Arsik Vek 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (113)

• On the post: Did Paul Duffy's Wife Admit That He Was Engaged In Interstate Extortion On Facebook?

  

  Arsik Vek ( profile ), 15 May, 2013 @ 05:47am

  Duffy's next comment: "I'm not sure who that woman is. She may or may not be my wife, but I have no direct knowledge of any relationship."

• On the post: Warner Bros., MGM, Universal Collectively Pull Nearly 2,000 Films From Netflix To Further Fragment The Online Movie Market

  

  Arsik Vek ( profile ), 02 May, 2013 @ 10:11am

  You're partially right. This is to piss people off. But they're not going to get pissed at Warner. They're going to get pissed at Netflix. The average person is terrible at following causal chains. Nor are they likely to realize it's Warner pulling it's movies without going looking for it. They'll just see "Netflix used to give me this movie, now it doesn't. Netflix sucks."
  
  Warner wants to drive people out of VOD entirely by ruining their trust that it will continue to provide value.

• On the post: How EA's 'Silent Treatment' Pushed The SimCity Story Into The Background

  

  Arsik Vek ( profile ), 26 Apr, 2013 @ 07:06am

  There comes a point, in any argument that runs long enough, where the best thing you can do is shut up. That it's the best thing doesn't mean shutting up is a good thing, though. A company interested in maintaining a good relationship with its customer base (EA has demonstrated that it is not one of these) should not let things get to the point where fans look at anything coming out of the company is either a lie, wrong, or meaningless pacifying.

• On the post: Canadian Politician Removed From Provincial Assembly For Threats She Didn't Make On Facebook Group She Didn't Join

  

  Arsik Vek ( profile ), 18 Apr, 2013 @ 06:38am

  Actually, you can be added to a group without any action on your part, I was added to several by friends (Admittedly, most of them were things I didn't object to being in). I suspect there's an option somewhere in the privacy settings to change that, but I'll be damned if I can find it.

• On the post: Veoh Still Not Dead Enough For Universal Music; Asks Court To Rehear Case Yet Again

  

  Arsik Vek ( profile ), 08 Apr, 2013 @ 08:07am

  Re: Re:

  Yeah, it's nice to be able to just buy competition out of the market. Whether they want it or not. /s

• On the post: EA COO: We Get Votes For 'Worst Company' Because We're Awesome And Voters Are Homophobes

  

  Arsik Vek ( profile ), 08 Apr, 2013 @ 11:20am

  Yeah, the won the matchup this year again. 64% to 36% against Bank of America. Clearly it's because people just don't understand how awesome they are.

• On the post: Veoh Still Not Dead Enough For Universal Music; Asks Court To Rehear Case Yet Again

  

  Arsik Vek ( profile ), 08 Apr, 2013 @ 07:07am

  shifts the burden of online copyright enforcement to content owners
  
  You don't need to read any further than this.

• On the post: Transcript Of The 12 Minute 'We're Done' Prenda Hearing Released

  

  Arsik Vek ( profile ), 05 Apr, 2013 @ 01:06pm

  Re: not that satisfying

  Don't worry. I suspect there will be a sequel.

• On the post: Amazon Refuses To Publish First Cornish-Language Ebook

  

  Arsik Vek ( profile ), 04 Apr, 2013 @ 08:49am

  Re: Re:

  If Amazon has an acceptible use policy, they don't have the responsibility to validate that the content meets it, but they do have the right to. Unless you're suggesting that Amazon as a retailer should be compelled to carry any product someone wants them to. Would you also suggest that any publishers he sent the book to should be compelled to produce the book? If I go to Amazon because I want to sell a flaming, spiked, triple-ended dildo, should they be required to carry that as well? Amazon does not have a requirement to carry any product someone wants to sell on it. Refusing to carry a book that does not meet preexisting publication requirements is not censorship of the book. Seeking to prevent anyone from carrying it is, but that's not what's going on here.
  
  
  Is it bad PR? Maybe. Has Amazon done something terrible? No.

• On the post: Copyright As Censorship: University Threatens Own Faculty With Copyright Infringement For Campus Survey

  

  Arsik Vek ( profile ), 04 Apr, 2013 @ 05:58am

  I dunno, you've gotta be pretty creative to ask the questions in such a way as to get the answer you want, instead of the truth.

• On the post: Amazon Refuses To Publish First Cornish-Language Ebook

  

  Arsik Vek ( profile ), 03 Apr, 2013 @ 08:41pm

  I'm not really sure I can work up any outrage over this. Amazon only has a couple of (admittedly broad and subjective) content restrictions (available at https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A2TOZW0SV7IR1U ). If they don't have anyone who can validate that the content meets these requirements, I don't think I have much problem with them choosing not to carry it. They're pretty up front about only supporting a half dozen or so languages, so it's not like they're singling out Cornish.

• On the post: Belgium: We Want To Be The Champagne Of Chocolate

  

  Arsik Vek ( profile ), 02 Apr, 2013 @ 08:47pm

  First the chocolate. Next, Belgian waffles.

• On the post: NATO 'Cyberwar' Manual Says Hacktivists Must Wear A Uniform

  

  Arsik Vek ( profile ), 01 Apr, 2013 @ 10:15am

  In theory it would also apply to people like drone pilots.
  
  Why not? They're already getting flight pay and their wings like real pilots.
  
  http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/10/airforce_uas_career_100909w/

• On the post: EA Labels President: DRM Is A Failed Strategy, But SimCity Didn't Have Any DRM

  

  Arsik Vek ( profile ), 28 Mar, 2013 @ 11:49am

  I think you summed up my response to this quite well....
  
  
  
  wut?

• On the post: Righthaven Copyrights 'Sold' Back To Stephens Media For $80k To Pay Legal Fees

  

  Arsik Vek ( profile ), 18 Mar, 2013 @ 06:55am

  So, to make sure I'm getting this right....
  
  1) Stephens Media decides to get them some of that awesome copyright trolling money.
  2) Stephens Media spawns Righthaven.
  3) Stephens Media takes their box o' copyright, dumps out all the contents, then sells Righthaven the empty cardboard box.
  4) Righthaven brandishes the empty cardboard box in a threatening fashion demanding money.
  5) Court says that's fscking retarded, demands Righthaven pay back legal fees.
  6) Righthaven puts the empty box over their head and pretends they can't hear.
  7) Court takes Righthaven away and starts auctioning it off. Realizes it has no assets except an empty cardboard box.
  8) Randazza takes the empty cardboard box and sells it back to Stephens Media for $80k.
  
  In the end, Stephens Media donates eighty thousand dollars and it's reputation to Randazza for no appreciable gain. Well done.

• On the post: No, Sim City Debacle Doesn't Mean Gamers Need A Bill Of Rights

  

  Arsik Vek ( profile ), 14 Mar, 2013 @ 12:51pm

  "1. Gamers have the right not to give money to assholes"
  
  
  Sadly, though they have the right, many do not have the ability. They find themselves helplessly compelled to fling money at whatever the newest, shiniest thing is. Feel pity for these poor folk, with their lack of restraint and good sense.

• On the post: SimCity: The Backlash

  

  Arsik Vek ( profile ), 08 Mar, 2013 @ 05:42am

  This is actually their response to Comcast trying to take their "Most Hated" spot with Six Strikes.

• On the post: Australian Court Says Genes Are Patentable

  

  Arsik Vek ( profile ), 15 Feb, 2013 @ 11:00am

  So, if I find a rock in a hole, that's not patentable. But if I dig it up, put it in a box, and call it a Pet Rock, patents away!

• On the post: Australian Court Says Genes Are Patentable

  

  Arsik Vek ( profile ), 15 Feb, 2013 @ 10:35am

  So, if it's only patentable because it's isolated, does that mean adding some inert junk base sequences to it means I'm not infringing the patent?

• On the post: Do You Live In The Constitution-Free Zone Of The US?

  

  Arsik Vek ( profile ), 12 Feb, 2013 @ 12:44pm

  Hmm, if I'm reading this properly, does that mean we can search all the congresscritter's laptops? DC is well within that limit.
  
  Unforunately, that means so am I.

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