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Comment Re:Just Tack on a Fee (Score 1) 626

That may be true purely in terms of number of accidents on straight roads with long lines of sight. However, the amount of damage caused in a crash DOES go up exponentially with speed. You stand a fairly good chance of surviving even a head-on collision at 55 MPH. You'll have a lot of bruises, some broken bones, possibly some back damage, etc. but you'll probably live. On the other hand, hit that same bridge pillar or concrete barricade at 90 MPH, will leave the first responders wondering how much of you they can shovel into the bag and how much they just have to hose off the road after they drag what's left of your car off it. This is what happens in a 120MPH crash. http://www.thetruthaboutcars.c... It's a bit faster than your 'safer' 90 but your 90 will still put the engine block squarely in the passenger cabin and burst your aorta as soon as the car starts decelerating. This is 120KM/H or 75 MPH. https://www.youtube.com/watch?... , well below your 90 but still almost universally fatal in a head-on.

Comment Re:More hush hush (Score 1) 128

They haven't been revoked by these major software developers (essentially destroyed as a CA) because they were hacked. They were kiled because they didn't tell anyone about it when they found the invalid certificate and revoked it themselves. It's the failure to come clean and say 'we were hacked, here's what was compromised, and here's how we fixed it.' They lost thier entire business instead of getting some bad PR because they tried to cover it up and assumptions are that next time they are hacked, we might never hear about it while someone quietly impersonates a trusted entity for years. Comodo is still around in spite of being hacked because they handled the incident openly.

Comment Re:YRO? (Score 1) 738

That type of bankruptcy (there are a few), however, is also an indication to the rest of the world (investors, employees, customers) that this entity does not honor its obligations. If you want to destroy any trust people used to have in you or your business then bankruptcy is a fast way to do that because it basically amounts to stealing some portion of whatever it was you owed people that you couldn't pay them.

That is why many lawmakers didn't want to force the "big 3" go to bankruptcy: some businesses work their way back up while others just delay their collapse. A big chunk of our economy looking like it is collapsing might cause people to buy Toyotas because they will almost certainly be around until the end of their warranty period.

Comment Re:YRO? (Score 1) 738

Really? They *must* reimburse you? And what happens if they say that's covered under your paycheck? I think your entitlement streak is a bit too big.

So is paper, pens, your work PC, the gasoline. You must also cover your share of the building lease and maintenance costs. Do you feel like working at that place?

An employee paycheck is payment for *work done* unless otherwise stipulated. Any payment for other things *MUST* be documented as such on your pay stub and their accounting for tax purposes. Employers are expected to provide the things *they dictate* you use for their business. That's not to say you can't take business calls on your personal cell phone as a convenience, but if an *employer* (contractors are paid by clients and operate under completely different rules) requires you to be contactable while outside their premesis then they generally are expected to pay for a method of contacting you. This article, however, is about a state reassessing which employees really need to be contactable 24/7.

Comment Re:Ubisofts DRM (Score 1) 233

I said I hope they would do that. I never said I thought it was especially likely. I would imagine the various publishers they license from might throw a tantrum over DRM removal and the legal team will block that during the shutdown process. However, like I said, STEAM copy protection has been repeatedly cracked and if it shuts down it will probably be already cracked or a crack will follow soon after the announcement.

Comment Re:seems simple (Score 1) 1219

Oh, and you can bet a blood test on the side of the road won't meet HIPAA requirements for electronic medical records

Taking blood is not rocket science. It is quite easy to setup a truck with the appropriate facilities for handling blood samples.

He's referring to legal requirements to protect medical records from unauthorized disclosure in the USA. They have little to do with the safety concerns I think you might be thinking about. However, a BAC test truck can meet these requirements just as easily as the mobile mammogram clinics that the hospital I work at operates.

Comment Re:Ubisofts DRM (Score 1) 233

You can create disc backups of your STEAM games and there is a crack STEAM that will avoid the need to have STEAM's servers active. With only as much effort as cracking a single game's individual DRM, you can crack all your STEAM games if STEAM ever goes under (though I'd hope they'll release their own fix for that impending DRM issue while they are in bankruptcy proceedings). I like STEAM because I don't have to go around finding NoCD patches for every game I buy or have to repair my internet connection before I can play single-player games (I have never bought a game with this kind of DRM that had a single-player mode).

Comment Re:Clean slate... (Score 1) 249

Seems reasonable, if incredibly unlikely. If the apropriate papers arent filed to transfer the lein to the new bank owner corporation then the debt dies with the old bank because they ceased to exist and cannot collect (a lender cannot refuse to accept payments made or the loan is immediately forgiven and if nobody is there to take the check then they obviously aren't accepting any payments he would send). The smaller business they were talking about wouldn't have been an actual bank and probably sold off all its loans individually or in packages rather than selling off the company itself to a single buyer. If they forgot to transfer it before the company died then he would be free and clear on that debt.

Comment Re:Is this a good thing? (Score 1) 366

What if you bought a CD, made one copy of it, and then took that to the student union (or any other gathering place) and just left it, sitting in a box with a sign that says "free CD", like a free puppies sign or something?

You violated copyright law by copying the CD for the purpose of distributing it.

If no one takes it, have you committed a crime by leaving it there, available for theft?

Yes, again, not for leaving them there to be stolen but for creating the copy for the purpose of willingly giving it to others.

What if you make 20 copies and do the same thing? It seems like even if no one takes them, it shouldn't be legal. However, it certainly doesn't seem like you should have to pay a bunch of cash to the RIAA, since none were taken.

Quantity doesn't matter for the purposes of determining guilt, just for the "counts" you would be found guilty of.

Finally, what if you did this, then came back a week later and the box was gone? If the staff claim they threw the CDs into the furnace and they don't know if any were missing at the time, what's your punishment, if any? You've no idea how many were taken, or if any were at all. Should you get off scott free?

Once again, the infriging act is the copying with the intent to permit others to take them as those copies are not covered under fair use laws.


However, I should point out that all of the above are illegal only because at some point you decided to create a copy of the song with the purpose of sending it to other people and NOT because you made it possible for them to take it. If, for example, you create a copy of all your CDs and forget to lock your door one day then you are not guilty of copyright infringement no matter how many of your CDs burnt for personal use people walk into your house and take. You are also not guilty of copyright infringement if someone you invite into your house makes a copy of your CDs without your assistance or knowledge.

What would this mean in practical terms? A burden of proof for the RIAA that this INDIVIDUAL placed copyrighted material in this folder for the purpose of sharing it with others. If they could somehow prove intent to distribute then they can easily make the claim that the copy being made was not part of "fair use". Otherwise the user is simply exercising their fair-use right to make personal backup copies of copyrighted material they purchased.

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