Denmark Poised to Legalize Music Sharing 209
Cryogenes writes: "Denmark's minister of culture is pushing a law that will legalize private music sharing. This is a logical step for a small country that has no music exports anyway: by weakening copyright they are making their citizens richer without losing revenue. And what with Denmark being an EU member, nobody will dare call them a rogue state or something. Further information on infoanarchy and on Politiken (in danish)."
Re:Flawed analogy (Score:1)
Re:Oh great, watch Copenhagen get overrun by touri (Score:1)
And i`d be interested to see sources for your comments about drugs in Holland.
From what i`ve seen/read, no-one has a problem with the laws on drugs there, as they are working just fine (slowly rising average age of heroin users, less violent alcohol related crime etc).
Money isnt an issue - Holland is strong on peoples rights, and if people want to smoke something which doesnt harm anyone else, why shouldnt they be allowed to?
Re:Those Europeans will change thier tune when Bus (Score:2)
CDR piracy tax is a license to pirate, yes? (Score:2)
The corrolary to "you do the crime, you do the time" is "you did the time, so why not do the crime?"
irony (Score:3)
Domain name (Score:1)
Way ahead of you. (Score:2)
Actually, everything is taxed (VAT), the above are special taxes that goes to a fund (CopyDan) which distribute the money to publishers, record companies and movie distributors. A tiny fraction goes to the artist, most of that goes to those who need it the least, i.e. the big sellers.
Sticks are not taxed, apart from VAT. However, if you mention it to our department of taxation, I'm sure that will be fixed in no time.
EU Directive on Copyright (Score:2)
Any experts on European politics care to explain?
Re:ROTFL! :*) (Score:1)
move 'Raoul' for great justice.
Meow, indeed. -Ayatollah
--
"How many six year olds does it take to design software?"
In AD 2001, Copyright War was beginning. (Score:4)
DENMARK: What happen???
MINISTER OF JUSTICE: Someone set up us the lawsuit.
MINISTER OF STATE: Main screen turn on.
DENMARK: It's you!!!
RIAA: How are you, Denmark?
All your tunes are belong to us.
You are on the way to embargo.
DENMARK: What you say?!!
RIAA: You have no chance negotiate make your settlement.
DENMARK: Move 'EU'. You know what you doing. For great MP3z!!
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"How many six year olds does it take to design software?"
Hong Kong (Score:2)
__
W33D the problem.. bah. (Score:1)
CD-R Tax (Score:5)
How well would that go over in the US?
Imagine RIAA members getting 60 cents everytime you backed up your por^H^H^H hard drive.
Congratulations! (Score:1)
Christiania, and legal music ripping == I'm going
Re:no music exports? (Score:5)
Re:Those Europeans will change thier tune when Bus (Score:1)
This is not really accurate. Consider Chernobyl for example. It had a serious impact on nearby countries. Well aimed missiles would be considerably more damaging. (For example, have one detonate near a river, and you'll get a spectacular cloud, and one hell of a polluted river)
If 28 missiles really did hit the US, the lucky ones would be those standing right next to where it landed.
Re:What I'd like major artists to do (Score:1)
Well, they're free to try. However, judging by the way fairtunes is doing, I don't believe it's a terribly successful strategy.
Packaging three (or fewer!) good songs among 12 shitty ones is NOT going to fly anymore. We won't pay.
Hahahaa ... makes me wonder what kind of crap the napsterites are listening to. On one hand, they talk about how the RIAA only sell cheesy pop tunes (a lie), and on the other, comments like these indicate that they're listening to cr*p.
OTOH, a tipjar on the website asking for very-little e-gold might well pay more than selling the same
Yeah, it might, but there's no evidence that it does. (and some that it doesn't.) Catering to freeloaders is not a successful business strategy.
Of course, bad people will not give anything, but ask yourself what you do in an unfamiliar city at a place you'll never eat in again when tipping-time comes.
Re:What I'd like major artists to do (Score:1)
Isn't that what Craig Mundie said in his speach.
Irrelevant. (Was that supposed to be some sort of ad-hominem?)
The problem with everyone's math is they talk in statistic's.
On the contrary, the problem with the napsterites math is that they don't cite any statistics to support their assertions.
FWIW, I agree that the RIAA are not any better than the napsterites. Both are ruthless amoralists.
So I'm guessing that... (Score:2)
...Hillary Rosen woke up this morning and said to herself: ``There's something rotten in the state of Denmark!''
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No music exports? (Score:1)
Re:no music exports? (Score:1)
Not that I'm very proud about it...
Re:CD-R Tax (Score:1)
How well would that go over in the US?
Well, considering I can remember all-too-well paying $40 for a five-pack of CD-Rs about five years ago (ouch), it could be much worse. At least they came with jewel cases. 8^)
Jethro
Re:Legal in Denmark, but... (Score:1)
Jethro
Legal in Denmark, but... (Score:2)
Jethro
Swedish Metal (Score:2)
Sweden is in fact quite famous for its metal exports, and not just the subgenre of black metal. There's a whole series of death metal bands from Gothenburg that have pretty much created a new subgenre, and there's even germanic-style power/speed metal such as Hammerfall and Nocturnal Rites. These are very high-profile bands known by metalheads all over the world. I wouldn't be surprised if I even saw a Hammerfall CD in a retail music store(!) in USA. It's really that mainstream.
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Re:No music exports? (Score:4)
Cheers,
Tim (ducking and running...)
Re:Those Europeans will change thier tune when Bus (Score:4)
After all, if you had been relying on your nukes to keep you "safe" in a "they'll never attack, it would be suicide" sort of way, then someone deployed a system to neutralise that "safety", wouldn't you try to reestablish the balance?
Still, this is a discussion for another time, methinks - we don't want to go to far Offtopic, do we?
Cheers,
Tim
Re:Doesn't this violate international law ? (Score:1)
And since it was my idea, I get to be lord high emperor.
Re:Domain name (Score:2)
Although Frist Psot is ususally moderated as troll or offtopic, is is also technically redundant, since it has been posted hundreds of times before. A comment about Microsoft is evil, or Apple is dying, or about free beer is redundant, even if its the frist psot.
Re:Congratulations! (Score:2)
Re:no music exports? (Score:1)
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Not as good as it sounds (Score:3)
This isn't a victory for file sharing.
At best, the CD tax is just a throwaway "shut up and take it" measure. At worse, however, it is the start of the idea of enforcing profits. Either way, it sets a dangerous precident.
This is a tradeoff - taxes on specific media sent right to copyright holders so people don't get harassed or arrested for sharing files.
If something like this was tried in the United States, companies would demand taxes on everything - disks, videotapes, audiotapes, photocopier use, etc. It'd be used as nothing more to funnel money to them - enforced profits.
Let's hope Denmark's idea DOESN'T catch on.
Re:coup denmark (Score:1)
Now, that is ironic, and I like it a lot
Re:Thoughts from a local... (Score:1)
Re:Thoughts from a local... (Score:2)
So, to be fair, the RIAA has got to step back and let that tax be fairly divided. And now with DiVX, the MPAA is going to be involved. (And they seem to think movies are more important than music...)
It'll be nice to see a little infighting.
Re:CD-R Tax (Score:2)
The musicians shouldn't get any of the CD Tax I pay, but the game companies would get a pretty decent cut.
Re:Some information (Score:1)
This is not true!
The intetion was to allow digital copying, but problems with royalties on writable cd-roms stopped the law.
There is now a draft in the works. You can see this here [folketinget.dk]
Søren
Some information (Score:2)
With everyone owning cd-burners and with compression technology (mp3) this law is outdated. It came about in response to the music industries wish to protect itself with the advent of music cd's.
Danish copyright law states that everyone is entitled to make personal copies of published material. You can copy books, videos etc. It is of course illegal to publish such material, or to sell it. You can only make personal copies.
The new law proposes the same restrictions on digital content. Any published material may be copied for personal use. The bearing on Napster is of course that when music is available on Napster it is in fact published material. As such anyone can make a personal copy.
It will still be illegal to publish material on the internet without consent of the copyright holders, so Danes will still be prohibited from sharing music via Napster.
Søren
Re:Oh great, watch Copenhagen get overrun by touri (Score:1)
Re:CD-R Tax (Score:1)
I don't have anything official to back this up, but I think that most hi-tech stuff is bought in the country. Things that we go to Germany for is usually booze, wine and beer (half prize), sweets and perfume (small savings.)
I don't know about Sweden, The price level is pretty much the same, but since you get 1 Swedish krone for 0.82 Danish, it can sometimes be a good deal. But then you have the hassle if the thing breaks etc.
Thoughts from a local... (Score:5)
Being Danish, I feel I must make a few comments here.
Currently, it's illegal to make a personal copy of a CD. Say, one for the car and one for the living room. I think this also includes MP3's, but the laws are hopelessly outdated. (Actually, it's illegal to make exact digital copies. If you run your CD through a Digital-to-Analog-to-Digital converter, you should technically be OK.)
The new law (in the making) suggests that it should be legal to make digital copies for personal use. Second generation copies (copy-of-a-copy) should not be legal, as a mean to avoid music piracy.
The artists should be reimbursed with funds coming from a new CDR-tax, of appr. $0.50 pr. disc[1]. (Good thing I just stockpiled 100 80 min. Kodaks, heh.
Of course, we copy stuff as crazy, so I don't see this being of much practical importance.
On a somewhat related note, this is the country that just ruled that *linking* to MP3's is illegal. Yes, two kids, 16 at the time of the "crime", had been having a competition of who could collect the most MP3's from their homepages. They weren't storing them, just linking to them. Just got a bill for about $15.000. Freedom of speech, anyone?
Bo
[1] I find this somewhat fscked up, as not all CDR's are used to pirate data. Granted, in reality, that's probably the vast majority, but take my friend for instance. He runs a small side-business (linuxpusher.dk) selling homeburned Linux-distros. If the new law comes through, he's going to be sending ~$100 away in taxes each month, for something he doesn't have anything to do with.
Re:Let the music play (Score:3)
Re:What I'd like major artists to do (Score:1)
I didn't mean Napster users listened to crap, I just meant that folks won't tip for it, and won't any longer have to buy it or have it in their homes, and ultimately I think this will affect music in a positive way. I'd like to store ONLY songs I like, and not store any that I dislike. Before that was impossible, and now it's possible (and easy). Sorry if I was unclear.
I don't think that asking for tips is "catering to freeloaders," and I think the other person's response covers this aspect pretty well. Ultimately, with the present versions of file sharing software, it's very hard NOT to be a "freeloader" and get any use out of the product, right?
I'm sorry if you dislike my analogy, but when I think about it, with cash and in a diner I'll probably never eat in again I'm a LOT more anonymous than when I make an e-gold spend, and the recipient can see at least my account name & number. e-gold isn't anonymous cash (Mr. Greenspan prints that stuff, on nice greenish paper, and it USED to be backed with the filthy yellow metal). I tend to make my tips as anonymous as possible, putting them under something so that the intended recipient will be the one to find and get them.
As for my! heart being in the right place, thanks, but actually I'm an incredibly-greedy anarcho-capitalist evil "heartless" libertarian type of guy, and I try to make it clear that many of my posts* are self-interested. I benefit if/when more people (especially artists and programmers!) use e-gold, so I hang around here for that reason; and in order not to be TOO much of a pain in the ass, I offer to click
JMR
* I've even said that someone should hack the Slashcode so that site-owners can sell moderator points (this may or may-not be a good idea, but I think on balance it's good, and it's definitely good for ME!:) I'd be very happy if someone here did this, I haven't the skill. Thanks.
What I'd like major artists to do (Score:2)
This idea at first sounds bad for the RIAA, and it is, but it's a double-edged sword. Musicians are gonna have to get used to only being paid for good work. Packaging three (or fewer!) good songs among 12 shitty ones is NOT going to fly anymore. We won't pay. OTOH, a tipjar on the website asking for very-little e-gold might well pay more than selling the same number of CDs as free-downloads given away.
Of course, bad people will not give anything, but ask yourself what you do in an unfamiliar city at a place you'll never eat in again when tipping-time comes. I leave a tip if the service was halfway decent -- and a really-nice tip if it was great. I don't do it for the recipient, I do it for ME (I once worked for tips, that makes a difference I've found). Anyway, I'm still working to get folks to see that e-gold is a solution to the Napster "problem." It's been slow, as more folks want to argue (at least, that was my experience at CFP99) and shout than think about a new way of paying or being paid for what we want online.
JMR
Re:Already in the UK (Score:1)
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Covenant (Score:1)
Fruity pop cyberpunk music.
Irak doesn't need missiles (Score:2)
What are the real odds for US Customs to catch a container hosting a nuclear bomb ?
Have you any idea how many countainers enter the US every day ? Why use missiles when you have trucks to deliver your warheads...
(I said container because Irak miniaturisation technologies aren't on par with US ones...)
Oh great, watch Copenhagen get overrun by tourists (Score:5)
And when you get back to the States, Customs will go over your laptop and CDs with a fine tooth comb.
Re:CD-R Tax (Score:2)
I need to buy some more CDs today and was just thinking about this. (I'm in Canada.)
Its kinda annoying in that I have not burned one cd for music yet I still have to pay taxes as if I did. Sort of like getting your drivers license and have to pay $20 more for "speeding tax".
Also, if its illegal to copy copyprotected material, how can they tax it? Isn't this like "living off of the avails of an illegal activity"?
Price of CDs (Score:2)
I hope that I can get $50/100cds later on today.
Re:Hold on a second, the newspapers got it wrong (Score:2)
1. It allows you to copy from Napster to your CD/HD legally. A country of legal leeches.
2. It allows you to rent a DVD/movie and legally rip it for your own use.
Aqua er Norske (Score:1)
Re:No music exports? (Score:1)
Personal music copying LEGAL in Canada (Score:3)
From the CDR Faq: Because of the media tax imposed by the Canadian government (see section (7-13)), you are allowed to copy any music for your own personal use. This means that you can go over to a friend's house and copy any number of discs you like, so long as they are for your own use. You are not allowed to make copies of music and then give them to others.
You can check the law [cb-cda.gc.ca] yourself. The recording industry kinda skipped over this one. At least you get something for yet another miserable tax, er, levy. After all, just because a corporation doesn't LIKE something, doesn't make it ILLEGAL. What is illegal after all? The government is supposed to reflect the will of the people and the best interest of society, not the short term gain of the RIAA. (Especially if you're not IN America). That's why copyright is supposed to expire; why you have the right to parody and fair use; etc.
Now, does this apply to file sharing software? It hasn't been argued in court that I'm aware of, but perhaps it should be. After all, it's legal for me to copy cds that a friend has - why not their mp3 equivilants? Keeping mind of course, for personal use implies that there is no financial gain, which kinda hurts napster-like models. This might give some canadian users some power if they get hassled by their ISP for whatever.
Re:Hmmm. reply and offtopic question (Score:1)
You get two email addresses, 5 megs of ftp/www space and access to pretty much every newsgroup (even the naughty ones).
The cost? $19.95/mo or $15.95/mo if you prepay 6 months. It's even cheaper if you prepay for a year ($13.95 or something like that). Their number is 888-321-fast. I highly recommend them. My dad uses Netcarrier.com and their service is similar and pretty good, too.
Re:Legal in Denmark, but... (Score:3)
Doesn't this violate international law ? (Score:2)
I'm not _completely_ sure off course, but imho all "civilized" countries have a lot of agreements on this.
Re:Oh boy (Score:2)
America is a rogue state. It is not a Democracy but a Plutocracy. It should be expelled from all international bodies
Oh no, please don't do that. Whatever will we do if we don't get to pay for 25% of the UN budget while they pass anti-US resolutions, or pay for our military to defend the rest of the world?
until they democratically elect a government
We did. Perhaps you missed it, but Bush won around 5 separate recounts. Deal with it.
Re:no music exports? (Score:2)
//rdj
Re:Music "sharing" is legal in the US (Score:2)
and ofcourse I can claim anyone to be my friend. Can't say meeting is a prerequisite.. a penpal who I've never met can easily be my friend. One could even make the point that everyone is your friend until proven otherwise. RIAA lawyers? they don't tell me who is or isn't my friend..and I highly doubt "friend" is a legally defined term.
//rdj
Re:Music "sharing" is legal in the US (Score:4)
//rdj
Music Theft in General (Score:1)
Probability of this happening, about 1%.
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microsoft, it's what's for dinner
bq--3b7y4vyll6xi5x2rnrj7q.com
Let the music play (Score:3)
Often when I look for a song nowadays its because it is no longer in stock (rare techno songs I listen to) so I search for it to hear for a few times. Other times I look for a song I may have heard and like, wanted to purchase but didn't know the title or the artist, again in future plans to buy the CD.
All the governments and companies are doing at this point is waisting money and arguing over spilled milk which never fell from their cup.
Why not create an AntiNapster based site where those artists concerned with theft of songs could enter their names into that database, and have those songs filtered. After all studies have shown that people who download mp3's end up buying the songs anyways. I'm sure once some of those artists start realizing how much their competition is making off the move, they'll get those dildos out of their asses and make that switch.
Ever notice how when things are "taboo" more people will sometimes seek it out with greater passion than they normally would if it were readily obtainable? Industry sparking all these "anti-mp3" issues dig their own coffin, and I wonder if they're too stupid to realize this, or are trying to prove a point to bolster their own egos, or company reputations.
Solution: Find a real life Tyler Durden and sic him on RIAA, and others like them.
Blogger is hazardous to your E-Health [antioffline.com]
Re:Oh boy (Score:2)
It would certainly bring a new meaning to the phrase you and who's army?
What does Lars think about this? (Score:1)
Re:Fulfill my dream (Score:1)
Fine winds of change.. (Score:1)
Anyhow, more power to the danes!
weakening copyright? (Score:3)
-8<--
no music exports? (Score:3)
Already in the UK (Score:2)
There is already something similar, but uniquely twisted, in the UK.
Over here you can buy normal CDRs for very little (about $1 per disk) - the only tax involved is standard VAT (sales tax). However, if you go into a shop you will see other CDRs, labelled "CDR Audio", which look identical, but cost far more. Last I saw you were looking at around $5 per disk! These disks actually are identical to regular CDRs, but with a bit flipped somewhere in the media id field. The "consumer" CD recorders (the standalone hifi ones) will only work with these disks. The idea is that Joe Bloggs with an audio-only CDR unit is obviously copying audio CDs, which are probably copyrighted. Therefore he has to use the expensive disks, which pay an amount (no idea how much) to the UK equivalent of the RIAA.
It's fine for most people though, if you use a computer based CDR unit it will take the cheap disks, and they work great in all players. I have also heard shop assistants telling (l)users that they have to use the expensive ones for all audio recording, otherwise it won't play back in a regular cd player. I guess the shop make a higher margin on the CDA disks.
Music "sharing" is legal in the US (Score:3)
If I have a CD and my buddy wants a copy, I can legally give him one (there's so court case that says it's okay, but I don't know where it is).
But that's a bit different then putting something online for anybody to grab. That's not really sharing with your friends, that's closer to distribution.
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Hold on a second, the newspapers got it wrong (Score:5)
You can read the lawproposal online at Forslag til lov om ændring af ophavsretsloven. [folketinget.dk], it will help you if you understand danish, because there are no translations.
A quote: Forslaget indebærer, at der kun gives adgang til kopiering af tekst, musik og billeder m.v. i digital form til personlig brug f.eks. med henblik på optagelse af radio- og tv-udsendelser til tidsforskudt brug, kopiering af en musik-cd til bilen, til sommerhuset eller til en walkman, kopiering til en opsamlings-cd og kopiering til en pc med henblik på elektronisk afvikling inden for husstanden. Derimod vil det ikke være tilladt at fremstille digitale eksemplarer, der bruges uden for den enkelte husstand, f.eks. kopiering til bekendte og skolekammerater. Det vil heller ikke være tilladt for køberen af et digitalt leveret musikværk at videresende musikværket via e-mail til venner og bekendte. Kopiering til personlig brug omfatter endvidere ikke kopiering som led i arbejde eller undervisning.
A rough translation: The proposal implies that it only will be allowed to make copies of text, music and pictures and so forth, in digital form for personal use, for example the recording of radio- and tv-broadcasts for timeshifting, copying af music-cd's for the car, holidayresidence or for a walkman, copying of sample-cd's for use in the household. It will not be allowed to make digital copies, that will be used outside of the individual household, f.ex. copying for friends and schoolmates. It will further not be allowed for the buyer of a digital musicproduct to give away copies to to friends or aqaintances via email. Further copying for personal use does not imply copying related to work or studies.
So I don't see how this can legalize Napster, it will only decriminalize the downloading, but the users are not allowed to share their collection with the work, and isn't that the purpose of Napster?But at least it will be legal to use a Browser in Denmark now, because the existing law prohibits all digital copying, and as you all know, a browser allways makes digital copies, one in the RAM-cache and one on the disk-cache. That was an oversight in the old law, and it was never uphold.
Taxing CD-R's? While you're at it... (Score:2)
Mission accomplished (Score:2)
well done, that's exactly what the RIAA want.
Re:Just hide 'em on your camera! (Score:2)
size would become an issue. you could use compact flash - ibm has that nice gig microdrive [mp3shopping.com] though im not sure what cameras that can be used in.
-f
Re:Just hide 'em on your camera! (Score:2)
no. i mean steganographic.
stenography is writing in shorthand.
steganography is hiding information in such a way that people cannot tell you are hiding a message.
outguess [outguess.org] hides data in image (pnm and jpg) files in such a way that you cannot tell the image is also storing data. There is also StegFS [mcdonald.org.uk], the steganographic file system, in which other people cannot discern information about the file system, like how much space is being used, how many files there are, filenames, etc.
The whole point is that if no one even knows you are hiding something, then they won't know to look. With information which is just encrypted, then people can see that there is something for them to attempt to decipher. But this means that steganography is security through obscurity, so you'd want to couple it with some strong encryption [kuleuven.ac.be] too.
-f
coup denmark (Score:3)
Re:Domain name (Score:2)
Crap. I guess I better stop saying how good Linux is, else I may lose my precious karma to Redundancy.
All is not peachy in paradise (Score:2)
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It's gone over pretty well, actually (Score:2)
The future may be sooner than you think, eh?
Limiting Copyright is Good (Score:2)
The only good thing about copyright is the incetive it provides to produce new works. Therefore, it should only apply to works that would not be produced in the absence of copyright (ie. not to email) and it should only prevent copying that prevents the copyright holder from large scale commercial distribution of the work (ie. large scale commercial distribution by someone else).
It should be remembered that when copyright was first put in place it the US it was much more limited: protection only applied to books and a couple other specific things, protection only lasted 14 years and there was a requirement to register and publish.
No Exports.. ? (Score:2)
Re:Those Europeans will change thier tune when Bus (Score:2)
You always have to consider cost-benefit analysis. That's exactly what Bush has just done with arsenic. He figures, "If it cost $80 billion to lower the arsenic content to 10 ppb, and saves 50 lives, is it worth it? Is it not possible that 50 extra people would fall below the poverty line and die of exposure if the $80 billion weren't spent otherwise?"
So, consider cost-benefit analysis on the nuclear shield. If we spend $80 billion on a nuclear sheild, and of the 100 nuclear warheads launched at Washington, D.C., we successfully shoot down 90 of them... what have we really gained?
Possible RIAA Reactions (Score:3)
It will be interesting to see how the RIAA reacts [if this laws passes], either by claiming that Denmark violates international law, or by trying to get .dk banned altogether, or both. Perhaps they will lobby to change the law in such a fashion that access to file sharing and MP3 sites / networks must be forbidden for foreigners.
Maybe the RIAA will advocate the US declare war on Denmark for threatening the dominance of american culture. Or try to ban the internet because it is such a threat to their way of life (greed)
In general, I like the fact that more and more major artisits are starting to side with the Napster side of the argument, seeing how the major labels are abusing the artists they say they are protecting.
Check out the Vinny the Vampire [eplugz.com] comic strip
Re:Oh boy (Score:4)
Ohh the big evil China.. anything can be justified because of the Chinease - i seem to remember anything being justified becuase of the Russians at one point... americans are fucking sheep... get a clue - your media & government whip up a public hysteria about 'the enemy' anytime it wants to do something stupid - are you people that fucking dumb?
this has nothing to do with China or other polluters - it has to do with bush repaying the big companies who elected him buy not upsetting the status quo (for any reason - no matter how grave) just to protect their pocket books. They are allowed to rape and pillage the commons now - they make profit now - they like it this way.
Who are the twits who go along with the 'china is an economic adversary - we cannot let the chinese any advantage!" propaganda? Maybe you could petition the UN to ask China to *ALSO* join Kyoto. That would be a solution - not *DROPPING OUT* just to maintain your economic imperialism... fucking assholes.
America is a rogue state. It is not a Democracy but a Plutocracy. It should be expelled from all international bodies - the world should end trade, travel and co-operation with the USA until they democratically elect a government and remove the puppets with Big Corp. up their ass.
Re:Oh great, watch Copenhagen get overrun by touri (Score:2)
About Amsterdam, my comment on that was not about the Dutch having problems with laws on drugs, it was about 2 things:
I don't like seeing sleazy coffeshops and stoned tourists taking over the town (it's a matter of opinion)
The city of Amsterdam realizing that they can make more money off rich older tourists that aren't so interested in smoking weed but have lots to spend in Hotels, museums etc. etc. than they can make money off weed smoking teenage backpackers.
Regarding me backing up my claims, exactly which claim do you want me to back up ? How about you back up your claims about Dutch drug laws "working just fine" ? I'm Dutch and I now for a fact that the drug laws are not working "just fine" and that violent alcohol related crime *is* on the increase.
Bush has no bad attitude, he is just stupid. (Score:2)
It's funny really: situation with China and enviromentalists, oli companies, etc...
CD-R Tax? But I'm deaf! (Score:2)
What about me? I'm deaf. Yes I do wear a cochlear implant/hearing aid combo to help me hear, but it's not perfect. I can't enjoy lyrics as it's just noise and I can't understand what it is they're saying/singing. And I have to pay this tax because I might pirate music that I realistically won't ever use/listen to?
Send the RIAA my way. Let them try to tell me (and the world) that I'm probably going to pirate music and therefore I should pay up.
IMHO something seems just wrong about a law passed that basically assumes that everyone is a pirate until proven otherwise. And even if they ARE proven otherwise, they STILL have to pay up.
What happened to "presumed innocent until proven guilty?" Shouldn't the burden be on the RIAA to recover their (imaginary?) losses?
Oh, and I'm also a software developer. Where's my cut of the tax money for all the losses caused by software piracy?
Dilemna (Score:2)
Lars trivia (Score:2)
...And Denmark becomes the IT capital of the world (Score:2)
Hmmm... I think I'll setup in Texas... NOT!
what if... (Score:2)
Re:Doesn't this violate international law ? (Score:2)
Yes, I believe the EU has implemented something like the DMCA, which was itself based on an international treaty. Of course, the wheels of justice turn slowly in the EU, so even if it is illegal, don't expect the courts to sort it out til say, Christmas... 2007.
Re:Let the music play (Score:3)
Well, as Napster's realizing right now, filtering is a whole lot more complicated than it looks. Already Napster's filtering way more than it should, and people can still find the songs they like. The solution might be audio-fingerprinting, but a) it's unproven, b) it's expensive and difficult to implement, c) it requires proprietary software on the client and d) as an artist, it's hard to register your tracks.
Re:Irak doesn't need missiles (Score:2)
The NMS wil have 0 practical value for preventing strikes on the US for a variety of reasons. You have allready adressed the proctical impossibility of finding a nuke smuggled into the US. Add to that:
The efficiency of this system will never reach 100%. The techincal difficaulties are too big.
Decoys, by launching decoys a system like the NMS which is osteniably designed to deal with smaller attacks can be overloaded.
It relies on ground stations without whom it is impotent and these stations are vulnerable.
The simple fact is that if anyone who manages to build a hand full of nukes would also have to build the ICBM's to carry them from the middle east to the US. Which is not easy, the project is impossible to hide, as are the launch sites. Then to strike at the US he would have to launch several ICBM's carrying decoys to hide his hand full of nukes from the NMS. This in turn requires detailed technical knowledge of the sensor arrays used by the NMS. Information which a Nuclear Banana Republic might not find to be partickularly easy to obtain. The effort involved even in just creating a launch system able to reach the USA is enormous never mind the ELINT/jamming/decoys required to assure success.
Charging a handfull of holy warriors with transporting it into the US in one of the millions of containers that enter that country every day is so much easyer. Just getting the thing into New York Harbour would be enaugh just sail it to the pier and detonate the thing.
The only way to prevent that is to search every vessel that comes into the USA's EEZ with a geiger counter. Which would in turn require the US not only to ratifyin UNLOS but also altering it to give the US the right to conduct boardings and forced searches in its EES. Which would in turn have the side effect of giving China the right to force down or even Shoot down US Elint aircraft in its EEZ.
MWUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Now what were we talking about?? Music?????
Re:CD-R Tax (Score:2)
What I've never figured out:
1. Musicians (at least in Canada) pretty much fall into 2 categories - the very popular (and therefore not needing this money), or the almost unheard of (and therefore distributing a lot of their music on CD-R's themselves).
2. I use CD-R's for so many different purposes, why exactly does the music industry get money from them? Personally, I buy them by the 100-spindle, and if I've burned 4 music cds over the past year I'd say that's a high estimate.
Whoever managed to put this tax into place, and convince people that it is a valid tax, is either a genius or a sociopath :)
Serious answer to a rhetorical question (Score:2)
- That's not the job of the anti-missile defense. The anti-missile defense handles... missiles!
- If you want to find a suitcase with a nuke in it, you could start with the nice X-ray opacity of heavy metals like uranium and plutonium. The elements of a bomb would stand out really well at any airport baggage-checker. Then there is the background radioactivity of the bomb materials; use a gamma spectrometer and you're going to find the bomb even in a ship-load of containers. Use a gamma camera and you can pick the individual container. You can do this without having to board the ship.
This stuff is all old hat; the kind of detectors required have been in use at nuclear plants for about 20 years (they even detect radon on people's clothes). Saddam Hussein has had nukes for about ten years now. He hasn't nuked the USA yet (I'm sure we would have all heard of that). If it's so easy to put a nuke on a ship and blow up a port city, why hasn't he? Maybe it's not quite as easy to sneak things in as some people think, and finding a nuke on a ship would be the excuse for the US military to march into Baghdad and carry his head out on a bayonet. That's why nobody has tried this: it's not likely to work, and it's suicide regardless.--
spam spam spam spam spam spam
No one expects the Spammish Repetition!
Why do I forsee... (Score:2)
Re:Swedish Metal (Score:3)
He is (probably unwillinigly) today's Cruel Site of the Day [cruel.com].
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I would not mind it if..... (Score:2)
now that makes sence. if music could be copied (while remaining under the terms of fair use) I would not mind paying a tax on the media that I use to copy it.