If and when Kazaa gets an appeal, it'll go straight to the Cal Supreme Court who will knock it down again on jurisdictional issues.
This is incorrect. The Kazaa case is being heard in Federal District Court in Los Angeles. The first appeal would be to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
This court is generally considered to be liberal, but in fact there are a large number of conservative justices on the 9th Circuit. Decisions in the 9th Circuit often depend on exactly which 3 judges (out of 25 or so) get chosen to hear the appeal.
After the 9th Circuit makes its ruling, the losing party is allowed to petition the US Supreme Court (not the California Supreme Court) to take the case. The US Supreme Court does not have to take the appeal from the 9th Circuit if they do not want to. It takes a vote of 4 justices (out of 9) to "grant cert", which means that the case is taken by the US Supreme Court.
Of course, this part of the case will never get that far. You may not like the law, but it's pretty clear that Kazaa does have "substantial contacts" with California. Judge Wilson applied the facts correctly on this issue.
The real question is whether Kazaa will win or lose on the merits of the case, not just this jurisdictional issue. It's not open and shut. Judge Wilson has a good reputation as being a fair judge. He won't automatically rule for the bad guys.
I thought about that, and still may do so. I also might buy a Talon from Falcon Northwest.
But you know what, these days you can get a Dell with pretty good components, and it ends up being a lot cheaper. Plus, I'm not good at building stuff.
With product sales and licensing fees in jeopardy, Rambus launched into its second life, as a litigant. Starting in 2000, the company began to seek patent royalties and pursue lawsuits against Micron, Infineon and other memory companies. The company said that patents it filed in 1990 entitled it to royalty payments on all of the SDRAM and DDR DRAM ever sold.
Lovely. Let's all go out and throw support to this wonderful company!
Seriously, though, I'm in the market for a new computer right now. I'm looking for a high end machine, but I refuse to buy one with RDRAM. It's just too expensive and not effective enough. Thankfully, you can now buy high-end DDR based Pentiums at Dell.
I would have no problem with those ads if they took several $$ off the price of my ticket.
Look, I hate movie ads worse than anybody, but the truth is that they probably do take $$ of the price of your ticket. It's not like the movie theater business is a good one. Loews, for example, recently emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
I live in Manhattan, and pay $10 for a ticket. I usually have to buy the ticket on Moviefone, so make that $11. But you know what? I'd happily pay $12 or $13 if they'd cut out the fucking ads and start the movie ontime (ok, after some previews).
"In the computer security game, you can't be an Edward Jenner and come up with a vaccine for electronic smallpox that will put you in the history books and eventually result in the complete eradication of the disease," George Smith said. "You can only be the guy that spots the electronic poison ivy and suggests people either steer clear or buy calamine."
That's not true. If you could come up with a vacine that eradicated Microsoft, the disease would disappear along with it!
The fact of the matter is that watching more TV doesn't actually help the cable companies. If you never turn your TV on but send a $60 check to the cable company every month, they are pretty ecstatic.
This is not correct. Cable companies pay for some channels, but other channels pay to get distributed on the cable networks. These channels make their money through advertising. If nobody watched the shows, then these channels would go out of business, and the cable companies would lose a valuable revenue stream.
Bad example. When's the last time you saw a video store actually raise prices?
How about never? All I've seen are the prices going down while the length of time you can keep the rental goes up.
It costs way too much to open and close stores. No business would intentionally use that tactic, especially one in an industry as ephemeral as renting video cassettes.
Mother Theresa: According to this book by Christopher Hitchens, Mother Theresa is "a religious fundamentalist, a political operative, a primitive sermonizer and an accomplice of worldly powers." The business that she created in India has made well over $50 million, exploiting what amounts to slave labor. Perhaps her main worldly goal was to become a saint. Sure, she helped dying people, but should that blind us to what else was going on?
United Way: In 1995, former United Way President William Aramony was convicted for conspiracy, fraud, and tax crimes related to his stealing from the United Way. See, e.g. this site. Great use of your charity dollars, right? Or a precursor to our corporate accounting scandals of today?
Now I'm not saying that this is the definitive story on your examples. But is it black and white?
I've never been so angry after reading Slashdot comments. I can't believe the number of people (both Generation Xers and people of other ages) who are sitting here and calling Generation Xers a bunch of whiners. Where the hell do you get off condemning an entire age group based on some stupid article written for people in the top 1% of income in the US.
From various threads above:
All I ever se when I read an article about them is a bunch of whiny bitches that think everything should be handed to them on a silver platter complaining about "corporate america" (whoever that is) conspiring to steal from them, take away their rights, and in general make their life miserable. Score 4: Interesting.
What the fuck? You moderators find it interesting to stereotype an entire age group?
I think they live in a perpetual state of 'recapturing their youth.' Score 5: Interesting.
Yeah, we sure do, every one of us who was born between 1965 and 1975.
Gen X is the first instant gratification generation, much to their own dismay. Credit card and other short term debt is killing this generation, as well as an affliction for absurd consumption. Score 5: Interesting.
I don't know about the rest of the people from my generation, but the only times in my life when I had short term credit card debt was when I was unemployed. So fuckin sue me for needing to pay the rent.
Unemployment in 1933 was 24.9. 24.9 percent!!! GNP dropped 8.5 percent in 1931 and 13.4 in 1932.
Unemployment is 6-7% and our GDP rose by 1.2% last quarter. We are not in any sort of hardship by any means. Hardship is not being able to eat. Not being able to afford a new PS2 is not hardship. Score 5: Interesting.
Right. So because fewer people are unemployed now than were in the Great Depression, that means that the people who nonetheless are unemployed right now are not really suffering. I guess the logic is that they have more ability to mooch off of their friends or something, because the friends are less likely to be unemployed.
I could go on, but I have work to do. Please moderate this as flamebait, and go piss off.
maybe they actually DO want users downloading music.
I don't know if they do, but they sure should. I have about 60 gigs worth of MP3s on my harddrive (encoded at either 128 or 160). Only about 3 gigs are from P2P. Another 10 gigs or so were actually purchased by me or my family.
The rest comes from trading with friends. I would have paid for this stuff and downloaded it if it were more convenient -- it's kind of annoying to make 700 mb CDs over and over again, and then load all of it into my computer and then MusicMatch.
But since there's no market, and I'm sure not going to go and buy it and rip it all myself (which would take forever) I'm getting it for free from friends. Lose lose, RIAA.
I work for a hedge fund, and I regularly get emails from a Managing Director that say things like "r u sure we should do that". No punctuation, no caps.
The going rate is less than $1 per 1000 impressions.
Most advertisers only like to buy from sites that have a lot of inventory. We're talking hundreds of thousands of impressions per month, generally.
Advertisers want to know about the demographics of the people who will be visiting the site. It would be difficult (although not impossible) to develop this information for a honeypot.
In future, the following capabilities will be required for DRM (Digital Rights Management) in expanding the digital content distribution business.... 3. Installation not only on PCs, but also on networked devices such as PlayStation 2, AV devices, and mobile devices.
I'm not eager to have Sony keeping track of the games and music I'm playing on my PlayStation. This is a good opportunity for Nintendo to distinguish themselves by embracing freedom.
Every weekday Howard Kurtz (author of Spin Cycle), runs a column in the Washington Post called Media Notes. He summarizes the reporting on big and small issues, and provides great context to the media in general. He wrote about the Elizabeth Smart / Alexis Patterson issue over a week ago. He's very balanced, so don't go expecting either side of the Crossfire type of approach. All in all, I highly recommend his column if you're in to this kind of stuff.
An enlightened car company -- or better still EVERY car company -- should put a Mesh node in every car they make whether the owner wants it or not. Just what I need, to be tracked everywhere I go by the company I bought my car from. Even better, maybe M$ could buy into the car industry with its $40 billion, and then it could finally control everything!
The company that this guy works for -- iJET -- is fairly interesting. I'm surprised to see that they have a service for regular travelers. For $8 per day (1 week minimum), you get an international cell phone or satellite phone, as well as text alerts "of any major developments that may impact your trip, such as civil unrest, labor strikes, severe weather, disease outbreaks or transportation delays." The info comes from the iJET database that is somehow similar to Echelon.
The service is called WorldLink. It sounds like a pretty good service to me, especially if you don't already have a cell phone that works internationally. For more info, this is the product web site.
Faster into Public Domain
on
Fair IP Laws?
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
The best change that could be made to IP laws would be to speed up the time that it takes a work to enter the public domain. Maybe 10 years or so of protection would be good -- after that, no more protection.
Content providers would still have an incentive to create content -- lots of money could be made during that 10 year period. But overall, this would drastically reduce the bad consequences to the public from IP laws.
I hope you are right. Unfortunately I think it's more likely that if CARP fees end up being too high, it will just kill Internet radio altogether, and I will be left without the one distribution channel that will currently play my music.
Slashdot Mirror
If and when Kazaa gets an appeal, it'll go straight to the Cal Supreme Court who will knock it down again on jurisdictional issues.
This is incorrect. The Kazaa case is being heard in Federal District Court in Los Angeles. The first appeal would be to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
This court is generally considered to be liberal, but in fact there are a large number of conservative justices on the 9th Circuit. Decisions in the 9th Circuit often depend on exactly which 3 judges (out of 25 or so) get chosen to hear the appeal.
After the 9th Circuit makes its ruling, the losing party is allowed to petition the US Supreme Court (not the California Supreme Court) to take the case. The US Supreme Court does not have to take the appeal from the 9th Circuit if they do not want to. It takes a vote of 4 justices (out of 9) to "grant cert", which means that the case is taken by the US Supreme Court.
Of course, this part of the case will never get that far. You may not like the law, but it's pretty clear that Kazaa does have "substantial contacts" with California. Judge Wilson applied the facts correctly on this issue.
The real question is whether Kazaa will win or lose on the merits of the case, not just this jurisdictional issue. It's not open and shut. Judge Wilson has a good reputation as being a fair judge. He won't automatically rule for the bad guys.
I thought about that, and still may do so. I also might buy a Talon from Falcon Northwest.
But you know what, these days you can get a Dell with pretty good components, and it ends up being a lot cheaper. Plus, I'm not good at building stuff.
No. I bought a Dreamcast when they started selling for $50. I have to admit that I'll probably buy a PS2 when it's going for $100.
With product sales and licensing fees in jeopardy, Rambus launched into its second life, as a litigant. Starting in 2000, the company began to seek patent royalties and pursue lawsuits against Micron, Infineon and other memory companies. The company said that patents it filed in 1990 entitled it to royalty payments on all of the SDRAM and DDR DRAM ever sold.
Lovely. Let's all go out and throw support to this wonderful company!
Seriously, though, I'm in the market for a new computer right now. I'm looking for a high end machine, but I refuse to buy one with RDRAM. It's just too expensive and not effective enough. Thankfully, you can now buy high-end DDR based Pentiums at Dell.
Rambus sucks.
I would have no problem with those ads if they took several $$ off the price of my ticket.
Look, I hate movie ads worse than anybody, but the truth is that they probably do take $$ of the price of your ticket. It's not like the movie theater business is a good one. Loews, for example, recently emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
I live in Manhattan, and pay $10 for a ticket. I usually have to buy the ticket on Moviefone, so make that $11. But you know what? I'd happily pay $12 or $13 if they'd cut out the fucking ads and start the movie ontime (ok, after some previews).
From the article:
"In the computer security game, you can't be an Edward Jenner and come up with a vaccine for electronic smallpox that will put you in the history books and eventually result in the complete eradication of the disease," George Smith said. "You can only be the guy that spots the electronic poison ivy and suggests people either steer clear or buy calamine."
That's not true. If you could come up with a vacine that eradicated Microsoft, the disease would disappear along with it!
This is correct and should be modded up.
For a great and comprehensive look at the payola problem, check out Eric Boehlert's articles on Salon. The complete opus can be found here.
The fact of the matter is that watching more TV doesn't actually help the cable companies. If you never turn your TV on but send a $60 check to the cable company every month, they are pretty ecstatic.
This is not correct. Cable companies pay for some channels, but other channels pay to get distributed on the cable networks. These channels make their money through advertising. If nobody watched the shows, then these channels would go out of business, and the cable companies would lose a valuable revenue stream.
A friend of mine did all of the computer work on The Net. Every screen was crafted by hand. The use of "345" was fully intentional.
My buddy also got to hang out with Sandra Bullock to show her where to click and stuff. A great job.
Didn't you really mean to say:
Ash nazg durbatuluk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatuluk, agh butzum-ishi krimpatul!
Bad example. When's the last time you saw a video store actually raise prices?
How about never? All I've seen are the prices going down while the length of time you can keep the rental goes up.
It costs way too much to open and close stores. No business would intentionally use that tactic, especially one in an industry as ephemeral as renting video cassettes.
Mother Theresa: According to this book by Christopher Hitchens, Mother Theresa is "a religious fundamentalist, a political operative, a primitive sermonizer and an accomplice of worldly powers." The business that she created in India has made well over $50 million, exploiting what amounts to slave labor. Perhaps her main worldly goal was to become a saint. Sure, she helped dying people, but should that blind us to what else was going on?
United Way: In 1995, former United Way President William Aramony was convicted for conspiracy, fraud, and tax crimes related to his stealing from the United Way. See, e.g. this site. Great use of your charity dollars, right? Or a precursor to our corporate accounting scandals of today?
Now I'm not saying that this is the definitive story on your examples. But is it black and white?
It's funny how this was revealed today, while just this week a bird the size of an airplane was spotted in Alaska. Hmmm.
We may have already infected Mars, Venus, the Moon and Jupiter with bacteria.
I sure hope you're right. That way, if we sufficiently fuck up the environment on Earth, maybe life can evolve somewhere else.
-begin rant-
I've never been so angry after reading Slashdot comments. I can't believe the number of people (both Generation Xers and people of other ages) who are sitting here and calling Generation Xers a bunch of whiners. Where the hell do you get off condemning an entire age group based on some stupid article written for people in the top 1% of income in the US.
From various threads above:
All I ever se when I read an article about them is a bunch of whiny bitches that think everything should be handed to them on a silver platter complaining about "corporate america" (whoever that is) conspiring to steal from them, take away their rights, and in general make their life miserable. Score 4: Interesting.
What the fuck? You moderators find it interesting to stereotype an entire age group?
I think they live in a perpetual state of 'recapturing their youth.' Score 5: Interesting.
Yeah, we sure do, every one of us who was born between 1965 and 1975.
Gen X is the first instant gratification generation, much to their own dismay. Credit card and other short term debt is killing this generation, as well as an affliction for absurd consumption. Score 5: Interesting.
I don't know about the rest of the people from my generation, but the only times in my life when I had short term credit card debt was when I was unemployed. So fuckin sue me for needing to pay the rent.
Unemployment in 1933 was 24.9. 24.9 percent!!! GNP dropped 8.5 percent in 1931 and 13.4 in 1932.
Unemployment is 6-7% and our GDP rose by 1.2% last quarter. We are not in any sort of hardship by any means. Hardship is not being able to eat. Not being able to afford a new PS2 is not hardship. Score 5: Interesting.
Right. So because fewer people are unemployed now than were in the Great Depression, that means that the people who nonetheless are unemployed right now are not really suffering. I guess the logic is that they have more ability to mooch off of their friends or something, because the friends are less likely to be unemployed.
I could go on, but I have work to do. Please moderate this as flamebait, and go piss off.
-end rant-
maybe they actually DO want users downloading music.
I don't know if they do, but they sure should. I have about 60 gigs worth of MP3s on my harddrive (encoded at either 128 or 160). Only about 3 gigs are from P2P. Another 10 gigs or so were actually purchased by me or my family.
The rest comes from trading with friends. I would have paid for this stuff and downloaded it if it were more convenient -- it's kind of annoying to make 700 mb CDs over and over again, and then load all of it into my computer and then MusicMatch.
But since there's no market, and I'm sure not going to go and buy it and rip it all myself (which would take forever) I'm getting it for free from friends. Lose lose, RIAA.
I work for a hedge fund, and I regularly get emails from a Managing Director that say things like "r u sure we should do that". No punctuation, no caps.
Yes, but
Sony says:
...
In future, the following capabilities will be required for DRM (Digital Rights Management) in expanding the digital content distribution business.
3. Installation not only on PCs, but also on networked devices such as PlayStation 2, AV devices, and mobile devices.
I'm not eager to have Sony keeping track of the games and music I'm playing on my PlayStation. This is a good opportunity for Nintendo to distinguish themselves by embracing freedom.
Every weekday Howard Kurtz (author of Spin Cycle), runs a column in the Washington Post called Media Notes. He summarizes the reporting on big and small issues, and provides great context to the media in general. He wrote about the Elizabeth Smart / Alexis Patterson issue over a week ago. He's very balanced, so don't go expecting either side of the Crossfire type of approach. All in all, I highly recommend his column if you're in to this kind of stuff.
An enlightened car company -- or better still EVERY car company -- should put a Mesh node in every car they make whether the owner wants it or not. Just what I need, to be tracked everywhere I go by the company I bought my car from. Even better, maybe M$ could buy into the car industry with its $40 billion, and then it could finally control everything!
The company that this guy works for -- iJET -- is fairly interesting. I'm surprised to see that they have a service for regular travelers. For $8 per day (1 week minimum), you get an international cell phone or satellite phone, as well as text alerts "of any major developments that may impact your trip, such as civil unrest, labor strikes, severe weather, disease outbreaks or transportation delays." The info comes from the iJET database that is somehow similar to Echelon.
The service is called WorldLink. It sounds like a pretty good service to me, especially if you don't already have a cell phone that works internationally. For more info, this is the product web site.
The best change that could be made to IP laws would be to speed up the time that it takes a work to enter the public domain. Maybe 10 years or so of protection would be good -- after that, no more protection.
Content providers would still have an incentive to create content -- lots of money could be made during that 10 year period. But overall, this would drastically reduce the bad consequences to the public from IP laws.
I hope you are right. Unfortunately I think it's more likely that if CARP fees end up being too high, it will just kill Internet radio altogether, and I will be left without the one distribution channel that will currently play my music.