Max 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (155)

• On the post: Blizzard’s Plan To Combat Emulation Of New ‘Diablo’ Title: Just Release It On PC

  

  Max ( profile ), 29 Apr, 2022 @ 05:14am

  Same. And it's non-negotiable. I have three pages of games library on GOG. I haven't bought anything on Steam for... I can't remember how long now.

• On the post: Researchers Again Show How Major VPNs Quietly Undermine User Security

  

  Max ( profile ), 21 Apr, 2022 @ 10:40am

  Huh?

  It seem quite weird to link a site basically saying "pretty much all your ISP gets to see is that you're online now, and going through a VPN" as supporting a "have a universe of ways to track you anyway" claim.

• On the post: It’s Still Stupidly, Ridiculously Difficult To Buy A ‘Dumb’ TV

  

  Max ( profile ), 14 Apr, 2022 @ 06:55pm

  Interesting...

  ...apparently Eastern Europe doesn't really have this problem. Like, at all. Sure, smart TVs are much more numerous than "dumb" ones in stores, but you can still easily walk into any TV shop here and walk right out with a non-smart TV of your choice without any problems. I should know, we HAVE just bought one, "dumb" on purpose. Phillips. Nothing wrong with it. Plain cable, nothing else. It even does live TV "pause" (to USB stick) in spite of it definitely being "dumb". Then again, it's not "ten years" we buy these things for - try FIFTY. Me personally I still use A CRT one quite happily - not because I couldn't get a newer one too, but rather because I don't see the point. It's old as dirt. But it works just fine. I have fixed it when the power regulator IC in it literally blew up. It will work presumably just fine for the rest of my life...

• On the post: Sen. Ron Wyden Catches ICE Illegally Collecting Americans’ Financial Data

  

  Max ( profile ), 15 Mar, 2022 @ 12:10pm

  Bad, bad Internal Combustion Engine! Shame on you!

  You keep using that word (without expanding it at least ONCE per article) - I don't think it means what you think it means (for the average person, even if they have been reading TD for years, and are vaguely aware of having encountered it many times before)

• On the post: Netflix Hits Users With Another Round Of Price Hikes

  

  Max ( profile ), 21 Jan, 2022 @ 06:17pm

  Get bent!

  FINE. So how much for the 640x480 tier...? I can also make do with 320x240 if they keep this up...

• On the post: Techdirt 2021: The Stats.

  

  Max ( profile ), 07 Jan, 2022 @ 12:56pm

  Let me lend you a hand - anecdotal data point of one: Romania, Waterfox Classic, RSS feed. Thanks for all that you do, TD, and a Happy(er) New Year to us all!

• On the post: The Making Of A Moral Panic, Courtesy Of The NY Times

  

  Max ( profile ), 06 Jan, 2022 @ 04:42pm

  Re:

  ...so they're basically pretty much doing exactly what medical doctors do? Huh, go figure...

• On the post: The VPN Is On Everybody's Shitlist After Years Of Scammy Providers And Empty Promises

  

  Max ( profile ), 06 Jan, 2022 @ 03:53pm

  Re: But-but-but

  Look, okay, there are a few relevant use cases. If you need your actual IP obscured, you do need one. If you're more afraid from your own ISP than your VPN provider for any reason, you do need one. But... that's pretty much it. And seriously, the way even somewhat respectable YouTube channels push these things presenting them like the quintessential "privacy/safety" panacea that they are certainly not really does make me feel like barfing any second...

• On the post: Proctorio's Anti-Cheating Software Exposes Students To Hackers Say Dutch Education Officials

  

  Max ( profile ), 22 Dec, 2021 @ 11:03am

  But WHY...?

  I never understood the staunch determination of most education outfits to insist on people taking exams using nothing but their heads; in 99.99% of real life situations there exists absolutely no condition preventing the use of arbitrary references to solve a problem as long as you do it in a timely manner. Utterly asinine...

• On the post: EU, US Start To Realize Letting Elon Musk Dictate Global Space Rules Might Not Be The Brightest Idea

  

  Max ( profile ), 10 Dec, 2021 @ 04:02am

  All that Musk hate is starting to get a stench. Just sayin'.

• On the post: Documents Shows Just How Much The FBI Can Obtain From Encrypted Communication Services

  

  Max ( profile ), 03 Dec, 2021 @ 01:11pm

  The best part of that page? "Session" isn't even on it. Oh, and last time I checked, Signal still wanted your phone number to use it...

• On the post: Instagram Founder's Instagram Locked When One Person Convinced Instagram He Had Died

  

  Max ( profile ), 19 Nov, 2021 @ 02:45pm

  Bah, humbug!

  Step one: don't bother using Instagram. It's really not hard, after one mastered never having had either a Twitter or Facebook account...

• On the post: Journalists In St. Louis Discover State Agency Is Revealing Teacher Social Security Numbers; Governors Vows To Prosecute Journalists As Hackers

  

  Max ( profile ), 15 Oct, 2021 @ 05:39am

  Hmmm...

  So, was that SSN perhaps MIME-encoded or somesuch in the source...? It would at least explain the "decrypting" rhetoric, albeit not justify it...

• On the post: PS4 Battery Time-Keeping Time-Bomb Silently Patched By Sony; PS3 Consoles Still Waiting

  

  Max ( profile ), 02 Oct, 2021 @ 05:02am

  Re: Re: Ummmm, PS4 support was NOT being killed.

  It's rather unfortunate then that this is not at all what the above article says. Starting with how a "battery" is supposed to "check in". I'm sure if one is already well aware of what the actual news is, with enough sheer effort the words in the article can be misconstrued to say what they should be but are not.

• On the post: Indie Game Dev Decides To Leave Industry Due To Steam Returns On Short Game

  

  Max ( profile ), 03 Sep, 2021 @ 01:09pm

  No, screw this pompous idiot. You make a game meant to be completed in under two hours and you charge MONEY for it...? Well then you deserve everything coming your way, including any and all refund requests. This is called A DEMO and it belongs on itch.io, for "pay what you want", which includes NOTHING.

• On the post: The End Of Ownership: How Big Companies Are Trying To Turn Everyone Into Renters

  

  Max ( profile ), 12 Aug, 2021 @ 09:43am

  Re:

  I also insist on being in control over my library of media; the number of movies and ebooks I have around is considerable, yet not a single one of them is under the control of anyone other than me. For movies, this was accomplished via paying for each and every one of a sizable DVD collection - resolution does not mean much to me, and nobody can remove my access (in any format I see fit) to those discs. It would have been the same with books, if only an analogous means existed - but since it does not, it isn't, and I shall not comment further on that part.

• On the post: The End Of Ownership: How Big Companies Are Trying To Turn Everyone Into Renters

  

  Max ( profile ), 12 Aug, 2021 @ 09:25am

  Not quite.

  Nice, but incomplete. For true equivalence, it should read "and in return for this one-time payment license, you shall provide me with a monthly publication, in perpetuity or at least as long as you wish to continue to enjoy the use of said payment license."

• On the post: Exactly Right: 'You're Not Entitled To A Platform, Boomer.'

  

  Max ( profile ), 15 Jul, 2021 @ 11:44am

  Naw.

  I briefly considered arguing why (US politics aside) I think you're Exactly Wrong, but then it all kinda devolved into too much edgelording right there in the title. You do you, Zoomer...

• On the post: Hong Kong Kowtows To China Again, Turns Virtual Police State Into An Actual Police State

  

  Max ( profile ), 07 Jul, 2021 @ 07:44am

  Re:

  ...or maybe they're too busy taking notes. What's the latest UK camera-per-square-meter figure anyway - has it reached unity yet...?

• On the post: Chinese Government Continues To Arrest More Journalists Over Nonsense 'National Security' Law

  

  Max ( profile ), 19 Jun, 2021 @ 08:16am

  Only goes to show people never actually learn from history. There are countless precedents, even in just the last hundred years or so, which clearly illustrate that thinking that "world powers" of any kind will come to the aid of a small entity which irrevocably fell under the sphere of influence of some malignant large one is UTTERLY DELUSIONAL. It never happens.

  Sure they will make all kinds of disapproving noises and possibly even apply some sanctions or whatnot, but once you are alone in the room with you new overlord, you're on your own, full stop. You have exactly two choices: flee (if you still can) or accept that it fully owns you, and this is your life now. Trying to mount any kind of resistance and/or hold out until the "rescue" arrives will only get you steamrolled spectacularly, and very very painfully, if only "pour encourager les autres", to fall in line OR ELSE - just to make it very clear that this is NOT a discussion.

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