The problem is one of filtering. All I want, first and foremost, from my ISP is clear connectivity.
Once that is established, if they want to offer a VoIP service, that's fine. They can even run a web site if they want to, I might access it, I might not.
Filtering VoIP is nothing more than forcing me to use their systems as a proxy for that service. It is no different than their redirecting HTTP traffic through their servers and, maybe, inserting advertising into other peoples content. Or tracking my reading and posting habits. Or selling me additional "services" to see more of the outside internet much like what AOL and CompuServe used to do.
Back when peering between the big carriers was being negotiated, as the commercial Internet took off, there was a lot of fingerpointing and claiming that, for instance, Sprint should pay AT&T because Sprint customers were accessing servers of AT&T customers, and thus causing traffic. I Kid You Not, this was going on very hot an heavy.
But the fact is that customers have to have some way to connect to servers, and popular servers generate traffic just like greedy customers, no matter what network they are on. Each user pays for their circuit, the ISP pays for a Tier-1 provider, the Tier-1 providers all peer with each other without charges or prejudice simply because it all balances out. No provider abuses any other provider, because they have to pay for their own infrastructure and connectivity just like everyone else.
This is what the FCC doesn't understand, even some of the ISPs don't understand, because the bureaucrats still cannot grasp the concept of "everyone a client, everyone a server". They still think in terms of broadcasters and "mere people" who passively receive.
And as long as individual customers abide the ISPs that deliberately filter things "for your own good", this "mere people" mind set will continue.
Personally, I like an ISP which will filter NetBios and port 25-out as well as NetBios and 80-in for security unless I ask them not to and agree not to spam or run a Windows web server. Now THAT is for my own good.:^)
With one side of their face, they claim that they cannot be held accountable for the content that traverses their network. This is the "common carrier" argument, they are selling connectivity only. Just like the road is not liable for being sped upon.
But with the other side of their face, they block services that they think are inconvenient to their business model, such as blocking port 80 inbound to subscribers unless they buy "business" rate services, or block port 25 outbound with the excuse that "it blocks spam".
So what happens when they are dragged into court, and have to explain how they can do both of these things at the same time? Likely nothing, they have good lawyers.
Which reminds me, the FCC would just LOVE to get their regulatory claws into the IP service business. This gives them multiple paths, "ensuring customer equity", "preventing unfair competition", and worst of all is their claiming that since the content of services they already regulate (like phones and TV) are being delivered by IP now, their regulations apply to the new medium.
Whatever you do, don't remind them that the entire justification for the FCC is to "regulate scarce resources (broadcast spectrum) for the good of all", and IP is not a scarce resource.
Bureaucrats hate being told they have no jurisdiction. They will go get some and come back in force. Watch out, you selective filtering IP providers, you're just setting yourselves up for a nasty fall.
Have you perchance read "The Voluntary City" by Beito, Gordon and Tabarrok? Lots of good material about how people voluntarily create the institutions that are often later claimed by governments as being only possible to build by governments. Lighthouses, fire brigades, roads, all built by interested parties and later expropriated.
The rationalization is always the "free rider" "problem", that otherwise the costs wouldn't be "fairly" distributed by those who use it. This ignores the simple mechanism of subscription or toll, or like the many, many lighthouses built privately by cooperating insurance companies who found it was cheaper to build them and let everyone benefit than pay for wrecked ships.
The most obvious example is the Boulder dam, named for the Boulder Construction Company who began building it. When it looked like it was going to actually work, the Fed.Gov stepped in, took it over, and renamed it Hoover dam.
I'm pleased that you have enjoyed our discourse. Adversarial conflict, although I prefer the rational kind, does tend to boil issues down to fundamentals.
Myself, I like Statesmen. Statesmen being dead politicians, the world needs more Statesmen.
If a project enjoys broad support, there is no need to fund it by taxation since there is a large group of interested, motivated individuals who wish it to be completed.
If, on the other hand, the project does not have broad enough support to be built voluntarily, there is therefore no broad public mandate that it be funded through the extortion known as "taxation" in a "representative" government form.
However, government is an armed and vocal minority, which garners support for its own existence by catering to the base desires of other vocal minorities. Government reserves to itself the power to rewrite the "social contract" unilaterally, and then enforce those changes at gun point, all funded by extortion.
Others may say that it's ok by them if some of their money is taken by force from them "as long as it's not too much", because they are accustomed to being robbed. Like the dog who still licks its abusive masters hand, they know no other way.
Even the language has been perverted over time, as George Orwell warned us. The "Black Market" is a voluntary exchange of goods and services that the government doesn't like. The individuals want it, or else it would not exist.
The examples of government abuse at all levels are legion. Blaming one level of government or another is absurd, just like claiming it's worse to be mugged by the Crips than it is the Bloods.
Want to see as wide-spread access occurs faster than any command economy could create it? Remove it from taxation. A low margin of profit or long payoff time doesn't matter, if it's not taxed. Taxes create an environment of short-term, high-profit goals because otherwise the taxes will take it all.
Don't give up the fight. Voluntary interaction is the way of peace and prosperity. Bringing force into any endeavor only ruins it.
Indeed, that is my hope with ZenLinux. Knoppix is wonderful as a demonstrator, but as an installer it is hampered by its dependencies on Heir Knopper's genius for hardware detection. Many too many non-Debian-standard dependencies.
Yes, I know Knoppix recently added a "Debian pure install" option, but again it's an option. So many bells and whistles gets confusing.
According to postings on the ZenLinux site, recovery and rescue applications have been requested, and the "Zen" master is thinking about adding them to a "security" version. This kind of thing is far more useful to me than games. I may like games, but I NEED a working system.
I refuted, saying that it's just as inaccurate as implying that...
and
You see what I mean by staying on topic?
Umm, Virg, I think you misstook me for someone else. That was my first posting on the subject.
Good sir, vigilantes certainly do not represent a generally accepted practice. That is why they exist mostly in fiction. Those few times and places when vigilantes do arise in force, such as San Francisco, or the Guardian Angles in NYC, they are a reaction by a large number of people to the breakdown of order. Some few may take action, but those actions are condoned by many because "someone is finally doing something about...".
most of the violations of the committees were not murderous in nature but were just as egregious.
The formation of the Committees were a reaction to the general breakdown in civil order created by a corrupt "official" government. The environment of the city quickly turned around, and the "normal" civil order was reestablished for the same reason that it is considered "normal": Gangs are not accountable, only individuals are.
not to pretend I'm a brainwashed fool because I don't agree with you.
It is foolish to ignore facts, and your stated reasonings were perfectly in time with those whose jobs are endangered by the concept that individual citizens themselves are the last line of defense against chaos.
You and I likely disagree far less that you expect, due to your confusing me with someone else. In the mean time, do understand that my personal abhorance of the initiation of force does indeed always put the actions of government under a microscope because government itself is the "lawful" monopoly on the initiation of force. And as has been said by better orators than I, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
What I'm actually sad about is that you had to follow a perfectly good posting with this crap. I didn't mean that "you" were back, I meant that the awful personality trait that causes you to abuse other people had returned.
I had hopes, I really did, that you might have chosen civil discourse to abuse. I'd be very pleased if you would.
If Apple made a version for Intel, they would be competing head to head with MS's monopoly.
Don't forget the atrocious range of hardware variations that Apple would have to write for in order to support "PC" hardware. The commodity hardware market is the reason that MacOS7 was never released for "PC" hardware, even though Apple had ported it to Intel in a test project. (Yes, I worked at Apple at that time, when it was creating the first QuickTime too. Really cutting edge media software. The old bumper sticker had it right, Mac '89 = Win95.)
Apple's profits have always been in its hardware markup, but by making the hardware Apple controlls the interfaces and specs. This allows them to make "really beautiful" hardware that works, because there is no commodity economies of scale. No competition. But competition is what drives innovation, which is why Apple leap-frogs the PC. They feel a pinch, do something good, then rest on their laurels until they feel a pinch again.
Apple has a solid user base, a firm 10% (or is that 5%?) of the personal computer market, and no competition because the people who buy Apple will always buy Apple regardless of price. They are their own little monopoly, and they like it that way. That's why no one else is allowed to produce Apple clones.
Oh my goodness, chortle chortle, it's the cowardly freeloader again.
Since the IRS code requires the IRS to send out an invoice for taxes owed, I will wait until they follow their rules and do so. April 15th is only the deadline for my own voluntary filing of a claim if I choose to do so.
However, as also stated in the IRS code, since I have made no money from what they define as "Revenue Taxable Activities", that is profiting from the sale of alcohol, tobacco and/or firearms, I do not expect to receive such an invoice exactly as I have not in the past.
Since taxes are extracted by force, they are not an example of sharing.
Otherwise, I agree with your post. The sharing of information goes way back, as do the efforts to prevent it by the vested interests. Recall the horror that some groups professed when the Christian scriptures were translated into the vernacular that just anyone could read!
most people don't participate in vigilante justice
Most people do not participate in government, either. Government is established and run by a small, vocal minority. They maintain power by catering to small, vocal minorities, while proclaiming they are doing whatever it is they are doing "for the good of all".
By your definition of the people, the pedophiles you're discussing are also "the people".
Indeed they are. However, government agents garner support from a greater number of people by prosecuting that "crime" than they piss off. Just like murder. Speeding tickets are getting closer to the breaking point: If the punishment for speeding were as severe as murder, a larger number of people who didn't like the law would revolt against those who enforce it. Just like the juries who refused to convict rum-runners during alcohol prohibition, or operators of the underground railway prior to the War of Northern Aggression.
That is one of the problems with statute law. By creating "crimes" out of acts that harm no one, such as drug use, speeding and prostitution, the crimes where individuals are actually harmed, like child molesting, are diluted. There is less respect for "the law" because "the law" covers so much that is not respectable. There is less room in prisons, because they are full of statute criminals.
You might be interested in an interesting little factoid: San Francisco is one of the most famous examples of "vigilante" action in the US. So what happened? In the year after the formation of the Vigilance Committees, there were fewer murders in San Francisco than there was in the month prior, including the actions of the Committees.
So please do decry the abuses of justice where ever they occur. Just don't limit yourself to only what the government schools told you was bad. Remember, government hates competition.
Sure would be nice to have a GPL for video that would cover this.
Sure. The LGPL, the Free Document License, the Creative Commons, the BSD license, the Public Domain, all exist and are used for non-software materials.
Unfortunately the media companies are afraid because they don't understand how to utilize the fan-sub system, exactly like they didn't understand how to utilize Napster.
Here are tools that marketing companies cannot compare to no matter how many billions are spent on "surveys" and "focus groups". Napster and fan-sub teams are demographic gold mines for what types, styles, titles, artists, are popular, where, when and with who. No guessing, and the data is cheap or free.
That some few people will abuse the system to keep from paying for any title is a given, there are always "free riders" in any situation of actual freedom and liberty of action. Only in a police state is the job of the police easy.
What enforcement does is suck up huge quantities of resources while at the same time creating an environment of general ill will and disrespect for the rules enforced. Prohibition always does. And prohibition demonstrably costs "society" more than the "problem" did that the prohibition was supposed to solve.
So you think someone who doesn't rob their neighbors at gun point is a "freeloader"?
I looked up "freeloader", and it actually means people like you who live off of the labor of others. Your advocacy of coercion of others to your benefit is a perfect example of "freeloading".
Have you ever seen a dictionary? It is a way to look up the meaning of words. I recommend you get one. Your lack of literacy is causing you to make a laughing stock of yourself.
When Pioneer produced Tenchi Muyo in both Japanese and English at the same time, they created one of the few "Anime" titles that I actually enjoyed dubbed in English.
If the Japanese production companies want to make money off of the English language market, I am very happy if they do so. However, until they license their product in English, the only thing my looking at a fan-subtitled work does is produce a greater market for when they finally do release their title, If Ever.
I'll be looking into who it is making all the noise, and make sure not to buy their products in the future.
"...Japanese translator 'sub them and distribute them for money in the Japanese Islands..."
Your error is clear. Fan subtitlers DO NOT make money off their work. Any money charged, if ever, is done to cover the cost of reproduction, and during the days of video tapes these charges were done not by the subtitler but by the people who did the copies and made them available.
Combine this with the consistant efforts to purge licensed materials out of the system, and the persecution of fan subtitlers becomes even more absurd. They didn't make any money, while creating a pre-primed market for the title when it is released in the new language, IF EVER.
And what's all this anglo-centric crap anyway? Am I the only person in the world who has seen fan-subs in French, Spanish and Russian? Oh of course, the companies don't care about fan-subtitles in those other languages, because of the size of the American market. So it is about money grubbing, not about fan-subtitling itself.
It never ceases to amaze me how quickly an individual will revert to cussing when faced with something they cannot otherwise answer.
Except you did answer it, and well, yet you felt you had to be beligerant as well. Were you un-loved as a child, that you cannot merely be "right" but also need to feel extra-superior to those around you? It's not working.
I was very pleased when S2 games released Savage in both Widows and Linux versions at the same time. Quite refreshing. You may not have heard of it, http://www.s2games.com/
My, you are so fierce. Lions must quake at your approach.
And your command of the English language? Sufficiently descriptive words elude me. I'm in awe.
I have no wish for you to believe me, I merely ask that you be honest in your thievery by not deligating the dirty work of collecting the spoils of piracy you call "taxes" to fund the programs you like.
Rob me face to face, instead of hiding behind the courage of others. Is it really so much to ask?
Obviously you don't know anything about Austrian economics, if you think you're telling me something new.
Bureaucrats do not make decisions that effect themselves, such as individuals or "corporations" do. Their decisions directly effect others, because others are compelled by their decisions. Individuals and companies do not have the power which government holds to itself, the legal monopoly on the initiation of force.
This is why what might be simply bad judgement for an individual, such that they do not do what you think is obviously "rational", or even a company which by making bad decisions loses customers, is cause for alarm when made by a bureaucrat.
I recommend that you expand your reading of "economics" so that you do not make such assumptions about all economists in the future. Just reading a few of the daily articles on http://www.mises.org/ will go far in that direction.
I look forward to seeing you on their weblog, an excellent place to ask questions.
Your premise seems to be that bureaucracies should act rationally. They Do Not.
Public Choice Theory demonstrates that what is "rational" to a government bureaucrat is not "rational" under the logical framework of private enterprise or individual action. The motivations are all messed up, as viewed from the outside.
The pioneers of space were expendable, to the bureaucratic mind, because creating a method of "rescue" would cost more than training new recruits and weathering the bad publicity.
The rocket scientists themselves were employed to do a job, and if they didn't like it they could seek employment elsewhere.
Are you calling yourself a liar, a deliberate fool, or a con artist?
Do tell, what do you think you've won by demonstrating your ability to make stupid and infuriating statements?
Getting very serious, have you thought about what you're doing with your time? Your time is all you have, and the idea that your jollies are made by "trolling" is sad. Very sad.
There have been many such people, such as you state you are, for which power over others is their highest, or only, pleasure. Rapists, for instance.
I repeat my statement: Stand up for your beliefs and do the dirty work yourself. Rob your neighbors face to face like an honest thief instead of cowardly hiding behind faceless bureaucracy.
All I ask is that you be honest in your averice. Your refusal only further demonstrates what kind of coward you are.
Slashdot Mirror
Exactly. "Value Added Service".
:^)
The problem is one of filtering. All I want, first and foremost, from my ISP is clear connectivity.
Once that is established, if they want to offer a VoIP service, that's fine. They can even run a web site if they want to, I might access it, I might not.
Filtering VoIP is nothing more than forcing me to use their systems as a proxy for that service. It is no different than their redirecting HTTP traffic through their servers and, maybe, inserting advertising into other peoples content. Or tracking my reading and posting habits. Or selling me additional "services" to see more of the outside internet much like what AOL and CompuServe used to do.
Back when peering between the big carriers was being negotiated, as the commercial Internet took off, there was a lot of fingerpointing and claiming that, for instance, Sprint should pay AT&T because Sprint customers were accessing servers of AT&T customers, and thus causing traffic. I Kid You Not, this was going on very hot an heavy.
But the fact is that customers have to have some way to connect to servers, and popular servers generate traffic just like greedy customers, no matter what network they are on. Each user pays for their circuit, the ISP pays for a Tier-1 provider, the Tier-1 providers all peer with each other without charges or prejudice simply because it all balances out. No provider abuses any other provider, because they have to pay for their own infrastructure and connectivity just like everyone else.
This is what the FCC doesn't understand, even some of the ISPs don't understand, because the bureaucrats still cannot grasp the concept of "everyone a client, everyone a server". They still think in terms of broadcasters and "mere people" who passively receive.
And as long as individual customers abide the ISPs that deliberately filter things "for your own good", this "mere people" mind set will continue.
Personally, I like an ISP which will filter NetBios and port 25-out as well as NetBios and 80-in for security unless I ask them not to and agree not to spam or run a Windows web server. Now THAT is for my own good.
Bob-
The IP providers are trying to have it both ways.
With one side of their face, they claim that they cannot be held accountable for the content that traverses their network. This is the "common carrier" argument, they are selling connectivity only. Just like the road is not liable for being sped upon.
But with the other side of their face, they block services that they think are inconvenient to their business model, such as blocking port 80 inbound to subscribers unless they buy "business" rate services, or block port 25 outbound with the excuse that "it blocks spam".
So what happens when they are dragged into court, and have to explain how they can do both of these things at the same time? Likely nothing, they have good lawyers.
Which reminds me, the FCC would just LOVE to get their regulatory claws into the IP service business. This gives them multiple paths, "ensuring customer equity", "preventing unfair competition", and worst of all is their claiming that since the content of services they already regulate (like phones and TV) are being delivered by IP now, their regulations apply to the new medium.
Whatever you do, don't remind them that the entire justification for the FCC is to "regulate scarce resources (broadcast spectrum) for the good of all", and IP is not a scarce resource.
Bureaucrats hate being told they have no jurisdiction. They will go get some and come back in force. Watch out, you selective filtering IP providers, you're just setting yourselves up for a nasty fall.
Bob-
An honor and a pleasure, good sir.
Have you perchance read "The Voluntary City" by Beito, Gordon and Tabarrok? Lots of good material about how people voluntarily create the institutions that are often later claimed by governments as being only possible to build by governments. Lighthouses, fire brigades, roads, all built by interested parties and later expropriated.
The rationalization is always the "free rider" "problem", that otherwise the costs wouldn't be "fairly" distributed by those who use it. This ignores the simple mechanism of subscription or toll, or like the many, many lighthouses built privately by cooperating insurance companies who found it was cheaper to build them and let everyone benefit than pay for wrecked ships.
The most obvious example is the Boulder dam, named for the Boulder Construction Company who began building it. When it looked like it was going to actually work, the Fed.Gov stepped in, took it over, and renamed it Hoover dam.
Bob-
I'm pleased that you have enjoyed our discourse. Adversarial conflict, although I prefer the rational kind, does tend to boil issues down to fundamentals.
Myself, I like Statesmen. Statesmen being dead politicians, the world needs more Statesmen.
Peace, may your aim never waver,
Bob-
Scoove, if I may reword your statement...
If a project enjoys broad support, there is no need to fund it by taxation since there is a large group of interested, motivated individuals who wish it to be completed.
If, on the other hand, the project does not have broad enough support to be built voluntarily, there is therefore no broad public mandate that it be funded through the extortion known as "taxation" in a "representative" government form.
However, government is an armed and vocal minority, which garners support for its own existence by catering to the base desires of other vocal minorities. Government reserves to itself the power to rewrite the "social contract" unilaterally, and then enforce those changes at gun point, all funded by extortion.
Others may say that it's ok by them if some of their money is taken by force from them "as long as it's not too much", because they are accustomed to being robbed. Like the dog who still licks its abusive masters hand, they know no other way.
Even the language has been perverted over time, as George Orwell warned us. The "Black Market" is a voluntary exchange of goods and services that the government doesn't like. The individuals want it, or else it would not exist.
The examples of government abuse at all levels are legion. Blaming one level of government or another is absurd, just like claiming it's worse to be mugged by the Crips than it is the Bloods.
Want to see as wide-spread access occurs faster than any command economy could create it? Remove it from taxation. A low margin of profit or long payoff time doesn't matter, if it's not taxed. Taxes create an environment of short-term, high-profit goals because otherwise the taxes will take it all.
Don't give up the fight. Voluntary interaction is the way of peace and prosperity. Bringing force into any endeavor only ruins it.
Bob-
Slashdotting a torrent is a GoodThing(tm). Just makes more for everyone.
Apparently there were many requests for torrent support. "Zen" politely answered even my hurried suggestion to that effect.
Bob-
Indeed, that is my hope with ZenLinux. Knoppix is wonderful as a demonstrator, but as an installer it is hampered by its dependencies on Heir Knopper's genius for hardware detection. Many too many non-Debian-standard dependencies.
Yes, I know Knoppix recently added a "Debian pure install" option, but again it's an option. So many bells and whistles gets confusing.
According to postings on the ZenLinux site, recovery and rescue applications have been requested, and the "Zen" master is thinking about adding them to a "security" version. This kind of thing is far more useful to me than games. I may like games, but I NEED a working system.
Bob-
Yeah, taxes are extracted by force - except when they aren't.
Could you cite an example where not paying taxes was met by any reaction other than violence?
Passing belief off as fact is fun, isn't it?
I wouldn't know.
Bob-
I refuted, saying that it's just as inaccurate as implying that...
and
You see what I mean by staying on topic?
Umm, Virg, I think you misstook me for someone else. That was my first posting on the subject.
Good sir, vigilantes certainly do not represent a generally accepted practice. That is why they exist mostly in fiction. Those few times and places when vigilantes do arise in force, such as San Francisco, or the Guardian Angles in NYC, they are a reaction by a large number of people to the breakdown of order. Some few may take action, but those actions are condoned by many because "someone is finally doing something about...".
most of the violations of the committees were not murderous in nature but were just as egregious.
The formation of the Committees were a reaction to the general breakdown in civil order created by a corrupt "official" government. The environment of the city quickly turned around, and the "normal" civil order was reestablished for the same reason that it is considered "normal": Gangs are not accountable, only individuals are.
not to pretend I'm a brainwashed fool because I don't agree with you.
It is foolish to ignore facts, and your stated reasonings were perfectly in time with those whose jobs are endangered by the concept that individual citizens themselves are the last line of defense against chaos.
You and I likely disagree far less that you expect, due to your confusing me with someone else. In the mean time, do understand that my personal abhorance of the initiation of force does indeed always put the actions of government under a microscope because government itself is the "lawful" monopoly on the initiation of force. And as has been said by better orators than I, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
Bob-
What I'm actually sad about is that you had to follow a perfectly good posting with this crap. I didn't mean that "you" were back, I meant that the awful personality trait that causes you to abuse other people had returned.
I had hopes, I really did, that you might have chosen civil discourse to abuse. I'd be very pleased if you would.
Bob-
If Apple made a version for Intel, they would be competing head to head with MS's monopoly.
Don't forget the atrocious range of hardware variations that Apple would have to write for in order to support "PC" hardware. The commodity hardware market is the reason that MacOS7 was never released for "PC" hardware, even though Apple had ported it to Intel in a test project. (Yes, I worked at Apple at that time, when it was creating the first QuickTime too. Really cutting edge media software. The old bumper sticker had it right, Mac '89 = Win95.)
Apple's profits have always been in its hardware markup, but by making the hardware Apple controlls the interfaces and specs. This allows them to make "really beautiful" hardware that works, because there is no commodity economies of scale. No competition. But competition is what drives innovation, which is why Apple leap-frogs the PC. They feel a pinch, do something good, then rest on their laurels until they feel a pinch again.
Apple has a solid user base, a firm 10% (or is that 5%?) of the personal computer market, and no competition because the people who buy Apple will always buy Apple regardless of price. They are their own little monopoly, and they like it that way. That's why no one else is allowed to produce Apple clones.
Bob-
Oh my goodness, chortle chortle, it's the cowardly freeloader again.
Since the IRS code requires the IRS to send out an invoice for taxes owed, I will wait until they follow their rules and do so. April 15th is only the deadline for my own voluntary filing of a claim if I choose to do so.
However, as also stated in the IRS code, since I have made no money from what they define as "Revenue Taxable Activities", that is profiting from the sale of alcohol, tobacco and/or firearms, I do not expect to receive such an invoice exactly as I have not in the past.
I don't know what you do on April 15th, I party.
Bob-
Since taxes are extracted by force, they are not an example of sharing.
Otherwise, I agree with your post. The sharing of information goes way back, as do the efforts to prevent it by the vested interests. Recall the horror that some groups professed when the Christian scriptures were translated into the vernacular that just anyone could read!
Bob-
most people don't participate in vigilante justice
Most people do not participate in government, either. Government is established and run by a small, vocal minority. They maintain power by catering to small, vocal minorities, while proclaiming they are doing whatever it is they are doing "for the good of all".
By your definition of the people, the pedophiles you're discussing are also "the people".
Indeed they are. However, government agents garner support from a greater number of people by prosecuting that "crime" than they piss off. Just like murder. Speeding tickets are getting closer to the breaking point: If the punishment for speeding were as severe as murder, a larger number of people who didn't like the law would revolt against those who enforce it. Just like the juries who refused to convict rum-runners during alcohol prohibition, or operators of the underground railway prior to the War of Northern Aggression.
That is one of the problems with statute law. By creating "crimes" out of acts that harm no one, such as drug use, speeding and prostitution, the crimes where individuals are actually harmed, like child molesting, are diluted. There is less respect for "the law" because "the law" covers so much that is not respectable. There is less room in prisons, because they are full of statute criminals.
You might be interested in an interesting little factoid: San Francisco is one of the most famous examples of "vigilante" action in the US. So what happened? In the year after the formation of the Vigilance Committees, there were fewer murders in San Francisco than there was in the month prior, including the actions of the Committees.
So please do decry the abuses of justice where ever they occur. Just don't limit yourself to only what the government schools told you was bad. Remember, government hates competition.
Bob-
Sure would be nice to have a GPL for video that would cover this.
Sure. The LGPL, the Free Document License, the Creative Commons, the BSD license, the Public Domain, all exist and are used for non-software materials.
Unfortunately the media companies are afraid because they don't understand how to utilize the fan-sub system, exactly like they didn't understand how to utilize Napster.
Here are tools that marketing companies cannot compare to no matter how many billions are spent on "surveys" and "focus groups". Napster and fan-sub teams are demographic gold mines for what types, styles, titles, artists, are popular, where, when and with who. No guessing, and the data is cheap or free.
That some few people will abuse the system to keep from paying for any title is a given, there are always "free riders" in any situation of actual freedom and liberty of action. Only in a police state is the job of the police easy.
What enforcement does is suck up huge quantities of resources while at the same time creating an environment of general ill will and disrespect for the rules enforced. Prohibition always does. And prohibition demonstrably costs "society" more than the "problem" did that the prohibition was supposed to solve.
Bob-
So you think someone who doesn't rob their neighbors at gun point is a "freeloader"?
I looked up "freeloader", and it actually means people like you who live off of the labor of others. Your advocacy of coercion of others to your benefit is a perfect example of "freeloading".
Have you ever seen a dictionary? It is a way to look up the meaning of words. I recommend you get one. Your lack of literacy is causing you to make a laughing stock of yourself.
Bob-
When Pioneer produced Tenchi Muyo in both Japanese and English at the same time, they created one of the few "Anime" titles that I actually enjoyed dubbed in English.
If the Japanese production companies want to make money off of the English language market, I am very happy if they do so. However, until they license their product in English, the only thing my looking at a fan-subtitled work does is produce a greater market for when they finally do release their title, If Ever.
I'll be looking into who it is making all the noise, and make sure not to buy their products in the future.
Bob-
"...Japanese translator 'sub them and distribute them for money in the Japanese Islands..."
Your error is clear. Fan subtitlers DO NOT make money off their work. Any money charged, if ever, is done to cover the cost of reproduction, and during the days of video tapes these charges were done not by the subtitler but by the people who did the copies and made them available.
Combine this with the consistant efforts to purge licensed materials out of the system, and the persecution of fan subtitlers becomes even more absurd. They didn't make any money, while creating a pre-primed market for the title when it is released in the new language, IF EVER.
And what's all this anglo-centric crap anyway? Am I the only person in the world who has seen fan-subs in French, Spanish and Russian? Oh of course, the companies don't care about fan-subtitles in those other languages, because of the size of the American market. So it is about money grubbing, not about fan-subtitling itself.
Bob-
It never ceases to amaze me how quickly an individual will revert to cussing when faced with something they cannot otherwise answer.
Except you did answer it, and well, yet you felt you had to be beligerant as well. Were you un-loved as a child, that you cannot merely be "right" but also need to feel extra-superior to those around you? It's not working.
I was very pleased when S2 games released Savage in both Widows and Linux versions at the same time. Quite refreshing. You may not have heard of it, http://www.s2games.com/
Bob-
My, you are so fierce. Lions must quake at your approach.
And your command of the English language? Sufficiently descriptive words elude me. I'm in awe.
I have no wish for you to believe me, I merely ask that you be honest in your thievery by not deligating the dirty work of collecting the spoils of piracy you call "taxes" to fund the programs you like.
Rob me face to face, instead of hiding behind the courage of others. Is it really so much to ask?
Bob-
Obviously you don't know anything about Austrian economics, if you think you're telling me something new.
Bureaucrats do not make decisions that effect themselves, such as individuals or "corporations" do. Their decisions directly effect others, because others are compelled by their decisions. Individuals and companies do not have the power which government holds to itself, the legal monopoly on the initiation of force.
This is why what might be simply bad judgement for an individual, such that they do not do what you think is obviously "rational", or even a company which by making bad decisions loses customers, is cause for alarm when made by a bureaucrat.
I recommend that you expand your reading of "economics" so that you do not make such assumptions about all economists in the future. Just reading a few of the daily articles on http://www.mises.org/ will go far in that direction.
I look forward to seeing you on their weblog, an excellent place to ask questions.
Bob-
Your premise seems to be that bureaucracies should act rationally. They Do Not.
Public Choice Theory demonstrates that what is "rational" to a government bureaucrat is not "rational" under the logical framework of private enterprise or individual action. The motivations are all messed up, as viewed from the outside.
The pioneers of space were expendable, to the bureaucratic mind, because creating a method of "rescue" would cost more than training new recruits and weathering the bad publicity.
The rocket scientists themselves were employed to do a job, and if they didn't like it they could seek employment elsewhere.
Bob-
I guess I'll try running it under WINE...
No wonder there is so little interest.
Bob-
Someone who is as easily trolled as you...
Are you calling yourself a liar, a deliberate fool, or a con artist?
Do tell, what do you think you've won by demonstrating your ability to make stupid and infuriating statements?
Getting very serious, have you thought about what you're doing with your time? Your time is all you have, and the idea that your jollies are made by "trolling" is sad. Very sad.
I pity you. I really do.
Bob-
There have been many such people, such as you state you are, for which power over others is their highest, or only, pleasure. Rapists, for instance.
I repeat my statement: Stand up for your beliefs and do the dirty work yourself. Rob your neighbors face to face like an honest thief instead of cowardly hiding behind faceless bureaucracy.
All I ask is that you be honest in your averice. Your refusal only further demonstrates what kind of coward you are.
Bob-