The canceling of Dungeon magazine and Dragon magazines to pursue this online bastard child of Dungeons & Dragons and World of Warcraft has left a fair number of people with a bad taste in their mouths.
If you don't like the taste of semen, you shouldn't be buying WotC products.
Very convenient timing. In 20 years, we'll have human level AI available to drive our fusion powerwed (available in about 20 years) flying cars *available in about 20 years) on the way to the spaceport for our vacation at the commercial resort on the moon (available in about 20 years), to receive our immortatlity treatment (available in about 20 years).
The writer of a letter does not "copyright a letter." The copyright is automatic, if it qualifies, which it clearly would if it's more than a few sentences long. This has been the law, almost everywhere in the world, for decades.
Copyright does not cover all possible uses of the protected material. Fair use includes things like reporting news, and educational purposes.
And in the end, this is utterly, completely, totally meaningless anyway. If you get a C&D letter, there are two possibilities: either the sender is willing to follow up with a lawsuit if you don't comply, or they're not. If they are, you have a serious problem, no matter what you do wit the C&D letter. If they aren't, they aren't going to sue you for publishing the C&D letter. Makes no difference at all.
ROBOT: Are you looking for a store that sells garbage cans, sir? Can I suggest you try the Bloomingdale's for that, sir? They are having a special on kitchen goods today.
Aside from the idiocy of thinking that ad revenue will mean cheaper games and cheaper subscriptions fees - as has been noted, it's not going to happen - aside from that, there is an unavoidable consequence?
If the ads interrupt or distract from the game, the whole idea will fail. A fantasy game where your sword is sponsored by Ford or IBM will crash and burn, very quickly. The ads have to look and act like they're part of the game world. And that seriously limits the kinds of games these companies will be willing to create. If this works at all (and I don't think it will), virtually every game will be set in a contemporary, every day world, or a near future science fiction setting, where Coke and Pepsi and McDonald's ads will fit right in. Fantasy games? Not so much so.
Laws that limit what a retailer can charge are actively damaging to the economy, and the consumer public, by being pro-monopoly and anti-competitive. If nobody can discount more than 5% off the MSRP, then everybody will sell at that price. At that point, big retailers will be making more money - because they pay less to the publisher for books, and that will not be made illegal, ever - than smaller, independant retailers. And that means that the big retailers will pressure the publisher to reduce MSRP, but not wholesale cost, which cuts margins to the small time retailer. It becomes a vicious cycle, until the small time folks are gone, and all that's left is to buy from Walmart or Barnes & Noble, who won't carry anything but the bestseller list drek. Amazon is an oddity is the market, in that they're a very large player in the market, but don't act like a big retailer. This is because they're smart, and not a traditional retailer (and mail order is a very different business model).
Anti-competition laws always favor big corporate retailers.
I'm wondering if "anti-hacking" laws like this will conflict with data retention laws that are also brutally oppressive, to the point where admins will be required to do things they can't possibly do without tools that are illegal to possess. Sounds like the sort of thing one would expect from China.
I wonder if anybody has ever assembled a list of "updates" like this - ones where the recommended solution from Microsoft is to buy more Microsoft product - and compared it to major releases that have been financially disappointing.
In other words, I can't help but notice this comes very shortly after Vista bombed.
In most states, the consumer does not have the option to have the old parts returned, they have the right to have the old parts returned. Where laws are properly enforced, it's a rather big deal if the mechanics doesn't do so.
And yes, the laws regarding computer repair should be the same.
The right of privacy, legally speaking, applies to government searches. This wasn't a government search. This was a computer tech working on a computer he was hired to work on. This is no different than the furnace guy coming out to your house to change a filter, and finding your paper child porn collection stuffed in to a vent. But, I suppose, there are people who would whine about that, too.
Your first stop should always be your state's labor board. In many states, that's all it takes. California occasionally brings criminal charges against both companies and managers who try to stiff employees out of overtime, and always takes such allegations seriously. The mangers who stiffed the guy would have a permanent black stain on their souls that would follow them to every job they ever have again, because the corporation would get the snot fined out of them (in addition to having to pay the unpaid overtime, plus interest), and be audited regularly for years to come.
Slashdot Mirror
The canceling of Dungeon magazine and Dragon magazines to pursue this online bastard child of Dungeons & Dragons and World of Warcraft has left a fair number of people with a bad taste in their mouths.
If you don't like the taste of semen, you shouldn't be buying WotC products.
There's a thought. Fill it with hydrogen, like a balloon. Then, when it gets as high as it's going to get that way, light the hydrogen as a rocket.
(Yes, I know, it's not going to actually work outside of a Bugs Bunny cartoon.)
Very convenient timing. In 20 years, we'll have human level AI available to drive our fusion powerwed (available in about 20 years) flying cars *available in about 20 years) on the way to the spaceport for our vacation at the commercial resort on the moon (available in about 20 years), to receive our immortatlity treatment (available in about 20 years).
Yeah, right.
Yeah, they claim that. And Nancy Luft claims that sputniks traveled back in time to give Jesus superpowers in order to create the Catholic Church.
Install 100,000 volt cattle prod on RIAA Boss' ass, says consumers.
Seriously. This guy should just be tortured until he begs to die.
Imagine a fully loaded train at 300 mph crashing in to Grand Central Station in Manhattan.
a train that could beat airliners from one side of the country to the other
You'd still have to arrive at the train station three hours early and take your shoes off for the TSA goons.
Radios and computers, especially computers, can be used for many legitimate purposes other than listening to music.
But it's no suprise that Canada has socialist leanings.
. . .retarded Slashdot readers.
The writer of a letter does not "copyright a letter." The copyright is automatic, if it qualifies, which it clearly would if it's more than a few sentences long. This has been the law, almost everywhere in the world, for decades.
Copyright does not cover all possible uses of the protected material. Fair use includes things like reporting news, and educational purposes.
And in the end, this is utterly, completely, totally meaningless anyway. If you get a C&D letter, there are two possibilities: either the sender is willing to follow up with a lawsuit if you don't comply, or they're not. If they are, you have a serious problem, no matter what you do wit the C&D letter. If they aren't, they aren't going to sue you for publishing the C&D letter. Makes no difference at all.
ROBOT: Are you looking for a store that sells garbage cans, sir? Can I suggest you try the Bloomingdale's for that, sir? They are having a special on kitchen goods today.
ROBOT: Are you lost, sir?
ME: Go away or I will light you on fire.
ROBOT: If you are not lost, perhaps you would like to shop at one of the stores that paid to advertise to you in this way.
ME:
CROWD: Huzzah! Huzzah!
SECURITY GUARD: Hey! You can't do that!
ME: Keep these goddamn walking billboards away from me or you're next, asshole.
CROWD: Huzzah! Huzzah!
...the movie trade association vastly overestimated how much college students engage in illegal movie downloading.
What makes you think that's a "botch"?
Aside from the idiocy of thinking that ad revenue will mean cheaper games and cheaper subscriptions fees - as has been noted, it's not going to happen - aside from that, there is an unavoidable consequence?
If the ads interrupt or distract from the game, the whole idea will fail. A fantasy game where your sword is sponsored by Ford or IBM will crash and burn, very quickly. The ads have to look and act like they're part of the game world. And that seriously limits the kinds of games these companies will be willing to create. If this works at all (and I don't think it will), virtually every game will be set in a contemporary, every day world, or a near future science fiction setting, where Coke and Pepsi and McDonald's ads will fit right in. Fantasy games? Not so much so.
Bloggers often earn that same salary.
Yeah, unlike WGA members, bloggers earn exactly what they're worth.
Laws that limit what a retailer can charge are actively damaging to the economy, and the consumer public, by being pro-monopoly and anti-competitive. If nobody can discount more than 5% off the MSRP, then everybody will sell at that price. At that point, big retailers will be making more money - because they pay less to the publisher for books, and that will not be made illegal, ever - than smaller, independant retailers. And that means that the big retailers will pressure the publisher to reduce MSRP, but not wholesale cost, which cuts margins to the small time retailer. It becomes a vicious cycle, until the small time folks are gone, and all that's left is to buy from Walmart or Barnes & Noble, who won't carry anything but the bestseller list drek. Amazon is an oddity is the market, in that they're a very large player in the market, but don't act like a big retailer. This is because they're smart, and not a traditional retailer (and mail order is a very different business model).
Anti-competition laws always favor big corporate retailers.
If these fucking things make the slightest bit of noise, I swear I'm going to light it on fire, and start growing my own food.
Noted futurist John Scalzi has an insightful analysis of the idea at http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=280#comments
"Poor, stupid deluded Sony BMG.
"This MusicPass thing: six months at the outside."
He even predicts Sony invoking a variation of the Chewbaca Defense.
Bad example, since sodomy laws have already been declared unconstitutional by SCOTUS.
I have been thinking very seriously to introduce a recorder in my life to settle arguments with my girlfriend
In some states, doing that without her knowing consent is a felony.
I'm wondering if "anti-hacking" laws like this will conflict with data retention laws that are also brutally oppressive, to the point where admins will be required to do things they can't possibly do without tools that are illegal to possess. Sounds like the sort of thing one would expect from China.
Yeah, and the 300,000+ employees should all be jailed, too, because "I was just following orders" isn't an excuse.
Or maybe you're a knee-jerk reactionary. Or maybe just a moron.
I wonder if anybody has ever assembled a list of "updates" like this - ones where the recommended solution from Microsoft is to buy more Microsoft product - and compared it to major releases that have been financially disappointing.
In other words, I can't help but notice this comes very shortly after Vista bombed.
In most states, the consumer does not have the option to have the old parts returned, they have the right to have the old parts returned. Where laws are properly enforced, it's a rather big deal if the mechanics doesn't do so.
And yes, the laws regarding computer repair should be the same.
The right of privacy, legally speaking, applies to government searches. This wasn't a government search. This was a computer tech working on a computer he was hired to work on. This is no different than the furnace guy coming out to your house to change a filter, and finding your paper child porn collection stuffed in to a vent. But, I suppose, there are people who would whine about that, too.
Your first stop should always be your state's labor board. In many states, that's all it takes. California occasionally brings criminal charges against both companies and managers who try to stiff employees out of overtime, and always takes such allegations seriously. The mangers who stiffed the guy would have a permanent black stain on their souls that would follow them to every job they ever have again, because the corporation would get the snot fined out of them (in addition to having to pay the unpaid overtime, plus interest), and be audited regularly for years to come.