No, the underlying problems are far more fundamental than that.
The pendulum that you see swinging, has in fact been swinging this way for decades in the US, and has only been held at bay for some of the rest of the world for such a time, too. This particular pendulum has existed for millennia - for as long as civilization itself, for it is the basic conflict that enables its existence.
This pendulum is one of economics - that only a rich minority can ever pay for civilization to exist, and have always resisted and hated doing so, even as they benefit greatly from its existence. (The original minority were the land and farm owners that produced the food everyone else needed to survive.)
This rich minority are now winning, globally, against the majority in a way that has rarely been seen before - they are forcing people to pay for civilization that can simply never afford to. That they use many things, such as racism, xenophobia, religion etc. as tools to generate conflict (whether directly or indirectly) to distract people from the theft that is happening, only causes greater problems for everyone.
That's not to say that there is a great plan or conspiracy at work, only that it's extremely easy for such a minority to behave in a similar manner to support similar goals, with similar outcomes - its what they've always done. But this is why the most important role of government - the primary reason it exists, is to regulate the economic produce and wealth of such a minority for the benefit of everyone, which is the last thing such people want everyone to understand.
The western world as a whole, tbh, is overdue a revolution or two, and the reason why the US is in such a bad situation, is that it's own civil war was not fought for such an outcome, and the previous war of independence only exchanged one (distant) minority for another (local).
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Considering how may article titles on Tech Dirt say "Trump"
Unfortunately for Obama, (because I remember it all from that time), his 'true' super-majority was VERY short-lived, and you obviously don't understand how conservative some members of the democratic party are... Although Republican=conservative, democratic != liberal, (yet).
The problem with API's being copywritable, is that no-one has used the correct 'analogy' to describe what they are and why they matter: how we describe the functionality of language itself.
Imagine if noun/verb/adjective/adverb/subject/object/thing(s)/property of things etc. were copywritable in describing a language? This is what an API is, and for... That they become more complicated with computer code is not the issue...
So, given what it says, does Google's software use three displays to show the hierarchy of music tracks based on categorisation? If not, it's not applicable...
But there's more than one type of quality music can have, and that matters here - in fact, it's the second kind that's really been the record label's problem:
Production quality.
When the labels owned all the ingredients necessary to produce a good quality recording, they could then decide which bands/albums/songs got the time/effort/value of production added to them, which then made them sound better and boosted their appeal. Again, this was a barrier to entry they controlled.
With the rise of digital audio, and the lowered cost of recording equipment, however, this has changed dramatically. Now, even amateur recorded music can sound good (if they know what they're doing), regardless of how good their music is.
And what we've found, is that production quality is one of the main things people react to when listening to music - if not the most immediate thing. Now the labels don't control that either, they know they have even greater problems.
Given how often people over there like to use those words, I'm surprised that anyone even truly knows what they mean anymore - are they truly used for anything more than just propaganda?
(There's never really any such thing as a free market with minority control over the economic multipliers, let alone monopoly control over such pieces of information.)
(It started with farming, and civilization exists because its produce was regulated for the benefit of the majority, freeing them up to be more productive in new and different ways.
That's why the main purpose of central government is economic regulation - the regulation of such produce. (Defence? How can you have an army without feeding, training and equipping them?)
But an understanding of this has been lost, and so the minority now, for all intents and purposes, rule over the majority. This is how civilization will ultimately end - when everyone starves, because the minority no longer cares to feed the majority. It's also why starvation/famine are the main symptoms of failed states and civil wars.)
The problem with capitalism, is that at its worst, it is not simply uncivilized - it's anti-civilization in general.
But to understand that, requires an understanding of economics very few people seem to have, (I wonder why? ;) ), aswell as an understanding of human history, that is untainted by the propaganda of the rich and powerful who want things to work a certain way, for their own benefit.
What we're dealing with here, are UNEQUAL economic relationships. The problem with capitalism, is that not only is it based upon such relationships, it's about worshipping them and making them greater - exploiting them to their full degree for individual gain, and sod the consequences.
The biggest problem, is when people mistake the use of these relationships, and the so-called free-markets they form, as being the cause of civilization... None of which is true.
There is a reason why civilization was caused by farming, but it's not because of capitalism - it's because of the management, by government, of its produce, (of a minority), to benefit the majority, which then enabled people to be productive in many different and greater ways, since they no longer had to constantly hunt/fend for their own food.
Such economic regulation and management is the foundation of civilization, which capitalism, when taken too far, corrupts - which is why we now have so many problems...
The fact that so many people now think that the primary purpose of central government is defence, rather than such economic management - (how can you have an army without making sure they have food to eat?) - should tell us just how bad peoples understanding is, and just how deep the propaganda has affected our entire planet.
Unfortunately, western 'civilization' has often been affected by such problems, almost from the outset, and so perceiving it as and by the incorrect cause isn't hard to do - (especially if pushed) - and so the best possible examples of civilizations being managed properly, (though they all have their own further 'foibles'), tend to be more foreign - Central/South American, especially (before the Spanish arrived). (E.g the Inca.)
There is a good reason why what we now call countries, farming, government and civilization all date from a similar period in time - they all exist in relation to each other.
Local, small-scale economics of such matters is fairly simple, but of course it has never truly existed on such a scale, from probably even before that time.
Allocation is what happens when regulation fails. (The two are NOT the same - and so most of your post exists in the wrong context!)
People competing against each other economically has always existed - but what has happened, is instead of government managing such competition and using it for the nations benefit, they have instead been co-opted by the most powerful individuals and corporations, at which point the government will fail to do its most basic job.
Corporations are an artificial creation, created at the behest of governments, to enable and allow for greater economic behaviour. Without regulation, however, such entities become very problematic. Likewise banks, etc..
Unfortunately, what is happening in the US, (especially), is that a lot of people are being conned into thinking that such regulation is NOT what government should do at all - which is one of the main reasons the economy is in the state it's in - which is why so many individual people and corporations are able to take and hold so much money away from the rest of society, instead of using for everyone's benefit.
Unfortunately very few people truly understand economics anymore, and corporations are a large reason for that - for they can exploit such a lack of understanding, (especially the banks).
The symptoms of this problem can be seen and found EVERYWHERE. It's a large part of the problem with regulating the internet etc., aswell as the root cause of the financial problems we've been having.
Another large symptom, especially in the USA, is that a lot of people - (mainly those who just voted for Republicans) - do not understand that the primary role of government is economic regulation - (of the productive use of land and all that is based upon it). All of the other powers and roles of government only matter because of this.
On the post: Daily Deal: The Android O & Java Developer Mastery Course
Awww...
On the post: Who The Hell Is Actually In Charge Of The US Patent And Trademark Office?
Re: I imagine the trend will continue
On the post: Potential New FCC Boss Blames Obama For The Washington Post's Botched Russian Utility Hacking Story
Re: Re: Re:
On the post: New Year's Message: No One Said It Would Be Easy...
Re:
The pendulum that you see swinging, has in fact been swinging this way for decades in the US, and has only been held at bay for some of the rest of the world for such a time, too. This particular pendulum has existed for millennia - for as long as civilization itself, for it is the basic conflict that enables its existence.
This pendulum is one of economics - that only a rich minority can ever pay for civilization to exist, and have always resisted and hated doing so, even as they benefit greatly from its existence. (The original minority were the land and farm owners that produced the food everyone else needed to survive.)
This rich minority are now winning, globally, against the majority in a way that has rarely been seen before - they are forcing people to pay for civilization that can simply never afford to. That they use many things, such as racism, xenophobia, religion etc. as tools to generate conflict (whether directly or indirectly) to distract people from the theft that is happening, only causes greater problems for everyone.
That's not to say that there is a great plan or conspiracy at work, only that it's extremely easy for such a minority to behave in a similar manner to support similar goals, with similar outcomes - its what they've always done. But this is why the most important role of government - the primary reason it exists, is to regulate the economic produce and wealth of such a minority for the benefit of everyone, which is the last thing such people want everyone to understand.
The western world as a whole, tbh, is overdue a revolution or two, and the reason why the US is in such a bad situation, is that it's own civil war was not fought for such an outcome, and the previous war of independence only exchanged one (distant) minority for another (local).
On the post: Mark Cuban Falsely Tells Congress AT&T's Latest Mega-Merger Will Be Really Wonderful For Consumers
Lies...
On the post: How 'Just Metadata' Helped Ruin A Career Diplomat's Life
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Considering how may article titles on Tech Dirt say "Trump"
On the post: How 'Just Metadata' Helped Ruin A Career Diplomat's Life
Re: Don't forget Hillary
On the post: How 'Just Metadata' Helped Ruin A Career Diplomat's Life
Re:
On the post: Good News: Carla Hayden Easily Approved As The New Librarian Of Congress
Hmm...
Pro piracy and obscenity?
I guess she doesn't give a 612.46 :p
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Hmmm...
Noun, auxiliary verb, verb, conjunction, verb, pronoun...?
On the post: Google Goes On The Offensive Against Troll Armed With Old Mp3 Player Patent
Re: Re:
Imagine if noun/verb/adjective/adverb/subject/object/thing(s)/property of things etc. were copywritable in describing a language? This is what an API is, and for... That they become more complicated with computer code is not the issue...
On the post: Google Goes On The Offensive Against Troll Armed With Old Mp3 Player Patent
Re: Three display screens?
The patent can be found here:
http://www.google.co.uk/patents/US6928433
So, given what it says, does Google's software use three displays to show the hierarchy of music tracks based on categorisation? If not, it's not applicable...
On the post: Google Goes On The Offensive Against Troll Armed With Old Mp3 Player Patent
Three display screens?
On the post: No, The Internet Hasn't Destroyed Quality Music Either
Re: Percentages and numbers
Production quality.
When the labels owned all the ingredients necessary to produce a good quality recording, they could then decide which bands/albums/songs got the time/effort/value of production added to them, which then made them sound better and boosted their appeal. Again, this was a barrier to entry they controlled.
With the rise of digital audio, and the lowered cost of recording equipment, however, this has changed dramatically. Now, even amateur recorded music can sound good (if they know what they're doing), regardless of how good their music is.
And what we've found, is that production quality is one of the main things people react to when listening to music - if not the most immediate thing. Now the labels don't control that either, they know they have even greater problems.
On the post: Funny How Recording Industry Only Likes A 'Free Market' When It's To Their Advantage
'Free market'?
(There's never really any such thing as a free market with minority control over the economic multipliers, let alone monopoly control over such pieces of information.)
(It started with farming, and civilization exists because its produce was regulated for the benefit of the majority, freeing them up to be more productive in new and different ways.
That's why the main purpose of central government is economic regulation - the regulation of such produce. (Defence? How can you have an army without feeding, training and equipping them?)
But an understanding of this has been lost, and so the minority now, for all intents and purposes, rule over the majority. This is how civilization will ultimately end - when everyone starves, because the minority no longer cares to feed the majority. It's also why starvation/famine are the main symptoms of failed states and civil wars.)
On the post: Patent Trolls Strike Back: Trolling Rebounds After Brief Supreme Court-Enabled Dip
Capitalism at work...
The problem with capitalism, is that at its worst, it is not simply uncivilized - it's anti-civilization in general.
But to understand that, requires an understanding of economics very few people seem to have, (I wonder why? ;) ), aswell as an understanding of human history, that is untainted by the propaganda of the rich and powerful who want things to work a certain way, for their own benefit.
What we're dealing with here, are UNEQUAL economic relationships. The problem with capitalism, is that not only is it based upon such relationships, it's about worshipping them and making them greater - exploiting them to their full degree for individual gain, and sod the consequences.
The biggest problem, is when people mistake the use of these relationships, and the so-called free-markets they form, as being the cause of civilization... None of which is true.
There is a reason why civilization was caused by farming, but it's not because of capitalism - it's because of the management, by government, of its produce, (of a minority), to benefit the majority, which then enabled people to be productive in many different and greater ways, since they no longer had to constantly hunt/fend for their own food.
Such economic regulation and management is the foundation of civilization, which capitalism, when taken too far, corrupts - which is why we now have so many problems...
The fact that so many people now think that the primary purpose of central government is defence, rather than such economic management - (how can you have an army without making sure they have food to eat?) - should tell us just how bad peoples understanding is, and just how deep the propaganda has affected our entire planet.
Unfortunately, western 'civilization' has often been affected by such problems, almost from the outset, and so perceiving it as and by the incorrect cause isn't hard to do - (especially if pushed) - and so the best possible examples of civilizations being managed properly, (though they all have their own further 'foibles'), tend to be more foreign - Central/South American, especially (before the Spanish arrived). (E.g the Inca.)
On the post: Looks Like CIA's 'Torture Revealed Osama's Courier' Story Now Even More False Than Previously Believed
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Stealing?
And the souls of sportsmen and women ALWAYS belong to the corporation that runs the sport - it says so right there in their contracts!
On the post: If You're Going To Complain About Spotify Payments, At Least Understand A Little Economics First
Re: Re: Economics
Local, small-scale economics of such matters is fairly simple, but of course it has never truly existed on such a scale, from probably even before that time.
Allocation is what happens when regulation fails. (The two are NOT the same - and so most of your post exists in the wrong context!)
People competing against each other economically has always existed - but what has happened, is instead of government managing such competition and using it for the nations benefit, they have instead been co-opted by the most powerful individuals and corporations, at which point the government will fail to do its most basic job.
Corporations are an artificial creation, created at the behest of governments, to enable and allow for greater economic behaviour. Without regulation, however, such entities become very problematic. Likewise banks, etc..
Unfortunately, what is happening in the US, (especially), is that a lot of people are being conned into thinking that such regulation is NOT what government should do at all - which is one of the main reasons the economy is in the state it's in - which is why so many individual people and corporations are able to take and hold so much money away from the rest of society, instead of using for everyone's benefit.
On the post: If You're Going To Complain About Spotify Payments, At Least Understand A Little Economics First
Economics
The symptoms of this problem can be seen and found EVERYWHERE. It's a large part of the problem with regulating the internet etc., aswell as the root cause of the financial problems we've been having.
Another large symptom, especially in the USA, is that a lot of people - (mainly those who just voted for Republicans) - do not understand that the primary role of government is economic regulation - (of the productive use of land and all that is based upon it). All of the other powers and roles of government only matter because of this.
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