When the chain of custody of evidence has been broken or comprimised, it becomes inadmissible in American courts. I guess the rules in Finland might be different...
The Librarian of Congress does not work for the President and IS NOT part of the Executive Branch. The President appoints the Librarian of Congress but the Library is a part of the Legislative Branch and always has been; their budget is not a part of the budget proposed to Congress by the President but rather are submitted as Congressional Budget Justifications directly to the Congressional Appropriations Subcommittee for the Legislative Branch. The Librarian is responsible to the Congressional Joint Committee on the Library.
I think a far better--and in the long run more valuable--alternative would be to fight the world's single most egregious example of copyfraud by having someone step up to blatantly abuse the alleged "copyright" and then crowdsource payment of their defense. I'd certainly donate. I am thoroughly sick of copyfraud.
...are digital subscriptions that cost more than the printed paper subscriptions--which include FREE digital subscriptions! Wired magazine costs me $10/year, which includes both the print and the iPad subscription, but if I want iPad only, it costs me a minimum of $1.99 per issue. The Chicago Tribune charges $3.46/week for a digital-only subscription, but only $1.48/week if you get the Sunday print edition plus digital. Someday it will occur to them that digital subscribers may ONLY WANT DIGITAL. Heck, if they threw in digital versions of the two pounds of ads in the Sunday Tribune, I'D READ THEM! [end rant]
I have been a huge fan of Baen Books for many, many years, and I worried that when Jim Baen passed away their commitment to giving away DRM-free digital editions of their books might wane, but their commitment has been unshakable. Because of this, when I go into a bookstore these days, like many other Baen readers I look for the red-and-yellow Baen spaceship. I know they publish books I will like, and I feel a strong need to support their tremendous free book efforts by spending the little money I do on real paper books on Baen books. Keep it up, Toni!
All their ebooks are provided in multiple formats, all with no DRM...
They have a large online library of free ebooks...
They sell ebooks from 11 other publshers as well, all without DRM...
Every so often their print books have a CD full of ebooks, which clearly states that you can do anything with it except sell it. Consequently as soon as each one comes out, it is posted online by loyal readers...
When my youngest son was little, one of his FAVORITE books was Diane Stanley and Dennis Nolan's book The Gentleman and the Kitchen Maid, about a young artist copying paintings in "a great art museum". Every winter we would take a father-son day-long trip to Chicago and when he was about ten he decided he wanted to take all his art stuff and go copy a painting at the Art Institute of Chicago, like the artist character in the book. So we planned the trip around that as the highlight; when we got there and found that they did not allow that he was crushed. For God's sake, even the Louvre allows artists to copy paintings. This killed any chance of my ever becoming a member of the Art Institute, despite living a mere 30 miles away. And it was a serious bump in the road in the young life of a pretty talented yet troubled child.
If I understand Hilary correctly, she must be referring to merchandise that the store HAS IN STOCK but REFUSES TO SELL TO ME; correct? Let's stay it's a rocking chair. They have it--I want it--but they refuse to sell it to me because I just happen to live in the wrong geographic region for that model of rocking chair. So if I set up outside the store window with 12 board-feet of oak and all my woodworking tools and make an exact copy of the rocking chair, leaving their rocking chair still sitting in the store window, would she consider that to be stealing from them? (Oh crap, she probably would.)
Getty has literally thousands of photos on their site that are official U.S. Government images from the armed forces and from NASA, all with the Getty copyright and watermark slathered across them despite the fact that BY LAW they are in the public domain. But this case is NOT an instance of their abuse of intellectual property.
If everyone had to take down every photo with a trademark in it, what would be left? What would fans think if Nike started claiming trademark infringement and demanding a takedown of every picture of a football player displaying a swoosh? Shoot, they probably even have a trademark on the word "swoosh", so they could be coming after me next. Actually, no, they have more sense--but if I were to say "little tree", CAR-FRESHNER might come after me so I'd better watch my step...
Really! Instead of waiting at your gate after screening, stay on the backside of the screening area for a while and watch how high a proportion of those selected for additional screening are old ladies. It's astounding! And why? Because THEY DON'T PUT UP A FUSS! God forbid we should do this truly randomly or, even worse, based on a profile of potential terrorists. It is security theater, plain and simple, and I know, as I have mounted major security theater productions--as directed--during my career as a Naval Officer.
Really! Instead of waiting at your gate after screening, stay on the backside of the screening area for a while and watch how high a proportion of those selected for additional screening are old ladies. It's astounding! And why? Because THEY DON'T PUT UP A FUSS! God forbid we should do this truly randomly or, even worse, based on a profile of potential terrorists. It is security theater, plain and simple, and I know, as I have mounted major security theater productions--as directed--during my career as a Naval Officer.
While the U.S. government cannot copyright material they produce, they certainly can hold trademarks. I think the U.S. Navy would have a very strong case to argue that they already hold a common-law trademark on SEAL Team Six.
The federal government maintains an entire infrastructure of their own Certificate Authorities, none of which are recognized by the folks who make the browsers. As a retired Naval Officer, I access DOD sites all the time and find that my browser is constantly warning me about these sites. One time I attempted to download and install certificates for all of the DOD CAs but locating them all, downloading them and installing them took me about two hours and I swore I'd never do it again.
"...it's better to just shrug it off than filing a lawsuit, drawing a lot more attention to the mean things... and anything else that might get attention" which of course is particularly true when you might be drawing attention to the facts that a) apparently you don't know your own business very well and b) you appear to be stupid.
This is only an opinion, though; nothing actionable here. Move along now, there's nothing more to see here.
If I know that the only way I could see the weekend specials at Kohl's in Boston was to go to Boston.com, you can bet I would go to Boston.com to get to it. The newspapers have clearly not learned how to sell the local viewers they draw to advertisers; instead I have to go to the print version to see the Kohl's ad. Someday they'll figure this stuff out but meanwhile there is far too much wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Back when they were their own company and not owned by someone else, WordPerfect used to sue anyone using "perfect" in their business name and having any conceivable connection to a computer or using words. As I recall it got pretty ludicrous but like many of these cases, the deep pocket will nearly always beat common sense, because it just costs too much money to defend against these types of ridiculous claims.
I can't speak for all of these post-9/11 agencies, but I can tell you the "cyber-warriors" of the Department of Homeland Security spend a huge amount of time focused on something that is COMPLETELY outside their mission and makes ZERO contribution to the security of the United States: child porn. Don't get me wrong: child porn is of the worst crimes there is and offenders deserve to be hunted down and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law (and maybe even castrated). But it is not the job of HOMELAND SECURITY to do this!!! In their case, this is nothing but a distraction from their primary mission! OK, I'm done venting.
Inadmissible in the U.S.
When the chain of custody of evidence has been broken or comprimised, it becomes inadmissible in American courts. I guess the rules in Finland might be different...
Librarian of Congress is part of the LEGISLATIVE Branch
The Librarian of Congress does not work for the President and IS NOT part of the Executive Branch. The President appoints the Librarian of Congress but the Library is a part of the Legislative Branch and always has been; their budget is not a part of the budget proposed to Congress by the President but rather are submitted as Congressional Budget Justifications directly to the Congressional Appropriations Subcommittee for the Legislative Branch. The Librarian is responsible to the Congressional Joint Committee on the Library.
Just crowdsource a legal fight against Warner Chappell
I think a far better--and in the long run more valuable--alternative would be to fight the world's single most egregious example of copyfraud by having someone step up to blatantly abuse the alleged "copyright" and then crowdsource payment of their defense. I'd certainly donate. I am thoroughly sick of copyfraud.
Even more annoying to me than paywalls...
...are digital subscriptions that cost more than the printed paper subscriptions--which include FREE digital subscriptions! Wired magazine costs me $10/year, which includes both the print and the iPad subscription, but if I want iPad only, it costs me a minimum of $1.99 per issue. The Chicago Tribune charges $3.46/week for a digital-only subscription, but only $1.48/week if you get the Sunday print edition plus digital. Someday it will occur to them that digital subscribers may ONLY WANT DIGITAL. Heck, if they threw in digital versions of the two pounds of ads in the Sunday Tribune, I'D READ THEM! [end rant]
Baen is amazing
I have been a huge fan of Baen Books for many, many years, and I worried that when Jim Baen passed away their commitment to giving away DRM-free digital editions of their books might wane, but their commitment has been unshakable. Because of this, when I go into a bookstore these days, like many other Baen readers I look for the red-and-yellow Baen spaceship. I know they publish books I will like, and I feel a strong need to support their tremendous free book efforts by spending the little money I do on real paper books on Baen books. Keep it up, Toni!
One publisher clearly gets it...
All their ebooks are provided in multiple formats, all with no DRM...
They have a large online library of free ebooks...
They sell ebooks from 11 other publshers as well, all without DRM...
Every so often their print books have a CD full of ebooks, which clearly states that you can do anything with it except sell it. Consequently as soon as each one comes out, it is posted online by loyal readers...
BAEN BOOKS www.baenebooks.com
This was one of the huge disappointments of my son's life
When my youngest son was little, one of his FAVORITE books was Diane Stanley and Dennis Nolan's book The Gentleman and the Kitchen Maid, about a young artist copying paintings in "a great art museum". Every winter we would take a father-son day-long trip to Chicago and when he was about ten he decided he wanted to take all his art stuff and go copy a painting at the Art Institute of Chicago, like the artist character in the book. So we planned the trip around that as the highlight; when we got there and found that they did not allow that he was crushed. For God's sake, even the Louvre allows artists to copy paintings. This killed any chance of my ever becoming a member of the Art Institute, despite living a mere 30 miles away. And it was a serious bump in the road in the young life of a pretty talented yet troubled child.
Thanks Lori!
Really good, well-balanced discussion, and even better, it tells me that I'm not the only person at IIT who reads Techdirt!
C'mon!
My kids nailed it as we walked out of the theater: "Hey, that was just Ferngully In Space!"
If they aren't selling what I want, how could I steal it from them?
If I understand Hilary correctly, she must be referring to merchandise that the store HAS IN STOCK but REFUSES TO SELL TO ME; correct? Let's stay it's a rocking chair. They have it--I want it--but they refuse to sell it to me because I just happen to live in the wrong geographic region for that model of rocking chair. So if I set up outside the store window with 12 board-feet of oak and all my woodworking tools and make an exact copy of the rocking chair, leaving their rocking chair still sitting in the store window, would she consider that to be stealing from them? (Oh crap, she probably would.)
Getty does plenty of abuse of IP--but this is not an instance
Getty has literally thousands of photos on their site that are official U.S. Government images from the armed forces and from NASA, all with the Getty copyright and watermark slathered across them despite the fact that BY LAW they are in the public domain. But this case is NOT an instance of their abuse of intellectual property.
If everyone had to take down every photo with a trademark in it, what would be left? What would fans think if Nike started claiming trademark infringement and demanding a takedown of every picture of a football player displaying a swoosh? Shoot, they probably even have a trademark on the word "swoosh", so they could be coming after me next. Actually, no, they have more sense--but if I were to say "little tree", CAR-FRESHNER might come after me so I'd better watch my step...
Selective screening...of old ladies!
Really! Instead of waiting at your gate after screening, stay on the backside of the screening area for a while and watch how high a proportion of those selected for additional screening are old ladies. It's astounding! And why? Because THEY DON'T PUT UP A FUSS! God forbid we should do this truly randomly or, even worse, based on a profile of potential terrorists. It is security theater, plain and simple, and I know, as I have mounted major security theater productions--as directed--during my career as a Naval Officer.
Selective screening...of old ladies!
Really! Instead of waiting at your gate after screening, stay on the backside of the screening area for a while and watch how high a proportion of those selected for additional screening are old ladies. It's astounding! And why? Because THEY DON'T PUT UP A FUSS! God forbid we should do this truly randomly or, even worse, based on a profile of potential terrorists. It is security theater, plain and simple, and I know, as I have mounted major security theater productions--as directed--during my career as a Naval Officer.
A common-law trademark already exists...
While the U.S. government cannot copyright material they produce, they certainly can hold trademarks. I think the U.S. Navy would have a very strong case to argue that they already hold a common-law trademark on SEAL Team Six.
Federal Certificate Authorities
The federal government maintains an entire infrastructure of their own Certificate Authorities, none of which are recognized by the folks who make the browsers. As a retired Naval Officer, I access DOD sites all the time and find that my browser is constantly warning me about these sites. One time I attempted to download and install certificates for all of the DOD CAs but locating them all, downloading them and installing them took me about two hours and I swore I'd never do it again.
Especially if you're stupid...
"...it's better to just shrug it off than filing a lawsuit, drawing a lot more attention to the mean things... and anything else that might get attention" which of course is particularly true when you might be drawing attention to the facts that a) apparently you don't know your own business very well and b) you appear to be stupid.
This is only an opinion, though; nothing actionable here. Move along now, there's nothing more to see here.
BTW, I have lawyer jokes too: PondScumandLawyers.com.
(untitled comment)
They killed their account, too. Mulve.com is now just a placeholder.
The Kohl's ad...
If I know that the only way I could see the weekend specials at Kohl's in Boston was to go to Boston.com, you can bet I would go to Boston.com to get to it. The newspapers have clearly not learned how to sell the local viewers they draw to advertisers; instead I have to go to the print version to see the Kohl's ad. Someday they'll figure this stuff out but meanwhile there is far too much wailing and gnashing of teeth.
WordPerfect used to do this all the time.
Back when they were their own company and not owned by someone else, WordPerfect used to sue anyone using "perfect" in their business name and having any conceivable connection to a computer or using words. As I recall it got pretty ludicrous but like many of these cases, the deep pocket will nearly always beat common sense, because it just costs too much money to defend against these types of ridiculous claims.
Unrelated tasks...
I can't speak for all of these post-9/11 agencies, but I can tell you the "cyber-warriors" of the Department of Homeland Security spend a huge amount of time focused on something that is COMPLETELY outside their mission and makes ZERO contribution to the security of the United States: child porn. Don't get me wrong: child porn is of the worst crimes there is and offenders deserve to be hunted down and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law (and maybe even castrated). But it is not the job of HOMELAND SECURITY to do this!!! In their case, this is nothing but a distraction from their primary mission! OK, I'm done venting.