Andrew 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Sorry, But We Don't Just Hand Out Information On Our Commenters

    Andrew ( profile ), 23 Sep, 2010 @ 02:46pm

    Re: Freedom

    Considering those said rights have only existed for a couple of hundred years, we're still in our prime! Yeah!

  • On the post: Sorry, But We Don't Just Hand Out Information On Our Commenters

    Andrew ( profile ), 23 Sep, 2010 @ 11:31am

    Swanky signature!

  • On the post: Judge Indicates LVRJ May Have Offered An 'Implied License' To Copy In Righthaven Lawsuits

    Andrew ( profile ), 21 Sep, 2010 @ 09:20am

    Name

    Stichting Wolkenkrabbers wins today's award for best name ever.

  • On the post: Filipino Gov't Loses Court Case Because It Relied On Wikipedia

    Andrew ( profile ), 02 Sep, 2010 @ 12:47pm

    I've been a Wikipedia administrator for five years and I'll always say that it's stupid and lazy to cite Wikipedia directly in any formal venue. Cite what Wikipedia cites.

  • On the post: Do US Visa Documents Have A Typo?

    Andrew ( profile ), 20 Aug, 2010 @ 10:56am

    I'm amazed you gave any time whatsoever to the "JQA renamed himself" comment. Why bother?

  • On the post: Reports Of The Web's Death Are Greatly Exaggerated Through Lies, Damn Lies & Statistics

    Andrew ( profile ), 17 Aug, 2010 @ 02:55pm

    Re: Stats can be made to say anything

    Probably the same. Realize that traffic in 1990 was many, many orders of magnitude smaller than traffic in 2010, so DNS requests, essentially the overhead of internet traffic, would have made up a larger proportion.

    And I would agree, Telnet, FTP, and Usenet have vastly lower usages nowadays, at least proportionally. FTP in particular is a lost art. I miss logging in to ftp.cdrom.com and wuarchive.wustl.edu and infant2.sphs.indiana.edu. :(

  • On the post: Reports Of The Web's Death Are Greatly Exaggerated Through Lies, Damn Lies & Statistics

    Andrew ( profile ), 17 Aug, 2010 @ 01:09pm

    Re: Re: Trying again...

    But can the tubes fit in a big truck?

  • On the post: Reports Of The Web's Death Are Greatly Exaggerated Through Lies, Damn Lies & Statistics

    Andrew ( profile ), 17 Aug, 2010 @ 12:59pm

    Trying again...

    Wow, that's annoying. My whole post got obliterated somehow. I was saying...

    What surprised me about that graph was that apparently Usenet was less than 1% in 1990, when it should have been, I think, much more. Sure, it didn't hit its stride until broadband met the binary groups, and AOL's eternal September, but still. I'd also like to know what makes up "Other" back in 1990.

    Also, Dark Helmet, "putting the Internet on the cart"? The web is not the Internet, so I don't think they're doing anything of the sort.

  • On the post: Reports Of The Web's Death Are Greatly Exaggerated Through Lies, Damn Lies & Statistics

    Andrew ( profile ), 17 Aug, 2010 @ 12:50pm

    Usenet

    What surprised me about that graph was that apparently Usenet was

  • On the post: Political Campaign Against Craigslist Ratchets Up

    Andrew ( profile ), 11 Aug, 2010 @ 07:39am

    Re:

    Sounds like the best thing to do to combat child abuse (Perverted Justice hardly is about pimping, from what I understand) is to force AOL and Yahoo to police IM chats, since it seems that's how most of PJ's fish get hooked. I'm not sure how bringing up PJ (which is not generally about prostitution) has anything to do with a discussion about Craigslist and online hooker ads, child or otherwise.

  • On the post: Political Campaign Against Craigslist Ratchets Up

    Andrew ( profile ), 10 Aug, 2010 @ 11:30am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Disagree

    No, I'm not "comparing humans to file sharing", and your insistence that I am discourages me from this conversation. I'm not sure how "comparing humans to drugs" is any better than comparing them to an MP3.

    There's a reason the majority say they were sold on Craigslist - because Craigslist has the vast majority of listings. If those were to disappear, the trade would not disappear, it would move to other sites, like Backpage or even seedier ones. Be careful what you wish for; just as the labels rejoiced in killing Napster, they laid the seeds of their own destruction. Or, just as politicians rejoiced in banning alcohol or drugs, they had planted the seeds of years of mob violence and dependence on unregulated consumables. Just as some would rejoice in the death of 'adult personals' on Craigslist, be careful where those personals may appear next. You won't end [child] prostitution by targeting Craigslist, you won't even dent it.

  • On the post: NatWest Realizes It Screwed Up Sending Cease & Desist To Website Reviewing NatWest

    Andrew ( profile ), 10 Aug, 2010 @ 06:59am

    Penalties

    It would be nice if official C&Ds had to be registered with a court, with penalties given out if they turn out to be entirely spurious. After all, a C&D is merely a prelude to a lawsuit, so why not get the court involved from the start?

  • On the post: Political Campaign Against Craigslist Ratchets Up

    Andrew ( profile ), 10 Aug, 2010 @ 06:52am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Disagree

    Ok, I read one line further, "I would like to think that our society would put more value on a human life than a file." That's nice, but has nothing to do with what I said, and it appears to be a slight directed at me, suggesting that I had made such an equation. So you greatly insulted me here, and that is far less mature than anything I could give in return.

    I absolutely agree that prostitutes should not be arrested, because what they are doing should be legalized. As for child prostitutes, guess what, then it falls under child labor laws. Everybody wins. Light is the best disinfectant; keep the economy underground, and there will be no checks and balances on behavior. Which is precisely why such children are abused the way they are. Not because of Craigslist. Shut it down, a dozen more sites will (and in fact, have) pop up in its place to cater to this market, and do not fool yourself, it is a gigantic market. Instead of hunting it down in some misguided prohibition like the drug war, open it up and embrace it. Stop being scared of it.

    If you could only have communicated your opinion without a misguided rant.

  • On the post: Is It Defamation To Call The Couple Who Got Into White House Dinner 'Party Crashers'?

    Andrew ( profile ), 09 Aug, 2010 @ 02:45pm

    er...

    By calling them 'party crashes', how is it defaming them? That's their one claim to fame! You're virtually complimenting them.

  • On the post: Political Campaign Against Craigslist Ratchets Up

    Andrew ( profile ), 09 Aug, 2010 @ 02:38pm

    Re: legalizing and licensing the trade

    Absolutely. I will not dare to assume one way or another, but I would like to know what the numbers are on child prostitution in the counties of Nevada where legal brothels exist.

  • On the post: Political Campaign Against Craigslist Ratchets Up

    Andrew ( profile ), 09 Aug, 2010 @ 02:37pm

    Re: Re: Re: Disagree

    "You are comparing people who engage in pedophilia and the commercial sexual exploitation of children to people who would rather share than pay for music. Do you think the young girls (and boys) who are victimized are equivalent to a file?"

    No, I am not. I am comparing the response to them. Destroying Napster did not end the illegal music trade, and in fact it caused it to thrive; destroying Craigslist will certainly not end the prostitution trade online, and may in fact cause it to thrive, having been driven further underground to the seedier elements. The rest of your post, based on your opening paragraph, is not worth my time reading.

  • On the post: Discovery Channel Forcing Deadliest Catch Fan Site Offline; Claims Embedding Official Videos Infringes

    Andrew ( profile ), 09 Aug, 2010 @ 11:13am

    Re: Resist...

    I can see that doing it as a hobby, I have nothing to lose. I would spend no money except to send back a letter saying "lol no" and continue on my way, turning my site into a memorial to Discovery's stupidity.

    You only have to pay money if they actually take you to court. And they won't, because they don't do that to people who stand up to them.

  • On the post: Discovery Channel Forcing Deadliest Catch Fan Site Offline; Claims Embedding Official Videos Infringes

    Andrew ( profile ), 09 Aug, 2010 @ 09:42am

    Stones

    Grow them, and stop caving in. A word of advice to everyone who receives a spurious C&D. The more you cave in, the less motivation there is for them to ever stop sending them.

  • On the post: Congress About To Pass 'The ______Act of____' (These Are The People We Elect?)

    Andrew ( profile ), 09 Aug, 2010 @ 08:39am

    Kang and Kodos would be proud

    Forward, never backward, upward, never forward, and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom!

  • On the post: Political Campaign Against Craigslist Ratchets Up

    Andrew ( profile ), 09 Aug, 2010 @ 07:40am

    Re: Disagree

    The internet makes it easier for men to find prostitutes, and easier for pimps to exploit children. Craigslist is just one cog in this wheel; just like Napster, destroying it will hardly destroy the illegal trade.

    Light is the best disinfectant.

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