E. Zachary Knight 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Members Of The Republican Study Committee Do Twitter Q&A, Ignore Every Single Question About Fixing Copyright

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 29 Nov, 2012 @ 06:15am

    Re:

    So what exactly is your complaint? Are you claiming that changing copyright violates the 5th and 14th amendments? That doesn't make any sense at all. The Due Process Clause is all about the government confiscating personal property without proper judicial review in which the person whose property is being seized gets to contest the charges brought against them. If anything, the site seizures that have been reported on recently are clear violations of those clauses.

  • On the post: Game Maker Studio DRM Misfires; Permanently Replaces Created Game Resources With Pirate Symbols

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 28 Nov, 2012 @ 10:06am

    Re: Re: Game Maker has ensured that I will NEVER use their software.

    Learn something new everyday. However, Linux is one of my core platforms and it does not support it. Still doesn't make a lick of difference after this news though.

  • On the post: Game Maker Studio DRM Misfires; Permanently Replaces Created Game Resources With Pirate Symbols

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 28 Nov, 2012 @ 09:13am

    Game Maker has ensured that I will NEVER use their software.

    As a game developer, I am always on the lookout for new software to use to make my games. Fortunately, Game Maker has never really been on my radar as it is Windows only and I only develop PC games that are cross compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux.

    However, this DRM has now ensured that I will never use their software even if it become cross platform. I will not use software that treats me like a pirate after I had already paid for it.

    Of course, I don't really understand why anyone would want to use this when there are so many free and open source game development libraries. I guess the idea of being able to create a 2d game without having to program is a promising one. However, having to deal with crap like this should turn anyone off.

  • On the post: Barnes & Noble Decides That Purchased Ebooks Are Only Yours Until Your Credit Card Expires

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 27 Nov, 2012 @ 12:02pm

    Re:

    Check out Smashwords. They have a large collection of books and they are DRM-free.

    From their about page:

    What is Smashwords? position on digital rights management (DRM)?
    We think DRM is counterproductive because it treats lawful customers like criminals. Consumers value non-DRMed content and there's a growing body of evidence that digital content producers who have abandoned DRM are enjoying greater sales. Many buyers of ebooks resent DRM because it limits their ability to fully own and enjoy their digital book. At Smashwords, we only publish DRM-free works. By the same token, we strictly discourage illegal pirating of an author?s works.

  • On the post: Court Temporarily Blocks School District From Suspending Student For Refusing To Wear Student ID/Tracking Device

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 27 Nov, 2012 @ 06:21am

    Re:

    Giving up freedoms for more national security, such as through the PATRIOT act = Perfectly acceptable.

    Only for those who fall for the "but but but terrorism" BS. For everyone else, the Patriot Act is a clear and dangerous violation of Constitutionally protected natural and human rights. Just as bad if not worse than this school RFID crap.

  • On the post: New Study: Megaupload Shutdown May Have Hurt Box Office For Smaller Movies

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 26 Nov, 2012 @ 01:02pm

    Re: "results are not statistically significant"

    Did you pay the proper license to reproduce the lyrics of that Springsteen song?

  • On the post: Fixing Copyright: The Purpose Of Copyright

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 21 Nov, 2012 @ 09:57am

    Re: Re: "But, if we all agree that [Mike's fantasy] scenario B..."

    Once they do, it's up to the government to decide who has the right to do anything with it

    That is not accurate. That same end could be made via a large scale social contract between the creator and the rest of society. However, since such a large scale social contract is on the verge of impossible for a single person do undertake, we have agreed to let a central body, namely government, to be the arbitrator of that contract.

    Unfortunately, the government is no longer an arbitrator and has become a lapdog of special interests.

  • On the post: Google Staredown With FTC May Result In FTC Blinking

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 21 Nov, 2012 @ 08:42am

    That's a nice search engine you have there...

    It would be a shame if anything happened to it.

    Is this really what the government has become? A glorified band of thugs and hooligans bent on extracting as much money as possible from the people and businesses within the US?

    "We really want to extract money from Google. How can we do this?"

    That is basically what Leibowitz's thought process seems to have been. If a government agency is no longer interested in protecting people from harm, but rather in extracting money from successful businesses, then it is time to get rid of the agency.

  • On the post: Doug Stanhope: Piracy Is A Problem Only If You Think Of It As A Problem

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 16 Nov, 2012 @ 09:32am

    Re: Re: Okay, now what about $100M movies?

    And the $100+ million movies that were decent, like Lord of the Rings, didn't seem to have any trouble making huge profits.

    Don't lie like that. No movie has ever made a profit.

  • On the post: Sergey Brin To All Elected Politicians: Withdraw From Your Parties And Go Independent

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 07 Nov, 2012 @ 12:32pm

    Re: Re: Re:

    The took that power upon themselves.

    Not quite. They asked for it with the 17th amendment and we the people gave it to them by ratifying it. The 17th amendment was the beginning of concentrated federal power. Prior to that, the Senate, representing the individual stat governments, had the prerogative to keep as much power in the hands of the states.

  • On the post: Twitter Improves DMCA Policy: Alerts Public To 'Removed' Tweets

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 05 Nov, 2012 @ 02:44pm

    Re: Oops

    You did read the article didn't you?

  • On the post: George Lucas Finally Relinquishes His Tight Control Of Star Wars… To Mickey Mouse

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 30 Oct, 2012 @ 02:04pm

    Re: Re: Disney in the year 2070

    No. That's not it. Corporate copyright lasts 95 years. So Star Wars a New Hope which came out in 1977 will have its copyright expire in 2072 unless there is another extension between now and then.

  • On the post: George Lucas Finally Relinquishes His Tight Control Of Star Wars… To Mickey Mouse

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 30 Oct, 2012 @ 01:56pm

    Disney in the year 2070

    Mr. Senator, we can't let Star Wars enter the public domain. To do so would be a great injustice to the creators of this much loved brand. You must pass the "New Hope Copyright Extension Act" to extend the Star Wars copyright to 150 years.

  • On the post: Judge Rejects Einstein Publicity Rights Claim… By Playing Dice With The Law

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 30 Oct, 2012 @ 11:00am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Judges create laws

    Understanding that, how are you going to spin this as something we should all be scared of? IP rights are so scary!!!

    1) Publicity rights are not intelectual property.
    2) The Judge pulled a random number from his butt to create a publicity rights term that does not exist.

    Are those clear enough for you?

  • On the post: Judge Rejects Einstein Publicity Rights Claim… By Playing Dice With The Law

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 30 Oct, 2012 @ 10:58am

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

    My point was in response to the AC above who asked for proof that great works would be made without IP (ie copyright). So point made I guess.

  • On the post: Hollywood Still Resisting The Idea That Cheaper, Better Films Is The Way To Beat TV

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 30 Oct, 2012 @ 10:46am

    Re:

    It still is a lot more fun watching two gigantic robots fight each other

    A genre that has been around for a long long time and has almost always been done on a really low budget. Godzilla was done on a $1million budget in 1954 ($8.25million adjusted)

  • On the post: Hollywood Still Resisting The Idea That Cheaper, Better Films Is The Way To Beat TV

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 30 Oct, 2012 @ 10:43am

    Re: Re: Re: What about certain genres?

    A couple of other examples that come to mind:

    Dark Crystal: $15million in 1982 ($35million adjusted)

    Labyrinth: $25million in 1986 ($50million adjusted)

    Star Wars: $11million in 1977 ($40million adjusted)

    I guess my point is, you don't need $100million to make an iconic long lasting film.

  • On the post: Hollywood Still Resisting The Idea That Cheaper, Better Films Is The Way To Beat TV

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 30 Oct, 2012 @ 10:32am

    Re: The problem is too many problems

    You forgot a couple:

    11. Prequels to old movies
    12. Sudo-prequels to old movies
    13. Sequels to prequels to tie them to old movies

  • On the post: Hollywood Still Resisting The Idea That Cheaper, Better Films Is The Way To Beat TV

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 30 Oct, 2012 @ 10:28am

    Re: Best of Both Worlds....

    There was a time when movies like the Avengers were the Hollywood tentpole flicks while the smaller fare were the bread and butter of a movie studio.

    I could easily see a studio doing 1 or 2 Avengers a year while doing a dozen or so 500 Days of Summer to really cash in. It is all about balance. You don't want to put all your money on an Avengers just to have it bomb horribly and cost the studio its shirt.

  • On the post: Hollywood Still Resisting The Idea That Cheaper, Better Films Is The Way To Beat TV

    E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 30 Oct, 2012 @ 10:26am

    Re: Maybe cheaper doesn't lead to better?

    Production values count for something.

    You are right there. Where you are wrong though is that they don't have to be counted in dollars.

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