Engadget is a whiny baby

 Engadget recently distilled a NY Times article into a blog post, Microsoft and NBC working on copyright filters for Zune?  They go through the routine of how it's bullshit that companies are trying to protect their property, as if we have an inherent right to do whatever we want with whatever we want.  I'm mostly sympathetic to such views.  I believe in freedom, and that means I believe that people/companies have the freedom to protect their shit.  It's no more "wrong" for Microsoft to want their products to protect the rights of their clients than it is for me to want to be able to watch a movie, which I copied from you (illegally), on my media player.  Companies (and a lot of people) exist so they can make money.  Giving their products away for free or sitting idly by while people just take whatever they want doesn't make any sense.  There's not a lot of proof that illegal sharing (LOL...illegal sharing...thou shalt not share) is pilfering from the coffers of the corporations and it's impossible to totally lock down your stuff but that doesn't mean that companies are evil or foolish for wanting to try to lock down their property.  It's like not bothering to put locks on your doors because there are ninjas who can pick them.  Whatever.  I lock my doors.

And then Engadget goes on to bitch about Micro$oft and AT$T working on filtering copyrighted material at the ISP level.  I just don't get why people think that companies are evil for trying to prevent them from doing shit that's illegal.  Again, I'm not against file sharing.  I'm just against the belief that for-profit entities are wrong for attempting to maximize profit.  If you have a network that you built and paid for then you'd want to do what you want with it.  Is it so wrong for there to be forces patrolling the internet in the same way there are forces patrolling our highways trying to bust people for breaking the law?  Only the staunchest anarchist would argue that there is no good reason for the existence of police.  You don't have to be for such groups.  Do what you want to do and accept the fact that your behavior brings you enemies.  Repercussions make life fun, right?

Verizon courts privacy advocates

I'm a customer of AT&T and while I can't really complain about my personal experience with them, I can't really say much that's positive, either. AT&T has participated in some customer surveillance shenanigans, though, and they seem to be willing to be compliant with government efforts to snoop on people.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed legal briefs and evidence against AT&T, claiming they are diverting Internet traffic to the NSA for widespread secret surveillance and possibly breaking federal wiretapping laws and the Fourth Amendment. [SecurityFocus]

It's not just AT&T, though. It seems that most companies involved with data flow are looking at ways to snoop on their customer's activities. Well, Thomas J. Tauke, executive vice president for public affairs at Verizon, is breathing some refreshing ideas into the discussion:

“We generally are reluctant to get into the business of examining content that flows across our networks and taking some action as a result of that content,” he said.

Amen, brother!

Preach on!

“We don’t want to solve any network congestion issues by restricting the flow of certain kinds of traffic,” he said.

Read the complete article from the New York Times: Verizon Rejects Hollywood’s Call to Aid Piracy Fight. [by way of Gizmodo]

My Economic Illiteracy Makes Me Shudder

Look at this graph please:

[New York Times]

Ever since I watched Zeitgeist I've been giving more thought to economics, especially on the international level. I know next to nothing about international finance, macroeconomics, currency markets, etc. and these subjects are beginning to be critically important to my life. Decisions rich fuckers are making in Davos are beginning to mess with important aspects of my life, such as how much it costs me to provide the sort of material comfort I'm accustomed to. Those guys are fucking with my LIFE! If my bread starts costing me more because massive corporations are purchasing all the grains to convert into biofuels in order to power the factories converting grains into biofuels in order to stay competitive in the international grain market and your low emission vehicle eats the corn I was going to have for dinner or give to my cow...

Doesn't anyone ask themself, where did all the money come from that was funding all that subprime lending? How come seemingly out of nowhere were banks willing to loan almost any idiot a whole bunch of money? Any thoughtful person would tell you that there are a lot of people out there who really ought not to be loaned $100,000. It's ludicrous. It's like these loans were backed by people who gave way too much credit (PUN INTENDED) to the American public because they don't know the American people, they're not from here, i.e. the Chinese Central Bank.

Anyhoo...back to my original point, that set of graph charts. Notice how the stocks fluctuated but are basically back at zero? They're worth the same amount they were but in comparison to everything else, they're worth less. In other words, it's like there's a group of guys who own all the corn and they're accustomed to trading it for stakes in American corporations. In recent years they're offering less corn for shares of our companies. They'd rather keep their corn or trade it with someone who offers a better deal. That's just basic business right there. Any fool can see that...unless they're being fooled by their government which keeps them in the dark about the real worth of their money by keeping the consumer in an enclosed bubble maintained by bizarre monetary policy and a largely compliant media industry. The things the US accuses China of doing, the US does, too. That's how America operates. Keep pointing the finger and maybe nobody will think to look at themselves.