The author leaves his house to go pick up his four children from school and gets hit by a bus. Should that work go public domain as his body cools?
The entire point of granting a copyright (remember, it's a positive right) is to encourage the production of new works. Once you're dead, no amount of encouragement can wrest a new work out of you.
Sucks if you're the child of a bus-smitten author, but no less than if your're the child of a bus-smitten general contractor.
The film starts out with a potential violation, with Disney's film opening (the castle, and tune that goes with it).
Disney's logo is shown, while additional text above it says, essentially, "this is not endorsed or created by..." No potential confusion there, so the trademark (not copyright) is used appropriately.
Oh, and the original copyright term was fourteen years, not seventeen. Personally, I can't comprehend why the digital age needs longer copyrights than the founders thought appropriate in the age of crude printing presses. It should be more like seven, these days.
We routinely provide final/external documents as PDF files
You still have to be careful. There was a case (probably several) a few years ago where PDF files were redacted with black boxes drawn over the withheld text. It worked fine if viewed casually, but of course the text was still actually there.
Even better, OSX's Preview (the default PDF viewer) didn't support whatever they used to make the boxes at that time , so they just didn't show up at all.
What was the name of that Internet "law" (more like an observation) that once you reach a point far enough to the political right, your viewpoint becomes indistinguishable from satire?
You're thinking of the law that "once you reach a point far enought to the political right, your viewpoint becomes indistinguishable from your liberal girlfriend's."
At that point, video services could investigate for themselves,
What makes you think they start now? Heck, it took a user rebellion for Digg to grow a pair and refuse to take down a fraking number.
...let the copyright holder investigate / whatever.
Right. And we can trust the copyright holder to diligently consider the fair use value of things like a parody campaign against the Colbert Report. They're just going to fingerprint everything and have a robot send out notices, just like they've always done. Your 'fair use' will have to be backed up by lawyers, or it ain't going to happen.
Why don't they just release patches as the make them? Is there a specific reason that they hold them all until "patch Tuesday?"
My guess is precisely to keep it a manageable, once a month job. I don't see how a patch-a-day is going to make IT's life any easier (although it would be a good excuse to hire more staff.)
Just because your personal representative doesn't vote the way you want him to does not mean that he is voting because of the party line
No, but when they ALL vote that way, it means exactly that.
It gets worse. On many items (NAFTA. Immigration Reform. etc.) BOTH parties line up on the same side of the ball, so you can't even make a difference by jumping ship.
(or, more likely steal them and fence them to a man who has the tools)
Hmm. You're probably right. This will likely only deter the most casual of thiefs, and annoy many more paying customers (who would then feel completely justified in D/Ling the CD.)
This "protection mechanism" will be broken, just like every other one has been.
I think you're confusing inventory control (which is what this is) with copyright infringement.
Assuming that this works as described, this is a good thing. Markup from stolen discs is a real cost factor, not to mention the markup from excessive packaging that is the only real deterent we have now.
However, I just don't think they'll be able to resist the opportunity to add some sort of anti-copying tech in there, if only to tie in "copying" with actual "stealing."
In which case, you have no confusion, and yes, it will be broken. Extra irony points will be awarded for to the extra costs associated with this technology.
As an American, would you want something that vital to your national defense completely controlled by the Europeans?
The EU seems perfectly happy to rely on the US for their defense, so why is GPS an issue? Seriously, I don't get it. It's like building your own internet. There's a decent one in place, why spend the money to...
There's a very interesting story in the Health section of Digg. It's about improving your memory by memorizing a certain sequence of alphanumeric characters...
The company is starting its business by trying to appeal to users of desktop computers. From there, Canonical Chief Executive Mark Shuttleworth has said, the company plans to head to the server market, where the real Linux bread and butter can be found...
What? If servers are where the money is, why not start there? If I was a stockholder I'd be concerned about that approach.
I'm just running an incredibly modern-futuristic computer here, but my computer arranges letter closer together and further apart depending on their shapes... is that different from 'kerning'?
Related, but more different than not.
There are monospaced fonts, where each letter takes up the same amount of space regardless of shape, so xxx and iii are the same width. Then there are proportional fonts, where the letters are as wide as the rectangle it takes to contain them, so xxx is much wider than iii. This is what you're thinking of.
Kerning takes it a step further. A proportional font that doesn't have some kind of hinting (and a program that can read/implement that) will still put too much space between the letters VA, while one that does will allow the V and A to 'invade' each other's rectangle. It can get quite complex with all the different glyphs (letterforms) that have to work with each other.
I'm mystified as to who would say computers can't do this, since I use them to do exactly that every day. It really has more to do with the fonts and applications (and possibly the OS) you are using.
Oy. So now it makes a difference if I'm using my own computer or not? Or if I'm eating a bagel while logging in? Or if I have a hangover? Because my typing pattern is going to be different in each case.
Movies will still survive through private patronage or government subsidies.
There's another option, one that we've already seen. Sell the 'bugs' on your show (those little ghosted images that are normally used for network ID.) Why advertise a network when you don't need one? Skip the network, get the advertisor to fund the project, and put his logo up in the bug's place. Then release it everywhere.
Fun part is, the more copies that are made, the more bang the advertisor gets for his buck. Later, you can sell bug-free DVDs for the hardcore fans.
This idea was brought up by an American scholar at an Aussie university, but I'm blanking on either name. I caught his speech on bittorrent a while back...
Slashdot Mirror
The author leaves his house to go pick up his four children from school and gets hit by a bus. Should that work go public domain as his body cools?
The entire point of granting a copyright (remember, it's a positive right) is to encourage the production of new works. Once you're dead, no amount of encouragement can wrest a new work out of you.
Sucks if you're the child of a bus-smitten author, but no less than if your're the child of a bus-smitten general contractor.
The film starts out with a potential violation, with Disney's film opening (the castle, and tune that goes with it).
Disney's logo is shown, while additional text above it says, essentially, "this is not endorsed or created by..." No potential confusion there, so the trademark (not copyright) is used appropriately.
Oh, and the original copyright term was fourteen years, not seventeen. Personally, I can't comprehend why the digital age needs longer copyrights than the founders thought appropriate in the age of crude printing presses. It should be more like seven, these days.
We routinely provide final/external documents as PDF files
You still have to be careful. There was a case (probably several) a few years ago where PDF files were redacted with black boxes drawn over the withheld text. It worked fine if viewed casually, but of course the text was still actually there.
Even better, OSX's Preview (the default PDF viewer) didn't support whatever they used to make the boxes at that time , so they just didn't show up at all.
(Hey has Microsoft patented daily crashes yet?)
Yes, but purely as a defensive measure.
What was the name of that Internet "law" (more like an observation) that once you reach a point far enough to the political right, your viewpoint becomes indistinguishable from satire?
You're thinking of the law that "once you reach a point far enought to the political right, your viewpoint becomes indistinguishable from your liberal girlfriend's."
Oddly, it's equally disturbing for both parties.
They even left the words SPNKR on the side of the rocket launcher...
Added them, actually. The graphics weren't good enough to show it in the original Marathon. It was shown in the accompanying booklet, IIRC.
That said, I would totally love to see a Halo done side-scrolling style. That could be a hoot.
At that point, video services could investigate for themselves,
What makes you think they start now? Heck, it took a user rebellion for Digg to grow a pair and refuse to take down a fraking number.
Right. And we can trust the copyright holder to diligently consider the fair use value of things like a parody campaign against the Colbert Report. They're just going to fingerprint everything and have a robot send out notices, just like they've always done. Your 'fair use' will have to be backed up by lawyers, or it ain't going to happen.
There's your "unlikely, but possible" fair use issues.
Really. You'd think the /. crowd would have learned something from the submarine patent guys by now....
It's kind of like Catholics during the Inquisition
Nooooobody expects the MCSEs!
Now if only their tricks of trade were as harmless as a comfy chair...
Then Myspace would have to be invented.
Or Wired.
Yeah, they've gotten better, but they still spin the random color wheels every now and again.
Why don't they just release patches as the make them? Is there a specific reason that they hold them all until "patch Tuesday?"
My guess is precisely to keep it a manageable, once a month job. I don't see how a patch-a-day is going to make IT's life any easier (although it would be a good excuse to hire more staff.)
Just because your personal representative doesn't vote the way you want him to does not mean that he is voting because of the party line
No, but when they ALL vote that way, it means exactly that.
It gets worse. On many items (NAFTA. Immigration Reform. etc.) BOTH parties line up on the same side of the ball, so you can't even make a difference by jumping ship.
(or, more likely steal them and fence them to a man who has the tools)
Hmm. You're probably right. This will likely only deter the most casual of thiefs, and annoy many more paying customers (who would then feel completely justified in D/Ling the CD.)
This "protection mechanism" will be broken, just like every other one has been.
I think you're confusing inventory control (which is what this is) with copyright infringement.
Assuming that this works as described, this is a good thing. Markup from stolen discs is a real cost factor, not to mention the markup from excessive packaging that is the only real deterent we have now.
However, I just don't think they'll be able to resist the opportunity to add some sort of anti-copying tech in there, if only to tie in "copying" with actual "stealing."
In which case, you have no confusion, and yes, it will be broken. Extra irony points will be awarded for to the extra costs associated with this technology.
As an American, would you want something that vital to your national defense completely controlled by the Europeans?
The EU seems perfectly happy to rely on the US for their defense, so why is GPS an issue? Seriously, I don't get it. It's like building your own internet. There's a decent one in place, why spend the money to...
Oh, wait, I think I do get it.
The real target of this action is likely a different audience, namely Hollywood
+5 Insightful (sorry, I don't have real mod points.)
Take that Eisner!
Yeah, funny, but the copyright maximalists have just gotten another arrow in their quiver.
Weird how those numbers get pulled from Digg ...
There's a very interesting story in the Health section of Digg. It's about improving your memory by memorizing a certain sequence of alphanumeric characters...
I wonder how long that one will last.
The company is starting its business by trying to appeal to users of desktop computers. From there, Canonical Chief Executive Mark Shuttleworth has said, the company plans to head to the server market, where the real Linux bread and butter can be found...
What? If servers are where the money is, why not start there? If I was a stockholder I'd be concerned about that approach.
I'm just running an incredibly modern-futuristic computer here, but my computer arranges letter closer together and further apart depending on their shapes... is that different from 'kerning'?
Related, but more different than not.
There are monospaced fonts, where each letter takes up the same amount of space regardless of shape, so xxx and iii are the same width. Then there are proportional fonts, where the letters are as wide as the rectangle it takes to contain them, so xxx is much wider than iii. This is what you're thinking of.
Kerning takes it a step further. A proportional font that doesn't have some kind of hinting (and a program that can read/implement that) will still put too much space between the letters VA, while one that does will allow the V and A to 'invade' each other's rectangle. It can get quite complex with all the different glyphs (letterforms) that have to work with each other.
I'm mystified as to who would say computers can't do this, since I use them to do exactly that every day. It really has more to do with the fonts and applications (and possibly the OS) you are using.
Oy. So now it makes a difference if I'm using my own computer or not? Or if I'm eating a bagel while logging in? Or if I have a hangover? Because my typing pattern is going to be different in each case.
It's still one step closer than it was. Yes, there's time to stop it before it arrives, but right now it is approaching.
Movies will still survive through private patronage or government subsidies.
There's another option, one that we've already seen. Sell the 'bugs' on your show (those little ghosted images that are normally used for network ID.) Why advertise a network when you don't need one? Skip the network, get the advertisor to fund the project, and put his logo up in the bug's place. Then release it everywhere.
Fun part is, the more copies that are made, the more bang the advertisor gets for his buck. Later, you can sell bug-free DVDs for the hardcore fans.
This idea was brought up by an American scholar at an Aussie university, but I'm blanking on either name. I caught his speech on bittorrent a while back...
I guess all the mods today are as young as the students putting up the sticky notes...