Although your tone is one of anger, your methodoloy has stood the test of time. Simply put, if you don't like the service or can't take all the terms and conditions then you take your money elsewhere.
I have a relatively short list of companies I will not do business with. Some because they are sleazy (paypal) and some because they drive me nuts (albertsons - incessant chatter from the new 15 inch "in store media network") and some because they do things I find really low-down (geico - they donate radar detectors to cops on the basis they use them to frequently bust people for speeding so that they might charge more for insurance) and incredibly rude and stupid people (TigerDirect.com)
I know that my business probably doesn't mean much to these companies, but I also let other people know my feelings about the companies of shame list and it does rub off on people.
I personally know already that I have cost paypal over $2k in business just because I have made my horror story public. Albertsons is $100 / week, Geico is over $3k a year from me (I drive a Porsche 911 C2, own a harley and insure my house and jetski all through the same people), TigerDirect, shees, well, I only ever once ordered from those people.
I do happen to agree with the RIAA though. The kids are stealing and that's not right. If you don't like the CD's then don't buy them. You can't claim you don't like the CD's (so you're not buying it) and then still download the tracks.
Amazing. At 16 I knew the difference between 'weather' and 'whether'. I could also use the punctuation keys on my keyboard, and didn't randomly capitalize words.
To answer your question about why the RIAA should sue for this behavior. It's very simple. The music you downloaded does not belong to you and you have no right to keep it. You stole the music, where stealing is the act of taking something away from the owner without their permission.
You are not old enough yet, but when you eventually move out and live on your own, will you steal cable TV ? Will you leech off your neihbors WiFi connection without their knowledge ? Will you bypass your electricity meter to avoid paying for your electrical service ? Will you work and yet still claim unemployment benefits ? Will you file fraudulent insurance claims ?
Of course not, all the above are clearly morally and legaly wrong and even at your young age you can still see that.
The standard defense here on Slashdot that you are not stealing because you have not encumbered someone elses ability to buy is also utter rubbish. Just because you wouldn't have bought it in the first place, or have not encumbered someone elses ability to buy does not mean you did not steal it.
It is theft.
If you like four of the songs, that's great, go to any one of the major legal download sites and cough up the $0.99 each for them.
But, if you keep up what you are doing you will get sued by the RIAA and all the 'lawyer aunts' in the world won't get you a clean record.
I had that feeling that it must be a fantastic expansion speed, but didn't realize it was actually close to the speed of light and that objects at those distances would appear to be moving away from us at such amazing speeds.
I'm currently reading Brian Greenes fabric of the cosmos, which I'm finding fascinating. I *thought* I understood how all this worked right up until I started reading this. It's added a lot of complexity, such as how gravity and acceleration are the same thing, we're being accelerated through curved spacetime.
I'm sure I'll understand it in the end. Thanks for taking the time to write such an informative post.
I have trouble with these types of statements.
13 billion lightyears away, the universe is not much older than that, at around 13.7. I understand that the further out you look the further back in time you are looking.
If this exploded 13 billion years ago, and we've been exanding for 13.7 and we're just seeing it today, some 13 billion years later... how come it took so long for us to see it ?
Is it really travelling that fast away from us ?
What 'speed' would that be ?
It would seem to indicate a fantastically fast expansion speed to me, is this right ?
I'm probably missing something really obvious, but to me I don't seem to be able to grasp that fundementally simple concept.
Yes, I tend to agree with you, however, France has been the thorn in the side of the U.S. for quiet some time now. It does seem (whether true or not) that they are going out of their way to annoy/block/hinder the U.S. on a number of issues.
When you poke someone in the eye you cannot expect that person to be sympathetic when someone else kicks you in the butt.
I feel sorry for the folks at HP, but then again I do have a small voice at the back of my mind that says "yeah ! stick it to them !"
The entire point of eBay to me is that this is not done in realtime.
I put up an auction and several days later check to see who is winning and what their feedback and history looks like.
I sell cellphones and I would hate to be available by voice to all the morons who send email along these lines :
"Can you ship to malaysia if I pay with a french credit card because my boss is in Japan and needs a GSM phone right away"
You'd be amazed at how often I hear these types of stories, despite indicating in large red text that I do not ship internationally and am not stupid.
Having these people call me at 3am ? No thanks.
I just closed my skype account. (well, emailed support to have them close it since there doesn't appear to be a way on the web page)
If the people of Canada don't like this they have simple recourse.
Vote the government out in the next election and vote one in that will listen to their wishes.
Government around the world, especially the UK, have forgotten that they are supposed to serve the people, not their own interests.
The people need to take an interest and vote. If you don't vote, you don't have a right to complain later.
Motorola has never made any "cool" gadgets, even the RAZR is simply the same old awful UI packaged in a slim device, not even particularly well made.
I doubt Apple approached Motorola over this, I suspect it was the other way around and that Motorola are attempting to learn something from Apple about design and usability.
The nano certainly upstaged the ROKR, nearly everyone I know that does not follow this is closely as myself has not heard of the rokr yet, but are all over the nano.
Expect apple to not really care much about this.
I'm on a new 800mhz Titanium, I'm at least 150 feet away from a D-LINK base station, inside a coffee shop in Downtown San Jose... I'm getting between 2 bars and full signal depending on if a truck is in my way. I'm on the ground floor and the office transmitter is on the 6th floor of the building across the road. I find it hard to believe that range is an issue here.
Slashdot Mirror
Although your tone is one of anger, your methodoloy has stood the test of time.
Simply put, if you don't like the service or can't take all the terms and conditions then you take your money elsewhere.
I have a relatively short list of companies I will not do business with. Some because they are sleazy (paypal) and some because they drive me nuts (albertsons - incessant chatter from the new 15 inch "in store media network") and some because they do things I find really low-down (geico - they donate radar detectors to cops on the basis they use them to frequently bust people for speeding so that they might charge more for insurance) and incredibly rude and stupid people (TigerDirect.com)
I know that my business probably doesn't mean much to these companies, but I also let other people know my feelings about the companies of shame list and it does rub off on people.
I personally know already that I have cost paypal over $2k in business just because I have made my horror story public. Albertsons is $100 / week, Geico is over $3k a year from me (I drive a Porsche 911 C2, own a harley and insure my house and jetski all through the same people), TigerDirect, shees, well, I only ever once ordered from those people.
I do happen to agree with the RIAA though. The kids are stealing and that's not right. If you don't like the CD's then don't buy them.
You can't claim you don't like the CD's (so you're not buying it) and then still download the tracks.
Amazing.
At 16 I knew the difference between 'weather' and 'whether'.
I could also use the punctuation keys on my keyboard, and didn't randomly capitalize words.
To answer your question about why the RIAA should sue for this behavior.
It's very simple. The music you downloaded does not belong to you and you have no right to keep it. You stole the music, where stealing is the act of taking something away from the owner without their permission.
You are not old enough yet, but when you eventually move out and live on your own, will you steal cable TV ? Will you leech off your neihbors WiFi connection without their knowledge ? Will you bypass your electricity meter to avoid paying for your electrical service ? Will you work and yet still claim unemployment benefits ? Will you file fraudulent insurance claims ?
Of course not, all the above are clearly morally and legaly wrong and even at your young age you can still see that.
The standard defense here on Slashdot that you are not stealing because you have not encumbered someone elses ability to buy is also utter rubbish. Just because you wouldn't have bought it in the first place, or have not encumbered someone elses ability to buy does not mean you did not steal it.
It is theft.
If you like four of the songs, that's great, go to any one of the major legal download sites and cough up the $0.99 each for them.
But, if you keep up what you are doing you will get sued by the RIAA and all the 'lawyer aunts' in the world won't get you a clean record.
He got what he deserved, I'm glad this little turd is off the streets and internet. 1 down ... many more to go...
Thank you very much.
That did indeed help me understand it.
I had that feeling that it must be a fantastic expansion speed, but didn't realize it was actually close to the speed of light and that objects at those distances would appear to be moving away from us at such amazing speeds.
I'm currently reading Brian Greenes fabric of the cosmos, which I'm finding fascinating. I *thought* I understood how all this worked right up until I started reading this. It's added a lot of complexity, such as how gravity and acceleration are the same thing, we're being accelerated through curved spacetime.
I'm sure I'll understand it in the end.
Thanks for taking the time to write such an informative post.
I have trouble with these types of statements. 13 billion lightyears away, the universe is not much older than that, at around 13.7. I understand that the further out you look the further back in time you are looking. If this exploded 13 billion years ago, and we've been exanding for 13.7 and we're just seeing it today, some 13 billion years later ... how come it took so long for us to see it ?
Is it really travelling that fast away from us ?
What 'speed' would that be ?
It would seem to indicate a fantastically fast expansion speed to me, is this right ?
I'm probably missing something really obvious, but to me I don't seem to be able to grasp that fundementally simple concept.
Yes, I tend to agree with you, however, France has been the thorn in the side of the U.S. for quiet some time now. It does seem (whether true or not) that they are going out of their way to annoy/block/hinder the U.S. on a number of issues. When you poke someone in the eye you cannot expect that person to be sympathetic when someone else kicks you in the butt. I feel sorry for the folks at HP, but then again I do have a small voice at the back of my mind that says "yeah ! stick it to them !"
The entire point of eBay to me is that this is not done in realtime. I put up an auction and several days later check to see who is winning and what their feedback and history looks like. I sell cellphones and I would hate to be available by voice to all the morons who send email along these lines : "Can you ship to malaysia if I pay with a french credit card because my boss is in Japan and needs a GSM phone right away" You'd be amazed at how often I hear these types of stories, despite indicating in large red text that I do not ship internationally and am not stupid. Having these people call me at 3am ? No thanks. I just closed my skype account. (well, emailed support to have them close it since there doesn't appear to be a way on the web page)
If the people of Canada don't like this they have simple recourse. Vote the government out in the next election and vote one in that will listen to their wishes. Government around the world, especially the UK, have forgotten that they are supposed to serve the people, not their own interests. The people need to take an interest and vote. If you don't vote, you don't have a right to complain later.
Motorola has never made any "cool" gadgets, even the RAZR is simply the same old awful UI packaged in a slim device, not even particularly well made. I doubt Apple approached Motorola over this, I suspect it was the other way around and that Motorola are attempting to learn something from Apple about design and usability. The nano certainly upstaged the ROKR, nearly everyone I know that does not follow this is closely as myself has not heard of the rokr yet, but are all over the nano. Expect apple to not really care much about this.
I don't see a missuse. Perhaps you could point it out.
I'm on a new 800mhz Titanium, I'm at least 150 feet away from a D-LINK base station, inside a coffee shop in Downtown San Jose... I'm getting between 2 bars and full signal depending on if a truck is in my way. I'm on the ground floor and the office transmitter is on the 6th floor of the building across the road. I find it hard to believe that range is an issue here.