Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: The Mega Conspiracy

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  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,

    Oh, it is old news. More recently, Motion Picture Association of America head former Senator Chris Dodd has been pure comedy gold. This nitwit makes Alisdair Thompson look like a paragon of competence.

    What do you do when your legislative agenda is turning to shit. Go on Fox News and have a very public “hey bitch, when when we buy you, you stay brought OR ELSE” temper tantrum at the White House, of course!

    Then throw yourself a pity party about those horrible lying liars on the internet. As Cory Doctrow snarks on BoingBoing:

    Must be terribly hard to represent the largest media empires in the world, who collectively own all the major newspapers, TV stations, radio stations, billboards, record labels and studios. How will they ever get their side of the story out?

    WHAT AN ASSHOLE is a pretty apposite tag.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Rich of Observationz,

    Pope on a rope...

    BCCI

    Which reminds me of Italy's Banco Ambrosiano which collapsed and, well, left things hanging....
    But eventually many high level people were prosecuted.

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

  • nzlemming, in reply to Bart Janssen,

    The bank remains closed until the case comes to court?

    If the person accused of committing crime is the one who owns the bank, quite possibly.

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    WHAT AN ASSHOLE is a pretty apposite tag.

    Nice contributions in that thread, dude.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to nzlemming,

    well I'll be dipped in dog deposits...

    If the person accused of committing crime is
    the one who owns the bank, quite possibly.

    and don't they say the best way to rob a bank is to own one...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

  • nzlemming, in reply to Dylan Reeve,

    The activities of MegaUpload are much more akin to safe deposit boxes, or storage lockers.

    From the public usage perspective, I agree. But that's not what the alleged crime is about. It's as if MU was going through those lockers and making money of showing their contents to other people.

    It would be fascinating to find out what percentage of MU’s business was infringing. I certainly know plenty of people who used it legitimately.

    It would, indeed. Consensus among some people I know (some of whom use MU and other sites for both purposes) is that the ratio legitimate:infringing would be very low (something like 1:500 was one estimate, which was promptly laughed at by the others present). It would be interesting to see an audit of files, but I doubt that will happen.

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report

  • Dylan Reeve, in reply to nzlemming,

    From the public usage perspective, I agree. But that’s not what the alleged crime is about. It’s as if MU was going through those lockers and making money of showing their contents to other people.

    More like it was as if MU were letting anyone off the street who had the right code written on a bit of paper go into the lockers get something and walk away. These visitors could either stand around and MegaUpload staff would recite ads at them for 45 seconds, or they could pay a little money and the MU staff would just let them in.

    Now perhaps also MegaUpload staff also happened to pick up the underground newspapers that these lockers and their passwords are advertised...

    I'm not totally sure on how MegaVideo was working, but as I understand it MegaUpload themselves never published links to any infringing files.

    It would, indeed. Consensus among some people I know (some of whom use MU and other sites for both purposes) is that the ratio legitimate:infringing would be very low (something like 1:500 was one estimate, which was promptly laughed at by the others present). It would be interesting to see an audit of files, but I doubt that will happen

    Give the massive quantity of data they had I find that ratio difficult to believe, but perhaps?

    Also files that were present on the server but weren't being linked to from outside (maybe unlikely?) weren't infringing, or at least MegaUpload wasn't involved in the infringement - another reason I think they weren't obligated to search for and delete duplicate copies of notified files. Unless they are made aware it's being actively shared it's not a breech.

    Auckland • Since Aug 2008 • 311 posts Report

  • linger, in reply to Sacha,

    Peripheral, but I’m struck by how this US usage [ “curb” ] has replaced the previously common “kerb” in a few published articles in NZ lately.

    Both spellings are standard in British and NZ English, but they are used for different purposes: kerb is the (literally) concrete noun, and curb is the verb. The Wellington corpus [of 1986 NZE] has just 3 tokens of curb (all verbs) and 5 of kerb (all nouns); that’s not enough evidence to conclusively state that variation in NZE was impossible in 1986, but does suggest that, if variation was possible within either of those functions, it wasn’t widespread.
    However, I can see how variation in "NZE" might easily arise, (i) through functional confusion, when the noun is being used within a verb phrase such as jump the kerb, and (ii) as a result of news subediting being subcontracted to Australia, which has a higher tendency to use (some) “American” spelling variants.

    Tokyo • Since Apr 2007 • 1944 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Nice contributions in that thread, dude.

    I'm just bemused that someone who was hired for his connections on Capitol Hill is acting like some more-than-usually unhinged GOP primary candidate. If I was Rupert Murdoch, I'd be asking if the sixth of Dodd's arse I'm paying for is making an acceptable ROI.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Roger Lacey, in reply to linger,

    Peripheral, but I’m struck by how this US usage [ “curb” ] has replaced the previously common “kerb” in a few published articles in NZ lately.

    And there I was thinking that jumping the curb was somehow related to jumping the snark.

    Whatakataka Bay Surf Club… • Since Apr 2008 • 148 posts Report

  • Bart Janssen, in reply to nzlemming,

    If the person accused of committing crime is the one who owns the bank, quite possibly.

    Oh come on. Yes technically that might happen, in practice?

    The reality is MU is being treated differently from many other organisations. Banks with illegal property in deposit boxes, U-Tube, Amazon, Share traders, Lawyers ... and many others all have situations where some users of their services are using the service for illegal activity. In those cases the illegal activity is addressed directly by police and courts without shutting down the legal activity.

    That the owners of MU have engaged in illegal activity themselves is a different issue but again does not of necessity demand that MU get shut down including all the legal activity that it hosts. Again nobody expects a bank or law office to be closed because a clerk acted illegally, some funds may be frozen for a short period but the presumption is that most activity is legal, as it should be.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to linger,

    It's used a lot more in council/planning/construction circles than in newspapers, etc, as you'd imagine.

    Not a common word so is more subject to shifting cultural influence when translated from spoken to printed word. Good point about the Aussie subeditors too. Strewth.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Rich of Observationz,

    MU are low hanging fruit. Sleazy name, sleazy people (yachts, mansions (lairs?), guns, previous convictions).

    It's like Switched On Gardener getting busted whilst "mainstream" agricultural suppliers can sell exactly the same things without consequences.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • nzlemming, in reply to Bart Janssen,

    Oh come on. Yes technically that might happen, in practice?

    As someone else mentioned, the BCCI did this.

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report

  • Steve Withers,

    I put the NZ government's cheerful - almost gleeful - co-operation in the matter (and apparent prejudice, judging by how the raids were conducted and media releases since) down to the perennial desire to look good to the Americans....the whole free trade deal thing that infests the minds of those in government, whether Labour or National. If we only send our soldiers to die in some shonky invasion or treat some perp like he's guilty until proven innocent....then maybe we'll win El Dorado.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 312 posts Report

  • Steve Barnes, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,

    I think it goes something like this:

    Close but still no cigar.
    It is more like this HTML+CGI where the url triggers a script to find the desired content.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report

  • merc,

    Client state, or more properly a Vassal state.

    Since Dec 2006 • 2471 posts Report

  • Steve Barnes, in reply to Russell Brown,

    That’s an interesting point. Spotify is legit and earns artists fuck-all. Megaupload is dodgy and earns (some) artists decent money.

    Which in my eyes is the real point.
    The recording and film industries have for years exploited the artists, it was only after such smart arses as Mick Jagger, using his LSE credentials no doubt, took the bull by the horns and gained control of the Rolling Stones music thus paving the way for other artists to get a fair suck of the sav.
    There are plenty of examples out there in interweb land proving that "free"can make money. The RIAA and the MPAA are the head of a hideous monster that should have sunk in the peat bogs aeons back, their distribution methods are so yesterday.
    I, for one will be downloading all my entertainment from now on, apart from live stuff that is ;-).
    These bastards have had their way for far too long..

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report

  • Angus Robertson, in reply to merc,

    At least we're not paying for it.

    Auckland • Since May 2007 • 984 posts Report

  • Steve Barnes, in reply to Dylan Reeve,

    But it’s not, it is more like a self-storage service. If one person was storing drugs in their unit would we expect (and accept) that police shut down the entire facility?

    I think it's more like...
    If a person was storing recordings or videos of prescription drugs in their unit... etc.
    The state of global copyright law these days is bollocks. We should have a thread about it.
    /coat...

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report

  • Steve Barnes, in reply to Dylan Reeve,

    the US TV season is often interrupted with mid-season breaks of two to four weeks. Something that wouldn’t work for an NZ audience. So shows usually have to start at least far enough behind the US to absorb this break

    Wouldn't work for NZ audiences? Well I would prefer a 2-4 week break as opposed to just stopping a series in mid flight to show an Aussie dancing show or whatever and never see it return to our screens, with no explanation to boot.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report

  • Dylan Reeve, in reply to Steve Barnes,

    Wouldn’t work for NZ audiences? Well I would prefer a 2-4 week break as opposed to just stopping a series in mid flight to show an Aussie dancing show or whatever and never see it return to our screens, with no explanation to boot.

    Yeah, well that's a different issue entirely. Small potential audience to compete for, ratings are the key metric. Rather unfortunate. Something that Sky doesn't really have to worry about.

    Auckland • Since Aug 2008 • 311 posts Report

  • Kumara Republic,

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report

  • alobar,

    But it’s not, it is more like a self-storage service. If one person was storing drugs in their unit would we expect (and accept) that police shut down the entire facility?

    It was hardly just a self storage unit ... if the general public had easy access to drugs in multiple storage units then maybe the police would shut down the whole facility

    auckland • Since Apr 2010 • 63 posts Report

  • Rich of Observationz, in reply to alobar,

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

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