analyst – Techdirt (original) (raw)

NSA Agent Is Oh So Shy About Being Filmed/Questioned In Public

from the i-see-you dept

With all that’s gone on with the NSA leaks, one thing has been made abundantly clear: the idea of operating in the world without having eyes on us or digging through our motives, is dead. The NSA, admitting it or not, has unilaterally decided that we don’t deserve privacy and that our daily lives are an open book should they have any contrived reason to take a peek. Even members of Congress appear to be under such scrutiny.

Yet it appears that at least some of the folks that work in our version of the thinkpol don’t take kindly to being examined and filmed in public.

The NSA sent someone bearing the nametag “Neal Z.” to the University of New Mexico’s Engineering and Science Career Fair today, in the hopes of recruiting young computer geniuses to help manage the yottabytes of data it is collecting about you. But instead of eager young applicants, Mr. Z. encountered University of New Mexico alumnus Andy Beale and student Sean Potter, who took the rare opportunity of being in the room with a genuine NSA agent to ask him about his employer’s illegal collection of metadata on all Americans. Mr. Z. did not like that one bit.

Should you be unable to see the video, the exchange is fairly polite, if persistent, from behind the camera. The NSA employee, on the other hand, is both combative and at one point grabs the interviewers phone. Prior to that, the employee repeats the discredited claim that the NSA does not collect intelligence on US citizens, which by now everyone knows is simply false. Then the name calling starts, followed by the attempt to grab the phone. The two interviewers were subsequently ejected from the building under the notion that they were causing a disturbance. The NSA employee was clearly unhappy about being videotaped and probed.

And it’s easy to sympathize with him as a US citizen, since the organization he works for has done the same thing to American citizens. We’re brothers of a kind, both having to endure an undue yet meticulous examination of our activities as we simply attempt to go about our lives, working and living less free than we were meant to be. That the irony appeared to be lost on our NSA friend isn’t terribly surprising to me. The Ministries of Oceania are not known for their sense of humor, after all.

Filed Under: analyst, filming, nsa, public, questions, recruiting, students

Oh, look. It's our good friend “copyright” being used to perform a some light censorship. Certain entities seem to love this aspect of copyright — the fact that it can be used to sweep something embarrassing under the rug.

The entity involved in activating copyright's wonder twin powers (form of a broom!) is Canada's Encana Corporation. And what needs to be swept away? A muttered expletive directed at an analyst who had the audacity to ask a tough question during a conference call.

Encana Corp, Canada's largest natural gas producer, apologized on Thursday because one of its executives cursed after an analyst asked about whether new Canadian investment rules would prohibit its takeover by foreign state-owned entities.

When asked the question by Canaccord Genuity analyst Phil Skolnick, interim CEO Clayton Woitas said: “The answer would be no.” Then, in a whispered comment that was clearly audible on a replay of the call, someone can be heard saying, “fucking asshole.”

Nice. Apparently, the swearing executive somehow forgot that being in a room full of microphones means even the under-the-breath swearing will be broadcast. Encana, of course, swiftly apologized for the low flying insult. But, instead of leaving it there (which would be perfectly acceptable — people being fallible and all that), it has decided it needs to erase the recording from the internet, in hopes that reality will fall in line with the official transcript of the conference call.

Unfortunately for Encana, the recording has already been uploaded to Chirbit, an audio sharing site, and so far the play button has been pushed over 55,000 times. Encana is now leaning on Chirbit to take the clip down.

On Thursday, Chirbit founder Ivan Reyes said he has received a takedown request from Encana. Mr. Reyes has declined, citing fair use provisions in copyright law and a site policy directing that such requests be sent to the poster of audio.

Encana, in its request, says:

“Encana is the copyright owner of the Recording. It was expressly stated at the outset of the Conference Call that 'this conference call may not be recorded or rebroadcast without the express consent of Encana Corporation',” the letter states.

“The Recording has been posted without Encana’s consent. The unauthorized use of this Recording clearly constitutes copyright infringement. … Encana views this matter extremely seriously and requests that you respond to the undersigned on or before the close of business on Friday, February 22, 2013, failing which, Encana will have no other recourse but to take all actions as may be available to it to protect its proprietary rights.”

Encana is trying to erase two words from the internet, something its spokesman finds reasonable and, more sadly, possible.

“I think any individual or organization that has something embarrassing broadcast over the web without proper permissions would make any attempt to have that content eventually removed as, understandably, we do not wish to have that clip living on in perpetuity on the web,” he said.

The clip was uploaded by a Globe and Mail reporter who had recorded the conference call, common practice among journalists to ensure accuracy in their reporting. Copyright over the entire call, much less those two words, is a pretty grey area. Over at the Canadian Intellectual Property Blog, Jahangir Valiani breaks down this scenario.

To be clear, assuming there is no agreement to the contrary, the only aspect of the conversation posted that Encana may be able to claim copyright over is the three words said by its employees. Copyright to the question posed by the third party would belong to that third party unless the person who posed the question assigned it in writing to Encana.

For copyright to exist in a statement, the statement being copyrighted must be an “original… work”. The test for originality in Canada requires the author to exercise skill and judgement, where the skill and judgement exercised must not be so trivial as to be characterized as purely mechanical. While the qualitative test for a statement to be a “work” is low, there is a quantitative minimum that must be met for copyright protection.

The statements made by the Encana executives in this scenario do not qualify for copyright protection as they fail to meet both the criteria for a copyrightable work. The obscenity was not an exercise of skill and judgement. It was an impulsive response to a question that the speaker found insulting. In fact, if the speaker had exercised skill and judgement, it is likely that the he wouldn't have said the obscenity at all.

Valiani says that, in this case, copyright protection for the exec's “unguarded moment” isn't impossible, it's just highly unlikely. If Encana has any recourse, it would be to pursue legal action for breach of contract, as Encana specifically prohibited third-party recording. As noted above, Chirbit is leaving the clip up, citing fair use.

This likely won't satisfy Encana, which clearly wishes the clip to be vanished into the copyright cornfield. The reality of the situation is that even if it gets the clip taken down, the recording will very definitely resurface. Encana's best move is to simply let it go. People swear and do inappropriate things at inappropriate times. Continued pursuit of the offending clip will only “Streisand” it, causing it spread across the internet like a sweary wildfire. Even if Encana is within its rights, it gains nothing by attempting to whitewash something that is already public knowledge.

Filed Under: abuse, analyst, canada, censorship, copyright, cursing
Companies: encana

Media Analyst Calls Hulu 'Anti-American' For Providing Free Content

from the apparently,-she's-never-watch-TV dept

We see all sorts of confused analysis when it comes to how “free” works in economics — which goes back to our assertion that the human brain tends to run into a mental block when it encounters a zero and rather than recognize the rest of the economic equation, it just pops out an error message. That’s the only explanation I can find for the so-called analysis by Media Metrics’ Laura Martin of how Hulu is “anti-consumer, anti-media employees, and even anti-America” and supposedly putting $300 billion worth of market value “at risk” (thanks Ben for sending this in).

Wait… what? Anti consumer? Offering consumers more of what they want at a better price is anti-consumer? How?

Anti-media employees? Offering a better product that can be better monetized through smarter means should be good for media employees.

Anti-America?!? How? Martin’s claim is apparently “Media companies will lose a lot more revenue by giving shows away for free online than they will from pirates.” Oh really? How does a person like Martin get and keep a job if that’s her analysis? Apparently she’s never heard of a little something we call “television” which has made a tremendous amount of money for years giving shows away for free and supporting it with ad dollars. Furthermore, the idea that media companies stand to lose more by competing with piracy by offering something better is the most twisted economic analysis we’ve heard in a long time (and, boy, we’ve heard some twisted economic analyses over the years). The fact is more and more people were moving to online to watch shows anyway. Pretending that didn’t exist is economic suicide. Offering a better experience allows the networks to compete.

On top of that, Martin apparently hasn’t looked at much of the actual research out there if she thinks that online shows are somehow cannibalizing TV revenue. In fact, most studies have found the opposite. They’ve found that putting shows online for free helps make the audience more engaged and convinces more people to watch the shows on TV, because if they miss an episode they can just catch up online.

It’s hard to fathom how any media analyst in this day and age can actually think that using “free” as a part of your business model is not just a “bad idea” but “anti-consumer” or “anti-America.” If you don’t understand basic media economics, how can you be a media analyst?

Filed Under: analyst, business models, economics, free, laura martin, media
Companies: hulu