I live in the Dominican Republic, and the released cables became quite the news, not because of the breach itself, but because in it there was information where it names clearly 2 people from our government that asked for money in exchange for political favors.
Now those 2 people are being put on trial.
Admittedly, they will most likely pay the judge and go free; corruption is quite a problem in our country, where you only go to jail if you pissed off someone with more power than you. But it's a step forward.
I couldn't find news online that report these facts that are not in spanish, but it appears that the leaks have benefited my country in other ways: http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/local/2010/12/1/37815/Wikileaks-benefit-Dominican-Republic-prestigious-entity-says
Okay, I'm not a fan of DRM, but someone has to create an alternate business model.
CwF+RtB works well with music because you have concerts, which is a scarce resource, and there's nothing better than listening to a band live and the difference is huge.
Selling merchadise works well with online comics, because there's nothing better than a huge detailed poster and the difference is huge.
For computer games, there's no alternative in sight. DLC is just as easy to spread as the game that uses it. Arcades are good only for a few casual games, and the improvement over computer games isn't big enough. Selling a service is works, but only with online games.
And when you read that the few people who dare to post pirated game stats show that 70 - 90% of the people who play the game got it illegally( example:
http://smellslikedonkey.com/wordpress/?page_id=274 ) you get the idea of why companies are trying stupid stuff like DRM.
In a time where anyone can have their own blog, some people are worried about the errors in the content or just biased opinions. Opinions can be good in some context: when you have something that you can't test( like predicting the future ) it's good to hear different people talking about their views on different trends and their logic.
However, I'm involved in the medical field, and as I read this article I was thinking about medical journals.
The unification of therapeutics, with medicine based on evidence( real evidence ), has improved greatly the performance of young doctors( older doctors refuse to dump their old methods ).
In Medicine, we can't afford opinions, because if you follow the wrong opinion you can end up with a dead patient. You can't afford to test yourself for the same reason. Errors are more frequent when you pick random sources that sound interesting, and it's not practical for each doctor to verify himself the source because it can't be trusted. It's true that a few known sources makes it easier to make an impact with fake studies but it also makes it easier to control them( as long as the administration of the journal isn't corrupt too ).
In this case reducing the number of sources does not feels limiting, but it feels secure.
I just didn't like the negative light that was placed on subscriptions. If a subscription-based source gives you something that a non-subscription source gives, then the commitment is justified.
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Re: What damaging leaks Mike ??
I live in the Dominican Republic, and the released cables became quite the news, not because of the breach itself, but because in it there was information where it names clearly 2 people from our government that asked for money in exchange for political favors.
Now those 2 people are being put on trial.
Admittedly, they will most likely pay the judge and go free; corruption is quite a problem in our country, where you only go to jail if you pissed off someone with more power than you. But it's a step forward.
I couldn't find news online that report these facts that are not in spanish, but it appears that the leaks have benefited my country in other ways: http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/local/2010/12/1/37815/Wikileaks-benefit-Dominican-Republic-prestigious-entity-says
Okay, I'm not a fan of DRM, but someone has to create an alternate business model.
CwF+RtB works well with music because you have concerts, which is a scarce resource, and there's nothing better than listening to a band live and the difference is huge.
Selling merchadise works well with online comics, because there's nothing better than a huge detailed poster and the difference is huge.
For computer games, there's no alternative in sight. DLC is just as easy to spread as the game that uses it. Arcades are good only for a few casual games, and the improvement over computer games isn't big enough. Selling a service is works, but only with online games.
And when you read that the few people who dare to post pirated game stats show that 70 - 90% of the people who play the game got it illegally( example:
http://smellslikedonkey.com/wordpress/?page_id=274 ) you get the idea of why companies are trying stupid stuff like DRM.
Limiting yourself can be a good thing
In a time where anyone can have their own blog, some people are worried about the errors in the content or just biased opinions. Opinions can be good in some context: when you have something that you can't test( like predicting the future ) it's good to hear different people talking about their views on different trends and their logic.
However, I'm involved in the medical field, and as I read this article I was thinking about medical journals.
The unification of therapeutics, with medicine based on evidence( real evidence ), has improved greatly the performance of young doctors( older doctors refuse to dump their old methods ).
In Medicine, we can't afford opinions, because if you follow the wrong opinion you can end up with a dead patient. You can't afford to test yourself for the same reason. Errors are more frequent when you pick random sources that sound interesting, and it's not practical for each doctor to verify himself the source because it can't be trusted. It's true that a few known sources makes it easier to make an impact with fake studies but it also makes it easier to control them( as long as the administration of the journal isn't corrupt too ).
In this case reducing the number of sources does not feels limiting, but it feels secure.
I just didn't like the negative light that was placed on subscriptions. If a subscription-based source gives you something that a non-subscription source gives, then the commitment is justified.