Keroberos 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Piracy Is A Cultural Opportunity; Embrace It

    Keroberos ( profile ), 01 Sep, 2012 @ 12:56am

    Re:

    That's what happens when you buy games from Bugthesda. I don't think they ever fix their broken games.

  • On the post: Fan Fiction: A Revisionist History And Future

    Keroberos ( profile ), 29 Aug, 2012 @ 01:50pm

    Re:

    Fiction is basically theft, I have no original ability so I will steal your creation and make up stories
    FTFY

  • On the post: Fan Fiction: A Revisionist History And Future

    Keroberos ( profile ), 29 Aug, 2012 @ 01:46pm

    Re: Gah!

    The "culture industries can do whatever they want, human culture will get along just fine without them (just as it did in the past).

  • On the post: The Aftershock Of Stupidity: Lendink Reopens Only To Receive Trolling DMCA Notices

    Keroberos ( profile ), 28 Aug, 2012 @ 07:38pm

    Re:

    Some people want to spent all their time writing and creating, not marketing and selling.
    And I want to spend all my time sitting on a warm sandy beach sipping a cool beverage, but you have to deal with the world the way it is, and not the way you wish it to be. They choose to do what they do, and if it requires them to change their way of doing things to fit with the current realities of the publishing business, well...that's just life. Suck it up and deal with it--or quit.

    Talk about a sense of entitlement...these guys got it it in spades.

  • On the post: Fan Fiction: A Revisionist History And Future

    Keroberos ( profile ), 28 Aug, 2012 @ 01:27pm

    When an author of fiction starts throwing around the term "derivative" when criticizing another's work they lose all credibility in my opinion. ALL fiction is derivative to some level. And a quick look up on him makes me start to think he's just a pretentious twa--er...artiste.

  • On the post: Major Labels Claim Copyright Over Public Domain Songs; YouTube Punishes Musician

    Keroberos ( profile ), 28 Aug, 2012 @ 12:26pm

    Re:

    These aren't DMCA claims. From what I've read they're ContentID takedowns. I don't know what recourse (if any) YouTube has to deal with counter-claims for false takedowns under the ContentID system. If you read the article he's provided evidence of false takedowns multiple times, and has so far only received canned responses. This is the major problem with the ContentID system (it heavily favors big content owners.

  • On the post: Major Labels Claim Copyright Over Public Domain Songs; YouTube Punishes Musician

    Keroberos ( profile ), 28 Aug, 2012 @ 12:16pm

    Re:

    Agreed, this would defiantly be a situation where a class action lawsuit might be a reasonable way to get a response from YouTube on this issue--although I doubt it would actually be winnable. YouTube, as a private company can do whatever it wants.

  • On the post: Authors Guild Continues To Battle The Present; Attacks Another Legal Service As 'Infringing'

    Keroberos ( profile ), 28 Aug, 2012 @ 09:27am

    Re:

    Way to fail at trolling, I give you -10 out of 10.

    This service certainly seems like a way for people to make money on knocking out copyright material, and of course probably retaining a copy for themselves and their friends.
    Yes, this would be illegal, but has no bearing on the legality of the service itself (I could be using my home scanner to make copies of my books for my friends, but scanners are not illegal).

    Multiple court rulings have found that just because something could be used for infringement does not make it infringing in itself. If this were not the case nothing that allowed you to copy something would be legal (say goodbye to your pen and paper).

    As to them keeping a copy for you, how is this any different from the multiple cloud storage services out there.

    Also, since they have been in business for at over a year (based on the registration of their domain) and have yet to be sued by anyone, I would think that the legality of this service is at least something the copyright holders are not willing to have tested in court.

  • On the post: Guilty Until Proven Licensed: FACT Shuts Down Torrent Tracker Despite Cooperation

    Keroberos ( profile ), 27 Aug, 2012 @ 02:51pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Whom shall he sue? This is a criminal indictment, not a civil suit. He would have to sue the Justice Dept., but not until he is acquitted (if he ever is). For that to happen, he would have to come to the US and stand trial--and at that point he would be better off putting all of his resources into not going to prison.

  • On the post: MPAA Pretends 'Offering Something' Is The Same Thing As 'Offering What People Want'

    Keroberos ( profile ), 24 Aug, 2012 @ 02:45pm

    Re: I want more positive coverage of the RIAA

    ...lobbyists like the RIAA who are fighting for the artists' rights.
    Here's the mistake that most people make (and I sometimes think it's intentional on the part of these groups). The RIAA and the MPAA do not support artists' rights, they support what the studios want, which may align with what artists want, or it may not--depends on the studios. The groups that allegedly support artists' rights are the ones like the Screen Actors' Guild and the Directors' Guild. The studios only care about art and artists when they intersect what they do care about--making money for the studio (I'm not criticizing them for this, any business that wasn't looking out for it's employees and investors is doing them a grave disservice), the artists aren't really employees of the studios--they're more like independent contractors. I hate it when they try to pretend they are interested in "artists' rights"--when nothing could be further than the truth. When you look at what they do understanding this, everything they do makes sense. I just wish they would be honest about it.

  • On the post: The DVD Is Dying. Hollywood's Plan? Do Nothing And Cede Ground To File Sharing

    Keroberos ( profile ), 23 Aug, 2012 @ 01:12pm

    Re: Re: Re: The dvd is NOT dead.

    Less popular items are missing from both their music and video catalog.
    The same was true when DVDs/CDs first came out. Could you get those older or obscure titles on DVD/CD? Nope, and for a lot of them, you still can't. And how many DVDs/CDs have since gone out of print? DVD has had 17 years to fill that gap, CD has had 30. Come back and make that argument against streaming/downloaded movies in 2029 and against streaming/downloaded music in 2042.

    The biggest problem with the selection on streaming/downloading services is not that they can't or don't want to provide everything ever made, but that the studios won't let them.

  • On the post: The DVD Is Dying. Hollywood's Plan? Do Nothing And Cede Ground To File Sharing

    Keroberos ( profile ), 23 Aug, 2012 @ 12:43pm

    Re: The dvd is NOT dead.

    Is somebody really going to stream them all, forever?
    Why not? Data storage is cheap, and getting cheaper all the time. It makes less sense to not be streaming them if there is any money to be made from it.

  • On the post: The DVD Is Dying. Hollywood's Plan? Do Nothing And Cede Ground To File Sharing

    Keroberos ( profile ), 23 Aug, 2012 @ 12:34pm

    Re: Re: You have to be kidding

    Piracy comes with all kinds of problems, poor quality, corrupt files, possible malware.....
    Not in my experience. Poor Quality- Theater Cams, full Blu-ray isos, and everything in between. Corrupt Files- Can happen, but very rare (corrupt files tend to disappear pretty quickly). Possible Malware- Only if the video you downloaded wants a dodgy codec or media player install (but if you're gullible enough to install those, I guarantee you already have massive amounts of malware on your box anyway).

    Most pirated videos tend to provide better value than their purchased counterparts, No DRM- Play it where I want, when I want, on whatever device I want. Open Codecs- Same as above. Plus the added benefits of no unskippable ads, trailers or warnings and no retarded animated menus that are cool maybe once at most.

  • On the post: The DVD Is Dying. Hollywood's Plan? Do Nothing And Cede Ground To File Sharing

    Keroberos ( profile ), 23 Aug, 2012 @ 12:02pm

    Re:

    Sorry, but they aren't offering any alternatives that make the money that DVDs make.
    And your point is? The alternatives aren't DVDs and should not be priced as such. If people don't want DVD's you have to sell them what they do want at a price they are willing to pay (business 101). Physical media distribution is dying (In my case it's already mostly dead). If the studios can't (read: won't) go to where the market is heading then they need to die and let some other more nimble company take their place (and I guarantee someone will as long as there's any money to be made).

  • On the post: The DVD Is Dying. Hollywood's Plan? Do Nothing And Cede Ground To File Sharing

    Keroberos ( profile ), 23 Aug, 2012 @ 11:12am

    Re: Re:

    And businesses that give crappy service go broke even quicker.

  • On the post: Australian Media Exec Uses Dickens & Shakespeare — Who Both Thrived Without Copyright — To Explain Why We Need More Copyright

    Keroberos ( profile ), 21 Aug, 2012 @ 10:36am

    Re:

    Well, actually, it's because the printing press was still a pretty uncommon thing, and piracy at that point would have basically been taking his works and writing them out by hand.
    Which was basically what they did, go watch other playwrights plays, then copy what you liked, change it up a little bit, Bam! Brand new play.

  • On the post: Australian Media Exec Uses Dickens & Shakespeare — Who Both Thrived Without Copyright — To Explain Why We Need More Copyright

    Keroberos ( profile ), 21 Aug, 2012 @ 10:23am

    Re: OMG! SMART publishers?!

    Yes, but that takes actual work, and costs more because you have to woo the content creators into giving you exclusive content to publish before everyone else. It's much easier to just sit back and profit off of what you published years ago, and control all the possible outlets for new content. This is why they fear the digital revolution in content publishing, it makes it too easy to get your content from places not controlled by them.

    Copyright has never truly been about protecting the content creators, but about protecting the publishers. And the publishers know this.

  • On the post: FBI-Created 'Terrorist Plot' Fails To Produce A Single Terrorist — But Does Plenty Of Damage To Individual Liberties

    Keroberos ( profile ), 21 Aug, 2012 @ 10:05am

    Re: Re:

    Typo, should be *hear about*. Forgot to preview.

  • On the post: FBI-Created 'Terrorist Plot' Fails To Produce A Single Terrorist — But Does Plenty Of Damage To Individual Liberties

    Keroberos ( profile ), 21 Aug, 2012 @ 10:04am

    Re:

    Beat me to the Franklin quote. On a different note, these cases are not only horrifying, but extremely dangerous for our actual national security. How do you think the real Islamic terrorists feel when they here about these kind of shenanigans? If I were a terrorist, I would be truly pissed off at what the US has been doing to people who haven't done anything, but just happen to be Islamic.

  • On the post: Even If Samsung And Apple Copied Every Last Detail From Each Other, Who Cares?

    Keroberos ( profile ), 20 Aug, 2012 @ 12:59pm

    Re: It may not be what is driving this, but..

    This only works if you're the only bully on the playground. As you can see from all the current patent lawsuits in the tech sector (smart phones and tablets in particular) this is quickly becoming no longer the case. Add in all the non practicing patent hording trolls and the sell-off of patent portfolios from bankrupt and defunct companies (now that tech patents are seen as valuable commodities we'll start seeing more of this), it's quickly becoming a very bad business practice to try suing the competition out of the market.

    This sort of reminds me of Douglas Adams "Shoe Event Horizon". If things keep going as they are, the main business of a tech company will be to sue other tech companies, or defend themselves from lawsuits from other tech companies, with the development and sale of any tech items to consumers being secondary.

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