Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: The Casino

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  • Mark Harris,

    What laws set out to achieve and how things work in real life are never really synonymous. People find places, nooks and crannies, within the system where they can be comfortable to do their work. Artists of all kinds have been especially adaptable in doing this.

    The thing is, Giovanni, the capacity of those nooks and crannies is diminishing. The new technologies are making them untenable. The new technologies are not going to go away. You have to deal with it or forego any cance, as an artist, to make a living. You can't change this through new law, because thare are ways around those prohibitions. Where prohibition does not agree with the populace's sentiments, prohibition always loses and is a waste of tim.

    And despite your protestation to the contrary, i agree with Kyle - you sound very free market to me with the adapt or quit stuff.

    Well, now you're both just being insulting. I thought Russ' comments about taking people as they come were valid and I've tried very hard to work within that framework recently.

    The thing is you both read what you want to read. You've obviously decided I'm some sort of free marketer and I want all copyright abolished so I don't have to pay for anything, and nothing I say is going to make a dent in that opinion.

    "Adapt or die" is not free market ideology - it's simply practical survival advice. You are not going to hold the tide back by standing on a rock and telling it to "go back". If you're answer to the issue is to stand around and wait for a law to be passed to sort it out to your satisfaction, you'll be waiting a long time when you could be earning a reasonable living. There's nothing free market about that.

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Harris,

    cance > chance
    tim > time

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Not to mention Giovanni > Kerry, I assume.

    Feel insulted if you must, Mark, but I think posters here have a right to analyse and characterise your approach in the exact same way you do others' (mine was "sad" no longer than two pages ago). I've officially got bored with this non-conversation now, to the relief of many I'm sure.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    Mark, the 'nooks and crannies" was Kerry's comment. And I think her comment stands.

    The 'new technologies' are probably going to be superceded quite soon - especially if Kindle2/Amazon keep behaving the way they are (visited BoingBoing lately?) And we *still* need to work out some kind of workable copyright scheme within the present techologies. "Adapt or die" doesnt necessarily work even within evolutionary theory - some species find niches that work...for a very long time (sharks, cockroaches). Note that Stephen King tried downloadable stuff for a fee and it was a dismal failure his - huge! - fan base preferred physical books.

    I rather think paper-books are going to be around for a long time (in human terms) yet...

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Harris,

    Gah. Sor-ry. I don't quite know how I did that. Apologies, Giovanni

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    No offence whatsoever, I wish I had made that point so elegantly myself.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Harris,

    I rather think paper-books are going to be around for a long time (in human terms) yet...

    Undoubtedly, as are vinyl records. I took your complaint to be more about the new technologies not delivering you a revenue stream, and that's not going to change.

    You haven't yet enlightened me about "DRM shenanigans", by the way.

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report Reply

  • robbery,

    You've obviously decided I'm some sort of free marketer and I want all copyright abolished so I don't have to pay for anything, and nothing I say is going to make a dent in that opinion.

    you could spend more of your energy explaining how this is not you, and less time knocking down anyone who makes a comment that discusses controlling the market, that might be a good start.

    exhale, -> ie me not holding my breath.

    new zealand • Since May 2007 • 1882 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    Are we back then?
    Where were you all?
    What happened?
    Oh and, FIRST
    ;-)

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Our US-based server died. Totally smoove work by Karl from CactusLab to have things back up so quickly on a new box.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    Quelle supreez. Non.
    As it says in the bibble.
    The Geeks shall inherit the earth.
    Smoove indeed.
    :-)

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Speaking of Kindle, here's one way to "adapt" to the market:

    Amazon's Kindle iPhone app is now available for free download.
    ...
    Amazon's long-term goal isn't just to sell Kindle devices, but to become the dominant e-book platform the way it's become the dominant online bookstore.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    And I don't think anyone has posted Rodney Hide calling to get rid of s92A.

    "It should be repealed . . . it is fundamentally flawed because it breaches the principles of natural justice. It makes people guilty without trial and that is wrong."

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    It's certainly forced me to reconsider my criticism of the law.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Sam F,

    Sorry to bring the corrections up again - but this from the party that calls for us to get over our "hangups" about prison rape and 20-year disparities in sentencing for comparable offences?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1611 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    It's certainly forced me to reconsider my criticism of the law.

    Heh. However, s92A is so broadly flawed that ACT, the Greens and Peter Dunne have all found reasons to oppose it. Labour is backpedalling (with outbursts of Tizardry), and I doubt the quality of advice the Nats are getting but I think they'll see the writing on the wall soon.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sam F,

    I should add that I'm in agreement with Hide about S92A, but find it perverse that ACT are nailing their Liberal Party colours to this issue given what their representatives have lately said in public.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1611 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    the party that calls for us to get over our "hangups"

    I suspect Garrett is part of the price they paid for power.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    Mark H - you can read about the 'shenannigans' on the 12th March page of BoingBoing.
    Apparently Amazon is sending DCMA take-down notices to sites hosting the tool kindlepid.py (which enables Kindle owners to buy ebooks from retailers other than Amazon.)Even when the sites (in this instance mobileread) dont actually host the tool...

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Here's Matt McCarten linking Corrections and ACC , opposing (unsurprisingly) the privatising impulses that may be at play and making a quite reasonable argument that the Nats are whistling while the economy burns.

    According to the WSJ, Key has a cunning plan to steer us through the impending economic tsunami. Instead of pumping money into the economy to keep demand up, his Government will instead rely on the free market to naturally grow our economy.
    ...

    But it's not really about management. It's about an ideology that believes, somehow, if our services were being run by private operators then all would be well.
    ...
    The rest of the world has finally woken up to this. I know Act still lives in the 1980s but I would have thought the National Party would have learned its lesson by now.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Harris,

    Apparently Amazon is sending DCMA take-down notices to sites hosting the tool kindlepid.py (which enables Kindle owners to buy ebooks from retailers other than Amazon.)

    Meh. While I defended the T2S feature of the Kindle in earlier discussion, you'd never catch me buying one precisely because of this sort of crap.

    Their time will pass.

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock,

    Our US-based server died. Totally smoove work by Karl from CactusLab to have things back up so quickly on a new box.

    Now all you have to worry about is the Agent Smith virus running throughout PAS and gradually turning every thread into the copyright thread.

    All your comments are belong to S92A.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    You didn't notice how you claimed it wasn't from a free market ideological position, but then the rest of the paragraph was straight out of free market 101?


    Actually, it was based on 2 decades in public service administering subsidies, but please don't let the facts get in your way.

    Where it did or didn't come from wasn't my point. My point was, it was standard free market response to the idea of subsidies, and conflicted terribly with the first sentence.

    From the same book of quotes as "I'm not a feminist, but I do believe..."

    You are not going to hold the tide back by standing on a rock and telling it to "go back".

    Actually I think in some areas 'we' will. There's no viable market in NZ for a symphony orchestra, the government throws it money every year.

    I'm quite happy with holding back that tide, and a few others. If the government was to open up discussion of a different method of rewarding copyright holders than via the sale of their product, that'd be interesting to hear about.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Harris,

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report Reply

  • robbery,

    Sony EBook Store to Offer 1/2 million Classic Books Digitized by Google for free

    The books, all published before 1923 and now in the public domain, were digitized by Google as part of its Google Book Search program. Sony will offer them alongside the 100,000 or so books still under copyright that it sells through its eBook store.

    new zealand • Since May 2007 • 1882 posts Report Reply

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