This Week In Techdirt History: March 1st - 7th

from the berned dept

Five Years Ago

There was a whole lot of conversation about ACTA this week in 2010. More leaks revealed the positions of more countries, Danish politicians began questioning the country's opposition to ACTA transparency, Sweden said it won't agree if any changes to the law are required, the EU apparently agreed that more transparency was needed, and the USTR admitted its desire for ACTA to cover patents too. Meanwhile, the UK was grappling with its own Digital Economy Bill — making it worse with a new web censorship aspect, trying to outlaw weblockers, and ensuring open WiFi would be a liability.

There was more copyright insanity, too. We learned that Metallica, still famous for bringing down Napster, made only a small fraction of its revenues from CD sales; Brazil sued Columbia Pictures for violating the copyright on its famous Jesus statue; Activision killed a fan game project that had been previously licensed; Spanish indie labels tried to sue the government for not stopping file sharing; and the RIAA claimed that file sharing was undermining human rights efforts in Haiti (right).

Ten Years Ago

Record labels misunderstanding the market was hardly new to 2010. It was happening this week in 2005, too. BPI proudly announced 23 pointless file sharing settlements. Sony was among the worst, demonstrating that it was completely out of touch (and also shutting down a tribute band website, but it wasn't alone. Meanwhile, many popular musicians were taking Grokster's side at the supreme court — only for the industry to try to convince them they'd been used.

Also in 2005: LinkedIn was trying out a business model while XM was monkeying with its own, the widely publicized hack of Paris Hilton's phone turned out to be good for T-Mobile, driving while talking on a cellphone was catching on, and so were alternate reality games (except, apparently not that much), and we could tell Firefox had really made it as an browser when spyware makers started to notice it.

Fifteen Years Ago

Mind-controlled computing is one of those things that seems to have been just around the corner for a very long time — since at least 2000, in fact. But hey, this was a time when CD sales were still rising, and other things still just around the corner included the wireless internet (which similarly seemed to be taking forever). Online gambling was big, B2B was (probably) bigger, and we just began to notice how big the databases of our personal information are (which was scary at a time when hacks could still significantly undermine general public confidence in the internet). Some still wondered if perhaps pen and paper was better for notes and tests — but maybe just keeping the web pages under 5K would be sufficiently old-fashioned.

Twenty-Six Years Ago

On March 1st, 1989, after a long period of resistance, the United States joined the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, which continues to influence (though not really directly shape or control) copyright policy around the world. The US still exercises what some have called "minimal compliance" with the convention, and that's probably a good thing, or at least better than total compliance — US copyright law barely includes the prohibitive moral rights called for by Berne, and while a registration requirement and other formalities were (sadly) removed in general, Congress retained them as a prerequisite for statutory damages. Which is, y'know, something.

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Filed Under: history, look back


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  1. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 7 Mar 2015 @ 12:37pm

    off topic: Awesome Stuff

    This is the first Saturday that Awesome Stuff has not been posted on Techdirt. Has this crowdfunding series finally run its course, ending in last week's "Not So Awesome Stuff: Your Worst Crowdfunding Project"?

    If there's room for a replacement series, how about one that deals with online fundraising 'scams'? Like the tens of thousands of (US) dollars the Pirate Bay raised to buy their own island, and then never bought one. Where did all that money go? There are countless other examples, as many of us have dropped a few dollars into the collection basket from time to time -- never to see any results.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. icon
    Blackfiredragon13 (profile), 7 Mar 2015 @ 1:17pm

    Re: off topic: Awesome Stuff

    Solar roadways anyone?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. icon
    Mike Masnick (profile), 7 Mar 2015 @ 2:18pm

    Re: off topic: Awesome Stuff

    This is the first Saturday that Awesome Stuff has not been posted on Techdirt. Has this crowdfunding series finally run its course, ending in last week's "Not So Awesome Stuff: Your Worst Crowdfunding Project"?

    No, it'll be back... we were just realizing we're a little too busy preparing for next week's Copia Summit, so it had to take a little break...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 7 Mar 2015 @ 2:54pm

    5 kilobyte webpages? I want to go back to those days. Less eye candy is much better.

    After discovering Techdirt's "lite" mode I don't browse the regular site any more. The frontpage shows full stories. Content is no longer trapped in a narrow column. Text is larger. What's not to like about the "lite" mode?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 7 Mar 2015 @ 3:24pm

    Re:

    Techdirt has a "lite" mode? This option does not seem to be listed in "Preferences" -- but is there some other way to activate it?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    eye sea ewe, 7 Mar 2015 @ 3:36pm

    Correction: Mind controlled computing

    Mind controlled computing has been around since at least the 1970's. Shortly after positive results were reported, I noted at the time that no more reports were forth coming till some years later.

    Like various research areas that were giving interesting results and then disappeared, most seemed to have interesting military applications.

    So how far has it really come?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 7 Mar 2015 @ 4:42pm

    Re: Re: off topic: Awesome Stuff

    "Solar roadways anyone?"

    I was just looking at that. 2.2 million dollars raised for roads made out of solar-panels. Wow. The name "P.T. Barnum" certainly springs to mind.

    https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/solar-roadways

    This is the sort of "change the world" idea that 1st-year college students might come up with, while sitting around totally drunk and stoned, brainstorming and trying to come up with some fanciful idea to change the world, by adding onto (and out-doing) the idea that the last guy came up with. But in most cases, they usually come to their senses as soon as the effects of the drugs wore off, and forget about the last night's modern Tower of Babel they planned to build that would fix all the world's problems. But not these people. They're not only planning on building their Tower of Babel, they've roped in plenty of gullible believers to open their wallets to this unworkable plan.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNMFKKyFU60

    Their video panders to the emotions of a class of people who apparently don't understand the basic concepts of either engineering or economics. Even without the crazy addons like heating panels to melt snow and built-in lights like an airport runway. Like most crowdfunding pitches, it's long on dreams but short on technical details.

    While it's certainly possible to make a road out of solar panels using existing (or even half-century old) technology, or even the proposal to replace all the country's concrete and asphalt roads with this crazy thing, when you consider the price, engineering and logistical challenges, the cost vs benefit ratio would be mind-boggling. And perhaps worst of all, roads could be almost permanently impassible due to constant construction and repair (these things can and will break down) which would defeat the whole purpose of having roads in the first place. Perhaps the biggest factor that makes it "green" is that people would end up having to park their cars and walk everywhere because of it.

    Sorry for the long rant. This has just been one of those head-shaking moments.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    dr evil, 7 Mar 2015 @ 4:55pm

    lite mode

    Jus google it..... much better on portable devices, allows capturing the entire front page when cojjectivity is an issue. Now if we could just avoid EVER having Scribd renders.....

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 7 Mar 2015 @ 5:01pm

    Re: Correction: Mind controlled computing

    The article had the wrong link. This is the correct one: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/000228/1220249.shtml (for what it's worth)

    Regarding "mind power" and other fanciful ideas, the US military spent untold millions of dollars during the Cold War researching things like telekinesis, remote viewing, and other paranormal feats performed by cheap stage magicians claiming to be the real thing, such as Uri Geller.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    eye sea ewe, 7 Mar 2015 @ 7:08pm

    Re: Re: Correction: Mind controlled computing

    Yeah, there has been much spent on guffy stuff. However, I am talking about various science experiments with actual reproducible results reported in various reputable journal with the detailed information about the experiments available for verification, not the various drug induced black ops processes of the CIA et al.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. icon
    charliebrown (profile), 7 Mar 2015 @ 7:14pm

    Crowdfunded DVD's and LP's

    I had an idea to crowdfund the DVD's and LP's I wanted to see released. I wanted to license out the content, primarily TV shows and some (mainly Australian) albums, and release them to DVD (the TV shows) and LP (the albums) but I ran into two huge problems which have stopped me.

    Problem 1: How do I let people pay me for the crowd to actually fund me? I'd use the Kickstarter "model" of if I can't do a project, such as if I'm refused a license, I will refund the backer's money.

    Problem 2: Finding the rights holders for many of the shows I wanted to license is actually next to impossible because they keep forming multi-studio groups named after the show, so the show is copyrighted to the name of the show or some variation thereof.

    I'd really like to try this. And if you can think of a way to get it done where I can't, go for it. This idea is free for any and all to use, no strings attached. Not even attribution required.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 7 Mar 2015 @ 10:36pm

    Re: Crowdfunded DVD's and LP's

    "Problem 2: Finding the rights holders for many of the shows I wanted to license"

    Maybe find someone who licenses film clips and ask for advice.

    I was just watching an interview with documentary film maker Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Taxi to the Dark Side, etc.) and he had said that in his latest film 'Going Clear' he tried to license film clips, as he always prefers to do, from the copyright owners. But since he was exposing a secretive organization with a legendary reputation for suing into the ground any critic or perceived enemy, no one would license any material to him for his documentary, perhaps out of fear of being dragged into a scorched-earth lawsuit (or maybe also to stay on friendly terms with Tom Cruise and John Travolta).

    Not to be shut out, Alex Gibney just went ahead and used those film clips anyway -- as fair use.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 7 Mar 2015 @ 11:14pm

    Re: Re: Re: Correction: Mind controlled computing

    "However, I am talking about various science experiments with actual reproducible results"

    Those experiments were all flawed. There were Russians such as Nina Kulagina who could move objects without touching them. And the US military, fearing that the Soviets had actually harnessed these supernatural powers, went all-out conducting their own research to learn these "secrets" -- which were in reality nothing but simple stage magic tricks (PhD scientists are just as easily fooled as anyone else). And quite naturally, sleight-of-hand artists came out of the woodwork to demonstrate these claimed powers.

    But many people want so badly to believe that "psychics" and other paranormalist performers are in fact real (even when presented with contradictory evidence) they refuse to listen to reason --and their belief alone becomes their perceived reality.

    TV shows have always played up the supernatural angle, even when the producers know very well that the stuff is fake (not surprising ... who would want to watch a show about a fake psychic?).

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Mar 2015 @ 3:54am

    Re: Re:

    > Techdirt has a "lite" mode? This option does not seem to be listed in "Preferences" -- but is there some other way to activate it?

    https://www.techdirt.com/?_format=lite

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. icon
    justok (profile), 8 Mar 2015 @ 8:49am

    Re: Re: off topic: Awesome Stuff

    Sounds like awesome stuff

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. icon
    Leigh Beadon (profile), 8 Mar 2015 @ 9:18am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Correction: Mind controlled computing

    who would want to watch a show about a fake psychic?

    Wel... Psych was actually pretty fun for a while, and scored major points for steadfastly refusing to entertain the idea that psychic abilities were anything but fake.

    But other than that, yeah. And your point about scientists is well made -- folks interested in that should learn about James Randi, Banachek and Project Alpha, one of the most enjoyable stories of psychic researchers being made to look like fools.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Mar 2015 @ 12:21pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Correction: Mind controlled computing

    "Wel... Psych was actually pretty fun for a while, and scored major points for steadfastly refusing to entertain the idea that psychic abilities were anything but fake."

    I never knew about that one, I always assumed "Psych" was just another "psychic demonstrates his godly powers"-type TV show, of the kind that litter cable TV these days (and presented as "reality" - not comedy). Though maybe things just seem worse today. Even Leonard Nimoy, after Star Trek, once did a supposedly "investigative" TV show about supernatural powers and other out-of-this-world stuff ... which oddly never called bullshit on anything (this was long before Penn & Teller).


    "folks interested in that should learn about James Randi, Banachek and Project Alpha, one of the most enjoyable stories of psychic researchers being made to look like fools."

    One thing I find remarkable was that although James Randi made a living exposing people who were pretending to be things they were not, it seems none of them ever exposed him back ... such as when it came to things like his longstanding fondness for "grooming" high-school-age boys (Project Alpha turned out to be one such "project").

    So apparently Bill Cosby was not the only one in the entertainment business to get away with stuff that might have sunk his career if made public.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  18. icon
    Leigh Beadon (profile), 8 Mar 2015 @ 4:41pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Correction: Mind controlled computing

    Um I'd definitely like to hear some evidence if you're going to throw accusations like that at Randi. I've never heard whisper of that in my life. Are you sure you're not just making/buying into completely unfounded accusations based on the fact that he recently came out as gay?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  19. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Mar 2015 @ 9:37pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Correction: Mind controlled computing

    Ok, Leigh Beadon, there is no smoking gun as such, but a lot of odd little things that, when added up, might suggest a thing or two about James Randi's private life ...

    First of all, about those infamous teen sex tapes floating around the internet that have dogged Randi for years -- here's what he had to say about that (reportedly) explicit phone-sex (while still in the closet):

    "I was the victim of harassing telephone calls from teenagers in the area who called me at all hours. This was put in the hands of the local telephone authorities, we traced the calls, and arrests were made. The calls ceased. Writes Kapnistos:

    Randi later said that he had been working on behalf of the telephone company in its attempt to track down a minor who had been making obscene calls. It seems that at various times Randi has said that this tape was made by his enemies to blackmail him, that he made it himself, or that the police asked him to make it in an attempt to track down a teenager making obscene calls to his home.

    Yes, I did work at the instruction of the New Jersey Bell company, I made the evidential recording with equipment I borrowed from radio station WOR, where I worked a program at that time, but I never said that the tape I presented to the authorities was "made by [my] enemies." The JREF prize is yours as soon as you provide that evidence, too, Kapnistos. You continued:

    On May 22nd, 1999, Randi gave a public lecture at Cal Tech, in California. At that time Randi read from a formal statement that he had apparently already sent to some people, and for which he invited others to write to him. This statement consisted of Randi´s explanation for the infamous "Blackmail Tape" and repeated his version of the events that led up to the production of the tape. Randi claimed that he made the tape under the direction of the police chief of Rumson, New Jersey, to entrap harassing obscene callers.

    Yes! You finally got something right, "journalist"! I flooded the media, law enforcement, the U.S. Postal Service, and New Jersey police, with that document, and later related the entire matter to an audience at Cal Tech. But you forgot (?) to mention that on that same occasion, as I finished reading the document, I took the opportunity of flooring a nasty chap who had made similar accusations about me, and had been boasting about it loudly. One shot, to the chops. He went down, and was carried out. VERY satisfying, I assure you. Want some, Mr. Kapnistos? I got some..."


    http://web.archive.org/web/20090425045739/http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/525 -a-champion-grubbie-speaks-out.html

    Perhaps it's a common thing, for middle-aged men to get unsolicited phone calls from homosexual teenage boys wanting to talk dirty. And in order to trace the call, it requires keeping them on the phone for a very long time. And in order to keep them on the phone, it requires engaging in homo-erotic talk. All at the encouragement and direction of the police. (Maybe I'm the only one who finds this story a little bit odd?)

    Also, from an article in Time Magazine long ago:

    "Randi has never married. "I was too good an escape artist," he explains. Over the years, however, he has given shelter to young aspiring magicians, taking them in as apprentices and serving as a foster parent. "Kids keep showing up at my door with knapsacks on their backs," Randi says, "offering to work for nothing if I help train them." Today he shares his secluded, cluttered Florida house with his cat Charlie and Jose Alvarez, 20, his latest protege."


    http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,149448,00.html

    Reading between the lines, it seems that the Time writer might have been trying to say something without actually saying it. Jose Alvarez may have been Randi's last "foster child"/"apprentice" -- the two are still together. I don't know if any of the young "apprentices" have ever spoken out about what went on behind closed doors, but it's not hard *NOW* to imagine why Randi might have been so welcoming to having these youngsters living with him. But, hey, at least they were a few years older than Michael Jackson's preferred age in house guests -- even if some were under 18.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  20. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Mar 2015 @ 9:42pm

    "... if you're going to throw accusations like that at Randi ... Are you sure you're not just making/buying into completely unfounded accusations"

    Please check the "Comment Held for Moderation" queue, where this question was answered in detail.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  21. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Mar 2015 @ 9:45pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Correction: Mind controlled computing

    "Um I'd definitely like to hear some evidence if you're going to throw accusations like that at Randi. I've never heard whisper of that in my life. Are you sure you're not just making/buying into completely unfounded accusations based on the fact that he recently came out as gay?"

    Please check the "Comment Held for Moderation" queue, where this question was answered in detail.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  22. identicon
    eye sea you, 9 Mar 2015 @ 12:57am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Correction: Mind controlled computing

    Go back and research the electrical connection between man and machine. !970's and the analysis of eeg signals for the control of computers or myoelectric control of devices. There were many people who had direct interaction with controlling machines using both brain and muscle connections. It was a common event during the University Open days for our Electrical Engineering Department to have people try to control artificial hands simply by flexing muscles and generating the correct electrical signals. There were also many experiments where the electrical signals from the brain were used to control various devices connected to computers.

    It goes to show the ignorance of people, such as yourself, who didn't know of these experiments which were the forerunners of the technology available today. It also shows how easy it is for people, such as yourself, to get confused between science and non-science endeavours.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  23. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 9 Mar 2015 @ 3:14am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Correction: Mind controlled computing

    OK, I found it, the famous NSFW James Randi Sex Tapes:

    http://www.happierabroad.com/JamesRandi.zip

    Now decide for yourself if Randi was robbing the cradle.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  24. icon
    Leigh Beadon (profile), 9 Mar 2015 @ 3:41pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Correction: Mind controlled computing

    Seems a little thin to me, but I'll look more into it -- bearing in mind that Randi has a tonne of enemies that would love to tear him down.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  25. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 9 Mar 2015 @ 5:45pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Correction: Mind controlled computing

    If still in doubt, just listen to James Randi's self-recorded and sexually explicit tapes in which he tries to coax various youngsters into sexual rendezvous:

    http://www.happierabroad.com/JamesRandi.zip

    He admitted recording those "phone sex" tapes in that bizarre rant he posted a few years ago on Swift, "A Champion Grubbie Speaks Out" -- something that caught my attention because I never knew anything about it before then, and digging deeper, I learned that it was indeed old knowledge. I never bothered to actually listen to the tapes until yesterday, due to a certain skeptic here questioning the almost-certainly-true allegations about him.

    Yes, Randi does indeed have enemies (both internal and external, it seems, as his organization is rapidly disintegrating, mainly due to the issue of sexual harassment). Randi only came out of the closet (at the age of 80) when tipped off that Sylvia Browne had hired a private investigator and was about to spill the beans on him (presumably about his homosexuality, not his history of pederasty).

    I don't know if the TV show "To Catch a Predator" has ever set up celebrities to get busted, but it would have been funny (even if sad) to see someone like James Randi or Bill Cosby go to jail.

    But of course, just like Bill Cosby and John Travolta, none of these suspicions against James Randi have ever been concretely proven, technically other than the things that he publicly admitted to (and which in Cosby's and Travolta's case is still zero)

    link to this | view in thread ]


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