WIPO was a backdoor for US content producer cartels to push through legislation that wasn't flying in Congress on its own.
Could you provide me with the bill or resolution numbers/titles for those pieces of legislation? I like to do research on the life-cycles of the "controversial" legislation, and this legislation you refer to could provide me some missing data.
The conference was dominated by legal experts hired by Disney et al, who blindsided junior trade reps stuck in a backwater assignment into going along with extremely vague language.
This language was then used as a justification to ramrod the initially-desired legislation through the US Congress, which had to pass it in order to adhere to the treaty.
Could you provide me with the links or information about your sources? (for the same reason as stated above)
I feel much the same as you. I informed one of my Senators of my position on the topic of drilling in the Arctic National Refuge, and they promptly responded with a letter (at least they read my post) explaining their difference in opinion and why they wouldn't support my viewpoint. I suppose that is their right, but I would've liked to know where I stood relative to the other constituents on the situation. At least if I was in the minority, I would have felt better about the political process. Instead, I got no information to that effect. It cultivated a sense of distrust that has only grown larger over the years.
I only know of the "hotly" debated bills, the bills that the media believes should be news, and the bills that organizations such as the ACLU, EFF, NAACP etc... bring to the spotlight. What scares me, are the bills that we don't really know a lot about. What scares me more, is that I feel it is necessary to know about these bills because I lack the trust in my representative that they won't try to fleece me.
I have some websites that I frequent which provide me with tools to search for Bills, Resolutions, etc... What I would really like is to know of some website/organization that provides me with the necessary information to see bills by content and category. It is sad to say, but I (like you apparently) are loosing trust in my representative. I don't feel sufficiently represented. I also think that as our population increases, so will the political woes. It is too difficult for a politician to represent everybody, and the larger their constituency, the more people get left out.
This is purely my opinion, but I believe there are at least 3 elements to the "system" that stand to destroy our Republic.
Career politicians
Corporate Campaign Contributions/Lobbying
A population that grows faster than we can support and govern
Perhaps we could ameliorate the growing distrust of politics in America by creating an organization that does nothing but categorize the bills that are up for vote and then place them on the web for public viewing. This organization wouldn't be a "watchdog" group (in the traditional sense) but it could provide the constituency with factual (not sensationalized) information about the legislative process.
If we are talking about technical innovation, Matrix Reloaded is the first to use true, 3D cinematography and computer generated actors (that look real, not computer generated). The "Big Brawl" scene is the one that is some commonly refernced. I believe that whole fight scene occured within a computer.
If we are talking about conceptual innovation, or innovation as it applies to storylines, screenwriting, etc... then I don't think that there are many "new" and "innovative" ideas out there right now. My opinion, as to why this situation exists, is that Hollywood (collectively being the movie industry) are more interested in the "assembly-line" approach to movie making. The same plot, different story sort of approach. The "guaranteed" money maker. They only change the template when the viewers become desensitized to the model and cease to pay for movies at the theaters.
I'm not sure I follow your reply. My post wasn't a supporting post for DRM, DMCA, or the WIPO treaty. Rather, it was more of an informational post. I was replying to a message that more-or-less stated only America has DRM, and DMCA. While certainly we are the only country to have the DMCA, as it is a product of our legislative body, we are not the only country to have a DMCA "like" law. England, Germany, France, and others all have laws that codify the WIPO treaty. We also are not the only country to entertain the thought of DRM.
On the record, I am opposed of the DMCA. To answer your question regarding the delegation to the WIPO treaty conference, the delegation consisted of both Administration (Clinton) and Congressional members. I'm sure that a google search would provide names. Neither you nor I, have the ability to select delegates. That is a government responsibility.
After the ratification of the WIPO Treaty, the Administration (Clinton) began negotiations including Dept. of Commerce, Patent and Trademark Office, Copyright Office, and Congress. The purpose of the negotiations was to develop the legislation that would implement the treaty ratifications. The negotiations built upon the "Green Papers" and "White Papers" issued by the Administration's hearings in 1993 over the issue of protecting copyrights and patents in the digital form. The negotiations culminated in H.R. 2281 which passed the Senate (the Senators amended H.R. 2281 with S.AMDT 2411) with a 99-0 Roll Call Vote (meaning that the Senator's vote is on record) and passed through the House with the amendments via a voice vote (meaning that the Representatives vote isn't on record....it merely passes).
I'm not sure that we (as citizens) could afford to take an interest in attending WIPO and other foreign treaty conferences. Nor should we have to. We live in a Republic, therefore we provide our duly elected officials with our authorization. We elect our Congressional officials to make those decisions for us. I would let your Senator and current Representative know your stance on the DMCA, DRM, and other laws you may wish to mention. Individually, it won't help, but collectively it could make a difference. Also, inform your state officials as well. They are in a better position to argue for us than we are (argue to the federal officials that is).
It depends on a great many factors. Some questions you will need to be prepared to answer for upper management are:
Are the cost savings you receive in using Open Source software going to outweight the real/perceived benefit of having access to a vendor support structure? Generally, the answer is yes when your IT infrastructure can support the technologies in house.
What value does using a predominately OSS based IT Strategy over a packaged, Vendor solution provide? In other words, how will OSS provide easier, faster, more efficient access to the business information that the company has developed?
What will the training/retraining costs be associated with a "re-tooling" of the IT department?
Will the OSS applications and solutions fit within our current IT Strategy, or will we need to revisit the IT Strategy? Perhaps, this will provide you (company) an opportunity to make process improvements within the IT dept.
How will the IT department affect the change over from Vendor specific to OSS solutions? Similarly, will this transistion be seemless to end-users in the business itself or will there be a retraining effort?
I could continue with the list, but these are the most "generic" questions I could think of. Generic in the sense of not industry or business specific. I just wanted to provide some questions that would get you thinking along the same terms as the management staff will be thinking. Obviously, if I were to sit down with you and discuss the needs/goals/processes of your business in particular, I could generate more meaningful questions (and answers).
Actually, the DMCA is the result of the US Legislative branch adopting support for the WIPO Copyright Treaties Implementation Act (WIPO being the World Intellectual Property Organization). The DMCA was drafted as a direct result of the Treaty that the US signed (the treatiy being the WIPO Copyright Treaties Implementation Act).
The Diplomatic Conference held by WIPO, which drafted the treaty, saw attendance from over 150 countries that agreed on changes to be made to protect IP. Some countries are more lax in implementing the WIPO treaty, others such as the US, England, Germany, and others aren't so lax.
Seriously, why is it not illegal for them to send us advertisements in the first place? They are wasting bandwidth that we pay for. I could see a business case where you got internet access for free, so long as you agreed to receive advertisments, but when I pay for my access I do not want to receive advertising. The internet is not cable television and should not be treated as such.
I think it will be only a matter of time before you begin to see websites that won't let you enter unless you agree to view advertisements. Quickly following, the MPAA will start to encroach further upon the freedoms of the net surfers by lobbying (successfully) to make it illegal to not view advertisements. Similar to the situation we have with DVD players not allowing you to skip previews, PVR devices not allowing you to not record commercials, and commericals in addition to movie previews in theaters. The culmination will be the MPAA and RIAA working with the Madison Ave. folks to force commercial breaks in schools for your children (you know....to generate brand loyalty early)
I've had some issues with the patch system as well. But Gemini's download page contains all I need. Hopefully, the patch device will work correctly at release.
The only real beef I have with this game is the steep learning curve on the user interface.
The game was awesome. The storyline was intriguing and we know that the "conspiracy theory" movies work very well. I would love to see this project come to fruition.
I would like to know the source of the rumors for Emminem being the "star" of the show. I have a hard time seeing him as an "action" hero type. I would like to see maybe a Choy Yun Phat, Jet Li, Wesley Snipes, or Jason Statham type as the character for JC. I think that they already have the required aire about them to be in the lead role.
It will be a long time before we see the distributorships carrying "biodiesel" as opposed to good'ol number 2 diesel. The downward pressure that the oil companies could apply to the market would make petroleum diesel cheaper to purchase than biodiesel.
Vegetable oil is not the only option for "alternative" fuels. Offal from poultry can be used to generate gasoline. Does this spell the end of petroleum dependence? Will this increase the popularity of Chick-fil-a [copyright]? Who knows! I at least enjoy having other options.
As a side note, I am prototyping a business model for commercially producing bio-diesel. I'll let you know how it goes!
Disclaimer: I have not created a "homebrew" TiVO. Now, having said that I would like to point you to this link, where you can find a nifty linux project. Let me know if it works for you!
While I have not read the entire article, I am reading the "Summary of Findings" and it has brought to my attention some "confusing" numbers.
While 42% of Americans say they don't use the Internet, many of them either have been Internet users at one time or have a once-removed relationship with the Internet through family or household members. This report focuses on several new findings about those who say they do not use the Internet:
Note the 42% figure which represents the percentage of Americans who say they do not use the internet.
Net Evaders: 20% of non-Internet users live with someone who uses the Internet from home. Some of these self-described non-users exploit workarounds that allow them to "use" the Internet by having email sent and received by online family members and by having others in their home do online searches for information they want. Others proudly reject the Internet and proclaim their independence from the online world.
Note the 20% figure. Their claim of internet non-use is dubious at best as they clearly have an indirect experience with obtaining internet data.
Net Dropouts: 17% of non-Internet users were once users. Most of them are dropouts because of technical problems such as broken computers or problems with their Internet Service Provider. This number of "Net Dropouts" has increased from the last time the Pew Internet & American Life Project asked about dropouts in April 2000. At that time, 13% of non-users were Net Dropouts.
This 17% figure for the number of people who have quit using the internet, when coupled with the previous 20% figure for "Net Evaders" yields 37%.
Truly Disconnected: Some 24% of Americans are truly offline; they have no direct or indirect experience with the Internet.
Apparently 24% of Americans are truly offline. If there are 24% of Americans "...who have no direct or indirect experience with the internet", that only leaves 18% (42% - 24% = 18%) to be distributed between the Net Evaders and Net Dropouts. However, we clearly know from the article, that the combined total of Net Evaders and Net Dropouts is 37%. The three percentages that the article references (as a part of the 42% whole) do not add up to 42%. Instead they add up to 61%. Am I mis-reading the article? Does the 24% not belong to the 42%? If it doesn't then the total percentage of Americans who either; say they don't use the internet, or are genuinely disconnected is actually 66%. That leaves 34% of Americans to be connected and acknowledge their connection.
The new privacy czar made it her business to clean up DoubleClick's abhorrent behavior. You should read the article before commenting, it will prevent errors such as the one you have made.
Actually O'Conner Kelly is a gal, not a guy. The article clearly states this with the pronoun "she" being repeated often. While the article doesn't say that the privacy community endorses her as a choice, it does say that they viewed her as a consensus builder. Not a negative connotation.
Electrons only travel at 1/10 the speed of light? I was under the impression that all objects on the electromagnetic spectrum traveled at the speed of light (in a vacuum). Am I incorrect?
Perhaps this has already been brought up, but wouldn't the bandwidth provided by this MAN allow for huge Beowulf's or similar clustered supercomputers? Essentially your buildings could be superclusters. Then again, perhaps the signal latency between buildings would slow things down. I don't know. Perhaps large corps. could subsidize the amount a person pays in rental if each person agreed to run a program like SETI@home in the background. Perhaps a computers spare clock cycles could be harnessed for grid computing activities. That would be a great use of the extra bandwidth.
I read a chapter in a book, I believe it is entitled "The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence" (don't have it handy so I can't be sure of the title), that provided a decent, minimally-technical, discussion on the potential for finding life elsewhere in the cosmos. Essentially, this chapter discussed the topic of possible xenobiological requirements that are based on various lifeform "types". For those lifeform types that rely on a similar set of chemical reactions as we do, the book suggested that a planet where ammonium (liquid form) was in abundance, would provide a suitable environment for that lifeform to develop. At least as far as the medium in which the chemical reactions that occur in the lifeform is concerned (the physical requirments of gravity, temperature, etc... are another discussion). The book stated that nearly all of the chemical reactions that occur in our body could occur equally well in ammonium. Mind you, not all of the reactions that our body requires can occur in ammonium. However, it is reasonable to think that the alien lifeform wouldn't require the exact same reactions. At any rate, it was an interesting read.
In an article posted here AMD announces its new naming scheme for the Opteron family of processors. With their new model number scheme, they continue to fight the association of frequency with performance. The model numbers are new, but not the fight.
Slashdot Mirror
Could you provide me with the bill or resolution numbers/titles for those pieces of legislation? I like to do research on the life-cycles of the "controversial" legislation, and this legislation you refer to could provide me some missing data.
Could you provide me with the links or information about your sources? (for the same reason as stated above)
Thank you for your help.
I feel much the same as you. I informed one of my Senators of my position on the topic of drilling in the Arctic National Refuge, and they promptly responded with a letter (at least they read my post) explaining their difference in opinion and why they wouldn't support my viewpoint. I suppose that is their right, but I would've liked to know where I stood relative to the other constituents on the situation. At least if I was in the minority, I would have felt better about the political process. Instead, I got no information to that effect. It cultivated a sense of distrust that has only grown larger over the years.
I only know of the "hotly" debated bills, the bills that the media believes should be news, and the bills that organizations such as the ACLU, EFF, NAACP etc... bring to the spotlight. What scares me, are the bills that we don't really know a lot about. What scares me more, is that I feel it is necessary to know about these bills because I lack the trust in my representative that they won't try to fleece me.
I have some websites that I frequent which provide me with tools to search for Bills, Resolutions, etc... What I would really like is to know of some website/organization that provides me with the necessary information to see bills by content and category. It is sad to say, but I (like you apparently) are loosing trust in my representative. I don't feel sufficiently represented. I also think that as our population increases, so will the political woes. It is too difficult for a politician to represent everybody, and the larger their constituency, the more people get left out.
This is purely my opinion, but I believe there are at least 3 elements to the "system" that stand to destroy our Republic.
- Career politicians
- Corporate Campaign Contributions/Lobbying
- A population that grows faster than we can support and govern
Perhaps we could ameliorate the growing distrust of politics in America by creating an organization that does nothing but categorize the bills that are up for vote and then place them on the web for public viewing. This organization wouldn't be a "watchdog" group (in the traditional sense) but it could provide the constituency with factual (not sensationalized) information about the legislative process.Was Matrix the first to use Bullet Time?
If we are talking about technical innovation, Matrix Reloaded is the first to use true, 3D cinematography and computer generated actors (that look real, not computer generated). The "Big Brawl" scene is the one that is some commonly refernced. I believe that whole fight scene occured within a computer.
If we are talking about conceptual innovation, or innovation as it applies to storylines, screenwriting, etc... then I don't think that there are many "new" and "innovative" ideas out there right now. My opinion, as to why this situation exists, is that Hollywood (collectively being the movie industry) are more interested in the "assembly-line" approach to movie making. The same plot, different story sort of approach. The "guaranteed" money maker. They only change the template when the viewers become desensitized to the model and cease to pay for movies at the theaters.
I'm not sure I follow your reply. My post wasn't a supporting post for DRM, DMCA, or the WIPO treaty. Rather, it was more of an informational post. I was replying to a message that more-or-less stated only America has DRM, and DMCA. While certainly we are the only country to have the DMCA, as it is a product of our legislative body, we are not the only country to have a DMCA "like" law. England, Germany, France, and others all have laws that codify the WIPO treaty. We also are not the only country to entertain the thought of DRM.
On the record, I am opposed of the DMCA. To answer your question regarding the delegation to the WIPO treaty conference, the delegation consisted of both Administration (Clinton) and Congressional members. I'm sure that a google search would provide names. Neither you nor I, have the ability to select delegates. That is a government responsibility.
After the ratification of the WIPO Treaty, the Administration (Clinton) began negotiations including Dept. of Commerce, Patent and Trademark Office, Copyright Office, and Congress. The purpose of the negotiations was to develop the legislation that would implement the treaty ratifications. The negotiations built upon the "Green Papers" and "White Papers" issued by the Administration's hearings in 1993 over the issue of protecting copyrights and patents in the digital form. The negotiations culminated in H.R. 2281 which passed the Senate (the Senators amended H.R. 2281 with S.AMDT 2411) with a 99-0 Roll Call Vote (meaning that the Senator's vote is on record) and passed through the House with the amendments via a voice vote (meaning that the Representatives vote isn't on record....it merely passes).
I'm not sure that we (as citizens) could afford to take an interest in attending WIPO and other foreign treaty conferences. Nor should we have to. We live in a Republic, therefore we provide our duly elected officials with our authorization. We elect our Congressional officials to make those decisions for us. I would let your Senator and current Representative know your stance on the DMCA, DRM, and other laws you may wish to mention. Individually, it won't help, but collectively it could make a difference. Also, inform your state officials as well. They are in a better position to argue for us than we are (argue to the federal officials that is).
It depends on a great many factors. Some questions you will need to be prepared to answer for upper management are:
- Are the cost savings you receive in using Open Source software going to outweight the real/perceived benefit of having access to a vendor support structure? Generally, the answer is yes when your IT infrastructure can support the technologies in house.
- What value does using a predominately OSS based IT Strategy over a packaged, Vendor solution provide? In other words, how will OSS provide easier, faster, more efficient access to the business information that the company has developed?
- What will the training/retraining costs be associated with a "re-tooling" of the IT department?
- Will the OSS applications and solutions fit within our current IT Strategy, or will we need to revisit the IT Strategy? Perhaps, this will provide you (company) an opportunity to make process improvements within the IT dept.
- How will the IT department affect the change over from Vendor specific to OSS solutions? Similarly, will this transistion be seemless to end-users in the business itself or will there be a retraining effort?
I could continue with the list, but these are the most "generic" questions I could think of. Generic in the sense of not industry or business specific. I just wanted to provide some questions that would get you thinking along the same terms as the management staff will be thinking. Obviously, if I were to sit down with you and discuss the needs/goals/processes of your business in particular, I could generate more meaningful questions (and answers).I couldn't access the article. It required a login.
Actually, the DMCA is the result of the US Legislative branch adopting support for the WIPO Copyright Treaties Implementation Act (WIPO being the World Intellectual Property Organization). The DMCA was drafted as a direct result of the Treaty that the US signed (the treatiy being the WIPO Copyright Treaties Implementation Act).
The Diplomatic Conference held by WIPO, which drafted the treaty, saw attendance from over 150 countries that agreed on changes to be made to protect IP. Some countries are more lax in implementing the WIPO treaty, others such as the US, England, Germany, and others aren't so lax.
Here is some more information on the subject THE WIPO COPYRIGHT TREATIES IMPLEMENTATION ACT -- HON. HOWARD COBLE (Extension of Remarks - June 23, 1998)
I am not familiar with coding Flash (ActionScript) programs. I think it would be an interesting topic to persue.
Seriously, why is it not illegal for them to send us advertisements in the first place? They are wasting bandwidth that we pay for. I could see a business case where you got internet access for free, so long as you agreed to receive advertisments, but when I pay for my access I do not want to receive advertising. The internet is not cable television and should not be treated as such.
I think it will be only a matter of time before you begin to see websites that won't let you enter unless you agree to view advertisements. Quickly following, the MPAA will start to encroach further upon the freedoms of the net surfers by lobbying (successfully) to make it illegal to not view advertisements. Similar to the situation we have with DVD players not allowing you to skip previews, PVR devices not allowing you to not record commercials, and commericals in addition to movie previews in theaters. The culmination will be the MPAA and RIAA working with the Madison Ave. folks to force commercial breaks in schools for your children (you know....to generate brand loyalty early)
The Proxomitron a software filter, offers the ability to filter flash. Unfortunately, you either get flash or you don't.
I've had some issues with the patch system as well. But Gemini's download page contains all I need. Hopefully, the patch device will work correctly at release.
The only real beef I have with this game is the steep learning curve on the user interface.
The game was awesome. The storyline was intriguing and we know that the "conspiracy theory" movies work very well. I would love to see this project come to fruition.
I would like to know the source of the rumors for Emminem being the "star" of the show. I have a hard time seeing him as an "action" hero type. I would like to see maybe a Choy Yun Phat, Jet Li, Wesley Snipes, or Jason Statham type as the character for JC. I think that they already have the required aire about them to be in the lead role.
It will be a long time before we see the distributorships carrying "biodiesel" as opposed to good'ol number 2 diesel. The downward pressure that the oil companies could apply to the market would make petroleum diesel cheaper to purchase than biodiesel.
Vegetable oil is not the only option for "alternative" fuels. Offal from poultry can be used to generate gasoline. Does this spell the end of petroleum dependence? Will this increase the popularity of Chick-fil-a [copyright]? Who knows! I at least enjoy having other options.
As a side note, I am prototyping a business model for commercially producing bio-diesel. I'll let you know how it goes!
Disclaimer: I have not created a "homebrew" TiVO.
Now, having said that I would like to point you to this link, where you can find a nifty linux project. Let me know if it works for you!
There are a couple of good sites.
While I have not read the entire article, I am reading the "Summary of Findings" and it has brought to my attention some "confusing" numbers.
Note the 42% figure which represents the percentage of Americans who say they do not use the internet.
Note the 20% figure. Their claim of internet non-use is dubious at best as they clearly have an indirect experience with obtaining internet data.
This 17% figure for the number of people who have quit using the internet, when coupled with the previous 20% figure for "Net Evaders" yields 37%.
Apparently 24% of Americans are truly offline. If there are 24% of Americans "...who have no direct or indirect experience with the internet", that only leaves 18% (42% - 24% = 18%) to be distributed between the Net Evaders and Net Dropouts. However, we clearly know from the article, that the combined total of Net Evaders and Net Dropouts is 37%. The three percentages that the article references (as a part of the 42% whole) do not add up to 42%. Instead they add up to 61%. Am I mis-reading the article? Does the 24% not belong to the 42%? If it doesn't then the total percentage of Americans who either; say they don't use the internet, or are genuinely disconnected is actually 66%. That leaves 34% of Americans to be connected and acknowledge their connection.
Ahh....I forgot that electrons had a mass. Albeit a really small amount.
The new privacy czar made it her business to clean up DoubleClick's abhorrent behavior. You should read the article before commenting, it will prevent errors such as the one you have made.
Did O'Conner Kelly donate to the Republican party?
All industries use private information for their own profit. Who would you suggest they use?
Actually O'Conner Kelly is a gal, not a guy. The article clearly states this with the pronoun "she" being repeated often. While the article doesn't say that the privacy community endorses her as a choice, it does say that they viewed her as a consensus builder. Not a negative connotation.
Electrons only travel at 1/10 the speed of light? I was under the impression that all objects on the electromagnetic spectrum traveled at the speed of light (in a vacuum). Am I incorrect?
Perhaps this has already been brought up, but wouldn't the bandwidth provided by this MAN allow for huge Beowulf's or similar clustered supercomputers? Essentially your buildings could be superclusters. Then again, perhaps the signal latency between buildings would slow things down. I don't know.
Perhaps large corps. could subsidize the amount a person pays in rental if each person agreed to run a program like SETI@home in the background. Perhaps a computers spare clock cycles could be harnessed for grid computing activities. That would be a great use of the extra bandwidth.
I read a chapter in a book, I believe it is entitled "The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence" (don't have it handy so I can't be sure of the title), that provided a decent, minimally-technical, discussion on the potential for finding life elsewhere in the cosmos. Essentially, this chapter discussed the topic of possible xenobiological requirements that are based on various lifeform "types". For those lifeform types that rely on a similar set of chemical reactions as we do, the book suggested that a planet where ammonium (liquid form) was in abundance, would provide a suitable environment for that lifeform to develop. At least as far as the medium in which the chemical reactions that occur in the lifeform is concerned (the physical requirments of gravity, temperature, etc... are another discussion). The book stated that nearly all of the chemical reactions that occur in our body could occur equally well in ammonium. Mind you, not all of the reactions that our body requires can occur in ammonium. However, it is reasonable to think that the alien lifeform wouldn't require the exact same reactions. At any rate, it was an interesting read.
In an article posted here AMD announces its new naming scheme for the Opteron family of processors. With their new model number scheme, they continue to fight the association of frequency with performance. The model numbers are new, but not the fight.