DannyB 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: James Comey's New Idea: An International Encryption Backdoor Partnership

    DannyB ( profile ), 30 Mar, 2017 @ 12:22pm

    Committed to the rule of law

    I understand that legislators can make the laws be whatever they want.

    But when someone says they are committed to the rule of law, I tend to assume, or I used to assume that means they support things like citizens' right to have private encrypted communications and data storage.

    When these two things no longer go together it is a sign that the country is sick. The laws, at least in part, are no longer to protect the citizens, but at least in part to work against them.

  • On the post: FCC Boss Takes Aim At Efforts To Bring Broadband To The Poor

    DannyB ( profile ), 30 Mar, 2017 @ 08:47am

    It's for their safety

    By taking away internet access from the poor, their personal information is better protected from being sold.

  • On the post: Tractor Owners Using Pirated Firmware To Dodge John Deere's Ham-Fisted Attempt To Monopolize Repair

    DannyB ( profile ), 30 Mar, 2017 @ 06:12am

    Is the firmware hackable?

    How feasible is it that a foreign power could hack the firmware so that all farm equipment stops working, say, right when harvest time hits?

  • On the post: Real Talk About Fake News

    DannyB ( profile ), 29 Mar, 2017 @ 01:18pm

    Re: "Alice" in Wonderland

    A hundred years ago, maybe people were better at figuring out what was fake and what was real. Life was much harder.

    Now we live in a fake world surrounded by fakeness. Fake food, fake grass, fake boobs, fake leather, fake hair, fake music, and fake reality tv. Why should fake news seem any less real.

  • On the post: Real Talk About Fake News

    DannyB ( profile ), 29 Mar, 2017 @ 01:11pm

    SHOULD they have a responsibility?

    Owning the platforms should not give one the right to spread outright disprovable lies and made up stories and conspiracy theories. Doing so is very much against the public interest. It is against the public good. Just like dumping pollution into a public resource such as the air or water.

    At the very least, it is false and fraudulent advertising to call it "news". Call it "The National Enquirer". Or Fox Nutcases.

    The FCC required radio and tv to carry news, because doing so was in the public interest.

  • On the post: Real Talk About Fake News

    DannyB ( profile ), 29 Mar, 2017 @ 12:18pm

    Some news

    Trump will direct NASA to redesign the SLS rocket to use coal.

    Effective April 1, 2017.

  • On the post: Donald Trump Keeps Taking Credit For Tech Sector Jobs He Had Absolutely Nothing To Do With

    DannyB ( profile ), 28 Mar, 2017 @ 09:49am

    Re:

    No. He's much worse.

    Until the next one, which will be worse.

    They only go downhill from here.

    I thought it couldn't get worse then George W Bush. Now I would be happy to have him back.

  • On the post: Donald Trump Keeps Taking Credit For Tech Sector Jobs He Had Absolutely Nothing To Do With

    DannyB ( profile ), 28 Mar, 2017 @ 09:47am

    Re: Re: Re: The explanation is simple

    and... Regan, Carter, Ford, Nixon.

  • On the post: Donald Trump Keeps Taking Credit For Tech Sector Jobs He Had Absolutely Nothing To Do With

    DannyB ( profile ), 28 Mar, 2017 @ 07:38am

    The explanation is simple

    Trump requires admiration and worship. He cannot accept that he could do anything wrong. He cannot be told No.

    Because he can never be wrong, he is unable to ever admit a mistake. Therefore, once he takes a position he sticks with it. If it was right, it is because he is brilliant. If it was wrong, then later, he was always for the other position all along. And this is demonstrable fact.

    Anything that goes right during his administration is due to his inherent greatness. It doesn't matter if it began before or was planned before he came into power. Even that prior planning is a manifestation of Trump's greater glory and superiority to all others. Anything that goes wrong is someone else's fault. Some imagined enemy. The previous administration. Or something.

    Now many politicians of any political view exhibit some of this to varying degrees. But Trump takes it to a cartoonish new level.

  • On the post: UK Home Secretary: I Need People Who Understand The Necessary Hashtags To Censor Bad People Online

    DannyB ( profile ), 27 Mar, 2017 @ 01:31pm

    Re: Simple fix

    That only works where hashtags are allowed. A lower level and more general solution for all types of internet traffic is RFC 3514 otherwise known as the Evil Bit. You could keep your terrorist traffic safely encrypted. Since you would flag all of your packets by setting the evil bit, internet routers and other equipment would be aware of the malicious intent of your communication, without any need to decrypt it.

  • On the post: Streaming Video Competition Slowly Begins Killing The Bloated, Pricey Cable Bundle

    DannyB ( profile ), 27 Mar, 2017 @ 08:42am

    Re:

    How can programming costs be rising faster than cable bill increases? Is it Hollywood Accounting at work again?

    First, cable bill increases are already at an insane rate.

    Second, aren't production costs getting lower? CGI Special Effects are now cheaper than ever. Video Editing can be done on a MacBook. Good quality cameras are in the few thousands of dollars. Digital Audio workstations are cheaper than ever.

    Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but aren't there plenty of wannabe young cute actors that can't get jobs? Don't some fraction of those have enough talent to audition for parts in new TV shows?
    Clue: new actors might not demand the same pay as big name actors.

    Funny, it seems that Netflix is able to start investing many millions into production of quite a few new shows, many of which seem to be well liked. Netflix sometimes even buys a series without making a pilot first -- unheard of in the business. Netflix sometimes even buys more than one season at a time.

    Netflix is not the only one making new original shows.

    So it seems like Cable is doing something wrong.

    Oh, maybe it is Reality TV. When I first saw Reality TV, I knew it was the death of cable. Then we started getting new crap quality content. I knew it was all over when the History channel had Ancient Aliens. And Discovery or Learning channel had crap like Ghost Hunters.

    So maybe programming costs are just an excuse. Maybe the reality is that cable UNDER-spent on content and now they're paying for it. I remember in the 1990's when there was interesting content on cable TV. But then the commercials were the killer. Oh, wait. So cable is raking it in with higher and higher subscriptions, AND more and more commercials, and STILL complains about money? Really?

  • On the post: Streaming Video Competition Slowly Begins Killing The Bloated, Pricey Cable Bundle

    DannyB ( profile ), 27 Mar, 2017 @ 08:30am

    Re: Bogus "bundle" counts?

    It's not just two copies (SD, HD, UHD) it's two copies like CSPAN1 and CSPAN2. And HBO. ESPN. Etc.

    The need for a "1, 2, 3 etc" versions of the same channel is to sort of poorly compensate for the inability to watch on demand.

  • On the post: Swiss Government Blows Off Turkish President's Demands For Prosecution After He's 'Insulted' By A Local Tabloid

    DannyB ( profile ), 23 Mar, 2017 @ 06:22am

    Thinnest skinned politician on the planet?

    How can you say Turkey has the thinnest skinned politician on the planet? Don't you know? America is number one at everything, including this.

  • On the post: California Police Department Can't Keep It Real; Deploys Fake Press Releases And Fake Affidavits

    DannyB ( profile ), 23 Mar, 2017 @ 06:17am

    Imagine this

    You're falsely accused of a crime.

    You know you are innocent.

    The police produce a mountain of (false) evidence that they (falsely) claim will be used in court.

    You confess and take a plea deal.

  • On the post: The Ad Industry Is Really Excited About Plans To Gut Broadband Privacy Protections

    DannyB ( profile ), 22 Mar, 2017 @ 10:00am

    Re: Billions?

    At least they said billions instead of trillions.

    The RIAA had the gall to say piracy costs them $75 TRILLION.

  • On the post: The Ad Industry Is Really Excited About Plans To Gut Broadband Privacy Protections

    DannyB ( profile ), 22 Mar, 2017 @ 08:55am

    The Ad industry

    Advertising destroys every medium in which it is used.

    Magazines became littered with more ads than content. And newspapers.

    Radio was polluted with ads. And network TV. Then came cable TV with the promise of no ads. But ads invaded and cable tv deteriorated into a wasteland of ads. More ads than content. Then right after a commercial there would be more ads of characters walking out on top of the bottom 1/3 of the content to advertise another program over the program being currently watched. These would sometimes obscure important parts of what you were watching. So cord cutting happens.

    Internet streaming appears. Then it gets ads. Hulu at least created a higher priced ad-free model. When there was talk of Netflix getting ads, I gave them feedback on how this was a slippery slope. Pointing out what happened with network TV and then cable TV.

    Also, the web. At first it was full of information. Then ads appeared. They weren't too bad at first. They didn't interfere with your browsing experience. Gradually the ads came to dominate the page. Then each page had one paragraph of content surrounded by bright, loud, animated jumping dancing seizure inducing ads. You would have to click Next to read the next page with one paragraph of content and another page full of flashing ads. Then came ad delivered malware. And ad blockers. Then ad blocker blockers. Next: people actively avoiding ad blocker blockers -- forever. Once a site blocks my ad blocker, I never go there again. Even if they stop blocking ad blockers I'll never know, or care. They don't have anything valuable enough for me to lower the defenses of my ad blockers.

    I should also briefly mention usenet spam followed by email spam. Yes, this is advertising, in all its despicable glory.

    Some otherwise beautiful land is visually polluted with miles and miles of billboards. And now billboards have bright light pollution dancing animated ads. That keep neighbors awake at night. And the visual pollution in cities of billboards.

    Of course the ad industry is excited about any gutting of privacy protections. These are people who will mandate putting ads on the inside of our eyelids once the technology becomes available. Mark my words. There is no limit to the lengths advertisers will go to.

    Just wait until the first low earth orbiting ad billboards. A large "fabric" of many individual pixel elements spaced many feet apart.

  • On the post: Homeland Security Starts Banning Laptops & Tablets On Planes From The Middle East

    DannyB ( profile ), 21 Mar, 2017 @ 10:53am

    Makes Sense

    Makes sense given the apparent thinking of the current administration.

    If you can't outright ban 'em from coming here, then at least punish them for making the trip.

  • On the post: Things Looking Even Worse For Prenda's Paul Hansmeier: Bankruptcy Fraud On Deck

    DannyB ( profile ), 20 Mar, 2017 @ 12:10pm

    Re: Yeah, Steele's plea probably isn't going to buy much

    You forgot to enclose the steps of that conversation within a loop. while( ! pissedOffYet() ) {

    Steele: "I can totally tell you how Hansmeier was behind [insert X nefarious scheme here] Fed: "Yeah, we knew that already, and don't try to pretend you didn't have a lot to do with it. Tell us something we don't know that won't lead to you getting shredded on the stand when you testify to it."
    } Fed: I can see that this conversation can serve no further purpose.

  • On the post: Things Looking Even Worse For Prenda's Paul Hansmeier: Bankruptcy Fraud On Deck

    DannyB ( profile ), 20 Mar, 2017 @ 11:53am

    Re: Re: Learning to Love Copyright

    Don't forget: Righthaven.

  • On the post: Despite Stream Of Leaks Exposing Tremendous Gov't Surveillance Capabilities, James Comey Still Complaining About 'Going Dark'

    DannyB ( profile ), 09 Mar, 2017 @ 03:14pm

    Complaining about the wrong thing

    Don't complain about going dark.

    Complain about going to the dark side (tm).

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