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Singing Cow To Attack CBDTPA
karmawarrior writes "Gateway is launching an advertising campaign against Senator Holling's CBDTPA bill, which, apparently will include its cow mascot encouraging computer users to legally download MP3s and burn their own CDs." Wired also has a story; see Gateway's website for more, as Gateway takes a page from Apple's "Rip-Mix-Burn" playbook.
Ever had a cow lick and suck on your drooping balls? It's Heaven!
LUNIX SUCKS!!!
...take a page from Chik-fil-a. I can see it now, 2 cows on a ladder, painting a billboard to say "Download more Zepplin"
The scene was UCLA. Two students were talking to each other. Their names were Heinz Klagendorff, an established editor, and Arthur Von Schmitt. Little did they know that a meteor was about to crash into the student parking lot. It landed on a BMW, destroying its entire frame. Suddenly, strange radiation started to flow from the rock. It physically altered the two men. It increased their size. Suddenly, a transparent image came from the meteor. It was of an old man in ancient robes. He said onto the two large fellows, "I am close to death, but my power will live on. I choose you, Arthur. You will have my god-like powers." He suddenly vanished into thin air, and the meteor disintegrated.r -your-arm-off appeared.
The mutation had severly torn their clothes, leaving them nearly naked. In the interest of not creating a scene, they ran off, and hid to avoid the crowds. Luckily, they made it back to their dorm room. They just stood for hours, thinking how much their lives have changed. "What the hell am I going to do? I'll never get to be a writer now," said Arthur in despair. " Wait! Didn't that old man say you have god-like powers?" said Heinz, trying to look on the bright side. " Yes, but I have to create the spell before I can use it. Wait; how did I know that?" said Arthur in puzzlement. "It seems now that I bear the knowledge to write magic and an infinite number of things. I can create enough spells to make me almost a living god. I can create an empire from this rotting, corrupted country. I shall be a true Emperor with supreme power over state," said Arthur, in complete upliftance from what seemed to be a predicament.
After a while Heinz snuck back to his room, while Arthur spent all night writing spells. The first few started off simple, but, as the more he wrote, the more complex and powerful they became. The following morning, Heinz returned to Arthur's room to see what was going on. He was suprised to see Arthur still writing magic. "Heinz, my good man. I've completed over fifty spells so far. Soon I can initiate the ultimate plan. Heinz, my friend, the United States is a rotting husk, filled with corruption and greed. What I propose is a constitutional monarchy, with me as the monarch. What do you say, old friend?" " Ah, what the hell. I might as well. It must be more exciting then finishing college," replied Heinz.
Three hours later, they were packed up and ready to leave college. Arthur then chanted a minor spell of creation, and summoned a '64 Cadillac, loaded up their stuff in the trunk, and drove out to the edge of town. They stopped at an area near the sea shore, and spent the night trying to plan their assault, which would take Los Angeles completely by suprise.
Late that night, Arthur just gazed out at the ocean, as a lightning storm formed. In a low tone he uttered, "It has begun." The next morning, Heinz and Arthur got up and readied themselves, using the troop designs they made. A powerful spell of creation was chanted, and suddenly one-thousand reptilian soldiers in battle armour with powerful looking three-chambered fully-automatic-rifles-with-a-kick-that-could-tea
Arthur looked at Heinz's clothing, and then his own. It didn't seem like the clothing a warrior would charge into battle with. Then with the uttering of a few words, fine looking battle armour appeared on them. On Arthur sat a crown with three prongs standing erect topped with large, finely crafted rubies. The armour was highly crafted, completely black, shining like it caught the sun itself, with a fine gold trim around the shoulder and waist areas. It had two small lion heads on the chest that held a fine red cape. The sword sheath was black, with a finely decorated gold tip that held a powerful looking long sword with a silver horned skull with ruby eyes on the handle guard. He also wore purple pants with decorative armoured boots with a horned skull that had two ruby eyes. His forearm bands were black with a gold trim. Heinz's armour was similair, except that he wore a battle helmet. It was black with a gold trim around the face opening. It had two large horns coming out the side. On the top sat a silver skull similair to the ones that decorate the sword hilts and armoured boots, except that it had like a red unbraided tail coming from the top of the skull that came down.
With the uttering of a spell of creation, a fleet of troop transports appeared, each with a seargent and driver. The troops loaded up into them , and they departed, heading for Los Angeles. They left each in an even row, with Heinz and Arthur in the lead transports. Soon they approached the Los Angeles thruway. Unfortunately, it was during eight o'clock traffic. "Ah, to hell with this, we're driving through," said Arthur in rage. So, the massive transports roared, as they started driving over the cars in front of them. After a few transports ploughed through, the cars started moving aside. Just when they thought they saw the end of the traffic jam, a police car came speeding towards them. Arthur only stared, but then he signaled the driver to fire the roof cannon at the speeding police cruiser. The roof cannon's Gatling gun-like barrel whirled, unleashing a deadly spray of Magnesium-tipped explosive shells, that utterly annhilated the car in the wink of an eye. The front transports ploughed through the wreckage, not even taking notice of the burning steel on the road. The fleet of transports soon entered the city, heading straight for city hall. When they reached city hall, the tranports completely surrounded the place, as the 1000 Ingangasard soldiers poured out of the transports and completely surrounded the building, cutting off all routes of escape. A small contingent went in with Heinz and Arthur, heading straight to the mayors office. Heinz and Arthur barged right into the mayor's office, nearly breaking the doors down. The mayor came from the window. Obviosly she was staring down at what was going on in the streets. "What do you want?" said the mayor in fear. "We want the city old woman!" said Arthur with anger in his voice. "Oh no you won't, I'm not giving over this city to some muscle-bound moron and some wierdos in rubber masks." replied the mayor. "Look out there, you dried up old husk! The police won't stand a chance against my troops!" said Arthur, showing even greater anger than before. Soon, police cars were starting to head toward city hall, where the Ingangasard troops started opening fire. They were cutting down cops, patrol cruisers, and swat team members, showing little mercy. After an hour of fighting, the police surrendered. Soon, the Mayor surrendered the city over to Arthur. Then, everyone got back into the transports, and drove to the center of the town. There stood a bunch of old skyscrapers that would be torn down. "Let's save the city some money, and tear these monstrousities down for them. I shall replace them with a great palace that will be fit to rule my great empire from," said Arthur, basking in his glory. He then mumbled a chant, his hands started to glow, the buildings collapsed, as a huge tower bursted from the earth. Many more towers and buildings followed, until it revealed a monstrous gothic castle, indeed a structure to notice. As everyone went in, Arthur pointed out the troops' temporary barracks, as Arthur and Heinz went to the office, from which Arthur would command his kingdom. "Now then, Heinz, my good friend, we must plan out the attack wave in which we shall conquer California," said Arthur. The plan seemed simple. A simple suprise attack going out from all directions. The only problem was the lack of forces. "There is only one problem with our plan: we lack the forces to carry it out," said Heinz, sighing over the major fact that they forgot. "Heinz, my old friend, you forget; I'm the most powerful person on this God forsaken rock we call a planet. Give me a few hours, and I shall have the forces that I need," said Arthur in a near mad state. Arthur immediatly headed for the library, where his spell books were kept. After a few hours, there arouse a near deafening thunder, suddenly there appeared a swarm of fighter jets, 100,000 Ingangasard troops, and a battalion of menacing looking tanks. Arthur slowly walked back into the office and said sarcastically, "Is that enough forces for you?" and the two only laughed, as they looked out the window and looked at their vast addition to the army. Several days later, the entire force pulled out, including Heinz and Arthur, both mounted on huge magically conjured horses capable of supporting their weight. They headed out of the city by horse trails and such. About a half a mile out, they split up, heading for the surrounding counties of Southern California. The attacks moved swiftly with little resistance. They were well assured that not a single person would expect an invasion, especially from within their own state. They returned to Los Angeles the next morning with all of Southern California, from the Mexican border to Santa Babera all under Arthur's control. Later that week broadcasted from the palace on national television, was the coronation, that changed him from Arthur Von Schmitt into Emperor Arthur the I, founder and ruler of EmperiActic, "The Last Empire on Earth." In the next few months, people started to feel the change of the government. Strict measures were taken to prevent political corruption. It was very much like a witch hunt. Corrupt politicians were disgraced, and their sentences, not too leniant. Some were even sent to San Quentin.
There was also a need to replace the standard police force. They soon brought in Ingangasards who seemed just perfect; they're cool under pressure, their scaly hide is virtually impervious to all forms of bullets, and they possess the strength to handle heavy weapons. With these changes came almost a complete reversion to the thirties; police now started to carry improved Thompson sub-machine guns, and Ingangasards could use the once dangerous fully automatic pistols whose kick-back could dislocate a shoulder. This left human police to be transferred into undercover and plainclothes divisions.
Not too long after the palace came into being, also came a ressurection of Gothic and Victorian architecture, apparently inspired by the palace. The glass and steel skyskrapers were being replaced by buildings of these once forgotten architectural styles.
All of this happened when the United States was so deep in debt that they couldn't even afford to send in troops to retake Southern California. Yet still, there was more in store for EmperiActic.
The following months were rather hard for the new emperor, almost non-stop combat occured in the take-over of the rest of California. Many battles in these early campaigns would go down in history; the bombardment of Sacremento, the storming of San Francisco. Some called the Emperor a muscle bound, half-crazed bufoon, but they soon learned their lesson.
With the borders finally established the Emperor began concentrating on other matters, such as creating an ulimited source of Ingangasard troops. The answer was finally clear; genetic engineering would be used to produce the greatest warriors in Earth's history. The Emperor himself would lead the research team. With the Emperor heading the research team, the project was sure to be a sucess. The reason for such hopes was simple; the Emperor held intelligence beyond most human comprehention, and possessed a very creative mind. The project would also seem easy to start by basing the base on already known theories and facts in the field studied by many government agencies, and major corporations. Thus, the quest began to create the ultimate soldier.
It took months to get beyond the barriers that held back other earlier researchers. Even if this project did fail, they would have already made several ground breaking discoveries. Yet they did not stop or quit. They pushed further, letting nothing get in their way. The Emperor was said to be inspirational, never tiring or giving up. At times he worked all night just to get better results.
Soon, the team's first major product of their long research was completed; a large genetic incubator was created. Some called it a steel womb, yet a prototype was ready. The incubator had passed the initial tests with flying colors, but now came the real test. A large amount of genetic protoplasmic mass was placed in the incubator, and if the experiment worked, in approximatly three months, this pulsing mass of genetic goo would turn into a fully formed ingangasard.
With the first month a sucess, the Emperor ordered thousands more of these incubators to be constructed, before the end of the three month gestation period of the prototype. Just before the end of the third month, the three-thousandth incubator was completed.
With the physical construction completed, the easy part was completed. Now came the most crucial part; the development of the mind. Luckily, the Emperor already had a theory concerning the creation of a fully developed intellect and personality; a systematic randomization of images of everything around the Los Angeles area, from accents to archetecture and fashion hoping to create what would be a full fledged citizen of Los Angeles. This coupled with large amounts of educational images all being pumped into a mind thirsting for knowledge. This first genetically created ingangasard was a sucess. They named him Adam Nutz after Dr. Randall Stellson, the geneticist who created the genetic material that was the basis for the research team's engineering experiments. Soon Adam was brought into the ranks of the army, and three thousand of his brethren would soon become part of the Emperial legions.
The Hollings bill has drawn the support of major recording companies, who believe fast Internet connections and an array of digital devices such as MP3 players and CD burners, as well as Napster and other file-sharing services, were partly responsible for a decline in album sales last year
Didn't sales go up when napster started and then descreased when RIAA went and shutdown napster?
Hell I know people who used to get Mp3's so they could decide whether to buy an album who now just get them to piss off RIAA.
--"Karma is justice without the satisfaction"
...but for doing this, I now (temporarily) love that Holstein!
He won't cave into Disney and Sony.
Ok i'm all for lobbying against the bill...
but PLLLLLLLLLLEAAAAAAAASE dont show more of that cow!!!!! I hope Steve from Dell eats it! then gets mad cow disease and dies!!
This commercial has been out for a while, and it was BEFORE this public derision of the bill started.
The commercial features Ted Waitt and a cow in a semi singing along to Devo's "Whip it".
This has been on TV for a couple MONTHS now. I'm pretty sure it had nothing to do with the bill, but was just being used as counterpoint in the article, saying that while this bill is being submitted, a computer maker is suggesting that ripping audio and burning CD's is fair use.
It's no different than Apple's "Rip. Mix. Burn." advertisement a while back.
While I think this is good news and all...
Gateway is another large company with an agenda, and ITS agenda happens to coincide with my interests, and so I think it is good news.
But really, what is the online-privacy and free-speech fight really? It is large corporations fighting each other to see which one gets to write the laws. There is a debate going on, but we are not really part of it, except as the Prize. If a divorcing couple fight over who gets to keep the Car, they aren't really worried about what the Car wants.
God is real unless declared integer
I've seen it already, twice.
Basically, both sides are rallying around a cause in order to drum up support. The recording industry is chanting, "The artists! The artists!" At the same time, tech seems to be saying, "The consumer! The consumer!" But in the end, everyone's just looking out for their own threatened business model.
karmawarrior writes "Gateway is launching an advertising campaign against Senator Holling's CBDTPA bill, which, apparently will include its cow mascot encouraging computer users to legally download MP3s and burn their own CDs." Wired also has a story; see Gateway's website for more, as Gateway takes a page from Apple's "Rip-Mix-Burn" playbook.
Hello Titty (.)(.)
Breasts make everything better.(tm)
Finally someone realizing that consumers drive the economy and that we want to be able to listen to music on our computers, rip CDs and burn them. Making your own compilation CD is legal and cool. Why the record and movie dorks keep trying to squeeze more out of us and give us less I don't know, but maybe this will start a wave of companies fighing for the freedom to give us what we want and will FREAK'EN PAY FOR.
-- 2 Powerful Words: Extra Gravy
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
In their efforts to protect their bottom lines, companies like disney ignore the fact that not all mp3's in the universe contain copyrighted material.
In summary: BOOYAHCASHA!!!!!!!!
Computer piracy and illegal mp3s may hurt the artists, but it's a boon to hardware manufacturers. It makes perfect sense for Gateway to take this stance.
Please, no flames about how CD burners and mp3s have legal uses. All I'm saying is that Gateway didn't have some devine revelation that the SCCCAAAAAA or whatever the hell it's called now was a bad bill. They simply realized that free software and no DRM equals lower cost for them and more people that can afford their overpriced computers.
Open Source advocates may find opposing Hollings bill makes for strange bedfellows. It actually suggests that Microsoft might be our ally (gasp!) because of their recently found devotion to streaming media and peer to peer networking.
std::disclaimer<std::legalese> sig=new std::disclaimer; sig->dump(); delete sig;
Following the RIAA's logic, I guess car companies that advertise their wares are really encouraging the breaking of speed limits, reckless driving, and driving too fast for conditions when they show advertisements with the disclaimer "professional driver on closed course".
Do insurance companies then complain that auto manufacturers are behaving irresponsibly? No.
Should the RIAA be complaining about Gateway's ads? No.
I went to the city because I wished to live without deliberation.
but if they're promoting the downloading of LEGAL mp3's, how does this go against the copyright bill that prevents ILLEGAL pirated music..?
Last night my brother was watching FX when this commercial came on. I watched it, and was amazed to see it, but this only hit me as important, while my brother didn't care.
The point that I'm making is that now, even with commercials made to reach everybody, the mainstream still doesn't really know what the CBDTPA even is.
I once had a discussion about this with a friend... He claimed it was possible for the US to enforce it's laws on it's allies in certain situations? Does anybody knows more about this?
Visitors to the website slashdot.org will by now have surely heard of the act of Moderation. This is where a contributor's post can be 'Moderated' either positively or negatively, depending on how the Moderator perceives the value of the post. There is a sliding scale of total moderation points, from -1 to 5, along with snappy summaries of the reason for moderation, such as "Funny", "Insightful", or the ever popular "Troll". An additional benefit offered to Moderators is the ability to ban a poster from contributing, by negatively moderating enough of his postings in a 24 hour period.
In order to retain some level of fairness for the Slashdot population, the Slashdot Editors (adopting the role of 'Benevolent Dictators') have implemented a scheme whereby regular users of Slashdot, chosen essentially at random, are given the ability to act as Moderators.
This underlines an inherent flaw in the system. Psychological studies have shown that in any community, no matter how small, should a random sampling of people be given the slightest grasp of power, they will immediately abuse it. There is a primal, evolutionary desire in Man to place himself higher than his peers by whatever measurement they can muster. Slashdot Moderation provides the ideal means for which a man can prove himself more equal than others.
At the risk of invoking Godwin's Law at such an early point in my thesis, I have no choice but to compare Slashdot Moderation to the systematic genocide of the Jewish community in 1930's Germany.
A bold statement, I admit, and deliberately designed to shock, but I feel the statement is necessary. I shall now offer a more rational explanation, as well as a comparison of the parallels between Slashdot Culture, and the National Socialist regime.
First, some history. National Socialism did not spring up overnight. It grew from a feeling of national bitterness and resentment at the war reparations Germany was forced to make after World War One. Germany was a broken country, populated by desperate starving people. And to the desperate, an extreme ideology begins to seem like a rational choice.
The advent of new technology forces a paradigm shift in the way the beholders of that technology think. The Christianity Meme was made wide spread by the invention of the Gutenberg press. And the rise of National Socialism was made popular because of the invention of Cinema. Here we had a new means to control the flow of information to the populace, that they are willing to unquestioningly listen to due to the 'novelty factor' of moving pictures. It is no coincidence that some of the best Cinematography of the early 20th Century came out of the National Socialist propaganda machine.
Why is this the case? It is yet another fault of man that a new means of distributing memes is perceived, due to the 'newness' of the medium, to have a greater 'validity' than older media. Those harnessing new inventions have the power to win control of the hearts and minds of others.
With the tools in place, who should the National Socialists target? Clearly, as a counterpoint to Man's desire to hold power over others, there is also a desire to resent the success of others. If someone is successful, they reduce the self-worth of their beholders. Although times were harsh in Germany in the prelude to World War II, there were still successful inhabitants of that country. Possessing shrewd business acumen as well as the contacts in other countries needed to maintain support in such a poverty stricken and broken land, who else should deserve the wrath of the populace more than the Jews?
Fast-forward to the latter quarter of the 20th Century. Computing technology is focused in niche markets, and limited to big successful companies like IBM and Microsoft. As the markets were limited, there were also limited opportunities for employment. This gave rise to a rising number of college dropouts, seething with resentment and unable to relate to society beyond the staccato clatter of keyboards and the pallid green glow of an 80x24 text display, and lacking the basic business skills (and a smart suit) needed to secure employment at one of these companies.
At this time, a new invention was beginning to take hold in College campuses throughout the world. The Internet. As with the Gutenberg press and Cinema beforehand, this new technology would grow to spread one of the most virulent memes of the modern age - Open Source Software, created as the antithesis of successful business practise.
So, the parallels between the birth of Anti-Semetic National Socialism and the birth of Open Source Software have been made. Of course, it is easy to claim that A=B without providing further logical evidence in support. So, the next task of my thesis is to provide further parallels, and bring this discourse back to the initial focus on Slashdot Moderation.
Slashdot was conceived, in it's original 'Chips 'n' Dips' incarnation, as a vehemently anti-corporate Open Source website. Roughly 10-15 years down the line from the birth of Open Source, it has become saturated with propaganda, and now forms the centrepiece of the Open Source Development Network. An authority in it's field, Slashdot's success is in no small part due to the ability of the editors to 'pick and choose' valid news articles submitted by users, and present the same old tired "Open Source Good / Closed Source Bad" rhetoric time and time again, dabbling with anti-copyright and the right of the 'common man' to remove an artist's ability to gain compensation for the work. In essence, this is similar to the 'paring down' of artistic worth in 1930's Germany. If no-one is willing to contribute valid and vibrant art to the community, then all art shall become harsh and functional, possessing a certain intimidating aesthetic.
Which leads onto Open Source's shining achievement - Linux. This diatribe is not aimed towards Linux in particular, as it is a well-oiled, well-tuned machine. A technically adept Operating System, it is worthy of admiration by any rational man. The point of this thesis is not to attack the art produced by Open Source coders, which in itself is worthy, but to enlighten all as to the political processes behind the OSS movement.
By the same scale, it is hard to fault Mercedes for the technical excellence of the vehicles which were used by the National Socialist party. But the politics behind the party are what taint the image of Mercedes' vehicles of the era. The Swastika itself is a benign symbol, found this day in such diverse locations as Pokemon cards, but is permanently tainted with the history of the acts made under its auspice. In the same way, companies switching to Open Source solutions will begin to regard the Penguin with the same trepidation as their profits fall.
It should be worth noting at this point that IBM, previously one of the world's greatest companies, has begun reporting servere financial losses, no doubt due to its adoption of Open Source practises. This epoch-making event was NOT reported on Slashdot, even though articles were submitted.
And what of the other great company mentioned above? Microsoft, aka Micro$oft, Mickeysoft, Microshaft, Kro$oft, and many other derogatory and undeserved names. Throughout the previous 25 years, Microsoft has grown from strength to strength, again possessing shrewd business acumen as well as providing products that people want. This makes them the number one target for the OSS movement. Incapable of standing by their own merits, the OSS zealot would rather attack Microsoft as a priority than produce anything of worth for their community.
Slashdot Moderators, crazed with their limited new-found power, exhibit this behavior. It is a sad state of affairs that the majority of article moderations are negative. Where is the positive feedback and sense of social contribution? Nowhere to be found. Moderators are too focused on putting their peers down to make themselves appear superior, rather than doing the hard work and becoming better on their own terms.
As the National Socialists required a scapegoat, Slashdot Moderators require a constant stream of Postings to label '-1, Inferior'. Once a posting is reduced to the score of -1, it becomes invisible to the casual user. Again, this is a parallel to the Ghettoization of Germany upon the election of Hitler.
In essence this would not be so bad, were postings to be evaluated on their own terms. However, alongside the moderation of their postings, each user has a 'Karma' value, namely the sum of their worth to the Slashdot community. As a user's posts are moderated up or down, so their Karma fluctuates. As Karma becomes negative, a user's default posting score is reduced, until they are posting at a default of -1. Again, ghettoizing PEOPLE, not just their opinions.
This ghettoization is reinforced with the often fake belief that a negatively moderated post, and therefore the poster, is a "Troll". (Is it any wonder that such a name has been chosen to describe these people, invoking mental imagery of facial disfigurement and hooked noses?) As the Jews were accused of fraud, dishonesty and being subhuman animals, so too are Trolls accused of FUD, Crapflooding, and obfuscated goatse.cx links. Quite often, these 'undesirables' are capable of providing a valid insightful comment on a topic, but because it is in opposition to the Political dogma of Slashdot they are moderated back into their ghetto. The person becomes moderated, not their opinion.
This is just the thin end of the wedge. Although, as memes are transient, it is difficult to silence an opinion, it is trivial to silence a person. Upon the rise of National Socialism in Germany, the populace were motivated by propaganda into entering the Jewish Ghettos en masse with the sole purpose of causing as much damage as possible to Jewish businesses and residences. This parallels far too accurately with the Slashdot Editor's non-discouragement of the act of IP-banning. As mentioned above, this occurs when an individual user's postings are repeatedly moderated down in a short period. They then become incapable of posting any contributions themselves. In essence, they have been silenced, regardless of the worth of their postings.
Of course, the editors claim that Meta-Moderation is the panacea to solve this clear abuse of moderating privledge. But if a Meta Moderator is presented with a list of moderations that they disagree with, such as this targetted 'silencing' mentioned above, they cannot note them as such without in turn becoming an 'Undesirable' themselves, as too many Disagreements with the Moderation groupthink also result in loss of Karma.
Throughout all of this, the Editors have claimed a false level of detachment from the acts of moderation. In a same way, as the National Socialists gathered their power and began working on their Elite Political wing, The SS, they too remained detached from the civilians working in their name. Why? Because after inspiring the populace to such acts of violence through their propaganda, they could then claim that they were only giving the people what they want.
And then began the next stage of the atrocities. The Gestapo, Germany's secret police, were recruited from the best and the brightest of Germany's elite. As is the case now, the best and the brightest of society were often shunned and ostracized in society. In essence, the Gestapo were a tightly controlled 'Geek Army' of intelligent young men with a burning, seething resentment of normal society. The perfect psychological profile for the cause.
After all, give a normal man (with an active sex life) a gun and he will use it responsibly in self defence. Give a geek a gun and he will behave according to his sociopathic logic and hatred of the world he arrogantly presumes to be distant from. Ask yourself why Slashdot flat-out justified the murder of innocents at Columbine. And then ask yourself why, even for a brief moment, you almost began to sympathize with the killers after Jon Katz' manipulative and pseudo-emotive Hellmouth articles.
How this relates to Slashdot is clear. The majority of Slashdot posters are Sociopathic OSS zealots, unable through lack of social finesse or personal hygiene to mate regularly. Sexually and emotionally frustrated and with grudges to bear, incapable in their blinkered sense of self-righteousness of accepting any dissenting opinion than the OSS cause. Now give these people the opportunity to Moderate these dissenting opinions. Of course they are going to want to silence them, by any means necessary.
Now, the Slashdot Editors have admitted taking this silence of opinion into the next stage, by moderating whole swathes of 'undesirable' posts negatively. And then permanently banning anyone who moderates said posts back up from moderating EVER again! The result of this new policy? The few Moderators with any sense of fairness and decency are removed from the moderation pool, leaving the power ENTIRELY in the hands of the zealots. Clearly, positive moderation is discouraged under this regime, which is a direct parallel with the way the National Socialists moved their own sympathisers into positions of power throughout Europe.
So how does this compare to the genocide performed in Auschwitz and their ilk? I would like at this point to explain that in NO way do I wish to belittle the horrors that were performed in the name of National Socialism. The six million innocents killed were a cry of anguish from which humanity may never recover. And a vast distance in time and scope from a few banned posters on some shitty "My Favourite Links - now with comments" website. But these stories need to be retold before the horror is lost forever.
For the only thing that we learn from history is that we never learn anything from history. Time and time again, the St. Vitus dance is played out, we make the same mistakes, and we perpetually fail to see the warning signs.
So, moderators, the next time you moderate a rational, insightful post down, maybe because you disagree with it or because it's posted by a 'Known Troll', just ask yourself this...
"Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
As a die-hard Apple user, I've always said that if I *had* to get a Win box, it'd be a Gateway, even if they do have a spokescow now.
:)
They seemed to use decent components, and their products felt like they had a personality, like they weren't just another mass-produced consumer computer. The cow spots added a touch of irreverance that made them feel like less of a corporate tool.
This just increases their chances of getting my business when that dreaded someday comes
Rip. Milk. Burn?
Aww, FSCK!
Come to the University of Mars! Classes starting soon!
Emphasis mine. Way to go, Gateway! Just what we need -- a few more high profile companies to echo this particular line. First Apple, then Gateway. Maybe if the moneybags at IBM and Intel stepped into the game, this war could be considered won. But (sigh!) they're too busy planning copy-protected processors and hard disks to actually think of the consumer
Comment removed based on user account deletion
You're right...it had nothing to do with the bill. But the article refers to a commercial that does seem to be about the bill.
Knee-jerk reactions are not attractive.
sine puella vita suget
I saw this commercial twice last night. Once on TNN (I believe) and once on UPN.
...can be summed up in this story:
A couple years ago, I was in the market to buy a new monitor. I had saved up $500 or so to buy a new 21" multisync monitor, and knew the ones that Gateway sold were of good quality (this was 1997, 1998 or so)... So, I gathered up my money and went down to the new "Gateway Country" store that had opened up here in town to go buy a monitor.
With $500 in hand, I was turned away within 30 seconds of entering their store. Their reason:
"Sorry, we don't sell the monitors separately. You'de have to buy a whole system to get the monitor."
Bowie J. Poag
*Throws away his Metallica CDs* Time for some good ol' country music! Sing on my bovine friend!
"I only speak the truth"
Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
Why the hell do you need to mention Apple in this? PC users were rip/mix/burning before Apple could even pull its head out of Job's iAss and realize there was such a thing as MP3. I recall my CD burning software in 97 touting rip/mix/burn when Apple was still pushing ZIP and LS120 hahaha.
Tell me the cow's name is Hillary!
There's something about the yahoo article that rubs me the wrong way.
The country's fourth-largest computer maker is taking to the airwaves in a bid to rally consumers against a copyright-protection bill that would prevent computers from playing pirated movies and music.
The ad campaign underscores the furor over a bill introduced last month by South Carolina Democratic Sen. Ernest Hollings that would prevent new computers, CD players and other consumer-electronics devices from playing unauthorized movies, music and other digital media files.
They seem to be (intentiaonally?) missing the point. This bill is being opposed because its solution to copyright infringment is to destroy fair use capability. Sorry if we don't like being assumed to be criminals simply for owning a computer.
In other news, a new anti-rape bill proposed by Senator Hollings will see the castrating of all males over the age of 10.
Hmmm. Something about karma whoring at work makes me feel dirty...
Apart from saying they support your right to mix-rip'n'burn, this doesn't really take issue against the CPDB... CPTDB... Bad Law Thingy(TM). (Maybe because it's so hard to remember the acronym, especially since they keep changing it)
This ad doesn't go far enough, or bring home the true horribleness of the law. We need shock tactics, like those highway-safety ads. I want to see the cow standing in the middle of the highway with a big placard, screaming "The CBDTPA SUUUUUCKS!" and then getting run down by a Disney truck, preferably driven by a Senator Hollings impostor.
When Sony has a Minidisc commercial, showing the guy sitting in his apartment, making a 'mix', and then hitting the street jammin' to his tunes?
Just saw the new commercial last night. They were singing some hip-hop song that I didn't recognize (it was not the Devo - Whip It).
All I have to say is that it would be funnier if the cow could carry a freakin' tune! Man!
...when you post something about "launching" and "cows" I picture a certain movie and catipulting bovines?
For those of you keeping score at home, here's another one for the opposition of CBDTPA (or whatever they're calling it today)
This one from eWeek
enjoy
--You will rephrase your request for me to go to hell. Goto statements are not acceptable programming constructs
On NBC while watching the Great Race. It was funny as hell.
My wife rolled her eyes and it gave me the perfect chance to let her know *why* they were running that commercial.
Now that Gateway has clearly chosen sides, I think we can start selling tickets to the battle royall:
"In this corner weighing in at a puny few billion in stated revenues is MPAA, AOL/Time Warner/CNN, RIAA and the BSA. In the Far corner, weighing in at an incalcuable sum is Gateway, IBM, Sun, Dell, Apple and all the people. This ain't really gonna be a long fight folks so don't blink."
My $0.02 will always be worth more than your â0.02, so
"Its about time something was done to combat the evil practice of 'cow milking' that millions of people and cows partake every day. We grossly overpaid one of our interns to sit in front of a cow all day and milk as much as they could. They were able to produce an astounding 10,000 squeezes. This clearly represents the actual habits of every cow user and results in Billions of dollars lost to our cherished artists. Soon we hope to lobby for legislation that requires all cows to have a milking-rights management genetically imprinted. Only then will be able to truely protect our artists and stop this most evil virus among us." Senator Ernest "Fritz" Hollings plans to introduce such a bill later this week.
"To lead the people, you must walk behind them"
anyone catch the link in one of the info windows to emusic?
apparently this is one of gateways 'partners' and a 'good place to download music legally' or something like that.
anyone know anything about them?
i say we all goto Mcdonalds or burger king and order a hamburger:-)
I am glad someone major is bringing more attention to that bill and the attempt to get it passed. the more the general public knows the better.
-THIS SPACE FOR RENT!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
From the Wired Article:
If only you would actually go after these supposed 'pirates' in the first place instead of trying to buy yourself laws. How many piracy rings have they busted up? How many IPs have they logged from music sharing programs? None? Or at least they choose not to even try to enforce them. I'll give them their damn law (over my dad body) when they actually try to enforce the ones already on the books dammit. And why the hell is the tech sector responsible for stopping this? Is my local baby bell responsible for stopping illegal activities from being planned over phone lines? Why don't we sue car companies for allowing drunk drivers on the road. I would really like to know where they get the balls to get off thinking piracy is someone elses problem. I really and truly do."It's up to all of us to make buying music about as easy as stealing it," Williams said.
When will music companies learn that they can make money out of the MP3s? When we start giving them money for MP3s.
We can rant on all we like against their policies and get nowhere, but slip them a few bucks for music and they'll take notice.
I am a Karma Library.
From Hollings's Point of View:
"First, they attack you.
Then they laugh at you.
Then they moo at you.
Then they win."
Where interests coincide, support. Where conflict, oppose. It's very simple. There are no "good guys" and "bad guys", just different people and groups of people with varied agendas. They do not have to be exactly like you, and insisting that unless they tow your line all the way down the line they are enemies is rather childish.
Hell, I've got about zero respect for Gateway products. They have effectively filled the consumer space crappy OEM PC manufacturer vacated by Packard Bell. But, at least they realize that stringent hardware requirements mandated by the government are not in their best interests. As this conicides with mine, yeah I'll support them by pointing out the issues they are bringing to light to the less tech-savvy. Doesn't mean I'll be recommending their products any time soon.
It shouldn't.
HOWEVER, indirectly, things will trickle out of legislation such as this that will affect legal users-
Maybe ISPs will start filtering for all MP3s due to fear of legal action or the such...
---"What did I say that sounded like 'Tell me about your day?'"---
So who gives a flyin fuck!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Fight the power!!!!
Gateway isn't a perfect company by any measure, but atleast in this particular case, supporting consumers and making money are in alignment. The RIAA has ceased to respect the consumer. Make that all major record labels no longer respect the consumer. Their folly will result in the death or at minimum a shock to their industry. Some punk kids will rise and de-thrown the current crop of lamer pop BS idiots.
Gateway is a struggling PC manufacturer. Why can't a few tech companies with deeper pockets spend money for this quest? I admire what they're doing, hopefully people buy a Cow next time they're buying a pre-built box so their $$ isn't spent without a return.
Now that Dell, Gateway, and others have started issuing cd-burners as standard equipment, you will start to see the 55 year old casual user burning CDs. For a long time, email was only used by tech-savvy people, until computer-manufacturers like Compaq started making computers "internet ready". What's going to happen when the manufacturers start making computers "cd-burning ready"?
Apple computer realized this a good while back. Steve Jobs himself even came out and said that the RIAA is wasting its time and money on this as no matter what they do, hard core pirates will find a way to steal music.
:)
Gateway is only following Apple's lead, just the way the rest of the PC industry often follows their lead. Granted this is a good thing this time
--Won't that be grand? Computers and the programs will start thinking and the people will stop. - Dr. Walter Gibbs
"If only they would devote a little bit of the millions of dollars they're spending on this ad campaign to help stop illegal downloading ... but that wouldn't help them sell more CD burners, would it," said Hilary Rosen
<sarcasm>Yes, because all CD burners are sold to make discs full of illegally downloaded music!</sarcasm>
Maybe if the RIAA would price their CDs more reasonably, actually give money to their artists, and stop the overwhelming and unnecessary homogenization of the music which they promote to (read: push on) the public, people wouldn't be so inclined to download music.
"If only they would devote a little bit of the millions of dollars they're spending on this ad campaign to help stop illegal downloading
If only the RIAA would devote a little bit of the millions of dollars they're spending of buying politicians to help promote legal downloading of music or reducing CD prices..."
But seriously, I like seeing greedy capitalists go after each other's throats. Of course it's often like Mothra and Godzilla fighting: the rest of the city gets destroyed in the process, but we don't really count. There's more of us consumers born every minute.
the proper phrase is "toe the line" as in the sort of regimented conformity achieved when everyone gets in formation like good little mindless drones.
is the broad adoption of Jack Valenti's misnomer "piracy" to denote "unauthorized copying." It's an improper usage of an emotionally loaded word and it unfairly biases the audience, albeit in a subtle way, every time it's used, even by journalists and others in support of Fair Use. It's like the popular but WRONG equation of "hacker" with "cracker" - which is also gleefully promoted by all those authoritarian a**holes who would like nothing better than to enslave us all to the RIAA and MPAA.
Real "piracy" is rape, pillage, and murder on the high seas or some remote godforsaken mountain pass or desert wadi. It still happens in the seas around Indonesia and Malaysia, and in the Caribbean, and it still happens on land in places like Africa and continental Asia. To equate sampling a piece of music by MP3 prior to deciding to purchase it with "piracy" is all so over-the-top hysterical that it would be merely comical if it hadn't gotten widespread currency.
Jack Valenti and Hillary Rosen should have their mouths washed out with soap for hammering on this to the point that even their opponents adopted their skewed language.
Because surely, there's nothing more persuasive that some good clean, bovine thinking.
Why is it that Americans aren't persuaded by the voice of reason, but a talking hamburger really helps you see things straight?
It may be cold, but at least it's clear.
Interesting to see a large corporation take a side and be actively involved in such a debate. I'm sure other companies feel the same but are remaining passive to test the waters first. Businesses tend to choose sides based on what other businesses want first, the consumer usually gets what is left over.
I wonder if Compaq would be so outspoken and in support of consumers rights if one of thier suppliers had a different opinion, like Intel or Microsoft. I would like to believe that a company has a true care to please the the consumer but in the real world, business decisions always come first.
Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
What if it was a bargain?
Stop praising Gateway already, they're doing nothing special by claiming that they are interested in supporting our rights to listen digital music. Someone in their ad department SHOULD have been saying "this CBDTA-whatever-thingy" is the problem at hand, lets SPECIFICALLY address it in our ad and get people talking. Like some of the previous posts have mentionned; John Q. Public doesn't know that his rights are up for grabs.
I love how the Yahoo article explains what the CBDTPA is supposed to do... "a copyright-protection bill that would
prevent computers from playing pirated movies and music." More like "a bill that would prevent technology from eating into the profits of large corporations that are slow to adapt."
Anyhow, the CBDTPA is really just an OLURMATOWIRM (an Overly Long, Unwieldy, Redundant and Misleading Acronym That Obfuscates What It Really Means.)
... "Give me a woman who loves beer and I will conquer the w
This makes up for all of the times that I cut myself on the sharp contacts servicing older Gateway boxes.
OUCH! You'd have thought I was the worlds worst butcher when I pulled my hand out of one of those.
"If only they would devote a little bit of the millions of dollars they're spending on this ad campaign to help stop illegal downloading ... but that wouldn't help them sell more CD burners, would it," said Hilary Rosen, CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America.
I would like it better if it said:
"If only the RIAA would understand that people want to pay for music they can enjoy anywhere at anytime. We understand that $15.00 for a CD full of crap isn't worth the money, but $1.00 per song is a goldmine."
"If only the music industry would devote a little bit of millions of dollars they're spending on lawyers and buying senators to update their distribution model into the 21st century... but that wouldn't let them fuck the artists as much would it?"
nuff said.
what if my fuckin monitor from my gateway pc burnt out... how the fuck do i replace it EINSTEIN????
Is there anything more damning to this bill than the fact that now we are seeing political commercials from corporate entities on both sides of the issue?
When this is the case, clearly the issue is not one of laws, and the government should not be involved.
He looked at me and said, "Kid, we don't like your kind, and we're gonna send your fingerprints off to Washington."
The CBDTPA, along with the DMCA, will allow the RIAA and MPAA to infringe on our rights to create MP3s with LAME! Christ, don't you guys ever use sentences to describe things?
We refuse to be COWED
So the content industry should ruminate on this. Find some udder solution. Maybe tipping. Or a place where the grass is greener. And especially no bullshit.
Sig: What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org)
See BBSpot for details...
The recording industry is chanting, "The artists! The artists!" At the same time, tech seems to be saying, "The consumer! The consumer!"
Yeah, exactly.
The funny thing, I'm an artist (a pianist and composer), and my skin crawls when the RIAA claims to be looking out for me. Eeech.
One of the important points artists out there need to keep making loud and clear is that the RIAA is not representing our interests. Artists and consumers are on the same side of this issue -- limited access to creative work hurts those who create at least as much as those who receive.
Many artists are already speaking out. More need to. If I'm going to be some corporation's rhetorical pawn, I'd like to at least agree with what they're advocating!
well, so how do I watch this damn thing with linux?
Atari rules... ermm... ruled.
Maybe they should contact these guys?
www.eFax.com are spammers
Do you really think people are going to listen to a cow? I mean, they can't even spell.
Does Gateway actually HAVE an MP3 of this song, rather than an unplayable .ASF? Anyone know of a mirror?
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
"If only they would devote a little bit of the millions of dollars they're spending on this ad campaign to help stop illegal downloading ... but that wouldn't help them sell more CD burners, would it," said Hilary Rosen, CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America.
If only the recording industry would spend money on putting out stuff that doesn't suck. If only they didn't piss off their consumers.
"The Gateway commercial is fun, but their website is nothing but a gateway to misinformation," Rosen said. "No one has proposed anything that would prevent all digital copying."
And someone please inform her that this isn't possible.
but wait, you have noticed. Thats why you only sue small internet start-ups with no capital or government support.
Have you ever heard of "FAIR USE" or "BETAMAX VS. SONY"?
Yes, you have, but that won't stop you from pretending that fair use rights don't exist.
Good God she is such a hypocritical idiot.
Slashdot needs to interview Natalie Portman.
Whilst there may be limited instances where the US has influence over another sovereign state this is mainly through the use of international treaties eg. arms control, but these have to be ratified by the national governments and it seems somewhat unlikely that they will persuade/enforce this heap o'crap piece of legislation on anyone other than your poor unfortunate selves.
The entertaining thing is (seen from this side of the pond) that I can see a fine opportunity for European manufacturers to make a killing as no-one will buy one of these crippled devices unless forced to. Therefore whilst the US has traditionally enjoyed a hefty lead in consumer electronics Mr Hollings is willing to sacrifice all that(hey, the factories/companies ain't in my state, buddy) to satisfy his masters! Sheesh.
The line in the articel that states "The Hollings bill has drawn the support of major recording companies" should read "The support of major recording companies has drawn the Hollings bill"
------- Assumption is the mother of all f$#@ ups.
"a copyright-protection bill that would prevent computers from playing pirated movies and music.
"
If put in that light it makes Gateway seem evil. I dont see how wanting to play/copy music/movies i payed for (for my own use) is 'playing pirated movies and music'.
Talk about sensationalizing an introduction in the article.
"If only they would devote a little bit of the millions of dollars they're spending on this ad campaign to help stop illegal downloading ... but that wouldn't help them sell more CD burners, would it," said Hilary Rosen, CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America.
Now let me get this straight? The RIAA, MPAA and others (through the Disney Senator) want to take away many of the rights that hardware manufacturers have in building their systems. And now they want these same companies to spend money to help keep the horrible music system in place? At least movie stars make money. 99% of artist's don't. Read This article [Salon.com] by Courtney Love if you want to know why I personally don't like the RIAA.
I applaud Gateway for this, and I really hope that this helps bring them from the brink of going out of buisness. I plan on supporting them through corporate purchases (which I oversee). I hope supporting companies who endorse (publically) our ideals will win in the long run
Blah Blah Blah.
Here's a link to look up your elected officialsq /officials
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/db
Now someone with better skills in legalese needs to come up with a template for a letter to write our senators.
I hope that someday we will be able to put away our fears and prejudices and just laugh at people. - Jack Handey
The article on Yahoo! mentions "piracy" (what a ridiculous term, anyway) a number of times before they mention that Gateway is promoting legally enjoying digital music. Obviously, Gateway is not promoting "piracy" they're just trying to protect their right to sell legal hardware without tampering with it to give the RIAA and MPAA undo control over individual's property. Lest we forget, these companies already enjoy "royalties" from CD-Rs and such to compensate for legal copying -- so how the fsck is that "piracy"?
The RIAA (and apparently Reuters, or at least Andy Sullivan) wants everyone to believe that if you make a copy -- even for personal use -- it's *shudder* piracy.
First the software industry and record/movie companies are telling us it's "piracy" to rip MP3s or play DVDs with DeCSS...now the government is telling us we're junior terrorists if we buy a bag of pot. When will the hyperbole end? And when will someone smack the shit out of these sanctimonious assholes for being corporate greedbags and conservative tightasses?
I think I need some coffee...
www.eFax.com are spammers
True and everything, but why use a car instead of, say, a child as the fought-over item in your example? Last I knew, cars still don't really want anything. Well, apart from the buckling-up.
Just a thought, but has anyone ever considered that maybe we're giving the RIAA too *much* leeway? I think that the transfer of any and all music and video ought to be legal. I want to see an analog of the GPL for music. Sure, the RIAA would crash and burn, but who the hell needs them anyway? Artists can make a fine living doing concerts, and use the Internet to distribute their songs. They'd even sell a lot of CDs to the people who don't have broadband. The RIAA is complaining about how the fact that there is legal downloading makes illegal downloading quite easy. They're right. So instead of doing away with legal downloading, why not do away with illegal downloading?
From their link on the Gateway page (click on: Protect Your Rights)
Gateway believes:
You have the right to make copies for your own use of any CD you've purchased legally -- so you can listen to it in different locations and have a backup if something happens to your original copy.
You have the right to enjoy legally acquired music in any format you want -- like converting CD tracks to MP3 files to take with you on a portable or car MP3 player.
You have the right to download music from the Internet that you've paid for or that's been made available for download by the artist or record label.
Since this thread pertains to copy protection, and I haven't seen this anywhere else, I thought I'd post.
/. story it was pointed out the Celine Dion's new CD will not play on PCs and Mac, and would likely crash your system if you tried.
In a recent
Sony claimed that the CD would ship with warning labels on the front and back of the CD, and the cd itself.
I have seen the CD for sale at Border's and Target, and at both sites, no such sticker warnings were present. Since this is the first CD with this new copy protection, I think it's important to follow up.
Has anybody seen this CD, and does it feature the stickers?
I don't care for the Celine Dion, but this CD is an important test for Sony. Depending on what happens, we can expect to see more like it. We should be paying attention.
This is a VERY bright move by Gateway. They wish to establish in the minds of the customer a direct association between their brand-name and a large amount of the usage that Joe Public has for PCs.
At the same time they are implying, "Buy us before it is too late."
The fact that they may actually prevent poor legislation being inacted is waaay down the list of benefits they get from this.
StrutterX
Its about frickin time the computer makers joined in on the fight. I'm happy to see someone besides apple helping to support the right to fair use.
Brielle
I found a link for a form letter http://www.digitalconsumer.org/fax.html
As a constituent and an ardent consumer of digital media, I write today to urge you to support a Consumer Technology Bill of Rights, and to express my concerns about the recent trend toward allowing one-sided copyright laws to eliminate my Fair Use rights.
Historically, our country has enjoyed a balance between the rights of copyright holders and the rights of citizens who legally acquire copyrighted works. Generally speaking, rights holders have the exclusive right to distribute and profit from artistic works. Consumers like me who legally acquire these works are free to use them in most noncommercial ways. Unfortunately, this balance has shifted dramatically in recent years, much to the detriment of consumers.
To prevent further erosion of my rights, I would like to add my voice to DigitalConsumer.org in calling for a "consumer technology bill of rights". It is simply an attempt to assert positively the public's personal use rights. These rights are not new; they are historic rights granted in previous legislation and court rulings that have over the last four years been whittled away.
Under the guise of "preventing illegal copying" I believe Hollywood is vilifying their customers - people like me - and using the legislative process to create new lines of business at my expense. Their goal is to create a legal system that takes away my long-cherished personal use rights and then to charge me an additional fee to regain those rights!
Copy protection, especially to prevent overseas piracy for illicit sale, is an important issue. But before Congress considers yet another change in the law at the behest of the copyright holders, I urge you in the strongest possible terms to protect my Fair Use rights.
Thank you very much for your attention to this important matter.
I hope that someday we will be able to put away our fears and prejudices and just laugh at people. - Jack Handey
This is funny coming after they killed their cow during job cuts.
My blog: http://www.seebs.net/log/ --- My iPhone/iPad app: http://www.seebs.net/seebsfrac/
People buy what they want and self-styled cognoscenti always consider it crap. Guess what: most of us wouldn't give two bits for whatever drivel you've got in your music library.
As to how the music companies pay their staff - that's their model, you might as well whine about how car manufacturers are structured financially or yam importers. If it didn't work they'd be OUT OF BUSINESS but they're not.
Yes they're trying to twist laws to their own ends, but that is an entirely separate issue then the others. If you don't like the big labels don't patronize them but don't go whining about Britney Spears.
Guess what: There's ALWAYS some whiner going on about pop culture yada yada yada. You only look like a self-aggrandizing poseur when you take the "if they only listed to *my* obscure taste-du-jour..." line.
Now back to my collection of gay male choral recordings; there's this fine one from the BGMC...
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
"It's up to all of us to make buying music about as easy as stealing it," Williams said.
How come the RIAA doesn't understand this? When has a business model along the lines of "Dont give the customer what they want" ever worked? I only took one semester of economics in High School, but I'm reasonably sure that business model is about as succssful as putting a maze in front of a bathroom and putting up a sign saying 'fun bathrooms!'.
"Derp de derp."
I own you all.
...perhaps Gateway is counting on increased sales as the lone (or at least the loudest/richest) defender of on-line 'justice'. I assume general public opinion is, 'free Internet is good, gov't intervention is bad'. Say that to most lamen and their response will probably be 'hell yea!'. Gateway can increase it's public image (read sales) by jumping on the bandwagon.
But how bad can it be? By rallying behind Gateway (and all their money) are we going to put them into a position to corner the market? Do we really think they have a hidden agenda? I don't think any of their history has shown that they desire to 'control' the sharing of information.
The premise is that, once Hollings' bill gets stopped, presumably because of Gateway's influence, the community turns to Gateway and says, "Well, you wanted to stop this, now what?" Then Gateway, having been given the authority, begins to place its own restrictions and controls on Internet sharing. I don't think that's going to happen.
They do want to support free Internet because that's good for sales, and also good for us. Everybody wins! So I say...
Yea Gateway!
I don't know about the human, but at least they could have hired a decent cow. This one really underperformed.
The only skin on a computer should be porn.
Why does a COW (female bovine) have a MALE voice? This has been annoying me. Still, cool of Gateway to be doing this.
Hilary Rosen is a mixed bag, that's for sure. She has done an incredibly admirable job of keeping the government from censoring artists, but then she turns around and sticks it to the consumer every chance she gets.
Unfortunately, Slashdot doesn't report on the Free Speech Hilary Rosen. They only report on the "fair use must die" Hilary Rosen.
Yes, I watch too much C-Span. It's the only unbiased news channel left.
Is this cow related to the Apple "cowdog" perhaps?
Will the singing cow be touring any time soon? Can I get a backstage pass then? Will she autograph her CD with a hoof-print?
Will she eventually perform a duet with Britney Spears? Courtney Love? Bjork? If so, will I be able to download this from Kazaa?
Is there any bull in her lyrics?
Is the opera over when the fat cow sings?
In any event, I hope this does not foretell an outbreak of "mad singing cow" disease. A truly operatic tragedy of Bovine proportions!
the proper spelling is "tow the line" as in pull, not the things that are on the end of your feet.
Acht! Zat ees nat eine boobie!
Try Mplayer. It plays ASF.
...on this subject in my local paper.
pronoblem
"If only they would devote a little bit of the millions of dollars they're spending on this ad campaign to help stop illegal downloading ... but that wouldn't help them sell more CD burners, would it," said Hilary Rosen, CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America.
I see, it would seem that the RIAA is still of the mindset that the tool maker is responsible for the use of the tool.
There is no way that the tech industry is going to voluntarily cripple its equipment on just the media companies' say so.
Thankfully there has been NO support for the SSSCA/CD...whatever they're calling it today. Not that that means it's dead.
Rosen and company should realize that forced DRM will pan out in one of 2 directions. Either it will be defeated by some 13 year old in a matter of minutes, or it (if *unbreakable* =P )will annihilate the market for new equipment and create a huge aftermarket for pre-DRM equipment.
Both are failures for the media folk, but the second option promises to make an already ugly looking ecomony even worse. And potentially turn millions of people into felons for effectively sitting still.
There are laws already in place to handle every issue they keep bringing up, but appearantly it won't be enough until they can force feed use everything.
If they want to kick the piracy issue I have a suggestion for them. PUT SOME PORDUCTION QUALITY INTO THEIR PRODUCTS! I'm not talking about the quality of the music itself, but everything that goes along with it. Case in point, the soundtrack for "Queen of the Damned". Retailing at the local Walmart for $13.99. I think it a pretty good soundtrack, personally. However, the packaging and liner notes are TERRIBLE! No lyric sheet, tracks aren't even listed in order as they are on the disk, it's just a simple tri-fold. How about a little something more for my $14? Seriously, give me one good reason why I shoud not just d/l the tracks that I want, aside from the (il)legallity issue. There is NOTHING, no added value whatsoever in purchasing the actual CD.
This is primarily their greatest problem, they fail to see that they are selling more than simply music, and until they realize it, 'pirating' (I still hate that term) looks very appealing.
Nevermind the fact, esteemed "Moron of the Year" Hilary Rosen, that CD-burners are not MANUFACTURED by Gateway, but *cough* REAL BIG COMPANIES with deep pockets that would laugh you all the way home if you tried to sue them.
Interestingly, Sony is one of the major manufacturers you're talking about; the CDRW in my laptop (Dell Inspiron 8000) is made by them. Somehow, I can't see the RIAA suing one of their major members and living to tell about it.
a penguin chanting on about open source softw...
oh never mind...
how does one change his
"If only they would devote a little bit of the billions of dollars they're spending on lawsuits and "campaign donations" to help stop illegal downloading ... but that wouldn't help them monopolize music distribution, would it," said me
That's like going to your local Ford dealer to buy an engine.
Which they will happily sell you. Stop by their parts dept. sometime and see.
Get the real player version of the commercial here. Here
--- Errr......No I don't need more oral sex thank you, Windows goes down on me all the time.
I remember watching Silicon Summit (I think it was the third annual annual) on MSNBC about a month ago. I featured maybe 10 CEOs and other big wig tech-industry types. It seemed like a rather big event, there were maybe 10 thousand or so people in the audience. Anyways, one of the discussions was about digital copyright and IP law enforcement. Pretty much the general consenious was that there would need to be some kind of DRM solution in the near future, maybe not this year but within a couple of years. Ted Waitt, CEO of Gateway and the human in that commerical, was the only one to mention fair use at all or to have any significant disent. He's got my respect.
On another note, on that same show there was an Asian lady from the audience that asked a question specifically mentioning the SSSCA. Unfortunately I can't recall what their responses where, but I do remember Rob Glasser (I think, I may be wrong here) from RealNetworks claming that he had never heard of the bill.
If anybody else saw this please correct me if I'm wrong.
5.0 died in 1998 I think.
Consider what the ad brings to mind:
I've never seen a purple cow
I never hope to see one
But I can tell you anyhow
I'd rather see than be one
[and later]
Ah yes, I wrote "The Purple Cow"
I'm Sorry now I wrote it
But I can tell you Anyhow
I'll Kill you if you Quote it!
-- both by Gelett Burgess (orig. 1896)
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
Ars Technica take on the subject
I've read through most of the comments posted, and many refer to Hilary Rosen as "she," "her," etc.
:-)
I wonder if Mr. Rosen would be upset if he knew that a significant portion of Slashdot readers (and, possibly, the general population) thought he was a woman.
Kinda puts a smile on your face, huh?
...should think about a few things with their ad campaign.
The biggest one is that cows are FEMALE, yet their spokescow has a nice baratone voice.
Transgendered cow, maybe? I wonder how good it would taste after a few hours of grilling.
Vos teneo officium eram periculosus ut vos recipero is.
If you read the Microsoft case Statement of Fact, it pretty much spells out why - all the major OEMs were prevented by MS from adding pre-desktop software (i.e. anything on the bootup other than a "this is a gateway flash screen"). Compaq, as an example, saw their returns, and user complaints skyrocket in the immediate and subsequent months of being forced to pull their value added stuff (the stuff you hide in the back ground to help the less techie users).
Back to the article (Off topic? Me?). A number of people are having a go at Gateway for "protecting their business model". Well, duh. Oh, wait! Their business model happens to be the "standard throughout the world" de facto business model. The advert is a good step forward though - this is not going to be another Hollins' slip it through on the quiet effort if there's mainstream TV singing (cow) about it!
A DRM machine is not "my" machine, since it decides what *I* can do. It could do more, but it won't let me. And I'm expected to pay for a device like this? I would accept the argument "it helps you not break the law", if it wasn't for the other totally legal things it will also help me *not* do.
So if the Chick-fil-A and Gateway cows did team up, would we see ads like this?
Let's not buy into the propaganda!
Using the word "Piracy" to imply copyright infringement equates the act with robbery
on the high seas, a form of thievery that can include killing of the innocents on the
ship targeted by the pirates. While I don't condone copyright infringement, demonizing
it as "Piracy" seems a bit much. I can define for myself what I will equate with killing
on the high seas. Sharing an MP3 with a friend is NOT one of them.
</General service announcement >
You know, the Cult of the Singing Cow.
   
   
   
Ow! Stop hitting me!
It was just a joke. Geeze.
Ow!
If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
How am I supposed to back up my data?
In the finance industry, for SEC and exchange compliance reasons, you've got to store all your trading records for a number of years, on permanent media. Should we go back to keeping paper records? Should I paint the data on the insides of caves.
The hard disk on my home PC died, and had to be replaced. It was only the fact that I had all my files backed up on CR-RW that kept me sane!
Yea for the cow, that's what I say.
Dummy, Ford sells engines over the counter. So does GM, so does Toyota, so do most car manufacturers. In fact GM and Ford will both sell you higher performance versions of many of their engines. Prices are good and in the case of their V8s dyno tested and known to work well. You don't know much about cars do you?
Gateway stores should be selling more than just full on systems if their parts are quality pieces.
Having said that - I had a Gateway that my company had purchased for me. A couple of years after buying it it nearly went up in flames with sparks shooting out the back (!). Called up Gateway, gave them my service number, they shipped me a new one - better model too. I slapped my junk one in the same box and shipped it right back - they had UPS pick it up for free. Cost to me was ZERO and I found their customer service to be excellent. I still use that monitor to this day - it's a decent quality part. A shame Gateway makes it hard to buy them seperate huh? Oddly enough - that's the last remaining part from that computer and it's now at least 4 years old!
Build it, Drive it, Improve it! Hybridz.org
It's Gandhi, dammit.
In that article, it claims that several Senators are wanting a compromise, including getting rid of parts of the DMCA (although that would probably mean just the parts that wouldn't hold up in court anyway).
My idea is this: They might pass a version of the CBDTPA and at the same time weaken the DMCA. In other words, there would be copy protections but you would be allowed to circumvent them.
"Never, never suspect the dreams within the dreams of dreaming children." ~The Amazon Quartet
Gates was very clear in his support for hardware level DRM as an industry standard (and not just on PCs). He indicated that it was necessary for IP protection and that Microsoft was going to spearhead DRM initiatives.
Conclusion: do not expect much support from MS in the fight to protect fair use.
I'd much rather prefer to see Man-Eating Cow attacking the CBDTPA.
Actually, I'd rather see Man-Eating Cow eating Fritz Hollings.
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
I am not trying to start a battle of computer preferences, but alot of people ask me which computer to buy. When a design an IT infrastructure for a company, I usually try to specify the systems. I have never recommended Gateway's to businesses (Gateway just doesn't seem to have a focus on business systems). But I always recommend to regular Joes who ask. They have decent support, and I have personally had bad luck with Dell systems. Now that gateway has supported the geek community with this action maybe we start pushing them for the business community we serve. Programmers, demand as Gateway as your next workstation, they will build it however you want. Get them on corporate desktops, maybe they don't have all the management tools and network administrator control tools IBM Dell, or HP have(a case can be made for open source altenatives), but they are cheap and saving $500 per machine, pays for a lot of support and spares. Besides utimately if you are storing data and app settings on the local machine, you have a pretty amateur setup. Frankly it is getting the image of the stupid Cow out the way, that is really hurting GW, businesses don't like cute. Gateway also doesn't really make many servers, so an end to end single supplier hardward solution isn't possible.
Good Luck Gateway, lets all try to throw some money to you.
When?
/. If the government wants us to respect the law, it should set a better example.
Gateway could said, "We're big enough to play the cross-licensing game, we can afford to sit idle and watch this go by". In a world with a few too many greedy bullies, this is a welcome act of rebellion.
Downloading MP3s is lovely, but the real prize is the right to think and innovate. I thank Gateway for speaking out in support of that right.
WWJD for a Klondike Bar?
tell Senator Hollings what you think of his new legislation:f orm.html
http://www.senate.gov/~hollings/web
I wrote an article that plays off of similar themes as your post: The CBDTPA Is Immune to (Conventional) Criticism.
They don't taste as good as beef.
I never figured out why the gateway guy listens to the Cow instead of just killing it at eating it.
(Granted I don't know anything about Cattle grazing,) but the cow looks big enough to eat.
It's always sitting around doing nothing too.
MMM tender meat.
You said it man.
that even as I type this I am ripping a CD to MP3. Yes its my CD, I paid for it. Its starting to get pretty beat up, so I want an archivial copy of it before its totally unreadable. The RIAA seems to want to make me think this is illegal. The funny thing is that when I pay for a CD, I am paying for the content, which I have the right to do with however I see fit. The fact that I might do something with the content which breaks a law is completely irrelavant. In actuality, almost all the MP3's I've downloaded are tracks from CDs I've either lost, wrecked, or had stolen. I don't think thats wrong. Yes, I also download other tracks, but mostly this is to broaden my musical tastes, which leads to increased spending on these artists. I don't think any of my uses for MP3 and such are out of line. I don't think my usage hurts the RIAA (much to my chagrin). Anyway maybe my next machine will be a Gateway...
What could possibly hurt the security of the American people more than giving our own government the ability to hide its
I thought this discussion was about commercials. Not gateway bashing. there are other sites for that. as afar as not liking being lied to, well, get used to it. it happens at gateway, dell, compaq, apple, IBM, etc. why not use the thing for 30 days, if you dont like it then, return it for a full refund. dont be upset as this was the first time a salesman lied. ( i cant image that!)besides, whether or not you are happy about the service, did you still like the cow?
I will admit upon hearing a good CD i never thought i woudl buy on napster (creed) i went out and bought it. Where i work there is a music pool on the server of music thats really music that's been ripped (better quality) I think the reason gateway is doign this is to get support as much as the record companies renounces shared music it's very popular with the common folk, it's basically a better cassette. by supporting it gateway becomes a renagade and gets to sell more peripherals. think about it, i need to get a new computer with a cd burner so i can listen to music so now instead of sitting collecting dust cept when i type up a paper i'm on line listening to my music my way when i want. The polititions who support the RIAA can bite me because the only reason they support them is due to lobbyists
From the Wired article: [i]Of course, the extent of Gateway's on-air cautions about piracy don't go beyond the phrase "enjoy digital music legally." [/i]
Hmm.. isn't this an awful lot like the "so-and-so urges you to drink responsibly" in alcohol commercials these days?
Just how much more of a caution do we need? It's not as though someone's gonna get tanked up on illegal mp3's and go out to run someone over...
So, Sony kept suing and losing until Bleem! went out of business. This was after Bleem! had been explicitely declared legal by the courts.
Companies like Sony operate under a different set of laws than ordinary people need to follow. (I mean, honestly, isn't that what the whole Dmitry Sklyarov case was about?)
All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)
I just wanted to speak up as a Gateway laptop user (supplied by my corporate buyer).
I have read the other comments such as ...
AND...I have been using a Gateway Solo 5300 laptop with a 650 MHz Celeron, 128 MB, CD-RW and a 20 GB hard drive for approx a year. Included with the purchase was, of course the standard company software, Windows 2000 Pro and Office 2000 Pro. While this is not the best thing since sliced bread, it has been very useful and dependable. I rate my Gateway laptop above any of the other various laptops I have used in the past six years.
I say more power to Gateway for trying to capitalize on ignorant congressmen with intelligent users.
Ok, I grew up with cows.
They're *female*.
Why, on God's Green Earth does the Gateway Cow have a *male voice*?
I saw this commercial last night while watching tv.
Its great. Fairly humorous commercial. The cow and the 'owner' of gateway (as you have seen him in other gateway commercials) are singing along while driving down the highway. Its hilarious. Then they ask if you like the song (a black screen, white font), then they say if you do, go download it at the gateway website, and burn it to cd.
Pretty damn cool.
Speech given to Senate Government Affairs Committee
RIAA's summation of anti-censorship stuff - obviously biased, but hey
Response to hearings in '98
First-hand account of Senate sub-committee testimony in '97
And while not artist related, there's also that little matter of helping found Rock the Vote
She's also active in gay rights circles, but Google wasn't as helpful in digging up stuff about that.
In San Jose we had 2 very popular radio stations about 3 years ago, and I happened to like them both because they complemented each other. 105.3 KITS was an alternative rock station and the other station was 98.? a hard rock station. Well seems the conglomerates didn't like competing for advertising dollars so they merged to form 1 bland shitty pop station.
They didn't merge in the interests of the public's listening tendencies, they merged to reduce costs and market competition, and in the process homogenized and marginalized the quality of the content. Corporations win, public loses. Corporations don't need to cater to the interests of captive markets.
Actually, american law has always been about the rich people using government to abuse others to their gain. It's just now becomming a government where the people have a snowball's chance in hell of fighting back.
Some of that trend is good, some of it scares the hell out of me. Either way, it's happening.
My $0.02 will always be worth more than your â0.02, so
I can't remember what TV channel it was, but I already saw a singing cow gateway ad. I am in Canada, so maybe it was a Canadian channel.
----
All of whose base are belong to the what-now?
This may seem like a nitpick, but it isn't. It goes to the heart of RIAA's bogus notion that it has a "right" to make a profit. Well, no it doesn't, and neither does anybody else, because no such "right" exists. (They do, of course, have the right to attempt to make a profit and the right to publish. Both of those are genuine rights, which are unfortunately undermined by association with the counterfeit "right" to a profit.)
/. If the government wants us to respect the law, it should set a better example.
Wintersmute: Why is it that Americans aren't persuaded by the voice of reason, but a talking hamburger really helps you see things straight?
Some Smartass AC: Because America doens't like you. Therefore they exhibit "odd" behavior just to piss YOU off.
It appears that though an improvident use of "you" instead of "us" I seem to have cast myself as some beret-wearing Frog who complains about Eurodisney as the vanguard of cultural imperialism.
Sorry, okay? I'm from New York. I like baseball, motherhood, and apple pie. I just think talking cows are weird, okay?
Now, please excuse me while I clean out my inbox from the National Beef Council's hatemail, and Neosporin these karma burn marks. Man, I hope that don't scar.
It may be cold, but at least it's clear.
The guy singing in the commercial is none other than the CEO of Gateway, Ted Waitt. So not only is he technical and managerial, but he is also an actor! Now if only he was a conscientious computer maker....
All other rights can be derived from freedom of speech.
And now for some music:
Eat steak, eat steak, eat a big ol' steer
Eat steak, eat steak, do we have one here?
Eat beef, eat beef, it's a mighty good food
It's a grade 'A' meal when I'm in the mood.
-The Reverend Horton Heat
I thought he was referring to those singing plastic fish that were heavily advertised a few Christmases ago.
I didn't think they got much radio airplay, or had much bass for that matter (weren't they trout?), but I stopped listening to Corporate Radio years ago and I've heard weirder things promoted.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. -- H L Mencken
It strikes me that if the RIAA is so concerned about people stealing from artists they should get their constituents to stop releasing music for a while. That way nobody can steal new releases from the artists. Since the RIAA isn't making money anyway because of all of the stealing it shouldn't be a problem for them...
Are they still relevant in the US against Dell, Compaq, IBM, etc... ?
Gmanske.
When I first saw the advertisement I laughed my rear off. The Second time it was ever better. as I realized their message was promoting the legal use of music, and copy technologies. On a side note: CBDTPA should be defined as "Crooks Buy Democrat To Push Agenda"
What is Dutch Courage??
I think that's the name of a song from one of Steve Albini's incarnations, Rapeman, and I always wondered what it meant.
Intelligent Life on Earth
...and although it doesn't appear to be listed on Gateway, web site, there was a link to it in the Wired article that appeared in the body of the story here on Slashdot.
Here is a link to it: http://www.filmcore.net/upload/1608/XGWA-2126.ram
Why not? Corporations certainly do.
I just saw the commercial during Saturday Night Live. I'm surprised the commercial aired the same day as the story appeared on slashdot.
I wonder if it will be posted on the newly rivived Ad Critic, and itself distributed via the web and burned to CD-ROM?
Although I've never really been a fan of Gateway (home of Laptop Support Hell), but I'm glad they're doing this.
"I'm The Bounty Bear. I will find him anywhere. I'm searching."
That's how most of our laws are, right now. Ex post facto -- you break them, you do the punishment. The RIAA/MPAA wants to undermine this situation, and prevent people from breaking the law. We already tried this once.
Ex post facto? After the fact. Why didn't you use some other latin phrase: Quid pro quo, you're wrong.
In law, ex post facto is usually talked about in the following situation:
1) You perform act A.
2) A law is passed that makes act A illegal. In fact the law even says that those people that committed act A before the law was made can be arrested.
3) That is an ex post facto law and is unconstitutional in the US.
To have an Ex Post Facto law in the US you better burn the Constitution or amend it.
http://www.gateway.com/home/deals/offers/music/dmz . html
(or gateway.com--music link on right)
yeah, any player using the DLLs will play it, but I did not manage to download it!
In a later post there is a link to the realplayer version.
Atari rules... ermm... ruled.
On organization called "Computer Professionals for Social Responsiblity" recently submitted a letter to the Senate Judiciary committee, the five Senate sponsors, and Representatives Boucher and Schiff, to express their concerns regarding the CBDTPA.