I live in a country where the amazing American Netflix download/watch is not a practical option.
I also live so far from any rental place, that rent-rip-return is my best practical approach: wait for a time when I know that I'll be making two trips within the same week, bring home a stupid big pile, r-r-r, and watch them over the next six months.
But I went and got a blu-ray player. I turn it on. Go to the bathroom. Hit the eject button. Fix lunch. Put in the disk. Go out and garden while the bluddy can't-go-past-this-crap runs. Then watch the movie.
One branch of our government works hard to ensure Canadian content. They are charged with ensuring that we are not overwhelmed by the colossus that is the US media industry. They fear that our culture could be eroded when all that's available in the public media forum is someone else's culture.
Another branch of government is bowing to pressure from the US: "Adopt our style of enforcement or we will stop supplying your people with vast quantities of 'entertaining' material that extols the obvious virtue our culture." (Notice that I neglect to even address how this supply is designed to make money flow from other countries to the US.)
I see such a simple solution here: keep a nice, free copyright environment here in Canada that encourages new, creative and vibrant work, which is the stated purpose of copyright in the first place, and let the US worry about not overwhelming us.
The Independent System Operators (ISOs) exercise real-time control of the grids. I can't speak for others, but I do know how the New England ISO does things. Yes, there's a lot of automation... but the entire system is designed to have a "man in the loop". Add to this the fact that there are two completely independent systems for monitoring the Area Control Error (ACE) (the amount by which generation doesn't match load) and you get a situation where a hacked system would become very obvious, very quickly.
The uber-emergency last ditch ACE monitor is an un-networked box that monitors analogue signals sent to it over microwave relays. As of today (as far as I know) you can't hack a box that you cannot connect to.
Yes, it's possible for a cyber attack on an ISO to create a measure of chaos, a degree of frustration and a burning desire to "get rid of" that hacker, but these men and women are dedicated professionals and they engage in a process that has been honed and refined over the last few decades. I shan't say that it's impossible, but I honestly believe that it would be highly unlikely that meddling in the data stream (SCADA) or accessing the control computers would bring about massive failures.
For that sort of thing to happen, you need a perfect storm of failures.
I make my living, completely and entirely, as a result of the IP I produce. I write books, scripts & music, I design performances, etc. I write software and web applications. I'm also a performer. This is my bread and butter.
As for monopoly, I stand by what I said. If you have one company who holds copyright to a significant fraction of our current culture, and markets that material as culture to perpetuate it for their own financial gains, and the copyright shall exist from this day forward until our grandchildren are all grown up and that copyright is enforced by law, then that is, indeed, a monopoly. To endorse such laws is selling out ourselves, our children and our culture.
We live in a time when "the common man" is well aware that business monopolies have a solid, historical track record of abusing "the little guy".
Copyright is simply a government enforced monopoly: allowing the copyright holder to have a monopoly on that particular piece of IP.
Like many of you, I am also a producer of intellectual property. Unlike big business, however, I don't see the need for me to have a monopoly. I am more encouraged to produce when I cannot simply rest on my butt and earn money for work that I did years ago.
As a consumer of intellectual property (gads, how I hate that term!), I simply cannot see how it benefits me to let my government grant big companies a monopoly on what is rapidly becoming our common, shared culture.
I haven't read a comment yet that puts the finger on the exact problem here:
DCMA is flawed. The proof is that it has been abused by a non-governmental entity to force someone to do something with the full weight of the legal system behind it but without having to go before a judge.
I was handed several tens of thousands of lines of java code (I'm not a java programmer) written for a mission critical, 24/7 application, and told to document it. There were no specs. There were almost no comments (and certainly no javadoc). All there was was a huge pile of code.
In the words of the my boss's boss (the guy who wrote this mess), "It'll give you a chance to learn java..."
I'd rather see "use it or lose it". If something that is copyright is not available from the copyright holder, it should (sooner, rather than later) be legal for it to be made available by someone else.
While I'm at it: I think that the creator of a work should get the copyright to their creation back if the folks who bought the copyright are not distributing it.
I got the book the day it hit the shelves... then didn't start reading it because it was just too darned big & heavy to hold! (Arthritis is a bitch...)
I've been reading my way through the enclosed CD, but it wasn't until reviewer pointed it out that I realized the book, itself, is also on the CD!
Good idea, but I wonder about folks with disabilities.
Take a look at the usual GUI: for example, it's very difficult for a blind person to use Windoze.
The article talks about 10 points of contact (i.e. fingers) instead of just 1 (the mouse). What of people who don't have normal hands? If this catches on, would not most interfaces suddenly need their users to be able-bodied?
Is God a sadist? ...or a bad engineer?
on
Ready, Steady, Evolve
·
· Score: 2, Flamebait
I read the article about the bombardier beetle and it made me wonder:
If this little fellow was the product of intelligent design, would not that same intelligent design extend to the other creatures around it?...and to the ecosystem in which it lived? If so, why design a defense against predators when one could just as easily design predators that would not want to sup on our poor beetle?
Or did the "designer" just want to sit back and guffaw at the pain and suffering inflicted on one of his creations by another?
"We" (or, more accurately, the votes that we cast) simply exercise our rights according to what we understand of the situation... and (for the most part) our understanding comes from the ad time and publicity that is bought by the candidates during an election. (At least, this is what the candidates seem to believe.) This ad time and those messages are bought using money that comes from campaign contributions... often from large corporations.
In effect, the corporation buys the votes, and the candidate gets elected. His belief that he cannot get elected without the financial support of some or another corporation means that, in effect, he is representing the corporation that will buy him the next election.
Isn't this obvious?
Is the only fix to change how candidates pay for election expenses?
3) The internet gets so bad, that the geeks create decentralised, efficient, free-floating network partially on top of the existing network, partially outside of it, and it all begins again
Anything a geek can create, a politician can legislate against.
A political problem doesn't cry out for a technological solution... but we're not politicians. We're geeks.
This tarrif is only proposed on media that has never had sound affixed to. For the re-recordable media (such as CD-RW, flash memory, etc.) the solution would be simple: affix sound. Any sound. A simple "beep" will do.
If the thing already has sound on it when it crosses the border into Canada, no tarrif can be levied. The user may then choose to keep or erase the "beep" that came with it.
Slashdot Mirror
From the blurb:
"Lower Merion agreed to pay Blake Robbins $175,000 and cover $425,000 in court costs."
So... an egregious breach of trust has occurred. Who gets paid?
I live in a country where the amazing American Netflix download/watch is not a practical option.
I also live so far from any rental place, that rent-rip-return is my best practical approach: wait for a time when I know that I'll be making two trips within the same week, bring home a stupid big pile, r-r-r, and watch them over the next six months.
But I went and got a blu-ray player. I turn it on. Go to the bathroom. Hit the eject button. Fix lunch. Put in the disk. Go out and garden while the bluddy can't-go-past-this-crap runs. Then watch the movie.
I'm better off with "Starz" and a TiVo!
Sweet, man.
When I was in that position, I would wake up each morning, go to the washroom and throw up into the toilet.
Then things got worse and I landed in the cardiac care ward.
While out on disability, they fired me.
I'm now unemployed and the lack of stress is WONDERFUL!
One branch of our government works hard to ensure Canadian content. They are charged with ensuring that we are not overwhelmed by the colossus that is the US media industry. They fear that our culture could be eroded when all that's available in the public media forum is someone else's culture.
Another branch of government is bowing to pressure from the US: "Adopt our style of enforcement or we will stop supplying your people with vast quantities of 'entertaining' material that extols the obvious virtue our culture." (Notice that I neglect to even address how this supply is designed to make money flow from other countries to the US.)
I see such a simple solution here: keep a nice, free copyright environment here in Canada that encourages new, creative and vibrant work, which is the stated purpose of copyright in the first place, and let the US worry about not overwhelming us.
Win-win.
(YMMV, IANAL, and other disclaimers apply)
The Independent System Operators (ISOs) exercise real-time control of the grids. I can't speak for others, but I do know how the New England ISO does things. Yes, there's a lot of automation... but the entire system is designed to have a "man in the loop". Add to this the fact that there are two completely independent systems for monitoring the Area Control Error (ACE) (the amount by which generation doesn't match load) and you get a situation where a hacked system would become very obvious, very quickly.
The uber-emergency last ditch ACE monitor is an un-networked box that monitors analogue signals sent to it over microwave relays. As of today (as far as I know) you can't hack a box that you cannot connect to.
Yes, it's possible for a cyber attack on an ISO to create a measure of chaos, a degree of frustration and a burning desire to "get rid of" that hacker, but these men and women are dedicated professionals and they engage in a process that has been honed and refined over the last few decades. I shan't say that it's impossible, but I honestly believe that it would be highly unlikely that meddling in the data stream (SCADA) or accessing the control computers would bring about massive failures.
For that sort of thing to happen, you need a perfect storm of failures.
Deter? What makes them think it would deter anyone?
It's like a lottery, in reverse.
Download & benefit. Download & benefit. Download & benefit.
Multiply this my thousands... or millions.
And one poor, unlucky sod gets smacked with a fine for the same kind of money we see in lotteries.
Do the math. Do you feel lucky?
Hell, yeah.
Actually: send this robot to Mars.
Really.
If the developers can get a high enough reliability, this gizmo has wheels beat all hollow!
Goodness! Is that me you're talking to?
I make my living, completely and entirely, as a result of the IP I produce. I write books, scripts & music, I design performances, etc. I write software and web applications. I'm also a performer. This is my bread and butter.
As for monopoly, I stand by what I said. If you have one company who holds copyright to a significant fraction of our current culture, and markets that material as culture to perpetuate it for their own financial gains, and the copyright shall exist from this day forward until our grandchildren are all grown up and that copyright is enforced by law, then that is, indeed, a monopoly. To endorse such laws is selling out ourselves, our children and our culture.
We live in a time when "the common man" is well aware that business monopolies have a solid, historical track record of abusing "the little guy".
Copyright is simply a government enforced monopoly: allowing the copyright holder to have a monopoly on that particular piece of IP.
Like many of you, I am also a producer of intellectual property. Unlike big business, however, I don't see the need for me to have a monopoly. I am more encouraged to produce when I cannot simply rest on my butt and earn money for work that I did years ago.
As a consumer of intellectual property (gads, how I hate that term!), I simply cannot see how it benefits me to let my government grant big companies a monopoly on what is rapidly becoming our common, shared culture.
I haven't read a comment yet that puts the finger on the exact problem here:
DCMA is flawed. The proof is that it has been abused by a non-governmental entity to force someone to do something with the full weight of the legal system behind it but without having to go before a judge.
Here is the smoking gun.
It's illegal to fire someone for trying to start a union at his place of work, but I got fired, anyway. They claimed I had quit.
Suddenly the burden of proof falls to the injured party and all the "big bad company" has to do is have some form of plausible denyability.
Big words, high ideals, changes nothing.
Windows, of course.
Being closed source, it should keep the water out. Maybe.
(Mind too tired: AND gates, XOR gates, BILL gates...)
In the words of the my boss's boss (the guy who wrote this mess), "It'll give you a chance to learn java..."
I guess they still don't "Get It"(tm). Security through obscurity is NOT security.
I'd rather see "use it or lose it". If something that is copyright is not available from the copyright holder, it should (sooner, rather than later) be legal for it to be made available by someone else.
While I'm at it: I think that the creator of a work should get the copyright to their creation back if the folks who bought the copyright are not distributing it.
I got the book the day it hit the shelves... then didn't start reading it because it was just too darned big & heavy to hold! (Arthritis is a bitch...)
I've been reading my way through the enclosed CD, but it wasn't until reviewer pointed it out that I realized the book, itself, is also on the CD!
Boy, is my face red!
Good idea, but I wonder about folks with disabilities.
Take a look at the usual GUI: for example, it's very difficult for a blind person to use Windoze.
The article talks about 10 points of contact (i.e. fingers) instead of just 1 (the mouse). What of people who don't have normal hands? If this catches on, would not most interfaces suddenly need their users to be able-bodied?
I read the article about the bombardier beetle and it made me wonder:
...and to the ecosystem in which it lived? If so, why design a defense against predators when one could just as easily design predators that would not want to sup on our poor beetle?
If this little fellow was the product of intelligent design, would not that same intelligent design extend to the other creatures around it?
Or did the "designer" just want to sit back and guffaw at the pain and suffering inflicted on one of his creations by another?
Cool! Make a fortune for your network by airing bad commercials!
No. We don't elect these people.
"We" (or, more accurately, the votes that we cast) simply exercise our rights according to what we understand of the situation... and (for the most part) our understanding comes from the ad time and publicity that is bought by the candidates during an election. (At least, this is what the candidates seem to believe.) This ad time and those messages are bought using money that comes from campaign contributions... often from large corporations.
In effect, the corporation buys the votes, and the candidate gets elected. His belief that he cannot get elected without the financial support of some or another corporation means that, in effect, he is representing the corporation that will buy him the next election.
Isn't this obvious?
Is the only fix to change how candidates pay for election expenses?
Anything a geek can create, a politician can legislate against.
A political problem doesn't cry out for a technological solution... but we're not politicians. We're geeks.
Inserting tongue slightly in cheek:
;-)
I searched on keywords that represent products that I sell on-line. In each and every case, my page was #1 on the list.
I suppose this may change when they go "live and in color", tomorrow... but, for now, I can live with it
Search google for xenu and see that the xenu.ca site is still on the engine. Scientologists in the /. audience take note :-b
This tarrif is only proposed on media that has never had sound affixed to. For the re-recordable media (such as CD-RW, flash memory, etc.) the solution would be simple: affix sound. Any sound. A simple "beep" will do.
If the thing already has sound on it when it crosses the border into Canada, no tarrif can be levied. The user may then choose to keep or erase the "beep" that came with it.
(Standard IANAL disclaimer applies)