1) its not the LAW that is being held under copyright, it is the software on the CD-ROM that is under copyright. AGAIN, the law is freely available in book form at the library and city hall (sections of which can be taken home for the price of photocopying, or just take your digital camera/cellphone and shoot copies of the pages) - They are not copyrighted, and TFA does not claim that they are.
2) the title is alarmist, and currently reads:
"City Laws Only Available Via $200 License"
to make it even remotely accurate, it should read:
"City Laws Only Available Via $200 License, If purchased on CD ROM - but will be free on the web, soon".
The article clearly states that the old-school, paper version was available; just not in a convenient, searchable database (yet).
He could has looked up the data at the city hall, or gone to the library and sud the paper copies (also in the article).
The thing he ISN'T given access to is the proprietary software which is copyrighted by the company who is currently creating a version that will be free for all on the web. Its understandable and reasonable that the company that is taking the time take volumes of data and convert it into a a usable database be allowed some protection to their part of the work for a reasonable period of time while it is being put into that format, perfected as a product (quality assurance), and posted to the web in a format that is easily and freely searchable.
This isn't about keeping people from having access to the law, TFA states clearly that he or anyone can still access all the paper copies of the laws at the library, which is the system that has been in place for ages; now that the city is attempting to make it more easily available.
All the saber-rattling about forced "ignorance of the law" etc. would be nullified if the OP posted a balanced summary, or people actually too the time to read the whole (2 page) article.
I want a solution to my problem that lets me be incredibly lazy, so I don't have to scan the books in (which i know will work VERY well if I just take the time to do it)...
I want software that will do it. For free.
Can I do it without a camera, too?
Actually I'd like it if there were some way I could get paid for using the software.
Can i just put my iPhone/PDA on the book and have it all sucked in via osmosis?
and then have the book read back to me w/ Morgan Freeman as the narrator?
Is there software that will turn the pages for me too? Oh wait - Morgan is going to narrate for me, that's right...
(sigh)
I know I'm probably getting modded Troll for this one; but there isn't always always an easy (magic!) software solution for every little thing. Sometimes you still have to put the work in if you want quality.
Yes, but in this wonderfully litigious country of ours, you can pretty much sue anyone for anything; and if you have the money to hurt them through attrition, really make whoever you are suing really feel the hurt before your case ever makes it to the stage where it gets thrown out of court.
Why someone would want to do this, I have no idea... But it certainly happens.
Washington? What do you think the revolutionary war was? English settlers killing English Colonists (and vise-versa in order to succeed from the current government structure.
The Sunni-Shite problem is a civil war. One that wasn't active until we invaded (U.S. analysts, INCLUDING the CIA warned that our invasion would be the spark that would start this fire).
In our civil war, were the Union soldiers noble protectors of the nation? To the North they were.
And Mandela? No Violence? You better read your history a little closer...
Were the Rebel soldiers Heros fighting a repressive regime? To the South they were.
Hell, I'm a conservative and I could see the folly in our invasion of Iraq.
Being a conservative doesn't mean "follow the party line, no matter how foolish it may be"... It means being conservative, g*ddammit! Waiting and following good intelligence and insight to make informed decisions. The last administration set back the conservative cause back decades.
This was absolutely the case... I won't go into details, but we did end up cutting some deals to get through the red-tape (to finally get very late receivables (payment) that I wouldn't consider kosher).
When we followed proper procedure, we had to file and get approval of every weekly invoice with 3 different departments (the cabinet office which was the actual client, the executive branch accounting office and the D.O.D) - all of the late approvals put the billing (and the work schedules) behind on an increasingly slipping slope.
I have an honest company, and regular billing practices. Normally my procedures are very simple and transparent.
All the bureaucracy encouraged (almost forced) us to be obtuse in our billing and work in a way that I would never accept from one of my vendors. it was a mess.
We were completely vetted, and had to go through a lot just to apply for the contact, then vetted more once we won it; having to go through so much just to get paid was in incredible waste of time, both for us, and the manpower put behind all the redundant red-tape.
which of course is COMPLETELY unlike our government.
They just need to learn the language of US graft better - i.e. Lobbyist and Special Interests
not Trolling - just sayin'...
However I have to disagree with your assessment of it being an adjustment to American culture... I've been a government contractor, and the vetting process is so comprehensive (not that its difficult or exclusive to be a Govt. contractor) - it is mere SO complex procedurally (documentation over documentation, etc) - and when you are at the CIO / Upper Management of a company that has to deal with the US Government, you know that they don't pull any punches when it comes to procedure.
It's mind-numbing... I won't even do Government work anymore. As a freelance resource its more trouble than its worth.
If you read the article carefully (and then look into the actual patent a bit) its more apparent that the kindle violates some of the specific functionality of Discovery's DRM patent.
Discovery doesn't have a patent on ALL E-books that use ANY DRM scheme, just a specific (albeit verbose) one that Amazon has stepped on.
Unfortunately, this means Amazon will likely take the path of least resistance and just come up with a new method of DRM which doesn't violate Discoveries.
This is a hassle for anyone who anyone who has already purchased books from Amazon. But the likelyhood of Amazon releasing books without any DRM is a pipedream.
For a little perspective - The largest apartment I've lived in in NYC was about 1200 square feet - and that was because a friend owned the building (and technically i was taking up 2 spaces)...
On the average, most of the apartments I've lived in have been 1 or 2 bedrooms, under 800 square feet, and cost nearly $2800/month average. So a "Friends" style apartment would probably rent for about $4k/month...for people who work in coffee shops and are out of work actors?
I use my Netflix in NYC close to every night of the week; and watch HD content (sometimes via my Blu-ray, and sometimes my computer if I'm in a different part of the apartment) and it's impressive - no long load times, only once in a while does it reload at a lower speed (and this is usually from a temporary drop in my connection - if I stop and restart it goes right back to HD quality).
In NYC we have a LOT of people sharing a finite amount of data transfer via cable. So this smells like BS (or perhaps the OP just has a bad connection, it happens).
scubamage, (it could only be you, by the amount of offense taken to the replying commenter)...
That is a correct use of Godwin's; just because you were called out of in doesn't make it less true. Perhaps YOU should look up Godwin's law, and spend a little less time looking in the mirror trying to think of clever things to say... (FAIL)
But what if they weren't just getting their facts from AP stories? What if they also got facts from another hot-news source that had information the AP didn't? Shouldn't they be able to combine the facts from two stories in a new narrative to create a more complete story?
What you are describing is common and accepted practice for many end-user publications (often a staff-writer for a publication will get multiple versions of the story and write a story from the raw facts. This is especially true of weeklies where a nightly deadline isn't as critical, or a local perspective may be placed on a national or regional breaking news item.
Time is critical with breaking stories (print deadlines, television air times, etc.) - having a writer gather the same information, confirm the data with original sources and re-write it takes time and money. Time being the primary consideration with deadlines.
In this case AHN is attempting to act as a syndication service (the same as the AP), and is either copying or making minor edits and republishing the same story. They aren't tasking reporters to gather the story, they are taking content that another company has created, and repackaging it as their own. Its unethical as hell.
Newspapers, television, radio, and websites use AP syndicated stories all the time (in most cases licensed and legally), but they are not reselling the stories to other news outlets claiming to be the content creators...
Translation is not the same issue; but the AP translates most of their stories into MANY languages...
I find it fairly ironic that people reading a NEWS site don't know what the AP is, yet would probably not bring up this point if the article were about DARPA, or IIS, or CGI...
Worse yet is that those of you that don't know the AP probably would have no problem identifying TMZ* (tabloid news), and what it is without knowing the full name behind the Acronym.
*for the record, TMZ stands for "Thirty Mile Zone", which is old film-industry speak for the Hollywood area of LA.
The problem with this is that AHN isn't present. They are merely lifting AP stories.
If they were at a new-event, there is no problem with them creating their own copy (words) and publishing. The entire news industry is based on exactly this.
The problem with AHN is that they are not sending reporters to stories, they are merely copying AP stories.
The Associated Press actually is set up for exactly this purpose (other outlets using their stories); but AP wire-service subscribers are held to certain rights and conditions as per the license/subscription agreement. This allows the AP to continue to operate (financially) and continue to produce those stories which AHN could not produce on their own (without hiring the staff to actually go to the location of these news-happenings).
The cases you are referring to (Softman v. Adobe and Novell, Inc. v. CPU Distrib., Inc.) both had to do with a third party purchasing bundled software and unbundling it (selling it as separate components).
They were able to skirt the EULA in these cases because they never agreed to the EULA. The software was never installed, only sold off. The First Sale Doctrine applies in these cases.
However in the case of installing an OS, then trying to resell your disc(s) - In Davidson & Associates v. Internet Gateway the court found SPECIFICALLY that the agreement to the EULA trumped the First Sales Doctrine as the user specifically agreed to no resale in the EULA. Again you may not LIKE it; but its what the courts have decided at this time.
Also - try to purchase a used OS on cd (or dvd) that has already been registered, and get tech support on it.. GOOD LUCK!
That would be true if they were Selling you a product... what you are purchasing is an end-user license that comes with restrictions regarding the use of their product. Not the same thing... You may not LIKE it; but this is the case. The CD (or DVD) you are getting is free, and only a delivery mechanism.
Slashdot Mirror
Two more minor points:
1) its not the LAW that is being held under copyright, it is the software on the CD-ROM that is under copyright. AGAIN, the law is freely available in book form at the library and city hall (sections of which can be taken home for the price of photocopying, or just take your digital camera/cellphone and shoot copies of the pages) - They are not copyrighted, and TFA does not claim that they are.
2) the title is alarmist, and currently reads: "City Laws Only Available Via $200 License"
to make it even remotely accurate, it should read: "City Laws Only Available Via $200 License, If purchased on CD ROM - but will be free on the web, soon".
The article clearly states that the old-school, paper version was available; just not in a convenient, searchable database (yet).
He could has looked up the data at the city hall, or gone to the library and sud the paper copies (also in the article).
The thing he ISN'T given access to is the proprietary software which is copyrighted by the company who is currently creating a version that will be free for all on the web. Its understandable and reasonable that the company that is taking the time take volumes of data and convert it into a a usable database be allowed some protection to their part of the work for a reasonable period of time while it is being put into that format, perfected as a product (quality assurance), and posted to the web in a format that is easily and freely searchable.
This isn't about keeping people from having access to the law, TFA states clearly that he or anyone can still access all the paper copies of the laws at the library, which is the system that has been in place for ages; now that the city is attempting to make it more easily available.
All the saber-rattling about forced "ignorance of the law" etc. would be nullified if the OP posted a balanced summary, or people actually too the time to read the whole (2 page) article.
Can we invoke Kafka's law? (with apologies to godwin)
I want a solution to my problem that lets me be incredibly lazy, so I don't have to scan the books in (which i know will work VERY well if I just take the time to do it)...
I want software that will do it. For free.
Can I do it without a camera, too?
Actually I'd like it if there were some way I could get paid for using the software.
Can i just put my iPhone/PDA on the book and have it all sucked in via osmosis?
and then have the book read back to me w/ Morgan Freeman as the narrator?
Is there software that will turn the pages for me too? Oh wait - Morgan is going to narrate for me, that's right...
(sigh)
I know I'm probably getting modded Troll for this one; but there isn't always always an easy (magic!) software solution for every little thing. Sometimes you still have to put the work in if you want quality.
Let's not forget, Singer screwed Superman...
Why was this modded down? it was unfortunately true... (I did not write the above post, but happen to agree).
Yes, but in this wonderfully litigious country of ours, you can pretty much sue anyone for anything; and if you have the money to hurt them through attrition, really make whoever you are suing really feel the hurt before your case ever makes it to the stage where it gets thrown out of court.
Why someone would want to do this, I have no idea... But it certainly happens.
... send them to a far-away island populated entirely w/ aboriginals and convicts???
hmmm.. or maybe ship them back to the UK?
Fuck iphone.
There's an app for that!
Yeah, but is there a hardware port for it???
Washington? What do you think the revolutionary war was? English settlers killing English Colonists (and vise-versa in order to succeed from the current government structure.
The Sunni-Shite problem is a civil war. One that wasn't active until we invaded (U.S. analysts, INCLUDING the CIA warned that our invasion would be the spark that would start this fire).
In our civil war, were the Union soldiers noble protectors of the nation? To the North they were.
And Mandela? No Violence? You better read your history a little closer...
Were the Rebel soldiers Heros fighting a repressive regime? To the South they were.
Hell, I'm a conservative and I could see the folly in our invasion of Iraq.
Being a conservative doesn't mean "follow the party line, no matter how foolish it may be"... It means being conservative, g*ddammit! Waiting and following good intelligence and insight to make informed decisions. The last administration set back the conservative cause back decades.
This was absolutely the case... I won't go into details, but we did end up cutting some deals to get through the red-tape (to finally get very late receivables (payment) that I wouldn't consider kosher).
When we followed proper procedure, we had to file and get approval of every weekly invoice with 3 different departments (the cabinet office which was the actual client, the executive branch accounting office and the D.O.D) - all of the late approvals put the billing (and the work schedules) behind on an increasingly slipping slope.
I have an honest company, and regular billing practices. Normally my procedures are very simple and transparent.
All the bureaucracy encouraged (almost forced) us to be obtuse in our billing and work in a way that I would never accept from one of my vendors. it was a mess.
We were completely vetted, and had to go through a lot just to apply for the contact, then vetted more once we won it; having to go through so much just to get paid was in incredible waste of time, both for us, and the manpower put behind all the redundant red-tape.
which of course is COMPLETELY unlike our government.
They just need to learn the language of US graft better - i.e. Lobbyist and Special Interests
not Trolling - just sayin'...
However I have to disagree with your assessment of it being an adjustment to American culture... I've been a government contractor, and the vetting process is so comprehensive (not that its difficult or exclusive to be a Govt. contractor) - it is mere SO complex procedurally (documentation over documentation, etc) - and when you are at the CIO / Upper Management of a company that has to deal with the US Government, you know that they don't pull any punches when it comes to procedure.
It's mind-numbing... I won't even do Government work anymore. As a freelance resource its more trouble than its worth.
If you read the article carefully (and then look into the actual patent a bit) its more apparent that the kindle violates some of the specific functionality of Discovery's DRM patent.
Discovery doesn't have a patent on ALL E-books that use ANY DRM scheme, just a specific (albeit verbose) one that Amazon has stepped on.
Unfortunately, this means Amazon will likely take the path of least resistance and just come up with a new method of DRM which doesn't violate Discoveries.
This is a hassle for anyone who anyone who has already purchased books from Amazon. But the likelyhood of Amazon releasing books without any DRM is a pipedream.
Actually, you don't even need the bugs, given the blind panic which will be caused by any white powder.
You're so right... Cocaine makes me super-paraniod!
For a little perspective - The largest apartment I've lived in in NYC was about 1200 square feet - and that was because a friend owned the building (and technically i was taking up 2 spaces)...
On the average, most of the apartments I've lived in have been 1 or 2 bedrooms, under 800 square feet, and cost nearly $2800/month average. So a "Friends" style apartment would probably rent for about $4k/month...for people who work in coffee shops and are out of work actors?
only if they ALL lived in the same flat....
I use my Netflix in NYC close to every night of the week; and watch HD content (sometimes via my Blu-ray, and sometimes my computer if I'm in a different part of the apartment) and it's impressive - no long load times, only once in a while does it reload at a lower speed (and this is usually from a temporary drop in my connection - if I stop and restart it goes right back to HD quality). In NYC we have a LOT of people sharing a finite amount of data transfer via cable. So this smells like BS (or perhaps the OP just has a bad connection, it happens).
scubamage, (it could only be you, by the amount of offense taken to the replying commenter)...
That is a correct use of Godwin's; just because you were called out of in doesn't make it less true. Perhaps YOU should look up Godwin's law, and spend a little less time looking in the mirror trying to think of clever things to say... (FAIL)
Wow... Godwin's law rears it's ugly head REALLY early in this thread.. Nice one.
The AP operates globally.
I remember it well - I was an AP stringer for 12 years, and we covered news (and provided news to outlets) across the world.
Siting Wikipedia for this is just silly. Did you even think to check the AP website?
From http://www.ap.org/pages/about/about.html
243 bureaus in 97 countries.
1,700 U.S. daily, weekly, non-English and college newspapers.
5,000 radio and television outlets taking AP services.
850 AP Radio News audio affiliates.
550 International broadcasters who receive AP's global video news service, APTN, and SNTV, a sports joint venture video service.
121 number of countries served by AP
4 languages in which AP sends news. The report is translated into many more languages by international subscribers.
4,100 AP editorial, communications and administrative employees worldwide.
3,000 of AP's worldwide staff are journalists.
49 Pulitzer Prizes, including 30 for photography.
But what if they weren't just getting their facts from AP stories? What if they also got facts from another hot-news source that had information the AP didn't? Shouldn't they be able to combine the facts from two stories in a new narrative to create a more complete story?
What you are describing is common and accepted practice for many end-user publications (often a staff-writer for a publication will get multiple versions of the story and write a story from the raw facts. This is especially true of weeklies where a nightly deadline isn't as critical, or a local perspective may be placed on a national or regional breaking news item.
Time is critical with breaking stories (print deadlines, television air times, etc.) - having a writer gather the same information, confirm the data with original sources and re-write it takes time and money. Time being the primary consideration with deadlines.
In this case AHN is attempting to act as a syndication service (the same as the AP), and is either copying or making minor edits and republishing the same story. They aren't tasking reporters to gather the story, they are taking content that another company has created, and repackaging it as their own. Its unethical as hell.
Newspapers, television, radio, and websites use AP syndicated stories all the time (in most cases licensed and legally), but they are not reselling the stories to other news outlets claiming to be the content creators...
Translation is not the same issue; but the AP translates most of their stories into MANY languages...
I find it fairly ironic that people reading a NEWS site don't know what the AP is, yet would probably not bring up this point if the article were about DARPA, or IIS, or CGI...
Worse yet is that those of you that don't know the AP probably would have no problem identifying TMZ* (tabloid news), and what it is without knowing the full name behind the Acronym.
*for the record, TMZ stands for "Thirty Mile Zone", which is old film-industry speak for the Hollywood area of LA.
The problem with this is that AHN isn't present. They are merely lifting AP stories.
If they were at a new-event, there is no problem with them creating their own copy (words) and publishing. The entire news industry is based on exactly this.
The problem with AHN is that they are not sending reporters to stories, they are merely copying AP stories.
The Associated Press actually is set up for exactly this purpose (other outlets using their stories); but AP wire-service subscribers are held to certain rights and conditions as per the license/subscription agreement. This allows the AP to continue to operate (financially) and continue to produce those stories which AHN could not produce on their own (without hiring the staff to actually go to the location of these news-happenings).
The cases you are referring to (Softman v. Adobe and Novell, Inc. v. CPU Distrib., Inc.) both had to do with a third party purchasing bundled software and unbundling it (selling it as separate components). They were able to skirt the EULA in these cases because they never agreed to the EULA. The software was never installed, only sold off. The First Sale Doctrine applies in these cases. However in the case of installing an OS, then trying to resell your disc(s) - In Davidson & Associates v. Internet Gateway the court found SPECIFICALLY that the agreement to the EULA trumped the First Sales Doctrine as the user specifically agreed to no resale in the EULA. Again you may not LIKE it; but its what the courts have decided at this time.
Also - try to purchase a used OS on cd (or dvd) that has already been registered, and get tech support on it.. GOOD LUCK!
Thanks.. I had totally forgotten about 4.7 until you posted this. You just ruined about $5,000 worth of therapy... My shrink will be so pleased...
SOME of their hardware - but a lot of video cards, Sound Cards, Ethernet cards, etc. don't have driver support...
There is a great list of what works (and doesn't) at http://www.osx86project.org/
That would be true if they were Selling you a product... what you are purchasing is an end-user license that comes with restrictions regarding the use of their product. Not the same thing... You may not LIKE it; but this is the case. The CD (or DVD) you are getting is free, and only a delivery mechanism.