slacker525600 's Techdirt Comments
Latest Comments (71)
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On the post: Guy Building A Working (Yes, Working) Computer Inside A Video Game
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On the post: Latest ACTA Negotiation Kicks Off By Making It Difficult For Consumer Rights Groups To Attend
slacker525600 ( profile ), 22 Sep, 2010 @ 06:26pmRe: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
I was about to post "
But the plans were on display.'
On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.'
`That's the display department.'
`With a torch.'
`Ah, well the lights had probably gone.'
`So had the stairs.'
`But look you found the notice didn't you?'
`Yes,' said Arthur, `yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying "Beware of The Leopard".'" " -
On the post: US Commerce Secretary Sides With RIAA: Warns ISPs To Become Entertainment Industry Cops
slacker525600 ( profile ), 01 Sep, 2010 @ 05:19ammy theory
is that acta is an attempt by our government to leverage our current IP situation against our debt.
when the world realizes the trillions of dollars we owe we will then be able to say ... well ... you infringe on all this IP that we developed with that debt, so ... we arent paying you until you pay us. kinda sorta ... obviously not that straightforward. -
On the post: Will Kids Change Their Names As They Become Adults To Hide From Their Google Permanent Record?
slacker525600 ( profile ), 18 Aug, 2010 @ 12:59pmI pretty sure this is just Eric Schmidt pushing his agenda
most of his recent public comments have been along the lines of, "Everybody should be ready for the death of anonymity on the internet."
Im main concern is if this is a bellweather that something is being planned for a push through congress. Otherwise tech will allow people to remain anon.
I think his point is that society will let anything people do as youths slide. his comment is that upon reaching adulthood people will be able to change their name in order to virtually expunge their records.
I highly doubt this will become a real practice however, because people will want to carry over positive aspects of their childhood and not carry negatives.
I also was just reading http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/magazine/22Adulthood-t.html and am interested what age would make the most sense for this option. as the article goes on a rant about adulthood and what that means, 16 to drive, 18 to vote/drafted, 21 to drink, 25 to rent a car... where does your record no longer have the right to be cleared to save you from yourself, how old is old enough to know better.
And, I completely agree that people growing up with the tech will know better than the older generations how to handle this. And I personally believe that acceptance of minor transgressions and honest approaches will be the methodology. -
On the post: UK Supermarket Starts Making Its Own Movies
slacker525600 ( profile ), 11 Aug, 2010 @ 05:32amit would be interesting
if lots of these small shops started opening up, and then the most successful movies they produced were used as feeders into the big budget movie industry, with licensing agreements to help the small studios
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On the post: Appeals Court Rules Against Long Term Warrantless GPS Tracking Of Suspect; Sets Up Inevitable Supreme Court Case
slacker525600 ( profile ), 06 Aug, 2010 @ 05:47pmjust wondering
how do they justify using gps to track you on private property? I mean, the justification that the gps tracker is the same as following you around makes sense while you are in public, but say you go onto a large private property where they would be unable to follow you without a warrant, I cannot imagine that they deactivate the gps.
I also dont know what the legality is for satellite surveillance. seems like an unreasonable search to me, but I suppose its just a picture taken from a pretty high vantage point -
On the post: Which ISPs Hand Private Surfing Info Over To Secretive Private Group Who Monitors It For The Feds?
slacker525600 ( profile ), 03 Aug, 2010 @ 01:01pmall this seems really fishy to me
defcon people are known for pranking ...
project vigilent https://www.projectvigilant.us/securedrupal/ and bbhc global https://www.bbhc-global.com/securedrupal/ are stupid drupal sites that look like they took five minutes to set up badly, going against any legitimacy associated with some of the big names being thrown around as associates of the organization/s.
as well as lots of conflicting information being bandied about. details of the lamo case, length of existence (as well as other information) about project vigilant. I mean, maybe they have done a good job of being secretive, but going public at defcon you would assume the organization would have something ready to present to the public given the way internet backlash over privacy works. ... just saying -
On the post: Which ISPs Hand Private Surfing Info Over To Secretive Private Group Who Monitors It For The Feds?
slacker525600 ( profile ), 03 Aug, 2010 @ 01:00pmall this seems really fishy to me
defcon people are known for pranking ...
project vigilent https://www.projectvigilant.us/securedrupal/ and bbhc global https://www.bbhc-global.com/securedrupal/ are stupid drupal sites that look like they took five minutes to set up badly, going against any legitimacy associated with some of the big names being thrown around as associates of the organization/s.
as well as lots of conflicting information being bandied about. details of the lamo case, length of existence (as well as other information) about project vigilant. I mean, maybe they have done a good job of being secretive, but going public at defcon you would assume the organization would have something ready to present to the public given the way internet backlash over privacy works. ... just saying -
On the post: Funny How All The Senators Supporting Anti-FCC Bill, Have Raised Lots Of Money From AT&T
slacker525600 ( profile ), 23 Jul, 2010 @ 08:29amI fully support the patches idea
I think that people often forget that lobbyists are trying to protect their interests which often align with the interests of their employees, but I think the whole thing has gotten out of hand. having an easy to recognize system that doesnt require digging through spreadsheets for each politician would be nice. I mean, if we had more than two political parties I imagine they would end up clustering around various lobbying interests, but thats not going to happen the way our system is set up.
sorry got rambly there. I dont know what a perfect system would look like(it probably wouldnt involve patches), all I know is our current system is a bastardization of what it was intended to be. -
On the post: Trademark And Domain Names… Two Very Different Rulings From One Judge
slacker525600 ( profile ), 14 Jul, 2010 @ 03:44pmI think I understand the logic in some sense
Namely, the term e-anything, generically means the internet version of something, so eVisa could be confused as the internet's Visa. Or, I believe that confusion could be considered likely. The term eVisa seems to imply direct relation to the brand, in terms of how the prefix e is used in the parlance of our times. As for other uses of the word visa, almost any person looking to obtain a visa will be looking for a government website, so the use in commerce is not associated with the visa brand.
In the framing of buy-a-lexus, the trademark seems to be used as an identification of a real brand that could be resold. buy-a-blank could apply equally to a firsthand or second hand seller of a good. -
On the post: Amazon Acquires Woot; Woot CEO Pens Best Acquisition Letter Ever
slacker525600 ( profile ), 01 Jul, 2010 @ 05:28amwait...
the day after the sell themselves to amazon they are selling the kindle? lulz
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On the post: Research 2000 Sends Cease & Desist To FiveThirtyEight For Discussing DailyKos Concerns
slacker525600 ( profile ), 30 Jun, 2010 @ 09:32amI just like the progression on fivethirtyeight.
first reporting on the "investigation conducted by Grebner, Weissman and Weissman" which "confirms other oddities that [nate] had detected in Research 2000's polling"
followed by commentary "Although I expect to proceed fairly carefully with respect to Research 2000"
then after he is "sent a cease and desist demand by Howrey LLP, the lawfirm that Research 2000 has contracted"
he then follows up with some of his own statistical analysis where he finds that "None of these alternate hypothesis exactly speaks well for Research 2000, as all would imply significant departures from what we ordinarily think of as sound and scientific polling practice."
awesome. serves them right. -
On the post: New Ransomware Targets Porn Pirates, Makes Copyright Threats
slacker525600 ( profile ), 16 Apr, 2010 @ 05:58amthe primary difference I saw was that the malware wasnt collecting on the extortion, it was selling your credit card information to somebody else.
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On the post: School Spying Scandal Gets Even More Bizarre: Student In Question Was Disciplined For Eating Candy
slacker525600 ( profile ), 22 Feb, 2010 @ 11:55amRe: Re: if I own a computer and lend it to somebody to use
sorry for any confusion about what I meant to say due to haste.
My initial point, was that the privacy contingent of "warrantless wiretap" which is making it a constitutional question makes this case capable of setting precedent for technical issues of unauthorized remote enabling of hardware a serious crime. Potentially more serious than current internet legislation. And thus people who write trojans that capture information could be held to some new standard, based on this case which is being framed in a unique light due to circumstances.
my related points got merged together. the botnet point was simply there to illustrate that in my opinion people's expectation of privacy is too high when using computers in general. if there is a 25% chance that any computer (regardless of where you get it from) is insecure and open to unwanted influence from a nameless faceless entity on the internet why would you expect privacy from a computer lent to you?
My point as to checking the status of your computer was mildly understated. I do realize that activating the camera to detect anything isnt likely to give you much information, but if I was really that uptight about my computer's status I would probably just try and get as much info as I could, including but not limited to, any wifi networks available a snapshot of the webcam, any usage stats, a screenshot, various cached values on the computer, system settings, the clock settings, current ip address, various stats from various programs, ... my point being if you are being comprehensive and taking everything for your own sake, the webcam would just be lumped in as another data point, regardless of its actual utility.
As for the liability issue, I think this is an area of law that is currently lacking. Namely because being in possession of something seems a bit ill defined unless I missed some definitions somewhere. In an age when some devices are sold with spyware on them, and some companies install rootkits with their own products (for whatever asinine reasons) and when terms of use documents contain ridiculous terms about how the software can be used, I wonder what percentage of computers are not violating some law to some degree simply through accidental ineptitude. I'd laugh pretty hard if some botnet decided to download a single photo of kiddie porn to all the infected computers and then sent the FBI the list of IP addresses, because millions of people would be in possession of child porn, and would need to register as predators. Or at least thats my understanding of the laws at the present moment.
Laughing to myself at this point, but the internet is such a grey area in terms of applicable laws at this point, that I jokingly envision about multinational companies claiming that their employee laptops are actually owned by their foreign arms to prevent liability to constitutional matters for wiretapping. Sorry, I kid, but only kinda. -
On the post: School Spying Scandal Gets Even More Bizarre: Student In Question Was Disciplined For Eating Candy
slacker525600 ( profile ), 22 Feb, 2010 @ 09:24amif I own a computer and lend it to somebody to use
what are my rights?
All this coverage has pointed towards it being illegal to remotely enable features to check the status of the machine, but what if there is spyware on my machine that does the same thing but without my knowledge? Where would that liability fall? Is this going to be the next set of laws used to try and handicap internet profiteers?
I know that the constitutionality of the issue is at hand, with privacy and wiretapping laws being called in, but telling somebody who owns something that they cannot check the status of their property with a policy in place that lets users know this is possible seems reasonable to me, for some reason or another.
"It has been estimated that up to one quarter of all personal computers connected to the internet may be part of a botnet" taken from a random wiki article that cited it. But really, what expectation of privacy do people have when they use somebody else's pc? I personally dont have very much.
flame away, Im at work, so not spending the time to be eloquent or defend my point, just trying to bring up my thought and see if anybody is thinking along the same lines at all. -
On the post: New Music Format File Can Be Updated Remotely
slacker525600 ( profile ), 25 Jan, 2010 @ 05:13pmI think it would be cool if,
you buy a track, and then whenever the band plays live, you get the live version of the track, and people could rate the versions, and the ratings could be shared back through the service and you could end up listening to some really great live tracks. and maybe be encouraged to see a live show.
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On the post: Netflix Exec Claims That Delaying Movie Rentals For A Month Benefits Customers
slacker525600 ( profile ), 21 Jan, 2010 @ 09:41amjust trying to wrap my head around this.
Is he saying that streaming will be available same day as the dvds? Because, if the options for netflix in negotiations were no streaming with dvds available asap, or streaming and dvds 28 days later, then I understand the argument that this could better serve customers(not that it does, that it could).
I understand that there will be some customers who are adversely effected by this decision, but with the infinite availability on the 28th day, isn't that a better economic option than having a limit based on a physical good.
To really dig into it, you would need to know a lot of information about how netflix deals with inventory and purchasing decisions.
The negative in this equation is all the people who would have received the dvd in the first 28 days, and any added delay associated with those 28 days. But, the positives, include the infinite good of streaming, the reduced demand for the physical dvd due to the availability of streaming, and anything that netflix gains as a result of reducing costs of distribution via streaming versus mailing of dvds. -
On the post: Another Court Finds 'Browserwrap' Terms Are Enforceable
slacker525600 ( profile ), 08 Jan, 2010 @ 05:24amwhat about ...
what about all the sites that have user terms of service that reserve the right to change at any time without notifying the user? How is that possibly legal or enforceable?
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On the post: Can You Copyright An SQL Query?
slacker525600 ( profile ), 07 Dec, 2009 @ 01:54pmI wasnt going to comment, but
a few things.
First off, I know I shouldnt feed the trolls, but "every known possible query" is an infinite set. Thats computation theory, SQL is a language, its capable of doing a lot (or at least all the real world implementations of it).
Secondly. "is the equivalent of a SINGLE LINE of SQL code!" I havent seen any indication that this is one line of code. From the stack overflow comments it appeared that they IT guy was afraid to copy any of it based on the copyright notice. Ive seen data exports that take 5 seconds to write "select * from table_name" and Ive seen ones that take 100 hours, where the data needs to be formatted in some ridiculous manner, and there are massive tables of information and the database has been created without reasonable keys, just an example of minor things that could take time to overcome.
Basically the question I would ask comes down to is similar to an above post "Is a single SQL query sufficiently creative to be copyrighted? " but replacing the a with this. Is this query significantly complicated. In that post the point of "if a reasonbly competent DBA would come up with the same query" it shouldnt be copyrightable. But, anybody who has ever spent money on a database expert knows that their fees are generally ludicrous (although the real experts are fine tuning things based on oracle internals to shave off milliseconds in ridiculous ways).
Thirdly, this is most likely just a business decision. It is possible that the company spent more than 500 dollars of resources the first year trying to get this export working to the school's standards, and that the school refused to pay the overage charges, and as a way to recoup in subsequent years the company simply continued to bill 500 each year. I dont know, but I think this is entirely possible and it makes the actions less evil and more an attempt at getting back to even on the transaction. -
On the post: Why Is NY, Not The FTC Or DOJ, Filing Antitrust Claims Against Intel?
slacker525600 ( profile ), 05 Nov, 2009 @ 05:17amif you need one example
of intel's ability to effect progress in technology, just look at USB 3.0.
Everybody else on the planet has been pushing for its adoption, but since such and incredibly large portion of the market is based on intel chipsets, there is no support, and there will be no support until 2011.
Re: Re: Re: OK, I need to check out Minecraft
I havent played, it looks like an epic time sink. but dwarf fortress is the better analogy than doom. Every element in the game is breakable and movable. You start off the game with nothing, and need to create your own tools, and then combine and use materials in your inventory to do stuff. http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/9/17/
as for building a computer in a game, somebody did something similar in little big planet first http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiRgYBHoAoU although not quite as impressive as a general purpose logic unit.