John Fenderson 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (17316)

• On the post: Hacked Data Obtained By The Intercept Highlights Wholesale Spying On Inmate, Attorney Privileged Communications

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 12 Nov, 2015 @ 08:42am

  Re: Not so simple

  According to the company, they determine which calls are exempt based on the phone number involved. That's entirely automatable and can avoid recording the call at all. No later review is necessary (and there'd be nothing to review.)
  
  The company also says that the attorneys have to proactively inform them that they're attorneys and their phone numbers. It's possible that the recorded calls were with attorneys who failed to do this, I don't know.
  
  But even if there is no serious violation here, the outright financial abuse the company is engaging in is despicable.

• On the post: Police Department Says It Would Rather Have A Good Relationship With The Community Than Cheap Military Gear

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 12 Nov, 2015 @ 07:06am

  Re: Re: Re: OMFG you guys are funny!

  Yes, there is a strong correlation. However, the cause of dangerous areas is not that they tend to have a lot of blacks in them. It's that they tend to be very poor. That there are lots of blacks in those areas is due to our racist society.
  
  To bring up race when discussing this issue is to distract from the actual issues and to imply that the issue is something inherent to the race.
  
  My comment has nothing to do with political correctness and everything to do with trying to identify the actual problem.

• On the post: Police Department Says It Would Rather Have A Good Relationship With The Community Than Cheap Military Gear

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 11 Nov, 2015 @ 06:20pm

  Re: OMFG you guys are funny!

  Your comment would make a little more sense if you were talking about economic status rather than race.

• On the post: Starting From Next Year, China Wants Music Services To Vet Every Song Before It Goes Online

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 11 Nov, 2015 @ 06:14pm

  Re: Re: Re: the USA (not China) sets the standard for new forms of censorship

  Or the opposite. Where I live, the most popular beer by sales is one that is brewed and bottled in town. Such hyper-localization is becoming less rare in many industries, even tech.

• On the post: Hacked Data Obtained By The Intercept Highlights Wholesale Spying On Inmate, Attorney Privileged Communications

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 11 Nov, 2015 @ 05:58pm

  Re: Re: The Intercept's Tor-enabled SecureDrop platform

  There is no evidence that Tor has been fundamentally broken. However, there has been a cat-and-mouse game with Tor from the very start, and weaknesses are periodically found and fixed.

• On the post: Police Department Says It Would Rather Have A Good Relationship With The Community Than Cheap Military Gear

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 11 Nov, 2015 @ 08:21am

  Re: People should follow this example...

  "Following the example" wouldn't be that. It would be to stop stockpiling military weaponry because you wanted a better relationship with your neighbors. Which is not a terrible idea.

• On the post: Child Development Expert: Playable Female Characters In Call Of Duty Will Harm Girls Just As It Has A Generation Of Boys

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 10 Nov, 2015 @ 06:01pm

  Re: Re: I was right with you until you said

  I love the Daily Mail. I consider it a borderline genius work of parody.

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

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 10 Nov, 2015 @ 05:55pm

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

  I find it difficult to just shrug off the enormous amount of collateral damage to innocent people that results from that course of action.

• On the post: Germany Wants To Define A Snippet As Seven Words Or Less; Doing So Is Likely To Breach Berne Convention

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 08 Nov, 2015 @ 11:57am

  Re: Re: Re: Re: the Berne Convention

  Laws can become out of date, of course. But in those cases, the argument or objection to the law is not "it's too old". It's the the law has become incorrect.
  
  You argue against the law on its merits, not on its age.

• On the post: US Officials Have No Problem Leaking Classified Surveillance Information… As Long As It Fits Their Narrative

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 08 Nov, 2015 @ 06:26am

  Re:

  That's not an important detail from my point of view. The issue isn't whether or not leaking the information is illegal. It's whether or not it's right.

• On the post: One Slightly Less Shitty Quarter For Cable Fuels Renewed Cord Cutting Denial

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 07 Nov, 2015 @ 04:17pm

  Re: On Demand

  I dunno about at the same price point. The only thing more insane than the price of cable TV is what they charge for on demand.

• On the post: Full Text Of TPP Released: And It's Really, Really Bad

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 07 Nov, 2015 @ 11:01am

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  Your assertion requires evidence.

• On the post: Germany Wants To Define A Snippet As Seven Words Or Less; Doing So Is Likely To Breach Berne Convention

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 07 Nov, 2015 @ 10:59am

  Re: Re: the Berne Convention

  Yep. I hate arguments that say a law is questionable because it's old. How long it's been on the books is irrelevant. There are very good laws that have been around for as long as there have been laws, and there are brand-spanking new laws that are disastrous.

• On the post: JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Says The Government Will 'Stop' Bitcoin

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 07 Nov, 2015 @ 10:57am

  Re:

  Bitcoin is not a fiat currency because there is no authority that sets its value.

• On the post: US Officials Have No Problem Leaking Classified Surveillance Information… As Long As It Fits Their Narrative

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 07 Nov, 2015 @ 10:53am

  Re: Ummm....that's the point

  In addition to the other comments rebutting this, I'd like to add that your argument ignores the fact that the government is not supposed to be some "other" that has feelings and motivations apart from the citizens. Rather, us citizens are supposed to be the government.

• On the post: TSA: Terrible At Security But Finally Willing To Work On Its Problems

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 07 Nov, 2015 @ 06:40am

  Re:

  That would take time, effort, and money. The TSA isn't concerned with effectiveness anyway. They're concerned with increasing their own power and training the public to be subservient.

• On the post: One Slightly Less Shitty Quarter For Cable Fuels Renewed Cord Cutting Denial

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 07 Nov, 2015 @ 06:30am

  Re: Hidden Costs

  "Blame Disney as much as Cox for your $100+ cable bill."
  
  I think most everyone understands that the entire cabe industry is filled with greedy sociopathic assholes.

• On the post: Full Text Of TPP Released: And It's Really, Really Bad

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 07 Nov, 2015 @ 06:20am

  Re: Re: Re:

  "The blackout was hardly a 'Google only' event"
  
  Not only that, but Google was a late-comer to the thing. They didn't really want to take part, but they saw which way the wind was blowing and didn't want to look like they were siding with the bad guys.

• On the post: JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Says The Government Will 'Stop' Bitcoin

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 07 Nov, 2015 @ 06:07am

  Re: Re: history will repeat

  Greenbacks refer to the bills used during the civil war. While they are still technically legal tender, they are not circulated because they are worth much, much more as collectors items than as cash.
  
  Greenbacks came in two forms: demand notes, which were not originally legal tender but could be used to pay customs duties, and United States notes, which were legal tender and the nation's first fiat currency.
  
  Demand notes stopped being printed in 1862, US notes in 1865.

• On the post: Facebook Bans Tsu Links Entirely, Choosing Control Over User Empowerment

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 07 Nov, 2015 @ 05:54am

  Re: Re:

  And now it's out of style in high school set, and increasingly with the college crowd. It's thought of as the place where businesses and old farts hang out.

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