i've been finding lately that any attempt to view a video on youtube linked from techdirt, using the embeded player or by actually going to youtube, produces the message 'an error has occured, please try again later' rather than the video. the rest of the page is fine.
as error messages go, that's pretty terrible.
it's also quite suspicious: other videos work fine.
(of course, it Might just be an excess of viewers overloading the system, but i find that unlikely.)
this is not as unexpected as one might think. even leaving aside the possibility of direct US government action, there's the whole 'chilling effect' thing going on.
ouch. well, they just killed, what, 50% of their usefulness? number completely arbitrary. i do know my only use of file lockers has been to download stuff other people have made available.
gets better: the current government has some absolutely bullshit cash for residency deal: dump enough money into the system on the way in and you completely bypass the entire process. (including, so far as i am aware, any part which might check to see if you're a known terrorist etc... ) had the normal system applied various issues with the guys past (less than legal behaviour) would probably have prevented him entering the country.
currently, any and all SOPA/PIPA videos i attempt to view (ie, ones on Youtube linked from Techdirt) are just coming up with 'sorry, an error has occurred, please try again later'.
i think it's meant to be more attractive than where things are currently heading, which is functional US corporate control strangling large parts of how things are currently set up, and various restrictive governments adding to the problem.
kinda, the problem would be solved by leaving it alone, but those able to affect it refuse to do so, so here's a way to make them. or some such.
... i figure, it seems like a good idea, but has so much potential to go wrong that it's not worth it, but no one has a better way of preventing where we're currently heading, which is also not good.
i dunno... this seems like the one thing they Would agree on: greater control by the elites over the general populace's day to day activity.
doesn't matter what ideology one purports to subscribe to, nor what nation one owes one's allegiance to, governments will do that unless they've had a very recent and very real taste of the downside (and whoever ended up running things was the sort to do something about it rather than just become the elites...)
Re: Ranks right up there with other philosophical questions
i've encountered a number of answers to this question, but for a 'serious' answer, one must first decide whether one is making a basic assumption of 'creation' or a basic assumption of 'evolution' for the fundamental origin of the creature in question.
(resolve That debate, which is basically never going to happen in this age of the world, and the answer becomes quite simple.)
(yeah, for future reference: a Kiwi is a bird, after which was named an Australian brand of shoe/boot polish, which if memory serves was the same colour, though they make others now (the owner of the business that made it married a New Zealander, if memory serves, which it may well not) after which were named the New Zealand soldiers of world war... two, i think (we were 'diggers' along with the australians in ww1, i believe. for whatever reason.) after which are named the population of the country, after which are named Kiwifruit (that's one word, people!) which are those brown fuzzy fruit that are either green or yellow on the inside, which Used to be called 'chinese gooseberries' before that became un-PC for whatever reason and/or NZ started being one of, if not the, main source of them. this rant brought to you by a major pet peeve.)
possibly, if you falsely claimed to have done it 'first' or be the 'only' one. and even then one would think it would be a lot closer to a trademark issue, where the 'victim' is the general public and thus any fine would go to the government.
but simply building those things as you mention certainly shouldn't cause issues in a sane world. (whether it Does or not in This word is a different story)
huh. in NZ the government funded programing is payed for out of regular taxes, and the government 'owned' channels (maybe 1/3rd or so of the free-to-air ones?) pretty much use advertising to pay for themselves the same as the others. only difference is that they're contractually obligated to run election stuff and the like and the government is the one collecting the profits. (end result: we actually get reasonably balanced media covarge most of hte time... not so much when national's in power, sadly, as then you get the 'don't upset those controling our funding too much' affecting one major news channel and blatant pro-rich-people-getting-more-money-is-the-only-thing-that-matters-so-therefore-everyone-but-national -sucks propaganda on the other...)
much as the general public have similar sentiment, the government here has a long history of outright ignoring such things... and they bypass the risk of failing to get re-elected by convincing almost Every party with seats to vote for it.
(such strange things as: Major Party A proposes a bill. Major Party B, currently in opposition and Party A's traditional opponent refuses to support it unless certain changes are made. Party A refuses to make those changes. Party B votes for it Anyway. this kind of thing is business as usual.)
the current lot are also prone to announcing that they're looking into doing something, seeing what the public reaction is, if it's positive making a big deal of doing the thing, and if it's negative claiming that they've looked into it and decided not to. ... ... half the time in the latter case it gets passed, with all the most objectionable bits restored, the next time they can find an excuse to have parliament sit under urgency. (urgency means there is NO PUBLIC CONSULTATION. it's supposed to be for stuff that Must be finished before parliament is dissolved for elections, stops sitting for the year, or for actually urgent emergency stuff. ... yeah, current government did exactly this to pass copyright law that had spawned major protest the last time they tried... during an urgency session supposedly about dealing with the big earthquake here...)
On the post: Dan Bull Raps About How Megaupload Takedown Screws Indie Artists Like Him
Re: Re:
On the post: Dan Bull Raps About How Megaupload Takedown Screws Indie Artists Like Him
Re: Re: Re: Re: Antitrust?
the US still has some of those, right?
On the post: Dan Bull Raps About How Megaupload Takedown Screws Indie Artists Like Him
Re: Re: Re: Re:
otherwise i'd have to find a way to punch you in the face via the internet... and that would take time and money i don't have.
On the post: Dan Bull Raps About How Megaupload Takedown Screws Indie Artists Like Him
Re: Something funny
as error messages go, that's pretty terrible.
it's also quite suspicious: other videos work fine.
(of course, it Might just be an excess of viewers overloading the system, but i find that unlikely.)
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
Re:
this is not as unexpected as one might think. even leaving aside the possibility of direct US government action, there's the whole 'chilling effect' thing going on.
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
Re:
On the post: The Internet Strikes Back: Anonymous Takes Down DOJ.gov, RIAA, MPAA Sites To Protest Megaupload Seizure
Re: Re: Re: Re: Our Government/Entertainment Industry must be stopped!!!
right?
On the post: The Internet Strikes Back: Anonymous Takes Down DOJ.gov, RIAA, MPAA Sites To Protest Megaupload Seizure
Re: Re: Re: Whoa!
reality has a way of proving that people can be infinitely more stupid, and never the less somehow Effective, than you'd think.
On the post: The Internet Strikes Back: Anonymous Takes Down DOJ.gov, RIAA, MPAA Sites To Protest Megaupload Seizure
Re: Re:
On the post: Best Congressional Response To SOPA Yet? Rep. Bruce Braley Takes To *CENSORED* To Explain His *CENSORED*
On the post: We, The People, Are Sarcastic And Not Easily Mollified By Bland Political Non-Answers
Re: Re: Re: Re:
they just never use it because of the massive headache that would ensue.
On the post: India Wants UN Body To Run The Internet: Would That Be Such A Bad Thing?
Re: Re: Vote for Anonymous to run it
On the post: India Wants UN Body To Run The Internet: Would That Be Such A Bad Thing?
Re: how to tell good plans from bad
kinda, the problem would be solved by leaving it alone, but those able to affect it refuse to do so, so here's a way to make them. or some such.
... i figure, it seems like a good idea, but has so much potential to go wrong that it's not worth it, but no one has a better way of preventing where we're currently heading, which is also not good.
or something.
On the post: India Wants UN Body To Run The Internet: Would That Be Such A Bad Thing?
Re: I dont know, I think it could work...
doesn't matter what ideology one purports to subscribe to, nor what nation one owes one's allegiance to, governments will do that unless they've had a very recent and very real taste of the downside (and whoever ended up running things was the sort to do something about it rather than just become the elites...)
On the post: What Exactly Makes A Pop-Up Mall A Pop-Up Mall? On Second Thought, Who Cares?
Re: Ranks right up there with other philosophical questions
(resolve That debate, which is basically never going to happen in this age of the world, and the answer becomes quite simple.)
On the post: What Exactly Makes A Pop-Up Mall A Pop-Up Mall? On Second Thought, Who Cares?
Re:
(yeah, for future reference: a Kiwi is a bird, after which was named an Australian brand of shoe/boot polish, which if memory serves was the same colour, though they make others now (the owner of the business that made it married a New Zealander, if memory serves, which it may well not) after which were named the New Zealand soldiers of world war... two, i think (we were 'diggers' along with the australians in ww1, i believe. for whatever reason.) after which are named the population of the country, after which are named Kiwifruit (that's one word, people!) which are those brown fuzzy fruit that are either green or yellow on the inside, which Used to be called 'chinese gooseberries' before that became un-PC for whatever reason and/or NZ started being one of, if not the, main source of them. this rant brought to you by a major pet peeve.)
On the post: What Exactly Makes A Pop-Up Mall A Pop-Up Mall? On Second Thought, Who Cares?
Re: Re: Failure of attribution
but simply building those things as you mention certainly shouldn't cause issues in a sane world. (whether it Does or not in This word is a different story)
On the post: Hardware Store That Doesn't Play Any Music Has To Fight Off Collection Society Demanding A License Fee
Re: Re: Re:
On the post: What's The Most Expensive WiFi You've Seen?
Re:
On the post: US Trying To Force Governments To Pay Much Higher Prices For Needed Drugs Through Secretive TPP
Re: Good news for me.
much as the general public have similar sentiment, the government here has a long history of outright ignoring such things... and they bypass the risk of failing to get re-elected by convincing almost Every party with seats to vote for it.
(such strange things as: Major Party A proposes a bill. Major Party B, currently in opposition and Party A's traditional opponent refuses to support it unless certain changes are made. Party A refuses to make those changes. Party B votes for it Anyway. this kind of thing is business as usual.)
the current lot are also prone to announcing that they're looking into doing something, seeing what the public reaction is, if it's positive making a big deal of doing the thing, and if it's negative claiming that they've looked into it and decided not to. ... ... half the time in the latter case it gets passed, with all the most objectionable bits restored, the next time they can find an excuse to have parliament sit under urgency. (urgency means there is NO PUBLIC CONSULTATION. it's supposed to be for stuff that Must be finished before parliament is dissolved for elections, stops sitting for the year, or for actually urgent emergency stuff. ... yeah, current government did exactly this to pass copyright law that had spawned major protest the last time they tried... during an urgency session supposedly about dealing with the big earthquake here...)
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