You know, that's actually one of the most brilliant ideas I've ever heard, charging a little bit more for essentially what's a cracked copy of their own game. For the average consumer not wanting to deal with the hassle of finding or applying cracks, it makes a lot of sense to buy the cheaper version, while for the people who care, spending just a *little* bit more money to ensure they can install their multiple copies for multiboxing and LAN parties.
The extra profit generated by the people who will inevitably copy the game for their friends and "cost" the publisher a sale would satisfy the publishers a little bit, since they'll at least be making a *little* more money from people who are intending to spread copies of the game. All in all, it's not a perfect fix, but it's better than an all or nothing, and it give some satisfaction to all parties involved.
In a situation like this, why *not* co-opt them? If the damages can be undone or leave no lasting harm, it surely makes sense to channel and redirect that skill.
Sure, credit card scams and phishing attacks can ruin lives in worst case scenarios, or otherwise cause a great deal of inconvenience, but no extraordinary or lasting damage should have been done in this case once things have been set straight. Chalk up another point for the perils of data security in the modern world and put him to work in community service, have him serve a jail sentence, or...make use of his skills to help better the community he put at risk.
Criminals are not always prone to repeating their crimes and he wouldn't do anyone much good if he's left uneducatced or put behind bars - the best he can hope for then is a job that won't pay much and leaves room for him to consider using his skills for selfish reasons.
Better to put valuable skills to good use in the midst of professionals who could keep an eye on him and train him. It's not their place to try and instill a desire to follow the law, but they can certainly make it to his advantage to do so. And I'd think it more of a deterrent to know you're working with professionals that would be slightly harder to sneak something past than your average law enforcement. You run the risk of just creating a better criminal, but you also have the chance to create a better law enforcer.
We've all heard of the theory of the buttered toast strapped to the cat forming a perpetual motion machine as both try to fall right side up. Now we've got the added bonus of making them *glow*, too. Kinetic motion AND light. Hells yes!
The US has made a lot of remarkable technological advancements, but a lot of their power lies in their ability to make things economical. Take steel manufacturing, railroads, electricity, the automobile industry, telephone systems, and the internet - the US is a true powerhouse for getting these industries spread far and wide by making them cheaply available to everyone. There's innovation that goes hand in hand with their development, but most of the process is just improving efficiency. The US is a great model for how to industrialize a nation to develop enormous infrastructure - once these are in place and spreading ideas and technology around, then the brilliant minds in the population have access to the science behind them and use them as their own springboards to advance the sciences further and further. Other nations have profited from the model we established for industrialization; what we're getting now is the unique advantages of each national community having their own perspectives and areas of expertise. Nation A may be good at Science A, and now has the tools to pursue it, while Nation B may be good at Science B, but couldn't truly revolutionize it until it had the infrastructure to back it up. The United States made a lot of things easily accessible for the global community, which was no small feat. And mind you, there's still no dearth of creativity flowing out of the US at present day when it comes to science and the arts.
I for one welcome our far-off on the horizon digital overlords whom we are all too willing to serve.
Here's to a good turnout. I'm looking forward to Spore myself.
That's of course to say that all possible life either evolved at this location, or spontaneously migrated to the landing and operation site of the Vikings and died? There's no other microbial life left on the planet except the chance area where humans landed? I find that hard to be even speculatively or hypothetically true...
Chances like this are one in a million. You had a great idea and millions have enjoyed it. Take the money with some terms of autonomy and keep giving people the service they've come to expect. Worst case, just use even a fraction of the money to create a Facebook clone and have all of your users migrate.
It was an.avi, encoded with DivX I believe - it was not a QuickTime movie file or a WMV. No licenses or websites popped up, and truth be told, I don't think I even opened the file. But it got observed moving being copied onto my computer.
Last year, I got contacted by the net admins at my university and had my internet shut off because they'd been contacted externally by Paramount for downloading a 'tagged' movie. The movie had evidently been scripted with some kind of tracing code that reported its movement and transfers back to the source it originated from. Whether or not this technique is commonplace or can be done to any file, I don't know, but this tracing method is definitely one way that the moving of copyrighted files can be detected.
Slashdot Mirror
You know, that's actually one of the most brilliant ideas I've ever heard, charging a little bit more for essentially what's a cracked copy of their own game. For the average consumer not wanting to deal with the hassle of finding or applying cracks, it makes a lot of sense to buy the cheaper version, while for the people who care, spending just a *little* bit more money to ensure they can install their multiple copies for multiboxing and LAN parties. The extra profit generated by the people who will inevitably copy the game for their friends and "cost" the publisher a sale would satisfy the publishers a little bit, since they'll at least be making a *little* more money from people who are intending to spread copies of the game. All in all, it's not a perfect fix, but it's better than an all or nothing, and it give some satisfaction to all parties involved.
In a situation like this, why *not* co-opt them? If the damages can be undone or leave no lasting harm, it surely makes sense to channel and redirect that skill. Sure, credit card scams and phishing attacks can ruin lives in worst case scenarios, or otherwise cause a great deal of inconvenience, but no extraordinary or lasting damage should have been done in this case once things have been set straight. Chalk up another point for the perils of data security in the modern world and put him to work in community service, have him serve a jail sentence, or...make use of his skills to help better the community he put at risk. Criminals are not always prone to repeating their crimes and he wouldn't do anyone much good if he's left uneducatced or put behind bars - the best he can hope for then is a job that won't pay much and leaves room for him to consider using his skills for selfish reasons. Better to put valuable skills to good use in the midst of professionals who could keep an eye on him and train him. It's not their place to try and instill a desire to follow the law, but they can certainly make it to his advantage to do so. And I'd think it more of a deterrent to know you're working with professionals that would be slightly harder to sneak something past than your average law enforcement. You run the risk of just creating a better criminal, but you also have the chance to create a better law enforcer.
What if everything you ever wanted CAME IN A ROCKET CAN? Featuring all new flavors like White Knight, Spaceship 2, and Gun!
It could have used a lot more gore, and a lot less Verbinski...
We've all heard of the theory of the buttered toast strapped to the cat forming a perpetual motion machine as both try to fall right side up. Now we've got the added bonus of making them *glow*, too. Kinetic motion AND light. Hells yes!
It's a shame the world ends that year according to the Mayan calendar...at least we'll be able to watch the Apocalypse in HD.
The US has made a lot of remarkable technological advancements, but a lot of their power lies in their ability to make things economical. Take steel manufacturing, railroads, electricity, the automobile industry, telephone systems, and the internet - the US is a true powerhouse for getting these industries spread far and wide by making them cheaply available to everyone. There's innovation that goes hand in hand with their development, but most of the process is just improving efficiency. The US is a great model for how to industrialize a nation to develop enormous infrastructure - once these are in place and spreading ideas and technology around, then the brilliant minds in the population have access to the science behind them and use them as their own springboards to advance the sciences further and further. Other nations have profited from the model we established for industrialization; what we're getting now is the unique advantages of each national community having their own perspectives and areas of expertise. Nation A may be good at Science A, and now has the tools to pursue it, while Nation B may be good at Science B, but couldn't truly revolutionize it until it had the infrastructure to back it up. The United States made a lot of things easily accessible for the global community, which was no small feat. And mind you, there's still no dearth of creativity flowing out of the US at present day when it comes to science and the arts.
Don't throw your controller through the TV - Dodongo hates smoke.
I for one welcome our far-off on the horizon digital overlords whom we are all too willing to serve. Here's to a good turnout. I'm looking forward to Spore myself.
That's of course to say that all possible life either evolved at this location, or spontaneously migrated to the landing and operation site of the Vikings and died? There's no other microbial life left on the planet except the chance area where humans landed? I find that hard to be even speculatively or hypothetically true...
Killing off E3 T_T.
Know what the hell PC Load Letter means.
Territorial disputes? Of course there are! Have they looked at the state of Arathi Basin lately? It goes back and forth like no tomorrow!
In other news, Slashdot posts become 40% efficient at posting new material, a remarkable increase over former redundancy issues.
I'd go with Duke Nukem Forever. By then they'll have cured your arthritis.
Those sharks just got deadlier...
Chances like this are one in a million. You had a great idea and millions have enjoyed it. Take the money with some terms of autonomy and keep giving people the service they've come to expect. Worst case, just use even a fraction of the money to create a Facebook clone and have all of your users migrate.
Government no longer worth using, says evolution.
Where will all the emo kids turn if they can't vent on MySpace anymore? Wrist cutting? Good plan!
It was an .avi, encoded with DivX I believe - it was not a QuickTime movie file or a WMV. No licenses or websites popped up, and truth be told, I don't think I even opened the file. But it got observed moving being copied onto my computer.
Last year, I got contacted by the net admins at my university and had my internet shut off because they'd been contacted externally by Paramount for downloading a 'tagged' movie. The movie had evidently been scripted with some kind of tracing code that reported its movement and transfers back to the source it originated from. Whether or not this technique is commonplace or can be done to any file, I don't know, but this tracing method is definitely one way that the moving of copyrighted files can be detected.