TtfnJohn's Favorite Techdirt Posts Of The Week

from the all-sopa-all-the-time dept

Welcome to John Wilson's (TtfnJohn) Picks of the Week.

It's been, according to one of our most recognizable Anonymous Coward trolls, an all-SOPA-all-the-time week so, I'll continue to annoy him with this post.

This will probably annoy him even more. Our very own Mike Masnick has hit 40,000 posts. Congratulations, Mike!

Perhaps the best news came Friday with the SOPA markup running out of time and getting pushed back... maybe to next Wednesday or hopefully to 2012. Maybe it's time to come up with a reason to visit your Congresscritter's office, fill up their appointment book or make phone calls just to remind them of whom they serve and, perhaps, explain some of the intricacies of the Internet to them or, failing that, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Oh, and wish them happy holidays as well.

This hot on the heels of the totally shocking news (really?) that Congress hasn't the faintest idea what they're trying to regulate in Thursday's markup. Not at all a good day for them if they were trying to improve their standing with the electorate or their general grasp of information.

The CCIA went after Representatives, who have attacked their member companies, and others for opposition to SOPA -- including the claim that three normally vicious competitors (Yahoo, Microsoft and Google) have joined together to lobby for and to defend a free and open Internet. These opponents account for a much larger proportion of United States (and global) GDP than the entertainment industry can even hope for -- and far more full time employment. Also, add the developers and engineers who built the internet to the growing list of those in the tech industry who oppose SOPA/PIPA. Not that Dianne Feinstein has noticed. Maybe she will note the excuse that "I don't know nothing" has worn very thin.

Righthaven lost yet another court case, which is starting to remind me of SCO vs Novell, vs IBM, vs Linux vs the world, something I followed in detail over on Groklaw. Groklaw's founder and web master PJ must be almost as unpopular with the copyright purists as Mike and Techdirt are. (Groklaw led me here, by the way.) It's also why I'm not at all surprised at documents that come out almost completely redacted.

From one part of the fantasy software world to another, is a New York law firm's claim to have developed some sort of magical data mining, analyzing and wonderful software that can identify every "rogue" site out there. Or so they say. Thing is, it doesn't seem to be finished yet. Under active development is what the site says. Not only magic, but magic vaporware too.

Back to some good news. There seems to be a place in England where seized counterfeit designer clothing is donated to a charity for distribution to the poor, homeless and vulnerable.

On the cultural side of things was a post linking to an article entitled No Copyright Intended. Today's young people are doing what human cultures have done since, well, forever: remixing and sharing things over the pirate infested waters of the Internet. Whether they need a good spanking or a hearty congratulations for creating new experssions of old ideas depends on where you come from in this debate. It also proves the point that creative people don't always need to be assured of being paid in order to create.

If there has been one good thing to come out of SOPA/PIPA, it's an increase in awareness of what used to be the esoteric world of copyright. And the awareness that people don't like what they're seeing. An education is always a good thing and the American public is getting a crash course on copyright and intellectual property law, thanks to the furor over SOPA/PIPA.

I've left things out I'd have loved to have added but time isn't there, and I doubt attention spans are either. All in all, I'd say on the SOPA/PIPA front this may be looked back on as a very good week. And a very, very bad one for one of our Anonymous Cowards.

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  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2011 @ 12:45pm

    I was talking to a couple of my technogeek friends today, and one of them said something rather interesting: "This bill may turn out to be a good thing for the internet. The World Wide Web? Not so much."

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      TtfnJohn (profile), 17 Dec 2011 @ 2:12pm

      Re:

      There is some truth to that. Though the Internet itself relies on DNS just as much as the Web does. DNS is one of the base technologies of the Internet used to find a particular site and predates the web by considerable length of time.

      Which is why when you go to an IRC server you type /server cedar.bc.ca on the command line of the IRC client instead of having to remember the entire IP address number. IRC and technologies such as usenet and others predate the web by a decade or so. Remember, the World Wide Web is really just a protocol riding on the internet, not the internet itself.
      IRC, and other chat protocols and places like Usenet may become the best sources for file sharing/piracy once SOPA/PIPA passes, incidentally. Unless, of course, free speech in America is really down for the count to provide welfare for the RIAA and MPAA.

      That's part of what, it seems, elected representatives in the USA don't get. The Internet can continue to exist without the web, the web can't exist without the internet. That's just one of the many technical flaws and complete misses in the bills as they currently exist. Which is why I can see judicial and legislative running around after they're passed sticking their fingers into the dyke, complaining about all these "new" leaks and ways people can "pirate" when they were there all along.

      So in that sense it may lead people to rediscover things that have been there "forever" in internet years but kinda forgotten because of flashier, cooler looking grahics based stuff running over the HTTP protocol otherwise known as the Web which things bills fixate on.

      As I mentioned though, when people wanting to get re-elected look at an alliance for lobbying purposes consisting of bitter, hated enemies as Yahoo, Microsoft and Google are lobbying against these bills they might pause to understand. Particularly as two of them have profits that make Hollywood money look like a spec of dust. Guess who can fill that campaign fund faster and fuller? Or an opponent's campaign fund. This is not a trio you want to annoy.

      As I've mentioned, MS product is probably "pirated" more often in a day then RIAA/MPAA stuff is in the better part of a month. Most of that being downloaded by individuals who can't afford or wouldn't be buying the stuff in the first place. Microsoft goes after the money..corporate and government piracy where the market is pretty much dependent on them and the chances of extracting enough money to make it worthwhile are far better. Nor do they want to encourage competitive packages like Libre Office and Open Office which just happen to be free. MS does GET competing with free, even if it often doesn't look like they do. So, for that matter, does Adobe. With both the rule seems to be don't charge for it and unless you become a real pest we'll just look the other way. Oh, by the way, we do know where you live. Sooner or later you'll find you need or want the real thing and buy from us instead of LibreOffice for MS Office or TheGIMP for Photoshop.

      All this of course just adds to the confusion over whether the phrase "May you live in interesting times" is a curse, blessing or combination of the two. For what it's worth, I think it's a blessing.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Hephaestus (profile), 17 Dec 2011 @ 4:08pm

        Re: Re:

        "Guess who can fill that campaign fund faster and fuller? Or an opponent's campaign fund."

        Perhaps that is the real reason for this. Washington politicians wanting tech money in their re-election coffers. It is probably just business as usual though, with the politicians not realizing that, once awakened, the tech giant will not go back to sleep. They probably also do not realize the amount of information these giants can gather on them and disseminate or leak.

        Imagine Google building a simple library of politicians and what they have voted on. Mix that with commenting and Google+, Facebook, twitter, and you have an end to old boy politics.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Jay (profile), 17 Dec 2011 @ 5:25pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          Oh, the public watched. The chances for reelection for a few of them are slim and none. If we can get some good strong electors who care about freedom instead of money, it would work wonders in having a system of,by,&4 the people. (notice the reference speech)

          link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2011 @ 2:58pm

    All in all, I'd say on the SOPA/PIPA front this may be looked back on as a very good week. And a very, very bad one for one of our Anonymous Cowards.

    Did you watch a different hearing than I did? every opposing amendment was defeated by a 2-1 margin. Now the Senate has scheduled a vote for January on the PROTECT IP Act. How has this been a good week again?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      The eejit (profile), 17 Dec 2011 @ 3:06pm

      Re:

      When the main proposer of the Bill is trying to rush it through before Christmas, after the recess has started, don't you think that's desperation?

      Moreover, the AC in question consistently refuses to debate using their real name, just throwing about remarks about people's weight/sexuality/relationship with their mother.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      TtfnJohn (profile), 17 Dec 2011 @ 3:52pm

      Re:

      No, I have no doubt that I didn't. Interpreted differently and I continue to,might be another way of putting it.

      Still, each of us is entitled to an opinion and at least I put my real name to mine.

      For what it's worth there does seem to be a real rush to get this thing through, a clear indication that all, if not most of that 2-1 majority don't understand what they're proposing and a fair number of them seem proud of that detail. Oh boy, let's just take Hollywood's word for it.

      The other way is that was what supposed to be a done deal by the end of the year despite the numbers you cite isn't finished yet. Not something I'd want to go into an election with.

      Will it pass in the end out of the US House. Yes. Will it pass through the US Senate intact, I doubt it.

      But it's kinda fun to watch as rushed bad legislation always is. Even the kind I actually support and not oppose.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2011 @ 3:57pm

        Re: Re:

        Passing the bill in the Senate will go far faster than it has in the House; there are less than 5 Senators out of the 100 that have any problem at all with any anti-piracy legislation.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          TtfnJohn (profile), 17 Dec 2011 @ 4:56pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          The Senate bill is substantially different from the House bill so while as few as 5 Senators may have problems with their bill (for now), that's no guarantee that when it comes time to meld the two that that number won't grow.

          This all after they get out from behind the beltway and "meet the people" back home again instead of well paid, well funded lobbyists.

          Oh, and I am aware of the almost farcical nature of Senate elections in that you can be the most horrid legislator out there and you either have to commit a capital crime or die before being voted out.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2011 @ 9:07pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          Only if it passes the house, which is becoming unlikely.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Anonymous Coward, 18 Dec 2011 @ 5:29am

            Re: Re: Re: Re:

            Someone doesn't understand how the American legislative system works...

            link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2011 @ 3:31pm

    Scott Cleland and Forbes once again cut through the usual freetard intellectual dishonesty:

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottcleland/2011/12/14/sopa-fixes-isolate-opponents-espe cially-google/

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Jay (profile), 17 Dec 2011 @ 3:54pm

      Re:

      Scott Cleland once again practicing intellectual dishonesty

      FTFY

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2011 @ 3:58pm

        Re: Re:

        Sorry Freetardo, but Cleland is spot on.

        It's why you can't refute a single thing he says.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2011 @ 3:59pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2011 @ 4:50pm

            Re: Re: Re: Re:

            Somebody reads Copyhype!

            link to this | view in chronology ]

          • icon
            Jay (profile), 17 Dec 2011 @ 5:37pm

            Re: Re: Re: Re:

            Ah, Ellen Seidler. One of the poster children for anti-Google hatred. Have any credible reporters against Google? In that rant, there were no definitions of what was a pirate site, just rhetoric aimed at saying "Google is evil" for following the DMCA.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

            • identicon
              Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2011 @ 5:59pm

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              Shooting the messenger isn't refutation of facts.

              Sorry.

              link to this | view in chronology ]

              • identicon
                Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2011 @ 9:10pm

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

                True, the thing is there is no reasonable facts coming out from those people LoL

                link to this | view in chronology ]

              • icon
                Jay (profile), 18 Dec 2011 @ 1:28am

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

                Shooting the messenger isn't refutation of facts.

                Funny, maximalists do it all the time in trying to disparage people they don't agree with here.

                Just up above, I'm called a freetard for no reason (by you in fact), while Ellen is given a free pass to show that she's a female version of Scott Cleland.

                Maybe if she could have an actual argument instead of trying to disparage Oyama's testimony, I would take her seriously. As it stands, she hasn't done anything but bring out a "but... but... piracy" speech that is misleading at best.

                link to this | view in chronology ]

                • identicon
                  Anonymous Coward, 18 Dec 2011 @ 5:13am

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

                  "Maximalist" language?

                  Freetard.

                  Go die in a fire.

                  Your biggest contribution during your time on earth might be as fertilizer.

                  link to this | view in chronology ]

                  • icon
                    Richard (profile), 18 Dec 2011 @ 6:29am

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

                    Your comments are interesting to a psychologist, as you descend from reliance on authority through ad hominem to pure abuse.

                    Hmmm.

                    link to this | view in chronology ]

                  • icon
                    The eejit (profile), 18 Dec 2011 @ 9:03am

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

                    [Freud]How do you feel about your mother?[/Freud]

                    link to this | view in chronology ]

                  • icon
                    Marcus Carab (profile), 18 Dec 2011 @ 9:44am

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

                    Woah, somebody has rage issues... it's rather fun picturing you sitting at your computer turning all red and blustery and shaking and being unable to do anything but spew pathetic threats. Go outside and get some fresh air or something, man!

                    link to this | view in chronology ]

                  • identicon
                    Anonymous Coward, 18 Dec 2011 @ 10:23am

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

                    Oh yeah cause flashing your slanted moronic world-view like a badge of honor is a great contribution, I suppose?

                    If Jay is fertilizer, you're that pile of debris in the middle of the ocean. Please swallow your tongue and die shitting yourself.

                    link to this | view in chronology ]

                  • identicon
                    Anonymous Coward, 18 Dec 2011 @ 11:48am

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

                    Your troll is showing, my son.

                    link to this | view in chronology ]

          • icon
            tsavory (profile), 17 Dec 2011 @ 5:41pm

            Re: Re: Re: Re:

            Wow first one thinks tossing in a bunch of links makes it important three said the same damn thing nothing new and quotes that something has to be done proves something should be done and no one disputes that but none of them have any technological backing to to say that this bill is the way to go. Sorry but to put technological bill though with no technological back will never work.

            and I love this section
            "The OPEN Act, (which would empower the International Trade Commission to adjudicate rogue website complaints), the Google-orchestrated legislative alternative to SOPA/PIPA is not a viable alternative because it is a transparent attempt to return a several year effort back to square one, while also entangling it with thorny and debilitating congressional jurisdictional turf battles and even thornier and glacial trade policy politics."

            what is the "attempt to return a several year effort back to square one" in there and SOPA PIPA destroy a 16 year long development DNSSEC which is already being used in financial institutions.



            the second link points out that google who opposes this does an above expected job at trying to protect IP What are these sites that he is seeing all the AdSense advertising.

            He contradicted himself in there saying at the top
            "Frankly, I’m not concerned about Google’s search engine, nor have I ever sent them a DMCA requesting the removal of search results for infringing links to our film"
            then halfway down the page
            "Over the past year and a half I’ve repeatedly sent DMCA notices to Google reporting pirate sites featuring AdSense advertising (and links to our film).
            HELLO
            Well anyways the point of the matter is I don't think very many disagree that SOMETHING should be done but the people that are the back bone of the internet say that doing so will cause serious problems I am sorry slow the heck down and find something that will work because once people start use the IP address system instead of the DNS mark my words you thought computers got hacked and infected before just wait.

            Hey wait never mind break it I need some business fixing all these networks and computers

            link to this | view in chronology ]

            • identicon
              Anonymous Coward, 18 Dec 2011 @ 8:30am

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              DNSSEC is ammusition out till the DECADE is done, AND STILL ISN'T A THREAT.

              You reallY BELIVE hollywood ia gonn LET THIAS GENIE GO all at once, dont you??

              Yes, Gilligan

              link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2011 @ 9:07pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          Who tries to debate with a whore?

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Richard (profile), 18 Dec 2011 @ 6:24am

          Re: Re: Re:

          Sorry Freetardo, but Cleland is spot on.

          It's why you can't refute a single thing he says.


          I did - you never replied.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Anonymous Coward, 18 Dec 2011 @ 8:23am

            Re: Re: Re: Re:

            LOL

            You need to post more often. You are most certainly the freetard version of Darryl- minus any facts or rational statements.

            hmmm, I guess an "ouch" would be in order, eh?

            link to this | view in chronology ]

            • icon
              freak (profile), 18 Dec 2011 @ 8:52am

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              Would you mind actually refuting his points then?


              (I do that to Darryl all the time. One pleasant topic, 137 out of 142 comments were between me and him. But I'm not asking you to convince him, I'm asking you to refute him, just once, in one post)

              link to this | view in chronology ]

            • icon
              freak (profile), 18 Dec 2011 @ 8:53am

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              > Darryl- minus any facts or rational statements.


              Oh, sorry, I hadn't realized you were trolling.


              That's a good one, you got me, implying that darryl has any facts or rational statements. :)

              link to this | view in chronology ]

            • icon
              The eejit (profile), 18 Dec 2011 @ 9:05am

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              I have a rationsl atatement - remove lobbying from Congress. Or kill the whole of Congress. This level of corruption leads down bad roads.

              link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      TtfnJohn (profile), 17 Dec 2011 @ 4:36pm

      Re:

      It's an interesting article, though not totally unexpected as I'd expect Forbes to land on the side of the status quo even if, in this case, it doesn't defend capitalism in any way shape or form but simply wealth. Also to be expected from Forbes. (Not a shot at Forbes, as such, just that it's not all that unexpected, that's whose views they represent.)

      Cleland himself has a long and, to him, proud record of being anti-Google so I'd likely take his opinions there with several large grains of salt. Particularly as most of his work and his attitudes about Google have been paid for by Verizon, AT&T, Comcast AND Microsoft. His views on openness are bit wonky too.

      http://www.prwatch.org/node/8419
      http://techdailydose.nationaljournal.com/2009/06/google-cr itic-paid-by-microsof.php
      http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Scott-Cleland-Google-Using-21x-The-Ban dwidth-They-Pay-For-99475
      http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2008/02/net-neutralitys-not-anti-pro perty-its-about-our-property.ars

      Probably why he mentions Yahoo and Google but neglects to mention that Microsoft is sitting between them at the table opposed to this bill.

      Nor is the consensus for this legislation as broad as he might indicated or knowledgeable about what it can and cannot accomplish. The US Chamber of Commerce is a given, some AFL-CIO unions are a given as is the federation itself,sadly. The BBB I'm not at all surprised with though I wonder what their level of support will be as consequences both intended and unintended come to light. Collections of politicians have never impressed me much. Most of them will stick their finger in the wind and if opposition to this bill if felt they're change their mind so fast your head will spin. It's an impressive list but can that list vote? Nope. Does that list employ anyone? Or does it just lobby.

      Oh, right.

      Cleland works for lobbyists while moonlighting as a journalist.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2011 @ 4:50pm

    None of your points address piracy.

    This is a common discussion misdirection here: change the subject.

    And Microsoft is not "sitting between them at the table opposed to this bill."

    Microsoft hasn't even made a public statement about SOPA.

    There seems to be no end to the false bs and propaganda on this blog.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      TtfnJohn (profile), 17 Dec 2011 @ 5:32pm

      Re:

      Microsoft has joined with them as has been stated. Learn to read things you don't like reading. And Microsoft doesn't make public comments about much of anything now having learned a painful lesson around anti-trust and anti-competitive courts and all that. Silence is pretty much golden on these things. Better to work with others. So my statement stands.

      As for piracy, I have said and I'll say again that neither SOPA or PIPA will stop or even substantively reduce it. It's likely to have the opposite effect. Check the definition of Streisand Effect if you want to know why.

      Like too many other Americans you assume that the United States is the world can can set the rules for the planet. From 1945 till, just to draw a line in the sand, 1990 that was the case. (Where the actual line will be drawn won't be decided for a century or so from now and while I'd love to be around to find out I kinda doubt it.)

      Not every other country on the planet is joining in on this. None, outside of China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and other freedom loving lands are joining in on "filtering" DNS while at the same time telling China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and others to stop doing just that. Remembering that Hong Kong has long been the world capital of cheap fashion counterfeits I can see the Chinese making them easier to find instead of harder to find. And don't doubt that the won't if the State Department leans on them about an open Internet as these bills get closer to passage.

      Canada isn't filtering DNS so getting alternate DNS from Canada ought to be easy for Americans and it's a perfectly legitimate thing to do for a host of other reasons. I can hear the gales of laughter from Berlin and Paris if you tell them to, and a polite "we'll think about it" from the UK.

      Actually those countries won't because they DO want the benefits of DNSSEC which their security agencies have been hard at work it too. If the United States Congress decides to sit that one out then fine. It'll work without the United States.

      One part of the whole trade issue thing comes when the US starts to tell internationally operating payment networks, say, not to fund a site in Poland because it's suspected of hosting a pirated song or two. It's not hard to imagine Poland telling the same companies "oh yes you will, if you want access to the rest of our market and the rest of the EU" or that other payment processors won't rush it to provide the money who aren't headquartered in the States.

      Heck, the United States isn't the biggest consumer market on the planet anymore. China is. And that's been one of the hammers the US has been able to use till now is "wanna lose our market"? I can see some, if not a lot saying "we can live without it. We're still doing business in China, Brazil and India than you very much."

      That hammer is long gone.

      "There seems to be no end to the false bs and propaganda on this blog."

      To which you've added a substantial amount of both in the debate over the bills.

      Nor do you quite get it yet that piracy is in large measure a market failure by the pirated companies, if you like. The MPAA and RIAA because they've not and seem to have no interest in adapting to a permanently changed marketplace. As dangerous as fake pharmaceuticals are, the gray market exists because of the obscene pricing of drugs since the horrible mistake of being able to patent them was made. As much as I want to see that market vanish it won't until drug prices come down.
      If you're concerned about the fashion industry they've survived without copyrights and patents for decades, fakes and counterfeits being churned out for decades and I see no reason to given a dress or suit design a copyright or patent when the "industry" they represent has done spectacularly well without it and will continue to do so. They just want on the gravy train. Economically even sillier when it's taken into account that they provide even less to the economy that Hollywood's tiny part of the GDP and that while they do employ people it's at best at minimum wage and at worst for less and in illegal sweatshops even inside the US.

      So get this...it's called adapt to a permanently changed marketplace don't try to legislate it out of existence. You can't do things that way.

      Oh and if SOPA/PIPA are going so well why is the PR being cranked up by Forbes and a crank lobbyist named Cleland at this late date? That doesn't sound at all like doing well to me. Cleland's article reads more like desperation.

      Sheesh!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2011 @ 6:02pm

        Re: Re:

        If these tech companies can't find a way to make money without piracy, then they are the ones that need to adapt and find a better business model that doesn't involve lawbreaking.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          tsavory (profile), 17 Dec 2011 @ 6:34pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          what part of Piracy won't quite it was here before the internet and will never go way but your willing to give up your rights that's whats wrong with the bills in so many ways the right to due process you know innocent till PROVEN guilty.
          never mind I am sorry as a small business owner I put together small sites that allow user content for my own site and for clients now I am not at my computer 24/7 and can't catch all that goes though but if 1 person where to put up something illegal even though its part of the TOS not to should the government or anyone be allowed to shut down my whole business because I missed something BS I try hard and caught some but will not swear I have got everything. YOU THINK I should be put out of business and my family on the street.
          GO AC the Great American

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • icon
            TtfnJohn (profile), 17 Dec 2011 @ 7:19pm

            Re: Re: Re: Re:

            He seems to. And that's what's so wrong about this entire debate. He isn't alone in that.

            It's not that the recording and movie industries haven't cried wolf with each introduction of consumer copying and sharing technology and very handily survived all of them without draconian measures. They'll survive this too.

            It's really quite funny to notice that while he's donned the Great American outfit that he's misses the point that most RIAA member companies are foreign owned, Sony, of course, and UMG and EMI, On the movie side of it's a fair number of them are too.

            As you point out though, nice way to support American businesses. Innocent ones.

            He's swallowed gallons of the kool-aid though so he can't help himself. It damages the synapses and removes all possibility of critical thought and analysis. All he has left is the mantra and the script.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          TtfnJohn (profile), 17 Dec 2011 @ 7:00pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          this is what I just adore about you. You ask me to address piracy, I do.

          I point out the MS products are the most pirated things in existence and you're response is "if tech companies can't find a way to make money without piracy" well after I've explained some of how MS does exactly that.

          If all else fails fall back on the script. Then you ignore the most basic part of my response is outside of the United States SOPA/PIPA will change nothing except cause annoyance when the US attempts to extra-territorially enforce the law. After I've pointed out that the US can't.

          Tell me something, are your synapses firing?

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Anonymous Coward, 18 Dec 2011 @ 5:09am

            Re: Re: Re: Re:

            MS are in no way "the most pirated things in existence", ok, titfuckingjohn?

            Please. No one falls for this type of bs at this stage. Everyone knows that entertainment content is by far the most pirated entity on the web. Every single day. I have no idea why you would think you could get away with saying such obvious horseshit.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

            • icon
              Richard (profile), 18 Dec 2011 @ 6:38am

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              Just ask the BSA - I'm sure they will correct you.

              link to this | view in chronology ]

            • icon
              TtfnJohn (profile), 18 Dec 2011 @ 7:21am

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              Another thing I adore about you, is your fall back of insults and swearing when you have no other answer, particularly when you have no other answer.

              "Everyone knows that entertainment content is by far the most pirated entity on the web."

              Well, I guess it could be that way if you restricted the entire Intenet to the web but it isn't. Nor does it matter all that much. It's that Microsoft has learned to live with that fact in way that generates sales later.

              Anyway, I kinda like the smell of horseshit.

              And your excuse is? Too much Kool-Aid? Or is it trapped in a corner you can't get out of so you resort to attacks and insults?

              You're almost amusing, know that?

              link to this | view in chronology ]

            • identicon
              Anonymous Coward, 19 Dec 2011 @ 12:50pm

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              "Everyone knows that entertainment content is by far the most pirated entity on the web."

              Not everyone knows this, by a longshot. Is it even true? Can you back this up?

              Not that it matters, as the problems with SOPA have nothing to do with piracy, except that SOPA will cause great societal harm without really impacting piracy.

              link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Rikuo (profile), 17 Dec 2011 @ 7:38pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          Hahahahahah! Sorry, I have to wipe away the tears of laughter. Did someone actually say that tech companies need to "find a better business model"? Sorry, idiot, but that's what the legacy entertainment industry needs to do.
          Its a GOOD thing that some tech companies are able to make a business, not out of piracy directly, but by dealing with it and its effects. Steam is able to compete directly with piracy: even though Steam charges, its able to offer services that piracy simply can't. Heck, I'm even paying for World of Warcraft at the moment, having migrated to the legit service AFTER trying out private servers. The legit WoW is actually playable, at least for me (never could get an enjoyable experience out of the private servers). Steam isn't making money from piracy, its seeing that it exists and saying "What can we do to lure our customers back? What can we do that the pirates can't?"
          Whereas the people you so vigorously defend DO need a new business model. Instead of saying to themselves "What can we do that pirates can't?", they instead insist on releasing inferior movies/films, with DRM and regional release windows. And when their own distribution network is simply too slow to keep up with demand, and people get their content from elsewhere, they scream and shout and throw a temper tantrum, not realising that their failure to serve the customer is what's the problem. And just to head off your argument of "But, but, its THEIR content! If you don't pay for it, don't consume it!", let me remind you of the anime market in the US, and how it came into existence. It began when people started buying bootlegged VHS copies of anime released in Japan, and importing them to the US. Some people saw that there was a demand and a market for anime in the US and started releasing legit content with an English dub. Get it? If not for piracy, the anime market in the US wouldn't even exist.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Mervin, 17 Dec 2011 @ 11:34pm

            Re: Re: Re: Re:

            Your mention of the anime market is a perfect example of a media industry failure. Japanese studios could have prevented most of the piracy just by pulling their heads out of the sand and doing some research on the demand for their products overseas (visiting comic book stores, attending conventions, etc), but they were lazy and couldn't be bothered learning English or dealing with foreigners.
            This is where Hollywood is now. They couldn't be bothered learning the technology and developing a online distribution systems until way too late in the game.
            What they really don't seem to get is that what they consider products, the rest of the society considers culture. This culture was firmly walled in for most of the 20th century. Back then who could get their hands on a movie, much less re-edit it or make an original video to a popular song and actually have a platform to show these creations to the entire population?
            Now this is commonplace. People have access to their own culture again like I imagine they did before mass media commodified it. Now culture is once again our collective sandbox, but this time it's global and we're not about to give it up and pay the price of admission to our heritage!
            But I can hear the SOPArians now, piracy is stealing the original intellectual property of others. Really? Have they ever watched a Hollywood or Disney movie? Most if not all of the content is either derivitave or simply copied from the culture stream, repackaged and sold back to viewers as original content.
            Of course this is true of almost all creative works, how could it not be? But the problem is claiming IP rights throughout the known & unknown universe and threatening to criminalize the behavior of majority of the population who are basically accessing their culture...

            link to this | view in chronology ]

            • icon
              TtfnJohn (profile), 18 Dec 2011 @ 2:17pm

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              The major difference is that makers of Anime animations and comics didn't go charging off screaming "pirate" anywhere at all the "pirated" video tapes and poorly put together photocopied and stapled together comics the adapted and took the gray/black market over completely.

              I just don't see Hollywood doing that or even having the opportunity to now. Consumers have gone elsewhere, iTunes, Amazon, gray/black/pirate market(s) it's very, very unlikely they're coming back.

              link to this | view in chronology ]

            • identicon
              Anonymous Coward, 18 Dec 2011 @ 4:10pm

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              Your ignorance about the anime fandom in the US is astounding. Fan-subbed versions of videos are created and made available UNTIL the official releases are put out. Then the fan-subs magically disappear. Know why this is? Because the fandom supports the industry, and will purchase the official versions when they are finally available! Supply and demand is kept up, and everyone wins.

              link to this | view in chronology ]

              • icon
                Jay (profile), 18 Dec 2011 @ 4:48pm

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

                Depends on the fan sub. Some continue even after a licensed product is made. And some people prefer the fan sub over the official version.

                link to this | view in chronology ]

              • identicon
                Anonymous Coward, 18 Dec 2011 @ 10:26pm

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

                No true fan likes the official version. They suck ass, 4kids style

                link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2011 @ 9:14pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          They don't need to, you on the other hand apparently believes piracy will somehow magically disappear if we destroy freedom.

          Ain't happening.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Richard (profile), 18 Dec 2011 @ 6:37am

          Re: Re: Re:

          link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 18 Dec 2011 @ 5:26am

    I'm amazed Googlevil hasn't put an insider gag order on this blog.

    Every day the comments section here proves why the law needs to be passed.

    Thanks guys.

    Mission accomplished :)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      TtfnJohn (profile), 18 Dec 2011 @ 7:51am

      Re:

      Googlevil??????

      I love a good belly laugh first thing in the morning.

      Now, if you don't mind I'm off to church.

      BTW did you know that the entire bible is built from "pirated" work? (by your definition and the MPAA and RIAA's) Not one bit of "original" work in there. Just the work of others filched by the editors in both the Christian and Hebrew versions.

      Heck, some even suspect they changed the names of the authors to hide their evil deed!

      And after church I'm gonna go do some piracy, Arrggghh, laddie, I feel the urge coming on to climb aboard the good hip bittorrent and commit murder, mayhem and piracy!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      The eejit (profile), 18 Dec 2011 @ 9:07am

      Re:

      And every day, comments like yours show why licenses should be needed to operate laws.

      Mission accomplished!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Marcus Carab (profile), 18 Dec 2011 @ 9:47am

      Re:

      It's amazing how long you can keep babbling without saying anything at all

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Jay (profile), 18 Dec 2011 @ 9:26am

    Here comes a new challenger

    So here's the obvious question. What happens when there's a label that forces all other labels to compete for the artists?

    One of the rogue websites is turning into a vogue website. And he's offering to allow artists to keep 90% of their earnings. How can SOPA do the following:

    A) Stop artists from leaving for a better deal
    B) Prevent sharing of files
    C) Compete with the better deal

    I would really love an answer to this.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      TtfnJohn (profile), 18 Dec 2011 @ 2:06pm

      Re: Here comes a new challenger

      Expect to be sworn at, after he's finished looking up new Anglo-Saxon words and phrases, dismissed as a *tard and then proudly proclaiming that the case is closed and the bills will sail through without so much as a peep cause everyone is willing to sign their rights away to Hollywood.
      I'm detecting the ghost of Sonny Bono here.

      Competition? That's piracy, don't you know! Stealing an artist from a label is awful, horrible and will damage copyright fatally if it's allowed to continue you *tard you!

      (I make no claim regarding the accuracy, veracity or grammatical and logical sense of the previous paragraph though it does accurately convey the writing and debating style of on easily identified Anonymous Coward and his/her knowledge level. [99.999999% chance it's a he].)

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    A Guy (profile), 18 Dec 2011 @ 10:01am

    When is the final vote scheduled?

    I need to call my Representative again, and it would be embarrassing to be late. When is the vote before the full house due?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    a good friend, 17 Feb 2012 @ 2:27am

    Help Ann Johnson Blog

    Looks like he was defending himself not attacking her. I found a copy of what was written in court records.

    I am only writing this so that someone will try and help this person who so badly needs it. Help her and save her child from what will end up affecting them so much worse if their mother (pictured to your left which was found at trubreedmc.org) doesn’t get help. I have seen many cases just like the one described below. I meet this person on pandys.org about 6 months ago (Dec. 2009) because he had questions and wanted to get some help only to lead me to their blog which is where I read most of the below information from. Please feel fee to contact me or come to the site (screen name Love101) for support and a family of people that have been through it.

    This sounds like someone that could possibly suffer from mental health problems? This is someone that has been the victim of rape by three different men, two of them at a party at local pro Minnesota Timberwolves basketball player Anthony Peeler place with her good friend Erin Bruns now Erin Nebben (Big Lake) who was dating Anthony Peeler. It is important to let you know that the man Ann Marie Johnson of Plymouth Minnesota is attacking in this blog is very sensitive to the issue of rape as his mother is also a victim of rape. (Erin Nebben is pictured on the left in this photo of two women) Yes, they both knew it happened and told her not to tell the police. The two guys that raped her were basketball player Anthony Peeler family members. The other guy and boyfriend that raped her and was physically abusive to her was Justin Saice (Picture 1) (his record convicted of 2 separate Domestic Abuse Order for Protection & 2 separate Harassment, Restraining Orders, he violated all of them (total of 4 all from women). In 2003 & 2006 Justin was found mentally ill by the courts and sent to a physc hospital) This is a guy that proposed to her and continued to rape her many times. The Private Investigator had a chat with Justin after he stopped by his place in Hopkins. Justin’s big thing to the PI was that she was always cheating on him (This person writes in the blog that they do not believe this and does not feel she is the type to cheat). Read the police reports where Justin had beat up a 50 year old homeless man that was living at Ann’s place for the past 3 days with another homeless person (Kathleen R Johnson 50 who is also a convicted criminal). Ann is someone who has continued to be in relationships with men who were either physically or sexually abusive to her, except for the last one who did none of this and has been the punching bag for her past. This person got her to counseling, sounds like he was trying to help her. Ann’s two plus year boyfriend Eric McDew (Picture 2). Another convicted criminal Spent 90 days in jail in 2005 for Domestic Assault (also Convicted of Unlawful Acts & convicted of Public Nuisance). Eric was living with her and her child for a year. Why would someone bring someone like this around their own child? This sounds like a trend in her type of men. Eric ended up stealing her credit card from her used it and lied to her about it (someone who she calls a good guy). The guy before him was Wayne, he tried to body slam her and beat her up. Sounds like another Domestic Abuse type of guy. Has anyone ever asked why she would have any association with a known criminal group called Tru Breed? She does and this guy is 26 year old Adonis Armstrong (Picture 3) who she is hanging with now, a month after she served her last boyfriend with a restraining order(which was dismissed with prejudice=A court has inherent power to dismiss an action with prejudice if it is vexatious or brought in bad faith). (Adoinis has a DUI from 2003) Just the type of guy she wants & needs but doesn’t want her child or friends to know about for some reason. Check out the type of people this Tru Breed group is on U-Tube. Don’t think this type of guy or group has anything good to offer her or her child but sounds and looks like all the other guys that she has been with. The reason for this might stem from her past experience? I would not be honest if I didn’t mention something that has me curious. Out of all of these guys only one was Caucasian, the one with no criminal record or past run in with the law. It sounds like he is in good standing with all of the girls he has dated even his last one. Sounds like this was the guy she attacked and lied about.

    The question he had was why did she never tell anyone like the police, family or
    seek professional counseling? She says she is completely fine with her past and that she has dealt with it on her own, he had nothing to be concerned about. She said all her friends and co-workers knew about all this and they help her. He had a hard time thinking that anyone would be fine after all that, especially when she never got any professional help. He did get her to see someone and she is actually still seeing Wayzata therapist Susan Siegel in Wayzata Minnesota(from his blog sounds like a real flake of a counselor). That makes him so happy even if he is no longer in her life. She is now getting the help she needs but it only works if you are honest and it sounds like she was never honest in the meetings they had with Susan. He was unsure if they could have a healthy relationship if she has not addressed these things and never gotten help. He is in love with her and told her that he would be by her side if she decided to go the path of getting some help. He even told her that he would wait for her to get healthy and that he would always be there for her. He would soon see if someone that has gone through all that with no counseling could have a healthy relationship with love and affection. It sounds like that never came the way it should. She might not have been able to have love and affection the way it should be because she was only used to the thugs and criminals that rape beat or steal. It sounds like it was too much work and to demanding for her to keep this window dressing on (again this is something that I have seen many times with women that have been the victim of what she has been through). It sounds like so many times before that she takes the easy way out. Go after him, the one guy that was not like the rest. He wanted to marry her and was actually saving for the ring that she picked out. A few weeks before all this they were working with a realtor and shopping for houses in Wayzata and Plymouth. It sounds like he was a great role model for her child and was always a gentleman to her. He mentions in his blog how in the mornings while she was in the shower he would get up and make the bed and by the time she was done with her shower he would be there waiting for her with a towel open for her to wrap her self in (almost all the time). He would leave work early so that he could be with her at her child’s sporting events. Every time he would get his haircut he would pick up a gift card for Ann to get her hair done at the same place. This sounds like a guy that did and would do anything for this woman. Ann would tell him both verbal and by e-mail what a positive impact he has made on her child. Her child was showing more affection with the mother then ever before. For the first time her child was holding her hand and giving her kisses out of the blue and even in public. Ann would comment on how the games they would play on who could open the door for mom first or who could pull out the chair for mom first was teaching her child for the first time on how to be a gentleman to his mother and other women. Something we know the past boyfriends and lovers didn’t do for this young impressionable child.

    He really started to question if she was fine the first time she became physically abusive with him the night of her friend Robin Carter wedding February 14th. This is when they got back to his place and he was questioning some things in her past. While he was talking to her she all of a sudden had a burst of rage and out of control anger and slammed him against a wall and held him there while she yelled at him to stop questioning her past and that she is fine with it and he needed to get over it. As time went on he started to see more. She would get out of control often most of the time becoming verbally, mentally and physically abusive. On the 4th of July they got into another argument after he asked her about a man that was in her cell phone. He had a question about why she had a man’s name in her phone that was married and she didn’t know his wife and the wife didn’t know her. He thought this was a little strange and asked how she is such great friends with this guy for the past 10 years but had never met his wife or that his wife doesn’t even know of her. She said tough and told him to get over it. Looks like the other guy was more important then helping him to feel more comfortable. Later when this talk was brought up again she became out of control getting physically abusive slamming him against the wall. This time grabbing his wrists tightly and shaking him while pushing him against the wall. This out of control rage was very scary to him. The night of July 25th while the two of them were up north with a bunch of her friends she again got out of control. The conversation started in the car on the way back to the hotel from the concert. This again was a topic she became very angry about and begins yelling at him and telling him she is done and to leave and that he was an awful person. After telling him to leave and then like so many times before she started calling him on his cell and threatened him to get his “fucking ass back or she was done with him”. He would come back and the same thing would start up. This time she ended up slamming the car door in his face and walked off and then came back a few minutes later, this time getting him out of the car. While he was standing there with his arms crossed she verbally abused him some more and ended up getting physically abusive by pushing him where he ended up getting hurt when he fell back into the driver’s side mirror. The last time she threatened him was on October 7th when she again brought up her connections. Like other times when she would threaten him with her connections she told him that she knew people that would come after him and shut him up. This type of out of control behavior happened much more then the above.

    There were times where he would leave her place because she was so out of control
    that it scared him. She would call him and threaten him that “if he didn’t get his fucking ass back she was done with him”. There was one time when he left and she got in her car and chased him for miles down the street while calling him on his cell threatening him to turn around and get back to her place. He then pulled off to a gas station and she pulled in behind him and again with this rage she threatened him that she was done with him if he didn’t get back to her place. On September 11th the two of them got into an argument and he wanted to leave to leave her place. She kept him from leaving by blocking him from the bedroom door. After realizing he had no other safe option and she would not move after he asked her he was forced to stay. She has also thrown things at him before and because of his public figure status has threatened to use her connections with the local media to tell them some crazy story about him. She has broken into his e-mail account and gone through his personal stuff. Using his credit card she bought three plane tickets for herself and one for her child that they were all going to go on and then canceled all of them and kept the credit for herself. She came to him a few days before September 11th before one of many break ups and told him she needed to come up with $7,000 and if she didn’t she was going to have to cash in her 401k. He gets her car detailed and takes her and her child out for new shoes. The next day he takes her child to the opening game at TCF Bank stadium only to be stunned the next day when she breaks up with him again. Kind of like the day she sent him flowers and broke up with him in the same day. It’s strange she started looking up restraining orders the night of October 4th after he said he was done with her till she got help and he was going to date other women. She claims that later that night she sent his father an e mail how crazy he is and how he won’t stop contacting her. That day and early that morning of October 4th she was texting him and calling him. Since he would not answer her calls she left voice mails how much she loved him. On October 7th he stops by her place to pick up his things she had not sent him in the past three weeks. When he got there he meet her outside and she right away got into her out of control rage and started screaming at him and threatened him. She said she had sent his stuff and he should be getting it. He was so scared of her that he left right away. Five days later she submitted a restraining order against him for harassment. In the time frame she uses in her order September 13th through October 4th she texts him 252 times, sends him 21 e-mails, calls him on the phone for 300 minutes. Most of her e-mails and calls are mean, cold hearted and all blame. They meet with a counselor on September 17th and on the 22nd. She even used his Gopher tickets on September 19th and October 3rd. This is kind of strange, in his blog he mentions that she had broken up with him in the past and actually sent him an e-mail (which he posted on the blog) telling him that she would still like to use the tickets to a play he bought for the three of them to go to but she did not want him there. He gave them to her. During this time frame he has actual e-mails (which he posted on the blog) that she sent him where she is getting mad at him for not responding to her. In my mind this is not harassment on his part. Sounds like two people that are having a tough time letting go which is why her filing an order tells me that there is something more going on with her and that she is suffering from some mental illness that stems from her past.

    It sounds a bit crazy but she tells him and others how she hates him more then any
    other guy that has been in her life. She tells him that he did this to her and
    made her this way. She blamed him for everything and never even brought up the
    out of control behavior of hers. She tells him and the counselor that these guys she was with were not bad guys and were not thugs but he was the bad guy (Sounds like something is off in that thinking). I will tell you that he did not do this to her. From the sounds of it he loves and cares about her very much. He treated her very well. Most professionals as well as the people that have been through what she has will tell you that these things are very hard to face. The women that have been with the above named men said something to the police after they were treated the way they were. Why didn’t she? These men are criminals and could go to jail for the things they did to her. She didn’t tell anyone and some of the same things happened to other women by these men. When you are a victim over and over again it starts to become normal & actually something you seek unconsciously. The fact that nothing has ever been worked on could lead one to believe there is more that does not want to be dug up because its to hard to face. As you might be able to see this is a true sign of someone who is not stable and may suffer from some kind of mental health issue. She is someone who has a much distorted view on what is really going on with her and around her. She has now gone too far and has committed perjury and has been slandering his name and reputation. Because of her out of control behavior, physical abuse, bad temper and the threats of her connections with the media and this known group of criminals Tru Breed he is very concerned for his safety as well as the safety of his family (which is why he and his lawyer have prepared an OFP Order for Protection Domestic Abuse (which is all true unlike her report which can now be criminal because she committed perjury by lying about details) to be served if she ever contacts him again and this would not be good for a mother who has custody of her child). The type of men she has been with have proven to be criminals (mostly domestic abuse or rape) so this is of a concern as well. He (who has no criminal record and no run in with the law) wants nothing to do with her and is actually very scared of her and what her connections have proven to be capable of doing.

    Please if not for her do it for the safety and well being of her child. If you would like more details feel free to ask me or read his blog. Please stop by Pandys.org and help them or post your comments below.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    cpn, 19 Mar 2012 @ 1:30am

    Credit card issuers must disclose to cardholders the consequences of making only minimum payments each month, namely how long it would take to pay off the entire balance if users only made the minimum monthly payment. Issuers must also provide information on how much users must pay each month if they want to pay off their balances in 36 months, including the amount of interest.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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