DB 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: That Was Quick: Appellate Court Says Simon & Schuster Not Subject To Prior Restraint Order Over Mary Trump's Book; But Fight's Not Over Yet

    DB ( profile ), 03 Jul, 2020 @ 12:03pm

    Re: New developments

    "Apparently Mary Trump has made a filing with further detail about the NDA. She alleges in her filing that “I relied on false valuations provided to me by my uncles and aunt, and would never have entered into the Agreement had I known the true value of the assets involved.” She also says that the inaccuracy of the valuations was revealed in a 2018 New York Times investigation."
    Well, that opens a new dimension to the situation. It potentially opens the rest of the family up to discovery over the true value of estate's assets, and if fraud was committed when the estate was settled.
    Normally the time to dispute the valuation would be long since passed. Even if fraud were discovered later (as appears to have happened), it's probably not actionable. But now that the other side of the family is trying to enforce the NDA clause, they have opened the can of worms. If that's the case, it might have been an element of her strategy all along.

  • On the post: YouTube Jacks Live TV Streaming Prices 30%, As Streaming Sector Starts To Resemble Good Old Cable

    DB ( profile ), 02 Jul, 2020 @ 11:10am

    Re:

    For many years Comcast has been sending me mailings advertising combo packages with TV at a much lower (advertised) price than I'm paying for Internet alone. But I know that the billed amount will be higher and rapidly increase. The mailed advertising is especially irksome because I get them at least as frequently as the previous mailed bills. Comcast encouraged customers to replace that with paperless billing for environmental reasons.

  • On the post: Judge Sides With Twitter Over Devin Nunes In Case Over Satirical Internet Cow: Section 230 Removes Twitter From Frivolous Case

    DB ( profile ), 29 Jun, 2020 @ 11:07am

    Re: I'm very disappointed

    I wanted to follow up on this. The judge ruling dismisses the case, not just for Twitter as a defendant. The primary claims were barred by Sec 230. Without the claims involving Twitter, the remaining claims would need to be substantially restated. There is still a chance that Twitter can recover legal fees, but without an anti-SLAPP law the presumption is that they won't.

  • On the post: Judge Sides With Twitter Over Devin Nunes In Case Over Satirical Internet Cow: Section 230 Removes Twitter From Frivolous Case

    DB ( profile ), 25 Jun, 2020 @ 10:00am

    I'm very disappointed

    I had hoped that Twitter would remain part of the case through either the case being moved to California (with its reasonable SLAPP) or the Virginia legislature passed its mostly-agreed-upon SLAPP law.

    The Virginia law was written so that it technically didn't change the underlying law, just how it was applied. That would mean SLAPP protections applied to existing cases, notably the presumption that costs and fees should be awarded to a successful defendant.

    Twitter has likely spent in the mid-six-figures defending this lawsuit. If Nunes had to pay, it would be enough money that Nunes would have to declare how the lawsuit had been paid for and why it isn't showing up as a campaign donation.

  • On the post: Sheriff Goes All In On Violating The First Amendment After Assaulting A Protester For Carrying A 'F*CK TRUMP' Sign

    DB ( profile ), 08 Jun, 2020 @ 10:57am

    I'm surprised his office didn't immediately back off and claim he was acting as a private citizen. Although his immediate claim that he was seizing the sign for "an investigation" would be a problem for that claim, they might have gotten around it in court.

    Georgia citizens might support this and be willing to re-elect the Sheriff. Which is exactly why federal civil rights laws were needed. It's remarkable that they are apparently still needed.

  • On the post: The Military Is Being Tapped To Handle Domestic Protests, Something It's Not Really Equipped To Handle

    DB ( profile ), 04 Jun, 2020 @ 11:51am

    Re:

    I didn't see the tweet denying that the shoot-on-the-porch was them. That wasn't a police Bearcat leading them. It was a HMMWV in desert camouflage outfitted with a turret. Does the local law enforcement operate those? With a modern GPK (Gunner Protection Kit)? I'm guessing that the statement was a very narrow denial, along the lines that "tear gas wasn't used in Layafette Park" where they meant 'we used OC gas in the park itself'.

  • On the post: District Court Mostly Refuses To Terminate The Litigation Testing The Copyright Termination Provision

    DB ( profile ), 30 May, 2020 @ 01:13pm

    I imagine the record companies were always planning on bypassing the termination agreement, but technology changed the game underneath them.
    At the end of 35 years of sales they would have an excellent prediction of future sales. They just needed to press enough vinyl and record enough 8 track tape at 34.9 years to handle the anticipated demand, and sell those copies to a fully-controlled subsidiary.

    Digital rights are now worth more than the right to make physical copies, so the record companies now need to make termination a catch-22 situation.

  • On the post: The Great Pizza Arbitrage Scheme Of 2020 Is Spotlighting The Strangeness Of Food Delivery Services

    DB ( profile ), 24 May, 2020 @ 07:41am

    Re: Racist much

    Apparently you are too focused on racism. Black Cabs in London are a specific type of taxi. Not quite the same as Yellow Cab, but equally not-about-race.

  • On the post: The Great Pizza Arbitrage Scheme Of 2020 Is Spotlighting The Strangeness Of Food Delivery Services

    DB ( profile ), 23 May, 2020 @ 07:44pm

    Re: Re: "Taxi laws"

    The million dollar NYC taxi medallion shows that operating a taxi is a profitable business. The problem with the system is that the medallion sucks all of the profit to the medallion holder. It's an capitalistic disaster -- a share of a government enforced monopoly, with rent-seeking operators funding the retirement of the original medallion holder. Grading on a curve, Uber and Lyft look like angels compared to the taxi medallion system. There was plenty of room for everyone to make a fair profit, except those that had 'invested' by over-paying for the government-granted right to sell into an artificial scarcity.

  • On the post: France Is About To Waste A Ton Of Money Trying To Build Its Own Airbnb

    DB ( profile ), 19 May, 2020 @ 11:20am

    Can you imagine le outrage, l'indignation if the U.S. government announced a project to make a copy of a successful French product?

  • On the post: The Associated Press Has Some Explaining To Do About Its 'Tweeted Contract' To Reuse Viral Content

    DB ( profile ), 18 May, 2020 @ 07:29pm

    Re: Consideration?

    I wouldn't stand on the lack of consideration making the contract invalid. The AP could claim that promotion of the photo was consideration. Which sounds absurd until you realize that many "news" stories are made available at no cost by PR agencies. Read the 'Home and Garden' or 'Fashion' section of a local newspaper and you'll find plenty of those stories.

  • On the post: Uh Oh: FBI Serves Search Warrant On Senator Richard Burr, Seizes His Phone

    DB ( profile ), 14 May, 2020 @ 12:22pm

    Re: Re: Annnnnnd, he's gone!

    Reports indicate that it was Mitch McConnell that announced Burr would be stepping down from the committee. "Senator Burr contacted me this morning to inform me of his decision to step aside as Chairman of the Intelligence Committee during the pendency of the investigation," McConnell said in a written statement. "We agreed that this decision would be in the best interests of the committee and will be effective at the end of the day tomorrow." That suggests that McConnell told Burr that he was off of the committee, and Burr didn't go along with the plan enough to announce it himself. A resignation doesn't seem likely at this point.

  • On the post: Judge Tells Devin Nunes' Dad (And Lawyer Stephen Biss) To Put Up Or Shut Up In Defamation Lawsuit Over Esquire Article

    DB ( profile ), 14 May, 2020 @ 01:10pm

    Can anyone knowledgeable comment on how consolidating the cases in Iowa affects the choice-of-law aspect where the California SLAPP statute might apply?

    The consolidation might be a clever way to avoid paying legal fees. The Nunes family in Iowa and Biss in Virginia can claim to have minimal connection to California and thus assert that it would be unjust for the California law to apply to the consolidated case.

  • On the post: Everyone Agrees That Contact Tracing Apps Are Key To Bringing COVID-19 Under Control; Iceland Has Tried Them, And Isn't So Sure

    DB ( profile ), 14 May, 2020 @ 06:49am

    "Everyone"?

    I came here to question why that obviously-wrong statement was in a headline, and found that most people here agree that it is close to useless.

    Contact tracing could have helped in the very early stages, but it's nearly useless now. And smartphone-location-based contact tracing is an absurd misapplication of the technology.

  • On the post: 'Smart' Home Platform Wink Changes The Deal, Suddenly Imposes Subscription Fees

    DB ( profile ), 12 May, 2020 @ 09:20am

    Signing up for a subscription is a doubly bad deal. We've learned that privacy statements are as ephemeral as glowing phosphor dots on a CRT: terms can change at any time.
    This is a company that unilaterally changed the contract terms with effectively no notice. Are you really going to give them more money PLUS the additional information and power that goes with billing your credit card?

  • On the post: What A Coincidence! Same Day Senator Burr Dumped His Stock, So Did His Brother-in-Law!

    DB ( profile ), 08 May, 2020 @ 02:22pm

    Trading on "public information" isn't the criteria, nor should it be.

    Once you know the inside information it's easy to find public information that supports a trade. The key question was whether the inside information was communicated and triggered the trade.

  • On the post: Devin Nunes' Lawyer Facing Sanctions, While Nunes Himself May Have To Pay His Opponents' Legal Bills

    DB ( profile ), 05 May, 2020 @ 12:01pm

    I had missed that the SLAPP legislation was a procedural change and would apply immediately.

    But for the SLAPP sanctions to be applied the lawsuits would have to be ongoing.

    Nunes now has to decide if he will continue pursue to the lawsuits, or figure out when and how to back out of them.

    If he cuts and runs, that increases the chance that the judges will grant the defendants legal fees. Especially if discovery has been noticed. But it's still less risky than having the legislature return and quickly pass a bill.

    But what if he doesn't have the money for a potential sanction? Biss isn't going to help, or be happy with a walk-away. Biss has money issues of his own, as evidenced by his eviction for non-payment of his rent. He is likely working for the publicity and a cut of any payout. If the publicity isn't yet bringing in lucrative clients, and his isn't winning any lawsuits, a walk-away settlement is a double loss.

    So Nunes might be stuck. He can afford the modest costs keeping the lawsuits going, and he can hold out hope that they settle. He risks being insolvent if dismissing them goes badly. But it only gets worse if he waits.

  • On the post: ICANN Board Blocks The Sale Of The .Org Registry

    DB ( profile ), 02 May, 2020 @ 07:42am

    I'm struggling to see the ISOC viewpoint.
    There were so many aspects of this deal that appeared corrupt that it's difficult to imagine that people at ISOC didn't see the problems immediately.

  • On the post: Quibi Is What Happens When Hollywood Overvalues Content And Undervalues Community

    DB ( profile ), 01 May, 2020 @ 10:51am

    I have to wonder how this content qualifies for copyright.

    It abandons the last shred of the fig leaf of the value exchange -- exclusive rights for a limited time. There is explicitly no way for this content to be preserved by the users and become public domain.

  • On the post: Hard Pass: Clearview Offers To Help Out With COVID-19 Contact Tracing

    DB ( profile ), 30 Apr, 2020 @ 01:48pm

    There does seem to be a huge bubble this week about "contact tracing" apps.

    That ship has long sailed. I'm pretty sure that it was never in port.

    There is solid evidence that two major U.S. "super spreader" events were CES in early January, and New Orleans Mardi Gras in mid-February. CES has 170K out-of-town attendees and Mardi Gras attracts about 1.4 million people, most within a day's drive. Both are so crowded that close personal contact is unavoidable.

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