I think he was pointing out the fact that if computer scientists refused to give the marketroids and politicians this kind of power, there is no way they could get it on their own.
Therefore, the scientists who create these things out to think about their actions.
Good advice for any scientist, in any field of study.
I think one or two unscrupulous scientists, however, can always be found which is one reason why I donate money to the EFF.
Unfortunately, this case has nothing whatever to do with science. Basically, a bunch of movie execs and lawyers wanted to figure out a way to take away people's fair use rights. Thanks to weak encryption and the DMCA, as the law stands now according to recent court rulings, fair use no longer exists. You can't buy movies, you can only rent them for long periods of time.
This was always about fair use, because we all know pirates don't obey the law and that they've always had means of duplicating DVDs. Eliminate fair use, however, and you can rip people off through region coding and multiple resale of the same content.
..that we're no longer going to constantly be reminded about all the keen new DVDs and the DeCSS plaintiff's movies that are out on Slashdot?
Or will it continue to be, "On the one hand, we hate Fox for their role in DeCSS, on the other hand, they've got that keen new X-Men movie out let's all go see it."
Everyone, don't buy movies and DVDs!
Oh, and the way you can really, really, hurt them.. don't work for them, the movie industry, in any capacity.
This is a Laundromat, simply restrict access to sites which are about laundry.
Risque laundry sites should be available only to adults.
Note, the above is just meant to be silly, there are two reasons why someone would want an Internet terminal in a laundromat:
1. To entertain bored customers.
2. To allow bored customers to get other chores out of the way (banking, checking stocks, ordering books, etc.) while they wait for their laundry to be done.
Block _all_ sites, pick entertaining or useful sites and allow them. Try to keep your allowed site list up to date on banks, credit cards, etc. (Entertainment is less important, try to get sponsors.)
Ok, I have some issues with this. I do love how Katz makes wide, encompassing statements without a smidgin of research, numbers, or anything more complicated than a quote or to from Dr. Big Ass Degree who wants to whore himself for more research money.
Just remember, "We have always been at war with Oceana,"(1984) and it will put the Katz technique in perspective for you. ^_-
More recently than this, one need only look at the battle between Orson Welles and William Randolph Hearst over the release of Citizen Kane. Here is a movie that has often been acclaimed as a work of art, yet Hearst was able to use his influence over the news media of the time to hurt the films box office and seriously harm its creator.
How do you compare Gore (and ecch! Lieberman) to the heroic inanimate carbon rod? Trust me, when Gore or Bush get to be president they will each inflict things on the American people. Different things, but I chose the word inflict purposely.
Hey, if the democrats _were_ running an inanimate carbon rod, I'd be tempted to vote for it. However, despite the sarcastic comments I expect from some people that Gore and the rod could be twins, they are not.
is the reason why Sega has suddenly decided to shutdown the emulation sites. I'm angry about it because Sega is refusing to offer the classic games for sale, it's going to be strictly pay-per-play. I guess that goes along with the "rental only" structure that is currently being tightened around all intellectual property...
I assume the person who asked, "Why doesn't Sega just GPL?" hasn't read that article. It should be crystal clear that if they released game roms for PCs for free it would cut into the high yield profits they are going to get by charging you $1.50 every time you sit down to play Sonic the Hedgehog or Castlevania:Bloodlines.
I'm not sure if the First Amendment still works or not, but it's getting closer and closer to the day when its just a hollow promise with no effectiveness in law.
Re:Great ideas, horrible book
on
Selfish Society
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· Score: 1
Oh, well if the people at Oxford don't include her, then I'm entirely turned around on the subject. Wow. I mean, Oxford.
You were saying something about sheep?
Oh well, who is John Galt?
I personally consider Ayn Rand to be a very scary author... however, just because you believe a philosophy to be a little scary doesn't mean it can be discounted... unless you are the Grand Inquisitor. Not including Rand was a political decision, obviously. Marx wasn't exactly brilliant either... so is he in there or not? I see ideas that could've been Rand's in Major Barbara by George Bernard Shaw, and he was a socialist.
In fact, Rand didn't really refute Marx at all. Marx never claimed that need was the only thing the working class had as its claim to a share of the capitalist classes wealth, it was that that wealth was created by them and the capitalist class fed on it.
So, I certainly encourage everybody out there to read Atlas Shrugged, and then get a copy of Red Harvest by Dashiel Hammett, an American communist (I've read both, and both got my mind working). Come to your own conclusions.
My personal opinion.... the people who believe things because they are said by Oxford are the worst people in Western culture.
He's a drooling 37337 moron, his comments are the equivalent of letting a cat loose in a hen house.
In other words, he's a troll.
This refers of course to the parent post from jidai and not to Valdrax. I appreciate Valdrax for giving an eloquent defense of anime versus the drooling luser, jidai. I'm very sorry this guy, jidai (if I am to believe his page) teaches English in Japan, because he is a poor representative of the English speaking world for any country.
He obviously doesn't fall into the catagory of a person who ought to be posting to Slashdot at all. I wonder if he even knows what the word "root" means?
Just a wakeup call to people who thought they were replying to the comments of a halfway intelligent person.
Re:Why feed good anime to the USTV garbage compact
on
Toonami Plans Revealed
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· Score: 1
I know what you mean. The great fear is always that when something gets released over here through a mainstream operation, the non-hacked-up version will not only not be made available, but will be prevented from being made available through normal channels (fansubs, etc.).
You know, back in the evangelization phase of American anime culture, people (me, included;_;) thought popularity would be a good thing.
But after awhile, I realized that popularity is _never_ a good thing (OT: witness Kuro5hin or even the decline of Slashdot). In the case of anime because it can end up with the real fans being sacrificed in favor of more "mainstream" audiences.
However, to quote Ambassador Kosh (B5), "The avalanche has already started, it is too late for the pebbles to vote."
When I think of it in my own mind, I think of it as an "opt-out" rather than a boycott. In other words, if I let myself get sucked into the "media hype machine" I will be at least be partially controlled by it. I'm not trying to change them... I'm trying to prevent them from changing me.
Take up reading, I just got finished with Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein and have started on some others.
Oh... I may occaisionally break my own rule by spending a 2 bucks on a rental. But heck, the library has some good movies too.
Go to see a movie in a theater? No way I'll do that until this is settled.
Look, idiot, I think there is just about no one posting to Slashdot or in the entire software industry who doesn't actually work for Micros~1 who thinks that the power they wield is a "right."
In fact, I'm pretty sure that's why the Federal Government decided to break them up.
Don't cite Micros~1, for God's sake, as an example of fair business practices if you want to get any respect.
Oh, and I realize some people (yourself included) will figure this whole post is invalid because I called you an idiot.
I call 'em as I see 'em.
Oh, and I normally don't read responses to my posts... or posts that are at 1 (or lower). But feel free to reply anyway.
If we can find the Martians from Heinlien's Stranger in a Strange Land it'll be worth it. Why, they could end all human suffering! (You grok?)
I realize most people will find this to be a stupid response... but Hell this is a Troll that's been modded up to 4! Any response is a stupid response!
(Just one more example of why I think/. is going downhill.)
He's not concerned about any 'post-copyright' athenian vision you might have for the future.
Ah, but why not?
If this works, it won't affect his ability to make money. I mean he'll still get royalties from every video of Children of the Corn (ok, he'll probably make more from The Shawshank Redemption or Carrie) sold. I don't think he's in any danger of going broke. He's not trying to destroy copyright on traditional distribution methods... just trying to find a new way to make money publishing in a digital format. In fact, why is he publishing digitally at all? It can only be that he likes to experiment... because it's like saying, "here, pirate my book."
What do rich people do when they're bored? I assume one thing is look at various causes they are interested in. He might be interested in this, if it works, he'll probably get credit in the history books, somehow. I think he has an idealistic streak, because of The Dead Zone.
Of course, it might just be a revenge thing because he's a Mac fan and his last book was legally illegible on a Mac. I think revenge might be a good motivator for him too, see Creepshow.
legally illegible: The latest fun creation of the DMCA.
I think the saddest thing, in this case, though, was that there were well-organized, well-attended protests in favor of leaving the strip clubs alone and they didn't seem to have any effect whatsoever on the Mayor or City Council. Though I think it shook them up a little when such a large number of people showed up, they didn't back down. When you add in recent free speech decisions by the Supreme Court (which have been a mixed bag, but mostly negative) I'd say the porn store this guys friend was running would have more trouble than just freely available Internet porn.
Here in Tampa, FL, the strip clubs are being driven out of business by constant police harrassment. (The local government keeps trying to come up with new laws designed to harrass and harm the strippers themselves, because they are seen as the "weak link" in the chain.)
I personally know a few strippers who have been made completely broke from this, because people fear to visit strip clubs if there is the chance they will be arrested. Of course, it is no fun for strippers to have the choice of quitting, being fired or being arrested either. (They are moving away, mostly, to less repressive parts of the country, since most don't have the option to find another job that pays as well as stripping.)
I'm sure they will go after the porno stores next, as soon as it is considered possible to do so.
What's my point? What the government giveth, it can also taketh away. If you let individual freedoms be eroded to protect copyright, then you erode the same freedoms that would allow a porno store to remain in business.
Not just football, but most other "sports" have turned into violent spectacles over time. Including basketball and hockey, which are not even constructed to be as violent as football. When I was in grade school, "sticking" another basketball player was considered cool by the kids in my gym class (not me, I hated gym, and would've preferred to spend my time reading.)
But then we still allow grown men to beat each other senseless, and occaisionally die or suffer permanent brain damage, just for people's entertainment on Pay-Per-View.
Remember though, people who play football are always A-OK, especially when they are violent sociopath's (people figure that makes them more likely to be winners). All non-violent gaming (by this I mean, gaming that doesn't include actually doing violence to a fellow human being) is considered suspicious and evil.
Oh, and bad, tasteless games are becoming ever more violent because of all this media insanity over "violent games warping our kids" (free publicity, they'd never sell on their merits as games. Remember, the people making Soldier of Fortune set out to make the most violent game of all time so they'd stand out from all the similar, better games out there.) while more mainstream games are routinely censored, even if the censorship is of the most ridiculous thing you could think of.
I'd give a source on that, but since a majority of people posting to slashdot these days seem to be trolls or fascists, I won't bother hunting down the URL. God, this place has gone down hill...
In 1998, the government prohibited the playing of computer games in wangbas [Internet Cafe], a restriction that has been sporadically enforced. (Wangbas were still permitted to provide Internet access, just not for gameplaying.)
In 1999, the government repeated the restriction as part of a collection of regulations that also prohibited wangba customers from engaging in activities endangering national security and disrupting public security and order.
Editorials published in The People's Daily depict wangbas, game parlors and computer games as a "plague" and a "poison." Newspapers and television broadcasts regularly report on students addicted to computer games who do not return home for days, steal money from their parents and give themselves to the wangbas in indentured servitude to pay their bills.
This has proven to be a great boon to the common man's savior, organized crime, which is why these wangba's continue to exist as long as they pay off the local party leadership.
Slashdot Mirror
Therefore, the scientists who create these things out to think about their actions.
Good advice for any scientist, in any field of study.
I think one or two unscrupulous scientists, however, can always be found which is one reason why I donate money to the EFF.
Unfortunately, this case has nothing whatever to do with science. Basically, a bunch of movie execs and lawyers wanted to figure out a way to take away people's fair use rights. Thanks to weak encryption and the DMCA, as the law stands now according to recent court rulings, fair use no longer exists. You can't buy movies, you can only rent them for long periods of time.
This was always about fair use, because we all know pirates don't obey the law and that they've always had means of duplicating DVDs. Eliminate fair use, however, and you can rip people off through region coding and multiple resale of the same content.
New Scientist: Could the future of robotics be a toy train with a taste for flesh?
See, I think the best plan would be to combine these two types of robots. Then you would have a robot that could hunt for it's own fuel!
Or will it continue to be, "On the one hand, we hate Fox for their role in DeCSS, on the other hand, they've got that keen new X-Men movie out let's all go see it."
Everyone, don't buy movies and DVDs!
Oh, and the way you can really, really, hurt them.. don't work for them, the movie industry, in any capacity.
What do you call that? A work-cott?
This is a Laundromat, simply restrict access to sites which are about laundry.
Risque laundry sites should be available only to adults.
Note, the above is just meant to be silly, there are two reasons why someone would want an Internet terminal in a laundromat:
1. To entertain bored customers.
2. To allow bored customers to get other chores out of the way (banking, checking stocks, ordering books, etc.) while they wait for their laundry to be done.
Block _all_ sites, pick entertaining or useful sites and allow them. Try to keep your allowed site list up to date on banks, credit cards, etc. (Entertainment is less important, try to get sponsors.)
In fact, the years of the Hearst dominated media are a good example of business having a great, overt power over politics.
Hey, if the democrats _were_ running an inanimate carbon rod, I'd be tempted to vote for it. However, despite the sarcastic comments I expect from some people that Gore and the rod could be twins, they are not.
I'm voting for Harry Browne.
Sega Supports Emulation
is the reason why Sega has suddenly decided to shutdown the emulation sites. I'm angry about it because Sega is refusing to offer the classic games for sale, it's going to be strictly pay-per-play. I guess that goes along with the "rental only" structure that is currently being tightened around all intellectual property...
I assume the person who asked, "Why doesn't Sega just GPL?" hasn't read that article. It should be crystal clear that if they released game roms for PCs for free it would cut into the high yield profits they are going to get by charging you $1.50 every time you sit down to play Sonic the Hedgehog or Castlevania:Bloodlines.
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=00/08/06/21132 16&threshold=-1&comments ort=3&mode=thread&pid=52
Is not Flamebait and should not have been modded down.
http://www.freedomforum. org/news/2000/04/2000-04-07-01.asp
http://www.freedomforum. org/news/2000/07/2000-07-31-08.htm
http://www.freedomforum. org/news/2000/08/2000-08-03-03.htm
I'm not sure if the First Amendment still works or not, but it's getting closer and closer to the day when its just a hollow promise with no effectiveness in law.
You were saying something about sheep?
Oh well, who is John Galt?
I personally consider Ayn Rand to be a very scary author... however, just because you believe a philosophy to be a little scary doesn't mean it can be discounted... unless you are the Grand Inquisitor. Not including Rand was a political decision, obviously. Marx wasn't exactly brilliant either... so is he in there or not? I see ideas that could've been Rand's in Major Barbara by George Bernard Shaw, and he was a socialist.
In fact, Rand didn't really refute Marx at all. Marx never claimed that need was the only thing the working class had as its claim to a share of the capitalist classes wealth, it was that that wealth was created by them and the capitalist class fed on it.
So, I certainly encourage everybody out there to read Atlas Shrugged, and then get a copy of Red Harvest by Dashiel Hammett, an American communist (I've read both, and both got my mind working). Come to your own conclusions.
My personal opinion.... the people who believe things because they are said by Oxford are the worst people in Western culture.
He's a drooling 37337 moron, his comments are the equivalent of letting a cat loose in a hen house.
In other words, he's a troll.
See morons web page
He obviously doesn't fall into the catagory of a person who ought to be posting to Slashdot at all. I wonder if he even knows what the word "root" means?
Just a wakeup call to people who thought they were replying to the comments of a halfway intelligent person.
You know, back in the evangelization phase of American anime culture, people (me, included ;_;) thought popularity would be a good thing.
But after awhile, I realized that popularity is _never_ a good thing (OT: witness Kuro5hin or even the decline of Slashdot). In the case of anime because it can end up with the real fans being sacrificed in favor of more "mainstream" audiences.
However, to quote Ambassador Kosh (B5), "The avalanche has already started, it is too late for the pebbles to vote."
Take up reading, I just got finished with Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein and have started on some others.
Oh... I may occaisionally break my own rule by spending a 2 bucks on a rental. But heck, the library has some good movies too.
Go to see a movie in a theater? No way I'll do that until this is settled.
That puts me in mind of Abraham "Grampa" Simpson's comment in that particular episode:
In fact, I'm pretty sure that's why the Federal Government decided to break them up.
Don't cite Micros~1, for God's sake, as an example of fair business practices if you want to get any respect.
Oh, and I realize some people (yourself included) will figure this whole post is invalid because I called you an idiot.
I call 'em as I see 'em.
Oh, and I normally don't read responses to my posts... or posts that are at 1 (or lower). But feel free to reply anyway.
I can't say I blame them.
I realize most people will find this to be a stupid response... but Hell this is a Troll that's been modded up to 4! Any response is a stupid response!
(Just one more example of why I think /. is going downhill.)
If this works, it won't affect his ability to make money. I mean he'll still get royalties from every video of Children of the Corn (ok, he'll probably make more from The Shawshank Redemption or Carrie) sold. I don't think he's in any danger of going broke. He's not trying to destroy copyright on traditional distribution methods... just trying to find a new way to make money publishing in a digital format. In fact, why is he publishing digitally at all? It can only be that he likes to experiment... because it's like saying, "here, pirate my book."
What do rich people do when they're bored? I assume one thing is look at various causes they are interested in. He might be interested in this, if it works, he'll probably get credit in the history books, somehow. I think he has an idealistic streak, because of The Dead Zone.
Of course, it might just be a revenge thing because he's a Mac fan and his last book was legally illegible on a Mac. I think revenge might be a good motivator for him too, see Creepshow.
legally illegible: The latest fun creation of the DMCA.
I think the saddest thing, in this case, though, was that there were well-organized, well-attended protests in favor of leaving the strip clubs alone and they didn't seem to have any effect whatsoever on the Mayor or City Council. Though I think it shook them up a little when such a large number of people showed up, they didn't back down. When you add in recent free speech decisions by the Supreme Court (which have been a mixed bag, but mostly negative) I'd say the porn store this guys friend was running would have more trouble than just freely available Internet porn.
I personally know a few strippers who have been made completely broke from this, because people fear to visit strip clubs if there is the chance they will be arrested. Of course, it is no fun for strippers to have the choice of quitting, being fired or being arrested either. (They are moving away, mostly, to less repressive parts of the country, since most don't have the option to find another job that pays as well as stripping.)
I'm sure they will go after the porno stores next, as soon as it is considered possible to do so.
What's my point? What the government giveth, it can also taketh away. If you let individual freedoms be eroded to protect copyright, then you erode the same freedoms that would allow a porno store to remain in business.
But then we still allow grown men to beat each other senseless, and occaisionally die or suffer permanent brain damage, just for people's entertainment on Pay-Per-View.
Remember though, people who play football are always A-OK, especially when they are violent sociopath's (people figure that makes them more likely to be winners). All non-violent gaming (by this I mean, gaming that doesn't include actually doing violence to a fellow human being) is considered suspicious and evil.
Oh, and bad, tasteless games are becoming ever more violent because of all this media insanity over "violent games warping our kids" (free publicity, they'd never sell on their merits as games. Remember, the people making Soldier of Fortune set out to make the most violent game of all time so they'd stand out from all the similar, better games out there.) while more mainstream games are routinely censored, even if the censorship is of the most ridiculous thing you could think of.
I'd give a source on that, but since a majority of people posting to slashdot these days seem to be trolls or fascists, I won't bother hunting down the URL. God, this place has gone down hill...