The text from his actual plan, cut to highlight some of the bits left out by the summary / article.
Cuts $1 trillion in spending during the first year of Ron Paul’s presidency... abolishing the Transportation Security Administration..., abolishing corporate subsidies, stopping foreign aid, ending foreign wars, and returning most other spending to 2006 levels.
I feel that we likely agree on all points, but there was a subtle, but important, clarification I would like to make. This post is written in response to the following claim:
Nor would it be considered "regulatory" if the government punished one firm for stealing another firm's ideas outright." I cannot imagine an instance of copying a product that would 'steal' an idea without first violating other laws protecting tangible property. If I break into a business and copy schematics to a product I would have first trespassed. Copying the files from another company's computer system would first involve my illicit use of their property in the form of my unauthorized use of their computer. The examples I think of, and the cases in China, with the exception of those factories breaking their contracts, are cases of reverse engineering. I would consider it "regulatory" if a government had specific laws that regulated "ideas" in any form.
I agree with you that the concept of stealing is against the principles of capitalism, but the capitalist notion of protecting property rights refers to a tangible items, not to the 'ideas' protected by intellectual property. Intellectual property rights and copyrights are not inherent to capitalism.
One can and others have made the case that intellectual property rights are undue regulation by the government. Laws regarding intellectual property rights are, in effect, thought laws. These laws say that you are forbidden do or make something because someone else thought of it first. Copyright and intellectual property laws rights are used as a government enforced monopoly. One can make an argument that some intellectual property rights are beneficial, but only using arguments that most Libertarians would not agree with.
Capitalism involves creative destruction. What was once profitable can rapidly be made obsolete by new inventions and ideas. Contemporary western governments tend toward limiting this creative destruction to both appease the general population with limited welfare, health care, subsidized student loans, etc. and powerful business interests with copyright and intellectual property rights. Again, some would argue that this is an improvement over unfettered capitalism, but intellectual property rights are not included in Laissez-faire capitalism.
One area where the Chinese example again diverges from important capitalist ideas is that many of the counterfeiters are breaking their contracts. Contracts are intrinsic to capitalism and one of the few areas where Libertarians agree that government is needed. If a Chinese factory is under contract to produce cellphones with a company, and then proceeds to also sell counterfeited versions of the same product, they have violated their contract.
A 1995 article "The Libertarian Case Against Intellectual Property Rights" argues the point much better than I can in my brief post. http://libertariannation.org/a/f31l1.html/
I strongly agree with your final point. One of the many reasons the China example is not an example of the result of unfettered capitalism is the artificially yuan low. This combined with government subsidies (on all sides) makes it incorrect to say that the negative effects counterfeiters in China are an example of pure capitalism's faults.
1) When the call you, make sure tell you their name and who they are calling on behalf of.
2) After they tell you this information, politely say. "I'm not interested. Please don't call me again at this number. Thank you" and hang up.
This will accomplish two things. One, since they have said their name and who they are calling for, it is officially a 'contact'. If you just hang up on the person as soon as they say "Hey, this is Bill, can I talk to (your name mispronounced)?" then you won't be considered contacted because you never heard the name of the place they are calling for. If you aren't marked as contacted you will be called again, perhaps two or three times before they give up on you.
If this entertaining? No. But, it is the nice thing to do. Telemarketing is a shitty job that no one really wants to do. I did it when I was in college because I needed the cash. Did I go whistling to work just hoping I could annoy some people at home? No.
Of course you can't dick around with telemarketers because they aren't allowed to say anything. This isn't you outsmarting anyone, or being cooler than anyone, they just simply can't argue with you and follow the rules. Could I beat the shit out of someone who was paralyzed from the waist down? Hell yes! Would I ever do it? No, because just because it's easy to do, doesn't mean you should do it.
Almost all young people in Korea use 'mini homepages' or blogs every day. 10 million Koreans (of 48 million) are already using blogs. Only 30 million Koreans are online meaning a full 33% of everyone on the internet in Korea have blogs. It also means that 20% of the entire population of Korea are writing blogs. In Japan there is only 3 million of 127 million people writing blogs, or about 2%. The difference is an order of magnitude. The registered blogs in Korea are also each unique to a person, as you are are required to enter the Korean equivalent of a social security number before making a new page.
I've been teaching in Korea for two years so far and the average Korean could not use Linux productively. The reason being is that almost every web site requires ActiveX to do anything; logon, make purchases, check email. Even on the sites not requiring ActiveX, they look like garbage on anything but IE. One plus is that MS office is not nearly as intrenched as it is in the States with many Koreans preferring a Korea Office suite (I cannot remember the name as I do not use it myself.) And, of course, you cannot play Kart Rider on linux.
But wait. If free speech is "an inalienable human right, not a matter of law" how are there "reasonable restrictions of free speech" ?
The problem with ranting about how free speech is some untouchable right is that it obviously isn't. Governments and people have routinely repressed people's 'right' to free speech to varying degrees and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
Rather than fight BitTorrent, the networks need to realize the powere behind online distribution. Here is what a successful TV distribution system needs.
Light DRM
While DRM is disliked by end users, a DRM free system will never be launched. The networks wouldn't allow a DRM free system as it could, and would, be used to distribute shows to people who didn't pay. DRM should be in a similar style to iTunes, allowing a reasonable amount of use, while still making it very difficult for the casual user to instant message or upload a song over P2P to someone. Ability to play the show should remain for at least the length of the show's season.
Reasonable and Flexible Cost
Although many users enjoy shows, 'my cable bill' divided by 'number of shows I watch' will drive end user logic about perceived value of a show. $3 dollars per show is low enough to be reasonable, and hopefully high enough to generate revenue. Offer package deals, if someone is a fan of the show, offer the season at a 25% of 33% discount of all episodes are bought up front.
Marketed Well
DRM distribution of files would allow the networks to promote their shows. Sign up for the service, and get one free episode from each show on the upcoming fall lineup. This would help get potential new viewers to generate more income. Tie online season pack sales in with significant discounts on eventual DVD releases. This will help people feel they're actually getting something tangible for their money. Market internationally, as many countries don't have new shows promptly available.
Acknowledge the Inevitable
Thousdands, if not millions, of people are already downloading episodes. Many of these people would be happy to pay for these episodes and would enjoy the convenience and reliability of a legal option. Younger people are watching less TV and are spending an increasing amount of time on computers. Move the media to where people want to view it.
We've seen plenty of good uses for it, such as alleviating the bandwidth pains of downloading Windows XP SP2,...
Yes, BitTorrent has a lot of good uses and downloading WinXP sp2 was a very good use, but it wasn't a legal use. Just because Microsoft gives the patch away freely, that doesn't mean they include unlimitied distribution rights. I'm not sure if the same holds true for game patches or not. Just because something is highly useful and seems okay doesn't automatically make it legal.
I'm sure the astronauts currently living on the station are quite thankful for this as the United States does not have another vehicle and they would all be dead if Russia could not reach them now that the shuttle has been grounded for a year.
It wasn't as if all of the shuttles blew up at the same time. If for, whatever reason, a crew was stuck in the ISS and the Russians couldn't/wouldn't send something up to get them, NASA would haul ass and send up another shuttle. NASA had only lost 2 shuttles in 100+ launches; of course they would risk another lauch to save a stranded crew. They aren't just going to say "Sorry, enjoy your slow dead, bye."
Actually, what you posted isn't the law at all. The actual law doesn't start until after the words: "The People of the State of California do enact as follows:" Here is the text of the law.
SECTION 1. Section 27602 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:
27602. (a) A person may not drive a motor vehicle if a television receiver, a video monitor, or a television or video screen, or any other, similar means of visually displaying a television broadcast or video signal that produces entertainment or business applications, is operating and is located in the motor vehicle at any point forward of the back of the driver's seat, or is operating and visible to the driver while driving the motor vehicle.
(b) Subdivision (a) does not apply to the following equipment when installed in a vehicle:
(1) A vehicle information display.
(2) A global positioning display.
(3) A mapping display.
(4) A visual display used to enhance or supplement the driver's view forward, behind, or to the sides of a motor vehicle for the purpose of maneuvering the vehicle.
(5) A television receiver, video monitor, television or video screen, or any other, similar means of visually displaying a television broadcast or video signal, if that equipment had an interlock device that, when the motor vehicle is driven, disables the equipment for all uses except as a visual display as described in paragraphs (1) to (4), inclusive.
(c) Subdivision (a) does not apply to a mobile, digital terminal installed in an authorized emergency vehicle or to a motor vehicle providing emergency road service or roadside assistance.
SEC. 2. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because of this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.
The emphasis above is mine. Some points of interest, GPS and Mapping related materials are exempt from the law despot the posters claim that "The law would seem to ban handheld computers being used as navigation aids, too, or GPS devices with games, and very soon, nearly all cell phones."
I use proxomitron (You can google to find it) as an ad block and a general crap filter. Since I use a really nice browser based on the IE rendering engine (MyIE2) it's important for me to block crap like this out.
To nuke this exploit from links you follow on a website (it won't help if you follow it from an e-mail or paste it into the address box, but if you are duped by that, they you probably aren't reading slashdot) you can ad this rule to the proxomitron (or a similar one to Privoxy, and open source equivilent)
(Matching expession)
http*@
(Replacement text)
!@!
and it will do a nice job of blocking all of these links.
...actually beeing there. Real Reality beats Virtual Reality nine times out of ten.
I disagree. Most people who would try to setup a midrange sound system are going to mess up the placement of the speakers. The point the article also makes is that it's much nicer to just have one speaker in one spot, rather than have to mess around with 6 different speakers that each have to be mounted in very specific positions. I would have loved to have one of these in my dorm in place of my traditional surround sound system.
An amusing post, but saying that MS-IIS is 'monopoly driven' when in the same sentence it is referenced how much more popular apache is seems somewhat odd.
If MS had a monopoly in the server market, there would be no other choice. This is clearly not the case. Not only is there choice, more people pick apache. If anything, apache is closer to a monopoly (though both IIS and apache are far from it)
I know I always trust statements that end with 'Seriously'
I found out who shot Kennedy, Seriously.
I'll take this with many grains of salt, especially given that the submitter is also the person who's article the link points to. And that an "An anonymous GWJ reader has verified this is real."... How did he manage that? I'll wait for something more meaty to believe.
Slashdot Mirror
Cuts $1 trillion in spending during the first year of Ron Paul’s presidency... abolishing the Transportation Security Administration..., abolishing corporate subsidies, stopping foreign aid, ending foreign wars, and returning most other spending to 2006 levels.
I agree with you that the concept of stealing is against the principles of capitalism, but the capitalist notion of protecting property rights refers to a tangible items, not to the 'ideas' protected by intellectual property. Intellectual property rights and copyrights are not inherent to capitalism.
One can and others have made the case that intellectual property rights are undue regulation by the government. Laws regarding intellectual property rights are, in effect, thought laws. These laws say that you are forbidden do or make something because someone else thought of it first. Copyright and intellectual property laws rights are used as a government enforced monopoly. One can make an argument that some intellectual property rights are beneficial, but only using arguments that most Libertarians would not agree with.
Capitalism involves creative destruction. What was once profitable can rapidly be made obsolete by new inventions and ideas. Contemporary western governments tend toward limiting this creative destruction to both appease the general population with limited welfare, health care, subsidized student loans, etc. and powerful business interests with copyright and intellectual property rights. Again, some would argue that this is an improvement over unfettered capitalism, but intellectual property rights are not included in Laissez-faire capitalism.
One area where the Chinese example again diverges from important capitalist ideas is that many of the counterfeiters are breaking their contracts. Contracts are intrinsic to capitalism and one of the few areas where Libertarians agree that government is needed. If a Chinese factory is under contract to produce cellphones with a company, and then proceeds to also sell counterfeited versions of the same product, they have violated their contract.
A 1995 article "The Libertarian Case Against Intellectual Property Rights" argues the point much better than I can in my brief post.
http://libertariannation.org/a/f31l1.html/
I strongly agree with your final point. One of the many reasons the China example is not an example of the result of unfettered capitalism is the artificially yuan low. This combined with government subsidies (on all sides) makes it incorrect to say that the negative effects counterfeiters in China are an example of pure capitalism's faults.
And even better way to handle telemarketers.
1) When the call you, make sure tell you their name and who they are calling on behalf of.
2) After they tell you this information, politely say. "I'm not interested. Please don't call me again at this number. Thank you" and hang up.
This will accomplish two things. One, since they have said their name and who they are calling for, it is officially a 'contact'. If you just hang up on the person as soon as they say "Hey, this is Bill, can I talk to (your name mispronounced)?" then you won't be considered contacted because you never heard the name of the place they are calling for. If you aren't marked as contacted you will be called again, perhaps two or three times before they give up on you.
If this entertaining? No. But, it is the nice thing to do. Telemarketing is a shitty job that no one really wants to do. I did it when I was in college because I needed the cash. Did I go whistling to work just hoping I could annoy some people at home? No.
Of course you can't dick around with telemarketers because they aren't allowed to say anything. This isn't you outsmarting anyone, or being cooler than anyone, they just simply can't argue with you and follow the rules. Could I beat the shit out of someone who was paralyzed from the waist down? Hell yes! Would I ever do it? No, because just because it's easy to do, doesn't mean you should do it.
Almost all young people in Korea use 'mini homepages' or blogs every day. 10 million Koreans (of 48 million) are already using blogs. Only 30 million Koreans are online meaning a full 33% of everyone on the internet in Korea have blogs. It also means that 20% of the entire population of Korea are writing blogs. In Japan there is only 3 million of 127 million people writing blogs, or about 2%. The difference is an order of magnitude. The registered blogs in Korea are also each unique to a person, as you are are required to enter the Korean equivalent of a social security number before making a new page.
. html
For a bit more info, check out this page. http://english.kbs.co.kr/life/trend/1337632_11857
and even a 747 landing in Tokyo, something difficult to capture given that the satellite is moving at 17,000 mph.
Yes, I am often amazed that I'm able to jump on Earth while moving at 29.77 km/s*.
*Speed of the Earth in Orbit
I've been teaching in Korea for two years so far and the average Korean could not use Linux productively. The reason being is that almost every web site requires ActiveX to do anything; logon, make purchases, check email. Even on the sites not requiring ActiveX, they look like garbage on anything but IE. One plus is that MS office is not nearly as intrenched as it is in the States with many Koreans preferring a Korea Office suite (I cannot remember the name as I do not use it myself.) And, of course, you cannot play Kart Rider on linux.
To those wondering what the parent is talking about... ElcomSoft verdict: Not guilty
But wait. If free speech is "an inalienable human right, not a matter of law" how are there "reasonable restrictions of free speech" ?
The problem with ranting about how free speech is some untouchable right is that it obviously isn't. Governments and people have routinely repressed people's 'right' to free speech to varying degrees and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
Now if only they'd release some new type of ipod to go with this "Mac Mini" It could even be flashed based. It's a brave new world.
True, I wasn't trying to imply that BT had no legitimate uses. I only meant to say that some of the given ones were, suprisingly, not legitimate.
Light DRM
Reasonable and Flexible Cost
Marketed Well
Acknowledge the Inevitable
Yes, BitTorrent has a lot of good uses and downloading WinXP sp2 was a very good use, but it wasn't a legal use. Just because Microsoft gives the patch away freely, that doesn't mean they include unlimitied distribution rights. I'm not sure if the same holds true for game patches or not. Just because something is highly useful and seems okay doesn't automatically make it legal.
I love that my ad is from Java Studio Creator. It makes me want to rush and use their product.
Here it is, hopefully my connection will survie handing out the torrent. here
I like the related search options:
"Suck Your Dick Jeeves"
"Will Jeeves Suck Me"
I hesitate to check to see what those searches would return.
Grammar Nazis... I hate these guys.
</INDIANAJONES>
Actually, what you posted isn't the law at all. The actual law doesn't start until after the words: "The People of the State of California do enact as follows:" Here is the text of the law.
SECTION 1. Section 27602 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:
27602. (a) A person may not drive a motor vehicle if a television receiver, a video monitor, or a television or video screen, or any other, similar means of visually displaying a television broadcast or video signal that produces entertainment or business applications, is operating and is located in the motor vehicle at any point forward of the back of the driver's seat, or is operating and visible to the driver while driving the motor vehicle.
(b) Subdivision (a) does not apply to the following equipment when installed in a vehicle:
(1) A vehicle information display.
(2) A global positioning display.
(3) A mapping display.
(4) A visual display used to enhance or supplement the driver's view forward, behind, or to the sides of a motor vehicle for the purpose of maneuvering the vehicle.
(5) A television receiver, video monitor, television or video screen, or any other, similar means of visually displaying a television broadcast or video signal, if that equipment had an interlock device that, when the motor vehicle is driven, disables the equipment for all uses except as a visual display as described in paragraphs (1) to (4), inclusive.
(c) Subdivision (a) does not apply to a mobile, digital terminal installed in an authorized emergency vehicle or to a motor vehicle providing emergency road service or roadside assistance.
SEC. 2. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because of this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.
The emphasis above is mine. Some points of interest, GPS and Mapping related materials are exempt from the law despot the posters claim that "The law would seem to ban handheld computers being used as navigation aids, too, or GPS devices with games, and very soon, nearly all cell phones."
To nuke this exploit from links you follow on a website (it won't help if you follow it from an e-mail or paste it into the address box, but if you are duped by that, they you probably aren't reading slashdot) you can ad this rule to the proxomitron (or a similar one to Privoxy, and open source equivilent)
and it will do a nice job of blocking all of these links.
An easy way to check for this it so make sure that IE has its status bar turned on (View > Status Bar).
If you start seeing that all of the links say http://www.yahoo.com @www.0wnz0red.com/0wn-j00.html you should probably not click on them.
I disagree. Most people who would try to setup a midrange sound system are going to mess up the placement of the speakers. The point the article also makes is that it's much nicer to just have one speaker in one spot, rather than have to mess around with 6 different speakers that each have to be mounted in very specific positions. I would have loved to have one of these in my dorm in place of my traditional surround sound system.
An amusing post, but saying that MS-IIS is 'monopoly driven' when in the same sentence it is referenced how much more popular apache is seems somewhat odd.
If MS had a monopoly in the server market, there would be no other choice. This is clearly not the case. Not only is there choice, more people pick apache. If anything, apache is closer to a monopoly (though both IIS and apache are far from it)
I know I always trust statements that end with 'Seriously'
... How did he manage that? I'll wait for something more meaty to believe.
I found out who shot Kennedy, Seriously.
I'll take this with many grains of salt, especially given that the submitter is also the person who's article the link points to. And that an "An anonymous GWJ reader has verified this is real."
Here is the torrent for the mpeg. Fanimatrix 14MB mpeg trailer
What, no BitTorrent link? I'm disapointed. Anyone have a torrent for it?