Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt

from the godaddy-edition dept

Sun, Jan 1st 2012 12:00pm — Mike Masnick

First off, Happy New Year to everyone... hope everyone had a good time last night. Anyway, it's Sunday, so it's time for our "funniest/most insightful" of the week. Of course, since it's also the New Year and we have off tomorrow, I'll be back tomorrow for a similar post, doing the funniest/most insightful comments of all of 2011. But, while you nurse your hangovers, we'll just focus on the past week.

And... it was a week of GoDaddy, that's for sure. The top two comments on the "insightful" list were both about GoDaddy. First up, we had an Anonymous Poster try to set one of our regular critics straight after he falsely claimed that people boycotting GoDaddy was a violation of GoDaddy's "free speech" rights. This is, of course, ridiculous:

GoDaddy has every right to say it supports SOPA. The company should have expected a backlash for doing so, though.

Free speech isn't short for "consequence-free speech", after all.

Of course, this was one of about 50 people who all made the same argument to this particular person, who continued to insist that this was obviously an infringement of GoDaddy's free speech rights. When you simply refuse to understand basic concepts -- such as what "free speech rights" are about -- it explains why most people consider you a troll.

Coming in second was a comment from TechnoMage, questioning the numbers that suggested that GoDaddy got more new domains than it lost on Thursday's boycott day (even though the boycott itself was clearly a huge success in getting GoDaddy to reverse its position):

Part of me feels that it is odd that a bunch of domains moved to GoDaddy because of marketing in a such a short burst like that. Sure marketing for a domain service is worth-while in the long run... but most people don't register domains that often. So....

I'd be curious if all of the new domains are:
1) Legit
2) at full normal price
2.5) not given some really silly 99% off discount
2.6) aren't owned by GoDaddy shell companies for the purpose of hiding that they lost domains (because I probably would have done this if it is legal (IANAL, is it?)
3) how many of these domains were owned by compaies/persons paid to go through GoDaddy?

I don't expect to get any of those answers, but if I cared enough, or was responsible for this line of thought... those would be the questions I'd be looking into.

For editor's choice, we've got SD's analysis of the details of the US Copyright Office's desire to move to a digitized system of DMCA agents, with a specific focus on alternate names:

By my count there are currently 13,434 online service providers in the Copyright Office's index.

Base Fee
1998-2002 $20
2002-2006 $30
2006-2008 $80
2008-Present $105

Alternate Name Stats
8,311 have submitted at least one alternate name
3,443 have one alternate name
1,840 have two alternate names
918 have three alternate names
10,956 alternate name fees payed (current rate is $30 for every 10)
46,805 alternate names in total

Top Alternate Names Holders
1. Diageo North America Inc. (3,061)
2. CBS Radio Inc. (1,268)
3. Meredith Corporation (1,089)
4. Clear Channel Communications Inc. (921)
5. Viacom International Inc. (793)

A small sample I made of the PDF files in the index ranged from 70KB-170KB. Roughly estimated the index probably takes up between 1.5-2GB (not including their backups). For a 13,434 entry database with 46,805 aliases, a digital conversion would reduce the index's footprint to a few hundred megabytes(not including backups or the proposed revision database). A small database like that would make it easier for rightsholders to download a full list of current contacts.

One huge downside is that they'll be displaying email addresses in plaintext for the first time. This will increase the number of rightsholders using completely automated systems(web spiders attached to a DMCA notice mailer that hits on certain keywords) and of course spam in general. While I don't care much about the spam issue (99% of spam could probably be weeded out if emails not including the required electronic signatures were disregarded) an increase in bogus notices would have a net effect of slowing down processing times and increase the amount of non-infringing content taken down. There should be penalties for sending bogus notices before they go forward with this plan.

These are the kind of comments I love. They provide more detail and data where it was lacking before. Very useful. And for the second editor's choice, we've got Ninja's comment on the story of Cee Lo Green making a ton of money even as he wasn't selling that many albums. One of our usual critics started complaining about how awful it was that Green had to make his money from other sources and Ninja broke out the sarcasm:

Yes, it's wrong! Artists should only make money from selling plastic discs! How dare they try to make money with live performances or by attending shows to get closer to their public! How outrageous it is to make money from ads, I mean, look at all those soccer players that only rely on what their clubs pay!!

But come on, it's New Year's, no one's in the mood for serious "insightful" posts... they want the funny. And we've got that for you too. Coming in first is hothmonster with his reaction to Universal Music taking down a video that 50cent made himself for the latest mixtape he's releasing (himself):

Fucking 50 cent is a dirty pirate. How dare he steal that video, doesn't he know how hard he worked on it? How 50 can sleep at night knowing that he is taking money right out of 50s pockets I will never know.

In second place, we have an Anonymous Coward responding to our story this week of a songwriter taking a bunch of tweets that were highlighted by a comedy writer and turning them into a song. This AC got right to the point: but what about the IP?

Look at all that stolen intellectual property. Everybody needs to sue everybody.

For editor's choice, we've got Machin Shin's response to one of our regular critics. That critic brought up the following analogy for discussions on file sharing:

Me: "The house is one fire"

Masnick: "yeah, but look at ugly front gate. We need to get someone to fix the gate"

Machin pointed out that the analogy might be a bit different back here, in reality:

You: "The ship is on fire so we need to sink the ship!"

Us: "How about we just use a fire extinguisher on the fire instead of sinking the entire ship?"

You: "Don't you care that the ship is on fire!! We need to sink it so we can put the fire out and prevent any more fires!"

Us: "Then we will no longer have the ship anyways. Lets use an extinguisher."

You: "NOOO!! WE MUST SINK SHIP!!!!! NO OTHER WAY WILL WORK!!"

For what it's worth, I kind of liked my own entrant into this thread.

Finally, we have Marc Randazza commenting on the story of one of Righthaven's appeals being dismissed, after the company failed to do the most basic of things to abide by a court order. Marc points out one extra amusing factoid that I'd missed in writing up the article (and am kicking myself for not using in the headline):

Sorta funny that this happened in Righthaven v. FACEPUNCH.

And, on that note, I'll let you get back to your New Year's Day festivities.... Remember, we're "off" tomorrow, but will have the funniest and most insightful comments of all of 2011 to keep you company... Until then...

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26 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jan 2012 @ 1:18pm

Best of 2011
I was wondering if you'd do a best of the year post. Looking forward to it tomorrow.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jan 2012 @ 2:18pm

Why are the pro-copyright crowd so bad at analogies?
Is it because they live in another world?
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Hephaestus (profile), 1 Jan 2012 @ 2:49pm

Re:
It is because analogies about lies and non existent things don't work.
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Mike C. (profile), 1 Jan 2012 @ 2:59pm

Re: Re:
Nope... you missed it. The reason the copyright crowd is so bad at analogies is that they've used up all their creativity writing such wonderful movies like Gigli and outstanding songs like Baby (Justin Bieber). I mean, after all, with such amazing talent like that, is it any wonder they have nothing left for analogies????
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jan 2012 @ 4:10pm

Re:
The pro-copyright crowd sucking at analogies is much like a car, because cars also suck at making analogies.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jan 2012 @ 8:00pm

Re: Re:
You had to make a car analogy :)
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Suja, 2 Jan 2012 @ 5:02am

Re:
it has come to my attention that those who are most pro-copyright AKA anti-copying/piracy AKA those-who-preach-originality-the-most tend to be the most unoriginal, mediocre and downright uncreative whining douchebags the world has ever seen
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jan 2012 @ 5:03am

Re: Re:
AKA they suck at analogies cause they ain't got creativity or wit worth a shit, don't take much to talk in scrambles
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Dark Helmet (profile), 2 Jan 2012 @ 5:04am

Re: Re:
Plus, you wouldn't steal real, physical analogies from Analogies 'R Us retail stores would you? Why are online analogies any different?
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Suja, 2 Jan 2012 @ 5:05am

Re: Re: Re:
haha car analogies seem to be a big favorite among pro-copyright groups for some silly reason
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Suja, 2 Jan 2012 @ 5:07am

Re: Re: Re:
wait they SELL those now? & i was sitting here making my own analogies, why?? when i can go down to the store and STEAL 'em! my freetardetry is now complete!
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jan 2012 @ 5:57am

Re: Re: Re:
IMDB is not politic correct at all, describing that movie.

Quote:
The violent story about how a criminal lesbian, a tough-guy hit-man with a heart of gold, and a retarded man came to be best friends through a hostage.

Source: IMDb - Gigli (2003)

ROFL.
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bootland, 2 Jan 2012 @ 6:07am

Re: Re: Re:
GoDaddy kind of fell of it's statue so to say - I have a lot of business with them but the recent developments made me look closely into that. Can't trust anything these days :-(
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jan 2012 @ 6:30am

Quote:
Beyond balloons

He cited the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) in the United States as an example of the kind of threat facing online freedom. If passed, the act would allow for some sites to be blocked on copyright grounds.

Source: BBC - Hackers plan space satellites to combat censorship

Great things appear to be coming only from Europe these days.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jan 2012 @ 7:00am

Re:
Source: BBC - Hackers plan space satellites to combat censorship

This is a massive joke.
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Richard (profile), 2 Jan 2012 @ 7:46am

Re: Re:
Err no actually.
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TtfnJohn (profile), 2 Jan 2012 @ 8:03am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Least of all GoDaddy but take heart. They have one finger in the air to check how the wind is blowing and another on the balance sheet.

They're so good at the balance sheet stuff. Not so good on PR. Or on uncensored internets :)
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jan 2012 @ 8:09am

People are getting busy making original content LoL

Ocean Marketing FAIL

Ocean Marketing Guy Gets hit with Missile

Paul Christoforo Presidential Announcement
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jan 2012 @ 8:21am

People are getting busy making original content LoL

Ocean Marketing FAIL

Ocean Marketing Guy Gets hit with Missile

Paul Christoforo Presidential Announcement
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jan 2012 @ 8:32am

Re: Re:
Here is another joke:
Copenhagen Suborbital Open Source Rocket Successful Launch of HEAT X-1
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mike allen (profile), 2 Jan 2012 @ 9:27am

i notice the trolls are not here yet today guess this proves they get paid to troll pity they are no good at it.
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The eejit (profile), 2 Jan 2012 @ 1:03pm

Re: Re:
Well, Auntie isn't exactly famed for telling jokes.
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The eejit (profile), 2 Jan 2012 @ 1:04pm

Re:
Nah, it's clearly because the banks are supposed to be closed.
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Marcel de Jong (profile), 2 Jan 2012 @ 2:40pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
"You wouldn't steal an analogy"
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Marcel de Jong (profile), 2 Jan 2012 @ 2:46pm

Re: Re:
Their trolling offices are shut for the week. They are outside now, unfamiliar to the bright light of the sun/clouded sky, huddled in corners waiting till the holiday season is over, so that they can get back to their desks and become intarwebs heroes once more.
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Hephaestus (profile), 2 Jan 2012 @ 8:43pm

Re: Re: Re:
They have no creativity. People bring them scripts, they determine if it will make money, then they make a movie out of it or not. For them it is about the bottom line not art.
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