I believe that whatever is to be done, it needs to start with hard and fast rules regarding the nature of music purchases. Are you buying a product(disc w/music on it) or buying a license(permission to listen to album 'X').
If the former, then what I've purchased is mine and I'll use it how I please. They can do whatever they want, as long as its still CD compliant, but they shouldn't whine when I make a back-up copy.
If the latter, then someone is replacing my scratched disks, providing CD media versions of my old cassette tapes etc. I've PAID the license, I've the right to different media, the same as software companies would provide floppy disk versions of software on request, replace damaged media, or allow you to generate back-up copies if you so desired.
Currently the recording industry wants it both ways, but only the parts that benefit them.
Disney has a navy, they should have this whole piracy thing cleared up right away. Aaaarrr! Matey.
Seriously, it's 'copyright infringement', not piracy, piracy implies boats and all sorts of sexy high-seas hijinks. Every time you call it piracy you feed the media hype surrounding it. They can't sell it to Joe Average if it doesn't sound sexy.
True enough. But I feel I need to point out that the issue isn't 'piracy' either. That's just a sexy media misnomer for 'copyright infringement'. Doesn't sound that interesting when you call it what it is, does it?
Re:An interesting point:
on
SSSCA Hearing
·
· Score: 2
"their device can't tell the difference between video of your kids and a bootleg copy of Snow Dogs, and will refuse to play either!"
Furthermore, will their "protective measures" apply to movies that _we_ might create? Don't YOU own the copyright on YOUR home movies? Will they have DRM included by default? If this is passed, what happens to all the small and individual makers of creative works?
Once again, wording that's far too broad
on
SSSCA Hearing
·
· Score: 2
"An interactive digital device is defined as any hardware or software capable of "storing, retrieving, processing, performing, transmitting, receiving or copying information in digital form."
So touch-tone phones with redial buttons are going to be illegal? How about those silly little digital voice memo recorders?
Oh, wait, here's a big one: Xerox Docutech digital copiers! Anybody dropped a line to Xerox yet?
And whats worse is the way they spin the whole situation. They manufacture CRAP "bands" like Brittany and N'SYNC, etc. They insist you are licensing the music, but won't replace damaged media. And they blame the whole "we're losing money because of illegal copies" on file sharing services instead of the purely digital format they release music on (CDDA). File copying and sharing whould still go on with the internet.
Remember this is just a settlement, not a victory in a court of law. While it is good news, its also mostly a stalling tactic while the record companies figure out their next move. Personally, I still want to see ALL crippled (in any way) "CDs" segregated from true CDs in every place they are sold.
Think about it this way, would advertisers pay millions of dollars to advertise during the Super Bowl if they found out that there was a technology that a good population of TV watchers are using to block the super bowl ads?
Incorrect, DMCA refers to circumventing a protective device (whatever the hell that is). It isn't specific to encryption. Remember the original copy prevention on old games for the likes of the C-64?. They consisted of specifically placed bad blocks on the disks. The stuff would load/play, but it wouldn't copy (at least not immediately, and it _could_ damage the drive). The DMCA is so poorly worded and vague a talented lawyer could probably make it apply to damn near anything with electronic components. It has to go and this seems like a pretty good challenge. But on the down side, if it fails, how long before CD-R's etc are endangered?
Sounds more like/. THE government to me. Seeing as how you will probably never eliminate the dead-tree version, you'd more than likely just wind up totally overloading the government printing office.
Ok a camera may help SOLVE a crime that's already happened, but how exactly is that solving the problem? A crime happens, its happened, its over, the damage is done. The police departments in the US pretty much all run around with "To Protect and To Serve" pasted somewhere on their cars or badges or where ever. What happened to the protecting part? If I'm walking down a camera lined street and I get attacked, how exactly are those cameras doing ANYTHING to protect me? They aren't. I'd rather see the money spent on paying cops to walk the beat. Evidence against my attacker does me no good if he's already succeeded in killing or permanently crippling me.
So to all the law enforcement and politicos out there, please start asking the proper questions when you look at the problem. The questiong is "How do we protect the citizenry? (or help them protect thereselves)" not "How do we gather better evidence after a crime has occured?".
Granted, its a difficult issue and there isn't a good solution so far, but I rather see more effort put into PREVENTING a crime, than SOLVING it after it happens (we've got a ALOT of ability in that arena already).
How can you seperate culture and technology? One is a byproduct of the other and vice versa, new technologies breed cultural changes and cultural changes bring new technologies. The telegraph/telephone and the automobile spring to mind. Furthermore, why the desire to force a division between art and science when they are both essentially the same thing with different approaches: the examination of the world we live in. And they each feed the other, new tech gives artists new tools, artists give inspiration to the ones who create the tech. Both ask questions, both look for answers.
The great majority of pain and anguish I've run into is when the PHB in charge demands that something be done to correct a situation that he himself has created. I'm sure you've seen it, the type where the only solution is to reverse his own decision.
Case in point, PHB wants to be able to immediately contact(24/7) any member of the department, and in fact communication has been his rallying cry for nearly a year. Cellphone bills are out of hand, and a quick look at them will show that IT is the ONLY department NOT abusing the cels. PHB's solution: ALL departments lose cellphones. Now PHB is angry he can never reach anyone and demands we find a solution. Go figure.
Now if you can look at that type of situation, as a manager, and determine that you may have in fact been mistaken in your course of action, then you'll be OK by me.
Very true indeed. I'd say the next strike (if one occurs) would never be a plane. If you think about it, an passenger jet is the most difficult target for a terrorist. And they took they ones they did in the most difficult fashion. Terrorism is all about generating fear. And the response to what has happened is proof positive that what they did worked. With one notable exception, the people who gave their lives fighting on the plane that went down in PA. And that is the most valuable lesson that has come out of all this. People need to quit acting like children being babysat by the gov't and fight when they need to. Sometimes I wonder what the situation would be like in this country if we had compulsory military service for everyone. Train everybody to defend themselves and those they care about if the need arises. Would any hijacking ever succeed if a good number of the passangers were ready willing and most importantly able to put up a fight? I doubt it. Its dangerous, and people may die. But would you rather die fighting for your friends and family, hell, even for people you just happen to be next to, or sit back and cower while some nutcase drives your plane into a building. I'll take the fight thanks, bad odds are much better than no odds.
So now how exactly are we going to get 500 HDTV channels when we can't even get 500 LOW Definition channels, and the ones we have are full of mostly crap?
But seriously, if this pans out, imagine the developments for those who have the use of their hand as well as those who don't. Vehicle and machine controls come to mind(operate manually while accessing computerized info via handsfree), as well as one heck of a video-game. The "it could kill you" seems a little far-fetched to me tho, if properly implemented.
"Most people would support an amendment making it illegal to pass around bomb-making information."
Probably true, but that would mean among other things banning stuff like chemistry books, and my personal fave, the USMC Improvized Munitions Handbook, available courtesy of the government printing office. And I guess you'd have to be in the military for life, so you couldn't get discharged and tell anyone what you may have been taught.
Jon, did you happen to see how big Amazon's debt is? As small a profit as they turned is pretty much nothing considering how far in the whole they are as a company. Kinda of like raving about a "budget surplus" while the country still carries a monsterous deficit.
Seriously, I read this and stopped and thought a moment, running a list of people I know thru my head and could only find ONE who had a career in his major: accounting. But look at this list a minute:
Major/Profession
Masters in Digital Art/Blacksmith
Teaching(History)/Bartender(3x the $$$)
Business major/Kindergarden Teacher(!?)
Psychology/Computer Tech(How do you feel about your modem?)
Fine Arts(Painting)/Musician
Fine Arts(Sculpture)/Computer Tech
Liberal Arts/Network Specialist
Masters in Microbiology/Night stock crew in grocery store????(makes more than his field)
...it just gets weirder from there.
College these days has little to nothing to do with what you will do for a living. Especially since most employers will want a degree, nothing specific, just a degree. Who needs a degree to be a salesman anyway? My advice: Go to school for something you enjoy that you have a talent for, but most importantly, learn to do other things while you're there and make sure your major teaches you to do something you can turn into self-employment or freelance if need be.
Slashdot Mirror
Just wait for the commercials that tell us poeple downloading mp3's are putting money in the pockets of terrorists.
Very correct.
I believe that whatever is to be done, it needs to start with hard and fast rules regarding the nature of music purchases. Are you buying a product(disc w/music on it) or buying a license(permission to listen to album 'X').
If the former, then what I've purchased is mine and I'll use it how I please. They can do whatever they want, as long as its still CD compliant, but they shouldn't whine when I make a back-up copy.
If the latter, then someone is replacing my scratched disks, providing CD media versions of my old cassette tapes etc. I've PAID the license, I've the right to different media, the same as software companies would provide floppy disk versions of software on request, replace damaged media, or allow you to generate back-up copies if you so desired.
Currently the recording industry wants it both ways, but only the parts that benefit them.
Disney has a navy, they should have this whole piracy thing cleared up right away. Aaaarrr! Matey.
Seriously, it's 'copyright infringement', not piracy, piracy implies boats and all sorts of sexy high-seas hijinks. Every time you call it piracy you feed the media hype surrounding it. They can't sell it to Joe Average if it doesn't sound sexy.
True enough. But I feel I need to point out that the issue isn't 'piracy' either. That's just a sexy media misnomer for 'copyright infringement'. Doesn't sound that interesting when you call it what it is, does it?
"their device can't tell the difference between video of your kids and a bootleg copy of Snow Dogs, and will refuse to play either!"
Furthermore, will their "protective measures" apply to movies that _we_ might create? Don't YOU own the copyright on YOUR home movies? Will they have DRM included by default? If this is passed, what happens to all the small and individual makers of creative works?
"An interactive digital device is defined as any hardware or software capable of "storing, retrieving, processing, performing, transmitting, receiving or copying information in digital form."
So touch-tone phones with redial buttons are going to be illegal? How about those silly little digital voice memo recorders?
Oh, wait, here's a big one: Xerox Docutech digital copiers! Anybody dropped a line to Xerox yet?
True. Very true.
And whats worse is the way they spin the whole situation. They manufacture CRAP "bands" like Brittany and N'SYNC, etc. They insist you are licensing the music, but won't replace damaged media. And they blame the whole "we're losing money because of illegal copies" on file sharing services instead of the purely digital format they release music on (CDDA). File copying and sharing whould still go on with the internet.
"access to the internet (also included; try AOL for 50 hours free)"
Sweet! Free modem with every CD!
Remember this is just a settlement, not a victory in a court of law. While it is good news, its also mostly a stalling tactic while the record companies figure out their next move. Personally, I still want to see ALL crippled (in any way) "CDs" segregated from true CDs in every place they are sold.
Think about it this way, would advertisers pay millions of dollars to advertise during the Super Bowl if they found out that there was a technology that a good population of TV watchers are using to block the super bowl ads?
You mean like a remote control?
Incorrect, DMCA refers to circumventing a protective device (whatever the hell that is). It isn't specific to encryption. Remember the original copy prevention on old games for the likes of the C-64?. They consisted of specifically placed bad blocks on the disks. The stuff would load/play, but it wouldn't copy (at least not immediately, and it _could_ damage the drive). The DMCA is so poorly worded and vague a talented lawyer could probably make it apply to damn near anything with electronic components. It has to go and this seems like a pretty good challenge. But on the down side, if it fails, how long before CD-R's etc are endangered?
Sounds more like /. THE government to me. Seeing as how you will probably never eliminate the dead-tree version, you'd more than likely just wind up totally overloading the government printing office.
Paper books are great for kids and basically anybody else who wants to "curl up with a good book". And they are surprisingly hard to break.
I think if the eBook thing had a future with existing tech, it'd have happened already with Stephen King or someone else.
Ok a camera may help SOLVE a crime that's already happened, but how exactly is that solving the problem? A crime happens, its happened, its over, the damage is done. The police departments in the US pretty much all run around with "To Protect and To Serve" pasted somewhere on their cars or badges or where ever. What happened to the protecting part? If I'm walking down a camera lined street and I get attacked, how exactly are those cameras doing ANYTHING to protect me? They aren't. I'd rather see the money spent on paying cops to walk the beat. Evidence against my attacker does me no good if he's already succeeded in killing or permanently crippling me.
So to all the law enforcement and politicos out there, please start asking the proper questions when you look at the problem. The questiong is "How do we protect the citizenry? (or help them protect thereselves)" not "How do we gather better evidence after a crime has occured?".
Granted, its a difficult issue and there isn't a good solution so far, but I rather see more effort put into PREVENTING a crime, than SOLVING it after it happens (we've got a ALOT of ability in that arena already).
Until your system and damn near everyone elses is siezed for evidence in some computer crime or some move in the war on terrorism.
How can you seperate culture and technology? One is a byproduct of the other and vice versa, new technologies breed cultural changes and cultural changes bring new technologies. The telegraph/telephone and the automobile spring to mind. Furthermore, why the desire to force a division between art and science when they are both essentially the same thing with different approaches: the examination of the world we live in. And they each feed the other, new tech gives artists new tools, artists give inspiration to the ones who create the tech. Both ask questions, both look for answers.
The great majority of pain and anguish I've run into is when the PHB in charge demands that something be done to correct a situation that he himself has created. I'm sure you've seen it, the type where the only solution is to reverse his own decision.
Case in point, PHB wants to be able to immediately contact(24/7) any member of the department, and in fact communication has been his rallying cry for nearly a year. Cellphone bills are out of hand, and a quick look at them will show that IT is the ONLY department NOT abusing the cels. PHB's solution: ALL departments lose cellphones. Now PHB is angry he can never reach anyone and demands we find a solution. Go figure.
Now if you can look at that type of situation, as a manager, and determine that you may have in fact been mistaken in your course of action, then you'll be OK by me.
Better yet, have Jimmy the neighbor kid install the software, little Jimmy of course being under the legally allowed age to enter into a contract.
Very true indeed. I'd say the next strike (if one occurs) would never be a plane. If you think about it, an passenger jet is the most difficult target for a terrorist. And they took they ones they did in the most difficult fashion. Terrorism is all about generating fear. And the response to what has happened is proof positive that what they did worked. With one notable exception, the people who gave their lives fighting on the plane that went down in PA. And that is the most valuable lesson that has come out of all this. People need to quit acting like children being babysat by the gov't and fight when they need to. Sometimes I wonder what the situation would be like in this country if we had compulsory military service for everyone. Train everybody to defend themselves and those they care about if the need arises. Would any hijacking ever succeed if a good number of the passangers were ready willing and most importantly able to put up a fight? I doubt it. Its dangerous, and people may die. But would you rather die fighting for your friends and family, hell, even for people you just happen to be next to, or sit back and cower while some nutcase drives your plane into a building. I'll take the fight thanks, bad odds are much better than no odds.
So now how exactly are we going to get 500 HDTV channels when we can't even get 500 LOW Definition channels, and the ones we have are full of mostly crap?
Someone needs to re-evaluate the problem.
WOW! Surf pr0n totally HANDS-FREE!
But seriously, if this pans out, imagine the developments for those who have the use of their hand as well as those who don't. Vehicle and machine controls come to mind(operate manually while accessing computerized info via handsfree), as well as one heck of a video-game. The "it could kill you" seems a little far-fetched to me tho, if properly implemented.
"Most people would support an amendment making it illegal to pass around bomb-making information."
Probably true, but that would mean among other things banning stuff like chemistry books, and my personal fave, the USMC Improvized Munitions Handbook, available courtesy of the government printing office. And I guess you'd have to be in the military for life, so you couldn't get discharged and tell anyone what you may have been taught.
Jon, did you happen to see how big Amazon's debt is? As small a profit as they turned is pretty much nothing considering how far in the whole they are as a company. Kinda of like raving about a "budget surplus" while the country still carries a monsterous deficit.
To bad its been slashdotted, I'd have liked to seen it.
I had the idea, many years ago, that an "in the desk " PC would be a great idea for the education market. Where's a VC when you need them?
Seriously, I read this and stopped and thought a moment, running a list of people I know thru my head and could only find ONE who had a career in his major: accounting. But look at this list a minute:
Major/Profession
Masters in Digital Art/Blacksmith
Teaching(History)/Bartender(3x the $$$)
Business major/Kindergarden Teacher(!?)
Psychology/Computer Tech(How do you feel about your modem?)
Fine Arts(Painting)/Musician
Fine Arts(Sculpture)/Computer Tech
Liberal Arts/Network Specialist
Masters in Microbiology/Night stock crew in grocery store????(makes more than his field)
...it just gets weirder from there.
College these days has little to nothing to do with what you will do for a living. Especially since most employers will want a degree, nothing specific, just a degree. Who needs a degree to be a salesman anyway? My advice: Go to school for something you enjoy that you have a talent for, but most importantly, learn to do other things while you're there and make sure your major teaches you to do something you can turn into self-employment or freelance if need be.