Oh really? "Rightfully theirs"? I dare you to say that to the face of a musician or an artist or an author. I dare you.
There are plenty of artists here... I did say it to their face now and I have said it many times before.
I dare you to tell the holiday cheerleaders that they can't sing Jingle Bells, go to see holiday plays and concerts, or enjoy any of the other various rights they enjoy because copyright law did not extend into infinity.
And if you want to make a point about it by breaking the law as a form of civil disobedience, remember (unlike so many current-day protesters) that the hallmark of civil disobedience is being arrested and charged with a crime.
Sadly, it's not a criminal offense! These are civil court rulings and the "damages" are inflated beyond belief because the media conglomorates have the money, lawyers, and lawmakers on their side.
Civil disobedience cannot win in the traditional sense here (i.e. being arrested and charged) as we just don't have the money, power, or government on our side. Civil disobedience in the contemporary sense has already begun to win... We have made the media conglomorates clamor to get their wares out on the Internet in a downloadable format, their DVDs out on the shelves within a few months of release in the theatre for a reasonable price, and we have gotten the attention of the masses to continue to do what they have been doing to push for more.
Sadly, I doubt the masses understand that what they did is a good thing. They are always happy with the bare minimum. Ooooh, iTunes! I'm good. No! We need to continue to push them to stop slowly eroding our fair-use rights while giving us the glitz and glamour of this and that Media Store on the web...
The cost of creation, at least for Hollywood and game companies, is rapidly approaching infinity.
That's somehow our fault and we should be punished for it? It is *not* the public's burden to have to support crazed, millionare actors; over-budget films with bad acting, no plot, and too many special effects; fad, cookie-cutter bands, that exhaust their appeal in two months, and expensive videos that may run for one week...
If the media companies want to waste their money on that, fine, but don't expect us to wait out 90+ years (when everyone who saw the movie when it was made) is dead.
Perhaps if movie companies had to make sure that they recouped all their lost money in less than 10 years they would stop paying artists the exorbidant salaries they do, would stop rushing out unfinished and questionable material, and would stop wasting their money on talentless people just because their boob job is top-notch.
This makes no sense. Copyright was originally intended to encourage publication by granting publishers a temporary monopoly on works so they could earn a return on their investment. But the internet and new digital technologies have made the publication and distribution of works much easier and cheaper. Publishers should therefore need fewer, not more, property rights to protect their investment. Technology has tipped the balance in favour of the public domain.
Exactly! In this day and age, most media that is published is *long* forgotten after only a few months. The only reason the conglomorates want this 90+ year protection is so that they can gaurantee that every single person alive when the piece of material was produced will be dead before it can be used somewhere else.
That isn't protecting distribution to make back profit, that's protecting big business to control every facet of their holdings while fucking the public out of what should have been rightfully theirs.
It's really sad that the lawmakers and interpreters are either ignoring this important fact (or color blind -- green).
They're convinced that they can get you to buy into a plan that has you downloading songs from their service, while they charge you airtime for browsing and downloading, on top of the price per song.
They're convinced because people do it. Ringtones, applications, and stupid games for mobile phones is a billion+ dollar a year industry.
For 30 second ringtones with crappy quality, T-mobile gets to charge $1.25+ each and people buy into it!
I'll be more worried when they realize that they could make even more money by charging you to put your phone on buzz.
Some one find some screen shots or we will have nothing to talk about.
Well, you have something to talk about because the article is still alive. If they posted the screenshots (like they usually do) the server would have been down in flames with 1 comment posted.
Yeah, we all bitch when it's Slashdotted so now we are going to bitch when it's even less likely it will be?
You probably aren't in school anymore. Most usage policies that I've seen explicitly state something along the lines of 'criminal computer damage' or 'charges may be filed'.
You apparently didn't read the District's Usage Policy. In fact, I know you didn't or you wouldn't have questioned me. Let me help you:
From their FAQ which was linked in the Slashdot blurb.
Will students be able to install software on the laptop? No, students installing software on school owned computers is a direct violation of the KASD Computer Policy. Students who violate the policy will be disciplined. All of the software necessary to integrate the laptop technology into the curriculum will be installed when the laptop is issued to the student. Security monitoring software will be used on all of the computers to assure that software is not loaded on the laptops. See the "Software" webpage in regards to the software installed on each laptop.
Will students be able to email, chat, and play games on their laptops? Chat, IM, games, and email software will be removed from all computers. Student use of email, chatting, IM, and game playing is a direct violation of the KASD computer policy. Students who violate the computer policy will be disciplined.
What will the school do to help prevent students from going to inappropriate sites? The KASD has a software/hardware product which is designed to help monitor all Internet sites that students attempt to access. This software/hardware blocks inappropriate sites and also logs a history of every site that each user opens. Students who attempt to find inappropriate sites will be disciplined. The current KASD content filter meets CIPA guidelines.
Just to be sure that I didn't miss anything I read it twice. Nothing in there about filing criminal charges.
Obviously I don't need to be in school anymore as I can read *and* comprehend.
"I knew it was against school policy," he said. "But I didn't know it was a felony."
Of course they didn't. You know why? Because, "Students who violate the computer policy will be disciplined" does not imply that criminal charges will be filed. It implies that the students could receive in-school sanction.
This is a bunch of hyped up and unnecessary bullshit. If you're going to give laptops out you better bet that they are going to be used for unintended purposes. By bringing criminal charges you are doing nothing but wasting even MORE of the taxpayers dollars for something dumb.
Discipline them in-house (like they did to us in high-school - made us sit in the hot school all summer doing NOTHING - it's worse than paying a fine and doing community service)
Just take a look at my website (I guess it's a blog). What are people searching for according to Webalizer? "saturn sucks".
I'm the third link for that search term. You think Saturn gives a shit? I doubt it. People interested in buying a Saturn are going to type in "Saturn cars" for their query and not "saturn sucks".
Yeah, so what, my engine has blown multiple times due to moronic techs. Who's going to know about that expect people who already hate Saturns?
Very true. I really don't see that much e-mail from people on Hotmail anyway. Then again, most of the people I know don't use MSN Messenger either. Obviously people do use it or it wouldn't exist.
GMail and Yahoo could get a huge boost in their userbase from this *or* MSN could gain users as the spam level drops to near zero.
Thing is, do I really want to worry about my GMail storage capacity if more people leave Hotmail in droves?;)
I'm not saying "people from India are criminals". I'm saying someone [anywhere] who is paid like shit to do a job is likely going to try and supplement their income.
Fascinating stories abound, like the cross-industry meetings between Hollywood lawyers, gutless wonders from the consumer electronics industry, and reps from the tech sector discussing how to divide the world into region codes like the powers at Potsdam. (one studio went so far as to propose that GPS chips be placed in all computers with a DVD player so that Hollywood could enforce region coding from the sky. It's reported here for the first time.)
Fascinating for sure but more like science fiction or out and out bullshit. GPS units don't work so well inside buildings. Hell, they don't work so well in tree covered areas (depending on the unit and antenna).
Considering how many people think digital TV is some kind of constitutional right, I suspect we'll get a broadcast flag along with subsidized digital TV -- to protect our way of life, fight terrorism, and to save the children.
Did the massive phone campaign advocated by Public Knowledge manage to dissuade the senators?
No, see below.
Did the senators decide against this course of action on their own?
Senators don't have free thought. They are paid by corporations to think/act like the corporations tell them to.
Or was this just an unfounded rumor to begin with?
Probably unfounded or at least only partially true. If anything, there was something far more insidious going on elsewhere and this was an attempt to divert the all powerful Slashdot crowd's attention to something worthless.
Since the patriot act hasn't been as widely abused as some would have you believe, it hasn't been significantly tested in the courts.
We know this because of the report that was published? Oh give me a fucking break man. The Patriot Act itself creates a barrier to insulate itself from information leaks and they want to make it even MORE powerful?
Explain to me how your statement makes sense in the face of that evidence? "Oh no one is being hurt by the Patriot Act even though they couldn't tell you if they were."
Great, the courts can't stop something that in itself doesn't allow itself to be stopped. Nice.
Yeash people. Believe it or not, the US court system does tend to work correctly.
It tends to work correctly on shit that really doesn't matter (i.e. GIS data). It doesn't seem to work very well for civil rights violations such as the Patriot Act.
Yes, the people should stand up and revolt against the Patriot Act and those lawmakers, regime leaders, and officers of the court that aren't doing anything to stop it. Should we get bent out of shape over GIS data? No.
This is a step in the right direction showing that the information does need to be public even if someone uses the word "sensitive" or "terrorism".
Look at the NSA, CIA, random military bases. You're liable to be shot on sight if you sneak into them, and the information available there is simply an order of magnitude more sensitive.
GIS data (as I have proven) is not sensitive information. I have a feeling that at least some of what the CIA and NSA do is probably top secret and a cause for concern of our Nation's security.
Where taxes go up and down is not sensitive. How much my neighbors pay in taxes on their houses is quite important and is even more important when you are looking for a place to live (the true reason they don't want to pony up the information).
Let's not compare oranges and apples here. GIS != NSA/CIA regardless of how it is funded.
So what's the point in hiding "public" information. Its like banning "google maps".
It's worse. Google is a for-profit company that creates software solutions for the public using public data. If they are charged for the use of the GIS data, fine.
The public, who paid for and even submitted the information stored in the GIS databases, should be able to freely examine and use the information as they see fit. There should be no restrictions on this, especially monetary or it will be another double-fuck fleecing of the public.
Yay, we paid for the taxes to collect this data and wasted our free time giving you Census information and now we have to pay to see it used in a useful manner?
If someone banned Google Maps I wouldn't really care. If the governments continue to close up our free access to information I will continue to get annoyed.
So, tax information (boundaries and assessments), streets and address ranges, future land-use plans, city/county boundaries, building permits, census data, and waterways information. Yes, obviously all these is sensitive data that needs to be protected from possible terrorists.
Believe me people, if the terrorists wanted to poison the water supply they wouldn't need the GIS data to figure out how to do it. They also probably really don't care about the Census data to figure out population centers (especially in Greenwich). I highly doubt they care about tax information like assessment values and boundaries as Greenwich is all high-cost living for the most part.
GIS data should be freely examinable. We paid for it as taxpayers and even helped to contribute the data (Census) so why shouldn't we be able to access it? In fact, Portland's $900 for the data is too steep. It should be free for non-commercial use IMHO.
Next they'll make it all available but in a ROT-13 CSV file so they can protect it under the DMCA! Blah.
At least the courts knew better this time and ruled in favor of open information that the public paid for.
But the problem is showing the lawmakers (and interpreters) that this is how the world works. Their unfortunate and common misconceptions about how the technical world works is what causes this shit in the first place.
It also causes people to get off on technicalities when they are surfing illegal porn.
Slashdot Mirror
Oh really? "Rightfully theirs"? I dare you to say that to the face of a musician or an artist or an author. I dare you.
There are plenty of artists here... I did say it to their face now and I have said it many times before.
I dare you to tell the holiday cheerleaders that they can't sing Jingle Bells, go to see holiday plays and concerts, or enjoy any of the other various rights they enjoy because copyright law did not extend into infinity.
And if you want to make a point about it by breaking the law as a form of civil disobedience, remember (unlike so many current-day protesters) that the hallmark of civil disobedience is being arrested and charged with a crime.
Sadly, it's not a criminal offense! These are civil court rulings and the "damages" are inflated beyond belief because the media conglomorates have the money, lawyers, and lawmakers on their side.
Civil disobedience cannot win in the traditional sense here (i.e. being arrested and charged) as we just don't have the money, power, or government on our side. Civil disobedience in the contemporary sense has already begun to win... We have made the media conglomorates clamor to get their wares out on the Internet in a downloadable format, their DVDs out on the shelves within a few months of release in the theatre for a reasonable price, and we have gotten the attention of the masses to continue to do what they have been doing to push for more.
Sadly, I doubt the masses understand that what they did is a good thing. They are always happy with the bare minimum. Ooooh, iTunes! I'm good. No! We need to continue to push them to stop slowly eroding our fair-use rights while giving us the glitz and glamour of this and that Media Store on the web...
The cost of creation, at least for Hollywood and game companies, is rapidly approaching infinity.
That's somehow our fault and we should be punished for it? It is *not* the public's burden to have to support crazed, millionare actors; over-budget films with bad acting, no plot, and too many special effects; fad, cookie-cutter bands, that exhaust their appeal in two months, and expensive videos that may run for one week...
If the media companies want to waste their money on that, fine, but don't expect us to wait out 90+ years (when everyone who saw the movie when it was made) is dead.
Perhaps if movie companies had to make sure that they recouped all their lost money in less than 10 years they would stop paying artists the exorbidant salaries they do, would stop rushing out unfinished and questionable material, and would stop wasting their money on talentless people just because their boob job is top-notch.
This makes no sense. Copyright was originally intended to encourage publication by granting publishers a temporary monopoly on works so they could earn a return on their investment. But the internet and new digital technologies have made the publication and distribution of works much easier and cheaper. Publishers should therefore need fewer, not more, property rights to protect their investment. Technology has tipped the balance in favour of the public domain.
Exactly! In this day and age, most media that is published is *long* forgotten after only a few months. The only reason the conglomorates want this 90+ year protection is so that they can gaurantee that every single person alive when the piece of material was produced will be dead before it can be used somewhere else.
That isn't protecting distribution to make back profit, that's protecting big business to control every facet of their holdings while fucking the public out of what should have been rightfully theirs.
It's really sad that the lawmakers and interpreters are either ignoring this important fact (or color blind -- green).
Eight years is too much, nevermind 28 or 90+!
They're convinced that they can get you to buy into a plan that has you downloading songs from their service, while they charge you airtime for browsing and downloading, on top of the price per song.
They're convinced because people do it. Ringtones, applications, and stupid games for mobile phones is a billion+ dollar a year industry.
For 30 second ringtones with crappy quality, T-mobile gets to charge $1.25+ each and people buy into it!
I'll be more worried when they realize that they could make even more money by charging you to put your phone on buzz.
OK, so what are the odds that the problem with the link is due to a faulty tap by an *unnamed* government?
I'd be more worried if *my* Internet pipe went down due to a *unnamed* Government tap or if our Country's Internet pipe went down.
I have no need to put the tinfoil on for Pakistan.
Some one find some screen shots or we will have nothing to talk about.
Well, you have something to talk about because the article is still alive. If they posted the screenshots (like they usually do) the server would have been down in flames with 1 comment posted.
Yeah, we all bitch when it's Slashdotted so now we are going to bitch when it's even less likely it will be?
You probably aren't in school anymore. Most usage policies that I've seen explicitly state something along the lines of 'criminal computer damage' or 'charges may be filed'.
You apparently didn't read the District's Usage Policy. In fact, I know you didn't or you wouldn't have questioned me. Let me help you:
From their FAQ which was linked in the Slashdot blurb.
Will students be able to install software on the laptop?
No, students installing software on school owned computers is a direct violation of the KASD Computer Policy. Students who violate the policy will be disciplined. All of the software necessary to integrate the laptop technology into the curriculum will be installed when the laptop is issued to the student. Security monitoring software will be used on all of the computers to assure that software is not loaded on the laptops. See the "Software" webpage in regards to the software installed on each laptop.
Will students be able to email, chat, and play games on their laptops?
Chat, IM, games, and email software will be removed from all computers. Student use of email, chatting, IM, and game playing is a direct violation of the KASD computer policy. Students who violate the computer policy will be disciplined.
What will the school do to help prevent students from going to inappropriate sites?
The KASD has a software/hardware product which is designed to help monitor all Internet sites that students attempt to access. This software/hardware blocks inappropriate sites and also logs a history of every site that each user opens. Students who attempt to find inappropriate sites will be disciplined. The current KASD content filter meets CIPA guidelines.
Just to be sure that I didn't miss anything I read it twice. Nothing in there about filing criminal charges.
Obviously I don't need to be in school anymore as I can read *and* comprehend.
"I knew it was against school policy," he said. "But I didn't know it was a felony."
Of course they didn't. You know why? Because, "Students who violate the computer policy will be disciplined" does not imply that criminal charges will be filed. It implies that the students could receive in-school sanction.
This is a bunch of hyped up and unnecessary bullshit. If you're going to give laptops out you better bet that they are going to be used for unintended purposes. By bringing criminal charges you are doing nothing but wasting even MORE of the taxpayers dollars for something dumb.
Discipline them in-house (like they did to us in high-school - made us sit in the hot school all summer doing NOTHING - it's worse than paying a fine and doing community service)
But, but, but... It makes so much more sense to create even MORE unnecessary e-mail out of spam, doesn't it?
Just take a look at my website (I guess it's a blog). What are people searching for according to Webalizer? "saturn sucks".
I'm the third link for that search term. You think Saturn gives a shit? I doubt it. People interested in buying a Saturn are going to type in "Saturn cars" for their query and not "saturn sucks".
Yeah, so what, my engine has blown multiple times due to moronic techs. Who's going to know about that expect people who already hate Saturns?
Very true. I really don't see that much e-mail from people on Hotmail anyway. Then again, most of the people I know don't use MSN Messenger either. Obviously people do use it or it wouldn't exist.
;)
GMail and Yahoo could get a huge boost in their userbase from this *or* MSN could gain users as the spam level drops to near zero.
Thing is, do I really want to worry about my GMail storage capacity if more people leave Hotmail in droves?
I'm not saying "people from India are criminals". I'm saying someone [anywhere] who is paid like shit to do a job is likely going to try and supplement their income.
Adelphia Cable? Enough said.
Amazon has it for less ($17.13) and doesn't require you to be a "member".
Fascinating stories abound, like the cross-industry meetings between Hollywood lawyers, gutless wonders from the consumer electronics industry, and reps from the tech sector discussing how to divide the world into region codes like the powers at Potsdam. (one studio went so far as to propose that GPS chips be placed in all computers with a DVD player so that Hollywood could enforce region coding from the sky. It's reported here for the first time.)
Fascinating for sure but more like science fiction or out and out bullshit. GPS units don't work so well inside buildings. Hell, they don't work so well in tree covered areas (depending on the unit and antenna).
Considering how many people think digital TV is some kind of constitutional right, I suspect we'll get a broadcast flag along with subsidized digital TV -- to protect our way of life, fight terrorism, and to save the children.
Yup, been there and talked about that.
Sad isn't it?
Did the massive phone campaign advocated by Public Knowledge manage to dissuade the senators?
No, see below.
Did the senators decide against this course of action on their own?
Senators don't have free thought. They are paid by corporations to think/act like the corporations tell them to.
Or was this just an unfounded rumor to begin with?
Probably unfounded or at least only partially true. If anything, there was something far more insidious going on elsewhere and this was an attempt to divert the all powerful Slashdot crowd's attention to something worthless.
Discuss.
I'd prefer to just joke about it thanks.
Since the patriot act hasn't been as widely abused as some would have you believe, it hasn't been significantly tested in the courts.
We know this because of the report that was published? Oh give me a fucking break man. The Patriot Act itself creates a barrier to insulate itself from information leaks and they want to make it even MORE powerful?
Explain to me how your statement makes sense in the face of that evidence? "Oh no one is being hurt by the Patriot Act even though they couldn't tell you if they were."
Great, the courts can't stop something that in itself doesn't allow itself to be stopped. Nice.
Yeash people. Believe it or not, the US court system does tend to work correctly.
It tends to work correctly on shit that really doesn't matter (i.e. GIS data). It doesn't seem to work very well for civil rights violations such as the Patriot Act.
Yes, the people should stand up and revolt against the Patriot Act and those lawmakers, regime leaders, and officers of the court that aren't doing anything to stop it. Should we get bent out of shape over GIS data? No.
This is a step in the right direction showing that the information does need to be public even if someone uses the word "sensitive" or "terrorism".
Look at the NSA, CIA, random military bases. You're liable to be shot on sight if you sneak into them, and the information available there is simply an order of magnitude more sensitive.
GIS data (as I have proven) is not sensitive information. I have a feeling that at least some of what the CIA and NSA do is probably top secret and a cause for concern of our Nation's security.
Where taxes go up and down is not sensitive. How much my neighbors pay in taxes on their houses is quite important and is even more important when you are looking for a place to live (the true reason they don't want to pony up the information).
Let's not compare oranges and apples here. GIS != NSA/CIA regardless of how it is funded.
So what's the point in hiding "public" information. Its like banning "google maps".
It's worse. Google is a for-profit company that creates software solutions for the public using public data. If they are charged for the use of the GIS data, fine.
The public, who paid for and even submitted the information stored in the GIS databases, should be able to freely examine and use the information as they see fit. There should be no restrictions on this, especially monetary or it will be another double-fuck fleecing of the public.
Yay, we paid for the taxes to collect this data and wasted our free time giving you Census information and now we have to pay to see it used in a useful manner?
If someone banned Google Maps I wouldn't really care. If the governments continue to close up our free access to information I will continue to get annoyed.
So, tax information (boundaries and assessments), streets and address ranges, future land-use plans, city/county boundaries, building permits, census data, and waterways information. Yes, obviously all these is sensitive data that needs to be protected from possible terrorists.
Believe me people, if the terrorists wanted to poison the water supply they wouldn't need the GIS data to figure out how to do it. They also probably really don't care about the Census data to figure out population centers (especially in Greenwich). I highly doubt they care about tax information like assessment values and boundaries as Greenwich is all high-cost living for the most part.
GIS data should be freely examinable. We paid for it as taxpayers and even helped to contribute the data (Census) so why shouldn't we be able to access it? In fact, Portland's $900 for the data is too steep. It should be free for non-commercial use IMHO.
Next they'll make it all available but in a ROT-13 CSV file so they can protect it under the DMCA! Blah.
At least the courts knew better this time and ruled in favor of open information that the public paid for.
They have proven they don't read what they vote on in the first place. You think they would read rules on what they vote on?
They might learn that they have to read what they are voting on before they pass it through. That would be too much for them to handle.
Sorry.
But the problem is showing the lawmakers (and interpreters) that this is how the world works. Their unfortunate and common misconceptions about how the technical world works is what causes this shit in the first place.
It also causes people to get off on technicalities when they are surfing illegal porn.
here ya go :)