Re:Ma. law: unsolicited mailings are property of r
on
Shrinkwrapped Books
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· Score: 1
Ahah! But what do you own? Software EULAs generally say that you own the media but can only use the software under terms of the license. By analogy the unsolicited book is owned by the receiver, but he can only read it by accepting the license terms. Ludicrous? Of course, but that's how lawyers argue (and often succeed).
Try this for your edification and amusement.
on
Digital Dark Ages?
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Go to your public library - to a section of books of interest to you. Note the publication date of a dozen or so and whether the publishing company appears to be still in existance. Now imagine that these books had never been printed in book form but published only on digital media at the time, which was perhaps encrypted and perhaps, like Windows XP, even node-locked to a specific computer.
How many of the "books" would you still be able to read? How many would you be able to read only by paying a company specializing in copying obsolete media to current media? How many would you never be able to read without hiring a good "cracker" (whose efforts would probably be illegal under the DMCA)?
The more likely problem is that individuals waiting more than five or ten years to transfer a digital collection to new media will find the original media or file format unreadable with current technology. There will undoubtedly be service companies equipped to make the transfer, but at a price many will be unwilling to pay.
Who else but the Norwegian cracker most widely known to Slashdotters and Linux DVD watchers. (Maybe they'll give him a "Get Out of Jail Free" card in appreciation.)
Part of SeaWare's problem was that their programmers were (in my opinion) incompetant.
Different versions of the ARC program were not always backwards compatible and there was no indication of what version of ARC created a given archive file. So I (and many other users) had to maintain a stable of different ARC versions and try each in turn until one was found to work on the file in question.
Do you want to watch a DVD on your Linux system? Sorry, the media industry says you can't, under penalty of the law they greased through Congress.
Would you like to create a mix of your favorite selections from several different music CDs you've purchased, for playing on your iPod? With the newer copy protected CDs, the media industry say's you can't, under penalty of the law they greased through Congress.
Would you like to cut and paste a couple of paragraphs from an eBook you've purchased and are referencing in your high school or college term paper? Sorry, the media industry says you can't, under penalty of the law they greased through Congress.
The usual conclusion to a class-action lawsuit like this is that it is settled, with the lawyers receiving a multi-million dollar fee and the individual members of the class receiving something like a coupon worth 10% off list price on the next purchase, i.e., diddly squat.
Could we simultaneously achieve "smarter and happier" for the entire population (or most of it anyway)? Suppose that the average intelligence (by whatever measure) of the population was doubled. How would the variety of repetitive and/or now slightly boring tasks required by our civilization be accomplished by a population of geniuses who considered them _totally_ boring? Would we have to supply them with "dumb and happy" pills during working hours? Or would we restrict the engineered "smart" genes to a chosen few?
Want to reduce the rate of CO2 release into the atmosphere? Reduce our reliance on foreign sources of energy and the potential stranglehold on us by OPEC?
All we need do is institute a sales tax on all carbon-based motor fuel products increasing by 1% per month for the next 40 years. It's a slow enough increase that will allow our economy to adjust without major upheaval.
Of course any politician dim-witted enough to actually propose this solution will be be lucky to avoid being tarred and feathered much less having any chance whatsoever of being reelected.
Yes, but if Pepsi refused to sell to an establishment it could probably do as well offering Coke, and vice-versa. But it'd be a whole different matter if the only alternative to Pepsi was something like, say, Dr Pepper.
The scheme does work - I was given restricted access to the code and tried it. And since it works on random data, by iterative use of the scheme you can achieve almost unbelievable compression.
However I've been informed by a reliable source that the algorithm is being quickly suppressed by order of OSHA and the Consumer Product Safety Commission - with a sufficiently large file and sufficiently many iterations of the algorithm, the data can become so compressed that it explodes, not only wrecking the computer but creating a serious risk of injury to life and limb.
Slashdot Mirror
Ahah! But what do you own? Software EULAs generally say that you own the media but can only use the software under terms of the license. By analogy the unsolicited book is owned by the receiver, but he can only read it by accepting the license terms. Ludicrous? Of course, but that's how lawyers argue (and often succeed).
Go to your public library - to a section of books of interest to you. Note the publication date of a dozen or so and whether the publishing company appears to be still in existance. Now imagine that these books had never been printed in book form but published only on digital media at the time, which was perhaps encrypted and perhaps, like Windows XP, even node-locked to a specific computer.
How many of the "books" would you still be able to read?
How many would you be able to read only by paying a company specializing in copying obsolete media to current media?
How many would you never be able to read without hiring a good "cracker" (whose efforts would probably be illegal under the DMCA)?
This is our future. Spooky, huh?
A likely outcome of this is that many users will begin to judge the "real" songs as defective. What a hoot! :-)
The more likely problem is that individuals waiting more than five or ten years to transfer a digital collection to new media will find the original media or file format unreadable with current technology. There will undoubtedly be service companies equipped to make the transfer, but at a price many will be unwilling to pay.
Who else but the Norwegian cracker most widely known to Slashdotters and Linux DVD watchers. (Maybe they'll give him a "Get Out of Jail Free" card in appreciation.)
Part of SeaWare's problem was that their programmers were (in my opinion) incompetant.
Different versions of the ARC program were not always backwards compatible and there was no indication of what version of ARC created a given archive file. So I (and many other users) had to maintain a stable of different ARC versions and try each in turn until one was found to work on the file in question.
Do you want to watch a DVD on your Linux system? Sorry, the media industry says you can't, under penalty of the law they greased through Congress.
Would you like to create a mix of your favorite selections from several different music CDs you've purchased, for playing on your iPod? With the newer copy protected CDs, the media industry say's you can't, under penalty of the law they greased through Congress.
Would you like to cut and paste a couple of paragraphs from an eBook you've purchased and are referencing in your high school or college term paper? Sorry, the media industry says you can't, under penalty of the law they greased through Congress.
The usual conclusion to a class-action lawsuit like this is that it is settled, with the lawyers receiving a multi-million dollar fee and the individual members of the class receiving something like a coupon worth 10% off list price on the next purchase, i.e., diddly squat.
Could we simultaneously achieve "smarter and happier" for the entire population (or most of it anyway)? Suppose that the average intelligence (by whatever measure) of the population was doubled. How would the variety of repetitive and/or now slightly boring tasks required by our civilization be accomplished by a population of geniuses who considered them _totally_ boring? Would we have to supply them with "dumb and happy" pills during working hours? Or would we restrict the engineered "smart" genes to a chosen few?
More likely to be charged under the DMCA is Slashdot - for posting links to the offshore site where this circumvention scheme is explained.
Want to reduce the rate of CO2 release into the atmosphere? Reduce our reliance on foreign sources of energy and the potential stranglehold on us by OPEC? All we need do is institute a sales tax on all carbon-based motor fuel products increasing by 1% per month for the next 40 years. It's a slow enough increase that will allow our economy to adjust without major upheaval. Of course any politician dim-witted enough to actually propose this solution will be be lucky to avoid being tarred and feathered much less having any chance whatsoever of being reelected.
Yes, but if Pepsi refused to sell to an establishment it could probably do as well offering Coke, and vice-versa. But it'd be a whole different matter if the only alternative to Pepsi was something like, say, Dr Pepper.
The scheme does work - I was given restricted access to the code and tried it. And since it works on random data, by iterative use of the scheme you can achieve almost unbelievable compression. However I've been informed by a reliable source that the algorithm is being quickly suppressed by order of OSHA and the Consumer Product Safety Commission - with a sufficiently large file and sufficiently many iterations of the algorithm, the data can become so compressed that it explodes, not only wrecking the computer but creating a serious risk of injury to life and limb.