Steven 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: California Court: Passwords Are Communications, Protected By The Stored Communications Act

    Steven ( profile ), 30 Nov, 2023 @ 03:20pm

    This was my thought. Why in the hell isn't Discord just saying 'we do not store passwords, therefore it would be impossible to comply with this order'?

  • On the post: Judge Tosses Donald Trump’s Half-Billion-Dollar Bogus ‘Big Lie’ Defamation Lawsuit Against CNN (While Whining About The Media & Internet)

    Steven ( profile ), 05 Aug, 2023 @ 08:28am

    Rose colored history glasses

    Second, the reasonable viewer, unlike when Sullivan, Butts or Gertz were decided, no longer takes the time to research and verify reporting that often is not, in fact, news.
    Does this judge think that most, or even some significant percentage, of people before the internet were reading the full text of judicial opinions? That they were regularly... fuck I don't even know how you'd get a judicial opinion before the internet, and I grew up without the internet. Did you have to go down to the court house and have one printed off? A law library maybe? The idea that people, on average, are less informed now is kinda laughable. Sure, lots of people don't bother, but those people never would have bothered.

  • On the post: Republican Debt Ceiling Plan Would Screw Up Multiple Bipartisan Broadband Initiatives They Previously Claimed To Support

    Steven ( profile ), 02 May, 2023 @ 07:47am

    Between 2000 and 2022, Japan grew from owning $534 billion to just over $1 trillion, while China’s ownership grew from $101 billion to $855 billion.
    This is a bit misleading. While true, it doesn't paint the full picture. China's debt (in a similar pattern to Japan's), went from $101B in 2000 to $492B at the beginning of 2008. Then there was a rapid rise (likely due to the 2008 economic issues) to $1,160B by the end of 2010. Since then it has been largely steady with a slight increase for a few years and a slight decline after. As to where the money goes, it goes to the budget. That's a stupid question.

  • On the post: Substack CEO Chris Best Doesn’t Realize He’s Just Become The Nazi Bar

    Steven ( profile ), 14 Apr, 2023 @ 11:42am

    We need a heavy handed dictatorship!

    Seriously though, I think a twitter like site that came out and said, we are going to be ruthless in banning intolerance, misinformation, and other nonsense would actually do pretty well. That is assuming it was doable in a way that didn't catch too many innocents in the crossfire. And no, I don't care about the paradox of tolerance. I'm fine being intolerant of intolerance.

  • On the post: Fifth Circuit Finally Finds A Cop Unworthy Of Immunity, Strips Protection From Officer Who Shot Man Five Times During Routine Traffic Stop

    Steven ( profile ), 31 Mar, 2023 @ 09:46am

    This ruling could make cops more dangerous.

    I'm late to the party so this will probably go unseen, but nobody seems to be noticing this part:

    Notably, the other officer on the scene did not open fire, despite being closer to the supposed threat posed by Allen attempting to retrieve his wallet.
    As an officer, how do I protect my fellow officers with this as the backdrop? If any one officer begins to fire, all officers must now fire to show that we all felt the same danger. If all officers on the scene fire together this could now clearly establish the reasonable perception of a threat.

  • On the post: Ford Submits A Patent That Would Allow Cars To Repossess Themselves

    Steven ( profile ), 06 Mar, 2023 @ 07:39pm

    This is only partially true. Cell phones are technically banned from sports books, but it's not heavily enforced. The original reason was to stop betting over text message. Casinos say they don't use jammers. They do generally work to get better signals in most areas. Maybe they use jammers in certain areas, but I doubt it.

  • On the post: Ford Submits A Patent That Would Allow Cars To Repossess Themselves

    Steven ( profile ), 06 Mar, 2023 @ 03:24pm

    Why the fuck do we have a system that allows something like this to be reasonably considered patentable?!?

    Yeah, yeah, Ford bad. Evil behavior from an evil corporation. That story is old as time. I skimmed large sections, so maybe I missed something, but I doubt it. There is nothing in this patent application of interest. The whole point of the patent system is supposed to be; you give us cool knowledge of how to do something and we'll protect you from competition for a few years so you can get ahead. It's a trade between the public and people who innovate and advance their field. For too long the public has been handing over that benefit and getting little to nothing in return. This patent application doesn't provide anything novel. It's a speculative business plan at best. There is no value provided to the public at large, and absolutely nothing of value to anybody knowledgeable in the field. Yet, that is fucking supposed to be the whole point of a patent. This isn't new. This isn't surprising. It's just frustrating. /rant

  • On the post: Report Again Finds Broadband ISPs Charge Minority, Poor Neighborhoods More

    Steven ( profile ), 01 Nov, 2022 @ 07:48am

    It's infrastructure

    The network hardware is a natural monopoly. The state should own and maintain it. Private companies should be able to operate on it and compete. Same as we've seen with community broadband, but at the national level. We've already paid for it. I have no problems with the government just taking it.

  • On the post: If GitHub Copilot Is A Copyright Problem, Perhaps The Problem Is Copyright

    Steven ( profile ), 26 Oct, 2022 @ 11:04am

    Not sure I buy the draining open source community argument.

    I am a full time software developer. More than 15 years in the industry. I have on rare occasion contributed to open source software. I would be one of those 'low-touch interactions'. I have often wanted to get more involved with open source projects, but I haven't largely because of the time it would take. I can't think of a single time I've been drawn to an open source project because I searched for help putting together some small number of lines of code. While I understand there are some libraries that are very small I generally wouldn't use one that I could replace with a few lines of code, barring some very specialized task. I can't think of a single interaction with an open source project I would have, that copilot would get in the way of. Almost all my use of open source code is going to be in the form of a library or tool. If I'm searching for some small code solution I'm not looking for open source code. I'm likely going to find the solution on a blog or something like stackoverflow. If I'm searching for functionality I think a library/tool would be the right thing for, I'm looking for a library/tool and wouldn't be in a situation to use copilot anyway. If I'm using a library/tool and have an issue I'm either going to google 'issue + library name' or go directly to the site for the library/tool. I'd like to hear of a situation where copilot would get in somebodies way of interacting with open source. I just don't see it.

  • On the post: If GitHub Copilot Is A Copyright Problem, Perhaps The Problem Is Copyright

    Steven ( profile ), 26 Oct, 2022 @ 10:46am

    Not quite so clear cut

    That's not a clear cut as you make it sound. There are large projects that require 'clean room' standards for their contributors for that exact reason. As an example, in the WINE project you are not allowed to contribute if you have ever seen windows source code. From their developer FAQ: "This would be anyone who has seen Microsoft Windows source code (stolen, under an NDA, disassembled, or otherwise)." Clearly this is a corner case, and they are being overly cautious because of who they are dealing with, but this can be a legal grey area depending on the specifics.

  • On the post: Fearmongering CS Professor Insists That California’s Design Code Is Nothing To Worry About. He’s Wrong

    Steven ( profile ), 13 Sep, 2022 @ 09:01am

    Choking Game

    I mean, here’s the CDC warning about it in 2008, where they note it goes back to at least 1995 (with some suggestion that it might actually go back decades earlier).
    I personally remember partaking in the 'choking game' somewhere around 1985. It was still stupid then, but I'm pretty sure my small group of kids in a tiny town didn't come up with it alone.

  • On the post: UK Privacy Group Says Police Are Abusing Stop And Search Powers To Hassle Protesters

    Steven ( profile ), 26 Aug, 2022 @ 02:21pm

    Speaking of handpicked loyalists

    I thought the 'with handpicked loyalists' link was going to be something about DeSantis and the school board. It was China authoritarianism... six of one, half dozen of another.

  • On the post: Congress Using Lame Duck Session To Push Through Awful Plan To Politicize The Copyright Office

    Steven ( profile ), 03 Dec, 2018 @ 10:05am

    Re: "little fanfare" -- I hope much wailing by pirates!

    "To promote the progress of science and useful arts..."

    As in the purpose of copyright is to promote progress as a benefit to society. It is not for the purpose of lining the pockets of large companies who leach off the creative works of others.

  • On the post: But Her Emails: Ivanka Trump Also Used A Private Email Account For Official Government Business

    Steven ( profile ), 21 Nov, 2018 @ 06:28am

    Oh come on...

    As we near the midpoint of Trump's presidential term,

    Can't we have a little hope that we've passed the half way mark?

  • On the post: Sen. Feinstein Looking To Revive Anti-Encryption Bill In The Wake Of Texas Church Shooting

    Steven ( profile ), 14 Nov, 2017 @ 07:53am

    What are they looking for?

    I understand that this is really about ratcheting up the surveillance, but what is the argument?

    Call and texts? The carrier has that info.
    What apps are installed? Apple has that info.
    Individual app content? You know what was installed, go talk to them.
    The pictures they took? Do they expect he carefully documented his road to killing in selfies?

    No only is this about increased access for police. This is about plain laziness. They don't want to have to put in the footwork. They just one a simple single entry point to his entire digital life.

  • On the post: Playboy Sues BoingBoing For Linking To Collection Of Centerfold Pictures

    Steven ( profile ), 10 Nov, 2017 @ 12:28pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: BoingBoing clearly wrong

    Oh no! You've committed illegal crime explanation!

    Of course describing how a crime is committed is illegal. If it wasn't you could:
    1) Hiddenly plan out a crime.
    2) Anonymously tell people how to commit the crime
    3) ??
    4) Profit!

    Clearly all parts of this are illegal. The real trick from from this thing called KNOWLEDGE. You see speaking transfers KNOWLEDGE which is bad, thankfully you clearly lack it.

    See I can make up crap too.

  • On the post: Playboy Sues BoingBoing For Linking To Collection Of Centerfold Pictures

    Steven ( profile ), 10 Nov, 2017 @ 11:45am

    Re: Re: Re: BoingBoing clearly wrong

    You're clearly wrong. Linking i.e. publishing the location to something, is not illegal.

    That's like saying if I make a blog post saying "There's a crack house at 123 Overthere St." I'm now a crack dealer and should go to jail.

  • On the post: Judge Says FBI's NIT Warrant Invalid, Points Out FBI Agent Knew It Was Invalid When He Requested It

    Steven ( profile ), 08 Apr, 2017 @ 01:45pm

    What about the judge?

    Shouldn't the judge have known this was an invalid request? Isn't that the whole point of judicial review, a check on the FBI and other agencies? Isn't the point of a warrant to force these agencies to go through a check to make sure what they are doing is legal?

    There should be sanctions placed on judges that issue such invalid warrants.

  • On the post: New 'Company' Claims It Uses Algorithms To Create Content Faster Than Creators Can, Making All Future Creations 'Infringing'

    Steven ( profile ), 29 Sep, 2014 @ 02:20pm

    Re: Re: That's not their business plan.

    Sorry, but you are vastly underestimating the search space we're looking at. In addition you are skipping over areas of computer science that are still not solved as if they are trivial.

  • On the post: New 'Company' Claims It Uses Algorithms To Create Content Faster Than Creators Can, Making All Future Creations 'Infringing'

    Steven ( profile ), 29 Sep, 2014 @ 01:37pm

    That's not their business plan.

    If they really think they are going to do this they don't understand just how many things there are, or how many ways they can be put together.

    That said, I think they've found a way to sucker some quick cash from a few wealthy folks.

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