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US indictments of piracy group members throw top-tier piracy world into chaos

torrentfreak.com

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Re: US indictments of piracy group members throw top-tier piracy world into chaos

#301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have absolutely zero problem with creators who make a Patreon and get paid for their work through patronage. That would work even without copyright. The problem is copyright, not creators getting paid. In order for creators to get paid via the copyright system, artificial scarcity of data is needed. In order to create artificial scarcity, people's computers must be compromised with DRM so that they won't be able to…

You're equating the existence of copyright as a principle/law and the existence of DRM as a technological means of enforcement. They are not the same thing at all. I could, physically, go drive my car at 100mph past a school, and nothing about the vehicle would prevent it. Everyone would rightly think me a dangerous idiot for doing it, and the police would probably arrest me, and I'd likely go to jail after being fou…

> You're equating the existence of copyright as a principle/law and the existence of DRM as a technological means of enforcement. They are not the same thing at all.

I'm not comparing copyright and DRM. I'm saying DRM is a consequence of copyright.

As you noted, technology is the only way rightsholders can effectively protect their property. Since the copyright industry is worth many billions of dollars, they have more than enough money and influence to make their DRM technology a reality. The computer industry is going to back them up. The result will be computers that obey them, not us. Computers that only run the software that they approve, software that does their bidding.

The source of this evil is copyright. There should be no imaginary property to protect in the first place.

Re: US indictments of piracy group members throw top-tier piracy world into chaos

#302

19 years ago, in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the then-Attorney General appeared before the media to proudly announce the conclusion of the largest operation in DoJ history. It was the destruction of a warez group. In the lead-up to the 9/11 attacks, the most important thing on the DoJ agenda was not to follow up on any of the numerous intelligence leads warning that Islamist terrorists were planning…

This feels like one of those "mind blowing" factoids. I mean, nobody had 9/11 on their calendars (aside from literally, I guess). I suppose you could argue that the U.S. should have gotten obssessively involved with the middle east before 9/11 ever happened, but I personally think that's a nutcase position.

Re: US indictments of piracy group members throw top-tier piracy world into chaos

#303

19 years ago, in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the then-Attorney General appeared before the media to proudly announce the conclusion of the largest operation in DoJ history. It was the destruction of a warez group. In the lead-up to the 9/11 attacks, the most important thing on the DoJ agenda was not to follow up on any of the numerous intelligence leads warning that Islamist terrorists were planning…

This feels like one of those "mind blowing" factoids. I mean, nobody had 9/11 on their calendars (aside from literally, I guess). I suppose you could argue that the U.S. should have gotten obssessively involved with the middle east before 9/11 ever happened, but I personally think that's a nutcase position.

And let's address this counterargument: "Regardless of 9/11, why wasn't the DOJ doing literally anything else?"

I mean, the DOJ is a department. I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure it's not just a single boardroom stocked with sneering capitalists plotting to get back at software pirates.

Don't get me wrong, it's a pretty big department, I don't doubt that this evil boardroom probably actually exists in some capacity. I just also happen to think that is... kind of normal? Would you prefer if the DOJ didn't enforce laws? It seems like putting the cart before the horse when one criticizes the executive for executing instead of criticizing the law itself.

Re: US indictments of piracy group members throw top-tier piracy world into chaos

#304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...while keeping a copy for themselves. And then reselling that copy over and over . It’s not the same; It’s profiting off someone else’s work.

But it is not breaking and entering.

It’s still a criminal offense.

Re: US indictments of piracy group members throw top-tier piracy world into chaos

#305
post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why not crowdfund those amounts instead? That way, all creators get paid before the work even starts and the result can be safely released into the public domain. Then shouldn't every business have to follow the same rules? Making a "copy" of an iPhone costs $20 or $30, should Apple have to crowdsource their factory and IP then sell iPhones by weight or value of raw material? Why do content creators get screwed bec…

> Making a "copy" of an iPhone costs $20 or $30 I think you might be off by a factor of ten or so. [0][1] [0]: https://technology.informa.com/596781/iphone-x-costs-apple-3... [1]: https://www.bankmycell.com/blog/how-much-do-iphones-cost-to-...

Those are components composed of mostly IP, which OP doesn't think should be paid for. In terms of raw material it is much less.

Re: US indictments of piracy group members throw top-tier piracy world into chaos

#306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> binary QR decoding for ZBar I just saw a video the other day about storing video games in QR codes where the poster submitted a patch for ZBar. Was that you?

Video games in QR codes? That's interesting. Do you have the link to the video? Is it this one? https://youtu.be/ExwqNreocpg https://github.com/mchehab/zbar/commit/5bc323849569a629aa0d1... If so, then the patch he submitted builds upon my work! He fixed a line feed conversion bug that was present in Windows. I use Linux so I did not experience this issue. I remember seeing that patch get merged but I didn't know abou…

Yes, that's the one!

Storing secret keys as QR codes is an interesting application as well. I remember reading on here about a CEO who printed out a database encryption key as a base64 string and then couldn't type it in correctly when it was needed to restore backups. A machine-readable format definitely seems the way to go.

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