I wonder how many americans would be behind their teenage daughters going through full body scans as well. Just a thought does a child going through the scan constitute child pornography.
Maybe someone could answer this. If you can't keep a electronic copy available for more than 2 weeks how can a DJ build up a portfolio to show once he/she has graduated and is out searching for a job? I don't know how it works in the DJ world but for me at least almost all of my job related search are all electronic.
Completely stupid but I can see the mindset that came up with this. There are all kinds of inspections all the time. inspector happens to look at the computer sees classified material being stored inappropriately and then there is all kinds of silliness to follow. This is just to protect the troops.
actually thinking a bit more...Say there is a 3 strikes law in place.
Then can the law firms threaten pay up or well kick you off the internet for life.
not that I believe in conspiracies on a vast worldwide scale but it is interesting if step by step over the years things have been leading up to that point. Because the internet is so pervasive the threat of losing internet vs paying a couple grand is a fairly big stick.
Any service medal is documented in the personnel record of the recipient. On separation from the military you get a dd-214 which list all awards received. I hadn't heard of this law before so I don't know whether I think its good or bad but for official purposes its really simple to verify whether someone is entitled to claim they have been awarded a medal.
If it was just that one body wash that fell the numbers make sense in my area. You can't find that one particular body wash in any of the local stores. After hours has been my preferred scent for a while now and its gotten to the point that anytime we find that scent we buy multiple amounts just because its so hard to find.
I'm a pastry arts student these days. Yesterday as I was sitting on the porch the thought occurred to me to set up a table to give away the stuff I make at home for practice. Why give it away, because if I sold it then I would have to get a license.
As hot as it is I don't see why it wouldn't occur to some kids that other people must be hot and want to give lemonade to them. If they want to learn the basics of economics by selling it then great, if they feel like learning how to do nice things for other people and how that has a reward of its own then that's great as well.
"This guy saw something that he knew was wrong, and he exposed it. If the military had any balls at all they would promote him, not charge him in a farce of a military tribunal...."
Which brings it back to the original point of the post. Because of his methods his actions were criminal in my mind. I don't doubt that he felt it was wrong and something had to be done. Trying to make things right the way he did was wrong. In my head his motives while based in a morally correct choice were immoral. In my little world (that doesn't always agree with the rest of the world) the ends are important but the means are more important.
I think in pickle monger's comments below he pretty much sums up my thoughts much better than I could say it.
I'm just throwing this out for arguments sake. If the American government is viewed as being untrustworthy, why would anyone believe that the American media is anymore trustworthy. They are by and large in a business that is failing left and right. To keep their jobs they need to do something that gets attention. I don't trust people as a whole to do anything but what is in their own self interest. Not that people aren't trustworthy but a large chunk of people will do morally ambiguous things when push comes to shove.
AS to trusting a private with a gun. Of course I do. Why wouldn't you trust soldiers with guns. They have been trained in how to use them. Do I trust a young private to make decisions about what is classified and what isn't. Nope not at all. He just doesn't have the training or life experience for the most part to make those decisions. Hopefully he can make decisions as to what is morally correct and if he can consistently make those correct choices hopefully he will get the experience and training and move into a position to exercise those choices.
I've read this story a few times now and I'm still not sure where I stand.
I'm not sure of the guys age but since he is a Pfc I'm guessing fairly young (18-20). He released a lot of classified information to a foreign national. If there was something he saw that bothered him enough to leak information to a foreign national why didn't he attempt to use the processes in place to get an investigation started. If he did do that then what happened?
Even if some feel it is okay to leak the information this time what about the next time some young private decides to leak information. Do you think some kid who just graduated high school has the right to decide what military intelligence information should and should not be released to the world.
I wonder sometimes what the children and grandchildren of the RIAA and MPAA exec who make these decisions think. It's fairly obvious that the execs themselves are not consumers of media.
Listening to podcast and reading various tech news sites has slowly been percolating a thought.
I love the concept of watching tv over the web. My cable/internet/phone bill is 170 a month. I would love to cut that down to around 120 a month without losing any choices.
My problem is that so many content companies want to monetize the shows directly like the itunes store, the zune marketplace or other similar ideas when I watch 1 show for x amount of dollars. This is great they get paid i get to watch a show in a manner I find convenient. The problem is lets say there are approximately 8 prime time shows i watch through the week. at $2 per show that would be approximately 64 a month just for the prime time shows.
This is over the amount i want to save by ditching cable TV. Also no i don't have any spare cash to discover new shows.
I'm all for discovering new ways to make money off of a product. My problem is that it seems every content producer feels like they exist in a vacuum. They can charge what they feel is reasonable which on the face of it usually is but there is only x amount of dollars in the budget. Something has to give and then I have to listen how they can't make any money. They can't make money because I don't have money to spend on their experimentation
I don't care about the legality of it. What i find distasteful is the use of the President in an ad. I don't want to see the President of the United States used as a commercial figure. The ad was tasteful and there was nothing wrong with the ad itself other than the fact that the company has offended my sensibilities by using the President. Just because it is legal to do something doesn't mean you should.
I've been reading both fiction and non fiction ebooks for about 10 years now. initially most of the fiction books were books that people had scanned and OCR'd. The quality sucked of course but that was the only thing available.
A few years ago there was a larger selection of books out there through legitimate channels but I think many authors and publishers viewed ebooks as a waste of resources to provde but things were definitely changing. The downside was there were many formats some of which were not compatible. DRM was always in the the legitimate channels.
Now we come to today and there is a single format which seems to be the prefered standard for ebooks (Epub). It does have drm but now i can take my book between my various devices with almost no thought.
As a consumer I want to get the books I want to read and I want to be able to read on whichever device I happen to have handy at the time. While I completely agree DRM can be a pain in the ass and for the majority of applications it is a waste of time and resources, in this case it seems like DRM is being done right. I can't distinguish between a DRM ebook i just bought and a DRM-free ebook.
I would be interested in know what the final outcome of many of these lawsuits to reveal anonymous posters is. I'm assuming at least in theory the intent is get the names then force them to make reparations for their crimes against whoever was offended. Do a large portion of these cases actually go to trial, and if so how often are the posters shown to be in the wrong.
So as I went through the site I looked at the report on the worst and best shows. In the event that the remotes batteries died, no one in the house can figure out how to use the buttons on the front of the tv and a freak elecrical surge has somehow fused the plug to the wall their guidence is handy.
I did find part of the report particularly amusing. In discussing the State of the art (their header not mine) they explained how it all worked.
PTC Entertainment Tracking System:
State-of-the Art Television Monitoring System
...
Here’s how it works: Every evening PTC VCRs record
every prime-time series on ABC, CBS, Fox,
NBC, the CW, Ion, and MyNetworkTV, as well as
original programming on basic cable, including MTV.
The following day, the PTC’s entertainment analysts
don their headsets, turn on their computers, grab their
remote controls and set about the arduous work of
transcribing every offensive word, every instance of
sexual innuendo and every act of violence in detail.
These reports are fed into the PTC’s custom-designed
computer program.
...
If only there was some way to take all that video and record it digitally and somehow turn the speech to text. Maybe one day technology will find a way to make their job easier.
On the post: 81% Of Americans Support Naked Airport Scans... If You Leave Out The Naked Part In Asking The Question
On the post: How The DMCA Is Restricting Online Radio In Ridiculous Ways
What about the children
On the post: Pentagon Takes Head In Sand Approach To Wikileaks: Blocks All Access To Troops... Though Everyone Else Can Get In
On the post: New Zealand Lawyers Suggest Full Internet Ban For Repeat Infringers
Re:
Then can the law firms threaten pay up or well kick you off the internet for life.
not that I believe in conspiracies on a vast worldwide scale but it is interesting if step by step over the years things have been leading up to that point. Because the internet is so pervasive the threat of losing internet vs paying a couple grand is a fairly big stick.
On the post: New Zealand Lawyers Suggest Full Internet Ban For Repeat Infringers
On the post: Judge Says The First Amendment Protects You If You Lie About Receiving A Purple Heart
Re: Re: Re: Re: Wait, what?
On the post: Old Spice Man Is Horsing Around On Social Media
Re: Re:
On the post: Financial Columnist Lectures Little Kids Who Want To Give Away Lemonade That They're Destroying America
Re: Re: Re: Not Free
As hot as it is I don't see why it wouldn't occur to some kids that other people must be hot and want to give lemonade to them. If they want to learn the basics of economics by selling it then great, if they feel like learning how to do nice things for other people and how that has a reward of its own then that's great as well.
On the post: Where's The Line Between Whistleblowing And Criminal Leaking Of Classified Works?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Which brings it back to the original point of the post. Because of his methods his actions were criminal in my mind. I don't doubt that he felt it was wrong and something had to be done. Trying to make things right the way he did was wrong. In my head his motives while based in a morally correct choice were immoral. In my little world (that doesn't always agree with the rest of the world) the ends are important but the means are more important.
I think in pickle monger's comments below he pretty much sums up my thoughts much better than I could say it.
On the post: Where's The Line Between Whistleblowing And Criminal Leaking Of Classified Works?
Re: Re: Re:
I'm just throwing this out for arguments sake. If the American government is viewed as being untrustworthy, why would anyone believe that the American media is anymore trustworthy. They are by and large in a business that is failing left and right. To keep their jobs they need to do something that gets attention. I don't trust people as a whole to do anything but what is in their own self interest. Not that people aren't trustworthy but a large chunk of people will do morally ambiguous things when push comes to shove.
AS to trusting a private with a gun. Of course I do. Why wouldn't you trust soldiers with guns. They have been trained in how to use them. Do I trust a young private to make decisions about what is classified and what isn't. Nope not at all. He just doesn't have the training or life experience for the most part to make those decisions. Hopefully he can make decisions as to what is morally correct and if he can consistently make those correct choices hopefully he will get the experience and training and move into a position to exercise those choices.
On the post: Where's The Line Between Whistleblowing And Criminal Leaking Of Classified Works?
I'm not sure of the guys age but since he is a Pfc I'm guessing fairly young (18-20). He released a lot of classified information to a foreign national. If there was something he saw that bothered him enough to leak information to a foreign national why didn't he attempt to use the processes in place to get an investigation started. If he did do that then what happened?
Even if some feel it is okay to leak the information this time what about the next time some young private decides to leak information. Do you think some kid who just graduated high school has the right to decide what military intelligence information should and should not be released to the world.
On the post: DirecTV Pays Studios To Help Confuse Customers Further
On the post: The Number of People Giving Up TV for the Web Is Slowly Gaining Pace
My fears
I love the concept of watching tv over the web. My cable/internet/phone bill is 170 a month. I would love to cut that down to around 120 a month without losing any choices.
My problem is that so many content companies want to monetize the shows directly like the itunes store, the zune marketplace or other similar ideas when I watch 1 show for x amount of dollars. This is great they get paid i get to watch a show in a manner I find convenient. The problem is lets say there are approximately 8 prime time shows i watch through the week. at $2 per show that would be approximately 64 a month just for the prime time shows.
This is over the amount i want to save by ditching cable TV. Also no i don't have any spare cash to discover new shows.
I'm all for discovering new ways to make money off of a product. My problem is that it seems every content producer feels like they exist in a vacuum. They can charge what they feel is reasonable which on the face of it usually is but there is only x amount of dollars in the budget. Something has to give and then I have to listen how they can't make any money. They can't make money because I don't have money to spend on their experimentation
On the post: UK Gov't Tells MPs They Can't See ACTA Details
Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Is It Legal For A Clothing Company To Show President Obama Wearing Its Jacket?
On the post: Woman Arrested For Filming Snippets Of 'New Moon' May Sue Theater
On the post: Publishers Getting The Wrong Message Over eBook Piracy
A few years ago there was a larger selection of books out there through legitimate channels but I think many authors and publishers viewed ebooks as a waste of resources to provde but things were definitely changing. The downside was there were many formats some of which were not compatible. DRM was always in the the legitimate channels.
Now we come to today and there is a single format which seems to be the prefered standard for ebooks (Epub). It does have drm but now i can take my book between my various devices with almost no thought.
As a consumer I want to get the books I want to read and I want to be able to read on whichever device I happen to have handy at the time. While I completely agree DRM can be a pain in the ass and for the majority of applications it is a waste of time and resources, in this case it seems like DRM is being done right. I can't distinguish between a DRM ebook i just bought and a DRM-free ebook.
On the post: Canadian University Has Court Order Google To Reveal Anonymous Critics
On the post: My Debate With The NY Times' David Carr Over Journalism Business Models
Interesting read
On the post: The FCC, PTC And Bogus Indecency Counts
State of the art methodology
I did find part of the report particularly amusing. In discussing the State of the art (their header not mine) they explained how it all worked.
PTC Entertainment Tracking System:
State-of-the Art Television Monitoring System
...
Here’s how it works: Every evening PTC VCRs record
every prime-time series on ABC, CBS, Fox,
NBC, the CW, Ion, and MyNetworkTV, as well as
original programming on basic cable, including MTV.
The following day, the PTC’s entertainment analysts
don their headsets, turn on their computers, grab their
remote controls and set about the arduous work of
transcribing every offensive word, every instance of
sexual innuendo and every act of violence in detail.
These reports are fed into the PTC’s custom-designed
computer program.
...
If only there was some way to take all that video and record it digitally and somehow turn the speech to text. Maybe one day technology will find a way to make their job easier.
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