DannyB 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Top German Publisher Says: 'You Wouldn't Steal A Pound Of Butter… So We Need A Snippet Tax'

    DannyB ( profile ), 14 Jun, 2018 @ 05:19am

    Re: Dear government

    The government is not trying to obstruct justice, they merely want to bring an end to it. They're not stealing your liberty, because your liberty isn't copyrighted. When liberty was first invented, they should have had the foresight to patent and copyright it, along with a suitable trademark and custom printed T-shirts.

    Give me Liberty or give me something of lesser or equal value! Or a coupon for it! As long as it is entertaining and amusing. Oh, look! A shiny! Liberty Version 3.0! And it's on sale!

  • On the post: Top German Publisher Says: 'You Wouldn't Steal A Pound Of Butter… So We Need A Snippet Tax'

    DannyB ( profile ), 14 Jun, 2018 @ 05:15am

    Re: Re: Pound?

    If someone steals and downloads their pound of butter, I could email them a replacement pound of butter. Especially if their butter is copyrighted. But they would need to be patient for a minute because the pizza I ordered is being faxed to me right now.

  • On the post: UK Security Minister Says Only A Drivers Licence For The Internet Can Bring Back Online Civility

    DannyB ( profile ), 13 Jun, 2018 @ 05:25am

    The REAL solution

    Not only do we need Internet Drivers Licenses, we need all computers to have the equivalent of a VIN, and a license plate. A wonderful way to raise revenue would be property taxes on computers like on cars, where you pay to renew your computer's registration.

    Think of the Children!

  • On the post: Vevo Flop Shows, Once Again, How Badly The Record Labels Underestimate Technology

    DannyB ( profile ), 30 May, 2018 @ 02:47pm

    Record Labels and Technology

    The Record Labels not only under value Technology, they are outright against it and only get dragged kicking, screaming and suing into each modern age.

    Weren't these people sure that player pianos would somehow destroy music?

    The radio would destroy music? But . . . payola!

    Tape recorders would destroy music.

    Home taping of records would destroy music.

    (Videotape would destroy the motion picture industry, but that is a different cesspool.)

    Walkman type cassette players would destroy music, and encouraged people to make illegal copies of records.

    CD ripping would destroy music.

    Making Mix CDs would destroy music.

    The RIAA sued Diamond Rio for making the first personal mp3 player -- because it would destroy music.

    The RIAA went insane over Napster, Gnutella, Bittorrent and every technology that could distribute files.

    In 2006, Universal Music told Apple that iPods were repositories for stolen music.

    And then streaming music services.

    And gradually, the record labels discover that there is money to be made by reluctantly letting people buy your licenses.

    Undervaluing Technology is just the tip of the lawsuit with the record labels.

    But if the people are allowed to LISTEN to music, they will steal it!!!

  • On the post: ESPN Analysts Routinely Told Execs Not To Worry About Cord Cutting

    DannyB ( profile ), 30 May, 2018 @ 11:35am

    Why pay for ESPN?

    Why would I want to PAY for ESPN, which is about sports, which I find mildly offensive, highly uninteresting. I wish ESPN had to PAY ME to even have it take up space in my programming lineup - - - IF I still had cable tv. But I got rid of cable tv a few years ago. And haven't looked back. So worrying about ESPN is a purely hypothetical exercise for me. Being FORCED to pay for it is long gone.

  • On the post: Amazon Alexa Instantaneously Justifies Years Of Surveillance Paranoia

    DannyB ( profile ), 25 May, 2018 @ 02:05pm

    The Pessimists are ALWAYS right

    Because Optimists are full of blue sky daydreaming. Unicorns and rainbows.

    People were called paranoid before the 2013 Snowden revelations. Then everyone realized that things were already far worse than the paranoid people said.

    Others raises the point about putting mega corporation devices into your private spaces that can listen in on you all the time. And so called "Smart TVs" that can spy on your with a webcam built into the TV. (Didn't TD already cover that one.)

    But people will dismiss it as a fluke. An anomaly. One more in a long, long, long pattern of anomalies. People will go back to sleep because the sweet addictive toys are just too wonderful to put down. IoT everywhere! An app for every private part of your life.

    Give me liberty or give me something of lesser or equal value. Or a coupon for it.
    As long as it is entertaining and amusing.
    Oh, look! A shiny! Version 3.0! And it's on sale!

  • On the post: Comcast Exposes Customer WiFi SSIDs and Passwords For Customers Paying To Rent A Comcast Router

    DannyB ( profile ), 25 May, 2018 @ 06:30am

    Re: Re: Failure? This is a SERVICE!

    FaaS is produced using FoP. (Failure Oriented Programming)

  • On the post: Comcast Exposes Customer WiFi SSIDs and Passwords For Customers Paying To Rent A Comcast Router

    DannyB ( profile ), 24 May, 2018 @ 12:53pm

    Re:

    Making your WiFi password public is a free service of Comcast. Free with your equipment rental.

    When a guest asks "What's your WiFi password?" you can simply tell them you're on Comcast they can easily look up your WiFi password.

    When the neighbor's kid wants to download copyright content, he can easily and conveniently use your WiFi password! That's convenience!

    It's the kind of service you've come to expect from the Comcast name.

  • On the post: Comcast Exposes Customer WiFi SSIDs and Passwords For Customers Paying To Rent A Comcast Router

    DannyB ( profile ), 24 May, 2018 @ 12:50pm

    Re:

    Amazon needs to step up and make Alexa's security and privacy
    [x] rise
    [_] fall
    to the level we've come to expect from IoT devices!

  • On the post: Comcast Exposes Customer WiFi SSIDs and Passwords For Customers Paying To Rent A Comcast Router

    DannyB ( profile ), 24 May, 2018 @ 12:30pm

    Failure? This is a SERVICE!

    If you are paying to rent a Comcast router, Comcast provides a service which makes it easy to find your password in case you forget.

  • On the post: Georgia Governor Vetoes Terrible Cybersecurity Law That Would Have Criminalized Security Research

    DannyB ( profile ), 14 May, 2018 @ 06:07am

    Re:

    Very sadly, the benefit some politician might hope to get out of it is simply to grandstand and say Look! I did something! look mommy!, I did a something!

  • On the post: Give Me Liberty, Or Give Me Data Protection? A Troubling Implication Of The American Voter UK Data Protection Case

    DannyB ( profile ), 09 May, 2018 @ 06:01am

    Give Me Liberty

    Give me Liberty or give me something of lesser or equal value. Or a coupon for it.

  • On the post: Another Convicted Fraudster Attempts To Manage His Reputation With Bogus DMCA Takedown Notices

    DannyB ( profile ), 08 May, 2018 @ 08:41am

    Re: 'They loved me... right until they learned about me.'

    A hypothetical notice. KIND OF WORK: work? what's that? DESCRIPTION: I am a well respected person in the society that I come from, the US, and other parts of the world where I am known as a crook or highly experienced fraudster in bribery, corruption and misuse of public pension funds. However, recently, there are a number of websites that point out my misdeeds. But not those I victimized. We want google (but not other search engines) to remove such sites from the search. Whaaaaaaa! Waaaaah! (sniff).

  • On the post: China Outlaws Telling The Truth About Communist Party 'Heroes And Martyrs'

    DannyB ( profile ), 07 May, 2018 @ 06:42am

    Re: Re: Re: Google, et al.

    I remember when TV once had channels. It was when there was this thing, I think it was called, "cable tv" or something like that.

  • On the post: China Outlaws Telling The Truth About Communist Party 'Heroes And Martyrs'

    DannyB ( profile ), 04 May, 2018 @ 02:35pm

    Re: Google, et al.

    Rarely does anyone consider that for China to build its great firewall, it purchased equipment from US manufacturers that was capable of implementing this on a large scale.

    Maybe those manufacturers should be remembered for their role in the imprisoning and torturing of thoughtcrime in China -- in exchange for a quick buck.

  • On the post: China Outlaws Telling The Truth About Communist Party 'Heroes And Martyrs'

    DannyB ( profile ), 04 May, 2018 @ 02:33pm

    Right to be forgotten

    Maybe the truth about Communist Party 'Heroes and Martyrs' has a right to be forgotten?

  • On the post: Another Federal Court Says Compelled Decryption Doesn't Raise Fifth Amendment Issues

    DannyB ( profile ), 03 May, 2018 @ 05:45am

    Re: This is a reasonable interpretation of the 5th's text

    The 5th amendment says that you cannot be compelled to be a witness against yourself.
    Being tortured is not the same as being compelled. You still have a choice. You can always simply resist and refuse to testify against yourself to avoid conviction and punishment.

  • On the post: Germany's Supreme Court Confirms That Adblocking Is Legal, In Sixth Consecutive Defeat For Publishers

    DannyB ( profile ), 02 May, 2018 @ 05:58am

    Re: Re: Another blast from the past...

    There IS a problem with ads fundamentally. On a global scale, I would even say on a national scale, ads simply DO NOT and CAN NOT be tolerated. It is not scalable. Nor efficient. (just as the fish in efficient are not scalable) Every advertiser wants to get their ad in front of every human's eyeballs. That is a many-to-many connection problem that simply is intolerable. It is why people object to SPAM. If it were only one or two emails per day it would be horrible. But in fact SPAM, were it not for technical measures to stop it, would make email entirely unusable. The right model is to let me search for what I need. When I need house siding, or new windows, I will seek it out. I don't need irrelevant ads in front of my face.

  • On the post: Princeton Project Aims To Secure The Internet Of Broken, Shitty Things

    DannyB ( profile ), 02 May, 2018 @ 05:51am

    Remember the Prefix

    ID is the fix and universal prefix for IoT.

  • On the post: Another Federal Court Says Compelled Decryption Doesn't Raise Fifth Amendment Issues

    DannyB ( profile ), 02 May, 2018 @ 05:50am

    Only a s SMALL constitutional problem

    A federal judge in North Carolina has decided compelling decryption of devices is only a small Fifth Amendment problem -- one that can be overlooked

    With this precedent the government can engage in actions that are only a SMALL 1st amendment problem, a SMALL 2nd amendment problem, a SMALL 4th, and 14th amendment problem.

    In fact, the government can do things that are a SMALL problem with anything in the entire constitution. Or all of our written laws and court precedents. After all, it's only a SMALL problem.

    In fact, the president dissolving congress because it is inconvenient would only be a SMALL violation of the how our system of government works. While he's at it, just dissolve the Supreme Court as well.

    And for efficiency's sake, put an end to these pesky elections every four years. It's only a SMALL problem.

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