Christopher 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (223)

• On the post: Verizon Quietly Backs Off Throttling 'Unlimited' Wireless Customers, But Only After It No Longer Matters

  

  Christopher ( profile ), 18 Aug, 2015 @ 10:44am

  VZW unlimited right here

  Sure, no one can ever buy a subsidized phone from VZW again in my house, but that's not a bad thing.

• On the post: Washington Post Observes Encryption War 2.0 For Several Months, Learns Absolutely Nothing

  

  Christopher ( profile ), 20 Jul, 2015 @ 07:24am

  Rule of law.

  " A rule-of-law society cannot allow sanctuary for those who wreak harm. "
  
  Except if you're an investment bank. Or a company avoiding taxes with legal offshore entities. Then it's okay.

• On the post: Mi Amiga: One Michigan School District's Three-Decades-Old Hero Computer That Still Manages HVAC Today

  

  Christopher ( profile ), 18 Jun, 2015 @ 06:08am

  What?

  "If they switch to a modern PC, they will have to connect through the LAN, since virtually every computer made now cannot use a dial-up modem."
  
  Why not? Virtually every computer I've seen over the past 20 years either has a modem card, modem built in, or USB capabilities which then allows for a modem. So, please, elaborate specifically.
  
  -C

• On the post: Canadian Court: Yes, We Can Order Google To Block Websites Globally

  

  Christopher ( profile ), 12 Jun, 2015 @ 06:41am

  You can issue injunctions all you want.

  Good luck enforcing them.
  
  --#

• On the post: Congress Resolves To Create Stronger Copyright Laws In Honor Of Famous DJ Who Won First 'Remix' Grammy

  

  Christopher ( profile ), 10 Jun, 2015 @ 10:30am

  Dust Brothers are laughing (on the inside)

  Paul's Boutique should be the name of the Grammy awarded to any remix worthy each year.

• On the post: Border Patrol Agents Tase Woman For Refusing To Cooperate With Their Bogus Search

  

  Christopher ( profile ), 19 May, 2015 @ 06:09am

  Yea!

  Fake screaming, cool.
  
  -C

• On the post: Corporate Sovereignty Trumps National Laws; Here's How The US Thinks It Can Get Around That

  

  Christopher ( profile ), 23 Apr, 2015 @ 06:09am

  You really don't need to worry just yet.

  Until we outsource our military, we still have the more basic and ultimately more effective means to impose governmental will on a corporation: we have bigger guns.
  
  -C

• On the post: Sanity: Trademark Suit Rules That Florida Pizza Joints Don't Compete With The NJ Turnpike

  

  Christopher ( profile ), 31 Mar, 2015 @ 06:04am

  Congratulations, you all missed the point.

  It's not about NJTA (which manages NJ TPKE and GSP) fighting another pizza competitor. It's about borrowing a logo in existence for 50-60 years to sell pizza, in effect trading on the national recognition of one entity to promote your business.
  
  Whether that has legal merit or not, whether they then choose to go the copyright route (where I suspect they will enjoy more success) is left to be seen. To characterize this disingenuously as "pizza versus highway" is lazy high school writing.
  
  -C

• On the post: USTR Pushes Congress To Approve Trade Deals… But Threatens Reps With Criminal Prosecution If They Tell The Public What's In Them

  

  Christopher ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2015 @ 12:37pm

  Indict the USTR

  I like preemption, previously mentioned: Congress should call them to account and have them prosecuted for even thinking about such a stunt. The USTR is the enemy.
  
  -C

• On the post: The Cartoonist Has No Idea How Net Neutrality Works

  

  Christopher ( profile ), 07 Mar, 2015 @ 08:54am

  Credit where it's due.

  "Earlier this week, the A Good Cartoon tumblr first posted a bunch of ridiculous and misleading political cartoons about net neutrality that showed zero understanding of net neutrality. And then the person behind the site remade many of those cartoons, but replaced the words in them with "the cartoonist has no idea how net neutrality works!" "
  
  So the admission of error counts for nothing here? How about amending the article to call this out?
  
  -C

• On the post: Police Union: You Can Have Safe Neighborhoods Or Be Free Of Flashbang-Burned Toddlers, But Not Both

  

  Christopher ( profile ), 30 Jan, 2015 @ 09:50am

  Re: tarded statement much?

  Fifty years ago, before SWAT:
  -cops carried nightsticks and used them;
  -bulletproof vests weren't available;
  -cops carried way more than six rounds, as they had dump pouches, speed loaders, even ammo belts. Only a desk officer carried a moldy six-gun with no reloads. Any patrol officer carried as many rounds as possible, and backup weapons if they could afford them;
  -no civil service protection existed;
  -no medical benefits, no insurance, five days sick time;
  -pay was about the same as an entry-level manufacturing job;
  -patrol cars were not the overwhelming norm in cities, foot patrols were;
  -rural towns had shotguns or deer rifles for deputies of elected sheriffs;
  -prosecutors were even more likely to take an officer's word over a suspect;
  -no-knock warrants happened then, too, but good luck finding as many stats on them.
  
  It's a better job than it was then. However, an officer had a pension and respect, was taught restraint because the dangers were more immediate and fatal, and had the backing of most of the population because of this. Debatable? Sure, but it fits the overall pattern of the job in 1965.
  
  I know many, many people who were there. I'm all for thought experiments, but first-hand accounts trump them.
  
  -C

• On the post: Chris Christie, Port Authority Official Abused E-ZPass Data For Their Own Ends

  

  Christopher ( profile ), 21 Jan, 2015 @ 06:16am

  Yes yes yes!

  This, more of this analysis and reporting!

• On the post: Broadband, Airline Industries Are Incredible Innovators — When It Comes To Giving You Less But Claiming It's More

  

  Christopher ( profile ), 07 Jan, 2015 @ 08:52am

  None of this explains...

  ... why JetBlue is now constricting seats and introducing fees for bags. JetBlue isn't intentionally trying to make lives miserable, but their shareholders will take away their capital if they don't. Can JetBlue tell them to GFY? Sure, but it won't be long before an activist shareholder pulls a stunt to force JetBlue's compliance.
  
  The 1% are immune to these things, of course, which is why they are always implemented by them.

• On the post: How 'Gongkai' Innovation Could Allow China To Leapfrog The West

  

  Christopher ( profile ), 07 Jan, 2015 @ 04:22am

  This is flawed.

  "Rather, these documents are the knowledge base needed to build a phone using the copyright owner's chips, and as such, this sharing of documents helps to promote the sales of their chips."
  
  ... until someone releases the chip documentation to spur chip competition. Then, watch how gongkai adapts to that.
  
  -C

• On the post: Will Patents Ruin The Most Important Biotech Discovery In Recent Years?

  

  Christopher ( profile ), 31 Dec, 2014 @ 08:12am

  Is there an eminent domain for this?

  Because, I'm thinking, there should be.

• On the post: DailyDirt: Getting Ahead Is Getting Harder

  

  Christopher ( profile ), 12 Dec, 2014 @ 06:38am

  Re:

  In a rush to elevate capitalism as an awesome tool against communism, we seemed to have lost the counterbalance to the unchecked greed that is a natural exponent of capitalism.
  
  That counterbalance is, ironically, labor unions and other progressive tools like anti-trust regulations and banking laws that, ha ha, the 1% beneficiaries managed to gut.
  
  -C

• On the post: DailyDirt: Getting Ahead Is Getting Harder

  

  Christopher ( profile ), 12 Dec, 2014 @ 06:35am

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Keeping People Down is Easier.

  How fucking lazy do you have to be to not bother paying a tax bill for 34 days? You didn't ripped off, you got instructed. I'll bet you pay on time now.
  
  -C

• On the post: The Homicide No One Committed: Eric Garner's Death At The Hands Of An NYPD Officer No-Billed By Grand Jury

  

  Christopher ( profile ), 05 Dec, 2014 @ 04:23am

  Don't resist arrest, don't die.

  Given a choice between the cop coming home, and the fat turd resisting arrest, I pick the cop every time. Comply, and nothing bad happens. Resist, and get thrown down and arrested. Oh, you were asthmatic? Then I guess resisting arrest was a bad decision on your part Eric.
  
  It was death, it was a homicide, it was an accident, and too bad. I'd rather have people obey the law.
  
  -C

• On the post: DailyDirt: Does Anyone Really Want A Modular Smartphone?

  

  Christopher ( profile ), 02 Dec, 2014 @ 03:42am

  The killer module

  The cellular radio.
  
  Forget the camera or battery. Those are nice drop-ins and sure, a keyboard slider back would be my compulsory mod, but the cell radio is your killer module.
  
  Samsung builds a cell phone, and you buy a Verizon radio for it. Drop it in like a SIM. You want to switch to AT&T? Buy the radio, drop it in. Done.
  
  
  -C

• On the post: DailyDirt: How Many Passwords Do You Know?

  

  Christopher ( profile ), 13 Nov, 2014 @ 06:07pm

  Bits of entropy

  but only if your "Entropic" character string isn't in a dictionary. Twelve characters in a dictionary is not the same as twelve non-word characters -- in any language. Dump a dictionary in English and then next four most used languages into your rainbow tables and you're still more successful than not.
  
  -C

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