btr1701 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (4967)

• On the post: Driver Stranded After 'Smart' Rental Car Can't Phone Home

  

  btr1701 ( profile ), 18 Feb, 2020 @ 12:57pm

  ...a reminder that in the modern era, dumb technology routinely winds
  up being the smarter option.

  Amen. Up until last month, I was commuting in a 2019 Impala company car with all the new bells and whistles, everything connected to everything, whoop-de-doo, and I don't miss it at all. I had so many headaches with all that shit when it went haywire that I never have with my 1998 4Runner which still runs like a dream and isn't connected to anything.

• On the post: Open Source Voice Assistant Promises To 'Nuke From Orbit' Patent Troll

  

  btr1701 ( profile ), 13 Feb, 2020 @ 11:15am

  Patent Trolls... they mostly come at night. Mostly.

  We've got a dozen canisters of CN-20, I say we roll them down there and gas the whole fucking nest.

• On the post: Michigan County Sued For Stealing Cars From Innocent Car Owners Via Civil Forfeiture

  

  btr1701 ( profile ), 12 Feb, 2020 @ 04:02pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  However, the way it works, the command to wipe the phone would be invoked when it came out the faraday bag and it got a network connection again.

  No, they take the electronics back to the cop shop, where they go into a shielded room, and only then are they taken out of the bag and worked on safe from outside interference.

• On the post: Arizona Legislator Wants To Strip Platforms Of Section 230 Immunity If They're 'Politically Biased'

  

  btr1701 ( profile ), 12 Feb, 2020 @ 01:31pm

  Re: Re:

  What would happen if CNN broadcast illegal content?

  What is 'illegal content'? Other than obscenity-- child porn and the like-- which is not what's under discussion here, what content is illegal?

• On the post: Arizona Legislator Wants To Strip Platforms Of Section 230 Immunity If They're 'Politically Biased'

  

  btr1701 ( profile ), 12 Feb, 2020 @ 01:29pm

  Re:

  What's the difference between social justice and justice?

• On the post: Arizona Legislator Wants To Strip Platforms Of Section 230 Immunity If They're 'Politically Biased'

  

  btr1701 ( profile ), 12 Feb, 2020 @ 01:28pm

  Re:

  First Amendment issues aside, I'm not sure why this guy thinks a state law can somehow alter or override the provisions of Section 230, which is a federal law. Last I checked, state legislatures can't amend federal statutes.

• On the post: Appeals Court Rules That People Can't Be Locked Up Indefinitely For Refusing To Decrypt Devices

  

  btr1701 ( profile ), 12 Feb, 2020 @ 01:39pm

  Starting Rawls off with four years in jail before even bringing the case to trial is punishment for punishment's sake.

  He'll almost certainly be credited for that time on his eventual sentence after conviction. So if he gets 30 years, they'll take those four off the top and he'll go in for 26.

• On the post: Michigan County Sued For Stealing Cars From Innocent Car Owners Via Civil Forfeiture

  

  btr1701 ( profile ), 11 Feb, 2020 @ 02:31pm

  Re: Re: Re:

  all I will have to do is get to the Internet as soon as possible and log on to Android Device Manager and then send a command to wipe all my devies to make them usless to them.

  Most cops now carry Faraday bags in their patrol cars and put seized phones into them, which prevent any transmission of electronic signals into or out of the bag.

• On the post: Michigan County Sued For Stealing Cars From Innocent Car Owners Via Civil Forfeiture

  

  btr1701 ( profile ), 11 Feb, 2020 @ 02:26pm

  Re:

  Guy loses his car because he SLOWS DOWN on a street the cops have deemed a pros stroll? FFS, they used to at least need to find drugs or a 'suspicious' amount of cash to steal the car. Now all you have to do is drive into the wrong part of town or tap your brakes in the wrong place and your car goes poof? Jeezus wept...

• On the post: Michigan County Sued For Stealing Cars From Innocent Car Owners Via Civil Forfeiture

  

  btr1701 ( profile ), 11 Feb, 2020 @ 02:23pm

  Re: Technically...

  They don't auction those things off. They're considered abandoned property. Anytime we needed a knife or a Leatherman, we would routinely stop by the TSA offices at the airport and they have barrels full of them that people have discarded at the checkpoints. Just root through them till you find something you like, and voila.

• On the post: The End Of Ownership: Tesla Software Updates Giveth… And Tesla Software Updates Taketh Away…

  

  btr1701 ( profile ), 11 Feb, 2020 @ 02:13pm

  Re: Ownership > Tenancy

  If you stream something, it can go away at the whim of the proprietor. Not so for files you own.

  Not always true. Sometime the companies reach onto your computer or device and delete things you've paid for. It's happened with eBooks several times. The only way to ensure it doesn't happen is to backup your entire library onto media that the content company can't reach.

• On the post: Disney's Licensing Dogs Charge Underserved School District A Third Of Fundraiser Money For Playing 'Lion King' DVD

  

  btr1701 ( profile ), 10 Feb, 2020 @ 11:50am

  Re: Re:

  But any good lawyer would've at least said "Nah, don't bother, they're full of shit."

  More like "They're full of shit, but they're Disney and they can sue you over this even though the law is on your side, and it will cost you a shit-ton of money to defend the suit and win the case."

• On the post: Disney's Licensing Dogs Charge Underserved School District A Third Of Fundraiser Money For Playing 'Lion King' DVD

  

  btr1701 ( profile ), 07 Feb, 2020 @ 03:52pm

  Re:

  Even if that shrink-wrap license were valid, violating it would be a matter of contract law, not copyright law. Playing a DVD for some kids at a school fundraiser doesn't not violate anything in the actual copyright statute.

• On the post: Disney's Licensing Dogs Charge Underserved School District A Third Of Fundraiser Money For Playing 'Lion King' DVD

  

  btr1701 ( profile ), 06 Feb, 2020 @ 12:58am

  Re:

  Plus, Prop 13 doesn't just apply to big corps like Disney. It applies to everyone in California. So according to Droste, the fact that the legislature hasn't blown property taxes through the stratosphere like they have every other kind of tax means we're all not paying money she thinks we should be. Prop 13 is the only reason millions of people can still afford to keep their own homes because if the legislature hadn't been muzzled with regard to property taxes, they'd have gone hog wild with them by now and have driven most of the middle and lower classes out of their homes.

• On the post: Disney's Licensing Dogs Charge Underserved School District A Third Of Fundraiser Money For Playing 'Lion King' DVD

  

  btr1701 ( profile ), 06 Feb, 2020 @ 12:53am

  Re: IP lawyers sicked on a PTA event

  My guess is that Disney contracts out a legal firm to watch out for copyright violations and act to intercept them, and the legal firm took initiative.

  This is the question I have after reading the article-- how the hell did Disney even know about this? If the movie was just being shown in a side room to keep kids occupied and not as part of the event itself, then it certainly wasn't mentioned in any of the promotional materials for the event. Did one of the parents just happen to work for Disney or something? Or was one of them some compulsive narc that is compelled to tattle on everyone for everything? Or do these DVDs automatically report back to Disney if they're played on a smart TV now? Because honestly, I'm having a hard time imagining how the Disney legal team found out what was on a TV in a back room of some school fundraiser 600 miles from L.A.

• On the post: Disney's Licensing Dogs Charge Underserved School District A Third Of Fundraiser Money For Playing 'Lion King' DVD

  

  btr1701 ( profile ), 06 Feb, 2020 @ 12:45am

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Disney's Side

  I thought copyright infringement was a civil matter.

  https://www.justice.gov/archives/jm/criminal-resource-manual-1847-criminal-copyright-infringement-17-usc-506a-and-18-usc-2319' Showing a DVD at a school fundraiser doesn't meet the elements, but that doesn't mean infringement is always a civil matter.

• On the post: Like Clockwork, ICE Stops Sports Fans From Advertising Their Favorite Teams For Less Than Full Price

  

  btr1701 ( profile ), 06 Feb, 2020 @ 12:33am

  Re: Re: Re: Re:

  "Same reason the SEC pursues insider traders"
  Funny that - insider trading is not illegal for congressional members

  Yes, it is illegal, even for members of Congress: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STOCK_Act

  Some dude making t-shirts in the basement is not really commerce is it?

  Yeah, it is.

• On the post: Like Clockwork, ICE Stops Sports Fans From Advertising Their Favorite Teams For Less Than Full Price

  

  btr1701 ( profile ), 04 Feb, 2020 @ 11:00am

  Re: Re: Re:

  They may own the franchise but refusing to allow others partake in it is a sure fire way to kill the franchise off.

  That's not a decision for the government to make. If it's a bad business decision, the market will exact its punishment.

  Prohibiting others from promoting your franchise at no cost to you is a suicidal business strategy.

  One they are free to make if they choose. It's not the proper place of the government to do it for them.

• On the post: Like Clockwork, ICE Stops Sports Fans From Advertising Their Favorite Teams For Less Than Full Price

  

  btr1701 ( profile ), 04 Feb, 2020 @ 10:58am

  Re: Re:

  Same reason he Secret Service pursues credit card fraud and bank fraud. Same reason the SEC pursues insider traders. Etc., etc., etc. The cops catch criminals. The fact that the victims of the crime are businesses, not individuals, doesn't make arresting the criminals any less legitimate. Also, I'm not sure why you think these are merely civil cases. Mass infringement and sale of the copies for profit easily falls under criminal copyright infringement.

• On the post: Like Clockwork, ICE Stops Sports Fans From Advertising Their Favorite Teams For Less Than Full Price

  

  btr1701 ( profile ), 03 Feb, 2020 @ 12:17pm

  So should LucasFilm not be allowed to stop people from selling STAR WARS t-shirts and caps?

  I mean, after all it's free advertising for their movies. Why should they be allowed to stop other people from cashing in on their IP?

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