TechNoFear 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (133) comment rss

  • On the post: Congress Looks To Extend Safe Harbors To Service Providers Hit By Foreign Rulings

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 18 Jun, 2009 @ 09:45pm

    These lawsuits are about damage to your reputation.


    Consider the case of Dow Jones v J Gutnik. Gutnik has a reputation in Australia but not much of one in the US.

    Seems reasonable that he would sue in Australia, where his reputation was most damaged.

    Seems unreasonable that a company can profit by destroying his reputation untruthfully, but have no liability simply because the company is registered in the US.

  • On the post: RCN Increases Rates, Says You'll Have To Pay A Fee To Downgrade

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 23 Apr, 2009 @ 09:29pm

    Taking Lessons from Telstra

    Looks like US telecoms have been taking lessons from Australia's Telstra.

    Probably after talking to Sol Trujillo and his Amigos (now he has taken the Au$3 mill golden handshake to go away).

    Make the user sign up for 12 to 24 months contracts and have to pay a huge fee to cancel.

    On entry level plans put a 300Mb/month cap (up + down) and charge Au$150 / Gb extra.

    Then exclude Telstra 'pay to use' content from the quota to encourage use of Telstra's expensive walled garden.

    This catches out new to broadband users and leaves them with no way out.

    Telstra also refused to fix faults on copper lines and installs 'pair gain' systems (on which only Telstra can supply access) to ensure it maintains a customer base.

  • On the post: School Shooting In Germany Immediately Leads To Calls To Ban Violent Video Games

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 12 Mar, 2009 @ 08:34pm

    Ban GUNS not GAMES

    Why is it that after these incidents the most vocal crowd asks for games to be banned, not GUNS?

    Without the guns this would not have been any where near as horrific, no matter how violent (if at all) playing a game had made the shooter.

    I suppose it is because the game critics are scared the gun nuts might get violent if you try to disarm them...

  • On the post: SMS Alerts Over Credit Card Transactions? Patented! Visa Sued

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 03 Mar, 2009 @ 09:51pm

    Prior Art, I have some....

    I was involved in creating an SMS system to alert online share traders of activity on their account in real time, including that a conditional trade requirement had been met.

    We finished this in 2004 and it has been in production ever since.

  • On the post: Frontier DSL Stands By Its Caps… Even As It Decreases Broadband Speeds

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 17 Feb, 2009 @ 11:50pm

    Welcome to Australian Broadband!

    I think Techdirt misses the point....

    How can you make a walled garden, ie encourage your customers to consume your content/ads in preference to the general content?

    Easy. Charge them to download other content, except your own by creating 'free' to download zones.

  • On the post: German Court Allows Frank Zappa Festival To Continue, Despite Protests From Zappa's Wife

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 28 Jan, 2009 @ 07:06pm

    Spend a few hours on the tower of power...

    You can't write a chord ugly enough to say what you want sometimes, so you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream.
    - Frank Zappa

  • On the post: Mixed Messages From Sprint On EVDO Bandwidth

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 09 Nov, 2008 @ 09:44pm

    Aussie Telstra started this years ago...

    Telstra in Australia has 'broadband' plans starting at 400Mb and excess useage up to Au$500 / Gb for ADSL!

    Telstra also charges for uploads.

    Telstra offers a movie download service, crippled with DRM (so the movie can not be played after 48 hours). Telstra also offers sporting event through the major (only) pay TV company.

    These do not count towards your limit.

    This way Telstra has created the true walled internet garden, only dreamed of by other ISPs.

    Add to this that Telstra owns the only copper network in Australia (and will refuse to connect/repair/install at a whim).

    See the problem?

  • On the post: Thailand Overreacts; Bans Grand Theft Auto Due To Stupid Kid

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 06 Aug, 2008 @ 12:36am

    Thai politicians

    Like most countries this is about politicians LOOKING like they are doing something worthwhile but not upsetting anyone important.

    I spend a few weeks in Thailand each year visiting my sister.

    Most Thai's do not have (powerful) PCs and use internet gaming cafes. GTA disks could be bought in most shopping centers for about 100 THB (~US$3).

    Don't blame the Thais. Thailand is the country where the military leaders went to the king to ask permission to stage a coup. With the king's OK the coup succeeded with no shots fired.

  • On the post: Bandwidth Caps Keep Getting Lower And Lower

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 31 Jul, 2008 @ 01:14am

    Welcome to the Australian broadband experience, where an extra GB can cost up to Au$300.

    Some 'broadband' plans are 256Kbit/sec with 300Mb, counting uploads and downloads.

  • On the post: Australia Tells eBay It Can't Require Auction Users Only Use PayPal

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 12 Jun, 2008 @ 11:14pm

    Market Power

    Mike >

    As Australia has less than 10% the population of the US we have very little market power to leverage against these companies.
    Many online companies bluff us out. The companies know we have little choice (isolation and market share) and take advantage of Australian consumers.

    I am glad an Australian government body enforces the local laws, especially when they defend the Australian consumer against a multinational.

    I think Australians would have much less trouble with these type of issues if the US government protected the US consumer as well as the ACCC does us.

  • On the post: Will Patent Battles Make Your Computer Less Secure?

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 13 Feb, 2008 @ 12:04am

    Popularity does indirectly correlate to susceptibi

    “Moreover, as all competent security people know, there is no correlation between popularity and susceptibility.”

    We also know that as the popularity of an OS increases so does the amount of malware that targets it.

    Much of the reason many OSs are considered ‘safe’ is that no one bothers to investigate / create attack methods for them.

    If these ‘secure’ OSs had the same market share (== probability of finding a target fro your malware) as Windows then they would have many more security vulnerabilities exposed.

    Why spend time creating malware that attacks

  • On the post: Will Patent Battles Make Your Computer Less Secure?

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 13 Feb, 2008 @ 12:02am

    Popularity does indirectly correlate to susceptibi

    “Moreover, as all competent security people know, there is no correlation between popularity and susceptibility.”

    We also know that as the popularity of an OS increases so does the amount of malware that targets it.

    Much of the reason many OSs are considered ‘safe’ is that no one bothers to investigate / create attack methods for them.

    If these ‘secure’ OSs had the same market share (== probability of finding a target fro your malware) as Windows then they would have many more security vulnerabilities exposed.

    Why spend time creating malware that attacks

  • On the post: Time Warner's Overage Caps May Be Set Very Low

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 21 Jan, 2008 @ 08:57pm

    Australia has metered Broadband

    I think you should look at Australia for the amount of data and excess charges you will have to eventually pay.

    50Gb per month is considered HUGE. Excess rates range from Au$5.50 to over Au$150 / Gb.

    Some companies also charge for uploads as well as downloads.

    http://bc.whirlpool.net.au/bc-plan.cfm

  • On the post: Time Warner Cable Experimenting With Overage Charges For Top Users

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 21 Jan, 2008 @ 12:24am

    All Aussie broadband is metered...

    In Australia all broadband is metered. There is no such thing here as a true 'unlimited' broadband account.

    Some companies charge for both up/down, most just down.

    When you hit the limit you can be charged (up to $150/Gb) or 'shaped', reduced to (usually) 64Kbs.

    For Au$40/month I get ADSL2+ ['up to' 20Mbs / 1.5Mbs] and 7Gb peak [12noon to 2 am] + 12Gb off peak [2am to 12 noon].

    You can halve the price if you want less download / bandwidth.

    Seems reasonable that big users of content/bandwidth pay more than small users......

  • On the post: Australia To Test Cars That Won't Let You Speed

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 10 Jan, 2008 @ 08:40pm

    Cut off the last post...

    Fines are;
    5-9Kmh (~5m) costs Au$75.
    10-19Kmh (~10m) costs Au$150.

  • On the post: Australia To Test Cars That Won't Let You Speed

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 10 Jan, 2008 @ 08:38pm

    Australia has HUGE fines for speeding

    Ummm… speed camera revenue is VERY high in Australia.

    Western Australia is four times the size of Texas with a population of ~2 million. You can leave the capital (Perth) and drive at 110Kmh for 24 hours and not leave the state!

    Not many police around, much more likely to encounter a large (2m) Kangaroo or Emu (>1.5m) on the roads here.

    The police have many mobile speed radar cameras, 'multinovas'. These cameras are set to record anyone exceeding the speed limit by 5Kmh.

    Fines are

  • On the post: Yet Another Keyword Advertising Suit… And Yet Another Ruling That Keyword Ads Don't Violate Trademarks

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 06 Jan, 2008 @ 08:07pm

    Google does not seem to filter their advertisers.
    I play a mmo where it is against the EULA / TOS to buy/sell in game items or accounts.

    If I run a google search, the paid ads are for sites that illegally sell items. As these sites send massive amounts of in-game spam, I would like to see them restricted.

    Hard when google links to them...

    As an aside, one of our staff did a goggle search, clicked one of the paid ads, only to get a drive-by download of a nasty trojan.

    I think google could be a tad more diligent in whom it makes profit from (advertisers).

    I for one will NEVER again click a google paid advert, nor will anyone in my office.

    That is the imapct of google's lack of diligence.

  • On the post: Driver Blames GPS For Driving On Railroad Tracks, Getting Hit By Train

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 06 Jan, 2008 @ 05:59pm

    Automated Trains

    'There are limits to everything, except stupidity...'

    I am working to automate iron ore trains, the longest (>3.5Km) and heaviest (>50K tonnes) trains in the world.

    Luckily they are out in the middle of nowhere, at least a 24 hour drive from the nearest city.

    They take over 2Km to stop from 80Kmh.

    If one runs you over, it will not notice or stop.....

  • On the post: Kaspersky Decides Windows Explorer Is A Virus

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 24 Dec, 2007 @ 07:09pm

    Not only Kaspersky...

    My home PC has a free version of AVG (so can't complain about the value...).

    Last week AVG decided an exe used by MS Visual Studio 2003 (to build resource files for WIN32 apps) was a trojan.

    Even the DVD (made before the trojan) was infected.

    Patched very quickly though.

    Just took me a while to understand why my apps no longer built.

  • On the post: Bad Ideas: Trying To Build A Marketplace Of Virtual Goods

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 19 Dec, 2007 @ 12:00am

    Duping

    @Colg

    Most game companies do not advertise the exploits. Many ban accounts even mentioning them.

    WOW had a gold dupe bug.
    Turbine's games have all suffered from a dupe bugs, (search utube for examples).

    Point being that there was no (real) money in creating these items, compared to the time and cost.

    Will this new site create the incentive to hack these games?
    What kind of effect will that have on the players?

Next >>