http://www.techdirt.com/ Easily digestible tech news.... http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/18103323179/filmmaker-behind-pirate-bay-documentary-says-bogus-dmca-takedowns-take-away-his-free-speech.shtml#c1021 Fri, 24 May 2013 01:00:41 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/18103323179/filmmaker-behind-pirate-bay-documentary-says-bogus-dmca-takedowns-take-away-his-free-speech.shtml#c1021 Coincidence? All four at once? Anomaly?

No, actually it reads more like someone playing some sort of trick to get it to happen, in order to get the Mike's beloved effect into play. The video pretty much disappeared off everyone's radar within a few days of it's release. The choirboys say it and said amen, the rest of us who cared looked at it and sort of giggled at how one sided it was.

This stinks of shameless self-promotion and a nasty attempt at "going viral".]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130424/00010122821/adam-savage-why-copyright-trademark-holders-need-to-get-over-their-obsession-with-control.shtml#c293 Fri, 24 May 2013 01:00:11 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130424/00010122821/adam-savage-why-copyright-trademark-holders-need-to-get-over-their-obsession-with-control.shtml#c293
Yuk, pre-coffee comment... let's try again:

"half the issues discussed here wouldn't exist"]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130425/17042522839/how-gema-is-still-worst-collective-rights-organization-world.shtml#c969 Fri, 24 May 2013 00:57:45 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130425/17042522839/how-gema-is-still-worst-collective-rights-organization-world.shtml#c969
You're and idiot.

yaaaiiiiiii.

I wish I could have your ignorance, must be bliss!]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/10290323174/vod-service-acetrax-shuts-down-germany-customers-movies-are-lost-due-to-drm.shtml#c499 Fri, 24 May 2013 00:54:57 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/10290323174/vod-service-acetrax-shuts-down-germany-customers-movies-are-lost-due-to-drm.shtml#c499
It's funny how you're so obsessed with commenting on this site, yet you've somehow missed that this is exactly the claim that most articles here completely disprove. Why, it's almost as if you're dishonest and never bother to read anything!

Either way, simple reality proves you wrong. Apart from all the physical example of why that's a lie (bottled water sells very well despite every home having it literally on tap), there's a wealth of history that shows you're a liar. iTunes and Amazon are very successful at selling music despite the existence of both piracy and free radio. Books sell despite libraries, eBooks sell despite piracy. We've already had one of the top 10 internationally grossing movies of all time this year alone despite free alternatives. Linux hasn't shut down paid OSes, OpenOffice hasn't shut down MS Office, people still pay for phones and texts despite the existence of Skype and WhatsApp.

Reality proves you are a liar.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/18103323179/filmmaker-behind-pirate-bay-documentary-says-bogus-dmca-takedowns-take-away-his-free-speech.shtml#c1009 Fri, 24 May 2013 00:44:54 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/18103323179/filmmaker-behind-pirate-bay-documentary-says-bogus-dmca-takedowns-take-away-his-free-speech.shtml#c1009 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130424/00010122821/adam-savage-why-copyright-trademark-holders-need-to-get-over-their-obsession-with-control.shtml#c268 Fri, 24 May 2013 00:40:27 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130424/00010122821/adam-savage-why-copyright-trademark-holders-need-to-get-over-their-obsession-with-control.shtml#c268
No, because it all happened before Disney pushed the twisted version of copyright you so slavishly follow and worship. In Disney's time, he was able to take freely from works by dead authors. Those authors, in turn, took from centuries of traditional stories by dead authors. Nobody complained because there was literally no problem, morally or legally, in doing so. It's only now that current generations are blocked from taking from Disney's stories now that he's dead. People are complaining because they're blocked from doing perfectly acceptable things using freedoms their predecessors enjoyed without question.

"Of course Disney is bad example for later years, but was absolutely true up to 28 years from creation date."

So why do you support the extension well beyond that 28 years that's now in place? If that 28 year limit was still in place, half the issue discussed here wouldn't exit. But you're not honest enough to admit that, are you?]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130424/00010122821/adam-savage-why-copyright-trademark-holders-need-to-get-over-their-obsession-with-control.shtml#c254 Fri, 24 May 2013 00:07:14 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130424/00010122821/adam-savage-why-copyright-trademark-holders-need-to-get-over-their-obsession-with-control.shtml#c254 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130424/00010122821/adam-savage-why-copyright-trademark-holders-need-to-get-over-their-obsession-with-control.shtml#c246 Fri, 24 May 2013 00:06:54 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130424/00010122821/adam-savage-why-copyright-trademark-holders-need-to-get-over-their-obsession-with-control.shtml#c246 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130515/11032823096/how-low-can-drones-go.shtml#c980 Thu, 23 May 2013 23:57:21 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130515/11032823096/how-low-can-drones-go.shtml#c980
Are Beer Drones the Future of Music Festivals? A Q&A With Darkwing Aerial's Dean Engela | Billboard

I can see it being used to drop supplies in remote areas, too.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130210/01422321932/ron-paul-un-hater-asks-un-to-take-ronpaulcom-forcefully-ron-pauls-biggest-supporters.shtml#c1598 Thu, 23 May 2013 23:50:44 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130210/01422321932/ron-paul-un-hater-asks-un-to-take-ronpaulcom-forcefully-ron-pauls-biggest-supporters.shtml#c1598 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121221/03290221463/graphic-novel-declared-terrorist-operation-us-government-advance-money-seized.shtml#c513 Thu, 23 May 2013 23:50:33 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121221/03290221463/graphic-novel-declared-terrorist-operation-us-government-advance-money-seized.shtml#c513 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/18103323179/filmmaker-behind-pirate-bay-documentary-says-bogus-dmca-takedowns-take-away-his-free-speech.shtml#c971 Thu, 23 May 2013 23:43:56 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/18103323179/filmmaker-behind-pirate-bay-documentary-says-bogus-dmca-takedowns-take-away-his-free-speech.shtml#c971 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100427/0548369191.shtml#c687 Thu, 23 May 2013 23:35:16 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100427/0548369191.shtml#c687 printer paper nowadays unlike before, especially when emails were not yet there, when there were no social media sites to store photos than printing them all.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/18284623180/yet-another-anti-patent-troll-bill-introduced-congress.shtml#c7 Thu, 23 May 2013 23:31:59 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/18284623180/yet-another-anti-patent-troll-bill-introduced-congress.shtml#c7
t's good to see that Congress seems serious about dealing with patent trolls

There is no indication that they are serious, as literally hundreds of bills are crafted and tossed out there on a regular basis on everything from patent law to protecting some obscure animal from a swamp somewhere. None of it is particularly serious, most of it is the type of grandstanding or busy work that makes Washington suck.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/10303023175/magic-hat-brewery-sues-west-sixth-brewing-using-number-six-their-logo.shtml#c459 Thu, 23 May 2013 23:28:04 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/10303023175/magic-hat-brewery-sues-west-sixth-brewing-using-number-six-their-logo.shtml#c459 using color, trademarks and designs "that closely resemble and are confusingly similar" to the designs used by Magic Hat for several years. WTF they don't look alike at all.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130515/11032823096/how-low-can-drones-go.shtml#c963 Thu, 23 May 2013 23:27:39 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130515/11032823096/how-low-can-drones-go.shtml#c963
One must recognize that the basis of the Federal Air Regulations is not property, but safety. The minimum altitudes are designed to prevent crashes. Of course, they are designed to prevent "joyriding," ie. someone in a small private plane deciding he's Chuck Yeager, and forgetting that the real Yeager had the United States Air Force behind him. More mundanely, the regulations prevent people who are not instrument-qualified from trying to scoot in under clouds which are only a couple of hundred feet above the ground. A typical sort of accident runs like the following: someone without an instrument rating tried to fly through one of the passes in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, or the Sierra Madre/San Gabriel Mountains. Only, the cloud base was below the pass altitude that day. The pilot flew up a valley which became a canyon, and became narrower and narrower, and the ground beneath came up, and the clouds came down, to the point that he no longer had room to turn back, and he flew into a mountainside. The effect of Parts 91.119 and 91.195, is that the pilot has to quit while he still has room to turn back.

Bear in mind that the aircraft regulations do not apply to to unlicenced consumer drones, which are considered toys. The one Federal rule which applies to them is that they are supposed to stay below 400 ft, leaving a hundred feet of separation between them and a real airplane at 500 feet or above. I believe that they are also supposed to be kept within line of sight from the operator. This seems like something which is liable to be evaded, so it could probably be improved by specifying an actual maximum horizontal distance and an altitude/distance table. And of course, make the manufacturers build these restrictions into the control system. That won't stop a hacker, but it will at least contain the idiots. I suspect that the man in Seattle qualifies as an idiot.

As for Papparazis, I have an idea that a sophisticated camera can probably compensate for distance.

To: Suzanne Lainson:

I don't think the delivery-by-drone thing is going to work. For one thing, the drone has to put the parcel somewhere the recipient can retrieve it, and that probably means flying into a location where people are walking around. Practically speaking, you need to put a parcel under a porch, or in a mailbox, or wherever, where it can be protected from the elements. There are various different ways of going about it, but they are all more or less expensive, and generally more complicated than driving a truck to the recipient's door. Pilots spend a lot of time worrying about winds and clouds and rain, because an aircraft rides on the air, and the air moves. It's more like sailing a sailboat than driving a car. If United Parcel only delivered when the sky was blue, it would be a hopelessly inefficient service.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130523/02455423183/prenda-lawyer-says-georgia-court-should-ignore-judge-wrights-order-because-look-hackers.shtml#c508 Thu, 23 May 2013 23:25:24 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130523/02455423183/prenda-lawyer-says-georgia-court-should-ignore-judge-wrights-order-because-look-hackers.shtml#c508 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/11301723178/amazon-wants-to-sell-fan-fiction-with-it-originator-fanfic-author-all-sharing-profits.shtml#c579 Thu, 23 May 2013 23:10:56 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/11301723178/amazon-wants-to-sell-fan-fiction-with-it-originator-fanfic-author-all-sharing-profits.shtml#c579
As a writer of fanfiction, i enjoy writing just as much, if not more, than the original authors. Writing stories for people is fun and to receive praise or even criticism from reviews is whats worthwhile. The only thing that would make it better is if you could make money from it. Even at 35%, it is 35% more than we would get anyways, so i find this idea amazing.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/09382823173/chicago-school-system-foia-requests-stonewalling-obfuscation-paper-shredding.shtml#c312 Thu, 23 May 2013 22:57:23 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/09382823173/chicago-school-system-foia-requests-stonewalling-obfuscation-paper-shredding.shtml#c312 "IRS focusing on and bullying conservitive (sic) groups"--IRS focusing on and bullying liberal groups in 2006-07.
"AP phone records being violated"--Various Patriot Act-base actions 2001-2007

For everything Repubs claim Obama's done (and haven't proven), Bush did on a bigger scale.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130523/00174423181/kim-dotcom-threatens-to-sue-google-facebook-twitter-over-2-factor-authentication-patent-if-they-dont-help-him.shtml#c2128 Thu, 23 May 2013 22:45:01 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130523/00174423181/kim-dotcom-threatens-to-sue-google-facebook-twitter-over-2-factor-authentication-patent-if-they-dont-help-him.shtml#c2128