Imagine an America where 80% of the population is out of work or on minimum wage, because of people keep losing jobs, there will be no one to buy ipads, and the likes... businesses trying to save money so they can pay their executives more, or raise their stock price by a few points, are killing the economy for short term gain
.'..could potentially hack into sensitive government, military, and corporate files.'"
I put it to you that with the right tools, anyone could potentially hack into sensitive government, military, and corporate files, hell the Queen could do it, so could Obama's mother, and George Bush, well... with some assistance
It 'potentially' is all that is needed to 'persecute' someone, then i shake my head
When pharmaceutical companies receive a trillion-dollar giftâ"through legislation prohibiting the government, the largest buyer of drugs, from bargaining over price â" it should not come as cause for wonder. It should not make jaws drop that a tax bill cannot emerge from Congress unless big tax cuts are put in place for the wealthy. Given the power of the top 1 percent, this is the way you would expect the system to work.
The company reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States.
Its American tax bill? None. In fact, G.E. claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.
You missed Price... Price is still a big cause of piracy... and then you have obnoxious DRM which you claim is dead
I can name at least 2 PC games ive purchased, which i then obtained torrented copies, because it was easier to make the torrents run 'out of the box' than the purchased copies
As for DRM, theyre trying to use it as much as possible, though a few companies are getting the hint, most are pro DRM, and they heavier the better as far as theyre concerned. Then you have incidents like http://www.hardocp.com/news/2011/03/11/ea_forum_ban_prevents_game_access63/ getting a temp ban on a forum, which gets you banned from Single Player
Finally you have companies wanting the First Sale doctrine to be scrapped, as they dont want people buying second hand games/music/software as it hurts their precious business model of 'well make $x of every man woman and child in the world and if we dont, "ITS A LOST SALE TO PIRACY"'
So, if the pass the law, people would just go Bob Smith, 123456 Weird St, Auckland, New Zealand is NOT the person who supplied the US with information... ie... youd end up with alot of 'not' words being added to documents... brilliant
no doubt you'd end up on the terrorist watch list at least, which supposedly has over 1 million people who are either citizens of the US or residing in the US on it
I just wonder, if the Australian retailers who are up in arms, would be happy to collect taxes for sales to US Citizens... whether theyre via the web, or actual foot traffic face to face customers... 'oh, youre American, thats an extra 9%... oh wait, youre from what state? thats 18% state tax too'... not a chance imo
Btw, Harvey Norman are trying to spearhead the same campaign in New Zealand
i wonder how the RIAA would feel if i accused them of say, IP infringement on some code id written, and had their site shut down (note, theyd be shutdown, whether or not i had written such code), it just takes an accusation, as the RIAA requires no burden of proof
note to the RIAA... this is a big part of the reason people hate you
Sione's Wedding http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464184/ which is a New Zealand made film, was claimed to have been heavily hurt by piracy (people were distributing this via burnt DVD's as well as torrents before release... (another indication that people in the movie industry are the source of such releases, imo).
according to wikipedia, "This movie is also well known for a high profile court case over breach of copyright law. An employee of a post production company was found guilty and sentenced to 300 hours community service.[1] Movie producer John Barnett estimates the movie lost $500,000 in lost box office takings and DVD sales."
however, this ignores 2 things... first, the movie was pretty bad... everyone ive talked to who have stated they have watched it said theyd not watch it again... secondly, hollywood accounting http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100708/02510310122.shtml as shown here on slashdot, hollywood tends to use creative accounting to show paper losses for movies such as the last Harry Potter movie, which can take nearly $1b USD in revenue... how can we believe much if any of what they say?
the issue is, as i believe it, NZ Telecom is the major shareholder of the Southern Cross Cable, the link between the US, and NZ...
thus no matter who you get data from, eventually, they're paying NZ Telecom money, and they're not exactly in a hurry to lower the cost of data, as there is no reason to, due to no real competition
This is why I'm so very insistent about owning the hardware I buy. Mostly. Unfortunately, I sort of share vague ownership of a PS3 with Sony.:-( But generally, it's not a concession I'm willing to make.
Sadly, I don't think most people are aware of the choice they're making. And when you tell them, they think you're a raving lunatic or some kind of bizarre idealist. But their choices have real consequences, and the network effect of their choices have consequences for me.
move to NZ... EULA's wont stand up, and neither you or the seller/wholesaler/importer is able to contract out of the Consumer Guarantee's Act, and you own the hardware, and can do with it what you wish (including smash it with a hammer if you felt the need to, though it'd void your warranty);)
and if sony changes something on your console without your permission, which messes things up, you have inexpensive legal means to address it
yeah EB Games in New Zealand (theyre in Australia too, so id assume they have the same policy) allows you to return games within 7 days, no questions asked (i did it with Dragon Age - the retail version crashed alot, the steam version didnt)
If they dont release a demo, then id just buy the game (if i think i wanted it, no promises i do), and if it doesnt run well, id return it within 7 days at my local games store, for a full refund)
thats if i wanted it... Farcry 2 is a brilliant example... the first game was very fun... the second was so repetitive, i hated it...
Slashdot Mirror
Anyone remember how well the No Fly List thing is working out, or the TSA? sigh
Maybe, just maybe, they hire someone who knows what theyre doing with the PC business, and give customers good options...
Seriously, exactly what data and from where are they collecting it to figure this decline in usage.
Yeah how do they know? are they watching me?
Imagine an America where 80% of the population is out of work or on minimum wage, because of people keep losing jobs, there will be no one to buy ipads, and the likes... businesses trying to save money so they can pay their executives more, or raise their stock price by a few points, are killing the economy for short term gain
This is what will happen alot... prior art? pft just apply for the patent, let the lawyers sort it out later
IANAL but this will also not apply in New Zealand... you cant contract out of your legal duties/rights under the NZ Consumer Guarantee's Act
HTC is literally in bed with VIA
Well that change in the TOS is unenforceable in New Zealand... they can claim what they want...
Hope others have robust consumer protection laws
I don't care if its the best game ever and is free, I will refuse to use it
New Zealands new law was pretty much drafted by the US... and they also funded it with nearly $1m
here is some good reading by a leading NZ IP lawyer, on the new law...
http://lawgeeknz.posterous.com/copyright-cheapskates
and http://lawgeeknz.posterous.com/nzs-copyright-proposal-guilty-until-you-prove
The officer should have lost his job... there should be Zero Tolerance to this sort of breach of trust
What if i find Political Party logos, slogans, religious icons and slogans offensive?
.'..could potentially hack into sensitive government, military, and corporate files.'"
I put it to you that with the right tools, anyone could potentially hack into sensitive government, military, and corporate files, hell the Queen could do it, so could Obama's mother, and George Bush, well... with some assistance
It 'potentially' is all that is needed to 'persecute' someone, then i shake my head
When pharmaceutical companies receive a trillion-dollar giftâ"through legislation prohibiting the government, the largest buyer of drugs, from bargaining over price â" it should not come as cause for wonder. It should not make jaws drop that a tax bill cannot emerge from Congress unless big tax cuts are put in place for the wealthy. Given the power of the top 1 percent, this is the way you would expect the system to work.
you want to balance the budget, get rid of crap like this, and this http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/business/economy/25tax.html?_r=4
The company reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States. Its American tax bill? None. In fact, G.E. claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.
bold added for emphasis
You missed Price... Price is still a big cause of piracy... and then you have obnoxious DRM which you claim is dead
I can name at least 2 PC games ive purchased, which i then obtained torrented copies, because it was easier to make the torrents run 'out of the box' than the purchased copies
As for DRM, theyre trying to use it as much as possible, though a few companies are getting the hint, most are pro DRM, and they heavier the better as far as theyre concerned. Then you have incidents like http://www.hardocp.com/news/2011/03/11/ea_forum_ban_prevents_game_access63/ getting a temp ban on a forum, which gets you banned from Single Player
Finally you have companies wanting the First Sale doctrine to be scrapped, as they dont want people buying second hand games/music/software as it hurts their precious business model of 'well make $x of every man woman and child in the world and if we dont, "ITS A LOST SALE TO PIRACY"'
So, if the pass the law, people would just go Bob Smith, 123456 Weird St, Auckland, New Zealand is NOT the person who supplied the US with information... ie... youd end up with alot of 'not' words being added to documents... brilliant
no doubt you'd end up on the terrorist watch list at least, which supposedly has over 1 million people who are either citizens of the US or residing in the US on it
I just wonder, if the Australian retailers who are up in arms, would be happy to collect taxes for sales to US Citizens... whether theyre via the web, or actual foot traffic face to face customers... 'oh, youre American, thats an extra 9%... oh wait, youre from what state? thats 18% state tax too'... not a chance imo
Btw, Harvey Norman are trying to spearhead the same campaign in New Zealand
note to the RIAA... this is a big part of the reason people hate you
Sione's Wedding http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464184/ which is a New Zealand made film, was claimed to have been heavily hurt by piracy (people were distributing this via burnt DVD's as well as torrents before release... (another indication that people in the movie industry are the source of such releases, imo).
according to wikipedia, "This movie is also well known for a high profile court case over breach of copyright law. An employee of a post production company was found guilty and sentenced to 300 hours community service.[1] Movie producer John Barnett estimates the movie lost $500,000 in lost box office takings and DVD sales."
however, this ignores 2 things... first, the movie was pretty bad... everyone ive talked to who have stated they have watched it said theyd not watch it again... secondly, hollywood accounting http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100708/02510310122.shtml as shown here on slashdot, hollywood tends to use creative accounting to show paper losses for movies such as the last Harry Potter movie, which can take nearly $1b USD in revenue... how can we believe much if any of what they say?
the issue is, as i believe it, NZ Telecom is the major shareholder of the Southern Cross Cable, the link between the US, and NZ...
thus no matter who you get data from, eventually, they're paying NZ Telecom money, and they're not exactly in a hurry to lower the cost of data, as there is no reason to, due to no real competition
This is why I'm so very insistent about owning the hardware I buy. Mostly. Unfortunately, I sort of share vague ownership of a PS3 with Sony. :-( But generally, it's not a concession I'm willing to make.
Sadly, I don't think most people are aware of the choice they're making. And when you tell them, they think you're a raving lunatic or some kind of bizarre idealist. But their choices have real consequences, and the network effect of their choices have consequences for me.
move to NZ... EULA's wont stand up, and neither you or the seller/wholesaler/importer is able to contract out of the Consumer Guarantee's Act, and you own the hardware, and can do with it what you wish (including smash it with a hammer if you felt the need to, though it'd void your warranty) ;)
and if sony changes something on your console without your permission, which messes things up, you have inexpensive legal means to address it
yeah EB Games in New Zealand (theyre in Australia too, so id assume they have the same policy) allows you to return games within 7 days, no questions asked (i did it with Dragon Age - the retail version crashed alot, the steam version didnt)
If they dont release a demo, then id just buy the game (if i think i wanted it, no promises i do), and if it doesnt run well, id return it within 7 days at my local games store, for a full refund)
thats if i wanted it... Farcry 2 is a brilliant example... the first game was very fun... the second was so repetitive, i hated it...