There are exceptions to every rule of course. But in general, if stalking is your thing, there are far easier venues of pursuing it then putting your ass into the line of fire by messing with police-related systems.
Which falls well into "exteme amount of resources" part.
You don't just "crack/socially engineer" your way into massively logged and controlled police-only access areas telecoms/large communications companies. Even if you do, your actions will be logged and checked.
Stalker that would provide proof of his/her stalking via logs (any sane company always maintains full logs of law enforcement access, and it's usually legally mandated to keep such logs), and has resources to exploit police-designed measure?
That would imply either extreme amount of resources, or stalker being a police officer. In both cases, we have a problem that would cause a whole lot of bigger issues then this particular abuse.
We have been pretty close for a while now. Latest Eee PC 10 inch netbook I bought as a gift for my mother runs for slightly less then 8 hours on a single charge (battery can be replaced in ~10 seconds), while running all x86 applications (atom n550). My only qualm with it is lack of XP (it had w7 starter), but after I upgraded the RAM size to 2GB it seemed to work really well. It's about the same size as 10 inch tablets in all dimensions but thickness (thin on the user's side, but thickens toward the screen where battery is) and about twice as heavy (1.25kg).
Of course it comes with actual x86 native compatibility, standard laptop connectivity, keyboard, touchpad, etc. It even has built in bluetooth so it can be used as a smartphone remote or to connect wireless speakers/headset.
It also costs about half of what ipad does. I honestly have no idea who would pick a tablet over netbook if ultraportable is what they need, unless it's a public image issue (which is what most people I've seen with tablets seem to be getting them for).
Probably very little because of its relative density. Diamond needs to be workable and light to be suitable for jewelry usage. This one is unlikely to be either, and even if it was workable, having a small ring that weighs kilograms, and earrings that rip your ears off don't make for good accessories.
Yes, that's the exact reason why I jumped to their defence. You got me, I'm gay for gamestop in spite of having never shopped there (we didn't even have gamestops here until a few years ago when they bought out a few small shops in every city). It has nothing to do with having worked in retail in general, and knowing how and why the system works. At all!
Let's be blunt. Only a few radicals wanted democracy and human rights. They were a tiny niche that wanted to keep their ideals of how humanity should live. The vast majority just wanted to live their lives in peace.
Thank all the deities in the world that the small minority in question didn't give up.
I think returning a "defective" product pretty much covers the "no returns on software" policy, when you have a crippleware like starforce bundled with it. But we were talking about exchanging software that doesn't break machines.
Another funny detail - water in "water closet" actually appears to refer to "letting out water", as in peeing. Original name applies to outhouses where you went to pee. No running water there.
That's illegal pretty much everywhere, as it would qualify as selling used product as new.
As an example, here in Finland we have a very strong consumer protection, so we're allowed by law to get a product in the mail (in case of webshopping where you can't check the product in the shop), take it out of the box and inspect it, and then return it if we don't like it. The only requirements are that product is not used (i.e. bought TV hasn't been plugged in - you can take it out and see if it fits your wall for example so long as you don't leave visible marks on it, or plug it in and start using it) and that all contents of original box are packaged and included, also unused.
The shop has a right to reseal such a product and sell it again as new, as it is not used.
In that case, square would be likely defrauding gamestop by violating likely non-competition clauses of their retail agreement. Onlive pays square, not gamespot, and gamespot is under no obligations to provide advertisement for third party, especially if second party that delivers the product failed to mention this to them.
If these are the fact, that fault lies squarely with square (pun intended).
Cd-key theft is a crime. Retail suffers quite badly from employee stealing, and not just in game industry.
That said, I know of at least one case when CD key of a friend of mine was stolen by someone in retail chain, and he got another copy from the store. Of course, he was a regular customer, and came with the game in about an hour after purchase.
So, you are one of the idi... ahem people who think that shrink wrap = new?
I have bad news for you. Most retail shops have a shrink wrapping machine in the back, specifically for reality challenged people who believe that shrink wrap = new. This includes essentially all retail shops, no matter the product sold.
There is only one thing that can assure you that product is in the same packaging as it left the factory, and that is factory seals. However for practical reasons, only some extremely expensive hardware is packaged like that in consumer world. The rest of retail not only grants, but assumes that retailer will open packages if they feel they need, to. And even laws across the planet quite universally state that product that retailer opened and re-sealed without using it is in fact eligible to be sold as new (when such thing is specified in legislation). Because it is new. It has not been used. And it would be massively impractical to force retailers to send every product that looks suspicious or doesn't match exact contents instead of just ensuring that retailer can fix the problem himself and re-seal the product.
Our retail chain is one of the most efficient things in the world. It's very much stress-tested to the limit, and there are very sane and logical reasons why it works the way it does. Specifically it works the way it does to make sure that YOU, the customer pay LESS. Because you're the one responsible for paying overhead in the end.
No offence, but no retailer in the world will have any problems breaking "sealed boxes". In most cases their supplier will help them get new seals, or they can ship product back as "defective, contents do not match agreement" and get it back sealed. Retailers essentially ALWAYS have a right to break the seal, unless it's an obvious "warranty void if broken" kind of a seal on the product itself (think unscrewing the game cartridge open). Shrink wrap is not that kind of seal, and essentially every retailer has a shrink wrapping machine in the back specifically for purpose of re-wrapping boxes.
You do realise that the reason why these rules exist is because products you mention are PERISHABLES? As in they can become fatal when opened in wrong environment, and are sealed to increase their due date. Medicines are also often controlled substances.
You can be absolutely certain that any product that doesn't fall in that category (or similar category where opening product may cause significant harm to the product itself) can, and often will be opened by retailer if there is a suspicion of something being wrong with package. They absolutely have this right, both legally and contractually with their supplier. You have to be utterly ignorant of how retail works (and why it works the way it does) to claim otherwise.
And no, removing coupons that were put against retailers' desire, and possibly agreements does not fall into this category. And even if they remove the coupons, the game itself is completely unused, and therefore new.
The only thing they may be doing wrong is false advertisement if package includes mention of the coupon, and retailer doesn't specifically mention the lack of this coupon before sale is made.
You argument could apply to hundreds of common use terms that have the exact problem you describe.
Of course, in reality no one cares. The commonly accepted terms are functional and widely accepted, even if their origins do not match modern end result to a tee.
Slashdot Mirror
There are exceptions to every rule of course. But in general, if stalking is your thing, there are far easier venues of pursuing it then putting your ass into the line of fire by messing with police-related systems.
Which falls well into "exteme amount of resources" part.
You don't just "crack/socially engineer" your way into massively logged and controlled police-only access areas telecoms/large communications companies. Even if you do, your actions will be logged and checked.
Stalker that would provide proof of his/her stalking via logs (any sane company always maintains full logs of law enforcement access, and it's usually legally mandated to keep such logs), and has resources to exploit police-designed measure?
That would imply either extreme amount of resources, or stalker being a police officer. In both cases, we have a problem that would cause a whole lot of bigger issues then this particular abuse.
We have been pretty close for a while now. Latest Eee PC 10 inch netbook I bought as a gift for my mother runs for slightly less then 8 hours on a single charge (battery can be replaced in ~10 seconds), while running all x86 applications (atom n550). My only qualm with it is lack of XP (it had w7 starter), but after I upgraded the RAM size to 2GB it seemed to work really well. It's about the same size as 10 inch tablets in all dimensions but thickness (thin on the user's side, but thickens toward the screen where battery is) and about twice as heavy (1.25kg).
Of course it comes with actual x86 native compatibility, standard laptop connectivity, keyboard, touchpad, etc. It even has built in bluetooth so it can be used as a smartphone remote or to connect wireless speakers/headset.
It also costs about half of what ipad does. I honestly have no idea who would pick a tablet over netbook if ultraportable is what they need, unless it's a public image issue (which is what most people I've seen with tablets seem to be getting them for).
Probably very little because of its relative density. Diamond needs to be workable and light to be suitable for jewelry usage. This one is unlikely to be either, and even if it was workable, having a small ring that weighs kilograms, and earrings that rip your ears off don't make for good accessories.
Yes, that's the exact reason why I jumped to their defence. You got me, I'm gay for gamestop in spite of having never shopped there (we didn't even have gamestops here until a few years ago when they bought out a few small shops in every city). It has nothing to do with having worked in retail in general, and knowing how and why the system works. At all!
If you seriously think so, you should compare what we started with, and what we finished.
If you're thinking about utopia, I have bad news for you. It doesn't exist as long as humans themselves aren't perfect.
I'm a finn, and I was talking about French.
Let's be blunt. Only a few radicals wanted democracy and human rights. They were a tiny niche that wanted to keep their ideals of how humanity should live. The vast majority just wanted to live their lives in peace.
Thank all the deities in the world that the small minority in question didn't give up.
I think returning a "defective" product pretty much covers the "no returns on software" policy, when you have a crippleware like starforce bundled with it. But we were talking about exchanging software that doesn't break machines.
It most likely notes "online services", which fully covers onlive.
Another funny detail - water in "water closet" actually appears to refer to "letting out water", as in peeing. Original name applies to outhouses where you went to pee. No running water there.
So you pirate all your software?
That's illegal pretty much everywhere, as it would qualify as selling used product as new.
As an example, here in Finland we have a very strong consumer protection, so we're allowed by law to get a product in the mail (in case of webshopping where you can't check the product in the shop), take it out of the box and inspect it, and then return it if we don't like it. The only requirements are that product is not used (i.e. bought TV hasn't been plugged in - you can take it out and see if it fits your wall for example so long as you don't leave visible marks on it, or plug it in and start using it) and that all contents of original box are packaged and included, also unused.
The shop has a right to reseal such a product and sell it again as new, as it is not used.
In that case, square would be likely defrauding gamestop by violating likely non-competition clauses of their retail agreement. Onlive pays square, not gamespot, and gamespot is under no obligations to provide advertisement for third party, especially if second party that delivers the product failed to mention this to them.
If these are the fact, that fault lies squarely with square (pun intended).
Cd-key theft is a crime. Retail suffers quite badly from employee stealing, and not just in game industry.
That said, I know of at least one case when CD key of a friend of mine was stolen by someone in retail chain, and he got another copy from the store. Of course, he was a regular customer, and came with the game in about an hour after purchase.
All retailers in the USA/Europe have taken this right away from you ages ago. In fact, you NEVER HAD THIS RIGHT.
But internet groupthink tends to breed rather silly claims as facts when they get parroted by sufficient amount of ignorant people.
You're most likely confusing the right of "unsealed box" with the right to an "unused product". These are very different animals.
If you find a retailer that doesn't have a resealing machine, let the world know. Ad would be "the dumbest retail shop of last half a century.
Resealing machine is standard equipment in any retail shop, from electronics to food stores.
So, you are one of the idi... ahem people who think that shrink wrap = new?
I have bad news for you. Most retail shops have a shrink wrapping machine in the back, specifically for reality challenged people who believe that shrink wrap = new. This includes essentially all retail shops, no matter the product sold.
There is only one thing that can assure you that product is in the same packaging as it left the factory, and that is factory seals. However for practical reasons, only some extremely expensive hardware is packaged like that in consumer world. The rest of retail not only grants, but assumes that retailer will open packages if they feel they need, to.
And even laws across the planet quite universally state that product that retailer opened and re-sealed without using it is in fact eligible to be sold as new (when such thing is specified in legislation). Because it is new. It has not been used. And it would be massively impractical to force retailers to send every product that looks suspicious or doesn't match exact contents instead of just ensuring that retailer can fix the problem himself and re-seal the product.
Our retail chain is one of the most efficient things in the world. It's very much stress-tested to the limit, and there are very sane and logical reasons why it works the way it does. Specifically it works the way it does to make sure that YOU, the customer pay LESS. Because you're the one responsible for paying overhead in the end.
No offence, but no retailer in the world will have any problems breaking "sealed boxes". In most cases their supplier will help them get new seals, or they can ship product back as "defective, contents do not match agreement" and get it back sealed. Retailers essentially ALWAYS have a right to break the seal, unless it's an obvious "warranty void if broken" kind of a seal on the product itself (think unscrewing the game cartridge open). Shrink wrap is not that kind of seal, and essentially every retailer has a shrink wrapping machine in the back specifically for purpose of re-wrapping boxes.
What you're talking about is selling used as new. That is usually illegal.
What they're doing here is opening the package, checking contents without using the actual product (game). This does not make the product used.
You do realise that the reason why these rules exist is because products you mention are PERISHABLES? As in they can become fatal when opened in wrong environment, and are sealed to increase their due date.
Medicines are also often controlled substances.
You can be absolutely certain that any product that doesn't fall in that category (or similar category where opening product may cause significant harm to the product itself) can, and often will be opened by retailer if there is a suspicion of something being wrong with package. They absolutely have this right, both legally and contractually with their supplier. You have to be utterly ignorant of how retail works (and why it works the way it does) to claim otherwise.
And no, removing coupons that were put against retailers' desire, and possibly agreements does not fall into this category. And even if they remove the coupons, the game itself is completely unused, and therefore new.
The only thing they may be doing wrong is false advertisement if package includes mention of the coupon, and retailer doesn't specifically mention the lack of this coupon before sale is made.
No, because in their agreements, they absolutely have the right to open product to inspect it written down.
This is true for almost any major retail agreement, and this is why every retail shop has a shrink wrapper machine in the back.
There is a huge leap from good old snake to modern crapware.
You argument could apply to hundreds of common use terms that have the exact problem you describe.
Of course, in reality no one cares. The commonly accepted terms are functional and widely accepted, even if their origins do not match modern end result to a tee.