mockingbird 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Dumb Policy: Store Charges $5 Just To Look At Goods, To Keep People From Looking And Then Buying Online

    mockingbird ( profile ), 27 Mar, 2013 @ 12:30pm

    reaching goals

    I would think that the more people in the store the better.
    I would want people to come in, even if they're only customers one out of three times.
    because the more they are used to walking into your store, the more likely they are to buy something, or several somethings, that they might not have bought if they were not in the store.

    I get the whole, 'quit using me' attitude,
    but as a business, I'd want people referring to me as often as possible, building a relationship, and increasing the odds they do business with me.

    otherwise it's like saying "you can browse my website if you promise to buy something worth at least $10. pay now, before we allow you to browse, because we put a lot of good information on our site, and we don't want you reading our reviews and then going elsewhere."
    just seems like although some people would pay (yeah, I know, I know :-P ) the overall traffic would go into a downward spiral. there would be less cross selling and spur of the moment purchasing.

  • On the post: What's Wrong With This Picture?

    mockingbird ( profile ), 26 Mar, 2013 @ 03:22pm

    picture matching

    so, they have other pictures from the past, but they didn't show our point as much as this irrelevant picture we ended up using?
    basically what that means is that the other picture had people holding up phones, cameras and other things.
    so they're doctoring the story by purposefully using pictures that don't depict the truth of the matter.
    otherwise, why not use the older photo from the time of the last popes speech, selection, etc?

  • On the post: Kim Dotcom Allowed To Sue Kiwi Government For Illegal Spying

    mockingbird ( profile ), 07 Mar, 2013 @ 10:12am

    Re:

    that's an excellent point.
    further, there's a the posioned fruit concept where anything further that you would not have gotten if you had not broken the law in the first place is excluded as well.
    which would probably leave not much of a case at all.
    except, there will likely be arguments that they didn't break any US laws.. which would fall into areas like guantanamo, it's not here, we'r enot breaking US laws, that's someone elses prison, etc etc..
    ie. the letter vs the spirit of the law, etc.
    after all, we have to protect the children.

  • On the post: Bizarre Legal Threat Of The Day: Confused Zoo Owner Threatens Popehat Over… Well… Just Read It

    mockingbird ( profile ), 04 Mar, 2013 @ 12:36pm

    complete misunderstanding

    this is what happens when you're using 'dragon naturally speaking' to dictate a letter with two televisions on in the background.

  • On the post: Company Tries To Delete Recording Of Exec Cursing Analyst During Conference Call Via Copyright Claim

    mockingbird ( profile ), 25 Feb, 2013 @ 12:01pm

    I would like to see

    I haven't heard the clip myself, but I wonder if the audio quality is good enough to be used in a song parody. :-)
    and then if that goes viral (with further encana help in trying to quash it)... this could be great fun.

  • On the post: Healthcare Isn't A Free Market, It's A Giant Economic Scam

    mockingbird ( profile ), 22 Feb, 2013 @ 12:36pm

    Re: Re: It's what you get when capitalists control a market...

    you are correct. a few years back there was a doctor in.. michigan or illinois (I think) that opened up a clinic and charged actually personally affordable rates.
    the law stepped in because he was charging too little, and they forced him to change things.
    he used to work at a hospital but saw the craziness and just wanted to help people.
    bureaucracy and legislation get pretty crazy.
    further, there are many govt hurdles to overcome to set up a hospital, both state and federal wise.
    with the corruption in place, your 'reasonable' hospital might not even get approved by the powers that be.
    or delayed with so many costs that it's easier to shut down.

  • On the post: Copyright Dispute Means Germans Can't See All Those Russian Meteor Videos

    mockingbird ( profile ), 21 Feb, 2013 @ 02:37pm

    alternately..

    couldn't youtube just block the audio?
    not that that would be a good overall functional solution, but might be a temporary legal one.

    otherwise, I thought music clips (shorter than X seconds) were generally acceptable, is that not the case in germany?

    and, if there is someone talking over the music, or there is a car engine, does that not qualify as transformative work?

    just wondering. :-)

  • On the post: Justice Sotomayor Doesn't Want Cameras In The Supreme Court Because Americans Won't Understand

    mockingbird ( profile ), 21 Feb, 2013 @ 11:07am

    what bans cameras in the first place?

    meaning, is there a law that says cameras can't be present?
    so, bring a camera.
    if the court tries to remove the camera, claim first amendment reporters rights.
    if they still ban the camera, well, there's a lawsuit right there.
    which wil likely end up in the supreme court, and wuld either allow cameras from then on, or have to give an actual reason why it would be illegal to have a camera in a public setting, doing the publics business.
    if there are any reporters present in the first place, who is to say what medium they can or can not use for their reporting?
    stick to the law, I think.

  • On the post: Illinois Politician Seeks To Outlaw Anonymous Comments (But Allow Anonymous Gun Ownership)

    mockingbird ( profile ), 19 Feb, 2013 @ 02:06pm

    anonymous voting

    I'd like to see the 'voice' vote option removed from congress and the senate, that is their version of anonymous voting, which they use for unpopular law. so it can pass, but you'll never know who ovted for it or against it.
    rubbish.
    but, that's the public money at work.
    in the private sector, anonymous speech seems lie a natural right.
    not sure how they can bann anonymous commenting if the first amendment starts with "congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech"... it doesn't follow up with "as long as the person speaking makes his address and name public, so we can track him down"...

  • On the post: Bhutan's Government: Gross National Happiness, Yes; Sense Of Humor, Not So Much

    mockingbird ( profile ), 19 Feb, 2013 @ 09:43am

    GNH

    in soviet russia,
    happiness was mandatory,
    no matter how miserable you were.

  • On the post: If You Want Two-Thirds Of Americans To Agree That Violent Video Games Are More Dangerous Than Guns, All You Have To Do Is Ask The Right Americans

    mockingbird ( profile ), 12 Feb, 2013 @ 09:30am

    biggest safety threat

    would like to see it more as an open text response, and do some word cloud analysis.
    personally, I think the biggest safety threat is unemployment.
    I think (but have no study to cite) that the more people working, the less crime there will be on the street.
    other likely things to pop up from the open text word cloud might be things like 'drugs' 'drunk drivers' 'politicians' etc.. :-P

  • On the post: Campaign Launched To Stop School From Claiming Copyright On Student Work

    mockingbird ( profile ), 07 Feb, 2013 @ 03:17pm

    Re: Re:

    in which case the irs should get involved and figure out how to charge the school that is trying to avoid paying for health care, and the students for avoiding income tax.
    that's about the same logic, I think.

  • On the post: Teri Buhl Threatens To Sue Us And Others; Still Seems Confused About The Law

    mockingbird ( profile ), 07 Feb, 2013 @ 12:25pm

    Re: Re:

    I did a quick search on twitter, evidently journo (or variant thereof) is not an uncommon abbreviation for journalist.
    as language changes, especially via txting and twitter, where words get abbreviated or merged, these terms tend to get adopted. wait a few years and you may see it officially added to a dictionary.
    I'm guessing 'etcc' is a variation of 'etc etc', commonly used when I was much younger, but often changed to simply 'etc' a decade or so ago.
    maybe as a compromise for 'etceteras' ...
    overall, I'm less inclined to attack someones language as their ideas. it's the idea that is important.
    if it's valid, it'll stand up under attack, if not it'll tend to crumple.
    otherwise, attacking language is about as useful as calling someone names.
    'einstien speaks funny' is a poor argument aimed at his theories. ;-)
    so.. focus. :-)

  • On the post: Putting Together A Database Of Bogus DMCA Takedowns

    mockingbird ( profile ), 07 Feb, 2013 @ 11:07am

    Re:

    I see this as the same as organizations that focus on police misconduct. the point is that the misconduct is bad, it doesn't detract from the erm.. proper beatings delivered by police, but there's a particular focus to not let abuse in the system be ignored because "1%" is perfectly acceptable.
    except, it's not perfectly acceptable, and god forbid it's 10%. so, if you want to focus on correct actions by... police or correctly applied take down notices, feel free to start a site devoted to that.
    I'm more interested in being aware of abuses of power, the twisting of logic, effectively keeping an eye on an ever more powerful and irrational legal body.

  • On the post: No, Copyright Is Not Like A Contract

    mockingbird ( profile ), 07 Feb, 2013 @ 09:58am

    Re:

    I think this is exactly like raping cars.

    as opposed to discussing how to monetize, I'd like to see a proposal of what would be reasonable copyright, what it should be properly titled, and a discussion of various scenarios under the proposed system.

    is reasonable copyright no copyright at all?
    so if I write a book and start to sell it, and then a giant publisher copies it and sells a bunch all over the place, can they take credit? can they remove my name from the work?
    I would understand if maybe I set a 'beginning and end' to the work, and everything in between, if it were copied, would have to be copied in kind, so I would at least get credit..
    I would also (kinda) understand if they wanted to produce leather bound editions that I wasn't planning to produce myself... but.. what am I entitled to, once my 'idea' (book, song etc) is now out in the world?

    what moral argument can I make that restricts the propagation of ideas, even if it's just singing "happy birthday to you"?

    so, yeah, I would like to see a proposed system, and as these blog posts come up, a discussion of how the same situation would work under that proposed system.

    otherwise it's just raping a car.

  • On the post: AT&T Can Foist Its Data Plans On You, Whether You Use It Or Not

    mockingbird ( profile ), 05 Feb, 2013 @ 10:49am

    that's no different from

    I usually hate crossover into politics, but...
    that's no different from the govt charging you for health care coverage you aren't using.
    you can change your carrier, but can you change your govt?
    as we see from switching from AT&T to verizon, there actually is no change. same thing in switching from democrats to republicans.
    just one of those things you have to suck up, or switch to dumb phones. not sure what the govt equivalent would be.

  • On the post: Sen. Charles Grassley: An Unregulated Video Game Market Is A Dangerous Thing

    mockingbird ( profile ), 01 Feb, 2013 @ 01:20pm

    brilliant point

    brilliant point in that racing games should also be regulated, because once the guns and gun video games are taken away, kids will having nothing to do than play ultra realistic racing games, then grab the keys to the parents station wagon and go careening through school zones.
    it's a natural progression and slippery slope.
    and the problem with the slippery slope is that games don't teach you to slowly pump the brakes until you regain control of the vehicle.

  • On the post: Campbell's Hack The Kitchen Shows Anyone Can Have An Innovative Idea, And Anyone Can Screw It Up

    mockingbird ( profile ), 01 Feb, 2013 @ 07:50am

    campbell owns the pot

    it actually reminds me of the govt spending money to pick winners and losers, except they are often wrong.
    letting it all be open, one of those people bumped from the first round might have the idea that the populace actually prefers, but campbell, thinking they know better, will choose the one that THEY like, not the one the public necessarily likes.
    don't let a room full of people decide, put it into the wilds of the internet and let the best of breed, or, since people have different preferences, the several best of breeds that best serve their particular type of consumer, thrive.

  • On the post: Copyright Is Becoming Guilt By Accusation

    mockingbird ( profile ), 25 Jan, 2013 @ 08:38am

    Re: Every other crime is treated the same way

    well, not exactly, you don't have to defend yourself.
    the burden of proof is on the accuser, to show to a jury of your peers, beyond a reasonable doubt, that you violated the law. you can sit there quietly, and if the accuser can't prove their case against you, you are found not guilty.
    the only way action can be taken against you is if you are found to be guilty by a jury.
    In the six strikes case, you can be found guilty without any trial whatsoever and consequences levied against you.
    it would then be your responsibility to go to the people accusing you, and explain why they might be wrong, and if the article is to be believed, the methods and procedures you would have to go through are difficult to navigate and are unlikely to produce a favorable or even fair result.
    The actual justice system, as broken as it is, still imposes many limitations on the accuser for how they might convince a jury of your guilt.
    so, no, 2 different things.

  • On the post: Verizon Charging You More, As Bandwidth Costs Them Less

    mockingbird ( profile ), 25 Jan, 2013 @ 08:24am

    Re: Horrible idea but..

    I imagine we wouldn't have 4g, and maybe not even 3g if the govt ran things. it would kill innovation because there would be no competing services. so, yes, all the phones would work everywhere, but the call quality would be mediocre, and there would be no high bandwidth mobile internet services.

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