A letter to Andrew Orlowski of the register

Unfortunately this article doesn't have comments enabled as I disagree strongly with both the way the article was written and with the conclusions it drew. I did fire off a quick email to the author though.

------

I don't quite follow your thinking on the creative commons. Surely anybody using the attribution license has actually agreed to give away their work? Personally I would only license something like that if I would be proud to see it on a bus shelter.

Virgin was clearly never going to pay the users of flikr for their work, they specifically chose CC commercial-use-allowed photos. If the photo in question was originally licensed all rights reserved then it would never have been used and the photographer would have been no better off, but considerably less famous. I'm not sure where the benefit comes in that scenario.

The fault does indeed lie with the user here, no matter which way you spin it. Ignorance of the law does not excuse you from it and using a license you haven't read is just the same as signing something you don't understand - stupid, but not an excuse.

Claiming that there is no place for the creative commons is paramount to claiming that there is no place for public domain. I'd love to see you write an article explaining why we should abandon that tired old institution.

The land of the free

An American woman is arrested for refusing to submit to an unconstitutional stop and search.

At least she still has the right to refuse and was later acquitted of any wrongdoing. We in Britain are giving up our freedoms with alarming speed.

Strange

Link

Seems like they fell in love all over again and the first thing they
do when they realise? Get a divorce.

Some people...

Internet People!

All the awsomeness of the recent internet fads gathered into a catchy pop song.

Watching it and recognising damn near all of the references does make me realise that I spend way too long on the internet though...

Amazing Hand Shadows

Bush Vs. Zombies