For "this or any later version", I have always read this line as you get to choose which version you want to follow, not the one granting you the licence.
Yeah, but I think the main point is that the GPL 'at your option any later version' clause is a burden on the developer, not the user. Suppose that the software is under the GPLv2 (with the later version clause) and the FSF has a hostile takeover. If:
- The FSF makes a GPLv4 to remove all commercial use, it's not a problem for the user since they could stick with the GPLv2. It's not a problem for the developer either, since the extra requirement that they may not agree with is only optional (since the GPLv2 can still be used).
- The FSF makes a license that says: screw copyleft, GPLv4 is now the MIT license. Again, it's not a problem for the user, they can either continue to use the GPLv2 or make use of the additional liberties of the MIT license (e.g. using the code in close source work). But it is a problem for the developer. They chose to use a copyleft license and now everybody can grab their code and use it in closed source software, etc.
This is vastly different from the Dropbox changes, since every update of the terms affects the user.
Though even the "user" might be harmed, because you might get a device shipped to you with what-was-previously-copyleft software, and now you can't ask the vendor (also the "user") for copy of the source code since they can claim "we are using it under the terms of v4, sorry".
Good point. IANAL, but I think that is more murky terrain. Downstream redistributors like the vendor are not allowed to remove copyright notices, so I think the notice to get it under the GPLv2 or later is passed to the user as well. Not sure which one would weigh stronger then, the copyright notice or the claim of the vendor to ship under a newer version of the license.
Another question is whether a newer version would even apply if it was not in the same spirit as the included GPL version, since the license also states:
The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions of the General Public License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns.
Again, IANAL, but I always felt like many of the parts of the GPL are ambiguous and the interpretation would only become clear in a court case.
For the GPLv2 there is already a lot of malicious things a vendor can do anyway. In contrast to the GPLv3, GPLv2 does not have the 'anti-tivoization'-clause. So, even though the vendor may be required to provide source code, you may not be able to run the software with your modifications anyway, because the vendor uses a bootloader that will only run software that they sign.
* A German court process found that the GPLv2 does have an anti-tivoization clause
* If the FSF published something clearly against the spirit, like "Microsoft can take ownership of your IP", it is not clear a judge would allow this. If it's within the same spirit, like "you agree to allow forks that aren't substantially different to use your trademark", they probably would. Legal loopholes aren't like computer hacking, they are social engineering.
* If I can use it under GPLv2 and GPLv2 allows me to redistribute it under GPLv2, then I can redistribute it under GPLv2. "Or later" means that I can pick a version to comply with, not that I have to comply with all of them simultaneously. So I can always remove the "or later" clause. I can also change it to "GPLv3 or later" since I may choose to comply with any subset of the allowed licenses (here all of them except for GPLv2).
It is capitalism doing capitalism stuff, but more fundamentally technology is allowing for more centralized control of more things by fewer people. Regardless of ideology, increasing concentration of power has bad outcomes for people (except the ones in power).
Because he works for Anthropic. Supposedly this project was not part of his official capacity as an employee of theirs.
However, if they had published first, it's hard to imagine Anthropic not taking the opportunity to claim "our employee solved this Millennium prize problem using our AI".
> [the Open AI rep] twice asserted that he wanted Levent removed from authorship, and said it would all be simple if only it were not the case that, and it was so annoying that, Levent works at Anthropic.
Later on the author claims that the OpenAI rep threatened to ruin his career if he didn't go along with them.
Worth noting that there were two versions of the problem:
- the proof in the equations with viscosity (which OpenAI claims to have solved), and
- the proof with no viscosity (which Tristian and Levent solved)
What is confusing is that if OpenAI can prove their independence from Levent and Tristian, they could take full credit for proving the viscous version of the problem. Offering to give one author credit for something they proved seems like a strange choice: if nothing else it seems obvious that it would drive a very deep wedge between the two authors of the non-viscous version.
It seems very hard for OpenAI to prove that independence. Since they seem unable to exclude the possibility that their model was trained on transcripts by the two mathematicians.
They didn't want his name removed from any paper. The invitation was to write a new joint paper between Buckmaster and OpenAI. An invitation Alpoge couldn't accept and OpenAI wouldn't make since he worked for a competitor.
This "only" escapes the JavaScript sandbox. You still need to chain it with an escape for the process sandbox. So it's not just the boring stuff of turning a predictable crash into arbitrary execution, but also finding a second RCE vulnerability to chain this with
there are many vulns that are sitting idle waiting to be chained like this. plus in some cases adjacent bugs can be found once you find a bug like this.
Yeah mine is Debian + xfce although my laptop is fairly powerful 32Gb gen 12 Intel. It's fast, light and pleasure to use. Apt any day over all those fancy flat pack etc
Rule of thumb: ANY li-ion cell (or battery of cells) can charge from ~20 to ~70% in under 20 minutes. If not, the charging is not done correctly (either you're limited by the charger or the cooling of the battery)
For some value of "correct" but not others. For EV's, most of the time, the "correct" thing to do is to plug it in overnight, and let the software do the rest to optimise charging. Which might look something like:
Charging to start at midnight (or whenever the cheap rate starts) and complete by 7am (or usual wakeup time) and minimise wear by charging below a fastest rate, and take the battery level from where it is now (e.g. 50%) to the configured stopping point (e.g. 80%)
This is clearly different from "charge as fast as possible and be done in 20 minutes". Although that is occasionally the requirement. But not most of the time.
I miswrote. I meant that it's not the battery being the bottleneck, but rather something else - the charger, the cooling, the grid, the
user/app setting a non-maximum power etc.
Agreed, though the other point is that the larger charging system (battery, charger, grid etc) being the bottleneck in need of optimisation is not typical. It happens, but not every time. For overnight charging, you want L2 and usually the rest doesn't matter so much.
By your definition, almost any ad is mind control and should be forbidden. At least any effective ad. And I don't disagree at that conclusion. There's a difference between telling people you have a product and making people want to have your product
I wholeheartedly agree with this. There should be one central catalog of products and services and all commercial information should be available to "pull" and never get "pushed". To be able to sell any product or service you should be legally required to register it in the catalog with detailed description (including manuals, also technical manuals) and up to date price.
I kept saying "policing" here because unfortunately this is the absolute worst kind of evil for a society to have to deal with: the kind that is not absolutely black and white.
Murder is a tidy kind of evil. If you murder someone that's bad and you go to jail, and murder is pretty decisive. The victim is no longer alive. The black and white nature kills all the nuance around "why did you do it?" It doesn't matter why you killed them. You killed them so you committed murder.
This, however, has shades of grey, and that sucks. If I write a novel and try to make it entertaining and make it a page turner by making chapters punchy and short, is that "engineering addiction?" What if I design a game and try to make it fun and end up making it addictive?
You end up with stuff like the famous and infamous statement about porn: "I can't define it but I know it when I see it." That sucks because to police something you need definitions and lines.
Moral problems like this suck because they require deeply nuanced thinking and a continuous social discourse around where to draw the line, and we hate that. People like absolutes. So one problem you tend to get with moral problems like this is bifurcation of the discourse into moralist crusaders with a zero-tolerance policy versus libertines who think it's not a problem. Both of these extremes lead to abuse and immoral actions. The crusaders end up being worse tyrants than the problem, while the libertines leave the sheep to be devoured by wolves.
But that's what this is. It's a complicated grey problem that mandates a continuous ongoing social discourse and a never-ending series of court cases. But it exists, so we have to deal with it, so we have to do that.
It means we have to think. Ugh.
To answer your question directly: yeah, I think a big part of the ad industry falls here, and that's good. What remains is ads that are informative, playful, or entertaining, and those are the kids of ads we don't tend to hate so much. Some of them can even be legitimate art.
The best way to start with problems like this is: start by drawing a line just to the right of the stuff that is unambiguously terrible.
If you create a scientific R&D program to study the human brain and human psychology with the express purpose of engineering addiction and then fail to communicate this fact to the people you're trying to addict, that's IMO pretty damn unambiguously evil. When the government did this it was called MKULTRA and there were congressional hearings over it and people shredded documents and hid under rocks in fear of what they were doing coming to light, which kind of shows that the people doing it knew it was bad. So let's start by banning that kind of shit even if it's happening in the private sector with private money.
Then once you've drawn that line, re-assess. If the problem is still terrible and pervasive, consider drawing another line a little further to the right. Repeat.
It would be the most effective way to hurt Americans.
But it isn’t politically possible for Canada to do this. The two segments that would be most effective, oil & gas and potash happen to come from provinces that already have significant issues with the federal government. One is even flirting with separation, which would be inflamed by export taxes.
Canada is also very venerable to similar actions by the Americans. Refined oil products, fertilizers and oil & gas pipeline transit all come from the Americans.
It is fun to imagine Canada sticking it to the Americans with export taxes, but it will never happen.
Sure, but I am also not sure it's really that essential. People can grumble and either pay or not buy. Potash cannot really be not used in modern agriculture.
Maple farms take decades to reach maturity. The US imports about 4x more maple from Canada than Vermont’s entire production capacity. It’s not possible.
So consumers will pay double or substitute with flavoured corn syrup.
Scarcity is not really the problem—it is price competitiveness. Many, possibly most, maple syrup producers in New England do not sell to national grocery store chains. You go to the sugar house and buy a jug which is typically much more expensive than what you’d find in a grocery store. But you also have more choices, since you can buy from a person who sells different grades. I rarely see more than one grade for sale in a US grocery store. I don’t mind paying a little extra for something I use in such small quantities to support a neighbor.
> Many, possibly most, maple syrup producers in New England do not sell to national grocery store chains.
But scarcity is the problem. Unless you're able to demonstrate that the low supply is artificial, and that maple syrup producers are a cartel and restrict their own production and distribution chain, as well as block any newcomers from trying to enter large-scale production.
Because as is is, if they manage to sell their entire supply through their sugar shacks, then it obviously means they don't have enough capacity to supply grocery chains, let alone on a national level. That's the literal definition of scarce supply.
They absolutely restrict their own production. Have you ever been to one of these things before? There are probably a few maple syrup producers out there trying to scale up, but for the vast majority, it’s a lifestyle/supplemental income kind of thing. They tap some trees, invite everyone over and charge a few bucks for pancakes while they boil their syrup, and then move on to other things when the ground thaws. The University of Vermont has been trying to set up sap production as a competitive form of agriculture but people just aren’t interested. Literally every syrup producer I’ve met was in it for the romance.
Maybe it could cause the phone to "randomly" bootloop or something? "Oh no, my phone is broken again, last time this happened I needed to do a factory reset"
This case happened precisely because the officers noticed the phone flash and reboot when they entered the pin. IIRC they didn't make a fuss over it, but time later he got charged over the event.
So whatever a duress pin does, it has to be subtle enough that anyone looking doesn't link it to the act of entering the pin.
Have a phone with crappy battery and have it trigger a high processor load to take the battery voltage drop and turn off the phone? (Eg what Apple tried to prevent with the batterygate thing).
reply