Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
from the so-you-say dept
This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is That One Guy, who suspected that a particular detail about the theatre that cancelled its production of To Kill A Mockingbird under copyright pressure was hardly arbitrary:
Coincidence I’m sure.
The Kavinoky Theatre in Buffalo, N.Y., which had sold around 3,000 advance tickets, will replace Mockingbird with an adaptation of George Orwell’s “1984.” “Thank you for supporting us during this difficult time,” the theater posted on Facebook. “As we say in the theatre….THE SHOW MUST GO ON!!!!!!!!”
Jackass thug runs around threatening people who are doing shows in order to cut down on the competition for his show.
Theater replaces it with a show about… an authoritarian government that uses, among it’s tactics, threats to keep people in line.
They may have been forced to fold due to the legal thuggery, but that parting shot, if it was intentional and not just a ‘strange coincidence’, was well aimed.
In second place, we’ve got Thad with a straightforward proposal for how YouTube should be handling content issues on YouTube Kids:
Which has an altogether simpler solution: either get rid of YouTube Kids, or restrict it to videos from vetted and trusted sources. Yes, that’s going to mean a lot less content…but that’s kind of the point of YouTube Kids. Taking the same scattershot, algorithmic/reactive approach to moderating content on YouTube Kids as they do on YouTube proper results in YouTube Kids having exactly the same problems as YouTube proper.
Obviously there’s no way to vet every video that’s uploaded to YouTube. But at least vetting every source that’s allowed to post to YouTube Kids is an attainable goal; it would greatly restrict the content available there, but that’s the entire point; it’s supposed to be a restricted subsection of YouTube content.
For editor’s choice on the insightful side, we start out with an anonymous reminder that a common response to our posts about bad internet regulation in Europe — “time to just block requests the EU”, and things along that line — is not as simple as it sounds:
For maybe a decade, copyright laws get harmonised via trade treaties. You should worry about this happening in Europe, because it becomes the lever to export such laws everywhere.
Next, we’ve got a comment from our post about the list of 12,000 police officers convicted of crimes that a journalist acquired, where one commenter erroneously suggested that the number of actual “bad apples” is reduced by multiple offenders, and Killercool corrected and pushed back against this attempt to downplay the harm:
Not a list of 12,000 crimes, a list of 12,000 criminals. Criminals in a position of trust and power, defended by their superiors and leaders, and considered more trustworthy by our justice system than any other member of the public. 12,000 criminals, convicted by the justice system, (likely) with a large portion of them keeping their position and power, or at worst, being allowed to get a similar position with a new precinct. 12,000 criminals who are vociferously and publicly supported by the lion’s share of allegedly non-criminal officers simply because they share a uniform.
Over on the funny side, our first place winner is Gary with another response to the To Kill A Mockingbird situation:
I think Mike is missing the point here – without such harsh copyright laws, and strict enforcement, why would Harper Lee ever create new works?
In second place, we’ve got a comment from Chris-Mouse (in which I’ve corrected a particularly jarring typo) about just how far an Italian court went in a recent copyright ruling:
This is not holding the infringer liable, nor a third party. This is all the way up to holding a fourth party liable for the infringement.
Two more levels and they will be able to arrest Kevin Bacon.
For editor’s choice on the funny side, we start out with an anonymous commenter and one last joke about the Mockingbird cancellation:
Perhaps they can get the rights to do a retelling of “A Christmas Carol” where Scrooge is a rightsholder who tries to shut down a community-theater performance of “It’s A Wonderful Life,” which adds the element of it being the protagonist’s birthday, with “Happy Birthday” sung at the end.
That should make a district court judge’s head explode.
And finally, we’ve got an anonymous response to the question “is there nothing we won’t blame Millennials for?”:
Well, it’s their own fault that we do!
That’s all for this week, folks!
Comments on “Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt”
Justice system
Isnt it interesting that the number of corps/business taken to court is Rather low. And the Gov/State hardly ever takes them to court.
Unless they have done something Very Public, and there is an abundance of information on it…it is never prosecuted.
And if the Citizens can see it, its probably late in the game and has been happening along time.
The Charges on our utility bills, which Iv asked for info many times over many years.
The Uses of the stock market, and why the corps Never buy back stocks that often..
How the Banks have the right to change you Contract with them, but we can have no say in it.
The CC corps changing how interest is measured and charged..
The quality of merchandise in this nation. We used to be Proud of the goods we had, that we imported, that we created. Ever wonder WHY Japan, China and the EU have more game development then the USA?? And its getting bad in the EU recently..
if copyright expired at death of the creator, there would be an incentive to kill creators of valuable works.
Re: Re:
"if copyright expired at death of the creator, there would be an incentive to kill creators of valuable works."
And if we killed all of them, there would be no more copyrights. Win!!
Re: Re:
Then tell the government to shorten copyright terms so it can take that “incentive” off the table.
Re: Re:
I always have to wonder, do the people who make this argument not realize how monumentally stupid it is(and thereby they look by making it), or do they somehow think that saying it multiple times will magically make it not monumentally stupid?
Re: Re: Re:
"do the people who make this argument not realize how monumentally stupid it is(and thereby they look by making it), or do they somehow think that saying it multiple times will magically make it not monumentally stupid?"
The answer is easy, unfortunately. Copyright cultists, like so many other religious fanatics, truly do not realize that the dogma they are spouting is objectively insane.
Re: Re:
If an estate is passed down to heirs at the death of the owner, there would be an incentive for heirs to kill the owner of a valuable estate.
If a political office is put up for election upon the death of the holder, there would be an incentive to kill the holders of a valuable political office.
If funeral homes are paid upon the death of a person, there would be an incentive for funeral homes to kill random people.
Oh… wait… all of that is already true, and we have laws that are very effective deterrents against any of that from happening.
Re: Re: Re:
That’s a great point, there’s no conflict there at all. Move along.
Re: Re:
Instead, there’s just an incentive to start a clock for however many years it takes after the death of the creator for the copyright to expire. Once they’ve been dead for longer than Walt Disney, you’re in the clear!
Re: Re:
Hi, MyNameHere! Knew you couldn’t stay away from this site for long after your big meltdown at the end of 2017. Still proposing that worthless old chestnut, are we? I didn’t know murder laws were no longer a thing!
How’s that John Steele defense fund coming along? I hear his sentencing’s coming soon! Don’t you want to save copyright law?
Re: Re:
you jest but have you ever considered why Disnay has all those kid spy movies ? This is just what they want, the assassination squads have already been trained.
"time to just block requests [from] the EU" isn’t a permanent solution to their crazy copyright directives, it’s more like a boycott to make the old-line publishers recognize their dependency on search and advertising from aggregators and search engines.
Re: Re:
That would be playing into their hands, as their real intent is to restore their role as the only route to publication for creators. They do not care how much creativity never finds an audience, only that they make most of the profit from that which they decide to publish. I.E. no YouTube, Netflix or other streaming video; Except maybe from the legacy industry; in Europe would suite the cable companies just fine,
One further thing missing from that police comment:
As I was led to understand, those 12,000 "criminal police officers" are not on a list of 12,000 people who have committed crimes while they have a position on a police force.
They are not even on a list of crimes committed by people who are, ever were, or ever would become police officers.
They are on a list of crimes committed in the past 10 years by anyone who ever attempted to become a police officer, at any point in time.
While I’m unable to confirm whether these are any more than hypotheticals without access to the list, that definition would include all these situations:
I am curious as to how many of these 12,000 were active in a police force during or after their conviction, rather than having never completed training in the first place, or having been retired or dismissed for any reason prior to the conviction.
Re: One further thing missing from that police comment:
I would argue that, because of the "industry"-wide favoritism and union-driven protectionist behavior, the only people who don’t belong on the list are "people who failed to become police." Since they were never cops, they never benefited or continue to benefit from the "blue line" mindset – the public and strong defense of "brother officers" that police are pressured into joining.
Giles Corey
Ann Putnam, Jr., Marcy Lewis, Abigail Williams, Mary Walcott and Elizabeth Hubbard accused Giles Corey of witchcraft in April of 1692. He pleaded "not guilty" but refused to be tried by the court which, in his view, had already determined his guilt, so he stood mute rather "putting himself on the country." He was sentenced to peine forte et dure, even though it was an illegal punishment, and ended up being torturously crushed to death on (or before) September 18, 1692. One of the major factors which made Giles Corey a prime target was not only his relationship with the rest of the community but also his past encounters with the law, including a prior conviction for murder. His chosen means of resistance and dramatic death reveal a strength of character that playwrights, from Longfellow to Arthur Miller, have found irresistible.
Re: Re:
Wut?
Re: Re: Re:
some bullshit allegory attempt by a reference to witch hunts.
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Ah.
Ty.
Re: Re: Re:2 Re:
American liberals are once again moving us towards being an isolated theocratic society, not unlike Salem was in the 17th century. Democrats go on and on about "morality", with crimes ranging from wearing makeup years ago as a young adult as a reason to lose your job in public office (if it happens to be blackface) to false hate crimes reported by false victims (Smollett).
False witnesses are brought in front of government committees to testify to false charges (Kavanaugh rapes and Cohen racism), while brutal and public attacks are made to stifle free speech (Greenberg/Williams) with little or no coverage at all anywhere. Create geniuses like Rosanne Barr (yes she’s a little crazy, it often comes with the comedic talent) are punished financially for the crime of attempted humor. Trump jokes about Russia getting Hilary’s Emails and we spend two years hearing about how Russia has blackmailed him into submission (wtf?) based on no evidence whatsoever.
The good news is that with publicity, even the Salem trials eventually came to an end, and the lessons of history are plain for all to see.
That is, for those of us who ever actually studied history, or politics, or current events.
Re: Re: Re:3 Re:
You realize a theocracy is the selling point for many of Trump’s campaigns, right? Making abortion illegal and whites being the master race?
It helps to revise your party’s talking points instead of spending your time with your nose firmly shoved up Shiva’s rectum, Hamilton. Dedicated as you are, you’re no Fran Drescher.
Re: Re: Re:4 Re:
To Madison, there are only two ways to control a faction: to remove its causes and to control its effects. The first is impossible. There are only two ways to remove the causes of a faction: destroy liberty or give every citizen the same opinions, passions, and interests. Destroying liberty is a "cure worse then the disease itself," and the second is impracticable. The causes of factions are thus part of the nature of man and we must deal with their effects and accept their existence. The government created by the Constitution controls the damage caused by such factions.
Re: Re: Re:5 Re:
Hey bro you been gone a while. The nice men white coats decide that you’re only a danger to the English language in particular, and logicical argument in general?
Re: Re: Re:6 Re:
I’m sorry, were you trying to present an argument? Can you remind me what it was?
Or are you just focused on smearing more shit on the walls of this public toilet to discourage any new people from visiting or commenting?
How’s that going, you shit smearing faker?
Re: Re: Re:7 You won’t like him when he’s jealous
“How’s that going, you shit smearing faker?”
Careful bro. You’re gonna make Jhon boy jealous if you keep out that grade school level of psychological projection.
Re: Re: Re:8
Now now, do not attribute that to projection. Hamilton is a known fecalphiliac. Why else would he keep talking about literal shit?
Re: Re: Re:5 Re:
This coming from the guy who campaigned to prove that Shiva Ayyadurai invented email.
Well, you technically succeeded… the inventor of email has been decided to be "unprovable".
Nice job breaking it, hero.
Re: Re: Re:3
You’re mad because you can’t say the N-word in public without getting punched, aren’t you, Hamilton? ????
Re: Re: Re:4 Re:
Hey Stephen, are you back or white today? You have claimed to be both in the past. Who would take a serial liar seriously?
Re: Re: Re:5 Re:
I assume you mean Besides the Democratic wing of the US government,and the mainstream media (the Democratic Party propaganda machine). They take any bullshit from any serial liar seriously. By demonstration.
Re: Re: Re:6 Enquiring minds want to know.
Hey did you and Jhon and blue ever get that saucy conspiracy themed threesome on? How was it? Is blue as selfish as he sounds? Could Jhon get it up? Could you keep it up without the Fran Drescher mask?
Re: Re: Re:7 Enquiring minds want to know.
The liberal media machine that you write on behalf of is really disgusting. Aren’t you ashamed to write such stupid shit?
Re: Re: Re:8 So that’s a no then
Oh that one hurt huh? You seem to have a lot of unresolved feeling about large dark gay men. You might want to see a professional about that. Or look up a bar called “The Eagle.” They have one in every large town. Thirst nice fellas will be able to “sort you out.”
Re: Re: Re:9 So that’s a no then
Hurt? That’s funny. If you smeart shit on the wall, as you did above, it does not hurt me. It does stink, and it is ugly, but this is not my home. I just come here to smirk at the idiots and enjoy watching them make idiots and fools of themselves.
Not hurt, “bro”. What do you mean by “bro”, anyway? Where does it come from?
Where did bro come from? It first entered English in the 17th century as an often-written abbreviation for “brother.” By the early 1900s, it could refer to a “guy or fellow” or a “male friend or buddy.” This usage originally surfaced in African American slang to refer to a fellow black male.
So, which is it? 17th century abreviation, or are you trying to be blacker than you actually are as a sign of victimhood?
Re: Re: Re:10 Less that 3.5%
Hey bro do you happen to remember what percent your “friend” got in the senate race? I heard it was quite humiliating. Like so bad he had to disappear for several months before he came crawling back to peddling his patented combination of pseudo intellectual claptrap, racist horseshit, and fantastical family histories.
Re: Re: Re:11
He got whooped so hard that it made John Wick: Chapter 2 look like Sesame Street. He got beat so bad that prison gangs looked at the results and thought it was worse than the beatdowns they give out. He got smacked down so decisively by Liz Warren that she was basically The Hulk in that Loki vs. Hulk scene in The Avengers.
My general point is that he lost baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.
Re: Re: Re:12 Re:
My favourite headline was: “Fake Indian scalps real Indian.”
Re: Re: Re:12 Re:
Shiva implored voters not to vote for the "lying Indian."
They obliged.
Re: Re: Re:8
Aren’t you?
Re: Re: Re:5 Re:
“Who would take a serial liar seriously?”
We don’t bro. We just make fun of your dumb ass.
Re: Re: Re:6 Re:
Are you a ‘nigga’, bro? You sure sound like one. Or are you a public faker, like Stephen?
Re: Re: Re:7 Now if only you were it and proud about that other thing
You know it’s good to have a racist piece of shit out and proud about being a racist piece of shit.
Re: Re: Re:8 Now if only you were it and proud about that other thing
How can I be a racist when I can’t even see your race?
I can confirm that you are stupid, but stupid happens in every race.
Right, bro?
Re: Re: Re:9 Now if only you were out and proud about that other thing
Whelp spoke too soon. Why can’t we just get one honest racist piece of shit? Instead it’s always “I’m not the racist. You’re the racist for calling me out about me being a racist piece of shit.” Too bad, I thought you might actually have the guts to tell the truth for once.
Re: Re: Re:10 Now if only you were out and proud about that other thin
How can I be a racist when I don’t even know your race?
John Willard
John Willard was accused of witchcraft at the end of April 1692, after refusing to arrest people that he believed were innocent. One of his main accusers was his wife’s grandfather, Bray Wilkins, who claimed that after a mean look from Willard, he became immediately sick. While Wilkins’ symptoms suggest that he was most likely suffering from kidney stones, his assumption that he had been bewitched is evidence of the widespread fear that occurred in Salem during withc trials. Willard was hanged on August 19, 1692, maintaining his innocence until his death.
Re: Re: Re:11 Now if only you were out and proud about that other
Funny how after a crowd trolls who proudly claim that this site never has any new readers suddenly has a spate of dissenting voices spouting the exact same garbage as the previous trolls, and all happen to claim to have never heard of any of the topics this site regularly covers, but still feel the need to chime in anyway.
It’s almost like all the old trolls are busily using VPNs (which they also claimed to be used exclusively for purposes of copyright infringement) to make concern sockpuppets for themselves! I’m shocked, I tell you. Shocked!
Re: Re: Re:12 Now if only you were out and proud about that ot
As we used to say back on TorrentFreak, the racists and copyright cultists are all one-man armies where anyone arguing against the flagrant hypocritical bullshit peddled by the known nick is suddenly flooded by vicious ad homs stemming from a dozen brand new nicknames suddenly attracted to the topic at hand.
I’m stumped why the guy even bothers. It’s not as if it isn’t blatantly obvious he’s running a one-man army shitshow.
Re: Re: Re:13 Now if only you were out and proud about tha
Apparently to give newcomers the impression of a "but both sides are valid!" situation… except that part of this guy’s argument is that nobody reads this site.
I’d suggest mental illness, but I’ve seen Alzheimer’s patients who are miles more coherent and cognizant than this mass of toilet waste.
Re: Re: Re:3 Re:
Your TV broken bro? All you seen to have are old, busted ass, Fox News talking points. They ban yo ass from breitbart for not being stupid and racist enough?
Re: Re: Re:4 Re:
You are the deplorable. Are you faking the accent of a negro to try to make yourself more impressive?
Do you think sounding stupid makes your point more believable to your brethren?
Maybe it does.
Re: Re: Re:5
…the jokes write themselves, folks.
Re: Re: Re:6 Re:
You have to remember that this week is a rather distressing time for Hamilton.
John Steele, his glorious hero in the industry of copyright defense, is getting sentenced:
https://twitter.com/fightcopytrolls/status/1101690974152114176
He’s looking at 8 to 10 years in the slammer. To his credit, the prosecution probably underestimated the amount of money he got away with, and actually bought his "repentance" act. Either way, it sets a damning precedent for all those Article 13 fans.
The other silver lining in this lenient penalty is that Paul Hansmeier’s is going to be significantly harsher.
Re: Re: Re:7 Re:
Project much?
I am not familiar with either John Steele, or Article 13.
John Hathorne
Born into a well-established Salem family on August 5, 1641, John Hathorne became a local Salem magistrate and was chosen by Governor Sir William Phips to be a judge in the Salem Witch Trials. During the trials, Hathorne took on the role of a prosecutor rather than an impartial judge. Hathorne’s questioning always began with a presumption of guilt rather than innocence, and he appeared to be on the side of the accusers. Hathorne altered the tradition of previous witch trials by encouraging those under examination not only to confess to witchcraft but also to name others who might be witches – a move that accelerated the number of accusations. He died in Salem on May 10, 1717, and was later a prominent target of criticism by his own great-grandson, Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Re: Re: Re:8 Re:
That persecution complex is coming along nicely bro. It’s almost like your “friend” lost an election so badly they replaced him as a speaker at CPAC with diamond and silk. Must hurt to be short shafted by people running a markedly worse grift than he was.
Re: Re: Re:9
Bold of you to assume CPAC had ever heard of Shiva Ayyadurai.
Re: Re: Re:10 Re:
Frankly, I never heard of him until I visited this site.
Sir William Phips
Sir William Phips was appointed Governor of Massachusetts just prior to the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692. Phips created the special witchcraft Court of Oyer and Terminer, and subsequently dismantled it after the Boston ministers and the general public turned against the trials. It is difficult to dismiss the view that he might have stopped the trials sooner had he overseen the court more closely, instead of leaving it entirely in the hands of his zealous deputy Govenor William Stoughton, the chief justice of the court.
Re: Re: Re:11 Re:
Nobody believes you, Hamilton.
Re: Re: Re:7 Re:
And "Jhon Smith" finally dropped that bombshell he’s been boasting about, but it turned out to be nothing but a dud.
Which Witch?
So why do people come here to complain that serial liar Sir Cheetos is being called to task?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/11/02/president-trump-has-made-false-or-misleading-claims-over-days/
Witch Hunts
All in all, the witch hunts were a campaign of oppression on women in general.
They’re rather analogous to the current era right-wing campaigns targeting immigrants, in the general sense. They’re also semi-analogous to the hunting of copyright infringers by copyright trolls, and if you take things from a view of a campaign of oppression, you could twist out an analogy to the tactics currently being employed by the drafters of Article 13.
Invoking it certainly doesn’t bring up any sympathetic reactions towards the current US administration or the copyright folks.
Re: Witch Hunts
Wow, I just saw something really similar to what you were saying here:
https://www.walkawaycampaign.com/
Search for Techdirt, that is a LOT of material!
Re: Re: Witch Hunts
I see nothing similar to what I was saying there. I see nothing in reference to TechDirt. I do see an interview and offer of support from Alex Jones, so… uh … no thank you.
Re: Re: Re: Witch Hunts
You actually clicked that? You’re either braver or crazier than I was.
Re: Re: Re:2 Witch Hunts
In terms of mental protection, I am well-inured to bullshit and thicker-skinned than the average politician.
In terms of system protection, this is a well-protected system with a support team capable of correcting viral infection in the rare instance where it would occur, with critical files stored in a share drive.
The link itself didn’t throw the normal flags of mis-direct for malware purposes. In this case, it’s misdirect (from the surrounding text) for ideological purposes instead, which, while not illegal, is equally if not more so morally bankrupt.
Re: Re: Re:3 Witch Hunts
Oh yeah it’s some entry level misogyny with not a few white supremists dog whistles. I suspect it’s Hamiltons home page because of the creepy glamor shot of the presumably founder that’s the background artwork.
Re: Re: Re:3 Witch Hunts
"In terms of system protection, this is a well-protected system with a support team capable of correcting viral infection in the rare instance where it would occur, with critical files stored in a share drive."
That said I still second That One Guy. When someone drops a fresh steaming turd in your path it takes a strong stomach to actually poke it with a finger to see if there’s anything interesting underneath.
I somehow doubt that a Der Stürmer-reject babbling like a constipated tauntaun about witch hunts has malware strong enough to warrant real alarm, but it’s pretty much given that any link supplied by a personage with such arguments is likely to lead to something more viscerally disturbing than the goatse man.