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"Analog hole" legislation introduced

J

Jim Thompson

Jan 1, 1970
0
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051218-5797.html

Their previously-stated goal was to lock up our A/D converters,
and I'm sure that's still high on their list. There's still
time to write your member of the Judiciary Committee, if you
have one for your state (Massachusetts has two). Check and see.

http://judiciary.house.gov/CommitteeMembership.aspx

Oh, wonderful. Congressmen Jeff Flake and Trent Franks are two of the
most ignorant individuals ever elected to the House :-(

Neither is my Congressman, so the few times I've wrote them they don't
even answer; but I'll have my daughter (the Republican Party
Chairperson) tweak them a bit.

...Jim Thompson
 
I

Ian Bell

Jan 1, 1970
0
C

cbm5

Jan 1, 1970
0
Winfield said:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051218-5797.html

Their previously-stated goal was to lock up our A/D converters,
and I'm sure that's still high on their list. There's still
time to write your member of the Judiciary Committee, if you
have one for your state (Massachusetts has two). Check and see.

http://judiciary.house.gov/CommitteeMembership.aspx


It's easy enough to build A/D converters of our own; what I'm concerned
about is playback. That's where they can really get us. If every
computer monitor and TV and playback software requires a specially
encoded stream, the analog hole really has been effectively closed for
most people. Oh, it's not going to happen for a few decades, there will
be too much need for back-compatibility. But hang on to your old Athlon
and Pentium boxes, LCD monitors, and Linux CDs. Until such things become
contraband.
 
I

Ignoramus22094

Jan 1, 1970
0
This is not much more immoral than other forms of copyright
protection. All those moralizers who whine about how giving copies of
stuff to friends is "stealing", are on about same footing.

All software that I use is free.

**** copyright.

i

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051218-5797.html

Their previously-stated goal was to lock up our A/D converters,
and I'm sure that's still high on their list. There's still
time to write your member of the Judiciary Committee, if you
have one for your state (Massachusetts has two). Check and see.

http://judiciary.house.gov/CommitteeMembership.aspx


--
 
F

Frank Bemelman

Jan 1, 1970
0
Ian Bell said:
THE USA needs to remember it is but one small country in the whole wide
world.

Last week I was playing with Google Earth. If you position the earth
so that the equator is horizontal and in the middle, and turn it to
Africa, you'll notice how amazingly big Africa is. It astonishes me
everytime. Okay, in that view Europe looks smaller than it actually is,
but it is still very impressive.

The U.S.A. is indeed a very very small piece of the earth.
 
J

John Larkin

Jan 1, 1970
0
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051218-5797.html

Their previously-stated goal was to lock up our A/D converters,
and I'm sure that's still high on their list. There's still
time to write your member of the Judiciary Committee, if you
have one for your state (Massachusetts has two). Check and see.

http://judiciary.house.gov/CommitteeMembership.aspx


Except that there's pretty much nothing on TV worth recording. And if
you like music, why not just pay for it?

Sign up for Netflix. These guys are geniuses: they figured out all the
things people hate about renting videos, and got rid of them all. If
you like a movie so much that you want to see it many times, but
you're too cheap to buy it, Netflix takes care of you.

Hey Win, is it okay with you if everybody pirates AoE? Maybe I should
just have a minion scan it, and then I can give each of my interns a
PDF on a 50-cent CD, instead of buying each of them a hardcopy. Does
that sound like "fair use" to you?.

John
 
W

Winfield Hill

Jan 1, 1970
0
John Larkin wrote...
Hey Win, is it okay with you if everybody pirates AoE? Maybe
I should just have a minion scan it, and then I can give each
of my interns a PDF on a 50-cent CD, instead of buying each of
them a hardcopy. Does that sound like "fair use" to you?.

There are already at least two full AoE scans floating around
on the net. CUG is considering competing with these with our
own free higher-quality searchable electronic copy for the 3rd
edition. They already have several of their printed books also
freely available online, and these have enjoyed better hardcopy
sales than expected, which may (or may not) be due to the free
online version.

Anyway, stop changing the subject: Fair use is being able to
record a TV show and watch it the next day. That's the long-
established "SONY principle." I have a very busy schedule,
and usually can't watch a program when its broadcast.

They fought the VCR then and lost, now they may not lose.

"Section 201 (b) (1) of the DTCSA gives you only 90 minutes
from the initial reception of a "unit of content" to watch
your recordings."

Wake up, John. I recommend you avoid a blanket acceptance of
everything your fine Republican government is up to these days.
California has six Judiciary Committee members, I suggest you
write each one a quick note. You can use cut and paste.
http://judiciary.house.gov/CommitteeMembership.aspx
 
I

Ignoramus22094

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hey Win, is it okay with you if everybody pirates AoE? Maybe I should
just have a minion scan it, and then I can give each of my interns a
PDF on a 50-cent CD, instead of buying each of them a hardcopy. Does
that sound like "fair use" to you?.

Just a little hint, the value of AoE on a CD or printed out on a
printer is relatively low. Hard to read and keep on a bench for quick
reference.

Hence, if the people who are too cheap to buy a book anyway could get
it on a CD, they would make such a book much more popular.

i
 
S

Spehro Pefhany

Jan 1, 1970
0
Just a little hint, the value of AoE on a CD or printed out on a
printer is relatively low. Hard to read and keep on a bench for quick
reference.

Hence, if the people who are too cheap to buy a book anyway could get
it on a CD, they would make such a book much more popular.

i

Yup. ebook is to book as freeze-dried camping food is to gourmet
cooking. At least for a few (probably 10+) more years until displays
get better.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
 
W

Winfield Hill

Jan 1, 1970
0
Spehro Pefhany wrote...
Yup. ebook is to book as freeze-dried camping food is to gourmet
cooking. At least for a few (probably 10+) more years until displays
get better.

I agree. Someone who's willing to struggle for years reading off
his computer screen probably isn't a lost sale, because he never
would have bought the book anyway. Alternately, someone who gets
an electronic copy and finds it useful might purchase a bound copy
some time later he'd not have otherwise made. Someday, when we get
the direct computer-brain connection, this may no longer be true.
 
J

John Larkin

Jan 1, 1970
0
Anyway, stop changing the subject: Fair use is being able to
record a TV show and watch it the next day. That's the long-
established "SONY principle." I have a very busy schedule,
and usually can't watch a program when its broadcast.

They fought the VCR then and lost, now they may not lose.

So hang onto your VCR.
"Section 201 (b) (1) of the DTCSA gives you only 90 minutes
from the initial reception of a "unit of content" to watch
your recordings."

Wake up, John. I recommend you avoid a blanket acceptance of
everything your fine Republican government is up to these days.
California has six Judiciary Committee members, I suggest you
write each one a quick note. You can use cut and paste.
http://judiciary.house.gov/CommitteeMembership.aspx


I count 5 Democrats and three Repubs on that committee from
California. And it's Democrats that are mostly in the pockets and pay
of Hollywood. So why blame "your fine Republican government" here?

Ultimately it will be up to the courts to re-interpret fair use.

Personally, if someone creates IP, I figure they should protect it any
way they choose. If you want to slice out the commercials that fund
the broadcasts, and they want to try to stop you, I can't see that
they are wrong. If they make watching their crap too much trouble,
I'll not watch it... I hardly do anyway. That's the way markets
work... if you don't like the product, buy something else.

John
 
R

Rich Grise

Jan 1, 1970
0
John Larkin wrote...

There are already at least two full AoE scans floating around
on the net. CUG is considering competing with these with our
own free higher-quality searchable electronic copy for the 3rd
edition. They already have several of their printed books also
freely available online, and these have enjoyed better hardcopy
sales than expected, which may (or may not) be due to the free
online version.

Probably - it's a lot more comfortable to take a paper book to
bed than a computer. ;-)

And paging through a pdf can be a PITA, when with paper, you can
just flip to the page in question.

I'm not much one to talk, though: I borrowed a copy from the public
library, read it, loved it, and now know where to go look if I
need to use it for a reference. :)

Thanks!
Rich
 
J

John Larkin

Jan 1, 1970
0
Spehro Pefhany wrote...

I agree. Someone who's willing to struggle for years reading off
his computer screen probably isn't a lost sale, because he never
would have bought the book anyway. Alternately, someone who gets
an electronic copy and finds it useful might purchase a bound copy
some time later he'd not have otherwise made. Someday, when we get
the direct computer-brain connection, this may no longer be true.

So you oppose copyrights in general? That's not a bad idea; we could
get rid of patents, too, and things would be different but not
necessarily worse.

But you seem to argue from a practical perspective, that copying AoE
may actually make you money, so you don't mind.

John
 
I

Ignoramus22094

Jan 1, 1970
0
Yup. ebook is to book as freeze-dried camping food is to gourmet
cooking. At least for a few (probably 10+) more years until displays
get better.

I am prepared to wait for even longer than 10 years.

i
 
C

Chris Jones

Jan 1, 1970
0
Ignoramus22094 said:
This is not much more immoral than other forms of copyright
protection. All those moralizers who whine about how giving copies of
stuff to friends is "stealing", are on about same footing.

All software that I use is free.

**** copyright.

i




--

http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/general/intellectual/against.htm

I've posted this link before but I think it's interesting so I'll post it
again. I think they basically agree with you Ig, but they are not able to
express themselves as freely and eloquently as you.

It a good thing that plenty of us know how to make ADCs, though they would
be a bit clunky if they had to be made discretely. I think there are
enough ADCs already in the world that it will never be worthwhile for
organised criminals to have to make their own. Pity, it might increase our
pay ;-)

Chris
 
I

Ignoramus22094

Jan 1, 1970
0
So you oppose copyrights in general? That's not a bad idea; we could
get rid of patents, too, and things would be different but not
necessarily worse.

But you seem to argue from a practical perspective, that copying AoE
may actually make you money, so you don't mind.


I think that it would not be an unreasonable world where the author
gets a copyright on professional printing (like they had 100 years
ago), but not on electronic copying of any sort.

If some people make less profit this way, I am not going to shed tears
or whine about "demise of capitalism". Capitalists will just go on amd
make money elsewhere. I do not think that there is going to be less
useful content than we see now, if such a hypothetical change took
place. Probably less commercial heavily promoted crap, but I do not
care for it.

i
 
I

Ignoramus22094

Jan 1, 1970
0
http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/general/intellectual/against.htm

I've posted this link before but I think it's interesting so I'll post it
again. I think they basically agree with you Ig, but they are not able to
express themselves as freely and eloquently as you.

It a good thing that plenty of us know how to make ADCs, though they would
be a bit clunky if they had to be made discretely. I think there are
enough ADCs already in the world that it will never be worthwhile for
organised criminals to have to make their own. Pity, it might increase our
pay ;-)

Thanks for posting this great link, I will read that stuff for a
while.

i
 
S

Spehro Pefhany

Jan 1, 1970
0
I am prepared to wait for even longer than 10 years.

i

What's the best portable PDF reader we can buy *right now* for say
1-2K US roughly?

I'm thinking of a screen that can be used in the portrait format, and
has a minimum of 1200 pixels (preferably a lot more) in the vertical
direction and is as small and light as practical. Should also be a
fairly kick-ass computer (1-2GHz with 100Gb absolute minimum HDD).

Are there some 'tablet' computers that come close to the above
requirements?


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
 
M

Mac

Jan 1, 1970
0
Except that there's pretty much nothing on TV worth recording. And if
you like music, why not just pay for it?

Sign up for Netflix. These guys are geniuses: they figured out all the
things people hate about renting videos, and got rid of them all. If
you like a movie so much that you want to see it many times, but
you're too cheap to buy it, Netflix takes care of you.

Yeah. I like Netflix.

[snip]

This isn't just about TV. The big media companies want total control over
how and when we use content, and they don't care about collateral damage.
That is what makes them dangerous.

I want my PC to process whatever bits I tell it to when I tell it to. But
where this is all going is taking sufficient control over PC's and other
devices capable of playing media and making them subservient to the
media giants. In addition to putting a stranglehold on the distribution of
content, they will probably also try to poison the ability of independent
artists to release their content.

After all, their first thought was to enact legislation which would
require ADC's, to somehow recognize copyrighted media! These people do NOT
understand all the implications of what they are doing. I will take a look
at this bill, and if it is as bad as I suspect it is, I will write a few
letters.

--Mac
 
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