Jesse's Favorite Techdirt Posts Of The Week
Just as with our discussions on the efficacy of rain dances, I am most fascinated by stories of the baffling choices of copyright maximalists which, albeit unintentionally, most definitely promote content piracy/theft [insert Chris Dodd’s buzzword of the week]. With that in mind, my favorites list will consist of stories about various entities hilariously undermining copyright in spite of themselves.
Copyright Countdown: #7
Number 7 in my "A Week in Copyright" review is actually a multi–part post comparing the economics and psychology of parking to copyright. At first blush, this analogy seems a bit farfetched, but upon closer inspection the comparison is actually fairly on point. Larry Downes does an excellent job of calling out the content producers who want to reap all the benefits of essentially free distribution and reproduction, but not pass along any of those cost-savings to consumers:
Worse, even as the unit cost of media declines, the rules against unauthorized copying have become stricter. It’s as if there were suddenly millions of new parking spaces available across Manhattan, but parking lots keep charging more than $10 an hour. And all the meters are suspiciously broken.
How true.
Copyright Countdown: #6
Honestly, I had been waiting all week for a post tearing down Blizzard for their abysmal Diablo III DRM fiasco, but alas my gamer rage will have to settle for a different target. And so we have this post highlighting the generous offering by Crytek to let you play the game for which you paid. Wow. Although I wouldn’t fault someone for pirating/cracking a game they own, personally I wouldn’t play this game even if someone paid me. If they can’t figure out how to let paying customers play their games, I just can’t imagine the rest of the product is worth the time it takes to remove the shrink wrap.
Copyright Countdown: #5
Number 5 highlights the cognitive dissonance the American government seems to be experiencing with regards to free speech and copyright. This is particularly amusing/interesting for me because up here in Canada, we actually have laws against "hate speech." Sometimes it surprises me how even the most extreme hatred is covered by the American first amendment. Personally, I am undecided as to which approach is better. At any rate, call me disappointed to learn that while racist hatred is protected by American free speech laws, suppressing speech in the name of copyright is apparently totally fine because, you know, reasons.
Copyright Countdown: #4
The post about copyright infringement and the coming "singularity" was, frankly, quite disturbing. Just when I was beginning to think that death would be my only escape from the insanity that is modern copyright, Techdirt points out that even in the great beyond I will be infringing on copyrights and ignoring shrink-wrap click-through agreements to no end (bringing all new context to the maximalist goal of "forever minus a day"). I guess with that in mind, we can amend that old saying to, "Nothing is certain but copyright and taxes."
Copyright Countdown: #3
I have always said that if the concept of libraries hadn’t already been well established prior to modern copyright, they never would have been accepted today. Let’s pretend libraries were just invented last week: can you imagine the uproar this would create among book publishers? "Accessing knowledge? For free?! Madness! This is practically a physical manifestation of the Pirate Bay!!1!" Thankfully, we don’t have to exhaust our imaginations because the UK Publishers Association won’t let a little thing like "reality" prevent them from harping against such an evil as libraries.
Copyright Countdown: #2
This one is a doozy. Apparently, some TV people have just realized that many viewers don’t like commercials. So rather than, I don’t know, make commercials people actually want to watch, those same people want to make it illegal to skip commercials. I don’t really know what to say, but I think this may be one of those instances where a picture is worth a thousand words. [SFW, picture from A Clockwork Orange]
Copyright Countdown: #1
And finally, this
post, featuring Ethan Kaplan, once again offers some basic economics
lessons on supply, demand and artificial scarcities. Apparently, it’s hard to
build a successful business if you ignore these most fundamental principles.
But the most interesting point here was Mike rehashing a probable causal link
between file sharing and increased sales. It occurs to me: there is
method to their rain dances copyright expansionism, and their evil
genius is much more sinister than previously thought. They are expanding
copyright to ridiculous extremes because they know this will only serve to
promote piracy, which in turn will ultimately trick us into increasing their
sales. How could we have missed that!?
So there we have it: 7 hilarious failures, one for each day of the week. But don’t be sad; I have no doubt there will be plenty more next week. And the week after that. Just when you think we’ve hit rock bottom, someone else steps up to the plate with another hilariously flailing attempt at salvaging the copyright monopolies of yesteryear, but in actuality they only further undermine respect for the law and drive even more people to functional alternatives, legal or otherwise. It’s so predictable and obvious, you almost want to charge them with inducement to infringe.
Re:
Once they drone strike your entire family, that's when.
"I could see the court ordering him to pay the dollar equivalent in restitution."
Wouldn't that be acknowledging Bitcoin as currency?
I hesitate to even call 911 because they always want my details and make me a part of the case. If later a cop thinks for some reason I was a negative part of the situation, they mark that on my file and it affects my future employment opportunities thanks to police databases in Canada like PRIME.
So yea, I try not to call 911.
I sincerely doubt it's as simple as scanning individual emails and delivering ads based on that. Knowing Google, they probably use the data to develop an overarching profile to deliver adds to you account. Cross-reference that with the profiles of those you contact, and you've got an extensive background.
Re:
They don't need warrants to wiretap. Gosh.
Re:
NSA: It's too hard to collect foreign data without catching Americans in our net.
FISA: Ok fine. You can collect everything, but just delete the American data.
NSA: But now we have all this American data that we want. There is no sense in pretending it's not there.
FISA: I suppose. Just don't abuse it!
NSA: No promises.
Oath
"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God?"
"I swear to be as honest as government organizations such as the NSA."
...problem?
I don't think we have a take down process (that's I'm aware of).
We need cybersecurity laws because after we're done pissing the whole world off they will be coming after us!
Re:
The thought had occurred to me as well.
It seems really draconian, and it is, but I can't see any other solution.
You're also right that it would weed out people getting into politics for the wrong reasons. It truly would ensure that public servants are just that, servants of the public.
Re: Re: Outlawing lobbying may make things better.
Well you can't completely deregulate, for example, there are anti-trust laws for very good reasons.
Re: Re:
Right. But neither person deserves persecution, hence the lumping of the two.
That Snowden and Assange had to go to oppressive countries such as Russia and Ecuador to escape despotism is not a commentary on those people, rather a commentary on the places from which they fled.
In other words, in this case, these oppressive regimes are a safe haven from the US. What does that tell you about the US?
Re: Re:
But then go after them for violating the cease and desist. The matter of the IP address is irrelevant
Arguing that circumventing an IP address block is hacking, is like saying that driving over a speed bump is trespassing.
"Of course, all a move like this really does is signal to the world that the Gambian government is really freaking scared of its own public."
That's nothing. In certain remote police states, whistleblowing is called "aiding the enemy" and is punishable by death or life in prison.
Maybe liberty is one of those things societies have to give up every now and then, so that they value it.
If you, your parents or grandparents did not live in a dictatorship, the average person just doesn't know how valuable freedom is.
Tisk Tisk America...If all the other countries became dictatorships, does that mean you would too?
Re: here's the thing
No price is too high to keep those minorities in check.
Re: Yeah my wife the teacher was and maybe still is on the list.
"No clue but she was just out of college at a small south Georgia college and had done nothing political (or 7 years later done nothing political) to warrant that."
It's statements like these that really scare me. How can anyone argue the US is not a police state? I'm not criticizing you personally, but this widely accepted mentality that engaging in political discourse or action can (and apparently does) end with you losing personal liberties should be all the evidence you need of the effects of the current police state.
Elections do not a free society make; ask Iran.
I'm not understanding how calling flying a convenience helps their case. So what?
A free society shouldn't be allowed to prevent citizens from buying diamond rings without some sort of due process, and that is clearly a luxury item. This is kind of a defining quality of freedom, that you can do whatever you want so long as it doesn't impinge on the freedom of others. Such freedoms can be removed only for good reason and with due process.
That whole "due process" thing is more or less the key part that separates the free from the oppressed...