awbMaven 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (45) comment rss

  • On the post: UK ISPs Lose Their Challenge To The Digital Economy Act; Entertainment Industry Responds Condescendingly

    awbMaven ( profile ), 07 Mar, 2012 @ 05:57am

    DEA bad, CCDP worse

    Think the Digital Economy Act is bad, check out the UK's Communications Capabilities Development Program (CCDP): http://tinyurl.com/7dc4glp

  • On the post: Attacking The Hacker Hydra: Why FBI's LulzSec Takedown May Backfire

    awbMaven ( profile ), 06 Mar, 2012 @ 11:04am

    Can't agree these are a really bad idea...

    Granted, all of the defacing ones are just childish (and sometimes amusing), but some of the data gleaned, most notably the Stratfor emails, are worth a bit of collateral damage imv.

    They're a treasure trove of data.

    Yes, it could lead to BRPF's battening down the hatches, but it could also lead to BRPF's disappearing into the background as their activities get highlighted and moderates get hold of the power reigns (yup, large amounts of wishful thinking).

    They seem to me to be whistleblowers-of-sorts with a vengeful edge, but whistleblowers non the less.

    I don't think the "excuse to try to make a power grab over the wider internet" holds water as the the powers that be were making grabs for the internet long before Anonymous/LulzSec came along.

    Until law enforcement are enforcing laws that are not pernicious, I, and I guess many others will be silently cheering these fella's on and reading about their exploits and their data in the news.

    [BRPF's - http://tinyurl.com/7j82az2 ]

  • On the post: How The Runaway Success Of A Tiny $25 Computer Could Become A Big Problem For Oppressive Regimes

    awbMaven ( profile ), 06 Mar, 2012 @ 09:39am

    Re: Re: Potential Educational Uses?

    'On a personal note though the first thing that went through my head when i read about Raspberry Pi was "holy crap, i bet i could build one of those into an old LCD monitor"'

    The first two things I thought of when reading about the excitement Raspberry Pi was generating was:

    1. I wonder how many have blown a Raspberry?

    [that's a double entendre for the unaware]

    (first answer I came up with was 3.14159.....)

  • On the post: How The Runaway Success Of A Tiny $25 Computer Could Become A Big Problem For Oppressive Regimes

    awbMaven ( profile ), 06 Mar, 2012 @ 09:14am

    Re: Potential Educational Uses?

    "I'm thinking a pirate box, a few of these, some wireless routers, basic encryption algorithms, and we have one hell of a pirate network. What's that? You work at starbucks? Oh, well do me a favor and plug this innocuous little device into the router (or if you're real tech savvy open the router and directly solder it onto one of the ports and wire it into the power line) and BOOM instant node on a filsharing/free thinking/protest network (or pirate/radical/terrorist network depending on your views)."

    Can you draw up a How-To and post it on Youtube?

    TIA

  • On the post: Paypal Pressured To Play Morality Cop And Forces Smashwords To Censor Authors

    awbMaven ( profile ), 05 Mar, 2012 @ 08:44am

    Alternative to US-centric e-commerce financial services disparately needed.

    I've written about this morality cop and these US-centric e-commerce financial services before from an EU perspective on my blog: http://tinyurl.com/7bbuhf7 and https://awbmaven.wordpress.com/?s=paypal

    It is really not on that companies (Paypal, VISA, Mastercard, etc) can have a strangle-hold on other companies when the services they provide have become near monopolies.

    From an EU perspective, the EU needs to create it's own versions of these companies, subjected to EU law and not extra-EU laws & whims.

  • On the post: As BPI Tries To Block The Pirate Bay From The UK, Dan Bull Explains Why Musicians Should Block BPI

    awbMaven ( profile ), 05 Mar, 2012 @ 07:31am

    Re: Re: Blocking content, not sites

    "Your solution requires a lot more effort and expense.

    Suppose a murder is committed in a particular US state. (I read recently in a TD comment that piracy is like murder.)

    Rather than spend time and resources ferreting out the particular murderer, wouldn't it be far more quick and efficient to just nuke the entire US state in which the murder was committed?

    Nuke the state from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.    "

    a rather large hammer that, and if the perpetrators has left the state ...?

    Yes, more expense and more effort, but I do believe in the concept of innocent until proven guilty, and admit that the actioning of that concept can cost a lot and requires more effort than merely pronouncing guilt at point of accusation.

  • On the post: As BPI Tries To Block The Pirate Bay From The UK, Dan Bull Explains Why Musicians Should Block BPI

    awbMaven ( profile ), 05 Mar, 2012 @ 07:26am

    Re: Re: Blocking content, not sites

    "The underlying fallacy in your reasoning, Maven, is the assumption that IP itself is a valid concept and the rights around them also valid. However, they are not. Property is uniquely physical and naturally scarce, while ideas are not."

    [straight off let my say my name is "awbMaven", short for 'a would-be Maven'. I aim for 'Expert' but am not. Calling me 'Maven' is not what I would call myself, and in the context of your reply, smells slightly of straw ;-)]

    The concept that ideas are not physical & naturally scares is debatable, google for the debates :-)

    Quite what thoughts are made of is an interesting topic in itself. Perhaps they're just a mixture of chemical, electricity and matter - all physical, or perhaps not and more akin to a soul [yet another debate].

    The aim of my temporary redirect was to be an improvement on what is currently occurring, not as a solution to the infringement-concept-is-value issue.

    I'm on the side of a free internet as should be gleenable from my blog. I am a middle-aged Web-Kid :-)

  • On the post: As BPI Tries To Block The Pirate Bay From The UK, Dan Bull Explains Why Musicians Should Block BPI

    awbMaven ( profile ), 05 Mar, 2012 @ 06:04am

    Blocking content, not sites

    I really don't understand why a hammer is often used to crack a nut with regards to site blocking for content that infringes IPR.

    Granted, infringing content should be blocked once it is found by a court to be infringing, but blocking content (or even worse, a whole site) before a court has decided is overkill imv.

    A solution could be a temporary redirect for 5 seconds to a warning page saying the content has been reported as being infringing and then the user is directed back to the original content.

    I think this would be a fair solution.

  • On the post: Something's Not Right: German User Has To Use Chinese Proxy To See New Music Video

    awbMaven ( profile ), 04 Mar, 2012 @ 08:22am

    It's not racist to ....

    "Its not racist to put down Germans ..."


    It is racial discrimination, as per the UN definition, I have highlighted the part important for you to understand:

    "The United Nations use the definition of racial discrimination laid out in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, adopted in 1966:
    ? any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, color, descent, or national or ethnic origin that has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.(Part 1 of Article 1 of the U.N. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination)[42]    "
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism#Declarations_and_international_law_against_racial_discrimination


    So when you write:
    "...so here goes. You know the Germans! They still think they are better than anyone else! They make better cars (more expensive) better everything (more VAT) to the point that we are forbidden to buy anything from the EU, RUSSIA or CHINA directly. Their fees for the transactions are ridiculous and we don't do business with them period. Design in the USA. Create in the USA, Make in the USA and Buy USA. Come on. Time to take over again."


    .. you are being racially discriminatory towards German nationals.

  • On the post: Josef Anvil's Favorite Techdirt Posts Of The Week

    awbMaven ( profile ), 04 Mar, 2012 @ 05:56am

    Re: Re: Re:

    "I'm sorry, but they're not infinite. Servers and other Hardware will always be finite."

    What is the maximum number of servers and other hardware there can be?

  • On the post: Yet Another Court Says Illinois 'Eavesdropping' Law That Criminalizes Recording Police Is Unconstitutional

    awbMaven ( profile ), 04 Mar, 2012 @ 04:27am

    Re: Taking a dump

    hmmm, maybe it's just my part of the UK, in others, 'on the job' a euphemism for having sex: http://www.euphemismlist.com/on-the-job/

    I'll get my coat ...

  • On the post: Yet Another Court Says Illinois 'Eavesdropping' Law That Criminalizes Recording Police Is Unconstitutional

    awbMaven ( profile ), 04 Mar, 2012 @ 04:15am

    Taking a dump

    "Last we'd heard, Illinois prosecutors were appealing the first ruling, and I imagine they won't be too happy about this ruling either. But, at some point, it seems they have to recognize the ridiculousness of making it a crime to record police on the job."

    In the UK, when someone is 'on the job", they are taking a dump on the crapper, ie, having a shit on the toilet.

  • On the post: Something's Not Right: German User Has To Use Chinese Proxy To See New Music Video

    awbMaven ( profile ), 03 Mar, 2012 @ 06:03am

    Evolution: Adapting .. Retroshare/Tribler ... Wimax

    "It does a lot of good, those people who learn how to bypass blocks will be educated and will never look back"

    "I just read that Retroshare saw a boom in dowloads this year, Tribler is also booming and for some reason the Ares Galaxy has 8 million downloads straight for a month now ever since Megaupload went down."


    Added to those two, I would add Wimax as I see the potential for increasingly savvy peeps setting up their own local Darknets to share town-wide with Wimax & Retroshare/Tribber.

  • On the post: Time To Go: Why EU Commissioner De Gucht Has Disqualified Himself From Handling ACTA

    awbMaven ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2012 @ 07:42am

    Re: Been there, done that :-)

    missing link to my blog post you have probably read: http://wp.me/p1jRDO-5Z

  • On the post: Time To Go: Why EU Commissioner De Gucht Has Disqualified Himself From Handling ACTA

    awbMaven ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2012 @ 07:40am

    Been there, done that :-)

    "And that means extradition treaties might become relevant, with people running small-scale Web sites facing the threat of being hauled off to America, say, just for including a few links in their blog posts. "

  • On the post: Time To Go: Why EU Commissioner De Gucht Has Disqualified Himself From Handling ACTA

    awbMaven ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2012 @ 07:33am

    De Gucht: "IP Enforcement Trends"

    A serious parody to the #EU's "IP Enforcement Trends" statement given by Commissioner responsible for ACTA, Karel De Gucht: http://wp.me/p1jRDO-6c

  • On the post: Ireland Signs Controversial 'Irish SOPA' Into Law; Kicks Off New Censorship Regime

    awbMaven ( profile ), 29 Feb, 2012 @ 05:17pm

    Typically "Irish" from an English p.o.v.

    So, you pass a crap law and then promise to go about changing other laws to make it less crap.

    Arse-about-tit imv, a bit like ACTA in the EU being discussed again tomorrow: http://wp.me/p1jRDO-5T

  • On the post: New Platform Launched To Crowdsource Better Internet-Related Regulation… With Expert Help

    awbMaven ( profile ), 28 Feb, 2012 @ 02:06pm

    Spider-man required

    I think it would be handy to have a something that can create a spider-matrix of laws which have certain terms in, ie "IPR", "patent", etc. In that way citizens could keep an eye out for any newly proposed laws or modifications to old ones.

    As more and more laws have within them not what it says on the tin, it's often very very difficult to know if a law has been passed that has something your trying to follow, hidden within it.

  • On the post: Could A Consumer Privacy Bill Of Rights Even Work?

    awbMaven ( profile ), 23 Feb, 2012 @ 11:48am

    Re: Re: With opt-outs?

    I can't agree with "suggest" - freedom of expression and all that.

  • On the post: Could A Consumer Privacy Bill Of Rights Even Work?

    awbMaven ( profile ), 23 Feb, 2012 @ 11:46am

    Re: Re: Wishful Thinking

    "And maybe a provision that adds "tax incentives" to "job creators"."

    Why the heck do 'job creators' need 'tax incentives'?

    A job needs to be done, or it doesn't. The job creator should create jobs that add value by the work done in the job.

    Subsidizing a job with tax breaks takes food out of the mouths of the poor & kills old ladies. ;)

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