Andrew F 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (469)

• On the post: Bluesky Plans Decentralized Composable Moderation

  

  Andrew F ( profile ), 20 Apr, 2023 @ 06:10pm

  I imagine it'd be namespaced or grouped somehow. For example, the tag could be something like #dog@foo.org and only members of foo.org are allowed to tag.

• On the post: Bluesky Plans Decentralized Composable Moderation

  

  Andrew F ( profile ), 20 Apr, 2023 @ 06:07pm

  That's the whole point of this system I assume? You don't have to accept Blue Sky's definition of hate group. Presumably the mid term goal is to allow you say "block all interaction with anyone Org X designates as a hate group". And you can swap out "moderation vendors" until you find someone you like.

• On the post: Substack CEO Chris Best Doesn’t Realize He’s Just Become The Nazi Bar

  

  Andrew F ( profile ), 14 Apr, 2023 @ 12:14pm

  grand experiment in the idea that pervasive censorship successfully combats ideas that the owners of the platforms don’t like. And my read is that that hasn’t actually worked

  Of course it works. It doesn't work perfectly, in the sense that traffic laws don't work perfectly but still reduce fatalities. But there's a reason 8chan is 8chan and every other site is not.

• On the post: Those Who Don't Understand Section 230 Are Doomed To Repeal It

  

  Andrew F ( profile ), 29 Dec, 2021 @ 01:11pm

  Antitrust Law

  I find it weird how people worried about Facebook's size zero in on Section 230 rather than antitrust law. We get all this chatter about advertising and algorithms and privacy when what people are really worried about is bigness. And well, we have a legal framework for thinking about bigness and it's not Section 230.

• On the post: PewDiePie Dives Into The Mark Fitzpatrick, Toei Animation Saga

  

  Andrew F ( profile ), 10 Dec, 2021 @ 08:43pm

  Economic interests

  they were supposed to be a method for protecting the business interests of creators

  And, in American copyright law at least, it protects a very specific interest -- protection from economic substitutes for the copyrighted work. If your business interests are harmed because of, for example, quoted content inside a negative review, that's outside the scope of copyright. The review or quote isn't a substitute, even if it makes people less willing to purchase the original.

• On the post: There's Something Fishy With Katy Perry's Left Shark 3D Printing Takedown

  

  Andrew F ( profile ), 06 Feb, 2015 @ 12:29pm

  Lawyers ...

  http://andrewfong.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/sharks1.png

• On the post: Russia Dismantles Steve Jobs Memorial, Fearing That Tim Cook's Homosexuality Might Be Contagious

  

  Andrew F ( profile ), 04 Nov, 2014 @ 02:24pm

  Re:

  Seems like there's plenty of homophobia and hatred to me.
  
  http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/02/07/the-25-most-shocking-anti-gay-stories-from-russia-so-far/

• On the post: Publisher 'DRMs' Physical Legal Textbook About 'Property,' Undermines Property And First Sale Concepts

  

  Andrew F ( profile ), 07 May, 2014 @ 12:57pm

  Re:

  In this case, especially easy. Law school casebooks are largely compilations of public domain materials (e.g. court opinions).
  
  Jonathan Zittrain has been working on this: http://h2o.law.harvard.edu/

• On the post: ICE Rejects My Request To Waive FOIA Fees 'Because .' Yes, 'Because .'

  

  Andrew F ( profile ), 03 Apr, 2014 @ 10:25am

  Paywall

  You obviously have to sign up for a one-year subscription to access FOIA requests. Otherwise, how else would bureaucrats be incentivized to create responsive content?

• On the post: Student Points Finger Like Gun, Gets Suspended Under Zero Tolerance Rules

  

  Andrew F ( profile ), 10 Mar, 2014 @ 04:54pm

  Re: Re:

  Personally, I'd fully approve of any group reenacting this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZcNXe20dXI

• On the post: Student Points Finger Like Gun, Gets Suspended Under Zero Tolerance Rules

  

  Andrew F ( profile ), 10 Mar, 2014 @ 04:52pm

  Ironically, if he used his middle finger instead of his index finger, he would only have gotten detention.

• On the post: No, Netflix's New Deal With Comcast Probably Won't Destroy The Internet. Yet.

  

  Andrew F ( profile ), 24 Feb, 2014 @ 11:31am

  Re: Destruction

  It really depends on the terms of the deal (and their deal with Cogent). Let's assume Netflix is paying Comcast the same price / Mbps as they're paying Cogent. Let's also assume Netflix can easily scale up and down the bandwidth they're purchasing from Cogent and Comcast. Because each byte sent directly through Comcast to a Comcast subscriber is a byte that doesn't need to transit through Cogent, that allows Netflix to offset any additional costs from Comcast by a proportional decrease in costs from Cogent. Ditto if Verizon and other ISPs start hopping on. All that's happening is that
  
  These assumptions may obviously not be true. Netflix may be paying Comcast a higher per unit price than Cogent. And I'm sure there are plenty of fixed costs and overhead involved with dealing with more ISPs, rather than just one. But it's theoretically possible at least for these deals to be structured in a way that has a negligible impact on Netflix's bottom line.

• On the post: MPAA & ICE Confirm They Interrogated A Guy For Wearing Google Glass During A Movie

  

  Andrew F ( profile ), 21 Jan, 2014 @ 04:06pm

  DHS and ICE?

  "The MPAA then contacted Homeland Security, which oversees movie theft."
  
  Here's the bigger issue -- why is HOMELAND SECURITY overseeing movie theft?
  
  I kind of get that ICE is under DHS, and ICE deals with customs which occasionally deals with bootleg DVDs going through customs. But seriously, unless this movie theater was in an airport or something, this is absurd.

• On the post: From Snowden To Manning… To Ben Franklin And Sam Adams? A History Of Leakers Of Secret Gov't Documents

  

  Andrew F ( profile ), 27 Dec, 2013 @ 08:49am

  Technically ...

  If you ask the British, Ben Franklin WAS a traitor. He betrayed his old country in the interests of his new country. It may very well have been justified, but what he did was literally treason.
  
  The end game for Ben Franklin was a revolutionary war. Let's hope it never comes to that. Inane quotes about revolution and liberty aside, war sucks. Violence sucks. And the batting average for successful (violent) revolutions is terrible as of late.

• On the post: Author Of Torture Memo Says Judges Are Too Out Of Touch To Determine If NSA Violated The 4th Amendment

  

  Andrew F ( profile ), 25 Dec, 2013 @ 12:31pm

  IP Laws

  Well, in fairness, judges are often too out of touch to adequately handle cases involving IP and tech. So not a crazy sentiment in general.

• On the post: Unfortunate: ACLU On The Wrong Side Of A Free Speech Case

  

  Andrew F ( profile ), 17 Dec, 2013 @ 07:19pm

  Re: Re: Re:

  Under U.S. law, if there's a conflict, speech wins. The First Amendment protects freedom of speech. The Civil Rights Act (or equivalent statute in this case) is what protects the right of a person to equal service. The First Amendment is a constitutional provision and therefore trumps the Civil Rights Act, which is a mere statute.
  
  It's why "hate crimes" are generally punishable in the U.S. but "hate speech" is not.

• On the post: Unfortunate: ACLU On The Wrong Side Of A Free Speech Case

  

  Andrew F ( profile ), 17 Dec, 2013 @ 07:14pm

  Re: Re: Re:

  You're correct if I agree to take a photo of a car and then later take a photo of a house, that's a breach of correct. But you can't force me to agree to that contract in the first place. Were it otherwise, you could pass a law forcing wedding photographers to take pictures of boats.

• On the post: Bringing Transparency Back To The Patent System With 'Innovation Cartography'

  

  Andrew F ( profile ), 10 Dec, 2013 @ 07:12am

  "People may unwittingly infringe patents they don't know about"
  
  An independent invention defense (or something similar) would solve that.
  
  The problem with Lens (or rather, the problem Lens doesn't solve) is that the cost for making patents accessible and useful lies with the public, rather than the patent holders.

• On the post: Disappointing To See Canonical Act Like A Trademark Bully Over Ubuntu

  

  Andrew F ( profile ), 08 Nov, 2013 @ 02:31pm

  Country

  I believe Canonical is based in the UK. Does UK trademark law have the same exceptions that U.S. law does?

• On the post: Chinese Propaganda: The US Military Is Making Master Chief Armor; Me: Awesome!

  

  Andrew F ( profile ), 01 Nov, 2013 @ 08:29pm

  Also, why the hell doesn't the U.S. military have this awesome armor yet?

  
  
  In the off chance you're actually curious, the biggest barrier to making this happen is a power source.

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