Re: Re: That is similar to the history of most third parties in the US since the Civil War.
I realized that the electoral process is different. My point was that new parties, especially ones with a narrow scope of issues, tend to get absorbed by the larger parties. This isn't entirely a bad thing because in the process the policies advocated by the new party get incorporated into a larger party. In this case it seems to be working about the same way in Germany as it has worked in the US despite the differences in the political system.
DMCA bogus takedowns can actually be largely fixed without touching the DCMA itself. What we need is a law imposing penalties for false claim of copyright with hefty statutory damages and treble penalties when the objective of the false claim was is to stifle free speech or to harm a business competitor. DCMA claims are supposed to be based on copyright, so any bogus DCMA claim would by definition give the damaged party the right to pursue damages. With the potential for large settlements it should be easy to find an attorney to represent the little people who tend to have no recourse when a large company falsely takes down their material.
>> the European Green Party has also adopted many of the Pirate Party's key policies on copyright.
That is similar to the history of most third parties in the US since the Civil War. Whenever a third party starts to gain traction with the voters we see one of the major parties adopts the third party's platform. This effectively kills off the third party. So in effect the third party can win on the policy issue but the party itself ends up fading away in the process.
Thanks for releasing the information. It is helpful to other artists. The industry apologists can quibble all they want about whether this is a poll or a survey.
The important thing is that you are asking questions that the big companies are not. They don't care very much about the artists and they care even less whether the fans want to support the artist. In their paradigm it is publicity and distribution networks that drive sales and they don't want to hear anything that contradicts that world view.
I went to her Yelp page right after this story came out. At the time it looked like there were only three reviews on her. It looked like two of them were fake reviews written by someone on her staff as advertising fluff.
>>If I ever go to any medical office and am asked to sign something like this 'agreement' I'll write in big bold letters "FUCK YOU" on that form, then walk out the door and immediately write a review on Yelp and DoctorBase
In this particular case the patient was in severe pain. Trying to get into another dentist would probably have taken at least another day of enduring the pain. In effect the patient was under duress and had no real choice but to sign the agreement.
What I might have tried to do was to write under the signature something like "signed under duress and protest." The clerk could have refused to accept it, but chances are pretty good that they would have gone ahead an taken it unless the patient had made a huge fuss about signing it initially.
But it does have potential to affect shareholder value. Giving people virtually unfettered ability to force de-linking web sites makes Google less useful. The current case only relates to a small percentage of the sites that Google indexes, but if this becomes the precident Google could be forced to ignore a broad swath of the Internet.
There are other search engines http://yacy.net/en/ that are at least in theory more resistant to government interference. If Google has to censor a large number of web sites then things like YaCy become more attractive, and that hits directly at shareholder interests.
It hope Google fights this. SOPA seemed to have awakened the sleeping giant, and they could do some real good here if they take the opportunity.
The total lack of evidence against most of the web sites is also disturbing. It looks like evidence was only presented against three web sites. The rest are presumed to be guilty because those three appeared guilty. It's like saying that some people who wear flannel shirts commit murder, so if you see someone with a flannel shirt who is carrying a gun they must also be murders.
>>This is what happens when you live in a backwards Nation governed by Religion and having all kinds of modern tech.
When I read the first line I was expecting the following sentence to be about the USA. Unfortunately the US seems to be rapidly moving in the direction of "a backwards Nation governed by Religion."
The school district letter about the "teachable moment" seemed to be aimed at the student. However, I think the ones who really got taught were the Governor's staff and the school district.
If we are going to have a "report terrorism" button then we should probably have a "report child abuse" button and one for "report tax evasion" and "report piracy" and "report pornography" and "report issue du jour." Eventually Google will have to list one entry per page with the rest of the page devoted to various report buttons that seemed important to one or another politician.
>> Interestingly enough, it also shows a reduction in music piracy over the same period. This could certainly be bad news to those companies whose movies and games are part of the study...
Honestly, that might be worse news for the music industry than the gaming and music. Lack of increased piracy might mean lack of interest, at least in the music from the big name brands that care about piracy. Of course we don't have any way to confirm or refute my assertion because we don't know anything about the study other than the conclusions.
The cynic in me wants to say that the study doesn't show a growth in music piracy because the big labels didn't contribute enough to funding the study. But again, we don't know because of lack of transparency.
Re: 'all sorts of reasons why Miller is "an exception." '
>>I've just downloaded and skimmed through 3 "albums", if you call that music, it's just as I've said: music is a hundred times cheaper to make than movies -- it shows here. Yeesh. Those skilled enough can churn that -- content, to be neutral -- out at an "album" a day.
But yet this piece of junk (in your mind) beat out all of the label artists backed by all the producers, musical directors, equipment, and other benefits provided by the studios. What does that say about the quality of music produced by the traditional labels?
This is exactly what the RIAA is worried about. Their worst fear is successful artists outside the RIAA cartel.
Even their virtual lock on terrestrial radio is not as valuable as it used to be. As the situation with Mac Miller illustrates,lots of young people use the Internet as their main source for finding music they like. An artist no longer needs radio plays to be popular.
>>How can the RIAA just insert themselves into a case that has nothing to do with them?
As the article notes, there are at least a couple of ways. One is to file an amicus (or "friend of the court") brief. It isn't unusual to have amicus briefs filed in high-profile cases.
The RIAA could also help fund Righthaven, although that might be tricky. Also, the RIAA is no longer has limitless resources itself. As you might have heard, CD sales are down just a bit, and the labels haven't really figured out how to replace the revenue. Apple has been trying to show them one way, but the labels have resisted because the execs are fascinated by shiny round objects. A lot of the funding for IP FUD has been coming from the MPAA which seems to be flush with money in spite of infringement. However, I don't think the Hoehn ruling threatens the MPAA as much as it does the RIAA.
The phrase that worries me is "as currently written." My fear is that a "grand compromise" will be reached that will tweak a few things around the edges without changing the substance of the bill. The proponents will then be able to proclaim that they have listened to the critics and taken their concerns into account. I also worry that the House bill is so bad that it makes the Senate bill look acceptable.
Another of the voices in my head is more positive. That voice is saying that perhaps SOPA has opened a lot of people's eyes to what big content is doing with IP. Perhaps there will be a backlash and we will actually get laws that recognizes fair use as an affirmative right and puts heavy penalties in place for copyfraud.
Any time you get a significant amount of human activity in one area you will have someone doing something illegal. It may be intentional or unintentional, but most likely there is some of both.
On top of that, SOPA uses incredibly broad definitions to define what is illegal. And all that is needed is a suspicion of illegal activity. In fact all that is really required is an IP owner who is afraid of what is going on.
This means that it is going to be almost impossible for any business to operate on the Internet unless it has a powerful team of lawyers, and even that might not be enough to keep a lot of businesses operating. Even the major media companies themselves may be vulnerable. Movie studios are constantly being threatened by legal action from people who claim their script was stolen. Record labels constantly face claims that new songs have stolen old songs. And that doesn't even cover the situations where the major IP gateholders have themselves really broken copyright law.
I can't imagine a law better designed to kill innovation and destroy jobs.
On the post: How Labels Pulling Out Of Spotify Are Doing Massive Harm To Themselves
On the post: The Pirate Party Effect: German Greens Scramble To Draw Up Digital Policies To Hold On To Voters
Re: Re: That is similar to the history of most third parties in the US since the Civil War.
On the post: As We Complain About SOPA & PIPA, Don't Forget The DMCA Already Has Significant Problems
Re:
On the post: The Pirate Party Effect: German Greens Scramble To Draw Up Digital Policies To Hold On To Voters
That is similar to the history of most third parties in the US since the Civil War. Whenever a third party starts to gain traction with the voters we see one of the major parties adopts the third party's platform. This effectively kills off the third party. So in effect the third party can win on the policy issue but the party itself ends up fading away in the process.
On the post: The Value Is In The Relationship, Not The MP3 File
Re:
The important thing is that you are asking questions that the big companies are not. They don't care very much about the artists and they care even less whether the fans want to support the artist. In their paradigm it is publicity and distribution networks that drive sales and they don't want to hear anything that contradicts that world view.
On the post: Dentist Who 'Invoiced' Patient For Negative Reviews, Getting Slammed On Yelp
On the post: Dentist Forced Patient To Sign Away Future Copyright On Any Online Review; Then Billed Him $100/Day For Negative Reviews
In this particular case the patient was in severe pain. Trying to get into another dentist would probably have taken at least another day of enduring the pain. In effect the patient was under duress and had no real choice but to sign the agreement.
What I might have tried to do was to write under the signature something like "signed under duress and protest." The clerk could have refused to accept it, but chances are pretty good that they would have gone ahead an taken it unless the patient had made a huge fuss about signing it initially.
On the post: Court Effectively Pretends SOPA Already Exists; Orders Domains Seized, De-Linked From Search
Re: Re:
There are other search engines http://yacy.net/en/ that are at least in theory more resistant to government interference. If Google has to censor a large number of web sites then things like YaCy become more attractive, and that hits directly at shareholder interests.
On the post: Court Effectively Pretends SOPA Already Exists; Orders Domains Seized, De-Linked From Search
The total lack of evidence against most of the web sites is also disturbing. It looks like evidence was only presented against three web sites. The rest are presumed to be guilty because those three appeared guilty. It's like saying that some people who wear flannel shirts commit murder, so if you see someone with a flannel shirt who is carrying a gun they must also be murders.
On the post: May The Dolphin Be Unflogged: Paskistani Government Censors Texting
Re:
When I read the first line I was expecting the following sentence to be about the USA. Unfortunately the US seems to be rapidly moving in the direction of "a backwards Nation governed by Religion."
On the post: WSJ The Latest Mainstream Press To Run Anti-SOPA/PIPA Opinion Piece
Re:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrydownes/2011/11/28/the-revolt-against-congresss-new-interne t-piracy-proposals/
On the post: Kansas Governor Apologizes After Staff Gets High School Student In Trouble For Tweet About The Governor
On the post: Sen. Joe Lieberman Asks Google For A 'Report Blog As Terrorist' Button
Page o' Buttons concept
On the post: New Research Shows Movie And Game Piracy On The Rise, But Won't Tell Us How It Knows
Honestly, that might be worse news for the music industry than the gaming and music. Lack of increased piracy might mean lack of interest, at least in the music from the big name brands that care about piracy. Of course we don't have any way to confirm or refute my assertion because we don't know anything about the study other than the conclusions.
The cynic in me wants to say that the study doesn't show a growth in music piracy because the big labels didn't contribute enough to funding the study. But again, we don't know because of lack of transparency.
On the post: Indie Rapper Tops Sales Charts By Connecting With Fans, Using Free Music
Re: 'all sorts of reasons why Miller is "an exception." '
But yet this piece of junk (in your mind) beat out all of the label artists backed by all the producers, musical directors, equipment, and other benefits provided by the studios. What does that say about the quality of music produced by the traditional labels?
On the post: Indie Rapper Tops Sales Charts By Connecting With Fans, Using Free Music
Even their virtual lock on terrestrial radio is not as valuable as it used to be. As the situation with Mac Miller illustrates,lots of young people use the Internet as their main source for finding music they like. An artist no longer needs radio plays to be popular.
On the post: RIAA Thinking Of Backing Righthaven
Re:
As the article notes, there are at least a couple of ways. One is to file an amicus (or "friend of the court") brief. It isn't unusual to have amicus briefs filed in high-profile cases.
The RIAA could also help fund Righthaven, although that might be tricky. Also, the RIAA is no longer has limitless resources itself. As you might have heard, CD sales are down just a bit, and the labels haven't really figured out how to replace the revenue. Apple has been trying to show them one way, but the labels have resisted because the execs are fascinated by shiny round objects. A lot of the funding for IP FUD has been coming from the MPAA which seems to be flush with money in spite of infringement. However, I don't think the Hoehn ruling threatens the MPAA as much as it does the RIAA.
On the post: Senators Rand Paul, Jerry Moran And Maria Cantwell All Warn That PROTECT IP Will Kill Jobs
Another of the voices in my head is more positive. That voice is saying that perhaps SOPA has opened a lot of people's eyes to what big content is doing with IP. Perhaps there will be a backlash and we will actually get laws that recognizes fair use as an affirmative right and puts heavy penalties in place for copyfraud.
On the post: A Look At Three Popular Sites That May Be In Trouble Under SOPA
On top of that, SOPA uses incredibly broad definitions to define what is illegal. And all that is needed is a suspicion of illegal activity. In fact all that is really required is an IP owner who is afraid of what is going on.
This means that it is going to be almost impossible for any business to operate on the Internet unless it has a powerful team of lawyers, and even that might not be enough to keep a lot of businesses operating. Even the major media companies themselves may be vulnerable. Movie studios are constantly being threatened by legal action from people who claim their script was stolen. Record labels constantly face claims that new songs have stolen old songs. And that doesn't even cover the situations where the major IP gateholders have themselves really broken copyright law.
I can't imagine a law better designed to kill innovation and destroy jobs.
On the post: Warner Bros. Wants You To 'Buy' Movies Instead Of Rent... And By 'Buy' It Means Spend More To Still 'Rent'
Re: Re: Re: Oh?
Streaming on steroids!
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