Latest Techdirt Comments http://www.techdirt.com/ Easily digestible tech news.... Re: Re: Minion, don't throw "moral panics" bit into actual police actions. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130502/18364622931/ma-teen-arrested-held-without-bail-posting-supposed-terrorist-threat-facebook.shtml#c1109 Tue, 21 May 2013 19:11:17 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130502/18364622931/ma-teen-arrested-held-without-bail-posting-supposed-terrorist-threat-facebook.shtml#c1109 Re: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/14172323158/judge-not-impressed-prenda-alan-cooper-lawsuit.shtml#c453 Tue, 21 May 2013 19:04:31 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/14172323158/judge-not-impressed-prenda-alan-cooper-lawsuit.shtml#c453 Re: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/14172323158/judge-not-impressed-prenda-alan-cooper-lawsuit.shtml#c434 Tue, 21 May 2013 19:03:35 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/14172323158/judge-not-impressed-prenda-alan-cooper-lawsuit.shtml#c434 Re: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/15164823159/bad-day-prenda-continues-judge-rejects-stay-adds-1k-per-day-each-day-they-dont-pay-up.shtml#c337 Tue, 21 May 2013 18:58:24 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/15164823159/bad-day-prenda-continues-judge-rejects-stay-adds-1k-per-day-each-day-they-dont-pay-up.shtml#c337 Re: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/15164823159/bad-day-prenda-continues-judge-rejects-stay-adds-1k-per-day-each-day-they-dont-pay-up.shtml#c336 Tue, 21 May 2013 18:57:12 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/15164823159/bad-day-prenda-continues-judge-rejects-stay-adds-1k-per-day-each-day-they-dont-pay-up.shtml#c336
Don't you worry John I am sure is sitting with his Barbie doll in the basement that has SJD scribbled on a post-it-note attached to it and sticking pins into it for revenge.

John takes criticism well and always respects everyones opinion and has nothing but highest moral regard for the law...]]> Re: Re: The story that just keeps on giving http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/15164823159/bad-day-prenda-continues-judge-rejects-stay-adds-1k-per-day-each-day-they-dont-pay-up.shtml#c316 Tue, 21 May 2013 18:55:09 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/15164823159/bad-day-prenda-continues-judge-rejects-stay-adds-1k-per-day-each-day-they-dont-pay-up.shtml#c316 They didn't piss off a bunch of judges. They have one judgeSo you've forgotten Florida, Minnesota and last week's appeals court already? If your memory is that bad it's no wonder you're doing so poorly, John. One of the first things about telling lies is that you need to remember who you told what to, otherwise you end up - well, you end up where you are right now.
who is trying to bully
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
being investigator, judge, and jury all in one.
Yeah, just keep telling yourself that. Maybe one day you'll believe it.]]> F-22 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110311/01552013459/dailydirt-weapons-sky.shtml#c25 Tue, 21 May 2013 18:53:22 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110311/01552013459/dailydirt-weapons-sky.shtml#c25 Re: GIbbs http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/15164823159/bad-day-prenda-continues-judge-rejects-stay-adds-1k-per-day-each-day-they-dont-pay-up.shtml#c310 Tue, 21 May 2013 18:52:32 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/15164823159/bad-day-prenda-continues-judge-rejects-stay-adds-1k-per-day-each-day-they-dont-pay-up.shtml#c310
Now on top if that Gibbs (who is supposedly out of work, but I still think he is working for Prenda) has this portion of 81k plus 1k a day that it is late.

Gibbs had already turned over an affadavits in the Florida Sunlust vs Nyugen case where he basically singled out John "Teflon John" Steele & Paul Duffy as the senior Prenda partners giving Gibbs his instructions on almost every aspect of the case.

Gibbs in my estimation is the first Person I see State & Federal Prosecutors going to for a deal after they get a grand jury indictment for RICO.

Really what options does Gibbs have left? Prenda is throwing him under the bus, and basically saying he is incompetent and they had no idea that he was mis-handling this case and the courts directives.

Gibbs job prospects are pretty well shot. Who is going to hire someone that was associated with Prenda and John Steele after everything that has come down through the courts and has been reported in the media.

I see Gibbs being the first one to fold and give up everyone else, especially Teflon John. You have to remember that Gibbs will be lucky if he has a licence to chase ambulances when this is said and done.

John still has his licence (miracle that is mind you) even though it may be inactive (Teflon John is supposedly retired but I think that may have been a forced retirement, but I highly doubt he is retired, I just think he practices under the radar ~nudge nudge wink wink~)

I predict if the feds can bring down a RICO indictment there are going to be people scurrying for cover and striking a deal and I see Gibbs first up to save his ass and to extract a little revenge on Steele et all for hanging him out to dry.

Time will tell of course this is just my opinion, but hey even I am entitled to dream!]]> Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/10401723156/if-you-think-you-should-actually-own-products-you-bought-now-would-be-good-time-to-call-congress.shtml#c1569 Tue, 21 May 2013 18:47:38 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/10401723156/if-you-think-you-should-actually-own-products-you-bought-now-would-be-good-time-to-call-congress.shtml#c1569 That seems a bit of a stretch. That's like saying my window and door locks only protect my windows and doors from opening, not the contents of my house. It's like saying my alarm system only indirectly protects my stuff.

Bad comparison. If you want a valid analogy, you can compare the use case that involves DRM and DMCA to the owner of the house (end user) who goes to the store vendor (content owner) and buys a product (content). Product is copyrighted, so the vendor protects it (puts DRM on it). Protection entitles a spybot and electrified protective wrap which accompany the product to user's house.

User comes home and attempts to use the product. Spybot which now spies on the user in user's own house notifies the user with red lights that most probably user is a criminal, lest use will attempt to duplicate the product. User tries to unwrap the product, but the sneaky wrap refuses to be removed and notifies the user that user can only peek through the wrap with special tool X from the vendor. User most probably doesn't even have a tool X, or has a tool Y, which doesn't really help.

Now frustrated user finds a special tool Z which disables the annoying and potentially dangerous spy bot and its flashing lights and disintegrates the nasty wrap and then finally gets to the product.

With all that, somewhere in background the Big Brother creates a rule which says "you can't disable the bot, you can't remove the wrap with any tool" and etc. It doesn't prevent one from doing it, but it forbids it. Makes a lot of sense, right?

So in order to "protect" the product, the vendor created a privacy violating bot and really irritating wrap which user has to disintegrate first to get some sensible and comfortable user experience. But to scary users off from doing it, there is also a DMCA, which users view as lunacy, since they really need to disable the bot which is an outright spy for who knows whom and they need to remove the wrap, since they have no need to buy any ridiculous tool X - they already have tool Y.

Bottom line - DMCA/1201 doesn't protect DRM and doesn't prevent its breaking. DRM itself is a crooked and unethical methodology which shouldn't even exist in the first place. Both should be gone of for good.]]> Re: Re: The story that just keeps on giving http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/15164823159/bad-day-prenda-continues-judge-rejects-stay-adds-1k-per-day-each-day-they-dont-pay-up.shtml#c298 Tue, 21 May 2013 18:38:41 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/15164823159/bad-day-prenda-continues-judge-rejects-stay-adds-1k-per-day-each-day-they-dont-pay-up.shtml#c298
Prenda's operations have become so noisome they have been thrust into daylight. It is not "just one judge" now. So what would you call more than one judge? A bunch of judges? A posse of judges? A banc of judges? To Prenda & Co., I imagine they are simply called: trouble.]]> Re: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/02413623115/bogus-lawsuit-plus-threats-to-those-who-write-about-it-leads-to-epic-response.shtml#c946 Tue, 21 May 2013 18:38:19 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/02413623115/bogus-lawsuit-plus-threats-to-those-who-write-about-it-leads-to-epic-response.shtml#c946 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/15164823159/bad-day-prenda-continues-judge-rejects-stay-adds-1k-per-day-each-day-they-dont-pay-up.shtml#c283 Tue, 21 May 2013 18:31:44 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/15164823159/bad-day-prenda-continues-judge-rejects-stay-adds-1k-per-day-each-day-they-dont-pay-up.shtml#c283 Re: Re: Re: Re: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101209/09504712210/dailydirt-taking-another-look-nuclear-energy.shtml#c277 Tue, 21 May 2013 18:27:18 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101209/09504712210/dailydirt-taking-another-look-nuclear-energy.shtml#c277
Most famous wasn't a software error either. It was a scrap dealer who took apart a machine that he didn't know what it was, that never should have been scrapped, and killed 10 people.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111213/18060117071/actually-jobs-making-movies-are-rise-not-falling.shtml#c451 Tue, 21 May 2013 18:24:08 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111213/18060117071/actually-jobs-making-movies-are-rise-not-falling.shtml#c451 Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/10401723156/if-you-think-you-should-actually-own-products-you-bought-now-would-be-good-time-to-call-congress.shtml#c1558 Tue, 21 May 2013 18:21:54 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/10401723156/if-you-think-you-should-actually-own-products-you-bought-now-would-be-good-time-to-call-congress.shtml#c1558 This was because the PEOPLE didn't want it to be illegal.

WELL...

Technically speaking, people *DID* want it to be illegal, at first.

However, people soon found out that their scapegoat of alcoholism being all of the problems of society was a falsehood and the fact that you had to now DEAL with them instead of being able to drink to try and forget them, even for a little bit, caused real issues.

So now, people wanted alcohol to get away from problems, but it was illegal, so they started to make their own.

And that was how organized crime came into being in the 1930s.

Once alcohol was legal again, though, most of the organized crime either went away or moved onto something else.

Huh... I wonder if that should be applied to marijuana or something.

Something to think about.]]> Re: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/10401723156/if-you-think-you-should-actually-own-products-you-bought-now-would-be-good-time-to-call-congress.shtml#c1545 Tue, 21 May 2013 18:19:20 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/10401723156/if-you-think-you-should-actually-own-products-you-bought-now-would-be-good-time-to-call-congress.shtml#c1545 Here's one way you can try and be taken more seriously. Don't say something so obviously false, that all anyone has to do to check its veracity is simply scroll up and down.]]> Re: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/15164823159/bad-day-prenda-continues-judge-rejects-stay-adds-1k-per-day-each-day-they-dont-pay-up.shtml#c271 Tue, 21 May 2013 18:18:20 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/15164823159/bad-day-prenda-continues-judge-rejects-stay-adds-1k-per-day-each-day-they-dont-pay-up.shtml#c271 Re: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/10401723156/if-you-think-you-should-actually-own-products-you-bought-now-would-be-good-time-to-call-congress.shtml#c1537 Tue, 21 May 2013 18:16:32 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/10401723156/if-you-think-you-should-actually-own-products-you-bought-now-would-be-good-time-to-call-congress.shtml#c1537
Find out what happens next time on Techdirt, the ongoing chronicles!]]> Re: Re: Re: Re: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/10401723156/if-you-think-you-should-actually-own-products-you-bought-now-would-be-good-time-to-call-congress.shtml#c1532 Tue, 21 May 2013 18:15:52 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/10401723156/if-you-think-you-should-actually-own-products-you-bought-now-would-be-good-time-to-call-congress.shtml#c1532
Heard of a little thing called the Prohibition? It was a little thing, you might not have heard of it, but it was a period in the 1920's when you couldn't buy alcohol. Shocking, I know. The government went around saying it was illegal to buy beer, and punished anyone they could find.
Guess what happened? Even though it technically was difficult to buy beer (you couldn't do so openly, you had to be circumspect about it, go through shady channels, basically some amount of effort) and it was underground by default seeing as how it was illegal...people still continued to drink. In large numbers. The US government threw 15,000 agents last I checked at this, and failed completely.
This was because the PEOPLE didn't want it to be illegal.]]> Re: Re: >>$1k/day http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/15164823159/bad-day-prenda-continues-judge-rejects-stay-adds-1k-per-day-each-day-they-dont-pay-up.shtml#c248 Tue, 21 May 2013 18:15:46 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/15164823159/bad-day-prenda-continues-judge-rejects-stay-adds-1k-per-day-each-day-they-dont-pay-up.shtml#c248