tom 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (374)

• On the post: Germany's Supreme Court Confirms That Adblocking Is Legal, In Sixth Consecutive Defeat For Publishers

  

  tom ( profile ), 01 May, 2018 @ 12:04pm

  Dear Axel Springer, its my computer. I will block ads and scripts as needed to limit my risk of infection from malware delivered via ads and tracking scripts. If you ever decide to put your corporate bank account and the salaries of your Chief officers up as collateral against any and all damages users suffer when a ad/script served from one of your websites delivers malware, then I might reconsider.

• On the post: Sprint, T-Mobile Try To Sell The Public On A Job-Killing, Competition Eroding Megamerger

  

  tom ( profile ), 01 May, 2018 @ 11:58am

  If it goes through we wind up with three 500lb Gorillas 'competing' in the space. Currently we have two 500lb Gorillas and two 250lb Gorillas. And neither of the 250lb Gorillas is doing that great financially. If one of them goes belly up, the others get to pick over the carcass with a lot less effective oversight from the regulators.
  
  Which is better?

• On the post: Supreme Court Says Shooting A Non-Threatening Person Without Warning Is Just Good Police Work

  

  tom ( profile ), 08 Apr, 2018 @ 08:20am

  If the knife carrying person(Hughes) who was shot was 6ft from the roommate, that is close enough to have to consider reaction times. One shot kills are rare, one shot perfect disabling shots are even rarer. In this case the person with the knife was shot 4 times and survived. If this had played out differently, and Hughes HAD attacked her roommate, it is unlikely any number of shots could have prevented the knife from striking Chadwick. And it is very possible that by the time any of the officers could react, the two women would have been in a hand to hand melee that would make shooting problematic.
  
  Was a Taser on site? If so, why wasn't it used? Would seem a perfect use case if one was available.

• On the post: Not Everything Needs Copyright: Lawyers Flip Out That Photos Taken By AI May Be Public Domain

  

  tom ( profile ), 02 Apr, 2018 @ 07:10am

  Would think pictures taken with the Clips camera would be treated similar to those taken by game cameras. The basic game camera is placed by the owner and takes pictures when its motion detector is triggered. Guess you could consider motion detection as a rather trivial form of AI.
  
  Don't know if the game camera picture copyright issue is settled. I see some game pics posted with a claim to copyright.

• On the post: Clock Runs Out On Perjury Charges For James Clapper, Ensuring He Won't Be Punished For Lying To Congress

  

  tom ( profile ), 15 Mar, 2018 @ 08:32am

  Charges would have meant a trial. A trial means defense attorneys demanding disclosure of evidence. Such evidence would almost assuredly shown the depth of government surveillance of US citizens along with orders to keep such surveillance secret. Orders that originated from 'Top Men'. Can't have that so no charges.

• On the post: Police Department With Eight Full-Time Officers Acquired 31 Military Vehicles Thru DoD's Surplus Program

  

  tom ( profile ), 15 Mar, 2018 @ 08:25am

  I can see picking up a couple of vehicles that could be useful in a high water rescue setting. If nothing else, one to use and one as a parts supply. 31 for such a small town seems a bit excessive. Sounds like the mayor, city manager and city council are failing in their oversight jobs.
  
  I don't find the large number of jackets to be troubling. I have played the buy govt surplus game and an individual lot of jackets is often a mix of sizes. Could be those 51 jackets were one lot with take them all condition.
  
  Another bad thing about this small town getting all this stuff is the likelyhood that a town that COULD use a few of these things might not get any due to this town's greed.

• On the post: Judge Says Yahoo Still On The Hook For Multiple Claims Related To Three Billion Compromised Email Accounts

  

  tom ( profile ), 14 Mar, 2018 @ 11:32am

  $100 per user after legal fees sounds like a decent penalty. It isn't always trivial to change passwords and monitor activities every time one of these companies ignores basic security protocols.
  
  Wonder if the fine folks at Equifax are paying attention?

• On the post: After Controversial Traffic Stop, Police Chief Says He Won't Release Recordings To 'Anti-Police' Requesters

  

  tom ( profile ), 05 Mar, 2018 @ 01:59pm

  "Elie" is full of BS on the claim of "pulled over for being black". A third party looking at the video said the driver rolled a red light. Most of us do the same thing at right turns but it IS a violation in most places. The same third party reports the video shows the driver reaching for something without the officer requesting it. Again a bad move to make. Officers do have legitimate concerns during traffic stops. Too many go bad when some idiot decides that shooting a cop over a traffic ticket is a good idea. The fact that the driver didn't get a citation shows the officers weren't out to "Get a black guy".
  
  IMO, the Chief is being a first class idiot by refusing a release the video. Sounds like it shows a text book response to a possibly bad situation that really wasn't, where no one got hurt and the driver was let go without a citation even with the video evidence of a violation.
  
  The idiocy is compounded by refusing based on the requester's political views. Now the chief is getting into the realm of civil rights violations in using his office to refuse service based on political viewpoints.

• On the post: Camera Makers Still Showing Zero Interest In Protecting Users With Built-In Encryption

  

  tom ( profile ), 13 Feb, 2018 @ 05:04am

  Would prefer that the camera makers not include encryption. If I need my pictures encrypted, I can just pull the sdcard, insert into a laptop or other device and copy/encrypt the pictures. "Only pictures on that camera, Officer, are ones from the wildlife preserve. Totally worth the trip!"
  
  Besides, if camera makers started encrypting pictures, how long before they tried using the DMCA to lock users into a certain brand of photo processing software?

• On the post: Consumer Reports: Your 'Smart' TV Remains A Privacy & Security Dumpster Fire

  

  tom ( profile ), 12 Feb, 2018 @ 12:39pm

  Re:

  The seller of a dumb TV only makes money on the sale of what is now pretty much a low margin commodity item.
  
  If they sell you a 'smart' TV with spy features, not only do they get the small profit from the sale of the TV, they get a continuing income stream from selling all of that data they collect on what you watch, when, with whom, etc. Plus they can get yet more money feeding you targeted ads based on that data.

• On the post: Minnesota Supreme Court Says Unlocking A Phone With A Fingerprint Isn't A Fifth Amendment Issue

  

  tom ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2018 @ 09:32am

  If I have modified fingerprint security on a phone such that a left index finger unlocks and a right index finger encrypts with a random key, is the decision of which finger to provide 'Testimony' in the courts opinion?
  
  Part of this ruling was that providing a finger didn't require "The use of his mind". Having to decide which finger to use would require "use of mind".

• On the post: Apple Facing A Bunch Of Lawsuits After Admitting It Slows Down Older Devices, But Insisting It's For A Good Reason

  

  tom ( profile ), 26 Dec, 2017 @ 04:29pm

  If this case involved an individual loading software on Apple's computers that degraded the performance of Apple's corporate network, the FBI would spring into action investigating possible violations of various computer crimes acts involving causing harm over a telecommunications network.
  
  When Apple does it to thousands of individual portable computers, it is considered Situation Normal.

• On the post: NBA2K18 Is Removing User Made Content From The Game Over IP Infringement, Refuses Refunds To Anyone Who Bought It

  

  tom ( profile ), 15 Dec, 2017 @ 07:30am

  The sad thing is the company should have a record of every purchase made, by who, and for what amount. Should be easy to roll everything back. Not like they are having to refund real money.
  
  Worse is the fact they didn't see this coming and have a published plan/warning about using copyright content on the custom clothing.
  
  The sad thing is they probably DO need to worry about some copyright holder suing over game players using copyright images in game.

• On the post: DOJ Wants Protesters & Reporter Convicted For 'Hiding Behind The First Amendment'

  

  tom ( profile ), 15 Dec, 2017 @ 07:19am

  If knowing more then an US Attorney is a crime, a lot of us are screwed.
  
  I would make an argument that knowing the terms relating to crowd control would identify a person as someone that HAS covered police-crowd interactions at protests in the past, aka a Journalist. One that does his/her research about a story.

• On the post: Navy Officer Working For The NSA Caught Trying To Search Her Boyfriend's Son's Phone

  

  tom ( profile ), 01 Dec, 2017 @ 11:28am

  From the NSA report pdf, the phone was used by her boyfriend's son, boyfriend, her daughter, and her sister.
  
  I can believe that if that many folks that she knew and likely lived with used the same phone, it would be a number easily recalled.
  
  I don't remember my cell number, never call it.
  
  The NSA training class should either provide a list of approved training test numbers or an instruction to use a number ONLY used by the trainee.

• On the post: Court Says Cop's Theft Of Evidence Shouldn't Have Any Effect On Man's 15-Year Drug Sentence

  

  tom ( profile ), 29 Nov, 2017 @ 09:54am

  I do wonder what percent of a substance has to be cocaine under TX law to be considered cocaine? If a few grams of cocaine mixed with pounds of random power is legally pounds of cocaine for sentencing purposes, is a few grams of cocaine mixed into load of sand in a dump truck also legally tons of cocaine? Hell of a way for LEOs to pad the stats of cocaine intercepted.
  
  Anyone know what sentence, if any, the cop that stole the real mostly pure cocaine received? Should receive an equivalent 15 year sentence for transport of real cocaine, a theft charge, a corruption charge, and probably more.

• On the post: Oklahoma Looks To Clamp Down On Uninsured Driving With Traffic Cams And Perverse Incentives

  

  tom ( profile ), 29 Nov, 2017 @ 09:42am

  Okie here. An article in the local paper said the DA's Council is playing a word game by claiming the Letter and accompanying $184 bill was NOT a citation, getting around the problem of a private company that isn't a deputized law enforcement agency issuing a legal summons. The Council further muddies the waters by claiming they are merely comparing your license plate to a list of properly insured plates and sending you a advisory letter if your plate isn't on the list. The question is raised about what happens if someone doesn't pay the "not a fine" bill of $184 issued by a company the recipient has no business relationship with.
  
  Might be time to stock up on popcorn.

• On the post: Covert Cryptocurrency Miners Quickly Become A Major Problem

  

  tom ( profile ), 15 Nov, 2017 @ 04:46pm

  A site I frequent had this installed somehow. They removed it as soon as folks notified them. Used the web developer tools in Firefox to view the site code. Saw the call to the coinhive domain. Between Malwarebytes and Noscript, the coinhive thing never had a chance to fire off on my PC.
  
  Added Coinhive.com to the always block rule on my stand alone firewall appliance as another layer of defense.
  
  It is crap like this that totally destroy the "But we have to have auto load via javascript ads in order to survive" arguments many websites make. If you can't secure your main page, how are you going to secure the automated sell to highest bidder auto load script ad?

• On the post: Monkey Selfie Photographer Says He's Now Going To Sue Wikipedia

  

  tom ( profile ), 14 Nov, 2017 @ 10:05am

  In my mind, the monkey in the picture IS Naruto. It is far more fun to imagine that PETA has wasted years and money representing a monkey that has no standing(assuming of course, that ANY monkey can have standing) because they identified the wrong monkey as the real Naruto.
  
  In any other reality, news stories about monkeys suing over copyright would be "Fake News". Sadly, we are not in one of those realities.

• On the post: Reporter Arrested, Thrown To The Ground For Cursing

  

  tom ( profile ), 01 Nov, 2017 @ 12:46pm

  Re:

  I think "Resisting Arrest" is often a CYA charge in case the subject/victim requires medical attention either then or later. If he/she was 'resisting', then the injuries obviously occurred during the arrest attempt and are wholly the responsibility of the person being arrested. Otherwise, why is the person the LEO's were interfacing with covered in injuries? The Resisting charge is often coupled with "Attempting to Flee". Have seen this done on enough "Cops" shows when all the person did was take a step or two the wrong way or didn't immediately comply with the cop's request. And these are arrests they don't mind being televised.

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