Let's also stop pre-emptively replying to what trolls might say. When the first comment is one of those, it all but guarantees that within a few hours the first few pages of comments are just trolls, troll-baiting, and troll-hunting.
Each one of these works represents a theft from the public and placement of its value into the private hands that paid for the laws enacting the theft. Any retroactive change to copyrights is morally equivalent to copyright infringement.
It doesn't appear that "trolling" is the right word for CMU's behavior, since they actually sued in good faith and didn't simply settle for damages below what a defense would have cost.
That said, I have problems with universities and other organizations using public money to develop technology and then getting patents awarded and cutting out the public who funded them.
FYI, I made the AC comment at 7:09 pm but I didn't realize I was logged out.
Let's not be so sure of our ideas that we forget to have compassion for the indigent and the ignorant. It's one thing to criticize the AAholes for their behavior, because they know better, or they should. This homeless guy, not so much. It's not his job to understand publicity rights. And if he's so poor he has to try to take the rights angle to get a little dough, who are we to judge?
If my brother had finally decided to visit TechDirt after all the times I have plugged it to him and this article and comment was the first thing he saw, I'm sure that would have prevented him from reading anything else. So it's a good bet that somebody's brother somewhere did just that and we lost a convert. And now we probably lost 100 from it being on the front page.
If you want to win this battle you have to win the middle. The average person has to know about it and care about it. That person is not going to listen to you if you aren't likeable. So it's bad business to be calling homeless people motherfuckers in all caps.
Also, remember, that was the first comment, so it was written before the updates came out.
There are still many advantages to pbooks that people don't seem to want to consider, even not considering the nefarious intents of ebook and reader vendors:
You can have your pbooks in different places, such as on your nightstand, and not have to lug your reader everywhere you go.
You and your friend can read two of your pbooks without needing two readers.
You can take a pbook with you as you hike the Appalachian Trail.
You can use the pages of said pbook in case you run out of toilet paper on the Appalachian Trail.
You can have two pbooks open at the same time and scan back and forth easily. Try that with ebooks.
An author can sign a pbook.
You can write a note to someone inside a pbook's cover when given as a present. My grandfather wrote something nice inside a Bible he gave to my mother when she was young and that Bible is a family treasure now.
Some people just aren't "screen people" and they don't absorb as much content as they would with a pbook.
Pbooks can come in different shapes and sizes.
Pbooks can be children's popup books.
Pbooks smell nicer, often.
Cookbooks in the kitchen take a lot of abuse, get splashed, or get touched by dirty hands, and the consequences are limited to just that one pbook.
You can hollow out the pages of a pbook to store a geologist's hammer that you will use to break out of a fictional Maine prison.
You can display your favorite pbooks on a shelf, which might stimulate conversations with your friends.
You can lend pbooks to friends and family members who don't have readers.
Other than problems with DRM, is there anything about pbooks that you find better than ebooks? One wouldn't think so from reading your article. Doesn't Piper have even one good point?
Not everyone has always-on mobile broadband at their fingertips. Even those who can afford it all might benefit from a lesson in how fragile our electronic systems really are, just in terms of energy supply if nothing else.
Electronics will always be, and should always be, built upon and extending physical and biological systems, not replacing them entirely.
Which is why when a post becomes hidden they should hide all the responses too. When you click to expose the original troll post it can easily expose all the responses then.
If you don't know who you are with, don't do anything you wouldn't do in front of a cop. That's the takeaway; no more no less. But most people already know that. So if some dumbshit gets his ass in a sling for being too wide-eyed, it's not the end of the world.
That said, I'd be interested in learning more about how the contractor got said dumbshit to friend them. I'd wager there were some shady bits involved in that.
On the post: Dad Hires Digital Assassins To Murder His Son (Digitally)
On the post: Kickalicious Uses YouTube Video To Get A Tryout With The NY Jets
On the post: Megaupload Tells Court That DOJ Deliberately Misled Court In Getting Warrant
Re:
On the post: So, What Didn't Enter The Public Domain This Week, That Should Have
On the post: So, What Didn't Enter The Public Domain This Week, That Should Have
On the post: Patent Trolling Carnegie Mellon Wins What Could Be Largest Patent Verdict Ever: $1.2 Billion
That said, I have problems with universities and other organizations using public money to develop technology and then getting patents awarded and cutting out the public who funded them.
On the post: White House: We Will Not Support An ITU Treaty That Blurs Telecom Infrastructure With The Info That Crosses Over It
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
Let's not be so sure of our ideas that we forget to have compassion for the indigent and the ignorant. It's one thing to criticize the AAholes for their behavior, because they know better, or they should. This homeless guy, not so much. It's not his job to understand publicity rights. And if he's so poor he has to try to take the rights angle to get a little dough, who are we to judge?
If my brother had finally decided to visit TechDirt after all the times I have plugged it to him and this article and comment was the first thing he saw, I'm sure that would have prevented him from reading anything else. So it's a good bet that somebody's brother somewhere did just that and we lost a convert. And now we probably lost 100 from it being on the front page.
If you want to win this battle you have to win the middle. The average person has to know about it and care about it. That person is not going to listen to you if you aren't likeable. So it's bad business to be calling homeless people motherfuckers in all caps.
Also, remember, that was the first comment, so it was written before the updates came out.
On the post: VCs Successfully Fund Lawsuit Against Best Buy After It Completely Screws Over Startup
File under /system-worked.
On the post: The DVR That Watches You Back: Verizon Applies For 'Ambient Action' Detecting Device Patent
Anyone else notice that Verizon is selling home security cameras, with recording and playback over FIOS from their cloud?
On the post: Author Andrew Piper: Turning Pages Is Important, Therefore Reading Ebooks Isn't Reading
ebooks are not strictly better
You can have your pbooks in different places, such as on your nightstand, and not have to lug your reader everywhere you go.
You and your friend can read two of your pbooks without needing two readers.
You can take a pbook with you as you hike the Appalachian Trail.
You can use the pages of said pbook in case you run out of toilet paper on the Appalachian Trail.
You can have two pbooks open at the same time and scan back and forth easily. Try that with ebooks.
An author can sign a pbook.
You can write a note to someone inside a pbook's cover when given as a present. My grandfather wrote something nice inside a Bible he gave to my mother when she was young and that Bible is a family treasure now.
Some people just aren't "screen people" and they don't absorb as much content as they would with a pbook.
Pbooks can come in different shapes and sizes.
Pbooks can be children's popup books.
Pbooks smell nicer, often.
Cookbooks in the kitchen take a lot of abuse, get splashed, or get touched by dirty hands, and the consequences are limited to just that one pbook.
You can hollow out the pages of a pbook to store a geologist's hammer that you will use to break out of a fictional Maine prison.
You can display your favorite pbooks on a shelf, which might stimulate conversations with your friends.
You can lend pbooks to friends and family members who don't have readers.
On the post: Author Andrew Piper: Turning Pages Is Important, Therefore Reading Ebooks Isn't Reading
Other than problems with DRM, is there anything about pbooks that you find better than ebooks? One wouldn't think so from reading your article. Doesn't Piper have even one good point?
On the post: Universal Studios Sues Over Porn Parody Of '50 Shades Of Grey'; Ignoring 50 Shade's Own History As Fan Fiction
Re: Re: Re: Thrust that double-edged sword.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzmtYkPCQgg
I guess my age is showing.
On the post: Psy Elects Not To Go Legal Over Gangnam Style Restaurant
Re:
On the post: Facebook 'Likes' Considered Key Evidence In 'Terrorist' Plot
On the post: German Chancellor Says Only Print Media Can Teach You 'Real' Reading
Re:
Not everyone has always-on mobile broadband at their fingertips. Even those who can afford it all might benefit from a lesson in how fragile our electronic systems really are, just in terms of energy supply if nothing else.
Electronics will always be, and should always be, built upon and extending physical and biological systems, not replacing them entirely.
On the post: German Chancellor Says Only Print Media Can Teach You 'Real' Reading
Re: Re: Re: Re: ALONGSIDE = "ONLY" !!!!
On the post: German Court Holds Internet User Responsible For Passing On Unknown, Encrypted File
That said, I'd be interested in learning more about how the contractor got said dumbshit to friend them. I'd wager there were some shady bits involved in that.
On the post: Google Asks Germans To Protest 'Pay To Link' Proposal As It Comes Close To Becoming Law
Re: "If sites like Google are making money"...
Google makes software.
Google makes websites.
Google makes data centers.
Google makes phones.
Google makes email servers.
On the post: Google Asks Germans To Protest 'Pay To Link' Proposal As It Comes Close To Becoming Law
Re: Re:
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