Latest Techdirt Comments http://www.techdirt.com/ Easily digestible tech news.... Re: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/02025423448/company-claims-patent-pop-up-ads-sues-porn-travel-companies.shtml#c123 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:10:17 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/02025423448/company-claims-patent-pop-up-ads-sues-porn-travel-companies.shtml#c123 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/02025423448/company-claims-patent-pop-up-ads-sues-porn-travel-companies.shtml#c98 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:09:59 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/02025423448/company-claims-patent-pop-up-ads-sues-porn-travel-companies.shtml#c98 Re: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130619/10213023529/fbi-admits-to-using-drones-to-spy-americans.shtml#c431 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:07:06 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130619/10213023529/fbi-admits-to-using-drones-to-spy-americans.shtml#c431 If they send up a helicopter it probably takes 3 cops. If they send up a drone, it takes one with a joystick. Saves the taxpayers money.

No, it doesn't. It just means that they'll do three times as much surveillance.

What do you honestly think they are going to do with these drones? Spy on you? Are you really that important?


As with the other spying issues, the point isn't that you, or I, in particular are being surveilled. It's that massive surveillance has a large number of detrimental effects to society as a whole, and that the cops & spy outfits have repeatedly demonstrated, over a period of many decades, that they will inevitably use their new power to do things like suppress legitimate dissent, punish political enemies, etc.

If you don't want to be seen nude in your backyard than don't go outside without clothes on


This is a stunning statement. So now we have to refrain from legal activity in the privacy of our own land just so cops get to play with their new toys?

Stop bitching about everything that the government does


I don't bitch about everything the government does. I bitch about the things I see the government doing wrong. This is not only my right, but it is my responsibility as a citizen.

For the record, I don't think the drones issue is nearly as big of a deal as the telephone spying, but there's no reason not to call out both of these as issues that need to be addressed.]]> Of course there were http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/02025423448/company-claims-patent-pop-up-ads-sues-porn-travel-companies.shtml#c77 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:06:14 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/02025423448/company-claims-patent-pop-up-ads-sues-porn-travel-companies.shtml#c77 Re: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/02025423448/company-claims-patent-pop-up-ads-sues-porn-travel-companies.shtml#c68 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:04:18 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/02025423448/company-claims-patent-pop-up-ads-sues-porn-travel-companies.shtml#c68
I doubt netflix will bother with stopping a pop-up]]> Re: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130619/10213023529/fbi-admits-to-using-drones-to-spy-americans.shtml#c405 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:03:31 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130619/10213023529/fbi-admits-to-using-drones-to-spy-americans.shtml#c405 Re: Re: Umm, Google has you all accustomed to its spying. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130619/10213023529/fbi-admits-to-using-drones-to-spy-americans.shtml#c395 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:59:18 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130619/10213023529/fbi-admits-to-using-drones-to-spy-americans.shtml#c395 Your message ends up getting ignored and you get belittled. You do more harm than good.

Indeed. Speaking as a person who is highly critical of Google and encourages people to be wary of them, Blue's attempts are counterproductive in the extreme. He comes off as a lunatic, and so allows people to write off folks who point out the real trade-offs Google presents as just one of the lunatic crowd.

If Blue really wanted to raise awareness about Googly issues, he'd be well advised to talk like a rational person. Or, if that's impossible, to at least shut up and let others do the job.]]> Re: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/02025423448/company-claims-patent-pop-up-ads-sues-porn-travel-companies.shtml#c37 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:58:18 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/02025423448/company-claims-patent-pop-up-ads-sues-porn-travel-companies.shtml#c37
Job well done, Luke S. Wassum, Primary Examiner!]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/02025423448/company-claims-patent-pop-up-ads-sues-porn-travel-companies.shtml#c28 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:53:39 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/02025423448/company-claims-patent-pop-up-ads-sues-porn-travel-companies.shtml#c28 almost always advertising Netflix"

There should be a cookie that indicates you already have a Netflix account so you'd get a different ad. Netflix is wasting a lot of money advertising to its own customers.]]> Re: Re: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130619/10213023529/fbi-admits-to-using-drones-to-spy-americans.shtml#c393 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:53:02 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130619/10213023529/fbi-admits-to-using-drones-to-spy-americans.shtml#c393 Obama instantly answered that "USA already had found the right balance."

What a jackass response.]]> Point of curiosity... http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/02025423448/company-claims-patent-pop-up-ads-sues-porn-travel-companies.shtml#c23 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:47:13 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/02025423448/company-claims-patent-pop-up-ads-sues-porn-travel-companies.shtml#c23 (almost always advertising Netflix, by the way)

I've noticed that too. What sorcery do they use to get that through?]]> Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: @"PaulT", compulsive yapper. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/01121423439/hollywood-studios-keep-saying-its-employees-must-get-paid-now-may-be-forced-to-pay-its-interns.shtml#c1255 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:45:40 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/01121423439/hollywood-studios-keep-saying-its-employees-must-get-paid-now-may-be-forced-to-pay-its-interns.shtml#c1255 Re: Re: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130617/11500923509/its-come-to-this-commentators-arguing-that-press-commits-crime-exposing-nsa-surveillance.shtml#c750 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:44:21 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130617/11500923509/its-come-to-this-commentators-arguing-that-press-commits-crime-exposing-nsa-surveillance.shtml#c750 They have made voter fraud a spectator sport, arm our enemies (their allies) and are preparing tax us to death]]> Re: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/18243923466/hollywoods-new-talking-point-gatekeepers-are-awesome.shtml#c408 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:42:08 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/18243923466/hollywoods-new-talking-point-gatekeepers-are-awesome.shtml#c408 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/02025423448/company-claims-patent-pop-up-ads-sues-porn-travel-companies.shtml#c16 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:41:34 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/02025423448/company-claims-patent-pop-up-ads-sues-porn-travel-companies.shtml#c16

One one hand, it is patent trolling.


On the other hand, anything that gets us less pop-up ads is fine by me :)]]> Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: @"PaulT", compulsive yapper. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/01121423439/hollywood-studios-keep-saying-its-employees-must-get-paid-now-may-be-forced-to-pay-its-interns.shtml#c1235 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:40:52 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/01121423439/hollywood-studios-keep-saying-its-employees-must-get-paid-now-may-be-forced-to-pay-its-interns.shtml#c1235 Re: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/18243923466/hollywoods-new-talking-point-gatekeepers-are-awesome.shtml#c396 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:40:27 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/18243923466/hollywoods-new-talking-point-gatekeepers-are-awesome.shtml#c396 I will post again the link Hugh Howey on self publishing, which is the result of an informal survey of book authors that have gone the self publishing route.
The main point that comes out is that many more authors can earn some money, about the same as most published authors, on a smaller fan base, and therefore sales.
Obviously the respondents self selected, but the point is a large number were making money from ebooks without being well known.
The definite conclusion from the article is that for ebooks, an author is best going the self published route, at least at first.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/18243923466/hollywoods-new-talking-point-gatekeepers-are-awesome.shtml#c389 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:36:38 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/18243923466/hollywoods-new-talking-point-gatekeepers-are-awesome.shtml#c389 Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: @"PaulT", compulsive yapper. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/01121423439/hollywood-studios-keep-saying-its-employees-must-get-paid-now-may-be-forced-to-pay-its-interns.shtml#c1227 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:36:36 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/01121423439/hollywood-studios-keep-saying-its-employees-must-get-paid-now-may-be-forced-to-pay-its-interns.shtml#c1227 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/02025423448/company-claims-patent-pop-up-ads-sues-porn-travel-companies.shtml#c10 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:35:14 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/02025423448/company-claims-patent-pop-up-ads-sues-porn-travel-companies.shtml#c10
You can read the original patent at http://www.google.com/patents/US7353229 . To my untrained eye it looks like this is a patent for the idea of using mechanisms already in JavaScript and Java applets to present advertising. Reading the article as a programmer I didn't see much in the way of how to do popups other than "Use the tools that are already provided."

JavaScript and the ability to do pupups and popunders was released by Netscape in 1997. I am sure that by the time the '229 patent was filed there were a lot of tutorials that explained how to do pupup and popnder ads and did it better than this paptent.]]>