James Burkhardt 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (2642)

• On the post: TSA Now Looking To Make It Impossible For People Wrongly Added To Terrorist Watchlist To Travel On The Ground

  

  James Burkhardt ( profile ), 20 Apr, 2022 @ 09:21am

  Interaction with previous court rulings.

  I thought that in several of the no-fly list cases, the availability of rail transport has been cited by the government and the court as a justification for limitations on domestic air travel. That is, air travel is a luxury and given the availability of passenger rail serves the same purpose just less efficiently, therefore the absence of due process isn't a concern because you don't have a right to air travel. But if the ability to access commercial passenger rail is restricted, I wonder if the TSA is falling into the same trap as those politicians seeking to shift from voluntary scanning for CSAM and shifting it to forced scanning for CSAM.

• On the post: Honda Just Declared War On 3D Printer Makers Community

  

  James Burkhardt ( profile ), 20 Apr, 2022 @ 08:02am

  I don't get the geo-blocking other countries claim. Its meaningless. Having a website that can be viewed in other countries doesn't matter for a website hosted in the US for a US corporation run by US persons. A small company like this wouldn't have french executives to arrest. No, the cogent complaint is that the company is founded in Prague, Czech Republic. Therefore, US law likely isn't controlling on how Printables operates. Czech Republic law is, which is generally aligned with EU copyright law. Under EU copyright directives, aftermarket parts would not be covered by copyright, trademarks can not be used to prevent you from factually identifying a trademarked product, and patent claims should be supported by references to the actual patents. So really, I think most of the commentary is applicable to Eu law, outside the assumption that the "takedown notice" described was a DMCA takedown notice, given the standard usage. I read the source and it was still a bit unclear this was a cease and desist versus a DMCA claim. The real issue is the assumption that such a response wouldn't see a lawsuit claiming that the pushback was evidence of intent.

• On the post: Honda Just Declared War On 3D Printer Makers Community

  

  James Burkhardt ( profile ), 20 Apr, 2022 @ 07:41am

  Congratulations on missing the point.

• On the post: Instructor Who Teaches Cops To Dowse For Dead Bodies Issues Hearty Defense Of Corpse Witching

  

  James Burkhardt ( profile ), 19 Apr, 2022 @ 10:36am

  I know from the weight of scientific evidence that dousing is useless. That said, if years of listening to lawyers talk about how to get out of a traffic ticket have taught me anything, it is that even simple equipment can produce false readings if not employed properly. Speed Guns for instance, require regular calibration and proper technique to provide accurate readings. Years of cookery have taught me that many dishes, simple dishes, require technique that many have to practice to get right, even with professional instruction. It would not be unreasonable to suggest that if dousing worked, the technique would need to be taught by someone experienced. the real issue being that, like those people who claim to be able to live off sunlight but only when no one is watching, when the results of trained dousers are examined en mass, the big picture results are indistinguishable from any other random human search party, or in the science lingo, indistinguishable from the control.

• On the post: Cops Are Still Playing Copyrighted Music To Thwart Citizens Recording Their Actions

  

  James Burkhardt ( profile ), 18 Apr, 2022 @ 02:48pm

  if it’s halfway decent, it is likely not free, particularly if it’s ui will be amenable to its use by a fiat time user.

• On the post: Cox Cable Customers Bond Together To Fight Bullshit Fees

  

  James Burkhardt ( profile ), 18 Apr, 2022 @ 07:26am

  To repurpose an old favorite: Cox: Individual arbitration does not favor us over consumers. It is in the best interest of all parties. An entire class files individual arbitration instead of a class action Cox: No not like that.

• On the post: Elon Musk Demonstrates How Little He Understands About Content Moderation

  

  James Burkhardt ( profile ), 16 Apr, 2022 @ 09:02am

  Unfortunately, on the internet anything but full throated hatred is perceived as support.

• On the post: Elon Musk Demonstrates How Little He Understands About Content Moderation

  

  James Burkhardt ( profile ), 15 Apr, 2022 @ 11:42am

  So, rather than have an email address that people can look up and contact you with, you maintain dozens of unique email addresses on dozens of domains and don’t use email for general communication. And you throw away your domain every time a scammer sees a new domain and bombs the email? seems like spam is such a huge problem you have to engage in information warfare to keep it at bay.

• On the post: Behold The Invading Force That Is US Law Enforcement

  

  James Burkhardt ( profile ), 15 Apr, 2022 @ 11:27am

  A plausible reason for camo.

  Dressing law enforcement in camo does reasonably avoid the situation where law enforcement in standard gear was fighting fake law enforcement in standard gear. Assuming it was known they had genuine stolen gear or even similar looking knock offs, standard gear might have been bad. Not putting vests with police over the camo so it was clear to on lookers was definitely a mistake though.

• On the post: Antitrust Reformers Debate Partnering With Bigots To Take On ‘Big Tech’

  

  James Burkhardt ( profile ), 15 Apr, 2022 @ 10:58am

  Interestingly, the post didn't use the term racist. You picked up that shoe and put it on yourself. It used the term "bigot" rather than try to place a label because the hatred these individuals promote generally is varied. But the direct examples of bigotry presented by the article are not simply racism, rather anti-trans commentary, like accusations of grooming and pedophilia and the conflation of grooming and pedophilia and the conflation of sex and gender. Indeed, the anti-trans concerns were positioned with more prominence than say the lies about BLM. It then spends time specifically highlighting why the stated goals of those labeled as bigots makes their positions harmful to the supposed goals of the push for anti-trust reform from the Democrats. The reason I note this is you did not engage with any of this. You simply saw the word bigot and maybe the claim that BLM is seeking to implement a race-based class system and wrote your comment. That's political. I don't care what your claimed partisan allegiance is, I don't care that you claim not to have one. Your position on the ability to point out bigotry informs political decisions you make. And by posting here, you've proven that this political position over rides a general apolitical position - you have engaged in advocacy for the position that Techdirt ascribed racism to APP. The article didn't assert racism against AAP. It factually noted the position AAP took. Rather than defend the position as being something other than about race, rather than prove the superiority of your apolitical ideology, you've attacked anyone who thinks differently than you.

• On the post: Antitrust Reformers Debate Partnering With Bigots To Take On ‘Big Tech’

  

  James Burkhardt ( profile ), 15 Apr, 2022 @ 08:00am

  I don't think your objection really hits the issue. Even with what you have said, groomers could still fall under the designation pedophile, being the minority who don't isolate. My objection is groomers, while undeniably abusive, do not necessarily commit sexual abuse meeting pedophilia in the law or psychiatry. Groomers manipulate minors, grooming them for later abuse, which often occurs when they reach sexual maturity or pass the age of consent. Grooming is a serious concern because of how the manipulation breeches the ability of the abused to genuinely consent, and such abusers often wait until such abuse is considered legal and does not meet even the casual definition of pedophile as any statutory rapist.

• On the post: It’s Still Stupidly, Ridiculously Difficult To Buy A ‘Dumb’ TV

  

  James Burkhardt ( profile ), 14 Apr, 2022 @ 06:55pm

  right, but the author described a much more limited query. You ignored the qualifier of quality. your statement that it is trivial to find any dumb tv responds to a strawman of the actual Question karl asked.

• On the post: It’s Still Stupidly, Ridiculously Difficult To Buy A ‘Dumb’ TV

  

  James Burkhardt ( profile ), 12 Apr, 2022 @ 10:51am

  WIthin the product description I can't find 2 important things: a model number that allows me to price compare and source non-amazon reviews, nor can I find the mounting scheme compatibility. At least one question implies the legs are not included in all shipments. Karl specifically requested a bare bones UI to improve speed. He specifically mentioned boot speed as a concern. Reviews indicate this 2018 TV has enough lag you need to "set expectations". This means the ability to see a similar model in use would be critical to making a purchase. Reviews indicate a poor return process and a need to purchase the warrenty due to the likelyhood the product will fail quickly. Karl specifically mentioned the desire to use this TV for long periods, not rapidly replace them. Very much could fall under "not quality" for Karl, particularly for the features he is seeking. Additionally, purchase on amazon is likely not the best choice for this TV, as several factors should be seen in use to gauge tolerance versus expectations. I can buy a thousand different wireless headphones on amazon. Finding a quality pair isn't so easy.

• On the post: U.S. Eases Off Telecom Sanctions That Could Encourage A Russian Splinternet

  

  James Burkhardt ( profile ), 12 Apr, 2022 @ 10:26am

  There is, certainly, a large push from Putin, his government, and other elites. Having spent a large time hearing from Russia-based content creators and gamers, I can't necessarily agree there is the support to switch to an isolated splinternet among the people, and without support for the adoption of a purely Russian built internet by the people, so long as the wider internet is available the adoption will be more Truth Social than twitter. I also question how much development Russia could really do while the economy is in shambles and they have a war to pay for, if the core network sanctions are lifted making the effort duplicative of available resources.

• On the post: GOP Social Media Experiments Fail (In Part) Because They Break The Troll/Amplification Cycle

  

  James Burkhardt ( profile ), 07 Apr, 2022 @ 05:52am

  Excepting that techdirt isn’t a social media site, and replies on techdirt aren’t amplifying that trolling to a new audiance.

• On the post: Trumpists Admit That Their Own Social Media Platforms Aren’t Much Fun When They Can’t Use Them To Own The Libs

  

  James Burkhardt ( profile ), 28 Mar, 2022 @ 11:48am

  Getting censored proves that your opinion is the strongest.

  Quite right! Man imagine how great the world would have been if those US SJWs hadn't gone into Germany in the 40s and virtue signaled until Hitler canceled himself. Let us remind ourselves of the strongest opinion of them all, the superiority of the Aryan Race. Poe's Law Disclaimer: /sarcasm.

• On the post: The Techdirt Legal Misunderstanding March Madness Reaches The Sweet Sixteen

  

  James Burkhardt ( profile ), 28 Mar, 2022 @ 11:32am

  Politicians and the NYT are not the only people in the world. Lots of people, caused in no small part by the misrepresentations of those who do know better like the NYT, misunderstand section 230.

• On the post: Project Veritas Loses Its Defamation Lawsuit Against CNN Because The Truth Is Just As Damning As What CNN Said

  

  James Burkhardt ( profile ), 25 Mar, 2022 @ 06:59pm

  It rarely matters but to sue for defamation, you have to prove not just that the statement was a false statement of fact but also that it harmed your reputation and that that reputational damage resulted in financial losses. the rare exception is defamation pro se, that misused chestnut, which means you don’t have to prove harm to your reputation, because the accusation is so scandalous the reputational damage is assumed even if later proven false (like a false accusation of pedophilia). ‘misinformation’ is not a defamation pro se subject. A principle in defamation law is that no net harm is caused by a falsehood if the falsehood is no more damaging than the truth. Side note here: Id have argued that Project Veritas is so well known for their misinformation, as their famous ACORN video was determined to be by a court of law, that another claim they spread misinformation couldn’t harm their reputation. Ala a court ruling Trump couldn’t be defamed because his reputation was so bad In this case the judge instead found that if CNN had instead claimed they were banned from twitter for doxxing people, it would be similarly damaging to the reputation of PV, therefore there was no harm, therefore no relief can be granted by the court. Defamation isn’t simply about true and false. Lying, unintentionally or intentionally, isn’t a crime. It needs to cause cognizable repetitional harm with repercussions a court has the power to cure.

• On the post: Techdirt’s Legal Misunderstanding March Madness: Round Two!

  

  James Burkhardt ( profile ), 24 Mar, 2022 @ 12:59pm

  The loss for the State Action Doctrine killed my north east bracket. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised about Tortuous interference, but I had state action winning the division.

• On the post: Sinclair Seattle Reporter Makes Proud Boys Gathering Sound Like Cub Scouts

  

  James Burkhardt ( profile ), 24 Mar, 2022 @ 11:22am

  Black isn't a race either. It was also invented. Because the concept of race was invented. Enrico Tarrio is Afro-cuban. I certainly can not speak as an expert, but those of my friends who are mixed often identify with one background over another based on the culture shared with them. When it comes to those from Puerto Rico, My friends universally identify as Puerto Rican, not Black, despite an Afro-Puerto Rican Background. Not sure why you'd complain that someone who is Afro-Cuban would identify more with their Cuban heritage than their Afro one, and identify themselves as such. I would have thought someone complaining about lumping Native American cultures across 2 continents together would understand the idea that Enrique Tarrio does not identify with the blanket term 'Black'. Then there is the long history of White Supremacy being willing to flex the definition of White. Used to be, if your granddaddy was white, you were white, no matter the color of your skin. White supremacist groups often flip-flop on treating the Jewish community as white. And any such group concerned with optics would love an Uncle Ruckus to use as a shield. Id point to the Japanese Americans who avoided internment by acting as supporting voices for internment. I don't think Enrique Tarrio is a white supremist. I think a group explicitly founded on their supposed male superiority will attract White supremacists whose values typically are conservative and also feel as though their masculinity and power are being threatened, and many of the chapters of the proud boys are white supremist groups. The Proud boys made a lot of press about not being white supremacist's early on, but since the rise of Enrique Tarrio as the leader, there has been a clear clash between the nominal leader and white supremacist factions, and if Enrique Tarrio can't stop those factions from spouting White Supremacy in the name of the proud boys, it doesn't matter his ethnic background is, The group, not its leader, not specific individual member, but the group supports white supremacy.

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