China's Censorship Hits Internet Users In Other Countries

Would President Obama Answer A Question About The DMCA During His Google Hangout?

from the doubtful,-but... dept

Tue, Feb 12th 2013 7:47pm — Mike Masnick

If you haven't seen the news yet, President Obama is going to do a Google Hangout on Thursday in which he'll answer some presubmitted questions. The White House and YouTube have set up a ridiculously clumsy submission system, allowing people to submit questions by text or by video and then anyone can vote on them, though browsing the questions or even linking to any particular question appears to take a Herculean effort. That said, a few people have asked some questions about copyright (you can do a search on the submission page). One interesting one, comes from Public Knowledge, in which they directly ask him about fixing the problems with anti-circumvention rules in the DMCA, such as those we've been talking about concerning phone unlocking. That link above should allow you to vote for the question. You can also see the video of the question below. It would be nice to see that question get a lot of votes, and to see if the President would be willing to actually answer the question.

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Filed Under: copyright, dmca, mobile phones, president obama, questions, unlocking

34 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 12 Feb 2013 @ 8:04pm

Preemptive translation to all answers: your rights end where the profits of my highest bidders begin.
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- Anonymous Monkey (profile), 12 Feb 2013 @ 8:34pm
  
  Re:
  Where's a 'Sad-But-True' button when you need it ?!
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Feb 2013 @ 8:35pm

Interesting. I voted for some questions (including that one) and against others.

On a side note, you'd think people would proofread something they're submitting as a question to be answered by the President, but I see a lot of typos.
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The Original Anonymous Coward (profile), 12 Feb 2013 @ 9:03pm

Will he understand the question?
I believe that the President is not interested in such things as copyright and the DCMA and therefore has no knowledge of how they work or their implications. I believe that he spends most of his time worrying about how he will be able to shape the economy and American society.

Would he even understand the problem? I think not. If he does tackle the question, his answer will most likely have been given to him by his minions.
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- PRMan, 13 Feb 2013 @ 7:07am
  
  Re: Will he understand the question?
  Almost everyone in his cabinet and the DOJ are from the MAFIAA. Trust me when I tell you he is keenly aware of his copyright "responsibilities".
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Feb 2013 @ 9:28pm

this will go the same way as the White House petitions. he will answer what he wants and ignore the peoples actual questions
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- PRMan, 13 Feb 2013 @ 7:09am
  
  Re:
  "this will go the same way as the White House petitions. he will answer what he wants and ignore the peoples actual questions"
  
  Is it any different when reporters ask them questions?
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Feb 2013 @ 10:52pm

Who cares about the DMCA ask why the US is so full of monopolies.
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- Anonymous Coward, 12 Feb 2013 @ 10:58pm
  
  Re:
  Because of the DMCA? Or at the very least, because of the same reasons the DMCA exists.
  
  What I don't get is why people are fussing over the exceptions so much, while really the entire law should be scrapped.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 13 Feb 2013 @ 12:17am
    
    Re: Re:
    Thus why you should not concern thyself with the details(DMCA) but the bigger problem(monopolies).
    
    All those crazy laws sprout from one place.
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- Anonymous Coward, 13 Feb 2013 @ 1:22am
  
  Re:
  And idiots
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  - That One Guy (profile), 13 Feb 2013 @ 2:21am
    
    Re: Re:
    Paraphrased from a Cracked.com comment:
    
    Every country has it's idiots, it's just american idiots tend to be a little louder, and so get more attention.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 13 Feb 2013 @ 5:10am
    
    Re: Re:
    No need to ask that. It is implied on the question since only fools allow harmful artificial monopolies to exist.
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[citation needed or GTFO], 12 Feb 2013 @ 11:05pm

The past repeats itself...
Remember how there was a majority of people that upvoted asking about the legalization of marijuana?

Same situation. The question will get popular votes, but never referred to in the actual questioning.
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Bollocks, 13 Feb 2013 @ 1:20am

The people should ask Obanana why he thinks the American people are so stupid as to believe, day in and day out,that what they think actually matters.
The same can be said for the UK as the British public are the second most stupid nation next to the USA.

Europe is getting that way to it is just taking the people there too see what's happening.
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- Marcel de Jong (profile), 13 Feb 2013 @ 2:53am
  
  Re:
  "Obanana"? Really?
  ಠ_ಠ
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  - Anonymous Coward, 13 Feb 2013 @ 4:52am
    
    Re: Re:
    Reminds me of the YouTube video of the minions singing "the lions sleeps tonight" using the words banana and potato.
    
    Youtube: Despicable Me - Minions Singing Banana/Potato Song
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    - Colin, 13 Feb 2013 @ 8:38am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      That video/song is definitely not of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."
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  - weneedhelp (profile), 13 Feb 2013 @ 7:46am
    
    Re: Re:
    Yeah lets just call him Barry.
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nospacesorspecialcharacters (profile), 13 Feb 2013 @ 2:38am

His answer will be something along the lines of...
Copyright is important... blah, blah... strong economy... something... strive to maintain balance... blah, something... rights.

Has there ever been a point in history where a politician has been challenged on something and they've answered something to the effect of:

"Hmm I didn't know that, that's awful, you've changed my mind about this issue and I'm going to try and fix this problem."

Nope, I don't recall either.
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- Anonymous Coward, 13 Feb 2013 @ 5:07am
  
  Re: His answer will be something along the lines of...
  Quote:
  Has there ever been a point in history where a politician has been challenged on something and they've answered something to the effect of:
  
  All the time, and it even has a technical definition: flip-flopping.
  
  :)
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  - Anonymous Coward, 13 Feb 2013 @ 5:58am
    
    Re: Re: His answer will be something along the lines of...
    Only in politics is educating yourself and changing your opinion based on new information seen as a bad thing...
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    - weneedhelp (profile), 13 Feb 2013 @ 7:48am
      
      Re: Re: Re: His answer will be something along the lines of...
      Unless of course you go back and forth, hence flip flop.
      
      " educating yourself and changing" - That would just be a flip, and no flop. :)
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    - Anonymous Coward, 13 Feb 2013 @ 8:31am
      
      Re: Re: Re: His answer will be something along the lines of...
      In fairness in a representative democracy it IS a bad thing to run on one opinion and then spend your time in office with another.
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      - Mr. Applegate, 13 Feb 2013 @ 1:25pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: His answer will be something along the lines of...
        Well your reputation takes a hit, with at least part of the people. But really, how is that different than anyone else.
        
        I mean if I tell someone I will do X and then do Y they may not be very happy with me.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Feb 2013 @ 5:45am

The past will likely repeat itself:
President Obama Does Reddit AMA; Gives Weak Politician's Answer About Internet Freedom
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- Anonymous Coward, 13 Feb 2013 @ 8:30am
  
  Re:
  That was certainly my first thought. A bunch of weak-tea answered to the cherry-picked softball questions regardless of what gets the most votes.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Feb 2013 @ 5:46am

WTF is a "Google Hangout"?
And why would I ever want to spend my time watching it unless it featured Felicia Day & Wil Wheaton??
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jupiterkansas (profile), 13 Feb 2013 @ 6:37am

Obama has made it pretty clear he will do nothing to fix copyright. It's up to our joke of a congress.
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Ninja (profile), 13 Feb 2013 @ 6:53am

Short answer? Probably not.
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Todd (profile), 13 Feb 2013 @ 7:42am

Dislike - voting systems with dislike buttons
It's interesting seeing the "no" votes on some of these things. I submitted a question about the CFAA, and there are almost as many thumbs down as thumbs up. I suppose there are some self-appointed fans of the DOJ who are policing these questions?

The way this thing is set up, that may be a good strategy. If a question is hit early with negative votes it seems to keep it from being very visible. I suppose that could work in reverse too, so I guess I'll spend some time hunting down some infant questions I disagree with and trying to kill them (or at least wound them severely).
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- weneedhelp (profile), 13 Feb 2013 @ 8:31am
  
  Re: Dislike - voting systems with dislike buttons
  " I suppose there are some self-appointed fans of the DOJ who are policing these questions?"
  
  Or DOJ employees
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- Anonymous Coward, 13 Feb 2013 @ 8:32am
  
  Re: Dislike - voting systems with dislike buttons
  Sycophants are keen to be as sycophantic as possible even when no one is watching it seems.
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bshock, 13 Feb 2013 @ 9:53am

sure, why not try?
I fully support the idea of asking President Obama constructive questions about the DMCA or about any aspect of overreaching intellectual property that his administration supports.

But I'm not stupid enough to think he'll give a constructive answer. We need a conversation about this topic, not the standard political non-answer that the president will almost surely give.

Of course, if the president did answer straight about intellectual property matters, it would become clear that he's on the side of Big Content, rather than on the side of consumers. Vice president Biden is practically a wholly owned Disney subsidiary.
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