Mike Brown 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (91)

• On the post: Yelp Fights Back Against Carpet Cleaning Service That Sued Anonymous Critics For Defamation

  

  Mike Brown ( profile ), 10 May, 2013 @ 08:52pm

  Just curious...

  Yelp has currently filtered out 84 of Hadeed's 91 reviews. Another 6 were totally removed. Most of those 6 are outside Hadeed's area, so I can imagine they were totally inappropriate/spam/etc. But I wonder why 84 reviews were filtered out, leaving only 7? That seems suspicious, as if Yelp is trying to tell us there's been a lot of shenanigans.

• On the post: Judge Allows FBI To Use Evidence Collected Via Stingray Fake Cell Towers

  

  Mike Brown ( profile ), 09 May, 2013 @ 05:15pm

  Re: Mike again makes no distinction between "mine" and "yours"

  "Mike skips over the actual crimes and focuses on details of HOW gov't got the information."
  
  Well yes, the FBI's flagrant violation of the 4th amendment is the story, not the alledged criminal activity.
  
  I don't give a rip what crime he's accused of. He could be accused of eating babies for all I care. We can't have law enforcement throwing out the Bill of Rights whenever it pleases them. This guy has only been accused, not convicted. It's INNOCENT until proven guilty, not the other way around.

• On the post: Dr. Phil Sues Deadspin For Reporting On Manti T'eo Hoax Even Though Deadspin Broke The Story

  

  Mike Brown ( profile ), 08 May, 2013 @ 05:48pm

  Re:

  For the record, his PhD is in Philosophy, so he is in fact a doctor.
  
  This is no defense of his actions though. I giant douche bag is a giant douche bag, with or without a title.

• On the post: When Memes Go Corporate: Creators Of Nyan Cat And Keyboard Cat Sue Warner Bros.

  

  Mike Brown ( profile ), 03 May, 2013 @ 03:03pm

  Re:

  Nah, we just enjoy seeing people hoisted on their own petard.

• On the post: Winning But Losing: Lessons From An Internet StartUp

  

  Mike Brown ( profile ), 24 Apr, 2013 @ 06:35pm

  Re: Re: Bring the British system to the US

  You have got to be kidding. You're darn right the burden is on the "offended." That's where it belongs. If you think you're entitled to justice, your options are simple. Consult a lawyer who can advice you if you can legitimately make that claim in court. Then you find out what it will cost to properly make that claim, and you decide whether to proceed, or take your lumps and stfu.
  
  On the other hand, if you sue me willy-nilly over some half-cocked notion, you place an unfair burden on me to defend myself. If it is determined that you were in the wrong, why should I have to pay legal fees?
  
  Under "loser pays" you'll think twice before you try to pervert the legal system by turning it into a weapon.

• On the post: Oh Look, The Number Of People Employed In The Movie And Music Recording Business Just Hit An All Time High

  

  Mike Brown ( profile ), 11 Apr, 2013 @ 01:20pm

  Re:

  Isn't it obvious? Sure, the number of people EMPLOYED is up, but the number of people with JOBS is rapidly disappearing. You see, just because someone is employed, it doesn't necessarily mean that they have an actual job to do.

• On the post: In Which NY Times Reporter Jenna Wortham Accidentally Reveals How She Violated Both The CFAA & The DMCA

  

  Mike Brown ( profile ), 08 Apr, 2013 @ 06:25pm

  Re: Re: Re:

  My point, exactly. It's my neighbor's HBOtoGo, it's his password, and I have explicit permission to use it. So how is that a crime?

• On the post: In Which NY Times Reporter Jenna Wortham Accidentally Reveals How She Violated Both The CFAA & The DMCA

  

  Mike Brown ( profile ), 08 Apr, 2013 @ 02:23pm

  Re:

  My neighbor gave me the key to his house so I can water his plants while he's on vacation. Apparently the minute I entered his house, I committed breaking and entering, because the lock was designed to keep me out. Is that the logic we're employing here?

• On the post: Blowback From Publication Of Gun Owner Data Continues — Threats, Lawsuits And Rejected FOIA Requests

  

  Mike Brown ( profile ), 03 Jan, 2013 @ 05:04pm

  Re:

  Well, hiring armed guards is another way to go about getting the names and addresses of gun owners.

• On the post: Blowback From Publication Of Gun Owner Data Continues — Threats, Lawsuits And Rejected FOIA Requests

  

  Mike Brown ( profile ), 03 Jan, 2013 @ 04:36pm

  Re: mental

  I know, huh? It's like jumping through all those hoops to legally own a firearm is the same as being a registered sex offender. Another nail in Privacy's coffin.

• On the post: Blowback From Publication Of Gun Owner Data Continues — Threats, Lawsuits And Rejected FOIA Requests

  

  Mike Brown ( profile ), 03 Jan, 2013 @ 04:44pm

  " if you take / steel a song, you are not taking anything physical off them, so no harm done."
  
  Except you are taking something from them: their privacy, and quite possibly their safety.
  
  The rest of your rant is just crazy-talk. Maybe in the interest of the safety of your neighbors, Mike should publish your email/IP address.

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

  

  Mike Brown ( profile ), 31 Dec, 2012 @ 12:36pm

  Re: Can we please stop using "Google" as a verb?

  I Yahoo'd the etymology of the verb "to Google." Turns out Merriam-Webster has made "google" official, so to answer your question, no. No, we can't stop.
  
  http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/google

• On the post: Apparently, Congress Isn't Actually Interested In Requiring A Warrant For Law Enforcement To Read Your Email

  

  Mike Brown ( profile ), 28 Dec, 2012 @ 07:25pm

  Unfortunately true. Voters think "incumbent" means "right person to vote for." It usually means the opposite.

• On the post: Another Lawsuit Filed For Google Autocomplete 'Defamation'

  

  Mike Brown ( profile ), 27 Dec, 2012 @ 07:12pm

  Re:

  Yup, now the forst link under that search is to opposingviews.com's story on the lawsuit.
  
  #2 is Techdirt. Let's all click that link!

• On the post: Amazon Pulls Down Memoir Because Cover Mentions 'Star Wars'

  

  Mike Brown ( profile ), 26 Dec, 2012 @ 01:36pm

  Re: Yet another leveraging by means of cultural "icon".

  But who would read it?
  
  Yawn

• On the post: Hollywood Studio IP Addresses Sharing Hollywood Movies Via BitTorrent

  

  Mike Brown ( profile ), 26 Dec, 2012 @ 11:31am

  Keep reading

  You only had to read one more sentence to find the point you're claiming doesn't exist:
  "the studios and other copyright holders seem to insist that a single IP address is proof positive of liability, doesn't it seem reasonable to question the studios about this bit of evidence as well?"
  
  These guys are putting so much effort into going after file sharers, you'd think at the very least they'd get their own houses in order first.

• On the post: Intellectual Ventures: Don't Mind Our 2000 Shell Companies, That's Totally Normal

  

  Mike Brown ( profile ), 20 Dec, 2012 @ 05:32pm

  Re: Admit it ?

  If they obtain a patent on something, but go to great lengths to hide it, what other conclusion can one draw but that they are encouraging others to unwittingly infringe?

• On the post: Here We Go Again: Apple's Pinch-To-Zoom Patent Rejected On Re-Exam

  

  Mike Brown ( profile ), 20 Dec, 2012 @ 04:53pm

  The Iphone came out in 2007, so I figure that turd sandwich owes apologies to Symbian (2000), Blackberry (1999), Android (2003), and Palm OS/Handspring (2003).
  
  Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone

• On the post: UK Pirate Party Pressured Into Taking Down Proxy… Leading To Other Proxies Opening Up

  

  Mike Brown ( profile ), 20 Dec, 2012 @ 04:07pm

  Re: OKAY, at last you admit that "pirates are gonna pirate".

  I'm pretty sure I've read that statement in various forms on a great many Techdirt posts. Where have you been?
  
  The good old days of the music industry weren't that good. The brick-and-mortar record store was plagued by shoplifters, mix tape makers, DJ's, and those rat bastards who buy CD's, copy them, and then return them.
  
  No matter what industry we're talking about, there will always be people who take things for free when they should be paying for them. All the bitching in the world will never change that, but there are lots and lots of ways to address the problem that will dramatically reduce it. Techdirt happens to be a rich source of such wisdom. The "New to Techdirt" section on the front page says it all. Go read it with an open mind.

• On the post: FTC's Overzealous Attempts To 'Protect The Children' May Do Serious Harm To The Internet

  

  Mike Brown ( profile ), 20 Dec, 2012 @ 03:22pm

  Re:

  Yeah, I think politicians take Christmas Day off. The conservative Christian ones, anyway...

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