Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: You can't always get what you want

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  • linger,

    improbable piles of information

    Which is what you get from sitting on a throne.

    Tokyo • Since Apr 2007 • 1944 posts Report Reply

  • Caleb D'Anvers,

    So, can I assume that the region-free DVD player I've had for the past five years is now an uber-felonious TPM-spoiler?

    London SE16 • Since Mar 2008 • 482 posts Report Reply

  • InternationalObserver,

    Rubbish, you ain't no Fool, fool. Fight u for it!

    Heh heh. Since you're referencing Mr T I should point out (apropos of nothing, but tangentially related to those other threads on the China FTA ie have we sold out?) that

    In 2005, Mr. T stated that he never would wear his chains again, "No, T, you can never wear your gold again. It's an insult to God." He arrived at this decision after seeing the effects of Hurricane Katrina (However, he has been seen wearing some chains for several commercial appearances, such as the 2007 Snickers advertisement, and the 2007 World of Warcraft ad).

    Actually I can recommend reading the whole Wiki post on Mr T, it's quite interesting. Who knew that Ice T wrote his raps in 1984?

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • samuel walker,

    If you're getting your plumber to install your broadband then I'm surprised you made it online. You're probably surfing by some sort of complicated water reticulation system.

    lols,

    as long as the water is carried by a series of tubes. then your upload can get deliveried via a fat pipe.

    Since Nov 2006 • 203 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Also, occasionally Craig's posts sink into the gutter in a very creative (almost poetic) way.

    Now we know why. It's not Craig, his plumber is just running his broadband and his sewage through the same pipe.

    So Craig is about to post some angelic, clean-as-a-whistle, G-rated post, but as he clicks 'post reply', his partner flushes away his number twos, and we get the result.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Socrates,

    but put it on the web for free/cheap? the thing's now on my high-rotation list, and i'm thinking of buying the artwork to go with it. and more importantly i'm telling everyone how much i like it.
    tell me that's a model your copyright/DRM fanatics would support.

    I think the difference is in control. A lot of the “copyright/DRM fanatics” want to be able to choose to make it available rather than have it ripped and burned by Chinese tech pirates…

    you can take the CD to a librarian or a teacher who, providing she has been authorised by...
    That's a slap in the face to this nation's two dozen male teachers if ever I saw one

    And myself and the other three dozen male librarians …

    Since Feb 2008 • 9 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    Meanwhile, I find it amusing that the New Zealand Institute's FibreCo proposal, which has won the backing of David Farrar, Bernard Hickey and Rod Drury seems a bit, well, socialist to me.

    I don't see Mr Drury as any sort of political partisan? In terms of David Farrar, it's interesting how people take a more left wing attitude on stuff they actually know anything about.

    I'm just a bit sceptical about FTTP.

    How flexible a technology is fibre? Will we spend $$$ on putting in 2010-generation fibre and then find it's obsolete in 10 years? (Good-quality copper has transitioned from the 3kHz analog it was installed for through to 20Mbit DSL). How many people will opt for expensive fibre over said 20Mbit copper (or won't we get a choice?). How much backhaul is this going to need and who's going to provide it?

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    as long as the water is carried by a series of tubes. then your upload can get deliveried via a fat pipe.

    So, in conclusion, Craig's house is just a massive bong?

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    ...Ah copyright. The desperate, hopeless and pointless fight against piracy continues...

    A report in the Media Guardian this week ("Home copying--burnt into teenage psyche", Monday 7 April) cites a survey by the British Music Rights that showed that 95% of 1,158 Brits surveyed 'engaged in some form of copying'

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    LOL, I never realized his gold was all nicked. But if it came to asking him for my gold back I guess I'd probably just take a pass too.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Don Christie,

    I'm sure all parties to debate around the bill will be thinking that it could have been worse

    Bollocks. This has to be one of the shittiest pieces of legislation relating to technology for a long time. Kiss the chances of any innovation goodbye and if you want to play your DVD on anything other than an RIAA approved platform you can get lost.

    If you don't believe this bill perpetuates a certain monoplies then check out this submission to the select committee. Microsoft asking for the Government to turn even more of its clients and competitors into criminals.

    I quote:

    While the Bill will extend some protection for TPMs, that extension will be insufficient to deter infringement or to guard against extensive piracy.

    They then go on to describe how TPM's should be made even more restrictive and their customers carry even more liability. Would you buy anything for these caring guys?

    Tizard takes the biscuit however with here concluding vote of thanks:

    I particularly thank the copyright industry: Ant Healey from the Australasian Performing Rights Association, and his predecessor Mike Chunn, Tony Eaton from the New Zealand Federation Against Copyright Theft, and Campbell Smith from the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand who did an enormous amount of work to make this bill workable.

    Workable for whom?

    Tizard and her team have ignored or soft soaped just about every view other than those named above. Sickening stuff.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1645 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    if you want to play your DVD on anything other than an RIAA approved platform

    Guess I won't be buying my first DVD for a while then..

    Isn't physical media going to be obsolete in 10 years or less?

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    LOL, I never realized his gold was all nicked. But if it came to asking him for my gold back I guess I'd probably just take a pass too.

    It's the hour every morning to put it on, and then more time in the evening to clean it all that was bizarre. He must have been _really_ slow at putting jewelery on.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Jonathan Ibell,

    And finally, Freeview users can tonight (9.30, TVNZ7) see the second Media7... I'll put up the links tomorrow.

    Can I suggest that TVNZ looks to making some improvements to the podcasts of the show?

    1. why not supply a copy of the whole progamme via this format? It's probably far easier for some of us to find the time to watch this on a portable media player than on a computer (eg, I watched the podcasts on the train!). As it was, I saw a bunch of disconnected parts of the show, and really was left with no sense of it as a whole.

    2. how about labelling the podcasts for each episode to mark their order? Would be nice to be able to see things in sequence (and get the context; from what I saw, the opening of the show was not included - this relates back to point 1).

    3. the sound on these was pretty terrible, though I take it from earlier posts that this applied to the ondemand copy as well. Is this something that is able to be sorted?

    I'll certainly be watching again, but may resort to the Ondemand version for the reasons outlined above (well, until we get Freeview HD!).

    Palmerston North • Since Nov 2006 • 10 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    Isn't physical media going to be obsolete in 10 years or less?

    Seem to remember hearing that 10 years ago.

    It's the hour every morning to put it on, and then more time in the evening to clean it all that was bizarre. He must have been _really_ slow at putting jewelery on.

    Yes, that sounds more like a woman doing her hair than a tough rapper/bouncer/action hero/professional wrestler. But come to think of it, his chains never seemed to bounce around when he ran - maybe he glued them on?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    So, can I assume that the region-free DVD player I've had for the past five years is now an uber-felonious TPM-spoiler?

    No. It's secifically exempted.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    If you're getting your plumber to install your broadband then I'm surprised you made it online. You're probably surfing by some sort of complicated water reticulation system.

    OK, time to come out of the closet. lI'm part human, part machine, suspended in a spa pool filled with goo and utterly out of my tree. Explains a lot, doesn't it?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • mark taslov,

    western freedoms...Please Steal This...

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

  • InternationalObserver,

    But come to think of it, his chains never seemed to bounce around when he ran - maybe he glued them on?

    No, they were heavy with the weight of 400 Years Of Slavery ...

    Does anyone else remember the shortlived movement in the rap community to forego 'gold ropes', in solidarity with the oppressed black South African gold miners??

    A decade later and they were all getting free bling for their teeth from South African diamond mines ...

    I think Paul Simon started it.

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • InternationalObserver,

    I'm ... suspended in a spa pool filled with goo and utterly out of my tree.

    Oh. I was expecting to see this! (possibly NSFW, depending)

    And if you liked/hated that, then this is better.

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • Don Christie,

    No. It's specifically exempted.

    Wait, isn't the bill technology neutral? What about the "specific exemptions" that will be required for stuff that hasn't yet been invented?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1645 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    No, they were heavy with the weight of 400 Years Of Slavery ...

    Wow, that is heavy. I pity the fool who wears that around his neck.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    __I'm sure all parties to debate around the bill will be thinking that it could have been worse__

    Bollocks. This has to be one of the shittiest pieces of legislation relating to technology for a long time.

    The depressing thing, I think was the inability of the select committee to get to grips to any great degree with the arguments raised against it. It would be richly ironic if a government agency was (as State Services fears) tripped up by a DRM mess it'd have to break the law to fix.

    But it's not quite as bad as laws passed in other jurisdictions, and certainly not good enough for the International Intellectual Property Alliance, which issued a "special comment" notice about it being insufficiently draconian.

    They then go on to describe how TPM's should be made even more restrictive and their customers carry even more liability. Would you buy anything for these caring guys?

    But they didn't get it, and RIANZ, despite spending $30,000 on a submission, didn't get the simply outrageous restrictions it wanted on libraries and archives.

    But Section 84(1)(c) -- that's the one that would have made made it an infringement to time-shift a programme if you could "legally access it on demand" (there goes most of TVNZ's local production) was eventually amended to prohibiting the copying of an on-demand programme (thus satisfying RIANZ's paranoid fantasies about stream-ripping without making it illegal to use your VCR).

    The format-shifting exception was widened a bit (so you could copy a CD to iTunes for someone else in the household) and the sunset clause was ditched). ISPs got a little bit, including a clearer steer on how they might have "reason to believe" infringing content was stored on their networks, and the gesture of making it an offence to bogusly claim copyright. Indeed, the bulk of the movement after the first reading was away from the copyright lobby's submissions. (Of course, the lurch towards copyright interests during the discussion paper process was fairly noticeable.) The TPM provisions saw the least movement, probably because the select committee didn't understand the arguments, and because the copyright lobby was really, really hot on the TPMs.

    So, yeah, it could have been worse.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    __No. It's specifically exempted.__

    Wait, isn't the bill technology neutral? What about the "specific exemptions" that will be required for stuff that hasn't yet been invented?

    The reasoning was that technology intended merely to control geographic pricing was no business of copyright law. So there is actually a principle behind it. Small mercies.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    western freedoms...Please Steal This...

    Yes, Mark, and while China has made significant moves in the right direction when it comes to copyright and intellectual property (giving credit where credit is due) can you please give the 'eat shit hypocritical Western capitalist running dogs' routine a rest?

    Believe me, there are a few freelance writers around here who are under precisely no illusions that we're living in utopia on the copyright/intellectual property front.

    Oh. I was expecting to see this! (possibly NSFW, depending)

    Eww... that's the first time in years I've tried to watch anything by Ken Russel while sober. Big mistake.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

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