Daniel 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (54) comment rss

  • On the post: But How Will Mozart Have Incentive To Write New Music With All His Works Available For Free?

    Daniel ( profile ), 14 Dec, 2006 @ 08:39am

    Re:

    Hoeppner,

    The site is offering the scores - the written notes that people read to play the music - not actual performances.

  • On the post: But How Will Mozart Have Incentive To Write New Music With All His Works Available For Free?

    Daniel ( profile ), 14 Dec, 2006 @ 08:22am

    Publication Rights?

    What are they basing their publication rights on? This music is 230 years old - I don't think there are ANY copyright laws that would still hold up.

  • On the post: Turn On GPS, Turn Off Brain

    Daniel ( profile ), 04 Dec, 2006 @ 09:30pm

    I've heard worse

    At least he didn't follow his gps past several construction warning signs into a giant pile of sand.

    The difference between these two stories? Germans are more obedient.

    :)

  • On the post: When In Singapore Make Sure To Turn Off WiFi Network Autodiscovery

    Daniel ( profile ), 14 Nov, 2006 @ 10:09am

    Re:

    "If you left your car open and someone took it for a ride or left your home open and someone came in and watched some tv I doubt you'd have the same perspective."

    If someone took my car, I couldn't use it. If someone used my bandwidth, it doesn't have quite the same effect - certainly it's not worth three years of this kid's life.

    Similarly, if I sat in your house watching tv, I'm invading your privacy, that's not the issue here either.

  • On the post: Diebold Source Code Leaked Again — Is That Such A Bad Thing?

    Daniel ( profile ), 23 Oct, 2006 @ 04:25am

    Possibly the best theing to happen to them.

    Leaking Diebold's source code could possibly be the best thing to happen to them. With the code out in the open, its problems can get hashed out and its leaks can get plugged. This is obviously MUCH better than leaving them there and hoping no one will catch on. Security through obscurity is just another way of saying "we've got easter eggs - come and find 'em!"

  • On the post: Belgian Newspapers Ask To Be Banned From MSN As Well

    Daniel ( profile ), 16 Oct, 2006 @ 09:52am

    Yes, it's extortion

    I agree with anonymous on comment seven. They want Google et al. to pay them for the privilege of seeing their information.

    And they have just as much likelihood of success as I would if I tried a stunt like that.

  • On the post: Floyd Landis Tries The Wikipedia Defense

    Daniel ( profile ), 13 Oct, 2006 @ 11:07am

    Specialists and specialized knowledge.

    It's a novel idea and certainly should produce a lot of good suggestions for directions he can take for his defense, but I would look for a REALLY good attorney to head up and guide my defense if I were in his position. While Wikipedia is a great reference overall, once you go in depth, you need to get past the crowd and go with someone who lives the process.

    Another analogy to this would be in the world of chess. Kasparov has - on occasion - played "the world vs Kasparov" chess games, where the collective knowledge of everyone goes against him. Although they typically produce good games, he STILL wins.

  • On the post: Is Irrational Exuberance Good For Innovation?

    Daniel ( profile ), 11 Oct, 2006 @ 06:48am

    "Screwed?"

    I wouldn't say that the investors are getting screwed in these cases. They are knowingly making a high risk investment - one that is easily more honest than your average lottery (which guarantees that half of all money put in gets scooped out of the pot and put into government projects before anyone gets anything).

    And if there is any misunderstanding of the risks involved, it is more often the result of the false sense of security provided by SEC regulations that, while punishing businesses and investors, offers no hope of compensation - or really any promise of ethical behavior - from the companies they "regulate."

  • On the post: Why Nanotech Hype Is Good

    Daniel ( profile ), 11 Oct, 2006 @ 06:45am

    "Screwed?"

    I wouldn't say that the investors are getting screwed in these cases. They are knowingly making a high risk investment - one that is easily more honest than your average lottery (which guarantees that half of all money put in gets scooped out of the pot and put into government projects before anyone gets anything).

    And if there is any misunderstanding of the risks involved, it is more often the result of the false sense of security provided by SEC regulations that, while punishing businesses and investors, offers no hope of compensation - or really any promise of ethical behavior - from the companies they "regulate."

  • On the post: You're In Good Hands… With AOL?

    Daniel ( profile ), 12 Sep, 2006 @ 09:27am

    Beautiful Irony.

    You GOTTA find this funny! First, they spill personal details of thousands of people by releasing their search histories to the world, then they promise to "protect" you!

    All they have to do now is make the argument that paying them is really "saving" you money...

  • On the post: Has The Free Market Failed The US When It Comes To Broadband?

    Daniel ( profile ), 08 Sep, 2006 @ 05:27am

    Unregulated?

    I'm not sure you can say the telcos and the cable industry are unregulated - don't both owe their oligarchies to heavy regulation keeping down upstarts?

    Also, I read your links - they're not pointing as strongly to a free market failure as you suggest. Their biggest talking point is how china (with its 1.31 billion plus citizens) will soon have more broadband users than the United states (pop. 295 million). They then talk about how almost all China's broadband is dsl, but the companies providing the dsl are getting raped by wireless technology. This STRONGLY suggests that a lot of the investment being forcibly pushed through here is misplaced. After all, if some Wi-Max type technology DOES end up taking over, those dsl investments are wealth down the drain.

  • On the post: Microsoft Wants A Patent For Conjugating Verbs

    Daniel ( profile ), 01 Sep, 2006 @ 04:49am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Which is right

    commenting on the following:

    "What got me typing in the first place was your characterization of the "original purpose of the patent system, to only grant patents in the rarest of circumstances". Maybe in China or Cuba, but not in any society based on a free-martket economy whose main motivator is profit."
    Patents are not free market entities - they are monopolies granted by government fiat and based on coercion.

    Free markets say once I have something - be it a chair or an idea - I can do anything I want with it. I can sell it, give it away, modify it, or even break it up into its parts, figure out how it works and build another. Patents say that once I sell you something, I can still tell you what to do with it and if you try to do what YOU want, I'll have the government punish you.

    Another way of looking at this is by examining how they behave. In a free market, competition tends to cause prices to drop - especially as supply increases. NON free markets attempt to manipulate this in some way - usually artificially inflating prices, but sometimes in the other direction too. This can be done in various ways - e.g. by restricting competition, creating artificial demand (like making a purchase mandatory or forcing) or by artificially limiting the supply. Copyrights attempt to artificially increase the cost of an idea (which would by nature approach zero since supply is not limited) and as such, fall into the non free market sphere.

  • On the post: Maybe We Can Let R2D2 Be The Judge, Too

    Daniel ( profile ), 11 Aug, 2006 @ 01:33pm

    Re:

    "and nearly three times higher than those with just public defenders (15%). "

    Is it safe to assume poorer defendants will use public defenders. And is it also safe to say, poorer people are more likely to commit crimes?

    It is safe to assume the former, not the latter. Stats show that poor people commit DIFFERENT crimes than well off - not necessarily more.

    Statistics DO show that poor people are more likely to be suspected of a crime...

  • On the post: Will Your Text Messaging Style Implicate You In Criminal Cases?

    Daniel ( profile ), 11 Aug, 2006 @ 05:14am

    Re: The Future of SMS Crimes...

    Of course, google still has a ways to go in this area - this is what happens when I did the above to my last set of comments...

    I can only see it now in the dark bottom, Criminal chaotic Almsamat lists messages messages collected over the years to find Janeiro which can be used carefully, The places at the heart of the text in the previous work done, and explain his letter. Or write whatever he wants, and is translated into Arabic through translation and Ggl back into English and sent him a letter Jamil not worries. I If they are able to circumvent the problems inherent in creating Ediosinscherasis affirmed in a brief message will necessarily Nice way to catch stupid.

  • On the post: Will Your Text Messaging Style Implicate You In Criminal Cases?

    Daniel ( profile ), 11 Aug, 2006 @ 05:05am

    The Future of SMS Crimes...

    I can just see it now - in a dark basement, the deranged criminal pores over lists of sms messages he has collected over the years until he finds a snippet that can be used - carefully, he places it into the body of text where, with the previous work he's done, it spells out his message.

    Or, he writes whatever he wants, translates it into arabic via google, translates it back into english and sends his sanitized message with no worries.

    I do agree, if they can get around the problems inherent in finding telltale idiosynchracies in a necessarily terse message, it will be a nice way to catch the stupid.

  • On the post: Hollywood's Unfounded Fear Of New Products

    Daniel ( profile ), 07 Aug, 2006 @ 09:25pm

    exceptions proving the rules.

    Now the entertainment HAS been burned by technology a couple of times, so on the surface one might think that they have a reason to be scared. That is, of course, until one looks closer.

    The two times I can think of when the entertainment industry has been hurt most by tech are Eight Tracks and Betamax - both technologies that FAILED! It seems to me that, since the only time they get hurt is when a new technology DOESN't Succeed, they would try to ENCOURAGE the success of anything that hits the scene with enough force to make a splash.

  • On the post: French Copyright Law Gets That Much Worse For Consumers

    Daniel ( profile ), 31 Jul, 2006 @ 07:33am

    My French Dislike...

    ... has nothing to do with Iraq and everything to do with their economic choices.

    Oh, and as far as gaps go, I notice that in many of the countries with small gaps between the rich and the poor, more people are starving to death, whereas here in the United states, the "poverty line" is currently somewhere around $20,000.

  • On the post: French Copyright Law Gets That Much Worse For Consumers

    Daniel ( profile ), 30 Jul, 2006 @ 12:47pm

    Re: Unemployment Numbers

    The movement from government intervention to market mechanisms would explain the drop in unemployment. It does also mean, however that France just might not be unsalvageable after all.

  • On the post: French Copyright Law Gets That Much Worse For Consumers

    Daniel ( profile ), 30 Jul, 2006 @ 12:45pm

    Re: Unemployment Numbers

    Drat - forgot my links:

    http://nashville.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2006/07/24/daily47.html

    https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/fr.html#Econ

    https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/us.html#Econ

    Oh, did you notice in the french economy reference that france "is in the midst of transition from a well-to-do modern economy that has featured extensive government ownership and intervention to one that relies more on market mechanisms."

    And as for the standards of living portion, a quick look at the gdp per capita puts france at $29,900 compared to the U.S. rate of about $42,000

    :)

  • On the post: French Copyright Law Gets That Much Worse For Consumers

    Daniel ( profile ), 30 Jul, 2006 @ 12:34pm

    Unemployment Numbers

    just for a quick comparison of unemployment rates between the United States and France, last month the U.S. Unemployment rate went up a little - it's now at 4.6%. On the few times it's gotten as high as 5%, it has cost politicians jobs and puts fear into the hearts of investors.

    And most of those jobs pay pretty well too. America has a significantly higher standard of living than France.

    :)

Next >>