I can't speak for all/.ers, but I for one hate software patents much more than I hate Microsoft. Specifically, I use Microsoft products to help me do my job, and software patents potentially interfere with my ability to do my job. My code is already protected by copyright, all patents would do is create weak and stupid barriers to entry for our competitors.
If you feel you should be paid for playing their game, you are the exact opposite of their target customer (who will want to pay to play). Seriously, if you aren't willing to write a few words to beta-test a game, you probably aren't willing to buy the game either.
I wondered why they were being so stupid about this- you'd think Slingbox would up their fans and therefore, their advertising dollars. Now I understand that MLB just wants to prevent anyone else from competing with them.
It seems that Ameritrade has been specifically targeted, though, so odds are it's someone specifically monitoring them, either an insider or someone working for Ameritrade's ISP.
Ashcroft always struck me as an honest person trying to do the right thing. I may have disagreed with him about some things, but I never felt that he was willing to screw America over to benefit himself.
Attempted murder has that problem too- at point point can you charge someone with attempted murder? Typically owning weapons and disliking someone aren't enough to arrest someone for attempted murder (which is good, otherwise I'd be posting from a jail cell). I imagine that it could only be enforced against idiots who snagged NotARealSong.mp3 off some P2P service, which makes it useless, because they could just wait 5 minutes and prosecute him for downloading TheRealSong.mp3 when he finds out he downloaded junk. Honestly, though, I don't think they need this law. With attempted theft, it's in your best interest to stop someone before they abscond with your goods. With attempted murder, you need to stop the punk before they kill someone. But who cares if the guy downloading from your honeypot is downloading the real thing or a fake?
Nowhere am I saying that copyright infringement=theft. As DoohickeyJones pointed out, I'm merely showing that punishing people for attempted crimes is reasonable. I even had a car example, hoping that would be simple enough that even the idiots who put piracy in quotes could understand it.
Generally attempting to do something is nearly as bad as doing it- for instance, if I tried to murder you I don't think you'd want me to get away scott-free. Likewise, someone attempting to steal my car and getting busted by the police should be punished almost as badly (if not as badly) as someone who actually stole my car. The only saving grace an attempted criminal had is that they were too stupid to get away with it.
I actually made an illegal copy of a legal copy; my friend has the game and I downloaded his ISO. What's most annoying is that the game was still installed on my computer, but I couldn't play it without the CD. It's as if I bought a car, lost the key, and then had to buy a whole new car because I couldn't find the key. Next you'll be telling me that getting duplicates of my car keys infringes the Manufacturer's copyright.
More good examples: "A year ago, I legally purchased the board game Monopoly. Yesterday I couldn't find the dice it comes with, so I borrowed two dice from a friend to play.". Or how about: "Last week, I brushed my new porche against the side of the tunnel, and it got scratched. The dealer wouldn't tell me where to get the paint to fix it, so I went online and found some paint that would work".
The way I see things, when I buy a video game, I buy a license to copy that game onto my computer and play it. Incidentally, that license comes with a copy of the game for convienience, as well as key(s) I may need. If I have the license and the keys, I am legally entitled to have a backup copy that I use. So what if I created the backup copy after I lost the original?
I buy games because it's the right thing to do, not because it's the legal thing to do. People often confuse the two. I even bought this particular game twice, because I lost the key once. I can't believe you expect me to buy it a third time- they already got my money twice.
A joker once said: "Atheism is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby". I've always felt that making fun of stamp collectors could be a hobby in its own right. Similarly, not all atheists are religious, but when you join an atheist club and try to actively convert the heathens, it's hard to distinguish them from a 'real' religion.
YouTube receives a ridiculous number of DMCA notices every day. It's only the really stupid ones (when frauds like Scientologists and Uri Geller try to silence criticism) that make it to slashdot.
There are many things enabled media can do that un-enabled media won't. For instance, enabled media will confuse, distort, and detroy your old drivers, software, and hardware, while non-enabled media will play on everything easily. Talk about boring! Plus, Enabled media entertains pirates by giving them something else to do in their free time. It's a friendly game that the media companies play. And don't forget all the money that Lawyers and Security Consultants make off the Enabled content!
Earlier this week I got to have fun with a game I legally purchased -twice- despite being unable to find my CD. After downloading the iso and using Daemon Tools, I was 'Enabled' to play my game again! Yes sir, I was certainly using my content in ways I hadn't used it before!
Atheists range from the "Everyone who believes something different than me is an idiot" crowd to the "People who believe something different are probably wrong, but most of them are nice people I respect" crowd. Unsurprisingly, the same came be said of Christians...
My last two pastors were both stockbrokers who quit their jobs to preach full-time. They are both making far less money now than they did (One is even below the poverty line now). It's clear to me that they believe in what they are doing (which doesn't mean they are correct, it just means they think they are).
Of course, it's obvious that some people are using Christianity as a tool to help themselves. Ted Haggard is a loser and a hypocrite, but he pales in comparison to some 'Christian' pastors who embezzeled, molested children, or ran lynch mobs. But there are people who can latch on to any cause (good or bad) and abuse that power for their own ends. Whether it's embezzeling money from the United Way or trolling on slashdot, some people are just bastards, and the larger the group you're looking at is the more of them you will find.
Pretty much every site does data mining- I'm sure/. keeps track of how many people click on ads, read the article (only 2 so far), etc./. probably even ties all this information to your account, so they have a better idea of what ads to display. I don't even have a problem with any of that. Once they start selling my information to other people is where I have a problem. I don't mind/. targeting me with ads, but I do mind my email address being targeted with spam.
And he is the best Boss ever. He even reads/., which should demonstrate how cool he is. He certainly wouldn't do anything bad, like access my computer, log on to Slashdot, post an article telling the world how awesome he is, and then give me a warning to secure my computer (and change my/. password).
Murder is worse than rape. If you disagree, just kill your wife and end her suffering. If you're right, she'll thank you for it.
I don't want to sound like I don't care- I really sympathize with you and your wife- but you should be thinking "at least that creep idn't kill her" instead of "I wish she had been killed".
I agree with this Carrot fellow. Your boss might be smart enough to avoid leaving an electronic trail, but document everything you can. With luck, you won't need any of it, and if your boss(es) make the right decision, you can always delete it.
Slashdot Mirror
The sun produces heat. If solar and biodiesal are considered renewable, so should this.
I can't speak for all /.ers, but I for one hate software patents much more than I hate Microsoft. Specifically, I use Microsoft products to help me do my job, and software patents potentially interfere with my ability to do my job. My code is already protected by copyright, all patents would do is create weak and stupid barriers to entry for our competitors.
If you feel you should be paid for playing their game, you are the exact opposite of their target customer (who will want to pay to play). Seriously, if you aren't willing to write a few words to beta-test a game, you probably aren't willing to buy the game either.
I wondered why they were being so stupid about this- you'd think Slingbox would up their fans and therefore, their advertising dollars. Now I understand that MLB just wants to prevent anyone else from competing with them.
It seems that Ameritrade has been specifically targeted, though, so odds are it's someone specifically monitoring them, either an insider or someone working for Ameritrade's ISP.
The Drake equation suggests there would be lots of intelligent life out there. The real question then becomes, Where are they?
A 2.97 in High School just means that you show up to class most of the time.
Too bad you upset someone with it. Maybe someone with less sympathy for cheaters will mod you back up again.
Ashcroft always struck me as an honest person trying to do the right thing. I may have disagreed with him about some things, but I never felt that he was willing to screw America over to benefit himself.
The best part about it is that it would still be protected by copyright, and they would still be violating copyright by downloading it.
Attempted murder has that problem too- at point point can you charge someone with attempted murder? Typically owning weapons and disliking someone aren't enough to arrest someone for attempted murder (which is good, otherwise I'd be posting from a jail cell). I imagine that it could only be enforced against idiots who snagged NotARealSong.mp3 off some P2P service, which makes it useless, because they could just wait 5 minutes and prosecute him for downloading TheRealSong.mp3 when he finds out he downloaded junk. Honestly, though, I don't think they need this law. With attempted theft, it's in your best interest to stop someone before they abscond with your goods. With attempted murder, you need to stop the punk before they kill someone. But who cares if the guy downloading from your honeypot is downloading the real thing or a fake?
Nowhere am I saying that copyright infringement=theft. As DoohickeyJones pointed out, I'm merely showing that punishing people for attempted crimes is reasonable. I even had a car example, hoping that would be simple enough that even the idiots who put piracy in quotes could understand it.
Generally attempting to do something is nearly as bad as doing it- for instance, if I tried to murder you I don't think you'd want me to get away scott-free. Likewise, someone attempting to steal my car and getting busted by the police should be punished almost as badly (if not as badly) as someone who actually stole my car. The only saving grace an attempted criminal had is that they were too stupid to get away with it.
I actually made an illegal copy of a legal copy; my friend has the game and I downloaded his ISO. What's most annoying is that the game was still installed on my computer, but I couldn't play it without the CD. It's as if I bought a car, lost the key, and then had to buy a whole new car because I couldn't find the key. Next you'll be telling me that getting duplicates of my car keys infringes the Manufacturer's copyright.
More good examples: "A year ago, I legally purchased the board game Monopoly. Yesterday I couldn't find the dice it comes with, so I borrowed two dice from a friend to play.". Or how about: "Last week, I brushed my new porche against the side of the tunnel, and it got scratched. The dealer wouldn't tell me where to get the paint to fix it, so I went online and found some paint that would work".
The way I see things, when I buy a video game, I buy a license to copy that game onto my computer and play it. Incidentally, that license comes with a copy of the game for convienience, as well as key(s) I may need. If I have the license and the keys, I am legally entitled to have a backup copy that I use. So what if I created the backup copy after I lost the original?
I buy games because it's the right thing to do, not because it's the legal thing to do. People often confuse the two. I even bought this particular game twice, because I lost the key once. I can't believe you expect me to buy it a third time- they already got my money twice.
A joker once said: "Atheism is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby". I've always felt that making fun of stamp collectors could be a hobby in its own right. Similarly, not all atheists are religious, but when you join an atheist club and try to actively convert the heathens, it's hard to distinguish them from a 'real' religion.
YouTube receives a ridiculous number of DMCA notices every day. It's only the really stupid ones (when frauds like Scientologists and Uri Geller try to silence criticism) that make it to slashdot.
There are many things enabled media can do that un-enabled media won't. For instance, enabled media will confuse, distort, and detroy your old drivers, software, and hardware, while non-enabled media will play on everything easily. Talk about boring! Plus, Enabled media entertains pirates by giving them something else to do in their free time. It's a friendly game that the media companies play. And don't forget all the money that Lawyers and Security Consultants make off the Enabled content!
Earlier this week I got to have fun with a game I legally purchased -twice- despite being unable to find my CD. After downloading the iso and using Daemon Tools, I was 'Enabled' to play my game again! Yes sir, I was certainly using my content in ways I hadn't used it before!
Atheists range from the "Everyone who believes something different than me is an idiot" crowd to the "People who believe something different are probably wrong, but most of them are nice people I respect" crowd. Unsurprisingly, the same came be said of Christians...
Your post is great. Sadly, I have no mod points.
My last two pastors were both stockbrokers who quit their jobs to preach full-time. They are both making far less money now than they did (One is even below the poverty line now). It's clear to me that they believe in what they are doing (which doesn't mean they are correct, it just means they think they are).
Of course, it's obvious that some people are using Christianity as a tool to help themselves. Ted Haggard is a loser and a hypocrite, but he pales in comparison to some 'Christian' pastors who embezzeled, molested children, or ran lynch mobs. But there are people who can latch on to any cause (good or bad) and abuse that power for their own ends. Whether it's embezzeling money from the United Way or trolling on slashdot, some people are just bastards, and the larger the group you're looking at is the more of them you will find.
Pretty much every site does data mining- I'm sure /. keeps track of how many people click on ads, read the article (only 2 so far), etc. /. probably even ties all this information to your account, so they have a better idea of what ads to display. I don't even have a problem with any of that. Once they start selling my information to other people is where I have a problem. I don't mind /. targeting me with ads, but I do mind my email address being targeted with spam.
And he is the best Boss ever. He even reads /., which should demonstrate how cool he is. He certainly wouldn't do anything bad, like access my computer, log on to Slashdot, post an article telling the world how awesome he is, and then give me a warning to secure my computer (and change my /. password).
Murder is worse than rape. If you disagree, just kill your wife and end her suffering. If you're right, she'll thank you for it.
I don't want to sound like I don't care- I really sympathize with you and your wife- but you should be thinking "at least that creep idn't kill her" instead of "I wish she had been killed".
I agree with this Carrot fellow. Your boss might be smart enough to avoid leaving an electronic trail, but document everything you can. With luck, you won't need any of it, and if your boss(es) make the right decision, you can always delete it.