Hooray for unintended consequences! You know what they recently found out? Fat (especially saturated fat) is actually GOOD FOR YOU (in moderation of course) for one simple reason: it's an important part of the body's satiety mechanism. If you eat fatty foods, you start feeling full sooner, which means you end up actually eating less.
When we started trying to cut fat out of our diets, we ended up feeling hungrier, eating more (but it's OK because it's low-fat food!) and growing heavier.
Google said what? OK, I'm gonna have to stamp the world's biggest [citation needed] on that, because 5 years ago they said the exact opposite.
According to a 2009 study done by Google on DMCA takedown requests, (see footnote 3 on page 9,) 57% were made by businesses targeted directly at their competition, and 37% were not valid copyright claims in the first place. Depending on how much overlap there is between the two categories, that suggests that as few as 6% of all takedown notices are legitimate attempts to stop piracy.
Anything that's abused 94% of the time that it gets used is something you do not want around. The Internet existed before the DMCA, and repealing it would greatly improve things for everyone. (Except the parasites, of course.)
Those representing legacy industries continue to pretend there's a massive gap in quality between their output and the general public's. They ignore how quickly that gap has closed in recent years and how that trend will only continue. Someone ought to show them Star Trek Continues, which I ran across over the weekend...
It was the tech industry that broke down those walled gardens, and you'd better believe the operators would love to have them back, even as the broken down walls made their phones and services more valuable.
It was Android that broke down the walled gardens. The iPhone just replaces the carrier's garden with Apple's, just as onerous and just as repugnant, and people are catching on.
Last I checked, Android had (IIRC) something around 80% market share, and this after Apple's significant first-mover advantage. It's history repeating itself; Apple has made the exact same mistake in the 2010s that they made in the 1980s: being control freaks that are actively hostile to "platform" status and the development of a robust, external ecosystem of developers. And once again, they created a great system and a well-designed OS, and then threw it all away once a wiser competitor showed up and made it a similar system with lower barriers to entry for users and developers alike.
I know it's not addressed by this law, since it's about non-competition rather than non-disparagement. I was wondering if there are any other laws that would make this invalid.
This is very interesting. Does anyone know if California has any similar provisions about anti-competitive contracts? Recently I ran across a software development tool whose EULA specifically forbids using this product to create software that competes with this product or any of the company's other products. The company in question is based out of California, so It would be interesting to see if someone can say "no, sorry, you really can't do that."
Re: Re: article maker hasnt seen whats downloadable lately have ya
What about when things really are changing for the worse? I've been listening to country music for decades, and I'll tell you this much: you'd have never heard the casual mysogyny of today's ultra-popular "bro country" sub-genre, nor the abominations of so-called country artists blatantly polluting our ariwaves with rap music, 15 years ago.
To extend the metaphor, I really wouldn't mind people on my lawn if they wouldn't keep taking a dump all over it...
I dunno. First with SOPA, and now stuff like this and pushing for an amendment to overturn Citizens United, it appears that this generation is finally starting to wake up and realize the meaning of "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance."
Rice had agreed to enter into a treatment program to avoid prosecution, since his then-fiance refused to press charges, and indeed married Rice weeks later.
And what do you want to bet that the team and/or the league was directly involved in her making that "decision" and getting him off the hook? This may seem like a shocking development, but in fact it's all too common in the NFL. Over 30% of NFL players have been charged with a serious, violent crime, and the vast majority of the time, the league's lawyers cover it up. Afterall, we can't have the people we hire to make us millions upon millions of dollars by committing acts of violence in a controlled setting getting in trouble for committing acts of violence (and losing their ability to make us money!)
It's really disgusting, when you get a glimpse inside the industry of football, to see how much more closely the NFL resembles an organized crime family than a legitimate sports league! The problem of covering up serious violent crimes is systemic, all the way from high school football on up, and unfortunately there's too much money and too much culture involved for anyone to really do anything meaningful about starting to fix it.
I am not against a public education system we all share the responsibility for, but there is only 1 thing that needs to be going on there. Pure learning... no indoctrination... and all we have is indoctrination with very little learning going on as most high school graduates are ignorant as a box of rocks!
I learned plenty. Granted, a few years have gone by since then, but the school system did a pretty good job for me.
The problem is, where do you draw the line between "pure" learning and "indoctrination," which simply means learning what a person with an agenda wants you to learn? Replace the word "agenda" with the less emotionally-charged "curriculum" (which teachers have to have to do their jobs effectively) and the line becomes very blurry indeed, especially if the education is to include education about political topics. (And before you say "then don't teach that," do we really want our kids to be ignorant of politics? Isn't that how we got into this mess?)
When was the last time a court was struck down?
A court struck down? What does that even mean?
Do you mean when was the last time a court ruling was struck down? Because that happens all the time. Heck, today in the Senate they're holding a historic vote on striking down one of the worst Supreme Court rulings of all time with a proposed Constitutional amendment, because people have been so outraged about it ever since it came out.
Just one problem with that: We didn't let the NSA do all the stuff Ed Snowden has shown us they've been up to. They've been keeping secrets from everyone and evading or compromising every bit of oversight at every level.
Nutt is appealing to investors to fund his research to develop an alcohol substitute that has an antidote -- which he claims could have a significantly positive impact on human health since it might eliminate drunk driving and other unwanted effects of intoxication.
Color me skeptical. I just wonder, how often would someone who deliberately chooses to go out and get drunk want to then take an antidote that turns them stone-cold sober? Yes, theoretically it could eliminate drunk driving if the person wanted to take it, but bear in mind that one of the best-known effects of alcohol intoxication is impaired judgment.
You know, out of all the many, many things you could say about Glenn Beck, it seems a it odd that you would choose to pick on him over one of the few things that actually makes perfect sense...
Oh, and speaking of Aladdin, in the Disney version, right at the beginning, at the intro to the first song, they play a similarly-stereotyped "Arabian riff". You know the one. Nine notes on an oboe, going up, then down, stretching out the last note.
When has Techdirt ever taken this position? If they have, I completely missed that.
Umm... all the time! There have been any number of stories about how people trying to get rid of the DMCA takedown process (*ahem* I'm sorry, the "Safe Harbor" system) are threatening all our freedom because it protects good, honest websites. I've repeatedly pointed out a number of fully legal, compliant entities that the supposedly "safe" harbors did nothing to protect, (just off the top of my head: YouTube, Aereo, MegaUpload, and Veoh, and they're by no means the only ones,) and asked who it is that is being actually kept safe, aside from copyright interests of course.
No answer. Ever.
Multiple times, when I've suggested that the DMCA needs to be repealed, I've gotten a response from Mike or other Techdirt staff saying that that's a naive viewpoint because it would get rid of the safe harbors. Asking for an actual real example of who the safe harbors have ever protected (as opposed to purely theoretical "yeah, it protects the Internet) has never yielded any response.
As for other respected voices, that sentiment was all over the place during the SOPA debate. The site has been changed quite a bit since SOPA failed, and the quotes are gone now, but on Blackout Day I wrote a blog post pointing out how Stop American Censorship (one of the major coalitions in the fight against SOPA and PIPA) had several quotes about how SOPA took the existing safe harbors, and all the good they did, and threw them out the window in favor of something bad. I called that "the worst thing about SOPA": the way it shifted the Overton Window in this particular debate and made something completely evil and corrupt look benign and even beneficial by comparison.
He actually has a very good point about the over-focus on short-term ideas rather than more beneficial long-term ones.
Not long ago, Techdirt featured the Hyperloop project in one of its daily "cool stuff" articles. And yes, it's definitely cool, and more than that, it's necessary. We need something like Hyperloop to improve the efficiency of our transportation and reduce the pollution it generates if we're going to survive and continue to grow and progress as a species.
These guys are right: The current system is badly broken. (Please note that I am not saying that their solution to the problem is a good one! It's always much easier to correctly diagnose a difficult problem than to come up with a good solution; just ask an oncologist. Or Karl Marx, for that matter.) But it's a bit distressing to see the idea so blithely dismissed just because of who it's coming from.
(Full disclosure: I am an engineer with the Hyperloop project. But I joined up because I sincerely believe that it's something the world needs.)
On the post: DailyDirt: Don't Eat Fat. Or Sugar. How About Just Less Of Everything?
When we started trying to cut fat out of our diets, we ended up feeling hungrier, eating more (but it's OK because it's low-fat food!) and growing heavier.
On the post: New Company Transparency Reports Help Quantify DMCA Abuse
Re: Re:
According to a 2009 study done by Google on DMCA takedown requests, (see footnote 3 on page 9,) 57% were made by businesses targeted directly at their competition, and 37% were not valid copyright claims in the first place. Depending on how much overlap there is between the two categories, that suggests that as few as 6% of all takedown notices are legitimate attempts to stop piracy.
Anything that's abused 94% of the time that it gets used is something you do not want around. The Internet existed before the DMCA, and repealing it would greatly improve things for everyone. (Except the parasites, of course.)
On the post: David Letterman Mocks The Eagles Over Refusal To License Their Music
Re: Re:
On the post: Netflix And Infringement Called Out During Australian Copyright Forum, But One Major Studio Admits Windowed Releases Are Stupid
Someone ought to show them Star Trek Continues, which I ran across over the weekend...
On the post: CIA's John Brennan Refuses To Tell Senate Who Okayed Spying On The Senate
Gasp! You don't say!
On the post: Wireless Providers Desperate Not To Be Subject To Net Neutrality Rules
It was Android that broke down the walled gardens. The iPhone just replaces the carrier's garden with Apple's, just as onerous and just as repugnant, and people are catching on.
Last I checked, Android had (IIRC) something around 80% market share, and this after Apple's significant first-mover advantage. It's history repeating itself; Apple has made the exact same mistake in the 2010s that they made in the 1980s: being control freaks that are actively hostile to "platform" status and the development of a robust, external ecosystem of developers. And once again, they created a great system and a well-designed OS, and then threw it all away once a wiser competitor showed up and made it a similar system with lower barriers to entry for users and developers alike.
On the post: California Outlaws Consumer-Silencing Non-Disparagement Clauses
Re: Re:
On the post: California Outlaws Consumer-Silencing Non-Disparagement Clauses
On the post: Yet More Evidence That Offering Good Legal Alternatives Reduces Music Piracy
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: article maker hasnt seen whats downloadable lately have ya
On the post: Yet More Evidence That Offering Good Legal Alternatives Reduces Music Piracy
Re: Re: article maker hasnt seen whats downloadable lately have ya
To extend the metaphor, I really wouldn't mind people on my lawn if they wouldn't keep taking a dump all over it...
On the post: FCC's Tom Wheeler Suggests He Will Crack Down On Anti-Consumer Practices By Mobile Operators
Re: Re:
On the post: Baltimore Ravens Meet Streisand Effect After Trying To Play 'Hide The Tweet'
And what do you want to bet that the team and/or the league was directly involved in her making that "decision" and getting him off the hook? This may seem like a shocking development, but in fact it's all too common in the NFL. Over 30% of NFL players have been charged with a serious, violent crime, and the vast majority of the time, the league's lawyers cover it up. Afterall, we can't have the people we hire to make us millions upon millions of dollars by committing acts of violence in a controlled setting getting in trouble for committing acts of violence (and losing their ability to make us money!)
It's really disgusting, when you get a glimpse inside the industry of football, to see how much more closely the NFL resembles an organized crime family than a legitimate sports league! The problem of covering up serious violent crimes is systemic, all the way from high school football on up, and unfortunately there's too much money and too much culture involved for anyone to really do anything meaningful about starting to fix it.
On the post: Released Memos Justifying Warrantless Wiretapping Point To Limitless Executive Branch Authority
Re: Re: Re: Re: Continental Congress time...
I learned plenty. Granted, a few years have gone by since then, but the school system did a pretty good job for me.
The problem is, where do you draw the line between "pure" learning and "indoctrination," which simply means learning what a person with an agenda wants you to learn? Replace the word "agenda" with the less emotionally-charged "curriculum" (which teachers have to have to do their jobs effectively) and the line becomes very blurry indeed, especially if the education is to include education about political topics. (And before you say "then don't teach that," do we really want our kids to be ignorant of politics? Isn't that how we got into this mess?)
A court struck down? What does that even mean?
Do you mean when was the last time a court ruling was struck down? Because that happens all the time. Heck, today in the Senate they're holding a historic vote on striking down one of the worst Supreme Court rulings of all time with a proposed Constitutional amendment, because people have been so outraged about it ever since it came out.
On the post: Released Memos Justifying Warrantless Wiretapping Point To Limitless Executive Branch Authority
Re: Re: Continental Congress time...
On the post: DailyDirt: Experimenting With Alcohol
Color me skeptical. I just wonder, how often would someone who deliberately chooses to go out and get drunk want to then take an antidote that turns them stone-cold sober? Yes, theoretically it could eliminate drunk driving if the person wanted to take it, but bear in mind that one of the best-known effects of alcohol intoxication is impaired judgment.
On the post: Politico's Passive Aggressive Attack On Glenn Greenwald: 'History. Or Journalism. Or Treason. Or Something'
Re:
On the post: DailyDirt: Hmm.That's Not Really Chinese
Re:
Anyone know the origins of that bit?
On the post: DailyDirt: Hmm.That's Not Really Chinese
1847? That's early enough that it's in the public domain now. And see how it's been enriching our culture ever since? ;)
On the post: Austrian ISPs Sued For Actually Wanting A Court Order Rather Than Just Blocking Websites Based On Entertainment Industry's Requests
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Umm... all the time! There have been any number of stories about how people trying to get rid of the DMCA takedown process (*ahem* I'm sorry, the "Safe Harbor" system) are threatening all our freedom because it protects good, honest websites. I've repeatedly pointed out a number of fully legal, compliant entities that the supposedly "safe" harbors did nothing to protect, (just off the top of my head: YouTube, Aereo, MegaUpload, and Veoh, and they're by no means the only ones,) and asked who it is that is being actually kept safe, aside from copyright interests of course.
No answer. Ever.
Multiple times, when I've suggested that the DMCA needs to be repealed, I've gotten a response from Mike or other Techdirt staff saying that that's a naive viewpoint because it would get rid of the safe harbors. Asking for an actual real example of who the safe harbors have ever protected (as opposed to purely theoretical "yeah, it protects the Internet) has never yielded any response.
As for other respected voices, that sentiment was all over the place during the SOPA debate. The site has been changed quite a bit since SOPA failed, and the quotes are gone now, but on Blackout Day I wrote a blog post pointing out how Stop American Censorship (one of the major coalitions in the fight against SOPA and PIPA) had several quotes about how SOPA took the existing safe harbors, and all the good they did, and threw them out the window in favor of something bad. I called that "the worst thing about SOPA": the way it shifted the Overton Window in this particular debate and made something completely evil and corrupt look benign and even beneficial by comparison.
On the post: Intellectual Ventures Tries To Rewrite The Script, Pretends The Plan Was Always About Making Stuff, Not Trolling
Not long ago, Techdirt featured the Hyperloop project in one of its daily "cool stuff" articles. And yes, it's definitely cool, and more than that, it's necessary. We need something like Hyperloop to improve the efficiency of our transportation and reduce the pollution it generates if we're going to survive and continue to grow and progress as a species.
Well, here's something I ran across a while back that really makes you stop and think: Why silicon valley funds Instagrams, not Hyperloops.
These guys are right: The current system is badly broken. (Please note that I am not saying that their solution to the problem is a good one! It's always much easier to correctly diagnose a difficult problem than to come up with a good solution; just ask an oncologist. Or Karl Marx, for that matter.) But it's a bit distressing to see the idea so blithely dismissed just because of who it's coming from.
(Full disclosure: I am an engineer with the Hyperloop project. But I joined up because I sincerely believe that it's something the world needs.)
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