http://www.techdirt.com/ Easily digestible tech news.... http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/02350923170/new-bill-would-stop-patent-trolls-hiding-behind-shell-companies.shtml#c199 Thu, 23 May 2013 01:28:26 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/02350923170/new-bill-would-stop-patent-trolls-hiding-behind-shell-companies.shtml#c199 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/22543223166/modest-proposal-going-piracy-neutral.shtml#c296 Thu, 23 May 2013 01:27:28 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/22543223166/modest-proposal-going-piracy-neutral.shtml#c296 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/22543223166/modest-proposal-going-piracy-neutral.shtml#c272 Thu, 23 May 2013 01:25:53 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/22543223166/modest-proposal-going-piracy-neutral.shtml#c272 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/22543223166/modest-proposal-going-piracy-neutral.shtml#c251 Thu, 23 May 2013 01:23:07 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/22543223166/modest-proposal-going-piracy-neutral.shtml#c251
Blue even when you try to re-frame the issue you do it wrong.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/blog/casestudies/articles/20130510/00083123031/cool-new-platform-supporting-artists-patreon-jack-conte.shtml#c47 Thu, 23 May 2013 01:22:28 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/blog/casestudies/articles/20130510/00083123031/cool-new-platform-supporting-artists-patreon-jack-conte.shtml#c47 http://www.techdirt.com/blog/casestudies/articles/20130510/00083123031/cool-new-platform-supporting-artists-patreon-jack-conte.shtml#c42 Thu, 23 May 2013 01:21:16 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/blog/casestudies/articles/20130510/00083123031/cool-new-platform-supporting-artists-patreon-jack-conte.shtml#c42
PledgeMusic works just fine for that.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/10401723156/if-you-think-you-should-actually-own-products-you-bought-now-would-be-good-time-to-call-congress.shtml#c1902 Thu, 23 May 2013 00:59:12 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/10401723156/if-you-think-you-should-actually-own-products-you-bought-now-would-be-good-time-to-call-congress.shtml#c1902 I'm asking Mike to admit that this would weaken some of the rights that copyright holders have as far as anticircumvention is concerned.

So, Joe, can you point to anywhere in the copyright statutes that says that copyright holders have a right to control all access to the works that they authored?

No, you can't, because that was never a right that was granted to them.

And, clearly, Congress did not intend to grant copyright holders those rights. That's why they explicitly included a "savings clause" in 1201(c): "Nothing in this section shall affect rights, remedies, limitations, or defenses to copyright infringement, including fair use, under this title."

This bill would merely clarify that intent - nothing more.

Furthermore, as it stands, this statute applies to much more than copyrighted material. Let's take the classic example: "jailbreaking" your phone so that you are able to switch to a different carrier. If you did this, what access to copyrighted works are you gaining?

The answer: none. "Jailbreaking" your phone does not result in access to any material whatsoever that is within the scope of copyright, as defined in 17 USC 102.

In other words: the DMCA anti-circumvention provisions grant rights to people who have no copyright interests whatsoever.

This is a major flaw in the law as it stands. You said, and I agree, that the intent is to allow copyright holders to protect themselves against infringement. But it is overreaching as it stands, and this bill would simply rectify the situation.

As far as the 106 rights go, all I've heard are conclusory statements that DRM does absolutely nothing to prevent piracy.

That's not really the issue. Anti-circumvention measures (not merely DRM) may help prevent piracy - but, of course, shutting down public libraries would also help prevent piracy. The plain fact is that anti-circumvention provisions do not serve the public welfare. Anti-circumvention measures may help prevent activity that is infringing, but they also bypass all of the limitations on copyright rights that are Constitutionally necessary.

Plus, as I said, anti-circumvention measures are unlawful even regarding material that is not covered by copyright law.

Also, replying to another comment:

making it legal to traffic in technologies that can be used to circumvent access controls would make it easier to infringe.

This is aboslutely false. How easy it is to infringe depends entirely upon how easy it is to actually circumvent the particular access controls. Whether that is legal or illegal makes little difference. I mean, for fuck's sake, people print DeCSS on T-shirts. It can't get more easy than that.

What it would do is make it easier to "traffic in technologies" that don't infringe. But nothing in this bill would make it any more difficult for copyright holders to enforce their rights. It would simply legalize activities that never infringed on their rights in the first place. If someone makes something that can bypass copy protection for the purposes of infringement, they can still get sued, and they can still face criminal charges. And it is not any harder for either copyright holder or the govenrnment to bring these charges against them.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/22543223166/modest-proposal-going-piracy-neutral.shtml#c249 Thu, 23 May 2013 00:57:43 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/22543223166/modest-proposal-going-piracy-neutral.shtml#c249 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/22543223166/modest-proposal-going-piracy-neutral.shtml#c239 Thu, 23 May 2013 00:55:32 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/22543223166/modest-proposal-going-piracy-neutral.shtml#c239
RIAA mathematics, ladies and gentlemen!]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130519/18102623141/so-its-come-to-this-seven-high-school-students-arrested-throwing-water-balloons.shtml#c1932 Thu, 23 May 2013 00:55:25 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130519/18102623141/so-its-come-to-this-seven-high-school-students-arrested-throwing-water-balloons.shtml#c1932 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/17321623162/released-video-silva-beating-shows-his-last-moments-video-actual-beating-still-missing.shtml#c720 Thu, 23 May 2013 00:50:29 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/17321623162/released-video-silva-beating-shows-his-last-moments-video-actual-beating-still-missing.shtml#c720 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/06034223155/quack-professor-releases-dumbest-violent-video-game-theory-ever.shtml#c578 Thu, 23 May 2013 00:38:45 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/06034223155/quack-professor-releases-dumbest-violent-video-game-theory-ever.shtml#c578
No offence Wally, but unless you have lengthy actual professional experience to back it up, the A+ does not make you a professional in the field. It's an entry level certification that even the COMPTIA website lists as "the starting point for a career in IT". It means you're qualified to fix PCs and mobile devices up to a certain level, not that you're an expert in any field.

You can certainly use your studies to make informed opinions in some areas, but in professional terms you're barely a newcomer, let alone a seasoned professional. Your opinion is welcome, but please stop waving around your basic certificate as if it makes you an expert. Enjoy the Network+ and hopefully that will lead to better things, but once you pass it you won't be an expert on networking.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/01382223168/new-york-times-tells-startup-it-cant-even-mention-ny-times.shtml#c833 Thu, 23 May 2013 00:32:44 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/01382223168/new-york-times-tells-startup-it-cant-even-mention-ny-times.shtml#c833 You should learn what fair use means.

Yes, you should.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130515/11032823096/how-low-can-drones-go.shtml#c871 Thu, 23 May 2013 00:31:11 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130515/11032823096/how-low-can-drones-go.shtml#c871
Good luck trying to fly when your rotor strut is flopping around like a rubber band...]]> http://www.techdirt.com/blog/casestudies/articles/20130510/00083123031/cool-new-platform-supporting-artists-patreon-jack-conte.shtml#c25 Thu, 23 May 2013 00:30:48 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/blog/casestudies/articles/20130510/00083123031/cool-new-platform-supporting-artists-patreon-jack-conte.shtml#c25 I'm sure some will argue that this is just a "paywall," but it's actually the opposite of that.

It reads more like a failwall to me. It seems to be going against the basic grain, once again hoping a few people will pay to entertain the masses. This one is a little worse, because it appears that those who do pay will be nothing more than those who don't pay and just pick the content up online for free.

It's nice to see someone trying to tackle the issues at hand, but I think perhaps Jack Conte confuses his personal success with one that can be rolled out and essentially franchised. He does well personally because he has the secret sauce ingredient in her personality that allows him to connect with people in ways most never can. That is what makes his things work. I don't know if that ability can be translated into this sort of system. It really requires people to get past certain boundaries to really personally like an artist and basically to pay for others to enjoy them. That is a hard sell.

My feeling is that this will be a short term success (as all the anti-label types around sites like Techdirt) clamber to be patrons, but over time, donor fatigue sets in and the process slowly dies off.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130506/10364522962/eric-schmidt-still-fan-figuring-out-way-to-erase-past.shtml#c294 Thu, 23 May 2013 00:29:46 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130506/10364522962/eric-schmidt-still-fan-figuring-out-way-to-erase-past.shtml#c294
The deliberate public statements made by a mature adult in direct relation to his employment showing how clueless he was about his own industry are somewhat different to some dumb crap a teenager does that ends up online without his permission, don't you think?

"I admire your optimism that people will do the right thing. We all live in a small town now where everyone knows what you did and what you're doing."

I believe the point of the article was "we can't effectively erase things from the internet, so it's down to society to accept that these things happen when people are young and adjust opinions accordingly". Ultimately, everyone growing up in the fully online era is going to have things like this in their history. So, it's in everyone's best interests not to judge, say, a 30 year old based on something online from when he was 12. It might take a while, but that's definitely a more achievable goal than erasing a person's entire history from the internet.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130515/11032823096/how-low-can-drones-go.shtml#c854 Thu, 23 May 2013 00:28:49 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130515/11032823096/how-low-can-drones-go.shtml#c854 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130515/11032823096/how-low-can-drones-go.shtml#c830 Thu, 23 May 2013 00:28:03 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130515/11032823096/how-low-can-drones-go.shtml#c830
If you're higher than the buildings, you're in the public highway.

Of course, even if you're in the public highway, you might still be liable in the event of a noise complaint or for being a peeping tom.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130425/17042522839/how-gema-is-still-worst-collective-rights-organization-world.shtml#c923 Thu, 23 May 2013 00:23:03 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130425/17042522839/how-gema-is-still-worst-collective-rights-organization-world.shtml#c923 http://www.techdirt.com/blog/wireless/articles/20130521/20101423164/att-says-you-can-use-any-video-streaming-app-you-want-just-as-soon-as-it-can-get-meter-running.shtml#c259 Thu, 23 May 2013 00:22:15 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/blog/wireless/articles/20130521/20101423164/att-says-you-can-use-any-video-streaming-app-you-want-just-as-soon-as-it-can-get-meter-running.shtml#c259
Newsflash. They run an IP network. Translation: voice, video, and data are ALL broken down into packets and transmitted across the network. So why is voice unlimited unless you use a chat app?

Because they have learned that the sheep will accept a data cap because data appears to be different to the user. Nope it's all data.]]>