The real deal on this story is that Eircom (Irelands national carrier) said they wouldn't install the software suggested by RIAA on its systems. RIAA have tried a number of bullying tactics against Eircom and taking Eircom to court is just the latest of these.
If RIAA have its way they will have the software installed and then this is meant to only filter copyright material from Eircom's subscribers. However this could also prevent legitimate P2P use by limiting the bandwidth avaiable, as well as blocking any number of sites that they see fit.
Correct me if I am wrong here but wasn't the goal of the internet to be a free and easy exchange of information on a global network? Having these self proclaimed internet police trying to stop actions on a global scale should not and must not work. The internet should be self regulating and a FREE exchange of information.
Record companies and movie companies to a lesser extent have been pushing junk onto the consumer for far to long and the internet has simply allowed the consumer to identify the difference between junk and gold. If the record and movie industries are so worried about this "Piracy" (doubtful as sales have gone up whilst production costs have gone down = more profit for record companies), then they should consider working with the consumer rather than against it. Here is a suggestion that I don't seem to have read anywhere yet... but why don't the record companies put the deleted items up on a site for purchase or whatever... then your consumers wouldn't have to "Pirate" material that is not readily available.
As a closing note... if you deal with the "Piracy" problem at source and regulate it properly with good attention to delivery methods etc. then everyone wins. Up to now there have been a number of Knee jerks resulting in bad press, mainly emenating from RIAA. These guys are just looking for back handers from the record companies and winning dubious cases in courts for publicity and shock factor. If you push the exchanging of media files underground by the use of RIAA and excessive pricing you can expect that dodgy organisations and "Pirates" will ultimately win. (Take a look at the drug situation across the world... if governments regulate (not ban) then it is manageable and the underworld is put out of business. If you push it underground it flourishes and the wrong people benefit. No one says it is right but we must be grown up about how we manage these things)
I wonder if Hubble was shut down because it saw something that it wasn't meant to see? Let me guess they will be successful in getting the backup systems working once whatever that is up there has passed or gone public! Well I said it was a conspiracy theory:-)
What will be very interesting is to see how the FCC will apply this charge to European based VOIP companies. Surely the FCC being a US organisation and not having any authority in Europe will prevent them from applying any charges to any European citizens? This is a flagrant way the US is attempting to get the taxing of the internet through the back door and should be stopped immediately.
This is not another resource of the USA that they can abuse and milk for their own gain at the expense of the rest of the world. The internet is really an open source system that has joint ownership by all of the people that use it. I know that most large countries are looking to apply their own taxes or charging schemes to generate revenues for their respective governments. However why should something that has evolved now be hijacked by these technology Nazi's?
These fools have been chasing larger revenues for a long time now. However what are these figures based on.. Estimates or some highly paid audit team that drags figures out of their arses. The truth behind this is that now people have the option to try before they buy they are not purchasing the crap that was forced on them before. After all how many times have you bought an album to find only one track that is of any use, and then stick it in a corner.
Instead of all this media hype RIAA and MPAA should get off their self built podiums and listen to the people that buy their crap. Face it these companies, artists, etc etc are losing no more than ever before, after all if yu pirate the media would you have bought it in the first place? I have found I have bought more since I was able to "try before I buy" and cut out the junk. I am sure I am not the only one, and I certainly won't be the last one. Therefore all this media driven hype on this fanciful loss amounts is only driving their so called profits up and justifying some salary raises in the process (and probably some useless gits jobs!!)
The new Latitude laptops from Dell (D620 & D420) have 3G as an option. I was evaluating one today and it is a pretty nice Gucci piece of kit. Wireless 54G, Bluetooth, 3G cellular, Ambient light sensor for the screen, beautiful screen and very light. Seems they may have it right folks!!
Why would Apple consider opening up OSX to the problems inherrant in Windows? Wouldn't the more logical path be for Apple to release OSX or XI to all x86 platforms and go head to head with Microsoft? I am sure the heads at Apple must be considering this, as they are now the best placed they have ever been to finally make the move into general mainstream. Plus with Vista being put off for OEM release until Q107 this must now open the way for Apple to take the Xmas market and gain mass market appeal.
Slashdot Mirror
The real deal on this story is that Eircom (Irelands national carrier) said they wouldn't install the software suggested by RIAA on its systems. RIAA have tried a number of bullying tactics against Eircom and taking Eircom to court is just the latest of these. If RIAA have its way they will have the software installed and then this is meant to only filter copyright material from Eircom's subscribers. However this could also prevent legitimate P2P use by limiting the bandwidth avaiable, as well as blocking any number of sites that they see fit. Correct me if I am wrong here but wasn't the goal of the internet to be a free and easy exchange of information on a global network? Having these self proclaimed internet police trying to stop actions on a global scale should not and must not work. The internet should be self regulating and a FREE exchange of information. Record companies and movie companies to a lesser extent have been pushing junk onto the consumer for far to long and the internet has simply allowed the consumer to identify the difference between junk and gold. If the record and movie industries are so worried about this "Piracy" (doubtful as sales have gone up whilst production costs have gone down = more profit for record companies), then they should consider working with the consumer rather than against it. Here is a suggestion that I don't seem to have read anywhere yet... but why don't the record companies put the deleted items up on a site for purchase or whatever... then your consumers wouldn't have to "Pirate" material that is not readily available. As a closing note... if you deal with the "Piracy" problem at source and regulate it properly with good attention to delivery methods etc. then everyone wins. Up to now there have been a number of Knee jerks resulting in bad press, mainly emenating from RIAA. These guys are just looking for back handers from the record companies and winning dubious cases in courts for publicity and shock factor. If you push the exchanging of media files underground by the use of RIAA and excessive pricing you can expect that dodgy organisations and "Pirates" will ultimately win. (Take a look at the drug situation across the world... if governments regulate (not ban) then it is manageable and the underworld is put out of business. If you push it underground it flourishes and the wrong people benefit. No one says it is right but we must be grown up about how we manage these things)
I wonder if Hubble was shut down because it saw something that it wasn't meant to see? Let me guess they will be successful in getting the backup systems working once whatever that is up there has passed or gone public! Well I said it was a conspiracy theory :-)
What will be very interesting is to see how the FCC will apply this charge to European based VOIP companies. Surely the FCC being a US organisation and not having any authority in Europe will prevent them from applying any charges to any European citizens? This is a flagrant way the US is attempting to get the taxing of the internet through the back door and should be stopped immediately.
This is not another resource of the USA that they can abuse and milk for their own gain at the expense of the rest of the world. The internet is really an open source system that has joint ownership by all of the people that use it. I know that most large countries are looking to apply their own taxes or charging schemes to generate revenues for their respective governments. However why should something that has evolved now be hijacked by these technology Nazi's?
These fools have been chasing larger revenues for a long time now. However what are these figures based on.. Estimates or some highly paid audit team that drags figures out of their arses. The truth behind this is that now people have the option to try before they buy they are not purchasing the crap that was forced on them before. After all how many times have you bought an album to find only one track that is of any use, and then stick it in a corner. Instead of all this media hype RIAA and MPAA should get off their self built podiums and listen to the people that buy their crap. Face it these companies, artists, etc etc are losing no more than ever before, after all if yu pirate the media would you have bought it in the first place? I have found I have bought more since I was able to "try before I buy" and cut out the junk. I am sure I am not the only one, and I certainly won't be the last one. Therefore all this media driven hype on this fanciful loss amounts is only driving their so called profits up and justifying some salary raises in the process (and probably some useless gits jobs!!)
The new Latitude laptops from Dell (D620 & D420) have 3G as an option. I was evaluating one today and it is a pretty nice Gucci piece of kit. Wireless 54G, Bluetooth, 3G cellular, Ambient light sensor for the screen, beautiful screen and very light. Seems they may have it right folks!!
Why would Apple consider opening up OSX to the problems inherrant in Windows? Wouldn't the more logical path be for Apple to release OSX or XI to all x86 platforms and go head to head with Microsoft? I am sure the heads at Apple must be considering this, as they are now the best placed they have ever been to finally make the move into general mainstream. Plus with Vista being put off for OEM release until Q107 this must now open the way for Apple to take the Xmas market and gain mass market appeal.