TheResidentSkeptic’s Techdirt Profile

On the post: West Virginia's Biggest Telco Says Broadband Business 'Unsustainable'

TheResidentSkeptic ( profile ), 15 Jul, 2019 @ 07:24am

Fishing For Dollars...

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) is high-speed service delivered over PHONE lines. So, what the PHONE company is saying is that they are no longer qualified to deliver PHONE service.

What they are trying to say is that with the cut in Universal Service Fees and the end of prior Tax Subsidies, they can't afford to keep doing it at the high profits they desire.

Wasn't the USF designed to support those remote and sparsely populated areas? To subsidize companies (not fully pay them - just an added subsidy for those lines to be supported) to deliver service was the whole intent.

So, if you are saying you can't do it, then let's just repeal all those laws you got written that prevent communities from doing so. You are welcome to close shop and go away. Seems like most of the community efforts have far exceeded what you were able to deliver anyway.

On the post: Voting Machine Makers Claim The Names Of The Entities That Own Them Are Trade Secrets

TheResidentSkeptic ( profile ), 10 Jul, 2019 @ 09:34am

What could the reason be?

Maybe that the companies are owned by relatives of the very politicians being voted on?

Now that would make for some interesting lawsuits by the "losing" party...

On the post: Senator Lindsey Graham To Host Special 'But Think Of The Children Online!' Moral Panic Hearing

TheResidentSkeptic ( profile ), 03 Jul, 2019 @ 12:04pm

Re: Re: Re:

From my Digi-Comp I to my Threadripper - they were always seen as magic by the muggles.

On the post: The Streaming TV Sector Still Doesn't Realize Exclusives Will Drive Users Back To Piracy

TheResidentSkeptic ( profile ), 01 Jul, 2019 @ 06:54am

Re:

Not quite the same. This version would be like driving to Burger King for the burger, then to McDonalds for Fries, then to Wendys for a Frosty. We want a single supplier/account wherein we can choose the channels in a given accurately priced package. I want SyFy, BBC, and whoever has Captain Slow's Worldwide Adventures with the Hamster and the Orangutan. she wants her channels. I'm not putting up with a dozen channels all with the same 10 over the top/under the bottom taxation schemes.

On the post: Universal Music Cashed In On Insurance After It Let Thousands Of Master Recordings Burn… And Didn't Give Any To Artists

TheResidentSkeptic ( profile ), 26 Jun, 2019 @ 09:46am

Why would they?

These funds had nothing to do with a sale, or performance, or other licensing of an artists work, therefore they are owed nothing.

The bigger problem for them is that there are no more masters for them to up-scale, re-mix, or otherwise tweak into new copywrong-extending "Limited Issues".

They will soon attempt to sue the world under ISDS for the TRILLIONS in "Lost Sales and Profits" from that loss.

Let the whining commence...

/sarc (I think...)

On the post: Australia Says Media Companies Can Be Sued Over User Comments On Facebook

TheResidentSkeptic ( profile ), 24 Jun, 2019 @ 09:46am

More proof

we need a "technology literacy certification" before judges should be allowed to rule on anything involving technology.

Since "common sense" doesn't seem to be required...

On the post: Huawei Now Using Patent Claims To Demand $1 Billion From Verizon, As The US Tries To Chase Huawei Out Of The US Market

TheResidentSkeptic ( profile ), 17 Jun, 2019 @ 12:07pm

Be more concerned...

... about shot #2. What if they go full-on ISDS for their "expected profits". We did put ISDS in the last "trade agreement" for "IP protection" - right?

On the post: NY Times Publishes Laughable Propaganda To Argue Google Owes Newspapers Like Itself Free Money

TheResidentSkeptic ( profile ), 12 Jun, 2019 @ 09:36am

Dear NMA

Prior to the advent of newspapers, there was a large contingent of workers in the Town Criers union. These workers were displaced by your organization. Please provide us a full accounting of how your organization supported these workers as their jobs were eliminated by your new technology.

We will base our payments for our new technology to you on said record.

"Big Tech"

p.s. - you do realize that "Big Tech" invented the very presses that enabled your newspapers to be printed? and the machines to do your accounting? and the machines to set type? and the technology for your readers to directly connect to you? and the technology for you to monetize that?

On the post: CBP, ICE Have No Idea If Their Thousands Of Warrantless Device Searches Are Actually Making The Country Safer

TheResidentSkeptic ( profile ), 02 May, 2019 @ 08:04am

So who is providing the data to ICE?

Who is giving them info on the travelers for excuses a through e????

Does everyone under suspicion by every agency get reported to ICE in case they travel so ICE/CBP can do the searches for them?

Or can they just tell by looking?

On the post: ICE, CBP Want To Sit With The Adults, Angling For Entrance Into The Intelligence Community

TheResidentSkeptic ( profile ), 25 Apr, 2019 @ 06:37am

I welcome them to the Intelligence Community table...

... the instant they demonstrate "intelligence" or even "common sense" in doing their job.

On the post: Legacy Music Industry Shouldn't Get To Watch Over The Royalties Of Independent Songwriters

TheResidentSkeptic ( profile ), 16 Apr, 2019 @ 12:06pm

Re:

It isn't "theft" when it is government sanctioned. Like robbery at badgepoint, below-the-line fees, user and usage taxes....home destruction fees...hospital bills for invasive searches...

On the post: Nancy Pelosi Joins Ted Cruz And Louis Gohmert In Attacking CDA 230

TheResidentSkeptic ( profile ), 12 Apr, 2019 @ 11:17am

With threads like this...

...I don't need to watch comedy central anymore.

On the post: EU Tells Internet Archive That Much Of Its Site Is 'Terrorist Content'

TheResidentSkeptic ( profile ), 11 Apr, 2019 @ 09:10am

Let's take these one at a time.

Project Gutenberg - public domain books that are NOT covered by Copyright and owned by one of our paymasters? Free books terrorize our paymasters, so it qualifies.

15 Million other texts that are not under "control"... again, terrorizing our paymasters. Out they go!

Prelinger archive of FREELY available movies? one more time, with feeling - that terrorizes our paymasters.

Grateful Dead? Obviously those infringe our paymasters copyrights, so take them down too.

CSPAN? Don't know about the rest of you, but what our congress does frequently scares the hell out of me - so OK.

All good to me.

On the post: German Publishing Giant Claims Blocking Ads Is Copyright Infringement, In Yet Another Lawsuit Against The Industry Leader

TheResidentSkeptic ( profile ), 10 Apr, 2019 @ 11:13am

Who has the most rights here?

The publishers right to broadcast an ad, or the users right to ignore them?

I (and many of us) are totally sick of ads 247. Particularly on "news" sites that have a forced-play 1 minute ad between each of their 15 second news clips. And many times it is the same damn ad. that* really makes me want to visit their site more often. (/s for the humor impaired)

Until they can "close the loop" and stop showing ads after a purchase has been made - they are wasting every cent of advertising money showing those ads.

And with so many stories of malware laden ads, why the hell would I want them on my screen?

Clean up that part, close the loop, and maybe I'll stop blocking. And if you want to force me to watch ads between every news story - well guess what- one of your competitors will have the story without your ads.

On the post: The Sky Is Rising: The Entertainment Industry Is Thriving, Almost Entirely Because Of The Internet

TheResidentSkeptic ( profile ), 08 Apr, 2019 @ 11:12am

You missed an important point here...

The fact that more is being spent per household does NOT mean that more content is being consumed; it only means that the cost is going up - usually for LESS content per dollar spent. As such, the industry itself may not be making nearly as much money as the delivery men are charging so much more...

On the post: Stupid Law Making Assaulting Journalists A Federal Crime Revived By Congress

TheResidentSkeptic ( profile ), 28 Mar, 2019 @ 08:15am

So..

if "paparazzi" are considered journalists, does that mean we'll see lots of celebrities in jail for punching them outside of nightclubs?

On the post: EU Puts An End To The Open Internet: Link Taxes And Filters Approved By Just 5 Votes

TheResidentSkeptic ( profile ), 26 Mar, 2019 @ 09:17am

Need the companies to start NOW

Jump on it right away - remove ALL snippets from news links - just link all EU news sites in alphabetic order with a link to the root of their site - never to an article (after all, the title would cause the fee to be applied!); block all uploads from EU; block all comments - actually, comment forms should be replaced by something like

"please email any comments to LettersToTheEditor@mydomain.com and upon careful review, they might be added to this page".

Go ahead and implement what the end game is before the final vote so the real impact can be seen.

On the post: Florida College Asked Local Sheriff To Declare Faculty Member's Artwork Obscene

TheResidentSkeptic ( profile ), 20 Mar, 2019 @ 05:54am

It is articles like these..

.. that make me SO proud to be a Floridian.

NOT

On the post: As Recording Industry Announces Massive Growth, Why Do We Need Article 13 Again?

TheResidentSkeptic ( profile ), 19 Mar, 2019 @ 06:24am

Re: Re:

I still want to see a full accounting of the hundreds of millions those levies earn and how that is paid out to the actual artists...

On the post: Verizon Confirms That Yes, 5G Will Cost You Extra

TheResidentSkeptic ( profile ), 18 Mar, 2019 @ 06:46am

So what will the new term be?

As they price themselves out of the reach of many, what will they call them?

There isn't a cord to cut...

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