This Week In Techdirt History: April 19th - 25th
from the those-were-the-days dept
Five Years Ago
This week in 2015, Sony was once again warning the media not to report on leaked emails — and they even sent a letter to Techdirt, to which we publicly responded — while MPAA boss Chris Dodd was implying that the US should go after Wikileaks for publishing them. Perhaps because the emails revealed things like how the MPAA pirated clips from Google commercials to make its own propaganda videos, and strategized about how to "tell the positive side" of internet censorship. Meanwhile, major record labels were trying to get SOPA by the back door, via a lawsuit against MP3Skull, and the war on owning-what-you-buy was being waged on fronts from GM vehicles to DVDs.
Ten Years Ago
This week in 2010, since everyone had already seen ACTA after the full text leaked, the USTR decided it was time to release it. The revised text was only slightly less awful than expected, and of course was missing one piece of information that would have been especially interesting: what each country was pushing for.
Also this week in 2010: Google began releasing stats on info and takedown requests from governments, a look at piracy stats showed the UK ones to be just as bogus as US ones and revealed that the MPAA unsurprisingly refused to share details on how it collected its numbers, and the Canadian entertainment industry was launching a new media campaign to push for draconian copyright laws.
Fifteen Years Ago
This week in 2005, Verizon's CEO was deftly responding to consumer demands by complaining about the very fact that customers want any kind of service at all, while the ISP war on VoIP was bringing more companies in more countries into the fray, as was the recording industry's war on lyrics websites. We took a closer look at the entertainment industry's relationship with federal law enforcement, Microsoft's weak-sauce attempts to keep Encarta competitive with Wikipedia, and the latest impossible promise of perfect DRM (coming just as other providers of copy protection software got locked in a patent battle). This was also the week that Adobe bought Macromedia.
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The 15 years ago lineup seems particularly interesting here, when you look through modern eyes. Mobile data has replaced landlines for many households, so Verizon were even further off the mark than the already silly statement would suggest. VoIP has been massively important during the current pandemic and it would have caused uncountable problems if the ISPs had got their way. Encarta is so dead that younger readers would need to look at Wikipedia to learn what Encarta was. Meanwhile, Flash, one of the main products that Adobe bought Macromedia to obtain, has been pretty much laughed off the internet.
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This week in Techdirt history Slonecker continued to simp for the MPAA after they were found to be very, very naughty in their emails - begging Techdirt to stop hurting the MPAA's fee-fees in a way that would have rivaled Chris Crocker's "Leave Britney alone" plea.
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That grudge you’re holding onto with a death grip can’t be healthy for you.
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Freehand
Also 15 years ago, Adobe buy Macromedia, promise support Freehand, but later stop sell Freehand becuase compete with Adobe Illustrator. Lucky Inkscape appear few years later.
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I wasn't lying when I said that it is Planet of the Apes! Sub-terrainian mutant monkey's are in control and have enslaved us, while they monkey around jumping off of hotel balconies into swimming pools!
https://sputniknews.com/videoclub/202004261079097088-all-inclusive-quarantine-monkeys-enjoy-t hemselves-in-hotels-pool/
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