cjcoats 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Court Tells Lying Cops That Someone Asserting Their Rights Isn't 'Reasonably Suspicious'

    cjcoats ( profile ), 01 Apr, 2020 @ 11:28am

    Why isn't Officer Hackett in jail for perjury?

  • On the post: Copyright Is Broken: COVID-19 Pandemic Revealing Just How Messed Up Our Permission-Based Culture Is

    cjcoats ( profile ), 28 Mar, 2020 @ 06:59am

    Re: Re: Copyright-abuse penalties

    "Copyfraud" is a bit of a neologism. I do have the sheet music for the Vivaldi -- what do you think "my copy...Copyright Walton Publishing..." implies?
    BTW, this kind of fraud is near-universal among publishers of sheet music; Kalmus and Oxford University Press are the only two publishers I know of that don't do this kind of thing. The Vivaldi just happened to be the earliest work for which I have the sheet music at y fingertips.

  • On the post: Copyright Is Broken: COVID-19 Pandemic Revealing Just How Messed Up Our Permission-Based Culture Is

    cjcoats ( profile ), 27 Mar, 2020 @ 11:55am

    Copyright-abuse penalties

    Generally, suit for improper claim of copyright should automatically subject the plaintiff to penalties at least as severe as the penalties for the corresponding infringement. After all, the fraudulent claim of copyright is an attempt to steal from the public.

    There are a number of such types of fraudulent claims, of which manifestly fair use (as in this case) is one. Another is claim of copyright over a work that is in the public domain. (My copy of Vivaldi's Requiem claims "Copyright Walton Publishing... all rights reserved". Vivaldi died 279 years ago.) A third type of fraudulent claim is claim for a work owned by someone other than the plaintiff. There are probably more...

  • On the post: The Next Risk In Buying An IOT Product Is Having It Bricked By A Patent Dispute

    cjcoats ( profile ), 21 Feb, 2020 @ 04:38am

    Amazon Kindle book-bricking

    A few months ago, I checked out Spencer Quinn's "To Fetch a Thief" under Amazon Kindle. I was about halfway through reading it. Then the publisher, Simon and Schuster, decided to pull this book from Kindle. And also to have Amazon delete it from devices to which it had been lent -- including my tablet. As far as I am concerned, this is part of a contract; all of the essential parts are there: they made an offer, I paid my consideration, and I took possession of the relevant item. Their removal of it from my tablet constitutes breach of contract. For which they should be held responsible, and for which they should be condemned strongly. And if they are freely willing to breach contracts once, should they ever be trusted again?

  • On the post: The Next Risk In Buying An IOT Product Is Having It Bricked By A Patent Dispute

    cjcoats ( profile ), 21 Feb, 2020 @ 04:38am

    Amazon Kindle book-bricking

    A few months ago, I checked out Spencer Quinn's "To Fetch a Thief" under Amazon Kindle. I was about halfway through reading it. Then the publisher, Simon and Schuster, decided to pull this book from Kindle. And also to have Amazon delete it from devices to which it had been lent -- including my tablet. As far as I am concerned, this is part of a contract; all of the essential parts are there: they made an offer, I paid my consideration, and I took possession of the relevant item. Their removal of it from my tablet constitutes breach of contract. For which they should be held responsible, and for which they should be condemned strongly. And if they are freely willing to breach contracts once, should they ever be trusted again?

  • On the post: Welcome To A World Of 500-Megapixel Cameras, And Surveillance Systems Able To Zoom In On Small Objects A Kilometer Away

    cjcoats ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2019 @ 06:25am

    Resolution

    That was assuming a cell-phone sized (1.2mm) sensor, BTW. If you use a larger sensor, the lens can be smaller, so this is in fact somewhat practical for fixed installations.

  • On the post: Welcome To A World Of 500-Megapixel Cameras, And Surveillance Systems Able To Zoom In On Small Objects A Kilometer Away

    cjcoats ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2019 @ 05:32am

    Re:

    Doing the arithmetic, this corresponds to a sensor-pixel size of about 5.0e-9M, and according to the equations about optical resolution, a perfect lens of at least 60M (larger if the lens is not itself perfect, as almost always happens). Not practical.

  • On the post: John Oliver Robocalls Ajit Pai For Not Doing More To Thwart Robocalls

    cjcoats ( profile ), 13 Mar, 2019 @ 11:28am

    Re: Re:

    Civil suit -- just as the law presently allows. However, if Verizon (etc.) could get $10K in cost reimbursement for tracking down the spoofer to support my suit (in addition to my statutory $5K+legal costs), then they might be willing to try to help. Right now, they aren't. And that would push the penalty up significantly...

  • On the post: John Oliver Robocalls Ajit Pai For Not Doing More To Thwart Robocalls

    cjcoats ( profile ), 13 Mar, 2019 @ 07:15am

    And basically the FCC does nothing about violations of the Federal "Do Not Call" ordinance, either. (Oh, they do have a web-page, https://complaints.donotcall.gov/complaint/complaintcheck.aspx, where they appear to pay lip-service and then do nothing...)

    As it stands, violations are supposed to be subject to $500 statutory damages ($1500 for repetitions, or for various technical failures), but my legal costs for suing will be a lot more than that -- if I can find out the caller who violated the law, something made far more difficult by number-spoofing.

    Instead: call-ID spoofing in violation of the Federal Do Not Call ordinance should constitute aggravated violation, for which the penalties should be: $5000 statutory damages plus costs plus reimbursement for the carrier for investigating to find the identity of the violator.

    If such penalties were in place, they could provide a far more productive arena for the efforts of ambulance-chasers for a while, and would serve to reduce the problem greatly.

  • On the post: How Regulating Platforms' Content Moderation Means Regulating Speech – Even Yours.

    cjcoats ( profile ), 18 Sep, 2018 @ 03:27pm

    Re: Re: First Amendment caveats

    Depending upon the definition of the published policy X, it certainly sounds to me as though it meets all three criteria.

  • On the post: How Regulating Platforms' Content Moderation Means Regulating Speech – Even Yours.

    cjcoats ( profile ), 18 Sep, 2018 @ 11:40am

    First Amendment caveats

    But if you publish that your policy is X while your actual policy is Y, then a rejection that claims to be X while actually being Y is potentially libel, particularly if it becomes public knowledge.

    FWIW

  • On the post: A Numerical Exploration Of How The EU's Article 13 Will Lead To Massive Censorship

    cjcoats ( profile ), 10 Jul, 2018 @ 10:41am

    Just to be fair...

    False takedown notices should be subject to the same penalties as copyright infringement.

    IMNHO.

  • On the post: Wireless Carriers Hope You Won't Notice Their Location Data Scandal Makes The Facebook, Cambridge Fracas Look Like Amateur Hour

    cjcoats ( profile ), 20 Jun, 2018 @ 08:56am

    So let's apply it.

    Let's pull it under the "performances" part of copyright law. According to copyright law, the performer is the author and owner of a performance, absent explicit written and individually-signed agreement to the contrary. I am the author of my life, including that derivative work which is the sequence of my location-information. Verizon et al. are engaged in selling a work I own for commercial gain, hence should be prosecuted to the extent of the law, both criminal and civil. Note that if I sue for copyright infringement, the Copyright Act allows the plaintiff ex parte seizure of evidence of that infringement, which (as the Scientology cases show) includes the seizure of all relevant computers. How well would any of these organizations survive that?

  • On the post: Boston Globe Posts Hilarious Fact-Challenged Interview About Regulating Google, Without Any Acknowledgement Of Errors

    cjcoats ( profile ), 19 Jun, 2018 @ 11:32am

    Way to get privacy

    The way to deal with the data-collection issue is to broaden the use of "performance" under copyright law. Performance art belongs to the performing artist, absent explicit written contracts to the contrary (copyright-law "work for hire" is much more narrow than patent-law "work for hire").

    My life is my performance, and any recording thereof belongs (or should belong) to the performer, me.

    Anyone recording (portions (including web-history) of) my life and distributing it is committing copyright violation, and should be subject to the full extent of the Copyright Act (including ex parte seizures of computers hosting the violating material, to search for the evidence of that violation).

    The first such seizure of all the computers of an ad-company for copyright violation, and subsequent civil suit will certainly serve pour encourager les autres.

  • On the post: Once Again, Algorithms Can't Tell The Difference Between 'Bad Stuff' And 'Reporting About Bad Stuff'

    cjcoats ( profile ), 28 Mar, 2018 @ 01:57pm

    Strict liability for such actions

    Such censorship of reporting, under the claim that it is offensive speech, should constitute libel and should be subject to strict penalties for that.

    It would only take a few million-dollar judgements against the censors to make them think twice about such practices.

    FWIW

  • On the post: Nazis, The Internet, Policing Content And Free Speech

    cjcoats ( profile ), 25 Aug, 2017 @ 12:05pm

    Re: Easy line: ACTUAL violence versus mere opinion -- even if urging violence.

    ...these platforms have their own First Amendment rights, which allow them to deny service to anyone." But it is quite clear that bakers and photographers do not have similar First-Amendment rights, especially the "free exercise" parts. Why should ISPs, etc.? They come a lot closer to being government-endorsed monopolies than do the bakers and photographers!

  • On the post: TSA To Require Separate Scanning Of Electronics 'Bigger Than Cellphone'

    cjcoats ( profile ), 28 Jul, 2017 @ 12:05pm

    This from one of the deadliest terrorist organizations on the planet

    The appropriate way to measure the cost of such TSA measures is to measure the cost in terms of human lifetimes wasted.

    The numbers on flights, inspections, etc., are publicly available, on a per-year basis.

    Assuming a waking lifespan of (72 years)*(52 weeks/year)*(112 waking hours per week), the numbers say that over the last fifteen years, time wasted by TSA inspections has cost from 7300 lives per year to 10,500 lives per year.

    That makes TSA the most deadly terrorist organization on the planet.

  • On the post: Australia's AG Says Public Will Be Cool With Encryption Backdoors Because They Use Facebook

    cjcoats ( profile ), 13 Jun, 2017 @ 09:56am

    Statuatory penalties

    If they want to do that, and if they insist that such backdoors are safe and not a threat, then they should not object at all to a combination of large statuatory penalties for misuse or leaks (say, $500K per misuse or leak), together with broad subpoena powers to allow us to investigate misuse or leaks (e.g., any refusal of subpoena for whatever reason -- including "national security" -- shall constitute spoliation: you refuse the subpoena, you lose!).

  • On the post: EFF Sues FBI Over Withheld NSL Guideline Documents

    cjcoats ( profile ), 12 Jun, 2017 @ 04:09pm

    Why shouldn't...

    Why should this not be immediate cause for impeachment of the relevant FBI officials?

    Do we have a cooperative Congressman?

  • On the post: DHS, TSA To Make Boarding A Plane Even More Of A Pain In The Ass

    cjcoats ( profile ), 30 May, 2017 @ 12:46pm

    Costs of TSA "security theater"

    Cost-analysis of TSA's activities should include the cost of the time wasted by passengers, measured in fractions of a lifetime.

    Given the publicly available information about airplane departures and the mean extra waits due to TSA, one can compute that over the last 15 years, the TSA's activities have cost between 7800 and 10300 lives per year, in accumulated wasted passenger-time: TSA is one of the deadliest terrorist organizations on the planet.

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