Has anyone made the wireless hotspot joke yet?
Yes, the courts apply copyright law, but that's not the point. Here, don't copy this string:
lksndf098sdfjn23409fgjnvdclkr098245n
I sell that string for 20 English pence, and if you ctrl+c and ctrl+v and don't pay me, thats piracy. And you don't even get a tasty chicken dinner or a box of cakes for your trip to court.
English for calling in sick, and the language of love to try and persuade the missus to make me a full english.
Yuo just made the common mistake of comparing copying software to actually stealing property.
The PC gaming market remains huge despite "piracy", and many people, myself included, are more than happy to pay for a well made and enjoyable software product.
Due to the unfinished and broken nature of a lot of games, and no demos or shareware to allow people to try before they buy, makes software piracy a tool for many, not just a source of getting free stuff.
I don't consider it sad in the slightest. Buying a little pet lizard in an MMO for £5... now that perhaps is a little sad.
.. it's quite often cheaper that the download equivalent. Even Valve releases are generally cheaper retail than they are on Steam (in the UK at least).
Also in other cases (eg Mount and Blade Warband) localised tax, for example VAT here in the UK), adds too much to make it viable to make an online direct download purchase. For me it would have been circa £26 download, whereas online hard copy on play.com (other websites are available) it cost £18.
We've had a short break since the last marketing ploy of this type has come up.
Same old story, get the world riled up about "filesharing" with your movie name attached (especially if it didn't do too well at the box office), and then the reap the mediocre profit from the free publicity.
Could you elaborate?
In that entanglement is the very basis of quantum communication, I'd say it has a fair bit to do with it.
I'm unsure of the US laws, but I understand the law here in the UK protects the loss of property for a certain amount of time, or at least until the owner considers it abandoned.
I quote from John Spencer, professor of law at Cambridge University, "If you find something in the street, the law says you have more right to it than everyone else - except the owner. If the true owner doesn't turn up, you can take ownership." from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8129534.stm
Had this occured in the UK, if there was proof that someone left the phone there on purpose to be found, then there is no case against. On the other hand if it was genuinely lost, then the finder had no right to sell it.
Out of curiosity, is there anything I'm not legally allowed to draw?
I'm not a muslim and therefore consider myself to be allowed to draw Mohammed, infact I just did in GIMP (not MSpaint as I didnt want to offend Linux fundamentalists)
Do not click if offended by shocking religious imagery http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/1287/mohow.jpg
So is there anything I can't draw on a piece of paper (without any words in any language) ?
Exactly. The article even states that "In effect, you're probably not going to get buildings collapsing, a la Bad Company, because the engine relies on the structural integrity of larger objects.".
So not only not as much destrction as Crysis, but "structural integrity of larger objects" means indestructable, so really nothing new here.
It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do. -- Jerome Klapka Jerome