Aibos are also considered disposable. That is one of our biggest gripes. Unlike a VCR, people become emotionally attached to their robots. Hard to explain if you have not experienced it.
Please quote the passage that states this. You'll have a real hard time coming up with it since it doesn't exist.
Lawyers tend to read into laws what they feel will benefit them at the time. Since very little of the law is clear enough for the real world, most decisions are based on past verdicts. That is why there are law libraries, after all.
Also, your statements assume that Victor Matsuda is fully versed in all aspects of life, including the law. Since nobody on this planet is, that is a faulty assumption and your argument is invalid. It is likely that he has not even read the DMCA. He was just continuing what he saw as an incomplete job by his predecessor. Since the backlash to this has been so strong, he might actually lose his job. Japanese companies can be pretty harsh.
By the way, my BBS preserves line breaks without having to use markup. This version is how it was typed.
In my opinion, nothing on the hack site was a violation of Sony's copyright. Reverse engineering is not illegal. Neither is text or mathematical descriptions of encryption technology. Nothing on the site would allow anyone to break Sony's protection or harm Sony in the slightest. I challenge Sony to demonstrate otherwise.
Something interesting is that this is the only site that Sony has gone after. Another prominent site comes to mind that has actual Sony code on it. That code is considered to be "device drivers" since it was distributed for free and is useless without the hardware for which it is written.
The biggest problem in my mind is that the new VP is knee jerking without having all the facts. The problem started earlier in the year when a letter was sent to AiboPet regarding copyright violations by Takeshi Yazawa. This matter was resolved in person, verbally, at the Cinco de Aibo meeting on May 5 in Los Angeles which was attended by myself, AiboPet, Takeshi Yazawa (the then head of Sony ERA), the second in command and others from Sony.
The new top dog, Victor Matsuda, apparently did not consult anyone. He is oblivious to the verbal agreement. He also did not consult his second in command. I personally called and spoke with this person and verified this.
Sony's sales of this robot are dismal in the US. They are clueless on how to market to the US. We in the Aibo community have told them time and time again how to accomplish better sales. They don't listen. Now they pull a stunt like this, which is only going to hurt the community and their sales even more. Usually companies embrace their core users because these people are free support to others, free advertising, free... - you get the picture.
Not Sony. We have been treated with suspicion and kept at arms length, despite my best efforts to get a working relationship with Sony.
Not everyone at Sony is this way, but they all have their hands tied. I can't count the number of times that a Sony employee has said to me "You don't want me to lose my job, do you?" after asking a simple and reasonable request or making some innocuous statement.
Heck, Sony did a big investigation on me in the earlier days. They wanted to know how I knew what the internal lab name for their robot was! They thought they had a leak or a spy. They even sent someone out to "interview me" to find out. (Too long a story for here). The damn name was right there in their ROMS!
I have never encountered a company that was so paranoid and clueless in my life. They make some incredible products and have amazing R&D, but that is the only positive thing about them. The negatives far outweigh the positives.
Negatives include:
- a pathological paranoia about their products
- a gross inability to market their products
- poor customer support (I have long upsetting stories about my Sony products that have needed service - Aibo, MD player, etc)
- their prices are extremely high. Competing products (Aibo is an exception) can usually be purchased with the same features, reliablilty, etc for much less than the Sony product
- a disdain for the very people that buy their products. Japan is a very closed society. Have they helped in the slightest with the Afganistan problem? No. Heck, even most of the Arab countries and even China and Russia have gotten on the anti-terrorism bandwagon but not Japan.
This list could get very long and this post is long enough. That should be enough to chew on.
In my opinion, nothing on the hack site was a violation of Sony's copyright. Reverse engineering is not illegal. Neither is text or mathematical descriptions of encryption technology. Nothing on the site would allow anyone to break Sony's protection or harm Sony in the slightest. I challenge Sony to demonstrate otherwise.
Something interesting is that this is the only site that Sony has gone after. Another prominent site comes to mind that has actual Sony code on it. That code is considered to be "device drivers" since it was distributed for free and is useless without the hardware for which it is written.
The biggest problem in my mind is that the new VP is knee jerking without having all the facts. The problem started earlier in the year when a letter was sent to AiboPet regarding copyright violations by Takeshi Yazawa. This matter was resolved in person, verbally, at the Cinco de Aibo meeting on May 5 in Los Angeles which was attended by myself, AiboPet, Takeshi Yazawa (the then head of Sony ERA), the second in command and others from Sony.
The new top dog, Victor Matsuda, apparently did not consult anyone. He is oblivious to the verbal agreement. He also did not consult his second in command. I personally called and spoke with this person and verified this.
Sony's sales of this robot are dismal in the US. They are clueless on how to market to the US. We in the Aibo community have told them time and time again how to accomplish better sales. They don't listen. Now they pull a stunt like this, which is only going to hurt the community and their sales even more. Usually companies embrace their core users because these people are free support to others, free advertising, free... - you get the picture.
Not Sony. We have been treated with suspicion and kept at arms length, despite my best efforts to get a working relationship with Sony.
Not everyone at Sony is this way, but they all have their hands tied. I can't count the number of times that a Sony employee has said to me "You don't want me to lose my job, do you?" after asking a simple and reasonable request or making some innocuous statement.
Heck, Sony did a big investigation on me in the earlier days. They wanted to know how I knew what the internal lab name for their robot was! They thought they had a leak or a spy. They even sent someone out to "interview me" to find out. (Too long a story for here). The damn name was right there in their ROMS!
I have never encountered a company that was so paranoid and clueless in my life. They make some incredible products and have amazing R&D, but that is the only positive thing about them. The negatives far outweigh the positives.
Negatives include:
- a pathological paranoia about their products
- a gross inability to market their products
- poor customer support (I have long upsetting stories about my Sony products that have needed service - Aibo, MD player, etc)
- their prices are extremely high. Competing products (Aibo is an exception) can usually be purchased with the same features, reliablilty, etc for much less than the Sony product
- a disdain for the very people that buy their products. Japan is a very closed society. Have they helped in the slightest with the Afganistan problem? No. Heck, even most of the Arab countries and even China and Russia have gotten on the anti-terrorism bandwagon but not Japan.
This list could get very long and this post is long enough. That should be enough to chew on.
Slashdot Mirror
Aibos are also considered disposable. That is one of our biggest gripes. Unlike a VCR, people become emotionally attached to their robots. Hard to explain if you have not experienced it.
It happens, and quite frequently.
Umm, no.
Please quote the passage that states this. You'll have a real hard time coming up with it since it doesn't exist.
Lawyers tend to read into laws what they feel will benefit them at the time. Since very little of the law is clear enough for the real world, most decisions are based on past verdicts. That is why there are law libraries, after all.
Also, your statements assume that Victor Matsuda is fully versed in all aspects of life, including the law. Since nobody on this planet is, that is a faulty assumption and your argument is invalid. It is likely that he has not even read the DMCA. He was just continuing what he saw as an incomplete job by his predecessor. Since the backlash to this has been so strong, he might actually lose his job. Japanese companies can be pretty harsh.
By the way, my BBS preserves line breaks without having to use markup. This version is how it was typed.
... - you get the picture.
In my opinion, nothing on the hack site was a violation of Sony's copyright. Reverse engineering is not illegal. Neither is text or mathematical descriptions of encryption technology. Nothing on the site would allow anyone to break Sony's protection or harm Sony in the slightest. I challenge Sony to demonstrate otherwise.
Something interesting is that this is the only site that Sony has gone after. Another prominent site comes to mind that has actual Sony code on it. That code is considered to be "device drivers" since it was distributed for free and is useless without the hardware for which it is written.
The biggest problem in my mind is that the new VP is knee jerking without having all the facts. The problem started earlier in the year when a letter was sent to AiboPet regarding copyright violations by Takeshi Yazawa. This matter was resolved in person, verbally, at the Cinco de Aibo meeting on May 5 in Los Angeles which was attended by myself, AiboPet, Takeshi Yazawa (the then head of Sony ERA), the second in command and others from Sony.
The new top dog, Victor Matsuda, apparently did not consult anyone. He is oblivious to the verbal agreement. He also did not consult his second in command. I personally called and spoke with this person and verified this.
Sony's sales of this robot are dismal in the US. They are clueless on how to market to the US. We in the Aibo community have told them time and time again how to accomplish better sales. They don't listen. Now they pull a stunt like this, which is only going to hurt the community and their sales even more. Usually companies embrace their core users because these people are free support to others, free advertising, free
Not Sony. We have been treated with suspicion and kept at arms length, despite my best efforts to get a working relationship with Sony.
Not everyone at Sony is this way, but they all have their hands tied. I can't count the number of times that a Sony employee has said to me "You don't want me to lose my job, do you?" after asking a simple and reasonable request or making some innocuous statement.
Heck, Sony did a big investigation on me in the earlier days. They wanted to know how I knew what the internal lab name for their robot was! They thought they had a leak or a spy. They even sent someone out to "interview me" to find out. (Too long a story for here). The damn name was right there in their ROMS!
I have never encountered a company that was so paranoid and clueless in my life. They make some incredible products and have amazing R&D, but that is the only positive thing about them. The negatives far outweigh the positives.
Negatives include:
- a pathological paranoia about their products
- a gross inability to market their products
- poor customer support (I have long upsetting stories about my Sony products that have needed service - Aibo, MD player, etc)
- their prices are extremely high. Competing products (Aibo is an exception) can usually be purchased with the same features, reliablilty, etc for much less than the Sony product
- a disdain for the very people that buy their products. Japan is a very closed society. Have they helped in the slightest with the Afganistan problem? No. Heck, even most of the Arab countries and even China and Russia have gotten on the anti-terrorism bandwagon but not Japan.
This list could get very long and this post is long enough. That should be enough to chew on.
In my opinion, nothing on the hack site was a violation of Sony's copyright. Reverse engineering is not illegal. Neither is text or mathematical descriptions of encryption technology. Nothing on the site would allow anyone to break Sony's protection or harm Sony in the slightest. I challenge Sony to demonstrate otherwise. Something interesting is that this is the only site that Sony has gone after. Another prominent site comes to mind that has actual Sony code on it. That code is considered to be "device drivers" since it was distributed for free and is useless without the hardware for which it is written. The biggest problem in my mind is that the new VP is knee jerking without having all the facts. The problem started earlier in the year when a letter was sent to AiboPet regarding copyright violations by Takeshi Yazawa. This matter was resolved in person, verbally, at the Cinco de Aibo meeting on May 5 in Los Angeles which was attended by myself, AiboPet, Takeshi Yazawa (the then head of Sony ERA), the second in command and others from Sony. The new top dog, Victor Matsuda, apparently did not consult anyone. He is oblivious to the verbal agreement. He also did not consult his second in command. I personally called and spoke with this person and verified this. Sony's sales of this robot are dismal in the US. They are clueless on how to market to the US. We in the Aibo community have told them time and time again how to accomplish better sales. They don't listen. Now they pull a stunt like this, which is only going to hurt the community and their sales even more. Usually companies embrace their core users because these people are free support to others, free advertising, free ... - you get the picture.
Not Sony. We have been treated with suspicion and kept at arms length, despite my best efforts to get a working relationship with Sony.
Not everyone at Sony is this way, but they all have their hands tied. I can't count the number of times that a Sony employee has said to me "You don't want me to lose my job, do you?" after asking a simple and reasonable request or making some innocuous statement.
Heck, Sony did a big investigation on me in the earlier days. They wanted to know how I knew what the internal lab name for their robot was! They thought they had a leak or a spy. They even sent someone out to "interview me" to find out. (Too long a story for here). The damn name was right there in their ROMS!
I have never encountered a company that was so paranoid and clueless in my life. They make some incredible products and have amazing R&D, but that is the only positive thing about them. The negatives far outweigh the positives.
Negatives include:
- a pathological paranoia about their products
- a gross inability to market their products
- poor customer support (I have long upsetting stories about my Sony products that have needed service - Aibo, MD player, etc)
- their prices are extremely high. Competing products (Aibo is an exception) can usually be purchased with the same features, reliablilty, etc for much less than the Sony product
- a disdain for the very people that buy their products. Japan is a very closed society. Have they helped in the slightest with the Afganistan problem? No. Heck, even most of the Arab countries and even China and Russia have gotten on the anti-terrorism bandwagon but not Japan.
This list could get very long and this post is long enough. That should be enough to chew on.