I already have about 300 CDs that I've spent a TON of cash on over the last 10 years. What should I do now? Through away all my CDs and start buying these quarter-sized disks? No thanks. I've already spent enough money, I'm not going to do it all over again.
Earlier this week we read all about the RIAA's attempts to put pressure on the ISP's to regulate content. Some of them, like my ISP Adelphia, caved in and started to shut down peoples accounts. So, the RIAA effectively won a round causing me to unshare my 4 Gb of quality MP3s for fear of me getting my account shut down. (It took me 2 years to get a broadband connection in the little piss-ant town that I live in and, now that I have it, I'm NOT going back to dial-up...)
Now, the US Congress comes out with this *NEW* report that equates P2P with pr0n. The average Joe Moron in America is not going to spend the time to do any serious validation of this claim. The will assume that if the US Gov't says it is bad... then it must be shut down. (Just like the EVIL NAPSTER where communists were giving away free music). This clearly indicates a manuever by the RIAA and the MPAA to influence legislation against P2P. They realize that they can't attack the source (us). But, they have figured out how to kill it just the same. Go after the ISPs! If you filter it at the ISP level then the end-users are fucked. What better way for the RIAA to shut down P2P? Lobby Congress! It's simple really:
RIAA Scumbag: "I'll give you $20,000 for your next election campaign" Elected Official Scumbag: "OK. What do I have to do?" RIAA Scumbag: "Pass laws that prohibit file sharing on the Internet." Elected Official Scumbag: "How do I do that?" RIAA Scumbag: "Come up with some report that proves how P2P is used for piracy, pornography, terrorism, drugs, and virus creation" Elected Official Scumbag: "The public hates those things and would shut it down in a heartbeat!"
The Anonymous Coward wrote: "The only way we will be able to have children safely use the internet is if a 'children's' internet is created and subject to regulation, something I think would be well worth the effort."
The only flaw in your otherwise brilliant plan is that no one can agree on who the "regulators" are and what the limits of "regulation" are.
People in Europe regularly spend family vacations on beaches where everyone is naked. If you post pictures of your family trip to the sea shore will you be subject to "regulation"?
The Catholics (and other extreme conservatives) consider ANYTHING and EVERYTHING offensive! Do you let them regulate the children's Internet? Who gets to decide what is moral and what is not moral? Goat sex is immoral.... but, is sex education immoral? What about fine art that contains nudity? Where do you draw the line? And, more importantly.... WHO decides this sort of stuff?
If you want to try to regulate a children's Internet -- more power to you! The Catholics will excommunicate you. The Baptists will send you to hell, and the Mormons will try to save you. And, don't forget the Jehovah's Witnesses who will show up on your front porch to explain the evil of your ways to you.
We don't need a children's Internet. We need parents who are involved in their kid's lives. If you are a parent and your son is downloading goat porn on BearShare -- I would have to say that you are neglecting you responsibilities as a parent! Little Jonny doesn't go from "Game Zone" to hard-core-porn without a few warning signs. Stop expecting the government, or the public to raise your children for you! You are the parent! You produced offspring! Now do your job and raise them the way you feel they should be raised! Don't blame society for your kid's problems... point the finger at yourself for a change.
Before 1913, the US Monetary system was under Government control. But, in a sudden take-over maneuver, the monetary system it was given to a private company called the "Federal Reserve". (Check out who owns it and sits on the board)
If you want a better understanding of what the Government is trying to do with ICANN, look at the history or the Fed. How did a nation founded on a tax revolution end up paying over 50% to the government? (or, are we really paying it into the banking system?)
The ICANN take-over is the latest model for Government "tax" collection. Taxing people rights to exist... or, for their ideas to exist online.
If you could present me with content that stimulates me or fills a need in my life then I will pay for it. But, from what I've seen on the Web -- we have a LONG way to go before this will happen:
Pay for music? Only if it's EXACTLY the song I want, in the format I want, and I have the ablity to tranfer it to other devices or use it however I see fit (not including piracy or distribution). It would also be nice to be able to recover my music in the event of hardware/software failure. This would stimulate & fill a need in my life.
Pay for Slashdot? Only if I can avoid hotgrits, goatsex, Natalie Portman, Pirst Fost, Jon Katz, Anonymous Cowards, and advertising. Util Taco and company can filter the noise and give me nothing but signal -- I won't pay. This also applies to other forms of "pseudo-journalism" on the Net. It doesn't stimulate me or fill a need in my life.
As the author pointed out -- information has different value to different people. What is worth $10 to you might be worth $0 to me! I think we should stop killing ourselves by trying to figure out ways to make a "quick buck" off the Net. Ever since 1992 everyone has been asking the eternal question: "How do we make money off it?"
Answer: You don't.
The sites that DO make money? Porn: it stimulates people (literally) and fills a need in their life. Money: The finance sites that charge for content appeal to our greed and stimulate us with dreams of wealth.
But, unless you can create some compelling new type of infomation that fills the goals -- you aren't going to make money charging for it.
I've used thier opt-out link a couple of times, but still get the popup ads for X10. Banner ads don't work. The click-through rates have been dropping like a stone since 1994. Nobody clicks on ads anymore.
My question is what makes these advertisers think that we are suddenly going to say "Oh! Wow! I wasn't going to buy your product before.... but, since you popped up an ad in my face, I just changed my mind. Here's my money!"
Maybe if we're all really lucky, the Net will revert back to the way it was. All the commercial sites will give up trying to "make a quick buck" off the Internet. They will close their doors and go away. Then, since there is no more money to be made or commercial content to be seen... all the marketing idiots will go away too.
In the end, we will be left with text-only pages (viewable in Lynx) with no ads, no Flash, no Quicktimes, and no corporate American bullshit. I don't understand -- why is this is a bad thing again!?!? I would love to go back to the Web the way it was in 1993 - 94. No Porn. No Ads. No Bullshit. No Morons. No Commercialism. Just Net.
A.I. = Another Ishtar
on
Review: A.I.
·
· Score: 1
It is a shame that Stanley Kubrick didn't live to make this movie. This is not Steven Spielberg's style. He ruined a potentially great movie.
I do all the work. I supply all the bandwidth. And then I pay Napster a fee so that others can download my files? And, for some odd reason... they think we are going to go along with this plan!
I received my CueCat in the mail thanks to Wired magazine. I promptly threw it in a junk-box with all my other broken/unused hardware. It's still sitting there in my closet now! I bet DigitalConvergence is so glad they spent the money to mail me one!
Maybe other companies can learn from this: 1.) If someone comes up with a new and ingenious way to use your product that you never thought about -- you should encourage them (not threaten them with lawsuits). 2.) Don't ever, ever, EVER, listen to the schmucks in the marketing department. They wouldn't know a good idea if it bit them in the ass.
Seriously! ICANN makes decisions based on "consensus of the Internet community". And who might the 'Internet community' be? VeriSign, MCI, AT&T, WIPO, MPAA, Afilias, and lawyers everywhere! You know.... the guys you hang out with online.
Fuck free speech! Fuck the little guy! Fuck the individual! WIPO, ICANN, and the army of lawyers won't stop until they have closed-off every avenue of free speech on this planet. The DNS is 10% technical and 90% political.
Here is "the perfect copy-protection scheme(tm)" that should be adopted by everyone (you) and endorsed by all the major media monopolies(company):
1) You won't actually "own" a computer, handheld, phone, TV, stereo or other media device -- you just rent it. The company will provide one for you. You will be given permission to rent this device for as long as you would like. Upon request the device must be returned to the company.
2) You won't get to actually choose which content you would like to watch or listen to... the company will select this content for you (based on a comprehensive demographic marketing profile) and automatically send it to your device. You will be billed accordingly.
3) You will be contacted daily by advertisers working in close conjuction with the company to fine-tune your profile. You are expected to buy products and services so that we may determine your likes and dislikes. This information will be shared with all of our partners and affiliates.
4) CD-Burners, Floppy disks, Zip disks and other removable media are hereby banned. You really don't need to create "backups" anyway. Since you are only renting the computer and paying to view the content - there is no need to create copies. If your computer/PDA/phone/device ever becomes unusable due to hardware or software problems, please return it to the company for a replacement.
"If Linux becomes outlawed... then only outlaws will run Linux."
I was talking to the secretary at my job this week when she comes out with: "Have you seen this?" pointing to an article about OfficeXP... "I want this". So, I asked her why. She said "Because it will make things easier to use". Then, I asked her how do you know? And she responded - "Because this article says so (as she proceeded to rattle-off some of the propoganda printed in the article).
I then took some time to explain about the XP software subscription model and the whole Microsoft.NET strategy. She was amazed! "No, that can't be right... they wouldn't be allowed to do that!" HA! Not only allowed... but already halfway towards implementing it!
With Microsoft sending out tons of free copies of Office XP to every Journalist in America and filling their head with lies -- it will only be a matter of time before every secretary in America wants a copy of Windows XP, and Office XP. Shit! They actually believe that it is inherently a better product!
This, of course, is assuming that you will upgrade to the latest version of "Easy CD Creator". I'm using an older version now that works just fine. I will hang on to my CD and also my CDRW drive.
I wonder if they are going to try the same bogus scheme as the guys who were trying to created Harddrives that would prevent writing "unauthorized" files? Weren't they going to try some sort of key/encryption system? So, now when you go to rip a disk your CD drive will want to connect to the Net to validate you first???
I think not. Look at all the companies jumping ship on SMDI! Any company that relies on encryption (hardware or software) to prevent people from copying bits is in for a rude-awakening. It ain't gonna happen.
The real people calling the shots over at ICANN are Louis Touton, Joe Sims, and VeriSign (who bought Network Solutions).
They claim to have a "bottom-up" consensus approach to their decision making. They claim to be "open and transparent". But, they are anything but. Rather than having the the public elections that they have TWICE promised the US Gov't -- they decided to do a long (2 yr.) and costly ($400 K +) study instead. There may never be public elections ever again!
Go look at the ICANN public forum regarding the recent decision to give VeriSign long-term control of.COM. There are hundreds of outraged posts from people around the globe screaming "This is wrong! Don't give VeriSign any more control than they already have!" But, even though 90% of the public was against the VeriSign contract... what does ICANN do? They do what is "best for the Internet community" and give the existing monopoly even MORE control of the DNS.
They conduct closed-door meetings. They post major policy changes only days before they get together to vote on it (leaving no time for public debate) and they have recently voted unanimously for pay-raises for ICANN members. Meanwhile -- the public outreach and education budget has been slashed to almost nothing.
The only group who might possibly be more crooked than ICANN would have to be the US Congress. But, guess who is lobbying both of them? VERISIGN !!!
Slashdot Mirror
I already have about 300 CDs that I've spent a TON of cash on over the last 10 years. What should I do now? Through away all my CDs and start buying these quarter-sized disks? No thanks. I've already spent enough money, I'm not going to do it all over again.
Please tell me WHY in god's name would you spend $2,000 on an auction without using an escrow service?!?!?!
If complete stranger that you've never before comes up and ask to borrow $2000 -- do you give it to them?
If so -- please let me know. I am selling vacation homes in Florida. Each home is has a water-front view and will quadruple in value!
Maybe they will start an investigation into Quest.net?
Check out Ad-Aware from LavaSoft if you want to remove the spyware that BearShare installs:
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
Now, the US Congress comes out with this *NEW* report that equates P2P with pr0n. The average Joe Moron in America is not going to spend the time to do any serious validation of this claim. The will assume that if the US Gov't says it is bad... then it must be shut down. (Just like the EVIL NAPSTER where communists were giving away free music). This clearly indicates a manuever by the RIAA and the MPAA to influence legislation against P2P. They realize that they can't attack the source (us). But, they have figured out how to kill it just the same. Go after the ISPs! If you filter it at the ISP level then the end-users are fucked. What better way for the RIAA to shut down P2P? Lobby Congress! It's simple really:
RIAA Scumbag: "I'll give you $20,000 for your next election campaign"
Elected Official Scumbag: "OK. What do I have to do?"
RIAA Scumbag: "Pass laws that prohibit file sharing on the Internet."
Elected Official Scumbag: "How do I do that?"
RIAA Scumbag: "Come up with some report that proves how P2P is used for piracy, pornography, terrorism, drugs, and virus creation"
Elected Official Scumbag: "The public hates those things and would shut it down in a heartbeat!"
It's not as absurd as you might think.
The only flaw in your otherwise brilliant plan is that no one can agree on who the "regulators" are and what the limits of "regulation" are.
People in Europe regularly spend family vacations on beaches where everyone is naked. If you post pictures of your family trip to the sea shore will you be subject to "regulation"?
The Catholics (and other extreme conservatives) consider ANYTHING and EVERYTHING offensive! Do you let them regulate the children's Internet? Who gets to decide what is moral and what is not moral? Goat sex is immoral.... but, is sex education immoral? What about fine art that contains nudity? Where do you draw the line? And, more importantly.... WHO decides this sort of stuff?
If you want to try to regulate a children's Internet -- more power to you! The Catholics will excommunicate you. The Baptists will send you to hell, and the Mormons will try to save you. And, don't forget the Jehovah's Witnesses who will show up on your front porch to explain the evil of your ways to you.
We don't need a children's Internet. We need parents who are involved in their kid's lives. If you are a parent and your son is downloading goat porn on BearShare -- I would have to say that you are neglecting you responsibilities as a parent! Little Jonny doesn't go from "Game Zone" to hard-core-porn without a few warning signs. Stop expecting the government, or the public to raise your children for you! You are the parent! You produced offspring! Now do your job and raise them the way you feel they should be raised! Don't blame society for your kid's problems... point the finger at yourself for a change.
If you want a better understanding of what the Government is trying to do with ICANN, look at the history or the Fed. How did a nation founded on a tax revolution end up paying over 50% to the government? (or, are we really paying it into the banking system?)
The ICANN take-over is the latest model for Government "tax" collection. Taxing people rights to exist... or, for their ideas to exist online.
Pay for music? Only if it's EXACTLY the song I want, in the format I want, and I have the ablity to tranfer it to other devices or use it however I see fit (not including piracy or distribution). It would also be nice to be able to recover my music in the event of hardware/software failure. This would stimulate & fill a need in my life.
Pay for Slashdot? Only if I can avoid hotgrits, goatsex, Natalie Portman, Pirst Fost, Jon Katz, Anonymous Cowards, and advertising. Util Taco and company can filter the noise and give me nothing but signal -- I won't pay. This also applies to other forms of "pseudo-journalism" on the Net. It doesn't stimulate me or fill a need in my life.
As the author pointed out -- information has different value to different people. What is worth $10 to you might be worth $0 to me! I think we should stop killing ourselves by trying to figure out ways to make a "quick buck" off the Net. Ever since 1992 everyone has been asking the eternal question: "How do we make money off it?"
Answer: You don't.
The sites that DO make money? Porn: it stimulates people (literally) and fills a need in their life. Money: The finance sites that charge for content appeal to our greed and stimulate us with dreams of wealth.
But, unless you can create some compelling new type of infomation that fills the goals -- you aren't going to make money charging for it.
I have no moral objection to it. But, they are the ones leading the charge in aggressive, in-your-face advertising techniques. Hell, they invented it!
My question is what makes these advertisers think that we are suddenly going to say "Oh! Wow! I wasn't going to buy your product before.... but, since you popped up an ad in my face, I just changed my mind. Here's my money!"
Maybe if we're all really lucky, the Net will revert back to the way it was. All the commercial sites will give up trying to "make a quick buck" off the Internet. They will close their doors and go away. Then, since there is no more money to be made or commercial content to be seen... all the marketing idiots will go away too.
In the end, we will be left with text-only pages (viewable in Lynx) with no ads, no Flash, no Quicktimes, and no corporate American bullshit. I don't understand -- why is this is a bad thing again!?!? I would love to go back to the Web the way it was in 1993 - 94. No Porn. No Ads. No Bullshit. No Morons. No Commercialism. Just Net.
It is a shame that Stanley Kubrick didn't live to make this movie. This is not Steven Spielberg's style. He ruined a potentially great movie.
Jon Katz liked it! Nuff said.
I do all the work. I supply all the bandwidth. And then I pay Napster a fee so that others can download my files? And, for some odd reason... they think we are going to go along with this plan!
Or, how about
Say buddy, could you spare $10 for a triple latte?
Maybe other companies can learn from this: 1.) If someone comes up with a new and ingenious way to use your product that you never thought about -- you should encourage them (not threaten them with lawsuits). 2.) Don't ever, ever, EVER, listen to the schmucks in the marketing department. They wouldn't know a good idea if it bit them in the ass.
Seriously! ICANN makes decisions based on "consensus of the Internet community". And who might the 'Internet community' be? VeriSign, MCI, AT&T, WIPO, MPAA, Afilias, and lawyers everywhere! You know.... the guys you hang out with online.
Fuck free speech! Fuck the little guy! Fuck the individual! WIPO, ICANN, and the army of lawyers won't stop until they have closed-off every avenue of free speech on this planet. The DNS is 10% technical and 90% political.
Here is "the perfect copy-protection scheme(tm)" that should be adopted by everyone (you) and endorsed by all the major media monopolies(company):
1) You won't actually "own" a computer, handheld, phone, TV, stereo or other media device -- you just rent it. The company will provide one for you. You will be given permission to rent this device for as long as you would like. Upon request the device must be returned to the company.
2) You won't get to actually choose which content you would like to watch or listen to... the company will select this content for you (based on a comprehensive demographic marketing profile) and automatically send it to your device. You will be billed accordingly.
3) You will be contacted daily by advertisers working in close conjuction with the company to fine-tune your profile. You are expected to buy products and services so that we may determine your likes and dislikes. This information will be shared with all of our partners and affiliates.
4) CD-Burners, Floppy disks, Zip disks and other removable media are hereby banned. You really don't need to create "backups" anyway. Since you are only renting the computer and paying to view the content - there is no need to create copies. If your computer/PDA/phone/device ever becomes unusable due to hardware or software problems, please return it to the company for a replacement.
"If Linux becomes outlawed... then only outlaws will run Linux."
Rapigator is quite nice too - http://www.rapigator.com
I then took some time to explain about the XP software subscription model and the whole Microsoft .NET strategy. She was amazed! "No, that can't be right... they wouldn't be allowed to do that!" HA! Not only allowed... but already halfway towards implementing it!
With Microsoft sending out tons of free copies of Office XP to every Journalist in America and filling their head with lies -- it will only be a matter of time before every secretary in America wants a copy of Windows XP, and Office XP. Shit! They actually believe that it is inherently a better product!
We're doomed.
I'm betting by September 2002 - they are out of business.
This, of course, is assuming that you will upgrade to the latest version of "Easy CD Creator". I'm using an older version now that works just fine. I will hang on to my CD and also my CDRW drive.
I wonder if they are going to try the same bogus scheme as the guys who were trying to created Harddrives that would prevent writing "unauthorized" files? Weren't they going to try some sort of key/encryption system? So, now when you go to rip a disk your CD drive will want to connect to the Net to validate you first???
I think not. Look at all the companies jumping ship on SMDI! Any company that relies on encryption (hardware or software) to prevent people from copying bits is in for a rude-awakening. It ain't gonna happen.
http://www.paradigm.nu/icann
ICANN should take some advice from Princess Leah: "the tighter you squeeze your grip, ICANN,the more CCtlds will slip through your fingers"
There is none.
It is an attempt by IP interests and big corporations (read: NSI) to take control of the root.
The real people calling the shots over at ICANN are Louis Touton, Joe Sims, and VeriSign (who bought Network Solutions).
.COM. There are hundreds of outraged posts from people around the globe screaming "This is wrong! Don't give VeriSign any more control than they already have!" But, even though 90% of the public was against the VeriSign contract... what does ICANN do? They do what is "best for the Internet community" and give the existing monopoly even MORE control of the DNS.
They claim to have a "bottom-up" consensus approach to their decision making. They claim to be "open and transparent". But, they are anything but. Rather than having the the public elections that they have TWICE promised the US Gov't -- they decided to do a long (2 yr.) and costly ($400 K +) study instead. There may never be public elections ever again!
Go look at the ICANN public forum regarding the recent decision to give VeriSign long-term control of
They conduct closed-door meetings. They post major policy changes only days before they get together to vote on it (leaving no time for public debate) and they have recently voted unanimously for pay-raises for ICANN members. Meanwhile -- the public outreach and education budget has been slashed to almost nothing.
The only group who might possibly be more crooked than ICANN would have to be the US Congress. But, guess who is lobbying both of them? VERISIGN !!!
What do you do if Tito rips a killer "rotten egg" fart on the ISS? Do they have special "fart filters" for this sort of thing?