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MPAA vs. Television
Today brings several articles on the MPAA's attempt to create a "broadcast flag" to kill home recording of broadcast television. Lunenburg writes "Apparently too impatient to implement the Broadcast Flag in digital media through legislative means, both Sen. Hollings and Rep. Tauzin have both sent letters to FCC Chairman Michael Powell urging him to mandate the implementation of the Broadcast Flag under FCC rules, according to the EFF's Consensus at Lawyerpoint blog." There's a CNet story about a presentation given by the MPAA to pro-business lobbying groups, and a MSNBC story about digital video recorders.
So the FCC won't let me be or let me be me, so let me see........
the MPAA will start distributing movies with only two minutes of actual story line and filling the remaining 88 minutes with explosions, noise, bad dialogue, and product placements to prevent the unauthorized distribution of its intellectual property.
As if there wasn't a fairly good chance that HDTV adoption was doomed before.
It's just Macrovision for broadcast, basically; the MPAA notes that "legislation would be required", and that's because without it manufacturers or third parties will quickly develop means of circumventing the protection. Of course, whatever happens, there *will* be the means of recording any broadcast stream -- these people need to recognise that, if it's human-recognisable, it's machine-recordable. All that's achieved by these kind of nonsensical restictions is a) increased costs for the manufacturers, which lead to b) increased costs for the consumer, and c) a less satisfactory user experience. But that media will continue to be recorded, nobody should have any doubt.
And besides, will anyone really stand for this? The idea of recordable media -- vcrs, in particular -- is very deeply ingrained, and most people probably consider it their "right" to record their television. And rightly so!
It's incredible to me that so many presumably intelligent people waste so much effort on these draconian measures. Corporate greed is to blame, of course - but, with a little thought, it seems to me that many of these people could do better by *not* alienating the populace, and by finding some other, better way of making their money such that everyone could be happy. The MPAA and their kind are scared of technology that they don't really understand, and they're losing their grip on the industry. Tough luck. Legislation shouldn't be put in place which will serve big business at the expense of the consumer. Rather, big business needs to learn to evolve to the consumer's wishes, or it needs to die.
Right, so then you think it's ok to set up a dictatorship? No need for any of that pesky 'democratic debate' nonsense? Just get it done with no accountability whatsoever?
Wrong.
The ends do not justify the means. Ever.
Hokey statistics and ancient misconceptions are no match for a good thought in your head, kid!
DRM? No thanks, I'll just get it somewhere else...
Apparently too impatient to implement the Broadcast Flag in digital media through legislative means
I'm glad companies no longer feel the need to respect the government, and they'd rather just pressure them into doing what they want fast. I find it amazing what people will do (government) when they don't understand things (technology), they just assume people like the FCC are right.
How, exactly, is a PVR any different from a VCR?
Ok, lets say we give in to the removal of the ad-skipping feature. Now -- how is it different?
Whenever someone comes out with new technology to prevent piracy, all it does is spur interest in trying to get by it. For instance, the "protected CDs" that could be gotten around with a marker. If they are serious about it, they need to implement the technology without letting the world know first, that way there will at least be a slow down before people realize it and get around it. It's always just a matter of time.
My other sig is an import.
At what point in time will the government and big business understand that watermarks and "broadcast flags" will not work? I can't imagine the ammount of money spent on technology that will (and has) failed in persuit of curtailing piracy...
When will they figure out that P2P file sharing networks (not to mention IRC, which apparently they are oblivious to) won't be going away? They need to play the cards life has dealt them and figure out how to use these to their advantage or provide a system that is better and more aligned with their business (selling commercials). The world is about change, did all the radio stations get angry when they invented TV? No, they all became TV stations too!
For example, if you assume all TV brodcasts are going to be pirated. Make it easier for the people downloading these shows by providing them for free on a website and keeping the commercials in the show. If you stream them then they cannot fast forward through commercials. So you basically provide all of your content on demand with commercials (more air time for advertisers thus more expensive commercials). Personally, I'd go watch Alias streamed (if it was a good 300k stream) with commercials rather than sifting around and waiting in queues on IRC or spending days trying to get it on gnutalla. And if we are worried about modem users, they can't download pirated TV anyway, files are too large.
Just a thought.
"Now let's hope some of the Good Guys (tm) start doing the same thing."
You're laboring under the misconception that there are "good guys". Remember, this is Congress we're talking about.
(Yeah yeah, I know, Boucher seems fairly clueful on issues of importance to the Slashcrowd, but I suspect he's just playing contrarian because the RIAA/MPAA haven't stuffed him full o' cash. Yet. Dig around, I'm sure he belongs to somebody other than his voters.)
Learn from the mistakes of others. You won't live long enough to make them all yourself.
The problem is that the minority of people who actually vote are uninformed and ignorant to the issues that really matter. Instead they will vote for someone based on their view on 1 subject or simply because of their party alignment.
What?
Now that Real is open-source, wanna bet that the MPAA will "embrace and extend" it with it's own anti-piracy scheme???
thats it, Im through, there is nothing worth watching anyway, so good-bye boob-tube, we had some good times in the past, twilight zone, Barney Miller, MASH, I love Lucy, Hogans Heros, Bugs Bunny and Road Runner, but today it is nothing but drivel like "When batchlorettes in Alaska go bad 3" Its not worth it anymore, and this just seals the deal.
Thanks to file sharing, I purchase more CDs
Thanks to the RIAA, I buy them used...
If they'll enforce broadcast flag under FCC rules, then it will create a good opportunity to ads-free recording: you just have to reverse firmware in your recorder to store programs WITH broadcast flag...So all ads will be skipped :)
hehe
Yes, the rest of the world is setting a fine free speech example as evidenced by Italy
"I don't think it's selfish, to eat defenseless shellfish." -NOFX
They just know they introduced their bills way too late and don't want to wait.
"There has grown in the minds of certain groups in this country the idea that just because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary to public interest. This strange doctrine is supported by neither statue or common law. Neither corporations or individuals have the right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back."
-Robert Heinlein, Life Line, 1939
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Otherwise they need to stay the hell out of my equipment, because it belongs to me.
-- We live in a world where lemonade is artificial and soap has real lemon.
You make the rather tragic assumption that they're not allready doing that. I mean, we know who -=voted=- for them, but those people don't really count. Most of the country has either decided well in advance of any election that it is either Democrat or Republican. It's the undecided few (or apathetic many) that decide the election.
Who do you think changes those people's minds? Who gets those swing votes out? I'll tell you who. Advertising agencies. Those agencies need money. Where do you think that comes from?
So yea, they are representing the people who got them there in the first place. Problem is, those people aren't their constituents.
Killfile(TGK)
No trees were killed in the creation of this post. However, many electrons were inconvenienced.
Our legislative system is bogged down with bureaucracy and partisan game-playing. The only decisions that get made with any efficiency are those dealing with terrorists or legislators' pay raises. So although I find their goals nauseating, the senators' approach of going straight to the source and sidestepping the whole legislative tar pit is admirable and invigorating.
I wonder if this isn't a bad precedent. The members of the legislature are accountable to the electorate (in theory at least.) If the proposed regulation becomes a law, the voters can hold the senator from Disney accountable for his actions. Referring the matter to the FCC will no doubt be a faster means to the same end, but it is an end-run around the democratic process.
After all, how many people voted for any of the members of the FCC?
If anything, this move strikes me as rather anti-democratic. Certainly, bypassing the individuals who are publicly accountable from the process entirely would speed things up. I am sure that the lobbiests and appointees could get rules and regulations passed much faster. I am not sure that it would be to Joe Sixpack's advantage though...
However, I am sure that the MPAA and RIAA would find the results very satisfactory. Just think how much they could save if they did not have to buy politicians anymore!
*** Where are we going? And what's with this handbasket?
47 USC 336(b)(4), Hollings justification for the broadcast flag: ... adopt such technical and other requirements as may be necessary or appropriate to assure the quality of the signal used to provide advanced television services, and may adopt regulations that stipulate the minimum number of hours per day that such signal must be transmitted....
The [FCC] shall
I don't think any judge would believe that this provides for mandating standards to avoid copyright infringement. A change of law would be necessary if Hollings does want such a mandate.
You can ask the same question about the drug war - why not change the laws, because if you arrested every person who'd ever committed a drug related crime, you'd arrest the population of Texas, Colerado, Arkansaws.
Really, the game of fighting drugs, or fighting piracy has become such a business and goal in its own right that it really isn't connected to the purpose (protecting communities, artists) it was meant to serve in the first place. What are all the businesses who's viability rests on the protection of IP going to do if you just go out and arrest all the guilty folks tommorow?
"Old man yells at systemd"
They'd both complain about the other getting paid more, and refuse to help until they had a sole "contract". Weehee, on the road to chaos!
It would be just like saying "DVD's will not be copied" 5 years ago. We all know that isn't true.
Someone will always find a way around it, just as the MPAA will always find a way to stop it. This article shows that it is seemingly more difficult for the MPAA to put these procedures in place, that it is for people to circumvent them.
This is a Good Thing--it shows the government is protecting fair-use for the most part. Just as people will not stop circumventing stupid technologies that restric fair use (e.g. DeCSS), the MPAA will never stop their crusade either.
They have a flawed business model, and think we are all thieves, and while they continue to have enough money to buy senators (Fritz et al.), that image will prevail, and the leapfrogging will continue.
"The problem is that the minority of people who actually vote are uninformed and ignorant to the issues that really matter."
Actually, the problem is that to those who vote, these types of issues DON'T matter. I'd be willing to bet they have a laundry list of concerns before they get to stuff that the slashcrowd cares about.
The FCC is an executive agency. It should not be making policy, especially policy of this scope. Haven't you been paying attention to the disastrous results of FCC policy changes in the 1990s? Consolidation of radio into one or two companies. Creation of horizontal media empires. Extensive and undisclosed cross-branding. Death of HDTV.
This is not two elected officials taking the high road out of the muck and mire. This is two elected officials who know that there is no way they can get something like this through Congress -- most voters like their VCRs very much, thank you -- and thus these two elected officials want to do an end-run around the democratic process.
In an administration explicitly modeled on and sympathetic to big business, of course the bought senators would rather deal with the bureaucrats. The bureaucrats are much more likely to have at heart the interests of the senators' masters, Big Media.
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
This ruling was passed after MPAA realized that there is a signal flow between eye and brain and storing that DATA in memory is a copyright violation.
Sounds funny eh? It isnt. It stopped being funny long time ago.We consumers are theives, and pirates who want to destroy the economy.
Thats what the fine print says. PeriodMy Aurora : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o91ZsGwJYyg
FB : https://www.facebook.com/TanveersPhotography
That "tar pit" you speak of is also known as the democratic process and it exists for VERY good reasons. It exists so that people who might possibly disagree have a chance to express their disagreement. Legislation by executive fiat is a very dangerous road to travel.
Historically democracies are destroyed, not by external forces, but rather buy a growing internal dislike of the corrpution and tar pit characteristics of the process. People feel like democracy doesn't ever get anything done, and while it is true to some extent, it is also democracy's methodical checks and balances that protects us from fascism. Fascism gets things done, it just sucks to be you when the boot heel comes down on you and those you love.
This sort of move seems indicative of what I fear may be dangerous times for our democracy. All sides of the political spectrum are convinced that the system is fundamentally broken. Government, unable to trust it's own ability to get things done has been setting up these little extra-democractic bureaucracies to run the show without public input, in the hopes of getting something accomplished. ICANN is a perfect example of this dangerous trend, a bureaucracy outside of democratic controls, created by a government convinced of its own ineptness to manage things correctly.
Maybe the distance between manipulating the FCC to get copy controls into broadcasts and electing Hitler is wide, but it seems that the same motivations drive either. We're fed up with the system, and we want somebody to fix it and increasingly we seem willing to give up our democracy just to get something done. It's that kind of desperation that destroys democracy.
This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
Sell your TV.
Try, just try, life without a television. You'd be amazed how little you miss it, and how much other stuff you'll do instead. If you have a significant other, you'll have time to actually spend with that person, instead of sitting on your arse and not looking at each other. If you don't have an SO, you'll drastically increase your chances of finding one. If you're not looking, you'll at least have time to pursue other hobbies, like coding, or cooking, or bungee jumping, or whatever the heck else trips your trigger. Just try it. You may very well love it.
We live in a capitalist society. If you don't like what the businesses are trying to do to you, then stop using their product. What the hell does a federally-mandted broadcast flag matter to you when you don't watch TV?
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
Why isn't the current laws enforce instead of introducing new ones? I just don't get it.
You posted this AC and I'll never know why. At first glance it looks like a troll, but it's not.
The NRA has advanced this argument for years. It's summed up in their bumper stickers "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." As much as I hate to say it, they're right.
DVRs don't commit piracy, people commit piracy.
The NRA has launched a succefull and powerfull campaign in American government to portray guns as tools, not weapons. The MPAA and the RIAA are launching a similarly successfull campaign to portray P2P networks, DVRs, CD burners, DVD burners, Computers, Abaci, and Pencils as criminal skills development equipment.
I only wish the technical professionals in the US had the gumption to organize like the AARP has. There's a reason why everyone's afraid to touch Social Security but no one thinks twice before trying to outlaw something like floppy drives.
Killfile(TGK)
No trees were killed in the creation of this post. However, many electrons were inconvenienced.
It's too true. Had one of the Good Guys taken a similar action, it would have been hailed in these pages as a necessary escalation to prevent the whole issue from getting bogged down in a corrupt legislative process. But when the Bad Guys do it, we all label it an underhanded attempt to circumvent the checks and balances of that very same legislature.
And you want to know the scariest part? Even though I'm quite aware of this double standard, I still feel the temptation to lock Hollings in the Senate coat closet and not let him out until he admits he's a "dirty rat fink and kept boy of the entertainment industry".
Sometimes a overly strong opinion can be almost as dangerous thing to hold as a overly weak one...
That argument is of course BS -- it's Hollywood saying, "Give me a broadcast flag or I'll just walk away from the billions that digital broadcast is gonna make me" -- but that doesn't matter. They just need to have an answer, not a good one.
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
You may be making the grave mistake of underestimating the stupidity of people in large groups. I hope you're right though. Not only is he failing his constituents, he's endangering the freedoms of the entire country. I guess he's too senile to remember the oath he took to uphold the Constitution?
Hey kids, there's only 5 days left 'til Yak Shaving Day!
It would be very difficult to not let the world know first.
1: You have to tell people that the system isn't standards complient or that a new version of the standard has comeout.
2: Competition rules would require that information be freely available to manufacturers(but possibly cost something to implement)
3: Somebody's going to leak the information anyhows.
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
That's handy to know. Can you still get blank tapes? (this is not a flame, it's a legit quesion)
Hey kids, there's only 5 days left 'til Yak Shaving Day!
Well, yeah, some of 'em. Others win sort of ambiguously (Bush in Florida), and still others are simply appointed to powerful posts with very little real voter control (Powell as FCC chairman).
The worst of it is there's really not much we can do about it. (I'm feeling cynical today). Here're the big problems, as I see it, with the US system:
Special interests pump lots of money into elections. They do this to get their issues voted on their way. Because they're so vocal, candidates get plenty of expensive press. Because (for example) the incumbent gets so much press, his opponents needs press to, so he goes to other special interests. And so on. This is why we need good campaign finance reform, but we won't get it (or something like it) until after the next round of elections, and even that is unclear if it'll survive a court test because of a little something we call Free Speech.
Politicians want to keep their jobs. Congressmen want to stay congressmen, and Senators *definitely* want to stay senators. So they have to run every few years. So they need money to run. And we're back to campaign finance reform (CFR, 'cause I'm tried of spelling it out). Basically, we need to reform campaign finance because, well, people are constantly campaigning. But, wait, we could institute term limits! Well, that can't be done at a state level (it's been tried, and I believe some state measures have been struck down). So, we need term limits in the US Constitution. Well, who writes and approves amemendments for presentation to the states? Congress. It took how many years for CFR? Any bets on when we might see an amendment for term limits?
We could bypass the congress and amend the constitution directly. It's possible to have a Constitutional Convention, bring together representatives from each state, and modify the constitution directly, without having to wait for congress. But the last time we did that, we threw out the old system ENTIRELY and created what we have now. I don't expect that we'd do anything quite as drastic, but I would expect that any delegates to a convention would be just as pressured by special interest groups as Congress is (if not, more). So, sure, we might get term limits. But we'd also get anti-abortion (or pro-choice, depending on who spends more), anti-flag-burning, DRM, permanent copyrights, and who knows what else. So this isn't an option.
So, to review, for those of you outside the US wondering why we keep electing these idiots:
- We can't stop the money
- We can't get 'em to voluntarily step down
- We can't use the power of the populace to force them to step down
- We can't even get reasonable opponents elected, 'cause they all tend to swing too far to the *other* side. (you need one loud special interest to beat out the other).
The only way, then, to "win," is to fight them at their own game -- with money. Campaign contributions, issue ads, strong PR campaigns, etc. But the "common folk" don't have a strong lobby. We don't have the money, we certainly don't have the party. There's simply no single unifying force for the vast majority of opinion in the US. So the majority ends up being ruled by some weird combination of minority (but well funded) views.At least we've got one thing going for us -- we don't kick out our President every time he does something that pisses off the majority of the country (well, we do, but we have to wait up to 4 years to do it). I never understand how countries like Isreal, Great Britain, or Italy can survive with Prime Ministers losing all hold on power on, essentially, a popular whim. So at least our executive branch (current dictatorial fiats notwithstanding) isn't quite as screwed up as other countries'.
This is actually going to HURT them. If I can't record the show, then I'm not going to be able to watch it if I'm not around when its on. That means I'm less likely to get hooked on the show and less likely to buy it on DVD later, or buy any of the other collectible junk sold to support the show.
If anything, I will boycott any show which won't let you record it out of spite and I think a lot more people may as well.
--Won't that be grand? Computers and the programs will start thinking and the people will stop. - Dr. Walter Gibbs
The true irony is how you like the very method that might be the _only_ way Hollywood gets to truely fuck you.
.. if you don't believe its working, thats pretty much the reason it ain't.
Bureaucracy might be slow, but thats the whole point - so those with power and no public accountability can't stick it up your ass with nary a second thought.
Democracy
"Old man yells at systemd"
Which is why people need to inform them of issues that should matter to them. Why do candidates always talk about a few key issues when they're up for office? Because big media and many other people have spent a lot of time and money convincing them that those issues are what matters (Abortion, campaign finance, etc.). Then look at what is actually done about those issues once they get into office. Not much is done, because not much can be done, because they are so controversial.
What?
(From my blog)
I question the appropriateness and perhaps even legality (in an abstract theoretical sense) of a member of the legislative branch of the government urging a part of the executive branch to grab power it does not seem to have, because the legislative branch has not granted it. The legislator does not work by fiat, it's his job to legislate. Should he fail in that endeavor, as Hollings has up to this point, he should not go behind the scenes and try to get the executive branch to do his bidding anyhow.
Congress should officially reprimand Hollings for this. (Not that I expect it...)
"We're here to defend intellectual property," said Jim DeLong, an economist at CEI. "If you want balance, go to another session."
Does it appear to anyone else that that is pretty much the running theme for ANYTHING the MPAA has its fingers in? Its all or nothing with them. They rail about how they are losing like crazy, yet refuse to hear anything even remotely like a compromise.
Well, I paid a heck of a lot of money for my home theater setup.. I guess if they manage to whack my TiVO (which I would assume they are also thinking about, as its pretty easy to dump the signal out to a decent recorder) then DirectTV is gonna lose my business. And probably a lot of OTHER peoples business as well.
This looks to me like a pre-emptive strike at the HDTV standards that are going to come out.. after all, why WOULDNT you want to record something that is twice the clarity and fidelity of even the best DVD right now? They can control DVD's to a certain extent, but they will NOT be able to control this, they know it, and they are running scared before the fact.
(Now.. if only we could get them to program something WORTH RECORDING in HDTV.. right now, I only get HBO (same old same old) and a couple of news channels.. and interminable re-runs of ER)
Maeryk
Feminine Protection? What is that? A chartreuse flame thrower?
I like my TV, for one reason: it lets me watch movies I rent and own. I don't like broadcast television, because it's saturated with commercials and the selection just isn't there and the quality is spotty and I have to stick to someone else's schedule (I can't afford a TiVo). Plus my wife and daughter like their soaps.
So I keep the TV, got a good pickup antenna for network broadcasts, and refuse to pay for cable. Yeah, there are shows on Sci-Fi and Cartoon Network I wish I could catch, but when it's a big deal I ask a friend or family member to tape 'em for me. And they generally do. And if they don't, I wait until I can buy or rent the DVD and watch the whole thing without commercials (or download them off of KaZaA while I'm waiting, if it's really that important me).
Bottom line: I'd rather spend $40/month on two DVDs I really like and want to own, than on cable television piping hours upon hours of useless junk into my household.
Well beta's get out into the wild..
M$ may monkey farm there developers so that developers only have access to a small amount of code, this is probably why the code is so bloated I can't intergrate systems properly in a sand-box environment
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
I'm working my way through "A People's History of the United States" and find the current tactics of the RIAA and the MPAA very similar to those described throughout the book. The use of ostensibly neutral "laws" to further enhance the pocket books of monied interests.
.
Prior to 1910 the law was used to protect the land owners and property owners, with numerous examples throughout the book of the courts upholding what were essentinally very unconstitutional laws favouring monied interests over blacks and poor whites (i.e. those without property)
With the RIAA and the MPAA we are seing similar sorts of laws proposed, only this time to protect the monied interests (those that "own" intellectual property) against those who don't.
Why do the monied interests have the power to pass and uphold these laws? Because they control the legal systems - they are better able to afford lawyers, better able to lobby congress, better able to propogandize against those that hold alternate views.
To me, this is all part of the tragedy of America these days.
It would also be wrong to go back and in time to 1937 and shoot Hitler, before he gassed millions of innocent people because savings uncountable lives of children just isn't justified by taking away fewer than 10 lives of a raving lunatic.
The Temporal Prime Directive forbids this. That's why it would be wrong.
To Do: 1. Take over world 2. Pick up Milk and Bread on the way home
> strange doctrine is supported by neither statue or common law.
Heinlein was obviously not familiar with the concept of Lobbyists...
I am not a number! I am a man! And don't you
because people have the right to timeshift all of the tv they watch, not just the programming the broadcasters want. There is already caselaw substantiating this.
The MPAA tried shenanigans like this in '00 attacking RecordTV.com suceededing in shutting it down.
If PVRs were in every house instead of VCRs, there would be no chance of this getting by, but since this wont directly impact people for several years it will be too late to complain once the new generation of flag obeying goods arrives, and everyone will probably just accept that now, you have to PAY to record TV and watch it at a later date. Or this will kill the adoption of PVRs; once people realize that you cant record whatever you want with a flag-crippled PVR.
ATH0 Bitcoin: 1DnwFLXczVZV8kLJbMYoheUrpqHesjxrSi
People like Hollings for non-re-election? Perhaps we need "The Geek Lobby Page" where information about key publicly elected officials is kept.
When is Hollings up for re-election?
Who is running against him?
Are the opponents views any better?
We all grumble, complain, and flame. We also say we're too small. But have we tried yet to use tried-and-true mainstream political techniques?
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
"Which is why people need to inform them of issues that should matter to them."
Why should this matter to them? Seriously. Have you ever tried to talk to average people about this stuff? I come from a fairly typical blue-collar community. I've tried explaining these types of things, using some of the most easy to comprehend methods around. The great majority still either do not get it or could care less. They just want tax breaks, decent schools and other public services, and health care. Recording TV shows is going to be about last on their list.
"Why do candidates always talk about a few key issues when they're up for office?"
Because thats what matters to voters, no matter how it starts, opinion poll research will still say campaign finance, abortion, etc. That's what matters to everyday Americans. And I can just imagine the first average person raising a ruckus about recording TV shows. His neighbors would quickly label him an idiot, since there are so many other, more compelling things to be concerned with, like better schools and health care.
This is _not_ a sexy issue. It will not be a big attention grabber. The average voter is not going to be the one fighting this, it will be the companies who stand to lose if it happens. VCR makers, TIVO, etc. Joe Sixpack just wants the potholes on his street fixed, a safe school for little Jimmy, and health care thats good enough so he can afford it if he takes ill. Frankly I can't blame him.
What matters to you and I is generally no one elses concern.
Correct. For instance, it would be totally immoral for a person to committ suicide (an act expressly forbidden in the Bible and illegal in most states) to prevent a terrorist act from killing thousands. We'll just have to live with the worse outcome.
This is not suicide, it is heroic sacrifice of ones life to save others, there is a difference.
It would also be wrong to go back and in time to 1937 and shoot Hitler, before he gassed millions of innocent people because savings uncountable lives of children just isn't justified by taking away fewer than 10 lives of a raving lunatic.
Time travel "What If" type scenarios are silly. You have two problems, first, at that time in his life, he had not commited any of those crimes and you would be in effect killing an innocent man. Second, there is no way to insure by removing him things wouldn't be worse, another, dictator could rise up, put Germany on the H-Bomb fast track and use it first against Russia, winning the war. Perhaps because some economic plan was never implemented, Germany and possibly Europe could have remained in a depression for much longer, causing millions to die of starvation and or disease. Or WWII may happened anyway, changing virtually nothing.
There are millions of possibilties and not one of them means anything.
"Our products just aren't engineered for security,"
-Brian Valentine,VP in charge of MS Windows Development
Yes, it would've been more democratic to debate it and vote in the congress on something of this nature, but we have two choices:
1) Sit around crying and watch it happen.
or
2) Accept the opportunity to defend the consumer and take advantage of the comment period!
I don't know about you, but option two sounds better than grabbing the kleenex and crying to till I puke, thanks.
You can bet that TiVo and ReplayTV will write comments, but the general public has to care or this will be a cakewalk for the bad guys. If you're wealthy, consider hiring a DC communications lawyer to write your stuff for you. They're expensive, but you're rich, what do you care. Or of course, donate to EFF.
Don't forget that the FCC is mandated to regulate broadcasting "in the public interest." You're the public, tell them what your interest is.
Once the FCC issues a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) you should be able to submit comments online at fcc.gov. Or you could always print a hard copy, sign it in ink, and send certified mail to the address on the site. (Which would be much better.)
Who did what now?
Sorry, I like sitting down and just get fed some story at times. Just have a beer and don't really work my brain much, at least not more than getting into the series/movie, particularly some sci-fi or cartoon stuff (Farscape, ST: Voyager, Futurama, Simpsons lately). There's too much and too little. Having no TV is too little. If you can do without, fine. I've been without one for 5 months, and it's been more than enough. Books and music and "Real Life(tm)" is fun enough, but judicious use of TV is a good thing, not a bad one.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
I agree with you 100%, and have long felt that the NRA is the right example. More appropriate than many might thing, even. After all, crypto is a big geek issue, so we are very much into, "The right to bear arms." But getting too close to the NRA might make for strange bedfellows. (except for ESR, of course)
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
ShavenYak writes:
m ai n/0,14179,2874687,00.html
;)
> Not only is he failing his constituents, he's
> endangering the freedoms of the entire country.
The entire Senate is not qualified to make any laws forbidding fair use, as the following illustrates:
http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/
>>> Until last week, the staff of the United
>>> States Senate was demonstrating that the
>>> people who create our legislation don't think
>>> they have to obey it themselves. The Senate,
>>> which is now crafting legislation that would
>>> further restrict the illegal sharing of
>>> copyrighted works over networks, was
>>> apparently a hotbed of illegal file sharing
>>> and other peer-to-peer (P2P) networking
>>> activity.
Hm, does the word "hypocrite" ring a bell?
> I guess he's too senile to remember the oath he
> took to uphold the Constitution?
I don't know if Hollings took part personally in the mass unconstitutional screaming fest, but a couple weeks ago a good sized chunk of Congress ran outside, said the pledge of allegiance to the flag, screaming the then unconstitutional "under God" part. Regardless of the merits of the judge's controversial decision, I would think doing something that was legally at that moment found to be unconstitional would break their oaths.
Even if their oaths are intact, no one can argue their immaturity.
Come on, Tok Wira, these sharks have gotta pay!
New Kirk calling Mothra, we need you today!
This is _not_ a sexy issue. It will not be a big attention grabber. The average voter is not going to be the one fighting this, it will be the companies who stand to lose if it happens. VCR makers, TIVO, etc. Joe Sixpack just wants the potholes on his street fixed, a safe school for little Jimmy, and health care thats good enough so he can afford it if he takes ill. Frankly I can't blame him.
You can use that to ge the attention of the average citizen. Write into a local newspaper about how "The government is wasting our tax money to line the pockets of Hollywood while allowing our schools deteriorate" or "Congress warms up to Big Business, Elderly left out in the cold".
This is war and we need to spread our own propaganda and FUD. Hollywood constantly lies, cheats, and steals from the American people to get ahead. But truth is on our side. Its time we used it.
Pie-ing government and business leaders has been a popular form of semi-non-violent (though it's technically assault) protest for a while, it's recently been done to Bill Gates as well as Prime Minister Jean Chretien of Canada (among others). However, in the current climate it's likely to get you shot. After all that pie could be a terrorist weapon of some sort!
Freedom: "I won't!"
Right now, the little freedoms are being taken away, like TV recordings. They are not as important as other major issues and fall by the wayside easily.
One can imagine a world where you're jailed because you share the same national heritage with some evil person (heck, what if your surname just happens to be the same as a certain anti-American?). What if you're slaughtered because of your religion? Or because of your beliefs about personal consumption of certain substances? Or because you know how to use a computer too well?
Some of these attrocities have taken place in the past, some in the present, and some might very well take place in the future. There's an unnerving trend here: so-called "law" degenerates to the point of arresting and killing people because of what they "might" do, presumably because of something they have in common with the perpetrator of some crime.
If history is any guide, things will get worse before they get better.
Ironically, the 9/11/2001 attacks against the U.S. suggest just how vulnerable the nation, and by extention, it's government is. They suggest that when the time for revolution comes, a wide-spread decentralized attack on key areas would have a good chance of success. No doubt, while the government seeks to control panic, it will be caught off-guard as the attacks continue: what will they do? Launch nukes against widespread targets on their own soil?
OBL's strategic "mistake", was blowing his wad on one attack -- he was done for the night, as it were. What is most troubling, though, is that an act of war ("terrorism" is a weasel word applied to enemies not associated with a recognized nation) against the civilians of a democracy is perfectly logical: they freely elect their government with a process they all accept, so why not hold them responsible for it's actions? If you want to wage war on the government, wage war on those who put it in place.
Yes, yes, what about children and other non-voters? Surely they aren't responsible? No, but there's this notion of "collateral damage" in war - unintended, but expected, none the less. It's one of the things that makes war hell -- easily forgotten in these times of sanitized, automated engagement. Funny, thing, though, the winner's "collateral damage" is the loser's "war crime".
It is clear, then, that a revolution against a formidable enemy will likely involve initiation by a relatively small percentage of the population, taking a no-holds barred attitude toward "winning" (or, from their point of view, survival): you're either with us, or agin' us. We see this in acts of domestic "terrorism": people considered sociopaths harm civilians in an attack purportedly directed against government. I ask the following questions: (1) If such an attack were disproportionately effective in harming the ability of the government to infringe upon a right you believe in, and (2) supporting further such attacks would be easy, would you "go along", collateral damage be damned?
History says "yes". And that is what the Second American Revolution is going to look like -- unlike crumbling Eastern European regimes that toppled over from the sheer will of the opressed, the U.S. government is neither weak or crumbling. Taking it down would involve some of the dirtiest and blodiest fighting in history. And home grown -- unlike WW I and WW II, it's unlikely that foreign intervention would be significant.
That's a horrible scenario, isn't it? Sure, but it appears that violent revolution is the natural end result of any oppressive regime that's been handed too much power over the years. The government with the lesser mandate (and thus less centralized power) is the better government. Somehow, the potential price of a government strong enough to protect "us" from "them" doesn't seam worth it and is an illusion on it's face.
You could've hired me.
Saying "under God" in the pledge is in no way unconstitutional. The only unconstitutional portion is public school employees (i.e. agents of government) *leading* children in the pledge. In a way, that makes their demonstration even sillier; they may have thought they were engaging in civil disobedience, but they weren't.
How to solve most of our problems: 1.Lots of nuclear plants. 2.Cure aging.
The absolute best solution to this kind of thing has been around for decades, works perfectly, doesn't cost a cent, and causes your day to suddenly seem a couple of hours longer:
Sell your books.
Try, just try, life without books. You'd be amazed how little you miss them, and how much other stuff you'll do instead. If you have a significant other, you'll have time to actually spend with that person, instead of sitting on your arse and not looking at each other. If you don't have an SO, you'll drastically increase your chances of finding one. If you're not looking, you'll at least have time to pursue other hobbies, like coding, or cooking, or bungee jumping, or whatever the heck else trips your trigger. Just try it. You may very well love it.
We live in a capitalist society. If you don't like what the businesses are trying to do to you, then stop using their product. What the hell does federally-mandted illiteracy matter to you when you don't read books?
[PowerPoint] is a tool for capitalist presentation
If the MPAA owns the copyright, then why don'tthey just tell the television stations that they can't air it without the bit set? Why push in FCC regulations when you can just require it anyway?
-no broken link
Actually, having the word "God" in the official pledge of allegience is unconstitutional; unless, of course, you can point out where the Constitution provides exceptions to Seperation of Church and State...
Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.
And let's not get started on the other guy....
(Hey *I* voted against him!)Free Mac Mini Yeah, it's
What the effing difference does it make -- if it was broadcast for free viewing, what the holy heck difference does it make how many people see it or how they see it?!?
Infuriate left and right
The FCC is an executive agency. It should not be making policy, especially policy of this scope. Haven't you been paying attention to the disastrous results of FCC policy changes in the 1990s? Consolidation of radio into one or two companies. Creation of horizontal media empires. Extensive and undisclosed cross-branding. Death of HDTV.
I live in Dallas, ALL of the major radio stations are owned by Clear Channel, and when they have a "major" advertiser their commercial gets run on ALL their stations at once (or damn near close), so channel flipping doesn't help. All the stations run a similar format, at the same times, and some actually play similar music. Personally I think this approach has totally destroyed radio listening in the Dallas area. The same thing will eventually happen to television if we let the FCC make policy. My personal solution which I recommend is don't watch TV, vote with your dollar, if stuff is crap don't listen to it or watch it.
Many people are part of an organization but don't necessarily support all its causes. I live in the US, but that doesn't mean I support every action the government take overseas. I may be a member of the republican party (i'm not a member of any party), but that doesn't mean I'm 100% with them all the way.
The leaders of the parties just have to be careful who they piss off in the membership.
What?
(I'm not the original author of this brilliant rant...)
I've been targeted right out of the market.
I've had it. I can't take any more advertising. Television, radio, magazines, billboards, even the Internet for Christ's sake. Everywhere. Why do they keep targeting me? I never did anything to them. I don't even buy anything! They're wasting their time! Fast food makes me feel like shit, soft drinks make me dizzy, candy is disgusting, chips make my stomach hurt, I don't smoke, and any band that has ever been advertised anywhere sucks unequivocally. I eat tortillas and vegetables, I drink tap water. I ride my $40 bike for entertainment. I buy a new pair of Dickies at the army navy store every year and I get all my other clothes at Costco in 3-packs. My car works fine, I use my Internet connection for long distance, I've had the same boots for three years and re-sole them when they wear out. As far as booze goes, well, as long as it's wet...
So why do they keep attacking me? Why are they filling every square inch of every available space in my life? Above urinals, on concert tickets, underneath the ice at hockey games, on blimps, in video games, as props in movies, plugs in rap songs, on shitty Web Sites (No, I will not visit your motherfucking sponsor. If you're not in it for the love, and you can't figure out any better way to pay for your site than by slapping some ugly, corrupted banner across the top of your pathetic work, then fucking close up shop, kill yourself, and leave the Web to non-polluters). They'd advertise on the backs of my eyelids if they could get away with it, and I can't hack it anymore. They win. I lose. They succeeded. I failed. Like Brian Wilson, I just wasn't built for these times. I fold. Here are all my cards. Keep the pot, keep my ante, keep the goddamn jacket on the back of my chair for all I care, I can get another at Costco. I'll be out in the parking lot getting drunk and yelling at cute girls because I can no longer stand the taste of tentacles. Marketing has poisoned everything worthwhile under the sun, so I'm giving it all up. Everything.
But the way I figure it, there's no real loss. I've seen all of the episodes of the Simpsons 200 times each. Most of the good writing was done 100 years ago. I haven't listened to FM radio in years. I could play all my records beginning to end alphabetically and I'd be 76 years old when I got to the Zeni Geva. Online culture is a fucking yawn, only good for buying stuffed goats on Ebay and getting cracked copies of $1000 software. Movies always end up at the 99 cent video store across the street eventually, and you can fast forward through those commercials. My girlie's cute and the corner bar has Pabst on tap. What else matters?
True, by shutting myself off to everything, I'm probably limiting my future potential as a 'community building' or 'bleeding edge' cog in someone's nightmarish vision of Internet profitability, but fuck, a simple read through my writing should've cured that anyway (Note to potential employers: The bidding starts at $120,000 a year with full dental).
So I'm out. No more.
I just feel bad for those of you I'm leaving behind. You'll be wearing your Slave Labor Nikes, sweating under a Third World Vest, listening to Everqueer or Fratboy Slim, your hair styled stupidly with gasoline and aborted pig placentas, trying to choke down a Double Meat Fuck Splattered Cow Testicles On The Slaughterhouse Floor Pus Coagulated Lactacious Secretion Yellow Dye #2 Deluxe. Man, will you be looking dumb. It makes me want to cry. You poor, oversugared demographic you. You're filling your apartments, your bodies, and your minds with useless junk. You stagger under your own weight, throwing money in random directions until you collapse and die, buried by a bunch of people who you failed to create meaningful human bonds with, who forget about you on the way home from the funeral.
Maybe I'm just oversensitive, but I actually feel those fingers reaching out at me - cute little girl fingers, feeling at my face like a bind man, pulling at the loose threads all over my brain, trying to find a sensitive one, one that tweaks me. Desires to be successful, attractive to the opposite sex, spiritually satiated, or conversely, the fears of disease, dismemberment, of being outcast, of repressed homosexual desires. Herd mentality as dictated by herd mentality. A gas mask of soiled wool, worn in a steaming shower of chlorinated pond water. A lumbering culture created by profit motive, existing as window dressing to disguise the brutal cynicism of the architects, the brassy checks and balances of accountants bleating commands to the flunky tastemakers on the production line. The subversion of anything subverting. The conversion of something dangerous into something profitable. The gutting of the lion and the championing of the taxidermist. And the puffy vests, my god, the puffy vests....
I give it one more shot.
I hit that little "on" button, and immediately this little red dot appears on my forehead. I feel the barrel rising on the other side of the glass as some powersuited executive attempts to get me in his sights. His scope is the best money can buy, but my nausea and skittishness mark me as difficult prey. I make a sprawling leap over a pile of books, spilling a glass of wine and sending my cats scattering. The TV takes a shot at me. It misses, but after the smoke clears, there's a shimmering can of Pepsi on the coffee table, seductively held by a well manicured (but severed) hand. Then the Taco Bell dog is outside, scratching at my window, singing "That's Amore", the secret code that alerts Col. Sanders and Ronald McDonald to get their tumor inducing grease guns at the ready. "We have a resistor! Alert Cap'n Crunch and Mrs. Butterworth. Tell Hogan to pull that Subaru around!" And then, as the entire posse of 1-800-COLLECT goons attempt to joke their way through the front door, a helmeted uberyouth does a backflip on rollerblades against the window, almost crushing the Taco dog, thankfully getting tangled in the iron jungle of security bars designed for such a moment. The severed Pepsi hand launches itself across the room onto the stereo, turns it to HOTROCK 99.5 FM and starts dancing suggestively on the turntable. Warm, gooey songs ooze from the speakers, blurring the lines between commercial and product, product and art. The walls are running with honey, blood, and Gatorade. Limp Bizkit tries to sign me up for the Rap Metal MasterCard, but is outvolumed by a chorus of creepy NY Gap models, dead eyed and Children of the Damned style, singing nostalgic 80s songs with cool detachment, trying to sell me vests. Close inspection reveals UPC codes on the backs of their beautiful necks and a legion of bulimic girls behind them, mascara mixing with puke on ten thousand toilet bowls. Budweiser frogs are crawling out of the toilet bowls. A one-eyed, mutilated Asian girl holds a pair of new Levi's against the window with a thin, purple arm and starts screeching "It's a Small World After All" at the top of her lungs. Magic, The Old Navy dog, is sniffing butts with the Taco Bell dog, who had since bit the Asian girl on the leg and now yelling something about Gordidas. A waifish beauty suddenly appears on my bed, vying for my attention, trying to talk me into a new car, her hand slowly unbuttoning her blouse, batting her doe-ishly brown eyes, "C'mon Mark. It's only a test drive. No one ever has to know."
Realizing my one escape, I yank my battered wallet out of my back pocket and pull out a twenty dollar bill. The entire scene freezes. All eyes are transfixed to the damp, smelly piece of paper. Andrew Jackson snickers and you can almost smell the cannibalized Indian on his breath. A miraculous cross breeze flows through my apartment, and I let the money go. It catches an upward draft, a hot air thermal, and is gone out the window.
And then, something even stranger happens. The spokespeople, animals, models, body parts, and corporate whores all disappear in a anti-climactic 'puff' of yellow smoke, leaving a slight smell of perfumed intestine twisting through the air. My twenty freezes in mid flight about thirty feet above the ground. A helicopter drops out of the sky, and lowers a rope down to the cash. A man in a business suit slides down the rope, commando style, and captures the money in his mouth, gives a contemptuous snort, mumbling something like "sucker" under his breath. And then the helicopter is gone, vanishing somewhere behind the radio towers spiking the top of Queen Anne Hill. Everything is quiet again.
I didn't just turn that TV off. I unplugged the motherfucker.
Speak truth to power.
If they don't want me to record and watch their shows and advertising, I will be happy to just go read a book - or a lot of them and give up on TV completely. I still have DVD movies to watch. So I guess I can eventually cancel my very expensive digital cable subscription and get back into reading - something everyone should do more of - and I mean the paper kind of book, not e-books.
-- Knuckle Blood : Official Lube of Team Rusty Nuts.
Easy.. they stop making the VCR's. Think about, you've got Circuit City no longer going to be selling VCR's.. And others are prolly going to follow.
UPS Sucks
No. We don't elect these people.
"We" (or, more accurately, the votes that we cast) simply exercise our rights according to what we understand of the situation... and (for the most part) our understanding comes from the ad time and publicity that is bought by the candidates during an election. (At least, this is what the candidates seem to believe.) This ad time and those messages are bought using money that comes from campaign contributions... often from large corporations.
In effect, the corporation buys the votes, and the candidate gets elected. His belief that he cannot get elected without the financial support of some or another corporation means that, in effect, he is representing the corporation that will buy him the next election.
Isn't this obvious?
Is the only fix to change how candidates pay for election expenses?
-Eldurbarn
Senators who actually make it to the ballot usually take up very neutral positions as far as their constituencies go, and then they change their tune as soon as they are elected. Sadly money speaks louder than voters
We need to make it so that No Vote = No $$$. This would restore the power in the government to the people. We need to get the politicians to remember that they work for US, not Hollywood, MPAA, RIAA, or big business.
UPS Sucks
Gun's don't kill people - guns make it very very easy to kill people, so that people who otherwise wouldn't have killed do so. Often by accident.
DVR's don't commit piracy - neither do the people who use them. You have the right to record anything you are sent. PERIOD.
You claim there's some sort of similarity between the two situations. There isn't.
...that my old silver top-loader is going to care about this just as much as it cares about macrovision: not at all.
Now that I think about it, my camcorder probably won't care either...
These Chicken Littles need to quit wasting their time. The VCR didn't kill them off, the digital equivalent isn't going to either, and for the same reason: most people are not theives. They just want a decent value for the price they pay, and if you're unwilling to provide that, they won't buiy your product.
Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.
Well, old (and I do stress the OLD) Fritz isn't going to be around forever... Hopefully when he moves on he'll be replaced by someone younger and more in-tune with reality.
I think the Boston Strangler's days are long since over... Perhaps it's time he realized it.
"Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence." - Charles de Gaulle
Up to now, the MPAA has mostly affected geeks, students, or other politically not very relevant groups, and to a large part of the electorate, somewhat mistrusted group. Especially republicans know that they (a) don't vote for them and (b) don't donate.
But if Joe Sixpack can't tape the Superbowl on his TiVo, the phone lines on Capitol Hill will melt.
West Wing
Sopranos
Six Feet Under
Oz
Sex in the City
Live Sports
Just because "Bachelorettes in Alaska Go Bad 3" is on [Fox] doesn't mean we actually have to watch it, nor that it represents the quality TV shows that are available.
"And like that
Is the only fix to change how candidates pay for election expenses?
My proposal for this is that each state has an Election Fund, anyone can donate to the election fund, but you don't choose where the money donated goes. Candidates are welcome to donate their own personal finances to the election fund, but it will also get spread out to their competitors.
Every candidate who is running gets the same amount of money out of the election fund. This is ALL of the money they can spend on their election. They have oversight from an Election committee that makes sure they submit an itemized list of their purchasing expenses which is available for review. 3rd parties are not allowed to advertise on broadcast media for any candidate, print media is OK as long as it is clearly marked that the third party is paying for it. Not in tiny tiny text at the bottom of the last page, but in large text across the top of the front.
This way everyone gets an even shot.
Do the same thing for Federal Elections.
Kintanon
Check out JoshJitsu.info for Brazilian Ji
Try this experiment (at work :)
1. Take a $100 bill.
2. Make a copy of it on your fancy color copier at work.
3. Notice it doesn't come out correctly (or if it does look OK, look for small 'tracing' dots).
And if you really want to have some fun, call a copier repairman, and see how long it takes for the secret service to arrive -- no, really.
"And like that
Well, the particular section of US Code which states that the "under God" version of the pledge is the official version could be considered unconstitutional, because "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion". However, this does not make that version of the pledge illegal or unconstitutional to recite, so the Congresscritters were not in any way violating the Constitution by saying it. They were, as the previous poster pointed out, acting very immature, but that's par for the course in D.C.
Hey kids, there's only 5 days left 'til Yak Shaving Day!
A friend gave me a Radio Shack 1" TV, which I last used on September 11, 2001. It's in a drawer with the flashlights, extra batteries, and other emergency supplies.
I would like to congratulate all of you who write eloquent replies on Slashdot, however you need to write letters to your "elected officials".
Myself, everytime I read an article on Slashdot which makes my blood boil and pertains to privacy, civil liberties, anti-consumer electronic devices, and/or bad technology legislation, I contact my legislators via email, fax, or snail mail.
Your elected official needs and wants to hear from you on the issues! If they get a mere 10 letters, faxes, or emails on a topic it raises a "red" flag and forces them to look at the issue before unknowing upsetting their constituency.
I urge you to contact these people and let them know what you think on a weekly basis. America is still "Government by the people, for the People."
While you are at it, register to vote!
Lastly, we always hear talk about buying legislation in the form of campaign contributions. Believe it or not, it doesn't cost all that much to buy legislation and once we all get in the habit of contacting our legislative officials and voting, we can donate money to a PAC, donate to campaigns and hire lobbyists. Then the Slashdotter will truly be running with the big dogs, but political involvement has to begin small.
Here are some helpful websites to guide you:
U.S. House of Representatives U.S. Senate Congressional News
I fear if we do not act and unite soon, that we will lose control of the Internet and consumer electronics in the name of Patriotism and anti-piracy.
There are so many issues involved in this industry, and the other similar entertainment industries, it is almost overwhelming. No single plan or argument is correct, or can fix the problems that exist and are coming.
One of the things that will have a very dramatic effect is that it will only get cheaper and easier for individuals to produce movies and music. The recording media is getting cheaper by the minute (hard drive space and so on), the recording devices are getting cheaper (cameras and computers), and the methods of distribution are radically changing. Twenty years ago, it was pretty much impossible for a single person with limited resources to get a movie or video out to more than a few hundred people at best. Now, anyone with the talent can get it out to potentially millions of people (if it is interesting enough). Marketing is dirt cheap, production is dirt cheap, and distribution is nearing dirt cheap. MPAA is going to lose a lot, and they are going to fight it like there is no tomorrow.
I think what we will have in the near future will be commercial free subscription channels, and commercial free subscription shows. You might get some product placement, but the viewer has the ultimate power over what they watch. What you will end up with is a distribution method that brokers getting independant shows to the viewer, essentially, like a for profit PBS.
Thats my opinion, I could be wrong.
Casca
Hehe, Yeah, I should have specified that. I mean third parties as in, people not running for office. So the Democrats and Republicans couldn't run big multimillion dollar TV ad campaigns for their candidate any more than the NRA could. Only the individual candidate can pay for TV spots and only with the money they receive from the election fund.
Kintanon
Check out JoshJitsu.info for Brazilian Ji
There is a point to be learned here: passive observation is useless in regards to shit like this. You have to take ACTION! You have to risk sounding like a religious zealot and "preach" to people about what's going on. Why the DMCA is bad. How the MPAA is screwing over music as they know it (as if it's not bad enough already). And so on. Not buying a CD may make a very slight impact on the MPAA, but take the time to explain to people why you're doing so. That way, hopefully, you can instill the idea and reasoning in someone else's head too. Numbers matter here, whether it's how much $$$ you have to spend to lobby in congress, or how many friends you can get to let the FCC know that this idea is rediculous.
Make your voice be heard.
I unplugged my t.v...did you?
"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned for SEGA. ..."
And for good reason.
Namely, I never record television programs anymore. If I don't have time to watch them in the first place, it's doubtful I'll get around to watching it later. I tried for a while, and ended up with a collection of tapes I never looked at. Combine this with the fact that the quality of broadcast (or commerical) television continues to go down, and I just sort of shrug.
Somehow, I can see good comming out of this. If commerical television succeeds in upsetting its customer base more and more, I have a feeling consumers will tend to move towards commerical free subscription channels and services. There are great models already in place for this.
1. Pay-per view. For films, this is a great feature. Most services for a one time fee allow you to view a movie as many times and whenever you want in a particular time frame.
2. The 'HBO' model. HBO continues to produce their own content, and as a general rule it's much better then its counterpart on commerical TV. Using digital cable, they can broadcast 10+ channels at the same time (for basically the same fee to the end user). More often then not, if you miss a favorate program, it will be on a dozen more times in the following week.
I wish more commerical stations would take that sort of view, and move towards a subscription service. I can think as an example the TNN channel, which I find myself watching more and more (some neet movies and a ton of star trek re-runs). Would I pay $5 a month for the same content commerical free and unedited despite the fact that its mainly re-runs? Absolutly
Would I pay $5 a month to see the golf channel without commericals? No. I don't need 300 channels of commerical television because 90% of it I won't watch. Would I fight for the right to record the content on those commerical stations? Nope.
The Internet is generally stupid
The difference is the distribution channels in each media. Any guy off the street can put up a web page, and most of the time, yeah, it will be crap. But to get your program on television requires a great deal of funding and industry connections.
The advertising model found on most stations prevents innovation at most points, because it evalulates a program based on mass appeal to target demographics instead of basic quality.
The assumption that which programs are to be aired are only done so because people will like them is false, simply because the industry executives can't seem to figure out what people will like and what they won't. Instead, they tend to fall back on variations of a common formula which can yeild an acceptable level of ratings.
Television in and of itself is not a flawed media, but the practice and procedures of the distribution of the media is. The Internet doesn't have this fault because as a general rule there is no central corporate control over the distribution system. Innovation typically is discovered and spread by word of mouth far more often then in telivision, despite all the crap and noise.
The Internet is generally stupid
Now where does this check go and how do I receive the ad-free video stream?
Where is our senator in all of this? Why is it that all the PVR, VCR, DVD/CD-R(W) manufacturers and everyone else from HD makers to paper and pen manufacturers can't all get together and buy their own senator. Hell for that matter, why doesn't slashdot buy a senator. We need someone to start standing up for us. Someone who will spread our FUD. We need a lobyist group.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
If they would put in a "commercial flag" so my Tivo could accurately skip the commercials completely automatically and seamlessly so I truly got "ad-free TV", I would willingly pay $250/year for it. But it would have to be on all channels...
The DRM shackle (tm) will be foisted upon all of us, because as you know, analog TV broadcasts will be illegal come 2006 or so. Everyone is going to have to buy the George Orwell/Hillary Rosen/Jack Valenti Corporate Media Theft Protector (tm, pat. pending), even for your old 1957 KUBA Komet, complete with shock collars, pupil trackers and catheter for preventing you from missing commercials due to "nature's call".
The deluxe model dispenses beer, snack foos, antacid and feminine hygiene products.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
err is the US the ONLY example of capitalism...no, how about the rest of industrial nations ? ALL practice capitalism is some form or another, as to your point, IT IS valid, confidence in the system is lower than it has been since the crash in the 20's, but even then people still believed the government was there to help them. Today I fully believe that the governments SOLE purpose is to make a $$ for its' coprporate handler, and the overall good of the people and the state is totally lost in the for profit rush.
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
Just a thought . . .
Right now America's mistrust of corporations and those that run them is quite high.
Maybe this is a new weapon in our arsenal against the MPAA and their ilk.
People are now aware that some CEOs and their cronies used their companies for personal enrichment while shafting everyone else. They used others for their own personal enrichment.
The MPAA is trying to use lobbying and pressure to expand their control and wring more money out of us - previous laws and policies and basic decency be damned.
In both cases it's "we're rich, forget you and what happens to you."
Perhaps this may be a useful way to help Joe Public understand the issues.
Just a thought.
"The Sage treasures Unity and measures all things by it" - Lao Tzu
Some of these bills are the most outrageous that I've ever seen:
"Berman has not introduced his bill yet, but his description says that it will immunize copyright holders from civil and criminal liability who use technological methods such as hacking to "prevent the unauthorized distribution of their copyrighted works via P2P networks."
So, the bill would allow copyright holders to hack into my PC if they feel I have taken their intellectual property. If they do and they don't find anything will I have legal recourse? If not can I hack into Hollywood's computers and poke around? I mean I think maybe they have some of my intellectual property and isn't turn about fair play?
This is truly outrageous. We are suppose to be protected from search and seizure from the government but now this stupid bill would allow Corporations a right of trespass! What's next? Maybe allow Microsoft to break into my home, hold me at gun point and rifle thought my software looking for copies of software that I didn't keep proof of purchase?
Maybe next they can introduce a bill that will allow corporations to punish violators without due process? They find intellectual property without proof of purchase and the corporation can take your equipment maybe?
You know, even if they hack into your computer and find MP3s it doesn't prove that you stole them. We DO have fair use rights and if we own a CD it is perfectly legal to create MP3s and keep them on our PCs. I find it much easier to do that than keep all of my CDs at my desk.
If you haven't figured it out by the tone of this message, these guys are really starting to piss me off!
The race isn't always to the swift... but that's the way to bet!
Actually, the Pledge of Allegiance ruling won't take effect for several months, and even when it does, it will only be in effect in the 9th Circuit Court's jurisdiction -- namely, several western states.
EXCEPT, they day after the ruling was announced, the judge who wrote the ruling basically put it on hold pending a review by the full 9th Circuit Court. So at this point, the ruling effectively does not exist and everyone in every state can legally go around saying "under God" in classrooms. Even if the full Court does approve the ruling, not until the Supreme Court of the United States has its say will anything apply to the entire country (if SCOTUS confirms the ruling, then it will be illegal for teachers to recite "under God" in classrooms, and if they deny the ruling, then it will still be legal -- unfortunately so).
Tangentially... It pisses me off whenever I hear someone claim this country was founded on "Christian values". That is utter bullshit. The founding fathers were, almost without exception, Deists, not Christians -- they very specifically excluded religion from the government (haven't you fundies ever even HEARD of the First Amendment?) because they knew the kind of horrible atrocities that ended up getting perpetrated when government was in bed with religion, as had happened countless times in the European theocracies of their forefathers.
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
Actually, having the word "God" in the official pledge of allegience is unconstitutional
I must have missed that part of the constitution.
The only relevant section I can find is in the first amendment, where it says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;".
Now, explain to me how that makes it illegal for congressmen to say the pledge? All I can see is that they're not allowed to make laws that either support or prohibit religion.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
Hey, MPAA, yeah YOU!
You are illegally broadcasting waves of electromagnetic energy through my home and property without my express written permission or concent. These waves consist of digital and analogue encodings of endless hours of mind-altering programming and I demand that you cease and decist at once!
Since the waveforms are passing through my property (and indeed, my own body!), I claim imminant domain rights to them. If you don't wish me to retain ownership of these intruders, you must prevent them from entering my property.
PS: Next time I come over to your house (uninvited) with cheap beer and nachos, you MUST eat them cold (dipped in the beer), because that's how I brought them and you aren't allowed to use them the way you'd like to. You must also accept the road salt I sprinkle atop them as advertising, since I want you to. Oh, and you have to put them together yourself as well, since I can't be bothered with programming on demand.
MPAA/RIAA, you guys need to grow up and get a life.
It just feels wrong that these people getting payed over and over. Record a song, get some payment, and thats it. Why should they keep getting payed over and over when the song is being played again? Does the people who built my TV keep getting money when i used it? Or any other thing?
Sick I tell you, lets vote to get the damn laws changed.
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
preferably well armed!
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
In the 1982 House Hearing on Home Recording of Copyrighted Works Jack Valenti said:
I know of no technological device at this time that would bar taping in the home and if it did exist, it would only be a matter of days before the Japanese manufacturers would have an override piece of equipment on their machine and you would start from ground zero again.
So why is he trying to force such a thing now?
Yes, it is reasonable to argue that since congress has made a law saying children have to go to school, then those children should not be forced to verbally express a belief in God, otherwise there would be a law respecting religion.
But that is *not* what was being discussed.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
- I had a lot more free time and I did in fact tend to get productive things done with it.
- Most of the news content on TV can be had better and faster on the Internet.
- TV does have a subtle addictive quality to it that's difficult to detect unless you quit.
- It can be rather difficult to escape from TV, even if you try. There almost always seems to be one on, around the house and in many public places. This is particularly onerous in some airports.
Although I'm watching again, occasionally, I do it even less now, and with the knowledge that it really is a nearly utter waste of my time (and therefore, my life).--Mike
"Not an actor, but he plays one on TV."
Time travel "What If" type scenarios are silly. You have two problems, first, at that time in his life, he had not commited any of those crimes and you would be in effect killing an innocent man. Second, there is no way to insure by removing him things wouldn't be worse, another, dictator could rise up, put Germany on the H-Bomb fast track and use it first against Russia, winning the war. Perhaps because some economic plan was never implemented, Germany and possibly Europe could have remained in a depression for much longer, causing millions to die of starvation and or disease. Or WWII may happened anyway, changing virtually nothing.
Okay, what if we go back in time, gouge out both of Hitler's eyes, ruin his voice, crush both of his hands, chop off both of his legs and then tattoo "I love sucking off dogs" (in German) on every square inch of his flesh, oh and chop off his balls so he could never reproduce?
He'd still be ALIVE. Just not the poster child of Nazi-cult. Works for me.
"Face it, a nation that maintains a 72% approval rating on George W. Bush is a nation with a very loose grip on reality.