James Burkhardt 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: What Happens When A Russian Invasion Takes Place In The Social Smartphone Era

    James Burkhardt ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2022 @ 08:00am

    There are no traditional "fronts" - Ukraine can't fight Russia in a traditional engagement. THis is Russia's Veitnam. Ukraine is engaged in holding actions while irregular forces harry russian forces on all sides. Communications are not reliable, because depriving your opponent of the ability to communicate is warfare 101. Civilians with cell phones are fleeing, or fighting. So all you see is propeganda films from the fighters, or reports of refugees whose phones died days ago because they were fleeing war. The last 40 years you've gotten intel from a force in Russia's position of power, now you see war from the perspective of the underdog. Its called the fog of war.

  • On the post: Education Spyware Purveyor Uses Lawsuit As Excuse To Sling Subpoena At One Of Its Most Vocal Critics

    James Burkhardt ( profile ), 01 Mar, 2022 @ 01:52pm

    A great example from the trades

    I worked as the bookkeeper for a plumbing company in the past, and now a flooring company. One of our bigger issue in installation are people who pride themselves on knowing how to do any job….and can’t ask for advice and often can’t receive advice almost at all, because they know what they are doing. The academic test attitude hurts just about any profession, because it teaches people pride in their memory over finding the right answer.

  • On the post: Pentagon Publication: Young People Getting Injured At Basic Training Because Of 'Nintendo Generation'

    James Burkhardt ( profile ), 28 Feb, 2022 @ 01:21pm

    WTF

    US enlisted military, in both basic and rating school, have to live in barracks. Unmarried enlisted are required to use the barracks for housing, depending on service branch and paygrade. Beyond this, I have no idea what you are trying to say. Fresh soldiers who've never seen combat, outside formation, don't look or act like combat vets and therefore aren't adult enough for you thereby undermining national sovereignty?

  • On the post: Comcast Continues To Bleed Olympics Viewers After Years Of Bumbling

    James Burkhardt ( profile ), 24 Feb, 2022 @ 08:44am

    Re:

    Id blame the severe drop off in cable subscriptions, and the poor showing of past streaming, with blackouts to funnel finals into US primetime undermining the whole live sports aspects. particularly with peacock's underdeveloped offering further undermining streaming viability last year. Add on top the olympics weren't advertised outside of NBC offerings, reducing visibility for cord cutters. Even if we'd had celebrity athletes, there are distinct failings in the offering in previous years and now that drive viewership away.

  • On the post: No, Creating An NFT Of The Video Of A Horrific Shooting Will Not Get It Removed From The Internet

    James Burkhardt ( profile ), 24 Feb, 2022 @ 10:31am

    Worse:

    IF NFTs were actually what their advocates claimed, Parker would have actually made the video impossible to remove from the internet (or more impossible, i suppose?). Because the immutable blockchain would retain that video in a publicly available location that can never be removed. That's the whole point of the public ledger. Thankfully, the best the NFT does is point to the actual video, which needs to be online for the NFT to mean anything, therefore doing literally the opposite of your stated goal.

    NFT bros fucking need to die in a flourine fire.

  • On the post: San Francisco Cops Are Running Rape Victims' DNA Through Criminal Databases Because What Even The Fuck

    James Burkhardt ( profile ), 24 Feb, 2022 @ 09:30am

    during the BLM protests, I talked a lot with a right winger who I had thought was more left. Our conversations left BLM and moved into general policing issues. She was all in believing in the claims of rampant sex trafficking (specifically sex trafficking) across our borders.

    Seeing an opportunity, I pointed out that organizations fighting sex trafficking face a serious issue - legally the victims of sex trafficking are themselves criminals for the rapes the faced. This prevents victims from reporting their crimes out of the very real fear of facing criminal prosecution. Some cases have even seen traffickers never even get arrested, while their victims are convicted for the crime of being raped.

    This issue is so bad the state of CA passed a law preventing the police from arresting sex workers (including those being raped under the guise of sex work) who report more serious crimes they are a victim of that require the victim to disclose their sex worker status in 2019. I pointed out that if we actually prosecuted sex traffickers, instead of their victims, we might see less sex trafficking.

    Not entirely Surprisingly, my ex-friend wasn't concerned that we let traffickers go free to focus on arresting rape victims who confessed they were raped for profit. Because rape victims aren't people under the law and order lens. They are violent criminals, because otherwise they would have let themselves be killed like the real people they have to step on.

    We've all said it before. To the police, the question isn't if you are guilty, it is what are you guilty of. And to hell with building a rapport with the community, lets just outlaw doors and crime will magically be solved.

  • On the post: As Expected, Trump's Social Network Is Rapidly Banning Users It Doesn't Like, Without Telling Them Why

    James Burkhardt ( profile ), 24 Feb, 2022 @ 08:31am

    Remember when Parler banned people, and didn't tell them why until there was a backlash, and then a bunch of trolls tried to claim Parler gave a reason and that why it was different? Be prepared. The bullshit is coming.

  • On the post: The GOP Knows That The Dem's Antitrust Efforts Have A Content Moderation Trojan Horse; Why Don't The Dems?

    James Burkhardt ( profile ), 23 Feb, 2022 @ 03:18pm

    Believe me my uncle works at nintendo.

  • On the post: How Our Convoluted Copyright Regime Explains Why Spotify Chose Joe Rogan Over Neil Young

    James Burkhardt ( profile ), 18 Feb, 2022 @ 12:12pm

    Re:

    Neil young made the decision to tell his publisher to tell spotify "drop rogan or young". Spotify made the proactive decision to respond. Its decision was that it would drop Young. No one is discounting Young's decisions, but you have completely discounted that Spotify also had a choice. And even though profit made that decision a foregone conclusion, Young gave them the option to base their decision on something other than profit. Spotify made a decision.

  • On the post: FTC Promises To Play Hardball With Robocall-Enabling VOIP Providers

    James Burkhardt ( profile ), 18 Feb, 2022 @ 09:14am

    Re: Re: Re: a solution, please

    As Koby pointed out, I really meant to say lobbyists, drawing from the quote indicating that lobbyists and the courts they lobby are the issue. I think right now you would be foolish to expect much from federal legislators. We have one party that wants to dismantle the government and replace it with private business, and one that wants to operate the government only with the cooperation of the party that wants to dismantle the government. Its not a recipe for legislation that implements controls on private business.

  • On the post: FTC Promises To Play Hardball With Robocall-Enabling VOIP Providers

    James Burkhardt ( profile ), 18 Feb, 2022 @ 09:09am

    Re: Re: Re: a solution, please

    Congress is the solution, i agree, if it could work, and I absolutely misstated when I said legislators aren't the problem, I had intended to say lobbyists, and even then I was shortening the quote that indicated lobbyists and the courts they lobby as an issue.

  • On the post: FTC Promises To Play Hardball With Robocall-Enabling VOIP Providers

    James Burkhardt ( profile ), 18 Feb, 2022 @ 07:31am

    Re: Finally

    No need to contend, that is well established and has been covered in these pages multiple times.

  • On the post: FTC Promises To Play Hardball With Robocall-Enabling VOIP Providers

    James Burkhardt ( profile ), 18 Feb, 2022 @ 07:21am

    Re: a solution, please

    Again though, you'll notice focus remains on "illegal" robocalls, which is a problem when the courts and lobbyists keep weakening the definition of what constitutes a "legal" robocall and what regulators can do about it.
    The FTC can only work on the authority it has. Legislators have limited the authority to deal with robocalls only to the 'illegitimate' ones, and have been loosening the definition of 'legitimate' robocalls in a 'slowly turning up the pot to a boil' fashion. You've straw-manned so hard looking to divert from the issue of funding, you've erected in in the middle of a forest instead of the field.

  • On the post: The Josh Hawley Mug: It Makes Him An Asshole, But Shouldn't Make Him A Copyright Infringer

    James Burkhardt ( profile ), 17 Feb, 2022 @ 02:02pm

    Re:

    I think using a raised fist of that type to a bunch of white supremicusts sent a similar message.

  • On the post: Gift Of Sight Stolen As Medical Implant Company Implodes

    James Burkhardt ( profile ), 17 Feb, 2022 @ 08:45am

    Re: Can better disclosure solve this?

    Its not really disclosure that's the issue. Its the issue that the device's upkeep and maintenance relied on these business remaining a going concern, something which no one can know if it is the case. Cochlear implant patients know how reliant they are on the manufacturer. And these devices are so life changing, and so expensive, that many will simply assume the manufacturer will remain a going concern, because how could they not, even if someone sat them down and told them it was a possibility. Its not even fraud, unless you are claiming Second Sight Medical Products was committing financial fraud and thats why they collapsed.

  • On the post: Gift Of Sight Stolen As Medical Implant Company Implodes

    James Burkhardt ( profile ), 17 Feb, 2022 @ 08:19am

    Re: Horrible, but begs the question.

    A) No electronic system will operate forever without upkeep. A need for Maintenance and repair should be assumed. Maintenance and repair of an electronic device will need to involve software intended to communicate with the eye's software and produce human readable feedback. If you haven't considered that yet, and your statement indicates you haven't, your commentary is half-baked. Medical devices are very closely regulated. This means the manufacturer gets the advantage of being able to avoid competition. There is no such thing as a generic cochlear implant, for instance. All repairs and maintenance need to go through the specific manufacturer of your device in one way or another. Once the manufacturer goes under, much like with an old video games console, any failure may mean the device ceases functioning. Tools and software will slowly become insecure as vulnerabilities continue to be discovered, and slowly begin to lose compatibility with modern computers as the software ages. Repairs may be so specialized as to be impossible, particularly lacking spec sheets, diagrams, or detailed tear down instructions. And medical devices actually face the kinds of deadly fears manufacturers use in their FUD to prevent right-to-repair, making them the most resistant to right-to repair legislation which would alleviate the issue.

  • On the post: Gift Of Sight Stolen As Medical Implant Company Implodes

    James Burkhardt ( profile ), 17 Feb, 2022 @ 06:47am

    When Musk wants to put a chip in your brain, another reason to flip him two birds over one offense.

  • On the post: Nonprofit Forced To Delete Thousands Of Court Documents Obtained With A Fee Waiver Because PACER Is Greedy And Stupid

    James Burkhardt ( profile ), 16 Feb, 2022 @ 12:25pm

    Re: Re:

    Taking half a second, you might realize the court documents are government records (its why PACER exists). Under the Cyberninja's rulings, PACER is likely a state entity for FOIA purposes. But assuming that didn't fly... FOIA the court for court documents, rather than PACER. The court still has the documents. That said, FOIA can allow reasonable fee requests, and it wouldn't be a difficult pretzel for a court to agree that having a court clerk doing the lookup work ends up being more expensive.

  • On the post: How EARN IT Could Give Abusers A Get Out Of Jail Free Card: By Making Evidence Inadmissible

    James Burkhardt ( profile ), 14 Feb, 2022 @ 10:27am

    Re: Re:

    If youd read my comment, yeah, i get that. The issue for me was the "good summary" which used sarcastic air quotes as part of that very key distinction. I didn't think that distinction was well served by the sarcastic air quotes and implication, rather than stating what you did.

  • On the post: Penguin Random House Demands Removal Of Maus From Digital Library Because The Book Is Popular Again

    James Burkhardt ( profile ), 14 Feb, 2022 @ 08:18am

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    The school board specifically felt a book about horrific racist mass genocide was 'inappropriate' for 8th graders because a few moral guardians got upset over mild curse words and the bare tit of a dead anthropomorphic mouse. Based on the defense that this was in line with conservative values, that implies that the discussion of horrific racist mass genocide with 8th graders is appropriate, unless it acknowledges that dead bodies have breasts, or that a minor number of curse words exist. This is inflamed by discussions of the diary of Anne frank as appropriate but too immature by the school board - despite discussions of menstruation, sex, and sex jokes. Maybe its the fact that my read of The Diary of Anne Frank was more recent than my read of Maus, and both were over a decade ago, but the Diary was the novel that should be considered more mature from my read. And that plays over to those opposed to Maus, the reason the school board took action, and the pattern highlighted by SDM. The school board took action because parents complained. And this complaint comports with the pattern SDM mentioned - The Diary of Anne Frank, despite being more graphic when discussing sex, is perfectly fine because it can't engage with the way anti-semitism ran deep in america and continued long after Hitler was a rotting corpse. Maus does.

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