btr1701 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (4967) comment rss

  • On the post: Copyright As Censorship: YouTuber Pulls Down GoFundMe Video To Help Victim Of Viral YouTube Jumping Tesla Stunt

    btr1701 ( profile ), 22 Mar, 2022 @ 06:57pm

    LAPD said they won’t pursue those who were involved in this mess because “it’s just property damage and not a felony”
    That's the official policy of our communist district attorney George Gascon. He has issued a blanket declination of prosecution on almost all property crime in Los Angeles County. He doesn't believe anyone should go to jail merely for stealing or destroying someone else's property. In his own words, "That's what insurance is for." It's also a major reason he (like his clone Chesa Boudin in San Francisco) is facing a recall election and-- if the polls are any indication-- will almost certainly be yanked out of office.

  • On the post: The UK’s Online Safety Bill Would Be A Complete And Utter Disaster For An Open Internet

    btr1701 ( profile ), 22 Mar, 2022 @ 06:40pm

    Techxit

    I've said it before, these tech companies need to start thinking seriously about just shuttering their physical presences in the UK. Twitter, Facebook, et al, should just shut down their offices there and become an online-only presence. With no physical presence in the UK, the UK won't be able to enforce this nonsense against them. OFCOM's only remedy at that point would be to block access entirely to Facebook or Twitter from anyone inside the UK, a move which would likely come with severe political consequences from an enraged public.

  • On the post: Netflix Starts Cracking Down Harder On Password Sharing

    btr1701 ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2022 @ 04:26pm

    Netflix doesn’t state how it’s determining whether a password user lives in the house. Presumably it’s by IP addresses, MAC IDs, or some other identifying metric.
    Or whether this system will decide someone who travels a lot for business and watches Netflix on hotel room TVs through their account will be flagged as being a 'password sharer'.

  • On the post: Cities Are Turning To Automation To Enforce Vehicle Noise Ordinances

    btr1701 ( profile ), 16 Mar, 2022 @ 10:46pm

    Wouldn't Mind This at All

    Would love to have this here in Redondo Beach. Damn assholes on their Harleys ride up and down the streets all day (and in the middle of the night, too) purposely revving their engines so loud it makes the windows in my house rattle. Be awesome for a computer to shoot them an $800 ticket every time they wake my entire neighborhood up for no damn reason. (Although if I was a Harley owner, it'd be hilarious to pull in next to the sensor, just out of camera view, and rev like crazy every time someone with a "Vote Democrat" bumper sticker passed by.)

  • On the post: Eleventh Circuit Smacks Georgia Sheriff Around For Posting 'Don't Trick Or Treat Here' Signs In Sex Offenders' Yards

    btr1701 ( profile ), 25 Feb, 2022 @ 12:06pm

    Re: Re: 1st Amendment?

    What also seems unaddressed by the court are the rights of people who aren't sex offenders. It's bad enough to violate the offenders' rights but what about the people who haven't committed any crime who are the actual owners of some of these properties? If a guy who has the conviction is living at his parents' home, that doesn't mean his parents-- who have not been accused of, let alone convicted of any crime-- lose their private property rights against trespass, nor their 1st Amendment rights against having government propaganda posted on their property.

  • On the post: Texas Town To Start Issuing Traffic Tickets By Text Message

    btr1701 ( profile ), 08 Feb, 2022 @ 06:38pm

    Re: Re:

    Traffic tickets aren't federal. That means there are 50 different sovereignties all with different laws. You can't make a sweeping generalized statement like "traffic tickets aren't criminal violations to begin with" and have it be true of all jurisdictions. In some jurisdictions, moving violations are indeed criminal offenses (or were until they were downgraded to administrative violations so that tickets could be issued to vehicle owners regardless of who was driving).

  • On the post: Texas Town To Start Issuing Traffic Tickets By Text Message

    btr1701 ( profile ), 02 Feb, 2022 @ 04:08pm

    tickets will be issued to the owner of the vehicle, rather than
    the actual driver, which is going to cause problems for
    people who haven't actually committed a moving violation,
    beginning with increased insurance rates and possibly ending
    with bench warrants for unpaid tickets that were issued to
    the wrong person.

    The only way the government can issue tickets to a registered owner (rather than the actual driver of the vehicle) is to decriminalize the violation and issue them administrative fines because the Constitution requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the person accused committed the crime for criminal violations. And if the violation is downgraded to administrative rather than criminal to get around that, then they can't issue arrest warrants for non-payment like they can for criminal violations.

    Basically, instead of an arrest warrant, they do what any debt collector does-- send it to a collection agency and report you to the credit bureaus as delinquent and f-up your credit and/or put a bar on your vehicle registration until payment is received. But no one can come to your door and arrest you for it any more than they can show up and arrest you for failing to pay your Visa bill this month.

  • On the post: California Police Officers' Bigoted Text Messages Have Just Undone Dozens Of Felony Cases

    btr1701 ( profile ), 30 Dec, 2021 @ 11:58am

    An Outright Lie from Cushing

    "...ever since police forces were created for
    the purpose of tracking down escaped slaves
    and returning them to their owners."

    That's simply not true and the facts are easily enough discovered that it amounts to an intentional lie.

    Yes, policing in Southern slave states has some roots in slave patrols, but policing itself as an institution absolutely does not owe its existence to capturing escaped slaves.

    Policing-- i.e., enforcing the law, preventing crime, apprehending criminals-- has a very long history that long predates American slavery. Hell, it long predates even the discovery of North America by Europeans.

    Augustus Caesar, born in 27 BC, created the cohortes urbanae near the end of his reign to police ancient Rome.

    Policing in England took form with Henry II’s proclamation of the Assize of Arms of 1181. In the 1600s England established constables and justices of the peace to oversee them.

    The Metropolitan Police Act created the first official police department in the U.K. in 1829.

    In America, the first constables were created in the 1630s in what came to be known as New England. Boston has the oldest “modern” police department. It was created in 1838. New York and Philadelphia soon followed. None of which were created for or had any hand in tracking down runaway slaves.

    Your politics are obvious, Cushing. Stop outright lying to shill for them.

  • On the post: Chinese Gov't Inflicts Its Selective Amnesia On Hong Kong, Forcing The Removal Of Tiananmen Square Massacre Monuments

    btr1701 ( profile ), 30 Dec, 2021 @ 11:41am

    Appalling

    Wow. I sure am glad I live in a country where statues and moments aren't torn down to satisfy political agendas.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/18/nyregion/thomas-jefferson-statue-ny-city-council.html

    Well, shit.

  • On the post: Rep. Thomas Massie Seems To Have Skipped Over The 1st Amendment In His Rush To 'Defend' The 2nd

    btr1701 ( profile ), 09 Dec, 2021 @ 07:38am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Free speech under attack everywhere

    Cool story, bro.

  • On the post: Rep. Thomas Massie Seems To Have Skipped Over The 1st Amendment In His Rush To 'Defend' The 2nd

    btr1701 ( profile ), 08 Dec, 2021 @ 05:15pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Free speech under attack everywhere

    And there ain't nobody under 55 on Usenet.
    I am both.

  • On the post: Rep. Thomas Massie Seems To Have Skipped Over The 1st Amendment In His Rush To 'Defend' The 2nd

    btr1701 ( profile ), 08 Dec, 2021 @ 05:15pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Free speech under attack everywhere

    I continue to struggle to apply...
    When did your deficits become my problem?

  • On the post: Rep. Thomas Massie Seems To Have Skipped Over The 1st Amendment In His Rush To 'Defend' The 2nd

    btr1701 ( profile ), 08 Dec, 2021 @ 05:14pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Free speech under attack everywhere

    So what the fuck are you here complaining about?
    Go back to my original post and you'll find it wasn't a complaint at all.

  • On the post: New Jersey Cop Facing Charges After Hitting A Man With His Car And Driving His Body To His Mom's House

    btr1701 ( profile ), 08 Dec, 2021 @ 05:10pm

    Re: Re: Hindeing your own apprehension

    Wouldn't not turning yourself in both show intent to obstruct and impede the investigation?

  • On the post: Rep. Thomas Massie Seems To Have Skipped Over The 1st Amendment In His Rush To 'Defend' The 2nd

    btr1701 ( profile ), 07 Dec, 2021 @ 11:06pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Free speech under attack everywhere

    As somebody who has done so in the past
    Cool story, bro. The reality is that my daily experience on Usenet for oh, the last 23 years or so, is that not one post I've ever sent has failed to show up because some self-appointed overlord somewhere decided it violated some half-assed and purposely vague 'community safety guideline' (because there are none). Nor have I ever found my ability to post suspended because a new rule suddenly emerged one day that was applied retroactively to the beginning of time.
    So maybe you should study up a bit about the technologies you profess to know so much about
    LOL! I never 'professed to know so much about' anything here, you jackass. I made a comment on the fact that one can post on Usenet with little to none of the censorship found in the walled gardens of the social media titans. That's all. And that's a true statement.

  • On the post: Rep. Thomas Massie Seems To Have Skipped Over The 1st Amendment In His Rush To 'Defend' The 2nd

    btr1701 ( profile ), 07 Dec, 2021 @ 10:55pm

    Re: Re: Re: Free speech under attack everywhere

    and why Usenet has largely been replaced by services that do the filtering for their users.
    Whether they like it or not.

  • On the post: Rep. Thomas Massie Seems To Have Skipped Over The 1st Amendment In His Rush To 'Defend' The 2nd

    btr1701 ( profile ), 07 Dec, 2021 @ 10:54pm

    Re: Re: Re: Free speech under attack everywhere

    The point you are totally missing is that a majority people
    doesn't want to see spam and assholes filling their feed and
    they don't want to do judicious application of filters - they
    expect it just to work.
    Oh, well, then those people can graze around in their walled gardens with rules that pop up out of nowhere one day and find their accounts suspended over something they posted 10 years ago that was perfectly fine at the time but now suddenly violates this new and exciting rule. I choose to use a forum where that (and a myriad of other 'safety' guidelines) don't get in the way of people talking amongst themselves. And yes, we have great discussions, so it works just fine for me. Isn't that what all you Masnick remoras are always telling people? "If you don't like how the social media titans run their platforms, go somewhere else?" And now here I am, having indeed done just that. I've gone somewhere else and all I get is a raft of condescending shit from the usual suspects for doing exactly what they constantly say I should do.

  • On the post: Rep. Thomas Massie Seems To Have Skipped Over The 1st Amendment In His Rush To 'Defend' The 2nd

    btr1701 ( profile ), 07 Dec, 2021 @ 10:46pm

    Re: Re: Re: Free speech under attack everywhere

    Gab, Frank, Parler, etc. would all love to have you as a user, and they won't "censor" you like big tech does.
    Nah, I'll just stick with Usenet where there is no actual censorship because it's not a centralized platform owned by anyone. But thanks for the second (useless) tip!

  • On the post: Rep. Thomas Massie Seems To Have Skipped Over The 1st Amendment In His Rush To 'Defend' The 2nd

    btr1701 ( profile ), 07 Dec, 2021 @ 10:44pm

    Re: Re: Re: Free speech under attack everywhere

    if you don't like the major web platforms, don't use them
    Already there, Captain Obvious, but thanks for the tip!

  • On the post: New Jersey Cop Facing Charges After Hitting A Man With His Car And Driving His Body To His Mom's House

    btr1701 ( profile ), 07 Dec, 2021 @ 11:16pm

    Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes

    In addition to vehicular homicide, Santiago was charged
    with leaving the scene of crash resulting in death,
    endangering an injured victim, desecrating/moving human
    remains, hindering one's own apprehension, conspiracy
    to hinder prosecution, tampering with physical evidence,
    obstructing the administration of law, and two counts of
    official misconduct.

    Sounds like the system is working as intended, then. A couple of guys committed some crimes and they're gonna have to pay the price for it. Unless TechDirt has officially become nothing more than a crime blotter, how is this newsworthy here?

    And some of those charges... "endangering an injured victim"? How do you endanger someone who's already dead?

    And "hindering one's own apprehension"? Wouldn't that apply to literally every criminal? I mean, unless the criminal walks directly from the scene of his crime and voluntarily turns himself into the police, wouldn't he be hindering his own apprehension?

Next >>