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cosmicrat

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  • Jun 14th, 2013 @ 12:36pm

    Over reaction anyone

    Some people just freak out at the drop of a hat. Most such people sort of get marginalized by society, but when they are talented artists they get indulged for it.

    It's unfortunate the chilling effect this sort of thing has. What if I want to take a photo of my daughter at her first concert to post on farcebook? Is security going to bum rush me and throw us out?

  • Jun 14th, 2013 @ 12:32pm

    Reading this could be a crime...

    If you are reading this on a computer at work, you are probably in violation of some fine print of your employer's computer use policy, which means you could be charged for felony hacking under the CFAA.

  • Jun 10th, 2013 @ 7:00am

    Easy for him to say that

    It's also pretty disingenuous for a Senator to say that. One of the the things many people fear is overzealous prosecution, being railroaded, being shaken down by the authorities on a pretext. A high profile public figure, however, has a good degree of effective immunity from frivolous or nuisance prosecution.

  • Jun 5th, 2013 @ 12:57pm

    Could very well be different decryption schemes

    I would not assume both drives use the same encryption. Probably one is the system drive and might have some encryption built into the OS. Heck, knowing how the DOJ often distorts the truth they could be claiming the login pw is a form of encryption. The other drive is probably aftermarket and could have its own proprietary encryption, or perhaps he created a Truecrypt volume.

    I wonder what the prosecutor would do if someone did decrypt a drive under duress and it turned out to have nothing but gobbledegook, or 500,000 identical pictures of a unicorn or something. Would they charge the accused with destroying evidence?

  • May 23rd, 2013 @ 12:01pm

    Look...

    Squirrel!

  • May 23rd, 2013 @ 11:40am

    Could be a technique for law enforcement

    Given how easy it is to butt dial 911 on certain phones, I'm almost certain that is the case here. But it raises a question. Could the police (or FBI, CIA, Blackwater, etc.) be listening on a phone, in which case such evidence is not admissible in court (unless warranted) and then, at a crucial moment, remotely trigger the phone to dial 911, thus capturing a recording that would be admissible? The defendant would have a hard time proving he didn't butt dial.

    BTW I know Blackwater changed their name to Xe and most recently to Academi. Blackwater just sounds so much cooler.

  • May 20th, 2013 @ 12:41pm

    Another astroturfing outfit?

    I wonder if Business Europe is anything like Creative America?

  • May 16th, 2013 @ 11:35am

    I can attest to this

    One Intersection near my home is a cash cow for the city. Every other intersection in the area has pedestrian lights that count down to zero, then there is a pause, then the main light turns yellow. On this one there is no pause. Plus the yellows are the shortest around.

  • May 1st, 2013 @ 9:42am

    Been there, seen this

    Some close friends of mine were in a band that broke up largely because of disputes with the IRS. Way to go revenuers, you made the world a sadder place all over a couple thousand dollars.

    It's also clearly true that the IRS gives preference to large businesses. An energy company can write off billions in investments and tools and equipment each year, but I can't deduct expenses for personal tools I'm required to provide because I'm too small.

  • Apr 30th, 2013 @ 3:33pm

    Nailed it, Mr Applegate

    He did.

  • Apr 30th, 2013 @ 2:22pm

    The company is called "Total Recall, Corp."?

    Call Colin Firth, or better yet Ahh-nold. One of them will get to the bottom of this.

  • Apr 1st, 2013 @ 12:41pm

    Must be nice to be so elite

    I'd lose my job if I ignored my email. Total BS being pulled by an elitist overlord. This alone should disqualify her from the job.

  • Mar 19th, 2013 @ 1:34pm

    No one pretends it's legal

    When crew members share discs with each other, when producers do it, whoever, no one pretends it's all on the up and up. You don't do it in front of a suit from corporate, you don't talk about it. These people understand its infringement. But there is, as I have pointed out, a consciousness about whether it's low grade or personal infringement vs. massive scale infringement. Do the one and the bosses look the other way, do the other and you lose your job.

  • Mar 19th, 2013 @ 9:32am

    Wish I could +10

    So very true. The crews I work with trade burned DVDs and mp3s frequently. It's not uncommon to hear a producer say to an actor "...oh, you should see that. I'll burn you a copy". It's simply the most convenient way. One thing to keep in mind about the industry is that the crew in the trenches, even lower level producers, have little love for the accountants/lawyers/exec. producers/CEOs at the top of the food chain. About as much in common as a liberal democrat working stiff bank teller has with the CEO of BofA.

    To be fair though, we must note the author's final paragraph. We feel no guilt at sharing a DVD with a friend, but very few of us would upload a torrent of something high profile. If copyright infringment never expanded beyond an occasional copy of a DVD between friends, the freakout that led to SOPA would not have happened, or would have been much attenuated. It's the mass sharing that really has the CEOs and shareholders worried. Since distribution is moving almost wholesale to an online scenario it has them doubly freaked about the future.

  • Mar 13th, 2013 @ 3:19pm

    Re: Re: Right to work for less

    Well, I'm with you in not being very happy about the rate of union dues. But let's compare what I've made on some shows I've worked on: non-union: made anywhere from sub minimum wage to about 15.00/hour, no medical plan and the working conditions are usually harder. Union: 17.00 to 24.00/hour with excellent medical coverage for me and my fam, and the working conditions are always better. But I pay 3% of my wages in dues. Sounds like union is the way to go -if your serious about making a career in this business.

  • Mar 11th, 2013 @ 11:43am

    Re: Re: Your mileage may vary...

    By share examples I assume you mean states that have done film incentives "the right way"(?)

    I don't really have detailed figures, just rough information for my own state. I also know (as everyone in the industry does) that production is booming in New Mexico, Louisiana and the Carolinas (South in particular). And obviously the whole incentive/kickback/corporate welfare program was popularized in the first place by British Columbia and Ontario back in the 90's. I am not an accountant, and I realize there is debate about it, but most people seem to feel those areas have had a worthwhile payoff from their incentive programs.

    We all expected the Michigan incentive program was going to be a debacle from the get go. Too much money was promised, there was no way that was going to be worth it. They also didn't have an overabundance of experienced crew -it was never a particularly big production zone before the incentives, therefore a large proportion of the crew flew in from around the country (contrary to popular belief we don't all live in L.A.). Few were surprised at the amount of corruption either, I don't mean to cast aspersions, but the big cities in this area were always known for cronyism and political corruption.

  • Mar 11th, 2013 @ 10:42am

    Your mileage may vary...

    I've long had a somewhat jaundiced view of film incentive programs -ever since Canada introduced them in a big way in the 90's and all the production left the good ole U.S. chasing the free money.

    That said, there are ways to do it right and ways to make a complete debacle of it. Michigan would be an example of the latter. My own state kicks back a few million, and as a result has attracted more than 50 million in local spending (yes, that's only the local portion of the budgets, another big chunk is spent out of state. And before you self proclaimed experts who have never been on a movie set start offering your expert testimony, let me assure you the wages are not all paid to flown-in "Hollywood" technicians, 70-80% of our crew is local).

    I know you hate everything related to "Hollywood" because you connect it to shite like SOPA and those asshats in the MPAA, but let's have some perspective here; lot's of corporate interests run the same kind of scams. It's the way big-business is done now. "Hollywood accounting" is no different from "Wall Street accounting" or "Multi-national Corporation accounting"

    Now I've got to get back to my job working hard to entertain you.

  • Jan 22nd, 2013 @ 9:33pm

    A good laugh

    It was pretty funny a few years ago when the translators weren't quite as good. Find a porn website, preferably one with a lot of verbal descriptions of the videos. Run it through auto translate into Japanese, then into German, then back to English. I know, I'm easily amused.

  • Jan 16th, 2013 @ 7:37am

    Need a bigger pipe

    Like to add that another piece of the puzzle is better faster more ubiquitous broadband connectivity. Nothing annoys me more than blackouts and quality reductions when I'm watching Hulu or Netflix.

  • Jan 15th, 2013 @ 12:36pm

    Absolutely needs to be reformed

    In 15 years working in movies and TV production, I have worked for all the big name studios you would recognize. Never once has my pay stub said anything like "Paramount, Disney, Universal". It's always some shell company you've never heard of.

    Hollywood accounting absolutely needs to be reformed. But then again, as pointed out above, our entire system of banking, trading and financing needs to be reformed even more urgently.

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