I lobbied a friend in Sega's Marketing/PR arena to 'do the right thing' and have Sega declare this a non-piracy issue.
No dice. Sega is a big Media company like all the others and is, sadly, towing the party line. Here's their official repsonse:
"The Dreamcast Coder Cable is not a Sega licensed product. It is an unauthorized, black-market peripheral for Sega Dreamcast hardware and we do not condone its use or sale. Sega gives our full and complete support to U.S. customs in their efforts to stop piracy under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Sega stands by our position that piracy is a serious crime and must be stopped. Sega supports a creative team of developers and we aim to protect their intellectual and creative properties in order to deliver the best possible gaming experience to our consumers."
Just for fun, substitute "terrorism" or 'drug use" for "piracy" and the above statement makes equally good propaganda.
I guess Sega doesn't consider BSD developers to be "creative". Sorry guys.
It is ironic in the extreme that G. W. Bush and other government leaders here are calling last week's attack an attack on Liberty, and at the same time asking us as Americans to sacrifice some of our freedoms in the name of "National Security". Ask yourself who is attacking liberty in this country.
The attack on the WTC was clearly an attack on a capitalistic system run amok. Our government places a higher priority on corporate profits and greed than it does on human rights and freedoms. We export this system throughout the world. The WTO protests in Seattle were a precursor to this. Do not fool yourself. American Capitalism was the subject of last week's terrorist attacks. As the preserver of that system, our own government seeks to restrict our freedoms.
Our government already has tremedous power to preserve National Security. The secret FISA court already has extensive authority to order wiretaps, read email, and perform physical searches to combat terrorism and preserve 'National Security'. Did those powers prevent the attacks? The NSA has a huge black budget. Did they see this coming? And what sort of intelligence did the CIA provide us with? Did our already stringent airport security (served up by $5.25/ hr security) prevent anything? It seems to me banning guns would make this country a lot safer than banning butter knives on airplanes.
The reality is that terrorists use primitive methods. Sure, they may use technology like encryption and email to communicate, but who doesn't? Those technologies are not critical to their operations. We have not seen any evidence that any such technologies were used in these attacks. All we know is box-cutters and airplanes were used. Should we ban those? The human body can be an extremely effective weapon when properly trained in the martial arts. Are we going to ban humans from airplanes next?
Modern life is so complex, we cannot eliminate all the possible dangers and threats. As we eliminate one path, another will be found. A motivated and intelligent asssailant will always be able to do harm to others. As much as we might like to, we cannot turn our world into a Playskool world for adults.
When America starts World War III, far more than 5,000 Americans will give their lives to the cause. Many, many more innocent civilians of other nations will give theres. Will there be any winner to such a war? I can think of only one: the military-industrial complex. For them, war is good business.
An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
~Mahatman Gandhi
Slashdot Mirror
I lobbied a friend in Sega's Marketing/PR arena to 'do the right thing' and have Sega declare this a non-piracy issue.
No dice. Sega is a big Media company like all the others and is, sadly, towing the party line. Here's their official repsonse:
"The Dreamcast Coder Cable is not a Sega licensed product. It is an unauthorized, black-market peripheral for Sega Dreamcast hardware and we do not condone its use or sale. Sega gives our full and complete support to U.S. customs in their efforts to stop piracy under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Sega stands by our position that piracy is a serious crime and must be stopped. Sega supports a creative team of developers and we aim to protect their intellectual and creative properties in order to deliver the best possible gaming experience to our consumers."
Just for fun, substitute "terrorism" or 'drug use" for "piracy" and the above statement makes equally good propaganda.
I guess Sega doesn't consider BSD developers to be "creative". Sorry guys.
It is ironic in the extreme that G. W. Bush and other government leaders here are calling last week's attack an attack on Liberty, and at the same time asking us as Americans to sacrifice some of our freedoms in the name of "National Security". Ask yourself who is attacking liberty in this country.
The attack on the WTC was clearly an attack on a capitalistic system run amok. Our government places a higher priority on corporate profits and greed than it does on human rights and freedoms. We export this system throughout the world. The WTO protests in Seattle were a precursor to this. Do not fool yourself. American Capitalism was the subject of last week's terrorist attacks. As the preserver of that system, our own government seeks to restrict our freedoms.
Our government already has tremedous power to preserve National Security. The secret FISA court already has extensive authority to order wiretaps, read email, and perform physical searches to combat terrorism and preserve 'National Security'. Did those powers prevent the attacks? The NSA has a huge black budget. Did they see this coming? And what sort of intelligence did the CIA provide us with? Did our already stringent airport security (served up by $5.25/ hr security) prevent anything? It seems to me banning guns would make this country a lot safer than banning butter knives on airplanes.
The reality is that terrorists use primitive methods. Sure, they may use technology like encryption and email to communicate, but who doesn't? Those technologies are not critical to their operations. We have not seen any evidence that any such technologies were used in these attacks. All we know is box-cutters and airplanes were used. Should we ban those? The human body can be an extremely effective weapon when properly trained in the martial arts. Are we going to ban humans from airplanes next?
Modern life is so complex, we cannot eliminate all the possible dangers and threats. As we eliminate one path, another will be found. A motivated and intelligent asssailant will always be able to do harm to others. As much as we might like to, we cannot turn our world into a Playskool world for adults.
When America starts World War III, far more than 5,000 Americans will give their lives to the cause. Many, many more innocent civilians of other nations will give theres. Will there be any winner to such a war? I can think of only one: the military-industrial complex. For them, war is good business.
An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
~Mahatman Gandhi