Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt

Techdirt

from the so-sayeth dept

This week, both our winners on the insightful side come to our post about the media’s widespread misrepresentation of the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Murthy case. In first place, it’s Drew Wilson, who shares our frustration with this kind of thing:

It’s bad coverage of the world of technology that gives people like Masnick and myself job security… unfortunately. This is far from the first time large publishers screw up tech stuff. There’s an incredibly long list of tech stories they screwed up over the years. This includes:

• “One download means one lost sale”
• “Filesharing is killing the music/movie/TV industry”
• Copyright term extension
• DRM
• Mass surveillance
• Blockchain
• NFTs
• International trade agreements
• AI
• Mental health and social media
• Encryption
• Privacy reform
• Link taxes
• Age verification

I… really could go on. The mainstream media has never been that good on these issues (at least as long as I’ve been writing on this subject which is since 2005).

In second place, it’s Rocky with a response to the claim that Mike was being “nitpicky” in pushing back about the meaning of the ruling:

He’s not, the Guardian headline says “US supreme court allows government to request removal” but the decision doesn’t actually say that since the SCOTUS punted on the 1A question entirely. That is exactly what Mike highlights and why using language like the SCOTUS allows is wrong because nowhere do they allow or disallow it.

I can understand why the SCOTUS majority punted on the 1A question, because if they make a decision either way they have drawn a line which can’t be crossed but as it stands now the courts have some leeway to decide themselves where the line can be drawn depending on each case’s merits

For editor’s choice on the insightful side, we start out with a comment from That One Guy about another SCOTUS ruling that yet again told the Fifth Circuit it got things completely wrong:

The Fifth Circuit: Where the law and rights are sent to die

At this point the default assumption should be that if the Fifth Circuit issued a ruling on something they got it wrong, with the only quibble being how wrong they botched their latest case.

Next, it’s an anonymous commenter about the ongoing failure of adults to pay attention to the real challenges of teen mental health in the digital age:

What teens really want is two things:

1. access to reliable information without social consequences,
2. someone who will just listen to them without judgement.

It’s really difficult for an adult to get those things. It’s nearly impossible for a teen to get them.

Over on the funny side, our first place winner is an anonymous comment invoking a joke from a cult TV hit in response to mention of “a craft that can no longer safely return” to earth:

To quote firefly:

“Just get us on the ground!”

“that part will happen pretty definitely”

In second place, it’s a comment from MrWilson about accusations of cult-like behavior coming from MAGA types:

“All these people are in a cult. They all think the same things. They think the earth is round. They think the sun is a giant ball of helium and hydrogen. They think Trump lost the 2020 election. See? Cult-like behavior! Echo chamber! Groupthink! Sheeple!”

“Whereas I am an independent thinker, which is why I understand the health benefits of drinking my own urine.”

For editor’s choice on the funny side, we start out with a comment from NotTheMomma about McDonald’s giving up on AI:

“McDonald’s insists that automation is still “part of its restaurants’ future,” but it will spend the rest of 2024 in contemplative mode”

BAD AI! Go to your room and think about what you have done!
Picture of a T-800 sitting on a broken bunk bed with a dunce cap

Finally, it’s an anonymous comment about the RIAA of six years ago debunking the current RIAA’s AI lawsuit claims:

“How dare people learn how to do OUR Grift!” says RIAA exec.

That’s all for this week, folks!