Ehud Gavron 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Reddit Pushes Back On Idiotic Unmasking Fishing Expedition By Movie Studios

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 07 Mar, 2023 @ 07:29pm

    HUrdle indeed

    Noun vs verb, apt vs inapt. https://grammarist.com/spelling/hurdle-hurtle/#:~:text=To%20hurtle%20is%20(1)%20to,or%20to%20overcome%20an%20obstacle. E

  • On the post: Kenyan Court First To Tell Meta It Can’t Walk Away From A Lawsuit Just By Claiming It’s Not From Around Here

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 05 Mar, 2023 @ 01:26am

    Uber drivers

    It's always great when people want to use analogies. These linguistic methods make it easier to understand complex topic. This is not a complex topic. Meta doesn't operate in Kenya and will not be on the hook for its laws. Thank you for reading. Oh, I'm sorry, there was a little noise there that went something like this:

    Uh huh. And Uber drivers are independent entrepreneurs.
    Good job stringing random words together. No analogy nor metaphor are present here; the random words in no way reflect Meta's non-operation in Kenya, and serve only to clarify that there's some "issue" with Uber which is neither relevant, pertinent, nor in any way instructive as to how dispositive Kenyan law is. I have a Nigerian prince offer to respond to. I firmly believe him to be an independent entrepreneur. Go reflect on how that means anything.

  • On the post: Kenyan Court First To Tell Meta It Can’t Walk Away From A Lawsuit Just By Claiming It’s Not From Around Here

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 04 Mar, 2023 @ 10:07am

    Living wage

    ...the idea that a potential employer needs to pay their employees enough to survive.
    Imagine if that were a sentence. Let's pretend it's an idea. Somehow somewhere there's an implied obligation to pay people NOT for what they do or for the job they agreed to do and the pay that comes with it, but for their entitlement to live a happy worry-free life. So yes, a potential employer sentence fragment nonsense here indeed. E

  • On the post: Kenyan Court First To Tell Meta It Can’t Walk Away From A Lawsuit Just By Claiming It’s Not From Around Here

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 04 Mar, 2023 @ 06:47am

    That's not how any of this works

    the fact remains the work is being performed for Facebook.
    Let's just accept that begged question as a given. It's still irrelevant. X Company in Africa does work that benefits Y Company in the US that benefits Z investors in the world who bought Y Company Stock Are Z investors liable for anything X Company did? Of course not. Nor can they be dragged into African court. Stop laughing. Are Y company staff liable for violating laws in somewhere they didn't operate... like... say... Africa... No. This is an absurdity of an attempt to extend jurisdiction beyond the shores to hold third parties liable, and it WILL FAIL. This isn't about Meta (well, THIS case is, but the discussion isn't) and just like Nigerian Princes aren't prosecuted under US law, US corporations not operating in Nigeria won't be prosecuted under that law. But hey, pretending it's a "fact" and that the company is called Facebook makes for good copy, good on you. Sorry, this one is stupid and shouldn't have been published.
    While it may seem the intermediary (Sama, in this case) is more directly responsible for low pay and toxic working environments, the fact remains the work is being performed for Facebook.
    Pretend any of that has to do with jurisdiction and try again. E

  • On the post: Signal: If UK Government Undermines Encryption It Can Kiss Messaging Service Used By Its Employees Goodbye

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 27 Feb, 2023 @ 07:22am

    "Will these legislators and officials be willing to work against their own interests by chasing Signal out of the country with anti-encryption mandates? Or will they decide to safeguard their own interests (and the some of the public’s interests too, albeit inadvertently) by shutting down these proposals before the become law?" In my home state motorcycles can't split lanes... except for law enforcement. Nobody can have blue or red reflectors or lights on their car... except for law enforcement. Nobody can drive at an unsafe speed, a careless manner, or a reckless manner... except law enforcement. Active school zones have a 15MPH speed limit, double fines, and crosswalks that extend to all lanes (for the safety of the children)... except for law enforcement. I'm willing to wager ANY law the UK passes that weakens encryption will do so... except for law enforcement or politicians. They're not worried about how THEIR use of encryption can harm the children. They just want to make sure EVERYONE ELSE can't use encryption, no matter the children. "And then the priest turns to the lawyer and says ``do you think we have enough time?''" E

  • On the post: Twitter’s Remaining Engineers Appear To Solve Elon Musk’s Complaint That His Tweets Aren’t Getting Enough Views By… Making The Algorithm Forcefeed All Of Elon’s Tweets To Everyone

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 14 Feb, 2023 @ 07:22pm

    Tom misses you

    ...and if you would just upload a new background and your playlist Tom will be your friend again. He always has been, and he's lowly. Wait, it's Steve Case, he says "You've got[sic] mail!" Geocities George says he misses you too! Which newsgroup are you hanging out on? I tried alt.furries but I meant alt.furbies and it wasn't what I expected.

  • On the post: Ted Cruz Goes After ‘Woke’ Microsoft Over Xbox Power Saving Settings Update

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 01 Feb, 2023 @ 05:13am

    Sony itself (not a random website) says 0.4W for shutdown and 10W for sleep. https://support.xbox.com/en-US/help/hardware-network/power/learn-about-power-modes Waste heat is 1:1 with power used. However, what you really care about is power used over time so kWh, not kW or even W. Xbox: 0.1kWh LED "60W equiv": 0.1kWh Heat Pump: (various sizes, options but let's go low) 1-2kWh So in one twenty seconds of running a heat pump (ignoring inrush current) you use up more power than 1hr of Xbox. You could keep your Xbox in standby for 24 hours and use less power than 2 minutes of heat pump. You might as well ask what the inefficiency is of converting from AC on the home EV charger to DC. It's about 60-85% efficient (model, type, and voltages dependent) so 15-40% are lost to heat. Screw the Xbox mods. Don't charge your EV and don't turn on the HVAC.

  • On the post: Ted Cruz Goes After ‘Woke’ Microsoft Over Xbox Power Saving Settings Update

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 01 Feb, 2023 @ 12:29am

    "Cruz knows better..." Hanlon's razor. E

  • On the post: Josh Hawley Wants In On The TikTok Moral Panic Attention, Proposes Nationwide Ban

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 27 Jan, 2023 @ 08:03am

    Why is China the problem?

    The Geriatric Old People really do have a Chy-nuh thing going, but why? Two countries on this earth have spent over a decade threatening the United States with utter destruction, and one has declared nuclear capabilities. Instead of dealing with these real threats the US occupied Iraq, then Afghanistan, and is now working hard to deal with the Chy-nuh "threat." It's pretty evident that if the US government cared about the health, safety, and welfare of the US people it would work hard to eliminate those threats from Iran and North Korea. Instead it's going after the country that produces the most imported goods to the US. Next thing we'll hear is that Benelux countries can't join NATO because Turkey doesn't want to let them. That's the same Turkey that declined to work with the US and instead bought SAMs from Russia. Never mind that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has countries that don't touch any part of the Atlantic Ocean (e.g. Turkey, Italy, Greece, Croatia, Slovenia, Estonia, Spain, etc. etc.). It's high time performative murderers, rapists, and child molesters (aka Congressmen) shut their little pieholes and either resign or do something useful. "Tik Tok" is a social media site. It shouldn't in any way be the subject of a "This is how we beat America's Enemies" story. China is not our enemy. They have not vowed our destruction. Iran and North Korea have. Go at them. Josh Hawley and Matt Gaetz and MTG and all the rest of the magas and their home states can just secede and go off and be a new country. We won't miss them. They won't miss us. If you disagree with the "we" and "us" in this paragraph just substitute "they" and "their". E

  • On the post: Square Enix Gets Twitch Strike For Streaming ‘Forspoken’ During Embargo, Thanks To Time Zones

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 26 Jan, 2023 @ 10:04am

    GMT? UTC? UT1?

    Timezones are great. Iran is 30 minutes off of their neighbors. Indonesia has its own interesting takes... In the US we have 4 timezone except that in some we don't observe daylight savings time (DST) except that in one of those we do except that in the center of that one we don't. (Arizona, Navajo, Hopi). GMT is a meaningless construct from WWII and is no longer useful, as "summer time" changes its offset from UTC or UT1. Current terminology is UTC[+/-]offset. So, for example, EST is UTC-0500. GMT can be UTC or UTC+0100 depending on the time of year. If you care about the children, no more GMT. UTC is what the reference is.

  • On the post: Seattle School District Files Laughably Stupid Lawsuit Against Basically Every Social Media Company For… ‘Being A Public Nuisance’

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 25 Jan, 2023 @ 12:45pm

    Critical Thinking

    Critical thinking is that thing they're not teaching, not in Seattle, and not elsewhere. That's the two word summary of the entire non-issue of gullible children and social media. E P.S. "its terrible at preparing" <--- "it's"

  • On the post: Experian’s Treasure Trove Of PII Breached By Simply Altering URLs

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 19 Jan, 2023 @ 10:57am

    I got $6

    Tim, congrats on getting $7. I got $6 and am still figuring out where to spend my windfall. Experian and the other two make a big deal of securing the data. Clearly they don't. Companies that carelessly (malfeasance) allow PII to be leaked often get no more than a slap on the wrist and instead of accounting for the huge headache that card theft and identity theft -- offer a free year of Norton Lifelock. Norton Lifelock couldn't safeguard the security of its own CEO's data... and now we see they couldn't safeguard the security of its users. So if you get hacked, the answer isn't to get Norton (and get hacked again). Companies that leak PII should be held accountable and provide REAL compensation for the damage they cause, just like a bank that gives away your money, an insurance underwriter who won't pay your claim, or a politician that doesn't live up to their election platform. I'm afraid to offer the $6 as a tip on a $30 lunch... the server may pull out his/her own check and it might be bigger. E

  • On the post: Internet Safe Harbors, Antisemitism, And Online Jewish Activity

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 14 Jan, 2023 @ 11:03pm

    "Letting people into government..."

    Arijirija wrote:

    I think letting an avowed Kahanist into the Israel govt marks the Israel govt as an antisemitic terror organization intent on destroying the tolerance gains that have been achieved since 1945, that should – according to the briefs so filed – should be prevented from having any access to the Internet whatever.
    In a democratic country we enjoy the freedom to elect those we wish will represent us in government. There's no "letting someone into government" other than the vote of the people. I'm going to personally say that I think it's despicable that he was elected, that his party got enough votes, and that the other parties wouldn't (couldn't?) form a coalition so his party joined in. It doesn't "mark" the rest of the government. 1945 is not the year you're thinking of. UN resolution 181 was agreed upon at the end of November 1947. Arab countries almost immediately attacked "signalling" their "respect for international law" and "not hurting civilians." I'd say that's a different take on antisemitic terrorism than allowing a freely-elected asshole to join the government, but then I didn't vote for Trump either... When I said I personally agree... I want to emphasize that I disagree with his "politics" or "style", but I do believe if people elect him into office he gets to be in that office -- unless he does something so vile he's removed. I haven't seen ANYONE do that since Al Franken was told to resign. Looking at that through the rear view mirror of the last six years makes me appalled. But then it's what-aboutism if we say "But look at what they did to Al Franken, but not that other guy (previously mentioned)." It's also what-aboutism in the other direction if we say "look how many times they've tried to impeach or hurt him in court or financially, and Al Franken got to resign and keep a lifetime pension." Either way, we have a set of standards we DO NOT HOLD the politicians to, and we do not "mark" an entire country or its government by their inclusivity of an asshole. (Or many assholes if you count the current litigation-subject prime-minister.) But... in the spirit of finding a common ground. I ask you right back: How do you provide the limited power the People have to elect representatives, and YET there is some other 3rd party ("the UN", "world opinion", "made up peoples that claim all the land", tribes of natives", "any aggrieved party ever", including "the most picked-on President ever") that gets to JUDGE who can and can not be elected? If you have an answer to that that still maintain the rights of free USicans to vote for whomever we please... I'm all ears. Picking on the last guy is too easy so I'll end with this. Jimmy Carter was a horrible President. He was one hell of an ex-President. People the world over detested us during his time in office, and yet, he builds houses for homeless people and contributes many many bundles of money... and if he ran again, he would be eligible for office. I'd vote for him over the 2016 options. Ehud (not a prime-minister up on charges)

  • On the post: Internet Safe Harbors, Antisemitism, And Online Jewish Activity

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 14 Jan, 2023 @ 02:07pm

    Who does represent a country?

    This post may be long-ish, and addresses comments by various people. The first part addresses the Online Jewish Activity™, and the latter part the Backpage/§230 safe harbor vs censorship.

    Do the people speak for the State or does the Government elected by those people speak for the State?

    AnonOps wrote:

    “a former Israeli Minister of Defense and Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, three other retired Israeli generals, a former Commissioner of the Israeli Police, and a former head of the Mossad’s Intelligence Directorate filed an amicus brief ”
    I'm a former lots of things, a retired other things, and I don't represent any of the entities for whom I served or worked. Neither do former ministers, former military officers, former police commissioners nor former heads of intelligence agencies. Once you're no longer part of the organization (in this case the government) you no longer represent it or whom it represents. Depending on your perspective, either the government of Israel represents Israel, or the people of Israel represent Israel. In either case the latter don't have the right to speak for Israel. One can substitute any other country here and see that only the current government of a country can speak for and represent that country. And then the snarky question:
    Did you just gloss over the mere fact that those individuals took an oath to uphold and defend Israel at all costs both foreign and domestic?
    None of them did any such thing. That's the United States oath of office, not Israel's (or any other country I know of.) UGC Source at Wikipedia. Original source from the Israeli government. Then the summation:
    What makes you think they’re still not agent of the state today?
    The best way to know what I think is to read what I wrote. I very clearly stated:
    The Israeli government was not a party to this amicus curiae brief.
    and I've supplemented that here by indicating that former anyone doesn't represent the country. I hope that helps clarify my thinking, not that my thinking is relevant outside my own head.

    And then YAAC says:

    Court rulings ARE law
    No, US court rulings are not law. They may set precedent, may provide interpretation, may invalidate laws, and they even may appear to be law until otherwise changed by the legislative branch of the US government. Laws are created by legislative action, and in the US that's passage by both chambers and a presidential signature. Learn about the legislative process with respect to the judicial process in the US. Other countries have different structures. For example, the Supreme Court of Russia has interpretive powers, but in no way creates an additive change in a law.

    YAYAAC writes:

    I read about backpage back before it was shut down, and read the resulting caselaw years ago as it was internet related and big news at the time; I don’t recall the mistrial but perhaps that is simply due to not remembering that part.
    I happened to run a datacenter and ISP that provided services to Backpage. The FBI raided it, and took away servers in large black SUVs. I'm not prohibited from speaking about it, and one day I may. In the meantime please allow me to fill in the blanks. (Yours is a great summary btw!!) The various local weekly pre-Craigslist style advertisement "magazines" were available for free at gasoline stations and supermarkets. The back page was usually home to the cheapest advertsiements. Typically 1"x1" (2.54cm x 2.54cm) was a double ad, and have of that (either vertically or horizontally) was a single. It was all text and in the beginning they didn't support ASCII art... so no smilies, no shrugs, just text. If you paid extra you could do bold. There were ads there from A to Z and that does include S for Strippers.
    Prostitution in the form backpage facilitated is in most locations in the US illegal as far as my very limited knowledge on the subject extends
    Prostitution is a crime in many areas, but Internet advertising spans the globe. What is a crime in Oklahoma City may not be a crime in The Mustang Ranch, Nevada. Advertising a service from The Mustang Ranch that takes place in The Mustang Ranch but that reaches people in Oklahoma City is not interstate crime. The same is true of freedom of speech, censorship in China, and the long arm of foreign governments telling Apple, Google, etc. what to censor. Those who want to remove §230 protections are only looking to support more censorious behavior. TechDirt has covered this to death.
    I think the point I’m trying to make is that regulation, even well intentioned like this example, if not carefully and well crafted can disrupt legal users as well as those utilizing a platform for illegal purposes.
    That point has been made well many times, but our legislators and judiciary have no desire to hear or listen. The same old tropes about saving the children or protecting the sex workers... always end up hurting the rest of everyone. "Legal" or "illegal" purposes is not a thing. Actions may be lawful or unlawful. Thoughts or purposes are not. Neither are objects like file downloads. Plans can be if they are used in a conspiracy to do the acts that are unlawful. Enough on that. The team that set up backpage.com took that concept to the Internet -- pre craiglist. They did allow emoticons and ASCII art. This did not "cause" nor "contribute" to any measured increase in ANY crimes, including sex-trafficking (a "catchall term" so politicians can lump a stripper into the same box as a prostitute), drug sales, firearm proliferation, etc. None. Government-provided statistics and their lack of ability to show evidence in court (see, e.g. Mistrial 1) shows that. UCG link Kamala Harris, whom I personally respect but professionally despise for lying to the American people... but again, Mike put it best: https://www.techdirt.com/tag/kamala-harris/ My wishlist for 2023's congresscritters: 1. Stop pretending anything about §230 is in any way enabling unlawful behavior. 2. Stop pretending that placing liability on 3rd parties does anything other than destroy the Internet. 3. Work together to do good things for the people of this country. No, not "defund the IRS." More like if we can spend over $100B to help out Ukraine (Yes!) do the same for the homeless and the poor. SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch is a scrub for today, so best weekend wishes to all of you -- I'm out.

  • On the post: Internet Safe Harbors, Antisemitism, And Online Jewish Activity

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 13 Jan, 2023 @ 11:22pm

    WhatAboutIsm

    Would this law equally apply to Israelis who produce and disseminate such content against Palestinians?
    The Israeli government was not a party to this amicus curiae brief. Residents of the Weest Bank of the Jordan River and their counterparts in the Gaza strip weren't either. So, first, there is no "this law" because it isn't a law. It's an argument before SCOTUS. Secondly producing content is something we call "protected speech." Finally, the whataboutism isn't a thing. Christenson makes great comments including the Backpage/Harris discussion. It hurt "sex workers" (camgirls? strippers?) and law enforcement efforts... and was just a sound bite on the great screen. Also mistrial in 2021 and nothing since. Finally, YAAC writes:
    How curious. I feel no constraint against calling the Israeli government a “fuckwit fascist organization that does a lot of actual harm in the world” without impuning the character of any specific Jew or the Jewish people as a whole.
    The self-professed lack of feeling by a coward issuing insults pretty much speaks for itself. Ehud

  • On the post: Media Organizations Ask US To Drop Charges Against Assange

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 08 Jan, 2023 @ 08:39am

    None of that happened.

  • On the post: University Of Oklahoma The Latest To Issue A Performative Ban Of TikTok

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 29 Dec, 2022 @ 09:18pm

    No more editors

    and putting a former s
    How is this a sentence? I'm the 9th commentator, so one assumes the author wrote this, an editor approved it, and 8 other people read it.. and yet... How is that a sentence? E

  • On the post: It Took Just Four Days From Elon Gleefully Admitting He’d Unplugged A Server Rack For Twitter To Have A Major Outage

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 29 Dec, 2022 @ 12:44pm

    Cloud

    All “the cloud” means is “someone else’s data center,”
    No, the Cloud means "that part of the diagram we didn't bother to define." It CAN include someone else's data center OR a data center OR my grandmother's pantry with a server rack in it. It's a cloud. Undefined. Puffy with fluffy edges. Get used to it.
    Remember a few years back when what should have been a minor AWS glitch took down something like 1/3 of the Web?
    I don't remember things that never happened. Like 1/3 of which even. The web. (is that a thing?) Seriously, lay off off the juice.

  • On the post: It Took Just Four Days From Elon Gleefully Admitting He’d Unplugged A Server Rack For Twitter To Have A Major Outage

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 29 Dec, 2022 @ 08:51am

    Do you know Mike Masnick's work well enough?

    This is actually the most legitimate article you’ve written on the subject
    The ultimate hubris is to think you can judge Mike's work and the legitimatcy of it. I love to criticize like the next person but I don't presume to judge how "legitimate" [sic] an article is. Perhaps there's some criterion there only accessible for the mentally addled, but certainly it doesn't apply to TechDirt's writers. Really I'm just going to climb back down off the soapbox. Authors everywhere share their writing, and whether you agree with them or not, their "legitimacy" isn't generally in question. It's the new year season. My hat's off to all the people at TD, Ars, etc. who take the time to write about what they think is important... and the organizations what fund their ability to do so. Try being a freelance writer/editor and see how "legitimate" a-hole judge-wannabes call you. E btw Mike was spot on, and he doesn't need me to say that. He doesn't need you saying he's legitimate. Buckle up, kid.

  • On the post: It Took Just Four Days From Elon Gleefully Admitting He’d Unplugged A Server Rack For Twitter To Have A Major Outage

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 29 Dec, 2022 @ 06:08am

    Data centers

    I've built and ran data centers. There's the resume. I've known morons and Dunning-Krugerites. Mr. Musk is one. The last time I took one little server rack offline was the result of 90 days planning, two fallback strategies, and three people monitoring so that ANY of us could say "Whoa! This is not working right." The last major migration involved UPSs, servers, networks, and services being used throughout this country (LiveATC, ADSBexchange, and others I can't mention.) Total downtime was under 3 seconds and we called that a failure in post. To be so stupid as to think that you can just take down a server rack... oh never mind, Dunning-Kruger... E

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