John85851 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: 'Hundreds' Of Teens Found Sexting At A Single School And Everyone Seems Unsure Of How To Proceed

    John85851 ( profile ), 10 Nov, 2015 @ 11:28am

    Re: Sad to say, but the only REAL way to deal with this is...

    I agree, especially when read in this context:
    That's about 500 students based on the initial stages of the investigation.
    So how many total students will this come to?

    As much as it would hurt all the students, I sort-of wish the DA would simply say "Sorry, that's the law and I have to enforce it". Then maybe we'll see some outrage as that town (and school) get the reputation as home to over 500 sex offenders.
    How does it work when you have to tell your neighbors that your son or daughter is now a sex offender when their sons and daughters are also sex offenders?

    And how does getting a job work out when every single one of these kids are now on the sex offender registry and companies aren't allowed to hire them?

    "Sorry, that's the law and it has to be enforced."

  • On the post: The FCC Has Started Publicly Shaming Robocallers Weekly

    John85851 ( profile ), 06 Nov, 2015 @ 01:41pm

    Re:

    Robocalling, or the act of using automated dialers and automated messages, is illegal. The trick is catching the companies using them, especially when they're spoofing their number. Then once the company is caught, the second trick is prosecuting them, especially if they're operating out of Russia, China, or India.

    However, it seems like the solution to stopping robocalls is the same as stopping spam: people need to stop buying the products. As soon as robocallers and spammers realize it's not profitable to do these things, then they'll stop.

  • On the post: Connecticut Police Announce Plan To Open Unlocked Vehicles And Seize Valuables

    John85851 ( profile ), 05 Nov, 2015 @ 04:02pm

    Who are these people?

    Who are the people responsible for this and why did they think there wouldn't be a backlash?

    Did did they really think the public would approve of paying for police officers to check (and rob) unlocked cars rather than doing traditional police work? Don't the police have enough to do than to wander around a parking lot or people's driveways?

    And I agree with one of the previous posters: what's going to happen when a homeowners hears his car alarm go off at 3:00am and finds someone robbing his car? Chances are good that he's going to shoot before the officer can explain that he's being robbed for his own good.

    However, this also sounds like yet another example of the old "Let's pass a law that blatantly defies the US constitution. We know the state supreme court will invalidate the law, but it'll take a few years and that gives us plenty of time to do what we want".

  • On the post: How The Redskins' Delightfully Vulgar Court Filing Won Me Over

    John85851 ( profile ), 05 Nov, 2015 @ 03:49pm

    Just pick a new name

    I've said before in similar articles, but the obvious solution is to change the name to something that reflects Washington. This way, everyone can save face. For example, the Senators (baseball) or the Capitols (hockey).
    How about the Washington Representatives, with a cartoon senator on the helmet? Or the Washington Beltways, with a cartoon highway? Or the Washington Monuments, a team so strong they can't be pushed around?

  • On the post: Think Tank Who Proposed SOPA Now Argues That US Should Encourage Countries To Censor The Pirate Bay

    John85851 ( profile ), 05 Nov, 2015 @ 12:04pm

    Mein Kampf is a bad example

    As people are saying, Mein Kampf is copyrighted by the German government, which just muddies the waters.

    Instead, how would these Senators react if someone like China told US sites to take down any information that wasn't positive towards the communist government, like coverage of the Tiennamen Square protests? Would the US order the sites down to please the Chinese government? Or would they argue "free speech"?

  • On the post: Law Enforcement: Traveling From Anywhere To Anywhere Is Suspicious Behavior

    John85851 ( profile ), 31 Oct, 2015 @ 10:51am

    Re: Re:

    Of course pot is a gateway drug. After pot was legalized in Colorado, the whole state is now hooked on hardcore drugs. Just look at Denver- the whole city is nothing but a druggie wasteland.

    Oh, wait, that didn't happen? And Colorado is bringing in tons of tax revenue from the sale of pot? And the number of people in prison has been reduced since they're not arresting casual pot users?
    Nah, it's definitely a gateway drug.

  • On the post: Fertility Company Bullies Unhappy Customer With Bogus Legal Threats And Nonexistent Lawyers

    John85851 ( profile ), 31 Oct, 2015 @ 12:22pm

    No legal help?

    How does any company, especially a fertility clinic, not have legal counsel? Even if they can't afford a legal department, don't they have someone on retainer? Of the top of my head, I can think of 50 different legal issues that could occur, yet they think it's okay to start looking for a lawyer when they have an issue?

  • On the post: Yahoo Pumps Up Viewership Numbers For NFL Game By Autoplaying It On Your Yahoo Home Page

    John85851 ( profile ), 28 Oct, 2015 @ 05:19pm

    Playing devil's advocate

    If they had tried this with bigger teams or at a different time, would the servers have been able to handle it? So instead of people complaining about watching lower-ranked teams, people would be complaining about how the servers went down and connection speeds were down, and so on.

    In other words, there's always something to complain about. ;)

  • On the post: Lego Tells Political Artist To Hit The Bricks, Refusing To Sell Him Legos

    John85851 ( profile ), 28 Oct, 2015 @ 05:11pm

    I hate to be pedantic, but

    I hate to be pedantic, but when referring to the toys, they're called "LEGO bricks" or "LEGO toys", never "LEGOs". This is even on the LEGO site, but I can't find the actual page.

    So, expect LEGO to come after you for a correction. :)

  • On the post: Guy Sues Google And Bing For Returning Photos Of Him In Search Results

    John85851 ( profile ), 22 Oct, 2015 @ 04:30pm

    Sue the deepest pockets

    Let me fix this for you:

    The person in the photos would like these photos removed (and presumably the posts themselves). Who should they approach sue about this that their lawyer thinks has the most money?
    1. The party that posted the photos and text?
    Nope, the party that posted the photos probably don't have much money.
    2. The website hosting the photos and text?
    No, they may only have a few million.
    3. Google.
    4. And Bing... I guess.
    There we go- they have billions, so let's sue for everything we can.

  • On the post: Call Of Duty Tries To Pull An Orson Welles And Gets Backlash Instead Of Panic

    John85851 ( profile ), 16 Oct, 2015 @ 02:57pm

    Re: People will believe anything

    I agree.
    Did people try to confirm this by going to any other news source or did they immediately lose their minds?

  • On the post: Call Of Duty Tries To Pull An Orson Welles And Gets Backlash Instead Of Panic

    John85851 ( profile ), 16 Oct, 2015 @ 03:03pm

    Not such a panic over War of the Worlds

    According to this article in Slate from 2013:
    "The supposed panic was so tiny as to be practically immeasurable on the night of the broadcast. Despite repeated assertions to the contrary in the PBS and NPR programs, almost nobody was fooled by Welles’ broadcast."
    http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/history/2013/10/orson_welles_war_of_the_worlds_panic_myth_the_infamous_radio_broadcast_did.html

    So I don't think the "marketing strategy" of comparing a tweet about a terrorist attack compares to the "War of the Worlds" broadcast.
    Far more people care about terrorist attacks in 2015 than they cared about supposed alien invasions in 1938.

  • On the post: Viacom Once Sued YouTube For A Billion Dollars; Now It's Just Released Over 100 Movies For Free On YouTube

    John85851 ( profile ), 15 Oct, 2015 @ 10:43am

    They're being setup

    Call me a cynic, but I think this is someone's way of setting YouTube up for a fall.
    First, Paramount (a subsidiary of Viacom) uploade the movies. Next, Viacom has one of its "find infringing content" subsidiary company file take-down notices with YouTube. Then Viacom resumes suing YouTube for hosting infringing content.

    And as for the question of whether these movies would be available online if YouTube wasn't around? Of course! The movies would be available on Paramount's site, playable only with their proprietary video player designed to be as hard to use as possible, preferably on systems running Windows ME with IE 7 or Netscape 5.
    The low traffic and viewership numbers would then prove to executives that people don't want to watch movies online.

  • On the post: Kim Davis's Approach To Email More Outdated Than Her Views On Marriage

    John85851 ( profile ), 14 Oct, 2015 @ 01:17pm

    Re:

    I'm sure this is a rhetorical question, but:
    1) She's an elected official so she can't be fired. I'm guessing the people in her district would have to file official impeachment charges. If she's not upholding the laws set by the Supreme Court, then I don't see why this isn't happening, other than the fact that the people in her district enjoy what she's doing.

    2) As reported by a lot of media outlets, she's making around $80,000 a year. She's never going to voluntarily walk away from an income like that.

    3) Vote her out of office when her term ends. However, see item #1 above: the people of her district may very well re-elect her.

  • On the post: AT&T Lawyers Want You To Know That AT&T's CEO Will Never Listen To Customer Suggestions

    John85851 ( profile ), 14 Oct, 2015 @ 02:12pm

    I disagree with the assessment

    While the response from AT&T may have been heavy-handed, their policy is in line with Disney, ILM, Pixar and other companies.

    The problem is two-fold:
    1) People think they own every little thing they create and they want credit for it, even if it's an obvious idea that other people could have thought up.
    2) We live in such a litigious society that people sue over the littlest thing that companies have to protect themselves.
    And like other posters said, one or two lawsuits could start to take up a chunk of change, even if the suing-person is wrong.

    How many times have we heard stories that go something like this:
    "I made a suggestion that cast members on this ride should wear hats. Now they're wearing hats and they didn't give me credit for coming up with the idea, so now I'm mad and I'm suing."

  • On the post: 3 California Cities Blocking Parking Ticket App For Being, Like, Way Too Useful

    John85851 ( profile ), 14 Oct, 2015 @ 01:58pm

    A third of the tickets were disputed?

    That sounds like a lot, but how many of these were contested on legal grounds versus "I don't want to pay it".

    If most of these were disputed on legal grounds, then the city has a larger problem than just the app. In fact, why isn't the media picking up on this issue?

  • On the post: Kim Davis's Approach To Email More Outdated Than Her Views On Marriage

    John85851 ( profile ), 14 Oct, 2015 @ 01:20pm

    Who's the DA?

    Who's the DA for that area of the state? How much would it cost to file the necessary paperwork to file a complaint with him against Davis?
    Or is there a risk that he would side with her and agree to the pages and pages of redacted print-outs?
    Or is he looking for some publicity by going against her? :)

  • On the post: Just About Everything About Twitter Suspending Deadspin And SBNation Accounts Is Ridiculous

    John85851 ( profile ), 13 Oct, 2015 @ 09:14am

    Re: They may have a case

    No offense, but if you're satisfied with a clip reel or highlights, then you're probably not their target market. And if you're not their target market, why in the world are they doing what they're doing? Does the NFL think taking highlights down from Twitter will convince people like you to purchase an NFL/ DirectTV package?

    This is kind of like the MPAA going after file-sharing sites to convince people to buy DVD's.

  • On the post: Just About Everything About Twitter Suspending Deadspin And SBNation Accounts Is Ridiculous

    John85851 ( profile ), 13 Oct, 2015 @ 09:12am

    Re: Maybe this is anti-American but...

    So where's the "bread" part of it? :)
    But, yes, I would agree that this counts as a way of distracting the population for a few hours every week or every night.

  • On the post: Inglewood Told To Pay $118k Of Taxpayer Money For Abusing Copyright Law To Silence A Critic

    John85851 ( profile ), 12 Oct, 2015 @ 11:57am

    Re:

    Is this spam or not? The rough Google Translation is:
    "Core work - Core applications are used in many areas and offers solutions.
    Carotene work is done with machines called karotc machines shaped drill. The function is responsive to the needs of applications in many fields due. These machines will be removed with the cylindrical part of the concrete structure. This is called coring."

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