mermaldad 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Jeb Bush Is The Latest Politician To Demonstrate Absolutely No Understanding Of Net Neutrality

    mermaldad ( profile ), 09 Mar, 2015 @ 08:15am

    Crazy

    The idea of regulating free speech with a 1787 constitution is one of the craziest ideas I’ve ever heard.

    Just think of the logic of using a 1787 constitution that was designed when we relied on hand-operated printing presses as the basis to regulate the most dynamic part of life in America. It’s not going to be good for consumers. It’s certainly not going to be good for innovation.

  • On the post: Actress Seeking $1 Million From IMDb For Publishing Her Real Age Was Pulling In Less Than $2000 A Year

    mermaldad ( profile ), 10 Feb, 2015 @ 02:10pm

    Quite a Longshot

    On top of the problems with her suit already mentioned, there's the question of whether publishing her real age violates her privacy or breaches any contract. I'd say her chances of any money are pretty slim.

  • On the post: EFF To NAACP: Trademark Isn't For Censoring Your Critics

    mermaldad ( profile ), 17 Oct, 2014 @ 06:45pm

    Obnoxious?

    The Radiance Foundation's speech, while wholly obnoxious[...]


    While I agree with the OP about the inappropriateness of using trademark law to stifle speech, I have to say that the word "obnoxious" falls short of the mark here. Obnoxious was your little brother on a long car trip when you were ten. How about "reprehensible"?

  • On the post: Antitrust, DRM & Coffee: Is It Illegal For Keurig To Lock Down Its Brewers?

    mermaldad ( profile ), 17 Oct, 2014 @ 06:04pm

    The Market is At Work

    Just peeked on Amazon, and while all of the 1.0 Keurig machines had 4 and 5 star ratings, the 2.0 machines are averaging about 2 stars. Looks like Keurig's customers aren't as loyal/stupid as Keurig thought.

  • On the post: Using Spreadsheets In Bioinformatics Can Corrupt Data, Changing Gene Names Into Dates

    mermaldad ( profile ), 31 Jul, 2014 @ 10:12am

    Re:

    Nope. The problem is that Excel converts the value of the cell to the numeric equivalent that represents the date, and also converts the cell format to Date. So if you format as text, you fix one problem, but not the other. "DEC1" becomes 41974, for example.

  • On the post: Intelligence Lawyer Robert Litt Claims Searching For Possible Privacy Violations Will Violate Privacy

    mermaldad ( profile ), 15 Nov, 2013 @ 06:28am

    Already violated

    "Yeah, I was peeping through your window, and yes, I happened to see you naked, but I shouldn't be arrested for that because if I am arrested, I will have to think about what I saw (as part of my defense, of course) and you don't want me thinking about you naked, do you?"

  • On the post: The Death Rattle For Blackberry: Once Again, Markets Change Very Quickly

    mermaldad ( profile ), 24 Sep, 2013 @ 08:03pm

    The elephant NOT in the room

    The thing that bothers me about that first graph is the missing elephant. Where's Motorola?

  • On the post: Dan Brown: Video Games Lead To Violence

    mermaldad ( profile ), 09 Jun, 2013 @ 01:10pm

    Sorry, someone had to do it...

    "I think Dan Brown's books are very dangerous. The quantity of hours that people read these action novels. It becomes a reality of some sort, and that's a part of it. It really comes down to educating schools and parents. To say 'you know what, you can't read that, sorry, I'm just not going to let you do it'."

  • On the post: Expose A Blatant Security Hole In AT&T's Servers, Get 3.5 Years In Jail

    mermaldad ( profile ), 19 Mar, 2013 @ 04:28am

    Et tu

    "His entire adult life has been dedicated to taking advantage of others, using his computer expertise to violate others' privacy, to embarrass others, to build his reputation on the backs of those less skilled than he,"

    Funny how this quote could, with minor grammatical modifications, be applied to the "victim", AT&T...

  • On the post: Bev Stayart Loses Yet Another Battle Against Levitra, Cialis And Search Engine Results

    mermaldad ( profile ), 11 Mar, 2013 @ 07:36pm

    Ahh, Bev

    My 2013 is so much better now that Bev has appeared in it. She never ceases to amuse me. Some of the other commenters seem to want to associate new terms with her name. However, I am confident that she would be able to do so without any outside help.

  • On the post: Open Letter To Human Synergistics International In Response To Your Accusation That Techdirt Is Infringing

    mermaldad ( profile ), 30 Nov, 2012 @ 07:18pm

    Too far is not far enough

    I'm a little disappointed that Mike didn't take the time to explain exactly how to file a DMCA takedown notice. They might need help with that, and I think the result would be even more entertaining.

  • On the post: Dear Sir, I Am A Nigerian Prince And If You Believe That There's A Bridge I'd Like To Sell You…

    mermaldad ( profile ), 04 Sep, 2012 @ 01:50pm

    Legacy players

    Hmmm, I just thought of a new business model for the legacy music and movie industries...

  • On the post: Forget The Death-Star Anti-Mosquito Lasers, Here's How Nathan Myhrvold Can Help Tackle Malaria — And Improve His Image

    mermaldad ( profile ), 04 Sep, 2012 @ 01:45pm

    A minor nit...

    This just a minor nit, a flyspeck, if you will, but male mosquitoes are much *larger* than females, not the other way around.

  • On the post: Traditional Publisher Ebook Pricing Harming Authors' Careers

    mermaldad ( profile ), 09 Aug, 2012 @ 08:42am

    overhead

    Of course the traditional publishers have more overhead. They have to protect against devaluation. That PC on the desk? They pay $2000 for it, because they wouldn't want to devalue the PC by paying less. Long distance phone calls? They pay 12 cents a minute for the same reason. What's that you say? They don't do that? Then why do they think consumers would want to do it?

  • On the post: Kevin Smith's Approach To Competing With Piracy: Give Away A Ton, Then Sell Stuff That Can't Be Pirated

    mermaldad ( profile ), 10 May, 2012 @ 05:28am

    Competes with piracy

    @Mike: The problem isn't that "competes" is the wrong word. The problem is how you are reading the phrase. Try it this way: Kevin Smith competes...with piracy!

  • On the post: When You Create Value It Doesn't Mean You Have To Capture Every Bit Of That Value

    mermaldad ( profile ), 30 Apr, 2012 @ 05:50am

    crazy talk

    This article is just crazy talk. Of course you should squeeze every last bit of value from something you create! A bunch of movie studios are missing out on this. You know those previews that take up the first 15 minutes of every cinema experience? They should be charging viewers for those. Let's face it, if it is a comedy, that's usually where the best jokes are anyway.

  • On the post: Louis CK: Over $1 Million In Sales In Just 12 Days For DRM-Free Download

    mermaldad ( profile ), 23 Dec, 2011 @ 07:42am

    The part I disagree with

    Having a charitable component is kinda cool. Yes, in this case it's after-the-f cool.

    To me, that it is after the fact makes it even cooler. It means that he's giving to charity because he wants to, not to drive sales. That's pretty high up there on the mermaldad heirarchy of commercial charitable giving:

    From lowest to highest esteem

    For every purchase you make, we'll make a gonation to the Central Ypsilanti Network for Infants, Children and Lepers (CYNICAL), up to $100,000.

    My reaction: That's nice, but if you really wanted to give, you wouldn't put a cap on the amount. This is more about sales than a desire to give.

    Help us raise money for CYNICAL by donating at the cash register.

    My reaction: I'm glad that you are supporting this cause, but when you present the oversized check, will you remember to mention that the money was donated by your customers?

    We are donating $100,000 to CYNICAL.

    My reaction: that is nice. No gimmicks, just a nice gift to a worthy cause.

  • On the post: USTR Puts Out Its 'Rogue Sites' List… Can't Even Find 20

    mermaldad ( profile ), 21 Dec, 2011 @ 10:29am

    I'm with Mr. Smart***

    I had much the same idea as Mr. Smart***, although it s?nded like he was talking. about patent trolls. We need some organization to put out a special report of its own, identifying the "rogue"players, individuals and organizations who do the most to distort and abuse copyright, patents, and trademarks from their original purposes. there should be a separate report for each form of IP.

  • On the post: The Many Killers Of The Film Industry: Volume 2 – A Disaster Called Television

    mermaldad ( profile ), 25 Oct, 2011 @ 03:07pm

    Filled with omissions, half truths, and outright lies...

    ...Oh, I'm sorry, I thought we were talking about the latest attempts to justify PROTECT IP. Nevertheless, I did notice a glaring omission in this article, on the first line, no less.

    The guy's name was actually Fran?ois Magnavoix. The spelling was mangled when he filed for a trademark, and the misspelled name stuck.

    Just wanted to do my part to maintain the high standards of veracity expected on Techdirt.

  • On the post: Can We Kill Off This Myth That The Internet Is A Wild West That Needs To Be Tamed?

    mermaldad ( profile ), 28 May, 2011 @ 08:12pm

    Ah yes, the wild west...

    A dark stranger entered the saloon. The murmur in the room subsided as all in the room paused to study him as he walked to the bar.

    "Whiskey," he growled at the bartender.

    The bartenders hands shook a little as he pulled out a printed paper and a pen. "Sign this," he said to the stranger.

    "What is it?"

    "It's a registration form. If you want a drink, you're going to have to sign it. It says that you will abide by our Terms of Service and agree to our Privacy Policy, which are in these here documents." The bartender slid two thick piles of papers toward the man.

    The stranger's registered anger, then resignation. "All right, I'll sign," he said as he scrawled an X on the page. "Just give me my whiskey."

    "Not so fast, partner. You didn't check the box that says you have read and agree to the terms of the TOS and Privacy Policy." The bartender pushed the stacks of paper a little closer to the stranger.

    "Bah," he said, pushing the piles aside, "I never read those." He made the check mark and slid the paper back toward the bartender.

    "Thank you," said the bartender as he poured a shot and set it down in front of the stranger.

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