I have read (Stephen L. Carter, Integrity), and agree with, the following definition of Integrity:
Acting with integrity consists of
Thoughtful consideration of what is right.
Doing what is right.
Openly declaring the reasons why doing the action was right.
Do you believe you acted with integrity when committing those acts you were convicted of? If so, why? If not, where did you fall short?
[A note to potential critics: Just because someone acts with integrity doesn't mean what they did was right. It simply means that they were intentional and thoughtful enough about their action that discussion of the act and the reasons for it can help to elevate the awareness of others to the issues the action was meant to address. It also means that they were probably acting at least partially without self-interest.]
You're suggesting here that a company will make more money by giving away the game for free and charging for the add-ons than they would if they charged for the game itself. Essentially, the drug trade's "first one free" approach. Now, given that gaming is certainly addictive, that might actually be true. However, which economic model to pursue is the choice of the gaming company, not yours.
And, if you're so convinced this is the right model, I strongly suggest that you spend the next couple of years investing your money and time producing a great game and prove it! If you're right, you'll be rich. If not, you'll be bitter. But, hey, that's what capitalism is all about.
Legally, theft has absolutely nothing to do with whether something is a physical good. For example, if you tap into the cable system for free cable TV, you're guilty of Theft of Service. No physical good has changed hands.
It's a question of ownership and possession. They had ownership and you took possession. The party who was the target of the theft doesn't even need to suffer any actual loss. It doesn't matter that you were never going to subscribe to cable TV; they own the feed and have licensed the content...they own it and you took it without permission. Same with that particular combination of bits on the hard drive.
You don't even have to benefit from it in any way. So forget about those "only used it for a week" arguments. They own it and you took it.
Many of those factors I mentioned above (loss to the owner, benefit to the thief, etc.) and one that I didn't (i.e. intent) that don't impact what actually happened (it was a theft) DO, in our society, impact the choice of punishment. So, is he guilty of theft? Hell yes. Did the punishment fit the crime? Maybe not, but that's why appeals exist.
"Specifically, RICO is violated if an organization carries on a pattern of illegal activities. A business entity can meet the legal definition of an organization, which usually is defined simply as a group comprised of two or more individuals. A pattern of illegal activities exists if a party repeats the illegal activity as little as two different times. Further, the illegal activities do not have to be criminal in nature, but instead can be in the nature of unfair or fraudulent business practices that may or may not result in a monetary loss to another party."
RIAA is certainly an organization and the way they're stickin' it to most artists could certainly be construed as "unfair or fraudulent business practices."
AT&T might have reprovisioned 500,000 of their broadband customers already, but the 5500 of us in Centre County, PA, aren't going to be that lucky. AT&T was in the process of selling us to Adelphia so we weren't included in their contingency plans. According to local news, it seems that the current target is the end of December so AT&T will be sending us CDs for free dialup for the duration. Free dialup for a month...woohoo. Better lower my slashdot thread preference to 1000.
The original purpose of HTML was to present INFORMATION. The primary purpose of a user interface is to allow users to ACCOMPLISH THEIR TASKS. If anyone wants to take their entertainment site and dis anyone not using the latest browser, go ahead. If anyone wants to take their business, consumer, community, et al. site (you know, the kind that revolve around INFORMATION...where people just want to get at INFORMATION), and dis anyone not using the latest browsers then you're making a horrendous mistake. Frankly, if you run an informational or service site and you can't figure out how to make it work on older browsers, you belong in a different line of work.
Have you seen how much Xybernaut's stock (XYBR) has moved since this/. thread was posted (opened Monday at a little over 1 1/2 and topped 3 today)? Pretty soon you guys are going to have to worry about the SEC investigating you for market manipulation.
Slashdot Mirror
I have read (Stephen L. Carter, Integrity), and agree with, the following definition of Integrity:
Acting with integrity consists of
Do you believe you acted with integrity when committing those acts you were convicted of? If so, why? If not, where did you fall short?
[A note to potential critics: Just because someone acts with integrity doesn't mean what they did was right. It simply means that they were intentional and thoughtful enough about their action that discussion of the act and the reasons for it can help to elevate the awareness of others to the issues the action was meant to address. It also means that they were probably acting at least partially without self-interest.]
You're suggesting here that a company will make more money by giving away the game for free and charging for the add-ons than they would if they charged for the game itself. Essentially, the drug trade's "first one free" approach. Now, given that gaming is certainly addictive, that might actually be true. However, which economic model to pursue is the choice of the gaming company, not yours.
And, if you're so convinced this is the right model, I strongly suggest that you spend the next couple of years investing your money and time producing a great game and prove it! If you're right, you'll be rich. If not, you'll be bitter. But, hey, that's what capitalism is all about.
Legally, theft has absolutely nothing to do with whether something is a physical good. For example, if you tap into the cable system for free cable TV, you're guilty of Theft of Service. No physical good has changed hands.
It's a question of ownership and possession. They had ownership and you took possession. The party who was the target of the theft doesn't even need to suffer any actual loss. It doesn't matter that you were never going to subscribe to cable TV; they own the feed and have licensed the content...they own it and you took it without permission. Same with that particular combination of bits on the hard drive.
You don't even have to benefit from it in any way. So forget about those "only used it for a week" arguments. They own it and you took it.
Many of those factors I mentioned above (loss to the owner, benefit to the thief, etc.) and one that I didn't (i.e. intent) that don't impact what actually happened (it was a theft) DO, in our society, impact the choice of punishment. So, is he guilty of theft? Hell yes. Did the punishment fit the crime? Maybe not, but that's why appeals exist.
AT&T might have reprovisioned 500,000 of their broadband customers already, but the 5500 of us in Centre County, PA, aren't going to be that lucky. AT&T was in the process of selling us to Adelphia so we weren't included in their contingency plans. According to local news, it seems that the current target is the end of December so AT&T will be sending us CDs for free dialup for the duration. Free dialup for a month...woohoo. Better lower my slashdot thread preference to 1000.
The original purpose of HTML was to present INFORMATION. The primary purpose of a user interface is to allow users to ACCOMPLISH THEIR TASKS. If anyone wants to take their entertainment site and dis anyone not using the latest browser, go ahead. If anyone wants to take their business, consumer, community, et al. site (you know, the kind that revolve around INFORMATION...where people just want to get at INFORMATION), and dis anyone not using the latest browsers then you're making a horrendous mistake. Frankly, if you run an informational or service site and you can't figure out how to make it work on older browsers, you belong in a different line of work.
Have you seen how much Xybernaut's stock (XYBR) has moved since this /. thread was posted (opened Monday at a little over 1 1/2 and topped 3 today)? Pretty soon you guys are going to have to worry about the SEC investigating you for market manipulation.