duffmeister 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (122)

• On the post: Steve Jobs Was Willing To 'Rip Off' Everyone Else… But Was Pissed About Android Copying iPhone?

  

  duffmeister ( profile ), 22 Oct, 2011 @ 09:02am

  Re:

  Gestures existed in many different areas before of linux for example
  
  On screen keyboards existed before in key access machines for example
  
  Orientation changing existed before see the gateway tablet/laptop
  
  Android / iOS are completely different under the hood for the programming
  
  An app store existed before see steam for a game app store that existed before
  
  The basic shape and form of the tablet was predicted in the film 2001 (look for the scene where the guy is having a video chat while eating using a tablet)
  
  Many of the features of tablets were predicted by the Knight Ridder company in 1994
  
  So much of what is being claimed here as innovation was really just seeing what was coming and being the first to incorporate all of the different things into a single device. Is it forward thinking, good business sense, and even raising the bar for the whole industry, yes. Is it innovative, new, or even novel, I don't think so. I hate to bring out a trite quote from Star Trek but "in every revolution there is one man with a vision." He may have been the visionary to combine it first, but it was only a matter of time until someone made the obvious combination of technologies. Does this make Jobs special, no, he was just first.

• On the post: Why Can't PROTECT IP Supporters Just Admit That It's About Censorship?

  

  duffmeister ( profile ), 14 Oct, 2011 @ 02:50pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  Did you give anyone a chance or just assume they were all criminals? Also this does not address the many innocent people who had their speech squelched by over zealous agents following questionable logic and legalities.
  
  Due process is a very important part of our rights. If they had actually followed the laws we currently have on the books a more just and correct result would have happened. The infringing/rogue/disagreeable/illegal sites not online and no trampling of anyone's free speech rights.
  
  Prior restraint is not as you characterize..... the many thousands of sites taken down wrongly were the problem. You must always consider what your actions create. If your logic were taken to a logical extreme then if a person was murdered in a ball park it would ok to hold everyone with no trial, time before a judge, and no defenses allowed for as long as the authorities felt necessary. This is the opposite of what our laws dictate.
  
  I know it was an extreme example but no more out of touch than saying that it is ok to seize the property and prevent the speech of 84,000+ people for the sake of censoring less than one one thousandth of that population.

• On the post: Why Can't PROTECT IP Supporters Just Admit That It's About Censorship?

  

  duffmeister ( profile ), 14 Oct, 2011 @ 01:37pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  mooo.com owners, not orders

• On the post: Why Can't PROTECT IP Supporters Just Admit That It's About Censorship?

  

  duffmeister ( profile ), 14 Oct, 2011 @ 01:33pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  I do not think you understand either. There is a thing in the US called prior restraint.
  http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Prior+Restraint
  
  It does not matter what is easy, only what is just. If we follow your example of taking the easy route there will be many unintended consequences and I am quite sure a great many of even your rights broken.
  
  You can indeed control subdomains through existing law. If you were to present the writ from the judge to the mooo.com orders to stop sites dedicated to CP I am quite sure those domains would be down.

• On the post: Why Can't PROTECT IP Supporters Just Admit That It's About Censorship?

  

  duffmeister ( profile ), 14 Oct, 2011 @ 01:11pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Because it's not-- it's about stopping piracy

  In some cases you can say the last word (closest to present time) in the Constitution is the most correct since it was amending the original document. You don't believe that the correct version of a document is the first draft? No, that is not how it works. An amendment is to add or correct portions of the original document. You could almost look at it as a document in a configuration management system, when you look at the document you see the current version. If you want you may see the way it has changed, this is to promote understanding and explanations of how we got to where we are.
  
  So to put it simply, first is not the trump card some people want it to be.

• On the post: RealNetworks Destroying Dutch Webmaster's Life Because He Linked To A Reverse Engineered Alternative

  

  duffmeister ( profile ), 26 Aug, 2011 @ 12:23pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  looks like you beat me to it, ha ha.
  
  Great minds think alike or something.

• On the post: RealNetworks Destroying Dutch Webmaster's Life Because He Linked To A Reverse Engineered Alternative

  

  duffmeister ( profile ), 26 Aug, 2011 @ 12:20pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  Did he even once deliver a copy of the software himself via any method? All he did is tell people where to pick it.
  
  So if you point out a crack house down the corner did you distribute crack?

• On the post: Police Try To Bring Wiretapping Charges Against Woman Who Filmed Them Beating A Man

  

  duffmeister ( profile ), 15 Aug, 2011 @ 08:34am

  What wire did she tap again? So how does a wiretapping law apply? Seems like a stretch to me to be sure.

• On the post: Journalist Bemoans Fact People Won't Pay For Online Content; Suggests Users Be Forced To Pay For Online Content

  

  duffmeister ( profile ), 12 Aug, 2011 @ 01:49pm

  Re: Re: Someone has to pay

  I do not think it is a collapse of journalism, just a collapse of the NIAA (News Industry Association of America) and the middlemen. The internet is the great equalizer where there is less need for a whole organization to sponge off the working masses to get the content out. News is a content industry like the rest. They over value their content and want to be paid in a time when anyone can run a successful news outlet in their basement. This is just an extension of the shift away from gatekeepers of content and data. This is a symptom of the whole of society being enabled to do differently than before and actually compensate the sources that matter to them.
  
  In a truly free market this would let the best rise to the top and make a good living while the bad, unusable, unwanted, and unresponsive sources get forced out of the markets.
  
  I welcome them floundering and trying stupid things to hang on as it will make sure the anchor around their neck is their end. It will hide the fact of the changing world from them until they are no longer relevant in the world. It will be a long fall, but they are doing their best to ensure they fail.

• On the post: That Didn't Take Long: Spotify Sued For Patent Infringement Just Weeks After Entering US Market

  

  duffmeister ( profile ), 28 Jul, 2011 @ 01:43pm

  Re:

  So it was non-obvious 2 years prior in 1993? I am sure it was not new or original then. I believe I played a game in 1991 that did exactly what this patent describes when it allowed me to select which music track to accompany the game......
  I need to try and find my copy and send it to spotify as prior art.

• On the post: That Didn't Take Long: Spotify Sued For Patent Infringement Just Weeks After Entering US Market

  

  duffmeister ( profile ), 28 Jul, 2011 @ 01:39pm

  Re: "Generic" claim?!?

  Is any of that "novel" or non-obvious? Sounds like a simple explanation of streaming used by many different providers and systems to me. There is no specific machine mentioned, there is no part of that I couldn't do with many different assorted devices and methods and have that be a completely accurate description of. So I fail to see how it is not generic.

• On the post: Swedish Appeals Court Increases File Sharing Fine By A Factor Of Six

  

  duffmeister ( profile ), 26 Jul, 2011 @ 06:12am

  Re: Re: Let's try to keep an open mind...?

  I have to agree. It is good to have a reasoned debate on thee actual issues at hand.

• On the post: 54-Year Old School Teacher Who Doesn't Know How To Download Movies First To Be Kicked Off The Internet In France

  

  duffmeister ( profile ), 25 Jul, 2011 @ 08:23am

  Re: Re: Re:

  I still have the problem of considering an accusation a "strike" as my main issue with this law.

• On the post: Who Do You Trust On Whether Or Not PROTECT IP Will Break The Internet? The Guys Who Built It… Or The MPAA?

  

  duffmeister ( profile ), 18 Jul, 2011 @ 10:38am

  Re: Re: Re:

  Seems to me like the primary job of a lawyer is to create work for other lawyers and thus enriching themselves on the backs of other's works.

• On the post: Who Do You Trust On Whether Or Not PROTECT IP Will Break The Internet? The Guys Who Built It… Or The MPAA?

  

  duffmeister ( profile ), 18 Jul, 2011 @ 10:23am

  Re:

  It doesn't take any actual downloads, just accusations and as they are a business and thus an individual (thanks for that gem SCOTUS) they can be disconnected from the internet.
  
  I also wonder if SOUNDEX collecting fees for music they don't represent falls afoul of the "Rogue Sites" definition they are attempting to put into law? That seems to be diverting monies from the rightful owners of the music......

• On the post: Killing The Golden Goose: Is Hollywood To Blame For Netflix's Poorly Thought Out Massive Price Hike?

  

  duffmeister ( profile ), 13 Jul, 2011 @ 02:02pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  The current level of piracy is about on par with having armed gang members in every store, 50% of the time taking the money from your sale or just giving your product away for fun. It isn't a tolerable business environment. Building business models based on it may be a functional short term way to keep from sinking your business, but this level of laying down with the dogs doesn't do anyone good over time... except perhaps the dogs.
  
  Really? Piracy must have sprung up a lot recently.....

• On the post: Capcom's Resident Evil DRM Is Evil: You Get To Play The Game Once And That's It

  

  duffmeister ( profile ), 28 Jun, 2011 @ 01:20pm

  Re: The Lost Art of the Manual

  I still have that manual laying about to this day actually. This allowed them to make smaller game files in the days of much more limited space, the days of the floppy.

• On the post: Apple Goes After Open Source Startup For Daring To Use The Term 'App Store'

  

  duffmeister ( profile ), 23 Jun, 2011 @ 08:15am

  Re:

  Shop Smart, Shop App Mart!

• On the post: Anti-TSA Groping Bill May Come Back To Life In Texas?

  

  duffmeister ( profile ), 06 Jun, 2011 @ 11:56am

  Re:

  a sad but true problem when doing what is right is seen as a liability.

• On the post: Major Labels Shamed Into Promising To Give Some Of $105 Million Limewire Settlement To Artists

  

  duffmeister ( profile ), 19 May, 2011 @ 11:36am

  My question is still how much of this win will make it to the pockets of the "damaged" party (the artists)

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