Spaceman Spiff’s Techdirt Profile

On the post: Blogger Issues DMCA Notice To Take Down Posts Infringing His 'How To Infringe' Post

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 10 May, 2013 @ 10:18am

Some folk think their every utterance is protected by copyright...

This is as if when I say "every word I write is protected by copyright", that I have such protections on each word by itself... Ok. I now claim copyright on the words "every", "word", "I", "write", "is", "protected", "by", and "copyright"....

On the post: Prenda Lawyer Says Judge Wright's Order Is Inapplicable In Georgia Because California Recognizes Gay Marriage

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 09 May, 2013 @ 06:28pm

Inquiring minds want to know...

Inquiring minds want to know, when will these dickheads be thrown into stir, prison, the black hole of assholery...?

On the post: Eric Holder Answers Question About Kim Dotcom Prosecution

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 09 May, 2013 @ 06:54am

Holder's a shill

Other than the fact that he is of African-American descent, I have absolutely zero respect for him - his appointment as AG was a total farkup by President Obama. IMHO, he has been the worst sort of shill for big media and other special interests. FWIW, my grandchildren are also of African-American descent, and they have a LOT more of my respect than Holder - one is an engineering genius, and the other will be a top-flight surgeon some day.

On the post: University Of California Sides With Journal Publishers Over Its Own Struggling Libraries

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 24 Apr, 2013 @ 04:57pm

What do you want to bet...

What do you want to bet that the UC system has substantial investments/stock in various journal publishers, and doesn't want to get off that gravy train itself? Anyway, it would be interesting to see if that may be the case.

On the post: Shopzilla Threatens To Sue Site For 3 Year Old Neutral Link To Shopzilla… Then Apologizes

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 24 Apr, 2013 @ 04:54pm

Everyone screws up at times

It isn't the screwup (usually) that is a problem (sometimes), but how you deal with it. It sounds like Shopzilla handled this pretty well, and though it remains to be seen if they clean up their act, their overall behavior makes me hopeful that they will stop acting like bullies.

On the post: Authors Guild Shuts Itself Off From Public Criticism, As People Realize It Represents Publishers, Not Authors

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 17 Apr, 2013 @ 10:38pm

Once upon a time

In a land far away and long ago, the Author's Guild was a respected representative of producing authors... Never more cried the Raven!

On the post: Anti-Piracy Enforcer Degban Publishes Some Info-less Graphics Stating Atlanta Is File Sharingest Place On Earth

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 17 Apr, 2013 @ 11:15am

There are lies, damned lies,

and then there are statistics!

On the post: Andy Baio On The New Prohibition Created By Copyright

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 16 Apr, 2013 @ 10:52pm

Most excellent presentation! A number of members of my family are artists, actors, writers, musicians. I will send a link to this video to all of them! :-) Thanks!

On the post: Awesome Stuff: Ferrofluid

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 13 Apr, 2013 @ 01:42pm

Lava Lamp!

This is the 21st Century Lava Lamp! :-) I'm sure someone will come out with one that is polished in appearance, and sophisticated in its visual behavior before long. Anyone around here (besides me) remember the "Pet Rock"? So, it just goes to prove that people will buy ANYTHING that is sufficiently novel and intriguing. :-)

On the post: Documentary On The History Of Apple And Microsoft Show It Was All About Copying, Not Patents

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 12 Apr, 2013 @ 11:11pm

Was there, knew all about it

This is a great video - it tells the real tale about how MS bought the PC OS business - $50K to SCP for QDOS after Gary Kildall shined on IBM when they were shopping for an OS for the first IBM x86 PC. Friends of mine were Intel engineers who worked with IBM on the first PC in Boca Raton.

On the post: When You Sign Away Your Copyright To A Publisher, What If They Hold You Hostage Over It?

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 12 Apr, 2013 @ 02:16pm

Leasing a copyright?

I think it's time that authors and other content creators started leasing their copyrights, with a clause that if the company that has the lease goes into bankruptcy, the copyright immediately reverts to the author/creator. I'm not an attorney, so I don't know if this is possible, but it seems reasonable to me!

On the post: Prince Sends A Takedown Over Six Second Vine Clips

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 03 Apr, 2013 @ 11:03am

So long, it's been good to know you!

I was once a fan of Prince. I thought he did a lot of cutting-edge and really creative stuff. However, this sort of sh!t is just not acceptable. Sorry "Artist Formerly Known As Prince", but you won't be getting any of my hard earned lucre any longer! At least until you wake up and smell the (internet) coffee!

And FWIW, I purchase over $1000 USD in CD's and other music each year, as does my wife, and that doesn't count our frequent concert attendance.

On the post: Boston Police Are Catfishing Locals To Bust Punk Rock Shows

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 02 Apr, 2013 @ 06:23pm

Just so suckage!

What is it about house concerts that should be outlawed? Noise - ok, I can understand that, but just for being? My wife and I put on several house concerts a year in our home outside of Chicago - mostly old-time and bluegrass, but that is irrelevant, IMO. Over the years, we have had some of the top performers in the business, including Andy Statman and David Grisman. We have fit up to 50 fans in our basement venue...

As for the noise and nuisance factor, we deal with that by inviting our neighbors to come and meet the artists. Over the past 15 years doing this, we have NEVER had a complaint.

On the post: Aereo Wins Again: Appeals Court Says Its System Is Not Infringing

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 02 Apr, 2013 @ 05:24pm

The proper term is

Hoist with his own petard... IE, blown up by your own bomb. :-)

On the post: What I Learned About My Own Daily Life From The Latest North Korean Propaganda Video

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 29 Mar, 2013 @ 11:35pm

"mis" translation?

Well, I'll have to send this to some of my many Korean friends and have them translate the background audio to see if it matches the English version... :-)

On the post: EA Labels President: DRM Is A Failed Strategy, But SimCity Didn't Have Any DRM

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 28 Mar, 2013 @ 12:43pm

That and $5...

"But, SimCity aside, I would issue a challenge to Mr. Gibeau. If in fact you and your company believes that DRM is a "failed strategy", then I am sure we shall never see any form of DRM in your games moving forward. Who wants to take bets on that one?"

Yeah. That and $5 will get you a nice latte at Starbucks!

On the post: Intellectual Ventures Ramping Up Lawsuits

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 27 Mar, 2013 @ 09:55pm

Is it any wonder?

Is it any wonder that Nathan Myhrvold, the principal of IV, came out of Microsoft? Sometimes, I have to think that he is still their proxy...

On the post: Arrested Development Documentary Has To Hit Up Kickstarter Because Fox Claims Copyright On Set Photos

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 27 Mar, 2013 @ 12:46pm

Screw Fox!

This is why I don't watch ANYTHING FOX produces, support them, or subscribe to ANY Murdock publications or other of their stuff! Dickheads!

On the post: The List Of Government Agencies That Can Get Your Data Under CISPA

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 25 Mar, 2013 @ 09:16pm

It would be much shorter

It would be a lot shorter/quicker to list only those agencies and entities who CAN'T access your data under CISPA...

On the post: A Tale Of Two Studies: File Sharing Helps Sales!

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 22 Mar, 2013 @ 07:46am

Ah, statistics!

There are lies, damned lies, and then there are statistics... Never was there a truer observation than in relation to such "studies".

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