Keroberos 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: All Fair Use And No License Fees Makes Room 237 An Interesting Test Case

    Keroberos ( profile ), 28 Sep, 2012 @ 01:04pm

    Re: Re: Re: :(

    It isn't. And it proves my point above--having to ask for permission to exercise fair use rights is creating another form of copyright. The whole point of fair use is that the publisher has NO say in the use of the content. Copyright law needs to be changed to make what is fair use more strictly defined and clear

  • On the post: All Fair Use And No License Fees Makes Room 237 An Interesting Test Case

    Keroberos ( profile ), 28 Sep, 2012 @ 12:45pm

    Re:

    Sad--but unfortunately true.

  • On the post: All Fair Use And No License Fees Makes Room 237 An Interesting Test Case

    Keroberos ( profile ), 28 Sep, 2012 @ 12:44pm

    Re: Re: :(

    Remember also, fair use is basically, "yes, I am using the content without permission, but I think it's fair use because....". Fair use in legal terms isn't a slam dunk, almost without exception.

    Some people consider it a failing of the copyright system,
    This is the problem, It should be a slam dunk. And yes, it is a failing of copyright system. If Congress thinks they can rigidly define what copyright is, they can rigidly define fair use rights. They've just never tried--it would piss off the Hollywood lobbyists.

    Copyright is a right granted to creators--BY US, THE PEOPLE--for commercial gain from OUR property--because, yes, once something is published it becomes the property of everyone. We allow creators the right of commercial compensation because we somewhat believe that to be good for the people (potential for more content to be created). We reserve the RIGHT of fair use to ourselves--because again--it is our property. We should not have to ask for permission for non-commercial or commentarial purposes. Having to ask the rights-holder for permission to exercise our fair use rights is by default creating another form of copyright.

    Kudos to Rodney Ascher for having the stones to exercise his rights and not suck up to Warner Bros.

  • On the post: GoDaddy Receives Patent On 'Announcing A Domain Name Registration On A Social Website'

    Keroberos ( profile ), 28 Sep, 2012 @ 06:11am

    ...for reasons that defy any logic.
    It's perfectly logical. The patent office collects fees for patent applications. If they rejected all the bogus and retarded patent applications, people would eventually stop filing them. Then the amount of fees they could collect would drop.

  • On the post: Former Copyright Boss: New Technology Should Be Presumed Illegal Until Congress Says Otherwise

    Keroberos ( profile ), 27 Sep, 2012 @ 02:36pm

    Well, this answers any questions you could have about why copyright is so screwed up today. This guy is a f-ing moron. Going by his statement, any device that could reproduce, distribute or display copyrighted material is illegal by definition. I guess we should turn in for destruction all our photocopiers, fax machines, cassette recorders, cameras, TVs, VCRs, CD/DVD players/burners, computers, cell phones, MP3 players, e-readers, and tablets.

  • On the post: Shockingly, Kickstarter Doesn't Work For Every Movie (Psst: Neither Does The Old System)

    Keroberos ( profile ), 26 Sep, 2012 @ 02:21pm

    In other news, a new study shows that water is wet.

  • On the post: Hospital Tech Declines To Patent His Invention, As Saving Lives Is 'More Important Than Money'

    Keroberos ( profile ), 26 Sep, 2012 @ 12:07pm

    Re: Better Idea.

    I doubt it is actually patentable anyway. I first saw badge lanyards with breakaway clips years ago. This design just adds 2 more of them. But kudos to him. This is how innovation is supposed to work--take an existing design, and make it better.

  • On the post: NZ Gets New 'Homeland' Episodes Less Than 4 Hours After US

    Keroberos ( profile ), 26 Sep, 2012 @ 11:29am

    Re:

    Nah, the torrents still got 'em beat. Until they release their shows for DOWNLOAD (for us who can't stream in HD) before it stops airing on TV (or better yet--at the same time), with no DRM in an open format that can be played on/converted for any device you want to watch it on, piracy will always be a more attractive alternative.

  • On the post: NZ Gets New 'Homeland' Episodes Less Than 4 Hours After US

    Keroberos ( profile ), 26 Sep, 2012 @ 11:20am

    Re:

    I was thinking the same thing. Stuff get put up within 5 minutes--maybe an hour--tops.

  • On the post: NZ Gets New 'Homeland' Episodes Less Than 4 Hours After US

    Keroberos ( profile ), 26 Sep, 2012 @ 06:35am

    Re:

    Plus if you forget that you'll most likely never see much if any of that lawsuit money (people can't pay what the don't have). The only ones that profit from infringement lawsuits against non-corporate targets are the lawyers.

  • On the post: NZ Gets New 'Homeland' Episodes Less Than 4 Hours After US

    Keroberos ( profile ), 26 Sep, 2012 @ 06:28am

    Re:

    "cable costs too much"
    It does. I watch a grand total of ONE show that is on cable/satellite. In two years this show has aired 19 episodes. Satellite (the only thing available in my area) is about $100/month + a $300 connection fee. That would equals $250 per episode for the first season (6 episodes: $100 x12 + $300 / 6 = $250), and $92.31 per episode for the second season (13 episodes: $100 x12 / 13 ≈ $92.31). Ain't gonna happen.

  • On the post: Sparkfun CEO Explains IP Obesity: Companies Who Rely Too Much On IP Flop

    Keroberos ( profile ), 25 Sep, 2012 @ 01:25pm

    Re: Such foolishness

    Not true. The entire tech industry as it exists today is because the early innovators shared ideas between themselves. Focusing more on IP protection instead of innovating is a short term solution. In the long run your competitors will innovate around any IP you have and eat your lunch.

    IP cements dominance--but only in the short term.

  • On the post: Sparkfun CEO Explains IP Obesity: Companies Who Rely Too Much On IP Flop

    Keroberos ( profile ), 25 Sep, 2012 @ 01:09pm

    Re:

    What gives?
    Time. Going by the chart above, Kodak has been in its death spiral for about 15 years, and in trouble for longer. The pure patent trolls that produce nothing haven't been truly around for even a fraction of that time. And if nothing changes on the patent front they may actually enjoy greater longevity--they don't have any R&D or production costs to bog them down, and a plentiful supply of cheap patents from companies that have gone belly-up.

  • On the post: The Return Of Dumb Ideas: A Broadband Tax To Save Failing Newspapers

    Keroberos ( profile ), 25 Sep, 2012 @ 12:15am

    To be fair, a lot of printed news media is
    according to this or that news source ......
    and then provides the actual (or made up--depends on what will sell more papers/magazines--you'd have to put the paper/magazine down to check the sources online) data which is quoted in said news source (if they feel like telling you they got this somewhere else) as supporting silly/stupid/criminal plan and shows why it doesn't do anything of the kind.

    So, yeah, without certain news sources printed news media in particular would have less to write about, but then they wouldn't need to be writing it because the disinformation wouldn't be out there in the first place.

    All news media works this way.

  • On the post: The Return Of Dumb Ideas: A Broadband Tax To Save Failing Newspapers

    Keroberos ( profile ), 25 Sep, 2012 @ 12:07am

    Re: Re: Re:

    Television? Burning building, film at 11! The most in depth for most TV news is how big the weather girl's cleavage is.
    You could say the same about most print media also. And it depends on where you get your TV news--I stay away from the networks; but PBS does an excellent job of televised journalism.
    So you could give a ton of money to internet sites, but you wouldn't have more material, because they would be losing their sources.
    Or..I don't know...maybe they could get their own sources and create their own material with that money. And they'd probably be more efficient at it too. Where do you think print journalists get their story ideas from? Press releases, tips from other journalists and insiders, wire service stories, do you think these will all disappear if the newspapers fail? I doubt it.

    Yes, historically journalism has been done for print media, but throwing tax dollars at print media isn't going to solve the problem of no one wanting dead tree newspapers. If you want to fund journalism fund journalists, not dead tree newspapers. Or better yet let the market sort itself out. If people value quality journalism, some one will find a way to profit from it. As much as print newspapers did? Probably not--but they'll be a hell of a lot less waste. Don't waste our money propping up an inefficient system merely because that's the way we always did it.

  • On the post: The Return Of Dumb Ideas: A Broadband Tax To Save Failing Newspapers

    Keroberos ( profile ), 24 Sep, 2012 @ 08:26pm

    Re:

    The thing is--if we are going to support journalism--is propping up failing print newspapers the proper way to go about it? Print newspapers are only one method of transmitting news to the public (and looking at their falling subscription numbers--not a very good one, or one that the people want). People don't get their news from print newspapers anymore--they get it on the internet or television. Maybe we should funnel money at purely internet or television based news outlets if we truly think quality journalism requires money to create.

    This is the problem with levies like these--it isn't about funding journalism--it's about propping up failing print newspapers; two entirely different things that the print newspapers keep trying to conflate.

  • On the post: The Return Of Dumb Ideas: A Broadband Tax To Save Failing Newspapers

    Keroberos ( profile ), 24 Sep, 2012 @ 05:06pm

    Re:

    Yes, how dare they profit off the work of others without paying for it. Those filthy infringing pirates.

  • On the post: The Return Of Dumb Ideas: A Broadband Tax To Save Failing Newspapers

    Keroberos ( profile ), 24 Sep, 2012 @ 04:19pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: US internet sucks

    You win, I only go back as far as Morse Code on the telegraph (man, it takes FOREVEH to watch a YouTube video that way). =P

  • On the post: The Return Of Dumb Ideas: A Broadband Tax To Save Failing Newspapers

    Keroberos ( profile ), 24 Sep, 2012 @ 01:44pm

    Re: Re: Re: US internet sucks

    I see your $15 for 14400, and raise you dialing into CompuServe and private BBSs with my 300 baud Commodore VIC-Modem--and paying the hourly connection fee and long distance charges to do it (Bog knows I had to mow a crapload of lawns to pay for that). =P

  • On the post: The Return Of Dumb Ideas: A Broadband Tax To Save Failing Newspapers

    Keroberos ( profile ), 24 Sep, 2012 @ 01:24pm

    Re:

    No, I don't think we're missing anything. We all understand the role quality journalism plays in society. We just want the news agencies to develop a 21st century business model that will work in todays market, not just go whinging to big mommy guvmint to force their 20th century way of doing things on the people who don't want to consume their news that way anymore.

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