Random Thoughts II

[CCS]

Pfft, this Magician fag probably isn't even an Aucklander. He's probably some out-of-towner who can't get used to the stress of life in the super city.

[mpx]

Are there any butchers on NZG by chance?

[Pepsi]

^^ 2 dudes who should have been there last night

To clarify... I'm talkin' about the last 2 posters, not 2 butchers..

[mpx]

Next time I'll come, I promise.

And I'll punch Leadinjector's lights out!

[CCS]

Didn't realise that Christopher Hitchens has the cancer. Saw him on telly a few nights back. Didn't look good. Did not, in fact, even realise it was him at first and it was only his distinctive voice that made it click. Hell of a way to lose a lot of weight.

On 30 June 2010, Hitchens postponed his book tour for Hitch-22 to undergo treatment for metastatic esophageal cancer[129] that has spread to his lymph nodes and lungs.[130] He first made the announcement of his diagnosis in Vanity Fair magazine. In August, Hitchens discussed his diagnosis with Anderson Cooper on CNN. He told Cooper that the long-term prognosis is far from positive and that when one uses cigarettes and alcohol, which he has used heavily, there is a tendency to "make yourself a candidate" for the disease. He also says not to credit any reports that he has repented to God. Speaking with The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, Hitchens stated that he would be a "very lucky person" to live another five years.

[CCS]

I wonder... is there any legal reason why I can't format shift a book that I own to a digital format?

[drone]

Originally Posted by CCS

I wonder... is there any legal reason why I can't format shift a book that I own to a digital format?

Because it's not music. (No seriously, music format shifting is legal, TV timeshifting is legal except when the same content is provided by services like TVNZ on demand, everything else is not. Breaking DRM to shift it isn't legal in either case.)

Blame successive governments bending over.

[CCS]

If I buy a book, surely I ought to be able to make a digital back-up?

[tor]

Originally Posted by CCS

If I buy a book, surely I ought to be able to make a digital back-up?

I think the general rule is that you can only be nailed for potential losses. So if you digitise anything it may be illegal but there may be no penalty worth chasing.

So unless you intend to share it via torrents or whatever you are probably fine.

[drone]

Originally Posted by CCS

If I buy a book, surely I ought to be able to make a digital back-up?

No right exists in law for a backup of an ebook. License might allow you to.

We don't really have "fair use" in NZ copyright law. We have a bunch of exceptions for copies of a portion of the work for critical review, a bunch more for Archives NZ/National Library, collectively they're really "fair dealings".

So without an explicit license clause allowing backups, legally, no.

[drone]

Originally Posted by tor

I think the general rule is that you can only be nailed for potential losses. So if you digitise anything it may be illegal but there may be no penalty worth chasing.

So unless you intend to share it via torrents or whatever you are probably fine.

IANAL, however I've been involved in this for a while.

It's false you can only be taken for potential losses, the courts can award "additional damages" which can certainly be punitive and not based on any amount of loss.

(This happened to come up in discussions with MFAT and MED about ACTA clauses requiring what looked like statutory damages. MED's interpretation of the clauses in ACTA are that it requires at least one option, one of those being a system of additional damages which existing NZ law already has.)

[CCS]

Originally Posted by drone

No right exists in law for a backup of an ebook. License might allow you to.
...
So without an explicit license clause allowing backups, legally, no.

Really? I'd need a specific legal right to digitise a book? Funny, I'd have thought it would be the other way round - that unless a law says I cannot do so then I'd be legally entitled to digitise a book.

[Wake]

can't remember this evoke-vs-perfk.zip password on an old ftp backup I found.


No idea.

[drone]

Originally Posted by CCS

Really? I'd need a specific legal right to digitise a book? Funny, I'd have thought it would be the other way round - that unless a law says I cannot do so then I'd be legally entitled to digitise a book.

Sure, that's how copyright law is written. You infringe copyright (ie, is illegal) if you make a copy which is unauthorized (ie, licensed) and not one of a bunch of exceptions (which a backup of an ebook isn't). It very explicitly says you cannot do this.

The relevant sections would be S29,30 of the Copyright Act 1994 (as currently amended). None of the exceptions outlined in Part 3 of the Act apply.

http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/p...DLM345634.html

[CCS]

I wish you'd said that in the first place! I mean, you kinda did, but not in so many words


I think the wording of the act is weird. Fr'xample,

30 Infringement by copying
* The copying of a work is a restricted act in relation to every description of copyright work.

To me it makes sense that if you copy a work in part or in whole and pass it off as your own work then you have infringed copyright; but if you copy something, put it under your bed and leave it there forever, I don't consider that to be infringement of copyright. Note for nerds with an axe to grind: yes, I'm well aware that my opinion doesn't change the law and yes I realise the law doesn't necessarily have to make sense. So let's just skip the part where some sperg comes along and points out the obvious.


The reason I'm curious about this that with my Kindle ordered, I'm looking at what is available on Amazon and I've come to the realisation that the publishing industry hasn't learnt a damn thing from the music or film industry when it comes to the digital age. Region locking? Seriously? Come the fuck on, guys. It's a repeat of the same shit we've seen before: an industry trying to fight the piracy they've created *sigh*

[CCS]

Speaking of eBook things that fuck me off, on Amazon's website, if you add a Kindle edition of a book to your wishlist, the price does not show when viewing the wishlist. You would think that would be a pretty fundamental feature on a website which is trying hard to make ebooks a big thing. So if you happen to have a separate wish list just for ebooks and you want to sort it in price order... well you're fucked.

I emailed Amazon about it. This is the response I got:

Hello,

I understand your concern regarding the issue.

At this time, Price listing feature is not available for kindle books in wish list. I'm so sorry about this.

I've let the concerned team know that you're interested in this feature. They will consider your feedback for future developments & improvements.

Thanks for taking time in writing to us. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

Well I hope the members of the concerned team take a break from giving each other a Double Dutch Rudder in the toilets long enough to implement one of the oldest features in e-commerce.

[StN]

Originally Posted by Wake

can't remember this evoke-vs-perfk.zip password on an old ftp backup I found.


No idea.

Barbell?

Maybe Bluethong?

[A Corpse]

Digitising a book is illegal. Unless you're google, in which case, fuck anyone who objects.

[wazza]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=10698264

i read his name and instantly thought "obviously not"

[wazza]

Originally Posted by Wake

can't remember this evoke-vs-perfk.zip password on an old ftp backup I found.


No idea.

[email protected] when you figure it out

[StN]

Originally Posted by wazza

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=10698264

i read his name and instantly thought "obviously not"

I was trying to work out what else was wrong with him - which may have been a contributing factor. Seems like a silly way to go, and the Stuff article kept hinting at something else.

ie:

Sam was swimming at his caregiver's pool with other young people.

Sam, who had previously been at Waimea and Nayland colleges, attended the Southern Regional Health School at Nelson Hospital ...

[StN]

Originally Posted by Wake

can't remember this evoke-vs-perfk.zip password on an old ftp backup I found.

Trikileaks?

[Rince]

get the hivemind cracking it

1. put the file up somewhere
2. provide us a link
3. we'll all try cracking it....
4. ....
5. profit

[drone]

Originally Posted by CCS

To me it makes sense that if you copy a work in part or in whole and pass it off as your own work then you have infringed copyright; but if you copy something, put it under your bed and leave it there forever, I don't consider that to be infringement of copyright.

It's worse than just that sort of reasonable case. Until 2008, your browser cache and the cache of any ISP was technically copyright infringement, because there was absolutely no recognition you have to make a transient copy of the content to display it.

Which is just a bit fucked.

Originally Posted by ccs

The reason I'm curious about this that with my Kindle ordered, I'm looking at what is available on Amazon and I've come to the realisation that the publishing industry hasn't learnt a damn thing from the music or film industry when it comes to the digital age. Region locking? Seriously? Come the fuck on, guys. It's a repeat of the same shit we've seen before: an industry trying to fight the piracy they've created *sigh*

Oh, one other quirk to our copyright law: region locks are perfectly legal to ignore. "Access controls" are not protected, explicitly legal to break, although perversely since they're all implemented with DRM, and DRM is protected and illegal to have the tools or knowledge to break, it's a bit of of a non-result.

The distinction between DRM and pure access controls seems to be very obvious to gummit officials and entirely fucking unclear to me.

[wazza]

Originally Posted by Rince

get the hivemind cracking it

1. put the file up somewhere
2. provide us a link
3. we'll all try cracking it....
4. ....
5. profit

[tor]

Originally Posted by drone

It's worse than just that sort of reasonable case. Until 2008, your browser cache and the cache of any ISP was technically copyright infringement, because there was absolutely no recognition you have to make a transient copy of the content to display it.

Which is just a bit fucked.

Was thinking that, if something is on disk it will be copied to memory as well.

Practically speaking however has there ever been a case where punitive damages have been applied in a "making backups for myself and not being dodgy in any manner"?

[A Corpse]

Someone's having a stencil war in Hamilton.

A year or two a black cat stencil showed up.

Then a while later someone placed a robot behind it, zapping it in the butt.

Now someone has put pigtails on the robot.

[wazza]

topped up my prepay with the minimum $20

got 100 mins calling to VF mobiles or NZ Landline to be used over the next 4 weeks

also got 200mins calling to ANY mobile/landline to be used over the next 3 months (thanks pepsi!)

i do a bit of calling as it is, time to crank it up a notch.

^^ the above is free btw, i still have $20 credit.

[drone]

Originally Posted by tor

Practically speaking however has there ever been a case where punitive damages have been applied in a "making backups for myself and not being dodgy in any manner"?

Yeah there's an ocean between illegal and actually enforced. And since Copyright is civil law, it's not even something the Police can just come along and do you for.

So, not legal, practically irrelevant that is isn't. IANAL, this is not legal advice, blah blah.

[wazza]

apparently i hold my pinkie out when i drink, FROM ANYTHING.

a pint? check.
coffee mug? check.
can of coke zero? check.

this cutie in town has lol'd at me 3 times so far and pointed it out. i had no idea i did it. i wonder if i do it when i brush my teeth.

also, i need directions. where do i hand in my Man Card?

[p01s0n]

Originally Posted by wazza

also, i need directions. where do i hand in my Man Card?

give rocket a call, from coal miner to face wash model surely warranted that he hand in his mancard.

[StN]

^^ And I can't wait for his SS unwrap!

[Trigga*happY]

Originally Posted by wazza

apparently i hold my pinkie out when i drink, FROM ANYTHING.

Guilty as charged... It comes from flatting for 4 years with people who everytime your pinky touched the vessel made you consume the entirety of your beverage!

[Pepsi]

Originally Posted by wazza

apparently i hold my pinkie out when i drink, FROM ANYTHING.

a pint? check.
coffee mug? check.
can of coke zero? check.

this cutie in town has lol'd at me 3 times so far and pointed it out. i had no idea i did it. i wonder if i do it when i brush my teeth.

also, i need directions. where do i hand in my Man Card?

Are you sure you're the only one?

[p01s0n]

lmao who's that chud in front of the camera

[Redneck]

that's one erect pinky

[StN]

Originally Posted by Wake

can't remember this evoke-vs-perfk.zip password on an old ftp backup I found.

ErectPinky?

[LordP]

Originally Posted by wazza

apparently i hold my pinkie out when i drink, FROM ANYTHING.

where do i hand in my Man Card?

You don't - the pinkie rule is part of the International Drinking Rules.

As Trigga*happY says, should your pinkie make contact with your vessel, the entire contents of said vessel shall be consumed.

[chiquelet]

I seem to be one of those people to whom weird stuff happens. I'm driving into P-town today and there's this old lady carrying her weight in bags at a roundabout near my house. I slow down (because of the roundabout) and she approaches my car. I roll the window down and she asks for a lift into town?!?! I say ok and she hops in (gathering a queue of cars behind me btw). She didn't smell (thank God) but I don't think she was all there because each time I asked her where she wanted to be dropped off she just said "yes, yes", yet she asked me where I lived and if I was married ha. I dropped her off outside Pak n Save and went on my way. Weird.

[wazza]

I was driving to Greymouth(20mins from Blackball) the other day and this kid(he's about 20) from the block was holding out this thumb. I drove past him only to find myself stopping and slapping the mighty A31 cefiro auto into R to go back. Dude jumped in and asked me to drop him off to the nearest farm, he was going to see if they had any work on.

I felt better for it.

I'd never do that in Auckland. Gotta love small towns.