aeio_ 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: EFF Officially Appeals Tim Berners-Lee Decision On DRM In HTML

    aeio_ ( profile ), 13 Jul, 2017 @ 06:53am

    being labeled 'the inventor of the web.'

    So have YOU sent any money to him for reading this article? I haven't.

    Being labeled as such doesn't bring in any money. (What HAVE you done for me lately?)

    I don't know if he's been "paid off" or not. (And how would we know/trust any info?) I personally think he's just given up the fight to keep DRM away and wants to standardize the interface -- as opposed to everyone coming up with their own peculiarly implemented ideas.

  • On the post: Copyright Madness: Blurred Lines Mess Means Artists Now Afraid To Name Their Inspirations

    aeio_ ( profile ), 13 Jul, 2017 @ 06:43am

    ...and decided that inspiration was copyright infringement.

    So in other words: "You didn't build that?"

  • On the post: To Avoid Being Cut Out Of The Market, US Tech Companies Are Allowing Russian Vetting Of Source Code

    aeio_ ( profile ), 27 Jun, 2017 @ 10:17pm

    Re: Pointless

    Yeah, but showing code while supplying a different binary is easy and obvious after thinking for a few seconds. Try THIS on for size. "a hack (in every sense), the most subversive ever perpetrated, nothing less than the root password of all evil. Ken describes how he injected a virus into a compiler. Not only did his compiler know it was compiling the login function and inject a backdoor, but it also knew when it was compiling itself and injected the backdoor generator into the compiler it was creating. The source code for the compiler thereafter contains no evidence of either virus." http://wiki.c2.com/?TheKenThompsonHack https://www.ece.cmu.edu/~ganger/712.fall02/papers/p761-thompson.pdf

  • On the post: Copyright Office Admits That DMCA Is More About Giving Hollywood 'Control' Than Stopping Infringement

    aeio_ ( profile ), 27 Jun, 2017 @ 11:21am

    Really?

    "the Copyright Office's job is ... Not about what's good for Hollywood."

    Really? Have you lived under a rock your entire life? Haven't you ever heard of "Other Duties as Assigned?" Psssht. Peons and their tiny worries.

  • On the post: Wall Street Is Starting To Get Very Nervous About Cable TV Cord Cutting

    aeio_ ( profile ), 23 Jun, 2017 @ 10:11am

    Re: Re:

    "before being moved into less volatile instruments" Volatile? Typo -- you misspelled Vegas!

  • On the post: Monkey Selfie Case Gets Even Weirder, As The Monkey's 'Next Friends' Are In A Criminal Dispute With Each Other

    aeio_ ( profile ), 10 Jun, 2017 @ 12:39am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: PETA: Silly Is What We Do

    "They are basically what happens when Scientologists go full vegan crazy."

    STOP giving Scientologists a bad name by comparing them to PITA (Sorry, PETA. Freudian slip of the tongue there.) That's their own cross to bear -- as it were.

    They're BOTH horrible. Must we have competition and a winner for ultimate crappyness? I'd rather punch doggies with the cowboys or clear my mind sniffing Windex.

  • On the post: Senate Given The Go-Ahead To Use Encrypted Messaging App Signal

    aeio_ ( profile ), 21 May, 2017 @ 03:43pm

    Re7: Why do you need one?

    "Don't forget that you still need to seed any PRNG from a good source of initial randomness."

    Of course -- exactly right! And here you go:

    https://xkcd.com/221/
    http://dilbert.com/strip/2001-10-25

    And there's also this gem:

    Anyone who attempts to generate random numbers by deterministic means is, of course, living in a state of sin.
    -- John von Neumann

  • On the post: Leaked NSA Hacking Tool On Global Ransomware Rampage

    aeio_ ( profile ), 13 May, 2017 @ 02:00pm

    Re: Re:

    "A root kit... any valid uses?"

    Why of COURSE! Just ask Sony!

    (If you don't know: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootkit_scandal )

    It's also great if you're ALWAYS forgetting those pesky authentication codes on systems that you don't own.

  • On the post: ISPs Lose En Banc Appeal, Current Net Neutrality Rules Remain Intact…For Now

    aeio_ ( profile ), 02 May, 2017 @ 10:53pm

    Re:

    "Save us, Ajit Pai. You're our only hope."

    You misspelled "Dope". And no, he's not the only one -- there are at least 435+100 more.

    (YES I know what it's from.)

  • On the post: Stupid Patents Of The Month: Taxi Dispatch Tech

    aeio_ ( profile ), 01 May, 2017 @ 09:17pm

    Re: Response to: Anonymous Coward on May 1st, 2017 @ 7:21pm

    "would you choose to defend your rights when you're offered a $5,000 settlement over a 50/50 chance to lose millions? ... What I'd the chances are closer to 80/20?"

    Hmmm ... so the overall idea here is to "Charge what the market will bear" without killing the golden goose in the meantime.

    That's wonderful! That's great! I think I'll patent that exact idea and overall view! Thanks a million! (Or should that be 5 million?)

  • On the post: If A Phone's Facial Recognition Security Can Be Defeated By A Picture Of A Face, What Good Is It?

    aeio_ ( profile ), 04 Apr, 2017 @ 08:23pm

    Re:

    "You can change your password, but good luck changing your fingerprints, your iris, your face." That's what reincarnation is for. Just hope they don't wipe your mind in the process -- I don't think they've quite got the process down yet. (1) http://people.com/books/meet-the-boy-who-believes-he-was-lou-gehrig-in-a-past-life-his-mom-is-convinced-too/ --- because if you can't convince your mom, you're sure not going to convince anyone else.

  • On the post: If A Phone's Facial Recognition Security Can Be Defeated By A Picture Of A Face, What Good Is It?

    aeio_ ( profile ), 04 Apr, 2017 @ 08:17pm

    Re:

    "...can it be used if you are unconscious? "

    But most of the population is unconscious. Or at least unthinking, which is the same thing.

  • On the post: Real Talk About Fake News

    aeio_ ( profile ), 03 Apr, 2017 @ 08:29pm

    Re: Re: Re:

    "Yeah I get all my news from the Bible."

    I get mine from the comic pages. They're all about the same thing.

  • On the post: Spotify (Basically) Tells Its Free Users, 'Go Pirate!'

    aeio_ ( profile ), 01 Apr, 2017 @ 09:32am

    It's NOT the music that Spotify is selling...

    It's the organization and easy availability of that music.

    If you know an artist name or name of a song, Spotify can quickly (in a few clicks) bring it up. Not always (Flim and the BB's) but mostly (the album by Hot Butter)

    (OT: Know the actual melody but not the name/artist? Look here.)

    But you get great-sounding music, instantly available on-the-fly. And you don't have to search hard to find and finally download a copy, store it someplace, back it up (on floppies?), copy it to your phone, then find it AGAIN to play it. Like Google, a click or two and it's just THERE! And absolutely no nasty Copyright Infringement Notices either.

    And -- oh yeah -- you can Feel Good(TM) by supporting the artists with a legal copy, but I wonder how much people would ACTUALLY pay for just that. (Taylor Swift thinks it should be more.)

    There's Nothing For You To Do! (Besides the ever-so-minor, I'm socially embarrassed to even have to mention it, let me grovel for a bit, $10/month fee. Why, that's only 90 minutes of minimum wage -- only 1% of your raw salary! What else would you do with the money -- Save? Eat? Pay bills? How pedestrian!)

    So, surprise! If it's worth it to you in relationship to everything else that's available, you purchase. If not, you don't. If the price goes up, more people (probably) won't. If it goes down, they probably will.

    Taylor Swift could help us all out greatly by making LOTS and lots more music -- thus lowering the rarity and price for us all. :-)

  • On the post: Real Talk About Fake News

    aeio_ ( profile ), 29 Mar, 2017 @ 01:04pm

    Re: My take.

    "use our good sense to figure out what we believe and what we don't." What -- what -- WHAT?!? You want people to actually think for themselves and not just blindly believe whatever narrative is convenient for the current commentator clamoring for their consideration? You, Sir, need to visit your nearest Education Center ASAP. I'll let them know you're coming so they can prepare an extra dose of helpfulness.

  • On the post: Prosecutors Have Pulled Data From More Than 100 Phones Seized From Inauguration Day Protesters

    aeio_ ( profile ), 24 Mar, 2017 @ 11:01am

    Re:

    "[those] actually engaged in destructive rioting could blend in with and be indistinguishable from the larger number who protested lawfully."

    Ahhh, I was going to gripe about this ("destructive rioting"? WTH?) but then I remembered about the Boston Tea Party.

    Still, "No Taxation Without Representation" isn't quite the same as "Not My President" (Read: I don't like the results of the election and I'm going to do something about it AFTER THE FACT.)

  • On the post: Court: Unsupported Assertions And Broad Language Aren't Enough To Support Cell Phone Searches

    aeio_ ( profile ), 16 Feb, 2017 @ 05:52pm

    Re: Re: Particularity

    "But they don't want evidence. They want information."

    We want information… information… information.
    Number Six: You won't get it.
    Number Two: By hook or by crook, we will.


    https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Prisoner

  • On the post: A Little Something Called Competition Forces Verizon To Bring Back Unlimited* Data

    aeio_ ( profile ), 13 Feb, 2017 @ 04:06pm

    Re:

    I doubt there's many of us. Unless there's some overriding financial reason, I imagine they'll just leave us alone or lump us in the new unlimited set, whatever's easier.

    I know one point in one month I used (was a 3x spike) 120G and showed up like a nail on their usage charts. The next month my target was magically unavailable, so instead I watched V NFL Sports, the unlimited free version. A LOT more than that. (After a month I got bored and stopped.)

    It's amazing how airwaves -- what you'd think would be scarce -- are free only while you're talking to a box on their internet network. It's almost like they want to charge extra for network egress to the Internet.

    My! That sounds like portable AOL, which for a lot of people WAS the internet.

  • On the post: Law Enforcement Has Been Using OnStar, SiriusXM, To Eavesdrop, Track Car Locations For More Than 15 Years

    aeio_ ( profile ), 17 Jan, 2017 @ 05:34pm

    Re:

    There's an Android app my GF and I use -- it's called Life360, and tracks our phone position in real-time and logs it for a month. Pretty maps and alerts when we enter or exit a geo-fenced area too.

    I don't care if she knows exactly where I go. I've told her that it's tracking her as well and to leave the group or uninstall it if she has problems with it. She's left it up because she doesn't care if I know where she is either.

    (If I really cared about location I'd hit "airplane mode" or leave the phone at home and use a burner with call-forwarding.)

    "Life three sixty" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue easily so we just call it the "stalker" app.

    Hell, if everybody else is tracking me, I might as well get some good out of it too! ;-)

    ------

    As a matter of fact, my home got robbed recently. I was able to use this to see when I left since I wasn't paying attention.

  • On the post: Law Enforcement Has Been Using OnStar, SiriusXM, To Eavesdrop, Track Car Locations For More Than 15 Years

    aeio_ ( profile ), 17 Jan, 2017 @ 05:22pm

    Re: Re:

    "This is a system capable of tracking a limited number of cars"

    But there are only a finite number of cars on the road. Maybe they need to bill the government for a slight equipment upgrade.

    Then we wouldn't have any of these pesky limits.

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