Robin Hoover 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: How Senator Wyden's PIPA Filibuster Will Work, And What Harry Reid Will Try To Do To Kill It

    Robin Hoover ( profile ), 04 Jan, 2012 @ 11:57am

    Use The Telephone

    As in, if you're horrified by this legislation, call your Senators and leave a message.

    Being from Vermont, home to the embarrassing author Senator Leahy, I just called Senator Sanders and left this very polite message with the receptionist:

    Hi, I live in Vermont and would like to leave a message for Senator Sanders. Please vote against Senator Reid's cloture motion for S.968 when the Senate reconvenes later this month.


    Dirt simple and very effective use of 3 minutes of your time. No need to explain anything in-depth, hold your rage at bay, just be friendly and short. At the end of the day, the office head will swing by and ask the receptionist for any tallies.

    (oh, and amend for your state of course)

  • On the post: The Insanity Of Copyright Law: When Even Professionals Have No Idea They're Breaking The Law

    Robin Hoover ( profile ), 04 Jan, 2012 @ 06:21am

    Re:

    +1 for Fish.

    It's supposed to be for commercial infringement, not personal use...


    This, imho, goes to the heart of the efforts of copyright maximalists, very knowingly transforming commercial law into criminal law.

    Combined with the parallel effort to transform a communications technology into a broadcast technology equals a very knowing assault on citizens' Constitutional rights, about which the maximalists don't give a rats ass.

  • On the post: Hollywood Union Members Sign Petition Asking MPAA & Hollywood Unions To Stop Supporting PIPA/SOPA

    Robin Hoover ( profile ), 03 Jan, 2012 @ 01:50pm

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

    So again I ask, WTF do they think they are going to accomplish?


    getting paid.

  • On the post: SOPA Is So Bad, Political Cartoonist Comes Out Of Retirement To Create New Comics Warning About It

    Robin Hoover ( profile ), 20 Dec, 2011 @ 04:46pm

    Re: voting out

    +1 for jquery mobile, and +100 for the effort!! thx!

  • On the post: Veoh Still Perfectly Legal… But Also Still Dead Due To Bogus Copyright Lawsuit

    Robin Hoover ( profile ), 20 Dec, 2011 @ 02:19pm

    Re: Re: Re:

    +1 for being an honest AC:

    Your issue is with the very existence of the DMCA, which, if I may, you want abolished and/or changed. Your logic is tortured, but at least honest.

    The same cannot be said about the *AA's with whom you have thrown in your lot, what with their public lies about "protecting corn farmers", "protecting jobs", "protecting artists", "protecting America", etc etc.

    Clueless and stuck in a previous century, but honest.

  • On the post: Louis CK: Connecting With Fans & Giving Them A Reason To Buy By Being Polite, Awesome & Human

    Robin Hoover ( profile ), 13 Dec, 2011 @ 04:20pm

    Understanding

    This I thought was the best thing Louis said on Reddit. Shows an intuitiveness that all of Hollywood lacks:

    oh one other thing before i go. i did read what that uploader wrote and i will say it was funny to me because he seems or is acting like he's in terrible pain when he does it. he's having a crisis of concious and just... oh man i'm so sorry but I have to do this!" but the crazy thing is, if it's at all bothering him, why is he doing it?? he's sharing it, not taking it. Well, if you look at the page, it's because he's promoting his own stuff and using my project as an attractor. that's happening on youtube also. So i'm learning that SOME pirating is caused by people piggybacking their own product on another. interesting.

  • On the post: It's Official: RIAA Trying To Join Righthaven Lawsuit

    Robin Hoover ( profile ), 05 Dec, 2011 @ 07:34pm

    Hari-Kari

    There's a bigger issue here than the puny little Masnicks of the world will never understand: protecting America's Creatives.

    The RIAA is perhaps the most selfless organization known in late Western Civilization, as evidenced by its willingness to fall on its sword to defend the hard-working artists of this great nation.

    And getting into bed with Righthaven (unprotected mid you) qualifies as much as any act imaginable as hari-kari, or falling on your sword.

    You're either down with suicide or down with death, either way they're going down protecting the artists who work hard every day.

    (Really not too bad for my first mock rant imho. Any critiques, improvements?)

  • On the post: RIAA Really Planning To Join Righthaven Fight

    Robin Hoover ( profile ), 05 Dec, 2011 @ 10:39am

    Call'em as I See'em

    I don't like being bullshitted


    +1 for being the most eloquent lawyer available for the money!

  • On the post: Alternative To PIPA/SOPA Proposed; Points Out That This Is An International Trade Issue

    Robin Hoover ( profile ), 01 Dec, 2011 @ 04:06pm

    Exporting U.S. Laws

    It is presumptuous to state whether a site is 'willfully' engaging in infringement. What if said site's activities are perfectly legal in it's home country? What do? Freak out and cut off their payment systems globally?

    Speaking of freaking out, who doesn't believe that MPAA member companies won't claim that every single presentation they make to the ITC demands 'expedited' treatment? Hello DMCA abuse geometrically multiplied.

    Thirdly, who believes that even the sages w/ ITC can tell the difference between the bittorrent file-transfer protocol and a static server in Uzbeckistan? Not this voter.

    I'm thankful for this effort, but highly suspect of it's positioning.

  • On the post: MPAA Pretends To Capitulate On SOPA, Will Offer Changes For 'Legitimate Concerns'

    Robin Hoover ( profile ), 01 Dec, 2011 @ 03:30am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    +1 for shell commands on techdirt!

  • On the post: Another DNS Provider Comes Out Against SOPA

    Robin Hoover ( profile ), 29 Nov, 2011 @ 07:00am

    Re: "While online piracy is obviously bad, this is the wrong way..."

    OKAY, experts, then tell us the /right/ way to fight piracy


    I'm not an expert, I just play one on TV. Nonetheless, I am a Captain of The Obvious:

    Provide an unencumbered, easily accessed and reasonably priced computer file and your (self-inflicted) piracy "problem" goes away.

    "Problem" of course is debatable as well, as what intelligently run company would turn its back on free market research.

    Oh...wait...nevermind. Entertainment conglomerates, that's who.

  • On the post: WSJ The Latest Mainstream Press To Run Anti-SOPA/PIPA Opinion Piece

    Robin Hoover ( profile ), 28 Nov, 2011 @ 03:21pm

    DMCA Repeal

    From the article:

    The proposed changes to the law would effectively repeal the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.


    Gee, yathink?

    In all seriousness, this is the openly denied by SOPA's supporters' goal. Glad to see a MSM guy realize it.

  • On the post: Washington Post Column Incredulous That Congress Is Considering Censoring The Internet

    Robin Hoover ( profile ), 18 Nov, 2011 @ 12:53pm

    Re:

    While SOPA may go overboard, it has nothing to do with, say, suppressing unpopular political opinions, unless those opinions happen to be conveyed in a manner that infringes some copyright or trademark right.


    How does one spell Wikileaks? Let me try this: state suppression of the press.

    And yes, the internet is now "the press": http://bit.ly/tMrJP1 and we are all journalists and reporters, accorded the full protection of "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; "

  • On the post: Washington Post Column Incredulous That Congress Is Considering Censoring The Internet

    Robin Hoover ( profile ), 18 Nov, 2011 @ 12:39pm

    Re:

    Home taping is killing music.

  • On the post: Why All Filmmakers Should Speak Out Against SOPA

    Robin Hoover ( profile ), 14 Nov, 2011 @ 02:21pm

    Re: Re: Re:

    At least you're honest: "break the internet, that's my goal".

    A true free market includes respect for BOTH commercial opportunities for a creator AND the benefit and interests of the voting public. It however does NOT guarantee a return on a creators investment.

    The current privatization of copyright law ignores the latter half of that equation.

  • On the post: Why All Filmmakers Should Speak Out Against SOPA

    Robin Hoover ( profile ), 14 Nov, 2011 @ 02:15pm

    Re: Re: Re:

    Any half decent CMS (I run several full disclosure) keeps a record of the IP address, author name and URl (if provided) for every comment posted. Typically in a MySQL database. And that's just the beginning.

    Actually, running an operation like this carries some fairly heavy responsibilities on the owner in terms of privacy and respect therefore.

    Doesn't matter though as speech is not illegal, and "I ripped a DVD" is too vague to pursue.

  • On the post: Why All Filmmakers Should Speak Out Against SOPA

    Robin Hoover ( profile ), 14 Nov, 2011 @ 12:39pm

    Re:

    Most people who rely on the film industry to make their livings are in favor of PROTECT IP.


    Citation please.

    Polling methods, statistical analyses, mean deviations, all will contribute to anyone calling lying bullshit on this statement.

  • On the post: Why All Filmmakers Should Speak Out Against SOPA

    Robin Hoover ( profile ), 14 Nov, 2011 @ 12:35pm

    Re:

    Second, the issue of piracy today isn't the determined few, it's the masses with easy access.


    And preventing customers and potential customers from doing what they can is always a successful and endearing business strategy. Oh, wait, I forgot..........the MPAA is loved and adored......by billions.

    Making it harder to pirate in public rips down huge amounts of infrastructure, makes P2P pretty much passe,...


    Well, at least you're honest in your goal: stop the internet from working and destroy the DMCA.

  • On the post: Misleading Metaphors That Drive The War On Online Sharing

    Robin Hoover ( profile ), 12 Nov, 2011 @ 04:07am

    Moral Panic

    But until now, no one has stepped back and looked at this phenomenon as whole, placing it in a historical and legal context, or tried to analyze how it is related to the battles for the future shape of the Internet currently taking place


    Actually, it has already been done:

    http://www.amazon.com/Moral-Panics-Copyright-William-Patry/dp/0195385640

    By a pretty high-powered lawyer and legal scholar

  • On the post: House Judiciary Committee Refuses To Hear Wider Tech Industry Concerns About SOPA

    Robin Hoover ( profile ), 10 Nov, 2011 @ 05:18pm

    Re:

    the internet doesn't forget, but the internet isn't paying them :(.

    .brazenpoliticalstatement {

    truethat: Despite the inchoate-ness of youth, #OWS is calling out the regulatory capture of our governing institutions (both private and public governance). Support these kids and vote with them.

    }

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