Re: Not to blame, neccessarily. But you have to live in the real world.
Macharius Send a noteboard - 18/01/2012 08:55:59 PM
For the last few decades, publishers' attempt to stop piracy has been to attempt to make things more difficult for pirates. I listed some in my post above. There have been dozens of methods: CD keys. Code words to read in a manual. Special dongles to plug in while using the product. CDs that dissolve after a few days. MP3s that are hardcoded to your computer (making backing them up, or moving to a new computer, impossible), services where your computer must always be on, invisible background programs that secretly monitor your computer (don't laugh, Sony did it).
I'd like to add to this that some publishers' games are so restrictive that you HAVE to pirate the game just to make it playable in the first place.
Dragon Age, for example, is a single-player-only RPG that requires a persistent internet connection (lulz, wut? ). Several times during my play-through, my connection dropped and I wasn't able to play the game at all and was about ready to go and look for a pirated version just so I didn't have to deal with that asinine BS anymore.
English Wikipedia Anti-SOPA Blackout
- 17/01/2012 08:31:46 AM
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Yeah, man, because currently copyright holders have no recourse, am I right?
- 17/01/2012 11:47:35 AM
995 Views
"altering the infrastructure of the Internet so as to render RAFO virtually inaccessible"? 
- 17/01/2012 08:12:27 PM
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- 17/01/2012 08:12:27 PM
1105 Views
I'll go ahead and ask before I get my panties in a bunch: do you understand these bills?
- 17/01/2012 09:09:22 PM
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I admit I have not looked into it much
- 17/01/2012 11:42:30 PM
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And yet you're still arguing the matter. 
- 18/01/2012 02:34:04 AM
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- 18/01/2012 02:34:04 AM
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I love you. *NM*
- 18/01/2012 03:41:03 AM
658 Views
heh, thanks. I usually find myself pushing minority opinions. Nice to be "appreciated" for once. 
*NM*
- 18/01/2012 04:01:10 AM
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*NM*
- 18/01/2012 04:01:10 AM
644 Views
Can i second the adulation?
- 18/01/2012 04:07:17 AM
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I too (three?) appreciate the common sense and reasonable explanations. *NM*
- 18/01/2012 04:12:59 AM
641 Views
Right, because the argument is not just over THIS bill but, apparently, over ANY bill.
- 18/01/2012 11:09:13 AM
1060 Views
Alternatives to SOPA/PIPA have been proposed for months now. Please stop arguing this.
- 18/01/2012 05:42:10 PM
974 Views
Also, in the case of the OPEN Act, it has not "been proposed for months."
- 18/01/2012 07:28:15 PM
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"sensitive federal content"? Provide a source justifying this claim and it's relevance, please.
- 18/01/2012 05:59:47 PM
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I would not have thought a source necessary.
- 18/01/2012 06:24:44 PM
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Okay, I'm with Aemon now.
- 18/01/2012 07:36:21 PM
1075 Views
OK.
- 18/01/2012 10:16:16 PM
1104 Views
should be interesting
- 17/01/2012 12:41:47 PM
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Could be; depends on a lot of factors.
- 17/01/2012 07:38:55 PM
1001 Views
See, that's one of the biggest problems that people aren't understanding.
- 17/01/2012 09:31:38 PM
1008 Views
So tell them that.
- 17/01/2012 11:54:19 PM
1161 Views
Joel, I think I'm done with this unless you want to do some research.
- 18/01/2012 02:53:19 AM
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Research would tell me what is wrong with these bills and how a good bill should look.
- 18/01/2012 11:22:46 AM
1077 Views
Could've done without the snide rejoinder, but, good.
- 17/01/2012 02:20:08 PM
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I love the black banner, like some kind of internet Holocaust.
- 17/01/2012 08:03:27 PM
1070 Views
Are you aware that SOPA/PIPA has nothing to do with hackers and everything to do with copyright?
- 18/01/2012 02:08:56 AM
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There seems to be some overlap.
- 18/01/2012 01:08:22 PM
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Re: There seems to be some overlap.
- 18/01/2012 08:13:15 PM
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Re: There still seems to be some overlap.
- 18/01/2012 10:27:32 PM
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Re: There still seems to be some overlap.
- 18/01/2012 11:30:39 PM
1024 Views
Just because the news does not mention something does not automatically make it non-applicable.
- 19/01/2012 04:08:58 PM
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Re: Just because the news does not mention something does not automatically make it non-applicable.
- 19/01/2012 10:39:40 PM
1028 Views
If you re-read your last sentence it should be clear why this law is being pushed.
- 20/01/2012 09:12:29 PM
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Re: If you re-read your last sentence it should be clear why this law is being pushed.
- 21/01/2012 03:19:49 AM
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Er, what Ghav said.
- 18/01/2012 02:30:37 AM
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Sorry, protecting Pirate Bay and offshore gambling are not compelling counterarguments.
- 18/01/2012 11:38:08 AM
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Okay, another analogy:
- 18/01/2012 02:04:12 PM
933 Views
The devil is always in the details, and it seems clear the details need great revision.
- 18/01/2012 03:31:20 PM
983 Views
what they SHOULD do is stop taking money from proponents of sopa/pipa
- 18/01/2012 03:51:09 PM
1056 Views
Yes, they should, but, once again, that approach will not prevent a new law.
- 18/01/2012 04:05:02 PM
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Re: The devil is always in the details, and it seems clear the details need great revision.
- 18/01/2012 04:27:30 PM
1018 Views
If the US government wants to summarily block sites within the US, it already can and will.
- 18/01/2012 06:15:53 PM
956 Views
You know all this anti-SOPA bullshit is making me hope the bill passes.
- 18/01/2012 04:00:17 AM
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I would not go THAT far; it seems clear these bills have many objectionable provisions.
- 18/01/2012 11:41:23 AM
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Re: I would not go THAT far; it seems clear these bills have many objectionable provisions.
- 19/01/2012 01:57:46 AM
873 Views
Yeah, the extreme bias on both sides is why the bills will likely pass more or less as written.
- 19/01/2012 03:31:52 PM
1057 Views
joel, you need to consider three things
- 18/01/2012 06:06:16 AM
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You need to consider that they WILL pass some legislation, and what you want it to contain.
- 18/01/2012 12:15:38 PM
1066 Views
again, it's not about piracy, it's about protecting the mpaa/riaa business model at our expense
- 18/01/2012 03:34:32 PM
1144 Views
Yeah, see, that is the problem: "it's not about piracy."
- 18/01/2012 03:57:55 PM
973 Views
if piracy is such a problem then the mpaa/riaa need to PROVE their losses
- 19/01/2012 02:43:31 AM
971 Views
How do you expect anyone to prove what people WOULD HAVE bought if they could not just take it?
- 19/01/2012 03:57:24 PM
1286 Views
A technical examination of SOPA and PROTECT IP
- 18/01/2012 08:32:44 AM
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"As a disclaimer, I am not a lawyer, I'm a sysadmin."
- 18/01/2012 12:47:16 PM
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Wikipedia has already convinced me
- 18/01/2012 03:26:01 PM
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Trying to stop this legislation without proposing an alternative is trying to stop ANY legislation.
- 18/01/2012 03:44:18 PM
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It isn't their job to propose legislation
- 18/01/2012 04:12:53 PM
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No, but they have as much RIGHT to do so as anyone else.
- 18/01/2012 05:31:55 PM
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Strike three.
- 18/01/2012 05:37:55 PM
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That is fine; that is what people SHOULD be doing.
- 18/01/2012 06:03:59 PM
820 Views
Things being better now than they would be under SOPA seems like a legitimate argument to me
- 18/01/2012 09:04:18 PM
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Against SOPA, sure; against ANY new law, no.
- 18/01/2012 10:46:48 PM
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About "proposing new legislation"
- 18/01/2012 04:45:08 PM
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So true
- 18/01/2012 05:08:45 PM
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Re: About "proposing new legislation"
- 18/01/2012 05:59:55 PM
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Hm, you should read my post one above about combatting online piracy.
- 18/01/2012 06:20:16 PM
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I would not recommend photocopying a book and handing it out on street corners.
- 18/01/2012 06:45:52 PM
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Not to blame, neccessarily. But you have to live in the real world.
- 18/01/2012 07:31:18 PM
956 Views
Re: Not to blame, neccessarily. But you have to live in the real world.
- 18/01/2012 08:55:59 PM
1042 Views
I always liked the codewheels SSI provided with copies of their Gold Box AD&D games.
- 18/01/2012 10:07:40 PM
1166 Views
These are really different arguments
- 19/01/2012 12:05:10 AM
945 Views
TV is slightly different, because regional availability becomes a factor.
- 19/01/2012 04:18:58 PM
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Yeah, so I use Russian wikipedia for a day. Or German wikipedia, or French, or Italian... *NM*
- 18/01/2012 06:23:36 PM
687 Views
Or just hit stop right before the script runs. *NM*
- 18/01/2012 06:52:40 PM
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Or just disable Java. *NM*
- 19/01/2012 01:58:03 AM
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That's not as much fun though. *NM*
- 19/01/2012 02:13:44 AM
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Exactly, this way its kind of a game. *NM*
- 19/01/2012 02:20:37 AM
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I really don't see the fun in that. Wikipedia is just a tool, not a game. *NM*
- 19/01/2012 04:59:14 AM
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I don't know about those (except French), but none of the ones I ever used are remotely as good. *NM*
- 18/01/2012 08:13:47 PM
670 Views
Russian wikipedia is very good if you're not checking some obscure Western cultural phenomena.
- 19/01/2012 01:57:43 AM
1106 Views
Or Answers.com, or even the actual sources that are often copy/pasted into Wikipedia...
- 19/01/2012 01:07:38 AM
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Re: Or Answers.com, or even the actual sources that are often copy/pasted into Wikipedia... *NM*
- 19/01/2012 01:34:46 AM
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Oh, no; now Congress will be inundated with complaints from lazy college students! 
- 19/01/2012 04:40:12 PM
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- 19/01/2012 04:40:12 PM
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13 previously unopposed senators now do not support SOPA.
- 19/01/2012 11:36:15 PM
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How does that "rebutt" what was a facetious post in the first place?
- 20/01/2012 09:24:27 PM
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