moves by Canonical weren't nearly as bad as they originally seemed. As it turned out, they were significantly worse.

And good ol' Debian still remains a reliable and trusted friend despite some of the distancing and Microsoft kowtowing going on in the Linux world. Especially on the part of a few mature distros that really should know better than to get sucked into playing Redmond's old game. But there you have it. They'll learn their lesson eventually since Microsoft's track record on how they treat their strategic "allies" and business "partners" is none too stellar.

So be it.

3679

Developer's Corner / Re: The 2013 Game Developer Gender Wage Gap

« Last post by 40hz on April 04, 2013, 12:33 AM »

Much as I'm fully and unequivocally in support of a level playing field when it comes to job and wage opportunities, there's not enough raw data here to provide much insight. Even if my own personal inclination is to side with much of what...um...Cuppycake(?) is saying - sloppy statistics are sloppy statistics - and a poor basis for reaching sweeping conclusions. And although the author is "disgusted" by the numbers she's seeing, those figures (in and of themselves as reported) don't really support the conclusion she seems to draw from them.

Here's my problem with the reported information in the article. I live in a town with a relatively small population that has a very high per capita income. This is largely due to the presence of a tiny group of outrageously wealthy families who live here. If you pull these few dozen households out of the mix, the town's per capita income drops down about 35% from the official median. Does that mean the town is no longer well-to-do? Not really. But by knowing that little detail, it becomes glaringly obvious it's nowhere near as "wealthy" a town as many would imagine it to be. I think there's enough of a possibility something like that may be happening with the figures reported in the article that it's worth asking for more detail before reaching a conclusion.

It would be interesting to see a more granular breakout by gender by years of industry experience since a demonstrated track record generally has a huge impact on your compensation level if you're in a tech field. As would total years employed in almost any business. So a breakout of the compensation details in each group by gender by years employed would also be interesting to see. That level of detail would provide data worth looking at closely in order to form some arguably better and more valid conclusions.
 

Does anybody know if that information breakout is available?

3680

General Software Discussion / Re: Aaron Seigo on Canonical's recent memory lapses and new corporate vision

« Last post by 40hz on April 03, 2013, 11:34 PM »

Servers are an easier matter IMHO. Two words: CentOS or BSD. End of script.

-40hz (March 05, 2013, 03:53 PM)

Aw, come on, no love for a headless 'Debian Stable' box?  

Admittedly, mine gets minimal usage beyond as a NAS and testbed for some net stuff I get interested in from time to time, but stable and solid, it is.  

-Edvard (April 03, 2013, 10:44 PM)

It's ok as a server. (And I have a lot of love for Debian.) But why reinvent the wheel when a distro addressing the requirements for a stable server has already been assembled? If I were ever really that gung-ho about doing my very own server base, I'd probably start with Arch so I knew exactly what was in it. (And just for the record: I ain't that gung-ho!)

For NAS use I prefer to stick with FreeNAS since it just works. Someday I might consider going with OwnCloud once it matures a bit more. (OC is still a little 'squishy' in places AFAIC.)

But that's the beauty of Linux. There's the perfect 'something' out there for everybody who takes the time to look. Just like dog breeds and ice cream.

3681

Living Room / Bigger than Wikileaks - ICIJ obtains 200GB of data on offshore money havens

« Last post by 40hz on April 03, 2013, 11:14 PM »

There's a new posse in town it seems. A group called the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has obtained over 2.5 million files with detailed confidential information on over 120,000 offshore money accounts. Accounts with estimated assets totaling somewhere between $20 and $32 trillion dollars.

The information in this info haul raises serious questions about exactly what sort of business is being conducted by banks in the British Virgin Islands. Because it seems that this well organized and secretive banking industry is the go to place for government officials, former dictators, large banks, multinationals, hyper-wealthy individuals, and pretty much anybody else with huge amounts of money, if they want to hide it. Or make their financial transactions extremely difficult to trace.

Full ICIJ write-up here.

Interesting reading...

Which also raises another question: Isn't this the exact same thing some governments are going after Wikileaks for?

3682

Living Room / Re: Prenda Law shall troll no more.

« Last post by 40hz on April 03, 2013, 10:44 PM »

They really don't need an advisory in that most federal justices will defer to precedents set by other rulings. They're not necessarily obliged to do so. But in most cases they will. So the simple fact this is on record bears substantial weight throughout the federal court system.

What's really at issue here is the validity of John Doe warrants based on no more evidence than an active connection on a given IP address at the time of the alleged infringement. Dubious at best - and considering how an IP address can be spoofed, hardly incontrovertible proof of guilt. But unfortunately, little of this current sideshow (beyond judge Wright's earlier skepticism) addresses that issue. As Wright said at the hearing:

 

"It should be clear this court's focus has shifted dramatically from litigation of intellectual property rights to attorney misconduct — such misconduct as brings discredit to the profession,"

So right now it's all about Prenda's abuse of the legal process and professional misconduct. And that alone is what they're in real trouble for. Not for bringing such weak cases before the court, but rather for the procedural shenanigans they tried to pull when they did so.

What is truly unfortunate is the fact this all revolved around lawsuits for downloading pornography - an industry judge Wright can play hardball with without fear of much in the way of public censure. Had this been the RIAA or MPAA things might have gone differently - although I doubt either group would have been so foolish as to let their lawyers play so fast and loose with the law that they'd be in this situation to begin with. (Credit where credit is due, I guess. Sorta.)

Either way, it's pretty apparent that most of the parties involved will loose their license to practice law. And a few will likely face some jail time too. And that's about as good as it will probably get.

But for the time being, it's enough.

Onward!

3683

Living Room / Re: Comcast caught hijacking traffic

« Last post by 40hz on April 03, 2013, 05:09 PM »

Anything that unnecessarily initiates web requests and increases your data usage when you're applying data caps and usage overage fees smacks of fraud.

Of course, Comcast will simply claim "Oops! Bad coding - my bad!" and probably be allowed to walk away with little more than a 'stern' talking to, a slap on the wrist, and a relatively minor fine.

Problem is, nobody in the web world (who is providing online anything) will be very anxious to point the finger or start screaming about Comcast since the amount of flaky, poorly written 'request' code very likely accounts for a significant portion of today's overall web traffic.

So the last thing anybody using Ajax or related technologies wants is to be held accountable for whatever unnecessary bandwidth they chew up. Bandwidth that the average Internet subscriber ultimately gets stuck paying for.

Like the holy writ says: Judge not lest ye be judged."



Words of wisdom. And never so true as when it comes to code - and coders.

3684

Living Room / Re: Discourse in Practice

« Last post by 40hz on April 03, 2013, 04:51 PM »

@wraith - Other than making a flat-styled forum discussion look more like a chat session, how exactly is it so different?

I'm probably missing something (as I often do) but from reading what's on the Discourse website, it strikes me more as preaching to the choir about fixing a problem that I'm not sure exists. Or at least that the "problem" isn't as significantly problematic as the authors of Discourse seem to feel.

FWIW, the premier discussion site (The Well) has used a frankly antiquated (by choice) system for hosting some of the finest and most well considered discussions you'll find anywhere. So I don't think the "problems" with forums the Discourse team seems to be so concerned about have as much to do with the technology as they do with the more limited attention span some (many?) of their target users seem to have.

That said, it sure does look pretty - even if I do have a little trouble easily seeing where one comment leaves off and another begins because of the minimalist look and my admittedly lousy vision.

Definitely going have to look more closely into this since my grail quest for an ideal online discussion system has been going on for years.

3685

General Software Discussion / Re: Registry cleaning software debunked...

« Last post by 40hz on April 03, 2013, 03:59 PM »

re:alignment

Although a little dated (and addressed to Linux users) this IBM article offers a very good discussion and collection of tools and techniques for dealing with disk sector alignment. Well worth a read since the underlying technical issues addressed in the article are applicable to all operating systems.

You can also download the paper as a PDF here.

Recommended.

3686

Living Room / Re: Disney to shut LucasArts games studio, lay off workers

« Last post by 40hz on April 03, 2013, 03:37 PM »

I don't get it. Why can't they just add some car chases to all their games?

That's what Hollywood does every time a picture has an inadequate storyline, poor plot, or bad script. Just toss in an expensive high-speed car chase (or two) and Bob's your uncle.

3687

Living Room / Re: When to trust co-workers with your income?

« Last post by 40hz on April 02, 2013, 09:25 PM »

So...is that discussion still ongoing for you - or have you already made your move?

3688

Living Room / Re: Cheap LED torches/flashlights - any good?

« Last post by 40hz on April 02, 2013, 06:16 PM »

I own several LED torches made by Brinkmann. They're rugged and inexpensive compared to many I've seen. But they still throw some serious white light. I've been through a tropical storm, a hurricane and a few blizzards with these guys. And I keep a couple in my tech kit and travel bag. No complaints. And at less than $15 each I'm not too upset when I occasionally "lose" one. Beats my old 'go to' flashlight - the classic krypton bulb Maglite - hands down. The Maglite LED "tactical' models may be better. But I'm not about to drop $60-$80 just to find out. And I really don't need anything that bright (310 lumens!) to begin with.

YMMV.

3689

Living Room / Prenda Law shall troll no more.

« Last post by 40hz on April 02, 2013, 06:01 PM »

Well, it happened. And it's enough to start a new thread for...

Today, a cast of characters employed or involved with Prenda Law (a firm we've been discussing here) faced the full wrath of a federal district judge in California over his suspicions of fradulent behavior in bringing cases alleging copyright infringement before his court.

It was a grim morning in the courtroom, in which all those ordered to appear involved invoked their Fifth Amendment right to refuse to answer questions in order to avoid possible self-incrimination. Our good buddy attorney Ken White over at Popehat made this observation (emphasis added):

I'm a criminal defense attorney. I cherish and support the Fifth Amendment. Its invocation here was completely lawful. But its invocation will have catastrophic consequences for the Prenda Law enterprise, which cannot possibly continue. When they appeared today, John Steele, Paul Hansmeier, and Paul Duffy were not merely individuals facing the overwhelming power of the state. They were also officers of the court and, according to the testimony of Brett Gibbs, the very attorneys who directed nationwide litigation for the Prenda Law enterprise. Judge Wright ordered them to answer for the conduct of that enterprise in his court, as he had the right and power to do. Their invocation of their Fifth Amendment rights in the face of that order is utterly unprecedented in my experience as a lawyer. In effect, the responsible lawyers for a law firm conducting litigation before a court have refused to explain that litigation to the court on the grounds that doing so could expose them to criminal prosecution.

There's a lot more of interest in Ken's post - so be sure to read his full article here.

Also the usual excellent capsule summary over at TechDirt here:

Well that happened much faster than expected. While Judge Otis Wright apparently had cleared his entire schedule today for the Prenda hearing, the actual hearing lasted all of 12 (count 'em) minutes, with Judge Wright declaring "we're done" before storming out. We'll have a more detailed writeup from Ken White, who was in the courtroom, shortly, but here's a quick summary of what happened. Unlike last time, everyone actually showed up (well, except for the imaginary Alan Cooper of AF Holdings who does not appear to exist) and promptly pleaded the fifth.

It will be interesting to see what the final chapter in this sorry story will be. But one thing is certain - Prenda Law is no more.

To which I say:



      (Vertigo/Sandman fans will know exactly what I'm saying here.)

3690

General Software Discussion / Re: Help Wanted: Develop A Beautiful Desktop RSS Reader

« Last post by 40hz on April 02, 2013, 02:17 PM »

Although I do not like to associate (any kind of) religion with my person, I do have to admit that Kabbalah has one thing right. 80% of all the problems you encounter in life are your own fault.

Not wanting to sound too much as a self-help guru, but fixing your own flaws either dissolve these problems or make them much more manageable. Besides, if you cannot take a look in a mirror and have a good laugh about that meets you...you are taking things way too seriously.

-Shades (April 02, 2013, 09:38 AM)

Agree.

Here are two old Zen stories that illustrate it beautifully:

Muddy Road

Tanzan and Ekido were once travelling together down a muddy road. A heavy rain was still falling.

Coming around a bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unable to cross the intersection.

"Come on, girl," said Tanzan at once. Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over the mud.

Ekido did not speak again until that night when they reached a lodging temple. Then he no longer could restrain himself.
"We monks don't go near females," he told Tanzan, "especially not young and lovely ones. It is dangerous. Why did you do that?"

"I left the girl back there," said Tanzan. "Why are you still carrying her?"


The Gates of Paradise

A soldier named Nobushige came to Hakuin, and asked: "Is there really a paradise and a hell?"

"Who are you?" inquired Hakuin.

"I am a samurai," the warrior replied.

"You, a soldier!" exclaimed Hakuin. "What kind of ruler would have you as his guard? Your face looks like that of a beggar."

Nobushige became so angry that he began to draw his sword, but Hakuin continued: "So you have a sword! Your weapon is probably much too dull to cut off my head."

As Nobushige drew his sword Hakuin remarked: "Here open the gates of hell!"

At these words the samurai, perceiving the master's discipline, sheathed his sword and bowed.

"Here open the gates of paradise," said Hakuin.

3691

Living Room / Re: A Netware server that's been running non-stop for 16+ years

« Last post by 40hz on April 02, 2013, 01:13 PM »

*cough* *cough* bullshit guys *cough* *cough*

Watch "The Light Bulb Conspiracy". This goes back over 100 years.

Don't try some FUD BS. Because it is total BS. And you darn well know it.

And don't tell me that you haven't bought some product with a 2 year warranty that died at 2 years + 1 month. Be it a toaster or TV or whatever.

C'mon... Stop with the crap. Planned obsolescence is brilliant engineering today. They to a great job of ensuring that you have to replace everything just after the warranty expires.

As for mission critical stuff... that is so far removed from the consumer experience as to be laughable. It's just not affordable at the consumer level.

And for typical IT... average stuff that is... C'mon... It might be available to major corporations, but none of that kind of durability is available for typical IT use by SMEs. Everything fails. I've seen ASP applications just deteriorate after being thoroughly tested. It's like some kind of digital rot sets in. I don't know how, but it happens.

When I was a kid, we had a Motorola TV that was 25 years old. It worked. What's the age of the average TV today?

-Renegade (April 02, 2013, 12:30 PM)

@ Renegade - I don't think anybody is trying to BS anybody here. Re-read my previous comment. I think you might have missed what I was saying.

What I was saying is that it isn't planned (as in conspiracy) as it is more that people would rather pay less because they plan on replacing something to take advantage of new advances (like 3D or whatever) when they become available rather than pay a fortune now. Look at TVs. We went digital. An old TV - no matter how reliable - can't receive current TV signals or produce an HD image. Not to say it won't turn on, or work (with some ancillary devices attached) as it won't work as well. Or provide as good a user experience. When it comes to entertainment tech, most people want the newest available - not something that's gonna last for 25 years.

Cars are the exact opposite. They're immeasurably better than they were 30 years ago. They're better built, more reliable, and safer. You can (with routine maintenance) put two or three hundred thousand miles on one of today's cars without a major overhaul. Back in the 60s, having the odometer hit 100K miles without a full engine overhaul was a major event. So where's the planned obsolescence there?

In the case of cars, the market hit a point where the customer's requirements were met at a price level most were able to afford. Same deal with every other non-service technology I've seen. The public decides what it's willing to pay. The manufacturers then try to upsell them. But eventually a point of equilibrium is reached. So I guess I'm saying if obsolescence is part of the equation, it's the consumers who are largely dictating what that part of the equation is going to be - based on what they buy. And there's enough competition out there that there aren't too many business (like Apple) that can dictate things beyond a certain point. The best they can do is try to "differentiate" themselves in the marketplace and hope that the customers will appear.

So no...I don't agree that the theory of "planned obsolescence" is a sustainable business strategy. Unless you have a lock on the technology itself - which is what the motivation is behind the current push for hyper-restrictive IP legislation by many industries. We're not there yet, fortunately.

Please... A little more honesty and not so much total bullshit, please?

And by the same token, a little more courtesy and a touch less spleen please? We can be passionate about something without needing to become angry over it.

3692

Living Room / Re: A Netware server that's been running non-stop for 16+ years

« Last post by 40hz on April 02, 2013, 12:52 PM »

(I get tired of people pining for the good old days. These are the good old days.)

-CWuestefeld (April 02, 2013, 11:09 AM)

1. I think the "good old days" depends on just how far back you go.

2. My comment was meant to be taken as tongue in cheek. (Just thought I'd mention that in case it wasn't clear enough.)

And I agree. Things are generally 100% better these days than way back when. I wouldn't want to go back to them for much of anything - unless we could get our personal privacy back as part of putting up with the nonsense we used to take for granted.

And today, YOU can make the choice between capacity and reliability. The use of RAID technology allows you to decide whether you want to use part of your capacity for additional storage space, or dedicate it to redundancy in order to achieve reliability.

FWIW, RAID does not increase reliability. All it does (and can do) is minimize downtime. Two disks are twice as likely to fail as one disk. Three disks gives you three times the likelihood of a drive failing at any point in time. The difference is that with RAID, a recovery is generally easier to perform and more efficient. (Unless the array failure came as a result of the controller going south.) But that's not the same thing as RAID being more 'reliable" from a hardware perspective.

It think that today, putting the tradeoff directly into our hands makes us all better off.

I'm not sure I can agree with that as a general principle in that the consensus of 300 baboons is no better a decision (IMHO) that the opinion of one baboon. And from my experience, "the wisdom of crowds" is highly overrated at best - and wishful thinking more often than not. Especially when it comes to technology.

However, I do agree that 'choice' should be the exclusive prerogative of the chooser. For better or for worse, I have far too much respect for people (as individuals) to ever presume to micromanage their decisions.

Either way, I'm not in charge. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

3693

Living Room / Re: A Netware server that's been running non-stop for 16+ years

« Last post by 40hz on April 02, 2013, 12:13 PM »

These are the good old days.

-CWuestefeld (April 02, 2013, 11:09 AM)

*cough* planned obsolescence *cough*

-Renegade (April 02, 2013, 11:23 AM)

Not really. The planned obsolescence came later. In the Netware era, servers were supposed to last indefinitely. They were over-engineered - and priced accordingly. When there wasn't a demand for a lot of them, you could easily justify putting the money in. But when demand for network services went through the roof, the old philosophy of "small numbers of high quality and expensive" gave way to "many inexpensive and easily replaced" when it came to hardware.

Each philosophy had its merits and strong points. But numerous, relatively cheap, and 'good enuff' seems to be the way the market and the field has gone. At least for your garden variety networked data requirements like serving web pages, tossing e-mail, hosting social networks, bootlegging media or software, and posting stupid or obscene pictures. But since that's what I'd say 80% of the overall computer use is these days - who really cares? Just get it up and running 'good enough."

So it's not so much "planned obsolescence" (except when it comes to new versions of MS Office ) as it is a question of economics and the "fix vs replace" calculation. The old adage: Speed/Price/Quality - pick any two! has never been so true as it has with computer hardware. The simple truth is you pretty much get what you pay for. And people are not willing to pay too much in the way of a premium just to get reliability. Most would just rather replace something when/if needed. And that lower reliability does keep the upfront costs down. So in an era of financial management where getting your boss to even look as far down the road as the current quarter (as opposed to the current month) when it comes to spending and "making the numbers" is quixotic at best, cheap less reliable hardware wins the day.

From what I've seen, the newer stuff doesn't hold up as well because it simply wasn't built as well. Or tested as thoroughly before it was boxed and put into inventory. And oddly enough, most times it doesn't really matter. If it breaks - they'll send you a new one if it's still under warranty. If not, you just buy a new one. (That's also why reliable backups and continuity planning are more critical than ever.)

For real mission critical stuff like emergency services, financial institutions, banking systems, medical providers, and air traffic control, the "old school" uber-reliable approach still holds sway.

Truth is, in the end, it all gets done. Or not.  

3694

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by 40hz on April 02, 2013, 08:58 AM »

^Don't worry. There's every good chance they'll see you on your way back down.  

(P.S. I also very sincerely hope I'm wrong about that and you make a bloody fortune off it. Luck!   )

3695

Living Room / Re: A Netware server that's been running non-stop for 16+ years

« Last post by 40hz on April 02, 2013, 08:53 AM »

-Renegade (April 02, 2013, 08:35 AM)

There's some truth to that. There was a story of a GE lightbulb that had burned for something like 20 years. It became a minor attraction in the town it was in. When it finally failed, it was returned to GE, who desperately wanted to know why.

The analysis determined that too much tungsten (about 4X) had been applied to the filament inside the bulb due to a random glitch in the manufacturing process. This extra tungsten significantly extended the service life of the bulb.

GE's official conclusion: The bulb burned that long because it was..."defective."



Seems that being defective has little to do with function and everything to do with form. Since the bulb was "out of spec" it was therefor "defective" QED as far as the manufacturing engineers were concerned.
 

3696

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by 40hz on April 02, 2013, 08:43 AM »

Ok...

This then.

 

3697

Living Room / A Netware server that's been running non-stop for 16+ years

« Last post by 40hz on April 02, 2013, 07:51 AM »

Brief but awesome story over at ArsTechnica about a Netware 3.12 fileserver named "INTEL" running on an i386 with two 800Mb Quantum SCSI drives that's been in non-stop service for 16.5 years. From September 23, 1996 to March 28, 2013 - that's one amazing run! Read about it here



Just goes to show what drives were capable of when engineered such that capacity (and price) took backseat to reliability. Ah...the good old days! (Sometimes they actually were better.)

3698

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by 40hz on April 02, 2013, 07:11 AM »

Don't let them fool you. Bitcoin is SkyNET.

3699

Living Room / Re: Defense Distributed Domain Stolen!

« Last post by 40hz on April 02, 2013, 06:48 AM »

^Fortunately, I think most of the web news crowd was skeptical. Most didn't take the story and run with it since there was no corroborating evidence any seizure took place. (A phone call to the hosting company was all it would have taken to confirm it.)

Had the thing blown up, gotten massive coverage, and prompted the DoJ to make a formal statement of denial, things might have gone very differently. Because kidding aside, putting a fake seizure page up on your site is not much different than telling the news media that the feds showed up with a warrant, kicked your door in, and confiscated all your computers and data files.

At the very least, there's a copyright violation if those logos are the actual logos of the DoJ or DHS. (There's actually a federal reg that points out they're copyrighted and can only be used with permission.) I suppose you could make an argument for "fair use." But I don't think you could make it stick with something like this.

Anyway, it seems to have blown over with little wind damage. So I doubt the government will want to court the Streisand Effect by doing anything about it - even though I'm guessing they could. Down the road things might go differently however. Defense Distributed has fired an opening salvo. Even if it was intended to be taken purely as a joke with no political agenda intended. (Yeah right!) Unfortunately, that's the sort of move that can put you "on the radar screen." Very dumb IMO. (Rule #1 when challenging the Powers That Be: Pick your venues - and have a clear goal in view when confronting your opponent.) But what's done is done.

Onward!

3700

Living Room / Re: Defense Distributed Domain Stolen!

« Last post by 40hz on April 01, 2013, 11:51 PM »

Interesting thing is that although the seizure page was a prank, using an image of a badge, logo or insignia of a federal agency without proper authorization (or doing something which may lead someone to reasonably believe you are representing a federal agency) is illegal in the US.

Hopefully, this gag won't backfire on them.