tom 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: More Details: Sony Reportedly Telling Its Game Studios Not To Comment On Abortion Issue

    tom ( profile ), 20 May, 2022 @ 11:11am

    The right to free speech should also include the right to keep your mouth shut.

  • On the post: Elon Musk’s Starlink Still Can’t Seem To Answer Basic Customer Support Emails

    tom ( profile ), 04 May, 2022 @ 07:12am

    Add me to the Starlink customer service sucks herd. I had paid a deposit 13 months ago. Without any warning, I received a "Your Starlink package is ready pending your confirmation." email. At the time, I was dealing with the death of a family member and the stuff that goes with wrapping up a dead person's affairs, and wasn't paying much attention to that email account. I received two more emails, one a '3 days left' and one a '1 day left' notice. The last email was a 'Ordered canceled, deposit will be refunded' message. I found these messages a couple days after the Order canceled message. Starlink made no effort to contact the phone number I had provided. Even a robo-call would have clued me in to check that email account. Like the story says, there is no published way to contact Starlink and go "But wait, I really did/do want the service." No phone number, no email, not even a listed mailing address. Really, only a seven day window with no advance warning? People go on vacations longer then seven days. Or have other issues that prevent frequent checking of email accounts. The claimed target audience is the very type of folks that might have long service outages with their existing service(s). Seems Starlink is NOT really interested in providing service to those that can most benefit.

  • On the post: Data Brokers Selling Location Data Of Americans Who Visit Abortion Clinics

    tom ( profile ), 04 May, 2022 @ 06:47am

    A cell phone, smart or otherwise, that is on should be thought of as a Personalized Tracking Device(PTD). Same for connected cars, TVs or cable boxes connected to the Internet, those connected workout devices, etc. Anytime you use a PTD, expect that you have little to no effective privacy while doing so. There is almost always language in those 'Privacy Policy' statements that allow the data to be collected, aggregated, processed and sold for profit. As many studies have shown, anonymized data isn't, especially when combined with other data sets. I would be surprised if there are not similar data brokers selling the location data of folks visiting places where guns and ammunition are sold. Or dancers gyrate mostly naked. And you just thought your visit to the 12 step place was anonymous.

  • On the post: Florida Republican Gov’t Officials Bend Over Backwards To Tell Everyone That, Yes, Absolutely, They Are Punishing Disney For Its Speech

    tom ( profile ), 25 Apr, 2022 @ 10:16am

    If Florida loses, they can always add a "No Politics" clause to the restored special Disney exemption and re-revoke the exemption unless Disney shuts up. Any Disney win could be short lived. As mentioned, I am sure there are multiple fully activated banks of Disney funded lawyers researching options and likely outcomes. Same for Florida funded lawyers. Probably lots of dust being blown off decades old legislative records, court rulings and administrative findings concerning the Disney special economic zone.

  • On the post: Federal Court Awards Immunity To Sheriff Who Searched An Officer’s Private Dropbox Account Without A Warrant

    tom ( profile ), 25 Apr, 2022 @ 09:48am

    Wonder if this case: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/19-783_k53l.pdf will wind up being cited at some point in this trial? Would seem to be on point on Bowers sharing of the extra case files. Not so much on point for what the IT worker did in accessing Bowers files but could be an issue in how Bowers gets charged for sharing the files. Should be a warning to all to keep a hard line between work accounts and devices and personal accounts and devices.

  • On the post: Florida Republican Gov’t Officials Bend Over Backwards To Tell Everyone That, Yes, Absolutely, They Are Punishing Disney For Its Speech

    tom ( profile ), 25 Apr, 2022 @ 04:39am

    Just as a Church is unlikely to have their special IRS benefits revoked before engaging in political speech, why would Florida revoke Disney's special status prior to Disney doing something blatantly political? Is the revokation retaliation? Sure looks like it and Florida has stated that it is. Is it unconstitutional? The IRS precedents make it seem unlikely. Churches as religious institutions get some rather unique protections that non-religious organizations do not receive. If a church can have its status revoked over politics, seems Florida is on fairly good ground over revoking Disney's special status over politics. But I am sure that Disney's robust legal staff is researching options and Disney as a corporation isn't exactly lacking in resources to make any case the legal staff thinks they can make.

  • On the post: Florida Republican Gov’t Officials Bend Over Backwards To Tell Everyone That, Yes, Absolutely, They Are Punishing Disney For Its Speech

    tom ( profile ), 24 Apr, 2022 @ 04:26pm

    If Florida hadn't passed this 'Strip Disney Benefits' law, how long before some group filed a lawsuit claiming that Florida was subsidizing 'Say Gay' speech with taxpayer dollars? This wasn't a general benefit that any corporation got, it was a special set of laws that created a unique area where Disney had greatly expanded economic powers that no other Florida corporation received. The IRS tax benefits that Churches receive do come with limitations on political speech by those churches. If a church does the wrong kind of political speech, it can lose its special tax status. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/charities-churches-and-politics This has been litigated in court and the constitutionality of the limitations affirmed. Florida just leveled the Free Speech playing field. Disney no longer has its special economic area and can now feel free to engage in the same level of political advocacy that any other Florida corporation is entitled to make.

  • On the post: John Oliver Explains How Cops Lie To People To Rob Them Of Their Freedom

    tom ( profile ), 20 Apr, 2022 @ 02:06pm

    Sometime after Daniel Holtzclaw was convicted https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Holtzclaw , the lead detective laid out the case in the Oklahoman. One of the things I remember is she stated that the worst thing you can do when being questioned by police is not requesting a lawyer. When a cop is telling us to have a lawyer during questioning by cops, best pay attention and get a lawyer.

  • On the post: Cox Cable Customers Bond Together To Fight Bullshit Fees

    tom ( profile ), 18 Apr, 2022 @ 11:34am

    With a Binding Arbitration service fee.

  • On the post: DirecTV Ignores GOP Pressure, Kicks OAN Off Its Cable Lineup

    tom ( profile ), 06 Apr, 2022 @ 08:36am

    What! An article about DirectTV making a sound business decision? 'Checks calendar.' Close but not April 1st. 'Starts dusting off plans for Hell Freezing Over.'

  • On the post: Medical, Home Alarm Industries Warn Of Major Outages As AT&T Shuts Down 3G Network

    tom ( profile ), 23 Feb, 2022 @ 09:52am

    When major US agencies, think FAA, don't pay attention to turn on, turn off tech notices, why should we expect private companies to react differently?

    Add to the list of possibly impacted gizmos - cell connected game cameras.

    I recently looked for a replacement phone for my father who was on a 3G AT&T flip phone. Many of the 'new' flip phones being offered were still only 3g. Then unexpectedly, a package arrived from AT&T that had a free new 4G flip phone and service transfer instructions.

    Time for the FCC to issue a '4G Life Cycle Schedule' similar to a Microsoft OS life cycle announcement. List a Last Date a new 4G gizmo can be legally sold. Allow a several year warranty period after that. Forbid any turn off of 4G towers until several years after the expiration of the final warranty period. Minimum 4G life cycle should probably be at least 20 years. If the 3G shutdown is bad, the future 4G shutdown will be worse. Almost every car being sold is connected and cars often last 20+ years.

  • On the post: Cable Giant Spectrum Endangered Its Employees And Screwed Its Technicians During COVID

    tom ( profile ), 29 Nov, 2021 @ 07:58am

    In no way am I defending Charter/Spectrum but "Rob" needs to wake up and get a different job. Sounds like a "Do you want fries with that" job from McDonalds or being a Walmart greeter would yield more net income then the current independent contractor job with Charter. Which,if true, says a lot about the Charter job setup.

    I have to wonder if Rob knows about the Self Employment FICA Tax? If not, he is going to get a nasty surprise from the IRS in the form of a 15% tax on all his income on top of the normal income tax. Another of the wonderful things about being a self employed independent contractor. Avoiding this tax plus getting rid of having to pay for medical insurance is a big reason a lot of companies go the contractor route.

  • On the post: Study Shows How Android Phones Still Track Users, Even When 'Opted Out'

    tom ( profile ), 19 Oct, 2021 @ 12:26pm

    Smartphone = Personalized Tracking Device.(PTD)
    Always connected car = PTD.
    Most 'smart' home devices = PTD.

    Anyone surprised by this hasn't been paying attention.

  • On the post: Canon Sued For Disabling Printer Scanners When Devices Run Out Of Ink

    tom ( profile ), 19 Oct, 2021 @ 12:17pm

    I played the inkjet game once. Cheap Epson printer spent more time and ink cleaning the head then printing. Still had banding several times. When the final cartridge fouled up, pitched the thing. My HP 1200 Laserjet is 20 years old and still working. Don't print a lot, self test shows 7028 pages. It can sit for weeks and be printing good pages in a matter of seconds.

    Sad thing is that if you watch the sales, you can often get a decent laser printer for not much more then an inkjet + a spare set of cartridges.

  • On the post: Appeals Court Decision Shows The Cleveland PD Cares More About Being Lied To Than About Officers Killing Children

    tom ( profile ), 19 Mar, 2021 @ 03:29am

    And now for something really scary. It seems that another town was willing to hire this guy even after he shot Tamir and lied to Cleveland about his prior record.
    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/08/us/timothy-loehmann-tamir-rice-shooting.html

    He may be currently unemployed if this article is correct:
    https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2021/02/08/president-of-cleveland-cop-football-team-resigns-after-protest-coverage-of-timothy-loehmanns-participation

  • On the post: Federal Court Affirms Travelers Have A First Amendment Right To Record TSA Screeners

    tom ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2021 @ 05:16am

    Pretty sure that all TSA agents have to swear an oath to "Protect and Defend the Constitution..." as part of their hiring process. For the TSA to claim lack of education as an excuse for violating that same Constitution seems rather hypocritical. Maybe the supervisors that thought this case was defensible should be brought up on charges of violating their oath of office.

  • On the post: Congressman Asks House Education Committee To Look At Pre-Crime Program Targeting Florida Schoolkids

    tom ( profile ), 25 Jan, 2021 @ 08:19am

    This is why those often forgotten off cycle/down ballot elections are so important. Everyone worries about who is President, Senator or Representative. But this program was created and approved by locally elected Sheriff and School Officials. As are things like Resource Officer contracts. Pay attention to these elections and go vote.

  • On the post: Presidential Commission On Law Enforcement Says Pretty Much Everyone But Cops Are To Blame For The Shitty State Of American Policing

    tom ( profile ), 28 Dec, 2020 @ 06:37pm

    Most Policing is local, the US Federal Government has very little real authority here. If you don't like how your local police are behaving, pay attention to those City council and mayor elections. That is where reform can be done. Sheriffs often have a high degree of control over how their departments operate, another one of those elections that is often off cycle. Even school board elections are important in this. They have a lot of control over the School Resource Officer/Security Officer contracts. Depending on your state, many of these elections may be 'non-partisan', where party affiliation isn't listed on the ballot and doesn't limit who can file to run.

    Most of these elections are off cycle from the high turnout Federal election dates and often have very low turnouts. A precinct that had a thousand voters for the 2020 General Election may have fewer then a hundred for a mayor or city council election. An organized group of a hundred like minded people may well be able to unseat an unsuspecting incumbent.

  • On the post: Take-Two Going To Trial Over Yet Another Tattoo Artist Claiming Copyright On Athlete Bodies

    tom ( profile ), 05 Oct, 2020 @ 09:02pm

    Which way did the money flow? If Orton paid Alexander for the tattoos, the tattoos would seem to fall under the "Work for Hire" concept and belong to Orton. If Alexander paid Orton for the use of his body to display her art, then things get more complicated.

  • On the post: NY Times Editorial Pages Fuck Up Again: Publishes Chinese Official's Ridiculous Defense Of Stifling Freedom In Hong Kong

    tom ( profile ), 02 Oct, 2020 @ 11:47am

    I have just read both Op-Eds. Don't see anywhere in Sen Cotton's piece where he advocated using the Military on peaceful protestors. He was suggesting that troops be used to deal with the other folks using the protests as cover while they burned, looted and destroyed innocent business owner's dreams and livelihoods. Wonder how many of the people who were outraged at Sen Cotton's opinion would feel if it were their homes and businesses being smashed, burned and looted while the police politely stood by on orders to not interfere with 'peaceful protestors'.

    As much as we might wish it was otherwise, Hong Kong is part of Communist China and is going to have to adapt to the Communist way of doing things. This is a fair amount of what was expressed in the Regina lp opinion. Until the Chinese people have had enough of the Communist way, there is little we can do.

    I hope the NY Times keeps publishing these type op-eds. It is good for folks to see thoughts and opinions that make them uncomfortable.

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