anonymousanonymouscoward 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (3524) comment rss

  • On the post: ICE Says Students Duped By Its Fake College Sting Should Have Known It Was A Sting

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 03 Dec, 2019 @ 03:22pm

    It's a wonder they had so many bites

    In thinking about this, instead of naming their fake school University of Farmington, the should have called it Whatsamatta U!

  • On the post: Ring Coyness About Adding Facial Recognition Tech To Its Cameras Doesn't Extend To Its Marketing Materials

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 02 Dec, 2019 @ 11:58am

    Re:

    Hi Amazon PR department employee. Do any of these scared out of their minds surveillance seekers ever consider the privacy of their neighbors? Do they ever consider the rights of their neighbors? Do they ever consider what rights they themselves are giving up? Or, are these scared out of their minds surveillance seekers totally bamboozled by the Amazon and police rhetoric about the 'good' the Ring system might do?

  • On the post: As Devin Nunes Threatens More SLAPP Suits, He May Have To Explain Why Cows Can Type In His First SLAPP Suit

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 02 Dec, 2019 @ 11:07am

    Re:

    Leave off the return address. Nunes might consider that to be threatening.

  • On the post: Wireless ISP Starry Says It Will Apply California's Privacy Requirements Nationwide

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 02 Dec, 2019 @ 01:46pm

    A few questions

    1. How would one know whether they actually do what they say they will do?

    2. What would be the consequences if their customers find out that they aren't in fact doing what they say they will do, merely lost customers with a smattering of bad publicity?

    3. Would the FTC know, or even care, if they were caught not doing what they said they would do and call it false advertising? No point in asking about the FCC, as they gave up the authority to act in such cases, unless of course they lose that case we have been waiting to conclude where the new 'rules' they are expounding are called bullshit and they have to enforce the old ones. Then, who's gonna make them?

  • On the post: Ring Coyness About Adding Facial Recognition Tech To Its Cameras Doesn't Extend To Its Marketing Materials

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 02 Dec, 2019 @ 11:03am

    The Tech ain't ripe, and may never be

    Could it be that Ring's definition of suspicious is the same as 'extensively' trained police officers who identify suspicious and furtive activity as being nervous when talking to police on one day and not being nervous when talking to police on another? If humans can't get it right, or impose their own biases with or without knowing it, how will the software make such a decision? I don't believe that software making these kinds of decisions can be written without bias as it will need to compare to something, and that definition of something will contain bias.

    As to dressing better, according to whose standards? In the 1940's almost every man wore a tie, and that has changed many times since then. Will they be updating their technology to the fashion trends of the day, and lambaste anyone wearing last years fashions? (Would they be trying to drive Amazon fashion sales?) Does not caring about fashion constitute suspicious activity? What are they gonna do on Halloween, or if you hold a costume party? How will it treat your kids when they come home from a mud-ball war with their friends, looking rather dirty and unkempt?

  • On the post: Officer Charged With Felony Murder Now Facing Seven More Charges Over Deadly No-Knock Raid

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 27 Nov, 2019 @ 03:26pm

    Re:

    "The story seems one step shy from swatting someone."
    That's only because the narco's wanted the bust and didn't call the swat team. Besides, more witnesses to the drugs you want to plant isn't something even a corrupt narco officer would contemplate. That is, if his comprehension went that far. It didn't, in other ways.

  • On the post: The End Of Ownership, Military Edition: Even The US Military Can't Fix Its Own Equipment Without Right To Repair Laws

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 27 Nov, 2019 @ 06:00pm

    It isn't cheaper if you have to pay forever

    Isn't the big question why did/does DoD allow such requirements in their contracts? The way I understand how government procurement works, they go for the lowest bidder, and one way to create a low bid is to have an ongoing revenue flow by requiring all repair be done by the manufacturer. However, that is a rather obvious tactic and as pointed out in the article above has a drastic effect on unit readiness. DoD procurement people should be cognizant of that, and if they aren't they should be replaced by more competent personnel.

    I wonder how big the kickbacks were?

  • On the post: Cable Execs Now Falsely Claiming Cord Cutting Is Slowing Down

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 27 Nov, 2019 @ 07:14am

    Future forward

    Wait until they realize that the silo'ed world of streaming ain't gonna work either (their hoping against hope that their 'strategies' aren't actually wrong). Expect a whole new category of word salad nicoise a la potato to explain the impending failures that they say aren't really failures. And the whole lotta money down the drain? Cost of doing business, and were gonna have to raise prices to remain viable.

  • On the post: Empty T-Mobile Promises Convince Texas To Back Off Merger Lawsuit

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 26 Nov, 2019 @ 07:02am

    Re: Re: Fill-er up

    Given the state of political parties these days, I doubt it matters.

  • On the post: The Sketchy, Sketchy Case Of ICANN Execs And Self-Dealing Regarding The .Org Domain

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 26 Nov, 2019 @ 11:43am

    Shame, shame, shame.

    I wonder how their original charter was worded that allows this kind of behavior. The non-profits that I have been involved with would not allow such a transaction, at least without destroying the tax advantages we enjoyed (501c3) (under US tax laws, but were they chartered under US tax laws?).

    In any event, they have spoiled the notion that these public service organization existed to serve the public. I also wonder how easy/difficult it would be to take the responsibilities they claim away from them? So far as I know, there is no law, anywhere, that actually gives them the power to control the Internet, and there are a lot more of us than there are of them.

  • On the post: Empty T-Mobile Promises Convince Texas To Back Off Merger Lawsuit

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 26 Nov, 2019 @ 06:55am

    Fill-er up

    "Empty T-Mobile Promises..."

    Thinking about this, I have come to the conclusion that those promises are not in fact actually empty. They are full of bull puckey. Now the question becomes how an AG from Texas fails to recognize bull puckey when he sees it tells us he has never been on a ranch. Which I find a bit less than credible, for a Texan.

  • On the post: EU Tells US: Ban Strong Encryption, And Privacy Shield Data Sharing Agreement Could Be At Risk

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 25 Nov, 2019 @ 09:24am

    How to talk out of both sides of ones mouth at the same time

    Seems like a premier example of doublespeak. While not banning encryption, it sure sounds like they want backdoors, ones that are about as effective as screen doors on submarines.

  • On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 24 Nov, 2019 @ 04:29pm

    Re: Re: It's asymmetrical by design.

    Both sides are bad. So get rid of sides. Eliminate political parties.

  • On the post: The Curious Case Of The Bogus CC License On A 3D Scan Of A 3000-Year-Old Bust Of Nefertiti

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 22 Nov, 2019 @ 10:59am

    Here ya go, but don't you dare try to make money off it

    I am not sure how curious this is, now that we have entered the age of everything must be owned. Wrong headed, maybe illegal, controlling might be better descriptions.

    Maybe the museum is bitter about how few of their pricey replications they have sold, though I don't see how behaving in this manner is going to improve that situation.

  • On the post: AT&T Exec Insists That No Broadband Company Is Violating Net Neutrality Even Though AT&T Is Absolutely Violating Net Neutrality

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 21 Nov, 2019 @ 07:16am

    Re:

    While true, in the legal sense, I think Stankey's statement was expressed as 'they weren't violating net neutrality even in the sense of concept', and as Karl points out, that is flatly false. We get to these points of contention when entities are 'spinning' notions rather than being honest with themselves and others. So long as the topic is 'turning' there is potential for the unwary to become mesmerized by that 'spin' rather than use a tiny bit of intellectual awareness and deflect the misdirection.

  • On the post: Attorney General Calls FOIA Requests 'Harassment' During Long Rant About How Much It Sucks To Be Running The Nation

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 20 Nov, 2019 @ 11:09am

    Short term thinking begets short term solutions

    Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

    It sure seems Barr wants Executive power to be not just absolute, but absolutely unassailable. The march toward an authoritarian regime staggers forward as power flows from the people to the government. What is poorly anticipated, but probably actually unstoppable is that the government derives its power from the people and they won't, in the end, relinquish it entirely. There may be many, maybe even a majority of apathetic constituents, but they will only remain so until the machinations of the government actually touches them.

  • On the post: Ajit Pai Does a Good Thing As He Pushes For Public C Band Auction

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 20 Nov, 2019 @ 07:06am

    Sounds good, now using that money to benefit users...

    I sure hope that if the money gets designated to completing a nationwide fiber deployment that it won't happen by giving the money to Telecom's and other broadband providers as their history of following through with such investment is less than poor. There is no need to contribute the money to them as they will only serve to fund executive bonuses and paying down debt ingloriously acquired buying entities they really shouldn't have been allowed to buy. The money should be payed to some entities that are solely involved with infrastructure deployment (as work is completed), along with whatever necessary rulings that allow them to proceed without interference from incumbent possessors of 'pole rites' or other 'right of way' encumbrances.

    To hope that such a deployment would come with open access would be asking for more than one could reasonably expect from the current playing field. Though hope springs eternal.

  • On the post: Facebook Claims Users Sign Up Because They Want To See Personalized Ads, Max Schrems Disagrees — And Usually Wins These GDPR Arguments

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 19 Nov, 2019 @ 01:48pm

    On reading and reading comprehension

    Did someone do a study on how many people actually read the new terms of service?

    Another question for that poll might be of those that claim to have read the whole thing (how many pages?) how many understood it?

    Then, further, from that reading, did they understand that in order to 'personalize' those ads Facebook claims they love how much information as well as what information is collected and to whom it is disseminated?

    I will bet the first number is low. The second number is even lower. And the answer to that last multi-part question is WTF.

  • On the post: Evangelical 'Financial Whiz' Who Apparently Hates Gossip, Sues YouTuber For Criticism

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 19 Nov, 2019 @ 11:48am

    Are Evangelicals complicit?

    “instills fear and dominance and control over every aspect of life.”

    Sounds like a few religions I have heard about.

  • On the post: Interpol Confirms, Denies It's Against Strong Encryption

    anonymousanonymouscoward ( profile ), 19 Nov, 2019 @ 06:39am

    Where will it end?

    If we give into this idea (and we shouldn't), one has to consider, what will they ask for next?

    Authoritarianism is finding its way to you, one disguised step at a time.

Next >>