A Guy 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (566) comment rss

  • On the post: SOPA/PROTECT IP Would Be Hideously Bad For Video Gamers

    A Guy ( profile ), 16 Nov, 2011 @ 02:10am

    Re: Re: Desperation...

    FUDtastic... I like it

  • On the post: SOPA And Its Broad Regulation Of VPNs, Proxies And Other Important Tools

    A Guy ( profile ), 15 Nov, 2011 @ 10:17pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "A Guy": "really don't understand how ... supposed to work."

    +1 internet to you

  • On the post: Canadians Realizing That Their Websites Will Get Swept Up By SOPA Censorship

    A Guy ( profile ), 15 Nov, 2011 @ 09:15pm

    Re: Re:

    I'm sure that's the intent of some. However, outlawing the internet version of a foreign phone book is going to be even harder to get through the courts than this stinking pile of a bill. At some point, maybe at the 100th degree of separation between the actual infringement and some guy talking about the many, many holes in the plan, the courts will rule on the side of free speech.

    Either that or we will scrap the first amendment and the long history of precedents that define it.

  • On the post: SOPA And Its Broad Regulation Of VPNs, Proxies And Other Important Tools

    A Guy ( profile ), 15 Nov, 2011 @ 09:05pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "A Guy": "really don't understand how ... supposed to work."

    I understand that is what they say they are going after. However, there is no way to distinguish between legitimate services and what they are going after, save advertising.

    A VPN is a dumb relay. It takes data and sends it to wherever the user tells it to. It receives a response and sends it back to the user. It does not control what DNS server you connect to. That is chosen by either the user or the ISP at the exit node.

    A VPN's only function is to increase privacy.

  • On the post: Canadians Realizing That Their Websites Will Get Swept Up By SOPA Censorship

    A Guy ( profile ), 15 Nov, 2011 @ 08:47pm

    So, I guess Canada will have to set up its own uncensored DNS server to work around the US laws.

    If only we here in the United States could easily and freely use that Canadian server to avoid any ridiculous censorship of our free speech...

    Wait a minute every operating system has its own settings to change DNS servers.

    It's almost like the people behind this bill don't know what the hell they're doing.

  • On the post: SOPA And Its Broad Regulation Of VPNs, Proxies And Other Important Tools

    A Guy ( profile ), 15 Nov, 2011 @ 07:17pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: "A Guy": "really don't understand how ... supposed to work."

    My point is that if I can easily work around these measures, they can also easily be worked into a protocol or service for all the non technical people.

    You can outlaw creating the protocols but that won't be effective.

    You can outlaw distributing the bypass protocols, but that won't be effective.

    Once the protocols make it into the hands of the general public and they start using them for legitimate uses such as anonymous free speech and distributing free software, the censorship regime fails.

    This bill will not decrease piracy and will put up barriers to free speech and legal services.

    It is a bad idea.

    I personally don't need to bypass the measures. I'm a pretty boring guy.

  • On the post: SOPA And Its Broad Regulation Of VPNs, Proxies And Other Important Tools

    A Guy ( profile ), 15 Nov, 2011 @ 07:01pm

    Re: Re: Re: Techno-geeks can never see a down side to technology.

    Google claims to respect the do not track header in firefox. Granted, you have to take the source into account, but it is a generic opt out.

    Secondly, my java cookies and many of my regular cookies are deleted when I exit the browser. There are extensions and programs that will block all known google trackers/services and javascript.

    If you are feeling especially paranoid, you don't even need to install java.

    The amount of effort you are willing to put into using these solutions is a matter of personal preference but it is possible to live in a world without Google.

    I don't blindly mistrust Google either. I use some of their services but I control what runs and what doesn't on my machine.

  • On the post: SOPA And Its Broad Regulation Of VPNs, Proxies And Other Important Tools

    A Guy ( profile ), 15 Nov, 2011 @ 06:44pm

    Re: Re: "A Guy": "really don't understand how ... supposed to work."

    It's conceptually simple: VPNs are administered by people. IF those people are determined -- or even believed -- to be deliberately -- or even unwittingly -- bypassing DNS blocks, then those people get tossed into jail. There may be intermediate stages, but that's the basic threat.

    VPNs outside the United States will not be constrained by our laws and I can bypass any DNS block from my personal computer without the need for a DNS server. Editing the hosts file is trivially simple.

    Blocking foreign VPNs won't work because anyone savvy enough to know how to use a VPN will probably know how to use an IP address too.

    This will only block those that don't really understand the technology. To me, that group seems to consist mainly of the bills authors and supporters, not the people they are trying to block.

  • On the post: SOPA And Its Broad Regulation Of VPNs, Proxies And Other Important Tools

    A Guy ( profile ), 15 Nov, 2011 @ 06:36pm

    Re: Re: Techno-geeks can never see a down side to technology.

    I should note IANAL, however I do have a background in engineering and bypassing this censorship will be trivial from a technical perspective.

  • On the post: SOPA And Its Broad Regulation Of VPNs, Proxies And Other Important Tools

    A Guy ( profile ), 15 Nov, 2011 @ 06:30pm

    Re: Techno-geeks can never see a down side to technology.

    Look, on the one hand, you all know that you've NO privacy on the internet already. Google tracks you everywhere, but you don't worry about it because you think it's giving you free service, or even income directly.

    Google doesn't track me. Anyone can opt out if they so choose. The tools are out there.

    I reject your claim that there is no privacy on the internet. We have the privacy that we choose. More privacy might be slightly more inconvenient, but not much. The reason SOPA is such a bad thing is that it attempts to outlaw the tools for privacy without early judicial review and if my reading of previous precedent is correct, that is blatantly unconstitutional.

    Your post reads like the future has already happened and is therefore inevitable. It attempts to breed despair and apathy into those whom oppose these measures. That technique will not work.

    The fight is not over and we will not give up out of a misplaced sense of despair.

  • On the post: SOPA And Its Broad Regulation Of VPNs, Proxies And Other Important Tools

    A Guy ( profile ), 15 Nov, 2011 @ 05:25pm

    VPNs are a necessary product for nearly all corporate, military, and financial infrastructure. If this proposed censorship regime wants motivated, monied interests opposing them, outlawing VPNs seems like a good way to go about it.

    Once you are on the other side of a VPN, especially if the exit is outside the United States, it's not possible to regulate the DNS.

    Even within the United States, bypassing DNS blocking only requires the list of DNS entries to be blocked and it will be impossible to keep that list private since it must be distributed to all public and private DNS services to be effective.

    I really don't understand how this is supposed to work.

  • On the post: Viacom: Pass SOPA Or Spongebob Dies

    A Guy ( profile ), 15 Nov, 2011 @ 02:31pm

    Re:

    I agree, please, for the IQ of your children and the sanity of their parents, go pirate something.

    It may be the only way to get rid of the cultural scourge that is Spongebob.

  • On the post: Court Decision Forcing Twitter To Give Up Info On Wikileaks Associates Challenged In Europe

    A Guy ( profile ), 15 Nov, 2011 @ 05:14am

    Re: Re: Where Is The Data Stored

    Looks like you're right. I does look like this is prompting motivating some to change the law though.

    https://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/243566/eu_data_protection_reform_will_put_pressure_on_foreign_companies.html

  • On the post: First Amendment Expert Floyd Abrams Admits SOPA Would Censor Protected Speech, But Thinks It's Okay Collateral Damage

    A Guy ( profile ), 15 Nov, 2011 @ 03:39am

    He's old... it's not surprising he doesn't understand the internet.

    In his mind, internet sites should work like a publication such as a newspaper or magazine. Every detail reviewed by multiple editors and every line checked for factual accuracy and copyright concerns.

    With lower barriers to entry in the internet age comes pesky little annoyances like more democracy where before there were tyrannical filters (editors, publishers, lawyers ect) and a near instantaneous pace where before there was a slow methodical crafting of the publication.

    You cannot blame a doddering old man for not understanding how modern technology works or the monumental (and politically impossible task) that his clients propose.

    Or, maybe he does understand. Maybe he's old enough that he just wants to cash out and retire. Either way, the young will choose how we move forward and the old will fade away, as is only natural.

  • On the post: Court Decision Forcing Twitter To Give Up Info On Wikileaks Associates Challenged In Europe

    A Guy ( profile ), 15 Nov, 2011 @ 03:26am

    Re: Privacy in Iceland

    Or...

    Just like everywhere else, those in the ruling class get more rights than everyone else. This is a MOP. I wonder if it would be different for an average citizen.

  • On the post: Court Decision Forcing Twitter To Give Up Info On Wikileaks Associates Challenged In Europe

    A Guy ( profile ), 15 Nov, 2011 @ 02:42am

    Where Is The Data Stored

    It may be effective. It depends. Many companies are forced to keep all European information on European servers in order to comply with EU data privacy laws. A European court could order European employees to prevent any transfer and/or secure the server.

    If the data is stored on American servers, the Europeans are out of luck.

    Either way, I expect big legal trouble for Twitter unless it just hands over the information quietly and then just lies about it.

  • On the post: UK Judges Think US Makes It Too Hard To Get Patents, Lower Patentability Bar To Show How It's Done

    A Guy ( profile ), 15 Nov, 2011 @ 01:26am

    The fact you can patent a human gene is completely asinine period, of course.

    It's not engineered (although it can be), it's a naturally occurring resource like oil, trees, and fish.

    The fact that you saw a species of fish or tree first doesn't mean you get a monopoly on it.

    The first person who saw some oil didn't get a patent on all petroleum products.

    It seems like a bad farce to me.

  • On the post: South African Recording Industry Association Kicks Off 'Shoot The Pirate' Campaign; Amazed That Real Violence Ensues

    A Guy ( profile ), 15 Nov, 2011 @ 01:11am

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    That's not a bad idea.

    However, how much (superficial) change is required before it's a new invention and not a modified version of an old one.

    Once that standard is set, that will be exactly how much the patent application changes to avoid the higher fees.

  • On the post: Luma Labs Discontinues Popular Product Line After Competitor Gets A Patent… Despite Prior Art Going Back Over A Century

    A Guy ( profile ), 14 Nov, 2011 @ 07:42pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Where's your patent?

    Nah, I'm just trolling the trolls.

    Really, they're not that bad. They don't eat too many children and they keep the bridge clean.

    ;-)

  • On the post: South African Recording Industry Association Kicks Off 'Shoot The Pirate' Campaign; Amazed That Real Violence Ensues

    A Guy ( profile ), 14 Nov, 2011 @ 03:30pm

    Re: Re:

    No...

    It's never too late to get some sort of broad intellectual monopoly here in the United States.

    Ask a former SUN engineer, no one competent actually reviews these things, just keep submitting requests making completely inconsequential changes if rejected until someone decides "fuck it good enough." Congrats, you now have your own little monopoly and America's competitive edge dies a little more.

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