How is it that we elect people like this to represent us?
Because our elections choose the people who are good at getting elected, not the people who are good at governing.
Enact severe term limits; evict the career politician!
Is there some type of Continuing Education Class that lawmakers could take to better understand the differences between what they intend and what they actually write? I'd suggest some kind of introductory programming class if I didn't think it'd be written off as confounding 'cyber' babble.
Instructor: "See, right there in that line you assigned this value to all the variables. Is that what you meant to do? Maybe you should think about how to complete this function without breaking 3 other ones."
I'd be really interested to see some runtime debugging on proposed legislation, maybe understand the ramifications before rolling it into production. Something tells me that most bills wouldn't pass a preliminary syntax and type-check.
Because "normal" people don't play video games. It's an easy group to shift all of our societal problems onto, so the rest of us can go about our normal violence glorification in TV, movies, magazines, newspapers, books, sporting events, and historical reenactments.
Uh, no. The Internet enables more consumer options in those Industries, bypassing the stranglehold of a single gatekeeper entity that sought to control all aspects of distribution. I'm against monolithic entities forcing consumers into a corner by eliminating choice, not against efficiency and innovation.
And yes, there's a fine line between efficiency and exploitation; but generally if you're screwing someone who depends on you, you've crossed over to the exploitation side.
Pardon me if I don't shed a tear for Wal-Mart's web-competition problems after they eliminate local consumer choices by undercutting smaller competitors using supply chain blackmail and workforce exploitation.
I'll keep paying a premium to have my valuables brought by professional delivery-persons instead of the skeezy minivan that flings those pennysaver newspapers on everyone's front lawn.
Is it just me or is a lot of "SEO" just gaming the system? Making your results land higher up than they naturally should by manipulating algorithm inputs.
Seems like if you tried this stuff in a casino, you'd get your legs broke.
The notion that the government would pay Google for private information about its citizen's communications is laughable. Completely laughable. I mean they already have Subpoenas, Warrants, and National Security Letters.
They'd be more likely to build a gigantic multimillion dollar facility in the Utah desert to surreptitiously collect and store the information themselves. Pay Google; HA!
Whoa! Why do they keep throwing around that "I" word? I do not use a television to get "Information". That big screen is dedicated to Entertainment only.
And the only reason I'm not in the "cord cutter" group is that Comcast charges more for Internet alone than it does to bundle it with "Limited Basic" cable in my area. Do they have a metric for that?
If EA came out with a "SimVideoGame" where you tried to publish a successful game, the decisions EA has made here would be akin to opening the "disasters" toolbar and wreaking havoc on your city.
I share your consternation, I've been playing "sims" (not just The Sims) since they were on green-screen monitors. One of the comments on Penny Arcade pointed me at a kickstarter for "CiViTAS" which looks like a SimCity built with the right principles behind it. Check it out if you want, but I think it would be awesome to throw EA's DRM failure back in their face with a super-successful customer friendly version.
Copyright can't stop me from painting mustaches on a portrait I bought, why does it have the power to prevent altering firmware? The measures being circumvented aren't copy protection they're change prevention; it's copyright not "changeright".
I'm really not sure why copyright gets to be involved here anyway. They are software locking a piece of hardware and using tangential legislation to keep it secured. People aren't unlocking phones to get at the valuable firmware so they can copy and distribute it. They're modifying or wiping it so that it's different than the original copyrighted version, so they can use their property the way they want.
That's like saying you can't re-use a canvas and frame that contains a copyrighted painting, even if you own this copy completely. Illegal to get rid of the copyrighted part of your property? That's insane.
Once you've sold a copy of something you don't own it any more. You own the right to copy it, but not that particular copy, and you have no say in what happens to it.
He would have endorsed the app with two thumbs up and seen a huge surge in his sales on iTunes. Or maybe they would have digitized his albums and started selling them on Amazon.
Oh, because a Terminal Sitter (aka an employed resident of your state) won't need to eat and sleep and interact with the local economy. I'm not arguing that EA should get tax incentives, but you'd think a long-term job creating enterprise would be preferable to a movie company renting out hotel rooms for a couple of months for folks who are going to export their pay back to where they really live.
(untitled comment)
Enact severe term limits; evict the career politician!
Write what you mean
Is there some type of Continuing Education Class that lawmakers could take to better understand the differences between what they intend and what they actually write? I'd suggest some kind of introductory programming class if I didn't think it'd be written off as confounding 'cyber' babble.
Instructor: "See, right there in that line you assigned this value to all the variables. Is that what you meant to do? Maybe you should think about how to complete this function without breaking 3 other ones."
I'd be really interested to see some runtime debugging on proposed legislation, maybe understand the ramifications before rolling it into production. Something tells me that most bills wouldn't pass a preliminary syntax and type-check.
The lady doth protest too much
Wow, for being so anti-pornography, they sure do know a lot of places to find it. Did they add themselves to the list of enablers?
Re: Remind me again why this is a good idea?
Because "normal" people don't play video games. It's an easy group to shift all of our societal problems onto, so the rest of us can go about our normal violence glorification in TV, movies, magazines, newspapers, books, sporting events, and historical reenactments.
Re: Re: Pass.
Uh, no. The Internet enables more consumer options in those Industries, bypassing the stranglehold of a single gatekeeper entity that sought to control all aspects of distribution. I'm against monolithic entities forcing consumers into a corner by eliminating choice, not against efficiency and innovation.
And yes, there's a fine line between efficiency and exploitation; but generally if you're screwing someone who depends on you, you've crossed over to the exploitation side.
Pass.
Pardon me if I don't shed a tear for Wal-Mart's web-competition problems after they eliminate local consumer choices by undercutting smaller competitors using supply chain blackmail and workforce exploitation.
I'll keep paying a premium to have my valuables brought by professional delivery-persons instead of the skeezy minivan that flings those pennysaver newspapers on everyone's front lawn.
Want higher rankings? Be better.
Is it just me or is a lot of "SEO" just gaming the system? Making your results land higher up than they naturally should by manipulating algorithm inputs.
Seems like if you tried this stuff in a casino, you'd get your legs broke.
Darn.
Too bad I won't find out if they do or not, since I'm done giving EA money.
Re: Re: You CAN'T disagree that "it facilitates piracy".
Also, looking facilitates piracy. Shield your eyes people, here comes the MPAA with a rusty spoon trying to reduce infringement.
Re: Am I the only one that hears Dori from Finding Nemo ?
"Hey, I've seen a lawsuit. It went by not too long ago. It went... this way."
Inconcievable!
The notion that the government would pay Google for private information about its citizen's communications is laughable. Completely laughable. I mean they already have Subpoenas, Warrants, and National Security Letters.
They'd be more likely to build a gigantic multimillion dollar facility in the Utah desert to surreptitiously collect and store the information themselves. Pay Google; HA!
More Nuanced Analysis, Please.
Whoa! Why do they keep throwing around that "I" word? I do not use a television to get "Information". That big screen is dedicated to Entertainment only.
And the only reason I'm not in the "cord cutter" group is that Comcast charges more for Internet alone than it does to bundle it with "Limited Basic" cable in my area. Do they have a metric for that?
(untitled comment)
If only there was a provision that criminalized "circumventing" sovereign legislation authority.
Meta Game
If EA came out with a "SimVideoGame" where you tried to publish a successful game, the decisions EA has made here would be akin to opening the "disasters" toolbar and wreaking havoc on your city.
Re: Re:
I share your consternation, I've been playing "sims" (not just The Sims) since they were on green-screen monitors. One of the comments on Penny Arcade pointed me at a kickstarter for "CiViTAS" which looks like a SimCity built with the right principles behind it. Check it out if you want, but I think it would be awesome to throw EA's DRM failure back in their face with a super-successful customer friendly version.
Re: Re:
Copyright can't stop me from painting mustaches on a portrait I bought, why does it have the power to prevent altering firmware? The measures being circumvented aren't copy protection they're change prevention; it's copyright not "changeright".
(untitled comment)
I'm really not sure why copyright gets to be involved here anyway. They are software locking a piece of hardware and using tangential legislation to keep it secured. People aren't unlocking phones to get at the valuable firmware so they can copy and distribute it. They're modifying or wiping it so that it's different than the original copyrighted version, so they can use their property the way they want.
That's like saying you can't re-use a canvas and frame that contains a copyrighted painting, even if you own this copy completely. Illegal to get rid of the copyrighted part of your property? That's insane.
Once you've sold a copy of something you don't own it any more. You own the right to copy it, but not that particular copy, and you have no say in what happens to it.
Re: If Mr Checker was cool
Whoops, that's my bad, he's on Amazon, I just don't know how to spell his name.
If Mr Checker was cool
He would have endorsed the app with two thumbs up and seen a huge surge in his sales on iTunes. Or maybe they would have digitized his albums and started selling them on Amazon.
What now?
Oh, because a Terminal Sitter (aka an employed resident of your state) won't need to eat and sleep and interact with the local economy. I'm not arguing that EA should get tax incentives, but you'd think a long-term job creating enterprise would be preferable to a movie company renting out hotel rooms for a couple of months for folks who are going to export their pay back to where they really live.