Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: MegaBox: From f**k-all to zero

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  • Rochelle Furneaux,

    Your last paragraph ; YES!!

    Wellington • Since Nov 2010 • 5 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to Rochelle Furneaux,

    Great to see you commenting here. #kiaora

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Idiot Savant,

    As someone who uses Adblock to control what I see, I have zero sympathy for advertisers getting "hijacked" in this way. Sorry, but its my screen, not yours, and I'll decide what I see there thanks.

    What does worry me is that it suggests that the new model of internet advertising is going to be competing strains of Spamware. Which just makes things more unpleasant for the clueless.

    Palmerston North • Since Nov 2006 • 1717 posts Report

  • Jason Kemp,

    If MegaBox is still going to be launched then it needs to be reviewed separately from the circus around Kim. He is a fun guy but there are always consequences and while some of them might be unintended they still need to be evaluated.

    Any redirection of the sort mentioned above for MegaBox / or Key ( no pun intended) doesn't look like a fair idea. At the moment though the spotlight is on the file storing.

    Have there been any useful comparisons of say Dropbox and the new service yet. As a dropbox user hypothetically I can post almost any files there - however in practice I don't use it that way.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 368 posts Report

  • Dylan Reeve,

    I love what Mega could offer as a content distribution platform - imagine being able to purchase content and have it immediately transferred to your Mega account for download whenever and wherever - excellent idea.

    But MegaKey as a funding model is a terrible idea. I'm not sure what other ideas they might be able to create, but that one is truly bad for all the reasons outlined here.

    Auckland • Since Aug 2008 • 311 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Idiot Savant,

    As someone who uses Adblock to control what I see, I have zero sympathy for advertisers getting “hijacked” in this way. Sorry, but its my screen, not yours, and I’ll decide what I see there thanks.

    And so my right to decide what’s displayed on my site, next to my work, is unimportant? Good to know.

    What does worry me is that it suggests that the new model of internet advertising is going to be competing strains of Spamware. Which just makes things more unpleasant for the clueless.

    Yeah, see above. Because some numpty has installed that spamware, they’re going to be loading god-knows-what sort of hostile advertising when they come to my website. Awesome.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Dylan Reeve,

    I love what Mega could offer as a content distribution platform – imagine being able to purchase content and have it immediately transferred to your Mega account for download whenever and wherever – excellent idea.

    Yep, that's cool. Like an expanded version of what Amazon already does.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Rob Stowell,

    Google is the largest index of pirated content in the world and they don’t pay any licence holder

    I think Mr Dotcom may be commenting on the pervasiveness of ‘pirated’ content on youtube (and maybe other ventures from the past, like google books). I am fond of google for reasons I’m not sure I fully justify (well, for one: I’ve had a great deal of ‘free’ benefit from google services.) The whole ‘google partners’ concept seems like a good one. But they pay f-all tax in NZ, and as you say, their ad revenues tend to amount to 5/8s of f-all.
    Dotcom’s scheme seems materially worse! It’ll be interesting to see how much NZ (and other) tax Mr Dotcom pays on this new venture, and how the benefits pan out.
    I suspect he’s missed the boat on the free music service. I mean, Spotify?

    Whakaraupo • Since Nov 2006 • 2120 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Rob Stowell,

    I think Mr Dotcom may be commenting on the pervasiveness of ‘pirated’ content on youtube

    I think you'd be surprised how much of that is there on a claim-and-monetise basis. YouTube's content detection is pretty impressive.

    This does not, of course, excuse Google's gaming of tax systems.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Stephen Judd,

    Is my page with Mega's ads injected into it an unauthorised derivative work, I wonder?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • jeremy gray,

    This seems like such a bad idea. It is a throw back to bonzi buddy and free internet providers that showed ads in exchange for dial up.

    Since those days I think IT security has got a lot more important. Is anyone really going to trust a program dedicated to displaying ads from these guys? It will have to be closed source in order to not be modified and turned off, and have pretty high privileges to overwrite ads (network access, presumably read/write to store data). If it isn't 100% secure there is potential for a lot of damage if something goes wrong, and the number of users they will have makes it seem like a big target. No way any smart sys-admin will allow it on any remotely sensitive computers.

    This is of course to say nothing about the problems of replacing site owners own ads, which is its own kettel of fish.

    point chev • Since Apr 2008 • 44 posts Report

  • Dylan Reeve,

    It’ll be interesting to see how much NZ (and other) tax Mr Dotcom pays on this new venture, and how the benefits pan out.

    Well it's entirely NZ registered and based, so it's unlikely to be skirting tax like Facebook and Google do here.

    Auckland • Since Aug 2008 • 311 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to jeremy gray,

    No way any smart sys-admin will allow it on any remotely sensitive computers.

    Good point. I think we could expect to see it turn up in anti-virus packages.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Rob Stowell, in reply to Russell Brown,

    YouTube’s content detection is pretty impressive.

    For music- remarkably so!
    I'm not so sure about visual content (film, tv, etc).

    Whakaraupo • Since Nov 2006 • 2120 posts Report

  • Rob Stowell, in reply to Dylan Reeve,

    Well it’s entirely NZ registered and based, so it’s unlikely to be skirting tax like Facebook and Google do here.

    Yeah, so maybe we'll get 30 pieces of silver to agonize over :)
    Still sounds like a dangerous hack I wouldn't want near my browser. Annnnd- what's the bet Chrome will find a way to not work with it at all?!

    Whakaraupo • Since Nov 2006 • 2120 posts Report

  • Tim Michie,

    IT security has got a lot more important.

    Yes, very much this.

    Auckward • Since Nov 2006 • 614 posts Report

  • Dylan Reeve, in reply to Rob Stowell,

    For music- remarkably so!
    I’m not so sure about visual content (film, tv, etc).

    Also works pretty well with video (although usually by using audio as the primary cue).

    It presents interesting legal issues though. If you, as a rightsholder, choose to monetise uploaded content on YouTube are you then actually licensing that content? And if so what impact does that have for you in terms of commercial licensing arrangements for example?

    If Fox claims and monetises Simpsons episodes and clips are they then breaking their licensing contracts with overseas broadcasters who likely have various rights to exclusivity etc?

    I think the YouTube model is pretty flawed as well.

    Auckland • Since Aug 2008 • 311 posts Report

  • richard,

    Maker or taker, parasite or host?

    Another question is what sort of advertisers would buy space that had been, um, liberated from Google? Am predicting it will be all classy stuff – you know, Make Money From Home, Free iPods, Cheap Viagra, Meet Your New Russian Girlfriend, Machines in Your Basement to Make Free Energy, One Simple Trick to Help you Lose Belly Fat, Vaccine Denialists…

    That’s going to be just wonderful for Brand New Zealand – 1% Pure.

    Not looking for New Engla… • Since Nov 2006 • 268 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Dylan Reeve,

    If Fox claims and monetises Simpsons episodes and clips are they then breaking their licensing contracts with overseas broadcasters who likely have various rights to exclusivity etc?

    I think the YouTube model is pretty flawed as well.

    Ssssshhhh. It works if nobody talks about it.

    That's how we can have nice things like BBC music documentaries on YouTube.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to Russell Brown,

    It works if nobody talks about it

    Last week's swift blocking of the first Banshee ep after word got out supports your contention.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Rich of Observationz,

    As someone who has never, ever clicked through an ad or bought anything that's internet advertised, I actually think I'm doing the advertising industry a favour by running an ad-blocker. I'm saving them from paying nanocents of bandwidth costs for zero return.

    I'm thinking that Megakey will be easily ad-blocked itself. After all (unless one uses iOS) the browser is under the user's control.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • Rich of Observationz,

    we could expect to see it turn up in anti-virus packages.

    Anti-virus morphing into copyright enforcement, hmmm. It could also be blocked by internet filters like the great firewalls of Aussie and China.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • Freddie Fleetstreet, in reply to Russell Brown,

    It is heartening to see that somebody from the left actually understands the issue. The Kim Dotcom opera seems to have divided most of us down political lines with many on the left descending into breathless fanboy lapping up and faithfully regurgitating his every utterance. That sadly is to be expected. Giving the govt of the day a bloody nose will always be wildly popular with the opposition and its agents.
    However.
    Nobody can sensibly argue that megaupload was not a file sharing business that provided users with an alexandra library of free copyright material.
    His new venture will be the same.
    To now claim to be democratising the internet by squatting on publishers ad space should have every website publisher in the world sweating conkers.
    IS might be happy to fore-go any payment for his work but many/most others will not be so calm about it. I imagine David Fishers employers would be aghast at the copy in their paper if they actually understood the threat to their diminishing revenue.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2013 • 2 posts Report

  • Keir Leslie,

    In the long run, won't this just lead to ads that aren't easily mechanically distinguishable from content?

    Since Jul 2008 • 1452 posts Report

  • Geoff Lealand, in reply to Freddie Fleetstreet,

    many on the left. Not sure where you got that notion, I think that many regard Kim D as an amusing clown, with appalling taste in music and art, but not really to be trusted as he is largely motivated by self-interest

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report

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