Gee, would it be possible to compose a more inane, hysterical post? I kind of doubt it. Every rhetorical flourish we decry from the the censors and prohibitionists we despise is reprised here--but since it is about GUNS and EBAY, well, were just supposed to swallow it?
What a fucking joke. What will these clowns do when they get their next Paul Bernado type case? The internet isn't like newspapers--you can't seize them at the border.
I like Canada very much, especially BC, but sometimes the silliness up there can be overwhelming.
Yeah, yeah, I know the government and media have balsted with them with scarifying hype for almost 5 years, but deep down "the land of the brave" is utter bullshit. MOST Americans MOST of the time are total chickenshits that will agree to any goddamned thing to alieviate (in their minds at least) the slightest danger--nevermind that their lives are more threatened by driving to work every day or chowing down that double cheeseburger at lunch than by the "threat" targeted by some massive surveillance program.
Our fellow citizens are truly the dream constituency for those intent on building a "transparent society", aka surveillance state. And (big) brother, are we going to get it.
I feel like that dude in "The Thing" who sees that disembodied head grow legs and scamper off like a spider.
The never-ending insanity that is American IP law continues to devour all in its sight. I know this is just a threat, not a court decision--but defending such threats cost real money, lots of it. Until these fucking archcriminals are made to fear the sanction of paying ALL fees and costs (plus other damages) to those they threaten willy-nilly, this shit is never going to stop.
BINGO, you've got it. Supported by "progressives", passed by a Republican Congress, signed by GWB--the warning signs were all there. Now blessed by the Supreme Court, it will serve as the cornerstone of new legal edifices to "protect" our beloved "two-party system" against new media and information technologies.
You know, the land of the free, home of the brave, etc.
GeeDubya, just keep repeating to yourself: "It's only a movie, it's only a movie, it's...."
NEVER electronically file--overwhelm the bastards
on
No EZ Fix For The IRS
·
· Score: 1
Not by internet, not by phone. Overburden the IRS with the most archaic, burdensome chores--shuffling papers, keying in data--at every level. These sons of bitches are the enemy, or at least the frontline troops of the enemy. We will never get a fairer, more rational tax system if you help them shear sheep.
Wh at ever happened to telling a kid's parents, and letting them kick her ass? Or just exposing her to public shame? Does everything have to involve draconian penalties imposed by the almighty nanny state? The prosecutor fabricates TWO very serious felonies to deliver "justice"--what a joke. The funny thing is, under this logic, if she just took the pictures of herself, and did nothing more, she would still be guilty of the "possession" felony!
At the risked of getting modded "redundant", MOST people who have examined the issue think Viacom is the bad guy here.
Viacom is another of the megamedia-opolies that have sprung up in the past 10 or 15 years, gobbling up everything in sight, attempting a broad integration of their products (Disney/ABC and AOL/TW are similar, although the latter has done a crappy job of integration). The purpose of this is get leverage over the other, smaller players in the various fields in which they compete, and over their various business partners and customers--like Dish Network.
As others have pointed out, Viacom is engaged in blatant attempt to "bundle" less desirable programming (say BET) with highly desired programming (CBS) to squeeze extra dollars out of Dish--and thus its customers. Why any/.er would support such a tactic is beyond me.
And DirecTV is no charmer itself, with its "guilty until proven innocent" attacks on hobbyists.
Finally, while Direct has superior sports coverage (namely the exclusives on the NFL and MLB packages), Dish has several movie channels NOT on Direct. As a movie lover, this is a MAJOR factor for me.
It's interesting that you mentioned the US government--because I didn't. Some things just kinda flow naturally, don't they, AC?
For the record, however, let me state emphatically--the US government should be allowed to have as many disposable computers as they like. Hell, they're losing notebooks loaded with classified info all the time as it is; this would just make it more affordable.
"What somebody should do is come up with an standardized anonymous way to pay for things, just like a prepaid phone card."
Sorry, no longer allowed in the US--I'm not joking. There used to be some options like this, but now they all have to be verified with a SS number (aptly named for the future, perhaps).
In a country where the definition of "financial institution" has been expanded to include casinos and pawn shops (and thus allow warrantless examination of their customer records), anonymity in commerce is a rapidly dying right. And if you demand it, well, then what kind of evildoer are you--a terrorist, child porn addict or drug dealer?
Forget cable, period.
Check out http://steve.dbstalk.com/dbs/packagecomparison.htm
Overall, Direct is better for sports (they have exclusives on the NFL & MLB packages, if that interests you), while Dish is better for movies--they have several good channels Direct does not have.
Both are MUCH better than Comcast, out local provider.
The most important thing to most people is finally being able to hear music on the radio that's worth listening to. In my case XM had the better offerings in two key areas.
First, its "Deep Tracks" channel was MUCH better than the equivalent station (The Vault?) on Sirius--XM plays a good deal truly obscure stuff by modern radio standards (Zappa, for example) while Sirius had mainly the "non-hit" tracks from well-known "classic" artists. Deep Tracks is the closest thing to early 70s FM I could find, if you know what that means.
Second, although perhaps not a big factor with Slashdotheads, the "classic country" music played on XM ("Hank's Place") is WAY, WAY better than the equivalent Sirius channel. (The same is true on Dish Network compared to DirecTV).
These two channels make up 80% of my XM listening time, although I like the eclectic "Fine Tuning" as well. I recently drove round trip from Florida to Nevada (half of that alone), and XM was a godsend.
This is a GOOD thing for the people of Iran, no doubt.
But, how much confidence do YOU have in using Anonymizer.com now that it's gone into business with US spooks?
Me too.
Re:Look ath the Libertarian Party also...
on
Joining the ACLU?
·
· Score: 1
I'm a libertarian. The Libertarian Party is a joke. What has it ever accomplished?
There is very, very little room in the American political system for anything more than 2 parties, other than to play spoiler (like Nader in 2000, and--almost--George Wallace in 1968). Unless you plan on either (1) amending the Constitution to provide for a parlimentary system of government, or (2) supplanting the Republicans or Democrats, the Libertarian Party is going nowhere. For a while many Libertarians thought the Republican Party might offer them a home--but since then the indisputable influence of would-be Jesus Christer Ayatollahs and blatant statists has become overwhelming (can you say "John Ashcroft", to cover both bases?) Whether the Democrats can be made any more hospitable to libertarians is a dubious proposition.
Whatever you think of the ACLU, they are about ACTION that matters. No one would ever say that about the Libertarian Party.
Micro$oft has a virtual monopoly on the desktop OS (among other things), so this means that money damages against them (at least in these amounts) are virtually meaningless. They will just pass along the cost of such settlements to their hapless customers. Since most people get their Windows OS pre-installed on their hardware from The Big Shiny Box Store, they won't even notice. Monopoly power allows monopoly pricing.
Let's not belabor the silliness of this proposed legislation. The only question is what should be the response.
Obviously the political process should be allowed to run its course--contact your representitives, tell others of this lunacy, etc. However, given how utterly corrupt the US political system is--and the widespread apathy (i.e. hopelessness) of the populace--there is no guarantee that sanity will overcome the corrupting influence of big media money on the whores in DC.
It may be that IF this legislation (or something like it) becomes law, we could have the perfect case for the citizenry to use the time-honored concept of jury nullification. Simply put, juries can (and IMO, should) simply refuse to convict those accused of "crimes" which are contrary to basic concepts of fairness and common sense. With a sizeable fraction of the population file-sharers themselves, it is going to be awfully hard to weed us out of many jury pools--particularly if people do not assist the process by honestly revealing their feelings on the subject in voire dire (jury selection). I have no qulams about employing such tactics in the face of massive injustice purchased with corrupt campaign financing, and I hope you don't either.
I would take the same approach to the medical marijuana cases Herr Ashcroft wants to push, despite state laws to the contrary (state laws that were frequently instituted by citizen intiatives). Enough is enough.
Slashdot Mirror
Gee, would it be possible to compose a more inane, hysterical post? I kind of doubt it. Every rhetorical flourish we decry from the the censors and prohibitionists we despise is reprised here--but since it is about GUNS and EBAY, well, were just supposed to swallow it?
What a fucking joke. What will these clowns do when they get their next Paul Bernado type case? The internet isn't like newspapers--you can't seize them at the border.
I like Canada very much, especially BC, but sometimes the silliness up there can be overwhelming.
GunBroker has this "feature"--I haven't seen how it really helps anything.
Yeah, yeah, I know the government and media have balsted with them with scarifying hype for almost 5 years, but deep down "the land of the brave" is utter bullshit. MOST Americans MOST of the time are total chickenshits that will agree to any goddamned thing to alieviate (in their minds at least) the slightest danger--nevermind that their lives are more threatened by driving to work every day or chowing down that double cheeseburger at lunch than by the "threat" targeted by some massive surveillance program.
Our fellow citizens are truly the dream constituency for those intent on building a "transparent society", aka surveillance state. And (big) brother, are we going to get it.
So should I be expecting breakthroughs on "Ice Nine"-like substances soon?
If there is demand for such service, won't the market provide it? Why the fuck does the government have to get involved?
Oh wait, forgot--it's Utah, worse, and it's the USA circa 2005.
Praise Jesus!
Assuming everything in the body of your post is true, I do not see why your title follows--why is this "a dangerous direction"?
cause he's been doing a really shitty job on his own lately.
http://slate.msn.com/id/2112083/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayan_calendar
I feel like that dude in "The Thing" who sees that disembodied head grow legs and scamper off like a spider.
The never-ending insanity that is American IP law continues to devour all in its sight. I know this is just a threat, not a court decision--but defending such threats cost real money, lots of it. Until these fucking archcriminals are made to fear the sanction of paying ALL fees and costs (plus other damages) to those they threaten willy-nilly, this shit is never going to stop.
BINGO, you've got it. Supported by "progressives", passed by a Republican Congress, signed by GWB--the warning signs were all there. Now blessed by the Supreme Court, it will serve as the cornerstone of new legal edifices to "protect" our beloved "two-party system" against new media and information technologies.
You know, the land of the free, home of the brave, etc.
GeeDubya, just keep repeating to yourself: "It's only a movie, it's only a movie, it's...."
Not by internet, not by phone. Overburden the IRS with the most archaic, burdensome chores--shuffling papers, keying in data--at every level. These sons of bitches are the enemy, or at least the frontline troops of the enemy. We will never get a fairer, more rational tax system if you help them shear sheep.
http://www.wpxi.com/news/2954803/detail.html
Wh at ever happened to telling a kid's parents, and letting them kick her ass? Or just exposing her to public shame? Does everything have to involve draconian penalties imposed by the almighty nanny state? The prosecutor fabricates TWO very serious felonies to deliver "justice"--what a joke. The funny thing is, under this logic, if she just took the pictures of herself, and did nothing more, she would still be guilty of the "possession" felony!
At the risked of getting modded "redundant", MOST people who have examined the issue think Viacom is the bad guy here.
/.er would support such a tactic is beyond me.
Viacom is another of the megamedia-opolies that have sprung up in the past 10 or 15 years, gobbling up everything in sight, attempting a broad integration of their products (Disney/ABC and AOL/TW are similar, although the latter has done a crappy job of integration). The purpose of this is get leverage over the other, smaller players in the various fields in which they compete, and over their various business partners and customers--like Dish Network.
As others have pointed out, Viacom is engaged in blatant attempt to "bundle" less desirable programming (say BET) with highly desired programming (CBS) to squeeze extra dollars out of Dish--and thus its customers. Why any
And DirecTV is no charmer itself, with its "guilty until proven innocent" attacks on hobbyists.
Finally, while Direct has superior sports coverage (namely the exclusives on the NFL and MLB packages), Dish has several movie channels NOT on Direct. As a movie lover, this is a MAJOR factor for me.
In short, Go Dish Go--and screw Viacom.
It's interesting that you mentioned the US government--because I didn't. Some things just kinda flow naturally, don't they, AC?
For the record, however, let me state emphatically--the US government should be allowed to have as many disposable computers as they like. Hell, they're losing notebooks loaded with classified info all the time as it is; this would just make it more affordable.
Or drug dealers.
Or pedophiles.
Or pirates (when it gets more memory).
Or whatever excuse the computer/internet nazis usually whip out.
If this thing works as advertised, it will be prohibited.
"What somebody should do is come up with an standardized anonymous way to pay for things, just like a prepaid phone card."
Sorry, no longer allowed in the US--I'm not joking. There used to be some options like this, but now they all have to be verified with a SS number (aptly named for the future, perhaps).
In a country where the definition of "financial institution" has been expanded to include casinos and pawn shops (and thus allow warrantless examination of their customer records), anonymity in commerce is a rapidly dying right. And if you demand it, well, then what kind of evildoer are you--a terrorist, child porn addict or drug dealer?
Forget cable, period. Check out http://steve.dbstalk.com/dbs/packagecomparison.htm
Overall, Direct is better for sports (they have exclusives on the NFL & MLB packages, if that interests you), while Dish is better for movies--they have several good channels Direct does not have.
Both are MUCH better than Comcast, out local provider.
Real is hideous spyware, bloatware and crapware; the most recent version is worse than ever:
2 41 90-2004Jan17.html
p _id=82303&package_id=84358
- au dio/record-streaming-video-real-video.htm
e am /all-streaming-video-recording-software.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A
Instead, use these tools if Real Media is all that is available:
Player: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?grou
Capture and convert to AVI: Use Real 7ime, more about it here:
http://emoney.al.ru/capture-streaming-video-and
And if you want to see all the options for capturing streaming media:
http://all-streaming-media.com/record-video-str
FUCK REAL by any and all means possible.
The most important thing to most people is finally being able to hear music on the radio that's worth listening to. In my case XM had the better offerings in two key areas.
First, its "Deep Tracks" channel was MUCH better than the equivalent station (The Vault?) on Sirius--XM plays a good deal truly obscure stuff by modern radio standards (Zappa, for example) while Sirius had mainly the "non-hit" tracks from well-known "classic" artists. Deep Tracks is the closest thing to early 70s FM I could find, if you know what that means.
Second, although perhaps not a big factor with Slashdotheads, the "classic country" music played on XM ("Hank's Place") is WAY, WAY better than the equivalent Sirius channel. (The same is true on Dish Network compared to DirecTV).
These two channels make up 80% of my XM listening time, although I like the eclectic "Fine Tuning" as well. I recently drove round trip from Florida to Nevada (half of that alone), and XM was a godsend.
This is a GOOD thing for the people of Iran, no doubt.
But, how much confidence do YOU have in using Anonymizer.com now that it's gone into business with US spooks?
Me too.
I'm a libertarian. The Libertarian Party is a joke. What has it ever accomplished?
There is very, very little room in the American political system for anything more than 2 parties, other than to play spoiler (like Nader in 2000, and--almost--George Wallace in 1968). Unless you plan on either (1) amending the Constitution to provide for a parlimentary system of government, or (2) supplanting the Republicans or Democrats, the Libertarian Party is going nowhere. For a while many Libertarians thought the Republican Party might offer them a home--but since then the indisputable influence of would-be Jesus Christer Ayatollahs and blatant statists has become overwhelming (can you say "John Ashcroft", to cover both bases?) Whether the Democrats can be made any more hospitable to libertarians is a dubious proposition.
Whatever you think of the ACLU, they are about ACTION that matters. No one would ever say that about the Libertarian Party.
Micro$oft has a virtual monopoly on the desktop OS (among other things), so this means that money damages against them (at least in these amounts) are virtually meaningless. They will just pass along the cost of such settlements to their hapless customers. Since most people get their Windows OS pre-installed on their hardware from The Big Shiny Box Store, they won't even notice. Monopoly power allows monopoly pricing.
It's good to be king.
Let's not belabor the silliness of this proposed legislation. The only question is what should be the response.
Obviously the political process should be allowed to run its course--contact your representitives, tell others of this lunacy, etc. However, given how utterly corrupt the US political system is--and the widespread apathy (i.e. hopelessness) of the populace--there is no guarantee that sanity will overcome the corrupting influence of big media money on the whores in DC.
It may be that IF this legislation (or something like it) becomes law, we could have the perfect case for the citizenry to use the time-honored concept of jury nullification. Simply put, juries can (and IMO, should) simply refuse to convict those accused of "crimes" which are contrary to basic concepts of fairness and common sense. With a sizeable fraction of the population file-sharers themselves, it is going to be awfully hard to weed us out of many jury pools--particularly if people do not assist the process by honestly revealing their feelings on the subject in voire dire (jury selection). I have no qulams about employing such tactics in the face of massive injustice purchased with corrupt campaign financing, and I hope you don't either.
I would take the same approach to the medical marijuana cases Herr Ashcroft wants to push, despite state laws to the contrary (state laws that were frequently instituted by citizen intiatives). Enough is enough.