B's Opinion Only 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (106) comment rss

  • On the post: Voter Group Sues To Block Diebold's Latest Miraculous Recovery

    B's Opinion Only ( profile ), 23 Mar, 2006 @ 06:40am

    The only solution people like us (nerds) will trust is Open Source voting machines and software. Let the people who understand electronic security and care about it examine the code themselves and show people where the holes are so they can be fixed.

    Why do you think the Linux operating system is so secure? It's because the community of users, with open access to the source code, have repaired its weaknesses and passed the repairs on to others to test.

    Security by obscurity is never a good choice. Let us see the code and try to break it!

    People have shown you can hack the votes in the Diebold machines used for the US so-called "election" simply by copying a properly-formatted Access database to the memory card. I am shocked Americans accept this. When I voted in the Canadian election recently, I was very happy to put my little X on a slip of paper (although I would have rather voted online).

    Will it be possible for the same people to steal THREE elections in a row in the US???

  • On the post: Vonage Files For IPO, Has To Ditch CEO

    B's Opinion Only ( profile ), 08 Feb, 2006 @ 06:54pm

    Same company?

    Are you dealing with the same Vonage I am?!? Every time I have called them, not only was I served by a well-trained native english speaker, but I was served quickly and skillfully.

    Vonage customer service reps are the first I have ever seen (in any industry) who would actually 'take ownership' of their support issues. For example, something I was doing was going to take a couple of weeks to be ready. The rep I spoke to actually added that date to his calendar and offered to personally handle it when the time came. This is exceptional service and a good example for others.

    Another CSR knew something I was asking for would cause a billing issue within their system. They actually took the time to make sure and credit my account for the extra charge before provisioning the service I was asking for. Try that with the normal phone company! In my experience, all of Bells 'extra charge traps' were always bill now, complain later.
    I am exceptionally happy with Vonage.

  • On the post: Patent Office Agrees To Review JPEG Patents, Just As Another Company Pays Up

    B's Opinion Only ( profile ), 02 Feb, 2006 @ 04:31pm

    No Subject Given

    I think the patent office should require all patent holders to demonstrate a physical, working invention before they issue a patent.

    Ideas, methods, formulas, and daydreams should never be patentable, only actual tangible goods.

    Copyright law and trade secret legislation covers the source code and real work that goes into software. If someone comes along who can do it better, cheaper and faster they should be allowed to.

  • On the post: Please Explain Why Modifying Your Own Hardware Is A Federal Crime?

    B's Opinion Only ( profile ), 20 Dec, 2005 @ 03:57pm

    No Subject Given

    I modded my Xbox so I could run Xbox Media Centre, a free, open-source program developed to allow people to use their Xboxes as a home media player.

    Modding for me added features that Microsoft either should have included or should have embraced as something that added value (and sales!) to their systems.

  • On the post: Broadband Over Power Lines — This Time, They Mean It

    B's Opinion Only ( profile ), 19 Dec, 2005 @ 02:42pm

    No Subject Given

    When power co's can read your meter in real time, they can manage demand much more effectively, thus reducing the number of polluting generation plants they need to build to satisfy peak demand.

    With the ability to meter in real time they can, for example, offer people discounts for consuming their electricity at off-peak times. You could save money by running your clothes dryer after 11pm when demand is lower, or making sure your electric furnace / air conditioner is off when usage peaks between 4 and 6 pm weekdays.

    One study I read says power co's could save enough money simply by being able to gauge and manage this peak demand to fund the BoPL system in its entirety.

  • On the post: The Telco Traffic Shaping Smokescreen

    B's Opinion Only ( profile ), 14 Dec, 2005 @ 11:59am

    Throttling as a way of upgrading your network

    The cable internet company here in Toronto is using traffic shaping to throttle ports and services it doesn't like. Although I have a 6 Megabit connection, my bittorrent downloads (of legitimate Linux Distros) are capped at 20-40kB/s.
    Why go to the expense of upgrading your network to support more users and higher bandwidth when you can achieve the same result by quietly messing with your customer's packets?
    Their marketing should really say "6 Megabit/s connect, in short bursts, for http traffic only".