PT 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: John Mellencamp: Thou Shalt Not Permit The Internet To Derail Our Gravy Train

    PT ( profile ), 02 Nov, 2012 @ 11:18am

    Re:

    The guy who only had one or two hit records 10 or 50 years ago" is John Mellencamp

    Nah, couldn't have been John Mellencamp. He was talking about somebody well known, like maybe that Johnny Cougar. Whatever happened to him?

  • On the post: Richard Stallman: Legislate That Using Software On General Purpose Computers Is Not Infringing

    PT ( profile ), 02 Nov, 2012 @ 09:49am

    Re:

    I perceive you are the one who needs the explanation, AC.

    If I had invented a new material, I would demonstrate it to potential investors and patent examiners in the form of a raw sample, not a full size finished product.

  • On the post: FTC Declares Rachel From Cardholder Services 'Enemy Number 1'; Files Complaints Against Five Scammy Robocollers

    PT ( profile ), 02 Nov, 2012 @ 09:15am

    Re: RoboCalls

    The FTC is upset over the robocalls because they have personally been pestered by these people.

    The FTC doesn't care about the fraud as they haven't fallen victim to the scam.

    Not quite. It's the FTC's job to do something about the robocalls, but they aren't law enforcement and have no power to deal with the fraud. It's the FBI's job to tackle the fraud, but they have no authority to prevent people using the telephone network.

    Perhaps now the FTC have shown a lead, the FBI will stir themselves.

  • On the post: It Takes Jon Stewart To Finally Ask Obama About Civil Liberties… But Lets Him Off The Hook On Bogus Answer

    PT ( profile ), 25 Oct, 2012 @ 03:12pm

    Re: Re: Where the power lies

    Bush had plenty of faults, but being smart enough to plan evil foreign policy wasn't one of them. The man just did what he was told by the people behind the curtain.

  • On the post: It Takes Jon Stewart To Finally Ask Obama About Civil Liberties… But Lets Him Off The Hook On Bogus Answer

    PT ( profile ), 25 Oct, 2012 @ 01:34pm

    Where the power lies

    I think the truth is that the President just doesn't have the power people expect he has. The Federal government is less about Congress and the President than it is about what might be called the permanent civil service, the agencies that go on and on with their own agendas regardless of which party holds office. I don't believe George W Bush had anything more to do with the abuses of his administration than blindly signing the papers that were put in front of him, and I don't believe Obama (or for that matter, Eric Holder) has enough of a leash on the security agencies to restrain their existing power, let alone roll them back.

    And let's not forget what happened to the last President who acted decisively against the wishes of one of the agencies. No other president has taken that chance for fifty years.

  • On the post: Economist's Defense Of Perpetual Copyright: It's Best To Just Ignore The Economics

    PT ( profile ), 24 Oct, 2012 @ 05:17pm

    Re: Re: Is Liebowitz an "econmist"? If so, then like all, he's crazy.

    Yes, but the effective tax rate is asymptotic to the marginal rate - the more you make, the closer it gets. When The Beatles released "Taxman", they really were paying a marginal rate of 95%, and an effective rate probably well over 80%.

    Didn't seem to stop them creating music, though.

  • On the post: Governments Using, Also Fretting, Encrypted Communications App

    PT ( profile ), 23 Oct, 2012 @ 01:47pm

    Re: Re: Re:

    Well, simply, everyone should use encryption for everything as a matter of course. It should be built into mail applications. You wouldn't post a letter unsealed, or write your correspondence on postcards, so why would you not take the trouble to seal email?

    I'm regularly asked to sign Draconian non-disclosure agreements for my business, yet the people who are so concerned for their secrets are quite happy to exchange drawings and sensitive business information by unencrypted email that can be snooped from any place on the planet. I've had PGP or its equivalent for twenty years and I always ask these NDA folk to exchange keys, but so far nobody has ever bothered.

  • On the post: New Ruling In Sweden Suggests Ruling In Pirate Bay Case May Be Re-Examined For Bias

    PT ( profile ), 19 Oct, 2012 @ 05:13pm

    Re: I still maintain...

    I don't think Sweden is corrupt, just careful and conservative. They make sure the cases are judged by the right people, so that the right verdict will be returned. All right-thinking people will agree that's the right way things should be done, all right?

  • On the post: Windows 8's Arbitrary App Certification Rules Could Block Skyrim And Other Huge Games

    PT ( profile ), 19 Oct, 2012 @ 02:26pm

    Re: Re: Do your job, Zachary

    Microsoft is being very, very clear that they are and will do everything they can to get rid of the desktop eventually.

    As long as there are desktop computers, or should I say computers with keyboards, they will have operating systems. They just might not run Windows. I suspect this fact will sink into Microsoft sometime soon and they'll reconsider their policy.

    Meantime, they can do as they please with their latest unnecessary version of Windows. I won't be using it until I need a new computer and I can't get one with anything else.

  • On the post: Gary Mckinnon Extradition To US Blocked By UK Home Secretary

    PT ( profile ), 16 Oct, 2012 @ 05:33pm

    Applause

    Wow, a government pays attention to public opinion! There's hope left in the world after all.

    The Guardian blog mentions, though, that Theresa May is looking nervously over her shoulder at the rabid Daily Mail tabloid.

  • On the post: Textbook Publisher Pearson Takes Down 1.5 Million Teacher And Student Blogs With A Single DMCA Notice

    PT ( profile ), 15 Oct, 2012 @ 10:08am

    Re: Re:

    There is always the possibility that Server Beach was well aware of what they were doing and were making a point of their own. If every host responded to DMCA requests in this manner, it would anger the public enough to demand action. A million and a half bloggers may turn out to be a good start.

  • On the post: Judge Calls Copyright Troll's Bluff

    PT ( profile ), 11 Oct, 2012 @ 11:02am

    Re: Re:

    "Well, then the defendants have nothing to worry about, right?"

    It took a while, but I perceive it's finally dawning on you what the Judge has been trying to point out.

  • On the post: Judge Calls Copyright Troll's Bluff

    PT ( profile ), 11 Oct, 2012 @ 10:24am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    "...your anti-copyright zealot leader..."

    LOL, average_joe is losing it. He's been so carefully avoiding trollish ad-hominems up to this point.

  • On the post: The French Pigeons Are Revolting — And That's Good

    PT ( profile ), 11 Oct, 2012 @ 09:13am

    Off Topic

    Strange, I couldn't find a word in the linked article about the Internet or copyright. Come to that, I could hardly find a word in the comments related to Glyn's article either.

    How about the USA's own "counterproductive freelancer taxes"? The marginal rate I pay on every nickel I make on the side is close to 50%.

  • On the post: Cisco, Motorola, Netgear Team Up To Expose Wifi Patent Bully

    PT ( profile ), 10 Oct, 2012 @ 09:49am

    Re:

    There's precedent. US 6,280,318 (2001) patents the use of a fan to cool electronic equipment cabinets. US 7,499,276 (2009) also patents the use of a fan to cool electronic equipment cabinets, with the important difference that it sucks instead of blows. I see no reason why you wouldn't be granted a patent for the wheel, but when you file, remember to specify in the claims that it includes wheels turning in both directions, otherwise you may lose the reversing rent to a competitor.

  • On the post: Cisco, Motorola, Netgear Team Up To Expose Wifi Patent Bully

    PT ( profile ), 10 Oct, 2012 @ 09:11am

    Re: Troll Accountability

    Indeed. While I understand that the civil tort case has to be brought by private parties, what we actually need to see is "United States v. Innovatio et al", with a real prospect of those famously disproportionate Federal penalties being handed down (like 1 year on each of 8000 counts, to be served consecutively). I'm sure this would only have to be done once.

  • On the post: DOJ Lawyer Explores 'Copyright Freeconomics'; Suggests Copyright Needs To Change

    PT ( profile ), 03 Oct, 2012 @ 01:58pm

    "Or can copyright law itself undergo a sufficiently radical transformation and avoid the risk of extinction through irrelevance?"

    Seriously, I think that horse has already bolted. Disney and Sonny Bono opened the barn doors and the RIAA set off firecrackers. The pool of jurors willing to convict will get smaller and smaller as the older generations die off until copyright law is about as relevant as laws banning oral sex.

  • On the post: Copyright Trolls Still Arguing That Open WiFi Is 'Negligent'

    PT ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2012 @ 09:54am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Wow

    Universal free access will come - it's inevitable. Maybe not in the US until everyone else in the world has got it, but eventually internet access will be provided as a public service, like roads and street lights.

  • On the post: The Return Of Dumb Ideas: A Broadband Tax To Save Failing Newspapers

    PT ( profile ), 24 Sep, 2012 @ 02:57pm

    Re: Some facts which may or may not be relevant

    Well given that the law states "Publications which do not contain a substantial amount of news are not newspapers", if the UK government were to apply the proper classification to the Daily Mail and the Sun, the country could be out of its fiscal hole overnight.

  • On the post: YouTube Restricts Access To Anti-Islam Movie Trailer In Egypt And Libya

    PT ( profile ), 14 Sep, 2012 @ 03:06pm

    Re:

    There are different kinds of free speech.

    I could, for example, say "I suspect (ie, my opinion is) my neighbor runs a meth lab in his basement". That's free speech, but it could result in a SWAT team kicking his door in at 5am and shooting his dog (note, I wouldn't do this, because SWAT teams have a history of getting the address wrong). My right to free speech clashes with his right to be secure in his property. Which is more important?

    Regarding the right to put movies up criticizing religions, I have no issue as long as they are fact or opinion, but not when they're deliberate attacks disguised as history. Suppose someone made a movie purporting to tell the story of how a conference of Talmudic Jews wrote the Protocols of Zion. Does anyone think that would have stayed on YouTube more than ten minutes? Would anyone criticize the decision to take it down?

    The person who posted the movie in question knew exactly what he was doing and what the reaction would be. It was done with the deliberate intention of poking a dangerous hornet's nest, and now we will all get stung. His right to free speech has infringed my right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. By all means defend him, but you and he both should be willing to go to Cairo, Tripoli or wherever, stand in the street and defend it in person.

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