Rhett Reese said it was "beyond depressing" that Zombieland was the "number one most pirated movie" on Bittorrent. However, as the director for Ink showed, how many other movie writers/directors would love to be in that position??
It's a bit like an artist being "depressed" that his music is the number one most played in the radio!
So, the full cracked game is not promotion too? I have bought about 10 PC games this year so far, almost all of which I downloaded and played in full before buying! Some was because I wanted to try playing online (which is blocked for pirate keys), most was just because I liked the game and wanted to reward the creators. Some still have the plastic rap on them. I might just as well make a donation if it was possible.
I download because I want to see if I like the games first, I want to play them as soon as possible, and I don't want to deal with stupid DRM that limits installations and/or forces me to keep the DVD in the drive.
The final agreed text is not as good as it could be, but I'm still somewhat hopeful about it. It doesn't specifically require a trial before cutting someone's internet access, but it does require a "prior fair and impartial procedure [...], including the right to be heard" and that "these measures may only be taken with due respect for the principle of presumption of innocence".
Hopefully this will be interpreted as requiring some sort of judicial hearing before cutting anyone's access, including weighing in the evidence. Accusations do not establish guilt. Only the courts can do that. Unless the person accused admits wrongdoing and accepts the penalty, I don't see how he or she could be punished before a full trial.
In France the HADOPI 2 law will probably have to be changed because of this directive. Their "procedure", although involving a judge doesn't require the accused to be heard at all. As for the execution of all this, I expect they will probably pressure people to confess and accept a lighter penalty, rather than going to a full trial and risking heavier punishment.
Hopefully, when someone does appeal, the courts will declare the evidence as lacking and this whole thing will come crashing down. Let's not forget that even network printers have been accused of sharing movies in the US. An IP address reported by a tracker as sharing something is no smoking gun.
AHOTHABETH, in France they created a government they created a government agency to keep the database. And I think the 3 accusations have to occur in the time frame of 1 year. So as a "survival guide" I would suggest:
1st warning - don't panic, avoid downloading "high profile" stuff like recently released movies and albums. Consider using a private BT tracker instead of public ones.
2nd warning - signup to VPN to route your P2P traffic via a server or signup to a file hosting site and download everything from there, until 1 year has passed since 1st warning.
Reminds me of a directive being discussed in the European Parliament one point, which included language to forbid not only any unauthorized use of a trademark but also any tools that could be used to infringe on trademarks. It was removed after people started pointing out that pen and paper would be illegal. Nice, heh?
In France they setup a government agency (HADOPI) to keep such a database. And I think after 1 year your "record" is cleared. You have to be accused 3 times in the time frame of 1 year to get disconnected.
My "survival guide" for this would be:
1st warning - don't panic, avoid downloading "high profile" stuff (recently released movies or music).
2nd warning - stop using open P2P, sign for a VPN service or file hosting site (rapidshare, megaupload, etc) until 1 year after 1st warning.
I have been saying this for years. All efforts to stop P2P file sharing have led to new systems increasingly more difficult to monitor and control. In response to things like "3 strikes" anonymous/encrypted/private systems will be made and/or grow in usage.
Last week after France's constitutional council approved the latest version of "3 strikes" law, the French forums were predictably ablaze with talk about VPNs, P2P apps that only share with "friends", etc.
"Piracy" will go on. But controlling the spread of really dangerous content (child porn, terrorism) will be that much more difficult. The "spooks" are right to be worried, and I'm glad they are speaking up about it.
I think the logistics and inventory of "crowdsourcing" could get tricky and expensive. It makes more sense to setup a separate company that buys direct from distributors and then resells to Redbox. If they ban that one... rinse, repeat.
'the law needs to "fix the piracy problem" because without that, business models can't be built up.'
I somewhat agree with this statement, but not in the way they do. As long as content companies look at the "piracy problem" as a legal problem, something the government must come in and fix, they WONT build new business models. As long as they keep on thinking the government is going to keep on artificially sustaining their old business models, they wont bother coming out with new ones. Especially when they can't imagine them being as lucrative as the old ones.
Governments think they are helping when they expand copyright law and enforce it with ridiculous stuff like "3 strikes", but they are truly not. They are just standing in the way of the future entrepreneurs by giving tools to the old lazy businesspeople that want to keep everything the way it was.
Jon Favreau has used his blog and twitter to talk about Iron Man, "leak" photos, etc, and I would say with some success. It helps to build anticipation for the movie. In my view even Wolverine's leaked workprint copy served that propose.
I can understand them wanting to control disparaging comments, but completely forbidding the use of twitter, etc, is cutting their own legs.
When I read his comments on Netbooks, I rolled my eyes and said "duhhh". He is defining a product on the negative. That's not good marketing.
Yes, netbooks have small screens and the performance is far from amazing, but so what?? Nobody said they are supposed to be good replacements for desktop PCs! Or even 14" or 15.4" laptops. They are different products, and good for different things.
In fact Dell could say the same things about average laptops compared with a desktop PC. Does that mean laptops are useless? Laptops have mobility, desktops don't. Netbooks take that further by being smaller, cheaper, and having longer battery life.
Here in Portugal two carriers have been offering the iPhone from the start (Vodafone and Optimus). However, according to something I read when the original iPhone was launched here, Optimus might not be getting the iPhones directly from Apple but from a UK carrier.
Only TMN, the biggest carrier with something like 60% market share, doesn't have the iPhone. And like Derek said, they have been very keen in launching touch phones from Samsung, Nokia and HTC. They where the first to launch an Android phone here, the HTC Magic, and they offered a 50% discount for it during the iPhone 3GS launch day. It sold out from the online store in less than 1 hour. I was one of the luck few that got one. 224€ without any "plan" or "contract" attached, I think it was a good deal.
"this is a game that purposely is based on stealing cars, killing people, drug dealing and other sorts of illegal activity... and suddenly people got upset because of a hidden level that included a bit of consensual sex?"
Exactly! I have been saying that all this time. Probably the ONLY thing in that game that didn't involve hurting anyone (quite the opposite, the goal was to pleasure your girlfriend), was the part that generated a scandal!
So, you can kill people, kill policemen, have sex for money AND kill the hocker after if you want your money back... that's fine! No problem. But a mini-game whose goal is to pleasure your girlfriend... now that's to far!
A 17+ rating was enough for the violence in the US, unlike the rest of the world, but for consensual sex... Oh no! Don't you dare play that a single day before your 18th birthday!
Now, that really sent a GREAT message to the kids. You can have sex with hookers and shoot them in the face right after, but don't you dare give your girlfriend an orgasm!
If different databases exist, for related purposes (in this case diagnostic and treatment), then using/consulting/merging them is totally an obvious thing. Even if there was no prior art, to me this should be an open and shut case.
If the fact that this is about "knowledge bases" or "data bases" confuses the issue, then think about them as books! Enough said!
I sent this one to Mike too, but I guess someone bit me to it. True or not, its a fascinating story. We may think this is new, that the current disputes are from the internet age, but 1450 years ago they where debating access to knowledge, copies devaluing the originals, and the familiar property rhetoric! One demanded the right to make copies and spread them, the other demanded control of any copying of "his" book. Sounds familiar? Well it happened 1450 years ago!
I guess the RIAA and our governments are lucky the Columbas of today cant exactly raise an army, defeat them in battle and dethrone them. We'll have to make do with the EFFs and Pirate Parties.
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"beyond depressing" (as nelsoncruz)
Rhett Reese said it was "beyond depressing" that Zombieland was the "number one most pirated movie" on Bittorrent. However, as the director for Ink showed, how many other movie writers/directors would love to be in that position??
It's a bit like an artist being "depressed" that his music is the number one most played in the radio!
Re: (as nelsoncruz)
So, the full cracked game is not promotion too? I have bought about 10 PC games this year so far, almost all of which I downloaded and played in full before buying! Some was because I wanted to try playing online (which is blocked for pirate keys), most was just because I liked the game and wanted to reward the creators. Some still have the plastic rap on them. I might just as well make a donation if it was possible.
I download because I want to see if I like the games first, I want to play them as soon as possible, and I don't want to deal with stupid DRM that limits installations and/or forces me to keep the DVD in the drive.
(as Nelson Cruz)
The final agreed text is not as good as it could be, but I'm still somewhat hopeful about it. It doesn't specifically require a trial before cutting someone's internet access, but it does require a "prior fair and impartial procedure [...], including the right to be heard" and that "these measures may only be taken with due respect for the principle of presumption of innocence".
Hopefully this will be interpreted as requiring some sort of judicial hearing before cutting anyone's access, including weighing in the evidence. Accusations do not establish guilt. Only the courts can do that. Unless the person accused admits wrongdoing and accepts the penalty, I don't see how he or she could be punished before a full trial.
In France the HADOPI 2 law will probably have to be changed because of this directive. Their "procedure", although involving a judge doesn't require the accused to be heard at all. As for the execution of all this, I expect they will probably pressure people to confess and accept a lighter penalty, rather than going to a full trial and risking heavier punishment.
Hopefully, when someone does appeal, the courts will declare the evidence as lacking and this whole thing will come crashing down. Let's not forget that even network printers have been accused of sharing movies in the US. An IP address reported by a tracker as sharing something is no smoking gun.
Re: Re: I think it gets worse (as nelsoncruz)
AHOTHABETH, in France they created a government they created a government agency to keep the database. And I think the 3 accusations have to occur in the time frame of 1 year. So as a "survival guide" I would suggest:
1st warning - don't panic, avoid downloading "high profile" stuff like recently released movies and albums. Consider using a private BT tracker instead of public ones.
2nd warning - signup to VPN to route your P2P traffic via a server or signup to a file hosting site and download everything from there, until 1 year has passed since 1st warning.
(as nelsoncruz)
Reminds me of a directive being discussed in the European Parliament one point, which included language to forbid not only any unauthorized use of a trademark but also any tools that could be used to infringe on trademarks. It was removed after people started pointing out that pen and paper would be illegal. Nice, heh?
Re: Re: I think it gets worse (as nelsoncruz)
In France they setup a government agency (HADOPI) to keep such a database. And I think after 1 year your "record" is cleared. You have to be accused 3 times in the time frame of 1 year to get disconnected.
My "survival guide" for this would be:
1st warning - don't panic, avoid downloading "high profile" stuff (recently released movies or music).
2nd warning - stop using open P2P, sign for a VPN service or file hosting site (rapidshare, megaupload, etc) until 1 year after 1st warning.
(as nelsoncruz)
I have been saying this for years. All efforts to stop P2P file sharing have led to new systems increasingly more difficult to monitor and control. In response to things like "3 strikes" anonymous/encrypted/private systems will be made and/or grow in usage.
Last week after France's constitutional council approved the latest version of "3 strikes" law, the French forums were predictably ablaze with talk about VPNs, P2P apps that only share with "friends", etc.
"Piracy" will go on. But controlling the spread of really dangerous content (child porn, terrorism) will be that much more difficult. The "spooks" are right to be worried, and I'm glad they are speaking up about it.
Re: Re: Downside for Used DVD Shops (as nelsoncruz)
I meant "Put them on Ebay".
Re: Downside for Used DVD Shops (as nelsoncruz)
Out them on Ebay.
(as nelsoncruz)
I think the logistics and inventory of "crowdsourcing" could get tricky and expensive. It makes more sense to setup a separate company that buys direct from distributors and then resells to Redbox. If they ban that one... rinse, repeat.
(as nelsoncruz)
They didn't say they were talking about american viewers not being interested... they could be talking about Hollywood execs. :)
"fix the piracy problem" (as Nelson Cruz)
'the law needs to "fix the piracy problem" because without that, business models can't be built up.'
I somewhat agree with this statement, but not in the way they do. As long as content companies look at the "piracy problem" as a legal problem, something the government must come in and fix, they WONT build new business models. As long as they keep on thinking the government is going to keep on artificially sustaining their old business models, they wont bother coming out with new ones. Especially when they can't imagine them being as lucrative as the old ones.
Governments think they are helping when they expand copyright law and enforce it with ridiculous stuff like "3 strikes", but they are truly not. They are just standing in the way of the future entrepreneurs by giving tools to the old lazy businesspeople that want to keep everything the way it was.
(as Nelson Cruz)
Jon Favreau has used his blog and twitter to talk about Iron Man, "leak" photos, etc, and I would say with some success. It helps to build anticipation for the movie. In my view even Wolverine's leaked workprint copy served that propose.
I can understand them wanting to control disparaging comments, but completely forbidding the use of twitter, etc, is cutting their own legs.
Smart on virtualization, not so smart on netbooks (as Nelson Cruz)
When I read his comments on Netbooks, I rolled my eyes and said "duhhh". He is defining a product on the negative. That's not good marketing.
Yes, netbooks have small screens and the performance is far from amazing, but so what?? Nobody said they are supposed to be good replacements for desktop PCs! Or even 14" or 15.4" laptops. They are different products, and good for different things.
In fact Dell could say the same things about average laptops compared with a desktop PC. Does that mean laptops are useless? Laptops have mobility, desktops don't. Netbooks take that further by being smaller, cheaper, and having longer battery life.
(as nelsoncruz)
Every ad or marketing image these days would require the label.
(as nelsoncruz)
Here in Portugal two carriers have been offering the iPhone from the start (Vodafone and Optimus). However, according to something I read when the original iPhone was launched here, Optimus might not be getting the iPhones directly from Apple but from a UK carrier.
Only TMN, the biggest carrier with something like 60% market share, doesn't have the iPhone. And like Derek said, they have been very keen in launching touch phones from Samsung, Nokia and HTC. They where the first to launch an Android phone here, the HTC Magic, and they offered a 50% discount for it during the iPhone 3GS launch day. It sold out from the online store in less than 1 hour. I was one of the luck few that got one. 224€ without any "plan" or "contract" attached, I think it was a good deal.
Exactly! (as nelsoncruz)
"this is a game that purposely is based on stealing cars, killing people, drug dealing and other sorts of illegal activity... and suddenly people got upset because of a hidden level that included a bit of consensual sex?"
Exactly! I have been saying that all this time. Probably the ONLY thing in that game that didn't involve hurting anyone (quite the opposite, the goal was to pleasure your girlfriend), was the part that generated a scandal!
So, you can kill people, kill policemen, have sex for money AND kill the hocker after if you want your money back... that's fine! No problem. But a mini-game whose goal is to pleasure your girlfriend... now that's to far!
A 17+ rating was enough for the violence in the US, unlike the rest of the world, but for consensual sex... Oh no! Don't you dare play that a single day before your 18th birthday!
Now, that really sent a GREAT message to the kids. You can have sex with hookers and shoot them in the face right after, but don't you dare give your girlfriend an orgasm!
Speaking of trademarking interfaces... (as nelsoncruz)
Apple is claiming to own (trademarked) shiny speach bubbles:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/01/developers-be-warned-apple-has-apparently-trademarked -those-shiny-chat-bubbles/
Re: (as nelsoncruz)
6,
If different databases exist, for related purposes (in this case diagnostic and treatment), then using/consulting/merging them is totally an obvious thing. Even if there was no prior art, to me this should be an open and shut case.
If the fact that this is about "knowledge bases" or "data bases" confuses the issue, then think about them as books! Enough said!
(as nelsoncruz)
I sent this one to Mike too, but I guess someone bit me to it. True or not, its a fascinating story. We may think this is new, that the current disputes are from the internet age, but 1450 years ago they where debating access to knowledge, copies devaluing the originals, and the familiar property rhetoric! One demanded the right to make copies and spread them, the other demanded control of any copying of "his" book. Sounds familiar? Well it happened 1450 years ago!
I guess the RIAA and our governments are lucky the Columbas of today cant exactly raise an army, defeat them in battle and dethrone them. We'll have to make do with the EFFs and Pirate Parties.