Re:when you're the leader of the free world
on
Hannibal's Return
·
· Score: 1
The real issue is that we are a country born of violence by a puritan people who thought nothing of genocide, but who would die (or kill) before seeing naked flesh.
Sorry for not specifying, that's currently in the USA only, but I understand they are trying to get the DMCA (or something close to it) to be applicable in all EU countries as well.
IANAL, but from what I know of the law, it is illegal to download an MP3 of a copyrighted work, or even possess said MP3, unless you made that MP3 from a CD you actually possess. Even if you own a copy of that music, that doesn't give you the right to download an MP3 made from a different copy. AND, the DMCA makes it illegal for you to copy something you own, if there are copy protections in place.
I think it actually _makes_ certain works disappear... Since companies will not make available movies/books/etc which they own the rights to that they feel will not make a certain level of money for them on a re-release. If these items were in the public domain, they could be released in small print runs, or other means, by smaller companies or groups, or even hobbyists. Some authors have managed to do this with their works, Bruce Sterling being an example. He released at least one of his earlier novels, which was not likely to be reprinted, to the Gutenburg Project.
The copyright on the original vampire film Nosferatu expired in the ninties... I remeber when it did, because there was a flood of Nosferatu-based comic books and even a few movies, I believe.
However, I don't think that the rights were owned by a big company, since I think the movie was made before the studio system really took off.
I think that those who would limit intellectual copyright laws are trying to deny our freedoms, and imposing an unworkable and unfair solution.
Do you feel the same way about patents? Should they last forever? Doesn't allowing patents to expire infringe upon the freedom of the creators to continue to profit from their invention?
On a seperate tack, don't you think there should be some sort of time limit? Should William Shakespeare's descendants be making royalities off every copy of one of his plays sold? Or any movie based off one of his plays? Or how about Mozart's descendants getting paid any time one of his symphonies are performed?Before you answer that, consider that had those works not passed into the public domain years ago, it would be highly unlikely they would be as well know now... Their works would have been performed less, made into books/records/movies/whatnot less, etc.
Copyrights need to expire at some point. I'm not saying I know what the magic number is, but it needs to happen eventually.
I do not see why we cannot own an idea, like a disney film or character
Note that Mickey himself is a trademark... so his ownership isn't going to expire, regardless.
I think it's funny that everyone is attacking this Coward Anonymous guy for saying things about Belgium, assuming that he's American. How do you know he is? Aren't those the very same types of assumptions that non-Americans get furious about when Americans make them? Would everyone be attacking him for his criticism if he was known to be Belgian?
Consumber price has very little to do with material costs, does my fiance's $150 migrane medicine actually have $150 worth of material goods in that little bottle (heck no). Consumers ultimately decide the price of something, what is the maximum that we are willing to pay for something and that's the price. If you don't like the price, then it's not worth that much to you.
It doesn't really work this way with music, though... With material goods, you can buy a generic brand and it will serve the same purpose at a lesser price. So if you want a CD player but don't want to pay for the Phillips, buy a "X-tech" (or whatever). But if you want to buy the new Metallica CD, you can't go buy another cd with the same music. If you want to listen to it, you _have_ to buy the Metallica cd.
There used to be more competion in this respect, with different labels releasing covers of popular songs by their artists within weeks of the songs' release... this practice has died out. Probably, I guess, since distribution is faster now... A song comes out on MTV and everyone hears it at once, it's not like it used to be, going from town to town, radio station to radio station.
Not saying that people should all go download all their music from Napster, but the major record labels _are_ colluding and they _are_ overcharging. I'm not really affected, since I don't like 99% of the garbage that comes out on major labels. It is a pain when one of my favorite bands signes to a major and I'm forced to pay DOUBLE what I paid for their last album for their new, major label release. But, oh well. I think the record labels are going to hurt more by this type of action, since I don't think Napster hurts record sales (it certainly doesn't for me, I buy $200-300 of music a month and I also use Napster quite a bit.. though mostly for non-RIAA music) and I think it's just ingraining the "greedy record companies" image into peoples heads.
Nonsense, you are 100% perfectly free to download all music you want, no matter how illegal the copy is. As long as you don't DISTRIBUTE it, you're home free. Be a selfish napster user, and don't share your files.:P
Just because you probably won't get caught doesn't mean it's legal, though.
Making personal copies of CD's which you own is only possible if you compensate the artists for that (IE: pay them again, Sam). This is one of the proviso's of the new EU copyright law.
I was under the impression that this was the reason cdr and blank tape companies paid a "tax" to the record companies... In Europe you are supposed to pay again if you, for example, make a mix tape/cd for yourself? Can anyone verify this?
Well if you own all music you download you're off. They cannot hook you for anything.
This is arguable, it is technically illegal to download copyrighted material you don't have the right/permission to... and the laws seem to state that you only have the rights to the actual material you bought. But I don't think they would prosecute too aggressively if you only had songs you owned on CD. One thing is, though... Unless you have uploading off, the moment you download a song from Napster, you are also offering it for others to download. This is illegal.
Actually I have every Metallica CD ever made. From Kill em all, to Load etc... Ive have already paid for the CDs, I have the right to download music produced by this band in a mp3 compressed audio format.
Actually, no. I believe the law as it is written specifically states that you do not. Not that I think this is the best way to do things, but I believe that it is true. As I have seen it explained, you have the right to make your own MP3s from the CDs that you own, not to download MP3s made by others, or give others your MP3s. Kind of like you can make back up copies of software, but not give them to anyone.
BTW, its also a myth that you can legally download ROMs or Warez but you "have to delete them after 24 hours unless you own them".
Could easily bring our economy to it's knees? How? Unless they have some sort of backdoor built into Office 2000, I don't really see how they could do this. People in the tech industry commonly overestimate the size and importance of Microsoft to the world as a whole. I think you are falling prey to this.
The code is the same, but I doubt the content will be. I expect the GPL'ed aspect of this to be an engine with no models, only a few textures and sounds, etc. The offical servers will have, I'm sure, quality models, textures, plots, a relatively balanced gameplay, etc. Not to mention they will probably have a bigger, more stable world sooner than all the amateur teams. Really, if there were a freeware version of Everquest, do you think everyone would switch? Some would, but most would stay with servers that have all the people on them already.
More, maybe because art is considered to be a creative endeavor, an entertaining endeavor while a piece of software is considered to be a tool. Not to mention the fact that the GPL helps coders... By sharing what they do, they can do more, learn more, do more. Not quite the same with the art/sound people.
This is offtopic, but that screenshot looks about on par with Civ 2, not Civ 3. Not to mention the most anticipated part of Civ 3 is the newest gameplay innovations of Sid Meier... Something which I doubt is in FreeCiv (but may make it in after the release of Civ 3... I can't wait that long, though, I'll have Civ 3 the first day).
Heavy spacesuits? ROFL, like that matters in zero gravity *NOT*:)
Having never been in zero gravity myself, it still seems like a bulky spacesuit would increase the amount of mass you would be moving around, thus impairing/slowing your movement... It still requires force to move mass in space, even if the mass has zero weight. (right?)
Still, I think women should be able to get around in the space suits just fine.
Name one hour of the day when everybody in the world with Internet access is asleep. The world is more than the USA, you know.
I love how any comment on slashdot is used as an excuse to attempt to point out how ignorant Americans are.
Considering the fact that most servers are used for businesses and that most of those are not on the web, I'd say most businesses' accounting, print and file servers could be allowed to power down from closing time until opening the next day.
I don't know about the poster, but at home I listen to music on my stereo... If I want to hear a song at work, I just Napster it... Don't want to deal with the hassle of encoding my whole collection... (Especially since about 1/3 of my collection is on vinyl and I don't currently have my computer setup to record from my turntable... But plenty of people have already done it and made the songs available.) It's much easier for me that way.
Slashdot Mirror
The real issue is that we are a country born of violence by a puritan people who thought nothing of genocide, but who would die (or kill) before seeing naked flesh.
Josh Sisk
Sorry for not specifying, that's currently in the USA only, but I understand they are trying to get the DMCA (or something close to it) to be applicable in all EU countries as well.
Josh Sisk
IANAL, but from what I know of the law, it is illegal to download an MP3 of a copyrighted work, or even possess said MP3, unless you made that MP3 from a CD you actually possess. Even if you own a copy of that music, that doesn't give you the right to download an MP3 made from a different copy. AND, the DMCA makes it illegal for you to copy something you own, if there are copy protections in place.
Josh Sisk
I think it actually _makes_ certain works disappear... Since companies will not make available movies/books/etc which they own the rights to that they feel will not make a certain level of money for them on a re-release. If these items were in the public domain, they could be released in small print runs, or other means, by smaller companies or groups, or even hobbyists. Some authors have managed to do this with their works, Bruce Sterling being an example. He released at least one of his earlier novels, which was not likely to be reprinted, to the Gutenburg Project.
Josh Sisk
The copyright on the original vampire film Nosferatu expired in the ninties... I remeber when it did, because there was a flood of Nosferatu-based comic books and even a few movies, I believe.
However, I don't think that the rights were owned by a big company, since I think the movie was made before the studio system really took off.
Josh Sisk
I think that those who would limit intellectual copyright laws are trying to deny our freedoms, and imposing an unworkable and unfair solution.
Do you feel the same way about patents? Should they last forever? Doesn't allowing patents to expire infringe upon the freedom of the creators to continue to profit from their invention?
On a seperate tack, don't you think there should be some sort of time limit? Should William Shakespeare's descendants be making royalities off every copy of one of his plays sold? Or any movie based off one of his plays? Or how about Mozart's descendants getting paid any time one of his symphonies are performed?Before you answer that, consider that had those works not passed into the public domain years ago, it would be highly unlikely they would be as well know now... Their works would have been performed less, made into books/records/movies/whatnot less, etc.
Copyrights need to expire at some point. I'm not saying I know what the magic number is, but it needs to happen eventually.
I do not see why we cannot own an idea, like a disney film or character
Note that Mickey himself is a trademark... so his ownership isn't going to expire, regardless.
Josh Sisk
Actually, I'd say it was mainly the folks outside the tech industry that overestimate Microsoft's importance.
You are probably right, actually. But the average slashdotter also sucumbs to this illness.
Josh Sisk
I think Slashdot and politeness are not always mutually exclusive. :)
Josh Sisk
I think it's funny that everyone is attacking this Coward Anonymous guy for saying things about Belgium, assuming that he's American. How do you know he is? Aren't those the very same types of assumptions that non-Americans get furious about when Americans make them? Would everyone be attacking him for his criticism if he was known to be Belgian?
Josh Sisk
Consumber price has very little to do with material costs, does my fiance's $150 migrane medicine actually have $150 worth of material goods in that little bottle (heck no). Consumers ultimately decide the price of something, what is the maximum that we are willing to pay for something and that's the price. If you don't like the price, then it's not worth that much to you.
It doesn't really work this way with music, though... With material goods, you can buy a generic brand and it will serve the same purpose at a lesser price. So if you want a CD player but don't want to pay for the Phillips, buy a "X-tech" (or whatever). But if you want to buy the new Metallica CD, you can't go buy another cd with the same music. If you want to listen to it, you _have_ to buy the Metallica cd.
There used to be more competion in this respect, with different labels releasing covers of popular songs by their artists within weeks of the songs' release... this practice has died out. Probably, I guess, since distribution is faster now... A song comes out on MTV and everyone hears it at once, it's not like it used to be, going from town to town, radio station to radio station.
Not saying that people should all go download all their music from Napster, but the major record labels _are_ colluding and they _are_ overcharging. I'm not really affected, since I don't like 99% of the garbage that comes out on major labels. It is a pain when one of my favorite bands signes to a major and I'm forced to pay DOUBLE what I paid for their last album for their new, major label release. But, oh well. I think the record labels are going to hurt more by this type of action, since I don't think Napster hurts record sales (it certainly doesn't for me, I buy $200-300 of music a month and I also use Napster quite a bit.. though mostly for non-RIAA music) and I think it's just ingraining the "greedy record companies" image into peoples heads.
Josh Sisk
an absurd possibility, sort of like the cable companies arresting every person who steals cable.
I don't know where you live, but where I do, they seem pretty good at getting people for stealing cable.
Josh Sisk
Nonsense, you are 100% perfectly free to download all music you want, no matter how illegal the copy is. As long as you don't DISTRIBUTE it, you're home free. Be a selfish napster user, and don't share your files. :P
Just because you probably won't get caught doesn't mean it's legal, though.
Josh Sisk
Making personal copies of CD's which you own is only possible if you compensate the artists for that (IE: pay them again, Sam). This is one of the proviso's of the new EU copyright law.
I was under the impression that this was the reason cdr and blank tape companies paid a "tax" to the record companies... In Europe you are supposed to pay again if you, for example, make a mix tape/cd for yourself? Can anyone verify this?
Josh Sisk
Well if you own all music you download you're off. They cannot hook you for anything.
This is arguable, it is technically illegal to download copyrighted material you don't have the right/permission to... and the laws seem to state that you only have the rights to the actual material you bought. But I don't think they would prosecute too aggressively if you only had songs you owned on CD. One thing is, though... Unless you have uploading off, the moment you download a song from Napster, you are also offering it for others to download. This is illegal.
Josh Sisk
Actually I have every Metallica CD ever made. From Kill em all, to Load etc... Ive have already paid for the CDs, I have the right to download music produced by this band in a mp3 compressed audio format.
Actually, no. I believe the law as it is written specifically states that you do not. Not that I think this is the best way to do things, but I believe that it is true. As I have seen it explained, you have the right to make your own MP3s from the CDs that you own, not to download MP3s made by others, or give others your MP3s. Kind of like you can make back up copies of software, but not give them to anyone.
BTW, its also a myth that you can legally download ROMs or Warez but you "have to delete them after 24 hours unless you own them".
Josh Sisk.
They also don't allow you the convenience of reading it in your home.
I take it you've never been to a library?
Josh Sisk
Could easily bring our economy to it's knees? How? Unless they have some sort of backdoor built into Office 2000, I don't really see how they could do this. People in the tech industry commonly overestimate the size and importance of Microsoft to the world as a whole. I think you are falling prey to this.
Josh Sisk
The code is the same, but I doubt the content will be. I expect the GPL'ed aspect of this to be an engine with no models, only a few textures and sounds, etc. The offical servers will have, I'm sure, quality models, textures, plots, a relatively balanced gameplay, etc. Not to mention they will probably have a bigger, more stable world sooner than all the amateur teams. Really, if there were a freeware version of Everquest, do you think everyone would switch? Some would, but most would stay with servers that have all the people on them already.
Josh Sisk
More, maybe because art is considered to be a creative endeavor, an entertaining endeavor while a piece of software is considered to be a tool. Not to mention the fact that the GPL helps coders... By sharing what they do, they can do more, learn more, do more. Not quite the same with the art/sound people.
Josh Sisk
This is offtopic, but that screenshot looks about on par with Civ 2, not Civ 3. Not to mention the most anticipated part of Civ 3 is the newest gameplay innovations of Sid Meier... Something which I doubt is in FreeCiv (but may make it in after the release of Civ 3... I can't wait that long, though, I'll have Civ 3 the first day).
Josh Sisk
. It might sound far fetched but PSX2 has all the power and memory of a medium pc, plus it has a hard disk. think about it...
I don't know where you bought your PS2, but MINE doesn't have a hard disk. Sony says they are coming out with one, but that's a bit different.
Josh Sisk
Heavy spacesuits? ROFL, like that matters in zero gravity *NOT* :)
Having never been in zero gravity myself, it still seems like a bulky spacesuit would increase the amount of mass you would be moving around, thus impairing/slowing your movement... It still requires force to move mass in space, even if the mass has zero weight. (right?)
Still, I think women should be able to get around in the space suits just fine.
Josh Sisk
Name one hour of the day when everybody in the world with Internet access is asleep. The world is more than the USA, you know.
I love how any comment on slashdot is used as an excuse to attempt to point out how ignorant Americans are.
Considering the fact that most servers are used for businesses and that most of those are not on the web, I'd say most businesses' accounting, print and file servers could be allowed to power down from closing time until opening the next day.
Josh Sisk
I don't know about the poster, but at home I listen to music on my stereo... If I want to hear a song at work, I just Napster it... Don't want to deal with the hassle of encoding my whole collection... (Especially since about 1/3 of my collection is on vinyl and I don't currently have my computer setup to record from my turntable... But plenty of people have already done it and made the songs available.) It's much easier for me that way.
Josh Sisk
I hope you are right... The aforementioned programs are all too damn expensive!