It was reported that building departments here in Florida have been using satellite imaging to find property improvements where the owner did not apply for building permits or receive inspection certificates. Unfortunately there have been some homeowners accused inaccurately, of improving their property without a permit because the building departments were incompetent at record keeping. In many cases the improvement had been permitted and inspected. In one case a homeowner was accused of having a sun room (enclosed porch) on their property, observed via satellite, that the building department claimed was constructed without permits or inspections by the previous owner. The current owner was ordered to remove it, bring it up to current code or pay a $250.00 a day fine if the property did not comply within 30 days.
The building department wound up with egg on their face when the current property owner checked the document package, the previous owner gave them at closing. The current property owner found the building permit and inspection certificate for the sun room in the package. The management of the building department did not keep accurate records of the building permits and inspections. In this case the homeowner was assumed guilty until they proved themselves innocent.
It appears that the copyright parasites, by promulgating these bogus figures, are trying to establish a foundation by claiming bogus losses, to establish a fee for all broadband subscribers to be paid to them. The RIAA successfully convinced lawmakers to mandate a fee to be added to the price of high fidelity cassettes and music CDR's to compensate the record labels for bogus losses caused by home copying, even if the media in question was never used to copy copyrighted material. So the copyright parasites are looking to be paid something for nothing JUST IN CASE.
Problem solved here in Florida. Authorities will send the ticket to the owner. We have traffic signal cameras all over Central Florida. If a vehicle runs a red light the owner receives the citation even if they were not driving the vehicle. In one case an vehicle owner was ticked while the vehicle was in the possession of the dealer servicing the vehicle. The vehicle was driven by a mechanic taking it out for a test drive. Then came the BS when the dealer tried to weasel out of the fine. It turns out that the work order had a time stamp and the time stamp proved who had control of the vehicle. Dam the Constitution full speed ahead.
I wonder if Amazon Management is changing policies to bleed more money out of customers. I am a prime member which means that I am entitled to free two day shipping on any item sold directly by Amazon.com when I purchased my membership.
Two days ago I attempted to order some low cost merchandise from Amazon (under $10.00). Each item had a flag beside it "ADD ON ITEM". When I added the item to the cart it did not give me an opportunity to go to check out. When I clicked on the ADD ON ITEM flag, a text box appeared indicating that the items were add on items and would include free shipping if I purchase merchandise that costs $25.00 or more. I was not given a way to pay for shipping in order to obtain the merchandise without purchasing other merchandise for $25.00 or more. When I purchased my prime membership one of the features of the membership was free shipping even if the cost of the merchandise was less than $25.00.
It took me several minutes to find a way to contact Amazon. The customer service representative had to manually enter my order in order to enter it into their system.
I wonder if the scheme effecting customers moving to Canada, preventing customers from taking books that they purchased to Canada, is another method to squeeze more money out of the customer. The reason I like hard copy books is that the publisher cannot dictate where I can read the book and when traveling, an airline stewardess cannot force me to put my book away during takeoff and landing.
A reinvention of an old scheme. The Welcome Wagon did most of this manually. The Welcome Wagons local office collected lists of new residents, renters or homeowners, in their area from the Telephone Company or other Utility Companies and sent representatives to spy on them. The Welcome Wagons representative would knock on the residents door and offer them a gift usually a basket of fruit. Once they entered the residents home they would grill the resident to learn as much as possible about them. The conversation appeared to be small talk but was actually a script designed to squeeze as much information out of the resident possible. Welcome Wagon then sold these reports to those that subscribed to Welcome Wagon Reports.
Verizon's technology can be applied to any Set Top Box, it does not have to be a DVR. If you think you can place tape over the camera lens to block their snooping, all they have to do is make the camera the remote control receiver.
I live 25 Miles from Sanford Florida and am very concerned that the Trayvon Martin case may eventually lead to rioting if George Zimmerman is found not guilty. I have tried to start a dialog in the Trayvon Martin section of Huffington Post to defuse the anger. Any comments about the case are either not shown or immediately deleted after being posted. Several of my comments have been Faved only to be deleted. All that is posted is the columns are incendiary language between the pro Trayvon Martin faction and the pro George Zimmerman faction. The first thing that must be done is to discredit the people who are instigating the incendiary rhetoric. The Huffington Post seems to be trying to keep the anger alive rather than quelling it. Any criticism of the race baiters and haters agitating their base is deleted.
This is nothing new. I still remember that during the Olympic games in Atlanta in 1986 the Olympic committee sued a restaurant named the Olympic something to force them to change their name. The restaurant had been in business for I believe longer than the one in Philadelphia and the name was registered by owner as a trademark. The problem was that like the victims of copyright trolls the restaurant owner could not afford the cost to defend the good name of his restaurant. The restaurant owner should have sued the Olympic Committee and demanded that they change their name. Remember the financially strong can always beat up the financially weak.
I fully agree that smart TV's are not so smart. Years ago, when consumers purchase their DirectTV and Dish Network Receivers, Sony manufactured a large screen projection TV with built in Direct TV receiver.
In mid 2005 I was looking for a home in Central Florida. I always asked the homeowner the availability of Cable TV and Broadband and how they received pay TV. I noticed that one homeowner had one of those Projection TV's with a built in Direct TV Receiver and a Direct TV receiver on the top of the set. I asked why the DirectTV receiver on the top of the set. He stated that he used the receiver in the set for a while but the receiver in the set would not work with the new Multi-Satellite DirectTV system, so he had to use an external receiver. Therefore Smart TV not so smart!
Megaupload: If the MPAA Government Puppets read the BetaMax decision by the Supreme Court they might have gotten it through their corrupt skulls that Megaupload conformed to that precedent. Just like the VCR, Megaupload had both infringing and non infringing uses. The Supreme Court found in favor of Sony because of the non infringing uses. Why doesn't the same law apply to Megaupload?
Silicon Valley: Since the BetaMax decision the RIAA and MPAA cartel has developed psychotic delusions that everyone is stealing their stuff. Each time new technology is developed the cartel requires that more draconian copyright protection be applied to the new technology. Compare the copyright protection applied to DVD's and Blue Ray DVD's. Silicon Valley has been a victim of this psychosis. Hardware developers fear that the copyright cartel will withdraw content for their hardware. The cartel trashed Sony, by refusing to release new movies in Beta format until long after they were released in VHS format. Consumers stopped buying BetaMax VCR'a and started buying VHS VCR's.
Remember when the DVD was developed. The Copyright Mafia refused to release any content until copyright protection was developed for the DVD. In reality even though the movie studios state in their advertisements of a movie "Own It Today" in reality the purchase price is a one time right to use fee and consumers do not really own the content the movie studio retains ownership. Then of course there was the prosecution of that kid in Sweden, under the DCMA, for creating the DVD copyright protection decode and publishing it.
Snooping via satellite not invented in Lithuania And Estonia
It was reported that building departments here in Florida have been using satellite imaging to find property improvements where the owner did not apply for building permits or receive inspection certificates. Unfortunately there have been some homeowners accused inaccurately, of improving their property without a permit because the building departments were incompetent at record keeping. In many cases the improvement had been permitted and inspected. In one case a homeowner was accused of having a sun room (enclosed porch) on their property, observed via satellite, that the building department claimed was constructed without permits or inspections by the previous owner. The current owner was ordered to remove it, bring it up to current code or pay a $250.00 a day fine if the property did not comply within 30 days.
The building department wound up with egg on their face when the current property owner checked the document package, the previous owner gave them at closing. The current property owner found the building permit and inspection certificate for the sun room in the package. The management of the building department did not keep accurate records of the building permits and inspections. In this case the homeowner was assumed guilty until they proved themselves innocent.
Copyright parasites want you to pay something for nothing!
It appears that the copyright parasites, by promulgating these bogus figures, are trying to establish a foundation by claiming bogus losses, to establish a fee for all broadband subscribers to be paid to them. The RIAA successfully convinced lawmakers to mandate a fee to be added to the price of high fidelity cassettes and music CDR's to compensate the record labels for bogus losses caused by home copying, even if the media in question was never used to copy copyrighted material. So the copyright parasites are looking to be paid something for nothing JUST IN CASE.
How Will The Law Deal With Autonomous Vehicles
Problem solved here in Florida. Authorities will send the ticket to the owner. We have traffic signal cameras all over Central Florida. If a vehicle runs a red light the owner receives the citation even if they were not driving the vehicle. In one case an vehicle owner was ticked while the vehicle was in the possession of the dealer servicing the vehicle. The vehicle was driven by a mechanic taking it out for a test drive. Then came the BS when the dealer tried to weasel out of the fine. It turns out that the work order had a time stamp and the time stamp proved who had control of the vehicle. Dam the Constitution full speed ahead.
Amazon Policies
I wonder if Amazon Management is changing policies to bleed more money out of customers. I am a prime member which means that I am entitled to free two day shipping on any item sold directly by Amazon.com when I purchased my membership.
Two days ago I attempted to order some low cost merchandise from Amazon (under $10.00). Each item had a flag beside it "ADD ON ITEM". When I added the item to the cart it did not give me an opportunity to go to check out. When I clicked on the ADD ON ITEM flag, a text box appeared indicating that the items were add on items and would include free shipping if I purchase merchandise that costs $25.00 or more. I was not given a way to pay for shipping in order to obtain the merchandise without purchasing other merchandise for $25.00 or more. When I purchased my prime membership one of the features of the membership was free shipping even if the cost of the merchandise was less than $25.00.
It took me several minutes to find a way to contact Amazon. The customer service representative had to manually enter my order in order to enter it into their system.
I wonder if the scheme effecting customers moving to Canada, preventing customers from taking books that they purchased to Canada, is another method to squeeze more money out of the customer. The reason I like hard copy books is that the publisher cannot dictate where I can read the book and when traveling, an airline stewardess cannot force me to put my book away during takeoff and landing.
The DVR that watches you back.
A reinvention of an old scheme. The Welcome Wagon did most of this manually. The Welcome Wagons local office collected lists of new residents, renters or homeowners, in their area from the Telephone Company or other Utility Companies and sent representatives to spy on them. The Welcome Wagons representative would knock on the residents door and offer them a gift usually a basket of fruit. Once they entered the residents home they would grill the resident to learn as much as possible about them. The conversation appeared to be small talk but was actually a script designed to squeeze as much information out of the resident possible. Welcome Wagon then sold these reports to those that subscribed to Welcome Wagon Reports.
Verizon's technology can be applied to any Set Top Box, it does not have to be a DVR. If you think you can place tape over the camera lens to block their snooping, all they have to do is make the camera the remote control receiver.
Trying to defuse the anger in the Trayvon Martin case.
I live 25 Miles from Sanford Florida and am very concerned that the Trayvon Martin case may eventually lead to rioting if George Zimmerman is found not guilty. I have tried to start a dialog in the Trayvon Martin section of Huffington Post to defuse the anger. Any comments about the case are either not shown or immediately deleted after being posted. Several of my comments have been Faved only to be deleted. All that is posted is the columns are incendiary language between the pro Trayvon Martin faction and the pro George Zimmerman faction. The first thing that must be done is to discredit the people who are instigating the incendiary rhetoric. The Huffington Post seems to be trying to keep the anger alive rather than quelling it. Any criticism of the race baiters and haters agitating their base is deleted.
Same old Olympic Committee abuse.
This is nothing new. I still remember that during the Olympic games in Atlanta in 1986 the Olympic committee sued a restaurant named the Olympic something to force them to change their name. The restaurant had been in business for I believe longer than the one in Philadelphia and the name was registered by owner as a trademark. The problem was that like the victims of copyright trolls the restaurant owner could not afford the cost to defend the good name of his restaurant. The restaurant owner should have sued the Olympic Committee and demanded that they change their name. Remember the financially strong can always beat up the financially weak.
Smart TV a Failure!
I fully agree that smart TV's are not so smart. Years ago, when consumers purchase their DirectTV and Dish Network Receivers, Sony manufactured a large screen projection TV with built in Direct TV receiver.
In mid 2005 I was looking for a home in Central Florida. I always asked the homeowner the availability of Cable TV and Broadband and how they received pay TV. I noticed that one homeowner had one of those Projection TV's with a built in Direct TV Receiver and a Direct TV receiver on the top of the set. I asked why the DirectTV receiver on the top of the set. He stated that he used the receiver in the set for a while but the receiver in the set would not work with the new Multi-Satellite DirectTV system, so he had to use an external receiver. Therefore Smart TV not so smart!
Megaupload, Silicon Valley
Megaupload: If the MPAA Government Puppets read the BetaMax decision by the Supreme Court they might have gotten it through their corrupt skulls that Megaupload conformed to that precedent. Just like the VCR, Megaupload had both infringing and non infringing uses. The Supreme Court found in favor of Sony because of the non infringing uses. Why doesn't the same law apply to Megaupload?
Silicon Valley: Since the BetaMax decision the RIAA and MPAA cartel has developed psychotic delusions that everyone is stealing their stuff. Each time new technology is developed the cartel requires that more draconian copyright protection be applied to the new technology. Compare the copyright protection applied to DVD's and Blue Ray DVD's. Silicon Valley has been a victim of this psychosis. Hardware developers fear that the copyright cartel will withdraw content for their hardware. The cartel trashed Sony, by refusing to release new movies in Beta format until long after they were released in VHS format. Consumers stopped buying BetaMax VCR'a and started buying VHS VCR's.
Remember when the DVD was developed. The Copyright Mafia refused to release any content until copyright protection was developed for the DVD. In reality even though the movie studios state in their advertisements of a movie "Own It Today" in reality the purchase price is a one time right to use fee and consumers do not really own the content the movie studio retains ownership. Then of course there was the prosecution of that kid in Sweden, under the DCMA, for creating the DVD copyright protection decode and publishing it.