Actually... I have to say you made a bad call with this one Marcus.
The fact is... there IS an ownership mentality because those are physical paintings and works of art with OWNERS. They OWN the PHYSICAL work. Accordingly, they can do what they want with it.
I agree with TechDirt about IP and how crazy it is... but physical work is a tangible, ownable good. Someone paid (probably) ALOT of work to hold that physical good and they have the right (I would even say RESPONSIBLITY) to keep that work intact.
So, I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one. While it would be nice to take a picture of something beautiful and inspiring... the fact is, since it's a physical object, and they DO actually OWN it... they can pretty much do what they want.
Of course, I can exercise MY right to not support the artist, the gallery or the mueseum. But I don't have the right to demand that I be able to do this or that with someone else's physical property. That's sounding too much like the entitlement that Big Media has...
It's good to see "nobody" standing up to the Hollywood stooges (bought and paid for) in Congress.
I say stooges only because I can't comprehend how a person could be so completely ignorant of the internet and its huge benefits as to suggest this type of legislative monstrosity. No one could be that completely moronic, so they must be bought and paid for by Big Content.
I hope that Google and Facebook also blackout, with links to their "representatives" - I cringe to use the word, since I think Congress stopped representing the people shortly before World War I.
Personally, I'd love to see links to Lamar's email, his phone number and any other information we can dig up on him. Let "nobody" contact him.
Not that a bought and paid for person would acknowledge them.
There should also be a petition. Have the sites normal visitors sign the petition electronically, then forward it to all members of the committee especially but also all presidental candidates (make it an election issue), the media and all members of Congress.
Let them know that "nobody" does indeed protest this abuse of power and threat to the Constitution.
Which is worse... beheaded or shocked to death. Doesn't really matter... the end result is the same, as it is with both of these bills.
The political system today is a failure. We are on the verge of collapse under the weight of TRILLIONS of dolloars of debt and we show no signs of stopping.
We are like a junkie. We can't help but spend... the more we spend the better we feel... we NEED to spend... MUST spend... do anything to spend. Forget the consequences...
And the sad thing is, even as the politicians drive us deeper into debt nationally and individually... they line their own pockets with blood money from large corporations.
As a certified hypnotist it comments make perfect sense. One way to wear down our natural resistance to an idea that doesn't fit into our normal conscious, rational mind is repetition.
The idea need not be true, simply repeated often enough. It's a stratedgy used by salesmen, politicians and "prophets" all the time.
He hopes that if he says something loud enough and long enough, people will believe it is true. And he's right. He will convince people it is true.
Hasn't this saga gone on long enough? Why aren't the lawyers in this firm held in contempt and put into jail? If they were in a nice, warm jail cell and then summmoned to court by officers on their trial date, I'm quite sure they would be there.
They've already made a mockery of the justice system with their gross misinterpretations of the law, their bypassing of existing law and their cloak and dagger tactics of hiding important facts from the judges.
Think of all of the people's lives and businesses that have been ruined because of them.... and now... they beg for mercy.... for... understanding?
Idiotic lawsuits like this are one of the reasons that the court systems are so clogged and business insurance rates are so high.
I have sold MANY, MANY things on eBay. I know how it works. I APPRECIATE how it works. I see no issue with the way it works. It really is no different than me telling an agent at an auction my maximum bid and allowing him to slowly increment it.
This happens ALL THE TIME in the art world and at other high end auctions. The fact that some backwards idiot doesn't like it is now causing eBay to defend itself, which means they have to spend money... which eventually means they'll end up raising fees to compensate for having to defend themselves against frivilous lawsuits with no merit.
JohnRaven,CHT,CSH (profile), 19 Jun 2009 @ 12:10pm
Re: TOS violations
>TOS violations ARE NOT ILLEGAL!
Sadly, you are wrong. We all believed that as well. If I break the TOS of X site, the X has the right to terminate my usage (ie. account) but it wasn't thought of as illegal.
But Lori Drews was convicted because she used another name to create an account, which broke the TOS of the site. The court ruled that she was guilty of (basically) computer fraud.
Again, I do not agree with it. I'm telling you the precedent has been set.
JohnRaven,CHT,CSH (profile), 19 Jun 2009 @ 12:07pm
Re: Re: Re: Illegal
>if you provide someone with your login information, you
>are GIVING THEM AUTHORIZATION TO ACCESS YOUR ACCOUNT.
Unless the TOS specifically says you may not give your password to someone. Then, according to the Drew case, both you AND (in this case) the person accessing the site would be guilty of violating the ToS and therefore guilty of accessing a computer system illegally.
I didn't say I agreed with it, that was the ruling.
JohnRaven,CHT,CSH (profile), 19 Jun 2009 @ 11:35am
Re: Illegal
According to the recent Drew court case, if they were to use those login names and passwords in ANY WAY, that would be a violation of the TOS for the website most likely which would make them guilty under the "accessing protected computers without authorisation to obtain information" that Drew was convicted under.
Not to mention, if the TOS says not to share your password or account information, they are asking you to commit a crime to work for them.
WONDERFUL!
And we WONDER why the terrorists call us the Great Satan?!
I would to organize the Boston Tea Party of Music. I say, nationally we should have a day of CD recycling - I certainly wouldn't dump CDs into the bay or even burn them.
But just to show our outrage, I think people should take music CDs on a specific day and drop them off at the recycling centers. Get as much publicity as possible.
It might draw attention to the issue of big business being pretty much an evil dictatorship and having congressional members bought and paid for.
But until we collectively rise up and tell our senators we will not stand for their selling our rights away for real (or political) currency, nothing is going to change.
SERVING as a government official stopping being SERVICE along time ago and is now nothing more than a way to increase personal wealth and power but getting in bed with special interest groups.
I personally think special interest groups should be illegal. I think they do more harm than good. If you want to organize people, organize them to VOTE.
Groups should create their canidates and get the votes to put them in office. Special interest groups should be abolished, along with the current party system. Democrats and Republicans?!
How much wasted energy is there by political posturing on both sides?
This is the 21st century. We have many forms of instant communication. If we millions of people voting for a new American Idol, why can't we have people VOTE on issues? Elected officials could post the issue and vote time and then they would have a CLEAR idea of how their constituents wanted them to vote on a particular issue.... and by a number of respondants, how important the issue was to their constituents.
I personally think this would get more people involved and get more people aware of what the government is doing.
Knowing more than a small bit about computers, I can tell you... there's VERY, VERY little reason to bring up a movie on someone's hard drive when installing a DVD drive.
Rip open the computer, install the drive, boot up the computer, load up the DVD Player softare (if any comes with the DVD drive) and put a DVD in the drive and play it. Tell me how any of those steps involve looking at personal files.
I have several friends who are computer techs and I know MANY techs who would scavenge through a users files and make copies of anything they thought was noteworthy.... music, pictures, etc.
If you give your computer to ANYONE who is computer savvy enough to be fixing it, just assume that every single one of your files will be looked at... private pictures, emails, movies... ANYTHING.
Either encrypt it with PGP or just confess to everything you've done before you drop off your computer.
Sure... it sounds so seductive. Just give in... this one time. Go ahead, ignore the shield laws. Give up the name of the EVIL JUROR. It's just one time... right? We can stop after just one... can't we?
Kevin is right. The laws are there to protect sources. This allows reporters... ESPECIALLY investigative reporters to do some high power articles on everything from corruption to consumer fraud.
If their sources know that they can be revealed to "just a judge", how do you think they're going to feel about coming forward to tell me the truth about what's going on say... at a daycare where kids are being abused, or a restaraunt where they are using inferior meat, etc?
That's asking to give up attorney-client privledge.... just this one time. Which is always fine... unless it's the one time that affects you.
>Mike, perhaps you should spend some time in China before
>slamming them at every turn. You might understand thing a
>little better.
Mike doesn't need to spend time in China to recognize an oppressive government, just as I don't need to spend time with terrorists to "understand thing a little better" about why they do what they do.
Understanding something doesn't make it anymore right. I may UNDERSTAND why a drunk driver killed my child, but it doesn't make it any more right nor does it bring my child back.
The scorpion and frog analogy is good, but a little off the point.
They do what they do, not because it's their nature - although perhaps it really is at this point - but out of FEAR. The leaders fear expression, freedom and choice. Why? Because people could CHOOSE to overthrow the government and they would lose power. They do what they do to stay in power. It has nothing to do with what is best for China and its people. It's all about what is best for those in power.
As an iPhone app developer, I can tell you... Apple needs some serious help in the approval process department.
I've had updates multiple apps sit for weeks, unapproved when all that changed was a typo. It's been approved for months... but somehow, fixing that typo sends it to the disappearing list of apps.
Other times, I've had them reject an app by saying it didn't add functionality... and yet, we have Baby Shaker and "Oops, I crapped my pants" apps.
I think the real problem is, there are no real guidelines, no real review process and no real review procedures. I suspect it's done on a "feel good" basis. If the app doesn't make the SINGLE reviewer "feel good" about it... then it doesn't get approved.
When they got trashed for the Baby Shaker app, I think they went back and told their people "You need to REALLY feel good about it, and make sure you think it will make other people FEEL good too."
You do NOT want a judge or jury judging you on material they can get on the web. EVER!
In about 30 minutes, a decent hacker for hire could have a facebook, twitter, blog, myspace and everything else you can think about created to look like they came from you. And if you're paying someone overseas, it'd cost the defense (or prosecution) about $100 to do all that and make you look however they wanted.
Without any checks and balances or verification or authentication of information, that could warp every case sent to court.
You read all the time of fake facebooks and myspace pages for teachers created by bitter (or just obnoxious) students... how would you like one of those brought up as evidence in a murder trial (assuming you didn't do it), where the jury took that as THE TRUTH?!
Much better to work with the system as is, despite it's many and gaping flaws, than to introduce the chaos element of the internet.
On the post: UK Court Says You Can Copyright The Basic Idea Of A Photograph
Tea Party Time
On the post: Ownership Mentality: Art Gallery Prohibits Sketching
Ouch... you're wrong this time...
The fact is... there IS an ownership mentality because those are physical paintings and works of art with OWNERS. They OWN the PHYSICAL work. Accordingly, they can do what they want with it.
I agree with TechDirt about IP and how crazy it is... but physical work is a tangible, ownable good. Someone paid (probably) ALOT of work to hold that physical good and they have the right (I would even say RESPONSIBLITY) to keep that work intact.
So, I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one. While it would be nice to take a picture of something beautiful and inspiring... the fact is, since it's a physical object, and they DO actually OWN it... they can pretty much do what they want.
Of course, I can exercise MY right to not support the artist, the gallery or the mueseum. But I don't have the right to demand that I be able to do this or that with someone else's physical property. That's sounding too much like the entitlement that Big Media has...
On the post: Indian Judge Tells Google And Facebook To 'Check And Remove Objectionable Material' Or Be Blocked
Sad testimant to India
On the post: Reddit Plans To Black Out Site For A Day To Protest SOPA/PIPA
Bottom Line
I say stooges only because I can't comprehend how a person could be so completely ignorant of the internet and its huge benefits as to suggest this type of legislative monstrosity. No one could be that completely moronic, so they must be bought and paid for by Big Content.
I hope that Google and Facebook also blackout, with links to their "representatives" - I cringe to use the word, since I think Congress stopped representing the people shortly before World War I.
Personally, I'd love to see links to Lamar's email, his phone number and any other information we can dig up on him. Let "nobody" contact him.
Not that a bought and paid for person would acknowledge them.
There should also be a petition. Have the sites normal visitors sign the petition electronically, then forward it to all members of the committee especially but also all presidental candidates (make it an election issue), the media and all members of Congress.
Let them know that "nobody" does indeed protest this abuse of power and threat to the Constitution.
On the post: Which Is Worse, SOPA Or PIPA? Answer: Both!
Which is worse...
The political system today is a failure. We are on the verge of collapse under the weight of TRILLIONS of dolloars of debt and we show no signs of stopping.
We are like a junkie. We can't help but spend... the more we spend the better we feel... we NEED to spend... MUST spend... do anything to spend. Forget the consequences...
And the sad thing is, even as the politicians drive us deeper into debt nationally and individually... they line their own pockets with blood money from large corporations.
On the post: MPAA Boss Chris Dodd Denies That Copyright Law Today Has Created Any Free Speech Issues
V
The idea need not be true, simply repeated often enough. It's a stratedgy used by salesmen, politicians and "prophets" all the time.
He hopes that if he says something loud enough and long enough, people will believe it is true. And he's right. He will convince people it is true.
On the post: Righthaven Fails To Show Up In Court As Ordered... When Confronted Says It Got Confused Over The Date
Time to put them down...
They've already made a mockery of the justice system with their gross misinterpretations of the law, their bypassing of existing law and their cloak and dagger tactics of hiding important facts from the judges.
Think of all of the people's lives and businesses that have been ruined because of them.... and now... they beg for mercy.... for... understanding?
Ironic.
On the post: Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against eBay Because Of The Way Its Auctions Work
Drain...
I have sold MANY, MANY things on eBay. I know how it works. I APPRECIATE how it works. I see no issue with the way it works. It really is no different than me telling an agent at an auction my maximum bid and allowing him to slowly increment it.
This happens ALL THE TIME in the art world and at other high end auctions. The fact that some backwards idiot doesn't like it is now causing eBay to defend itself, which means they have to spend money... which eventually means they'll end up raising fees to compensate for having to defend themselves against frivilous lawsuits with no merit.
Thanks idiots.
On the post: City Requires Job Applicants To Hand Over All Online Usernames And Passwords
Re: TOS violations
Sadly, you are wrong. We all believed that as well. If I break the TOS of X site, the X has the right to terminate my usage (ie. account) but it wasn't thought of as illegal.
But Lori Drews was convicted because she used another name to create an account, which broke the TOS of the site. The court ruled that she was guilty of (basically) computer fraud.
Again, I do not agree with it. I'm telling you the precedent has been set.
On the post: City Requires Job Applicants To Hand Over All Online Usernames And Passwords
Re: Re: Re: Illegal
>are GIVING THEM AUTHORIZATION TO ACCESS YOUR ACCOUNT.
Unless the TOS specifically says you may not give your password to someone. Then, according to the Drew case, both you AND (in this case) the person accessing the site would be guilty of violating the ToS and therefore guilty of accessing a computer system illegally.
I didn't say I agreed with it, that was the ruling.
On the post: City Requires Job Applicants To Hand Over All Online Usernames And Passwords
Re: Illegal
Not to mention, if the TOS says not to share your password or account information, they are asking you to commit a crime to work for them.
WONDERFUL!
And we WONDER why the terrorists call us the Great Satan?!
On the post: The Constitutional Problems With The Award In The Jammie Thomas Case
Boston Tea Party
But just to show our outrage, I think people should take music CDs on a specific day and drop them off at the recycling centers. Get as much publicity as possible.
It might draw attention to the issue of big business being pretty much an evil dictatorship and having congressional members bought and paid for.
But until we collectively rise up and tell our senators we will not stand for their selling our rights away for real (or political) currency, nothing is going to change.
SERVING as a government official stopping being SERVICE along time ago and is now nothing more than a way to increase personal wealth and power but getting in bed with special interest groups.
I personally think special interest groups should be illegal. I think they do more harm than good. If you want to organize people, organize them to VOTE.
Groups should create their canidates and get the votes to put them in office. Special interest groups should be abolished, along with the current party system. Democrats and Republicans?!
How much wasted energy is there by political posturing on both sides?
This is the 21st century. We have many forms of instant communication. If we millions of people voting for a new American Idol, why can't we have people VOTE on issues? Elected officials could post the issue and vote time and then they would have a CLEAR idea of how their constituents wanted them to vote on a particular issue.... and by a number of respondants, how important the issue was to their constituents.
I personally think this would get more people involved and get more people aware of what the government is doing.
On the post: Supreme Court Won't Hear Case Over Computer Tech's Right To Search Your Computer
Techs are lying their @sses off...
Rip open the computer, install the drive, boot up the computer, load up the DVD Player softare (if any comes with the DVD drive) and put a DVD in the drive and play it. Tell me how any of those steps involve looking at personal files.
I have several friends who are computer techs and I know MANY techs who would scavenge through a users files and make copies of anything they thought was noteworthy.... music, pictures, etc.
If you give your computer to ANYONE who is computer savvy enough to be fixing it, just assume that every single one of your files will be looked at... private pictures, emails, movies... ANYTHING.
Either encrypt it with PGP or just confess to everything you've done before you drop off your computer.
On the post: Professor Tries To Get Info On Newspaper Commenters
Think of the Children...
Kevin is right. The laws are there to protect sources. This allows reporters... ESPECIALLY investigative reporters to do some high power articles on everything from corruption to consumer fraud.
If their sources know that they can be revealed to "just a judge", how do you think they're going to feel about coming forward to tell me the truth about what's going on say... at a daycare where kids are being abused, or a restaraunt where they are using inferior meat, etc?
That's asking to give up attorney-client privledge.... just this one time. Which is always fine... unless it's the one time that affects you.
On the post: Sears Settles With FTC For Putting Spyware On Customers' Computers
Re:
>"Michael Masnick is an expert at the Insight Community."
>What exactly does it take to be an expert? What are the
>qualifications?
Rest assured, that no matter WHAT the qualifications are... they are FAR, FAR more than being an anonymous coward.
On the post: Switzerland Decides That It's Ok For Private Firm To Violate Your Privacy If It's Searching For 'Pirates'
OMG!
THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!
=)
On the post: Is Anyone Actually Surprised That China Has Blocked Social Media Sites For Tiananmen Anniversary?
>slamming them at every turn. You might understand thing a
>little better.
Mike doesn't need to spend time in China to recognize an oppressive government, just as I don't need to spend time with terrorists to "understand thing a little better" about why they do what they do.
Understanding something doesn't make it anymore right. I may UNDERSTAND why a drunk driver killed my child, but it doesn't make it any more right nor does it bring my child back.
The scorpion and frog analogy is good, but a little off the point.
They do what they do, not because it's their nature - although perhaps it really is at this point - but out of FEAR. The leaders fear expression, freedom and choice. Why? Because people could CHOOSE to overthrow the government and they would lose power. They do what they do to stay in power. It has nothing to do with what is best for China and its people. It's all about what is best for those in power.
On the post: Is A Security Auditor Liable If There's A Security Breach?
Interesting..
It seems the best practices weren't good enogh.
On the post: Apple's Rejection Of EFF RSS Reader App Sort Of Proves EFF's Point About Arbitrary App Rejections
iPhone Issues
I've had updates multiple apps sit for weeks, unapproved when all that changed was a typo. It's been approved for months... but somehow, fixing that typo sends it to the disappearing list of apps.
Other times, I've had them reject an app by saying it didn't add functionality... and yet, we have Baby Shaker and "Oops, I crapped my pants" apps.
I think the real problem is, there are no real guidelines, no real review process and no real review procedures. I suspect it's done on a "feel good" basis. If the app doesn't make the SINGLE reviewer "feel good" about it... then it doesn't get approved.
When they got trashed for the Baby Shaker app, I think they went back and told their people "You need to REALLY feel good about it, and make sure you think it will make other people FEEL good too."
Sad... but probably true.
On the post: Judge 'Friends' Lawyer During Case, Influenced By Defendant's Website
PSYCHO!
In about 30 minutes, a decent hacker for hire could have a facebook, twitter, blog, myspace and everything else you can think about created to look like they came from you. And if you're paying someone overseas, it'd cost the defense (or prosecution) about $100 to do all that and make you look however they wanted.
Without any checks and balances or verification or authentication of information, that could warp every case sent to court.
You read all the time of fake facebooks and myspace pages for teachers created by bitter (or just obnoxious) students... how would you like one of those brought up as evidence in a murder trial (assuming you didn't do it), where the jury took that as THE TRUTH?!
Much better to work with the system as is, despite it's many and gaping flaws, than to introduce the chaos element of the internet.
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