Copy Protection Is a Crime - against humanity

[rampy]

Copy Protection Is a Crime  

[Brad Lee]

Zero-tolerance and mandatory sentencing/judgement are not the way to enlightenment.

[Sasquatch!]

The overenforcement of DRM / DCMA is certainly a problem, but the author of this article didn't really put it that way.  His big arguement seems to be "Oh no, I won't be able to break rules anymore."  His example of photocopying a magazine for a sales meeting is a poor one, because that is breaking the law.

[anthony691]

Don't get me too deep in this (Don't qoute to my post as I don't want to get into an argument)

I HATE THE MPAA/RIAA MORE THAN ADOLF HITLER!
(I hate Hitler a whole lot!)

I respect peoples rights (more than you could know), but aren't the INSANE copyright laws in this country enough? I pray to God that the new Iraq doesn't inherit the one aspect of our laws I hate the most (funny because some folks from the RIAA are rumered to "help" setup Iraqs new copyright laws). Around the demise of Tombstones origional setup... who else but the MPAA was said to have shut them down!

Now that I have gotten that out of the way...   (and no matter what happens I will always have Alcohol 120%, Tom Waits for backround music, and a lot of time on my hands

F

[HeadRusch]

I think this is ultimately a moot debate:  The "owners" of digital media will always try to prevent consumers from making illegal copies of whatever it is they own, and a couple of smart 17 year olds in SWEDEN will always find a way to get around it.

The only thing that really bugs me about Media Protection right now is that its messing up the adaption of HDTV.  This whole thing about Studios not wanting to release movies or TV shows in High Def formats for fear of people copying them to Digital Video Tape (among other media) is assinine.
They don twant people copying it because they want to be able to SELL THE DVD in six months.

Thats a true ripoff, and that I really do frown upon.  Its like saying "Hey, if people will pay for HBO, maybe we can make ALL TELEVISION SHOWS "pay" shows? What do you say??".  ---daisies---.

[skirge66]

Hey rampy is this "bait" to find contestants for a new reality show on NBC about armchair lawyers that think they know the laws of the land, and every week we have to vote one of them off the soap box?    

I always get a kick out of legal debates hehe

[anthony691]

Hey rampy is this "bait" to find contestants for a new reality show on NBC about armchair lawyers that think they know the laws of the land, and every week we have to vote one of them off the soap box?    

I always get a kick out of legal debates hehe

Hmm... I have been criminally (and civily) prosecuted enough to know what's what! I hate your critisism... if you think you know more... what is Title III of the DMCA? (Nothing too important... but as dumb as the rest)

Damn Mickey Mouse! Aren't our copyrights longest on earth? What country's are longer? It's sad I won't see the day Pac-Man becomes PD...

[Sasquatch!]

The only thing that really bugs me about Media Protection right now is that its messing up the adaption of HDTV...

Bingo.

I certainly don't blame copyright owners for wanting to protect their property, but a lot of the newer copy protection schemes have one huge flaw: They make legitimate use of the product a real hassle for legal owners.

[anthony691]

The only thing that really bugs me about Media Protection right now is that its messing up the adaption of HDTV...

Bingo.

I certainly don't blame copyright owners for wanting to protect their property, but a lot of the newer copy protection schemes have one huge flaw: They make legitimate use of the product a real hassle for legal owners.

Well... the real problem is no one will ever stopirates and criminals...  but it isn't hard to stop an average person from doing some things they SHOULD be able to do!

[skirge66]

Hey rampy is this "bait" to find contestants for a new reality show on NBC about armchair lawyers that think they know the laws of the land, and every week we have to vote one of them off the soap box?    

I always get a kick out of legal debates hehe

Hmm... I have been criminally (and civily) prosecuted enough to know what's what! I hate your critisism... if you think you know more... what is Title III of the DMCA? (Nothing too important... but as dumb as the rest)

Damn Mickey Mouse! Aren't our copyrights longest on earth? What country's are longer? It's sad I won't see the day Pac-Man becomes PD...

Hey anthony691...just a question, do you you really take this as critisism?...ummm joke man...joke. if you really take sooo much offense to someone poking a little fun at no one in particular i really think you need to lay off the caffein, and get a little fun in your life. it was humor and nothing malicious or even directed at you....you really need to have a little fun.

sorry to hear about your problems. legaly

[rampy]

Hey rampy is this "bait" to find contestants for a new reality show on NBC about armchair lawyers that think they know the laws of the land, and every week we have to vote one of them off the soap box?    

I always get a kick out of legal debates hehe

Found out.  =P  My real last name is Burnett

Skirge66, the tribe has spoken...

Rampy

[atomaka]

I'd like to ask you all a quesion, and I am being serious.

Do you honestly believe that there is nothing wrong with violating these copyright laws?

I don't see how any one can answer yes to that question.  To throw a different spin on it, Meijer makes a lot of money, right?  Just like all these silly artists not wanting digital copies of their works to be digitally distributed.  Now, most of you would agree that walking into Meijer, grabbing your normal set of groceries, and walking out without paying is a bad thing to do.  Why doesn't the same hold true for digital copyrights?  Why does everyone think it's okay to download music/other things?

Alright, so that's a little bit off from the article, but the same principal holds true.  The people who hold the copyrights on things, in a sense, made that thing.  They put work into it, and thus, should be rewarded.  Yeah, copyrights do last forever, and maybe something should be done about that.  I mean, I like seeing stuff in the public domain as much as the next guy, but it's really no different than any other business model works.

There are also some absolutely ridiculous copyright claims out there.  Those of you who have been reading /. recently will have noticed an abundance of articles posted on the subject in the last two weeks.

Realize I am someone who does not fully follow copyright laws.  I download just as much stuff as the next guy over.  I just realize what I am doing is wrong.  I'm sure when any drastic change of laws is suggested, a drastic uprising occurs.  When murder became illegal (what about the duels) and you couldn't beat your family and you could not disallow people to use something based on skin color, there was opposition.  The Digital Rights Movement will win.  What they are doing is legal...it's just matter of time.

[rampy]

See, the rub is...

Copyright law (and derivatives of it) is being used as a bludgeon to protect coporate interests instead of public interest (or at least it seems that way)

Witness the "altering"  of when copyrights "expire" recently to suite Disney Corp. just so steamboat willy wouldn't fall in to public domain.

In a truly "open" society can you really claim to own an idea in the same manner that you "own" grocery's or other tangible products?

I'm not saying you can't -> i'm just saying there's some room for discussion.  The article, in it's flawed way was saying the path we seem to be headed down (automated digital rights management up the wazoo) is going to be bad because it takes the human factor/decision out of the mix.  How do you code for "fair" in fair use?

The old paradymes don't work anymore.  Am I buying a phsycial compact disc with songs on it? or am I buying a limited use license to listen to the songs contained only on specific devices as chosen by some conglomerate as best?  

*shrug* I'm not saying "screw artist royalties".. I'm saying the system is flawed and biased and it doesn't seem to be getting better with legislation (ugh.. dmca, etc etc...)

Rampy

[jakejake28]

what i wanna know, is why a guy sitting in an office making a million plus bucks a year is telling me i am stealing from him? if i can buy a blank cd for 25 cents, and burn it for 50 cents of time and energy,how is he charging me 25 bucks for that same cd and not calling that stealing?

edit: oh yeah. i forgot. that man making a million bucks, he is only representing the beliefs of an artist who makes that much a month

[spectre]

I must say this, I am a giant software pirate... hate me if you will, i'm just letting you know where I am comming from, I support the little software guy tho...

in reality tho... it might cost you 50 cents for that cd, but think of all thje people and talent it took to make the program... it isn't freeware... people make games to get paid, to live off them, it is their life... if EVERYONE bootlegged games like I do, companies would go out of bussiness...imagine if you were...i dunno say a coder (very hard underappreciated job)... you get paid less because they have to cover the loss of sale because people warez games...it's just reality, weather piracy really causes a drop in sale has yet to be proved or disproved, but they do take that into account as a loss of sale, they being the game companies...as a result the people get paid less and less...they must live off this, feed their kids, ect...
in short
50 cents for a cd
up to a half million dollars for the work on it, not to mention ads ect...
look up and do some research on how much people at id software get paid...
in order to pay them...
the price of the game goes up...
hence the reason why budget software for 20 dollars isn;t as good as 50 dollar software...
think about it...

[Frostillicus]

if EVERYONE bootlegged games like I do, companies would go out of bussiness...
think about it...

One could argue that because of what you do the costs of games are where they are - what if EVERYONE actually paid for games? they might not be near as expensive since that is additional revenue.  
You have to look at the structure of the business - there are developers, publishers and distributors - consumer pays the distributor which pays the publisher which pays the developers....They need your money for their product to recoup expenses incurred in the developing, marketing, product manufacturing, etc.  Without an income from consumers, why do any of it at all?
I, as a supporter of the industry (I pay for games), hate freeloaders as much as the next guy.  If it's a good product, do the right thing and spend the money to get a legal copy - you'll support future development.  If you don't have 50 bucks to buy it, then get a job.  I'm not knocking anyone specifically, mind you - just a general view on the whole legal/piracy thing.  

[skirge66]

here's the problem now, companies have been charging $50+ per game for long enough now, that even if a magical "legal fairy" appeared and made everyone on the planet buy all their software legitamately, and everyone wanted that particular program and went out and bought it, that company would not lower their price or even consider charging less. why? because greed is the bottom line...everyone wants more...if they thought games would sell at $80- $100 that's what they would charge no matter how many copies they sold. likewise most people will never register shareware, and if games went for $5.00 there would still be people pirating the thing...after all the big company won't miss $5.00 righ? I don't think things will ever change. I haven't pirated any games in a long time, really don't have a need to. my opinions are just "my opinions" but I don't think any of it makes a lick of difference in the big scheme of things. piracy is the catalist software mechas use to justify their high price, and high price is the catalist that software pirates use to justify not paying for the software. does anyone really think any of it will change?

[spectre]

yea, well it's always going to be a battle betweent he two groups and it shall never end until microsoft becomes a real dick about it, then everyone will follow suit because nerds worship him, in any case... it will never end, so i am going to back out with saying...piracy is wrong, yes it is...do i pirate, yes i do, it's your choice, i only pirate single player games tho, i don't hack online games or any of that, but it doesn't make it right...it is wrong...as long as people realize what they are doing to the gaming industry...