He thought he was corresponding with a minor, but that doesn't change the fact that these beliefs, not his actions, make the crime. Without the belief, his actions were not criminal. Thus thought crime.
George Orwell would have been wryly amused, but surely not surprised, by the way "thought crime" is defined here. The moment you take action in the real world and leave the dream behind, thought crime ends.
Or, until Joe Sixpack downloads a video driver update followed by a NIC driver update, and exceeds the number of allotted "hardware upgrades" allowed by Vista
windows activation tracks the most significant changes in physical hardware: a new motherboard, for example.
it is reading hard-coded serial numbers, not driver updates.
Why is this on Slashdot? A pundit makes some commentary about video games...so? He bloviates about stuff every night, and has for 8+ years. He's in no position to craft laws, no position to do anything about it.
O'Reilly made headline news worldwide when he came out swinging against O.J. Simpson and his own network. He is in a position where he can be effective.
Does anyone want to start an official boycott or anything? No Vista or Office 2007 until Microsoft gets rid of some of these anti-consumer "features"?
If I could tap into the hot air every time a Geek talks boycott, I could bring global warming to Buffalo, New York, this Winter.
The market for Vista Premium or Office Home and Student 2007 isn't the Geek. It is mass market sales through direct sellers like Dell and big box retailers like Target.
As an exercise for the reader, I suggest you try finding an OEM Linux desktop at Walmart.com.
Product Activation in Vista for anyone but the Geek will be a Fire and Forget, one or two click process, that won't be given a second thought.
Users in overwhelming numbers chose either Windows or the Mac for reasons which have not fundamentally changed in almost thirty years.
And people should increase their knowledge if they want to use [a] computer.
Why?
For most people, the computer is a home appliance or an office machine. It is not their hobby, much less their obsession.
Using windows is like learning driving on one car.
Ask any driver or passenger what pisses them off most about an unfamiliar make or model car and the answer is likely to be the time they waste fumbling in the dark and the cold for the latch that opens the damn doors.
Everyone brings their Pooh Bears and Disney characters, CDs, DVDs and we have a great big "cleansing" where we burn them in the streets and pledge to lead fruitful "copylefted lives"?
There is something in this language I find chilling---and all too familiar.
The voice of the fanatic to whom all culture is alien --- verboten --- whose creation does not meet his own standards of perfection.
When did freedom ever come from a burning of the books?
I can see a day when juries will simply refuse to convict people who run afoul of laws like this, as is their right.
the rights agencies usually pursue the infringer in civil court.
in the American federal system, only 2% of tort cases are settled by a trial.
you don't even get to ask for a jury trial in an american civil court unless there is a significant factual question remaining to be decided.
if your defense on the facts collapses like a house of cards--- it is within the judge's right to declare that there is nothing left for the jury to decide.
it is a very tough slog simply to get a case to a jury. to get a sympathetic panel. the right judge. to play for nullification is a game for fools.
you might draw to the inside straight. but most of us don't have the luck of an O.J. Simpson.
The whole point of copyright is money. Shouldn't anyone suing over a copyright issue have to show that their client suffered financial loss right up front before anything else?
The constitution grants the copyright holder exclusive control over distribution. It is within his right to demand that the infringement end, whether he has suffered financial loss or not.
Unless you can produce a license to distribute content on the P2P nets that sells for $1 a track on iTunes it fair for a judge or jury to conclude that there has been financial loss.
The damages to be calculated according to some judge-made or statutory formula.
Apple has a secure and profitable niche market that is little changed from 1984. Half of Apple's revenues come from sales of the iPod and through iTunes. The iPod could be fairly described as the ultimate Windows peripheral. The Mac benefits from the commodity hardware pricing of the dominant Wintel platform... Why rock the boat?
Re:Why can't they still sell PCs without OS?
on
Leopard Vs. Vista
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· Score: 1
But it's nice to have a choice.
The PC as a plug and play appliance has been the gold standard in the home and SOHO markets for over twenty-five years.
The DIY install that fails can be a nightmare to diagnose even for the uber-Geek. You want free service under warranty from the direct seller or big box retailer? You accept the default system install.
Re:Because there is no enforcement.
on
Leopard Vs. Vista
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· Score: 5, Insightful
So you're telling me that if Gateway + HP + Dell decided to offer Linux only, they would go bankrupt because no one would buy anything from them?
Well, yes.
There are enormous economies of scale in building for the Windows market.
You do not opt out of a market that has ninety to ninety-five percent of your potential customers.
A TOS is a civil agreement, and not a very strong one, at that.
The TOS is a contract. It's strength or weakness is for a judge to decide. But protecting the integrity of a service with 7.5 million paying subscribers sounds to me like a perfectly good reason for going to court.
If used as an electronic book, then it substitutes for hundreds of dollars worth of books (over the course of its lifetime)
So what is the life expectancy of the OLPC laptop?
The well-made book is a remarkably durable artifact. I have signed English readers that were in common use in the one-room schools of my great-great grandparents.
How likely is some sort of jury nullification, should the case actually go to a jury trial?
juries tend to be middle-aged, middle class, small-c or large-C conservative. people who take the oath seriously and are not looking for an excuse to beg off.
not a particularly benign environment for the defendant.
one last word of practical advice for the Geek: never go into court thinking you are O.J. Simpson.
I don't know who the Sixpacks are, but I'm amazed at the amount of technology that they possess and use in there everyday lives, yet still have such a poor grasp and understanding of the issues.
or perhaps it could just be that the Sixpacks have different issues and values than the Geek, that they tend to look at and exploit new technologies in fundamentally different ways.
Windows users find DRM to much and side grade to Linux or Mac or more likely they will bend over and continue to take it like they did with activation.
Geek: Activation! Wah!
Everyone else: Click. Click. Done.
Geek: DRM! Wah!
Everyone else: Insert HD-DVD Movie. Play HD-DVD Movie. Done.
When HD-DVD and Blu-Ray drives become available for the Mac or OEM Linux, (think Linspire systems sold through Walmart or Target) they will enforce the same DRM rules as Windows, the XBox or the PS3. There is no side-grade.
In areas like software, I agree that most patents should be "free and open". In healthcare, patents are what enables drug companies to make enough money to invest in future drugs. Without protection that patents offer drug manufacturers, it is likely that private investment would dwindle to almost nothing.
I can't see the distinction you make here.
Getting innovative software to market has its costs, just like anything else.
The open source model of selling "service and support" works best when you assume a client with deep pockets and considerable technical sophistication. But the enterprise market is not small business and small business is not the home.
Slashdot Mirror
George Orwell would have been wryly amused, but surely not surprised, by the way "thought crime" is defined here. The moment you take action in the real world and leave the dream behind, thought crime ends.
Trolling the chat rooms to solicit a minor is not a thought crime.
---and if your hard drive crashes and burns tomorrow morning?
The more likely scenario, I think.
Microsoft is a thirty year old company, debt-free, with tens of billions of dollars in liquid reserves, and a 90% market share.
I won't allow some company in some foreign country to control whether I have access to my data or not.
---but you have complete faith in the anonymous Asian OEM that manufactures the drives and media on which your data is stored?
windows activation tracks the most significant changes in physical hardware: a new motherboard, for example.
it is reading hard-coded serial numbers, not driver updates.
which would be ridiculous.
O'Reilly made headline news worldwide when he came out swinging against O.J. Simpson and his own network. He is in a position where he can be effective.
If I could tap into the hot air every time a Geek talks boycott, I could bring global warming to Buffalo, New York, this Winter.
The market for Vista Premium or Office Home and Student 2007 isn't the Geek. It is mass market sales through direct sellers like Dell and big box retailers like Target.
As an exercise for the reader, I suggest you try finding an OEM Linux desktop at Walmart.com.
Product Activation in Vista for anyone but the Geek will be a Fire and Forget, one or two click process, that won't be given a second thought.
If he fries himself with X-rays...then that's a risk he took for himself
It is also a risk he creates for anyone else within range. You'll excuse me, I trust, if I don't like the idea of living above this kid's basement.
Nonsense.
Users in overwhelming numbers chose either Windows or the Mac for reasons which have not fundamentally changed in almost thirty years.
And people should increase their knowledge if they want to use [a] computer.
Why?
For most people, the computer is a home appliance or an office machine. It is not their hobby, much less their obsession.
Using windows is like learning driving on one car.
Ask any driver or passenger what pisses them off most about an unfamiliar make or model car and the answer is likely to be the time they waste fumbling in the dark and the cold for the latch that opens the damn doors.
There is something in this language I find chilling---and all too familiar.
The voice of the fanatic to whom all culture is alien --- verboten --- whose creation does not meet his own standards of perfection.
When did freedom ever come from a burning of the books?
the rights agencies usually pursue the infringer in civil court.
in the American federal system, only 2% of tort cases are settled by a trial.
you don't even get to ask for a jury trial in an american civil court unless there is a significant factual question remaining to be decided.
if your defense on the facts collapses like a house of cards---
it is within the judge's right to declare that there is nothing left for the jury to decide.
it is a very tough slog simply to get a case to a jury. to get a sympathetic panel. the right judge. to play for nullification is a game for fools.
you might draw to the inside straight. but most of us don't have the luck of an O.J. Simpson.
In the federal system only 2% of tort cases end in a trial. Additional Federal Civil Justice Facts at a Glance The plaintiff tends to win, but the odds are little better than a coin toss.
Not always: a jury verdict is a crap shoot, a risky and expensive roll of the dice.
But first you have to get the case to trial. That is a months or years long ordeal for your severely disabled defendant.
It will be a bitch if you lose.
The constitution grants the copyright holder exclusive control over distribution. It is within his right to demand that the infringement end, whether he has suffered financial loss or not.
Unless you can produce a license to distribute content on the P2P nets that sells for $1 a track on iTunes it fair for a judge or jury to conclude that there has been financial loss.
The damages to be calculated according to some judge-made or statutory formula.
Apple has a secure and profitable niche market that is little changed from 1984. Half of Apple's revenues come from sales of the iPod and through iTunes. The iPod could be fairly described as the ultimate Windows peripheral. The Mac benefits from the commodity hardware pricing of the dominant Wintel platform... Why rock the boat?
The PC as a plug and play appliance has been the gold standard in the home and SOHO markets for over twenty-five years.
The DIY install that fails can be a nightmare to diagnose even for the uber-Geek. You want free service under warranty from the direct seller or big box retailer? You accept the default system install.
Well, yes.
There are enormous economies of scale in building for the Windows market. You do not opt out of a market that has ninety to ninety-five percent of your potential customers.
The TOS is a contract. It's strength or weakness is for a judge to decide. But protecting the integrity of a service with 7.5 million paying subscribers sounds to me like a perfectly good reason for going to court.
So what is the life expectancy of the OLPC laptop? The well-made book is a remarkably durable artifact. I have signed English readers that were in common use in the one-room schools of my great-great grandparents.
and the masses are aware of Groklaw? in the numbers that are drawn to the New York Times, CNN, Court TV, etc? the name itself screams Geek.
juries tend to be middle-aged, middle class, small-c or large-C conservative. people who take the oath seriously and are not looking for an excuse to beg off.
not a particularly benign environment for the defendant.
one last word of practical advice for the Geek: never go into court thinking you are O.J. Simpson.
a very different scale, when you begin talking about 18 to 50 GB per disk.
and a very different market. the trend in HDTV sales is to very large screen projection and theatrical digital sound even at entry level.
or perhaps it could just be that the Sixpacks have different issues and values than the Geek, that they tend to look at and exploit new technologies in fundamentally different ways.
It surprises you that a sci-fi Geek with a plasma TV would be willing to pay Amazon.com $20 for Forbidden Planet in pristine HD digital restoration?
Geek: Activation! Wah!
Everyone else: Click. Click. Done.
Geek: DRM! Wah!
Everyone else: Insert HD-DVD Movie. Play HD-DVD Movie. Done.
When HD-DVD and Blu-Ray drives become available for the Mac or OEM Linux, (think Linspire systems sold through Walmart or Target) they will enforce the same DRM rules as Windows, the XBox or the PS3. There is no side-grade.
I can't see the distinction you make here.
Getting innovative software to market has its costs, just like anything else.
The open source model of selling "service and support" works best when you assume a client with deep pockets and considerable technical sophistication. But the enterprise market is not small business and small business is not the home.