In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Roy Schestowitz
<newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote
on Sun, 22 Apr 2007 04:00:50 +0100
<2971587.1HguWqEUFy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
> __/ [ John Locke ] on Saturday 21 April 2007 02:15 \__
>
>> On Fri, 20 Apr 2007 01:54:16 -0700, flyer <flyer@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>I gotta lighten up.
>>>
>>>MS gets funnier and sadder all at the same time. Although I would't be
>>>surprised if MS *had* paid many to run the junk and then promote it. I
>>>know they gave laptops to bloggers.
>>>
>>>Anyway, when they offer to pay users to run it, I'll be taking the offer
>>>and then installing vista on my refrigerator interior light circuit --
>>>something vista can efficiently do for a little while.
>>>
>>>When vista crashes I'll save on electricity from the light going out.
>>>
>>>Sweet.
>> I installed Vista in my Toyota truck, but everytime I try to play my
>> ripped CD it deactivates the breaking system...whoa boy..
>
> Better than locking you inside. The more I read about DRM, the more worried I
> get. Many simple operations are going through the DRM 'pipeline' for no
> apparent reason. It's almost as though someone wants to control and
> supervise every action that you take.
Great. Now I'm going to have a Police song inside of my
head for the next half hour. :-)
But isn't that DRM's purpose? (No, not to put songs in
one's head -- to charge them "properly" for the benefit
of doing so.)
>
> When you open the Web browser, Google is likely to keep track of you in one
> form of another (disabling Javascript won't do because DoubleClick, for
> example, just delivers images). If you use IE7, Microsoft keeps track of
> everywhere you visit, when, where from, etc.
>
> Weird (or scary) times, depending how you look at it. The PCs (and WWW)
> control the users.
>
Only if one lets them. At least with Epiphany and with
Firefox one can clean out one's cookies. There's probably
a plugin to disallow the creation of incoming tracking
cookies, though Google's only giving me certain IE-specific
payware.
Google inserts a "PREF" cookie which expires sometime in
the far future. I wonder what they do with it.
On a far grander scale, I for one wonder what "privacy"
means in the Internet age. Free speech is not limited to
standing on a piece of wood on a busy street corner and
shouting stuff to anyone who's walking by. (Or, nowadays,
driving by at 60 mph who probably won't even notice that
one has opened his mouth, being too busy listening to
one's favorite DRM-managed tunes on his satellite radio
and/or CD system.) Free press is an interesting concept
when one can put up a webpage courtesy of a dozen or two
Internet Service backbones (for a fee), and the satellites
attached thereto -- I'm not sure where Earthlink fits in here
but they do offer a T3 business service. Presumably, so
do many others.
In fact, many newspapers nowadays generate content through
the Internet.
It's hard to fathom the Founding Fathers expressing the concept of a
"bug", though it might be covered under Article III of the Bill of
Rights:
Art. III: No soldier shall, in time of peace, be
quartered in any house without the consent of the
owner; nor in time of war, but in a manner to be
prescribed by law.
Admittedly, I'd have to look in the case law (IANAL,
so that would probably take a fair bit of doing, though
there was one case where a conviction for growing weed was
thrown out because the police used an infrared camera to
detect excess heat coming out of a wall of one's house).
Bugging was known even during Nixon's tenure, and a number
of spy shows assumed such devices as part of the trade.
Of course given the Internet some of them are looking a
bit dated; AT&T in particular allows the bugging (well,
OK, they sell it as more of a security service) of one's
own house and access from any point on the Internet --
presumably, secured access using a username and password.
($99.99 basic starter kit + $9.99/month service fee.
Kinda neat, in a way -- watch the kids & babysitter
while you're at work, or just ensure that little extra
safety, and at least this one's done with the homeowner's
explicitly asking for the service; the cameras are also
a bit obvious, as they're about the size of a soda can,
and probably make noises as they pan.)
Wonderful. George Orwell, line two.
--
#191, ewill3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Useless C++ Programming Idea #2239120:
void f(char *p) {char *q = p; strcpy(p,q); }
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