More things to ask nominee Alito about

agrumer has some disturbing analysis of other commentary in Judge Alito's 1985 qualifications statement here, worth reading:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/agrumer/404153.html

Sony gets it wrong on every level

Sony's DRM rootkit that opens massive (and already being exploited) security holes in your Windows machine? It uses LGPL code in direct violation of license. So the brutal ass-raping software they use to "protect their intellectual property" by trashing your machine and spying on you... is made from stolen intellectual property.

Very nice.

Original article: http://webwereld.nl/articles/38285

I put together a partial translation of a few key paragraphs, with some help from Babelfish:

Sony has satisfied none of these [source code] requirements, but still provide a feasible programme. A computer expert, whose name we have redacted, discovered that strings from the library version.c of Lame sit on the CD _Get Right With The Man_ by Van Zant . This is a list of the strings: "http://www.mp3dev.org/", "0.90", "LAME3.95", "3.95", "3.95".

But the expert has more proof; there is a large-table array in the programme go.exe that is used in the module tables.c of libmp3lame.

The discovery has possible far-reaching consequences on the music giant, which claims the tool only protects their copyrights. Judges in Germany have already forced several companies to make such source code public and to provide and the required tools for compiling. It is also possible to claim damages.

...before being pointed to a full English translation here:
http://dewinter.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=215
I include mine anyway, because the translation site is not responding right now.

sony keeps digging

In case you haven't heard about this patent yet, Sony has decided that used software is the same as counterfeit/pirated software, and has patented a system that would let them make their game-system games permanently bonded to one and only one machine ever, specifically to destroy the used-games market. It wouldn't let you take a copy of your game over to your friend's house to play it, either, because apparently, Sony hates and loathes you, its customers. gamera_spinning has the brutal and gory details here. Note that this hasn't been implemented yet - just a complete method to implement it has been patented. Watch for it coming to a game system near you. :-p

And there's more! The "code left behind" after you run Sony's so-called "removal" programme includes an ActiveX control which is marked safe for scripting. One of the things the code chunk does is download executable code and run it. Without any user intervention. Without checking where the code is coming from. Details here: http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2005/11/sony_uninstall_.html

Cultural Warfare Addendum (Accidental Post)

Actually, I was just queueing these up for tomorrow's regular update. But, well, one accidental post later, and here they are. Enjoy!

GAO: The scientific process on Plan B was overridden for political reasons from the top, and the outcome was fixed;

Alito attempts to play down anti-abortion rhetoric from 1985, saying he is "wiser" now.

( Excerpts )

Now we get into it (leaves)

As of this post, we leave the flowers behind. The alternate take of yesterday's flower is the last of the regular series until next spring! Oh, there may be a few more - if I find some winter-blooming flowers, I'll take pictures and post them. But for now, this is it:


Thank You, And Good Night!

It's sad! But, well, we're into the leaf pictures now, and I have a lot of those queued up. Here's the next on the list, sequentially:


First Taste

But to be honest, while that's pleasant enough, it's a little bland. So to prove leaf pictures can have drama, here - have a little fire, Scarecrow:


Molten Steel