Dan 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Russia Disconnects Itself From The Internet, Asks UN To Let It Have More Control Of Internet Usage Around The World

    Dan ( profile ), 03 Jan, 2020 @ 11:05am

    When the largest country in the western world does it, why not?

    No moral high ground for the U.S. here, unfortunately. We would have done it ourselves already, if not for the global info need of our intelligence community.

  • On the post: Police Departments Are Using Swatting Registries To Help Protect Swatting Targets From Police Officers

    Dan ( profile ), 31 Dec, 2019 @ 04:58pm

    Re: Default Options

    Agreed, wholeheartedly.

  • On the post: Police Departments Are Using Swatting Registries To Help Protect Swatting Targets From Police Officers

    Dan ( profile ), 31 Dec, 2019 @ 04:57pm

    Re: oh joy

    I just heard that same comment from someone else I relayed the story to. It was the first thing out of his mouth.

  • On the post: Police Departments Are Using Swatting Registries To Help Protect Swatting Targets From Police Officers

    Dan ( profile ), 31 Dec, 2019 @ 04:54pm

    Re:

    While there would be some benefit here of being able to instantly Trace any call, I could see the potential for a lot of law enforcement abuse that would easily outway the benefits of using it as a solution for the swatting problem. I think the better solution to the problem would be to solve the one of law enforcement using SWAT teams at the drop of a hat. They're the people with the alleged training in situations like this. If we just need a bunch of guys that can pull a gun and use it, we can hire the guys from duck dynasty for a whole lot less.

  • On the post: Police Departments Are Using Swatting Registries To Help Protect Swatting Targets From Police Officers

    Dan ( profile ), 31 Dec, 2019 @ 06:39am

    Re: Re: This works until...

    Fear.

  • On the post: Police Departments Are Using Swatting Registries To Help Protect Swatting Targets From Police Officers

    Dan ( profile ), 31 Dec, 2019 @ 03:45am

    This works until...

    This works well until the majority of people register their homes as no-kill zones. Then the cops will throw it out. But maybe that's just my cynicism. I should have realized sooner it was necessary to register with the government to get the protections granted by the Constitution. (Oops, there it goes again.)

  • On the post: While Trump Complains About Facebook Takedowns, Facebook Is Helping Trump Take Down Content He Doesn't Like

    Dan ( profile ), 09 May, 2019 @ 12:17pm

    Re: Re: The real problem

    You have to understand the Facebook business model. "We" are their product. Without people getting on FB directly, their whole business falls apart. Sure, they will host news articles posted by users. Provided, you have to log on to FB directly to get it. That is the source of their revenue, not what is being posted. That is why the third party apps you mention, are not allowed. FB pulling things down is them being fearful of what actual government regulated moderation might arise, if they did not. The entertainment industry did the same with the voluntary Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) film rating system, back in the day. If that had not occurred, the government would have intervened, to force the issue.

  • On the post: While Trump Complains About Facebook Takedowns, Facebook Is Helping Trump Take Down Content He Doesn't Like

    Dan ( profile ), 09 May, 2019 @ 12:04pm

    Re: Re: The real problem

    Agreed. The mainstream media has not only gotten lazy, but they have put an emphasis on being the first to put out a story, as opposed to putting out an accurate one. So, they let others do the garbage collection for them. That is solely their fault. I don't fault Facebook or Twitter for that. News is not social media's purpose, and social media never claimed it to be, unless you've heard something I haven't.

  • On the post: While Trump Complains About Facebook Takedowns, Facebook Is Helping Trump Take Down Content He Doesn't Like

    Dan ( profile ), 09 May, 2019 @ 11:55am

    Re: Re: The real problem

    Political parties do for elections, what paint by numbers does for art.

  • On the post: While Trump Complains About Facebook Takedowns, Facebook Is Helping Trump Take Down Content He Doesn't Like

    Dan ( profile ), 09 May, 2019 @ 11:29am

    The real problem

    The white elephant in the room is the fact that people use social platforms as a [sole] news source, instead of exercising independent thought and common sense. No legislation, or private action is going to do that for them. We all look at the symptoms, and never the actual problem. Anyone who allows their views to be shaped by social media is an idiot. They need to stop being lazy and do their own research. That goes for blindly following political parties during elections, as well.

  • On the post: John Oliver Robocalls Ajit Pai For Not Doing More To Thwart Robocalls

    Dan ( profile ), 13 Mar, 2019 @ 09:22pm

    Re: God News

    I agree these calls are free speech. But put people on those phone lines. Then we'll see how badly those marketers want to reach consumers by paying the salaries. They will certainly be good "starter jobs".

  • On the post: Federal Judge Says Boycotts Aren't Protected Speech

    Dan ( profile ), 30 Jan, 2019 @ 02:12pm

    Re: Re: What are they preventing exactly?

    "What in the hell does Medicare have to do with the First Amendment?" If the PRICE you can charge for your product was relevant to the 1st Amendment, the AMA would have brought a huge constitutional challenge for all the doctors forced to undercharge their patients. And they would win, barring any of the usual government tom-foolery. But price has never been a component. If it was, the whole free market wouldn't exist as it does now. Correct me if I'm wrong but, didn't Citizens United establish that money was speech, however didn't specify an actual amount? The money itself is important to speech, but not the amount. Otherwise we would have limits in campaign funding. "No, but it does imply that the government is not allowed to impose a penalty on protected speech based on the political content of that speech." That aspect only goes so far. The government imposes all kinds of fees and penalties for being able to speak, or speaking out of turn. Money has never been part of the issue. (I concede there are exceptions.) In some states you need to pay for a state issued ID just to exercise your right to vote. That's a penalty. Permits to assemble... and the list goes on and on. Sure, people have their panties in a bunch because this happens to be a paper, but there is no right for that paper to make any money. That's up to them.

  • On the post: Federal Judge Says Boycotts Aren't Protected Speech

    Dan ( profile ), 30 Jan, 2019 @ 01:08pm

    What are they preventing exactly?

    I don't see the clear First Amendment violation here.

    No one is saying they can't participate in a boycott.
    No one is saying they can't sell papers.

    They're only saying you have to give a discount. Any of you on Medicare already know the government does this on doctor fees charged to Medicare. If this is a violation, so is Medicare for dictating what can be charged by doctors. And as someone else already pointed out, the paper can jack up it's price and give everyone the discount, or give the paper away for free. (Unless the article is leaving something out.)

    Freedom of speech bars the government from preventing publication of the paper. It does not imply that one should be paid [full price] for it, in any case.

    But, a stupid law and likely unenforceable, nonetheless.

  • On the post: Denuvo-Protected Just Cause 4 Cracked In A Day, Suffering From Shitty Reviews

    Dan ( profile ), 10 Dec, 2018 @ 10:08pm

    The main reason publishers hate piracy (the word gets out)

    I have always been of the opinion that the real main goal of DRM was to DELAY potentially bad reviews via the piracy "preview". If game gets cracked and the game sucks, word is going to get around much faster, during the initial sales push (and kills those sales off). Have you ever noticed that it's the bad movies that push infringement the hardest, before the word gets out? Same principle in play here.

    But game reviews on YouTube have made this tactic completely ineffective, so I wonder about the point nowadays.
    Now they're "doing what they always do" out of habit. Except Bethesda. They just over-hype in the pre-order phase, and sell buggy games that way.

  • On the post: The TV Sector's Latest Bad Idea: Ads That Play When You Press Pause

    Dan ( profile ), 06 Dec, 2018 @ 12:41pm

    Some will like this...

    My mom (rest her soul), would have loved this idea.

    She was deathly afraid of screen burn in. She would raise the riot act, even if we paused to pee. (In spite of reassurances from her techno-son.)

    Anything to keep motion on the screen was a good thing in her book. And there are other techno-illiterates still out there who are going to think the same.

  • On the post: But Her Emails: Ivanka Trump Also Used A Private Email Account For Official Government Business

    Dan ( profile ), 20 Nov, 2018 @ 03:23pm

    What's really sad...

    Anyone from administrations BEFORE Hillary Clinton on up could have said, "Hey, if the rank and file employees have to use government accounts/servers for government business, so should I."

    None of the higher ups did. The problem is obviously systematic, regardless of to whom you are currently pointing the blame finger. Be that the political system, technical system, the hoop-jumping system, or the ass kissing system in Washington.

    No one in Washington cares. They haven't for a long time. They have been fighting FOIA since it was passed. Although in Mrs. Trump's case, it's just as likely to be idiocy, as anything else.

  • On the post: Charter Spectrum's CEO Continues To Whine About Streaming Password Sharing

    Dan ( profile ), 05 Nov, 2018 @ 08:04am

    How can he not know?

    “The reality is television can be had fairly easy without paying for it."

    That's been the business model since the invention of TV. Talk about not seeing the forest through the trees.

  • On the post: Copyright Office Extends Anti-Circumvention DMCA Exemptions To All Filmmakers, Not Just Documentarians

    Dan ( profile ), 02 Nov, 2018 @ 11:26pm

    Always 10+ years too late

    "allowing for this would kick off "widespread hacking" of all the DVDs on the planet"

    Ripping DVDs has been standard for the masses for some time now. Talk about worrying about the barn door after the horse is not only gone, but has made many ponies.

  • On the post: Texas Teens Can't Graduate High School Until They've Been Told How To Behave Around Cops

    Dan ( profile ), 23 Oct, 2018 @ 01:22am

    Re: Re:

    "...they must have some other reason to arrest someone in order to get the ID they wanted in the first place. Otherwise it will get tossed, and the made up reason for arrest might also get tossed."

    Agreed, but only after how much time and money is wasted by both the citizen and the government? The failings of the modern justice system, namely the perverse incentives for a quick guilty plea to get on with one's life, even in the face of innocence, make this point somewhat moot.

  • On the post: Facebook Tells Cops Its 'Real Name' Policy Applies To Law Enforcement Too

    Dan ( profile ), 27 Sep, 2018 @ 04:58pm

    Doesn't the CFAA come into play?

    I don't understand how the article can say fake Facebook accounts aren't illegal. Doesn't the CFAA make violating the terms of service a crime?

    Can someone explain? (Other then people with power can skirt the law. I already know that.)

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