Internet Zen Master (profile), 19 Dec 2013 @ 2:42pm
Re:
No, those two options should most definitely exist.
Believe it or not, as much as the government has exhausted the credibility of the phrase "national security", there may actually be occasions where telling Congress classified info in a public hearing would actually be damaging to the country's national security (since the hearings would be public and terrorists probably read the news like everyone else).
Loose Lips do Sink Ships.
The problem is the government seems to want to define EVERYTHING as a sinkable ship these days, no matter how harmless the information actually is.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 18 Dec 2013 @ 8:12pm
Re:
Google has screwed musicians millions of times more than anyone ever did by refusing to delist sites like the Pirate Bay and making it almost impossible to take down all the blogspots that do nothing but list infringing files.
Ignoring the fact that you're an idiot, if Google doing it's job as a SEARCH ENGINE (hint: not a filter), is supposedly robbing the artists of their money, then so is Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, and every other search engine in existence.
Admit it AC, you don't hate Google, what you really hate is the Internet.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 16 Dec 2013 @ 1:00pm
Re: Re: Why?
How about... hell no.
While Facebook may be a giant, invasive, corporate pain in the ass, it's not trying to force me to merge my Youtube account with google+ just because google+ has a tiny userbase, and give up my anonymity in the process by trying get me to choose between my real name or my Youtube username(with a forced google+ channel) every time I go on the site.
I like having the ability to remain (relatively) anonymous on the web. I do not like the idea of having to self-censor myself because someone might be offended and come after me outside the web, just because Google's trying to save its stagnant social network & force trolls to try and behave.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 12 Dec 2013 @ 8:48am
Re: Re: You know, Mike, one can get into "phony" trouble with real actions.
Care to link to a citation from your distorted view of common law where society held the blacksmith accountable for the actions of the swordsman or anything similar?
This is actually the best (and most original) analogy for this situation. I was going to make a comment about blaming the car manufacturer for the actions of a car's owner, but yours is much more appropriate for this scenario.
Let's just hope the US justice system doesn't screw up so much that we end up having to support this scumbag because his trial could set some really, really bad precedents.
Wait a second. A government lawyer blaming the site's owner for the actions of its users? I feel like I've heard this song and dance before...
Internet Zen Master (profile), 5 Dec 2013 @ 8:18pm
So, who else wants to bet that if ALADS was part of the federal government it'd try to claim "national security!" as the reason for blocking the publication?
Internet Zen Master (profile), 4 Dec 2013 @ 5:07pm
Talk about mission creep
Christ on a unicycle. And here I thought all the stuff that was crammed into the ACA was outrageous. At least the stuff they put in ACA was vaguely related to healthcare. But in what sane universe is cyberbullying related to terrorism and cable theft?
Internet Zen Master (profile), 4 Dec 2013 @ 4:40pm
Actually..
Getting a technical foul for swearing in sports games sounds rather realistic and something that could happen in the real world as well. Of course, I'm basing this on my 9 years experience as a baseball umpire for various little league, where if a player/coach is heard swearing within earshot of an umpire the offender receives one warning to stop and gets thrown out of the game if the umpires hear them swearing after that. Don't know how much of that that translates over to the professional leagues of basketball and soccer, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did. Is it kinda dumb since it's a video game? Eh.
On the flipside, those PS4 users in the playroom are probably going to end up as "why we can't have nice things" within a year or so.
Not s fan of XB1's swear-filter, but considering the potty-mouthed teenagers I've encountered while playing Halo 4's multiplayer on live, I can't say I'm too surprised this happened.
Hopefully Microsoft will relax the swearing restrictions at some point in 2014. Let's just pray they don't grow that disturbing brand of puritanism that seems to permeate Apple's walled garden these days.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 3 Dec 2013 @ 5:25pm
Re:
Is it scary that I can imagine Google trying that eventually, especially considering the stunt they're pulling with the "you must have Google+ to comment on Youtube" they started last month.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 3 Dec 2013 @ 8:22am
Re:
At least most religions aren't monitoring your every waking moment to make sure you're behaving according to religious laws. They let their deity of choice do that for them.
Okay, that's not quite true, but the level of privacy invadin' is a lot lower from most religions than it is from the NSA these days, that much is for sure.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 3 Dec 2013 @ 8:13am
Re: To be fair...
When I think the most obsessive, hyper-focused gamers, the country that usually pops into mind first is S. Korea. Do I think they're "addicted" to gaming? No.
Having a PSA promoting a healthy lifestyle telling people to take 30-60 minutes a day to exercise/eat sounds much more reasonable than classifying video games in the same boat as gambling/alcoholism/drug addiction.
Yeah, this definitely smells of the government trying to steal its "fair share" of the South Korean gaming industry's profit pie through regulation.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 27 Nov 2013 @ 12:40pm
Why is it that so many columnists
Have no idea what the heck they're talking about these days? I mean, what the hell was mister Crovitz reading when he came to those conclusions, which are clearly the OPPOSITE of what the EFF found?
Internet Zen Master (profile), 27 Nov 2013 @ 12:36pm
Re: Re: Does he shoot the messenger too?
Last I checked, atheist groups don't have much of a reason to block religious content. I mean, what harm can (from an atheist perspective) having access to Christian/Hindu/Jewish/Buddhist/Muslim/Rastafarian texts do? I mean, they're all just imaginary sky-gods and superstitious mythology, just like the Greek/Roman religions of old, are they not?
But on topic: Considering that those Christian schools block anything you might consider "controversial", it must be one hell of a boring view of the Internet from the school networks. I mean, doesn't the Internet practically run on controversy these days?
Internet Zen Master (profile), 27 Nov 2013 @ 11:28am
Shame really
Was actually looking forward to seeing how this might've turned out.
My only comment on the whole permission culture issue is that permission isn't something that should be required/demanded. It should be up to the parody artist to decide if they should ask the original creator or not.
In fact, it shouldn't be so much 'asking permission' as it should be giving the creator (provided they're alive/actually known) a heads-up that you created something based on their art. The remixer/parody artist can ask the original artist if they have any problems with the parody work, if only so that the creator of the content parodied isn't completely blindsided by the whole affair.
However, it should be more a nice gesture than an actual requirement (in other words, completely optional).
Internet Zen Master (profile), 26 Nov 2013 @ 2:16pm
Re:
The question then is: at what point does a work go from "slightly modified" to "transformative"?
That's the question that this court in California has to decide. And if they take into account the Liebovitz case, one would be inclined to think that they would agree with Goldieblox on their parody being fair use (I still find it in poor taste, but that's just my view on the whole thing).
Internet Zen Master (profile), 25 Nov 2013 @ 1:53pm
Re: Re: Huh. Did not know that
To be fair, one of the excuses that one of the more recent jackasses tried to use was parody, claiming that because she took the original picture and quickly scribbled over it in one area with MS Paint that it was parody under fair use and not plagiarism.
The defense didn't hold up under scrutiny.
Like I said, I've gotten a little sensitive to the whole "respecting the wishes of the artist" thing, so this commercial parody of Girls just feels... off in my mind. Yeah, you don't need a license and you don't need permission to do so because it's fair use, and normally I wouldn't complain, but trying to make a buck by parodying a song from a recently deceased artist who went out of his way to make sure that his music wasn't used for commercials seems kind of insulting.
That being said, I like listening to the Beastie Boys, so my view is probably slightly biased on this issue.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 25 Nov 2013 @ 12:28pm
Re: Re: Re:
Fair enough.
Guess I've just become sensitive to the whole "asking permission" concept now that the artist/writer in me woke up last year and I started writing Creepypasta stories.
There seems to be an unwritten rule on artist sites like DeviantArt where it's considered normal to ask the creator for permission to use a character instead of just using it and crediting the original creator afterward. I've had people ask me for permission to use my characters in their stories (I let the. So I guess my feeling that respecting MCA/Adam Yauch's wishes over fair use stem from the strange, "permission mentality" so frequent in those places.
Fair Use still trumps permission culture any day of the week in my book.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 25 Nov 2013 @ 11:28am
Huh. Did not know that
I still have a problem with GlodieBlox parodying the song for purely commercial benefit, but if it's the law says it's fair use, then it's fair use. Still won't approve of it, but then again, I don't approve of that absurd $150,000 per file amount they use when calculating damages in copyright infringement trials either, and it's part of the law too.
Guess I'm a little sensitive to respecting the wishes of the artist after having several of my fellow artists getting their artwork stolen by hacks who repost it ON THE SAME SITE and claim it as their own work after removing the creator's signature, or reposting it on places like Tumblr without the artist's permission.
On the post: Seven House Judiciary Members Demand DOJ Investigate James Clapper For Lying To Congress
Re:
Believe it or not, as much as the government has exhausted the credibility of the phrase "national security", there may actually be occasions where telling Congress classified info in a public hearing would actually be damaging to the country's national security (since the hearings would be public and terrorists probably read the news like everyone else).
Loose Lips do Sink Ships.
The problem is the government seems to want to define EVERYTHING as a sinkable ship these days, no matter how harmless the information actually is.
On the post: Hidden Within The TPP: The RIAA's Secret Plan To Screw Musicians Out Of Their Rights
Re:
Ignoring the fact that you're an idiot, if Google doing it's job as a SEARCH ENGINE (hint: not a filter), is supposedly robbing the artists of their money, then so is Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, and every other search engine in existence.
Admit it AC, you don't hate Google, what you really hate is the Internet.
On the post: Unfortunate: ACLU On The Wrong Side Of A Free Speech Case
Re: Re: Funny thing
On the post: Facebook Is Tracking When You Write Something... And Then Decide To Delete It Rather Than Post It
Re: Re: Why?
While Facebook may be a giant, invasive, corporate pain in the ass, it's not trying to force me to merge my Youtube account with google+ just because google+ has a tiny userbase, and give up my anonymity in the process by trying get me to choose between my real name or my Youtube username(with a forced google+ channel) every time I go on the site.
I like having the ability to remain (relatively) anonymous on the web. I do not like the idea of having to self-censor myself because someone might be offended and come after me outside the web, just because Google's trying to save its stagnant social network & force trolls to try and behave.
On the post: Scumbag Revenge Porn Site Operator Arrested... But Many Of The Charges Are Very Problematic
Re: Re: You know, Mike, one can get into "phony" trouble with real actions.
This is actually the best (and most original) analogy for this situation. I was going to make a comment about blaming the car manufacturer for the actions of a car's owner, but yours is much more appropriate for this scenario.
Let's just hope the US justice system doesn't screw up so much that we end up having to support this scumbag because his trial could set some really, really bad precedents.
Wait a second. A government lawyer blaming the site's owner for the actions of its users? I feel like I've heard this song and dance before...
On the post: Documents Show LA Sheriff's Department Hired Thieves, Statutory Rapists And Bad Cops
On the post: Canadian Cyberbullying Bill Expands Scope, Targets Open WiFi Over Terrorism, Child Porn Fears
Talk about mission creep
On the post: Xbox, PS4 Games Hitting Swearing Gamers With Technical Fouls
Actually..
On the flipside, those PS4 users in the playroom are probably going to end up as "why we can't have nice things" within a year or so.
Not s fan of XB1's swear-filter, but considering the potty-mouthed teenagers I've encountered while playing Halo 4's multiplayer on live, I can't say I'm too surprised this happened.
Hopefully Microsoft will relax the swearing restrictions at some point in 2014. Let's just pray they don't grow that disturbing brand of puritanism that seems to permeate Apple's walled garden these days.
As the Zen Master says, "We'll see."
On the post: Anti-Net Neutrality Advocates Back To Making Bogus Arguments
Re:
On the post: Canadian Government Rolls Out National Cyberbullying Legislation And, No Surprise, It's Problematic
Re:
Good God man! Why aren't you thinking of the children!?
On the post: NSA Gave Employees Ridiculous 'Talking Points' To Spread Among Friends And Family Over The Holidays
Re:
Okay, that's not quite true, but the level of privacy invadin' is a lot lower from most religions than it is from the NSA these days, that much is for sure.
On the post: South Korean Politicians Want Video Games Placed Alongside Drugs And Alcohol In Legislation For Addiction
Re: To be fair...
Having a PSA promoting a healthy lifestyle telling people to take 30-60 minutes a day to exercise/eat sounds much more reasonable than classifying video games in the same boat as gambling/alcoholism/drug addiction.
Yeah, this definitely smells of the government trying to steal its "fair share" of the South Korean gaming industry's profit pie through regulation.
On the post: Lobbyist Insists His Meeting About 'TPP IP Issues' Wasn't About TPP IP Issues
Re: Please - they weren't talking about IP
On the post: Wall Street Journal Columnist Repeatedly Gets His Facts Wrong About NSA Surveillance
Why is it that so many columnists
On the post: School Firewalls And Their Blocks On 'Gay/Lesbian Issues'
Re: Re: Does he shoot the messenger too?
But on topic: Considering that those Christian schools block anything you might consider "controversial", it must be one hell of a boring view of the Internet from the school networks. I mean, doesn't the Internet practically run on controversy these days?
On the post: GoldieBlox Pulls Beastie Boys Video, Promises To Drop Legal Dispute
Shame really
My only comment on the whole permission culture issue is that permission isn't something that should be required/demanded. It should be up to the parody artist to decide if they should ask the original creator or not.
In fact, it shouldn't be so much 'asking permission' as it should be giving the creator (provided they're alive/actually known) a heads-up that you created something based on their art. The remixer/parody artist can ask the original artist if they have any problems with the parody work, if only so that the creator of the content parodied isn't completely blindsided by the whole affair.
However, it should be more a nice gesture than an actual requirement (in other words, completely optional).
On the post: Myth Busting: Yes, An Advertisement Can Be Fair Use Parody
Re:
That's the question that this court in California has to decide. And if they take into account the Liebovitz case, one would be inclined to think that they would agree with Goldieblox on their parody being fair use (I still find it in poor taste, but that's just my view on the whole thing).
On the post: Beastie Boys Say They Don't Want Music In Ads, But Fair Use Doesn't Care
Re: Re: Huh. Did not know that
The defense didn't hold up under scrutiny.
Like I said, I've gotten a little sensitive to the whole "respecting the wishes of the artist" thing, so this commercial parody of Girls just feels... off in my mind. Yeah, you don't need a license and you don't need permission to do so because it's fair use, and normally I wouldn't complain, but trying to make a buck by parodying a song from a recently deceased artist who went out of his way to make sure that his music wasn't used for commercials seems kind of insulting.
That being said, I like listening to the Beastie Boys, so my view is probably slightly biased on this issue.
On the post: Missed Opportunity: Beastie Boys Should Have Supported Viral Parody 'Girls' Song, Rather Than Claiming Infringement
Re: Re: Re:
Guess I've just become sensitive to the whole "asking permission" concept now that the artist/writer in me woke up last year and I started writing Creepypasta stories.
There seems to be an unwritten rule on artist sites like DeviantArt where it's considered normal to ask the creator for permission to use a character instead of just using it and crediting the original creator afterward. I've had people ask me for permission to use my characters in their stories (I let the. So I guess my feeling that respecting MCA/Adam Yauch's wishes over fair use stem from the strange, "permission mentality" so frequent in those places.
Fair Use still trumps permission culture any day of the week in my book.
On the post: Beastie Boys Say They Don't Want Music In Ads, But Fair Use Doesn't Care
Huh. Did not know that
Guess I'm a little sensitive to respecting the wishes of the artist after having several of my fellow artists getting their artwork stolen by hacks who repost it ON THE SAME SITE and claim it as their own work after removing the creator's signature, or reposting it on places like Tumblr without the artist's permission.
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