Oops - posted this rant on the wrong article (sorry David Byrne!)...
As long as an eBook is DRM-encumbered, it is just leased to you - you don't own it! I don't care what lipstick they put on that pig, but if you can't move it, sell it, or lend it without interaction with the publisher or eBook provider, then you don't own it, and when their servers crash, you will likely be left with nothing but unreadable bits taking up space on your storage systems at worst, or unable to do anything but read it on the currently installed system, so when that crashes, you are SOL!
As long as an eBook is DRM-encumbered, it is just leased to you - you don't own it! I don't care what lipstick they put on that pig, but if you can't move it, sell it, or lend it without interaction with the publisher or eBook provider, then you don't own it, and when their servers crash, you will likely be left with nothing but unreadable bits taking up space on your storage systems at worst, or unable to do anything but read it on the currently installed system, so when that crashes, you are SOL!
So, instead of using our hard-earned tax dollars to find real murderers, the FBI is using those $$ to create faux-terrorists... Just what we needed (gah).
There should be incredibly huge fines for boneheads that improperly take down content - and they should be required by law to prove they have the right to do so first before the content is removed from a site. If every time they were to take down content that they had no right to that they were to be fined, let's say $100,000 USD at a minimum, there would be a LOT less of this crud going on! So, taking down 20 clips improperly - that would nick their bottom line to the tune of $2M. A nice, tidy sum!
I've been collecting the Toxic Avenger series recently - they are just so campy and wonderfully dumb! A great view for a lazy summer night, for sure! Kaufman has to be given a great, big attaboy for this step, and for his attitude.
Rather than a tree, I think the model for human evolution would more resemble a bramble! Branching, merging, cross-breeding, genocide, adoption, ... What a crooked path we've been on! And I'm sure you'll find some T-Rex in there somewhere! :-)
Driving while distracted. The only time I had a collision with another vehicle (I was 21 at the time) was when I was distracted by passengers in my back seat. I rear-ended a Porsche at a stop light on highway 101 in Santa Monica, CA. No injuries, but a nasty ding in the Porsche's rear panel (it was a cherry red bathtub Porsche - classic in all senses of the word). I don't recall any damages to my car (an early 60's Peugeot 404) since it was my bumper that hit the Porsche. Score? France 1, Germany 0... :-)
The more they stay the same... :-) Thanks for (re)posting the original Mike! And congratulations on 15 years real time - that's about 10,000 years in internet time!
At a company I used to work for as principal engineer, we experimented with DRM to "protect" our product from "piracy" - this is a niche product that costs million$ to license.
1. It was possible to "protect" it.
2. The cost if the DRM caused our customers' system to fail to run was exorbitant ($10M+ per hour of downtime).
3. The likelihood of "piracy" was exceedingly small since what our customers were paying for was support, updates, etc.
So, after some development proof-of-concept work, we decided to drop the entire idea. The result is that the software is ubiquitous in a major manufacturing sector, and there are zero recorded instances of "piracy" of the product.
Saying that there is "no upgrade path" is just so bogus as to defy consideration! There should not be an issue with migrating user data from old to newer systems, and if there are software issues, then it should be their users who are responsible for upgrading/replacing their apps. To shaft their oldest and I would think most valuable customers (at least from the good karma / good press perspective) like this is just unconscionable. If they decided that their "lifetime account" customers should pay a fee to migrate their data to the new hardware, then that may be something that people can understand and possibly live with.
So, I say to Jason Hoffman this: don't expect to keep many of these customers around, and expect that the back-blow from this to seriously and negatively impact your company's sales and profitability. Personally, I think you just kissed your company goodbye...
In my opinion, the IOC are a bunch of fascist asshats, trying to control all aspect of the Olympic Games, or anything connected to them. This is not just stupid, it is going to devalue the event (hence, stupid - QED). Time to throw the bums out and get a new bunch of bums to run the Games...
On the post: Publishers Can't Seem To Celebrate The Ebook Boom Without Slipping In Odes To Copyright
eBooks and DRM
As long as an eBook is DRM-encumbered, it is just leased to you - you don't own it! I don't care what lipstick they put on that pig, but if you can't move it, sell it, or lend it without interaction with the publisher or eBook provider, then you don't own it, and when their servers crash, you will likely be left with nothing but unreadable bits taking up space on your storage systems at worst, or unable to do anything but read it on the currently installed system, so when that crashes, you are SOL!
On the post: David Byrne: One Of My Albums Sat On The Shelf For A Year Because Label Wanted DRM And I Didn't
eBooks and DRM
On the post: FBI Continues To Foil Its Own Devised Terrorist Plots
Skewed priorities
On the post: Massive Disconnect: Paywall Analysis Claims It's Reasonable To Expect 66% Of Readers To Pay
Re: Not a chance!
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
A good week
To paraphrase a great old song (sorry Maybelle):
Keep on the funny side
Always on the funny side
Keep on the funny side of life.
On the post: Credit Where It's Due: DOJ Changes Its Tune On FISA Transparency
Still
On the post: Author Cries Trademark Infringment On Book Reviews Of A Different Book
Then there is this
I think he is trumped by earlier art, and should change the name of his comic!
On the post: 'Amnesia' Is Selling So Well, The Developers Have Forgotten All About Piracy
Hoffman
On the post: 'Amnesia' Is Selling So Well, The Developers Have Forgotten All About Piracy
Abbie Hoffman
On the post: 2012 Democrats: Remember That Civil Liberties Thing From 2008? Um, Nevermind
Honest Politician
On the post: Copyright Enforcement Bots Seek And Destroy Hugo Awards
Make em pay!
On the post: Hall & Oates Convince Super PAC Named After Them To Shut Down
New name?
On the post: B-Movie Legends Troma Entertainment Releases 150 Films On YouTube
Kewl!
On the post: DailyDirt: Looking Back At Ancient Humans
Tree of evolution
On the post: Shocking Revelation: It Isn't The Phone That's Dangerous; It's The Driver
DWD
On the post: NSA Put A Premium On Collecting Info, But Not Making Sense Of It
On the post: Fifteen Years Ago Today, Techdirt Was Born
The more things change
On the post: Ubisoft Realizing That Perhaps 'Pirate' Users Are Really Just Like 'Free To Play' Users Who Don't Pay
Yeah, about that
1. It was possible to "protect" it.
2. The cost if the DRM caused our customers' system to fail to run was exorbitant ($10M+ per hour of downtime).
3. The likelihood of "piracy" was exceedingly small since what our customers were paying for was support, updates, etc.
So, after some development proof-of-concept work, we decided to drop the entire idea. The result is that the software is ubiquitous in a major manufacturing sector, and there are zero recorded instances of "piracy" of the product.
On the post: Bait & Switch: Buy A Lifetime Account For As Long As We Exist Or Until We Get Tired Of You
Major bogosity!
So, I say to Jason Hoffman this: don't expect to keep many of these customers around, and expect that the back-blow from this to seriously and negatively impact your company's sales and profitability. Personally, I think you just kissed your company goodbye...
On the post: Olympic Buzzkills Take Down Viewer Commentary
fascist asshats
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