"Please, Mr Government. Can you provide me with a list of all crimes? I would like to make sure I do not trespass against those laws."
"Sorry, we can't provide that information. Way too much work."
"But how can I be sure that I'm not breaking any laws"
"We're constantly monitoring your email, phone calls, and your location. We know what library books you check out and can get your credit card and banking data whenever we want. If we suspect you broke a law, we'll arrest you."
"Arrest me!? But then I'd have to spend money on bail, on a lawyer, and take time off from work. All because you suspect I may have committed a crime?"
"Freedom ain't free, sir."
"But that's not freedom."
"Sorry, it's my lunch break."
This is a Bloom County comic strip waiting to happen...
The hubris required to do something like this is truly outstanding.
"My music is worth $1 per listener. I determined that's the minimum price I'll take for somebody to listen to my music. If they don't want to pay that much, then I won't let them listen. I'd rather get nothing than 65 cents per listener; that's just plain insulting to my artistic sensibilities and demeans my talents. I said I want a DOLLAR, damnit!"
This is kinda like some subway guitar player putting a sign on his open guitar case telling passers-by "minimum donation: $2. Keep your freaking coins to yourself".
Unfortunately that'll probably add another aspect of the government screw-job the family is already getting - TAXES. I'm no CPA, but I'm fairly certain that you can't just give another person a truckload of money without paying a dime to the IRS as a tax except in very specific circumstances.
Remember, this is the same IRS that asks you on your tax form, on your own honor, if any of your income was obtained illegally. Because if so, you owe Uncle Sam a piece of the action.
Is anybody else envisioning a bunch of nerds running around the EDA offices double-time with axes and baseballs bats while the Benny Hill music plays in the background?
Terms and conditions apply. The NSA is not required to fulfill or otherwise honor the bearer's request. The NSA reservers the right to deny or redact, either partially or entirely, any information provided to the requestor as a result of coupon's redemption. Coupon value=$1/.0FUCKALL
Just because I open my window curtains to get some light doesn't mean that I want everybody in the neighborhood to grab their binoculars and start staring into my house.
I think I know what happened here. ICE took over the domain on behalf of the RIAA and Thomas Dolby, the RIAA put up a paywall. After a year or two, ICE will release the domain back to the rightful owners.
Adobe got tired of Photoshop and their other graphics apps being pirated so they install DRM and put everything on the cloud. The DRM was cracked and the apps on the Pirate Bay in less than 24 hours.
A concert-goer filmed (presumably) a pianist with a cell phone.
The concert-goer (presumably) paid for a ticket.
There was an audience, so many others paid for a ticket.
The audience was at the Ruhr piano festival, noted in the article as "the largest worldwide gathering of the international pianist elite", so many, many others paid for tickets.
Sounds like the concert on the whole is pretty successful. How again is Youtube destroying it? If this world-renowned pianist is struggling, maybe it's not due to Youtube, but it's because (again, as quoted in the article) of "the relatively few concerts he performs each season"
Not to mention that, as a member of Congress, he probably has a cell phone with full encryption on it. And in typical Congressional fashion, has probably exempted himself from many of these laws.
Actually, there's a fairly easy fix this. If you want the government to get all excited about allowing people to unlock their phones, just tell them it'll make it a lot easier for them to spy on "terrorists". They'll absolutely wet themselves in joy.
I have no idea if unlocking a cell phone would make it easy to spy on people - maybe it would, but I'd guess more likely not. But since when has Congress been interested in the facts? "You mean we can more easily spy on citiz...er, terrorists, if we make it easier to unlock cell phone? Law passed! Get this to the President STAT!"
It's never been harder for musicians to make a living at their craft, which is why employment in music is down 45% over the past 10 years.
Source?
Even if that's accurate, I can make the argument that while music employment may be down FOR THE LABELS, music itself is up dramatic, both from a creative and employment standpoint. Being "employed in music" doesn't always mean that you're employed by a label.
Technology destroys jobs
It'd be more accurate to say it renders jobs obsolete. Otherwise you'd be working in that food system you love so much - digging a field with your bare hands to drop seed in. You think that the plow didn't put people out of jobs?
This explains all the rage during the SimCity launch. It wasn't because of the DRM or the servers crashing or the sucky gameplay, it was because video cards was overheating and turning people into homicidal maniacs.
And I can't tell you how many times I've felt an uncontrollable urge to kill dragons and bandits after an overnight Skyrim marathon. All this time I thought it was just sleep deprivation and the half-dozen bottles of NOS.
I guess it depends. I pay DirecTV $100 a month for 300+ channels. I can count on two hands the number of channels I watch somewhat regularly. I can count on a single hand how many channels I would consider "essential" - the ESPN family (I'm not counting the broadcast networks).
If ESPN came out and offered all their content streaming live for $50 a month, I'd still save money every month, and that makes it worthwhile to me. I doubt Disney is getting $50 every month from DirecTV on my behalf.
It's no different than the HBO/Game of Thrones meme: Take my money! Consumers are screaming for better options and more choice, and are willing to pay for it. Networks seem to be purposefully sticking their fingers in their ears, because it's easier to buy political power the old-fashioned way than to have to change for Internet-centric world. And why bother, when you've built up so much power in DC over the past century that you can pretty much regulate to death anybody who tries to do any actual innovating?
On the post: Overcriminalization: Congressional Research Service Doesn't Have The Manpower To List All Federal Crimes
"Sorry, we can't provide that information. Way too much work."
"But how can I be sure that I'm not breaking any laws"
"We're constantly monitoring your email, phone calls, and your location. We know what library books you check out and can get your credit card and banking data whenever we want. If we suspect you broke a law, we'll arrest you."
"Arrest me!? But then I'd have to spend money on bail, on a lawyer, and take time off from work. All because you suspect I may have committed a crime?"
"Freedom ain't free, sir."
"But that's not freedom."
"Sorry, it's my lunch break."
This is a Bloom County comic strip waiting to happen...
On the post: Pulling Music Off Spotify Sends Exactly The Wrong Message
"My music is worth $1 per listener. I determined that's the minimum price I'll take for somebody to listen to my music. If they don't want to pay that much, then I won't let them listen. I'd rather get nothing than 65 cents per listener; that's just plain insulting to my artistic sensibilities and demeans my talents. I said I want a DOLLAR, damnit!"
This is kinda like some subway guitar player putting a sign on his open guitar case telling passers-by "minimum donation: $2. Keep your freaking coins to yourself".
On the post: Anonymous 'Good Samaritan' Pays Justin Carter's $500k Bail After 4 Months In Jail For Online Trashtalk
Remember, this is the same IRS that asks you on your tax form, on your own honor, if any of your income was obtained illegally. Because if so, you owe Uncle Sam a piece of the action.
On the post: Your Tax Dollars At Work: How Commerce Dept. Spent $2.7 Million Cleaning Out Two Malware-Infected Computers
On the post: Because Some People Share A Lot Of Info On Facebook, We Should Admit We've Given Up All Privacy Rights?
Re: Re: The Illusion of Privacy
Terms and conditions apply. The NSA is not required to fulfill or otherwise honor the bearer's request. The NSA reservers the right to deny or redact, either partially or entirely, any information provided to the requestor as a result of coupon's redemption. Coupon value=$1/.0FUCKALL
On the post: Because Some People Share A Lot Of Info On Facebook, We Should Admit We've Given Up All Privacy Rights?
On the post: A Human Right To Science, Locked Behind A Paywall, Inspires New Meme
/too obscure?
On the post: Federal Judge None Too Impressed With Government's Defense Of Its 'No Fly' List
"Traveler Redress Inquiry Program"
Jeebus Crunch
On the post: Adobe's New Subscription Service Goes Live And Is Cracked In Less Than 24 Hours
Sounds like they drew the wrong conclusions.
YEEEEEAAAAAAHHH!
On the post: Pianist Storms Off Stage, Claims Fans Filming His Performance Mean Record Labels Won't Give Him A Contract
so hold on
The concert-goer (presumably) paid for a ticket.
There was an audience, so many others paid for a ticket.
The audience was at the Ruhr piano festival, noted in the article as "the largest worldwide gathering of the international pianist elite", so many, many others paid for tickets.
Sounds like the concert on the whole is pretty successful. How again is Youtube destroying it? If this world-renowned pianist is struggling, maybe it's not due to Youtube, but it's because (again, as quoted in the article) of "the relatively few concerts he performs each season"
On the post: Sen. Lindsey Graham, Verizon Customer: I'm GLAD The NSA Is Harvesting My Data. Because Terrorists.
Re: Easy for him to say that
On the post: Debate Over Mobile Phone Unlocking Highlights Fantasy Thinking vs. Real World
I have no idea if unlocking a cell phone would make it easy to spy on people - maybe it would, but I'd guess more likely not. But since when has Congress been interested in the facts? "You mean we can more easily spy on citiz...er, terrorists, if we make it easier to unlock cell phone? Law passed! Get this to the President STAT!"
On the post: Jaron Lanier's Ignorance Of History, Basic Economics And Efficiency Is Getting Ridiculous
Re:
Source?
Even if that's accurate, I can make the argument that while music employment may be down FOR THE LABELS, music itself is up dramatic, both from a creative and employment standpoint. Being "employed in music" doesn't always mean that you're employed by a label.
Technology destroys jobs
It'd be more accurate to say it renders jobs obsolete. Otherwise you'd be working in that food system you love so much - digging a field with your bare hands to drop seed in. You think that the plow didn't put people out of jobs?
On the post: Jaron Lanier's Ignorance Of History, Basic Economics And Efficiency Is Getting Ridiculous
"WHAT? People are volunteering to work on software that can be given away and/or freely modified?" KA-BOOM!
On the post: So It's Come To This: Seven High School Students Arrested For Throwing... Water Balloons
Re: Re:
Give it some time.....
On the post: So It's Come To This: Seven High School Students Arrested For Throwing... Water Balloons
Re: "no crime too small" IS A CRIME.
On the post: Quack Professor Releases Dumbest Violent Video Game Theory Ever
And I can't tell you how many times I've felt an uncontrollable urge to kill dragons and bandits after an overnight Skyrim marathon. All this time I thought it was just sleep deprivation and the half-dozen bottles of NOS.
On the post: Saudi Religious Police: Anyone Using Twitter 'Has Lost This World And His Afterlife'
@RealAllah
LOL @ Saudi cops: anyone using social media sites..."has lost this world and his afterlife" Quote the chapter and verse, bud. #ShowMe
On the post: The McCain Cable Bill Can Only Do So Much; Real Change Is Market-Driven
Re:
If ESPN came out and offered all their content streaming live for $50 a month, I'd still save money every month, and that makes it worthwhile to me. I doubt Disney is getting $50 every month from DirecTV on my behalf.
It's no different than the HBO/Game of Thrones meme: Take my money! Consumers are screaming for better options and more choice, and are willing to pay for it. Networks seem to be purposefully sticking their fingers in their ears, because it's easier to buy political power the old-fashioned way than to have to change for Internet-centric world. And why bother, when you've built up so much power in DC over the past century that you can pretty much regulate to death anybody who tries to do any actual innovating?
On the post: TV Syndication Company Attempts To Take Down Public Domain Content By Abusing Trademark Law
Well, I guess they did ask for it.
/YYEEAAAH!!
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