Karl 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Senator Ron Wyden's Favorite Techdirt Posts Of The Week

    Karl ( profile ), 28 Jan, 2012 @ 11:28pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Jeff Bridges.

    Please don't involve Mr. Bridges in this nonsense.

  • On the post: Senator Ron Wyden's Favorite Techdirt Posts Of The Week

    Karl ( profile ), 28 Jan, 2012 @ 06:48pm

    Re: Re: Re:

    But then it's a weekend and most of them are probably off work at the moment.

    I think you hit the nail right on the head.

  • On the post: Senator Ron Wyden's Favorite Techdirt Posts Of The Week

    Karl ( profile ), 28 Jan, 2012 @ 04:03pm

    Re:

    Before I answer this: fellow Techdirt folks, please stop reporting posts like this.

    Now, then.

    How much money have you received from the tech industry this year?

    What is Google's corporate presence in your state?

    I answered these questions a long time ago. Obviously I'm not Wyden, but it's not like you couldn't find out the answers.

    Also, the outrage over SOPA, PROTECT IP, and ACTA is not driven by Google, nor even by "the tech industry." So why are you even asking?

    Actually, I think I know why. I'm guessing you're the same Sucka A.C. who characterized Wyden as "Google's pet senator." Your intent, pretty obviously, was to ask loaded questions, in the same way as "when did you stop beating your wife?" is a loaded question.

    What's really sad is that you think they are loaded questions. The idea that taking money from Google or the tech industry will make you look bad is simply pathetic. For people who care about digital freedom, an endorsement from Google is about as politically damaging as an endorsement from the Mother Theresa.

  • On the post: Senator Ron Wyden's Favorite Techdirt Posts Of The Week

    Karl ( profile ), 28 Jan, 2012 @ 03:41pm

    Humility

    in a display of his trademark humility

    Uh oh. Does this mean that if I'm humble, Mike can sue me for trademark infringement?

    Not that the issue will ever come up, of course...

    p.s. When are you running for President?

  • On the post: EMI VP Comes Out Against SOPA/PIPA; Says The Answer To Piracy Is Providing A Better Service

    Karl ( profile ), 26 Jan, 2012 @ 08:11am

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    some questions you should deal with

    Forgot one: estimated growth rates. Entertainment industry jobs are expected to grow at the same rate as other industries; tech industry jobs are expected to grow much, much faster.

  • On the post: EMI VP Comes Out Against SOPA/PIPA; Says The Answer To Piracy Is Providing A Better Service

    Karl ( profile ), 26 Jan, 2012 @ 08:10am

    Re: Re: Re:

    If memory serves me correctly, the entertainment industries contribute less than 1% and the tech industry contributes between 10 and 15%.

    That sounds about right, but it wasn't me who said it.

    Most recently, I was talking about employment figures, which are different than GDP. The figures I gave were all from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook:
    http://www.bls.gov/oco/oco2003.htm

    You'll find a lot of data there, much of it in convenient XLS form.
    Here are some questions you should deal with:
    - Raw employment numbers, by industry
    - Part-time v. full-time employment
    - Average wages (the BLS site gives median wages, they may have average wages in the XLS's)

    There are some other, more difficult, questions:

    - Ancillary industries. Both record store clerks and computer salespeople are lumped into "Retail," for example. This is the primary area where the entertainment industry inflates its employment figures (e.g. counting every member of the Teamsters as being employed by the industry). In contrast, a study by the University of Maryland (PDF) claims that Facebook alone accounts for about 180,000 ancillary jobs created.

    - What portion of each industry is potentially affected by piracy. Screen and TV actors, for instance, might be; but stage actors absolutely would not.

    Hope this helps. Post a link to your study when you're done.

  • On the post: EMI VP Comes Out Against SOPA/PIPA; Says The Answer To Piracy Is Providing A Better Service

    Karl ( profile ), 25 Jan, 2012 @ 08:30pm

    Re:

    If SOPA/PIPA will do "so much damage" as you have repeatedly claimed, how is it that the pirates will be able to circumvent the measures but your average citizen won't?

    Your average citizen probably would, if they're tech-savvy enough. Of course, the end result would just be the criminalization of the vast majority of Internet users.

    But the ones who would suffer the most from SOPA/PIPA are the ones who actually obey the law. The search engines, advertisers, and so forth who would be forced by law to shoulder the burdens of other companies' failures. Not to mention damaging Internet security, and showing the world that the U.S. is A-OK with governments controlling the free flow of information.

    We've already seen the chilling effects merely from the Megaupload seizure and arrests. Because of that, sites are eliminating functionality - search functions, rewards programs, affiliate programs, sometimes even the ability to share any files, legal or not - which have never been found to be unlawful in the U.S.

    SOPA/PIPA would have had horrible effects on the internet, the economy, and U.S. foreign interests, probably without affecting piracy very much, and absolutely without earning rights holders a penny.

  • On the post: EMI VP Comes Out Against SOPA/PIPA; Says The Answer To Piracy Is Providing A Better Service

    Karl ( profile ), 25 Jan, 2012 @ 08:08pm

    Re: Re: I feel that Piracy is a big problem...

    Piracy really IS a BIG problem.

    Piracy wasn't a really big problem until "On Stranger Tides." Before then, it was kind of fun.

  • On the post: DOJ Gives Its Opinion On SOPA By Unilaterally Shutting Down 'Foreign Rogue Site' Megaupload… Without SOPA/PIPA

    Karl ( profile ), 21 Jan, 2012 @ 10:20am

    Re: Re:

    So the anti-censorship forces would seek to win the day by using censorship?

    Legally speaking, it's censorship if it's done by the government. Private actors can censor whatever they like, and it's perfectly legal. It may be a contractual issue, but it's not unlawful censorship.

    Having said that, I agree with you. It would not be a wise move. I can't imagine anyone like Facebook even considering this.

  • On the post: DOJ Gives Its Opinion On SOPA By Unilaterally Shutting Down 'Foreign Rogue Site' Megaupload… Without SOPA/PIPA

    Karl ( profile ), 20 Jan, 2012 @ 10:18pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Funny, according to Wikipedia Facebook employs about 3000.

    They employ 3000 people directly. The other hundreds of thousands are people who make their living writing apps that are deployed on Facebook. You know, Farmville, Mafia Wars, that sort of thing.

    But if you don't want to believe that study, let's look at some numbers from the same source. (Which would be the Bureau of Labor Statistics, natch.)

    Graphic designers: 286,100
    Computer network, systems, and database administrators: 961,200
    Computer software engineers and computer programmers: 1,336,300
    Computer support specialists: 565,700
    Computer systems analysts: 532,200
    Total: 3,681,500 jobs

    Actors, producers, and directors: 155,100
    Dancers and choreographers: 29,200
    Musicians, singers, and related workers: 240,000
    Broadcast and sound engineering technicians and radio operators: 114,600
    Television, video, and motion picture camera operators and editors: 51,900
    Total: 590,800 jobs

    In other words: the tech industry employs about six times as many people as the entire entertainment industry. Each individual sector of the tech industry employs about as many workers as the entire entertainment industry combined.

    Furthermore, tech jobs pay far higher wages, are more stable, and employment in this sector is increasing at a much faster rate. In contrast, jobs in the industry are growing about as fast as the average for all occupations (no more, no less), and a significant number of those jobs are part-time (in fact, it's 43% - roughly 103,200 - of musicians, singers, and related workers are part-time; the BLS didn't give the number for actors, producers, and directors, but it's probably similar).

    Make no mistake about it: in the current economy, the entertainment industry is a rounding error, and the tech industry (especially the Internet industry) is the major player.

  • On the post: MPAA Directly & Publicly Threatens Politicians Who Aren't Corrupt Enough To Stay Bought

    Karl ( profile ), 20 Jan, 2012 @ 09:43pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Disgusting

    Whatever you meant, you're wrong.

    Oh, and of course none of that mentions that money that the MPAA spends lobbying law enforcement directly:
    http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-anti-piracy-lobbying-targets-fbi-110622/

    ...which, so far as I can tell, the tech industries do not.

  • On the post: MPAA Directly & Publicly Threatens Politicians Who Aren't Corrupt Enough To Stay Bought

    Karl ( profile ), 20 Jan, 2012 @ 09:32pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Disgusting

    Whatever you meant, you're wrong.

    And on a more individual level:
    http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/284618/20120119/lamar-smith-sopa-lobbying-campaign-finance-congress.htm

  • On the post: MPAA Directly & Publicly Threatens Politicians Who Aren't Corrupt Enough To Stay Bought

    Karl ( profile ), 20 Jan, 2012 @ 09:18pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Disgusting

    Whatever you meant, you're wrong.

    More info:
    http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/68448_Page4.html

  • On the post: MPAA Directly & Publicly Threatens Politicians Who Aren't Corrupt Enough To Stay Bought

    Karl ( profile ), 20 Jan, 2012 @ 09:13pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Disgusting

    Whatever you meant, you're wrong.

    Not according to MapLight.

  • On the post: MPAA Directly & Publicly Threatens Politicians Who Aren't Corrupt Enough To Stay Bought

    Karl ( profile ), 20 Jan, 2012 @ 07:29pm

    Re: Re: Re: Disgusting

    Sorry, I meant "out-lobbies," not "outspends."

  • On the post: MPAA Directly & Publicly Threatens Politicians Who Aren't Corrupt Enough To Stay Bought

    Karl ( profile ), 20 Jan, 2012 @ 07:26pm

    Re: Re: Disgusting

    The entertainment industry outspends the tech industry by 10x, but contributes about 1/10 as much to the economy.

  • On the post: Denial: MPAA Pretends That No Big Sites Have Joined SOPA/PIPA Protests

    Karl ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2012 @ 12:46pm

    Reuters

    Here's the kicker: that WAS the headline in the Reuters article. You can still see the original article at MSNBC.com.

    However, now that same Reuters URL (I believe - it's the one linked from the MPAA's Twitter feed) is singing a different tune: Pockets of Internet go dark to protest piracy bills. The article is completely re-written.

    It's pretty obvious that Reuters thought the protest would fizzle, and wrote the story yesterday. Now that it's actually a big deal, they're scrambling to cover their tracks. Pretty amusing, actually.

  • On the post: Disney Refused Invitation From Senator Feinstein To Meet With Tech Companies Over PIPA/SOPA

    Karl ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2012 @ 12:04pm

    Re: Re: Will heads roll?

    The entertainment industry has been getting butt-raped by the tech industry since Napster.

    Bullshit. The tech industry is the only reason the entertainment industry still makes any money whatsoever.

    How much money do you think they would have made without iTunes? Without Netflix? Without YouTube? Without services like these, the entertainment industry would still be renting DVD's through brick-and-mortar stores, and attempting to sell time-limited RealAudio files for $3.99 per song. And they would be making pretty much nothing.

    Honestly, the tech industry has bent over backwards to kowtow to Hollywood and the majors. The entertainment industry has been trying to butt-rape the tech industry for decades, even before the internet existed.

    I think it's high time the tech industry told them to fuck off. They want blacklists, give them blacklists. Remove every official RIAA/MPAA link from Google; get rid of the ContentID system and the 50/50 split on ad revenue on YouTube; black out iTunes and Netflix for a day or two; get together to sue the RIAA and MPAA for billions of dollars on shaky legal grounds. See how much they like it.

    I know, it won't happen, but a man can dream, can't he?

  • On the post: Disney Refused Invitation From Senator Feinstein To Meet With Tech Companies Over PIPA/SOPA

    Karl ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2012 @ 11:53am

    Re: losing editors

    Mike, why have you choses to ignore the news that Wikipedia is losing editors because of the decision to blackout the site.

    Probably because they aren't.

    Wikipedia has been losing editors since last August at least, according to this article in PC Mag, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with the blackout.

    In fact, if I tried doing a search for "wikipedia losing editors blackout," I found not a single article that even suggests this is happening.

  • On the post: Google Goes Big With Its SOPA/PIPA Protests; Blacks Out Logo

    Karl ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2012 @ 09:04am

    Re: Re:

    You socialists don't get it, these works are created because copywrite protection allows the producers to make money by making it illegal to copy and/or redistribute the content.

    First of all, it's "copyright." A "copywriter" is one who writes copy (e.g. for newspapers). It's going to be hard for people to take you seriously if you can't even spell what you're talking about.

    Second of all, copyright is a state-enforced monopoly. It's more than ironic that you call its opponents "socialists."

    Third of all, you don't need copyright to create movies, television shows, books, music, games, etc. For example, plenty of publishing companies make money by selling editions of public domain works; orchestras make money by performing public domain music; and so forth. Valve Software made over a billion dollars last year, not by "making it illegal to copy and/or redistribute the content," but by providing a service that added value the pirates' couldn't.

    Fourth, "amatuers creating amatuer content" is exactly how innovative artists create. Take the music industry: you would never get signed to a label without already having a sizable following that you developed without the label's help. The major labels have not created one single genre of music; all of them were created by amateurs, then later signed and co-opted by the labels.

    On the other hand, I am not actually arguing against all copyright protections. But the laws we have right now go way too far, and SOPA/PROTECT IP would only make matters worse.

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