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Originally Posted by Trenien
Geeez. And you can say that seriously...
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Yup.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trenien
Have you read Vinge's "Rainbows End"? The story is nice, but one very interesting aspect is the way copyrights are handled in the book's world - it all comes down to people being allowed to use government certified hardware only(with pre-made backdoors that NSA, Secret Service and the like can use at will). Anything else is prohibited.
That's the kind of things your statement implies, you know?
I believe (and I hope) copyrights are dying, because the alternative is much much worse.
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The alternative is
not worse, except to people who are too paranoid about losing control, and who don't understand that they've
already sacrificed loads of it for the sake of convenience.
Have you cracked open your cellphone lately?
Fact is, every TV, radio and cellphone has to meet FCC standards before being legally used in the U.S. Every electrical device has to meet UL standards before being sold. Every scrap of food has to meet FDA regulations before being eaten. Every doctor has to meet AMA standards before they can see you. And every bank and credit card company needs your name, social security number, home address, age and next of kin before you can exchange a single dollar with them. Think about what all that implies. (Take all the time you need.)
Worried about laws getting strict? Dude,
we're already there. And guess what? The world isn't descending into a Dark Age because of it. So you might as well stop moaning about some extra paperwork that you've already forked over to a half-dozen entities already, and the fact that you can't buy a Razr from the drunk on the street. Stricter copyright laws aren't going to kill anyone... they're only going to make the paranoid more paranoid.