DH's Love Child's Favorite Techdirt Posts Of The Week
from the let-the-love-child-speak dept
Wow. What a week. Unless you were living under a rock this week, you probably noticed a rather pervasive theme... At my last count, 46 articles were written this week about SOPA/PIPA including 20 on SOPA protest day. As I look back at the week, I was almost overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of articles and comments about this issue. For something that was supposed to just breeze through the legislative process, these bills very quickly polarized the population.
My favorites are a mix of the political (which, I have to confess, normally bore me to tears), and the funny.
Marcus Carab's article about mocking the blackouts easily got my top spot for the week. His analysis was thoughtful and witty. I particularly loved this part:
"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE? WHY AM I THE LAST TO KNOW WIKIPEDIA IS BLOCKED! I BE ON THERE DAILY!!! [I like that she is less annoyed about losing Wikipedia than she is about the fact nobody told her. I've often thought SOPA/PIPA supporters are just mad because they were the last to find out about free movies.]"Too true.
On the political side, this short but sweet article about both SOPA and PIPA being delayed (but not canceled) was a great result of netizens mobilizing, while this article asking what's next is a good reminder that there's still a lot of work to be done to make sure we keep our internet freedom.
This write-up about government and technology was a fascinating look into the procurement process (including some insightful comments) as well as a reality check on why government should tread VERY carefully on technology issues.
In the middle of this was the very disappointing ruling from our top jurists. This ruling disturbs me greatly and I wish the netizens could organize the same kind of blackout to raise awareness of how out of control copyright has become. The ruling also illuminates just how treaties and trade agreements (like ACTA and the TPP) can cause laws to have to change to meet our 'international obligations'.
This trio of articles on DOJ, Megaupload and Anonymous were another look at how SOPA and PIPA really aren't necessary as long as big content has the DOJ's ear. Spend those dollars wisely, Hollywood!
Finally, if you want to know more about how the MPAA and Chris Dodd think, these articles are a great read. Remember kids, it's all about the Benjamins.
And with that, I return you to your regularly scheduled trolling.
But..
How can they keep ripping off artists if they're not extorting the radio stations that are advertising for them?
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That should be the maximum penalty allowed by law, I think.
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and don't forget statutory damages. $64k per infringement X how many millions of CD's sent out.
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Or don't use your university account.. ever
I don't have any influence on business users
But, when anyone asks me about cloud computing now I unequivocally tell them to stay the hell away from all of it. Between companies shutting down services with no warning, DRM servers going boom, governments meddling in shit they have no business getting into and big companies railroading completely legitimate services, it's not work the risk of losing your data. I'm telling everyone to invest in a backup system that is hosted where they have complete control - home.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: OR they could let you tether
Instead of AT&T spending $30 billion to try to buy a competitor perhaps they should, you know invest in their own infrastructure.
Maybe instead of VZW and AT&T spending all those lobbying dollars, they should invest in the infrastructure.
Perhaps, they should have realized BEFORE they started selling data plans that they were going to have capacity and performance issues and marketed accordingly so that they don't have to come back to customers and say "You know that unlimited plan you THOUGHT you had, well...."
Re: Re: Re: OR they could let you tether
This is the biggest issue. The carriers way oversold capacity and now, rather than invest in the infrastructure, they're putting all kinds of limits on it. Well, seems to me that if you don't want people to use your service, don't sell it.
As much as I like the idea of always connected devices, I will probably not get one until some carrier gets their shit together and makes it both affordable AND reliable. So far, none of the carriers and provide either with their data connectivity.
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Maybe if the "authorized" sites provided what the customer wants (like no geographical restrictions), they would rate higher. No, that's just crazy talk to actually provide something of value to customers when you want their money...
Re: Wow
Perhaps not, but it handcuffs the legislature for future lawmaking. And I thought it was an 'executive agreement' not a 'silly treaty'...
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True, but your beloved RIAA got pulled kicking and screaming into the 21st century with these services and if they (the *IAA's) had their way, they (Spotify, et al) wouldn't even exist.
And while they may have the ability to see what was streamed, I doubt very much that royalties have been paid properly by the collection societies due to their rather unique interpretation of mathematics.
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Agreed. "sending a message" or "making an example" never works in the long run. Anytime a punishment is seen as disproportionate to the offense, people ignore the law.
I got it
This was actually a Home Depot employee who infiltrated Lowes in order to sabotage them.
So, if they only want links to them with this license, does that mean that all of the search engines now need to remove the links to Lowes as well?
Re: If it weren't for content owners backwards thinking
More like they keep pouring poison in the well and then can't figure out why people go drink from a different well.
Re: Game watching party
Priceless!!
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It sounds like the problem is not that you can find it for free, it's that you CAN'T find it to purchase.
I may not have majored in economics, but I'm pretty sure that if you don't offer something for sale, people won't pay for it.
Re: Re: Re: OT: Will Congress Take Privacy Out of Your Netflix Queue?
More to the point, there is a federal law explicitly prohibiting companies from divulging someone's movie rental history. This came into existence after the whole Robert Bork debacle. The law does not cover music, however. Since you can share your Pandora on Facebook, Netflix wants to provide that same ability in the US. They already have that ability in other countries.
Re: Re: Good news
"You don't need Hollywood's permission to make a movie. Are you fucking daft?"
But that's not how Hollywood would like it to be. They would love to have complete control over who makes movies and how they are distributed.
Re: We'll see.....
The problem is that the "HADOPI Effect" can't be isolated.
The point this article was making is that there could be many reasons why sales increased. HADOPI may have had an effect, but so might normal retail buying trends like the introduction of new iPhone models and higher overall rates of spending normally associated with the holidays.
I'm sure glad I live in the United States
Where censorship never happens...oops
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And yet you just can't resist...