Musing Bytes 2 - Malshandir
EventHorizon1984
26 July 2013
"I'm laughing at the superior intellect."
Admiral James T. Kirk, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
To paraphrase Rod Serling, this is Thomas 'Malshandir' Freyer, "age thirty-eight, a man protected by a suit of armor held together by one bolt."
Mr. Freyer's claim to Internet fame is his threat of "legal actions" against the blog EQ2Wire. EQ2Wire is a very popular EverQuest 2 "News & Commentary" site, and EverQuest 2 is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG).
Before we get further, let's hightlight the article that brings all this to light.
Character Blocked from EQ2U Due to Trademark Claim
http://eq2wire.com/2013/07/24/character-blocked-from-eq2u-due-to-trademark-claim/#comment-86207
EQ2Wire, 24 July 2013
Feldon
"Thomas Freyer of Freyer Consulting in Frankfurt Germany" opened with:
"We demand by law the deleting of this profile as the owner of the trademark “Malshandir” we gave you no permission to use is.
If this profile is deleted within the next 6 hours we will not take further legal actions against you."
It went downhill for Mr. Freyer after that. Lots of LOUD comments, and at least two attorneys (real ones, not fake Internet ones), a Vladislav Arkhipov and "Ken" posted on the matter. More on "Ken" in a bit.
Read the article. Read the comments. Especially the comment Thomas Freyer made as "Jo". And the EQ2Wire response:
"Hello Mr. Freyer. Welcome to EQ2Wire.
Unmistakeable writing style, disposable e-mail address, also the IP address (93.186.31.97) shows the writer is in London."
About "Ken", he's Ken White of Popehat. If you want the short description of Ken White, read Popehat unmasked: For a good cause. For a long description, Google his body of work.
Or read his article on Malshandir.
Listen, Don't Mention The Malshandir. I Mentioned It Once, But I Think I Got Away With It All Right.
http://www.popehat.com/2013/07/25/listen-dont-mention-the-malshandir-i-mentioned-it-once-but-i-think-i-got-away-with-it-all-right/
Popehat, 25 July 2013
Ken White
The article is reminiscent of United States District Judge Otis Wright's wording of Prenda Law.
Ok, Mr. White's wordsmithing is funnier. And his article, along with EQ2Wire article, has made Malshandir (Thomas Freying) famous. Mr. White's article currently tops the Google search for "malshandir". Followed by I'm Malshandir and So's My Wife! and the EQ2Wire article. With The Escapist article Everquest 2 Fan Site Harassed By Trademark Claim making a run for position number four.
"Elaine, you're a member of this crew. Can you face some unpleasant facts?" Dr. Rumack
"No." Elaine Dickinson
Airplane (1980)
Not that trademark infringement is a laughing matter. Because it is not. But, and here's a big tip, the 'infringee' should go directly after the 'infringer'.
With the case of "Malshandir" the alleged infringement is by Sony Online Entertainment, a part of well Sony er Global. And to some degree the creator of the EverQuest 2 Elf Malshandir. EQ2Wire merely presents data made available from Sony. Which is nominally covered by the Communications Decency Act Section 230.
All well and good if you own the trademark. And Thomas Freyer claims he owns the trademark.
The first point is the 29 May 2009 filing of Malshandir in Germany. The second point is the company Malshandir Ltd "was registered on 18 Jun 2008" in London, Great Britain.
It all goes downhill after these points.
We credit EQ2Wire commenters for the following data points.
The EverQuest 2 character Malshandir was created on "2008-01-07". That's 7 January 2008, five months before the tradename/trademark Malshandir was established. The Elf's good name is being besmirched/infringed on, so to speak.
The eBay INC seller malshandir created the account and trade name on 8 June 2001. That's seven years before Malshandir of Great Britain, or eight years before Malshandir Germany. The seller malshandir is in Switzerland, and perhaps would have a good European Union civil case.
The Refuge of Stone/Myth Weavers has text on a character named Malshandir. The document was published on 17 July 2006, almost two years before Thomas Freyer's claims. And that Canadian creation has the usual copyright protections. Like "Copyright exists automatically when an original work or other subject-matter is created" and "copyright lasts for the life of the author, the remainder of the calendar year in which the author dies, plus 50 years following the end of that calendar year."
Canadians are sterotypically nice and would welcome Mr. Freyer to tour the Canadian Court System. The tenacious type, like the world wide fans of Canadian artist Rich Morris of The ComixBlog, shunned the Courts and simply ran the copyright infringer out of existence.
Of course we in the United States do not approve of vigilante justice, tsk, tsk.
"And the Hits Just Keep on Comin'"
Michael Nesmith
Google search is a funny sort of animal. A little used search phrase can have few references. The Google machine logic being 'people aren't looking for "It", we don't need "It" much.' But make a search phrase popular, have multitudes looking for "It", and the Google engines go into overdrive scouring the Internet for "It".
For now "malshandir" is "It". We wonder what else will show up in Google.
"Deja Moo. The feeling you have heard this bull before."
Tabberone
Finally, does Thomas Freyer know that the name "Freyer Consulting" is copyrighted by Ola Hanssens Vei of Norway? And Freyer Consulting INC of Minnesota, U.S., 2010? And Freyer Consulting of New Mexico, U.S.
And ...
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"The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs, and explosions, and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, ideas, prejudices, to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy. A thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own for the children and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is, is that these things cannot be confined to the Twilight Zone."
Rod Serling, The Monsters are Due on Maple Street (1960)
"I pity the fool."
Clubber Lang (Mr. T), Rocky 3 (1982)
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Update 26 July 2013.
Figured out where the mysterious "Malshandir" name originates from.
Reference The Shadow Elves Players' Guide, "An Official Dungeons & Dragons Game Supplement", by Carl Sargent and Gary Thomas. Copyright 1990, 1995 TRS, Inc./Wizards of the Coast.
Or http://www.pandius.com/gaz13_dm.html
"for Dungeon Masters running D&D(R) Known World or HOLLOW WORLD(R) campaign"
A Dungeons & Dragons Hollow World Campaign Set is available for purchase at Amazon. Published by Wizards of the Coast, Copyright August 1990.
Wizards of the Coast was founded in 1990, and remains in operation today.
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"Breakdown, takedown, you're busted"
Bob Seger, Shakedown, Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)
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Random Bytes - Skylake CPU Spectre Patch - 'Dislike' On Facebook? - Logan Paul YouTube'd Again
Random Bytes - Skylake CPU Spectre Patch - 'Dislike' On Facebook? - Logan Paul YouTube'd Again
EventHorizon1984
9 February 2018
"we released production microcode updates for several Skylake-based platforms to our OEM customers and industry partners, and we expect to do the same for more platforms in the coming days"
Navin Shenoy, 7 February 2018
Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Data Center Group at Intel Corporation
Richard Lawler's article "Intel releases new Spectre patch for its Skylake CPUs" noted:
"That includes those based on technology including (but not limited to) Broadwell and Haswell which had previously seen an update that the company withdrew after reports of random reboots."
Intel's extensive list of Skylake chips is located at:
https://ark.intel.com/products/codename/37572/Skylake
Expect more changes "Real Soon Now."
“We are not testing a dislike button.”
Facebook
The Daily Beast reported on the notion that Facebook was not “testing a dislike button.”
"A Facebook spokesperson denied that the company is “testing a dislike button” before giving information about why it is performing the test.
“We are not testing a dislike button. We are exploring a feature for people to give us feedback about comments on public page posts. This is running for a small set of people in the U.S. only.”
The feature appears to give users the ability to downrank certain comments."
For now, this is only a test.
Meanwhile, on a platform that does have a 'dislike' button; which does nothing.
"Logan Paul is an idiot. But your kids don't know that"
Hayley Kaufman, The Boston Globe, 5 January 2018
'never make the same mistake twice ... keep making new ones'
Ruff and Reddy (1957-1960)
Engaget's Associate Editor Steve Dent had this lovely tidbit for Paul's fans and anti-fans:
"YouTube star Logan Paul is in hot water again with YouTube, following his suspension from the service's Preferred Ad program for posting a video of a suicide victim in Japan. YouTube has temporarily suspended all ads on his channels, cutting off revenue estimated between $40,000 to $600,000 per month. On Twitter, YouTube Creators cited his "recent pattern of behavior," as reason for the suspension."
With YouTube's apparent slap on the wrist policy for big money makers, Mr. Dent ends with this warning to YouTube:
"with advertisers like Mars, HP and Smirnoff having dropped YouTube until it cleans up its act, the site might need to start wielding its banhammer."
Previously, Logan Paul suggested he'd take the Tide Pod Challenge.
"swallowing 1 tide pod per retweet"
In the article "Logan Paul's Tweet About Tide Pod Challenge Has Angered Everyone," Francesca Donovan had this to say:
"The ‘joke’ is supposedly that the pods look a little like sweets. But, funnily enough, liquids designed to clean dirt off clothes are not fit for human consumption, and some cases of kids partaking in the Tide Pod challenge have led to hospitalisations."
A significant portion of Mr. Paul's audience are "kids."
The mature video response to such feldercarb can be found here:
Rob Gronkowski https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DrC_PF_3Lg
Such a potentially fatal joke stunt by Logan Paul would definitely gain him permanent worldwide recognition.
As a Darwin Award winner.
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"Snapchat phenomenon is extending the e-trend of paying inadequate attention to one's physical surroundings"
2017 Darwin Award Winner
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Posted at 12:11 in Business, Commentary, History, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Boston Globe, Daily Beast, Darwin Award, dislike button, Engadget, Facebook, Hayley Kaufman, Intel, Logan Paul, Logan Paul is an idiot, Navin Shenoy, Paul, Preferred Ad, Real Soon Now, Richard Lawler, Rob Gronkowski, Ruff and Reddy, Skylake, Snapchat, Spectre, Steve Dent, Twitter, YouTube, YouTube Creators
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