And it became a cash cow because it opened another gate through which they sat back and collected monopoly rents. In other words, they fought it when people were copying movies and TV shows, but they loved it when people started buying and renting movies and TV shows.
"how much of the policy making is totally faith-based"
It's absolutely not faith based. It's clearly and purely profit based. Gate keepers make a lot of money collecting government granted monopoly rents. Every time some of that money slips through their gates without payment, they demand new laws. Every time they feel they deserve a raise, they demand new laws.
Stop trying to pretend that any of this is economically rational and arguing, "Gee, if they only looked at the evidence, they'd see we don't need these laws."
They don't give frick about evidence. They only want free money!
Think about this. Imagine a world where everyone could put anything in your mail box. It would be filled with even more endless crap. That's why it is illegal and has been illegal for decades for anyone but the USPS to put stuff in your mail box.
This is a complete non-story. Of course the USPS demands payments when people and businesses violate the law. Every so often a pizza place or some direct marketer thinks they can get away with it, and sometimes they do. But when they don't, they have to pay.
Anyone who feels sorry for this guy, please send me your address. I'll fill it up with crap and then we'll see if you change your mind.
"That reminds me of the trailer for "The bridges to Terabithia""
That was a bad one. Very deceptive. But the movie was pretty good. We liked it, even though it was very very sad.
And remember that trailer for Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events which made the movie seem like it was a Harry Potter type of movie? That also should have resulted in a lawsuit.
I realize that most trailers are deceptive. But the only time I was ever "tricked" was in going to see Will Ferrell's semi-recent Land of the Lost. I had assumed it was a kids' movie. It was not. The PG13 rating should have been a clue if I had paid any attention.
I worked at a mom & pop record/CD store chain from the 80s to the early 90s, so I know this first hand. Starting in the 90s they started trying to kill us. Best Buy and Walmart were selling CDs for less than we could buy them wholesale. We complained, but they didn't care. Some MBAer decided that big-box retail stores were more important than knowledgeable specialty stores and sent us to our deaths.
The store I worked for was a chain of 9 stores throughout lower Michigan which thrived in the 70s and 80s. The distributors and labels killed our last store in 1994.
"Italian editors are nonetheless worried they would be on the receiving end of legal threats anyway"
Oh come on, it's not like Italy would bring criminal charges against Google employees for user-posted videos, convict a girl for murder merely because she's a pretty American, and charge scientists with crimes for their failure to predict an earthquake.
Come on everyone, it's quite clear that the great legal minds, highly ethical police, and highly fair minded politicians in Italy would never charge anyone working for Wikipedia with a crime.
Re: Response to: Ima Fish on Oct 4th, 2011 @ 12:23pm
Who says bloggers can't blog about facts?! And it's apparent from this story that "real" journalists aren't concerned with facts. Considering they simply made facts up.
"I'm just struggling to understand how that's not a legal search, but something like scanning the entire contents of a mobile phone during a traffic stop is a legal search."
A search of a person's home is much different from a search of someone during a traffic stop. For one thing, there is no need to do an inventory search of someone's home. While it's quite common during a traffic stop. And because basically everything is searchable during a traffic stop, courts have stretched that to even laptops and cell phones. Even though their contents cannot be inventoried in any meaningful way.
The status quo never creates laws to use against themselves, they're always intended to be used against anyone whose interest is contrary to or a threat to the status quo.
Except in those rare circumstances when the status quo is forced to make a scapegoat out of one of their own.
Lobo wrote that "Public Servants shouldn't have privacy while on the job." That's why I added the "in public" ending. Because a public servant does have a right to privacy when he's in private doing a private matter.
"Public Servants shouldn't have privacy while on the job... in public."
Certainly public services have privacy rights in the bathroom. Or when they're hitting up businesses for protection money. Or when they're taking naps in their cars. Etc.
I think it was Bill Cosby who said that cocaine was a personality intensifier. If you're a friendly guy, you'll be a really friendly guy on cocaine. And if you're an asshole, you'll be real asshole on cocaine.
I think the same is true with guns and badges. If you give a prick a gun and a badge. He'll become the biggest prick you'll ever meet.
I can't understand why police departments don't use psychological testing to weed these nutjobs out.
"Having quit the day job, and put my life and soul into this, and build it up"
So he had to quit his job and put his life and soul into the simple process of filing some paperwork with the government? What would that take, about an hour or two?!
Agreed. The point of speeding laws is to get drivers to slow down. By publishing where the speed traps are, people will slow down in those areas. Thus, the point is fulfilled.
This Florida jurisdiction has it backwards. To them the point of speeding laws is not to get drivers to slow down. The point is to encourage speeding, so they can write more tickets, and get more money.
On the post: UK Government Admits That It Has No Evidence (Zip, Zilch, Zero) To Support Its Claims For Draconian Copyright Law
Re: Re:
On the post: UK Government Admits That It Has No Evidence (Zip, Zilch, Zero) To Support Its Claims For Draconian Copyright Law
It's absolutely not faith based. It's clearly and purely profit based. Gate keepers make a lot of money collecting government granted monopoly rents. Every time some of that money slips through their gates without payment, they demand new laws. Every time they feel they deserve a raise, they demand new laws.
Stop trying to pretend that any of this is economically rational and arguing, "Gee, if they only looked at the evidence, they'd see we don't need these laws."
They don't give frick about evidence. They only want free money!
On the post: US Postal Service Sends Postage Due Bill To Guy Who Put Block Party Invites Into Neighbors' Mailboxes
This is a complete non-story. Of course the USPS demands payments when people and businesses violate the law. Every so often a pizza place or some direct marketer thinks they can get away with it, and sometimes they do. But when they don't, they have to pay.
Anyone who feels sorry for this guy, please send me your address. I'll fill it up with crap and then we'll see if you change your mind.
On the post: Woman Sues Over Misleading Movie Trailer; Wants To Make It A Class Action
Re:
That was a bad one. Very deceptive. But the movie was pretty good. We liked it, even though it was very very sad.
And remember that trailer for Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events which made the movie seem like it was a Harry Potter type of movie? That also should have resulted in a lawsuit.
On the post: Woman Sues Over Misleading Movie Trailer; Wants To Make It A Class Action
On the post: Apparently The Creative Class Is Dead Because No One Works At Tower Records Any More
I bring this up every time this comes up...
The internet did not kill off music stores. The labels decided to kill them way before Napster and other P2P services.
I worked at a mom & pop record/CD store chain from the 80s to the early 90s, so I know this first hand. Starting in the 90s they started trying to kill us. Best Buy and Walmart were selling CDs for less than we could buy them wholesale. We complained, but they didn't care. Some MBAer decided that big-box retail stores were more important than knowledgeable specialty stores and sent us to our deaths.
The store I worked for was a chain of 9 stores throughout lower Michigan which thrived in the 70s and 80s. The distributors and labels killed our last store in 1994.
On the post: RIAA Law Lets Law Enforcement Ignore 4th Amendment, Search Private Property With No Warrants
My guess is that any governor of California gets a lot of "support" from the RIAA and the MPAA, i.e., money, cash, free drugs, hookers, checks, etc.
In fact, my guess is that if Brown didn't sign it, someone would have found him dead within the week.
On the post: Access To Italian Wikipedia Blocked In Protest Of Wiretapping Bill In Italy [Updated]
Oh come on, it's not like Italy would bring criminal charges against Google employees for user-posted videos, convict a girl for murder merely because she's a pretty American, and charge scientists with crimes for their failure to predict an earthquake.
Come on everyone, it's quite clear that the great legal minds, highly ethical police, and highly fair minded politicians in Italy would never charge anyone working for Wikipedia with a crime.
On the post: Amanda Knox Is Guilty... Of Making Newspapers Jump The Gun On Guilty Headlines
Re: Response to: Ima Fish on Oct 4th, 2011 @ 12:23pm
On the post: Amanda Knox Is Guilty... Of Making Newspapers Jump The Gun On Guilty Headlines
On the post: Courts: Search A Cell Phone? No Problem. Touch A Mouse? Violate 4th Amendment.
A search of a person's home is much different from a search of someone during a traffic stop. For one thing, there is no need to do an inventory search of someone's home. While it's quite common during a traffic stop. And because basically everything is searchable during a traffic stop, courts have stretched that to even laptops and cell phones. Even though their contents cannot be inventoried in any meaningful way.
On the post: German Politician Who Wanted Two-Strike Copyright Law Should Disconnect Himself After Multiple Infringements Found
Except in those rare circumstances when the status quo is forced to make a scapegoat out of one of their own.
On the post: UK Music Retailers Ask Why They Should Pay Performance Licenses To Play Music When They're Trying To Sell The Music
It's like if GM threatened and required payment from its car dealers for patent infringement for letting potential customers test-drive cars.
On the post: Forget Being Arrested For Filming The Police, Now They're Arresting People For Sitting
Re: Re: Re: Re: Well, now wait...
On the post: Forget Being Arrested For Filming The Police, Now They're Arresting People For Sitting
Re: Re: Well, now wait...
Certainly public services have privacy rights in the bathroom. Or when they're hitting up businesses for protection money. Or when they're taking naps in their cars. Etc.
On the post: Forget Being Arrested For Filming The Police, Now They're Arresting People For Sitting
I think the same is true with guns and badges. If you give a prick a gun and a badge. He'll become the biggest prick you'll ever meet.
I can't understand why police departments don't use psychological testing to weed these nutjobs out.
On the post: UK Guy Trademarks Famous Gov't Slogan, Goes After Others For Using It
So he had to quit his job and put his life and soul into the simple process of filing some paperwork with the government? What would that take, about an hour or two?!
On the post: Craigslist Trying To Destroy The Life Of Someone Who Made Posting To Craigslist Easier
Re: Statement of fact?
How do we know anything as a fact, other than cogito ergo sum?
On the post: Craigslist Trying To Destroy The Life Of Someone Who Made Posting To Craigslist Easier
That's certainly a violation of their terms of use, their trademark, and the DMCA.
On the post: Is It A First Amendment Violation To Get Pulled Over For Flashing Your Lights To Warn Others Of Cops?
Re: Re:
This Florida jurisdiction has it backwards. To them the point of speeding laws is not to get drivers to slow down. The point is to encourage speeding, so they can write more tickets, and get more money.
Our country is going to shit.
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