Then use the PTC's auto-complaint generation system. Yes the irony is strong, but isn't that what it was created for--to make it easy to send notes about objectionable content. After all, nobody said it had to be objectionable to the PTC for someone to use it.
Once you have the formatting the way you like it, post it and the link on the forums of you choice and recruit away.
This is a formal commentary of claimed indecency on broadcast television.
NETWORK: CBS
PROGRAM TITLE: Without a Trace
BROADCAST DATE: December 31, 2004
BROADCAST TIME: 9:00 PM Eastern and Pacific Time, 9:00 PM Central and Mountain Time
Documentation --------------
The depicted scene of the show Without a Trace was NOT offensive to many, despite what the minority of the viewers at the PTC felt. Please be advised that their automatic letter generation makes it easy to spam the FCC with complaints. This is exactly how I've written this letter, though I've made some changes to the "content". In respect to the general population, what was shown does not warrent the fines levied against CBS.
All things considered, a very small percentage of American viewers are creating the vast majority of complaints recieved by your offices. This does not warrant the actions taken when viewed in the context of those that were obviously NOT affected by said show. The bottom line is that a small percentage of the US population is taking advantage of the FCC by spamming it with complaints to make it appear there are more people offended than actually were.
Please investigate these actions made by the PTC and balance prospective fines against the unique complaints per person over the spectrum of viewers a given show has. Context and common sense should rule the day, not an overreactive, easily offended minority intent on controlling the media consumed by the majority.
Documentation --------------
PLEASE KEEP ME INFORMED OF THE PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF YOUR INVESTIGATION INTO THIS MATTER.
Sincerely,
Me
You are correct in that it all starts at campaign finance reform. But guess what? It'll never occur, the same way congress gives themselves raises they would NEVER approve of CFR as it'd limit each and every one of them and their ability to get reelected. After all, what's the use in obtaining a position of power if every Tom Dick and Harry has an equal chance at obtaining that same position, regardless of how many strings your daddy had to pull and how rich you are?
I'm in the process of switching from Comcast (and Vonage) to Verizon for DSL and phone service. Comcast's inability to meet my need for quality VoIP has lost both them and Vonage a customer. And if I could get someone in Vonage's customer service departement that spoke English in an understandable accent I'd be sure to tell them that it was Comcast's fault!
And even though I'm dropping from 6Mbit to whatever I can get with DSL, I highly suspect my service will be substantially better after all is considered. Comcast never got me above 3Mbit, even when I had their upgraded service (8Mbit)--3Mbit just seems to be the limit for my area. And don't forget teh lack of quality of the connectionan:random lag, unresponsive DNS queries, and a pletora of other issues directly the result of poor performace by Comcast. After 1.5 years of service they have truly earned the title of Comcraptic.
You can still watch the DRM'd content, although it will be at a lower resolution. The short version is in order to get the full uber HD experience, you'll need a new TV.
And this really is the point since studies have shown that most people can't tell the different between an HD and STD television broadcast to begin with.
If people would do a search for registered sex offenders in their area, then they might have something to worry about (its usually far higher than most would expect). Myspace is just another scapegoat for unacceptable social behavior.
While I agree with everything you said, I feel we still need to consider the effect we're having on potential threats. By inflaming the situation with our very presence in the region we're begging every nutball without a cause to rise up, find a cause, and strap a bomb to their back. Iraq is quickly turning into my generation's Vietnam, and that's not a good thing. What's worse, this entire situation from the time Bush declared the end of the war on the aircraft carrier, right up until present day has been fought almost in its entirety by foreign interests. Only a small number of Iraqis are involved in today's insurgency. That's got to count for something. My point is, if we sacked up, pushed the Iraqis to get their shit together by a deadline, we'd be out of there much quicker than the wait and see approach we have today. Then and only then can we have a bird-eye-view of the situation as to who is our actual threat and who's just being drawn to an empty cause, for whatever reason that may be.
Did we not just discuss the evolution of a new theory of global warming a few weeks ago that found corellations with the melting of the polar ice caps on Mars? While not evidence per se, I think it warrants more research. I still find it hard to believe that little peons such as us humans can have such a global impact as to affect the weather. Then again, we have been at it for about a century, so...
Why was this moderated Funny? He's got a point. Not everyone has the time to spend playing the game for hours on end and coordinating massive efforts just to complete end-game content. Hell, I'd wager that most people would be far happier if they made end-game content the way they make the earlier instances with 5-man groups. They'd certainly be funner for me, and I'm not alone in thinking this.
You're forgetting the difference between criminal and civil law. It is not against the law for a company to lose money, despite corporate interests that preach such a scheme. The world is undergoing a major shift in how we obtain content, with traditional copyright law losing touch with reality. The advent of P2P networks has shown us that, and things like wholesale copyright infringement are going to get worse, far worse, before things shift back to the copyright holder's interests (if ever). Bottom line, the very idea of copyright is not capable of functioning with todays ability to easily copy, transfer, and obtain content. A new methodology is required, and many forsee a world in which paying for "copies" of content is rare with content producers getting their main income with the actual performance of his/her's works. All it is going to take is a shift in distribution methodology, and a major scaling back of the salaries of those involved in content distribution, but not necessarily of those that produce the content. For example, a band could release their CD online in a compressed format for all to download and enjoy. If the band is sucessful, they will make their money on performances and by selling high quality versions of their material at concerts and such. This would increase the value of actually produced materials (CDs, covers, inserts, etc), all of which the band would take a direct cut of (a much larger cut of the production that 99.999% ever see with today's system that is in place).
Movies could follow a similar scheme, and the only problem the solution I present here is for software. However, "software as a service" damned near solves this dillema.
As a content creator, your works are already protected: its called "copyright". DRM is not the answer. All DRM guarantees is less use of your product to your customers, all the while those that would commit copyright infringment are often obtaining versions of copyrighted works that are bereft of DRM.
In the end, the only people that are affected are legitimate customers AND content creators that waste money on DRM.
"I hope you never become a "suspected terrorist" because nowadays, the word "suspected" seems to be equivalent with "guilty" in the eyes of Homeland Security."
It certainly waives your rights as an American citizen. How many people, specificaly Americans, are in Gitmo still being held without charges? You don't know because they won't release the info? Exactly my point!
Agreed. This is a good case for maximum sentances/judgements. Even copyright infringement has its limits (at least according to the FBI warnings that say you can be fined up to $100,000). --illustration only people.
My point is that punishments need to fit the crime, and this is obviously not the case. Any reasonable person can see this--IMO more would, but they're often clouded by an emotional response thereby inhibiting the logical facilities.
"The real problem with the state of civil litigation is that corporations are allow to act as a "person". It's a matter of an inequity of resources. A corporation typically has enormous financial, and legal resources compared to an individual."
You just gave me my million dollar idea. I wonder what would happen if someone started a law firm that operated like an insurance company? People buy legal protection much the same they would car insurance...regular monthly payments and perhaps a deductable should they ever need to go into court. Everyone in America would be urged to join such an organization, and should they get sued they'd have complete legal backing up to a predetermined amount of legal fees. This would allow for Joe Sixpack to have a legal defense against corporations and help put everyone on equal footing. Don't like the quality of your legal team? Dump them for a competing service. Since the fees are paid communally like insurance premiums, costs should be drastically lower than what they are today when people get legal defense on an ad hoc basis.
But is the coupon a real incentive to stay if the prices are outlandish to begin with? $8 per game rental is a bit excessive to say the least, especially in light of other online offerings like Gamefly. Point being, if you rely on the BB's coupons for your subscription to be worth it, then you've really missed the point.
Its simple really, if I want my kid to learn religion in school then I will send him to a religious school, catholic or otherwise. Faith is based on a belief, not facts, and that is not science. Since this was tought in a science class it is a just decision and our kids will be better for it.
For those that believe ID is anything but a dressed up creationist view masquerading as a science of any kind, think again. Most people capable of critical thinking aren't fooled and thankfully neither was the judge.
This proposal is patently absured. We already have laws on the books for protecting personal information in the corporate landscape. Haven't they heard of HIPAA? And that's not the only regulation of its kind for protecting sensitive personal information. The finance industry has all sorts of regulations they have to abide by.
My suggestion for those that feel they MUST legislate to protect private/personal information: make it illegal to traffic sensitive *personal* information and put companies like ChoicePoint out of business for good.
Well, since the SC refused to hear his care, this may set the precedent necessary for DC to hook them in for the tax. I for one don't think its a bad idea on the DC govs part, and I'm one that would be hit by it.
The greatest flaw in the idea that the web can be used for activist movements is the tiny scope of those that would participate. For the most part we're talking about a very small global subculture, which breaks down to even smaller niche segments of individual national cultures. Yes, the web it an excellent form of communication, but when 1/50 people (at best) actually cares about what you're telling them, you've got to face up to reality and ask yourself "what's the point?"
The cold hard truth is that its a numbers game, and we're just too damn few to bring about any meaningful changes. Not to mention the fact that real change takes either lots of blood, and/or millions, if not billions of dollars.
Food for thought: we may be seeing why certain members of our founding fathers believed a [bloody] revolution every few hundred years was a good thing.
In my opinion, the best chance we have is to fight the war in a way corruption can't: Generational Warfare. That is assuming of course that we don't fall complacent and allow our kids to think something is okay because that's the way its always been. Eventually if we grow our numbers, quite literally in fact, we could infiltrate our beliefs into other non-techie subculters. To a certain point this is already happening as kids are more into computers than ever before. Hopefully when they grow up they'll be familiar with the goings-on with the RIAA/MPAA, DMCA, et al.
Correct. Nobody said Norway joined the EU, per se. They just had to adopt certain EU directives in order to maintime trade. Otherwise they may find themselves shut out of EU markets.
In truth, I was going by what was said it his interview. I don't have any vested interests over there so I don't really have the latest info. That said, read it for yourself to see where I was coming from:
"Until recently, Johansen's controversial work was protected by Norway's laws, which allowed people to reverse-engineer digital copy protection for lawful purposes. But in July, Norway adopted a European Union directive similar to the DMCA that outlaws circumventing copy protections for any reason."
....
"In Norway, you have the same laws (as in the United States) now," he says, "so it makes no difference if I'm doing my work here or there."
In truth, I was going by what was said it his interview. I don't have any vested interests over there so I don't really have the latest info. That said, read it for yourself to see where I was coming from:
"Until recently, Johansen's controversial work was protected by Norway's laws, which allowed people to reverse-engineer digital copy protection for lawful purposes. But in July, Norway adopted a European Union directive similar to the DMCA that outlaws circumventing copy protections for any reason."
....
"In Norway, you have the same laws (as in the United States) now," he says, "so it makes no difference if I'm doing my work here or there."
Slashdot Mirror
Then use the PTC's auto-complaint generation system. Yes the irony is strong, but isn't that what it was created for--to make it easy to send notes about objectionable content. After all, nobody said it had to be objectionable to the PTC for someone to use it.
Once you have the formatting the way you like it, post it and the link on the forums of you choice and recruit away.
What's this you say? Workers are as high a threat, if not a bigger one, than external sources? The horror!
Or, welcome to 2000 when this idea was already commonplace.
You are correct in that it all starts at campaign finance reform. But guess what? It'll never occur, the same way congress gives themselves raises they would NEVER approve of CFR as it'd limit each and every one of them and their ability to get reelected. After all, what's the use in obtaining a position of power if every Tom Dick and Harry has an equal chance at obtaining that same position, regardless of how many strings your daddy had to pull and how rich you are?
Somebody please mod parent up.
I'm in the process of switching from Comcast (and Vonage) to Verizon for DSL and phone service. Comcast's inability to meet my need for quality VoIP has lost both them and Vonage a customer. And if I could get someone in Vonage's customer service departement that spoke English in an understandable accent I'd be sure to tell them that it was Comcast's fault!
And even though I'm dropping from 6Mbit to whatever I can get with DSL, I highly suspect my service will be substantially better after all is considered. Comcast never got me above 3Mbit, even when I had their upgraded service (8Mbit)--3Mbit just seems to be the limit for my area. And don't forget teh lack of quality of the connectionan:random lag, unresponsive DNS queries, and a pletora of other issues directly the result of poor performace by Comcast. After 1.5 years of service they have truly earned the title of Comcraptic.
You can still watch the DRM'd content, although it will be at a lower resolution. The short version is in order to get the full uber HD experience, you'll need a new TV.
And this really is the point since studies have shown that most people can't tell the different between an HD and STD television broadcast to begin with.
If people would do a search for registered sex offenders in their area, then they might have something to worry about (its usually far higher than most would expect). Myspace is just another scapegoat for unacceptable social behavior.
While I agree with everything you said, I feel we still need to consider the effect we're having on potential threats. By inflaming the situation with our very presence in the region we're begging every nutball without a cause to rise up, find a cause, and strap a bomb to their back. Iraq is quickly turning into my generation's Vietnam, and that's not a good thing. What's worse, this entire situation from the time Bush declared the end of the war on the aircraft carrier, right up until present day has been fought almost in its entirety by foreign interests. Only a small number of Iraqis are involved in today's insurgency. That's got to count for something. My point is, if we sacked up, pushed the Iraqis to get their shit together by a deadline, we'd be out of there much quicker than the wait and see approach we have today. Then and only then can we have a bird-eye-view of the situation as to who is our actual threat and who's just being drawn to an empty cause, for whatever reason that may be.
Did we not just discuss the evolution of a new theory of global warming a few weeks ago that found corellations with the melting of the polar ice caps on Mars? While not evidence per se, I think it warrants more research. I still find it hard to believe that little peons such as us humans can have such a global impact as to affect the weather. Then again, we have been at it for about a century, so...
Why was this moderated Funny? He's got a point. Not everyone has the time to spend playing the game for hours on end and coordinating massive efforts just to complete end-game content. Hell, I'd wager that most people would be far happier if they made end-game content the way they make the earlier instances with 5-man groups. They'd certainly be funner for me, and I'm not alone in thinking this.
Point beautifully made. If I had more moderation points I would have given them to you +1 Insightful.
You're forgetting the difference between criminal and civil law. It is not against the law for a company to lose money, despite corporate interests that preach such a scheme. The world is undergoing a major shift in how we obtain content, with traditional copyright law losing touch with reality. The advent of P2P networks has shown us that, and things like wholesale copyright infringement are going to get worse, far worse, before things shift back to the copyright holder's interests (if ever). Bottom line, the very idea of copyright is not capable of functioning with todays ability to easily copy, transfer, and obtain content. A new methodology is required, and many forsee a world in which paying for "copies" of content is rare with content producers getting their main income with the actual performance of his/her's works. All it is going to take is a shift in distribution methodology, and a major scaling back of the salaries of those involved in content distribution, but not necessarily of those that produce the content. For example, a band could release their CD online in a compressed format for all to download and enjoy. If the band is sucessful, they will make their money on performances and by selling high quality versions of their material at concerts and such. This would increase the value of actually produced materials (CDs, covers, inserts, etc), all of which the band would take a direct cut of (a much larger cut of the production that 99.999% ever see with today's system that is in place).
Movies could follow a similar scheme, and the only problem the solution I present here is for software. However, "software as a service" damned near solves this dillema.
As a content creator, your works are already protected: its called "copyright". DRM is not the answer. All DRM guarantees is less use of your product to your customers, all the while those that would commit copyright infringment are often obtaining versions of copyrighted works that are bereft of DRM.
In the end, the only people that are affected are legitimate customers AND content creators that waste money on DRM.
"I hope you never become a "suspected terrorist" because nowadays, the word "suspected" seems to be equivalent with "guilty" in the eyes of Homeland Security."
It certainly waives your rights as an American citizen. How many people, specificaly Americans, are in Gitmo still being held without charges? You don't know because they won't release the info? Exactly my point!
Agreed. This is a good case for maximum sentances/judgements. Even copyright infringement has its limits (at least according to the FBI warnings that say you can be fined up to $100,000). --illustration only people.
My point is that punishments need to fit the crime, and this is obviously not the case. Any reasonable person can see this--IMO more would, but they're often clouded by an emotional response thereby inhibiting the logical facilities.
"The real problem with the state of civil litigation is that corporations are allow to act as a "person". It's a matter of an inequity of resources. A corporation typically has enormous financial, and legal resources compared to an individual."
You just gave me my million dollar idea. I wonder what would happen if someone started a law firm that operated like an insurance company? People buy legal protection much the same they would car insurance...regular monthly payments and perhaps a deductable should they ever need to go into court. Everyone in America would be urged to join such an organization, and should they get sued they'd have complete legal backing up to a predetermined amount of legal fees. This would allow for Joe Sixpack to have a legal defense against corporations and help put everyone on equal footing. Don't like the quality of your legal team? Dump them for a competing service. Since the fees are paid communally like insurance premiums, costs should be drastically lower than what they are today when people get legal defense on an ad hoc basis.
But is the coupon a real incentive to stay if the prices are outlandish to begin with? $8 per game rental is a bit excessive to say the least, especially in light of other online offerings like Gamefly. Point being, if you rely on the BB's coupons for your subscription to be worth it, then you've really missed the point.
Its simple really, if I want my kid to learn religion in school then I will send him to a religious school, catholic or otherwise. Faith is based on a belief, not facts, and that is not science. Since this was tought in a science class it is a just decision and our kids will be better for it.
For those that believe ID is anything but a dressed up creationist view masquerading as a science of any kind, think again. Most people capable of critical thinking aren't fooled and thankfully neither was the judge.
Okay, queue the ST "Universal Translator" jokes.
This proposal is patently absured. We already have laws on the books for protecting personal information in the corporate landscape. Haven't they heard of HIPAA? And that's not the only regulation of its kind for protecting sensitive personal information. The finance industry has all sorts of regulations they have to abide by.
My suggestion for those that feel they MUST legislate to protect private/personal information: make it illegal to traffic sensitive *personal* information and put companies like ChoicePoint out of business for good.
Well, since the SC refused to hear his care, this may set the precedent necessary for DC to hook them in for the tax. I for one don't think its a bad idea on the DC govs part, and I'm one that would be hit by it.
The greatest flaw in the idea that the web can be used for activist movements is the tiny scope of those that would participate. For the most part we're talking about a very small global subculture, which breaks down to even smaller niche segments of individual national cultures. Yes, the web it an excellent form of communication, but when 1/50 people (at best) actually cares about what you're telling them, you've got to face up to reality and ask yourself "what's the point?"
The cold hard truth is that its a numbers game, and we're just too damn few to bring about any meaningful changes. Not to mention the fact that real change takes either lots of blood, and/or millions, if not billions of dollars.
Food for thought: we may be seeing why certain members of our founding fathers believed a [bloody] revolution every few hundred years was a good thing.
In my opinion, the best chance we have is to fight the war in a way corruption can't: Generational Warfare. That is assuming of course that we don't fall complacent and allow our kids to think something is okay because that's the way its always been. Eventually if we grow our numbers, quite literally in fact, we could infiltrate our beliefs into other non-techie subculters. To a certain point this is already happening as kids are more into computers than ever before. Hopefully when they grow up they'll be familiar with the goings-on with the RIAA/MPAA, DMCA, et al.
Correct. Nobody said Norway joined the EU, per se. They just had to adopt certain EU directives in order to maintime trade. Otherwise they may find themselves shut out of EU markets.