Just wait... if they show at much (no, wait, little) concern over hacking in Worlds of Warcraft that they've shown in the Battle.net version of Diablo II, then they're going to have their own ready made problems that we won't have to add to.
Didn't know that... so I went and asked the manager, and it turns out that it's not that they'll void the warranty, it's just that if we use something other then the HP inks in the HP printer, then if something goes wrong (like the ink cartridge explodes or something), then we have a much smaller recourse of action as to what we can do.
So, it's more cost effective in case something goes wrong, for us to use the name-brand inks...
Oddly enough, you're wrong, at least as far as the customers I deal with are concerned. I work at a Kinko's, and I can't count the number of times customers have not only wanted cheap copies, but wanted good copies as well.
Furthermore, with a lot of our copiers, we have to go through the name-brand dealers or it voids the warranties and service contracts on our machines, and we're damn sure not about to do that to save a few bucks on ink costs....
"I want to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike as a warning to the next 10 generations that some code comes with too high a price. I want to look up into your lifeless eyes and wave, like this. Can you and your associates arrange that for me, Mr. McBride?"
Please. If the MPAA or RIAA ever offers anything... cash, CDs, valuable prizes, etc. for turning in people who download movies or music, you'll see everybody ratting on each other... grade school students are not exactly know for selflessness... plus, it gives the geeks a chance to get back at all the people who gave them wedgies or forced the geek to do their homework... (put mp3s on jock's computer, report jock, profit)
Hell, the article mentions some of the kids really sticking it to the MPAA reps... some of these kids could (have?) pull a DoS attack on the RIAA or MPAA websites... not that doing such seems to be particularly difficult these days...
We get orders for printing e-mailed to us regularly. We don't use Outlook for our e-mail. We already have enough problems with the morons who either send no file, or send the wrong file, or send a file we don't have the program for.
How much do you want to bet this will just make things worse?
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but you need to disable all the security settings on your e-mail so we can print it."
I don't know whether these will meet your standards of "good movies", but I routinely go to Best Buy and get DVDs for $9-$12. Here's a few I've bought recently, which I obviously consider good, otherwise I wouldn't have bought them:
Ronin ~ $12 Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels ~ $10 Bulletproof Monk ~ $10 Casablanca ~ $10
So, if a movie is available for $10 on DVD, which, when you include the outrageous prices for snacks at the theaters, is less then the cost of going out to the movies, AND it's less then a CD, of which I might listen to 4 or 5 songs (I don't buy any tape or CD unless there are a minimum of 3 songs I like on it).... so clearly, even the the paranoid assholes at the MPAA are indeed paranoid assholes, they are much less of a paranoid asshole culture then the paranoid assholes at the RIAA.
As for "we're giving you the chance to settle out of court", frankly, I want some of these to go to court, especially if they are "oops, we picked on the wrong person again".
Reminds me of that one Dilbert cartoon where a tall guy is hired and automatically on the executive fast track, because he's tall. He also had 'executive hair'.
When these people are calling all hours (I've gotten telemarketing calls anywhen from 9 am to 7 pm), not even bothering to use a reverse directory to see that I live in an apartment, and am therefore not interested in satellite service/aluminum siding/septic tank service/etc., and they cannot take a hint with a fucking sledgehammer ("Please don't call back, I am not interested" seems to mean "Call back again tomorrow and ask for my room-mate."), then damn right, I have and will give these shitheels all possible grief.
With newspaper ads, I can always not look at them. I can change the channels to get away from annoying TV ads. But these assholes seem to think that they have a legal right to bother me? Fuck that.
We like them today, because they are hitting Verisign, who we hate more. Tomorrow they will do something stupid and we will hate ICANN again. Such is the way of things here on Slashdot.
Not just them... I can't count the number of times I've seen Roadrunner commercials or AOL commercials touting the ability to download music as one of the big features of broadband.... frankly, a lot of clueless users may assume that it's not illegal because the commercials intimate that it's part of the service you pay for when you get broadband.
Which makes me wonder when Roadrunner or AOL will be sued for deceptive advertising....
Hrm... they call me up and demand money? Sounds like a violation of the Federal "Do Not Call" list... wonder if they'd mind paying the big whopping fine....
Flawed analogy. When you kill someone, you deprive them of life. When you download a song, you're depriving the artist of what, half a cent if it's their first major label album? Maybe a whopping 10 cents if they have a really good contract? (If you download a Metallica song, it actually sends a red-hot poker up Lars Ulrich's ass, though, so by all means, go ahead and grab "St. Anger.")
When I was still a college student, lo those many years ago, it was not uncommon for people I knew to download 20-30 songs a day, in addition to using the dorm LAN to grab mp3s from other people. Oddly enough, music is still being made today. Those artists must not have starved.
Is it a bad thing? Yes. Is it the end of the world? Not unless you're a music executive. CD sales may be down, but they still seem to be selling enough where I hear Nelly blasting from every car that drives by....
Sorry, but if you commit a crime but don't get caught, it doesn't nullify the fact that you committed a crime. Sure, you're not getting punished for it, which seems to be the important part, but a crime was still committed.
Likewise, you're still infringing on copywritten materials if you download mp3s through the p2p-du-jour... but as long as the RIAA hasn't sued you yet, you don't have that personal and up close feeling of punishment in the form of a hefty fine.
Yeah, because we all know that the local, state and federal governments always use collected taxes properly and fairly, never wasting money on pet projects, pork-barrel crap, and outright wastes of cash.
Frankly, if they all started using the tax monies they collected efficiently and properly, we probably wouldn't need to pay as much.
As an addendum to the above. The reason I hope it is thrown out is because blame should not be put on the makers of the games. If we aren't allowed to sue the gun industry for every gun-related homicide, then likewise, we shouldn't be able to sue Sony because they have a shooter game on their console.
I feel sorry for the victims and families of victims, but suing the companies that make these games isn't going to solve a damn thing. What we need are parents who take responsibility for little Jimmy and don't let the TV and computer raise him.
Read the article. I missed it first time through myself. It's the parents of the victims who are suing. The suit involves the morons who committed the crime, but most likely only to the extent that they will offer their "testimony" that they were influenced by the game.
Slashdot Mirror
Just wait... if they show at much (no, wait, little) concern over hacking in Worlds of Warcraft that they've shown in the Battle.net version of Diablo II, then they're going to have their own ready made problems that we won't have to add to.
Kierthos
we'll Slashdot their mail room....
Are they even obligated to legally respond to any C&D letters? IANAL, so I have no idea...
Kierthos
Didn't know that... so I went and asked the manager, and it turns out that it's not that they'll void the warranty, it's just that if we use something other then the HP inks in the HP printer, then if something goes wrong (like the ink cartridge explodes or something), then we have a much smaller recourse of action as to what we can do.
So, it's more cost effective in case something goes wrong, for us to use the name-brand inks...
Kierthos
Oddly enough, you're wrong, at least as far as the customers I deal with are concerned. I work at a Kinko's, and I can't count the number of times customers have not only wanted cheap copies, but wanted good copies as well.
Furthermore, with a lot of our copiers, we have to go through the name-brand dealers or it voids the warranties and service contracts on our machines, and we're damn sure not about to do that to save a few bucks on ink costs....
Kierthos
deliberately misquoted:
"I want to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike as a warning to the next 10 generations that some code comes with too high a price. I want to look up into your lifeless eyes and wave, like this. Can you and your associates arrange that for me, Mr. McBride?"
Kierthos
Nah, they're all stuck on MovieOS... that's the one with the text only interface that only has 80 columns....
Kierthos
Please. If the MPAA or RIAA ever offers anything... cash, CDs, valuable prizes, etc. for turning in people who download movies or music, you'll see everybody ratting on each other... grade school students are not exactly know for selflessness... plus, it gives the geeks a chance to get back at all the people who gave them wedgies or forced the geek to do their homework... (put mp3s on jock's computer, report jock, profit)
Kierthos
Nah, I'd rather take the kids on a field trip to a movie studio so they can vandalize the place...
I mean, if the MPAA can come into a classroom and spread trash around.....
Kierthos
Hell, the article mentions some of the kids really sticking it to the MPAA reps... some of these kids could (have?) pull a DoS attack on the RIAA or MPAA websites... not that doing such seems to be particularly difficult these days...
Kierthos
offering money to kids who turn other kids in...
"Rat on your friends, redeem valuable prizes!"
Kierthos
Shit....
We get orders for printing e-mailed to us regularly. We don't use Outlook for our e-mail. We already have enough problems with the morons who either send no file, or send the wrong file, or send a file we don't have the program for.
How much do you want to bet this will just make things worse?
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but you need to disable all the security settings on your e-mail so we can print it."
"huh?"
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Kierthos
I don't know whether these will meet your standards of "good movies", but I routinely go to Best Buy and get DVDs for $9-$12. Here's a few I've bought recently, which I obviously consider good, otherwise I wouldn't have bought them:
Ronin ~ $12
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels ~ $10
Bulletproof Monk ~ $10
Casablanca ~ $10
So, if a movie is available for $10 on DVD, which, when you include the outrageous prices for snacks at the theaters, is less then the cost of going out to the movies, AND it's less then a CD, of which I might listen to 4 or 5 songs (I don't buy any tape or CD unless there are a minimum of 3 songs I like on it).... so clearly, even the the paranoid assholes at the MPAA are indeed paranoid assholes, they are much less of a paranoid asshole culture then the paranoid assholes at the RIAA.
As for "we're giving you the chance to settle out of court", frankly, I want some of these to go to court, especially if they are "oops, we picked on the wrong person again".
Kierthos
Reminds me of that one Dilbert cartoon where a tall guy is hired and automatically on the executive fast track, because he's tall. He also had 'executive hair'.
PHB: "We think it will turn silver!"
Kierthos
And if this shuts down all those flash ads for even a few weeks, how is that a bad thing?
Kierthos
When these people are calling all hours (I've gotten telemarketing calls anywhen from 9 am to 7 pm), not even bothering to use a reverse directory to see that I live in an apartment, and am therefore not interested in satellite service/aluminum siding/septic tank service/etc., and they cannot take a hint with a fucking sledgehammer ("Please don't call back, I am not interested" seems to mean "Call back again tomorrow and ask for my room-mate."), then damn right, I have and will give these shitheels all possible grief.
With newspaper ads, I can always not look at them. I can change the channels to get away from annoying TV ads. But these assholes seem to think that they have a legal right to bother me? Fuck that.
Kierthos
Mr. Sheridan,
Fuck you. We didn't want it. We're happy that ICANN handed you your ass.
Have a nice day.
Kierthos
We like them today, because they are hitting Verisign, who we hate more. Tomorrow they will do something stupid and we will hate ICANN again. Such is the way of things here on Slashdot.
Kierthos
Not just them... I can't count the number of times I've seen Roadrunner commercials or AOL commercials touting the ability to download music as one of the big features of broadband.... frankly, a lot of clueless users may assume that it's not illegal because the commercials intimate that it's part of the service you pay for when you get broadband.
Which makes me wonder when Roadrunner or AOL will be sued for deceptive advertising....
Kierthos
Hrm... they call me up and demand money? Sounds like a violation of the Federal "Do Not Call" list... wonder if they'd mind paying the big whopping fine....
Kierthos
In Soviet Russia, lame ass comments post you!
Kierthos
Flawed analogy. When you kill someone, you deprive them of life. When you download a song, you're depriving the artist of what, half a cent if it's their first major label album? Maybe a whopping 10 cents if they have a really good contract? (If you download a Metallica song, it actually sends a red-hot poker up Lars Ulrich's ass, though, so by all means, go ahead and grab "St. Anger.")
When I was still a college student, lo those many years ago, it was not uncommon for people I knew to download 20-30 songs a day, in addition to using the dorm LAN to grab mp3s from other people. Oddly enough, music is still being made today. Those artists must not have starved.
Is it a bad thing? Yes. Is it the end of the world? Not unless you're a music executive. CD sales may be down, but they still seem to be selling enough where I hear Nelly blasting from every car that drives by....
Kierthos
Sorry, but if you commit a crime but don't get caught, it doesn't nullify the fact that you committed a crime. Sure, you're not getting punished for it, which seems to be the important part, but a crime was still committed.
Likewise, you're still infringing on copywritten materials if you download mp3s through the p2p-du-jour... but as long as the RIAA hasn't sued you yet, you don't have that personal and up close feeling of punishment in the form of a hefty fine.
Kierthos
Yeah, because we all know that the local, state and federal governments always use collected taxes properly and fairly, never wasting money on pet projects, pork-barrel crap, and outright wastes of cash.
Frankly, if they all started using the tax monies they collected efficiently and properly, we probably wouldn't need to pay as much.
Kierthos
As an addendum to the above. The reason I hope it is thrown out is because blame should not be put on the makers of the games. If we aren't allowed to sue the gun industry for every gun-related homicide, then likewise, we shouldn't be able to sue Sony because they have a shooter game on their console.
I feel sorry for the victims and families of victims, but suing the companies that make these games isn't going to solve a damn thing. What we need are parents who take responsibility for little Jimmy and don't let the TV and computer raise him.
Kierthos
Read the article. I missed it first time through myself. It's the parents of the victims who are suing. The suit involves the morons who committed the crime, but most likely only to the extent that they will offer their "testimony" that they were influenced by the game.
Kierthos