Note: If SWOFA or WORA means nothing to you, then the following entry will make no sense, so just skip it. Or if you’re really, really curious, ask me. Commenting is enabled, but moderated.

According to some, one example of this is getting your copyrighted material removed from the servers it had been illegally reposted to by contacting the ISPs hosting said servers. Apparently, this constitutes "bullying" of poor, defenceless and frightened big companies. Its amazing, really, how they supposedly are scared witless by politely worded emails that inform them of violations of their AUPs. I guess someone must be incredibly intimidating.

According to me, a better example is reposting someone’s copyrighted material—not just once, but again, and again, and again—and claiming "fair use ". I won’t go into the nitty gritty of what is and isn’t so-called "fair use", but suffice to say, posting anything in its entirety is unlikely to qualify. Even for educational purposes you’re expected to quote, and to keep those quotes proportional to the length of the material. And if the material is actually accessible on the Internet already, why on earth aren’t you just linking? Its sort of the principle that the Internet is built upon.

The fun doesn’t end with this, however. How about the suggestion that should I have contacted a certain someone, instead of this person’s ISP, that certain someone would have "helped me"? Really? How, I wonder? And why that particular, vague phrasing? Lets say my mail had read "Hi, I’d like my descs and backgrounds removed from your site, thank you." Does anyone think that the "help" would have resulted in the only reasonable and acceptable outcome, namely the removal of the material? If so, say hello to the Easter Bunny from me next time you see him.

Oh, and scurrying out of the US with one’s tail between one’s legs to hide in Malaysia? Does not prove that one is in the right (in fact, it makes one look rather guilty), no matter how one laughably tries to claim that one is standing up for "freedom" on the Internet. Unless, of course, one refers to the "freedom" to commit illegal acts in countries with weaker legislation or weaker enforcement of their laws. I suppose it might be comforting to be in the company of so many other criminals.

And no, unlike a certain loud-mouth, who has seen his claims of being "safe" from evil, wicked, scary me proven false once already, I am not going to claim that I am certain I can get things sorted out this time as well. Malaysia is known as a bit of a paradise for copyright piracy, after all. Doesn’t mean I won’t have a friendly chat or two with some people there, though.