Users have the right to "time-shift" content that they have legally acquired.
This gives you the right to record video or audio for later viewing or listening. For example, you can use a VCR to record a TV show and play it back later.
Users have the right to "space-shift" content that they have legally acquired.
This gives you the right to use your content in different places (as long as each use is personal and non-commercial). For example, you can copy a CD to a portable music player so that you can listen to the songs while you're jogging.
Users have the right to make backup copies of their content.
This gives you the right to make archival copies to be used in the event that your original copies are destroyed.
Users have the right to use legally acquired content on the platform of their choice.
This gives you the right to listen to music on your Rio, to watch TV on your iMac, and to view DVDs on your Linux computer.
Users have the right to translate legally acquired content into comparable formats.
This gives you the right to modify content in order to make it more usable. For example, a blind person can modify an electronic book so that the content can be read out loud.
Users have the right to use technology in order to achieve the rights previously mentioned.
This last right guarantees your ability to exercise your other rights. Certain recent copyright laws have paradoxical loopholes that claim to grant certain rights but then criminalize all technologies that could allow you to exercise those rights. In contrast, this Bill of Rights states that no technological barriers can deprive you of your other fair use rights.
Re:How to Think about Security
on
Byte Wars
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Forget security measures. The process you describe should be applied to every proposed solution to just about any problem, regardless of whether it relates to security, technology, or politics.
I figured I'd plug the Consumer Technology Bill of Rights. Read it, think about it, tell your friends about it, email your government representatives about it. That way we can all have a coherent answer when asked what we want from our digital media.
I don't know about other factors, but the Internet might have contributed to the decline of CD sales... by making it so freakin' easy to buy used CDs. I can go to Half.com and find a zillion used CDs and knock 30% or more off the price if I'm willing to wait 6-8 months. The selection is so huge, I'm practically guaranteed to find any mainstream CD I want. I think 3/4 of the CDs I purchase now are used.
Yes. I've seen this first-hand. Several years ago one of my professors was away at a workshop for 2 weeks. Because of a faculty shortage in the department, they had to bring a guy out of retirement to substitute. Aside from being sort of incoherent and pausing for really long periods of time, the most annoying part of all this was that this scenario was repeated at least once every class period:
Professor: Yes, you have a question? Female student:Student asks question. Professor: I'm sorry, can you repeat that? Female student:Student repeats question louder. Professor: What was that? Male student (next to female student):Male student repeats female student's question. Professor: Oh! I see. Professor answers question.
Heh. This was a first-time troll for me. I was killing time this afternoon and wanted to see how quick the moderators were. For the curious, the first Flamebait moderation took 2 minutes from post, the second took another 9 minutes, and the last one (bringing the post down to -1) took an additional 47 minutes.
But, you're right. I should have put Python in there somewhere...:)
Re:Implications for Solar Power
on
Stopping Light
·
· Score: 2
Actually, the biggest problem is the conversion of sunlight to a more useful form of energy. Photovoltaics suck big time in the cost and efficiency departments. Places with no shortage of sunlight (like Arizona) can't use solar power for even a modest fraction of their power generation needs.
The source has been available for a long time, but the source license has been non-free (and had some restrictions I personally considered unacceptable). The news here is that the source is now LGPL as opposed to the weird license that made it unusable before.
Actually, Gibson assumed in his sci-fi that Japanese culture would eventually come to dominate the future (carried by their corporate success). The scene you describe was probably based upon a similar tradition in Japanese companies (at least in the 80's anyway) designed to build team unity. So people have been doing this for several decades, just not in the US.
Ditto to this comment. The summary to this feature is very misleading. I thought this guy had actually come up with a usable metric, when in fact he just demonstrates in which cases lines of code (and other related metrics) is a silly way to measure performance. The programmer performance measure he closes with is ill-defined and not quantifiable. So, basically, he gives a happy, fuzzy idea that no one can actually use except in a Powerpoint slide.
Editors: Please say no to features like this in the future! Use your head. It's probably better for this guy's ego anyway to have one of you tell him his article sucks rather than all of us.:)
Slashdot Mirror
The Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons
Might I suggest that online discussion is almost always "mental masturbation / entertainment" regardless of where it occurs.
Forget security measures. The process you describe should be applied to every proposed solution to just about any problem, regardless of whether it relates to security, technology, or politics.
I figured I'd plug the Consumer Technology Bill of Rights. Read it, think about it, tell your friends about it, email your government representatives about it. That way we can all have a coherent answer when asked what we want from our digital media.
I don't know about other factors, but the Internet might have contributed to the decline of CD sales ... by making it so freakin' easy to buy used CDs. I can go to Half.com and find a zillion used CDs and knock 30% or more off the price if I'm willing to wait 6-8 months. The selection is so huge, I'm practically guaranteed to find any mainstream CD I want. I think 3/4 of the CDs I purchase now are used.
True is this. Unimportant word order is to the Jedi. Through the Force, all syntax is made unambiguous.
Bobbs-Merrill Co. v. Straus, 210 U.S. 339 (1908) killed the idea of special restrictions like this on books nearly 100 years ago.
Ha! Your Jedi reverse-psychology tricks have no effect on me.
Professor: Yes, you have a question?
Female student: Student asks question.
Professor: I'm sorry, can you repeat that?
Female student: Student repeats question louder.
Professor: What was that?
Male student (next to female student): Male student repeats female student's question.
Professor: Oh! I see. Professor answers question.
This is why we need government regulation of flight simulation software. Otherwise we're training terrorists to crash into buildings!
GNOME was designed by pansy GNU/Linux zealots who don't know jack about software engineering.
(I like this randomness of this thread.)
But, you're right. I should have put Python in there somewhere... :)
I heard about Perl the other day, and it sounds cool, but my friends tell me that Perl sucks. Is this true?
75% of Americans think they are above average.
Being belligerent is actually a form of entertainment here in the US.
"Go buy Windows XP, you cheap bastard, and get some real work done."
Because if he compared John Ashcroft to Hitler, we would have to invoke Godwin's law and terminate this discussion.
"invasive"
Actually, the biggest problem is the conversion of sunlight to a more useful form of energy. Photovoltaics suck big time in the cost and efficiency departments. Places with no shortage of sunlight (like Arizona) can't use solar power for even a modest fraction of their power generation needs.
The source has been available for a long time, but the source license has been non-free (and had some restrictions I personally considered unacceptable). The news here is that the source is now LGPL as opposed to the weird license that made it unusable before.
Easy: You have no idea what the opinion of most Slashdotters is.
Actually, Gibson assumed in his sci-fi that Japanese culture would eventually come to dominate the future (carried by their corporate success). The scene you describe was probably based upon a similar tradition in Japanese companies (at least in the 80's anyway) designed to build team unity. So people have been doing this for several decades, just not in the US.
Editors: Please say no to features like this in the future! Use your head. It's probably better for this guy's ego anyway to have one of you tell him his article sucks rather than all of us. :)