As I've said before, Copyright is an obsolete concept that no longer benefits society, and needs to be abolished entirely.
The whole concept that Piracy is somehow stealing is utterly ridiculous. The kind of bullshit only senior citizens can be hoodwinked into believing, and even that only with considerable effort.
Hollywood is a cesspool of greedy pigs who are bitching up a storm because their industry is finally being disrupted by technology -- something very long overdue.
If someone enjoys a show, or book, or movie, or other creative work, they are free to donate to the appropriate parties -- but to force such payment, specially before the content is even evaluated, is fucking insane. Why the hell has society put of with this asinine nonsense for so long? HOW THE FUCK did the copyright system even ever get started in the first place!?
When Kim Dotcom released his first album a few months ago, I choose to pay for it, only after listening to it all day and deciding that it was worth my money. This "voting with the pocketbook" is what makes the most sense. I expect that, before my lifetime is over, people will look back on this era as a dark-age. I imagine grandparents explaining to children how College Textbooks used to cost money and how people had to pay for a movie before they even saw it.
FUCK COPYRIGHT. Burn it to the fucking ground. The Copyright system is a lot like debt-collectors, it only continues to operate because people keep paying. The sooner we all stop paying for content, the quicker the system will go away.
If you value free information and open-source theology, please stop paying for content. If we all stopped paying for content tomorrow, then the debate would be over a hell of a lot quicker.
I'm sure Kurt Sutter would make plenty of money if he would collect donations from people instead of spew hatred towards Google, the single greatest company the world has ever seen. Google has done more for the world than a million Kurt Sutter's could ever do.
Copyright is an obsolete concept that is no longer beneficial to society, and needs to be abolished entirely.
I expect this to happen in my lifetime, and people will look back on these days as a dark-ages where information was controlled and entertainment was not on a donation-only basis.
Copyright is like debt-collectors, the system only continues to operate because people keep paying. The sooner we all stop paying for content, the quicker the system will go away.
>He made a dozen trips to U.S. Bank because they wouldn't give him more than $30,000 at a time.
This is illegal. Checking accounts are legally known as "Demand Deposit Accounts," and you are allowed to show up (at any time) and demand as much money as you have available, in cash, and the banks are absolutely obligated to deliver. They cannot close their doors without first paying you, even if you show up moments before closing trying to withdraw millions of dollars. (They are, however, allowed to stay open late, if needed, should an armored car delivery be required.)
This topic is especially sensitive to me, so please enjoy the enraged rant below.
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I have a better proposal:
STOP DOMAIN ABUSE!
Remember, back in the day, when .net meant you were a network services provider, or when .org was only used by non-profit organizations. Wasn't that confusing as hell?
What the hell happened?
The network had a beautiful, well planned design, and PEOPLE LIKE YOU threw it away.
YOU ARE THE PROBLEM, NOT GOOGLE.
I recently had a conversation, with someone I respect greatly, about creating a series of informational sites very specific to US audiences, and he had a fit when I insisted on using the .us TLD. (Blasphemy, right?) He demanded I use .io, for a site that contained exclusively United States related information... Seriously?
I will not participate in this madness, and the HN audience should know better.
It's really simple, you see: your new project has lots of video content? Considering .TV? Is your company based in Tuvalu? THEN DON'T USE IT.
.AM? That's Armenia
.FM? Federated States of Micronesia
.ME? Montenegro.
What makes this whole thing even more insane is that there are still tons of quality .us domain names, completely open for registration, and people insist on using TLDs of other random places! The Indian Ocean? Really?