Idobek 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Companies Not Rushing To The Patent Office For Accelerated Review Of Green Patents

    Idobek ( profile ), 02 Sep, 2010 @ 03:13am

    Re:

    "Has anyone yet laid a trademark claim upon the word green?"

    I don't think it is trademarked but accross large parts of Europe they use "blue" to avoid confusion witt (or sugguested endorsement by) pre-existing, non-environmental political parties. Hence the VW "Bluemotion" series of cars.

  • On the post: UK Supermarket Starts Making Its Own Movies

    Idobek ( profile ), 11 Aug, 2010 @ 06:30am

    £1 in every 8 (possibly 7) spent in the UK is spent in Tesco. If there is one company that can afford to experiment with new business models, it is Tesco.

  • On the post: EU Data Protection Body Points Out That ACTA Violates EU Data Protection Rules

    Idobek ( profile ), 28 Jul, 2010 @ 06:57am

    Re: Death of a 1,000 paper cuts ...

    Since the EU is relatively new, not as corrupt as the US

    Ha ha, ha ha ha, hahahahahahaha. Ha, ha ha, huh. *cough* Heh. Um...

    and the citizens there actually take an interest in government

    But are consistently ignored or told to think again whenever they vote the "wrong" way.

    However, the rest of what you say does stand up. Especially if you ensure to highlight that ACTA is being pushed by US owned vested interests. Keep banging on about it being written for and by US companies and you're bound to attract their attention.

  • On the post: UK Politicians Looking To Repeal Digital Economy Act

    Idobek ( profile ), 20 May, 2010 @ 06:10am

    Re:

    Are you seriously suggesting this shouldn't be allowed? That once a law has been passed it should not be possible to repeal it? Or maybe you believe the next government should not be able to repeal it? What then the point of changing governments? Why not simply do away with those pesky elections all together?

  • On the post: UK Politicians Looking To Repeal Digital Economy Act

    Idobek ( profile ), 19 May, 2010 @ 05:45am

    No parliament may bind another

    There is currently a Great Repeal Bill being drafted. The intention being that all the poorly drafted acts or parts of acts that were forced through by the Labour government of the last 13 years are simply revoked. Also included may be acts that are not performing their intended function and acts from before 1997 (where hard cases have resulted in bad laws).

    The Tories may support the inclusion of the DEA on the basis that any debate and review of the bill was cut short and it therefore was not subjected to proper parliamentary scrutiny. As Labour did that a lot it hands the Tories and the Liberals a handy excuse to include acts for repeal that they previously voted for but the other part of the coalition wants repealed. It is Labour's abuse of parliamentary process that will unite the coalition in this case.

    We're told that public opinion will be sought so hopefully Nick Clegg (I think he is the lead on this) will read this carefully:

    Great Repeal Bill

    Being an fervent EU supporter we can expect him to ignore the parts that repeal our membership. But, if he is a proper Liberal, as he claims, then the rest should appeal to him.

  • On the post: Remember How Hollywood Promised Lots Of New Content If It Could Break Your TV/DVR? Yeah, That's Not Happening…

    Idobek ( profile ), 19 May, 2010 @ 04:46am

    Re: Re: Re:

    Those specifically in Crown Countries are required to pay a yearly "TV License" to the Commonwealth which was originally started in the days where Europeans were required to pay a "Radio License" This is not uncommon even to this day. For example, in the UK, a fee of £145.50 (or roughly USD$215) is collected by OfCom for EACH television set. That's the magic of Sky, or NewsCorp's model.

    Collected by the BBC for the BBC. Some of this "license fee" (a tax in all but name) does go elsewhere but Sky gets nothing. It would in fact be beneficial to Sky (and, I believe, the public) if it were scrapped. OfCom does not collect or enforce TV licenses it is all done by the BBC by "private" prosecution.

  • On the post: Do We Really Want To Criminalize Bad Jokes?

    Idobek ( profile ), 13 May, 2010 @ 02:34am

    Hopefully this case will ensure that Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 (or, even better, the entire act) is added to the coming Great Repeal Bill.

    If Hannan and Carswell have their way they we can all have a say: http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Great_Repeal_Bill

  • On the post: Germany "Horrified" That Google's Collecting Publicly-Available Data

    Idobek ( profile ), 28 Apr, 2010 @ 05:33am

    Re: once bitten, twice shy

    You have heard of the EU haven't you? You know the one; the power hungry regime that demands ISPs keep vast amounts of personal data just in case they happen to need it for nefarious purposes.

  • On the post: Who Needs Parenting When Your ISP Uses The British Film Classification System?

    Idobek ( profile ), 26 Apr, 2010 @ 09:20am

    Welcome to the UK...

    ...where the contracting out of parenting is fast becoming mandatory.

  • On the post: Publisher Warns Fans That Liking A Book Too Much May Be Illegal

    Idobek ( profile ), 13 Apr, 2010 @ 07:00am

    Re: TV shows suffer from the same problem.

    You're discussing the exceptions! Living in the UK I have to put up with this for almost every American produced TV show.

  • On the post: Publisher Warns Fans That Liking A Book Too Much May Be Illegal

    Idobek ( profile ), 13 Apr, 2010 @ 06:49am

    Re: Re: WTF?

    They just assumed American's wouldn't know how to read United Kingdomish and so figured they were safe. Somebody forgot to tell the publisher that America and UK speak the same language (slightly different word choices and spellings at time, but nothing the reasonably intelligent reader can't handle)

    I imagine that's why Bloomsbury "translated" the Harry Potter novels into American. It was strangley disconcerting reading one whilst living in Philadelphia, some of the language used was just... wrong. Of course, I only noticed because I am English; the average American wouldn't.

  • On the post: House Passes Ban On File Sharing Use By Government Employees

    Idobek ( profile ), 31 Mar, 2010 @ 06:57am

    Re: Tony

    "Actually, if the Top Secret data is residing on a computer that has internet access period, that person is committing a serious violation. It should go without saying that the computer being used to store classified material shouldn't have any P2P software on it let alone even have access to the internet."

    I think we can safely substitute "politically embarrassing" for "Top Secret" in terms of the data in the minds of the members of Congress who voted for this bill.

  • On the post: Encyclopedia Dramatica Owner May Face Charges Down Under… Despite Not Being In Australia

    Idobek ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2010 @ 05:59am

    Human Wrongs

    Why do almost all "human rights commissions" ignore the most basic and important ones like FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION.

    Suppressing the true and fundamental rights freedom of expression because people might be offended, not harmed - offended (ah, diddums), is a massive ABUSE of human rights. I wish those that claim to be upholding these rights could see this.

  • On the post: BPI Says That UK Spies Are Against Digital Economy Bill

    Idobek ( profile ), 16 Mar, 2010 @ 09:47am

    Elected officials don't give a damn

    All government bills currently going through parliament will be rammed through by a Labour party clinging to the vestiges of power. The only of it not becoming law is it being held up in the Lords until the election.

  • On the post: Would 2010 Steve Jobs Sue 1996 (Or 1984) Steve Jobs Over Patents?

    Idobek ( profile ), 04 Mar, 2010 @ 05:24am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Read the quotes carefully

    "Of course, half VGA is a standard. Now. How many HVGA phones were there before the iPhone?"

    You're really going to use that argument? If we followed that logic back there wouldn't be any standards today. The "IBM compatible" PC would never have come into being. Do you really think that would be a good thing?

  • On the post: Baltimore Accused Of Stacking The Deck For Speed Cameras

    Idobek ( profile ), 26 Jan, 2010 @ 06:46am

    Speed cameras are dangerous

    Speed cameras are a hazard: far from making people drive more safely, they cause drivers to divert their concentration to their speedometers and away from the road.

  • On the post: Does French Three Strikes Law Also Mandate Movie Release Windows?

    Idobek ( profile ), 26 Jan, 2010 @ 06:31am

    The concept has potential

    It is, possibly, a step in the right direction.

    -Imagine release windows were the sole reason for piracy.
    -Recording industry wants 3 strikes law to combat piracy.
    -Legislators determine release windows the reason for piracy.
    -Law introduced the introduces 3 strikes and abolishes release windows.
    -3 strikes law never has to be used.
    -Sunset clause on 3 strikes law kicks in a few years down the line and it quietly drops away.

    Obviously the issues are for more complex and the legislators baulked but this could be a good way for legislation to work in the free market's favour. If industry's want protection they have to sacrifice something.

  • On the post: Still Some In The Music Business Who Believe The Impossible: Blur Manager Says 'Piracy' Can Be Stopped

    Idobek ( profile ), 26 Jan, 2010 @ 05:00am

    Blur and The Verve are One Hit Wonders?

    On what planet?

  • On the post: Yet Another Study Shows Txting Improves Kids' Spelling

    Idobek ( profile ), 22 Jan, 2010 @ 03:38am

    Credit where credit's due

    I'm impressed the BBC acknowledged the report at all.

  • On the post: UK Gov't Tells MPs They Can't See ACTA Details

    Idobek ( profile ), 22 Jan, 2010 @ 03:21am

    The UK has no say in ACTA

    "The European Commission, also involved in negotiations"

    If the EC is involved then no EU country has any real negotiating power; the EC is all.

    David Lammy knows this but doesn't want Parliament to realise it, especially with an election coming up.

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