Comments by Ophelia Millais http://www.techdirt.com/ Easily digestible tech news.... Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Again, sheerly an anti-copyright WEDGE for Mike. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/08324323118/trade-group-representing-many-large-companies-claims-that-exceptions-blind-would-cast-aside-copyright.shtml#c1271 Mon, 20 May 2013 18:40:36 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/08324323118/trade-group-representing-many-large-companies-claims-that-exceptions-blind-would-cast-aside-copyright.shtml#c1271
I suppose his posting it here can be interpreted as an attempt to discredit someone, although "copyright holders" is a bit broad, since that's basically everyone who has ever authored anything. Rather, it's discrediting this particular business lobbying group, based on something they're actually doing. What more do you want?]]> Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Again, sheerly an anti-copyright WEDGE for Mike. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/08324323118/trade-group-representing-many-large-companies-claims-that-exceptions-blind-would-cast-aside-copyright.shtml#c691 Mon, 20 May 2013 10:49:38 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/08324323118/trade-group-representing-many-large-companies-claims-that-exceptions-blind-would-cast-aside-copyright.shtml#c691
the folks on TD who can't stand it when their leader is challenged


Like any blog, this one attracts more than its share of readers whose opinions are aligned with those of its contributors. And like most popular blogs, the writers know their audience, and both consciously and subconsciously write for it.

Yet, for some reason, you envision Techdirt readers as an obedient, unthinking cult, hanging on Masnick's every word and regarding him as their "leader". You regard all the readers - except those agree with you, I bet - as unable to formulate positions and arguments on their own, unwilling to see that his posts are mainly griping and shit-stirring.

Like I said, he knows his audience - he can certainly whip us up into a pissed-off comment frenzy - but we know him, as well. You guys keep trying to point out to us what's really going on, not realizing that we already know, and it doesn't matter, because most of the time, he's not saying anything we don't already agree with.

Mike and his guest bloggers just relay reports of outrageous things that the IP industry is up to, and they often express their opinions about it, and we all chime in with ours. It's as simple as that. He doesn't have us under mind control. He's not our "leader". One misstep and we'll turn on him...for that one post, which is how it should be.

This "leader" fixation is a generational thing. Mike's generation, the Gen Xers, distrust power and leaders in general, starting with their parents. The younger Millennials laugh at would-be leaders and rarely conflate celebrity with authority. But the older generation, the Baby Boomers - good god, they revere and exalt as ideologues anyone who's got anyone's attention, and can't comprehend the idea that everyone must be following someone. Of course there are exceptions to these trends, but I'm guessing you're in this camp, born before the 1970s. Am I right?]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130516/18383623114/your-word-against-ours-how-fbis-no-electronic-recording-policy-rigs-game-destroys-its-credibility.shtml#c169 Mon, 20 May 2013 09:58:37 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130516/18383623114/your-word-against-ours-how-fbis-no-electronic-recording-policy-rigs-game-destroys-its-credibility.shtml#c169 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.]]> Re: Re: WHOA! Stop at: "everyone just wants stuff for free". http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130516/15445423110/framework-copyright-reform.shtml#c1708 Sat, 18 May 2013 17:56:26 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130516/15445423110/framework-copyright-reform.shtml#c1708 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130515/18051923103/footage-lethal-beating-deleted-seized-phone-sheriff-asks-fbi-to-take-over-investigation.shtml#c274 Thu, 16 May 2013 13:41:20 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130515/18051923103/footage-lethal-beating-deleted-seized-phone-sheriff-asks-fbi-to-take-over-investigation.shtml#c274 Re: Sue Monsanto... http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130513/12113523062/monsanto-wins-case-seed-patents-planting-your-own-legally-purchased-grown-seeds-can-be-infringing.shtml#c563 Mon, 13 May 2013 16:13:20 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130513/12113523062/monsanto-wins-case-seed-patents-planting-your-own-legally-purchased-grown-seeds-can-be-infringing.shtml#c563 Sounds to me like he was deliberately sold a product which could not legally be used to do the things it was sold for
As the linked court opinion notes, the grain elevator sold the seed for the ordinary use of consumption, not the extraordinary use of planting. I think warranty of merchantability would only apply if the seed were unfit for the ordinary use of consumption.]]> Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Interesting fight, but... http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130509/01272923016/key-legal-fight-shaping-up-over-legality-dmca-abuses.shtml#c451 Fri, 10 May 2013 16:48:55 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130509/01272923016/key-legal-fight-shaping-up-over-legality-dmca-abuses.shtml#c451 Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Interesting fight, but... http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130509/01272923016/key-legal-fight-shaping-up-over-legality-dmca-abuses.shtml#c443 Fri, 10 May 2013 16:48:42 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130509/01272923016/key-legal-fight-shaping-up-over-legality-dmca-abuses.shtml#c443 Consider the alternative [...] if there was even the remotest possibility of fair use, the rights holder could not take the risk of sending a DMCA notice. Am I the only one who see nothing wrong with that?]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130506/17164522967/nypd-sergeant-says-guilty-until-proven-innocent-is-just-price-we-pay-free-society.shtml#c353 Wed, 8 May 2013 10:52:07 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130506/17164522967/nypd-sergeant-says-guilty-until-proven-innocent-is-just-price-we-pay-free-society.shtml#c353 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130410/12051322665/copyright-lobotomy-how-intellectual-property-makes-us-pretend-to-be-stupid.shtml#c1634 Wed, 8 May 2013 10:38:17 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130410/12051322665/copyright-lobotomy-how-intellectual-property-makes-us-pretend-to-be-stupid.shtml#c1634
We are expected, by the copyright industry and its enablers like Congress, Spotify, Google, etc.; to pretend that the data flowing through devices we own is not ours to do with as we please; to pretend that we can't decrypt, unwrap, demux, save to disk, or otherwise recontextualize the content. We are expected to pretend we are so stupid, we can only handle being told where to enter our credit card numbers and personal info, and where to click to access the music or movie or e-book. We are told to pretend that any technology the content industry doesn't want us to have, doesn't, shouldn't, and mustn't exist, and that sharing such technology amongst ourselves, just like sharing the content amongst ourselves, is a crime and is wrong. Oh, and we must pretend that only the government and industry-approved devices can break digital locks.

It's madness, utter madness.]]> Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Real Reason http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130506/12314322964/author-to-kill-mockingbird-sues-agent-swiping-her-copyright.shtml#c733 Wed, 8 May 2013 02:10:55 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130506/12314322964/author-to-kill-mockingbird-sues-agent-swiping-her-copyright.shtml#c733
We can speculate as to what degree copyright and the promise of a lifetime-plus of royalties played in her life and career choices, but to be fair, she doesn't owe the public anything, nor has she made the kind of arguments we're railing against here, and her current dispute has nothing to do with it. I hope I didn't imply those things.

Like I said, I just think of her when I hear defenders of copyright, in litigation and legislation, insist that creativity depends on long, strongly enforced terms.]]> Re: Re: Re: Real Reason http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130506/12314322964/author-to-kill-mockingbird-sues-agent-swiping-her-copyright.shtml#c691 Tue, 7 May 2013 14:12:52 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130506/12314322964/author-to-kill-mockingbird-sues-agent-swiping-her-copyright.shtml#c691
Regardless, you suggest she only wrote the book because she knew she could get (at the time) 56 years'-worth of royalties. I believe that it would still have been written even if she could've only gotten, say, 10 years'-worth. Since writing was her true calling, maybe even less than that. And I believe that the prospect of the gravy train coming to an end so "soon" would've helped motivate her to bestow more great works upon the public.]]> Re: Real Reason http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130506/12314322964/author-to-kill-mockingbird-sues-agent-swiping-her-copyright.shtml#c633 Tue, 7 May 2013 10:41:14 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130506/12314322964/author-to-kill-mockingbird-sues-agent-swiping-her-copyright.shtml#c633
Under the copyright law in effect at the time she wrote it, it would be slated to enter the public domain in 2016, I think, so Pinkus wouldn't have as much incentive to swindle the little old lady in her twilight years. Had it entered the public domain sooner, the swindle wouldn't have happened at all, and she may well have had an incentive to contribute more great works to society.]]> Re: Re: Re: Re: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130428/06391522863/fair-use-protects-some-uses-it-is-still-way-too-weak-to-be-effective-many.shtml#c883 Wed, 1 May 2013 11:10:43 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130428/06391522863/fair-use-protects-some-uses-it-is-still-way-too-weak-to-be-effective-many.shtml#c883 despite the rights that someone has over it (there is no "anyway"). It's about that person not having all the rights over the work that they think they do.]]> Re: Re: Re: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130428/06391522863/fair-use-protects-some-uses-it-is-still-way-too-weak-to-be-effective-many.shtml#c713 Tue, 30 Apr 2013 21:09:44 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130428/06391522863/fair-use-protects-some-uses-it-is-still-way-too-weak-to-be-effective-many.shtml#c713 Re: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130428/06391522863/fair-use-protects-some-uses-it-is-still-way-too-weak-to-be-effective-many.shtml#c557 Tue, 30 Apr 2013 17:01:28 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130428/06391522863/fair-use-protects-some-uses-it-is-still-way-too-weak-to-be-effective-many.shtml#c557 Kind of Bloop cover art) definitely either infringement or fair use? Or is it neither?

Fair use puts a limit on what copyright covers. Certain kinds of uses are not, as the copyright maximalists would have us believe, "permissible infringement", but rather are just things that copyright doesn't even encompass; there can be no infringement in those situations, as there's no exclusive right upon which to infringe, and no license to seek.

But the plaintiff in a copyright infringement lawsuit asserts, implicitly, that the defendant's use is not one of these outside-the-realm-of-copyright situations. It is up to the defendant to convince the court otherwise, so it's hard to see how anyone could say it's not a defense.

That said, I don't see how it can be said that infringement has occurred, unless there is a judicial finding or admission of infringement. A prima facie showing of infringement is neither of those things. It is a modestly supported accusation, an assertion that something looks like infringement.

I can say you did something which infringed upon some right of mine, and offer some evidence that you indeed did commit the act which I say is infringing, but unless you admit to infringement, it's up to the court to say that yes you did commit the act and yes that act infringed upon my rights. Until then, the infringement is just, like, your opinion, man.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130419/02262422761/new-tool-lets-you-see-how-often-patent-has-shown-up-litigation.shtml#c49 Fri, 19 Apr 2013 20:31:09 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130419/02262422761/new-tool-lets-you-see-how-often-patent-has-shown-up-litigation.shtml#c49 Re: First Material Object it's copied to? http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130401/11341622538/redigi-loses-selling-used-mp3s-online-infringes-first-sale-doesnt-apply-to-digital-transfers.shtml#c1785 Tue, 2 Apr 2013 17:21:02 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130401/11341622538/redigi-loses-selling-used-mp3s-online-infringes-first-sale-doesnt-apply-to-digital-transfers.shtml#c1785 Re: Hmm, and yet you're indifferent to Google and Microsoft http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130322/10344122419/brazils-music-collection-societies-convicted-price-fixing.shtml#c188 Sat, 23 Mar 2013 04:47:51 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130322/10344122419/brazils-music-collection-societies-convicted-price-fixing.shtml#c188