Michael Donnelly 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Blizzard Still Twisting And Distorting Copyright To Go After Cheaters

    Michael Donnelly ( profile ), 22 May, 2014 @ 06:45pm

    Re: Re: As someone with some experience in this arena...

    Nah, they'll distinguish from Galoob with something too easily. Maybe non-literal elements or the "choreography" that the whole system comprises, or that is just part of the system. Galoob is too literal and specific to skipping content and a single-machine model.

  • On the post: Blizzard Still Twisting And Distorting Copyright To Go After Cheaters

    Michael Donnelly ( profile ), 22 May, 2014 @ 04:43pm

    As someone with some experience in this arena...

    (yes, I am the first two letters in MDY Industries)

    Actually, the derivative work claim is quite a bit different than the usual "you licensed it, you don't own it, therefore these copies are infringing" kind of logic that was employed in the past.

    In this case, the EULA and ToU are only being leveraged directly for the contract claims: breach, interference, etc. There is no more of the magical connection between copyright and the EULA.

    The copyright claims are made without the EULA: derivative work and direct infringement during reversing. They may or may not be winners, but it's at least a break from the prior methods of creating copyright infringement from thin air by writing it into a contract.

    If it ever gets argued on the merits, the defendants will have to somehow get past Midway v. Arctic on the derivative work issue and I don't see how they're going to do that.

  • On the post: Patent Reform Is Dead; Patent Trolls Win

    Michael Donnelly ( profile ), 21 May, 2014 @ 01:15pm

    The system is broken.

  • On the post: Looks Like Patent Trolls Have Won This Round As Even Weakened Patent Reform Likely To Die

    Michael Donnelly ( profile ), 19 May, 2014 @ 07:08am

    Oligarchy.

    I believe the results of the research: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/apr/21/americas-oligarchy-not-democracy-or-republic-unive/

    And, of course, what just happened with Senator Leahy.

  • On the post: German Court: Jesus Doesn't Deserve Copyright Protection

    Michael Donnelly ( profile ), 16 May, 2014 @ 07:27pm

    Oh, man, there's gotta be a Section 109 joke here, too. Just need a way to work Vernor v Autodesk in there and get some Biblical licensing.

    Go, go, copyright!

  • On the post: Government Goes 'Judge Shopping' For Email Warrant Rubber Stamp, Gets Request Shot Down By Second Judge In A Row

    Michael Donnelly ( profile ), 16 May, 2014 @ 08:51am

    Re: Judge Shopping

    I don't think the "used judge" market is going to work.

    The last time I checked, when these guys are judge shopping, they are only licensing their purchases. They're not real sales subject to section 109 of the Copyright Act, so selling a used judge is copyright infringement.

    I think something like an iWarrant store might do better in the market, since it can act as a clearinghouse between the licensed judges and the government customer.

    The only problem with that is I know the judges don't like selling their orders on a per-paragraph basis, but that's how the market is trending.

  • On the post: DOJ Says Americans Have No 4th Amendment Protections At All When They Communicate With Foreigners

    Michael Donnelly ( profile ), 15 May, 2014 @ 09:33am

    Oh, sweet. Just like a prison!

    They read all communication in and out, right?

  • On the post: And Here We Go: Mozilla Felt Pressured Into Adopting DRM In HTML5

    Michael Donnelly ( profile ), 14 May, 2014 @ 04:41pm

    Re: Re: EME is not yet approved

    This is all on TBL. He knew that drafting the standard would cause the browsers to implement it before approval, one by one, as competitive forces pushed them.

    Still disappointed that he sold out after all he espoused up to that point.

  • On the post: Why Do So Many People Describe Aereo 'Complying' With Copyright Law As The Company 'Circumventing' Copyright Law?

    Michael Donnelly ( profile ), 23 Apr, 2014 @ 12:59pm

    Aereo's counsel missed an easy one.

    The proper response is, of course:

    http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2009/05/mpaa-teachers-should-video-record-tv-screens-not-rip-dvds/

  • On the post: Supreme Court Still Not Ready To Hear Case Challenging NSA Surveillance

    Michael Donnelly ( profile ), 07 Apr, 2014 @ 09:37pm

    They've taken much less contentious cases directly from district court in the past.

    If I didn't know better, I'd say the bench was afflicted by the same "do not upset the guys with the money" malaise that seems to have paralyzed the other two arms of our government.

    Oh, wait, I do know better. That's totally not it.

  • On the post: Former CIA, NSA Boss Says Senator Feinstein Is Too Emotional To Judge CIA Torture Fairly

    Michael Donnelly ( profile ), 07 Apr, 2014 @ 07:07am

    inb4 obligatory "you can't handle the truth!" reference.

  • On the post: Musician Claims $5.2 BILLION In Damages In Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Against Apple, Amazon And CDBaby

    Michael Donnelly ( profile ), 24 Mar, 2014 @ 12:21pm

    It's worth noting that the plaintiff is representing himself in this action.

    Not too surprising that he was unable to find an attorney willing to sign a complaint with that level of ignorance of the law.

  • On the post: EFF Sues Over National Security Letters… But Can't Tell You Who Its Clients Are

    Michael Donnelly ( profile ), 04 Mar, 2014 @ 10:34am

    Stop feeding the trolls.

    Guys, seriously.

    Just downvote and ignore. Otherwise, it will continue to get worse.

  • On the post: Rep. Goodlatte Slips Secret Change Into Phone Unlocking Bill That Opens The DMCA Up For Wider Abuse

    Michael Donnelly ( profile ), 25 Feb, 2014 @ 10:12am

    Re: Re: Goodlatte's Top Contributors

    Jailbreaking only opens up the operating system to user control.

    The cell radio is always a separate physical component that can remain locked while the operating system is rooted.

  • On the post: Apple Decides That Dead Silence Is The Best Way To Address Major Encryption Flaw On OS X

    Michael Donnelly ( profile ), 24 Feb, 2014 @ 05:52pm

    Re: Any hacker?

    Any hacker? Actually, it's a lot more exploitable than you think. Here's what I'd do if I was actually a bad guy:

    Step 1: Have evil app on your lappie forge responses to DNS queries. Everything goes through you. Super easy.

    Step 2: Run a simple socket-level proxy on port 80 and 443. Watch traffic on any given device over port 80 until you see a user-agent go by (or just guess off the MAC address). Once you identify an Apple device, forge all SSL connections with a bogus cert. Log all headers and POST data. Maybe HTML returned from remote servers, too.

    Sit in Starbucks or Paradise Bakery for a couple hours. Go home, analyze logs, mayhem ensues.

    I could easily code this myself. The actual bad guys could certainly do it as well.

  • On the post: DRM Is The Right To Make Up Your Own Copyright Laws

    Michael Donnelly ( profile ), 06 Feb, 2014 @ 11:12am

    What, you mean like unintended consequences?

    Such as the DMCA being used as a tool to prevent people from automating a video game? ;)

    This is the true root of the evil that is DRM. It has nothing to do with being ineffective or inconvenient. It's all about creating control over something where it does not legally exist.

    In the situation with Adobe's recent announcement, the focus has been too much on the annoyance to the end-user. But looking for the control aspect, it's plain to see how Adobe can change their DRM to create a ton of new licenses. Obsoleting old devices generates a bunch of new purchases, and even existing devices that can be "upgraded" will almost certainly result in more revenue from the device maker to Adobe.

    Just rev that DRM every few years to keep the cash flowing. It all comes from the consumer indirectly, anyway.

  • On the post: Obama Says James Clapper 'Should Have Been More Careful' In How He Lied To Congress

    Michael Donnelly ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2014 @ 11:08pm

    Nice headline, Mike.

    No sarcasm here. I was actually laughing out loud before reading the body of the post, since I knew what was coming.

    Comedy gold.

    Well, except the part where we're making fun of how these highly-ranked government officials live in a world devoid of consequences for their actions. But it's still a damn funny headline.

  • On the post: NSA Helped Destroy Trust In US Internet Firms, But Would Going Overseas Be Any Better?

    Michael Donnelly ( profile ), 22 Jan, 2014 @ 01:03pm

    Re: Re: It's the courts, not the tech.

    Of course you have less to fear from the US government's authority outside of the US. Mind you, I'm not saying that hosting something outside of the US is a panacea that somehow makes you safe from government overreaches. I'm sure there are many countries and situations, in general, where they can apply pressure.

    But security is always about doing the best possible thing, not simply discarding options because they are imperfect.

    It's kind of a question of which is worse: the enemy you know, or the enemy you don't know? What we know of the NSA and the US government is that it is an extremely serious enemy.

    The NSA has far more technical resources than any other country I can think of. And the US government's ability to strongarm its citizens into doing bad things in the US is among the highest I can imagine, right up there with China and North Korea. We've all seen it and to pretend otherwise is foolish.

    Given that, I'd expect anyone interested in privacy to try and get as much physical (and corporate) distance from the US. It might not be perfect, but hosting here is just fucking stupid.

  • On the post: NSA Helped Destroy Trust In US Internet Firms, But Would Going Overseas Be Any Better?

    Michael Donnelly ( profile ), 22 Jan, 2014 @ 09:48am

    It's the courts, not the tech.

    Ninja is right: the primary benefit to having your data live outside the US is you escape the US government.

    The NSA itself is not the problem to be avoided for your hypothetical. It's safe to assume that the technical capabilities of the NSA are the same everywhere. It's also fairly safe to assume that the "limitations" imposed on the NSA with regards to US citizens are about as effective as a cheese grater at holding water.

    Given that you face the same technical challenges anywhere in the globe, being outside of the US is a huge, huge benefit in that you have less to fear from NSL's and court orders. Those are the tools that the government uses to bypass what technology it cannot.

  • On the post: US Court Secretly Lets Government Share Megaupload Evidence With Copyright Industry

    Michael Donnelly ( profile ), 07 Dec, 2013 @ 07:47am

    You guys do realize that this case isn't about winning, right?

    The government and the **AA don't care at all about winning the case. They care about getting the case started so they can:

    - Shut down the website
    - Send armed men and helicopters to visit Kim
    - Try to get him extradited
    - Destroy the whole goddamn business

    They've already won. What happens now is of so little consequence that the only discussion around it should be to connect the dots.

    A lawsuit is like forcing someone to play a game of American football. They don't care about the score at the end. They care about beating the shit out of you for several hours.

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