DB 's Techdirt Comments

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• On the post: Chutzpah: John Steele To Court: What, You Think I Would Lie, Cheat And Break The Law? Come On!

  

  DB ( profile ), 23 Apr, 2014 @ 11:43am

  A bit of background: when a CPA specifically notes that the report they prepared does not meet GAAP, that strongly suggests that the books are crooked. They have prepared them to the client's specification, but won't stand behind the number.
  
  Public companies often report non-GAAP results alongside GAAP, but only when they believe that it better reflects their business. And the GAAP numbers are the ones that are legally binding on the accountants.
  
  I can't see a judge accepting Steele's argument "You didn't specifically ask for GAAP numbers". If you submit a report from a CPA, that's what is expected.

• On the post: Chutzpah: John Steele To Court: What, You Think I Would Lie, Cheat And Break The Law? Come On!

  

  DB ( profile ), 22 Apr, 2014 @ 06:42pm

  I wonder how the discovery spat will play out.
  It appears to be a serious breech of ethics.
  
  Steele could have passed it off as a mistake, then asked for a call to schedule a conference to discuss, then asked the court to schedule a hearing for clarification. All semi-legitimate when viewed in isolation. But he instead went for the "People call me Dick" email reply. It was intended to infuriate the recipient (which it clearly did -- and that might be the only thing that saves Steele), but also risks infuriating a judge.
  
  Unrelated: I'm a bit suspicious about the timing of the "email account hacking". Superficially it appears that Nazaire's machine got a virus and started sending out spam. This could be the reality, or just be an excuse for losing incriminating email. Only select (beneficial) emails will survive.

• On the post: Supreme Court Discussion In Aereo: At Least The Justices Recognize The Harm They Might Do

  

  DB ( profile ), 22 Apr, 2014 @ 05:30pm

  The questions asked suggest that the justices understand most of the issues.
  
  You might argue that they don't understand "the cloud", but you won't get much agreement among even cloud-y vendors about what "the cloud" is either. When you get up close (especially when you get up close) it's all fog.
  
  Some of the questions did border on suggesting they must be guilty of something, since they went to so much effort to "get around" the law. But I don't believe that the justices are actually thinking that.
  
  I tend to think that they are thinking "They have gone to absurd lengths to fit within (between) the current law. You want us to make what Aereo is doing illegal. But the big hammer you are asking for would make a large set of well-established activities illegal. What words would you use to differentiate this situation from others? If you can't put down in words how Aereo violated the law, but record stores don't, how can we possibly decide it's wrong?"
  
  I can't see the justices granting cert in this case, just to issue a highly conditional opinion. "It depends..." is the worst possible outcome for progress -- something they seem sensitive to.

• On the post: Textile Company Drags A Bunch Of Clothing Companies To Court Over Copyrighted Stripe Pattern

  

  DB ( profile ), 17 Apr, 2014 @ 12:20pm

  Don't use Dr. Who as an example of prior art. He picked up the scarf as a vintage clothing store specializing the very best copyrighted designs of centuries earlier.
  
  Irregular width stripes were a innovative design breakthrough.

• On the post: Microsoft And Sony Double Down On Patent Trolling; Dump More Cash Into Intellectual Ventures

  

  DB ( profile ), 16 Apr, 2014 @ 04:20pm

  To amplify on the "investment" aspect of the shake-down: it's a tax-advantaged way for the companies to pay, and it doesn't directly impact the P&L statements.

• On the post: Find The Big Fib In The NSA's Lack Of Concern For Foreigners

  

  DB ( profile ), 16 Apr, 2014 @ 06:21am

  I've long been surprised at general belief that constitutional protections aren't applied to non-citizens. The wording of the Constitution is unambiguous that the rights are Natural Rights: they aren't "granted" by the government, but given by nature/god to all humans.
  
  The obvious conclusion is that non-citizens are not human.

• On the post: Appeals Court Reverses Weev Conviction For Incorrect Venue, Avoids Bigger CFAA Questions

  

  DB ( profile ), 11 Apr, 2014 @ 11:19am

  This might be the best result under the circumstances.
  
  Bouncing the case on venue instantly kills the conviction. Almost any other reversal requires re-doing part of the trail, which is expensive, time consuming, and risks another bogus outcome.
  
  The footnote is a strong hint to the prosecutors that they were wrong, and should not re-file charges in a different venue. They can save face by claiming "a technicality".
  (But I'll go with 'Technically correct, the best kind of correct.')

• On the post: German Town Shoots Down Father's Plan To Name His Son 'Wikileaks'

  

  DB ( profile ), 11 Apr, 2014 @ 05:27am

  How's this for a rule-of-thumb: if you can't buy a "personalized" bike license plate at Disneyworld, you should really reconsider the name.
  
  Adjust for your language/locale.
  
  A child's name isn't a billboard. It's really just something easy to remember until they are old enough to memorize their social security number.

• On the post: Snowden Says NSA Is Lying When It Claims He Didn't Raise Concerns Through The Proper Channels

  

  DB ( profile ), 08 Apr, 2014 @ 02:25pm

  Well, Vanity Fair is part of the New York liberal media. And we all know that they are all secretly Reds.
  
  And Snowden, well, there is no proof that he is working with the Russians. But there is no proof he isn't. So he must be. He definitely can see Russia from his back porch. And seeing Russia from your back porch makes you guilty. Or a viable candidate for president. Or something.

• On the post: Appeals Court Not At All Impressed By Prenda's Appeal

  

  DB ( profile ), 08 Apr, 2014 @ 09:15am

  A summary of the Voelker strategy:
  
  1. The judge shouldn't have taken judicial notice of other cases. (Those facts should be ignored.)
  2. The ruling relies on facts that are not on the record. (See point 1.)
  
  There was an alternative argument:
  
  1. No specific attorney acted improperly on their own.
  2. Responsibility for the judgement should have been apportioned according to blame. (Which would have allowed pressing point 1.)
  
  For this latter argument to work, it was vitally important that Voelker 'know' as little as possible about the relationship between Prenda/Alpha/Duffy/Steele/Hansmeier. Even if that led to awkward moments.
  
  I would say that Voelker played his part well. No new information was revealed. The claim of no facts / no supporting record was pressed. The question of adverse inference from the many non-substantive and evasive responses, and conflicting responses only came up briefly.

• On the post: House Committee To Investigate NHTSA's Roadside Blood And Saliva 'Surveys'

  

  DB ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2014 @ 11:37pm

  I'm familiar with this version of 'voluntary'.
  
  I've been stopped at "drunk driving" roadblocks. These are supposedly voluntary, but there isn't any option involved.
  
  In theory, you can turn around and not "participate" in the roadblock. In real life that will immediately get you pulled over. Depending on the jurisdiction, if you stay in line you've implicitly agreed to the search. Regardless if this is true the police officer will tell you that consent is mandatory.

• On the post: Sen. Rockefeller Wants ICANN To Block '.Sucks' TLDs

  

  DB ( profile ), 14 Mar, 2014 @ 11:54am

  I think that's a double-plus-good suggestion. It's one more step on the path to Newspeak.
  
  War is peace.
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspeak

• On the post: Hey Reuters: You're Wrong. John Brennan Did Not Deny Feinstein's Claims, He Admitted To Them

  

  DB ( profile ), 13 Mar, 2014 @ 03:12pm

  It always surprises me when 'real news organizations' take press releases and public statements at face value, and repeat them uncritically.
  
  Meanwhile news spoofs such as the Daily Show dig back to previous statements, or the constitution, that directly contradicts what was just said. Why can they do a better job than "real" reporters?
  
  The shocking thing about this is that CIA is saying torture was OK, and that the Senate doesn't have oversight or investigative powers over the agency. Somehow saying "it's classified" means that the constitution doesn't apply.

• On the post: Police Chief Testifies Against Legalizing Marijuana With Parody Newspaper Article

  

  DB ( profile ), 04 Mar, 2014 @ 09:41am

  "I believed the information I obtained was accurate"
  
  "This does not take away from the other facts presented"
  
  He believed that people die from overdoses, and that it was so risky that 37 people died on the same day.
  
  That's a person so misinformed, so wrong, that you should be biased to doing the opposite of what they are telling you to do. Or they are so invested in their beliefs that they suspend critical thinking about the subject.

• On the post: Australian Broadcasters, Netflix Competitors Pout Because Netflix Hasn't Banned VPN Users Yet

  

  DB ( profile ), 04 Mar, 2014 @ 08:20am

  I see this as the same situation as importing low-cost textbooks licensed for foreign markets.
  
  Large companies want the benefits of an open world economy, moving production freely to optimize costs. But they don't want their customers to have the have same freedom to buy where the prices are lower, or the selection is better.
  
  In this case the media companies want to buy their content on the worldwide market, while restricting their customers from doing the same. They want the government to effectively grant them a distribution monopoly.

• On the post: King Backs Off Ridiculously Broad 'Candy' Trademark, Will Still Be Obnoxious In Other Ways

  

  DB ( profile ), 26 Feb, 2014 @ 07:44pm

  Wait.. they just acquired an earlier trademark and are using that against other games with 'Candy' in the name?
  
  Yet somehow they weren't infringing the earlier trademark?

• On the post: U.S.: We Have No Evidence Or Credibility On This Whatsoever, But Don't Use Huawei Because China Might Spy On You

  

  DB ( profile ), 18 Feb, 2014 @ 10:44am

  I had heard of this before it hit the news. It was very credible, matching my preconceived ideas. I believed the story.
  
  Later I learned that Cisco was pushing this story to win several large telecom contracts. Simultaneously they were secretly in the process of shutting down most of their US production, having gear designed and built in China, and outright reselling Chinese products.
  
  Every time I think I'm cynical, something like this happens to show me I'm not cynical enough.

• On the post: Podcasting Patent Troll Files Bogus Subpoena To Intimidate Donors To EFF's 'Save Podcasting' Campaign

  

  DB ( profile ), 03 Feb, 2014 @ 10:07am

  I hope the EFF pursues costs and sanctions against the lawyer that wrote such an obviously *bogus* subpena. This isn't even a colorable attempt at reasonable discovery. It's so over-broad, I'm surprised it didn't end with "and naked pictures of your mistress and wife".

• On the post: DailyDirt: Food Forensics For Fighting Fraud

  

  DB ( profile ), 01 Feb, 2014 @ 08:37pm

  You mentioned "Angus Beef" (tm)
  
  That is purely a marketing name. There is an Angus breed, which came the Angus region, but that has little to do with the name. Pay the trademark holder money and you can use the name on just about any meat product.
  
  Several contaminated hamburger recalls involved products with name such as "American Chef?s Selection Angus Beef Patties" and "Range Fed Angus Beef Burgers".
  
  The big 2007 hamburger recall resulted in a USDA investigation, and FOIA requests by the New York Times revealed what those products are. If there is any Angus breed beef in the burgers, it's a coincidence. The 'America's Chef' product come from at least four different facilities. It was mostly 'retired' dairy cattle, with fat from trimmings of better cuts and ammonia treated carcass scrapings (pink slime). It took weeks to track down where the various sources for a single batch of hamburger.
  
  But back to the real point: if it says "Angus", it's probably the lowest grade meat product with a marketing spin.

• On the post: Man Subjected To Multiple Rectal Searches And Enemas By Police Officers Receives $1.6 Million Settlement

  

  DB ( profile ), 22 Jan, 2014 @ 12:12pm

  There is likely no legal basis to charge any part of the settlement to the police officers involved. 'Qualified immunity' while acting in an official capacity is effectively 'full immunity'. They can be fired, eventually. Typically those in the process of being fired for cause resign first, with a confidentiality agreement in exchange for the resignation. So their bad acts don't even show up on their employment record.
  
  At this point the hospital and doctors involved should be very worried. The staff may claim they feared for their jobs if they refused the police. Especially the doctor, who was, I believe, foreign born and trained might have this as a significant concern. That might transfer financial liability to the hospital, but it wouldn't prevent professional discipline. Perhaps they will claim they feared police retribution if they did not comply... that might be interesting..

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