* Posts by Ed

56 publicly visible posts • joined 6 Dec 2007

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Sims 3 pirated 180,000 times in three days

Ed

If you don't want to give money to EA...

Then don't play the game. That's not an excuse for piracy.

Shifty study proclaims Brits a nation of freetards

Ed

Lolwut?

"They can go after Torrents all they want. More advanced technology is around the corner. Nothing fuels innovation like oppression."

Trying to keep you from stealing my stuff is not oppression.

I work in the video games industry, PC games specifically. If you steal one of my games instead of buying it, that literally takes money away from me. Don't give me that try-before-you-buy bullshit argument. It's up to me if I want you to be able to try my game before you pay for it. That's called a demo. Download it. Like it? Buy my game.

No, each download does not equal a lost sale. But anyone who thinks that illegal downloads do not have an equivalent in lost sales is dreaming. How many lost sales because of downloading is too many? One. Yep, if you're an employee at a small development studio, every sale counts.

Pirate-pursuing lawyers get DDo$ money transfer slap

Ed

What a bunch of douchebags

and... "Getting something for free may be stupid somehow, but surely paying for something everyone else gets for free must make you feel even more stupid?"

Morality? Yeah screw morality. Take whatever you want, to hell with everyone else.

France says 'Oui!' to three strikes for music pirates

Ed

Or you could...

...you know, stop stealing shit.

$236m judgment lands on mom and pop spam shop

Ed
Thumb Down

I call BS.

"By 2003, CIS was receiving 500 million spams every day, forcing Kramer to spend 60 hours per week tending to the spam problem."

I call BS on that figure. 500 million emails per day? 3.5 billion spams per week? No. I don't think so.

Judge bans European-wide online music rights

Ed

Good for the customer? What the hell?

Wait, selling the rights to something they don't own is good for the customer? Huh?

Gag order lifted for students who hacked subway card

Ed

BS

"The students demonstrated good faith by contacting the MBTA, furthermore they intended to hold back some vital details of the hack from thier defcon presentation to give the MBTA some breathing room."

The students were all Chinese midgets originally born on the Isle of Man. -- See, I can make stuff up too.

Google a broken hell for five-year-olds

Ed

Bugs? Wtf?

I've never had more than a momentary hiccup with any of google's services in either IE or firefox.

North Carolina targets WTF licence plates

Ed

LOL

I live in North Carolina. I must now get a personalized license plate of "WTF"

BT starts threatening music downloaders with internet cut-off

Ed

Well...

Was the user illegally sharing music?

North Carolina will pay IBM $750,000 for 10 jobs

Ed

wow...

I live here in North Carolina. I think I need to complain to my officials about this.

DIY satellite TV installer shoots wife dead

Ed

Pleaese keep in mind...

Missouri is not part of what I'd call the United States of America. It's one of those "red states" in the United States of Jesusland where they hate everything and don't believe in evolution, global warming, or fire.

Comcast accuses FCC of impotence

Ed
Stop

@ILLEGAL

Read the TOS that you agreed to when you signed up for Comcast. What they're doing is well within their legal rights.

Analysts call for secure Facebook access for workers

Ed

Doubleyou Tee Eff?

Seriously. Business value? Facebook? These are things that don't go together in the same sentence. I think Gartner would be better off writing a paper about the "business value of facebook" before they spout this nonsense.

(restoring a backup!)

Dungeons and Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax dies

Ed

Shamelessly stolen but in good spirit...

All D&D geeks everywhere shall observe 1D4 + 1 moments of silence.

How Phorm plans to tap your internet connection

Ed

Sorry...

I've got some extra bandwidth at home and a spare dual P3 box. I guess I'll go set up a TOR node in honor of you folks on the other side of the pond that just got screwed hard by your ISP.

Software company says it can still resell Microsoft licences

Ed

In the states...

...this may not work. There's possible conflict with the doctrine of first sale.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softman_v._Adobe

Cool Rules for the FCC: In the Lions's Den

Ed

@mewol

"If you're unable to seed, it harms the operation of the program (it may keep "running well" for downloads, but if your goal is to distribute something that's little comfort)"

From Comcast's terms of service: "You agree not to use HSI for operation as an Internet service provider, a server site for ftp, telnet, rlogin, e-mail hosting, “Web hosting” or other similar applications"

I hereby suggest that seeding a torrent falls into the category of "other similar applications". It may cause harm to your seeding activities, but those activities are prohibited under the terms of service you agreed to when you signed up for Comcast's service.

You want to seed torrents? Go find an ISP that specifically allows it, like Speakeasy or buy a fractional T1. It's more expensive, but if you want to serve content, expect to pay for it.

Filesharers petition Downing Street on 'three strikes'

Ed

@Mark -- read the article...

"So, Chris, how do they know illegal filesharing is going on? There's plenty of legal filesharing."

Reading comprehension for the win. The intellectual property holder (or whoever their designated rep is) connects to a tracker for a torrent that is passing out their intellectual property. The IP holder gets a list of the IP addresses in the torrent and then contacts the ISPs of those users.

How is this hard to understand? There is no packet inspection necessary. All they have to do is go to a popular torrent search engine and start looking.

Of course they need to make sure that the content being passed around is actually their protected content.

Microsoft's LAMP answer arrives in pieces

Ed

@Nick M

Whoa. That's a serious eye-opener about the costs of "free" software. Off the top of my head, the price estimates you gave put an all Microsoft stack at an equivalent or lower cost. -- There's no "per year" license fee. That seems tantamount to extortion to me...

EC jacks up Microsoft fine by €899m

Ed

Microsoft can't win...

It doesn't matter what they do, they will never win in the EU. They come into compliance and get fined again anyway. Nice. I think it's time for Microsoft to just stop doing business in the EU. Fuck 'em. Linux is so awesome that there should be no problem in changing every PC that currently runs Windows into a Linux box.

eBay boycott results in mixed feedback

Ed

It does seem rather stupid...

I have to agree with Ian Ferguson in that it seems like the sellers are actually going to be the ones on the losing end of the boycott. Ebay is just a cesspit of despair these days and now they want to charge you more for the privilege of wallowing in their muck.

HMRC pays criminal for 'tax dodger' discs

Ed
Joke

Woohoo!

I just applied for a DBA job in Liechtenstein.

DivX shutters also-ran cat piano video site

Ed

It's...

Beta vs VHS all over again.

Judge greenlights lawsuit against Microsoft

Ed
Stop

Stupid question, but...

Wouldn't the PC manufacturer be responsible for putting the label on the computer and not Microsoft?

Ban booze in supermarkets, says health adviser

Ed
IT Angle

State Run Booze outlets suck...

"that the "certain states" here in the United States that restrict the sale of adult beverages are generally the butt of every hick joke."

What, you mean the vast majority of them? I can't think of any state that doesn't restrict the sale of alcohol somehow. Except maybe Texas where you have drive thru liquor and ammo stores...

Anyway, in North Carolina everything is directly controlled by the state. You can only buy hard liquor at state run stores, and they enforce a monopoly on everything. That means if a particular beer isn't on the "state approved" list then you can't buy it anywhere, because there's no assigned distributor. It means we pay way more for our drinks than Georgia (I've lived there as well).

Don't even get me started on South Carolina, where you can only get hard liquor in mini bottles. Try getting a long island iced tea there...

Consumer group slams 'unfair' software licenses

Ed

@No EULA can be considered legal

Not in the US. Check your case law.

BitTorrent busts Comcast BitTorrent busting

Ed

@Fraser

Amen. Eventually the bittorrent-ISP wars will end with the ISPs being the victor.

MS showcases Red Ring of Death Xbox 360 at expo

Ed

Heh

"me i'm on still on my 1st PS3, bought on the day of release and played all the time by either myself, my wife or my kids.."

Yeah, how's it going playing those same three games over and over?

Google in mass 404 land grab

Ed
Joke

Best 404 pages...

Some can be found here, at the 404 Research Lab

http://www.plinko.net/404/

My favorite is their 404 of the week, this weeks.

http://ubermotive.com/404.html

"Thank you Mario! But the page you have requested is in another castle!"

Amazon pooh-poohs (ingenious) New York net tax plan

Ed

@ Various

"While I'm on the subject, what the hell's wrong with America? I went there once and every retailer advertises their merchandise at prices exclusive of tax."

Because that's how things are done over here. And people accuse Americans of being the ugly tourists...

"Federal Income Tax - pays for the operations of Fed Govt, especially military and Medicare (retiree health), and interest on funds borrowed to cover deficit spending."

Er, I thought the Medicare tax paid for Medicare. I'm sure some of my fed taxes go to Medicare but I swear there was a line item for Medicare...

"Waaah! I don't want to pay taxes." [paraphrased]

Then move to Nevada or New Hampshire.

RIAA chief calls for copyright filters on PCs

Ed
Joke

@brym

"If it's not illegal to copy to your mp3 player, or to burn to disc an extra copy for your own personal use, why kick up so much over downloading in the first place? I'd bet that the majority of downloaders do so for personal use."

Yeah, that's right. The vast majority of music downloaders are downloading music that they already own. They just want to get their electronic copy from some random stranger on the Intertubes instead of ripping their own.

eBay gets negative feedback about ban on negative feedback

Ed

@ AC

"and good luck trying to sell anything in future when you get feedback saying you sell counterfeit goods"

That's libel. If someone tried to pull a stunt like that with me, they'd be a defendant in a lawsuit as fast as I could get it filed.

Hamster-in-rain emergency prompts 999 call

Ed

Maybe...

Maybe the hamster was asthmatic?

US navy electro-cannon test successful

Ed
IT Angle

@AC

"please correct me if I am wrong, maybe firing chunks of metal at high velocity actually has a benefit to humanity"

Railguns are awesome. There you go.

Pirate Bay slapped with copyright charges

Ed

Regardless of...

Regardless of the IFPI making themselves look like a bunch of idiots, can anyone tell me how facilitating theft is idealistic? Seriously... (can anyone elaborate?) I don't see the moral high ground under TPB. It sounds to me like a case of wankers vs wankers...

Germans launch flights for nudists

Ed

@Harry

"I wonder how much the crew have to pay, to be chosen for that shift?"

I've seen German tourists. I think the crew will have to pay to *not* be on that shift.

Apple on the lookout for one million unlocked iPhones

Ed

@Darren B

Damn straight. If Apple only wants to sell the phone on their insane terms that's their business. We don't have to Obey The Jobs!

I for one would rather buy something that does the job I need it to do without hacking or re purposing. If that means you're suck with some slaptard carrier and contract that you don't want to use, then don't buy the phone. Pretty simple.

If BMW wouldn't sell me a car without signing a contract that said I'd only put gas from Exxon in it, I'd laugh and them a buy a different car. (Not that I'd ever buy a BMW anyway, and I'm not so shallow that I have to tell the world the brand names of the products I own.)

If you sign the contract, you deal with it. No sympathy from me.

eBay: 'We will lower listing fees'

Ed

If eBay actually wants me to buy and sell on their site...

...they need to go further than reducing some fees. How about they clean up all of the scam artists, con jobs, and excess shipping fee sellers? How many times have you seen a $5 product with a shipping fee of $25+?

Skype Trojan wiretap plan leaks onto the net

Ed

White hat malware?

Oxymoron of the year?

Commuter jetpacks offered: $100k, August delivery

Ed

At 75 seconds...

...a large black umbrella pops out and you are expected to land just like Wyle E Coyote.

Wii not the way to lose weight

Ed
Unhappy

What the hell?

Wii not the way to lose weight. No kidding. And masturbating five times a day won't cure cancer.

Maybe I'm just having a bad day but I read part of that article as "The 28 Strongbad testers from Dollhouse University..."

IBM hits back against over-timers with pay cut

Ed
Thumb Down

We're an IBM customer (well, partner now actually)...

...and I'm sorry to hear that you folks are getting screwed. If I thought it'd make any difference, I'd complain to our IBM reps. :)

Japanese to launch paper plane from ISS

Ed

@martin

Booooooooo!

Pentagon in $75m electropulse blast-ray programme

Ed

I want one

So I can turn off the damn car stereos of the idiots who drive around at 3AM going *thump* *thump* *boom*

Software firm bills council over high website traffic

Ed

It's their own fault...

One of Entitledto's meta tags reads:

"EntitledTo is a free web based benefit calculator which calculates a users entitlement to welfare benefits and tax credits."

That's what you see if you google for them. Maybe they ought to change their metas?

Time Warner moots billing based on bandwidth usage

Ed

I have Time Warner for Internet service

No way I'm paying metered rates. They can go screw. I'll switch to DSL if they try to pull this nonsense in my neck of the woods.

Anti-spammer fined $60K for DNS lookup 'hack'

Ed

I'm not supporting this guy...

According to that transcript, he lied to the judge repeatedly, violated injunctions repeatedly, "hacked" into other systems, and generally behaved poorly. I don't think the alleged spammers are in the right here, but this guy was certainly in the wrong.

ISPs nominate UK record industry as top internet villain

Ed

Caption

BPI boss Geoff Taylor demonstrates the prolonged effects of Thorazine on the central nervous system.

FBI to get UK biometric database hookup?

Ed

No new law...

No new law was passed. It was just an interpretation of stuff from the 19th century and then a reaffirmation in 1992. Insane if you asked me.

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