... what is going to prevent this proverbial snowball from building into a full-blown avalanche? I guess it has already become one to some extent...
I can't recall a time in history when the WORLDS rights and privacy were as stripped and neglected as it is now, and then everyone suddenly got their right to privacy and freedom back.
Despite its amazing capabilities, technology sure has put us into an interesting position when in the hands of people like "Brilliant Digital Entertainment"... yeah, real brilliant. Crackheads.
I can agree with this... an intelligent response without the liberal ideology that has no bearing on reality.
Illegal immigrants, for example, get treated pretty well here - as opposed to most countries. If you have children here - they are considered citizens and you too can become on at that point. Most countries would kick you out.
US is no flawless, but most US-bashers don't do anything of merit themselves, and those that do act according to their beliefs are harming the country on average (see liberals).
I always laugh when people pretend like DRM (be it music, movies, or software) doesn't prevent (any) piracy whatsoever. Of course it does! Nobody is sharing protected files in massive quantities because nobody else can play them! While games are usually cracked withing a few days, look on torrent and warez sites and notice how 90% of people downloading the software can't get it to work. While computer-literate people have an easier time with pirating software, the AVERAGE person is easily deterred by even simple DRM. I'm currently fixing a laptop for a friend, and I can tell that someone tried to install a pirated copy of Windows XP because, lo and behold, the setup was never completed: they didn't have a serial key and couldn't find one that worked.
Yet its true that at the same time corporations and companies are alienating loyal and honest customers with poorly planned and executed DRM tactics. Not only are they hurting their loyal customer base, potential customers are of course deterred and "turned off" by reports and word of mouth when DRM like that which shipped with Spore and Crysis Warhead is publicized.
What the world needs to realize (not just the music industry - the game industry, movie industry, anybody who makes an electronic product) is that it is impossible to prevent bootlegging and piracy. Of course, this has been discussed thoroughly, but the interesting fact remains that nobody comes up with a solution! Only complaints against the current model.
It would be interesting to create a music store where customers could purchase songs and stream them from anywhere. If you wanted to download them you could, albeit with some form of DRM. If the corporation or business were ever to fail, they'd charge a nominal fee to each customer, according to their collection, to burn and send discs with their previously purchased tracks on them, with customers choosing between raw audio discs or flac/mp3 format discs.
I guess the fact people now have to face is, due to technology, the face of everything in the world is changing. The music industry, for example, is no longer a guaranteed get-rich occupation (lets skip the semantics and technicalities and consider the more famous "artists"). One can no longer makes millions and millions off of tapes or CDs. In some ways its sad, in others its an advantage to the customer.
Yet still people press for "better content quality" which is ironic on a computer geek website because as a computer scientist one should well know that you can't please everyone at the same time (thus you get bloatware, with hundreds of features that you might not use, but someone somewhere does). Same applies to something like music.
I really feel its an unanswerable question, at least at the moment. There is no real solution. The only solutions people discuss at this point are "DRM, but alienate customers" and "Nothing, and let piracy grow".
We, as intelligent beings (especially those in computer science), have to acknowledge the fact that piracy IS rampant in todays society, ESPECIALLY among those who know something about computers. Regardless if you do it or not, its a fact that many tech geeks out there do. Out of everyone I know personally only a few have a legit copy of Windows itself, let alone things like music, games, software, and movies.
So eh. What can you do?
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"Lulz" at the crackheads who thought china would just roll over and open up because of the Olympics. "NOOBS"
... what is going to prevent this proverbial snowball from building into a full-blown avalanche? I guess it has already become one to some extent... I can't recall a time in history when the WORLDS rights and privacy were as stripped and neglected as it is now, and then everyone suddenly got their right to privacy and freedom back. Despite its amazing capabilities, technology sure has put us into an interesting position when in the hands of people like "Brilliant Digital Entertainment" ... yeah, real brilliant. Crackheads.
I can agree with this... an intelligent response without the liberal ideology that has no bearing on reality. Illegal immigrants, for example, get treated pretty well here - as opposed to most countries. If you have children here - they are considered citizens and you too can become on at that point. Most countries would kick you out. US is no flawless, but most US-bashers don't do anything of merit themselves, and those that do act according to their beliefs are harming the country on average (see liberals).
I always laugh when people pretend like DRM (be it music, movies, or software) doesn't prevent (any) piracy whatsoever. Of course it does! Nobody is sharing protected files in massive quantities because nobody else can play them! While games are usually cracked withing a few days, look on torrent and warez sites and notice how 90% of people downloading the software can't get it to work. While computer-literate people have an easier time with pirating software, the AVERAGE person is easily deterred by even simple DRM. I'm currently fixing a laptop for a friend, and I can tell that someone tried to install a pirated copy of Windows XP because, lo and behold, the setup was never completed: they didn't have a serial key and couldn't find one that worked. Yet its true that at the same time corporations and companies are alienating loyal and honest customers with poorly planned and executed DRM tactics. Not only are they hurting their loyal customer base, potential customers are of course deterred and "turned off" by reports and word of mouth when DRM like that which shipped with Spore and Crysis Warhead is publicized. What the world needs to realize (not just the music industry - the game industry, movie industry, anybody who makes an electronic product) is that it is impossible to prevent bootlegging and piracy. Of course, this has been discussed thoroughly, but the interesting fact remains that nobody comes up with a solution! Only complaints against the current model. It would be interesting to create a music store where customers could purchase songs and stream them from anywhere. If you wanted to download them you could, albeit with some form of DRM. If the corporation or business were ever to fail, they'd charge a nominal fee to each customer, according to their collection, to burn and send discs with their previously purchased tracks on them, with customers choosing between raw audio discs or flac/mp3 format discs. I guess the fact people now have to face is, due to technology, the face of everything in the world is changing. The music industry, for example, is no longer a guaranteed get-rich occupation (lets skip the semantics and technicalities and consider the more famous "artists"). One can no longer makes millions and millions off of tapes or CDs. In some ways its sad, in others its an advantage to the customer. Yet still people press for "better content quality" which is ironic on a computer geek website because as a computer scientist one should well know that you can't please everyone at the same time (thus you get bloatware, with hundreds of features that you might not use, but someone somewhere does). Same applies to something like music. I really feel its an unanswerable question, at least at the moment. There is no real solution. The only solutions people discuss at this point are "DRM, but alienate customers" and "Nothing, and let piracy grow". We, as intelligent beings (especially those in computer science), have to acknowledge the fact that piracy IS rampant in todays society, ESPECIALLY among those who know something about computers. Regardless if you do it or not, its a fact that many tech geeks out there do. Out of everyone I know personally only a few have a legit copy of Windows itself, let alone things like music, games, software, and movies. So eh. What can you do?