heh, and here I was about to say that here was where the evolutionists would start hemming and hawing about how they've been using the appendix as proof, because an intelligent designer wouldn't put in a useless organ. unfortunately I think both of us are right, there is about to be a creationist and evolutionist onslaught for the same (but different) reasons
"I disapprove of what you say, and I will deny, to your death, your right to say it" -Get fuzzy, a comic strip
What about aliens at the molecular level?
on
The Golden Ratio
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or the quantum level? What if the aliens lived in different dimensions? Also, to say the laws of this backwater place in the immense universe are the same everywhere is a little arrogant
I always thought that if there were aliens, they would probably be so vastly different from us that they would indeed have different notions completely. I guess that could include even to the point of having different systems than our mathematics.
It's also an assumption to say that aliens would be about our size in body mass. Different size changes the way they would 'look' at the universe.
The other issue with copyright I'd like to see addressed is "continuous use". My idea is that certain types of copyrighted work would continue to be protected provided that it was in continual use. For instance, since Disney continues to use the Mickey Mouse character on an ongoing basis, Mickey Mouse works continue to be covered by copyright. Ian Flemming's James Bond character also would be covered since every few years a new movie is released. Once a work is "abandoned" - not used for perhaps 5 years, however, a clock starts ticking for a copyright expiration in, say, 15 years rather than 75
That sounds very reasonable. The only thing I might add would be the 'abandoned work timer' should be cumulative, imo. As in, a this work has a certain total amount of time it can be abandoned, so as to keep companies from doing somehting small every so often just to keep it alive.
Already, I notice more and more of my phone solicitations are done by cheaper labour in India. Telephony has become as global and cheap as E-mail, but some people don't know that yet.
and I'll bet when companies do realize this, and the calls start flowing as frequently as email spam, the backlash will be severe enough to take care of both problems. I just hope it doesn't destroy my freedoms with its severity.
Lessig on copyrights:
No copyright protection at all for any software whose source code is not deposited.
This struck me as reasonable. Either I trust the government to keep my stuff safe, or I try to keep it safe myself. It's when I try to keep it safe myself, yet task the government with going after anyone I say is using my stuff, that things get sticky... I could use the government to try to stop competition.
On average, young people said they spent nearly 17 hours online each week,
...and I wonder how much of that time is spent on slashdot;)
"There's a lot in the study that shows this is a primary medium for information, product information, pricing information, school needs," she said. "It would never occur to them to go to a newspaper to look up a movie time."
Actually I still go look it up in the newspaper, but ironically I usually buy the tickets online. *shrugs* whatever works...
Sometimes I browse with pictures turned off to avoid ads (and because I'm on dialup), and I got confused wondering if I had actually bought the ticket... so many screens to click through. I wonder if the web really saves time on some things.
or because multiple posts said near the same thing, and different people liked different versions better, and modded the rest redundant. I'm waiting for the first real AI to be used as a universal moderator here to remove human frailty from that position...
sad but true. I wouldn't be surprised to eventually see the riaa do like game consoles and come out with their own 'CD' player: the RiaalPlayer.;) just like gaming consoles, you'd have to be licensed, or something similar to create media for it.
let's hope a media mogul doesn't read this and actually try it
umm... the point is this could be a way to strike down the riaa legally, and get $.50 songs. The RIAA is going to scare most illegal sharers off the net if their strategy works, then where will you be?
not to mention, of course, that your way is illegal.
Snapster has to be a public company. It would have its IPO as soon as possible after all those CDs have been delivered. It must be a public company right from the start of operations. Say Snapster goes public on NASDAQ at $20 per share. The IPO sells one million shares (10 percent of the company) netting $20 million minus underwriting fees. So almost from the beginning, Snapster has millions in the bank and a market capitalization of $200 million. What is critical here for the business success is not the price per share but the broadest possible ownership of shares. But the way those additional shares would be sold would be through stock splits, not supplemental offerings. This means that early investors would benefit greatly from being early investors and the Snapster founders would benefit most of all.
wow. This is like a legal napster plus pyramid scheme all rolled into one. I hope whoever starts it has offshore accounts. (or creates it offshore)
Each Snapster share carries ownership rights to those 100,000 CDs. You see, Snapster is a kind of mutual fund, so every investor is a beneficial owner of all 100,000 CDs. Each share also carries the right to download backup or media-shifting copies for $0.05 per song or $0.50 per CD, that download coming from a separate company we'll call Snapster Download that is 100 percent owned by Snapster. With one million co-owners each downloading one CD per month, gross revenue would be $6 million per year. If they download an average of 10 CDs per month revenue grows to $60 million per year. At these download volumes and with the very low cost of running the service, the $200 million market cap is justified even at the lower sales level. At the $60 million sales level, the share price ought to rise. Now grow the business to its logical size of 60 million users. At 10 CDs per user per year, Snapster download revenue would be $3.6 billion or about a quarter the size of the current recording industry, which it would effectively replace. With 90 percent profit margins, Snapster would be making $3.2 billion per year in profit. Based on a modest price-to-earnings ratio of 10-to-1 (I am choosing this low number because of the obvious legal issues involved in this business) Snapster's market capitalization is now up to $33 billion, which is more than any current record company. Investors who paid $20 at the IPO will now find each of those shares worth $33,000, which is comparable to Microsoft or Dell or Cisco in success except that Snapster would do this all in one year.
Interestingly, $33 billion represents approximately the total market capitalization of all the major record companies, which we'd have to expect would be driven down by the success of Snapster. So Snapster would be a transfer of wealth from current owners of record company shares to owners of new Snapster shares.
this could replace the riaa. let's just hope if someone actually follows through with this it doesn't become somehow as bad as the riaa...
In a perfect world this wouldn't be an act we'd want to take - but we've had it with the RIAA and MPAA. Their contribution to the internet is stifling programming creativity (see the DMCA, etc), and they are acting in bad faith. As such, they can find their opposition information elsewhere.
While we are sure that these actions are not going to stop the RIAA and MPAA from acting against individuals, we hope that other sites take a similar approach. If you are a website owner or content creator, drop us a note and we'll provide you with the file - it would be a powerful statement if webmasters around the net just shut them out.
3. The RIAA is choosing to devote their resources to target individuals, rather than devoting their resources to creating a feasible distribution method (see iTunes).
It's nice to see this presented somewhere other than slashdot.
but then, I don't get out much, so I don't know how prevalent this viewpont is;)
No need to go there... I have shared in the past, and I understand that technology will always provide an answer around the laws of the government. I was referring to the end of the public-consumer-filesharing that has been going on for a while now. Once everyone sees the damages that large corporations and governments can bring against large masses of people, it will stop.
As for me personally, I agree with you more than you know. If voting libertarian actually had any benefit right now, that is the way I would be voting. I personally am for as little government intervention as possible. I am sorry if my post made it sound to you like I can't cope with this or something because of weak conscience.
You are correct, I think. I guess I was thinking about the 'five years if it turns into a criminal case' law, but come to think about it, I don't think that law even passed yet. Ah well, most of my post still makes sense. It came from the heart, even if the head was a little confused;)
Slashdot Mirror
heh, and here I was about to say that here was where the evolutionists would start hemming and hawing about how they've been using the appendix as proof, because an intelligent designer wouldn't put in a useless organ. unfortunately I think both of us are right, there is about to be a creationist and evolutionist onslaught for the same (but different) reasons
I find it hard to believe that the government has so much trouble trying to discipline MS yet can so easily pass DMCA type legislation.
"I disapprove of what you say, and I will deny, to your death, your right to say it" -Get fuzzy, a comic strip
or the quantum level? What if the aliens lived in different dimensions? Also, to say the laws of this backwater place in the immense universe are the same everywhere is a little arrogant
If the aliens were different (even far different) than we, they would indeed describe them differently. They would SEE ('see?') them differently.
It's also an assumption to say that aliens would be about our size in body mass. Different size changes the way they would 'look' at the universe.
The only downside to all this is if all the innovation trying to get around big business drives them together into a super-government-lobby group.
The legacy phone companies are probably just waiting to see how this all turns out.
Slashdot 3: Rise of the Moderators!
or because multiple posts said near the same thing, and different people liked different versions better, and modded the rest redundant. I'm waiting for the first real AI to be used as a universal moderator here to remove human frailty from that position...
no, I think the rich more think of us in terms of the analogy "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing", except replace knowledge with money.
Why? what do the gnaa have to say about this that is useful? ;)
no, but will you get the same quality of service?
right. Withholding content will certainly make more money. Oh, wait...
let's hope a media mogul doesn't read this and actually try it
not to mention, of course, that your way is illegal.
but then, I don't get out much, so I don't know how prevalent this viewpont is ;)
As for me personally, I agree with you more than you know. If voting libertarian actually had any benefit right now, that is the way I would be voting. I personally am for as little government intervention as possible. I am sorry if my post made it sound to you like I can't cope with this or something because of weak conscience.
You are correct, I think. I guess I was thinking about the 'five years if it turns into a criminal case' law, but come to think about it, I don't think that law even passed yet. Ah well, most of my post still makes sense. It came from the heart, even if the head was a little confused ;)