It's a question of "do you trust your supplier not to cut you off arbitrarialy?"
Currently, gas or electricity supplies can only be disconnected if you've got a pre-pay meter and don't feed it, or if you're so far behind on your payments they've had to get a court order to physically enter your home and throw the switch.
Putting a smart meter in, which under the standards agreed for use in the UK allows for remote disconnection, makes everyone essentially a pre-pay meter user. The cost of turning someone off at the flick of a switch is far less than having to go through the courts, so the threshold for doing so will fall. Miss a single payment for whatever reason, whether it's because of an emergency or the bank messing up a direct debit, and the lights could go out and the heating go off.
Leaving aside the argument that if you don't want to be cut off you should pay up, which is valid and has great merit, there's then the risk of being cut off accidentally - and neither of my suppliers is even thinking about compensation for that, just giving assurances it will never happen.
There's been a persistent and pernicious campaign against this ever since it was announced, generally on the lines of "all you have to do is remove the metadata and ALL THE PICTURES WILL BE STOLEN OH NOES". I wonder if they've even noticed this codicil.
The UK's Federation Against Copyright Theft has a long-running campaign telling end-user scum that buying dodgy discs funds organised crime and generally leads to arson, rape and bloody murder. (I may exaggerate a little here.)
I'm sure that for a reasonable licencing fee the DHS could adapt this to something on the lines of "If you buy unauthorised merchandise, you're funding ISIL".
SCORPION STARE only works with two (or more) cameras. So unless you're broadcasting yourself in 3D, or waving a Nintendo 3DS around, you're reasonably safe.
The whole point of the "few bad apples in the barrel" metaphor is that unless you remove the bad apples as soon as you find them, they corrupt the whole barrel.
It's not a pretty sight, either for apples or a Police force.
In Europe, sound recordings enter the public domain 50 years after their initial release.
That was the case until Sir Cliff Richard, Sir Paul McCartney, Bono and other impoverished artists struggling in garrets across Europe realised that they could no longer sit on their arses and collect fees for something they did 50 years ago, unlike nearly everyone else who has to work for a living. So it's now 70 years.
Thanks for allowing both anonymity and pseudonymity here. While neither is absolute, they can help us separate our lives into compartments we can feel comfortable with.
I've noticed in the last year or so that more and more places online are requiring "real names". In consequence, I'm visiting less and less places online. I'm just glad I can still lurk, and occasionally post, here.
"A few years ago, she got into a bit of a scrap with Cory Doctorow, because he dared to publish a single paragraph of hers in a blogpost as part of a larger (positive!) commentary. "
The single paragraph was a complete work. Ursula did not (and does not) believe that reproducing a complete work (and replacing her copyright notice with a Creative Commons notice) was Fair Use. Cory reports on this here.
I can understand why Ursula felt righteously pissed over this one.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by Harry Payne.
It's not a question of trusting CESG
It's a question of "do you trust your supplier not to cut you off arbitrarialy?"
Currently, gas or electricity supplies can only be disconnected if you've got a pre-pay meter and don't feed it, or if you're so far behind on your payments they've had to get a court order to physically enter your home and throw the switch.
Putting a smart meter in, which under the standards agreed for use in the UK allows for remote disconnection, makes everyone essentially a pre-pay meter user. The cost of turning someone off at the flick of a switch is far less than having to go through the courts, so the threshold for doing so will fall. Miss a single payment for whatever reason, whether it's because of an emergency or the bank messing up a direct debit, and the lights could go out and the heating go off.
Leaving aside the argument that if you don't want to be cut off you should pay up, which is valid and has great merit, there's then the risk of being cut off accidentally - and neither of my suppliers is even thinking about compensation for that, just giving assurances it will never happen.
Yeah, as they say, right.
Re: Stark Trek?
In the Mirror Universe episode, Tony Stark teams up with disabled psychic Bran Stark to fight the White Walkers...
Cue outraged screams of "theft" in 3... 2... 1...
There's been a persistent and pernicious campaign against this ever since it was announced, generally on the lines of "all you have to do is remove the metadata and ALL THE PICTURES WILL BE STOLEN OH NOES". I wonder if they've even noticed this codicil.
The UK's ahead of the US on this
The UK's Federation Against Copyright Theft has a long-running campaign telling end-user scum that buying dodgy discs funds organised crime and generally leads to arson, rape and bloody murder. (I may exaggerate a little here.)
I'm sure that for a reasonable licencing fee the DHS could adapt this to something on the lines of "If you buy unauthorised merchandise, you're funding ISIL".
Re: SCORPION STARE
SCORPION STARE only works with two (or more) cameras. So unless you're broadcasting yourself in 3D, or waving a Nintendo 3DS around, you're reasonably safe.
Re: bad apples
The whole point of the "few bad apples in the barrel" metaphor is that unless you remove the bad apples as soon as you find them, they corrupt the whole barrel.
It's not a pretty sight, either for apples or a Police force.
Cliff's Law
That was the case until Sir Cliff Richard, Sir Paul McCartney, Bono and other impoverished artists struggling in garrets across Europe realised that they could no longer sit on their arses and collect fees for something they did 50 years ago, unlike nearly everyone else who has to work for a living. So it's now 70 years.
Thanks
Mr. Masnick,
Thanks for allowing both anonymity and pseudonymity here. While neither is absolute, they can help us separate our lives into compartments we can feel comfortable with.
I've noticed in the last year or so that more and more places online are requiring "real names". In consequence, I'm visiting less and less places online. I'm just glad I can still lurk, and occasionally post, here.
Re: Evidence Eliminator?
Srsly? (as I believe the kids say nowadays)
I'll just leave this here...
http://radsoft.net/software/reviews/ee/index.shtml
Re: Welcome!
Deep fried mars bars? Nothing beats the great Scots national dish of deep fried chicken tikka pizza.
Remove frozen pizza from packaging. Snap in half, place the sides with the topping on together, dip in batter, and introduce to the oil...
Re: Seriously
"We refer you to the reply given in the case of Arkell v. Pressdram".
Cory Doctorow and Ursula LeGuin
"A few years ago, she got into a bit of a scrap with Cory Doctorow, because he dared to publish a single paragraph of hers in a blogpost as part of a larger (positive!) commentary. "
The single paragraph was a complete work. Ursula did not (and does not) believe that reproducing a complete work (and replacing her copyright notice with a Creative Commons notice) was Fair Use. Cory reports on this here.
I can understand why Ursula felt righteously pissed over this one.