Once upon a time, in a far off land, there lived a little blogger called Spocko. Now where Spocko lived, there was a radio station which was owned by the Mouse-King. And on this radio station were three bad rats called Mel, Lee, and Tom, who enjoyed saying naughty things about people they didn't like. One of them was even the princess of the land and Mel was heard talking about assassinating her!
Spocko got very angry when he heard this, so he recorded what these bad rats said, and put it on his blog. He also told the station's advertisers what they were saying, and they started to withdraw their advertisements from the station.
When the Mouse-King found out what Spocko was doing, he became very angry indeed! His minions sent a decree to Spocko's landlord, and Spocko was summarily evicted!
Poor Spocko. There is no happy ending - yet. He is still homeless. But he has been found by a friendly giant called Markos, who has shouted out Spocko's story with his great big voice, across the sea for me to hear and post it for you to read.
There may yet be a happy ending, because the story is still unfolding.
Click here to find out more.
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9 comments:
I once auditioned as a dancer for the Mouse-King's "parade" when I was in college. I didn't make the final cut, which offended me greatly. (But my buddy made it--she always was the better dancer)...
What a delightful summary of the situation! I'm a friend of Spocko's and have been working fairly closely with him on his project for the last while. Thank you very much for posting this!
good story.... but the giant Markos did not shout.... he hasn't said a word about Spocko or KSFO .... it was the Knight Mike of Stark out of the kingdom of Kos who raised the mighty shout out through la blogosphera, el gato negro as well.
Hello, I'm Erik and I live in Spocko's kingdom, too (albeit about 800 miles away from his part of it). I salute you, good sir, for making his plight aware to others where you live. I don't know if you have the same kind of corporate-sponsored hate-radio there, but still, other people from around the worl d should be apprised of the Mouse-King's methods.
the issue here is free speech and fair use. while ksfo supports spocko's right to free speech and the use of ksfo's intellectual property on his own blog, the station cannot of course condone the use of it's intellectual property to be used against it, out of context and for the expressed intenet to do economic harm to the station. doing so violates federal law. that's the reality of the situation and disney/ksfo is within its right according to the law to act appropriately.
Hello, Erik again
the issue here is free speech and fair use. while ksfo supports spocko's right to free speech and the use of ksfo's intellectual property on his own blog, the station cannot of course condone the use of it's intellectual property to be used against it, out of context and for the expressed intenet to do economic harm to the station. doing so violates federal law. that's the reality of the situation and disney/ksfo is within its right according to the law to act appropriately.
And is Disney/KSFO acting in accordance to the law? The evidence thus far suggests otherwise. It looks more like a big corporate entity muscling a much smaller entity (IOW, bullying) by using tactics that it thinks it can get away with just because Spocko is a "little guy" who doesn't have access to expensive legal representation. I don't think Disney anticipated that he'd get the support he has gotten thus far. KSFO can have their free speech all they want, but Spocko and the rest of us are within our rights to make advertisers aware of the content of that free speech. And it doesn't appear that many advertisers are pleased with what they've heard once they were made aware.
Suskind, thanks for reminding everyone of the gallantry of Sir Mark de Stark and his feline comrade in arms. I honour their valour.
Now certainly it was within Disney/KSFO's right to take legal action against what they perceived as misuse of their intellectual property. The question is, was it wise? Few people would have heard of this situation if they had not been heavy handed. Shock jockeys make for good ratings and good advertising placement. If the ratings stay high, companies aren't going to be too pernickety about what these people are saying.
Disney/KSFO may possibly have lost more advertisers through taking this action than if they had ignored Spocko.
Deacon Barry, I'm honored by your story. Its a big hit with some young friends of mine. And I featured it on Spocko's Brain thanks to another International friend, Interrobang.
And one thing that hasn't been made clear, , I COMPLIED EXACTLY and TIMELY to the C&D and the TAC of 1&1.
And I have the records to prove it ('cause I kind of know about computers and junk.)
1&1 didn't even bother to check. If they even followed their OWN T&Cs they would seen that I complied. But even though I have followed the rules and was as rock solidly within the law as I have been advised, they still shut me down. The EFF lawyers can explain all the details and I could get technical, but I won't. Because it's not about me. My story is a convient narrative to illustrate a bigger story, which is violent rhetoric directed toward others over commercially supported broadcast radio.
They can say it on the radio and I can play back their exact words (in a fair use manner) to an advertiser to educate them. Then it is up to the advertiser. And before you go, "Well why don't you change the channel", read my post, http://www.spockosbrain.com/2006/12/calls-to-torture-and-kill-people.html
Or better yet. Rent the movie Hotel Rwanda and listen to RTLM, HUTU power radio talk about squashing the cockroaches (Tutsis). Compare to Rogers talking about STOMPING to death a Protestor.
Then tell me if this kind of talk is something that YOUR company wants to be a part of.
I read that in Mark's DKos diary, (which by the way I linked to via Echidne of the Snakes)and I couldn't understand why your blog was cut after you had complied with the legal action. That got my goat, the unfairness of it, which is why I blogged about it.
Thank you for reposting this post, and thanks for dropping by.
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