Jeroen Hellingman 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Copyright Means You May Need Permission To Post Photos Of Your Own Home Online

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 16 Mar, 2023 @ 07:12am

    Catalog exception

    In Dutch law, there is an explicit exception for reproducing a work of art (at an appropriate size or resolution) for the express purpose of offering it for sale. I don't know the details of German law, but that would apply here, as the apartment is offered for sale, including the wallpaper.

  • On the post: How Price Tourism Propelled A Switch Game To Nintendo Switch Fame

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 03 Nov, 2022 @ 08:08am

    Price tourism a good thing, yes, most certainly!

    Long time ago, in the Netherlands we had world-wide exhaustion of copyright, which means a product brought into circulation legally could be imported freely. I consider this a good thing. Then came an EU rule abolishing that, which I think is bad for consumers, and bad for the world economy. As all artificial market segmentation, they ultimately serve to limit competition and unjustly increase prices. The problem here is that geographical price differentiation exposes the unacceptable differences in living standards and prices, that are unsustainable in the long term. If you don't allow this behavior, but really make those markets free world-wide, you will see a lot of leveling out. Maybe a western company will be forced to put a higher price in Argentina, but that might give an Argentinian company to put up a game at a price-level below that (but still above the price now set, and only possible because high-price countries in a sense subsidize those lower prices). That way, that Argentinian company will be better able to compete on a home market, and even expand to a world market, which in the end will result in more leveling-out of economies, which is much required. There is also a large degree of hypocrisy behind those geographic restrictions. When it is about moving products across the world, companies don't want it at all and proclaim free trade; but when labor wants to move, or consumers want to (virtually) move, the lobbying is for restriction, and the opposite of tree trade.

  • On the post: How The Financialization Of Music Could Lead To Demands For Perpetual Copyright

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 11 Jan, 2022 @ 11:42pm

    Re: Seller beware

    Never underestimate the addictive qualities of money for nothing (and the chicks for free) nor the creativity of an army of lawyers in finding rent seeking arguments when they are front-loaded with such money. The counter argument is of course that such artists cash in at the moment they know their army of fans is getting close to retirement, and in a moment of nostalgia revisit the idols of their youth with their now significant funds and free time. Any such rise in popularity can be expected to die out with their fans, while the youth will look for something their parents abhor, for that very reason.

  • On the post: NYPD Officers Are Again Whining About Being Asked To Document Their Biased Policework

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 12 Jan, 2022 @ 12:31am

    How will they establish what to fill in on that form. It isn't true that you can simply establish the fictional concept that "race" is in the US by just looking at a person. Under the racist "one drop of blood" theory, even somebody with a lily-white skin can be considered "black". For me the only viable way to establish "race" is by asking the person in question. In that case I would answer something completely ridiculous, like "Klingon" or "Ferengi", depending on my mood (realizing that many alien species in Star Trek carry somewhat modified names of South-East Asian peoples, and Farang is actually a Thai word for white people, while Kling or Keling is a SEA term for Indian).

  • On the post: New Jersey Cop Facing Charges After Hitting A Man With His Car And Driving His Body To His Mom's House

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 08 Dec, 2021 @ 12:08am

    Blue Privilege

    This is what blue privilege looks like. Thinking you can get away with the most outrageous behavior because you wear a uniform. Similar past behavior and dubious legal outcomes thanks to QI won't help, except in attracting the wrong types to the profession and driving the good ones away. For a police officer, claiming to be confused after an incident like this should be damning as well, as officers should be selected and trained on how to deal with and de-escalte crisis situations.

  • On the post: FTC To Crack Down On Companies That Make Cancelling Services A Pain In The Ass

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 19 Nov, 2021 @ 06:38am

    Maybe some companies will learn that if it is easier to cancel, it also may be easier to convince people to subscribe.

    In my country, we had similar rules introduced a few years ago (cancelling must be as easy as subscribing, and automatic renewals can be cancelled every month). Some services actually saw an uptick of new subscribers who didn't dare to subscribe due to past experiences.

    Note that this is the same argument companies use when it is about hiring and firing people: "it shouldn't be too hard to fire someone, because that will make us reluctant to hire someone."

  • On the post: Lawsuit Claims A Zoom Call Was Unlawful Imprisonment

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 16 Nov, 2021 @ 03:19am

    For such loaded meetings, it always helps to record the entire meeting. Normally, I would request permission as a precondition for holding the meeting at all, but in my jurisdiction, it is perfectly legal to secretly record a meeting you yourself take part in, even if the other participants object.

  • On the post: Hong Kong Government Now Directly Censoring Films In Hopes Of Shutting Down Protest-Related Documentaries

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 10 Nov, 2021 @ 02:06am

    Re: Whooosh....

    Agree with your first two points rebutting the china-troll. But there is a legal issue: China is willfully violating an international treaty it made with the United Kingdom about the return of Hong Kong. We may not have the military clout or will to do something about it, but it should be a strong reminder of China's commitment to international law and our willingness to be dependent on such a country's for essential supplies. The current developments in China increasing reveal the hidden costs of "cheap" Chinese products.

  • On the post: Massachusetts College Decides Criticizing The Chinese Government Is Hate Speech, Suspends Conservative Student Group

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 22 Oct, 2021 @ 07:34am

    Re: Re: Friday deep thoughts

    The suppression of speech critical of the Chinese government is probably at the behest of the Chinese government, using Chinese students who have been fed with nationalism and who use the currently popular "your hurting our feelings and are not respecting us: this is hateful and discrimination" trend.

  • On the post: Massachusetts College Decides Criticizing The Chinese Government Is Hate Speech, Suspends Conservative Student Group

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 22 Oct, 2021 @ 07:10am

    Re: Friday deep thoughts

    You're offering a false choice. Goods made in China are not cheap: you will be paying the full price in due time, in the form of higher costs for defense, suppression of free speech (see this article), environmental damage, more conflicts and refugees, and so on. Support for a tyrannical system never ends well. WW2 ought to have taught us that. Also, in a sense, cheap and underpaid labor (in China, or where ever) is a disincentive for automation. Automation is a good thing, because it will free up people to do more rewarding things. The only problem is how to allocate the benefits of automation. If they only go to the owners of the machines, and not return to the people at large, little will be gained, and the system becomes unsustainable, as nobody will be able to buy the output of those automated factories.

  • On the post: Canon Sued For Disabling Printer Scanners When Devices Run Out Of Ink

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 19 Oct, 2021 @ 06:48am

    I've avoided all-in-one printer-scanners for various reasons, this is one. Given my usage, they have quite different live-cycles. I have scanned hundreds of old books for Project Gutenberg, so I used about 10 different scanners over the last 20 years, and just 3 printers, always laser printers because inkjet require too much care.

  • On the post: Apple Gives Chinese Government What It Wants (Again); Pulls Quran App From Chinese App Store

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 18 Oct, 2021 @ 11:41pm

    Re:

    Why not in the US or (for us Europeans) in Europe? Labor costs for assembly are only a small part of the total costs, and easily offset by the huge costs of giving China the upper hand.

  • On the post: LinkedIn Caves Again, Blocks US Journalists' Accounts In China

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 14 Oct, 2021 @ 02:06am

    Basically, I think LinkedIn has two options 1.) Block the accounts, or 2.) leave the Chinese market.

    Given the current behavior of China with regard to human rights and international aggression, I think option 2 becomes more reasonable by the day.

    If the a country implements a law forbidding compliance with these Chinese laws, their options will simply be reduced to only option 2. If you want to do that, such a law should be consistent, in applying to all companies, which no western country can do at this time, due to a far too large dependence on (cheap, but neo-colonialism and slavery attached) labor and a near monopoly on certain rare natural resources. To resolve this issue, ending the dependency on cheap labor and affected natural resources is of the highest urgency.

  • On the post: Most People Probably Don't Need A VPN, Experts Now Advise

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 12 Oct, 2021 @ 06:10am

    One other reason to still advise VPNs: if they are commonplace, people who have a special need for VPN don't attract extra attention. If VPNs are rare, the fact that you use one may invite extra scrutiny.

    I think we're currently covered enough by corporate VPNs for people working at home to at least partially cover that aspect.

  • On the post: The Eternal October: Bringing Back Tech Optimism, Without The Naivety

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 06 Oct, 2021 @ 01:01am

    Re: Re:

    Steven Pemberton already promoted having your own website a very long time ago, in 2008 he wrote this: https://homepages.cwi.nl/~steven/vandf/2008.03-website.html It is still valid today, and so very easy. I run my own stuff from a NAS, but even a Raspberry PI can run impressive things nowadays. I think with the right software, you could even run a website from your smartphone.

  • On the post: Italy Vows To Bring Entire Government To Bear To Oppose Croatian 'Prosek' Trademark

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 27 Sep, 2021 @ 01:46am

    Re: Re: many things you are omitting

    This is not about trademarks, this is about the EU's bastard child of trademarks, the protected designation of origin scheme, which hijacks generally accepted generic names for products, and gives a monopoly to a certain region to produce those products under those names, causing head-ache for producers of similar products outside that region, which now have to invent some new name for the product (example, feta cheese, which an now only be produced in Greece under that name). There is nothing about quality control in the regulations, only about location. Producer outside the privileged location are not only forbidden to name the product as such, but often also prevented from mentioning the name at all (e.g. saying it is an alternative for feta). I normally try to avoid such products, because the scheme makes them more expensive. I wouldn't object against requiring actual geographic indications on products to be truthful (and not misleading), but this is just about monopolizing common, well-established names for products that can produced everywhere.

  • On the post: The Night The United States Supreme Court Cancelled Law

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 23 Sep, 2021 @ 01:24am

    Re:

    Pretty easy if they want to work that way: they can still instruct court officials not to allow the filing of civil cases based on this law, or judges to handle such cases. Pretty easy. They are probably trying to save both the cabbage and the goat, and in the process let the wolf run wild.

  • On the post: PETA Sues NIH And HHS Directors For Blocking Comments With 'PETA' And '#StopAnimalTesting'

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 19 Sep, 2021 @ 11:43pm

    Re:

    Not so, but they might be able to use a Russian keyboard and get "РЕТА" through the filter.

  • On the post: Will COVID Become Australia's 9/11?

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 10 Sep, 2021 @ 02:44am

    Re: Re: Re:

    There is indeed a group of immune-compromised people who would have to take special care. That is, unfortunately, nothing new to them. You also have the risk of new mutations to develop, but most vaccines so-far protect reasonably well against those as well: remember that the mRNA vaccine aims at the virus' weapon, its spikes, a mutation to those is far more likely to make the virus less effective (that is also why the vaccine in most cases works better than natural immunity: your natural immunity could attack some other aspect of the virus, good enough to heal you, not good enough to arm you against mutations on those aspects). We already have to be on the look-out for mutations of many other viruses that are out in the wild. With vaccinations, we basically restore the status-quo from before 2020.

  • On the post: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Announces On Twitter The Livestreaming On Facebook Of His Signing Of A Bill That Removes 1st Amendment Rights For Both

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 10 Sep, 2021 @ 02:38am

    Re: Hypocrisy

    Wouldn't it be better for them to move to Afghanistan, where the Taliban has already established such a state? (with a sufficient flexible definition of what it means to be white)

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