Yes, because as we all know Steam ended game piracy, iTunes ended music piracy, and Hulu ended TV show piracy.
Don't get me wrong, I think all those companies are doing great things and are being as competitive as they possibly can be but let's not forget the core of the problem is a big group of people who think they deserve products instantly ('It's in the theatre, why should I have to wait?') and for free.
I didn't have any problems signing up for cable internet by itself. There wasn't even an installation fee.
I did eventually get cable TV several months later but ended up dropping it when I realized I was paying over $800 a year for something I hardly watched. There wasn't any problem with that either.
"Sometimes scientific theories turn out wrong" is just as meaningless and empty a statement about global climate change as "sometimes scientific theories turn out to be right". I could say laypersons doubted heliocentrism, plate tectonics, and evolution too. Would that prove global warming is real?
Certainly, your list of "scientific theories" is dubious at best. Flat earth and phrenology aren't scientific ideas by any standard and cold fusion and N-rays were discredited less than a year after they were publicized.
If games can have the same effect as art, why aren't they? Metal Gear Solid, Bioshock, and Mass Effect left me emotionally invested in the world, characters, and story - all things that aren't real. If that isn't art, what is it?
Putting aside the entire debate on what qualifies as adult material, you still have the fact that the undisputed pornographic websites aren't going to change TLDs unless forced to hence defeating the entire purpose. It would also lead to the somewhat embarrassing situation of big companies like Google, Microsoft, and Apple having to buy.xxx domains to protect their trademarks.
The store I bought it from looked at the open shrink wrap and said "Sorry". They wouldn't even let me exchange it because, according to the manager, they'd have to eat the cost of it.
That's a shoddy operation. Most retailers can get exchanges or credit from the manufacturer but even if this is a case where they couldn't they never should have let the customer take the loss. It's a good way to lose a customer for good (and for the measly wholesale cost of a DVD).
From what I understand the rules allow ISPs to shape traffic, just not to the detriment of their competitors (e.g. providing fast video service while throttling Hulu).
It's taken far too seriously by some fans. The Federation was enforcing its part of the peace treaty and no, the Maquis weren't all a bunch of nice guys.
I found out years after the fact that we'd stopped attending church because of tithing. We'd run into financial difficulties and when my mother talked to our minister about how much to give she was told the church was a "business" and she needed to keep tithing at the same level.
I'm no friend to Scientology, but it's bizarre theology and penchant for control and money seems no different than any other religion. It's just newer, smaller, and easier to pick on. Give it a thousand years and volcanoes and H-bombs will seem as natural as talking snakes and virgin births.
Your argument is essentially how the bittorrent protocol could be used while ignoring the standard way TPB does use it.
The intellectual dishonesty in this debate is absolutely staggering. If the fact that the site is named The Pirate Bay isn't enough to illustrate its purpose in unauthorized redistribution of copyrighted works, a browse through the top 100 torrents and their mocking I.P. owners should.
Bittorrent really made piracy mass consumption. Knowledge, luck, and patience were no longer part of the equation. And once the entitlement generation found out they could get their movies, music, and games quick and free they began thinking that it was their right to.
Not even close. Google indexes keywords and points you to relevant sites. The Pirate Bay hosts and distributes torrent files and provides trackers so they can function.
Google pointing to torrents is simply an incidental consequence of its legitimate uses and wouldn't even exist if bittorrent indexing sites like The Pirate Bay weren't operating.
Not only did the SFX in that scene look bizarre, the recycled dialog made the conversation largely nonsensical. It was a sad send off to the character.
There are plenty of legitimate downloads via the Pirate Bay
Which is dwarfed several magnitude over by infringing content. A quick browse through the top 100 torrents easily demonstrates that.
That TPB can be used legitimately doesn't mean that's its primary focus. The fact that the website is named The Pirate Bay should be a pretty good clue to its intent (not to mention them constantly mocking IP owners).
From a business standpoint that's not at all uncommon though. There are customers that are very resource intensive and customers that are very resource light for a company (and the latter almost always subsidizes the former).
Slashdot Mirror
Seems to have been a pretty effective smear campaign, if you ask me.
Only if you consider Wikileaks and Assange one and the same.
The same for UPS.
Yes, because as we all know Steam ended game piracy, iTunes ended music piracy, and Hulu ended TV show piracy.
Don't get me wrong, I think all those companies are doing great things and are being as competitive as they possibly can be but let's not forget the core of the problem is a big group of people who think they deserve products instantly ('It's in the theatre, why should I have to wait?') and for free.
I didn't have any problems signing up for cable internet by itself. There wasn't even an installation fee.
I did eventually get cable TV several months later but ended up dropping it when I realized I was paying over $800 a year for something I hardly watched. There wasn't any problem with that either.
"Sometimes scientific theories turn out wrong" is just as meaningless and empty a statement about global climate change as "sometimes scientific theories turn out to be right". I could say laypersons doubted heliocentrism, plate tectonics, and evolution too. Would that prove global warming is real?
Certainly, your list of "scientific theories" is dubious at best. Flat earth and phrenology aren't scientific ideas by any standard and cold fusion and N-rays were discredited less than a year after they were publicized.
More than a few times I've asked myself "What have those horrible, horrible users done to that poor, innocent computer now?"
Ah, Opposite Day then.
Is this some new form of hyper-sarcasm?
If games can have the same effect as art, why aren't they? Metal Gear Solid, Bioshock, and Mass Effect left me emotionally invested in the world, characters, and story - all things that aren't real. If that isn't art, what is it?
Putting aside the entire debate on what qualifies as adult material, you still have the fact that the undisputed pornographic websites aren't going to change TLDs unless forced to hence defeating the entire purpose. It would also lead to the somewhat embarrassing situation of big companies like Google, Microsoft, and Apple having to buy .xxx domains to protect their trademarks.
That's a shoddy operation. Most retailers can get exchanges or credit from the manufacturer but even if this is a case where they couldn't they never should have let the customer take the loss. It's a good way to lose a customer for good (and for the measly wholesale cost of a DVD).
From what I understand the rules allow ISPs to shape traffic, just not to the detriment of their competitors (e.g. providing fast video service while throttling Hulu).
It's taken far too seriously by some fans. The Federation was enforcing its part of the peace treaty and no, the Maquis weren't all a bunch of nice guys.
"AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition is for private, non-commercial, single computer use only."
Come on. Taxation is no more an "evil" than the electric bill. It's simply one of the costs of living in a modern society.
I might not enjoy paying taxes buy I don't enjoy going to the dentist either. That doesn't make either one of them an "evil".
That doesn't make it much different than Christian churches that teach the prosperity gospel.
I found out years after the fact that we'd stopped attending church because of tithing. We'd run into financial difficulties and when my mother talked to our minister about how much to give she was told the church was a "business" and she needed to keep tithing at the same level.
I'm no friend to Scientology, but it's bizarre theology and penchant for control and money seems no different than any other religion. It's just newer, smaller, and easier to pick on. Give it a thousand years and volcanoes and H-bombs will seem as natural as talking snakes and virgin births.
Unfortunately it looks like you're going to get buried when you made a legitimate point.
you should contact Google when you create a system capable of serving targeted international advertising.
Your argument is essentially how the bittorrent protocol could be used while ignoring the standard way TPB does use it.
The intellectual dishonesty in this debate is absolutely staggering. If the fact that the site is named The Pirate Bay isn't enough to illustrate its purpose in unauthorized redistribution of copyrighted works, a browse through the top 100 torrents and their mocking I.P. owners should.
Bittorrent really made piracy mass consumption. Knowledge, luck, and patience were no longer part of the equation. And once the entitlement generation found out they could get their movies, music, and games quick and free they began thinking that it was their right to.
Not even close. Google indexes keywords and points you to relevant sites. The Pirate Bay hosts and distributes torrent files and provides trackers so they can function.
Google pointing to torrents is simply an incidental consequence of its legitimate uses and wouldn't even exist if bittorrent indexing sites like The Pirate Bay weren't operating.
Not only did the SFX in that scene look bizarre, the recycled dialog made the conversation largely nonsensical. It was a sad send off to the character.
Which is dwarfed several magnitude over by infringing content. A quick browse through the top 100 torrents easily demonstrates that.
That TPB can be used legitimately doesn't mean that's its primary focus. The fact that the website is named The Pirate Bay should be a pretty good clue to its intent (not to mention them constantly mocking IP owners).
From a business standpoint that's not at all uncommon though. There are customers that are very resource intensive and customers that are very resource light for a company (and the latter almost always subsidizes the former).