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About Christopher GizziSeasoned corporate strategist with ten years of successful project, information, and operations management experience in the equities, derivatives, and commodities markets. Decision-making and project experience include software development, real estate planning, process management, business modeling, IT build-out, and policy design. |
Just reply with this:
Ask that the monkey sign an affidavit with a DMCA takedown notice since he/she/it is the true copyright holder.
Once a monkey can sign that, it might be a more legitimate request.
GL with that.
I'd like them to try and scan the NYC Subway turnstiles. I dare them.
Dangerous
I find this very dangerous. Take Groupon, for example. Critics are coming out everywhere to say their business isn't sustainable. It's ponzi scheme, they claim.
Not having looked into their finaincials myself, I'm led to believe there could be some questions around their business model. But it's funny (and dangerous) that Groupon has spawned so many competitors. And they've each raised a sizable amount of money.
I feel investors are more scared of missing out on an opportunity than understanding the fundamentals. The key that I've always had in my personal life is if I don't understand how they make their money... don't risk yours (mine... whatever).
People then talk of bubbles... the social discount bubble will burst or the social apartment lending will burst (especaillly when cities like NYC make it illegal to sublet like that). But I see it as the free market doing this thing. But the free market isn't always smart and I see this as another risky bet.
Won't somebody think of the children??
When ever someone drags in kids into political arguments, I'm always reminded of The Simpsons character, Helen Lovejoy who cries out when something bad is happening in town - no matter how small or profound.
She's the parody of these types of arguments and, because I always think of those clips, I immediately discount whatever is said "for the children".
Settled
Looks like he did settle for the misdemeanor: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/national-security/ex-nsa-manager-has-reportedly-twice-rejecte d-plea-bargains-in-espionage-act-case/2011/06/09/AG89ZHNH_story.html
TorrentialRain.com is Out
Well, that ruins my new domain idea.
Of course it can!
The mob has been shaking down people for years and it seems to work well for them. Granted, they have other business models like selling contraband or whatever. But extortion works and was a classic product they offered (protection services) for decades.
Has and will be
Google has, and (for the foreseeable future) will be, a rogue site. From it's quick ascension into search and ad dominance, deep crawling, data mining, and software (Gmail, Docs, Books, Music, etc). It will always be considered a site outside the law or some societal norm... to someone.
From news, to music, & software - someone is always going to hate Google and call them rogue no matter what the law really says. Even if someone passed a law that said Google and everything it does is completely legal, someone will want to block or stop it.
Re: I hope this sets an international precedent!
Let's hope. From the 'kill switches' to the DNS hijacking the media distribution companies are proposing, let's hope there some we can sue when our Internet is cut off.
It isn't piracy
Remember, people cry piracy when their business models fail.
And Ballmer isn't a great CEO - which others have noted.
But the real issue is this: when you make a bad product, treat your customers poorly, don't adapt to different markets/consumers/customers in a way that the free market expects, you're bound to suffer.
That's the bottom line.
Make a better product, react to the market faster, & don't disrespect your customer base (and assume they're all criminals) and you might win some business back - even if its in a new form.
Turned to the Political Dark Side He Has
An actor and a good comedian, Senetor Franken - who I was a fan of before he turn to politics - helped grandstand and prop up outdated business models. He betrayed and murdered Al.
Franken was seduced by the Dark Side of Politics. He ceased to be Al Franken and "became" Senator Franken. When that happened, the good man who was Al was destroyed.
Not a big worry
I know it sucks that employees who want to use their work equipment for personal use might find it no longer possible - by filters or by policy enforcement.
But it's not going to be long when this doesn't matter. Smartphones and 3G connected netbooks and tablets are going to render this moot in a year or so. True, it's an extra expense for the employee. But if it means you can do just about whatever you want on your own equipment and save you the risk of an employer snooping into your affairs, why wouldn't you?
The fact of the matter remains that if you don't like the policies, don't work at a place that has them. It sucks, yes. But do what I do... use my iPhone and iPad to do my email. Hooking up a wireless keyboard to them (like many other phones and tablets can do) makes it almost like your desktop without any employer able to claim misuse of company property or network.
Just only do that sort of thing if you're getting your work done.
Why does this sound familiar?
I can't help but think this type of reaction is similar to other nations who don't respect freedom of speech or the press. Russia (Stalinist and present day) and China.
If Obama doesn't want to be compared to "communists" why does his administration do this?
Re:
I'm an Apple fan so take what I'll say with a grain of salt but...
At least Apple addressed the "controversy" with a statement. Google doesn't say what it tracks and in these pages, we've discussed the weird tracking data they've obtained "by accident" or through questionable ways.
And, for what it's worth... they outlined what they're changing to address the concerns out there. Considering Apple has been more opt in than opt out, I'm siding with them on this.
They aren't evil and they don't have Google's obsession with ads but they would use this data if it served their purpose, I'm sure. And there is spin in the PR that raised a few more questions than it answered. But it's nowhere near as bad as their competitors.
Re:
Then you don't want to buy from Microsoft, Google, or anyone else creating a smartphone with location based services because they all do it... or will.
Re:
Interesting you called IP a commodity.
I agree it is from a certain point of view. But commodities, in the classic sense, are still scarce goods and bought & sold on the open market.
But if IP is, in fact, property as its proponents suggest, you can come up with a CME, NYBOT, ICE, NYMEX style of exchange around it just like the do coffee, sugar, oil, & nat gas.
If you tried, you'd see how quickly the prices would go to zero.
Promoting Art
Perhaps this is one example of copyright promoting art in a reverse (and perverse) sort of way.
Not sticking up for users.
I doubt Facebook & Google are doing this for the users. They're doing it so they don't have to spend resources dealing with the authorities - especially when most countries are leaning towards keeping less information and are at odds with France.
That said, I'm sure they see an issue with the lack of security in plain text passwords but what makes you think those two companies aren't tracking that information already in some way? it just means they might have to keep it longer (again, not bad for them) and they have to give it up when asked.
It's not rights they're worried about. It's their burden.
Such a Great Idea
I live in NYC. The Times is as New York as the Yankees, Times Square, Wall St., and Central Park. But I can't support a paper that puts such restrictions on its content and, as I've said in other comments, seems to be failing at every step.
The way I consume my news is through RSS - I've created my own aggregation system via Google's Reader & the various iPhone/iPad apps that sync with it. I expect summaries before clicking on a full article or seeing the whole thing without restriction.
The Atlantic Wire is a perfect substitute. And by acting as a human filter, I can focus on news that actually might have more of an impact to me if someone outside of NYC thought it important to mention on their site.
I'm impressed and I'll be looking into their site more. I actually never heard of it until now but I can promise I'll be visiting often to get the summary of my (former) newspaper.
Odd Quotes from Yahoo
Something else struck out as odd to me in the Yahoo article, this quote from the author which I thought the audience, here, might appreciate (because it's been suggested otherwise):
"They are a company, after all, and simply giving the product away for free for years and years doesn't make for good business."
I think many of us believe there is a way to compete with free. In fact, the author even highlights this as a failure on the NY Times' part:
"If you can't immediately roll out an unbeatable user experience, how can you expect people to thrown down several hundred dollars when there are dozens of other news outlets they can frequent instead for free?"