I'm with the mobile phone operators in that this is not unnecessary, except on one part. Cell phone service contracts are becoming as cumbersome as credit card contracts. I agree, it's often hard to see all these extra ETF fees or what is being charged for what reason.
What this bill SHOULD do is not worry about capping anything (that is what competition is for), but rather focus on making these fees more apparent for the consumer - make a "required diagram" like all credit card contracts have that clearly lists out all the fees, how they are charged and why. This would make it easier for a user to see $350 and decide not to sign. These days people just assume the fee is there, buried, and assume it's something like $150 or $175. Little do people know, it's gone up throughout the years. Requiring cellphone companies to display a clearly readable chart, listing these extra fees, would assist in the consumer confusion AND help lower the ETFs through competition when consumers starting seeing the real costs.
Again, BPI assumes that BT can magically tell which content is infringing and which is not. Just recently, we pointed out that EMI -- in the UK -- was happily distributing infringing mixtapes from Lily Allen off of an EMI owned website.
Mike, you missed one thing here. They said "But the weekly notifications we send to BT relate solely to music files which we know are being shared illegally" which would imply they expect BT to assume BPI is giving them a legitimate list. Your reply would only graze over that, if you read it a certain way. So, here, BPI is not saying the expect BT to magically tell what's infringing; BPI is saying they expect BT to use the list they supplied to BT.
On a personal note, I still disagree with BPI. Having one company take another company's word for who's "illegal" or not is a violation of civil rights. BT has to be able to verify those claims, which often aren't provable, as you've pointed out Mike.
but the social networking sites seriously need to be forced to hold some form of responsibility if they are just going to let things like threats--or worse--happen.
You may be onto something there! We may want to also look into enforcing phone companies to take responsibility for threats over the phone, too. Oh wait...that's right, that would be illegal. And why would it be legal on Facebook? Not to mention we're not even talking completely within US borders anymore.
You do know there are already current laws in place for serious threats on life, right? And I do mean serious. Imagine the world if you got arrested every time you said "I'm gonna kill you!" even though you really had no intent to do so.
Yes, the world is full of childish antics, but you know what? That's life. Learn to live with it and not take it so personal.
"Again, it's worth asking: why does any educational institution or education professional use such obviously biased (and at times misleading) educational materials?"
I think the question here isn't how could they fall for something such obvious, but really - do they understand how biased this really is?
If you ask your average person, even a smart guy, they will be spewing the same numbers, same data. Why? Well, if you want to know about the details of a computer, ask a computer guy. So they use that same logic when asking about the details of piracy and its affects.
I've actually been eying the book club option for a bit now. But the $150 drop down is stalling me out for a short bits. Once a couple extra things are taken care of, I plan on getting it. So .. don't close it! I don't know if you plan to close it or not...I just know it is an experiment and well, all experiments do come to an end.
"Even to this day, the Mac suffers from a lack of software users want but can not get."
And how is this Apple's fault? You're clearly laying the blame on the wrong party here. Apple has plenty of tools, Xcode FAR outdoing any IDE on the market, and yet code isn't being written.
This isn't Apple's fault. This is the developers choosing now to code for the Mac. If you wish to Mac had this software, how about blaming the ones in control of that -- the developers -- for a change?
This is true. The point of the article, however, was to illustrate the evolution of smart phones (and how the "anti" are the true fanboys). I had a smart phone (Treo) but never used the data features because it was pointless and so as %$#%#'ing slow.
Now, I'm an iPhone user and constantly using the data features. Every morning, I check Woot!, from my phone. I check FML. I check my Email. I check Facebook. I read Google Reader. These are all things I *could not do* on the previous smart phones. This is what the article is about. It's the evolution. It's what iPhone has empowered people to do.
Maybe the only way to truly understand this article is to be an owner of previous smart phones (I went from a few versions of the Palm, to the Treo, then to the iPhone). iPhone has clearly revolutionized the smart-phone, whether you wish to recognize it or not.
I agree. iPhone doesn't make things "easier" *than they once were.* Nobody could really access this information on their phones. iPhone opened the gates. Automatic transmissions would be better equated to, say, Voice commands -- "Gah, why use pre-programmed voice commands? Just use the keyboard and type exactly what you want!"
Everything has limitation. Competition comes in when the other out-does the limitation. Palm Centro hardly, doesn't even come close, to out-doing the limitation of the iPhone.
(Pre is moving there -- but it, in itself, has a lot of limitations which could cripple the followers)
Wikipedia is merely part of iPhone's strengths. As you can see, it took a month for him to convert. Clearly, Wikipedia access wasn't the sole factor -- but clearly the branching factor.
Guess I should add that the length a product lasts is never nor has ever been a factor in content creation -- so it wasn't a factor in my assessments.
(nothing lasts forever; not even software -- although its life is far longer than any physical good to date)
(registered an account now)
They are both intentional. DRM was *added* to music audio files with the *intent* of selling. Oh, maybe you meant paintings weren't done with the intent of selling? :D
Maybe you didn't get what I was implying (was subtle). If you did, you can ignore the reset below.
My quote was making fun of his statement that copyright works don't last forever. He's implying they /should/ expire after some time. He clearly doesn't understand "copyright works" - stories? poems? Shakespeare's works are "copyright works" and it's been around for centuries. Greek mythology? Bible? Thousands of years. Just because they aren't currently covered by copyright, does not mean they aren't "copyright works."
Nor does he understand software life cycles. MP3 won't be around forever, just like 8track, LPs, CDs, DVDs. Things evolve. Software and hardware alike.
Paintings are just what popped in my head (Mona Lisa). Paintings have been around far longer than anybody is willing to keep up a DRM authentication server for. Paintings were not created with the intent to expire after a period of time. That was my point.
(hell, everything I mentioned above was created, without the umbrella of copyright)
Here's the quote from the article that caught my attention:
----
"We reject the view," he writes in a letter to the top legal advisor at the Copyright Office, "that copyright owners and their licensees are required to provide consumers with perpetual access to creative works. No other product or service providers are held to such lofty standards. No one expects computers or other electronics devices to work properly in perpetuity, and there is no reason that any particular mode of distributing copyrighted works should be required to do so."
----
That quote immediately made me think of paintings; another form of creative works.
Clearly, paintings don't last forever, so neither should songs. (right?)
I'm not sure what video you're talking about, but the on you linked above has embedding turned on. I initially ran across the Google post through TechCrunch, which did have this video embedded.
It's worth noting; I had to listen for the similarities before I ever herd it. No different than "white noise" here, just because I heard it, it doesn't mean there are similarities. It just means I heard it, after *trying to hear it.* No different (imho) than hearing "Satan is coming" listening to 90s rock backwards...
I don't know a spit of Danish (although, caught some of the German root); But, I totally digging Hej Matematik's version of the song. Is it available for download? I need to find it.
As for the similarities? I actually had to listen for it. Straight out of the box, I didn't even notice. After listening (to the chorus), I noticed it.
On Warner Bro's part? I just got one word to say: "Whoops!"
Yeah, I'm gonna have to retract my comment. My apologies. I didn't think it through too clearly before rushing out the door for an appointment.
I can see the remote issue; however, a remote IR reader couldn't eat too much, no? I would expect it'd take more power to power the stand-by light than the IR reader.
I have a couple devices, my TV and XBox, that aren't friendly to complete shutdown. When I cut their power, they forget their settings (date/time, etc) and force me to reconfigure them each time. It's a massive pain in the ass. I really would love to hard-switch these buggers off, but having to reconfigure them upon every start-up stops me from doing so.
On the post: Bill Introduced To Limit Early Termination Fees
Not completely necessary...
What this bill SHOULD do is not worry about capping anything (that is what competition is for), but rather focus on making these fees more apparent for the consumer - make a "required diagram" like all credit card contracts have that clearly lists out all the fees, how they are charged and why. This would make it easier for a user to see $350 and decide not to sign. These days people just assume the fee is there, buried, and assume it's something like $150 or $175. Little do people know, it's gone up throughout the years. Requiring cellphone companies to display a clearly readable chart, listing these extra fees, would assist in the consumer confusion AND help lower the ETFs through competition when consumers starting seeing the real costs.
On the post: BPI Unhappy With Techdirt, Seeks To Correct The Record... But Still Gets It Wrong
Mike, you missed one thing here. They said "But the weekly notifications we send to BT relate solely to music files which we know are being shared illegally" which would imply they expect BT to assume BPI is giving them a legitimate list. Your reply would only graze over that, if you read it a certain way. So, here, BPI is not saying the expect BT to magically tell what's infringing; BPI is saying they expect BT to use the list they supplied to BT.
On a personal note, I still disagree with BPI. Having one company take another company's word for who's "illegal" or not is a violation of civil rights. BT has to be able to verify those claims, which often aren't provable, as you've pointed out Mike.
On the post: Even After Being Disbarred, Jack Thompson Can File Misguided Mistargeted Lawsuits
Re: Hmm
You may be onto something there! We may want to also look into enforcing phone companies to take responsibility for threats over the phone, too. Oh wait...that's right, that would be illegal. And why would it be legal on Facebook? Not to mention we're not even talking completely within US borders anymore.
You do know there are already current laws in place for serious threats on life, right? And I do mean serious. Imagine the world if you got arrested every time you said "I'm gonna kill you!" even though you really had no intent to do so.
Yes, the world is full of childish antics, but you know what? That's life. Learn to live with it and not take it so personal.
On the post: The Propaganda The Copyright Industry Teaches Our Children
Obvious?
I think the question here isn't how could they fall for something such obvious, but really - do they understand how biased this really is?
If you ask your average person, even a smart guy, they will be spewing the same numbers, same data. Why? Well, if you want to know about the details of a computer, ask a computer guy. So they use that same logic when asking about the details of piracy and its affects.
On the post: Wired Reveals First Buyer Of The Techdirt Reviews Your Business Plan Offering
Now, the real question ....
On the post: Wired Reveals First Buyer Of The Techdirt Reviews Your Business Plan Offering
... don't close it!
On the post: iPhone Haters Are Stick-Shifters In An Automatic World
Re: Now I feel I should clarify my opinions.
And how is this Apple's fault? You're clearly laying the blame on the wrong party here. Apple has plenty of tools, Xcode FAR outdoing any IDE on the market, and yet code isn't being written.
This isn't Apple's fault. This is the developers choosing now to code for the Mac. If you wish to Mac had this software, how about blaming the ones in control of that -- the developers -- for a change?
On the post: iPhone Haters Are Stick-Shifters In An Automatic World
Re: Re: Re: Mass market?
Now, I'm an iPhone user and constantly using the data features. Every morning, I check Woot!, from my phone. I check FML. I check my Email. I check Facebook. I read Google Reader. These are all things I *could not do* on the previous smart phones. This is what the article is about. It's the evolution. It's what iPhone has empowered people to do.
Maybe the only way to truly understand this article is to be an owner of previous smart phones (I went from a few versions of the Palm, to the Treo, then to the iPhone). iPhone has clearly revolutionized the smart-phone, whether you wish to recognize it or not.
On the post: iPhone Haters Are Stick-Shifters In An Automatic World
Re: The iPhone is very secure...
On the post: iPhone Haters Are Stick-Shifters In An Automatic World
Re:
On the post: iPhone Haters Are Stick-Shifters In An Automatic World
Re: Re: Re: Re: Mass market?
(Pre is moving there -- but it, in itself, has a lot of limitations which could cripple the followers)
Wikipedia is merely part of iPhone's strengths. As you can see, it took a month for him to convert. Clearly, Wikipedia access wasn't the sole factor -- but clearly the branching factor.
On the post: Hollywood Still Thinks That The Industry Needs DRM
Re: Re: Re: An example I used, from that article
(nothing lasts forever; not even software -- although its life is far longer than any physical good to date)
On the post: Hollywood Still Thinks That The Industry Needs DRM
Re: Re: An example I used, from that article
They are both intentional. DRM was *added* to music audio files with the *intent* of selling. Oh, maybe you meant paintings weren't done with the intent of selling? :D
Maybe you didn't get what I was implying (was subtle). If you did, you can ignore the reset below.
My quote was making fun of his statement that copyright works don't last forever. He's implying they /should/ expire after some time. He clearly doesn't understand "copyright works" - stories? poems? Shakespeare's works are "copyright works" and it's been around for centuries. Greek mythology? Bible? Thousands of years. Just because they aren't currently covered by copyright, does not mean they aren't "copyright works."
Nor does he understand software life cycles. MP3 won't be around forever, just like 8track, LPs, CDs, DVDs. Things evolve. Software and hardware alike.
Paintings are just what popped in my head (Mona Lisa). Paintings have been around far longer than anybody is willing to keep up a DRM authentication server for. Paintings were not created with the intent to expire after a period of time. That was my point.
(hell, everything I mentioned above was created, without the umbrella of copyright)
On the post: Hollywood Still Thinks That The Industry Needs DRM
An example I used, from that article
----
"We reject the view," he writes in a letter to the top legal advisor at the Copyright Office, "that copyright owners and their licensees are required to provide consumers with perpetual access to creative works. No other product or service providers are held to such lofty standards. No one expects computers or other electronics devices to work properly in perpetuity, and there is no reason that any particular mode of distributing copyrighted works should be required to do so."
----
That quote immediately made me think of paintings; another form of creative works.
Clearly, paintings don't last forever, so neither should songs. (right?)
On the post: Oh Look, Viral Video On YouTube Boosting Sales... And Reputation For Chris Brown
Embedding is enabled.
On the post: REM Copyright Suit Against Danish Band May Backfire, Since The Dane's Song Came First
Re: Hum, I'm liking Hej Matematik.
On the post: REM Copyright Suit Against Danish Band May Backfire, Since The Dane's Song Came First
Hum, I'm liking Hej Matematik.
As for the similarities? I actually had to listen for it. Straight out of the box, I didn't even notice. After listening (to the chorus), I noticed it.
On Warner Bro's part? I just got one word to say: "Whoops!"
On the post: What's Wrong With Actually Turning Electronics Off?
Re: Re: Remotes
I can see the remote issue; however, a remote IR reader couldn't eat too much, no? I would expect it'd take more power to power the stand-by light than the IR reader.
On the post: What's Wrong With Actually Turning Electronics Off?
Re: Remotes
On the post: What's Wrong With Actually Turning Electronics Off?
Poor design?
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