bshock’s Techdirt Profile

On the post: If Publishers Can't Cover Their Costs With $10 Ebooks, Then They Deserve To Go Out Of Business

bshock ( profile ), 18 Apr, 2012 @ 10:09am

why bother with the conditional?

Forget the "if" statement here -- publishers simply deserve to go out of business.

They contribute nothing these days. They are merely worthless middlemen.

I might contribute to an author, if I like his or her work. But I will never give one goddamn cent to a publisher.

On the post: If Piracy Is So Devastating, Why Are We Seeing An Unprecedented Outpouring Of Creativity?

bshock ( profile ), 10 Apr, 2012 @ 09:15am

Can we please stop using the media dinosaur terminology?

Okay, so we agree that "piracy" actually contributes to creativity and culture and all manner of good, constructive, healthy things?

Fine. So let's stop buying into the fossilized Big Content frame and call most "piracy" what it really is: "sharing."

Human beings like to share things. It benefits us to share things. It makes us feel good to share things. Sharing is the fundamental basis of culture.

Sharing is good.

Calling it "piracy" is just moronic.

On the post: How Can You Be Register Of Copyrights If You Don't Even Understand Copyright's Most Basic Purpose?

bshock ( profile ), 05 Apr, 2012 @ 09:19am

sometimes you make me tired, Mike

Okay, so I get it: the occasional naive voice you use in your articles about intellectual property bastards is just a rhetorical device.

"Oh, why does Mr. Such-and-such seem to forget that copyright was designed to benefit We The People?"

But this device has gotten a little old, Mike.

Would it hurt just to admit publicly and definitively, once and for all, that benefiting the public was never the reason behind copyright, but merely the rationalization? Would it really alienate your critics any worse? Would it really damage your credibility any more?

Intellectual Property is theft, or at least an attempt at theft. Wealthy and/or opportunistic bastards stomped into our culture and decided they could wall off portions of it for their own gain. In an ironic and all-too-familiar pattern with such thieves, they then turned around and accused people who simply practiced the most basic function of culture -- sharing -- of being the real thieves.

Years ago, I was outraged by the fact that such a position might be perceived as cynical or even controversial. Now it just seems boringly delusional that anyone would bother pretending otherwise.

On the post: Time To Start Again On 'Six Strikes' And Let Internet Users Have A Seat At The Table

bshock ( profile ), 04 Apr, 2012 @ 08:34am

This article makes a ludicrous assumption

There is no way to make this "Six Strikes" nonsense fair -- it is inherently unfair... as well as insulting, counterproductive, and pointless for everyone involved.

Bring the public to the table? This sounds like the classic cliche about when two lions and a lamb sit down together to agree on what's for dinner. The very fact of this conspiratorial system damages the public.

On the post: Copyfraud: Techdirt Book Club Selection For April

bshock ( profile ), 02 Apr, 2012 @ 04:58pm

Intellectual Property is Theft

A book called "CopyFraud" for $15 in ebook form?

Irony...meter...overloading...

On the post: MPAA Exec: Only We Can Make Content That People Want

bshock ( profile ), 15 Mar, 2012 @ 12:23pm

you're sounding a little condescending, Mike

I agree that Big Media still doesn't understand the resistance it encountered with SOPA/PIPA. But I don't think that ultimately makes any difference. These idiots will never stop trying to pass progressively worse IP laws.

Maybe the Internet hive mind has already lost interest in this game. Maybe Big Media will learn the lesson that they have to be even sneakier and/or more gradual in their approach. But one way or another, bad IP laws have a very high probability of getting on the books.

It's a little early to be smug about the last Internet victory.

On the post: Does Anyone Who Develops New Products In Hollywood Ask 'Would I Ever Actually Use This?'

bshock ( profile ), 14 Mar, 2012 @ 03:41pm

another rhetorical question

Does anyone ever go to "the mall" any more?

I don't. When they closed the bookstores, the model shops, the toy stores, the game stores, and everything else that might've interested me, I had no more reason to visit a mall.

And after all, who needs these shops anyway? It's all online.

On the post: 'Don't Get SOPA'd' Is The New Mantra On Capitol Hill

bshock ( profile ), 12 Mar, 2012 @ 12:15pm

Oh noes, the U.S. might become a democracy!

So if Hollywood/Congress insists that anti-SOPA backlash only came from the tech sector, does that mean Hollywood/Congress completely, aristocratically, arrogantly discounts the notion of democracy? Or does it mean Hollywood/Congress is like a drunk searching for his keys under a streetlight after losing them in a dark alley?

On the post: An Open Letter To Content Creators: One 'Pirate' Explains Why He Infringes & How To Get His Money

bshock ( profile ), 09 Mar, 2012 @ 09:08am

someone says it all at last

The attitude in that open letter is 100% mine.

If you argue with it, you're simply missing the point and deserve to lose business.

My interpretation of the bottom line:

1) Remember that when it comes to entertainment, I have the power now, not you.

2) If you want my money, stop screwing with me.

On the post: Obama Administration: ACTA Is Binding & Don't Worry Your Pretty Little Heads About TPP

bshock ( profile ), 07 Mar, 2012 @ 03:16pm

Re: Re: Maybe Romney isn't so bad

Don't vote "republican" or "democrat". Vote "sane".
Vote for someone who has a shred of common sense, who isn't a greedy idiot. Vote for someone who won't take campaign contributions and then write arbitrary laws hindering the competition of those companies.
Don't vote for a party. Vote for a person who actually wants to work for the public good.

So you're basically saying again and again, "Don't vote."

I'm serious. There is no one running for public office who even vaguely satisfies any of your requirements.

On the post: How Does The Penalty For 'Content Theft' Match Up With Similar 'Crimes'?

bshock ( profile ), 13 Feb, 2012 @ 08:21am

it takes one to know one

My ex-wife used to work a lot of retail, and she always insisted that the customers who complained the loudest were the thieves (such as people who would try returning items they shoplifted at other stores; some chains will actually allow returns without a receipt, particularly if the customer screams about it).

Copyright maximalists are the loudest screamers when it comes to "content theft," even though we know they are not really talking about theft.

Human beings have always formed and shared culture, and culture is like a world of shared songs, stories, ideas, inventions, and imagination in general. The idea of intellectual property is like an army of conquistadors marching into that cultural world and seizing territory for themselves.

I probably wouldn't go as far as Proudhon and claim that "Property is theft." But I might suggest this bold claim seems much more appropriate when applied to so-called "intellectual property."

On the post: Park Ranger Tases Guy Walking Dogs Without A Leash

bshock ( profile ), 10 Feb, 2012 @ 10:46am

Re: Re: Re:

I suspect the true flaw in this line of reasoning is the tacit assumption that the ranger had to do anything at all.

Look at the situation: a guy was walking his little dogs without their leashes. He and the dogs weren't hurting anyone at all. He'd merely broken a rule.

Enforcement of rules for the sake of enforcement of rules is simply idiotic.

I suppose you could argue some slippery slope nonsense about one broken rule begetting more and larger broken rules, until we descend into mere chaos.

But let's be serious.

On the post: Once More, With Feeling: It Wasn't Silicon Valley Or Google That Stopped SOPA/PIPA, It Was The Internet

bshock ( profile ), 26 Jan, 2012 @ 02:55pm

was this really just an internet victory?

Hi Mike:

What's your opinion of this article from David Rodnitzsky at PPC Associates, where he tried to do a little amateur sleuthing about anti-SOPA groups: http://www.ppcassociates.com/blog/experience/lobbyists-1-internet-0-an-alternative-take-on-sopa/

I am aggressively against any government's attempt to regulate the Internet. But if this latest Internet victory significantly involves astroturf, I'd like to know about it.

On the post: SOPA/PIPA: How Far We've Come; How Far We Need To Go

bshock ( profile ), 17 Jan, 2012 @ 07:30am

you're damned right that killing SOPA isn't enough

If a congressperson supported SOPA or PIPA, I want to see his or her poltical career utterly destroyed. For the individuals proposing this travesty, I want to see them disgraced, impoverished, and surviving on government cheese. I want to see the lobbyists hounded, registered, and imprisoned like child molesters. I want to see Big Media executives out of work, homeless, and ultimately sorry they were ever born.

Most of all, I want to Roll back IP!

On the post: Boo-Freaking-Hoo: RIAA Complains That 'The Deck Is Stacked' Against Them On CES Panels

bshock ( profile ), 12 Jan, 2012 @ 10:25am

nothing bothers a cheat more than a level playing field

Reality isn't fair and balanced, and anything that claims to be so isn't real. Why should an issue be reduced to a 50/50 discussion if the odds are more like 20/80 against?

On the post: US Mainstream Media Refuses Op-Ed About TSA Eroding Civil Liberties… But Pravda Publishes It

bshock ( profile ), 29 Dec, 2011 @ 09:10am

I see what you're doing there...

I guess I understand that you're writing with a disingenuous attitude out of sarcasm and perhaps some forlorn hope of avoiding insult to the U.S. mainstream media outlets you mentioned (and with whom you may wish to deal in the future).

But since I don't have a web site to run, I can just add my voice to those who point out it's not at all "bizarre that the big American media wouldn't even let her speak her mind on the subject."

Quite the contrary, it seems merely consistent that big American media would do the bidding of their owners, the wealthy companies and individuals who have the highest stakes in ratcheting down rights for the troublesome, disorderly masses.

To the rich, We The People are almost literally cattle. We exist to be herded, milked, and when necessary or convenient, slaughtered.

On the post: ICE Admits That It Just Wants To 'Put People In Jail' With Operation In Our Sites

bshock ( profile ), 21 Dec, 2011 @ 10:28am

You are not a "law enforcement officer," Agent Ross. You are merely a pig.

On the post: CCIA Slams Congressional Representatives Who Unfairly Attack US Companies For Speaking Up Against SOPA

bshock ( profile ), 16 Dec, 2011 @ 08:17am

Of course Lamar Smith wants to avoid substantive debate

SOPA supporters know that if they engage in "substantive debate," they will lose. SOPA is a solution for a problem that does not exist.

In fact, it's worse than that. It's equivalent to giving chemotherapy to a healthy person -- it prevents nothing, and causes massive harm.

On the post: No Copyright Intended: The Coming Generation Who Intrinsically Assumes Remix & Sharing Makes Sense

bshock ( profile ), 13 Dec, 2011 @ 10:07am

Re: So? Pirates always assume that they can plunder others!

I suppose it all depends on who stole what, and when.

Humanity shares a common imagination and ingenuity. Once upon a time, a group of clever, greedy conquistadors stomped into this common territory and started laying claim to huge swaths of it. Naturally they convinced the powers that be to legitimize their conquests with nonsensical laws. Since then, they've never stopped widening their stolen territory and broadening the legal rationalization of it.

So if you want to start arguing "fair," you'd better figure out how countless people can have the same idea at once, but only one gets to "own" it.

On the post: Keith Olbermann, No Longer Afraid Of Corporate Parent Interference, Willing To Talk On Air About PIPA/SOPA

bshock ( profile ), 01 Dec, 2011 @ 08:37am

Just a question, Senator Wyden

Why do we need an "alternative" to PIPA/SOPA? Haven't we already amply established that these are entirely solutions to a business model problem that exists solely in the heads of Big Media execs? Haven't we repeatedly shown evidence that existing law is not just well suited for handling any problem that might exist, but that existing law actually goes much too far in the direction of censorship already?

You want useful alternative legislation to PIPA/SOPA, Senator Wyden? Then I propose a program called "Rollback Intellectual Property."

1) Shore up and expand Fair Use in very specific, solid legal terms.

2) Ram home the point that mere ideas are not eligible for copyright or patent, and establish ways to quash lawsuits implying otherwise.

3) Cut back ridiculously destructive copyright terms to a maximum of 25 years.

That would be a very, very modest start.

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