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Entertainment Industry's Dystopia of the Future
renek writes "If you think the RIAA/MPAA's tactics have been outlandish, laughable, and disconcerting in the past, you haven't seen anything yet. From government-mandated spyware that deletes infringing content to border searches of media players, this reads like an Orwellian nightmare. Given the US government's willingness to bend over for Big Media it wouldn't be terribly surprising to see how far this goes and how under the radar it stays."
I will gladly run their spyware on my PC once they tell me where to send the invoice.
My current hourly rate to manage their software is $850 per hour.
My current rates for computer time is $245 per hour per processor.
I hope their spyware runs under Ubuntu.
I'll also start to carry about a few dozen old 128Mb-2Gb flash drives whenever I
travel. They are all filled with multiple TrueCrypt volumes full of random data which
is re-encrypted dozens of times. I'll gladly hand over all the decryption keys but
it'll still cost them time and money to check.
You can't possibly protect content without directly affecting the people who play by the rules. Things like the Patriot Act suffer from the same problem.
Living With a Nerd
That we citizen elect the politicians. We the people have the vote and therefore the power to change...
Sure, congress bends over when it comes to passing favorable copyright laws, but that's a long way from acting as enforcers of private property rights, which the *AAs seem to be indicating here. When it the feds have to pay their own money, you'll see far less bending over going on.
Customs authorities should be encouraged to do more to educate the traveling public and entrants into the United States about these issues. In particular, points of entry into the United States are underused venues for educating the public about the threat to our economy (and to public safety) posed by counterfeit and pirate products.
Customs forms should be amended to require the disclosure of pirate or counterfeit items being brought into the United States.
[x] One eye patch.
[x] One peg leg.
Thought thinks itself.
Sooner or later when things get ridiculous the market with solve the problem. Sites like Jamendo already exist for freely sharing music. There is impulse for distributing games DRM free and is making a profit at it.
These old dinosaurs have a lot of power but it will soon evaporate once the world has moved on without them. There is a long line of new businesses that do "get it" which can replace them.
the article notes that what is being talked about is a wish list submitted and isn't even as close as proposed legislation. this article is also on eff's site who have their own narrow minded goals. this is part of democracy where groups negotiate with each other to get what they want. to negotiate you have to give something up, so the industry is proposing a lot of things it knows will get removed and likewise eff calls attention to things it would like to be removed but never will be. everyone is doing their job as long as citizens stay informed and these 'interest' groups work together to get an outcome more people will find acceptable.
every anarchist is a baffled dictator. Benito_Mussolini
I thought the comment about users policing themselves to be quite unrealistic, so I went to the source documents.
Essentially, what is being proposed is a means for ISPs and other bandwidth providers the means to detect and shape traffic based on certain filters. It also proposes that ISPs be allowed to require certain software to be installed in order to access the networks.
This proposal isn't so much about requiring that something be done to users. Rather, it is aiming to limit the liability of network providers if they were to implement such measures.
It's onerous, but not quite the evil plot that the EFF has blown it up into.
I write my Congress Critter for free hookers and blow, but that doesn't mean I'm going to get it. It is a standard tactic to ask for pie in the sky stuff just to make your other requests look more credible. In the meantime, there is this thing called the 4th Amendment that can make the RIAA go pound sand.
"I'm not a quack, I'm a mad scientist! There's a difference." - Dr. Cockroach
If they treat consumers as enemies they will become enemies.
crazy dynamite monkey
Surely this is more a case of haggling. Ask for an infeasible price knowing you then have more scope to haggle down to a still unfair price.
RIAA and MPAA attorneys have been appointed to some of the nation's most valuable legal posts. It is clear that the current administration is strongly in favor of Big Media and more than willing to go along with their schemes.
The Right to Read was written 13 years ago, and is still remarkably prescient.
I am officially gone from
Government doesn't care if it has to bend over, as long as YOU bend over, and are reminded that you have to bend over, and that there's never anything they can do about it. People have almost forgotten the difference between the power of the dollar and that of the gun - here's a chance for the government to bend you over, but blame Big Media. THEN, once you're fully trained, they can bend you over for anything else (taxes, mandatory service, forced relcations, rationing, etc).
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
If we do indeed fall down this path of digital invasion, where Copyright is seen as a valid 'foot-in-the-door' for scanning every home PC, what is the breaking point to turn off the PC? Or worse, will wide-scale law enforcement be used to enforce Copyright and IP law? Will the cops be busting down the doors to see if you've infringed on a movie, only to be met w/ guns blazing? Is this where we, or they intend for this type of relationship to develop?
It's stories like this that remind me why I support neither modern music, or cinema. And while Microsoft, and Apple are willing accomplices to this behavior, I'll continue to use and push Linux and FOSS at every opportunity I can muster.
Has it come to a "Freedom or Nothing" divide?
Border searches of data storage - sure (a small addition of one stated purpose required)
Spyware that deletes infringing content - game DRM is very close; if it "thinks" something's wrong, it nukes your ability to use the content.
Managing to stay mostly under the radar just fine...
One that hath name thou can not otter
A few times in copyright threads, while alluding to the insanity of the media corporations, I have testified that one of my big paranoid fears is legislation that requires content filtering software on all computers and related devices. Fine and dandy for Windows and Mac, but implementing that for all the Linux distros would be ridiculously hard. The solution? Outlaw Linux. "It's just a hacker's tool anyway."
*shakes head*
That Anonymous Coward guy is pretty annoying. Can we have the government censor him or something?
Oh my science, to what we have been reduced! Entertainment being the most important industry.
here we come. I'm just looking forward to Dec. 24th, 2011 and my cyberware.
Captcha: Hickory - Hickory what?! Smoked WHAT?!
Would a security inspector even know what an LTO or 3592 tape cartridge looks like? I can fit a lot of music/movies on a tape. Come to think about it, most people on this earth or /. don't know what a LTO or a 3592 tape cartridge looks like. I don't even need to use the native encryption built into LTO-4 or the TS1130 drives.
Just hope they don't put me into a little room until they locate something to access the tape..
Just a sample:
There are several technologies and methods that can be used by network administrators and providers...these include [consumer] tools for managing copyright infringement from the home (based on tools used to protect consumers from viruses and malware).
In other words, the entertainment industry thinks consumers should voluntarily install software that constantly scans our computers and identifies (and perhaps deletes) files found to be "infringing." It's hard to believe the industry thinks savvy [sic], security-conscious consumers would voluntarily do so. But those who remember the Sony BMG rootkit debacle know that the entertainment industry is all too willing to sacrifice consumers at the altar of copyright enforcement.
Pervasive copyright filtering
Network administrators and providers should be encouraged to implement those solutions that are available and reasonable to address infringement on their networks.
Right. I have a hard enough time getting my customers to realise the danger of installing pirated software; now I'll have to tell them that they should try and implement stuff that will detected 'illegal' MP3s and AVIs.
Oh, and in order to do so will necessitate rootkitting all their boxen and opening the corporate firewall?
Yeah, that'll work...
this is part of democracy where groups negotiate with each other to get what they want. to negotiate you have to give something up,
Some things are non-negotiable.
xxAA: We want to take away all your rights.
EFF/users: No!
xxAA: Oh, come on. Let's negotiate about this.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
Given the US government's willingness to bend over for Big Media...
Wrong metaphor; It is not the government who is getting screwed here. On the contrary, congressmen are collect big checks from media corporations for selling off our rights. I think you mean.
Given the US government's willingness to force citizens to bend over for Big Media
Ceci n'est pas une signature.
I met a devil media, they took my music away
They said I had it comin' to me, but I wanted it that way
I think that any music is good music
And so I took what I could get, mmm
Oooh, oooh, they looked at me with big brown eyes
And said
You ain't seen nothin' yet
B-B-B-Baby, you just ain't seen nothin' yet
Here's something that you never gonna forget
B-B-B-Baby, you just ain't seen nothin' yet
And now I'm feelin' better, 'cause I found out for sure
They took me to their lawyer and he told me of a cure
He said that only their music is good music
So I took what I could get, yes, I took what I could get
Oooh, and they looked at me with big brown eyes
And said
You ain't seen nothin' yet
B-B-B-Baby, you just ain't seen nothin' yet
Here's something, here's something that you're never gonna forget
B-B-B-Baby, you just ain't seen nothin' yet
You need educated
Any music is good music
So I took what I could get, yes, I took what I could get
And then, and then, and then they looked at me with big brown eyes
And said
You ain't seen nothin' yet
Baby, you just ain't seen nothin' yet
Here's something, here's something,
here's something, mama, you're never gonna forget
B-B-B-Baby, you just ain't seen nu-nu-nu-nothin' yet
You ain't been around
You ain't seen nothin' yet
I know I ain't seen nothin' yet
I know I ain't seen nothin' yet
Baby, Baby, Baby
You ain't seen nothin' yet
Orwell was an optimist.
The US used to be a technological super power. Now the US is all about suing everyone into submission. I have friends from abroad that won't travel to the US because of the draconian process they have to go through to enter the country. TSA agents taking high tech electronics. Invasive searches and questioning. All for what? A false sense of security. The TSA rent-a-cops didn't stop the guy over Christmas 2009. The passengers of the flight did. And having government officials police copyright is laughable. How can they tell what is legit and what is not? This will just make air travel that much more irrelevant. I will be taking a train when travelling from now on. I don't travel outside the US, so that will work for me. Yeah it takes more time. Oh well.
Nothing is impossible. It just hasn't been figured out yet.
Look, the reality is that the U.S. economy currently depends almost exclusively on culturally created content/entertainment. Nothing gets made in the U.S. and exported anymore BUT movies, music, etc. So it's not a surprise that it's becoming more and more draconian in trying to defend those assets.
It's like if one country controlled all the oil. They'd jack up prices, but they'd also do everything they could to stifle the creation of oil alternatives. They'd start to insist changes in engine designs that used their oil, or else they wouldn't sell you the oil. They'd limit anyone trying to purchase the oil then refine it on their own, because they'd want to do all the refining themselves.
Every indicator I see says that this is going to get much worse in the future.
“Now, the latest stats show a sharp rise in grey-market electronics importing and other tariff-breaking crimes, mostly occurring in open-air market stalls and from sidewalk blankets. I know that many in law enforcement treat this kind of thing as mere hand-to-hand piracy, not worth troubling with, but I want to assure you, gentlemen and lady, that Social Harmony takes these crimes very seriously indeed.”
Don't steal, seems like a good COUNTER-MEASURE to this, wouldn't you agree? If you don't agree, then the conclusion is obvious, and why this plan is to go into effect. Do you mind searching for illegals? Contraband? WMDs? If you are carrying or otherwise involved in those activities, yes, you do. Why get so defensive if you aren't stealing? Gotcha !! Inescapable logic wins again !!
Given the US government's willingness to bend over for Big Media
That's a false impression. Both the government and the Big Media are mainly owned by the same people.
The Economist
Best Slashdot Co
While this suggestions shouldn't see the light of day, one of the problems I have with the EFF is that they never propose a way to deal with piracy. This is because they are piracy-friendly. Here's an example from their own article:
EFF's words: Bully countries that have tech-friendly policies
From the RIAA proposal: Targeting such companies and websites in the Special 301 report would put the countries involved on notice that dealing with such hotbeds of copyright theft will be an important topic of bilateral engagement with the U.S. in the year to come.
It's obvious from their language that they want to prevent anyone from putting pressure on Sweden or the PirateBay to stop piracy. Personally, I don't see what the problem is here. The EFF clearly wants piracy to continue, and they want to shut-down any attempts to put pressure on anyone involved in piracy -- even if it's a globally famous website like the PirateBay. By using language like "bullying" they're using intentionally inflammatory language. In other contexts (like, say, trade in chemical weapons, slavery, etc), I have no doubt that the EFF wouldn't have a problem with the US "bullying" other nations into doing the right thing - of course, they wouldn't use the word "bullying" because they actually agree with enforcement in those cases. So, by labeling any enforcement as "bullying" they're attempting to steer the discussion.
The EFF should really do itself a favor and stop siding with the pirates. If they hate the suggestions that the RIAA makes for dealing with piracy, then they should make some decent suggestions of their own. Instead, the EFF constantly drags its feet on any enforcement of any kind of copyright issue. Based on their pattern of behavior, it's clear that the EFF won't be happy until piracy is 100% legal.
doublefacepalm.jpg
I don't know what the entertainment industry has been smoking, but it must be some powerful shit if they think crap like this is going to fly. Read my lips: Over my dead body.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
If companies gives jobs to people - and companies pay a lot of the taxes that help to keep US going, then the govt has to help the companies. Just cos you elect someone doesnt mean they walk away from protecting private interests of companies - which are similar to the police saving you from the random guy walking in and taking your bike with him.
If McDonalds is protected against some guy grabbing two sandwiches and walking out - the same is required for the record companies. Just because you, or even a majority of the population thinks it should not have to pay online, does not mean the companies should agree with you. There are lots of places where you get freebie music, software and pictures. Go use them.
Slashdotters regularly seem to think that just 'cos the marginal cost of distributing online is low - everything should be free. Remember - the marginal cost of distributing software is also free, and yet we expect everyone to pay for a copy of Oracle DB or whatever software you build for whomever.
I know that my firm regularly lobbies against software piracy in China and India - and am glad they do it. It saves my job - and if you dont wanna pay - you can always use some free software!!
Sounds like the submitter is concerned that people won't pay attention to this issue and/or take it seriously.
Here's an idea: If you want to encourage people to pay attention, lay off the trite cliches about Orwell and just stick to a factual discussion of what's going on.
You know who's really to blame for the health care bill passing? That would be the highly vocal conservatives yelling about "death panels" when they should've been sending a message people would listen to.
Don't you just hate it when you're not even finished with your great American dystopian Sci-Fi novel and it suddenly morphs into a friggin' documentary?
I'm just waiting for the day when the .gov requires all malware/OS vendors to scan for certain types of media and alert on the presence of offending files as well as uploading files to some vault for evidence preservation.
.gov and big business.
It'll start with scanning and alerting to images/video of crimes against children. Then it will progress into alerting on possible copyright infringement or anything that goes against the pockets of the
Trusted Computing makes a comeback.
This is the new War on Drugs. Think of all the freedom we lost fighting the war on drugs. If you're within 100 miles of a border, you can be stopped and search for any reason without a warrant. It's a common occurrence to piss in a cup in front of a stranger as a condition of employment. Anyone carrying moderate to large amounts of cash can have it confiscated by the police, with no trial of any sort. And so on.
But the war on drugs is old and busted, we need a new enemy. As the U.S. loses its economic dominance of the world, anything that threatens (whether in theory or fact) the cultural dominance we've had is going to be attacked vigorously. It will be a scorched earth policy. We can expect to lose as many, if not more of our right under this new War on Copyright Infringement. It's just ramping up now, but we'll be seeing people who speak out against the new laws branded as anti-American. Copyright infringement will become a jailable offense.
Sure, it sounds preposterous now. But once upon a time jailing someone for Cannabis would have been preposterous. The American propaganda system is the best in the world. If they can sell a 70 year war on a substance that's factually safer than aspirin, if they can manipulate us into an optional war in Iraq for absolutely no reason at all, they'll have no problem turning copyright infringement into the next witch hunt.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
The PP will probably never win an election, it's just there to show them how many votes they lose when they support the RIAA.
(OTOH I'd bet the PP could get quite a few votes in today's America...)
No sig today...
You think as if they are NOT already treating customers as enemies.
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
When I was a child our house was heated by oil, a tank car came by every now and then and fueled up a tank in the back.
That no longer happened. The guy who drove the tanker, has lost THAT job.
Coal was used earlier, and a lot of people made their money mining the coal in Holland and shipping it to homeowners. The mines have closed. The miners are gone.
In Amsterdam and many an old city you can still see evidence of horse stables in the center of the city. Evidence that once horses were the only method to power transport and the industry that made it happen.
Gas lighters once went around, turning on each street light individually, a job typically given as a charitable cause for people who could not earn their money in another way.
Countless jobs are gone as companies claimed that putting them in other countries was best for society, for the world, for the future.
And now, it is the time of the artist to loose their job, to see their means of earning a living turned upside down.
Does that matter? Is it worth halting progress to keep some people earning money the same way they are used to?
We could have stopped the car from ever going faster and thereby saved the horse industry. But at what cost to our society?
But art is different. Why? Great art has been created LONG before copyright was added (the current copyright is a recent invention and was fought tooth and nail by the record industry) and that art will remain.
Will people stop performing Opera because the composer is no longer being paid... oh wait, the composer died centuries ago.
Then perhaps people will stop making new art... except unpaid art is produced all the time. Go to flickr.com for just a tiny sample. Nobody there expects to be paid, yet they are producing art.
Yes, some artists will perhaps die of starvation. Just as lost of coal miners lost their job and countless stable boys before them.
THOUGH LUCK. The MPAA/RIAA/Brein/Bumastemra all love to claim that our society will collapse when no more "play for cash only" bands will exist. No more spice-girls, no more backstreet boys. The end of civilization as we know it. I could just cry.
But does it matter? I am not going to argue that pirates buy more CD's because I am trying to make a far bigger point. If indeed the end of copyright means NO more music is produced. Will that matter? Or is it just another development of our society? Imagine a world without movies. Ain't that hard, movie tech is not all that old. One thing often miss about Star Trek is that it is a fictional world without money (ToS and TNG at least) but ALSO without art. Think about it, there are no paid for artists and content in the series itself. We watch on TV a TV-less world. They make their own content, for their own consumption and art is "merely" something that each does for the fun of it, not for profit.
The RIAA and the likes hate such a future. They want us to believe that the artist who works for profit, a Michael Jackson or Madonna IS the ONLY part of our modern civilization that is worth anything. Everything else is secondary to them. The Spice girls are the 20th century, and everything else just plays second role to it. If content is not paid for, it does not exist, it is not worth it and if it is content it must be paid for.
This goes to such extremes that copyright mafia's collect royalties for music for that isn't even subject to royalties. If I produce a piece of music and put it in the public domain and it is played on the radio (in Holland at least) then Bumastemra collects a fee for it. A fee I, the person who created the music can't collect, nor can anyone. They have a legal right to collect money for something they don't own and which they never have to pay out to anyone. It would be like giving Shell the right to collect a fee from anyone on the road, no matter if they drive a car or not.
And the Internet, personal liberties, common sense, artisic license, law, they all got to bend or be broken s
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
...of the summary is incoherent, but it is a Slashdot summary. Why bother.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
Would a security inspector even know what an LTO or 3592 tape cartridge looks like?
You're of course, absolutely right; those minimum wage thugs don't know. But YOU ARE EXPECTED TO COOPERATE by supplying the hardware that can read these "obscure" formats on demand, or they will be confiscate all the same, AND you will be detained. Remember ports of entry these days are constitution-free-zone.
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
It is becoming ever more apparent that a choice must be made, between copyright and freedom. For all its benefits (and yes, it has quite a few), copyright nowadays cannot thrive where there is freedom, and vice versa. For me, and although I have published a few things, I believe freedom is the more important thing to preserve, so copyright must be rolled back.
"Nothing gets made in the U.S. and exported anymore BUT movies, music, etc." [citation needed]
Try this for starters.
Please note, I'm not picking on you in particular. You, like a lot of intelligent people, have come down with a nasty case of memes wrt to the composition of output in the US economy.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Well who even listens their crap music or Hollywood ruined music. There's a lot of other good entertainment out there.
And seeing tits live is always better that in some Hollywood crap movie. :D
Music will be interrupted every few seconds by a blast of digital noise to close the "analog hole".
Squads of media police will raid underground speakeasies featuring live music. Humming or singing will be considered an unauthorized live performance punishable by heavy fines and imprisonment. A "must listen, must pay" business model will shore up falling profits by insuring that everyone participates in an equitable manner. People crossing the border will be required to pay a "music tax" to cover the profits lost by listening to non-sanctioned media.
Personal devices will still exist but will only play the same content available on the officially sanctioned feed. There will be a brief underground economy in MP3 players, but that will pretty much end when the national guard crushes the last stronghold of black market pre-DRM iPods.
With profits assured, media companies will tout their products as "the best in history" but in actual practice will abandon any remaining commitment to quality and diversity. Selena Gomez and the Jonas Brothers will be named national heroes by the President.
The great majority of the public will just accept this.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
I also meant to point out that the words "tech-friendly" in the phrase "Bully countries that have tech-friendly policies" is really a euphemism for "piracy friendly". Obviously, they aren't going after "tech-friendly" countries - which includes basically the entire Western world, if not the entire world. This also shows the bias that the EFF is bringing to the table. No doubt, if the EFF agreed with international trade in chemical weapons, they'd describe it as "trade-friendly nations". Or, if they agreed with the drug-trade, they'd describe nations involved in the creation/trafficing of drugs as "freedom-friendly".
You know what's entertaining?
Watching people argue for rights they don't have against people enforcing rights they don't have.
http://www.aos.wisc.edu/fireball/2010_04_14_fireball_loop_1024x768_long.gif
everyone knows that the corepirate nazi illuminati are desperate to retain .controll of us/our last few$$. it's not a surprise that they're willing to kill anybody to accomplish the goal. not that that doesn't matter entirely, it's an ongoing (100's of years so far) process.
the explosions in the sky however, not something you see/hear every day, but not amongst 'stuff that matters' here. we note they show the clip without animation on cnn now. just whois pulling our/robbIE's strings/legs etc...?
So grammar Hitler issues aside, if they would alter their pricing to make it less worthwhile to pirate they could still make buckets of money and make people happy. The CD market went this way right near the end, they finally gave in and lowered prices and offered some great deals... I had never bought so many CD's as I did then. They will fight this too until it is too late.
http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
I do think movies like Star Trek and The Dark Knight will become a thing of the past - As "free" digital distribution moves more mainstream, the revenue streams that fund these $100M 'blockbusters' will disappear. Ditto TV - As digital distribution and timeshifting ends the 15 minutes of commercials per hour program I think shows like Lost and Battlestar Galactica will fade away. There may be a last gasp where content providers try to get people to pay $2 for an episode of Glee, but once content is free no one will pay it. Not saying it's a bad thing - There will always be creative people and there will always be content to consume - I just think it will be more like "Clerks" on YouTube and less like "Casino Royale" or "Avatar" at the Multiplex.
Or Kang and Kodos! (Simpsons did it!)
If you don't like choices you are offered form your own party (this is how the "Pirate Party" got started in Europe)or stand as an independent, that's how democracy is supposed to work.
Pah... Like anyone would waste their vote on a third party candidate!
Bow-ties are cool.
The War on Drugs has worked out remarkably well so far, I think we can all agree. I am sure that aggressive steps to locate and prosecute copyright infringement will have the same amount of success and public support.
Or, not.
Put together enough "War On X" programs and eventually, it's just "War on You."
You are exactly right. There is a reason corporations don't get to vote. However much they like to call themselves "corporate citizens", they are not citizens. They are not human beings. They are machines we create in order to create wealth for us. (At least that's the theory.)
The idea of a level democratic playing-field between citizens and non-citizens is nonsense. If I own 10 corporations should I have greater representation? This is as ridiculous as the three-fifths compromise by which slave-holdings states got additional government representation based on the number of slaves they owned. Needless to say, this representation did not reflect the interests of the slaves: just as corporate representation may not represent the interests of the human beings who make up the corporation. In both cases, institutions created by human beings (slavery, corporations) are used as an excuse to allocate undemocratic power to a few people who control them.
(This should be obvious from what I have said, but I want to be sure no-one puts words in my mouth: I am not suggesting that abuses of copyright are comparable to the horrors of slavery are comparable, no matter how illegitimate the former may be.)
DOH... instead of bringing my 7-iron, I should have brought my big iron.
America's slow internet backbone is party the result of Big Brother wanting to be able to see everything we do. Big Media, along with Big Brother, wants to keep it slow otherwise they will get swamped by the volume of traffic and won't be able to snoop on our activities. Other countries have better and cheaper internet access, but Big Brother, with Big Media's help, is choking us off.
Unfortunately, choking the internets and the googles is adversely affecting the progress of technology in the country that is do dependent upon technology to keep its economic world domination. (BTW, China will also self-limit their growth this way just to be able to keep its population under control.)
Best regards.
Citing the number of cases the RIAA have lost etc I would hardly describe it as "US government's willingness to bend over for Big Media"... Not to mention that under current law what most people are doing with media online is illegal ... regardless of the culprit's opinion.
One of the main problems around here is exaggeration.
Fruit used to be scarce and hand-picked from trees, but Man invented agriculture to control and infinitely replicate it!!!
Meat used to be scarce and chased all day long with bows and arrows but Man overcame Beast and herded it!
Nothing should be scarce. We are here to raise the bar of what Life consists of, and modern life consists of hanging out on youtube and being able to play on a whim whatever comes to mind.
It just needs to be taken one step further. There should be an official RIAA-backed repository of all music ever created, easy to use, with all lyrics, videos, whatever!
Or the RIAA should die.
Imagine the RIAA stamping on a customer's face. Forever.
Thank The Flying Spaghetti Monster I do not live in the "Land of the Free" ;-)
Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither... I understand that these companies are trying to protect their IP and that it has a real impact on the economy, but they really need to come up with a better policy than there current draconian policies. Same thing with the Patriot Act, which someone mentioned earlier.
"In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change" --Thich Nhat Hanh
Oh how I wish I had mod points right now.
Truer words may have never been spoken on the internet.
there should be a +1 just plain right mod.
-- Sig under construction...
free over the air signals was going to destroy the movie house. then it was the vcr, now its the internet
and all along, hollywood just keeps packing them in the cinema house
sure, the dvd market will disappear, but there's something about going to a movie house that is so much more appealing than watching iron man 2 on your 17 inch monitor by yourself in your basement. people like the social aspect. yes, i said social aspect: despite the crying babies and the cell phones, people laughing when you laugh, gasping when you gasp reinforces your primal homo sapien brain circuits and heightens your enjoyment. if you say you can do that with your 5.1 surround sound 60" lcd hd theatre system with your friends, i'm amazed you have such loyal friends that they drop everything, come rushing to your house and agree to see the movie you want to see at that moment in time
in other words, the cinema will always make money, lots of it, for hollywood, for a long time to come. even if they give all their content away on the same day as cinema releases, for free, people will still flock to the cinema, because it offers something you simply can't replicate at home. its almost the same psychological space as going to church: shared communal experience, heightening enjoyment
there's gotta be a sociological study somewhere, but i am in no fear of the cinema house dying
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
eats his own toe jam. If you read that article, you will start eating your own toe jam.
Read my lips: Over my dead body.
What, if they jail you for copyright infringement, you're going to hang yourself?
Ya, make up your own birthday song!
"The ability to delude yourself may be an important survival tool" - Jane Wagner -
The cost of most movies could be cut a lot by lowering payroll. Would $5 million upfront instead of $10 million have been too little for Bale? Could you not choose 1 out of 10000 competent actors 100k + 1/100 Bale's percentage?
The planned release of a blockbuster motion picture should be acknowledged as an event that attracts the focused efforts of copyright thieves, who will seek to obtain and distribute pre-release versions and/or to undermine legitimate release by unauthorized distribution through other channels.
I find this interesting. The last time I checked, a good enough DA could probably talk a cherry picked jury into believing that someone taping a movie was attempting to circumvent protections (water marks on the screen) and have them tried as terrorist. Suddenly we would have reports of terrorists in America's theaters. The industry gets rid of people recording in theaters and the news gets rid of ticket sales. Win-win in my book.
and how backed will customs get by doing pc checks.
You wait time is 2-3 Hours be check and the takes about 30min per 100g
Oh, kind of like how the existence of free software turned paid software into a thing of the past?
Free content is great and all, but it isn't antimatter - it won't annihilate paid content just by existing in the same space.
Oh, kind of like how the existence of free software turned paid software into a thing of the past?
Your analogy doesn't really hold up, though. It's mostly businesses that pay for software. Very few consumers do - Most paid for their OS with their computer, and it might have included an OEM version of MS-Office or something, but after that...? As a consumer, the only software I've paid for in the past two years is a $40 toddler-typing program for my kid. Image editing software, video editing software, ripping software, anti-malware software, browsing software and on and on - It's all 'free.' Almost all the games we pay in our house are fun puzzle-type 'popcap' games - All free.
Movies and TV shows are targeted at consumers, and once all content is free people won't pay any more...
The cost of most movies could be cut a lot by lowering payroll
Sure, and you wind up with movies like "Clerks." Nothing wrong with "Clerks" - It's a great movie - But it's a different movie-going experience.
As long as you pay your royalties for your funeral music, the music industry would be happy to comply.
They were letting me know that they had released a several sci-fi movies that I have not paid to see in the theaters. Since my past history shows that I like sci-fi and have bought sci-fi DVD's from Amazon and seen other sci-fi movies, that I should have seen Avatar by now, since everyone has talked about it. They were nice enough to send me a SASE so I could send them back the cost of admission to a theater, or they would sue me for thousands.
The RIAA noticed me in my car singing along to a song on the radio and were shocked that I did not go out and buy the CD. They pointed to my youth and how most of my disposable income was spent on cassette's and CD's. The letter quite explicitly explained that bands I have supported and bough their stuff in the 80's have released 3 compilation "best of" albums in the past 15 years and that I have not bought any of them, or any of the 3 re-releases of the original albums which have been digitally remastered for me at their cost. They kindly let me know that I need to do my share in helping them fund their struggling artists. Did I know that in 2008 alone, there were more failed artists than successful, even though they followed the same formula. Without my rebuying some of my older cassettes on CD, they would not be able to have their expensive premieres and afford to sue random people.
Yah know...just got done reading Overclocked by Cory Doctorow and these don't sound that far fetched after some of the stuff in that book.
Signing off now - they just re-released Better off Dead with an extra 20 seconds of interviews and a slightly contrast adjusted cover - like Pokemon - gotta get them all!
We can complain all we want about it, but as long as we keep demanding what the *IAAS offer, they will keep fighting for it, and the higher the demand, the more brutal their approach will be.
The only way we can change the way today's culture is distributed is by supporting licenses like Creative Commons and the artists that use them, of which there are a lot. Not too many in the film area, but more than enough in other areas (disclaimer: I'm one of them, my comics are licensed as CC BY-SA).
This isn't a new idea by any means: if you dislike Windows Genuine Advantage or whatever it is Apple uses as DRM, or if you have problems with the [lack of] ethics of any software publisher, the solution is not to pirate their software but to support the Open Source movement.
Let me repeat this: pirating stuff only fuels the *IAAS; it's FREE culture what can really [and I hope, ultimately will] destroy them.
Methinks you've been sipping the water the entertainment industry execs drink from.
Most people want to contribute. Going to see a spectacular event in rooted deep in the human psyche..
Think your date would enjoy being taken to a cheap burger joint, or a classy restaurant? When you just want something to sate the pangs of hunger, then the cheap burger joint is likely where you'll head.
Everything has its place... Having the free content won't break the paid for model. All it means is that the paid for stuff better have a good story, and better be spectacular..
Worst case? You have channels you pay for. That's where you'll find the high cost series.. Paid for by subscriber funds, by people who think it's worth the cash.
It's really only in the minds of the greedy that everyone else is out to stiff them. Most people want to get by reasonably honourably, and actually contribute to the whole; that's what got us through the times before money was even invented, and it'll get us through times after money is deprecated in favour of something more advanced.
We have assumed control
Also, "Couldn't find package dystopian-copyright-protection"
Hidden file system entries. You need to be in group "mafiaa" to access those.
That's "sudo apt-get install dystopian-copyright-protection" dumbass.
Not if you're Sony. Sony always runs as root.
It seems almost impossible to overestimate the raw, feral greed of US Entertainment Corporations.
These Corporations aren't pushing for a way to charge internet users for viewing or hearing their content.
Rather, they seem intent on prosecuting any internet user for any access to their content.
If these Pinnacles of Greed have their way and you or I stumble onto some youtube video that contains
a Brittany Spears song, we won't get charged a few bucks - we will get sued and probably will get hit
with one of our 3 strikes before our lifetime internet ban! All so they get the outrageous fine.
Any alternatives to ISP driven internet here in the US? Let me know because when these sharks are
done carving the internet into ribbons it won't be worth accessing, let alone paying $70 / month for.
It isn't that the entertainment industry is trying to stop piracy - they just want to totally control the access to content.
After that it will just be a pricing game between the various entertainment giants and their paysites.
And since they have already priced themselves out of my market, I will just have to be content with the alternatives
(until the new laws make them illegal too).
The Emperor Astley is not as... forgiving... as I am.
You are not a brain: http://books.google.com/books?id=2oV61CeDx-YC
It's about to get the point where we take it all to the streets. Also, get some contact and personal info on these executives and lawyers and post it on /b/ for kicks. A few paper bags of dog poop set aflame might get some attention.
Most people want to get by reasonably honourably, and actually contribute to the whole
That would be a very interesting social experiment... Imagine if a season of Lost was aired commercial free, and made available for free download, unencumbered by DRM and allowing free distribution. Also imagine that there was a web page where people could contribute financially for the free season of Lost. I wonder if the contributions would equal the ad revenue from the airings, the repeat airings & the syndication airings, as well as from the reduced DVD sales for that season? (I'm sure some people would still buy the DVDs, but likely not as many...)
We wouldn't even be having this discussion if a whole lot of people hadn't gone hog-wild and used Napster to literally STEAL music back in the day.
I'm sure what you meant to say was:
"We wouldn't even be having this discussion if, in the 90's the utter morons in the music industry had recognized the huge demand for music in a portable digital format at a reasonable price with minimal restrictions as a huge opportunity and moved swiftly to supplying product to meet that demand by and allowing us to literally BUY music back in the day."
Instead they acted like total fuckwads whose very belief system would be destroyed by such a move and they did everything in their power to try to push back the huge waves of the digital revolution that simply washed over them, leaving them mere flotsam and jetsam on the seas of progress.
For years, while others downloaded with abandon, I (a hard core music lover who had bought over 6,000 vinyl lp's and and 500 CD's) held back for many years waiting for them to provide me with this highly deisreable option. I even used to chastise downloaders in these very forums for 'piracy'. And I waited and waited for the industry to deliver.
After over half a decade of waiting, I gave up. Can you guess what my next move was?
If you want to improve border security, glue pictures of netbooks onto illegal boarder crossers.
Table-ized A.I.
Blanket reply here at the end of the thread, because I don't feel like hanging around for the "slow down cowboy" thing.
Thanks for pointing out that the data were stale, and for providing data that were less stale.
As for how the meme got started, I actually think the *AAs are late comers. We did see a shift from the rust belt to the non-union South in auto manufacturing. Unions probably preferred to blame international competition, as opposed to interstate competition.
Among geekdom, the phrase "music movies and microcode" dropped out of fiction (the name of the author escapes me, was that Stephenson?) and people seemed to forget that it was fiction. Political parties that are out of power also seem to find the meme useful. Lately, the Tea Party movement seems to be using it, but others have too.
It serves a lot of purposes, for a lot of people, so it survives.
That said, the more recent chart with multiple years does indeed show China on the move. That change can have a strong psychological impact, since it puts us behind if present trends continue.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Great, what would the Pirate Party have to say about loose nukes or healthcare reform?
Nothing. It would not have to. Read the post you are replying to.
Long before a Pirate Party could get a majority, other parties would start to include their policies. That would probably accomplish their primary goal.
I lost my sig.
As it happens, the contents of my iPod are all my own purchases. No illegal downloads to see here, officer.
But I rather suspect that the 600 slabs of vinyl and 1500 CDs it all came from would just slightly put my suitcase over the luggage limit. How the merry hell do they expect that to work?
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
Avatar, the most expensive movie ever, made a profit at the box office. This kind of movie don't seem threatened yet.
And even if that kind of movie should die, there's a whole lot of movies that can be produced cheaper than the standard $100M blockbusters. Sin City cost $4M, for instance.