Ninja 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (14047)

• On the post: Price Hikes, Enshittification Trigger 700K Customer Losses At Disney+, ESPN+

  

  Ninja ( profile ), 14 Feb, 2025 @ 08:49am

  I use virtual credit cards. If they won't let me unsubscribe then I can just cancel the card.

• On the post: Price Hikes, Enshittification Trigger 700K Customer Losses At Disney+, ESPN+

  

  Ninja ( profile ), 14 Feb, 2025 @ 08:46am

  It's getting very visible in my bubble. Piracy is flourishing again. Of course these companies will point to piracy as the cause of their losses, no the consequence as it actually is. And they'll extract huge figures incompatible with their actual self-imposed losses and generally taken from their collective arses.

• On the post: Phone Companies Still Suck At Stopping Unwanted Scam Robocalls, Something That Will Get Much Worse Under Trump 2.0

  

  Ninja ( profile ), 12 Feb, 2025 @ 06:34am

  Cut to Brazil where we have specific number groups (0300 prefix) for telemarketing that can be easily blocked along with many other vectors by simply including your number in the Procon anti-telemarketing system. I received between 10 to 20 calls everyday plus several sms messages before using the system. The headache was reduced by more than 99%. Some calls still go through but the mere mention of the consumer defense outfit (Procon, more or less the FTC in the US) is enough to deter most offenders from continued harassment. Overall I think it's a pretty efficient system.

• On the post: Trump’s Latest Solution To Everything: Let’s Make Foreign Bribery Great Again

  

  Ninja ( profile ), 12 Feb, 2025 @ 02:23am

  Donald is turning the US into his personal Mafia.

• On the post: India Wants Wide Business Use Of Its Huge Aadhaar Biometric Database, Now With Facial Recognition

  

  Ninja ( profile ), 12 Feb, 2025 @ 02:20am

  Here we have been centralizing all government spheres into the Gov.br platform. I'm not going to lie, it's useful, it's somewhat easy to use and the security is good enough, even though I don't really like the fact that your cell phone is the main security device for accessing the system. Still, all this centralization is only as good as the govt that's in charge. During the last idiot term there were data breaches and suspicion of the govt selling user data not to mention tampering with data from political opponents and people in the "wrong" political wing (eg: the health data of at least 2 left wing politicians was maliciously edited replacing names with cursing words or deletion of health record related to vaccines). We are witnessing Musk acting like a wild orangutan with the rabies in the US systems. Modi, in India, isn't a shiny example of a democrat (ie: he is authoritarian to the brim). Makes me wonder how to secure systems that contain all your life and accesses to everything from these types.

• On the post: Musk Promised Government Transparency, DOGE Delivers Maximum Secrecy

  

  Ninja ( profile ), 11 Feb, 2025 @ 09:44am

  All his statements concerning free speech, govt transparency and efficiency make sense if you apply them considering his own personal interests. Free speech for nazi but not for criticism against him or his bros, transparency to the opposition only, no regulations for his businesses and heavy restrictions to the competition etc. He's actually very coherent when you think about it.

• On the post: No, The People Didn’t Vote For This

  

  Ninja ( profile ), 11 Feb, 2025 @ 04:02am

  Why not both?

• On the post: The 24-Hour Reality Check: Musk’s Impossible Power Grab And America’s Crisis

  

  Ninja ( profile ), 05 Feb, 2025 @ 10:39am

  It is said that he was destroying his opponents while simultaneously brewing fine coffee. A stable genius indeed!

• On the post: The 24-Hour Reality Check: Musk’s Impossible Power Grab And America’s Crisis

  

  Ninja ( profile ), 05 Feb, 2025 @ 10:36am

  Laws are only as good as those willing to actually enforce them. Lawmakers are sleeping throughout the coup attempt and Trump successfully established majority on the other Constitutional power that could do something, the SCOTUS. Good luck with using the safeguards enshrined into law when there's nobody willing to enforce them. That's how democracies die.

• On the post: Ontario Cancels, Then Restores $100 Million Starlink Contract Over Trump’s Ignorant Tariff Threats

  

  Ninja ( profile ), 05 Feb, 2025 @ 08:47am

  At this point interacting in any way with any business with ties to Musk should be avoided because ethics, morals and human rights. Unless of course you are interacting with them to destroy the guy.

• On the post: Milwaukee Meteorologist Fired One Day After Criticizing Elon Musk’s Nazi-ish Salute

  

  Ninja ( profile ), 24 Jan, 2025 @ 05:44am

  Was that definitely a Nazi salute? I’m not here to answer yes to that question. I’ve been reminded by all kinds of fans of Musk that the man claims to be on the spectrum and that one of the symptoms includes trouble properly using non-verbal communication. And, hey, sure, I acknowledge that.

  I know the discussion in this article is not the gesture itself but the whole very disturbing reactions to people voicing their disgust with it and with the generally very disgusting figure of Elon Musk but I think it's time people started calling apples by what they are, apples. Whenever their apple-y things are involved. The entire US govt is being run by nazis. It's plain simple. Elon has been showing he loves nazis and bigoted morons for a while now, because he is one. You don't embrace ideas you don't agree with even if you don't declare yourself a member of the group that advocate for those ideas. Heck, the orange orangutan in the presidency is even reenacting the ministry of propaganda just like the 3rd reich did. The US is Germany ~1930 to 1945~. The signs are there for many years now. Except there isn't the URSS to stop it.

• On the post: Celebrated Lawyer ‘Fires’ Meta As A Client Over Zuck’s ‘Neo-Nazi Madness’

  

  Ninja ( profile ), 16 Jan, 2025 @ 04:46am

  While I don't think the neonazi from meta cares, it's an important move overall. I see dark times ahead but it's those actions that will get us through. I wish Meta employees could all just throw the middle finger to this asshole and leave but sadly many depend on their wages to the point they can't do it even if they believe the boss is an asshole.

• On the post: TikTok Users Gleefully Embrace Even More Chinese App To Spite US TikTok Ban

  

  Ninja ( profile ), 15 Jan, 2025 @ 04:38am

  The awesome in it is that the Chinese users in Red Note are openly and warmly welcoming the new US users and these are learning that China is not what propaganda says. The US users are learning that the Chinese have access to food other than shitty fast food, they can actually afford good, quality stuff to cook. They are learning the Chinese have full and free healthcare and better labor rights. Sure the govt is authoritarian and so on but they actually have support for their basic needs. The poor ones are in the US. Years of propaganda melting because the US govt can't put up legislation to protect US citizens data and privacy.

• On the post: Now Telecoms Are Fighting Among Themselves Over Who Lies More About ‘Unlimited Data’

  

  Ninja ( profile ), 09 Jan, 2025 @ 06:14am

  Yeah, nothing like that happened in previous Trump mandate, no. No rights were lost and no regulations were removed or greatly scaled back in favor of businesses. Oh wait...

• On the post: Now Telecoms Are Fighting Among Themselves Over Who Lies More About ‘Unlimited Data’

  

  Ninja ( profile ), 09 Jan, 2025 @ 06:12am

  A typical example of "pot meet kettle". Verizon wants the monopoly on bullshit ads.

• On the post: The Good, The Bad, And The Stupid In Meta’s New Content Moderation Policies

  

  Ninja ( profile ), 08 Jan, 2025 @ 10:05am

  Fair point. The way I see it's not stupid if you consider what the end result is desired.

• On the post: The Good, The Bad, And The Stupid In Meta’s New Content Moderation Policies

  

  Ninja ( profile ), 08 Jan, 2025 @ 09:26am

  Mike, it's not stupid. It's intentional. It's about ideology (in Zuckeberg's case) and it's about money. Brands like McDonnalds scaling back or ditching diversity efforts entirely to appease the orange baboon and his clowns add to the shitstorm. It's 1938 again.

• On the post: Consumers Cut Streaming Services In 2024 After Endless Price Hikes And Enshittification

  

  Ninja ( profile ), 08 Jan, 2025 @ 05:45am

  Already started at home. Netflix has 2 fewer subscribers along my family plus myself. Dysney+ was cut by another relative and it's only surviving at home because of the kid. Prime is virtually dead. I'm the only one left and this may change soon. Max is a joke and nobody has it anymore except me because I got a lifetime 50% discount from the start but they obviously degraded the quality with ads. Tehere is one relative that ditched all and went Stremio. Yes, as it is, people would download a car.

• On the post: The Jawboning Double Standard: Brendan Carr’s Threats Are Way Worse Than What Biden Was Accused Of

  

  Ninja ( profile ), 07 Jan, 2025 @ 10:27am

  Free speech for me, compliance for the rest. Somebody needs to bring democracy to the US.

• On the post: Jeff Bezos’ Latest Gambit To Bring Back Trust In Media: Silence Editorial Cartoonists Who Call Out Your Sniveling Compliance

  

  Ninja ( profile ), 07 Jan, 2025 @ 09:37am

  The super rich are openly going full fascist. Historical facts are being either intentionally distorted or hidden. Zuckeberg is getting rid of fact-checking. Musk is openly using his network to spread misinformation. Bezos is actively suppressing speech and determining what goes in one of the larges newspapers in the world. They all own the giant media outfits and communications networks that are more consumed and plenty of other, less known super rich own what they don't. History revisionism is stronger than ever. We are screwed.

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