"because of the "noncommercial" part, I hesitated about posting this story. After all, we are a commercial site, and I wanted to make sure to include some images, but technically I might be violating their CC license"
Hmm.. CC licenses are based on traditional copyright, so all fair use exceptions that apply to copyright automatically apply to CC licenses as well.
"suggested James Murdoch brush up on his economics"
Economics? Hardly. All that's needed is a reality check and a bit of common sense. I don't think the Murdochs have spent enough time looking at lolcats and know nothing about the internet.
It's one thing to charge extra for official t-shirts, and a completely different thing to ask for money every time the t-shirt is resold (also, ew!).
Btw, as philosophically sound as a *completely* free market may sound on paper, I am not a huge fan of the idea. Some regulation is definitely required to keep things from blowing up, and consumer protection laws are needed to protect the people who are caught in the middle of the all the cutthroat capitalism/competition.
And as for your landlord, he's not transferring ownership of the property to you, so he doesn't owe you equity by any stretch of the imagination.
If it was that simple and consumers always made the right decisions and were always provided with enough choice, then consumer protection laws wouldn't be required.
But such laws *are* required, and this bill would make a good addition to them.
Also FYI, most people on TechDirt don't believe that unchecked profiteering is necessarily a good thing. If "the market isn't about what you deserve, it's about what you can get", then even ACS:Law's extortion practices would have credence...
Yes, they built the house and sold it. Why do they deserve to get paid *every time* it gets sold? If they want to get paid over and over again then they should rent it, not sell it.
It's "house copyright", really. It completely destroys the first sale doctrine on property you legally own using a stupid legal loophole. It *should* be banned.
The older TechDirt story Mike linked to says:
"The fee, written into neighborhood restrictions, would encumber the property for 99 years and throw 1 percent of the sale price back to the developer -- or his or her estate or another investor -- and Freehold each time the home changes hands."
Because it's yet another dead-weight monopoly rent paid to someone who does nothing to deserve it, that increases the price of your property while decreasing its value?
In more TechDirty terms, it's a legal loophole that limits your rights on something you own, like DRM or like your typical walled-garden variety devices.
All those companies should have pooled their funds together and fought the lawsuit. Surely, that would have been cheaper than each settling individually.
Human society appears to re-invent itself every few centuries. It follows this cycle: a new "pure and righteous" political system is put in place that should work in theory, and at first everything is amazing for everyone. But, people are selfish creatures, and the system is slowly turned into totalitarianism/aristocracy. The majority of people suffer for many years, and conditions get increasingly worse. Eventually, a breaking point is reached, which leads the masses to rise up, reclaim power and a new "pure and righteous" political system is put in place that should work in theory, and at first everything is amazing for everyone.
This has undoubtedly repeated itself thousands (millions?) of times throughout human history, and it's how we got from living in caves to where we are today.
What alarms me is that today we have the technology to introduce a very real thought police, and ACTA, COICA, the Gallo report etc etc are all early signs of that happening. That would make it much easier for the powers-that-be to prevent anyone from standing up against them -- it could break this loop.
In other words, I'm afraid we might not be anywhere near the "revolution". I'm afraid we might be standing at the edge of a cliff, ready to take a big plunge.
ACTA is about a lot more than stupid movies. If it were just about stupid movies _I_ for one wouldn't care... but unfortunately I *have* to care about something like ACTA.
I do feel very powerless, however, because the people who understand or even care to understand what ACTA really is are very few. If only more citizens of the world would step up to their *duty* of making sure the world remains democratic and our rights remain our own... unfortunately most are too concerned with today's problems, and have entrusted tomorrow to their governments -- who are have seized the opportunity to become selfish and corrupt.
Humanity will have to go through another bout of medieval feudalism before its next renaissance. I guess that's how the world of man improves itself: two steps forward, one step backwards (an infinite loop, at least until history stops repeating itself).
On the post: More Comics About Copyright
Hmm.. CC licenses are based on traditional copyright, so all fair use exceptions that apply to copyright automatically apply to CC licenses as well.
On the post: Gene Simmons Says Sue Your Fans, Take Their Homes; So Why Hasn't He?
On the post: Canadian Spammer Who Ignored US Judgment Discovers Canadian Courts Are Willing To Uphold US Rulings
Re: One million dollars
Speaking of Dr Evil, heads up: ACTA has been released!
On the post: Advertisers Bailing On Murdoch's Paywalls As The Company Won't Reveal How Many People See Ads
Economics? Hardly. All that's needed is a reality check and a bit of common sense. I don't think the Murdochs have spent enough time looking at lolcats and know nothing about the internet.
On the post: Bill Introduced To Ban Home Resale Fees
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
It's one thing to charge extra for official t-shirts, and a completely different thing to ask for money every time the t-shirt is resold (also, ew!).
Btw, as philosophically sound as a *completely* free market may sound on paper, I am not a huge fan of the idea. Some regulation is definitely required to keep things from blowing up, and consumer protection laws are needed to protect the people who are caught in the middle of the all the cutthroat capitalism/competition.
And as for your landlord, he's not transferring ownership of the property to you, so he doesn't owe you equity by any stretch of the imagination.
On the post: Bill Introduced To Ban Home Resale Fees
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
But such laws *are* required, and this bill would make a good addition to them.
Also FYI, most people on TechDirt don't believe that unchecked profiteering is necessarily a good thing. If "the market isn't about what you deserve, it's about what you can get", then even ACS:Law's extortion practices would have credence...
On the post: Bill Introduced To Ban Home Resale Fees
Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Bill Introduced To Ban Home Resale Fees
Re: Re: Help me understand these.
On the post: Bill Introduced To Ban Home Resale Fees
Re: Help me understand these.
The older TechDirt story Mike linked to says:
"The fee, written into neighborhood restrictions, would encumber the property for 99 years and throw 1 percent of the sale price back to the developer -- or his or her estate or another investor -- and Freehold each time the home changes hands."
On the post: Bill Introduced To Ban Home Resale Fees
Re:
In more TechDirty terms, it's a legal loophole that limits your rights on something you own, like DRM or like your typical walled-garden variety devices.
On the post: Winemaker Charles Smith Sues Over Anonymous Blog Comments
"If they're suing for it, then it's most likely true."
People don't usually care to deny gross exaggerations. They usually try to hide things about their past that they *have* done but are ashamed of.
On the post: Why Have So Many Companies Settled Over Ridiculous Patent For 'Online Music Distribution'?
Re: Re:
On the post: Negotiators Get Close On ACTA, And Continue To Mislead About It
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Rebelion?
On the post: Why Have So Many Companies Settled Over Ridiculous Patent For 'Online Music Distribution'?
On the post: Negotiators Get Close On ACTA, And Continue To Mislead About It
Re: Re: Re: Rebelion?
This has undoubtedly repeated itself thousands (millions?) of times throughout human history, and it's how we got from living in caves to where we are today.
What alarms me is that today we have the technology to introduce a very real thought police, and ACTA, COICA, the Gallo report etc etc are all early signs of that happening. That would make it much easier for the powers-that-be to prevent anyone from standing up against them -- it could break this loop.
In other words, I'm afraid we might not be anywhere near the "revolution". I'm afraid we might be standing at the edge of a cliff, ready to take a big plunge.
On the post: Negotiators Get Close On ACTA, And Continue To Mislead About It
Re: Rebelion?
I do feel very powerless, however, because the people who understand or even care to understand what ACTA really is are very few. If only more citizens of the world would step up to their *duty* of making sure the world remains democratic and our rights remain our own... unfortunately most are too concerned with today's problems, and have entrusted tomorrow to their governments -- who are have seized the opportunity to become selfish and corrupt.
Humanity will have to go through another bout of medieval feudalism before its next renaissance. I guess that's how the world of man improves itself: two steps forward, one step backwards (an infinite loop, at least until history stops repeating itself).
I can't believe I'm typing this shit up...
On the post: Negotiators Get Close On ACTA, And Continue To Mislead About It
THEN what?
On the post: Hollywood Got The FCC To Break Your TV Because It Thought You'd Pay $30 For A PPV Movie?
Re: Foolish game
- 2 large pizzas & bottle of coke (or beers) delivered to your door, and
- access to a recently released PPV movie
for $30, that would be a more reasonable deal, and one that would attract a lot more customers.
On the post: Yet Another Example Of Creativity Exploding Without Copyright Law: Football Plays
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Yet Another Example Of Creativity Exploding Without Copyright Law: Football Plays
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
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