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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: July 1st, 2023

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  • I think you’re conflating two very different things here.

    1. Reddit _hosting/dissemination user-submitted copyrighted data.
    2. Reddit licensing/selling copyrighted data to other parties.

    The DMCA covers hosting and dissemination. If a user submits copyrighted data to Reddit that they do not own and Reddit unknowingly (because, to be fair, they can’t know what is or isn’t owned or by who), then Reddit is not liable for copyright infringement as long as they comply with DMCA takedown requests from people who claim to own the original IP.

    But again, none of that implies that Reddit themselves (or Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, etc.) can realistically claim ownership over all of the data that is on their website. The reason they are subject to DMCA at all is because there is a globally shared assumption that data that users submit may or may not be owned by some other party, and while the DMCA protects them from being held liable for simply hosting and disseminating that data, it does not magically make them the owner of all data that hasn’t had a DMCA claim made against it.

    In other words, if I post a picture of Homer Simpson on Reddit (and there are many), it is ridiculous for anyone to suggest that they have any intellectual property rights over that picture, that character, any trademarks, etc., whether someone has made a formal DMCA take down request or not. And if they don’t own the picture, the character, the trademark, etc., when what exactly are they selling (licensing) and where did they get the right to sell it?

    They might not be liable for just hosting/distributing it, but just like you can’t sell someone else’s car, you can’t license out someone else’s IP.


  • And yet that exact kind of data is all over reddit in ways that are impractical to enforce by case by case DMCA. How many memes are there using footage from popular shows? How much fanart?

    More importantly, is that stuff not included as part of the data that reddit “owns” when they sell their data to tech companies? Because whether a DMCA takedown has been requested on that kind of data or not, doesn’t change the fact that they don’t hold the copyright in the first place. How can they sell things that they don’t even own?

    Something smells. The logic of this entire industry doesn’t add up.


  • Their TOS says they own your content in any current or future formats or derivative works.

    Their ToS could say they own you and your children and grandchildren, but that doesn’t make it enforceable.

    If I post a frame from the movie Akira on Reddit would any reasonable person suggest that they own not only that frame, but also the entire movie that it came from as a derivative work? There is a glut of second-hand data just like that all over Reddit, Twitter, and every other social media network, and I’m willing to bet that’s also part of what’s being sold.

    But hey… I’m not saying you’re wrong, just that the idea that they automatically “own” the things that people post on their website is ridiculous. It’s a bit like UPS or FedEx saying they own the contents of your package while delivering it.



  • Well if you really want me to buy even more shit online (let’s be real, from Amazon) this is a good way to do it.

    At best I don’t like small talk or dealing with other people through meaningless interactions. At worst I might have minor social anxiety. I hugely prefer to just walk into a shop, grab what I need, check myself out, and leave.

    At this point I’m also just as fast (if not faster) than the paid cashiers and baggers (who need and deserve chairs or stools by the way).

    So yeah, if self checkout goes away, I’m buying as much stuff online as possible and generally making fewer trips to the store.









  • I have a Steam Deck and I don’t even own a PS5, so I’m probably way outside of the market for the Portal…

    But I’m really finding it hard imagine this device finding a broad audience, since even in a hypothetical best case we’re talking about a subset of a subset of PS5 owners. From what I understand the new PSVR sold pretty badly despite being a pretty solid piece of VR hardware, this feels like a very niche and underwhelming piece of hardware and so I really can’t imagine it performing any better.

    Someone will buy a PS Portal, and hopefully they like it, but when the smoke clears I don’t see it being a big hit.

    The Steam Deck OLED on the other hand, I suspect will sell out fast. It seems like there is a pretty big chunk of people who were interested in the first gen Steam Deck but opted for the wait and see approach, and I can imagine a lot of those people jumping on the Steam Deck OLED now that they know the device has lasting power. Personally I probably can’t justify the cost of upgrading from the LCD model right now, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to…