Laws have never prevented people from getting what they want. Look at the drug or gun laws. Anybody who wants *any* illegal substance or weapon can get one.
Agreed. but my point is that while everybody can, very few actually do. Regular people flinch at taking the risk, or associating with some vaguely unsavory character. They just plainly don't care enough, and prefer to pay. You must realize that here in/. we're a rather particular demographic, full of kids of every age fantasizing about being part of some underground cyber-resistance, fighting against THE MAN. Let's just say real life isn't so. For anyone interested in what happens when the two worlds collide, I always recommend the classic: The Hacker Crackdown: Law And Disorder On The Electronic Frontier by Bruce Sterling.
I believe the Bible to be wholly true, but that belief has come through useful skepticism. Tell me, after being skeptic of an experiment, then trying it time and time again, coming up with the same results...doesn't that eliminate the skepticism? Surely you're not skeptic of the existence of gravity because you've had a lifetime around it to know it's there...why is it any different for a Christian believing the Bible? Time and time again, I've found what it says to be true, so I believe it is.
I send you an encrypted message which I want you to read. So I send you the key by which you are able to read it. Now while you are reading it I try to make sure nobody is looking over your shoulder and also reading it and even taking a picture of it. Now the message is readable by anybody, anywhere.
My friend: the industry couldn't care less about you showing the message to every guy in your dorm. They freak out when you make a torrent and share with your 100.000 best friends.
And, if they succeed in making DRM-enabled hardware mandatory by law, they will know it was you who spilled the beans. Hope your dad is a lawyer.
Maybe you think it can't happen, I beg to differ. I'm afraid our camp is in denial, and has been suckered into bringing a technological weapon to a political fight. It must have something to do with us being generally more comfortable with machines than with people.
Please, how does being able to see and hear the content differ from getting the content?
Imagine that I have a book you want to read. I could lend it to you, but, being the greedy bastard that I am, I send my cousin Vito with the book. Vito will let you read it, at one cent per page. I am A, you're C, and Vito is B, the DRM-enabled harware.
Right, you could hit Vito in the head and steal the book, but that move would be very bad for your future health. And guess what? The vast, vast majority of people won't do it. They'll even refuse to look at the book when you try to show them. And someone will rat your whereabouts to Vito's family. It's human nature. Fear works this way. So, why bother? At one cent per page, the damn read is three bucks. Better, and safer, just to pay.
And we can even patent the scheme. Let's find a fancy name, like... PROTECTION RACKET! I guess nobody thought of it before...
Yeah, but in that perspective, isn't the whole point of cryptography to make sure that C can't get the content ? Then why at the end let him have it anyway ?
Well, in fact C never gets the content. C gets to see or hear the content, which is a wholly different beast.
My point is that we're just a few congress-critter's bribes away from having DRM-only hardware legislated upon us. If we get lulled into complacency, secure in our belief that DRM'd hardware can't work, and don't fight politically with all we got, some day we'll awake to the fact that it can be made to work, and is mandated by law.
And yes, some of the hard core will keep trading their analog versions somehow, but the vast mass of the public will just give up.
The task is "allow A to send a message to B such that B can read it, but C cannot."
Under DRM, B and C are the same person.
Q.E.D.
I've heard this bromide repeated time and again, and still can't believe people takes it seriously. Or it is a mind trick to lull the anti-DRM camp into complacency?
With digital media, A sends a message to B, which is a piece of hardware. Then, B decodes the message, and shows the result to C.
The said piece of hardware, B, may be easy or hard to crack, but B and C are definitevely not the same person.
Was your USB printer plugged-in and powered-up when you started your system? No? Oh well. No printing for you, then. Reboot to print, or work out your own hack for CUPS, or manually get in there fix it every time you run into this stupid problem.
Just one word: bullshit.
I have a USB printer that is powered only when needed, and never before starting the system (Mandriva). Works like a charm.
In case you're not trolling, investigate your setup, because it's not a common problem.
These geeks are playing a very dangerous game by trying to squeeze that last few hundred million out what is already a pretty large pot of gold. Just imagine what happens when the deal falls through because you were stubborn
Shut up, you insensitive clod! (Jean-Louis Gassée)
I've not seen an eReader close up so I can't comment, but I'd like to think that A4 or letter may be larger than necessary. How many books, periodicals, journals, etc. have you seen published in either of those sizes?
Magazines, most of them. A little shorter, a little wider. And hardcover books are typically 9 x 6 inches. Still far bigger then the eReader screen.
I guess the e-paper is still expensive, then the smallish screens. We'll have more reasonable sizes as price drops.
Right, "cajón" has a lot of other meanings, but they were irrelevant to the point being discussed, and I just didn't want to introduce confusion for the sake of pedrantry.
Just from memory, we have "cajón de fruta" (crate), and "cajón de muerto" (coffin). And we call the angled corner in the pelota game "el cajón".
I'm sure that between you and I we could find a few dozen different regional usages if we really try, but what would be the point?
Thanks for the clarification. It's also worth pointing out, though, that usages do vary across the many nations that speak spanish. So maybe I'm right somewhere:-)
Well, in Spanish usage varies a lot with geography (even inside the same nation), so you're probably right... somewhere.
Both are right. "Cajón" is the augmented form of "caja", which is box, so it literally means "large box". However, spanish speakers don't really use it that way, if they want to describe a large box they'd say "caja grande", the word "cajón" is really only used for medium to large drawers. Small drawers, like those on a jewelry box or some such, are called by the diminutive form "cajita".
Sorry, close but no cigar. But, let me add, pretty good for a non-native Spanish speaker.
It's an usage quirk. True, "cajón" is the augmentative of "caja" (box), but is also a noun in itself, meaning "drawer". So, in order to avoid confusion, Spanish speakers NEVER use "cajón" for "big box", but, as you said, "gran caja", "caja grande" or even "cajota" (rarely).
So far so good, but then you slipped: "cajita" means just "small box". A small drawer is a "cajoncito".
Sorry for nitpicking, your grammar looks quite good, but in Spanish, the devil is in the usage.
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Agreed. but my point is that while everybody can, very few actually do.
Regular people flinch at taking the risk, or associating with some vaguely unsavory character. They just plainly don't care enough, and prefer to pay.
You must realize that here in
For anyone interested in what happens when the two worlds collide, I always recommend the classic: The Hacker Crackdown: Law And Disorder On The Electronic Frontier by Bruce Sterling.
Cheers,
CC
Sorry, you don't. Maybe it has something to do with English not being my first language.
Cheers,
CC
BEST...TROLL...EVER !!!
Sir, I bow before your superior trolling skills.
Cheers,
CC
My friend: the industry couldn't care less about you showing the message to every guy in your dorm. They freak out when you make a torrent and share with your 100.000 best friends.
And, if they succeed in making DRM-enabled hardware mandatory by law, they will know it was you who spilled the beans. Hope your dad is a lawyer.
Maybe you think it can't happen, I beg to differ. I'm afraid our camp is in denial, and has been suckered into bringing a technological weapon to a political fight.
It must have something to do with us being generally more comfortable with machines than with people.
As always, YMMV.
Cheers,
CC
Imagine that I have a book you want to read. I could lend it to you, but, being the greedy bastard that I am, I send my cousin Vito with the book. Vito will let you read it, at one cent per page.
I am A, you're C, and Vito is B, the DRM-enabled harware.
Right, you could hit Vito in the head and steal the book, but that move would be very bad for your future health.
And guess what? The vast, vast majority of people won't do it. They'll even refuse to look at the book when you try to show them. And someone will rat your whereabouts to Vito's family. It's human nature. Fear works this way.
So, why bother? At one cent per page, the damn read is three bucks. Better, and safer, just to pay.
And we can even patent the scheme. Let's find a fancy name, like... PROTECTION RACKET! I guess nobody thought of it before...
Cheers,
CC
Well, in fact C never gets the content. C gets to see or hear the content, which is a wholly different beast.
My point is that we're just a few congress-critter's bribes away from having DRM-only hardware legislated upon us.
If we get lulled into complacency, secure in our belief that DRM'd hardware can't work, and don't fight politically with all we got, some day we'll awake to the fact that it can be made to work, and is mandated by law.
And yes, some of the hard core will keep trading their analog versions somehow, but the vast mass of the public will just give up.
Cheers,
CC
I've heard this bromide repeated time and again, and still can't believe people takes it seriously.
Or it is a mind trick to lull the anti-DRM camp into complacency?
With digital media, A sends a message to B, which is a piece of hardware. Then, B decodes the message, and shows the result to C.
The said piece of hardware, B, may be easy or hard to crack, but B and C are definitevely not the same person.
Cheers,
CC
Maybe it's just me, but this sounds like "every NBA player except for the blacks".
Cheers,
CC
Right!
Cheers,
CC
Nice attitude.
I don't know how smart you are, but you look on your way to become wise.
Cheers,
CC
My friend, in 1792 France had already been the worldwide power for at least 400 years.
Cheers,
CC
And the award to the dumbest comment of the year goes to...jkorz!
No disrespect intended, but what is obvious from your statement is that you don't know how to educate one.
CC
I'm afraid the talent most sought-after in Hollywood is spreading one sequel into three movies.
Cheers,
CC
Just one word: bullshit.
I have a USB printer that is powered only when needed, and never before starting the system (Mandriva). Works like a charm.
In case you're not trolling, investigate your setup, because it's not a common problem.
Cheers,
CC
Shut up, you insensitive clod! (Jean-Louis Gassée)
And in case somebody belives this tale is true, or the company exists, I have a brigde to sell...
I love the smell of astroturf in the morning!
Cheers,
CC
Magazines, most of them. A little shorter, a little wider.
And hardcover books are typically 9 x 6 inches. Still far bigger then the eReader screen.
I guess the e-paper is still expensive, then the smallish screens. We'll have more reasonable sizes as price drops.
CC
Well, maybe you do, but they're a lot of us old farts who just want a decent e-book reader, and nothing more, preferably for under $100.
And, before people start posting links, there's not a reader in the market that is even close to decent, at any price. Too small screens, mainly.
Of course, YMMV.
Cheers,
CC
You keep saying "we". I don't think it means what you think it means.
Cheers,
CC
Right, "cajón" has a lot of other meanings, but they were irrelevant to the point being discussed, and I just didn't want to introduce confusion for the sake of pedrantry.
Just from memory, we have "cajón de fruta" (crate), and "cajón de muerto" (coffin). And we call the angled corner in the pelota game "el cajón".
I'm sure that between you and I we could find a few dozen different regional usages if we really try, but what would be the point?
Cheers,
CC
Well, in Spanish usage varies a lot with geography (even inside the same nation), so you're probably right... somewhere.
Cheers,
CC
Sorry, close but no cigar. But, let me add, pretty good for a non-native Spanish speaker.
It's an usage quirk. True, "cajón" is the augmentative of "caja" (box), but is also a noun in itself, meaning "drawer". So, in order to avoid confusion, Spanish speakers NEVER use "cajón" for "big box", but, as you said, "gran caja", "caja grande" or even "cajota" (rarely).
So far so good, but then you slipped: "cajita" means just "small box". A small drawer is a "cajoncito".
Sorry for nitpicking, your grammar looks quite good, but in Spanish, the devil is in the usage.
Cheers,
Carlos César
Yes, and this is why every ancient civilization developed in a cold climate.
Oh, wait... Nevermind.
Cheers,
CC
And what does that mean? Being (a lot) poorer and kind of trapped in a time-warp doesn't make you Third World. Think Brigadoon, instead.
And, just in case you're wondering, I went to London for the first time in 1978.
Cheers,
CC