Ben 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (336)

• On the post: Did Aereo Kill The Cablevision Ruling That Enabled So Much Innovation? Who The Hell Knows?

  

  Ben ( profile ), 30 Jun, 2014 @ 04:11pm

  Re: Re:

  No people are just that arrogant that they don't think they should pay for the content of others.

  No; it is the expectation that if someone gives you something for free (namely free, over the air broadcasts) that you should be able to do with it as you please. Like record it on a VCR (which the Supreme Court approved), or a DVR (which they also approved since they decided to let the appellate ruling stand), or a DVR with a really long cord connected to your TV (same ruling).
  
  Aero did not break the rules, nor were they doing anything any private citizen could do -- set up an antenna; connect it to a DVR, then connect that DVR to a display device. Aero's business model was to do that for you, and charge you for that service not the content, because the content is/was free.

• On the post: Facebook Fighting Against Massively Broad Warrant From NY District Attorney For All Information From 381 Accounts

  

  Ben ( profile ), 30 Jun, 2014 @ 12:21pm

  Isn't there a middle ground?

  I can only presume that the reason for the gag order is to keep the people being investigated from deleting their information from Facebook. Couldn't the process just direct Facebook to make a copy of the relevant data so deletion would not be an issue? Once that is done (and note the data would be held by Facebook) the individuals could be notified and have recourse to fighting the subpoena. When that fight is done, the data can either be released to the AG or allowed to evaporate from wherever Facebook was holding it.

• On the post: Appeals Court Reaffirms The Public Has The Right To Record The Police, Except For All The Times When It Doesn't

  

  Ben ( profile ), 30 May, 2014 @ 04:02pm

  Re: Re: One way to fix this once and for all...

  If you are performing in an official capacity, you DAMN SURE HAVE NO RIGHT TO PRIVACY!

  Except for Police SWAT teams, of course. They're special. It says so right in their name.

• On the post: Snowden: NSA Revealed Only One Email, Shows NSA Lied Before… Also: None Of This Matters

  

  Ben ( profile ), 30 May, 2014 @ 07:33am

  Re: Re:

  Men's Roller Derby Association?
  
  ... and that's pretty much all that Google returns.

• On the post: Appeals Court Overturns Prenda Win From Former RIAA Lobbyist Judge

  

  Ben ( profile ), 27 May, 2014 @ 12:35pm

  I've got to love:

  A full understanding of this case requires knowing some
  things about the lawyer and ?law firm? that initiated it.

  The quotes on "law firm" seem exceptionally appropriate.
  
  I didn't find any mention of Judge Howell in the ruling; has there been any public mention of censure or other penalties for the judge not recusing himself from the case?

• On the post: Unnamed Phone Company Challenges NSA's Bulk Records Collection; FISC Says It's Perfectly Legal

  

  Ben ( profile ), 25 Apr, 2014 @ 05:00pm

  Reasonable Expectation of Privacy

  "a person has no legitimate expectation of privacy in information he voluntarily turns over to third parties"

  So, if a phone company simply added "by using our phone system you have a reasonable expectation that we will keep any information you provide us private" to your contract, this weaseling around the 4th Amendment might be stopped?
  
  One could hope.

• On the post: Tom Lehrer, Culture And Copyright After Death

  

  Ben ( profile ), 17 Apr, 2014 @ 01:48pm

  Re: Re: Doing The Vatican Rag

  My father in law was a devout (5-7 times a week going to church, opus dei, etc) and he thought the song was hilarious and loved Tom Lehrer. One of my first dates with my wife was to a Tom Lehrer musical, so maybe it was just part of the family genes.
  
  Poisoning Pigeons in the Park has always been one of my favorites, but I think it would be easier to list the songs I don't like by Tom Lehrer; the other list is too long.

• On the post: Akamai Admits Its Heartbleed Patch Was Faulty, Has To Reissue All SSL Certs And Keys

  

  Ben ( profile ), 14 Apr, 2014 @ 09:15pm

  And, sometimes, by open sourcing stuff you can find those vulnerabilities faster

  And sometimes the people who need to know about the vulnerability will actually hear about it because it is open source and you can see the code that you're placing your trust in.

• On the post: Midwestern Town Of 7,000 Approves Military Surplus Armored Personnel Carrier For Its 12-Member Police Force

  

  Ben ( profile ), 11 Apr, 2014 @ 07:18pm

  Free? Really?

  1. Was the cost of transporting it from Texas actually stated? I can't imagine it is cheap (although compared to the full cost of a new one...)
  
  2. What will be the maintenance cost? I doubt you can take the thing to the local garage when it needs work.
  
  I can just imagine them receiving it and within 3 years it is a rusting hulk in the Police Department's front lawn.

• On the post: Shameful Security: StartCom Charges People To Revoke SSL Certs Vulnerable To Heartbleed

  

  Ben ( profile ), 09 Apr, 2014 @ 02:31pm

  Re: Re: Re: Disagree

  The certificate is fine. If the site using the certificate used OpenSSL (the software with the "bug") THEN the site isn't secure. But the only way to re-secure the site is update the SSL software and revoke the old certificate then get a new one.

• On the post: Exile: Sarah Harrison On Paying The Price For Helping Edward Snowden

  

  Ben ( profile ), 22 Mar, 2014 @ 08:15am

  Terrorism?

  Why can't "Terrorism" be defined as: "Causing, or intent to Cause, Terror"?
  
  Do politicians get paid by the word?

• On the post: College Kid Tries To Pull A Ferris Bueller On His Grades, Gets An 'F' In Covering His Tracks

  

  Ben ( profile ), 11 Mar, 2014 @ 06:04am

  Wrong movie?

  I do not admit knowing this: I thought Matthew Broderick in Ferris Bueller's Day Off only changed his attendance record. It is in WarGames that he actually changes grades.

• On the post: Legislators Rush To Patch Hole In 'Secret Photography' Law; 'Succeed' In Making It Make It Much, Much Worse

  

  Ben ( profile ), 10 Mar, 2014 @ 10:58am

  Re: Re:

  It's called plea deal to avoid bankrupting oneself to defend against an inappropriate charge. Jury nullification only works if the case gets to a jury, and even then you are betting on having a jury that is smarter than the one which labeled a white guy who shot and killed an unarmed black youth as guilty of attempted murder.

• On the post: UK Porn Filter Architect Arrested On Child Porn Charges

  

  Ben ( profile ), 06 Mar, 2014 @ 04:11am

  On the bright side, Rock is now in a hard place.

• On the post: Dash-Cam Revelations In NJ Show Again The Importance Of Video As Evidence In Police Abuse

  

  Ben ( profile ), 28 Feb, 2014 @ 05:16pm

  Re: These officers committed a terrorist act

  Except, based on past instances of events like this, they will get paid administrative leave and then be returned to duty (maybe with a promotion!).

• On the post: Excuse Me, Could I Interest You In A Thousand-Volume Set Of Encyclopedias?

  

  Ben ( profile ), 28 Feb, 2014 @ 05:24am

  Re:

  https://what-if.xkcd.com/59/

  Thanks. You just made me "waste" an hour (happens every time I get on to xkcd's site).
  
  Please: have some compassion and think twice before linking there in the future...

• On the post: BREIN Loses Again As Dutch Court Rejects Criminal Prosecution For Copyright Infringement

  

  Ben ( profile ), 03 Feb, 2014 @ 04:23pm

  Re:

  Well, yes. Some of them must have been children's books.

• On the post: That Was Fast: Prince Has Already Filed To Dismiss Ridiculous Lawsuit Against 22 Fans

  

  Ben ( profile ), 29 Jan, 2014 @ 02:08pm

  Re: Re: Doh!

  Prince, formerly known as an unpronounceable symbol, I believe was under a contract with Warner Brothers such that he could not use "Prince" for a number of years (or was it albums?) unless it was with Warner Brothers. Since he was having "artistic differences" with them he was in the position of not being able to go elsewhere under the name "Prince". He started using "Prince" again in 2000.
  
  I wonder if any of the 22 people formerly known as "defendant" have recourse to punishing Prince for the suits.

• On the post: King Cries Trademark Over The Banner Saga

  

  Ben ( profile ), 24 Jan, 2014 @ 08:45pm

  Crush them with Candy! Think of the Saga!

  It appears to me the only reasonable action is to launch a Kickstarter campaign to purchase as much candy as possible and have it dumped on the offices of King.com such that it crushes them. Bonus levels of funding would include making the candy and the experience of crushing them be as similar to the events in Candy Crush Saga as possible.
  
  Of course, the entire project, culminating in the delivery/crush would be filmed, producing the Candy Crush Saga Saga.

• On the post: Weird California Incident Last Year Points To The Real Threat To The Power Grid (Hint: It's Not Cyberattacks)

  

  Ben ( profile ), 03 Jan, 2014 @ 09:14pm

  Re:

  Price tag? A "couple hundred bucks." A lot cheaper than the billions the administration has spent in the past four years beefing up cyber security

  A couple of hundred bucks for one facility. How many electrical transformer sites are there? The comparison is false.
  
  I also doubt it would be "a couple hundred bucks" but more likely "a couple thousand bucks", but a million sites at a thousand a site would still be significantly less than the cybersecurity money pit.

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