Apparently Nina is unaware of the amount of non-commercial entertainment out there that is way better than "cell phone images edited on toy computers." Or maybe Nina has been taking black-and-white worldview lessons from Bill O'Reilly.
- Either you're for unrestricted free trade or you're a Marxist!!
- Either you're against gay marriage or you want everybody to turn gay!!
- Either we give movie and record companies whatever they want or we won't have any entertainment!!
It's nice to know that a typical computer geek has a richer life than Nina.
You're saying that filling out some forms gives you rights that people who don't fill out the forms don't have? I guess I should have known this, living in the United States of Litigation as I do.
Prize #1 is sponsored by an HMO trying to minimize its hospitalization claims. The stated goal is "to change health care delivery as we know it – from an emphasis on caring for the individual after they get sick to a true HEALTH care system."
Sorry, a "true HEALTH care system" knows what doctors have been saying forever, that the best way to prevent unnecessary hospitalization is to cover checkups and other preventative care.
"But then people will run to the doctor every time they get a sniffle!" Fine. A thousand 10-minute checkups that uncover no problems cost far less than one major illness that isn't diagnosed soon enough, which is what happens when people put off going to the doctor because they can't afford it. My best friend of 30 years died from a highly treatable form of leukemia for that exact reason. She always worked at shit jobs for low pay and no health benefits, and she put off going to the doctor until she felt terrible. By that time it was too late and she was dead in 3 weeks.
And that is why our press was protected by the First Amendment - not primarily to amuse and entertain, not to emphasize the trivial and the sentimental, not to simply "give the public what it wants"
Somebody should clamp headphones on Rupert Murdoch's head and force him to listen to that over and over for about a month.
I don't know if I want to live in a world where turkey cooking instructions aren't considered substantial literary expression. How can we expect to make progress if people have no motivation to write high quality product instructions? Oh wait, it works for IKEA. Nevermind.
I'm a woodworker. Some time ago I bought a jig for making dovetail joints with a router. The jig is essentially a thick piece of plastic with a zigzag edge similar to the top of a classic castle wall. One immediately obvious use for it would be for making a copy of itself out of better material, such as thin plywood or sheet aluminum. But no! A piece of paper enclosed with the jig stated that in buying the product I was not "licensed" to use it to make another dovetail jig, nor could I use it for commercial purposes.
So apparently I'm a pirate woodworker. Somebody better taser me and put the cuffs on me before I do any more damage to the economy.
The more the legal system legitimizes control over the end use of products, the more ridiculous and ugly the can of worms will become. For example, why couldn't a steel company dictate what can and can't be made with the metal it sells? What really hits me is the hypocrisy of the businesses world, on one hand being against Big Government while on the other hand wanting it to impose contrived restrictions on the public.
Lindvall uses weak, Rush Limbaugh-esque techniques that are effective only in preaching to a choir, which might very well be what she intends. Flimsy arguments always seem solid to people who are looking for a cheerleader to affirm what they already believe. Being that cheerleader is a good way for a pundit to build a market for books and speaking engagements. Somebody famous said it doesn't matter what people say about you as long as they spell your name right.
It isn't simply a case of having had an idea before. These are cases in which someone has invented something and then made a deliberate decision to make the invention public, which is their right. Patenting things like this is analogous to cutting down trees in a city park to start a Christmas tree business.
Excuse me - private institutions can do whatever they want? I don't see why. A university is one party in a two-party contract between itself and a student. A student enters into that contract expecting to pursue a 4-year education under conditions that are spelled out at the time of enrollment. If that student has been holding up his or her end of the deal in terms of paying tuition, maintaining minimum GPA, etc, I don't think it's a given that the university can decide to impose new conditions as radical as requiring the student to give up constitutional rights. It's reasonable to assume that many students would not have enrolled had such restrictions been in place at the time. It isn't as simple as saying students who don't like it can go somewhere else, because going somewhere else isn't that simple. Consider other rights ... if the university decided that all students who registered to vote would be expelled, I doubt that very many people would argue in its favor.
If patent supporters feel so strongly about the sacredness of a person's creative works, there should be some outrage against those who use the system to protect works they didn't create and didn't pay for.
From now on I'm going to call it, "the legacy recording industry." Those guys have been playing with words for a long time, for example redefining rights as property, as if by pirating the word "property" they can inherit the cultural context that belongs to genuine property. They could use a dose of their own medicine.
According to the Bush administration the Dept of Homeland Security was not going to create a new federal bureaucracy. It's job was supposed to be to coordinate the various existing federal intelligence and security organizations, to streamline communication and data sharing and minimize duplication of effort. Because conservatives are against Big Government programs that waste your tax dollars.
The failed attempt to popularize the word "Homeland" with the American public was pathetic, but I guess it made sense. The Nazis had their Fatherland and the Soviets had their Motherland. The neocons needed a new name for the country they were trying to remake. But they really should have just called the DHS, "No Security Vendor Left Behind."
Unfortunately there are many who believe that people do inherently own every original idea they express, and thereby have the natural right to control it forever. I've had discussions with people who insist that this right has existed since the dawn of time, but there was no practical reason to enforce it until the publishing industry came along. This point of view has the absolutist quality of a religious belief, which makes it difficult to discuss the subject in practical terms.
On the post: Senator Wyden Calls Out Content Companies For Wanting To Censor The Internet
On the post: Mimi & Eunice: Ye Olde Technologie Killing Culture, Scribes
On the post: Mimi & Eunice: Ye Olde Technologie Killing Culture, Scribes
- Either you're for unrestricted free trade or you're a Marxist!!
- Either you're against gay marriage or you want everybody to turn gay!!
- Either we give movie and record companies whatever they want or we won't have any entertainment!!
It's nice to know that a typical computer geek has a richer life than Nina.
On the post: The Amazing Ability Of People To Simply Ignore Data That Proves What They Believe Is Wrong
On the post: New Newspaper Business Model: Create Compelling Graphic, Wait For Others To Use It... And Then Sue
WTF?
You're saying that filling out some forms gives you rights that people who don't fill out the forms don't have? I guess I should have known this, living in the United States of Litigation as I do.
On the post: DailyDirt: Many Hands Make Light Work... Prove It For $1M?
The hospitalization one is obvious
Sorry, a "true HEALTH care system" knows what doctors have been saying forever, that the best way to prevent unnecessary hospitalization is to cover checkups and other preventative care.
"But then people will run to the doctor every time they get a sniffle!" Fine. A thousand 10-minute checkups that uncover no problems cost far less than one major illness that isn't diagnosed soon enough, which is what happens when people put off going to the doctor because they can't afford it. My best friend of 30 years died from a highly treatable form of leukemia for that exact reason. She always worked at shit jobs for low pay and no health benefits, and she put off going to the doctor until she felt terrible. By that time it was too late and she was dead in 3 weeks.
So yeah, I've got an attitude about this issue.
On the post: Congresswoman Threatens To Sue Newspaper For 'Liable' Over Critical Column
She has a bright future in the private sector
Good news! Pizza Hut is hiring.
On the post: JFK On Secrecy And Censorship
Somebody should clamp headphones on Rupert Murdoch's head and force him to listen to that over and over for about a month.
On the post: Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Over Turkey Cooking Instructions
On the post: Piracy Is Over Like The Web Is Dead
The web isn't dead.
On the post: Wikileaks Says Its Site Has Been 'Killed'
Spoiler alert!
On the post: Government Drops Xbox Modding Trial
Here's how dumb IP can become
So apparently I'm a pirate woodworker. Somebody better taser me and put the cuffs on me before I do any more damage to the economy.
The more the legal system legitimizes control over the end use of products, the more ridiculous and ugly the can of worms will become. For example, why couldn't a steel company dictate what can and can't be made with the metal it sells? What really hits me is the hypocrisy of the businesses world, on one hand being against Big Government while on the other hand wanting it to impose contrived restrictions on the public.
On the post: Embracing New Opportunities Is Being Defeatist?
Right on, Mike
On the post: Are Companies Scanning Open Source Commit Logs And Patenting What They Find?
On the post: Is It A First Amendment Violation For Public Universities To Tell Athletes They Can't Tweet?
What about prior consent?
On the post: Are Companies Scanning Open Source Commit Logs And Patenting What They Find?
More hypocrisy
On the post: Axl Rose Sues Activision For $20M Because Guitar Hero Shows Former GNR Guitarist Slash
It beats working!
On the post: PC Mag Responds To Legacy Recording Industry's 'Complaint' Letter
Catchy name!
On the post: Chris Matthews Says That Pointing Out Chertoff's Conflict Of Interest Over Rapiscan TSA Scanners Is Slander?
Who would have seen this coming?
The failed attempt to popularize the word "Homeland" with the American public was pathetic, but I guess it made sense. The Nazis had their Fatherland and the Soviets had their Motherland. The neocons needed a new name for the country they were trying to remake. But they really should have just called the DHS, "No Security Vendor Left Behind."
On the post: How Do You Measure The 'Benefits' Of Copyright?
Re: Copyright as a "Natural right"
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