Dave Cortright 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (71) comment rss

  • On the post: There Is No 'Going Dark' Problem

    Dave Cortright ( profile ), 19 Jun, 2017 @ 11:32am

    Sounds like an "unreasonable search and seizure" to me

    IANAL but at some point a defense attorney is going to make the case that the evidence gathered was due to a violation of the 4th Amendment. And I think they have a good chance of winning. But it might require a lot of different cases and appeals before that happens. Arc of justice is long and all.

  • On the post: NCAA Forces UCF Football Player To Choose Between His Athletic Career And His YouTube Channel

    Dave Cortright ( profile ), 15 Jun, 2017 @ 04:29pm

    Re: Solution: don't run the channel himself

    I was going to offer to run the channel for him. Might be an even stronger case if it were some unaffiliated fan doing it over whom he has no control. But sure, a family member could do it. Even better if they are using an account based out of Costa Rica, outside the purview of US entities.

  • On the post: DHS, TSA To Make Boarding A Plane Even More Of A Pain In The Ass

    Dave Cortright ( profile ), 30 May, 2017 @ 11:41am

    Separating data from electronics

    The confluence of all these organizations coming at electronics devices (TSA, ICE, and yes even the airlines) is just going to push people who care about their data to store all the sensitive stuff on removable media. 256GB and 512GB cards are $1/GB or cheaper now. Make sure they are encrypted and carry them through the metal detector in your pocket. They aren't big enough to set it off.

  • On the post: Texas Court Orders Sports Streaming Sites To Be Blocked In Anticipation Of Piracy

    Dave Cortright ( profile ), 18 May, 2017 @ 10:04am

    IANAL so help me understand...

    There is a clear problem here. I get due process, but this is a situation where the legal system cannot act quickly enough to shut down a real time infringement. Sure, they can punish after. Is there a way to notify previous infringers and thus any future infractions would be considered willful or even contempt of court and carry higher penalties?

    I can see both sides. Just wondering where folks thinks the middle ground compromise is...

  • On the post: Leaked NSA Hacking Tool On Global Ransomware Rampage

    Dave Cortright ( profile ), 13 May, 2017 @ 08:59am

    The time lime of events is an important point

    Microsoft ended support for Windows XP on April 8, 2014. My brief search didn't turn up an estimate of when the NSA developed ETERNALBLUE, but given the age of some of the other leaks, I'm betting it would have been before the XP EOL. So basically the NSA *ensured* that XP would always be vulnerable by withholding this information from Microsoft. Assholes.

  • On the post: Response To Facebook Video Of Murder Is The Call For An Actual 'Godwin's Law'

    Dave Cortright ( profile ), 28 Apr, 2017 @ 07:27am

    Re: The analogy expose the insanity

    Bah, posted late at night without proofreading. Should be "...personal responsibility of the murderer."

  • On the post: Response To Facebook Video Of Murder Is The Call For An Actual 'Godwin's Law'

    Dave Cortright ( profile ), 28 Apr, 2017 @ 12:14am

    The analogy expose the insanity

    A couple of months ago, a drunk driver plowed a Chevy Silverado pickup truck through a crowd in New Orleans injuring 28 people. Now take a look at the media coverage of that. It was always "his vehicle" or "gray pickup truck". No press reported that it was a Chevy Silverado, unless they were quoting an eyewitness. Why is that? And why isn't Chevy not doing more to prevent people who use their products from doing grave harm to others?

    If this story were treated the same way, a video of a murder would have been published on an unnamed "internet social networking web site". And the stories would focus on the personal responsibility of the driver.

  • On the post: That Story About Uber Tracking People After They Deleted The App? Yeah, That's Not Really Accurate

    Dave Cortright ( profile ), 25 Apr, 2017 @ 01:47pm

    I am outraged and will never use Uber again!

    Until the next time I need a cheap, fast and convenient ride.

  • On the post: No, The Wall St. Bull Sculptor Doesn't 'Have A Point'

    Dave Cortright ( profile ), 18 Apr, 2017 @ 11:53am

    These artworks are in a PUBLIC area!

    Leigh made a point in a comment c212 that is worth re-emphasizing. If you release your work into a public space, it is ludicrous to expect that you can control how others choose to use that space. If he wanted to control the space, he should have rented or bought the location where the artwork was placed.

    As it is, the public would be well within its rights to move the statue to another, different public space—say, the bottom of the Hudson River.

    But you know what would be even better? Removing every part of the statue, but leave the asshole. I think that would be appropriate given the actions of the creator.

  • On the post: 'Just Use A VPN' Isn't A Real Solution To The GOP's Decision To Kill Broadband Privacy Protections

    Dave Cortright ( profile ), 29 Mar, 2017 @ 09:37am

    The title is misleading; it's not black or white

    Maybe VPN isn't a full solution to the problem, but it certainly is better than doing nothing. I mean, obviously switch to one of the ISPs on this list if you can. But barring that, yes a VPN is going to help you out. And yes it's an extra expense, but again, what's the alternative? Do nothing and let the ISPs have their way with your privacy.

    Regarding ease of use, I see it as a market opportunity. If VPN services are willing to take out full page ads, they could also spend money on creating and supporting a dedicated VPN router for their customers.

  • On the post: Consumer Broadband Privacy Protections Are Dead

    Dave Cortright ( profile ), 28 Mar, 2017 @ 04:24pm

    Great feature differentiator for the better ISPs and VPN providers

    Now I get it, not everyone has access to the better ISPs out there—like the ones that signed that EFF letter. But for those that do, what a great marketing opportunity. We won't collect and sell your data. If I weren't already using Sonic.net, I would absolutely switch.

    The other people who could benefit are the VPN providers. If I were stuck with Comcast, AT&T or one of the other most-hated companies, I'd sign up for a solid VPN service and invest in a router that supports VPN. Again, I get it. Not everyone is tech savvy enough to pull this off. But if a VPN provider would ship out and support a router that was configured to always use their VPN, well that would be the kind of service that certain folks would pay for.

  • On the post: Confidence Wavers In Google Fiber As ISP Cancels Installs, Refuses To Explain Why

    Dave Cortright ( profile ), 23 Mar, 2017 @ 08:21pm

    WebPass is part of Google Fiber

    I just signed up for WebPass in San Francisco, which is now owned by Google Fiber, as per their logo. They do wireless for the last mile. It required mounting an antenna on the roof. (Actually we piggybacked on another tenent in the building who paid for the antenna installation.) Looks like they are in 7 metro areas now. Admittedly I haven't followed the story closely, but this looks like a pretty big part of a pivot to wireless.

  • On the post: Congress Just Voted To Kill Consumer Broadband Privacy Protections

    Dave Cortright ( profile ), 23 Mar, 2017 @ 01:21pm

    Get a VPN and install it on your router

    I personally have an ISP that I trust. But even still I have a router that I have configured to always use an encrypted VPN connection for all of my traffic. I recommend everyone do the same. For example:
    https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/pages/client-support/tomato-vpn

  • On the post: California Police Department Can't Keep It Real; Deploys Fake Press Releases And Fake Affidavits

    Dave Cortright ( profile ), 23 Mar, 2017 @ 07:54am

    IANAL...

    But I would certainly talk to a lawyer about civil action based on the14th Amendement, 18 U.S. Code § 242, undue influence (coercion), abuse of process, and fraud among others.

  • On the post: Third Circuit Appeals Court Says All Writs Orders Can Be Used To Compel Passwords For Decryption

    Dave Cortright ( profile ), 22 Mar, 2017 @ 12:53pm

    More evidence that we all need duress passwords

    Please please PLEASE tech companies, provide me the ability to set a duress password that will unlock the device without decrypting my real data. It's the next logical step.

  • On the post: Trump Issues Executive Orders To Make A Safe Nation Safe And Protect Cops Who Don't Need Protection

    Dave Cortright ( profile ), 10 Feb, 2017 @ 01:48pm

    Laws are to Citizens as Regulations are to Corporations

    The hypocrisy here is so obvious as to be laughable. According to Trump, we need more laws to further constrain and punish the citizens, but corporate regulations must be reduced, as per his "2 for 1" order.

  • On the post: GOP Senate Streisands Elizabeth Warren And Coretta King In Attempt To Silence Her

    Dave Cortright ( profile ), 08 Feb, 2017 @ 12:10pm

    What was McConnell thinking?

    "McConnell has a well-earned reputation as one of the savviest political operators of the post-war era, so it’s hard to imagine he didn’t know how his move would play."

    I agree with this. But then again he is human, maybe he whiffed on this one completely. But seriously, now Warren is being compared with every single civil rights heroine out there. If he has some ulterior plan, it is certainly very subtle.

  • On the post: New FCC Boss Kills Zero Rating Inquiry, Signals Death Of Net Neutrality Enforcement

    Dave Cortright ( profile ), 06 Feb, 2017 @ 11:33am

    Vote with your ISP dollars

    I'll state up front that this isn't possible in many areas of the country. However here in the SF Bay Area we thankfully have several ISP options that don't engage in what John Oliver called "ISP fuckery". I personally use Sonic, but MonkeyBrains and WebPass are also worthy options.

    I know you are a news site and not necessarily an advocacy platform, but you did do advocacy for SOPA. Maybe this is another issue worthy of giving your readers a call to action.

  • On the post: Not Only Is Steve Bannon Sitting In On National Security Meetings, The Usual Paper Trail Is Disappearing

    Dave Cortright ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2017 @ 01:59pm

    Re: Trump is fuzz testing our political system

    The Judicial branch at least has shown willingness to stand up to him, even if Congress doesn't.

    And at some point I have to believe that even the Republicans have a line in the sand he's going to cross. Let hope the damage done by then isn't too much.

  • On the post: Not Only Is Steve Bannon Sitting In On National Security Meetings, The Usual Paper Trail Is Disappearing

    Dave Cortright ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2017 @ 12:50pm

    Trump is fuzz testing our political system

    I know from one perspective this looks like a complete disaster. But from another, isn't it a good thing that we have someone testing the bounds of what is allowable and what isn't? And if things were done a certain way simply by convention rather than the rule of law, this is a perfect time for Congress to start passing some laws that codify these practices.

    The shock here shouldn't be that Trump is doing things a different way for his own selfish advantage. The shock is that we don't have a system in place to prevent it from happening. Our job now is to fix that.

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