Robert P 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (37) comment rss

  • On the post: Ownership Mentality: Art Gallery Prohibits Sketching

    Robert P ( profile ), 24 Jan, 2012 @ 06:55am

    Not as bad as it sounds?

    A little googling indicates Chicago's not the only one. From what I've seen, this isn't a copyright thing. Chicago does it only in a limited fashion. They restrict sketching in certain galleries where they have an exhibit that's only going to be available for a short period. They have high traffic volume through that area, so they limit sketching to avoid having people standing around (interrupting the other people who are moving through).

    I may not like the idea, but if that's the reason, it seems like a reasonable approach. Allow more people to see the exhibit at the cost of limiting the amount of time artists can spend sketching.

  • On the post: 8 Million People Looked Up Their Elected Officials' Contact Info During Wikipedia Blackout

    Robert P ( profile ), 19 Jan, 2012 @ 07:36am

    MPAA could help here

    We should ask the MPAA to do their little math/conflation tricks on these numbers. We'd end up with billions of people who are against SOPA.

  • On the post: Who Will Be The First Politician To Be GoDaddy'd?

    Robert P ( profile ), 27 Dec, 2011 @ 01:00pm

    Lee Anderson against John Barron (GA)

    Looks like Lee Anderson has registered with the FEC to go up against John Barrow.

  • On the post: FBI Admits That It Uses Carrier IQ For Law Enforcement Purposes; Won't Say How

    Robert P ( profile ), 13 Dec, 2011 @ 12:53pm

    You're a day or so out of date. Apparently, Carrier IQ has already responded to the article you mentioned and said they don't provide data to the FBI.

    http://gizmodo.com/5867693/carrier-iq-were-not-working-with-the-fbi

    So maybe it's the second option, that the FBI is already looking into them.

  • On the post: Court Says Logging Into Someone Else's Facebook Page And Posting A Message Can Be Identity Fraud

    Robert P ( profile ), 03 Aug, 2011 @ 11:57am

    I'm okay with it

    While this will get cleared up, what if she lost a job opportunity because "she" posted that she likes to suck dick on her facebook profile? What else should be involved to make this a felony. If she said she was going to blow something up or do something violent? What's the line between casual prank and something that's damaging to her and others?

    If you illegally break into someone's account and then do stuff, it's a felony. Hey, I have an idea, don't do that.

  • On the post: Apple Continues To Scream To The World How Competitive Samsung's Tablet Is By Getting It Banned In Australia

    Robert P ( profile ), 03 Aug, 2011 @ 07:31am

    Apple's not scared

    I don't think Apple is signaling that they're scared with this patent lawsuit. I think they're signaling that they have boat loads of money and are using it to hinder competition as much as possible.

    After all, when you have more money than the government (Right Mike? :) ) you might as well use it to make sure you keep raking it in.

  • On the post: Author Walter Jon Williams Asks For Fans To Help Him 'Pirate' His Own Works Better

    Robert P ( profile ), 25 May, 2011 @ 07:49am

    Hah! How soon before he's sued for pirating content? Good thing he's not trying to do this with a movie or USCG would be all over him, filthy pirate.

  • On the post: Utah Legislators Want Extra Tax For Owners Of Hybrid & Electric Vehicles

    Robert P ( profile ), 04 May, 2011 @ 11:45am

    Utah is not alone

    Just google "VMT" and you'll find a number of states, plus the Fed are looking into alternatives to the gas tax. The study the CBO did (http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/121xx/doc12101/03-23-HighwayFunding.pdf) sounds terrible from my perspective, but I can see the the need for it. I just can't believe they'd capture all that personal info and not pass it on somewhere.

    If it's true that roadway maintenance is funded through gas tax and that gas usage is going down due to higher fuel economy (hybrids, electrics, etc.) then I can see why we would need to come up with an alternate. I think the one the CBO came up with is not a good one, but I don't have any better ideas.

  • On the post: Results Of The 'Pay What You Want' Tangible Goods Experiment

    Robert P ( profile ), 01 Apr, 2011 @ 08:44am

    They got their funding

    I'm one of the backers (I bid $20) and the latest update indicates they dropped the 3,000 backer limit. They're now sitting at over $80K in funding.

    I like Mike's idea (highest bidder) but it might be challenging to implement. When you bid, you actually pay that amount. How would they work getting the money back to you if you don't bid high enough? I know this wouldn't be insurmountable, but it would mean a change in how they deal with the funding. I think it would essentially convert the process to a pledge method, then you have to worry about people bailing on the pledge when it's done.

  • On the post: Broadcasters To Sue Time Warner Cable For Making It Easier For People To See Their Shows & Ads

    Robert P ( profile ), 28 Mar, 2011 @ 07:47am

    Xfinity and ABC do this better

    Comcasts Xfinity app for the iPad does a marginally better job than the description of Time Warner's app in that you can watch a lot more shows. Same other restrictions apply (be a subscriber, be on your home wifi). I wonder why they're upset with Time Warner and not Comcast?

    Meanwhile, ABC is just doing it themselves with their own app, which also works great (and as far as I know requires no subscription, no "your own wifi", etc.) They do show commercials that can't be skipped. I haven't played this aspect of it yet, but I understand you can also watch a TV show live (it's supposed to sync itself with the broadcast) so you can do even more stuff, like take surveys or vote on characters or something. That seems like the right way to go (for ABC). Get people interested in doing other things with the show, they then watch it live and so are exposed to the commercials.

  • On the post: Company Looking To Hire 'Piracy Investigators' Promising $500+ Per Night

    Robert P ( profile ), 01 Mar, 2011 @ 09:47am

    video?

    I'm wondering about the fee's with and without a video. Is that saying the "investigator" would take video to document the "infringement"? If so, I wonder how long before the investigator is sued for infringing him/herself for unauthorized recording.

  • On the post: Investigators Still Can't Find Any Evidence To Link Assange & Manning; DoD Insists It Must Be True

    Robert P ( profile ), 15 Feb, 2011 @ 06:21am

    Found them

    Assange probably has the WMD's too.

  • On the post: Judge Bans Handing (Factual) Pamphlets To Jurors; Raising First Amendment Issues

    Robert P ( profile ), 07 Feb, 2011 @ 09:11am

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Well Done RD! I especially liked the James Madison quote, although he wasn't really referring to Jury nullification in that paper but about "The mutability in the public councils arising from a rapid succession of new members".

    http://www.constitution.org/fed/federa62.htm

  • On the post: Apple Trying To Run All Content Sales Through Its Own Sales System

    Robert P ( profile ), 02 Feb, 2011 @ 10:05am

    Re: Re:

    That's part of it, the other part is that iPhones are sold by one company where android is just a platform and is sold by lots of different manufacturers. A real comparison would be do to something like comparing iPhone sales to a Motorola Droid or Samsung Epic or HTC EVO. It's a no brainer than android platform would be outselling iPhones.

  • On the post: Congresswoman Threatens To Sue Newspaper For 'Liable' Over Critical Column

    Robert P ( profile ), 22 Dec, 2010 @ 05:11pm

    Re: Point of correction on Libel vs. Slander

    I hadn't heard that about slander so I hit up mr google. To back up what Scote said, I found this. http://www.h-online.com/newsticker/news/item/Judge-rules-on-internet-forum-comments-736813.html

    Interesting, but I still don't think Slander applies. The columnist wasn't making comments in a forum. I wonder how long it will be (or if) the Congresswoman regrets this action.

  • On the post: Apple Prefers To Keep GPL'd Software Out Of App Store So It Can Keep DRM On All Apps

    Robert P ( profile ), 01 Nov, 2010 @ 07:43am

    Re: Load of FUD from FSF, nothing more

    I may be wrong, but doesn't the source code have to be distributed with the app? For iPhone apps, there's no way to distribute the source, it's a bundled (closed) environment, where only the app is distributed.

    I was under the impression that was one of the primary reasons for Apple's policy to not allow GPL in the apps, because it's violating the GPL license.

  • On the post: Plane Finder Phone App Called An 'Aid To Terrorism,' Even If It's Just Using Public Data

    Robert P ( profile ), 04 Oct, 2010 @ 12:05pm

    Doesn't look like ADS-B has much coverage. The app is getting fairly bad reviews (I suspect mostly because of such a small number of ADS-B equipped planes in the US).

    Much ado over nothing, which is too bad because it sounds like a neat app.