Roy Wilson 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (1093) comment rss

  • On the post: Texas E-Voting Machines Switching Votes For Non-Nefarious But Still Stupid Reasons

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 29 Oct, 2018 @ 06:08am

    Re:

    "Yet we can't build a voting machine that finishes rendering before allowing the submit button to appear?"

    The problem is deeper than that - it's accepting multiple commands with each new command taking precedence over any previous command that hasn't been finalized.

    Simple to fix in the software - ignore commands while processing current command.

    Hell, DOS did it - it's why Ctrl-C was enabled. The machine was locked until the running command ended.

    But not something that should have been "missed". It's shoddy work, no excuses should be accepted.

  • On the post: Apple Finally Shuts Down Security Flaw Used By Phone-Cracking Vendor

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 29 Oct, 2018 @ 11:19am

    No, they're doing "customer" service RIGHT

    If they don't allow the Chinese government access, they don't get to sell to the Chinese market.

    That makes the Chinese government the customer.

    If they demand that every iPhone sold in China must have a picture of Chairman Mao on it, Apple will do so - HAPPILY.

  • On the post: We Brought Our Election Simulation Game To Chicago… And Learned The Chicago Way

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 29 Oct, 2018 @ 11:11am

    Is anyone really unaware of it?

    ...it's the same at your local levels. Deals are made in "smoky back rooms", all the media gets is spin and hype.

    What's next, discovering that a great many court cases ARE decided on golf courses?

  • On the post: Texas E-Voting Machines Switching Votes For Non-Nefarious But Still Stupid Reasons

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 29 Oct, 2018 @ 05:57am

    It's not all that simple...

    ...Voting machines are paid for by each County. They aren't cheap, and most Counties don't put money aside for future upgrades.

    Most of the towns around me still use the "booth" mechanicals bought back in the sixties.

    The township I'm in used electronic voting machines a couple of cycles back. Which returned on the order of twice the number of votes actually cast. Thankfully, those machines did print a paper trail.

    There was enough of an uproar over that to consign those machines to the dumpster. Punch cards for the '16 election.

    The more complicated the device the more points of probable (NOT "possible") failure. It's basic engineering.

    Punch or checkmark cards are about as simple as you can get. Add in even an antique Scantron to count them, and you've created dozens of potential failure points.

    Vote from a cellphone? With the number of middlemen between your phone and the final data collection point, plus the software to tally, software to verify ID, etc.? That's asking for trouble.

  • On the post: Canadian ISPs Want To Amend Law To Outlaw Settlement Letters

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 27 Oct, 2018 @ 12:00pm

    Re: Copyright?

    "Wow, just destroy the right of a creator to control their work."

    Where do you get that from a third party sending threatening "letters" to people who that third party claims are pirates, and don't forward what money they collect (extort) from such people to the Copyright holders?

  • On the post: Canadian ISPs Want To Amend Law To Outlaw Settlement Letters

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 27 Oct, 2018 @ 07:34am

    Re: 'non-attorneys"

    Seriously?

    You only NEED an attorney for very few things.

    I'm not an attorney and I've handled dozens of Evictions, Small Claims, and, like pretty much everyone in the US, traffic tickets.

    I wouldn't defend myself on a Felony charge, but most Misdemeanors don't require spending thousands on a lawyer.

    In the particular case of these "violation" letters, I'd probably get a consultation from a law firm on if I could go after the messenger. Lawyers LIKE deep pockets when it comes to suits.

    However, I was simply curious how Canada handles "threatening letters" under their existing Extortion laws.

    Apparently, nobody here knows.

  • On the post: Canadian ISPs Want To Amend Law To Outlaw Settlement Letters

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 27 Oct, 2018 @ 05:55am

    Re: Any Canadian lawyers here?

    I think US, and now pretty much global, Copyright laws are insane as well.

    I was asking to the specific of how Canadian laws regarding Extortion are being worked around for the "violation" letters.

    In the US, there's a pile of Exceptions that cover a host of things that otherwise might be considered Extortion.

    Someone above mentioned "when Murder was still legal". That's actually a good one - "Murder" has never been legal anywhere. The word is a legal construct that basically means "illegal taking of a life". There are several degrees of Homicide, including but not limited to Murder. There are special exceptions to all of them.

    Extortion statutes, limitations, and exceptions probably takes up several shelves, not including case law.

  • On the post: Canadian ISPs Want To Amend Law To Outlaw Settlement Letters

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 26 Oct, 2018 @ 07:39pm

    Re: Re: Re: Any Canadian lawyers here?

    That's why I asked if anyone knew how Canadian ISP's are getting around Canada's Extortion statutes.

    They get around it here by a slew of exemptions (many of the same that allow collection agencies to function). I was simply curious as to how the Canadians handle it.

  • On the post: Canadian ISPs Want To Amend Law To Outlaw Settlement Letters

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 26 Oct, 2018 @ 01:09pm

    Any Canadian lawyers here?

    I'm not up on Canadian law. How are the letters getting around Extortion statutes? Specific Exception, or not meeting the Standard?

  • On the post: Breitbart Snowflakes Threaten To Sue People Who Have Asked Advertisers To Stop Advertising On Breitbart

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 25 Oct, 2018 @ 01:17pm

    "snowflake"

    It's been used to describe a submissive white woman who only has sex with black men for at least 30 years.

    While YOU may not be familiar with the term, I'm sure the people who began using it in the media were.

    Even if it were not, how often have you seen it applied to non-whites?

    I realize this site is hard left (hard to miss), but to use such a charged, divisive, racist term gratuitously in a headline is way over the top.

  • On the post: Breitbart Snowflakes Threaten To Sue People Who Have Asked Advertisers To Stop Advertising On Breitbart

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 25 Oct, 2018 @ 12:56pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: This screams SLAPP

    It's a perjorative aimed at dehumanizing those it is applied to.

    But that's ok, so long as it comes from a left wing source and not from the right?

    Helluva double standard there.

  • On the post: Breitbart Snowflakes Threaten To Sue People Who Have Asked Advertisers To Stop Advertising On Breitbart

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 25 Oct, 2018 @ 12:24pm

    Re: This screams SLAPP

    Court order.

    But I see this as no different than if one of the loonier AC's here started asking people to boycott THIS site because it's run by child molesters and communists.

    And I take exception to the use of "snowflake" in the headline. It's become the left's version of "n-word" when speaking of anyone white.

  • On the post: UK Government Screws Head On Straight, Bans Use Of Term 'Fake News' By Gov't Officials

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 25 Oct, 2018 @ 09:49am

    Gotta ask...

    ...I just did half a dozen google searches all with no relevant hits.

    What OTHER phrases have been editorially banned in such manner from such documents in Great Britain?

  • On the post: UK Government Screws Head On Straight, Bans Use Of Term 'Fake News' By Gov't Officials

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 25 Oct, 2018 @ 07:14am

    Re: Re: I can't believe...

    Utter nonsense. The phrase is being banned because trump uses it, frequently.

    Read the article:

    "The government has banned the term “fake news” after urging ministers to use “misinformation” or "disinformation" instead.

    The phrase - a favourite of US President Donald Trump - will no longer appear in policy documents or official papers because it is “a poorly-defined"

    It's "poorly-defined"? The preceding paragraph DEFINES it as misinformation and/or disinformation.

    If you want to ban WRONGLY "defined" words start with all the idiots using "optics" when they mean "appearances", and "decimated" when they mean "devastated".

    "Fake News" is simply "propaganda by established 'news' sources".

  • On the post: The President's Phone OPSEC Continues To Be, Well, Crap

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 25 Oct, 2018 @ 09:57am

    Nothing changes....

    ...am I the only one to remember obama's Blackberry?

  • On the post: UK Government Screws Head On Straight, Bans Use Of Term 'Fake News' By Gov't Officials

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 25 Oct, 2018 @ 06:39am

    I can't believe...

    ...THIS site is cheering on the banning of a phrase.

    Rah-rah! Doubleplusgoodquackspeak!

  • On the post: Ninth Circuit Aligns With Other Circuits: The FBI's Playpen Warrant Was Bad, But The FBI's Faith Was Good

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 24 Oct, 2018 @ 01:29pm

    Re: Re: Re: Grow a spine or get out

    The "good faith" claim they're making to allow the warrant is, IN ITSELF, Unconstitutional because of the change in the Law that makes it legal NOW.

    Ex post facto laws are specifically forbidden. That includes changing the Rules of Evidence. Which is exactly what was done, and what their "good faith" rests on.

  • On the post: Ninth Circuit Aligns With Other Circuits: The FBI's Playpen Warrant Was Bad, But The FBI's Faith Was Good

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 24 Oct, 2018 @ 01:11pm

    Re: Grow a spine or get out

    One of the basics for Ex Post Facto violations is that the Rules of Evidence may NOT be changed after the crime was committed.

    I see what the Courts are doing here, they're trying to prevent every single warrant signed by that magistrate, those cops, that jurisdiction from being revisited.

    Forget the 4th Amendment - it's not the governing authority here.

    Article One, Section Ten of the US Constitution is. And the Rules of Evidence change are a direct violation.

    "No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility."

    Note that it applies to the States, NOT the Federal Government, so they may be trying to do an end run around the Constitution on that basis.

  • On the post: CEO Gets Nine Months In Prison For Forging Court Documents Ordering Google To Delist Negative Reviews

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 24 Oct, 2018 @ 12:21pm

    Re: FOR ALL THE WORK..

    Arrogance. Nothing more.

  • On the post: CEO Gets Nine Months In Prison For Forging Court Documents Ordering Google To Delist Negative Reviews

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 24 Oct, 2018 @ 12:20pm

    Re:

    My gods! Internet companies use corner boys?

    Because it'd work about as well as it does in the drug trade.

    And in civil suits, lawyers ALWAYS go for the deepest pockets. All they've got to do to prove Homeless Hank was paid a cheeseburger by John Smith Internet, Inc. and they're after YOU.

    And once they've proved that, you get hit with Criminal charges for all kinds of fun stuff.

Next >>