tom 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (374)

• On the post: The Cable TV & Broadband Sector Has A Nasty Billing Fraud Problem

  

  tom ( profile ), 15 Jul, 2018 @ 03:52pm

  So Cox Cable learned by watching Wells Fargo?
  
  This whole thing is made worse by the push by service companies to force customers into both paperless billing and auto-pay. Makes it easier to tack on a few extra charges and hope the customer won't bother to attempt to login, work past the 'time to change your password prompts so they can check the bill and auto-pay means turning off the payments requires several steps beyond the former no action needed to stop sending checks.

• On the post: FBI Decides To Ruin A Man's Life Over Nude Photos Of His Legal Girlfriend He Took Seven Years Ago

  

  tom ( profile ), 10 Jul, 2018 @ 12:15pm

  Mr Marrero should file charges against the FBI claiming they are attempting to violate his Right of Expression as protected by the 1st amendment. If the relationship was legal, then attempting to control artistic expression of that relationship seems to be a civil rights violation.
  
  Since there is probably more then one agent involved, add on a conspiracy to commit a civil rights violation against all agents involved.

• On the post: More Police Admitting That FOSTA/SESTA Has Made It Much More Difficult To Catch Pimps And Traffickers

  

  tom ( profile ), 10 Jul, 2018 @ 09:06am

  This is basically what happened years ago when a certain NY Attorney General pressured ISPs to quit including free access to USENET as part of their service. The claimed reason was the fight against child porn. It wasn't long before law enforcement was complaining that catching child pornographers had gotten much harder since the CP folks had moved to secure members only sites instead of the anyone can see USENET.

• On the post: AT&T Is Very Excited To Try And Ruin HBO

  

  tom ( profile ), 10 Jul, 2018 @ 08:56am

  This makes me really happy that Game of Thrones mostly wrapped up shooting for final season.
  
  The worrisome question is will it be affordable when it airs?

• On the post: Streaming Video Sees Wave Of Price Hikes In Apparent Bid To Mimic Cable & Embolden Piracy

  

  tom ( profile ), 09 Jul, 2018 @ 12:28pm

  To prevent future versions of this, the DOJ should file perjury charges against the AT&T lawyers for lying under oath plus filing a report with that state's Bar association for possible disbarment proceedings.

• On the post: DOJ Racks Up 90% Failure Rate In Inauguration Protest Prosecutions, Dismisses Final Defendants

  

  tom ( profile ), 09 Jul, 2018 @ 07:32am

  The timing of these prosecutions means that most were started by folks hired during the Obama or Bush II administrations. Especially since we are talking about folks arrested for suspicion of committing crimes during the Inauguration. Pretty much by definition, very few Trump folks could have been in place when this circus started.
  
  If I read TFA correctly, the DOJ never won a case in a contested court of law. Their only wins were in the pre-trial negotiating rooms where they managed to talk 21 suspects into pleading guilty. Either those were the folks that really did some of the damage or they got real poor legal advice.

• On the post: In Harris County, Texas, The Death Penalty Is Applied With A Judicial Rubber Stamp

  

  tom ( profile ), 07 Jul, 2018 @ 06:14am

  Re: If you're not working, why are we paying you?

  Keep in mind that many judges are elected officials. Likely these are just doing what the fine folks of Texas elected them to do. See other's comments about the Texas pride in their 'justice' system.

• On the post: 'See Something, Say Something' But For Immigrants Continues To Collect Little But Petty Complaints From Petty Americans

  

  tom ( profile ), 07 Jul, 2018 @ 06:08am

  The folks crossing US borders without permission are Illegal Invaders, not undocumented immigrants. Try taking your family with small children south into Mexico without proper documentation and bypassing the normal entry points and see what happens.
  
  See something say something CAN work if there is proper triage on the calls and proper followup on those found useful. More then one potential school shooter has been picked up after reports were followed up on.
  
  BTW - coyotes taking cats and small dogs is a somewhat frequent occurrence in my state.

• On the post: Fifth Circuit Says No, You Fucking May Not Strip Search A Classful Of Female Students To Find $50

  

  tom ( profile ), 02 Jul, 2018 @ 12:29pm

  Wonder if the dim bulb that ordered the search even considered how to prove any money found was the money in question? Did he know the serial numbers? Even if the search had found cash, it could well have belonged to the girl(s) that had it. Pre-teens can legally carry money. He's lucky no cash was found. Could have escalated from a stupid search to charges of theft from a minor.

• On the post: Effort To Save Net Neutrality Via Congressional Review Act Appears Stuck In Neutral

  

  tom ( profile ), 28 Jun, 2018 @ 07:13am

  Please let this back door attempt to impose net neutrality die.
  
  Introduce a clean net neutrality bill that only addresses NN. If you don't trust the FCC, make the FTC or some other group the controlling agency.
  
  Gather bi-partisan support by asking Republicans if they would like liberal ISPs limiting access to sites like the NRA and GOP. Mention to Democrats that red state ISPs might be inclined to limit access to pro-abortion sites.
  
  Make the case that we all win if we keep ISPs out of the business of picking Internet traffic winners and losers.

• On the post: Illinois Prosecutor Brings Felony Eavesdropping Charges Against 13-Year-Old Who Recorded His Conversation With School Administrators

  

  tom ( profile ), 27 Jun, 2018 @ 11:19am

  There is something going on between Mr Boron and that school administration because of all of the detentions and Mr Boron deciding to miss them. Might be interesting to investigate that in the process.
  
  Wonder what Mr Conrad and Mr Short said that they are so afraid of being recorded?
  
  Wonder if Mr Conrad and Mr Short violated any rules by having a 'detention/punishment/etc' discussion with a minor student in a public area? There are some pretty interesting Federal laws on preserving student privacy.

• On the post: Tech Employees Revolting Over Government Contracts Reminds Us That Government Needs Tech More than Tech Needs Government

  

  tom ( profile ), 27 Jun, 2018 @ 11:01am

  This is the same Microsoft that forces Windows 10 on millions of unsuspecting computer users and implements mandatory telemetry that violates the Right to Privacy and makes it clear through the mandatory update policies, forced advertising and forced applications that you really don't control that computer you thought you owned, violating the Right to Your Things. That Microsoft? Where are those employee's concern for the millions of Americans having their International Human Rights violated by Microsoft?

• On the post: Yet Another Study Shows The Internet Of Things Is A Privacy And Security Dumpster Fire

  

  tom ( profile ), 11 Jun, 2018 @ 01:27pm

  When I asked my Congress Critter about this a few years ago, got the doe in headlight look. Most of them have no idea what Cyber Security really is. Many of those that have some idea think it only applies to state sponsored actions. Most don't see the need for Federal standards or are already in the pocket of ISPs and IOT makers that want to profit from the data being harvested.
  
  For those that care, buy an enterprise grade firewall and make sure your first rules block all traffic in both directions. Now add specific rules for each PC as needed, HTTPS, POP, etc. PITA but it really cuts down on the harm malware can do when it slips into your network. You will likely be surprised at the number of blocked comm attempts the default deny rule will collect.
  
  Make sure any IOT gizmos are on their own LAN that can't talk to your main LAN. Install any needed control gizmo on the IOT LAN. Again with the default deny rule and only add needed allow rules.

• On the post: Verizon Begins 'Testing' DSL Usage Caps It Refuses To Call Usage Caps

  

  tom ( profile ), 22 May, 2018 @ 03:05pm

  Classic slight of hand being done here. Verizon has folks all worried about data caps on a service they advertise as 'High Speed' that promises UP TO .5~1.0 mbps.
  
  Perhaps the discussion should be on the fact that Verizon still has areas where up to .5mbps is considered High Speed.

• On the post: President Trump Thinks Basic Phone Security Is Simply Too Inconvenient

  

  tom ( profile ), 22 May, 2018 @ 02:59pm

  Just goes to show that it is far easier to preach cyber security then practice what you preach.
  
  Besides, given reports that there are multiple fake cell towers around the DC area, not sure the risk of a twitter phone being compromised is high on the list of things to worry about.

• On the post: Congressional Members Decide It's Time To Make Assaulting A Police Officer A Federal Hate Crime

  

  tom ( profile ), 16 May, 2018 @ 11:03am

  If this passes, "resisting arrest" just became a whole lot more serious.
  
  Most of the 'hate crime' laws are IMO, BS anyway. What happened to "All men are created equal."? I value my health and safety as much as the average Law Enforcement Officer, or Black or Gay or Jew. Yet a crime against one of the 'special' folk often carries a far greater penalty.

• On the post: Stormy Daniels' Lawyer Sends Totally Bogus, Censorial Defamation Threat To Reporter He Doesn't Like

  

  tom ( profile ), 16 May, 2018 @ 10:57am

  Claiming an email is "off the record" is a hoot! How many times have we read that most email providers are saving emails, both sent and received, forever and data mining the crap out of them?

• On the post: Police Realizing That SESTA/FOSTA Made Their Jobs Harder; Sex Traffickers Realizing It's Made Their Job Easier

  

  tom ( profile ), 14 May, 2018 @ 08:56am

  Re: More 'Acceptable' Collateral Damage

  According to wiki, the votes in Congress were 388-25 in the House and 97-2 in the Senate. About as bi-partisan a bill as you can get these days.
  
  About what to expect from a country where two folks beating each other to a bloody pulp for money is considered acceptable sport(MMA) but if the same two engage in sex for money, horrible evil just happened.

• On the post: The Clock Is Ticking: Get Your Copy Of CIA: Collect It All On Kickstarter!

  

  tom ( profile ), 14 May, 2018 @ 09:02am

  Backed it. Easier then going through the trouble of buying decent card stock, printing and cutting.

• On the post: Two-Man Police Department Acquires $1 Million In Military Gear

  

  tom ( profile ), 01 May, 2018 @ 12:09pm

  I need to declare my 80 acre farm as a township, hire myself as police chief and get a tractor, implements and lawnmowers to help the town grow and store food supplies as part of a preparation for possible terrorist attacks.

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