Now now, I didn't say I *approved* of this approach. I'm simply clarifying the facts for those that seem to think that this (levy/tax) makes all downloading in Canada legal. Which is simply not the case.

The fact that the levy exists means that certain types of normally infringing activities are no longer infringing. (They are considered private copies, personal use only.)

The other side of this issue is the side you are focused on:

The levy is a blanket provision, and does not consider *WHAT* the media is being used for. Thus, if I buy CD's to back up my data files from my computer, or I buy a memory card for my camera, I still pay the levy.

Thus, the levy is sort of bitter-sweet. But authorities/gov't have no way of knowing what your using the media for. And a voluntary levy is not possible, as nobody would actually pay it.

I posted this in reply to somebody else, but am not above regurgitating it here to re-enforce this point:

It's not a tax, its a Levy.

The levy is on certain types of blank recordable media, and is called the "Private Copying Levy". It does not go directly to the RIAA-equivelent. It goes to the Private Copying Collective to be divided up amonst those who *apply* for a piece of it.

This Levy makes certain types of downloading legal, such as downloading directly to recordable media that is covered by the levy.

It does not however make *all* downloading of copyrighted material legal. Nor does it cover anything but music recordings.

The private copying levy also covers things like... borrowing a cd from a friend and making a copy of it for personal use, or borrowing a cd from a library for the same reason.

On the other hand, distributing copyrighted material is still infringing. Posting copyrighted material online, making copies of copyrighted material and giving them away, etc is still infringing actions and can still be prosecuted. And no, it doesn't matter if you did it for profit or not.

It's not a tax, its a Levy.

The levy is on certain types of blank recordable media, and is called the "Private Copying Levy". It does not go directly to the RIAA-equivelent. It goes to the Private Copying Collective to be divided up amonst those who *apply* for a piece of it.

This Levy makes certain types of downloading legal, such as downloading directly to recordable media that is covered by the levy.

It does not however make *all* downloading of copyrighted material legal. Nor does it cover anything but music recordings.

The private copying levy also covers things like... borrowing a cd from a friend and making a copy of it for personal use, or borrowing a cd from a library for the same reason.

On the other hand, distributing copyrighted material is still infringing. Posting copyrighted material online, making copies of copyrighted material and giving them away, etc is still infringing actions and can still be prosecuted. And no, it doesn't matter if you did it for profit or not.

To be fair? You're making a lot of assumptions about my system.

You seem to assume that my system is an OEM system. It is not. You also seem to assume that my system is some souped up latest and greatest system... again, it is not.

My wifi card is almost 4 years old. I had the same problems getting it to work in Windows 7 as I did in windows XP. Also, the sound drivers provided by my mainboard mfg do not work as advertised.

Now, this is by no means *microsofts* fault, as they do not control 3rd party drivers. But I find it interesting that a system that easily retains over 60% of the market, is no longer fully supported. and the up-and-coming releases of their operating systems have equally frusterating driver issues.

But when I install Linux... It just works. All of it. I didn't even need to install a printer driver. I just plugged it in, and it worked. (Printer sharing on the other hand has been somewhat of a pain.)

The systems all have their +'s and -'s. But when it comes down to it, you have to ask yourself:

On which system are you more likely to get a virus?

On which system are you more likely to have spyware? Malware?

Which system is more likely to get compromised by the next big security threat?

Which system makes up the largest bulk of the massive botnets out there?

When considering it that way... I'd take linux over windows any day.

Interesting you'd bring up what "Just Works" in windows.

My wifi card in my home PC doesn't work in windows out of the box, and doesn't have a readily available XP driver. I had to hunt for a generic driver and jump through hoops to get it to work.

On the other hand, the same wifi card, in the same machine Just Works in Linux. No fuss, no command line, no configuration. Just enter my wep key when prompted.

In windows, my sound card doesn't work *AT ALL*. Can't find a driver. Not even from the mainboard mfg.

On the other hand, the same sound card, in the same machine Just Works in Linux.

Go figure... apparently my system is confused :P

Or maybe, its you that it confused. Linux now supports more hardware natively than any other operating system in existance. And thanks to projects like the Linux Driver Project, that develops drivers for hardware for companies *FOR FREE*, thats unlikely to change.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure windows has a place in this world, but Windows should no longer be allowed to lead the market on the desktop. It's far too dangerous.

I actually find the opposite is true.

Just about everyone that I talk to that has played the Wii absolutely *loved* it, no matter how much they doubted it before hand. Regardless of the WiiMotes issues (I can't play my Wii in mid afternoon... too much sunlight) it *WAS* innovative. You have to give credit to a company that has such high demand for the product that its still selling out almost 2 years after its release.

Can Sony and MS say that? Can they even say that they've made a penny on their systems?

The Wii appeals to almost every age, gender and racial demographic with its variety of fun and easy to play games, and yet has enough mature and challenging games to keep a gamer like me interested. I don't own a PS3 or an xbox360. They don't have the games I want.

Vegetable racist :P

... I'm sorry...

I disagree.

Your personal experience aside, let me give you a window into mine:

I have college education. No undergrad, no masters, no university of any kind. I did an accelerated course that crammed a 3 year program into 1 1/2 years.

I have been working in the field for almost 10 years now, am making great money, doing what I love to do, and have never had any regrets.

I personally believe that you should do what makes you happy. If you love the academics of it, go for it, do your masters. But don't do it because you think it'll give you an edge.

In the long run, if you get an edge because of it (maybe 5% of lucky cases) then great, but if you don't (perhaps 95%) of cases, then you'll be left with a whole load of student debt, and a feeling that you've wasted a lot of time and money for no real gain.

But that's just me 2 cents. :)

Your either extraordinarily ignorant, or your intentionally misinterpreting his words in an attempt to discredit him.

Regardless of which (I suspect the latter), you can't deny the excellent work NYCL has done to expose the RIAA legal team for what it truely is. A machine driven by greed to extort money out of its own customers because its business model is failing in a new world driven by digital culture.

The RIAA had a choice many years ago to embrace the new world. Indeed, there is always a choice. They made the choice to litigate rather than innovate. Thus, they created their own mess by fracturing the file sharing market, and driving people to innovate around their attempts to shut down file-sharing.

The reality is, even without file-sharing technology, the RIAA would still be losing record sales to digital media. If they do not learn to embrace the technology and innovate to save the industry, they will wither and die.

The ball really is in their court now.

My coding happy place is just that... inside my head. I can code anywhere, anytime. Give me some quiet music and a set of headphones and I can escape all distractions and make the whole world disappear.

My wife hates it when I enter that state because she has to all but hit me to get my attention. A state of concentration that intense is when I do my very best coding. It doesn't matter where I am, as long as I can get into that state.

For the record:

1. I'm a desktop linux user of almost 2 years.

2. I'm a gamer, and all my games run just fine in Linux.

3. Photoshop works just fine, out of the box, in Linux through WINE if you *really* must have it.

So yeah... all is well for me. I also do video editing and DVD authoring work in Linux, which I find has better tools and better control over the end product than any package I've found for Windows.

Is there a learning curve?

Of course there is. But go visit the Helios project blog and you'll be awakened to a world in which desktop Linux is distributed to underprivileged children who pick it up in a matter of minutes. Keeping in mind that these are children who have never used a computer of *ANY* kind.

If you want Linux adoption, the children is where to target it. Our generation grew up with windows, and a vast many people don't want to let go of the past.

Teach your children Linux, and do the future a favor.