John Fenderson 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (17316)

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

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 29 Oct, 2015 @ 07:46am

  Re: All that wasted data

  It's hard enough for me to understand why anyone is going to the Yahoo website in the first place. I can't even begin to imagine that there is a nontrivial number of people who have it as their homepage.

• On the post: 'Hate Speech' Laws Are Just Another Way For Governments To Punish People They Don't Like

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 28 Oct, 2015 @ 04:27pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re:

  "Oh, so hate the Christian and not the bible."
  
  No. It's more like "condemn the hyprocrites pretending to be Christians".

• On the post: Right To Be Forgotten Now Lives In Australia: Court Says Google Is The 'Publisher' Of Material It Links To

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 28 Oct, 2015 @ 04:22pm

  Re:

  This isn't really about Google.

• On the post: Right To Be Forgotten Now Lives In Australia: Court Says Google Is The 'Publisher' Of Material It Links To

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 28 Oct, 2015 @ 04:16pm

  Re: Unlimited liability for newpaper delivery boys?

  And newspaper delivery is even more involved than what Google does. A deliveryboy actually delivers the content to the user. Google doesn't even do that much -- it just tells you the address of the content, you have to go and get it yourself.

• On the post: Senate Passes CISA, The Surveillance Bill Masquerading As A Cybersecurity Bill; Here's Who Sold Out Your Privacy

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 28 Oct, 2015 @ 09:13am

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  In my opinion, gmail is the more problematic of Google's services. It's easy to use Google's search while minimizing your exposure. It's impossible to use gmail the same way.

• On the post: Senate Passes CISA, The Surveillance Bill Masquerading As A Cybersecurity Bill; Here's Who Sold Out Your Privacy

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 28 Oct, 2015 @ 07:45am

  Re: Re: Re:

  "Time to use foreign alternatives for all Internet services such as Google, Facebook, etc."
  
  No. It's time to stop using those sorts of services entirely. It's long past time, actually.

• On the post: Senate Rejects All CISA Amendments Designed To Protect Privacy, Reiterating That It's A Surveillance Bill

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 27 Oct, 2015 @ 01:15pm

  Re: Feinstein's legacy

  Feinstein believes that she is taking the correct stance, so from her point of view there's nothing to clean up.

• On the post: Comey Sells The 'Ferguson Effect,' Blames Spikes In Violent Crime On Citizens With Cameras

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 27 Oct, 2015 @ 12:24pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re:

  "[citation needed]"
  
  The video shows this. King is laying on the ground, no longer moving, let alone resisting, while the cops continue to beat the crap out of him.
  
  I honestly can't think of a single circumstance that would make that OK.

• On the post: Comey Sells The 'Ferguson Effect,' Blames Spikes In Violent Crime On Citizens With Cameras

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 27 Oct, 2015 @ 08:08am

  Re: Re:

  The problem with Rodney King is that the cops kept beating him well beyond when he was subdued. That's what the cameras caught. The events leading up to that don't really matter for that issue.

• On the post: Library Of Congress Releases DMCA Anti-Circumvention Exemptions… And It's A Hot Mess

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 27 Oct, 2015 @ 12:15pm

  It's a shame

  I used to hold the Library of Congress in very high regard. By putting them in this role, however, Congress has guaranteed that they will look like shit no matter what your stance on anti-circumvention issues is.
  
  It's such a shame to see the institution abused like this.

• On the post: The IRS Has A Stingray As Well Because Of Course It Does

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 26 Oct, 2015 @ 04:22pm

  Re: Capone

  I agree. As long as the law isn't being stretched, bent, oddly interpreted, etc., there's nothing wrong with properly convicting someone of a crime that he actually committed, even if he probably committed even greater crimes as well.
  
  But it does make me nervous. When multiple agencies coordinate to pin something on someone just because they don't like them or suspect them of some crime they can't prove it turns into the sort of high intensity project easily gets out of hand, especially in bureaucratic environments.

• On the post: Comey Sells The 'Ferguson Effect,' Blames Spikes In Violent Crime On Citizens With Cameras

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 26 Oct, 2015 @ 04:01pm

  Re: Can't have it both ways...

  "Surveillance state detractors (myself included) cannot reasonably promote a state free of dragnet surveillance and then turn around and give the big thumbs up to constant citizen surveillance and heckling of the police."
  
  I don't think that's what's happening, though. Outside of the fringe that exists with any group, nobody is giving a big thumbs up to heckling or harassing cops.
  
  As to constant citizen surveillance of cops performing their duties, that's nothing close to the dragnet surveillance that is being fought against. It's really the same as the sort of surveillance that many employers engage in (and we are the employers, remember). While that type of surveillance is not free from controversey, it's also a different issue that must take into account different considerations. It can't really be compared to the arguments against uniquitous surveillance in the way you propose.

• On the post: DOJ Claims Apple Should Be Forced To Decrypt iPhones Because Apple, Not Customers, 'Own' iOS

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 26 Oct, 2015 @ 02:38pm

  Re: Re: I actually kinda agree with the government's arguement here

  "A manufacturer of safes might well have tools that could let them into my safe"
  
  This is an interesting analogy.
  
  First, the manufacturer of a safe does not have copies of keys or combos that would allow them entry, and there is no "backdoor" -- that is, no master key or combo.
  
  Second, safe manufacturers will help you open a safe you own if you lose the key/combo -- but they will do so using the same methods that safe-crackers use. The advantage (and it's not a small advantage) that the manufacturer has is that they intimately know how the thing is built, so they know the right spot to drill, for example.
  
  In the end, a safe manufacturer does not have any ability to open their safe beyond what a skilled and knowledgeable safe cracker has. I find it interesting that the DOJ is demanding more concessions from the like of Apple than they demand from safe manufacturers.

• On the post: DOJ Claims Apple Should Be Forced To Decrypt iPhones Because Apple, Not Customers, 'Own' iOS

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 26 Oct, 2015 @ 12:50pm

  Re: Re:

  Violynne overstates the point, but underneath that he does make a valid one.
  
  "That's not entirely true, at least on iOS 9. You can have a copy of your credentials sync'd with iCloud, but you can choose not to."
  
  So Apple claims, but unless you can verify this first-hand (and I don't see how that's possible), you have to take their word for it. In the security world, if you have to take someone's word for it, then the security model is broken.

• On the post: DOJ Claims Apple Should Be Forced To Decrypt iPhones Because Apple, Not Customers, 'Own' iOS

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 26 Oct, 2015 @ 12:47pm

  Re: Re: Re: Craaaaazy thought here

  That's because we're conflating two thing here. "Open source" says little about what the licensing arrangement is. It only means that the source is available for exmination and modification.
  
  "Free software" (as in speech, not beer) says a lot about the licensing arrangement, but doesn't say much about the open source status.
  
  Most people think of the two as analogous, since most open source software is also free software. But it doesn't have to be, and in many proprietary platforms it isn't.

• On the post: DOJ Claims Apple Should Be Forced To Decrypt iPhones Because Apple, Not Customers, 'Own' iOS

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 26 Oct, 2015 @ 12:44pm

  Re: Craaaaazy thought here

  I had the exact same thought. But that's not what will happen. If presented with a choice between giving up their precious licensing model and throwing all of their customers under the bus, major software companies will throw everyone under the bus every time.

• On the post: Reading The Tea Leaves To Understand Why CISA Is A Surveillance Bill

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 26 Oct, 2015 @ 12:36pm

  Re:

  If it can be used as a surveillance bill, then it is a surveillance bill.

• On the post: Court Dismisses Wikimedia's Lawsuit Over NSA Surveillance

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 26 Oct, 2015 @ 07:59am

  Re: Re:

  "What Wikipedia really needs to get standing is a case or example where confidential information from Wikipedia actually gets used."
  
  So in other words there is no possible way to address this problem through the legal system. That seems like a very dangerous thing if your interest the legitimacy of government.

• On the post: Court Dismisses Wikimedia's Lawsuit Over NSA Surveillance

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 26 Oct, 2015 @ 07:56am

  Re: Re:

  "You can now no longer assume your over-the-wire communications are not being watched every single transaction."
  
  Not strong enough.
  
  You can assume that every byte you send online is being watched by somebody (and usually many somebodies) that you don't intend.
  
  Because that's the truth.

• On the post: While Most Of The Rest Of The Internet Industry Is Fighting Against CISA, Facebook Accused Of Secretly Lobbying For It

  

  John Fenderson ( profile ), 26 Oct, 2015 @ 07:50am

  In character

  This would seem to be very unfortunate if it's true, and hopefully Facebook reconsiders

  
  
  I hope so too, but let's face it. This is Facebook we're talking about. Facebook has very little regard for the internet or its users, so I don't expect them to change their stance.

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