Weekend tech reading: TWC says 'no' to massive piracy case

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Time Warner Cable tries to put brakes on massive piracy case Yesterday, Time Warner Cable told a federal court overseeing a massive 2,094-person lawsuit targeting the poor folks who downloaded (and, what's worse, apparently watched) Uwe Boll's Far Cry that the US Copyright Group's subpoenas were out of control. Ars Technica

Laser celebrates its 50th anniversary The laser is 50 years young May 16, when Theodore Maiman built the first working laser at Hughes Research Labs. While initially leveraged towards military applications such as targeting, the laser eventually found its way to a wide variety of civilian uses, from communications and rock-concert visuals to CD players and tattoo removal. eWeek

Optical transistor is a step toward the quantum Internet Physicists at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, led by Gerhard Rempe, have created a system based on a single atom that they’re calling a "quantum optical transistor." The transistor could someday serve as part of a quantum computer or as a node of a quantum data network. IEEE Spectrum

Personal cellphone data end up for sale at Mexico flea market When the government launched a nationwide campaign to register cellphones, millions of Mexicans refused. And thousands of others registered with a familiar name: Felipe Calderon, the country's president. LA Times

Shakeup at Wikipedia in Wake of Porn Purge A shakeup is underway at the top levels of Wikipedia, FoxNews.com has learned, as administrators try to deal with the growing controversy surrounding pornographic images that appear on the online encyclopedia and its associated websites. Fox News

Tokyo couple married by robot in rooftop wedding Japan has hosted the world's first wedding to be conducted by a robot. The automated creature, known as the I-Fairy, oversaw the wedding of Tomohiro Shibata and Satoko Inoue in the capital, Tokyo. BBC

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https://www.techspot.com/news/38974-weekend-tech-reading-twc-says-no-to-massive-piracy-case.html

 

[Route44]

But we're talking Uwe Boll here. Certainly there is an insanity clause... No? Yes?

 

[tonylukac]

@Route44: You should be censored. Did you know that the people who invented the transistor were labeled insane. Where would you be today if they were locked up?

 

[Route44]

@Route44: You should be censored. Did you know that the people who invented the transistor were labeled insane. Where would you be today if they were locked up?

Uh, the comment was directed at Uwe Boll and people wanting to download his content...

Look up Uwe Boll.

 

[Tekkaraiden]

We'd still have computers the size of rooms and vacuum tubes televisions.

 

[Wendig0]

tonylukac said:
@Route44: You should be censored. Did you know that the people who invented the transistor were labeled insane. Where would you be today if they were locked up?

I have to side with Route44 here. Uwe Boll is not only insane, but he's a certifiable *****. Why anyone would bother paying for one of his movies, much less downloading one, is beyond me. I could say the same about Michael Moore.

 

[isamuelson]

That are the people who actually watched that movie should be locked up just for watching it. Uwe Boll movies need to be outlawed just because of the suckatility factor! How is it this man can keep making these movies? Worse yet, how does he keep finding people stupid enough to do them?

 

[isamuelson]

That are the people who actually watched that movie should be locked up just for watching it. Uwe Boll movies need to be outlawed just because of the suckatility factor! How is it this man can keep making these movies? Worse yet, how does he keep finding people stupid enough to do them?

 

[Vrmithrax]

Honestly, I think this group should be looking for people OTHER than ones that have watched a Uwe Boll movie... I mean, seriously, how much more can those poor folks be punished? Go after people who have actually pirated a title that doesn't destroy brain cells upon viewing. And, I believe there are residual effects from viewing a Uwe Boll movie, but I can't put my finger on any scientific facts behind this - I just know that, based on my own personal experiences, there were long periods of blackouts in between psychotic fits of rage at how completely and utterly one human being could destroy storylines with potential.

These poor saps have paid enough. Go after people who downloaded the Hurt Locker or Precious.

 

[Vrmithrax]

Tekkaraiden said:
We'd still have computers the size of rooms and vacuum tubes televisions.

Man, could you imagine the new nVidia graphics card for one of those? It would be like a nuclear reactor!

 

[Route44]

Man, could you imagine the new nVidia graphics card for one of those? It would be like a nuclear reactor!

LOL!

 

[ET3D]

Can it be proved that any of the people involved actually watched the movie? (If so, how would that be done?) I'm sure quite a few people thought they're downloading the game, or just thought they'd try to see what that movie was about and never watched it to any extent once they realised what they got.

 

[Vrmithrax]

Ya know... I think maybe there should be a countersuit against Uwe Boll from those who actually watched his movies... Mind rape maybe, or involuntary brainslaughter...

 

[Matthew DeCarlo]

ET3D, although that should possibly be taken into account, I don't think the movie industry really cares whether people watch the movies. In court, I imagine they would liken it to someone stealing a physical DVD from Walmart and never getting around to opening the cellophane. Granted, in that instance, there's *is* a tangible loss in materials, manufacturing, transportation etc. but none of that matters in their eyes.

"Theft is theft" some folks will claim, but digital piracy does NOT impose the same loss as physical theft and that should definitely be measured. Unfortunately, it's nearly impossible to obtain solid figures on the damage of piracy. Results would vary from firm to firm, not only because of true variables but also in motive. I imagine if some serious research were undertaken, the industry would be involved in the funding and overall agenda.

 

[Burty117]

Wheres TomSEA?? I wonder if he thinks its ok to download Uwe Boll films? Since he's completely against this kind of thing, but would he really want anyone buying his films?

 

[Tomorrow_Rains]

And the most you would get out of that Nuclear reactor are five frames a second. And a Black screen of Death..Blue screens will be too many frames.

 

[CMH]

In all seriousness about using vacuum tubes instead of transistors... nobody will ever know what would've happened if transistors were never invented. Maybe vacuum tube technology would've advanced, and miniturised....

Although, I'm sure a digital watch using vacuum tubes would be pretty interesting to use. Not to mention it'd probably be as large as an arm.