chris 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (2015) comment rss

  • On the post: Why PROTECT IP Breaks The Internet

    chris ( profile ), 01 Jun, 2011 @ 11:45am

    Re: Re: Re: This breaks nothing.

    If you're suggesting they'll get a new domain, this hasn't happened in other countries that have blacklisted sites like The Pirate Bay. The major sites rely on brand recognition of their domain to get visitors. The second they lose that because all their identifiable domains have been blocked is the second they lose credibility.

    it's already happened. demonoid.com has already moved to demonoid.me and kickasstorrents.com has already moved to kat.ph. both of those TLDs are not controlled by ICANN.

    those "major sites" won't be affected because they're already out of protect IP's grasp.

    PROTECT IP won't do any damage to piracy. all the damage it does cause will be collateral.

  • On the post: DailyDirt: In Money We Trust

    chris ( profile ), 01 Jun, 2011 @ 10:56am

    Re: Re: Bit Coin's value

    Can you say ?money laundering??

    what do you think all currency exchanges are?

  • On the post: John Perry Barlow Tells Copyright Maximalists That They've Got The Fundamentals Wrong

    chris ( profile ), 27 May, 2011 @ 07:30am

    Re: Re: Also

    If everyone could steal cars, would we stop having cars?

    if you could make millions of copies of a car, at zero cost, and the practice was so wide-spread that there was no way to prevent it from happening, then everyone would already have cars and there would be no reason for a business to try and sell them.

  • On the post: John Perry Barlow Tells Copyright Maximalists That They've Got The Fundamentals Wrong

    chris ( profile ), 26 May, 2011 @ 11:15am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    No they wouldn't. Not even remotely close.

    yes they would. inifinity! stapmed it! quitsies! anti-quitsies! no startsies!

  • On the post: John Perry Barlow Tells Copyright Maximalists That They've Got The Fundamentals Wrong

    chris ( profile ), 26 May, 2011 @ 10:43am

    Re: Re: Re: it's not a protection problem, it's a product problem

    Not true. If a film costs $100 million to make, and makes $500 million, it still isn't profitable.

    Just ask those who's royalty payments are tied to the profit.

    increased competition will reign in a lot of those bad practices.

  • On the post: John Perry Barlow Tells Copyright Maximalists That They've Got The Fundamentals Wrong

    chris ( profile ), 26 May, 2011 @ 10:34am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    So it's a copy of a song and not a chair - why should you be able to stop me from doing anything I want to do with it? Because you are an artist and you're "special", but the chairmaker isn't?

    clearly he is. if chair makers were so bloody special they would have a decent lobby.

  • On the post: John Perry Barlow Tells Copyright Maximalists That They've Got The Fundamentals Wrong

    chris ( profile ), 26 May, 2011 @ 10:18am

    Re: Re: Re:

    except *we* are not trying to put anyone out of business. People that take a product without paying, *are*.

    you make a product that costs a lot of money to produce but is effortless to take without paying for, and there is no fesible way to prevent that taking.

    that's the very definition of an unsustainable product.

    you are free to keep making it for others to take, but that's really not a good idea. a better idea would be to read the writing on the wall and stop making that product.

    if you want to keep making something, make a different one that uses the fact that it will be taken and given away to its advantage. otherwise, just stop all together.

  • On the post: John Perry Barlow Tells Copyright Maximalists That They've Got The Fundamentals Wrong

    chris ( profile ), 26 May, 2011 @ 10:10am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Just a thought, money still matters

    of course it does, that's why you should reduce costs.

    a film that makes $500,000 in it's first week is a miserable failure at the box office.

    an independent web series making $50,000 is roaring success.

    the problem is that the box office way is not sustainable in its present form and the web series is now and will most likely always be.

    it's true that a billion dollars is cooler than a million dollars, but a 200% return on an investment is even cooler.

    also, it's way easier to make (and to recover from the loss of) $50,000 than it is to make (and to recover from the loss of) $500,000.

  • On the post: John Perry Barlow Tells Copyright Maximalists That They've Got The Fundamentals Wrong

    chris ( profile ), 26 May, 2011 @ 07:49am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    A joke you made up is analogous to a movie that employed many people to make and cost millions?

    the days of making millions on a film are slowly coming to an end. the people who used to make millions and aren't should do something different. they're free to keep doing what they are doing, but it's really not a good idea.

    people now distribute films for free and there is not a force on this earth that can stop it. that's a simple fact.

    the answer is simple: stop making crappy films that costs millions to produce. the market won't buy them and you will lose money.

    here are a few simple suggestions to stop losing money on films:
    1) keep making crappy films, but drastically reduce your production costs
    2) keep making films that cost millions, but drastically improve their quality.
    3) stop making films entirely.

    options 1 and 2 are kind of risky, but option 3 is guaranteed to work.

    remember: winners never quit, quitters never win, people who never win and never quit are idiots.

  • On the post: John Perry Barlow Tells Copyright Maximalists That They've Got The Fundamentals Wrong

    chris ( profile ), 26 May, 2011 @ 07:33am

    Re:

    Why are you people so anti-choice? Yes, the internet provides a way to DIY if you choose, but labels and studios provide services and opportunities if you don't.

    the content industry is more than welcome to maintain the status quo and go down in flames. i just don't want them to take my civil liberties with them.

    they are perfectly free to waste their money on strategies that will not work, but they are not free to lobby government to waste tax payer dollars on ineffective protectionist policies that limit my free speech or my right to privacy.

    Why are you trying to force everyone to work in the manner *you* think they should?

    you are free to put yourself out of business. you are not free to put someone else out of business. i wouldn't stop you from killing yourself if that's what you wanted to do. i would stop you from hurting someone else.

    IP maximal-ism, especially when it seeks protections from the government that infringe my rights, affects everyone.

  • On the post: John Perry Barlow Tells Copyright Maximalists That They've Got The Fundamentals Wrong

    chris ( profile ), 26 May, 2011 @ 07:10am

    it's not a protection problem, it's a product problem

    FTFA: ?Speech has to be free but movies cost money,? he said, adding that he hears plenty about the need for new business models but doesn?t see any actual alternative business models that generate the cash to fund big-budget films.

    you can't take the stuff that hollywood makes and put it on the internet and expect to earn what it earned on TV networks and theaters because the revenue online just isn't there.

    this isn't because the internet won't work for distribution, but because the product that hollywood makes just costs too much to produce.

    the business models are there. the distribution channels are there. it's the product that isn't there. the current cost structure just isn't sustainable.

    a film that costs $100 million to make has to make $100 million just to break even. those numbers just aren't possible anymore.

    all the protectionism in the world can't stop the relentless march of progress. the market has decided how it wants to consume media. it's time for the producers to change their products to match that change.

  • On the post: European Politicians Look To Ban WiFi In School… For The Children

    chris ( profile ), 20 May, 2011 @ 08:58am

    don't we have these zones in the US already?

    oops, hit enter too soon.

    i was going to say that the expanse between denver and kansas city was pretty much civilization free, and therefore signal free as well.

  • On the post: European Politicians Look To Ban WiFi In School… For The Children

    chris ( profile ), 20 May, 2011 @ 08:56am

    don

    the vast expanse between denver and kansas city is pretty much civilizaton

  • On the post: Congress Just Sold You Out: Leadership Plans To Extend Patriot Act For Four Years With NO Concessions

    chris ( profile ), 20 May, 2011 @ 07:28am

    Re: Thank God For The Second Amendment!

    As long as we have that, they can never take our freedoms away.

    whatever dude.

    have you seen the gear a marine carries?

    have you seen what an army abrams tank can do?

    watch the collateral murder video and see what a 25mm bushmaster can do to a group of people from miles away. accident or not, they never heard the shots and never saw the helicopter before they were eliminated. they had ak47's and never fired a shot.

    if martial law is declared your moble home full of "huntin' rifles and shootin' irons" won't do you any good against armor, night vision, crew served weapons, and satellite communications.

    if you really want to bear arms against the government, stop reading NRA pamphlets and start learning about asymmetric warfare.

  • On the post: Google's Internal Collision Course: Chrome vs. Android

    chris ( profile ), 13 May, 2011 @ 10:36am

    Re: Re: I would agree... but...

    Except that the new version of Honeycomb (3.1) will enable USB keyboard & mouse on Android tablets, so they are indeed blurring the lines here.

    the bigger screen and keyboard have a very real psychological effect on the user. i tested a celio redfly terminal (a small netbook shaped device that attaches to a smart phone) and it made using my smartphone positively maddening. the smartphone form factor is such that you really don't notice the lag, but increase the screen size and attach a keyboard that i can actually type on and the lag is rage inducing.

    when you use something that looks like a laptop, you expect it to behave like a laptop. this is why i don't think the Atrix 4G is a good idea.

  • On the post: Barry Diller Tries To Explain To Ari Emanuel That He's Wrong About 'Piracy' Being A Problem For Movies

    chris ( profile ), 12 May, 2011 @ 06:26am

    ?I don?t want to give you a lesson here, but the business of the movie business is DVDs.?

    it was DVDs. the only time i've touched a movie on DVD in the last year was to burn one for a family member who is inexplicably stuck in the 20th century.

  • On the post: Why Does Hollywood Insist On Making Online Movies So Annoying?

    chris ( profile ), 11 May, 2011 @ 12:02pm

    Re: Re: 24 + 2

    Don't you guys have a desktop recording app?

    i used to do the blockbuster/netflix thing and rent+rip+return. but honestly, it's just easier to torrent.

    i do netflix streaming so i can watch random things with no pre-planning, but the bulk of my movie watching bit torrent.

  • On the post: Why Does Hollywood Insist On Making Online Movies So Annoying?

    chris ( profile ), 11 May, 2011 @ 11:34am

    Re: Re: Mike you are wrong...

    *You* only rent 2 movies a year at the current prices, but many many other people rent movies constantly, several a month, at the present price scheme.

    do you know anyone that actually watches pay-per-view? the only time i have come close to doing that is chipping in on a PPV fight at a party where we split the cost between 5-10 of us.

  • On the post: Off The Deep End: People Claiming That Supporting Creative Commons Is Being Anti-Creator

    chris ( profile ), 11 May, 2011 @ 11:29am

    Re:

    The threat always seems to be that if we don't appreciate and nurture them appropriately ($$$) they'll all disappear...

    it's a bluff. call them on it.

    every time someone baawwws in a forum about how they don't make any money, or that they could make more money working at mcdonalds, tell them to quit creating and get a real job.

  • On the post: How Many Times Will Skype Be Acquired For Too Much Money By Big Tech Companies With Little Strategic Synergies?

    chris ( profile ), 10 May, 2011 @ 07:02am

    skype is a new form of ponzi scheme

    it's a slow moving double pyramid scheme:

    2001 kazaa steals all the music in the world
    2003 kaza gets sued for stealing all the music in the world
    kazaa dudes hide out in eastern europe
    kazaa dudes develop skype
    2005 ebay buys skype for billions
    ebay unwittingly pays off kazaa lawsuits
    achievement unlocked: ponzi scheme
    2008 ebay and skype don't get along
    ebay realizes it was scammed
    spins off skype into it's own company
    2011 MSFT buys skype
    achievement unlocked: double ponzi

    i've got to hand it to the guys at skype. 8 years is a lot of time to invest in a con, and based on the billions spent on it, the long con clearly pays off.

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