All 6 entries tagged Illegal

'Phone calls database considered'

Writing about web page http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7409593.stm

Oh for the love of all that's sane. Where to begin? No...all right? Just "No".

This kind of shit is why I have less than no faith in politics.

It was a stupid idea before, it's still a stupid idea, it won't work, it'll be too easily abused, and I seriously doubt it'll catch any real dingleberries.

Whatever happened to privacy?

Whatever happened to this being a free country?

What makes the government think they can protect this data? They don't exactly have a good track record...

: 20 May 2008 01:59 |  Tags: Bastards Government Idiocy Idiotic Idiots Illegal Invasion Of Privacy News Ridiculous Seriousness Stupid Stupidity |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Illegal downloaders 'face UK ban'

Writing about web page http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7240234.stm

Surely the most cost and time efficient way to stop illegal downloading is to target the services, not the individual people.

After all, which is going to take less effort: tracking down one person that's running a service and thus automatically stopping hundreds of people using it, or tracking down the hundreds of users?

: 12 Feb 2008 09:48 |  Tags: Downloading Illegal News Piracy Randomness |  Comments (4) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

'Never Mind the Full Stops' Screenshots

Just randomly decided to post screenshots of my two photos from Never Mind the Full Stops that the BBC stole. They were both the first photos shown in the closing segment; not that that's that important, I just thought I'd mention it since I noticed it when I took the screenshots…

(If it's not bad enough that they stole it, they also squashed it…)

(I'm sure the original isn't that blurred…)

: 08 Jul 2006 01:52 |  Tags: Bastards BBC Copyright Illegal Never Mind The Full Stops Photo Randomness Theft |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

They've Done It Again

Follow-up to The BBC Stole My Photo!!! from The randomness of tomorrow, today!

I watched the Never Mind the Full Stops from the 29th on Monday, and what should I see at the end of the show but my photo of a post box with three Y's in 'Friday'. So I sent the BBC another email. The next day (Yesterday, since it's past midnight) I got a phone call from a woman at the BBC whose name escapes me saying that they were very sorry that it happened again. I said that the arrangements for the previous photo would be alright for this one as well, and that I understood that nobody's perfect, and since they were being so prompt and willing that I was happy with the £150 they were offering retrospectively for both photos.
I'm expecting the first £150 in however long it takes the BBC to get around to paying, and I'm expecting the agreement to be posted for the second shortly.
Not bad, that; £300 because I watch TV and stick up for my rights…

Having said that, the fact that the BBC seems very efficient at dealing with their mistakes could suggest they've had a lot of practice…

: 05 Jul 2006 00:09 |  Tags: Bastards BBC Copyright Illegal Never Mind The Full Stops Photo Randomness Theft |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Intellectual Property

Follow-up to The BBC Stole My Photo!!! from The randomness of tomorrow, today!

Shortly after I posted the entry on my stolen photo I found a form on the BBC website for submitting an official complaint, and used it. Since then I've been systematicallly sharing the details with any of my housemates that seemed interested. One of my housemates, however, doesn't seem to be able to grasp my reasons for complaining to the BBC. This suprised me; I cannot see any reasons why I shouldn't complain. I automatically have the right to dictate how any of my photos are used (I love copyright) and it seems like he's saying there's no real reason why I should exercise it.
I was recently contacted by WA Shearings who wanted to know if they could use the photo of Bowes Museum I'd uploaded to Flickr in their 2007 brochure. I said (and I'm paraphrasing here), "Sure, give me the credit for the photo and that'll be fine". That, BBC, is how you use people's photos…
It's not as if there wasn't enough time to get in touch; I uploaded the photo to Flickr last November, and it'd been on my website for a year before that.
I have absolutely no regrets about complaining, and cannot see where my friend is coming from. Is there anyone else that shares his opinion? I just cannot see his logic. It reminds me of a recent entry on the Dilbert Blog – basically his argument makes perfect sense to him in his little world, and my argument makes perfect sense to me in my little world, but both become meaningless garbage in the other person's little world.

: 07 Jun 2006 20:50 |  Tags: Bastards BBC Copyright Follow-Up Illegal Never Mind The Full Stops Photo Randomness Theft |  Comments (4) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

The BBC Stole My Photo!!!

When I first moved into this house off campus I noticed this sign with its poor use of the English language:

which I photographed and added to my website.

Imagine my shock when I watched the Never Mind the Full Stops from Thursday and discovered my photo, cropped and squashed, displayed at the end of the program in a section of similar photos of lousy English. This was the first I'd heard of it; they didn't ask me, and they didn't say it was my photo, and they squashed it so it's disproportionate (that's them just generally sucking, although it doesn't help matters…). You can tell it's my photo, because the pattern from the flash is identical and is in the same place.

If they got it from my website then they stole it from a page with "© All Rights Reserved" on it, if they took it from Flickr then it quite clearly says that it has to be attributed, not used for commercial purposes, and not edited, and if they got it from somewhere else then that's 2 people I need to sue…

"The BBC – Shitting on the little guy" to paraphrase I, Robot (See! See! When I steal something from someone, I say who I stole it from!)

Bastards!

: 04 Jun 2006 00:53 |  Tags: Bastards BBC Copyright Illegal Never Mind The Full Stops Photo Randomness Theft |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem