Steve R. 's Techdirt Comments

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

    Steve R. ( profile ), 04 Jan, 2012 @ 09:01am

    Re: Re: What is broken

    Copyright and Patents have been perverted. As you point out, the intent of these privileges is to make the content accessible to the public while allowing, for a limited time, the holder to make some money. Unfortunately, these privileges have been bastardized to constrain the public and to become a "toll-booth" for the collection of revenue. Now it is all about the rights holder not the public.

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

    Steve R. ( profile ), 04 Jan, 2012 @ 08:03am

    Its a Moving Target

    Just as an add-on. The laws keep getting revised to further protect the "strong" copyright crowd. They get what they want but then whine even louder how they are not protected.

    If we went back to copyright as originally envisioned infringement would be greatly diminished. Shouldn't that make the "strong" copyright crowd happy? I doubt it.

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

    Steve R. ( profile ), 04 Jan, 2012 @ 07:53am

    Creating Bogus Rights

    Instead of competing on price, product quality, and customer service we have phony capitalists and shyster lawyers who create bogus property rights to shutout the competition and to deprive the consumer of their property rights.

    As most people know, who visit this site, copyright was meant to be for a limited time as a means of encouraging the creation of content. The content industry along with their lawyers have unfortunately corrupted copyright to be treated as property right.

    Not only that, but the property rights of the consumer to the use of content continue to be extinguished and criminalized.

  • On the post: Shouldn't There Be Significant Punishment For Bogus Copyright Claims That Kill Companies?

    Steve R. ( profile ), 29 Dec, 2011 @ 04:07pm

    Economic Power

    Seems to me that we are evolving into a legal system where those with economic power make the rules and enforce them without any regard to due process. Periodically you hear of this or that John Doe being sent to jail for infringement, but have you ever heard of any CEO going to jail when their company infringes?

  • On the post: Why Does The Recording Industry Complain When It's Often Its Own Worst Enemy?

    Steve R. ( profile ), 29 Dec, 2011 @ 12:56pm

    Re: Re: Product Segementation

    There are many reasons for the financial failure. While you cover the artificially low interest rates and government policies that promoted the bubble, you miss the fact that the private sector was using their "free-will" to sell a fraudulent product.

  • On the post: Why Does The Recording Industry Complain When It's Often Its Own Worst Enemy?

    Steve R. ( profile ), 29 Dec, 2011 @ 05:42am

    No Return Policy Promotes Piracy

    Stores routinely sell computer games with a "no-return" policy. So if your run into problems, you are screwed. This makes those who attempt to be honest victims of an abusive system.

    Logically, if they take your money and provide you with no recourse to return a product they are not being honest with you. So why bother being honest with them. These companies may whine about piracy, but they are actually promoting piracy by refusing to treat you honestly.

  • On the post: Why Does The Recording Industry Complain When It's Often Its Own Worst Enemy?

    Steve R. ( profile ), 29 Dec, 2011 @ 05:30am

    Product Segementation

    One of the downsides of Capitalism is product segmentation in the quest to squeeze profits. Even with Microsoft, Windows is no longer simply Windows; but Windows Home, Windows Professional, etc.

    The financial crises of 2008 was caused by CDO, which were an extreme form of product segmentation and repackaging that "lost" its linkage to the underlying assets.

    Still, you have to wonder how the concept of "regional rights" can even be considered legitimate. Sure the manufacturer of a product can establish some limited conditions of "sale", but to assert continued total control neglects the fact that as a product is pushed into the marketplace - the manufacturer is releasing their property rights to the purchaser. The purchaser then has a property right to re-sell/use the product.

    Ideally, as a Capitalist, "regional rights" would be an abomination since it restricts trade.

  • On the post: Do We Really Need Copyright For Academic Publishing?

    Steve R. ( profile ), 21 Dec, 2011 @ 05:27am

    Research Funding Source

    An additional thought. Any published research funded by public funding should NOT be eligible for copyright privileges. Research funded (directly or indirectly) by taxpayer dollars should fall directly into the public domain.

    TechDirt has long pointed out the problems with the Bayh-Dole Act. Wikipedia Bayh-Dole Act page.

  • On the post: Major Labels, RIAA, Homeland Security All Spotted 'Pirating' Works

    Steve R. ( profile ), 20 Dec, 2011 @ 01:15pm

    Only if you have $$$ will you be innocent

    Broad sweeping general laws, such as those related to so-called "Intellectual Property" mean that any who has the finger of blame pointed at them will clearly be guilty in one innovative way or another. Kiss due process away. Only those with gobs of $$$ will be able to eventually "buy" none guilt.

  • On the post: Surprise! AT&T Admits Defeat, Withdraws T-Mobile Takeover Attempt, Pays $4 Billion Breakup Fee

    Steve R. ( profile ), 19 Dec, 2011 @ 07:38pm

    Someone is Getting Rich

    One has to wonder about the legitimacy of the fees associated with mergers, both with success and failure. I seriously doubt that any of the "facilitators" putting this now failed merger into play actually incurred $4B in billable hours or other valid expenses. The shareholders of AT&T should be screaming.

    Just as a casual observer, it seems that corporate managers simply play the merger game as a technique of extracting the corporate wealth into their own pockets. I have no proof, but I have observed too many corporate mergers that seem to fail the smell test.

  • On the post: Does Congress Even Realize That The Courts Appear To Think That SOPA Is Already In Force?

    Steve R. ( profile ), 19 Dec, 2011 @ 01:58pm

    Gingrich Will Save Us

    Gingrich came out against activist judges. Unfortunately, I don't think Gingrich would find SOPA unconstitutional.

    "According to Gingrich, judges are not following the U.S. Constitution and were subverting elected officials.
    Gingrich's statement that he would use U.S. Marshals to arrest judges was in response to CBS's Bob Schieffer's suggested scenario in the case of Judge Fred Biery who was criticized for a ruling that opposed religious speech during a high school graduation ceremony. Judge Biery's ruling was later overturned by a federal appeals court and Gingrich used it to illustrate how some American judges were disregarding "traditional American values."

    Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/316386#ixzz1h1JLYqUT

  • On the post: Microsoft Reminds Everyone: You Do Not Own Your Software

    Steve R. ( profile ), 18 Dec, 2011 @ 07:49am

    The Whole Concep of "Sale" is Under Attack

    Property rights, as a concept, do not simply belong to the content creators. When your purchase a product you supposedly gain a property right to that product. Well, that property right is being eliminated.

    Unfortunately, those (content creators) who scream the loudest about their so-called property rights being abused are hypocrites concern the property rights of others. They refuse to accept that anyone else can have a property right.

  • On the post: Lessig On The Daily Show: The Corruption And Extortion Of Congress

    Steve R. ( profile ), 15 Dec, 2011 @ 05:54am

    Politicians No Longer Work For the National Interest

    For the Republicans -> Welfare for the corporations is "GOOD"; welfare for the poor is "BAD"

    Obama promotes unfunded "Bread and Circuses" to solicit votes to get re-elected. Furthermore, he claims that Congress is "do nothing" yet he himself postpones critical decisions to some vague post-election future date.

    Our civil liberties are being incrementally diminished in the name of this or that "war". Along this line, Judge Napolitano (Freedom Watch) just reviewed the growing militarization of local police. One instance being the recent acquisition of a surveillance drone by Houston Police department that included footage of police dressed in full military attire. Seems that the US is descending into an Orwellian "1984" police state.

  • On the post: Dutch Collection Society Found To Be Source Of Infringing Content

    Steve R. ( profile ), 13 Dec, 2011 @ 07:49am

    Ethics and Law Don't Apply to "Them"

    Time-Warner, on its on-demand channel, had a short trailer on the evils of piracy. As expected the trailer promoted compliance with ethics and the law, since you wouldn't want to "steal" from the poor starving artists.

    Not mentioned at all in this trailer is the ever increasing assertions that the content industry has ever greater rights to how content is used, that they are "stealing" from the public domain, that they are changing the law to give them further privileges, the broken-window fallacy, that they are depriving you of your civil liberties to protect their so-called rights.

    Only one-sided propaganda. No fair and balanced in that Time-Warner trailer.

  • On the post: Constitutional Scholars Explain Why SOPA & PROTECT IP Do Not Pass First Amendment Scrutiny

    Steve R. ( profile ), 09 Dec, 2011 @ 07:07am

    Fourth Amendment Too

    We should not limit this to simply the First Amendment. A critical issue is that the content industry is being police and judicial powers (normally reserved to the State) to private companies that negate the law as serving society. Instead the law is now providing legal protection to a specific segment of society while (at the same time) eliminating legal protection for the rest of society. Laws that serve a particular segment of society at the expense of the rest of society are unjust.

  • On the post: Educators Worried About SOPA/PIPA's Impact On Education

    Steve R. ( profile ), 01 Dec, 2011 @ 06:36am

    Help Desk on SOPA/PIPA's

    While the cartoon Help Desk does not concern the education issue, nevertheless it is a humorous disclosure on the downside of SOPA/PIPA's. "Right now, as we speak, my minions in Congress are preparing to pass a law that will, indirectly, give the music and movie industries direct control of the Internet."

  • On the post: Patent Trolls Going After Media Companies; Will That Lead To Real Reform?

    Steve R. ( profile ), 01 Dec, 2011 @ 05:42am

    Excellent Question

    Media companies, such as the New York Times, have tended too support "stong" copyright. Furthermore, the issue of so-called "intellectual property" has not really surfaced, in the papers, as a topic worth following. Maybe the times are a changing.

    TechDirt has recently referenced the New York Times as taking a stand against ever stronger protections for so-called "intellectual property". "NY Times & LA Times Both Come Out Against SOPA & PIPA". So, maybe, the media has finally become sensitized to the fact that the protection of so-called "intellectual property" has gone too far and is a threat to our civil liberties and the rule-of-law.

    One can only hope that media exposure will lead to others realizing that the pendulum has swung to far and that this realization would translate into reform. However, as I previously wrote; the future appears bleak since both the current Administration and the Republicans running for President support "strong" protection for so-called "intellectual property".

  • On the post: White House's Totally Clueless Response To Copyright Infringement: Call In McGruff The Crime Dog

    Steve R. ( profile ), 30 Nov, 2011 @ 01:48pm

    The Future Looks Bleak

    At one of the Republican debates the issue of so-called "intellectual property" surfaced. Can't remember the specifics, but Romney in particular was livid that so-called "intellectual property" needed protection.

    I can't remember if Gingrich discussed this, put he did discuss the issue of terrorism. Basically, his response to Ron Paul was along the lines of greater security rather than the protection of civil liberties.

    The current White House may be clueless, but those who seek to take over the White House seem equally clueless. The pendulum is rapidly swinging towards a police state to protect so-called intellectual property, as well a fighting the other "wars".

  • On the post: EU Advocate General: 'Functionalities Of A Computer Program Cannot Be Protected By Copyright'

    Steve R. ( profile ), 30 Nov, 2011 @ 01:32pm

    Re: Re: Form Follows Function

    So exactly how is blatantly obvious that Z = X + Y somehow constitutes unique string of code that only you "invented" without depending on previously existing code that someone else wrote.

  • On the post: EU Advocate General: 'Functionalities Of A Computer Program Cannot Be Protected By Copyright'

    Steve R. ( profile ), 30 Nov, 2011 @ 05:25am

    Form Follows Function

    The buzz words "form follows function" is used by the architectural community and gets into the concept of ergonomic design. This concept can be easily applied to computer systems. Designers (programmers), for obvious ergonomic reasons, are "forced" into predefined similar designs. Any attempt to apply so-called "intellectual property" rights over methods and processes is an abomination that should not be protected.

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