Philip 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: 200 Students Admit To 'Cheating' On Exam… But Bigger Question Is If It Was Really Cheating Or Studying

    Philip ( profile ), 19 Nov, 2010 @ 11:37am

    Re:

    You're right. It's not "lazy." But I think the real issue here is the professor claiming these were his questions, he made himself. Even to the point where he even said he tends to make questions that don't make sense, so he apologized in advance.

    Now, he's clearly saying he used somebody else's questions (after already claiming them to be his original work!). Clearly a double standard here.

  • On the post: 200 Students Admit To 'Cheating' On Exam… But Bigger Question Is If It Was Really Cheating Or Studying

    Philip ( profile ), 19 Nov, 2010 @ 11:32am

    Re: Re: Re:

    Stupid enter key (incase you see this as a dump).

    If you listen closely to the video again, he clearly states the student dropped off the "complete test-bank" for the mid-term exam. I see/hear no mention of them having "a copy of the (actual) exam."

  • On the post: 200 Students Admit To 'Cheating' On Exam… But Bigger Question Is If It Was Really Cheating Or Studying

    Philip ( profile ), 19 Nov, 2010 @ 10:41am

    Re:

    Yes. Except, the professor told the students HE made the questions. So the question isn't about the ethics of being able to copy the answers; but about him lying to the student body about creating the test personally. Basically, the professor plagiarized his tests, and now he's trying to blame his students for his laziness because they happened to have located the *publicly available* test questions.

  • On the post: 200 Students Admit To 'Cheating' On Exam… But Bigger Question Is If It Was Really Cheating Or Studying

    Philip ( profile ), 19 Nov, 2010 @ 10:35am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    *I should append I happen to be a test learner, too. I tend to remember answers I get wrong better than the answers I get right. However, with answers I get wrong, I find out why I was wrong, not just look at the right answer (meaning: I try to understand why the other answer is right).

  • On the post: 200 Students Admit To 'Cheating' On Exam… But Bigger Question Is If It Was Really Cheating Or Studying

    Philip ( profile ), 19 Nov, 2010 @ 10:31am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Ah, a fair playing field. Outside that is where we find the good students vs the okay ones. Nothing in life is a fairly played field. If one student is more resourceful than another, should we really be blaming the resourceful student?

    I agree with SteelWolf; the purpose of the courses is learning the material. If a students can learn it better by using publicly available practice tests, so be it. They are learning, and that's the whole point here.

  • On the post: Animated Version Of TSA Naked Scans And Gropings

    Philip ( profile ), 18 Nov, 2010 @ 09:26am

    Re: They took it down ... wow

    I take that back; it's working for me now.

  • On the post: Animated Version Of TSA Naked Scans And Gropings

    Philip ( profile ), 18 Nov, 2010 @ 09:03am

    They took it down ... wow

    Daaamn. They took down the Colbert video clip. I'm getting a Futurama clip, even on the main site.

    Anybody find an authorized clip on another site? Seems like that'll be the only way to see it now...

  • On the post: Turns Out TV Cord Cutters Are, In Fact, Young, Educated And Employed

    Philip ( profile ), 02 Nov, 2010 @ 08:39am

    I hadn't directly paid for cable since, oh, 2003. I hadn't watched cable since the 90s. And the /only/ reason I have cable now is because it's lumped in with my HOA. I prefer to be without it, with cheaper HOA payment.

  • On the post: Why Won't Universal Music Let You See The 20/20 Report From 1980 About How The Music Industry Is Dying?

    Philip ( profile ), 18 Oct, 2010 @ 02:26pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Analysis of Fair Use?

    UMG can't claim copyright against the poster, since they don't own copyright to the news clip. That's the point here: blame the right party.

    The use of the clips in the video, most likely, was fair use, and not challenge. Back in the 80s, fair use was much more accepted than it is today. I'd wager 20/20 didn't have "proper licenses" for the clips either, since ... well ... it is a news report, and fair use was fair back then.

  • On the post: Why Won't Universal Music Let You See The 20/20 Report From 1980 About How The Music Industry Is Dying?

    Philip ( profile ), 18 Oct, 2010 @ 01:48pm

    Re: Re: Re: Analysis of Fair Use?

    Makes sense, except this isn't whether the video on YouTube is fair use. UMG claimed copyright. Since UMG doesn't own the copyright to the original video, clearly it had to do with content within the video. Basically, UMG is claiming copyright against ABC with this take-down.

  • On the post: Another Day, Another Apology From Netflix; Calls Americans Self-Absorbed

    Philip ( profile ), 24 Sep, 2010 @ 07:55am

    What's the big deal?

    He's right. I can't discount anybody who's accurate. lol
    (yes, I'm an american, too).

    Maybe he should have worded it a bit differently by saying "us Americans" instead of just "Americans."

  • On the post: If Your Ad Claims 'Save More Every Time You Shop,' Does That Need To Be True?

    Philip ( profile ), 17 Aug, 2010 @ 09:08am

    Re:

    That's actually exactly the first thing I thought of when I saw somebody was complaining about the tag line.

  • On the post: Faking Evidence Online Probably Isn't A Good Idea

    Philip ( profile ), 10 Aug, 2010 @ 09:23am

    Ha!

    Sounds like something my mother would have tried. Lord knows she's tried so many other things (including, mail fraud). Technology wasn't as mature in those days. lol

  • On the post: Students Who Caught Gym Teacher Stealing Money From Lockers May Get Punished

    Philip ( profile ), 07 May, 2010 @ 08:09am

    This is a tricky one.

    At first, I immediately jumped to the students' defense. However, the more I think about it, they broke a rule to catch a criminal. In essence, they are a small scale renegade.

    Letting the kids off would show it's okay to break the rules to catch a criminal. Although, punishing them could make them less likely to blow the whistle (so to speak).

    I keep thinking about the US wiretapping in all this: if the illegal wiretapping caught an actual criminal, would people still be against it? Or should that criminal go free cause the wiretapping was illegal? Hard choices! Stupid gray areas.

  • On the post: Conservationists Blaming The Internet For Clubbing Baby Seals

    Philip ( profile ), 22 Mar, 2010 @ 01:44pm

    Next up

    .. They blame phone companies for mail order brides.

  • On the post: Apparently The Word 'Piracy' No Longer Sufficiently Derogatory For Entertainment Industry

    Philip ( profile ), 19 Mar, 2010 @ 01:05pm

    Re: Call it what you will!

    what if you spend $3000 on a ROLEX watch, (or $30,000), and you find that it's a fake, it's a pirated version of the original, and after 6 months it's stops working.

    That's call "counterfeit." There are plenty of legal counterfeit rolexes out there - they just don't call themselves ROLEX for obvious reasons.

    You seem to be confused as to the difference in piracy and theft. It's simple: in theft, the original product is lost. In piracy, you still have the original.

  • On the post: Apparently The Word 'Piracy' No Longer Sufficiently Derogatory For Entertainment Industry

    Philip ( profile ), 19 Mar, 2010 @ 09:39am

    In homage to John Stewart

    We should call them - Progressives.
    (backstory story: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-march-18-2010/conservative-libertarian)

  • On the post: Apparently The Word 'Piracy' No Longer Sufficiently Derogatory For Entertainment Industry

    Philip ( profile ), 18 Mar, 2010 @ 02:19pm

    What do pirates hate?

    NINJAS!

    I propose the new term be "ninjacy" in efforts to fight "piracy." Now the entertainment industry can have ninjas work for them beating out the pirates.

  • On the post: Williams Sonoma Nastygrams Blogger Who Helps People Build Their Own Furniture

    Philip ( profile ), 12 Mar, 2010 @ 07:46pm

    Neat site!

    I've personally never even heard of her, but looking over the site, I like! I found a few pieces I'm very much interested in building and she does an awesome job laying things out. I'm surely keeping this site around.

    Once again, a site that people never heard of, until the lawyers got in the way. I guess I should be thanking the lawyers ... I would have never known about her if it wasn't for them.

  • On the post: Has The Recording Industry Reached The Bargaining Stage Of Grief?

    Philip ( profile ), 01 Feb, 2010 @ 11:42am

    Re: Re:

    "Err...why? I thought the issue with the old dot com days was over-valuing potential monetization of site traffic and coupling that over-valuing with over-valuing stock prices and the potential revenue to be generated through buyouts or public spinoffs. How is this a parallel?"

    Wow. That sounds exactly like what the recording industry is doing today: over-valuing the content (music [not to forget movies and publishes, too]). Potential revenue generation from forced user-purchases (bundles; delayed digital releases, etc).

    I think Anti-Mike hit the nail on the head with his parallel. That was definitely my first thought when I thought of a recording industry depression (lost of exec jobs, etc).

    It makes sense. One of these days, the recording industry will discover it takes 1/3 or even 1/5 the man power they currently posses to do the necessary jobs using the internet. That means a potential 2/3 or 4/5 layoff of industry jobs. Looks like a bubble burst to me!

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