murgatroyd’s Techdirt Profile

On the post: University Of Alabama Is Using A Location-Tracking App To Punish Students For Leaving Football Games Early

murgatroyd ( profile ), 18 Sep, 2019 @ 07:43am

Feature creep?

The app can be deleted at any time and only tracks students while they're in the stadium

For now, at least. How long until someone finds a "good reason" to expand its use, or mandate its installation, do you suppose?

On the post: Judge Wants To Know Who's Behind Devin Nunes' Cow's And Mom's Twitter Account

murgatroyd ( profile ), 30 Aug, 2019 @ 08:28am

Re: Re: Spartacus!

I am Devin Nunes' Mother's Cow.

On the post: Devin Nunes Discovery Requests Against Twitter, A Fake Cow, And Liz Mair Show Just How Much A Fishing Expedition He's On

murgatroyd ( profile ), 23 Aug, 2019 @ 02:12pm

One would also like a pony. (Hey, if we're going to wish for things, why not? It's at least as likely to happen as all those other things....)

On the post: The Death Of Ownership: Educational Publishing Giant Pearson To Do Away With Print Textbooks (That Can Be Resold)

murgatroyd ( profile ), 25 Jul, 2019 @ 06:49pm

Re:

In most of my classes, I list books as recommended rather than required; the only exceptions are those (very few) classes for which I believe the book is really critical. I've done this for almost 20 years now, mostly because of the skyrocketing cost of textbooks. I also always list online references for those who don't want to buy a book at all. I have never felt right about requiring that students buy anything that I might get royalties from, so for classes I teach where I use my own textbook, I never make it required, and I always tell my students about other equivalent texts.

On the post: Facebook Tested With Deepfake Of Mark Zuckerberg: Company Leaves It Up

murgatroyd ( profile ), 12 Jun, 2019 @ 07:10am

Re: Why Real Interact Is Best Option While Choosing Live Chat Se

One thing I've noticed about the comment spammers here is how many of them actually create accounts in order to post their spam. I do see the occasional "drive-by" (anonymous) spam comment, but it seems to be much more common that the spammer will register, post one or two spam comments, and then disappear.

On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt

murgatroyd ( profile ), 05 May, 2019 @ 03:10pm

Re:

Well, yeah, if you want to be all adult and rational about it. But if you're looking for something to prosecute, where's the fun in that? It's kind of like living in a small off-the-beaten-track town - you don't have cable, so you have to make your own fun. Plus, the way things are now, you get to be all big and powerful and can go around touting your good deeds and spouting off about how you, at least, are "thinking of the children".

On the post: Telecom Lobby Suddenly Pretends To Care About Accurate Broadband Maps

murgatroyd ( profile ), 01 Apr, 2019 @ 11:27am

I'm shocked - shocked! - to find that gambling is going on in here!

On the post: Sony: We Are Totally Open For Crossplay, Game Developers: No, You Totally Are Not

murgatroyd ( profile ), 15 Feb, 2019 @ 06:53am

Re: Re: Last Gen

Yeah, that would be like selling consoles with the promise that you could run other operating systems on them - say, Linux - and then retroactively taking away that capability. Nobody would be crazy enough to do that, would they?

On the post: Contrary To Media Claims, There's No Evidence Russia Was Behind Fake Net Neutrality Comments

murgatroyd ( profile ), 07 Dec, 2018 @ 06:10pm

Re: Re: If that's what the cover looks like...

Why not both?

On the post: Appeals Court Says Of Course Georgia's Laws (Including Annotations) Are Not Protected By Copyright And Free To Share

murgatroyd ( profile ), 19 Oct, 2018 @ 02:44pm

Oh, great. Because of this, Georgia no longer has any incentive to create new laws! I hope Mr. Malamud is happy.

On the post: Twelve Rules For Not Being A Total Free Speech Hypocrite

murgatroyd ( profile ), 26 Sep, 2018 @ 02:56pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:

Indeed: https://phys.org/news/2016-06-cats-grasp-laws-physics.html

On the post: DOJ And State Attorneys General Threatening Social Media Companies Over Moderation Practices Is A First Amendment Issue

murgatroyd ( profile ), 10 Sep, 2018 @ 02:38pm

Re: Re:

Maybe because they're regulated public utilities, and the regulations say they can't?

On the post: FBI Decides To Ruin A Man's Life Over Nude Photos Of His Legal Girlfriend He Took Seven Years Ago

murgatroyd ( profile ), 10 Jul, 2018 @ 01:01pm

Re: BOREDOM

The FBI has been creating its own "terrorists" for years; now it's branching out into child pornography. It began by keeping child porn servers online, now it's trumping up charges against people who annoy it. What's next - fabricating images and planting them?

On the post: Effort To Save Net Neutrality Via Congressional Review Act Appears Stuck In Neutral

murgatroyd ( profile ), 28 Jun, 2018 @ 08:27am

Yeah, that's gonna happen. While we're wishing, I'd like a pony.

On the post: Senators Wyden and Schatz Wants To Know Why The FCC Made Up A DDOS Attack

murgatroyd ( profile ), 13 Jun, 2018 @ 07:30am

Why they made up the story

The FCC needed something that sounded plausible to explain away the failure of their comment infrastructure, and someone latched onto the first "technical" idea that sounded plausible. Unfortunately, that person didn't know enough about the subject to realize that it could easily be debunked.

On the post: Shipyard Brewing Sues The Brewery It Is Trademark Bullying Over The Public Backlash To Its Trademark Bullying

murgatroyd ( profile ), 17 Jan, 2018 @ 02:40pm

Re: First rule...

A classic example of the "sunk cost" fallacy - literally.

On the post: Law Enforcement 'Training And Expertise' On Parade!

murgatroyd ( profile ), 22 May, 2017 @ 08:38pm

Boy, am I glad that comment was held for moderation; otherwise, I might have had to actually read it.

On the post: Nation's Police Chiefs Disagree With Trump's New Tough On Crime Executive Orders

murgatroyd ( profile ), 17 Feb, 2017 @ 12:39pm

Re: Mr. Brightside

If this is the "silver lining", I'm really in favor of trying to find a different dark cloud.

On the post: How Pirates Shaped The Internet As We Know It

murgatroyd ( profile ), 20 Sep, 2016 @ 05:39am

Hmmm....

So, David Bowie and Prince were both pioneers in the digital realm, eh? And they're both dead now. Coincidence? I think not!

On the post: Man Who Doxxed Dozens Of People, Engaged In Nineteen 'Swattings', Nets Only One Year In Prison

murgatroyd ( profile ), 14 Jul, 2016 @ 07:13am

Re: Re: Fair sentence.

Save for the fact he intended people to get hurt

Maybe. It's also conceivable that he didn't even think about that possibility when he made the call, assuming that the SWAT team would figure it all out before actually opening fire on someone. After all, it's well known that SWAT teams never shoot people accidentally, or throw flash-bangs into baby cribs, right?

I'm not sure which of these situations (intending harm vs. not even considering the possibility of harm) is worse.

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