Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 21 Feb 2013 @ 7:01am
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
You must not have been around during the Napster or Grokster days. It's nowhere near as easy (or cheap) as it was then.
I was around for those, and am happy to compare the two.
Then: search for single track on Napster/Grokster/Kazaa, get connected to someone on AOL dial-up, wait hours to get track
Now: search for artist+torrent+discography on Google, get torrent file, have entire catalog of their work in minutes
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 20 Feb 2013 @ 12:55pm
"pirate sites are on the payroll of multinational companies"
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Just... wow.
If that doesn't show how completely clueless this guys is, nothing would.
I'd like to have an oppurtunity to sell Ray a bridge along with some prime development swampland in Florida that it sits on for a low low price of a few million dollars - that he can make back by helping my brother-in-law, a Nigerian prince, move some money out of the country.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 20 Feb 2013 @ 10:57am
Re: Formatting requirements for court filings
Sop, I am not sure it makes sense to single out the Supreme Court in that regard
Standard operating procedure would imply a standard. Why should the Supreme Court have different standards for filing cases than the rest of the Federal Appeals Courts?
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 19 Feb 2013 @ 9:01am
Re: Re: Re: Google actions = FUD
The average user does not have a clue about the tools Google provides to properly filter results.
That's the entire point. The average user shouldn't *need* to have a clue about how Google works. The average user only cares about the result - they search for something on Google, and find what they want. If they don't find what they want, they'll go someplace else (assuming a free market and competition).
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 19 Feb 2013 @ 5:56am
Re: Re:
do you believe it's broken because when someone tries out a loophole it is found to be in fact not a loophole ?
Like the loopholes that allowed business method patents, software patents, and patents on natural processes and genes?
If the system was working, those patents never would have been granted in the first place.
they only way they can continue to develop, market and support further development is by recouping profits from the products they have already developed.
Selling the seeds with onerous terms attached isn't enough? They now have to attach the terms to seeds that they didn't sell? If you don't think Monsanto has made a thousand times or more profit over what they spent to develop those seeds then you are delusional.
Here at TD you of course don't like it, because it's stopping someone game the system, and appears to benefit the people (or company) that stands to lose profit from this 'cheating'.
We're not some hive mind here. I personally don't like patents and copyrights because they restrict what people can do with things they've legally purchased, it restricts the freedoms we claim to cherish in this country, and the evidence is increasingly showing that they are not necessary for the express purpose of which they were designed - to promote the progress - and are used to restrict that progress.
Until we get a copyright and patent system that actually promotes the progress, I say fuck the system that we have now. It is broken, and fixing it requires things that the greedy bastards who have gotten fat off of it will not like and will fight at every turn.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 19 Feb 2013 @ 5:22am
Re: This is just wrong.
Would a patented organism reproducing itself, as opposed to a human inducing its reproduction, count as patent infringement?
According to Monsanto, yes. They've sued farmers who are simply downwind of farms that use their seeds, since the downwind farmers are getting the benefit of the gene via the normal reproduction process of the plants (i.e. pollen blowing in the wind).
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 19 Feb 2013 @ 5:06am
Re: Gimme NetFlix for Books Instead
I'd rather have a Netflix subscription model where I read as much as I want for a monthly fee.
That is a service I could get behind, and I'm someone who much prefers the dead-tree books over reading one on a screen.
I'm not completely against it, but I worry about a pay-per-page model. Many great books start off slow, or have long stretches of seemingly little action (e.g. The Lord of the Rings - even though I love it, I still tend to scan through much of the early parts of the Fellowship and an entire half of Two Towers). And I worry about authors/publishers trying to game that system - putting all the good stuff up front, with the rest of the book just a lot of filler.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 13 Feb 2013 @ 10:15am
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Agree. What's more is that verdicts like this, and the complete insanity of copyright law, actually damages the public's respect for the rule of law.
It is unbelievably short-sited. Its a dangerous mix when incomprehensible and unfair laws are upheld, when obvious corruption runs through politics, and trust in institutions and government is low. Revolutions have started over less than that.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 13 Feb 2013 @ 9:34am
Education/class issue?
Since earnings tend to be highly correlated with education levels, is it possible that's where the trend comes from?
Those who have gone to college, especially those having gone to college in the last ~20 years since the internet and sharing started becoming pervasive, may be less in favor of disconnection as an option. They're more likely to telecommute and need access for their jobs. More likely to get more of their entertainment via the internet, as opposed to traditional broadcast media.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 13 Feb 2013 @ 9:04am
Re: Re: Re:
Given that the award at issue was $9K per song, well below the $150K maximum and much closer to the $750 minimum, I don't think the due process argument has any merit under Williams
Those statutory rates were designed for commercial-for-profit infringement - i.e. bootleggers mass producing cds/dvds and selling them. Even at the theoretical minimum $750, they are wholly disproportinate to someone downloading a 99cent track (or 24 of them) for personal use. When the rates were set, it was unthinkable to even be selling a single track of a song for under a dollar, as the cost to just press and distribute a cd was around $2.
But that's not the award that will be reviewed, no matter how much her lawyers wish it were.
I'll agree that they won't, but how does that make even the slightest bit of sense? What does it take to have a reasonable court actually take a look at the Constitutionality of these insane statutory rates, for a type of crime that the law was not intended to be used against?
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 13 Feb 2013 @ 8:28am
Re:
I did not know movie instantly stop making money once they have been produced.
Subsidies are supposed to benefit the state where the movie is produced, in terms of additonal tax revenue, jobs, etc.
So yes, once the company stops the production in Florida and moves back to Hollywood, it stops making money for Florida and disappears into the blackhole of Hollywood accounting.
If the subsidies do not return more to the state in tax revenue than the amount of the subsidy, then the state would be better off spending that money fixing potholes, paying teachers, or something else where the state gets more benefit from it. Heck, if the state is only getting back 25% of the subsidy, it would've been better off taking 50% of the proposed subsidy out as cash and just burning it in a big pile.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 12 Feb 2013 @ 1:17pm
Re: Re: Re:
DU is also very heavy, and would add considerable weight to the weapon
Yeah, that was my thinking in asking. Uranium is around 15% denser than lead, so that would change the trajectory of the bullet in a gun designed to shoot standard rounds. I suppose if you've got them as rounds for a Vulcan cannon or similar, the gun is designed to handle them.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 12 Feb 2013 @ 11:38am
Re:
Somewhere along the way you seem to have concluded that the rights of authors are subordinate to those others.
They are.
"To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."
The rights of authors are subordinate to the 'Progress of Science' - in other words the promotion of learning. The only reason authors are granted the right is for the promotion of learning. If their (ab)use of that right hinders learning, it seems pretty clear they should be stripped of it.
On the post: RIAA: Google Isn't Trying Hard Enough To Make Piracy Disappear From The Internet
Re:
It's also easy enough to send the Youtube link to one of the many services which will rip the music from the video and let you download it.
Though I'm sure that's not what the RIAA had in mind.
On the post: Dead Kennedys Guitarist Joins Crusade Against Ad Networks & YouTube Despite Understanding Neither
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
I was around for those, and am happy to compare the two.
Then: search for single track on Napster/Grokster/Kazaa, get connected to someone on AOL dial-up, wait hours to get track
Now: search for artist+torrent+discography on Google, get torrent file, have entire catalog of their work in minutes
On the post: Dead Kennedys Guitarist Joins Crusade Against Ad Networks & YouTube Despite Understanding Neither
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Just... wow.
If that doesn't show how completely clueless this guys is, nothing would.
I'd like to have an oppurtunity to sell Ray a bridge along with some prime development swampland in Florida that it sits on for a low low price of a few million dollars - that he can make back by helping my brother-in-law, a Nigerian prince, move some money out of the country.
On the post: Make A Counterstrike Map Of A Montreal Metro Station, Get Threatened With $50,000 Fine
There's no aimbots or wallhacks in real life.
On the post: The Insanely Complex Rules The Supreme Court Requires You To Meet To Ask It To Hear Your Case
Re: Formatting requirements for court filings
Standard operating procedure would imply a standard. Why should the Supreme Court have different standards for filing cases than the rest of the Federal Appeals Courts?
On the post: RIAA Still Can't Figure Out How To Use Google's DMCA Tools, Blames Google
Re: Re:
On the post: Google Looks To Cut 'Funding' To 'Illegal' Sites It Doesn't Fund In The First Place
Re: Re: Re: Google actions = FUD
That's the entire point. The average user shouldn't *need* to have a clue about how Google works. The average user only cares about the result - they search for something on Google, and find what they want. If they don't find what they want, they'll go someplace else (assuming a free market and competition).
On the post: Supreme Court Set To Hear Case On Whether Or Not Planting Legally Purchased Seeds Infringes On Monsanto Patent
Re: Re:
Like the loopholes that allowed business method patents, software patents, and patents on natural processes and genes?
If the system was working, those patents never would have been granted in the first place.
they only way they can continue to develop, market and support further development is by recouping profits from the products they have already developed.
Selling the seeds with onerous terms attached isn't enough? They now have to attach the terms to seeds that they didn't sell? If you don't think Monsanto has made a thousand times or more profit over what they spent to develop those seeds then you are delusional.
Here at TD you of course don't like it, because it's stopping someone game the system, and appears to benefit the people (or company) that stands to lose profit from this 'cheating'.
We're not some hive mind here. I personally don't like patents and copyrights because they restrict what people can do with things they've legally purchased, it restricts the freedoms we claim to cherish in this country, and the evidence is increasingly showing that they are not necessary for the express purpose of which they were designed - to promote the progress - and are used to restrict that progress.
Until we get a copyright and patent system that actually promotes the progress, I say fuck the system that we have now. It is broken, and fixing it requires things that the greedy bastards who have gotten fat off of it will not like and will fight at every turn.
On the post: Supreme Court Set To Hear Case On Whether Or Not Planting Legally Purchased Seeds Infringes On Monsanto Patent
Re: This is just wrong.
According to Monsanto, yes. They've sued farmers who are simply downwind of farms that use their seeds, since the downwind farmers are getting the benefit of the gene via the normal reproduction process of the plants (i.e. pollen blowing in the wind).
On the post: The Next eBook Evolution: Pay As You Read eBooks
Re: Gimme NetFlix for Books Instead
That is a service I could get behind, and I'm someone who much prefers the dead-tree books over reading one on a screen.
I'm not completely against it, but I worry about a pay-per-page model. Many great books start off slow, or have long stretches of seemingly little action (e.g. The Lord of the Rings - even though I love it, I still tend to scan through much of the early parts of the Fellowship and an entire half of Two Towers). And I worry about authors/publishers trying to game that system - putting all the good stuff up front, with the rest of the book just a lot of filler.
On the post: CCIA Argues Germany Should Be On The 'Naughty' Special 301 List For Attacking Fair Use
Re: Re:
On the post: Chris Dodd Sounding Like A Broken Recording Industry
Re: Re: Re: Re: Radical Mike
On the post: Game Developer Connects With Pirates, Sees Massive Support & Deletion Of Torrents
Re:
Did you miss the part about him offering free download codes? Seems like the torrent was redundant after that.
On the post: Obama Administration, Once Again, Says $222,000 For Sharing 24 Songs Is Perfectly Reasonable
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
It is unbelievably short-sited. Its a dangerous mix when incomprehensible and unfair laws are upheld, when obvious corruption runs through politics, and trust in institutions and government is low. Revolutions have started over less than that.
On the post: Germany's Curious Income Divide On Infringement Remedies: High-Earners Support Content Blocking, Oppose Disconnection
Education/class issue?
Those who have gone to college, especially those having gone to college in the last ~20 years since the internet and sharing started becoming pervasive, may be less in favor of disconnection as an option. They're more likely to telecommute and need access for their jobs. More likely to get more of their entertainment via the internet, as opposed to traditional broadcast media.
On the post: Obama Administration, Once Again, Says $222,000 For Sharing 24 Songs Is Perfectly Reasonable
Re: Re: Re:
Those statutory rates were designed for commercial-for-profit infringement - i.e. bootleggers mass producing cds/dvds and selling them. Even at the theoretical minimum $750, they are wholly disproportinate to someone downloading a 99cent track (or 24 of them) for personal use. When the rates were set, it was unthinkable to even be selling a single track of a song for under a dollar, as the cost to just press and distribute a cd was around $2.
But that's not the award that will be reviewed, no matter how much her lawyers wish it were.
I'll agree that they won't, but how does that make even the slightest bit of sense? What does it take to have a reasonable court actually take a look at the Constitutionality of these insane statutory rates, for a type of crime that the law was not intended to be used against?
On the post: Florida Lawmakers Try To Stop Subsidizing Videogames; Send That Money To Hollywood Instead
Re:
Subsidies are supposed to benefit the state where the movie is produced, in terms of additonal tax revenue, jobs, etc.
So yes, once the company stops the production in Florida and moves back to Hollywood, it stops making money for Florida and disappears into the blackhole of Hollywood accounting.
If the subsidies do not return more to the state in tax revenue than the amount of the subsidy, then the state would be better off spending that money fixing potholes, paying teachers, or something else where the state gets more benefit from it. Heck, if the state is only getting back 25% of the subsidy, it would've been better off taking 50% of the proposed subsidy out as cash and just burning it in a big pile.
On the post: If You Want Two-Thirds Of Americans To Agree That Violent Video Games Are More Dangerous Than Guns, All You Have To Do Is Ask The Right Americans
Re: Re: Re:
Yeah, that was my thinking in asking. Uranium is around 15% denser than lead, so that would change the trajectory of the bullet in a gun designed to shoot standard rounds. I suppose if you've got them as rounds for a Vulcan cannon or similar, the gun is designed to handle them.
On the post: Former Copyright Registers: We Must Limit Fair Use At Public Universities, For The Poor Publishers Who Are Paying Us To Say This
Re:
They are.
"To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."
The rights of authors are subordinate to the 'Progress of Science' - in other words the promotion of learning. The only reason authors are granted the right is for the promotion of learning. If their (ab)use of that right hinders learning, it seems pretty clear they should be stripped of it.
On the post: If You Want Two-Thirds Of Americans To Agree That Violent Video Games Are More Dangerous Than Guns, All You Have To Do Is Ask The Right Americans
Re:
Just for fun...
The DU bullet does not kill anyone. The maniac with the gun shooting the DU bullets did.
(Though seriously, are there actually DU bullets? I've only heard of it being used in shells fired from tanks - in which case it was the tank gunner.)
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