Ehud Gavron 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Trump FCC Proposes Vile New Trans Panic TV Warnings

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 29 May, 2026 @ 08:33am

    Sodom and Gomorrah

    Thad writes:

    Well, there’s that bit in Leviticus, next to where it says you can’t eat shellfish or wear mixed fabrics...
    I prefer Genesis Ch 18-19, which says if you have a town so bad you can't find ten good people in it god will go all Jason Statham on their ass. Still, Leviticus or Genesis, these are parts of the transcribed revised made-up history of many people over many millenia. When we studied the bible in school it was emphasized as a morals teaching device and less of a historic compilation; modern day revisionists feelz differently, just as they pretend the US Pledge of faith or moneylenders outside the Temple do so in the name of god. It's all a story. Learn from these stories. Don't split the baby -- that dog don't hunt the way you [not Thad specifically, just common usage] think it do. Time to split the baby chicken ovum and enjoy god's great protein breakfast.

  • On the post: Stop Killing Games Gets Its First American Legislative Effort Out Of Committee in California

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 29 May, 2026 @ 04:11am

    Game??????

    Stephen Stone thinks this is a step in the right direction. He may be right. I think it's giving up early, narrowing the focus, and missing the point. GAMES is not the issue. It's the KILLING that's the issue. Consumers buy products to use --in virtual perpetuity-- and some vendors choose to remove the ability to continue that behavior. When lobbying your legislator(s), keep the focus on the KILLING and remember that GAMES is just one small mostly irrelevant part of it. Similarly, invoking SAFETY is a mantra guaranteed to be worthless. Real safety comes from preventing harm, not keeping servers running or allowing single-player mode. Framing it as "safety" is that same WWII crap remade as Post9-11 crap and now DHS/CPB/ICE/TSA crap. "It's for your safety." Focus on providing to the consumer no less and no more than what was promised. That DIY 2x4 picnic bench will work until element-rot. The same should be true of software, hardware, and click-to-get-fucked-bait on the cover of the shrink-wrap.

  • On the post: Canadian ‘Pickle Fest’ Rebranded Under Bullshit Trademark Threat

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 13 May, 2026 @ 02:50am

    Pickling

    Bowing down to "intellectual property" thugs "because it's cheaper" is how those bullies get the nerve to pretend they have "rights," after all, if Alice folded and Bob folded they must know that CanadaBoy has the best hand. It's much like the media paying RAPT attention to whatever spew is on TruthSocial, X, etc. and instead of saying "We won't be reporting on crap like that; you have an entire press department; use them" the media laps it all up. Orange Julius Caesar loves the attention so he keeps going. It's a cycle that the 25th Amendment could resolve, but the same pussies who knuckle under to IP maximalists and pickle-lickers bend down to do the same to Dr. Very Strange. Now onto pickles. Pickling is ancient. I love pickled cucumbers (in saltwater, not vinegar), onions, beets, cauli, carrots, etc. Israelis have brined vegetables with most meals, with its own word and brined veggie bar at some restaurant - chamuzim. You can find Israeli and Arab cukes in brine even on Amazon. The salt-water brining is less harsh on the gut, allows longer-lasting pickling, and goes great with antipasti,beef, turkey, hummus, etc. Don't try them with a bagel schmear or salmon and savor the crunch.

  • On the post: To The Surprise Of No One, Cops Are Using ALPR Cameras To Stalk Their Exes

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 07 May, 2026 @ 12:19pm

    Type II errors in sampling

    If there’s an upside, it’s this:
    Nearly all of these officers were criminally charged and lost their jobs, either by resigning or getting fired.
    Sampling error. All of these (THE OFFICERS CAUGHT AND IT NOT BEING SWEPT UNDER THE RUG) were ... charged... etc. ALL of the cops who got away with it aren't part of the data corpus (and hence a sampling or reporting error being all false negatives). To put it in layman's terms, 100% of those CAUGHT and PUNISHED were doing something wrong. That doesn't mean 100% of those doing something wrong were either caught or punished. ALPR usage data is logged. A real data release would state "of n discrete different cops searches, x cops were found to have violated..." Instead we're not given either n or x. E

  • On the post: Nintendo’s Haphazard ‘Mario Maker 2’ Takedown Process Rife With Abuse

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 16 Apr, 2026 @ 10:39am

    Comprehension from reading

    The article bears re-reading as you think naming a server (with an octothorpe or without) is a trademark issue. It does not. You think it's a First Amendment issue, which also it is not. I have stuff on many could servers throughout the world and there's no trademark prohibiting from saying I use Amazon S3 as one of them. Nor can anyone restrict my commenting about the service name, its quality, or how much I love it (I do). That means it's not a 1AM topic either. Can Nintendo do [their usual threat stuff]? Yes. Should we take it as a given and debate the minutae? NO!!! They have no trademark case, and no 1AM case. People are free to speak about it. Today at any rate. Ehud #Nintendo suck, its servers suck, no law violated by this line.

  • On the post: Nintendo’s Haphazard ‘Mario Maker 2’ Takedown Process Rife With Abuse

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 16 Apr, 2026 @ 03:26am

    Begged questions

    Several things are assumed-true which begs the questions below. TL;DR Trademark requires specific items, and those who later comment on it and use undefined terms ("hashmark", "channel", "pound", "number sign") only add confusion. Nintendo takes this for granted and runs with it to the court. Don't YOU let them. E Long version:

    1. Other than the obvious lawfare financial burden, what "big stick" does Nintendo have? Is there REALLY a criminal or major civil violation of US law [and if so perhaps that law needs amending]
    2. Hashtag is modern day slang for a 7-bit ASCII string preceded by an octothorpe. You may take 0x23 and call it Julie or Andrew but there's nothing hash-browns nor pound-foolish nor "number sign" about it. It's a part of our alphabet like 'A' is A. You could say 'A' is a hash and that's as meaningless as the TikTok chowderheads pretending '#' is any number of words.
    3. That pretense disallows trademark. The USPTO (I'm only talking about the US because I'm familiar with its laws on the topic) allows registration BUT it must be specific including fixation in a media, form, font, color, etc. An obscure reference doesn't cut it.
    If an alien life form (hi Alf!!!) saw "hashmark taken" would they 'get it'? No. So it's not a tradmark violation. Patents are not a part of this discussion. Neither are copyrights. That should remove DMCA and §230 from the discussion. Don't let Nintendo take "our words" and use them to DEVELOP RIGHTS they don't have, aren't entitled to have, and do nothing more than censure our speech.

  • On the post: Daily Deal: Costco 1-Year Gold Star Membership + $20 Digital Costco Shop Card

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 08 Apr, 2026 @ 01:34am

    Regular price as a "special"?

    Since 2024 the regular price for the gold star membership is $65. It has no restriction. This is no "deal." Ehud https://www.google.com/search?q=costco+membership+price&oq=costco+membership+price&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCDUzOTZqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

  • On the post: The Casey Means Surgeon General Nomination Appears To Be In Trouble

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 26 Mar, 2026 @ 12:33am

    Baseball

    Perhaps you're confusing Lucy with someone who pulled a baseball. In Charlie's case it was always a football.

  • On the post: Brendan Carr Tries To ‘Ban’ All Foreign Routers In Lazy, Legally Dubious Shakedown

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 25 Mar, 2026 @ 09:10am

    NATIONAL SECURITY and routers not made by Trump's billionaire buddies.

    If you want a router, eBay is full of them, starting at around $5+s/h. Sure, Wi-Fi 8 isn't quite there, but 802.11 is just fine with abgn. Want to build your own? It takes longer to order MikroTik hardware (mainboard, radios) than to put them together to make a custom router. The hardest part is finding (or 3D-printing) a case. An RB9111 or the like is just bare bones and doesn't need a license from Carr. SDR Wi-Fi: https://github.com/open-sdr/openwifi “The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.” -- John Gilmore

  • On the post: Abrego Garcia Asks For Sanctions As Gov’t Officials Continue To Publicly Attack Him Ahead Of His Trial

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 08 Jan, 2026 @ 03:19am

    Typo

    That’s been set aside as the court awaits the govenrment’s explanation for its actions
    "Govenrment" --> "goverment". It's a great writeup. I don't anything new to add that TD, TNR, NYT (sucks) and others haven't said for months. Thad did suggest King Trump can't rule forever. Technically true given his health, but martial law in the US and the elimination of elections is coming. I will feel no joy in being right here, but senseless random "rationalized justification" killing of innocent people by armed thugs with qualified immunity and with the full post-facto support of their command... along with high seas piracy, foreign invasion and kidnapping. Where does it end? Oh wait, that's rhetorical. I already suggested martial law. Don't forget to convice as a "seditionist" anyone who speaks about "unlawful orders." And yet Republicrap congresscritters toe the line, fear "being primaried" and allow this. We used to ask for half a decade "How COULD Hitler have been elected and done what he did?" The answer is before us in 2026.

  • On the post: AZ State Senator Proposes Law To Spend State Resources Studying ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 06 Jan, 2026 @ 03:35am

    Arizona Legislators

    Hi, I live in Arizona, and TDS is worse than you write. My opinion follows. Also it's no longer January 5th so maybe redo the "support us by Jan 5th" message... especially since §230 will be history shortly... Arizona is a US state with varying degrees of support for any one person, like the current one. Southern Arizona disassociates itself from northern Arizona, and the unofficial secession non-movement is called "Baja, Arizona." Google is your friend there. Superior, Prescott, the 10+ Phoenix suburbs who pretend to be entities (Mesa, Goodyear, Chandler, Scottsdale, I'm already tired typing...) are strongholds of the Rebuplicrap party. Jump to the northwest Arizona and you get Measles-Center or MAGA-Center or Pedophile-center. Kingman, Havasu, and the borders of Nevada or Utah suggest it's a different country. Best 2026 wishes to all. E

  • On the post: Judge Says Trump Can’t Strip Lawyer’s Security Clearance Just Because He Doesn’t Like His Clients

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 01 Jan, 2026 @ 06:37am

    Filings

    Deep link on RECAP (free): https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70139392/zaid-v-executive-office-of-the-president/

  • On the post: Judge To Texas: You Can’t Age-Gate The Entire Internet Without Evidence

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 01 Jan, 2026 @ 06:20am

    Who ranks where

    Mexico, as not a part of the United States pays no taxes to Texas... so they can't be last. Texas is not in last place for contributing US states (or territories or minor islands). They appear to be 17th of 19 that contribute more to the Feds than they get. https://usafacts.org/articles/which-states-contribute-the-most-and-least-to-federal-revenue/ This is all mostly irrelevant to the topic here, because the discussion is about their unconstitutional laws, backing from the 5th circuit, and like their King they will push this as far up the chain as they can afford to -- their money isn't earned -- while private groups use donor funds to attempt to make a difference. There's also the chilling effect of trying to challenge this law, knowing it may bankrupt your organization, and worse create a precedent later to be used by similar states or the Feds.

  • On the post: Senator Endorses Discredited Doctor’s Book On A Chemical He Claims Treats Everything From Autism To Cancer

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 30 Dec, 2025 @ 08:04am

    Oh that ol Ron Johnson

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkwiQmGWK4c

  • On the post: ChatGPT Is Pitching In To Help Federal Officers Misrepresent Confrontations With Protesters

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 11 Dec, 2025 @ 04:18pm

    @MrWilson > using AI for anything official relating to charges or trials should lead to an automatic dismissal of charges A government that uses its Depart of Justice to go after its "enemies", commits warm crimes, doesn't apply the law fairly equitably, and reguarly lies and refuses to provide transparency (how about that Epstein list) isn't to be expect to know what or when a dismissal should occur, let alone an automatic one, let alone for violating protocol or standards or even having any. @Tim > Garbage in, garbage out. That it is garbage isn't in question but that the LEO uses it as if it's mana from Heaven with no Earthly taste as good... is a current administration thing, lacks oversight, accountability, and transparency. We don't expect "white-out" to fix our thinking, just remove typos. First-gen spellcheck did the same but it was so much better than white-out. Second-gen was grammar highlight which surely could detected insure vs ensure and affect vs effect but didn't. Third-gen is ChatpGPT. It's not an intelligence, and pretending it is and using that word and creating two new alternate levels (AGI and SGI) pretends that where we are today we HAVE an intellilgence. We do not. We have a third-gen spell and grammar checker 100% based on crap already published by others. It's like putting a line cook next to a Cordeon Blue and saying "turn out food like he does." Everyone who insists on using the term AI because "it's too hard to call it an LLM or explain the difference" contributes to the overall stupidity of the users who expect an actual intelligence. That includes lawyers, judges, websites, magazines, and police reports. The problem has become so ingrained the assumption now is a begged question and thusly accepted and ignored.

  • On the post: Radicalized Anti-AI Activist Should Be A Wake Up Call For Doomer Rhetoric

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 05 Dec, 2025 @ 04:06pm

    Person of interest

    The show you want to watch is Person of Interest. Res ipsa loquitur. Also the person that went into Sam's apartment to find the cellphone - was he charged with trespass or is The Machine protecting him. I hear sound and fury.

  • On the post: Lawmakers Want To Ban VPNs—And They Have No Idea What They’re Doing

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 02 Dec, 2025 @ 12:45am

    The internet always routes around censorship.
    “The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.” -John Gilmore Give credit when you use someone else's work and words. When they are effective at anything technical, wake me up. Cryptocurrency laundromats are a much higher priority and cost billion$ in damages than little Suzy's pink pony fetish.

  • On the post: After All That Bullshit, HBO Dreams Of Being HBO Again

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 26 Nov, 2025 @ 07:32am

    seppuku vs hari-kiri

    HBO not being a samurai cannot commit seppuku. The proper term in this case is hari-kiri, a death without honor, which is appropriate for HBO.

  • On the post: Daily Deal: Costco 1-Year Gold Star Membership + a $40 Digital Costco Shop Card

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 12 Nov, 2025 @ 01:32pm

    For new customers only

    Bought one. Have to activate by end of month. Can't recharge existing membership. Initial refusal of refund took five messages and back charge offer to get them to see reason. They day it's for new members only. Read the description and see of you can find it.

  • On the post: District Court: TRO For Troops In Chicago Area, TRO From Using Riot Tactics Against Protests, And More!

    Ehud Gavron ( profile ), 10 Oct, 2025 @ 05:02pm

    Constitutional crisis

    But that will kick off yet another constitutional crisis...
    We've all heard the myth of the boiling toad. It's not true, but it does serve a purpose. YOU Techdirt writers and WE Techdirt readers have talked constitutional crisis since 2017. AND YET it's always "coming soon." This goon has destroyed the federal government, our trade with the rest of the world, deported citizens to LDCs, claimed rights to own Greenland and Canada, has promoted IDIOTS to SECDEF, ODNI, AG, AUSAs, etc. He has ignored court orders. His thugs are rapelling from UH60s to arrest US CITIZENS theoretically safe under the castle doctrine. And yet... You tell me a constitutional crisis is coming. What WILL it take? Please elucidate a bright line so when it's crossed we don't just use our tennis shoes to wipe it out, step back 10 feet, and draw a new line in the sand. Pussies. And bullies. Pick one.

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