That's a good point... but did the fellow make the molds from Ralph McQuarrie's original concept art, or was it something Lucas hired this fellow to do? If the final design is his, not Lucas', but it's based off art from Ralph, who really does own it?
If this fellow is a McQuarrie-esque designer for Lucas (and depending upon his contract), he may very well own the design, but like it's been said in this discussion before, he probably doesn't own the molds...
True, but a key component of their powermad dictatorship (heh) is the instilling of fear in the populace. Fear drives people to allow those in power to cement their influence and rob us of our inalienable rights. If it's not fear, it's a promise of a $600 credit, or some other pithy little carrot on a stick to the populace so they can sit in their easy chairs while the government systematically dismantles their lives and perverts the very Constitution they were elected to protect... not to mention the long-term damage from the entrenched interests and power bureaucracy that stinks up D.C.... It'll take decades to clean this mess up... and it's a universal party problem... Dems don't "fix" anything... we vote them out, Repubs don't fix anything... then we vote _them_ out. It's a stupid cycle and we're not getting off this merry-go-round until people realize that they BOTH are the problem... and "change" is a stupid buzzword to get you to feel good about voting for the "same old thing" in a new wrapper.
And this proves their differences how? Simply voting for the removal of retroactive immunity from the FISA bill that was already overstepping the original's bounds is not a vote _for_ anything except more Big Brother. Dodd's a big pork goober just like the rest of them for his constituents. The only reason Obama's not on the Pork list is because he's not been there long enough to get a good groove of perks to those who he buys votes for...
Read the Senate version of the FISA... if you think they believe in the Constitution after that, I'm sorry. Removal of "civil liability" is sure nice of them (and a useless gesture)... since these asshats in Telecomm did something _criminal_ anyway. But good luck finding any principled Justice Dept. people to go after the big Telecomms.
Sure... keep believing that. The Democrats were voted out of Congress in the early 1990's because of just the same level of corruption and incompetence... and look where we are today.
Like I said... keeping the parties separate only makes you _think_ there is a difference. There IS not one difference... but "scary" issues like abortion and the like... things that mean little to the day to day operation of the country, but are divisive issues. Then people can feel better about themselves when they vote one party over another, all the while the single party system is shafting you.
Have they ended the occupation? Why not? They do hold the pursestrings for the effort. Yet they seem to do nothing... and they have done some token minor efforts, but for the most part it's all talk... This Congress has a lower approval rating than the President... Seems funny that you believe their hype, AC. I'd expect nothing different from an AC.;)
All rich lawyers act the same... whether they have a "D" or an "R" beside their title.
And in an election year, perhaps the flap over this memo will actually reach the great unwashed, so that they can see the government for what it truly is.. a self-perpetuating power-hungry cancerous lump on the freedom of the United States and our Constitutional rights. (This isn't about political parties anymore, we've not had a 2 party system in many years... anyone who thinks there is a legitimate difference between the "big 2" parties need only look at the current crop of Democrats who have done zilch to combat the excesses of the Republicans... and have created some of their very own.)
We have to realize the futility of expecting these assclowns to fix anything. They are all in it for the power and money.
The current administration and the current Congress are both violating their sworn duty to UPHOLD the Constitution and DEFEND it from all enemies, both FOREIGN and DOMESTIC. Attempting to justify illegal activity by claiming the Constitution doesn't apply turns my stomach.
October 2007 was 14 years.:) I'll give her one thing... she's persistent.:P
(According to the patent it was issued in 1993, If I remember reading it right..) Since the patent protection starts (and lasts 14 years from) the day you are issued the patent.
Of course after Jun 1995, they're 20 years? If I'm readnig the USPTO stuff right.
That's why I said "might". It may be out of the question in practice, but in discussion, it's a pretty cut-and-dried violation of a law that ironically was backed by Comcast and the rest of them (without the foresight to consider if _they_ were held to the same standard.)
While your sentiment is correct, I have to wonder, which Sony Exec would do time? The US exec or the Japanese exec? I'm sure whoever had final authority... but that's the sticky part... these clowns are so far beyond national boundaries, we should simply deport them all to an island.;) Because the UN and the World Court (or whatever it is called) simply goof off and take out tax dollars to draft resolutions and cover up human rights violations (and accuse the US or Europe of stealing resources from everyone else). (Not unlike most governments do now anyway, but you get the idea.)
Trouble with exile for these nitwits is, I don't want to ruin an island with that many assholes.
Comcast, IIRC is not international, though they may have international holdings, I'd wager (if they are any sort of greedy.. and I'm sure they are...) But then again, things are run by multinationals everywhere... so we're in a sad boat if we decide we want to do anything about it... (But it seems the EU has enough stones to fine Microsoft... so let's just fine Sony for each delivered copy of the rootkit.)
And, in the realm of possibility, a government sanctioned monopoly like a cable company should be more likely to comply with laws than a multinational that just doesn't care... (of course Comcast is an American company that just doesn't care... so we're in a vicious cycle here, I guess.) I realize in practice that this is a far seedier set of circumstances and most likely are at their very roots criminal enterprises anyway... but for the "great unwashed" these clowns provide moving pictures for their "magic boxes" and are allowed to fuck up everything else as long as they're not pre-empting Wrasslin for some goddamned presidential speech or something....now I'm sad.;)
It's all depressing no matter how you look at it. And I guess we've all got to shoulder some of the blame for it, since we most likely kept voting these bastards in and not running them out on a rail when they ruined things....
Well, this loophole they seem to crow about (which is horse feathers to me, since the FCC has regulatory authority when it comes to denial of services by a communications provider... phone or otherwise...) is most likely trumped by the recently passed Internet Security Fun and Excitement Act (I forgot the name off the top of my head) that makes this fakery they're doing, impersonating _you_ (your machine, specifically) illegal and possibly a felony. As I understand it from the other discussions on this subject... Comcast's guilty of "hacking"....;) For lack of a better term, legal-wise.
So, no, the FCC may not have the power to stop Comcast (but I suspect they can levy a fine, but that's another discussion entirely), but I'd suspect the FBI does... and someone might do time for it.;)...I know... wishful thinking...
But seriously... I am so sick and tired of seeing these high-priced charlatans spouting how much money they are losing to "piracy"... and yet, the biggest counterfeiter in the universe is on our most-favored-trading partner status. Oh sure, they do some busts for the cameras, but the truth is, the college students and internet "pirates" aren't what's costing them money. If it were such a guaranteed revenue loss, write it off on your taxes.
I'm not so bloody sure these people aren't secretly _wanting_ "piracy" to continue, so that they have a giant boogey man to scapegoat when their insipid reality-TV nonsense doesn't get viewers to flock to their channel like lemmings over a cliff.
Copyright infringement is not theft. No matter how much these idiots want people to believe it. It's not stealing... it never has been. Journalists are complicit each time they post that lie. And it _is_ a lie, both in the eyes of the law and the eyes of the Founding Fathers... So NBC et al, can just shut up or they're going to get a boot in their short and curlies...
Let it alone, then. Both sides. Let law enforcement do what they are hired to do in times of criminal activity (like they do with another neutral network... the phone system) and stop this criminalization of copyright infringement (the kind that has no monetary gain...) and stop lobbying to get vigilantism as a legal option for the *AA's.
By the same token... give the FCC the ability to fine the living snot out of companies like Comcast who use illegal means to stop BitTorrent traffic (whether legitimate or not is not Comcast's business...) and make traffic shaping for their own personal (company) gain illegal. Remove the ability of companies to stop shaping traffic they don't like.
Simple, isn't it? Governments don't make things neutral. Period. Companies don't make things neutral. Period. WE make things neutral. Remove the power to manipulate the system, and it becomes _ours_ again. (Government money funded the creation of this... so in effect, it IS ours. government subsidies funded the expansion of it through DSL and cable... so it's STILL ours...)
The gym isn't a public building (but that's not the issue here). It's a private building that requires a membership to get in, and it's posted as such, you're not allowed past the entrance without a valid membership...no exceptions. You can get to the front door and open it and negotiate your membership in that private building... so yes, you're allowed in partially. But consider this.... say you happen to walk in and no sign says "members only past this point", and past the front desk because no one's there, and there's no sign that says "for members' use only"... all you're doing is going into an open building looking at the facilities. Now if you suit up and start flexing, and no one comes to tell you that you need a membership... then who's fault is that? Claiming you "broke in" and illegally used their facilities after you finish your workout is a stretch. (provided the other criteria I listed are met.) But that's just what this company's claiming with the "hack" nonsense. I don't see the claim as valid if nothing is there to tell you "hey, this isn't for anyone but the private use of "XX/YY holders." If that was on the website's page, then you're entirely correct, and the analogy works with the "membership" negotiation and posting of "members only" on the door.
This is the same thing as a public URL. If the company isn't smart enough to keep their open-to-the-public association set up to mention "going past here requires a login/payment"... why would anyone know to do it "because it's obvious" to someone working at the company?
I don't see your analogy working all that well in this case... but like everything else on Slashdot... I've not got all the info either.;)
No doubt. Plans in place to prevent that are always thwarted... but on principle, it's the physical media that will take quite a while to dissolve out of the great unwashed.
I for one would rather it not become such... and allow the current model to continue, where I buy what I want... I rip it... and I play it on what I want, where I want, when I want... and I don't have to pay for the "privilege" each time I do.
Streams of movies and "DL" content simply invite the pay-per-view universe that we all know gets the MPAA/RIAA wet in the nethers.
DRM or no, I'd rather have a physical copy than streaming it.
I think content providers are going to find that I'm not in the minority with this opinion either. (Besides we're not at bandwidth levels to do this widespread yet... heh.)
The surest way to stop me from "consuming" their content is to prevent me from watching it when and where I want (a physical copy does that... BR is a bit more restrictive on _what_ I can watch it on, but not when and where... like streaming or "d/l" content...)
The blades/razor model works for everything now... how well that maximizes profit is another matter... (It's the de-facto standard to avoid technology sticker shock.)
#2. So what. It's not like it isn't done 10000x a second online as we speak. It's the parent's job to provide a refuge from just that sort of nonsense... but I guess her parents didn't.
#3. I call shenanigans. That's a misconception perpetuated by after-school specials and MTV. Not EVERYONE is like the stereotypes on TV... Of course, if the parents are idiotic self-absorbed drones.... they may not have a place to go to talk, and that is, back to it again... her parents' fault.
#4. And the more effort YOU as a parent need to do to find the problem out. Parents failed this girl... the impersonator is nothing more than a scapegoat for a larger problem.
Shun them. I wouldn't give two monkeys if my entire neighborhood ignored me.. but then again, I'm not obsessed with what other people think of me, because I, like so few people on the planet... like to think for myself. Something this girl could've done instead of killing herself.
Of course, community death threats and vigilantism is not tolerated... and the "shunners" need to realize that. But then again, this isn't a fat girl killing herself because she's tired of the torment of her peers calling her Ms. Piggy, or oinker... no, it's like saving animals "only the cute ones"....
Not so much the conclusion, but the symptom of a larger problem with this girl. I firmly believe that she was suffering from some other malady (or maladies) that resulted in her suicide. Simply being tormented online by a bunch of people (even if you're an emotionally vapid teenager) or someone you think is the bees-knees is not the sole reason for suicide. (At least for people who are otherwise stable, sane and rational.... or even a teen... heh.)
However, that does not stop politicians from making it a hot-button "ooooh scary stuff!" issue that puts otherwise rational people in a mode of fearfulness we haven't seen since the Dark Ages. People need to be more informed and stop thinking that the government has the answer to everything. Bullies will always exist... making a law that makes them "more evil" is not going to solve squat.
And for Odin's sake... talk to your kids... keep them involved and keep yourself interested in their lives... so that they have a place secure, safe, and warm to be when morons make them feel blue. Quit the crippity-crap whining about the world and make YOUR world (your home) a refuge from the idiots.... and I think you'll find things will go more smoothly, and dare I say, more peacefully....or you can just wait for a new law that makes it a "bad bad super bad McBadmeister" crime.
Indeed, SCO may not be a patent troll... but they certainly are of the garden variety troll, using litigation to prop up a failing business model, extort money, and generally chill the air surrounding a competing (or not, depending upon your point of view) technology/product.
The fact that they failed in every endeavor is not because the system works, but that when you get knowledgeable participants, sometimes it is difficult (impossible) to fool them as one would fool the great unwashed.
The only problem with that is how difficult it is to get them to give you the points.... Or at least I've heard such from quite a few people who've tried and failed, or tried and finally got them to give in... I'm amazed you got it done twice... (I assume through two dead 360's...) Maybe it's all in how you ask.:) Did you have to get snippy to get it accomplished?
PSN gives you 5 (I can't remember the exact total... at least two... heh) downloads to any box with your account... (I know, I've installed a new HDD in my PS3 and I re-downloaded my purchases no sweat.) It's odd, really... how one company known for it's DRM and draconian tactics is actually being more friendly than the other DRM behemoth.:)
The funny thing was... the high end Sony players (which had hackable region coding via a simply trace snip or something) were more problematic than my POS cheap-o Sony player that got me the 5 'feature' films.;) I probably wouldn't have gotten the player otherwise, but it was on sale to boot... (and I wrongly anticipated the Star Wars DVD box set to be released "any day now").
My Sony crapped out well before it should have, but well after most of my friends' $900 players...
I see where you're coming from, but oh, around 1996 or 1997 or so we (some of us) were having this very same conversation about DVD players.
Anyone remember the early days of DVD? Certain manufacturer's players wouldn't handle certain style manufactured dual-layer discs (among other things). I remember the fiasco with nearly all high-end Sony players and the movie "The Matrix" causing a lock-up at the menu.... and guess what? Some of those players didn't have the ability to update their firmware either. It was a configuration nightmare, so to speak. Now, I'm not saying this Samsung player is top-notch and the world truly has a gem of a player on their hands... but as for problematic DVD players in the past, we've seen this before.... just thought I'd remind everyone.:) (I'm probably the 24th person to do so in the last 3 minutes... sorry for the redundancy.)
But it truly begs the question.. why be an early adopter _again_? My Sony DVD I got with 5 "free DVD" movies (from a list of crap that wouldn't sell) had troubles early on with quite a few WB DVDs... but eventually it began working on more movies, before it crapped the bed. (Sony.. heh.)
Here's a thought... who gives two monkeys if someone's seeding a linux ISO? Why is the school's bandwidth there? Make a peak usage policy. Problem solved.
Another thing too... I don't see seeding a distro (or what do I care, a movie) as "wasting bandwidth" or hindering education... I remember ftping the latest and greatest Slackware distro (all the floppies) when I was in college... and I also remember mooching oodles of copyrighted pictures off usenet too... (tin, baby!) And I remember getting a pirated version of MS-DOS 6.0 weeks before it hit the store shelves... The school survived the "bandwidth crisis" and did fine... even in the days where a fat pipe meant a 28.8 modem. And guess what? I got my degree and _still_ used the computer labs to play Rise of the Triad and Doom in the evenings... not to mention various MUDs and finding craploads of useless text files on obscure computers all over the world (BEFORE the WWW had more than 3 webpages...)
I learned how to use Unix, shell scripting, writing stuff with curses... not to mention how to maintain a SLIP connection to school (while using a dead IP from the host file), and discovered IRC warscripting at the same time I learned the stuff I went to college for.:)
Life's good when you have the freedom to explore...
Yeah the DC ban... that's the one I hope they are going to be logical and stop the erosion of the Bill of Rights, at least one of them... I mean, the politicians are really under the impression that the Bill of Rights "grants" rights... but the truth is they are simply enumerated... they exist outside of government (the Declaration of Independence comes to mind, how quickly they forget...) and that therefore means they can't be taken away, sold, or otherwise altered by the government (by hook or by crook.) It's frustrating sometimes... which is why I carry a Constitution in my pocket so people can see in print what they are so ignorant of these days.
Given this administration's ability to miss the point on so many levels, I'm not as confident in the DC case, though the Supremes are more likely now to be proper about the ruling rather than advocating from the bench.
Here's to hoping. The founding fathers are rolling, spinning, and banging on the top of their coffins at the state of our grand experiment, I think.
Slashdot Mirror
That's a good point... but did the fellow make the molds from Ralph McQuarrie's original concept art, or was it something Lucas hired this fellow to do? If the final design is his, not Lucas', but it's based off art from Ralph, who really does own it?
:)
If this fellow is a McQuarrie-esque designer for Lucas (and depending upon his contract), he may very well own the design, but like it's been said in this discussion before, he probably doesn't own the molds...
This should be interesting, to say the least.
True, but a key component of their powermad dictatorship (heh) is the instilling of fear in the populace. Fear drives people to allow those in power to cement their influence and rob us of our inalienable rights. If it's not fear, it's a promise of a $600 credit, or some other pithy little carrot on a stick to the populace so they can sit in their easy chairs while the government systematically dismantles their lives and perverts the very Constitution they were elected to protect... not to mention the long-term damage from the entrenched interests and power bureaucracy that stinks up D.C.... It'll take decades to clean this mess up... and it's a universal party problem... Dems don't "fix" anything... we vote them out, Repubs don't fix anything... then we vote _them_ out. It's a stupid cycle and we're not getting off this merry-go-round until people realize that they BOTH are the problem... and "change" is a stupid buzzword to get you to feel good about voting for the "same old thing" in a new wrapper.
Bah. It makes me ill.
And this proves their differences how? Simply voting for the removal of retroactive immunity from the FISA bill that was already overstepping the original's bounds is not a vote _for_ anything except more Big Brother. Dodd's a big pork goober just like the rest of them for his constituents. The only reason Obama's not on the Pork list is because he's not been there long enough to get a good groove of perks to those who he buys votes for...
Read the Senate version of the FISA... if you think they believe in the Constitution after that, I'm sorry. Removal of "civil liability" is sure nice of them (and a useless gesture)... since these asshats in Telecomm did something _criminal_ anyway. But good luck finding any principled Justice Dept. people to go after the big Telecomms.
Sure... keep believing that. The Democrats were voted out of Congress in the early 1990's because of just the same level of corruption and incompetence... and look where we are today.
;)
Like I said... keeping the parties separate only makes you _think_ there is a difference. There IS not one difference... but "scary" issues like abortion and the like... things that mean little to the day to day operation of the country, but are divisive issues. Then people can feel better about themselves when they vote one party over another, all the while the single party system is shafting you.
Have they ended the occupation? Why not? They do hold the pursestrings for the effort. Yet they seem to do nothing... and they have done some token minor efforts, but for the most part it's all talk... This Congress has a lower approval rating than the President... Seems funny that you believe their hype, AC. I'd expect nothing different from an AC.
All rich lawyers act the same... whether they have a "D" or an "R" beside their title.
And in an election year, perhaps the flap over this memo will actually reach the great unwashed, so that they can see the government for what it truly is.. a self-perpetuating power-hungry cancerous lump on the freedom of the United States and our Constitutional rights. (This isn't about political parties anymore, we've not had a 2 party system in many years... anyone who thinks there is a legitimate difference between the "big 2" parties need only look at the current crop of Democrats who have done zilch to combat the excesses of the Republicans... and have created some of their very own.)
We have to realize the futility of expecting these assclowns to fix anything. They are all in it for the power and money.
The current administration and the current Congress are both violating their sworn duty to UPHOLD the Constitution and DEFEND it from all enemies, both FOREIGN and DOMESTIC. Attempting to justify illegal activity by claiming the Constitution doesn't apply turns my stomach.
Replace "stealing" with "infringing" and you're golden. :)
October 2007 was 14 years. :) I'll give her one thing... she's persistent. :P
(According to the patent it was issued in 1993, If I remember reading it right..) Since the patent protection starts (and lasts 14 years from) the day you are issued the patent.
Of course after Jun 1995, they're 20 years? If I'm readnig the USPTO stuff right.
No, to protect them from the financial consequences. If they break the law, the corporation can no more shield them from prosecution than you or I.
That's why I said "might". It may be out of the question in practice, but in discussion, it's a pretty cut-and-dried violation of a law that ironically was backed by Comcast and the rest of them (without the foresight to consider if _they_ were held to the same standard.)
;) Because the UN and the World Court (or whatever it is called) simply goof off and take out tax dollars to draft resolutions and cover up human rights violations (and accuse the US or Europe of stealing resources from everyone else). (Not unlike most governments do now anyway, but you get the idea.)
...now I'm sad. ;)
While your sentiment is correct, I have to wonder, which Sony Exec would do time? The US exec or the Japanese exec? I'm sure whoever had final authority... but that's the sticky part... these clowns are so far beyond national boundaries, we should simply deport them all to an island.
Trouble with exile for these nitwits is, I don't want to ruin an island with that many assholes.
Comcast, IIRC is not international, though they may have international holdings, I'd wager (if they are any sort of greedy.. and I'm sure they are...) But then again, things are run by multinationals everywhere... so we're in a sad boat if we decide we want to do anything about it... (But it seems the EU has enough stones to fine Microsoft... so let's just fine Sony for each delivered copy of the rootkit.)
And, in the realm of possibility, a government sanctioned monopoly like a cable company should be more likely to comply with laws than a multinational that just doesn't care... (of course Comcast is an American company that just doesn't care... so we're in a vicious cycle here, I guess.) I realize in practice that this is a far seedier set of circumstances and most likely are at their very roots criminal enterprises anyway... but for the "great unwashed" these clowns provide moving pictures for their "magic boxes" and are allowed to fuck up everything else as long as they're not pre-empting Wrasslin for some goddamned presidential speech or something.
It's all depressing no matter how you look at it. And I guess we've all got to shoulder some of the blame for it, since we most likely kept voting these bastards in and not running them out on a rail when they ruined things....
Well, this loophole they seem to crow about (which is horse feathers to me, since the FCC has regulatory authority when it comes to denial of services by a communications provider... phone or otherwise...) is most likely trumped by the recently passed Internet Security Fun and Excitement Act (I forgot the name off the top of my head) that makes this fakery they're doing, impersonating _you_ (your machine, specifically) illegal and possibly a felony. As I understand it from the other discussions on this subject... Comcast's guilty of "hacking".... ;) For lack of a better term, legal-wise.
;) ...I know... wishful thinking...
So, no, the FCC may not have the power to stop Comcast (but I suspect they can levy a fine, but that's another discussion entirely), but I'd suspect the FBI does... and someone might do time for it.
I'd equate his salary to robbery as well. :)
But seriously... I am so sick and tired of seeing these high-priced charlatans spouting how much money they are losing to "piracy"... and yet, the biggest counterfeiter in the universe is on our most-favored-trading partner status. Oh sure, they do some busts for the cameras, but the truth is, the college students and internet "pirates" aren't what's costing them money. If it were such a guaranteed revenue loss, write it off on your taxes.
I'm not so bloody sure these people aren't secretly _wanting_ "piracy" to continue, so that they have a giant boogey man to scapegoat when their insipid reality-TV nonsense doesn't get viewers to flock to their channel like lemmings over a cliff.
Copyright infringement is not theft. No matter how much these idiots want people to believe it. It's not stealing... it never has been. Journalists are complicit each time they post that lie. And it _is_ a lie, both in the eyes of the law and the eyes of the Founding Fathers... So NBC et al, can just shut up or they're going to get a boot in their short and curlies...
Let it alone, then. Both sides. Let law enforcement do what they are hired to do in times of criminal activity (like they do with another neutral network... the phone system) and stop this criminalization of copyright infringement (the kind that has no monetary gain...) and stop lobbying to get vigilantism as a legal option for the *AA's.
By the same token... give the FCC the ability to fine the living snot out of companies like Comcast who use illegal means to stop BitTorrent traffic (whether legitimate or not is not Comcast's business...) and make traffic shaping for their own personal (company) gain illegal. Remove the ability of companies to stop shaping traffic they don't like.
Simple, isn't it? Governments don't make things neutral. Period. Companies don't make things neutral. Period. WE make things neutral. Remove the power to manipulate the system, and it becomes _ours_ again. (Government money funded the creation of this... so in effect, it IS ours. government subsidies funded the expansion of it through DSL and cable... so it's STILL ours...)
Good to know... considering the Ps2 sold 41 million units and counting... (and many of the top 10 sales figures for games in 2007 are PS2 titles...)
Now if the Ps3 goes that way... I'm fine with it... because it's my game system of choice...
Fuck Microsoft.
The gym isn't a public building (but that's not the issue here). It's a private building that requires a membership to get in, and it's posted as such, you're not allowed past the entrance without a valid membership...no exceptions. You can get to the front door and open it and negotiate your membership in that private building... so yes, you're allowed in partially. But consider this.... say you happen to walk in and no sign says "members only past this point", and past the front desk because no one's there, and there's no sign that says "for members' use only"... all you're doing is going into an open building looking at the facilities. Now if you suit up and start flexing, and no one comes to tell you that you need a membership... then who's fault is that? Claiming you "broke in" and illegally used their facilities after you finish your workout is a stretch. (provided the other criteria I listed are met.) But that's just what this company's claiming with the "hack" nonsense. I don't see the claim as valid if nothing is there to tell you "hey, this isn't for anyone but the private use of "XX/YY holders." If that was on the website's page, then you're entirely correct, and the analogy works with the "membership" negotiation and posting of "members only" on the door.
;)
This is the same thing as a public URL. If the company isn't smart enough to keep their open-to-the-public association set up to mention "going past here requires a login/payment"... why would anyone know to do it "because it's obvious" to someone working at the company?
I don't see your analogy working all that well in this case... but like everything else on Slashdot... I've not got all the info either.
No doubt. Plans in place to prevent that are always thwarted... but on principle, it's the physical media that will take quite a while to dissolve out of the great unwashed.
I for one would rather it not become such... and allow the current model to continue, where I buy what I want... I rip it... and I play it on what I want, where I want, when I want... and I don't have to pay for the "privilege" each time I do.
Streams of movies and "DL" content simply invite the pay-per-view universe that we all know gets the MPAA/RIAA wet in the nethers.
DRM or no, I'd rather have a physical copy than streaming it.
I think content providers are going to find that I'm not in the minority with this opinion either. (Besides we're not at bandwidth levels to do this widespread yet... heh.)
The surest way to stop me from "consuming" their content is to prevent me from watching it when and where I want (a physical copy does that... BR is a bit more restrictive on _what_ I can watch it on, but not when and where... like streaming or "d/l" content...)
The blades/razor model works for everything now... how well that maximizes profit is another matter... (It's the de-facto standard to avoid technology sticker shock.)
#1. So? Is that now some excuse for everything?
#2. So what. It's not like it isn't done 10000x a second online as we speak. It's the parent's job to provide a refuge from just that sort of nonsense... but I guess her parents didn't.
#3. I call shenanigans. That's a misconception perpetuated by after-school specials and MTV. Not EVERYONE is like the stereotypes on TV... Of course, if the parents are idiotic self-absorbed drones.... they may not have a place to go to talk, and that is, back to it again... her parents' fault.
#4. And the more effort YOU as a parent need to do to find the problem out. Parents failed this girl... the impersonator is nothing more than a scapegoat for a larger problem.
Shun them. I wouldn't give two monkeys if my entire neighborhood ignored me.. but then again, I'm not obsessed with what other people think of me, because I, like so few people on the planet... like to think for myself. Something this girl could've done instead of killing herself.
Of course, community death threats and vigilantism is not tolerated... and the "shunners" need to realize that. But then again, this isn't a fat girl killing herself because she's tired of the torment of her peers calling her Ms. Piggy, or oinker... no, it's like saving animals "only the cute ones"....
What a bunch of tripe... I'm amazed.
Not so much the conclusion, but the symptom of a larger problem with this girl. I firmly believe that she was suffering from some other malady (or maladies) that resulted in her suicide. Simply being tormented online by a bunch of people (even if you're an emotionally vapid teenager) or someone you think is the bees-knees is not the sole reason for suicide. (At least for people who are otherwise stable, sane and rational.... or even a teen... heh.)
...or you can just wait for a new law that makes it a "bad bad super bad McBadmeister" crime.
However, that does not stop politicians from making it a hot-button "ooooh scary stuff!" issue that puts otherwise rational people in a mode of fearfulness we haven't seen since the Dark Ages. People need to be more informed and stop thinking that the government has the answer to everything. Bullies will always exist... making a law that makes them "more evil" is not going to solve squat.
And for Odin's sake... talk to your kids... keep them involved and keep yourself interested in their lives... so that they have a place secure, safe, and warm to be when morons make them feel blue. Quit the crippity-crap whining about the world and make YOUR world (your home) a refuge from the idiots.... and I think you'll find things will go more smoothly, and dare I say, more peacefully.
*applause* textbook... textbook...
Indeed, SCO may not be a patent troll... but they certainly are of the garden variety troll, using litigation to prop up a failing business model, extort money, and generally chill the air surrounding a competing (or not, depending upon your point of view) technology/product.
The fact that they failed in every endeavor is not because the system works, but that when you get knowledgeable participants, sometimes it is difficult (impossible) to fool them as one would fool the great unwashed.
The only problem with that is how difficult it is to get them to give you the points.... Or at least I've heard such from quite a few people who've tried and failed, or tried and finally got them to give in... I'm amazed you got it done twice... (I assume through two dead 360's...) Maybe it's all in how you ask. :) Did you have to get snippy to get it accomplished?
:)
PSN gives you 5 (I can't remember the exact total... at least two... heh) downloads to any box with your account... (I know, I've installed a new HDD in my PS3 and I re-downloaded my purchases no sweat.) It's odd, really... how one company known for it's DRM and draconian tactics is actually being more friendly than the other DRM behemoth.
The funny thing was... the high end Sony players (which had hackable region coding via a simply trace snip or something) were more problematic than my POS cheap-o Sony player that got me the 5 'feature' films. ;) I probably wouldn't have gotten the player otherwise, but it was on sale to boot... (and I wrongly anticipated the Star Wars DVD box set to be released "any day now").
My Sony crapped out well before it should have, but well after most of my friends' $900 players...
I see where you're coming from, but oh, around 1996 or 1997 or so we (some of us) were having this very same conversation about DVD players.
:) (I'm probably the 24th person to do so in the last 3 minutes... sorry for the redundancy.)
Anyone remember the early days of DVD? Certain manufacturer's players wouldn't handle certain style manufactured dual-layer discs (among other things). I remember the fiasco with nearly all high-end Sony players and the movie "The Matrix" causing a lock-up at the menu.... and guess what? Some of those players didn't have the ability to update their firmware either. It was a configuration nightmare, so to speak. Now, I'm not saying this Samsung player is top-notch and the world truly has a gem of a player on their hands... but as for problematic DVD players in the past, we've seen this before.... just thought I'd remind everyone.
But it truly begs the question.. why be an early adopter _again_? My Sony DVD I got with 5 "free DVD" movies (from a list of crap that wouldn't sell) had troubles early on with quite a few WB DVDs... but eventually it began working on more movies, before it crapped the bed. (Sony.. heh.)
Here's a thought... who gives two monkeys if someone's seeding a linux ISO? Why is the school's bandwidth there? Make a peak usage policy. Problem solved.
:)
Another thing too... I don't see seeding a distro (or what do I care, a movie) as "wasting bandwidth" or hindering education... I remember ftping the latest and greatest Slackware distro (all the floppies) when I was in college... and I also remember mooching oodles of copyrighted pictures off usenet too... (tin, baby!) And I remember getting a pirated version of MS-DOS 6.0 weeks before it hit the store shelves... The school survived the "bandwidth crisis" and did fine... even in the days where a fat pipe meant a 28.8 modem. And guess what? I got my degree and _still_ used the computer labs to play Rise of the Triad and Doom in the evenings... not to mention various MUDs and finding craploads of useless text files on obscure computers all over the world (BEFORE the WWW had more than 3 webpages...)
I learned how to use Unix, shell scripting, writing stuff with curses... not to mention how to maintain a SLIP connection to school (while using a dead IP from the host file), and discovered IRC warscripting at the same time I learned the stuff I went to college for.
Life's good when you have the freedom to explore...
Yeah the DC ban... that's the one I hope they are going to be logical and stop the erosion of the Bill of Rights, at least one of them... I mean, the politicians are really under the impression that the Bill of Rights "grants" rights... but the truth is they are simply enumerated... they exist outside of government (the Declaration of Independence comes to mind, how quickly they forget...) and that therefore means they can't be taken away, sold, or otherwise altered by the government (by hook or by crook.) It's frustrating sometimes... which is why I carry a Constitution in my pocket so people can see in print what they are so ignorant of these days.
Given this administration's ability to miss the point on so many levels, I'm not as confident in the DC case, though the Supremes are more likely now to be proper about the ruling rather than advocating from the bench.
Here's to hoping. The founding fathers are rolling, spinning, and banging on the top of their coffins at the state of our grand experiment, I think.