Shane 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: For Internet Freedom Day, Watch Aaron Swartz Explain How SOPA Was Stopped

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 01:29pm

    ROFL

    I do like this -

    "Oh, please. Do you take us all for children?! Let me explain to you "how the Internet works". The "Internet works" the same way everything else works: a) influence b) money."

    Cool link, but it hardly matters. Even if you're right, and I am not sure your take is entirely accurate, you still make a crappy case for copyright by demonizing the interests of the people Kapor may have been able to agitate with his deep pockets.

    I notice the term "echo chamber" gets used a lot in the link, and by people who criticize Tech Dirt. What exactly is the fascination with this term, "echo chamber"? As if nowhere other than in the tech industry do people sometimes get caught up in their own press releases?

    Weird.

  • On the post: For Internet Freedom Day, Watch Aaron Swartz Explain How SOPA Was Stopped

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 01:03pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Financial Reform!

    Sorry for the little personal run in. I see where you were coming from now.

    I tend, like you, to be somewhat nonplussed about the death of big budget art; but sadly, artists are not quite as apathetic.

    There is also this thing that artists, like pretty much all other professionals, come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. And their work is important. In the past, massive structures were the art that interested the wealthy and powerful the most, but these days blockbuster entertainment, preferably with a subtle, pro-powerful message, is all the rage, and make no mistake about it, part of the reason for these huge budgets is to get the best and brightest minds in entertainment supporting THEIR causes.

    Because our monetary system currently allows banks, and only banks (not even the government), to introduce new money into the economy, and because that money is introduced in the form of loans, it is exceedingly important that any new business model for artists somehow protect the artists themselves while simultaneously prying them free of distributors.

    The bank angle is key. If it were merely a matter of there needing to be rich patrons, well... the best artists would most likely be hired by the wealthiest patrons. But the issue here is that funding is best obtained from banks, and banks do not fund for reasons of message. They fund for interest. And if you cannot provide a reasonable argument that you can make money on the money you borrow, they not only don't want to loan it to you, but really they just can't. Too many bad loans risk a collapse of the system, and we've seen time and time again what happens when that starts up.

    So to summarize, IP allows bank financing by protecting the people doing an artistic project so that they can have a reasonable expectation of profit on certain types of big budget art. That, in turn, allows them to attract the best talent.

    Artists are thus drawn into the orbit of such a business model.

    That's my perception.

  • On the post: For Internet Freedom Day, Watch Aaron Swartz Explain How SOPA Was Stopped

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 12:53pm

    Pfft

    I'm 44. I'm concerned by anything, anywhere at all, that allows the government to take something without any sort of trial.

    Google helped Aaron? And you and yours in the entertainment industry want to destroy my rights on the internet?

    Well, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, my friend.

    Thanks for coming out to gin up fear and loathing for your cause.

  • On the post: NRA: Games To Blame For Violence! Also, Here's A Shooting Game For 4-Year-Olds!

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 12:50pm

    Re: second amendment

    Same point.

    http://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/WP-Tough-Targets.pdf

    Far more people are protected by guns than are ever hurt by them in the USA.

    Plus all the tons of stuff already written about the makeup of our armed forces needing to be brought back in line so that our government is not a threat to our own freedom.

  • On the post: NRA: Games To Blame For Violence! Also, Here's A Shooting Game For 4-Year-Olds!

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 12:49pm

    Re: Re: Slants and Observations

    Presumably as a libertarian you don't absolutely abhor the Cato Institute. I know a lot of people who will go ape on me just for using them as a source, but...

    http://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/WP-Tough-Targets.pdf

    What this is is a metric f-ton of examples of how many people are protected by guns.

    It far outstrips the number of innocent people shot.

  • On the post: NRA: Games To Blame For Violence! Also, Here's A Shooting Game For 4-Year-Olds!

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 12:44pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Slants and Observations

    Critique and critical are two separate concepts.

    Your article implies a certain antipathy to the second amendment, and this comment of yours more or less seals the deal. "Now, we can disagree on whether or not that has any practical value any more (and, if you care, I think it still does with regard to local law enforcement agencies)...."

    Any lengthy use of force against law enforcement is going to escalate to the Federal Government. It doesn't take a heck of a lot to get the ATF on something at all.

    We're all constantly talking here about Federal over reach, and you are obviously not a supporter of people's right to defend themselves from that part of our government. You mock any and all suggestions that we roll the clock back on our disarmament and think seriously about what Article I Section 8 of the Constitution means. "You think people should be able to own tanks?"

    Well, if what Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution means is that we need a well regulated militia, and the Federal government has an obligation to maintain one, then yes. Yes, that is exactly what that means. Obviously, for tanks and such we are talking about large organizations of people, and no doubt the individual states should be involved, but the second amendment is there specifically to support the idea that our armed forces should not be made up of a large standing army, but rather a core of permanent soldiers complimented by the militia when necessary.

    Something that is so well within the mainstream of your supposed libertarianism that I find it mind numbing that you don't get it.

    Plus, you're even more abrupt than me. There ought to be a law...

    But yeah. Yeah, you and your post are anti-second amendment. There is constitutional case law that establishes that the second amendment is a personal right independent of membership in a militia because its foundation is in English common law that goes back to the Glorious Revolution, at least. And it is there so that people can protect themselves against their government when it oversteps.

    We don't value a subervient government anymore. For whatever reason, people see danger in anyone feeling they have a right to resist the government, rather than seeing government agents as servants who need to work very hard not to overstep their bounds. We fear our government.

    I see it here all the time.

    We fear our government.... We fear them because we are no longer accustomed to defending our own interests. To a large degree, I begin to see it as a growing cowardice in our national makeup. Apathetic cowardice that leads us to accept large transgressions like the abridgment of our right to bear arms, and grossly idiotic transgressions like prosecuting a man with felonies for violating a private organizations Terms of Service, and even small issues like having underfunded and inconvenient services for things like paying ones taxes or renewing one's license.

    Or just buying milk directly from a far. Did you know it is illegal in most states to do without at least some sort of license?

    We have just become inured to government intrusiveness and accustomed to assuming they have the right because they have the power.

    Anyway, you're obviously quite impressed with your own writing skills and have taken quite a dislike to me, so we are probably not going to make much progress until you post something I like and maybe I can get the stink off my name of being someone you see largely as a pain in the ass, but this article you wrote strongly implies an antipathy towards the second amendment as written, intended, and further supported by case law, and your personal views begin to bear that out when you finally get around to voicing them.

  • On the post: NRA: Games To Blame For Violence! Also, Here's A Shooting Game For 4-Year-Olds!

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 12:26pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: This blog amazes me

    Unless of course blacks had had guns.......

    Which is more or less the entire point....

    See reference to Glorious Revolution and disarming the Protestants......

    You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

  • On the post: Ahimsa: Sita Sings The Blues Now CC-0 'Public Domain'

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 08:10pm

    I loved that little movie

    It's weird to me that the share alike license had to be signed off on. I wonder if you (Nina) could expound on that? Share alike allows for making money off of the derivative work even if somehow merely mentioning it would count for that.

    I have no idea what they are even pretending to want to avoid here.

    Weird.

  • On the post: NRA: Games To Blame For Violence! Also, Here's A Shooting Game For 4-Year-Olds!

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 11:50am

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

    Yes, and if you ban cars there will be fewer deaths by car accident.

    The point is that there are similar rates of violent crime. Getting rid of guns doesn't do much, if anything at all, to save lives.

    It does, however, help the government if they decide they want to abuse their power and ignore the popular will.

  • On the post: New York State Starts Walking Back On Transparency; Grants Gun Owners Exemption From Disclosure Of Public Records

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 07:49pm

    This list never should have existed in the first place

    Also, FOIA is supposed to be about government transparency, not invading the privacy of individuals. I know for a fact my data at the VA is protected, so why in God's name is this not protected?

    Something exceedingly stupid is going on here.

  • On the post: Carmen Ortiz Releases Totally Bogus Statement Concerning The Aaron Swartz Prosecution

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 11:47am

    Re: @ silverscarcat

    Couldn't tell it by reading you.

    The issue is that mental "illness" and behaviors authorities do not like can be conflated. It's a pretty well documented mental health issue, including privacy concerns for the mentally ill vs. safety concerns for the general public.

    It has nothing to do with some generational gap, or your generations innate superiority to any generation before. To hear anyone even suggesting that is somewhat spooky to me, as it suggests a certain lack of perspective.

  • On the post: Carmen Ortiz Releases Totally Bogus Statement Concerning The Aaron Swartz Prosecution

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 11:45am

    Re: Lessig is to Blame -- and So Are You

    Nice meandering wall of text.

    Just for starters, the plea bargaining system is not necessary. In fact, there are places where it is not allowed.

    One fun way not to clog your court system is to not press charges against someone who is merely violating the terms of service of a company who has already settled the issue with them.

  • On the post: For Internet Freedom Day, Watch Aaron Swartz Explain How SOPA Was Stopped

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 11:40am

    Re: Re: Financial Reform!

    I've been reading the site for over a year....

    Specifically, I am talking about bank financing, which I repeat I do not see a lot here. The idea here seems to be to get artists to go out and use the technology that exists to just go out and entertain, and that's all well and good. I like it. But for big budget art it has been repeatedly pointed out that this model does not seem to work.

    The reason is that private capital is always going to be more expensive than bank capital, because banks are allowed to create new capital for lending, whereas private citizens and other organizations cannot.

    I do not see this issue being addressed much here. I also wonder what the weird pull is among people here to try to accuse anyone who posts something they don't like of not reading the site often..... That's just weird. Really, who cares if I have been reading the site long? I just asked a question.

    Got any handy links to go with that attitude?

  • On the post: For Internet Freedom Day, Watch Aaron Swartz Explain How SOPA Was Stopped

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 11:25am

    Re: Saddened

    It's fun to disrespect people who are harassing you, but make no mistake - the people in Congress are not fools. They do not lack sense.

    Remember how two or three times Aaron mentioned whoever was behind this was good....

    They're good. Damned good. And they got him, even though I don't think this is quite what they had in mind... they got him.

    Fight, but fight smart and know your enemy. They are not fools.

  • On the post: Dear HBO, Disney, Netflix Et Al: Fragmenting Online TV Lets Piracy Keep Its Biggest Advantage

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 10:53am

    Re: Re: 'Works for hire"

    Bringing China into this though raises a point I do not think most discussing these issues understand. No small part of why it is cheaper in China is the money market. Dollars buy more in China because of perceived power and reliability, which in turn is based on the strength of our banking system, our corporate system, our armed forces, and a lot of other things.

    Finance turns on banking, and an entertainment market without IP is a market where the artist is left behind in terms of finance. The distributors can get finance. They are making hardware that everyone has to use. The artist cannot.

    I'm not pro IP. In fact, I am rather rabidly anti IP. More so I think than the folks who run this site. But until the question of how IP deregulation interacts with finance as it pertains to getting loans, as opposed to collecting money from customers, it is not going to go very far. Getting loans is where it's at in modern finance. Private capital is more expensive than bank capital because people are not allowed to lend money they do not have. Banks are.

  • On the post: NRA: Games To Blame For Violence! Also, Here's A Shooting Game For 4-Year-Olds!

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 10:47am

    Re: Re: Slants and Observations

    You're a libertarian and you think I'm an extremist. LOL!

    You don't do language well. Here is an example.

    "Not doing the intellectual work to understand that I DIDN'T say any of the above, only that I pointed out that NRA opponents COULD make that argument as an example of why the distinction the NRA is making is a weak one. The fact that you think I implied...."

    To imply means to suggest. By agreeing with those who would paint these games as similarly violent to games where people are shot, you IMPLY that there is a legitimate point there. That's what that word means....

    I don't know why you are so bent on getting yourself upset, but it's not anything anyone here is doing that is upsetting you. You appear to have a need to argue with people that you purportedly agree with.

  • On the post: Carmen Ortiz Releases Totally Bogus Statement Concerning The Aaron Swartz Prosecution

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 10:41am

    Huh?

    Even if the focus is on mental health, how is it a good thing what the prosecution did?

    It's been brought up many times. The prosecution knew he was struggling, and yet they trumped up these charges and kept piling on the pressure.

    I don't think it was his friends and family that let him down. I think he came far to late to an understanding of human nature, and before he could drag himself through the process of coming to terms with it, he ended up capitulating to hopelessness and ended his life.

    That may just be me projecting, but he and I seem to share a lot of similar values, especially where access to important information is concerned. How can we have a free and open society of informed citizens without more open information? How can we elect the correct officials without more open information?

    And then the government does something this overboard, and society just sort of keeps on rolling along.......

    That will eat at you if you have not prepared for yourself an internal dialogue that gets you out of the downward spiral that such thoughts can create.

  • On the post: Carmen Ortiz Releases Totally Bogus Statement Concerning The Aaron Swartz Prosecution

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 10:36am

    Do like

    We do seem to need to learn to be more concerned with our fellow man.

    I have recently been thinking that, even worse, we as a species seem to have an ingrained pull towards humiliating people. It always reminds me of times I have seen a sick bird being mercilessly torn at by the rest of the flock. It's a very frightening and apparently innate biological drive common to many species to tear apart the weak.

    Apropos of nothing I guess, except to say again how much I enjoyed your thoughts.

  • On the post: NRA: Games To Blame For Violence! Also, Here's A Shooting Game For 4-Year-Olds!

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 10:26am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: This blog amazes me

    You don't need two. You need to know that Tech Dirt supports the first amendment, and you need to acknowledge that this and the two posts it links to are anti second amendment, which pretty much everyone here who is pro second amendment is telling you it is.

    At the very least it is awfully sloppy work if the goal was to avoid looking anti second amendment.

  • On the post: NRA: Games To Blame For Violence! Also, Here's A Shooting Game For 4-Year-Olds!

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 10:24am

    Re: Re: This blog amazes me

    One can have a nuanced view and still be unapologetically either pro or anti second amendment.

    "You keep using that word...."

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