What does does a.com domain have to do with scripture? I thought religious stuff was generally non-commercial, and thats why religions get a tax-free status. A commercial entity has more right to a.com site than a non-commercial entity... I'm sure if a commercial Brazillian soccer team tried to steal corinthians.org, they would have had a harder time, and rightly so.
I wholly agree with you! I think it's wrong for the BC government to ban the sale if either porn or violent games/movies to minors.
All my original post said was that since they're banning porn, they better ban violence too, or risk looking like hypocrites as well as idiots. On the "banning violence" part, I can't wait till there are iron clad content laws in place, then watch some complainer try to ban graphic descriptions of nailing a guy to a cross.:-) This is where it's REALLY going! hahahaha
IMHO violence is worse than sex. I think most would agree with me. (I would rather get laid than shot, how about you?)
So could the BC government really let violent games be sold and rented to kids, and not look like hypocrites?
All you freedom of speech freaks, take a deep breath, relax, and realize that all the governmnet is doing is trying to be self-consistent in it's laws regarding childerens access to information. This is a GOOD thing. And if the child wants to play the game or watch the porn anyways, let mom or dad buy it for them. That is the way it should be.
"You don't "get it". There is only a monopoly in music if you are trying to be as unresourceful and blind as a farm animal."
That's the best quote I've seen in the whole music industry debate! Sadly, you're right, most music listeners will go out and buy whatever is lying in the trough. (My apologies to the few and the loud who do have music tastes beyond the top40.)
Since this is news for nerds, we have (mostly) a collection of people smarter than the herd here. Many rail against the system. Some use the system. The best try to change the system into something better.
I firmly believe that only the artist should be by law the *only* one allowed to make money off of their creation, unless they sign that power away.
Copywright law goes against the basic human instinct of "It's mine, I can do what I want with it, and I got it fair and square." Once someone gives you something (ie you legally obtain it), you can do whatever you want with it, including make duplicates of it, and give it or any duplicates away to whomever you want. Once you legally obtain something, I think that you should be allowed to do practically anything you want with it, including give copies away.
How do we balance these two desires somewhere in the middle? I think we should ban anyone from making money on something other than the artist him/herself.
Now actual THEFT has nothing to do with it. The artist sold someone the CD fair and square. That person then pays for the copy medium and *gives* that copy someone else, with their full permission. Intuitively many people feel that no harm is being done, because they feel they can do anything they want to something that is in their posession. (I think doing whatever you want to inanimate objects in your posession should be an inalienable human right.)
THAT is the basis of why people use Napster. Not because they want to "steal someone's overpriced land rover", but rather, because they feel they should be allowed to do anything they want to objects that are in their own home.
If the artist didn't want his music copied, he never should have sold it to people!
"Try living off of "art". Walk into a supermarket and try to trade your mp3 collection for a loaf of bread. Art is nice, but money is a necessity. And do you really think that Metallica or [insert current teenage pop star] are doing music for "art"? "
Many artists, even unknown ones, live off of performances and t-shirts. Some artists (like Metallica) have been known to make millions and millions off of just performances and t-shirts. Making more money off of your own blood sweat and tears every night in a performance is a much more respectable and grass-roots way anyhow.
I think it's time that Napster or something else finally forces artists like Celine Dion and Metallica to perform, instead of having the option to sit back and rake in profits while not working.
Somehow, in the last 100 years, artists have slowly pushed the legal system to a point where they can milk it for all it's worth. I still think that if I buy something, I should have the right to do whatever I want with it, including copy it and give it away, as long as I *** DON'T MAKE MONEY OFF OF IT ***.
Now that is fair copywright law. Anyone can copy anything. But only the original artist is allowed to make a buck at it.
Environmentalism is not a movement, because it has lost all reason. Instead, it is now a nature-worshipping religion, complete with its own symbology, leaders, and political doctrine.
Global warming is GOOD. Antarctica used to have lush forests all the way to the south pole. The earth and the universe have cooled, and will continue to cool. (Read up on thermodynamics.) Technology and global warming is the best way to give a faltering mother nature a kick in the ass so she doesn't throw us another ice age.
Unless you plan on igloos, get used to technology and hydrocarbons!
Is that they don't give you everything! Not even close.
I had a bank error mess up my credit rating, so I made a request that Equifax send me a copy of every piece of paper or digitum that had my name on it. After recieving my credit report from Equifax, I still couldn't figure out what was wrong.
When I took this report to my bank manager, she goes "wow, when I request a credit report on someone, I get way more information." So i signed my john henry on some of her paperwork, and in a few minutes, I got my *complete* file from Equifax, which was marked "confidental, for bank manager only".
The best innovations arise when discovery builds upond discovery upon discovery.
So what happens if someone megacorp owns the patent/copywright/trademark that is the basis for the basis of your revolutionary discovery? Would they let you do anything with it? No, they would either ban you from doing anything productive, or they would buy you up.
However, because of the amount of coroporations and amount of patents growing exponentially, it is slowly becoming bad enough that nobody can possibly hold enough patents to make their revolutionary ideas workable.
So things will just stay the same, and move very very slowly. Now that the Internet has gone mainstream, the inevitable force towards the status quo is catching up. Though it has many wonders, the capitalist system that pits innovators against innovators creates a lose-lose situation.
If you don't believe me, just imagine what would happen if Microsoft, Apple, Linux, Corel, IBM, ETC gave eachother free reign on all of eachothers patents and copywrights, and used them as launchpads for new innovations. Then the best company would win, not the company that most jealously guards it's trade secrets.
Microsoft should buy up this company, and then make these drives as cheap as possible for everyone to use. Reboot time would would go down significantly! They would save billions in not having to make their code more efficient.
"The hardest thing to understand is the income tax." - Albert Einstein
I can only assume you are using sarcasm... However, I still stand by my statement. This topic isn't "news for nerds". It's more like "news for the masses". There are plenty of other news outlets, like my local newspaper, cnn.com, bbc.com, alt.politics, and the likes to report this kind of thing.
I'm not questioning that intelligent people should be aware of such issues (they should be), I am questioning its place on slashdot. If someone bans a web page in Vermont, that's news for slashdot. Red China bans so many that to make an issue out of any one instance is (-1 REDUNDANT).
Come on, is it really a surprise to *anyone* here that China censors web pages? I don't think this even qualifies as news, let alone news for nerds.
"I stopped reading about the time he starts trashing ESR for his pro-gun stance."
Thats really too bad for you, the article was excellent. The mark of a good article is to bring up a large amount of very contentious issues, and in the end tie them all up with constructive recommendations.
What I gleaned from the article (which I read to the end) was that he highlighted all the potential and possible ways that free software and its proponents can become unethical.
Then he proposed a list of ways to avoid these pitfalls, to keep the open source and free software movements on the high ground. Instead of being offended and stop reading the moment an article touches a nerve, read through to the end and realize this article for the professional piece of intellectualism that it is.
I was thinking that myself, but I was just repeating the words of an engineer friend of mine who took a few energy conversion courses... You may be right. Mt. St. Helens was definately the biggest one in the US though. Thanks for correcting me, and nice MS joke by the way!
"The hardest thing to understand is the income tax." - Albert Einstein
You are most correct, young Jedi. Zhirinovsky said that, and he is crazy like a fox.
Kind of like George Bush said "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." *sigh*
Now, ask yourself if Zhirinovsky was the one who invented that quote, or was he quoting a famous Communist in order to gain popularity? Come on... You have to do better than that.
"The Russians and Americans get into a huge space-based arms race, contaminating all solid planets in the solar system with a thick layer of uranium 235 and plutonium. Space science is set back a hundred years, due to radiation affecting radio astronomy, planetary destruction rendering space probes useless, and the impossibility of ever landing humans on any other world."
Hey come on, that would just make them easier to see using a radio telescope! They would positively GLOW...
But seriously, I think you overestimate the power that people can have with nuclear weapons, and the harm they do. There are plenty of worse things that have happened to the earth, such as big chunks of iron falling out of the sky.
In fact, including things like Hiroshima and Chornobyl, the biggest radioactive event of the 20th century by a far cry was Mt. St. Helens. Even when we play with nukes, humanity can never be as powerful as good ol' mom nature.
In the last topic about NSI, many people likened not having the right to your domain name as equivalent to not having the right to your phone number, because it can change if you move.
That just blows their theory out of the water.
"The hardest thing to understand is the income tax." - Albert Einstein
Funny, I don't remember posting this, but for some reason the body of your text says word for word what I would have said. (Right down to ACADR14!)
Its good to see other professionals out there appreciating linux and pushing the industry towards more open standards. Proprietary standards affect all computing professionals, not only programmers and their likes.
The hardest thing to understand is the income "tax." - Albert Einstein
"Most people say the benefit of having a digital camera is not having to go to the store to have your pictures processed. Altough, with all the work you have to do, the one hour photo might be easier. Its all a matter of opinoin."
I still have a disposable camera left over from my last girlfriend, which I fear taking to the developers, for the simple reason I don't want them staring at me when they hand me my photos back.:o)
Trust me, even with the hassle, there are uses for digital cameras!!!
-- Do you think Hemmingway would have written so many novels if his typewriter had been capable of Open GL hardware-accelerated 3-D graphics?
Slashdot Mirror
What does does a .com domain have to do with scripture? I thought religious stuff was generally non-commercial, and thats why religions get a tax-free status. A commercial entity has more right to a .com site than a non-commercial entity... I'm sure if a commercial Brazillian soccer team tried to steal corinthians.org, they would have had a harder time, and rightly so.
Just my view...
I wholly agree with you! I think it's wrong for the BC government to ban the sale if either porn or violent games/movies to minors.
:-) This is where it's REALLY going! hahahaha
All my original post said was that since they're banning porn, they better ban violence too, or risk looking like hypocrites as well as idiots. On the "banning violence" part, I can't wait till there are iron clad content laws in place, then watch some complainer try to ban graphic descriptions of nailing a guy to a cross.
thats all
Kids are banned in Canada from viewing porn.
IMHO violence is worse than sex. I think most would agree with me. (I would rather get laid than shot, how about you?)
So could the BC government really let violent games be sold and rented to kids, and not look like hypocrites?
All you freedom of speech freaks, take a deep breath, relax, and realize that all the governmnet is doing is trying to be self-consistent in it's laws regarding childerens access to information. This is a GOOD thing. And if the child wants to play the game or watch the porn anyways, let mom or dad buy it for them. That is the way it should be.
Flame on brothers.
"You don't "get it". There is only a monopoly in music if you are trying to be as unresourceful and blind as a farm animal."
/. is all about, in my opinion.
That's the best quote I've seen in the whole music industry debate! Sadly, you're right, most music listeners will go out and buy whatever is lying in the trough. (My apologies to the few and the loud who do have music tastes beyond the top40.)
Since this is news for nerds, we have (mostly) a collection of people smarter than the herd here. Many rail against the system. Some use the system. The best try to change the system into something better.
This is what
E
I firmly believe that only the artist should be by law the *only* one allowed to make money off of their creation, unless they sign that power away.
Copywright law goes against the basic human instinct of "It's mine, I can do what I want with it, and I got it fair and square." Once someone gives you something (ie you legally obtain it), you can do whatever you want with it, including make duplicates of it, and give it or any duplicates away to whomever you want. Once you legally obtain something, I think that you should be allowed to do practically anything you want with it, including give copies away.
How do we balance these two desires somewhere in the middle? I think we should ban anyone from making money on something other than the artist him/herself.
Now actual THEFT has nothing to do with it. The artist sold someone the CD fair and square. That person then pays for the copy medium and *gives* that copy someone else, with their full permission. Intuitively many people feel that no harm is being done, because they feel they can do anything they want to something that is in their posession. (I think doing whatever you want to inanimate objects in your posession should be an inalienable human right.)
THAT is the basis of why people use Napster. Not because they want to "steal someone's overpriced land rover", but rather, because they feel they should be allowed to do anything they want to objects that are in their own home.
If the artist didn't want his music copied, he never should have sold it to people!
"Try living off of "art". Walk into a supermarket and try to trade your mp3 collection for a loaf of bread. Art is nice, but money is a necessity. And do you really think that Metallica or [insert current teenage pop star] are doing music for "art"? "
Many artists, even unknown ones, live off of performances and t-shirts. Some artists (like Metallica) have been known to make millions and millions off of just performances and t-shirts. Making more money off of your own blood sweat and tears every night in a performance is a much more respectable and grass-roots way anyhow.
I think it's time that Napster or something else finally forces artists like Celine Dion and Metallica to perform, instead of having the option to sit back and rake in profits while not working.
Somehow, in the last 100 years, artists have slowly pushed the legal system to a point where they can milk it for all it's worth. I still think that if I buy something, I should have the right to do whatever I want with it, including copy it and give it away, as long as I *** DON'T MAKE MONEY OFF OF IT ***.
Now that is fair copywright law. Anyone can copy anything. But only the original artist is allowed to make a buck at it.
What does everyone think about this idea?
Canadian water comes out of many USA taps.
Environmentalism is not a movement, because it has lost all reason. Instead, it is now a nature-worshipping religion, complete with its own symbology, leaders, and political doctrine.
Global warming is GOOD. Antarctica used to have lush forests all the way to the south pole. The earth and the universe have cooled, and will continue to cool. (Read up on thermodynamics.) Technology and global warming is the best way to give a faltering mother nature a kick in the ass so she doesn't throw us another ice age.
Unless you plan on igloos, get used to technology and hydrocarbons!
That's my rant for the day.
Is that they don't give you everything! Not even close.
I had a bank error mess up my credit rating, so I made a request that Equifax send me a copy of every piece of paper or digitum that had my name on it. After recieving my credit report from Equifax, I still couldn't figure out what was wrong.
When I took this report to my bank manager, she goes "wow, when I request a credit report on someone, I get way more information." So i signed my john henry on some of her paperwork, and in a few minutes, I got my *complete* file from Equifax, which was marked "confidental, for bank manager only".
Scary, eh people?
The best innovations arise when discovery builds upond discovery upon discovery.
So what happens if someone megacorp owns the patent/copywright/trademark that is the basis for the basis of your revolutionary discovery? Would they let you do anything with it? No, they would either ban you from doing anything productive, or they would buy you up.
However, because of the amount of coroporations and amount of patents growing exponentially, it is slowly becoming bad enough that nobody can possibly hold enough patents to make their revolutionary ideas workable.
So things will just stay the same, and move very very slowly. Now that the Internet has gone mainstream, the inevitable force towards the status quo is catching up. Though it has many wonders, the capitalist system that pits innovators against innovators creates a lose-lose situation.
If you don't believe me, just imagine what would happen if Microsoft, Apple, Linux, Corel, IBM, ETC gave eachother free reign on all of eachothers patents and copywrights, and used them as launchpads for new innovations. Then the best company would win, not the company that most jealously guards it's trade secrets.
Just my random thoughts.
Microsoft should buy up this company, and then make these drives as cheap as possible for everyone to use. Reboot time would would go down significantly! They would save billions in not having to make their code more efficient.
"The hardest thing to understand is the income tax." - Albert Einstein
I can only assume you are using sarcasm... However, I still stand by my statement. This topic isn't "news for nerds". It's more like "news for the masses". There are plenty of other news outlets, like my local newspaper, cnn.com, bbc.com, alt.politics, and the likes to report this kind of thing.
I'm not questioning that intelligent people should be aware of such issues (they should be), I am questioning its place on slashdot. If someone bans a web page in Vermont, that's news for slashdot. Red China bans so many that to make an issue out of any one instance is (-1 REDUNDANT).
Come on, is it really a surprise to *anyone* here that China censors web pages? I don't think this even qualifies as news, let alone news for nerds.
My 2 cents.
mmmmm!
"I stopped reading about the time he starts trashing ESR for his pro-gun stance."
Thats really too bad for you, the article was excellent. The mark of a good article is to bring up a large amount of very contentious issues, and in the end tie them all up with constructive recommendations.
What I gleaned from the article (which I read to the end) was that he highlighted all the potential and possible ways that free software and its proponents can become unethical.
Then he proposed a list of ways to avoid these pitfalls, to keep the open source and free software movements on the high ground. Instead of being offended and stop reading the moment an article touches a nerve, read through to the end and realize this article for the professional piece of intellectualism that it is.
My 2 cents. (1.38 cents US)
From a French settlement that pre-dated any anglos that happened to come by. (But it was conqureed and the french were driven out.)
Not that it matters, as black slaves have since conquered the English and driven all whites out.
I just wanted to point out your error of thinking the English beat the French to Northern North America.
"The hardest thing to understand is the income tax." - Albert Einstein
I wonder if they had Adam Thrasher's permission to use Space Moose? (www.spacemoce.com)
OO OO! It gets to stop!
I was thinking that myself, but I was just repeating the words of an engineer friend of mine who took a few energy conversion courses... You may be right. Mt. St. Helens was definately the biggest one in the US though. Thanks for correcting me, and nice MS joke by the way!
"The hardest thing to understand is the income tax." - Albert Einstein
whois the second company?
You are most correct, young Jedi. Zhirinovsky said that, and he is crazy like a fox.
Kind of like George Bush said "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." *sigh*
Now, ask yourself if Zhirinovsky was the one who invented that quote, or was he quoting a famous Communist in order to gain popularity? Come on... You have to do better than that.
Wanting to "wash ones boots in the Indian Ocean" doesn't count, right? I wonder which revisionist historian got ahold of you.
"The Russians and Americans get into a huge space-based arms race, contaminating all solid planets in the solar system with a thick layer of uranium 235 and plutonium. Space science is set back a hundred years, due to radiation affecting radio astronomy, planetary destruction rendering space probes useless, and the impossibility of ever landing humans on any other world."
Hey come on, that would just make them easier to see using a radio telescope! They would positively GLOW...
But seriously, I think you overestimate the power that people can have with nuclear weapons, and the harm they do. There are plenty of worse things that have happened to the earth, such as big chunks of iron falling out of the sky.
In fact, including things like Hiroshima and Chornobyl, the biggest radioactive event of the 20th century by a far cry was Mt. St. Helens. Even when we play with nukes, humanity can never be as powerful as good ol' mom nature.
Just putting things in perspective.
In the last topic about NSI, many people likened not having the right to your domain name as equivalent to not having the right to your phone number, because it can change if you move.
That just blows their theory out of the water.
"The hardest thing to understand is the income tax." - Albert Einstein
Funny, I don't remember posting this, but for some reason the body of your text says word for word what I would have said. (Right down to ACADR14!)
Its good to see other professionals out there appreciating linux and pushing the industry towards more open standards. Proprietary standards affect all computing professionals, not only programmers and their likes.
The hardest thing to understand is the income "tax." - Albert Einstein
"Most people say the benefit of having a digital camera is not having to go to the store to have your pictures processed. Altough, with all the work you have to do, the one hour photo might be easier. Its all a matter of opinoin."
:o)
I still have a disposable camera left over from my last girlfriend, which I fear taking to the developers, for the simple reason I don't want them staring at me when they hand me my photos back.
Trust me, even with the hassle, there are uses for digital cameras!!!
--
Do you think Hemmingway would have written so many novels if his typewriter had been capable of Open GL hardware-accelerated 3-D graphics?