DB 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Two-Person Police Department's Million Dollar Military Gear Grab Ends In Arrest Of Police Chief

    DB ( profile ), 27 Aug, 2018 @ 10:26am

    Re: Where are the Feds?

    There is a reason that the DoD isn't checking carefully.

    It's difficult and expensive getting surplus gear off of the inventory list. This program is an easy way to document the disposition of equipment. Just transfer it and you are finished.

    That doesn't excuse the horrible idea of transferring military equipment to police forces, but it does explain the motivation.

  • On the post: Movie Company Sues Post-Production Studio For $5 Million For Leaking 'Kickboxer' Film That Grossed $5k Domestically

    DB ( profile ), 23 Aug, 2018 @ 08:29am

    Re: Re: "SOMEONE is going to pay us what we deserve!"

    Accepting everything else is true, why would $5M be a reasonable amount for damages?

    "They broke a contract!" seems to be your stance. But contracts are broken all of the time. Generally the 'little people' get screwed when that happens. A judge decides the actual damages, perhaps adds a bit for court fees, and both parties pay their own lawyers. If the lawyer fees are more than the amount in dispute, it's not worth going to court.

    But somehow Intellectual Property is immensely more valuable, even when the demonstrated nationwide market is less than the cost of a basic bathroom remodel.

  • On the post: Appeals Court Says Of Course Twitter Can Kick Racists Off Its Platform

    DB ( profile ), 20 Aug, 2018 @ 01:28pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    An easy distinction in that case would be that an individual proprietor would have the right to decline specific work, even from a protected class. A corporate entity would not.

    Or a similar distinction with an equivalent effect would be that a business with non-family employees would be subject to non-discrimination laws. If you want the legal protection of a corporation, your corporation needs to be non-discriminator. You, as an individual, have the right to be a racist. Your corporation does not.

  • On the post: Prenda Scam Boss, Paul Hansmeier, Pleads Guilty

    DB ( profile ), 20 Aug, 2018 @ 09:40am

    Re: Re:

    We'll see the strength of their convictions if they come here to comment.

  • On the post: Judge In Broward County Documents Case Decides The First Amendment Doesn't Cover These Public Records

    DB ( profile ), 20 Aug, 2018 @ 09:04am

    Re: Technically stupid

    You shouldn't always assume that the people involved are incompetent.

    I've seen many cases where it appears that the "mistake" was made in the public interest. Every time I revisit the topic, I am freshly amused by the "sexiest man alive" publicity, where a reporter at the China's People's Daily treated an Onion story as a real one. Perhaps the reporter was legitimately fooled. Perhaps the people reviewing the story before publication were also fooled. Perhaps not.

  • On the post: Appeals Court: No Immunity For Border Patrol Agent's Murder Of 16-Year-Old Mexican Citizen

    DB ( profile ), 13 Aug, 2018 @ 04:46pm

    Could someone with the expertise comment on how this would affect extradition?

    If he is not covered by qualified immunity, on what grounds could extradition be refused?

  • On the post: Court Says Comey And Other DOJ Officials Must Answer BuzzFeed's Questions About The Steele Dossier

    DB ( profile ), 06 Aug, 2018 @ 11:11am

    Re: Re: Re: Not unduly burdensome

    At this point, it's pretty clear what the answer is.

    But the public being able to infer the truth isn't good enough for a court case. Although in this specific situation of a weak defamation case, perhaps it should be.

  • On the post: DOJ Tells Ron Wyden About The Times It Has Collected Journalists' Communications; Leaves Some Facts Out

    DB ( profile ), 16 Jul, 2018 @ 08:53am

    Re: Re: But why didn't you mention Obama?

    "Can you explain this video showing you dumping toxic waste into the canal?"

    "But her emails!"

  • On the post: Latest Denuvo Version Cracked Again By One Solo Hacker On A Personal Mission

    DB ( profile ), 11 Jul, 2018 @ 08:13pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Wasn't this activity already illegal?

    But... what have they done for you lately?

  • On the post: Latest Denuvo Version Cracked Again By One Solo Hacker On A Personal Mission

    DB ( profile ), 11 Jul, 2018 @ 05:19pm

    It must be state-sponsored hacking. Because it's far too sophisticated to be the work of a single individual motivated by an innate sense of fairness.

    Right?

  • On the post: EU Publishers Freak Out Now That People Are Realizing Just How Fucked Up Their Link Tax Really Is

    DB ( profile ), 10 Jun, 2018 @ 12:25pm

    The middle game here is obvious.

    With a link tax, Google (and others) will need to negotiate for an explicit license. Perhaps paying a trivial amount to remain strictly legal.

    A few print publications will 'break ranks' and privately make a deal. They will be the only ones featured. The others will essentially disappear online.

    After a few months of massive market share loss, the hold-outs will realize their weak position. They'll rush to make similar agreements. But now they'll have lost their regular audience, and be in a poor negotiating position. The early might be able to negotiate free links, but then Google et al will figure out they can charge. Perhaps not on an explicit money-for-click basis, but it's easy to negotiate a "comprehensive" agreement that has the same effect.

    The only publishers that should have been pushing for this rule are ones that already have deals in place and want to undermine their greedy direct competitors.

  • On the post: EU Parliament Members Play Hardball On Terrible Copyright Policies, Article Highlighting Sketchy Tactics Magically Disappears

    DB ( profile ), 31 May, 2018 @ 11:26am

    Brexit seems insane from the outside, but then things like this keep happening.

  • On the post: The Monkey Selfie Lawsuit Will Never, Ever Die: Appeals Court Judge Wants A Do Over

    DB ( profile ), 29 May, 2018 @ 01:57pm

    Is it an en banc review of the case itself, or the proposed settlement between PETA and the photographer? PETA claimed to represent the animal as a 'next friend', yet provided no benefit to the animal in the proposed settlement.

  • On the post: HBO Wins Stupid Copyright, Trademark Lawsuit Brought By Graffiti Artist Over 2 Seconds Of Background Scenery

    DB ( profile ), 22 May, 2018 @ 08:19am

    Re: 'How dare they not pay for for two seconds of my illegal art!'

    It makes little difference to the analysis, but is this even city property? It may well be the property, or in the custody, of the specific contracted hauling company.

    That would make the art the property of that company, and the company the proper party to bring any lawsuit.

    Was the copyright registered? That's required to recover damages. The trademark might not need to be registered, but the movie company certainly isn't misusing the trademark. Was the art signed? How would the company know who to contact with a request to license the work?

    This lawsuit has so many holes that it's not arguably frivolous, it's absolutely frivolous.

  • On the post: The 'Race To 5G' Is Largely Just Marketing Nonsense

    DB ( profile ), 18 May, 2018 @ 10:36am

    I'm in the IoT industry, involved in a deeply technical aspect.

    Even I'm confused by some of the claims about 5G, and how it will transform everything.

    Remember the change from DOCSIS 2 to DOCSIS 3.0? And how it changed everything? What about the utterly transformative experience of upgrading from 100Mbps Ethernet to 1Gbps?

    Wait, are you saying that those changes barely registered? That those upgrades occasionally save a second or two? Well hold onto your hat, those time savings are about to double.

  • On the post: Actors Hired To Play Consumers In Bid To Thwart Renewable Energy in New Orleans

    DB ( profile ), 10 May, 2018 @ 11:53am

    I'm open to the possibility that the objections are mostly NIMBY.

    But that doesn't change the ethics of astroturfing.

    Any company that doesn't see the problem with paying for astroturf support also wouldn't have a problem denying that they were the source of the funds. Their denial does seem pretty complete, but it's worth noting that PR statements are not sworn testimony.

  • On the post: AT&T Stumbles As It Tries To Explain Why It Paid $200K To Cohen's Shady Shell Company

    DB ( profile ), 09 May, 2018 @ 11:12am

    Former writer for 'House of Cards' gets last laugh

    I can see The Onion article now: "They fired me saying that my plot twists weren't even close to believable. Now who's laughing?"

  • On the post: Romance Novelist Secures Trademark For Word 'Cocky,' Begins Beating Other Novelists Over The Head With It

    DB ( profile ), 08 May, 2018 @ 01:08pm

    Re: Re: Font trademarks

    Typically a trademark has multiple elements, all of which need to be present.

    This is especially true when the trademark involve a common word, where the font and color are essential elements to be specific/descriptive enough to qualify for trademark protection.

    I can register a trademark on 'The' if I have a silly enough font. But my trademark doesn't let me sue the New York Times for using the word thousands of times a day.

  • On the post: Romance Novelist Secures Trademark For Word 'Cocky,' Begins Beating Other Novelists Over The Head With It

    DB ( profile ), 08 May, 2018 @ 01:15pm

    What is the possible blow-back from fictionally writing "My attorney at Morris Yorn Entertainment Law has advised me.." in private correspondence?

    Presumably they wouldn't sue at the first use, just send a warning letter. Leaving abusers such as her free to go sequentially through a directory of law firms.

    But supposing a firm decided to make an example of her and spend a filing fee -- what tort would they allege?

  • On the post: Germany's Supreme Court Confirms That Adblocking Is Legal, In Sixth Consecutive Defeat For Publishers

    DB ( profile ), 01 May, 2018 @ 10:51am

    Presumably all but the publishers see this clearly, but how could the publishers stretch "press freedom" to mean forcing people to view specific content?

    Should it be illegal to use the index in a print magazine to skip directly to a story that you want to read? Should it be legal to have a friend pull out perfume ads? What about a caregiver? What about a paid caregiver? What if I'm not actually allergic, I just don't like perfume when I'm trying to concentrate on something else?

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