Posts by ScottY
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NetHui was a great event and was very interactive and friendly. I was pleasantly surprised by how few copyright “abolitionists” there were, and was delighted to learn that the opening ceremony to this internet conference didn’t involve a bonfire and all the IP lawyers on it.
Lessig’s talk was dynamic and provocative, and it was hard to disagree with too much of it. My only worry is that we don’t seem to be getting much closer to a solution to the copyright “problem” (am choosing words carefully, lest another copyright flamewar is ignited).
The other highlight for me was Bill English’s speech. He was actually engaged, gave intelligent answers to questions, and seemed to care what the audience thought. Maybe it was all an act, but at least he was trying.
Unlike his colleague Steven Joyce, who turned up late because he thought doing a photo-op with a school was more important, and who didn’t seem to think keeping 400 people waiting was a big deal. Joyce proceeded to give a speech that fell utterly flat, and managed to piss off most of the audience by refusing to answer questions he didn’t like. I can’t believe some people talk about Joyce as a future National Party leader. He was arrogant and contemptuous of the audience.
Chris Finlayson was little better. He didn’t want to talk about copyright and seemed more interested in giving clever answers than in being insightful.
The best thing about the entire conference was the level and civility of the debate. Topics that usually descend into flamewars when discussed online were debated politely and intelligently.
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Hard News: NetHui is here, in reply to Rowan Crawford,
For me the decision on whether to attend went something like: "Lessig's talking? Stand aside or lose a limb!"
That is a big reason for my going. That and I get three days out of the office to meet loads of interesting people and still get to claim it is work-related.
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I'm in the Davis camp and am hopeful he'll win, and even knocked on a few doors for him, but nobody really knows what will happen tomorrow.
Graeme, a question you will no doubt be able to answer is this. Will you have to turn comments to this thread off at midnight?
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Trevor Mallard's Red Alert posts have become increasingly bizarre. On the positive side, he was earlier this week giving away free copies of the documentary The Hollow Men on DVD. I managed to bag one.
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I'd link to his post but Blogger is having a sulk
F**king Friday the 13th!
As you were.
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You should see Pagani's twitter feed. Does he realise other people can read what he's writing ?
Pagani also had a crack at me in his post. At the risk of linkwhoring here's my exasperated response.
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Russell, you are very brave to post something on copyright. Judging by the first comment, I expect you'll have a flamewar on your hands before you can say "cease and desist".
I am struggling with some of the Chicken Little comments people have been making on teh webz about this version of the bill. It's a reasonable compromise in light of what each party was originally asking for. There are zealots on both sides of the copyright spectrum, but I suspect most people would agree that the issue of to what extent and how copyright should be enforced in the digital age is a complex one.
I'd be surprised if there was now a sudden rush of threat letters from lawyers demanding enormous amounts of cash from alleged infringers. The Copyright Tribunal will effectively act as a gatekeeper and ensure that ludicrous damages claims are dismissed. Most of the crazy amounts we hear being demanded from alleged infringers come from the US, where they have quite different laws, an aggressive enforcement culture, and an entirely different damages regime.
The disconnection remedy is also likely be used infrequently. The other point to note is that disconnection will probably be totally ineffective against someone who is determined to access the internet. As a an enforcement remedy it's probably quite useless, in fact.
I haven't taken a position for or against this law. It's a bit of a muddled compromise, but I really don't think it's going to change much for most people.
What truly disgusts me over the passing of this legislation is the abuse of urgency. The content doesn't offend me so much.
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I'm currently in Sydney, and it's my first time in this city. I like the place, and they seem to know in Australia how to make good use of public spaces. They don't seem afraid to spend public money on monuments and works of art, which is something my own city (Auckland) has been lousy at. It helps that they have a much larger population, I guess, but they also appear to have a more positive attitude. Not sure I want to live here, but it's a great place to visit and be inspired.
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Legal Beagle: Hidden in plain sight, in reply to Christopher Wingate,
Each year more and more of the red tape destroys macro and micro economic engines. The facts are that more lawyers equals lower growth, lower GNP.
You got a citation for that? Or are you just having a rant because someone screwed you over and now you think it’s a vast conspiracy by the entire legal profession?
EDIT Okay, all I'm doing is feeding the troll. Am stopping now.
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Legal Beagle: Hidden in plain sight, in reply to Christopher Wingate,
The legal club have ridden NZ like a mule. Lawyers need to start asking why is New Zealand failing, now the 3rd most indebted nation is the OECD.
What a load of tosh. What the hell is this "legal club" you refer to? Get more than two lawyers together and you can almost guarantee an argument will erupt. A club?
I'm pretty sure plenty of lawyers have been asking some hard questions about NZ's indebedness for quite a while now, and I doubt it's got much to do with the legal profession.
But then I would say that.