jakerome 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: If You Don't Get Every Detail Of Your TSA Detention Exactly Right, The TSA May Publicly Shame You

    jakerome ( profile ), 16 Nov, 2010 @ 09:39am

    TSA should release ALL videotape

    What disturbs me most is the selective release of video. If TSA can choose to make any video public, then they should be forced to make every video public. Post it all. Hopefully someone is filing FOIA requests for all the TSA harassment incidents. Clearly, the release of the videos don't endanger security, or else they'd have to keep this one secret, too.

    The TSA is emblematic of the destruction of American values. The agency should be disbanded and replaced with an organization focused on security instead of security theater. They are making our country less safe.

  • On the post: Vampire Weekend Sued Because Photographer Might Have Falsified Model Release

    jakerome ( profile ), 16 Jul, 2010 @ 01:59pm

    Re: Are you freakin' kidding me???

    For better or worse, this is why many rely on stock agencies like Getty. If you buy misappropriated good, or license misappropriated content, you are on the hook for damages-- you either have the goods revoked or you pay the copyright owner. Now, $2 million is preposterous. But the lawsuit is properly targeted at the band, and it remains the band's responsibility to then recover damages from the photographer. Throwing $10,000 at the photographer/model probably makes the problem go away.

  • On the post: Is The Arrest Of Bradley Manning Part Of A Coordinated Effort To Discredit Wikileaks?

    jakerome ( profile ), 22 Jun, 2010 @ 05:13pm

    And of course the arrest is part of an effort to discredit Wikileaks, is that even remotely news? If the allegations are true, why shouldn't the government arrest him, prosecute him and publicize the event to deter future publication of classified information?

  • On the post: Is The Arrest Of Bradley Manning Part Of A Coordinated Effort To Discredit Wikileaks?

    jakerome ( profile ), 22 Jun, 2010 @ 05:12pm

    I don't think publishing every classified communication among embassies over a period of years is the sort of thing that should be celebrated. That's almost the very definition of something that suggests an attempt to help enemies of the US.

  • On the post: Why Are Supporters Of Canadian DMCA Against Original Thought In Writing In Support Of The Bill?

    jakerome ( profile ), 18 Jun, 2010 @ 02:15pm

    They want to ban the internet!!! ElevEnTY!!!!

    This bit is particularly egregious, "In the absence of clear rules, Canadian consumers lack a clear signal that downloading digital products from the Internet without payment is not allowed."

    Does does this alleged coalition want to outlaw iTunes software, Firefox, Windows updates, photo sharing sites & YouTube? Bizarre.

    /exclamation point

  • On the post: MPAA Begins Project To Brainwash School Children

    jakerome ( profile ), 08 Jun, 2010 @ 10:44am

    All those links, dead ended by myopia

    Such a shame, isn't it? Two interesting articles, forever lost to domain transfers, corporate policy & website rejiggering. How many millions of articles are that much less valuable because the sources cannot be found. There's got to be a better way.

  • On the post: On Second Thought… Appeals Court Vacates TiVo's Big Patent Win Over Echostar

    jakerome ( profile ), 14 May, 2010 @ 03:56pm

    The court is going to only reconsider a few aspects of the appeal. The primary question is thus: when a product is found to infringe a patent and a company attempts to design around the patent, does this require a whole new jury trial (which typically take 2-3 years with all the appeals) or is it an issue that can be settled with a contempt hearing. It has already been over 4 years since TiVo won at trial and the judge ordered DISH to disable the DVR functionality. If a new trial is ordered, it will probably be 2-3 more before it is settled. At which point DISH will attempt yet another workaround, ad infinitum.

    Software patents may make absolutely zero sense, but if they're going to exist sanctions for violating them should exist.

  • On the post: Could Gizmodo's iPhone Scoop Settle Whether Bloggers Count As Journalists?

    jakerome ( profile ), 26 Apr, 2010 @ 07:23pm

    Corporate-controlled, publically financed police force

    So Apple sits on the board of REACT. Then REACT decides to invade a reporter's home & seize his property, all in pursuit of someone that returned an iPhone weeks after buying it. Sure thing. If I lost my iPhone, and someone returned it 4 weeks later, does anyone in their right mind think the police would start a felony investigation? It's nuts. REACT should be disbanded, it's anti-democratic when private corporations are afforded more rights than actual citizens.




    http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2009/05/18/story2.html

  • On the post: DirecTV Pays Studios To Help Confuse Customers Further

    jakerome ( profile ), 21 Apr, 2010 @ 02:25pm

    Not that complicated

    Netflix buys DVDs and the studios earn zero additional dollars when someone rents them. Blockbuster is lent the DVDs, and pays a cut to the studio for each rental. This innovation came about because of the great "The New Release DVDs are never available" crisis of the early 2000s. DirecTV pays the studios a cut for each PPV download.

    It may be, in part, about getting more people to buy DVDs. But mostly it's about the studios wanting to get a cut of each DVD rented, at least for the first 30 days. Netflix could've thumbed their nose at the studios, but that would likely have killed their streaming service as studios pulled movies off the virtual shelves.

  • On the post: Frontier Communications "Testing" To See How Users Respond To Being Ridiculously Overcharged For Bandwidth

    jakerome ( profile ), 16 Apr, 2010 @ 12:11pm

    Truth in advertising

    I think the simple solution is to require ISPs to advertise their average speed at least as prominently as their "up to" speed in all ads. For example, a 5GB cap comes out to a speedy 18 kbps... that's almost as fast as a top-of-the-line modem from 1995!

  • On the post: Intellectual Ventures Lending Its Patents To Members To Sue Others

    jakerome ( profile ), 03 Mar, 2010 @ 08:30am

    It's all nuts

    I'd say this is exhibit A why serious IP reform is needed, especially patent law, but there have just been so many ridiculous examples.

    Whatever deal w/ the devil TiVo made to win their DISH lawsuit, at least they are making & selling an actual product that relies on their patents. The Verizon countersuit is pure inanity. Also, it's clearly not the case that the $350 million was invested just for these patents-- TiVo would have gladly settled for that amount with Verizon. More likely, Verizon bought themselves protection & gained rights to borrow patents as needed to sue.

    So fucked up.

  • On the post: Reminder: You Don't Compete With Piracy By Being Lame, The DVD Edition

    jakerome ( profile ), 19 Feb, 2010 @ 03:34pm

    Re: Re: Re: Flickr is a photo sharing site

    You do have to link back to the photopage on Flickr.com, per their rules. It's also supposed to be a place to share images that you've created, not a place to host graphics that you found elsewhere on the web.

    I don't really care. But Techdirt should, since Flickr might delete the account for:
    1) Uploading images that they didn't create;
    2) Posting images on a commercial site without linking back;
    3) The general commercial nature/ purpose of the account.

    Better that they host the graphics themselves than to use Flickr. With the amount of traffic that Techdirt gets, there's a fair chance that Flickr will notice.

  • On the post: Reminder: You Don't Compete With Piracy By Being Lame, The DVD Edition

    jakerome ( profile ), 19 Feb, 2010 @ 01:04pm

    Re: Flickr is a photo sharing site

    link

  • On the post: Reminder: You Don't Compete With Piracy By Being Lame, The DVD Edition

    jakerome ( profile ), 19 Feb, 2010 @ 01:03pm

    Flickr is a photo sharing site

    You're supposed to link back to the Flickr photo page when embedding images from the site. The Flickr sharing philosophy is long-established, and this is one of the few requirements they have. It really isn't a photo hosting site.

    I've seen accounts get deleted over issues like this, in which case all these embedded images would disappear and you'd have to edit the original blog posts to fix them. Best way to prevent that from happening is to include back to the Flickr photopage, link when embedding images from the site.

  • On the post: Reminder: You Don't Compete With Piracy By Being Lame, The DVD Edition

    jakerome ( profile ), 19 Feb, 2010 @ 01:02pm

    Flickr is a photo sharing site

    You're supposed to link back to the Flickr photo page when embedding images from the site. The Flickr sharing philosophy is long-established, and this is one of the few requirements they have. It really isn't a photo hosting site.

    I've seen accounts get deleted over issues like this, in which case all these embedded images would disappear and you'd have to edit the original blog posts to fix them. Best way to prevent that from happening is to include back to the Flickr photopage, link when embedding images from the site.

  • On the post: See, The Palm Pre Can Be Offered For Free

    jakerome ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2009 @ 10:57am

    Re: Re:

    Mike, check out the link to read Precentral's post on the matter. There are some more details that put jwz's issue into context.

    http://www.precentral.net/submitting-palms-app-catalog-how-difficult-it

  • On the post: See, The Palm Pre Can Be Offered For Free

    jakerome ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2009 @ 07:55am

    Re: Re:

    well, whatever jwz may alhave wrote about his experience several months ago, things are certainly different now. APalm exec gave his explicit blessing to the PreCentral homebrew srore. You may want to read a few of their posts on the subject to get a different point of view.

    While I'm sure jwz is being truthful, it's possible that either intentionally or otherwise he's shaded the facts to make his case more sympathetic.

  • On the post: See, The Palm Pre Can Be Offered For Free

    jakerome ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2009 @ 01:51am

    the nice thing about developing for the Pre is that Palm has pretty explicitly stated that they are fine with developers making their applications avaialable through other channels, the prime example being the PreCentral Homebrew store. In some ways, it's the best of both worlds as Palm is able to make sure the apps available on their branded outlet are tested to work well, yet developers and users wtill have other legitimate options to get apps onto their phone.

    BTW, sending this from my Palm Pre. I've got dozens of apps loaded from both the Palm App Catalog and the Precentral homebrew store.and I have to say, some of the homebrew apps are rough around the edges and could use a little work before hitting the mass market. It's nice to see that Palm has enabled their developers to easily support beta testing with end users.

  • On the post: Lily Allen Distributing Tons Of Copyrighted Music; Blows Way Past Three Strikes

    jakerome ( profile ), 23 Sep, 2009 @ 11:08pm

    Re: Re:

    Looks like the poster is just trying to get your goat.

  • On the post: Did Flickr Takedown Obama Joker Time Cover Over Copyright Infringement?

    jakerome ( profile ), 20 Aug, 2009 @ 03:52pm

    Flickr has a problem, and that's the way they handle DMCA notifications in general. Its standard procedure to pull down the photo upon receiving a DMCA notice. In this case it's a shame_ since I would bet the original complaint was probably filed by someone with no copyright claim. Further, the image is clearly fair use since it is transformative, critique and non-commercial.

    But Flickr doesn't take any of that into account. They just mechanically remove any image that gets a DMCA notice, with no ability to restore the original image or comments.

    Flickr has a problem due to the way they handle DMCA notice and the lack of a restore capability. It's got about zero to do with the subject of the photo, alrhough it is fun to see the conspiracy theorists suggest otherwise.

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