Even in countries where the legal status of software patents is questionable, there is no way a linux distro could stand up to the legal muscle of, say, the people who hold the patents on MPEG.
Right now, 3G phones cost a lot more than GSM phones. If Telstra stops selling GSM phones (especially to prepaid customers) a large number of people will simply buy Optus or Vodafone GSM instead (because Telstra NextG costs too much and they don't need any of the extra features of NextG). Maybe in 3-4 years time, UMTS phones will be cheaper (and Telstra will have a bigger selection) and it won't be as much of an issue.
For example, right now I have a Motorola L6 on Telstra Prepaid. The only way I would migrate to NextG Prepaid is if Telstra sold me a Motorola phone in either a candy-bar or slider form factor (I HATE clamshells like the RAZR) that didn't cost the earth. If Telstra tried to migrate me to NextG without the phone I want at a cheap enough price, I would tell Telstra to go jump, take my L6 and get it unlocked (by Telstra or if they won't do it, a 3rd party unlock service) and buy a Prepaid GSM SIM from another carrier
Telstra won't be dropping GSM anytime soon, they have too many customers. They ARE dropping CDMA and replacing it with UMTS 3G.
As for 3G on the Neo1973, I suspect the issue is that no-one currently makes a 3G UMTS chipset that is open enough for this project (the GSM chipset is basically a black-box with a well documented interface, does a similar UMTS chipset exist yet?) Also, 3G chipsets are expensive. Plus, GSM is a LOT more widely available than UMTS.
There is more chance of George W Bush giving Kim Jong-il the fire codes to the US nuclear missiles than there is of Verizon Wireless letting you use a cellphone with the ability for the end user to run ANY non-Verizon-approved code.
What we need is a country that: 1.Has a stable government 2.Doesn't care what the "western world" (i.e. the big US corps) have to say and doesn't enforce "western IP rights" 3.Has no non copyright laws laws that would make a site like PirateBay illegal 4.Can be connected to the internet via a sufficiently fast pipe or pipes and 5.Has sufficiently advanced infrastructure in other areas like electric power and such that one could host there.
Find such a country (if one even exists) and host all the stuff like DeCSS, DeAACS, UnFairPlay, UnPlaysForSure, Transformers - DVD RIP - XvID, Windows Vista Ultimate - BootISO and other "illegal" crap there.
Russia would have made a good choice until the US forced them to enforce US IP rights in exchange for WTO membership.
Do any such countries exist? What would the "copyright cops" do if they found a "pirate bay" type site in a country that refused to enforce "western IP rights"?
The problem is, many carriers disable self-made applications or require apps to be signed with a carrier or manufacturer key (e.g. Verizon and BREW for the most annoying example) or they disable features that would otherwise be accessible to unsigned apps (e.g. t-mobile and their recent changes so only signed J2ME apps can access the internet on their phones)
How is what the FCC are requiring now any different to the already established practice of shipping routers that are open source but with a binary kernel module for the 802.11 WiFi chipset?
The iPhone almost certainly contains a network lock (where it will refuse to talk to any SIM card that isn't from AT&T)
The interesting question would be if you could use any AT&T SIM card in the iPhone after activating it with this hack (or if not whether the hack could be changed so that becomes possible). If so, this allows you to completely avoid the "lock-in contract" by obtaining whatever the "I already have a suitable phone and I just want an AT&T SIM card with no lock in contract" plan is.
Here are my ideas based on what I know about it (I don't live there but I have watched enough US hospital shows on TV to know a little about it:) 1.Completely ban health insurance companies from specifying which treatment options a patient must take if they are to be covered (e.g. "you must use our preferred hospital" or "we wont cover you for that really expensive test even though the doctor says you should have it") or from charging differently based on what options are picked. This change doesn't mean they have to provide coverage for stuff like baldness cures (ala that one Simpsons episode) or whatever other non-life-threatening treatments they don't currently cover
2.Do whatever is necessary to increase choice of provider. If there are more options for people to pick from then we will see insurance companies competing for business (here in Australia, health funds spend big money trying to convince you to switch to their policy)
Those 2 provisions would be a good start in fixing the system. Feedback from those who know more about the system would be nice:)
More than likely Apple has gone the cheap route and is running the entire phone operating system (including the low level GSM, GPRS and EDGE) on the one CPU (unlike, say, Motorola EZX or OpenMoko Neo1973 which use a seperate CPU that is tightly locked down and runs the low level GSM/GPRS/etc code and is communicated with via GSM standard AT commands)
Assuming Apple have gone for the 1 CPU route, it becomes even harder to allow just anyone to write code running on that CPU because it can threaten FCC certification of the product.
Given how many people (here and elsewhere) say "don't buy the cheap printers with the expensive ink", surely there must be a market for a company to come in and make ink jet printers where the printer costs more and the ink costs less. Market the hell out of them and advertise a lower cost-per-page than the other guys with the expensive ink and you would have a LOT of customers.
Are there any companies out there right now that aren't scumbags? How good are Canon these days?
Firstly, if the ISP received a DMCA section 512 take down notice for the content, they should give the customer the full details of that notice.
Secondly, if they didn't receive a section 512 take down notice, they should have asked for one (thats assuming that the ISP was told to take the content down for copyright reasons, if it was for other reasons, there are other procedures to be followed)
Apple actually contacted Verizon first but Verizon said no (probably because Apple wouldn't give Verizon the control every other cell phone manufacturer gives them). So apple then went to Cingular and they said yes.
It wouldn't surprise me if Bush & co are working on new rules prohibiting anyone on the no-fly list from holding a pilots license or engaging in pilot training.
Thats the whole point of what the RIAA are doing to internet radio. They want to kill all competition for the top-40 crapola plays exactly what the RIAA wants them to play stations (clear channel et al)
The RIAA likes radio but only when the stations are playing the music that the RIAA thinks should get promotion (i.e. the next big pop artist) and not what someone else thinks should get promotion (i.e. that obscure indy rock band)
If you are a content provider, don't bother looking for a technical solution to stop this crap. Just sue them for copyright violation. All you need is for at least one customer of this scumbag ISP to retrieve your content and have the ads inserted into it and the ISP has just violated your copyright.
Basically the issue is that if you can copy a DVD and play it without having the original in the drive (say, to a video juke box), you can obtain the DVD (video store, borrow from mate, whatever else), copy it and give it back. Ergo, you have a copy of the DVD that you can watch without having the original in your possession. So the MPAA want to stop companies with CSS licenses from producing devices that can be used to violate copyright law.
Thankfully lawsuits like Lexmark vs. Static Control have shown that using "IP laws" to prevent someone from making 3rd party spare parts wont fly. I believe that current case law basically says that it is perfectly legal to cleanroom the special circuitry from a printer cartridge in order to produce 3rd party ink cartridges and that the printer manufacturers cannot stop it. (ob IANAL disclaimer)
Another advantage of push email that I have seen quoted around the place is that you don't need to open as many holes in the firewall pointing at vital servers.
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Even in countries where the legal status of software patents is questionable, there is no way a linux distro could stand up to the legal muscle of, say, the people who hold the patents on MPEG.
Right now, 3G phones cost a lot more than GSM phones. If Telstra stops selling GSM phones (especially to prepaid customers) a large number of people will simply buy Optus or Vodafone GSM instead (because Telstra NextG costs too much and they don't need any of the extra features of NextG). Maybe in 3-4 years time, UMTS phones will be cheaper (and Telstra will have a bigger selection) and it won't be as much of an issue.
For example, right now I have a Motorola L6 on Telstra Prepaid. The only way I would migrate to NextG Prepaid is if Telstra sold me a Motorola phone in either a candy-bar or slider form factor (I HATE clamshells like the RAZR) that didn't cost the earth. If Telstra tried to migrate me to NextG without the phone I want at a cheap enough price, I would tell Telstra to go jump, take my L6 and get it unlocked (by Telstra or if they won't do it, a 3rd party unlock service) and buy a Prepaid GSM SIM from another carrier
Telstra won't be dropping GSM anytime soon, they have too many customers. They ARE dropping CDMA and replacing it with UMTS 3G.
As for 3G on the Neo1973, I suspect the issue is that no-one currently makes a 3G UMTS chipset that is open enough for this project (the GSM chipset is basically a black-box with a well documented interface, does a similar UMTS chipset exist yet?)
Also, 3G chipsets are expensive. Plus, GSM is a LOT more widely available than UMTS.
EVDO is NOT 3G. UMTS is 3G. HSDPA and friends are 3G. EVDO is 2G. (or 2.5G or whatever if you believe the marketing hype)
There is more chance of George W Bush giving Kim Jong-il the fire codes to the US nuclear missiles than there is of Verizon Wireless letting you use a cellphone with the ability for the end user to run ANY non-Verizon-approved code.
But would the US go to war over illegally copied movies?
What we need is a country that:
1.Has a stable government
2.Doesn't care what the "western world" (i.e. the big US corps) have to say and doesn't enforce "western IP rights"
3.Has no non copyright laws laws that would make a site like PirateBay illegal
4.Can be connected to the internet via a sufficiently fast pipe or pipes
and 5.Has sufficiently advanced infrastructure in other areas like electric power and such that one could host there.
Find such a country (if one even exists) and host all the stuff like DeCSS, DeAACS, UnFairPlay, UnPlaysForSure, Transformers - DVD RIP - XvID, Windows Vista Ultimate - BootISO and other "illegal" crap there.
Russia would have made a good choice until the US forced them to enforce US IP rights in exchange for WTO membership.
Do any such countries exist? What would the "copyright cops" do if they found a "pirate bay" type site in a country that refused to enforce "western IP rights"?
The problem is, many carriers disable self-made applications or require apps to be signed with a carrier or manufacturer key (e.g. Verizon and BREW for the most annoying example) or they disable features that would otherwise be accessible to unsigned apps (e.g. t-mobile and their recent changes so only signed J2ME apps can access the internet on their phones)
How is what the FCC are requiring now any different to the already established practice of shipping routers that are open source but with a binary kernel module for the 802.11 WiFi chipset?
The iPhone almost certainly contains a network lock (where it will refuse to talk to any SIM card that isn't from AT&T)
The interesting question would be if you could use any AT&T SIM card in the iPhone after activating it with this hack (or if not whether the hack could be changed so that becomes possible). If so, this allows you to completely avoid the "lock-in contract" by obtaining whatever the "I already have a suitable phone and I just want an AT&T SIM card with no lock in contract" plan is.
Here are my ideas based on what I know about it (I don't live there but I have watched enough US hospital shows on TV to know a little about it :)
:)
1.Completely ban health insurance companies from specifying which treatment options a patient must take if they are to be covered (e.g. "you must use our preferred hospital" or "we wont cover you for that really expensive test even though the doctor says you should have it") or from charging differently based on what options are picked. This change doesn't mean they have to provide coverage for stuff like baldness cures (ala that one Simpsons episode) or whatever other non-life-threatening treatments they don't currently cover
2.Do whatever is necessary to increase choice of provider. If there are more options for people to pick from then we will see insurance companies competing for business (here in Australia, health funds spend big money trying to convince you to switch to their policy)
Those 2 provisions would be a good start in fixing the system. Feedback from those who know more about the system would be nice
They may well just be names from a standardized list of mobile carriers (such a list exists in the plmn_text_table.bin file from my Motorola L6)
More than likely Apple has gone the cheap route and is running the entire phone operating system (including the low level GSM, GPRS and EDGE) on the one CPU (unlike, say, Motorola EZX or OpenMoko Neo1973 which use a seperate CPU that is tightly locked down and runs the low level GSM/GPRS/etc code and is communicated with via GSM standard AT commands)
Assuming Apple have gone for the 1 CPU route, it becomes even harder to allow just anyone to write code running on that CPU because it can threaten FCC certification of the product.
Given how many people (here and elsewhere) say "don't buy the cheap printers with the expensive ink", surely there must be a market for a company to come in and make ink jet printers where the printer costs more and the ink costs less. Market the hell out of them and advertise a lower cost-per-page than the other guys with the expensive ink and you would have a LOT of customers.
Are there any companies out there right now that aren't scumbags? How good are Canon these days?
Firstly, if the ISP received a DMCA section 512 take down notice for the content, they should give the customer the full details of that notice.
Secondly, if they didn't receive a section 512 take down notice, they should have asked for one (thats assuming that the ISP was told to take the content down for copyright reasons, if it was for other reasons, there are other procedures to be followed)
Apple actually contacted Verizon first but Verizon said no (probably because Apple wouldn't give Verizon the control every other cell phone manufacturer gives them). So apple then went to Cingular and they said yes.
It wouldn't surprise me if Bush & co are working on new rules prohibiting anyone on the no-fly list from holding a pilots license or engaging in pilot training.
There is a win2k compatibility patch for Command & Conquer 3 floating about somewhere although I don't have a link handy.
Using the old Lunar Lander design in todays world of more modern technology would be like using a model T ford in a world of more modern cars.
Tax anytime real world money is exchanged for virtual goods.
If I sell you an item in a game for $50, I would be required to declare that $50 as income for tax purposes.
If I give Linden Labs 100 L$ and get $50 back, I would be required to declare that $50 as income for tax purposes.
Thats the whole point of what the RIAA are doing to internet radio.
They want to kill all competition for the top-40 crapola plays exactly what the RIAA wants them to play stations (clear channel et al)
The RIAA likes radio but only when the stations are playing the music that the RIAA thinks should get promotion (i.e. the next big pop artist) and not what someone else thinks should get promotion (i.e. that obscure indy rock band)
If you are a content provider, don't bother looking for a technical solution to stop this crap. Just sue them for copyright violation. All you need is for at least one customer of this scumbag ISP to retrieve your content and have the ads inserted into it and the ISP has just violated your copyright.
Basically the issue is that if you can copy a DVD and play it without having the original in the drive (say, to a video juke box), you can obtain the DVD (video store, borrow from mate, whatever else), copy it and give it back. Ergo, you have a copy of the DVD that you can watch without having the original in your possession.
So the MPAA want to stop companies with CSS licenses from producing devices that can be used to violate copyright law.
Thankfully lawsuits like Lexmark vs. Static Control have shown that using "IP laws" to prevent someone from making 3rd party spare parts wont fly.
I believe that current case law basically says that it is perfectly legal to cleanroom the special circuitry from a printer cartridge in order to produce 3rd party ink cartridges and that the printer manufacturers cannot stop it. (ob IANAL disclaimer)
Another advantage of push email that I have seen quoted around the place is that you don't need to open as many holes in the firewall pointing at vital servers.