http://www.techdirt.com/ Easily digestible tech news.... http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/18243923466/hollywoods-new-talking-point-gatekeepers-are-awesome.shtml#c297 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:37:32 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/18243923466/hollywoods-new-talking-point-gatekeepers-are-awesome.shtml#c297
Yes, I love how radio lets me skip even one song and lets me switch to a different artist's music if I want. I also love how instead of one 30 second ad every once in a while, when listening to radio I have to sit through 5 minute segments of multiple annoying ads even more often.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130619/10213023529/fbi-admits-to-using-drones-to-spy-americans.shtml#c39 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:37:22 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130619/10213023529/fbi-admits-to-using-drones-to-spy-americans.shtml#c39 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130617/11500923509/its-come-to-this-commentators-arguing-that-press-commits-crime-exposing-nsa-surveillance.shtml#c719 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:34:54 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130617/11500923509/its-come-to-this-commentators-arguing-that-press-commits-crime-exposing-nsa-surveillance.shtml#c719 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/01121423439/hollywood-studios-keep-saying-its-employees-must-get-paid-now-may-be-forced-to-pay-its-interns.shtml#c1117 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:33:27 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/01121423439/hollywood-studios-keep-saying-its-employees-must-get-paid-now-may-be-forced-to-pay-its-interns.shtml#c1117
"Sorry, it's hard to ignore the hypocrisy dripping from Masnick. "

It's easy when you're only pulling the hypocrisy out of your own ass.

"He's making money on others work and not paying (or paying a pittance)."

CITATION NEEDED! You've already been told that your assumption about them working for free is a lie. You've already been told that your assumption that it's $1 is a lie.

Cite your evidence, or admit that you're an obsessive liar who's happy to let major corporations exploit their worker so long as you feel you've got some points scored against a random blogger. If you have no evidence, you are a proven liar, period.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130619/10213023529/fbi-admits-to-using-drones-to-spy-americans.shtml#c20 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:33:26 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130619/10213023529/fbi-admits-to-using-drones-to-spy-americans.shtml#c20 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130619/10213023529/fbi-admits-to-using-drones-to-spy-americans.shtml#c3 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:32:49 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130619/10213023529/fbi-admits-to-using-drones-to-spy-americans.shtml#c3 Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation right now on C-SPAN.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/01121423439/hollywood-studios-keep-saying-its-employees-must-get-paid-now-may-be-forced-to-pay-its-interns.shtml#c1105 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:31:30 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/01121423439/hollywood-studios-keep-saying-its-employees-must-get-paid-now-may-be-forced-to-pay-its-interns.shtml#c1105 But of course you're not a laborer, you're a grifter..... you're in the 1% privileged class who've never had to compete


Hey Mike, you gonna let the rest of us in on the secret to creating a wildly popular blog with thousands of daily pageviews - all without expending any labor whatsoever and a complete lack of any competition? That sounds like one awesome opportunity to me. My Powerball Retirement Fund hasn't given me the returns I expected.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130619/07515923527/leaseweb-deletes-megauploads-servers-without-warning-destroying-key-evidence.shtml#c863 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:30:28 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130619/07515923527/leaseweb-deletes-megauploads-servers-without-warning-destroying-key-evidence.shtml#c863
Smarter thing would have been to get confirmation from DOJ first. "You have chosen to delete all files. Once deleted, files cannot be restored. Are you SURE you want to proceed? yes / NO"]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130619/07515923527/leaseweb-deletes-megauploads-servers-without-warning-destroying-key-evidence.shtml#c847 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:30:06 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130619/07515923527/leaseweb-deletes-megauploads-servers-without-warning-destroying-key-evidence.shtml#c847 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130619/10213023529/fbi-admits-to-using-drones-to-spy-americans.shtml#c2 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:28:56 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130619/10213023529/fbi-admits-to-using-drones-to-spy-americans.shtml#c2 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130614/11384823471/how-overclassification-makes-secrets-less-likely-to-remain-secret.shtml#c312 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:28:20 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130614/11384823471/how-overclassification-makes-secrets-less-likely-to-remain-secret.shtml#c312
Can't you patent the process of fucking a pecan pie?

Or does the transition to cream pie negate that?]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/18243923466/hollywoods-new-talking-point-gatekeepers-are-awesome.shtml#c278 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:27:58 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/18243923466/hollywoods-new-talking-point-gatekeepers-are-awesome.shtml#c278
Careful with that argument. Dictators also take action to protect their position, by oppressing the population, genociding ethnical groups, etc...

One could argue that concept of Dictatorship is valid because people take action to defend it. This is dangerous.

"Pirates just can't seem to grasp that they're not regarded as heroes by the larger society, just as little thieves. "

This is my personal view, but from what I've seen, most people are somewhat ambiguous towards piracy, neither cheering for it nor vehemently opposing it.

They'll also go as far as commit one act of piracy now and then - as in, make a copy of a music cd or a film dvd from a friend or relative - but won't so far as to just download everything and anything from the pirate bay.

And of course, those people will still pay for those things if they see an economical advantage in doing so. After all, despite all the decades of crying, the music and film industry is still going strong.

Of course, your mileage may vary. This is what I've observed.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130606/11475923344/sweden-makes-it-illegal-to-take-photos-private-environments-without-permission.shtml#c362 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:23:35 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130606/11475923344/sweden-makes-it-illegal-to-take-photos-private-environments-without-permission.shtml#c362 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/18243923466/hollywoods-new-talking-point-gatekeepers-are-awesome.shtml#c261 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:21:30 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/18243923466/hollywoods-new-talking-point-gatekeepers-are-awesome.shtml#c261 it was.

Weren't signed with a label? No radio time, no presence in stores, nothing more than maybe playing local gigs, and since people had to know about you to be interested in listening to you, without a label that was pretty much as 'famous' as a musician could get, and the labels knew, and took shameless advantage of, this.

With the internet though, suddenly there are all sorts of new ways for artists to make a living, and best of all without having to sign over the rights to all to their stuff to the parasites in return for maybe getting rich and famous.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/18243923466/hollywoods-new-talking-point-gatekeepers-are-awesome.shtml#c237 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:21:08 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/18243923466/hollywoods-new-talking-point-gatekeepers-are-awesome.shtml#c237 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/18243923466/hollywoods-new-talking-point-gatekeepers-are-awesome.shtml#c222 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:18:59 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/18243923466/hollywoods-new-talking-point-gatekeepers-are-awesome.shtml#c222
So...it doesn't work then. It isn't a fair system, therefore, it doesn't work in a context of Democracy, one of the pillars of which is equality.

"Income limits are the obvious way, but that proven system doesn't fit into Mike's "libertarian" notions."

I don't agree on income limits. I agree on spreading the wealth and rewarding people for their contribution. For example, in a corporation, the salary of the highest paid contributor should never be higher than X times the salary of the lowest paid contributor (X is to be defined). Want to get paid more, just start paying your workers more. Everyone wins in the end, I think.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130619/07515923527/leaseweb-deletes-megauploads-servers-without-warning-destroying-key-evidence.shtml#c844 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:17:20 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130619/07515923527/leaseweb-deletes-megauploads-servers-without-warning-destroying-key-evidence.shtml#c844
If you consider the reality that the DOJ took this case to disrupt MegaUpload at the behest of the copyright lobby, then it makes sense.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/18243923466/hollywoods-new-talking-point-gatekeepers-are-awesome.shtml#c202 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:17:14 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/18243923466/hollywoods-new-talking-point-gatekeepers-are-awesome.shtml#c202 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130619/07515923527/leaseweb-deletes-megauploads-servers-without-warning-destroying-key-evidence.shtml#c829 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:14:49 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130619/07515923527/leaseweb-deletes-megauploads-servers-without-warning-destroying-key-evidence.shtml#c829 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130617/17584023513/new-orleans-cops-set-up-private-company-to-fill-pockets-with-red-light-camera-cash.shtml#c120 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:14:15 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130617/17584023513/new-orleans-cops-set-up-private-company-to-fill-pockets-with-red-light-camera-cash.shtml#c120 [no further comment required]]]>