A Guy 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (566)

• On the post: DailyDirt: Back To School Time…

  

  A Guy ( profile ), 08 Sep, 2011 @ 10:31pm

  Re:

  Status=money+power
  
  No one will ever stop caring about the status of their professions.

• On the post: Since When Did US Diplomats Become Microsoft Sales Staff?

  

  A Guy ( profile ), 07 Sep, 2011 @ 06:24pm

  Re: Remember _NSAKEY and we'll all stay free!

  Remember how Skype started having problems RIGHT after MS acquired it? Maybe it's my tinfoil hat, but I bet that was the NSA getting the bugs out of their monitoring software.

• On the post: Since When Did US Diplomats Become Microsoft Sales Staff?

  

  A Guy ( profile ), 07 Sep, 2011 @ 06:20pm

  Re: Once again - Mike totally misses the point

  Hate to say it, but the troll has point. Promoting US interests abroad includes the economic interests of US companies. Whether other countries (or our citizens when the US is actively working against our interests) should logically listen to us is another question altogether...

• On the post: Russian Bureaucrat: Google & YouTube Should Be Shut Down For Facilitating Infringement

  

  A Guy ( profile ), 07 Sep, 2011 @ 06:09pm

  Tounge in Cheek perhaps?

  He may be simply be trying to make a point. How many times have US interests tried to shut down a website in Russia because it didn't conform to US copyright law?
  
  I think "We'll shut down our sites when you shut down Google" would have been my first response when confronted by the US.

• On the post: DailyDirt: Back To School Time…

  

  A Guy ( profile ), 07 Sep, 2011 @ 05:59pm

  Teaching as a career doesn't seem to be a highly-regarded profession

  Of course not. Teachers can't afford to take expensive vacations and retire early no matter how good they are at their jobs. Teachers also have to put up with crap from both parents an their children like a nanny or a babysitter might. As someone whose sister is a teacher, I cannot imagine why anyone would ever want to spend their time and money becoming a teacher. Seems like a poor investment.

• On the post: Surprise: Justice Department Says AT&T/T-Mobile Merger Would Be Anticompetitive

  

  A Guy ( profile ), 31 Aug, 2011 @ 01:10pm

  WOW. I am shocked. Did AT&T forget to pay someone off? Or, maybe the administration decided it really wouldn't be good to approve a merger that would lay off tens of thousands of people in the current economic climate. Either way, this is good news for everyone that isn't AT&T and T-Mobile.

• On the post: Wasn't The Real Security Problem The Initial Leak Of State Dept. Cables Rather Than The Latest Leak Of Those Same Cables?

  

  A Guy ( profile ), 31 Aug, 2011 @ 01:52am

  Re: Re: Independent minds needed

  That should read "Whether or not it illegal has little to do with morality often"

• On the post: Wasn't The Real Security Problem The Initial Leak Of State Dept. Cables Rather Than The Latest Leak Of Those Same Cables?

  

  A Guy ( profile ), 31 Aug, 2011 @ 01:50am

  Re: Independent minds needed

  "Hacking is a federal crime, and has been a crime before Anonymous came to prominence."
  
  The word "hacking" gets thrown around way to much these days. "Hacking" as it is commonly known encompasses so much that some of it clearly is a crime, some of it clearly is not, and some falls in a grey area. Be more specific or you look ignorant.
  
  "The problem with Anonymous is that the belief that they are doing something for a cause it must be right. With the earlier comment by TAC they seem to believe that if unauthorized access to a network has been done then there is no problem if it is done again. Even if it was the result of lax security, which is just wrong."
  
  Whether or not it illegal has little to do with legality. In the Sony case, nothing Anon did was new and any information published from Sony's servers was likely taken many time before by others. In context, anon did what they could to make the situation a little better in the long term by making it much worse in the short term. There is too much grey for me to call them right or wrong, but the situation was mostly of Sony's making.
  
  I find the argument legal==moral to be extremely dangerous. We must all question authority or we will eventually have a dictator here too.

• On the post: Wasn't The Real Security Problem The Initial Leak Of State Dept. Cables Rather Than The Latest Leak Of Those Same Cables?

  

  A Guy ( profile ), 31 Aug, 2011 @ 01:33am

  Re: Re:

  "Like the FBI agents who used record requests to get dirt on ex's? Or the police who did it. Or the IRS employees who did it. Or the hospital employees."
  
  These things should definitely be leaked. In fact, I believe they were 'leaked' by the GAO when abuses came to light. Not that the entire NSL thing isn't an entirely different cluster-fuck all together, but I digress.
  
  "He did not have this data for an extended period to go through and sift out only the "good juicy" things that would make the frontpage."
  
  He COULD have though. A little patience and he could have read through them himself and leaked the those details that truly shocked the conscience.
  
  "Part of the reason to dump everything is to keep the context of what your seeing. 1 scandalous cable is just 1 cable, being able to show that there is a pattern of behavior is more damning."
  
  If that was his goal, he could have leaked a series of cables to show a pattern too.
  
  "Please show me where exactly Manning talks about how he disregarded the effect on others. "
  
  He didn't talk about disregarding others lives. His actions spoke louder than his words. He either didn't consider carefully redacting his leaks or didn't care enough to try. Just as an example, how does a list of critical US assets like the location of mines that supply our economy with rare materials threaten the world, or anyone (other than those whom wish to spy on or harm our economy) for that matter?
  
  A responsible person would assume that these things were being kept semi-secret for a reason and only leaked what was necessary. He didn't even try to read through most of what he put out there. That was an irresponsible and dangerous act and no amount of "but it feels like it should be okay" will change that.

• On the post: Wasn't The Real Security Problem The Initial Leak Of State Dept. Cables Rather Than The Latest Leak Of Those Same Cables?

  

  A Guy ( profile ), 30 Aug, 2011 @ 10:05pm

  The initial leak was the problem. I'm a fan of knowing what the hell my government is up to as much as anyone else, but Manning did it in the most irresponsible manner possible.
  
  Instead of picking through documents for information that truly was about coverups or wrongdoings, and there were surely some that qualified, he dumped all of it with a callous disregard to the real life and death consequences for those simply trying to do the right thing.
  
  Wikileaks received the information and then didn't properly secure it.
  
  The latest controversy just further demonstrates that some really shouldn't have access to information if they cannot use it responsibly.

• On the post: Pakistan Officially Bans All Encryption Online

  

  A Guy ( profile ), 30 Aug, 2011 @ 12:41pm

  Re: It's just the beginning

  I don't usually rate trolling but this one caught my eye. It was an admirable trolling attempt. You took something marginally related to the story and took it in an unexpected and completely bat shit crazy direction. Really, good try.
  
  However, you missed your audience. While anti-democratic, Islamic bigotry is a fruitful subject most places, we are more likely to respond to economic or business related trolling (ie freetard).
  
  Religion isn't a subject regularly covered here so it just feels out of place.
  
  Good luck next time.
  
  Troll Grade: D+.

• On the post: Pakistan Officially Bans All Encryption Online

  

  A Guy ( profile ), 30 Aug, 2011 @ 12:24pm

  Re: Re: Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb

  Do you mean "orgy of stupidity?" Orgies are more likely to have layers... of people getting fucked.
  
  Ogres may also have layers, but I have never taken one apart.

• On the post: Former Top Government Secrets Keeper Blasts Administration For Abusing Espionage Act To Punish Whistleblowers

  

  A Guy ( profile ), 27 Aug, 2011 @ 08:03am

  Re: Re:

  Better than voting for corrupt party 2. ;-)
  I'm still waiting for another party to be able to win an election.

• On the post: Former Top Government Secrets Keeper Blasts Administration For Abusing Espionage Act To Punish Whistleblowers

  

  A Guy ( profile ), 27 Aug, 2011 @ 08:03am

  Re: Re:

  Better than voting for corrupt party 2. ;-)
  I'm still waiting for another party to be able to win an election.

• On the post: Former Top Government Secrets Keeper Blasts Administration For Abusing Espionage Act To Punish Whistleblowers

  

  A Guy ( profile ), 26 Aug, 2011 @ 04:42pm

  I despised Bush. I hated his approval of the continual erosion of our civil rights. I despised his economic policy. I saw the housing collapse coming. I thought, "There is no way a dem could do worse on civil rights or the economy" last time I voted. Maybe Obama isn't doing worse, but he's certainly not doing much better.
  
  I may be voting for a Republican next time around just because.

• On the post: More Misplaced Hatred For The Used Games Market

  

  A Guy ( profile ), 25 Aug, 2011 @ 10:36am

  Two things are certain when you deal with physical products
  
  1. There will always be a resale market
  2. The original producer will bitch and moan about how the resale market is destroying his margins
  
  Nothing will change that market dynamic and I couldn't be happier about it.

• On the post: Could Google's Motorola Buy To Fend Off Microsoft… Actually Drive More Business To Microsoft?

  

  A Guy ( profile ), 24 Aug, 2011 @ 11:43pm

  Re: Re: Google's bigger plan

  You doubt Google gets most of it's revenue from ads?

• On the post: Justice Department: To Protect Pharma Profits, We'll Just Take Money From Google

  

  A Guy ( profile ), 24 Aug, 2011 @ 11:18pm

  Re: Re: Re:

  I need to read before I comment. disregard

• On the post: Justice Department: To Protect Pharma Profits, We'll Just Take Money From Google

  

  A Guy ( profile ), 24 Aug, 2011 @ 11:13pm

  Re: Re:

  It may be because they did so much to filter it out sadly. I could be mistaken, but aren't the safe harbors dependent on being content neutral?

• On the post: A Legal Analysis For Why BART's Mobile Phone Shutdown Was Illegal

  

  A Guy ( profile ), 24 Aug, 2011 @ 07:24pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re:

  Read up on the FCC, broadband, communication service, and information service. It's not that simple unfortunately.

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