Re:Internet-enabled appliances don't excite me...
on
The Home Of The Future
·
· Score: 1
And the winner for Most Common Problem...
..."You need a software update. Please take your vehicle to your local dealer, because he is the only mechanic authorized to perform this installation."
What's this? I use the toilet, and ten minutes later get a call from my doctor, "We gotta talk. You'd better come down to the office." Great. The next thing you know, the kitchen sink will be calling the plumber to unclog the drain.
But with all these pre-emptive acts, it really seems that DeCSS develoepers based in the US feel that they're in the wrong
It isn't so much that they feel they're in the wrong, but that they feel they're in the right but don't have even the slightest chance of winning in court because they don't have as much money as the MPAA has to get the good lawyers.
So it's against the law to steal somebody's property. This is not a tragedy, it's common sense and it's been the law all along.
If you deed your house to your children, and they to theirs, there is no "time limit" after which the house becomes public property and any random homeless person can just walk into your living room and make himself at home. That would be absurd. So how is this any different? Ownership persists. That's what "ownership" means.
This is not about stealing property, it is about the right of how to use that property.
To use a better analogy, think about purchasing a frozen dinner. Some of them only have instructions for using the overn, others only for the microwave, but most for both. Imaging the following conversation after the police break down your door: Sorry, you can't cook your food in your legally purchased microwave; you have to use the oven. Why? Because that restriction was made when you bought the meal. Read the fine print. Your oven broke yesterday? Too bad; get it fixed or starve.
obtaining your own is as simple as asking for one... you get a free copy each year, but you have to ask for it
I have never found it this simple. All three credit companies (Equifax, TRW, and I forget) have always demanded $8 for the report. How and who do I ask for a free copy?
I didn't see this mentioned in any of the replies, so I'll say it now: Watch out for hotels with digital phone systems. If you plug your analog modem into a digital system, you're almost guaranteed to end up with a fried modem.
Most of the larger chain hotels have all gone digital, especially in the big cities. Ask the receptionist when you check in. Examine the phone. Some of the hotels I've stayed at that had digital phone systems also had special data ports in the side of the phone, labelled as an analog port for you to use. Some didn't. If you're not sure, don't plug the modem in.
It wouldn't surprise me any. I m currently paying the phone company something around a dollar a month to have them NOT list my number in the phone book.
Do they have to go back into their databases every month and re-delete my name? Can't hey update their software to remember that I want it to be deleted?
I must agree here. The primary goal of the university I attend sure seemed to be "to make money". "To provide an education" seemed to come in around 4th or 5th place.
Even though my university did claim is was an ISP, it did provide internet access to all students. However, that was not covered by tuition; it was covered by a "technology fee" created specifically to pay for the internet access. No student was immune to this fee, whether or not they even touched a computer.
Even though I paid another ISP for internet access (one that I actually could dial into, as opposed to the university which only provided busy tones), I still had to pay the university for internet access.
So, not only was the university acting like an ISP, it also had a captive clientele, and guaranteed collection of fees. It sounds like they were much better off that the regular commercial ISP.
Reading through the record posted on cryptome, I saw an interesting note. In section 30 of the main declaration, the DVD CCA states that "The CSS License Agreement specifically prohibits licensees from reverse engineering the CSS technology." Here, the licensees are the groups that DVD CCA provide the 'secret' to. The DVD CCA then goes on to state that "Clearly, the end users of the products manufactured by the licensees under the CSS Licensee Agreement can have no greater rights than the licensees have under the CSS License Agreement."
Am I reading this right, that they are saying that the end users are bound by this agreement which the end users have never seen?
Okay, so the more cell phones available out there, the better this works, right? How about having the state DoT give cell phones to all licensed drivers? That way everyone has one, and the monitoring system works really well. Of course, it would be reporting many more traffic jams than currently occur, due to all the extra people actually using those cell phones.
Not only do you not have to have the CD in the drive to listen to the music, but you also do not have to purchase a second CD player to listen to your music and at the same time use software that requires the CD to be in the drive even though it doesn't really use it.
Slashdot Mirror
Edward Burr
What's this? I use the toilet, and ten minutes later get a call from my doctor, "We gotta talk. You'd better come down to the office." Great. The next thing you know, the kitchen sink will be calling the plumber to unclog the drain.
Edward Burr
It isn't so much that they feel they're in the wrong, but that they feel they're in the right but don't have even the slightest chance of winning in court because they don't have as much money as the MPAA has to get the good lawyers.
Edward Burr
If you deed your house to your children, and they to theirs, there is no "time limit" after which the house becomes public property and any random homeless person can just walk into your living room and make himself at home. That would be absurd. So how is this any different? Ownership persists. That's what "ownership" means.
This is not about stealing property, it is about the right of how to use that property.
To use a better analogy, think about purchasing a frozen dinner. Some of them only have instructions for using the overn, others only for the microwave, but most for both. Imaging the following conversation after the police break down your door: Sorry, you can't cook your food in your legally purchased microwave; you have to use the oven. Why? Because that restriction was made when you bought the meal. Read the fine print. Your oven broke yesterday? Too bad; get it fixed or starve.
Edward Burr
I have never found it this simple. All three credit companies (Equifax, TRW, and I forget) have always demanded $8 for the report. How and who do I ask for a free copy?
Edward Burr
Most of the larger chain hotels have all gone digital, especially in the big cities. Ask the receptionist when you check in. Examine the phone. Some of the hotels I've stayed at that had digital phone systems also had special data ports in the side of the phone, labelled as an analog port for you to use. Some didn't. If you're not sure, don't plug the modem in.
Edward Burr
Do they have to go back into their databases every month and re-delete my name? Can't hey update their software to remember that I want it to be deleted?
Edward Burr
Even though my university did claim is was an ISP, it did provide internet access to all students. However, that was not covered by tuition; it was covered by a "technology fee" created specifically to pay for the internet access. No student was immune to this fee, whether or not they even touched a computer.
Even though I paid another ISP for internet access (one that I actually could dial into, as opposed to the university which only provided busy tones), I still had to pay the university for internet access.
So, not only was the university acting like an ISP, it also had a captive clientele, and guaranteed collection of fees. It sounds like they were much better off that the regular commercial ISP.
Edward Burr
Am I reading this right, that they are saying that the end users are bound by this agreement which the end users have never seen?
Edward Burr
Okay, so the more cell phones available out there, the better this works, right? How about having the state DoT give cell phones to all licensed drivers? That way everyone has one, and the monitoring system works really well. Of course, it would be reporting many more traffic jams than currently occur, due to all the extra people actually using those cell phones.
Edward Burr
Not only do you not have to have the CD in the drive to listen to the music, but you also do not have to purchase a second CD player to listen to your music and at the same time use software that requires the CD to be in the drive even though it doesn't really use it.
Edward Burr