Edge of December updates on Monday and Thursday. Check out the our full Update Schedule in the Forums and join the community.
- You may have noticed Reimi, a character from Star Ocean 4 in the background of the "stop the SOPA/PIPA bills" post. Even things like fan-art could trigger internet-wide blackouts while companies and individuals are required to preemptively scrub their websites (because anyone who owns a website can see the future and has unlimited time and money to spend on IP police-ing, of course) of even the oldest link to anything in an infinitely growing list of banned sites. Oh, and if you don't remove the link fast enough, then you too become banned. Can anyone in Congress say, "cascade failure"?
- more...
Court Recommends
Court
2012-01-17 21:32:11
As some of you may have read in the past, I have a very special kind of condition, media-obtainitis. You can actually read about it in this rant from two years ago. Anyway, since I seem to be still suffering from media-obtainitis, I figured I should let others benefit from my knowledge. Be warned though, read too much and you too shall develop media-obtainitis. On to the fun!
What I am listening to:
- The Pretty Reckless - Light Me Up: An alternative rock band with lead singer Taylor Momsen. All of the songs on the album are very catchy and I believe there isn't a bad one among them. I saw them perform when they opened for Evanescence at a concert last year and immediately went out to get the CD. Some songs to listen to are "Make Me Wanna Die," "My Medicine," and "Zombie."
- Ryanhood - The World Awaits: I actually just got this CD for Christmas as a gift and was pleasantly surprised. A couple of my favorites are "Nothing But The Real Thing" and "Okay."
- Panic! At The Disco - Vices & Virtues: Like most Panic! At The Disco CDs, I am not completely hooked the first time I listen to it, but on the second listen, I am loving it. This CD is more enjoyable with each listen. Check out the songs "Hurricane," "Nearly Witches," and "Ready to Go."
What I am reading:
- The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman: This is the third book in the trilogy His Dark Materials. It wraps the series up nicely and is still good on the second read through. I would suggest starting with The Golden Compass though, since this is a series that must be read in order.
- Shadows in Flight - Orson Scott Card: While I actually don't have this book yet, I am very excited to read it. I am just waiting to see when if it will be released on the Kindle or if I should purchase the hardcover. The book is a continuation in the Ender universe. It is 12th full-length book in the series, but it is the 5th book in Shadow arc. Again, this is a book that would be best read after its predecessors.
- Inheritance - Christopher Paolini: This is the fourth book in the Inheritance Cycle. (Can you sense a trend? I enjoy series.) Although the series was originally supposed to be a trilogy, it was necessary for the author to elongate it by one book to include everything. This rounds out the series nicely and is a good read.
What I am playing:
- Assassin's Creed Revelations - Xbox 360: The 4th installment in Assassin's Creed and the 3rd with Ezio as the main character. Although it is a bit odd playing with an old man as the main character, there are enough new features to this game that make it entertaining without diminishing the fun of assassinating someone from the top of a ten-story building.
- Mario Kart 7 - Nintendo 3DS: I am always a fan a Mario Kart and having a Mario Kart where I can now glide and drive underwater just makes it all the better. All of the new tracks are fun to drive on and the new Street Pass features bring in more entertainment.
- Playstation Vita: Of course this won't be released for another month, but I did just pre-order my device and I am very excited to try it out. If only I could speed up time. I will update once I have tried it out.
What I am watching:
- Once Upon a Time: This show is surprisingly entertaining, but what else can you expect from the writers of Lost. It brings all of the old Grimm fairy tales to life and intertwines them together to make a great show.
- Happy Endings: This show reminds me of Friends; a group of six friends getting into hilarious situations. I started this show about halfway through the second season, but I am now watching season one on DVD and laughing out loud with each episode.
- Leverage: A show a bit like Ocean's Eleven or Italian Job. The heists never seem to go the way you think and there is always a twist that you didn't see coming. I have reached the point in this series where I can't remember old marks, so I decided to watch it again from the beginning and it is still enjoyable.
That's all for now.
- Court
Censorship on the Net
Seth
2011-11-16 02:47:46
Normally, I avoid talking about politics like the plague. Sure, I have political thoughts, but I try not to burden people with those thoughts. I follow the principle of, "a closed mouth gathers no foot," since I tend not to follow any issue close enough to have a well defended position. I do make exceptions though, and tonight will be such a time because there's something that people need to know about.
The long and the short of it is that there is a bill going through congress, whose aim is to stamp out piracy of intellectual property, a goal that I tend to agree with. Probably not for the reasons that the RIAA and MPAA want me to have. I contend that we don't need them anymore. Artists both in music, film, and writing have all the tools at their disposal that they need to distribute their content without the help of the big corporations. They should be able to make their money directly, and keep the lion's share of it. Piracy would then be directly hurting the individuals, rather than the monolithic corporations. I know, this is a simplification of the issue, but I'm trying to keep this relatively brief...mostly so I can get some more writing in to Edge.
Anyway, the new bill, as laudable as its stated goal is, is very, very dangerous to the continued freedom of the internet. I would like to use a better word than "freedom" since I feel like its a little overdramatic, but in this case it actually seems to fit. In essence, it grants broad powers to intellectual property owners, internet providers and the government itself. In the case of IP owners, they will be able to, with a letter, effectively shut down and lock out a site from making money if they feel that ANY portion of the site is infringing on their IP. The wording of the law is vague enough that the IP owners, most of the times large corporations, or groups like the RIAA and MPAA, get to decide what's infringement and what isn't. The sites themselves have a vague way to defend against this, but from what I was reading, it doesn't sound at all like an equitable system. The really scary part is that at no point is a court involved in the process at all. It is left entirely to the discretion of the credit card companies who would process payments to the site, or the ISPs.
As an example, one of the recent after chapter shorts featured Baron reprogramming some toys that look remarkably like a well loved video game character. We did this as kind of an a tribute, but Person X at Company Y may not get or appreciate that. This law would enable them to send a letter to Paypal, requesting that they stop processing payments for our site. I'm not entirely sure what that would mean for EoD, you'd have to ask the mighty Courtney, but I know of several places where it would spell the end of the site. Now, bigger sites, they could probably fight back, mount some sort of defense, but what about the little guys?
This bill contains more than just what I've talked about. The ISPs get a piece and so does the Federal Government and every piece of this looks to be bad for the consumer, you and me. Band width throttling and banning foreign sites are both on the table. This bill has the potential to change the internet for the worse. I, for one, think we all have the right to be here, Penny Arcade and lolcats alike. This is just what I think, if you don't want to take my word for it (and I suggest you don't) following are a couple links. Check them out and if you're as unnerved by this legislation as I am, there will be a forth link to the Electronic Frontier Foundation that will let you easily write your Senators and Representatives. I've just got a little voice here, but I'm hoping enough people will see this over the next week or two that my one voice adds onto a few more, and those add to a few more and we can make the lawmakers see that the internet is ours, not theirs. Quite literally. We built this house and we should be the ones who get to say what happens here.
http://boingboing.net/2011/11/11/stop-sopa-save-the-internet.html
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/10/sopa-hollywood-finally-gets-chance-break-Internet
https://wfc2.wiredforchange.com/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8173
Script
Montecur: "Seijuro Inols. These are Mr. Borgia's interests, not those of the Orphos. So long as the Edge is recovered."
July: "You lack the authority to command me."