http://www.techdirt.com/ Easily digestible tech news.... 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#c471 Thu, 23 May 2013 06:56:33 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#c471
The reason for tech companies to support Kim Dotcom is because the legal theory behind the prosecution would end up gutting DMCA protection of entities running web sites with cusomter-provided content. The tech companies should do this in spite of Kim Dotcom's repulsive personality and flagrant behavior.

There, that was easy, wasn't it? Maybe with a little work you can live up to the "average" part of your moniker, instead of being "4th quartile joe" in reading comprehension.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/11301723178/amazon-wants-to-sell-fan-fiction-with-it-originator-fanfic-author-all-sharing-profits.shtml#c404 Thu, 23 May 2013 06:56:22 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/11301723178/amazon-wants-to-sell-fan-fiction-with-it-originator-fanfic-author-all-sharing-profits.shtml#c404 I'm sorry to do this, but someone has to:

Slavery was proven to work for more than two thousand years.

Should we stick to that?

We do, almost. Look at the conditions of those workers who make the clothes you wear, your electronics and most of the products you have in your home. In many cases, particularly in the Third World- their lives are no better than that of the slaves of Colonial America.]]> 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#c461 Thu, 23 May 2013 06:56:14 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#c461 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/22543223166/modest-proposal-going-piracy-neutral.shtml#c371 Thu, 23 May 2013 06:54:49 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/22543223166/modest-proposal-going-piracy-neutral.shtml#c371 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#c460 Thu, 23 May 2013 06:53:05 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#c460 In any event. such a thing has existed for decades. Unsurprisingly, some douchebag managed to get a patent on this...presumably because he put "on the internet" on the patent application.

But this is Mike's buddy's patent, so validity will not be discussed on TD. If IV was waving this patent around, Mike would be going ABSOLUTELY APESHIT. The double-standard is hilarious.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/02350923170/new-bill-would-stop-patent-trolls-hiding-behind-shell-companies.shtml#c316 Thu, 23 May 2013 06:53:00 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/02350923170/new-bill-would-stop-patent-trolls-hiding-behind-shell-companies.shtml#c316 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#c445 Thu, 23 May 2013 06:51:19 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#c445 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/11301723178/amazon-wants-to-sell-fan-fiction-with-it-originator-fanfic-author-all-sharing-profits.shtml#c387 Thu, 23 May 2013 06:50:07 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/11301723178/amazon-wants-to-sell-fan-fiction-with-it-originator-fanfic-author-all-sharing-profits.shtml#c387 it's simply lame, derivative, over-blown, over-contrived, self-aggrandizing, unrealistic crap such as Timothy Geigner, aka Dark Helmet, strains to write

That is uncalled for. I mean, Tim is to literature what Marcus Carab is to music.]]> 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#c439 Thu, 23 May 2013 06:48:54 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#c439
For example, to launch a nuclear weapon you (allegedly) have to use two keys - that are given to two different people - simultaneously, and the mechanism is designed so that one person cannot engage the mechanism on his own.

It's not quite authentication. It's more of a two-factor failsafe mechanism: no one person can fire a nuclear weapon. But the principle is the same.

In any event. such a thing has existed for decades. Unsurprisingly, some douchebag managed to get a patent on this...presumably because he put "on the internet" on the patent application.]]> 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#c438 Thu, 23 May 2013 06:48:40 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#c438 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#c413 Thu, 23 May 2013 06:47:27 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#c413 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#c393 Thu, 23 May 2013 06:47:10 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#c393 Why go so soft on Kim?

Because Mike worships all pirates. The bigger the better.]]> 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#c373 Thu, 23 May 2013 06:46:24 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#c373 To me, it implies that it's OK for these companies to capitulate to a patent troll because the ends justify the means.

Yep. But mostly it's because it's his pirate ally Kim D doing the trolling.]]> 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#c371 Thu, 23 May 2013 06:44:58 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#c371 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/11301723178/amazon-wants-to-sell-fan-fiction-with-it-originator-fanfic-author-all-sharing-profits.shtml#c369 Thu, 23 May 2013 06:44:46 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/11301723178/amazon-wants-to-sell-fan-fiction-with-it-originator-fanfic-author-all-sharing-profits.shtml#c369 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#c365 Thu, 23 May 2013 06:42:14 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#c365 If this was any one else except the sainted Kim Dotcom, you would be all over them for being weasels and patent trolls.

Is that it?

Bingo. The *only* problem Mike perceives here is that this might hurt Dotcom in his upcoming legal case. The patent trolling itself is not a problem, and in fact, he thinks it's a good idea that these companies capitulate to his ultimatum. Incredible. Yet, not. Because it's Mike.]]> 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#c343 Thu, 23 May 2013 06:40:56 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#c343
It's been a long, looooong time since I read the book, but I seem to recall it is on about page 100 (maybe 99, or 101), and it is long before September 11, 2001.

He describes that if there were a terrorist attack on the US, perhaps an large attack on, say, New York, that liberties and privacy may be curtailed severely.

Wow. He was quite insightful.

Like I said, it is an outstanding book. Also large, thick and heavy.]]> 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#c328 Thu, 23 May 2013 06:39:53 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#c328 Do you have a problem with any of the points in the article, or are you just the latest in a long line of people to whine whenever Mike doesn't write what you want him to like?

Yup, I have a problem with this. This article makes patent trolling sound like a wonderful and acceptable way to do things, as long as it's someone on the "good guys for piracy" list. If anyone else was doing this (and I mean anyone not in the anti-copyright anti-patent side of things) the article would be a huge swipe at the nasty patent trolls who were abusing the system for profit and trying to scam money. I am sure there would be some insinuations of forum shopping and perhaps a sideways joke about it being an "East Texas patent" or something like that.

Eliminate Kim from the discussion, and this would be a standard patent troll story with angry assumptions. Why go so soft on Kim?]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/11301723178/amazon-wants-to-sell-fan-fiction-with-it-originator-fanfic-author-all-sharing-profits.shtml#c357 Thu, 23 May 2013 06:37:26 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/11301723178/amazon-wants-to-sell-fan-fiction-with-it-originator-fanfic-author-all-sharing-profits.shtml#c357
The fact that fair use doesn't even remotely require payment, and in fact is directly contradictory of the idea behind fair use, is apparently beyond those that make that argument, but that doesn't stop them from doing so.

Probably the most obvious claim of 'no fair use that isn't paid use':
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130110/01515121624/lionsgate-censors-remix-video-that-copyright-office-itself-used-as-example-fair-use.shtml#comments]]> 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#c308 Thu, 23 May 2013 06:36:53 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#c308