Samuel Abram 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (2971)

• On the post: U.S. Companies Don’t Much Want To Talk About Abortion Data Collection And Protection

  

  Samuel Abram ( profile ), 28 Jun, 2022 @ 10:46am

  Yeah right.

  The GOP will try to outlaw abortion in a national ban once they take control of congress. Mark my words. And if you were really "pro-life" you would support post-natal humans. You would also support contraception. But what's likely is that you don't. Also, do you know what an ectopic pregnancy is? Neither the embryo nor the child-bearer could survive one. Yet this will be outlawed, leaving child-bearing people to die. You're no more "pro-life" than Pol Pot.

• On the post: Do Not Expect Section 230 And The 1st Amendment To Save Antitrust Bills From Abuse

  

  Samuel Abram ( profile ), 28 Jun, 2022 @ 10:28am

  D'OH!

  Whoomp, there it is. I'm an idiot.

• On the post: Do Not Expect Section 230 And The 1st Amendment To Save Antitrust Bills From Abuse

  

  Samuel Abram ( profile ), 28 Jun, 2022 @ 10:28am

  Where's the letter?

  Mike, you usually have the documents on the website, as they usually are in the public domain (since they are created by an officer of the US government as part of their official duties), so where is the letter in PDF form?

• On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt

  

  Samuel Abram ( profile ), 27 Jun, 2022 @ 03:30am

  Copyright terms are way too long

  the ridiculous claims that a “life + 70 years” is necessary to motivate creators to make anything at all and we’d be irreparably damaged if that length was ever shortened, while the public domain continues to be encroached upon.

  This. So much this. My problem with © nowadays is that it used to require formalities such that it was "opt-in" so "public domain" would be the standard, not "copyright". Also, there would be an option to renew a copyright if a copyrighted work was successful, meaning that a lot of work that didn't make it for whatever reason would enter the public domain after one term. Now, however, we have one ultra-long term. Also, there's the case of the retroactive copyright term extension by twenty years. Though Disney is often blamed for this, and while I don't discount their contributions to it, I would say it's basically the EU's fault for extending copyright terms from life+50 to life+70 and then watching the world harmonize it. While it's great that © is expiring in the US again, terms are still a ratchet (as correctly pointed out by Glyn Moody) and that's why I've decided to dedicate all my work to the public domain upon my death.

• On the post: Uvalde PD Continues Stonewalling, Hires Private Law Firm To Block Release Of School Shooting Recordings

  

  Samuel Abram ( profile ), 22 Jun, 2022 @ 12:07pm

  Actually…

  Federal Government works are automatically PD if they're done by an officer of the government as part of their official duties. That's why Bernie Sanders' speech on the floor of the Senate is in the Public Domain but not his individual books. State and Local Government works, AFAIK, contain no such protection. (If any State- or Local-level attorney can clarify or correct me, I'd really like to hear it!)

• On the post: Roku, Netflix, Start Behaving More Like The Annoying Cable Giants They Once Disrupted

  

  Samuel Abram ( profile ), 22 Jun, 2022 @ 09:51am

  Or as Cory Doctorow once put it…

  "Every Pirate becomes an Admiral"

• On the post: Impossibility Theorem Strikes Again: YouTube Deletes January 6th Committee Video

  

  Samuel Abram ( profile ), 22 Jun, 2022 @ 06:37am

  Or as I say, Trump had the odds in his favor in 2020 and he still lost!!!

• On the post: Yes, Section 230 Also Matters In The Fight Over Abortion Rights

  

  Samuel Abram ( profile ), 17 Jun, 2022 @ 04:57pm

  Hyman Rosen jumped the shark on the first post.

• On the post: Yes, Section 230 Also Matters In The Fight Over Abortion Rights

  

  Samuel Abram ( profile ), 17 Jun, 2022 @ 04:52pm

  If a cisgender person wears a dress, does that make them transgender, transsexual, or just someone who likes wearing clothes they’re comfortable in? (Remember that clothes are inert pieces of cloth with no genetics/inherent sexual or gender identity.)

  Also, what's considered "masculine" and "feminine" changes all the time. Bellbottom pants and platform shoes were considered gender-neutral in the 70's and late 60's, but now they're considered "feminine". Don't police other people, please.

• On the post: Yes, Section 230 Also Matters In The Fight Over Abortion Rights

  

  Samuel Abram ( profile ), 17 Jun, 2022 @ 04:50pm

  Oh, Hyman, I'm Jewish too. So is Mike Masnick. And I do read from the same Hebrew Scriptures as you do. FYI, there are alternate interpretations of Leviticus 18:22, in that it's condemning same-sex rape and not consensual same-sex relationships. See here

• On the post: Wikimedia Fighting Russian Fines Over Its Content About Invasion Of Ukraine

  

  Samuel Abram ( profile ), 17 Jun, 2022 @ 04:37pm

  Wikimedia cannot be neutral

  It's sad that Wikimedia cannot be neutral anymore. That being said, when the people who are against it are oppressive governments (China, Russia, the Trump administration), that would actually increase its trustworthiness in my view…

• On the post: Samsung Busted For Cheating TV Test Benchmarks

  

  Samuel Abram ( profile ), 17 Jun, 2022 @ 03:06pm

  I began to call the Korean company ‘Shitsung’

  "Samdung" would've been better, IMHO.

• On the post: Yes, Section 230 Also Matters In The Fight Over Abortion Rights

  

  Samuel Abram ( profile ), 17 Jun, 2022 @ 12:27pm

  Quite frankly, I'd be far more comfortable with a trans man in my gym locker room than an anti-trans bigot like you.

• On the post: Yes, Section 230 Also Matters In The Fight Over Abortion Rights

  

  Samuel Abram ( profile ), 17 Jun, 2022 @ 12:16pm

  Scary Devil Monastery, I missed you, and it's great to have you back!

• On the post: Yes, Section 230 Also Matters In The Fight Over Abortion Rights

  

  Samuel Abram ( profile ), 17 Jun, 2022 @ 12:15pm

  Half the country backs the GOP.

  More like 1/3 of the country backs the GOP. 1/3 are independents and 1/3 are democrats. However, on most issues, the independents agree with the democrats. It's just that voter suppression, gerrymandering, and the electoral college play a huge role.

• On the post: Nintendo Shuts Down Musician’s YouTube Videos Of Metroid Covers

  

  Samuel Abram ( profile ), 17 Jun, 2022 @ 11:01am

  Japan's not behind the times, they're catching up to US maximalism

  Actually it's the opposite: Japan's culture was once freer, and then they saw how maximalist the US was and started to go in our direction. It's not like they weren't warned internally, though.

• On the post: Nintendo Shuts Down Musician’s YouTube Videos Of Metroid Covers

  

  Samuel Abram ( profile ), 17 Jun, 2022 @ 10:59am

  Not really

  Japanese Culture actually once took a far more lenient stance on copyright infringement because lawyers were far more expensive than the US. In fact, the Mangaka of Love Hina warned that Doujinshi would be harmed by the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, so if you want evidence that Japanese Culture was freer than the US at one point in the recent past, there it is.

• On the post: $1-2 Billion In Streaming Ads A Year Aren’t Being Watched Because The TV Is Off

  

  Samuel Abram ( profile ), 17 Jun, 2022 @ 08:07am

  I guess he's an idiot savant (or a troll savant)!

• On the post: Nintendo Shuts Down Musician’s YouTube Videos Of Metroid Covers

  

  Samuel Abram ( profile ), 17 Jun, 2022 @ 03:28am

  Why the fuck?

  Why the fuck is Nintendo doing this? There's Metroid Metal, and then there's GameChops, and more and more, but what the hell is Nintendo thinking by putting these covers in jeopardy?!?!? I know: because the Nintendo Switch is selling so well that Nintendo is immune to bad PR. You remember when Trump said that he could shoot someone on Fifth avenue and his approval ratings wouldn't go down? Nintendo could sue the most destitute person ever for the pettiest reason and people would still buy their games (like me, to be honest). \sigh\

• On the post: Major League Soccer To Stream All Games On Apple TV For 10 Years

  

  Samuel Abram ( profile ), 16 Jun, 2022 @ 05:20am

  One problem, though.

  If (rather, when) sports become exclusive to streaming, what will that mean for sports bars and restaurants that have TVs that stream sports? I don't like the idea of having to share Wifi with the sports stream.

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