Richard 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (76)

• On the post: Australia, Once Again, Seeks To Censor The Internet

  

  Richard ( profile ), 26 Jun, 2011 @ 03:38pm

  Honestly the scary thing to me is the fact that this isn't being required by law, and Tel$tra and Optu$ aren't known for their strong beliefs in moral causes, and still they're doing this. I understand when "religious" ISP's block these kind of lists, but when a bog standard corporation does it, the mind boggles.
  
  And if people think that a change in govt back to the libs will actually change anything, maybe you're just not as cynical as me. Or do you think the democrats will make a showing this time? or worse... the greens...

• On the post: Supreme Court Says Pharma Companies Can Have Access To Drug Prescription Info To Pressure Doctors Into Prescribing More Expensive Drugs

  

  Richard ( profile ), 24 Jun, 2011 @ 02:54pm

  So the ruling basically states that the US Government is not able to regulate the release of sensitive information? So then surely they can't make documents classified and thus restrict their release?

• On the post: China Seizes Websites, Clamps Down On Speech… Uses Copyright Infringement As The Excuse

  

  Richard ( profile ), 16 Jun, 2011 @ 09:23pm

  Re:

  If the actions are identical, then it is quite easy to draw a comparison. Much like people who oppose the death penalty call it murder.

• On the post: China Seizes Websites, Clamps Down On Speech… Uses Copyright Infringement As The Excuse

  

  Richard ( profile ), 16 Jun, 2011 @ 09:19pm

  I always thought that China had a bit of a "We don't care" attitude to the policies the rest of the world would like to impose on them. Funny then to see them using the same "We must live up to our international obligations" line seen so often in the West.

• On the post: Mixed Messages: US Talks Of Cleaning Up 'Rogue' Internet… While Underwriting Censorship-Proof Shadow Internet

  

  Richard ( profile ), 14 Jun, 2011 @ 06:00am

  it is certainly nice to see the US government supporting such projects
  
  So, you don't believe that these efforts to ensure "freedom" for other countries internets is to encourage the people in those countries to go the route of Egypt, etc and over throw their governments, or at least start a civil war. At which point the US, acting as the worlds police force, steps in to "peacekeep" and "rebuild". They've realised, probably a while ago, that just assassinating a leader in a foreign country will results in far too much bad press for them, or if done very subtly an influx in conspiracy theories.
  
  I don't know, maybe I'm a bit too conspiracy nut myself, but that seems to be the obvious reasoning behind wanting to "help freedom" in other countries, regardless of home policies.

• On the post: Another Loss For Righthaven: Court Explains That Its Demand For Domain Names Is Silly

  

  Richard ( profile ), 18 Apr, 2011 @ 07:33pm

  Re:

  Maybe Righthaven will actually end up fighting for good in this case, and get the ICE domain seizures rejected?

• On the post: Should Elevators Shame Us Into Taking The Stairs?

  

  Richard ( profile ), 06 Feb, 2011 @ 02:53am

  You know, the number of people who have pointed out "buildings keep their stairs locked" makes me think Sam NEVER uses the stairs in any building he goes to.
  
  He also clearly did not consider the implications of "shaming" a legitimately handicapped person EVERY DAY OF THEIR LIVES if they happen to work/school/live in a building with his elevator.

• On the post: German Mass Copyright Letter Sender Using Debt Collectors To Pressure People To Pay Up

  

  Richard ( profile ), 25 Jan, 2011 @ 06:52pm

  So if this is accurate, then the copyright holders stand to make very little and could end up losing a significant amount if most recipients don't settle. Seems like an odd deal to make.

  Sounds like a standard record industry contract to me, complete with record industry accounting.

• On the post: How Murdoch's Paywalls Meant Some News It Broke Went Unnoticed & Uncredited

  

  Richard ( profile ), 16 Nov, 2010 @ 06:35pm

  Re: bloging

  Maybe this is actually the careful planning of the newspapers, who also support hot news laws. Sure, the paywall may not bring in much cash, but if another publication with deeper pockets then a random blogger was to run with the story as "new" they could be open to copyright lawsuits :D

• On the post: Was A French Court Correct In Blaming Google For Its Google Suggest Suggestions?

  

  Richard ( profile ), 30 Sep, 2010 @ 03:02am

  Maybe the french are just still annoyed over the whole "search for 'french military victories' and google suggests 'did you mean french military defeats?'" thing that 4chan did ages ago.

• On the post: Why Do Reporters Feel They Need To Get A Quote To Report What They Know?

  

  Richard ( profile ), 29 Sep, 2010 @ 02:45am

  I'm a little confused as to why access for reporters is not terribly valuable, but access to creative types is something they can sell?

• On the post: Why Are The Record Labels Demanding Money To Let People Stream Legally Purchased Music?

  

  Richard ( profile ), 17 Sep, 2010 @ 05:42pm

  So the problem is with just streaming the files from the locker? What about if I'm just downloading them, for example I upload my legally purchased mp3's to a locker for backup purposes, then my hard drive dies, but luckily, I have a backup, so I download them and yay, I have my stuff back.
  
  Oh, but wait, what exactly is the difference between streaming and downloading????? That's right.... NOTHING.

• On the post: The Legality Of News Aggregators

  

  Richard ( profile ), 15 Sep, 2010 @ 02:01am

  I would consider commentary blogs an aggregator. Take TechDirt for example, which I use as a source for many IP related topics. Instead of trolling about all the variety of different sites that spawn your blog posts, I just come here to read about the topic, as well as get your commentary on it.

• On the post: Man Arrested In India For Photographing Woman In A Public Place & 'Insulting Her Modesty'

  

  Richard ( profile ), 14 Sep, 2010 @ 08:32pm

  So I take it then that there are no CCTV cameras at the train station?

• On the post: California Pre-Schoolers Getting Tracking Devices

  

  Richard ( profile ), 27 Aug, 2010 @ 02:39pm

  Wow, sounds like someone at the school has read Cory Doctorow's Little Brother, they just seemed to get the wrong message.

• On the post: UK Defense Secretary Calls For Retailers To Ban Upcoming Medal Of Honor Game

  

  Richard ( profile ), 24 Aug, 2010 @ 05:48pm

  As people have mentioned, when you play cops and robbers, someone has to be the robber. The option available here would be to use the Americas Army trick, where no matter which side of the multi-player game you were playing, you were an American soldier, fighting against terrorists. The people you were playing against saw themselves as American soldiers too, but you saw them as terrorists. However I think most people saw this for what it was, propaganda. Which is fine, as the game was developed for and by the American armed forces. Games have for a long time let people play as "the bad guy". Usually playing as the bad guy is harder, but not always, especially in multi-player situations where you want to have 2 people competing in an even and fair manner.

• On the post: UK Defense Secretary Calls For Retailers To Ban Upcoming Medal Of Honor Game

  

  Richard ( profile ), 24 Aug, 2010 @ 05:35pm

  Re: Re: It's sometimes a politician's job to say stupid things

  So... games aren't allowed to use current events as source material? There has to be some kind of time gap before they're allowed to use it? Do you apply the same restrictions to books, movies and TV as well? At that point, why not just put in blanket censorship on all current events? Or are you just hypocritical?

• On the post: Recording Industry Using Net Neutrality Debate To Try To Link Child Porn With Copyright Infringement Again

  

  Richard ( profile ), 19 Aug, 2010 @ 03:59pm

  I wonder how much child pornography material is traded "illegally", and by that I mean, without the proper copyright licences being bought and adhered to?

• On the post: The Lack Of A 'Golden Ticket' Business Model Doesn't Mean You Give Up And Go Home

  

  Richard ( profile ), 09 Jul, 2010 @ 05:16am

  Re: that golden ticket...

  just trying to stretch that rope by obstructing the disruption *until they can retire*
  You might be on to something there.
  Otherwise, all they're doing is waiting for something new to come along and show them what to do whilst at the same time killing everything new that comes along. It's like waiting for the second coming by killing every newborn.

• On the post: US Copyright Group Says BitTorrent's Architecture Explains Why It's Ok To Lump 5,000 Defendants Into One Lawsuit

  

  Richard ( profile ), 22 Jun, 2010 @ 11:30pm

  So, I take it then that this case against 5000 people is for 1 infringement? Or are 5000 people each responsible for 5000 infringements? If it's the former, would that mean the punishment would be spread across the 5000 people? If it's the former, would then each person be responsible for 5000x the normal infringement penalty?

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