6 posts tagged “copyright”

This is unheard of: a form on Facebook actually working.
   As some of you know, since August 3, I have been battling Facebook over its false allegations about copyright infringement that appear on my home page there. The copyright owners have never complained about the videos that Facebook deleted, which according to Facebook itself, is a prerequisite for deletion. (This raises even more privacy concerns: who is making the call on things I am uploading, if the copyright owners have not complained?) I have filled out the form protesting my innocence—effectively getting Facebook to comply with American common law about the presumption of innocence—multiple times daily. Each time, Facebook says there is an error submitting the form. (I know this after over 50 submissions.) Sometimes, it will give me a link to a DMCA form, but filling that out results in nothing, either. I just get taken back to the home page, with no acknowledgement, confronting Facebook’s accusations again (the following is an earlier screen shot):

Facebook persists with false accusations

Form finally went through

BYD showed a new minivan at the Shanghai Auto Show—a total clone of the Toyota Previa. And most recently, it says it will make an SUV with a two-litre (really) engine. Here’s what it looks like in its ad:

BYD T6

This video, by my friend Chelfyn Baxter, who stayed up all night to make it, sums up the proposed amendments to the Copyright Act here. The question: will the government listen to the people, or will it ignore them?
   I guess it depends on whether you believe John Key has any foresight.

If you thought the story of Amir Massoud Tofangsazan was embarrassing, what if something similar happened to a celebrity?
   Over the last few weeks, the Edison Chen scandal has rocked Hong Kong and even affected the Beijing Olympics.
   Chen, a Canadian-born actor about to make a big US début—already he’s a Pepsi spokesman in Hong Kong—took in his laptop for repair but forgot to take down his home-made porn, which includes 12 female celebrities.
   Just as with Laptop Guy (Thomas Sawyer) in the UK with Amir’s photos in 2006, someone at the computer shop decided they would post the 1,200-plus images and videos on to the ’net.
   If we think the Britney Spears Machine is bad, Hong Kong tabloids make that look like a old world gentlemen’s club.
   PC World offers this analogy: ‘Imagine photos of, say, Matthew McConaughey popping up on the Internet, showing him in various states of undress and sexual acts with, say, Alicia Keys, Kelly Clarkson and Kirsten Dunst.’
   One of the celebs implicated is Gillian Chung, who was supposedly going to perform at the Olympics. Not any more. Prior to this month she had a wholesome image—now she may be more associated with performing and receiving oral sex. (The logical thing now would be to revamp her image as Madonna does regularly, but whether that will go down well in the innocent Cantopop world is another matter.)
   Batgwa summarizes the other celebs:

The biggest female stars implicated were Gillian Chung (鍾欣桐) and Cecilia Cheung (張栢芝).
   Other less well known female celebrities were implicated too, including Bobo Chan (陳文媛), Rachel Ngan (顏穎思), Mandy Chen (陳育嬬), Candice Chan (陳思慧) and Edison’s current girlfriend Vincy Yeung (楊永晴).

   Chen has basically announced, at 27, his retirement from the Hong Kong scene. He might have to: some of the celebs may have Triad connections (there is some gang involvement in Hong Kong moviemaking) and he’s received death threats.
   Cops have arrested nine people so far in connection with the unlawful distribution of the images.
   While Chen is no saint, he deserved his privacy. The poster has essentially brought down the careers of several people. I suppose this is a reminder that when you are in the public eye, you need to take precautions. Putting your own porn on to a disc or a flash drive would be an idea—or simply be a role model and being less promiscuous in relationships and never fear these leaks.
   We may criticize Chen for his behaviour and we certainly should criticize the breach of trust from the shop, but the problem is wider. We need to ask ourselves just where our values are—and the way the Chinese people have reacted shows that they have not fled the free and occupied parts of China.

I’m sure this website is breaking some copyright laws, unless the owners of these magazines have allowed their content to be put online. You can never tell with Red China.
   Still, from a consumer point-of-view, it makes for an interesting research resource, and how Red China has opened up since Mao.
   We are talking some amazing, thick volumes here—fashionistas should check this out.