Baldaur Regis 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (609)

• On the post: App Developer: Android OS Built For Piracy And Consumer Choice Sucks

  

  Baldaur Regis ( profile ), 03 Aug, 2012 @ 12:56pm

  Freedom from choice
  
  ***SPLAT***
  
  Well that's just fucking great. There go the last brain cells the gin didn't kill.

• On the post: Europe Already Has Draft Standard For Real-Time Government Snooping On Services Like Facebook And Gmail

  

  Baldaur Regis ( profile ), 03 Aug, 2012 @ 12:24pm

  Re: More Spying

  Or maybe the new saying will be "We Must Stop the CyberChildren From Saving Whatever".

• On the post: Judge Posner: Embedding Infringing Videos Is Not Copyright Infringement, And Neither Is Watching Them

  

  Baldaur Regis ( profile ), 03 Aug, 2012 @ 11:55am

  Re: Re: Re: See! Making a copy is theft...

  Jammie Thomas never served jail time, bob. She was found liable in a civil lawsuit for willful copyright infringement of 24 songs.
  
  24 songs, bob. No jail time. Sorry if that makes you not so "happy with Jamie Thomas getting the same amount of time as some shoplifter who takes 1000 CDs."

• On the post: Judge Posner: Embedding Infringing Videos Is Not Copyright Infringement, And Neither Is Watching Them

  

  Baldaur Regis ( profile ), 03 Aug, 2012 @ 11:16am

  Re: See! Making a copy is theft...

  Okay, call it theft. I downloaded and watched a movie that I could have bought for $20. What's my penalty? $150,000? $100? What's fair?

• On the post: Did You Know That Professional Writing Is Dying And Only Taxing The Public To Pay Writers Can Save It

  

  Baldaur Regis ( profile ), 02 Aug, 2012 @ 09:30am

  Re: Not every writer can be paid to astroturf

  Morning meds in the morning, boB. Evening meds in the evening. You're making far less sense than usual.

• On the post: Did You Know That Professional Writing Is Dying And Only Taxing The Public To Pay Writers Can Save It

  

  Baldaur Regis ( profile ), 02 Aug, 2012 @ 09:23am

  Don't be to hard on this guy...

  He's obviously found a paying niche as a grouchy crank.

• On the post: If It Takes You 20 Years To Notice Madonna Sampled Your Songs, Perhaps It's A Transformative Use

  

  Baldaur Regis ( profile ), 02 Aug, 2012 @ 09:08am

  Re:

  I recently read a monograph from an entertainment lawyer, written back when sampling licensing was just being sorted out. He argued that a sample manipulated to the point of being unrecognizable from the original was still the original, and that copyright protections still applied.
  
  When I read it, I thought he was being a brilliant satirist, illustrating the absurdities of the studios' efforts to make money on the whole sampling process. Now, I think he was just a very forward-looking entertainment lawyer.
  
  I'm going to wash my hands now, and drink gin until I forget this little toad.

• On the post: Homeland Security Issuing Its Own DMCA Takedowns On YouTube To Stifle Speech

  

  Baldaur Regis ( profile ), 01 Aug, 2012 @ 10:32am

  On a more serious note

  Is this the formal moment when DMCA notices have jumped the shark from "copyright concerns" removal to flat out "I don't like this" takedowns?

• On the post: Homeland Security Issuing Its Own DMCA Takedowns On YouTube To Stifle Speech

  

  Baldaur Regis ( profile ), 01 Aug, 2012 @ 10:23am

  I also reached out to Homeland Security, who at first seemed interested in looking into the details and then completely stopped responding to emails.

  That's because they took the time to look up Techdirt....you dirty commie. /sarc
  
  And they probably used a phone book to do it. I'm very surprised ANYBODY at DHS could find an onramp to the Information Superhighway. But hey, maybe Techdirt is listed on AOL.

• On the post: How Petty Patent Fights Can Get: Samsung Upset That Apple Gets Top Billing In Patent Suit

  

  Baldaur Regis ( profile ), 01 Aug, 2012 @ 08:40am

  Re:

  You forget the ponderous weight a legal hissy fit carries....

• On the post: UK Government Censors Copyright Consultation Submission About How Awful Collection Societies Are

  

  Baldaur Regis ( profile ), 01 Aug, 2012 @ 08:25am

  Ah.

  Perhaps the government editor was just squeamish about raw internet stuff. For instance:

  http://torrentfreak.com/charity-forced-to-pay-copyright-police-so-kids-can-sing-071209/

  It's scary! Try this:

  Cute Bunny Rabbits

  Ahhhh. Same link but much better!

• On the post: Twitter Finally Reinstates Journalist's Twitter Account, But Questions Raised Over Its Actions

  

  Baldaur Regis ( profile ), 31 Jul, 2012 @ 02:18pm

  Re: Legal vs moral

  Yes. Twitter, you used to be cool.

• On the post: Twitter Finally Reinstates Journalist's Twitter Account, But Questions Raised Over Its Actions

  

  Baldaur Regis ( profile ), 31 Jul, 2012 @ 01:53pm

  Twitter's statement does not pass the sniff test. From their statement here:

  The team working closely with NBC around our Olympics partnership did proactively identify a Tweet that was in violation of the Twitter Rules and encouraged them to file a support ticket with our Trust and Safety team...

  And from the Wired.com article on this subject:

  Twitter?s policy is remarkably clear on this issue. It says in very clear language that ?[i]f information was previously posted or displayed elsewhere on the Internet prior to being put on Twitter, it is not a violation of this policy.? This invalidates any argument concerning whether Adams? account should have been taken down.

  
  What smells like bullshit, probably is.

• On the post: US Has Ignored New Zealand Court Order To Return Data It Seized From Megaupload

  

  Baldaur Regis ( profile ), 31 Jul, 2012 @ 11:56am

  I Say Old Bean...

  ...the Justice Department, who is supposed to be enforcing the rule of law, doesn't believe such rule of law applies to its own activities.

  Yes, and my butler spends his days drinking whiskey with the cook. The connection? Both are grand to have, clean up well, and are useful on occasion.

• On the post: Cybersecurity Bill: Protecting Us From Attacks… Or Keeping Our Own Attacks Secret?

  

  Baldaur Regis ( profile ), 31 Jul, 2012 @ 08:55am

  Re: Re:

  It's more of a fedora kind of site.

• On the post: Music Labels Have No Plans To Share Any Money They Get From The Pirate Bay With Artists

  

  Baldaur Regis ( profile ), 31 Jul, 2012 @ 08:17am

  Its Their Job...

  ...to be boot-licking toadies. Both the RIAA and the IFPI are trade organizations representing music labels, not artists directly.
  
  About IFPI:

  IFPI is responsible for co-ordinating international strategies in the key areas of the organisation's work - anti-piracy enforcement, lobbying of governments and representation in international organisations, legal strategies, litigation and public relations. It is also the recording industry's most authoritative source of market research and information, providing a comprehensive range of global industry statistics.

  
  
  About RIAA:

  The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is the trade organization that supports and promotes the creative and financial vitality of the major music companies. Its members are the music labels that comprise the most vibrant record industry in the world. RIAA members create, manufacture and/or distribute approximately 85% of all legitimate recorded music produced and sold in the United States.

  
  
  Unfortunately, the engine that drives these monstrosities - musicians - are at the bottom of the food chain. And yet, consider - at some point, these same musicians voluntarily signed contracts enabling all this nastiness. Are musicians bad people? Of course not. The question is, do they understand they're allowing thugs to represent them?

• On the post: MTV Europe Has Things To Say About Piracy And/Or Loading Bars Being Bad For Musicians

  

  Baldaur Regis ( profile ), 30 Jul, 2012 @ 02:51pm

  Re:

  So after the all-consuming mob destroys all the musicians and not a single musician can afford to make music anymore, what happens then?

  Really, really good streetcorner bands. With former studio execs, dressed in tattered Armani suits, standing in front of them and screaming to passersby "GIVE ME MONEY AND I'LL SHUT UP SO YOU CAN HEAR THIS MUSIC!"
  
  In other words, nothing will really change.

• On the post: RIAA's Backdoor Plan For Using 'Six Strikes' Plan To Cut Off Internet Access For People

  

  Baldaur Regis ( profile ), 27 Jul, 2012 @ 03:08pm

  Re:

  Reddit is the internet mob, of more more account to the MAFIAA than 'customers'. Google is different, Google makes "fuck you money", gobs and gobs of it, and to their way of thinking, money is power. But Google does nothing with all that power except make kind of cool things and GIVE THEM AWAY FOR FREE....or something...I don't know why Google is the 'enemy'.
  
  I wish "Big Search" boB would explain it, even though every time I hear one of his posts it's in Daffy Duck's voice.

• On the post: One Day After DC Police Told Not To Interfere With Citizens Recording Them… Police Seize Man's Phone

  

  Baldaur Regis ( profile ), 26 Jul, 2012 @ 02:48pm

  From the Ars Technica article:

  According to a local Fox TV affiliate, Earl Staley, a 26-year-old local resident started trying to record officers who were punching a man who they were arresting.
  "So I go and grab my phone and start trying to record it," Staley told Fox 5 News in the District. "And once I do that, another vice cop reaches over my back and grabs my phone and tells me he's not giving my phone back."

  And later in the same article, a portion of the policy was quoted:

  ?A member [of the police department] shall not, implicitly or explicitly, coerce consent to take possession of any recording device or any information thereon,? the new order states.

  The officer did not "coerce consent to take possession". He didn't ask or demand for the phone, he just took it. So that makes it all right, then; the new policy remains unviolated. Apparently DC will have to craft a NEW policy addressing the ability of an officer to walk up to any citizen and just take something of theirs. Funny, you'd think there'd be a law against that. Already.

• On the post: Meet The Internet Defense League (And Join It, Too)

  

  Baldaur Regis ( profile ), 19 Jul, 2012 @ 09:23am

  Re: Re: Re:

  It reads more like the output of a beta trollbot, just grabbing random catchphrases and stringing them together. Needs more cowbell.

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