Matt Polmanteer 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (20) comment rss

  • On the post: Reddit Plans To Black Out Site For A Day To Protest SOPA/PIPA

    Matt Polmanteer ( profile ), 11 Jan, 2012 @ 06:44am

    Pleasantly Surprised

    I didn't figure any of the bigger sites would actually do something like this because of the revenue they would lose and most don't want to hurt their bottom line. Hopefully Google and Facebook join because so many people wouldn't know what to do with their lives not having these so it would bring a lot of attention to it.

  • On the post: Interesting Timing: News Leaks That Justice Dept Is Investigating S&P Just After It Downgrades US?

    Matt Polmanteer ( profile ), 19 Aug, 2011 @ 05:57am

    Different Ratings

    I believe the issue they are looking into is the fact that S&P own analysts rated some of the CDO's to be lower but the business managers and higher ups over road them. They still gave the junk they were selling AAA. This is the problem when you are being payed by the very same people you are supposed to be rating especially when you have an incentive to give them higher ratings..

  • On the post: South Korea Wants To Mandate Everyone Must Install 'Security' Software To Prevent 'Zombies'

    Matt Polmanteer ( profile ), 24 Mar, 2011 @ 05:58am

    If you don't think that our governments would pull something like this you are crazy. The internet is to free and leading to more democratic society so they have to find someway to control it.

    http://www.kontraband.com/pics/19559/Sheep-Dog-Conspiracy/

  • On the post: AT&T Jumps Into The Metered Broadband Pool; 150 Gig Limit For DSL

    Matt Polmanteer ( profile ), 14 Mar, 2011 @ 12:34pm

    Competition

    Some competition would be really nice. I would love to ditch at&t but my only other option is Time Warner. I want a static ip and the only way to get one from Time Warner is to upgrade to business class which is twice the cost to get 1/3 of the speed. The worst part is I have an AT&T line running through my yard, why don't a I get some piece of their pie for giving them the rights to do this?

  • On the post: Intel Claims DRM'd Chip Is Not DRM, It's Just Copy Protection

    Matt Polmanteer ( profile ), 07 Jan, 2011 @ 12:56pm

    Haha

    I was just about to send this link over so everyone could get a good laugh. I was actually looking at building a new computer and was looking leaning towards Intel but now I'm going with AMD. Glad this came out now.

  • On the post: Why The Wikileaks Document Release Is Key To A Functioning Democracy

    Matt Polmanteer ( profile ), 01 Dec, 2010 @ 07:45am

    MSM

    Wikileaks is doing what our Media should be doing. They are supposed to be a check on the gov't to make sure its doing what gov't is supposed to. The more secretive a gov't is the less it serves the people! I trust the American people but only when they are informed. The problem is most people don't want to know which is why they are angry with wikileaks. Ignorance is Bliss!

  • On the post: The Fine Line Between Legitimate Think Tank And Industry Shills

    Matt Polmanteer ( profile ), 12 Nov, 2010 @ 06:21am

    Re:

    There is no other reason then we have terrified into believing anything the gov't does is socialism and that is a terrible terrible thing! What should really terrify them is these being private. The thought that the people running the jail actually stand to benefit from keeping you in jail is appalling. They don't care about justice they care about their next paycheck. The same is true for healthcare! Same goes for student loans that were gov't backed so the Banks received all the gains and didn't have to worry about losing anything. There are somethings that are just better off being run by the gov't for the benefit of all of us.

    I think this is all part of the bigger problem that our gov't is facing right now. Its all about the money! More and more the people that have their hand in the cookie jar are being cited as the word of God when it comes to issues regarding them. These "think tank" hacks have the answers they want and are trying to fit the data to that. The sad thing is this is the same in all parts of policy right now. Look no further than ACTA or whats happening with energy policy!

  • On the post: Verizon Wireless Fined $25 Million For Bogus Fees… But May Have Still Made Out Profitably

    Matt Polmanteer ( profile ), 29 Oct, 2010 @ 07:51am

    Re: Flawed math

    I can see your point with the numbers but it could also be possible that the number was higher. My question is why do they get to set a limit on how much they will refund. Look at the $50 million if the charge was $2/month that means this charge would have to have been applied 25 million times. Now lets say only 20% of people DON'T check their bill which would be 3 million. I'm pretty confident in reality this is much higher. If these people had the charges put on for 8.3 months we are at the $50 million mark. It's my assumption that the reason your fee didn't appear every month was because you called and complained. Which having this mystery fee show up once is understandable but 2-3 times a year seems a little fishy. If you look at the Maximum refund of $90 million it would only have to be on these peoples bill for 15 months. The Maximum that they are going to be forced to pay is $115 million when the maximum money they could have taken if everyone paid the fee for 3 years would be $1.08 Billion.

    Now I know I'm making a lot of assumptions and don't have actual numbers but It's pretty easy to see that it wouldn't take much for them to still have made a nice profit from scamming customers.

  • On the post: Verizon Wireless Fined $25 Million For Bogus Fees… But May Have Still Made Out Profitably

    Matt Polmanteer ( profile ), 29 Oct, 2010 @ 06:04am

    Corporate Welfare

    And this is now how our system works. If your going to rip people off you just have to do it big enough. Average Americans would be charged with fraud and placed in jail where as a big corporation gets a slap on the wrist for a fraction of the money stolen. This is hardly anything new for the american corporate world.

  • On the post: British Air Boss Points Out That Removing Your Shoes At Airport Security Is Silly

    Matt Polmanteer ( profile ), 28 Oct, 2010 @ 12:11pm

    Security

    I recently was first hand witness to how worthless these security checks actually are. I went through security no problems and then I got to my gate and their wasn't anyone at the gate and my flight was delayed. I decided to go back out and went to the check-in counter to change planes. This time when I went back through security they pulled my bag off to the side and throughly searched it because apparently my power cord must have shifted and looked menacing now.

  • On the post: Everyone Has Something To Hide: Why Privacy Is Important Even If 'You've Done Nothing Wrong'

    Matt Polmanteer ( profile ), 05 Aug, 2010 @ 04:50am

    Stupid Argument

    Here is a great example of why the "If you haven't done anything wrong you have nothing to worry about" is crap. This video explains why you should never talk to police and how even if its true you didn't do anything your still guilty.


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wXkI4t7nuc

  • On the post: Wikileaks Afghan War Document Leak Again Raises Questions: Treason Or Whistleblowing?

    Matt Polmanteer ( profile ), 29 Jul, 2010 @ 07:20am

    When Good Men Do Nothing

    "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing"

    He didn't give away troop positions, he didn't give them military technology, he wasn't trying to aid an opposing force. He was simply bringing truth to the situation, which obviously nobody really wanted to hear especially our gov't. I know this is a tricky situation because we are at war, but I can't see this treasonous. If the gov't head been doing its job properly and in a transparent manner he wouldn't have needed to do this. Sometimes the truth hurts but it's time for the American people to start taking responsibility for what our gov't does in our name.

  • On the post: Funny How All The Senators Supporting Anti-FCC Bill, Have Raised Lots Of Money From AT&T

    Matt Polmanteer ( profile ), 23 Jul, 2010 @ 09:07am

    Keep Happening

    Until we get some public campaign financing laws this is going to keep happening for every thing our gov't does.

  • On the post: Get Ready For The Next Entertainment Industry 'Solution' To Content Distribution: Kinder, Gentler DRM

    Matt Polmanteer ( profile ), 21 Jul, 2010 @ 07:57am

    Lessons Learned

    Good to see they have learned their lesson. They are going to waste millions to be in the exact some place we are now. If you can play the media it can be reverse engineered and cracked. The problem with DRM is it is taking away options that already exist. They need to come up with a subscription/ad service thats easy and efficient for streaming movies, while allowing you to actually buy the video for a reasonable price. If I'm paying a subscription I shouldn't have to watch the damn ads during the actual movie. No $10-15 for a digital copy is not reasonable. Also the downloads need to be DRM free and let you do what you wish with it for personal use. Will this prevent all piracy absolutely not but neither will their new DRM system. At least this way you can develop a revenue stream from people who like the convenience. I guess on the bright side they are making it easier for the pirates because now they only have to crack one thing.

    Also what happens when their "token (authentication)" server isn't up? What happens if I want to watch the movie at some place that doesn't have the internet? What happens when some one develops an easier more efficient system for watching and searching for content? What happens when I want a smaller video format so I can load more files on my media player? What happens if I want to some of the video for fair use to make a mash-up or spoof?

  • On the post: Oh No! Run And Hide! Kids Getting High With MP3s! Moral Panic! Moral Panic!

    Matt Polmanteer ( profile ), 15 Jul, 2010 @ 11:10am

    Speechless

    Facepalm!

  • On the post: Best Buy Says Creator Of iPhone/Evo Video Can Keep His Job; Guy Says He'd Rather Not

    Matt Polmanteer ( profile ), 09 Jul, 2010 @ 07:12am

    T-Shirt

    He should start merchandising the crap out of this. I want a T-Shirt that has 2 characters that just says "It F$*&ing Prints Money"

  • On the post: Time Warner Expands Capped Broadband Plans

    Matt Polmanteer ( profile ), 03 Apr, 2009 @ 07:50am

    I'm Done

    Screw them I've already order my AT&T stuff. I can pay the same price, get the same speed, with no cap. Hopefully lots and lots of people switch to send them a message to go screw themselves.

  • On the post: Warner Music Sues Again!

    Matt Polmanteer ( profile ), 06 Feb, 2009 @ 12:04pm

    Righhhhhhht

    Haha You got Jokes.

  • On the post: NSA Whistleblower Claims US Journalists Were Regularly Spied On: Everything Collected

    Matt Polmanteer ( profile ), 22 Jan, 2009 @ 06:45am

    Security

    Have you learned nothing from history. It starts out as we are doing this for your safety then for some strange reason people who disagree start to disappearing. Whats the next section of the Bill of rights that we don't really need? I'm guessing you approve of the second amendment? You know if we took all the guns away from everyone but the military we would be much safer. Hahahaha.

    "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." ~Ben Franklin

  • On the post: Who Can Do The Best Job Of Computerizing Health Records?

    Matt Polmanteer ( profile ), 15 Jan, 2009 @ 06:24am

    Stay away from physicans

    I currently program Electronic Medical Records for the company I work for and we have to submit to certain societies that have been created by groups of Physicians. I can tell you right now they have no clue about databases and the actual people entering in the data. And I hate to say it but many of them have the God complex which means they are unwilling to compromise and learn because they already know it all. You need Tech people, data entry people, and Nurses.