tom 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (374)

• On the post: Disney+ Titles Disappear Without Warning, Bringing Confusion To The Streaming Wars

  

  tom ( profile ), 07 Jan, 2020 @ 03:19pm

  Another example of if you can't touch the media or device storing your data, the data isn't yours and may vanish with no notice or recourse.

• On the post: Ring Sued Because 'Taking Customers' Security Seriously' Means Selling Easily-Hijacked Cameras

  

  tom ( profile ), 07 Jan, 2020 @ 03:17pm

  If you connect something to the Internet and don't have a real firewall that defaults to no traffic either way and only allows traffic you have authorized, you should expect to lose control of your device.

  But most ISPs don't want you to have a real firewall as they will get stuck answering all those "Why doesn't my latest IOT gizmo work." questions.

  Neither do most IOT gizmo makers. A real firewall setup means the IOT maker has to fully disclose what traffic their gizmo generates and all of the places that info is going as well as everyone that will be viewing the images.

  As for a secure surveillance system, either build it yourself or buy one of the old school CCTV systems with an on site recorder setup. Eliminate any vendor that needs a cloud account for their gizmo to work.

• On the post: Alabama Lawmakers Think The Time Is Right To Make Assaulting A Cop A 'Hate Crime'

  

  tom ( profile ), 25 Dec, 2019 @ 04:32pm

  Is hating the growing trend of making more things a 'hate crime', a hate crime?

• On the post: No Surprise: Judge Says US Government Can Take The Proceeds From Snowden's Book

  

  tom ( profile ), 24 Dec, 2019 @ 02:19pm

  Re: Contract law does not trump the first amendment

  A voluntary contract can and often does limit a person's freedoms. If you join the military, you give up several freedoms as a price of service. (Such as no more bashing of the CIC or other Command Authority). Many employers ban political activity in the workplace. You may have limited clothing choices. Your online activities may be monitored for things detrimental to your employer. Mr Snowden didn't have to start working for the NSA. He voluntarily did so and signed the contract in question. He violated the contract. Now he suffers the results of that, according to the contract he willingly signed.

• On the post: Multi-Agency Task Force Raid House To Arrest Someone Already In Jail, Shoot Woman In House Multiple Times Because Reasons

  

  tom ( profile ), 24 Dec, 2019 @ 02:09pm

  I always find it interesting that Officers expect that someone that is asleep to fully comprehend what is going on and not take defensive actions toward strangers in her house while at the same time claiming that her actions surprised and/or threatened the officers who had hours to plan the action, minutes to approach the house and assess the situation and many seconds as it unfolds to take cover and deescalate to a safe ending.

  Seems like there is a lot of faking of training records going on.

• On the post: Online Forum Members Exploited Weak Credentials To Turn Ring Cameras Against Their Owners

  

  tom ( profile ), 13 Dec, 2019 @ 08:11am

  Re: it actually is Amazon's fault, not Rings

  The truth is probably far worse. Very likely that Amazon is collecting data from these cameras like they do from all their services and devices so they can sell the collated tabulated linked etc. data + results to all buyers willing to pay up. Have to wonder how many Amazon employees or contractors are reviewing camera feeds 'For Quality Control Purposes'? If your 'security' device requires a cloud connection to operate, then it isn't a security device and is most likely a data collection and monitoring device that isn't working for you.

• On the post: AT&T Said Trump Tax Cuts Would Create Thousands Of Jobs. Instead, AT&T's Laying Off Thousands.

  

  tom ( profile ), 13 Dec, 2019 @ 08:13am

  Well to be honest, AT&T's actions likely have created several hundred additional jobs in the debt collection and mortgage foreclosure industries to handle all of the fired AT&T installers.

• On the post: The End Of Ownership, Military Edition: Even The US Military Can't Fix Its Own Equipment Without Right To Repair Laws

  

  tom ( profile ), 28 Nov, 2019 @ 05:46am

  Another aspect of the problem is it is often far easier to go through the long irritating approval process once for a long term combination supply and repair contract then to get a separate contract for supply and many smaller contracts for repair parts, where each contract requires the same long irritating process.

  A lot of this is the result of past criminal purchasing conduct where Congress felt it "Had to do Something". Rinse and repeat enough times and the procurement process becomes the convoluted process we have today where the end user has to fight the system as much they do any enemy.

• On the post: Knowing What Happens Next, T-Mobile CEO Legere Heads For The Exit

  

  tom ( profile ), 19 Nov, 2019 @ 09:56am

  Victory conditions for CEOs are often different then most folks or even the companies they are leading. He has collected millions in salary and even more in stock gains. By leaving while the company is doing good, he will become an attractive hire for a company needing a turnaround and be in a position to negotiate for good terms.

  Even if he doesn't want a CEO slot, he will likely be considered a prime Board member for a company.

• On the post: Apathy Isn't A Business Model: Major US Telcos Teeter Toward Bankruptcy

  

  tom ( profile ), 18 Nov, 2019 @ 09:40am

  Re: Out of service... again...

  Might consider a small claims court action. If you are lucky, the judge has the same crap service. And some times small claims cases are still allowed even if class action cases are forced to arbitration.

• On the post: GAO Report: TSA Has No Idea How Effective Its Suspicionless Surveillance Program Is

  

  tom ( profile ), 05 Nov, 2019 @ 11:09am

  Not sure anything the Terminally Stupid Agency had done has made flying safer.

• On the post: Shocker: ISPs Cut Back 2020 Investment Despite Tax Breaks, Death Of Net Neutrality

  

  tom ( profile ), 05 Nov, 2019 @ 11:02am

  I doubt NN had anything to do with it. Well before the NN vote, back when Google was still doing major fiber rollouts, both AT&T and Cox were heavily advertising their new Gig speed services in OKC. The moment Google said OKC was off their list, the roll outs stopped. The "coming in days" signs vanished almost overnight in my neighborhood. Cox did slowly roll out gig service over cable but I think that was more a side effect of improving the TV service infrastructure. Months before I moved, AT&T finally came through and finished deploying fiber and speeds went from 6mbs via copper DSL to 50mbs over fiber. But again, I think that was more motivated by AT&T wanting to rip out the copper network then really wanting to improve ISP speeds.

• On the post: John Oliver Takes On Fucked Up Voting Machines In The Way Only He Can

  

  tom ( profile ), 05 Nov, 2019 @ 10:51am

  Oklahoma has used optically scanned paper ballots statewide since the late 80s early 90s. Not sure why the Oliver piece showed us using the DRE machines. One big advantage of these machines is they tell the voter when the ballot is inserted if it is readable. If not, the voter is given a fresh ballot. Also, if power is out, the ballots can still be collected for later counting. I voted this way during an wide spread outage from an ice storm. Could be an issue in California today because of the power shutdowns.

  So far, all the manual recounts have been within a few votes of the first reported totals. It is to the point now that most candidates won't bother with a recount unless the margin is single digits.

• On the post: Freelance Columnist Suggests Workaround To California's AB5: Submit One Giant, Regularly Edited, Column

  

  tom ( profile ), 29 Oct, 2019 @ 06:50pm

  Rather then one giant submission subject to 48 separate edits, sign a contract for 1 story with 48 chapters to be delivered 1 chapter per Monday the WSJ is published.

• On the post: Cop Peforming A Welfare Check Kills Woman By Shooting Her Through Her Own Backyard Window

  

  tom ( profile ), 15 Oct, 2019 @ 12:17pm

  This officer's actions were a big WTF when I saw this on the news. Nothing he did seemed to follow either common sense or police policy.

  Several years ago, I called the local non-emergency number because my across the street neighbor's door was open and her dog was in the front yard at about 1am. She never let that old blind deaf dog out without her sitting on the front porch watching. When the two cops showed up, one asked me why the call which I explained. They then knocked on the door, called out several times, then slowly entered, still announcing loudly. She wasn't home so we rounded up the dog and they closed and locked the door. Turned out she was out that evening and her door had been not latching a few times. She got a good laugh out of it once she got over the OMG of her dog being out by himself. She had the door fixed a few days later.

• On the post: New French Mandate Will Use Facial Recognition App To Create 'Secure Digital IDs'

  

  tom ( profile ), 10 Oct, 2019 @ 09:40pm

  It doesn't take much searching to find a long list of security breaches where the account names + passwords (or hash files) were stolen. The same will eventually happen with this biometric system. How long before someone figures out how to feed a stolen biometric file into an app that is supposed to scan a face and instead feeds the stolen file into the comparison part of the security system? At that point, the real account holder is screwed as they can't just change their face like they can a stolen password.

• On the post: Elizabeth Warren Wants Congress To Be Smarter About Tech… While Grossly Overstating Google & Facebook's Market Power

  

  tom ( profile ), 02 Oct, 2019 @ 12:52pm

  Re: Re:

  "Yes, if you change what she's talking about then she's suddenly right. That doesn't change how wrong the original claim was." If she said what she meant, then sure, her numbers are fubar. But as it is likely she isn't a tech knowledge powerhouse, confusing total traffic with search result traffic would be an easy mistake to make. '
  "Want to help a certain politician or group? Change the results." Which is still as illegal as it is in any other kind of business.' Why would it be illegal? Private company offering a free service protected by layers of TOS, etc. that say things like use at own risk, not liable for damages, etc. Plus they could probably argue that search results are some type of speech protected by the 1st amendment. '
  "Try to force Google and other search engines to revel the magic behind the curtain, good luck." Why should they? Are people trying to force any other company to reveal trade secrets because they're too popular, or does it magically become necessary when you're a search engine for some reason?' Never said they should.

• On the post: Elizabeth Warren Wants Congress To Be Smarter About Tech… While Grossly Overstating Google & Facebook's Market Power

  

  tom ( profile ), 02 Oct, 2019 @ 04:24am

  If you change 'traffic' to 'searches', she isn't that far off. A quick search shows that Google gets about 63% of all searches. Search results are where you can really influence what folks see. And we know Google and others modify search results based on magic formulas kept locked in a safe next to the Coke formula and the Colonel's famous recipe.

  Porn out of favor? Porn results get down ranked. Anti-vax a problem, down rank the results. Want to help a certain politician or group? Change the results.

  Try to force Google and other search engines to revel the magic behind the curtain, good luck.

  Don't see how yet another government agency will help much. Those legi-critters that want to learn about a tech issue will do the research. The others won't and yet another government issued report won't change that.

• On the post: Lawsuit: School Strip-Searched An 8-Year-Old Because Someone Found Feces On A Bathroom Floor

  

  tom ( profile ), 28 Sep, 2019 @ 03:29am

  The kid probably should have received a gold star instead of a strip search. He did make it to the bathroom before going. How much worse for the students and staff if he had instead dumped in his pants, decided he was too embarrassed to say anything and gone on to his next class, because being late for class is probably a felony in this school.

• On the post: The Best People: White House Emailed Talking Points Meant For Surrogates To Dems, Tried To Recall Email Afterwards

  

  tom ( profile ), 25 Sep, 2019 @ 02:51pm

  Used to work for a state agency. We ran a Microsoft Exchange email setup. Saw more then one "Oh Crap" face when I explained that email recall only worked in the building and that once the email had left the building, recall didn't work. Even in the building, messages that were already read often didn't recall. Lawyers had the most entertaining "Oh Crap" faces.

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