Given the state of the software industry, they're probably just collecting evidence that people do, in fact, read the EULA, so it must be legally binding. Then they can start to get even more onerous in the T&Cs.
Lessig: "Hey Democrats, let me into your club so I can get on TV and tell people how corrupt you all are."
Democrats: "Uh, no thanks."
Did he really envision the exchange going any other way? He has an admirable goal, but this isn't a fight you can win by playing by the rules you are explicitly decrying.
History is littered with the remains of superior products and services that lost to superior marketing.
There are whole websites dedicated to listing games, movies, and other forms of media that were critically praised but flopped commercially. It happens.
This would all be a lot less painful for the average angsty teenager if they would just say something like,
"Our service involves displaying your content (text, pictures, videos, etc) to other people. That's the whole point. Social media is social. By uploading your content, you are giving us permission to display it. If you don't want your content to be seen by others, keep it on your own system."
The Laszlo Effect somehow manages to be even worse than the Streisand. Not only is the offender calling more attention to something unintentionally, that thing they were trying to hide in the first place is what a massive piece of shit they are.
I find it rather reasonable. Given all their hedging and flip-flopping over the past 6 months, they are simply projecting another 10 months to decide on their stance.
IOW, they can't pass along their public stance on their encryption because they don't have one, and won't for 300 days.
But expect a delay of another 5 months at that time, when a new administration will take office and probably change the stance again.
After browsing some of the titles, and without doing any deep research at all, it looks like a significant percentage of these movies should probably be in the public domain anyway. At the time they were made in the 40's - 60's, before all the extensions, copyright terms were generally capped at around 56 years.
To be fair, there are some more recent titles available, so that's not a blanket statement, just something I noticed.
But the cynic in me thinks this may actually be a ploy to get some sort of renewed protection on films that have not been made available in any legal way for decades, so they don't appear to be abandoned.
This, to me, is the most baffling part of the whole story.
Here we have an agency that has shown no ability to self-police, and is in dire need of even a little oversight. When pushed on that fact, they double down on the stupid and prove to even the most apologetic supporter that maybe somebody outside the organization need to peek behind the curtain a little. And what's the response from Johnson? "No, it's cool. The Oversight Committee doesn't need to get any more involved, the Secret Service can handle this on their own."
What. The actual. Fuck?
Jeh Johnson: "The Secret Service is above the law."
I'm with you. I've dabbled with Linux for a while, but never had the stones to dive in head first. Got my kid a laptop for her birthday a few months ago, and I've already had to clean a crap-ton of malware off the thing twice. It's getting Linux this weekend. Hopefully she can learn the system at a young enough age that she doesn't get locked into the MS BS like I have, and I can have a reason to support it and get ready for my own switch. Once support for Windows 7 disappears, MS will have lost me completely.
The high cost is to offset the cost of purchasing the "exclusive marketing" ability. They really only bought the brand name, not the drug (it's out of patent).
So any other pharmaceutical can come in and sell their version for $1/pill again, be seen as a hero, and probably bankrupt this bastard.
Not that they should have to, but the court is basically mandating geo-blocking. They don't have to apply the censorship world-wide, just to all searches that originate in France.
It should be obvious, but if the data is being used to track where is person IS rather than where a person WAS, then it's kind of hard to argue that the actual ("historical") data only shows where a person WAS rather then where he IS.
Law enforcement wants it both ways: "We only want to see where he was 5 minutes ago, so it's not real-time tracking." And: "Give us a warrant, he's still there."
But trademarks don't just cover the name of an establishment. If I opened a fast food joint this year named KwikFood but served Big Macs and used a logo referencing Golden Arches and "since 1940," how long do you think I would be in business?
On the post: Game Developer Rewards 100 Users For Actually Reading The EULA
Or the cynical interpretation
On the post: Democrats Screw Over Larry Lessig To Keep Him Out Of The Debates; Forces Lessig To Drop His Campaign
Democrats: "Uh, no thanks."
Did he really envision the exchange going any other way? He has an admirable goal, but this isn't a fight you can win by playing by the rules you are explicitly decrying.
On the post: CEO Of Mobile Company Blames Everyone For Wanting Coffee Rather Than His Game
There are whole websites dedicated to listing games, movies, and other forms of media that were critically praised but flopped commercially. It happens.
Get over it and try again or GTFO.
On the post: Stop Freaking Out About Snapchat's Terms Of Service; You Read It Wrong
"Our service involves displaying your content (text, pictures, videos, etc) to other people. That's the whole point. Social media is social. By uploading your content, you are giving us permission to display it. If you don't want your content to be seen by others, keep it on your own system."
On the post: With 12% Of Comcast Customers Now Broadband Capped, Comcast Declares It's Simply Spreading 'Fairness'
Comcast and Zero Rating
On the post: Hungarian Camera Woman Filmed Tripping Refugees Plans To Sue Facebook, Refugee She Tripped
Re:
Not only is the offender calling more attention to something unintentionally, that thing they were trying to hide in the first place is what a massive piece of shit they are.
On the post: Revamped Comment Buttons + New Ways To Buy Techdirt Credits
On the post: FBI Tells Me It Will Take 475 Days For It To Get Around To Responding To My FOIA Request
Re: Stalling at it's finest
IOW, they can't pass along their public stance on their encryption because they don't have one, and won't for 300 days.
But expect a delay of another 5 months at that time, when a new administration will take office and probably change the stance again.
On the post: Viacom Once Sued YouTube For A Billion Dollars; Now It's Just Released Over 100 Movies For Free On YouTube
Best part
To be fair, there are some more recent titles available, so that's not a blanket statement, just something I noticed.
But the cynic in me thinks this may actually be a ploy to get some sort of renewed protection on films that have not been made available in any legal way for decades, so they don't appear to be abandoned.
On the post: Kim Davis's Approach To Email More Outdated Than Her Views On Marriage
What does the "e" in "email" stand for, egghead?
On the post: Techdirt Podcast Episode 45: No, You're Not The Product
Says the free service. I'm on to you, Techdirt!
On the post: Secret Service Agents Dug Through Personal Info To Discredit Legislator Investigating Agency Wrongdoing
Re: Yeah, sure...
Here we have an agency that has shown no ability to self-police, and is in dire need of even a little oversight. When pushed on that fact, they double down on the stupid and prove to even the most apologetic supporter that maybe somebody outside the organization need to peek behind the curtain a little.
And what's the response from Johnson? "No, it's cool. The Oversight Committee doesn't need to get any more involved, the Secret Service can handle this on their own."
What. The actual. Fuck?
Jeh Johnson: "The Secret Service is above the law."
On the post: Microsoft 'Addresses' Windows 10 Privacy Concerns By Simply Not Mentioning Most Of Them
Re:
Hopefully she can learn the system at a young enough age that she doesn't get locked into the MS BS like I have, and I can have a reason to support it and get ready for my own switch. Once support for Windows 7 disappears, MS will have lost me completely.
On the post: Another Teen Frightens School Personnel With Technical Stuff; Panic, Stupidity Fail To Ensue
Re:
On the post: Turing Pharma Boss Martin Shkreli Defends Massive Price Increase As A Good Thing For Patients
So any other pharmaceutical can come in and sell their version for $1/pill again, be seen as a hero, and probably bankrupt this bastard.
Who's up for a Kickstarter?
On the post: French Regulating Body Says Google Must Honor Right To Be Forgotten Across All Of Its Domains
That said, fuck RTBF.
On the post: Court: Cell Site Location Records From Five Minutes Ago Are 'Historical,' Not 'Real Time'
Law enforcement wants it both ways: "We only want to see where he was 5 minutes ago, so it's not real-time tracking." And: "Give us a warrant, he's still there."
On the post: Trademark Super-Bully Apple Blatantly Infringes On Headphone Company's Trademarks
Re: No, they didn't
On the post: Coming To A Surveillance State Near You: Lip-Reading Computers
That is pretty bad!
* This goat matches 75% of what I really meat it to smell.
On the post: Angry Couple Using Trademark To Bully Oyster Bar Over Menu Item Names
Re: Re: Re:
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