A few months ago there was a strange man hanging around the train station near here, doing something on a phone but not buying a ticket or catching a train.
...Then one day I actually paid attention to the posted signs and checked online, and realized that the train station and parking lot are private property and I was technically trespassing. I immediately changed my activities; it turns out the Ingress portal I was hacking (also a Pokemon gym) was accessible from the public sidewalk, so I started parking in a nearby public lot instead and walking. A bit less convenient, but perfectly legal.
Suspicious activity in this case was a guy who was just playing a game and not paying close enough attention to the signs. I could have been cited for trespassing, and correctly so, but there wasn't actually anything nefarious going on. "Suspicious" isn't automatically "guilty".
For that matter, I could have bought a ticket and taken a train somewhere, then returned, and I would have satisfied all the requirements to turn me from a trespasser to a customer. And I would have been just as much danger to the public as when I had just been hanging out. Perhaps more, because I would have suddenly no longer been suspicious, but just another passenger.
If I really WERE up to something, I would take care to look like just another guy.
So, let's see... accept money to build out wired service, then refuse to build out wired service, and refuse to maintain existing wired service, on the grounds that wireless is better. Build out wireless, then punish people for using data. Then withdraw wireless service with no warning and no alternative.
Yep, this sounds like a sector that needs only a light regulatory hand. Because rigorous competition and public shame will keep them honest. They've done such a great job so far!
Oh, and I'm totally all for Sprint buying T-Mobile because, you know, we don't need all those carriers competing with each other.
If I were a GoT fan I'd seriously buy the service. Not a fan. But ofc. that means I don't download it, either.
(What that means is that HBO isn't making any money off me. But if I downloaded it from Pirate Bay, they would be making exactly as much off me, and at the same cost. So getting their panties in a bunch over it doesn't impress me.)
I'm currently a customer of Netflix and just coming up on my first month of Hulu. There's a lot of content and I'm pretty happy. Like I said, if I were a fan -- or interested enough in any HBO content -- I'd be there in a second.
I'd rather stream it through a paid service than download it. Maybe even enough to add another service to my list just for one show. Because basically I know that once I get the service, I'll be watching other stuff too, and I'll get my money's worth in the end.
Having the streaming services is WAY too convenient compared to trying to track down active, quality rips across multiple bittorrent services. If I couldn't afford it, of course, I might feel differently; but now that I can, I'm happy to pay them.
(And if I can't afford it, I can't afford it. They don't get my money either way. But if I'm a poor fan now, I'm probably a future paying customer. Unless, of course, they piss me off. Or sue me into poverty.)
1) I kind of liked it. I expect others will appreciate it too. 2) His time and effort to spend how he deems fit. 3) If you didn't like it, skip it and go on with your life.
Sheesh. You spent time and trouble to kvetch about it?
Looks like my first comment was in late 2010. I was probably lurking for a while before that.
I had found freshnews.org and was reading articles that looked interesting. Eventually ended up coming here directly. Don't remember how I found freshnews.
(FTR I was already reading El Reg before I stumbled across freshnews.)
Funny, I just wrote this same article in a comment to a /. thread on the same subject. Except mine wasn't as well written, and you published first. I simply didn't see this one until afterwards. :)
But T/.FA was what you were talking about -- somebody kvetching how cord cutting isn't cost effective. At least he added caveats about keeping the content. But he was dismissive about it at best. The whole article was based on the premise that one wants -- no, needs -- to watch all the content that cable provides.
My response was pretty much the same as what you're saying here: if you're just trying to save a few bux on your cable bill but feel a need to keep all the content, then you're not ready to cut the cord. You're in the wrong demographic. Just... stop talking about it.
"But the more problematic impact of all this is that across countless markets, consumers looking for current-generation broadband often only have one option: cable providers."
For each country that insists its laws be applied globally, add that country to a list. Every country in the list gets its laws applied to all countries in the list.
Could be a problem when two countries' laws directly contradict each other. Might be time to pull out of one of those countries altogether.
... Probably not really a practical idea but, hey, I like the idea of applying an entity's stupidity against it and watching the resulting implosion once it reaches critical mass.
On the post: SESTA Is Being Pushed As The Answer To A Sex Trafficking 'Epidemic' That Simply Doesn't Exist
...Then one day I actually paid attention to the posted signs and checked online, and realized that the train station and parking lot are private property and I was technically trespassing. I immediately changed my activities; it turns out the Ingress portal I was hacking (also a Pokemon gym) was accessible from the public sidewalk, so I started parking in a nearby public lot instead and walking. A bit less convenient, but perfectly legal.
Suspicious activity in this case was a guy who was just playing a game and not paying close enough attention to the signs. I could have been cited for trespassing, and correctly so, but there wasn't actually anything nefarious going on. "Suspicious" isn't automatically "guilty".
For that matter, I could have bought a ticket and taken a train somewhere, then returned, and I would have satisfied all the requirements to turn me from a trespasser to a customer. And I would have been just as much danger to the public as when I had just been hanging out. Perhaps more, because I would have suddenly no longer been suspicious, but just another passenger.
If I really WERE up to something, I would take care to look like just another guy.
On the post: Prepare For An Epic Bullshit Sales Pitch For The Competition-Killing Sprint, T-Mobile Merger
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00wQYmvfhn4
On the post: Verizon Hangs Up On Tens Of Thousands Of 'Unlimited' Wireless Customers For Using Too Much Data
Yep, this sounds like a sector that needs only a light regulatory hand. Because rigorous competition and public shame will keep them honest. They've done such a great job so far!
Oh, and I'm totally all for Sprint buying T-Mobile because, you know, we don't need all those carriers competing with each other.
On the post: Charles Harder Loses Again: You Can't Just File Defamation Lawsuits In A Random State Because You Like Its Statute Of Limitations
These jokes write themselves! But that's OK, PETA will be along shortly to claim to be their "friend" and claim copyright.
On the post: Bill Introduced That Would Make Arrested Protesters Pay Police Overtime, Gov't Expenses
FTFY.
On the post: Deputy Attorney General Trots Out All Sorts Of Silly Analogies About 'Intellectual Property'
Nobody ever had a reason to create anything until there were intellectual property laws to force monopolies on a lazy, selfish populace.
On the post: After Previously Claiming the Economics Would Never Work, HBO Streaming Now A Major Windfall
(What that means is that HBO isn't making any money off me. But if I downloaded it from Pirate Bay, they would be making exactly as much off me, and at the same cost. So getting their panties in a bunch over it doesn't impress me.)
I'm currently a customer of Netflix and just coming up on my first month of Hulu. There's a lot of content and I'm pretty happy. Like I said, if I were a fan -- or interested enough in any HBO content -- I'd be there in a second.
I'd rather stream it through a paid service than download it. Maybe even enough to add another service to my list just for one show. Because basically I know that once I get the service, I'll be watching other stuff too, and I'll get my money's worth in the end.
Having the streaming services is WAY too convenient compared to trying to track down active, quality rips across multiple bittorrent services. If I couldn't afford it, of course, I might feel differently; but now that I can, I'm happy to pay them.
(And if I can't afford it, I can't afford it. They don't get my money either way. But if I'm a poor fan now, I'm probably a future paying customer. Unless, of course, they piss me off. Or sue me into poverty.)
On the post: After Previously Claiming the Economics Would Never Work, HBO Streaming Now A Major Windfall
Re: Re: Re: Re: Mason Wheeler drivel.
2) His time and effort to spend how he deems fit.
3) If you didn't like it, skip it and go on with your life.
Sheesh. You spent time and trouble to kvetch about it?
On the post: Even Many ISP-Backed Allies Think Ajit Pai's Attack On Net Neutrality Is Too Extreme
Re: Re: Re:
On the post: CCTV + Lip-Reading Software = Even Less Privacy, Even More Surveillance
Re: Re:
On the post: Village Roadshow Promises To Mete Out Its Brand Of Justice As Inequitably As Possible
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=On%20The%20Gripping%20Hand
On the post: Techdirt Turns Twenty!
I had found freshnews.org and was reading articles that looked interesting. Eventually ended up coming here directly. Don't remember how I found freshnews.
(FTR I was already reading El Reg before I stumbled across freshnews.)
On the post: Tech Journalists Keep Completely Missing The Point Of Cord Cutting
But T/.FA was what you were talking about -- somebody kvetching how cord cutting isn't cost effective. At least he added caveats about keeping the content. But he was dismissive about it at best. The whole article was based on the premise that one wants -- no, needs -- to watch all the content that cable provides.
My response was pretty much the same as what you're saying here: if you're just trying to save a few bux on your cable bill but feel a need to keep all the content, then you're not ready to cut the cord. You're in the wrong demographic. Just... stop talking about it.
On the post: Two Bollywood Film Producers Get Court To Block Tons Of Sites In India, Including Archive.org
Was "recompense" the word you wanted? Or did I misunderstand what you were trying to say?
On the post: The Nation's Telcos Are Hemorrhaging Customers Because They Refuse To Upgrade Their Networks
If there's only one, it's not an option.
On the post: Psychiatrist Files Lawsuit Over Wordless One-Star Review
On the post: United Says TSA Wants All Comic Con Comic Books Searched; TSA Says 'Not Us'
On the post: Top European Court To Consider If EU Countries Can Censor The Global Internet
Could be a problem when two countries' laws directly contradict each other. Might be time to pull out of one of those countries altogether.
... Probably not really a practical idea but, hey, I like the idea of applying an entity's stupidity against it and watching the resulting implosion once it reaches critical mass.
On the post: BrewDog's Trademark Application For 'Elvis Juice' Brew Blocked By The Elvis Presley Estate
On the post: Trump Puts Voter Data Collection On Hold After Highly Insecure & Potentially Illegal Process Is Widely Ridiculed
Sensitive personal data from people who shouldn't have it.
Next, please?
Next >>