In China, for example, software piracy is rampant, and all of the top US software is available for barely the cost of its cds on the street. This is fine for China at the moment, after all, they are screwing US software companies. If they expect to have a huge domestic software industry however, they are going to have reign in the pirates, because no software company will be able to remain solvent by selling software when 100% of its software is available just as easily, and nearly as legally, at a fraction of the price.
Oddly enough, the entire reason Canada has these pro-piracy laws is to promote Canadian artists, since they are the only people paid in this arrangement.
(16) I live in Canada and pirating music is a right. (17) I paid the DAT Tax and didn't get the right Canadians got from it.
Oh. Wait. I bursted your bubble, eh?
Sorry. Well, not really.
>What I find amusing is that the pirates seem unable or unwilling to distinguish between creative activity and brainless copying.
They do? If you could point out an example, I'd be happy to discuss it with you. Nothing you mentioned in your rant really worked well for me as an example.
>(10) I believe that copying someone elses music, and redistributing it to my 1,000,000 "best friends" on the internet is sharing. Music is made for sharing. It's my right.
I can't think of a single person who has 5 TB of bandwidth to use per song that pirates. Not a single one. Heck, there's a lot of national ISPs that don't have bandwidth like that to waste. Maybe if I were AT&T...
Or did you mean "10 best friends"? Yeah, sucks to be without friends like yourself, but watch those sour grapes, will ya?
And those phones those school has? Total waste of cash. They should use the postal system like everyone else. Hell, if it's a rush, send a telegram.
And what about those calculators? Bring on the slide rulers.
Get real. This is the future. In the future we enjoy using new technology to enhance our lives. And giving laptops to kids so they have further access to reading material is a damn fine motive to me.
I would just assume that if, somehow, a flight plan were filed that would interfere with the blimp, that the plan wouldn't be approved; and that's that.
If you plan to fly without a flight plan, expect to be sued (or dead). Especially if you hit a blimp.
>No. I'm sure if WinXP didn't have annoying license issues [e.g. requires a valid key you have to activate] people wouldn't really buy WinXP. I recall shops where a single key would be used to install dozens of copies of Win95/98. And it isn't as if WinXP is that much more spectacular than Win98SE for the vast majority of PC users.
Being a computer store and having to deal with pirated XP copies all the time with repairs (I generally tell users no, it won't be fixed unless you cough up an original, and your FCK key is just going to make your machine a Blaster hit), I can tell you pirated windows XP is still far more popular than I prefer.
It's such a pain to have to deal with users that buy a machine from me, without an OS, who ask stupid questions like "Uhhhh, my windows XP copy doesn't want to boot, can you fix it?". Hell no! Oh well...
A lot of stores don't understand why we're so careful -- that's because they don't sell satellite systems or modchips. I *have* to keep this store piracy-free, period.
That being said, the activation completely SUCKS, too. I have users that bring in machines 10 years old, who buy completely new systems and want to keep their software the same (why, who cares? They're paying, and junking the old system). They buy windows XP OEM from me, which makes sense, it's a completely new machine right?
Oh, but look! It won't do upgrades. So you hack the CD so it can. Oh hell again. Now it won't activate. So, what's left? They actually PAID for the software, and now they're screwed. That's not fair. That just makes people want to pirate a corporate XP professional copy, which ISN'T going to make them format their machine.
>Even if piracy drives sales that's why they make demos. Share the demos with your buddies [or ask developers to make more interesting demos].
That's a good point, however, the problems with demos are usually that the developers never update them, and, for online/LAN play, the demos won't co-operate with a purchased copy, leaving the demo guy without a way to join. That usually means he'll either pirate the game, or go home. Guess which one they usually pick? >:-D
>I don't know about you... but the hours it takes to get an ISO off P2P put to better use more than pays for the game... of course that's just me... you know with a job that pays money;-)
Oh, hey, I totally understand that. But, after working retail, a large amount of customers can be REALLY stupid. The "winners" are the ones that drive to our store, say "Oh, but I can get it 5 dollars cheaper from Toronto", which is, of course, a 2 hour drive away. When most people can't add, you are screwed.:-S
If you can find me a single piece of popular software that isn't heavily pirated, I'll believe you.
The correlation between popularity and piracy is so strikingly glaring, I don't understand why people don't come to the obvious conclusion:
Piracy fuels sales. Nothing is more obvious than that then watching kids at a LAN party. The ones with money are buying what they see their friends playing. And a lot of their friends are playing pirated copies.
You can be assured, if people were to follow your logic, free (as in GPL/freeware/BSD, whatever) games would be the most popular. Because, nothing is more boring than finding out your friend doesn't have a copy of the game to play against you with, and can't/refuses to get one. And boredom = no sales.
>Don't like the system? Change it. Demand change, demand to be heard. Don't defy it for your own personal benefit and claim that you're not doing anything wrong because the laws are unjust. That's just stupid.
I totally agree. The problem (well, it wasn't supposed to be one, but will be) is, in Canada, it did get changed.
Here, due to a levy charged on CDs, "pirating" music by downloading it is completely legal.
But, surprise, surprise, CIRA (Canada's RIAA) doesn't like that. It sucks. You try to play fair, and you end up screwed.
That being said, I've been against the CD levy from day 1 -- it was a bad idea then and a bad idea now.
I have seen numerous theories on the climate subject.
The following viewpoints have been presented over the past 30 years:
- Global Cooling. We will freeze to death shortly.
- Global Warming. We will warm up the earth and either melt or be drowned.
- Climate Change. The earth will have rapidly chaging temperatures resulting in the destruction of humankind.
- "Run out of oxygen" theory. We'll ruin the atmosphere to the point we can't breathe it.
- Nothing. All of the above are bunk.
Which is true? All these viewpoints have been presented at one time or another, and, up to now, none of them (including the last one) have been true.
Is this just another Waaahhhhhmbulance to ignore, or does this article have revolutionary proof that is worth my effort to read?
I'm willing to understand that science changes over time. But to have various scientists publicizing all possible viewpoints as the truth over the past 30 years is too much for me to handle.
- Is not defined so that you get to keep your property after it is stolen
- Does not appear in US Copyright Law*
- Is going to be overruled in court, should you call the pirating defendant that
- Applies, when it comes to music and individual crime, to shoplifting only
- Generally applies to crimes where the maximum punishment is a weekend in jail and a $250 fine. Only "grand theft" / "larceny" / "robbery" carry similar sentences to the crime you mention.
Just use the language properly, that's all I'm saying. Otherwise, it's an overloaded, useless word and I would then feel justified in saying you're "stealing" the clarity of the English language.
But I don't speak for the thousands of other artists out there, nor would I ever want someone else making that decision for me.
Fortunately, well, once fortunately, it *was* only their decision to make for 14 years. Then everyone could benefit from the cultural infusion provided by new talent, no matter how poor the disposition of the creator of it. If there's one thing society has noticed, it's that some (not all) artists are extremely odd people, and, as such, tend to do things in an manner society doesn't support. Some want to give away their talent, such as yourself, and some write books that sit on shelves and aren't found until the author dies. Luckily, even now, that art will *eventually* end up doing public good, even if does end up a century out of date.
I support your right to call people out with the right terms. Piracy is fine, as it's defined to exactly what you want. Copyright violation is great too, although you'll sound like a lawyer using it. But stealing is plain stupid, it's too ambiguous, and, quite honestly, doesn't explain the true consequences of the crime. "Grand larceny CD" would be much more appropriate.
* - A single instance, referring to the act of shoplifting-type crime, is listed in there, and is only there to differentiate between actual piracy and the crime of stealing/theft.
4 - If you hate meters and try to fill it with nickels, it'll sieze the input mechanism and automatically print the ticket after it's had "enough" (beats me what enough was, I wasn't counting, but I think it was somewhere around 38 nickels). I know "enough" definately wasn't a full ticket. Oh well... I just use the VISA in it now, at least that has a 1.5% surcharge for the city to pay.
>most large cities will have cabel internet available if cable is available.
This is often true. However, having had to listen to the whinings of people across the road (It's a computer store so obviously I'll have my ear bent on these issues:-) I can tell you most of them are finding cable untenable. The upload speeds are a joke, ping times are poor, and then the complaints about download caps...
Oh well. At least I get unlimited internet! Woohoo!
Feel free to be a self-admitted feminist, but realise that the likes of that group are responsible for banned books in Canada.
Through its decision in the Butler vs. Her Majesty case, the Supreme Court of Canada adopted Catherine MacKinnon's definition of obscenity nearly word for word into Canadian law. This 1992 court decision -- which was vigorously championed by most feminists in Canada and the US -- allows Canadian customs to seize what it judges to be pornography at the border as the material is being imported. In reaching the Butler decision, the Supreme Court acknowledged that it was violating freedom of speech, but it deemed the possible harm that pornography could inflict on women to be of greater legal significance.
Unlike others I generally prefer to keep my opinions of a woman's body to myself. However, I definately can't support any set of ideals that requires mass censorship. I believe that makes me anti-feminist, but moderate.
You, on the other hand, may not be a feminist at all, at least according to that article, although you choose to identify with them.
Pardon me if I came on a bit strong there, but when a select minority-by-choice of people can, at a whim, introduce sweeping censorship laws I get really pissed off.
If you are asking for a change from society's old views of yourself, you might want to avoid clothing yourself in a devil's cloak. In short: Choose a better term than "feminist". I don't believe you are one, and the term carries far too much misandrist baggage for you to be taken seriously.
>For instance, if my genetic makeup was found to have some desirable trait, there's no reason why millions of clones of me could not be made without my consent.
Thank God you can't do anything about that, or else identical twins would be suing each other all over America. Or, worse yet, you would have the right to selfishly deny others the right to the cure for AIDS, for example, just because of some twisted hatred (not that I accuse you of that, but you can see, it's best you *don't* have the right to own your DNA).
We might even get into situations where parents lease their DNA to their kids. Nasty, scary stuff.
Even relatively large cities (for Canada) remain very much disconnected, if you're not in the "hot spots".
Example: My shop is 2 minutes from the (arguably) second busiest street in the city. It has 3.4 mbits bridged DSL.
Literally, across the street, DSL isn't available.
You need to shop carefully for a home first. If you get a good area, prices will be good. If you don't, it will *NEVER* be available (Bell has all but given up on further DSL rollouts). So, choose wisely.
>If you acknowledge that peanuts can kill some people, why aren't you taking measures so that your peanut and chocolate bar can contain as many peanuts as you like, yet your apricot mueseli bars are guranteed to contatain none?
Easy. People with peanut allergies are far more likely to sue a manufacturer if they have a peanut-related mishap than "regular" customers who won't notice (and might even enjoy the pleasant taste). Ergo, most companies want you not to buy their product, that way they don't need to worry about being sued.
The only companies who would want someone with a peanut allergy to buy their products would be companies who are targetting that niche market and therefore educate the workers not to make any mistakes.
It's just the same reasoning that bans PB 'n J sandwiches at schools (especially high schools). Rather than force the child at an early age to prepare for what hazards they will be faced with daily in "real life", they need to Nerf-alize (tm) the world to protect themselves from lawsuits. Who gives a rats ass if the kid never learns to inspect the table they eat from first?
Slashdot Mirror
>Proper credit should be given when copying word-for-word.
Seems to me proper credit on the web is a link to the full article.
In China, for example, software piracy is rampant, and all of the top US software is available for barely the cost of its cds on the street. This is fine for China at the moment, after all, they are screwing US software companies. If they expect to have a huge domestic software industry however, they are going to have reign in the pirates, because no software company will be able to remain solvent by selling software when 100% of its software is available just as easily, and nearly as legally, at a fraction of the price.
Oddly enough, the entire reason Canada has these pro-piracy laws is to promote Canadian artists, since they are the only people paid in this arrangement.
(16) I live in Canada and pirating music is a right.
(17) I paid the DAT Tax and didn't get the right Canadians got from it.
Oh. Wait. I bursted your bubble, eh?
Sorry. Well, not really.
>What I find amusing is that the pirates seem unable or unwilling to distinguish between creative activity and brainless copying.
They do? If you could point out an example, I'd be happy to discuss it with you. Nothing you mentioned in your rant really worked well for me as an example.
>(10) I believe that copying someone elses music, and redistributing it to my 1,000,000 "best friends" on the internet is sharing. Music is made for sharing. It's my right.
I can't think of a single person who has 5 TB of bandwidth to use per song that pirates. Not a single one. Heck, there's a lot of national ISPs that don't have bandwidth like that to waste. Maybe if I were AT&T...
Or did you mean "10 best friends"? Yeah, sucks to be without friends like yourself, but watch those sour grapes, will ya?
You're totally right man.
And those phones those school has? Total waste of cash. They should use the postal system like everyone else. Hell, if it's a rush, send a telegram.
And what about those calculators? Bring on the slide rulers.
Get real. This is the future. In the future we enjoy using new technology to enhance our lives. And giving laptops to kids so they have further access to reading material is a damn fine motive to me.
I would just assume that if, somehow, a flight plan were filed that would interfere with the blimp, that the plan wouldn't be approved; and that's that.
If you plan to fly without a flight plan, expect to be sued (or dead). Especially if you hit a blimp.
>Anyway, I think that using a TTY without being disabled should carry a hefty sentence.
TTYs are used for incoming as well as outgoing calls... Hearing people have many perfectly legitimate reasons to call using a TTY.
That being said, from what I know, most hearing people who have to call more than once will just buy the TTY box and be done with it.
Here's a good list (I use it for idiotic sites like ShowTime that block Canadians):
http://www.proxy4free.com/index.html
And another one:
http://www.multiproxy.org/
>No. I'm sure if WinXP didn't have annoying license issues [e.g. requires a valid key you have to activate] people wouldn't really buy WinXP. I recall shops where a single key would be used to install dozens of copies of Win95/98. And it isn't as if WinXP is that much more spectacular than Win98SE for the vast majority of PC users.
;-)
:-S
Being a computer store and having to deal with pirated XP copies all the time with repairs (I generally tell users no, it won't be fixed unless you cough up an original, and your FCK key is just going to make your machine a Blaster hit), I can tell you pirated windows XP is still far more popular than I prefer.
It's such a pain to have to deal with users that buy a machine from me, without an OS, who ask stupid questions like "Uhhhh, my windows XP copy doesn't want to boot, can you fix it?". Hell no! Oh well...
A lot of stores don't understand why we're so careful -- that's because they don't sell satellite systems or modchips. I *have* to keep this store piracy-free, period.
That being said, the activation completely SUCKS, too. I have users that bring in machines 10 years old, who buy completely new systems and want to keep their software the same (why, who cares? They're paying, and junking the old system). They buy windows XP OEM from me, which makes sense, it's a completely new machine right?
Oh, but look! It won't do upgrades. So you hack the CD so it can. Oh hell again. Now it won't activate. So, what's left? They actually PAID for the software, and now they're screwed. That's not fair. That just makes people want to pirate a corporate XP professional copy, which ISN'T going to make them format their machine.
>Even if piracy drives sales that's why they make demos. Share the demos with your buddies [or ask developers to make more interesting demos].
That's a good point, however, the problems with demos are usually that the developers never update them, and, for online/LAN play, the demos won't co-operate with a purchased copy, leaving the demo guy without a way to join. That usually means he'll either pirate the game, or go home. Guess which one they usually pick? >:-D
>I don't know about you... but the hours it takes to get an ISO off P2P put to better use more than pays for the game... of course that's just me... you know with a job that pays money
Oh, hey, I totally understand that. But, after working retail, a large amount of customers can be REALLY stupid. The "winners" are the ones that drive to our store, say "Oh, but I can get it 5 dollars cheaper from Toronto", which is, of course, a 2 hour drive away. When most people can't add, you are screwed.
If you can find me a single piece of popular software that isn't heavily pirated, I'll believe you.
The correlation between popularity and piracy is so strikingly glaring, I don't understand why people don't come to the obvious conclusion:
Piracy fuels sales. Nothing is more obvious than that then watching kids at a LAN party. The ones with money are buying what they see their friends playing. And a lot of their friends are playing pirated copies.
You can be assured, if people were to follow your logic, free (as in GPL/freeware/BSD, whatever) games would be the most popular. Because, nothing is more boring than finding out your friend doesn't have a copy of the game to play against you with, and can't/refuses to get one. And boredom = no sales.
Perhaps you should consider buying Usenet service from a third party then? :-)
[Really long blockquote deleted, just read the article, every line is a hoot]
[Ok, one blockquote]
>Don't like the system? Change it. Demand change, demand to be heard. Don't defy it for your own personal benefit and claim that you're not doing anything wrong because the laws are unjust. That's just stupid.
I totally agree. The problem (well, it wasn't supposed to be one, but will be) is, in Canada, it did get changed.
Here, due to a levy charged on CDs, "pirating" music by downloading it is completely legal.
But, surprise, surprise, CIRA (Canada's RIAA) doesn't like that. It sucks. You try to play fair, and you end up screwed.
That being said, I've been against the CD levy from day 1 -- it was a bad idea then and a bad idea now.
I have seen numerous theories on the climate subject.
The following viewpoints have been presented over the past 30 years:
- Global Cooling. We will freeze to death shortly.
- Global Warming. We will warm up the earth and either melt or be drowned.
- Climate Change. The earth will have rapidly chaging temperatures resulting in the destruction of humankind.
- "Run out of oxygen" theory. We'll ruin the atmosphere to the point we can't breathe it.
- Nothing. All of the above are bunk.
Which is true? All these viewpoints have been presented at one time or another, and, up to now, none of them (including the last one) have been true.
Is this just another Waaahhhhhmbulance to ignore, or does this article have revolutionary proof that is worth my effort to read?
I'm willing to understand that science changes over time. But to have various scientists publicizing all possible viewpoints as the truth over the past 30 years is too much for me to handle.
Repeat after me...
The word stealing:
- Is not defined so that you get to keep your property after it is stolen
- Does not appear in US Copyright Law*
- Is going to be overruled in court, should you call the pirating defendant that
- Applies, when it comes to music and individual crime, to shoplifting only
- Generally applies to crimes where the maximum punishment is a weekend in jail and a $250 fine. Only "grand theft" / "larceny" / "robbery" carry similar sentences to the crime you mention.
Just use the language properly, that's all I'm saying. Otherwise, it's an overloaded, useless word and I would then feel justified in saying you're "stealing" the clarity of the English language.
But I don't speak for the thousands of other artists out there, nor would I ever want someone else making that decision for me.
Fortunately, well, once fortunately, it *was* only their decision to make for 14 years. Then everyone could benefit from the cultural infusion provided by new talent, no matter how poor the disposition of the creator of it. If there's one thing society has noticed, it's that some (not all) artists are extremely odd people, and, as such, tend to do things in an manner society doesn't support. Some want to give away their talent, such as yourself, and some write books that sit on shelves and aren't found until the author dies. Luckily, even now, that art will *eventually* end up doing public good, even if does end up a century out of date.
I support your right to call people out with the right terms. Piracy is fine, as it's defined to exactly what you want. Copyright violation is great too, although you'll sound like a lawyer using it. But stealing is plain stupid, it's too ambiguous, and, quite honestly, doesn't explain the true consequences of the crime. "Grand larceny CD" would be much more appropriate.
* - A single instance, referring to the act of shoplifting-type crime, is listed in there, and is only there to differentiate between actual piracy and the crime of stealing/theft.
4 - If you hate meters and try to fill it with nickels, it'll sieze the input mechanism and automatically print the ticket after it's had "enough" (beats me what enough was, I wasn't counting, but I think it was somewhere around 38 nickels). I know "enough" definately wasn't a full ticket. Oh well... I just use the VISA in it now, at least that has a 1.5% surcharge for the city to pay.
>Thanks for a thoughtful and intelligent comment. It's refreshing.
:-)
Always happy to provide, and I can see your position on this.
Glad to see you're not the book-burning type, rather quite the opposite.
>most large cities will have cabel internet available if cable is available.
:-) I can tell you most of them are finding cable untenable. The upload speeds are a joke, ping times are poor, and then the complaints about download caps...
This is often true. However, having had to listen to the whinings of people across the road (It's a computer store so obviously I'll have my ear bent on these issues
Oh well. At least I get unlimited internet! Woohoo!
Feel free to be a self-admitted feminist, but realise that the likes of that group are responsible for banned books in Canada.
Through its decision in the Butler vs. Her Majesty case, the Supreme Court of Canada adopted Catherine MacKinnon's definition of obscenity nearly word for word into Canadian law. This 1992 court decision -- which was vigorously championed by most feminists in Canada and the US -- allows Canadian customs to seize what it judges to be pornography at the border as the material is being imported. In reaching the Butler decision, the Supreme Court acknowledged that it was violating freedom of speech, but it deemed the possible harm that pornography could inflict on women to be of greater legal significance.
Unlike others I generally prefer to keep my opinions of a woman's body to myself. However, I definately can't support any set of ideals that requires mass censorship. I believe that makes me anti-feminist, but moderate.
You, on the other hand, may not be a feminist at all, at least according to that article, although you choose to identify with them.
Pardon me if I came on a bit strong there, but when a select minority-by-choice of people can, at a whim, introduce sweeping censorship laws I get really pissed off.
If you are asking for a change from society's old views of yourself, you might want to avoid clothing yourself in a devil's cloak. In short: Choose a better term than "feminist". I don't believe you are one, and the term carries far too much misandrist baggage for you to be taken seriously.
Whether you like it or not you don't own your DNA.
>For instance, if my genetic makeup was found to have some desirable trait, there's no reason why millions of clones of me could not be made without my consent.
Thank God you can't do anything about that, or else identical twins would be suing each other all over America. Or, worse yet, you would have the right to selfishly deny others the right to the cure for AIDS, for example, just because of some twisted hatred (not that I accuse you of that, but you can see, it's best you *don't* have the right to own your DNA).
We might even get into situations where parents lease their DNA to their kids. Nasty, scary stuff.
>Fed up with your connection: move to canada.
Just check first where you move.
Even relatively large cities (for Canada) remain very much disconnected, if you're not in the "hot spots".
Example: My shop is 2 minutes from the (arguably) second busiest street in the city. It has 3.4 mbits bridged DSL.
Literally, across the street, DSL isn't available.
You need to shop carefully for a home first. If you get a good area, prices will be good. If you don't, it will *NEVER* be available (Bell has all but given up on further DSL rollouts). So, choose wisely.
>I quit my local telephone service last year and decided to use my cell phone.
GPRS. Although it does tend to end up more expensive than broadband...
Those same packets are found packed in with food, such as beef jerky, so in that case it makes sense.
:-)
I know, I also thought it was stupid until I found some rather large beef jerky packets with these dessicant packets inside, so don't worry.
>If you acknowledge that peanuts can kill some people, why aren't you taking measures so that your peanut and chocolate bar can contain as many peanuts as you like, yet your apricot mueseli bars are guranteed to contatain none?
Easy. People with peanut allergies are far more likely to sue a manufacturer if they have a peanut-related mishap than "regular" customers who won't notice (and might even enjoy the pleasant taste). Ergo, most companies want you not to buy their product, that way they don't need to worry about being sued.
The only companies who would want someone with a peanut allergy to buy their products would be companies who are targetting that niche market and therefore educate the workers not to make any mistakes.
It's just the same reasoning that bans PB 'n J sandwiches at schools (especially high schools). Rather than force the child at an early age to prepare for what hazards they will be faced with daily in "real life", they need to Nerf-alize (tm) the world to protect themselves from lawsuits. Who gives a rats ass if the kid never learns to inspect the table they eat from first?
Stupid, but welcome to the way it works!
>When you open a new iPod, it has a sticker that says "Don't Steal Music."
Steal iPods instead!
Allow me to be more detailed:
sshd -p 80
HTH!
Or, if one is extremely worried:
httptunnel.
Although the second method isn't mentioned, so, if your company has enough money to waste on packeteers, yeah, NZs post would need work.