TechNoFear 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: What's The Liability For A Service Provider Who Ignores Takedown Notices?

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 13 Dec, 2007 @ 06:47pm

    Ebay does not care....

    I registered an account with Ebay.

    Something went wrong in the setup and wrong account (someone else's) was linked to my email.

    I gave up after 4 attempts trying to inform Ebay.

    I was first told by Ebay CSO's to check with my ISP that they had not closed my email (what that had to do with a mislinked account...).
    The CSO did not seem to understand that my ISP could not close my hotmail account. It was also the email address the Ebay CSO was replying to, so it must be working.

    Then things went downhill.....

  • On the post: University Requires Students To Buy GPS-Enabled Phones

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 04 Dec, 2007 @ 11:26pm

    Ahhh...The pranks you can play

    Think of the pranks you can play on someone with one of these phones.

    Set the alarm without their knowledge while they are otherwise occupied with a partner / drunk / in an exam etc.

    Set alarm and put phone in mates car just before a road trip..(add a few incriminating goodies..)

    The possibilities are endless.

    Thank you Big Brother!

  • On the post: New Report Claims Violent Video Games A Huge Public Safety Threat… But Fails To Actually Provide Evidence

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 29 Nov, 2007 @ 08:41pm

    Right To Bear Arms....

    So it is OK to own/use a gun in the US

    but not OK to play a video game where you could own/ use a gun?

    Could it be argued that the constitution allows the right to bear arms, but does not discriminate between real and virtual guns?

    Lets get the NRA onto them.

  • On the post: Facial Recognition Software To Tell People They Look Too Young To Smoke

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 06 Nov, 2007 @ 10:23pm

    Bad idea...

    If a vending machine decided I could not buy my nicotine fix,

    That would probably be the last thing it decided....

  • On the post: GPS Tracking: Drivers' New Best Friend?

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 28 Oct, 2007 @ 10:39pm

    Old news...

    I helped develop a GPS tracking system / device, which reached production in the UK, over three years ago.

    Was sold on basis your boss could check the fuel consumption v fuel purchase, check location (did you go where your said you did) and fleet management (closest cars to client, repairs ect).

    Now I use GPS (and other things..) to track some of the worlds longest and heaviest trains (in an effort to make them remote controlled).

  • On the post: Australia May Ban Plasma And LCD TVs Over Energy Concerns

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 11 Oct, 2007 @ 12:45am

    Panic by Howard

    This is just election grandstanding.

    Howard looks like this will be his last election. The Howard government will get punished for following GWB in refusing Kyoto and Iraq (if the polls are anything to go by).

    Howard is desperate to cling to power and will do anything he thinks will get a vote.

    I could care less about a ban on plasma TVs, will just encourage the development of energy saving versions. I suspect if you read the fine print, you will find the legislation actually does nothing....

  • On the post: Australian Web Censorship Continues Down The Slippery Slope

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 24 Sep, 2007 @ 09:00pm

    Just another election stunt

    This is just Howard's government trying to hang on to power by appealing to his power base, the Aussie family (who do not understand WHY this will not work).

    The 'Aussie battlers' no longer seem to believe his promises on the economy, security or his vision of the future.

    Howard is trying to counter this by attempting to take the moral high ground before the more popular leader of the opposition can.

    His 'porn filter' can be bypassed by a teenager in 30 mins, what makes you think this will be any better?

    I doubt it will ever actually happen, similar to real high speed broadband through Telstra.

  • On the post: Forget Flight Simulator Training Pilots, How About A Dump Truck Simulator For Miners?

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 19 Sep, 2007 @ 01:21am

    Trains as well as trucks

    I was very disappointed when one of the multi-nationals our company contracts to decided not to upgrade its train simulator. Is used to train new drivers and current drivers on new track sections.

    Much more invloved than you would think, is very easy to break a 2-3Km long train.

    The multi-national instead decided to make the trains remote controlled (using our devices). So, hopefully I will not need a simulator, I will get to drive a train via a remote desktop client.

  • On the post: Australian Online Forum Sued Because Users Wrote How They Didn't Like Accounting Software Package

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 12 Sep, 2007 @ 09:10pm

    2Clix can no longer win this...

    It is worth noting that the major problem that 2clix had with the threads is that they show up as number 2 and 3 if you google '2clix'.

    The offending Whirlpool threads are still at the top of the first page, but now multiple stories about the law suit are listed on the first page (and climbing).

    So even if 2clix succeeds in getting them removed, it will no longer solve the issue. Potential customers will still see bad press about 2clix.

  • On the post: Can We Please Stop Arresting WiFi Users Using Open Networks?

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 23 Aug, 2007 @ 12:26am

    Your ID is not a tangable item. Me using your ID does not deprive you of its use.

    Me using your ID doe however damage/cost you.

    Where do we draw the distinction between poor security on the owners part and unauthorised access on the users part?

    Owner was using WEP (and a poor key) so it was OK for user to access it?

  • On the post: Once Again, Google Sued Over Use Of Trademarks In Ads

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 16 Jul, 2007 @ 12:21am

    ACCC is going after TradingPost mainly

    The ACCC is after the 'Trading Post' for using registered trademarks in the key word search adverts.

    Google allowed the 'Trading Post' to buy key-word adverts using 'Kloster Ford'. 'Ford' is generic and acceptable, the trademarked 'Kloster Ford' is not acceptable.

    An example is; searching Google for 'pepsi cola' and the top link saying 'pepsi cola.com' but when you click the link you end up at 'coke.com'.

    This is similar to the 2002 recommendations by the FTC.

  • On the post: The Chinese Solar Boom Grips Wall Street

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 03 Jul, 2007 @ 01:54am

    Ahh the Yanks...

    >>We can count on them to make fire-hazard solar panels out of toxic ingredients with child labor.

    You forgot the bit about them kidnapping citizens of other countries, outsourcing the torture and then posting the photos online.

    Or invading a country based on intel that was known to be fake.

    Luckily that mess is all behind us as GWB has declared Mission Accomplished!

    Ohhh, that's not China is it..........

  • On the post: Brazil Wants Another Google Site — YouTube — Shut Down

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 28 Jun, 2007 @ 10:46pm

    [cut my last post off...]
    >>"The internet is what it is today expressly because there was no "system" to "enforce and regulate" anything. What you are suggesting is Censorship and Oversight like they have in China. "

    Time to send those horses and lottery balls down the internet 'pipes' and clear all this rubbish out (inc. the illegal to access in the US gambling sites).

  • On the post: Brazil Wants Another Google Site — YouTube — Shut Down

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 28 Jun, 2007 @ 10:43pm

    >>"The internet is what it is today expressly because there was no "system" to "enforce and regulate" anything. What you are suggesting is Censorship and Oversight like they have in China. "

  • On the post: Indian Offshoring Firm… Offshoring To Mexico

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 11 Jun, 2007 @ 12:02am

    Dealing with past Outsouring

    I am now having to deal with another cost of outsourcing.

    I have issues with the software used in some heavy machinery safety systems (ie UTC was just 'adjusted' forward 17 years to delay known Y2K bugs, fails to record data for approx an hour, resets to default values during operation).

    I can not find anyone who has any idea of how these systems communicate to each other during operation. All this knowledge was lost when the corp outsourced and not retained after the outsourced production finished. It is not in my contract to fix these issues, they just delay my

    The corp sends in an updates to the saftey system that reduces the time that the bug occurs for but dramatically increases the frequencey. My client is forced to do a limited roll-out to test and then expects me to find the bugs.

    I now know more about some of the operation of these 50 tonne machines than the manufacturer or operators (even though I would rather not have spent MY time/$ working it out).

    In ten years time when Y2K hits them (again), MY time/knowledge is going to cost them thousands more times the $ they saved outsourcing.

  • On the post: Click Here To Get Infected With A Virus!

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 15 May, 2007 @ 09:19pm

    Limits to everything but stupidity.....

    I worked creating on-line share trading software for a while.

    We had a 'white label' product and resold it to different brokers, including two major banks.

    The online account creation form had been used for over a year without issue (or much change).

    For some reason 10% of the new bank's customers 'ticked' every box on the form, even the mutually exclusive choices.

  • On the post: Thailand Goes For Internet Censorship With An Anti-Circumvention Twist

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 14 May, 2007 @ 12:00am

    Understanding Thai Culture

    Thailand is a strange place, sometimes modern but still with another world/era charm.

    Where else can you decide you don't like any of the politicians up for office and vote 'nobody'?

    Where else do the military leades of a coup get 'permission' from the king before ousting the government?

    Thai's hold their king in the highest esteme, so I can understand why the Thai government took this step (not that I think it will work). I think it is more for internal politics than external.

    If the Thai king told all Thais not to use Utube then most would obey.
    If GWB told most Americans that, how many would listen....

  • On the post: US Continues To Whine About Other Nations Not Following Our Draconian Intellectual Property Regime

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 02 May, 2007 @ 02:03am

    US Corp seeks to patent the pig...

    If a large US corp gets it's way then it will be illegal to breed pigs.

    This corp wants a patent on the breeding method, the pig and all the offspring. There is nothing new here. The pig is not GE (yet). The 'invention' is simply a combination of existing breeding methods.

    Unfortunately most pigs in the world (over 160 countries) will be covered by this patent and most pigs contain these desirable genetic markers (for 'meatiness', growth rate ect).

    This corp also patents grains. Releases the GM grain into a country, even if the patent is not approved.
    If the grain is later exported (from a country that does not allow living organisms to be patened) to a country that does, then the importer of the grain is sued for damages.

    This has a chilling effect on grain exports from countries that do not allow living organisms to be patened (as there is no way to prove that the grain is not from GM seed but from cross pollination).

    Not to mention that this corp has tried to patent traditionally bred wheat from India and soy plants from China.

  • On the post: Study Says Video Games Do Affect People, But Hardly At All

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 26 Apr, 2007 @ 01:06am

    Ahhh....so simple!

    How could we have missed it!

    The answer is more real guns and less games featuring guns.

  • On the post: Thailand The Latest Country To Ban Entire YouTube Over Single Video

    TechNoFear ( profile ), 04 Apr, 2007 @ 08:32pm

    Different traditions....

    Thailand is a strange place, I don't agree with the ban but I do understand it.

    You have to remember that Thailand holds it's king in the utmost esteme. If I buy my Thai nephew a persent it has to be yellow, the king's colour.

    In the last military coup (in which no-one got hurt) the coup leaders had to go to the king and ASK his permission to conduct the coup....

    If the king had said NO, the coup would not have proceeded!

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