Zangetsu 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Patent Troll Says It Owns Podcasting; Sues Adam Carolla, HowStuffWorks

    Zangetsu ( profile ), 07 Feb, 2013 @ 01:44pm

    Sue Apple

    To be honest, from the piece that I read it really looks like they are talking about iTunes and not necessarily podcasting in general. For example, Apparatus for disseminating a series of episodes represented by media files via the Internet as said episodes become available seems more like iTunes than anything else. So, when is he suing Apple?

  • On the post: California Senator Leland Yee Tells Gamers To Shut Up And Let The Grown Ups Talk

    Zangetsu ( profile ), 25 Jan, 2013 @ 09:39am

    Sorry, Tim, you made a mistake.

    In your story you stated that "But we won't be talking to game developers."
    But they will be talking to game developers. Didn't the NRA announce a couple of games? Aren't they a game developer?

  • On the post: The Rise Of E-Singles In Literature

    Zangetsu ( profile ), 11 Jan, 2013 @ 08:20am

    Science Fiction Gets It Right

    Or, rather, the Science Fiction Writers of America:

    Short Story: Less than 7500 words
    Novelete: Between 7500 and 17,500 words
    Novella: Between 17,500 words and 40,000 words
    Novel: Over 40,000 words

    So, what we have here are people selling a "Novelette". The definitions were, I believe, originally created for the Nebula Awards.

    As for the benefit of a novelette or "e-Single", it should be a very inexpensive way to determine whether or not the author, their style, or the subject matter are something you are comfortable with and enjoy. If, however, Publishers get hold of this they will try to turn a large novel into a lot of novelettes and try to get more money out of the audience for the same price. Imagine Fall of Giants by Ken Follet coming out in 25 pieces at $0.99 each instead of the $9.99 novel.

    Potential benefit: Great
    Potential abuse: Great

  • On the post: Google Asks People To Speak Out Against ITU's Attempt To Takeover Internet Governance

    Zangetsu ( profile ), 21 Nov, 2012 @ 04:10pm

    Wow, that sucks.

    In the middle of playback of the embedded video it stops and displays a "This video is currently unavailable" message. I wonder who filed a DMCA notice?

  • On the post: Report On Internet Freedom Shows We're Seeing Less And Less Of It

    Zangetsu ( profile ), 04 Oct, 2012 @ 03:50pm

    It's not hard to be at the top

    ... when your competition is China, Pakistan, Libya, Jordan, Russia, Vietnam, etc. I see that many countries that are more "enlightened" than the U.S. where never surveyed. If the U.S. did not end up near the top of the list I would have been very surprised. However, I have no real confidence in the report as being nearly as accurate as it could be due to the sponsor group and the lack of information about how the USA was scored.

  • On the post: The MPAA's Problem In A Nutshell: Views Relationship With The Public As One Way

    Zangetsu ( profile ), 04 Oct, 2012 @ 08:56am

    Not in Canada

    I'm a little confused. I went on to the UltraViolet site and tried to register an account. I couldn't because there is no option for Canada. I can register if I am in the United States or the United Kingdnm but not in Canada. So, is this because:

    A) Canadians are too smart to go for this
    B) The MPAA has no understanding of their target audience
    C) The MPAA has too many legal hurdles to overcome to offer their own movies in different countries
    D) All of the above

    I'm kind of leaning towards D) myself.

  • On the post: Still All Talk: 19 Of 20 Presidential Cabinet Agencies Ignore Requirements Of The Freedom Of Information Act

    Zangetsu ( profile ), 03 Oct, 2012 @ 04:22pm

    At least one government is open

    The Alberta government is publishing all of its travel expenses (http://alberta.ca/InternationalTravelExpenses.cfm) although this is as a result of a scandal earlier in the year with regard to a high level member of the government abusing his travel expenses.

    But as Eric Newton said "If it?s public, it should be just there"

  • On the post: Why The Six Strikes Plan Doesn't Mesh With US Law Or Social Norms

    Zangetsu ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2012 @ 12:52pm

    So what if ..

    As a Canadian I sometimes need assistance in understanding American "rules" because every so often they don't make a lot of sense. So, from what I can gather, even if you are merely accused of copyright infringement from an automated bot that may or may not be accurate, you start rising up the escalation ladder in this "Six Strikes" process.

    So, for example, if someone knew the IP address of NBC.COM (208.38.45.151) and then started to accuse NBC.COM of infringing on their copyright by going through their provider, they could take NBC off the Internet? And this seems logical to people? If someone knew the IP Addresses of the NBC executive team they could adulterate the process to get all of them "barred" from the Internet. And the copyright industries don't think that this is going to turn around and bite them in the butt?

  • On the post: MPAA Sends Five Key Propaganda Points To Politicians

    Zangetsu ( profile ), 12 Sep, 2012 @ 09:00am

    Thank you MPAA

    I would like to thank the MPAA for helping prevent damage to the Canadian economy. As I am sure that they know, IMAX is actually a Canadian invention from a company that is not part of the "motion picture and television industry" so it is very heartening to know that they love the technology so much that they have adopted it as their own.

    As for filming at 48 frames per second, the first movie to have been filmed that way (The Hobbit) was directed by a Kiwi. The first director to state that they were going to film this way was a Canadian (James Cameron).

    As for 3D, who the heck cares?

    Anyway, thank you MPAA for your honest and accurate commentary.

  • On the post: Appeals Court Says Companies Can Be Guilty Of Inducing Infringement… Even If There Is No Direct Infringement

    Zangetsu ( profile ), 31 Aug, 2012 @ 03:17pm

    So if we extend this to copyright law ...

    If we extend to copyright law, if you got 50,000 people to tweet a single word of a short novel to the same hashtag, although none of them are truly guilty of copyright infringement for a single word, collectively they are guilty? And, through the mere fact that Twitter allows this to happen, Twitter is guilty of inducing infringement?

  • On the post: DC Dumps Bill To Force Uber Into High Prices; Complains That The Bill Was To Help Uber

    Zangetsu ( profile ), 29 Jul, 2012 @ 12:27pm

    CNN hit the mark .. sort of

    In a recent news story on CNN, they commented on Uber and it's entrance into the DC marketplace. The comment that struck me as being astute was when the reporter asked the question "Should consumers be forced to pay a price so that the earnings of some workers won't be affected?" While the answer in the Uber case was "no", the question is applicable to technology in general.

    The MPAA thinks the answer should be "yes". The RIAA likewise. Like the taxi industry in Washington DC, there is an expectation that the introduction of new technologies should be done in such a way as to cushion the impact of that technology upon their pay cheque. Therein lies the problem that the 21st century needs to deal with: how to get people to move to a new job. Perhaps the education system needs to change so that people can get trainer cheaper, faster and on demand. Perhaps the funding of education from a municipal/state/federal level needs to be altered to pay for results instead of attendance.

  • On the post: Meet The Internet Defense League (And Join It, Too)

    Zangetsu ( profile ), 19 Jul, 2012 @ 08:13am

    Re: What about my freedom to create without being pirated?

    The organizations involved in the IDL don't care about individuals rights-- unless they're the so-called right to pirate anything anywhere anytime.



    I hear that Pearle Vision is offering a deal on Team USA Olympic glasses. You should get some so that you can see reality.

  • On the post: Meet The Internet Defense League (And Join It, Too)

    Zangetsu ( profile ), 19 Jul, 2012 @ 07:47am

    It's a shame that it needs to exist

    Abraham Lincoln, in the Gettysburg Address, said that:

    It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us?that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion?that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain?that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom?and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

    What he said with regard to the survival of the United States is just as relevant when we talk about the survival of the Internet as a medium for unfiltered communication. Yes, some of that communication is vile filth, but some of it is pure magic. You can't see one if you don't see the other.

    Voltaire said "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." Many Americans have embraced that slogan. Many American soldiers have died defending that right. Is the Internet the straw that breaks the camels back? Will soldiers go to war and die, protecting free speech, while the average American sits and home and is fed the information that some small group in a boardroom wants them to hear?

  • On the post: New iPhone Connector Port Revealed, Thus Wiping Out Several Generations Of Accessories In One Fell Swoop

    Zangetsu ( profile ), 22 Jun, 2012 @ 05:54am

    So what?

    Seriously, so Apple might introduce a new pin connector with the next iPhone. So what? If you want the new iPhone you buy new accessories. If you don't want the new iPhone don't buy it and use all your existing accessories. Some of the docks you could buy for a version 1 iPad don't work with a version 3 iPad just two years later. I didn't see mass protests in the streets and an Apple Spring occur.

    To say that there is nothing to gain, when all that is even guessed at is the fact that it goes from 30 pins to 19 pins, seems to be more of a shot in the dark more than anything else. What if the new pin connection is required to allow it to implement new features that luddites have never dreamed of. To be honest, Leigh, this doesn't sound like a typical TechDirt article, but more of a "I saw the Microsoft Surface and it uses standards so I hate Apple" article.

    "Don't innovate because that might leave people behind" is a quaint and antiquated idea, but if we followed your lead there would be little to no innovation in the world because at some point we would have had to leave people behind.

    Now, if you'll excuse me, the horses need watering before I hitch them up to the buggy and drive them to work.

  • On the post: How Much Would It Cost To Pre-Screen YouTube Videos? About $37 Billion Per Year…

    Zangetsu ( profile ), 30 May, 2012 @ 05:36am

    Re: Re:

    Why not pay Google 37 billion to setup such a system and pocket the extra 213 billion.


    In many respects that is what ContentID is supposed to do. Perhaps Google should be setting up a relationship with the MPAA and RIAA. For every item blocked by ContentID it is considered a "lost sale" that is being recovered. As a result Google obtains a "finders" fee of 10% of the recovered sale.


    This finders fee would go towards the creation of new technology to "recover" lost sales for other industries like tourism (all those pictures about Hawaii are stopping people from going to Hawaii) and the restaurant industry (all those pictures about food are stopping people from going to restaurants). There is precedent for this, after all we've told the tobacco industry to post pictures of people who have had bad things happen to them due to smoking.


    Congratulations, fairusefriendly, I think you've hit upon a revenue stream that sees no realistic limit.

  • On the post: Canadian Politician Claims That Ripping A CD To Your iPod Is Like Buying Socks & Stealing Shoes To Go With Them

    Zangetsu ( profile ), 17 May, 2012 @ 04:00pm

    Apology

    I would like to apologize on the behalf of the rest of Canada. Most Canadians can actually make better analogies. The only thing I can think of is that he was either trained by the patent judges in East Texas or the Dutch anti-piracy judge on how to make nonsensical analogies. To his benefit, however, his political ties are deep in the technology sector being a "Member in Good Standing of the Outdoors Caucus" and "Vice-Chair of the Auto Caucus". Both of which use technology. Sort of. (Is there a Windows 8 Metro interface for shotguns? And how about that SYNC software in Ford cars?)

  • On the post: Key Techdirt SOPA/PIPA Post Censored By Bogus DMCA Takedown Notice

    Zangetsu ( profile ), 27 Feb, 2012 @ 11:22am

    Article fodder

    Please keep us up to date on what happens. Like one of your other posts mentions, I am grabbing a bucket of popcorn and watching what happens. What I think would be particularly interesting to know is how long it takes to get the page back into circulation. What impact does it have if people can get pages down faster than they can be restored? What happens if I type in "TeamSkeet porn torrent download"? Is this page now going to be the subject of a DMCA takedown notice? If it is then we've now discovered a way to take down any page on any site that allows comments. Denial of service via DMCA attack (DoS via DMCA (TM) )

  • On the post: Do You Need Permission To Take A Photo With A Chair In It? You Might In France…

    Zangetsu ( profile ), 23 Feb, 2012 @ 07:52am

    Perfect Picture of Paris

    I found this perfect picture of France on the Wikipedia site. It has been carefully adjusted to avoid any copyright issues.

    Paris in Summer

    This is how most pictures of Paris should look. Please note the subtle modifications to the picture to ensure that it follows all of the latest guidelines and policies put in place by the French courts.

  • On the post: RIAA Totally Out Of Touch: Lashes Out At Google, Wikipedia And Everyone Who Protested SOPA/PIPA

    Zangetsu ( profile ), 08 Feb, 2012 @ 11:18am

    Re: Maybe Mike should write the next Op-Ed?

    Never mind, found the link: http://www.nytimes.com/content/help/site/editorial/op-ed/op-ed.html

    Mike, time to put your penmanship on the line.

  • On the post: RIAA Totally Out Of Touch: Lashes Out At Google, Wikipedia And Everyone Who Protested SOPA/PIPA

    Zangetsu ( profile ), 08 Feb, 2012 @ 11:14am

    Maybe Mike should write the next Op-Ed?

    Who do we have to call to get Mike Masnick to write the rebuttal to this op-ed from Cary Sherman? I'll willing to call/write, I just need to know if it is going to be effective.

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