Techdirt Podcast Episode 131: Is The Economy More Important Than Democracy?

from the or-vice-versa dept

The economy is important — very important. But is that because it matters in and of itself, or because it's the engine for achieving the things we really do care about? Here at Techdirt we've always been strong advocates of the free market, but we've never been absolutists about things like regulation, and we believe it's very important to explore these issues in detail. This week on the podcast we're joined by James Allworth, co-host of the Exponent podcast and author of a recent post entitled Prioritizing Economics is Crippling the U.S. Economy, to discuss entrepreneurship, democracy, the economy and more.

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Filed Under: democracy, economics, james allworth, podcast, politics

Techdirt Podcast Episode 130: Is It Bad If Facebook Copies Everything Snapchat Does?

from the fast-following dept

You may have heard the joke: the best way to do product design for Facebook is to get a job at Snapchat. We've all seen how, after failing to buy the company, Facebook has wasted little time in building its own versions of most of Snapchat's key features. So... is this a problem? That's the subject on this week's episode, were we discuss the ins and outs of this kind of copying and what it might mean for the future of social media.

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Filed Under: copying, innovation, podcast
Companies: facebook, snapchat

Techdirt Podcast Episode 129: Rob Reid On Writing & Publishing A SciFi Novel In 2017

from the book-club dept

If you read our post yesterday, you know that Techdirt friend Rob Reid is releasing his latest novel, After On by publishing the first near-half of the book for free on Medium. As promised, today we're joined by Rob on the podcast for a discussion about the book, the launch, and what it's like to publish science fiction in 2017. And don't forget to get your copy of the book!

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Filed Under: after on, books, podcast, publishing, rob reid, science fiction, year zero

Techdirt Podcast Episode 128: Patent Trolls, With Cloudflare's General Counsel

from the reporting-from-the-front-lines dept

As we reported last month, CDN provider Cloudflare has decided to hit back against patent troll Blackbird Technologies with an aggressive strategy. Leading this charge is Doug Kramer, Cloudflare's General Counsel, who joins us this week to discuss the current situation with Blackbird and the broader patent landscape.

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Filed Under: doug kramer, patent trolls, patents, podcast
Companies: cloudflare

Techdirt Podcast Episode 127: Copyright, Music & 'Theft'

from the a-legacy-of-copying dept

This week's episode is all about copyright and culture, with a pair of the best guests you could ask for on the subject. Almost ten years ago, law professors Keith Aoki, James Boyle and Jennifer Jenkins released a comic book about copyright called Bound By Law, and now they are back with a sequel: Theft: A History of Music. This week, James and Jennifer join us to discuss the new comic and the history of copyright and music (with lots of fair use music snippets to demonstrate the legacy of 'theft')!

You should also be sure to check out the comic itself! You can download a digital copy for free of course, but for those who want to get their hands on the beautiful paperback edition, we've got a limited time offer for Techdirt fans: you can get it for only $8.99 at Createspace (that's 40% off!) when you use the discount code 2FESBPRQ within the next two weeks. It's also available on Amazon with a free Kindle edition included when you buy.

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Filed Under: copyright, fair use, james boyle, jennifer jenkins, music, podcast, remix

Techdirt Podcast Episode 125: Re-Decentralizing The Web

from the listen-up dept

One of the fundamental strengths of the internet has always been its decentralization, but over time we've seen a bunch of different forces start to distort this setup. This week, we're joined by Jamie King, director of Steal This Film and host of the Steal This Show podcast to discuss the ongoing efforts to restore the decentralization of the web.

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Filed Under: decentralization, internet, jamie king, podcast, web

Techdirt Podcast Episode 124: The Future Of Internet Copyright, With TechFreedom

from the copywrong dept

This week we've got a special crossover episode with our friends at TechFreedom. Mike joined their Tech Policy Podcast recently to discuss notice and takedown systems and the future of internet copyright, and we're cross-posting the conversation as an episode of the Techdirt Podcast too.

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Filed Under: copyright, podcast, policy, techfreedom

Techdirt Podcast Episode 123: No, The MP3 Isn't Dead

from the seriously,-damnit dept

When the "death of the MP3" started being reported, we were among the very few blogs that said umm, no — but the deluge of eulogies for the still-thriving format has been overwhelming and quite surprising. This week I join the podcast to discuss why the MP3 isn't dead, and how so much of the tech press got it so wrong.

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Filed Under: blogging, mp3, open source, patents, podcast

Techdirt Podcast Episode 122: Truth And Fiction With Cory Doctorow

from the don't-walkaway-from-this-one dept

Most Techdirt readers are already familiar with Cory Doctorow, whether via his EFF work, the BoingBoing blog, his novels, or all of the above. This week, he joins us on the podcast for an in-depth discussion about his new book Walkaway and much, much more.

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Filed Under: boingboing, cory doctorow, eff, podcast, walkaway