Or, even better, can we point out that this is an example of someone wanting protection from the unknown so badly that he's willing to give up his freedoms (but, even better, give up the freedoms of his neighbors too) to get his feeling of safety. Ya...that's something that we SHOULD question.
That only works if the person is an already dedicated surfer who pulls the newspaper's webpage up every morning because it's his/her favorite news source...everyone else tends to see news through aggregation and/or searching of some type.
You can't look at Grandma's surf habits and assume they apply to most of the rest of the population...she's gonna die in about 5 years...you have to look at the younger population's habits...and they start from the social networking sites and branch out from there, or from igoogle or something else that aggregates.
I don't think Mike intended to imply that competition could happen without government intervention. I do agree. Without the government, the big players will NEVER give up their stranglehold on the markets. And with the politicians in beds with the telcos and cable companies, we'll need to do some serious work to cause a divorce...
Now THIS statement makes sense.
If only all those Anonymous Cowards could come to understand that citizens have rights granted in the Constitution. Corporations do not. Corporations are granted derived rights through laws. Hence why individual rights supersede and should trump corporate rights and privileges. The fact that they currently do not is rather reminiscent of the situation that caused the Declaration of Independence to be signed - basic rights were being abused for the benefit of those in power.
So what makes an education system good? Just curious? Personally, I found the Texas education system to be incredible as far as encouraging gifted students. Those at the bottom of the heap seemed to fair pretty well...there seemed to be a number of programs available to them...the people in the middle seemed to do just fine too...as far as how well educated people from different areas of the country seem compared to others, I'd definitely have to say that Texans seem to know at least as much (they also seem to have a lot more common sense compared to northerners - but that seems to be a trend in the southern US)...
Point is, it's really difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of an education system...your personal bias almost always creeps in.
However, romeo, I don't know how or where you found your information, but I couldn't actually find anything that even remotely resembled your assertions...Texas seems to be pretty average as far as overall education averages show.
I'm not of the opinion that it's the public school system that's broken. It seems to be the whole political system in general...we've allowed the "educated" but stupid, arrogant, and greedy politicians to dictate our everyday lives while the rest of us struggle to just survive day to day. We've gotten complacent and lazy. Now, we have to suffer the consequences - we're gonna have to work hard in order to sort things out.
It's a scary thought that the world would degrade to this. It definitely takes away the one good foil we have against government abuse - the organized press. Then again, with the press already being in bed with the government, I wonder how long the foil has been missing?
The only problem with relying on bloggers and individuals for news is that the government could, potentially, seed its own shills into the blogger population and knock off anyone who speaks out against it one at a time (its slightly more difficult to make an entire organized group go under without anyone noticing...).
I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but that is only because the news organizations would still make it difficult for government at this point. Without them, I sometimes wonder whether or not the government would be able to constrain itself.
Yes...and the processors won't have ANY incentive at all to make the process for viewing the articles as difficult as possible. And I'm sure that they will re-invest in improving and updating their systems rather than lining their own pockets with the money they make...
/s
agreed...just shows how long the abuse has been rampant...the real point is not that copyright law is not made for the digital world, but that copyright law causes problems in everyday, innocent uses.
Re: Re: Don't confuse the real world with the fictional one
@ Albert Nonymous - Ok, so it didn't take me long to find the article...It turned out to be an Ars Technica one: Why Snake-Oil Sells
Reading this makes you wonder just how we can actually evaluate the effectiveness of the current medical industry from our own observation as it seems that perceived effectiveness very well could be mostly independent of actual effectiveness.
If that is the case, maybe, as you have so eloquently noted, our only hope for medicine is to trust that the science behind the corruption continues to be fruitful?
Re: Don't confuse the real world with the fictional one
Just to get you thinking for a little bit while I go find the article I'm looking for...there was a recent study that determined that part of the reason that people flock to non-scientific methods of healing is that effective medicine tends to be viewed as ineffective and ineffective medicine tends to be seen in a better light than it actually is...mull that over a bit while I find that stinker...makes you wonder just how plausible your "reality" really is...just how much of our perception is skewed?
Man, this takes me back to the days when I was judging debate tournaments...He's just asking for it...he assumes that we all accept his 'value' of the free market, but then completely contradicts himself and discards the value. By the time he is finished, the closest thing that I can find in his statements as to what he is actually valuing is copyright itself!! WTF?!?! Any high school debater can construct a more cohesive argument.
I need to clear that last statement up...the only method that I can see being useful for clearing this issue up is to actually call either a mistrial or allow for an appeal in a higher court. The trial must be redone in order to clear up the issue...otherwise, those of us who are not pro-BIG-Business can't help but wonder if it's just a sham.
Clearly his motivations/involvement/interest HAVE to be called into question, especially in Sweden where, at least according to another commenter (TOC I think it was), a jury by peers is not available. Even if the judge claims no conflict of interest and nothing can be ascertained, it is important that the issue be cleared up, ESPECIALLY as the Pirate Bay case has potential ramifications for consumer rights and our rights as global citizens.
Frankly, I could care less about how Intel feels about losing its patents...I'm personally tired of watching and receiving the backlash of this patchwork Intellectual Property/Copyright/Patent system. And, yes, I understand that they are different. But that kind of argument is just BS and a straw man. All of them stem from the concept that giving someone a temporary monopoly over their creation (be it art or an idea) will encourage more innovation.
I have great hope for this. I catch myself holding my breath too, even though I know better than to hope for something like this to work out for the benefit of the electorate rather than the elected and their Big Business buddies...
Socialism is not actually a form of government. It is actually an economic ideal. And Communism is actually not a totalitarian regime in and of itself. It just so happens that it becomes quite easy to abuse. Communism is actually a form of government that ideally is temporary until a socialist/anarchical society can replace it.
That being said, the United States has always been quite a bit socialist (free-market never existed and can't exist while the idiots in congress keep pushing pens around and making new regulations and laws about things they can't comprehend). Yes, we're becoming more socialist all the time, but that is what happens when your government is directly involved in economics.
I personally would love to see a grass-roots movement take the current government by storm, but the two major political parties are too entrenched and would stifle anything that threatens their power, so I can't really see it happening...
To be honest, I think our country's political leaning is more towards that of an oligarchy - the rule of the masses by a select few/rich.
You're Definitely Correct. Print does provide more value - it provides thermal insulation for those that can't afford more expensive material to keep themselves warm...and SOMEONE has got to provide the fuel for all those trash can fires...
@Tor - Darned right in that first point. The second I'm not quite so sure about. As for the second point, it seems that the Swedish judge DID make a rather questionable judgement call - he convicted TPB of a CRIMINAL offense when the prosecution argued a CIVIL case (they did ask for CRIMINAL punishment just like is often attempted in the US). Whether or not TPB could be convicted on intentions doesn't even bother me. What really bothers me is the fact that this trial just seems to be a big sham - and learning that the judge was a board member of a pro-copyright organization (and was active in other organizations of the same leaning) didn't really help my opinion on that...
On the post: Consumer Group Wants ACTA Discussions Stopped Until Consumer Rights Are Represented In Negotiations
Re:
Or, even better, can we point out that this is an example of someone wanting protection from the unknown so badly that he's willing to give up his freedoms (but, even better, give up the freedoms of his neighbors too) to get his feeling of safety. Ya...that's something that we SHOULD question.
On the post: Yet Another Plan To Change Copyright Law To Protect Newspapers
Re: Re:
You can't look at Grandma's surf habits and assume they apply to most of the rest of the population...she's gonna die in about 5 years...you have to look at the younger population's habits...and they start from the social networking sites and branch out from there, or from igoogle or something else that aggregates.
On the post: Would King Lear Ever Have Been Written If Copyright Law Existed?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Shakespeare would have been fine
On the post: As Expected, Bill Introduced To Outlaw Tiered Bandwidth Pricing
Re: Re: Obama Will
On the post: Japan Makes Private Copying Illegal
Re: Theft of the Public Domain
On the post: Texas Schools May No Longer Be Forced To Buy Physical Textbooks Just To Use Digital Ones
Re:
Point is, it's really difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of an education system...your personal bias almost always creeps in.
However, romeo, I don't know how or where you found your information, but I couldn't actually find anything that even remotely resembled your assertions...Texas seems to be pretty average as far as overall education averages show.
I'm not of the opinion that it's the public school system that's broken. It seems to be the whole political system in general...we've allowed the "educated" but stupid, arrogant, and greedy politicians to dictate our everyday lives while the rest of us struggle to just survive day to day. We've gotten complacent and lazy. Now, we have to suffer the consequences - we're gonna have to work hard in order to sort things out.
On the post: Could PR People Replace Journalists?
Scary
The only problem with relying on bloggers and individuals for news is that the government could, potentially, seed its own shills into the blogger population and knock off anyone who speaks out against it one at a time (its slightly more difficult to make an entire organized group go under without anyone noticing...).
I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but that is only because the news organizations would still make it difficult for government at this point. Without them, I sometimes wonder whether or not the government would be able to constrain itself.
On the post: Why Does The CDC Have Better Data On Mobile Penetration Than The FCC?
Twitter
On the post: Wait... Wouldn't Micropayments Be Bad For Journalism?
Re: Micropayments
/s
On the post: How Long Can You Go Without Infringing On Copyright?
Re:
On the post: Elsevier Had A Whole Division Publishing Fake Medical Journals
Re: Re: Don't confuse the real world with the fictional one
Ok, so it didn't take me long to find the article...It turned out to be an Ars Technica one:
Why Snake-Oil Sells
Reading this makes you wonder just how we can actually evaluate the effectiveness of the current medical industry from our own observation as it seems that perceived effectiveness very well could be mostly independent of actual effectiveness.
If that is the case, maybe, as you have so eloquently noted, our only hope for medicine is to trust that the science behind the corruption continues to be fruitful?
On the post: Elsevier Had A Whole Division Publishing Fake Medical Journals
Re: Don't confuse the real world with the fictional one
On the post: The Economist Debate On Copyright Needs Your Input
Debate
On the post: Pirate Bay Judge Accused Of Conflict In Another Case As Well
Re: Clearly so...
On the post: Pirate Bay Judge Accused Of Conflict In Another Case As Well
Clearly so...
On the post: Andy Grove: Patents Are Like Mortgage Backed Securities
Re: you cannot spout anti-patent rhetoric
Frankly, I could care less about how Intel feels about losing its patents...I'm personally tired of watching and receiving the backlash of this patchwork Intellectual Property/Copyright/Patent system. And, yes, I understand that they are different. But that kind of argument is just BS and a straw man. All of them stem from the concept that giving someone a temporary monopoly over their creation (be it art or an idea) will encourage more innovation.
On the post: New Zealand Officials To Scrap Copyright Law; Start From Scratch
On the post: Pirate Bay Verdict May Actually Lead To Pirate Party Official Joining European Parliament
Re: Re: Re: Re:
That being said, the United States has always been quite a bit socialist (free-market never existed and can't exist while the idiots in congress keep pushing pens around and making new regulations and laws about things they can't comprehend). Yes, we're becoming more socialist all the time, but that is what happens when your government is directly involved in economics.
I personally would love to see a grass-roots movement take the current government by storm, but the two major political parties are too entrenched and would stifle anything that threatens their power, so I can't really see it happening...
To be honest, I think our country's political leaning is more towards that of an oligarchy - the rule of the masses by a select few/rich.
On the post: Newspaper Association Kills Off Print Magazine -- Goes Online Only
You're Right
On the post: Google Denies Similarities To The Pirate Bay
Re:
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