I'm sorry, but the courts have often ruled that anonymous speech is protected, particularly in regards to the government and politicians. There is a case in the courts right now where an LDS member criticized the LDS church anonymously on Redit and the courts are taking steps to prevent him from being unmasked in the copyright case the LDS brought against him. The courts have said that the first amendment is not there just to protect the speaker, but to also protect the public's ability to hear what a speaker has said. That it not only applies to U.S. Citizens but to people in other countries, allowing U.S. citizens to hear what they have to say. They have already ruled that the chilling affects of unmasking an anonymous speaker prevents others from speaking, and thus falls under the first amendment.
The current ruling from the EU isn't about android either, it's about search engines and browsers. My Kindle Fire also limits my search engine and browser choice to just one, which is why I am wondering if they will be next. They won't let me install a bunch of stuff.
I wonder if Amazon will be next? My Amazon Kindle Fire runs Android but will not let me install the browser of my choice. All browsers except silk have been blocked.
Acting as a devils advocate, if you can not legally agree to the contract then you can't legally use the software. If you still use the software you broke the law. If a minor breaks the law, the parent is responsible for restitution in many places. Thus, if your kid breaks someone's window (vandalism) the parents can be forced to pay for damages.
The courts don't agree that you don't need a license to use software. Please refer to the many Microsoft cases where people used the Microsoft OS without a license and got found guilty of criminal offense.
It is DMCA logic. Because you broke the terms of service, your license was immediately revoked. Because your license to use the software was revoked. When you create a video of yourself playing you are copying the stream without having a license to play. Congrats, copyright infringement.
I am a little bit surprised, however, that these articles seem to be trying to diminish what the boy did by saying "For just using a cheat in a video game." On reading the court documents, they are saying he did a lot more than that. That he kept promoting the link to the cheat and telling everyone to use it. That they kept cancelling his account and he kept creating new ones under fake names. So this isn't like he didn't know they objected to what he was doing and it's not like he wasn't promoting the cheat. I agree that suing him is a PR nightmare, but if we are going to talk about a court case we should at least be open about what was being done and not dismiss the actions.
It was a very interesting blog and I enjoyed reading it. There are a lot if interesting things to think about and look deeper into. Thank you for posting it.
Astronomy aside, as far as I know taking pictures of something in public view (such as a building or the night sky) confers copyright to the image, but does not prevent others from taking similar pictures of the object. I could be mistaken on that, but I seem to remember several lawsuits of public structures and landmarks were deemed to not violate the copyright of the original photographer even though they were a similar angle and blocking. This means that a person can take a picture of Halfdome and own the copyright to THAT picture.. and that someone else can come along and take a very similar picture and own the copyright to THAT picture... and so forth.
If the suggestion that pictures taken where the camera is not under the direct control of the photographer (camera mounted on wall, new google iclip, etc..) have no copyright, then I'm not sure why the raw footage of Andromeda would have a copyright. Conversly, if my raw footage of Andromeda has copyright, I'm not sure why automated picture taking of OTHER sorts wouldn't have copyright the photographer.
This is a common problem as new technology comes online. People, including myself, would like an objective standard for how the law should be applied. A poorly thought out objective standard has all sorts of unintended consequences. I don't think there is a large body of caselaw on automated photography. It is, normally, assumed that the owner/operator of the camera who arranges for the photo to be taken has the copyright, regardless of how it is triggered. We are discussing an edge case, however. How is having a camera triggered by software installed that determines how good a picture will be different than one which autofocuses, autoshutters, autoaperature, then records constantly? How is it different from leaving your camera in a cage full of monkeys and "hoping" for a good shot? IS there any real difference in any of these possibilities?
These are all topics that I will be very interested in seeing work out, both in law and in the courts.
Since Photographer control was brought up, that's what I was addressing. I can see your case for it to be a derivative work, but how much "control" that the photographer gives up removes copyright from their work? We have one side where the photographer controls everything (sets ISO, sets exposure, sets shutter speed, sets focus, arranges blocking, triggers picture), on the other side, technology provides a way to take each of those controls away from the photographer. It will be really interesting to see which way this goes if it ever comes up in a court case. As an amateur astrophotography buff I often use automation to guide and stack photo's. I have a guided mount and set up my camera to take a picture every X seconds (the less you touch the camera the more table your pictures will be.) When I have a hundred pictures taken, I can stack them and get some NICE pictures of stellar objects. If copyright is determined by creative control of the camera at the time the picture is taken, then I must admit there is very little control by me while pictures are being taken and so I would have no copyright on the original pictures, even though spent several hours at night taking them. Mind you, no copyright is not the same as being forced to provide access. No one has ACCESS to those original frames unless I provide it... Ownership does give some benefit to prevent others from using those frames.
And yet it would seem that putting a camera in a blind to record wildlife at a watering hole and hoping that interesting footage is captured IS sufficient.. or at least it has been unchallenged (to the best of my knowledge.) Many documentaries use such footage when creating documentaries.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Interesting on so many levels
While the photographer gives up control for a certain amount of time, he regains control and then begins cropping, sharpening, blurring, saturating, and all the OTHER things that photographers do with a picture. Pretty much no photographer today snaps a picture and then sends it out as is. Even without photoshop, there are LOTS of settings inside the camera that the monkey would almost certainly never change that would affect the outcome. Honestly, I agree with you though. I think that determining copyright on the picture will involve the amount of creativity the court feels the photographer put into it, the same as determining if a work is derivative or not... but that will be on a case by case basis and be VERY subjective. It would not provide photographers with an objective standard to guide their work.
So this would imply that the intent of the photographer matters, not the actual trigger. So if a photographer left a camera in a cage of monkeys with the intention that one of them would trigger a usable picture, then the photographer would have the copyright? And if he didn't intend for a picture to be taken, there is no copyright on the picture?
Also in this argument, a timelapse photo or video of a flower is not copyrightable, and video of animals in the wilderness from tree mounted cameras is not copyrightable. Only the final creative expression of the documentary on PBS is copyrightable and anyone should be able to pull the timelapse or animal video out and use it for whatever they want. I'm not sure I agree with that interpretation. While the goal of the laws are important, there is no perfect implementation. We end up drawing lines where technology and creativity overlap.
If I own a ford focus then I have the option of buying Ford parts or of buying 3rd party parts. The Cell Phones we have should be handled the same way. If Apple refuses to sell parts to fix Apple devices, then invalidate their patents on those parts and allow 3rd parties to make and sell them to us.
The requirements for knowledge of the law must apply equally to a city cop with a degree in law enforcement and a small town cop with a high school diploma. There are many small towns in the united states where there is no advanced degree requirement for a police officer. I think this is a situation where the burden is on the court to determine if the statements of law in a warrant are accurate. They certainly do that during trials, so it would be a logical extension of their workload.
I'm sorry, but by this reasoning isn't the i in iPhone all about the i? After all, phone is generic and commonly used. I suspect that this will be granted the same as iPhone was to Apple.
All they would be able to do is bring a civil case since a criminal case has to be initiated by the government's judicial branch. Then the government needs to wave the National Security trump card to prevent the case from going forward (provided you can get an american citizen who is a relative to bring the civil case.) So I don't think that lawsuits would work to bring this information to light.
If these sue happy people had just asked Techdirt to allow them to post a rebuttal article about what they felt was unfair instead of suing then I expect Techdirt would be more than happy to work with them. Instead, and sadly, they just want to hide things away instead of talk about them.
On the post: Missouri Attorney General Claims The First Amendment Allows Him To Withhold Public Records
First amendment does support anonymous criticism.
I'm sorry, but the courts have often ruled that anonymous speech is protected, particularly in regards to the government and politicians. There is a case in the courts right now where an LDS member criticized the LDS church anonymously on Redit and the courts are taking steps to prevent him from being unmasked in the copyright case the LDS brought against him. The courts have said that the first amendment is not there just to protect the speaker, but to also protect the public's ability to hear what a speaker has said. That it not only applies to U.S. Citizens but to people in other countries, allowing U.S. citizens to hear what they have to say. They have already ruled that the chilling affects of unmasking an anonymous speaker prevents others from speaking, and thus falls under the first amendment.
On the post: Some Thoughts On The EU's Latest $5 Billion Google Antitrust Fine
Boojum
On the post: Some Thoughts On The EU's Latest $5 Billion Google Antitrust Fine
On the post: Epic Decides To Double Down On Copyright For Cheating Lawsuit Against 14 Year Old By Taking On Mom
Re: Blocking users
On the post: Epic Decides To Double Down On Copyright For Cheating Lawsuit Against 14 Year Old By Taking On Mom
Re: Re: Re: Re: Copyright - DMCA Logic
On the post: Epic Decides To Double Down On Copyright For Cheating Lawsuit Against 14 Year Old By Taking On Mom
Re: Re: Re: Copyright - DMCA Logic
On the post: Epic Decides To Double Down On Copyright For Cheating Lawsuit Against 14 Year Old By Taking On Mom
Re: Copyright - DMCA Logic
I am a little bit surprised, however, that these articles seem to be trying to diminish what the boy did by saying "For just using a cheat in a video game." On reading the court documents, they are saying he did a lot more than that. That he kept promoting the link to the cheat and telling everyone to use it. That they kept cancelling his account and he kept creating new ones under fake names. So this isn't like he didn't know they objected to what he was doing and it's not like he wasn't promoting the cheat. I agree that suing him is a PR nightmare, but if we are going to talk about a court case we should at least be open about what was being done and not dismiss the actions.
On the post: Not Everything Needs Copyright: Lawyers Flip Out That Photos Taken By AI May Be Public Domain
Read the post!
On the post: Not Everything Needs Copyright: Lawyers Flip Out That Photos Taken By AI May Be Public Domain
I'd like to see that blog post
On the post: Not Everything Needs Copyright: Lawyers Flip Out That Photos Taken By AI May Be Public Domain
Re: Re: Removing RE:'s :D
This is a common problem as new technology comes online. People, including myself, would like an objective standard for how the law should be applied. A poorly thought out objective standard has all sorts of unintended consequences. I don't think there is a large body of caselaw on automated photography. It is, normally, assumed that the owner/operator of the camera who arranges for the photo to be taken has the copyright, regardless of how it is triggered. We are discussing an edge case, however. How is having a camera triggered by software installed that determines how good a picture will be different than one which autofocuses, autoshutters, autoaperature, then records constantly? How is it different from leaving your camera in a cage full of monkeys and "hoping" for a good shot? IS there any real difference in any of these possibilities?
These are all topics that I will be very interested in seeing work out, both in law and in the courts.
On the post: Not Everything Needs Copyright: Lawyers Flip Out That Photos Taken By AI May Be Public Domain
Removing RE:'s :D
It will be really interesting to see which way this goes if it ever comes up in a court case. As an amateur astrophotography buff I often use automation to guide and stack photo's. I have a guided mount and set up my camera to take a picture every X seconds (the less you touch the camera the more table your pictures will be.) When I have a hundred pictures taken, I can stack them and get some NICE pictures of stellar objects.
If copyright is determined by creative control of the camera at the time the picture is taken, then I must admit there is very little control by me while pictures are being taken and so I would have no copyright on the original pictures, even though spent several hours at night taking them.
Mind you, no copyright is not the same as being forced to provide access. No one has ACCESS to those original frames unless I provide it... Ownership does give some benefit to prevent others from using those frames.
On the post: Not Everything Needs Copyright: Lawyers Flip Out That Photos Taken By AI May Be Public Domain
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Not Everything Needs Copyright: Lawyers Flip Out That Photos Taken By AI May Be Public Domain
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Interesting on so many levels
Honestly, I agree with you though. I think that determining copyright on the picture will involve the amount of creativity the court feels the photographer put into it, the same as determining if a work is derivative or not... but that will be on a case by case basis and be VERY subjective. It would not provide photographers with an objective standard to guide their work.
On the post: Not Everything Needs Copyright: Lawyers Flip Out That Photos Taken By AI May Be Public Domain
Re: Re: Re: Re: Interesting on so many levels
On the post: Not Everything Needs Copyright: Lawyers Flip Out That Photos Taken By AI May Be Public Domain
Re: On Being Sane....
On the post: Apple Wants To Stop You Fixing Your iPhone And iPad: Source Says It Will Testify Against 'Right To Repair' Legislation
3rd party parts
On the post: Another Court Says Law Enforcement Officers Don't Really Need To Know The Laws They're Enforcing
On the post: Sony On A Rampage Trademarking Common Terms: Attempted Registrations For 'Let's Play' And 'VRPG'
So iPhone is all about the i?
On the post: Appeals Court Says Secret Drone Memos Can Stay Secret
Re: There's one way to see their justifications
On the post: Our Response To The Latest Ridiculous Legal Threat Against Us: Milorad Trkulja Can Go Pound Sand
Lawsuit vs Speech
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