http://www.techdirt.com/ Easily digestible tech news.... http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c1987 Sat, 25 May 2013 09:01:30 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c1987 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/990903/0643219.shtml#c1285 Sat, 25 May 2013 08:55:24 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/990903/0643219.shtml#c1285 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c1956 Sat, 25 May 2013 08:44:32 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c1956
So I get a perverse thrill when I see them aiming intently at that fly on their knee, while completely oblivious to the position of their foot.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c1905 Sat, 25 May 2013 08:43:42 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c1905 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110311/01465413450/dailydirt-diy-soda-pop-whatever-you-call-carbonated-beverages.shtml#c115 Sat, 25 May 2013 08:41:48 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110311/01465413450/dailydirt-diy-soda-pop-whatever-you-call-carbonated-beverages.shtml#c115 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/990903/0643219.shtml#c1282 Sat, 25 May 2013 08:39:35 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/990903/0643219.shtml#c1282 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/02021423169/defense-digital-freedom-its-time-to-get-beyond-cyber-hyperbole.shtml#c399 Sat, 25 May 2013 08:33:47 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/02021423169/defense-digital-freedom-its-time-to-get-beyond-cyber-hyperbole.shtml#c399
oh so true. the problem is, however, that the voices of the ones that would benefit by hyping up the 'cyber' threats are always the loudest, even though they most probably are not the most sensible.

the other scary thing is that when 'cyber surveillance' bills that are introduced and fail, there seems to be an uncanny closeness to horrific acts, as happened in Boston, taking place. i noticed a similar thing in reports from the UK where the 'snoopers charter' as it was/is called was thrown out and a person was then killed under horrendous circumstances. not wishing to be or intending to be disrespectful to the families of those left behind after these events, would the ability to read a text message, an email or listen to a conversation really have stopped what happened? i very much doubt it but those that want to remove as much freedom and privacy from ordinary people and give corporations and governments more control of our lives use the incidents to validate the need. once these bills become law, rest assured, to get rid of them will be a nightmare, probably never happening. you can also be pretty certain that those that want them introduced will be ex-surveillance themselves. if people want to be monitored 24/7, let the bills become law. if having the right to freedom, privacy and other things is what you think should be in place, these bills need to be fought against, just like the fight against ACTA etc.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c1872 Sat, 25 May 2013 08:29:27 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c1872
I'd like to point to PCs as a bastion of freedom, but then I realize that my gaming library is still locked down to an account irrevocably tied to a single company. If they were to go out of business or to feel that I broke some arbitrary rule, I could lose well over thousands of dollars worth of video games, all because it is controlled online, electronically.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/00412423167/fair-use-me-not-thee.shtml#c322 Sat, 25 May 2013 08:28:27 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/00412423167/fair-use-me-not-thee.shtml#c322
Sending a DMCA notice to someone does not obligate them to actually take anything down. It simply puts them in a position where they would WANT to, because ignoring a DMCA notice means they give up the safe harbors provided in the DMCA. But if you're dealing with the actual infringer, they aren't eligible for the safe harbors in the first place, so they have no more reason to obey a DMCA notice than they would your email.

I would also point out that in a DMCA notice, there is no option to say "take this down or give me credit".]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c1829 Sat, 25 May 2013 08:25:37 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c1829
That's actually not too bad an idea... Hmm, I may fire off an email to Microsoft right now.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c1825 Sat, 25 May 2013 08:23:36 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c1825
i actually hid my HTPC behind the 55" tv and no one was the wiser.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/02021423169/defense-digital-freedom-its-time-to-get-beyond-cyber-hyperbole.shtml#c375 Sat, 25 May 2013 08:12:16 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/02021423169/defense-digital-freedom-its-time-to-get-beyond-cyber-hyperbole.shtml#c375 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/01462423203/ex-prenda-lawyer-brett-gibbs-pleads-poverty-to-judge-wright.shtml#c728 Sat, 25 May 2013 07:57:27 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/01462423203/ex-prenda-lawyer-brett-gibbs-pleads-poverty-to-judge-wright.shtml#c728 When gay hackers fall in love why the hell can't we be married?

Because hackers hacked eBay! Plus illegal immigrants, and Chewbacca wasn't even from Endor!]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/01462423203/ex-prenda-lawyer-brett-gibbs-pleads-poverty-to-judge-wright.shtml#c720 Sat, 25 May 2013 07:56:07 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/01462423203/ex-prenda-lawyer-brett-gibbs-pleads-poverty-to-judge-wright.shtml#c720 Even if he's involved in a den of scam artists like Prenda "Law", nobody should have to suffer something as crippling as brain cancer.

But letting him off the hook will not do anything to help the brain cancer. There is a mechanism for people who can't afford to pay back their debts: bankruptcy.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/02021423169/defense-digital-freedom-its-time-to-get-beyond-cyber-hyperbole.shtml#c351 Sat, 25 May 2013 07:49:41 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/02021423169/defense-digital-freedom-its-time-to-get-beyond-cyber-hyperbole.shtml#c351
If that is not FUD, then I don't know what is.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130405/15314122604/appeals-court-protects-anonymity-critics-cooley-law-school-could-have-done-more.shtml#c459 Sat, 25 May 2013 07:43:07 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130405/15314122604/appeals-court-protects-anonymity-critics-cooley-law-school-could-have-done-more.shtml#c459 Thomas. M. Cooley Law School has instilled in many of its graduates the skills necessary to become a successful.

A successful what? And what is your position at Thomas M. Cooley Law School?]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c1641 Sat, 25 May 2013 07:37:56 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c1641 Want to play Games then build a PC.Stay far away from this XBOX and stay away from Sony as well.Both of these will be Consumer Unfriendly.And this XBOX is looking like it is also a Privacy Issue but I can smell Sony going the same route.Both of these will have DRM Wazoo built into the unit.And MS will have a Camera On always........and for those who pay attention MS even has a Patent which could scan a living room and count how many people, etc are there.
F-You !
Build a PC
Go on VPN
Bypass DRM by downloading some kind of CRACK
Get to screw around and Tech out..........design and customize your own PC ala Gaming/Living Room Entertainment Center.
No Cameras built in, always on VPN, trying to just have some privacy, and no damn DRM.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/02021423169/defense-digital-freedom-its-time-to-get-beyond-cyber-hyperbole.shtml#c349 Sat, 25 May 2013 07:24:36 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/02021423169/defense-digital-freedom-its-time-to-get-beyond-cyber-hyperbole.shtml#c349
"Saddam had no WMD" "Saddam had no WMD" "Saddam had no WMD" "Saddam had no WMD" "Most of the rational people making the case for taking out Saddam knew there was no WMD at the time, but that was not the end of the story. He was a genocidal, totalitarian, Big Brother - the sanctions were killing hundreds of thousands and we couldn't lift the sanctions/no-fly-zones in case he tried to kill the Kurds again or try to get Iran/Kuwait again. There was very little alternative from historical experience. If he didn't implode the country, Uday and Qusay certainly would have. If it were anyone else - the killers of Rwanda, Darfur, Milosevic in Bosnia and Kosovo, the Burmese generals, Assad in Syria, the military of North Korea or fucking Joseph Kony - our need to take them out would be indisputable." "Saddam had no WMD" "Saddam had no WMD" "Saddam had no WMD" "Saddam had no WMD" "Saddam had no WMD" "Saddam had no WMD"

Rationality means neither having blind faith in leaders NOR doing the exact opposite of what your leaders say. It means looking at evidence, argument, being dialectical, avoiding cliche, not being a megaphone for anybody, coming up with your own unique rhetoric, being willing to stand in front of millions of people and tell them they've all bought into an ad populum fallacy without blinking, and this is most important of all: being willing to self-scrutinise and not being afraid to change your mind about something even after being incredibly committed to the other side. All of this. The only way one can claim to be rational with any credibility at all is if one accepts how fallible and prone to bias one is.

I think there are genuine threats that can be born out of the internet. I'm queasy about the 2nd amendment but I cannot help paraphrase the NRA's mantra and substitute one key word to demonstrate what I mean: "the internet doesn't free people, people free people."

It disturbs me when the Chinese government, for example, sets up fake opposition blog websites in order to lure dissenters and snares them unexpectedly when the time is right. It disturbs me when Islamic fascists will crowdsource protest videos in order to identify the protesters and murder them the next time they step outside their houses. It disturbs me when everything you potentially send on the internet cannot be undone since it is a huge recording machine, and future employers can find it easier than ever to hold one embarrassing moment against you at every turn. It disturbs me how, as someone who believes in separation of powers, power has accumulated very centrally in terms of cloud computing (personal data being stolen in one swoop in the Megaupload raid - because apparently the actions of a few people were excuse enough to shut down a whole company), Google being effectively the centre of the internet, and ISPs having too many bottle necks of the economy due to globalisation effects. It disturbs me how witch-hunt and mob mentalities can spring up easier than before, whether it is using Blackberries to start riots in England, falsely naming names in sex-predator hysteria, or Reddit turning vigilante over an innocent person. It disturbs me how conservative many media organisations are being about the utopian fantasy that is copyright law, and how they keep pushing forward anti-piracy laws with all kinds of slippery slopes while hiding behind copyright as a veto, against seemingly no real opposition in Parliaments.

When it comes to that last point, I hope the irony isn't lost on everyone. As long as you are willing to stand up for intellectual honesty when it comes to, say, copyright being extended infinitely and on no basis, you end up realising that the "cyber" war was declared on YOU, and not the other way around.

However - the arguments about liberty, privacy, and freedom remain the same. The internet has done little to change them. Some change, yes, but not much. The metaphor I use to describe the internet's role in politics and a lot of other things is that it is a "catalyst" - it doesn't change the chemical reaction, but it speeds it up and gives it more life. This is true for the good and the bad.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110311/01465413450/dailydirt-diy-soda-pop-whatever-you-call-carbonated-beverages.shtml#c109 Sat, 25 May 2013 07:24:05 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110311/01465413450/dailydirt-diy-soda-pop-whatever-you-call-carbonated-beverages.shtml#c109
Human rights violations in Isreal/Palestine
Hardware lock-in using patents to force their business model on customers.

I much prefer my generic soda charger with cartridges that ollow a common, open standard.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c1589 Sat, 25 May 2013 07:18:17 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c1589