Atari Cancels Anti-Piracy Witch-Hunt
Written by Ernesto on November 27, 2008After Atari received some bad press recently for mistakenly accusing an elderly couple of pirating one of its games, the company has now stopped the anti-piracy campaign in question. The “witch-hunt”, carried out by the UK law firm Davenport Lyons on behalf of Atari, based on spreadsheets full of IPs gathered by a company named Logistep, continues to lose credibility.
For regular readers of TorrentFreak, Davenport Lyons and Logistep are familiar names. For more than a year now we have reported on their missteps, threatening tactics, and especially their reluctance to have their evidence challenged in court.
Recently their efforts to make money from alleged pirates was picked up by the mainstream press, because an elderly couple was incorrectly accused by them of pirating an Atari game, Test Drive Unlimited. It is of course a stereotype to think that people over fifty don’t play games, but with the help of consumer magazine, Which? Computing, the lawyers were forced to drop the case.
If anything, this suggests that the evidence they gather for use against alleged sharers is not as strong as it should be. In fact, this is not the first time that a case has dropped before it went to court. Apparently, the lawyers that represent the various copyright holders will only make their case when they have a sure win - that is, when the defendants fail to show up. Others who dig in their heels and refuse to pay learn that the consequences aren’t nearly as bad as the law firm would have everyone believe.
Meanwhile, thousands of UK citizens are receiving letters in which they are accused of downloading music, games or more recently, adult entertainment. In these letters, they are asked to pay a few hundred pounds, or else they are threatened with the prospect of being dragged through court, where the fine - if the law firm is to be believed - will be multiplied several times over.
There aren’t any precise figure on how many alleged pirates have paid up, but based on earlier comments from the law firm itself, it’s believed to be between 40 and 60%. It’s not unthinkable that some copyright owners are making more from this type of pirate-chasing than they do from sales of their actual products. Quite an innovative business model actually, especially since in many cases it guarantees a revenue stream for sub-standard products that otherwise simply wouldn’t sell.
But now, according to The Register, computer game manufacturer Atari has had enough, as they have canceled their collaboration with Davenport Lyons and Logistep. Exactly why is open to speculation, but it is difficult to find a single positive article about the activities of these companies, particularly when recent and rather more potentially embarrassing actions are taken into consideration. It’s not surprising that they choose to distance themselves from the operation.
In a comment to El Reg, Atari said that it will “always retain and reserve the right to protect our intellectual property from illegal copying and piracy.” An interesting comment, since cashing in on alleged piracy happens after the offense, and has nothing to do with protection. However, this statement seems more of an attempt to show that this withdrawal doesn’t indicate that Atari is going soft on piracy.
Of course, copyright holders have every right to protect their material, or even make up for the losses they claim to suffer. Whether it is the right thing to do is questionable though, especially when the tactics are as aggressive as they are in these cases.
The complete lack of transparency in respect of the evidence gathering techniques just makes matters worse, and every negative aspect is compounded when people like Simon Davies of Privacy International speak about facets of the operation in very unfavorable terms. “This is appalling, it breaches a number of fundamental human rights,” he said. “They risk bringing the law into disrepute - just because lawyers can do something it doesn’t mean that they should.”
A great example of where copyright has gone wrong has emerged recently. In a leaked contract between DigiProtect (copyright protection outfit) and Evil Angel (content producer), the copyright was actually transferred in order for DigiProtect to make it available on filesharing networks.
“LICENSOR grants DIGIPROTECT the exclusive right to make the movies listed in Appendix 1 worldwide available to the public via remote computer networks, so-called peer-2-peer and internet file sharing networks such as e-Donkey, Kazaa, Bitorrent, etc. for the duration of this agreement.”
So, DigiProtect makes the files available to cash in on the people who attempt to download the files, but not to protect their intellectual property in a way copyright law was put in place for. In fact, this has nothing to do with copyright protection, they are simply exploiting the system. Probably a good thing that Atari got out before it all falls apart.
The question now is how are the other publishers feeling now that Atari has had enough? Since they are based in the UK, the focus now falls on CodeMasters, who are still pursuing people over Colin McRae Dirt, but does the return on the project cancel out the mountains of bad PR it generates? Time will tell.
Previously: uTorrent Releases Long-Awaited Mac Version
Next: Orange: Our Customers Can Now Access The Pirate Bay
63 Responses
What’s Atari?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari
So, DigiProtect makes the files available to cash in on the people who attempt to download the files, but not to protect their intellectual property in a way copyright law was put in place for.
Epic Fail
Epic Fail sums it up alright. Atari made Pong, fyi. One of the greatest games in history.
Damage has already been done, Atari were one of the first ones on the video games scene and have a LOT of pioneering credits to their name… but now all people are going to think of is how they wrongfully screwed the public.
Like a fashion model who turned to whoring herself, its always going to be: heard of X? shes a whore now… used to be some big fashion model, and thats exactly wha tyou are Atari… a whore for stooping down to such despicable acts and tying yourself up with the dregs of society (Davenport Lyons,DigiProtect), gone are the days you could command respect… now since the game got so tough you… cheated, and got caught.
http://www.eZee.se
Bwahaha, man this really shows that all that anti-piracy companies are doing is just blackmailing people to generate money.
Also other groups like digiprotect are most probably doing the same thing.
If Atari dropped these jokers because of their offense at the tactics used, it’s a great move on their part, as well as a smart move.
@1 Your kidding right? Ever been to a movie theatre with an arcade?
I sure hope he is. It’s much worse than not knowing what Sega, Nintendo or Sony is.
Poor old sods, atari should be ashamed of themselves and give them a free game as a “sorry” from them :)
Oh, and a free consol to play it on too.
In the case of Ken and Gill Murdoch, it’s not stereotyping. It’s probability. The games industry has hard demographic data and there have been surveys on filesharing. Where dead people have been accused, as they have in America, that probability isn’t just low, it falls to zero. What was significant was that Which? Computing believed the couple, and were prepared to put their reputation on the line over it.
As I put in a comment to the Gay ‘Gestapo’ Porn article, mainstream content providers can’t be too happy. Some people are already systematically using the name ‘ Davenporn Lyons’ around the ’net. Davenport Lyons’ association with hardcore pornography would make any sensible exec question whether they wanted that firm of solicitors representing their company. We know it’s almost certain that the next major news article about Davenport Lyons will be when they send out a nastygram to an innocent person, accusing that person of filesharing hardcore porn.
Should copyright holders have _every_ right to protect their material? Copyright is the granting of an artificial monopoly. Society has accepted this as necessary to allow the production of content. When protecting material isn’t the right thing to do, society needs to ensure that the way copyright is granted is changed.
Atari is anachronism epitomised.
I would say that they’re black mailing everyone.
Atari?!! They’re still around?
I thought they went bankrupt back in the nineties after the Jaguar…something about an embezzlement fiasco in the ranks…
A question re: Digiproject- if they are granted an exclusive license to make the content available on various P2P nets, is it illegal to download from them if you can demonstrate reasonable belief that they made the content available to you? And if they attempt to extort $$$ from you for downloading, isn’t that a defacto admission that they were the source of the content they accuse you of downloading?
One might assume this defense could only be used if one uses a non-sharing client, but if Digiproject is giving away the content can they still sue people for sharing it on? Courts in the U.S. for example have held that promo music cds given to radio stations can be resold or given away by the recipient (an extension of the first sale doctrine). Would the situation be so different just because the offered content is not contained in a physical medium?
Even if the first sale doctrine is not applicable (the dmca would appear to overrule that in the U.S.) it might still have a good chance of convincing a jury of your ‘innocence’…
It would be interesting to examine the rest of that leaked contract to determine if Evil Angel has addressed these issues.
^ “I’ve never heard of Atari”
Holy crap am I old.
Well if you are new to programming (I mean you got about 2 years of experience in any language - and thats not some junk university experience) you are still fucked.
These companies completely kill others businesses, you have no chance to start your own anymore. Working for them is like they would own your life. Losing your job is back to the same point where you started.
Not all software developer earns a good money, I would say the lucky upper layer does, who were at the right place at the right time and got rich and they getting richer and richer and beyond this they want everyone to buy their shit products.
Maybe they should know where is the limit like Gates did and say goodbye, let others give some chance but NO.
These sick people turned this world to what it is, a shithole with rich and poor and no middle layer (at least for most of the countries).
Atari is the new brand name of Infogrames, bought some years ago just to get a name in the usa.
It has stricly nothing to do with the family electronics devices of your childhood, it’s just a greedy multinational that tries to maximize profits on every license they have (the latest Alone In The Dark game is a perfect example)
Anyway, their games are crap. This company (Infogrames) should have died with the Amiga and the AtariST
“In a comment to El Reg, Atari said that it will “always retain and reserve the right to protect our intellectual property from illegal copying and piracy.” An interesting comment, since cashing in on alleged piracy happens after the offense, and has nothing to do with protection.”
How does it have nothing to do with protection? I’m sure their view is that it acts as a deterent to the alleged pirate and others. I agree that DL are running a shoddy operation, but let’s not talk crap for the sake of it.
“So, DigiProtect makes the files available to cash in on the people who attempt to download the files”
I remember when few year ago it was discovered that Piratebiran (???) an antipiracy organosation setup by the recording industry ( The four major again!) was apying a spy to work at the Pirate bay and plant evidences on some Pirate Bay server.
The anti piratebiran (????) by posting on internet all the pesonal information of the spy.
The four majors are operated by a pack of gansters and parasites.
how come the USA doesn’t have an encrypted P2P app yet?…what is taking so long? Can’t we just take what the Japanese did with Share and Winny and make our own somehow? Is it that hard? Come on coders, put your heads together, lets get an encrypted P2P app in 2009 !!!
We need encryption!! Come on, I know the USA has some of the most brilliant minds in the world…lets do it !!
IANAL but, that paragraph from the EvilAngel-DigiProtect contract isn’t a transfer of copyright.
It basically does what it says, EvilAngel still owns the copyright and DigiProtect has *exclusive* worldwide right to distribute over p2p.
From a technical point of view, exclusivity doesn’t really make sense here. For example with bittorrent, all peers can distribute. That’s just the way bittorrent works. You can’t really grant exclusive rights to distribute with bittorrent.
If I was drafting this contract I would actually use the word “seed” instead of distribute. Even so, its a bit dubious.
@The Bleeding Obvious
You said: “How does it have nothing to do with protection? I’m sure their view is that it acts as a deterent to the alleged pirate and others. I agree that DL are running a shoddy operation, but let’s not talk crap for the sake of it.”
—————-
Read the links in the article, with particular attention to the Evil Angel/DigiProtect deal. This is NOT anti-piracy enforcement, this is a business model which absolutely RELIES on piracy to operate. However I agree with your final comment. Let’s not talk crap for the sake of it ;)
Evil Angel makes porn. w00t.
@ 3: Another Epic Fail, at least on Davenporn Lyons’ part is the fact that porn has been uploaded to p2p networks where it could be easily accessed by minors.
This could very well be the beginning of the end for this bunch of lowlife copyright ambulance chasers.
I still dont see how this can be legal. Company buying a right to put material on p2p networks and then extorting the people downloading the material. If the company has the right to put the material on p2p networks doesn’t it then make it legal to download it? If they are suing people just because of sharing(bittorrent) then if someone downloads the material with a bittorrent client that doesn’t upload then it becomes completely legal, right?
@24 said it first but shouldn’t it be illegal to put porn on p2p networks where minors can download it? Even if the uploader/seeder has the rights to put it on p2p networks it should be illegal because you can’t in any way control the age of the downloaders. Porn should be available only to people older than 18(atleast here), so if some company makes porn available to 10 year old kids then they themselves should be sued. Some conserned parent should sue them and make easy money…
@26 : “Company buying a right to put material on p2p networks and then extorting the people downloading the material. If the company has the right to put the material on p2p networks doesn’t it then make it legal to download it?” … “if some company makes porn available to 10 year old kids then they themselves should be sued.”
WTH are you talking about - why in gods name would that make it legal to download? Nothing has changed regarding the legality of the copy someone downloads as far as the downloader is concerned.
And no, the parents could not sue as they should have been controlling their children and their usage of the internet.
It’s stupid asshats like you that somehow have the temerity to believe they are intelligent that gives filesharing a bad name you retard. Really, you’re mother would’ve done you a favour by not telling you how smart you are when it’s plain to many that you are unintelligent and stupid.
Atari of old and the current Atari are two different things. we can thank the original Atari for making video games a household thing. This other mob are using the Atari name, that’s all. Not the same company.
I loved my old 8bit Atari :D Great times.
lol fail xD
I bet for $100000 that ALL of you teenagers here would take the position in anti-piracy firms if they’d pay you nice cash.
hypocrites you are.
@enigmax
“Read the links in the article, with particular attention to the Evil Angel/DigiProtect deal.”
As someone else has pointed out, the quotation is a grant of licence, not an assignment. I’d speculate that it’s been done to give Digiprotect legal standing to pursue unlicensed distributors. There’s just no way to argue that pursuit of unlicensed distributors - whatever additional motives there may be - can be seen as not having a deterrent effect on unlicensed distribution.
@The Bleeding Obvious
I’m sorry, but it simply doesn’t logically follow that pursuing unlicensed distributors in itself has a deterrent effect on unlicensed distribution in general.
The immediate reason for pursuing an unlicensed distributor can only be to seek damages, or appropriate legal restitution. There will never be a lawsuit brought under the law of “frightening other people orf moi stuff”. Having someone deliberately distribute your content puts you in a rather weak position when it comes to arguing damages.
The subsequent news reports of your ’successful’ action for restitution is the only place the deterrent can come from. There must be some form of publicity campaign built around the action (which has been done in this case). Even then, the deterrent effect can vary wildly and is almost impossible to measure. If, for example, you have the reputation as a porn peddler and user of dishonest tactics (and do nothing to address the criticisms - but instead opt to remain silent), then the deterrent effect is likely to be diminished significantly.
It would be far simpler to just have the publicity campaign in isolation (know of any of these lately?).
LOL, Atari is old school junk anyways! WHo do they think they are!
jess
http://www.privacy.cz.tc
A company that protects their Copyright?
dumbass
which reminds me that according to your logic every PATENT in the world should also be shared freely?
i mean like when a car company’s engineers create blueprints for a new car model it should be instantly shareable for anyone?
and when NASA is designing a new rocket, scheme for this piece should also be available for anyone? even terrorists? we’re all one people - democracy, right? if i understand your logic.
–
Piracy equals Communism! Communism’s ideology was that everyone should be EQUAL, everything should be equally SHARED. that is why it didn’t work out, because that ideology would’ve stopped technological advancements (everyone would’ve wanted the best things without giving back).
you guys should realize and/or read what the point of Copyrights and Patents is before coming here and scream how game companies are bad and they should be shot. fine, don’t play their games, then. but don’t DOWNLOAD them without giving anything back. people have to live - people have to feed their children, and every company has a right to earn as much money as they want with THEIR products. in capitalistic (the only working model) world no one can stop this thing. well, there’s monopoly laws, but this is completely another topic.
@21 (myself)
Actually my remark about using the word “seed” instead of “distribute” does not make much sense either.
All leechers on bittorrent will eventually become seeders and even while they are leeching they will be involved in “distribution”.
So basically, it makes no sense what-so-ever to assign exclusive distribution rights on bittorrent!
If DigiProtect ever distributed things with bittorrent they would automatically involve unlicensed distributors.
It also goes without saying that the whole operation stinks!
ALIS: “I still dont see how this can be legal.”
It isn’t legal.
Thanks to that contract leaking, Digiprotect and Evil Angel are royally fucked.
We’re looking at a textbook example of a criminal blackmailing racket. Expect both companies to go down in flames, possibly even before January if you can believe it.
][ated: “WTH are you talking about - why in gods name would that make it legal to download? Nothing has changed regarding the legality of the copy someone downloads as far as the downloader is concerned.”
LOL, retard. Just LOL.
By licensing Digiprotect to distribute its intellectual property over P2P networks, Evil Angel has officially sanctioned its content to be freely distributed, thereby making it quite stunningly illegal to threaten to sue anybody for downloading it, as downloading it is no longer a violation of IP-protection law because the files are being distributed with the IP-holder’s express permission. Do you follow, numbnuts?
Remember how id Software released the Quake sourcecode for free?
Imagine if they started accusing people of copyright infringement and demanding that they puy up or else for filesharing it.
The same principal applies here.
Go back to kindergarten, please.
People are asking what is atari?? and that atari made pong??
Wow, I must be getting old if thats what you kids believe.
If it wasnt for atari stealing ideas from people we wouldnt have video games as we know them today.
@ 33
penumbra: “I’m sorry, but it simply doesn’t logically follow that pursuing unlicensed distributors in itself has a deterrent effect on unlicensed distribution in general.”
I’m sure that that is the intent. Certainly the statement in the article that it has ‘nothing to do with protection’ is ludicrously overstated.
Anonymous: “y licensing Digiprotect to distribute its intellectual property over P2P networks, Evil Angel has officially sanctioned its content to be freely distributed, thereby making it quite stunningly illegal to threaten to sue anybody for downloading it, as downloading it is no longer a violation of IP-protection law because the files are being distributed with the IP-holder’s express permission. Do you follow, numbnuts?”
Peer to peer does not just mean bit-torrent. A closed p2p network in which every peer had agreed to a EULA for the client software could be what was intended. Licensing one party to distribute your property using a certain technology simply does not equate to a wholesale grant to all. It also doesn’t mean that the distribution has actually taken place. As I said above, it’s probably intended to allow Digiprotect to take action on its own behalf against people exercising rights exclusively licensed to them.
and then to top it off youve got so many of you who have come on here just to talk bad about others here.
Its sad when people spend all their free time going to forums and blogs just to criticize others spelling and opinions.
YEs, alot of you seem to be crack baby brain dead and stuck in your own little worlds…. But those of you that come here just to talk trash about the others, while using as many big words as you can to seem smart and going through your post 5 times with spell check…… It doesnt make you any better.
lol, why am I not surprised?
One lost sale is around £5-£50, not in the £1000’s, where do they get their figures from!?
The Bleeding Obvious: “Peer to peer does not just mean bit-torrent. A closed p2p network in which every peer had agreed to a EULA for the client software could be what was intended”
…
“LICENSOR grants DIGIPROTECT the exclusive right to make the movies listed in Appendix 1 worldwide available to the public via remote computer networks, so-called peer-2-peer and internet file sharing networks such as e-Donkey, Kazaa, Bitorrent, etc. for the duration of this agreement.”
Somehow I doubt they’re talking about a closed P2P network. Call it a hunch…
phunny: “I bet for $100000 that ALL of you teenagers here would take the position in anti-piracy firms if they’d pay you nice cash.”
You do…?
Well now, that makes you a dipshit, doesn’t it?
Next.
dude:”which reminds me that according to your logic every PATENT in the world should also be shared freely?
i mean like when a car company’s engineers create blueprints for a new car model it should be instantly shareable for anyone?
and when NASA is designing a new rocket, scheme for this piece should also be available for anyone?”
Perhaps you’d be on to something if copyrights and patents were even remotely the same thing, or if anyone was even talking about patents before you bought them up, but as it stands your little rambling comment here lacks… Oh, I don’t know, a discernable point.
Rub your two braincells together and try again, Jethro.
dude: “Piracy equals Communism! Communism’s ideology was that everyone should be EQUAL”
In that case, the entire concept human rights is a form of Communism, too. Down with equality! Boo, rights! Let’s start rounding people up into camps, poste haste. I vote for Mexicans first!
Seperate restrooms for everybody! Oh, and busses, too! What? You say that’s wrong? Well look here everybody, if it isn’t KARL MARX!
dude: “everything should be equally SHARED. that is why it didn’t work out”
Communism “didn’t work out” because no government in the known world has ever instituted actual communism.
Sure, there have been plenty of dictatorships and fascist regimes that hid behind the name of communism, but much like cheats, crooks, murderers, and warmongers who hide behind the name of the Cross, it doesn’t really count.
Name one supposedly communist power under which everybody is, or ever was, equal.
Yeah, that’s what I thought. Bitch.
dude: “but don’t DOWNLOAD them without giving anything back.”
Whoops! Too late. :(
dude: “people have to live - people have to feed their children, and every company has a right ….”
…A right to charge those people through the nose for a CD that cost fractions of a penny to manufacture?
Sorry, I disagree.
I have a right to live - and I’d rather feed myself and my family than line the coffers of fatcat middlemen who rip off both me and the artists they pretend to represent.
dude: “in capitalistic (the only working model) world no one can stop this thing.”
Oh, damn. You must be really behind on the news. See, we already discovered a way to stop this thing. It’s called filesharing.
@44
“such as”
“Oh, damn. You must be really behind on the news. See, we already discovered a way to stop this thing. It’s called filesharing.”
And you are using it illegally:)
I bet for a thousand dollars if you had to create a software for what you were doing, lets say, 2 years you wouldn’t like to see it getting shared over the NET without getting penny as everyone leeches it.
With popular software it’s the case that everyone knows them and their products and most of the people, luckily, don’t download it illegally. You may think statistics lie about warez usage and everything, but it’s actually true - lesser percent are downloading instead of buying it, and that’s the reason companies still make software at all.
The Bleeding Obvious: ““such as””
Yes…
…?
Evil Angel contracted DigiProtect to publicly and freely distribute their own intellectual property worldwide accross P2P networks, in an attempt to then extort money from filesharers by threatening to sue them for downloading Evil Angel’s IP, even though downloading it no longer breaks copyright law thanks to the fact that Evil Angel officially consented to their IP being distributed accross P2P networks(that part was supposed to be a secret, though. Shh! Don’t tell anyone!). The whole racket they’ve got going there is a nice little venture in criminal blackmail.
So, your point is… What?
dude: “And you are using it illegally:)”
Yeah, and I also break the law when I jaywalk. So?
dude: “I bet for a thousand dollars if you had to create a software for what you were doing, lets say, 2 years you wouldn’t like to see it getting shared over the NET without getting penny as everyone leeches it.”
Software development costs nothing these days.
So why in God’s name would I find myself spending $1000 on writing an application when all the tools are free?
I wonder when the software industry will finally wake up one day and ask itself the same question.
dude: “With popular software it’s the case that everyone knows them and their products and most of the people, luckily, don’t download it illegally. You may think statistics lie about warez usage and everything, but it’s actually true - lesser percent are downloading instead of buying it, and that’s the reason companies still make software at all.”
No shit. But since you realize filesharing isn’t killing the industry, then what’s your problem with it?
And don’t tell me filesharing is killing small independant developers when Spiderweb Software has survived since 1994, and been the primary source of income for Jeff Vogal and his family(who all live comfortably, FYI - not inside a cardboard box under the freeway).
Software development costs alot these days! Except when you’re a Linux distro maker or any other Open Source
Companies have to pay money to developers who make software, and that’s the way they earn money. Good progrmamer has learned 5-10 years before getting a nice paid job in some respected company. And by respected i mean popular.
What you really thing in Microsoft people write their code lines as they wish? And they don’t get paid, because according to your logic software development doesn’t cost shit:)
Get the facts, “businessman”
I don’t care,I will download everything I want for free.
@28 ][atred
Im the one making pirates look bad? Your comment didn’t have a single intelligent word in it. Stupid record company whore, try thinking about what your saying.
@38 Anonymous
Thanks for the support.
mostly play online games that need a server, torrents mostly seem to be single keys or so, great on single player, less so for online play.
Will check the games in the future for atari and have a long and hard think about buying from someone that has sued potential customers….
that doesn’t really make sense, i make a piece of junk software that does basicly nothing but license it and place it on some website for cash
then i get another person to host my software “illegally” for distribution and i sue every1 who downloads it to make money, since no1 would ever buy my software
Atari “was” a good gaming company…
And it’s sad how you judge companies and their products how they persuade their anti-warez methods.
Just sad, you really are that irresponsible people who want everything for free.
I bet you all work in some post-office and/or car mechanics earning as little to even buy bread. Sorry, if you can’t buy a normal house you shouldn’t have a good PC and games at all. Get used with the fact you were a shitty student back then.
Yeah it was meant to be a facetious comment.
I prefered the Amiga! lol
I preferred the Amiga! lol
Things like this are why lots of people are working on the next generation of file transfer programs, called F2F (Friend to Friend). For example, check out RetroShare:
http://retroshare.sourceforge.net/
:-)
dude: “Software development costs alot these days!”
Really?
Then I must be just imagining all these freeware multiplatform, multilangauge compilers, IDEs, graphic editing suites, and 3D modelling applications.
…Oh, wait. I’m not.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go point and laugh at all the stupid dipshits who actually spend money on writing software when all the necessary tools are free these days. Ha!
dude: “Companies have to pay money to developers who make software”
Only bad companies have to rely on paying money to outside developers. Good companies can produce their own code & assets.
Sorry, but you’ll have to try fishing for sympathy some other way.
dude: “Good progrmamer has learned 5-10 years before getting a nice paid job in some respected company. And by respected i mean popular.”
Meanwhile, smart, talented programmers realize that instead of wasting 5-10 years of their life taking programming courses, and becoming a work-a-day wage slave for some faceless developer… They can learn programming for free on their own terms, and write their own software and sell it themselves.
And before you say that’s unrealistic, once again; Jeff Vogal.
dude: “What you really thing in Microsoft people write their code lines as they wish? And they don’t get paid, because according to your logic software development doesn’t cost shit:)”
Employee salary != development costs.
dude: “Get the facts, “businessman””
Get a hint, Clueless.
dude: “I bet you all work in some post-office and/or car mechanics earning as little to even buy bread. Sorry, if you can’t buy a normal house you shouldn’t have a good PC and games at all. Get used with the fact you were a shitty student back then.”
Ah hah! So that’s why’re against filesharing despite your recognition that it isn’t even killing the industry. Because it threatens the rigid caste system that seperates the poor from the middleclass.
If somebody poor, who floundered in the public education system, can afford to buy a normal house and a nice PC thanks to the fact that they don’t have to spend money on music/movies/games etc. anymore, then it throws a wet blanket over your own achievments now, doesn’t it?
Suddenly, you look like a sap for toiling away at school so you could land a wellpaying job, because now a person doesn’t need a well paying job to afford what you can afford. And you look like a downright fool for spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars on entertainment, when it can now just be downloaded for free. You wake up one day and find your DVD collection isn’t that impressive anymore.
Well, your Majesty. What can I say? You can’t close Pandora’s box. I’m afraid you’ll simply have to come to terms with the reality that the margin between you and the lowly peasent-folk is getting smaller.
“I bet you all work in some post-office and/or car mechanics earning as little to even buy bread. Sorry, if you can’t buy a normal house you shouldn’t have a good PC and games at all. Get used with the fact you were a shitty student back then.”
Dude, where’s your brain?
LOL. I’ve seen some stupid comments here but that one takes the price hands down. WTF does buying a house have to do with having a good computer and games? HAHHAHA. Just cant stop laughing, that comment is so idiotic that even the movie and music industry’s stupid stunts seem wise in comparison :D
Dude, your a stupid loser. Does it make you mad that im unimployed and i have a decent computer, lots of games, movies and music, while living in a 2 room rental apartment? Hope it does :D
Its hitting the headlines….
“A Hertfordshire couple in their 60s were horrified to receive a letter last week from a London firm of lawyers accusing them of dowloading a hardcore gay porn movie. It demanded they pay £503 for “copyright infringement” or face a high court action. The 20-page “pre-settlement letter” from lawyers Davenport Lyons, acting on behalf of German pornogaphers, insisted they pay £503 to their clients for the 115 minute film Army Fuckers which features “Gestapo” officers and “Czech” farmers.” (The Guardian)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/nov/28/internet-porn-bill-mistake
@ 62 UK
“Its hitting the headlines….”
and those headlines (amongst others) - are getting published “all around the world”
@63 Edit. (for link)
@ 62 UK
“Its hitting the headlines….”
and those headlines (amongst others) - are getting published “all around the world”
http://www.slyck.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=44092&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=1425
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