The "Special Edition" DVD was going to be 90% recycled material from the original Matrix and Matrix Revisited DVDs, with only a bit more added. Perhaps someone realized that no one was going to buy it. (casual fans would just buy the movie, hardcore fans already have 'Revisited') Kudos to the Wachowskis for NOT trying to gouge their fans!
I was just thinking about this in the shower. Let's say that Mr. Deregulation-Powell gets his way sometime soon, and the whole of the phone system is deregulated. This means, de facto, that the phone system is under private ownership. The phone system was paid for by public funds and SHOULD be a public holding, yet increasingly it is not being treated as such. Handing it over part and parcel to the TelComs would be a seriously Bad Thing for the consumers, except...
If the phone system is completely deregulated and basically owned by the TelComs, then every private citizen has no obligation to let their land be used for free.
That was part of the bargain. We The People get a telephone system, if we agree to let our lawns get dug up and subsonics-emitting telephone lines placed over our houses. If the telephone industry is ruled to be a private venture, then this deal goes out the window - and every citizen in the country would have a completely legitimate right to demand compensation for the use of his property. (no difference than cellular networks paying to place relays on private property) A big enough class action lawsuit would effectively cripple the nation's telecommunications, UNLESS the government stepped in to restore some balance.
(downside, they could swing the other way and rule that we HAVE to give up our land in exchange for nothing. And that would be far more communistic than the system as its supposed to work, and very unlikely to stand up in court)
This is just California power-grabbing. In the last couple years, CA judges have, for the most part, being taking every opportunity to try to expand their jurisdiction, whether it's legal, logical, or even feasible. As has been pointed out, even IF Kazaa was successfully sued, it's absolutely unenforcible. All of its business offices are located out of country, and the servers are pretty much decentralized.
So, let's say the trial proceeds, and Kazaa is fined millions of dollars in a court order. Kazaa says 'Neener neener, we're in Austrailia' and ignores it. Since ignoring a court order is a felony, Federal charges would be filed. Kazaa ignores those as well. At which point the US government might try to tell Austrailia to send them to us, and Austrailia would tell us to piss off. At which point the matter is ended. If the people who made Kazaa never step foot in the US, nothing else happens. (and given what happened to Skylarov, I highly doubt they planned to EVER come to the US)
End of story.
It's kind of sad how many of those figures I had. And also the ghost Obi-Wan (translucent plastic), the Nein Numb, and the Emperor. But isn't this better suited for Fark than/. ?
I *thought* it was parody (the reference to feral teens on the main page) but I wasn't willing to stake my (nonexistant) reputation on it. There are too many Change-Through-Hysteria groups like this which ARE serious for me to immediately write it off.
You can't parody what is already ludicrous.
First off, I have no doubt that they'll sell out. I cannot imagine anyone, no matter how crazy, refusing an offer of nearly $500 million in cash. Which means this will become, essentially, Sony vs Microsoft. (hmm, where ELSE is that battle happening) And either way it goes, it's not going to do the consumer the slightest bit of good. (ok, well, it could force the X-Box off the market and thereby let Rare go back to making Nintendo and PS games. That's good, right?)
Really, does anyone else feel like we're just standing around watching Godzilla and Rodan duke it out, with nothing to do but pray they don't trod upon us?
These are easy means of distribution to independent content producers, if they're shut down, what are we supposed to do.
Isn't it obvious? You are SUPPOSED to sign away your soul to the big trade federations and not operate independently. In their eyes, you are JUST as bad as a pirate, if not worse. (since you're advocating the free voluntary distribution of material) Every person who works independently is another chip away at their shield. If enough go 'solo' then they crumble, and they know it.
Did you see the article a few days ago which suggests the RIAA has entirely fabricated its claims to massively reduced profits due to file-sharing? Turns out that the amount their profits are down almost perfectly lines up with how many fewer CDs they're putting out. Therefore, even for a deluded marketeer, the billions they've been spending to stop file sharing is nonsensical - unless it ISN'T about piracy at all, but rather about trying to stop *all* electronic distribution of content they don't control. Then it all makes perfect sense - in a horrible, Machiavellian sort of way.
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The "Special Edition" DVD was going to be 90% recycled material from the original Matrix and Matrix Revisited DVDs, with only a bit more added. Perhaps someone realized that no one was going to buy it. (casual fans would just buy the movie, hardcore fans already have 'Revisited') Kudos to the Wachowskis for NOT trying to gouge their fans!
I was just thinking about this in the shower. Let's say that Mr. Deregulation-Powell gets his way sometime soon, and the whole of the phone system is deregulated. This means, de facto, that the phone system is under private ownership. The phone system was paid for by public funds and SHOULD be a public holding, yet increasingly it is not being treated as such. Handing it over part and parcel to the TelComs would be a seriously Bad Thing for the consumers, except...
If the phone system is completely deregulated and basically owned by the TelComs, then every private citizen has no obligation to let their land be used for free.
That was part of the bargain. We The People get a telephone system, if we agree to let our lawns get dug up and subsonics-emitting telephone lines placed over our houses. If the telephone industry is ruled to be a private venture, then this deal goes out the window - and every citizen in the country would have a completely legitimate right to demand compensation for the use of his property. (no difference than cellular networks paying to place relays on private property) A big enough class action lawsuit would effectively cripple the nation's telecommunications, UNLESS the government stepped in to restore some balance.
(downside, they could swing the other way and rule that we HAVE to give up our land in exchange for nothing. And that would be far more communistic than the system as its supposed to work, and very unlikely to stand up in court)
Except that Rare is not Japanese...
This is just California power-grabbing. In the last couple years, CA judges have, for the most part, being taking every opportunity to try to expand their jurisdiction, whether it's legal, logical, or even feasible. As has been pointed out, even IF Kazaa was successfully sued, it's absolutely unenforcible. All of its business offices are located out of country, and the servers are pretty much decentralized. So, let's say the trial proceeds, and Kazaa is fined millions of dollars in a court order. Kazaa says 'Neener neener, we're in Austrailia' and ignores it. Since ignoring a court order is a felony, Federal charges would be filed. Kazaa ignores those as well. At which point the US government might try to tell Austrailia to send them to us, and Austrailia would tell us to piss off. At which point the matter is ended. If the people who made Kazaa never step foot in the US, nothing else happens. (and given what happened to Skylarov, I highly doubt they planned to EVER come to the US) End of story.
It's kind of sad how many of those figures I had. And also the ghost Obi-Wan (translucent plastic), the Nein Numb, and the Emperor. But isn't this better suited for Fark than /. ?
I *thought* it was parody (the reference to feral teens on the main page) but I wasn't willing to stake my (nonexistant) reputation on it. There are too many Change-Through-Hysteria groups like this which ARE serious for me to immediately write it off. You can't parody what is already ludicrous.
First off, I have no doubt that they'll sell out. I cannot imagine anyone, no matter how crazy, refusing an offer of nearly $500 million in cash. Which means this will become, essentially, Sony vs Microsoft. (hmm, where ELSE is that battle happening) And either way it goes, it's not going to do the consumer the slightest bit of good. (ok, well, it could force the X-Box off the market and thereby let Rare go back to making Nintendo and PS games. That's good, right?) Really, does anyone else feel like we're just standing around watching Godzilla and Rodan duke it out, with nothing to do but pray they don't trod upon us?
These are easy means of distribution to independent content producers, if they're shut down, what are we supposed to do.
Isn't it obvious? You are SUPPOSED to sign away your soul to the big trade federations and not operate independently. In their eyes, you are JUST as bad as a pirate, if not worse. (since you're advocating the free voluntary distribution of material) Every person who works independently is another chip away at their shield. If enough go 'solo' then they crumble, and they know it.
Did you see the article a few days ago which suggests the RIAA has entirely fabricated its claims to massively reduced profits due to file-sharing? Turns out that the amount their profits are down almost perfectly lines up with how many fewer CDs they're putting out. Therefore, even for a deluded marketeer, the billions they've been spending to stop file sharing is nonsensical - unless it ISN'T about piracy at all, but rather about trying to stop *all* electronic distribution of content they don't control. Then it all makes perfect sense - in a horrible, Machiavellian sort of way.