Thomas 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (129) comment rss

  • On the post: European Top Court Tells Monsanto It Can't Abuse Patent Law To Stop Import Of Argentinian Soymeal

    Thomas ( profile ), 07 Jul, 2010 @ 07:39pm

    Dear Mike:

    Please post more agribusiness articles. This seems to be the only kind of thread where we get relevant, intelligent comments from AC's. If the full story of Monsanto's abuses is ever told, it will be world changing in its scope.

  • On the post: Woot Asks AP To Pay Up For Quoting Woot Blog Post Without Paying [Updated]

    Thomas ( profile ), 06 Jul, 2010 @ 11:29am

    Re:

    Can we add a button that says "The opposite of insightful and/or informative"?

  • On the post: Pirate Party Wants To Host The Pirate Bay From Inside The Swedish Parliament

    Thomas ( profile ), 02 Jul, 2010 @ 02:50pm

    Blah blah blah ..
    Must be Friday ... blah blah
    Masnick tries to ... blah
    Politicians are all thieves anyway .. blah blah
    FAIL. .. I win the internet ..
    Blah blah blah ..

  • On the post: Concrete Company Sues Woman For Posting Negative Review On Angie's List

    Thomas ( profile ), 02 Jul, 2010 @ 01:33pm

    Re: Re:

    It might CEMENT their relationship.

  • On the post: Another Journalist Seduced By App Madness Predicts The End Of The Web

    Thomas ( profile ), 01 Jul, 2010 @ 12:27pm

    "...dragged kicking and screaming..."

  • On the post: New Zealand Media Claiming That Huge Local Film Success Story Is Being Harmed… By 200 Downloaders?

    Thomas ( profile ), 24 Jun, 2010 @ 12:57pm

    Two Things -

    1. A reporter repeats something somebody said - a guy from the so-called "New Zealand Federation Against Copyright Theft" (no agenda there) estimated that some other film that was leaked "lost" a million dollars. And they toss this number around like it's a fact. Prove it. Publish your financial statements. Let's see the facts that prove you were going to make $X from your movie, and that because of it being available on the internet you made $X - 1,000,000. Bring on the data that differentiates between the people who downloaded it and didn't buy it because they thought it was crap, and the people who downloaded it and then went to the theatre or bought the DVD because they thought it was good. Surely you must have this data handy or you wouldn't glibly toss around million dollar estimates of losses, would you? 2. This movie is one of the highest grossing New Zealand films of all time, has been released for three months, and it still is not available internationally or on DVD?? What are they waiting for - all interest in the film to completely die off? The internet is doing their promotion for them - getting the film to people who can't see it in the theatre or buy the DVD. And those people want to see it; they want to buy the DVD and they can't. If this movie loses anything, it will be because of they have under-served their audience. A potentially world-wide audience wants to see it, and they put all their effort into making that difficult, and complaining when a few people take the initiative and seek out their locked-up movie.

  • On the post: Senate Oversight Of IP Czar… Only Involves Entertainment Industry Execs

    Thomas ( profile ), 18 Jun, 2010 @ 10:49am

    Re: Re: remember Americans

    Trained by Yutte Hermsgervordenbroti?

  • On the post: CEO Of UK Collection Society: We Don't Want Gov't Handouts, But The Gov't Must Give Us Everything We Ask For!

    Thomas ( profile ), 15 Jun, 2010 @ 09:25am

    Re: AC

    A long post that you obviously did not read.

  • On the post: Amazon Sued For Selling Smarties

    Thomas ( profile ), 09 Jun, 2010 @ 03:35pm

    Re: Youre smarties SUCK, our's melt in the mouth.

    "You're Smarties SUCK !!!

    Whereas our's just melts in the mouth."

    You are Smarties SUCK !!!

    Whereas our is just melts in the mouth.

  • On the post: Bulgarian Chess Tournament Organizers Sue Website For Reporting Chess Moves, Claim Copyright Infringement

    Thomas ( profile ), 07 Jun, 2010 @ 09:17am

    Re:

    "...authors of the chess move..."???? The authors of any chess move are everyone who has ever played chess. Chess has evolved over many hundreds of years, building on a fairly simple set of rules, which yields a virtually unlimited set of strategies. The question is not whether a chess "move" can be copyrighted, but whether the moves in this tournament, as a matter of record, can be copyrighted. It is just as ridiculous as any other sports tournament trying to lock up the facts of scores, plays, personnel, etc.

  • On the post: How Many Bad Assumptions Can You Make In A Single Article About Content Creation And Copyright?

    Thomas ( profile ), 07 May, 2010 @ 10:13pm

    This is a great and very well reasoned post. Well done Mike.

  • On the post: Photographer Makes One-Third Of His Living Expenses Off Only 94 Fans

    Thomas ( profile ), 15 Apr, 2010 @ 07:44am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: A Living?

    Nowhere does he say that that's the only way he makes money. He may do freelance work, or weddings, or ad work, or work in a studio or even a camera store. Or whatever. What the article says, for those who would actually read it, is that by connecting with fans and giving them a reason to buy, he is very easily able to make money with his fine art photography. The thing is, he makes enough from it that he doesn't have to work full time at something else and strictly do his art is a side interest.

  • On the post: RIAA Insists That Musicians Can't Make Money Without The RIAA

    Thomas ( profile ), 13 Apr, 2010 @ 09:48am

    Is the RIAA necessary?

    No, it's not necessary. One success story is Joe Bonamossa. After starting his own label, and dumping the RIAA, he is doing better than ever. He says he has, for example, better touring budgets than he ever got from the RIAA label. I'd cite the Guitar World Magazine article in which he says that, but it's blocked here at work by the web filter because it contains "Intimate Apparel & Swimsuit" ??????

  • On the post: Economist Assumes That The Problem Is 'Thieves' Rather Than Bad Patent Laws

    Thomas ( profile ), 12 Apr, 2010 @ 07:57am

    Re: bend over, little mikey

    "Every time I read this shitty blog of yours I want to puke"

    That's the cognitive dissonance causing disorientation. Either that or you suffer from intellectual bulimia. Either way, get help.

  • On the post: Must Read: CCIA Sets US IP Czar Straight On Intellectual Property

    Thomas ( profile ), 26 Mar, 2010 @ 11:32am

    Ah...the "Techdirt Truth":

    Copyright law is irrelevant in the 21st century and is being used, perhaps even perverted, by content creators who seek to prop up old business models.

    Copyright law should be eliminated in its entirety since it does no more than stifle innovation and intrude on human, civil and privacy rights without justification.

    FTFY

  • On the post: Citizens United, Recent Winner Of Free Speech Case, Tries To Silence Critics

    Thomas ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2010 @ 08:34am

    Citizens United Against Recursion

    If the court actually hears the case of Citizens United against Citizens United Against Citizens United, I'll start a Facebook group called Citizens United Against Citizens United against Citizens United Against Citizens United.

  • On the post: Alice In Public Domainland; Just Because Something Is Free And Open Doesn't Mean You Can't Make Money Off Of It

    Thomas ( profile ), 05 Mar, 2010 @ 07:26pm

    Wow

    After reading the comments at the linked post, I have to wonder .. Is there a cult or some kind of organized group that tries to refute such well-informed posts and dilute the conversation about balanced copyright with a load of moral and ethical posturing about "piracy" and "copying" that try to degrade the conversation into an emotional argument about who should get paid for some bit of art? I get the point of the article. Lots of people (corporations, entities) have been able to create something new, something that enriches society as a whole, simply because a cool story, a well written story is (as was intended by our forefathers) in the public domain so new people with new ideas can retell the story as they see fit. That's the point, and the way it always was before giant corporations pumped a ton of money into the legal system to protect their outdated business model.

  • On the post: Warner Music Shoots Self In Head; Says No More Free Streaming

    Thomas ( profile ), 10 Feb, 2010 @ 01:18pm

    Can't wait ..

    I can't wait for someone to chime in and try to defend this with non-logic, strawmen and insults.

  • On the post: No, Copyright Has Never Been About Protecting Labor

    Thomas ( profile ), 05 Feb, 2010 @ 08:38pm

    He should not call himself "The Anti-Mike" because that would imply some sort of equality. He should really be called "The Non-Mike" because he is everything Mike is not: He is not educated, informed, logical, reasoned, reasonable, or even intelligent. Seriously, it would be great if some "Anti-Mike" showed up here to refute some of Mike's opinions with logic and real-life examples why anything Mike says is inherently wrong, but nobody does - because nobody can. The trolls will come and go. They will not convince anyone that government granted monopolies are good for the creative arts. They do not benefit anyone but the big corporations that hold lots of copyrights. They certainly don't benefit the actual "creators". We have seen many times how "copyrights" have been used to screw the creator of some content out of any recompense for such content. Copy"right" is really Copy"wrong". The point is that there is something fundamentally wrong about current copyright law, and it needs to be changed.

  • On the post: No, Copyright Has Never Been About Protecting Labor

    Thomas ( profile ), 05 Feb, 2010 @ 01:00pm

    "I'm always quite amazed at people who clearly have no experience with copyright law or the history of copyright law insisting they know all about what it's about."

    See #2 above.

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