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11-20-03
Last week we left off at the
adoption of the Berne Convention by the US in 1976 (for new readers who have no
idea what I’m talking about, we’re covering the history of copyright). This extended copyright to the life of
the author plus 50 years and made it retroactive, robbing the public domain of
many works that could have been revised or expanded
upon.
This act by itself was bad
enough but the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) in 1998 made
things even worse. It not only
extended the copyright term to life plus 70 years and was retroactive to any
works written in 1978 and beyond, but it granted a blanket 95 years to any work
written prior to 1978. I feel
comforted by the fact that “Muskrat Love” is now safe until
2066!
Not to denigrate the dead
but this is the turning point in modern politics that demonstrates the “For
Sale” signs pasted on most politicians.
In 1997-98 Disney poured $6.3 million into campaign donations and
lobbying efforts to extend the length of copyright. In a peculiar coincidence, if this act
hadn’t been passed the copyright on Mickey Mouse would have lapsed this
week…
The fact that this smacks of
hypocrisy on Disney’s part is pretty evident. After all, they’ve made tons of money on
public domain works like Snow White, Cinderella, Tarzan, Mulan and the Hunchback
of Notre Dame among countless others.
But when Mickey was getting close to becoming public domain Disney
purchased the Congress of the United States to gain some breathing
room.
For the naïve few of you
that feel this was an anomaly and that our Congress Critters actually are
looking out for our best interests I give you the DMCA (Digital Millenium
Copyright Act). Signed into law a
scant 21 days after the CTEA was introduced, the DMCA has opened a can of worms
that will take years to close, if it doesn’t remain open and result in SkyNet
and the Terminators.
This act is aimed at
completely erasing your fair use rights to make back up copies of copyrighted
works like computer software, music or videos. Up to this point you could copy any work
to your heart’s content, as long as it was for personal use or for archival
purposes. This allows you to record
TV broadcasts to your VCR for later viewing, record “mixes” of music from
various CDs or albums that you’ve bought to a new medium or back up copies of
software CDs or disks in case the purchased media
fails.
The DMCA makes it a crime to
bypass any copy protection schemes and to make known any methods for bypassing
those schemes. Thus any new media
that you buy (video tape, CD or DVD) that incorporates any type pf copy
protection becomes inviolate for purposes of fair use. Want to transfer that new Spiderman VHS
tape to DVD? Nope. Want to mix a couple of songs from
Celine Dion’s “A New Day Has Come” CD onto a personal compilation that might
include a little Alice Cooper and the Indigo Girls? Not gonna happen unless you want to
break the law.
It’s not that copy
protection schemes aren’t easy to break (often a marker or a roll of electrical
tape are all that you need) but that breaking that scheme is now illegal. An estimated 65 million Americans use
peer-to-peer file sharing programs like KaZaA, WinMX and LimeWire and all of
them are criminals under the DMCA.
Nonsense lawsuits against generic ink cartridge manufacturers and
universal garage door openers have sprouted up from the DMCA and I’m sure more
abuse is to come.
If you think your choices in
elections put your thoughts and viewpoints into our national government you are
sadly mistaken. The RIAA, MPAA,
Halliburton, Bechtel and other large corporations and trade groups own our
government. Sadly I don’t really
see a way out, other than to start reading “Animal Farm” and “Fahrenheit 451”
over and over again for practice.
Kevin Mefford,
Editor
I'm sure that you've all
heard about all of the security vulnerabilities that are running rampant in
Windows these days, and the viruses that are taking advantage of these
holes. This week we're going to
look at how bugs and viruses are dealt with in a Linux
environment.
It's all
about permissions
One of the main problems
that Windows has is the insecurity that comes with a generic user account. Let's look at Windows XP as an
example. When you first install XP,
you're asked to create user accounts.
These user accounts are given administrator privileges by default and
don't have a password unless a user actually bothers to set one
up.
So why is this a bad
thing?
·
All
users created during install are given administrator
privileges.
This means that anyone
who has an account on a Windows XP machine can install any program that they
desire, unless someone actually goes in and sets each specific account as
limited. This means that anyone
with these generic administrative accounts can install software containing
spyware and viruses, or even worse ... erase important system
folders.
·
All user
accounts don't have a password by default.
Any account without a
password is just a bad idea. Mix
that with an administrator account and you're just asking for trouble. Without proper protection someone can
easily hack into an XP computer and log in as a user. And since these user accounts generally
have administrative rights the hacker can do just about anything that they want
to the machine.
What does this have to do
with Linux, you might be asking?
Nothing really, but it gives you an idea of how insecure a standard
installation of Windows XP really is and how easy it can be for a hacker to make
use of a bug to access your system and how other people can install viruses on
your machine with ease.
Thankfully Linux, as most
UNIX systems, takes a different approach when it comes to creating user
accounts. Unlike Windows each user
account is rather limited in what it can do. Users can create documents and run
programs located in their home folders on the computer they're logged into. While users can navigate all directories
in a machine, since they don't have administrative rights to any areas outside
of the home directory there is no risk of erasing critical folders and/or
data.
And since user accounts in
Linux aren't administrator accounts by default, you'll need to know the
administrator password in order to install most software on the machine. There are exceptions to this rule, but
these exceptions can't harm anything outside of a users home directory. This is good for several
reasons:
1. People can't install
programs on a machine without your knowledge.
2. Malicious programs, such as
viruses, can't use any user accounts to do damage to any critical areas within
Linux such as program directories or configuration files. In order to do this these programs
must be executed on the
administrator account. This is one
reason why you don't see many viruses written for Linux.
This doesn't mean that users
can't install programs on a Linux machine.
If you try to install an RPM in Red Hat, as an example, you will be
prompted to provide the administrator password. If you enter the password the software
will install. If you don't know the
password you can't install the program.
Is Linux
hacker proof?
Does this mean that Linux is
virus and/or hacker proof?
Absolutely not. There really
isn't an OS on the market today that is completely 100% secure. There will always be bugs in software
that create security holes that can allow an intruder into your
machine.
Thankfully open source
programmers are committed to finding and removing the bugs that are found in
software quickly and efficiently.
Once a bug has been found in a program it is generally fixed in a matter
of days, and a newer version of the software is made available to the public to
replace the buggy previous version.
To help keep up with the
updated software most versions of Linux come with a software update tool,
similar to Microsoft's Windows Update. The software will check your machine to
determine which versions of programs you have installed and check those versions
against a list of updated software.
If the software finds an older version of a program on your machine
you're alerted and offered a recommended update to download and install. The update software takes care of the
rest, automatically downloading and installing the updated
software.
Should
you use virus software with Linux?
Yes, you should. While it may be difficult for viruses to
actually cause damage on your system, if your computer doesn't have all of the
latest software updates you may be leaving yourself open to virus
infections. Luckily there are
plenty of Linux Antivirus programs available on the Internet. Some are free and some aren't but they
are all generally good products:
·
Trend Micro ServerProtect
for Linux
http://www.trendmicro.com/en/products/file-server/sp-linux/evaluate/overview.htm
This
is a bit of overkill but it's great virus protection for Linux
machines.
·
RAV Antivirus for
Linux
http://www.ravantivirus.com/pages/showproduct.php?p=11
What's
interesting about this AV product is that Microsoft now owns
it.
·
F-Prot Antivirus for
Linux
http://www.f-prot.com/products/home_use/linux/
A free
commercial AV product for Linux.
Works extremely well but doesn't have a GUI. I personally use this product on my own
desktop.
·
Clam Antivirus
http://clamav.elektrapro.com/
An
open source UNIX/Linux AV program.
Ed
Engelking
This
article was written on OpenOffice Writer, a free word processing program for
Windows, Mac and Linux that is completely compatible with Microsoft Office. Try it today at http://www.openoffice.org/.
Download
of the Week
Over
the years computer owners tend to lose things, like the installation CDs for
important programs like Windows and Microsoft Office. Those CDs aren’t really the important
part, however. The CD Key for the
installation is what makes it all tick.
It’s OK to borrow a CD from a neighbor to reinstall a program that came
with your PC as long as you have the original CD Key (which creates your license
number).
For
the absent-minded amongst us a program from http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml
will pull those numbers out of the obtuse registry for you. This program works with all versions of
Windows (95 to Server 2003) and Office (97 to XP). Even if you have the CDs and keys you
should use this free program, write that info down and put it away
somewhere. You never know
;)
The
Stubs Report
As
I look back on the past 13 weeks of my life and review all that I have done, it
amazes me what people can do when they put their mind to it. I have accomplished a task not many have
done… complete United States Marine Corp training. I’ve paid my rent, spent my blood, sweat
and tears and have earned the title US Marine. I’ve become one of the few and the proud
and it feels good!
The
road has been hard and at times I’ve wanted to quit and come home, but there
were too many people back there that I didn’t want to disappoint.
With
the end of the Crucible Thursday morning it all came to a head. A nine mile final hump, which followed a
six mile hump to the page field and 20 miles of movement during the
exercise. From 02:00 Tuesday to
around 07:30 Thursday morning with four hours of sleep a night and 3 MREs a day
(Meals Ready to Eat, or Meals that Refuse to Exit). That was the Crucible. The culminating event, it is the
defining moment of change.
It
used to be that you would receive your EGA following the hump but now it is done
the following Thursday, which is also Family Day. I’ve been waiting three months to see my
little brother and sister and the rest of the family and that day has finally
arrived!
It’s
been a tough three months but well worth it. I’ve done what many have been unable to
do. Senior Drill Instructor Staff
Sergeant Peterson, Drill Instructor Staff Sergeant Felosi and Drill Instructor
Sergeant Norman have seen about 20 recruits come with us and go, whether for
medical, behavioral or other reasons.
Not everyone can make it, but those that do truly feel what it’s like to
earn something that might seem impossible.
The
next week will be spent prepping the uniforms, cleaning weapons and preparing
for the Battalion Commander’s inspection.
After 5 hours or so of Family Time on Thursday we look forward to 10:00
Friday and Graduation. After that
I’m on the road home and hope to be there by Saturday
night.
I’ve
begun a new stage in my life and now know I can handle whatever it throws at
me. I’ve learned a lot about
myself, life, teamwork and unity (a must if one is to succeed in the Corps,
after honor, courage and commitment).
By
the time you read this I will be home and a full-fledged Marine. I’m pleased to sign this letter for the
first time as:
PVT
Robert Kendall Heite
United
States Marine Corp
Editor’s
note: PVT Heite is actually home
now and can be reached at stubs@supercell.us. He’s currently on leave. Next week we’ll carry his final
summation, and I’m sure we’ll get occasional updates from him in the future
J
Announcements
The
show won’t be on the air this Sunday due to UofL basketball. Next week’s newsletter is also
pre-empted due to the Thanksgiving holiday. If critical news breaks we’ll send out a
special issue as usual but otherwise we’ll be back on the air on November
30th and the next newsletter will be out December
4th. The volunteers at
84 Online wish all of you a safe and happy holiday (and we remind you to buy the
antacids now)!
Email
Question of the Week
Q: On your show last Sunday you
mentioned to one of the callers about having their PC enclosed in a
cabinet. Is that a problem, because I have mine on an open cart now but
wanted to go to a cabinet especially for a PC that completely closes up and has
doors, to keep down dust?
A: The problem with enclosing a PC in a
cabinet is one of heat. Newer PCs must have sufficient airflow around the
case or you will experience lockups, slow downs and other types of strange
problems.
My suggestion is to go ahead and put the PC in the cabinet you
intend to use and see what develops. If the enclosure is too small, you
will know within a day or so. Hope this helps and thanks for
listening.
Matthew Dattilo
md84online@yahoo.com
www.opaquelucidity.com
If you have
tech support questions or ideas and/or submissions for our newsletter please
email them to bob@iglou.com.
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