BTW: If you want to turn Windows into a "Media OS" look into the Start command in the a cmd shell (Start/?). Set your winamp, etc., to higher priorities and then you can talk about how you have a media OS.
My standard test is to run an MP3 then try doing something. On windows, it uses 100% CPU so even scrolling in the web browser causes it to skip. On Linux it also uses 100% CPU, but I can scroll without skipping. Opening an archive causes it to skip however.
What do you have : A 386-33? I'm currently playing an MP3 (I presume you mean audio) in Winamp and it is consuming 0% CPU time (obviously it's consuming something but not enough to register). And of course if you really want your MP3s not to skip set the multitasking priority on the app to AboveNormal or High (you can code this into the shortcut)
Recently I've taken to visiting MP3.com a lot and truly it is an excellent place to find lots of unsigned, small, basement artists works. While I have yet to venture into any section including vocals (which is usually where the difference between professionals and amateurs comes SHINING THROUGH. Even if you have a good singer, which is rare, a good vocal producer does amazing things), and I have stuck almost primarily to techno, I've found some amazing stuff. The irony is that while most of the people on Slashdot are always yapping their mouth without the interaction of their brains, and defending Napster as this great new medium for garage bands (which is pure bullshit), MP3.com (and many others) has been there all along ACTUALLY doing something for the little guy. Hell I'm seeing some of these no namers with MP3.com earnings over $100K so it's good to see that they are being rewarded for what they do.
Of course I would like to find some good review sites for this stuff as while I've found some good stuff, I've found a boatload of completely unoriginal, amateur, juvenile rip-off ware. That's the one detriment to an open forum : When any wank can put something together there isn't that critical wall that has to be overcome (preceeding the replies : Yes I realize there are Backdoor Boys and Britney Spears out there, however they too (along with their cadre of cohorts) had to go over the wall related to the genre they deal in), it can mean endless searching by us end users which is annoying.
My wife watches that show okay? I promise it wasn't me.
Anyways the episode is one where Grandpa's memoires are sent away to the big publishing company and what do you know : They want to make a book out of it! Just send us $XYZ thank you. Of course the scam was that to cater to his egotism/narcicism and a feeling that people really gave a crap (which they really don't) they'd get him to pay for the "first publishing" which of course would be the last.
Who, except for the people who are in such a book, would buy such a book? I highly doubt anyone...
We think that it isn't news because it can - and will - happen to any site. Computer outages happen. People are inconvenience
I would say the reason it is news is that:
This isn't Joe's Garage Website : This is one of the most trafficked website on the planet.
If the DNS has been hijacked, hacked, or if this is a case of DNS trusted authorities not being used where they are supposed to be used, this betrays a MASSIVE problem with DNS. As I mentioned this happened the other day where an ISP released a DNS table that included entries for yahoo.com, etc., and it WAS big news because everyone suddenly said : "WTF....How can some guy override the websites of multi-billion dollar corporations?" (BTW: Did anyone else find it funny that he claimed to be an innocent victim yet the pages that the redirected sites went too were clogged with banner ads?).
If it is screwed/hijacked DNS then this could happen to your bank, or Slashdot, or any other site. That is massive.
Just this sort of thing happened the other day where an ISP released DNS entries for yahoo.com, and some other sites, uh...accidentally. The problem is that people don't talk to the authoratative DNS servers : They just trust anyone. This is leading to all sorts of shit and I'm sure after the ruckous about that guy overriding commercial sites DNS entries some script kiddies got some ideas. THIS CAN HAPPEN TO ANY SITE, INCLUDING SLASHDOT. To think this isn't news is just bizarre. It isn't that MS' DNS server was hacked : Rather DNS is showing it's cracks and they are absolutely massive. What if someone redirected a banks page to a dupe that logged everyones login info? Of course theoretically SSL ties a site to an IP, but most people ignore little warnings like that.
On another note I go to microsoft.com all the time in fact (though usually msdn.microsoft.com). Excellent site. In fact I believe it's among the top 3 most visited sites on the planet, so to proclaim it not to matter seems rather goofy.
Yes I am a pawn for big business. I am controlled by the man like a puppet. Just wanted to get that out of the way.
Anyways the thing is this : The goal that the media industries have isn't eliminating ALL piracy, it's eliminating mainstream piracy. For instance there are cassette decks everywhere but most of us still dutifully pay $12 for a CD when we could dupe it off a friend. Why? Convenience, added to the fact that quality is degraded on a tape. Going back to even when the industry was primarily cassette tapes though the same thing held true in that most people would rather buy the real cassette as dubbing a copy of worthwhile quality meant buying a Chromium Oxide cassette tape (itself like $4) then using a high end cassette desk that you've kept very clean and calibrated...it was hardly worth the effort unless you had far too much time on your hands. Again there were lots of people busily duping everything they can find with their custom label collection, but they remained small enough to not be a considerable threat.
But then along comes CDs : Now suddenly you can stick a CD in your drive and a $0.60 CD-R in your burner, hit dupe and you have a 100% copy. Put that with some good transparency labels and you can actually have a professional looking copy that doesn't make you look like a cheap thief. The same thing is a concern for the movie industry with DVD's : What happens when people can make digital copies of DVDs? Back in the day you COULD hook two VCRs together and dupe a copy but again what you'd end up with would be of lesser quality. The majority of consumers think : "Bah it's only $17...I'll just buy the fuggin' thing.". If on the other hand they could easily make a 100% copy and they knew all their friends were...that would bother them. The majority of consumer piracy isn't so much pure theft rather than people not wanting to feel like a sucker (which of course they aren't, but when all their friends are busy duping everything it's hard not to get caught up in it).
I've babbled quite a bit there but the point is this : If you have to degrade the quality of an SDMI song (i.e. a "brute force" attack) then that will keep it on the fringe as most consumers would rather pay the chump change and get the "Real thing" than have reduced quality. It is obvious that there are ways to get around SDMI (i.e. take an audio out and redigitize), but the point of the SDMI is that if it's perceptable then their mission has been accomplished.
On a similar note MP3s are shit. They sound like crap. On top of that the majority of people ripping seem to have absolutely no idea what they're doing and somehow manage to record in the sound of a new mail notification, or suddenly the tone will change abruptly mid-song, etc. If I was the music industry I would be pushing this sort of thing out like CRAZY. i.e. I'd have hundreds of Napster "servers" out there serving up slightly munged songs. People tend to give up and just go buy it. Just like in Warez channels where mysteriously that game you spent 3 days downloading has one ZIP missing, or one's corrupt, etc. They're doing their jobs perfectly.
Totally irrelevant : For all the kiddies writing their whitepapers proclaiming that we're at the dawn of a new world where IP and copyrights are invalid because they can copied : As I mentioned we had cassette tapes in the early 80s. This isn't new. This is the same old shit history just keeps repeating itself. I had Commodore 64 friends who had walls of pirated software. I had buddies who had the big briefcases full of duped cassettes. I had friends who had walls of VHS copies. For anyone who's foolish to proclaim that this is a profound new world, you're obviously too young to realize it's the same battle taking different forms.
Someone troll this looser before more people waste their time replying.
That's right : It isn't what you agree with so it's a troll. While I realize that the percentage of foolish, naive youth is higher than average on Slashdot (hence the unbelievable percentage of socialists and communists...just so long as you're living with mommy and daddy in suburbia), it does amaze me.
Interesting that you use the word "resource" which makes the items in question even more physical than I considered them. However this is the classic argument used by software pirates throughout time. Duh big software makes too much money anyways! Anyways I'm just copying bits and it didn't cost them nuttin'! Oh what's that? They spent $100 million developing this piece of software, or $200 million designing a new drug that cures cancer? Who gives a shit man I deserve everything, and everything should be free. It's just bits right? Or It's just a chemical compound! Absolutely absurd. Drugs are a perfect example actually : After pfizer or Smithkline-Beecham has spent $2 billion dollars making a drug that fights AIDS, or cures some life taking disease, some dumb fuckers such as yourself come along and claim that since the pill costs $0.01 to make, it's fair for everyone to dupe it for $0.01 a piece. That is _SOCIAL_SUICIDE_. This is a useless argument because you people (again I'll use the term communist : Brave new world with everything shared for free....oh except for your own time and efforts) enjoy the benefits and luxuries of the current capitalist world that you superimpose your ideologies as if they are an improvement (It's funny that you and your kin never use practical examples throughout history because they have always been stunning failures). Astounding. Again using drugs as an example it's quite easy to say "All drug compounds should be public domain" AFTER the forces of capitalism have created it...of course it's completely myopic and unbelievably foolish.
In a world where it's possible to rape old ladies in parks, what's wrong with raping old ladies in parks? In a world where it's possible to manipulate the stock market, what's wrong with manipulating the stock market? In a world where it's possible to hack into banks and syphon funds out of other people's accounts into your own, what's wrong with doing that?
Totally irrelevant red herring intending to portray the existing system as fundamentally flawed, but unfortunately the basis is absurd and ridiculous : i.e. you create a song and it's found to have unknowingly overlapped mine, so you are sentenced to death by immediate hanging. Hangings everyone takes countless poor innocent lives that just accidentally overlapped a copyrighted work. In reality it's civil law that requires that a copyright not be infringed, with the penalty being usually the profits from the perpetrating piece : Not a big deal. Even then unintentional coincidence is hardly a copyright infringement and it would be held up as one in any court of law.
And that reward system is for YOU to decide??? This is the crux of the whole matter : YOU don't have to buy CDs from big music. YOU don't have to watch movies from Mega Movie Co. But to STEAL it and claim it as righteous and inevitable is inane. Go do whatever you want with hopes to earn a great reputation, however don't force your ridiculous system on others by theft.
Actually I'd say the last resort of the sore loser is referring to a competing argument as a troll, followed up with some interesting insults. I'm sorry if you're of the maturity that profanity really stands out to you.
Funny but communism and the ideology it contains isn't a dirty word to me, although apparently it is to you. Do I disagree with its practical implementation? Absolutely.
that not everyone is as selfish and greedy as you are.
Gosh, I'd turn that around and say not everyone is as selfish and greedy as the reams of assholes (yourself being a perfect example) on Slashdot who believe that everything should to handed to them on a silver platter. This is absolutely profound it's so hilarious.
Of course what we're talking about here isn't the restraint of the spread of ideas whatsoever (although there are some vague claims to that degree in the article in question, in all cases the copyright protections are intently to prevent the copying of COPYRIGHTED matter, not personal recordings). As I said in my initial message nothing is stopping anyone from creating their own musical masterpieces, or their own movies for that matter. The hardware is all there, and supposedly the motivation is too. None of the proposed initiatives are focused on stopping people's rights to do that (again contrary to the vapourous claims).
Yes I should have realized that a message that begins with Ordinarily, I don't feed the mentally-handicapped trolls, as it rewards the wrong kind of behavior, but there are certain misconceptions being thrown around that... was a good, insightful foray into legitimate discussions.
As far as the killfile reference that is your right and I certainly hope that Slashdot institutes it. Actually I hope that it'll implement a "only show posts that I agree with" filter, or a "reply with claims that it's a troll" rule where it doesn't subscribe to the same ideologies as myself.
This post is a demonstration of cliches. It's a compilation of every foolish communist theory put forth many times previously on Slashdot, though with a smattering of arrogance and elitism thrown in for that "I must be right" touch (who can argue with such an arrogant asshole?). The fact that it's being moderated up absolutely astounds me.
Of course I realize how important DeCSS is now given that ewhac is going to create an OpenGL screensaver that maps the movie in realtime on a sphere (cough cough...bullshit...cough cough). Damn I'm glad DeCSS was created as I'm sure there are reams of users out there busily mapping DVDs onto three dimensional objects, rather than ripping it to VOBs and sticking it on warez sites and CDs to give to friends. On a similar note I am outraged that I can't have my own personal AK-47 as I planned on using it to turn off lights. Damn regulations thwarting my legitimate pasttimes!
People like ewhac have been busy spreading their communist manifestos for years, and I have no doubt they'll continue for many more years, but thankfully the world has proven time and time again how foolish and naive their beliefs are. If it isn't a solid object in their hards their tiny pea sized brains can't comprehend the idea that there can still be value in it, and that that value system encourages creation by rewarding those who create. They can't comprehend the idea that society might agree that to encourage innovation and creation certain checks and balances would be put in place to ensure that the system doesn't collapse (By collapse I'm not meaning that we move to a utopian free world where the likes of ewhac are busy creating their sphere movie screensavers, but rather one where people don't create life saving drugs, they don't write music, and they don't write software. They're too busy tending the fields and other such manual processes because that's all that the likes of ewhac can understand).
Read the article more closely. With MiniDisc the author could not make copies of HIS recording of a wedding. Even though HE owned the copyrights to it.
Firstly the exclusion of a digital out could very well have simply been a commercial reason, however even if Sony is all evil why did he record with a Minidisc player in the first place, presumably knowing the limitations. There are plenty of portable DAT machines out that that you can record all you want and export digitally. DAT machines, so you know, are equipped with a copyright bit that prevents more than 1 copy of copyrighted material, but it puts absolutely no limitation on copying your own stuff. Sounds like me complaining because my DVD player can't record : Monopoly!
Is it right to take away a technology because it *can* be used harmfully, even if that is not its main intended purpose? If that is truly how you feel, then I suggest you try outlawing automobiles, since they can be used for drive-by shootings, or running people over, or getting away from the cops after a robbery. The fact that their intended primary use is simple transportation doesn't matter to you apparently.
I think a far more valid statement would be "Is it right to take away a technology that almost *exclusively* is used harmfully". For all the claims about the legitimacy of Napster : ***bullshit***. Is anyone believing that? I would love to get a list of people who truly believe that Napster is a legitimate medium that apparently is for people too stupid or too lazy to rip their own CD so they have to go find a recording full of you've got mail sounds from someone else : This would be a suckers list to end all suckers lists.
How about DeCSS : Is that REALLY for people who just want to watch their rightfully owned DVDs on their Linux boxen? BULLSHIT.
Did you read the article? Many of these schemes being devised WILL prevent you from publishing your own work digitally unless you get a contract from one of the big recording companies or work in a movie studio.
Let's see. Apple's DVD-R : Won't let you record copyrighted material. Minidisc : Won't let you export digitally from a minidisc (use something different!). SDMI, etc. etc. : all cases of products that won't let you record COPYRIGHTED material. I found it pretty spurious actually how it glossed over the fact that you CAN use the DVD-R to create all your own material that you want....it just won't let you record other people's material.
It's not about little people "stealing" from the big media companies; it's about the big media companies trying to control everything so they can make a little more money. And it fucking blows.
BULLSHIT. The media companies have always known that there is a large contingent of people such as yourself who will justify anything to deprive someone of payment for their work (ex. If I make a copy of a song, the original owner still has the song. That is absurdly inane and if you don't understand why I'm not going to bother going into it because in your justification and denial you'll fail to understand). They also know that there a good majority of people will, if it's convenient and saves them a couple of bucks, steal. They love to have the industry spewing out lots of movies and music, and they like to know that others are paying for it, but they themselves don't mind ripping it off. It's like people's lethargy related to voting : "My dupe doesn't count."
Things like Napster, Divx, DeCSS work as long as the purveyors and users are the minority leaches, while the rest of society supports the infrastructure. Have I used Napster? Sure I have. Is it wrong? Absolutely. I don't justify my actions, and I don't villanize an industry because of their efforts to protect themselves. Why don't all you open source mavens put together your own media format?
While I completely and absolutely agree that the restrictions on digital mediums (i.e. the crippling of DAT) are absurd and should not exist, I think the article took a turn for the worse near the end when it sort of proclaimed that we're in a brave new world where everything should be free, etc, because it can be copied.
Firstly there is absolutely nothing stopping any of you from recording your own CD and sticking it on an FTP server. Note that I'm talking about an original work of art created by YOU with your banjo and Casio SK-1 keyboard, not ripped from your Kid Rock collection. Easy and free distribution! There is nothing stopping you from burning it on CDs and giving it away at the local homeless shelter. There is nothing stopping you from taking a DV camera and recording your own movie, mixing it down on your iMac, and cranking it to MPEG and putting it on your FTP server. NOTHING. Create all you want and you have to right to do whatever you want with it.
However rather than pursuing that people like to look to the hard work and creations of others and say "Because I CAN copy this therefore it is my RIGHT to copy this....yoink!". For all the claims about legals rights, blah blah blah, let's get to the root of the matter which is that people think everything should be free. Everyone else should be busy making movies and great CDs and because we can, we have the almighty given right to distribute it for free. Napster, despite manys claims that it would be a replacement of big music (i.e. letting bands grow independantly through this brave new world) ended up being almost entirely (i'd wager >99.999%) about RIPPING OFF the music of big music. Uh, if you own the CD why are you trying to download it from someone else? That's one of the poorest excuses I've ever heard. Lots of free rippers to MP3s so no one can claim they can't do it themself.
The matter is quite simply that people feel that if they CAN that they SHOULD. I could look on the net I'm sure that I can find a "How to steal a Chrysler" manual. Does that give me the right to go out and `borrow' Chryslers? Of course this gets into the "Well in that case you're depriving someone of something...but me I'm just making a copy! I've deprived no-one of anything!" That of course is complete bullshit that is the excuse of the thief. "Well that old bag had lots of money anyways!"
I would love to see a free world of people creating movies, music, etc., but you can see by example that it DOESN'T WORK. Without the capitalist incentive these reams of independants don't seem to be bothering. Somehow this would be resolved by raping the media companies and depriving the only ones who are creating viable entertainment of the right to control their creations? How utterly absurd and foolish. The proof is all there right in people's faces but people ignore it under the pretense of righteous indignation.
The easy answer is that your #1 priority should be yourself. Of course that doesn't always mean running to the first position with the highest paycheque (indeed many of the people who ran to dot coms are realizing that first hand), but you do need to put yourself first and foremost.
Having said that I would like to take issue with a lot of other messages basically saying screw da man! While loyalty is a word that means very little to most people, often it is earned. There are companies out there that go the extra mile to make their employees happy. There are companies that put their employees first and in periods of downturn they eat losses to avoid sending people out packing. There are companies where the owners are working by far the longest hours and making by far the least. To read the hilariously ironic comments of want-to-be socialists (which Slashdot is unfortunately packed full of) portraying all employers as evil borg entities is frightening. Companies are nothing more than collections of people acting as a unit. Sure sure the world is going to hell in a handbasket and all those evil corporations are out to steal your lunch... Grrrr.
Why would it be frightening? I would say if it proves to be true it merely exposes our current theories as being false. It's amazing, though, how much once we write a guesstimate (usually surrounding by lots of highly subjective metrics and calculations based on those guesstimate initial values and we call that scientific research and hold it up as infalliable) we consider it the law.
I think a parallel is with a saying that I hear quite often that drives me nuts : When anyone claims that it is "against the laws of nature/physics/etc." for a bumblebee to fly. OF COURSE it's not against the laws, but rather it's an indication that either the observations (parading as laws) are invalid, or the analysis on the way the bee flies is incorrect. But to hear schooled people actually claim that it defies the laws just boggles the mind. It's MAGIC.
Slashdot Mirror
BTW: If you want to turn Windows into a "Media OS" look into the Start command in the a cmd shell (Start /?). Set your winamp, etc., to higher priorities and then you can talk about how you have a media OS.
My standard test is to run an MP3 then try doing something. On windows, it uses 100% CPU so even scrolling in the web browser causes it to skip. On Linux it also uses 100% CPU, but I can scroll without skipping. Opening an archive causes it to skip however.
What do you have : A 386-33? I'm currently playing an MP3 (I presume you mean audio) in Winamp and it is consuming 0% CPU time (obviously it's consuming something but not enough to register). And of course if you really want your MP3s not to skip set the multitasking priority on the app to AboveNormal or High (you can code this into the shortcut)
Recently I've taken to visiting MP3.com a lot and truly it is an excellent place to find lots of unsigned, small, basement artists works. While I have yet to venture into any section including vocals (which is usually where the difference between professionals and amateurs comes SHINING THROUGH. Even if you have a good singer, which is rare, a good vocal producer does amazing things), and I have stuck almost primarily to techno, I've found some amazing stuff. The irony is that while most of the people on Slashdot are always yapping their mouth without the interaction of their brains, and defending Napster as this great new medium for garage bands (which is pure bullshit), MP3.com (and many others) has been there all along ACTUALLY doing something for the little guy. Hell I'm seeing some of these no namers with MP3.com earnings over $100K so it's good to see that they are being rewarded for what they do.
Of course I would like to find some good review sites for this stuff as while I've found some good stuff, I've found a boatload of completely unoriginal, amateur, juvenile rip-off ware. That's the one detriment to an open forum : When any wank can put something together there isn't that critical wall that has to be overcome (preceeding the replies : Yes I realize there are Backdoor Boys and Britney Spears out there, however they too (along with their cadre of cohorts) had to go over the wall related to the genre they deal in), it can mean endless searching by us end users which is annoying.
My wife watches that show okay? I promise it wasn't me.
Anyways the episode is one where Grandpa's memoires are sent away to the big publishing company and what do you know : They want to make a book out of it! Just send us $XYZ thank you. Of course the scam was that to cater to his egotism/narcicism and a feeling that people really gave a crap (which they really don't) they'd get him to pay for the "first publishing" which of course would be the last.
Who, except for the people who are in such a book, would buy such a book? I highly doubt anyone...
We think that it isn't news because it can - and will - happen to any site. Computer outages happen. People are inconvenience
I would say the reason it is news is that:
Just this sort of thing happened the other day where an ISP released DNS entries for yahoo.com, and some other sites, uh...accidentally. The problem is that people don't talk to the authoratative DNS servers : They just trust anyone. This is leading to all sorts of shit and I'm sure after the ruckous about that guy overriding commercial sites DNS entries some script kiddies got some ideas. THIS CAN HAPPEN TO ANY SITE, INCLUDING SLASHDOT. To think this isn't news is just bizarre. It isn't that MS' DNS server was hacked : Rather DNS is showing it's cracks and they are absolutely massive. What if someone redirected a banks page to a dupe that logged everyones login info? Of course theoretically SSL ties a site to an IP, but most people ignore little warnings like that.
On another note I go to microsoft.com all the time in fact (though usually msdn.microsoft.com). Excellent site. In fact I believe it's among the top 3 most visited sites on the planet, so to proclaim it not to matter seems rather goofy.
Yes I am a pawn for big business. I am controlled by the man like a puppet. Just wanted to get that out of the way.
Anyways the thing is this : The goal that the media industries have isn't eliminating ALL piracy, it's eliminating mainstream piracy. For instance there are cassette decks everywhere but most of us still dutifully pay $12 for a CD when we could dupe it off a friend. Why? Convenience, added to the fact that quality is degraded on a tape. Going back to even when the industry was primarily cassette tapes though the same thing held true in that most people would rather buy the real cassette as dubbing a copy of worthwhile quality meant buying a Chromium Oxide cassette tape (itself like $4) then using a high end cassette desk that you've kept very clean and calibrated...it was hardly worth the effort unless you had far too much time on your hands. Again there were lots of people busily duping everything they can find with their custom label collection, but they remained small enough to not be a considerable threat.
But then along comes CDs : Now suddenly you can stick a CD in your drive and a $0.60 CD-R in your burner, hit dupe and you have a 100% copy. Put that with some good transparency labels and you can actually have a professional looking copy that doesn't make you look like a cheap thief. The same thing is a concern for the movie industry with DVD's : What happens when people can make digital copies of DVDs? Back in the day you COULD hook two VCRs together and dupe a copy but again what you'd end up with would be of lesser quality. The majority of consumers think : "Bah it's only $17...I'll just buy the fuggin' thing.". If on the other hand they could easily make a 100% copy and they knew all their friends were...that would bother them. The majority of consumer piracy isn't so much pure theft rather than people not wanting to feel like a sucker (which of course they aren't, but when all their friends are busy duping everything it's hard not to get caught up in it).
I've babbled quite a bit there but the point is this : If you have to degrade the quality of an SDMI song (i.e. a "brute force" attack) then that will keep it on the fringe as most consumers would rather pay the chump change and get the "Real thing" than have reduced quality. It is obvious that there are ways to get around SDMI (i.e. take an audio out and redigitize), but the point of the SDMI is that if it's perceptable then their mission has been accomplished.
On a similar note MP3s are shit. They sound like crap. On top of that the majority of people ripping seem to have absolutely no idea what they're doing and somehow manage to record in the sound of a new mail notification, or suddenly the tone will change abruptly mid-song, etc. If I was the music industry I would be pushing this sort of thing out like CRAZY. i.e. I'd have hundreds of Napster "servers" out there serving up slightly munged songs. People tend to give up and just go buy it. Just like in Warez channels where mysteriously that game you spent 3 days downloading has one ZIP missing, or one's corrupt, etc. They're doing their jobs perfectly.
Totally irrelevant : For all the kiddies writing their whitepapers proclaiming that we're at the dawn of a new world where IP and copyrights are invalid because they can copied : As I mentioned we had cassette tapes in the early 80s. This isn't new. This is the same old shit history just keeps repeating itself. I had Commodore 64 friends who had walls of pirated software. I had buddies who had the big briefcases full of duped cassettes. I had friends who had walls of VHS copies. For anyone who's foolish to proclaim that this is a profound new world, you're obviously too young to realize it's the same battle taking different forms.
That's pretty funny. You're a funny guy.
Someone troll this looser before more people waste their time replying.
That's right : It isn't what you agree with so it's a troll. While I realize that the percentage of foolish, naive youth is higher than average on Slashdot (hence the unbelievable percentage of socialists and communists...just so long as you're living with mommy and daddy in suburbia), it does amaze me.
Profanity; the last resort of the sore loser.
Actually I'd say the last resort of the sore loser is referring to a competing argument as a troll, followed up with some interesting insults. I'm sorry if you're of the maturity that profanity really stands out to you.
Communist Paranoia
Funny but communism and the ideology it contains isn't a dirty word to me, although apparently it is to you. Do I disagree with its practical implementation? Absolutely.
that not everyone is as selfish and greedy as you are.
Gosh, I'd turn that around and say not everyone is as selfish and greedy as the reams of assholes (yourself being a perfect example) on Slashdot who believe that everything should to handed to them on a silver platter. This is absolutely profound it's so hilarious.
Of course what we're talking about here isn't the restraint of the spread of ideas whatsoever (although there are some vague claims to that degree in the article in question, in all cases the copyright protections are intently to prevent the copying of COPYRIGHTED matter, not personal recordings). As I said in my initial message nothing is stopping anyone from creating their own musical masterpieces, or their own movies for that matter. The hardware is all there, and supposedly the motivation is too. None of the proposed initiatives are focused on stopping people's rights to do that (again contrary to the vapourous claims).
Yes I should have realized that a message that begins with Ordinarily, I don't feed the mentally-handicapped trolls, as it rewards the wrong kind of behavior, but there are certain misconceptions being thrown around that... was a good, insightful foray into legitimate discussions.
As far as the killfile reference that is your right and I certainly hope that Slashdot institutes it. Actually I hope that it'll implement a "only show posts that I agree with" filter, or a "reply with claims that it's a troll" rule where it doesn't subscribe to the same ideologies as myself.
Sheeit, Slashdot has 3 users?
Do your math dildo.
This post is a demonstration of cliches. It's a compilation of every foolish communist theory put forth many times previously on Slashdot, though with a smattering of arrogance and elitism thrown in for that "I must be right" touch (who can argue with such an arrogant asshole?). The fact that it's being moderated up absolutely astounds me.
Of course I realize how important DeCSS is now given that ewhac is going to create an OpenGL screensaver that maps the movie in realtime on a sphere (cough cough...bullshit...cough cough). Damn I'm glad DeCSS was created as I'm sure there are reams of users out there busily mapping DVDs onto three dimensional objects, rather than ripping it to VOBs and sticking it on warez sites and CDs to give to friends. On a similar note I am outraged that I can't have my own personal AK-47 as I planned on using it to turn off lights. Damn regulations thwarting my legitimate pasttimes!
People like ewhac have been busy spreading their communist manifestos for years, and I have no doubt they'll continue for many more years, but thankfully the world has proven time and time again how foolish and naive their beliefs are. If it isn't a solid object in their hards their tiny pea sized brains can't comprehend the idea that there can still be value in it, and that that value system encourages creation by rewarding those who create. They can't comprehend the idea that society might agree that to encourage innovation and creation certain checks and balances would be put in place to ensure that the system doesn't collapse (By collapse I'm not meaning that we move to a utopian free world where the likes of ewhac are busy creating their sphere movie screensavers, but rather one where people don't create life saving drugs, they don't write music, and they don't write software. They're too busy tending the fields and other such manual processes because that's all that the likes of ewhac can understand).
Read the article more closely. With MiniDisc the author could not make copies of HIS recording of a wedding. Even though HE owned the copyrights to it.
Firstly the exclusion of a digital out could very well have simply been a commercial reason, however even if Sony is all evil why did he record with a Minidisc player in the first place, presumably knowing the limitations. There are plenty of portable DAT machines out that that you can record all you want and export digitally. DAT machines, so you know, are equipped with a copyright bit that prevents more than 1 copy of copyrighted material, but it puts absolutely no limitation on copying your own stuff. Sounds like me complaining because my DVD player can't record : Monopoly!
Is it right to take away a technology because it *can* be used harmfully, even if that is not its main intended purpose? If that is truly how you feel, then I suggest you try outlawing automobiles, since they can be used for drive-by shootings, or running people over, or getting away from the cops after a robbery. The fact that their intended primary use is simple transportation doesn't matter to you apparently.
I think a far more valid statement would be "Is it right to take away a technology that almost *exclusively* is used harmfully". For all the claims about the legitimacy of Napster : ***bullshit***. Is anyone believing that? I would love to get a list of people who truly believe that Napster is a legitimate medium that apparently is for people too stupid or too lazy to rip their own CD so they have to go find a recording full of you've got mail sounds from someone else : This would be a suckers list to end all suckers lists.
How about DeCSS : Is that REALLY for people who just want to watch their rightfully owned DVDs on their Linux boxen? BULLSHIT.
Bah.
Did you read the article? Many of these schemes being devised WILL prevent you from publishing your own work digitally unless you get a contract from one of the big recording companies or work in a movie studio.
Let's see. Apple's DVD-R : Won't let you record copyrighted material. Minidisc : Won't let you export digitally from a minidisc (use something different!). SDMI, etc. etc. : all cases of products that won't let you record COPYRIGHTED material. I found it pretty spurious actually how it glossed over the fact that you CAN use the DVD-R to create all your own material that you want....it just won't let you record other people's material.
Tell us, how does it feel to be a brainwashed moron?
I don't know why don't you tell me fool.
It's not about little people "stealing" from the big media companies; it's about the big media companies trying to control everything so they can make a little more money. And it fucking blows.
BULLSHIT. The media companies have always known that there is a large contingent of people such as yourself who will justify anything to deprive someone of payment for their work (ex. If I make a copy of a song, the original owner still has the song. That is absurdly inane and if you don't understand why I'm not going to bother going into it because in your justification and denial you'll fail to understand). They also know that there a good majority of people will, if it's convenient and saves them a couple of bucks, steal. They love to have the industry spewing out lots of movies and music, and they like to know that others are paying for it, but they themselves don't mind ripping it off. It's like people's lethargy related to voting : "My dupe doesn't count."
Things like Napster, Divx, DeCSS work as long as the purveyors and users are the minority leaches, while the rest of society supports the infrastructure. Have I used Napster? Sure I have. Is it wrong? Absolutely. I don't justify my actions, and I don't villanize an industry because of their efforts to protect themselves. Why don't all you open source mavens put together your own media format?
He doesn't sing about little boys.
While I completely and absolutely agree that the restrictions on digital mediums (i.e. the crippling of DAT) are absurd and should not exist, I think the article took a turn for the worse near the end when it sort of proclaimed that we're in a brave new world where everything should be free, etc, because it can be copied.
Firstly there is absolutely nothing stopping any of you from recording your own CD and sticking it on an FTP server. Note that I'm talking about an original work of art created by YOU with your banjo and Casio SK-1 keyboard, not ripped from your Kid Rock collection. Easy and free distribution! There is nothing stopping you from burning it on CDs and giving it away at the local homeless shelter. There is nothing stopping you from taking a DV camera and recording your own movie, mixing it down on your iMac, and cranking it to MPEG and putting it on your FTP server. NOTHING. Create all you want and you have to right to do whatever you want with it.
However rather than pursuing that people like to look to the hard work and creations of others and say "Because I CAN copy this therefore it is my RIGHT to copy this....yoink!". For all the claims about legals rights, blah blah blah, let's get to the root of the matter which is that people think everything should be free. Everyone else should be busy making movies and great CDs and because we can, we have the almighty given right to distribute it for free. Napster, despite manys claims that it would be a replacement of big music (i.e. letting bands grow independantly through this brave new world) ended up being almost entirely (i'd wager >99.999%) about RIPPING OFF the music of big music. Uh, if you own the CD why are you trying to download it from someone else? That's one of the poorest excuses I've ever heard. Lots of free rippers to MP3s so no one can claim they can't do it themself.
The matter is quite simply that people feel that if they CAN that they SHOULD. I could look on the net I'm sure that I can find a "How to steal a Chrysler" manual. Does that give me the right to go out and `borrow' Chryslers? Of course this gets into the "Well in that case you're depriving someone of something...but me I'm just making a copy! I've deprived no-one of anything!" That of course is complete bullshit that is the excuse of the thief. "Well that old bag had lots of money anyways!"
I would love to see a free world of people creating movies, music, etc., but you can see by example that it DOESN'T WORK. Without the capitalist incentive these reams of independants don't seem to be bothering. Somehow this would be resolved by raping the media companies and depriving the only ones who are creating viable entertainment of the right to control their creations? How utterly absurd and foolish. The proof is all there right in people's faces but people ignore it under the pretense of righteous indignation.
The easy answer is that your #1 priority should be yourself. Of course that doesn't always mean running to the first position with the highest paycheque (indeed many of the people who ran to dot coms are realizing that first hand), but you do need to put yourself first and foremost.
Having said that I would like to take issue with a lot of other messages basically saying screw da man! While loyalty is a word that means very little to most people, often it is earned. There are companies out there that go the extra mile to make their employees happy. There are companies that put their employees first and in periods of downturn they eat losses to avoid sending people out packing. There are companies where the owners are working by far the longest hours and making by far the least. To read the hilariously ironic comments of want-to-be socialists (which Slashdot is unfortunately packed full of) portraying all employers as evil borg entities is frightening. Companies are nothing more than collections of people acting as a unit. Sure sure the world is going to hell in a handbasket and all those evil corporations are out to steal your lunch... Grrrr.
There are far too many idiots on the planet.
Why would it be frightening? I would say if it proves to be true it merely exposes our current theories as being false. It's amazing, though, how much once we write a guesstimate (usually surrounding by lots of highly subjective metrics and calculations based on those guesstimate initial values and we call that scientific research and hold it up as infalliable) we consider it the law.
I think a parallel is with a saying that I hear quite often that drives me nuts : When anyone claims that it is "against the laws of nature/physics/etc." for a bumblebee to fly. OF COURSE it's not against the laws, but rather it's an indication that either the observations (parading as laws) are invalid, or the analysis on the way the bee flies is incorrect. But to hear schooled people actually claim that it defies the laws just boggles the mind. It's MAGIC.