theskyrider 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: ASCAP Now Claiming That Your Mobile Phone Ringing Is A Public Performance

    theskyrider ( profile ), 22 Jun, 2009 @ 02:45pm

    I smell a conspiracy here....

    As far as the fart thing goes, the oldest person in the world should get the royalties. After all, they have the prior art. Now when that person dies, for the next 95 years (assuming that copyright isn't extended and made retroactive before the end of the term) that person's estate gets the royalties. Nuff said.

    Now for the conspiracy part:

    The reasons that music prices are so low (hear me out) is that music is everywhere. It's 'in the air' so to speak. What happens if the INDUSTRY gets their way in raising public performance fees is that people will stop playing it. Restaurants in Australia (saw the article here) used to paying $390 a year in fees suddenly get a bill for $18,000 a year will stop playing the music. Fewer people playing the music means that it becomes more scarce, and they can charge more for it.

    This may take a generation or two, but by that time they will have the technology to listen to a random persons' thoughts and charge their account for having a song stuck in their head.

    On the bright side: I suggest that the RIAA be turned into a nationwide police force. I'll call them the FBMI or Federal Bureau of Music Investigators.

    If a song is played in public - such as a car going down the road blaring music that can be heard for five blocks, they should have the right to pull that person over and bill them for public performance. This will lead to quieter neighborhoods, except if they happen to pull over a gangbanger with a loaded TEC-9 in the car.

  • On the post: Woman Who Owned No Computer, But Got Sued By The RIAA, 'Settles'

    theskyrider ( profile ), 19 Jun, 2009 @ 02:14pm

    Three strikes

    Would have worked in her case. She would have gotten a letter from the telco, saying that she was sharing files on an internet connection she didn't have.

    The second letter might have piqued her interest, and she probably would have went looking through the house in case there was some anonymous computer sharing random files.

    The third strike? Cut off the internet connection to the computer she didn't have.

    Except, when she got a computer, she couldn't get an internet connection because she was on a blacklist of 'copyright scofflaws' and would wonder why. She probably wouldn't be able to fly, either, because the TSA would have picked up her name from the 'copyright scofflaw' list, branded her a terrorist (Because we all know that file-sharing leads to terrorism,) and put her name on yet another list which punished her for something she didn't do.

    Great country, the USA.

  • On the post: Playing Music In A Nightclub Just Got Ridiculously More Expensive In Australia

    theskyrider ( profile ), 15 Jun, 2009 @ 03:19pm

    Sigh

    @7

    Do you even smell the crap you are shoveling? These increases make it so even fewer of the paying customers that the labels are looking for will hear the music they are trying to sell.

    Couple that with the Music Industry's attempts to get radio stations to pay more money to the 'artists' and even fewer people will hear the music.

    Congrats actually go to the Industry for plugging more ears with their greed - torrents have nothing to do with it.

  • On the post: Should ICANN Dump The Idea Of Generic Top Level Domains?

    theskyrider ( profile ), 09 Jun, 2009 @ 06:52am

    I'm pretty sure...

    there will be somebody trying to register steve.jobs.

  • On the post: Streisand To Publish An Entire Book Detailing The Malibu Home She Once Wanted To Keep Very, Very Secret

    theskyrider ( profile ), 06 Jun, 2009 @ 07:29am

    The Jim Rob Jones Effect

    What you call when a person's skin starts turning various shades of green, the ears and nose grow to point, all the hair falls out, and they get a sudden sensitivity to sunlight and the urge to hide under bridges.

    Hurry before the Troll Catchers (TM) come and get you.

    Now that I'm done with that, I will just say congrats to Mike for coining a phrase that is in widespread usage. (I didn't know you coined the phrase until now, so the kudos are well-deserved if not just because they were self-given.)

    Anyways, do you think you should patent, trademark, or copyright the term so that you can extort Barbara for some dough? Just kidding.

    I am glad that The Streisand Effect (P.P. TM (C)) took hold, I may not be a fan of her music, but I loved to see her house.

  • On the post: Obama Administration Sides With Technology Over Hollywood In Cablevision Case

    theskyrider ( profile ), 30 May, 2009 @ 07:27am

    It doesn't matter...

    Hollywood will just change the terms of their licensing agreements with Cablevision to either jack up the price, or remove Cablevision's rights to record the shows remotely via contract.

    Don't believe me? - See CSS-LA vs. Kaleidescape or WGA vs Kindle. (not real cases but you get the drift.) If the content industry can't win in court, they will just change the rules.

    I won't be affected by this ruling, simply because I record all of my stuff at home and watch it later. I even have a 4TB server to help with that. I just feel sorry for those people who aren't as technically inclined.

    Hollywood did try and take away that right in Sony Vs. Universal and later with trying to ramrod CBDTPA through congress and later with the FCC. I am glad that those cases won, though.

  • On the post: Craigslist Caving Shows The Perils Of Self-Policing… Or The Perils Of Grandstanding Politicians?

    theskyrider ( profile ), 19 May, 2009 @ 03:07am

    Grandstanding = Politicians protecting us from ourselves

    So really, what was the problem with the 'Erotic Services' section anyway? I personally have never used it, but what was the deal?

    I'll tell you the deal...They were protecting us from ourselves. Just like politicians were 'protecting' the American people from alcohol when they enacted the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

    It is funny to watch, though. The only thing that would make the show better is for one of these wing-nut politicians getting caught with a prostitute (especially that female AG that was raising her part of the fuss.)

  • On the post: Sony Pictures CEO: Nothing Good Has Come From The Internet

    theskyrider ( profile ), 16 May, 2009 @ 06:02am

    2001

    Sure, it's an infamous year. We all know what happened in September, but let me relate to you what happened to me in July.

    My previous camcorder died a gruesome death while I was in Florida on vacation. I decided to go with a Sony Hi8 camcorder and added a high-capacity RCA Lithium battery to go with it. Charged both batteries that night, and the next day me and the family went to the Space Museum.

    About a third of the way through, the Sony InfoLithium battery died, so I switched over to the RCA battery (which was supposed to work with the camcorder, even had the model listed on the packaging of the battery.) So, I slapped it in, and the camera gives me a warning. "Sony InfoLithium batteries only." And shut down.

    I was not pleased.

    That was the last time I bought anything retail that had the Sony name on it. There may have been electronics purchased that had Sony parts in them, (thank goodness it wasn't any of my laptop batteries,) but no Sony brand-name stuff for me.

    TheSkyRider - happily boycotting SONY Since 7-11-2001.

    Just a side note for all the newbies out there: 2001 is when the SSSCA, later known as the CBDTPA, started to circulate. You might know this as the 'Fritz Chip" law. If Sony (along with the rest of the entertainment industry) had gotten their way back then, this blog article wouldn't exist today...

  • On the post: MPAA Shows How Teachers Should Record Movies By Camcording Their TVs

    theskyrider ( profile ), 15 May, 2009 @ 04:39pm

    Re: Re: #32

    If the MPAA had their way, VCR's would actually have been made without the 'record' button, making them VCP's or Video Cassette Players. Then they would have been Very Happy (TM)

  • On the post: Movie Screening Phone Bans Reach Ridiculous Levels

    theskyrider ( profile ), 15 May, 2009 @ 07:12am

    camcording law?

    So, the MPAA went out and got an anti-camcording law passed, but aren't giving anybody a chance to prosecute it? How lame.

  • On the post: BBC Presents MPAA Propaganda On Movie Piracy, Claims It's 'Fully Balanced'

    theskyrider ( profile ), 27 Apr, 2009 @ 02:52pm

    Re: Torrent

    I was being sarcastic - don't pick up the phone and call the MPA, MPAA, IFPI, or Web Sheriff on me. Seriously, though. Do you think the MPAA would call sharing of their propaganda 'theft?'

  • On the post: BBC Presents MPAA Propaganda On Movie Piracy, Claims It's 'Fully Balanced'

    theskyrider ( profile ), 27 Apr, 2009 @ 02:49pm

    Torrent

    Is anybody sharing this on TPB yet?

  • On the post: Copyright Lobbyists Threaten To Sue Book Renting Firm In Finland

    theskyrider ( profile ), 24 Apr, 2009 @ 03:49pm

    Re: 10

    "I bet all content will be 'purchased' online, books will be banned for fear of someone loaning a book to a friend, so that friend could read the content for free."

    Don't forget the facial-recognition software tapped into your webcam so that a 'friend' can't read it over your shoulder.

    Anyways, if this holds true, there are thousands more pirates on college campuses than previously thought. They are set up outside every college bookstore, looking to 'buy' students' used textbooks.

  • On the post: Entertainment Industry Really Really Really Wants To Believe Pirate Bay Verdict Is A Win

    theskyrider ( profile ), 22 Apr, 2009 @ 07:20am

    Re: Number 29

    "So why won't anyone in Hollywood build my service? The reason isn't stupidity. When I called people in the industry this week, I found that many in the movie business understand that online distribution is the future of media. But everything in Hollywood is governed by a byzantine set of contractual relationships between many different kinds of companies—studios, distributors, cable channels, telecom companies, and others."

    IANAL either, but it seems to me that if Hollywood can push through the Bono Act and try for the golden goose with ACTA, they could just as easily push for a world-wide agreement that regulates media shared across networks, and even put in a grandfather clause (right term?) negating all those pesky contracts.

    For the sake of argument, let's call it the SHIP agreement. (Safe Harbor Internet Protocol.) since they are so fond of acronyms.

    People worldwide contribute a 'tax' on their internet connections, and in exchange they can share anything they want across any network across any national boundary.

    Companies, people, etc, register their work, and get a hash for their file. When somebody transfers a file with that hash, the creator gets a point. Those points will translate into their local currency at the end of the month, and the creator will get a check. (this would be based on complicated mathematical formulas but basically the files that get transferred the most get the most money kicked back to the creator)

    They 'could' do this, but they don't. They want control and containment even more then they want money.

  • On the post: Pirate Bay Loses A Lawsuit; Entertainment Industry Loses An Opportunity

    theskyrider ( profile ), 17 Apr, 2009 @ 07:58am

    The new business model:

    I am thinking with all the industry 'bois' hanging around here, maybe one or more of them will belong to FOX.

    Business model #24

    sell me this weeks episode for $2.00 and I will buy it.
    sell me next weeks epsiode for $3.00 and I will buy it.
    The week after that? $4.00.
    And so on and so forth to the end of the season. Heck, I might buy them all (on that increasing payment schedule) just so that I don't have to deal with the cliffhangers. That's why I cap the hi-def streams with my MyHD card and wait for the sixteenth episode before I start watching.

    Watermark it all you want. If I can't see it, I won't care. I won't put it up on torrent because if I had such a scarce good and had paid for it, I would want everybody else to pay for it too. (not to mention that it could be tracked back to me.)

    DO NOT restrict my use of it. If I want to downsize it and put it on my phone, I should be able to. If I want to watch it on my popcorn hour, I should be able to. Locked to my computer? No. Limited use? NO. May be kept away from me if the authentication server goes down? NO! No! no!

    I think this would be Paramount?

    The new Transformers movie coming out? On opening day, to enjoy the movie in my home, I would pay up to the amount it costs to take my family of four to the theater and stuff their faces with popcorn. - about $60.00. But...A) You cannot restrict it, and B) It must be in hi-def.

    2 brand new business models for you. Cash from my pocket to your bank accounts. The hitch? NO DRM. The possibility that there may be more like me? Better than average.

  • On the post: Time Warner Expands Capped Broadband Plans

    theskyrider ( profile ), 02 Apr, 2009 @ 06:21pm

    40gb?

    sorry about that, forgot that 'enter' is equivalent to 'submit.'

    In any case, what drugs are these people on? When I bridge my DSL Lines, I can download 3 MB/s - that's MegaBytes - not Megabits per second. Theoretically, I could bust that cap, in five hours. Oh, what to do with the other 715 hours in the month?

    Let me tell you why TWC is doing this - Hulu/Boxee vs OnDemand, Netflix online (whatever they call their streaming video service) vs OnDemand. BD Live Vs OnDemand, etc, etc.

    This isn't about piracy, this isn't even about running out of bandwidth, this is about competition from the internet, plain and simple.

    I don't use Netflix, but I am sure their prices are much lower than the 3.99 TWC charges for their pay-per-view movies. They got tired of subsidizing their competition and said... Enough.

    From the article: Time Warner Cable has 8.4 million broadband customers.

    I wonder how many they will have after this plan goes into effect?

  • On the post: Time Warner Expands Capped Broadband Plans

    theskyrider ( profile ), 02 Apr, 2009 @ 05:59pm

    40gb?

  • On the post: Mobile TV Backers Figuring Out That People Don't Want To Pay For It

    theskyrider ( profile ), 18 Mar, 2009 @ 03:10am

    Oh, so wrong...

    "This is another classic problem of users wanting everything and being willing to pay for none of it."

    No, this is an example of the content creators being too rigid in their selling practices.

    Sell me a TV episode, online, DRM-Free, for a reasonable fee. I say $1.50, because that is what their shows average out on DVD, (some more, some less,) and I will buy it.

    If I have the freedom to watch, convert, and transfer to the device of MY CHOICE... I will buy it. Everything else is not worth my time.

    The Music Industry found this out, it will just take a little longer for the Motion Picture Industry to do the same.

    If there are any industry shills watching this board, report this back to your masters: Your free digital copy is a joke.

    Everybody knows that those 'free digital copies' aren't going to be 'free' forever and that you are just trying to take away our rights and sell them back to us piecemeal.

  • On the post: Mafia Wars vs. Mob Wars Battle To Take Place In Court Rather Than Online

    theskyrider ( profile ), 17 Feb, 2009 @ 04:41am

    Here it comes....

    Sorry, got distracted by something and hit submit before I was ready.

    The point I was trying to make with my pointless diatribe was that there are only so many things you can call Mafia-based video games.

    "The Italian Whack-Job?"
    "Families settle a score?"
    "The Favor Game?"
    "Elliot Ness and His Band of Merry Fellows?"
    "La Familia?"
    "Omerta?" I like that one, but probably already taken.
    "Scarface?" Copyrighted. "Scar?" Character in a disney movie so protected by overeager teams of mouse-ear wearing lawyers.
    "War of the Five Families and Anyone Else Who Wants to Join In?" Good, but probably too long of a title for whatever IM apps are in use today.
    "Capo?" Good, but easily mistaken for a nice, hot coffee brand and get sued by Starbucks.
    "Capo de tutti Capi?" Good, but when abbreviated it sounds like a bio-war game.

    See my point? We have THE MOB, and THE MAFIA. Based on actual case files and good old fiction. There really isn't anything else to call a good-old-going-to-the-mattresses game.

  • On the post: Mafia Wars vs. Mob Wars Battle To Take Place In Court Rather Than Online

    theskyrider ( profile ), 17 Feb, 2009 @ 04:29am

    Here it comes....

    Lawsuits by the estates of Mario Puzo, Al Capone, The Five Families...

    "I want him dead! I want his whole family dead! I want his house burned to the ground! And god help anybody that tries to make a video game about me!"


    Prior art, lots of it, get over the fact that somebody had the same idea as you and make yours better. Or, conversely, whack the opposition. It would be interesting to see a copyright infringement lawsuit fought out on the streets of LA by the Gangs of New York.

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