"Isn't it logical that if more than 50% of a population does something "illegal" (in a democracy) it shouldn't be illegal?
That's not a democracy then, it is a mob rule. The majority is not always right, hence the reason for laws.
Hell, the Denny's 15 near me serves beer and wine, let alone pastries. Yeah, Dunkin' Donuts are pretty much unavoidable in Chicago - everytime I stay there it's what I have for breakfast almost every morning.
Really? You think the wrinkly 50 year old soccer mom in the "Porn Star" baby-tee with a nose ring is "doing just fine"? Sounds like someone has a granny fetish to me...
Your average user wouldn't know a crossover cable from a bird's nest. Most users just know that the "wire" goes into the "holes". And considering the bank outsourced all of the IT work, who is supposed to have this knowledge exactly? The tellers? The reason this sort of attack works is because people don't think someone would actually go through the trouble of getting - fake uniform, fake ID, etc. to pull something like this off. The reality is that is happens daily, and is usually very successful. The "9 out of 10 times we are caught" didn't sound accurate to me. All the other intrusion testing stories I have read reflected the opposite - only about 10% of the time are the people even questioned or asked to show credentials.
"Is there anything wrong with acting young?"
Not if you actually are young. Otherwise, yes. You don't look younger by acting younger, you just look like an old person without a clue.
"Psst....hey, we are all going to be old one day."
And I plan on acting accordingly when it happens. But really, you are only as young as you feel, not as you act. Continue living a fun and vibrant lifestyle, and you will age so gracefully, you will never need a Mac.
Now pardon me while I go yell at the whippersnappers being loud out on my street.
DISCALIMER - this post written by a stodgy old 36 year old.
There is more than one way to "skin a cat". Going into their element (court) where they have all the power to fight them is a noble thing, but most likely not a GOOD thing, especially if you are not wealthy. As stated plenty above, this isn't about taking people to court - it's about scaring people into a behavior more favorable for the RIAA. They don't want to go to a higher Federal court and have a precedent set that doesn't favor them. That's why as soon as anyone fights them, the drop the case before it gets there and move along to the next victim. So unless you have the independent wealth to keep fighting for years, they will swallow your income before you swallow theirs.
Personally, I'd rather have Spammers around than the Russian Mafia - Spammers can be blocked by filters while the Russian Mob requires bulletproof glass and teflon to block.
Because they haven't committed any capital offenses.
"In most places that practise capital punishment today, the death penalty is reserved as a punishment for premeditated murder, espionage, treason, or as part of military justice." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment
"The fact is that BK exists so people can have a fresh start. Debtors prisons don't exist anymore. Society has decided that it's better for somebody to be able to start fresh then it is for them to exist in indentured servitude for the rest of their life."
I agree whole heartedly. Unfortunately, there are people out there who are intent on taking advantage of the situation. Welfare, on paper should accomplish the same, but look how many multi-generational "welfare families" are in existence today.
I agree with most of the points you make, and I appreciate the fact we can have a discussion without resorting to ignorant assumptions about one another. Our viewpoints may not be exactly the same, but that doesn't stop us from having an intelligent conversation about it, and I thank you for that.
You don't know my sister, or the details of her bankruptcy, so please kindly shut the hell up - I don't care what you think. If you have something pertinent to add do so, otherwise go away, the adults are talking.
It must be lonely up there by yourself on your pedestal, judging all those below you who can't be as "perfect" as you.
"And if my "debt" was a civil judgement owed to RIAA and I successfully get it discharged, then exactly who the heck else is going to "pay" it? "
People that actually buy CDs. The RIAA calims losses due to "piracy" and all the record compaines charge more for their goods. Or, in other words, one of the main reasons behind the lawsuits in the first place. Even if they lose, they win.
"I wasn't talking about purposefully running up credit cards and walking away from them. Is this a touchy subject for you?"
Maybe you weren't refereing to this specifically, but you did take the attitude of bankruptcy as a way of getting out of debt. Tell me, did you have any credit card debt when you filed? ANd yeah, if I end up paying more for stuff because people do exactly that, rack up debt knowing they are going to file, then yes, I will get touchy about it. The only way to win is be a weasel and I won't stoop to that.
"If your sister had two boats and a car with a massive amount of equity then they should have taken it! That's how the law works. Nobody needs two boats and in that scenario the creditors have a legitimate interest. Perhaps she should have sold them herself before filing and tried to avoid BK altogether? When I was forced into BK (for reasons that I won't go into here) my car was worth less then $2,500"
Well, as you won't give details on your bankruptcy, I hardly think you are qualified to make judgements about someone else's that you don't know the details on. (In my sister's case, her only fault was letting her now ex-husband handle the finances.) Besides, if you know you are going to file, and sell all your assets beforehand, you have commited a crime.
If declaring bankruptcy is nothing but a positive thing that increases your credit score, why isn't everyone bending over backwards to do it?? And when you debts are "magically" erased, who do you think pays them?? Do you think that companies just eat the losses? No, they increase the prices of their goods and services to make up for them. So there is no "trick" to beating the system - you end up paying one way or another.
You should really look into all the new bankruptcy laws and laws that have changed in the past couple years - it isn't as easy to wriggle out of debt as it used to. My sister just declared and they took everything from her but her house. Her car, 2 boats, and even her gym membership included. So I guess the experinces I have had (not personally thank god) with bankruptcy seem to be a little different than yours.
That's extremely fortunate for that particular person. The experince I had dealing with my ex-wife's bankruptcy was not the same. It prevented us from buying a car, and delayed the buying of our house by a good year and a half. Cars and credit cards are one thing, but I bet that person would still have a hard time buying a house without having at least 25% cash downpayment.
"But that is not the message of the global warming crowd (not the scientists, but the media that reports what they think the scientists said) - they say we are all going to die. There is no scientific rational for that!"
Really, there is no scientific rational for the fact we are all going to die? I am no global warming expert, but I am pretty safe in my prediction that every human will in fact die at some point.
The RIAA isn't suing people to get the specific money that person owes them, that is not their point. They are worried about the big picture. They want to scare the average person into doing what they want- not downloading music - without having to sue everyone . Your idealistic solution would not work on them - anyone that is serious about fighting them will never make it to a courtroom, that is part of their plan. I applaud your attitude, but realistically don't think it would work out.
And as far as filing bankruptcy goes to spite them, that's great if you don't want to purchase a house, car, major appliance, or anything else you may need credit for in the next 7 - 10 years. If so you are only screwing yourself.
Slashdot Mirror
Backups or not, I'm never risking my life for computer hardware, period. I'm not as easily replaceable.
"Isn't it logical that if more than 50% of a population does something "illegal" (in a democracy) it shouldn't be illegal?
That's not a democracy then, it is a mob rule. The majority is not always right, hence the reason for laws.
Yeah, but you also have EuroDisney, and that pretty much invalidates everything else...
Hell, the Denny's 15 near me serves beer and wine, let alone pastries. Yeah, Dunkin' Donuts are pretty much unavoidable in Chicago - everytime I stay there it's what I have for breakfast almost every morning.
Of course they wouldn't mind - it would give them more doughnut time at Denny's.
"Why" is a question for the marketing department to answer. These are just scientists who discover things.
Really? You think the wrinkly 50 year old soccer mom in the "Porn Star" baby-tee with a nose ring is "doing just fine"? Sounds like someone has a granny fetish to me...
Your average user wouldn't know a crossover cable from a bird's nest. Most users just know that the "wire" goes into the "holes". And considering the bank outsourced all of the IT work, who is supposed to have this knowledge exactly? The tellers? The reason this sort of attack works is because people don't think someone would actually go through the trouble of getting - fake uniform, fake ID, etc. to pull something like this off. The reality is that is happens daily, and is usually very successful. The "9 out of 10 times we are caught" didn't sound accurate to me. All the other intrusion testing stories I have read reflected the opposite - only about 10% of the time are the people even questioned or asked to show credentials.
"Is there anything wrong with acting young?"
Not if you actually are young. Otherwise, yes. You don't look younger by acting younger, you just look like an old person without a clue.
"Psst....hey, we are all going to be old one day."
And I plan on acting accordingly when it happens. But really, you are only as young as you feel, not as you act. Continue living a fun and vibrant lifestyle, and you will age so gracefully, you will never need a Mac.
Now pardon me while I go yell at the whippersnappers being loud out on my street.
DISCALIMER - this post written by a stodgy old 36 year old.
There is more than one way to "skin a cat". Going into their element (court) where they have all the power to fight them is a noble thing, but most likely not a GOOD thing, especially if you are not wealthy. As stated plenty above, this isn't about taking people to court - it's about scaring people into a behavior more favorable for the RIAA. They don't want to go to a higher Federal court and have a precedent set that doesn't favor them. That's why as soon as anyone fights them, the drop the case before it gets there and move along to the next victim. So unless you have the independent wealth to keep fighting for years, they will swallow your income before you swallow theirs.
Don't be sure sure. Judges can be bought, just like anything else.
Please, won't someone think of the dead children!
Personally, I'd rather have Spammers around than the Russian Mafia - Spammers can be blocked by filters while the Russian Mob requires bulletproof glass and teflon to block.
Because they haven't committed any capital offenses.
"In most places that practise capital punishment today, the death penalty is reserved as a punishment for premeditated murder, espionage, treason, or as part of military justice."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment
I could get it all, but I am at a university which may have paid for a subscription, but I seriuosly doubt it.
"The fact is that BK exists so people can have a fresh start. Debtors prisons don't exist anymore. Society has decided that it's better for somebody to be able to start fresh then it is for them to exist in indentured servitude for the rest of their life."
I agree whole heartedly. Unfortunately, there are people out there who are intent on taking advantage of the situation. Welfare, on paper should accomplish the same, but look how many multi-generational "welfare families" are in existence today.
I agree with most of the points you make, and I appreciate the fact we can have a discussion without resorting to ignorant assumptions about one another. Our viewpoints may not be exactly the same, but that doesn't stop us from having an intelligent conversation about it, and I thank you for that.
You don't know my sister, or the details of her bankruptcy, so please kindly shut the hell up - I don't care what you think. If you have something pertinent to add do so, otherwise go away, the adults are talking.
It must be lonely up there by yourself on your pedestal, judging all those below you who can't be as "perfect" as you.
"And if my "debt" was a civil judgement owed to RIAA and I successfully get it discharged, then exactly who the heck else is going to "pay" it? "
People that actually buy CDs. The RIAA calims losses due to "piracy" and all the record compaines charge more for their goods. Or, in other words, one of the main reasons behind the lawsuits in the first place. Even if they lose, they win.
"I wasn't talking about purposefully running up credit cards and walking away from them. Is this a touchy subject for you?"
Maybe you weren't refereing to this specifically, but you did take the attitude of bankruptcy as a way of getting out of debt. Tell me, did you have any credit card debt when you filed? ANd yeah, if I end up paying more for stuff because people do exactly that, rack up debt knowing they are going to file, then yes, I will get touchy about it. The only way to win is be a weasel and I won't stoop to that.
"If your sister had two boats and a car with a massive amount of equity then they should have taken it! That's how the law works. Nobody needs two boats and in that scenario the creditors have a legitimate interest. Perhaps she should have sold them herself before filing and tried to avoid BK altogether? When I was forced into BK (for reasons that I won't go into here) my car was worth less then $2,500"
Well, as you won't give details on your bankruptcy, I hardly think you are qualified to make judgements about someone else's that you don't know the details on. (In my sister's case, her only fault was letting her now ex-husband handle the finances.) Besides, if you know you are going to file, and sell all your assets beforehand, you have commited a crime.
I'd love to be immortal too, but only for a little while....
If declaring bankruptcy is nothing but a positive thing that increases your credit score, why isn't everyone bending over backwards to do it?? And when you debts are "magically" erased, who do you think pays them?? Do you think that companies just eat the losses? No, they increase the prices of their goods and services to make up for them. So there is no "trick" to beating the system - you end up paying one way or another.
You should really look into all the new bankruptcy laws and laws that have changed in the past couple years - it isn't as easy to wriggle out of debt as it used to. My sister just declared and they took everything from her but her house. Her car, 2 boats, and even her gym membership included. So I guess the experinces I have had (not personally thank god) with bankruptcy seem to be a little different than yours.
It is ridiculous if it is fruitless. The RIAA has millions of dollars to counter lawsuits against it.
"Oh yeah ? How about those who are already dead ? Are they not human ?"
Nope, they are a worm buffet, a decaying carcass, rotting meat.
That's extremely fortunate for that particular person. The experince I had dealing with my ex-wife's bankruptcy was not the same. It prevented us from buying a car, and delayed the buying of our house by a good year and a half. Cars and credit cards are one thing, but I bet that person would still have a hard time buying a house without having at least 25% cash downpayment.
"But that is not the message of the global warming crowd (not the scientists, but the media that reports what they think the scientists said) - they say we are all going to die. There is no scientific rational for that!"
Really, there is no scientific rational for the fact we are all going to die? I am no global warming expert, but I am pretty safe in my prediction that every human will in fact die at some point.
The RIAA isn't suing people to get the specific money that person owes them, that is not their point. They are worried about the big picture. They want to scare the average person into doing what they want- not downloading music - without having to sue everyone . Your idealistic solution would not work on them - anyone that is serious about fighting them will never make it to a courtroom, that is part of their plan. I applaud your attitude, but realistically don't think it would work out.
And as far as filing bankruptcy goes to spite them, that's great if you don't want to purchase a house, car, major appliance, or anything else you may need credit for in the next 7 - 10 years. If so you are only screwing yourself.