Welcome

Hi!  Welcome to my little corner of the web.  I am interested in Linux and Unix programming and I'm also an advocate of online privacy.

Stuff that irks me

Here is a tarball containing the DVD CSS decryption software written by the Norwegian group Masters of Reverse Engineering (MoRE). I am placing this here in protest of the sabre rattling by the DVD Copy Control Association (CCA), formed by the movie, computer and consumer electronics industries to oversee licensing of DVD technology and their lawsuit against hundreds of people around the world to stop distribution of this software.

I particularly object to the quote attributed to Claude Stern, an intellectual property attorney with Fenwick & West, in a story from Reuters that appeared in the San Jose Mercury News .

``All those companies that have major amounts of content can't afford to have some moron hacker post something because he thinks it's cool.''

Claude, I don't do this because it's cool. I do it because I can and because the first amendment to our constitution guarantees me that right. As for the name calling, I'll leave that up to you.

One more thing, what "All those companies that have major amounts of content" can afford is of little concern to me. If they were to offer a good product at a fair price, they would do a good business. Perhaps not the bang-up business they're used to, but a good business none the less, but their attempt to abuse my fair use rights leaves me with little sympathy for their plight.

Other stuff

I recently purchased a Compaq 2538cl laptop and here is a journal of my experience installing Mandrake 9.2 on it. I wish this document existed before I started but my hope is that it will help even one poor soul going through the same experience.