DB 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: USPTO Suggests That AI Algorithms Are Patentable, Leading To A Whole Host Of IP And Ethics Questions

    DB ( profile ), 30 Apr, 2018 @ 04:08pm

    How do you patent a 'trained' machine learning model?

    It's a connected set of tables of numbers. There are better and worse structures. A model with a great "shape" can be badly trained. One with a poor "shape" might have better parameters that produce much more accurate results. Every round of training has the potential to completely change the parameters, and switch the accuracy ranking.

  • On the post: Michael Cohen Drops Ridiculous Lawsuit Against Buzzfeed After Buzzfeed Sought Stormy Daniels' Details

    DB ( profile ), 20 Apr, 2018 @ 05:11pm

    From the outset it was obvious to knowledgeable observers that discovery would be a dense minefield for Cohen.

    As a plaintiff he had little hope of obstructing discovery. If he became a counterclaim defendant he had no hope of escaping an expensive courtroom loss.

    It appears that his experience threatening and bluffing has served him poorly in this situation.

  • On the post: This Week In Techdirt History: April 8th – 14th

    DB ( profile ), 16 Apr, 2018 @ 09:39am

    I thought that it didn't need to be mentioned

    The Prenda saga showed that the people lauded by copyright maximalists were sociopaths, exploiting any law that let them easily extort money.

    Steele and Hansmeier both moved onto ADA extortion after their copyright extortion schemes were stopped.

    It's astonishing that people will still defend their actions, long after their schemes were shown to be abusive and fraudulent.

  • On the post: Ted Cruz Gets Section 230 All Wrong, While Zuck Claims He's Not Familiar With It

    DB ( profile ), 11 Apr, 2018 @ 07:30am

    Re: Re:

    Your bias is showing in your ad hominem attack.

    It's not "my party". However I can see the long term danger in an obvious bias in banning account.

  • On the post: Ted Cruz Gets Section 230 All Wrong, While Zuck Claims He's Not Familiar With It

    DB ( profile ), 10 Apr, 2018 @ 03:59pm

    It was a heavily theatrical hearing, the opening act was an impressive display Congressional grandstanding.

    But Cruz had a point, and it came through well enough to be replayed on TV news: Facebook is sloppy and lax with the ban hammer, but when it is pulled out, it is used in a heavily politically biased way.

  • On the post: CenturyLink Tries To Dodge Broadband Billing Lawsuit By Claiming It Technically Has No Subscribers

    DB ( profile ), 09 Apr, 2018 @ 11:48am

    Nexus of alleged acitvity -> proper party to sue

    Century Link is the nexus of the alleged fraudulent activity. Even if they don't have direct customers, that makes them the proper entity to sue.

    Any arbitration agreement with the local operating company should be irrelevant.

  • On the post: Dental Care Provider Threatens Parents With State Intervention If They Don't Set Up Appointments For Their Kids

    DB ( profile ), 29 Mar, 2018 @ 03:31pm

    Re: Re:

    It might be more accurate to say that the Amish only accept technology that has unquestioned benefit. They keep their lives as simple as is reasonable, minimizing the intrusion of technology rather than rejecting it outright.

    Their standard for simplicity is often misunderstood, but it usually makes sense if you have all of the details.

    In the area I grew up, Amish households often had electricity and sometimes phone service. There was electricity to the barn, especially if it was a dairy farm. Electricity to the house was limited to a porch light and a nearby outdoor outlet. Any phone was mounted on the outside, in an outbuilding or in the barn. The view was that you needed electric lighting to safely work in a barn, but you didn't need an electric toaster.

  • On the post: Trump's Lawyer's Lawyer Threatens Defamation Over Claims Stormy Daniels Did Not Make

    DB ( profile ), 26 Mar, 2018 @ 01:01pm

    Have some sympathy for Cohen. He is in a tough position with very limited options.

    Right now empty legal threats are the best of those options.

    He, as an attorney, purported to negotiate and execute a contract. Apparently without the permission of his client. And paid, out of his own pocket. And now the client is saying that he wasn't involved in the deal.

    Certainly Cohen has enough of a contract to get into court. But that is certainly end as a disaster. Filing a complaint would immediately involve a counter-claim to hold him in court, and subsequent discovery. Well funded, extensive discovery. A plaintiff can't really refuse discovery directly about directly relevant issue, and as a counter-claim defendant he can't run away.

    No matter how well thuggish legal destruction threats have served him in the past, Cohen has to see that he is at a dead end. Worse, he is setting himself up to actually get into a legal battle. One where the best possible outcome is immediate summary judgement against him, with no evidence released that would result in an ethic investigation.

  • On the post: Tempe Police Chief Indicates The Uber Self-Driving Car Probably Isn't At Fault In Pedestrian Death

    DB ( profile ), 20 Mar, 2018 @ 06:39pm

    Re: Re: Re: Thin blue line..where's my tinfoil hat??!!!

    From her mugshot, she was white.
    Why bring ethnic background into this?

  • On the post: Tempe Police Chief Indicates The Uber Self-Driving Car Probably Isn't At Fault In Pedestrian Death

    DB ( profile ), 20 Mar, 2018 @ 06:37pm

    Re:

    It's very likely that a human-only vehicle with a dashcam wouldn't be charged.

    All public evidence is that a homeless junky, unseen in a brush-covered center median, rapidly moved in front of a vehicle. It happen so quickly that even the Volvo auto-brake system could not respond.

  • On the post: Pedestrian Deaths By Car In Phoenix Area Last Week: 11. But One Was By A Self-Driving Uber

    DB ( profile ), 20 Mar, 2018 @ 09:03am

    Re: Re: Re: Human drivers outnumber autonomous by, say, 10,000 to 1...

    You might have missed it, but that is already happening.

    Essentially all high-end cars have sophisticated driver assist systems. They provide lane-keeping assist, distance-keeping cruise control, automatic braking, automatic parking, and lane-change warnings.

    These systems are modestly expensive options on mid-range cars, and occasionally available on the low-end models.

    I've been using a system for about two years. I quickly changed my opinion of it from being a luxury, to being a safety system more valuable than ABS.

    Several freeways around here have the typical California 70MPH-to-stopped for no apparent reason. That's reinforced because people learn to panic stop when they see the first brake light flash. The radar is much better than I am at tracking multiple cars and deciding if this will be a cascading panic stop, or just drivers cautiously having their foot ready on the brake.

    I expect in other regions that functionality will just silently exist, protecting the driver without them ever realizing it.

  • On the post: Both Facebook And Cambridge Analytica Threatened To Sue Journalists Over Stories On CA's Use Of Facebook Data

    DB ( profile ), 19 Mar, 2018 @ 03:56pm

    Silicon valley has a long history of curious business practices.

    In some cases large companies appear to be enabling competitors. They let key people depart to form start-ups with their proprietary information. They provide data and assistance to other start-ups.

    They then buy the successful start-ups for a significant multiple of what those start-ups spent developing a proto-product or a market.

    What is really happening is that they are externalizing R&D. It mitigates risk and has tax advantages.

    Facebook is likely more upset that this situation has screwed over their attempt to skirt data protection laws than that a small company has mis-used Facebook's data and has been competing with them. (Read that as "testing the revenue potential of this market".)

  • On the post: How Trump's Lawyer's Silly Lawsuit Against Buzzfeed May Free Stormy Daniels From Her Non Disclosure Agreement

    DB ( profile ), 15 Mar, 2018 @ 09:58pm

    Re: "What's this $130K charge on your account?" "Oh that, nothing."

    I think that they have a trial balloon out. They are seeing if people believe Trump didn't have the affair, but Cohen paid blackmail money without asking Trump in the belief that the affair happened.

    Or perhaps that Cohen was trying to suppress a false story. Except that won't work because it would be an unreported campaign contribution.

  • On the post: How Trump's Lawyer's Silly Lawsuit Against Buzzfeed May Free Stormy Daniels From Her Non Disclosure Agreement

    DB ( profile ), 15 Mar, 2018 @ 09:52pm

    Re: The Family Values Candidate

    I hadn't thought of that, but now that you bring it up 'family values' might become a punchline.

  • On the post: Maryland Court System Arbitrarily Decides Public Should No Longer Have Access To Police Officers' Names

    DB ( profile ), 15 Mar, 2018 @ 03:56pm

    If I'm charged with a crime, or even a suspect, my name will be part of the public record.

    If it's a high profile case I may be perp-walked in front of the press, even if there is substantial doubt that I committed the crime.

    Pictures of the arrest and mug shots are retained and made available for anyone to publish, even if I'm later cleared of all charges.

    But somehow it's too pejorative for police to have the same treatment.

  • On the post: Police Department With Eight Full-Time Officers Acquired 31 Military Vehicles Thru DoD's Surplus Program

    DB ( profile ), 15 Mar, 2018 @ 10:56am

    The 1033 program has rules to avoid the most embarrassing abuses. Someone that spends a little time looking for loopholes certainly could find them, but this department didn't even find it necessary to put in that effort.

    The rule say that the equipment must be put into use within 12 months, and must be used for at least 12 months for small equipment, 18 months for regular vehicles and small boats, with longer use required for large vehicles, aircraft, etc.

    The rules also block the most obvious loopholes. That the equipment may not be loaned or used privately during that period, or broken down for parts.

  • On the post: Iowa Town Threatens Critical Resident With A Lawsuit, Gets Sued By The ACLU Instead

    DB ( profile ), 13 Mar, 2018 @ 03:17pm

    "Slander of Title" seems to be only mis-used

    Slander of title is falsely claiming that you own a property, or specific rights associated with it. The claim also typically requires that it decreases the value of the property.

    Saying something unrelated to the title/ownership doesn't fall under this, even if it decreases the value of the property.

  • On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt

    DB ( profile ), 11 Mar, 2018 @ 09:54pm

    Re: Re: I wonder..

    That's not how car key transponders work.

    The system on older BMWs (from two decades ago) is a good example of how the security work. The transponder requires a modest encryption key to communicate. But there is a significant additional layer of security -- the locking system generates and writes a random number into the key. The next time that key is used, the car reads back the number and verifies that it matches. If it does, a new random number is written and the car is allowed to start.

    This defeats various attacks, for instance a valet cloning a key and using it later.

  • On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt

    DB ( profile ), 11 Mar, 2018 @ 01:06pm

    Gain power by asking for the impossible

    The people asking for a secure third-party encryption key have long since learned that it's not technically possible.

    Why do they continue to ask for it?

    I suspect that they are asking for it strategically. It is not obvious to the 'everyday man' that a FBI-only decryption key is impossible. When it's not provided to them, they can complain about not getting cooperation and ask for additional powers.

    What would make the FBI the most power organization in the world? Something that would given them the power of the old KGB, world-wide. It would be warrantless real-time access to everything at Apple, Facebook, Google etc. all the way down to AOL. You could blackmail half of the people on the planet, not just on the things they do once they become of interest but on their entire online past.

  • On the post: After Controversial Traffic Stop, Police Chief Says He Won't Release Recordings To 'Anti-Police' Requesters

    DB ( profile ), 06 Mar, 2018 @ 09:32am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: stupidity

    In the U.S. the most deadly aspect of the job is operating a motor vehicle. About half of those deaths are single vehicle accidents. It's appears that a significant cause of death is ignoring the traffic laws that they enforce against others. But you don't see any call to require police to obey traffic laws except during a pursuit, or punishments for not issuing/"fixing" tickets as a professional courtesy.

    Yes, domestic disputes are the second most deadly, roughly the same as the risk of a heart attack while on duty.

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