mockingbird 's Techdirt Comments

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  • Why Is North Dakota Arresting Journalists For Doing Journalism?

    mockingbird ( profile ), 14 Oct, 2016 @ 12:05pm

    Re: This will continue

    Is this action by the officers or action by the state attorneys? Cops don't create arrest warrants, I don't think. If this is action by the SAG maybe she'll walk away with more than $100K this time.
    as she should, considering it's a second offense. ;-)

    -B

  • We Read The DOJ's Latest Apple Filing To Highlight All Of Its Misleading Claims

    mockingbird ( profile ), 11 Mar, 2016 @ 08:11am

    has the FBI tried...

    has the FBI tried using the fingerprint sensor?
    with an existing finger, or if fingers aren't available creating a gel mold of known suspect fingerprints and using that on the fingerprint sensor?
    sure, the person MIGHT not have used that feature but...
    I'd bet if he did, and the FBI hasn't tried this,
    they'd feel pretty stupid right about now.

  • Federal Judge Says Recording Police Not Protected By The First Amendment

    mockingbird ( profile ), 24 Feb, 2016 @ 07:37am

    Re: Well if a reason is required...

    "I am gathering material for a project I'm working on.
    I am not at liberty to discuss the project with you."

  • Basically Every Single Presidential Candidate Is Totally Clueless As To What's At Stake In The Apple / FBI Fight

    mockingbird ( profile ), 22 Feb, 2016 @ 10:06am

    there are libertarians running too!

    and if sites like yours bothered to mention that some of these libertarians understand the privacy issue AND the economy AND want to bomb less people..
    some of the folks who read techdirt might go and have a look at who the heck these people are.
    the libertarians are setting up a debate at which Edward Snowden will make a virtual appearance.
    that's got to count for something, doesn't it?

  • India Set To Ban Zero Rating As Facebook's Misleading Lobbying Falls Flat

    mockingbird ( profile ), 02 Feb, 2016 @ 07:47am

    Re:

    it's because he's a fishmonger, not a teacher.
    a business selling pots will not teach you to make your own pots.
    unless they sold you the clay.
    but then why not teach you to make your own clay, and they'll sell you the tools.
    or teach you to make your own tools and....
    maybe they just want to sell pots.
    if you don't want their pots because they come with their own flowers, don't but the pots. simple as that.
    no one is forcing anything on you.

  • Indiana Supreme Court Says Cop Can't Have His '01NK' License Plate

    mockingbird ( profile ), 24 Nov, 2015 @ 06:35am

    f the draft

    "F_t_draft" is only 9 characters

    also... txt abbr not 3 spch?
    (yes, I'm not good at abbreviating text)
    but you know what I mean.. :-)

  • That Didn't Take Long: MLB Plans Action Against Fallout 4 David Ortiz Mod

    mockingbird ( profile ), 18 Nov, 2015 @ 06:55am

    their rights

    "“The use of these marks is an infringement of our rights."
    ...
    infringing on their right to.... what?

  • Banks Now Eyeing Cell Phone Metadata To Determine Your Loan Risk

    mockingbird ( profile ), 07 May, 2015 @ 08:49am

    Re:

    Paul:
    you have to realize that these are the factors that make sense to track in HAITI.. most Haitians don't commute 20 miles. Crank calls, although I'm sure they exist somewhere, aren't a general nuisance to (most) people, especially in third world countries. (Few americans want to spend the $ to prank call with international rates and locals don't want to spend the $ it would cost to do so. Most of their cell phones are charged for each minute of talk time, not like the U.S. 'chunk of time + overages'.
    What they are saying is that in Haiti they used these data points in their algorithms. in the USA they will use other factors. This isn't going to be the ONLY data set they will use either. They will be checking your employment, your credit history, your social media data (not only your posts on FB but also who you associate with, etc)..
    data analysts will find the algorithms that are "mostly accurate for most people". some people will lose out but it (should be) a fairly small minority.

    overall it's useless to pick apart specific methods used in a different country. you can either rail against the concept of what will be done in the grand scheme or accept it.
    but saying "this one data point doesn't apply well to my circumstance!" isn't really going to fix anything.

  • Police Department Says It Will No Longer Be Accepting Motel 6's Nightly Guest Lists

    mockingbird ( profile ), 06 May, 2015 @ 08:37am

    can the hotel also....

    Can the hotel also have their employees listen in on any landline calls made by people staying a the hotel?
    perhaps record those calls..
    perhaps have the maid take a peek through your luggage while she's in there to look for "something suspicious"..
    ?

  • Fanboy Fight: How One Apple/Android Argument Ended In A Stabbing

    mockingbird ( profile ), 01 May, 2015 @ 08:13am

    Siri told him to do it

    How long before there's a Tech Son of Sam,
    with Siri delivering instructions... to KILL!
    ?

  • Iranian Cleric Suggests The West Ban And Criminalize Negative Portrayals Of Muslims To Prevent Radicalization

    mockingbird ( profile ), 30 Apr, 2015 @ 02:14pm

    speech is not a hate crime

    you know what's a hate crime?
    cutting someone's head off for drawing cartoons.
    or stoning them to death for a belief they have.

    if this is the muslim leadership, the people who help guide and direct the thinking of the heavily religious muslims, then the violence problem that we believe to exist is not due to 'a very few individuals' but is instead representative of a power so great that it runs a country and directs its people in how to think. A way of thinking that is evidently accepting of what I outlined as examples of hate crimes at the beginning of this post.

  • A Gronking To Remember Is Immortalized In Lawsuit Against Apple/Amazon/Author

    mockingbird ( profile ), 30 Apr, 2015 @ 10:15am

    or perhaps

    or perhaps the people signed a general waiver and the photographer ended up putting the pic up on a stock photo site because it's covered in the wording even if not called out implicitly. meaning that this may be a properly licensed photo etc.
    I hope TD follows up when this gets resolved because I'm curious as to what the case here happens to be.

  • Motel Decides It Should Just Start Faxing All Guest Info To Local Police Every Night

    mockingbird ( profile ), 27 Apr, 2015 @ 10:33am

    slippery flat area?

    this doesn't even seem to require a slope..
    what's the difference between this and the argument that police can come in and search the room thoroughly, since the maid is allowed to enter the room and move things around?
    I really don't see a difference between that logic and supplying the list of names.

  • New Jersey Cop Demands Camera From Eyewitness After Police Dog Allowed To Maul Prone Suspect

    mockingbird ( profile ), 23 Apr, 2015 @ 07:40am

    Re: Re: It'd probably result in my own death by excessive force...

    agreed.
    if the killer cop asked for my cellphone and I didn't really want to give it up I might panic and run..
    but I'm guessing there's good odds I'd get shot in the back before I got too far.

  • Big Media Companies Insist That VPN Services Violate Copyright Law

    mockingbird ( profile ), 09 Apr, 2015 @ 09:15am

    Re:

    except this isn't even pirating.
    they'd be paying for netflix just like US customers.
    what they're doing is like.. trying to block someone who is visiting the US from new zealand from seeing a movie in an american movie theatre because it hasn't been released in new zealand yet.
    it's just whacky crazy.

  • Once Again, Political Speech Is Silenced By Copyright/ContentID

    mockingbird ( profile ), 08 Apr, 2015 @ 08:51am

    Re:

    there would also have to be a balance on the other side of the scale where if it IS proven to be infringing that there is a cost associated with that, not just a takedown.
    it wouldn't be fair to say that if it IS fair use, the complainer has to pay and possibly lose the ability to complain, and if it is NOT fair use then the video just gets taken down and nothing else. there would be no incentive to keep people from infringing in the first place.
    one should never completely lose their ability to complain.. perhaps greater and greater limitations the more you cry wolf though.

    as someone who has had videos blocked, and I've not contested the block because even though I thought the videos were transformative enough to be fair use, I'm no expert and am unwilling to accrue a strike against me by appealing and losing..
    I'd like youtube to spell out some clear guidelines of what can make a video qualify as "fair use", and then I can see the stick I'm being measured against, as opposed to the invisible stick I'm being beaten with.

  • Following Canada's Bad Example, Now UK Wants To Muzzle Scientists And Their Inconvenient Truths

    mockingbird ( profile ), 01 Apr, 2015 @ 08:55am

    we are all edward snowden

    and if govt denies the ability to speak on facts uncovered by scientists, news stories will read "a source close to the investigating scientists report that"....
    followed by scientists and others being targeted at airport checkpoints.

    world looks more and more like V for vendetta every day.

  • Record A Teacher Bullying A Student? That's A Suspension

    mockingbird ( profile ), 01 Apr, 2015 @ 08:34am

    no photography of any kind

    "(4) photography or videography of any kind; "
    that must make yearbook and class photos pretty difficult, or offsite.

  • Hertz Puts Video Cameras Inside Its Rental Cars, Has 'No Current Plans' To Use Them

    mockingbird ( profile ), 16 Mar, 2015 @ 02:49pm

    Re: Nothing that a piece of electrical tape can't fix.

    I imagine they'll have language in the rental agreement that disallows in any way disabling the camera or audio recording, no matter how temporarily.
    and if you do, and there's an accident or legal question fo some sort, you have voided your rights under the contract, blah blah blah...
    sure, you can, but not like it'll be something that you don't get chewed on by the corporation and their lawyers for doing.

  • Is Retweeting ISIS 'Material Support Of Terrorism'?

    mockingbird ( profile ), 25 Feb, 2015 @ 11:56am

    isn't this the same as...

    isn't this the same as going after a taxi company after a terrorist used their services?
    or going after an airline that terrorists used as a weapon, or as transportation?
    or a talk show host who discusses what isis is doing and shows some of their atrocities as subject matter?

    has isis become "he who shall not be named"?

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