China's Main Newspaper Complains That The iPad Is Too Damn Legal
from the they-have-a-point dept
China is often accused of ignoring intellectual property, though, as we've noted, lately it's been embracing intellectual property laws, mainly to smack down foreign competitors. The country has been trying to show the world that it's taking these matters seriously, and I'm sure there was plenty of conversation about this when Eric Holder met with officials in Beijing, following his recent blatantly intellectually dishonest speech about intellectual property issues.So, given all of that, it seems a bit strange that The People's Daily newspaper, which is the official newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, recently put up a review of Apple's iPad that complained about the fact that it couldn't be used for unauthorized material:
"There are many disadvantages" to the gadgets, it wrote. "For example you cannot install pirate software on them, you cannot download [free] music, and you need to pay for movies you watch on them."Now, while some might find this a bit surprising, it should be remembered that, in China, it's possible to also get unauthorized devices that build off of other company's gadgets to create something more powerful, and actually open for such uses. So while such a complaint may seem strange at first, when you realize that all they're really saying is that "we know how much more powerful this device should be, and it's a shame that it's locked down, because that takes away much of its value."
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What the hell happened?
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Re: What the hell happened?
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Re: Re: What the hell happened?
Seriously, something strange is happening....
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Re: Re: Re: What the hell happened?
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It's not like we don't know that but of all the house organs in the world you'd thing the People's Daily News would be cheering the lock down.
Think Steve Jobs will get the message that maybe he's crossed a bridge too far with this one?
Nahhh. The MSM and most tech sites will go miles over the top and breathless with the next Apple toy, just as they always do.
Next act. Apple accused the Chinese Communist Party with piracy and illegally cracking the iPad. News at 11!
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Re: house organ
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(lights torch)
"Perfect."
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On other news South Korea is using robots to teach kids.
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The Guilded Cage.
The problem with DRM is that it doesn't discriminate between fair and reasonable and LEGAL personal use and blatant piracy.
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Re: The Guilded Cage.
That's not a design flaw, it's a "feature!" Customers can't be trusted to back up their software and data. Computers and mobile devices are so HARD to use. That's why we conveniently offer a 0% discount on buying a 2nd copy of everything you already "own"/license!
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nobody said the iPad was a stand-alone device
I download plenty of free music from archive.org and elsewhere and putting it on the iPad is as simple as adding it to your music library. Likewise for video, although with some formats you have to have iTunes make a version specifically for iPad or iPhone and sync that instead.
I've never bought a song or rented a video from Apple (or anyone else), because I have plenty of other sources. Most of what I have isn't even available for sale. That doesn't stop me from having 10 gigs of video and two of music on an iPad for use wherever I may care to take it.
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Re: nobody said the iPad was a stand-alone device
Really? Thats All?
I'm Old. I've been collecting since before the term "RIP" was used to create a MP3 from a CD. If you need music let me know. I'm have on the order of 200 Gigs, someone has to archive it. The RIAA don't.
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Re: Re: nobody said the iPad was a stand-alone device
Despite my nym, the subject was free downloads on the iPad, not who's got the biggest . . . library.
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a different take
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Re: a different take
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Mike is right. The iPad would be much more powerful if it allowed you to steal whatever you want, whenever you wanted it!
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Don't castrate my computer.
Big Content are thieves so that's what they see when they look at other people.
They would rather destroy the technology that the world runs on than risk trusting their own customers. They project their own values onto their customers.
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iPadness
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Re: iPadness
You can adapt all the Torrents you want to the iPad.
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Don't buy it, reverse engineer it like everything else
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Nutshell Beef: We Buy H/w, Not S/w
A nephew who's been a long time resident spends little more than the cost of physical media for s/w, music, movies. He knows that once he's saved up the cash to buy a laptop or media player, he's pretty much set.
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Music, technology... equals product - - - Products = A Salary
I fear that many individuals are not taking personal responsibility. Rather, they expect everything to be given to them, as if they deserve it some how. May I ask Why? Who in the hell are you?
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Re: Music, technology... equals product - - - Products = A Salary
- Not sure where this came from as I see no requirement to give away anything. I do however see the reality of diminishing returns.
"I fear that many individuals are not taking personal responsibility."
- This would include those who ignore, even deny the facts staring them in the face. Why should anyone be given a free ride. Who in the hell are these people?
- FWIW, I do not intentionally infringe upon copyright and I do not like being accused of same. There are many attempts to enact "you must be a pirate" fees/taxes upon seemingly innocuous items and this way of thinking apparently is not going away anytime soon.
It is sad when a majority of law abiding people are forced to pay for the lack of foresight by the few simply because those few have more influence.
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Music, technology... equals product - - - Products = A Salary
I fear that many individuals are not taking personal responsibility. Rather, they expect everything to be given to them, as if they deserve it some how. May I ask Why? Who in the hell are you?
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Re: Music, technology... equals product - - - Products = A Salary
If they don't want to give away anything then don't release it to the public. Once released, it's my (natural) right to freely copy and redistribute.
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It's too late: computers and fast data pipes exist
So creating frameworks based on people not copying is always going to be a losing proposition. Some people recognise this, and have pretty much abandoned the old media. This Chinese review is an acknowledgement by someone within their immense bureaucracy of the real world.
Bureaucracies often give conflicting points of view, so it is no surprise part of the Chinese system play the IP game, whilst other parts laugh at IP-thinking based restrictions.
Perhaps the official censors (or whoever) just didn't get the memo?
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The precedent is how the U.S. use it economic leverage to force others into compliance.
Now China learned that lesson very well and it is using their leverage not only in economics but in raw materials :)
http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/22/japan-business-no-rare-earths-coming-from-china/?hpt= C2
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I fear that Apple not taking this seriously. Rather, it expects paying customers to accept this crazy assumption of criminality, as if they deserve no control over their own possessions. May I ask Why? What in the hell is Apple thinking?
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Part of me is giddy to see that, China, of all countries is pointing out the idiot-switch on these devices. Maybe they might pass a law that requires for the devices to be hackable or something, and that opens the door for grey market models.
On the other hand, the entire reason these are locked down is because of countries like China, and most of Asia (including India) pirate things silly.
One might make the same argument from Japan claiming Americans don't respect their copyrights on games (Fan-translations), Anime (Fansubs), and Manga (Scanlations), as the average anime-watching teen or adult pirates most of the stuff they want to watch, and only buys the stuff they want to see more of.
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Pretty much correct....
It is also the main reason I'll never buy one....
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Re:
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Jobs is overly cautious
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