anonymousanonymouscoward 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: UK City Leaves Nearly Nine Million License Plate/Location Data Records Exposed On The Open Web

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 06 May, 2020 @ 06:51am

    Lazy or incompetent?

    I don't see the need to put this kind of data on an Internet accessible device. If other government agencies need access, couldn't they be given access to a private network that isn't Internet connected? Sure, over the Internet is easier, but only if one does not bother with properly securing the data, which would mean encrypting it among other things.

  • On the post: 'Job Creating' Sprint T-Mobile Merger Triggers Estimated 6,000 Non-Covid Layoffs

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 06 May, 2020 @ 06:46am

    It's still wait and see

    I have only a little doubt that predictions of job losses will come to fruition, but this article is arguing apples and oranges. The shutdown of Metro was expected, the idea being that it would be replaced by the Dish network that is still pie in the sky.
    The jobs promised by Legere are customer care postilions for the new merged entity. Those are theoretically still in the future, and predicated upon wishful thinking about the new merged entities share of the market.

    Of course those positions would only be needed if the new merged entity grows spectacularly, and given the history of competition between US telecom's there is little evidence that the new merged entity will be able to grow spectacularly. What could they offer, a better network, lower prices, better customer service? Those have either been tried or will need significant investment and much time, so there is no expectation that one of those will be the boon. Therein lies the doubt, and the job losses will come as the need to pay executive bonuses and service debt will drive the corporation to do what corporations do (see AT&T for examples).

  • On the post: The Decentralized Web Could Help Preserve The Internet's Data For 1,000 Years. Here's Why We Need IPFS To Build It.

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 05 May, 2020 @ 03:39pm

    I like this idea, but...

    Question, how will IP maximalists feel about this development? My feeling is that they will make sure all their IP is sequestered on their servers. Quite possibly to their disadvantage.

    Of course it will make 'taking down' things they claim are their IP more difficult as there won't be any easy 'place' to go after it. To that end, I bet they fight this advancement tooth and nail, even to the point of trying to buy legislation against it.

    "Your file, and all of the blocks within it, is given a unique fingerprint called a cryptographic hash."

    Another question is what is the relationship between the unique fingerprints and IP addresses?

  • On the post: Ring Docs Show Company Is Testing Consumer Enthusiasm For Facial Recognition, License Plate Reader Capabilities

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 04 May, 2020 @ 12:11pm

    Why would we do anything wrong? $$$$$$$

    What are the chances that when Ring announces overwhelming backing for the idea that they refuse to produce any actual results from their 'survey' supporting the contention? Further, will they be honest when false negatives refuse to allow people to enter their own homes?

  • On the post: Cambodian Government Using Fake News Law To Silence Critics And Coronavirus Reporting

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 04 May, 2020 @ 07:48am

    Do as we say, not as we do.

    I would call it funny how authoritarian governments around the world are so afraid of free speech, if it wasn't so horrifying. I don't have the same compunction for power that they seem to have, so I don't understand it. I recognize it, but I don't understand it.

    These psychopaths don't seem to realize that their populations will only stand for this for so long before they do something about it. Yes those in power tend to have the military and police on their side, but at some point, the non psychopaths in those ranks might come to understand how the policies exhibited impact their friends and families. The question then will be how to go about replacing governments with non-psychopaths, something even we haven't figured out yet.

    Yes there a a couple of totalitarian regimes that have managed to exist for quite a while now, but things change, and the rate of change is ever increasing. It is only a matter of time, how much time is unknown.

    Jailing and/or killing those that speak truth to power only creates martyrs for the cause, something those in power actually don't want. How they will react when they come to this realization will be interesting to watch, but I doubt I will still be around when it happens (too old and there is no current expectation for this to happen quickly).

  • On the post: Court Filings Show NSO Group Ran Malware Attacks Through Servers Located In California

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 02 May, 2020 @ 07:15am

    Re: Hmmm

    It could be just a likely that they are a wholly owned subsidiary of the Five Eyes consortium.

  • On the post: Prisons Replace Ankle Bracelets With An Expensive Smartphone App That Doesn't Work

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 01 May, 2020 @ 02:44pm

    Re:

    Why the hell should the government care whether the technology got cheaper. They make the parolees pay for it, which is a problem in itself.

  • On the post: Quibi Is What Happens When Hollywood Overvalues Content And Undervalues Community

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 01 May, 2020 @ 12:09pm

    Re:

    No copyright law that I am aware of says anything about the quality of the product. See pop music, much of what Hollywood produces, and bodice rippers for some examples.

  • On the post: Filings In Facebook's Lawsuit Against NSO Show FBI Director Chris Wray Was For Encryption Before He Was Against It

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 01 May, 2020 @ 08:15am

    Other than client, what's different now?

    It might help Mr Wray's case if he could elucidate what benefit the FBI gets from knowing everything said by users of encrypted programs, clearly and completely, so that the people (his actual bosses, rather than the hierarchy he works within) can evaluate the actual exigency of his position. Otherwise we will continue to take the most likely presumption that the FBI is operating under the same premise as J. Edgar Hoover and collecting information for purposes other than law enforcement. Which is completely out of bounds.

    It's not like the FBI had access to everything said between parties in the past. Sure, they could establish probable cause and get a warrant to tap some telephones, or open snail mail, but that hardly encompasses everything communicated between two people. It's not like there aren't other investigatory methods available, though they sound more like work.

    And the claim that things might involve 'national security' depends upon ones definition of national security. If national security encompasses constraints on the public by gathering information to keep power over the public, then they have the wrong notions about what national security is actually about, and their requests should be denied. Claiming that one cannot prove a negative doesn't work when one party is withholding evidence that will provide the positive proof.

  • On the post: We're Saved! Company Claims It's Patented 'Containing the Spread of Disinformation' And Will Stop COVID-19 Disinfo

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 01 May, 2020 @ 07:07am

    Keeping it simple

    "... rating and ranking the potential experts as a function of at least one of professionalism, reliability, proximity, experience, responsiveness, and lack of self-interest in the at least one topic of the content to identify a short list of experts; providing the content to the short list of experts for evaluation; polling the short list of experts about the veracity of the content to create a veracity score; and delivering the veracity score with the content."

    This will fall apart once it becomes known that their potential experts list consists of one and he will only respond to them via a tweet, after not having read the 'content', unless it is presented in such a way as to suggest it may create another 'cure' no one else has ever heard of.

    They get around that 'lack of self-interest' part by claiming it to be a 'national security' issue and classifying as 'super duper top top secret compartmentalized' all incoming correspondence from the patent holder. The other 'expert' criteria are spot on, in the expert's mind.

  • On the post: How Can Anyone Argue With A Straight Face That China's Approach To Speech Online Is Better Than The US's During A Pandemic

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 30 Apr, 2020 @ 08:11am

    Tangential but relevant

    I would argue that the White House's making its internal conversations about the Covid-19 response classified is about on par with the way China's government has handled things. Yes there are differences, but the Administrations presumption that the people should not know about the stumbling, back stabbing, self serving confluence of missteps and misdeeds that are the hallmarks of the response is none of our business is more than just pathetic. Government for the people, by the people is not within the scope of 'Governing by Trump™'.

    Being limited by the Constitution he turns to what he thinks he can get away with. Instead of censoring social media, Trump just calls anything he doesn't like 'fake', which in his mind is about the same thing.

    Is this a better response than the Chinese, or about the same regardless of the differences?

  • On the post: EU Joins In The Bullying Of South Africa For Daring To Adopt US-Style Fair Use Principles

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 30 Apr, 2020 @ 07:25am

    Looking at things backwards, again

    The worse thing that could happen to any IP is for it to be unknown with nobody talking about it. The fact that someone came up with a way to talk about their 'property' should be seen as a marketing ploy they failed to think of, and shame on them for that failure.

    As fair use stands in the US (and presumably soon in South Africa), it should be incumbent on the IP owners to thank the fair use innovator for their marketing efforts, and send a little money that way. Instead they choose to go all legal, invoking the Streisand Effect, which in a weird way extends the conversation about the IP, but that is only a positive if the legal asshatery is ignored.

  • On the post: AMC Theaters Pouts Like A Child Because NBC Universal Proved Movie Release Windows Are Nonsense

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 30 Apr, 2020 @ 07:16am

    Was that supposed to hurt?

    In a letter from independent theater operators to AMC Theatres chair-CEO Adam Aron, there was a succinct message:

    Dear Mr. Aron

    Thank you Adam!

    Independent Theater Operators et al

    PS: It is expected that Comcast NBC Universal will not be harmed by the recalcitrant theater distributor/operators actions.

    PPS: Nor us

  • On the post: As We're All Living, Working, And Socializing Via The Internet… MIT Tech Review Says It Proves Silicon Valley Innovation Is A Myth

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 29 Apr, 2020 @ 04:40pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Manufacturing

    Really. If you think Silicon Valley hasn't invented what you think they should have invented, then why haven't you invented it? There have been a lot of things created in Silicon Valley, and others that were created elsewhere but the entrepreneur moved to Silicon Valley possibly because there is saturation of talent there. Besides, tech-focused media, the public, and advocates for Silicon Valley don't decide what the value of Silicon Valley is, the marketplace does. In this case, two marketplaces the buying public and Wall Street. Both can be hoodwinked by hype, for a time.

  • On the post: Jay-Z Claims Copyright On Audio Deepfake Of Him Reciting Hamlet

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 29 Apr, 2020 @ 11:11am

    Talking about impressions

    It would be interesting if Vocal Synthesis has actually registered his products with the copyright office. Then when Jay-Z and his lawyers go to sue him they will be caught with their proverbial pants down when they claim they were honest in their DMCA claim that they represented, or owned the copyright on the content in question. Not that there would be any repercussions for that act, and it is likely that any embarrassment would act upon those lawyers like rain on a duck. Still, more than a few good meme's might come out of it.

  • On the post: As We're All Living, Working, And Socializing Via The Internet… MIT Tech Review Says It Proves Silicon Valley Innovation Is A Myth

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 29 Apr, 2020 @ 08:03am

    This sounds like Trump and his household disinfectants

    David Rotman: 'Bits and bytes properly injected can cure the coronavirus, so why hasn't Silicon Valley come up with the correct combination of bits and bytes.'

    Answer: 'Ask Harry Potter'.

    Conclusion: "Sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that".

    David Rotman: 'I am so disappointed'.

  • On the post: Sean Hannity Hires Charles Harder To Threaten The NY Times And Its Reporters, Because Of Course He Does

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 28 Apr, 2020 @ 05:27pm

    Re:

    Worse yet, the article is about Hannity suing the NYT, not someone suing Hannity, so whatever Hannity said has no bearing on the lawsuit in question.

  • On the post: Sean Hannity Hires Charles Harder To Threaten The NY Times And Its Reporters, Because Of Course He Does

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 28 Apr, 2020 @ 04:22pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Temporally-Challenged

    You should read this page https://www.minclaw.com/us-defamation-laws/ . Then tell us what statement of fact that the NYT or their reporter used that they knew or should have known was actually false. Opinions don't count. Accusations can be opinion. Stating that 'Trump is a buffoon who is screwing up the coronavirus response in the US' is an accusation, but it is also my opinion, and therefore not subject to defamation laws.

  • On the post: OK, Landlord: If Copyright Supporters Are Going To Insist Copyright Is Property, Why Are They So Mad About Being Called Landlords?

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 28 Apr, 2020 @ 12:18pm

    Re: rent seeking

    There is a small quibble with that, and it has to do with the arguments around the right of first sale. If I buy a hard cover book, I may resell it, and that is clearly established. If I buy an ebook however, it seems that the publishers treat that more like rent, and the question of the right of first sale is...well questionable, hell, they even take bought items back without permission of the current owner. If I rent that same ebook, it actually is rent, there is no right of first sale, but then what is the difference between renting and buying that ebook? The maximalists have been arguing for everything to be in their favor so hard that they have really made a mess of the marketplace. But that was their intent in the first place, that is so long as everything went in their favor.

  • On the post: Piracy Sees 'Unprecedented' Pandemic Bounce, But So Does All Media Consumption

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 28 Apr, 2020 @ 07:39am

    Re: 'Next to study: The rise of cabin fever.'

    I am fully expecting some maximalist dork to express the thought that 'creators' still need to eat' in these tough times, even more than pesky users. In their heads, those 'creators' actually mean the executives of the copyright holding companies that have never actually created anything, except the the current copyright mess. Oh, right, they may have also 'created' some inventive ways of withholding income to actual creators in such a way that the feathering of their own nest looks legitimate, in similar ways they go about withholding taxes due the government. The whole silo schema is about retaining a larger portion of income without having to share it with broadcasters and cable companies. In the end they will find that they are holding on so tight in order to control their 'product' that that they crush the system. The rate of change is ever increasing and it took X amount of time for broadcasting to succumb to cable. It will take less time for cable to succumb to silos (which seems to be happening fairly fast), and even less still for silos to succumb to whatever is next.

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