DB 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (653)

• On the post: Big Media Companies Insist That VPN Services Violate Copyright Law

  

  DB ( profile ), 09 Apr, 2015 @ 12:16pm

  A different viewpoint is that these companies want to reserve the economic benefit of globalization for themselves.
  
  They have no problem with global outsourcing of call centers, post-production, animation, pressing DVDs, etc. Nor with routing revenue through unrelated countries to evade taxes. It all about having access to the lowest cost of production.
  
  But these same companies are trying to limit consumers to buying only through tightly controlled distribution channels. Even if it's not their content, they want to block it -- they don't want consumers to have access to the world market.
  
  We expect a worker in Seattle to compete with a worker in Thailand, and to take less pay if that's what it takes. But we want to enforce that the Seattle worker pays $250 for a textbook instead of $8, pays $15 for a DVD instead of under $1, and 20x for prescription drugs.

• On the post: Fighting Toddler 'Porn Addiction,' UK Lawmakers Demand Porn Sites Include Age Checks Or Face Closure

  

  DB ( profile ), 07 Apr, 2015 @ 10:30am

  I thought that every porn site already had age verification in place? Isn't that why they ask you for your credit card number, just to verify your age? After, of course, showing you a few hard-core pictures.
  
  I also have an idea for an interesting survey. Pay a bunch of teenaged boys to take multiple surveys. After about the tenth survey, I predict that you find that most of them have not only seen porn, but have actually starred in feature length movies. After the twentieth survey you'll find that 30% have injured themselves while having sex on a trapeze, while the other 70% successfully pulled it off.. with three girls at once.

• On the post: Quebec Looking To Force ISPs To Block Gambling Sites In Order To Protect Its Own State-Run Gambling Portal

  

  DB ( profile ), 07 Apr, 2015 @ 10:05am

  On the plus side, this censorship list will be selected by people that only have the financial bottom line in mind.
  
  Of course that is "initially selected". I'm sure every agency will soon want in on the action.
  
  Remember kids, gambling is bad. Unless it's government-sponsored gambling. Then it's "for the children".

• On the post: Two Court Rulings Completely Disagree With Each Other Over Whether Websites Need To Comply With Americans With Disabilities Act

  

  DB ( profile ), 06 Apr, 2015 @ 06:37am

  If there is more than one reasonable way to interpret a statute, the interpretation should be obvious -- the court shouldn't be entertaining lawsuits targeting any of those reasonable interpretations.
  
  The obvious meaning of "place of public accommodation" is a physical place. A place you can enter. Or has physical barriers to entry, such as high steps.

• On the post: AT&T Shows Cupertino Precisely What Broadband Competition (Or The Lack Thereof) Looks Like

  

  DB ( profile ), 02 Apr, 2015 @ 08:37am

  I looked at the pictures and thought "wow, he's paying for three Comcast bills. I hope his other families don't find out.. how much he is spending"

• On the post: Cord Cutting Denial Is Alive And Well

  

  DB ( profile ), 31 Mar, 2015 @ 06:46am

  I agree that the new services are expensive for the value returned.
  
  We already have Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus and Plex. We added an Ownzones channel this month, mostly for the Chromecast deal.
  
  We are completely awash in available options. The topic of missing something on broadcast or cable TV never comes up.
  
  And with all of content available, we are still paying far more to Comcast for their unreliable internet service than for all of these combined.

• On the post: Maybe The Best Way To Stop All This Swatting Is To Have Fewer SWAT Teams?

  

  DB ( profile ), 30 Mar, 2015 @ 01:27pm

  The situation in New Jersey was notably absurd.
  
  The police had a report of multiple people wounded by shotgun-wielding attackers, but waited an hour before actually approaching the building.
  
  During that hour they avoided contact to avoid "tipping off" the putative attackers. What was the logic behind that? Because when you are holding hostages, you might think that the police are really there for the hostage situation next door?

• On the post: Blu Cigarettes Sues Blu Ale House Over Blu Logo

  

  DB ( profile ), 28 Mar, 2015 @ 04:39pm

  It's sounds as if the Anonymous Coward earlier today has a grudge.
  
  That was an allegation of criminal activity, albeit completely unspecified criminal activity.
  
  Given that trademark conflicts are not criminal, I tend to disbelieve everything that posters writes. But it still appears to be slander.

• On the post: Blu Cigarettes Sues Blu Ale House Over Blu Logo

  

  DB ( profile ), 27 Mar, 2015 @ 04:33pm

  Even if they expanded into lounges and alehouses, they won't get a general trademark on 'Blu'. It's a widely used word, and many hotel (with lounges) use Blu as part of their name.
  
  Of course they aren't going to sue those business, which long predate their own existence.

• On the post: Dangerously Underpowered NSA Begging Legislators For Permission To Go To Cyberwar

  

  DB ( profile ), 26 Mar, 2015 @ 10:42pm

  I don't understand what they mean by needing an offensive capability against cyber attacks.
  
  That's like saying you need an offensive capability against lightening strikes. What are you going to do, shoot at the clouds?

• On the post: BART, The Train Service, Goes After Brewery Over BART, The Beer

  

  DB ( profile ), 23 Mar, 2015 @ 10:48pm

  On the plus side, filing an opposition isn't the same as blocking a trademark. The PTO is well aware of the law, and the limitation of a trademark.
  
  Hopefully the right thing will happen without more being spent on lawyers.

• On the post: Portland Police Bravely Defend Public From Homeless Woman Looking To Charge Her Cell Phone

  

  DB ( profile ), 19 Mar, 2015 @ 01:14pm

  I think that they should be charged 100x of the service stolen. Costs to be rounded to the nearest dollar.
  
  I can see the police telling them to move on, but they deserve the ridicule for actually running them in for this.

• On the post: Stop The Presses: Disney Tells Court About The Importance Of The Public Domain

  

  DB ( profile ), 19 Mar, 2015 @ 01:06pm

  I think that Mark B has the essential argument.
  
  The inventor sold the patent. Part of the sale agreement was a payment when the invention was used. It was the equivalent of a patent royalty, but it was not exactly that since they transferred the patent.
  
  Disney/Marvel waits until the patent expires, and starts selling a toy with the feature. They ignore the terms of the sale contract and don't make the additional payment. When taken to court their defense is that the invention is now public domain and they are free to use it.
  
  Disney wants this to be a patent case. The inventors want this to be a simple contract case.

• On the post: DailyDirt: The Strongest Natural Materials

  

  DB ( profile ), 16 Mar, 2015 @ 05:19pm

  My diamond desires are prosaic. I want a diamond frying pan (excellent thermal conductivity and scratch resistance) and diamond coated windshields (scratch resistance and clarity).

• On the post: Verizon Latest To Balk At Weather Channel Rate Hikes For 'Weather Coverage' That's 70% Fluff And Nonsense

  

  DB ( profile ), 12 Mar, 2015 @ 09:53am

  A long time coming

  I haven't gotten cable programming for many years, but a decade ago the Weather Channel was starting to degrade. It was already showing at least 5 minutes of advertising for each ten minute reporting cycle. When it starting showing 'features' that displaced the 30 seconds of actual weather data per cycle, I gave up on it.
  
  Since then I've seen it only while traveling, and quickly switched away after figuring out that it has gotten worse.
  
  On the other hand I've been using the Weather Underground since it was a telnet service at UMich. It's always been good to great. I was annoyed when they changed to their new format with bad icons, slow loading and less information. But I eventually got used to it and they improved the worst parts. Plus their creation of a hobbyist weather reporting community is a game-changer. (Now if they would just provide reliability/calibration data for those stations, especially the ones that report a negligible wind speed during a howling storm.)

• On the post: WordPress Wins Case Against DMCA Abuser… Who Ignored The Proceedings

  

  DB ( profile ), 06 Mar, 2015 @ 03:27pm

  It's meaningless as a precedent, but the ruling does have value.
  
  It can establish a demostrated pattern and likelihood of abuse -- foreign entities filing DMCA requests, implicitly submitting themselves to the jurisdiction of the court, but refusing to accept the responsibility associated with using the court's power.
  
  With a few examples, Wordpress can start to require a confirmation of requests -- making the sender explicitly acknowledge that their request puts them under the jurisdiction of the district court. That doesn't conform with the law as written, but the district court is unlikely to consider it problematic given the proven history.

• On the post: Theater Chains Pout, Boycott Netflix's New Movie To Protect Antiquated Release Windows

  

  DB ( profile ), 05 Mar, 2015 @ 12:02pm

  The theaters have quite a bit of history to back them up.
  
  Look at how football was destroyed once it was shown on TV. Ticket prices went to zero (approximately, the average for a 'cheap seat' is only $84), and the parking lots could only charge $1 (approximate, actual cost is $75 in Dallas).
  
  The same with other sports. The miniscule broadcast revenue left the team owners destitute. Pretty much only the parents of the players show up at games.

• On the post: Comcast Blocks HBO Go From Working On Playstation 4, Won't Coherently Explain Why

  

  DB ( profile ), 05 Mar, 2015 @ 08:52am

  "Prioritize" is the current-day trendy word. Just as "monetize" was a few years, until it became associated with violating privacy or trust.

• On the post: US Court Rules That Kim Dotcom Is A 'Fugitive' And Thus DOJ Can Take His Money

  

  DB ( profile ), 28 Feb, 2015 @ 05:24am

  There was a comment above about Investor-State Dispute Settlement, with the expectation that it would be considered off-topic.
  
  It's not. This is exactly on point.
  
  The companies pushing for ISDS are thinking of situations such as Venezuela's nationalization of the oil fields. But this is the same situation.
  
  Well, not exactly. Venezuela had a much more defensible process. A clear law was passed years in advance that the production facilities would revert to government control at the oil field lease termination. The courts supported the clear wording of the law. The law wasn't especially just or wise, but the legal process was followed without twisting the law into a pretzel.

• On the post: Nvidia Actually Listens To Its Customers, Will Again Let Them Use The Expensive Hardware They Own As They See Fit

  

  DB ( profile ), 26 Feb, 2015 @ 10:08am

  To correct the record here.
  
  The cards sold do have the full 4GB of memory. Due to an odd structure of the crossbar, only 3.5GB of that gets full bandwidth. The driver software uses the odd 0.5GB for structures that aren't accessed as frequently.
  
  This isn't usually a performance issue, although once you know about the structure you can construct scenarios where you can demonstrate a slowdown.
  
  There is a second, mostly separate issue where a description of the internal hardware used the wrong numbers. The marketing material apparently used the 'pre-fuse' counts, which assumed that the chip has no flaws. Real-life chips have flaws. The bad units are disabled, 'fused' out. If too many don't work, the chip is thrown out. If all work, they sell the chip in a premium.
  
  Both of these issues are taken into account in the published performance figures and benchmarks. To use the ubiquitous automotive analogy, this is like marketing material claiming a 2.5 liter engine when when the actual size is 2.45L. As long as the 0-100KMH time and other performance metrics are accurate, a driver will never know. Only the guys that are going to modify the engine internals are ever going to see it.
  
  (BTW, most '2.5L' engines are really 2.4xL engines. An actual 2.5L engine pays a higher tax rate in some countries, so the design stays safely under that breakpoint.)
  
  As usual, expect the class action lawyers to settle for a few million in their pockets and $2 coupons for end users that take 20 minutes to register. The benchmarks are accurate, and the mistaken unit counts were in ancillary marketing material not on the box or main ads, so there is only the thinnest legal case. The real impact is likely to be reputation and PR.

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