Given that most copyright nowadays is entertainment based copyright, you could never prove "concrete" harm. However... Let's say I have been speculating on a large number of copyright expirations and invested quite a bit of capital in production related to that (cheap DVD's, VHS, t-shirts, derivative works, etc) in anticipation of the copyright expiration. Now I have been harmed by this retroactive extension.
I am harmed every time I pay $30 for a t-shirt that I should be paying $10 or less for because the copyright should have expired. I am harmed because the federal government has granted a monopoly extension to copyright holders.
Of course this has not happened to anyone, but it could happen. The intangible value associated with these kind of copyrights is not what is at issue here. The issue is whether or not granting a 20-year copyright extension is in violation of the "limited times" clause.
Kleenex is still sold despite the availability of other tissues. Xerox hasn't collapsed despite other companies manufacturing copiers. Companies like Disney have the infrastructure in place to continue marketing. Simply mark it with some official stamp and people will buy it. There are generic imitation brands for many lines of clothing, perfumes, etc., but it doesn't put anyone out of business because Americans (and others) are willing to pay that premium to have the "genuine". It's a status thing.
Business is risk, and extending this copyright is very anti-capitalist.
If this non-american company markets their products in the US, they become subject to US laws and will be sued/barred from importing the infringing works into this country.
A contrary ruling would have cost entertainment giants like The Walt Disney Co. and AOL Time Warner Inc. hundreds of millions of dollars. AOL Time Warner had said that would threaten copyrights for such movies as "Casablanca," "The Wizard of Oz" and "Gone With the Wind."
Excuse me, but when the money was invested in these movies in the 1920's, 1930's, etc., it was done with full knowledge that eventually the copyright would expire and revenue from these works would dwindle. The same thing holds true for Mickey Mouse and every other work made. Just because it still has value even today does not change that fact. The whole thing is ridiculous.
I can understand how extending the copyright on new works could be considered constitutional -- this is a case where that great document was far too vague, unfortunately -- but retroactively extending them surely is unconstitutional. When you acquire that copyright and publish your work, it is like entering into an irrevocable contract with society that you will release this to the public domain in X years (at least, that is how I see it). There should be no whining about past works that will fall out of protection. Create more works under the new, longer protection if you want, but don't extend all existing works.
I agree. Just get buddy-buddy with the X-ray machine operator at your local airport and have all your RFID's fried!
Of course from the consumer standpoint, the idea of this is ludicrous. Why should *I* have to disable these tracking devices? Shouldn't it be the other way around? That they have to ask my permission before trying to follow me around?
This is great! I've been searching for coordinates for my GPS so I can visit the trail if I am ever near it. Maybe they will publish the data. Too bad they didn't leave any geocaches!
I guess the satellite companys just didn't bribe enough politicans.
That was my thought exactly. The FCC is "voting" to disallow competitors access to cable lines, but they won't allow the merger of two satellite networks who could combine their resources to offer even better alternatives to the greedy cable companies.
You got me, I was thinking the same thing. From what I could see only the first screenshot that he called "ugly" had any anti-aliasing at all. The rest of them were crappy jagged-edged fonts. I guess he thinks of them as "normal" because before Windows XP it didnt support good anti-aliasing.
So basically you can either 1) buy a CDMA phone now, be forced to upgrade to 3G and still be stuck to US-only networks... Or you can 2) buy a GSM tri-mode phone and use it globally until you need to upgrade to 3G.
Sounds like CDMA might have won the war, but they lost so many battles that it's irrelevant.
I know this will be modded as a troll... But how about getting all the Linux distributions to actually use it before considering the standard "finished".
Cut/paste is not really a problem, it is misunderstood. There are two paste buffers in X -- whatever you select with the mouse, and whatever you copy with the keyboard.
Friend of mine has an old Dell inspiron i120 (or sometihng like that).. 120mhz pentium, 32mb ram, 2gb hd, no cdrom. Linux 2.4-based distros won't even boot. FreeBSD 4.6 does a network install flawlessly. Give it a shot!
As a BSD user, what really annoys me is the *lack* of support for non-Linux systems. A LOT of software is so simple that building it for *BSD should be trivial. Take the Flash plugin for example... No way would that be difficult to port for BSD.
Nearly all this software runs fine with the Linux emulation... But you know what? A lot of times the Linux binaries/libraries themselves are unstable, plus it takes up extra space.
On many fronts, BSD and Linux are similar. If you stay away from include/linux and the asinine/proc system you should be OK.
End rant.:)
Solex Agitator stolen!
on
Solar Surgery
·
· Score: 3, Funny
This just in. Device prototype stolen by lone assassin who charges $1 million her hit. British secret service sending their top agent to retrieve.
Great, now they can get back to something I actually care about -- working on cdparanoia for BSD.
Seriously, I think this could be a huge BUST. There is just too much pressure towards proprietary codecs, and the small market share that will use this is not enough to do anything.
How do you feel CG is effecting films? These days many films opt for fake sets and sequences while the stunt men who worked so very hard in the 80's go begging for work. I always find it very easy to spot the CG textures and colors (can't you guys pick a color palette that actually occurrs in the real world?), and find myself increasingly disappointed by CG even as it "advances" every year. Do directors and producers give you the opportunity to offer input about the overall quality of a CG scene -- whether or not it will be convincing?
Fixed before it has actually been exploited? I think not. The real danger of NOT doing security audits is the fact that there are real hackers out there who might know about this hole and are more interested in hacking than getting their names on the big screen as the "l33t d00d" who found the hole.
Just like the crypto people assume the NSA is 10+ years ahead of them in codebreaking, you should assume that EVERY remote hole has been known to somone within the hacking community prior to its "announcement".
You fail to include the fact that the amount of FREE hype Star Wars receives from websites such as slashdot is worth many times over the paltry $50 million spent on spider-man. Lucas invites 10 losers out to his dirt farm and then 1000s of articles are written at no expense to him. Lucas releases a trailer on a website, and tens of thousands download it and hype it up.
Bottom line -- star wars receives tens of millions worth of FREE hype, with NO effort. That is what Katz is comparing.
Re:how does this mean faster downloads?
on
No More Rebooting?
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Don't you know that every speed improvement will speed up your internet access? Like upgrading your processor to a Pentium 4 will turn that modem into a T1!!! It's just buzzwords! The only speedup will be that the servers now have more memory bandwidth and can handle more connections at once.
The whole article is mistitled. It won't be an end to rebooting, it will be an end to cold booting.
If you want to eliminate the reboots from Windows, tell bill gates and co to make it more modular and less inter-dependent so you can insert and remove drivers just like *nix kernel modules.
Slashdot Mirror
Given that most copyright nowadays is entertainment based copyright, you could never prove "concrete" harm. However... Let's say I have been speculating on a large number of copyright expirations and invested quite a bit of capital in production related to that (cheap DVD's, VHS, t-shirts, derivative works, etc) in anticipation of the copyright expiration. Now I have been harmed by this retroactive extension.
I am harmed every time I pay $30 for a t-shirt that I should be paying $10 or less for because the copyright should have expired. I am harmed because the federal government has granted a monopoly extension to copyright holders.
Of course this has not happened to anyone, but it could happen. The intangible value associated with these kind of copyrights is not what is at issue here. The issue is whether or not granting a 20-year copyright extension is in violation of the "limited times" clause.
Kleenex is still sold despite the availability of other tissues. Xerox hasn't collapsed despite other companies manufacturing copiers. Companies like Disney have the infrastructure in place to continue marketing. Simply mark it with some official stamp and people will buy it. There are generic imitation brands for many lines of clothing, perfumes, etc., but it doesn't put anyone out of business because Americans (and others) are willing to pay that premium to have the "genuine". It's a status thing.
Business is risk, and extending this copyright is very anti-capitalist.
If this non-american company markets their products in the US, they become subject to US laws and will be sued/barred from importing the infringing works into this country.
Excuse me, but when the money was invested in these movies in the 1920's, 1930's, etc., it was done with full knowledge that eventually the copyright would expire and revenue from these works would dwindle. The same thing holds true for Mickey Mouse and every other work made. Just because it still has value even today does not change that fact. The whole thing is ridiculous.
I can understand how extending the copyright on new works could be considered constitutional -- this is a case where that great document was far too vague, unfortunately -- but retroactively extending them surely is unconstitutional. When you acquire that copyright and publish your work, it is like entering into an irrevocable contract with society that you will release this to the public domain in X years (at least, that is how I see it). There should be no whining about past works that will fall out of protection. Create more works under the new, longer protection if you want, but don't extend all existing works.
I agree. Just get buddy-buddy with the X-ray machine operator at your local airport and have all your RFID's fried!
Of course from the consumer standpoint, the idea of this is ludicrous. Why should *I* have to disable these tracking devices? Shouldn't it be the other way around? That they have to ask my permission before trying to follow me around?
This is interesting, but I don't have TOPO - I have DeLorme and Garmin software. Darn proprietary formats. Maybe I can find a converter.
This is great! I've been searching for coordinates for my GPS so I can visit the trail if I am ever near it. Maybe they will publish the data. Too bad they didn't leave any geocaches!
I guess the satellite companys just didn't bribe enough politicans.
That was my thought exactly. The FCC is "voting" to disallow competitors access to cable lines, but they won't allow the merger of two satellite networks who could combine their resources to offer even better alternatives to the greedy cable companies.
You got me, I was thinking the same thing. From what I could see only the first screenshot that he called "ugly" had any anti-aliasing at all. The rest of them were crappy jagged-edged fonts. I guess he thinks of them as "normal" because before Windows XP it didnt support good anti-aliasing.
This is way way off topic, but it has been eating at my brain... WHAT THE HELL IS WITH THE .com.com!!!!!!!!!
thank you drive through.
So basically you can either 1) buy a CDMA phone now, be forced to upgrade to 3G and still be stuck to US-only networks... Or you can 2) buy a GSM tri-mode phone and use it globally until you need to upgrade to 3G.
Sounds like CDMA might have won the war, but they lost so many battles that it's irrelevant.
I know this will be modded as a troll... But how about getting all the Linux distributions to actually use it before considering the standard "finished".
Cut/paste is not really a problem, it is misunderstood. There are two paste buffers in X -- whatever you select with the mouse, and whatever you copy with the keyboard.
Friend of mine has an old Dell inspiron i120 (or sometihng like that).. 120mhz pentium, 32mb ram, 2gb hd, no cdrom. Linux 2.4-based distros won't even boot. FreeBSD 4.6 does a network install flawlessly. Give it a shot!
As a BSD user, what really annoys me is the *lack* of support for non-Linux systems. A LOT of software is so simple that building it for *BSD should be trivial. Take the Flash plugin for example... No way would that be difficult to port for BSD.
/proc system you should be OK.
:)
Nearly all this software runs fine with the Linux emulation... But you know what? A lot of times the Linux binaries/libraries themselves are unstable, plus it takes up extra space.
On many fronts, BSD and Linux are similar. If you stay away from include/linux and the asinine
End rant.
This just in. Device prototype stolen by lone assassin who charges $1 million her hit. British secret service sending their top agent to retrieve.
Wasn't there a story on some PVR software for Linux a while back? Anyone have the link?
Great, now they can get back to something I actually care about -- working on cdparanoia for BSD.
Seriously, I think this could be a huge BUST. There is just too much pressure towards proprietary codecs, and the small market share that will use this is not enough to do anything.
How do you feel CG is effecting films? These days many films opt for fake sets and sequences while the stunt men who worked so very hard in the 80's go begging for work. I always find it very easy to spot the CG textures and colors (can't you guys pick a color palette that actually occurrs in the real world?), and find myself increasingly disappointed by CG even as it "advances" every year. Do directors and producers give you the opportunity to offer input about the overall quality of a CG scene -- whether or not it will be convincing?
Mod this one up. It is a VERY legitimate concern.
Lucas, I want the ORIGINAL star wars on DVD. Not your crappy "special edition" or a 3rd "ultra special edition" where everything is CG.
Well until you take a personal tour of Ft. Meade, then I think it would be prudent to bring the assumption back to life.
Fixed before it has actually been exploited? I think not. The real danger of NOT doing security audits is the fact that there are real hackers out there who might know about this hole and are more interested in hacking than getting their names on the big screen as the "l33t d00d" who found the hole.
Just like the crypto people assume the NSA is 10+ years ahead of them in codebreaking, you should assume that EVERY remote hole has been known to somone within the hacking community prior to its "announcement".
It's been over 10 years since I went to disney world, but don't they have a maglev train in "tomorrowland"?
I submitted something along these lines over a year ago:
2001-04-25 22:54:29 Anti-virus software anti-motivated? (askslashdot,money) (rejected)
I guess if a slashdot author writes it then its ok.
You fail to include the fact that the amount of FREE hype Star Wars receives from websites such as slashdot is worth many times over the paltry $50 million spent on spider-man. Lucas invites 10 losers out to his dirt farm and then 1000s of articles are written at no expense to him. Lucas releases a trailer on a website, and tens of thousands download it and hype it up.
Bottom line -- star wars receives tens of millions worth of FREE hype, with NO effort. That is what Katz is comparing.
Don't you know that every speed improvement will speed up your internet access? Like upgrading your processor to a Pentium 4 will turn that modem into a T1!!! It's just buzzwords! The only speedup will be that the servers now have more memory bandwidth and can handle more connections at once.
The whole article is mistitled. It won't be an end to rebooting, it will be an end to cold booting.
If you want to eliminate the reboots from Windows, tell bill gates and co to make it more modular and less inter-dependent so you can insert and remove drivers just like *nix kernel modules.