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When the collective myopia imposes on the individual's preference.

Started by El Vato, 2007.09.05, 15:50:10

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El Vato

...I say, let the man use his free OS < http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6204348.html?tag=nl.e550 >.

The failure for the implementation of the punishment is the result of the control freaks' narrow perspective.  Their assumption simply did not hold against the reality that those who vote for them (or whom they have imposed upon) live.

It reminds me of the "Internet Explorer only" warning that the Hurricane Katrina survivors encountered in the U.S.A when they contacted FEMA for assistance from any Mozilla based browser.

It reminds me of the Massachusetts back pedaling (to please MS influences) when that U.S.A. state included Pseudo Open Office XML (POOXML) format into its Enterprise Technical Reference Model (ETRM) along with the Open Document Format (ODF) (< http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/index.php?page=3 >).

It reminds me of the recent U.S.A. yes vote to Pseudo Open Office XML (POOXML).(< http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070904082606181 >)

...it reminds me of the intolerance of those at the lowest level of the capitalist pyramid who support the economy in the U.S.A.

warpcafe

HOLD IT!

You may think "this is U.S."... but:

In Germany, the Ministery of Interior (Home Office) lately started a public hysteria by thinking loud about employing a special software (the so-called "federal trojan") that is designed to slip into PCs in order to help "fighting terrorism"...
While on one side, the hysteria grew even worse because they had plans to FORCE security software manufacturers to silently "accept" the federal trojan as a "trusted" application, there were people on the other side telling that this is only rumours, it will never work, etc...

Obviously, Windows is in the scope of the federal trojan coders (if they really exist), so might be Linux, perhaps even Mac OSX due to their market shares. But what about BeOS, OS/2+eCS and other "minority" or vintage OS still in use out there? Until now I thought "who cares - go dare to send your trojan for my eCS, har-har..." but after reading that article... heck:

What if they sentence me to jail for running an OS that isn't supported by their federal spyware???
This could indeed happen at some point.

Next on the list: Using "fake official federal emails" by the law enforcement agencies that transport a spyware to your PC for investigations. This is the latest plan of some german politicians... WUHAHA! Are they kidding? Who the f*** do they think is a tech-criminal but so damn stupid at the same time??

Needless to say that this whole approaches are completely ridiculous. Those people who actually rely on PC, mail, internet, etc. for crime - not to mention terrorism - will always be "outlaws", which means they simply don't run the "correct" software as expected for installing such spyware - why should they?

The truely tragic part of the story is that you will be forced to use an unsecure operating system:
This means by being "scannable" by federal agencies you open the door to people hijacking your PC for doing crime, e.g. storing DRM-protected stuff on your disk. Great: Buy a PC, become hijacked, get arrested. Cool.

If it comes to this, I would say "Either the OS of my choice or no PC at all."

Regards,
Thomas
"It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority.
By definition, there are already enough people to do that"
- G.H. Hardy

kim

About the story with the person that had to use Windows instead of linux; the issue was that the software they wanted to use to monitor his activities, as part of the sentence, and this software wasn't available for Linux. So he had to chose from not using a computer or use one with Windows - take or leave it. By that I don't say it's right, but then again, the was convicted for something and I doubt that he was willing to take up that discussion with the judge :-)

About Germany it's even worse, since they now wants to legalize spyware, you'r not able to use security tools to check your system and finally if someone else downloads illegal stuff via your wireless router - well then you'll be charged for that. I wrote a few more lines about it here. But, the situation in Germany is dangerous since this could as well affect other countries if the EC let them pass the new law with reference to terrorism. Problem is that quite frankly, quite to often countries now days uses the definition too often, kind of crying for the wolf.

The more the government starts to monitor the internet activities the more people will make use and implement darknets. This can already been seen here in Sweden where there are several closed bit torrent and other new clients that only connects to trusted users (and of course making use of encryption). I still say that I don't have anything to hide, but when we come to a point where there some many tools available to listen in on network traffic, sooner or later one are forced to into securing once personal communication.

Radek

I was surpised by the discussion to the story. Well, the guy from the story did something he should not have done. Well, he got caught and sent to jail. So far so good. But he wasn't sentenced to run winblows.

An example. Suppose you were sentenced to home jail. It isn't possible that somebody would come and cut your legs off due to better monitoring. You weren't sentenced to lose your legs. If they want to monitor you, well, they are authorized to ensure themselves that you are home, but they cannot cut your legs off.

If I understand the story, the guy weren't sentenced to run winblows spyware on his computer. While the spyware is defendable by the authorities in the end, the winblows are not. It's not a crime not to run winblows, neither it can be considered defeating the sentence. If they want install a spyware, then they must support not only winblows but also Mac, Unix, DOS, Amiga, and OS/2 at least.

I was surprised how many people from the discussion think that the guy is obliged to run winblows. The more tolerant of them recommended some VM for the unix, the radicals did not discuss the unix at all and shouted "take it or leave it". Where are we living?

kim

According to the article at TorrentFreak Scott McCausland was convicted and he pleaded guilty to two charges - 'conspiracy to commit copyright infringement' and 'criminal copyright infringement' and by that I can understand if they wanted to monitor his computer activities. Bad for him was that they software they wanted to use was only for Windows; so once again leave it or take it! Otherwise it quite easy to argue that I'm running some obscure OS such Minix and of course the government has to port the software to what ever platform used - on demand! Come on! I would say that he should be happy that he was allowed to use a computer at all.

But, based on above, I then wonder if they also put together a list of software he is allowed to use or install? For example installing vmware or similar software could grant him the possibility of using linux and the system is still monitored and what do they monitor and on what depth?

El Vato

Quote from: warpcafe on 2007.09.05, 17:29:38
HOLD IT!

You may think "this is U.S."... but:

In Germany, the Ministery of Interior (Home Office) [...]
Regards,
Thomas
Is this what you were referring to, WarpCafe?
< http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/090507-debate-rages-over-german-government.html?nltxsec=0903securityalert3&code=nlsecuritynewsal92456 >
It appears that it boils down to the individual's "I want to be special.  The world wants to be flat." 1

And in order to enforce that "flatness" on everyone, the control freaks are legislating to make it a felony if you go against them and their special interests.

The Internet has made obsolete the entertainment industry business model that now attempts to fight back with DRM (< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Rights_Management  >) as is evidenced by Vista's constant encryption-decryption algorithms that bring onto its knees the powerful CPUs(< http://badvista.fsf.org/what-s-wrong-with-microsoft-windows-vista  >).  It relegates the user to a second and places the protection of media content first.  Accordingly, the customer has to pay more to protect the special interests represented by the control freaks; the customer does not pay to enjoy a richer experience herself/himself --s/he pays to keep the world "flat" for the benefit of special interests.

Seen in that light, it appears then, that a given person that is unfortunate enough to be labeled a criminal because s/he is going against special interests "laws" *is not* exactly what s/he has been labeled --if the playing field were not slanted.

If the control freaks want their way, they should *become* special and innovate instead of attempting to keep the world "flat" for their benefit ..., let the man have his free OS in his computer! 


1(< http://www-03.ibm.com/innovation/us/adv/special/overview/presents.shtml?sa_campaign=message/ideas/leadspace/all/usopenflat   >)

warpcafe

Hi El Vato,

yes, you were correct on the referring article. ;-)
An update: Yesterday (Wednesday) morning we've had it on all news stations that German Police and special forces have been able to arrest 3 guys that were about to attack Frankfurt airport and the Ramstein U.S. military base (and perhaps even more). They were found building bombs having enough power to blow upü more than any other attack that was done in Europe before.

Okay, while this surely is something positive... here's the downside of it:
By pointing to that story, our minister of the interior - Wolfgang Schäuble - again stressed the explicit need for law enforcement agencies to spy into PCs on demand. He said that the use of tampering phone connections is of no use anymore as terrorist use the internet to communicate. Aha.
Looking at all the great ideas introduced by that genius, I think there is a reason why he is minister of the interior and not science or tech... and looking at some of the most well-known federal software projects from the past... well, to be polite let's say "they had their moments"... which leads to another question:

If any kind of software used by federal agencies turns out to be crap - who the fuck is protecting MY rights in case I'm jailed because of -say- a stack overflow??? It should be Schäuble's damn responsability to protect the citizens instead of spying on them! This is great. I'm wondering if we've torn down the wall in Berlin in the wrong direction... wasn't it GDR that was known for spying on its citizens?
Now take this, add data retention, add DNA databases, add biometrical ID cards and mix that up with bad software quality and cyber criminals who know how to use high-tech to their benefit. I would call this "unpredictable results".

Welcome, brave new world.
Thomas
"It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority.
By definition, there are already enough people to do that"
- G.H. Hardy

El Vato

Quote from: warpcafe on 2007.09.06, 13:30:58
[...]
If any kind of software used by federal agencies turns out to be crap - who the fuck is protecting MY rights in case I'm jailed because of -say- a stack overflow???

No one.  You would be in the same shoes as the Linux man of the subject.

Quote from: warpcafe on 2007.09.06, 13:30:58
It should be Schäuble's damn responsability to protect the citizens instead of spying on them! This is great. I'm wondering if we've torn down the wall in Berlin in the wrong direction... [...]

The situation is worse here in the U.S.A.  because the conservatives are actually building walls, both physical and electronic.  There were rumors that some "consultants" from the Jewish state might have participated in the design of those due to their "extensive" experience in the Palestinian territories.

Quote from: warpcafe on 2007.09.06, 13:30:58
Now take this, add data retention, add DNA databases, add biometrical ID cards and mix that up with bad software quality and cyber criminals who know how to use high-tech to their benefit. I would call this "unpredictable results".

As a matter of fact, while I was performing a CentOS installation this morning, one of those emails that the Schäuble's government might be thinking about deployiing into users' computers came my way. I decided to post it in my scarcely populated blog http://metztli-it.com/blog/ to warn others.

Possibly your government will consult with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) control freaks whose agents are all over the Internet attempting to install their malware into users computers --bringing down the firewall first and then spying to sustain the "flatness" of their world.  I wonder how many of those who criticized the Linux man above enjoyed watching the movie that he uploaded (or that others upload); I wonder how many of those also download songs from the Internet simply because technology has empowered their "I am special" aspect.

An dangerous aspect of those "laws" is the potential for abuse by those who implement them. For instance:

"The act provides theater owners and employees with both civil and criminal immunity for questioning suspected violators or detaining them while police are summoned."
(< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Entertainment_and_Copyright_Act >)

From "questioning" to "detention" by non-law specialist enforcers of the "flatness" of special interests, there is a long stretch that remains ripe for abusing others' civil rights.  Obviously, the RIAA has in many occasions penetrated users' computers with immunity and presented data collected in that manner as "evidence" to incriminate people.

This might give you an indication of what to expect if the spyware legislation passes in Germany (sigh).

Quote from: warpcafe on 2007.09.06, 13:30:58
Welcome, brave new world.
Thomas