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stories filed under: "satire"
(Mis)Uses of Technology

(Mis)Uses of Technology

by Mike Masnick


Filed Under:
fake, satire, shashi tharoor, twitter

Companies:
twitter



Twitter Banning Satirical 'Fake' Versions Of Politicians?

from the that-would-be-unfortunate dept

It's certainly become popular on blogs and on Twitter to create "fake" satirical versions of various famous people. These are usually humorous (or they try to be) over-the-top representations of these celebrities. Usually, they are quite obvious, even to the point of saying that they are "the fake so-and-so" or clearly stating in the bio that this is fake. There should be no confusion around such things. However, a journalist in India who created a "fake" satirical Twitter profile for Indian politician Shashi Tharoor has found herself banned from Twitter without any explanation or chance to appeal. Now, obviously it is Twitter's right to decide whether or not to shut down certain accounts, but you would think with such an obviously fake profile that the company might be a bit more careful and, at the very least, communicate with the account holder about the issues with the account before just shutting it down.

28 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
Culture

Culture

by Mike Masnick


Filed Under:
canada, comedy, copyright, mainstream, satire



When Even Comedy Shows Are Mocking Attempts At Stronger Copyright Law...

from the ...you-know-you've-got-an-uphill-battle dept

Via Michael Geist comes a link to this segment on the Canadian sketch comedy/political satire show This Hour has 22 Minutes, where it totally mocks the claims that file sharing is killing the music business by highlighting the previous "copying technologies" (home taping, VCR, photocopier) that the industry insisted was killing content providers:

While I actually think the bit could be funnier, it's pretty striking to see that sort of thing on a mainstream television program. More and more people are realizing that copyright industry claims have little support in reality, and that concept is starting to go mainstream.

19 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
Legal Issues

Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick


Filed Under:
defamation, douchebags, parody, satire



Judge Decides That Calling Someone A Douchebag Is Okay... So Long As It's Funny

from the laugh,-people dept

Last year, a series of lawsuits were filed over the publishing of a book based on the hit website Hot Chicks with Douchebags. Some of the "hot chicks" and at least one of the "douchebags" claimed it was libelous. However, in a rather entertaining ruling, a judge has dismissed the case filed by three of the women, noting that after he "carefully scrutinized" the book, he determined that the use of the term "douchebag" along with the various photographs was "used for humorous social commentary" -- making it perfectly legal. So, kids, remember when calling someone names, make sure to do so in a way that is funny and used for social commentary. Otherwise you might not only look like a douchebag, but you might end up in court.

15 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
Too Much Free Time

Too Much Free Time

by Mike Masnick


Filed Under:
piracy, prisons, satire



How To Make Money From Piracy: Building Prisons

from the laugh.-it's-funny. dept

We've often discussed various ways that businesses can learn to embrace piracy for the purpose of making money, but here's a new (if farcical) idea. Hypebot points us to the Pirates Prison Project -- a tongue in cheek suggestion for a way to use piracy to build up one area of the economy: prisons. The idea is that if we just start putting all those file sharers in prison, we're going to need a lot more prisons -- and isn't that just a business opportunity?

14 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
Too Much Free Time

Too Much Free Time

by Mike Masnick


Filed Under:
copyright, guitar, music, online, satire, videos



Humorless Guitarists Take Down Amusing YouTube Mashup Video

from the not-the-intended-use dept

About a month ago, there was an amusing viral video getting passed around that showed various famous heavy metal guitarists, where the filmmaker dubbed over the films really, really bad guitar playing. It was incredibly well done, as the bad guitar playing was perfectly timed to the actions of the guitarists. It was clearly amusing satire -- yet at least one of the guitarists in question was a bit too sensitive about it. The video has been forced offline, and the creator has had his account cut off. The video was pretty clearly a satire on the way these guitar players play -- and it's difficult to see how the video would hurt the artists in any way. Yes, some might claim that people would think they really played that bad, but the videos seemed to be pretty clearly labeled as dubbed. Of course, like so many other efforts to make some kind of content disappear, it wouldn't be surprising to find this video showing up on other sites (and potentially getting even more attention).

26 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
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Tuesday

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11:39am: Publishers Getting The Wrong Message Over eBook Piracy (39)
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5:00am: Once Again, If The Gov't Has Data, It Will Be Abused (42)
2:53am: As Expected, Social Networking Generation Running For Office Face Their Permanent Record Online (31)
12:55am: IMAX Sues Cinemark For Building Competing System... While Being An IMAX Customer (14)

Monday

10:26pm: Filmmaker Allowed To Use The Name Rin Tin Tin To Describe Rin Tin Tin (6)
8:25pm: Senators Begin Questioning ACTA Secrecy (32)
6:34pm: Brazil E-Voting Machines Not Hacked... But Van Eck Phreaking Allowed Hacker To Record Votes (15)
5:08pm: FCC Doesn't Think The Lack Of Competition Is A Major Barrier To Broadband? (36)
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2:38pm: USPTO Convinced By Amazon That Online Gift Giving Patent Is Legit (19)
1:31pm: Tiburon Approves Recording Every Car That Enters/Leaves... Despite More Evidence Of Traffic Camera Abuse In UK (90)
12:18pm: Label Exec Arrested For Not Using Twitter To Disperse Crowd At Mall To See Singer (53)
11:01am: Spanish Court Dismisses Complaint From Nintendo Against Counterfiet DS Cartridges, Since They Add Functionality (12)
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2:10am: School Can't Handle Critical Community Message Board; Sends Legal Nastygram (21)

Friday

7:39pm: Liberian Laws Are A Secret Due To Copyright; Even The Gov't Doesn't Have Them (43)
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6:10pm: EFF Looks To Bust Bogus Podcasting Patent; Needs Prior Art (34)
5:28pm: Google Blocking Set Top Boxes From Showing YouTube Unless They Pay Up? (65)
4:44pm: Entertainment Industry: Yes, Please Keep Negotiating Secret Copyright Treaty To Save Our Asses (43)
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