If you are considering buying GoPro - Don't

TheBirdman wrote: Sure. That's not getting in rock and ice anytime soon but who cares? How does it any way affect what you are doing?

Boulderers wearing beanies and no shirt while yelling like Ondra on v4s don't affect me either, but they are tools nonetheless.

aliebling wrote:I'd agree with you except they basically doubled down and made excuses rather than even admitting they screwed up and in fact broke the law. DMCA abuse by corporations is a huge issue and should not be taken lightly, even if it was enacted by one wayward misinformed employee. hopefully, they see a serious lawsuit over this and the guy (and anyone who backed his actions) gets fired. If this seems excessive, realize that, if the website had not removed its (perfectly legal!) content, the whole website would have been taken down. Think about if running this website was your business. your whole livelihood (and that of your employees) gone in an instant because a corporation abused the DMCA and broke the law. They break the law, you don't, and it's you who pay the price. Anyway, if you are in the market for a camera of this sort (for use while biking or skydiving - not climbing, right?), consider something from contour ( contour.com/) or others. Vote for honest companies. It really does matter.

That's not necessarily accurate. Sending a scary letter doesn't give gopro the means to literally take down a website sua sponte. If they actually attempted to proceed the process is a lot more complicated. All of the internet isn't like youtube where a real world content provider reporting a dmca violation (regardless of its legitimacy) results in a automatic takedown.

The letter that gopro sent is poorly written at best and somewhat legally nonsensical which is what lead me to my earlier hypothesis that this is just an over zealous employee that will likely get fired. I don't disagree that it's BS but I suppose I just don't see drudge sirens when I come across something like this as I see it frequently in my line of work.

Except the takedown was sent to the ISP and the takedown would be enforced by them and not purely dependent upon the website itself. Obviously, the website could (and should and probably has) make/made a counter notification, but that takes 10-14 days to process.

So best case for the website, their time has been wasted and their perfectly lawful content is blocked for a few weeks. Then again, they've probably also gotten far more traffic and attention than they otherwise would, so that's a plus, but not a win most takedown victims benefit from.

I've seen a few equally nonsensical takedown notices from companies (and I agree, I'm 99% sure they were all done without consulting legal), but that doesn't change the potentially deleterious effects for the target website. Ignorance is no excuse for abusing the law.

Anyway, not a bad time to consider products from other camera makers. All other things being equal, I prefer to give my money to companies that don't employ idiots..or at least don't stand behind them when they find out their employee is an idiot.

P.S. You're right, it will certainly depend on the ISPs policies and implementation, but an innocent website shouldn't be at the mercy of the good nature of their ISP (who by nature seem to err on the side of caution, trying to cover their own legal backsides).

Steve86 wrote:The letter that gopro sent is poorly written at best and somewhat legally nonsensical which is what lead me to my earlier hypothesis that this is just an over zealous employee that will likely get fired. I don't disagree that it's BS but I suppose I just don't see drudge sirens when I come across something like this as I see it frequently in my line of work.

David Sahalie wrote: Boulderers wearing beanies and no shirt while yelling like Ondra on v4s don't affect me either, but they are tools nonetheless.

Arguably, so are individuals who belittle boulderers wearing beanies and no shirt while yelling like on Ondra on v4's from their computer.

2 tips. Don't be so judgmental and don't let other people impact your experience unless they are compromising your safety.

TheBirdman wrote: Arguably, so are individuals who belittle boulderers wearing beanies and no shirt while yelling like on Ondra on v4's from their computer. 2 tips. Don't be so judgmental and don't let other people impact your experience unless they are compromising your safety.

Are you judging my judgementalism?

Alex Washburne wrote:There's a balance between capturing the moment... and living in it.

true, it is called a pocket camera...the folks with Go Pro have the same problem as their brethren with deadbird $300 pants and $700 jackets (and yes I realize much of the time they are one and same)...they worry more about ripping their clothes than stepping on the damn rope with their crampons or falling down an easy to arrest ice chute because one is trying to protect his (relatively) expensive camera instead of focusing on what the hell is going on.

Tom Howes wrote: I never thought I would want a go-pro, but this sounds cool.

I was thinking the same thing. My gf and I have very few climbing pics because we're often too busy or we forget. But a pic every minute or so sounds like a good solution. Still, not sure I want to be bothered with it. Maybe.

Chris Miller wrote: I was thinking the same thing. My gf and I have very few climbing pics because we're often too busy or we forget. But a pic every minute or so sounds like a good solution. Still, not sure I want to be bothered with it. Maybe.

Lots of cameras will do this. My Pentex WG-II does it very well. It doesn't have to be a GoPro.

Brendan Blanchard wrote:Lets not forget the value of remembering the moment you forgot your ice tool technique, get hit by falling ice, then tumble hundreds of feet before being self-arrested by your ass. Priceless.

Hahaha, this made my day.

wivanoff wrote: Lots of cameras will do this. My Pentex WG-II does it very well. It doesn't have to be a GoPro.

How would you mount that to take shots while you were climbing?