All the "think of the children" zero tolerance for anyone classified as any sort of sex offender should give anyone pause before agreeing to any plea deals for things like public urination or nudity now though.
In fact, it probably gives lawyers defending minor infractions like that some decent ammunition for raising the bar for such a conviction.
I am one of the holdouts (the first part). Never asked anyone to use theirs though.
On the other hand, I'd hate to see devices banned on flights. MOre people would try and sleep on the 10 hour flight I frequently take, and many of them seem to snore.
I don't know, the DOJ seems intent to actually do something, judging by their language. Their bold approach to the ATT-Tmo merger makes me hopeful their bark has some bite this time too.
Apple isn't helping their case by their posturing either. So my bet is on medium level smackdown.
The school is still responsible for the child's welfare during those breaks however.
That said, I do agre with you to a point, to wit:
"But how do schools enforce various zero-tolerance policies for touching/bullying and still allow kids to be kids?"
They should not be enforcing zero tolerance anything. School boards need to stop abdicating their responsibility for their own and the schools staffs' actions by using zero tolerance, and return to having to use their own judgement to decide when and how severely these actions require intervention and/or punishment.
This whole trend of "suspend anyone for any infraction" so that no one can blame the school is gutless. And parents are partly to blame. If teachers and administrators had allies amongst the parents against the types who caused this reaction, there might be a chance to reverse the trend.
My kid was not allowed to run on the playground in his elementary. Under threat of suspension for repeat offenses. Seriously.
Re: Re: Re: Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
Like I said above, I think it could probably be gotten down to 6 weeks for a bare bones release. I can guarantee that NATO (not that one, North American Theater Owners) would do everything they could to kill such a move, though. As Mike often notes, they have no confidence in their own ability to offer a positive experience that can compete with home viewing.
Re: Re: Re: Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
Funny you all think I am defending them. I actually agree with Mike as to what should happen, I just think it would involve compromises the studio won't make.
I work for a large entertainment company, although not in their movie studio division. And I am firmly in the "reduce copyright back to 14 years" camp, as well as sharing most other positions on IP Techdirt espouses.
But I know lot of people in the production side of film, and know something about all the bandying about for release dates. Movies are like any other short term investment. The companies that make them want to get the return on their (sometimes borrowed) money as soon as possible. Which means they target the shortest production period they can get the actual movie makers to agree to, and the best (based on many factors but largely earliest) release date date they can lay a claim to before some other film does.
And no, mastering the movie for disk isn't a huge effort, but it does take several weeks, between mastering and encoding the video and audio, getting those masters out to a disk replication plant, the new step (studio's fault for insisting on their insane DRM) of making sure the produced disks work problem free in existing models of blu-ray players, then going to a full production run. Most decent directors also want to review this result and bless it as well.
And none of that can happen until the movie is complete, which, as I said, is very often not until a couple of weeks (or even days) before its premiere, during which time they are also dealing with making prints for the mostly still film based theater industry.
As for selling disks completely devoid of extras, they could, but it would require a lower price IMO, and would probably dilute some of the demand for the more profitable feature filled version down the road. Between that, and complicating their release date selection process or delaying premiere dates, I just don't see it happening in a risk averse industry like this.
Re: Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
The one issue I see - movies are often barely completed in time for their release, with a lot of last minute post production work. Mastering the DVD/blu-ray as well as assembling and producing even the barebones "extras" people would expect from a DVD release (director and cast commentary audio track) cannot be done in that time frame in most cases. Especially when the major players often need to immediately go on a promotion tour for the film's theatrical run.
I think 6-8 weeks is probably the shortest realistic window to do something like this and put out a product people won't be offended by, quality-wise.
I haven't read all the stories and posts on Techdirt lately, but I am surprised to not see more discussion of the implications of your first sentence.
And not specifically in terms of the content industry, but rather the USGov itself probably being very keen on having a means of quickly killing sites it doesn't like. Wikileaks comes to mind.
Chuck D's lawyers need to find someone who has "sold" one of his itunes purchased tracks to another user, put him on the stand, and force UMG's counsel to declare the transaction acceptable or not. Either way they lose.
Agree with your points, but I'd also like to know their requested damages.
If they are looking for thousands of dollars or more, I'd be with Mike, avoid their product. But if they are pursuing a reasonable course with their suit (I know, pretty unlikely), I'd probably be more inclined to shake my head at their windmill tilting, but not lump them in with the evil of most such suits.
Indded. Pretty sure industry will be most moved by this part of the study:
The research also revealed that copyright owners don't necessarily benefit from a lower amount of piracy. "Decreased piracy doesn't guarantee increased profits," Purohit said. "In fact, our analysis demonstrates that under some conditions, one can observe lower levels of piracy and lower profits."
It's pretty trivial to make a non-limited digital copy from the DVD.
What limitations are you running into though, out of curiosity?
I also tend to think that the pricing on this VOD offering was not strictly a result of placating theater owners. I would bet that is actually the valuation they believe this service is worth.
Well, Fish. To spell out what I assumed to be fairly self-explanatory:
Other than only a statement by Hubert that it was so, I wondered if Mike had further corroboration, i.e. the court not having record of a valid service of summons, other factors that cause him to give credence to Hubert's statement. Anything at all beyond "Hubert said so".
I tend to believe Hubert, but wondered if there was anything other than gut instinct to do so.
On the post: New York Convinces Game Companies To Kick Registered Sex Offenders Off Gaming Services
Re:
All the "think of the children" zero tolerance for anyone classified as any sort of sex offender should give anyone pause before agreeing to any plea deals for things like public urination or nudity now though.
In fact, it probably gives lawyers defending minor infractions like that some decent ammunition for raising the bar for such a conviction.
On the post: Glory Be To The Window Seat: A Bizarre 'Spiritual' Defense Of The FAA's Airplane Gadget Ban
Re: I know one!
On the other hand, I'd hate to see devices banned on flights. MOre people would try and sleep on the 10 hour flight I frequently take, and many of them seem to snore.
On the post: US Government Finally Realizes That Publishers & Apple Conspiring To Raise eBook Prices Is Price Fixing
Re:
Apple isn't helping their case by their posturing either. So my bet is on medium level smackdown.
On the post: US Government Finally Realizes That Publishers & Apple Conspiring To Raise eBook Prices Is Price Fixing
Re:
The article is about Apple and the publishers colluding on actions which are anti-competitive. Do you have anything relevant to say about that?
On the post: DailyDirt: Educational Materials
Re: Re: Re:
That said, I do agre with you to a point, to wit:
"But how do schools enforce various zero-tolerance policies for touching/bullying and still allow kids to be kids?"
They should not be enforcing zero tolerance anything. School boards need to stop abdicating their responsibility for their own and the schools staffs' actions by using zero tolerance, and return to having to use their own judgement to decide when and how severely these actions require intervention and/or punishment.
This whole trend of "suspend anyone for any infraction" so that no one can blame the school is gutless. And parents are partly to blame. If teachers and administrators had allies amongst the parents against the types who caused this reaction, there might be a chance to reverse the trend.
My kid was not allowed to run on the playground in his elementary. Under threat of suspension for repeat offenses. Seriously.
On the post: Yet Another Study Shows That Hollywood's Own Bad Decisions Are Increasing The Amount Of Infringement
Re: Re: Re: Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
On the post: Yet Another Study Shows That Hollywood's Own Bad Decisions Are Increasing The Amount Of Infringement
Re: Re: Re: Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
On the post: Yet Another Study Shows That Hollywood's Own Bad Decisions Are Increasing The Amount Of Infringement
Re: Re: Re: Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
I work for a large entertainment company, although not in their movie studio division. And I am firmly in the "reduce copyright back to 14 years" camp, as well as sharing most other positions on IP Techdirt espouses.
But I know lot of people in the production side of film, and know something about all the bandying about for release dates. Movies are like any other short term investment. The companies that make them want to get the return on their (sometimes borrowed) money as soon as possible. Which means they target the shortest production period they can get the actual movie makers to agree to, and the best (based on many factors but largely earliest) release date date they can lay a claim to before some other film does.
And no, mastering the movie for disk isn't a huge effort, but it does take several weeks, between mastering and encoding the video and audio, getting those masters out to a disk replication plant, the new step (studio's fault for insisting on their insane DRM) of making sure the produced disks work problem free in existing models of blu-ray players, then going to a full production run. Most decent directors also want to review this result and bless it as well.
And none of that can happen until the movie is complete, which, as I said, is very often not until a couple of weeks (or even days) before its premiere, during which time they are also dealing with making prints for the mostly still film based theater industry.
As for selling disks completely devoid of extras, they could, but it would require a lower price IMO, and would probably dilute some of the demand for the more profitable feature filled version down the road. Between that, and complicating their release date selection process or delaying premiere dates, I just don't see it happening in a risk averse industry like this.
On the post: Yet Another Study Shows That Hollywood's Own Bad Decisions Are Increasing The Amount Of Infringement
Re: Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
I think 6-8 weeks is probably the shortest realistic window to do something like this and put out a product people won't be offended by, quality-wise.
On the post: SOPA Is Not About Copyright, It's About Regulating The Internet
Re:
And not specifically in terms of the content industry, but rather the USGov itself probably being very keen on having a means of quickly killing sites it doesn't like. Wikileaks comes to mind.
On the post: Fight The Power: Chuck D Sues Universal Music For Hundreds Of Millions In Unpaid Royalties
First sale
On the post: Copyright Trolling For Dummies; Publisher John Wiley Sues 27 For Sharing 'For Dummies' Books
Re: Individuals
If they are looking for thousands of dollars or more, I'd be with Mike, avoid their product. But if they are pursuing a reasonable course with their suit (I know, pretty unlikely), I'd probably be more inclined to shake my head at their windmill tilting, but not lump them in with the evil of most such suits.
On the post: And Of Course: Study Shows That Getting Rid Of DRM Reduces 'Piracy'
Re:
The research also revealed that copyright owners don't necessarily benefit from a lower amount of piracy. "Decreased piracy doesn't guarantee increased profits," Purohit said. "In fact, our analysis demonstrates that under some conditions, one can observe lower levels of piracy and lower profits."
On the post: Princeton Tells Its Academics Not to Hand Over Copyright When Publishing In Scholarly Journals
On the post: RIAA Law Lets Law Enforcement Ignore 4th Amendment, Search Private Property With No Warrants
I thought that had been suspended by ICE and the TSA for 200 miles inland of every border.
On the post: Entertainment Industry Now Shaking Down People At $10 Per Infringement
Re: Re:
Oh, not that Asia?
On the post: DirecTV Admits Almost No One Wants To Pay $30 To Watch A Movie At Home
Re:
On the post: DirecTV Admits Almost No One Wants To Pay $30 To Watch A Movie At Home
Re: Can anyone say focus group?
It's pretty trivial to make a non-limited digital copy from the DVD.
What limitations are you running into though, out of curiosity?
I also tend to think that the pricing on this VOD offering was not strictly a result of placating theater owners. I would bet that is actually the valuation they believe this service is worth.
On the post: Craigslist Trying To Destroy The Life Of Someone Who Made Posting To Craigslist Easier
Re: Re: Statement of fact?
Other than only a statement by Hubert that it was so, I wondered if Mike had further corroboration, i.e. the court not having record of a valid service of summons, other factors that cause him to give credence to Hubert's statement. Anything at all beyond "Hubert said so".
I tend to believe Hubert, but wondered if there was anything other than gut instinct to do so.
On the post: Craigslist Trying To Destroy The Life Of Someone Who Made Posting To Craigslist Easier
Statement of fact?
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