Rick Falkvinge 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (15)

• On the post: SOPA Strikedown Aftermath: Old Media Cannot Tell The Narrative Of One Million People

  

  Rick Falkvinge ( profile ), 10 Feb, 2012 @ 02:46pm

  Re:

  In the interest of disclosure, I'm on nobody's payroll but the European Parliament's.

• On the post: The Internet Wins: PIPA & SOPA Delayed

  

  Rick Falkvinge ( profile ), 20 Jan, 2012 @ 08:45am

  Thank you, Mike.

  While it takes millions of people acting, and millions of people indeed did act on this, it always takes one or a few heroic anchors for a cause to keep the flame burning. A person that keeps analyzing, posting, informing, coordinating.
  
  While many other assist and help out, in hindsight, you can usually say that "this person was key".
  
  Thank you, Mike.

• On the post: More Senators Dropping Off As Co-Sponsors Of PIPA

  

  Rick Falkvinge ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2012 @ 12:43pm

  Re: Re:

  Of course they don't. The copyright and patent monopolies are limitations in property rights to begin with.
  
  If you pay for a DVD, it becomes yours under principles of property rights. Copyright and patent monopolies make sure that the manufacturer can limit those property rights of yours.
  
  So it's completely logical that monopoly maximalists disregard property rights.

• On the post: Desperation Of SOPA/PIPA Supporters On Display At CES

  

  Rick Falkvinge ( profile ), 11 Jan, 2012 @ 03:38pm

  Re: Re: Re:

  Like with anything else, they only understand it once it's pointed out.
  
  Politicians are subject to the same kind of information firehose as everybody else, but they have the capacity to understand this part immediately without going through technical training on the concepts of a control-less internetworking protocol.

• On the post: Desperation Of SOPA/PIPA Supporters On Display At CES

  

  Rick Falkvinge ( profile ), 11 Jan, 2012 @ 03:31pm

  Re:

  Driving a wedge inbetween these two is one of the most important tasks of the Pirate Party.
  
  Politicians may not understand technology to the level always required, but they DO understand that counterfeit medicine and teenagers sharing pop music are two completely different phenomena, and that they shouldn't be subject to the same regulation.

• On the post: It Is Time To Stop Pretending To Endorse The Copyright Monopoly

  

  Rick Falkvinge ( profile ), 05 Jan, 2012 @ 12:05pm

  Re: Re: Re:

  I was paying subscriber number 110 (one hundred and ten) to Pandora out of the current twenty million, and I'm currently listening to a Grooveshark subscription. What's your point, again?
  
  You do understand that wanting to get rid of a monopoly, as I do above, is actually the same thing as endorsing a free market, right?

• On the post: It Is Time To Stop Pretending To Endorse The Copyright Monopoly

  

  Rick Falkvinge ( profile ), 05 Jan, 2012 @ 11:59am

  Re: Re: Re: Re:

  Exactly.

• On the post: It Is Time To Stop Pretending To Endorse The Copyright Monopoly

  

  Rick Falkvinge ( profile ), 05 Jan, 2012 @ 11:58am

  Re: Re:

  This is actually a fun piece of agreement when I'm in publicized debates with the copyright lobby.
  
  They go; "it's a huge problem! Millions and millions are downloading illegally!"
  
  I respond; "I agree that it's a huge problem that 250 million Europeans are doing something on a weekly basis that is actually illegal. The solution is to make it stop being illegal. For at the end of the day, these are not problematic teenagers we're talking about, but voters."
  
  Tends to get the politicians' ears.

• On the post: It Is Time To Stop Pretending To Endorse The Copyright Monopoly

  

  Rick Falkvinge ( profile ), 05 Jan, 2012 @ 11:18am

  Re: Credit to where credit is due.

  Good point on pre-monopoly artists that still get credit. For the point of your argument, it's not required that they worked before the monopoly laws, though; it's enough that they died over 70 years ago.

• On the post: It Is Time To Stop Pretending To Endorse The Copyright Monopoly

  

  Rick Falkvinge ( profile ), 05 Jan, 2012 @ 11:14am

  Re: Re: RE Seriously?

  There was a wonderful quote today in BBC News from a "Music Analyst", presumaby somebody within the copyright industry, on the news of file-sharing being an approved religion:
  
  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16424659
  
  "It is quite divorced from reality and is reflective of Swedish social norms rather than the Swedish legislative system," said music analyst Mark Mulligan.
  
  This person claims that something that reflects social norms is divorced from reality, and contrasts it with what the legislations looks like.
  
  Normally, things would be entirely the other way around -- legislation would be completely reflective of social norms.

• On the post: It Is Time To Stop Pretending To Endorse The Copyright Monopoly

  

  Rick Falkvinge ( profile ), 05 Jan, 2012 @ 11:11am

  Re:

  Thank you for the eloquent reply. Would you care to shed a little more light on your reflections on the actual ideas presented in the column, sir?
  
  Cheers,
  Rick

• On the post: It Is Time To Stop Pretending To Endorse The Copyright Monopoly

  

  Rick Falkvinge ( profile ), 05 Jan, 2012 @ 10:46am

  Re: Re: Re: Actually

  Fair point. Perhaps I should have written that technical progress can't be meaningfully or successfully legislated against.

• On the post: It Is Time To Stop Pretending To Endorse The Copyright Monopoly

  

  Rick Falkvinge ( profile ), 05 Jan, 2012 @ 10:39am

  Re: Amen

  Thank you, sister Paley.

• On the post: It Is Time To Stop Pretending To Endorse The Copyright Monopoly

  

  Rick Falkvinge ( profile ), 05 Jan, 2012 @ 10:38am

  Re: Actually

  Well, North Korea legislated against the VCR. Other than that, I don't know of any country that has successfully legislated against any technology.
  
  For a low-tech parallel, look at moonshine vodka. Outlawed pretty much everywhere, and yet...

• On the post: It Is Time To Stop Pretending To Endorse The Copyright Monopoly

  

  Rick Falkvinge ( profile ), 05 Jan, 2012 @ 10:36am

  Re:

  I don't really think they will be effective against piracy, but rather, without them, the monopoly mindset will be over much sooner.
  
  In any case, the monopoly enforcement laws are grossly disproportionate.