Tim Cushing 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: More Prenda Insanity: Lawyer Claims Defendant Erased Infringing Activity Using A Registry Cleaner, Citing A Single EHow Submission

    Tim Cushing ( profile ), 05 Feb, 2013 @ 05:14pm

    Re: Re:

    *once

  • On the post: More Prenda Insanity: Lawyer Claims Defendant Erased Infringing Activity Using A Registry Cleaner, Citing A Single EHow Submission

    Tim Cushing ( profile ), 05 Feb, 2013 @ 05:13pm

    Re:

    Wow. Tim, what a cushy job you've got here, no pun intended.

    I hear that. I got bedsores just "compiling" it. :) Prenda Law has been linked to muscular atrophy. Yet another reason it must be stopped... eventually... one it stops being entertaining.

  • On the post: More Prenda Insanity: Lawyer Claims Defendant Erased Infringing Activity Using A Registry Cleaner, Citing A Single EHow Submission

    Tim Cushing ( profile ), 05 Feb, 2013 @ 05:10pm

    Re:

    My guess is the judge ordered this to keep Gibbs from revisiting the issue, thus giving the overmatched lawyer one less thing to complain about.

  • On the post: Teri Buhl Responds To Our Story; Still Confused About The Internet And The Law

    Tim Cushing ( profile ), 05 Feb, 2013 @ 04:53pm

    Re:

    Precisely.

    She seemed to have the idea that we humor people whose Plans A-Z inclusive when challenged include these two aspects:

    1. Making baseless legal threats
    2. Screaming "COPYRIGHT!" until they get their way.

  • On the post: EFF Goes To Bat For Reddit's Gay Gamers; Files Petition To Cancel Bogus 'Gaymer' Trademark

    Tim Cushing ( profile ), 01 Feb, 2013 @ 11:02am

    Re:

    Tim... long and hard... REALLY?
    There are so many better porn terms to chose from. If your gonna do it, go big.

    I knew it was weak, hence the question mark standing in for a shoulder shrug. Maybe if I'd played with it for a bit more, a better joke would have revealed itself, engorged with mirthy goodness and swollen with adjectives that would have made Mom believe she was just reading select excerpts from a Gurney's seed catalog... tumescent, mouth-filling, tender, vigorous, plump... um... ... self-fertilizing... ... hmmm... bulbous...?

    ON TO POINT B... AND QUICKLY!

    Yeah, I read his manifesto. In addition to what you point out, his other main point seems to be "I was persecuted as a gay gamer and therefore, have earned the exclusive right to this term." As if that's how life works. And as if the other gaymers fighting his trademark have never heard a disparaging word in their lives.

    I'm glad he decided to fight evil (and stupid) with good by starting his gaymer.org site, but I really don't see how his bad experiences somehow entitle him to claim a term that was never his to begin with.

  • On the post: Two More Politicians Claim Video Games Are The Real 'Problem'

    Tim Cushing ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2013 @ 01:03pm

    Re: What's with the weird quotation marks?

    It's mainly because it's someone else's term. There's a lot of emphasis on that term now, most of it political. I don't see why it isn't simply termed "violence." Yes, violence using guns exists, but it's not my term, hence the quotation marks.

  • On the post: Anonymous Hacks US Sentencing Commission Website, Grabs Sensitive Files And Demands Legal Reform

    Tim Cushing ( profile ), 29 Jan, 2013 @ 07:27pm

    Re: Re:

    Or rather, first word. You already had the first comment.

    It's been a rather long day. [long sigh emoticon]

  • On the post: Anonymous Hacks US Sentencing Commission Website, Grabs Sensitive Files And Demands Legal Reform

    Tim Cushing ( profile ), 29 Jan, 2013 @ 07:26pm

    Re:

    I don't mind being wrong (although I do try to avoid it). First comment is yours.

  • On the post: Redditor Points Out The Flaws In SimCity's Online-Only DRM, Gets Banned By EA For His Troubles [UPDATED]

    Tim Cushing ( profile ), 29 Jan, 2013 @ 03:29pm

    Re: Too Sensational

    In addition, the attack on Bank of America, is out of place. I understand the point that the author is trying to make, but this is juvenile. Claiming that BoA practices lead to our country's economic downturn and somehow suggesting that EA's practices are comparable in that respect is pure sensationalism.

    This comparison is only here because that's who EA beat out for the latest "Worst Company in America" poll. Read that paragraph again and you'll note the use of the word "alleged," which means these claims are still open for dispute.

    And, yeah, as DH pointed out: I was also attempting to inject a little incredulous humor into the fact that consumers hate EA more than they hate big banks with customer service problems.

  • On the post: Redditor Points Out The Flaws In SimCity's Online-Only DRM, Gets Banned By EA For His Troubles [UPDATED]

    Tim Cushing ( profile ), 29 Jan, 2013 @ 03:24pm

    Re:

    Shoddy Journalism here at it's finest.

    Just because this post appeared at Techdirt today doesn't mean it was written today. That update hadn't been posted at the time this article was actually composed (Jan. 27th -- sorry, don't have a more exact time stamp than the date on the Gdoc I used to write the piece).

    Obviously, my downfall was failing to set up some sort of alert system that would send me a message if any separate Reddit posts were created containing information that directly refuted what I had previously written.

    I was alerted today by commenters here and at Reddit about EA's response, which I have posted above.

  • On the post: Redditor Points Out The Flaws In SimCity's Online-Only DRM, Gets Banned By EA For His Troubles [UPDATED]

    Tim Cushing ( profile ), 29 Jan, 2013 @ 01:06pm

    Re:

    Post has been updated. Thanks for the tip.

  • On the post: Who Sets Up An 'Innovation Forum' Hosted By A Guy Who Insists That Nothing Good Has Come From The Internet?

    Tim Cushing ( profile ), 25 Jan, 2013 @ 11:10am

    And then there's Will.I.Am, who will possibly bring an innovative hairdo.

  • On the post: GEMA Takes Kim Dotcom's Mega Launch Party Video Down, Despite All Songs Being Cleared

    Tim Cushing ( profile ), 24 Jan, 2013 @ 05:18pm

    Re: Re:

    The wing probably signifies the "flying fuck" it doesn't give.

  • On the post: Canadian Kindle Owners Forced To Leave American Kindle Content & Features Behind

    Tim Cushing ( profile ), 24 Jan, 2013 @ 11:03am

    Re: One problem with the theory

    I'm not sure if Amazon IS going along with this. Publishers can simply "pull" their books and release them as specific versions for each market. I'm not sure of all the mechanics behind it (or even 100% sure this IS what's happening), but listing one set at one price at .ca and another at .com and limiting users to selecting one or the other based on their "home country" allows the publishers to (theoretically) increase prices to an advantageous level OUTSIDE the US.

    Amazon may not have any control over this as ultimately the publishers control how, when, where and at what price their books are listed.

    Again, there's very little solid evidence that publishers are doing this. But I would imagine that if it was 100% the publishers' fault, there's still be very little publicly-available evidence. It's not like they'd want customers to know they were moving to country-specific catalogs SOLELY to take advantage of pricing flexibility.

    If this is Amazon making this push... it's much more inexplicable. There's very little benefit for the company and much more potential for negative fallout.

  • On the post: GEMA Takes Kim Dotcom's Mega Launch Party Video Down, Despite All Songs Being Cleared

    Tim Cushing ( profile ), 24 Jan, 2013 @ 03:13pm

    Yet another savvy move by GEMA in its ongoing effort to alienate the entire world, following closely on the heels of its updated corporate logo.

  • On the post: Ralph Nader Makes First Serious Bid For 'Crazy Old Man' Position; Refers To Video Games As 'Electronic Child Molestors'

    Tim Cushing ( profile ), 23 Jan, 2013 @ 11:27am

    Re: Not your best work

    GASP My employee's nemesis!

  • On the post: Some People Still Can't Seem To Question Their Car's GPS

    Tim Cushing ( profile ), 22 Jan, 2013 @ 04:25pm

    Re: I'm confused

    Point A was originally a gun owner's address.

  • On the post: Some People Still Can't Seem To Question Their Car's GPS

    Tim Cushing ( profile ), 22 Jan, 2013 @ 04:22pm

    Re: Low blow

    If that's the case, some helpful family member probably purchased the GPS for her to help prevent her from getting lost. I don't know if you can demand a refund on ironic grounds...

  • On the post: Obama Tasks CDC With Study Of Video Games And 'Violent Media'

    Tim Cushing ( profile ), 22 Jan, 2013 @ 04:08pm

    Re: Re: Re: Telegraphed

    My problem (such as it is) is that the tone of this article is an entire planet away from the tone of your NRA comments, and yet the institution here is the same one in a position to limit freedoms regarding both speech and self defense.

    Ah. You may have confused the two Tims that write for the site. I'm this one. The NRA post you're referring to (I think) was written by this one.

  • On the post: Obama Tasks CDC With Study Of Video Games And 'Violent Media'

    Tim Cushing ( profile ), 22 Jan, 2013 @ 02:40pm

    Re: Telegraphed

    Tim seems pleased with this sort of thing as long as it doesn't come from the NRA, but as for the rest of us, it's all part of the same generalized push to institutionalize behavior in various ways so that it is seen as legitimate to bring the law to bear on someone ostensibly to prevent harm.

    So, do you just stop reading the article once you feel you have a complaint to make? Did you read anything I wrote about the downside of this study? Or do you just have me pegged as a 2nd-amendment-bashing "progressive" and are just going to pick a fight with any post of mine that features the word "gun" somewhere in the text? (I've included what I wrote about the downside so you'll have a second chance to read it without being distracted by the "Leave a comment" link.)

    Any conclusions the CDC comes to will be immediately suspect. No matter what it finds, the conclusions will be disputed. The presence or absence of a link between violent media and gun violence will only exacerbate the divide between both sides of the debate. To date, no link has been conclusively proven. This study's outcome will likely be more of the same. It's nearly impossible isolate people and "violent media" from the other factors that affect the equation. The CDC should be able to incorporate its existing knowledge in regards to risk factors, but the answers it comes up with will fail to satisfy everyone. Ultimately, it will change nothing, but it will have the power to inform government policy going forward and, depending on the political climate, it's likely that gossamer-thin correlation will be enough to justify legislation.

    Then there's the tangled issue of gun control policy, something the CDC has waded into in the past. Again, any conclusions drawn will be contrasted against its history with the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control and its biased approach to the study of gun violence. (Particularly troublesome is a 1987 CDC report, in which the director of the NCIPC thought enough evidence existed to "confiscate all firearms from the general population" in order to prevent 8,600 homicides a year.) The administration has done a disservice to both groups (video game fans, gun owners) by making this study inseparable from a larger gun control proposal.

    The best case scenario, like so much in government, is that nothing happens. The studies are proposed, the climate shifts and, like so much before it, it's discarded in favor of What's Ailing the Nation Now. While it would be interesting to see the CDC perform an in-depth study (especially if the data collected is made available to the public), the chance of a negative outcome (in terms of misguided legislation, etc.) is way too high.

    On the whole, though, it is refreshing to see videogames treated as part of the media, rather than a wholly distinct scapegoat capable of destroying society on its own. Unfortunately, even with its rather brief appearance in the administration's set of proposals, it appears the government still wants to control media (as opposed to "the media") and this single paragraph could help rationalize unconstitutional measures.

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