who the hell cares? Are you saying losing half our rights will be ok because china is worse? what kind of illogical argument is that? how is this 'insightful'? haha absurdity is the norm I guess.

unfortunately most Americans are busy giving their freedoms away over hereh, and you've seen what happens when we 'help' other places. I am sure if we want some uranium we will just find a way to take it anyway. Good luck over there :) hehe

I always hated that kind of statement even as a joke. I think Intelligence follows a bell type curve of some sort I am sure with the bulk of the at the tip being the majority of the population. I just think its goofy to say it that way.
bleh: (thought terminating cliche)

um no. all things are not equal. I do not spend that much time on slashdot and it is not COMPLETELY FORBIDDEN for me to go to the website. Its ok to take breaks and do something. It is not ok to circumvent rules that will get you fired to waste massive amounts of time doing something on property that does not belong to you. It is silly to compare reading a slashdot article to making porn dvds at work with a work computer.

That is a thieves mentality. I am not arguing that thieves don't steal. I am arguing for them to stop hindering people that are perfectly willing to pay. I like purchasing movies and supporting stuff I like with my money. My money is a vote for the world I want. When I purchase movies and music then it is a vote for what I want to exist. So I pay and get what I want and you don't pay and have to deal with what I like.

Don't use DRM and and other mechanisms (outdated CD sales) to make stuff I want to purchase not easily to get. I buy my movies and mp3s as long as they are easy to buy. I watch most of my movies by 'renting' them on netflix. This is all legal and easy to get for me and doesn't cost much.

If you want to steal then go ahead. You will rationalize it no matter what happens. But, don't put a bunch of laws up that get in my way and don't affect you at all. Thieves steal and they always will. it is what they do. A reasonable education program (that doesn't treat people like pieces of crap) would do more than all the lawsuits that companies use.

I think 30 years from now there will still be 'big name' bands because that is how society works. The easy path is supporting a structure that feeds people stuff to consume. There are already 'small and free' bands out there for people that want to look for them. Infinite diversity with infinite combination. There is no 'one way'.

On a personal note, I do not make a lot of money. My media consumption is not very costly. I would suggest you stop consuming and focus on education if you are so poor that you have to steal stuff that is pretty cheap.

It doesn't matter what the court 'thinks'. The issue is (no matter how it is stated) that this is an attack on 3rd parties instead of the people 'responsible'. Either:
Go after distributors (insanely difficult = costly) which do something 'bad'
Go after the thieves (people at home = costly) which do something 'bad'
Go after the ISPs (easy to shut off the 'valve') which do absolutely nothing wrong.

I don't want to know what the court is a 'fan' of. This is in italy so they can set up whatever asinine freedom destroying laws they want, but its obviously idiotic to go after people and cost them money that have nothing to do with the problem.

I wish the commercial organization would realize people love to buy their products.... if only they would make it more easy to access.

not enough citizens care. to have proper citizens people need to be educated on civics, logic, and management. The government(s) are in charge of our schools. This is the foundation on which all problems rest.

separation refers to the creation of law. Just because the house passes a bill it does not make it a law. The white house has the power to veto. If the white house signs this then it agrees to it. The executive can be overridden of course but that just means the senate and house believe the bill is to important for the executive to have judgement.

that puts to much burden on the public. If someone makes something and its been in common use for 20 years who is responsible for continuously monitoring the requests to make sure it isn't patented later when it makes no sense?

I think all that would really do it give companies a change to cause trouble.. the ones that can afford to anyway. Prior art does need to be researched more but this has more to with patent office having time to deal with stuff than competence.

I think the main people here will be companies clogging the system with more junk to delay and manipulate.

I don't understand patenting software binaries in your post. Are you basically advocating copy writing? That would make more sense.

As for 2, I don't think that would be good because physical objects could be quite costly and some guy in a basement might have an innovative idea, but not have the resources to produce it. He needs the patent to protect his great idea (reward) while he can sell royalties for production or sell the patent.

I think with 3 you will just end up with company wars. All the companies that care will be the only ones watching for the patent scrutiny period and they will spend lots of money to debunk it while stealing the idea or trying to steal the patent. And the guy in his basement inventing something already pays a lot for a patent. I don't want to add the fear of getting sued to that.

One of the problems is the patent office makes money for the government. That money does not go into making the patent office better. Underpaid patent clerks learnt he system and get hired away for high salaries at companies to make patents which means you have new people at the patent office a lot and the senior people are overworked.

Next time you complain that something is bad in the world remember that :P Most problems are caused by people wanting quick money without consideration for long term value. I am just this was a joke post, but just pointing the obvious out :D

I think Innovation and Its Discontents: How Our Broken Patent System is Endangering Innovation and Progress, and What to Do About It is a good book on the patent system and its problems.

haha, that does happen though.... when the government is involved.

sarcasm isn't a substitute for an argument.

I find it odd that only a government can guarantee these things. The same government that can't balance a ledger. I simply will never agree with someone that think 600+ people playing politics in washington know what is best for 307,765,999 people by writing a law. Despite your sarcasm, if someone did want to get their brain-ass transplant in your unclean apartment (go clean it you dirty person) then they will do it despite the government.

I am not going to to pretend that the government has magical power to fly around protecting us.