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MPAA Puts Words in Mouth of CA Attorney General
An anonymous reader writes "In another example of Microsoft Word meta data coming back to bite you, Wired News reports that a document circulated by the California Attorney General to fellow lawmakers supporting new restrictions on P2P software was actually authored by a senior vice president of the Motion Picture Association of America."
Use the Antiword!
Flamebait? Honestly guys, give the massive negative moderation a break. The MPAA gives money to politicians. Here's an old PCworld Article.
Tsuyoikoto ha taisetsu da ne, dakedo namida mo hitsuyousa (Strength is an important thing, but tears too are necessary)
But note: if the goal is to "legitimize" p2p so that artists get paid, how would you do it? The EFF has come up with a solution called Voluntary Collective Licensing that would allow artists to be paid for filesharing that is going to occur anyway.
Now, what was it Mussolini said about Fascism being about the merging of the State and Corporation? Welcome to the future
I think the actual quote was:
"Fascism should rightly be called corporatism as it is a merger of state and corporate power."
> corporation. Unfortunately, I forget the name
> of the person that introduced this.
> -- ravind
The company is called Semco, it's in Brazil, and the CEO is Ricardo Semler. You can read about it in his excellent book Maverick!. He's written a follow up called The Seven Day Weekend which I'm getting when it's available here in paperback.
"If democracy and self-rule are the fundamentals, then why should people give up these rights when they enter their work place? In politics we fight like tigers for freedom, for the right to elect our leaders, for freedom of movement, choice of residence, choice of what work to pursue -- control of our lives, in short. And then we wake up in the morning and go to work, and all those rights disappear. We no longer insist on them. And so for most of the day we return to feudalism. That is what capitalism is -- a version of feudalism in which capital replaces land, and business leaders replace kings. But the hierarchy remains." - Kim Stanley Robinson, Blue Mars, 1996
That's in a case where the water isn't nearly as muddy as with the MPAA's shenanigans. There are legitimate reasons for which copyright laws exist, the MPAA is maneuvering behind those.
I have 10-year-old twins, one of whom once testing a little high for lead levels in my old apartment; gee, I guess there was no danger after all. Is there any cover at all for stacking a CDC board's medical decision with voices from the paint industry?
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
Not illegal. Not even close. In fact, there are many currently-standing laws that are:
- written entirely by private organizations
- copyrighted by those organizations, with a limited license granted to the government for enforcement purposes
- if you want to read the frickin law you must buy a copy from the private company
And for the grand finale: any other person who makes copies of these laws available to the public is prosecuted for copyright violation! Note that the this case was appealed to the US Supreme Court, but they refused to hear it.The law of the land is: you don't talk about the law of the land.
Why can't independents thrive off of the merits of their work?
Scenario:
You publish some of your creative content. Once published, content is essentially accessible to the general public at no cost. That's the nature of it. Your ideas become public property because ideas, once released, force themselves onto everyone who comes in contact with them, just like Jefferson said.
Now, your copyright identifies you as the original creator and the source for potential future works. Perhaps copyright will protect you from parasites who might try to hijack your work for their own exclusive gain, but nothing more.
You have made little or no money from your initial offering to the public. Your work, so far, is merely an investment. If you are any good, people will appreciate you. They will hope for more.
You will say: I own other ideas; ideas that are uniquely mine, and that nobody else has but me. These ideas are worth something to the public, and I will release them to you if you make it worth my effort.
If the public, based on the merits of your previous ideas, would like to be edified by your continuing work, then they will support you in your work. And if you become so astoundingly popular, why not hire a publishing house to get the word out to the masses? They could even take a small cut of your earnings. What a novel idea.
How can this go wrong? Why not use a system that actually cultivates excellence by feeding the true masters? Why not let the mediocre find something else they truly excel in? Why do we celebrate mediocrity? If the people still want the latest sexed-up teenage sensation, why, they can still vote with their money.
Isn't it time for people to think about what they really want? Why is it that we are force-fed our culture, as it were, through an I.V.?
It is not a hard issue. Why is there such debate?
Actually, the untruncated quote is:
The first stage of fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and Corporate power.
Look out honey, 'cause I'm using technology; Ain't got time to make no apology
Mannheim Steamroller is a great example of a successful music group that can't live on concerts, IMHO. I love Chip Davis' work and own all the Fresh Aire and Christmas CDs. But I don't like going to their performances.
I've been to a couple, but the problem is, they sound just like the CD. One, the Ice-Capades-alike, I honestly didn't realize the band was there until the end, when they stood up for applause. I thought they were just playing a CD. Thanks to synthesizors, amplifications, click tracks, and a few other technology bits, the performances are indistinguishable from playing the CD.
If the CD can stand in that well, I don't know why they perform at all. I'd rather just have the CD, thanks.
I know they aren't the only group who does this. I know I've also seen a lot of things like Superbowl performance or Emmy performances that are indistinguishable from the CD (and I don't think they were all lipsynching, though maybe I'm wrong). Living on performances isn't a good idea for a lot of groups who make good music, but don't really gain any benefit from giving a "concert".
Yep. That's incredibly necessary.
My daughter is allergic (as in "drop dead allergic", not as in "itchy itchy allergic") to nuts (tree nuts -- walnuts, cashews, pecans, etc...), but not to peanuts (which, as the parent notes, are legumes). So, if I look at a jar of peanuts, I need to know if it's been processed on the same equipments as tree nuts (aka "nuts"), so that I won't buy it and give it to my daughter.
The only reason we have the rights we have is that people just like us died to gain those rights. -- Cheerio Boy
Write and complaint to the Office of the Robot, er, the Office of the Attorney General of the State of California.
CA State AG Public Inquiry Unit
or
You can contact the Public Inquiry Unit at (916) 322-3360 or, within California, by calling (800) 952-5225.
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.