John85851 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Elon’s Censorial Lawsuit Against Media Matters Inspiring Many More People To Find ExTwitter Ads On Awful Content

    John85851 ( profile ), 27 Nov, 2023 @ 12:39pm

    Follow-up with the companies

    Let's keep following up with the companies and see their reactions to all of these screen shots. Maybe companies like Temu won't care, but what about everyone else? I'd like see how many companies announce they're pulling their advertising also. And I'd like to see what Musk says to his investors as advertisers flee the platform. And I'd like to see how many investors demand their money back before X loses all of its value.

  • On the post: Privacy Advocate Files Data Protection Complaint That YouTube’s AdBlocker Blocker Violates Privacy Laws

    John85851 ( profile ), 16 Nov, 2023 @ 09:27am

    Some things to think about

    First, why are people deleting their ad blocker when they see a message on YouTube? Why can't they just white list YouTube? Second, I think I read on this very site that even the FBI is telling people to use ad blockers to prevent the installation of malware. Yet some websites still tell people to disable their ad blockers so the site can serve annoying and possibly damaging ads! Uet those websites won't take any responsibility when their ad serves malware.

  • On the post: Error 402: You Will Click On Internet Ads, Oh So Many Internet Ads

    John85851 ( profile ), 10 Nov, 2023 @ 01:56pm

    Pop unders

    To this day, I never understood how pop-unders make money. If the point is to open a new window behind the browser, how will people see the ad to click on it? How does it drive traffic to the ad company website? Or did companies make money by counting how long the ads was open?

  • On the post: Ohio Lawmaker Wants To Criminally Charge Minors Who Watch Porn to Protect Minors. What?

    John85851 ( profile ), 07 Nov, 2023 @ 09:16am

    How about adding a bounty

    Since they're trying to make porn illegal without saying it's illegal, why not add a bounty on top? That way, the government can pay people to report each other without having to enforce the law themselves. After all, this idea seems to be working on states where abortion is illegal.

  • On the post: The First Rule Of Owning A Toyota Tundra In Australia Is You’re Not Allowed To Talk About Your Toyota Tundra

    John85851 ( profile ), 31 Oct, 2023 @ 11:59am

    Why go through all that when anyone can call their local newspaper, TV station, or radio station and file a complaint anonymously? Word will spread further using these sources than by someone's Facebook post.

  • On the post: Judge Extends Injunction Against Montana’s Anti-Drag Show Law

    John85851 ( profile ), 30 Oct, 2023 @ 01:20pm

    "Losing must be the new winning." Yes, it is. Even if Republicans lose the court cases, they'll claim they lost to left-wing activist judges who don't care about conservative values. So, yes, the politicians win. They would only lose if a judge finally said these laws were so against the constitution that the politicians shouldn't be in office and the just kicked them out of office.

  • On the post: FCC Robocall Enforcement A Feckless Mess, Experts Once Again Tell Congress

    John85851 ( profile ), 30 Oct, 2023 @ 12:58pm

    How to fix the problem

    I know this is a drastic fix, but: Set every phone to only allow calls from contacts' phone numbers or registered numbers, such as doctors, schools, businesses, and so on. That way, the number of unsolicited calls will be significantly reduced: no robo calls, no sales call, no debt collection, and so on. Sure, numbers might get spoofed, but if you get a car warranty scam call that says it's from Amazon, then you can tell Amazon to deal with the scammers spoofing their number. Unfortunately, this idea will also block legitimate unknown numbers, but maybe that's a risk we should take.

  • On the post: Streaming’s Latest ‘Innovation’: Ads When You Hit Pause

    John85851 ( profile ), 27 Oct, 2023 @ 10:52am

    Movie theaters have doing something similar

    Even though people have to pay to see a movie, theaters run ads before the movie. So, yes, they're double dipping also, by taking money from the viewer and from the advertisers. I wouldn't mind ads for something interesting, especially on the big screens, but the last time I saw a movie, the ads were exactly the same I saw on TV the night before. However, what's the advertising market for places like Amazon and Netflix? Will the ads be for junk or will the ad system show the same 4 or 5 ads because there aren't many companies buying ads? Does Amazon or Netflix even care about the viewer experience as long as they make plenty of money from ads? Of course, less viewers mean less of an audience for the ads, which means companies won't be willing to pay as much for ad space. But that's an issue to worry about next year.

  • On the post: IRS Pilots Direct File Program While Tax Prep Industry Flails In Response

    John85851 ( profile ), 20 Oct, 2023 @ 01:03pm

    Healthcare.gov

    Just remember what happened when the government rolled out the first version of Healthcare.gov. It was a complete and buggy mess that took months to fix while the site gave people the wrong information. The question is whether the new IRS website will be fully tested or if they'll push out a beta release just to meet a deadline. If they push out a beta release, then yes, most of what Intuit is saying will be true and most people will file wrong taxes and may get audited. However, this is just the first step, and I bet it'll wipe out most of Intuit's business once the site is fully functional in every state.

  • On the post: Appeals Court Tells State Of Florida It Still Can’t Enforce Its Unconstitutional Anti-Drag Show Law

    John85851 ( profile ), 20 Oct, 2023 @ 08:00am

    The rulings aren't the point

    The point of this lawsuit isn't to win. In fact, I'd say the opposite is true: the lawyers know the law hoes against the first amendment. But the whole point is to make a show about how they're for "family values" or "Christian values" and drag shows are just the latest targets. And if the lawyers lose (which they are), they just go to their right-wing base and said they tried, but those radical left wing liberal judges just don't support family values. Then the entire right-wing base gets upset about left wing liberals and no one talks about how drag shows are an artistic expression protected by the first amendment.

  • On the post: Comcast Takes Heat For Misleading ’10G’ Cable Broadband Branding

    John85851 ( profile ), 20 Oct, 2023 @ 06:55am

    Yes, exactly this. You could have a 100G or a 10G connection but it doesn't matter if the server is only sending out data at 5G.

  • On the post: Professor Wrongly Blames Apple For CSAM

    John85851 ( profile ), 18 Oct, 2023 @ 01:17pm

    Compare it to a physical location

    Whenever people say that Apple or Google is "allowing" abuse material on their servers, we should call them out by comparing it to a physical location: If abuse material is found in a train station locker, does that mean the train station is allowing it or they should be liable for it? Should the train station staff be searching every locker "just in case"? How would people react knowing the staff was going through their stuff? Then how is storing digital files on a server any different from storing photos in a physical locker? Why is the provider responsible for how people use the storage?

  • On the post: The Great Paywall Of Musk Will Consist Of $1/Year To Tweet

    John85851 ( profile ), 18 Oct, 2023 @ 01:07pm

    That's a good idea in theory, but the reality is that credit card companies will probably issue the $1 refund without even contacting X/ Twitter. After all, it costs them more than a $1 just to have a customer service representative issue the refund. Maybe after a few years and tens of thousands of people ask for refunds, maybe the credit card companies will look at X/ Twitter, but I don't think the company will be around long enough for the banks to do anything.

  • On the post: Denmark Trying To Brainwash Schoolchildren With The Tired Old Lie That Copying Is Theft

    John85851 ( profile ), 18 Oct, 2023 @ 12:44pm

    How to stop illegal copying is easy

    Here's how you do it: Make the item easily available at a fair price. How did music sharing slow down and stop? Not because the RIAA sued Napster, but because Apple offered songs for $1.99 on iTunes. The music was easy to get and cheap to buy, so there was no need to pirate it. How did movie sharing slow down? When everything was available on Netflix for a reasonable monthly price. But now the streaming services are so fragmented and some (Disney, Max) remove content, that it's hard to find a legal copy, even if you're willing to pay for it. Then there's the argument about whether copying an item that's not available is "stealing". If I share the "Willow" TV series or the "Batgirl" when neither of them are available for purchase, is it stealing? In other words, tired mottos don't work. Letting people buy the products does work.

  • On the post: Trump FCC Pick Nathan Simington Wants You To Think Net Neutrality Is A Secret Cabal By Big Tech To ‘Censor Conservatives’

    John85851 ( profile ), 05 Oct, 2023 @ 09:14am

    What points are being censored

    I keep saying this every time a right-wing Republican says he's being "censored": What conservative speech was removed? Were you talking about government fiscal policy? Were you talking about reducing the size of the government? Or were you repeating lies about Trump winning the election, about how COVID is fake, and so on? Let's have a discussion about why you think lies and hate should be acceptable speech. Oh right, because it's easier to cry "censorship" than to take responsibility for saying something terrible.

  • On the post: 5th Circuit Does It Again: Puts Yet Another Law Already Deemed Unconstitutional Into Effect With No Explanation

    John85851 ( profile ), 27 Sep, 2023 @ 01:34pm

    Is there anything we can do

    Is there anything we can do about judges like this? I don't think we can vote them out of office and I don't think we can impeach them. So then what's the solution, especially for judges like this that know they have power and use it and issue orders without any explanation? Can we petition a higher court to override his order?

  • On the post: It’s Beyond Stupid That Robocallers And Lobbyists Have Made Our Voice Networks Almost Unusable

    John85851 ( profile ), 26 Sep, 2023 @ 11:15am

    Like James said, you could have the best written laws in the world, with the best fines and the best punishment, but those laws are completely ineffective if no one's going to enforce them. And even if we assume government agencies will actively enforce the laws, how do they enforce them against overseas companies? Do you really think a company based in India or China cares about a $100,000 fine or even an atrest warrant? Then there's the second point that major US company is also spam people with robo calls, but enforcing the laws against them is just as useless.

  • On the post: Countries Eye Weight Tax To Counter Public Safety Threat Of Extremely Heavy, Large EVs

    John85851 ( profile ), 22 Sep, 2023 @ 09:27am

    What about road wear

    I read an article years ago, when huge SUV's were becoming popular. The author argued even then that the large vehicles were increasing the wear and tear on roads, especially the cobblestone streets in historic towns. One proposal was to ban large vehicles form those streets, even though they already ban tractor trailer trucks. But I don't know what happened to those proposals and if they're coming back now that EV's are getting heavier.

  • On the post: Delaware State Police Pay $50,000 To Man Troopers Ticketed For Flipping Them Off

    John85851 ( profile ), 21 Sep, 2023 @ 05:29am

    No consequences for police

    You there's an issue with not caring about the consequences if the police are caught talking about how they don't have any evidence and that the case against the person won't stick, yet they pull someone over to inconvenience them. Heck, by ticketing this person, these cops may have gotten one ticket closer to their monthly quota. And if it's a bad ticket? It gets dismissed later or the tax payers will pay the fines. So then why shouldn't cops just pull everyone over and deal with the fallout later?

  • On the post: Judge For FTC Rules Intuit Can’t Continue Its ‘Free To File’ Advertising Bullshit

    John85851 ( profile ), 13 Sep, 2023 @ 11:49am

    This is also how taxes work in many European countries. A vast majority of people only have 1 job and 1 source of income. That employer sends a tax statement to the IRS to let them know how much they paid the employee. Then the IRS could send a postcard to the person saying the company reported their income of $X and they owe $Y. There's no need for these people to even fill out the 1040EZ form. But, as many people have said, there's a huge industry of financial companies who offer to do taxes for people with promises to get their "maximum refund".

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