Eric is right. And I also don't like the implications either.
They didn't blow the pooch though by not consulting a knowledgable copyright/IP lawyer first though... They knew exactly what they were doing! After all, there is not such thing as bad publicity.
If I remember from last year, MP3.com originally wanted to set up something with the Big-5, RIAA, but they wouldn't listen to them. So... instead they go ahead and do it... the Big-5 settle out/in of court, and now MP3.com has some sort of solution and permission. Kind of cool tactics really.
So... first you don't get permission from the big guys because they won't listen to you. So then go ahead and do it, cause a lot of public Hoo-hah, and end up getting sued, and allowed to do it in the end anyways.
However, they must have some deeep pockets to go through with this...
But a company does not HAVE to abide by another company "adding" value to their product. Plus, what if the Big-5 have a similar distribution model being built... and voila, MP3.com came up with this illegal distribution, directly cutting into the money that could have been made by the Big-5.
So maybe that's MP3.com's point... is that if a person owns a CD, they SHOULD be able to listen to it anywhere. But then again... why should the Big-5 be FORCED to do anything?
Face it, the Big-5 own copyrighted material. Lots of it. Not only that, but THEY own it, not even the artists. And if they don't want anyone else profitting from it, they don't have to let anyone else profit from it.
As I see it, there's only 2 solutions. Either have the customers revolt and buy only good music (non-Brittany Spears crap, well you get the point) or the artists themselves quit signing with the Big-5.
--- Of course there's a difference. We recognize the motive in many crimes that are prosecuted -- if you kill someone by accident you'll probably get less time than if you do it on purpose.---
If you kill someone by accident, it's called Manslaughter. This can happen a lot in car accidents. There are lesser forms also, such as Reckless Endangerments, etc, etc.
But that's criminal law. I don't think mp3.com was in criminal courts, just civil courts. And then again, I don't know a damn thing about the law, I'm not a lawyer (that is why I still have a soul)
The first thing you'll get, when running a rogue mp3 web site, etc, is a letter in the mail from their lawyers. A cease-and-desist letter. After that time, if you don't cease, then they can take you to court and will show the letter they sent, proving that you did indeed know what you were doing wrong, because they told you what you did wrong.
But remember, the RIAA hands out these letters by the hundreds, and it doesn't necessarily mean they're right. But they're on a mission, and that's to scare everyone straight, and if that doesn't work, sue them if they have enough money.
--- As I understand it, it's legal for the individual to copy their own CD in this manner, and it is legal for them to pay for a service that acts to fulfill this function. In other words, I can make a profit from copying others work.---
Well you understand it wrong.
I also thought this would be a good idea. I wanted to start a franchise called Mp3-to-go in malls, where people would walk in with their CD collection, drop them off at my counter, and much like a one-hour photomart, could come back after shopping and pick up their originals, and their newly made MP3 CD-R's.
I could sell sound cards, nice computer speakers, maybe some portable mp3 players, etc. Have brochures, booklets, etc to help educate people with the world of MP3's. (for those who need it, like mom).
The fun part of the research was looking into components needed to RIP and convert MP3's quick enough to do about 100 CD's an hour. (Average person's collection).
The very UN-fun part of the research was looking into the copyright laws and seeing if I had a leg to stand on.
Unfortunately, it looked good to start with, but digital backups of copyrighted media don't seem to fall under... well... common sense and logic.
The only thing that temporarily looked promising was if I turned the business into a library, since they are allowed special scenarios of digital archiving of copyrighted media... but that went no where fast, also.
The sad truth is, even if someone could come up with a solid plan, the RIAA is going to go after you if you make any kind of revenue based on their copyright material. They spend what... $50 million a year on legal fees alone? They've got the money, and the time.
The only thing I regret, is that I would have made a secret copy of every CD that a customer would have brought in. I imagine it would have added up quite quickly.
No, no, no... They don't want the guy embaressed, and leak his name because then all his friends and family would find out that he works at Apple!*shudder*
Wow, this is the biggest non-announcement about Linux.
Wow, it's bigger than Apple? I'm sure Microsoft was really shaking in its boots about Apple lately. While we're at it, can we say things like Linux is more powerful than the Commodore 64? Has it surpassed the TRS 80's?
There are a lot of you's out there, and there's a lot of me's out there....What does that prove? I don't know. I just know that everytime I hear someone say they buy more CD's because of Napster, I just say honestly to myself that I am buying Zero now because of it. (not napster really, but newsgroups, etc)
Oh, but one thing that has changed for me (for the better) is that I do buy much more Indie stuff than I did. Thanks to finding out which Blues bands I liked, and which Punk bands I love, I now can buy them at Emusic.Com (and do still)
So... my main stream (shit music) buying has gone to nil, but my non-main stream music has gone up 1000%. (Infinite I guess, since I was never allowed by the main stream media to know who was better than britney spears all these years!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Napster indexes copyrighted works which are illegally shared, -- yes.
Web search engines index legal web-based content, -- no.
These search engines don't know for sure that they're linking (and indexing) to legal sites. Most sites are, some aren't. Heck, I could have a secret web site I don't even register with a search engine, and it can still show up due to spiders that find me through other site's links to me.
Search engines point to web sites. These web sites could easily could hold mp3 files. Kiddie porn, warez, etc. Everytime one of these individual sites get knocked down it's because the pursuers went after the individual web sites.
If Napster gets shut down, then it's only half a stone's throw away to shut down yahoo because when you type in "Metallica MP3", you get a huge list back of web sites that may or may not still hold metallica.mp3 files!
Yes, logically you and I can make a big list of why napster is different than yahoo. However, once law is made, it's just another bullet to the RIAA to use against you and me. The RIAA is not logical, and will not come up with the same conclusion you and I came up with. They're evil and will sue anyone that gets in their monetary way. They will bend the law to jump to the next law. *They* will say that Napster and Yahoo are very similar.
Well, actually I think that with the limited understanding we have with math, and already theories proving extra dimensions, etc, etc, that maybe someday time travel will be involved.
And we'll have to ask the same questions. So I think tampering with genetics, bringing back extinct species ranks right up there with time travel issues too. (It's just that one came before the other).
well true, but murdering people is part of the 'free will', or 'will of God', but doesn't make it right. And explicitly stated in our owner's manual as commandment 5.
Well, I was just arguing against the tidbit of logic you threw up.
I'd like to look at the whole thing as... Yes, we can do all this genetic tampering, but do we want to. We've already seen insects adapt to our growing-pesticides. We've already made movies about 'accidentally' engineering super-adaptable viruses, etc. I'm sure if we start to engineer genetics, it'll only be a while before we get smarter about the topic, and slowly it trickles down to the masses (in a form of a home kit, etc) and some whacked out individual outside any government control will go ahead and screw something up. Give us all a chance... we'll screw something up.
---If we were talking about some sort of boring rain forest lizard that bites people and hisses, then obviously nobody would want to clone it. So it would stay extinct.
Hillarious!
I've always had this dream (usually while camping and being bit) that I could blink, and all the flies in the world would instantly die. (A soft thud as they all hit the ground)
I figured... what...possible...good can flies do us. But then I thought about maybe maggots, decomposition, etc might be useful, and was always curious what would happen. BUt now, I know that even if I got my wish and did it... some bonehead evil scientist will say, "what extinct species should I bring back from the dead?? Aha! I'll bring back the flies!".
Hey, it's like the rats in Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy... They pretended they were being lab rats and being experimented on, but instead were much smarter than the humans!
Paving the world with concrete and airconditioning is just a new type of evolution. Anything that can't survive (which is everything but man... oh and the cockroaches) will eventually die. They didn't survive the big "man-thing". Man---is a natural disaster. But, don't orry, we'll blow ourselves up, have nuclear winter for thousands of years, and the cockroaches will repopulate the earth. Some deep sea creature will survive, and fart out some microbes, and they can evolve some legs some day. If the half life of Plutonium is 2,000 years or whatever... what the hell is 100,000 years in the natural progression of our earth? IT's a blip!
It's hardly a blip.
I don't remember the dinosaurs complaining about "old fashioned darwinism" being lost during the meteor storm.
Rader
Re:People are bad, mmkay?
on
TigerCloning
·
· Score: 1
good point. I'd love to see them evolve with a written language, etc, and they can talk about their history... They might have sketchy history B.M. (before man), but through excavation, etc, they might have fossils of themselves at museums. But then they could talk about the 2nd coming, A.M (after man) where the first one (a diety in their society of course) was engineered from man...etc...etc.
After all, it's only a matter of time before we find out that the martians created Adam from genetically engineering him from a sample they found from before the big ice age. The garden of Eden was just a zoo.
Ok, first I thought this was a dumb idea. But then when I saw how many branches there were... unbelievable.
I'd like to see a similar map for programming languages, although the few I saw back in school were pretty lacking, and some were big jumps.
At least with Unix, it's easier to trace.
Ever think that some day all the geneology map will be put together officially (by the government of course so that they could mess with your 'past', and prove Jefferson never committed adultery...) but a 3-d real time traversing of the world's geneology....
I wonder though, if maybe the script kiddies are busy working on the more popular platforms, instead of spending any time cracking Novell's services.
I'd love to be in a Slider's episode and travel to an alternate earth... one run by Novell, and see what kind of holes they have to fill in everyday , if any.
Yea right!
Like IBM would really need to steal from Samba. IBM is the king of emulators, and could write Samba in a weekend.
However, the 7 white-ring binders describing how to install it would take forever. And then the 15 white-ring binders that would cover how to run it...
UPS's goal isn't mailing first class letters. It's parcel packages. Which they deliver to rural areas just fine.
UPS is a business like anyone else, and can have as much advertisement as they seem fit. My point is that the Postal Service shouldn't be trying to take away customers from legit businesses just to do the job half as well. They should stick with first class letters, bulk mail, 2nd class, which was its intent in the first place.
The fair use act was created quite a while ago, and was in response, I believe, to either VHS/Beta tapes, or recordable tape cassettes. The Fair Use Act was created to give the consumers the rights to make copies and listen to their tapes in the car, or at work. Hence, "Fair Use". How would you make "Digital" copies back then? You'd have to have a master, have to have a huge, expensive mass-producing machine. (Tapes or CD's, when they came out). Now-a-days, it's a simple $200 or less CD burner. Or computer hard drive. The Big 5 have already done enough damage by postponing affordable cd-burners by more than 2 or 3 years! They wanted to make all CDROM machines to be special hardware. Thank goodness, "General Use Clause" came into affect.
I think the wording is obsolete. I believe that if "Fair Use" was rewritten today, and the Big5 didn't lobby too much of their money on the right day, we'd have a similar reading saying that I can make CD copies for myself.
You still see those warnings at the beginning of video movies? Saying you can't sell copies of this movie, you can't show hundreds of people at a time this movie, and charge them, etc, etc. THAT is what the law should be about for music... You can't sell copies of this CD, you can't put on a concert with this CD and charge people (i don't know, maybe you have huge speakers)
Look at restaurants, clubs, etc. They pay big bucks to get a sticker in their window, allowing them to play music for their patron's delight. Jukebox at a bar??? I don't even want to know the paperwork that is involved in that.
You last analogy... Let's say I was the one who invented the paper umbrella that goes in drinks. (Remember Tom Cruise's Cocktail movie?) So I make millions of dollars because all the bars that serve girlie-mon drinks want to put a cool umbrella in them, and they have to buy by the box, and that means someone that was licensed to make them gets to sell it to them. That is how I make my millions.
I'm not going to get upset that a bunch of college frat guys don't like paying stupid money for a stupid umbrella, and so they make their own, wowing the sorority girls, and getting lucky with them. I also could care less that Delta Tau Delta makes umbrella really well, so they give them away to other fraternities on campus during Rush week or something.
Those numbers are so small. It's legitimate businesses buying huge amounts that count. If you're in a business making money, then you need to follow the rules. If you're a working stiff, and save money by building your own porch, or changing your own oil, or ripping mp3's, good for you. Menards won't go out of business, Jiffy Lube won't go out of business, and by god Eminem won't go out of business. (And if he does, it'll be because the Big5 fucked him) His album hit Napster atleast a month before it came out. And he still breaks a world record.
I didn't exactly mean tax money. I was alluding (too vaguely I guess) to that extra penny you have to shell out for stamps now. The longer you've been around, the more pennies. For me, I remember when it was 20 cents.
Anyway, they claim that the cost of business has gone up, thus needing more income. The truth is, the cost of business has gone down with automation finally coming full bore. Why... when they are finally running efficient and turning record profits do they have to raise rates? Why am I subject to commercials raping "Fly Like An Eagle" for a service I already use? Why is my money that came in as stamps, being used to put other businesses out of business? What they are doing is expanding vertical markets, like any other hungry corporation. But the Postal Service is not suppose to be that. It's suppose to be a government service! Only to look good do they claim that they are independently solvent financially.
Also, tax payers dollars do go into many government run services such as printing presses, non-taxed government gas, etc, and the Postal service is privy to many of these services at reduced, preferred rates. Tax dollars make up for it.
.....and such -- just like any business.
Unlike any business, the postal service recieves subsidaries. Also, the government will and has walked in at any time there was a crisis to put things right. For a long time now, we've been given the propaganda that they are a fully independent business, that they have to make their own money, but watch the day they need serious financial help. The government will step in and makes things right. Pass laws to stop others, whatever it takes. Gee, if I could run a business without worrying about the downsides, I could make a serious run for it!
Ever been to a government web site for anything, and had to read PDF format? (You know, like getting tax forms the last day possible...so I heard)
The government will start have clauses like this...We'll send you this _wow_ thing if you just provide us with your USPS-EMAIL account. Then, all of a sudden other companies will ask the same thing, because they're in bed with the government, and get free adv. or something out of the deal. Pretty soon, the USPS will say that only their email service is legit, because they require Your full name, address, social security, blood samples, DNA, fingerprints, etc. Actually, they'll probably just activate your email address via their own monopolied mailing service.
Then they'll make revenue by selling spam accounts, just like we get shit in the mail when you register a license plate.
Believe me, this is the first step towards shaved heads and tattoo'd barcodes on our foreheads. You have been warned. We'll actually be happy that some script kiddies will DOS them. I can only hope they prove that it won't work perfectly (the private thing, the secure thing, and all)
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They didn't blow the pooch though by not consulting a knowledgable copyright/IP lawyer first though... They knew exactly what they were doing! After all, there is not such thing as bad publicity.
If I remember from last year, MP3.com originally wanted to set up something with the Big-5, RIAA, but they wouldn't listen to them. So... instead they go ahead and do it... the Big-5 settle out/in of court, and now MP3.com has some sort of solution and permission. Kind of cool tactics really.
So... first you don't get permission from the big guys because they won't listen to you. So then go ahead and do it, cause a lot of public Hoo-hah, and end up getting sued, and allowed to do it in the end anyways.
However, they must have some deeep pockets to go through with this...
Rader
But a company does not HAVE to abide by another company "adding" value to their product. Plus, what if the Big-5 have a similar distribution model being built... and voila, MP3.com came up with this illegal distribution, directly cutting into the money that could have been made by the Big-5.
So maybe that's MP3.com's point... is that if a person owns a CD, they SHOULD be able to listen to it anywhere. But then again... why should the Big-5 be FORCED to do anything?
Face it, the Big-5 own copyrighted material. Lots of it. Not only that, but THEY own it, not even the artists. And if they don't want anyone else profitting from it, they don't have to let anyone else profit from it.
As I see it, there's only 2 solutions. Either have the customers revolt and buy only good music (non-Brittany Spears crap, well you get the point) or the artists themselves quit signing with the Big-5.
Rader
--- Of course there's a difference. We recognize the motive in many crimes that are prosecuted -- if you kill someone by accident you'll probably get less time than if you do it on purpose.---
If you kill someone by accident, it's called Manslaughter. This can happen a lot in car accidents. There are lesser forms also, such as Reckless Endangerments, etc, etc.
But that's criminal law. I don't think mp3.com was in criminal courts, just civil courts. And then again, I don't know a damn thing about the law, I'm not a lawyer (that is why I still have a soul)
The first thing you'll get, when running a rogue mp3 web site, etc, is a letter in the mail from their lawyers. A cease-and-desist letter. After that time, if you don't cease, then they can take you to court and will show the letter they sent, proving that you did indeed know what you were doing wrong, because they told you what you did wrong.
But remember, the RIAA hands out these letters by the hundreds, and it doesn't necessarily mean they're right. But they're on a mission, and that's to scare everyone straight, and if that doesn't work, sue them if they have enough money.
Waiting for my letter....
Rader
--- As I understand it, it's legal for the individual to copy their own CD in this manner, and it is legal for them to pay for a service that acts to fulfill this function. In other words, I can make a profit from copying others work.---
Well you understand it wrong.
I also thought this would be a good idea. I wanted to start a franchise called Mp3-to-go in malls, where people would walk in with their CD collection, drop them off at my counter, and much like a one-hour photomart, could come back after shopping and pick up their originals, and their newly made MP3 CD-R's.
I could sell sound cards, nice computer speakers, maybe some portable mp3 players, etc. Have brochures, booklets, etc to help educate people with the world of MP3's. (for those who need it, like mom).
The fun part of the research was looking into components needed to RIP and convert MP3's quick enough to do about 100 CD's an hour. (Average person's collection).
The very UN-fun part of the research was looking into the copyright laws and seeing if I had a leg to stand on.
Unfortunately, it looked good to start with, but digital backups of copyrighted media don't seem to fall under... well... common sense and logic.
The only thing that temporarily looked promising was if I turned the business into a library, since they are allowed special scenarios of digital archiving of copyrighted media... but that went no where fast, also.
The sad truth is, even if someone could come up with a solid plan, the RIAA is going to go after you if you make any kind of revenue based on their copyright material. They spend what... $50 million a year on legal fees alone? They've got the money, and the time.
The only thing I regret, is that I would have made a secret copy of every CD that a customer would have brought in. I imagine it would have added up quite quickly.
Rader
Rader
Rader
Wow, it's bigger than Apple? I'm sure Microsoft was really shaking in its boots about Apple lately. While we're at it, can we say things like Linux is more powerful than the Commodore 64? Has it surpassed the TRS 80's?
Rader
Publically announced charity...that's hardly giving away the money. That's buying fame, popularity, not to mention a great tax break.
Didn't some of the money go towards Cancer research? Betcha he'll get it some day, and have been cured from his own research money.
Yep... not a bad investment if you ask me.
Rader
Sure, I'm only one person, but so are you.
There are a lot of you's out there, and there's a lot of me's out there....What does that prove? I don't know. I just know that everytime I hear someone say they buy more CD's because of Napster, I just say honestly to myself that I am buying Zero now because of it. (not napster really, but newsgroups, etc)
Oh, but one thing that has changed for me (for the better) is that I do buy much more Indie stuff than I did. Thanks to finding out which Blues bands I liked, and which Punk bands I love, I now can buy them at Emusic.Com (and do still)
So... my main stream (shit music) buying has gone to nil, but my non-main stream music has gone up 1000%. (Infinite I guess, since I was never allowed by the main stream media to know who was better than britney spears all these years!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Rader
Napster indexes copyrighted works which are illegally shared, -- yes.
Web search engines index legal web-based content, -- no.
These search engines don't know for sure that they're linking (and indexing) to legal sites. Most sites are, some aren't. Heck, I could have a secret web site I don't even register with a search engine, and it can still show up due to spiders that find me through other site's links to me.
Search engines point to web sites. These web sites could easily could hold mp3 files. Kiddie porn, warez, etc. Everytime one of these individual sites get knocked down it's because the pursuers went after the individual web sites.
If Napster gets shut down, then it's only half a stone's throw away to shut down yahoo because when you type in "Metallica MP3", you get a huge list back of web sites that may or may not still hold metallica.mp3 files!
Yes, logically you and I can make a big list of why napster is different than yahoo. However, once law is made, it's just another bullet to the RIAA to use against you and me. The RIAA is not logical, and will not come up with the same conclusion you and I came up with. They're evil and will sue anyone that gets in their monetary way. They will bend the law to jump to the next law. *They* will say that Napster and Yahoo are very similar.
Rader
And we'll have to ask the same questions. So I think tampering with genetics, bringing back extinct species ranks right up there with time travel issues too. (It's just that one came before the other).
Rader
Well, I was just arguing against the tidbit of logic you threw up.
I'd like to look at the whole thing as... Yes, we can do all this genetic tampering, but do we want to. We've already seen insects adapt to our growing-pesticides. We've already made movies about 'accidentally' engineering super-adaptable viruses, etc. I'm sure if we start to engineer genetics, it'll only be a while before we get smarter about the topic, and slowly it trickles down to the masses (in a form of a home kit, etc) and some whacked out individual outside any government control will go ahead and screw something up. Give us all a chance... we'll screw something up.
Rader
I've always had this dream (usually while camping and being bit) that I could blink, and all the flies in the world would instantly die. (A soft thud as they all hit the ground)
I figured... what...possible...good can flies do us. But then I thought about maybe maggots, decomposition, etc might be useful, and was always curious what would happen. BUt now, I know that even if I got my wish and did it... some bonehead evil scientist will say, "what extinct species should I bring back from the dead?? Aha! I'll bring back the flies!".
Hey, it's like the rats in Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy... They pretended they were being lab rats and being experimented on, but instead were much smarter than the humans!
Rader
It's hardly a blip.
I don't remember the dinosaurs complaining about "old fashioned darwinism" being lost during the meteor storm.
Rader
After all, it's only a matter of time before we find out that the martians created Adam from genetically engineering him from a sample they found from before the big ice age. The garden of Eden was just a zoo.
Rader
They could have incoming branches that represented the stolen software! !
Rader
I'd like to see a similar map for programming languages, although the few I saw back in school were pretty lacking, and some were big jumps.
At least with Unix, it's easier to trace.
Ever think that some day all the geneology map will be put together officially (by the government of course so that they could mess with your 'past', and prove Jefferson never committed adultery...) but a 3-d real time traversing of the world's geneology....
Rader
Rader
Rader
I'd love to be in a Slider's episode and travel to an alternate earth... one run by Novell, and see what kind of holes they have to fill in everyday , if any.
Rader
Like IBM would really need to steal from Samba. IBM is the king of emulators, and could write Samba in a weekend.
However, the 7 white-ring binders describing how to install it would take forever. And then the 15 white-ring binders that would cover how to run it...
Rader
It's parcel packages. Which they deliver to rural areas just fine.
UPS is a business like anyone else, and can have as much advertisement as they seem fit. My point is that the Postal Service shouldn't be trying to take away customers from legit businesses just to do the job half as well. They should stick with first class letters, bulk mail, 2nd class, which was its intent in the first place.
Rader
I think the wording is obsolete. I believe that if "Fair Use" was rewritten today, and the Big5 didn't lobby too much of their money on the right day, we'd have a similar reading saying that I can make CD copies for myself.
You still see those warnings at the beginning of video movies? Saying you can't sell copies of this movie, you can't show hundreds of people at a time this movie, and charge them, etc, etc. THAT is what the law should be about for music... You can't sell copies of this CD, you can't put on a concert with this CD and charge people (i don't know, maybe you have huge speakers)
Look at restaurants, clubs, etc. They pay big bucks to get a sticker in their window, allowing them to play music for their patron's delight. Jukebox at a bar??? I don't even want to know the paperwork that is involved in that.
You last analogy... Let's say I was the one who invented the paper umbrella that goes in drinks. (Remember Tom Cruise's Cocktail movie?) So I make millions of dollars because all the bars that serve girlie-mon drinks want to put a cool umbrella in them, and they have to buy by the box, and that means someone that was licensed to make them gets to sell it to them. That is how I make my millions.
I'm not going to get upset that a bunch of college frat guys don't like paying stupid money for a stupid umbrella, and so they make their own, wowing the sorority girls, and getting lucky with them. I also could care less that Delta Tau Delta makes umbrella really well, so they give them away to other fraternities on campus during Rush week or something.
Those numbers are so small. It's legitimate businesses buying huge amounts that count. If you're in a business making money, then you need to follow the rules. If you're a working stiff, and save money by building your own porch, or changing your own oil, or ripping mp3's, good for you. Menards won't go out of business, Jiffy Lube won't go out of business, and by god Eminem won't go out of business. (And if he does, it'll be because the Big5 fucked him) His album hit Napster atleast a month before it came out. And he still breaks a world record.
Rader
Anyway, they claim that the cost of business has gone up, thus needing more income. The truth is, the cost of business has gone down with automation finally coming full bore. Why... when they are finally running efficient and turning record profits do they have to raise rates? Why am I subject to commercials raping "Fly Like An Eagle" for a service I already use? Why is my money that came in as stamps, being used to put other businesses out of business? What they are doing is expanding vertical markets, like any other hungry corporation. But the Postal Service is not suppose to be that. It's suppose to be a government service! Only to look good do they claim that they are independently solvent financially.
Also, tax payers dollars do go into many government run services such as printing presses, non-taxed government gas, etc, and the Postal service is privy to many of these services at reduced, preferred rates. Tax dollars make up for it.
Unlike any business, the postal service recieves subsidaries. Also, the government will and has walked in at any time there was a crisis to put things right. For a long time now, we've been given the propaganda that they are a fully independent business, that they have to make their own money, but watch the day they need serious financial help. The government will step in and makes things right. Pass laws to stop others, whatever it takes. Gee, if I could run a business without worrying about the downsides, I could make a serious run for it!
Rader
The government will start have clauses like this...We'll send you this _wow_ thing if you just provide us with your USPS-EMAIL account. Then, all of a sudden other companies will ask the same thing, because they're in bed with the government, and get free adv. or something out of the deal. Pretty soon, the USPS will say that only their email service is legit, because they require Your full name, address, social security, blood samples, DNA, fingerprints, etc. Actually, they'll probably just activate your email address via their own monopolied mailing service.
Then they'll make revenue by selling spam accounts, just like we get shit in the mail when you register a license plate.
Believe me, this is the first step towards shaved heads and tattoo'd barcodes on our foreheads. You have been warned. We'll actually be happy that some script kiddies will DOS them. I can only hope they prove that it won't work perfectly (the private thing, the secure thing, and all)
Rader