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Comment Re:DRM is valid for some instances (Score 2, Insightful) 311

From what I remember, the Zune pass allows you access to anything in the Zune store library as long as you pay the subscription. Removed from the library? Can't listen to the music. Stop paying? Can't listen to the music. You are not purchasing any music, you are paying money to access a library. The Zune marketplace is a completely different service than outright purchasing music. I believe they give you 10 un-DRM'd downloads per month along with the subscription, so you can see they do see the fact that their customers want DRM-free tracks.

Comment Re:Google is NOT a monopoly (Score 1) 64

That would be an abuse of monopoly. A company can have a monopoly on a market by having the vast majority of business. A monopoly isn't inherently bad. If a company is simply the best in the market and everybody decides to use their product, then good for them! It's still a monopoly. When that same company starts using their monopoly to force competitors out of the market, or keep people from switching, then they are leveraging their monopoly to corner the market, which is the illegal part.

Comment Re:Useless? (Score 1) 346

Well, the article states that the ripped mp3HD was 5MB bigger than the comparable FLAC rip, while the original, regular MP3 was 14.6MB. Using a little bit of maths, it looks like it's about 9.4MB less than a FLAC+MP3.

Comment Re:Frist Post! ...expires (Score 2, Insightful) 598

The DRM for TF2 works on a different principal, however. The game is online-only, so you can assume your player will have an internet connection when playing in the general server pool. The general server pool almost polices its self with many servers looking for only legitimate installs in order to prevent cheating. The game is also tied to Steam for DRM, so you can assume that the player has a Steam account. When playing online it checks for a legitimate Steam account, and LAN it checks for a legitimate install of Steam. Valve is also constantly releasing updates, requiring the game to be continuously re-hacked, like you said. Also, being that the servers in question are pirate servers, there is probably going to be a high hacker:legit player ratio.

So, as you can see, there are many many legitimate reasons why people would want to get a legitimate copy, and most of it has to do with playing the game online rather than the DRM measures. It is inherently tough to play pirated. For something like Gears of War, however, should not ever lock up. If I want to play single player now, I need an internet connection (not always possible for me) to update the DRM files that can break it this easily? No sale.

Comment Re:Thou shall not steal! (Score 5, Insightful) 230

It actually is closer to infringing on copyrighted goods, because that's exactly what it is.

Stealing means what was taken was against the owner's consent, and that the owner is now deprived of that good. Copyright infringement, on the other hand, means that you have made an unauthorized copy of a work and are selling it/giving it away/making more copys, which is the case here.

Comment Re:Doesn't bother me, since I never plan to go. (Score 1) 734

It's a country that can arrest and detain without warrant, without charges, without representation and without trial.

That's a gross overstatement. (It's seriously disgusting.) In the United Stats, people don't just get arrested willy-nilly. I'm not saying such a thing has happened, but if you're referencing Gitmo then that's all Afghanistan combatants (weather they really are combatants or not is another debate). Traveling to the United States from another country leaves no possibility of false imprisonment, though you can be detained. When they detain it's usually for a good reason, but just like every place there's idiots who will do it for a clearly innocent person. You just hear the US a lot because people like to hate.

Once you get in to the country, if you are arrested without a warrant, probable cause, and without charges you can expect the prosecution in any kind of trial to get reamed. Believe it or not, our judicial system isn't a bastion of corruption.

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