I can't say that I'm disappointed by this whole development. I've not been a Napster fan since the stunt that they pulled with Offspring. I'm not against the uncommercial sharing of MP3's, but when a typical corporation starts to base its whole business plan around piracy, then I have some problems. The articles mentioned in the previous Slashdot Napster story pretty much solidified my opinion.
Will shutting down Napster do anything? Absolutely not. People will move to Gnutella. So, the RIAA has not really won anything by doing this. If anything, I believe that the entertainment industry has shot itself in the collective foot by pushing Napster out of the way.
How many users will log onto these "alternative" services such as Gnutella and see that all the mp3's that they could find on Napster are also on the Gnutella net? Furthermore, they will see the other large amount of content there and if bandwidth is not a factor -- start pirating other media. If I were the MPAA, I would be severely pissed at the RIAA at the moment.
So, the situation has not changed one bit. The only difference is that Napster is out of the equation (good riddance) and the entertainment industries have to deal with a service that makes the whole Napster thing look like a cakewalk.
I have a question that I hope someone more knowledgable than I will be able to answer...
From the BBC article, it seems that the igniting factor of this whole situation was the 100% tariff imposed by the United States on the local cheese exports. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/new sid_812000/812578.stm)
Now, with all the hoopola around competitive markets and how the WTO is supposed to create such markets, how the hell was such a tariff levied? It seems like a hypocritical gesture on behalf of the United States to impose such a tariff when it is the crusader of free markets everywhere.
Another question for the free-market types on/.:
I'm a bit confused about the whole problem with countries not importing genetically modified foods and how that constitutes a market barrier. I would understand if the French (or any other Europeans) were clamoring for cheap genetically modified food, but in these cases, the European governments seem to be acting on behalf of their citizen's wishes when they block such imports. I'm currently in Russia, and the people here think that the American food exports are absolute crap and would not buy the items. I guess I don't see how this is so anti-competitive. Plus they do have valid health reasons for not even wanting such goods.
I apologize if this is slightly incoherent, but would a pro-free market type clarify this for me?
This is slightly off-topic, but some time ago, I heard that Debian was looking to do a FreeBSD port of Debian. How difficult would it be to also do this for OpenBSD?
While I think that the inclusion of new TLDs is a good idea, I am against anything that is too finely done.
Imagine, a.protest domain. You are one of the vendors of filtering and blocking software. Anything against the norm? Why not just block.protest. Same goes for companies and/or oppressive governments with nasty firewalls.
The move toward more TLDs is a good thing. We just need to be sure that we don't make it too easy to filter out "undesirable" speech.
The impression tha I was under is that ICANN would handle these matters. Have they proven to be so ineffective that another (quite ineffective) organization has taken it upon themselves to get this done?
During the course of the campaign, I've been following the GOP race and I have been struck by the ways the Internet has impacted these primary elections. Notably, I was impressed by the amount of money that poured into McCain's coffers following the New Hampshire landslide.
The impression that I am under is that McCain's current campaign would not be possible without his online presence. I saw a comment on a news site that said something along the lines that the Internet is changing campaign financing by bringing contributors to candidates, contrary to the meatspace norm of candidates chasing contributors. It seems to produce a system of "impulse contributing" where people get fired up about a candidate for X reason, and it is extremely easy contribute online via credit card. Indeed, McCain raised more money on a cyberspace event than in its meatspace equivalent in Washington!
As a webmaster for Mr. Gore, I am wondering how integral the Gore2000 website is to your campaign financing. Do you see the Internet style of "impulse contributing" ever overtaking the traditional means of contributing? Do you ever see this trend altering the way a candidate presents themselves by targeting themselves to the individual voter/contributer instead of the "big money" interests?
Nice idea (xxx://www.porn.com), but it would only apply to the new sites.
I don't know how it would work -- porn sites seem to try and grab those who are not looking for it (ever searched for something perfectly legit on Altavista?).
My Idea:
1. Use some sort of intelligent filtering to block sites that are obviously just porn. I'm talking about the ones with tons of keywords in the title and pasted in the same color as the background at the end. Filter the ones that exploit the search engines.
2. (I don't know if this could be done without enraging the masses of PC Internet freedom fighters...) Have the TLD authorities enforce that new porn sites register with an.xxx TLD. There are already regulations about who can use a.org and.edu TLD.
In the end, I'm not against outlawing porn on the Internet, but I am against the sites that continue to appear when I am trying to search for something online.
I can see where some people might think that this is "a bad thing" -- *gasp* owned by a commercial entity?!? -- but I'd like to say "Way to go!", "Good job!", etc. You guys have done much for the respective hacker/geek/nerd communities. I'm glad that you are finally getting some sort of compensation for the long hours you have put into this.
Once more, congratulations, and I hope that this kicks off a new era of enhancements to Slashdot, benefits for Malda and Co., and (most importantly) "News for Nerds. Stuff that matters."
Keep it up,
Chris
PS. I am mourning the fact that there will be no Slashdot IPO. How cool would it be to say that you own part of the coolest site on the web?
Personally, I agree with the OSI's response -- an open-sourced Windows would be a boon to the entire computing community. Windows could become a better OS by adopting methods used in various open sourced operating systems, and despite all the hell that's about to rain down on me, Linux would be a better and more interoperable OS than it is today. I am a Linux fan at heart, but please remember that majority of the OS's and applications are Win32 based. Windows would benefit from the OS improvements that it could gain, and the traditional open source operating systems could become better through more applications. The key word of the day is inter-operablilty.
Slashdot Mirror
I can't say that I'm disappointed by this whole development. I've not been a Napster fan since the stunt that they pulled with Offspring. I'm not against the uncommercial sharing of MP3's, but when a typical corporation starts to base its whole business plan around piracy, then I have some problems. The articles mentioned in the previous Slashdot Napster story pretty much solidified my opinion.
Will shutting down Napster do anything? Absolutely not. People will move to Gnutella. So, the RIAA has not really won anything by doing this. If anything, I believe that the entertainment industry has shot itself in the collective foot by pushing Napster out of the way.
How many users will log onto these "alternative" services such as Gnutella and see that all the mp3's that they could find on Napster are also on the Gnutella net? Furthermore, they will see the other large amount of content there and if bandwidth is not a factor -- start pirating other media. If I were the MPAA, I would be severely pissed at the RIAA at the moment.
So, the situation has not changed one bit. The only difference is that Napster is out of the equation (good riddance) and the entertainment industries have to deal with a service that makes the whole Napster thing look like a cakewalk.
-ChrisI have a question that I hope someone more knowledgable than I will be able to answer...
w sid_812000/812578.stm)
/.:
From the BBC article, it seems that the igniting factor of this whole situation was the 100% tariff imposed by the United States on the local cheese exports. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/ne
Now, with all the hoopola around competitive markets and how the WTO is supposed to create such markets, how the hell was such a tariff levied? It seems like a hypocritical gesture on behalf of the United States to impose such a tariff when it is the crusader of free markets everywhere.
Another question for the free-market types on
I'm a bit confused about the whole problem with countries not importing genetically modified foods and how that constitutes a market barrier. I would understand if the French (or any other Europeans) were clamoring for cheap genetically modified food, but in these cases, the European governments seem to be acting on behalf of their citizen's wishes when they block such imports. I'm currently in Russia, and the people here think that the American food exports are absolute crap and would not buy the items. I guess I don't see how this is so anti-competitive. Plus they do have valid health reasons for not even wanting such goods.
I apologize if this is slightly incoherent, but would a pro-free market type clarify this for me?
This is slightly off-topic, but some time ago, I heard that Debian was looking to do a FreeBSD port of Debian. How difficult would it be to also do this for OpenBSD?
Is anyone even considering this anymore?
-Chris
While I think that the inclusion of new TLDs is a good idea, I am against anything that is too finely done.
.protest domain. You are one of the vendors of filtering and blocking software. Anything against the norm? Why not just block .protest. Same goes for companies and/or oppressive governments with nasty firewalls.
Imagine, a
The move toward more TLDs is a good thing. We just need to be sure that we don't make it too easy to filter out "undesirable" speech.
-Chris
Is this the offical death bell for ICANN?
The impression tha I was under is that ICANN would handle these matters. Have they proven to be so ineffective that another (quite ineffective) organization has taken it upon themselves to get this done?
-Chris
Warning, ardent McCain supporter. :-)
During the course of the campaign, I've been following the GOP race and I have been struck by the ways the Internet has impacted these primary elections. Notably, I was impressed by the amount of money that poured into McCain's coffers following the New Hampshire landslide.
The impression that I am under is that McCain's current campaign would not be possible without his online presence. I saw a comment on a news site that said something along the lines that the Internet is changing campaign financing by bringing contributors to candidates, contrary to the meatspace norm of candidates chasing contributors. It seems to produce a system of "impulse contributing" where people get fired up about a candidate for X reason, and it is extremely easy contribute online via credit card. Indeed, McCain raised more money on a cyberspace event than in its meatspace equivalent in Washington!
As a webmaster for Mr. Gore, I am wondering how integral the Gore2000 website is to your campaign financing. Do you see the Internet style of "impulse contributing" ever overtaking the traditional means of contributing? Do you ever see this trend altering the way a candidate presents themselves by targeting themselves to the individual voter/contributer instead of the "big money" interests?
Chalk up a point for the greedy music cartels.
-Chris
Nice idea (xxx://www.porn.com), but it would only apply to the new sites.
.xxx TLD. There are already regulations about who can use a .org and .edu TLD.
I don't know how it would work -- porn sites seem to try and grab those who are not looking for it (ever searched for something perfectly legit on Altavista?).
My Idea:
1. Use some sort of intelligent filtering to block sites that are obviously just porn. I'm talking about the ones with tons of keywords in the title and pasted in the same color as the background at the end. Filter the ones that exploit the search engines.
2. (I don't know if this could be done without enraging the masses of PC Internet freedom fighters...) Have the TLD authorities enforce that new porn sites register with an
In the end, I'm not against outlawing porn on the Internet, but I am against the sites that continue to appear when I am trying to search for something online.
Chris
Hmmm, which international April Fools Day is it?
I can see where some people might think that this is "a bad thing" -- *gasp* owned by a commercial entity?!? -- but I'd like to say "Way to go!", "Good job!", etc. You guys have done much for the respective hacker/geek/nerd communities. I'm glad that you are finally getting some sort of compensation for the long hours you have put into this.
Once more, congratulations, and I hope that this kicks off a new era of enhancements to Slashdot, benefits for Malda and Co., and (most importantly) "News for Nerds. Stuff that matters."
Keep it up,
Chris
PS. I am mourning the fact that there will be no Slashdot IPO. How cool would it be to say that you own part of the coolest site on the web?
Personally, I agree with the OSI's response -- an open-sourced Windows would be a boon to the entire computing community. Windows could become a better OS by adopting methods used in various open sourced operating systems, and despite all the hell that's about to rain down on me, Linux would be a better and more interoperable OS than it is today. I am a Linux fan at heart, but please remember that majority of the OS's and applications are Win32 based. Windows would benefit from the OS improvements that it could gain, and the traditional open source operating systems could become better through more applications. The key word of the day is inter-operablilty.
Just my $.02
-Chris