Michael 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (168)

• On the post: Nintendo: Broader, Awful Anti-Piracy Measures Are Sure To Turn Our Fortunes Around!

  

  Michael ( profile ), 20 Feb, 2014 @ 11:09am

  Re: So...

  Agreed, it is very handy to do something like take the US rom of Disgaea and patch in the Japanese sounds which should have been included as an option...
  
  The reverse is also true for fan-ports of games not yet released in the US.
  
  
  Region locking is repugnant and evil. Similarly tying licenses to an easily stolen device instead of an account identity (individual) is also repugnant and evil.
  
  
  If Nintendo would fix those above issues, maybe they could sell me a license to play games on a portable console I already own, namely my cell phone which has specs that whip those of most of their portable devices (aside from having only one screen, though higher resolution).

• On the post: Comcast Mega-Corp Shoveling Money At FCC Subcommittee

  

  Michael ( profile ), 20 Feb, 2014 @ 03:00pm

  Proportional

  I would like to know more about the proportional total of 'support' various organizations from various categories have provided the politicians in this focus.
  
  As a citizen of the United States that exercises their right to vote in order to obtain the /privilege/ of 'complaining' about it I must admit that I don't even know where to begin (aside from a search engine) to look up this information.

• On the post: Cue The Hyperbole And Hysteria: FCC Outlines Timid, Murky Plan To (Maybe) Defend Net Neutrality

  

  Michael ( profile ), 19 Feb, 2014 @ 02:30pm

  Common Carrier

  For any community where there is only one cable provider or one 'twisted pair' provider or one fiber to the house provider, said providers of those categories should be classified as common carriers. The physical plant should never be operated by a group that sells services over it. (Though said groups might be able to bid on contracts to service the physical plant).

• On the post: UK Town Starts Texting Residents To Remind Them They're Obese

  

  Michael ( profile ), 18 Feb, 2014 @ 02:55pm

  Fix external factors first

  How about making it cheaper to eat healthy (making healthy foods cost less than they do now), giving tax incentives for growing your own healthy foods in greenhouses/gardens, and designing cities that cater to people instead of cars (make it pleasant and faster to walk somewhere; put (free?) parking lots on the edge, etc).

• On the post: Congress Warns DOJ That If It Doesn't Support NSA Reform Plan, It Won't Renew Key Patriot Act Provision

  

  Michael ( profile ), 05 Feb, 2014 @ 03:48pm

  Re: Re: wait, what?!

  If I could vote in the election to ban ALL current congress persons from ever running again I'd surely take that option (none of the above, and don't let any of these clowns in ever).
  
  Yes, I'd be throwing out some quality product; but it's sitting in a barrel of mostly rotten apples.
  
  However I'd want that to be an all or nothing vote; my runner up would probably be someone that a combination of the ACLU and EFF recommend. (Oh silly me, I forget that we don't have popular proportional representation methods and instead have outdated physical location based representation; even outside of the senate).

• On the post: Secret Audit Of Baltimore's Speed Cams Says Up To 70,000 Tickets Were Issued In Error In 2012 Alone

  

  Michael ( profile ), 27 Jan, 2014 @ 01:03pm

  Re: Lack of Oversight

  Instead of investing in red light cameras invest in /traffic planning/. Reward drivers with green lights for doing the speed limit (once they've synced to the waveform) and set actual /speed guides/ that post the speed to go at to hit the green light. Do that and you won't even need to have 'speed limits' because drivers will want to just keep getting green light after green light.
  
  Even better, once self driving cars (please arrive soon) hit the market they can time when to leave and how fast to go so that you'd /never/ hit a red light.

• On the post: Losing Net Neutrality Is The Symptom, Not The Problem: Now Is The Time To Focus On Real Competition

  

  Michael ( profile ), 16 Jan, 2014 @ 09:59am

  Re: Natural monopoly

  I agree, it is a natural monopoly, just like roads. Access to the global information economy is just as important as access to the economy provided by roads. Aside from possibly gated communities (in which the final leaf road(s) is(are) accessible to the community alone) we don't stand for places that can only be reached via private road.
  
  The present situation is akin to the insanity of having fuel providers own the roads you're driving on.

• On the post: Little Evidence Of 'Infringement Risk' For 'Copyright Intensive' Companies

  

  Michael ( profile ), 09 Jan, 2014 @ 01:47pm

  Re: MATH

  The percentage are obviously to allow for more objective comparison of 'how often is X mentioned in relation to Y' independently of the number of reports on Y.
  
  I agree with the implicit decision of Mike that this is a fair way of comparing data in question.

• On the post: ACLU Sues City Of Omaha, 32 Police Officers For Use Of Excessive Force, Warrantless Search And Seizure

  

  Michael ( profile ), 09 Jan, 2014 @ 10:36am

  "Unbelievably" sadly all too believably these days.

  "Unbelievably"; sadly all too believably these days. A clear indication that various 'war on (segment of general population' and 'tough on crime' (irrespective of the type, lack of intent to harm, etc) has succeeded in creating the biggest organized gang of all time; the police.

• On the post: Not Cool: MPAA Joins The W3C

  

  Michael ( profile ), 07 Jan, 2014 @ 12:08pm

  I think the W3C just jumped the shark

  I think the W3C just jumped the shark; I wonder how difficult it would be to fork the relevant developers to a different organization (which would likely initially adopt the untainted prior versions of the standards as historical reference)?

• On the post: YouTube Fails In Explaining Flood Of Takedowns For Let's Play Videos

  

  Michael ( profile ), 12 Dec, 2013 @ 01:12pm

  ugly corner cases

  Let's also remember how horrid 'ContentID' (and anything similar) can be at correctly identifying things which might sound similar but can be legitimately produced by multiple sources.
  
  Classical music (various performances, including synthesized music)
  
  Covers (even, as covered on Techdirt previously, Band's performing a cover of their own work to re-release with better terms)
  
  Written permission from an authorized agent (who may not have communicated with, or whom does not have any control over, 'rogue' enforcement agents).
  
  Fair Use - The, yes it's a copy, but it's covered.
  
  Oh, and the above also ignores all aspects of International things; what rules cover a user based in Germany vs a user in Canada vs a user in the UK vs a user in the US or anywhere else?
  
  I think I've finally seen an 'industry' with more inherent liability and even less clarity than 'software patents' (protected ways of /thinking/) cause.

• On the post: ACLU Calls For Ban On Nonlethal Weapons In Schools After Tased Student Ends Up In Coma

  

  Michael ( profile ), 06 Dec, 2013 @ 08:49am

  Standing up for your self

  Is a valuable life skill... which at least when I was going to school you'd be disproportional punished for. Yes, you would be punished for defending your self. It sounds like things have only degraded further since I was in school.
  
  Without the ability to defend your self you become nothing more than cattle.

• On the post: South Korean Politicians Want Video Games Placed Alongside Drugs And Alcohol In Legislation For Addiction

  

  Michael ( profile ), 03 Dec, 2013 @ 08:35am

  Re: Re:

  I would argue that videogames are addictive as an alternative reality within which the player finds fulfillment and reward for work that is lacking in real life.
  
  The solution is not to punish games but to use the formulas they get correct to improve society such that participating in it is similarly 'easy' and 'rewarding'. In short, there's not enough cool stuff happening in the real world.

• On the post: Two Florida Students Charged In Connection With A Bullied 12-Year-Old's Suicide

  

  Michael ( profile ), 16 Oct, 2013 @ 01:08pm

  Re:

  There are far more productive ways than actually /hitting/ someone to induce punishment. The psychological torture that these teens likely subjected the suicide victim to is clear proof of that.

• On the post: VP Joe Biden Believes There's 'No Legal Reason' The Government Can't Slap A Sin Tax On 'Violent Media'

  

  Michael ( profile ), 15 May, 2013 @ 02:22pm

  Re:

  It comes from politics being a popularity (and mostly money/advertising driven) contest instead of a competency and civic duty one. In my observation (and opinion), to get anywhere high up in the system a politician has to be morally bankrupt and good at placating to the not cynical enough masses.

• On the post: VP Joe Biden Believes There's 'No Legal Reason' The Government Can't Slap A Sin Tax On 'Violent Media'

  

  Michael ( profile ), 15 May, 2013 @ 02:18pm

  Re: Taxation for Services

  I would not mind paying taxes much more like Europe if I got the benefits that they do.
  
  Things like;
  * real public healthcare that works
  * the digital equivalent of public roads infrastructure
  * various levels of job security/placement services for those seeking entry level positions (Sure I don't need that now, but would have seriously helped get my adult life started on the correct footing and would help new entrants to the job market.)
  
  Which the US generally lacks; then again our lack of defending civil/human rights is slowly turning us in to a third world country...

• On the post: Democrats & Republicans Should Come Together To Support A Future Of Abundance

  

  Michael ( profile ), 14 Nov, 2012 @ 04:29pm

  Re: Require the executive branch?

  Never underestimate the crippling weight of bureaucratic nightmares and the covetous 'Not Invented Here' / NIMBY (but I want cheep/fast/good/experienced without prior tests or entry level hires; oh and beneath market rate pay) short sighted me first roadblocks that infest such systems.
  
  Sometimes I think the founding fathers /did/ well know of that type of threat, since human nature is sadly very little progressed from back then (though, in contrast, social nature has managed to improve and rid us of official slavery (substitute wage slaves) and also has allowed significant portions of the population the right to vote as citizens (not just landowning white men...).

• On the post: Sergey Brin To All Elected Politicians: Withdraw From Your Parties And Go Independent

  

  Michael ( profile ), 07 Nov, 2012 @ 03:11pm

  Replace Parties - Have PACs endorse Candidates - Matrix evaluate results

  Replacement for Political Parties
  
  1) Have PACs endorse candidates in a standard format (standard format on a website they control)
  2) Voters subscribe to PACs they agree with
  3) Voters subscribe to voting areas they are part of
  4) Software (of the consumer's choosing) computes which candidate best reflects the voter's expressed interests (IE vote with PAC, heavily avoid endorsement form PAC).
  5) Voter's double-check candidates on their short list to see if they are a good match.

• On the post: Richard Stallman: Legislate That Using Software On General Purpose Computers Is Not Infringing

  

  Michael ( profile ), 01 Nov, 2012 @ 03:21pm

  Baby in an ocean

  This is beyond a baby in dirty bathwater that we should avoid throwing out; it's more like a baby that's been drowning in an ocean.
  
  The solution I like best so far is to limit the number of awarded patents to something more like one per official examiner per month; that is -awarded- patents. All applications would be disclosed as a matter of public record. Any patent that a practicing member in the denoted field cannot usefully use would, of course, be invalid. Independent invention should also be a defense (the point of the patent existing is to preclude that research in favor of licencing the patent's use instead). A compulsory license fee should also be decided per patent, based on the resources expended to 'invent' and 'document' it. Also, a duration up to (19 years from start of filing year I think?) shall be decided at the same time; this would likely be reduced for fast moving fields.

• On the post: What Do Sandy & Pearl Harbor Have In Common? Politicians Exploit Both To Push Cybersecurity Agendas

  

  Michael ( profile ), 01 Nov, 2012 @ 02:48pm

  Re:

  I will combine two related things to make the point that some people cannot be trained to implement security.
  
  I haven't seen examples of this my self, but I have heard from two different sources I trust that they have personally seen people who simply cannot count standard US currency; I am unsure why, but suspect some combination of: they can't count, or their memory is easily corrupted.
  
  Another example are phishing emails: clearly a frightening percentage of our population believes these (and worse, self-selects), otherwise it would not be economically viable to engage in that behavior.
  
  The above two ideas combine to support my point. There simply are some people who will 'fail' in the context of security. There is also, of course, the 'boss'/'ceo' syndrome of poor security when it is inconvenient.
  
  
  I am, however, beginning to suspect that some kind of 1:2-4 X enciphering system and a modified version of one-time-pads should be used for high security low I/O per second. Data plus replacement key-pad and a bit of channel noise (message padding) could be sent to keep equipment on otherwise public channels communicating in a way that almost not susceptible to any exploitable algorithm (You'd have to slightly obfuscate the data to prevent statistical attacks; but compression and a small bit of scrambling should be more than sufficient).

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