Brent Ashley 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (114)

• On the post: Artist Sues Sony Music Because Her Artwork Appears In The Background Of A Music Video

  

  Brent Ashley ( profile ), 28 Feb, 2012 @ 11:08am

  Au contraire, I think it's fitting that if Sony doesn't want to pay up, they should have to go through each frame and replace all incidental art with something generic, just like WKRP did for syndication. They can't have it both ways.

• On the post: Knowledge Is A Universal Natural Resource — And Locking It Up Hurts Everyone

  

  Brent Ashley ( profile ), 28 Jan, 2012 @ 10:29am

  Re: A wonderful sentiment--- if it were true

  The "blue sky essay" part of my post was preceded by the following line which Mike didn't include in his quote.
  
  "This is what it?s all about, from a pure philosophical perspective:"
  
  Perhaps even without this preface, you feel that an attempt to express something with philosophical purity equates to wild-eyed optimism.
  
  My goal was not to dismiss the entire real world of pragmatism but to provide a distilled definition of the problem domain and then begin a discussion, which I'm happy to see it has.
  
  Apparently my choice of the qualifier "not too much different from" was not enough to deflect analogy-pedantry. I grant that the problem has little to do with forest-clearing machinery and Brazilian mob rule. Touch?.

• On the post: The Internet Strikes Back: Anonymous Takes Down DOJ.gov, RIAA, MPAA Sites To Protest Megaupload Seizure

  

  Brent Ashley ( profile ), 19 Jan, 2012 @ 04:08pm

  Operation IP Freedom

  It was only a matter of time before Megaupload was brought to justice and all the IP was freed from this tyrannical regime.
  
  Serves them right for continuing to develop Weapons of Mass Distribution.
  
  Oh yeah, sure, they say they're just a bitlocker, but those are entertainment-grade bits.
  
  Mission accomplished.

• On the post: MPAA Boss: If The Chinese Censor The Internet Without A Problem, Why Can't The US?

  

  Brent Ashley ( profile ), 09 Dec, 2011 @ 09:17pm

  Contributory culpability

  If the artists hadn't made that content, it wouldn't be being pirated. The MPAA and RIAA should make sure they aren't profiting from their contribution to piracy.
  
  Oh yeah, they already are making sure of that.

• On the post: NBC Universal Threatens Partners That They Need To Sign 'Grassroots' Support Of SOPA/PIPA Or It Might Have To Drop Them

  

  Brent Ashley ( profile ), 29 Nov, 2011 @ 01:10pm

  "which is a major threat to the strength of our business"
  
  Not to its existence, to its strength. Perhaps it's a sign of a glimmer of enlightenment that they no longer claim that it is an existential threat.

• On the post: The Definitive Post On Why SOPA And Protect IP Are Bad, Bad Ideas

  

  Brent Ashley ( profile ), 22 Nov, 2011 @ 03:04pm

  wooden horses

  An observer of the gradual constitution-weakening legal and procedural assertions of the last decade or more might well wonder whether the "unintended consequences" of which you speak are in fact the payload of such a broadly painted gift-horse.

• On the post: Canadians Realizing That Their Websites Will Get Swept Up By SOPA Censorship

  

  Brent Ashley ( profile ), 15 Nov, 2011 @ 09:20pm

  Re:

  I hereby express concern as a Canadian and owner of a Canadian company who is not named Michael and is not a crony of any Michaels nor a purveyor of artificial turf. You are now free to drop your shield of incredulity and consider our side of the argument.

• On the post: New Study Shows Majority Of Americans Against SOPA; Believe Extreme Copyright Enforcement Is Unreasonable

  

  Brent Ashley ( profile ), 15 Nov, 2011 @ 07:42am

  Threat level scarlet

  SOPA is NOT censorship. Let me be clear - America does not Censor!
  
  We all have to realize that we can only win the war on Infringerism by accepting that Enhanced Internet-Abrogation Techniques are a necessary and effective method to control those who hate us for our creativity.
  
  Otherwise, the Infringerists will have won.

• On the post: OnStar Drops Plan To Monitor Non-Subscribers

  

  Brent Ashley ( profile ), 29 Sep, 2011 @ 05:05am

  The title for the internal memo on this issue is probably something more along the lines of:
  
  "OnStar Drops Plan To Admit Publicly That We're Going To Continue To Monitor Non-Subscribers".

• On the post: There's No Such Thing As 'Natural' Search Results; Search Results Are Inherently Biased

  

  Brent Ashley ( profile ), 21 Sep, 2011 @ 01:37pm

  Congress should expand their search for systems that need dismantling or breaking up due to bigness. Take their own two political parties for instance. Not enough competition. If one goes out of business all you'll have is the other one.

• On the post: British MP Calls On RIM To Shut Down Messenger Services To Stop Riots; Because Pissing Off Rioters Calms Them Down?

  

  Brent Ashley ( profile ), 10 Aug, 2011 @ 12:42am

  Just a bunch of tools

  Clearly the fault in London's 1985 riots lay squarely with the telephone and the postal system. They had best also confiscate any Aldis lamps and semaphore flags they find on these hoodlums.

• On the post: Court Refuses To Issue Injunction Stopping Secret Web Spycams From Running On Rental Laptops

  

  Brent Ashley ( profile ), 19 Jul, 2011 @ 10:16am

  cover the camera

  Since I know as a programmer how easy it is to have access to the camera, I have got into the habit of keeping the camera lens covered when my laptops are plugged in at home.
  
  On a rental machine, I would certainly tape over it. The only reason I don't tape over my own is that I run Prey on them.

• On the post: Photographer David Slater Claims That Because He Thought Monkeys Might Take Pictures, Copyright Is His

  

  Brent Ashley ( profile ), 15 Jul, 2011 @ 10:40am

  Every picture, every expression, every thought is naturally born into the public domain.
  
  Copyright (similarly to patents) is an artifice introduced by humans to alter the natural course of free and open knowledge transfer. In order to accord benefit to the product's creator, they are provided with a legal construct which allows them to restrict other humans' use of their product and demand compensation.
  
  Nobody *owns* the right to copy. They temporarily hold the right to restrict other humans' behaviour with respect to their product.
  
  At last that's how it _should_ work.

• On the post: Photographer David Slater Claims That Because He Thought Monkeys Might Take Pictures, Copyright Is His

  

  Brent Ashley ( profile ), 15 Jul, 2011 @ 10:14am

  ownership vs copyright

  Copyright is an oddly fitting glove for a foot such as this. There seems to be some conflation between copyright and ownership and the waters are very murky.
  
  I'm struggling to grok how if I as a code monkey click the shutter button on your camera, I have extended control over the resulting image that's on your memory card. If you never choose to do anything with that image or to send it to me, would I have a right to demand it from you? If you copy that image from your memory card to your computer and print it out or post it, do I have some magical dominion over your ongoing behaviour? If it were a film camera where you actually paid for the film that my click caused to be exposed, and you had to pay to process the film, would things be any different?
  
  I'm inclined to say that it's his camera, he owns the pics on it. The person who took the pic should get credit for taking it and perhaps share in ownership somehow, but I have a feeling that somehow it crosses some line to give that person full ownership and control.

• On the post: Nortel Patents Sold For $4.5 Billion To Apple, EMC, Microsoft, RIM, Ericsson & Sony

  

  Brent Ashley ( profile ), 01 Jul, 2011 @ 05:23am

  Finally! Apple, EMC, Microsoft, RIM, Ericsson & Sony have been languishing too long without any impetus to innovate. These patents will at last enable them once and for all to promote the heck out of the progress of Science and useful Arts. Huzzah!

• On the post: Why Is The Federal Government Running Ads Secretly Created & Owned By NBC Universal?

  

  Brent Ashley ( profile ), 09 Jun, 2011 @ 10:01am

  Follow the money

  "How about if the Treasury Department ran a PSA created and owned by Goldman Sachs?"
  
  Hard to see how that's a problem since the Treasury Department is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Goldman Sachs.

• On the post: The First Amendment Doesn't Care If Wikileaks Is A Media Organization

  

  Brent Ashley ( profile ), 29 Apr, 2011 @ 08:31am

  Re: Re: Congress shall make no law...

  "Lawmaking authority is not granted to the executive branch in the executive powers section of the Constitution"
  
  My point was that neither was warmaking, but it didn't seem to matter when it came down to it.

• On the post: The First Amendment Doesn't Care If Wikileaks Is A Media Organization

  

  Brent Ashley ( profile ), 29 Apr, 2011 @ 07:50am

  Congress shall make no law...

  As Congress is demonstrably no longer a necessary element to enter into wars, is it unreasonable to think that "Congress shall make no law..." might possibly someday become irrelevant if an administration, present or future, decided to assert unitary lawmaking authority?

• On the post: NYT: You Can Access Our Site For Free From Twitter, But Don't Tell Anyone That

  

  Brent Ashley ( profile ), 23 Mar, 2011 @ 07:24pm

  Dastardly

  If NYT and their dog Muttley would stop sawing through axles and switching road signs and instead turn their considerable efforts to updating their jalopy, they might just catch up and have a chance of winning this race.

• On the post: How The US Response Turns 'Failed' Terrorist Attacks Into Successes

  

  Brent Ashley ( profile ), 02 Dec, 2010 @ 09:12am

  Follow The Money

  Somebody does bad things.
  Somebody makes decisions on how to react, chooses expensive solution.
  Lots of money is transferred from the state to somebody who is the chosen solution provider.
  The solution is not only ineffective but accelerates the situation.
  
  Who is each of the somebodies?
  How to each of them benefit?
  Follow the money.

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