Aphelion

Might I play devil's advocate here?

What if we let these imperious fat-cats have what they want -- and then force it down their throats?

Look at the Big Picture. Think about it -- what would it mean to actually enforce such a thing?

How many millions of sites are there on the 'net? Who is gonna monitor all that -- while it changes second by second? And then, what are they going to do to the people they choose out as offenders? If it got a tenth as bad as everybody is saying, there wouldn't be enough cops and lawyers in the Universe to deal with them all.

It could be great for a while -- full employment worldwide . . . of course, everybody would be employed ratting each other out, and nobody would be producing goods and services any more . . . oh, and all that Russian spam would finally go away . . . (NOT!!)

And I'm sure there are thousands of hackers who would just get their rocks off at creating 'offending' sites, just to take them down and put them back up again every couple seconds . . . and randomly emailing links of the dead ones to the DOJ website, screaming, "You need to arrest all the bastards on this list!" I'm guessing that could be done.

Is there maybe a story in all this?

Am I making any sense?

Well, maybe I am wrong about all this . . . still, the fat-cats are cutting their own throats and they don't even see it.

They paid Congress to give them tax rebates to move our industrial jobs to Walmart, I mean China -- so now we have 14 million people out of work -- who are subsequently NOT buying their products . . . and the only thing China is buying from us is our government bonds . . .

They paid the legislators to deregulate the banking industry, then built up the housing market and knocked it down -- now the banks are stuck with countless properties that they can't sell because the unemployed -- now homeless -- can't afford a place to live . . .

Look what the OWS is doing -- people in droves are so pissed off that they're pulling their money out of the BailOut Banks and putting it into credit unions. I know, it won't make a noticeable difference, but it may not take much more of this to get a REAL boycott going (something we haven't seen) . . . or maybe a good old-fashioned torch-and-pitchfork parade.

They're being awfully hypocritical, too -- they want to scream "Infringement!" every time they see their name in a place that THEY didn't put it -- but when THEY put their name on something, they call it "product placement." Ever see a Tommy Hilfiger shirt? You can read it from a block away, and the buyers are paying for the privilege of advertising the stuff. I think this could actually be a good counter-argument for anyone getting sued for infringement -- "Your Honor, they should be delighted at the free advertisement they're getting -- in fact, THEY should be paying ME. This isn't a shirt, Your Honor -- it's a billboard! Is seeing it accidentally on a website any different from seeing it on the street?"

Internet? Hell, they have pop-up ads that defeat my pop-up blocker . . . THEY can splat their name over the page I'm trying to read, but if I put their name somewhere by accident -- much less obtrusively -- they want to sue me.

I'm at least somewhat serious about that: someone visiting a website and hearing a song they like in the background might well go look it up and buy a copy. It may not happen in reality (though I bet it does), but in the theoretical world of the courts, it's an argument that could at least gum up the works a little for the fat-cats.

This could get ironic, and amusing, in a dire, grim sort of way. BigCorp tries to sue Joe Jobless over his video post: JJ spent nothing to post the vid, and since he's now living under a park bench, has nothing to pay, while BC spent bunches to persecute him. Arrest him? Great, now he has food, shelter, and healthcare -- at taxpayer expense.

China is starting to think our T-notes may not be such a good investment after all . . .

Post by rick tornello » November 20th, 2011, 8:42 am
Lester you want to see how monitoring can be done?

look at China.

Yeah, but the ones who are just a little savvy have found ways around that.

It's just sad that the scum is rising to the top so fast. We should outlaw paid lobbying . . . and I've been telling people for thirty years that this country is turning into a third-world dictatorship.

I'd move to Canada, but I can't afford it, and they probably wouldn't let me.

mprove your golf game after taking CIALIS.

Was this a pun on "sink your putz?" I almost choked laughing. What was funnier, NO ONE GOT IT!!!!!

"Hole in one" is pretty obvious . . . and, your driver needs a stiff shaft . . .

TaoPhoenix wrote:Let's keep the anti-Copyright-Abuse topic alive!

See this week's news about SOPA, PIPA, and Mea-Upload!

Meanwhile: with a nod to Lester Curtis, check out this Final Exam question from the Academic Earth edition of a lecture on game theory!

"Question 5. [45 total points] Paid in the USA"
Two interest groups, A and B, are lobbying congress about an upcoming bill. Everyone
knows that it is worth $3M to A to get the bill passed into law, and it is worth $2M to B to
get the bill to fail."

So, what was the question? Wait -- lemme guess -- "How much will be spent by K Street?"

And, I failed to mention it, but on Blackout Day I was reminded, and went and signed TWO online petitions to stop SOPA. Just my way of giving Disney the finger.