If longer copyrights are better for the economy, meaning that they make profit for private companies, then they will be extended. Nothing else matters. The economy comes first, now and always, above all other things, Amen.
Fortunately, there are many, many good arguments for why extensions are bad for the economy, a number of them already mentioned in comments to this post. Unfortunately, what matters is not the economy, but who has enough money to convince politicians to buy their version of how the economy works, even if it's flat out lies.
I imagine it determines your location when over wifi and assumes that's where you are until it detects a new wifi connection. I'm guessing this since while on the road in Ohio and Pennsylvania, it gave me ads relating to stuff in southeastern Michigan, the last area I'd connected to wifi in.
Agreed. Why, if GE would've had to pay even a dime of federal taxes this year, the repercussions would've been dire for us all. Dire, I tell you!
An excellent example of exactly what he's talking about. Despite how high taxes are, GE still didn't pay anything. Raising taxes will not change that. The rich who are affected by the high taxes on the rich have the money to pay people to figure out the loopholes so they pay as little as possible. But, with higher taxes, the government expects more money, so they assume they have a larger budget, but when tax time rolls around, oops! No more money than before comes in, putting us further into debt.
Now, tax reform to simplify tax law, reduce loopholes, etc, I think is something both parties can get behind (though getting the politicians to actually vote for it against the wills of the lobbyists would be more difficult). And that, if done right, would actually help.
"BUTT SUM1 ELS CULD GET AXES 2 IT!!!!1111 MAY-B!!!!"
Common sense doesn't work when you have tech-illiterate judges being told what to think by record company lawyers.
You inserted the CD in the drive to prove you owned the CD, and your mp3.com account was updated saying that you own the CD. Showing that you owned the CD gave you access to the copies of the files on their servers. From that point on, you could stream that music from their servers to any device with web access, regardless of whether you had the CD with you or not. Kind of like entering a serial number to activate software.
Since every single one of those has been suggested dozens, if not hundreds of times on the boards, and I imagine every single one of them has had a reply from a developer saying they are doing it or explaining why they aren't doing it (with good, legitimate reasons every time I've seen it), yes, you are going to have to do better.
A few examples.
epic missions - battles involving hundreds of players,
They've had a 40 vs 40 battleground for half a decade. Then they introduced a pvp area that could take unlimited players. The servers strained near the point of crashing constantly and it was unplayable for anyone without a decent computer, so they had to change it. Now it maxes out at...80 vs 80, as I recall. They've said they like the idea, but until they find a way to do it without those issues, they won't try it again.
important positions relatively easy to take over but difficult to hold, so they continuously change ownership
Just implemented that in Tol Barad.
VERY difficult missions which would be attempted and failed over and over until someone succeeds and the result is permanent,
So lots of development time, play testing, and balancing for something 0.0001% of players will get to see? No thanks. I pay just as much for this game as everyone else. I should have the opportunity to see and experience all of it without having to sacrifice my job and life to make sure I'm part of the "elite" guilds that can get that first kill. And if you're talking about individuals...good luck balancing that such that it isn't more difficult for some classes than others (see the Death Knight videos of them soloing content from near the end of the last expansion, whereas some classes probably still have a hard time soloing stuff from two expansions ago).
Instantiated personal space (a room in a hotel or a house) so that every player has a fully customizable personal area without cutting into the massive bulk,
Been mentioned hundreds of times, and each time, people point out the devs would rather work on content that encourages the social aspect of this MULTIPLAYER game, rather than separating everyone into their own little worlds.
expensive, prestigeous public locations for rent/sale and personalized use.
Woohoo, more stuff that 0.0001% of the player base can use.
significant guilds shaping the politics, economy, influencing the world,
Been done in Eve Online. Some like it, some don't. Blizz also tries to avoid implementing mechanics that encourages everyone to join up in a few large guilds. Sure, large guilds do have advantages, but right now, they aren't overwhelming.
construction of massive structures progressing by tiny phases, so your contribution is permanent ("I built THIS door of the castle"),
Again, this is a MULTIPLAYER game. Blizz tries to avoid things that encourage people to say "screw everyone else" and just play on their own. That said, they have done it, to an extent. See the Opening of the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj, though, despite it being a questline that individuals follow, required multiple raids that needed large groups working together.
I think it would be more accurate to say there's a large, often vocal, conservative block in our population that doesn't appreciate satire. [Of course even this refinement is a generalization and isn't strictly true.]
In my experience, there are several, very vocal groups on both sides of the political isle who don't appreciate satire of specific kinds. Make gay jokes or racist jokes? The only thing that keeps the left-wing groups off your throat is if you're a minority. Crack a joke about Christianity? The right-wing groups will be in your face instantly. But both seem to approve of the humor the opposite side hates, telling each other to "lighten up," or in the worst cases, that their own humor is justified because it's true.
I feel that the vast majority of people do enjoy satire, it's just different people enjoy different types. Personally, I find both Family Guy and South Park to be rather dull most of the time (the Manbearpig episode was pretty fantastic, though). Any funny satire they do tends to be ruined for me by the body and shock humor ("WE SAID PENIS, LOL"). Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged on the other hand, I just about die laughing at every episode. It's just different tastes.
Specifically, where the number of objects corresponds to the number of dimensions -- so, by crude extension, add lettuce, tomato and cheese to your sandwich and do it in six dimensions (yes, I know, that is a horrible over-simplification and I can't think of a car analogy).
When expanding beyond three dimensions, you have to prefix the word "hyper" onto all objects. So you would add "hyper-lettuce," "hyper-tomato," and "hyper-cheese." Or if you really want to be exact, "six-dimensional hyper-lettuce," etc.
or c) Call up the credit card company and say "My 10 year old got ahold of my credit card and bought $300 worth of smurfberries without my permission. Is it possible to have those charges cancelled? I need to know whether I need to beat him, or beat him and put him to work for a month to pay off his debt."
Question: Who took the photo? If the German police wants to keep something quiet then obviously they are not going to take snapshots and give them to the person living at the home to distribute them on the internet. Is it the person living there? Well, that would be stupid, because if you are outside your home when police arrives, you aren't going to wait for them to smash down your door, but open it. Or was it some neighbour? Why isn't this mentioned then? And again, if the police wants to keep it quiet why did they allow him to take photos?
Or is this just some picture of some raid, probably on the home of some armed robber, picked deliberately to give the impression of police brutality? And the "raid" was actually just a policeman with a search warrant in his hand, ringing the door bell?
I just assumed it was a stock photo since, like you said, it makes no sense for there to be a photo of the actual event. Did they bust down his door or show up with a warrant? I have no idea. But if they did knock on his door, and when he answered, they shoved the warrant in his face, pushed inside, and tore his house apart searching for and confiscating stuff, I think most people would still consider that a "raid."
By the way, a "raid of questionable legality" doesn't become legal if the police then find evidence.
I'm fully aware that's how it's supposed to work. Can you really claim that that's how it always works?
I just wish this woe is me, I am an innocent abused hacker/hobbiest/tinkerer act. Here is the deal if you use the software, just accept the fact that you not get to use the PSN again. If you are distributing the proprietary sony code/information (that they can identify),expect for them to come after you. it is really that simple and it is justified.
You are 100% correct that you should expect them to come after you if you do that. The thing is...they aren't doing that. They're distributing a difference file. You then take the official firmware and the difference file, plug it into a program, and the program changes the bits of the OFW file as directed in the difference file. The difference file by itself has no Sony code, and if you aren't told what to use it on, there is absolutely no way to figure out what it's supposed to be used with. The end user is modifying code distributed by Sony for their own personal use, something that I am almost entirely sure is a protected right. Sure, you can find and download the modified firmware, but the original hackers are not the ones distributing that.
And you'd expect someone other than graf_chokolo to notice, publish, or somehow independently report the raid.
Because every police raid that ever happens is reported on in the mainstream media mere hours after it happened? Especially those of questionable legality that they would want to keep quiet until they have something solid? Even the ones that have to do with crimes that the vast majority of people don't care about (i.e. not a drug bust, child prostitution ring, or related to a professional athlete)? I realize this is Germany and not the US, but your suggestion seems a little...optimistic. I'm also assuming you've gone through all the German news sites to make sure it wasn't reported on and you aren't just assuming...right?
Um, no it's not. While I agree with the first part of your statement, an Optimus Prime toy doesn't yet have a built in commerce engine, play 1000s of movies or provide additional revenue that Hasbro bases their financial projections on to remain a profitable company.
FTFY.
"Buy the new Optimus Prime EX Super Toy with up to 500 lines from the Transformers movies!
Base toy comes with five lines, additional lines sold separately, use of addon voice packs requires continuous connection to wireless network to validate content, see our website for more detail.
What if I want to donate more than I feel comfortable sending through PayPal? I'm excited! Email me, we'll figure it out.
Or you could read what he wrote and send him an email? It may not be exactly what he was talking about, but it's worth a shot if you're actually interested in helping.
+ There is, of course, absolutely no correlation between violent movies, music, games, books, art and actual acts of violence, which makes the legislation even more idiotic.
Actually, there is. I did a pretty extensive research report on it in college. There is a correlation. There even has been shown pretty conclusively that people who play the games tend to feel more aggressive (I can't recall if it was in general or just for a period of time afterward). The key was, though, that it wasn't enough. It was the equivalent of screwing up an exam you thought you did well on, or having your parents tell you to go to your room because you didn't finish your broccoli. Sure, you're "angrier" or "more aggressive" from those things, but it isn't enough to cause extreme behavioral changes. Something else has to be present first. Combine violent video games with years of bullying and an abusive parent and you might end up with a reaction, but video games by themselves are not enough, nor are violent movies, violent music, anything like that. As long as you game responsibly (meaning, not playing 16 hours a day, or whatever), there are no dangerous effects. And the real key is, the people in the situations where violent video games might push them over the edge aren't going to be swayed by the ratings or warnings.
Plus, there's always the fact that violent people are going to be drawn to violent games.
And for those of you who instantly think "CITATION!!!!!" I wish I could, but I'm not even sure I have the paper anymore, let alone access to it from work.
Assuming you're talking about the US, you mean "AO." M is carried basically everywhere. AO is the one everyone refuses to stock. And to get an AO rating you need to have basically downright pornographic content in your game, so it's really not that hard to avoid.
If you're referring to another country's system, though, then I have no idea how it works.
Slashdot Mirror
If longer copyrights are better for the economy, meaning that they make profit for private companies, then they will be extended. Nothing else matters. The economy comes first, now and always, above all other things, Amen.
Fortunately, there are many, many good arguments for why extensions are bad for the economy, a number of them already mentioned in comments to this post. Unfortunately, what matters is not the economy, but who has enough money to convince politicians to buy their version of how the economy works, even if it's flat out lies.
Copyright existed then, just not as it does today. At that time, derivative works were not covered by IP laws, that was something added years later.
Thank you! Good read, since I live in Michigan.
Am I blind, or does that map not actually give any information about what rights people in those zones do not have?
Obligatory: http://xkcd.com/451/
I imagine it determines your location when over wifi and assumes that's where you are until it detects a new wifi connection. I'm guessing this since while on the road in Ohio and Pennsylvania, it gave me ads relating to stuff in southeastern Michigan, the last area I'd connected to wifi in.
Agreed. Why, if GE would've had to pay even a dime of federal taxes this year, the repercussions would've been dire for us all. Dire, I tell you!
An excellent example of exactly what he's talking about. Despite how high taxes are, GE still didn't pay anything. Raising taxes will not change that. The rich who are affected by the high taxes on the rich have the money to pay people to figure out the loopholes so they pay as little as possible. But, with higher taxes, the government expects more money, so they assume they have a larger budget, but when tax time rolls around, oops! No more money than before comes in, putting us further into debt.
Now, tax reform to simplify tax law, reduce loopholes, etc, I think is something both parties can get behind (though getting the politicians to actually vote for it against the wills of the lobbyists would be more difficult). And that, if done right, would actually help.
"BUTT SUM1 ELS CULD GET AXES 2 IT!!!!1111 MAY-B!!!!" Common sense doesn't work when you have tech-illiterate judges being told what to think by record company lawyers.
You inserted the CD in the drive to prove you owned the CD, and your mp3.com account was updated saying that you own the CD. Showing that you owned the CD gave you access to the copies of the files on their servers. From that point on, you could stream that music from their servers to any device with web access, regardless of whether you had the CD with you or not. Kind of like entering a serial number to activate software.
...want more ideas?
Since every single one of those has been suggested dozens, if not hundreds of times on the boards, and I imagine every single one of them has had a reply from a developer saying they are doing it or explaining why they aren't doing it (with good, legitimate reasons every time I've seen it), yes, you are going to have to do better. A few examples.
epic missions - battles involving hundreds of players,
They've had a 40 vs 40 battleground for half a decade. Then they introduced a pvp area that could take unlimited players. The servers strained near the point of crashing constantly and it was unplayable for anyone without a decent computer, so they had to change it. Now it maxes out at...80 vs 80, as I recall. They've said they like the idea, but until they find a way to do it without those issues, they won't try it again.
important positions relatively easy to take over but difficult to hold, so they continuously change ownership
Just implemented that in Tol Barad.
VERY difficult missions which would be attempted and failed over and over until someone succeeds and the result is permanent,
So lots of development time, play testing, and balancing for something 0.0001% of players will get to see? No thanks. I pay just as much for this game as everyone else. I should have the opportunity to see and experience all of it without having to sacrifice my job and life to make sure I'm part of the "elite" guilds that can get that first kill. And if you're talking about individuals...good luck balancing that such that it isn't more difficult for some classes than others (see the Death Knight videos of them soloing content from near the end of the last expansion, whereas some classes probably still have a hard time soloing stuff from two expansions ago).
Instantiated personal space (a room in a hotel or a house) so that every player has a fully customizable personal area without cutting into the massive bulk,
Been mentioned hundreds of times, and each time, people point out the devs would rather work on content that encourages the social aspect of this MULTIPLAYER game, rather than separating everyone into their own little worlds.
expensive, prestigeous public locations for rent/sale and personalized use.
Woohoo, more stuff that 0.0001% of the player base can use.
significant guilds shaping the politics, economy, influencing the world,
Been done in Eve Online. Some like it, some don't. Blizz also tries to avoid implementing mechanics that encourages everyone to join up in a few large guilds. Sure, large guilds do have advantages, but right now, they aren't overwhelming.
construction of massive structures progressing by tiny phases, so your contribution is permanent ("I built THIS door of the castle"),
Again, this is a MULTIPLAYER game. Blizz tries to avoid things that encourage people to say "screw everyone else" and just play on their own. That said, they have done it, to an extent. See the Opening of the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj, though, despite it being a questline that individuals follow, required multiple raids that needed large groups working together.
I think it would be more accurate to say there's a large, often vocal, conservative block in our population that doesn't appreciate satire. [Of course even this refinement is a generalization and isn't strictly true.]
In my experience, there are several, very vocal groups on both sides of the political isle who don't appreciate satire of specific kinds. Make gay jokes or racist jokes? The only thing that keeps the left-wing groups off your throat is if you're a minority. Crack a joke about Christianity? The right-wing groups will be in your face instantly. But both seem to approve of the humor the opposite side hates, telling each other to "lighten up," or in the worst cases, that their own humor is justified because it's true. I feel that the vast majority of people do enjoy satire, it's just different people enjoy different types. Personally, I find both Family Guy and South Park to be rather dull most of the time (the Manbearpig episode was pretty fantastic, though). Any funny satire they do tends to be ruined for me by the body and shock humor ("WE SAID PENIS, LOL"). Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged on the other hand, I just about die laughing at every episode. It's just different tastes.
Sounds great! Just tell me where I can go biking or running halfway through an international flight and I'll be golden!
Specifically, where the number of objects corresponds to the number of dimensions -- so, by crude extension, add lettuce, tomato and cheese to your sandwich and do it in six dimensions (yes, I know, that is a horrible over-simplification and I can't think of a car analogy).
When expanding beyond three dimensions, you have to prefix the word "hyper" onto all objects. So you would add "hyper-lettuce," "hyper-tomato," and "hyper-cheese." Or if you really want to be exact, "six-dimensional hyper-lettuce," etc.
or c) Call up the credit card company and say "My 10 year old got ahold of my credit card and bought $300 worth of smurfberries without my permission. Is it possible to have those charges cancelled? I need to know whether I need to beat him, or beat him and put him to work for a month to pay off his debt."
Question: Who took the photo? If the German police wants to keep something quiet then obviously they are not going to take snapshots and give them to the person living at the home to distribute them on the internet. Is it the person living there? Well, that would be stupid, because if you are outside your home when police arrives, you aren't going to wait for them to smash down your door, but open it. Or was it some neighbour? Why isn't this mentioned then? And again, if the police wants to keep it quiet why did they allow him to take photos? Or is this just some picture of some raid, probably on the home of some armed robber, picked deliberately to give the impression of police brutality? And the "raid" was actually just a policeman with a search warrant in his hand, ringing the door bell?
I just assumed it was a stock photo since, like you said, it makes no sense for there to be a photo of the actual event. Did they bust down his door or show up with a warrant? I have no idea. But if they did knock on his door, and when he answered, they shoved the warrant in his face, pushed inside, and tore his house apart searching for and confiscating stuff, I think most people would still consider that a "raid."
By the way, a "raid of questionable legality" doesn't become legal if the police then find evidence.
I'm fully aware that's how it's supposed to work. Can you really claim that that's how it always works?
I just wish this woe is me, I am an innocent abused hacker/hobbiest/tinkerer act. Here is the deal if you use the software, just accept the fact that you not get to use the PSN again. If you are distributing the proprietary sony code/information (that they can identify),expect for them to come after you. it is really that simple and it is justified.
You are 100% correct that you should expect them to come after you if you do that. The thing is...they aren't doing that. They're distributing a difference file. You then take the official firmware and the difference file, plug it into a program, and the program changes the bits of the OFW file as directed in the difference file. The difference file by itself has no Sony code, and if you aren't told what to use it on, there is absolutely no way to figure out what it's supposed to be used with. The end user is modifying code distributed by Sony for their own personal use, something that I am almost entirely sure is a protected right. Sure, you can find and download the modified firmware, but the original hackers are not the ones distributing that.
And you'd expect someone other than graf_chokolo to notice, publish, or somehow independently report the raid.
Because every police raid that ever happens is reported on in the mainstream media mere hours after it happened? Especially those of questionable legality that they would want to keep quiet until they have something solid? Even the ones that have to do with crimes that the vast majority of people don't care about (i.e. not a drug bust, child prostitution ring, or related to a professional athlete)? I realize this is Germany and not the US, but your suggestion seems a little...optimistic. I'm also assuming you've gone through all the German news sites to make sure it wasn't reported on and you aren't just assuming...right?
Um, no it's not. While I agree with the first part of your statement, an Optimus Prime toy doesn't yet have a built in commerce engine, play 1000s of movies or provide additional revenue that Hasbro bases their financial projections on to remain a profitable company.
FTFY. "Buy the new Optimus Prime EX Super Toy with up to 500 lines from the Transformers movies!
Base toy comes with five lines, additional lines sold separately, use of addon voice packs requires continuous connection to wireless network to validate content, see our website for more detail.
What if I want to donate more than I feel comfortable sending through PayPal?
I'm excited! Email me, we'll figure it out.
Or you could read what he wrote and send him an email? It may not be exactly what he was talking about, but it's worth a shot if you're actually interested in helping.
$100 from me as well. Might do more as time goes on if he needs it.
+ There is, of course, absolutely no correlation between violent movies, music, games, books, art and actual acts of violence, which makes the legislation even more idiotic.
Actually, there is. I did a pretty extensive research report on it in college. There is a correlation. There even has been shown pretty conclusively that people who play the games tend to feel more aggressive (I can't recall if it was in general or just for a period of time afterward). The key was, though, that it wasn't enough. It was the equivalent of screwing up an exam you thought you did well on, or having your parents tell you to go to your room because you didn't finish your broccoli. Sure, you're "angrier" or "more aggressive" from those things, but it isn't enough to cause extreme behavioral changes. Something else has to be present first. Combine violent video games with years of bullying and an abusive parent and you might end up with a reaction, but video games by themselves are not enough, nor are violent movies, violent music, anything like that. As long as you game responsibly (meaning, not playing 16 hours a day, or whatever), there are no dangerous effects. And the real key is, the people in the situations where violent video games might push them over the edge aren't going to be swayed by the ratings or warnings.
Plus, there's always the fact that violent people are going to be drawn to violent games.
And for those of you who instantly think "CITATION!!!!!" I wish I could, but I'm not even sure I have the paper anymore, let alone access to it from work.
Assuming you're talking about the US, you mean "AO." M is carried basically everywhere. AO is the one everyone refuses to stock. And to get an AO rating you need to have basically downright pornographic content in your game, so it's really not that hard to avoid. If you're referring to another country's system, though, then I have no idea how it works.