http://www.techdirt.com/ Easily digestible tech news.... http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130516/15445423110/framework-copyright-reform.shtml#c1759 Sat, 18 May 2013 23:27:14 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130516/15445423110/framework-copyright-reform.shtml#c1759 never name them. Chances are he's simply making them up to bolster his weak arguments, but if not, I imagine they'd be horribly embarrassed to be publicly linked to someone like AJ.

Of course I'm happy to be proven wrong on this...]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130513/09590723059/this-weeks-bad-photoshopping-lesson-comes-scientology.shtml#c510 Sat, 18 May 2013 23:15:04 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130513/09590723059/this-weeks-bad-photoshopping-lesson-comes-scientology.shtml#c510 The Hole.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130516/07281823105/saudi-religious-police-anyone-using-twitter-has-lost-this-world-his-afterlife.shtml#c907 Sat, 18 May 2013 23:14:17 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130516/07281823105/saudi-religious-police-anyone-using-twitter-has-lost-this-world-his-afterlife.shtml#c907 "You have your opinion but consider one half of humanity disagrees. "

Really? Half of humanity believes we should be under the control of religious police? You sure about that?]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130516/07281823105/saudi-religious-police-anyone-using-twitter-has-lost-this-world-his-afterlife.shtml#c896 Sat, 18 May 2013 23:00:07 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130516/07281823105/saudi-religious-police-anyone-using-twitter-has-lost-this-world-his-afterlife.shtml#c896 "I don't think it's religion causing this...

...people are the problem."

Religion is people. The problem is religious people.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101208/01331612181/dailydirt-getting-online-education.shtml#c151 Sat, 18 May 2013 22:54:26 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101208/01331612181/dailydirt-getting-online-education.shtml#c151
I've heard, damn near my whole life given both parents (then) serving, how unintelligent service members are and similarly poorly educated. The day of the dumb private or hick bosun's mate are far in the past. Part and parcel in the services today, you are not only a student, you are expected to be an instructor if only in your professional field(s). And if no teacher is handy, do it at a distance and practice locally.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/06185923116/rice-university-professor-skynets-gonna-take-ur-jerbs.shtml#c548 Sat, 18 May 2013 22:53:55 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/06185923116/rice-university-professor-skynets-gonna-take-ur-jerbs.shtml#c548
Haha, yeah that's a massive industry. Right up there with aerospace and energy.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/22104223137/sophisticatedjanedoe-fightcopyrighttrolls-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c263 Sat, 18 May 2013 22:46:40 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/22104223137/sophisticatedjanedoe-fightcopyrighttrolls-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c263 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/22104223137/sophisticatedjanedoe-fightcopyrighttrolls-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c241 Sat, 18 May 2013 22:23:01 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/22104223137/sophisticatedjanedoe-fightcopyrighttrolls-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c241 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/22104223137/sophisticatedjanedoe-fightcopyrighttrolls-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c236 Sat, 18 May 2013 22:15:57 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/22104223137/sophisticatedjanedoe-fightcopyrighttrolls-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c236
Running a "stop copyright trolls" site and then hiding your identity seems a bit of a failure, don't you think? Stop the trolls, but I am so scared I won't tell anyone who I am? It's about on par with pressure cooker bombs in a crowd.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/22104223137/sophisticatedjanedoe-fightcopyrighttrolls-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c219 Sat, 18 May 2013 21:53:05 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/22104223137/sophisticatedjanedoe-fightcopyrighttrolls-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c219 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/22104223137/sophisticatedjanedoe-fightcopyrighttrolls-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c195 Sat, 18 May 2013 21:33:05 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/22104223137/sophisticatedjanedoe-fightcopyrighttrolls-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c195 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130516/15445423110/framework-copyright-reform.shtml#c1736 Sat, 18 May 2013 21:25:51 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130516/15445423110/framework-copyright-reform.shtml#c1736
For example an author writes a book. The book is stolen and a copy is sold to a publisher. The copy is not stolen property and subsequent copies would also not be stolen property. So the author's only recourse would be against the original thief.

Here is a case that deals with this issue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowling_v._United_States_(1985)]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/22104223137/sophisticatedjanedoe-fightcopyrighttrolls-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c172 Sat, 18 May 2013 20:55:16 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/22104223137/sophisticatedjanedoe-fightcopyrighttrolls-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c172 "gold RIAA" handle.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130514/17551823088/floridas-redlight-program-designed-to-make-driving-more-dangerous-shortening-yellow-lights.shtml#c444 Sat, 18 May 2013 20:18:24 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130514/17551823088/floridas-redlight-program-designed-to-make-driving-more-dangerous-shortening-yellow-lights.shtml#c444 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130516/15583223111/congress-grandstanding-over-google-glass-privacy-concerns-next-up-privacy-concerns-over-your-eyes.shtml#c2270 Sat, 18 May 2013 20:01:11 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130516/15583223111/congress-grandstanding-over-google-glass-privacy-concerns-next-up-privacy-concerns-over-your-eyes.shtml#c2270
I think we have very limited privacy these days and most of the monitoring is coming from private industry. I read a lot of articles directed to advertisers and marketers. The data collection companies are very proud of the fact that they are compiling a ton of data on everyone.

And many tech companies are proud of what they have developed to allow them to use the latest devices to track everything and everyone.

The only time these companies raise the privacy issue is when they want to paint government in a negative light.

And yet, private companies are also working with government. I am skeptical that much is done in DC without corporate input. So whatever policies are coming out of DC have probably been shaped to benefit someone's bottom line.

I think we need to discuss privacy on a big scale and what that means to everyone. The positives are that all of these monitors could improve lives. The negatives are that this info can be used against us. (And don't assume government is the only guilty party here. Insurance companies, credit companies, banks, and so on would love to know who to exclude as customers.)]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/22104223137/sophisticatedjanedoe-fightcopyrighttrolls-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c163 Sat, 18 May 2013 19:58:10 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/22104223137/sophisticatedjanedoe-fightcopyrighttrolls-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c163
Hmmmm.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/22104223137/sophisticatedjanedoe-fightcopyrighttrolls-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c143 Sat, 18 May 2013 19:55:18 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/22104223137/sophisticatedjanedoe-fightcopyrighttrolls-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c143 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/22104223137/sophisticatedjanedoe-fightcopyrighttrolls-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c134 Sat, 18 May 2013 19:53:43 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/22104223137/sophisticatedjanedoe-fightcopyrighttrolls-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c134 dare they not make themselves an easily sue-able, harassable target for any of the parasites/criminals who may be angry that their extortion racket is being threatened! /s]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/22104223137/sophisticatedjanedoe-fightcopyrighttrolls-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c133 Sat, 18 May 2013 19:24:54 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/22104223137/sophisticatedjanedoe-fightcopyrighttrolls-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c133 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130516/15445423110/framework-copyright-reform.shtml#c1713 Sat, 18 May 2013 19:20:18 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130516/15445423110/framework-copyright-reform.shtml#c1713 just wants stuff for free" is not true and should not be the basis of policy.

The reality is that right now, many people choose to get gobs of convenient content for free, and most of those people also choose to pay for some content in various forms. This has been going on for a long time. Content still generates tons of cashflow. It's in different configurations than before, but the money is still all there, notwithstanding wages not keeping pace with inflation and debt.

What needs to be abandoned in these discussions is the notion that this longstanding reality - that not all content needs to be licensed and paid for ad infinitum - is an unsustainable situation which government needs to put an immediate and total stop to, or even curb to some degree. Likewise, pitting every proposal against the binary choice of strictly paying for every use and experience of content, versus no payment or enforcement for anything, is utter nonsense. And as we repeatedly point out here, it is counterproductive to regard as a hostile adversary every consumer who expects certain things - or anything - to be free.

Yet, the copyright maximalists have long dominated Congress's ear and have very well established these strict, absolute parameters for the conversation. It will require creative thinking to get lawmakers to understand that progress will come from realizing it is their duty to abandon this polarized framing of the issues.

A much more realistic starting point for policy is to acknowledge that the public fully expects that certain kinds of uses of content need not be licensed or subject to fees, and that most people draw some kind of distinction between the acceptability of unlicensed commercial and noncommercial uses. This has been manifesting in people's actual behavior for decades, and is supported by polls and the surge of democratized, creative output. Lawmakers and industry need to stop fighting these expectations and developments; these changes need to be enshrined and protected by law, not punished.]]>