VERY,VERY HOT READS, I Would Read The News In This Thread This Thead Is To post Any Thing Ye Want About The News,,NEWS WAS MOVED,READ MY FIRST POST..CHEERS
p2p news / p2pnet: In a small basement office at the University of Toronto in Canada, Citizen Lab researchers are getting ready to launch Psiphon, a new weapon in the fight against Net censorship.
"The team at Citizen Lab is now racing to put the final touches on the program in time for its public debut at the international congress of the free-speech group PEN in May," says the Globe and Mail.
"Billed as a uniquely Canadian approach to 'hactivism,' the first generation of Psiphon will then be made publicly available."
Founding director of the Citizen Lab is Ronald J. Deibert, associate professor of political science. Lead Citizen Lab programmers for the Psiphon project are Nart Villeneuve and Michelle Levesque.
Deibert's team is also part of the Open Net Initiative which includes Harvard and Cambridge universities and tries to document the extent of state interference on the Internet and which tries to, "turn the tables on the watchers, to watch the watchers," says Deibert in the Globe and Mail story.
What, precisely, is Psiphon, and how does it work? >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Psiphon is a userfriendly suite of stand alone proxy applications designed to securely circumvent Internet censorship. Specifically intended for personal use, Psiphon replaces the technological networks of peer-to-peer and public proxy systems with human or social networks based on relations of trust. Psiphon is installed on personal computers in locations where Internet access is not restricted in order to allow a select group of family and friends in restricted locations to browse the Internet freely.
Psiphon is a product of the The Citizen Lab (University of Toronto), a founding partner of the OpenNet Initiative.
OVERVIEW
Psiphon (and its related suite of tools) will be of use to any person or group of people living in a country where there is Internet content filtering and who have friends or relatives living in countries where there is not. Apart from the general citizen/diaspora networks, Psiphon can be employed by networks of human rights and civil society advocates. Given the extent to which many of the countries of concern that censor the Internet have large diaspora populations in North America and Europe (e.g., Chinese, Iranian), the Psiphon will enable a practical, user-friendly and secure way for citizens within these countries to capitalize on those networks of trust and surf the Internet freely.
Unlike other circumvention technologies, Psiphon relies on multiple social networks of trust. Psiphon does not depend on mass publication of IPs or proxies, which in turn can be easily intercepted and filtered by a determined state, but rather on ?word of mouth? and multiple, smaller networks of trust. The users would include any group that wishes to communicate over and access information from the Internet freely.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
A. Psiphon application and Psiphon Repeater
Psiphon is a personal proxy application designed to allow users to circumvent Internet censorship from countries where content filtering takes place. Psiphon is installed on computers in locations that do not censor the Internet and is accessible through a browser by users in locations that are censored. Users in censored countries do not need to install any software. There are two methods of connection currently under development:
a) A system in which the user modifies the proxy settings in their browser to point to the location of psiphon.
b) A system in which users simply browse to the location of psiphon and are presented with a web form interface, through which the user requests websites.
An additional project, which is a concurrent fork of the Psiphon codebase, is the Psiphon Repeater. The Repeater is a standalone application designed to securely forward requests to and from users trying to circumvent Internet censorship and large proxy servers. In other words, the Repeater accepts connections from users and then forwards them to a proxy server location. The Repeater is not a proxy server itself; rather, it acts as an intermediary through which a proxy server can be reached. Designed for use with (web) proxy applications, the Repeater itself does not actually fetch requests for the user. This is handled by the proxy server that the Repeater connects to. In this scenario, the Repeater user's IP address does not show up in web server logs limiting any legal liabilities or concerns a user may have by allowing other users to browse through their computers.
Instead these responsibilities are assumed by the larger institutions running the proxy servers.
B. Psyphon: Key Characteristics and Components
i. Open Source codebase
Psiphon is developed in Python, an open source, interpreted, interactive, object-oriented programming language. Psiphon, is platform independent; it can be run on Windows or Linux/Unix systems (including OS X). Linux and Unix users are required to install Python and OpenSSL. A simple, compiled, executable version of Psiphon is available for Windows users.
ii. Graphical User Interface
Psiphon is managed by the user through a graphical user interface (GUI). The GUI displays the address used to connect to Psiphon (which must be securely sent to the user), the bandwidth throttling options, and the access control system.
iii. Encrypted Network transfer
Psiphon accepts connections the over HTTPS protocol (port 443), but also has options to run over any port. The server uses X.509 public key exchange certificatebased authentication using selfsigned certificates generated with OpenSSL. The certificates are 1024 bit RSA keys, encrypted by a PEM pass phrase. All traffic between the browser and Psiphon is encrypted, including the URL of the website that is being visited.
iv. Access Control System
After the initial security handshake is completed, Psiphon determines whether or not it should accept traffic from the web browser. This is done though HTTP user authentication, which is uuencoded (a program that takes a stream of binary data and returns an obfuscated string) and encrypted through the SSL layer, both of these done seamlessly through methods already supported by all browsers. The user is asked for a username and a password to access the Psiphon system and is only given access to the Psiphon proxy system if these are correct. The usernames and passwords are easily maintained through a user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI) by the Psiphon user.
They can be sent to users of the Psiphon via email, instant messaging, Internet Relay Chat, telephone, or regular mail, whichever users feel is most secure.
v. Bandwidth throttling
Psiphon has a built-in bandwidth quota that allows users to restrict the total amount of bandwidth used by the Psiphon system. In addition, Psiphon can also monitor the amount of traffic generated by specific users. This option specifically protects Psiphon users whose ISPs charge them based on the amount of internet traffic used. If the total bandwidth used has reached the specified limit, Psiphon refuses to accept any more incoming requests until the user resets the quota system. Bandwidth throttling can be turned off if Psiphon users are not concerned with the amount of traffic through their proxy.
vi. Proxification
Once the browser has fully transmitted the request to Psiphon, Psiphon then issues a request to the webpage in question, captures all of the data, and then sends that data to the browser. Psiphon uses streaming technologies such that if a large amount of data is transferred, Psiphon begins to transfer the data it has received back to the browser while it waits for more from the webpage. Between receiving the data from the webpage and transferring it to the browser, Psiphon ensures that all links in the web page it is transferring point through itself, such that the user on the end of the browser can surf the
web seamlessly through the Psiphon proxy system.
Development Team
The Psiphon and related suite of circumvention technologies is a research and development project of the Citizen Lab, Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto. The present and founding director of the Citizen Lab is Professor Ronald J. Deibert, Associate Professor of Political Science. Lead Citizen Lab programmers for the Psiphon project are Nart Villeneuve and Michelle Levesque.
Villeneuve and Levesque are members of the Citizen Lab/Advanced Network Research Group collective. For more information, see http://www.citizenlab.org/
The Psiphon development project benefits from, and is closely related to the Open Net Initiative, a collaborative project among the Citizen Lab, The Berkman Center for Internet & Society (Harvard University), and the Advanced Network Research Group, University of Cambridge. One element of the Open Net Initiative is a Circumvention Technologies Clearinghouse in which major circumvention, security/privacy, and encryption tools for use by civil society and NGOs are archived, assessed, and analyzed.
The development of the Psiphon is thus closely related to analyses of existing circumvention technologies, and has been specifically designed to improve upon their usability and effectiveness.
Also See:
Globe and Mail - Scaling the firewall of digital censorship, February 16, 2006
=====================
If you're Chinese and you're looking for a way to access independent Internet news sources, try Freegate. It's a free DIT program written to help Chinese citizens circumvent website blocking outside of China.
Download it here and feel free to copy the zip and host it yourself so others can download it.
By INQUIRER staff: Thursday 16 February 2006, 14:27
AV FIRM Sophos said it has encountered a virus for the Apple Mac OS X operating system called Leap-A, or Oompa-A.
The firm said it spreads using the iChat instant messenger, forwarding itself as a file called latestpics.tgz.
When that's opened, it masquerades as JPG graphics icon, using the text oompa as an infection marker in resource forks of infected programs.
Graham Cluley, senior consultant at Sophos, said: "Some owners of Macs held the belief that Mac OS X is incapable of harbouring computer viruses, but Leap A will leave them shellshocked." µ
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=29753
By Charlie Demerjian: Thursday 16 February 2006, 14:18
THE NEXT GEN video iPod is being talked about all over the place, and if you read the usual sources (here and here), they have pretty much the same story. This one looks real, but the specs are a tad elusive.
One thing they didn't print is any details. Well, we can help you out there, it is going to be a touch screen video iPod with virtual controls. No more wheel, it will be on the screen like the latest palms.
If you want more, check out the patent dated today here.
We would like to thank Randy of http://www.my-mojo.com/, My Mojo(caution: not worksafe link) for the heads up on this. µ
New DVDs already sparking copy-protection confusion
By John Borland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: February 16, 2006, 4:00 AM PST
When the first high-definition DVDs finally hit shelves this spring, a mad scramble may ensue--not for the discs themselves, but to figure out what computers and devices are actually able to play them in their full glory.
Unraveling the mystery won't be easy. Many, if not most, of today's top-of-the-line computers and monitors won't make the cut, even if next-generation Blu-ray or HD DVD drives are installed.
That's because strict content protection technologies may automatically degrade the DVDs' picture quality, or even block them from playing at all, if the right connections and digital protections aren't in place. Even the most expensive computers sold today mostly lack those features.
Indeed, the consumer backlash has already begun. Graphics-chip makers such as ATI and Nvidia are drawing criticism online for marketing products that are "ready" for these new copy-protection tools but that nevertheless lack critical features needed to let the discs play at top quality.
"This is a sticky issue," said Richard Doherty, an analyst with the Envisioneering Group. "It's going to be very confusing for consumers, and it's going to be very daunting" for computer makers.
The copy-protection muddle stems from Hollywood studios' desire to avoid the film piracy that was born when tools for unlocking the encryption technology on today's DVDs began spreading online in late 1999.
Along with a picture quality upgrade, the new generation of DVDs will be shipped with new digital rights management controls, with strict computerized rules attached saying exactly when and how a movie can be played.
For people who buy standalone DVD players and HDTVs, this mostly won't be a concern, as the right plugs will generally already be built in.
But computer buyers will face a far more challenging landscape. The everyday analog plug that connects most computers to monitors today doesn't support copy protection, and so is viewed as unsafe by Hollywood studios. Movies playing on a computer over this ordinary analog connection will likely be downgraded to near-DVD quality.
Even worse is the so-called DVI plug that sends high-quality digital signals to a monitor but also doesn't support copy protection.
That offers an even greater risk of copying in Hollywood's eyes. Studios have persuaded Microsoft to add a feature in the upcoming Vista operating system that can shut down that connection altogether, unless the computer has an Intel-created encryption technology called HDCP, or High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection, turned on to guard the signal all the way to the monitor screen.
Put another way--if the DVD doesn't like your plug, your monitor may go black.
A newer connection technology called HDMI almost always comes with built-in encryption. If both the computer and the monitor have this installed, everything should work as planned.
Simple question--will it work?
Today, it's extraordinarily difficult to find information that explains whether a company's products will be compatible with the new DVDs.
Part of the problem is that the copy protection technology for the
discs hasn't been officially announced, even though the new DVDs are supposed to hit shelves in just three months. A cross-industry group is working on a technology called the Advanced Access Content System, slated to protect both HD DVDs and Blu-ray discs, and is expected to release its work as soon as next week.
The HDCP technology has widely been expected to be a critical part of those rules, however. In an unusual step, Microsoft told computer makers last year, as part of a preview of its new Vista operating system, that they should start using the Intel-based technology in order to be ready for the high-definition video rules.
IBM engineer Don Leake, who works with the AACS group, confirmed Wednesday that Intel's HDCP would be approved under the new rights-management rules.
But this opens up a new set of potential land mines for consumers.
In one early example, graphics-card maker ATI has marketed some of its top products as "HDCP ready" and says that its newest "All-in-Wonder X1900" card "gives effortless playback of next-generation HD DVD."
However, it doesn't mention that "ready" probably won't be good enough to make the high-definition discs play at full quality. The graphics systems actually have to have the Intel technology turned on, which has to be done by the computer maker, or by ATI itself when it sells a graphics card at retail.
Nvidia, another big graphics-chip maker, says it too has built support for HDCP into its chip designs but that it's up to the computer makers to turn it on. Almost nobody has so far, and that's drawing bitter criticism from gamers and other hardware enthusiasts online, who call the situation a "nightmare."
"We certainly are concerned over end users, and we want to make sure there is no confusion," said Godfrey Cheng, ATI's director of marketing. "But we leave it in the hands of the board vendors and (computer makers) as to whether they want to put that in."
Much of what happens when discs are finally put into computer will ultimately depend on the movie studios themselves. On each disc, it's up to them to set the rules that make all of these alphabet-soup technologies swing into action.
For example, if studios are worried that consumers might be disappointed by degraded resolutions and blacked-out monitors, they could in theory relax those rules until the approved technologies are more widespread.
Backers of the new content protection tools say they're necessary to keep the high-definition discs at the cutting edge for years to come, however.
"What we're coming out with is something that's probably going to live for 15 years or more," IBM's Leake said. "HDCP, even though not well deployed today, will be well deployed in five years. We are planning for the future."
http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-6040261.html?part=rss&tag=6040261...
By Charlie Demerjian: Thursday 16 February 2006, 09:37
IT'S TIME TO BACKPEDAL for the DRM infecting music industry, but this time, it is on record in black and white.
Luckily, its hypocrisy is as boundless as its greed. Remember when the RIAA (Record Industry Association of America) was arguing in front of the US Supreme Court in the Grokster case, and it said that ripping a CD that you lawfully own to your MP3 player was "perfectly lawful"? Well, now it isn't.
The RIAA is now arguing that it is illegal, and wants to get it legally shut down. No, really, something as trivial as sworn statements to the Supreme Court should be simply taken in jest, right? Well, no, I don't think they are that dumb, but history was never the music industry's strong suit, it is in the box on the shelf, covered with dust, right next to a tiny thing called "conscience". Either way, rights like fair use seems to be a concept totally lost to it.
Anyway, the EFF has a good writeup on the subject on its pages, hopefully the RIAA will go away before it realise that you have two kidneys, and neither are making them the money they feel that they need. Remember, you were warned about the whole organ thing before it was a crime to possess them. µ
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=29733
- New: Better handling of some badly mastered DVD titles
- New: Automatic read retries (20 times), allows copying of
scratched discs
- New: Support for Windows Vista
- New: Added CD-R to the size selector in the title selection
(previously was "Mini DVD", which confused people because of 8cm
DVDs known as "Mini DVD" as well)
- New: Added support for DVD-R DL writing (only writing to +R Dual Layer
Discs was supported)
- New: Workaround for incorrectly mastered DVDs made with Pinnacle
Studio causing an error
- New: Improved writing to DVD-R media
- New: Added brazilian portuguese language
- Change: Mini DVD size is changed to 1.4 GByte (size of 8cm DVD-R media)
- Change: "Filter unreferenced material to improve splitting" has
been removed from the preferences pane. This option is now always
enabled.
- Fix: High CPU use for several minutes when checking for program update
- Fix: Sound out of sync problems with incorrectly mastered DVDs
- Fix: Quality bar sometimes invisible with incorrectly mastered DVDs
- Fix: DVD configuration reported incorrect resolution for NTSC DVDs
- Updated languages
http://static.slysoft.com/SetupCloneDVD.exe http://www.elby.ch/en/products/clone_dvd/index.html
p2p news / p2pnet: The Big Four record labels are escalating their attack on Patti Santangelo, the New York mother who's so far the only person to stand up to them.
And they'll be using her children as weapons against her.
On Tuesday judge Mark D. Fox presided over a discovery hearing in Elektra v Santangelo and, "Elektra's attorneys have answered Patti's objections to their discovery questions," her lawyer, Jordan Glass, told p2pnet.
"They've started to push back aggressively. They're going after her children - and this time not directly so they can get around certain protections the children have. They had information about the children that wasn't public, or wasn't supposed to be public, and it's of great concern not only that that they were able to obtain it, but also that they wanted it.
"They're not treating this as a single case or as seeking a verdict for $3,500.00. They're treating this as a symbol for how the other cases will go and I hope everyone who reads this will recognize the serious impact this case could have on their children."
The RIAA has spent enough to feed a small country on trying to make the world believe it's owners, the multi-billion-dollar Big Four labels, are being "devastated" (their word) by people who share music online, that contracted artists are suffering and that support workers are being driven into extreme financial hardship.
They make the completely unsupportable assertion that people using the p2p networks to share files would otherwise have paid $1 or more to buy the song from an online corporate music site or an offline music store.
And they claim file sharers are criminals and thieves, although nothing has been stolen and at worst, file sharing, a purely civil, not criminal, matter, involves copyright infringement.
Patti is said to have shared music, an allegation she flatly denies, and when the Big Four's RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) tried to get her to buy them off, she would have none of it, instead electing to act as her own lawyer against the labels.
When p2pnet spoke to her last September, "Assuming your case ends up in court, how far are you willing to go?" - we asked her.
"I'm willing to take it as far as I have to to prevent other innocent people being dragged into frivolous lawsuits," she replied. "It's wrong."
She also said, "I have three teenage children who love music and I think that's a great thing. I can't count the amount of concert tickets and CDs that I've purchased over the past few years, and I still have two younger ones who are showing the same love for music. I find it hard to believe that file sharing could impact record companies to the point of devastation. There are some people, apparently, who copy and sell CDs, and that is piracy and they are the ones that need to be stopped."
Thanks to the generosity of p2pnet readers, Patti has been able to retain Glass and is now going through the process of collecting the materials she needs to defend herself against the Big Four, Warner Music (US), Vivendi Universal (France), Sony BMG (Japan, Germany) and EMI (Britain).
"This case is jeopardizing the actual well-being of children and you're going to see problems develop which will be far worse than the mere 'shakedown for money' ['settlements']," says Glass emphatically.
"As just one example, it was deeply unsettling for us to learn just how much personal, non-public information the RIAA had collected on Patti's children.
"All parents should be concerned and I think people have to know the implications.
"It's one thing to sue children directly. They get a lawyer, rules are established, the court might offer certain protections, etc, but when it's done through a back door - suing a parent to get information about a child - the child has no protections, especially when the plaintiff doesn't even have the decency to not publish personal information about the child.
"This, then, is going to become the new feeding ground for those who seek to exploit children, whether through improper contact or identity theft.
"This new class of child - scared and facing the federal legal system, with few protections and their personal contact and identification information, as well as their posted feelings, fears, desires and thoughts - is now exposed to the world for all to see.
"And exploit."
Glass is working virtually for expenses and the lion's share of the $7,862.62 donated so far is going on collecting and collating the discovery materials and other documents necessary for Patti's defense.
But a lot more will be needed, so please contribute whatever you can to the Fight Goliath campaign, bearing in mind Patti has taken on the international corporate music industry as much for other parents and children around the world who might find themselves in her position, as for herself and her children.
You can make a PayPal donation by clicking the button under the picture below, or you can send a cheque or money to:
Patti Santangelo
C/O PO Box 274
Hartsdale
New York 10530-0274
All donations are held in escrow and Patti personally approves all outgoings and expenses.
Spread the word. Blog, post, use IM, emails, ICR, whatever. Contact your local tv / radio station / newspaper. Can you get something on slashdot? Can you get the Fight Goliath campaign on Digg or anywhere else?
Thanks for your help. Patti quite literally can't do this without you.
Also See:
Elektra v Santangelo - Patti Santangelo fights Goliath, February 14, 2006
innocent people - RIAA victim talks to p2pnet, September 4, 2005
Two Indians and a Tennessee Hillbilly were walking through the woods. All of a sudden one of the Indians ran up a hill to the mouth of a small cave. "Wooooo! Wooooo! Wooooo!"he called into the cave and listened closely until he heard an answering, "Wooooo! Wooooo! Woooooo! He then tore off his clothes and ran into the cave.
The Hillbilly was puzzled and asked the remaining Indian what it was all about. "Was the other Indian crazy or what?" The Indian replied "No, It is our custom during mating season when Indian men see cave, they holler 'Wooooo! Wooooo! Wooooo!' into the opening. If they get an answer back, it means there's a beautiful woman in there waiting for us."
Just then they came upon another cave. The second I! ndian ran up to the cave, stopped, and hollered, "Wooooo! Wooooo! Wooooo!" Immediately, there was the answer. "Wooooo! Wooooo! Wooooo!"from deep inside. He also tore off his clothes and ran into the opening.
The Hillbilly wandered around in the woods alone for a while, and then spied a third large cave. As he looked in amazement at the size of the huge opening, he was thinking, "Hoo, man! Look at the size of this cave! It is bigger than those the Indians found. There must be some really big, fine women in this cave!" He stood in front of the opening and hollered with all his might "Wooooo! Wooooo! Wooooo!"
Like the others, he then heard an answering call,
"WOOOOOOOOO, WOOOOOOOOO WOOOOOOOOO!"
With a gleam in his eye and a smile on his face, he raced into the cave, tearing off his clothes as he ran.
The following day, the headline of the local newspaper read....
If they ever come up with a swashbuckling School, I think one of the courses should be Laughing, Then Jumping Off Something.
When you're riding in a time machine way far into the future, don't stick your elbow out the window, or it'll turn into a fossil.
It takes a big man to cry, but it takes a bigger man to laugh at that man.
At first I thought, if I were Superman, a perfect secret identity would be "Clark Kent, Dentist," because you could save money on tooth X-rays. But then I thought, if a patient said, "How's my back tooth?" and you just looked at it with your X-ray vision and said, "Oh it's okay," then the patient would probably say, "Aren't you going to take an X-ray, stupid?" and you'd say, "Aw fuck you, get outta here," and then he probably wouldn't even pay his bill.
One thing kids like is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my little nephew to Disneyland, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out warehouse. "Oh, no," I said. "Disneyland burned down." He cried and cried, but I think that deep down, he thought it was a pretty good joke. I started to drive over to the real Disneyland, but it was getting pretty late.
A good way to threaten somebody is to light a stick of dynamite. Then you call the guy and hold the burning fuse up to the phone. "Hear that?" you say. "That's dynamite, baby."
Why do people in ship mutinies always ask for "better treatment"? I'd ask for a pinball machine, because with all that rocking back and forth you'd probably be able to get a lot of free games.
I'd like to be buried Indian-style, where they put you up on a high rack, above the ground. That way, you could get hit by meteorites and not even feel it.
If I lived back in the wild west days, instead of carrying a six-gun in my holster, I'd carry a soldering iron. That way, if some smart-aleck cowboy said something like "Hey, look. He's carrying a soldering iron!" and started laughing, and everybody else started laughing, I could just say, "That's right, it's a soldering iron. The soldering iron of justice." Then everybody would get real quiet and ashamed, because they had made fun of the soldering iron of justice, and I could probably hit them up for a free drink.
I bet when the neanderthal kids would make a snowman, someone would always end up saying, "Don't forget the thick, heavy brows." Then they would all get embarrassed because they remembered they had the big hunky brows too, and they'd get mad and eat the snowman.
Fear can sometimes be a useful emotion. For instance, let's say you're an astronaught on the moon and you fear that your partner has been turned into Dracula. The next time he goes out for the moon pieces, wham!, you just slam the door behind him and blast off. He might call you on the radio and say he's not Dracula, but you just say, "Think again, bat man."
Too bad you can't buy a voodoo globe so that you could make the earth spin real fast and freak everybody out.
The people in the village were real poor, so none of the children had any toys. But this one little boy had gotten an old enema bag and filled it with rocks, and he would go around and whap the other children across the face with it. Man, I think my heart almost broke. Later the boy came up and offered to give me the toy. This was too much! I reached out my hand, but then he ran away. I chased him down and took the enema bag. He cried a little, but that's the way of these people.
I wish I had a Kryptonite cross, because then you could keep both Dracula AND Superman away.
I don't think I'm alone when I say I'd like to see more and more planets fall under the ruthless domination of our solar system.
Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis.
Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mankind". Basically, it's made up of two separate words - "mank" and "ind". What do these words mean ? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.
I hope if dogs ever take over the world, and they chose a king, they don't just go by size, because I bet there are some Chihuahuas with some good ideas.
I guess we were all guilty, in a way. We all shot him, we all skinned him, and we all got a complimentary bumper sticker that said, "I helped skin Bob."
I bet the main reason the police keep people away from a plane crash is they don't want anybody walking in and lying down in the crash stuff, then, when somebody comes up, act like they just woke up and go, "What was THAT?!"
The face of a child can say it all, especially the mouth part of the face.
Ambition is like a frog sitting on a Venus Flytrap. The flytrap can bite and bite, but it won't bother the frog because it only has little tiny plant teeth. But some other stuff could happen and it could be like ambition.
I'd rather be rich than stupid.
If you were a poor Indian with no weapons, and a bunch of conquistadors came up to you and asked where the gold was, I don't think it would be a good idea to say, "I swallowed it. So sue me."
If you define cowardice as running away at the first sign of danger, screaming and tripping and begging for mercy, then yes, Mr. Brave man, I guess I'm a coward.
I bet one legend that keeps recurring throughout history, in every culture, is the story of Popeye.
When you go in for a job interview, I think a good thing to ask is if they ever press charges.
To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other.
What is it that makes a complete stranger dive into an icy river to save a solid gold baby? Maybe we'll never know.
We tend to scoff at the beliefs of the ancients. But we can't scoff at them personally, to their faces, and this is what annoys me.
Probably the earliest flyswatters were nothing more than some sort of striking surface attached to the end of a long stick.
I think someone should have had the decency to tell me the luncheon was free. To make someone run out with potato salad in his hand, pretending he's throwing up, is not what I call hospitality.
To me, clowns aren't funny. In fact, they're kind of scary. I've wondered where this started and I think it goes back to the time I went to the circus, and a clown killed my dad.
As I bit into the nectarine, it had a crisp juiciness about it that was very pleasurable - until I realized it wasn't a nectarine at all, but A HUMAN HEAD!!
Most people don't realize that large pieces of coral, which have been painted brown and attached to the skull by common wood screws, can make a child look like a deer.
If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.
Better not take a dog on the space shuttle, because if he sticks his head out when you're coming home his face might burn up.
You know what would make a good story? Something about a clown who make people happy, but inside he's real sad. Also, he has severe diarrhea.
Sometimes when I feel like killing someone, I do a little trick to calm myself down. I'll go over to the persons house and ring the doorbell. When the person comes to the door, I'm gone, but you know what I've left on the porch? A jack-o-lantern with a knife stuck in the side of it's head with a note that says "You." After that I usually feel a lot better, and no harm done.
If you're a horse, and someone gets on you, and falls off, and then gets right back on you, I think you should buck him off right away.
If you ever teach a yodeling class, probably the hardest thing is to keep the students from just trying to yodel right off. You see, we build to that.
If you ever fall off the Sears Tower, just go real limp, because maybe you'll look like a dummy and people will try to catch you because, hey, free dummy.
I'd like to see a nude opera, because when they hit those high notes, I bet you can really see it in those genitals.
Anytime I see something screech across a room and latch onto someones neck, and the guy screams and tries to get it off, I have to laugh, because what is that thing.
He was a cowboy, mister, and he loved the land. He loved it so much he made a woman out of dirt and married her. But when he kissed her, she disintegrated. Later, at the funeral, when the preacher said, "Dust to dust," some people laughed, and the cowboy shot them. At his hanging, he told the others, "I'll be waiting for you in heaven--with a gun."
The memories of my family outings are still a source of strength to me. I remember we'd all pile into the car - I forget what kind it was - and drive and drive. I'm not sure where we'd go, but I think there were some trees there. The smell of something was strong in the air as we played whatever sport we played. I remember a bigger, older guy we called "Dad." We'd eat some stuff, or not, and then I think we went home. I guess some things never leave you.
If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is "God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is "Probably because of something you did."
Contrary to what most people say, the most dangerous animal in the world is not the lion or the tiger or even the elephant. It's a shark riding on an elephant's back, just trampling and eating everything they see.
As we were driving, we saw a sign that said "Watch for Rocks." Marta said it should read "Watch for Pretty Rocks." I told her she should write in her suggestion to the highway department, but she started saying it was a joke - just to get out of writing a simple letter! And I thought I was lazy!
One thing kids like is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my little nephew to DisneyLand, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out warehouse. "Oh, no," I said, "DisneyLand burned down." He cried and cried, but I think that deep down he thought it was a pretty good joke. I started to drive over to the real DisneyLand, but it was getting pretty late.
If you saw two guys named Hambone and Flippy, which one would you think liked dolphins the most? I'd say Flippy, wouldn't you? You'd be wrong, though. It's Hambone.
Laurie got offended that I used the word "puke." But to me, that's what her dinner tasted like.
We used to laugh at Grandpa when he'd head off and go fishing. But we wouldn't be laughing that evening when he'd come back with some whore he picked up in town.
I wish a robot would get elected president. That way, when he came to town, we could all take a shot at him and not feel too bad.
As the evening sky faded from a salmon color to a sort of flint gray, I thought back to the salmon I caught that morning, and how gray he was, and how I named him Flint.
If you're a young Mafia gangster out on your first date, I bet it's real embarrassing if someone tries to kill you.
Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what is I was an ant, and she fell on me. Then it wouldn't seem quite so funny.
If you go parachuting, and your parachute doesn't open, and you friends are all watching you fall, I think a funny gag would be to pretend you were swimming.
When I was a kid my favorite relative was Uncle Caveman. After school we'd all go play in his cave, and every once in a while he would eat one of us. It wasn't until later that I found out that Uncle Caveman was a bear.
Children need encouragement. If a kid gets an answer right, tell him it was a lucky guess. That way he develops a good, lucky feeling.
The crows seemed to be calling his name, thought Caw.
When you die, if you get a choice between going to regular heaven or pie heaven, choose pie heaven. It might be a trick, but if it's not, mmmmmmm, boy.
Whether they find a life there or not, I think Jupiter should be called an enemy planet.
Instead of trying to build newer and bigger weapons of destruction, we should be thinking about getting more use out of the ones we already have.
I think a good gift for the President would be a chocolate revolver. and since he is so busy, you'd probably have to run up to him real quick and give it to him.
Just because swans mate for life, I don't think its that big a deal. First of all, if you're a swan, you're probably not going to find a swan that looks much better than the one you've got, so why not mate for life?
If you're robbing a bank and you're pants fall down, I think it's okay to laugh and to let the hostages laugh too, because, come on, life is funny.
If you ever catch on fire, try to avoid looking in a mirror, because I bet that will really throw you into a panic.
Sometimes I think I'd be better off dead. No, wait, not me, you.
I can't stand cheap people. It makes me real mad when someone says something like, "Hey, when are you going to pay me that $100 you owe me?" or "Do you have that $50 you borrowed?" Man, quit being so cheap!
I think the mistake a lot of us make is thinking the state-appointed shrink is our friend.
I think one way the cops could make money would be to hold a murder weapons sale. Many people could really use used ice picks.
If you ever reach total enlightenment while drinking beer, I bet you could shoot beer out of you nose.
I believe in making the world safe for our children, but not our children's children, because I don't think children should be having sex.
Even though I was their captive, the Indians allowed me quite a bit of freedom. I could walk freely, make my own meals, and even hurl large rocks at their heads. It was only later that I discovered that they were not Indians at all but only dirty-clothes hampers.
I wish outer space guys would conquer the Earth and make people their pets, because I'd like to have one of those little beds with my name on it.
It's true that every time you hear a bell, an angel gets its wings. But what they don't tell you is that every time you hear a mouse trap snap, and Angel gets set on fire.
If you're in a war, instead of throwing a hand grenade at the enemy, throw one of those small pumpkins. Maybe it'll make everyone think how stupid war is, and while they are thinking, you can throw a real grenade at them.
I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it.
The next time I have meat and mashed potatoes, I think I'll put a very large blob of potatoes on my plate with just a little piece of meat. And if someone asks me why I didn't get more meat, I'll just say, "Oh, you mean this?" and pull out a big piece of meat from inside the blob of potatoes, where I've hidden it. Good magic trick, huh?
Life, to me, is like a quiet forest pool, one that needs a direct hit from a big rock half-buried in the ground. You pull and you pull, but you can't get the rock out of the ground. So you give it a good kick, but you lose your balance and go skidding down the hill toward the pool. Then out comes a big Hawaiian man who was screwing his wife beside the pool because they thought it was real pretty. He tells you to get out of there, but you start faking it, like you're talking Hawaiian, and then he gets mad and chases you...
Sometimes, when I drive across the desert in the middle of the night, with no other cars around, I start imagining: What if there were no civilization out there? No cities, no factories, no people? And then I think: No people or factories? Then who made this car? And this highway? And I get so confused I have to stick my head out the window into the driving rain---unless there's lightning, because I could get struck on the head by a bolt.
The whole town laughed at my great-grandfather, just because he worked hard and saved his money. True, working at the hardware store didn't pay much, but he felt it was better than what everybody else did, which was go up to the volcano and collect the gold nuggets it shot out every day. It turned out he was right. After forty years, the volcano petered out. Everybody left town, and the hardware store went broke. Finally he decided to collect gold nuggets too, but there weren't many left by then. Plus, he broke his leg and the doctor's bills were real high.
Too bad when I was a kid there wasn't a guy in our class that everybody called the "Cricket Boy", because I would have liked to stand up in class and tell everybody, "You can make fun of the Cricket Boy if you want to, but to me he's just like everybody else." Then everybody would leave the Cricket Boy alone, and I'd invite him over to spend the night at my house, but after about five minutes of that loud chirping I'd have to kick him out. Maybe later we could get up a petition to get the Cricket Family run out of town. Bye, Cricket Boy.
I think a good product would be "Baby Duck Hat". It's a fake baby duck, which you strap on top of your head. Then you go swimming underwater until you find a mommy duck and her babies, and you join them. Then, all of a sudden, you stand up out of the water and roar like Godzilla. Man, those ducks really take off! Also, Baby Duck Hat is good for parties.
I wish I lived back in the old west days, because I'd save up my money for about twenty years so I could buy a solid-gold pick. Then I'd go out West and start digging for gold. When someone came up and asked what I was doing, I'd say, "Looking for gold, ya durn fool." He'd say, "Your pick is gold," and I'd say, "Well, that was easy." Good joke, huh.
A funny thing to do is, if you're out hiking and your friend gets bitten by a poisonous snake, tell him you're going to go for help, then go about ten feet and pretend that *you* got bit by a snake. Then start an argument with him about who's going to go get help. A lot of guys will start crying. That's why it makes you feel good when you tell them it was just a joke.
I guess I kinda lost control, because in the middle of the play I ran up and lit the evil puppet villain on fire. No, I didn't. Just kidding. I just said that to help illustrate one of the human emotions, which is freaking out. Another emotion is greed, as when you kill someone for money, or something like that. Another emotion is generosity, as when you pay someone double what he paid for his stupid puppet.
Many people think that history is a dull subject. Dull? Is it "dull" that Jesse James once got bitten on the forehead by an ant, and at first it didn't seem like anything, but then the bite got worse and worse, so he went to a doctor in town, and the secretary told him to wait, so he sat down and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and then finally he got to see the doctor, and the doctor put some salve on it? You call that dull?
I scrambled to the top of the precipice where Nick was waiting. "That was fun," I said. "You bet it was," said Nick. "Let's climb higher." "No," I said. "I think we should be heading back now." "We have time," Nick insisted. I said we didn't, and Nick said we did. We argued back and forth like that for about 20 minutes, then finally decided to head back. I didn't say it was an interesting story.
If you're a Thanksgiving dinner, but you don't like the stuffing or the cranberry sauce or anything else, just pretend like you're eating it, but instead, put it all in your lap and form it into a big mushy ball. Then, later, when you're out back having cigars with the boys, let out a big fake cough and throw the ball to the ground. Then say, "Boy, these are good cigars!"
I remember that one fateful day when Coach took me aside. I knew what was coming. "You don't have to tell me," I said. "I'm off the team, aren't I?" "Well," said Coach, "you never were really ON the team. You made that uniform you're wearing out of rags and towels, and your helmet is a toy space helmet. You show up at practice and then either steal the ball and make us chase you to get it back, or you try to tackle people at inappropriate times." It was all true what he was saying. And yet, I thought something is brewing inside the head of this Coach. He sees something in me, some kind of raw talent that he can mold. But that's when I felt the handcuffs go on.
If I ever opened a trampoline store, I don't think I'd call it Trampo-Land, because you might think it was a store for tramps, which is not the inpression we are trying to convey with our store. On the other hand, we would not prohibit tramps from browsing, or testing the trampolines, unless a tramp's gyrations seemed to be getting out of control.
I can still recall old Mister Barnslow getting out every morning and nailing a fresh load of tadpoles to the old board of his. Then he'd spin it round and round, like a wheel of fortune, and no matter where it stopped he'd yell out, "Tadpoles! Tadpoles is a winner!" We all thought he was crazy. But then we had some growing up to do.
Once when I was in Hawaii, on the island of Kauai, I met a mysterious old stranger. He said he was about to die and wanted to tell someone about the treasure. I said, "Okay, as long as it's not a long story. Some of us have a plane to catch, you know." He stared telling hes story, about the treasure and his life and all, and I thought: "This story isn't too long." But then, he kept going, and I started thinking, "Uh-oh, this story is getting long." But then the story was over, and I said to myself: "You know, that story wasn't too long after all." I forget what the story was about, but there was a good movie on the plane. It was a little long, though.
I bet a fun thing would be to go way back in time to where there was going to be an eclipse and tell the cave men, "If I have come to destroy you, may the sun be blotted out from the sky." Just then the eclipse would start, and they'd probably try to kill you or something, but then you could explain about the rotation of the moon and all, and everyone would get a good laugh.
I wouldn't be surprised if someday some fishermen caught a big shark and cut it open, and there inside was a whole person. Then they cut the person open, and in him is a little baby shark. And in the baby shark there isn't a person, because it would be too small. But there's a little doll or something, like a Johnny Combat little toy guy---something like that.
p2pnet.net Feature:- p2pnet's Movies File Share Top Ten is compiled from statistics supplied by p2p research company Big Champagne.
Only on p2pnet.
If you want to see how BC develops them, head over to the music FSTT, or go to our Q&A with ceo Eric Garland here.
(Note: If a movie returns after being out of the charts for two weeks or longer, it's designated 'new'.) 'Return' means back after a week's absence.
Movies Top Ten File Share Downloads, Global
Week ending February 16, 2006
Ranking Movie Number of Downloads
01 >>> Redeye + #2 1,093,385
02 >>> Flight Plan + #7 1,075,236
03 >>> Underworld: Evolution (unchanged) 1,060,642
04 >>> The Wedding Crashers - #1 1,029,433
05 >>> Big Momma's House 2 + #9 1,011,516
06 >>> The Chronicles of Narnia: LWW - #4 1,008,100
07 >>> The Fog (new) 1,006,845
08 >>> Hostel - #6 965,249
09 >>> King Kong - #5 961,693
10 >>> Lord Of War (new) 954,001
Movies Top Ten File Share Downloads, USA
Week ending February 16, 2006
Ranking Movie Number of Downloads
01 >>> Redeye + #3 592,620
02 >>> Flight Plan + #7 590,581
03 >>> Underworld: Evolution - #2 575,000
04 >>> Big Momma's House 2 + #8 572,876
05 >>> The Wedding Crashers - #1 559,318
06 >>> The Fog + #9 556,760
07 >>> Hostel - #5 548,050
08 >>> The Chronicles of Narnia: LWW - #4 545,526
09 >>> Hoodwinked (new) 526,969
10 >>> King Kong - #6 501,357
p2p news / p2pnet: An interesting new voice has been added to the growing list of individuals and organizations calling for Take-Two Interactive's Rockstar Grand Theft Auto video games to be banned.
Take-Two is currently being sued by Los Angeles for failing to disclose that its Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas video game contained "pornographic" content.
"Since the video game Grand Theft Auto accrues points to players for the depiction of the rape and murder of prostitutes, SWOP-USA calls on all parents and all gamers to boycott Grand Theft Auto," says the project. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Regarding the Video Game Grand Theft Auto
Sex Workers Outreach Project USA (SWOP-USA)
Although SWOP-USA will always be adamantly opposed to any and all forms of censorship, as concerned parents ourselves, we wish to inform other parents of the potential danger extremely violent video games pose to children. And in the interest of furthering sex worker?s human and civil rights to life and personal safety, we object to any media which represents sex workers as legitimate targets of violence, rape and murder. Censorship is a blight on the freedoms we hold dear but we wholeheartedly encourage citizens to vote with their dollars by refusing to purchase products which encourage the denigration and destruction of prostitutes. Since the video game Grand Theft Auto accrues points to players for the depiction of the rape and murder of prostitutes, SWOP-USA calls on all parents and all gamers to boycott Grand Theft Auto.
Concerned parents and citizens are encouraged to read pertinent research regarding child development and interactive representations of violence. For your convenience, research results as reported by David Walsh, Ph.D. for the National Institute on Media and the Family in 2001 are summarized below:
?Prominent organizations like the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Medical Association have all concluded that the scientific evidence shows a cause-effect relationship between television violence and aggression among the children and youth who watch it. Based on this research, many social scientists have hypothesized that we should expect video games to have an even greater impact for the following four reasons.
?1. Children are more likely to imitate the actions of a character with whom they identify. In violent video games the player is often required to take the point of view of the shooter or perpetrator.
?2. Video games by their very nature require active participation rather than passive observation.
?3. Repetition increases learning. Video games involve a great deal of repetition. If the games are violent, then the effect is a behavioral rehearsal for violent activity.
?4. Rewards increase learning, and video games are based on a reward system.
? . . . [Research is] showing that the concern is indeed warranted. . .
?Children with the lowest hostility scores are almost 10 times more likely to have been involved in physical fights if they play a lot of violent video games than if they do not play violent games (38% compared to 4%). In fact, the least hostile children who play a lot of violent video games are more likely to be involved in fights than are the most hostile children who do not play violent video games.
? . . . [There is] a strong correlation between exposure to violent video games and various forms of antisocial behavior.?
From Video Game Violence and Public Policy by David Walsh, Ph.D. for the National Institute on Media and the Family, copyright 2001
Also See:
"pornographic" content - LA sues GTA San Andreas co, January 27, 2006
p2p news / p2pnet: The entertainment cartels aren't the only ones trying every trick in the book to extort more money from their customers.
Bill and the Boyz now claim a new motherboard equals a new computer, "hence you need to purchase a new Windows licence," says Aviran Mord on his blog, where he also reveals the change in question, to wit:
An upgrade of the motherboard is considered to result in a 'new personal computer' to which Microsoft® OEM operating system software cannot be transferred from another computer. If the motherboard is upgraded or replaced for reasons other than a defect, then a new computer has been created and the license of new operating system software is required.
Apparently, Microsoft, "needed to have one base component 'left standing' that would still define that original PC," says Mord. And that's because, "Since the motherboard contains the CPU and is the 'heart and soul' of the PC, when the motherboard is replaced (for reasons other than defect) a new PC is essentially created.?
OEM partners have been 'asked' to enforce the new policy, adds the post.
Also See:
blog - Microsoft: Upgraded Motherboard = New Windows Licence, February 15, 2006
Back in the dark days before personal computers changed our lives, there was a TV commercial for the brokerage firm EF Hutton. A man at a restaurant casually mentioned that he used that broker, and the entire room hushed and leaned forward in anticipation of his next sentence. The tagline was: "When EF Hutton talks, people listen." While Bill Gates may not be able to command such legendary (and fictional) attention-getting powers, when the richest man in the world and the co-founder of the largest software company on the planet takes the time to do a personal interview, many people are going to listen.
Sitting comfortably in the headquarters of Channel 9, Microsoft's documentary Internet video web site, Gates spoke about the future of the company, the next release of Office, the Internet, and software in general. He even revealed a few personal details about his life, despite jokingly saying how he "loves the privacy of the Internet."
He first spoke about the Internet, and how some old web technologies were finally getting widespread use to improve people's experiences online. DHTML has been around for many years, but just recently it has been put to good use making web pages that are more responsive, such as Google Maps' ability to update only the part of the screen that is changed. Despite an obvious desire to sell Windows applications, Microsoft is not against improving the web application experience, and is actively trying to help more people to be able to do this by creating a set of tools (called Atlas) that makes it easier to write interactive web applications with DHTML and Asynchronous Javascript (AJAX):
"DHTML let you do things with jobs that ran pretty reliably on the client platform, and it is surprising how long it's taken [...] Now people have woken up to that and it creates a phenomenon. Even within Microsoft we've seen it in many places. We have our Infopath group, our Hotmail group [...] so we've brought it together in terms of creating a runtime and making it really easy for people, which we call Atlas. [Keeping track of] synchronization and caching and debugging [these web sites], it's fairly hard, but with the right tools, this sort of thing will become fairly standard, and so here at the Mix 06 [web developer's conference] we'll have Scott Guthrie talking about how he's really looked at all these groups, both inside Microsoft and outside, and figured out how to create a runtime [Atlas] that makes this very doable and in a very rich way."
When asked about the long time it has taken for the development of Internet Explorer 7, Gates actually apologized for his company missing the boat and falling behind competitors like Firefox:
"We're certainly doing a mea culpa there, we feel bad that we weren't more aggressive doing releases. Part of that was the incredible focus we had on security, really getting that architecture right, doing the concept we call 'low rights' IE, so that if you have a control come in, it's running in a different context than general code would, in terms of what it can access on your machine. I'd say that people may underestimate how hard those changes are and how important they are, but even given that, in terms of features we have not moved as fast as we should. Starting with IE 7 people will see very regular activities there."
The discussion moved on to Office 12, which we now know will end up being called Office 2007:
Office 12 has got more sexy new stuff than any new release we've done for ages and ages. [...] The thing people will first notice is the new user interface, it lets you get at features in the way that the menu structure was holding you back. [...] The second thing they'll notice is the role of sharing [...] SharePoint will become on the server what Office is on the client. You can assume people know the templates in your organizational project, you just pick one of those templates and get people collaborating using that.
I think the final thing and what may be the biggest thing is what we've done with extensibility. Office extensibility used to mean that you programmed against the user interface of the application. Now, because of the XML revolution, we put it in the core of the product, [...] literally the format of the documents is XML. What that means is that getting the data in and out of these documents and spreadsheets is that you don't think about the application, you just think about the name range and the scheme. We've finally got to the point where people can write solutions in just a few lines of code, moving very complex data in and out of Office applications. That may be the biggest thing, although it's hundreds of thousands of customization applications, not one single one that'll show its value
I've talked before about how Microsoft has embraced XML, not merely as a hot buzzword of the day, but a real reason to convince people to upgrade and stay with Microsoft Office, instead of finding alternatives. How can opening up a file format possibly help to get users locked in? Well, some people who have been following the controversy in Massachusetts over Office XML versus OpenDocument seem to think that this is just about another file format battle, that somehow Microsoft is tricking people into thinking Office XML is open when it really isn't. This is not only incorrect, but missing the point. Microsoft's biggest competitor to Office is not OpenOffice, but earlier versions of itself. Opening up the file format so that companies can create "hundreds of thousands" of custom applications creates a demand for the new "XML-ized" version of Office.
Gates then revealed a few tidbits about his personal life. He reads news web sites like News.com, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times, as well as checking out all the latest Internet video sites. While he doesn't have much time left over for watching TV, he has gotten hooked on the DVDs of 24, which he watches while exercising on his treadmill. After putting his kids to bed, he spends time catching up on all the e-mails that people send him during the day. On the weekends he plays a bit of Zuma on Xbox Live and jumps on his trampoline. It's not the most exciting life, perhaps, but Gates has made his billions largely as a result of his obsession with reading and thinking about technology. He still takes "Reading Weeks" from time to time to catch up on stuff he has missed.
Finally, Gates talked a bit about how he feels that software is still just at the beginning of its useful evolution. He mentioned how it could help in education to channel kids' natural interest in the world into a desire to learn about some of the mathematics and science that underlies it. He also mentioned how software could do a better job at managing the information overload associated with modern health care. One of the most interesting things he said was that "the crazy dreams of the late 90's, you know, the dreams weren't wrong, there just weren't the right software foundations for building on these things, and now's the time that people who take the long term view, including us and others, have really started to put these things into place." Will the dotcom revolution wind up happening anyway, this time done properly and with a real business model? Look around?it's already happening.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060216-6199.html
5 steps to help avoid instant message viruses This is a MS article and I thought some of you might be interested in.
Just this past week we had an incident with a chat client + a nice AIM trojan that wanted to join the party.
Instant messaging, commonly referred to as IM, is a method of online communication like e-mail. The main difference, as the name suggests, is that IM is instantaneous. Using an IM program?such as MSN Messenger, Windows Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, or others?you and a friend can type messages to each other and see the messages almost immediately.
Because IM has become so popular, virus writers are using it to spread malicious programs. Read on to find out how to avoid getting or spreading a virus when you use IM.
5 steps to help avoid instant message viruses
As with most threats on the Internet, you can help keep yourself safe by taking basic precautions. If you know how to avoid e-mail viruses, you'll already be familiar with many of these steps.
1.
Be careful downloading files in IM. Never open, accept, or download a file in IM from someone you don't know. If the file comes from someone you do know, don't open it unless you know what the file is and you were expecting it. Contact the sender by e-mail, phone, or some other method to confirm that what they sent was not a virus.
2.
Update your Windows software. Visit Microsoft Update to scan your computer and install any high-priority updates that are offered to you. If you have Automatic Updates enabled, the updates are delivered to you when they are released, but you have to make sure you install them. For more information, visit the Protect Your PC site.
3.
Make sure you're using an updated version of your IM software. Using the most up-to-date version of your IM software can better protect your computer against viruses and spyware. If you're using MSN Messenger, install the updated version by visiting the MSN Messenger Web site and clicking the Download Now! button.
4.
Use antivirus software and keep it updated. Antivirus software can help to detect and remove IM viruses from your computer, but only if you keep the antivirus software current. If you've purchased a subscription from an antivirus software company, your antivirus software may update itself when you're connected to the Internet.
5.
Use antispyware software and keep it updated. Some IM viruses may install spyware or other unwanted software on your computer. Antispyware software can help to protect your computer from spyware and remove any spyware you may already have. If you don't have antispyware software, you can download Windows Defender (Beta 2) or another spyware removal tool.
CloneDVD mobile converts your DVD movies quickly and easily into a format that your portable device (Sony PSP, Apple iPod Video, iAudio X5, Creative Labs ZEN Vision, etc) can play. You can also convert your DVDs to other file formats, such as DivX, XviD, AVI, MP4, etc.
Version 1.0.5.1: 2006 02 16
- New: Added frame rate selection to the User Interface
- New: Added NTSCFrameRateX and PALFrameRateX keywords to devices.ini
- New: Improved playback of NTSC material, if correct frame rate is selected (23.98 fps for movies, 29.97 fps for videos)
- New: Added Subtitle selection and output to VOB passthrough
- New: Workaround for problem of hanging Video with iPod G5 firmware 1.1
- Change: Output resolutions of Apple iPod video
- Updated lanuages
- Updated manuals
p2p news / p2pnet: The dirty dealings of a German/Japanese record company which tried to spy on its customers may result in new laws being introduced in the US.
Sony(Japan) BMG(Germany) planted secret rootkit DRM applications made by America's SunnComm and the UK's First 4 Internet on music CDs.
When buyers played inserted the discs into their PCs, the spyware was installed without their knowledge or permission, also creating security hazards.
Sony BMG is still suffering the consequences of what's become a major PR disaster affecting not only it, but also the other members of the Organized Music cartel, Vivendi Universal, Warner Music and EMI, who, together with Sony BMG, are also being probed by the state of New York in a separate bribery scandal.
The company has been ordered to recompense victims via cash payments or replacements and now, "A U.S. Department of Homeland Security official warned today that if software distributors continue to sell products with dangerous rootkit software, as Sony BMG Music Entertainment recently did, legislation or regulation could follow," says PC World.
"We need to think about how that situation could have been avoided in the first place," the story has Jonathan Frenkel, director of law enforcement policy with the DHS's Border and Transportation Security Directorate, saying. "Legislation or regulation may not be appropriate in all cases, but it may be warranted in some circumstances."
The DHS has, "no ability to implement the kind of regulation that Frenkel mentioned," but it's, "attempting to increase industry awareness of the rootkit problem," he said.
"All we can do is, in essence, talk to them and embarrass them a little bit."
Nor is this the first time that the department has expressed concerns over the security of copy protection software, says PC World, going on:
"In November, DHS assistant secretary for policy Stewart Baker warned copyright holders to be careful in protecting their music and DVDs. 'In the pursuit of protection of intellectual property, it's important not to defeat or undermine the security measures that people need to adopt in these days,' Baker said."
Meanwhile, the Sony BMG debacle doesn't seem to have sounded a warning note to other companies.
An example of Settec Alpha-DISC DRM with rootkit-like features was found on a DVD of the movie Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
Also See:
bribery scandal - 9 radio stations in bribery probe, February 9, 2006
PC World - Sony Rootkit Experience May Lead to Federal Oversight, February 16, 2006
rootkit-like features - Mr and Mrs Smith: with rootkit, February 14, 2006
p2p news / p2pnet: A bipartisan bill to outlaw the $12 billion Net gambling industry has been introduced by the US House of Representatives, says the Seattle Times.
An existing ban against interstate gambling over telephone lines to also outlaw use of the Internet and related technology would be updated.
The legislation, co-sponsored by 115 lawmakers, "would specifically prohibit a gambling business from accepting credit cards, checks, wire and Internet transfers in illegal gambling transactions," says the story, adding:
"It also would set a maximum prison sentence of five years for violations."
___________________________________________________________________
Washington
Bill would outlaw Internet gambling
More than 100 lawmakers in the House of Representatives introduced a bipartisan bill Thursday to outlaw the $12 billion Internet gambling industry.
The bill would update an existing ban against interstate gambling over telephone lines to also outlaw use of the Internet and related technology. A total of 115 House lawmakers co-sponsored the bill.
The legislation would specifically prohibit a gambling business from accepting credit cards, checks, wire and Internet transfers in illegal gambling transactions. It also would set a maximum prison sentence of five years for violations.
Similar legislation was introduced previously, but the bill was defeated in 2000 due in part to efforts by Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
http://p2pnet.net/story/7952
p2p news / p2pnet: In the 1960's there were discussions including consumer advocate Ralph Nader about the need for seatbelts in cars. Policy makers didn't understood the need, and wouldn't mandate that manufacturers installed them in cars, until finally a simple idea clicked in their mind. The need for seatbelts didn't relate to the car hitting something (the "first collision"), but the body hitting the car (the "second collision").
Until people recognized the existence of the second collision ,they couldn't see the point of safety devices that didn't avoid the first collision.
The discussions about Digital Rights Management (DRM), or other controversial uses of technical measures by copyright holders, has the same type of conceptual problem.
Copyright holders sheepishly suggest they're are putting digital locks, or "fences," around their own "property", and that the only people who'd disagree with this are people who want to "steal" that property.
For DRM to do what copyright holders want, the technology people use to access this content must disobey the instructions of its owners. What this means is: this "fence" must not only be around the digital content, but the technologies.
This technology is owned by someone other other than the copyright holder. It isn't copyright holders putting a fence around their "property": rather, i's the third parties putting a fence around *MY* property.
Just like there was a need for laws mandating seatbelts be installed in cars to protect us from this "second collision", there's increasing awareness for the need for laws which protect citizens from this "second digital fence".
The practice of putting a "digital fence" around someone else's property shouldn't be supported in law. This suggests anti-circumvention laws such as those proposed in the 1996 WIPO treaties, and implemented in the USA's controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), shouldn't exist.
This lack of legal protection for this "second fence" isn't enough. Most citizens aren't technical enough to be aware of this harmful behaviour, or be able to on their own protect their technology property rights.
Powerful government officials have started to weigh in on this debate.
In November 2005 Stewart Baker, the Department of Homeland Security's assistant secretary for policy, said to the industry, "It's very important to remember that it's your intellectual property - it's not your computer".
In February, Jonathan Frenkel, director of law enforcement policy at the U.S Department of Homeland Security, gave a speech at the RSA Conference 2006 where he suggested that "RootKits" should be outlawed.
A simple definition of a "RootKit" would be a modification to the operating system of information technology which hides its operations from the owner of the computer, and controls the computer in ways not authorized by this owner. This definition it would properly catch the controversial aspects of DRM in any law that outlaws "RootKits".
It should be unlawful to install DRM on my computer without my permission. It should also be unlawful to make it a condition of purchasing someone's content that I put DRM on my computer, something that echoes a concept in the privacy act which says you can't make it a condition of buying something that the customer waive their privacy rights.
Schedule 1 of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) includes:
4.3.3
An organization shall not, as a condition of the supply of a product or service, require an individual to consent to the collection, use, or disclosure of information beyond that required to fulfil the explicitly specified, and legitimate purposes.
Russell McOrmond - p2pnet contributing editor
[McOrmond is an independent author (software and non-software) who uses modern business models and licensing (Free/Libre and Open Source Software, Creative Commons).]
AACS reaches interim agreement; HD DVD trying to stay on schedule
2/17/2006 11:45:54 AM, by Ken "Caesar" Fisher
The Advanced Access Content System, better known as AACS, was delayed yet again late last week, pushing the release of both Blu-ray and HD DVD back even further. While the AACS licensing authority (AACS-LA) has been mum on the cause for the most recent delays, sources are saying that the problem is actually a Blu-ray-specific technology called BD+. While BD+ is not part of AACS per se, there are apparently some interoperability issues that are preventing all members of the AACS group from agreeing on a final specification. As I suggested earlier this week, holding back HD DVD because of a Blu-rayDRM problem could ruffle some feathers.
However it came to be, the AACS-LA has reached an interim agreement that will allow device manufacturers on either side of the divide to push ahead with producing products. The major hurdle that has been cleared relates to encryption keys: that part of the specification is apparently finished, and companies can now apply for the keys needed in order to lock down their wares. (You know, so that you don't accidentally turn into a pirate.)
Toshiba was a major player behind the scene, and for good reason. The company wears the pants in the HD DVD family, and they've been watching what they hoped would be a significant first-launch advantage dwindle down to almost nothing. Still, the company showed renewed vigor at CES, proudly showing off the two players with which they plan to storm the North American market.
Toshiba is cutting it close, however. The company is starting a 40-city promotional tour in only five days, ramping up to the full retail launch of their HD DVD players by the end of March. According to Reuters, the tour begins in Paramus, New Jersey on February 21, with a stop over at PC Richards in New York City the next day. The tour will also stop in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and other cities nationwide. (Be sure to tell 'em Ken sent you.)
Toshiba is still hoping that units will be on shelves by March 28, but because of the timing of this latest AACS delay, players will likely need to be upgraded in order to actually play HD DVD content. That's right: you may pick up your sweet, new HD DVD player only to find out that it needs a firmware upgrade to operate.
At this time, it is unclear how that upgrade will be delivered, but Toshiba may be in a position to include optical discs with the needed updates at the time of sale. Nevertheless, the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants approach being displayed by nearly all members of the AACS is alarming. Given the all-encompassing nature of AACS, one might hope that its development and implementation would see its final stages carried out without such haste and in-fighting.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060217-6203.html
p2p news / p2pnet: Take-Two Interactive, the maker of the Rockstar Grand Theft Auto video game series which takes players on brutal killing sprees, is being sued by shareholders.
In January, audit committee chairwoman Barbara Kaczynski walked out, accusing management of failing to keep the board informed on issues centering on the hidden Hot Coffee animated sex scenes in GTA San Andreas.
Now, "Law firms Milberg Weiss and Stull, Stull & Brody announced the suits seeking class-action status this week," says Reuters. "The actions come on the heels of similar suits filed in recent weeks.
"Each of the firms is looking for people who owned Take-Two shares between October 25, 2004, the launch of 'Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,' and January 27, 2006, the day that Los Angeles' city attorney sued Take-Two for selling pornographic video games to children."
The US game industry?s Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) reluctantly raised San Andreas from M for Mature (which had allowed people aged 17 to buy it) to AO for Adults Only (which resulted in Grand Sex Auto being taken off store shelves altogether).
New Zealand and Australia banned the GTA games completely, an 85-year-old US grandmother sued Rockstar Games and Take-Two, "on behalf of herself and all consumers nationwide," and Haitian civil rights workers sued Take-Two because, they said, GTA: Vice City instructed players to "kill the Haitians" and awarded points for each kill.
Lawyers partly blamed killings in a murder case on the hours the defendant had spent playing Grand Theft Auto video games. And nor was this the first time GTA had been mentioned in a ?real? murder case.
Grand Theft Auto III was said to have been behind two other murders in California where deputy district attorney Darryl Stallworth called fordeath penalties for reputed killers Leon Wiley and half-brothers Joe and Demarcus Ralls, "the most malevolent members" of a gang linked to about a half-dozen slayings, scores of robberies, and a set of shootings," said the Alameda Times-Star.
Players can also pick up prostitutes and SWOP-USA (Sex Workers Outreach Project USA) wants on all parents and all gamers to boycott Grand Theft Auto.
The SEC ( Securities and Exchange Commission) filed a fraudulent accounting practices claim against Take-Two Interactive Software, the company's former chairman and ceo, Ryan Brant, its former executive vpt and coo Larry Muller, its former cfo, James David, Jr, and current vp of sales Robert Blau.
In this latest legal action, Milberg Weiss, "the most prominent class-action law firm in the United States, said in a press release on Monday that Take-Two engaged in fraudulent and illegal conduct during the class period so that insiders could sell more than 661,000 shares for proceeds of more than $18 million," says Reuters.
Also See:
Reuters - Lawyers target "Grand Theft Auto" maker, February 15, 2006
pornographic video games - LA sues GTA San Andreas co, January 27, 2006
New Zealand - Brutal and violent, December 12, 2003
Australia - Grand Sex Auto banned in Oz, July 29, 2005
awarded points - Take-Two's 'Kill Haitians' game, January 27, 2004
partly blamed - GTA player guilty of murder, August 11, 2005
pick up prostitutes - Picking up prostitutes in GTA, December 17, 2004
boycott Grand Theft Auto - Sex workers call for GTA ban, February 16, 2006
fraudulent accounting - Rockstar sued by grandmother, July 28, 2005
Ryan Brant - Take down Take-Two, January 2, 2004
p2p news / p2pnet: A Screener of Walk the Line, sent to a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, came close to ending up online.
"Luis Ochoa of Corona, Calif., faces up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine for seeking to distribute the film," says Reuters.
Dan 'Jedi' lickman and the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America), which he heads, claim Hollywood's bottom line has been seriously and deeply dented through the unauthorised online distribution of "pirated" product.
The story doesn't say how Ochoa got hold of the Screener, of who it was meant for, but, "Prosecutors said Ochoa, using the online nickname 'jai,'' unwittingly discussed his plans to distribute the film with MPAA officials, who then set up a server intended to look like a site used by illegal downloaders," says the story.
Ochoa, "voluntarily admitted that he used the name 'jai' and had uploaded the copy of 'Line,' according to the affidavit supporting the charges.
Also See:
Reuters - "Line" pirate walks plank after MPAA sting, February 16, 2006
