Martin Cohn 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (27) comment rss

  • On the post: Hillary Clinton's Paperback Memoir Deletes Inconvenient Support Of TPP That Was In The Hard Cover Version

    Martin Cohn ( profile ), 14 Jun, 2016 @ 02:56pm

    The focus groups didn't support TPP

    So history needs to forget that Hillary did support it.

  • On the post: AOL CEO Promises 'The Market' Will Keep Verizon, AOL Honest About Sleazy New Stealth Cookies

    Martin Cohn ( profile ), 14 Oct, 2015 @ 12:23pm

    AOL TL;DR

    We're scumbags, don't trust us.

  • On the post: As Expected, Backpage Is Not Liable For Prostitution Ads

    Martin Cohn ( profile ), 19 Aug, 2011 @ 03:32pm

    Logical ruling from a logical judge

    Judge Carol Jackson is truly top flight. I had the privilege of presenting cases in front of her and she's strictly by the (law) book, without a personal or political agenda. Glad to see she came through again.

  • On the post: Comcast And Blockbuster Team Up To Make Us Wonder Why They've Teamed Up

    Martin Cohn ( profile ), 09 Aug, 2010 @ 06:48pm

    Letter Carriers replace Internet

    Maybe they read the old illustration about the bandwidth of a semi full of DVD's traveling at 60 MPH and recalculated to figure out that a 35 pound mail pouch carried at 3 MPH is a more efficient way to distribute movies than via their fiber and coax network.

    Bad latency, though.

  • On the post: Sarcasm Wars: Proprietary SarcMark Gets Some Sarcastic Open Competition

    Martin Cohn ( profile ), 17 Feb, 2010 @ 10:51am

    Universal way to enter ¡ in text.

    Attention downtrodden masses of the Proleteriat nerds yearning to break the chains of your Capitalist masters!¡

    Alt-0161 will enter the inverted question mark and subvert the running dog scheme to pry the lordly sum of $1.99 from your pocket.

    MC

  • On the post: Woman Sues Sprint Over Driving While Yakking Death

    Martin Cohn ( profile ), 08 Dec, 2009 @ 03:53pm

    Re: Designer of the Mini

    Do you mean a large thing with a big shaft, or a transmission?

  • On the post: Spam King Alan Ralsky Gets Four Years In Jail

    Martin Cohn ( profile ), 24 Nov, 2009 @ 02:25pm

    Re: Wonder if...

    Doubt it. The Postal Inspectors were one of the agencies taking a bite out of his ass.

  • On the post: Venezuelan Government Blames Video Games For Violence, Implements Widespread Ban

    Martin Cohn ( profile ), 06 Nov, 2009 @ 12:06pm

    Re:

    "That's what happens when your country is ruled by Donkey Kong."

    Quite profound! Questioning the logic of a dictator would be a lot like discussing law with a cartoon character. No matter what you say, the other side doesn't have to obey any concept of reality. The only difference is that one yells "Rabbit Season" a bit less often, but I forget which one.

  • On the post: Why Did One NBA Player Get 800 Domain Names From A Cybersquatter?

    Martin Cohn ( profile ), 15 Oct, 2009 @ 11:48am

    That's not a thumb.

    Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side.

  • On the post: What's Illegal About Using Twitter To Organize Protests?

    Martin Cohn ( profile ), 05 Oct, 2009 @ 08:02pm

    Re: Re: Relaying police traffic is the problem, not Twitter

    The police are licensed by the FCC to transmit, hence the federal involvement.

    Even if the protesters had listened themselves, the act also states

    "No person having received any intercepted radio communication or having become acquainted with the contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning of such communication (or any part thereof) knowing that such communication was intercepted, shall divulge or publish the existence, contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning of such communication (or any part thereof) or use such communication (or any information therein contained)for his own benefit or for the benefit of another not entitled thereto."

    So even if the protesters had brought their own scanners AND used in the comission of offenses, they'd have been out of luck also.

  • On the post: What's Illegal About Using Twitter To Organize Protests?

    Martin Cohn ( profile ), 05 Oct, 2009 @ 07:42pm

    Relaying police traffic is the problem, not Twitter

    There can be a lot of talk about what should or should not be illegal, but Title 47 US Code, Section 605 (http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/47usc605.htm) lays it out plainly that it's illegal to "divulge the...existence, contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning thereof, except through authorized channels of transmission or reception, (1) to any person other than the addressee, his agent, or attorney, (2) to a person employed or authorized to forward such communication to its destination."

    In other words you can listen to a scanner, but relaying the messages via Twitter, SMS or smoke signals is against Federal law.

  • On the post: Massachusetts Says Cops Need Warrant To Stick GPS Device On Your Car

    Martin Cohn ( profile ), 30 Sep, 2009 @ 10:28am

    Federal vs state interpretations.

    It depends on the judicial district, but in Eastern Missouri the rules are:

    1. If you're going hook into the electrical system you need a court order, period.

    2. If the installation takes you into the curtailage of the target (e.g. carport), you need a court order.

    3. Other cases take verbal concurrence of the Assistant US Attorney handling the case. In other words, there must be an active criminal investigation and not a fishing expedition.

    The affidavit for the court order and the warrant are the same format. Granted the bar is slightly higher for a warrant than a court order, but the procedure is the same and there will be a request to seal the warrant until the device is removed.

  • On the post: Will Spamford Wallace Finally Face Criminal Charges?

    Martin Cohn ( profile ), 15 Jun, 2009 @ 09:38am

    Court ordered payments and bankruptcy

    Looks like he'll pay more in legal fees. If any of the court-ordered payments are from "criminal-type" proceedings, 11 USC 523(a) (7) and 18 USC 361 say they're not discharged in bankruptcy.

    If the proceedings were civil, the bankruptcy court has to be specifically notified of "Debts from embezzlement, larceny or breach of trust" before they can be discharged 11 USC 523(a) (4).

  • On the post: Music Industry Lawyer Upset That Sites Are Able To Point Out The RIAA Took Down Content

    Martin Cohn ( profile ), 04 Feb, 2009 @ 03:52pm

    Reducing "disappearing" pages

    Any time I see a page that might disappear, I call up www.webcitation.org and have the page permanently archived (not a cache that will eventually empty). An advantage is that if you use the "resurrect page" plugin on Firefox, webcitation.org is one of the options to search.

    This works fine for pages posted by assclowns who will have sense beaten into them eventually and will try to cover their tracks, and also for ephemeral pages like daily newspapers who sometimes move articles into their paid area after a short time.

  • On the post: The Wonder Years Unavailable On DVD Due To Music Licensing Rights

    Martin Cohn ( profile ), 21 Jan, 2009 @ 07:34pm

    Not Officially Available...

    But as anyone who follows the show on IMDB message boards knows, bootlegs are freely available.

    Fans would rather pay to have the real thing, but instead either do without or buy crappy copies that earn absolutely zero for the original cast and the greedy folks that control all of that great music.

    Rather than make money they earn nothing because of their unbeatable combination of greed and stupidity. What a shoddy way to represent the artists that made such a tremendous soundtrack. Given the chance to make money they rathole their goods instead and cry "Piracy!".

  • On the post: Now That's More Like The Microsoft We Know

    Martin Cohn ( profile ), 17 Nov, 2006 @ 03:07pm

    MS=SCO?

    How truly sad that Microsoft can't even innovate in their legal claims, but are parroting what a third tier OS seller has (disastrously) done before.

  • On the post: Can We Start A Detox Center For People Addicted To Calling People Addicts?

    Martin Cohn ( profile ), 09 Jun, 2006 @ 09:58am

    Consequences

    More than escaping the consequences of behavior, making a medical/psychological ailment for the newfound syndrome grants the Holy Grail, victimhood, to the "sufferer".

    So the next time someone cuts you off and slams on the brakes in traffic, remember that they may be the victim of Intermittant Explosive Disorder (What an apt acronym) and you must not be judgemental of them.

  • On the post: When A Bar Urinal Is Smarter Than Its Patrons

    Martin Cohn ( profile ), 25 May, 2006 @ 02:41pm

    My Boss..

    Happens to be a talking urinal cake holder and he's worth every penny of his salary. Oops, that was a simile.

    Never mind (and you thought I was going to say 'p!ss on it')

  • On the post: Steve Jobs Wasn't Lying When He Said $1 Per Song Price Would Stay

    Martin Cohn ( profile ), 20 Apr, 2006 @ 08:46pm

    Greedy, Evil, Clueless

    One or even two of the above characteristics will not kill an industry.

    Congratulations to the *AA's for each scoring a triple play.

  • On the post: Nation's "Top Cop" Goes For The Hollywood Party Line

    Martin Cohn ( profile ), 31 Mar, 2006 @ 02:52pm

    Let's just call it corporate sponsorship of federa

    How about we make it aboveboard and just auction off the naming rights for the AG job. Alberto Gonzales is now the "RI/MP AA Attorney General".

    I'm glad I don't work for the FBI and have to be the handmaiden of the *AA, busting 18 year old dunces who videotape first run movies after their shift selling popcorn at the local theater. A couple of cases like that and the Agents should think about patrolling city parks and issuing municipal citations for violation of pooper-scooper laws. Bad comparison, at least the local cops would be doing something productive.

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