ElcomSoft's Advanced e-Book Processor, which translates e-books from Adobe's eBook format to Adobe's PDF, and "thereby allows a computer to read an eBook out loud using text-to-speech software, which is particularly important for visually-impaired individuals."
Therefore, the DCMA is in direct violation of the ADA (American Disabilities Act). Not to mention the First Amendment.
You may not personally be physically challenged in such a way, but if this law restricts the abilities of a fellow citizen's right to knowledge, shouldn't you be just as upset?
And preserve the "New World Odor".
His logic is "flawless" (with the VERY notable exception of having called Pinochet "benign" and thus revealing his own fascism, but I digress), in his context it is an airtight argument which follows logical parameters and yet, it is still wrong. It's a fascinating example of how logic can be used to turn good into evil, and evil into good.
In essence he says, "All the Empire wants is order." I actually laughed out loud when I read that because I remembered a German saying oft used by the Nazis. "Ordnung ist ein." Order is first.
There is more to life than "order" in fact, order is an illusion (not to mention very male - the illusion that men control things). All is managed chaos.
But what amuses me most is to see such a starkly different viewpoint. It is as if the Star Wars mythology was a religion (and according to the British census it is - LOL!) that can be manipulated to the exact opposite intent of the original document. All is interpretation. What is reality?
"Piracy is not a private offense, it hurts everyone by diminishing the incentive to invest in the creation of music."
As long as the parasites of the recording industry take 95% of the profits from the works the ARTISTS create, they have absolutely NO room to talk about piracy of ANY KIND. It is the height of hypocrisy, not to mention astoundingly arrogant, to actually sit before a congressional panel and whine about how some kid in his bedroom burning an MP3 is ripping the artists off, when the record companies themselves are ripping off artists on a daily basis for FAR more money.
I also found it highly interesting that within the testimony itself, Ms. Rosen is quoted as repeatedly crediting, "US Copyright Industries" as accounting for 535.2 billion in revenue (and various other figures). This is a bit of Orwellian linguistics, I must say. In essence, it makes it seem as if the COPYRIGHT is what is producing the revenue, when in fact it is the artist's TALENT that is.
But beyond that, she goes on to say that the industry grew at "3 times the rate of the national economy", which begs the question, "Then what are you bitching about?" The fact that you're making obscene profits off of the artists who then have to declare bankruptcy after the lawyers, record companies, managers, and accountant parasites have taken their cut?
I honestly don't see how a congressman can sit in front of such laughable testimony and not crack up. [sarcasm]I guess the campaign donations help.[/sarcasm]
This isn't really about piracy at all. It should be (you'd think anyways) fairly obvious that the only reason organizations like the RIAA or MPAA seek to restrain the use of the internet as a means of distribution for works of art is that it presents a real threat to their MONOPOLY over the current means of distributing art to the masses. Control the means of distribution, and you control everything.
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ElcomSoft's Advanced e-Book Processor, which translates e-books from Adobe's eBook format to Adobe's PDF, and "thereby allows a computer to read an eBook out loud using text-to-speech software, which is particularly important for visually-impaired individuals." Therefore, the DCMA is in direct violation of the ADA (American Disabilities Act). Not to mention the First Amendment. You may not personally be physically challenged in such a way, but if this law restricts the abilities of a fellow citizen's right to knowledge, shouldn't you be just as upset?
And preserve the "New World Odor". His logic is "flawless" (with the VERY notable exception of having called Pinochet "benign" and thus revealing his own fascism, but I digress), in his context it is an airtight argument which follows logical parameters and yet, it is still wrong. It's a fascinating example of how logic can be used to turn good into evil, and evil into good. In essence he says, "All the Empire wants is order." I actually laughed out loud when I read that because I remembered a German saying oft used by the Nazis. "Ordnung ist ein." Order is first. There is more to life than "order" in fact, order is an illusion (not to mention very male - the illusion that men control things). All is managed chaos. But what amuses me most is to see such a starkly different viewpoint. It is as if the Star Wars mythology was a religion (and according to the British census it is - LOL!) that can be manipulated to the exact opposite intent of the original document. All is interpretation. What is reality?
"Piracy is not a private offense, it hurts everyone by diminishing the incentive to invest in the creation of music."
As long as the parasites of the recording industry take 95% of the profits from the works the ARTISTS create, they have absolutely NO room to talk about piracy of ANY KIND. It is the height of hypocrisy, not to mention astoundingly arrogant, to actually sit before a congressional panel and whine about how some kid in his bedroom burning an MP3 is ripping the artists off, when the record companies themselves are ripping off artists on a daily basis for FAR more money.
I also found it highly interesting that within the testimony itself, Ms. Rosen is quoted as repeatedly crediting, "US Copyright Industries" as accounting for 535.2 billion in revenue (and various other figures). This is a bit of Orwellian linguistics, I must say. In essence, it makes it seem as if the COPYRIGHT is what is producing the revenue, when in fact it is the artist's TALENT that is.
But beyond that, she goes on to say that the industry grew at "3 times the rate of the national economy", which begs the question, "Then what are you bitching about?" The fact that you're making obscene profits off of the artists who then have to declare bankruptcy after the lawyers, record companies, managers, and accountant parasites have taken their cut?
I honestly don't see how a congressman can sit in front of such laughable testimony and not crack up. [sarcasm]I guess the campaign donations help.[/sarcasm]
This isn't really about piracy at all. It should be (you'd think anyways) fairly obvious that the only reason organizations like the RIAA or MPAA seek to restrain the use of the internet as a means of distribution for works of art is that it presents a real threat to their MONOPOLY over the current means of distributing art to the masses. Control the means of distribution, and you control everything.