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BSA Asks Kids to Name Copyright Weasel
theodp writes "According to CNET News, this fall, 4th-graders will not only be treated to comic books and lesson plans from the Business Software Alliance and Weekly Reader, but also invited to name the BSA's mascot, a copyright-crusading ferret who teaches tech-savvy kids about the importance of protecting and respecting copyrighted works such as software, music, games and movies. More details in the BSA press release."
Because that ferret is destined to go on a long dark journey!
something to the effect of The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation is the philosophy of the government in the next. This seems a good way for organizations to get laws changed in their favor.
I have no
It's not just for your parents anymore! :P
Error 407 - No creative sig found
Let's name him Darl!
Right is wrong when left is right.
Gosh, it sure reminds me of good ol' Frank Burns from M*A*S*H! Take THAT, Ferret Face!
Jory
Fucktard, the copyright weasel.
Don't Crease the Weasel!
Interesting that it's a ferret. You'd think it'd be something clever like a sphincter or a noose around the neck of society.
Keep the faith, share the code
BSA Asks Kids to Name Copyright Weasel
At least they choose the right animal. Has anyone heard when SCO will be letting us name their skunk mascot?
As the article says:
;)
The ferret, by the way, does seem to be an odd mascot choice for an organization devoted to strict legal adherence, given that the weasel-like mammals are outlawed in California and several other states.
Anyway, were I in 4th grade, I'd submit "nibbler."
You know. In honor of the old copy/backup programs often called "nibblers" frmo the C64/Apple2 days. Since they nibbled the disk bit-by-bit to make exact copies. And like ferrets.
Get it?
everything in moderation
BSA - I thought they make Motorcycles
This is bad because... ?
Gates or Valenti?
First of all, he looks like a rip-off of everyone else's favourite corporate cartoon character: Poochy. So "Snitchy" feels right.
hang on... they chose.. a ferret?
the mind boggles.
Kids, make sure to copyright your entries!
This comment does not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the author.
(with thanks to Bill Gaines, Bill Elder, and Harvey Kurtzman)
That ain't liver; that's beef kidney!
While I will teach my child what *I* believe is right and wrong, we can hope that the children of parents that are not quite as diligent see thru this garbage.
Perhaps with a bit of luck this attempt at brainwashing will totally backfire.
Home schooling becomes more appealing each day.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
May I be one of hopefully many in saying WTF?? How is the BSA allowed to even infiltrate our PUBLIC school system, I mean what goes on at these meetings
BSA REP: "We will give you enough money to buy 10 more computers if you let us brainwash the kids"
Director of school: "I'm not sure thats a good idea, have you ever read 1984?"
BSA REP: "Of course I have, I'll make it 11 computers and I won't let RIAA charge you for illegal music downloads"
Director of school: "But i havn't downloaded any illegal music"
BSA REP: "Thats what they all say!"
Hey kids be a weasel and turn in your friends for downloading music!
While I'm all for respecting copyrights and all that intellectual property stuff, I find it strangely difficult to accept moral lessons from the BSA.
I suppose they'll be joining the ranks of MTV, musicians, and video games in the world of raising YOUR children.
Parents -- please take responsibility for your children. Please?
Too easy.
Snitchy
Ratty
Verminator
Now kids will grow up with negative memories of ferrets. Nice.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
They're not just for breakfast anymore! -- How could somebody be so clueless as to pick a ferret as the mascot for ratting out your buddies? A skunk might have been better.
A Weasle mascot to represent an industry full of them. Funny.
John Ashcroft
"Dead Meat", the DRM-enforcing weasel!
May we never see th
How about Captain Copyright?
See how the dauntless Captain Copyright sells out its friend to the BSA for talking about copying software.
Laught when Captain Copyright battles with the fearsom Product Pirates (and see how they get locked up for 30 years for running an illegal copy of Windows XP).
Be fascinated how Captian Copyright bribes and lobbies the Congress to introduce capital punishment for product theft.
+++ MELON MELON MELON +++ Out of Cheese Error +++ redo from start +++
For a second, when I read the title, I thought it meant the BSA was asking children to rat on their friends... Glad to hear it's just brainwashing!
If this program has any success like the Just Say No program did in the 1980s, then we should be seeing an entire generation of copyright violators in, oh, 20-30 years.
Raw raw brainwashing backfires.
I can't think of a better name than Hilary.
Do not touch -Willie
So how long until the kids are 'taught' to turn in their parents "to help them"?
Gotta love my tax dollars supporting this tripe.
let's remember that there's nothing wrong with protecting the copyright.
the problem lies in the fact that copyrights seem to be indefinite. we need to cut them down, not cut them out.
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
"Snitch the Weasel"
Finding God in a Dog
How about "Stoolie the Pigeon"?
May we never see th
Ah yes. That's just too appropriate. Weasels are the snakes of the mammal family. (Yeah, it's not proper taxonomic jargon. So sue me.) Always sneaking around behind other animals' backs, and fighting like holy hell whenever they get cornered. Oh, and weasels particularly like to eat young things.
Heck, just the fact that they've picked a weasel is funny enough for me. Could they possibly have picked a WORSE animal mascot? Maybe the cockroach...
p
In Korea, long hair is for old people!
Howabout "Orrin the Ass-Burrowing Money Weasel"? It's got a nice ring to it. You gotta admit.
blog |
ferret, weasel, rat... whatever
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
A rodent that tends to smell like shit and is uncannily prone to getting rabies. Things like this are why I don't believe in coincidences anymore....
Click here or a puppy gets stomped!
Linux: Chubby, randy penguin. A rather inoffensive critter.
BSA: A maniacally-grinning weasel.
I wanna see all the logos that will be sure to come up involving Python and everybody's least-favorite weasel.
May we never see th
with a private organization coming into a school that OUR tax dollars support without asking said taxpayers if they can.
Chuck
Satan?
As if school wasn't used quite enough already to control what children will think in the future. Now, they make a mascot for copyrights. What a great idea!! Turn in your friends children and we'll give you free software!
Mr. Fuckwit the Weasel?
I thought this pukey yellow/brown color was associated with certain negative topics like "Your Rights Online", but the topic for this story is "Education", so it seems that the Slashdot editors have control of the color theme per story. Is this some kind of subtle suggestion that the readers should assume this story has a negative bent? Seems weird to me...
LS
There is a fine line between being a cultivated citizen and being someone else's crop. - A. J. Patrick Liszkie
Obviously the prelude to a pro-snitch campaign. You know.. "You don't have to be a ferret to help ferret out Intellectual Property thieves. Do the right thing kids. Do it for Britney."
-- I could tell right away that she was impressed with my HUGE Slashdot Karma.
Can you get a merit badge in CD burning?
Juares. Spelt W A R E Z.
Rock on!
In the article, it notes that we can write in "Sterling Ball" the guy who jettisoned all MS products after getting raided by the BSA.
Anyone know where the url is so we can vote?
- Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
This is a pretty pitiful ploy to get grade schoolers behind the BSA at an early age. Of course, for the next few years they will not want to piss off the organization that "let them name the animal!" and gave them all the pretty colorful pamphlets. Why not wait til kids can form a more educated opinion before we try to mentally rape them?
the ferret/weasel appears to be choking himself with his own hands . . . Symbolic of the industry ?
Here is the description for one of the games on www.playitcybersafe.com
Piracy Deepfreeze
Stop the pirates from freezing the city! Throw your ball into the pirates and their stolen software before they hit the ground.
I can just see the mayhem during recess when kids spot a boy playing a GBA game with no label.
what's bad is that the BSD mostly acts as a terroristic organisation which mostly intimidates people into upgrading M$ products ...
I must have missed the part where BSD [sic] flew jetliners into skyscrapers and killed thousands of people. Or all the videotapes where they behead people who didn't upgrade to the newest version of MSOffice.
Why is it that everyone seems to feel the need to compare the boogeyman of their choice to terrorists these days?
"Ripper". Ah, sweet irony. :)
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
This thing reminds me of Clay's horny, drug-addicted ferret, Angus, on Showtimes not-nearly-as-funny-as-it-should-be show "Free for all." I couldn't find any great pics, but Showtime's Free For All site is here.
The drug-addicted part is where I find the greatest resemblance.
Help save the critically endangered Blue Iguana
"Litigation", the copyright-defending, legal system-loving scumbag^H^H^H^H^H^H^H weasel?
And tomorrow the stock exchange will be the human race
"Bono", after the Senator that was stupid enough to kill himself by skiing into a tree! (And was also responsible for the Bono Copyright Extension Act. Determining which of the two requires more stupidity is left as an excercise for the reader.)
The "Play It Safe in Cyber Space" campaign will culminate with a four-page comic book
It's sad that they only could come up with four pages, but that's what you have to limit yourself to if you have to deal with the post-MTV generation!
bash$
Their first mistake was letting the anti-copyright camp pick their mascot for them.
----- sXe
Yeah, but can you attch them to a ball?
Since when has this country used intellectual elite as a pejorative term?
BSA guy #2: So he's proactive, huh?
BSA guy #1: Oh, God, yes. We're talking about a totally outrageous paradigm.
BSA guy #3: Excuse me, but "proactive" and "paradigm"? Aren't these just buzzwords that dumb people use to sound important? Not that I'm accusing you of anything like that. [pause] I'm fired, aren't I?
BSA guy #4: Oh, yes.
Apologies to The Simpsons...
Haven't the Boy Scouts of America copyrighted the initials BSA?
If they can, they should. O ironic precedent.
-- This sentence is false.
August 11th meeting minutes...
Discussed possible mascots for BSA.
1) Ferret (awesome!!!)
2) Ass (already taken by political party)
3) Godzilla (possible copyright issues)
4) Leviathon or Cthulhu (too abstract)
5) Sheep (too suggestive)
Like Teddy with an elephant gun.
Right? It is the BSA we're talking about, after all.
Or maybe Gollum would be better?
-- This
"Squealer" ... since that's the direction this "education" program is heading...
When I first read the headline I thought the BSA was trying to get kids to turn in those "damn file-trading, copyright breaking weasels"
...to be true. It's hard to decide which copywrong miscreant to honor. McBride, Eisner, some of the lesser-known abusers...?
No. It's not hard to decide. Who built the largest fortune in the world on stolen IP? Who turned around and became a crusader against stealing code? Who has recently launched a blizzard of phony software patents?
Bill, the Weasel
Eternal vigilance only works if you look in every direction.
I suspect "No" and "Yes," respectively. That's why it may be wrong.
As to the name, there should really be a trio of them, and they should implicitly be lawyers. Their names are Cox, Zucker, and Wiesel, Esq.
Major corporations funding and developing, copyright (their way) indoctrination programs for school children...nice. How much do you want bet fair-use is left completely out along with that annoying part of Title 17 chapter 1 section 107 that says:
"(a) Making of Additional Copy or Adaptation by Owner of Copy. -
Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, it is not an infringement for the owner of a copy of a computer program to make or authorize the making of another copy or adaptation of that computer program provided:
(1)
that such a new copy or adaptation is created as an essential step in the utilization of the computer program in conjunction with a machine and that it is used in no other manner, or
(2)
that such new copy or adaptation is for archival purposes only and that all archival copies are destroyed in the event that continued possession of the computer program should cease to be rightful."
Full text of Section 117 avaliable here.
Floppy Copy!!!
This video is hilarious!!
Okay, maybe it's not a great name for a money grubbing weasel. I mean moral leader.
"He's more machine now than man, twisted and evil."
How is the GNU mascot supposed to compete with the aptly selected weasel? A weasel is much more fun to play with.
I guess we have to lauch a counter movement, and tellthem to share and share alike. We'll then see which culture benefits better and improves faster.
Slashdot's rate-of-post filter: Preventing you from posting too many great ideas at once.
I remember trading those programs between a tech-savvy friend and the grad student running the computer lab on campus - when I was like 12 ('79?). I think I still have some of those old Verbatim floppies.
Were nibbles 1/2 a bit or 1/4? I can't remember. I wasn't technical enough to do more than copy Hard Hat Mac and other disk utilities. I sure loved it when I came across one that the lab guy couldn't copy and my friend could.
I never worried about sneaking in to the lab again!
Stuff that matters.
There have been a lot of good suggestions, (Ripper the Weasle is particularly cute) but I have to sa that the weasel needs to be named 'Warez'. That way, if anyone ever googles his name, they go right to the good stuff...
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
Smelly pants,
Dooky.
Toe biter,
Carpet shark,
the-one-who-hide-socks-behind-the-books,
...has a nice ring to it.
obviously it should be clitorus mcnigger
Many moons ago there was a small video with some unknown rapper talking about the effects of piracy to 2 kids.
Someone's got it on the web somewhere. Quite possibly the funniest thing you have ever seen for propaganda.
NT
Darl.
===== Murphy's Law is recursive. =====
MOD PARENT UP
The mascot is a weasel. Let's all get together and rat out our pals and our underfunded school for not sending enough tax-payer dollars to the corporate overlords.
Sorry, I generally support lawful behavior and do not support piracy, but this is just disturbing.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
A ferret is not the same as a weasel any more than I am the same as a chimpazee.
Although, you will have to take my word that I am not in fact a specially trained super chimp named Lullu typing this from my cage.
Ferrets and Weasels are of the same family which is Mustela. As a category this family also includes Weasels, Marters and Polecats.
So they are similiar to weasels but that is not to say that weasel should be used as another term for ferrets.
Also ferrets are domesticated creatures. There are no wild ferret populations compared to weasels who are wild, widespread through britian, and eat small rodents.
...of Joe Camel.
Captain Copyright looks Constipated.
Oh that is too perfect...
Of this horrible 5! minute PSA done in the early 90's It had some kids playinga computer game on a apple II. One of them had to go home but he wanted to play it later. SO he popped in a disc and said he was going to copy it. Then a guy who looked like a mix of MC gammer and the host of Nick Arcade appearred on the screen. He did literally a 4 minute "rap" about copyright infringement and how it affects the software companies. It was intermixed with horribly out of place statements from programmers and game developers.
This is downright nauseating.
The problem is not that they are teaching legality, they are twisting the law to their own view.
Such as trying to convince children that its a criminal act to download ANY music file.
Problem is that its a CIVIL issue, ( at least for now, unless Hollings gets his way.. then it will be criminal ) and 2ndly its not illegal to download *copyrighted*material. Its illegal to download material that isn't permitted for distribution in that manner..
Its also legally debatable that its even illegal to download restricted data.. Remember fair use, libraries, copying excerpts.. etc.
Its also NOT the job of some industry to come and teach students. Even if I were to accept the concept of what they were trying to portray, its the SCHOOLS job to teach facts, not some company. ( and its parents job to teach morality ).
---- Booth was a patriot ----
This is great for awareness of what's on the net. Kids don't, from what I gather, comprehend the whole self-centered capitalism. I mean, we try to teach them sharing, from day one. So you have this weasel come in and try to tell them that it's bad to share things on the internet. What message will kids get out of this? That there are lots of things being shared on the internet; they can download and share movies on the net, movies they cannot otherwise generally afford or would rather not ask parents for.
Sure, one can try to answer the moral question as an adult and come up with your own decision, but as a kid, I would've used this as an opporunity to talk to my friends and find out how many were downloading stuff off the net, and then use this as ammo to try to convince my parents to get high speed internet so I could participate, too. Hard to beat that herd mentality, especially in kids.
I can just see it now: our next poll's a list of names for the copyright weasel. Names like Bill the Gates, Darth Snitch and JarJar Squeal will probably be popular. One thing, though, I'm not sure just what the CowboyNeal option should be.
Good, inexpensive web hosting
It's about time someone taught those kids that it's wrong to share with their neighbours!
Than Lemmiwinks.
After all, god knows the BSA's going to try to jam it up our asses anyways.
Striking fear in the authors of godawful fanfiction, I am here, appearing in darkness, Tuxedo Jack!
Joseph McCarthy would certainly have a nice ring, and with the slogan 'Wiping out the dirty commies again' he'd be a big hit with the kiddies...
Or perhaps Snuffy - the invisible friend only Big Birds can see.
Shill T. Ferret?
Scene: 4th grade Sally singing happy birthday in a public place. Copyright weasel jumps out. CWeasel: You owe me $19.95 for that! Cough it up. Sally: But I was just singing... CWeasel procedes to mull little Sally's face, turn her upside down & shake money out of her dress pockets. CWeasel: "And don't let me catch you doing it again."
Smokey the Ferrett says 'Only you can prevent copyright fire^H^H^H^Hinfringement, kids'
pumps out thousands of "Copywrite Krusader" stuffed counterfeits. Look for them on a street corner near you.
Now THAT would be hilarious.
And on a more important note, a Ferret, what the hell? A friend of mine has two of these fuzzy things and one thing the BSA and Ferrets have in common is both want to get into your pants.
We have Tux... they need to name it "Fux" ;-P
"Consider how lucky you are that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far
Face it, strong-armed tactics like these don't work against kids. You don't give them enough credit. The DARE program utterly failed, and the same will happen with the BSA's tactics. Kids don't necessarily mind learning facts from schools, but there'll be a lot of resistance when you try to teach them worldviews.
Cyde Weys Musings - Scrutinizing the inscrutable
The name "ferret" comes from the Latin word "furritus" which means "little fur thief". It refers to the ferrets habit of stealing things, toys, food, socks etc. and dragging them away to hide them in it's lair.
This reminds me something I learned in history lesson.
Back in the times of the Nazis the pupils learned with examples like this e.g. in math "If one cripple costs 800000 dollar a year and you have 4.5 million cripple in the country, how much money could you save?"
So what about this weasel? Is it right to influence the children in this way?
Children should learn objectiv things and learn to think about subjectiv things.
They should not learn subjectiv things how they should be, they must have their own mind and come to their own conclusion with logical thoughts.
The way copyright is in the laws is a subject thing because it grounds to social interacting.
You can not say "this is the solution". You must weigh different arguments against each other to come to the conclusion what could be possibly better for most people (not the economy).
Influencing children from ground up would be a step backwards in history.
Or a step towards 1984.
Ok, the text is long enough. Have a nice day!
A Cyber-Ethics Champion Code with items such as
Why? First of all, use of the mark is now optional, at least in the U.S. Second, the mark itself doesn't explain to the child (or anyone else) whether or not a program may be copied (e.g., GPL'd software is copyrighted). The license does. Which leads us to...
So the assumption is that a child young enough to be attracted to the weasel-ferret-whatever mascot will read and understand the license agreements included with his or her software? Perhaps the BSA wants to donate to some sort of fund for early legal education?
I guess the problem I have with all this is, there's currently a lot of controversy surrounding free software, copyright, patents, and other "intellectual property" issues, and if we're not prepared to educate our children about the issues, we shouldn't allow the "voice of the world's commercial software industry" to do it for us, any more than we allow McDonald's to educate our children about nutrition. Oh, wait...
They can name that weasel how they want, it still seems like it's going to be a pleasure wearing a t-shirt with the copyright, corporate-funded weasel hung and quartered, sliced up into small parts, or (insert your own violent death / humiliating treatment of sexual nature, preferably involving a penguin and/or a gnu)
The more cute and antropomorphic corporate icons are, the more fun they become to represent in the most violent, gory and plain insane situations.
Only this time, if one manages to actually shock any kids with this kind of parody / bitter graphical revenge, it'll actually be useful and not Yet Another Childhood Innocence thrown away. * maniacal laughter *
- Hadriven
Armageddon the Felching Gerbil.
that'll teach them kids about copyright!
I think, you struck a chord w/ me when you said Moralit is so last century. Last Century, Electricity was just starting to come around. Think about that. You allso say "It's the age of "I should be able to do what I want even if it hurts others, especially when I can do it and no one will catch me.""
Who are you hurting? If yur taste testing music, your hurting someone? come on...
Just playin devils advocate here. I believe we need some copywright laws, but I believe that even 25 years is too long. Should be 10 or 15. Things are just evolving too fast now to even bother with our insane limitations.
I think that the copyright laws in the U.S. (don't know about the rest of the world) are a extremely agressive.
Anyone else?
How much is your data worth? Back it up now.
If you want to teach your children about mascots how about Tux the lovable Linux Penguin, FSF's brave Gnu, and BSD's dependable red daemon? PostgreSQL has a dignified elephant. MySQL has the agile and graceful dolphin.
We don't need no stinkin' weaslin' ferrets.
Satan's Little Helper
If you mod me down the terrorists will have won
How about,
"B&D, the copyright weasel"
You've been a bad boy *whip*. Off to the cage with you.
'Quisling' would have the right feel.
Quisling the weasel!
Indoctrination by corporate interests, politically correct lobby groups and idealogues is the main reason I favour home schooling.
If anyone is going to indoctrinate my kids it should be me. Not the state. Not the corporations. Not the feminists/libertarians/mormons/whatever.
The school system exist solely for the purpose of creating "good" citizens/consumers/etc.
You make the mistake of thinking you can educate the fundamental stupidity out of people. You can't.
To reinforce to the kids about how copyright works in the real world, the weasel's name should be...
Mickey Mouse.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Because pushing an issue on school children, trying to form their opinions at a young age, on behalf of CORPORATIONS, smacks of manipulation and self-rightousness.
Because the BSA is a blackmailing, self-interested money hungry group of lawyers which strongarms small businesses into "compliance", trying to bluff business owners into thinking they are guilty until proven innocent.
Because controversial issues that are not directly related to education or universally accepted understandings of right and wrong have no place in the public education system.
I wouldn't have the BSA forcefeeding my kids their garbage anymore than I'd invite PETA in the classroom. Either way, God willing that we can afford it, I'm not sending my kids anywhere near a public classroom if and when the day comes.
---
WARNING:Slashdot karma not redeemable in the afterlife.
Let's just call him/her "Schnitzel". Isaac Schnitzel.
Now, not only do I pay taxes to fund schools for children that aren't mine and never will be mine, but I ALSO get to pay taxes to brainwash said children.
You know, at least it was tolerable back in the old days when they'd actually teach kids stuff like... Oh, I don't know. How to read and write? And spell. Garbage like that.
My initial reaction to this was.. well, not good, to put it mildly.
I've got to wonder if the "war on piracy" will ever end. I strongly believe that the majority of pirated music and software are sales that wouldn't have existed in the first place. Someone who isn't interested enough in whatever they're pirating to go out and pay for it, but have the opportunity to get it for free, so they do. Or someone who just can't afford it anyway. Now, neither of these are good excuses for receiving the benefit of a product that was never paid for.
This is where the BSA plan is gonna come up and bite 'em all in the ass.
The kids are "brainwashed" into feeling remorse for pirating software. So in the case where they need some software but can't afford it, hopefully they'll think to themselves "well, I can't afford this, and I'm certainly not going to pirate it. Maybe I'll try the free and open source alternative instead."
So a generation of children is inadvertently turned into a generation of open source users.
It's wishful thinking, and even if it were to happen, I still wouldn't want it at the price of my child's education.
-kidlinux.
Mod parent up. +2 Insightful, +1 funny
In honor of the recording industries deep-seated ethical convictions, I submit:
"Payola the Weasel"
It's "bad" (or rather some people feel it's bad) because copyrights are good in the short term, but should die with the creator, and not exist for all eternity.
Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
I, for one, welcome our new BSA Weasel overlords...
Now if you'll excuse me, in order to prove my new-found allegiance to the Weasels, I have to go rat out some of my co-workers and managers for installing copies of MicroSoft Project for which they don't have legitimate licenses for.
LongTail SSH Brute Force analysis tool is here!
I was thinking of picking this up at my local shop, but instead I'll wait for the movie. I think Hugh Jackman was great as Wolverine, but does he have the dramatic range to carry off "Ferretman"?
"Prepare for the worst - hope for the best."
Napster - the copyright crusading ferret.
In an attempt to strenthen its kid friendly image, the PAA, or pornographic arts alliance, announced this fall it would introduce its catgirl mascot. 4th graders and above would be allowed to help the PAA name the new mascot, as well as provide her dimensions. Fun games like dressup/dressdown will be available on their web site, as well as a young entrepreneur sales distribution kit. The news was well received by many elementary students country-wide.
School kids see past most blatant attempts to brainwash them. Case in point: Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or DARE.
...mandatory Simpsons reference?
"Weaseling out of things is important to learn! It's what separates us from the animals! 'Cept the weasel." --Homer
I just laughed. ALL my production software is open source.
That being said, this threat is serious to most businesses, and I have to help many customers get into compliance. All the more reason to use open source.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
I know I'm not the only one who read this and thought the BSA was trying to get kids to snitch on each other over who is illegally downloading software!
---
WARNING:Slashdot karma not redeemable in the afterlife.
name it suprnova!
Show me what has been stolen if I copy a song I was not going to pay for regardless? You cant. We are not discussing taking a product from a store, or from someone's house. It is an abstract concept, and it wasn't 'stolen'. No one has been deprived of the use of anything. Nor has a profit been made off others 'work'. ( I realize people DO sell pirated copies, and I agree in that sort of situation it IS wrong, but that isn't the type of copying I'm discussing. )
For the record, anything I have downloaded that I liked I have donated $ to the artist.. But that doesn't negate the fact that NOTHING WAS STOLEN..
And I don't want to hear some excuse that ' its the law '. Not all laws make sense or are justifiable. ( those I refuse to follow. )
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Kind of like the stay-puff marshmallow man, Nice and inviting till he comes to take over the world.
Oh, btw, all 'media' is copyrighted, even things that are freely distributable by permission of the copyright holder ..
You are falling for the rhetoric of the media... and proving my point of why they should NOT be allowed in schools.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Alpha children wear grey They work much harder than we do, because they're so frightfully clever. I'm really awfuly glad I'm a Beta, because I don't work so hard. I know it's true because the weasel told me so!
The main problem with the program is that drug use among the participating students actually went UP. Apparently the program sparked the kids' curiosity more than it innoculated them against experimentation.
To get back to the topic at hand: I fully expect this program to have a similar effect. I can just imagine a roomful of third graders all listening to the guy in the ferret suit talking about the evils of piracy, and thinking to themselves "You mean I can use my computer to get free copies of music and movies and stuff whenever I want? Cool!"
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
Oh wait, that's taken already...
Name this beast after the Congresscritter most thoroughly owned and operated by the RIAA and MPAA! I'm sure he's also owned and operated by the BSA as well, or at least sympathetic to their cause.
The species change would not only make it a better rhyming name, but one would have to do it because ferrets are still illegal in California. (and Hawaii, and the 5 boroughs of New York City, NY)
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
You have to check out this game they cooked up to go along with this drivel. Notice that the CDs are "bad" along with the skull and cross bones. And, don't forget to grab to licenses or else your current business model might fail! "No thanks mom, I don't really want Doom 3 anymore now that I can play Pirate Deep Freeze!"
Things like this will probably make the rate of kids pirating music and software go up once they get older. We all know how seriously high schoolers take DARE, right? right???
If you have to ask, you'll never know.
Ignore the Slashdot editor's editorializing. It's really a ferret.
First, nobody will *ever* get a balanced view of copyright in 4-6 grade classrooms, any more than you are likely to get a balanced overview of any war we have ever been in at this time. Our educational system is way to watered down for that.
You know, intellectual property rights are at the heart of the GPL, though we have a different view of how these should be applied.
Also, so what if it is unbalanced? Don't you think that this will help produce more open source advocates as they begin to see the damage that these arguments have for our society?
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
You tell a kid that copying a song is stealing, I don't think it'd be too difficult for them to come back with "How can it be stealing when the person I got it from still has their copy, exactly the same as if I hadn't touched it?"
And it's only a short leap from that to the realization that, if you're lucky enough to work a job where the product of your labor is something that can easily be copied in an inexpensive and mechanical fashion by the end consumers, it can definitely be copied in a manner that's at least as inexpensive and mechanical (if not much moreso) by the producers.
So its price shouldn't be very high.
But it generally is very high. Even when you're dealing with things like online music stores, where the cost of producing an extra copy is very close to literally being nothing for the producers.
Aaaaand I think more or less any slightly inquisitive child is going to have no problem seeing this almost immediately.
Soooo... Call me a hopeless optimist... But, unless both the parents and those schools are doing absolutely nothing outside of brain washing those kids... I don't think the brain washing will have too much of an effect.
And, IMHO, this comes down to the same thing that I hear said over and over again... That ultimately, if the record companies want to survive, what they have to do is come up with products that are sufficiently interesting and/or entertaining to warrant whatever prices they choose to charge for them.
The pricing of a record should have to do with the amount of talent and innovation that actually went into making it, not with how good the artist in question looks in a schoolgirl outfit. :P
Please God, let me find my blue hat with the red trim. (Frances Farmer)
I got some nice OEM copies to make us legit,
I would have switched to Open Office, and I don't even like Open Office.
Kids never read anything given to them at school and I can't see any other way this could possibly be shoved on them. Then at worst their going to want to be just like the bad guys not the good guys. HAH. what a bunch of BS... A
I'm confused.
Reminds me of the ~15 yr old campaign "Don't Copy That Floppy", with a rap song and dance and everything. It was way cooler than this half-arsed shite... ^_^
16 mb "Don't Copy That Floppy"
Napster the copyright weasel!
How about Felch the Copyright Weasel? http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Fel ch
Does anyone else remember Freddie? He was a fox made by Nynex back in the day to help fight phone fraud. I think I've still got some pins lying around. Anyone else recall him? Think it worked?
Anyone else notice the scary similarities?
Name it Eldred.
I dont know about the US, but here in NZ ferrets are vermin in the wild. They indiscriminately kill native birds and who knows what else. They would be shot on sight.
"..who teaches tech-savvy kids about the importance of protecting and respecting copyrighted works such as software, music, games and movies.."
But I thought we were suppose to teach kids the importance of sharing.
aren't pro-copyright lawyers often referred to as weasels?
I don't know the meaning of the word 'don't' - J
...sounds pretty weasely to me!
copycat
http://freshair.npr.org/day_fa.jhtml?displayValue= day&todayDate=09/10/2003
I dont mind the power company coming in with Larry the Lightning Bolt teaching kids to leave power lines and other nasty power stuff alone. But for a business such as this which tends to threaten businesses without a shred of proof then sue them if they refuse guilty or not should not be allowed into our schools to pitch their views on copyright.
It's the responsibility of eduacators to bring this topic up in the classroom. Explain what a copyright is and explain some of the history of it. It's up to the kids to decide if it's the right thing not some corporate sponsored entity telling our kids that copyrights are fine. All it does is breed a group of kids that will not challenge the system and sit around all day thinking certain laws are okay when in fact they may not be so perfect.
This set in wheels in motion to have those segragation laws declared unconstitutional in the USA.
It is your moral duty to refuse to obey laws that you know are simply wrong and immoral. It's called "civil disobedience" and has has a pretty decent track history of causing positive change without too much bloodshed.
PS: Note that I'm not specifically saying that this mp3 downloading ruckus falls in that category. I'm just saying that your affirmation that all laws need to be obeyed is just not right.
Mod parent down. -1 Fucktard, -2 Double Fucktard
Weasling out of things is what separates us from the animals! Except the weasle.
Propaganda from the youth... Our next Hitler's Children... What's next Oscar talking about buying the Sesame Street Cd?
The value the Entertainment industry places on media content is completely unjustified, and can only be maintained by DeBeers like cartel control of the commodity. Without DMR and brainwashing they will not be able to continue to demand a higher and higher price for their products. Granted we don't need Entertainment to live, but why should the industry be able to run amok in terms of what they extract from the public? Unlike almost every other industry where the products either improve in quality or decrease in price over time, Entertainment stays virtually the same in its ability to entertain and resorts increasingly to strong-arm measures to keep the money rolling in. The vast majority of entertainers struggle to survive. Only a few mega-stars truly profit from the current system, and the Media Industry, which as middlemen that are increasing unneeded.
Make sharing a Right I say. Let the money flow to other more solid, productive, humanity serving endeavors. Musicians will still make music, and the Movie industry will still pay for Star Power. Musicians may have to perform live for the bulk of their earnings (the prerecorded music will be the advertisement). Movies may have to be sponsored by voluntary public donations or corporate advertising, but will still get made. Only the number of parasitic media moguls will diminish.
Sadly, since Entertainment is a major American export and money maker for the government through taxes, we are unlikely to see sane choices soon.
Letter To Iran
Kids will read passages from Mein Kampf and learn that the evil pirates can't help being evil, because they're lesser humans. The course will be finished up with a book burning of OSS Manuals and Linux CD's as the Copyright Weasel passes out Kool-aid to the kids as they cheer approvingly at the burning pile. The ceremony ends with a salute to the NEW American flag (a large "C" inside of a circle instead of stars) as they sing along with the NEW national anthem, a call to arms against all those who don't think a CD with 1 Britney song is worth the new price of $37.50
If you build it, nerds will come. Soylentnews.org
They use threats, coercion and intimidation ie -terror- to force upgrades. Hence, they are terrorists.
So we're going to replace the word 'extortionists' with 'terrorists' now? Hell, my boss qualifies as a terrorist now -- he's always using intimidation to get me to do stuff I don't want.
Btw, I was just reading a bsd artical and made a typo; fucken sue me u shitheads.
You seem to make a lot of those.
Oh yeah, what's with the sudden posting-as-an-AC?
I vote for Cunt-whore-bitch.
I don't have a problem with copyrights or paying for software, music, movies, etc. However, software patents (BS) and ever-expanding copyright times means that stuff that should end up in the public domain doesn't. Culture, creativity, and science are stifled as a result.
The brewing war against open source software via software patents will damage the economic futures of the children to whom Greedy McEvil will be speaking. Theft is wrong, whether it's some guy cracking Microsoft's software activation or some company keeping you from using their patented loop
for x=0 to 100
response.write x+1 & " patent lawyers against the wall.<br>"
next 'x
in your application.
So let's vote for Greedy McEvil, the toothy copyright ferret.
On a side note, I had a friend with a couple of ferrets. His daughter was introducing me to them:
Me (petting a ferret): "This one's really soft, what's its name?"
Her: "That's Cotton."
Me (reaching for the other ferret): "What's his name?"
Her: "Bitey."
Lesson: Wait for a proper introduction before petting someone's ferret. Bite-y was aptly named.
Name the mascot, winkydink!
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
READY.
LOAD
LOADING.
FOUND "DCPTF"
READY.
Oops. Lameness filter. Best type something in non-caps.
How about the "no rights" weasel.
You've gotta love living in a country where teaching 4th graders morality will put you in front of a judge, but where it's apparently OK to indocrinate children with the corrupt money-mongering copyrighting system. Breach of copyright, now there's a sin we need to teach our children to avoid. But don't you dare teach them about chastity or good moral living.
Sorry, I just get upset with the priorities of this country sometimes.
a ferret is not a weasel! is animal classification no longer taught in science classes?
I suppose you think a spider is an insect too...
It would be ironic if the weasel's catch phrase was "Only YOU can prevent piracy!" and they ended up getting sued over it.
"Sharing software makes the copyright weasel cry!" :~(
Surely it's has to be Kikki, the tube-rat from Sluggy Freelance. Afterall, Kikki has the desperate urge to press any buttons she encounters and it always causes trouble...
Sara
Designer, Gamer, Macgrrl in an XP World
and you've graduated from AC to Troll, but I digress.
my parents' generation yelled and screamed at their parents becouse they inacuratly thought that communism was a good idea then my generation yelled and screamed at our parents becouse we inaccuretly said the enviornment is in terrible peril...now my neice's generation will scream and yell at my generation becouse we are stealing profits from copyright holders...sigh. The wierd thing is that this might actually be progress. For whom I have no idea.
stendec@gamil.com
i will not sign a release for my child to receive that bunch of bs.
An interesting sidebar to this whole story is that the way that both sides want to call the similar looking animal:
The RIAA wants to say "ferret" because that word is also defined as a verb that means to search for something in a group of others.
The anti-RIAA forces wants to say "weasel" because that word when used as an adjective means a person that is dishonest and/or greedy.
That's a sign of a bad PR person somewhere at the RIAA. No matter how cute the positive association is, you shouldn't put out a PR campaign with a mascot that easy to mock.
Do you own a Tivo or a VCR? Ever fastforward through commercials? Thief! You're depriving those poor advertisers of their hard-earned dollars!
Just because something is illegal (or unlawful, as is the case in CIVIL matters like these) does not make it wrong, and while there is definitely good reason to ensure that musicians continue to receive compensation, this issue is NOT as cut and dry as the Morality Police would have us belief. Taken to the extreme, beliefs like yours would outlaw all libraries because they take away money from authors and publishers.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the purpose of a school mascott, aimed at kids, to teach them important values? Loyalty, Devotion, Friendship, Thinking for themselves. Nah, kids these days will trade in all of those for some monopolist propoganda, uh I mean "comic", of some weasel telling them to rat out their friends for inovating so they can get next weeks exciting issue on how infringing copyrights can send you to hell. At least they chose an appropriate mascott. Looks like its time to get out the D-Con. --Copyrighted monopolys stiffle inovation. th!nk differently
yet
It has a nice ring to it.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
Breaking the law is both an extremely effective and moral way of changing unjust laws.
This is weird. Just today, I heard a report on NPR's Day to Day saying that the Department of Homeland Security is going to have their own mascot, too, with an accompanying naming contest. The mascot is gonna be an "American Shepherd." The kicker being, NPR apparently talked to the American Kennel Club, who registers no such breed. (There may or may not be a "North American Shepherd.") The article's the third one down on this page. (Sorry, it's an audio article.)
Attached to the article is a lovely little game called Deep Freeze, and Christ almighty is it hard.
The point of the game is that you're supposed to use Rat Bastard (As I'm now referring to the Weasel) to kick a ball to destroy Pirates (Represented by a Skull and Crossbones) and Software (Represented by a CD. Note that I said software, not illegal software, just plain software. Interesting...) all while collecting Licenses to protect your city.
Ah, yes, you're asking the same question I was, "Protect it from what?" Quickly, you will learn the answer, to protect your fair city from being "frozen" by software piracy. The game is ridiculouslyhard and as far as I played it, is impossible to win. I can only assume that this is by design to show kids how hard it is to "defend" against the deluge of pirated software.
Man, does anyone else feel like they're in some kind of really weird, fucked up movie with a bad plot everytime they read this absolutly insane software piracy shit? Seriously, it seems like I'm inside of some horrible plot hole whenever I read the BSA is working in conjunction with Weekly Reader (Which I remember from back when I was in school) in order to indoctrinate 4th graders to believe software piracy is some sort of scourge of the Universe. Back when I read Weekly Reader, it had stuff about all kinds of exotic animals, something about space, or just anything else kids thought was really cool. Now it teaches them about Copyright laws?
What the fuck? This country really needs to get its shit back together. I love America, but I fear for our future when corporations can have the power to set ciriculum, especially for such young, impressionable kids like this.
Request: ECM unit, 1000 km fullerene cable, 1 tactical nuclear weapon. Reason: Birthday party for foreign dignitary.
Mod me down. I think you deserve to be sued if you rip off music.
I agree entirely, let's start with suing P. Diddy for ripping off everyone else's music.
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
In the common parlance, "ferret" refers to the domestic ferret, mustela furo. The cartoon mascot is clearly a black-footed ferret, mustela nigripes which despite the similar name is only obliquely related, sort of like a dog being related to a coyote.
The telltale signs are the cream-colored body and black-tipped extremities. Domestic ferrets in the most common sable pattern are colored somewhat more like a siamese cat: the legs and tail are solid black, and the hair is darker overall.
What's the difference? The domestic ferret is a fun-loving domestic species native to Europe and a popular family pet. The black-footed ferret is a fierce North American weasel that savagely devours cute, cuddly prairie dogs and takes over their homes. So they got the image right, but the name is wrong.
Hey, shouldn't that be "Captain Copywrong"? After all they want to get through the message that copying is wrong, right?
If programs would be read like poetry, most programmers would be Vogons.
Didn't they "pirate" that acronym from the Boy Scouts of America?
WTF?
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
That's my entry.
How perfect!
A weasel for the BIG weasels!
Seriously, looks more like Bullshit Software Association to me...
It can be a female, right? Well I propose the name Susan. Or just Sue, for short. ;)
I sure hope that weasel/stoat/whatever doesn't forget to remind kids that they have Fair Use rights too, guaranteed by law!
p.s. As for a name, I'm torn between "Frank Burns" and "Ratfink".
Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
Here's the url:
p y. wmv
http://www.mattkruse.com/humor/DontCopyThatFlop
"He's more machine now than man, twisted and evil."
Quisling is the only possible name for this weasel.
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a skull.
I don't think Dave Barry could have come up with a better parody. Let's let them pursue their obvious attempts at indoctrination--they're doing a better job of moving people to the good side than we ever could.
One CPU cycle wasted on digital restrictions management is ONE TOO MANY.
Don't cut n paste, please, but here's a copy of my email to pr@weeklyreader.com:
l aws/2100-1012_3-5303966.html .
Subject: BAS Alliance?
I recently read how Weekly Reader was going to help educate children and teens about copyright law from CNET, at http://news.com.com/Ferreting+out+copyright+scoff
I remember enjoying Weekly Reader when I was young, going over your website today has made me realize how much has changed over the years.
While I understand this is primarily a business decision, I want to urge you to reconsider distributing their supplement.
As a IT professional I am very familiar with the tactics the BSA and similar 'non-profit' organizations use to intimidate and deceive. While the company I work for is in compliance with current copyright laws, we must spend an inordinate amount of time and resources making certian that we can also prove we are in compliance.
I heartily encourage you to educate your readers on copyright laws, where they came from, what purpose they are meant to serve, and how they have changed and adapted over the decades to meet new challenges. I would strongly urge you against allowing the BSA to perform this education as I can assure you they are interested in how copyright protects copyright owners, and not how copyright also protects individuals and users of copyrighted works.
Thank you for your time and attention to this important matter!
-Adam
How about fucknut?
At first i thought it said that they were asking kids to grass up their friends and name the kid in the class who was burning the most cds, of course any kids worth their salt would immediately point to the principle and governors just to spite them for letting all these freaks into the schools! The BSA is just gonna have to learn the hard way that comming into schools, doing a little talk and handing out free ferrets is never going to pursuade kids not to do something! what you think they are going to say "oh, well i really wanted doom 3 but you know, i guess ill just have to save up for it, darn what a pickle."
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
OK, so the schools don't want Eddie Eagle to come to school and tell kids not to play with guns.
But schools are willing to let $name the ferret come to school to tell kids that they mustn't ever copy anything.
Blech.
Wait a minute - don't eagles eat ferrets?
Maybe what we need to do is get Eddie and Tux to show up at the same time as the ferret....
www.eFax.com are spammers
I think that if they wanted to teach anything to young children, using a mascot such as a weasel or a rat is not going to help reduce software piracy. If it teach anything, it teaches children that those who tell on people for copyright infringement are nothing but a bunch of rats and weasels. I agree with that analogy, but its misguided for the BSA to represent that analogy.
... actually result in increased drug use, so I expect BSA's actions to backfire, too.
I've got a name for him ...
But I can't say it in front of kids.
Lets make sure that all searches for BSA pull in the Ernie Ball story as the #1 link, just like the "litigious bastards" campagne against The SCO Group.
Put these links in every post and web page that you can!
BSA
or
BSA
or
BSA
Cheers
The government which is strong enough to protect you from everything is strong enough to take everything from you.
Sure isn't as much as an embarassment as those Olympic mascots that look like walking condoms with a really bad case of gout.
What they can do for lots of money, we can do better, and for free...
Why not start releasing pages for kids telling them all the benefits of piracy and the legal benefits of p2p?
It could be pretty funny and you know who the kids would prefer... they would like our character's easy cynicism and honesty much better than the Copyright Weasel.
Intolerance for ambiguity is the mark of the authoritarian personality.
"I hate to answer my own posts but you MUST download this and this!"
I think we all know what kind of effect that posts like this have on people's bandwidth issues. If you have any compassion or empathy for your fellow man, and the target of your post is the MPAA, RIAA, SCO, or the BSA PLEASE try to get these things to the front page. When the BSA servers start a fire that burns down their empire... and a daycare next door, but don't sweat the small stuff... you will know you made a difference. Don't you owe it to yourself?
My Blog
Mickey, Bugs, Clippy, Poo, or Darth. Doesn't matter, so long as it's copyrighted. By some one else.
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
No, not "Judge Dread." El Dread.
As in, "I'm afraid if Congress keeps going like this, copyright will last forever -- 20 years at a time.
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
"and this is how you bend over so this very rich man who you will never be able to become an equal with can fuck you any way he wants, and get his way every time."
pretty much what they're saying, I'm making sure if I have children, they're not going into public education, or I want them to sit outside when that happens, because they're now teaching children how to be consumer whores. it's bad enough school is already and institution that breaks you down and tries to set your path in life as one where you're a slave to rich corporations or an office worker or shit like that. (I know my elementary school did that and it was obvious, but that's another huge discussion) but now they want to brainwash our children further by pulling communist-like tactics of infiltrating into the school system and teaching our kids their ideals and morals? which mostly benefit themselves? I find that sick. All to make the almighty dollar, right?
This country is getting sicker by the day.
... Geez, I can think of a lot of copyright weasels.
I thoughtgh the title of the story was:
BSA Asks Kids to Copyright the Name Weasel
So instead of a real education, or kids are being force fed corporate bs ?? why cant we use that money to give them something useful.
Anyone else notice a rather unusual date on that article?
The copyright ferret should be named Hugo Black.
"I believe when our Founding Fathers, with their wisdom and patriotism, wrote this Amendment, they knew what they were talking about. They knew what history was behind them and they wanted to ordain in this country that Congress, elected by the people, should not tell the people what religion they should have or what they should believe or what they should say or publish, and that is about it. It says no law, and that is what I believe it means."
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
That ferret has rabies and should be put down and cremated post haste, this kinda of crap in schools is indoctrination.. i'd never let my kid attend this garbage.
In Soviet Russia copyright ferret teaches YOU!
My god whats next, copyright zombies eating our brains to make sure we dont have a song stuck in them without paying?
Buttsniff the CopyWeasel
Think of the children !
-
Roses are #FF0000, Violets are #0000FF, find / -name '*base*' |xargs chown -R us && mv zig greatjustice
Ferrets can't hear the voice of human males so well. Or maybe it's just that they're not listening? Either way, it's pretty ironic.
...they missed the target but hit the tree.
It's fitting they chose a member of the weasel family for a mascot. It would have been perfect if they'd chosen a skunk.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, write technology blogs.
Anyone else reminded of the Sexual Harassment Panda and the Island of Misfit Mascots? What the hell does a ferret have to do with Copyright law?
Why does my mouse wheel not work on this website? Must be something wrong with firefox.
When I was a kid at my school we had D.A.R.E, Smokey The Bear and New kids on the Block (not the music group, but a bunch of handicapped puppets that showed the need for tolerance. Although the music group had some things in common with them.)
Last I heard they no longer have D.A.R.E in schools, or at least any of the schools around here. So, I guess it's okay if our kids snort cocaine just as long as they aren't downloading the latest Britney Spears Mp3 while they are doing it?
That just dosen't make any sense to me. It's like saying "hey kids, smoke that fat sack of Crack. Go ahead ruin your life, just be sure not to steal from Mr. and Mrs. Corporate america down the street. They have a Ferret and he'll tear your freaking face off with his fangs of Copyright Justice!"
After that lovable, cuddly character from A Christmas Carol, and in the hope that he, too, will undergo a positive change of heart.
A ferret is a highly appropriate symbol for the BSA, as they are both engaged in killing off bunnies. Dumb, in one case, and furry, in the other.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
You think kids read comic books today? Get with the times. BSA sponsored Ferret-Legging would be more appropriate.
And here I thought they were talking about boy sprouts. The story is quite amusing confusing the two..
The BSA, and the SPA before it, have to be the biggest idiots ever. If you like that though, you'll love this eBay auction I posted a few days ago for an old 1990's SPA poster showing a pair of hand cuffs and the text, "Copy software illegaly and you could get this hardware absolutely free." Hillarious. Idiots I tell you.
g
1 &item=3741256320
Anyway, photo of the poster at:
http://tofu.portland.or.us/ebay/copythatfloppy.jp
eBay auction if you're interested at:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=
first name: Pop
last name: Goes
'Up with your hands!' yelled a savage voice.
A handsome, tough-looking boy of nine had popped up from behind the table and was menacing him with a toy automatic pistol, while his small sister, about two years younger, made the same gesture with a fragment of wood. Both of them were dressed in the blue shorts, grey shirts, and red neckerchiefs which were the uniform of the Spies. Winston raised his hands above his head, but with an uneasy feeling, so vicious was the boy's demeanour, that it was not altogether a game.
'You're a traitor!' yelled the boy. 'You're a thought-criminal! You're a Eurasian spy! I'll shoot you, I'll vaporize you, I'll send you to the salt mines!'
Suddenly they were both leaping round him, shouting 'Traitor!' and 'Thought-criminal!' the little girl imitating her brother in every movement. It was somehow slightly frightening, like the gambolling of tiger cubs which will soon grow up into man-eaters. There was a sort of calculating ferocity in the boy's eye, a quite evident desire to hit or kick Winston and a consciousness of being very nearly big enough to do so. It was a good job it was not a real pistol he was holding, Winston thought.
Mrs Parsons' eyes flitted nervously from Winston to the children, and back again. In the better light of the living-room he noticed with interest that there actually was dust in the creases of her face.
'They do get so noisy,' she said. 'They're disappointed because they couldn't go to see the hanging, that's what it is. I'm too busy to take them. and Tom won't be back from work in time.'
'Why can't we go and see the hanging?' roared the boy in his huge voice.
'Want to see the hanging! Want to see the hanging!' chanted the little girl, still capering round.
Sniveling Little Rat Faced Git
Hitler the freedom-crushing ferret.
San Diego Padres, 100 Park Blvd, San Diego CA 92101
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by
I hope its something like the DARE program when I was a kid. We had a cop that came in and talk about the drug related arrests and how people were messed up on drugs.
I renember he told us this one time about this guy who took some drugs (cocane maybe?) and broke 2 pairs of handcuffs. His wrists were pretty messed up after that but man were we impressed!
I don't care if its been said already, I have an idea as to what this thing should be named:
Assmonkey.
Thank you
Sorry, I just have to, it's so appropriate to the parent comment.
Mr. Burns: Smithers, why haven't I heard of this "The Leader"? He's as rich and wicked as I, but he seems to enjoy tax exempt status!
Smithers: Actually, sir, with our creative book-keeping and corporate loop holes we only pay three dollars a year.
Mr. Burns: [Shocked] You're right, we're getting screwed!
DECsystem-10's for example, sometimes broke their 36-bit words up into four nine-bit bytes, and other machines had .LT. 8 bit bytes. The word you're looking for is "octet".
Then you need to decide whether you're measuring in kb, kib, ko or kio, because "kilo" can be 1000 or 1024 in digital-land.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
The game is ridiculouslyhard and as far as I played it, is impossible to win. I can only assume that this is by design to show kids how hard it is to "defend" against the deluge of pirated software.
"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play." - Joshua
Mod Karma -1: I sed bad wurds. If I cep my mouf shut, I wud be at riyses.
I really, really, really don't think that whoever modded that "insightful" was thinking along those lines. They were probably thinking a lot more about... well, boobies, maybe.
lightweight
bloated
and full of hot air?
To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
"The campaign also includes an online game in which the ferret races to destroy pirated copies of software while collecting valid licensing agreements. "
I don't even know where to begin. This is so fucked up I don't even know where to begin.
All I know is if I was a parent at the school I would be highly, highly, highly pissed off.
Where in the hell do they get the nerve to come into a school and do this crap.
BSA can take their software and shove it where the sun doesn't shine.
They are nothing but legal mob - no offense to the mob.
Gee I hope the kids don't have to license their math homework since all the algorithms are in that software that the BSA is so worried about.
fsck off microsoft.
The children were taught to snitch on their parents. Even rewarded for having done so. As made famous by the movie (which I can not find presently!) where the teacher inducts the teen kids into a new code of conduct which turns out to be Nazism. The kids in the movie actually do become more and more brutal in their treatment of others.
The BSA may mean well (although I doubt it) - but just like their doing things which only the law enforcement people should be doing - this is an attempt by them to overreach the boundaries of what some organization should be doing. I take it that the BSA is just like the church or any other organization. They'd like to control everything and have everyone bow down to them. The only way this will not come to fruition is if (and I know lots of people are tired of hearing this) everyone writes their congressman. Both state and federal. Mainly because these people probably do not even know this is happening. After all, they are only human too and only have so much time in the day to devote to each problem. So as long as the BSA can sneak it by them; then they will. And only if enough people put up a fuss will some legislator somewhere do something about it.
"It's a war. A war without bodies. Confined within the heads of everyone who participates. Laws are nothing more than words on paper. Rules by which we play grown-up games. If you don't like the rules - work to change them. Killing or maiming your opponent is outside of the boundaries of the rules and punishable by making you sit on the sidelines while everyone else takes their turn. And saying you don't want to participate only means that you are willing to suffer the consequences of your inaction. You now know how the game is played - go play it." - Me.
Someone put a black hole in my pocket and now I'm broke.
I also helped a customer past a BSAA audit threat (got the notice mid-afternoon, got inspected mid the following morning) by counting their holo stickers and hastily Linuxifying some of their generic workstations to make up the difference, and slapping the OpenOffice.org suite (and Mozilla for good measure) on all of the machines.
:-) and the allegedly technical dude shoving a diagnostic CD into the reception machine, which was at the time running Mandrake Linux (I think 9.2) and XPDE and - after a few minutes - asking where "My Computer" was so he could run the nice diagnostics.
Highlights of the visit were the BSAA dudes (local agents, I think, rather than BSAA proper) trying hard not to ask why nobody was using MS-Office (they eventually broke down and asked, I told them it was because it helped to avoid licence hassles like this one - IRL everyone was ostentatiously using OOo and Mozilla not MSO and MSIE because they'd been told to for that day
IIRC, we'd renamed the XPDE equivalent "Not Bill's Computer". Said dude's look of disbelief upon being appraised of the truth was worth framing; it took the Mandrake Control Centre to half-convince him. I don't think he was ever quite sure.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
"2) This whole argument is irrelevent. The point is that the person who CREATED THE WORK doesn't want you to copy it. It's intrinsically immoral to say "F*** YOU" to the artist and take their work when they specifically tell you not to."
It's also the breaking of a social contract that the artist released their works under. Basically society said "If you do this, we will allow this, but not this." Artist said "OK".
BTW I know of a small pirate case that was resolved using the DMCA. It was a group of small time artists and one bragging to the world pirate (among other crimes(1)). The point? The law just isn't for the big boys.
(1) Ever notice how crimminals branch out? Stealing music one day. Grand theft auto (not the game) the next day.
But Weasels Don't Get Sucked Into Jet Engines !
Because if it's not, you've just thrown "fair" out the window - without education, there is no equality of opportunity.
Whether it is or not, that's just going to lead to an even worse case of the same problem we have today- unemployed, unemployable kids who won't even be able to work at McDonald's. But since they won't even have to pretend to go to school, juvenile deliquancy will start even earlier.
Have you been touched by his noodly appendage?
Here you go kids: we call it brain cleaning!
To teach kids about health. Funny? your call.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
A copyright crusading weasel? Will he also be teaching the children about IRONY?
(pedantic)That's true only in the way that saying a wolf is a kind of dog is true. If you really want to be correct, ferrets, skunks, otters, and the various species of weasels are all mustelids.(/pedantic)
Have you been touched by his noodly appendage?
How about "Payola"?
Everything's been downhill since the TRS-80
Wasn't that the Ferret (yeah, you heard me, Timon was no meerkat, he was a goddam FERRET) in the Lion King? It's cool to infringe upon trademarks to support copyright, isn't it?
They're mustelids, not rodents. They aren't any more prone to rabies than other mammals - skunks (which are, admittedly, cousins), coyotes, foxes, and bats are the most common carriers of rabies in the U.S. So two out of the four are related to dogs, not ferrets... (I don't honestly know the figures for outside of the U.S.)
Have you been touched by his noodly appendage?
"No, he didn't. Taking something means that the person you take it from no longer has it."
We should all keep this in mind when we hear on the news that another national secret has been leaked to another country.
Sharon
I knew several people with pet ferrets, and their *favorite* thing to do was steal your keys!
Hmm......
Please distribute freely
Get base64 for Windows and Unix here:
http://www.fourmilab.ch/webtools/base64/
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Introducing Cracker, the "Fair Use Ferret"
Doesn't Budweiser use a ferret in some of their commercials too? Geez, I hope they don't confuse the kids to drink beer while busting their best friends.
But when this system is exploited to force feed concepts to create a Brave New World , this is plainly illegal , unethical and immoral.
> its not illegal to download *copyrighted* material. Its illegal to download material that isn't permitted for distribution in that manner..
I agree 100% , I have downloaded GigaBytes of copyrighted material perfectly legally using a P2P system (yeah, do you think downloading FC2 cds via BitTorrent was illegal ?). Like RMS is fond of saying , these people trying to confuse Joe Blow between Copyrights and Patents by introducing a Weasel Term of Intellectual Property.Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur
Narc?
Has a nice ring to it.
John
I dream in binary.
...in Soviet Russia, the mascot names YOU!
According to Dictionary.com, ferret is derived a Latin word meaning "thief" (fur). :)
I'm sorry, the number you have dialed is an imaginary number. Please rotate your phone 90 degrees and dial again.
filler stuffing padding foo
My name for the ferret is just F.E.R.R.E.T. as an acronym for Freedom Erased by Revenue-Ravenous Executive Teams
No Laughing Allowed!
The name "Copyright Weasel" is quite fitting, don't you think?
Or 3DO with their mascot, a Dodo.
...a weasel would be a better mascot.
Ferrets are pets, weasels (AFAIK) aren't.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Strange, nobody tries to teach kids why not to copy books...
One interesting way for the BSA to get people NOT to copy ["games","music","movies"] would be to make them spend their free doing something else. But no, it's much easier to make school a vessel of corporate culture...
IT'S DISGUSTING
While we're at it, I no longer refer to the mascot of the Disney Perpetual Legislation Funding Company as Mickey "Mouse". From now on, to me, he's the copy-rat.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Local smokers are getting irritated with the warning labels. The most recent fashion is stickers with alternative texts to be glued over the original warnings. See here.
Fair and Balanced, the Copyright Weasel.
Granted, it's a bit of a mouthful, but perhaps them and Fox can sue each other for our amusement.
Or, if you prefer something shorter and to the point:
Greedy, the Copyright Weasel?
Monopoly, the Copyright Weasel? (Hmm, could invoke the ire of Parker Brothers there.. (or whoever...))
I was just in a meeting with a very well known, and large, media organisation that has pioneered the use of technology in many areas.
The BSA and FAST wanted to make an example of them, so they warned them to get their house in order. They duly instigated an expensive program to manage their software licensing. Along the way, they discovered that it was impossible to deploy their software remotely to their users, as they had been doing, entirely because of the difficulties in managing the licenses, and that some licenses wouldn't permit it at all - and they have a lot of software.
As a result, they now have a workforce which needs to be pretty mobile, who can't always have the software they need where they need it, even though the technology is perfectly capable of delivering. Talk about driving down ROI and driving up TCO.
But every cloud has a silver lining. As a result of managing their licenses better, they discovered that across the organisation as a whole, they had multiple licenses for the same software, and they also discovered that many licenses were no longer needed, so they could redeploy the software to the areas where it was needed. As a result, they have not had to buy *any more* software from the companies who made the original complaints for the last 6 months. In one month, they saved £200,000 alone.
Let's see how long big software companies keep supporting the BSA and FAST once they realise that their efforts are actually causing them to sell *less* software than before!
... the green greasy greasel
I really think this is doomed to failure, and I'd be really sad if it succeeds.
Because the whole thing is about DISEMPOWERING people. Everything is about the nebulous "copyright holder". Obviously people are going to wind up scoffing at a law that disempowers them with no apparant benefit to themselves. (Even the "if you keep breaking copyright no one will be able to make money so there will be no IP produced" no longer holds in many cases, ESPECIALLY that of software)
If you want to teach kids to respect copyright, do the following:
- Help them create their own creative works. Show them that they have some small value. They don't have to be great, just something they can be proud of. Don't teach them, or let them pick up, the "talented" / "not talented" division meme. (Which is completely unproven to be true, and even if it was, you could never know someone was untalented within their lifetime.)
- Show the people who they know and admire *working*. People would respect pop singers a lot more if they saw them engaged in actual labour rather than just dancing around on streets and going shopping. And don't say "they don't labour" because they do - even if they don't write the songs, that pop video is probably the best of 50 takes, and that's tedious for anyone to do. And you can show the people who *do* write the songs, doing so.
Is Joseph Stalin running the organization?
She did such a good job creating the crazy seagull for OpenOffice that I feel it's imperative that she lead the project to create the BSA Copyright Weasel!
That's not a question, by the way.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
How do get the ferrets site blocked and blacklisted as 'mature content'?
That would keep it off of school computers.
.. Copyright Harassment Panda
-el
"The lobbyists are likely to teach them that the GPL is immoral, and the typical user here would make them memorize the collected works of Richard Stallman in English class."
:-o
I *have* memorised the collective works of R.Stallman, you unsensitive clod!
What..? You mean it's not obligotary to do so from kindergarten, in your country?
--- "To pee or not to pee, that is the question." ---
That you equate nudity with pr0n just demonstrates how ingrained the cultural difference is, and why USA'ians have such difficulty dealing with any form of nudity.
WTFV. The notice at the end says: "The Software Publishers Association gives you permission to copy this video for the non-profit purpose of promoting the ethical and legal use of software."
So don't believe the hype, ssssssucka!
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
Did it surprise you? Did the title and the ALL FUCKING CAPS WARNING SLIP PAST YOU??? Not funny? Maybe. Troll? Nope.
Too easy. I like Lemmiwinks, too :>
The first thing that came to mind after reading this post, was "Hitler Youth". This has no place in schools and paints a very scary picture of the future our your country.
Class Action Lawsuit.
:)
Wait. I am not one who enjoys frivolous lawsuits or believes in them (in fact, I think we should have the same system as in several Eurpoean countries: the loser pays the winners lawyer fees and court costs) BUT I firmly believe that if my child was in a public school where they were going to let in the BSA to "teach" my children morality on copyright issues I would approach the school board with simple facts:
1) I pay taxes for my children to go to school to be taught HOW to think, not WHAT to think
2) Corporations blatantly "teaching" a one-sided version of "morality" for crass consumerism have no place in public schools (and I'm almost sure there is a bylaw or code that keeps corporations from doing just that)
3) It is MY responsibility as a parent (and yours, and his, and hers, etc) to teach children morality based on MY (and yours, and his, and hers, etc) belief system - not based on the BSA's.
With all these things in mind, I would simply tell the school board where my child was in class that I would be finding the MANY other parents who believed along the same lines as I did and we would be pulling our children out of school and forming a class action lawsuit against the school board (as a whole), each individual member of the school board, the principal of the school where the BSA was to "teach", and - if necessary - the STATE school board as well. I'm sure having 20% or more of the parents from one county (or parish) starting a class action lawsuit against the state and local school board would get a) severe media attention and b) the elected officals attention.
What better way to nip this in the bud than to use the legal system against the "rat bastard" BSA... and I'd be teaching my child the meaning of Irony at the same time
Dream as if you'll live forever.
Live as if you'll die tomorrow.
~Anonymous~
http://ffasylum.com/~ganryu/art/CopyrightWrongLeft .jpg :P
Don't complain about the art. I like it simple
I'm still disappointed that they didn't stick with their original mascot, Stoolie the Pigeon.
A little work on the face and a pair of glasses and we can call him Bill.
I always thought Gates was a ferret face.
Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
" the importance of protecting and respecting copyrighted works " I'm sure the only focuses on protecting copyrighted works will be teaching them to fear how others will protect THEIR copyrighted works. While their at it why don't they teach these children ethics and reasonability. I think these two focused ideals would negate any need to teach people to fear copyrighted works, and hell it might even help teach children to have respect for them selves and others (negating depression and low self esteem, and how fighting and crimes are wrong). Not in this lifetime I suppose.
TruePunk | Games
They totally shut down Afganistan's heroine business
That's really a shame, I'm tired of movies that always feature a hero, but never a heroine. Though I'm not sure I recall any Afghani-produced heroines, either...
I can't believe the government is dictating what kinds of people can take the protagonist role. Seems like a waste of taxpayer money to me.
We may not imagine how our lives could be more frustrating and complex—but Congress can. – Cullen Hightower
Ferrets are illegal to own in California. They are considered predators by state law. Arggg!
They're taking the BSA to court over illegal use of their intellectual property. Namely using a ferret to influence children along their lines of thinking. No comment yet by Louie and Frank.
Except these may be under copyright?
I may be mistaken, but do you mean teaching religious beliefs to kids? Corporations pushing their views on kids is wrong, but religous organisation pushing theirs is fine?! Um, right.......
Furthermore, which religion should be taught? Define 'good, moral living'?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
now, my Firefox downloads list shows "young_girl.mpg" *delete*
"Squeeler" sounds less cute than "Snitchy", but just as apt...
By the taping of my glasses, something geeky this way passes
Every public school in this country is teaching "morality". They rant an drave about being left alone by religious zealots who want to teach morality, but the schools are cramming the new morality down the kids' throats. Whether it's drugs, sexual identity, "tolerance", whatever, a *huge* amount of time and energy goes into this. And that's just the overt stuff, not the covert stuff (textbook changes).
It really doesn't matter whether they are teaching the morality *you* want or not, because history shows quite clearly that they can switch directions.
"I spit into the wind" in latin?
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
... stealing music makes baby jesus cry.
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
This is a chance for parents to get involved with their kids' education. First, when one of these "indoctrinations" is going to take place, request to be present in the classroom. Come prepared, and challenge the statements put forward by the BSA. Come armed with case law, historical view point of copyright and ask them why they are neglecting to mention Fair Use and it's codification in law. Explain what the GPL is. As a parent, you have a right to observe classes and the material being put forth. Parents can also complain to the school board and principal. These schools are supported by our tax dollars and therefore the taxpayers have a say in what material is taught. If this were an issue revolving around sex-ed or the distribution of condoms, you can guarantee that parents would be speaking their mind. Why should this issue be any different?
... and asking a question. What gives a private entity such as the BSA (Business Software Alliance) the right to enter your business and audit you on the spot? Law enforcement doesn't even have that kind of power without a warrant. Can't you just tell them to go pound sand?
What we need to counter this is a way to teach kids (and adults) to look for the Creative Commons "copyleft" symbol so they'll know that whatever they're using is contributing to the progress of arts & science, etc.
How about a Creative Commons Mascot? (OK, so maybe they're not any less mockable than a ferret/weasel, but that was all I could come up with on short notice.)
Your fantasies contain the seeds of important concepts.
It's just like during the prohibition of alcohol:
It was one of the major sources of income for the mafia to smuggle alcohol. When prohibition ended, many criminal organizations declined.
So the stricter the war on drugs is fought, the more money can be earned by smuggling drugs anyway, which will only support terrorism
Kudos.
"...picture should be of I. R. Baboon!!!"
and btw, vi is better.
Just curious? ;-)
Anyone who has ever spent any time around ferrets (such as myself as a long-time ferret-mom) knows that ferrets are the last creatures on Earth who would make good representatives for an IP watchdog group. The subspecies designation of their scientific name, Mustela putorius furo comes from the Latin furonem, meaning "thief". And they are fuzzy little thieves: shoes, socks (bonus points if you manage to steal it off of a human's foot!), toys, CD jewel cases, loaves of bread, wallets, car keys, ("Quick, while Mom's not lookin' - shopping spree at PetCo!"), jewelry - if it's not nailed down, they'll make off with it, chuckling the whole time.
In short: ferret (n.), a free-spirited, furry little animal with a joyous disregard for individual property rights. Not exactly the best ambassador for the Software Goon Squad.
What the hell were they smoki^H^H^H^H^Hdrinki^H^H^H^H^H^H thinking?
Doing my level best to piss off the religious right wing...
Mod me down. I think you deserve to be sued if you rip off music.
I think this is actually what is needed to change the current state of affairs. Let's be honest, 'most' people don't care about copyright because 'most' people are not noticeably affected by it.
Sure, the RIAA is suing the pants off a lot of people, but again, that is only affecting a very small portion of the people who don't understand the situation. We need to make 'the people' understand the situation.
Therefore, I propose we do our best to rat out our copyright infringing friends anonymously, and to do so as vigourously as possible. The more people that get negatively affected by the current laws, the more that will be proponents for change.
An unenforced, or unenforceable law, will never be changed if it doesn't affect a significant portion of the population....
BSA Agent: We at the B.S.A. want to protect artists by stopping illegal... ...
Me: Stop, you had me at b.s.
I can't afford a sig!
The more people that get negatively affected by the current laws, the more that will be proponents for change.
Yes. Good idea. Let's just run out and change the law because the big, bad music industry won't let us have their product for free.
Those horrible, horrible bastards.
Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
Copyright Infringement pan --- da...
have it for free, or make a copy for backups, or let a friend borrow it, or use it on any device we wish in any format we wish.
We paid for it, why should we be able to use it in the way that best suits us?
Yah their abuse of the "law" is just and moral because they had enough political pull to get anything they wanted passed into law.. why should we stand up against that?
You're right, they are truely pure souls trying to defend themselves against the onslaught of depraved digital deviants.
have it for free, or make a copy for backups, or let a friend borrow it, or use it on any device we wish in any format we wish.
You do not deserve it for free. CDs make backups of CDs. The copy command of my operating system is duplication, not borrowing. That latter is irrelevant, as you can simply not buy broken tracks.
Gee. That was tough.
Toot! Toot! Clue train coming through!
Hmm.. let's see. I think CDs are overpriced. Solution. I don't buy CDs.
I think DRMed file equates directly to corrupted file. Solution. I don't buy tracks online.
Wow! That was so hard, I can fully understand why it doesn't penetrate people's thick skulls!
"Share" on p2p = steal a valuable product or service. Get sued = good. Not buy broken, shitty, overpriced music and put the bastards out of business by not supporting them = non-childish way of showing disapproval with their business model and tactics. It's called "voting with your wallet". All those laws they "buy" are paid for with dollars people willingly gave up. Therefore, people chose that path, it's there own damn fault, and their own bloody problem. If you can't be bothered to make intelligent, educated purchasing decisions when the information is readily available, you deserve whatever happens as a result.
Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
I don't see why so many people have a problem with "pirated" (what a rediculous term to use) music. Record companies are just distibution channels. Artists don't make much money, if any at all, on CD sales. Artists make money from Concerts and TShirts. Downloading music just cuts out the middleman. Record companies no longer need to exist. We found a more efficient distribution channel.
Time makes more converts than reason
I guess you don't know much about the law regarding fair use for copyrighted works and how it pertains to this discussion.
Let's take VHS tapes for example, the supreme court ruled that it was within the law to make backup copies of VHS tapes, lend them to a friend, display them privately to friends, and save them in a different format (e.g. recording a song on the radio). As long as you were not making a profit or making a copy for sale or showing this publicly to make a profit.
The reasoning is, once you buy the work, you own a "copy" of the license for your personal use, furthermore this use is transferable.. like if i gave my copy of Raiders of the lost ark to a friend to keep.
Now the RIAA and the MPIAA (sp?) have been able to pass the DMCA which changes this precedent and makes it illegal to do any of this when it is in regards to digital media.
Because they are big and powerful, they were able to make this happen.. it is up to us to fight back and get the bill repealed.
before the DMCA you could buy a CD, rip the wav files and make them mp3s, then listen to them on the mp3 player of your choice... now it is illegal unless the recording company gives you express permission (which they don't). What is wrong with letting my friend borrow my music even if it is in mp3 form? pre-dmca, nothing, post it is illegal.
You are not allowed to make a physical back up of that new gaming CD you just bought.
My point was that we have lost some serious rights that have hurt us and people like you seem to think it is alright because these rights were somehow "depriving" these multibillion dollar companies of something when it has been proven not to be true.
you were the one who said have it for free, i was just using that as a spring board.
I'd really like to hear some stories about this if it worked.
Let's take VHS tapes for example, the supreme court ruled that it was within the law to make backup copies of VHS tapes
Cite the case. If you're talking about Sony v Universal, you're not just out in left field, you're not even in the ballpark anymore. In fact, in that case, it was decided that the copies WOULD be infringing, but that Sony was not responsible for the uses that the VTRs were put to because the VTRs had "substantial noninfringing uses".
p2p is not a transfer medium. It is a duplication medium. Giving away a video and redistributing a song are not the same thing. You are absolutely free to give your CD to anyone you want, because you purchased a CD, and you have the right to transfer ownership of it along with the copies of the songs on the CD. You did NOT purchase the rights to the songs themselves, however, so you do NOT have the right to begin distributing those songs.
before the DMCA you could buy a CD, rip the wav files and make them mp3s, then listen to them on the mp3 player of your choice... now it is illegal unless the recording company gives you express permission
What utter bullshit. It's illegal to circumvent copy protection mechanisms. So, in other words, if you're stupid enough to buy a broken CD, you get screwed. No shit? I wouldn't buy a car with the door welded shut, and I won't buy CDs with the tracks welded shut. Why is that so complicated? Maybe you'd like to make the argument that they're misrepresenting the contents of the CDs by not clearly disclosing the protection schemes? Well, lucky for you there are already laws against that.
What is wrong with letting my friend borrow my music even if it is in mp3 form?
"Borrowing" implies that you are temporarily losing something. An mp3 is a permanent exchange in which both parties keep the original contents. Therefore, giving an mp3 to someone is redistributing content which you have no right to redistribute, not "loaning". Again, this is not a complicated subject.
You are not allowed to make a physical back up of that new gaming CD you just bought.
That is a lie. You are not allowed to break copy protection schemes to do it. You shouldn't be purchasing broken media in the first place. Oh. Madden 2005 is copy protected? Here's a free clue: don't buy any more EA games, and let EA know in no uncertain terms why you will no longer be doing business with them. Simple. Again.
My point was that we have lost some serious rights that have hurt us and people like you seem to think it is alright because these rights were somehow "depriving" these multibillion dollar companies of something when it has been proven not to be true.
This does not justify your illegal activity. Would you support me breaking into a dealership and ripping an engine out of a car because I can't afford the equipment to read ODB II codes? If so, you're an idiot. You cannot justify your own illegal activity on the basis of someone else's immoral activity when there are legitimate routes to take to achieve your ends.
I'll lay this out for you once, and once only. It is very simple:
See? Easy. Simple. It's called capitalism. If people were really pissed off about all this, and they actually were stealing things because they were pissed off, and not just cheap, lazy bastards who don't want to admit that they're just crooks, they would send a clear message to the RIAA and all the artists that support them by hitting them where it hurts: the wallet. How do you do that to a company? Gee. This is a tough one. You don't use their product.
Real complicated shit, isn't it?
Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
We found a more efficient distribution channel.
It was NOT your channel to find. You should be lobbying the RIAA to move into the field. It's THEIR content, not yours. You can put whatever YOU OWN on however many p2p networks you want. You can't put other people's content on it just because you happen to be able to copy it. You can't go onto a dealership and start giving away their cars, why do you think you can usurp the rights to other people's music that way? Just because it's easier?
Artists don't make much money, if any at all, on CD sales.
That, and all of the related statements, are totally irrelevant. Again - it is NOT your content. You do NOT own the rights to it. If artists choose to distribute their content on p2p networks, so be it. That's their choice, not yours.
Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
You should be lobbying the RIAA to move into the field. It's THEIR content, not yours.
Some of us can't help but wish it were the artists' content, not the RIAA's.
Local smokers are getting irritated with the warning labels. The most recent fashion is stickers with alternative texts to be glued over the original warnings.
.
So they've covered anger and denial. The next emotional stage for the dying is bargaining
Best of luck to them in that.
You mean something like this t-shirt?
I think it's ironic, but I'm not quite sure.
Not Buzzword 2.0 compliant. Please speak english.
I couldn't have said it better myself.
Time makes more converts than reason
I couldn't have said it better myself.
You can wish all you want, but it's not so. The "artist" sold their CONTENT (artists make art, content distributors make content) to the RIAA, so it's the RIAA's content now.
I'm not going to shed a tear for some dumb band that didn't bother to think the contract through or do some research and is getting screwed on the record deal now. Quite the contrary: I'd rather people just stopped buying into all this bullshit so the entire house of cards comes down on top of them.
That still doesn't justify ripping it off, however, because you don't need it.
Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
Well I'm not going to shed a tear for an obsolete industry that has survived by ripping artists and consumers off for years. I support bands by going to concerts. I have no desire to support a distribution company that doesn't care about art as much as they care about money.
Besides laws don't determine morality and they never will.
Time makes more converts than reason
Besides laws don't determine morality and they never will.
That doesn't hold water. Nobody is entitled to have music. Nobody needs it. Nobody can be hurt by not having it. How are you going to construct a convincing moral argument for ripping it off? The "steal bread to feed my children" argument only works when you have no alternatives. You have LOTS of alternatives. Choosing not to use them doesn't let you worm your way to a moral argument as if they didn't exist.
I support bands by going to concerts. I have no desire to support a distribution company that doesn't care about art as much as they care about money.
I've said it before, I'll say it again. Massively distributed content is just that - content. It's not art.
An analogy to help understand my point: the Mona Lisa is art. Digitized, near-perfect reproductions may be indistinguishable from the original by all but the most educated in the field, but they are not art. In much the same way, the original performance of music may be art. The digitized reproductions, though almost perfect and indistinguishable from the original by all but the most educated in the field, are not art. They are content. As such, no special artistic protections should be afforded those reproductions. They should be treated as content to be distributed and sold. A cheap product to be whored by executives, nothing more.
Getting back to the topic at hand, however: concerts? I assume, then, that you're aware of the enormous ripoff that the majority of venues (most of them owned by the RIAA's evil brother, ClearChannel Communications) are?
Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
Those two things have nothing to do with each other. I am not depriving anyone of music.
The digitized reproductions, though almost perfect and indistinguishable from the original by all but the most educated in the field, are not art. They are content. As such, no special artistic protections should be afforded those reproductions. They should be treated as content to be distributed and sold. A cheap product to be whored by executives, nothing more.
Exactly. I am not stealing "art" from an artist. I am merely enjoying the art. That's not immoral.
Getting back to the topic at hand, however: concerts? I assume, then, that you're aware of the enormous ripoff that the majority of venues (most of them owned by the RIAA's evil brother, ClearChannel Communications) are?
The majority of money earned by bands is through concerts and tshirts. A lot of bands even lose money on record deals. Not all venues are owned/supported by ClearChannel. In fact a lot of big names come to a local club in town that is not a part of any radio station or other advertiser. Even when bands do play bigger venues they actually see a profit from them.
Time makes more converts than reason
The more people that get negatively affected by the current laws, the more that will be proponents for change.
You'd think.
My experience is that people won't actively work to change things for the better.
They prefer to sit on their arses and complain instead.
"Provided by the management for your protection."
Exactly. I am not stealing "art" from an artist. I am merely enjoying the art. That's not immoral.
and
Those two things have nothing to do with each other. I am not depriving anyone of music.
Are you suggesting that you cannot own anything you cannot physically control?
Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
No. I am not suggesting anything. I am SAYING that I have not STOLEN art/music from anyone. I have enjoyed replica's of them and even paid entrance fees to enjoy the real thing, but I haven't taken anything away from anyone.
You seem to be confused because you seem to think that copyright infringement has somehow become theft. It may be in your own little world but even under US law it is not.
Time makes more converts than reason
Oh, I'm not going to play this dumb little "copyright infringement vs. theft" game. Both are illegal, both carry consequences, so pick which term you feel comfortable with as long you keep the consequence and activity straight in your own head.
You have DEVALUED a product with HAS VALUE. Therefore, you HAVE removed someone's property. Just because you didn't do it by explicitly removing a physical object doesn't mean you didn't remove something.
By stealing music, you are devaluing the rights on the product. Since you are devaluing something that someone owns and, therefore, causing them financial harm, you are, in fact, stealing from them whether you do it directly or indirectly. You are gaining something of value for nothing, and you are devaluing their rights on that something. You are stealing music.
I'm tired of debating it. If you don't like the way the music industry is run, don't participate. Don't think you, or some dopy college kid, or LeHara, or anyone else should escape the RIAAs grasp when they come a'knockin. You don't have to buy it, you're not being hurt by not buying it, therefore, you have no legitimate claim to what you're doing.
Ideas have value. Your ideas and what you do with them are your perogative. You cannot rewrite other people's decisions one what they do with their ideas just because you think you deserve to get whatever you want for nothing. The world doesn't work like that, it never has, and god help us all, hopefully it never will.
Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
Yes, ideas do have value. The question is whether it is monetary in nature. I argue that it isn't and cannot be, obviously you disagree.
You cannot rewrite other people's decisions one what they do with their ideas just because you think you deserve to get whatever you want for nothing. The world doesn't work like that, it never has, and god help us all, hopefully it never will.
This is not about getting something for free. All of you people don't seem to get that. This is about a free exchange of ideas. The internet is a great leveler and it scares the shit out of those in power.
Time makes more converts than reason
If the artists don't want to exchange ideas freely, then you cannot force them to do so. If artists want to release their content on the 'net, then they can do that. However, if they choose to (or, have already chosen to) go through the traditional medium, then that's their choice. It's their idea, they get to say how it's disseminated. They can, in fact, choose not to disseminate it at all. If you continue robbing them of their ability to be compensated, you will destroy music as we now know it. You could just as easily achieve the same end by NOT SUPPORTING THE MUSIC INDUSTRY WE HAVE NOW. You are NOT entitled to their music, so you shouldn't be downloading it, copying it, or anything else. You should simply choose not to purchase or listen to it. They don't get support, they either have to evolve or, if enough people get fed up enough with them, they'll die.
People like Blinder put their music online for everyone because they want to. Other artists want to make money, and they choose to go through the RIAA. Denying them the right to choose to sell their music through that group would be just as bad as telling Blinder he HAS to sell his music through them. Freedom goes both ways. They choose to sell their ideas through the RIAA, and if you go against those wishes, it's no better than the RIAA stomping all over independent people offering their music for the sake of offering their music. That's what the music theives don't understand. In the unlikely event that the individual complaining really does believe their misguided ideology and isn't just a cheap, theiving bastard, they don't understand that by ilegally sharing music, they are stomping the artist's decision to disseminate their music as they see fit right into the ground. You're not a great, moral arbiter. It's the artist's choice, and if you really care about freedom, you have to respect that, even if the artist's decision was a stupid one. Otherwise, you're just a different group forcing a different sort of immoral authority.
Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
THE ARTISTS DON'T MAKE MONEY FROM CD SALES! Besides that I am not forcing artists to do a damn thing. I believe I have the right to share in an idea without having to buy a license first.
If you continue robbing them of their ability to be compensated, you will destroy music as we now know it. You could just as easily achieve the same end by NOT SUPPORTING THE MUSIC INDUSTRY WE HAVE NOW. You are NOT entitled to their music, so you shouldn't be downloading it, copying it, or anything else. You should simply choose not to purchase or listen to it. They don't get support, they either have to evolve or, if enough people get fed up enough with them, they'll die.
You still don't get it. I am choosing not to support the record companies. I support the artists. I go to their concerts. I buy their tshirts. That's where their money comes from. I don't feel bad for making rich distibuting companies richer. I don't believe in the system and I am not going to support it, but it is a lie to say I am not supporting the artists.
That's what the music theives don't understand. In the unlikely event that the individual complaining really does believe their misguided ideology and isn't just a cheap, theiving bastard, they don't understand that by ilegally sharing music, they are stomping the artist's decision to disseminate their music as they see fit right into the ground.
This is ridiculous. You exaggerate the importance of the means of distribution. It's not like Artists are really looking for someone to get rich off them. It's just the norm to release records. The artists aren't in some moral battle to distribute their music. They just want people to listen to them and to make money. The only people losing out on p2p sharing is the RIAA and I don't feel bad at all, considering they don't actually make anything. They are mass copiers. They sell copies. That's it.
You're not a great, moral arbiter. It's the artist's choice, and if you really care about freedom, you have to respect that, even if the artist's decision was a stupid one. Otherwise, you're just a different group forcing a different sort of immoral authority.
Seriously, get over it. I still sense that you think morality is bound by law.
Time makes more converts than reason
THE ARTISTS DON'T MAKE MONEY FROM CD SALES!
It doesn't MATTER. The artist SOLD their idea to the RIAA, the RIAA now owns it, the RIAA is making the CDs, the RIAA is making money off the idea on the CD. It's NOT your decision because you can NOT tell the artists what to do with their music. They CHOSE to sell their idea off to a big, faceless entity. That was THEIR decision. You have neither the right, nor the moral authority, nor the legal ground to say that the artist's choice was wrong and then begin distributing the way you think they should have. It's not YOURS.
I don't feel bad for making rich distibuting companies richer.
I don't care how you feel about it. The fact is very, very simple: it's NOT YOURS. You DO NOT have ANY moral OR legal right to take that out of their hands. It's NOT YOURS.
You exaggerate the importance of the means of distribution
No, I don't. I don't care HOW the artists CHOOSE to distribute their music. If they CHOOSE to distribute their music through the RIAA, that's THEIR choice and you are trying to supercede that decision based on some obscure, poorly defined moral argument regarind the RIAA. I want you to answer this question: how is it more moral for you to supercede the artist's decision and take that power out of their hands than it is for them to CHOOSE to distribute through the RIAA? The RIAA may be a crummy business entity to buy from, but as a consumer, you must CHOOSE to purchase from them and the artists must CHOOSE to contract with them. YOU, on the other hand, are FORCING the artists onto a medium. How, exactly, is it moral for you to unwillingly force an artist to distribute through p2p but it's immoral for the RIAA to offer an artist a medium which the artist must ACTIVELY CHOOSE to join? You are arguing from a perch of absolute moral authority. However, 1) you do not define morality and 2) business doesn't work on moral grounds, it works on legal grounds. You certianly have no *right* to other people's music and you're not an absolute moral authority, and you definitely don't define the law individually. Therefore, you have no rights to exercise, moral authority, nor any legal grounds for this argument. Not only is it wrong for you to try and force the artists to do something just because that's what you want them to do, it's illegal. You are morally wrong, and you are legally wrong.
Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
Finally you see my point.
I operate on my own moral beleifs. I'm sorry if they don't intersect with yours or the law. I'll do it even if I get in trouble because of it. I know I support artists. That's all I need to know. I know I don't support the RIAA. That's all they need to know. I'll be damned if I am going to be stopped from enjoying an artists work because I haven't paid for a license to enjoy it. I will, on the other hand, support an artists hard work by going to concerts. Being called a thieving bastard because I download music off the internet is a cheap shot. I am probably one of the most honest and generous people you could get to know. I just don't lay down for corporations because they want me to. Sue me.
Time makes more converts than reason