copyright law

Rupert Murdoch's media empire is on the rampage again about a new tech startup called Aereo. Specifically, how Aereo is eating it's retransmission fees lunch; and how Fox (the affiliate network station, not Fox News Channel) will have to cease over-the-air broadcasts and go cable-only.

So let's talk about HTML5 - the much touted "open web" that kicks proprietary, insecure plugins like Flash, Java, or Silverlight to the curb. Specifically, it adds audio and video handling functionality to the browser specification so that you don't need to use Flash anymore. You just add a <video> tag and bam, you have a functioning video player in your browser. It almost makes handling video and audio in the browser as easy as handling images.

When I started seeing the hashtag "copyreform" trending on Twitter I was... slightly interested. Copyright laws are horribly broken and need to be cut down. Cut down to the point of terminal bleeding. I generally hold an incredibly skeptical view of modern copyright and patent laws - to the point where I think it would be fair to call myself an IP-Skeptic. I'll eludiate as to what that means in another rant.

Non-commercial videogame developer Mane6 has reported that their current development project, "My Little Pony: Fighting is Magic", has been cancelled due to a cease & desist letter from Hasbro, the owner of the "My Little Pony" franchise. This is pretty much the end of the line for the project, as Hasbro shows no interest in allowing the fan project to continue in any form.

Grey-market importation is a very important right of consumers which allows them to purchase and view works not available in their own territory without the permission of the copyright owner. This is a good thing, especially when there's no real reason for a delay between countries. Many times regions get delayed or inferior releases of content simply because of arbitrary reasons put in place by the owner. This is most a concern in countries like Australia, which are treated like the rest of Asia despite not having any language issues which would preclude a more prompt release.

This is an open letter to the writers behind the Trichordist, mostly because, according to them, I apparantly want to urinate on starving artists' faces until they kill themselves because I think copyright terms are too long.