There's no perfect security with home WiFi, unfortunately. But you're okay with WPA and a long pass phrase. "ih8cats" is too short. Try something like "My kitty loves @#$% Taco Bell"
If you really want to do it right, you could go with a Enterprise WPA.
Another trick I've seen is to install the router on a separate subnet with no Internet connectivity. Then install a VPN server that bridges that subnet and the Internet. In order to connect to the Internet, you would run a VPN client on your computer that would hook up to the VPN server.
I'm sure there are other solutions as well: some free open source and some expensive and commercial.
When it comes down to it, though, the real answer is "You don't have to outrun bear. Just be faster than the guy behind you." As long as your security is better than the open router down the street, you probably don't have to worry about it.
What amazes me is that when you buy and install a home WiFi router, it is still unprotected by default. You'd think that they would be pre-configured with WPA already turned on and with a default, random pass phrase installed.
The thing is, when the free version is blocked and removed from distribution, his First Amendment rights are being violated.
And when you violate someone's civil rights, you can ask for more than statutory and real damages: you can also get punitive damages, which can add up to a lot more than just Doctorow's lost revenue.
IMO, filing a DMCA notice based on a filename alone should be considered abusive.
Now I can see how it would be prohibitively expensive to download every single infringing work out there, just to prove that it's actually infringing, it's simple for people to put up a file named "Homeland" that has nothing to do with the TV show.
It sounds to me like DTecNet just isn't doing enough to verify the content they're filing takedown notices on. That doesn't mean the company should be put out of business, but I think a major overhaul of their methodology is in order here... along with an injunction to force them to stop filing takedowns until they have proven that their new system doesn't file false positives.
In this case, it's the only answer: Copyright is asserted through civil courts, so he will have to use the civil litigation process to assert his rights. That's just how the system works.
It's a simple oversight that's creating an inadvertent abuse of the DMCA: there's no way these automated systems are actually downloading the offending content and ensuring that the content is indeed infringing.
I am certain that nobody is trying to censor Doctorow's book, but the fact that he used the same title as a television show makes it easy for the Fox's automated system to inadvertently flag the wrong thing.
The thing is, this is a fairly simple fix, and it's all technological: the automated system being used by DTecNet ought to actually check the file type and size before sending out a DMCA notice.
The thing is, I don't think this means Copyright is broken. This means that one particular enforcement system is broken: DTecNet needs to do a better job of actually determining whether a file actually infringes before filing a DMCA.
Doing so by name alone is not good enough.
From what I understand, there are remedies in the system for Doctorow, and I imagine he will be exercising them. Personally, I want to see this battle play out.
Actually, there are two different collection and calculation methods.
One uses the streamlined system that apparently lets the seller remit taxes to his own state, and the states then hash it out. The other method requires states to charge a "Single tax base" for all purchasers in the state.
So, in other words, at most, retailers only need to calculate taxes for the 50 states and send checks to 50 states. However, the real situation will be better, because states that use the streamline system will reduce the number of checks you have to write.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Thin Client Networks did SO well..
Right. In fact, I have been looking for a simplified way to sync and share stuff between my desktop and laptop computers - a personal cloud, if you will.
Everything I've found so far works just like DropBox: you have to have cloud storage to do cloud sync. What I want is something that automatically synchronizes files between my own PC's, just like DropBox, but without actually storing files on any computers I don't own.
Drobo looks like a nice tool for that, but it sure is expensive.
Obviously, you haven't read the bill. The bill ACTUALLY uses the Streamlined Use Tax Agreement, which only requires you to remit sales tax to your state, and charges sales tax at a state level.
And if a state doesn't use the agreement, they're required to "Provide a uniform sales and use tax base among the State and the local taxing jurisdictions within the State pursuant to paragraph(1)."
It's not complicated at all: again, shopping cart software already does this because it has to do so for the few states that require it.
A retailer's shopping cart software has a data table that lists tax rates by state or by ZIP code. When a user enters a ZIP code and the system calculates S&H, it also calculates sales tax.
The software then records the sales tax paid by state. At the end of the month, your accounting module spits out the sales tax paid per state. A good accounting package will print the checks automatically. All you need to do is lick and stamp the envelopes.
I've done this for a living. I know exactly how it works on a competently built system.
And like I've already mentioned, I'm sure that the established vendors of shopping cart software will be adding ZIP code to Sales Tax databases very quickly, assuming this passes.
So ALL of this is simply an exercise in software engineering. The only thing that retailers need to do is install the upgrades that will be coming from their vendors.
(If you rolled your own sales software, then you get to roll some new code. Hopefully, someone will be distributing a downloadable list of sales tax by ZIP code. As to the specific who & how, I admit I have no idea yet.)
This would be the "slippery slope" argument, which is a logical fallacy and a dead-end. Let's stick to likely scenarios...
And let's also separate what you WANT (to save money) from what's RIGHT (to pay your state the taxes you owe them.)
The most likely scenario is going to be that retailers collect tax at the state level, ignoring county and city taxes. This also happens to be the easiest to implement; it's not trivial, but it is definitely a "first year programming student" kind of task. I really don't see the huge burden here.
The second most likely scenario is that etailers end up having to calculate taxes per ZIP code. I can guarantee you that by the time this legislation actually is in force, there will be several companies with products that will provide a tax amount based on ZIP code. In fact, the code to do so is identical to tax-by-state; the only difference is that your database is a few thousand rows, rather than 50.
In that second scenario, I could even see this being part of already existing billing solutions from payment processors: you already process CC transactions through webservice calls; adding a simple webservice call to determine the sales tax is simple.
And, again, this is something that several states already require, so any large etailer is already doing this. Yes, it's a job for the smaller guys, but I can guarantee that someone will take up the task. Hell, if nobody else does, maybe I'll do it.
Now the IDEAL solution here would be for the Fed (as in the company that handles electronic money transactions through the entire country) to build a clearing house that works much like the ACH already does; but this would be a clearing house for state tax transactions. Allow retailers to post their tax payments directly to this ACH-ST system at the time of sale. Let the ACH-ST system then send the money where it needs to go.
Again, none of this will present a tremendous burden to the e-tailer. Yes, they'll all spend some time implementing a little extra code on their shopping carts, but this is all just software design, and again - it's really VERY simple stuff for anyone who has any background in programming and databases. This is the kind of stuff a programming teacher would use as a class project, not something that will bring Internet sales to its knees.
I think that as time goes on, computing will really resemble a hybrid between thin-client and dedicated desktop computing.
A lot of the work will be done by the local device, but things like storage and communication will still be handled by a cloud server.
The thing is, desktop PC's aren't going away. Not ever. Things like tablets are already more powerful than a 2000-era Desktop PC, so there will always be some sort of fairly powerful device at the user's fingertips.
So it makes very little sense to turn a machine like that in to nothing but a dumb terminal. It makes a lot of sense, however, to use local processing power for rendering and heavy data processing, then use remote processing power for data storage and possibly even application delivery.
So my guess is that by 2020, we'll have a global computing infrastructure that really resembles Google's Chrome OS model, where applications may live in the web, but the heavy lifting is still done at the local level.
I think the day of the professional press may be over.
Sure, there are still a lot of newspapers around, but it seems like they're becoming less relevant for anything but headline news.
What really amuses me is when I see the local TV news talk about a story that I read 6 months ago on Gizmodo or Ars Technica.
Who here thinks that by 2030, newspapers and TV news will basically be nothing but the obvious headlines, and pretty much all real journalism will be blogs and the so-called "amateur" press?
I don't really agree with that... but I do agree that all works should be available to the public domain after a time.
Here's my solution: It's not unreasonable for companies to have to post a key of sorts with some sort of digital escrow company. This would be a master code or software patch that will unlock the DRM on a product. If, after so many years, the company dies or stops renewing the bond, the key becomes available to everyone.
On the post: Google Fined For Wi-Fi Privacy Violations, Grandstanding German Regulators Not Satisfied
Re:
If you really want to do it right, you could go with a Enterprise WPA.
Another trick I've seen is to install the router on a separate subnet with no Internet connectivity. Then install a VPN server that bridges that subnet and the Internet. In order to connect to the Internet, you would run a VPN client on your computer that would hook up to the VPN server.
I'm sure there are other solutions as well: some free open source and some expensive and commercial.
When it comes down to it, though, the real answer is "You don't have to outrun bear. Just be faster than the guy behind you." As long as your security is better than the open router down the street, you probably don't have to worry about it.
On the post: Google Fined For Wi-Fi Privacy Violations, Grandstanding German Regulators Not Satisfied
Re:
On the post: Fox Uses Bogus DMCA Claims To Censor Cory Doctorow's Book About Censorship
Re: Re: Re:
And when you violate someone's civil rights, you can ask for more than statutory and real damages: you can also get punitive damages, which can add up to a lot more than just Doctorow's lost revenue.
On the post: Fox Uses Bogus DMCA Claims To Censor Cory Doctorow's Book About Censorship
Re: Re: Re:
Something must be fishy if he's not willing to force people to pay for his work!
On the post: Fox Uses Bogus DMCA Claims To Censor Cory Doctorow's Book About Censorship
Re:
On the post: Fox Uses Bogus DMCA Claims To Censor Cory Doctorow's Book About Censorship
Re: Re: one for the lawyers
IMO, filing a DMCA notice based on a filename alone should be considered abusive.
Now I can see how it would be prohibitively expensive to download every single infringing work out there, just to prove that it's actually infringing, it's simple for people to put up a file named "Homeland" that has nothing to do with the TV show.
It sounds to me like DTecNet just isn't doing enough to verify the content they're filing takedown notices on. That doesn't mean the company should be put out of business, but I think a major overhaul of their methodology is in order here... along with an injunction to force them to stop filing takedowns until they have proven that their new system doesn't file false positives.
On the post: Fox Uses Bogus DMCA Claims To Censor Cory Doctorow's Book About Censorship
Re: Re: He should
On the post: Fox Uses Bogus DMCA Claims To Censor Cory Doctorow's Book About Censorship
Re:
It's a simple oversight that's creating an inadvertent abuse of the DMCA: there's no way these automated systems are actually downloading the offending content and ensuring that the content is indeed infringing.
I am certain that nobody is trying to censor Doctorow's book, but the fact that he used the same title as a television show makes it easy for the Fox's automated system to inadvertently flag the wrong thing.
The thing is, this is a fairly simple fix, and it's all technological: the automated system being used by DTecNet ought to actually check the file type and size before sending out a DMCA notice.
The thing is, I don't think this means Copyright is broken. This means that one particular enforcement system is broken: DTecNet needs to do a better job of actually determining whether a file actually infringes before filing a DMCA.
Doing so by name alone is not good enough.
From what I understand, there are remedies in the system for Doctorow, and I imagine he will be exercising them. Personally, I want to see this battle play out.
On the post: Senator Wyden Takes A Stand Against Overbroad Tax On Internet Transactions
Re: Re: Re: Re: Unfair burden?
One uses the streamlined system that apparently lets the seller remit taxes to his own state, and the states then hash it out. The other method requires states to charge a "Single tax base" for all purchasers in the state.
So, in other words, at most, retailers only need to calculate taxes for the 50 states and send checks to 50 states. However, the real situation will be better, because states that use the streamline system will reduce the number of checks you have to write.
On the post: Attention Game Developers And Console Manufacturers: 'Always On' Is NOT The Same As 'Always Connectable'
Re: Re: Re: Re: Thin Client Networks did SO well..
Everything I've found so far works just like DropBox: you have to have cloud storage to do cloud sync. What I want is something that automatically synchronizes files between my own PC's, just like DropBox, but without actually storing files on any computers I don't own.
Drobo looks like a nice tool for that, but it sure is expensive.
On the post: Attention Game Developers And Console Manufacturers: 'Always On' Is NOT The Same As 'Always Connectable'
Re: Re: Re: Thin Client Networks did SO well..
On the post: Senator Wyden Takes A Stand Against Overbroad Tax On Internet Transactions
Re: Re: Re: Re: Unfair burden?
Here's the agreement:
http://www.streamlinedsalestax.org/uploads/downloads/Archive/SSUTA/SSUTA%20As%20Amended% 205-24-12.pdf
And if a state doesn't use the agreement, they're required to "Provide a uniform sales and use tax base among the State and the local taxing jurisdictions within the State pursuant to paragraph(1)."
So kindly STFU and go troll elsewhere.
On the post: Senator Wyden Takes A Stand Against Overbroad Tax On Internet Transactions
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Senator Wyden Takes A Stand Against Overbroad Tax On Internet Transactions
Re:
On the post: Senator Wyden Takes A Stand Against Overbroad Tax On Internet Transactions
Re: Re:
A retailer's shopping cart software has a data table that lists tax rates by state or by ZIP code. When a user enters a ZIP code and the system calculates S&H, it also calculates sales tax.
The software then records the sales tax paid by state. At the end of the month, your accounting module spits out the sales tax paid per state. A good accounting package will print the checks automatically. All you need to do is lick and stamp the envelopes.
I've done this for a living. I know exactly how it works on a competently built system.
And like I've already mentioned, I'm sure that the established vendors of shopping cart software will be adding ZIP code to Sales Tax databases very quickly, assuming this passes.
So ALL of this is simply an exercise in software engineering. The only thing that retailers need to do is install the upgrades that will be coming from their vendors.
(If you rolled your own sales software, then you get to roll some new code. Hopefully, someone will be distributing a downloadable list of sales tax by ZIP code. As to the specific who & how, I admit I have no idea yet.)
On the post: Senator Wyden Takes A Stand Against Overbroad Tax On Internet Transactions
Re: Re: Re: Re:
And let's also separate what you WANT (to save money) from what's RIGHT (to pay your state the taxes you owe them.)
The most likely scenario is going to be that retailers collect tax at the state level, ignoring county and city taxes. This also happens to be the easiest to implement; it's not trivial, but it is definitely a "first year programming student" kind of task. I really don't see the huge burden here.
The second most likely scenario is that etailers end up having to calculate taxes per ZIP code. I can guarantee you that by the time this legislation actually is in force, there will be several companies with products that will provide a tax amount based on ZIP code. In fact, the code to do so is identical to tax-by-state; the only difference is that your database is a few thousand rows, rather than 50.
In that second scenario, I could even see this being part of already existing billing solutions from payment processors: you already process CC transactions through webservice calls; adding a simple webservice call to determine the sales tax is simple.
And, again, this is something that several states already require, so any large etailer is already doing this. Yes, it's a job for the smaller guys, but I can guarantee that someone will take up the task. Hell, if nobody else does, maybe I'll do it.
Now the IDEAL solution here would be for the Fed (as in the company that handles electronic money transactions through the entire country) to build a clearing house that works much like the ACH already does; but this would be a clearing house for state tax transactions. Allow retailers to post their tax payments directly to this ACH-ST system at the time of sale. Let the ACH-ST system then send the money where it needs to go.
Again, none of this will present a tremendous burden to the e-tailer. Yes, they'll all spend some time implementing a little extra code on their shopping carts, but this is all just software design, and again - it's really VERY simple stuff for anyone who has any background in programming and databases. This is the kind of stuff a programming teacher would use as a class project, not something that will bring Internet sales to its knees.
On the post: Attention Game Developers And Console Manufacturers: 'Always On' Is NOT The Same As 'Always Connectable'
Re: Re: Thin Client Networks did SO well..
A lot of the work will be done by the local device, but things like storage and communication will still be handled by a cloud server.
The thing is, desktop PC's aren't going away. Not ever. Things like tablets are already more powerful than a 2000-era Desktop PC, so there will always be some sort of fairly powerful device at the user's fingertips.
So it makes very little sense to turn a machine like that in to nothing but a dumb terminal. It makes a lot of sense, however, to use local processing power for rendering and heavy data processing, then use remote processing power for data storage and possibly even application delivery.
So my guess is that by 2020, we'll have a global computing infrastructure that really resembles Google's Chrome OS model, where applications may live in the web, but the heavy lifting is still done at the local level.
On the post: It's Not About Whether Amateur Internet Journalism Is Good Or Bad, But That It Happens And Will Continue To Happen
Pro press is has been?
Sure, there are still a lot of newspapers around, but it seems like they're becoming less relevant for anything but headline news.
What really amuses me is when I see the local TV news talk about a story that I read 6 months ago on Gizmodo or Ars Technica.
Who here thinks that by 2030, newspapers and TV news will basically be nothing but the obvious headlines, and pretty much all real journalism will be blogs and the so-called "amateur" press?
On the post: Attention Game Developers And Console Manufacturers: 'Always On' Is NOT The Same As 'Always Connectable'
Re:
That's not Valve's fault.
On the post: Attention Game Developers And Console Manufacturers: 'Always On' Is NOT The Same As 'Always Connectable'
Re: Copyright or DRM: pick one
Here's my solution: It's not unreasonable for companies to have to post a key of sorts with some sort of digital escrow company. This would be a master code or software patch that will unlock the DRM on a product. If, after so many years, the company dies or stops renewing the bond, the key becomes available to everyone.
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