I think renato is exactly right, this is a scheme purposefully designed to reverse engineer the DMCA restrictions into an anti-adblocking set up. The anti-adblocking companies know they are not going to win this fight purely through technology and are instead trying to devise a way to make adblocking illegal somehow. That is what we are seeing here.
Will it work? Maybe but a more likely outcome would be adblocking lists hosted outside of a DMCA compliant location. Github was likely chosen from convenience.
Not only did he argue against "piracy is harmful" at that panel (and at the other 10 panels he was on at Comic Con in San Diego) but he even yelled "Viva piracy!" as he left the room.
He also has a very succinct view on DRM, which you can read in response to a longer piece I wrote about digital comics at The Beat.
This seems insane to me. Are there other examples of this kind of thing from other email providers? Hotmail? Gmail? Selectively blocking someone's ability to email is absolutely crazy, could it be illegal?
I would love to see some actual data that supported what AC says above about "slowing" or "tamping" down piracy.
AFAIK, there is NO evidence that ANY tactic possibly pursued by the rights-holders will either slow or tamp down piracy. But I'm open to being convinced, I would just like AC to present something compelling.
Of course DRM is designed to destroy value. It hampers flexibility, convenience and prevents sharing and/or re-sale (at least in theory if not practice). That's the point of DRM.
Just another shoutout for Tom Bihn products. I have one of backpacks and it's so much better than any other backpack I've had that it's silly. The care and quality they put into their products are simply not copyable, at least not at much lower prices I'd surmise.
And of course the example should not be lost on the fashion/clothing world generally. Have great brand values and it won't matter if you get copied.
I'm tempted to try and go to this, just to hear all the bitching and moaning. Most industry conferences are lame, but this one may be a Hall of Fame-level disaster.
While this sort of thing does happen a lot, as someone who was a history grad student in a former life, I do find this case surprising. Figes is a *big* name in his field (Russian history), and certainly should be well above this sort of behavior. I don't know anything about him personally, but this comes off as incredibly petty and lame (and far more damaging to his reputation than any lame Amazon review could do).
How any serious social scientist could take this guy seriously is beyond me. This quote alone is ridiculous:
"We can now say with utmost confidence that regardless of research method -- that is experimental, correlational, or longitudinal -- and regardless of the cultures tested in this study [East and West], you get the same effects,"
Regardless of cultures? C'mon, that is just stupid. Any undergrad sociology paper would get flunked for saying something like that.
They can't do this, they would be sued for collusion immediately. In fact, it's one of the reasons they haven't been able to coordinate more effectively in the past. And of course, it's ridiculous on its face, you can't construct a monopoly on the news, especially in this day and age.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by kosmonautbruce.
Came here to say this
I think renato is exactly right, this is a scheme purposefully designed to reverse engineer the DMCA restrictions into an anti-adblocking set up. The anti-adblocking companies know they are not going to win this fight purely through technology and are instead trying to devise a way to make adblocking illegal somehow. That is what we are seeing here.
Will it work? Maybe but a more likely outcome would be adblocking lists hosted outside of a DMCA compliant location. Github was likely chosen from convenience.
Mark Waid
Not only did he argue against "piracy is harmful" at that panel (and at the other 10 panels he was on at Comic Con in San Diego) but he even yelled "Viva piracy!" as he left the room.
He also has a very succinct view on DRM, which you can read in response to a longer piece I wrote about digital comics at The Beat.
Crazy
This seems insane to me. Are there other examples of this kind of thing from other email providers? Hotmail? Gmail? Selectively blocking someone's ability to email is absolutely crazy, could it be illegal?
Re: Re: Re: Dealing with piracy
Just to repeat what fogbugzd said above.
I would love to see some actual data that supported what AC says above about "slowing" or "tamping" down piracy.
AFAIK, there is NO evidence that ANY tactic possibly pursued by the rights-holders will either slow or tamp down piracy. But I'm open to being convinced, I would just like AC to present something compelling.
I signed up for the opt-out service but don't have high hopes. How depressing is it that I will be pleasantly surprised if it actually does work?!?!
Re:
Of course DRM is designed to destroy value. It hampers flexibility, convenience and prevents sharing and/or re-sale (at least in theory if not practice). That's the point of DRM.
Highly, highly recommended products
Just another shoutout for Tom Bihn products. I have one of backpacks and it's so much better than any other backpack I've had that it's silly. The care and quality they put into their products are simply not copyable, at least not at much lower prices I'd surmise.
And of course the example should not be lost on the fashion/clothing world generally. Have great brand values and it won't matter if you get copied.
Such an amount of FAIL
I'm tempted to try and go to this, just to hear all the bitching and moaning. Most industry conferences are lame, but this one may be a Hall of Fame-level disaster.
UK libel laws or no...
I am confident in saying Mr. Morris is quite possibly the stupidest person alive today. Wow, what a dumb move.
Disappointing
While this sort of thing does happen a lot, as someone who was a history grad student in a former life, I do find this case surprising. Figes is a *big* name in his field (Russian history), and certainly should be well above this sort of behavior. I don't know anything about him personally, but this comes off as incredibly petty and lame (and far more damaging to his reputation than any lame Amazon review could do).
This guy's a joke
How any serious social scientist could take this guy seriously is beyond me. This quote alone is ridiculous:
"We can now say with utmost confidence that regardless of research method -- that is experimental, correlational, or longitudinal -- and regardless of the cultures tested in this study [East and West], you get the same effects,"
Regardless of cultures? C'mon, that is just stupid. Any undergrad sociology paper would get flunked for saying something like that.
Re: There is a way to monetize online news
They can't do this, they would be sued for collusion immediately. In fact, it's one of the reasons they haven't been able to coordinate more effectively in the past. And of course, it's ridiculous on its face, you can't construct a monopoly on the news, especially in this day and age.