Then you should be aware that many options you are given in society carry an implied threat. For example, if your landlords asks for your rent which is overdue, the implied threat is that if you do not give it to him soon, he will throw you out, but he doesn't necessarily have to yell and shout at you about it and make you feel like crap to get his point across.
If your boss asks you to have a report to him by Thursday morning at 9 AM so he can present it to the CEO then the implied threat is that if you don't have it to him then he may have you fired (although hopefully not if you are a good employee).
Both of these examples show perfectly reasonable requests which might be made of you in your life, neither of which have to be presented in an unpleasant way, while giving you no choice in your response to them. In fact, your landlord and your boss could ask for things in this way, and you could continue to have an excellent relationship with them, despite the fact that refusal to pay or produce would result in very unpleasant things for you.
In the same way, I think that saying that a person who writes GPL'd code is threatening someone every time they ask them to respect the license they have written the code under is hyperbole. While the threat of litigation obviously exists if they do not comply, and therefore compliance is not an option, there is no reason that it cannot, and is not resolved in a pleasant manner most of the time, with threats firmly left out of it (except as they are implied, at least at first).
We have seen in the past that if the prices on music are low enough (Allofmp3) then people will pay for them, ESPECIALLY if they are DRM free. When you sell DRM-burdened crap for exorbitant prices, however, for some reason no-one buys it, and gets DRM-free and cheap music off the internet. Supply and Demand.
Now, just keep dropping those prices HMV, and eventually your sales will start rising again. If you strip the DRM out, maybe you'll even become wildly profitable once again. The economy has some incredible possibilities doesn't it?
You know there ARE ways to get someone to respect your copyright which don't involve litigation. For example, a friendly e-mail explaining what license you are violating and how, and working with the offender to resolve the situation.
I wouldd be surprised if the majority of GPL violations were not solved this way.
Does anyone else ever get sick of these smarmy responses from slashdot users?
The parent is obviously working in a business environment where he serves CLIENTS. Read he does not choose the kind of systems he works on. Maybe you are one of the priveleged few who can insitute wide-ranging changes in corporate policies to suit your whims and desires regarding Operating System choices, but the vast majority of us do not have that luxury. Do I use and love Linux? Yes. Do I work with Windows in my 9-5 life? Also yes, and there's not a thing I can do about it.
So thanks for nothing buddy, you're about as much use as a poopy flavoured lollipop.
To address your point #2, yeah, that is pretty much it.
For those people who do only download legal music, never do anything in the least bit outside the letter of the law, then this is a bad thing, yeah.
For the other 99% of the human population, who have downloaded the odd album off of the internet, it gives you the legal authority to say "Yeah, I already paid for this. See the levy?" We can argue whether or not you should have to pay at all, but as a Canadian, I LIKE this law. It is much better than living in fear of being randomly targeted by the RIAA for a lawsuit.
I'll trade Canadian levies for American RIAA witch-hunting any day of the week.
I don't want protection! I have used Linux for years without it, and I see no reason to start asking for it now. Microsoft can come after me or anyone else using Linux for any number of patent infringements, and I can re-write the code. Cut it out. Cite prior art. Find a workaround.
That is power that I have as a user, thanks entirely to Open Source, and I certainly don't need any sort of protection other than the freedom to modify my own code to protect me from microsoft and their frivolous patent claims.
It is already illegal here to make cam copies of movies, what more do they want from us? Maybe if new release DVDs didn't cost 25 dollars for no reason, we'd be more inclined to buy them.
I just bought Super Paper Mario two weeks ago and I already have six saved games on it from all my roommates AND my girlfriend, and it is difficult for me to find time to play on my own console because someone is always using it.
I own 4 games for it. Twilight Princess, WarioWare (this one got old except for at parties), Super Paper Mario, and Wii Sports.
Of the 4, I'd say there are 3 games which are among the most fun I've ever had playing console games. There are great games for other consoles, sure, but i don't own those consoles. I can only speak for the Wii, but I think there are plenty of games on it right now which I have a ton of fun playing.
I'm not terribly surprised. Almost all students are educated in the use of torrents, after all, and understanding that the dubious morality of downloading IP isn't so dubious after all. Since the artists get the shaft when it comes to album sales anyways, and most students go see the concerts of the artists they love when they hit town, and they have no use for a "hard-copy" of an album which the recording industry is STILL trying to ram down their throats.
The recording industry IS seeing a student response - in the form of lower sales.
This is what happens when you get overeager to slam MS. I mean $289 million dollars, not $289 dollars. I previewed for formatting but not for stupidity.
From TFA: "The GPL, of course, grants IBM legal permission to copy, distribute and modify the software. Finally, SCO was a Linux company that distributed this code for years and encouraged the world and its dog to copy, modify, distribute, sublicense, whatever, this code, so they are estopped from suing IBM for doing what the GPL license SCO distributed under said IBM could freely do."
Everyone gleefully accepting this abrogation of their rights simply because they are elitists who don't watch the latest sitcom are even worse than people who don't understand the issues behind this.
When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.
Not to mention that anything broadcast over public airwaves IS free to pick up right now. For example, I have rabbit ears which I use to pick up CTV, CBC and Global. For FREE! Public airwaves, free content. This certainly hasn't killed CTV, CBC or Global. In fact, the CBC has almost built its success on Hockey Night in Canada being able to reach almost 100% of the Canadian population, whether they can afford private access to cable networks or not.
While the legality of downloading movies/mp3 files/whatever might be dubious in Canada, ISPs can certainly revoke your access to their services for whatever reason they want, and getting a big wad of cash from US Lobby groups would certainly be a solid 'whatever' reason.
Considering we've only got two major broadband providers in Canada, being booted off your ISP is a big deal.
I suppose if you set aside the fact that Linus wrote the base for Linux in the first place and that Stallman wrote Emacs and the GNU C compiler you're right, they haven't worked on Linux at all....
Agreed. The current way of doing things won't work without locking up the supply side of things, but the current way is not the right way, and deserves to crash and burn.
Slashdot Mirror
Then you should be aware that many options you are given in society carry an implied threat. For example, if your landlords asks for your rent which is overdue, the implied threat is that if you do not give it to him soon, he will throw you out, but he doesn't necessarily have to yell and shout at you about it and make you feel like crap to get his point across. If your boss asks you to have a report to him by Thursday morning at 9 AM so he can present it to the CEO then the implied threat is that if you don't have it to him then he may have you fired (although hopefully not if you are a good employee). Both of these examples show perfectly reasonable requests which might be made of you in your life, neither of which have to be presented in an unpleasant way, while giving you no choice in your response to them. In fact, your landlord and your boss could ask for things in this way, and you could continue to have an excellent relationship with them, despite the fact that refusal to pay or produce would result in very unpleasant things for you. In the same way, I think that saying that a person who writes GPL'd code is threatening someone every time they ask them to respect the license they have written the code under is hyperbole. While the threat of litigation obviously exists if they do not comply, and therefore compliance is not an option, there is no reason that it cannot, and is not resolved in a pleasant manner most of the time, with threats firmly left out of it (except as they are implied, at least at first).
We have seen in the past that if the prices on music are low enough (Allofmp3) then people will pay for them, ESPECIALLY if they are DRM free. When you sell DRM-burdened crap for exorbitant prices, however, for some reason no-one buys it, and gets DRM-free and cheap music off the internet. Supply and Demand.
Now, just keep dropping those prices HMV, and eventually your sales will start rising again. If you strip the DRM out, maybe you'll even become wildly profitable once again. The economy has some incredible possibilities doesn't it?
You know there ARE ways to get someone to respect your copyright which don't involve litigation. For example, a friendly e-mail explaining what license you are violating and how, and working with the offender to resolve the situation.
I wouldd be surprised if the majority of GPL violations were not solved this way.
Does anyone else ever get sick of these smarmy responses from slashdot users?
The parent is obviously working in a business environment where he serves CLIENTS. Read he does not choose the kind of systems he works on. Maybe you are one of the priveleged few who can insitute wide-ranging changes in corporate policies to suit your whims and desires regarding Operating System choices, but the vast majority of us do not have that luxury. Do I use and love Linux? Yes. Do I work with Windows in my 9-5 life? Also yes, and there's not a thing I can do about it.
So thanks for nothing buddy, you're about as much use as a poopy flavoured lollipop.
Goodbye Karma.
To address your point #2, yeah, that is pretty much it. For those people who do only download legal music, never do anything in the least bit outside the letter of the law, then this is a bad thing, yeah. For the other 99% of the human population, who have downloaded the odd album off of the internet, it gives you the legal authority to say "Yeah, I already paid for this. See the levy?" We can argue whether or not you should have to pay at all, but as a Canadian, I LIKE this law. It is much better than living in fear of being randomly targeted by the RIAA for a lawsuit. I'll trade Canadian levies for American RIAA witch-hunting any day of the week.
Next time don't purchase the clearly labeled AUDIO CDs to burn your free operating systems, buy the regular ones.
Then you don't have to pay the levy.
I don't want protection! I have used Linux for years without it, and I see no reason to start asking for it now. Microsoft can come after me or anyone else using Linux for any number of patent infringements, and I can re-write the code. Cut it out. Cite prior art. Find a workaround. That is power that I have as a user, thanks entirely to Open Source, and I certainly don't need any sort of protection other than the freedom to modify my own code to protect me from microsoft and their frivolous patent claims.
Maybe then the DMCA would get a much-needed makeover.
It is already illegal here to make cam copies of movies, what more do they want from us? Maybe if new release DVDs didn't cost 25 dollars for no reason, we'd be more inclined to buy them.
I just bought Super Paper Mario two weeks ago and I already have six saved games on it from all my roommates AND my girlfriend, and it is difficult for me to find time to play on my own console because someone is always using it. I own 4 games for it. Twilight Princess, WarioWare (this one got old except for at parties), Super Paper Mario, and Wii Sports. Of the 4, I'd say there are 3 games which are among the most fun I've ever had playing console games. There are great games for other consoles, sure, but i don't own those consoles. I can only speak for the Wii, but I think there are plenty of games on it right now which I have a ton of fun playing.
I'm not terribly surprised. Almost all students are educated in the use of torrents, after all, and understanding that the dubious morality of downloading IP isn't so dubious after all. Since the artists get the shaft when it comes to album sales anyways, and most students go see the concerts of the artists they love when they hit town, and they have no use for a "hard-copy" of an album which the recording industry is STILL trying to ram down their throats.
The recording industry IS seeing a student response - in the form of lower sales.
This is what happens when you get overeager to slam MS. I mean $289 million dollars, not $289 dollars. I previewed for formatting but not for stupidity.
Microsoft's Xbox divisions posts a $289 loss in the second quarter.
= 22385
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid
Parent should RTFA, or maybe just the GPL.
From TFA: "The GPL, of course, grants IBM legal permission to copy, distribute and modify the software. Finally, SCO was a Linux company that distributed this code for years and encouraged the world and its dog to copy, modify, distribute, sublicense, whatever, this code, so they are estopped from suing IBM for doing what the GPL license SCO distributed under said IBM could freely do."
Everyone gleefully accepting this abrogation of their rights simply because they are elitists who don't watch the latest sitcom are even worse than people who don't understand the issues behind this.
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
Not to mention that anything broadcast over public airwaves IS free to pick up right now. For example, I have rabbit ears which I use to pick up CTV, CBC and Global. For FREE! Public airwaves, free content. This certainly hasn't killed CTV, CBC or Global. In fact, the CBC has almost built its success on Hockey Night in Canada being able to reach almost 100% of the Canadian population, whether they can afford private access to cable networks or not.
While the legality of downloading movies/mp3 files/whatever might be dubious in Canada, ISPs can certainly revoke your access to their services for whatever reason they want, and getting a big wad of cash from US Lobby groups would certainly be a solid 'whatever' reason. Considering we've only got two major broadband providers in Canada, being booted off your ISP is a big deal.
In America, you purchase commercial software In Soviet Russia, commercial software purchases you!
BSD is dead.
It is a great method of birth control
I've got the same password on my briefcase!
I suppose if you set aside the fact that Linus wrote the base for Linux in the first place and that Stallman wrote Emacs and the GNU C compiler you're right, they haven't worked on Linux at all....
You mean to say that Beavers don't REALLY explosively attack people with their menacing teeth? Damn...
Agreed. The current way of doing things won't work without locking up the supply side of things, but the current way is not the right way, and deserves to crash and burn.