Let me get this BS straight...

I guess the FBI has jursidiction because Cisco is located in CA and the guy was going to (or did) reveal trade secrets in NV. Since he crossed state lines, that brought it under Federal jurisdiction.

All this falls under the DMCA which was a law passed ostensibly to protect the intellectual property of software producers and the entertainment industry.

Under the act however anyone who so much as writes a paper which exposes security concerns or issues may find themselves under indictment. Essentially it is financial blackmail of researchers. If you worked in the wonderful world of databases for instance you will not be able to find direct independently verifyable comparisions of various database platforms because the TOS for the installation of the platforms (whether from MS, IBM or Oracle) expressly forbids you from making public any such tests for test results.

Several years ago a Russian security expert revealed in an online forum the security flaws in Adobe Acrobat Reader. When he landed at LAX for a convention he was promptly arrested and charged under DMCA. Adobe dropped the charges after a significant hue an cry from their own users. Fortunately for the rest of the world this is currently a US only issue though it does not bode well for researchers and developers in the rest of the world as trade often requires nations which do not have similar laws to adopt similar laws in order to be part of decent trade deals.

For your viewing displeasure . . .

Boing Boing actually has video of Cisco people tearing the planned presentation out of the conference's program, mere moments before he was to go on stage.

Weird seems to me to be an understatement, ironic isn't quite right either . . . surreal, yeah, that's the ticket.

I think surreal about sums it up, but that is the way things are going. In the last decade the errosion of the individual rights and freedoms has been fairly relentless. The irony of course is that the majority of people support that errosion and have voted for it consistently.

I have always held to the belief that when someone starts their pitch with "It is for the good of society", "It's to protect the children" or "It is for your own protection" they are getting ready to take away more of my rights and are simply asking for me to agree to it.

I believe it was Benjamin Franklin who said (more or less) that those who would sacrifice liberty in the name of security deserve neither.

Love Boing Boing

Such is the life of those who yearn for the good old days of General/ El Presidente Franco. Remember, when the Guardia Civile is beating the hell out of you and your family , they are only trying to protect you.
Don't know about you folks but I refuse to give up personal liberty in the name of "homeland security". Maybe I'm off topic here but things like this upset me a bit. Guess I'm not watching enough Fox news.

Edited by gullahcracker 2005-08-03 5:37 AM

You do NOT want to get me going on this cause I have some strong opinions on the subject. Suffice it to say that I think Fox News can shove their coverage where their butt meets their bike.

That's like saying "Guess I'm not getting enough electroshock therapy."

LOL. Yea and that too, also.

Yeah, we should all watch CBS for outstanding contributions to jounalism from Dan "I lied and got caught" Rather.

Fred

Fred I mean no disrespect but I often wonder why the neocons have a problem with a 30 minute a day broadcast when Fox is spewing out their venomous bullshit 24/7? Fox confuses their orchestrated messaging with journalism. OK I'm done. Sorry but if you don't ask you won't know.

OMG! I haven't laughed that hard in ages! Good to see folks in A2 are still as free-thinking as ever!

Well, gullahcracker, venomous bullshit sounds fairly pre-planned and orchestrated to me. Or are you disheartened that not everyone gives in to the network liberal crap we've been spoon fed in this country ever since I started watching TV? Heaven FORBID truth not be as that spewed forth with a liberal twist. There, it's out of my system.

Fair enough but for the record "venomous bullshit" was neither preplanned nor orchestrated.
Now had I said "lying sack of liquid poo" then that would have been still unplanned but somewhat orchestrated.

Edited by gullahcracker 2005-08-03 7:22 PM

http://www.tpc.org/tpcc/results/tpcc_perf_results.asp

However, to offset my mouth running away, some things going on in the name of security make me nervous. VERY nervous. I still find it difficult to reconcile the fact that the ATF can kick my door down and drag me out of my house on suspicion of whatever but can't/won't/fill in the blank to someone who is obviously making a living through illegal activities.

Sorry to be so quick on the trigger gullahcracker. All of us as Americans have the right to believe the way we want. I put 4 yrs of my life into believing that anyway.

This is what it all boils down to. We start taking pot shots at each other about partisan stuff when fundamentally most of us regardless of political affiliation don't really want the government revoking the 1st, 4th and 5th amendments. Of course there are probably some who do - save for the 5th which conveniently protects the right to own property. That will be the last one to fall.

You said "liquid poo". Now you're killing me with the mental image!

I with you pal and I put in a hell of a lot more time than that but I know what you're saying. I just believe we're seeing some bizaar things happening in our gov. and the majority of folks seem to be ok with it. I just want to be able to shoot, smoke,eat, drink, like, dislike or say any damn thing I want without the Fed gov's approval. OK I promise I'm through.

Hey gullahcracker, I really and seriously could not agree with you more. You think Ron would let us start a "Ways I want the Federal govt. out of my life thread"?

I don't know about that but I think you may just start one heck of a thread.

I tell ya...I don't get the "liberal network" media thing. I mean, look at the major conglomerates that own the networks. Viacom, Disney (OK...mayb Disney's a liberal organization, but it's still BIG BUSINESS), and General Electric. And then look at the rest of the "media": Rush Limbaugh, Thomas Sowell and Ann Coulter. And Rich Lowery, Bill O’Reilly, William Safire, Robert Novak, William Buckley and George Will. And John Gibson, Tony Snow, Britt Hume, Sean Hannity, William Kristol and Hugh Huewitt. And Allen Keys, Dave Kopel, Michael Savage. And Matt Drudge, Mike Rosen, John Caulden...

Where's the liberal representation? Al Franken and Air America? NPR? Seems to me that liberals are underrepresented in the media... 

And clearly, double-posting is obviously a right-wing conspiracy...

Edited by run4yrlif 2005-08-03 9:11 PM