Posts by Ben Austin

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  • Hard News: The Public Good,

    P2P levies are an interesting concept, but given the culture of secrecy and the like which has grown up around them I'd doubt a levy regime would capture much of the traffic. Plus there is the fact that much of the world (lets say non western) trades film/music cheaply and without care of the copyright holder. I dont' see this stopping, as they will never prioritise such enforcement while they have more serious things to worry about. And so if they still have their free and easy regime then it will flow back into the western markets.

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report

  • Random Play: Step away from the…,

    The logicial endpoint of this would be to issue all travellers with special travel clothes at the airport (supplied after passing security), you know, the paper clothes that 1950-70s scifi/futurists writers were so fond of.

    All baggage would be placed on another random flight so no one could ever be certain if their weapon was with them.

    All passengers would need to take a course of medication on arrival at the airport that would flush their bowels of matter digested prior to their arrival. This will mean extending the flight checkin time to about 12 hours.

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report

  • Stories: Life in Books,

    Strangely enough Graeme it is the only Biggles book I've actually read, as it was the only one I could find in my father's library (growing up in the same house he did had benefits for books).

    If I remember I'll have a look for it at their house when I visit them next week. I doubt they have it still, since they shed a lot of books when they moved houses a decade back.

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Public Good,

    How would this levy actually work? If it was a flat levy on all subscribers then that would have never worked, given that a lot of people don't actually ever download stuff (I know I don't. No, seriously!) and would not want to pay purely on principle.

    A micropayment or traffic based system is also problematic, if I've understood you correctly. I think perhaps you may be over-estimating the sophistication of our ISP's or their back office systems if you think it could be easily created or monitored.

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Public Good,

    So the obvious question would be - was there a point pre benefit/loan w/e where there was an active live performance community in NZ?

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Public Good,

    So the next question is - do the politicians know that everyone outside of the publishing industry hates the amendments? Is there anyway of submitting this as evidence, or do we need to go old fashioned and get a poll made?

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Solipsistic Left,

    I'd wger that some of the left sympathy for Islam is more of an alliance of convenience - you know, they are clearly focused on their traditional enemies in the centre or right, and anyone who is not of the latter is a potential ally to be co-opted. Given the minority position most islamic groups would fill in most Western states they probably are not deemed a serious threat. Same happens all over the place, for example the coalitions of different faiths that sometime build over certain issues...

    So, in otherwords "stupid, surprising and improbably coalitions often form that are hypocritical in nature"

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Public Good,

    So yet another forums can now confirm that no one likes the record industry or their stand on copyright?

    Geez, I'm really glad I don't work in that industry, it must be a real downer when people ask where you work out of politeness (having worked in a mildly unpopular company I can only imagine how nasty it must be for a really really unpopular company)

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report

  • Stories: Life in Books,

    So where is the emo bashing thread then? Aside from the Wikipedia: Emo(Slang) discussion?

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report

  • Stories: Life in Books,

    The problem with making Tom Brown's School Days into a film is that I don't think there is anyway that a film can adequately convey the full richness of the book - the long lyrical reflections on the changing nature of the English countryside and the aspiration of teaching young men to be fitting gentlemen MPs. If you lose all that then the story is really just Biggles Goes to School. Not that the latter isn't a fine story in it's own right.

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report

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