Easy solution - 720p or 1080p video that is DRM free - that is what I will pay for. Will never pay for anything with DRM. Never have, never will. And no need to install special stupid software like iTunes to purchase it.
I no longer buy Ubisoft games, Last one I bought wouldn't allow me to play it when I was in a hotel. The hotel had Internet but must have blockedvthecports needed.
So I went back to the store and returned it. They didn't want to accept the return as I had opened it, but did when i mentined the ACCC.
Then I downloaded the game, and that version works perfectly in hotels.
Rab, it's a core app which means you can't remove it. Which means even if you don't use the app, it's always running, taking up valuable memory. Android don't need to make things core apps because Android allows other apps to deeply integrate with the OS so it acts like a core app when installed - something Apple doesn't let apps do.
My ISP is one of several of the big ones that refuse to pass the letters they receive from studios/record labels on. So I won't be getting letters in the mail.
People are far more likely to die in a car crash on their way to the airport than being blown up in a plane. So why hasn't the US Government banned cars yet?
Chances are we'll never see the filter. The party in power is the left-wing party but until July 1st needed a Christian fundamentalist nutjob(who wanted a G-rated Internet) to get anything through the senate. The nutjob is gone now, and there are no other religious wackos that hold key votes. It's likely they only supported the filter to try and appease him, which is why they've done nothing but talk for a few years without trying to introduce it. And even if they did try, they're 0% chance of getting it through the senate now that a very left-wing party that campaigned for less censorship holds the key votes.
Brooke one thing you need to take into account between Australia & the US is the amount of money people are paid. In Australia the people serving youat the shops are paid at least $16 an hour (some pay up to $20 an hour). In the US they're paid $10 an hour. Also the average wage in Australia is AUS$25,000 a year more than it is in the US. Also new release CDs at any store not owned by Brazin are around $25 each (check out the likes of Big W & K-Mart next time). Taking into account the currency rates and that's around US$21 for the album, which on percentage of income is the similar as the US.
Back in the early 90s in Australia (before any Apple 'i' products were released) there was a range of kitchenware released that had the i prefix. Breville never once tried to claim that they owned the 'i' prefix when Apple started using it.
I woulg glady pay for good quality DRM digital copies of movies and TV shows in an open format(H.264 or divx/xvid) - Ones that are just the movie, none of that copyright crap at the start. But there's none available. If I buy a DVD I'm forced to watch an unskipable 1-2 minute video telling me not to copy this DVD everytime I put the DVD in. It really annoys me, and certainly doesn't encourage me to buy DVDs.
I'm wondering if DRM is really only for insurance purposes. If the game developers have insurance for their game being pirated they might be required to have DRM for the insurance company to pay out if the game is pirated. Maybe the more ingrained the DRM is the cheaper the premiums are. As an example, car insurance. If you leave your car unlocked and it's stolen/broken into/etc. then the insurance company won't pay you for your claim (if you tell them it was unlocked). The lock doesn't stop anyone from breaking in, it just takes them a little longer to do so. If you have alarms/special locks/etc. it usually means cheaper premiums but still doesn't stop anyone from breaking in. House insurance is the same. Locks don't stop anyone, but insurance companies won't pay out. I don't know if game developers have insurance(or even if they could get insurance) but if they do that might be the reason for the existance of DRM.
Scott, teachers aren't paid an hourly wage. They're paid a salary. Which means they get paid a set sum of money to do a job. Part of that job is developing lesson plans.
If the teacher developed it whilst working for work purposes then yes the school district should have the copyright on that work. But only if any money made from the selling of the work goes back into the school district as extra funding and not have their public funding reduced by the amount of money they generate. It's not right that any monies made goes into the pocket of the higher ups or have their public funding reduced since they have self-generate funding.
"There was only one push to filter the internet and it started in 2007 as a Labour Party election promise. The online came in waves corresponding to major announcements of the scheme.
Unfortunately it hasn't been completely abandoned as just yet and it looks like we are looking at live trials in the near future."
What about the Liberals/Nationals plan in 1999, 2001 and 2004? Each of those 3 times (just like this time by the ALP) is to try and appease the Christian nutcase in the senate to make deals to get other legislation passed.
And live trails have already been done and completed. They were optional for each ISP and customers for each ISP it was optional.
"The real news here is that it has now actually been given the go ahead (despite almost universal opposition), and implementation is due to commence March 2010."
It won't happen. It needs to pass through the senate which won't happen. It will be introduced into parliment early next year and will pass through the house of reps no problems. But the zenate will block it. The ALP and the 1 Family First(ie. Right-wing Chrisitan Fundamentalist nut jobs) member will pass it. But the Greens won't pass it, nor will the Liberals/Nationals.
Since it was an extremely small sample size then it's easy to get to 100%. Only 6 ISPs in Australia participated in the trial, and all 6 were extremely small and not part of the biggest 12. About 1 week before the trial started the most participants from any one ISP was 15. So if no other people signed up in the last week then at most there were 90 people taking part in the trial. Since it was optional I'm assuming that all 90 people would be people that would never visit anything even remotely close to being adult content.
It's totally stupid that the Attorney General in every state needs to agree to the law change. It's a disgrace that games like Modern Warfare 2 and Grand Theft Auto are edited down to the 15+ level rather than allowing in the 18+ version. Bravo on this developer not editing the game. If more developers start refusing to edit, then there might be more action on allowing 18+ games. Unfortunately the ever AG must agree law is in the consitution so the federal government can't just change the law. Maybe what the federal government should hold a referendum on changing the AG rule, then once passed the government can implement the rating.
To the other comments, whilst the ABC is 100% Government owned, they are an independant company. They can charge for content if they wish to do so (although like any company if the CEO & board makes a decision that the owner doesn't like then the CEO & Board might not be around much longer). The only laws affecting the station are the advertising rules they need to abide by.
ABC News is the only reputable TV news out there in Australia. The commercial TV networks are mainly intested in tabloid trash and put stories of a celebrity having a wardrobe malfunction as the top story. ABC News are in fact one of the few reputable news companies in Australia. News Ltd papers are regared as a laughing stock(much like Fox News). Fairfax papers are much better than News Ltd, but still have a little too much emphasis on garbage.
Re:
How did law enforcement happen to get a hold of the text message?
Don't know how law enforcement operates in Canada, but in Australia law enforcement have the power to inspect all SMS & email messages for any reason.
If they have a system in place to automatically check for key phrases, it shows up.
Easy solution
Easy solution - 720p or 1080p video that is DRM free - that is what I will pay for. Will never pay for anything with DRM. Never have, never will. And no need to install special stupid software like iTunes to purchase it.
It's terrible
I no longer buy Ubisoft games, Last one I bought wouldn't allow me to play it when I was in a hotel. The hotel had Internet but must have blockedvthecports needed.
So I went back to the store and returned it. They didn't want to accept the return as I had opened it, but did when i mentined the ACCC.
Then I downloaded the game, and that version works perfectly in hotels.
Re: Re: ...
Rab, it's a core app which means you can't remove it. Which means even if you don't use the app, it's always running, taking up valuable memory. Android don't need to make things core apps because Android allows other apps to deeply integrate with the OS so it acts like a core app when installed - something Apple doesn't let apps do.
These systems are the most useless ideas ever.
Not me
My ISP is one of several of the big ones that refuse to pass the letters they receive from studios/record labels on. So I won't be getting letters in the mail.
People are far more likely to die in a car crash on their way to the airport than being blown up in a plane. So why hasn't the US Government banned cars yet?
Re: Re: No filter
I didn't say Labor campaigned against the filter. I said the very-left wing party (ie. Greens) did. The Greens now hold the key votes.
The Christian groups have no senate members. Labor + Greens can. Staunch Christians will never vote for Labor anyway.
No filter
Chances are we'll never see the filter. The party in power is the left-wing party but until July 1st needed a Christian fundamentalist nutjob(who wanted a G-rated Internet) to get anything through the senate. The nutjob is gone now, and there are no other religious wackos that hold key votes. It's likely they only supported the filter to try and appease him, which is why they've done nothing but talk for a few years without trying to introduce it. And even if they did try, they're 0% chance of getting it through the senate now that a very left-wing party that campaigned for less censorship holds the key votes.
Re: I wish could buy CDs for $15
Brooke one thing you need to take into account between Australia & the US is the amount of money people are paid. In Australia the people serving youat the shops are paid at least $16 an hour (some pay up to $20 an hour). In the US they're paid $10 an hour. Also the average wage in Australia is AUS$25,000 a year more than it is in the US. Also new release CDs at any store not owned by Brazin are around $25 each (check out the likes of Big W & K-Mart next time). Taking into account the currency rates and that's around US$21 for the album, which on percentage of income is the similar as the US.
Back in the early 90s in Australia (before any Apple 'i' products were released) there was a range of kitchenware released that had the i prefix. Breville never once tried to claim that they owned the 'i' prefix when Apple started using it.
I woulg glady pay for good quality DRM digital copies of movies and TV shows in an open format(H.264 or divx/xvid) - Ones that are just the movie, none of that copyright crap at the start. But there's none available. If I buy a DVD I'm forced to watch an unskipable 1-2 minute video telling me not to copy this DVD everytime I put the DVD in. It really annoys me, and certainly doesn't encourage me to buy DVDs.
Insurance?
I'm wondering if DRM is really only for insurance purposes. If the game developers have insurance for their game being pirated they might be required to have DRM for the insurance company to pay out if the game is pirated. Maybe the more ingrained the DRM is the cheaper the premiums are. As an example, car insurance. If you leave your car unlocked and it's stolen/broken into/etc. then the insurance company won't pay you for your claim (if you tell them it was unlocked). The lock doesn't stop anyone from breaking in, it just takes them a little longer to do so. If you have alarms/special locks/etc. it usually means cheaper premiums but still doesn't stop anyone from breaking in. House insurance is the same. Locks don't stop anyone, but insurance companies won't pay out. I don't know if game developers have insurance(or even if they could get insurance) but if they do that might be the reason for the existance of DRM.
Typical News Corp
Well HarperCollins is a News Corporation owned company, and we know how very un-consumer unfriendly they are.
Re: Utter nonsense
Scott, teachers aren't paid an hourly wage. They're paid a salary. Which means they get paid a set sum of money to do a job. Part of that job is developing lesson plans.
If the teacher developed it whilst working for work purposes then yes the school district should have the copyright on that work. But only if any money made from the selling of the work goes back into the school district as extra funding and not have their public funding reduced by the amount of money they generate. It's not right that any monies made goes into the pocket of the higher ups or have their public funding reduced since they have self-generate funding.
Re: Just a few corrections
"There was only one push to filter the internet and it started in 2007 as a Labour Party election promise. The online came in waves corresponding to major announcements of the scheme.
Unfortunately it hasn't been completely abandoned as just yet and it looks like we are looking at live trials in the near future."
What about the Liberals/Nationals plan in 1999, 2001 and 2004? Each of those 3 times (just like this time by the ALP) is to try and appease the Christian nutcase in the senate to make deals to get other legislation passed.
And live trails have already been done and completed. They were optional for each ISP and customers for each ISP it was optional.
Re:
"The real news here is that it has now actually been given the go ahead (despite almost universal opposition), and implementation is due to commence March 2010."
It won't happen. It needs to pass through the senate which won't happen. It will be introduced into parliment early next year and will pass through the house of reps no problems. But the zenate will block it. The ALP and the 1 Family First(ie. Right-wing Chrisitan Fundamentalist nut jobs) member will pass it. But the Greens won't pass it, nor will the Liberals/Nationals.
It could be 100%
Since it was an extremely small sample size then it's easy to get to 100%. Only 6 ISPs in Australia participated in the trial, and all 6 were extremely small and not part of the biggest 12. About 1 week before the trial started the most participants from any one ISP was 15. So if no other people signed up in the last week then at most there were 90 people taking part in the trial. Since it was optional I'm assuming that all 90 people would be people that would never visit anything even remotely close to being adult content.
Brisbane
It's totally stupid that the Attorney General in every state needs to agree to the law change. It's a disgrace that games like Modern Warfare 2 and Grand Theft Auto are edited down to the 15+ level rather than allowing in the 18+ version. Bravo on this developer not editing the game. If more developers start refusing to edit, then there might be more action on allowing 18+ games. Unfortunately the ever AG must agree law is in the consitution so the federal government can't just change the law. Maybe what the federal government should hold a referendum on changing the AG rule, then once passed the government can implement the rating.
ABC News
To the other comments, whilst the ABC is 100% Government owned, they are an independant company. They can charge for content if they wish to do so (although like any company if the CEO & board makes a decision that the owner doesn't like then the CEO & Board might not be around much longer). The only laws affecting the station are the advertising rules they need to abide by.
ABC News is the only reputable TV news out there in Australia. The commercial TV networks are mainly intested in tabloid trash and put stories of a celebrity having a wardrobe malfunction as the top story. ABC News are in fact one of the few reputable news companies in Australia. News Ltd papers are regared as a laughing stock(much like Fox News). Fairfax papers are much better than News Ltd, but still have a little too much emphasis on garbage.