5 ms·

EFF's reply to cease-&-desist letter – “Virtual Coachella” parody video

230 points by Magicstatic 5y ago

Magicstatic 5y ago
My favorite part of this response is in the footnote on page two, which states: >If your client sincerely fears that this depiction is too realistic to be perceived as parody, Krazam’s video should be the least of its reputational concerns. Followed by screenshots from the video showing the DocuSign "Docustage" and Meme Center (Sponsored by GE). At the end of the video itself, the Coachella participant is banned from the event because their "vibes are not compliant with the Coachella policy". Glad EFF stepped in here to protect small creators such as this one.
- monksy 5y ago
  Something that really blew my mind was that one of my favorite bands: Metallica's comment on how people are to interact with their performances. "Where here to provide the party, if they don't like how we do it, that's on them." It says a lot on the ego of the producer of the product. [Also that they're treating it as a product.. yes metallica corporate I see you] It completely disreguards of how the individual relates to it and is more focused on control on how they want things. That whole philosophy you should expect in dictatorships, not in cultures that embrace free expression.
  - NoOneNew 5y ago
    To be fair, wouldnt you set ground rules for your guests if you threw a house party? If those guests dont abide by your rules, you're just going to embrace them to keep doing it? Ragging on them simply because they want to put ground rules down, so everyone can have fun, is pretty immature. Yes concerts need rules. The venue can be held liable for certain things drunk/high dumbasses are going to do. You need to be specific about what rules are so dictatorish or you just sound like a 15 year old pissed off with their parents.
    - monksy 5y ago
      I'm not talking about house rules. Having good safety rules is fine at venues and I fully support those. I believe they were talking about setlists, etc. (They refuse to play some songs live, etc) There are artists that are ridiculously over reaching, like the phone bans, face recognition bans, etc.
DivisionSol 5y ago
For context, it looks like this is the original tweet from one of the video creators: https://twitter.com/shivakilaru/status/1372941623609282561 https://twitter.com/shivakilaru/status/1372941623609282561 Cease and Desist over Instagram.
- dylan604 5y ago
  Is that even recoginizable in court as legit?
  - pkilgore 5y ago
    For most actual legal doctrines possibly classified as standing in for "legit", yes. Actual notice ("I sent it, you acknowledge you got it") suffices for most notice requirement, regardless of circumstances of sending and receiving. Some statues/rules are more specific, but it's impossible to answer that without a more specific question.
  - casefields 5y ago
    Here's the DNC serving Wikileaks over Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProcessServiceC/status/1027960972504457217?s=20 https://twitter.com/ProcessServiceC/status/10279609725044572...
50uth 5y ago
How many people are now aware of Krazam LLC that weren't before. Backfire!
- CaliLonghair 5y ago
  The Streisand Effect strikes again! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect
  - aejnsn 5y ago
    You beat me to it. “Woo woo woo woo woo woo woo - Barbra Streisand.”
- thaumasiotes 5y ago
  Eh, I don't really see that Coachella cares one way or the other if people are aware of Krazam LLC.
  - kreeben 5y ago
    They cared enough to send a cease & desist letter.
    - curryst 5y ago
      They don't care about Krazam, but they want this particular video to go away. People can be fickle about their music and the resulting concerts. People tend to view corporations and music (really all art) as orthogonal concepts. Art can only be tainted by corporations, therefor any kind of corporate music festival can only be subpar. I suspect they know the accusations are fair, but were hoping nobody would call them out for it.
      - baobabKoodaa 5y ago
        > They don't care about Krazam, but they want this particular video to go away. And how did that work out?
rozab 5y ago
Here's the actual video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67sfZfreOrU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67sfZfreOrU These guys have a lot of relevant content for HN types, they're really funny. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o7qjN3KF8U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o7qjN3KF8U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8OnoxKotPQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8OnoxKotPQ
- grenoire 5y ago
  The goddam microservices video is an absolute masterpiece.
  - cbkeller 5y ago
    I think that video may have legitimately improved my understanding of the potential pitfalls of microservices
  - prepend 5y ago
    Great video. I’m going to use this the next time I want to communicate how clever names aren’t as clever as I think they are.
  - dominotw 5y ago
    It should be required periodic viewing at most software shops. Def keeps me grounded.
  - ccvannorman 5y ago
    it's.. it's literally like they were there, at my 8 months stint as a corporate developer .. I FEEL SEEN!
- beaconstudios 5y ago
  I knew I recognised the name KRAZAM from somewhere These guys are hilarious.
- darioush 5y ago
  finally, someone funny on the internet. haven't seen that since early 2000's
kderbyma 5y ago
they sad they didn't think of those ideas first....or they did for this year lol. stupid corporate frisking for comedians. its so pathetic
ineedasername 5y ago
Perhaps Coachella believes the parody is too close to the truth, and therefore no longer parody. Looks like the EFF response actually took that into account! I don't always like the way EFF portrays a given cause in their website/blog postings: They often seem over-simplified and lacking the detail necessary to understand the specifics of the issue in the interest of soliciting donations. Their legal filings, on the other hand, are pretty universally fantastic & skewering of the opposition.
nceqs3 5y ago
Krazam's MAKRO MICROSOFT EXCEL video is also hilarious https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xubbVvKbUfY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xubbVvKbUfY
dekhn 5y ago
I read a lot of lawyer letters and I notice they often fall within a very specific range of communication styles. It feels very.... assertive, even aggressive, in a way that tries to eliminate lawsuits through psychology rather than facts. For example the Texas AG wrote this in a letter to Austin when he decided to sue them for overriding the state mask rescinding: https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/087ed6e3bf8591d72c628720a63b9fde/AG%20Letter%20to%20City%20of%20Austin%20and%20Travis%20County%2003.10.2021.pdf?_ga=2.41370530.1446711088.1617918948-13329035.1617918948 https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/087ed6e3bf8591d7... "We have already taken you to court under similar circumstances. You lost. If you continue to flout the law in this manner, we’ll take you to court again and you will lose again. " (a part of the lawsuit was just thrown out a few hours ago)
monkellipse 5y ago
Same energy: https://www.openculture.com/2014/09/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-censorship-letter.html https://www.openculture.com/2014/09/monty-python-and-the-hol...
ccvannorman 5y ago
This was fucking epic and I never would have seen it, for the Streisand effect bringing it to HN. Faith in humanity -- restored. The youtube link still laughing!! .. the link is IN THE CODIFIED REPLY.. to the cease and desist.. I can't.. this is too funny

230 points by Magicstatic 5y ago

My favorite part of this response is in the footnote on page two, which states: >If your client sincerely fears that this depiction is too realistic to be perceived as parody, Krazam’s video should be the least of its reputational concerns. Followed by screenshots from the video showing the DocuSign "Docustage" and Meme Center (Sponsored by GE). At the end of the video itself, the Coachella participant is banned from the event because their "vibes are not compliant with the Coachella policy". Glad EFF stepped in here to protect small creators such as this one.

monksy 5y ago
Something that really blew my mind was that one of my favorite bands: Metallica's comment on how people are to interact with their performances. "Where here to provide the party, if they don't like how we do it, that's on them." It says a lot on the ego of the producer of the product. [Also that they're treating it as a product.. yes metallica corporate I see you] It completely disreguards of how the individual relates to it and is more focused on control on how they want things. That whole philosophy you should expect in dictatorships, not in cultures that embrace free expression.
- NoOneNew 5y ago
  To be fair, wouldnt you set ground rules for your guests if you threw a house party? If those guests dont abide by your rules, you're just going to embrace them to keep doing it? Ragging on them simply because they want to put ground rules down, so everyone can have fun, is pretty immature. Yes concerts need rules. The venue can be held liable for certain things drunk/high dumbasses are going to do. You need to be specific about what rules are so dictatorish or you just sound like a 15 year old pissed off with their parents.
  - monksy 5y ago
    I'm not talking about house rules. Having good safety rules is fine at venues and I fully support those. I believe they were talking about setlists, etc. (They refuse to play some songs live, etc) There are artists that are ridiculously over reaching, like the phone bans, face recognition bans, etc.

DivisionSol 5y ago

For context, it looks like this is the original tweet from one of the video creators: https://twitter.com/shivakilaru/status/1372941623609282561 https://twitter.com/shivakilaru/status/1372941623609282561 Cease and Desist over Instagram.

dylan604 5y ago
Is that even recoginizable in court as legit?
- pkilgore 5y ago
  For most actual legal doctrines possibly classified as standing in for "legit", yes. Actual notice ("I sent it, you acknowledge you got it") suffices for most notice requirement, regardless of circumstances of sending and receiving. Some statues/rules are more specific, but it's impossible to answer that without a more specific question.
- casefields 5y ago
  Here's the DNC serving Wikileaks over Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProcessServiceC/status/1027960972504457217?s=20 https://twitter.com/ProcessServiceC/status/10279609725044572...

50uth 5y ago

How many people are now aware of Krazam LLC that weren't before. Backfire!

CaliLonghair 5y ago
The Streisand Effect strikes again! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect
- aejnsn 5y ago
  You beat me to it. “Woo woo woo woo woo woo woo - Barbra Streisand.”
thaumasiotes 5y ago
Eh, I don't really see that Coachella cares one way or the other if people are aware of Krazam LLC.
- kreeben 5y ago
  They cared enough to send a cease & desist letter.
  - curryst 5y ago
    They don't care about Krazam, but they want this particular video to go away. People can be fickle about their music and the resulting concerts. People tend to view corporations and music (really all art) as orthogonal concepts. Art can only be tainted by corporations, therefor any kind of corporate music festival can only be subpar. I suspect they know the accusations are fair, but were hoping nobody would call them out for it.
    - baobabKoodaa 5y ago
      > They don't care about Krazam, but they want this particular video to go away. And how did that work out?

rozab 5y ago

Here's the actual video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67sfZfreOrU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67sfZfreOrU These guys have a lot of relevant content for HN types, they're really funny. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o7qjN3KF8U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o7qjN3KF8U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8OnoxKotPQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8OnoxKotPQ

grenoire 5y ago
The goddam microservices video is an absolute masterpiece.
- cbkeller 5y ago
  I think that video may have legitimately improved my understanding of the potential pitfalls of microservices
- prepend 5y ago
  Great video. I’m going to use this the next time I want to communicate how clever names aren’t as clever as I think they are.
- dominotw 5y ago
  It should be required periodic viewing at most software shops. Def keeps me grounded.
- ccvannorman 5y ago
  it's.. it's literally like they were there, at my 8 months stint as a corporate developer .. I FEEL SEEN!
beaconstudios 5y ago
I knew I recognised the name KRAZAM from somewhere These guys are hilarious.
darioush 5y ago
finally, someone funny on the internet. haven't seen that since early 2000's

kderbyma 5y ago

they sad they didn't think of those ideas first....or they did for this year lol. stupid corporate frisking for comedians. its so pathetic

ineedasername 5y ago

Perhaps Coachella believes the parody is too close to the truth, and therefore no longer parody. Looks like the EFF response actually took that into account! I don't always like the way EFF portrays a given cause in their website/blog postings: They often seem over-simplified and lacking the detail necessary to understand the specifics of the issue in the interest of soliciting donations. Their legal filings, on the other hand, are pretty universally fantastic & skewering of the opposition.

nceqs3 5y ago

Krazam's MAKRO MICROSOFT EXCEL video is also hilarious https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xubbVvKbUfY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xubbVvKbUfY

dekhn 5y ago

I read a lot of lawyer letters and I notice they often fall within a very specific range of communication styles. It feels very.... assertive, even aggressive, in a way that tries to eliminate lawsuits through psychology rather than facts. For example the Texas AG wrote this in a letter to Austin when he decided to sue them for overriding the state mask rescinding: https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/087ed6e3bf8591d72c628720a63b9fde/AG%20Letter%20to%20City%20of%20Austin%20and%20Travis%20County%2003.10.2021.pdf?_ga=2.41370530.1446711088.1617918948-13329035.1617918948 https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/087ed6e3bf8591d7... "We have already taken you to court under similar circumstances. You lost. If you continue to flout the law in this manner, we’ll take you to court again and you will lose again. " (a part of the lawsuit was just thrown out a few hours ago)

monkellipse 5y ago

Same energy: https://www.openculture.com/2014/09/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-censorship-letter.html https://www.openculture.com/2014/09/monty-python-and-the-hol...

ccvannorman 5y ago

This was fucking epic and I never would have seen it, for the Streisand effect bringing it to HN. Faith in humanity -- restored. The youtube link still laughing!! .. the link is IN THE CODIFIED REPLY.. to the cease and desist.. I can't.. this is too funny