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SoylentNews is people

posted by janrinok on Sunday March 16 2014, @03:52PM   Printer-friendly
from the we-want-our-data-back dept.

Anonymous Coward writes:

""MediaGoblin is a free software media publishing platform that anyone can install and run. Decentralization, (...) is the main goal of the project, one that is backed and connected to the GNU project.

So far, MediaGoblin has raised only $3,000 of its $60,000 goal, with the campaign set to end April 14th, (...) that is a date that is soon approaching. The first crowd-sourcing initiative was in October of 2012, so this is not the first crowd-funding initiative the project has launched. This second campaign was clearly spurred on by the PRISM revelations of recent past. Having not noticed any failures to meet 2012's funding campaign, it's very possible the team may reach their goal again, given the intensity of the subject matter."

 
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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Hairyfeet on Sunday March 16 2014, @08:01PM

    by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Sunday March 16 2014, @08:01PM (#17249) Journal

    Frankly the future is NOT downloading or decentralized sharing and I'm sure I'll get hate from the HTML V5/H.26x lovers (it sucks monkey balls and was built to protect Apple's iStore but that is another rant) but I have seen the future of media...its flash video sites hosted in Bumfuckistan. the fact that you are watching and not downloading blows their "6 strikes" bullshit away, the sites are hosted in countries that don't give a rat's ass about American copyrights, and they often have movies up before they have left the theater.

    More and more I'm seeing folks use these sites (along with redbox and Netflicks but the latter two seem to be going down in my area) and frankly I can understand why, its "push button, get bacon" levels of simple without the hassle of stopping at a redbox and without the limited selection of netflicks. the only risk is that they aren't picky about ads so you see plenty of malware laden adverts (and that frankly is easy enough to avoid, a combo of Comodo dragon with ABP and Comodo AV allowing the browser to run in virtual mode makes a system damned near malware proof) but people love simple and it honestly don't get simpler.

    What the media companies REALLY need to do if they want to survive is 1.- Quit being douchebags when it comes to DRM (which has never and will never work) and 2.- More importantly embrace the Steam model, make it simple, make it easy, and make it cheap. I'm sure I'll get hate from the "ZOMFG Steam has teh DRMs!" crowd but honestly? Folks DO NOT CARE because the advantages of ease of use, dirt cheap prices, and extra features like mods, autoupdating, and chat make it so damned simple and easy and the DRM doesn't fuck with you or get in the way so folks just don't care. what media needs is to make it THAT simple, where a person can just pay a buck for any 5+ year old movie and "own it" through their service which like Steam will run for a month+ without connecting, it should run on just about anything (or even better offer an option of say paying another buck to get a DRM free MP4 or ISO file so you can play it on older players) and should be as simple to use as "push button, watch movie".

    I think what all these big corps fail to grasp is...the world has really REALLY changed in the past generation, its never gonna be like the old days again. I talk to folks under 30 all the time, know how many watch appointment (tune in at 9/8 central) television? NONE, in fact the TV has become a really big monitor where they play games and after shopping with me having a PC hooked up. When it comes time to watch a movie they want it fast, easy, and most importantly NOW and if you don't give it to them at a reasonable price? Well some website in bumfuckistan will. I've said it a million times, piracy is the market telling you "ur doin it wrong" because while there will always be those that will pirate, be it because they are broke or because they are cheap, the vast majority will happily pay for simple and easy. But instead of being smart the studios will keep jacking prices, end up turning Netflicks into another HBO simply because they won't be able to make a dime with all the license fees, and when folks can't find the content they want at a price they are willing to pay? Well hello Bumfuckistan, nice to meet you.

    --
    ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by edIII on Sunday March 16 2014, @09:11PM

    by edIII (791) on Sunday March 16 2014, @09:11PM (#17279)

    I agree with most of your points except the DRM. Strongly opposed on principle alone.

    Steam, which is not something I will support because of DRM, still seems to control you over your purchases .

    Netflix DRM doesn't bother me since I have not made a purchase. My licensing rights to the media are not permanent, which they most certainly are if I shell out for a "purchase". The delivery medium is irrelevant and Big Content can suck a fat one if they think they can try to convince me that my payment was for anything less than absolute full ownership of my own viewing rights. When I pay something as high as $14.99 I will watch that movie till the end of my life, in whatever flavor I want (SD/HD), and in whatever language I want, on whatever device I want, at whatever time I want, whatever way I want. That's not entitlement, that's the inherent benefits of peaceful enjoyment of one's property.

    Netflix is the deal of the century because they have made the agreement with me that for $7.99 per month they can somehow let me view their own entire catalogue of online movies. That's a damn good deal. I don't mind buying a cheap $90 device that has their DRM in it and hooking it up my TV. It doesn't prevent me from doing anything else, and I have no interests at all in pirating what is on Netflix and storing it locally, or distributing it. It's $7.99. I saw fucking string cheese at the store for that price . I could pay more for beer.

    Steam OTOH does prevent me from peaceful enjoyment of my property. When I purchase a game, it also a permanent transaction. I will be able to play that game till the end of my life.

    Additionally, while the First Sale Doctrine is anathema to Big Content, it's also sacrosanct. Part of enjoying freedom is to be able to take anything you own and transfer it to another via donation or transaction. They can't take that away. There is no social contract, no EULA, NOTHING that makes that abhorrent removal of my freedom correct.

    Steam does not allow transferring of game ownership in accordance with the values of freedom and the First Sale doctrine. You are not purchasing games on Steam. You are renting them.

    I'm not interested in paying such exorbitant prices to rent the games. If Steam really wants that then they need to come up with a different pricing model. Something like Netflix where for $24.99 a month I get to play everything. They do that, and I will purchase another box with the full understanding that I don't really own anything and it's just a gateway.

    You're correct that people will just settle for cheap and simple, but that doesn't mean cheap and simple is better for them, ethically correct in the first place, and the better choice in the long run.

    Something else you are really missing about the big picture here...

    The tides are finally starting to turn

    We've all talked about it for years like Linux On The Desktop, but the average person really is starting to get more concerned about the levels of control being put on them. It took time for the average level of sophistication *and* the understanding of just what those levels of control implies on a social level and the nature of our future freedoms.

    It's happening. Ideas like this get started based on the premise of a demand for a supply. Whether this idea is not well thought out or viable in the long run is immaterial when compared against the simple recognition that the demand is appearing.

    So while Steam is very popular due to cheapness and simplicity, darknets and decentralized file sharing methods that obfuscate identities and frustrate tracking are on the rise.

    The NSA and the Five Eyes are single handedly the best thing to have ever happened for our freedoms. They're like a vaccination shot. It's making us a little less secure and free at the moment, but our immune response is fighting back with technology and will that they cannot defeat without destroying the very thing they purport to protect.

    It's a very exciting time right now and you will be seeing far more of these disruptive technologies in many different sectors... including currency.

    The rise of the Darknet has begun.

    --
    Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
    • (Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Sunday March 16 2014, @11:33PM

      by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Sunday March 16 2014, @11:33PM (#17318) Journal

      Do you have ANY idea how crazy your post sounds? because from the way you are talking all it would take is valve changing a single word, from sale to rental, and you would be fine with it, yes? Well I hate to break the news to ya friend but you haven't "bought" a video game since the days of cartridges, what you have bought is a LICENSE, that's it. Read the EULA on any boxed game and you will see there is NO difference between it and Steam, you have the same terms, actually worse terms because instead of simply having one company you end up with a bunch of different DRMs turning your system into a crashy mess, you end up with SecuROM and Starfuck and Tages and GFWL (although that will soon be dead, yay) and so on and so forth.

      And I wouldn't go near the so called "darknets" if I were you, not unless you have a couple of million to waste in court or don't mind spending the rest of your life dodging assrape in PMITA prison. When the whole buzz over Freenet started I talked to a friend in the state crime lab about it and he says in many jurisdictions in the USA there is the real chance you could spend the rest of your life in prison if you run that shit, same with Tor or any of the other distributed designs. the reason is the child porn distribution laws were written when distribution was physical copies and nobody ever changed the laws. imagine I hand you a box to take to someone but don't hand you the key, cops pull you over and break into the box and find CP, you will get distribution and treated as an accomplice to the crime...the same goes for running Tor or any other darknet style software that uses caching or distributed file systems. Cops look for CP, the trace goes back to your house, case closed, enjoy PMITA prison. So I really don't see your system getting any more popular than silk road or any other obviously risky and illegal endeavor on the Internet simply because the CP laws are very vague and very nasty.

      So if all you want to play is very old games? enjoy GOG. Want to risk getting full of malware and taking a trip to jail? Go Darknet. As for first sale? Honestly who gives a crap? I'm sorry but first sale matters on consoles, where you pay assrape prices months after a game has been released. when a game costs $10 on PC why would I give a rat's ass that I can't sell it? What, I'm gonna miss out on that 50c I could get on ebay? PC games drop in price too quickly to give a crap about first sale, no point when your "property" isn't even worth the price of a movie ticket a year from now. Know how many triple A titles I have in Steam? 107, know how much I paid? MAYBE $140 for the whole thing. Which means if I sold every.single.game. that I own I MAYBE, just maybe, get the price of the latest shooter...why xactly should I care again? Especially when the alternative is assrape by consoles?

      --
      ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
      • (Score: 4, Insightful) by edIII on Monday March 17 2014, @12:36AM

        by edIII (791) on Monday March 17 2014, @12:36AM (#17328)

        Ahhhh, so your answer, if I'm reading you right...

        A) I don't care about ownership or licensing of anything, what it was really intended for, etc. The ethics behind First Sale are meaningless to me. Fuck ethics.
        B) I won't go near Darknets, that offer true freedom guaranteed by our Constitution out of fear . I'm scared of losing something, so I will give away everything and hope they don't come and hurt me. Please don't hurt me.

        I would be proud to go to court and be at risk for life in prison because I participated in a network that delivered anonymous and private speech, something the founding fathers wholly supported.

        It's the best possible thing I could do for this country, and better than any solider will ever do, save fighting during an actual invasion. If there was an actual invasion, my own disability would be right out the window. I'd grab a sniper rifle and start picking soldiers off.

        You can be scared and let them abuse you. I'll stand up for you, since you lack the will to do it yourself.

        P.S - You're wrong about the craziness part. Yes, if they changed sale to rental it would make all the difference because I would have *not* been delivered a copy for my own purposes. The rental part is merely Steam allowing me to play it utilizing THEIR rights as agreed upon the copyright holder.

        Yes. It makes *ALL* the difference. It's a different kind of license, and one I don't have a problem paying for if it's noticeably cheaper than what it costs for actual ownership. Hence my support of Netflix.

        When you purchase a book or movie, the physical medium is irrelevant. What you purchased was a transferable right granted to you by the copyright holder during the transaction. That's what copyrights are. The copyright holder has limited temporary entitlements granted to them by the state, and one of them is to grant me usage rights in exchange for compensation.

        First Sale is about the sacrosanct legal interpretation, long held, that if I paid for the book I have the right to sell the book and transfer my license. The transferring of the physical medium, is once again, only relevant in that it tangibly removes my usage rights.

        --
        Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
        • (Score: 1) by Hairyfeet on Monday March 17 2014, @05:57AM

          by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Monday March 17 2014, @05:57AM (#17417) Journal

          Brave talk, lets see you back it up? Start running a Tor exit node, go ahead, put your ass where your mouth is. I bet like most here you have never even been arrested and have NO idea what court even costs....hint... a lawyer worth having will run you a mid 5 figures and you better not actually need a job or anything since the press will have you labeled "suspected child pornographer" before the mugshot has even entered the DB. Go right ahead, publish your exit node stats for us?

          And considering that Valve has doubled their revenues SEVEN YEARS IN A ROW I'd say YOU sir are in the minority, the majority really doesn't care. Do you scream that you don't have the "right" to first sale at GOG? Or do you just ignore the EULA like you do with the content you pirate? I do think it funny the pirates cheer the darknets....have yet to see any of them have the balls to actually participate...will you be the first? Kinda doubt it.

          --
          ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 17 2014, @10:58PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 17 2014, @10:58PM (#17825)

            have yet to see any of them have the balls to actually participate...

            Probably your attitude drives away any of those who might give you an invite. These things are out there, and the selection varies widely. I have an account at one but do not participate in it because I don't have time to play with ratios and such; I have better things to do these days. The thing is, though, it's very much on the down-low (not like Demonoid) and that is how they survive. You think the "scene" hackers release their work direct to TPB? You talk tough, but your street cred is a little slim here.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 17 2014, @02:46AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 17 2014, @02:46AM (#17354)

      We've all talked about it for years like Linux On The Desktop, but the average person really is starting to get more concerned about the levels of control being put on them. It took time for the average level of sophistication *and* the understanding of just what those levels of control implies on a social level and the nature of our future freedoms.

      The "average person" is very much for the surveillance because they buy into the government line. You live in a nerd bubble thinking otherwise.