Aussie Geoff 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (25) comment rss

  • On the post: Stupid Patent Of The Month: Phoenix Licensing Trolls Marketers With 'Personalized Communications' Patent

    Aussie Geoff ( profile ), 01 Mar, 2016 @ 04:01am

    Re: Stopgap measure

    I would go further. The plaintiff must file in a court in the jurisdiction where the defendant has its headquarters and court costs are strictly on a loser pays system. If the plaintiff withdraws from or loses the case the defendant is compensated 150% of the total costs incurred to defend the case, of course this should be in addition to the reimbursement of their costs incurred in defending the case.

    I think this will slow down the trolls and their trivial "patents".

  • On the post: No, A Judge Did Not Just Order Apple To Break Encryption On San Bernardino Shooter's iPhone, But To Create A New Backdoor

    Aussie Geoff ( profile ), 17 Feb, 2016 @ 05:50am

    Why Bother?

    There is absolutely no reason to need a court order! Just give the phone to Leroy Gibbs, he gives it to Abby Sciuto with instructions to crack it and approximately 20 minutes later she has the results for him - see, problem solved!

  • On the post: Exxon Sues Roxx Vodka Over Xs: Oil And Vodka Are Oh So Similar

    Aussie Geoff ( profile ), 03 Nov, 2015 @ 03:38am

    Re: Lawyer thankin'

    Er no. Ethanol (UIPAC name) is ethyl alcohol (common name)!

  • On the post: New Hampshire Library Rejects DHS Fearmongering, Turns Tor Back On

    Aussie Geoff ( profile ), 17 Sep, 2015 @ 04:18am

    Aren't you misquoting the DHS's motto - Die Free Or Live"?

  • On the post: Australian Secretary Of Defense Not Concerned About Phone Hack; Doesn't Think People Want To Spy On His Phone

    Aussie Geoff ( profile ), 04 Mar, 2015 @ 06:55am

    Please get the title right!

    Australia does not have a Secretary of Defense (or in Queens English Defence), we have a Minister for Defence, just like the Minister for Health, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Minister for Trade etc. Now he may have some secretaries works for him but I very much doubt he/she/they are called secretaries of defen(c/s)e.

  • On the post: If You Don't Mind A Little Perjury, You Can Convict Two People For The Same Crime

    Aussie Geoff ( profile ), 02 Dec, 2014 @ 04:57am

    Re: Re:

    I must live in a backward country (my username should give it away), we have a law for just that purpose: Suborning Perjury - offering an inducement for a person to commit Perjury. It does not just apply to prosecutors, it is applicable to anyone who offers an inducement.

    We also have another law that may be applicable: Attempting to Pervert the Course of Justice. Of course if you are successful you can/will be charged with Perverting the Course of Justice

    They do work! We convicted a retired State Supreme Court Justice on multiple counts of Perjury, Suborning Perjury and Attempting to Pervert the Course of Justice. He got nailed speeding and then fought it in court, basically lying to the court and getting other witnesses to lie on his behalf, all over a $70 (I think) fine! From memory he got 12 months prison time. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

  • On the post: German Publishers Grant Google A 'Free License' Google Never Needed To Post News Snippets

    Aussie Geoff ( profile ), 24 Oct, 2014 @ 06:16am

    Just say no.

    Google should just say no and not display any snippets from any VG Media affiliates. Let VG Media deal with the lost traffic and reduced revenue themselves using their own resources.

  • On the post: Wikileaks Reveals Super Injunction Blocking Reporting On Massive Australian Corruption Case Involving Leaders Of Malaysia, Indonesia & Vietnam

    Aussie Geoff ( profile ), 31 Jul, 2014 @ 06:32am

    Re: Re:

    There was nothing bad about the series. The "problem" was that most of the remaining, major criminals involved in Victoria's underworld and drugs syndicates (approx 38-40 were killed) were on trial and the the court did not want the jurors to be influenced by the series.

    Of course the series distorted the facts for "dramatic" reasons anyway.

    The ban was useless. It was televised and sold everywhere else in Australia. I bought the series and mailed to my brother-in-law who lives in Melbourne. I really doubt I was the only person in Australia that did that or something similar.

  • On the post: German Government Drops Verizon Contract Over NSA Spying, But Still Won't Investigate

    Aussie Geoff ( profile ), 27 Jun, 2014 @ 08:19am

    But, of course

    the NSA and its defenders will keep blaming Ed Snowden.

    But of course it is all Snowden's fault! If he hadn't shined the light on the National Spy Agency's hidden dirty laundry, the public would not know about any of this and the spying could carry on as usual

  • On the post: US, Apparently With No Sense Of Irony, Preaching 'Openness' And 'Transparency' To Chinese

    Aussie Geoff ( profile ), 08 Apr, 2014 @ 05:35am

    Yum

    Oh yum! The United Sleazebags of Amerika government (not necessarily the people) has promulgated another self serving diktat, please pass the salt, by the ship load!!

  • On the post: UK Finally 'Legalizes' CD & DVD Ripping… But You're Still Not Allowed To Circumvent DRM

    Aussie Geoff ( profile ), 29 Mar, 2014 @ 04:12am

    What's DRM?

    I don't ever worry about DRM (Digital Restrictions Manipulation), I just use the products from Slysoft.com (http://slysoft.com/en/). They don't care about all the DRM crap and every time some paranoid arsehole "invents" a new form of "screwing over the buyers/owners" Slysoft releases an update within a couple of days (usually this just involves an update to AnyDVD and AnyDVD HD - you only need one or the other, never both).

    I can, and do, burn and/or rip copies of "protected" CDs, DVDs and Blu-Ray disks without any problems. I get rid of all the irrelevant crap, warnings, threats, propaganda, multiple languages, regional coding etc so I have a clean copy and then make a backup copy of the clean copy. The original gets filed away in a cardboard box in the storage room, the clean copy goes into the original case and the copy gets played multiple times.

    They are based in Antigua and consequently don't care about the monopolists or govt regulations, they just follow Antiguan law.

  • On the post: New NSA Bill From House Intelligence Committee Aims To Head Off Future Challenges To Legality Of National Security Letters

    Aussie Geoff ( profile ), 28 Mar, 2014 @ 03:38am

    Totalitarianism is alive and well in Amerika!

  • On the post: Whistleblower John Kiriakou Questions Why He's In Jail While Former CIA Boss Leon Panetta Is Free

    Aussie Geoff ( profile ), 18 Mar, 2014 @ 04:19am

    They also undermine faith in our government [the US govt], and -- more importantly -- its credibility.

    You will have to excuse my ignorance but I didn't realize the US govt had any credibility at all, or integrity, honesty or morality for that matter.

  • On the post: As Big Pharma Piles On The Political Pressure, Indian Government Slows Pace Of Compulsory Drug Licensing

    Aussie Geoff ( profile ), 11 Mar, 2014 @ 06:38am

    Re:

    Strange, they are being chastised for adhering to the treaty everyone agreed to.

    Nothing strange about it at all. The largest PAC of US business (that would be what is laughingly call the US government) is all for enforcing treaties/agreements etc when they are told to by big business, but totally ignore them for exactly the same reason!

    Why should they even consider any new treaties?

    They shouldn't. It is well past time that all countries negotiated acceptable agreements between themselves and not invite the US to participate of have any input. All it requires is for politicians around the world to grow a spine and tell the US they are not required or wanted. Of course the problem is finding the politicians that will do this.

  • On the post: MPAA Shifts Its Funding Efforts To Republicans After SOPA Defeat

    Aussie Geoff ( profile ), 01 Mar, 2014 @ 08:36am

    I have sympathy for Chris Dodd. I mean how would you feel if you thought you had bought something (like a politician) and when you tried to use it for your own benefit at a later time found you had only bought a revokable, restricted licence?

  • On the post: Australian Copyright Reform Goes Into Reverse: 'Fair Use' Out, 'Three Strikes' In

    Aussie Geoff ( profile ), 27 Feb, 2014 @ 04:57am

    Re:

    The explanation is easy. He is a Liberal (that's the name of the Republicant er Conservative party in Australia) Party member and as such has no interest in facts and well reasoned arguments - ideology is everything. As for working for the people, he does - exactly the same "people" the US Republicant party works for!

    He was not elected as Attorney General, he was elected to parliament (actually re-elected) and appointed as Attorney General by the Prime Minister - another big-mouthed, arrogant, arsehole Liberal Party politician.

    As for ignoring the advice, that happens all the time. Ministers are required (under certain legislation) to seek advice/recommendations from numerous governmental or private bodies, but are totally free to ignore the advice/recommendations they receive.

    In regard to his own ideas, this is not unusual, the Attorney General is a political appointment. The Attorney General is supposedly the "Chief Legal Officer" of the country and as such represents the government in court cases. Thank God we also have a Solicitor General (who is not a politician) to give the government legal advice.

  • On the post: KlearGear Sued For Destroying The Credit Of A Couple Who Wrote A Negative Review

    Aussie Geoff ( profile ), 21 Dec, 2013 @ 04:49am

    Re: punishment

    I don't think the company should be fined at all!

    A more fitting result would be for the company to have to pay all costs involved with getting the couple's credit rating fixed with each and every credit rating agency AND to pay compensation to the couple of $7,000 ($3,500 each) per day for every day from the day their crediting rating was destroyed to the day it is "undestroyed" at all agencies - example 2,000 days costs $14 million in compensation, the longer it takes, the more it costs KlearGear. Note the compensation is to the couple, the costs of repairing the ratings is paid to others and is not deductible from the compensation, it is an additional cost on KlearGear.

    If KlearGear goes bankrupt ..... so sad.

  • On the post: Feds Insist It Must Be Kept Secret Whether Or Not Plaintiff In No Fly List Trial Is Actually On The No Fly List

    Aussie Geoff ( profile ), 07 Dec, 2013 @ 02:55am

    Re: Feds Insist It Must Be Kept Secret Whether Or Not Plaintiff In No Fly List Trial Is Actually On The No Fly List

    The US still has a constitution? Amazing, I learn something everyday.

  • On the post: President Obama's Weak Defense Of NSA Spying On Charlie Rose

    Aussie Geoff ( profile ), 21 Jun, 2013 @ 06:15am

    Another Fine Speech

    I see Mr Open and Accountable Government has appeared in the media again and spoken through his arse as usual - funny how most people would claim he farted instead of speaking.

  • On the post: US Government Settles Lawsuit Over Seizure Of Laptop Of Bradley Manning's Friend

    Aussie Geoff ( profile ), 31 May, 2013 @ 04:45am

    And Just How ...

    is anyone going to be able to check that the US government actually does/did destroy all of the data they got their sticky claws on?

    Or are US citizens supposed to take the word of some government lackey?

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