madasahatter 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Democratic National Committee's Lawsuit Against Russians, Wikileaks And Various Trump Associates Full Of Legally Nutty Arguments

    madasahatter ( profile ), 21 Apr, 2018 @ 05:28am

    Re: Doesn't this open the DNC to discovery?

    If it gets that far. The DNC will be asked about their security practices and for logs. Also, there is no 5th Admendment in civil trials so public testimony could prove interesting.

  • On the post: California Court Dismisses Copyright Suit Against BBC Over Cosby Documentary Over Lack Of Jurisdiction

    madasahatter ( profile ), 03 Mar, 2018 @ 05:36am

    Surprised

    The court got it right. The fact the BBC's efforts could be evaded by someone's personal efforts does not negate the fact the show was blocked for distribution in the US. Geoblocking can be evaded by some relatively easy methods but these methods require the user to actively do something; something many will not do even if they are aware of the methods.

  • On the post: Slowing Down Driverless Cars Would Be A Fatal Mistake

    madasahatter ( profile ), 03 Mar, 2018 @ 05:31am

    Prototypes vs Production

    AVs are in the prototype phase of development, which might be lengthy. In this phase, one of the goals is to find the situations where the AVs do not perform correctly (why the disengagements). Once these are known, they potentially can be fixed. If a sufficient number and type can be fixed then AVs become production ready.

    A logical flaw is that every disengagement automatically means an accident. Without knowing the details of each event it is hard to say if an accident would have actually occurred or whether the fault is with the AV.

  • On the post: Federal Court Shuts Down IMDb-Targeting 'Anti-Ageism' Law Permanently

    madasahatter ( profile ), 23 Feb, 2018 @ 03:23pm

    Re:

    Age, birth date, birthplace, etc. are facts. IMDB.com, like many information aggregation sites, relies on the completeness of the relevant information to be useful. Plus the judge basically said the real problem is not age discrimination by sexism.

  • On the post: Sequel To 'Man From Earth' Released On Pirate Sites By Its Creators

    madasahatter ( profile ), 20 Jan, 2018 @ 05:44am

    Guerrilla Marketing

    What the Internet does best is guerrilla marketing. They had no marketing budget but the torrents gave them the buzz to generate ticket sales and PayPal payments. It sounds like they made a little money also.

    For small budget films this can work reasonably well as the break even is fairly low. Another key is whether the film is worth watching. Something the studios have forgotten; make films worth watching and people might show up.

  • On the post: New Documents And Testimony Shows Officers Lied About Their Role In An Arrested Teen's Death

    madasahatter ( profile ), 16 Dec, 2017 @ 05:27am

    Re: Instead of blaming IDIOT for using illegal drugs, Techdirt blames police.

    Once they took him into custody they were responsible for his welfare. They did not take someone in medical distress to a hospital for evaluation and care. If they had and he died there is no case because they would have done what they could.

  • On the post: New Documents And Testimony Shows Officers Lied About Their Role In An Arrested Teen's Death

    madasahatter ( profile ), 16 Dec, 2017 @ 05:24am

    Re: Re: Re: Why would there be a statute of limitations on prosecuting crimes?

    I believe in most states there is no statute of limitations for a homicide of all degrees. Something about not being able to prosecute smells here. Also, federal charges (denial of civil rights) might be available.

  • On the post: New York City Hotels Say Obnoxious $25 'Destination Fee' 'Improves The Customer Experience'

    madasahatter ( profile ), 07 Dec, 2017 @ 01:56pm

    Alienating customers

    Alienating customers is not a viable long term strategy. When I travel, I like the hotel fees to all inclusive when booking with the only line items added to be something I asked for while there. Like most I am budgeting my travel costs and want to know an accurate rate.

    I will stay at properties that do not find new 'fees' that are added on to the room rate.

  • On the post: Vulnerability Found In Amazon Key, Again Showing How Dumber Tech Is Often The Smarter Option

    madasahatter ( profile ), 23 Nov, 2017 @ 07:50am

    Re: IOT Locks

    The garage door is not typically connected to the Internet.

  • On the post: New York Court Says NYPD Must Get Warrants To Deploy Stingrays

    madasahatter ( profile ), 22 Nov, 2017 @ 10:53am

    The warrant makes the evidence more open in court. Now a competent defense attorney can ask in open court how it works. If the question is dodged he now has grounds for a dismissal with prejudice.

  • On the post: 3 Million Dish Customers May Miss Thanksgiving Football In Latest Example Of TV Industry Dysfunction

    madasahatter ( profile ), 22 Nov, 2017 @ 10:49am

    Children's Broadcast Service

    The idiots at CBS are forgetting TV viewership is declining across the board. They need the viewers but the viewers do not need them.

  • On the post: David Boies Accused Of Running Horrifying Spy Operation Against Harvey Weinstein's Accusers

    madasahatter ( profile ), 08 Nov, 2017 @ 03:37pm

    JUDGE ALSUP: If you know the language. Once you know the language, it is a five-minute proposition. - Judge Alsup learned enough programming to understand each language has its own idioms. Thus much of the code to solve a particular type of problem tends to resemble each other in a given language.

    Boies is a POS who would sell his own grandmother and daughters into slavery if it would gain him an advantage (sue me slime).

  • On the post: Dear Senators Portman & Blumenthal: What Should Blogs Do If SESTA Passes?

    madasahatter ( profile ), 07 Nov, 2017 @ 02:51pm

    Re:

    The real problem with most laws enacted by Congress is they allow an agency to write and enforce a set of rules by administrative action. Often there is no court oversight over the agencies (criminal) actions.

  • On the post: Equustek No-Shows Legal Challenge Of Canadian Court Order Demanding Google Delist Sites Worldwide

    madasahatter ( profile ), 03 Nov, 2017 @ 07:39am

    Re: Re: Re:

    On 1. It changes nothing but if one is using a vpn or tor there is a technical work around because the site thinks one is not from Canada.
    On 2. Basically neither though I suspect must will use the US ruling to Canada to sod off.
    On 3. Google an leave Canada and it probably will not affect things very much for them. What will probably happen if Ottawa gets carried away is the polite but firm reminder that Google is ultimately a US corp and is obeying US law so get heads of asses by Foggy Bottom.

  • On the post: Equustek No-Shows Legal Challenge Of Canadian Court Order Demanding Google Delist Sites Worldwide

    madasahatter ( profile ), 03 Nov, 2017 @ 05:48am

    Re:

    Default judgments rarely lead to any substantive rulings as the winner wins by the other party not showing up. In fact that the court issued such a ruling is a bit unusual but given the origin of the case the judge probably felt it necessary to give a more thorough legal analysis of the issues. The judge is saying under any reasonable understanding of how searches work and US law the Canadian ruling is one idiotic for numerous reasons and two null and void in the US (and by extension worldwide by the same logic).

  • On the post: Judge Doesn't Care Much For DOJ's Boilerplate, Refuses To Grant One Year Gag Order

    madasahatter ( profile ), 30 Oct, 2017 @ 03:15pm

    Re: government lawyers

    Only the scalps of the 'convicted' because of some semi-bogus charges. Remember, Martha Stewart was never convicted of insider trading but of the minor charge of lying to the FBI. Her lies had no affect on the case but it was the only charge the DA could actually make stick.

  • On the post: NY Times Uncritically Says Fake News Debate Supports Chinese Style Censorship

    madasahatter ( profile ), 29 Oct, 2017 @ 08:09am

    Re: Let's call it like it is. "Fake news" = propaganda.

    Yes it is propaganda and both sides are doing it. But I think there is another reason for the calls for censorship; the legacy media has mostly lost their gatekeeper status about what stories will be followed. Now there are many general and specialized sources of reasonable quality for news and information that most are not dependent on the legacy media.

    One can now keep up with various issues and stories without ever needing to reading Izvestia on the Hudson or Pravda on the Potomac (or any other scandal sheet) or watch any of the network or cable news (including Fox) to know what is going on. Given the sloppiness of most legacy media 'reporting' one can be forgiven if you do not trust their basic veracity or competence.

  • On the post: Author Who Lost Copyright Case Over The Da Vinci Code In The US In 2007 Looks To Revive It In The UK In 2017

    madasahatter ( profile ), 20 Oct, 2017 @ 05:56am

    Infirngement

    One thing about copyright infringement I would think needs to be proved is the Brown in this case knew enough about the other work to have used its plot, etc. in his work. Given that both novels are speculative fiction set at the same time it is not too surprising that they have similarities. It is not as if the medieval source material (even if it is fictional itself) was unknown and medieval politics has been studied.

  • On the post: Harvey Weinstein Tries Every Possible Response To Explosive NY Times Story

    madasahatter ( profile ), 10 Oct, 2017 @ 02:41pm

    Re: Re: Lawyering

    If you are a criminal defense attorney your job is make sure your client gets a fair trial even if they are guilty. And if they are not guilty, they definitely need a fair trial. It is not who their clients are but how they act in public that counts. There are some showboating shysters who deserve all the ridicule they get.

  • On the post: Harvey Weinstein Tries Every Possible Response To Explosive NY Times Story

    madasahatter ( profile ), 10 Oct, 2017 @ 02:45pm

    "I came of age in the 60's and 70's"

    Many boys and men from that era were taught to keep your fly zippered up and hands away from certain female areas unless she was your wife.

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