I would expect that this may cause significant trouble for the retailers who sell these disks to the end-users. Certainly, until the retailers know that they are selling Cactus-enabled products, they will end up eating the cost of damage to the end-user's systems.
While this may or may not be a legal liability for anyone involved in the retailing of these products, it is not difficult to imagine that this is exactly the sort of situation that will lead to an increase in the use of sites like MP3.com and the new-and-improved napster.
This is a desperate attempt by the record distribution industry to keep themselves from becoming irrelevant. Sadly, this will probably only accelerate the acceptance of alternative distribution channels. And, at least some artists are begining to realize that they don't need the record distribution services of an AOL/Time Warner or a Sony if they have other partners who are willing to take a lower % of the proceeds.
Creating a database - as in the FBI's database on criminals - gives the owner leverage which can be used against those in the database. Linked databases create a more powerful database - which means more power. Combining the FBI's database with the IRS' database produces interesting results.
Privacy is increasingly an illusion. If people don't know what you're up to, it's because they don't want to take the time to find out.
What can be done to stop this trend? Probably nothing. Information will be increasingly available to more and more people. Recall the hacker ethic - "Information wants to be free." This has dangerous implications for your continued privacy. What if information really was free? What if everyone could know everything that you were up to? What if you had no privacy at all?
These are important issues for society to address. Should we expect better behavior from our police forces? Should we expect better behavior from the average citizen?
They say that people who live in glass houses ought not throw bricks. It seems like these days we're all living in glass houses. Only some of us don't yet realize it.
Actually, the reason that many talented folks are underpaid is precisely because this is a capitalist society.
Capital == $$$$. Talent != capital - usually.
While it is possible for highly talented people to be well compensated, it requires them to have (or have access to) more than just talent. They must also possess:
luck
negotiating ability
immense self-confidence
With these, you may be able to convince the capitalists who fund the company you work for to value your talent as equivalent to some amount of capital ($$$$).
The way that most talented people get in on the capitalist game is to:
negotiate for ever increasing compensation
invest most of compensation delta (this year - last year) into developing talent
build up a "nest egg" from the delta that can be used to actually become a capitalist
Remember, talented workers are still workers. Worker compensation is a cost of doing business. Management's incentive is to keep costs (i.e. worker compensation) low so that profits can be higher. This is why many talented workers receive a disproportionately small delta compared to their less talented co-workers.
Capitalists are people who get wealthy by lending your company money so that it can stay in business. They get to share in the profits that the company brings in - often without having to put much personal effort into the business of the company at all. They reward managers for keeping costs low - sometimes with a portion of the profits (bonuses) and sometimes with part ownership in the company (stock).
Notice that stock options (which have been so popular as a means of "compensating" workers in the high-tech industries lately) still require the worker to have enough compensation that they can take some and invest it in the company [i.e. - they must be good enough at negotiations to make enough money to become capitalists!]
Never forget - your company is in business to make money. If it can do that by changing the world in a positive way, then that is fine. If it does it by changing the world in a negative way, well that is more often fine than not [from the company's perspective].
The real profitable companies are the ones that understand that they need to do whatever it takes to make $$$$ - and then execute properly.
Without $$$$ to operate, a business is dead. The only way to get big investors to open their pockets is to promise a portion of the profits in return for their cash. That is what capitalism is all about.
Slashdot Mirror
I would expect that this may cause significant trouble for the retailers who sell these disks to the end-users. Certainly, until the retailers know that they are selling Cactus-enabled products, they will end up eating the cost of damage to the end-user's systems.
While this may or may not be a legal liability for anyone involved in the retailing of these products, it is not difficult to imagine that this is exactly the sort of situation that will lead to an increase in the use of sites like MP3.com and the new-and-improved napster.
This is a desperate attempt by the record distribution industry to keep themselves from becoming irrelevant. Sadly, this will probably only accelerate the acceptance of alternative distribution channels. And, at least some artists are begining to realize that they don't need the record distribution services of an AOL/Time Warner or a Sony if they have other partners who are willing to take a lower % of the proceeds.
Creating a database - as in the FBI's database on criminals - gives the owner leverage which can be used against those in the database. Linked databases create a more powerful database - which means more power. Combining the FBI's database with the IRS' database produces interesting results.
Privacy is increasingly an illusion. If people don't know what you're up to, it's because they don't want to take the time to find out.
What can be done to stop this trend? Probably nothing. Information will be increasingly available to more and more people. Recall the hacker ethic - "Information wants to be free." This has dangerous implications for your continued privacy. What if information really was free? What if everyone could know everything that you were up to? What if you had no privacy at all?
These are important issues for society to address. Should we expect better behavior from our police forces? Should we expect better behavior from the average citizen?
They say that people who live in glass houses ought not throw bricks. It seems like these days we're all living in glass houses. Only some of us don't yet realize it.
Actually, the reason that many talented folks are underpaid is precisely because this is a capitalist society.
Capital == $$$$. Talent != capital - usually.
While it is possible for highly talented people to be well compensated, it requires them to have (or have access to) more than just talent. They must also possess:
With these, you may be able to convince the capitalists who fund the company you work for to value your talent as equivalent to some amount of capital ($$$$).
The way that most talented people get in on the capitalist game is to:
Remember, talented workers are still workers. Worker compensation is a cost of doing business. Management's incentive is to keep costs (i.e. worker compensation) low so that profits can be higher. This is why many talented workers receive a disproportionately small delta compared to their less talented co-workers.
Capitalists are people who get wealthy by lending your company money so that it can stay in business. They get to share in the profits that the company brings in - often without having to put much personal effort into the business of the company at all. They reward managers for keeping costs low - sometimes with a portion of the profits (bonuses) and sometimes with part ownership in the company (stock).
Notice that stock options (which have been so popular as a means of "compensating" workers in the high-tech industries lately) still require the worker to have enough compensation that they can take some and invest it in the company [i.e. - they must be good enough at negotiations to make enough money to become capitalists!]
Never forget - your company is in business to make money. If it can do that by changing the world in a positive way, then that is fine. If it does it by changing the world in a negative way, well that is more often fine than not [from the company's perspective].
The real profitable companies are the ones that understand that they need to do whatever it takes to make $$$$ - and then execute properly.
Without $$$$ to operate, a business is dead. The only way to get big investors to open their pockets is to promise a portion of the profits in return for their cash. That is what capitalism is all about.