Ben 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (336)

• On the post: Obama Chastises Keith Alexander For Trying To Befuddle Him With Tech Jargon

  

  Ben ( profile ), 02 Jan, 2014 @ 10:15am

  degree in electronic warfare?

  What stood out to me:

  Alexander, who holds advanced degrees in physics and electronic warfare

  There are degrees in electronic warfare? "Advanced" degrees?
  
  It makes me wonder if I should be proud/hopeful of my children playing video games.

• On the post: Irony: Local Patriot Group Fear-Mongers 'Foreign Hordes' By Using Bioshock Graphic Satirizing Racist Assholes

  

  Ben ( profile ), 31 Dec, 2013 @ 04:53am

  Foreign(?) Hordes

  And in front on the right is what appears to be an American Indian. Foreign indeed.

• On the post: From Snowden To Manning… To Ben Franklin And Sam Adams? A History Of Leakers Of Secret Gov't Documents

  

  Ben ( profile ), 26 Dec, 2013 @ 12:37pm

  Re:

  Because he grew up in Boston before moving to Philadelphia? Living in Boston is, I think, the shortest route to learning how to hate Massachusetts (government that is; not the land)

• On the post: Congress Can And Should Protect Ed Snowden And Thank Him For Revealing Government Overreach

  

  Ben ( profile ), 19 Dec, 2013 @ 10:45am

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  Note that it isn't just the legislature. It was a bill and the President needed to sign it. For Snowden, the President could just as easily give him a pardon without the legislature getting involved. Somehow I expect to first see pigs flying considering the way he has talked about it so far.

• On the post: Hacktivist Jeremy Hammond Gets 10 Years In Prison; Explains How FBI Gave Him The Targets To Hack

  

  Ben ( profile ), 16 Nov, 2013 @ 06:53am

  Re: Re:

  might have removed her from the case for the appearance of impartiality

  I think the removal would be for the lack (or the appearance of the lack) of impartiality.

• On the post: Office Depot Sends World's Worst DMCA Notice To Reddit

  

  Ben ( profile ), 06 Nov, 2013 @ 04:07pm

  Re: DCMA NOTIFICATION?

  And the notification (of whatever type) was finished with:

  Signed on this day, the 6 day of November, 2013, in the City of Boa Raton, Florida, USA.

  Boa Raton? Somebody had a bad typo day.

• On the post: Office Depot Sends World's Worst DMCA Notice To Reddit

  

  Ben ( profile ), 06 Nov, 2013 @ 03:11pm

  DCMA NOTIFICATION?

  If you read the opening page you have to realize it is not a DMCA takedown notification.
  
  It is a DCMA NOTIFICATION.
  
  Whatever that is.

• On the post: Former DHS/NSA Official Attacks Bruce Schneier With Bizarre, Factually Incorrect, Non-sensical Rant

  

  Ben ( profile ), 06 Nov, 2013 @ 02:28am

  Re: Re: Re:

  But what I really want to know is, is this a good thing or a bad thing? That's all I ever really want to know about a story from CNN when I am waiting for my airplane.

  lol! I think it is a "Good Thing" but I've been wrong before...

• On the post: US Intelligence Effectively Admits That, Despite Earlier Statements, They Don't Think Snowden Gave Docs To Russians

  

  Ben ( profile ), 25 Oct, 2013 @ 03:40pm

  What it shows...

  What it shows is that Mr. Snowden is better at this Security thing than then NSA.

• On the post: Justin Amash: Mike Rogers Isn't Overseeing The Intelligence Community, He's Conspiring To Cover Up Its Activities

  

  Ben ( profile ), 10 Oct, 2013 @ 01:08pm

  Re: What's the mechanism for firing the chair of a committee?

  This is where most of the power of Speaker of the House resides - the Speaker controls the assignment of members of his/her party to committees. Senior (majority party) member of the committee is "usually" the chair. In the Senate it is the Majority Leader. The minority leaders assign the "other" openings on the committees.
  
  Of course the day-to-day power comes from controlling how legislation is brought before the respective houses, but you really can't underestimate the power (and payoff) of being able to assign chairmanships.
  
  The Speaker/Majority Leader can take away committee membership pretty much at will, so that is one way a chairman could be removed.

• On the post: When A Senator Reads 'Green Eggs & Ham' On The Floor, What About The Copyright?

  

  Ben ( profile ), 25 Sep, 2013 @ 02:24pm

  Hmmm seems like Article I Section 6 needs updating...

  They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony, Breach of the Peace, and Copyright Infringement, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.
  Article I Section 6

• On the post: Why Companies Should Start Regularly Reporting That They Have Not Received Secret NSA Orders

  

  Ben ( profile ), 11 Sep, 2013 @ 12:19pm

  What is to stop them?

  Presuming that the FBI/NSA/TLA know you are reporting that you have not received a NSL/court order [and come on, you have to admit it is likely the NSA will know] -- what is to stop them from including in that court order an insistence that you continue to report that you did not received that court order?

• On the post: Warner Music Reprising The Role Of The Evil Slayer Of The Public Domain, Fights Back Against Happy Birthday Lawsuit

  

  Ben ( profile ), 04 Sep, 2013 @ 12:04pm

  Kittens?

  I don't understand. What's wrong with kicking kittens? When did it become a sport? Or is the "evilness" the fact that someone made it a sport?

• On the post: Ex-Prenda Lawyer Wonders If Team Prenda Believes Their Own Lies After Laughable Hearing

  

  Ben ( profile ), 30 Aug, 2013 @ 06:46am

  Re:

  Well, one statement was under oath to a judge. The other was a statement to a reporter. I wonder which one he lied to?
  
  Popcorn! I need popcorn!

• On the post: Awesome Stuff: Multi-Tool Time

  

  Ben ( profile ), 24 Aug, 2013 @ 12:21pm

  zeus and silverback

  There is certainly something wrong with the pricing of the ZEUS multi-tool -- no wonder they're going slow. $25 for one, $350 for ten? Doesn't quite add up, unless it is $350 for ten personalized tools. On the whole, it just looks clunky.
  
  For the Silverback, I was amused by the "faq"

  The Silverback was inspected and approved by TSA

  (it's not a question!) I can imagine that statement is worth the bits my browser used to display it -- I'd want something at least referencing a TSA document which can be pointed to when they tell me "you can't take that".
  
  Besides, the only time I had something confiscated when getting on an airplane was a small multi-tool, but it was in England (coming _back_ to America, so the tool went out just fine) so the TSA wasn't even involved.

• On the post: More Confirmation: NSA Analysts Willfully Abused Surveillance Powers

  

  Ben ( profile ), 23 Aug, 2013 @ 01:12pm

  Investigations?

  He said:

  NSA takes very seriously allegations of misconduct, and cooperates fully with any investigations ...

  Haven't we already found that there are no investigations of secret programs? So "any investigation" is accurate since there have been, apparently, no investigations.

• On the post: Okay, Now Will People Admit That Ed Snowden Is A Whistleblower?

  

  Ben ( profile ), 16 Aug, 2013 @ 12:52pm

  Re: Re: Re: Similarly on accurate naming...

  Oops -- quoting part of a message which was subsequently hidden (and doesn't even show up in search...)

• On the post: Okay, Now Will People Admit That Ed Snowden Is A Whistleblower?

  

  Ben ( profile ), 16 Aug, 2013 @ 12:51pm

  Re: Re: Similarly on accurate naming...

  You apparently quoted:

  Let?s just not miss what is arguably an even greater danger

  Just what are you quoting? That doesn't appear anywhere else (except now, here) in this article.

• On the post: More Copyright Censorship: 'Straight Pride' Group Uses DMCA To Take Down Their Own Responses To Reporter

  

  Ben ( profile ), 14 Aug, 2013 @ 11:17am

  Transformative work?

  About a week later they responded with an attached document with the title ?press release?. I went through the questions, corrected the horrendous grammar, and organised it so it coherently answered the questions I?d posed.

  Sounds like a "Transformative Work" to me, which means it is not covered by their copyright at all (in addition to all the other problems their claim has with "Fair Use").
  
  This Congress is not only "Do Nothing" but "On Holiday" -- since they won't accomplish anything it seems they'd rather not be working at all. I cannot imagine them coming close to dealing with the stupidity in the DMCA.

• On the post: Did The NSA Think The Public Can't Do Math? Attempt To Downplay Data Collection Fails Miserably

  

  Ben ( profile ), 14 Aug, 2013 @ 09:27am

  Spam

  I can now imagine the "bad guys" doing broadcast communication via carefully worded spam emails, thereby avoiding the NSA.
  
  I can see it now: It was V1agra that caused the embassy to be destroyed!

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