Laws against slander and libel are inane, prone to abuse, and increasingly ineffective due to the existence of the internet.
Laws against slander are important for exactly the same reasons as those against physical harm. Or are you suggesting that if I wish to harm someone it should be a crime to assault them, but I should be allowed to run a concerted campaign of misinformation labelling them as a paedophile and rapist?
There is a niavity to thinking the internet makes the rules for slander etc less relevant. It is exactly this kind of 'avoidance of law' that is used by goverment to justify removing anonimity from the internet. Today your assertion is correct, but the wind is blowing in a different direction.
Would you bother playing Squash against your friend who is much better than you, or Guitar Hero against someone who is much better than you without implementing any kind of handicap?
Personally I dislike the Unreal example given, as it is chance based (In a running example it would be more like having the distance run randomly vary between competitors. I much prefer systems that give buffs or debuffs to players, it makes it fairer and more challenging which is more enjoyable for both players.
Although I think what you say is probably a good guideline for FOSS in general, I don't think it applies in this case.
A teacher who is willing to send a ignorant and affrontive email to someone they do not know for their involvement in something one of their students is doing, which is completely legitimate, is not going to convert causes because of a polite response email.
At least by publically berating extreme cases like these it highlights to others that this behaviour is likely to have negative consequences. In short. Fuck her, she's beyond help, use her as an example to others.
I appreciate the point you are trying to get at, but your arguement is flawed.
If Google got hold of Yahoo a company with market dominance to form a Monopoly WILL be formed.
If they don't merge, and IF Yahoo go under, and IF Yahoo isn't bought out by Microsoft or a less obvious Internet competitor (News Corp? Facebook? etc) who continue it and finally IF all Yahoo users choose to migrate to Google, then you would have a Monopoly.
I accept it could be argued both situations may well lead to the same situation, but the odds would be quite different.
1) Free healthcare at the point of treatment (viewed as a human rights violation in most of the civilised world)
Not where I'm from it's not, and we have free healthcare at point of use. I doubt any country has an official position that State Healthcare is a human right.
2) Loser pays court system (people can't afford to defend themselves against legal bullies - you win, you still lose)
Both systems have flaws, if a rich person tries to sue you for $10000, in a loser pays system even if you think you will be found innocent you must risk being found guilty and having to not just pay $10000 but also pay the guys $10000 legal costs.
3) Equal access to the media for ALL political parties during an election (stops there being an advantage based on wealth)
No Country has fully equal coverage for ALL parties.
I think Gears of War was a great example for the things they were tracking. I've only played Gears through once, in coop over a weekend with a friend. We both found the experience fantastic, and the article sums up the reasons for this very well.
I don't think this proves Gears is a perfect game, or even the best game. I have never played the game again since, much as I only watched se7en once. They were a great 'experience', but not something that I think I would really enjoy doing again.
As you seem to know UK adverts, and are commenting on the actions of a UK organisation (ASA) it would be nice if you did even a little digging into how these things are regulated.
The Blackberry advert could not be expected to mislead people about the capabilities of the device, Apple's advert was designed specifically to demonstrate the speed of the device and it was this capability that was altered.
Yeah, next they'll be knocking the Nazi's even though they made massive advances in rocket technology. Why can't everyone realise that as long as you make scientific breakthroughs people should love you regardless of anything else.
Disclaimer: I have no issue with Judaism and its followers, I just want to show the logical flaw in AA's post.
Why should ANY group be treated with dignity and respect by default?
The fact that you can ask the question in earnest is enough to know trying to show you the stupidity of your position. I just hope the people who modded up the idea of treating innocent civilians without diginity and respect were to stupid to notice what they were doing and not entirely lacking in ethics.
I know you are just one of a hundred people here to make this remark so this isn't anything personal unity100.
Can/.ers please get over the Balmer = Chairs mentality, it's been done so far past death on Slashdot and stopped being remotely clever ages ago. Everyone knows about the incident, everyones had a laugh at it, now all it achieves is to hide any informative material or fresh funny material from being seen.
To risk starting with a cliche, you're going to have to do your job well to get anywhere. If your basic work isn't punctual, of high quality and well presented it doesn't matter how much more you do.
I'm currently on the greasy pole, and being willing to work a little beyond the 9-5 has I believe helped me. No situation is quite the same, in some fields not being at work for every waking hour some weeks could practically kill your progression (I know a couple of Lawyers where this is the case). Personally I just have to be flexible regarding when I stay at work to (I usually get the time back later) and am willing to keep a work mobile on me (on which I have recieved a couple of calls in the last few months).
In most jobs promotion isn't simply based on ability (and nore should it be), if that is your priority then don't expect a complete seperation of Work time and Personal time in most jobs.
The comment at the end of your post made me laugh especially as you are currently modded Troll when offtopic would be more appropriate.
No one gives a shit about your families mobile gaming habits, even less so those who are reading articles about a completely unrelated subject.
The tag functionality in Slashdot is pretty defunct due to exactly that kind of thing, I don't really register them anymore in the same way I know adverts are there but the get processed out as noise.
What on earth about this guy's post was flamebait? If you really have to mod it down go with redudant (which I could at least see the arguement for).
I actually agree with his point, negative adverts very rarely make me like the people paying for them. I admire a lot of things about Apple, but the sheer scale of the blind fanboyism displayed by so many Apple users has been enough to discourage me from their products (and I know that isn't logical, I just can't bring myself to associate with it).
I'm a console gamer and have no issue at all with controls on console games, whether they be FPS or RTS (if done right). But to even try and argue that they are 'better' than the PC Mouse&Board is outright bollocks.
Personally I think this is more to do with the mouse than number of buttons on the keyboard, a analogue stick is never going to have quite the same accuracy and speed (hell if they did computers would come with one rather than a mouse).
The point isn't that the CIA is incapable of getting it, but that they may be getting it unofficially in a way that may break the law or users contract with the company.
Personally as a none American, I fully expect that the US intelligence agencies won't give a flying fuck about whether what they are doing to none Americans is right, moral or legal the last 50 years has shown how completely cocksure they have become in that respect.
Amusingly the last few years has shown how little they care about the rights etc of US citizens, and even more incredibly how little most American's seem to care about it.
I'm not sure why you got funny modded, the original AC made a valid point and the fact your flame was borderline amusing doesn't make it +modding material.
Of course their is a huge difference between recording a movie and uploading it to TPB for everyone to download, and just watching it in the Cinema. The major difference is however the act of distrobuting a copyrighted work without permission, not the act recording.
If someone buys a gun (which they are legally entitled to) they aren't arrested on the grounds that is the first step required to murder someone with it. If someone with a good memory remembers the entire dialogue of a film (perhaps with multiple viewings) the fact that they didn't use a technological aid doesn't make it 100% ok for them to post the entire thing online.
I have no issue with Cinemas imposing a policy where they remove people who bring in Camera equipment, I have no issue with film makers only agreeing to distrobute to Cinemas that have and enforce the above policy. I don't like the fact that the Goverment has created a new crime to catch people doing something that in itself is no issue.
Well, your views are your own but I think you probably should have a problem with this.
One of the important purposes of law enforcement is to discourage crime, this is based on the simple assumption that many crimes are less attractive due to the risk inherent in being caught. The United States allows a great deal of individual freedom to it's member States regarding many things, including laws and sentencing.
To trick people into believing that they are within one jurisdiction when they are actually in another is to undermine this. Would it be acceptable if the police moved the roadsigns for Nevada far enough that they could build a brothel that was technically in California and prosecute people who thought they weren't breaking the law?
Sure the OP may of been wrong to equate wallpapers on desktops and colours of wrenches, he still manage to look like less than an hundreth of the ass you did when you brought cliche fascism references into such a banal discussion.
Oh, and by the way, did you catch the tribute shot to Firefly in the first part of the first ep of BSG? It was there because the BSG production crew was and is well aware that they could never have done BSG without a whole range of techniques and approaches that Firefly did before them.
I thought it was because the spec effects people for Firefly were the spec effects people for the first few episodes/series of BSG (thus the reason Galactica was snuck into the Serenity movie)?
I am afraid I just don't see the need for the subscription model in computer games.
I like having ownership of games I buy, and as game purchases are not sufficiently cheap as to be trivial in nature I am happy evaluating the value of them prior to purchase. Subscription based systems have a number of costs.
Losing access to a game because your vendor stops renting it, the lack of competition due to taking retailers out of the picture and the fact that almost all subscription based markets end up polarised around a few players all put me off. A subscription model could lead to a situation where you pay EA $20 a month for access to their catalogue of games, but need to pay $10 more to get access to premium content or $5 for the retro pack.
Want to play WoW? Well thats another $25 a month for the Blizzard subscription with Diablo, WoW and Starcraft 2. And Call of Duty 4? Well your in luck Activison only charge $15 a month for their pack. So for just $75 a month you have access to all the games in the world, which is great except you only really wanted 3 of them and haven't got time to play them all anyhow.
I'm interested in hearing why you believe that voting Conservative is equivalent to voting Labour when it comes to these kinds of matters?
It was after all a Conservative Minister who stood down and held a by election on a ticket against the attacks on freedom by Labour.
The Liberals have shown themselves to be completely lacking in any of the qualities required to function well as a Government, with two car crash like leadership elections and a complete about turn in their tax policy.
I genuinely haven't decided how I will vote at the next election, and although it is likely to be Conservatives I will openly admit it is largely because I don't like the alternatives. Chances are I will vote tactically to maximise the chances of a Conservative Goverment without sufficient margin to pass Bills without the support of either the Liberals or Labour.
"Are you retarded??"
No he isn't but you just might be (and I'm not particularily sorry if it does sound harsh).
"But in practice, it will always be the very last character you need to try."
The last character you need to try is very obviously not another way of saying "the last key you try". I don't even care that you missed his point, learn some fucking social skills and stop going around calling people retarded over completely trivial things.
"An urgent investigation is now under way into how the stick, belonging to the company which runs the flagship system, came to be lost."
I dont particularily care how it was lost, people will always manage to lose things and expecting otherwise is very niave. What I really want to know is how the hell that much sensitive data was doing on a USB stick in the first place.
Slashdot Mirror
Laws against slander are important for exactly the same reasons as those against physical harm. Or are you suggesting that if I wish to harm someone it should be a crime to assault them, but I should be allowed to run a concerted campaign of misinformation labelling them as a paedophile and rapist?
There is a niavity to thinking the internet makes the rules for slander etc less relevant. It is exactly this kind of 'avoidance of law' that is used by goverment to justify removing anonimity from the internet. Today your assertion is correct, but the wind is blowing in a different direction.
Perhaps you should of thought of that before you locked them up for 6+ years without trial...
Bluntly, if you can't prove their guilt and can't deport them, then let them stay in your country.
Would you bother playing Squash against your friend who is much better than you, or Guitar Hero against someone who is much better than you without implementing any kind of handicap?
Personally I dislike the Unreal example given, as it is chance based (In a running example it would be more like having the distance run randomly vary between competitors. I much prefer systems that give buffs or debuffs to players, it makes it fairer and more challenging which is more enjoyable for both players.
Although I think what you say is probably a good guideline for FOSS in general, I don't think it applies in this case.
A teacher who is willing to send a ignorant and affrontive email to someone they do not know for their involvement in something one of their students is doing, which is completely legitimate, is not going to convert causes because of a polite response email.
At least by publically berating extreme cases like these it highlights to others that this behaviour is likely to have negative consequences. In short. Fuck her, she's beyond help, use her as an example to others.
I appreciate the point you are trying to get at, but your arguement is flawed.
If Google got hold of Yahoo a company with market dominance to form a Monopoly WILL be formed.
If they don't merge, and IF Yahoo go under, and IF Yahoo isn't bought out by Microsoft or a less obvious Internet competitor (News Corp? Facebook? etc) who continue it and finally IF all Yahoo users choose to migrate to Google, then you would have a Monopoly.
I accept it could be argued both situations may well lead to the same situation, but the odds would be quite different.
Not where I'm from it's not, and we have free healthcare at point of use. I doubt any country has an official position that State Healthcare is a human right.
Both systems have flaws, if a rich person tries to sue you for $10000, in a loser pays system even if you think you will be found innocent you must risk being found guilty and having to not just pay $10000 but also pay the guys $10000 legal costs.
No Country has fully equal coverage for ALL parties.
I think Gears of War was a great example for the things they were tracking. I've only played Gears through once, in coop over a weekend with a friend. We both found the experience fantastic, and the article sums up the reasons for this very well.
I don't think this proves Gears is a perfect game, or even the best game. I have never played the game again since, much as I only watched se7en once. They were a great 'experience', but not something that I think I would really enjoy doing again.
As you seem to know UK adverts, and are commenting on the actions of a UK organisation (ASA) it would be nice if you did even a little digging into how these things are regulated.
The Blackberry advert could not be expected to mislead people about the capabilities of the device, Apple's advert was designed specifically to demonstrate the speed of the device and it was this capability that was altered.
Yeah, next they'll be knocking the Nazi's even though they made massive advances in rocket technology. Why can't everyone realise that as long as you make scientific breakthroughs people should love you regardless of anything else.
Disclaimer: I have no issue with Judaism and its followers, I just want to show the logical flaw in AA's post.
The fact that you can ask the question in earnest is enough to know trying to show you the stupidity of your position. I just hope the people who modded up the idea of treating innocent civilians without diginity and respect were to stupid to notice what they were doing and not entirely lacking in ethics.
I know you are just one of a hundred people here to make this remark so this isn't anything personal unity100.
/.ers please get over the Balmer = Chairs mentality, it's been done so far past death on Slashdot and stopped being remotely clever ages ago. Everyone knows about the incident, everyones had a laugh at it, now all it achieves is to hide any informative material or fresh funny material from being seen.
Can
I'm currently on the greasy pole, and being willing to work a little beyond the 9-5 has I believe helped me. No situation is quite the same, in some fields not being at work for every waking hour some weeks could practically kill your progression (I know a couple of Lawyers where this is the case). Personally I just have to be flexible regarding when I stay at work to (I usually get the time back later) and am willing to keep a work mobile on me (on which I have recieved a couple of calls in the last few months).
In most jobs promotion isn't simply based on ability (and nore should it be), if that is your priority then don't expect a complete seperation of Work time and Personal time in most jobs.
The comment at the end of your post made me laugh especially as you are currently modded Troll when offtopic would be more appropriate.
No one gives a shit about your families mobile gaming habits, even less so those who are reading articles about a completely unrelated subject.
The tag functionality in Slashdot is pretty defunct due to exactly that kind of thing, I don't really register them anymore in the same way I know adverts are there but the get processed out as noise.
What on earth about this guy's post was flamebait? If you really have to mod it down go with redudant (which I could at least see the arguement for).
I actually agree with his point, negative adverts very rarely make me like the people paying for them. I admire a lot of things about Apple, but the sheer scale of the blind fanboyism displayed by so many Apple users has been enough to discourage me from their products (and I know that isn't logical, I just can't bring myself to associate with it).
Personally I think this is more to do with the mouse than number of buttons on the keyboard, a analogue stick is never going to have quite the same accuracy and speed (hell if they did computers would come with one rather than a mouse).
Personally as a none American, I fully expect that the US intelligence agencies won't give a flying fuck about whether what they are doing to none Americans is right, moral or legal the last 50 years has shown how completely cocksure they have become in that respect.
Amusingly the last few years has shown how little they care about the rights etc of US citizens, and even more incredibly how little most American's seem to care about it.
I'm not sure why you got funny modded, the original AC made a valid point and the fact your flame was borderline amusing doesn't make it +modding material. Of course their is a huge difference between recording a movie and uploading it to TPB for everyone to download, and just watching it in the Cinema. The major difference is however the act of distrobuting a copyrighted work without permission, not the act recording. If someone buys a gun (which they are legally entitled to) they aren't arrested on the grounds that is the first step required to murder someone with it. If someone with a good memory remembers the entire dialogue of a film (perhaps with multiple viewings) the fact that they didn't use a technological aid doesn't make it 100% ok for them to post the entire thing online. I have no issue with Cinemas imposing a policy where they remove people who bring in Camera equipment, I have no issue with film makers only agreeing to distrobute to Cinemas that have and enforce the above policy. I don't like the fact that the Goverment has created a new crime to catch people doing something that in itself is no issue.
One of the important purposes of law enforcement is to discourage crime, this is based on the simple assumption that many crimes are less attractive due to the risk inherent in being caught. The United States allows a great deal of individual freedom to it's member States regarding many things, including laws and sentencing.
To trick people into believing that they are within one jurisdiction when they are actually in another is to undermine this. Would it be acceptable if the police moved the roadsigns for Nevada far enough that they could build a brothel that was technically in California and prosecute people who thought they weren't breaking the law?
Sure the OP may of been wrong to equate wallpapers on desktops and colours of wrenches, he still manage to look like less than an hundreth of the ass you did when you brought cliche fascism references into such a banal discussion.
I thought it was because the spec effects people for Firefly were the spec effects people for the first few episodes/series of BSG (thus the reason Galactica was snuck into the Serenity movie)?
I like having ownership of games I buy, and as game purchases are not sufficiently cheap as to be trivial in nature I am happy evaluating the value of them prior to purchase. Subscription based systems have a number of costs.
Losing access to a game because your vendor stops renting it, the lack of competition due to taking retailers out of the picture and the fact that almost all subscription based markets end up polarised around a few players all put me off. A subscription model could lead to a situation where you pay EA $20 a month for access to their catalogue of games, but need to pay $10 more to get access to premium content or $5 for the retro pack.
Want to play WoW? Well thats another $25 a month for the Blizzard subscription with Diablo, WoW and Starcraft 2. And Call of Duty 4? Well your in luck Activison only charge $15 a month for their pack. So for just $75 a month you have access to all the games in the world, which is great except you only really wanted 3 of them and haven't got time to play them all anyhow.
I'm interested in hearing why you believe that voting Conservative is equivalent to voting Labour when it comes to these kinds of matters? It was after all a Conservative Minister who stood down and held a by election on a ticket against the attacks on freedom by Labour. The Liberals have shown themselves to be completely lacking in any of the qualities required to function well as a Government, with two car crash like leadership elections and a complete about turn in their tax policy. I genuinely haven't decided how I will vote at the next election, and although it is likely to be Conservatives I will openly admit it is largely because I don't like the alternatives. Chances are I will vote tactically to maximise the chances of a Conservative Goverment without sufficient margin to pass Bills without the support of either the Liberals or Labour.
"Are you retarded??" No he isn't but you just might be (and I'm not particularily sorry if it does sound harsh). "But in practice, it will always be the very last character you need to try." The last character you need to try is very obviously not another way of saying "the last key you try". I don't even care that you missed his point, learn some fucking social skills and stop going around calling people retarded over completely trivial things.
"An urgent investigation is now under way into how the stick, belonging to the company which runs the flagship system, came to be lost." I dont particularily care how it was lost, people will always manage to lose things and expecting otherwise is very niave. What I really want to know is how the hell that much sensitive data was doing on a USB stick in the first place.