If you found a reason, any reason, to sue someone and get some money out of them AND prevent them from doing something new and scaarry, wouldn't you? The issue here is not whether or not someone should sue, or how good their facts are, or if they know the law or not. Someone will always sue. Let's get past that. What's important is the defense. If Google can withstand the force of the many lawsuits that are sure to come because of the new way they are doing things, then who cares about the particulars? Might makes right, and the best offense is a good defense. This is CYA times, after all.
Let's just do the usual...make it illegal without thinking of the ramifications down the road...and if you think that "it" is a little too ambiguous, you're not thinking like a lawmaker.
I was waiting for someone to mention this...so we're going to pay to have some computer monitor what videos we're watching and make sure we're allowed to watch them?
You know what, though, I have had Half-Life 2 since it came out (just beat it actually), and haven't had any problems with Steam. Just to give the other side.
One particular annoyance that noobies like myself (lvl 30 undead warrior) have had to deal with is ganking on the PVP servers; high-level characters attack lower-level opponents, camp at their corpse, etc, and generally make questing more of a chore. Do you think that newer players may start getting disgusted and just move over to a player vs environment server, leaving the PVP to the "elite" and effectively closing off the influx of new players? Any thoughts of reviving the dishonorable kill?
You wake up, take a shower, brush your teeth...oops! Your electric toothbrush alerts you that the license on its software has expired. You have to brush manually just like every other joe schmoe. Luckily, you updated your electric shaver last week (no more embarassing scruff at work!) You go to put on your work uniform; the screen next to the closet informs you that your company has changed logos....again. Your shirt will automatically be updated. But wait, you wonder, I had to go through hell just to get the unlock code from the shirt's manufacturer for the last logo, is the same thing going to happen here? You tug at the shirt; it won't come out of the closet. Well, at least you have the trial uniform from when you started working for the company. You put that on. It's ugly and you hate it, and the unlock code for the new logo probably won't come for a week. You go grab some coffee; the Mr. Coffee beeps, letting you know that you have brewed coffee that may be stolen. You press 'Ok' on the coffee maker's touch screen, but you know that the information was already sent to Microsoft. Sigh. Why did you take that bag of coffee beans your aunt brought back from Columbia? Next, you get in your car and enter your username and password. The car's computer downloads updates for 5 minutes before freezing: you forgot to put the dongle in! More information that's sent to Microsoft. You cringe at the thought of the subpoena that will arrive in a couple of weeks; how are you going to explain the coffee? Meanwhile, your car won't start without a reboot. You finally get to work 15 minutes late. You start up your computer and go grab some coffee while Windows Orwell starts up and checks all your programs and files for contraband. You come back to find that one of the files(wtf.dll) on your computer does not have a key associated to it. You then click on 'Remove File' and your computer hangs; you find out much later from a laughing IT overlord that the file is a required dll for a third party surveillance program installed by your employer to track your keystrokes. You think back to every time you visited slashdot. After work, you head home with a DVD that Bob in accounting gave you from his trip to Hawaii. You try to play the DVD, but your freshly updated DVD player detects that there is no copy protection on the disc and refuses to play it. You try to play it on your home computer, but after updating itself and checking for pirated files, your computer comes across a non-DRM'd file: wtf.dll.......
true, but there were two conditions in my post, 1) that video games are proven to be more dangerous than cigarettes, and 2)that no one throws any money at politicians to "convince" them to support video games. See, whenever an industry comes under fire because of some controversy, it needs to start throwing money at the problem. Ad campaigns, lobbyists, celebrity endorsements, etc. It's a lot like being a defendant in a case; the more you spend on your attorney and expert witnesses the more likely you are to win.
Big tobacco will probably be forced to concede when it can no longer find lobbyists to hawk its product to politicians, it can no longer find magazines willing to print its ads, etc. Politicians, left with little incentive to choose otherwise, will then vote to tax cigarettes into oblivion.
Another thing to consider is that, while cigarettes and the experience they provide have remained virtually unchanged since the cigarette's creation, video games are constantly changing. Who knows what VGs will be like in 100 years? At that point, will killing someone in a virtual setting be viscerally indistinguishable from doing it in real life?
The fact of the matter is: the gaming industry makes billions of dollars which helps boost the economy. There's no way Sen. Clinton or anyone else could kill it, just like there's no way anyone could really kill the tobacco industry. Cigarettes have been proven to actually KILL people and are still legal: a great deal of money is spent to make sure it stays that way. So unless video games are proven to be far worse than cigarettes AND the gaming industry stops paying legislators to keep it that way, video games are here to stay. The worse Clinton and other like-minded politicians could do is criminalize violent video games for anyone under 18, and kids would just find another way to get the games anyway: most of them know more about technology than their parents anyway.
So what are you all complaining about? This is a non-issue.
People will only use correct grammar and spelling when there are clear and tangible consequences for not doing so. It's as if a cop started yelling at you for speeding, but doesn't actually write you up for it. "Should" != results, and that will never change.
The great thing about an operating system is that it's just software, and can be bundled with a limitless amount of other software. And there's a ton of types of software that go great with an OS. Games, media players, security programs, networking protocols, video editors, word processors, email clients, web browsers, etc, etc, etc all help make the system feel more complete straight out of the box. If, upon installing Windows, you discovered that all it provided was a file system and the other basics(hardware management, I/O, etc), you'd feel kinda cheated, wouldn't you?
set up a group with arbitrary channels, i.e. Person A prepares the spec but has to meet with Person B for at least an hour to get it approved, once approved, the spec goes to Person C, who gives it to Persons D and E for actual coding. However, D and E have to go to Person C at least twice with questions, and C has to meet separately with A and B to answer these questions. Then C has to meet with D and E again to address the questions. (All of these meetings should be at least 30 mins.) Finally, D and E complete the project for review, at which time the teacher changes a requirement. And on...
taken from http://www.thefirstamendment.org/shieldlaw.html
'The Shield Law protects a "publisher, editor, reporter, or other person connected with or employed unpon a newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication, or by a press association or wire service" and a "radio or television news reporter or other person connected with or employed by a radio or television station." The Shield Law also likely applies to stringers, freelancers, and perhaps authors.'
do blogs fit that requirement?
Slashdot Mirror
socialism....sheesh, what are you, a terrorist?
If you found a reason, any reason, to sue someone and get some money out of them AND prevent them from doing something new and scaarry, wouldn't you? The issue here is not whether or not someone should sue, or how good their facts are, or if they know the law or not. Someone will always sue. Let's get past that. What's important is the defense. If Google can withstand the force of the many lawsuits that are sure to come because of the new way they are doing things, then who cares about the particulars? Might makes right, and the best offense is a good defense. This is CYA times, after all.
Let's just do the usual...make it illegal without thinking of the ramifications down the road...and if you think that "it" is a little too ambiguous, you're not thinking like a lawmaker.
I was waiting for someone to mention this...so we're going to pay to have some computer monitor what videos we're watching and make sure we're allowed to watch them?
Should've called it Windows Orwell..
You know what, though, I have had Half-Life 2 since it came out (just beat it actually), and haven't had any problems with Steam. Just to give the other side.
One particular annoyance that noobies like myself (lvl 30 undead warrior) have had to deal with is ganking on the PVP servers; high-level characters attack lower-level opponents, camp at their corpse, etc, and generally make questing more of a chore. Do you think that newer players may start getting disgusted and just move over to a player vs environment server, leaving the PVP to the "elite" and effectively closing off the influx of new players? Any thoughts of reviving the dishonorable kill?
Good point......it'll probably be GoogleSoft, not Microsoft...(maybe MicroGoogle?)
You wake up, take a shower, brush your teeth...oops! Your electric toothbrush alerts you that the license on its software has expired. You have to brush manually just like every other joe schmoe. Luckily, you updated your electric shaver last week (no more embarassing scruff at work!) You go to put on your work uniform; the screen next to the closet informs you that your company has changed logos....again. Your shirt will automatically be updated. But wait, you wonder, I had to go through hell just to get the unlock code from the shirt's manufacturer for the last logo, is the same thing going to happen here? You tug at the shirt; it won't come out of the closet. Well, at least you have the trial uniform from when you started working for the company. You put that on. It's ugly and you hate it, and the unlock code for the new logo probably won't come for a week. You go grab some coffee; the Mr. Coffee beeps, letting you know that you have brewed coffee that may be stolen. You press 'Ok' on the coffee maker's touch screen, but you know that the information was already sent to Microsoft. Sigh. Why did you take that bag of coffee beans your aunt brought back from Columbia? Next, you get in your car and enter your username and password. The car's computer downloads updates for 5 minutes before freezing: you forgot to put the dongle in! More information that's sent to Microsoft. You cringe at the thought of the subpoena that will arrive in a couple of weeks; how are you going to explain the coffee? Meanwhile, your car won't start without a reboot. You finally get to work 15 minutes late. You start up your computer and go grab some coffee while Windows Orwell starts up and checks all your programs and files for contraband. You come back to find that one of the files(wtf.dll) on your computer does not have a key associated to it. You then click on 'Remove File' and your computer hangs; you find out much later from a laughing IT overlord that the file is a required dll for a third party surveillance program installed by your employer to track your keystrokes. You think back to every time you visited slashdot. After work, you head home with a DVD that Bob in accounting gave you from his trip to Hawaii. You try to play the DVD, but your freshly updated DVD player detects that there is no copy protection on the disc and refuses to play it. You try to play it on your home computer, but after updating itself and checking for pirated files, your computer comes across a non-DRM'd file: wtf.dll.......
Maybe he meant the Cow programming language?
true, but there were two conditions in my post, 1) that video games are proven to be more dangerous than cigarettes, and 2)that no one throws any money at politicians to "convince" them to support video games. See, whenever an industry comes under fire because of some controversy, it needs to start throwing money at the problem. Ad campaigns, lobbyists, celebrity endorsements, etc. It's a lot like being a defendant in a case; the more you spend on your attorney and expert witnesses the more likely you are to win. Big tobacco will probably be forced to concede when it can no longer find lobbyists to hawk its product to politicians, it can no longer find magazines willing to print its ads, etc. Politicians, left with little incentive to choose otherwise, will then vote to tax cigarettes into oblivion. Another thing to consider is that, while cigarettes and the experience they provide have remained virtually unchanged since the cigarette's creation, video games are constantly changing. Who knows what VGs will be like in 100 years? At that point, will killing someone in a virtual setting be viscerally indistinguishable from doing it in real life?
The fact of the matter is: the gaming industry makes billions of dollars which helps boost the economy. There's no way Sen. Clinton or anyone else could kill it, just like there's no way anyone could really kill the tobacco industry. Cigarettes have been proven to actually KILL people and are still legal: a great deal of money is spent to make sure it stays that way. So unless video games are proven to be far worse than cigarettes AND the gaming industry stops paying legislators to keep it that way, video games are here to stay. The worse Clinton and other like-minded politicians could do is criminalize violent video games for anyone under 18, and kids would just find another way to get the games anyway: most of them know more about technology than their parents anyway. So what are you all complaining about? This is a non-issue.
Your not you're
People will only use correct grammar and spelling when there are clear and tangible consequences for not doing so. It's as if a cop started yelling at you for speeding, but doesn't actually write you up for it. "Should" != results, and that will never change.
The great thing about an operating system is that it's just software, and can be bundled with a limitless amount of other software. And there's a ton of types of software that go great with an OS. Games, media players, security programs, networking protocols, video editors, word processors, email clients, web browsers, etc, etc, etc all help make the system feel more complete straight out of the box. If, upon installing Windows, you discovered that all it provided was a file system and the other basics(hardware management, I/O, etc), you'd feel kinda cheated, wouldn't you?
Sure, there's some technologies that have died due to legislation, just check out: http://www.eff.org/endangered/list.php
set up a group with arbitrary channels, i.e. Person A prepares the spec but has to meet with Person B for at least an hour to get it approved, once approved, the spec goes to Person C, who gives it to Persons D and E for actual coding. However, D and E have to go to Person C at least twice with questions, and C has to meet separately with A and B to answer these questions. Then C has to meet with D and E again to address the questions. (All of these meetings should be at least 30 mins.) Finally, D and E complete the project for review, at which time the teacher changes a requirement. And on...
Business Majors should love this....
taken from http://www.thefirstamendment.org/shieldlaw.html 'The Shield Law protects a "publisher, editor, reporter, or other person connected with or employed unpon a newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication, or by a press association or wire service" and a "radio or television news reporter or other person connected with or employed by a radio or television station." The Shield Law also likely applies to stringers, freelancers, and perhaps authors.' do blogs fit that requirement?