Category: Human stupidity
Google Porn Takedowns Carpet Bomb Github
Every single week thousands of copyright holders and anti-piracy companies demand that Google removes links to allegedly infringing content.
The effort required to deal with this deluge is considerable. Google has received as many as 11 million requests in a single week and in 2014 alone the search giant processed some 345 million URL takedowns.
While it’s believed that most takedown requests are accurate, Google still does its best to ensure that erroneous notices don’t negatively affect legitimate online services. Google regularly rejects overbroad and inaccurate notices but like everyone else, the company isn’t perfect.
The latest head-shaker arrives courtesy of anti-piracy outfit Takedown Piracy (TDP). Acting on behalf of porn outfit Wicked Pictures, TDP sent Google a notice containing thousands of URLs targeting dozens of well and lesser-known file-sharing sites.
Sadly, however, the notice also targeted coding site Github – over and over and over again. And Google complied.
“The materials reported in this notice are the copyrighted DVD/videos of Wicked Pictures,” the notice begins.
Not exactly.
What do UK and Iran have in common? Both want to outlaw encrypted apps
Encrypted communications will be backdoored or banned in the UK if the Conservatives win the next election, Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged.
The UK government has always had the power, “in extremis,” to read Brits’ personal post and eavesdrop on electronic chatter, he repeatedly insisted on Monday in a speech to the party faithful in Nottingham.
Roca Labs, Lacking A Hornet Nest Into Which It Could Stick Its Dick, Has Sued Marc Randazza
This crazy litigant goes to 11.
Roca Labs, you may recall, is the weight-loss-goo purveyor that is belligerent, litigious, and sensitive to criticism to a pathological degree. Last month I wrote about how they require their customers to sign no-criticism contracts, and had sued PissedConsumer.com for carrying negative reviews. Yesterday I lit the Popehat Signal to seek help for customers Roca Labs has targeted with vexatious litigation — including, in what no doubt is just a big coincidence, one of the witnesses against them in their first litigation.
Can Roca Labs push the envelope more? Yes they can.
Today Marc Randazza — counsel for PissedConsumer.com in Roca Labs’ frivolous suit — filed an updated notice of related cases in the PissedConsumer case. That updated notice revealed that Roca Labs has now sued Randazza himself for his activities defending PissedConsumer.com.
Maryland Politician (Kirby Delauter) Says Local Paper Can’t Use His Name Without Permission
All Frederick County (MD) Councilman Kirby Delauter knows is that he doesn’t like unfavorable press. Literally, that appears to be all he knows — at least as far as press relations go. He apparently believes that he holds the power to decide whether his name appears in print, rather than the other way around. Delauter blew off a phone call from Frederick News-Post writer Bethany Rodgers seeking comment on a story and then turned around and called her out on Facebook for using his name without permission.
The post has since been deleted by Delauter, but the image will live on forever… as will Delauter’s inability to comprehend how journalism actually works.
Linux Developer (Antoni Norman) Who Issued Bogus YouTube Takedowns Threatens Techdirt With Legal Action For Publishing His ‘Private Information’
It looks very much like Techdirt is correct in this analysis:
What is for certain is that Norman is either unwilling or unable to learn from his mistakes. He was given a chance to salvage his reputation but instead has decided to double down on matches and accelerant. He’s a respected developer, but he’s swiftly shedding what’s left of that respect with an unfortunate proclivity for retaliation and bluster.
Antoni Norman, The creator of PinguyOS, Issues Bogus Takedowns Against Cup Of Linux YouTube Channel
Pinguy was banned by moderators of my community at cupoflinux.com for several counts of misconduct while impaired. Pinguy is a great source of information and we have been more lenient with him than anyone else. I was going to consider lifting his ban after a 3 month period to send a strong message to him that we will not tolerate bad behavior from anyone. This act of acrimony makes his ban permanent and is treated as a “trademark troll” attack. The GNU general public license grants us the freedom to use GPL software in any way we see fit with the inclusion modifying, sharing and providing tutorials under FAIR USE.
Paul Hansmeier and John Steele of Prenda fame is at it again
For more than a year now, Paul Hansmeier has attempted to offset the losses generated by the flagging Prenda Law brand with class action lawsuits predicated on supposed ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) violations. Hansmeier isn’t suddenly a do-gooding social warrior seeking equitable treatment for disabled Americans. He’s just shifted the focus of his modus operandi. Hansmeier sues and sues and sues, offering out-of-court settlements to the defendants. This is money Hansmeier shouldn’t theoretically be able to demand, but he’s found a loophole that works for him.
In most cases, federal and state laws governing disability access don’t provide punitive relief. They can only be used to get property owners to correct shortcomings and to recover the plaintiff’s reasonable legal expenses. However, Hansmeier has been making claims under a Minnesota law that the property owners are committing a bias offense, which is a misdemeanor. In correspondence seeking a settlement with Peterson, he wrote that the law exposes defendants to a fine of $500 per incident, as well as punitive damages.
Using this, Hansmeier has demanded anywhere from $2,500 to $15,000 from the businesses he’s sued. The end result has been some companies paying up rather than fighting back, while others have decided to cease doing business entirely. The 84-year-old owner of an antique shop targeted by a Hansmeier suit has closed her business as a result of his litigious actions. At the point it shut down, it was making around “$50 a day.” Now, the business is completely inaccessible — both to the disabled and non-disabled alike.
Perpetual motion machines are impossible…
Long time ago, I’ve been thinking about a concept that we can use the mass of an object to move its gravity center, and fall forward. If applied to a wheel, that concept could be a source of infinite and free energy! So, I want to create a prototype, to test my concept.
Sony About to Get Sued For Pirating Music in The Interview
The way things are panning out, the Sony movie The Interview is on course to become one of the most controversial movies of all time.
The comedy, which depicts the violent death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, made headlines worldwide when the so-called Guardians of Peace hacking group threatened Sony if it was released. Facing what amounted to a “terrorist” threat, theaters all around the U.S. backed away from showing The Interview in the week leading up to Christmas.
After pulling the movie completely, Sony had a change of heart and on Christmas Eve released the music online via YouTube, Google Play and Xbox Live. Predictably the movie was quickly gobbled up by pirates, with the latest figures suggesting that in just two days the movie has been downloaded 1.5 million times.
But while Sony deals with rampant piracy issues at one end, it’s now facing copyright infringement allegations of its own. According to new claims, Sony used copyrighted music in The Interview without permission and without compensating an artist.