jakerome 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (214) comment rss

  • On the post: Amazon Prepares For Showdown In California After Budget Includes Amazon Tax

    jakerome ( profile ), 29 Jun, 2011 @ 08:27pm

    Can only boot so many affiliates...

    before this is no more affiliate program. California, Illinois, New York, probably Texas at some point. That's 1/3 of the country. There's also the fiction of having a wholly-owned affiliate operate their warehouses in states across the country as part of the tax dodge.

  • On the post: Danish Law Enforcement Would Like To Outlaw Anonymous Use Of The Internet

    jakerome ( profile ), 29 Jun, 2011 @ 01:48pm

    Re:

    Damn that needs to be more funny-- my typo joke isn't written coherently. I demand strikethrough html capability so I can be more funny with less effort.

    Do I need to need to explain my joke?

  • On the post: Danish Law Enforcement Would Like To Outlaw Anonymous Use Of The Internet

    jakerome ( profile ), 29 Jun, 2011 @ 01:47pm

    The Danish Ministry of Justice has put forth a proposal that would effectively make it much more difficult for anyone to use the internet ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H.
    Fixed your typo.

  • On the post: If Jay Maisel's Photograph Is Original Artwork, Then So Is The Pixelated Cover Of 'Kind Of Bloop'

    jakerome ( profile ), 27 Jun, 2011 @ 11:26am

    To the copyright maximalists...

    Wrote this on Thomas Hawk's blog in response to the photogs supporting the $100,000+ lawsuit for creating a derivative work of art.

    ------

    The fucktarded part of this whole mess is that the staturory damages are wholly out of line with reality. By all means, Maisel should be able to sue for damages, even treble damages with lawyer fees awarded. With total sales in the thousands and less than 10% of that attributable to the photo, a payment in mid hundreds would seem quite reasonable.

    But no, we?ve allowed Mickey Mouse corporations to extend copyright assignments to last decades and sometimes centuries instead of 14 years. We?ve allowed them to set statutory damages at such an obscenely high level that whole business models are now built around suing for infringing registered works where the underlying works never had commercial value even approaching 1/10 that assigned by the inane copyright regime. We?ve allowed and encouraged industry cartels to band together to sue citizens for tens of thousands of dollars for listening to a $1 song without jumping through the right hoops.

    We?ve allowed the corporatists to squeeze the life out of artists such that commercial productions will refuse to quote 20 words of song lyrics in a 20,000 word book without obtaining proper clearances. We?ve allowed whole genres of art to be destroyed, as rap artists and music mashers can no longer create without begging for permission first to modify music in the same way as has been done for millenniums. We?ve gone lifetimes without a single work of art entering the public domain, instead allowing 4th generation descendents to distort their great grandparents work by schilling great works to the Disney or the other high bidder such that these layabouts can profit off the work that belongs to all of society.

    And the photogs supporting these laws are the most fucktarded of all, because if they don?t realize that we?re the next target for ?permission based? copyright maximalists, then you haven?t been paying attention.

  • On the post: TSA Says Groping A Dying 95-Year-Old Woman, Forcing Her To Remove Diaper, Is Ok Because It Followed Standard Procedure

    jakerome ( profile ), 27 Jun, 2011 @ 10:16am

    Today's encounter

    I flew out of Providence this morning, and as I was passing through the security theater checkpoint, I overheard 2 TSA agents discussing how they were glad this incident has gotten major news coverage. I noted how the TSA was somehow proud of itself because the procedures were followed, and told the agents my opinion that their bosses were idiots and they countered that they were required to check their common sense once they were on the clock.

    One small story, hopefully the mass of TSA agents start pushing back on that end while citizens pull on the other and drill it into the thick skulls of the fearful morons running the agency that there rules are ineffective, counterproductive and ultimately futile. The entire top 3 layers of management should be sacked and have someone with a brain on his or her shoulders put in charge with a sensible regimen, not this asinine security theater which has done nothing to make our country safer, costs billions of dollars a year that we don't have and reduces the individual liberties that this nation was founded upon.

  • On the post: Righthaven Loses Big Yet Again, Cementing Two Previous Issues

    jakerome ( profile ), 21 Jun, 2011 @ 08:31am

    To summarize the article, All your base are belong to us.

  • On the post: As Pandora Goes Public, How Come No One Is Pointing Out That It Misled The Press About Being Profitable?

    jakerome ( profile ), 14 Jun, 2011 @ 08:15am

    Techcrucnh

    I take exception with the claim that Techcrucnh is a "generally good publication that doesn't get easily tricked."

  • On the post: NY Stock Exchange Claims Trademark On Any Depiction Of Trading Floor, Threatens TPM

    jakerome ( profile ), 30 May, 2011 @ 08:26pm

    Glad to see this story

    Sure I was among the dozens to tip TechDirt to this gem. Glad to see some in new media fight back instead of rolling over.

  • On the post: What 4th Amendment? Indiana Sheriff Says Random, Warrantless House To House Searches Are Okay

    jakerome ( profile ), 20 May, 2011 @ 08:15am

    Re: Suspicious story

    Can I get a holla?

  • On the post: What 4th Amendment? Indiana Sheriff Says Random, Warrantless House To House Searches Are Okay

    jakerome ( profile ), 19 May, 2011 @ 10:22am

    Suspicious story

    Checking out the original story, it's apparently based entirely on a single phone interview and does not even offer a direct quote from the Sheriff in question. Given the paraphrasing of the journalist, it sure sounds damning. But without a clear statement from the sheriff, or at least a better description of the phone interview (i.e., showing the Q & A that led to the alleged statement), I think it's more likely that this article is the byproduct of some journalistic biases, sloppy reporting and a irritated sheriff rather than an actual policy developed by the county.

  • On the post: What 4th Amendment? Indiana Sheriff Says Random, Warrantless House To House Searches Are Okay

    jakerome ( profile ), 19 May, 2011 @ 10:10am

    A modest proposal?

    Wait, you mean that isn't satire?

  • On the post: Pakistan Hasn't Banned Facebook Yet… But It Might Soon

    jakerome ( profile ), 18 May, 2011 @ 01:12am

    Seems consistent with proposed US policy

    If the American website is breaking Pakistani laws, seems that an IP ban by Pakistan is about right. In principle, not all that different from clumsy American attempts to ban foreign domains that violate our laws. What's good for the goose is good for the gander, right?

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

    jakerome ( profile ), 15 May, 2011 @ 12:33pm

    Dang, I thought this was my week!

    Especially when I saw the top comment was a short & sweet comment about PROTECT IP. Eventually, my day will come.

  • On the post: The Senators Who Say Merely Linking To Certain Sites Should Be A Felony

    jakerome ( profile ), 13 May, 2011 @ 07:02pm

    Letter to my Senator Dianne Feinstein

    In regards to the PROTECT IP act. I am a lifelong Democrat and have contributed to several candidates, always Democrats, in several election cycles.

    However, if you continue to sponsor & vote for the First Amendment violating PROTECT IP act, which essentially seeks to build an American version of the Great Firewall of China, not only will I vote against you but I will dig deep and donate to any Democrat or Republican that runs against you. This bill represents a massive erosion in civil liberties of Americans all in the name of subsidizing existing business models for industries that have failed to capitalize on the tremendous opportunities created by the internet. This bill will give well-connected media corporations tools that erode the rights of citizens as a new censorship regime.

    I hope you reconsider your sponsorship on this dangerous legislation. If not, I look forward to campaigning against you in your next election.

  • On the post: Son Of COICA: PROTECT IP Act Will Allow For Broad Censorship Powers, Even Granted To Copyright Holders

    jakerome ( profile ), 10 May, 2011 @ 02:46pm

    Fantastic news!

    Great to see how the interests of the US and China are becoming ever more aligned, as we continue our policy of "harmonizing" censorhip rules in the 2 largest global economies.

  • On the post: SF Entertainment Commission Says Attending Any Gathering Of 100 Or More People Means You Lose All Privacy Rights

    jakerome ( profile ), 08 Apr, 2011 @ 08:20am

    By all means, mock away and work to stop this. But follow the link, read the source material and realize that these rules haven't been proposed by the Entertainment Commission. Instead, "these rules may cover the proposed permit conditions, summarized below, presented by the San Francisco Police Department for consideration by the Entertainment Commission."

    So it's the police department's wish list. Probably not unlike wish lists that they draw up every day. Thankfully, police don't make the laws, they only enforce them.

    If adopted, it's a complete joke. But right now, it's nothing more than a police department's attempt to move closer to a police state.

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

    jakerome ( profile ), 24 Mar, 2011 @ 05:40pm

    Wild. Just happened to click through to this story (2 clicks from today's home page), for some odd reason decided to peruse the comments, and discovered I left a comment 10 months ago. How odd, especially considering how rarely I comment, how rarely I browse old stories, and how rarely I read comments.

    Wild.

  • On the post: Just Weeks After Cutting Off Wikileaks, Amazon Brags About How US Federal Gov't Is One Of Its Biggest AWS Customers?

    jakerome ( profile ), 30 Dec, 2010 @ 01:01am

    I don't get it

    There's so much understanding around here that with user generated content & 3rd party providers, things are automated and content isn't screened before getting posted. Now one customer realizes that they can't handle their own hosting due to overwhelmed servers, and they sign up for AWS using the automated system. Nearly immediately, the account is terminated. Now, this wasn't some long-time customer that AWS turned its back on... nope, it was a brand new customer that only decided to purchase the service when their other options had failed. Of course, WL surely knew they'd get booted in short order, and using their PR savvy played it for all the sympathy they could get it.

    That WL managed to snow the "lamestream media" is understandable since they just don't understand user generated (or user uploaded) content. But Techdirt knows better. There's a certain willingness to ignore salient facts in the WL case in order to cast some service providers (AWS being the top target) as villains, when the very openness of these turnkey solutions is used in other cases to explain why 3rd party providers should have no liability.

    WL was never an AWS customer, in the sense that they never paid a bill. They wanted to buy AWS services, and AWS turned 'em done. That Sen. Lieberman was quick enough to make a politically advantageous yet effectively useless demand was luck on his part, as he now can falsely claim that he forced AWS to shut off WL. This is almost certainly a fraud, and I am honestly perplexed that Techdirt would perpetuate JL self-serving BS.

  • On the post: French Author Plagiarizes Wikipedia; Does That Mean His Entire Book Is Now CC Licensed?

    jakerome ( profile ), 29 Nov, 2010 @ 11:24pm

    Re: Re: Fair use?

    Techdirt generally takes a fairly expansive view of what constitutes fair use, so I'm curious about Mike's take on it here.

  • On the post: French Author Plagiarizes Wikipedia; Does That Mean His Entire Book Is Now CC Licensed?

    jakerome ( profile ), 29 Nov, 2010 @ 10:41am

    Fair use?

    Well, wouldn't the use of a few short sections be considered fair use, and therefore doesn't depend on the CC-BY-SA license. After all, CC doesn't bestow any additional rights upon the works.

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