Logic dictates that after cleavage shots are banned as well, cops will begin wearing miniskirts and halter tops to stop people from snapping pics of them in public.
"If US pretends to be our master, too, now, can we at least get the right to vote for the US leaders?"
Be careful what you wish for. Getting the right to vote in the U.S. would probably come with our never-ending political campaigning and propaganda and an even more subservient media serving up political infomercials rather than actual news. Not to mention that, in the end, the people you do successfully elect would all too often find the fetid swamp of D.C. to be a comfy Jacuzzi they can relax in.
Nope, you're describing relatively small-dollar secondary expenses that do not come anywhere near the real profit potential. I'm talking direct usage fees. Imagine, if you will, if COMCAST was able to buy up most of the highways in the U.S. There are only COMCAST cars for sale in your locality; you're forced into a long-term contract; you are restricted by mileage caps with big overage penalties; maybe there's an end to "roadway" neutrality, where if COMCAST doesn't like you, the stoplights are double the wait unless you pay up. What if they only built roads to the commercial establishments they owned?
I'm talking a cats-and-dogs-living-together, wrath-of-God monopoly that could generate profits several orders of magnitude above what is being skimmed from our current public highway system. Public utilities? A huge mistake that some have probably never stopped crying over.
I have no doubt there's a certain social strata that thinks the interstate highway system was the greatest error and calamity in world history. Think of all those people using something of value without anyone being allowed to collect (extort) fair market value!!!!
I can't imagine our corporate overlords ever letting THAT happen again.
. . strict oxygen inhalation and exhalation requirements?
Many bottom-dwelling creatures need very little, if any oxygen. Of course, COMCAST agreeing to pointless do-nothing stipulations for the sake of appearance would be entirely out of character. Yup.
"The sprawling installation mocks the collapse of capitalism, envisioning what would happen to the skyscrapers and men with briefcases once the financial system disappears.
Another day, another bit of news relating to Intellectual Venture's #1 lobbyist, Sen. Don Nickles and his lobbying firm, the Nickles Group LLC. Yesterday it was MPAA; today it's IV. Tomorrow? Maybe it'll be fracking, payday lending, net neutrality, or pushing TPP on behalf of his big pharma, legacy entertainment, or telecom clients. Just an all around stand-up dude.
Thanks for the reminder that the politicians themselves are often driving, rather than merely being passively driven by the moneyed interests in D.C. I suppose with all the hyper-partisan propaganda these days, it's easy to oversimplify how things really work and forget just how complex our Beruit on the Potomac can be.
Regarding the MPAA, this news is not some grand revelation in light of their on-going relationship with the Nickles Group LLC, lobbying firm of far right-wing goofball and former U.S. Senator Don Nickles (R-OK). The Copyright Alliance, after all, was a creation of Nickles associates and the MPAA.
Naw, he's where he belongs. It's not like the capitol is a pristine place he's fouling for the first time or anything. He doesn't need to be elsewhere; quite the contrary. See, if Congress doesn't refresh the manure daily, the place will collapse in on itself like an old termite mound. Goodlatte's just doing his share of spackling the walls, is all.
I watched the back and forth on the house floor between Bob Goodlatte and rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) live this afternoon. I have yet to find a reason to think much of Mr. Goodlatte.
Is gov't capable anymore of getting off its asterisk and forcing the breakup of a premier corporation? On behalf of consumers or citizens??? (No need to answer that). If shareholders stood to lose some serious money, we'd see a bailout, maybe.
To continue with the movie plot, the first matrix failed because nobody accepted the contentment and harmony of the original design. Now, however, we have our pro-wrestling spectacle of MSNBC vs. FOX, which unfortunately too many people accept as the whole of reality.
A case can be made that President Obama is actually a program from the machine world, and just another level of control. His push for TPP and use of drones (Sentinels?) has me scratching my head.
Given our vastly more complex and diverse communications ecosystem, totalitarian regimes cannot realistically hope to commandeer, shut down, or otherwise neutralize all media as was done in your great-grandpappy's Germany. The thing now is to get people to settle in to their own comfortable bubble of reality, and "choose to accept the program, even if it is on an unconscious level"
Seems to me like it's working pretty well, given the number of Americans all comfy in pink goo filled pods, being fed the artificial reality piped in to them via MSM. The Wachowski Brothers got it right; so did Zynep Tufekci.
In reading the Huffpo article it became clear after two or three sentences that trying to follow Peak's ramblings wouldn't be worth my time. Stupid is a force of nature for which there will never be enough sandbags, and sometimes all you can do is just move to higher ground lest the stupid carry you away.
It's very simple; create a 501(c)-something group like the Authors Guild, Graphic Artists Guild, etc., etc., and get yourself in good graces with the WIPO cabal. Of course, once you begin receiving a slice of the non-title specific dark money sloshing around from all these "licensing agreements," you'll be expected to faithfully attend the dog-and-pony show conferences and conventions on copyright, and extol the virtues of copyright maximalism and the evils of piracy.
I just did a search on TD for "reprographic", and was surprised to get pretty much zilch. Millions of dollars in reprographic rights royalties, and of particular concern, "non-title-specific" fees, comes into the U.S. from IFRRO organizations and winds up in the hands of rats such as the Authors Guild and Graphic Artists Guild, who then get to do wonderful things with it in the name of "artists rights" and "copyright reform". I would think that this money would be on somebody's radar screen around here.
I know that the Graphic Artists Guild has received upwards of $500,000 per year, which it spends with little accountability to anyone. This free money sloshing around, courtesy of European copyright law, is something that needs more sunlight.
I'm sure Netflix will be fine, since without enough competition in the market they can pass at least some of the costs on to the consumer without killing off too much demand.
I doubt there will be any sudden catastrophic loss of net neutrality that wrecks civilization. Verizon's win is only a moderate-to-small disaster, as I imagine providers will just slowly turn up the heat so as to keep all us frogs from jumping out of the pot, and simply make a handsome profit for providing crap service in whatever time it takes for the FCC to redo its rules.
On the post: Legislators Rush To Patch Hole In 'Secret Photography' Law; 'Succeed' In Making It Make It Much, Much Worse
Re:
On the post: Legislators Rush To Patch Hole In 'Secret Photography' Law; 'Succeed' In Making It Make It Much, Much Worse
If Only
On the post: Snowden Gives Testimony To European Parliament Inquiry Into Mass Surveillance, Asks For EU Asylum
Re:
Be careful what you wish for. Getting the right to vote in the U.S. would probably come with our never-ending political campaigning and propaganda and an even more subservient media serving up political infomercials rather than actual news. Not to mention that, in the end, the people you do successfully elect would all too often find the fetid swamp of D.C. to be a comfy Jacuzzi they can relax in.
On the post: Comcast Applauds Itself For Barely Adhering To NBC Merger Conditions, Most Of Which Comcast Created
Re: Re: Re: Re:
I'm talking a cats-and-dogs-living-together, wrath-of-God monopoly that could generate profits several orders of magnitude above what is being skimmed from our current public highway system. Public utilities? A huge mistake that some have probably never stopped crying over.
On the post: Comcast Applauds Itself For Barely Adhering To NBC Merger Conditions, Most Of Which Comcast Created
Re: Re:
I can't imagine our corporate overlords ever letting THAT happen again.
On the post: Comcast Applauds Itself For Barely Adhering To NBC Merger Conditions, Most Of Which Comcast Created
No Risk of Hypoxia
Many bottom-dwelling creatures need very little, if any oxygen. Of course, COMCAST agreeing to pointless do-nothing stipulations for the sake of appearance would be entirely out of character. Yup.
On the post: Comcast's Biggest Lobbyist Dodges Lobbying Rules By Pretending He's Usually Not Lobbying
More Post-Apocalypse Fun
"The sprawling installation mocks the collapse of capitalism, envisioning what would happen to the skyscrapers and men with briefcases once the financial system disappears.
On the post: Comcast's Biggest Lobbyist Dodges Lobbying Rules By Pretending He's Usually Not Lobbying
Details Matter
-That's Horrible!!!
"But it's LOBBYISTS!!"
-Damn, why didn't you say so? In that case, smashing idea!
On the post: Intellectual Ventures Starts Political Action Committee; Clearly Worried That Serious Patent Reform Might Actually Happen This Time
Nickles Again.
On the post: MPAA Shifts Its Funding Efforts To Republicans After SOPA Defeat
Who's Turn is it To Drive?
Regarding the MPAA, this news is not some grand revelation in light of their on-going relationship with the Nickles Group LLC, lobbying firm of far right-wing goofball and former U.S. Senator Don Nickles (R-OK). The Copyright Alliance, after all, was a creation of Nickles associates and the MPAA.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Copyright_alliance
On the post: Cell Phone Unlocking Bill Passes, Bad Last-Minute Changes And All
Re: Re: C-Span
On the post: Cell Phone Unlocking Bill Passes, Bad Last-Minute Changes And All
C-Span
Discussion on H.R. 1123 runs from 3:56 ET to 4:36.
http://www.c-span.org/video/?317951-3/us-house-legislative-business
On the post: Comcast Paying Minority Rights Groups To Parrot Merger Support
Re: Re: Re:
http://videosift.com/video/Colbert-regarding-the-new-ATT
On the post: Comcast Paying Minority Rights Groups To Parrot Merger Support
Re:
Is gov't capable anymore of getting off its asterisk and forcing the breakup of a premier corporation? On behalf of consumers or citizens??? (No need to answer that). If shareholders stood to lose some serious money, we'd see a bailout, maybe.
On the post: What Happens When You Marry The NSA's Surveillance Database With Amazon's Personalized Marketing?
Re: This is already going on
To continue with the movie plot, the first matrix failed because nobody accepted the contentment and harmony of the original design. Now, however, we have our pro-wrestling spectacle of MSNBC vs. FOX, which unfortunately too many people accept as the whole of reality.
A case can be made that President Obama is actually a program from the machine world, and just another level of control. His push for TPP and use of drones (Sentinels?) has me scratching my head.
On the post: What Happens When You Marry The NSA's Surveillance Database With Amazon's Personalized Marketing?
The Matrix
Seems to me like it's working pretty well, given the number of Americans all comfy in pink goo filled pods, being fed the artificial reality piped in to them via MSM. The Wachowski Brothers got it right; so did Zynep Tufekci.
On the post: HuffPo Columnist: I Infringe, So All Broadband Users Must Pay A New Piracy Tax
Not Worth It
On the post: Pioneering French Electronic Artist Thinks Creative Industry Should Get '$300-400' Of Each Smartphone Sale
Re: A Question Occurs...
On the post: A Rare Invitation To Help Shape European Copyright Law
Hello- Reprographic Royalties?
I know that the Graphic Artists Guild has received upwards of $500,000 per year, which it spends with little accountability to anyone. This free money sloshing around, courtesy of European copyright law, is something that needs more sunlight.
On the post: Netflix Says It'll Be Fine Without Net Neutrality Rules; But What About The Next Netflix?
Consumers Lose
I doubt there will be any sudden catastrophic loss of net neutrality that wrecks civilization. Verizon's win is only a moderate-to-small disaster, as I imagine providers will just slowly turn up the heat so as to keep all us frogs from jumping out of the pot, and simply make a handsome profit for providing crap service in whatever time it takes for the FCC to redo its rules.
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