Eponymous Coward 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (157)

• On the post: Emails Show Hillary Clinton's Email Server Was A Massive Security Headache, Set Up To Route Around FOIA Requests

  

  Eponymous Coward ( profile ), 24 Jun, 2016 @ 08:43am

  Re: Re: Why the Vitriol?

  Amen and amen to this. Every time someone uses "Republican X did it first" I want to fucking scream.
  
  Burn them all down, every last one who has broken these rules and violated FEDERAL FUCKING LAW regarding the handling of classified material (which, again, all of these people signed a document acknowledging that content, and not a stamp, determines level of classification). Colin Powell, Jeb Bush, whoever, doesn't matter. Break the law? go to trial. Get convicted? go to jail, do not pass the Oval Office, do not collect a lifetime pension.
  
  Your party affiliation doesn't automatically make you a criminal. Being convicted does, and evidence continues to mount in this case.

• On the post: Illinois Police Department Pulls Plug On Body Cameras Because Accountability Is 'A Bit Burdensome'

  

  Eponymous Coward ( profile ), 26 Apr, 2016 @ 07:55am

  Any parent will immediately recognize this behavior. A request (clean your room) becomes a demand, and so the child will comply, but in the shittiest, most half-assed way possible. When problems arise because of the shit implementation of the request (I can't find my tablet because I just threw everything into the closet so my room would be "clean"), the child blames the task and not the execution.
  
  Dear Stupidville PD: When you half-ass a solution, you only get more problems.

• On the post: Hulk Hogan's $115 Million Win Against Gawker Raises Serious First Amendment Questions

  

  Eponymous Coward ( profile ), 21 Mar, 2016 @ 11:39am

  Rough analogue?

  Posting hidden cam sex tape on a for-profit website seems a rough analogue to selling stolen property.
  
  I don't see the First Amendment implications in the case, though framing the verdict in terms of "what constitutes 'newsworthy'" can skew it more in that direction. How about framing it as "Gawker used an illegal recording to drive that clickbait dollar machine"?
  
  It could've been a video of Hogan and the lady playing Monopoly, still wouldn't change the fact that the recording itself is an illicit thing, apart from definitions of speech rights.

• On the post: Comcast Battles Google Fiber In Atlanta — With Threat Of Usage Caps Unless You Sign 3-Year Contract

  

  Eponymous Coward ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2016 @ 10:16am

  Re: Re:

  Google: That company that wants you to be eaten by velociraptors.
  
  *This message paid for by Comcast

• On the post: Comcast Battles Google Fiber In Atlanta — With Threat Of Usage Caps Unless You Sign 3-Year Contract

  

  Eponymous Coward ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2016 @ 10:14am

  Re:

  Comcast hears your concerns, loyal customer. We have included the usage cap of 300GB for your protection, as our crack research scientists have determined that downloading at gigabit speeds will warp space and time in your vicinity. Sustained downloads of more than 300GB could cause unexpected time travel, catapulting users into the distant future or pulling velociraptors into the present time. We know you don't want that, so we added this feature for your protection.
  
  Overage fees will placate the space-time continuum, allowing for more rapid closure of temporal wormholes. Actually, space-time wanted $20 per 50GB (can you believe the nerve?), but we talked it down to $10. You're welcome.

• On the post: No, A Judge Did Not Just Order Apple To Break Encryption On San Bernardino Shooter's iPhone, But To Create A New Backdoor

  

  Eponymous Coward ( profile ), 17 Feb, 2016 @ 05:56am

  Re: Send the phone to NSA

  Also known as the "Do your own f***ing job" rebuttal.

• On the post: Challenged By Cord Cutting, The Discovery Channel Seeks Redemption In The Wake Of Honey Boo Boo

  

  Eponymous Coward ( profile ), 20 Jan, 2016 @ 07:57am

  Re: Re:

  I used to refer to the History Channel as "Nazivision", actually.
  
  I do miss the real History programming, where they went back more than 100 years, and covered subjects apart from 'Murrica and the places we've bombed.

• On the post: Police Union Thinks Cops Should Receive Less Scrutiny Than Retail Workers

  

  Eponymous Coward ( profile ), 30 Dec, 2015 @ 10:31am

  Re: Re: That old saw...

  I see your challenge and raise you with a broader, and equally impossible , challenge. Find an honest person, full stop. I won't wait.
  
  Your hyperbole notwithstanding, don't tell me who to respect, and mind that caps lock, if you would. It can make one seem quite the zealot if over-used.

• On the post: Police Union Thinks Cops Should Receive Less Scrutiny Than Retail Workers

  

  Eponymous Coward ( profile ), 30 Dec, 2015 @ 05:44am

  Re: That old saw...

  Please note that I hold most police officers, especially the ones I know personally, in high esteem. The union reps can piss up a rope, though.

• On the post: Police Union Thinks Cops Should Receive Less Scrutiny Than Retail Workers

  

  Eponymous Coward ( profile ), 30 Dec, 2015 @ 05:42am

  That old saw...

  Come on, officers, if you don't have anything to hide you don't have any reason to worry, right? Right??
  
  Police union reps will now join pedophiles, drug traffickers, and terrorists in the group of "Bad People the Fourth Amendment Protects".

• On the post: President Obama Hints At Asking Silicon Valley To Magically Block Terrorists From Using Tech Products

  

  Eponymous Coward ( profile ), 07 Dec, 2015 @ 08:54am

  Re: Sooooo...

  No, guns are also terrible. In fact, yesterday I watched a pistol walk into an animal shelter and kick puppies for 45 minutes, accompanied by a black forestock grip. It only ended when a federal law entered the room and told the gun it wasn't allowed to be there, at which point the gun promptly apologized and turned itself in to the authorities.
  
  The black forestock grip fled the scene and is still at large.

• On the post: Shop Owner Claims FBI Raided His Store Over His Offensive Murals, But Details Suggest Otherwise

  

  Eponymous Coward ( profile ), 05 Aug, 2015 @ 11:14am

  Re: Re:

  In all ways except physical, I am a wolf (or Muslim), I guess?

• On the post: AT&T's Version Of Wireless Price Competition: Raising Prices

  

  Eponymous Coward ( profile ), 24 Jul, 2015 @ 10:57am

  Activation fees have always been BS

  I have activated my last 3 phones online with VZW. In each case, it's taken no more than 20 minutes, with Google handling the bulk of the process (transferring contacts and whatnot).
  
  The fact that a carrier can still get away with charging any amount of money for a couple minutes of menu navigation, entering a device ID, and restarting the phone boggles my mind.

• On the post: Police Cameras Are Valuable… But Not If They Can Alter The Videos

  

  Eponymous Coward ( profile ), 22 Jul, 2015 @ 11:55am

  You know...

  The ACLU (and others) already has several apps for secure upload and storage of video of police encounters. PDs could save a lot of money if they just made use of these free apps.
  
  A third pary video escrow service, while anathema to government agencies' "we control the information that should be free and public" attitudes, could provide some much needed goodwill.

• On the post: Should Your Self-Driving Car Be Programmed To Kill You If It Means Saving A Dozen Other Lives?

  

  Eponymous Coward ( profile ), 17 Jun, 2015 @ 05:49am

  Re:

  Gah, Starcat edged me out on the First Law.

• On the post: Should Your Self-Driving Car Be Programmed To Kill You If It Means Saving A Dozen Other Lives?

  

  Eponymous Coward ( profile ), 17 Jun, 2015 @ 05:52am

  The Final Test

  Soon, every autonomous car rolling off the line will have to make one last stop before leaving the factory. They will be required to take virtual command of the Kobayashi Maru to gauge how they cope with a no-win situation.
  
  The "James Tesla Kirk" models will give the system fits, though...

• On the post: Should Your Self-Driving Car Be Programmed To Kill You If It Means Saving A Dozen Other Lives?

  

  Eponymous Coward ( profile ), 17 Jun, 2015 @ 05:47am

  "As such, it seems automated cars will either follow the utilitarian path, or perhaps make no choice at all (just shutting down when encountered with a no win scenario to avoid additional liability)."
  
  In the rare case of a situation where your AutomaToyota cannot avoid serious injuries/fatalities, it will immediately shut down and let inertia decide?
  
  Inaction breaks the First Law, and we can't have that.

• On the post: Reporter Who Wrote Sunday Times 'Snowden' Propaganda Admits That He's Just Writing What UK Gov't Told Him

  

  Eponymous Coward ( profile ), 16 Jun, 2015 @ 07:37am

  "I mean, it could be that the great fairyland dragon from the 6th dimension dreamed up the Snowden documents and then gave them to Russia and China."
  
  Well, umm, uhh, we don't want to make conjectures about the fairyland dragon's intentions. All we know is that we leave the offerings of marshmallows and virgins' blood and the stories come to us fully written. I wouldn't know what the fairyland dragon actually did, the government didn't write that bit for us.

• On the post: According To The Government, Clearing Your Browser History Is A Felony

  

  Eponymous Coward ( profile ), 08 Jun, 2015 @ 11:41am

  Re: maybe Hillarys email server destruction/deletion

  This scenario is one of very few that could lead to actual SOX reform. Lord, if this bit someone near the top of the power pyramid, I'd laugh for days.
  
  Emailing Rand Paul now...

• On the post: According To The Government, Clearing Your Browser History Is A Felony

  

  Eponymous Coward ( profile ), 08 Jun, 2015 @ 11:35am

  Re: Re:

  Double plus aggravated charges for refusal to create evidence.
  
  God help you if they discover a USB stick loaded with Tails/Tor.

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