If there are patents in question, then... why are they being sued?
Because, although the patents were "valid", they referred to articles not included in the box (such as patents on the drum set, on a box that contained only the software and the guitar).
I just read some "sad" news on Slashdot - The infamous lawyer Günter Freiherr von Gravenreuth was found dead in his Munich student club this morning. He gave himself the deadly shot just as police special units looking for him were busting down the doors. I'm sure nobody in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't receive any of his "Abmahnungen", there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly a German icon. He will not be missed.
And here is the text of the forth Geneva convention.
It is article 33 which forbids collective punishments:
Art. 33. No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.
Pillage is prohibited.
Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited.
So, who are "protected persons"? Article 4 gives the answer:
Art. 4. Persons protected by the Convention are those who, at a given moment and in any manner whatsoever, find themselves, in case of a conflict or occupation, in the hands of a Party to the conflict or Occupying Power of which they are not nationals.
Nationals of a State which is not bound by the Convention are not protected by it. Nationals of a neutral State who find themselves in the territory of a belligerent State, and nationals of a co-belligerent State, shall not be regarded as protected persons while the State of which they are nationals has normal diplomatic representation in the State in whose hands they are.
So, unless the US invades a country in order to impose ACTA there by force, victims of "three strikes" cannot consider themselves to be protected by the Geneva convention, and so article 33 would not apply.
...laws derived from the Geneva convention to govern related and similar civil matters, such as to protect against collective punishment, which is a war crime under the Geneva convention- cutting off internet access to a household for the action of one clearly also breaches this.
Didn't we have this discussion recently? Apparently, the Geneva convention only forbids collective punishment within the context of a war, and not in general.
Collective punishment in a POW camp => forbidden.
Collective punishment in school (or other non-war related context) => ok.
I just read some "sad" news on the Internet - The infamous lawyer Günter Freiherr von Gravenreuth was found dead in his Munich student club this morning. He gave himself the deadly shot just as police special units looking for him were busting down the doors. I'm sure nobody in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't receive any of his "Abmahnungen", there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly a German icon. He will not be missed.
In that case, downloading a compiled x264 in the United States is still importation, and that's warez too.
And who the hell cares? Does your police really come and bust down your door and shove machine guns into your face if you download "unapproved" software?
I don't think the lose of hardware compatibility or lose of functionality has ever stopped businesses making stupid decisions. If that were so, then Adobe would have fixed Flash a l o n g time ago from being a big resource hog.
It's not their hardware being hogged...
You can bet, if Adobe themselves needed to buy more powerful hardware in order to make up for their shitty software, they'd fix it in a moment.
School sets up system for tracking stolen laptops using their webcam
During the first couple of months, the system is used for its intended purpose only
Some less than savory admin personnel figures out that the feature can also be used to spy on cute boys master bating while watching porn on their laptops
... this goes on for a while...
... until one of these admin surprises a boy doing "drugs"
Now the admin's "civil responsibility" instincts kick in, and he rats the boy out to the principal (... conveniently forgetting that he had no business spying on him in the first place...)
Parents threaten to sue
School backpedals, points out that the feature is only a theft-tracking device, but conveniently forgets that it was not used as such
And privacy is an human right recognized in the UN Declaration of Human Rights, plus probably most governments constitutions.
Not in any constitutions passed recently. European constitution (a.k.a. Lissabon treaty) lacks any meaningful protections for freedom of speech, privacy and presumption of innocence. You know, the corporations have learned their lesson, and stopped putting such foolish clauses in.
4. Get a gun, and take it to ACTA's head quarters. That's what the Second Amendment is for. As others have said, ACTA is high treason, and needs to be dealt with as such.
They really have liquid sensors in them? That seems so... Orwellian. Does that not bother anyone else?
It doens't bother me. I just put a paper towel or my other hand in front of/under it when I feel it's ready to burst. Or alternatively just point the stream towards some direction other than your laptop.
O, and keep those movies on an external disk, so that nobody will nose around your files when you have to turn in your laptop for repairs.
And when using your laptop on your... lap, be sure to keep it over your knees rather than close to your belly (this last piece of advice is not for the protection of your laptop)
This is a civil suit, not a criminal one. How would you feel if if you litter, you will be held accountable for the full cleanup costs of the entire area, even though you were only one of thousands of litterers?
Or, in the event where the sea-levels did indeed rise due to CO2 pollution, and low-lying countries such as the Netherlands would be flooded, every person driving a SUV would be held accountable for the entire damages? Indeed, each of them contributed to the catastrophe, even though each individual offender only played an insignificant part?
A letter like that would not make it past the mail room interns.
I've heard the magic words are "Personal and Confidential". But you have to address it to a specific person (the CEO...) for that, because obviously it wouldn't make sense to send a "personal" letter to customer service.
Slashdot Mirror
Simple AI: If a question ends in a vowel, the answer is no. Otherwise the answer is yes.
Question: Is your signature true?
No.
If there are patents in question, then ... why are they being sued?
Because, although the patents were "valid", they referred to articles not included in the box (such as patents on the drum set, on a box that contained only the software and the guitar).
Now, don't anybody dare to mod this as offtopic!
It is article 33 which forbids collective punishments:
So, who are "protected persons"? Article 4 gives the answer:
So, unless the US invades a country in order to impose ACTA there by force, victims of "three strikes" cannot consider themselves to be protected by the Geneva convention, and so article 33 would not apply.
...laws derived from the Geneva convention to govern related and similar civil matters, such as to protect against collective punishment, which is a war crime under the Geneva convention- cutting off internet access to a household for the action of one clearly also breaches this.
Didn't we have this discussion recently? Apparently, the Geneva convention only forbids collective punishment within the context of a war, and not in general.
Collective punishment in a POW camp => forbidden.
Collective punishment in school (or other non-war related context) => ok.
I just read some "sad" news on the Internet - The infamous lawyer Günter Freiherr von Gravenreuth was found dead in his Munich student club this morning. He gave himself the deadly shot just as police special units looking for him were busting down the doors. I'm sure nobody in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't receive any of his "Abmahnungen", there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly a German icon. He will not be missed.
Not this time, apparently...
In that case, downloading a compiled x264 in the United States is still importation, and that's warez too.
And who the hell cares? Does your police really come and bust down your door and shove machine guns into your face if you download "unapproved" software?
In the United States, x264 is considered warez because distribution thereof infringes a third party's right.
Who cares? Just distribute from a European country then.
I don't think the lose of hardware compatibility or lose of functionality has ever stopped businesses making stupid decisions. If that were so, then Adobe would have fixed Flash a l o n g time ago from being a big resource hog.
It's not their hardware being hogged...
You can bet, if Adobe themselves needed to buy more powerful hardware in order to make up for their shitty software, they'd fix it in a moment.
And privacy is an human right recognized in the UN Declaration of Human Rights, plus probably most governments constitutions.
Not in any constitutions passed recently. European constitution (a.k.a. Lissabon treaty) lacks any meaningful protections for freedom of speech, privacy and presumption of innocence. You know, the corporations have learned their lesson, and stopped putting such foolish clauses in.
4. Get a gun, and take it to ACTA's head quarters. That's what the Second Amendment is for. As others have said, ACTA is high treason, and needs to be dealt with as such.
This is a much bigger threat to freedom and democracy than terrorism ever could be.
Worse than that, it could actually cause some terrorism. Wanna snipe around some MPAA or RIAA parking lots?
They really have liquid sensors in them? That seems so... Orwellian. Does that not bother anyone else?
It doens't bother me. I just put a paper towel or my other hand in front of/under it when I feel it's ready to burst. Or alternatively just point the stream towards some direction other than your laptop.
O, and keep those movies on an external disk, so that nobody will nose around your files when you have to turn in your laptop for repairs.
And when using your laptop on your ... lap, be sure to keep it over your knees rather than close to your belly (this last piece of advice is not for the protection of your laptop)
Of course, you could be dropped from the team and by the time the courts sort it out you're too old to really compete and your Olympic dream dies.
So, just wait until you have that medal around your neck before you make the statement.
What, do you want to sell my light usage statistics to drug companies so they can target sleep medication to me?
More likely, sell your growing lamp usage statistics to the DEA so that they can target a drug bust to you...
He admitted under oath that he distributed. He said effectively, "I, Andrew Tenenbaum, distributed at least one complete copy without authorization."
Why the hell did he admit such a thing? I guess that's the problem here.
Or, in the event where the sea-levels did indeed rise due to CO2 pollution, and low-lying countries such as the Netherlands would be flooded, every person driving a SUV would be held accountable for the entire damages? Indeed, each of them contributed to the catastrophe, even though each individual offender only played an insignificant part?
Wow, an AC who knows that you can click on a user's name and see his posting history. I'm impressed.
How, that's expensive, indeed. Around here in Luxembourg, it's €3.70 for a large glass of draught beer (1/2 l), and that's at the "expensive" places!
that whoever owns the rights to "Never Gonna Give You Up" is receiving royalties.
Maybe now is the time to gently introduce Micro$oft to the MAFIAA... That bloodshed should be phun to watch...
no one, not even those with pirated copies, will be spared.
Not if the cracker just removed that annoying check.
A letter like that would not make it past the mail room interns.
I've heard the magic words are "Personal and Confidential". But you have to address it to a specific person (the CEO...) for that, because obviously it wouldn't make sense to send a "personal" letter to customer service.
I mean, people spend $100 a night at a bar constantly, for a few hours of fun.
$100 at a bar? You'd be so drunk that you'd need to be carried out of the bar at the end of the evening.
Or is booze really so expensive in the States?
Or do these $100 include the hookers?