I don't think someone with mob connections is running these scams. Anyone with proper connections would be into money laundering, drug dealing, arms trade, etc. which would all be more lucrative then sending out spam and hoping to find some stupid person willing to send them a few thousand $.
It seems slashdot has been turing into angry, leftist politics for nerds nowadays.
Sure it has. Just look at all the Flamebait and Overrated mods on all the posts that are ever so slightly conservative, or sometimes merely non-hysterical. As a case in point, this post will be modded Flamebait since I criticized the Slashdot groupthink position.
Just like the SCO lawsuits, this one was not filed for the purpose of winning in court, but to intimidate and spread FUD. Once PHBs hear that it is "illegal" for them to service equipment in any way without a vendor contract, they will make sure to keep all of their maintenance contracts current.
I agree, the reason this law was passed is because politicians were not told and did not understand the full ramifications of it. The real result of the DMCA, when taken to it's logical extreme, is that you can never truly own an electronic device you have purchased if it has some sort of access control. You will be merely renting the device and subject to the whims of the manufacturer. Somehow I think this law would have had a much harder time passing if it was clear upfront that this is how it would be used.
The problem is non-dividend-paying stock. When I buy stock, it is for one of 2 reasons. I want to make steady income from dividends. Or I want it to go up in value so I can flip it for a profit. For beginning companies, it doesn't make much sense to pay dividends since the company needs money to expand into new markets. For established companies with strong income, what else are you going to do with the money other than line executives' pockets? There's only so many stores that a company like Starbucks can open. If they come close to this number, I'd expect them to pay out profits to their shareholders, otherwise I would dump the stock. Because the only way they could really grow any more at that point is for the company to play accounting games, or engage in short-sighted cost cutting. In theory, older established companies that do not have shrinking market share will be the most ethical and provide the most secure and pleasant jobs. But this can be true only if management wants it to be.
I think this may be true to an extent, but mainly concerning out of the box generic software. I've been saying that Microsoft will be the last company to make billions selling software to the masses. Certain things (operating systems, accounting packages, office suites) will become commoditized, but there will still be a market for custom solutions which I don't see dying out anytime soon. With a car, you buy from a major manufacturer but there are still many companies that make auto accessories and that service and customize vehicles. Even if some of the most common software application companies consolidate, I still see a huge opportunity for smaller companies to contribute to the overall computer market. People seem to prefer custom solutions, which may completely drive their business, to be put together by a firm that is nearby and who they have close contact with.
It would make sense that this type of scam would operate out of Florida. This is a state where, if you declare bankruptcy, your principal residence cannot be touched, no matter how much it costs. You can operate a scam, move the proceeds into a multi million dollar house, then file bankruptcy and keep the house. The speed at which these criminals move between companies makes investigations very difficult.
If IE doesn't take care of this, I'm sure the next generation of popup blockers will have a feature that makes the webserver think the popup window was displayed when it really wasn't, just to defeat the super annoying advertising techniques that some misguided site operators will try to use. If I've made an effort to block your ads and you try to make me view them anyway, I won't buy your product. It will just piss me off. If a website cannot make it without forcing all readers to view super annoying ads, maybe the internet would be a better place without them.
I'm not saying I agree with this guy's rationale, but seriously, is there any college student who has honest to god never pirated anything? I'm talking software, movies, music, etc. I realize its hypocritical to pirate other people's software while studying to be a developer, but I'm not going to say I've never done it.
The problem is, if you actually want to use an analog cell phone, you will pay an arm and a leg for the service and be stuck with a much older handset. These phones, although they were powerful and sounded great, had terrible battery life. Cell phone companies have no incentive to make better analog phones available to their customers since digital networks are easier to manage, and to oversubscribe.
All that these new P2P bills really do is shift the responsibility of enforcement from the record companies to the state and federal governments. If a company is inducing people (or children, to make it sound more dramatic) to violate the law, they can already be sued. The RIAA must have realized that its lawsuits are getting expensive and sees laws like this as a way of transferring the enforcement costs to the taxpayers.
This would cause damage that would be noticeable the first time you used it. Then you just return it within the return period (you did save your receipt, right) and get a full refund, then buy another laptop at a respectable store. And Best Buy's profits continue to fall. I know the parent poster was probably talking about CompUSA but I have heard the same story about Worst Buy.
You are a dumb schmuck. He simply returned something he didn't want. Just like the store policy says he can. There was no deception whatsoever. A customer has the right to change his mind the next day. You're probably still working in retail making $9 an hour because your screwy sense of ethics somehow believes it would be wrong to aspire for more. Get used to being screwed, since you will obviously never do anything about it.
For those who have problems dealing with asshole sales people pushing warranties that you don't want, here is a script: I know what the service plan is, and it's a ripoff. I won't be buying it under any circumstances. Thanks. Bye.
Is this rude and anti-social, yes. But I've never thought of the dorks in blue shirts as friends anyway. I've never bought anything I didn't want using this method.
That's what it looks like to me. A movie that was cool, in the beginning, and then a lot of fluff and filler. I guess that way they can price it a lot more than it would be for just one movie. I, for one, will not be contributing to the stuff-the-egotistical-maniacs-wallet-fund. Maybe I'm still just bitter about the second movie, Matrix Regurgitated.
You're exactly right, in that most businesses will take the easy route and ban USB devices because what they are going for is an illusion of security. What happens when an employee breaks the rule? Sure, you can fire him, but the damage will have been done already. Having a good policy is important, but when you rely on the honesty of dishonest people as your security policy, what you have is an illusion of security. In reality, you are wide open.
If a secure facility is running Windows XP on a Dell box, there isn't a damn thing they can do to keep someone from hooking up a storage device. That's the downside to "helpful" device configuration. For bulletproof security, ditch Microsoft, ditch Dell, make custom builds of everything to eliminate known security holes.
It sounds to me like Best Buy's main complaint is that it's customers aren't stupid enough to fall for their gimmicks. So they're asking for more stupid and uneducated consumers. Then they complain about the downsides to selling to idiots, like more fraud and stupid questions for employees. Hey Best Buy, running a business isn't all fun and profit. Tactics like these tend to attract people who enjoy playing scam-the-scammer.
I wouldn't say Best Buy has monopoly power here. Shop somewhere else! There's nothing that Best Buy sells that you can't get elsewhere. If you're in a rural area and they are the only store, go in there, test out whatever it is you want, then order it online. Some of these posts make it sound like people have been forced to the Best Buy cash register at gunpoint.
As opposed to the moral superiority of, what, Europe? Who caused two world wars? Who has stood by and allowed Serbs, ethnic Albanians, and others to be slaughtered in their own back yard? Who seems to think that Islamic terrorism is all in our heads even while being attacked by it? When it comes to a moral superior country, the US may not be it, but it sure as hell isn't France, England, Spain, Italy, Germany, Russia, etc.
Slashdot Mirror
Contracts, written or oral, cannot be used to facilitate illegal activity, and will have no standing in court if someone tries to do this.
I don't think someone with mob connections is running these scams. Anyone with proper connections would be into money laundering, drug dealing, arms trade, etc. which would all be more lucrative then sending out spam and hoping to find some stupid person willing to send them a few thousand $.
It seems slashdot has been turing into angry, leftist politics for nerds nowadays.
Sure it has. Just look at all the Flamebait and Overrated mods on all the posts that are ever so slightly conservative, or sometimes merely non-hysterical. As a case in point, this post will be modded Flamebait since I criticized the Slashdot groupthink position.
Just like the SCO lawsuits, this one was not filed for the purpose of winning in court, but to intimidate and spread FUD. Once PHBs hear that it is "illegal" for them to service equipment in any way without a vendor contract, they will make sure to keep all of their maintenance contracts current.
I agree, the reason this law was passed is because politicians were not told and did not understand the full ramifications of it. The real result of the DMCA, when taken to it's logical extreme, is that you can never truly own an electronic device you have purchased if it has some sort of access control. You will be merely renting the device and subject to the whims of the manufacturer. Somehow I think this law would have had a much harder time passing if it was clear upfront that this is how it would be used.
The problem is non-dividend-paying stock. When I buy stock, it is for one of 2 reasons. I want to make steady income from dividends. Or I want it to go up in value so I can flip it for a profit. For beginning companies, it doesn't make much sense to pay dividends since the company needs money to expand into new markets. For established companies with strong income, what else are you going to do with the money other than line executives' pockets? There's only so many stores that a company like Starbucks can open. If they come close to this number, I'd expect them to pay out profits to their shareholders, otherwise I would dump the stock. Because the only way they could really grow any more at that point is for the company to play accounting games, or engage in short-sighted cost cutting. In theory, older established companies that do not have shrinking market share will be the most ethical and provide the most secure and pleasant jobs. But this can be true only if management wants it to be.
I think this may be true to an extent, but mainly concerning out of the box generic software. I've been saying that Microsoft will be the last company to make billions selling software to the masses. Certain things (operating systems, accounting packages, office suites) will become commoditized, but there will still be a market for custom solutions which I don't see dying out anytime soon. With a car, you buy from a major manufacturer but there are still many companies that make auto accessories and that service and customize vehicles. Even if some of the most common software application companies consolidate, I still see a huge opportunity for smaller companies to contribute to the overall computer market. People seem to prefer custom solutions, which may completely drive their business, to be put together by a firm that is nearby and who they have close contact with.
It would make sense that this type of scam would operate out of Florida. This is a state where, if you declare bankruptcy, your principal residence cannot be touched, no matter how much it costs. You can operate a scam, move the proceeds into a multi million dollar house, then file bankruptcy and keep the house. The speed at which these criminals move between companies makes investigations very difficult.
In addition to that, "A fool and his money are soon parted."
If IE doesn't take care of this, I'm sure the next generation of popup blockers will have a feature that makes the webserver think the popup window was displayed when it really wasn't, just to defeat the super annoying advertising techniques that some misguided site operators will try to use. If I've made an effort to block your ads and you try to make me view them anyway, I won't buy your product. It will just piss me off. If a website cannot make it without forcing all readers to view super annoying ads, maybe the internet would be a better place without them.
Sadly enough, this post should be modded Insightful. This seems to be the way things are usually done.
If you're in the United States, your landlord is violating FCC regulations. Scroll to about the middle of the page.
I'm not saying I agree with this guy's rationale, but seriously, is there any college student who has honest to god never pirated anything? I'm talking software, movies, music, etc. I realize its hypocritical to pirate other people's software while studying to be a developer, but I'm not going to say I've never done it.
The problem is, if you actually want to use an analog cell phone, you will pay an arm and a leg for the service and be stuck with a much older handset. These phones, although they were powerful and sounded great, had terrible battery life. Cell phone companies have no incentive to make better analog phones available to their customers since digital networks are easier to manage, and to oversubscribe.
All that these new P2P bills really do is shift the responsibility of enforcement from the record companies to the state and federal governments. If a company is inducing people (or children, to make it sound more dramatic) to violate the law, they can already be sued. The RIAA must have realized that its lawsuits are getting expensive and sees laws like this as a way of transferring the enforcement costs to the taxpayers.
Don't forget the malpractice suit you could file against any doctors who happened to be in the store at the time.
This would cause damage that would be noticeable the first time you used it. Then you just return it within the return period (you did save your receipt, right) and get a full refund, then buy another laptop at a respectable store. And Best Buy's profits continue to fall. I know the parent poster was probably talking about CompUSA but I have heard the same story about Worst Buy.
You are a dumb schmuck. He simply returned something he didn't want. Just like the store policy says he can. There was no deception whatsoever. A customer has the right to change his mind the next day. You're probably still working in retail making $9 an hour because your screwy sense of ethics somehow believes it would be wrong to aspire for more. Get used to being screwed, since you will obviously never do anything about it.
For those who have problems dealing with asshole sales people pushing warranties that you don't want, here is a script: I know what the service plan is, and it's a ripoff. I won't be buying it under any circumstances. Thanks. Bye.
Is this rude and anti-social, yes. But I've never thought of the dorks in blue shirts as friends anyway. I've never bought anything I didn't want using this method.
That's what it looks like to me. A movie that was cool, in the beginning, and then a lot of fluff and filler. I guess that way they can price it a lot more than it would be for just one movie. I, for one, will not be contributing to the stuff-the-egotistical-maniacs-wallet-fund. Maybe I'm still just bitter about the second movie, Matrix Regurgitated.
You're exactly right, in that most businesses will take the easy route and ban USB devices because what they are going for is an illusion of security. What happens when an employee breaks the rule? Sure, you can fire him, but the damage will have been done already. Having a good policy is important, but when you rely on the honesty of dishonest people as your security policy, what you have is an illusion of security. In reality, you are wide open.
If a secure facility is running Windows XP on a Dell box, there isn't a damn thing they can do to keep someone from hooking up a storage device. That's the downside to "helpful" device configuration. For bulletproof security, ditch Microsoft, ditch Dell, make custom builds of everything to eliminate known security holes.
It sounds to me like Best Buy's main complaint is that it's customers aren't stupid enough to fall for their gimmicks. So they're asking for more stupid and uneducated consumers. Then they complain about the downsides to selling to idiots, like more fraud and stupid questions for employees. Hey Best Buy, running a business isn't all fun and profit. Tactics like these tend to attract people who enjoy playing scam-the-scammer.
I wouldn't say Best Buy has monopoly power here. Shop somewhere else! There's nothing that Best Buy sells that you can't get elsewhere. If you're in a rural area and they are the only store, go in there, test out whatever it is you want, then order it online. Some of these posts make it sound like people have been forced to the Best Buy cash register at gunpoint.
As opposed to the moral superiority of, what, Europe? Who caused two world wars? Who has stood by and allowed Serbs, ethnic Albanians, and others to be slaughtered in their own back yard? Who seems to think that Islamic terrorism is all in our heads even while being attacked by it? When it comes to a moral superior country, the US may not be it, but it sure as hell isn't France, England, Spain, Italy, Germany, Russia, etc.