Benjo 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (143) comment rss

  • On the post: Top Venture Capitalists Demand Real Patent Reform, Put To Rest Myth That VCs Love Patents

    Benjo ( profile ), 15 Nov, 2013 @ 11:54am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Yeah, patents protecting poor inventors WOULD hinder Rich VCs...

    Just an FYI,

    Your posts being reported and collapsed is NOT censorship, even if you like to complain about it and act the martyr. To be completely honest I'm probably just as likely if not more likely to read collapsed posts because I am usually curious why people reported it.

    Censorship would be Mike or another moderator removing your posts from the site, which he has never done (as far as I know).

    Finally, it is entirely possible to have good points and fail to convince anybody of it. If you don't think this applies to you, or you don't care, just keep doing what you are doing.

  • On the post: 15 Year Old Student Commits Suicide One Week After Arrest For Streaking During Football Game

    Benjo ( profile ), 09 Oct, 2013 @ 11:07am

    Re: Re: Any one know if he was on any medications

    You sound like you are saying society owes nothing to children and people who are mentally unstable. Or that people with mental health issues only have themselves to blame if they kill themselves.

    Either way, I don't agree at all. Mental health problems are diseases. In this specific instance I don't believe we know enough to lay the blame at anyone's feet.

  • On the post: More Sanctions Issued Against Team Prenda

    Benjo ( profile ), 22 Jul, 2013 @ 05:25pm

    Re:

    You seem to be getting worse and worse and derailing conversations.

    Great job making it through the Great Firewall of Mike though.

  • On the post: More Sanctions Issued Against Team Prenda

    Benjo ( profile ), 22 Jul, 2013 @ 03:52pm

    Re: I'd like to know whether they aren't still WAY ahead, though!

    The shakedown is a pretty tried and tested form of extortion, and I'm sure it would pay if they got away with it (I'm also sure there are many that ARE getting away with it).

  • On the post: ACLU Presents Its Findings On License Plate Scanners, Most Of Which Is Bad News

    Benjo ( profile ), 18 Jul, 2013 @ 09:47am

    Another problem is

    how this makes police officers more prone to laziness and acting on bias/prejudice/personal grudge. This is essentially a low-cost (relatively) location tracking system on the entire public.

    I think I could be OK with it under a few conditions, none of which would make it any less useful for real police work:

    a) No database queries without some type of warrant. You could extend this to be some type of location based warrant for crimes happening in an area without suspects (even this has the potential for abuse)

    b) Logging of all database queries. This would hopefully prevent abuse and create a "paper trail" for law enforcement that are misusing the information

    I'm sure this will never happen, and we'll end up living in more and more of a police state. It's honestly not the MOST disturbing news I've heard recently, which makes it all the more disturbing.

  • On the post: Why James Clapper Should Be Impeached For Lying To Congress

    Benjo ( profile ), 11 Jun, 2013 @ 11:10am

    Re: Fine to focus on ONE! But there's NO shortage of conspirators.

    Nobody is required to use Google's services. The NSA is not a corporation, and as far as I know Google has never lied to a Congressional Committee.

    There is no opting out of the NSA's surveillance other than by not using the internet or a phone. You don't see a difference?

  • On the post: Clapper: I Gave 'The Least Untruthful Answer' To Wyden's 'Beating Your Wife' Question On Data Surveillance

    Benjo ( profile ), 10 Jun, 2013 @ 01:46pm

    4th amendment?

    All this surveillance seems unconstitutional, but I'll admit I have a very limited understanding of all the laws and divisions of government involved.

  • On the post: Comcast's Top Lobbyist Pens Editorial To Remind Americans That US Broadband Service Is Awesome

    Benjo ( profile ), 06 Jun, 2013 @ 09:47pm

    Re: Re:

    1024 kB = 1 MB
    20480 = 20MB
    20480KB / (128KB/SEC) = 160 S
    = 2 minutes 40 seconds

    in 30 minutes you could download 225MB

  • On the post: Comcast's Top Lobbyist Pens Editorial To Remind Americans That US Broadband Service Is Awesome

    Benjo ( profile ), 05 Jun, 2013 @ 08:37am

    Re: One thing to note about Google Fiber Optics..

    As an embedded engineer that works specifically in fiber optics, this sounds very wrong. I can't imagine how Google could measure impedance downstream from your modem (maybe from THEIR modem?), but they definitely couldn't measure downstream from a switch or router.

    I can't tell if you are intentionally being misleading since you've posted the same nonsense everywhere, or if you actually believe what you are typing.

  • On the post: Jaron Lanier's Ignorance Of History, Basic Economics And Efficiency Is Getting Ridiculous

    Benjo ( profile ), 29 May, 2013 @ 09:22am

    Kickstarter numbers

    "In fact, as I was finishing up this post, I saw the news that Kickstarter had now surpassed 100,000 projects, 44% of which got funded to the tune of $535 million."

    Any idea on how many of those projects were music related? I thought the arts projects had raised far less money than the technology projects. It's kind of the nature of the platform, since to get funding for a tech project you usually need a semi functional prototype.

    Music and film is a little bit harder, but I definitely believe Kickstarter has only been beneficial to artists.

  • On the post: Once More With Feeling: Paid Software Doesn't Mean A Company Treats You Any Better Than Free Software

    Benjo ( profile ), 19 Dec, 2012 @ 04:44pm

    Re: What I pay for

    To a lot of people this sounds like what you are paying for is "better service." In this case better means "without tracking and advertising."

    imho

  • On the post: FCC Boss Tired Of Having To Put His iPad Away For Takeoff, Tells FAA To Fix It

    Benjo ( profile ), 11 Dec, 2012 @ 05:05pm

    Re: Ignorance is bliss.....

    You might work in the "Aviation Industry" but you don't know anything about physics or engineering. Don't pretend to.

  • On the post: FCC Boss Tired Of Having To Put His iPad Away For Takeoff, Tells FAA To Fix It

    Benjo ( profile ), 11 Dec, 2012 @ 05:01pm

    Re: Re: Re: Ignorance is bliss.....

    I'm an embedded engineer, and this what you are saying is completely non-relevant. RF noise generated by processor/IC noise is absolutely negligible when compared to noise generated by Wifi and other antennas, which happen to operate at different band frequencies than those used by commercial airplanes (I would imagine, barring awful design decisions).

  • On the post: Icelandic Citizens Support Crowdsourced Constitution

    Benjo ( profile ), 23 Oct, 2012 @ 09:12am

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Actually, Obama blew out McCain. > 7% of the popular vote and almost 200 electoral votes. One of the more lopsided elections in recent history (about the same as the amount Clinton won by)

  • On the post: Once Again Apple Uses Image It Didn't License: This Time Photographer Sues

    Benjo ( profile ), 17 Oct, 2012 @ 08:20am

    Re: Apple Going Downhill

    "Also, you can use HTML code to prevent your photographic works from being used as public domain."

    What does this even mean? Sounds like you are talking about HTML-based photograph DRM, which I can assure you either a) does not exists, b) does not work

  • On the post: If Patents Had Been Around In The Time Of Newton

    Benjo ( profile ), 12 Oct, 2012 @ 11:49am

    Re: Of course it misses completely

    Alright, you almost sound ready to make concessions so I'll ask you:

    Do you think patents (and their duration's) are more appropriate in some industries than others? You jump to talking about the pharmaceutical industry but do you think new smartphones and tablets would stop appearing if we no longer allowed patents on software and aesthetic design (x inch rectangular tablet with rounded edges)?

  • On the post: MPAA & RIAA: If People Can Sell Foreign Purchased Content Without Paying Us Again, US Economy May Collapse

    Benjo ( profile ), 20 Sep, 2012 @ 03:29pm

    Re: Re: Re:

    Piracy and knock off drugs.

  • On the post: Eleven Year Old Kid Shows That Modern Airport Security Is Not As Secure A You Think

    Benjo ( profile ), 27 Aug, 2012 @ 04:16pm

    Re: Stuff can get past the luggage screeners

    I got through SFO all the way on to my plane back to Seattle with somebody else's boarding pass once. When I pointed out that I had someone elses boarding pass they freaked out and treated me like a criminal.

  • On the post: RIAA Lobbyist-Turned-Judge: ISPs Deserve Copyright Trolls For Not Stopping Infringement

    Benjo ( profile ), 24 Aug, 2012 @ 11:28am

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Even if its a shill trying to derail your conversation and the entire topic by making fallacy filled arguments?

  • On the post: RIAA Lobbyist-Turned-Judge: ISPs Deserve Copyright Trolls For Not Stopping Infringement

    Benjo ( profile ), 24 Aug, 2012 @ 11:25am

    Re: Re: Re:

    In fact I'd almost say that flagging/reporting without removing the post brings more attention to the comment then it would receive normally, as they are clearly distinctive and stand out.

    It's almost like flagging it brings it to the top of search results, so your auto-complete comparison is IN MY OPINION flawed.

    And now I'll stop before anyone points out how I'm being swept in to an argument with a likely troll. There's no argument like no argument.

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