Call me Al 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (24) comment rss

  • On the post: Things Get Worse And Worse For Sony As Another Massive Data Breach Detected

    Call me Al ( profile ), 03 May, 2011 @ 07:25am

    Re: Re:

    So if the boss of Sony committed ritual suicide then this would be forgiven?

    It would probably be cheaper for them in the long run.

  • On the post: UK Politicians Want People To Have To Apply For A Porn License Before Viewing Online Porn

    Call me Al ( profile ), 20 Dec, 2010 @ 03:02pm

    Its the standard UK Nanny State rearing its ugly head again. I'd hoped we were past this.

    Essentially the state believes that all parents are feckless layabouts who can't be relied upon to bring their children up properly. For this most part this may actually be true but their methods of dealing with the problem only serve to alienate those who would do the job properly in the first place.

  • On the post: Dark Helmet's Favorite Techdirt Posts Of The Week…

    Call me Al ( profile ), 12 Dec, 2010 @ 02:57am

    Re: Re:

    Or people like me who have signed up but rarely bother to login because they read Techdirt on several different computers during the course of the day.

  • On the post: Retail Giant Tesco Gets Into The Movie Business

    Call me Al ( profile ), 30 Jan, 2010 @ 02:48am

    Tesco are an odd bunch, they are actually quite disruptive compared to other UK supermarkets and I think overall they've made that market better. They like to try new things and have the cash to back it up.

  • On the post: School Wants To Claim Copyright Over Any Lesson Plans Created By Teachers

    Call me Al ( profile ), 11 Jan, 2010 @ 02:51pm

    Re: Re: Re:

    Anti-Mike - where will the extra 10 or 20k a year come from for these schools to invest? Presumably this will come from other schools, who will in turn sell other lesson plans to other schools. This will most likely simply move money from school to school without any real benefit... other then whoever sits in the middle and takes a cut as it goes past.

  • On the post: France Considers 'Right To Forget' Law, Apparently Not Realizing The Internet Never Forgets

    Call me Al ( profile ), 08 Jan, 2010 @ 02:55pm

    This is frustrating. Everyone has embarrassing stories in their past and that is a good thing as it shows they are real people. The attempts by politicians to whitewash their past is terribly false and disconnects them completely from the people they are supposed to represent.

    We need minor skeletons in the closet of people to force society to be a bit more relaxed and tolerant about the little things.

  • On the post: France's Latest Plan: Tax Google, Microsoft And Yahoo To Fund Record Labels

    Call me Al ( profile ), 07 Jan, 2010 @ 02:09pm

    kind of typical

    It worries me that I am so rarely surprised by the stupid ideas coming out of some governments.

    France in particular has a long history of cutting off its nose to spite its face. They were terribly snobbish about the French language and created the Academy Francais to protect it and its place in French culture. They insisted on set rules, grammar etc. This made the language somewhat limited as it could not adapt and failure to adapt meant it was left behind.

    English by contrast stole words from everywhere which helped in its spread around the world. Which is why English has been the lingua franca for quite a while now ;-)

    At the end of the day France isn't that big a market and the precedent set if they get away with this would be enormously damaging. I hope the big Tech companies band together and block the whole silly country and see how long before the screams of rage erupt from the French people.

    Of course France would probably go running to the EU and force them to fine anyone who did this.

  • On the post: Bono: We Should Use China's Censorship As An Example Of How To Stop Piracy

    Call me Al ( profile ), 04 Jan, 2010 @ 10:32am

    This doesn't surprise me at all. Bono is the most self-righteous, sanctimonious prat in the music business. I used to really like U2's music (and bought it ;) ) but the rubbish he spouts means that I now get angry whenever I hear it. Its a shame because he has some decent songs.

    I wonder if there is a correlation between the decline in U2's music sales and the distance Bono's head is inserted up his own posterior.

    As an aside I read an amusing piece on him. He was in Glasgow and part way through the gig he stopped and started slowly clapping his hands together. He then proceeded to tell the crowd "Everytime I clap my hands, a child in Africa dies." To which one of the locals shouted "Well stopping clapping them then... you evil bastard."

    To the issue at hand, he's clearly a misinformed puppet spouting the company line. The problem is that due to his status many people actually listen to him and will think what he says is true.

  • On the post: Kicking People Off The Internet Not Enough In South Korea, Copyright Lobbyists Demand More

    Call me Al ( profile ), 19 Nov, 2009 @ 02:15pm

    Re: Re: Tax Intelectual Property

    actually thats a pretty good idea. Every other kind of property gets taxed. You could even turn it round on them and say "You want your copyrights to be policed. Well we need to pay for that so pay up."

  • On the post: Mandelson Wants Gov't To Have Sweeping Powers To Protect Copyright Holders

    Call me Al ( profile ), 19 Nov, 2009 @ 02:13pm

    Re: Wow

    Mandy was forced to resign twice in disgrace when he was an MP but each time he came back. However as a Lord we cannot vote him out. The only way to take him out of power is to ensure that the Labour party are not the Government.

    Fortunately we have an election in about six months and hopefully they'll get kicked out.

    I'm not wildly ecstatic about the Conservatives closeness to business but I have read articles by leading members which shows a lot of more sense on Copyright issues and on the Internet in particular. Whether they stick to it when elected is another matter.

  • On the post: Yet Another (Yes, Another) Study Shows File Sharers Buy More

    Call me Al ( profile ), 02 Nov, 2009 @ 11:21am

    Just has a quick look through the media I've bought this year, several hundred pounds worth.

    All of the music is for singers or bands that I discovered online, on occasion through dubious means. Several of them are not available in the High Street shops in the UK (I checked before downloading the albums as I wanted the cover art). Could probably have got an import copy but that would cost much more then I was willing to pay.

    I've bought a few TV boxsets, several of these were of shows I originally watched online because they were not available to me on my current TV package.

    Films, saw the films in the cinema and then bought the DVDs when they came out. Though for several of these I would not have known they even existed without various websites alerting me to them, some certainly with unlicensed trailers.

    Of course it is also true that I've bought no media generated by British creators at all this year. I think it is rubbish so refuse to spend my money on it. One could argue that I only think its rubbish because I've found media I prefer elsewhere and without the Internet I would not have developed such a taste for it. That'll be their next comment - "Globalisation has made people realise what we produce is crap. We should put a tax on imported media to protect our homegrown industry."

  • On the post: UK Parliamentary Group Blames Entertainment Industry For File Sharing Problem, Opposes Kicking People Off The Internet

    Call me Al ( profile ), 19 Oct, 2009 @ 03:37pm

    I was grinning when I first read about this report. I was just amazed to read something sensible and to the point from a group of MPs.

    Now watch as the government completely ignored them.

  • On the post: Will Political Ads On Google Need To Include: 'This Ad Paid For By…

    Call me Al ( profile ), 19 Oct, 2009 @ 03:33pm

    "It seems like we're going to go through an uncomfortable transition period as these Elections Commissions begin to understand how the web works"

    Sadly I expect it will be more a case of waiting till they die. In my, admittedly limited, experience of the elderly they either embrace technology or are luddites. If they are the latter then there isn't a hope they will adapt.

  • On the post: Pro Tip: If You Run A Prison, Maybe Don't Give The Guy In Jail For Computer Fraud The Job Of Reprogramming Your Computers

    Call me Al ( profile ), 30 Sep, 2009 @ 02:52pm

    Re: Changing passwds?

    Wouldn't have worked. The prison system is so luddite in the UK that they have all that kind of thing in hardcopy and in triplicate. Though considering they let the inmates loose on the computer system it no longer seems so stupid.

    From the six months I worked in a prison back in 2002 this doesn't surprise me. Most were utterly clueless about computers and I was often asked to print copies of documents which were freely available on the shiny new computer system and post them all round the offices. There was even one member of staff (a typist) who refused to let them replace her old computer which was no capable of using the updated system and so was not internet compatible. She ended up with two computers on her desk, one for typing documents and one purely so she could access the internet. She was, in short, a staggeringly stupid old bat.

  • On the post: UK Gov't Now Supporting 3 Strikes: Lobbyists Win Again

    Call me Al ( profile ), 25 Aug, 2009 @ 11:36am

    "We've been listening carefully to responses to the consultation this far, and it's become clear there are widespread concerns that the plans as they stand could delay action, impacting unfairly upon rights holders."

    I think this is the most telling part. The question is who they are consulting with? Is it a balanced group of consumers, ISPs and media companies or is it just the latter? Its the problem in the UK these days, they only consult with the group that agrees with what they want to legislate.

  • On the post: Popular Video Game Series Tries Pay What You Want

    Call me Al ( profile ), 19 Aug, 2009 @ 04:24pm

    This looks like an interesting experiment. You'll get the die-hard fans who will pay a reasonable sum of money (maybe £20 or more) but you'll also get a load of people just curious to see what the game is like, they'll all pay a bit and it will add up.

  • On the post: Amanda Palmer Talks About Connecting With Fans: Fans WANT To Support Artists

    Call me Al ( profile ), 01 Aug, 2009 @ 03:35am

    I've been to a couple of Amanda Palmer concerts in London. She was joined by a dance troupe called The Danger Ensemble who were apparently working for free, all they asked were that people chucked some money in a bucket for them at the end of the show. They were so entertaining that I felt it was impossible not to and, to be frank, I'm normally a bit of a cheapskate. If they can get me to cough up then they are on the right track.

    In the second of her concerts they also auctioned off a painting, though I can't remember how much for it was certainly a hefty amount and I think far beyond what was expected.

  • On the post: Japan's Smile Scanners A Classic Misuse Of Technology

    Call me Al ( profile ), 30 Jul, 2009 @ 04:19am

    Re: Re:

    Well they did have a ritual form of suicide for hundreds of years so I'd say it is something that we won't understand.

  • On the post: Irony: Columnist Who Berates Bloggers For Not Fact Checking, Didn't Fact Check

    Call me Al ( profile ), 29 Jul, 2009 @ 06:33am

    Re:

    I think the professionals would disagree because they've all had "Journalist" printed on their business cards. Can't argue with that.

  • On the post: Irony: Columnist Who Berates Bloggers For Not Fact Checking, Didn't Fact Check

    Call me Al ( profile ), 29 Jul, 2009 @ 06:24am

    Re:

    "have arguments a plenty" instead. Wish I could edit these posts when I see my typos.

    I should also add that comments alone are not the answer. I've seen comment sections attached to many newspapers and there are often many posts of differing quality. The problem is that the originator of the post does not reply and that certainly makes me feel that the views of the commentators are being ignored and that no dialogue exists.

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