The Consumerist has a piece about an indie filmmaker who discovered that Viacom was fraudulently claiming ownership of clips of her movie that she posted on YouTube. This is bonkers as it gives Viacom access to user information related to the content in question even though they have nothing to do with it, thereby totally validating fears people had about Viacom getting access to user information at all.

I have a friend who has been working for Viacom in their effort to identify which content is theirs on YouTube. Essentially, they have people on the payroll whose job it is to surf YouTube all day and log clips that are owned by Viacom. See where the potential for error comes into play? This kind of thing is basically a foregone conclusion.

Meanwhile, Lion’s Gate, unlike Viacom, is clearly not run by morons.

Posted: July 22nd, 2008 under Film and Video, Politics.
Comments: none

I’ve tried to keep the politics off my blog here, but this is the most haunting clip of video I’ve ever laid eyes on, so I couldn’t avoid posting it. (ill doc)

Posted: May 8th, 2008 under Comedy, Internet Video, Politics.
Comments: none

Ever been mushing an idea around in your head for a while without figuring out what its ultimate form is going to be, and then someone comes along and spells it out and you’re like, “oh this is clearly what I was trying to articulate.” I’m super jealous of those people. I want to be those people.

Posted: March 17th, 2008 under Internet Video, Politics.
Comments: none

How awesome was that guy?

Posted: January 21st, 2008 under Internet Video, Politics.
Comments: none

I’ve been feeling massively apathetic about politics, basically since 2004, but more profoundly in the last year or so. The situation has seemed simultaneously so comical and dire that I haven’t had the stomach for it. I look at some of these front runner presidential candidates from the two parties and I can’t imagine how they’ve gotten any kind of enthusiastic support from anyone.

RU Sirius has lit what I think might be a beacon of light in the gloomy wilderness of national politics. He published two documents this week entitled The QuestionAuthority Proposal and The Open Source Party Proposal. They have me sort of excited, because for the first time in a long time I’m thinking about politics as practical and tangible, rather than the televised dog-and-pony vision of politics that we get from Washington, DC.

Posted: November 28th, 2007 under Politics.
Comments: 2

So while we’re all hard at work fucking the planet up and waging wars all over the place, NASA is expanding our horizons with a planned invasion of the moon. They’re sending a manned mission back to good old Luna, my favorite of all the colonies the US has established, and they’re naming the rocket Ares after the ancient Greek god of war.

Laughable. I can say no more.

Posted: August 4th, 2006 under Politics.
Comments: none

Here’s a warm fuzzy contest. Be the first to get video of Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt committing any sort of crime, and a $1120 (and rising) prize is all yours. Why should anyone found such a prize?

Harold Hurtt has suggested that surveillance cameras be placed “in apartment complexes, downtown streets, shopping malls and even private homes”, according to this story in the Seattle Post Intelligencer.

Hurtt is the kind of guy who has the ‘what should law abiding citizens have to worry about in a surveillance state?’ kind of attitude. He apparently didn’t read that part of the bill of rights covering ‘unlawful search and seizure.’ Actually, law enforcement as a whole seems to have conveniently forgotten all about it. I’m glad some people care enough to remind them…

Ch-check it out.

Posted: February 21st, 2006 under Politics.
Comments: none

In a poll released today by the BBC, new proof has been unearthed that Britons are easily as stupid as Americans, likely more. I mean, how stupid can you get? Only 48% find evolution plausible? That’s some stupid shit. So much for a “way better education system”. Just goes to show that America’s policy of stringing an education system toegether with mint dental floss, chewing gum and popsicle sticks is just as good as the UK’s whole “spending money on education” strategy. IN YOUR FACE YOU SUPERIOR FUCKS!

Posted: January 27th, 2006 under Politics.
Comments: 5

While living the simultaneous existence of a progressive, liberal, environmentalist, feminist, pinko, hippie, freedom-hater and that of a hip-hop fan I came upon a rather interesting complication lately. Namely, I really like a song right now that seems to celebrate violence against women. Consider me conflicted.

This I realized the same week that I spent a lot of time in one of my classes arguing with people who think that Hip-Hop with violent lyrics is abhorrent and ought not to be tolerated because it inevitably does damage to society. See I’m of the opinion that the more art there is, the more we as a society express, the better off we are. You’re never going to make some art that pleases everyone, so it’s best not to bother, but I don’t trust anybody to censor what I experience in art. I don’t trust the religious right. I don’t trust the anti-everything sort of feminists. I don’t trust anybody. I’ll do the censoring, and if I ever have kids I want to be the one deciding what they can and can’t experience and at what age new doors are opened. That’s my job as a parent and I have more faith in my own ability to put difficult ideas into context than that of the state or any other group. That’s pretty much the policy. No censorship of anything.

But I also don’t like people talking about beating women up. I don’t approve. Do I think less of myself for wanting to dance to the Ying Yang Twins new hit "Wait"? The jury is still out. I did, however find a very interesting conversation about it here.

Well, I’ve gotten myself into another bad relationship. This time it’s with "Wait (The Whisper Song)," the Ying Yang Twins’ fantastic, awful new single. It’s an arresting record, no? I mean, there oughtta be a law. But before we get to the subject of why crunk so often turns sexual contact into a form of brutalization (and makes us like it), let’s talk about the music.

You can see the video on the Twin’s website here.

(Originally posted on Lefterer.com)

Posted: June 12th, 2005 under Politics.
Comments: none

I would like to throw my support in for the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s lobbying blitz to make voter-verifiable paper trails a reality on all voting machines used in federal elections. I’d like to see that extend to local and state elections as well, but I assume there’s quite a bit of overlap there. Enilst!

Feel like your democracy is a bit opaque these days? Beginning tomorrow, EFF will help shed a little light in two interconnected ways. On Thursday and Friday, June 9th and 10th, EFF will provide a series of weblog reports of a two-day lobbying effort by a coalition of activist groups fighting for transparent, auditable electronic voting.

The lobbying blitz is aimed at supporting HR 550, the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act. This law would require electronic voting systems used in federal elections to generate a paper trail that could be verified by voters prior to their votes being cast (for more information, check out EFF’s action alert). The coalition includes Common Cause, VerifiedVoting.org, VoteTrustUSA, VotersUnite.org, Rock the Vote, Working Assets, and other election-reform advocates.

More than 200 citizen activists from 25 states have signed up for the blitz and have already set up over 80 meetings with their representatives. On Friday, the coalition will hold a press conference with the bill’s sponsor, Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ), to report on the event’s progress. EFF intends to provide feedback from activists, Congressional staffers, and event coordinators to bring the public into the process as much as possible.

Link (via) (Originally from Lefterer.com)

Posted: June 10th, 2005 under Politics.
Comments: none