That is a logical conclusion to that particular argument; one which underlies most of the "copyrights are evil" nonsense that gets bandied about on slashdot.
I don't think there are many people that claim "copyrights are evil." No sane person would deny that people deserve to own what they create. The typical/. argument is that perpetual extension of copyright is evil, not copyrights themselves.
You would have to prove that it is illegal before you could claim that it is being used to protect illegal activity. Hence, until illegal activity is proved, you would be protected by the DMCA.
However, the only way to prove illegal activity is to break in, violating the DMCA. Ends, means, justification and all that...
1) You used the F-word 2) Your post wasn't anti-MS. If you see the cyborg-Bill logo on the article, you should realize that any post that isn't blatantly anti-MS will be marked Troll or Flamebait.
$25 a month? I wish. The very basic package is $30. According to the article, the average subscriber to DTV pays $61 a month. I pay close to $90, but I likes the movie channels...
That and while I question the talent of the average "computer programmer" in the US/Canada I seriously question the quality in a country [such as China] where universities turn out 20K "graduates" per year per semester.
200k per year, actually, from China. Keep in mind, though, that they have 1.6 billion people in that country.
Umm.... The ring tone doesn't go through any phone lines or network... It gets transmitted to the phone as a.WAV or something, stored on the phone, then it comes right out of the speaker.
How about... You don't actually use it as your ring tone? That way, you could hear it ring. Why would you buy it, then? Well... Suppose you're in a mosquito-infested plot of space. Whip out the ol' celly, change the ring tone to the mosquito repeller, and 'preview' it non-stop. Viola! Portable mosquito repeller...
Of course, the real reason somebody would buy it is because they are an idiot, as sound-based mosquito repellers don't do a damn thing to the bugs...
No, it means that if you try to mask your IP, then you are no better than the bank robber with the gun. I think that is what he is trying to imply, anyway...
What sort of innovations does the future hold? I can't say for sure. But I can say for certain that they will bring pornography to us in more detail than ever before.
Well, according to this article, it looks like the future of porn is FUFME...
We do have term limits, they are called elections. Use your vote to elect them out of office. Better yet, use your voice and get fellow members of the electorate to help you in this.
Utah is 75% Mormon Mormons ALWAYS vote Republican Orrin Hatch is a Repbulican
Orrin Hatch will be a Senator until he dies (or decides to stop running, but why would he stop running if he is guaranteed to win?), so long as he stays in Utah. It doesn't matter if the rest of the 25% vote against him, he still wins.
There is a reason presidents never bother to campaign in Utah. They know that vote is going Republican, no matter what. The republican candidate may stop by and say "Hi!" on his way to some state that may actually go either way, but that is about it.
Your vote is no good here, sorry. Either vote with the majority, or throw it away.
Term limits would hurt politicians that are good as well as those that are scum.
What is this "Good politician" that you speak of? Does he have tea with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny every February 30th?
I probably shouldn't tell anyone about this, but what the hell...
In my younger (and shorter) days, I dared to piss on the electric fence. It wasn't a terribly high voltage or anything. I had grabbed the wire a few times before and it made the muscles in my arm flex and tingle, but that was about it. I passed this fence daily on my way home from school. One day, I was peeing in a field (I think I was out camping...) and I thought about that fence. The electric wire was at about my head level, so I tried to get my arc up and even with my head. When I did, I noticed that at the apogee, the stream broke into many disconnected parts. Seeing that, I thought I would give the electric fence a whiz because I didn't think it would actually zap me. So I told my friends about it (because I was an idiot), and they all came to watch me pee on the fence. I made it about 30 seconds before a totally connected stream hit the wire. I was knocked off my feet, and my balls ached for a week. I pissed all over myself, because I couldn't stop the flow. After that, I couldn't pee for two days. Horrifying experience...
Remember kids: Don't take a whiz on the electric fence!
Let me simplify this for you, as you seem to have missed the point: I know that it is illegal. I just don't care. Same reason I drive 50 in a 45 zone. Not that I think the must do what i think is right, just that I don't care. I belive the benefits outweigh any possible consequences. Now, if the punishment for pirating video games was death or life in prison, I might reevaluate my position.
Hehe.. Well, you've got a point there. All I can say in my defense is that I have done it before in the past. I played a pirated copy of Black and White for a while. I really enjoyed the game. Recently, I saw it at the store and decided to buy it. Too bad it won't run on XP... SO, I payed for a game that I can't even play anymore, just because I enjoyed playing it the first time around. I also bought Half-Life, StarCraft, Diablo II, Freelancer, and a bunch of other games I can't think of right now that I had originally pirated. Pirated copies have also saved me from making the mistake of buying some games... Unreal 2, for example...
How am I supposed to know before hand if I'm going to like a game enough to slap down $50 for it? I like the sharware concept. Even if a game company won't give me that option, I can still make my own options... Granted, they're not legal, but...
I have played a pirated version of the original game (got it before the game even hit the shelves!). I decided that I didn't like the game enough to fork over $50 for it. I'm planning on trying out the expansion, and actually paying for it to boot. Blizzard games are generally much better after the expansion. If I decide the expansion is worth it, I'll pick me up a copy of the original, just to be legit. Of course, I'll most likely just buy the "Battlechest" or whatever and get both at the same time...
Oh, and remember to wait for the credits to finish after the movie ends, you get to see a preview of Matrix Revolutions that is coming ( I think ) this November
How nice. Make people sit through twenty damn minutes of credits (I've never seen so many credits before) to see a 60 second trailer for the next movie. It's not even all that great. Normally, I just about squirt when I see a trailer for a kick-ass movie, but in this case the twenty minutes of waiting just kinda soured the whole thing for me.
If you're in a crowded subway and some lady is wearing one of these, and is dumb enough to turn it on (you have to do that, you know. It's in the article. You did read it, right?) in a crowded place, then you should sue her. I don't think suing the maker would amount to anything, as they provided a way of turning it off (i.e. not turning it on. It has to be turned on to work.).
This is more the equivilent of beating the crap out of someone for grabbing you in a nice dark alleyway, or an empty parking lot.
Yeh, good question. Cuz, you know, I don't know how people can play more than one game. That's just absurd. I'm not even going to mention the absurdity of people playing two different games belonging to two different genres. Nor am I going to mention anything about people who don't play MMORPG games because those people just can't possibly exist. Can they?
What do you mean? Isn't the seller free to charge what the market will bear? If it costs a penny to create a CD and the point of equilibrium between the supply and demand curves is at $100 per unit, then why should the record companies do you a favor and sell for less?
There is a flaw here. Yes, a firm is allowed to charge whatever it wants for a good. Seeing as the music industry is an oligopoly (i.e. the top 4 producers produce more than 40% of the good), it is subject to certain laws. One of these laws says that they may not collude to keep prices high. A number of RIAA membership companies have been found guilty of this practice of price fixing. It is an indisputable fact that they conspired to form a cartel and artificially inflate prices.
You might then state that the market should be responsible for preventing something like this from happening. For example, if $20 is too much to pay for a CD, then nobody would pay for it, and they would go out of business. The problem with that idea is that when looking at supply and demand curves, you should note that at a higher price, less people would buy it, not no people. This would create a surplus of goods, and a shortage of consumers.
So, how does this fit with the RIAA? Well, first they collude to inflate prices. This raises the price of CDs, thereby creating a shortage of consumers (i.e. less people buying CDs). Now, in order to justify this practice, they claim that they are perfectly capable of selling at these prices. Their losses are not the result of them charging too much, but the result of pirates stealing their product.
Seeing as they are but the poor helpless victims of widespread criminal activities, it is not their business model that needs adjusting, it is the laws that support it. So, they get the guvment to make new laws that will allow them to make even more money than they should, by striping fundamental rights from us.
In short, they are manipulating the market. Unfortunately, the guvment won't fix it, because they are buying into the hype that the RIAA is producing (in other words, they are manipulating the guvment too). Conversely, the market can't fix it because the market is nothing but a bunch of dirty rotten stinking theives.
Slashdot Mirror
That is a logical conclusion to that particular argument; one which underlies most of the "copyrights are evil" nonsense that gets bandied about on slashdot.
/. argument is that perpetual extension of copyright is evil, not copyrights themselves.
I don't think there are many people that claim "copyrights are evil." No sane person would deny that people deserve to own what they create. The typical
Yes. Yes it is. In one case, you don't make any money off of it (so it is not a 'crime'). In the other, you do (so it is a 'crime').
You would have to prove that it is illegal before you could claim that it is being used to protect illegal activity. Hence, until illegal activity is proved, you would be protected by the DMCA.
However, the only way to prove illegal activity is to break in, violating the DMCA. Ends, means, justification and all that...
1) You used the F-word
2) Your post wasn't anti-MS. If you see the cyborg-Bill logo on the article, you should realize that any post that isn't blatantly anti-MS will be marked Troll or Flamebait.
They are "allowed" to have it because there are numerous large uranium mines in Niger. It is a natural resource for them.
Since when is $25/month too expensive for TV?
$25 a month? I wish. The very basic package is $30. According to the article, the average subscriber to DTV pays $61 a month. I pay close to $90, but I likes the movie channels...
I ain't getting sued. So, no it's not MY PROBLEM. It is indeed SOMEONE ELSES problem. Notably, someone who is getting sued.
That and while I question the talent of the average "computer programmer" in the US/Canada I seriously question the quality in a country [such as China] where universities turn out 20K "graduates" per year per semester.
200k per year, actually, from China. Keep in mind, though, that they have 1.6 billion people in that country.
Dune II: Battle for Arrakis - Released 1992
Herzog Zwei - Released 1990
I believe Herzog is the oldest RTS game out there. I could be wrong, though...
Umm.... The ring tone doesn't go through any phone lines or network... It gets transmitted to the phone as a .WAV or something, stored on the phone, then it comes right out of the speaker.
Nice info, though...
How about... You don't actually use it as your ring tone? That way, you could hear it ring. Why would you buy it, then? Well... Suppose you're in a mosquito-infested plot of space. Whip out the ol' celly, change the ring tone to the mosquito repeller, and 'preview' it non-stop. Viola! Portable mosquito repeller...
Of course, the real reason somebody would buy it is because they are an idiot, as sound-based mosquito repellers don't do a damn thing to the bugs...
No, it means that if you try to mask your IP, then you are no better than the bank robber with the gun. I think that is what he is trying to imply, anyway...
What sort of innovations does the future hold? I can't say for sure. But I can say for certain that they will bring pornography to us in more detail than ever before.
Well, according to this article, it looks like the future of porn is FUFME...
We do have term limits, they are called elections. Use your vote to elect them out of office. Better yet, use your voice and get fellow members of the electorate to help you in this.
Utah is 75% Mormon
Mormons ALWAYS vote Republican
Orrin Hatch is a Repbulican
Orrin Hatch will be a Senator until he dies (or decides to stop running, but why would he stop running if he is guaranteed to win?), so long as he stays in Utah. It doesn't matter if the rest of the 25% vote against him, he still wins.
There is a reason presidents never bother to campaign in Utah. They know that vote is going Republican, no matter what. The republican candidate may stop by and say "Hi!" on his way to some state that may actually go either way, but that is about it.
Your vote is no good here, sorry. Either vote with the majority, or throw it away.
Term limits would hurt politicians that are good as well as those that are scum.
What is this "Good politician" that you speak of? Does he have tea with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny every February 30th?
I think Gabe's post pretty much sums it all up.
I probably shouldn't tell anyone about this, but what the hell...
In my younger (and shorter) days, I dared to piss on the electric fence. It wasn't a terribly high voltage or anything. I had grabbed the wire a few times before and it made the muscles in my arm flex and tingle, but that was about it. I passed this fence daily on my way home from school. One day, I was peeing in a field (I think I was out camping...) and I thought about that fence. The electric wire was at about my head level, so I tried to get my arc up and even with my head. When I did, I noticed that at the apogee, the stream broke into many disconnected parts. Seeing that, I thought I would give the electric fence a whiz because I didn't think it would actually zap me. So I told my friends about it (because I was an idiot), and they all came to watch me pee on the fence. I made it about 30 seconds before a totally connected stream hit the wire. I was knocked off my feet, and my balls ached for a week. I pissed all over myself, because I couldn't stop the flow. After that, I couldn't pee for two days. Horrifying experience...
Remember kids: Don't take a whiz on the electric fence!
Are you kidding? With this economy good programmers will work for just about anything.
So true. Case in point: Spam. It takes a programmer to write an e-mail program for bulk e-mailers (Think Ralsky wrote his own software? Doubt it).
Let me simplify this for you, as you seem to have missed the point: I know that it is illegal. I just don't care. Same reason I drive 50 in a 45 zone. Not that I think the must do what i think is right, just that I don't care. I belive the benefits outweigh any possible consequences. Now, if the punishment for pirating video games was death or life in prison, I might reevaluate my position.
Hehe.. Well, you've got a point there. All I can say in my defense is that I have done it before in the past. I played a pirated copy of Black and White for a while. I really enjoyed the game. Recently, I saw it at the store and decided to buy it. Too bad it won't run on XP... SO, I payed for a game that I can't even play anymore, just because I enjoyed playing it the first time around. I also bought Half-Life, StarCraft, Diablo II, Freelancer, and a bunch of other games I can't think of right now that I had originally pirated. Pirated copies have also saved me from making the mistake of buying some games... Unreal 2, for example...
How am I supposed to know before hand if I'm going to like a game enough to slap down $50 for it? I like the sharware concept. Even if a game company won't give me that option, I can still make my own options... Granted, they're not legal, but...
I have played a pirated version of the original game (got it before the game even hit the shelves!). I decided that I didn't like the game enough to fork over $50 for it. I'm planning on trying out the expansion, and actually paying for it to boot. Blizzard games are generally much better after the expansion. If I decide the expansion is worth it, I'll pick me up a copy of the original, just to be legit. Of course, I'll most likely just buy the "Battlechest" or whatever and get both at the same time...
Oh, and remember to wait for the credits to finish after the movie ends, you get to see a preview of Matrix Revolutions that is coming ( I think ) this November
How nice. Make people sit through twenty damn minutes of credits (I've never seen so many credits before) to see a 60 second trailer for the next movie. It's not even all that great. Normally, I just about squirt when I see a trailer for a kick-ass movie, but in this case the twenty minutes of waiting just kinda soured the whole thing for me.
If you're in a crowded subway and some lady is wearing one of these, and is dumb enough to turn it on (you have to do that, you know. It's in the article. You did read it, right?) in a crowded place, then you should sue her. I don't think suing the maker would amount to anything, as they provided a way of turning it off (i.e. not turning it on. It has to be turned on to work.).
This is more the equivilent of beating the crap out of someone for grabbing you in a nice dark alleyway, or an empty parking lot.
Yeh, good question. Cuz, you know, I don't know how people can play more than one game. That's just absurd. I'm not even going to mention the absurdity of people playing two different games belonging to two different genres. Nor am I going to mention anything about people who don't play MMORPG games because those people just can't possibly exist. Can they?
Where the hell is my AC button, damnit?!?!
What do you mean? Isn't the seller free to charge what the market will bear? If it costs a penny to create a CD and the point of equilibrium between the supply and demand curves is at $100 per unit, then why should the record companies do you a favor and sell for less?
There is a flaw here. Yes, a firm is allowed to charge whatever it wants for a good. Seeing as the music industry is an oligopoly (i.e. the top 4 producers produce more than 40% of the good), it is subject to certain laws. One of these laws says that they may not collude to keep prices high. A number of RIAA membership companies have been found guilty of this practice of price fixing. It is an indisputable fact that they conspired to form a cartel and artificially inflate prices.
You might then state that the market should be responsible for preventing something like this from happening. For example, if $20 is too much to pay for a CD, then nobody would pay for it, and they would go out of business. The problem with that idea is that when looking at supply and demand curves, you should note that at a higher price, less people would buy it, not no people. This would create a surplus of goods, and a shortage of consumers.
So, how does this fit with the RIAA? Well, first they collude to inflate prices. This raises the price of CDs, thereby creating a shortage of consumers (i.e. less people buying CDs). Now, in order to justify this practice, they claim that they are perfectly capable of selling at these prices. Their losses are not the result of them charging too much, but the result of pirates stealing their product.
Seeing as they are but the poor helpless victims of widespread criminal activities, it is not their business model that needs adjusting, it is the laws that support it. So, they get the guvment to make new laws that will allow them to make even more money than they should, by striping fundamental rights from us.
In short, they are manipulating the market. Unfortunately, the guvment won't fix it, because they are buying into the hype that the RIAA is producing (in other words, they are manipulating the guvment too). Conversely, the market can't fix it because the market is nothing but a bunch of dirty rotten stinking theives.
just some semi-random incoherant thoughts...
Would that make him a Wuffie-whore?