They'd have a little problem with that. Ice Age the Magic expansion came out in 1995, Ice Age the movie came out in 2002. Wizards of the Coast is also owned by Hasbro, who unlike the maker of this dice game, has a nuclear stockpile of lawyers and would fire back.
Just yet another case of a big company using the law as a club against a small company that cannot fight back.
If that was the reason then it had the exact opposite effect on me. I went from 3 DVD/BluRay+streaming to 2 DVD/BluRay. My queue had ~30 movies on it and only 2 could be streamed.
It'd be interesting to know what innovations they were successful in stopping over the last century.
DAT (digital audio tape) was originally pushed as a replacement for the audio cassette but paranoia over "perfect" digital copies forced all consumer DAT decks to have copy protection (Audio Home Recording Act of 1992) and the format was stillborn outside of pro audio (where it was used through the mid to late 90's). Amusingly the protection used was called SCMS which most users of DAT decks referred to as "scummy".
I don't think it would have replaced audio cassettes anyway as the transport was similar to a VCR in design and was probably too fiddly to be reliable in a car stereo, which is what really pushed cassette in front of vinyl at the time.
Why stop at 1? Pick a suitably large number and there is no way the system can handle it. Accuse him of 10,000 copyright violations and he can have his net access back for the low, low price of $35,000.
Hell write a bot that accuses people you dislike of copyright infringement and you've basically got a way to kick them off the net forever.
Here Mr. Troll, have a cookie... (I really can't help myself)
Sooooooooo, if the only reason people go to a theater at all is because they have no alternative choice (which your semi-rant implies) why should they stay in business? Do they have a divine right to be new release cinema gatekeepers or something? Is a monty-pyhon style cardboard lightning bolt going to strike me if I don't see a movie in a theater?
If the industry would use it's brain it would realize that you get money from customers from providing them a service that they want, not by providing them what you want to provide them. Only monopolies get to do the latter which is why these industries are fighting so hard to remain monopolies...
If you advocate paperback pricing for ebooks then you are in effect advocating that the fixed costs of prepping the ebook + the server/bandwidth costs for distribution equal the printing, storage, and distribution costs of the paperback. IMO that is insane as I cannot imaging those two costs are even close. This fails my basic reality test as a consumer and $8 ebooks make me feel like I'm being ripped off. If my choice was $8 for an ebook or nothing I'd stop reading.
Worse, as long as Borders remains in business (how long this lasts is debatable) paperbacks will be cheaper than $8. Borders 30% off coupons are common as dirt if you are a rewards club member (free to join) so if you have a local Borders still in business your paper cost is closer to $5.60 + tax. So I can buy a paperback for $6 then resell it or share it with friends or buy an ebook for $8 or more and be stuck with it. Pretty bad choice IMO. From my point of view ebooks of fiction paperbacks need to be in the $3 range to justify me buying a reader.
This reminds me of an episode of Babylon 5, "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars". It shows Earth 500 years after B5 where the govt. propaganda machine was hard at work. Over time the meaning of words had changed, "truth" no long meant what we think of as the trust (that was realtruth), it means the facts as the propaganda machine wanted to present them. And felt perfectly justified in warping and twisting them, for after all, to not tell the "truth" would be to lie and to lie was bad.
This is the same thing; the word "steal" no longer means "to take something which doesn't belong to you". It means "to not let a corporate overload milk as much money as humanly possible from you". You're "stealing" from a company by refusing to pay what they want you to pay or to consume what they want you to consume. Because it's their DIVINE RIGHT for you to hand them all your money.
I don't think you'll ever see change at the xxAA's; they will become irrelevant before they adapt. I suspect the culture of control is too deeply ingrained at all of these organizations. Think about it, if vacancies open up who's doing the hiring? People that think this is the way to go. If you stroll in there spewing off about "changing business models" and "unmet consumer demand" are they going to hire you? Of course not they are going to hire someone that tells them what they want to here, that it can all be "fixed" and we can get back to the good old days when monopoly rents could be charged and control exerted over both sides of the market. So the organization as a whole will continue to have this mindset until it gets replaced by another that is more agile and can/is willing to react to the marketplace.
I agree that the issue is ad revenue, however I'm not so sure the networks want the current system to change (even if they think they do). If Neilsen started tracking how many people actually watch ads on a channel (instead of what channels people watch) ad revenue might plummet.
As an example if I'm going to watch something on TV (a rarity these days) I'll DVR it specifically so I can skip the ads. Even sports, I'll start watching a game 90 min into it so I can skip all of the ads. I have to assume that other people do this.
I don't want to get in the way of a good rant (a lot of which I agree with); but...I'm not sure what country you're in so maybe this isn't available where you are:
So if I understand your thinking correctly you've decided that:
1. Torrents are 'mostly' used for infringement and should therefore be illegal.
2. Any tool that is used to 'primarily' search torrents should be illegal as it is used for 'mostly' infringing (see #1)
3. You have no data to back any of this up (if you've made citations I've missed them) so it's all based on fuzzy lines drawn in the imaginary sand in your head.
Where's the line drawn? 50%? 80%? 20%? Would you find it acceptable if someone drew the line at a different place than you do? Or do we all have to agree on the same line? Would you agree with COICA if it caused google to be shut down? (I'm guessing no.) Shutting google down would use logic identical to yours, the only difference is the line would be drawn someplace where you (presumably) consider it unreasonable.
Let's take the logic to a ludicrous extreme. People commit all sorts of illegal acts. People infringe, buy drugs, steal, murder, assault, even (gasp) produce child pornography. (If you listen to big content a pretty sizable portion of the populate infringe.) This is all illegal, if you just kill everyone who commits any of these acts you'll have zero repeat offenders. But why wait, that 12 year old could be a future infringer or drug consumer. Kill him now before he commits that future crime. Even better just kill the entire human race, then you've got zero crime. Problem solved.
Some of the things you say seem as silly to many of the techdirt readers as the above probably sounds to you.
A bit of a nit but DJ CD decks are about 10 years out of date. These days most everyone is storing music on laptops and using any of a variety of controllers (timecode vinyl or CD's or dedicated controllers).
Electronic music (and probably other non-mainstream musical styles) aren't usually done to make large sums of money. The most common reasons are either the love of the music or to get exposure to get gigs (DJ gigs in the case of electronica). When I was playing out I used to get asked all the time why I didn't make music, as that was the most common way to get your name out there and get gigs. Back in the mid 90's a lot of techno records would press 500-2000 copies, that's not making the artist a lot of money even when the artist is the artist, writer, producer, and label. It often did, however, lead to numerous DJ gigs which could pay $1,000+ for a big name. Although I knew some artists that just did it because they loved electronic music and the fact that they got any money at all was a plus.
Just looking at the music available to DJ's now, I think digital music has succeeded in that it's turned a lot more people into artists (as a consumer this both good and bad, there's a lot more not-so-good music out there now). It's succeeded in that as a DJ (or music consumer in general) I no longer have to be sitting in the record store waiting for the UPS boxes to open so I can pick up 1 of the 3 copies of a record that they got (and if you missed one of those 3 there were never any restocks).
It's 'failing' in that it's destroying the music copying industry, and whether the labels would admit it or not the majors and most of the smaller minors were all in the music copying industry.
The names on the campaign contribution checks change slightly depending on which party you are talking about. Other than that there is no real difference.
Earlier on techdirt someone had the idea of forcing politicians to wear sponsor iron-ons like NASCAR drivers. It's a brilliant idea; it wouldn't change anything but at least we'd know which of our corporate overlords we were voting for.
Re: And now a word from Mike Bickle, pastor/CEO of IHOP:
"Apparently, all you have to do is pray hard enough and God will kill people for you."
Depends on which god you're talking about. The Christian God is apparently schizophrenic.
You have the old testament god who is all about smiting & killing, and "do what I say or else", and periodically wiping out humanity with various elements.
Then you have the new testament where Jesus is hippy that says "God is cool, man".
On the post: 20th Century Fox Claims 'Dice Age' Game Sounds Too Much Like Ice Age Movie
Re:
Just yet another case of a big company using the law as a club against a small company that cannot fight back.
On the post: Another View Of The Netflix Price Hike: It's Speeding Up The Shift To Online Streaming
On the post: Should ISPs Cut Off The Entertainment Industry For Pushing Them To Censor?
Re: Re:
DAT (digital audio tape) was originally pushed as a replacement for the audio cassette but paranoia over "perfect" digital copies forced all consumer DAT decks to have copy protection (Audio Home Recording Act of 1992) and the format was stillborn outside of pro audio (where it was used through the mid to late 90's). Amusingly the protection used was called SCMS which most users of DAT decks referred to as "scummy".
I don't think it would have replaced audio cassettes anyway as the transport was similar to a VCR in design and was probably too fiddly to be reliable in a car stereo, which is what really pushed cassette in front of vinyl at the time.
On the post: Killing The Golden Goose: Is Hollywood To Blame For Netflix's Poorly Thought Out Massive Price Hike?
Re: Re:
Ask the underpant gnomes? They're the experts in "???" economic theory.
"Time to go to work, work all night; search for underpants hey..."
On the post: ISP's Five Strikes Plan: Railroading, MPAA/RIAA-Style
Re: Re: But this is EXACTLY what you wanted
Hell write a bot that accuses people you dislike of copyright infringement and you've basically got a way to kick them off the net forever.
On the post: Big Hollywood Directors Seem To Think People Will Actually Pay $30 To Watch Movies At Home
Re:
Sooooooooo, if the only reason people go to a theater at all is because they have no alternative choice (which your semi-rant implies) why should they stay in business? Do they have a divine right to be new release cinema gatekeepers or something? Is a monty-pyhon style cardboard lightning bolt going to strike me if I don't see a movie in a theater?
If the industry would use it's brain it would realize that you get money from customers from providing them a service that they want, not by providing them what you want to provide them. Only monopolies get to do the latter which is why these industries are fighting so hard to remain monopolies...
On the post: Not Every Theater Owner Fears Competing With Your Home Theater System
Re:
On the post: 'Economics In One Lesson' Apparently Doesn't Include Pricing; Kindle Version Most Expensive
Re: Re:
Worse, as long as Borders remains in business (how long this lasts is debatable) paperbacks will be cheaper than $8. Borders 30% off coupons are common as dirt if you are a rewards club member (free to join) so if you have a local Borders still in business your paper cost is closer to $5.60 + tax. So I can buy a paperback for $6 then resell it or share it with friends or buy an ebook for $8 or more and be stuck with it. Pretty bad choice IMO. From my point of view ebooks of fiction paperbacks need to be in the $3 range to justify me buying a reader.
On the post: Time Warner Cable, Viacom Go To Court: Does TWC Need Permission To Let Paying Subscribers View Viacom Content On iPads?
Re: Re: I wish I had a time machine
Viacom killed Kenny?
On the post: Is Tethering Stealing Bandwidth?
This is the same thing; the word "steal" no longer means "to take something which doesn't belong to you". It means "to not let a corporate overload milk as much money as humanly possible from you". You're "stealing" from a company by refusing to pay what they want you to pay or to consume what they want you to consume. Because it's their DIVINE RIGHT for you to hand them all your money.
On the post: Why Chris Dodd Is Doing Everything Wrong With The MPAA
On the post: Broadcasters To Sue Time Warner Cable For Making It Easier For People To See Their Shows & Ads
Re: ad revenue
As an example if I'm going to watch something on TV (a rarity these days) I'll DVR it specifically so I can skip the ads. Even sports, I'll start watching a game 90 min into it so I can skip all of the ads. I have to assume that other people do this.
On the post: Hulu Realizing That Taking Orders From Every Entertainment Company Boss Isn't Effective
Re: the studios don't want change.
http://www.amazon.com/Space-1999-Anniversary-Megaset-17DVD/dp/B000P6R5TI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8& amp;qid=1300285404&sr=8-1
Space: 1999 has been available on DVD here in the States for about 12 years.
On the post: The Return Of COICA; Because Censorship Is Cool Again
Re: Re: Re:
1. Torrents are 'mostly' used for infringement and should therefore be illegal.
2. Any tool that is used to 'primarily' search torrents should be illegal as it is used for 'mostly' infringing (see #1)
3. You have no data to back any of this up (if you've made citations I've missed them) so it's all based on fuzzy lines drawn in the imaginary sand in your head.
Where's the line drawn? 50%? 80%? 20%? Would you find it acceptable if someone drew the line at a different place than you do? Or do we all have to agree on the same line? Would you agree with COICA if it caused google to be shut down? (I'm guessing no.) Shutting google down would use logic identical to yours, the only difference is the line would be drawn someplace where you (presumably) consider it unreasonable.
Let's take the logic to a ludicrous extreme. People commit all sorts of illegal acts. People infringe, buy drugs, steal, murder, assault, even (gasp) produce child pornography. (If you listen to big content a pretty sizable portion of the populate infringe.) This is all illegal, if you just kill everyone who commits any of these acts you'll have zero repeat offenders. But why wait, that 12 year old could be a future infringer or drug consumer. Kill him now before he commits that future crime. Even better just kill the entire human race, then you've got zero crime. Problem solved.
Some of the things you say seem as silly to many of the techdirt readers as the above probably sounds to you.
On the post: Senator Wyden Proposing Legislation Requiring Warrants For Law Enforcement To Get Device Location Info
Re: Re:
On the post: Digital Music Has Only 'Failed' If You're Not Paying Attention
Re: Re: DnB
On the post: Digital Music Has Only 'Failed' If You're Not Paying Attention
Re: DnB
Electronic music (and probably other non-mainstream musical styles) aren't usually done to make large sums of money. The most common reasons are either the love of the music or to get exposure to get gigs (DJ gigs in the case of electronica). When I was playing out I used to get asked all the time why I didn't make music, as that was the most common way to get your name out there and get gigs. Back in the mid 90's a lot of techno records would press 500-2000 copies, that's not making the artist a lot of money even when the artist is the artist, writer, producer, and label. It often did, however, lead to numerous DJ gigs which could pay $1,000+ for a big name. Although I knew some artists that just did it because they loved electronic music and the fact that they got any money at all was a plus.
Just looking at the music available to DJ's now, I think digital music has succeeded in that it's turned a lot more people into artists (as a consumer this both good and bad, there's a lot more not-so-good music out there now). It's succeeded in that as a DJ (or music consumer in general) I no longer have to be sitting in the record store waiting for the UPS boxes to open so I can pick up 1 of the 3 copies of a record that they got (and if you missed one of those 3 there were never any restocks).
It's 'failing' in that it's destroying the music copying industry, and whether the labels would admit it or not the majors and most of the smaller minors were all in the music copying industry.
On the post: Does Saying You Wouldn't 'Buy' A Congressional Seat Mean You Don't Care About Politics?
Re: Its the politicians
On the post: RIAA Claims That If COICA Isn't Passed, Americans Are 'Put At Risk'
Re: Re:
Earlier on techdirt someone had the idea of forcing politicians to wear sponsor iron-ons like NASCAR drivers. It's a brilliant idea; it wouldn't change anything but at least we'd know which of our corporate overlords we were voting for.
On the post: IHOP Sues IHOP; Trademark Battle Pits Pancakes vs. God
Re: And now a word from Mike Bickle, pastor/CEO of IHOP:
Depends on which god you're talking about. The Christian God is apparently schizophrenic.
You have the old testament god who is all about smiting & killing, and "do what I say or else", and periodically wiping out humanity with various elements.
Then you have the new testament where Jesus is hippy that says "God is cool, man".
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