wizened 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Merriam Webster Dictionary Pulled From Elementary School For Defining Oral Sex; Guess What All The Students Just Found Out About?

    wizened ( profile ), 02 Feb, 2010 @ 05:12pm

    Re: I used to think all the Puritans were long dead.

    Are you kidding. There are at least 52 million of them at last count. At least if you consider the voting records and returns. (I'm only partly kidding but still kidding.)

  • On the post: Facebook Requires McAfee Scan If There's A Security Breach? Is This Security Or A Marketing Program?

    wizened ( profile ), 14 Jan, 2010 @ 05:38pm

    Re: Typo

    OMG if you're (not your) going to correct someone's English you should probably speak it yourself, moron. Your means belonging to. You're is a contraction meaning you are. Not only are you an arrogant prick you're (not your) an idiot because your (not you're) English sucks.

  • On the post: Well Respected VC Firm Comes Out In Favor Of Independent Invention Defense Against Patent Infringement Lawsuits

    wizened ( profile ), 12 Jan, 2010 @ 01:49pm

    I have an idea

    Couldn't we just amend the patent laws in such a way that anyone who obtains or holds a patent must product and market a product within 2 years or lose the patent? That would solve the troll problem.

  • On the post: Is It Illegal To Commit Seppukoo On Your Facebook Account?

    wizened ( profile ), 30 Dec, 2009 @ 10:09am

    Re: Re: Re: Facebook's real fear

    I use these sites exactly this way. Got a lot of followers on Twitter? Managing several games or a farm on Facebook? No time for work because you've got too much to do online? NEXT! Go work for my competetor, please.

  • On the post: Court Overreacts And Orders Full Takedown Of Anti-H-1B Websites Over Contradictory Libel/Copyright Claims

    wizened ( profile ), 29 Dec, 2009 @ 05:44pm

    Re: Re: H-1B not needed

    I have no particular dog in this race but I do personally know 5 different highly skilled software developers who were replaced by Indian immigrants to do the same job at wages that were 60% of what the American workers were making. And, no, the new workers were not of equal or greater skill. In fact they were significantly lower on the skill rating and ran the associated project way over their deadlines. So, abuse does occur and American workers are displaced. At least be honest about this kind of abuse rather than white wash it.

  • On the post: Amazon Kindle DRM Strikes Again: You Don't Really Own Your eBooks

    wizened ( profile ), 23 Jun, 2009 @ 05:21pm

    Amen

    And I might add to this, that no one is making you buy books from Amazon. The device works just fine with any of the several million free etexts and pdf files that are already out there for free. The electronic ink screen is easy on the eye in the brightest sun and on the corner of my sofa before bed. The device and the content are 2 different things. I'm not a fan of DRM but I do enjoy the Kindle. For those of you that I just disagreed with, enjoy your tantrum.

  • On the post: Sarkozy Talks About 3 Strikes As Defending Freedom, But Only Freedom For The Industry

    wizened ( profile ), 23 Jun, 2009 @ 05:10pm

    Re: Re:

    Excellent point. No one should be found guilty and punished for being accused 3 times of anything. It totally circumvents the concept of due process.

  • On the post: Sarkozy Talks About 3 Strikes As Defending Freedom, But Only Freedom For The Industry

    wizened ( profile ), 23 Jun, 2009 @ 05:08pm

    name calling aside

    All the name calling aside today's situation with copyright is not what was envisioned by the creators of copyright. It was not that long ago that people who created art, music, books etc. enjoyed no protection. They still created but anyone was free to copy what they did. The technology did not exist to make that simple, however. At the time the copyright law was written the idea was to provide some protection for a limited time, to allow the creators to profit from their work and then to allow that work to move to the public domain for the good of society. Today, however, those rights have passed to corporate giants rather than individuals. Those corporations have used their money and their influence with lawmakers, who are easily bought, to extend the length of time that works are protected to the point that their is now no practical limit to it at all. Nothing ever passes into the public domain for the good of society. As the law was originally written it was a good thing and a balanced thing. Today is has become a way to remove tens of millions of works from society that can not be obtained because they are out of print but still owned by companies who will never print them. They won't publish them but they won't let you have them either. They are just gone. This is true of music, art, books and everything covered by copyright. There once was a balance but what we have today is not that balance. The laws need to be fixed. That is not to say that people have a right to take what they want. It means that there should be a balance between what is good for the individual and what is good for society.

  • On the post: ISPs Fear SAFETY Act Outlaws Email; While RIAA Thrilled They Can Use Retained Log Files For Anti-Piracy

    wizened ( profile ), 23 Feb, 2009 @ 09:08pm

    Obama veto this?

    Don't count on Obama. If you haven't noticed, almost every person his administration has appointed to the Justice Dept is a former *IAA lawyer. He is not on the side of rights for people. He's all about copyright and making you criminals.

  • On the post: AOL Sued For Putting Ads In Email

    wizened ( profile ), 24 Oct, 2008 @ 01:38pm

    Re: AOL should eat it and die

    Ok.. a few of you responded with what you thought were answers.

    You can't use a DVR or TIVO to skip over pop-up ads. There is a difference between pop-up ads and insert ads. If you skip over a pop-up ad you skip over that portion of the program or movie.

    The pop-up ads on cable play across the screen WHILE the program or movie is showing. They whoosh, gush, buzz, clomp and generally have a sound track that is often louder than the sound track of the programming. (... the murder is WHEEE... CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP... WHHHHOOOOSSHHHHHHHH WATCH THIS OTHER SHOW!!!!.. oh my god.. I would never have guess that. The end. An now.. the regular insert commercials. Yay!

    Movies DVD's etc use ads at the beginning of the program. In case you've ever been to one, you'll notice that they don't play over the top of the movie. If you're playing a DVD, skip the commercials at the beginning of the DVD.

    For the guy who says I must drop a lot of services. I have. If I don't like the service I do just what the others say to do. I vote with my feet. If I want to see a program I can stream it. There I expect ads because I'm not paying for the service. When I didn't like other people's messages and ads being attached to my email messages with no control over those messages, I got my own paid email service. Cost? $8 a YEAR.

    For the guy who thinks that the use of ads lowers the price of the service... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I use a similar service that I (and you as well) pay for. The cost is lower than what I pay for my Internet connection. It is based on a global network about the same size as the Internet. It uses an all digital infrastructure. It is profitable. It does not use ads in the content. It's called the telephone. You may have noticed that the phone company does not need to interrupt your phone call with ads that play over your conversation. Why? You PAID for the service. In short, ads added to your email messages. Pop-up ads over programming etc., don't lower the cost of your service. Competition does that. They only serve to increase revenue based on the business model that you can shove an increasingly large load of crap down people's throat's over time. People accept it because "it's been that way a long time". A poor reason to accept anything from anyone.

    Companies treat us like a bunch of Jim Jones converts because we're so easily brain washed. When the time comes they know that we will all step up and drink the Flavor-Aide. Why not? It's always been that way?

  • On the post: AOL Sued For Putting Ads In Email

    wizened ( profile ), 24 Oct, 2008 @ 11:02am

    AOL should eat it and die

    I'm completely on this guy's side. If I pay for a service I don't expect to see that company using my email to advertise to others or to me. If they do, I drop the service. When I got tired of all of the pop-up ads on my cable TV shows, I canceled my Comcast account. I don't miss it for a minute. Companies that take your money to deliver a service then use your paid account to deliver an additional revenue stream should be shut down by the government. (my 2 cents)

  • On the post: House Lets Orphan Works Legislation Die; Tons Of Content Remains Locked Up

    wizened ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2008 @ 05:17pm

    actually the bill is S.2913

    You can see the bill here.

    http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c110:3:./temp/~c110iFbaOT:e567:

  • On the post: Verizon Blows Network Upgrade Money At The Mall

    wizened ( profile ), 27 Dec, 2006 @ 10:44pm

    Hard to buy what you can't find

    Verizon might want to save some of the ad money they are spending on FIOS and just make it possible to find the product on their web site. What an abortion that site is. It's a lot easier to sell it if you make it available AND you make it easy to find and buy. Verizon.. duh!!

  • On the post: Explaining The iPod-iTunes Connection One More Time

    wizened ( profile ), 12 Dec, 2006 @ 06:15pm

    The best reason to read TechDirt

    I have to admit that I read TechDirt for several reasons but the best is this: After reading the sometimes interesting and occasionaly informative article, I then scroll down to the uninformed rantings of the obsessive first posters and when I've read them, I feel really good about myself. LOL

  • On the post: Secret To Suing Dell: Focus On A Kiosk, Not Headquarters

    wizened ( profile ), 09 Dec, 2006 @ 02:16pm

    Dell blows

    I own 30 Dell servers and almost 50 Dell desktop computers in my business. Over the years I've purchased just under a $million worth of Dell equipment. I'll never buy another Dell computer. Period. We have Gold 4 hour response time on our servers. I've yet to get one fixed in under 5 days. I get the run around from India. I get the wrong parts. I get the wrong parts in the right box. The last straw was when the idiot bitch (in her barely understandable version of English) asked me "Why can't you just use the parts that work and be happy with that?" I'd say that pretty much sums up Dell's entire support philosophy.

  • On the post: Can't Have An Electronic Trigger On An Input Device; Nintendo Sued Over Patent Infringement

    wizened ( profile ), 09 Dec, 2006 @ 08:57am

    the way back machine

    Actually, the military computer Whirlwind waaaay back in the 40s had a trigger on the input device. I think that maybe this company is waaay full of poo poo.

  • On the post: Paying More For Much Less: The New TV Commercial Strategy

    wizened ( profile ), 28 Nov, 2006 @ 08:40am

    More of less

    Seems like a good idea. IBM and Xerox used to do this with special programming in the 70s and 80s. Christmas specials had only a couple of commercials but there were always IBM. Specials like The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman earned a lot of kudos for it's single sponser, Xerox. I'm forced to wonder, however, if this means that we'll be seeing more or less of those intrusive pop-up ads that run across the bottom of the screen pushing other programming on the same channel. Those alone make me stop watching.

  • On the post: Congrats Congress: You've Succeeded In Keeping Gambling Execs Out

    wizened ( profile ), 22 Jul, 2006 @ 09:43am

    Ummmm.. well.. they are stupid

    If you got a chance to see the Republican from Alaska, who happens to chair the committee that regulates the Internet, explaining on television that the Internet was a bunch of tubes that get clogged up, then you will begin to understand the depth of the stupidity of our govenrment and the people who elect them.

  • On the post: Ed Whitacre Again Shows Off His Mastery Of The Gibberish

    wizened ( profile ), 24 Jun, 2006 @ 03:04pm

    The govy

    This text passes through the Republican brain

    "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

    And comes out like this:

    The government shall have the right to demand anything of anyone, even to the extent of taking the mark of the beast as long as they tell us it's for our own good because the goverment is an arm of God and God is good.

    How handy.

  • On the post: How Closely Is Copy Protection Tied To The DMCA?

    wizened ( profile ), 20 Feb, 2006 @ 09:12pm

    Governments for sale

    With all of the discussion about DMCA and copy protection, I think that a lot of us have forgotten that the problem is really much older and more basic than digital music. This problem goes straight to corporate greed, their willingness to buy influence in a government in which they have no vote and the willingness of those govenments to be purchased. When the country was first founded it was decided that authors needed to have some protection for their created works. The copyright laws were created to give authors 17 years to profit from their labors. After that, copyrighted works became public domain "for the good of the people". Over the years, those laws have been perverted by companies and bought officials so that, as the time came for copyrighted works to enter the public domain, the government officials just made the amount of time longer. At this time, the copyright is good for over a century, far longer than any living person could hope to benefit from his or her work. Works never enter the public domain. There are over 35 million published works that are no longer printed but unavailable because the copyright holders will not release them. The government stopped caring about the the public good long ago.