tom 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (374)

• On the post: CIA Leak Shows Mobile Phones Vulnerable, Not Encryption

  

  tom ( profile ), 07 Mar, 2017 @ 04:54pm

  Wonder if Visio will use the "The Government Made Us Do It" defense in their upcoming class action lawsuit over spy on us "Smart TVs"?

• On the post: Senator Thune Begins Pushing A 'Net Neutrality' Bill That's Likely To Kill Net Neutrality

  

  tom ( profile ), 07 Mar, 2017 @ 07:14am

  The real danger is most of these Congress Critters have little clue what 'Net Neutrality' means. Many think it refers to regulating ISP prices or build out practices. Others think it has something to do with cyber security, another thing most are clueless on. So they will vote how some lobbyist paid staffer tells them to vote or they will trade a yes vote on this for an IOU from the bill's supporters.
  
  For an interesting insight into the realities of Congress, watch the movie "Charlie Wilson's War."

• On the post: Lock Them Up! Trump Staff Still Using Private Republican National Committee Email Accounts

  

  tom ( profile ), 26 Jan, 2017 @ 02:48pm

  If Trump wants to get in front of this, he will work with Congress to create a unified government policy on getting newly elected/appointed officials set up with appropriate computerized communications accounts BEFORE they take office. Setting up should also include training on the proper use of such systems and when such use is required. Leaving it up to each official or agency just begs for multiple security failures.
  
  My guess is with the current system, most of the new folks will get their "Welcome to Federal Government New Employee Orientation" training sometime during the Summer.

• On the post: Ex-MI6 Boss: When It Comes To Voting, Pencil And Paper Are 'Much More Secure' Than Electronic Systems

  

  tom ( profile ), 06 Jan, 2017 @ 10:54am

  My state of Oklahoma uses a thick paper ballot that is scanned and counted. Even when there are 20-30 different things to vote on, it doesn't take long to fill in the boxes with the provided ink pen. The ballot is scanned when you feed it in and kicked back if the scanner can't read the ballot. The few hand recounts we have had have been within a few votes of the original scanned tabulations.

• On the post: Software Company Shows How Not To Handle Negative Review

  

  tom ( profile ), 01 Jan, 2017 @ 04:45pm

  The customer should file a computer crimes complaint with the FBI and his local authorities. TOS can not override criminal behavior. Using a computer network to disable someone's legally purchased system IS a criminal violation and should be handled as such. People have gone to jail for doing far less harm then this customer service action did.

• On the post: Stupid Patent Of The Month: Carrying Trays On A Cart

  

  tom ( profile ), 24 Dec, 2016 @ 08:35am

  The trays have rounded corners. Maybe Apple should sue for violating their design patent on rounded corners.

• On the post: City Passes Ordinance Mandating CCTV Surveillance By Businesses, Including Doctors And Lawyers Offices

  

  tom ( profile ), 24 Dec, 2016 @ 08:30am

  I noticed that another item on the agenda authorizing the purchase of a license tag scanner system. Someone in that town REALLY wants to keep tabs on someone else.
  
  If the law passes, businesses near the town hall and city council/mayor homes should point their required cameras at the town hall or homes to better watch the elected officials while on the job or entertaining guests. Regularly post the videos online. Law will probably get repealed in short order.

• On the post: Photographers And Filmmakers Call For Encryption To Be Built Into Cameras As Standard

  

  tom ( profile ), 15 Dec, 2016 @ 07:43am

  Bad idea. No way the camera makers would come up with a common standard AND keep it updated. Better approach is have multiple storage cards. Several have the expected touristy type pictures on them. A couple special cards are used for the worrisome pictures. These are then copied to a second device, encrypted and stored in some game folder as gamedatafile42.dat. If possible, also transmit the files out of area via whatever means are available. Don't overlook using postal mail. Lose the 'special cards' once the data is safe.
  
  This way, the likely bored boarder agent sees several hundred or thousands of non-threatening pictures on the camera you respectfully handed over and you are on your way a few minutes later, camera in hand.

• On the post: Rep. Marsha Blackburn Says Internet Service Providers Have 'An Obligation' To Censor 'Fake News'

  

  tom ( profile ), 09 Dec, 2016 @ 06:51am

  Fake news: ISP tacks on Broadcast Surcharge on top of normal cable rates that already include charges for local stations.
  
  Real news: Cable companies rate increases less then average inflation rate.
  
  Anyone see a problem with these examples?

• On the post: Another Lawsuit Highlights How Many 'Smart' Toys Violate Privacy, Aren't Secure

  

  tom ( profile ), 09 Dec, 2016 @ 06:47am

  Government officials are mostly clueless about cyber security. Little will be done about these toys until pedophiles hack some to tell little Johnny or Jane to "go to the park to meet Santa". Then there will be a great cry to "Save the Children" and some hasty poorly thought out legislation will happen that will do more harm then good.

• On the post: Comcast Takes Heat For Injecting Messages Into Internet Traffic

  

  tom ( profile ), 29 Nov, 2016 @ 06:44am

  Way to go Comcast, train your customers that weird pop up messages are ok and can be safely ignored. Ignore the established methods of email, text messages and phone calls.
  
  The average person will have no way to tell the difference between malware popups from Comcast and malware popups from others. How long until the bad guys start formatting popups that resemble the Comcast popups?

• On the post: If The FBI Can't Stop All These Leaks About An Investigation, Why Would it Be Able To Keep Encryption Backdoor Secret?

  

  tom ( profile ), 07 Nov, 2016 @ 06:39pm

  FBI, Federal Bureau of Incompetence.

• On the post: Clinton Campaign Also Not A Fan Of Free Speech: Sends Legal Threat Letters Over Trump Ads

  

  tom ( profile ), 07 Nov, 2016 @ 06:33pm

  Hillary is a lawyer and seems to lack the basic understanding of standing. How can her campaign have any valid basis to complain about Trump's use of video of Michelle Obama? Now Michelle might have standing to file a complaint about Trump's use of videos of her but not Hillary. And even then, videos of campaign commentary would seem to be fair game for fair use in other campaign commentary.
  
  Scary betting opportunity, how soon after Nov 8 someone makes a public announcement that they are forming a 2020 campaign committee?

• On the post: FBI's Comey: Actually, Chasing ISIS Off Twitter Makes It More Difficult For Us To Follow Them

  

  tom ( profile ), 04 Oct, 2016 @ 12:25pm

  Years ago, politicians strong armed ISPs to shutdown their USENET newsgroup servers since several of the newsgroups catered to the child porn crowd. Once most of the ISPs complied, law enforcement then announced they were having a much harder time tracking child porn distributors since they moved to a more point to point login account required system.

• On the post: Ridiculously Stupid: 4 State Attorneys General File Totally Bogus Lawsuit Against Internet Transition

  

  tom ( profile ), 30 Sep, 2016 @ 07:54am

  As a resident of one of the states participating in the legal action, my main disappointment is them waiting until the last minute to start worrying about it. This handover has been well published, has been in the planning for years, has been well studied, and the period for rational objection well past. The reason most legal processes have a 'must file objections by date X' clause is so things can get done, for better or worse.
  
  The judge should toss the lawsuit on the basis of them having waited too long to file for the injunction.

• On the post: Newegg Sues Over Copied Legal Filing; Judge Rules That It's Not Fair Use

  

  tom ( profile ), 19 Sep, 2016 @ 12:23pm

  2nd the refer to Bar for action. The lawyer in question was prepared to represent to his client and the court that the copied work was his own, 1 count plagiarism, and further, probably billing the client for the time it would have taken to create the brief from scratch, 1 count fraud.
  
  In addition, there is the likely damage to Newegg and their law firm when their original brief was filed second and appeared to be the copy.

• On the post: Remember Claims That Cord Cutting Was On The Ropes? It's Actually Worse Than Ever

  

  tom ( profile ), 18 Aug, 2016 @ 12:41pm

  Econ 101, higher prices = lower demand. For years the cable companies made the argument, often true, that the higher prices also brought more channels. And for a while, folks bought in. But with most folks watching around 20 channels, the more = better = justifies higher prices isn't working anymore. Plus they keep fracturing existing channels into two or more and make sure one of the parts winds up only in the top premium tier.

• On the post: DirecTV Faces RICO Class Action For Bungling Business Installs, Then Demanding $15,000 For Theft Of Service

  

  tom ( profile ), 18 Aug, 2016 @ 12:32pm

  If the business in question has the original paperwork for the install and it shows their proper business address and an approved work order for a residential install, don't see how DirectTV is going to make their case. DirectTV probably hopes that that most businesses will pay up and not fight. Which kinda supports the RICO claim. (Pay us our protection money or the TV service gets it)

• On the post: Verizon Buys Yahoo In $4.8 Billion Attempt To Bore The Internet To Death

  

  tom ( profile ), 25 Jul, 2016 @ 04:08pm

  Verizon buys Yahoo hoping to cash in on ad revenue while ignoring the fact the one of the fastest growing tech sectors is ad and script blocking.

• On the post: EFF Lawsuit Challenges DMCA's Digital Locks Provision As First Amendment Violation

  

  tom ( profile ), 21 Jul, 2016 @ 12:17pm

  I think they should also argue that the right to own stuff, modify it, and fix it is a long time traditional common law right and is further protected by the ninth amendment.

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