Bergman 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (3321)

• On the post: DOJ Asks The Supreme Court To Give It Permission To Search Data Centers Anywhere In The World

  

  Bergman ( profile ), 30 Jun, 2017 @ 08:19am

  Re: Boy, handy for criminals, huh? Just contract for email / websites / banking to be kept on media in foreign country (vague so can always say is "elsewhere"), and then safe from it being used as evidence!

  So basically, we now have court orders that have global reach regardless of unimportant little things like national sovereignty or different national laws, and soon we may have laws that say it's okay to collect possibly classified information from foreign countries?
  
  Sounds to me like Edward Snowden will soon be able to return home without fear of criminal charges, since the Espionage Act will be effectively abolished providing the accused had the permission of a foreign government to spy.

• On the post: Zillow Only Kinda Backs Down From Dubious McMansion Hell Threats Following EFF's Engagement

  

  Bergman ( profile ), 30 Jun, 2017 @ 08:13am

  Re: Re:

  If you want to use the actual ™, © and ®, there are codes you can type. You hold down alt and type 4-digit codes on the numberpad. For those three, the codes are 0153, 0169 and 0174.

• On the post: As Predicted, Cox's Latest Appeal Points To SCOTUS' Refusal To Disconnect Sex Offenders From Social Media

  

  Bergman ( profile ), 28 Jun, 2017 @ 04:21pm

  Re: "It's a matter of scale you see..."

  With the simple solution of accusing the MAFIAA of copyright infringement. And then no one will ever hear from them again.

• On the post: As Predicted, Cox's Latest Appeal Points To SCOTUS' Refusal To Disconnect Sex Offenders From Social Media

  

  Bergman ( profile ), 28 Jun, 2017 @ 04:18pm

  Re:

  If anyone with ties to terrorists must be disconnected from the internet, then we should probably disconnect the US government.
  
  After all, George Washington met the modern definitions of a terrorist...

• On the post: Canadian Supreme Court Says It's Fine To Censor The Global Internet; Authoritarians & Hollywood Cheer…

  

  Bergman ( profile ), 28 Jun, 2017 @ 04:10pm

  Re: Re: Re: We need a law

  There is an actual federal law in the US that says that any foreign law or lawsuit that would violate US law is not binding on a US citizen in US territory.

• On the post: Game Music Composer Goes On DMCA Blitz Against Innocent YouTubers Over Contract Dispute With Game Publisher

  

  Bergman ( profile ), 28 Jun, 2017 @ 11:49am

  Re: Re: Re:

  I suspect the AC means that Imagos should send her web host a DMCA takedown.

• On the post: Court Orders Man Who Sued News Orgs For Clipping His Facebook Video To Pay Everyone's Attorney's Fees

  

  Bergman ( profile ), 28 Jun, 2017 @ 11:30am

  Re: Re: Re: Reciprocity?

  Your statement is just as completely false as Hugh's -- you both have an incomplete grasp of how copyright law works and why it works. Being partly wrong doesn't make you completely wrong of course, but since you claim that partial wrongness and complete wrongness are the same, then you too are completely wrong.
  
  Kanongataa does own the copyright to his video. But he also LICENSED it to Facebook, allowing it to be viewed by other Facebook users and more importantly, to be shared by them.
  
  He can't take back that license because doing so had different effects than he expected, even though the effects were explicitly spelled out in the contract he agreed to.
  
  On top of that, news reports are one of the exceptions to copyright law, in the form of fair use. So even though he didn't license the news agencies to report on his video, it's irrelevant because they didn't violate his rights by doing so.

• On the post: Court Orders Man Who Sued News Orgs For Clipping His Facebook Video To Pay Everyone's Attorney's Fees

  

  Bergman ( profile ), 28 Jun, 2017 @ 11:24am

  Re: Re: Fair is fair

  Corporations are not people, but they are made of people and the CEO is a people. One of the reasons CEOs get paid so much is that the buck stops there -- if someone goes to prison for setting a corporate policy that violates the law, the CEO is at the head of the line.

• On the post: Canadian Supreme Court Says It's Fine To Censor The Global Internet; Authoritarians & Hollywood Cheer…

  

  Bergman ( profile ), 28 Jun, 2017 @ 12:04pm

  It occurs to me

  That Google could de-list the Canadian government's own websites, including those of the courts, because Canada's laws that protect the rights of LGBT people violate the laws of places like Iran.
  
  After all, if compliance with laws is global without regard for jurisdiction or sovereignty...

• On the post: To Keep The Skies Safe, The TSA Wants To Know What You're Reading

  

  Bergman ( profile ), 26 Jun, 2017 @ 07:59pm

  Re:

  I have a file on my computer that would let me print the bill of rights on a t-shirt (or anything else) in Arabic. I'm suddenly tempted to wander around the public areas of an airport wearing such a shirt.

• On the post: Wisconsin Speech Bill Tries To Keep Universities Neutral On Public Policy Debates, Which Is Batshit Crazypants

  

  Bergman ( profile ), 26 Jun, 2017 @ 07:55pm

  Re: Flintstones, meet the Flintstones...

  There are cities in the Bible that were inhabited before God created Adam & Eve, assuming the world is only 6,000 years old. While it does answer where Adam's kids and grand-kids found wives, it does call into question where those wives' great-grandparents were living before the world was created.

• On the post: AT&T May Soon Return To Charging Broadband Subscribers More For Privacy

  

  Bergman ( profile ), 26 Jun, 2017 @ 04:47pm

  Re:

  This.
  
  People own the copyright on the things they type on the internet, after all.
  
  If you use ANY level of encryption, even https, then the sort of deep packet inspection AT&T got caught using would seem to violate Section 1201 of the DMCA, since it would be a circumvention of a technological protection measure.
  
  Even just a little light packet sniffing might be such a circumvention.

• On the post: Zillow Sends Totally Bullshit Legal Threat To McMansion Hell

  

  Bergman ( profile ), 26 Jun, 2017 @ 04:39pm

  The use of the word may is particularly amusing

  The letter says that McMansionHell may be violating the CFAA. Lots of things may be violations of one law or another, particularly if they actually do violate it. But may does not mean does.
  
  Jaywalking may, in some circumstances, be treason. But most of the time it isn't.

• On the post: Bob Murray's Lawsuit Against John Oliver Is Even Sillier Than We Expected

  

  Bergman ( profile ), 23 Jun, 2017 @ 09:47am

  Re:

  Or his invention of the telephone.

• On the post: Facial Recognition Software Brings Personalized Ads To The Supermarket

  

  Bergman ( profile ), 23 Jun, 2017 @ 08:54am

  Re: Eventual Consequence

  They can ask to search you and you can ask to search them. Both sides are free to refuse in most places.
  
  If they press the issue, that crosses the line into criminal acts and self defense is justified at that point.

• On the post: Bob Murray's Lawsuit Against John Oliver Is Even Sillier Than We Expected

  

  Bergman ( profile ), 23 Jun, 2017 @ 09:46am

  Defamation of Oliver?

  Given the novel definitions of defamation Murray's lawyers are operating under, wouldn't their statements about Oliver's journalistic proclivities (for want of a better word) also constitute defamation if those theories are in any way accurate?

• On the post: Former University Official Files Libel Lawsuit Against His Replacement For Things A Journalist Said

  

  Bergman ( profile ), 22 Jun, 2017 @ 03:58pm

  Re: Re:

  I wonder if you can petition a judge to be allowed to laugh a guy out of court.

• On the post: Legislators Want To Open Up Wiretap Laws To Target Sex Workers And Their Customers

  

  Bergman ( profile ), 22 Jun, 2017 @ 03:51pm

  Re:

  Some people believe that if you make something illegal, it won't ever happen again. That if you can pass 'enough' of the 'right' laws, criminality will cease to exist.
  
  It never has in the past, even with legal systems and severe punishments impossible under our constitution, but they keep hoping.

• On the post: Pakistan Sentences First Person To Death Over Social Media Posts

  

  Bergman ( profile ), 22 Jun, 2017 @ 03:28pm

  Re:

  If the Holy Prophet's religion cannot withstand even the tiniest amount of criticism or mockery, then the religion isn't a very good one, and that prophet looks more delusional than holy.

• On the post: Sheriff Defends Deputies' Lies In Court By Saying Officers Didn't Know They Were Supposed To Tell The Truth

  

  Bergman ( profile ), 22 Jun, 2017 @ 08:05am

  Re:

  Look on the bright side -- unequal enforcement of a law renders it unconstitutional, as does creating a less privileged class of citizen. By elevating police officers that way, SCOTUS has either done both, or ruled that good faith allows any citizen to get away with ignorance of the law.

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