] Rocket plane SpaceShipOne reached an altitude above 62.5
] miles (100 km) during its brief flight Monday morning,
] making it the first privately built craft to fly in
] space, controllers said.

Yay!

CNN.com - Private craft flies into space - Jun 21, 2004

] This article argues that since domestic drilling is ultimately
] ineffectual, it's probably not worth the trouble.

My understanding was that it wasn't crude prices so much as
refinery undercapacity and further supply problems created by
the 100+ fuel formulations in effect in different parts of the
country.

RE: Would More Drilling in America Make a Difference?

Decius wrote:
] ] SPF is harmful. The architectural ramifications of it
] ] are so extensive and will have such significant changes
] ] on the ways that people can access and can use Internet
] ] mail, that it would actually be less costly to switch to
] ] an entirely new architecture such as IM2000 Internet mail
] ] than it would be to switch to SPF and deal with all of
] ] its consequences properly.
]
] Hrm. This website makes a compelling case that the rush to
] adopt SPF is premature.

This guy seems like a sort-of Dan Bernstein wannabe ...

The IM2000 stuff is interesting. I think it would help with the
"spam clogging mail servers" problem but not directly improve
the garbage in my inbox that I have to wade through.

RE: FGA: SPF is harmful. Adopt it.

Decius wrote:
] ] we've heard confident assertions that there are really
] ] only a dozen or so "kingpins," and equally confident
] ] assertions of 200, or 1000. Frankly, I think the number
] ] is probably larger, because cases against allegedly large
] ] spammers don't seem to affect the overall volume of spam
] ] out there. If there were only a few, those cases should
] ] make a noticeable difference. Or, it could be true that
] ] there really are only 200 at any one time, but it's very
] ] easy for others spammers to enter the business.
]
] The FTC is looking at authentication systems like SPF to
] address the spam problem. They don't believe law enforcement
] can do it.

I believe the FBI dude at SummerCon said that they had
"quite a few" spam investigations underway and wouldn't unseal
the indictments until the cases were airtight.

I think a few (hundred) high-profile prosecutions and people
doing hard time for this shit might make a dent. Then firewall
any country that doesn't come onboard.

Squeeze the spammers from 2 directions:
1. If you get caught sending spam, you will face stiff criminal
penalties.
2. Fix the mail system so that its easier to catch spammers.

RE: The FTC's View on the Spam Problem (washingtonpost.com)

] Unlicensed spectrum is different. In addition to all the
] regulatory complexities, there is an enormous
] philosophical change being proposed here. Because of
] advances in wireless technology, what spectrum is, at
] least in a regulatory setting, has been transformed, and
] the FCC is being asked to ratify that transformation.
]
] The key thing about the regulation of "spectrum" is that
] it isn't really about spectrum at all, but about the
] technology for transmitting and receiving wireless
] signals. The weakness being avoided by regulation --
] interference -- doesn't actually exist in the real world.

Found this blog linked off of lessig.org.

The Philosopher's Stone of Spectrum

Rattle wrote:
] ] For 50 years, computer programmers have been writing
] ] code. New technologies continue to emerge, develop, and
] ] mature at a rapid pace. Now there are more than 2,500
] ] documented programming languages! O'Reilly has produced a
] ] poster called History of Programming Languages (PDF:
] ] 701k), which plots over 50 programming languages on a
] ] multi-layered, color-coded timeline.

There was something like this in Wired awhile back...

RE: The History of Programming Languages

] Standard SMTP email is anonymous and forgeable.
]
] SPF closes this loophole. SFP is primarily an
] anti-forgery effort. Any benefits in the area of reduced
] spam, worms, viruses, etc are pleasant side-effects. That
] said, if SPF causes spammers to send mail from their own
] domains, we'll be better able to identify and block those
] domains.

Another flavor of sender-authentication. This is a superset of
both Reverse MX and the Designated Mailer Protocol. This is pretty
easy to deploy both sender and receiver side.

SMTP Sender Policy Framework

] Has the entire Goddamn universe become snared by the
] siren song of City of Heroes? Everywhere I look, monitors
] glow with bobbing superhero ass. I played it, and it was
] great at what it did - Diablo plus Unprecedented
] Character Creation. I declared it inoffensive and moved
] on. And now, I'd say eighty percent of my friends can't
] pry themselves from that superteat.

Tycho on City of Heroes

Rattle wrote:
] ] Comcast, the country's largest provider of high-speed
] ] Internet access, has begun blocking a channel frequently
] ] exploited by spammers to send out large volumes of
] ] e-mail, a move that many technologists say was long
] ] overdue and should be matched by other service providers.

] Its email that needs to change, not the Internet. The Internet
] should remain stupid, and treat all ports as equal. It should
] not have ridged rules imposed upon what can flow over it
] because of a problem with an application. Taking away user's
] ability to contact external SMTP server's is a big thing to do
] for a 20% reduction in spam, which the spammers will adapt
] to..

1. I think Comcast said they were going to do it adaptively, based
on the "top 10" hosts each day. There is no reason for a random
user to be sending 10000 messages per day from their cable modem.

Maybe a better policy is "firewall port 25 for people that aren't
well-know/well-behaved mail servers and are sending a suspicious volume of mail."

2. I think its fair to say that the vast majority of spam now
comes from consumer broadband connections, especially bot nets of
compromised windows boxes. This could potentially do more
damage than 20% ... if you could get enough of the big broadband providers onboard

Ultimately, I agree that fixing email is the Right Answer ... but
its a really hard and mostly non-technical problem that will take a long time. These days, I'm thinking the majority of spam abatement will come from a few high-profile prosecutions of spammers and the adoption of some sender-authentication scheme. Installing certs on MXes wouldn't be so bad...

RE: Comcast to Firewall Port 25

] This Friday, Professor Turow and other experts will meet
] at a conference sponsored by the Annenberg School to
] debate how digital media fits into the concept of "fair
] use" - a murky safe harbor in copyright law that allows
] scholars and researchers limited use of protected
] materials for educational or commentary purposes.
]
] The conference title itself is a lament: "Knowledge Held
] Hostage: Scholarly Versus Corporate Rights in the Digital
] Age." Many scholars, librarians and legal experts see
] rich promise for the use of multimedia materials in
] research and education. But the possibility of litigation
] over file-sharing and confusion over digital copyright
] protections have scholars feeling threatened about
] venturing beyond the more familiar world of printed
] texts, Professor Turow said.

Permissions on Digital Media Drive Scholars to Lawbooks