fogbugzd 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Based On NSA Defender's Arguments Against Public Debate, The 4th Amendment Should Be Classified

    fogbugzd ( profile ), 19 Mar, 2014 @ 07:55am

    Please stop giving them ideas.

    I have a fear that if I did a FOI request on the Constitution I would get it back with the Bill of Rights redacted.

  • On the post: Russia Using Internet Censorship Laws To Block Websites Of Opposition Candidate, Independent Media

    fogbugzd ( profile ), 13 Mar, 2014 @ 05:19pm

    It is only a small step from protecting the public against porn to protecting the public from opposing views.

  • On the post: When Will The Motion Picture Academy Take Responsibility For All That Piracy The Oscars Create?

    fogbugzd ( profile ), 05 Mar, 2014 @ 10:51am

    Or they could, you know, make the movies that are nominated available at a reasonable cost through things like NetFlix and Amazon Prime. Then they could profit from all the buzz around the awards.

    It has been shown over and over that most people would prefer to obtain their programs legally and will do so willingly if they have the opportunity.

    But making the movies available would do two things that MPAA executives can't abide. First, they would give up some control. They love making those complicated licensing agreements and regional marketing schemes. The last thing they want to do is go with a simple system that gives people what they want. Second, they would have to admit that they have been wrong for so many years.

  • On the post: Mob Wife Suing Rockstar Over Supposed Likeness In GTA5

    fogbugzd ( profile ), 27 Feb, 2014 @ 06:46pm

    The fact that she appeared on a ridiculous reality show for at least three seasons should itself be grounds for a parody of the character.

  • On the post: Broadcasters Warn Supremes Of The Innumerable Non-Existent Horrors That Will Befall Everyone If Aereo Wins

    fogbugzd ( profile ), 26 Feb, 2014 @ 12:26pm

    Re: Re:

    >The broadcasters simply want Aereo to pay for the privilege since Aereo is making money off their signal.

    That is exactly the kind of zero-sum thinking that causes businesses big problems. The mind-set is that if someone else is making money, I must be loosing it. But the entertainment industry is not a zero-sum game. In this case Aereo has expanded the audience for the broadcasters at essential zero marginal cost to the broadcasters. The actual problem for the broadcasters is that they don't have an easy method of measuring the expanded audience so they can charge advertisers. Those measurements would probably be possible to get, but the broadcasters would have to cooperate with Aereo to get it.

    The argument can be made that the broadcasters should be paying Aereo for expanding their market.

  • On the post: Broadcasters Warn Supremes Of The Innumerable Non-Existent Horrors That Will Befall Everyone If Aereo Wins

    fogbugzd ( profile ), 26 Feb, 2014 @ 12:15pm

    Re: Re:

    Sorry, I left off the [sarcasm]...[/sarcasm] tags.

  • On the post: Technologically Clueless Grandstanding Senator Calls For US To Ban Bitcoin

    fogbugzd ( profile ), 26 Feb, 2014 @ 02:21pm

    Apparently big banks are the only institutions that are allowed to launder money without penalties. In fairness to the banks, they do seem to do it quite well. Their skill is based on long practice with huge amounts of money. We can't allow anyone to cut into that lucrative business. They probably should get another subsidy.

    /Saracasm

  • On the post: Broadcasters Warn Supremes Of The Innumerable Non-Existent Horrors That Will Befall Everyone If Aereo Wins

    fogbugzd ( profile ), 26 Feb, 2014 @ 07:41am

    The broadcasters can point to another disastrous SCOTUS ruling as a demonstration about dangers of a favorable ruling. They can point to the devastating impact the Betamax ruling had on the entertainment industry.

  • On the post: CCI Claims Six Strikes Working Great To Thwart Piracy, Offers Absolutely No Evidence To Support That Claim

    fogbugzd ( profile ), 25 Feb, 2014 @ 10:58am

    I have no doubt that the program is working quite well, at least for the consulting firms who are charging big bucks to run the program.

  • On the post: Cop Shoots Teen Holding Wii Controller In His Own Home

    fogbugzd ( profile ), 20 Feb, 2014 @ 06:44pm

    Re: Here's what I want to know:

    As local police get more militarized we can expect more of this type of story. Part of the militarization process is training regiments that see the public as the enemy. Ironically this forces citizens to see the militarized police as the enemy. We are in a very deadly spiral.

    The police will usually justify this type of shooting as "Officer Safety" concerns. Where is the concern for "Citizen Safety?"

  • On the post: Nielsen Backs Off Reporting Data On Cord Cutters Because The Cable Industry Prefers Fantasyland

    fogbugzd ( profile ), 17 Feb, 2014 @ 09:42am

    Re: Cable Companies aren't denying anything

    Hence the desire of the big cable companies to merge. They have to do something to make sure they can maintain their monopoly on broadband. They don't want one of the other players to go all "T-Mobile" on them and disrupt the market or demonstrate that there are alternative business models besides forced bundles.

  • On the post: DailyDirt: Better Call Saul…

    fogbugzd ( profile ), 05 Feb, 2014 @ 05:51pm

    Re:

    >As for Eric Mirabel's video ..what the hell did i just watch, Mike I'd rather you rick rolled me, fukker.

    Amen, brother (or sister). That was one of the most painful things that I have watched that did not involve breaking bones or shedding blood.

  • On the post: Has The Copyright War Been Won — And If So, Are We About To Lose It Again?

    fogbugzd ( profile ), 23 Jan, 2014 @ 07:15am

    Re:

    The mechanisms used in the name of "protecting the children," preventing piracy, and mass surveillance are each a gateway to the other two. Protecting the children is the most palatable to politicians, but once those filters are in place someone will want to add other features such as attempting to block terrorist sites, piracy, defamation of public figures, and political dissent. And the appliances that do the filtering provide a convenient intersection for surveillance.

    Similarly, surveillance implemented to fight terrorism will inevitably expand. First, legitimate political dissent becomes indistinguishable from terrorist threats, at least to the people charged with monitoring terrorists. It is also inevitable that information on non-terrorist crimes gets monitored and passed on to enforcement agencies. Apparently the MPAA is now considered a government enforcement agency, so they are going to get data, too.

  • On the post: Little Evidence Of 'Infringement Risk' For 'Copyright Intensive' Companies

    fogbugzd ( profile ), 09 Jan, 2014 @ 10:36am

    But did they consider youtube? If we take big content's right to charge for youtube content that they don't hold copyright on, how much would that change their economic outlook? It would be pretty bleak if they could not steal revenue from people singing songs that are in the public domain and similar things.

    /sarcasm

  • On the post: FISA Court Rubberstamps Yet Another Renewal Of NSA's Collecting All Your Phone Data

    fogbugzd ( profile ), 03 Jan, 2014 @ 02:10pm

    I backed Obama in the primaries in large part because he was a constitutional lawyer and I saw our civil liberties being eroded. I was impressed that he was one of the few Senators willing to stand up to government surveillance. What happened to that guy?

  • On the post: ISP Blocks For Copyright And Porn Denying Access To All Sorts Of Important Information

    fogbugzd ( profile ), 20 Dec, 2013 @ 06:14am

    Plugins to get around Cameron's porn censors started to show up within 24 hours. Many of them seem to be named in Cameron's honor.

    I wonder how much malware will be hinding in the unblocking software that is going to become insanely popular in the UK.

  • On the post: Red Light Cameras On The Decline, As Everyone Realizes They Don't Make Roads Safer, They Just Make Money

    fogbugzd ( profile ), 19 Dec, 2013 @ 06:09am

    For local governments the main incentives have been revenue that initially looked less painful than increasing other forms of taxation. Governments are finally realizing that they effectively ship 50% of the communities wealth out of town, and that the cameras were far from painless revenue.

  • On the post: USTR Says TPP Must Be Kept Secret, Because The Public Is Too Stupid To Understand It

    fogbugzd ( profile ), 10 Dec, 2013 @ 10:50am

    The real problem with releasing the details is that the public WILL understand it.

  • On the post: AT&T Tells Shareholders To Mind Their Own Business Concerning Its Relationship With The NSA

    fogbugzd ( profile ), 09 Dec, 2013 @ 07:27am

    Re:

    Not all shareholders are created equal. The way executive compensation works means that company executives are big shareholders in one form or another. This gives them a huge incentive to look out for themselves when making corporate decisions. They can look out for themselves and still hide behind a claim that they are looking out for the interests of stockholders.

    Unfortunately, this means that "long term" often means the time frame where they can cash out their stock options.

    I suspect that AT&T is getting a huge payback for its cooperation with the NSA and other government agencies. There are probably lucrative monetary payments as well as a great deal of influence on policy issues.

  • On the post: US Works Its Way Up To The Middle Of The Pack In Broadband Speed

    fogbugzd ( profile ), 04 Dec, 2013 @ 04:46am

    If the cable company promises speeds of up to 20 meg, I should be allowed to pay up to $49.95.

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