Roy Wilson 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Rightscorp's Copyright Trolling Phone Script Tells Innocent People They Need To Give Their Computers To Police

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 28 Sep, 2015 @ 10:34am

    Still trying....

    ...to figure out how this isn't being charged criminally as Fraud or Extortion...

  • On the post: Digital Health Data vs. An Analog Memory

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 25 Sep, 2015 @ 02:30pm

    Yeah...

    ...put in in "the cloud". Then if you ever annoy me, I can hack your data and get all that nonsense about your severe drug allergies deleted. Not to mention the drugs you'll be on for that troublesome AIDS, hepatitis, etc.

    I recall right around 80-83 or so when NY driver's licenses were going to be mag-striped. The propaganda for it was that they could store all your medical information on them. Didn't go over well...

  • On the post: Hasbro Spent Time, Money, Lawyers' Attention To Barely Make A Difference Over My Little Pony Fan Game

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 25 Sep, 2015 @ 02:23pm

    Wasn't/isn't there...

    Some weird fetish involving "My Little Pony"? I vaguely recall it being in the news a few years back. Maybe they're just trying to prevent future "unwanted associations" with the name.

  • On the post: Judge Says Warner Chappell Doesn't Hold The Copyright On Happy Birthday (But Not That It's Public Domain)

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 23 Sep, 2015 @ 09:23am

    And on our next episode...

    ...Comcast claims it holds the patent rights on chairs...

  • On the post: Turing Pharma Boss Martin Shkreli Defends Massive Price Increase As A Good Thing For Patients

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 22 Sep, 2015 @ 03:13pm

    Re: Cost of Drug

    Which makes this entire "report" non-news, as someone else IS making the drug.

    The only people who would have to pay the inflated price are those whose doctors mark the scrip DAW.

  • On the post: Apple Bans Non-Graphic, VR Representation Of Ferguson Shooting For No Coherent Reason

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 22 Sep, 2015 @ 01:38pm

    Re:

    I don't think so. They're catering to the "sweetness and light" crowd of impressionable young people (aka: The Gullible).

    They don't want anything "socially controversial" to be associated with their branding.

  • On the post: Apple Bans Non-Graphic, VR Representation Of Ferguson Shooting For No Coherent Reason

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 22 Sep, 2015 @ 12:48pm

    Re:

    one of us... one of us... one of us... one of us...

  • On the post: Apple Bans Non-Graphic, VR Representation Of Ferguson Shooting For No Coherent Reason

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 22 Sep, 2015 @ 11:14am

    I see their point

    It causes dissension. Cops kill people - given. White cops kill black people, someone trucks in a thousand protesters to loot and burn. Black cops kill white people, if it even makes the news the most that happens is everyone yawns.

    Apple has re-created a beatnik-like "hipster cult". Sunshine and daisies, 24/7 is their world. The worst possible punishment anyone should ever suffer is to be smothered with hugs and puppies.

    Meanwhile, all their gear is built by child slave labor, the rare earths used for the components is obtained from China by "relocating" everyone on the mountain they're under, strip mining the ore, and then processing it with 18th century methods that blacken the skies with hazardous smog for thousands of miles.

    But it's "green"...

  • On the post: VW Accused Of Using Software To Fool Emissions Tests: Welcome To The Internet Of Cheating Things

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 21 Sep, 2015 @ 06:22am

    Re: Re: fraudulent info

    "Fraudulent with regards to the testing and the intent behind it"

    Do you apply Intent against Letter of the Law on all matters?

    I haven't read the law, so I can't quote Letter, but I suspect this is a loophole, fully legal.

  • On the post: VW Accused Of Using Software To Fool Emissions Tests: Welcome To The Internet Of Cheating Things

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 21 Sep, 2015 @ 05:24am

    Re:

    Because under compliance, the car probably has a top speed of 20mph and gets 4mpg.

    Pollution control devices eat a lot of horsepower.

    VW bugs disappeared in the US for about 30 years. They were still being made in South America, and were very popular everywhere except the US. Because to reduce their emissions to meet EPA regs made the cars stall out. The same goes for a lot of the super-high-efficiency European cars - they're practically small lawnmower engines, and if you add the anti-pollution devices required by the EPA, the engines can't even start, much less run.

  • On the post: VW Accused Of Using Software To Fool Emissions Tests: Welcome To The Internet Of Cheating Things

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 21 Sep, 2015 @ 05:21am

    fraudulent info

    It's not giving fraudulent information. The information it's giving while in this "test mode" is correct, and meets the EPA requirements.

    As soon as you unplug the OBDII connector, the computer shifts from "test mode" to "driving mode", which (apparently, with that 10-40x increase) does not meet EPA requirements.

    Basically, they're forcing the system to perform to meet spec only when it's under testing conditions.

    Immoral? Maybe. Illegal? I'd have to read the actual law, but I suspect it's not illegal.

  • On the post: White House Realizes Mandating Backdoors To Encryption Isn't Going To Happen

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 17 Sep, 2015 @ 09:02am

    Re: Option 3

    Exactly. Not just that, but it specifically refers to legislating. The government doesn't need to. They can just have a "regulatory body" like the EPA write a Regulation requiring back doors. Violate it and you're charged with Attempt to Defraud the United States of America (had a co-worker charged with that for taking asbestos out of his OWN house).

  • On the post: White House Realizes Mandating Backdoors To Encryption Isn't Going To Happen

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 17 Sep, 2015 @ 08:39am

    Depends on which side you're looking at

    From the government/LEO perspective, Option 3 makes the most sense.

    Keep saying "It needs a lot more thought" while quietly pushing tech companies for backdoors and buying more time to hack exploits for the current generation in-use encryption.

  • On the post: Texas Police Arrest Kid For Building A Clock

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 16 Sep, 2015 @ 12:34pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: The school was right

    Yada, yada, yada. Are you surprised that they backed down in the face of political pressure?

  • On the post: Texas Police Arrest Kid For Building A Clock

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 16 Sep, 2015 @ 12:32pm

    Re: Re: The school was right

    I was using the 9v transformer for scale - they're usually about the size of a golf ball.

  • On the post: Texas Police Arrest Kid For Building A Clock

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 16 Sep, 2015 @ 12:30pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: The school was right

    Exactly like that.

    Run the wires from the alarm on any clock (even if you don't recase it first) or from the speaker on a cell phone and you've got a trigger - now all you need is a charge.

    Why'd the kid do it? Re-case a clock with a large digital display and bring it to school?

  • On the post: Texas Police Arrest Kid For Building A Clock

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 16 Sep, 2015 @ 12:28pm

    Re: Re: The school was right

    " we would now by now..."

    Give it a week or two. Right now, all you're going to hear is thunder about how it only happened because the kid is a muslim.

  • On the post: Texas Police Arrest Kid For Building A Clock

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 16 Sep, 2015 @ 12:27pm

    Re: Re: The school was right

    So substitute "assignment" for "project".

    He did it on his own. It wasn't a school project or assignment. It was the VERY FIRST such time he'd brought anything in to "show" people.

    And all he did was knock the case off an existing clock and remount (apparently just the display) in another case.

  • On the post: Texas Police Arrest Kid For Building A Clock

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 16 Sep, 2015 @ 12:23pm

    Re: Re: The school was right

    Again, the school is under a gag order. Nobody has heard THEIR side but the cops.

    So he may have told the English teacher and the cops that it was "just a clock". What did he tell his friends - or his "enemies" it was? He's fourteen and apparently a nerd. The jocks are most likely making his school life miserable, and have been for some time - we must have more nerds here than just me, remember 8th grade?

    I'm usually the first to jump all over heavy-handed idiocy, especially from LEO's or self-appointed "gods" (educators).

    We're hearing one side, and some Islam Defense group jumped on this almost as soon as it happened. And as is happening here, the bulk of the "comments" on it are going to be racist - while ignoring what happened, the intent behind it, and, most importantly, cui bono.

    We're already seeing the latter right here - all the calls that the kid should get a free ride at some tech school.

    Taking the screws out (or just bashing the casing off with a hammer) of an alarm clock isn't "inventing" or "creating". What was this "project" SUPPOSED to be? He didn't "build" anything, he just re-cased a clock. Nobody assigned this "project" to him, he did it on his own. Also, if you watch the video(s) of how creative he is, he's not only holding the soldering iron incorrectly, he's jabbing it at the legs of surface-mount components.

    C'mon, apply some damned logic to this, not just knee-jerk "Texas!" "racist", "anti-muslim" rhetoric.

  • On the post: Texas Police Arrest Kid For Building A Clock

    Roy Wilson ( profile ), 16 Sep, 2015 @ 11:03am

    The school was right

    First, they're under a gag order. You're only hearing what the KID claims, plus what the cops have released.

    Second, the kid didn't "invent" or "build" a clock. In the first interview I found on the story, he "rebuilt" a digital clock.

    From the picture, he broke the casing off a digital alarm clock and just changed the display to a larger one (if that - it may have been a large-display clock to begin with).

    HIS claim is that he put it in a "pencil box". He must have some huge pencils if that's a pencil box.

    This was the FIRST TIME he'd brought in a "project" (it wasn't a project, he did this all on his own).

    His FIRST PERIOD sci/tech instructor told him not to show it to anyone else, and he LEFT THE BATTERY IN IT.

    His SECOND PERIOD English teacher heard the alarm go off and then he "showed it to her". That's not a clock if the alarm is going off, it's a damned trigger device.

    Race card? Yeah, it was played. BY HIM. Muslim kid brings countdown device in a briefcase to school with big LED numbers? Uh-huh, he never, ever, thought that might be taken as a threat by anyone.

    Expect that if the gag order is lifted on the school we find out that he was getting smacked around by a few bullies on a daily basis and "built" this to "scare" them.

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