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I have trouble understanding NFTs too (article author here). The closest I’ve come to understanding them is this: an NFT is an abstract handle to which various

by genmon 5y ago

I have trouble understanding NFTs too (article author here). The closest I’ve come to understanding them is this: an NFT is an abstract handle to which various rights can optionally be attached. So (in theory) it becomes an easy way to have a marketplace for those rights, and this previously hasn’t been simple for digital assets. In this case, one of the rights attached to the NFT in the sale is that the counterparty may choose whether the YouTube-hosted video continues to be public. (And, in this case, I would argue that the specific YouTube endpoint is almost as significant as the video itself.)

BEEdwards 5y ago
But considering how trivially easy it is to just reupload the video, unless they plan to play copyright wack a mole, it will never actually be deleted.
- Alex3917 5y ago
  I downloaded a copy the other day. We named our daughter Charlie, and when she's old enough we want her to understand why all the older people she meets think it's hilarious to say her name with a British accent.
dls2016 5y ago
> an NFT is an abstract handle to which various rights can optionally be attached When there are no rights attached, I think of NFTs as a fancy system of provenance.
maest 5y ago
> an NFT is an abstract handle to which various rights can optionally be attached. What I find confusing is the following: Rights are meaningless without enforcement (in the real world). Who is going to enforce NFTs? There's no government or other authority standing behind this tech. Compare NFTs with patents/digital rights - in both cases I "own" the artwork in some sense, but digital rights/patents, there are entire mechanisms that ensure these rights can be enforced. With NFT, I can just ignore them without any issue. My question is: how are NFT rights enforced?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- detaro 5y ago
  You make a license that ties rights to the NFT, and use the legal system. E.g. a license that says "whoever holds this NFT gets the right to display the artwork it's for", if you want to sort-of match the sale of a traditional artwork.
  - LegitShady 5y ago
    In other words, its a digital certificate of ownership/rights that has no enforcement mechanism and still requires a contract, a lawyer, a court, and a society that enforces rights laws to run. NFTs are actually speculation scams being run on the uninformed using buzzwords like blockchain and crypto while themselves being worthless. A digital certificate of authenticity for an infinitely reproducible good which still requires major cost and legal intervention to enforce. A highly corrupt speculation scam using buzzwords about blockchain.
  - lvturner 5y ago
    But which legal system? I’m almost tempted to setup-shop ‘stealing’ NFTs and displaying them in a gallery, I imagine if I set everything up off shore to the US that I will risk pretty little Anyone does DMCA etc even apply here? Even if it does, I can just host in a country that ignores it…
    - detaro 5y ago
      Just as you can with anything else copyrighted. Why would that be any different? NFTs just are a different way of tracking who has them, noting more.
- D13Fd 5y ago
  Luckily there is nothing to enforce absent parties contractually tying rights to NFT holders. And at that point you just have a contract, enforced by the courts.
- 5y ago
D13Fd 5y ago
My understanding is that buying an NFT is essentially buying the right to control a cell in a spreadsheet (the "shared ledger"). If you buy the NFT, you are buying the right to have your name in the "owner" column of a line in the spreadsheet that corresponds to a particular media identifier, at least until you transfer that right to someone else. Absent further agreement by the parties, buying the line in the spreadsheet doesn't mean anything. You don't actually own or control anything other than having your name in that cell of the spreadsheet, next to an identifier (e.g. a URL) that identifies a piece of media. There could be a thousand lines in the spreadsheet tied to the same piece of media. I.e., the original author of a piece of media can sell as many cells in the spreadsheet as he or she wants. Owning an NFT -- meaning controlling the cell in the spreadsheet -- does not mean that you own the copyright or even that you have a license to display or copy the work unless the copyright holder chooses to tie those rights to whoever is in the cell in the spreadsheet. It just means that you control that cell for the time being. I haven't seen the terms for this particular NFT sale, but there is no reason that they needed to remove it from YouTube unless they decided they wanted that to be part of the transaction.

by genmon 5y ago

BEEdwards 5y ago

But considering how trivially easy it is to just reupload the video, unless they plan to play copyright wack a mole, it will never actually be deleted.

Alex3917 5y ago
I downloaded a copy the other day. We named our daughter Charlie, and when she's old enough we want her to understand why all the older people she meets think it's hilarious to say her name with a British accent.

dls2016 5y ago

> an NFT is an abstract handle to which various rights can optionally be attached When there are no rights attached, I think of NFTs as a fancy system of provenance.

maest 5y ago

> an NFT is an abstract handle to which various rights can optionally be attached. What I find confusing is the following: Rights are meaningless without enforcement (in the real world). Who is going to enforce NFTs? There's no government or other authority standing behind this tech. Compare NFTs with patents/digital rights - in both cases I "own" the artwork in some sense, but digital rights/patents, there are entire mechanisms that ensure these rights can be enforced. With NFT, I can just ignore them without any issue. My question is: how are NFT rights enforced?

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
detaro 5y ago
You make a license that ties rights to the NFT, and use the legal system. E.g. a license that says "whoever holds this NFT gets the right to display the artwork it's for", if you want to sort-of match the sale of a traditional artwork.
- LegitShady 5y ago
  In other words, its a digital certificate of ownership/rights that has no enforcement mechanism and still requires a contract, a lawyer, a court, and a society that enforces rights laws to run. NFTs are actually speculation scams being run on the uninformed using buzzwords like blockchain and crypto while themselves being worthless. A digital certificate of authenticity for an infinitely reproducible good which still requires major cost and legal intervention to enforce. A highly corrupt speculation scam using buzzwords about blockchain.
- lvturner 5y ago
  But which legal system? I’m almost tempted to setup-shop ‘stealing’ NFTs and displaying them in a gallery, I imagine if I set everything up off shore to the US that I will risk pretty little Anyone does DMCA etc even apply here? Even if it does, I can just host in a country that ignores it…
  - detaro 5y ago
    Just as you can with anything else copyrighted. Why would that be any different? NFTs just are a different way of tracking who has them, noting more.
D13Fd 5y ago
Luckily there is nothing to enforce absent parties contractually tying rights to NFT holders. And at that point you just have a contract, enforced by the courts.
5y ago

D13Fd 5y ago

My understanding is that buying an NFT is essentially buying the right to control a cell in a spreadsheet (the "shared ledger"). If you buy the NFT, you are buying the right to have your name in the "owner" column of a line in the spreadsheet that corresponds to a particular media identifier, at least until you transfer that right to someone else. Absent further agreement by the parties, buying the line in the spreadsheet doesn't mean anything. You don't actually own or control anything other than having your name in that cell of the spreadsheet, next to an identifier (e.g. a URL) that identifies a piece of media. There could be a thousand lines in the spreadsheet tied to the same piece of media. I.e., the original author of a piece of media can sell as many cells in the spreadsheet as he or she wants. Owning an NFT -- meaning controlling the cell in the spreadsheet -- does not mean that you own the copyright or even that you have a license to display or copy the work unless the copyright holder chooses to tie those rights to whoever is in the cell in the spreadsheet. It just means that you control that cell for the time being. I haven't seen the terms for this particular NFT sale, but there is no reason that they needed to remove it from YouTube unless they decided they wanted that to be part of the transaction.