tom 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: After Missing Cord Cutting Trend, Nielsen Falls Apart

    tom ( profile ), 07 Aug, 2019 @ 04:35pm

    Wonder how long before lawsuits begin claiming under-reporting of viewers when a show is licensed from outside the streaming network(to lower license fees) and over-reporting for for in network shows(for higher ad fees)?

    When each network is running its own proprietary and secret viewership monitoring service, verifying real numbers is likely to become very interesting.

  • On the post: Microsoft Nabs Russian Hackers Exploiting Flimsy IOT Security

    tom ( profile ), 07 Aug, 2019 @ 04:27pm

    Running a network without a proper firewall and rule set is pretty much like leaving your front and back doors open when you go to bed. Sad that most consumer grade edge devices still allow all outbound traffic by default which violates basic network security 101. The harsh reality is most government officials are clueless, ISPs know better but don't want the responsibility of helping millions of IT clueless customers setup proper security and the companies selling this stuff are taking full advantage.

  • On the post: Why Is Our First Reaction To Mass Shootings To Talk About Censorship?

    tom ( profile ), 05 Aug, 2019 @ 02:34pm

    IMO - a large part of the problem is the intolerant behavior and lack of statesmanship by US leaders(in both parties). When your leaders set such a poor example, hard to blame some young minds for feeling helpless and frustrated.

  • On the post: Verizon's New 'Unlimited' Data Plans Still Have Very Real, Problematic Limits

    tom ( profile ), 05 Aug, 2019 @ 08:37am

    Love the fine print where it says rates are only good for auto pay with direct access to bank account(no credit cards allowed) and with paperless billing. They want to suck the money directly out of your bank while making it as difficult as possible to get a breakout of your bill.

    As far as Congress critters in the lobbyists pockets, just list all 535 of them. Its the only way to be sure.

  • On the post: District Court Rolls Back Magistrate's Decision, Says Compelled Fingerprint Product Isn't A Fifth Amendment Issue

    tom ( profile ), 02 Aug, 2019 @ 09:31am

    Re: Re: Re: Because apparently it needs to be said yet again...

    Just imagine the fun if biometric result files had been included as part of Equifax credit records or Capital One credit card applications. Still like the idea of having a phone app that intercepts the fingerprint scan and upon match, encrypts the phone, then does a factory reset. "Your Honor, they had a court order, I HAD to touch the scanner."

  • On the post: AT&T Scores $1 Billion Contract To Rebuild DOJ Systems

    tom ( profile ), 02 Aug, 2019 @ 09:35am

    If AT&T implements this contract with the same zeal they have applied to rural broadband upgrades, the DOJ will soon be announcing their new 80 column punch card sorting machines.

  • On the post: What Happens When The US Government Tries To Take On The Open Source Community?

    tom ( profile ), 01 Aug, 2019 @ 09:02am

    Re:

    Sadly, most of the usual "Freedom Loving" suspects are further down the path of on-line censorship then the US. This does highlight some of the fears folks had about Microsoft's acquisition of Github. As a multifaceted company is it a lot easier for the Government to coerce Microsoft. "We see you are fighting the Github request. Sorry but you are blacklisted from all further participation in US Government cloud contracts until that changes." If Github had stayed independent, they might have been able to argue Code = Protected Speech instead of Trade Goods without the threat of other business divisions being impacted.

  • On the post: Court Dismisses Democrats' Nutty Lawsuit Against Russia, Wikileaks And Trump Associates

    tom ( profile ), 31 Jul, 2019 @ 05:12pm

    Re:

    IMO - Obstruction is one of those made up crimes law enforcement loves to bring when they can't find evidence of an actual crime, in this case Collusion. If Collusion isn't a crime, then what exactly was the point of the investigation? Could it be that Trump is right and it WAS a witch hunt? Remember, it was Trump's DOJ that appointed the special prosecutor. Trump turned over most every document asked for. Don't remember him invoking Executive Privilege. Not exactly a shining case for obstructing an investigation.

  • On the post: Court Dismisses Democrats' Nutty Lawsuit Against Russia, Wikileaks And Trump Associates

    tom ( profile ), 31 Jul, 2019 @ 12:42pm

    Re: Re: It was good theater at least

    Zero charges or convictions for Russian Collusion which was the alleged original point of the investigation. List so far includes: Lying to Federal Officials, Tax Evasion, Bank Fraud, Conspiracy to Defraud, and Violations of Campaign Finance Rules. Guessing if we did a equally in depth investigation of all 535 Congress critters and their staffers, we would wind up with hundreds of similar charges.

  • On the post: The DOJ's Plan To 'Fix' The T-Mobile Merger Isn't Going To Work

    tom ( profile ), 31 Jul, 2019 @ 07:23am

    I have watched decades of the multiple cell and ISP companies do crap coverage build out, failed ISP deployments despite billions in subsidies to do so, bill cramming, etc. Makes me long for the old AT&T Bell System. For all its faults, it did roll out near universal coverage, even in distant rural locations. The bills usually made sense. You had one number to call for service and hold times were usually fairly short and the person on the other end usually spoke understandable English.

    Maybe the solution is to force them to merge into one large heavily regulated mega-corp. I don't really see how having four or now three duplicate systems covering the same territory and not covering the same territory is ever going to lead to lower prices. Especially when they have to rebuild it every few years for the next great G+1 roll out.

    Not sure there is a good solution here, just variations on bad.

  • On the post: Court Will Decide If AT&T Is Liable For Cryptocurrency Theft Caused By Shoddy Security

    tom ( profile ), 29 Jul, 2019 @ 09:41am

    Re: This should be interesting

    Step 1 for AT&T will be to add a "Security Cost Recovery Fee" to all cell data plans.

  • On the post: The Newest Growth Market For License Plate Readers Is Those Assholes Running The Local Homeowners Association

    tom ( profile ), 26 Jul, 2019 @ 02:57pm

    Re: Re: HOAs

    You 'choose' the HOA when you decide to buy a house located in one. Don't like the HOA? Buy in a different location. Didn't read the contract and abstract that detailed the HOA and other covenants when you bought the house? Your fault. Did the HOA mutate into evil after you bought the house? Read the HOA rules. Read the city/state rules governing HOAs. Chances are pretty good that if few folks are attending meetings, the HOA leaders are playing fast and loose with the rules since no one is going to object. The leaders may not even know the rules as it is likely they inherited the job from the previous leader who either died or moved out of the HOA area. Wait until the leaders make some mistakes. Proper public notice of meetings and proposed actions is one that is often overlooked. Show up with some neighbors and perhaps a lawyer and force the issue. If all else fails, be prepared to either live with the evil HOA or move.

  • On the post: AT&T Loses 1 Million Video Users After Spending Billions On Mergers To Dominate Video

    tom ( profile ), 26 Jul, 2019 @ 03:10pm

    Gee, it seems the basic Econ 101 principles are a mystery to the overpaid leaders of AT&T. One of which is: Higher prices = Lower demand. Especially when there are several competitors to DirectTV.

  • On the post: Why A 'Clever Hack' Against Nazis Shows How Upload Filters Have Made Copyright Law Even More Broken

    tom ( profile ), 26 Jul, 2019 @ 03:03pm

    The more complex the rules, the easier it is to find creative uses for them.

  • On the post: Appeals Court Says No Rights Were Violated When A Cop Shot At A 'Non-Threatening' Dog But Hit A Kid Instead

    tom ( profile ), 24 Jul, 2019 @ 10:42pm

    I think an argument can be made that Officer Vickers committed fraud upon the good citizens paying his salary. Based on the evidence in this case, it seems he was impersonating a trained Police Officer.

  • On the post: Former Content Moderator Explains How Josh Hawley's Bill Would Grant Government Control Over Online Speech

    tom ( profile ), 17 Jul, 2019 @ 09:07pm

    Re: Government Control Over Online Speech

    One difference is most of the license applications are handled by FCC minions, not the actual Commissioners. Even a lot of enforcement actions are never seen by Commissioners. Since 3 of the 5 (by either law or custom) are from the same party as the person in the White House, getting 4 to agree that a tech company is being neutral may be difficult. And that is assuming you have a full 5 person commission. And once one is denied, lawsuits are sure to follow and those could take years if not decades since both parties to the suit would likely have very deep pockets.

  • On the post: Another Way In Which Patents Contributed To The Opioid Crisis: Hospitals Ordered Not To Use Better, Less Problematic Medicines

    tom ( profile ), 17 Jul, 2019 @ 06:49am

    I have no issue with Doctors earning a profit. But from TFA, the issue here wasn't the Doctors, it was the hospital administration issuing medication orders. I am becoming more and more convinced that the solution to the 'Health Care Crisis' is banning insurance and government programs and returning to the patient directly paying the doctor/hospital. Many report say somewhere between 30 to 50% of health costs are administrative including insurance admin cost + profits, cost of complying with government mandates and compliance reporting, etc. Eliminate that cost and health care becomes affordable for a large number of people. Sure, some will get hit with bills for complex treatments they can't pay but I doubt the number will be much different then what we get today.

  • On the post: West Virginia's Biggest Telco Says Broadband Business 'Unsustainable'

    tom ( profile ), 15 Jul, 2019 @ 12:11pm

    Some of their points about rural business are valid. A DSL hub has about a 3 mile service range. One in an urban location might have a potential customer count in the hundreds or even thousands. The same hub in a rural location might have a potential count of around 50. It is made worse by the problem of the farther you are from the hub, the slower the max speed. The folks in the 2~3 mile ring, which all things being equal, has the most potential customers, will also be the ones who will get the slowest max speeds. Not many folks will pay $70/month for 1.5mbs max download speed.

    The plain phone service doesn't have the same distance limits but folks are dropping the POTS in favor of cell when they can get service.

    BUT, Frontier surely knew this before they bought the assets from Verison. Sounds like they are hoping their assets in the government will pay off.

  • On the post: Congress Moving Forward With Copyright-For-Censorship 'Small Claims' Act

    tom ( profile ), 15 Jul, 2019 @ 03:07am

    This should be renamed the "Let's Litigate Over Creation Time Act". By removing the registration requirement for lawsuits, there will be no easy way to determine who published first and therefore who is most likely infringing on the other. Since computer file dates are fairly easy to alter, can't rely on those. Someone can claim they created a work on such and such a date but didn't distribute it until much later. And not all works are created on things that leave a file date mark. Typewriters, pens and art brushes tend to not leave date created on records. The last thing we need are more "prior work" lawsuits and the resultant discovery motions.

  • On the post: The Gaming Platform Wars Are Beginning To Screw Up Crowdfunding Games

    tom ( profile ), 03 Jul, 2019 @ 08:48am

    Wonder how long it will be before one of the gaming networks start 'accidentally' interfering with the operation of competing networks by preempting/ blocking certain network ports on the end user's PC? All in the name of better client performance or security?

    This is turning into another case of be careful what you wish for you might get it. A lot of folks wanted alternatives to Steam. Now you have them.

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