I think its interesting how computer crimes (even ones that technically do no physical damage, like destroying of files/property, etc) can warrant these huge jail times, yet a confessed convicted rapist, child molester, or other misc. violent criminal can sometimes get as few as 5 years in prison.
What does that tell us? We care more about our files than our children. While I don't think that breaking into a computer system just to prove you can is a smart idea (not saying that was the case in this situation, but rather in general), but I would consider a child molestation as a much more heinous crime, that should always warrant a longer sentence.
Laws aren't there to protect you, they are there to protect the rich.
Some poor looser raping other poor looser's kids is bad for their work productivity, so it is illegal, but acts that could cause the rich to loose riches are much more illegal, because these things really matter to those who make the laws.
"author's rights". Actually, that's what it's called in Bulgaria as well. I wonder if it isn't actually more commonly known as variations of that rather than of "copyright". Could very well be.
In Beaumarchais' own country, copyright now runs for the author's entire life, plus seventy years. I'm still trying to grasp why the hell some guy that's been dead for decades would need a financial incentive to produce new works...
In one word? Inheritance. It'd suck if copyright was forfeited one day after publication if it so happens that you get struck by lightning that night.
given that we are able to get all the testimony in the case we can each make a personal assumption of whether he commited the acts or not at this point.
Haven't been paying much attention... As far as I know, he's being charged with "giving a sip of wine to a kid while his mom watches", which I don't object to one bit.
In fact, I think it's a slap in the face to all the people who have been abused for real, and not pretend victims of made-up crimes.
Copyright was intended to temporarily reward the artist, to encourage them to produce art.
The frenchman who came up with it called it "author's rights". I'm trying to remember his name... he was involved in the american war of independance... dang lack of sleep.
Anyway, the point of it was that in those days, the publishers were the only ones with the means to reproduce and distribute "copyrightable" material because printing presses were huge and expensive, and so the authors got screwed: they paid you a small sum for your labour and then made money off your work by simply printing it ad-nauseum.
Back then the publishers were opposed to copyrights. Now they twisted it and corrupted the system so that they once again get to screw people over. We gotta take the power back... don't ask me how though.
Michael Jackson bought the rights to the beatles music way back in the 80's. Thats one reason to not buy beatles CD's. Pirate your beatles music, then buy something else by McCartney or Ringo, that way they'll see the profits. Buying beatles music supports a pedofile.
I wasn't aware there had been a verdict rendered in that case. You wouldn't assume he's guilty now, would you?
So long as company B can make a rip off of company A's game, with slightly prettier screenshots and a gimmick that wasn't in A, and make a fortune, they'll keep doing it.
Investors are scared of innovation, they want a garanteed return on investment, and you get that with same old same old, not unproved ideas.
Now, if only we could find a way to prevent forest fires. I have a friend who is trying to get a job as a postgraduate research assistant at the Victorian Fire Prevention Center with her very good botany degree... maybe she can help.
I honestly just don't understand how their testing is any different than what your publisher would be testing for on PC games, except it's a bit more complicated for PCs due to the various combinations.
Testing for functionality is seperate from testing for compatibility.
It sort of overlaps (you'll find compatibility bugs in functionality testing, and vice versa), but it's a different job, different team, different contract.
There may be more rules for a console release, but you have one target platform, a console manufacturer who does testing for you, etc.
I don't so much imagine it as I do this for money. And the console people don't test for you, they test against you. The publisher traditionally absorbs the cost of testing, make sure it's up to the console maker's technical requirements (unless it's Lucas Art... I believe they use Jedi mind tricks, or bribery, to get their bugtastic games released) before the console people test, and either reject or approve.
And they can reject you for something that passed last time... they're a fickle bunch.
And it is less costly and complicated to devellop for PC than for console
Is that really true? On a PC you have to support a huge range of hardware and software, while on a console you are dealing with a fixed system.
Well, you don't have to support a huge range. You try, but no one besides your own investors is forcing you to, so you end up with "recommended configurations" and you rely on the "get the latest drivers" mantra, wait for people to complain, and patch later. Basically, you use your first custommers as tester that pay you (cue soviet russia jokes).
There are configuration testing done, but they are less costly, mostly because you can, as I said, patch it later. So long as it works fine on the combinations of the most common hardware you won't get any major backlash. You have fewer man hours spent on regression of known bugs, etc.
It's tough enough already to keep stuff from being stolen. Add an anonymous aspect to the "I can just pay for this item instead of return it" attitude... my goodness! How on earth would we keep half of the stuff from walking out the door for good?
Good point. I guess I uderestimated the truant element... I'll blame that on lack of sleep : )
One last thing... as for being able to use different libraries as you travel... are you sure you can't already? A lot of libraries have an option specifically for the type of case you mention.
I did not know that, last time I renewed my library card it took so much proofs that I was indeed living nearby that I simply assumed that stangers would be shot on sight in libraries. Well, allright then, I conceed the point, it's a solution looking for a problem... and librarians are venomous and cobra-like in their spitting abilities.
Console gaming is for those who just want a plug-and-play gaming experience at a reasonable cost.
PC gaming is never going to go away. Simply put, there is an installed base of several hundred million users. Is any rational CEO of a software company (gaming or otherwise) simply going to pack up and leave all that money on the table? Absolutely not.
And it is less costly and complicated to devellop for PC than for console, you don't have the console approval process to get through, which means less hassle, and less last minutte polishing: Patch it later.
You can do whatever you want on PC, but with console makers, you always have the stress that they might be hard on you this time, force you to change trivial details before resubmitting, making you miss your printing window, etc.
And may I ask, how do you know that I don't contribute to Wiki? Because as a matter of fact I do. [...] Why don't you stop making assumptions (because you know what they say about assumptions) and take a reality check.
I'm not making assumptions, I just don't respect the "get your priorities straight / think of the children" posts (your post being an independant entity from you, btw) because they never contribute anything to the discussion. Off course there are other problems in life, more pressing, more life threatning, etc.
If you're going to say there are more pressing matters to this thread, why not write a macro that'll post the exact same thing to every. single. thread. up until such times as hunger, war and disease have been wiped out from the world? Might as well.
I'm sure our underfunded libraries and overworked librarians will find this system easy to implement. These fingerprint scans for PC use are a stupid idea implemented by some town in Ill. I've never heard of. I'm sure that program won't fly...
I would LOVE this thing if it were implemented. I could go to public libraries when travelling! I could borrow a book I really need for my schoolwork when I forgot my regular library card, etc.
This is a great idea, not only for privacy, but for convenience. You get to use the ressource without the hassle, and it doesn't cost you a fortune, you loan them money, they loan you a book, you exchange it back when you are done. Everyone's happy!
Let's stop creating solutions for problems that don't exist. We have enough real problems in the US that need solutions...
Why don't you go work on solving them instead of posting on slashdot then? Don't know where to start? Go volunteer to help out your local "overworked librarian", I'm sure they'll appreciate it.
Who needs a phone? With the experiment they used, all they had to do was shout the message across the room. That technology is hundreds of millions of years old, and predates the human race.
To be fair, the compression algorithm for this transmission method only allow for two messages:
"Oh my! I am being bitten!"
or
"Boy, am I horny!"
Off, course, considering they are teens, they pretty much only use the cell phones for variations of message #2, so your point is still valid : )
Only by lumping everyone together as "Europe" are they able to claim that the majority of zombies are not located in the U.S. Even though I live in the U.S., I find this article totally stupid.
I'd just like to point out that while you skillfully avoided it, a lot of people tend to confuse "U.S.A." with "America" in much the same way.
If I'd had more cofee today I might be able to make a clever remark about that... but I'll have to settle for just pointing that out and letting you think up something clever until such time as I'm adequatly drugged up : )
Slashdot Mirror
They'll only be talking about gay marriage in the news, a bill that is also scheduled to pass before summer break.
The 15-kilogram (33-pound) battery-powered suit, code-named HAL-5
Are they TRYING to make killer robots?
when did opinions become news?
Right before the word "editorial" was invented, I believe.
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I think its interesting how computer crimes (even ones that technically do no physical damage, like destroying of files/property, etc) can warrant these huge jail times, yet a confessed convicted rapist, child molester, or other misc. violent criminal can sometimes get as few as 5 years in prison.
What does that tell us? We care more about our files than our children. While I don't think that breaking into a computer system just to prove you can is a smart idea (not saying that was the case in this situation, but rather in general), but I would consider a child molestation as a much more heinous crime, that should always warrant a longer sentence.
Laws aren't there to protect you, they are there to protect the rich.
Some poor looser raping other poor looser's kids is bad for their work productivity, so it is illegal, but acts that could cause the rich to loose riches are much more illegal, because these things really matter to those who make the laws.
If you do $1 Billion worth of damage just to look for UFO conspiracy information, you deserve to be locked up.
By writing this comment, I estimate that you have caused me $170 000 worth of dammage.
Also, judging on the speed of your burner, I estimate that you have 114 CD burners, clearly, you're a menace.
"author's rights".
Actually, that's what it's called in Bulgaria as well.
I wonder if it isn't actually more commonly known as variations of that rather than of "copyright". Could very well be.
In Beaumarchais' own country, copyright now runs for the author's entire life, plus seventy years. I'm still trying to grasp why the hell some guy that's been dead for decades would need a financial incentive to produce new works...
In one word? Inheritance.
It'd suck if copyright was forfeited one day after publication if it so happens that you get struck by lightning that night.
given that we are able to get all the testimony in the case we can each make a personal assumption of whether he commited the acts or not at this point.
Haven't been paying much attention... As far as I know, he's being charged with "giving a sip of wine to a kid while his mom watches", which I don't object to one bit.
In fact, I think it's a slap in the face to all the people who have been abused for real, and not pretend victims of made-up crimes.
(sorry to anyone who trusts the legal system, especially when practised on celebrity)
"But for that to work, you would have to ignore all the Simpson DNA evidence. And that would be just plain silly!"
-Troy McLure
Copyright was intended to temporarily reward the artist, to encourage them to produce art.
The frenchman who came up with it called it "author's rights".
I'm trying to remember his name... he was involved in the american war of independance... dang lack of sleep.
Anyway, the point of it was that in those days, the publishers were the only ones with the means to reproduce and distribute "copyrightable" material because printing presses were huge and expensive, and so the authors got screwed: they paid you a small sum for your labour and then made money off your work by simply printing it ad-nauseum.
Back then the publishers were opposed to copyrights. Now they twisted it and corrupted the system so that they once again get to screw people over. We gotta take the power back... don't ask me how though.
Michael Jackson bought the rights to the beatles music way back in the 80's. Thats one reason to not buy beatles CD's. Pirate your beatles music, then buy something else by McCartney or Ringo, that way they'll see the profits. Buying beatles music supports a pedofile.
I wasn't aware there had been a verdict rendered in that case.
You wouldn't assume he's guilty now, would you?
So long as company B can make a rip off of company A's game, with slightly prettier screenshots and a gimmick that wasn't in A, and make a fortune, they'll keep doing it.
Investors are scared of innovation, they want a garanteed return on investment, and you get that with same old same old, not unproved ideas.
Now, if only we could find a way to prevent forest fires. I have a friend who is trying to get a job as a postgraduate research assistant at the Victorian Fire Prevention Center with her very good botany degree... maybe she can help.
No she can't.
Only YOU can prevent forest fires!
I honestly just don't understand how their testing is any different than what your publisher would be testing for on PC games, except it's a bit more complicated for PCs due to the various combinations.
Testing for functionality is seperate from testing for compatibility.
It sort of overlaps (you'll find compatibility bugs in functionality testing, and vice versa), but it's a different job, different team, different contract.
I don't think it's as light as you imagine.
There may be more rules for a console release, but you have one target platform, a console manufacturer who does testing for you, etc.
I don't so much imagine it as I do this for money.
And the console people don't test for you, they test against you. The publisher traditionally absorbs the cost of testing, make sure it's up to the console maker's technical requirements (unless it's Lucas Art... I believe they use Jedi mind tricks, or bribery, to get their bugtastic games released) before the console people test, and either reject or approve.
And they can reject you for something that passed last time... they're a fickle bunch.
And it is less costly and complicated to devellop for PC than for console
Is that really true? On a PC you have to support a huge range of hardware and software, while on a console you are dealing with a fixed system.
Well, you don't have to support a huge range. You try, but no one besides your own investors is forcing you to, so you end up with "recommended configurations" and you rely on the "get the latest drivers" mantra, wait for people to complain, and patch later. Basically, you use your first custommers as tester that pay you (cue soviet russia jokes).
There are configuration testing done, but they are less costly, mostly because you can, as I said, patch it later. So long as it works fine on the combinations of the most common hardware you won't get any major backlash. You have fewer man hours spent on regression of known bugs, etc.
It's tough enough already to keep stuff from being stolen. Add an anonymous aspect to the "I can just pay for this item instead of return it" attitude... my goodness! How on earth would we keep half of the stuff from walking out the door for good?
Good point.
I guess I uderestimated the truant element... I'll blame that on lack of sleep : )
One last thing... as for being able to use different libraries as you travel... are you sure you can't already? A lot of libraries have an option specifically for the type of case you mention.
I did not know that, last time I renewed my library card it took so much proofs that I was indeed living nearby that I simply assumed that stangers would be shot on sight in libraries. Well, allright then, I conceed the point, it's a solution looking for a problem... and librarians are venomous and cobra-like in their spitting abilities.
Console gaming is for those who just want a plug-and-play gaming experience at a reasonable cost.
PC gaming is never going to go away. Simply put, there is an installed base of several hundred million users. Is any rational CEO of a software company (gaming or otherwise) simply going to pack up and leave all that money on the table? Absolutely not.
And it is less costly and complicated to devellop for PC than for console, you don't have the console approval process to get through, which means less hassle, and less last minutte polishing: Patch it later.
You can do whatever you want on PC, but with console makers, you always have the stress that they might be hard on you this time, force you to change trivial details before resubmitting, making you miss your printing window, etc.
And may I ask, how do you know that I don't contribute to Wiki? Because as a matter of fact I do. [...] Why don't you stop making assumptions (because you know what they say about assumptions) and take a reality check.
I'm not making assumptions, I just don't respect the "get your priorities straight / think of the children" posts (your post being an independant entity from you, btw) because they never contribute anything to the discussion. Off course there are other problems in life, more pressing, more life threatning, etc.
If you're going to say there are more pressing matters to this thread, why not write a macro that'll post the exact same thing to every. single. thread. up until such times as hunger, war and disease have been wiped out from the world? Might as well.
By participating in an anonymous system, I would feel like I was legitimising the laws and practices that I feel are attacks at my personal liberty.
So, you think that by refusing to participate in their privacy intrusions, you'd be saying it's right to intrude on privacy?
Say, how's the weather on bizarro world these days? Enjoying it there, are you?
I'm sure our underfunded libraries and overworked librarians will find this system easy to implement.
These fingerprint scans for PC use are a stupid idea implemented by some town in Ill. I've never heard of. I'm sure that program won't fly...
I would LOVE this thing if it were implemented. I could go to public libraries when travelling! I could borrow a book I really need for my schoolwork when I forgot my regular library card, etc.
This is a great idea, not only for privacy, but for convenience. You get to use the ressource without the hassle, and it doesn't cost you a fortune, you loan them money, they loan you a book, you exchange it back when you are done. Everyone's happy!
Let's stop creating solutions for problems that don't exist. We have enough real problems in the US that need solutions...
Why don't you go work on solving them instead of posting on slashdot then?
Don't know where to start? Go volunteer to help out your local "overworked librarian", I'm sure they'll appreciate it.
To be fair, the compression algorithm for this transmission method only allow for two messages: or
Off, course, considering they are teens, they pretty much only use the cell phones for variations of message #2, so your point is still valid : )
Only by lumping everyone together as "Europe" are they able to claim that the majority of zombies are not located in the U.S. Even though I live in the U.S., I find this article totally stupid.
I'd just like to point out that while you skillfully avoided it, a lot of people tend to confuse "U.S.A." with "America" in much the same way.
If I'd had more cofee today I might be able to make a clever remark about that... but I'll have to settle for just pointing that out and letting you think up something clever until such time as I'm adequatly drugged up : )
This just goes to show that no one knows where spam and zombies reside. Everyone's "research" (obviously riddled with bias) says it's some place else.
This will make it eaier to get that grant for my study of zombie migration patterns then! And they laughed at me... the fools!