Seriously, I remember playing Shadowrun and Cyberpunk as a kid (ok, not a kid, but a long time ago...) and thinking the idea of megacorps running the world was nice for a fictional view of the future.
Apparently it wasn't so fictional with all these multi-billion dollar mergers of mega-media corporations, manipulation of political agendas by corporate interests, and whatnot.
Where do I sign up for my cybernetic implants because I know how this story goes and I want to have a fighting edge when things go bleak...
Uh, paint me blue and call me stupid but how do you detect something that is 140 years old and 28,000 light years away? I'm sure there's some voodoo physics that makes sense there but my brain is locked on "28,000 light years means the light takes 28,000 years to get here" and having trouble figuring out how one would detect something that happened 140 years ago at that distance...
I hope your response to the RIAA is something along the lines of:
We have received your DMCA notices. None are attributable to IP addresses given out by our DHCP server. One is attributed to a terminal server with no internet access. Thus, we will be taking no action other than to file these notices. Should we receive future notices which may be attributed to an IP address assigned by our DHCP server and thus one of our students, we will pass along the DMCA notice as well as a record of all filed and incorrect DMCA notices we have received so that the student in question can be made fully aware of the accuracy of your efforts should they wish to formulate a legal defense.
Let the RIAA know that their machinegun approach to this will be used against them when it comes time to prosecute. I doubt they'll slow down but the increasingly large file of haphazard DMCA notices will eventually show that they are filing frivolous lawsuits.
Apple, for me, has proven capable of continuing to generate revenue, even though I bought a product which was still more than functional and adequate to my purposes. My 20 gig iPod was plenty for what I wanted and I was very happy with it. Then they released the iPod Touch (iPhone not available (officially) north of the border, or this would be a comment about the iPhone...). It's basically the same thing with some fancy bells and whistles added on. Really fancy bells and whistles. Really, really fancy. No. I mean REALLY fancy. Fancy enough that I dropped the cash, bought the iPod Touch, and haven't regretted it once since I bought it. It's the same thing as what I had but enough of an advancement that it was worth "wasting" money on an upgrade.
So long as Apple continues to upgrade the product line like this, they'll do fine. Offer more, better, and fancier, and people will upgrade. In my opinion.
"...under the mistaken impression that the RIAA isn't going to sue the identified students, but merely wants to talk to them..."
What an idiotic impression. Even if it was a correct impression (how anyone who's done a hint of research on the situation could have that impression is beyond me...), I'd like to think that legal officials would discourage people from using the legal system as their publicly funded 411 service. This whole situation (the RIAA lawsuits as a whole) blows my mind more and more every day and not just because of how moronic the RIAA are. Sadly, they aren't the only idiots running around...
If you're surprised that Big Media appears to have manipulated the judicial process of case against The Pirate Bay, please raise your hand. Anyone? Anyone? Yeah. That's what I thought. Not surprised in the least.
Seriously, sometimes I feel the line between science and magic gets fuzzy. A transistor one atom by 10 atoms? That's on such a small scale that is so hard to comprehend that it'd almost be easier to hand-wave it and just say "it's magic."
You mean things like how well they maintain roads and overpasses in Canada? Kinda like the overpass that collapsed and killed people in Montreal? Yeah. Ok. How about we get them maintaining the fundamental things that can literally mean the difference between life and death well before we ask them to maintain the "extras" like cabling to our homes.
But it's brilliant - force Mediasentry to argue, in court, that IP addresses can't be used to identify and they'll effectively be arguing against themselves. Sure, it's a different case, but if they're successful, it sets a precedent that can be used in the RIAA cases. If they fail, then they've been found guilty (presumably) of ignoring a court-ordered C&D and thus all their evidence that's being used in RIAA cases is thrown out. Either way, it's a win-win. They weren't smart. They painted themselves into a corner and it's becoming less and less likely that they'll find a way out.
I would be curious, with the name "canadacow", assuming he is Canadian, how the author is using the phone as his regular phone. Given that the iPhone is not yet (officially) available in Canada. Only people who've jailbroken their phones are using them north of the border.
Anyone know if this will work with the iPhone? It _sounds_ like it's a web application that can function even when not connected to the 'net so I could see it working but I'm not a programmer (and at work so I can't test it) so there might be some obvious element I'm missing. If it does work with the iPhone, allow me to say "cool!"
While this may be good, in that only news that interest people will spread leaving the boring stuff behind, it is bad for the obvious reason that Joe Geek may be poorly informed about a subject while finding it interesting. They may get excited about a given topic and forward it to all their friends and family, thereby spreading the news in a wonderfully viral way, but the "news" may be utterly uninformed and outright incorrect. Obviously, this effect is already taking place (how many of us have had non-tech-savvy parents send us emails about "forward this to ten people you know and Bill Gates will give you $1000"). Just because someone finds something interesting and "newsworthy" doesn't mean it's remotely accurate. Information now spreads faster than ever but so does misinformation...
Paint me blue and call me stupid, but really, how hard is it to make a hand-held computer designed to take and store census data? It's not like these machines need to calculate pi. It's data entry and retention. Right? How could that possibly require $2 billion dollars to implement? What am I missing? (beyond the obvious corruption and inflation of budgets to line the pockets of fat cats)
Slashdot Mirror
Seriously, I remember playing Shadowrun and Cyberpunk as a kid (ok, not a kid, but a long time ago...) and thinking the idea of megacorps running the world was nice for a fictional view of the future.
Apparently it wasn't so fictional with all these multi-billion dollar mergers of mega-media corporations, manipulation of political agendas by corporate interests, and whatnot.
Where do I sign up for my cybernetic implants because I know how this story goes and I want to have a fighting edge when things go bleak...
The laws (and associated penalties) apply to you, not us.
Yours truly,
Big Media(tm)
Yeah but, I'm in love with Crush so please keep airing American Gladiators. :)
Uh, paint me blue and call me stupid but how do you detect something that is 140 years old and 28,000 light years away? I'm sure there's some voodoo physics that makes sense there but my brain is locked on "28,000 light years means the light takes 28,000 years to get here" and having trouble figuring out how one would detect something that happened 140 years ago at that distance...
Is that a supercomputer in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
I hope your response to the RIAA is something along the lines of:
We have received your DMCA notices. None are attributable to IP addresses given out by our DHCP server. One is attributed to a terminal server with no internet access. Thus, we will be taking no action other than to file these notices. Should we receive future notices which may be attributed to an IP address assigned by our DHCP server and thus one of our students, we will pass along the DMCA notice as well as a record of all filed and incorrect DMCA notices we have received so that the student in question can be made fully aware of the accuracy of your efforts should they wish to formulate a legal defense.
Let the RIAA know that their machinegun approach to this will be used against them when it comes time to prosecute. I doubt they'll slow down but the increasingly large file of haphazard DMCA notices will eventually show that they are filing frivolous lawsuits.
A surefire way to ensure that this hack lasts as long as possible is to keep it super-secret and not let AT&T know they screwed up.
But I'm sure posting the story to slashdot is fine. Nobody reads this site, after all...
The only appropriate reply, after reading that, is: "SheGotOwned!"
Welcome to the Police State (TM). Population: You.
Apple, for me, has proven capable of continuing to generate revenue, even though I bought a product which was still more than functional and adequate to my purposes. My 20 gig iPod was plenty for what I wanted and I was very happy with it. Then they released the iPod Touch (iPhone not available (officially) north of the border, or this would be a comment about the iPhone...). It's basically the same thing with some fancy bells and whistles added on. Really fancy bells and whistles. Really, really fancy. No. I mean REALLY fancy. Fancy enough that I dropped the cash, bought the iPod Touch, and haven't regretted it once since I bought it. It's the same thing as what I had but enough of an advancement that it was worth "wasting" money on an upgrade.
So long as Apple continues to upgrade the product line like this, they'll do fine. Offer more, better, and fancier, and people will upgrade. In my opinion.
"...under the mistaken impression that the RIAA isn't going to sue the identified students, but merely wants to talk to them..."
What an idiotic impression. Even if it was a correct impression (how anyone who's done a hint of research on the situation could have that impression is beyond me...), I'd like to think that legal officials would discourage people from using the legal system as their publicly funded 411 service. This whole situation (the RIAA lawsuits as a whole) blows my mind more and more every day and not just because of how moronic the RIAA are. Sadly, they aren't the only idiots running around...
If you're surprised that Big Media appears to have manipulated the judicial process of case against The Pirate Bay, please raise your hand. Anyone? Anyone? Yeah. That's what I thought. Not surprised in the least.
Seriously, sometimes I feel the line between science and magic gets fuzzy. A transistor one atom by 10 atoms? That's on such a small scale that is so hard to comprehend that it'd almost be easier to hand-wave it and just say "it's magic."
You mean things like how well they maintain roads and overpasses in Canada? Kinda like the overpass that collapsed and killed people in Montreal? Yeah. Ok. How about we get them maintaining the fundamental things that can literally mean the difference between life and death well before we ask them to maintain the "extras" like cabling to our homes.
Well, I suppose we needed some good news to balance out the news that the world is coming to an end in 30 years. :)
But it's brilliant - force Mediasentry to argue, in court, that IP addresses can't be used to identify and they'll effectively be arguing against themselves. Sure, it's a different case, but if they're successful, it sets a precedent that can be used in the RIAA cases. If they fail, then they've been found guilty (presumably) of ignoring a court-ordered C&D and thus all their evidence that's being used in RIAA cases is thrown out. Either way, it's a win-win. They weren't smart. They painted themselves into a corner and it's becoming less and less likely that they'll find a way out.
The law applies to you. The law does not apply to us.
Yours truly,
MegaCorp America (tm)
I would be curious, with the name "canadacow", assuming he is Canadian, how the author is using the phone as his regular phone. Given that the iPhone is not yet (officially) available in Canada. Only people who've jailbroken their phones are using them north of the border.
Bad move. Never challenge geeks. We'll always find a way to overcome.
Holy crap! Someone in a position of power in the Big Four actually gets it.
I forget - is that one of the signs of the end of the world?
Last time that kind of things happened in European countries, it lead to revolutions. Not to jokes.
If I were American rather than Canadian, I'd revolt. Mind you, some might say that my being Canadian is revolting...
"The law applies to you, not us.
Sincerely,
The Administration"
Anyone know if this will work with the iPhone? It _sounds_ like it's a web application that can function even when not connected to the 'net so I could see it working but I'm not a programmer (and at work so I can't test it) so there might be some obvious element I'm missing. If it does work with the iPhone, allow me to say "cool!"
While this may be good, in that only news that interest people will spread leaving the boring stuff behind, it is bad for the obvious reason that Joe Geek may be poorly informed about a subject while finding it interesting. They may get excited about a given topic and forward it to all their friends and family, thereby spreading the news in a wonderfully viral way, but the "news" may be utterly uninformed and outright incorrect. Obviously, this effect is already taking place (how many of us have had non-tech-savvy parents send us emails about "forward this to ten people you know and Bill Gates will give you $1000"). Just because someone finds something interesting and "newsworthy" doesn't mean it's remotely accurate. Information now spreads faster than ever but so does misinformation...
Paint me blue and call me stupid, but really, how hard is it to make a hand-held computer designed to take and store census data? It's not like these machines need to calculate pi. It's data entry and retention. Right? How could that possibly require $2 billion dollars to implement? What am I missing? (beyond the obvious corruption and inflation of budgets to line the pockets of fat cats)