Snowden should be held accountable for his actions and he should be tried on all charges they want to throw at him.
I don't live in the US but I thought that's what the NDAA was for? You lock up a guy without charges or trial to make sure no one ever hears his side of the story. It's a perfect opportunity to use it and show potential whistleblowers that not only are they guaranteed to spend all their life in some detention camp but they will also be denied rights any convicted serial killer or child molester enjoys because technically they are not going to be prisoners. Frankly, I think the guy is royally fucked.
As I see it his two choices are:
1) Spending the rest of his life in some detention camp without the right to see any visitors
2) Getting asylum, moving there and disappearing without a trace/ dying in a freak accident some time later
The gist of the story (native Polish speaker here):
1) The guy lost his iPad and asked the admins what he should do.
2) They told him they could copy all data from the tablet onto a CD/DVD.
3) He then asked them if they could also copy his private e-mails and they said 'yes'
4) He reached the conclusion that since they could copy and store all his data it could easily be made public (and, knowing his party's track record, no wonder it scared him shitless).
5) He returned the iPad and got himself a laptop.
So no, it's not a case of "Me not like" but rather a case of "What do you mean by *we've got all your data right here and we can read your e-mail* ?"
I'd say it depends mostly on company culture. I used to work in one international company where you could forget about your direct superior socializing with you. Now I work in another, even bigger, and it's not uncommon for our CEO to crack a joke when we talk and he's considered to be pretty awkward with people compared to the other in such high positions.
But, back to the topic: I used to work 14 hour shifts right after college but that was in construction and all I did was to move around heavy stuff as I had no actual skills. It can be done but the question is: do I like and need the job so much that I can give up my life? Now, I've changed jobs, work in my profession and while in this kind of a job 8 hours is more than optimum, I occasionally work for 14 hours or more but it's once or twice a month tops. And when I do I always either get paid extra (more than the regular rate, even more on weekends, at night or on holidays) or get time off (in addition to regulatory 26 days off per year, and if I work even a single minute on a holiday, like Christmas, I get an entire day off). I don't see why not. My employer buys my time (which can be considered a kind of commodity) and in return I get my salary. We signed a contract, it says how much I'm supposed to work, how much I get paid, what our responsibilities and rights are. We both agreed to it. When I hear that unpaid overtime has become a standard in the US I cannot help but think that it's like walking into a grocery store and telling the clerk "Look, I'm going to take a gallon of milk but pay you just for half of that". There's no difference, really. We both sell something and we set the price. Pay up or look for some sucker who's going to work twice as much for half the money.
No need to sue them. Provisions contradicting the EU law are simply considered to be null and void. Some contracts/EULAs just add "unless not permitted by your local/applicable law" or something to that effect just to let people know that they should check
would prevent companies having to give up user data, or even retain it etc. etc.
Google and Facebook are never going to give up retaining user data. If anything, it's in their interest to push for laws which would enable them to store as much of it as they can for as long as they please. This is what allows them to get advertisers, who are their customers. We, the users, are their commodity.
I wonder how "public" they're going to be. During the ACTA debacle the Polish government invited representatives of all movie/music/whathaveyou industry organizations and not a single NGO, representative of an alternative point of view or somebody who actually has some idea about how the Internet works and they called it "public consultations". I wouldn't be surprised to see something similar here
Forced? I've never had a FB account and never had problems staying in touch with the people I wanted to communicate with. You can always call/text/email/IM them. If you can't be bothered to do as much from time to time, either you're better off without "friends" like them or they're better off without a "friend" like you...
It's not about whether or not MS allowed the "journalists" to play with the tablets. It's that they lied and said they used and loved something they were not allowed to touch. It's not about Apple/Google/MS product releases. It's about a bunch of people with cameras and press badges calling themselves "journalists", while all they did was copy/paste the press release - something I see more and more often. I really think we should have some kind of a distinction between a journalist as in "someone with minimum professional integrity and IQ above room temperature" and guys who call themselves press just to pick up chicks...
I don't know about the US, but here having a minimum wage job (well below poverty line) usually means you don't qualify for any kind of welfare. On the other hand, welfare does not guarantee survival either (won't even cover cost of food). Of course there are some who still claim that the minimum wage is way too high but given that unemployment among people 18-24 yo is ca. 40% and most people will take ANY job at the moment, and the fact that I see more and more Porsches, Ferraris et al. in the streets I don't think the minimum wage is the problem we have here.
Or higher wages for government employees, more tax cuts for corporations and the rich, another war or two. It's not only how high the taxes are, it's about how well you spend the money.
This. According to some definitions, in capitalism the "capitalists" use all available means to maximize the profit, including, for example, lobbying for favourable legislation (see: patents, copyright, monopolies etc.) to limit and ultimately eliminate competition. Whether we agree with this definition or not, I think this is current state of affairs. I believe that while capitalism might, a long time ago, be synonymous with free market, it is no longer the case.
They say "Once a Marine, always a Marine". I guess it also applies to SEALs. That's why I'd never use such a service as long as former US (or any other country's, for that matter) military/government employees are involved. I just t believe they be too easily convinced that "the greater good" or "national security" demand that they give the government free access to the system.
A Soviet prosecutor, Andrey Vyshinsky once said "Give me a man and I'll find an article." I think this is a clear example of this principle being used against a political enemy. It was a standard practice of totalitarian regime to charge someone with some relatively minor crime and then sentence them to death or life in prison. In this case Assange could just be sent to Guantanamo and "await further decision" till hell freezes over.
In EU market share is not the only factor determining dominant position. However, 60% market share is usually the level when a company has to start watching its every step.
[5] Case 27/76 United Brands and United Brands Continentaal v Commission [1978] ECR 207, paragraphs 65 and 66; Case C-250/92 Gøttrup-Klim e.a. Grovvareforeninger v Dansk Landbrugs Grovvareselskab [1994] ECR I-5641, paragraph 47; Case T-30/89 Hilti v Commission [1991] ECR II-1439, paragraph 90.
Nope, I was travelling to the UK. No one bothered to check my passport when I was leaving to see if I didn't stay longer than I was allowed to at that time. Now I there are no limits on how long I can stay in the UK, but I last used the tunnel in summer 2001...;)
I don't think they don't have the right to choose a wrong model and go broke. I think that piracy and how ubiquitous it has become proves that they've chosen a wrong model. However, instead of changing the way they operate they just buy laws to ensure that it's "their way or the highway". And we're paying them whether we go to their movies, buy their CDs or books or not. There's a fee for "potential copyright infringement" on every blank CD and every blank sheet of printer/photocopier paper you buy because it's assumed we're all thieves and use them to copy copyrighted music/video or books. So every time someone copies a flyer saying their dog is missing "the entertainment industry" gets paid, every time someone backs up the pictures of their granny on a CD - they get paid. With such ridiculous laws they won't go bankrupt even if they price Justin Bieber CDs at $100 a pop or just stop producing "content" at all.
True, but now their "autocorrect" function is more of a problem than a solution. I use several languages and changing language in google before every search would take too much time. Worse yet, google used to search for what you typed and politely suggest "did you mean..." now it shows the results for what it thinks you wanted to type and it's almost always wrong and just shows what you typed in small print below the search box. While I still prefer it to other search engines in my opinion is started turning into bloatware...
I like the ideas (especially the latter one) but how much time would pass before taxes similar to the "potential piracy tax" we pay on blank CDs would be charged even on printer paper? I'm afraid we would only make them push for legislation which would guarantee them a nice and steady stream of revenue regardless of whether they actually release any movies or music
Free corporations of any government oversight and you have Cyberpunk 2020 - corporations become independent states with their own military and law enforcement agencies. Unlikely? Well, the SFPD has already been used as a private police force but that was at least questionable and a few people had some explaining to do. If corporations are accountable to no one you can be sure that they are going to take full advantage of that. Yes, the current system is broken and governments sit in deep pockets of their corporate sponsors but they have to do something from time to time to please the masses if they want to keep up the appearances of a democratic election process.
You don't seem to understand that companies don make decisions by themselves. There are people running them, they call the shots and they should be held responsible for results of their own actions. The entire "corporate personhood" idea is just a way for them to wriggle out of that responsibility.
While I agree with most of your views I think the margins are not the only motivation. Some people are attention who... errr... hungry and will gladly accept lower margins in return for exposure in media and "respect" the studio execs show them.
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Snowden should be held accountable for his actions and he should be tried on all charges they want to throw at him.
I don't live in the US but I thought that's what the NDAA was for? You lock up a guy without charges or trial to make sure no one ever hears his side of the story. It's a perfect opportunity to use it and show potential whistleblowers that not only are they guaranteed to spend all their life in some detention camp but they will also be denied rights any convicted serial killer or child molester enjoys because technically they are not going to be prisoners. Frankly, I think the guy is royally fucked.
As I see it his two choices are:
1) Spending the rest of his life in some detention camp without the right to see any visitors
2) Getting asylum, moving there and disappearing without a trace/ dying in a freak accident some time later
Probably not, in the US atheists are hated more than Muslims and distrusted as much as rapists.
The gist of the story (native Polish speaker here):
1) The guy lost his iPad and asked the admins what he should do.
2) They told him they could copy all data from the tablet onto a CD/DVD.
3) He then asked them if they could also copy his private e-mails and they said 'yes'
4) He reached the conclusion that since they could copy and store all his data it could easily be made public (and, knowing his party's track record, no wonder it scared him shitless).
5) He returned the iPad and got himself a laptop.
So no, it's not a case of "Me not like" but rather a case of "What do you mean by *we've got all your data right here and we can read your e-mail* ?"
But, back to the topic: I used to work 14 hour shifts right after college but that was in construction and all I did was to move around heavy stuff as I had no actual skills. It can be done but the question is: do I like and need the job so much that I can give up my life? Now, I've changed jobs, work in my profession and while in this kind of a job 8 hours is more than optimum, I occasionally work for 14 hours or more but it's once or twice a month tops. And when I do I always either get paid extra (more than the regular rate, even more on weekends, at night or on holidays) or get time off (in addition to regulatory 26 days off per year, and if I work even a single minute on a holiday, like Christmas, I get an entire day off). I don't see why not. My employer buys my time (which can be considered a kind of commodity) and in return I get my salary. We signed a contract, it says how much I'm supposed to work, how much I get paid, what our responsibilities and rights are. We both agreed to it. When I hear that unpaid overtime has become a standard in the US I cannot help but think that it's like walking into a grocery store and telling the clerk "Look, I'm going to take a gallon of milk but pay you just for half of that". There's no difference, really. We both sell something and we set the price. Pay up or look for some sucker who's going to work twice as much for half the money.
When I read responses like that I wish the modding system had a "-1 Moron" option...
What we need most is a way to fire our delegates.
We've got the technology! All we need to do is use it
No need to sue them. Provisions contradicting the EU law are simply considered to be null and void. Some contracts/EULAs just add "unless not permitted by your local/applicable law" or something to that effect just to let people know that they should check
would prevent companies having to give up user data, or even retain it etc. etc.
Google and Facebook are never going to give up retaining user data. If anything, it's in their interest to push for laws which would enable them to store as much of it as they can for as long as they please. This is what allows them to get advertisers, who are their customers. We, the users, are their commodity.
I wonder how "public" they're going to be. During the ACTA debacle the Polish government invited representatives of all movie/music/whathaveyou industry organizations and not a single NGO, representative of an alternative point of view or somebody who actually has some idea about how the Internet works and they called it "public consultations". I wouldn't be surprised to see something similar here
Forced? I've never had a FB account and never had problems staying in touch with the people I wanted to communicate with. You can always call/text/email/IM them. If you can't be bothered to do as much from time to time, either you're better off without "friends" like them or they're better off without a "friend" like you...
It's not about whether or not MS allowed the "journalists" to play with the tablets. It's that they lied and said they used and loved something they were not allowed to touch. It's not about Apple/Google/MS product releases. It's about a bunch of people with cameras and press badges calling themselves "journalists", while all they did was copy/paste the press release - something I see more and more often. I really think we should have some kind of a distinction between a journalist as in "someone with minimum professional integrity and IQ above room temperature" and guys who call themselves press just to pick up chicks...
I don't know about the US, but here having a minimum wage job (well below poverty line) usually means you don't qualify for any kind of welfare. On the other hand, welfare does not guarantee survival either (won't even cover cost of food). Of course there are some who still claim that the minimum wage is way too high but given that unemployment among people 18-24 yo is ca. 40% and most people will take ANY job at the moment, and the fact that I see more and more Porsches, Ferraris et al. in the streets I don't think the minimum wage is the problem we have here.
Or higher wages for government employees, more tax cuts for corporations and the rich, another war or two. It's not only how high the taxes are, it's about how well you spend the money.
This. According to some definitions, in capitalism the "capitalists" use all available means to maximize the profit, including, for example, lobbying for favourable legislation (see: patents, copyright, monopolies etc.) to limit and ultimately eliminate competition. Whether we agree with this definition or not, I think this is current state of affairs. I believe that while capitalism might, a long time ago, be synonymous with free market, it is no longer the case.
They say "Once a Marine, always a Marine". I guess it also applies to SEALs. That's why I'd never use such a service as long as former US (or any other country's, for that matter) military/government employees are involved. I just t believe they be too easily convinced that "the greater good" or "national security" demand that they give the government free access to the system.
A Soviet prosecutor, Andrey Vyshinsky once said "Give me a man and I'll find an article." I think this is a clear example of this principle being used against a political enemy. It was a standard practice of totalitarian regime to charge someone with some relatively minor crime and then sentence them to death or life in prison. In this case Assange could just be sent to Guantanamo and "await further decision" till hell freezes over.
In general, a dominant position derives from a combination of several factors which, taken separately, are not necessarily determinative [5]
[5] Case 27/76 United Brands and United Brands Continentaal v Commission [1978] ECR 207, paragraphs 65 and 66; Case C-250/92 Gøttrup-Klim e.a. Grovvareforeninger v Dansk Landbrugs Grovvareselskab [1994] ECR I-5641, paragraph 47; Case T-30/89 Hilti v Commission [1991] ECR II-1439, paragraph 90.
Nope, I was travelling to the UK. No one bothered to check my passport when I was leaving to see if I didn't stay longer than I was allowed to at that time. Now I there are no limits on how long I can stay in the UK, but I last used the tunnel in summer 2001... ;)
Last time I took the train they checked the passports in Folkstone, UK. It was quite a few years ago thoush so things might have changed...
I don't think they don't have the right to choose a wrong model and go broke. I think that piracy and how ubiquitous it has become proves that they've chosen a wrong model. However, instead of changing the way they operate they just buy laws to ensure that it's "their way or the highway". And we're paying them whether we go to their movies, buy their CDs or books or not. There's a fee for "potential copyright infringement" on every blank CD and every blank sheet of printer/photocopier paper you buy because it's assumed we're all thieves and use them to copy copyrighted music/video or books. So every time someone copies a flyer saying their dog is missing "the entertainment industry" gets paid, every time someone backs up the pictures of their granny on a CD - they get paid. With such ridiculous laws they won't go bankrupt even if they price Justin Bieber CDs at $100 a pop or just stop producing "content" at all.
True, but now their "autocorrect" function is more of a problem than a solution. I use several languages and changing language in google before every search would take too much time. Worse yet, google used to search for what you typed and politely suggest "did you mean..." now it shows the results for what it thinks you wanted to type and it's almost always wrong and just shows what you typed in small print below the search box. While I still prefer it to other search engines in my opinion is started turning into bloatware...
I like the ideas (especially the latter one) but how much time would pass before taxes similar to the "potential piracy tax" we pay on blank CDs would be charged even on printer paper? I'm afraid we would only make them push for legislation which would guarantee them a nice and steady stream of revenue regardless of whether they actually release any movies or music
Free corporations of any government oversight and you have Cyberpunk 2020 - corporations become independent states with their own military and law enforcement agencies. Unlikely? Well, the SFPD has already been used as a private police force but that was at least questionable and a few people had some explaining to do. If corporations are accountable to no one you can be sure that they are going to take full advantage of that. Yes, the current system is broken and governments sit in deep pockets of their corporate sponsors but they have to do something from time to time to please the masses if they want to keep up the appearances of a democratic election process.
You don't seem to understand that companies don make decisions by themselves. There are people running them, they call the shots and they should be held responsible for results of their own actions. The entire "corporate personhood" idea is just a way for them to wriggle out of that responsibility.
While I agree with most of your views I think the margins are not the only motivation. Some people are attention who... errr... hungry and will gladly accept lower margins in return for exposure in media and "respect" the studio execs show them.