Let's start with repealing the 17th Amendment so that the state governments get their direct say in Congress back. If there are any major amendments to the constitution in my lifetime, that's the one I want.
Be that as it may, this action on his part is MORE illegal (ie. the penalties are greater and are more likely to result in actual jail time plus severe financial penalties) than the actual act of piracy in the first place.
Don't get me wrong, I am NOT supporting piracy of software, music, or anything else. However, his -reaction- to software piracy by including the equivalent of a software bomb isn't justifiable in any way, shape, or form.
Disabling use of the software is easy, and would accomplish the exact same thing - preventing use of the pirated key. The fact that he decided to take the next step and maliciously damage another person's data shows a complete disconnect with reality. You -cannot- do what he does as an anti-piracy measure - it's vigilantism, and destroying other people's work is illegal, regardless of what an EULA may claim.
Not if he puts a static list of 'pirated' keys in the binary or an attached library or something.
Additionally, while I agree with the sentiment, some people prefer to review a product's full functionality before deciding to buy it. Apparently there is a 15 or 20 -MINUTE- trial period in which to examine and profile the application. There was discussion about this in another thread in the discussion area for this product (linked in the article), and how woefully inadequate it is. At least give a full 24 or 48 hours if you want to have a time limited trial, for crying out loud. 15-20 minutes? That's absurd.
That, alone, could be seen as justification to a lot of folks to pirate the software rather than ponying up the cash in the first place.
He can do whatever he wants with HIS software, and his software's installation area.
He CANNOT deliberately do anything malicious or damaging to another's PC. As others have pointed out, it's illegal, to start with. And additionally, what he is doing IS immoral.
It's not an effective way of deterring pirates - it's a FAR more effective way of deterring anyone from ever using your software, period.
It's not. Reading the linked discussion thread, this 'feature' was discovered when someone tried to pirate the software so they could review it against the product they were writing.
So... no, it's not an idle threat, and the author is a freaking asshole who deserves to have his reputation destroyed over this.
Ah. I'd forgotten about the Jehovah's Witnesses. They're easily forgettable when you don't have to deal with them very often *heh* (meanwhile, I receive a mailer monthly from the local LDS Ward's Bishopric...)
But yeah, those would be the two that I could think of, anyways,
I had the unfortunate experience while growing up of being teased about my beliefs (I was raised Mormon, but am no longer practicing), and the beliefs of the Church, including being called a fake Christian, etc.
I'd like nothing better than for the bulk of Christianity to revisit, as a group, the early history of the Church, and come to some sort of consensus on SOME basic theology (even if it's just to answer the whole "What is a Christian?" question).
How many Christian sects -don't- believe in the Nicean Trinity? Think long and hard about that, because I understand that there's only -1-, they're routinely vilified along with the average 'Christian' declaring that they can't possibly be Christian because of it.
So yes, adherence to the Nicean Creed IS, in fact, pretty much used as a 'definition' to determine who is, and is not, a "real" Christian, whether you like it or not.
On average, most places have gone to 65. I don't recall if it's a "mandate" or not, but I'd not be surprised if the feds finally gave up on the enforcement by funds scam after it became completely common knowledge.
The key section of that is that the taxes "shell be uniform throughout the United States". Each state, by apportionment, has a specific amount of the federal budget that is its responsibility. The highest population states would pay the largest amount into the federal kitty, and the lowest population states the lowest, which each citizen paying effectively the same amount, on a per capita basis.
How each state COLLECTS that tax is completely up to them, but up until the passage of the 16th amendment, the feds did not have the power and authority to directly tax The People, but only indirectly tax by taxing the State Governments.
In a nutshell.
Again, more high school civics that everyone continues to forget the second they walk out of the classroom each day.
If the power/authority justifying the passage of a given law is not explicitly spelled out in the Constitution, then no, they Feds do not have proper authority to be passing and then enforcing that law. Period.
The Constitution doesn't say "this is want you, the federal government, can't do, and if it doesn't say you can't then you probably can". It says "this is what you, the federal government, CAN do, and if it doesn't say you CAN, the you DEFINITELY CANNOT."
Part of the problem is the damned 17th Amendment and the popular election of Senators. As a quick refresher - for the first, oh, 125 years (or so) of our Constitutional Republic, the Senate membership was elected by each state's respective legislatures. The 17th Amendment, in an attempt to avoid the deadlocks that were occurring in these elections, was passed, giving electoral power over the Senate to the people (why have a bicameral legislature when they're all popularly elected, duh?) and empowering (with appropriate state legislation) the governors of the states to make interim appointments, ensuring that there's always a full Senate. As I said in an earlier post - it actually IS a good intention, but it's actual implementation is horrid.
And to the GP - none of those programs are Constitutional, and I'm personally having a hard time justifying even things like the FDA and FCC. And let's not talk about the possible, if not probable, unconstitutionality of the DEA, BATF, CIA, NSA, etc (although I can see justification of the CIA and NSA as "defense" organizations). The fact of the matter is, the federal government, if it were to actually stick to it's constitutionally permitted limits, would be about 1/5 to 1/4 the size it is currently. Hell, I'd kill to see budgets the size of Reagan's -worst- at this point (those would be less than HALF what the current budgets are).
Note that I'm also a fan of a small standing military, with a very large trained reserve force, far in excess of the current size of the military reserves, frankly, and with units controlled and trained by the damned states as they were prior to the end of the Civil War and Reconstruction.
The Social Security -program-, or any other public "needs" program that's similar (Medicare, Medicaid, HUD, etc) must be explicitly permitted, at least in -function-, in the Constitution.
[quote]A better analogy would be the drinking age. It is federally mandated that the drinking age be 21. However, this mandate is actually meaningless, since it's not one of the powers given to the federal government. It's a power reserved for the states. The only reason why 48 of the states enforce it is because it's tied to some transportation fund.[/quote]
It's specifically tied to the federal highway funds, same as the speed limit thing (although it's nationally 65 now, for the most part, from what I've seen).
Regardless, it's yet another usurpation of state power and authority by the feds. I'm waiting for New Hampshire to do the same thing (and kinda saddened that they weren't first).
National speed limit could POSSIBLY be seen as an extension of the Commerce clause, with the Interstate Highway System also POSSIBLY seen as an extension of the same. Not saying that I agree with that particular interpretation of the Constitution, but...
Social Security, as a program, is almost indefensibly unconstitutional, but SCOTUS refuses to hear cases suing on any sort of constitutionality claim. Same goes for the disputed passage of the Amendment legalizing the income tax.
As for Maine's "authority", it is directly derived from the 9th and 10th Amendments. We really ought to require 4 years of Civics in High School so that we can properly educate the younger generations (damn, I can't believe I'm actually saying this, being only 30 myself...) in what their Rights and Responsibilities are, AND what the limits -REALLY- are supposed to be on the Federal government/Congress/SCOTUS/etc. If the Constitution doesn't say that the Feds CAN do something, then legally, they CANNOT do it (hence why SS and Medicare are both extra-constitutional - they usurp the power and authority of the states, as does much of the President's cabinet, in my opinion).
Of course, a lot of the bullshit that's gotten through Congress likely wouldn't have had the 17th Amendment never been passed. GREAT intention, actually, but it's led to the government being beholden FAR more to the squeaky rabble than it would be if the Senate were still controlled by the country's statehouses.
Actually, he was in a situation where the writing was clearly on the wall - Train these guys so we can let you and your team go after you're done.
I don't blame him at all, even if the ethics of it are borderline.
The fact that Welch's didn't see this sort of reaction as possible just blows my mind.
By the way - this is also what has happened in almost every instance (that I'm personally aware of) that a bean-counter ends up running technical departments (or really, any group outside of finance and sales). IT becomes about costs, and not about getting the job done in the most efficient manner possible.
For starters, you're talking about a hard science, based oh physical reality (Physics) versus a "soft" science, who's rules are primarily man-made and devised.
who has an HDTV set at home, anyway? Me. Bought 2.5 weeks ago, as a matter of fact, for far less than I was expecting to spend for a 40+" set.
I have been quite pleased with the purchase, and the upgrade to HD/Digital Cable is worth the $5mo it's costing me (NFL in HD ftw).
That said - I agree with you otherwise. The new controller is already forcing developers to think outside the box, and I feel that there will be far more innovative and exclusive games for Wii than there will be for PS3 or 360. I'm not saying that those systems won't also have innovative games, but they won't be game-play innovations. PS3 and 360 are definitely going to try to push the envelope on graphics and audio realism, I just don't think they are going to have the same effect as innovative play control is going to have.
Again - look at the DS. I just bought a DS Lite for my 8yo for his birthday, and it was absolutely intuitive for him to use. Hell, I'm seriously considering getting myself one for MY birthday (or to celebrate my divorce being final, whichever happens first) to help break me off of my MMORPG habit.:D
Freedom of Speech in the USA is pretty close to absolute. Aside from NC-17, and the occasional jackass teenager running the ticket booth, as long as you at least look like you're in high school, you're getting into pretty much any movie you want in this country (and let's not even talk about rentals).
In a very general sense, you're correct that it's primarily about political speech rights. With -very- few exceptions ("Fire!" in a crowded theater, etc), it's pretty much absolute. Various states and even the feds try to get around it, and to a certain degree they manage to. SCOTUS usually ends up smacking them down if they reach too far, though./shrug. Being that video games really are analogous to art, however loosely one defines 'art', it's not a very large leap for the courts to bitch-slap anyone who thinks that they have the authority to limit the sale of that art to the populace at large.
Actually, Envy is a direct Merc derivative, done by some of the same folks that did Merc.
There's also ROM, a derivative of Merc that was done by Alander about 12 years ago (or so).
Wow. we're down under 1600 total MUDs now? I remember when mudconnector had 5k+... Hell, I remember Mudding -before- mudconnector (or any other directly related searchable database) existed... lol I wonder if any of the ones I worked on are still listed, too... Hell, I remember when there were that many total LP MUDs...let alone derivatives... wow...
That said, LP (and further, Aber, which is where Alan Cox got HIS name out in the late 80s) also have a number of engine derivatives. I've never really been much of a fan of LP, but then, it's been probably a decade since I last -really- spent any time with that codebase...I last touched a DIKU derivative a couple years ago...
FFXI, I believe, and Square-Enix made it quite clear that THEY weren't going to support the PS3, since porting would require a straight rewrite, and they weren't willing to to that for an MMORPG that's now 5 years old, and showing it's age./shrug.
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Let's start with repealing the 17th Amendment so that the state governments get their direct say in Congress back.
If there are any major amendments to the constitution in my lifetime, that's the one I want.
Be that as it may, this action on his part is MORE illegal (ie. the penalties are greater and are more likely to result in actual jail time plus severe financial penalties) than the actual act of piracy in the first place.
Don't get me wrong, I am NOT supporting piracy of software, music, or anything else. However, his -reaction- to software piracy by including the equivalent of a software bomb isn't justifiable in any way, shape, or form.
Disabling use of the software is easy, and would accomplish the exact same thing - preventing use of the pirated key. The fact that he decided to take the next step and maliciously damage another person's data shows a complete disconnect with reality. You -cannot- do what he does as an anti-piracy measure - it's vigilantism, and destroying other people's work is illegal, regardless of what an EULA may claim.
If that clause is in an EULA, it may in fact render the EULA invalid, or at the very least, that clause WILL be rendered invalid.
Y'know, I'm just about done responding to your idiocy. You're doing a bang-up job showing just how much you DON'T know.
Not if he puts a static list of 'pirated' keys in the binary or an attached library or something.
Additionally, while I agree with the sentiment, some people prefer to review a product's full functionality before deciding to buy it. Apparently there is a 15 or 20 -MINUTE- trial period in which to examine and profile the application. There was discussion about this in another thread in the discussion area for this product (linked in the article), and how woefully inadequate it is.
At least give a full 24 or 48 hours if you want to have a time limited trial, for crying out loud. 15-20 minutes? That's absurd.
That, alone, could be seen as justification to a lot of folks to pirate the software rather than ponying up the cash in the first place.
He can do whatever he wants with HIS software, and his software's installation area.
He CANNOT deliberately do anything malicious or damaging to another's PC. As others have pointed out, it's illegal, to start with. And additionally, what he is doing IS immoral.
It's not an effective way of deterring pirates - it's a FAR more effective way of deterring anyone from ever using your software, period.
It's not.
Reading the linked discussion thread, this 'feature' was discovered when someone tried to pirate the software so they could review it against the product they were writing.
So... no, it's not an idle threat, and the author is a freaking asshole who deserves to have his reputation destroyed over this.
nein. /shrug.
Latter Day Saints (Mormons) and also the Jehovah's Witnesses (which I neglected to recall).
Ah. I'd forgotten about the Jehovah's Witnesses. They're easily forgettable when you don't have to deal with them very often *heh*
(meanwhile, I receive a mailer monthly from the local LDS Ward's Bishopric...)
But yeah, those would be the two that I could think of, anyways,
Glad to see that you're an exception :D
I had the unfortunate experience while growing up of being teased about my beliefs (I was raised Mormon, but am no longer practicing), and the beliefs of the Church, including being called a fake Christian, etc.
I'd like nothing better than for the bulk of Christianity to revisit, as a group, the early history of the Church, and come to some sort of consensus on SOME basic theology (even if it's just to answer the whole "What is a Christian?" question).
Actually, he's pretty much correct, sad to say.
How many Christian sects -don't- believe in the Nicean Trinity? Think long and hard about that, because I understand that there's only -1-, they're routinely vilified along with the average 'Christian' declaring that they can't possibly be Christian because of it.
So yes, adherence to the Nicean Creed IS, in fact, pretty much used as a 'definition' to determine who is, and is not, a "real" Christian, whether you like it or not.
Neat :D
On average, most places have gone to 65. I don't recall if it's a "mandate" or not, but I'd not be surprised if the feds finally gave up on the enforcement by funds scam after it became completely common knowledge.
The key section of that is that the taxes "shell be uniform throughout the United States".
Each state, by apportionment, has a specific amount of the federal budget that is its responsibility.
The highest population states would pay the largest amount into the federal kitty, and the lowest population states the lowest, which each citizen paying effectively the same amount, on a per capita basis.
How each state COLLECTS that tax is completely up to them, but up until the passage of the 16th amendment, the feds did not have the power and authority to directly tax The People, but only indirectly tax by taxing the State Governments.
In a nutshell.
Again, more high school civics that everyone continues to forget the second they walk out of the classroom each day.
Amen.
Couldn't have put it more succinctly.
If the power/authority justifying the passage of a given law is not explicitly spelled out in the Constitution, then no, they Feds do not have proper authority to be passing and then enforcing that law. Period.
The Constitution doesn't say "this is want you, the federal government, can't do, and if it doesn't say you can't then you probably can". It says "this is what you, the federal government, CAN do, and if it doesn't say you CAN, the you DEFINITELY CANNOT."
Part of the problem is the damned 17th Amendment and the popular election of Senators. As a quick refresher - for the first, oh, 125 years (or so) of our Constitutional Republic, the Senate membership was elected by each state's respective legislatures. The 17th Amendment, in an attempt to avoid the deadlocks that were occurring in these elections, was passed, giving electoral power over the Senate to the people (why have a bicameral legislature when they're all popularly elected, duh?) and empowering (with appropriate state legislation) the governors of the states to make interim appointments, ensuring that there's always a full Senate. As I said in an earlier post - it actually IS a good intention, but it's actual implementation is horrid.
And to the GP - none of those programs are Constitutional, and I'm personally having a hard time justifying even things like the FDA and FCC.
And let's not talk about the possible, if not probable, unconstitutionality of the DEA, BATF, CIA, NSA, etc (although I can see justification of the CIA and NSA as "defense" organizations). The fact of the matter is, the federal government, if it were to actually stick to it's constitutionally permitted limits, would be about 1/5 to 1/4 the size it is currently. Hell, I'd kill to see budgets the size of Reagan's -worst- at this point (those would be less than HALF what the current budgets are).
Note that I'm also a fan of a small standing military, with a very large trained reserve force, far in excess of the current size of the military reserves, frankly, and with units controlled and trained by the damned states as they were prior to the end of the Civil War and Reconstruction.
No, it's not actually.
The Social Security -program-, or any other public "needs" program that's similar (Medicare, Medicaid, HUD, etc) must be explicitly permitted, at least in -function-, in the Constitution.
Period. Basic civics, people, basic civics.
[quote]A better analogy would be the drinking age. It is federally mandated that the drinking age be 21. However, this mandate is actually meaningless, since it's not one of the powers given to the federal government. It's a power reserved for the states. The only reason why 48 of the states enforce it is because it's tied to some transportation fund.[/quote]
It's specifically tied to the federal highway funds, same as the speed limit thing (although it's nationally 65 now, for the most part, from what I've seen).
Regardless, it's yet another usurpation of state power and authority by the feds. I'm waiting for New Hampshire to do the same thing (and kinda saddened that they weren't first).
In the above two cases -
National speed limit could POSSIBLY be seen as an extension of the Commerce clause, with the Interstate Highway System also POSSIBLY seen as an extension of the same. Not saying that I agree with that particular interpretation of the Constitution, but...
Social Security, as a program, is almost indefensibly unconstitutional, but SCOTUS refuses to hear cases suing on any sort of constitutionality claim. Same goes for the disputed passage of the Amendment legalizing the income tax.
As for Maine's "authority", it is directly derived from the 9th and 10th Amendments. We really ought to require 4 years of Civics in High School so that we can properly educate the younger generations (damn, I can't believe I'm actually saying this, being only 30 myself...) in what their Rights and Responsibilities are, AND what the limits -REALLY- are supposed to be on the Federal government/Congress/SCOTUS/etc. If the Constitution doesn't say that the Feds CAN do something, then legally, they CANNOT do it (hence why SS and Medicare are both extra-constitutional - they usurp the power and authority of the states, as does much of the President's cabinet, in my opinion).
Of course, a lot of the bullshit that's gotten through Congress likely wouldn't have had the 17th Amendment never been passed. GREAT intention, actually, but it's led to the government being beholden FAR more to the squeaky rabble than it would be if the Senate were still controlled by the country's statehouses.
Note - IANAL, but this is basic civics here.
Actually, he was in a situation where the writing was clearly on the wall -
Train these guys so we can let you and your team go after you're done.
I don't blame him at all, even if the ethics of it are borderline.
The fact that Welch's didn't see this sort of reaction as possible just blows my mind.
By the way - this is also what has happened in almost every instance (that I'm personally aware of) that a bean-counter ends up running technical departments (or really, any group outside of finance and sales). IT becomes about costs, and not about getting the job done in the most efficient manner possible.
MBA's ruin more businesses than they grow, IMO.
For starters, you're talking about a hard science, based oh physical reality (Physics) versus a "soft" science, who's rules are primarily man-made and devised.
BIG honking difference.
I have been quite pleased with the purchase, and the upgrade to HD/Digital Cable is worth the $5mo it's costing me (NFL in HD ftw).
That said - I agree with you otherwise. The new controller is already forcing developers to think outside the box, and I feel that there will be far more innovative and exclusive games for Wii than there will be for PS3 or 360. I'm not saying that those systems won't also have innovative games, but they won't be game-play innovations. PS3 and 360 are definitely going to try to push the envelope on graphics and audio realism, I just don't think they are going to have the same effect as innovative play control is going to have.
Again - look at the DS. I just bought a DS Lite for my 8yo for his birthday, and it was absolutely intuitive for him to use. Hell, I'm seriously considering getting myself one for MY birthday (or to celebrate my divorce being final, whichever happens first) to help break me off of my MMORPG habit.
Now if only we could get the size and scope of the US Federal Government back in-line with Constitutional limits.
Of course, once we start talking about the specifics of what that means, people start getting a bit testy...
Freedom of Speech in the USA is pretty close to absolute.
/shrug. Being that video games really are analogous to art, however loosely one defines 'art', it's not a very large leap for the courts to bitch-slap anyone who thinks that they have the authority to limit the sale of that art to the populace at large.
Aside from NC-17, and the occasional jackass teenager running the ticket booth, as long as you at least look like you're in high school, you're getting into pretty much any movie you want in this country (and let's not even talk about rentals).
In a very general sense, you're correct that it's primarily about political speech rights. With -very- few exceptions ("Fire!" in a crowded theater, etc), it's pretty much absolute. Various states and even the feds try to get around it, and to a certain degree they manage to. SCOTUS usually ends up smacking them down if they reach too far, though.
And they do, considering that Baltimore has the #2 murder rate of large cities in the country (as earlier shown).
And then we can look immediately south and see what Shall Issue concealed carry laws do to violent crime rates.
Wake the fuck up, people.
Actually, Envy is a direct Merc derivative, done by some of the same folks that did Merc.
There's also ROM, a derivative of Merc that was done by Alander about 12 years ago (or so).
Wow. we're down under 1600 total MUDs now? I remember when mudconnector had 5k+... Hell, I remember Mudding -before- mudconnector (or any other directly related searchable database) existed... lol I wonder if any of the ones I worked on are still listed, too...
Hell, I remember when there were that many total LP MUDs...let alone derivatives... wow...
That said, LP (and further, Aber, which is where Alan Cox got HIS name out in the late 80s) also have a number of engine derivatives. I've never really been much of a fan of LP, but then, it's been probably a decade since I last -really- spent any time with that codebase...I last touched a DIKU derivative a couple years ago...
FFXI, I believe, and Square-Enix made it quite clear that THEY weren't going to support the PS3, since porting would require a straight rewrite, and they weren't willing to to that for an MMORPG that's now 5 years old, and showing it's age. /shrug.