DannyB 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (5934)

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

  

  DannyB ( profile ), 01 May, 2018 @ 01:15pm

  Re: Another blast from the past...

  If you don't like my ad blocker, then block me from your site.
  
  I will get the message and I won't come back for at least one quarter of a galactic rotation.

• On the post: Device Detects Drug Use Through Fingerprints, Raising A Host Of Constitutional Questions

  

  DannyB ( profile ), 01 May, 2018 @ 01:06pm

  Re: Re: Re:

  A chemical test distinguishes the presence of a chemical.
  
  It does NOT distinguish how the chemical got into the sample. Either through perspiration or adhesion from a surface you touched.
  
  TFA gave me the impression the test is sensitive.

• On the post: Device Detects Drug Use Through Fingerprints, Raising A Host Of Constitutional Questions

  

  DannyB ( profile ), 01 May, 2018 @ 08:00am

  Re:

  Prescription narcotic pain killers will make you test positive on opiates. Even if you've refilled and taken them for occasional use for a decade. Even if you don't have a dependency, even a tolerance, let alone not having an addiction. And are responsible in the use of such drugs.

• On the post: Device Detects Drug Use Through Fingerprints, Raising A Host Of Constitutional Questions

  

  DannyB ( profile ), 01 May, 2018 @ 07:57am

  Re:

  let's talk about the term non-invasive.

  I would rather talk about the term false positive. 2.5% may not sound like much. Unless your test result happens to fall into the false positives and your life and career are destroyed by overzealous cops who were kind enough not to just shoot you on the spot -- uh, because of um, something. We're talking about an extremely sensitive test here. What if you test positive because your fingerprint ridges have some illicit drug that you happened to pick up by merely handling currency. Oh, wait. Only criminals use actual cash which is anonymous. Law abiding citizens have no need to be anonymous and would know that all good people do not use cash so that their entire life is open to inspection to the government. For their own good.

• On the post: The FBI's War On Encryption Is Personal, According To Comey's New Book

  

  DannyB ( profile ), 24 Apr, 2018 @ 10:50am

  Re: Re: The FBI and the darkness

  I guess that all makes it okay for the FBI to do it since it's been done before.
  
  However, I wasn't talking about censorship. Rather, about snooping, and other abuses that lead to distrust of government TLAs.

• On the post: The FBI's War On Encryption Is Personal, According To Comey's New Book

  

  DannyB ( profile ), 24 Apr, 2018 @ 06:20am

  The FBI and the darkness

  The leaders of tech companies don't see the darkness the FBI sees.

  Comey has it backwards.

  The leaders of the tech companies, and their customers, look at the FBI and see the darkness. As only one example I will point out Aaron Swartz.

  And it has gone on a long time. And not just the FBI. Go back to the early 1990s, look on Wikipedia for: "Steve Jackson Games, Inc. v. United States Secret Service". This was partly responsible for the founding of the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation).

  Even in the early 1990s there was an ongoing War On Encryption. Encryption was classified as a munition and could not be exported. People wondered if you bought a book at Borders Bookstore on Encryption, and carried such a book with you out of the country, if it would be seen as a munition. It was pointed out that this was perhaps the best way to "export" crypographic technology. Also, if the US was to mandate weakened encryption, or the famous "Clipper chip" (government escrow decryption keys) that the rest of the world would move on to secure encryption, and US companies would be at a competitive disadvantage. Eventually, the government came partly to its senses and simply limited exported encryption to use short weak keys.

  But here we are again. It is the same issues. And for the same reasons. The government wants to be able to abuse power, snoop on anything, anywhere, without a warrant, or any kind of supervision. Comey's talk about judicial warrants is disingenuous at best.

• On the post: We Interrupt The News Again With Hopefully The Last Update From The Monkey Selfie Case

  

  DannyB ( profile ), 23 Apr, 2018 @ 12:05pm

  Animals

  A monkey cannot own a copyright.
  
  But a jackass can be elected president.

• On the post: 19-Year-Old Canadian Facing Criminal Charges For Downloading Publicly-Accessible Documents

  

  DannyB ( profile ), 17 Apr, 2018 @ 12:46pm

  Re:

  It seems to me there was this guy Aaron Swartz. He downloaded documents that were available to visitors at MIT. He was maliciously prosecuted and committed suicide as a result. Perhaps that is what the Canadians are hoping for.

• On the post: A Casino Was Hacked Thanks To The Internet Of Broken Things & A Fish Tank Thermometer

  

  DannyB ( profile ), 17 Apr, 2018 @ 07:59am

  IoT is the suffix of Id

  IoT is the suffix of Id.
  
  Not only should that high rollers database had authentication and encryption, it should have been ON A DIFFERENT NETWORK.

• On the post: New Hampshire Court: First Amendment Says You Can Call A Patent Troll A Patent Troll

  

  DannyB ( profile ), 16 Apr, 2018 @ 06:18am

  Re:

  Please don't call him names back. This is America, where violence is the only proper response to any slight.

• On the post: New Hampshire Court: First Amendment Says You Can Call A Patent Troll A Patent Troll

  

  DannyB ( profile ), 16 Apr, 2018 @ 06:19am

  It's PTE's, not PAEs

  Patent Trolling Entities.

• On the post: Canadian Government Leaning Towards A Right To Be Forgotten It Can Enforce Anywhere In The World

  

  DannyB ( profile ), 12 Apr, 2018 @ 05:57am

  Re: Yet another law and counting

  There is no problem so great that it cannot be fixed by adding more government regulation.

• On the post: Canadian Government Leaning Towards A Right To Be Forgotten It Can Enforce Anywhere In The World

  

  DannyB ( profile ), 12 Apr, 2018 @ 05:52am

  Re: There is a bigger loss to be suffered by

  If some people independently maintain archives of the forgotten things, but not made publicly available. At some future point, and possibly sooner than you think (like 20 years) and those materials are made available online by multiple sites, it will sure make fools of those who wanted the facts to be forgotten.

• On the post: Canadian Government Leaning Towards A Right To Be Forgotten It Can Enforce Anywhere In The World

  

  DannyB ( profile ), 12 Apr, 2018 @ 05:43am

  Re:

  CENSORSHIP IS SAFETY

• On the post: Canadian Government Leaning Towards A Right To Be Forgotten It Can Enforce Anywhere In The World

  

  DannyB ( profile ), 12 Apr, 2018 @ 05:42am

  RTBF takedown notice

  When you get a Right To Be Forgotten takedown notice, maybe that takedown notice also should have a right to be forgotten?

• On the post: Not Everything Needs Copyright: Lawyers Flip Out That Photos Taken By AI May Be Public Domain

  

  DannyB ( profile ), 02 Apr, 2018 @ 06:49am

  Intelligence Test

  Which would do better on an intelligence test? (Or even Turing test)

  1. An AI
  2. An AI that takes pictures
  3. An AI that takes pictures and isn't upset about lack of copyright
  4. A monkey that takes its own picture
  5. ...and isn't concerned about lack of copyright
  6. ...or if monkey has copyright, isn't concerned about how to exercise those rights to harm the largest number of people possible. (eg, copyright maximalist, aka pigopolist)
  7. Someone who thinks they get he copyright taken by a monkey, because they own the camera the monkey used, and they were there to witness the glorious event.

  Which is more sane? Like a stable genius.

• On the post: Dental Care Provider Threatens Parents With State Intervention If They Don't Set Up Appointments For Their Kids

  

  DannyB ( profile ), 27 Mar, 2018 @ 10:11am

  Re:

  Also ask . . . do you also have direct knowledge that the parents are not taking their kids to a DIFFERENT dentist? And that they do not intend to get their kids any kind of dental care?

• On the post: Dental Care Provider Threatens Parents With State Intervention If They Don't Set Up Appointments For Their Kids

  

  DannyB ( profile ), 27 Mar, 2018 @ 10:12am

  What I want to see

  I am anxious to see the positive effect this letter is going to have on this dentist's business. I'm sure parents are very enthusiastic about using this particular dentist now that this letter has been sent.

• On the post: Can SESTA Be Fixed?

  

  DannyB ( profile ), 20 Mar, 2018 @ 05:58am

  Fixing SESTA

  SESTA can be fixed, in the same sense that you take your dog or cat to the vet to be "fixed".

• On the post: As Video Games Are In Presidential Crosshairs, New Study Again Shows They Don't Affect Behavior

  

  DannyB ( profile ), 20 Mar, 2018 @ 05:52am

  People have played violent games for decades

  Decades ago I played violent games like Frogger or Galaga, and I haven't killed anyone . . . yet.

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