Home Media Beaverblitz Goes Full Fascism

Beaverblitz Goes Full Fascism

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Ironically and hilariously, a user just sent me an email stating Mamma Machado of Beaverblitz is clamping down on subscribers talking about the information their subscriptions purchase. It’s hard to think of another scenario where you buy a product yet can’t use it.

Embarrassing.

People should just wait an extra day or a few hours for the news to break on Twitter. This type of control freakdom just opens up more opportunities to actual free press, blogs, etc.

If any of my readers have a source inside the OSU AD email me. If we had a source like that plus free, objective press we’d be unstoppable. It’s the one piece lacking from AB. A few years ago I had some guys, but they went quiet.

52 COMMENTS

  1. I wondered what would happen with the amount of reposting of content that was happening after the coaching search started. I see nothing wrong with this at all.

    You think you should be able to repost information from a pay site on your own site? Or that users should be able to repost that information publicly?

    It has nothing to do with Totalitarianism/Fascism. I don’t know if you really understand those terms.

    Anyway, from the Terms of Service:

    “Subscribers agree that they will not copy, publish, or in any way make available publicly any news, pictures, interviews, features, or any other information from Rivals web sites, without express written permission from Rivals. Subscribers agree that, should they do so, Rivals reserves the right to cancel their subscription immediately without refund. Additionally, reuse of copyrighted information (pictures, interviews, features, videos, audio, etc.) will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

        • What is he going to do if they threaten to sue? Just dealing with that threat would be expensive and a pain, I imagine.

          Just find the information elsewhere and then we can freely discuss it. It shouldn’t be that hard to do that according to people here so this is really not a big deal at all…

          • The problem I see is this, several things have been posted elsewhere first, including here, but eventually they get posted to beaverblitz…now we can’t talk about them because she ripped the info off from somewhere else?

            She doesn’t have sources better than a lot of fans who post here, pure-orange or even oregonlive, so it’s a complete double standard for her to try to put a lid on info coming from her site, when she got it from somewhere else.

            I don’t think anybody should cut and paste large swaths of content from that site, but dropping information is completely different. You can’t copyright news.

          • Pretty much nailed how I feel about it. They are pretending all of their information is copyriighted when really it’s not; they get info from other places. Maaaaybe if a user copies videos/audio to other sites you could make a copyright infringement case but not for written news.

          • exactly! Is she gonna threaten to sue everyone under the sun that breaks the same news she ripped off from somewhere else? Talk about a hypocritical twunt. i wouldn’t even worry about it and keep on doing what we are doing. I don’t have a blitz account nor would I ever as the membership isn’t worth two squirts of piss. But even IF someone does find some information there as long as they don’t link it, there’s no evidence of copyright infringement. Same info could have been gotten from some other site. Or twitter.

          • I don’t think they can “claim” public information. Talking about that shouldn’t be an issue.

            People were copy pasting info straight from there though or even asking people to post the latest info from there which is obviously a bad idea.

          • they can threaten to sue all they want. If they have no credible evidence whatsoever to backup their claim, no attorney would even bother to take the case.

          • Yeah, the threat was about black listing you from their site. The Rivals TOS does mention legal penalties for their copyrighted material.

          • I agree with Angry that she’s out of control, but it also seems like there are simple ways to stay off of the radar. I was wondering if she really has time to scrub the blogs and forums of other sites to find “violators”? Seems like there are more productive things to do. This is Oregon State athletics, not a think tanks solving world crisis.

          • They can mention legal action all they want, in their TOS. The reality is that its just that, a hollow threat. Making an actual case would be pretty much impossible. I am assuming, of course, that no one is stupid enough to actually just repost their material. Nuff said…

  2. She’s kind of like the classic “snitch” from 70’s police shows. She gets supposed inside information and demands to be paid before giving it up. So if the information turns out incorrect shouldn’t she have to give a refund? Are subscribers paying for gossip and speculation or are they paying for facts? ESPN does the same thing with their “insider” crap.

    And really for all of her “valuable” access….wasn’t Eggers the one who first reported Riley leaving…which was the biggest story in Beaver football for the last several years.

  3. I’m not really caring about this. Don’t go to that site. Have never read any of the “posts” or forums there. Every once in a while I get a quote from a free article posted here with a link to the article. I see this as due diligence in crediting the author and original site and no violation of copyright. In fact, it should be welcomed by the site that probably gets increased traffic because of the link.

    I don’t care for the complete cut-n-paste jobs from the forums or “posts.” behind the pay wall. I have yet to see anything of any importance flash in front of me whilst my life gets that much shorter. Oooh! Someone was offered? Oh yeah… that kid whose tweet I saw yesterday who said he was offered. Oooh! Someone committed? Yay? I either already know or will find out in a couple minutes from somehwere.

    Hell… I DVR most games and watch them when I can just relax for a while. Why do I care enough to pay so that I know this or that which will be known before long anyway? That just seems like a nonsensical way to live… and a good way to throw money away.

    And the accuracy isn’t exactly north of 80% or so anyway. The “I’m first” crowd jumps out there with a lot of noise, a little hustle and no sense of the past. That which is wrong is conveniently forgotten so that which is correct looks a little shinier. If Eggers doesn’t write about it, it’s either not worth the time or not true. If he does write about it, he gives flesh to the dry bones provided by the “me first” crowd. Then he gives other insights and/or news previously unheard.

  4. I realize that she needs to make money because it is her job but in today’s day and age a scoop isn’t going to last long. Perhaps she needs to reexamine her business model.

    • The problem is you voluntarily enter into an agreement by signing up.

      Now, I’m not a lawyer and all that, but if a subscriber told a third party information and that third party repeated it, I imagine that party would be safe since he/she made no agreement. The subscriber would have still violated the agreement, though.

      I guess.

      • So what you’re saying, is if I have a buddy with a Blitz account (we’ll call him “anonymous source”) and my buddy passes that information along to me, word of mouth, then I should be able to share the information with whomever I want, and would not be in violation of any agreements?

        • Again, not a lawyer, but my guess is you would be in the clear but your friend would not. However, if it is a conscious act for you to interfere with that contract of your buddy’s, you *might* be on the hook too. Something called “tortious interference” (just my wild imagination, not a lawyer, I am probably wrong, disclaimer disclaimer don’t sue me bro)

  5. “It’s hard to think of another scenario where you buy a product yet can’t use it.”

    Try the vast majority of software and consumer hardware. Now days, even though you’ve purchased an xbox or a playstation, you’re legally prevented from reverse engineering it or tearing it down. Similarly, when you buy software now, say a video game or Microsoft Office, you haven’t purchased the software itself but rather just a license to use it (and only in the manner specifically dictated by said license).

    It’s way f’d up how much control companies have managed to retain over products they’ve ostensibly sold to you.

  6. Just when we thought Angry and Mama Muchado had kissed and made up. Glad to see things are getting back to normal.

    Angry, could we get a new coaching thread to monitor our disappointment with the new hires? Mama needs some new info LOL.

  7. Mamma Machado just tweeted this:

    Angie Machado @AngieMachado1

    @angrybeavs Oregonian charges for newspaper too. Some info is for Beaver fans eyes only and doesn’t need to be spread across the web.

    Then she deleted it.

    • You know it’s not her business model. It’s her company’s model. She’s an employee who’s trying to protect her job. She’s doing a poor job of it though.

    • Yeah, the Oregonian charges for their site, but they don’t cancel the subscriptions of those who talk about their articles elsewhere.

      • Oregonlive.com is free, but the full Oregonian site is paywalled for print subscribers. Much of the ‘journalism’ in the print paper isn’t found on Oregonlive.com.

        • has anyone seen any info about the beavs on the boregonian’s paysite and NOT oregonlive? If it’s big news and or breaking news, it’ll be on oregonlive. For free

          • In the past, there was usually much more FREE information on the Oregon Live site, then appeared in the actual Oregononian subscription service…..talk about a whack business model.

    • Is she responding to what she is reading here or are you in a twitter conversaton with her? I guess at some point I need to sign up for this twitter thing, but I need to program my Betamax for the BYU/Memphis game first.

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