http://www.techdirt.com/ Easily digestible tech news.... http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130515/00145123090/big-pharma-firms-seeking-pharmacy-domain-to-crowd-out-legitimate-foreign-pharmacies.shtml#c253 Sat, 18 May 2013 08:59:16 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130515/00145123090/big-pharma-firms-seeking-pharmacy-domain-to-crowd-out-legitimate-foreign-pharmacies.shtml#c253
Take your post, and replace references to pharmacy with RIAA or MPAA and let's see how it sounds.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130508/10233423003/bug-allows-same-sex-marriage-nintendo-game-nintendo-releases-patch-to-fix-it.shtml#c3667 Sat, 18 May 2013 08:57:56 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130508/10233423003/bug-allows-same-sex-marriage-nintendo-game-nintendo-releases-patch-to-fix-it.shtml#c3667
Do you want to know why there are gay parades? It's because for decades, centuries, those who were gay were discriminated against. This is undeniable fact. Over time, they fought back, and won rights. They won the right to keep their jobs, etc.
What is it with you and conflating homosexuality with bestiality, and pedophilia? As long as the people who are having sex are adults, I don't care what it is they do. Note that excludes children and non-humans. If they want to add a third or fourth adult into the mix, fine, that's their business, nothing to do with me or you.
Also, what is it you think is happening in schools "indoctrinating children with the gay lifestyle"? Do you seriously think that schools are going around saying to kids "You had better be gay". What is a "gay lifestyle"? I've known plenty of gay people and until they told me, I would never have known. They weren't all flamboyant about it. They looked and acted like regular hetero people. They just happened to have sex with a person of the same gender.
As for attacking millions of people's morals...there is no such thing as an absolute morality. I find what you're saying to be very immoral.
You're basically taking the argument that millions of people can't be wrong, because...there's millions of them. Well sorry to say, but that's wrong in and of itself.

I notice you didn't answer how and why homosexuality is evil.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/06185923116/rice-university-professor-skynets-gonna-take-ur-jerbs.shtml#c327 Sat, 18 May 2013 08:57:24 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/06185923116/rice-university-professor-skynets-gonna-take-ur-jerbs.shtml#c327 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130510/13023123037/lots-people-dont-turn-off-their-devices-when-they-fly.shtml#c1304 Sat, 18 May 2013 08:49:25 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130510/13023123037/lots-people-dont-turn-off-their-devices-when-they-fly.shtml#c1304 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130516/16203623112/nintendo-exchanges-goodwill-control-issues-mass-monetization-claims-lets-play-videos.shtml#c292 Sat, 18 May 2013 08:47:01 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130516/16203623112/nintendo-exchanges-goodwill-control-issues-mass-monetization-claims-lets-play-videos.shtml#c292 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130515/18051923103/footage-lethal-beating-deleted-seized-phone-sheriff-asks-fbi-to-take-over-investigation.shtml#c927 Sat, 18 May 2013 08:28:43 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130515/18051923103/footage-lethal-beating-deleted-seized-phone-sheriff-asks-fbi-to-take-over-investigation.shtml#c927
"Fortunately I have never had an opportunity to test it to see how well it works."

That's the big problem. You can't test it to make sure it works beforehand. What if you find out in the heat of the moment that some other app is making a fuss?

Then again, THAT would be an easy problem to solve by building in a test-function in the app, that would upload to a different server that actually erases the data daily.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/02413623115/bogus-lawsuit-plus-threats-to-those-who-write-about-it-leads-to-epic-response.shtml#c783 Sat, 18 May 2013 08:24:35 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/02413623115/bogus-lawsuit-plus-threats-to-those-who-write-about-it-leads-to-epic-response.shtml#c783 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/06185923116/rice-university-professor-skynets-gonna-take-ur-jerbs.shtml#c318 Sat, 18 May 2013 08:12:14 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/06185923116/rice-university-professor-skynets-gonna-take-ur-jerbs.shtml#c318 Budget deficits
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Budget_Deficit_1971_to_2001.png

Corporate profits
https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/fredgraph.png?graph_id=45260

NAFTA wasn't bad for business, it just isn't reaching workers
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Productivity_and_Real_Median_Family_Income_Growth_1947-2009.png]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130515/17254423102/eric-holder-claims-terrorists-are-involved-ip-theft.shtml#c1501 Sat, 18 May 2013 08:12:00 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130515/17254423102/eric-holder-claims-terrorists-are-involved-ip-theft.shtml#c1501 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/06185923116/rice-university-professor-skynets-gonna-take-ur-jerbs.shtml#c313 Sat, 18 May 2013 08:00:19 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/06185923116/rice-university-professor-skynets-gonna-take-ur-jerbs.shtml#c313 not to address in my lengthy rant (below). Decoupling imputed moral value from (current) economic necessity will surely be one of the hardest conceptual leaps to make. My niece is a talented violinist. That (and four bucks) will get you a latt]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/06185923116/rice-university-professor-skynets-gonna-take-ur-jerbs.shtml#c296 Sat, 18 May 2013 07:58:37 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/06185923116/rice-university-professor-skynets-gonna-take-ur-jerbs.shtml#c296 First, it cheaply ignores the impact every other form of technological progress has had thus far. Robots are used on assembly lines, yet there's no drastic net loss of jobs.

That's kind of wrong since in the US, we lost millions of jobs thanks to "free trade" agreements and CEOs looking to cut costs.

I recall that the NAFTA agreement during Clinton's era shipped jobs overseas and the American people didn't have anything to show for it.

Jobs were created, but it isn't a guarantee that the displacement of workers equates to better, more high skilled jobs being found here in the US.

And when you really look at the economic policies of the US, it seems more beneficial for the USG to tax people for their needing more education in order to benefit society which is a REALLY backwards equation.

We have high student debt caused by most of the money going to the wealthy while there is nothing to help the US get out of the economic austerity posed on them. It's a scary situation to be in. Cripple your future growth by giving the people few jobs, few economic opportunities, and try to keep them quiet about what's going on with your government?

Seems like a frog boiling slowly...]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/02413623115/bogus-lawsuit-plus-threats-to-those-who-write-about-it-leads-to-epic-response.shtml#c778 Sat, 18 May 2013 07:57:40 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/02413623115/bogus-lawsuit-plus-threats-to-those-who-write-about-it-leads-to-epic-response.shtml#c778 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/06185923116/rice-university-professor-skynets-gonna-take-ur-jerbs.shtml#c280 Sat, 18 May 2013 07:57:08 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/06185923116/rice-university-professor-skynets-gonna-take-ur-jerbs.shtml#c280
"Intelligence" means different things to different people, and few agree upon one concise set of words, which they also agree upon, to use in said definition. This is a problem not only for discussions of AI, but elsewhere as well.

Simple projection into the future of present computerized machine usage, assuming a linear function, is plainly ill conceived and quite misleading.

As with most other attempts to predict the future, this one is most likely doomed to failure.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/02413623115/bogus-lawsuit-plus-threats-to-those-who-write-about-it-leads-to-epic-response.shtml#c774 Sat, 18 May 2013 07:54:39 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/02413623115/bogus-lawsuit-plus-threats-to-those-who-write-about-it-leads-to-epic-response.shtml#c774 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/06185923116/rice-university-professor-skynets-gonna-take-ur-jerbs.shtml#c274 Sat, 18 May 2013 07:51:52 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/06185923116/rice-university-professor-skynets-gonna-take-ur-jerbs.shtml#c274
lols]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/06185923116/rice-university-professor-skynets-gonna-take-ur-jerbs.shtml#c268 Sat, 18 May 2013 07:50:27 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/06185923116/rice-university-professor-skynets-gonna-take-ur-jerbs.shtml#c268 everything, right down to middle management. Even design is much less labor intensive already, but we'll just ignore those jobs as safe, since keeping such numbers won't affect mass unemployment one whit.

Yes, there will always be 5-star accommodations with a "personal" (meat-sack) touch, but how many hand-made chairs, brooms, dishes, etc. etc. are sold every year, and what is the average purchasing power of their makers? What will India look like when every basket weaver is replaced by a machine that doesn't even need a hand-full of rice per day to work? How many such producers are really Village Craftspeople producing artisanal luxury, and how many 3rd world wage slaves making "...glass dishes with tiny bubbles and imperfections, proof that they were crafted by the honest, hard-working, indigenous peoples of...wherever." And what happens when the 'bots can do it with just a solar panel?

Geigner is missing the boat; it's not about welding and painting, it's EVERY JOB on the line. It's essentially EVERY JOB at Foxconn. It's not an olive tree shaker or a GPS-led plow, its ALL of agriculture. Robots to pick tomatoes, strawberries, apples...everything. All the time. Robots to drive the trucks. Automated logistics. Top to bottom AI.

It's not "but what about the machinists", it's "plausibly name a job that can't be automated away by an arbitrarily competent AI/robot, even if it doesn't have the ineffable spark of humanity." Now picture this in every sector, such that Capital will be effectively unfettered, free from the demands of Labor. Congrats Marxists: No more oppression, but at the cost of nearly all jobs.

Clarke's Law needs a corollary: Any sufficiently advanced automated system WILL take you job unless you can do it more cost-effectively. "Cheaply" ignoring history is a lesser sin than failing to grasp the nearly all-encompassing reach of even good-enough, "weak" AI.

From that point on, it will pretty much have to be redistributionist policies everywhere, all the time. "Citizen Income", here we come. Alternatives would certainly interest me, but I don't see any on the horizon.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130516/07281823105/saudi-religious-police-anyone-using-twitter-has-lost-this-world-his-afterlife.shtml#c785 Sat, 18 May 2013 07:31:08 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130516/07281823105/saudi-religious-police-anyone-using-twitter-has-lost-this-world-his-afterlife.shtml#c785
Democracy is based on the assumption that a million men are wiser than one man. How]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130516/15445423110/framework-copyright-reform.shtml#c1477 Sat, 18 May 2013 07:22:51 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130516/15445423110/framework-copyright-reform.shtml#c1477 I see your various arguments regarding copyright being a 'natural right', and raise you Karl's very well put refutation of them:

You have to understand: Crosbie believes that copyright was intended to protect unpublished writings only. In his eyes, the notion that copyright was supposed to be a post-publication monopoly is an abomination, a twisting of the intent of "copyright clause."

He is, in other words, a copyright abolitionist.

It is indeed ironic that his "natural rights" argument is echoed by copyright maximalists. But they are both wrong.

You linked to quotes about the post-publication monopoly not being a natural right. If you want to see a discussion with Crosbie directly, in which I show that the "copyright clause" was indeed talking about a post-publication monopoly, it is here:
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121025/18244920850/copyright-new-mercantilism.shtml#c135]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130516/15445423110/framework-copyright-reform.shtml#c1468 Sat, 18 May 2013 07:11:07 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130516/15445423110/framework-copyright-reform.shtml#c1468 Incorrect. Nobody is ever forced.

All the major labels had roughly the same "standard" contract. That included assigning all the rights to the recordings, and it was not a point that the labels were willing to negotiate. There are very few cases where artists retained their copyrights, but these are all well-known, gold or platinum artists who were able to negotiate this in their second contract with the labels. You can very nearly count them on one hand.

And unless you signed with a major, you could not get on commercial radio, could not play most of the larger venues, and could not get your records into national record stores. The major labels acted (and act) collectively, essentially forming a total monopoly on music.

So, no, you weren't "forced." You were only "required" to assign the rights if you hoped to actually make a living at your art.

Many of those same artists use the work and it's wide distribution and promotion to be able to build a fan base and charge for access to their live shows.

Yes, they did, but this revenue stream is unaffected by piracy (it's actually increased in the past ten years). In fact, you don't need copyright at all to do this.

If they are forced back to working at the 7-11 after that, they likely are not the artist that the public wants to hear from, read, or buy art from, plain and simple.

We're talking artists that sold units in the tens of thousands, sometimes the hundreds of thousands. That simply isn't enough to make money under the old major label system.

There is no unlimited source of revenue to pay people who feel they are an artist, the system is built so that those who are appreciated by the public can make a living being an artist.

You're right, there is not an unlimited source of money. But under the old label system, the vast majority of that money did not go to the creative artist at all.

Most of the people under that system could not make a sustainable living, whether they were appreciated by the public or not. Most songwriters could not write songs unless they spent their time performing for the public; most book writers who are not good public speakers were forced to do speaking tours or lectures. The ones who didn't have to do this were a small, small, small minority of songwriters or authors. That was (and is) true even among the songwriters or authors on major labels or who were signed with big publishing houses.

Again, if you look at the top grossing artists on major labels, nearly all of them made a tiny percentage of their income from royalties. They all make their money from other things - live touring, product endorsements, etc.

The notion that copyright helps artists make money, is almost entirely a myth. It is a myth that naive artists believe, in the same way that they believe copyright is some sort of "natural right" earned by their labor, but it is a myth nonetheless. It is like the myth of the "rock star lifestyle:" something that is deliberately promulgated by people who earn their money off of artists, in order to keep a fresh supply of labor to stock the plantation.

Would you, as Mike Masnick appears to want to, deny the artists the rights to own the material they create?

Neither myself nor Mike are copyright abolitionists. Mike wants copyright to fundamentally benefit the general public - which, not coincidentally, is also copyright's Constitutional purpose.

I personally want to see copyright continue. I simply recognize that the current form is an abomination. It hurts artists more than it helps them, and it does tremendous damage to the public good.

Specifically, I would start by re-legalizing all forms of non-commercial copying and distribution. I would also like to see copyright transfers abolished by law: copyright "ownership" should remain with the artists, and only licenses should be allowed. There are a few other things I'd like to see, but listing them would make this a novel-length reply.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/02413623115/bogus-lawsuit-plus-threats-to-those-who-write-about-it-leads-to-epic-response.shtml#c764 Sat, 18 May 2013 07:10:51 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/02413623115/bogus-lawsuit-plus-threats-to-those-who-write-about-it-leads-to-epic-response.shtml#c764