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tkdguy

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Not really major news, but Amazon's paying out on the antitrust settlement. I scored 23 bucks and some change. Woot! They automagically applied it as a gift card to your account, so if you see an odd gift card on there you don't remember redeeming, that's probably it.

 

Linkage: Information for 2016 Apple eBooks Antitrust Settlement

No credit for me, but I only recently started buying eBooks from Amazon as opposed to other providers. Now if OneBookShelf were issuing settlement credits I'd be in clover, but I don't think anyone has even sued them despite their very powerful position in the online RPG Book busubess,

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No credit for me, but I only recently started buying eBooks from Amazon as opposed to other providers. Now if OneBookShelf were issuing settlement credits I'd be in clover, but I don't think anyone has even sued them despite their very powerful position in the online RPG Book busubess,

 

I hadn't heard of OneBookShelf, so I looked them up. They're the guys who run RPGNow, etc? I've had no problems with them, and I've gotten a lot of great deals. Why would anyone sue them? Are they up to shenanigans or is there just lack of interest from other companies in entering the space? The latter seems much more likely considering what a niche market RPGs are.

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If you own a gun, you're going on the FBI list says Hawaii

 

I'll be honest with you, gun registration, by itself, strikes me as easy to abuse, but not in itself a bad idea. We register to vote, so it's not like use of a right can't be on record

 

But the FBI list? Really? That just sends an entirely different vibe to me. Congrats, you're now on a list with crimelords, predators, and suspected terrorists because.... guns are scary?

 

Eh.

 

Then there is this...

 

 

 

Ige's office said he also signed into law two other firearms bills. One makes convictions for stalking and sexual assault among the criminal offenses disqualifying a person from gun ownership. The other requires firearm owners to surrender their weapons if diagnosed with a mental, behavioral or emotional disorder.

 

Regarding that last part: Won't that discourage gun owners from getting help? 

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If you own a gun, you're going on the FBI list says Hawaii

 

I'll be honest with you, gun registration, by itself, strikes me as easy to abuse, but not in itself a bad idea. We register to vote, so it's not like use of a right can't be on record

 

But the FBI list? Really? That just sends an entirely different vibe to me. Congrats, you're now on a list with crimelords, predators, and suspected terrorists because.... guns are scary?

 

 

 

Hawaii has become the first U.S. state to place firearm owners on the FBI's Rap Back, which until now was used to monitor criminal activities by individuals under investigation or people in positions of trust such as school teachers and daycare workers.

 

So crimelords, pridators, suspected terrorist, school teachers and daycare workers, eh?  Yep, Ms Greenburg always did strike me as suspicious.  You just can't trust anyone who knows that much about math.

 

I get the impression that the list is less of a watch list and more of an information sharing list.  Something to make sure that, if a daycare worker is convicted of a sex crime or a gun owner is convicted of a felony outside of their home state, the information gets back to the relevant people inside their home state. Since not allowing convicted felons to own guns isn't overly controversial one would think that sharing information about their felony convictions wouldn't be all that controversial either.  Of course this being the US, everything about guns has to be controversial, so that thought would be wrong.

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 Something to make sure that, if a daycare worker is convicted of a sex crime or a gun owner is convicted of a felony outside of their home state,

 

The wording is "arrested" not "convicted" in the article. After reading the FBI's FAQ on the program, which says "criminal activity" I'm not sure which they actually mean.

 

On the surface, it does seem like the aim is to be able to enforce the restricted categories for gun ownership, since background checks at time of purchase are just a snapshot of one's status. The EFF has a lot of reservations about the system, so maybe those should be considered. (Link, Link Part 2)

 

Usually, the objection to such a system would be that it serves as a de facto registration, but Hawaii already has registration requirements, so that angle should be a moot point.

 

The NRA seems to be framing it as a due process issue, stating that people have no way to get off of the list. But if the list doesn't do anything except let the state know when you get arrested in other states, it sounds like a moot point.

 

The only issue I can see is if Hawaii acts on information of an arrest, rather than a conviction, since simply being arrested doesn't get your rights suspended.  If you do get indicted (prohibited status), then that's another matter. But you won't have access to your guns, because you aren't going to be allowed to leave the state you were indicted in until the matter's resolved.

 

I think this is ultimately a feel good measure with little positive or negative impact. I doubt it'll be seriously challenged unless someone abuses it.

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No credit for me, but I only recently started buying eBooks from Amazon as opposed to other providers. Now if OneBookShelf were issuing settlement credits I'd be in clover, but I don't think anyone has even sued them despite their very powerful position in the online RPG Book busubess,

 

 

I hadn't heard of OneBookShelf, so I looked them up. They're the guys who run RPGNow, etc? I've had no problems with them, and I've gotten a lot of great deals. Why would anyone sue them? Are they up to shenanigans or is there just lack of interest from other companies in entering the space? The latter seems much more likely considering what a niche market RPGs are.

Just how much of a monopoly position OBS gas is open to conjecture. Many companies do sell their own and affiliated eBooks from their own sites (such as Hero Games). Steve Jackson Games and Paizo don't sell through OBS or Lulu at all, keeping the retail rights exclusive to themselves.

 

Certainly for the smaller presses, though, OBS is the way to go. The question of course is whether OBS gets enough income from selling small and "hobby press" eBooks and Print-on-Demand titles to continue to justify them being subsidized by the more popular publishers.

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