Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 23 May 2011 @ 9:32am
Re:
but it's more likely that they'd be losing money.
That argument would fly better than a one-winged concrete plane if all that pesky evidence about albums being setup to intentionally lose money on paper would just disappear.
Think of it rather as venture capital. Give $50K to 96 different undiscovered bands. That'd be more than enough for them to get their music out there with the near zero cost of packaging and distribution that the internet enables. If even 1 ends up making $5 million, you're in the black.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 21 May 2011 @ 9:59am
Re: Re: Re: Re: Question
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but the settlement agreements never went to court.
Righthhaven find copyrighted content owned by Stephens Media or Media News or whoever. Righthaven threatens to sue RandomPersonWithAWebsite by sending them a pre-lawsuit settlement letter, saying if they don't settle Righthaven will sue for lots of money and their domain name. RPWAW agrees to settle by sending a smaller bit of cash.
No courts involved. At most, Righthaven may need to file for subpoenas for discovery as to who owns a website, but those interactions with the court are ex parte and once Righthaven knows who owns it, they can dismiss the suit.
These are not settlements where a judge is involved. Heck, a lawyer may not even be involved on one side - that' the whole point of the settlement letter, telling them "lawyers are expensive, so just give us a tiny bit of cash and we go away."
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 20 May 2011 @ 1:25pm
Re:
They nearly have it already with the dilution of the 4th and the provision in PROTECT IP about private right of action. In California, any CD/DVD manufacturing facility can be searched without a warrant, and you can bet that will be stretched to include any building or home containing a computer with a CD/DVD burner.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 20 May 2011 @ 1:02pm
Re: Re: Question
But would that part of the settlement agreement hold up if the threat that got you to settle was fraudulent?
So I guess the question is, can you extort money from someone, and make it legal if they sign something saying they'll never complain to the police? Nope, it doesn't work like that. If some guy with a gun walks up to me on the street and says that he'll shoot me if I don't sign some contract, can that contract be enforced? Of course not. Why would the settlement agreement hold up if it was made in bad faith?
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 20 May 2011 @ 6:53am
Re: Fair Use
The one problem with US-style "Fair Use" is a VERY unhelpful legal doctrine, which is mired in subjective tests, that provide little or no clear guidance about the sorts of behaviors that are or are not permissible. This makes "adopting" it by other countries not a real rational choice.
I agree. The only rational choice after seeing how much harm copyright causes to creativity is to scrap copyright altogether.
The other problem with US Fair Use is that it's a mere defense only available after a finding of infringement.
That's nonsense. A "finding of infringement" would only be rendered after a judge determines that it was not fair use.
There is no "presumption of infringement" just because a copyright holder says so.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 19 May 2011 @ 8:17am
Re: Watch your language!
Artists -- and even if they aren't "Artists" but create something in which they have rights -- need marketers, PR people, distributors, etc. Do you think they can do all of it without getting paid? Do you know how expensive all of it is?
Strawman argument.
As far as I know, Glyn has never said that some artists do not benefit greatly from PR, marketers and distributors and such. Neither has Mike - and Mike has even offered many suggestions in which labels can make themselves more valuable to artists by providing specific services - basically a reversal of roles, where the artists offer a contract to a label for those services.
And tell us about all the "Artists" who create works that make NO money, but lose money. Most of them. And who is to pay for that?
Might I point you to posts about "RIAA Accounting" and "MPAA Accounting" - where the labels and studios intentionally set up those works to "lose" money on paper (so they don't have to pay the artists) but actually make millions for the studio/label.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 19 May 2011 @ 7:46am
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Virginia has open carry law as well
Isn't it interesting that the cities that have the strictest gun control laws are also the cities that are the biggest crime-ridden cesspools with a near-logarithmic murder rate?
[citation needed]
Even if true, you're assuming that strict control of guns is causing the crime. Maybe it was the other way, and that the crime was there before the laws, and the laws were a reaction to attempt to bring the crime rate down.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 19 May 2011 @ 7:42am
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Virginia has open carry law as well
I realize I wasn't clear. I meant that I don't understand why a person would want to conceal their weapon. The argument is that a criminal wouldn't mess with someone who can defend themself with a gun. Concealing the weapon so that the criminals don't know you have it seems counter-productive.
I support gun rights. I think, just like cars, you should need a license, and there should be reasonable restrictions on the type of guns (example, assault rifles and grenade launchers). I have no problem with a law-abiding citizen, properly licensed and knowing how to handle it safely, owning and openly carrying a handgun, rifle, etc.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 17 May 2011 @ 2:42pm
Re: Re: Re: It will cost more
So you want to add lazy and indifferent to the list of what young voters are guilty of?
You know what? Fuck that. Here's what I really think.
Why is this country in trouble? Why are we 14 trillion in debt? Why is our infrastructure crumbling? Why are our social programs at risk of going bankrupt? Why are the politicians all bought by big business and special interests?
Hate to break it to you, but it's the old people's fault. If you're over 50, you're to blame. I don't think you were stupid, just naive.
You let the politicians convince you they could spend more money and reduce taxes at the same time. You didn't vote them out of office.
You let the corporations take over without being held accountable. Your affinity to power and trusting those in it let this happen.
You wanted the big house in the suburbs and a big car to drive, just like the Cleavers. So you lived the American dream on credit and stuck your kids with the bill. You let the oil companies drill the wells and you happily burned the oil. You bought off half the third world countries and let Russia buy the rest so you could fight wars without getting your hands bloody, and now they're coming for your kids' blood. You let the media scare you into consumerism, and now we can't turn on the news and see truth.
You made us clean up our rooms - it must have been training for having to clean up the mess you've made of the world.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 17 May 2011 @ 10:36am
Re: It will cost more
if you disenfranchise the older (retired) members of the population they aren't going to be as interested in running the polling stations.
Oh, so instead of the 70 year-old grandma spending 3 minutes trying to find my name in the (alphabetized) polling book but can't squint enough to read my driver's license and the book despite them being an inch from her face, there'd be a college kid that remembers that R comes before S?
And we'll have a college kid who averages more time typing on her phone in a day than the old lady trying to help by looking my name up on this contraption with the glowy letters on a TV screen with an attached typewriter thingy?
And who gets to fix the touch screen voting machine when it malfunctions, Ms. I-built-the-GPS-nav-system-of-the-DARPA-grand-challenge-winning-automated-car or Mrs. I-married-Bob-who-retired-from-IBM-before-Steve-Jobs-shaved-his-beard-but-passed-a-few-years-ago?
(No, I really don't feel this way about older people, but as everyone else is calling younger voters stupid and inexperienced, I felt the need to balance it out with some anti-fogey-ism.)
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 16 May 2011 @ 2:52pm
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: I certain
RIAA is a non-profit
Yeah, and the mob doesn't exist.
I'll give you that on paper, "legally" they're non-profit. But that's just because the labels needed a non-profit group to funnel all that money to politicians.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 16 May 2011 @ 12:44pm
Why we fight
This guy gets it. From the article:
Ultimately, the only way to stop the tide is to blow up the moon. And that is an altogether different kind of solution, one that would cause far more damage than the harm you are trying to avoid.
That's why we fight against every effort of the legacy content to preserve their monopolies. The only way they can truly "win" and remain in their current business models is to destroy the Internet and force technological progress to stop.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 16 May 2011 @ 7:10am
Re: Why would this happen if legit
You gotta think long term. The next commissioner will be just as easily bought. And after spending a few years "working in business" they can get this one elected to just make the laws instead of (not)enforcing them.
On the post: RIAA Two Top Execs Made $4.8 Million In 2009; How Many Musicians Could That Have Funded?
Re:
That argument would fly better than a one-winged concrete plane if all that pesky evidence about albums being setup to intentionally lose money on paper would just disappear.
Think of it rather as venture capital. Give $50K to 96 different undiscovered bands. That'd be more than enough for them to get their music out there with the near zero cost of packaging and distribution that the internet enables. If even 1 ends up making $5 million, you're in the black.
On the post: Colorado Judge Puts All Righthaven Cases On Hold
Re: Re: Re: Re: Question
Righthhaven find copyrighted content owned by Stephens Media or Media News or whoever. Righthaven threatens to sue RandomPersonWithAWebsite by sending them a pre-lawsuit settlement letter, saying if they don't settle Righthaven will sue for lots of money and their domain name. RPWAW agrees to settle by sending a smaller bit of cash.
No courts involved. At most, Righthaven may need to file for subpoenas for discovery as to who owns a website, but those interactions with the court are ex parte and once Righthaven knows who owns it, they can dismiss the suit.
These are not settlements where a judge is involved. Heck, a lawyer may not even be involved on one side - that' the whole point of the settlement letter, telling them "lawyers are expensive, so just give us a tiny bit of cash and we go away."
On the post: RIAA Wants To Start Peeking Into Files You Store In The Cloud
Re:
On the post: Colorado Judge Puts All Righthaven Cases On Hold
Re: Re: Question
So I guess the question is, can you extort money from someone, and make it legal if they sign something saying they'll never complain to the police? Nope, it doesn't work like that. If some guy with a gun walks up to me on the street and says that he'll shoot me if I don't sign some contract, can that contract be enforced? Of course not. Why would the settlement agreement hold up if it was made in bad faith?
On the post: Fair Use Doesn't Weaken Copyright Law, It Strengthens It
Re: Fair Use
I agree. The only rational choice after seeing how much harm copyright causes to creativity is to scrap copyright altogether.
The other problem with US Fair Use is that it's a mere defense only available after a finding of infringement.
That's nonsense. A "finding of infringement" would only be rendered after a judge determines that it was not fair use.
There is no "presumption of infringement" just because a copyright holder says so.
On the post: Self-Perpetuating Copyright Enforcement
Re: Watch your language!
Strawman argument.
As far as I know, Glyn has never said that some artists do not benefit greatly from PR, marketers and distributors and such. Neither has Mike - and Mike has even offered many suggestions in which labels can make themselves more valuable to artists by providing specific services - basically a reversal of roles, where the artists offer a contract to a label for those services.
And tell us about all the "Artists" who create works that make NO money, but lose money. Most of them. And who is to pay for that?
Might I point you to posts about "RIAA Accounting" and "MPAA Accounting" - where the labels and studios intentionally set up those works to "lose" money on paper (so they don't have to pay the artists) but actually make millions for the studio/label.
On the post: Philly Police Harass, Threaten To Shoot Man Legally Carrying Gun; Then Charge Him With Disorderly Conduct For Recording Them
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Virginia has open carry law as well
[citation needed]
Even if true, you're assuming that strict control of guns is causing the crime. Maybe it was the other way, and that the crime was there before the laws, and the laws were a reaction to attempt to bring the crime rate down.
On the post: Philly Police Harass, Threaten To Shoot Man Legally Carrying Gun; Then Charge Him With Disorderly Conduct For Recording Them
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Virginia has open carry law as well
I support gun rights. I think, just like cars, you should need a license, and there should be reasonable restrictions on the type of guns (example, assault rifles and grenade launchers). I have no problem with a law-abiding citizen, properly licensed and knowing how to handle it safely, owning and openly carrying a handgun, rifle, etc.
On the post: Philly Police Harass, Threaten To Shoot Man Legally Carrying Gun; Then Charge Him With Disorderly Conduct For Recording Them
Re: Re: Re: Virginia has open carry law as well
Unless you live in one of the few major cities in the country with decent mass transit, owning a car is almost required to function in society.
Owning a gun is not.
I don't understand conceal permits at all.
On the post: Well, That Was Fast: Sony's New PSN System? Hacked!
Re: Three possible explanations
When logging back into the PSN, Sony is forcing everyone to reset their passwords.
To verify a user, since the old passwords were stolen, they needed to use some other piece of information to confirm users.
So instead they decided to use the email and DOB. The same information that was stolen along with the passwords.
This kind of oversight is epic Picard level facepalm.
On the post: Should Young People Have Their Votes Count More?
Re: Re: Re: It will cost more
You know what? Fuck that. Here's what I really think.
Why is this country in trouble? Why are we 14 trillion in debt? Why is our infrastructure crumbling? Why are our social programs at risk of going bankrupt? Why are the politicians all bought by big business and special interests?
Hate to break it to you, but it's the old people's fault. If you're over 50, you're to blame. I don't think you were stupid, just naive.
You let the politicians convince you they could spend more money and reduce taxes at the same time. You didn't vote them out of office.
You let the corporations take over without being held accountable. Your affinity to power and trusting those in it let this happen.
You wanted the big house in the suburbs and a big car to drive, just like the Cleavers. So you lived the American dream on credit and stuck your kids with the bill. You let the oil companies drill the wells and you happily burned the oil. You bought off half the third world countries and let Russia buy the rest so you could fight wars without getting your hands bloody, and now they're coming for your kids' blood. You let the media scare you into consumerism, and now we can't turn on the news and see truth.
You made us clean up our rooms - it must have been training for having to clean up the mess you've made of the world.
On the post: Doing A Google Search For 'Blonde' A Firable Offense For High School Teacher
Re: Sounds like overkill to me
On the post: Gene Weingarten Shows How To Respond To Bogus Trademark Threats: Stetson(R) Hats Suck
Texas
On the post: Should Young People Have Their Votes Count More?
Re: It will cost more
Oh, so instead of the 70 year-old grandma spending 3 minutes trying to find my name in the (alphabetized) polling book but can't squint enough to read my driver's license and the book despite them being an inch from her face, there'd be a college kid that remembers that R comes before S?
And we'll have a college kid who averages more time typing on her phone in a day than the old lady trying to help by looking my name up on this contraption with the glowy letters on a TV screen with an attached typewriter thingy?
And who gets to fix the touch screen voting machine when it malfunctions, Ms. I-built-the-GPS-nav-system-of-the-DARPA-grand-challenge-winning-automated-car or Mrs. I-married-Bob-who-retired-from-IBM-before-Steve-Jobs-shaved-his-beard-but-passed-a-few-years-ago?
(No, I really don't feel this way about older people, but as everyone else is calling younger voters stupid and inexperienced, I felt the need to balance it out with some anti-fogey-ism.)
On the post: The PROTECT IP Act Is About The Old Media Industry Going To War With The Internet
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Techdirt Files FOIA Requests Concerning ICE 'Anti-Piracy' Videos
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: I certain
Yeah, and the mob doesn't exist.
I'll give you that on paper, "legally" they're non-profit. But that's just because the labels needed a non-profit group to funnel all that money to politicians.
On the post: Techdirt Files FOIA Requests Concerning ICE 'Anti-Piracy' Videos
Re: Re: Re: Re: I certain
If I wasn't at work, I'd find a Youtube link to the Monty Python "I'm not dead yet" scene.
...I feel happy! I feeeeeeeel happy! I feeeeeeel
On the post: The PROTECT IP Act Is About The Old Media Industry Going To War With The Internet
Why we fight
Ultimately, the only way to stop the tide is to blow up the moon. And that is an altogether different kind of solution, one that would cause far more damage than the harm you are trying to avoid.
That's why we fight against every effort of the legacy content to preserve their monopolies. The only way they can truly "win" and remain in their current business models is to destroy the Internet and force technological progress to stop.
On the post: Bill Clinton Thinks The Internet Needs A Taxpayer Funded Ministry Of Truth
Re:
On the post: FCC Commish-Turned-Lobbyist Can't See What All The Controversy Is About
Re: Why would this happen if legit
Next >>