I was wondering why I stayed with Charter recently, until I realized that I had no fucking choice unless I wanted to downgrade to shitty 7 meg DSL.
These guys better be hoping and praying (and dumping a metric shit-ton of money on our reps) that they never lose their local monopolies, because once they open up the lines like they did with long distance telephone service in the 90's they're going to see their enormous profits fucking evaporate overnight as customers give these guys the finger and go with someone that isn't gouging the fuck out of them.
Don't they mean users "accused" of downloading? As it seems to me, all that is required is an accusation by some asshole MAFIAA goon. It's not like they actually prove their accusations or anything.
Why can't journalists write more down-to-earth like this?
That's why I like reading Matt Taibbi's columns at Rolling Stone. He's the only person I've ever heard discussing technicalities around the financial crash of '08 in a manner that a normal, reasonably educated person could understand, and that's saying something, considering many of the matters being discusses are deliberately obfuscated in the financial world in order to hide the games they're playing.
The problem is many ISPs just don't give a fuck about their customers because they know they lack options.
This is pretty much all the answer anyone needs when trying to understand the behavior of any Telecom in this country. Somewhere along the lines customers (much like employees) stopped being considered assets and started being considered liabilities.
Yeah, I'm sure the 6 cents the people that actually CREATED the show receive will be sorely missed. You know, as opposed to the 97% that will get sucked up by middle men that don't contribute a fucking thing to the medium?
When Hollywood stops fucking over the artists with their Hollywood accounting bullshit, I'll be more inclined to feel guilty. Until then, fuck 'em.
I have HBO and the last time I tried to sign up for it the process was totally fucking ridiculous, requiring me to do a bunch of bullshit to confirm that I actually have Charter despite the fact that I got to the signup through Charter's fucking site. It was all pop-ups and bullshit, too, that required me to sit here and play games with adblock and Noscript to figure out what the fuck was being blocked that they needed to confirm my goddamn account.
Granted, this was about a year or so ago, but my first experience was piss poor, and I wasted more time than it would have taken me to download the goddamned episode I was trying to watch just trying to sign up for the service to legally stream the shit. So guess what I did? I gave HBOGo the finger, torrented my desired content, and enjoyed it without jumping through all their stupid hoops to prove I'm a legitimate customer.
Maybe the process was simpler for you, but that's immaterial to me. They only got one chance, and it was a dismal failure for me, so fuck 'em. That's what happens when there are alternatives. I know that's a concept that the MAFIAA is still trying to wrap it's mind around, the whole "we don't have to come to you for our entertainment anymore" thing, but that doesn't much matter to me, either. The pirated copy is still the superior product. Until that changes, they will always be watching people download the shit out of their content. That's reality.
My sister-in-law has read all the True Blood books, but she honestly says she prefers the show to the books, which is not something I hear very often regardless of the show in question. The show is taken much more seriously, whereas the books are pretty campy...so she tells me, anyway.
The few things she's told me about the books have made me glad they've taken liberties. For instance, a retarded Elvis as a vampire that goes by the name of Bubba? Yeah, kinda glad they left him off the show...
This really is the best answer. The fact is, there is absolutely no reason for the public to give a shit. As for the "stealing" argument, well, I have a hard time feeling bad stealing from the MAFIAA, who themselves are thieves on a global scale.
Also,I can lend the DVD/BDs to friends and relatives 10 years from now.
I can just give my friends a relatives my digital copies, and I've got MP3s that are older than that on my hard drive, downloaded in the glorious Napster days.
My digital copies aren't trapped on a piece of plastic that depends on 3rd party manufacturers to still be making players for the proprietary formats involved. My digital copies can be transcoded when newer, better codecs come around. How does that work with your DVD/BDs? I can copy my digital files by pressing CTRL-C. How do you copy your DVD/BDs?
The pirated copy is a superior product in almost every way.
And is it really such a horrible hardship to go to the bathroom during the FBI warning?
Is it really so unbelievable to you that people don't feel they should have to sit through that bullshit if they actually paid for the fucking product like they're supposed to? Unskippable commercials and previews, ridiculously long animated menus...I click my pirated file and the episode starts, immediately.
My pirated copies of the first season of Game of Thrones don't have any of that bullshit on them, they're in a file format and in a codec that is recognized on every device I have, and will play on literally any device I have without a bunch of stupid bullshit DRM standing in the way. They are literally a superior product in every single way.
They are in the minority; according to a study I read around the SOPA blackouts, something like 70% of the public sees no moral issues in sharing media with family and friends. The law is at odds with mainstream society.
but at least respect is due to someone who marries his pre-fame college sweetheart when he could likely take his pick from just about any of the top millionaire supermodels.
Don't worry, I'm sure when they get divorced in a few years, he'll move on to the top millionaire supermodel.
Texting is right up next to drunk driving for stupidity.
Texting while driving has actually been demonstrated to be worse than drunk driving in some experiments.
At least the drunk person has the intoxicating effects to blame for their idiocy (although obviously they're the ones that chose to drink in the first place so no sympathy on that count), but most people trying to text and drive at the same time are stone sober and thus have no excuse for their stupidity.
As if 99% of the people on the average Facebook junkie's friend's list are actually "friends" in the first place.
Facebook has taken the word 'friend' and perverted it to mean anyone you've ever spoken to in your life, at any point of your life, from kindergarten to present, and the sick thing is, people actually are starting to think of those people as their friends.
GP was being a douche, I'll grant that, but let's not pretend that Facebook friends are actually friends in the true meaning of the word. People collect friends on Facebook like they're Pokemon...
No, actually, funny thing about cops, they back right the fuck down when they realize they're not dealing with some hood rat off the street that doesn't know their rights. That's when they turn into Officer Friendly.
Not that it's come up very often. I'm a law abiding citizen, I just refuse to be treated like someone's bitch solely because they're wearing a badge. Last time I checked, we were still equal in the eyes of the law, even though subservient people like you do everything you can to undermine that shit with every interaction you have with police.
What if you say "I'd like a complaint form, please." Do they then have to keep their fucking mouth shut and hand over the form? Is that really the level you think this needs to be taken, and do you actually feel this is appropriate in a free society?
Even if it does, I'd be willing to put money on the fact that only a 51% majority of the product is actually made (assembled) here...or whatever the minimum amount required by law to be allowed to say "Made in USA".
If you subsequently ignore them or act like an ass things will not go well for you.
But, lucky for us, there are no laws against ignoring them or acting like an ass, certainly not before you've given them probable cause, and asking for a fucking form is not probable cause.
These rights will only remain rights if people stand up for them. By "playing along" to save yourself misery you're doing a disservice to yourself and every citizen around you that interacts with that department because it just reinforces the intimidation and bullying tactics these fuckheads use when the law isn't enough to get you to "respect their authoritay!" If everyone told a cop "Go fuck yourself, you have no right to my name" then they wouldn't play these games and you fucking know it.
I may be an asshat, but at least I give a damn about my rights and am willing to put up with a little bullshit in order to preserve my legal rights. You play their game if you want to but I have more self-respect than that.
Slashdot Mirror
I was wondering why I stayed with Charter recently, until I realized that I had no fucking choice unless I wanted to downgrade to shitty 7 meg DSL.
These guys better be hoping and praying (and dumping a metric shit-ton of money on our reps) that they never lose their local monopolies, because once they open up the lines like they did with long distance telephone service in the 90's they're going to see their enormous profits fucking evaporate overnight as customers give these guys the finger and go with someone that isn't gouging the fuck out of them.
Don't they mean users "accused" of downloading? As it seems to me, all that is required is an accusation by some asshole MAFIAA goon. It's not like they actually prove their accusations or anything.
Or another 4 years of Obama for that matter.
They see me trollin'...
Why can't journalists write more down-to-earth like this?
That's why I like reading Matt Taibbi's columns at Rolling Stone. He's the only person I've ever heard discussing technicalities around the financial crash of '08 in a manner that a normal, reasonably educated person could understand, and that's saying something, considering many of the matters being discusses are deliberately obfuscated in the financial world in order to hide the games they're playing.
The problem is many ISPs just don't give a fuck about their customers because they know they lack options.
This is pretty much all the answer anyone needs when trying to understand the behavior of any Telecom in this country. Somewhere along the lines customers (much like employees) stopped being considered assets and started being considered liabilities.
Fuck 'em!
Yeah! There's the spirit!
Yeah, I'm sure the 6 cents the people that actually CREATED the show receive will be sorely missed. You know, as opposed to the 97% that will get sucked up by middle men that don't contribute a fucking thing to the medium?
When Hollywood stops fucking over the artists with their Hollywood accounting bullshit, I'll be more inclined to feel guilty. Until then, fuck 'em.
Actually:
Sisko > Picard > Archer > Kirk > Janeway
I have HBO and the last time I tried to sign up for it the process was totally fucking ridiculous, requiring me to do a bunch of bullshit to confirm that I actually have Charter despite the fact that I got to the signup through Charter's fucking site. It was all pop-ups and bullshit, too, that required me to sit here and play games with adblock and Noscript to figure out what the fuck was being blocked that they needed to confirm my goddamn account.
Granted, this was about a year or so ago, but my first experience was piss poor, and I wasted more time than it would have taken me to download the goddamned episode I was trying to watch just trying to sign up for the service to legally stream the shit. So guess what I did? I gave HBOGo the finger, torrented my desired content, and enjoyed it without jumping through all their stupid hoops to prove I'm a legitimate customer.
Maybe the process was simpler for you, but that's immaterial to me. They only got one chance, and it was a dismal failure for me, so fuck 'em. That's what happens when there are alternatives. I know that's a concept that the MAFIAA is still trying to wrap it's mind around, the whole "we don't have to come to you for our entertainment anymore" thing, but that doesn't much matter to me, either. The pirated copy is still the superior product. Until that changes, they will always be watching people download the shit out of their content. That's reality.
My sister-in-law has read all the True Blood books, but she honestly says she prefers the show to the books, which is not something I hear very often regardless of the show in question. The show is taken much more seriously, whereas the books are pretty campy...so she tells me, anyway.
The few things she's told me about the books have made me glad they've taken liberties. For instance, a retarded Elvis as a vampire that goes by the name of Bubba? Yeah, kinda glad they left him off the show...
This really is the best answer. The fact is, there is absolutely no reason for the public to give a shit. As for the "stealing" argument, well, I have a hard time feeling bad stealing from the MAFIAA, who themselves are thieves on a global scale.
Also,I can lend the DVD/BDs to friends and relatives 10 years from now.
I can just give my friends a relatives my digital copies, and I've got MP3s that are older than that on my hard drive, downloaded in the glorious Napster days.
My digital copies aren't trapped on a piece of plastic that depends on 3rd party manufacturers to still be making players for the proprietary formats involved. My digital copies can be transcoded when newer, better codecs come around. How does that work with your DVD/BDs? I can copy my digital files by pressing CTRL-C. How do you copy your DVD/BDs?
The pirated copy is a superior product in almost every way.
And is it really such a horrible hardship to go to the bathroom during the FBI warning?
Is it really so unbelievable to you that people don't feel they should have to sit through that bullshit if they actually paid for the fucking product like they're supposed to? Unskippable commercials and previews, ridiculously long animated menus...I click my pirated file and the episode starts, immediately.
My pirated copies of the first season of Game of Thrones don't have any of that bullshit on them, they're in a file format and in a codec that is recognized on every device I have, and will play on literally any device I have without a bunch of stupid bullshit DRM standing in the way. They are literally a superior product in every single way.
They are in the minority; according to a study I read around the SOPA blackouts, something like 70% of the public sees no moral issues in sharing media with family and friends. The law is at odds with mainstream society.
but at least respect is due to someone who marries his pre-fame college sweetheart when he could likely take his pick from just about any of the top millionaire supermodels.
Don't worry, I'm sure when they get divorced in a few years, he'll move on to the top millionaire supermodel.
Texting is right up next to drunk driving for stupidity.
Texting while driving has actually been demonstrated to be worse than drunk driving in some experiments.
At least the drunk person has the intoxicating effects to blame for their idiocy (although obviously they're the ones that chose to drink in the first place so no sympathy on that count), but most people trying to text and drive at the same time are stone sober and thus have no excuse for their stupidity.
You should totally change your Facebook status, the media will pounce all over it!
As if 99% of the people on the average Facebook junkie's friend's list are actually "friends" in the first place.
Facebook has taken the word 'friend' and perverted it to mean anyone you've ever spoken to in your life, at any point of your life, from kindergarten to present, and the sick thing is, people actually are starting to think of those people as their friends.
GP was being a douche, I'll grant that, but let's not pretend that Facebook friends are actually friends in the true meaning of the word. People collect friends on Facebook like they're Pokemon...
And you have every right to sit there and stare right back at them you fucking retard.
Because being in person does not mean giving your identity. The right to anonymity does not end when face to face with someone, even a police officer.
No, actually, funny thing about cops, they back right the fuck down when they realize they're not dealing with some hood rat off the street that doesn't know their rights. That's when they turn into Officer Friendly.
Not that it's come up very often. I'm a law abiding citizen, I just refuse to be treated like someone's bitch solely because they're wearing a badge. Last time I checked, we were still equal in the eyes of the law, even though subservient people like you do everything you can to undermine that shit with every interaction you have with police.
You're such a fucking apologist it's ridiculous.
When you ask a police officer a question
What if you say "I'd like a complaint form, please." Do they then have to keep their fucking mouth shut and hand over the form? Is that really the level you think this needs to be taken, and do you actually feel this is appropriate in a free society?
Even if it does, I'd be willing to put money on the fact that only a 51% majority of the product is actually made (assembled) here...or whatever the minimum amount required by law to be allowed to say "Made in USA".
They have no right to your name until you've given them cause. Asking for a complaint form is not cause. Neither is walking away. End of story.
Grow a fucking spine.
If you subsequently ignore them or act like an ass things will not go well for you.
But, lucky for us, there are no laws against ignoring them or acting like an ass, certainly not before you've given them probable cause, and asking for a fucking form is not probable cause.
These rights will only remain rights if people stand up for them. By "playing along" to save yourself misery you're doing a disservice to yourself and every citizen around you that interacts with that department because it just reinforces the intimidation and bullying tactics these fuckheads use when the law isn't enough to get you to "respect their authoritay!" If everyone told a cop "Go fuck yourself, you have no right to my name" then they wouldn't play these games and you fucking know it.
I may be an asshat, but at least I give a damn about my rights and am willing to put up with a little bullshit in order to preserve my legal rights. You play their game if you want to but I have more self-respect than that.