the limits of "unlimited"

UNLIMITED: adj 1: having no limits in range or scope; "to start with a theory of unlimited freedom is to end up with unlimited despotism"- Philip Rahv; "the limitless reaches of outer space" [syn: limitless] [ant: limited] 2: without reservation or exception [syn: outright, straight-out] 3: that cannot be entirely consumed or used up; "an inexhaustible supply of coal" [syn: inexhaustible]

I read an POST today from some users of Verizon?s Broadband online which uses the words "unlimited" in much of it's advertising. Funny thing is, if you use too much data, they can cut you off. Funny, i thought unlimited meant... well... UNLIMITED... hummm....

Big win for Open Source

RALEIGH, N.C. - One of the nation's leading suppliers of electronic voting machines may decide against selling new equipment in North Carolina after a judge declined Monday to protect it from criminal prosecution should it fail to disclose software code as required by state law.

Diebold Inc., which makes automated teller machines and security and voting equipment, is worried it could be charged with a felony if officials determine the company failed to make all of its code ? some of which is owned by third-party software firms, including Microsoft Corp. ? available for examination by election officials in case of a voting mishap.

The requirement is part of the minimum voting equipment standards approved by state lawmakers earlier this year following the loss of more than 4,400 electronic ballots in Carteret County during the November 2004 election. The lost votes threw at least one close statewide race into uncertainty for more than two months.

About 20 North Carolina counties already use Diebold voting machines, and the State Board of Elections plans to announce Thursday the suppliers that meet the new standards. Local elections boards will be allowed to purchase voting machines from the approved vendors.

"We will obviously have no alternative but withdraw from the process," said Doug Hanna, a Raleigh-based lawyer representing North Canton, Ohio-based Diebold.

David Bear, a Diebold spokesman, said the company was reviewing several options after Monday's ruling. "We're going to do what is necessary to provide what is best for our existing clients" in North Carolina, he said.

The dispute centers on the state's requirement that suppliers place in escrow "all software that is relevant to functionality, setup, configuration, and operation of the voting system," as well as a list of programmers responsible for creating the software.

That's not possible for Diebold's machines, which use Microsoft Windows, Hanna said. The company does not have the right to provide Microsoft's code, he said, adding it would be impossible to provide the names of every programmer who worked on Windows.

The State Board of Elections has told potential suppliers to provide code for all available software and explain why some is unavailable. That's not enough of an assurance for Diebold, which remains concerned about breaking a law that's punishable by a low-grade felony and a civil penalty of up to $100,000 per violation.

from Yahoo News

Civil penalties for NOT open sourcing your voting software. Now THAT is progressive thinking. Also something to note, Raleigh is the home of what open-sourced software pioneer...??? Anyone...??? Anyone...??? Red Hat Raleigh is also at the center of what is called the "Research Triangle"... Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, each of which has a large university at it's center.

For some time I've considered the Open Source movement to be a codification of the Academic "Peer Review" process which all doctoral candidates go through with their dissertation. It seems that "peer review" process has so ingratiated itself into the psyche of the residents that it's become the law of North Carolina. Kudos to tech-saavy politicians who have made their state more resistant to security threats by eschewing privatized and proprietary software.

Diebold, Microsoft, the future is open. Breathe deeply and deal.

giving thanks

Thanksgiving this year was a very nice affair. Edward and I had people over and I made sour cream turkey enchiladas. My brits, Joe and Adrian anncounced they were getting married and asked edward and I to plan the ceremony. We drank wine into the night and they crashed in edward's bed. We all woke up about 10ish on friday and had pancakes and english breakfast tea. I couldn't have asked for a better holiday.

HOUSTON - The leader of the largest branch of American Judaism blasted conservative religious activists in a speech Saturday, calling them "zealots" who claim a "monopoly on God" while promoting anti-gay policies akin to Adolf Hitler's.

Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the liberal Union for Reform Judaism, said "religious right" leaders believe "unless you attend my church, accept my God and study my sacred text you cannot be a moral person."

"What could be more bigoted than to claim that you have a monopoly on God?" he said during the movement's national assembly in Houston, which runs through Sunday. FULL STORY

I couldn't have said it better myself. God bless you Rabbi Yoffie.

ICANN vs Fascism

I don't know if you've heard about this story, but there has been a movement in the United Nations to wrest control of the internet root servers away from the US-based ICANN or Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. The organization is the genius behind the way the internet is currnetly set up. Certain factions of the United Nations want to put governance of ICANN under the auspices of the United Nations.

"Why?" you ask? well, that's a good question... let's see who is actually voting for this... China, Cuba, Tunesia, an several other Tin Pot dictators. Hmmmmmm... why would authoritarian states want to control the greatest enabler of freedom and information the world has ever known? I don't know... because allows their population to share unfetered, uncensored truth with the rest of the world and allows them to see that their leaders are angry desperate men and footnotes in the history of the world.

The greatest growth accelerant of the internet has been limited government involvement. If that changes, if the forces of fascism and censorship are allowed to gain control, I don't believe it's overstating to say that nothing short of the freedom of the entire world is at stake.

love thy neighbor, except if he's gay

A Story on the Gay News Bog about Georgia's Baptist Convention disbanding a Gay student group at Mercer University caught my eye. Then There was this story about the North Carolina Baptist Convention voting to "oust" any church that affirms a Homosexual member. Can the Christian community really be so short-sighted that they want a Homo-free church? Are the thologues only going to be happy when all Christians are so burned-out on religion that they would never set foot in a church... the state of gays in America is analogus to the samaratins of old to which Jesus said: "Are you tired? burned out on religion? Come to me and I will give you rest. Take my identity upon you and learn from me. I will bring peace to your soul." It greives me when I see the church beat up on its gay members, but i have to remember that it's really nothing new.

nobody's fault but mine

Devil, he told me to roll
The Devil, he told me to roll
How to roll, but not collide
It's nobody's fault but mine, yeah
-Blind Willie Johnson as sung by Led Zeppelin

So in the wake of this sony/BMG thing i keep asking myself "what exactly is 'informed consent' in regards to computer software?" At what point is it OK for a product that you buy for one reason to put software on your computer that furthers their agenda?

Given that the public at large is woefully uneducated about computers and software in general, how much education about the effects of a rootkit is needed to pass the legal muster of "consent"? My roomate this week created an intranet for the non-profit for which he works. He gave people slips of paper with their name and password and the address of the intranet. Fewer that 10% of the people in the office were actually able to get to the address, log in and begin reviewing content. Are these the people we're protecting? Should they continue to be protected when it's in their best interest that they experience some bumps on the road in order to sharpen their computer skills?

I think we all can agree that if I put a cd in my computer and a program installs itself without my knowledge, that is (and/or should be) illegal. Period. But what about if I click "agree" on page of very small type... which I do almost daily... What is necessary to prove that that program fraudulantly installed "other" software that harms my computer? And what's worse, what if the installed software doesn't do the damage, merely leaves the computer open to further damage from another exploitive malware? Who's at fault then? And what are damages? Are damages the price of the computer? The price of your internet service for one month or the period the installed software stayed on the computer?

Let's de-computer-ify it... what if there were these new Tires for your car. The tires were all the rage... beautiful whitewalls that come with gold rims. But in order to secure these tires from theft, Bridgestone put a tracking device in the tires. Now let's say this tracking device allowed theives to know when you're on vacation or not at home and break into your house. Who's at fault if/when you're robbed? Or even when you're not robbed, if you're statistically more apt to have a robbery occur... is Bridgestone at fault?

At what point do we say that we are knowledgable, sentinet consumers with the ability to choose a tire that does or does not have the tracking device and if we choose the tracking device then we are responsible for the activities of our own automobile.

I believe the same is true with computers. If my computer gets hacked by something I've installed, ... in the words of the immortal Led Zeppelin's adaptation of Blind Willie Johnson's song.... it's nobody's fault but mine.

rootkit comes to the mac

I don't know how many of you have heard about the flack sony is getting over it's Audio CD's that install spyware on pc's ... called a "rootkit" becuase it takes "root" control of a computer and paves the way for other evil doers to do the same... Suffice to say they're being sued by the states of California and New York and a few countries in the EU. Well, according to this story below, the bad stuff they put on PC's is coming to your mac. Beware any audio CD from Sony/BMG music. Buy the album from iTunes and burn a cd, do not go get one at target or walmart:

An audio CD should never ask you for your name and PW on a mac... Just say "no" to Sony/BMG records....

Don't Let the Republic Die