Jeffrey Nonken 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Surprise: Justice Department Says AT&T/T-Mobile Merger Would Be Anticompetitive

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 31 Aug, 2011 @ 01:37pm

    *dies from shock*

    I'm glad to see this. I want to keep my T-Mobile customer service which, while not perfect, beats the crap out of AT&T's.

  • On the post: What Can Bring Together Opposites On The Traditional Political Spectrum? A Fear Of Censorship Due To PROTECT IP

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 31 Aug, 2011 @ 01:30pm

    Re: Re: Re:

    Oh, all kinds of actions have unintended consequences. Fox recently put up restrictions on their shows that encouraged more people to download unlicensed copies than otherwise would have, for example.

    You can never predict all possible unintended consequences, but you can mitigate or avoid many by properly analyzing the intended action before you make it. That includes getting input from other sources and seriously considering them.

    What doesn't work is only listening to people whose opinions agree with your own and dismissing those who disagree. Which is what's happening here, apparently. Several very smart and very high-profile people have weighed in with carefully considered and explained analyses and they've all fallen on deaf ears.

    Though to be honest I assume that those lawmakers ignoring the opposing viewpoints are actually quite aware of the negative consequences and either don't care (because they're being paid not to) or are counting on it (because they're interested in unfettered power).

    Simply claiming it's FUD is just another way of dismissing the arguments unconsidered. It likely either puts you in the "willfully ignorant" camp or in the "I'm paid not to care" camp. Unless you're in the "too stupid to understand" camp.

    Life is full of unintended consequences. Writing vague laws with power of censorship built in is a lighting rod for negative consequences, intended or not.

  • On the post: Nigeria 'Celebrates' Its Recording Artists With 'No Music Day'

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 31 Aug, 2011 @ 12:01pm

    Re: The beatings shall continue until morale improves

    Pretty sure it's not an exact quote, it's been years since I read the book, but you get the idea.

  • On the post: Nigeria 'Celebrates' Its Recording Artists With 'No Music Day'

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 31 Aug, 2011 @ 12:01pm

    Re:

    Similar here. I find them playing the same songs over and over, and after a few days I just turn the damned thing off. Or in a 30 minute commute I usually hear the end of a song I like, then they go into 28 minutes of endless commercials interspersed with traffic/sports/news/weather, then they start a song I never liked just as I get to work. Guess what? I'm not a captive audience. I just plug in my MP3 player and listen to Discworld or Paul Oakenfold or Edison Suit or whatever else suits my mood.

    Which means you've completely lost me as a listener. More commercials does not equal more income; it means lost audience.

    Sorry, bit of a rant there. You know, people just love to hear about how horrible they are, does wonders for their self-respect. I think most of 'em are going to turn the radio off and listed to silence.

  • On the post: Nigeria 'Celebrates' Its Recording Artists With 'No Music Day'

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 31 Aug, 2011 @ 11:51am

    The beatings shall continue until morale improves

    "Call me crazy..."

    Tim, you're crazy.

    "If our children don't love us let's beat them until they do." - The Hornet's Nest, Sally Watson

  • On the post: Yet Again, Evidence Of The Need For Fashion Copyright Is Totally And Completely Missing

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 31 Aug, 2011 @ 12:32am

    Re:

    Fashion industry lawyers see the amazing racket that the Film and Music industry have set up and just want in on the action.

  • On the post: You Can Copy Our Articles All You Want… But Please Don't Claim The Copyright Belongs To You

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 30 Aug, 2011 @ 12:03pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Mike doesn't assert that all copyright is bad. He rails against the current state of copyright law and how it gets abused.

    http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Willful_ignorance

  • On the post: You Can Copy Our Articles All You Want… But Please Don't Claim The Copyright Belongs To You

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 30 Aug, 2011 @ 11:58am

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

    Citation needed.

    Mike doesn't assert that all copyright is bad. He complains about the current state of copyright law and how it gets abused. Perhaps you should try reading some of his articles. You know, all the way through to the end.

    As for what Mike thinks, I suggest you give up the mind-reading act and get a day job.

  • On the post: You Can Copy Our Articles All You Want… But Please Don't Claim The Copyright Belongs To You

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 30 Aug, 2011 @ 11:49am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Representation

    "This thread is so meta and sarcastic, my mind is blown."

    Mine imploded about halfway in. Since then I've just assumed that everything in it is a lie, including this (my own) comment.

  • On the post: Would We Have Art Without Copyright Law?

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 30 Aug, 2011 @ 11:29am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Partially Subverted

    "Without money you can of course barter."

    Yeah, but it's more difficult, which is why money was invented in the first place. It allows me to buy something from somebody who doesn't want what I have to trade, and vice-versa.

    It also means I don't have to carry cattle around to pay for my groceries. Just tuck a cow under one arm and pop into the local Quik-E-Mart for a cola.

    And you thought that silver dollars were unwieldy!

  • On the post: DOJ: This Case Has Nothing To Do With Puerto 80; Now Here Is Why Puerto 80 Is Guilty

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 30 Aug, 2011 @ 11:15am

    Re: Re: 5th ammendment

    So due process has not been completed, but the property has already been seized.

  • On the post: Feds Raid Gibson; Musicians Now Worried The Gov't Will Take Their Guitars Away

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 29 Aug, 2011 @ 10:02pm

    Re: Re:

    Well, I didn't get any flames, so I assume everybody's sarcasm detectors are in good working order. :)

  • On the post: Background Check Company Sued For Calling Samuel Jackson A Sex Offender

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 29 Aug, 2011 @ 04:07pm

    Nothing to hide, nothing to fear.

  • On the post: Federal Court Invents A New Intellectual Property Right: The Money Makes It So Exclusive Right To Record

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 29 Aug, 2011 @ 12:12pm

    Re:

    It's a private event -- just me and a few thousand of my closest friends.

    By your logic then the following are not public spaces: movie theater, race track, stadium, live theater, hockey rink, indoor shopping mall, grocery store. Some of them require explicit permission to enter (via tickets, in the case of the sporting and theater venues) and others imply permission to the public at large (but such permission can be revoked at any time). Outside of business hours they're generally closed and locked up, usually with security.

    Apparently it's only public if it's either outside on the grass, or in your living room.

    Sorry, your conclusion is based on the wrong premise. If the public is allowed inside for an event, it's a public event. The fact that it's in what is normally a private place doesn't matter.

  • On the post: US Copyright Group, Hurt Locker Producers Sue Dead Man & Others Unlikely To Have Infringed

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 29 Aug, 2011 @ 10:45am

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    "MAC spoofing has been going on for years."

    Heck, it's built right into routers these days.

    "Just go around and ask people you know how many are aware of MAC spoofing and if it was necessary to hack someone's internet, I'm pretty sure that not many people know what it is, outside a select group of people who discuss those issues."

    I've known about it for years and I don't think I've ever discussed it before now. Does that make me part of your "select group"? Please, tell me I'm not part of your select group.

    Oddly enough it doesn't have to be the unwashed masses that know about MAC spoofing to permit one person to use it for hiding his online activities. So I'm not sure what the point is of making this argument.

  • On the post: Feds Raid Gibson; Musicians Now Worried The Gov't Will Take Their Guitars Away

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 29 Aug, 2011 @ 10:05am

    I guess my wife can't use my morning wood any more, at my age there's no proof it's a renewable resource.

    *rimshot*

  • On the post: Feds Raid Gibson; Musicians Now Worried The Gov't Will Take Their Guitars Away

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 29 Aug, 2011 @ 09:47am

    Re:

    Plastics. Quite reasonable to substitute plastics for all the wood parts in your guitar.

    I mean, it's not like you could hear the difference, and it's not as though wood were a renewable resource like plastic.

  • On the post: AT&T Takes A Lesson From Banks: Will Now Charge You For Not Using Enough Long Distance

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 27 Aug, 2011 @ 11:01am

    Long history

    When they introduced touch-tone they used to add a $2/mo fee for touch-tone service. It made a modicum of sense when they were first rolling it out. But the charge continued long after it was actually more of a burden to support dial phones and well after everything was done electronically. It took a couple decades at least before that charge finally went away.

    Big businesses will charge whatever they can get away with for whatever they can, and if the charges don't make sense it's up to the regulatory bodies to force them to cancel. They won't do it themselves no matter how ridiculous. And the regulatory bodies are bureaucracies, so very slow and a bit thick.

    Assuming they still exist. Didn't Reagan de-regulate everything?

  • On the post: Brazil Looks To Criminalize Ripping A CD?

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 27 Aug, 2011 @ 10:47am

    Re:

    "Translation: ignoring copyright law."

    Ignoring US copyright law. Last time I checked the US didn't rule the world, though many of its citizens seem to think it does. And just because something is a law doesn't mean it's correct. That's why the courts are allowed to overturn laws.

    "You're such a worthless slimeball, Masnick."

    Oh, name-calling. Well, that convinced me that you're right! Your logic is impeccable.

    And now it is time to roll back the foreskin of ignorance and apply the wire brush of enlightenment.

  • On the post: DailyDirt: Ancient Food

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 26 Aug, 2011 @ 05:18pm

    Cap'n Crunch? or Kellog's? Raisin Bran??

    ;)

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