Jim Bee’s Comments

• Sep 19th, 2013 @ 12:40pm

  Snowden and the Constitution

  on Snowden's Constitution vs Obama's Constitution
  A great book on the U.S. Constitution has been put out by somebody writing under the ironic pen name of "Edward James Snowden":
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Everything-Know-about-Constitution-Wrong/dp/1492364843
• Jul 27th, 2013 @ 2:48am

  DMCA takedown abuse first-hand

  on Copyright As Censorship: Birth Blogger Fight Goes Legal Over DMCA Abuse
  This is an old article now, but I just came across it. It matches the level of stupidity of my own experience pretty well. As I commented under a more recent story at TechDirt, I was recently in a DMCA takedown spat with a Hollywood screenwriter who objected to my putting screengrabs of her Twitter posts on a blog and making fun of them. She filed a DMCA takedown request, which promptly got my blog taken down. She also alleged I was a "stalker" even though the amount of contact I had with her was forty-eight hours worth of Twitter.
  
  This sort of thing rather wears you down because there's no recourse. I gave up on it for a month, then put the blog back up last night. I feel sure it'll be taken down again soon by another phony request. But what do you do? There's no justice in it anywhere. File your own (phony) claims against the other person's website and sink to their level? Let your speech be silenced? And how do you defend yourself against a "stalking" charge today when it's so plausible (at least in the public's eyes)?
  
  It's a lose-lose.
• Jul 27th, 2013 @ 2:38am

  DMCA takedown abuse first-hand

  on Why Yes, Copyright Can Be Used To Censor, And 'Fair Use Creep' Is Also Called 'Free Speech'
  I've been involved in a DMCA takedown spat every bit as ridiculous as the one with the women arguing about birthing methods. (I'd like to think by contrast I'm at least reasonable.)
  
  I was on Twitter a few months back and had a two-day interaction with a Hollywood screenwriter who went into hysterics over fairly innocuous comments. When I put screengrabs of the Twitter exchange up on a blog later, she filed a DMCA takedown request claiming that I was a "stalker" who had infringed her copyright.
  
  I was prepared to let it drop, even though on balance I thought I was in the right. But after a month or so, irked, I put it back up last night with updated text. I fully expect it will be taken down again with another phony request.