Great look at piracy

[Walsingham]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0109..._Sea_Gangsters/

 

BBC radio, may not work for non-UK listeners. But try and persevere.

[Oblarg]

Here's a great look at piracy, too:

 

http://draginol.joeuser.com/article/303512/Piracy_PC_Gaming

[Walsingham]

Well, that's one of the sanest looks at gaming piracy I've ever read. But it's not quite as exciting as hearing about how a few thousand shoeless bastards* are costing the global economy - and the environment - billions.

 

*Backed by large syndicate investors, with a specialised stock market in support of them.

[greylord]

Here's a great look at piracy, too:

 

http://draginol.joeuser.com/article/303512/Piracy_PC_Gaming

 

Both were interesting articles, but this is the best dang article on PC piracy I've read in a while. I'm more of the "DRM killed PC gaming" but this article has some really valid points I think that are quite believable and plausible.

 

Of the 5 computers in the household, only ONE is of gaming grade...the others don't cut it for the high end PC games that are released. They are mostly used for internet, work, and school for the kids.

 

The Gaming Rig isn't even hooked up to the Internet, which makes all that authentication a pain (and any of those Ubisoft games that somehow require an always on connection in order to play...not even a reason for someone like me to buy).

 

A majority of my gaming is now on PS3...but as someone who at least occasionally buys the high end PC games, I can see the points made by the article pretty valid even relating to me.

 

I also admit, I've bought 3 copies of SotSE, and have them installed on the work/internet machines, so in that light I suppose that logic worked for my family.

Edited April 22, 2011 by greylord

[Nepenthe]

The Gaming Rig isn't even hooked up to the Internet

I'm sure there is a perfectly sane reason for this, I can't just think of one.

[Humodour]

The Dutch and Japanese governments have both funded studies into illegal music downloading which both came back reporting it was of net benefit to the industry.

[greylord]

The Gaming Rig isn't even hooked up to the Internet

I'm sure there is a perfectly sane reason for this, I can't just think of one.

 

When I was younger I knew of.....others....who created virus's and hacked and the Virus protection and other programs are about useless. All they do is give a false sense of security. With a good fishing program it takes all of about 30 seconds to locate an unprotected computer and hack it (it takes longer for a new, clean system to get updates)...with firewalls and protections up it takes longer and DOES dissuade a direct and personalized attack and they'll probably avoid you as there are easier targets.

 

Of course, if you go looking around the internet on the wrong type of sites you'll constantly hit and attract attacks, both caught by the protections, and occasionally not (they can only protect you against the stuff that they already know about, those they don't mean that you'll be hit anyways, they have to detect it first). I have some kids that will browse internet on any computer they can find if it's hooked up to it. They've destroyed several computers that way in the past year (and many more prior to that), with me required to do a reinstall of a computer at least about once a month with something they've d/l'd with destroys the OS.

 

I've gotten an earful from people saying I have no control over kids from internet boards...but I imagine most of them are the same age as my kids normally, or have no idea what they are talking about. In real life I actually get compliments on how well and nice my kids are, believe it or not. When you have kids and teenagers the computer is probably the least of my worries...ensuring that they at least stay out of trouble and do their studies are more on my list of things to try to ensure.

 

So...to guarantee that I don 't have problems with MY rig, it's in MY room, and not connected to the internet. I know...long explanation for a short question...have pity on the old folks.

 

On the plus side, it's great to enjoy the same games as talk about them with my kids, as well as watching and having similar interests. Kids just seem particularly hard on computers. As long as they do well in school, don't get into trouble, and are respectful in real life, help others, and are good citizens, I can live with them wrecking a few computers occasionally. It just means that the computers they use are all cheap computers.

Edited April 23, 2011 by greylord

[Oblarg]

The Dutch and Japanese governments have both funded studies into illegal music downloading which both came back reporting it was of net benefit to the industry.

 

Anyone who is an avid music listener can easily confirm this - it's a HUGE source of exposure for bands that would otherwise be unknown.

[Nepenthe]

Not sure if I quite got that, Greylord, certainly still can't see why a gaming rig wouldn't/shouldn't be connected to the net.

 

I mean, I'm planning on getting a decent gaming PC this year, I'll definitely hook it up to the router, but I'll still continue to do my surfing etc. on this rig, which runs Apple OS X.

[Rosbjerg]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0109..._Sea_Gangsters/

 

BBC radio, may not work for non-UK listeners. But try and persevere.

 

I love how dramatic British radio often is. but yes, it's very strange that these sea-gangsters are so effective - it really shows how ineffictive classic military is against these kinds of attacks (like the guerillas in South America and the Naxalite in India).

[Rostere]

Oh, come on. How hard would it be to move all the world's naval military training to target practice outside the coast of Somalia?

[Rosbjerg]

Oh, come on. How hard would it be to move all the world's naval military training to target practice outside the coast of Somalia?

 

The situation is a little more complex than just murdering Somalis.. It would be preferable if we could destroy the reason for them turning to piracy.

[Pidesco]

Many Somalis turned to piracy because overfishing by foreign boats in Somali waters destroyed their already difficult livelihood.

[Orogun01]

Many Somalis turned to piracy because overfishing by foreign boats in Somali waters destroyed their already difficult livelihood.

So this just another case of the rest of the world raping Africa? Although the consequences of this one finally go to the right people.

[Oblarg]

Well, people will finally recognize overfishing as a legitimate concern once several Important Species are extinct in a few decades (the bluefin tuna, for example).

[Nepenthe]

Many Somalis turned to piracy because overfishing by foreign boats in Somali waters destroyed their already difficult livelihood.

Well, there's also the fact that they've been killing each other for decades and until recently there was nothing even resembling an organised government in any area of the country. Warlords and robber barons have been the only authority there, and apparently western shipping is better pickings than the locals.

[Gfted1]

Thats just crazy talk Nep. What you have to understand is that whenever anyone anywhere anytime commits crime, its because someone else forced them to.

[Nepenthe]

Thats just crazy talk Nep. What you have to understand is that whenever anyone anywhere anytime commits crime, its because someone else forced them to.

I know, I've worked for the Government Violence & Subjugation Machine.

[Enoch]

I haven't listened to Wals' audio, but here's a fun and instructive map. Note that the 2010 panel is only through June of that year:

 

Figure 11: Successful and Attempted Pirate Attacks off the Coast of Somalia, January 2007 to June 2010 by U.S. GAO, on Flickr

[Walsingham]

Ros, with respect for your usual intelligence, your analysis is pure balls. Parallels between pirate attacks and naxalites? The failure to interdict in blue water has everything to do with weak RoE and huge expanses of ocean, not the pirates dressing up as tuna to blend in or the security forces being tactically inferior.

 

Nor can I accept any notion of the 'causes' being addressed by a political developmental process as I guess you advocate. The program explicitly deals with this and I am a little alarmed that you missed the point. Attacks may have been precipitated by disorganised locals in response to abuse by merchant ships. But the phenomenon has changed entirely as the ransoms and scale of piracy have exploded. The 'cause' at present is cash payouts of hundreds of millions of dollars. It's not a question of giving them fresh water and schools any more, if it ever was.

 

I can't accept the notion of a maritime cordon either. With each piratical operation netting millions there is really no reason at all why a gang should not travel overland to a nighbouring state, embark in a ship there, and commence to return only once aboard a hijacked vessel.

 

The solution must be multi-layered and incorporate elements of each solution suggested so far. The phenomenon at sea sust be attacked vigorously and with the full weight of established law, not with one eye on the newspapers, and invokiing the full weight of the harm done to the global economy and the environment by these attacks. This must be coupled with attempts to identify and punish the sophistictaed international groups who are obviously laundering the money. And at the same time physical attacks on the pirate bases must kill sufficient numbers and key individual pirates to send an organisational and psychological shock through them.