Jon Renaut 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (196) comment rss

  • On the post: The Worst Article You Might Ever Read About 'Cybersecurity'

    Jon Renaut ( profile ), 27 Feb, 2013 @ 01:16pm

    Re: Re: Typos and stuff

    I think you give his grammar too much credit - I read that as the prosecution led to the suicide.

    Maybe I'm giving him too much credit...

  • On the post: The Worst Article You Might Ever Read About 'Cybersecurity'

    Jon Renaut ( profile ), 27 Feb, 2013 @ 01:14pm

    Re: Re: Typos and stuff

    Problematic, sure. But it lowers the level of problem from "bats@#t f*#king insane" to "non sequitur" or perhaps "poor journalism".

  • On the post: The Worst Article You Might Ever Read About 'Cybersecurity'

    Jon Renaut ( profile ), 27 Feb, 2013 @ 12:52pm

    Typos and stuff

    The United States Sentencing Commission?s website was destroyed when activists attacked the site to protect the federal prosecution of Bart Swartz which eventually led to Mr. Swartz committing suicide.
    If you take "protect" as a typo for "protest", substitute "Aaron" for "Bart", let him say that the prosecution caused the suicide, which may be false but certainly isn't an absurd position to take, and wave away "destroyed" as coming from someone who doesn't understand websites, that sentence makes sense.
    The United States Sentencing Commission?s website was hacked when activists attacked the site to protest the federal prosecution of Aaron Swartz which eventually led to Mr. Swartz committing suicide.

  • On the post: Is Using A Single Lyric From A Musician You're A Fan Of 'Theft' Or 'An Homage'?

    Jon Renaut ( profile ), 07 Nov, 2012 @ 12:14pm

    Well, I'm going to go throw away all my Matt Nathanson albums right now because clearly I can get exactly the same thing from Taylor Swift.

    Wait. Who is Matt Nathanson?

  • On the post: UN: The Problem With The Internet Today Is It's Just Too Open & Terrorists Might Use It

    Jon Renaut ( profile ), 24 Oct, 2012 @ 09:48am

    Buy the UN a dictionary

    I think someone on this task force needs to look up the definition of "criminalize" and "unlawful".

  • On the post: Lindsay Lohan's Lawyer's Loopy Legal Argument Laced With Lifted Language?

    Jon Renaut ( profile ), 23 Mar, 2012 @ 10:58am

    Re:

    I'm trying and failing to find a synonym for "argument" that starts with L.

  • On the post: Angry Birds CEO At Peace With Chinese Counterfeit Merchandise

    Jon Renaut ( profile ), 02 Nov, 2011 @ 11:38am

    Re: Re: Interesting IP question

    Ahh, thanks for ruining my hypothetical with your fancy lawyer "facts".

    Could the counterfeiters use it as leverage towards maybe a merchandising deal? If I understand you correctly, they still could counter-sue and COULD win, though it would be tough. There would be legal costs involved for Rovio, at least.

  • On the post: Angry Birds CEO At Peace With Chinese Counterfeit Merchandise

    Jon Renaut ( profile ), 02 Nov, 2011 @ 10:11am

    Interesting IP question

    Do the counterfeiters have any control over their own innovations that have build on Angry Birds? Clearly they're doing stuff that Rovio hasn't thought of, or Rovio wouldn't be looking to them for inspiration.

    Could a counterfeiter then sue Rovio for copying the copies? Obviously the counterfeiters would have to admit to the original copying, but it might make for a really interesting legal ruling.

  • On the post: Roger Ebert Points People To The 'Ebert-Edit' Of Psycho On The Pirate Bay

    Jon Renaut ( profile ), 19 Oct, 2011 @ 10:01am

    I think you're wrong on harm

    Ebert is considered an expert on movies - by many probably THE expert. if one is considering a purchase of the movie, and THE expert has said, "here's a better version that is also free", I don't think most people are going to buy/rent the original as well as the "perfect" version.

    Although, I can't imagine that many of the people who follow Ebert on Twitter haven't seen the original already. The actual harm may end up being minimal, but I think your argument on why that would be the case is wrong.

  • On the post: NFL Ramps Up Security Theatre

    Jon Renaut ( profile ), 21 Sep, 2011 @ 09:29am

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    It IS important to stay hydrated.

  • On the post: NFL Ramps Up Security Theatre

    Jon Renaut ( profile ), 21 Sep, 2011 @ 06:52am

    Re: Re:

    Two of my friends got a full 24 pack of Miller Lite into FedEx Field pre-9/11. That's, what, $250 if you actually pay for it inside? The revenue of the food and drink vendors inside the stadium is much, much more important than preventing terrorism.

  • On the post: Author Dumps Publisher At Book Launch Party

    Jon Renaut ( profile ), 20 Sep, 2011 @ 05:49pm

    Re: I've always thought there needed to be Better Negotiating on the contract

    Don't sell yourself short - for that deal, 10% is about what the PUBLISHER should keep, not you. You can do what you describe now, so long as you can market the book/s yourself.

  • On the post: Since When Did US Diplomats Become Microsoft Sales Staff?

    Jon Renaut ( profile ), 07 Sep, 2011 @ 09:43am

    Protecting US interests

    You've got it wrong - the State Department is just protecting national interests. If we have to deal with crappy Microsoft products, the world has to deal with them, too. Imagine if the Bosnian government switched to Linux? Think how much money they'd save! Think how many extra processor cycles they'd be able to leverage without anti-virus software running all the time! We'd never be able to compete!

  • On the post: Is Destroying A Hard Drive On A Work Issued Computer The Equivalent Of Hacking Or Fraud?

    Jon Renaut ( profile ), 06 Sep, 2011 @ 07:27am

    Not very good at his job

    If he knew what he was doing in security and privacy, he'd know how to protect his personal data without destroying the hard drive. If "destroy the hard drive" is an answer to "how do I protect personal data?" at Deloitte, sign me up for a high-paying consulting job. I can destroy hard drives ALL DAY LONG.

    Still, a very bad precedent to set - hopefully the court comes to its senses.

  • On the post: How Data Retention Makes Us Less Secure

    Jon Renaut ( profile ), 03 Aug, 2011 @ 01:43pm

    Not so compelling

    I don't find this argument as compelling as others - the data could always be stored offline (not that the law requires this, but still). I think it's dangerous to start piling on more and more arguments after someone like Rep Lofgren has already presented real problems stemming from the law.

    Every argument that can be dismissed as "well, we can do X to fix that" weakens the overall objection to the law.

  • On the post: Labor Board Continues To Warn Companies Not To Fire People Based On Tweets

    Jon Renaut ( profile ), 05 May, 2011 @ 06:14am

    Note: This only applies to unionized labor

    It should be noted that the NLRB only handles cases where there is a union - employers can still fire non-union employees for just about anything they want, including things said on Facebook. I think the laws on that sort of thing vary by state, but I also think most states set a pretty low bar.

  • On the post: Flat World Knowledge Continues To Innovate: Make Your Own Textbook Platform

    Jon Renaut ( profile ), 28 Apr, 2011 @ 06:38am

    For the greater good

    This is a really positive thing for the rest of the country that thinks more open sharing of knowledge/content is generally a good thing. Nearly everyone gives more leeway when it's done in the name of education, and hopefully soon we can point to FWK and their success as a concrete argument in favor of scaling back copyright laws.

  • On the post: Feds: 4th Amendment Shouldn't Apply To Online Emails Because… That Would Make Us Have To Work Harder

    Jon Renaut ( profile ), 08 Apr, 2011 @ 09:52am

    Loopholes?

    Can an email provider get around this by doing something to your content every 179 days to keep the clock resetting? Moving it to another server, maybe?

  • On the post: Rethinking Music Selling Incentives: Can A Pyramid Scheme Help Save Music Sales?

    Jon Renaut ( profile ), 08 Mar, 2011 @ 06:09am

    Re: Even if the distributed files aren't DRM-encumbered...

    Exactly. Introducing market inefficiencies is hardly a recipe for business success.

  • On the post: Rethinking Music Selling Incentives: Can A Pyramid Scheme Help Save Music Sales?

    Jon Renaut ( profile ), 08 Mar, 2011 @ 06:06am

    Re: stolen ideas

    But you can't right-click and copy webhosting. It's a similar model, but I think the situations are too different to draw meaningful parallels.

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