Actually, there's been at least one instance of legally purchased media installing spyware, the Sony rootkit scandal that's already come up in this discussion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootki...
Yeah, and there are lots and lots of instances of illegaly gotten media installing spyware. You don't need a perfect track record to be the safest option.
The difference is, that it's a common knowledge not to trust pirated materials. But it's not a common knowledge not to trust DRMed ones.
I want to watch Game of Thrones and pay for it. I also want it available within a day of it's original airing and without having to buy cable or a TV. Charge me for HBO. Just don't make me wait a year before I can buy the video. You can even make me buy the HD version when I only want to pay for standard definition.
It's out on itunes the same day in HD for $3.5 an episode (unless you are in australia).
I didn't mind what you said until you brought in the horrible example of the tea party. Even ignoring its political message it was pretty much all astroturf, pumped up and hyped by established players. A few election cycles later it's pretty much gone.
I appreciate that the example can be distasteful. However, I have looked into the astro-turfing dismissal argument as well. Generally, astro-turfing (the use of a PR engine to create the appearance of grass roots support) is designed to get a candidate elected (or issue passed) that favors the money financing the campaign. We have seen a number of these in California and there has consistently been a strong correlati…
> the speaker of the house cannot count on all of his own party's votes for that reason
This is diverging from your original point so I won't push it too hard... But you don't think this has more to do with the larger trend in GOP members of congress over the last few decades? There has been a pattern of primary challenges against moderates for some time; it did not start with the 2010 election, it was only slightly re-branded and allowed to have a majority after a 4 year hiatus.
It's out on itunes the same day in HD for $3.5 an episode (unless you are in australia).
Season 3 isn't out on itunes in Canada at all yet. The only way for me to watch Season 3 is to subscribe to the $100/month + $20/month cable package that carries HBO. I've not bothered to pirate it, yet.
There's a way to trick your iTunes into thinking you're not in Canada. All you need is a second account and a gift card situated in the US. (I've seen people in the US use this trick in reverse to get BBC shows in America without pirating them.) Granted, it's retarded (and potentially still illegal) that people should have to do this in order to pay for content rather than pirate...but the option is there.
Some people also think using animal products isn't ethical and inconvenience themselves to avoid it. But you probably don't want to build a mass market business on that. For the record, I don't pirate music anymore. Spotify has made pirating too inconvenient.
And that's the problem - you might as well keep pirating as Spotify isn't helping any artist while users think they're doing the noble thing.
Spotify is legal and the artists on the platform are on there of their own free will (or their publishers will who they signed that right away to).
They could decide that they on want to steam on another platform if that is a better deal for them.
I want to watch Game of Thrones and pay for it. I also want it available within a day of it's original airing and without having to buy cable or a TV. Charge me for HBO. Just don't make me wait a year before I can buy the video. You can even make me buy the HD version when I only want to pay for standard definition.
It's out on itunes the same day in HD for $3.5 an episode (unless you are in australia).
I read there was something coming in next season to prevent same time iTunes release in Australia? Is this currently the case as well?
I think you're misunderstanding me. It's my claim that any sufficiently profitable colony sufficiently far away from its mother country will inevitably cease to be a part of said mother country. The how is irrelevant.
The how isn't irrelevant, especially when the colony in question ceased being a party of the mother country because of opportunists who thought that it would be fun to start a new country built in whatever manner they pleased. Without our specific set of malcontents the Revolutionary War wouldn't have occurred and the US would have been given a voice in parliament. Your claim is wrong.
>because of
That's how the history is written, yes. And how the history is written...is irrelevant. Where are all these profitable, distant colonies with voices in parliament today? Australia? Canada? Technically not sovereign, but they operate as separate nations. No country in the world fits the description of the U.S. you claim would have otherwise been inevitable, and you don't give this a second thought. The oldest truism is the ephemeral nature of Empire. You let your piecemeal study of history delude you.
I want to watch Game of Thrones and pay for it. I also want it available within a day of it's original airing and without having to buy cable or a TV. Charge me for HBO. Just don't make me wait a year before I can buy the video. You can even make me buy the HD version when I only want to pay for standard definition.
It's out on itunes the same day in HD for $3.5 an episode (unless you are in australia).
I just checked. You can't buy Game of Thrones season 3 via iTunes in the USA, but it looks like you could buy it in Australia. I tried buying an episode from the Australian iTunes store, but no luck.
I would also want the ability to shoot anybody I dislike at will, but make it so no one else would have this ability. But fortunately for our civilization, it is not rules by what I like. That's why if you suspect somebody stole a car from you, you can not just make it blow up - you have to call the police. If you suspect somebody stole a software from you, should you be allowed to blow up their computer? In the same…
Based on your comment, I can see that you have not read the paper. The section with rootkits is about thwarting active, targeted cyber espionage. Organizations should have the right to protect files on their own networks by any reasonable means. They are not proposing a mechanism by which organizations would be allowed to distribute rootkits. I certainly have the right to disable my car remotely if it is stolen. I al…
Sending pictures to the police is not the same as disabling the whole system on the suspicion of illegal access. Especially that copyright trolls' opinion of which information belongs to them may be very different from anyone else's, to which we have seen a lot of evidence. So I wouldn't want to have my comp locked up because some media company decided it absolutely needs to install rootkit on my machine to watch some legit movie I paid for and later that rootkit thinks I've downloaded some files to which they hold copyright. I appreciate that they would like this power very much - as they probably would like the power to conduct searches without a warrant or imprison and fine people on mere suspicion, without tiresome process of trial. That would indeed make punishing criminals and fighting crime much easier. The only thing that prevents it is that people have rights, and I'd very much like to keep them, even if it inconveniences some companies a little. I'm not living for their convenience and at their pleasure, so they'd have to find some other ways to protect their interests.