Recent Posts

4926

Living Room / Re: Major ISPs to implement "Six strike" rule

« Last post by 40hz on October 10, 2012, 11:10 AM »

^Good luck. Way too much money to be made behind a copyright - and no money at all behind a CC (even with all its wonderful variations.)

I think we can both deduce where it's gonna go. Even if the guy with the cat photo isn't a complete jerk at first, he may not remain so once an enterprising IP attorney starts filling his head with visions of easy millions to be made by becoming one...if you'll just sign here please.

"So it goes," as Kurt once said.

4927

Living Room / Re: US judge orders piracy trial to test IP evidence

« Last post by 40hz on October 10, 2012, 11:05 AM »

Don't forget, in the absence of a specific law or a 'generally understood and accepted standard or responsibility' (i.e. common law) there can be no legal liability or culpability.  If it's not an actual law, then there's no law to be broken. And in the absence of a violation of law, no enforcement action is possible either. And that remains true no matter how pissed off that may get some people. That's why there's so much effort to clear up legal gray areas like this one.

-40hz (October 10, 2012, 10:44 AM)

I haven't forgotten, and that is what I meant by they are trying to put the pieces in place. Somebody discovered that there's benefits to be had by converting grey areas into black ones, then labeling all of the US as criminals until proven innocent.

Addenda: I have stayed away from torrents. I have watched youtube clips to my hearts content, but the minute I went to Sidereel (honeypot site?) and absently clicked "download" I got an ISP warning like 2 days later. That scared me because it smelled of the future.

-TaoPhoenix (October 10, 2012, 10:58 AM)

+1

4928

Living Room / Re: Halloween would be less popular if...

« Last post by 40hz on October 10, 2012, 11:00 AM »

Halloween would be less popular if...people realized just how little fun it is for anybody anymore - kids included.

By the time you're done dealing with: pumpkin bashers, pederast predator warnings, paranoid parents, poisoning scares, political correctness, and anti-Pagan pulpit pounders, who has the energy to enjoy it?

Too bad. It was the only real "just for kid's" holiday there was when I was growing up. Even better than Christmas morning in some respects. (At least with Halloween you didn't have to get "dressed up," "stay neat," and go sit quietly at your relatives' the rest of the day and evening.)

4929

Living Room / Re: US judge orders piracy trial to test IP evidence

« Last post by 40hz on October 10, 2012, 10:44 AM »

That's why I brought it up, because these guys like "footholds". So if it's "just you" on a landline, I guarantee there's enough victims ... er... users who might one of these years fall into a really nasty law about "it's the user's fault". It's like they need the requisite number of preliminary pieces in place before they use the Trump card to seal the lockdown.

-TaoPhoenix (October 10, 2012, 10:06 AM)

Yup. Spot on! That's pretty much the way it works from what I've seen.

But IIRC, I think they went after people with wired connections well before the issue of wireless came up. It was only after somebody testified they maintained an unsecured wireless access point, and argued "plausible deniability" in their defense that it became an issue for the IP trolls.

Don't forget, in the absence of a specific law or a 'generally understood and accepted standard or responsibility' (i.e. common law) there can be no legal liability or culpability.  If it's not an actual law, then there's no law to be broken. And in the absence of a violation of law, no enforcement action is possible either. And that remains true no matter how pissed off that may get some people. That's why there's so much effort to clear up legal gray areas like this one.

4930

Living Room / Re: Major ISPs to implement "Six strike" rule

« Last post by 40hz on October 10, 2012, 10:26 AM »

I'm a great admirer of Creative Commons. But the simple truth is that CC is second class. Both under law and in fact.

Copyright exists under federal statute. CC doesn't have a similar status.

The creator of a work has automatic legal copyright under US law. The creator may choose not to assert his/her rights under copyright law. And he/she may also choose to license (which is not the same thing as copyright) their work under whatever model they wish. But simply putting a work under CC does not make the copyright legally "go away" or otherwise invalidate it.

A creator of a work holds copyright on their original works whether they want it or not. The courts have been very clear on that point. Interestingly, that issue first came up when somebody (who was allegedly in violation of a CC license) argued in court that putting a work under CC waived the author's right to copyright - and then went on to also argue that CC was not legally binding.

The court said (and it's since been affirmed in several other cases) that CC is legally binding and enforceable under contract law. And even if it weren't, the author still held legal copyright for the work under US statute regardless of any supplemental assignment or licensing arrangement they elected to release the work under. And furthermore, copyright was not something the author could legally waive even if they wanted to do so.

You create something - you've got copyright under federal law. Period. If you want to also put it under CC, that's your business.

Even putting something into public domain is really just irrevocably assigning the copyright to the general public for free use. It doesn't invalidate or negate the original copyright itself. The copyright only goes away when it expires under statute - which (in the USA) is generally the lifetime of the creator plus 70 years. Or when something gets put into public domain, in which case it 'expires' immediately.

 

4931

Living Room / Re: US judge orders piracy trial to test IP evidence

« Last post by 40hz on October 10, 2012, 09:53 AM »

^I think it would be fairly obvious that a landline would probably be considered more than "close enough" considering it needs to be installed somewhere. And that location is not much open to debate unless you allow for somebody hacking a central station circuit at a telco.

It's also a moot point for most users since most WAPs (in the US at least) are connected to a physical landline or cable. So a landline is part of the equation in most circumstances.

The only time wireless comes into play is when somebody is arguing anybody can easily (debatable on both points) hack a wireless connection, and therefor the person who is paying for the connection it gives access to, shouldn't be held liable in the same manner they would be if they gave somebody physical access to their home or place of business in order to use their landline/cable directly.

So yeah...if wireless is "close enough" you can count on hardwired connections being seen as "even closer." 

4932

Living Room / Re: US judge orders piracy trial to test IP evidence

« Last post by 40hz on October 10, 2012, 09:13 AM »

That sounds well like it could be the beginnings of the criminalization of incompetence.

-Renegade (October 10, 2012, 09:06 AM)

You say that as if it were a bad thing.
The only downside is how you'd ever manage to build enough jails to hold something like 50% of the general population if you did. (kidding....just kidding)

What's next? Licensing people to use the Internet? (Kind of like how TVs are in the UK...)

-Renegade (October 10, 2012, 09:06 AM)

It's coming. Not that I agree with it, but I think it's only a matter of time. Seriously.

4933

Living Room / Re: An Odd DoS Attack

« Last post by 40hz on October 10, 2012, 09:03 AM »

(Somebody's done this before... )

-Stoic Joker (October 10, 2012, 08:47 AM)

Perish the thought! 

But I still find the absence of the customary Head-on-a-Stick a bit troubling.

-Stoic Joker (October 10, 2012, 08:47 AM)

That's why I don't think it was intentionally done. At least from what information has been released about it so far.  

4934

Living Room / Re: Why Can't Germans Say 'Squirrel' ?

« Last post by 40hz on October 10, 2012, 08:55 AM »

My GF has a Russian expatriate with a very thick accent (let's call her Katrina) working in her office.

One of the other workers in her office went up to Katrina one afternoon and said: "Katrina! I need cheering up. Could you please say: Moose and Squirrel?

Katrina dutifully said "Moose and Squirrel" and couldn't  understand why almost everyone within earshot burst out laughing. It got even funnier when Katrina, who was by now totally confused, kept asking: "Moose and squirrel? Moose and squirrel? Why is this wording so funny?"

As my GF put it, it certainly brightened up her day.

4935

Living Room / Re: Major ISPs to implement "Six strike" rule

« Last post by 40hz on October 10, 2012, 08:43 AM »

If you can't find anything interesting to watch for free, you're either not looking, or... well...

-Renegade (October 10, 2012, 07:46 AM)

... you're just not looking.

4936

Living Room / Re: An Odd DoS Attack

« Last post by 40hz on October 10, 2012, 08:36 AM »

I think it went on for an entire week more because the regulators were watching it closely to see exactly who/what it was and what it was trying to do before they said anything. The last thing you (usually) want to do when you have a 'bogey' in your network is disconnect them too quickly. And definitely not before you attempt find out who they are and what they're up to.

Kick them off or shut them down too soon and they will always come back.

4937

Living Room / Re: US judge orders piracy trial to test IP evidence

« Last post by 40hz on October 10, 2012, 08:30 AM »

There's enough legal precedent under the attractive nuisance doctrine that it could be fairly easily and logically extended to owning and operating an unsecured wireless access point. But that's under tort rather than criminal law. Under criminal law, the charges have to be "proven beyond reasonable doubt," whereas in civil actions, a simple "preponderance of evidence" is sufficient to win a judgment for the plaintiff. The rules for the admissibility of evidence are also stricter in a criminal proceeding than they are in a civil suit. Which is why the media industry is in no rush to pursue criminal charges as opposed to civil actions. They'd be held to much higher standards of both evidence and proof if they did.

In a criminal case, just owning the means used to commit a crime would not necessarily be a criminal act even if you were careless or irresponsible about who had access. (If you have a gun stolen or otherwise taken without your knowledge or consent, you're usually not able to be charged as an accessory if it was used to commit a crime.) As long as the "intent" wasn't there, there's usually no criminal culpability - except in an extreme case of negligence which resulted in bodily injury or death. And even then, it usually ends up in civil court. In the US "criminal negligence" is most often restricted under statute to cases involving deaths or injuries caused while operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Gonna be fun to see which way this one goes. I'm guessing the court is going to swing toward the defendants' argument this time around. But after this I think you'll see some serious hardening of attitude by the courts that will make it progressively harder for individuals to fight this sort of thing by saying they didn't know. And all it would really take to settle this nonsense once and for all is the passage of a law that legally requires owners to know they need to secure their WAP - or face possible legal consequences.

If you had installed a phone out on your front lawn - and somebody used it to repeatedly make threatening phone calls - after a certain number of times (like maybe 6?) you'd likely get into some sort of legal trouble for not making it difficult for a passerby to just walk up and use it. And few would argue that was an unreasonable requirement of responsibility.

I think, in the end, this is how it's gonna go for WAPs.

4938

Living Room / Re: Major ISPs to implement "Six strike" rule

« Last post by 40hz on October 10, 2012, 07:09 AM »

Said it before, I'll say it again: Boycott.

The only way to win this battle is to reject big media's content and pursue alternatives to it - not try to find ways to get around their blockades and rules. Once they feel the hit to their pocketbook, their attitude (of necessity) will change.

Of course that won't be before they first lean on Congress for government subsidies to make up for the losses they just know are still being caused by piracy rather than a drop in demand. (They can use the money they free up when they finally ditch PBS for that.) But the whole house of cards Big Media built must (and will) inevitably come tumbling down. Look what happened to the old US mining and railroad companies. And they had guns and police more directly at their disposal during those battles.



This showdown is going to occur. Sooner or later it has to happen. Might as well get it out of the way before the mites have time to burrow in even deeper.
 

4939

Living Room / Re: An Odd DoS Attack

« Last post by 40hz on October 09, 2012, 08:17 PM »

Not so much that as knowing (for the most part) how far things bend before they break.

As you noted earlier, they are very smart.

And deniability doesn't get you off the hook when a law is clearly broken. Don't know how it works where you are, but over here, not knowing the law is not accepted as a valid defense.

Also - most people directly involved in this field need to get a license from the SEC in order to sell financial products or offer investment advice. The tests mostly cover relevant securities laws. So if they ever do break the law, they can't argue they didn't know the rules.

About the only thing plausible deniability might accomplish is having some securities regulator decide not to pursue charges. Once you're charged with something, however, the law swings into action and the only form of deniability you're allowed after that is to enter a plea of "not guilty."

4940

Living Room / Re: Open Dyslexic Fonts

« Last post by 40hz on October 09, 2012, 08:06 PM »

Interesting series of posts by Dave Collier focusing on this type of font thinking. Link here.

The author is skeptical of some of the arguments and claims for what is currently being presented as dyslexic-friendly typography. (vrgrrl's comments seem to coincide with what Collier is saying in places.)

The Font Bullies
A Little Knowledge, and They’re Off! – August 2012

Why should anyone whose job it isn’t feel they need to be an expert in fonts (typefaces)? But they do, and there is something telling about it. I have yet to quite work out what, but I have some hypotheses.

The so-called Dyslexia Style Guide from the Dyslexia Association gives something of a clue as to what is going on, for it is not just fonts that are pontificated upon here, but a whole raft of things that the writer has learned a little bit about, and obviously thinks they are now the world’s expert on. And instead of coming over as expert, they sound to anyone who actually does know a little bit more about these topics as rather a joke, like the bloke on the bar stool who knows all there is to know about everything. And sadly, like the man on the bar stool, there are people out there prepared to believe this rubbish.

Rubbish? Who says so? Well, OK then, bad science, or unsupported assertions; assertions for which the evidence seems to be either that someone I know who knows about these things said so, or I tried it with my some of my students/patients/clients/mother and they liked it – classic bar stool.
.
.
.

Just for some background on the author of the above:

My specialist area of academic study has been the interaction between people and computer screen displays, and I got a masters degree in that, after studying for some time in the psychology department of London Guildhall University, as it was then called.

4941

Living Room / Re: An Odd DoS Attack

« Last post by 40hz on October 09, 2012, 07:42 PM »

So, I have a very hard time believing that any kind of manipulation there is "innocent" or "just testing the waters". If they are testing, I think it would be naive to assume that they're testing in the same way that we would test some software -- they're testing to see if they can move in for the kill.

But then again... I *might* be cynical...

-Renegade (October 09, 2012, 06:07 PM)

Maybe just a little bit?  

I've done contract work for one of the biggest financials out there. One thing I've learned watching that industry is how amazingly closely orders, trades and other transactions are monitored for exactly that.

If somebody was deliberately trying to clog the pipes or introduce trading delays by rapidly submitting and then canceling orders, the regulators would be on them in a heartbeat or two. You really can't do that and get away with it. Trying to game the exchanges is illegal. You can even get your ass hauled in for giving what might be considered misleading information or comments to the press.

If you say "no problem" like Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan/Chase said during the "London Whale" debacle, you'd better be right. Or at least have a "very high up" somebody like Ina Drew to offer as a sacrificial victim when it finally hits the fan. Which is one reason why big financial institutions are notoriously tight-lipped. It's often less for strategic reasons than it is to avoid saying anything that turns out to be wrong later - and then be accused of trying to mislead investors when you made the comment.

The people running these institutions know that. So do the exchange and network cops.

Not to say these people are innocents. They're "the friendliest group of great white sharks you'll ever have the pleasure of swimming with" as one account manager put it. But nobody working for a financial institution is going to be stupid enough deliberately try to cause network delays for an exchange without covering their tracks very carefully before they even try it. It's simply too easy to get caught trying something that obvious and basic.

When these guys commit crime, they do it big, and they do it subtly. And they'll generally only "push the envelope" or stray into gray legal areas when they do. Outright violations of rules and regulations are very rare. Not because they're good guys at heart. It's because it always comes out. And there are just too many ways to legally abuse the system and make a fortune for it to be worth knowingly and deliberately breaking the law. The odds are stacked too much against you. And these guys understand odds.

4942

General Software Discussion / Re: Linux Distro features matrix?

« Last post by 40hz on October 09, 2012, 05:14 PM »

There are sites that let you assemble your own distro out of parts. Easier than rolling your own from scratch - but you still need to know a bit before it makes sense to go that way.

The people who do SUSE Linux have a site called SUSE Studio that lets you create your own Linux appliances. You'll need to register and set up a free account to use it. But it works as advertised if that's what you want. And SUSE is a fine distro to base your own on.

4943

Living Room / Re: Build Your Own Flying Saucer

« Last post by 40hz on October 09, 2012, 05:00 PM »

When I was a kid, there used to be this ad in the back of Popular Science (or maybe Boy's Life or Mechanic's Illustrated?) that offered plans for how to build your very own lawnmower powered UFO (i.e. hovercraft). Most of us lusted after getting them but never did. According to a story written many years later by somebody who had, it showed you how to make a 6-foot diameter pine wood frame and canvas disk with an engine in the middle, and a mast on the back to hang onto and "steer" with. The guy described its one and only trial run that ended with it flipping over - and fortunately throwing him a safe distance from the whirling fan blades under it.

No amount of Googling found either that ad or the story. So at first I wondered if I only imagined seeing it. Then I saw this article showing what looks to be the exact same device (except it's metal) as was pictured in that old ad.



Although it's not the same story as the one I previously mentioned, the one that goes with the above picture is pretty amusing.

4944

Living Room / Re: Humble eBook Bundle

« Last post by 40hz on October 09, 2012, 04:28 PM »

I'm gonna get it. I have Kelly Link's Stranger Things Happened in paper and it's a really good collection. And you also have Doctorow, Lackey, Gaiman and some other good names in the lineup too.

Yup. Ordered.

@wraith - Thx for sharing this.

4945

Living Room / Re: Open Dyslexic Fonts

« Last post by 40hz on October 09, 2012, 04:18 PM »

This seems pretty nifty - Open Dyslexic fonts

-Renegade (October 08, 2012, 08:28 AM)

The more work that's done in this area the better and it seems a good, logical approach.
That said, trying to read the font myself threatens to incur an almost instant headache. It reminds me of printed output from the very early days of DTP.

-cranioscopical (October 09, 2012, 04:13 PM)

+1 on both points.

I keep wishing they'd change the ribbon. Because to my eyes, the one they're using looks used up.

4946

Living Room / Re: An Odd DOS Attack

« Last post by 40hz on October 09, 2012, 04:12 PM »

Sounds to me like some recent change made to somebody's automated trade robot had a coding error in it, and it took whoever owned it a week to notice it (or more likely get called by whoever was watching it to see what it was up to) and finally pull the plug. That might also explain why no criminal investigation was conducted.

It's not like they don't know who's program caused it. From the sketchy news it doesn't look like the program tried to stealth its identity either. Which makes me less suspicious as to its "motives" since you can't place a stock order anonymously. You need to sign onto an account before you can do that. A genuinely malicious program would have come at them from hundreds of different directions under thousands of different IDs.

Nope. Definitely sounds more like a big brokerage or investment fund had a bad program slip the leash on them. (CNBC often seems to looking for an "enemy action" story lately - even when there isn't one.)
 

4947

General Software Discussion / Re: Linux Distro features matrix?

« Last post by 40hz on October 09, 2012, 03:53 PM »

There isn't really any such thing as a feature matrix since everything in a Linux distro - including the kernal itself - can be (and often is) modified and repackaged to suit the goals of each distro maintainer. Unlike BSD, there is no one single "Linux" all others are based on. None. Nada. Zip.

This in turn leads to op-ed pieces like this one running in the most current issue of Distrowatch Weekly.

What Linux needs is an operating system

Anyone who has spent any significant amount of time in the Linux community has heard the questions raised: "Why are there so many distributions? Why can't the various projects get together and make one unified distribution?" Of course this is never going to happen, nor should it. One of the greatest benefits of open source software is that it gives people the ability to use their computers the way they wish to and modify their systems to work they way they want. This has given the Linux community a great degree of flexibility, letting it run anywhere, from extremely low-resource systems to super computers, from stable servers to cutting-edge desktops to niche administration tools like Clonezilla and KNOPPIX. The ideal of one unified distribution sounds nice to newcomers overwhelmed by choice and to third-party developers, but it won't fly in a community where freedom, empowerment and flexibility are priorities. One might as well ask why the human race has so many languages when having one would seem so much more simple.

Another phrase that comes up frequently on technical forums is "Linux is a kernel, not an operating system," and this is true. Linux, on its own, is a kernel. That kernel gets combined with various other pieces of software, usually the GNU userland tools, a package manager and a desktop environment in order to make a Linux (or GNU/Linux) distribution. And herein lies the real issue for newcomers to the Linux scene and for developers: each Linux distribution is, in effect, a separate operating system. Software built and packaged for one distribution often will not run on another, even if the two projects are closely related. This leads us to some ridiculous situations where not only will software packaged for Ubuntu not necessarily work on Fedora, but software built for Linux Mint's main edition may not work properly on Linux Mint Debian edition. It can be increasingly frustrating for developers and packagers because sometimes software which builds and runs fine on a handful of the major distributions will not even compile on another due to library incompatibilities. So, what is the solution?
.
.
.

Read the rest of the article here.

 

4948

Living Room / Re: DC Sci Fi Book Club!

« Last post by 40hz on October 08, 2012, 07:50 PM »

Like to put in a recommendation for a very good sci-fi/fantasy/horror/grapic novel news and review site. Found some stuff I definitely would have missed out on if I hadn't seen it there first.



It's called Nerds on Babeland. Intelligent and well written commentary. Highly recommended. Find it here.

4949

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by 40hz on October 08, 2012, 11:48 AM »

Rai stones, any one?

-ewemoa (October 08, 2012, 02:36 AM)

"In one instance, a rai being transported by canoe was accidentally dropped and sank to the sea floor. Although it was never seen again, everyone agreed that the rai must still be there, so it continued to be transacted as genuine currency.[4] What is important is that ownership of the rai is clear to everyone, not that the rai is physically transferred or even physically accessible to either party in the transfer."

-TaoPhoenix (October 08, 2012, 11:08 AM)

Much like the assuredly present but unseen gold stored at Fort Knox?  

So was that the first Rai of Hope?

-Stoic Joker (October 08, 2012, 11:26 AM)

Good grief! (OK Chris - you can't let that one pass unchallenged. )

4950

Living Room / Re: DC Sci Fi Book Club!

« Last post by 40hz on October 08, 2012, 07:07 AM »

Regarding Steampunk, I don't know if the following counts, and I didn't finish it, but there was:

  The Difference Engine

May be you can enumerate more of the ones you didn't like

-ewemoa (October 08, 2012, 02:04 AM)

I think what I'm trying to say is that the original masters had a certain "ring of authenticity." Same goes for good sci-fi. Asimov, Brin, Brunner, Carr, Delany, Dick...climb the alphabet up to Zelazny and you'll see it. Many created immersive and believable settings and plots. They weren't consciously posturing with their stories. Which is something that plagues the Steampunk genre. About half the writers seem to treat it as a big joke. Or an elaborate parlor game. Much like the Sherlock Holmes and "bad Hemingway" pastiche writers do, except with those people, the avowed goal is to write the most wretchedly excessive work possible based on their favorite author's style.

I don't get that from "bad" Steampunk. The spoofs tend to be embarrassing failures. And most of the rest are either unreadable exercises in trying to sound Victorian or end up being unintentionally hilarious. And not in a good way.

I think the problem is that Steampunk is not currently being given respect it needs to become a valid sci-fi  genre in it's own right. The whole name Steampunk (with that hipster 'punk' at the end of it) implies an antisocial element that wasn't much at the heart of the era it's based in. Victorian society was enamored of the notion of "progress" and fiercely nationalistic. If anyone ever had a "get with the program" and "hoist the flag" mindset, it was the Victorians.

I don't think most people who are writing Steampunk approach it that way. Most examples seem to have been written more as a stylistic exercise than anything else. And most are obviously written as one-offs. Almost as if the authors wanted to do one just to get it out of their system before moving on to more recognized and respected sci-fi topics and settings.

Perhaps if they called it "historically themed science fiction" instead of "Steampunk" things might have turned out differently.

The closest I've seen so far to a genuine attempt to write a literary Steampunk novels is Gibson/Sterling's The Difference Engine. Unfortunately that was a meandering and largely plotless story too despite it taking its subject matter seriously. It also suffered from being far too long. Most people figured out where the story was going to end up taking them no later than page 200. Which wouldn't have been too big a problem if there weren't 300+ additional densely written and rambling pages that followed. This book sorely needed some heavy-duty editing and revising - which it never got. The end result read more like a late draft rather than a finished book. Considering the quality of Gibson's and Sterling's solo work (both do know how to tell a good story BTW) I almost sense they got tired of The Difference Engine long before they 'finished' it. And it shows.

Probably just as well since the average reader seems to have had the same experience. Most readers never finish it either.