NoahVail 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (219)

• On the post: Students, Parents Figure Out School Is Using AI To Grade Exams And Immediately Game The System

  

  NoahVail ( profile ), 04 Sep, 2020 @ 09:54pm

  I'm a poor parent for not helping my kids find holes to exploit - because that may be the most valuable skill they'll learn.

  I will do better.

• On the post: Fake 'Russian Hack' Of Public Michigan Voter Rolls Gets Absurdly Overhyped On The Interwebs

  

  NoahVail ( profile ), 01 Sep, 2020 @ 12:39pm

  Welcome to Florida

  Here's Florida's voter rolls, last 8 years including the latest. Available to anyone. I'm in there somewhere.
  https://flvoters.com/downloads.html

• On the post: Documents Show Law Enforcement Agencies Are Still Throwing Tax Dollars At Junk Science

  

  NoahVail ( profile ), 25 Aug, 2020 @ 07:18am

  Re: Handed to news orgs all over, this story goes nowhere

  Disclaimer: My descent into oldmanhood will be endlessly marked by fist shaking at news systems. I fixate on them because as I calculate how we got to some awful place, I far too often find a coverage hole where journalism ought to have been.

• On the post: Documents Show Law Enforcement Agencies Are Still Throwing Tax Dollars At Junk Science

  

  NoahVail ( profile ), 25 Aug, 2020 @ 07:09am

  Handed to news orgs all over, this story goes nowhere

  Once Tim clicks whatever-button-publishes-this, it's available to be re-covered by by hundreds of US news outlets. Instead editors will fixate on the same stories, that every other editor is fixating on today.

  Reasonably, this is absolutely news. Journalists covering this would be performing their minimal duty -and- a news ecosystem that wasn't earning it's weakened state would be covering this in every US market.

• On the post: ProPublica Releases NYPD Discipline Records Its Union Thought It Had Talked A Court Into Keeping Secret

  

  NoahVail ( profile ), 28 Jul, 2020 @ 06:48pm

  Re:

  that’s quality journalism

  It is indeed. The last time I was this proud of ProPublica's was when they did "Free The Files". (backstory: ProPublica went up against entrenched news orgs, who had been forced to disclose how much ad cash they receive from campaigns and dark money groups. To reduce the threat of accountability, (hundreds? of) news orgs released the ad buy data as pdf images. In theory, this could keep it out of easily researched databases. ProPublica crowdsourced volunteers to transcribe the pdfs & the public learned just how much political orgs fund campaign news coverage. - hint:It's massively. I'd put the number at about a billion dollars per campaign cycle.) Thanks - again - to ProPublica for looking out for the public, in a meaningful way.

• On the post: The FBI Issued Warning To Law Enforcement Agencies After Being Duped By A Satirical 'Paid Protester' Website

  

  NoahVail ( profile ), 27 Jul, 2020 @ 11:25am

  HeadlineSmasher: Satirist finds it's easy to get LEO to believe that thing they most want to believe.

• On the post: Why Is The US Trying To Punish Hackers For Accessing Vaccine Research We Should Be Sharing With The World?

  

  NoahVail ( profile ), 22 Jul, 2020 @ 09:07am

  As ever, my complaint is with the press.

  I get that it's still driven by the silly belief that everything related to drug discovery must be "owned" and "patented"

  A belief that ~100% of news orgs thoughtlessly pass on w/o any analysis or even consideration.

  Leadership is about doing the right thing even if it makes you look bad.

  Our press corp does not (with any meaningful consistency) perform nuanced (or otherwise) reporting on pols doing the right/wrong thing.
  eg: 500 indistinguishable stories on one misdeed while countless other misdeeds go unreported.

  (disclaimer: I believe it is useless & counterproductive to calculate bias, w/o first addressing competency in reporting. The bias equation is skewed & unsolvable, while inept journalism is the norm.)

• On the post: Verizon Has To Walk Back Bogus 5G Coverage Claims

  

  NoahVail ( profile ), 16 Jul, 2020 @ 09:23am

  5G, while certainly fast, pales in comparison to overseas networks -- in large part because we've failed to make mid-band spectrum (much of it held by the government) available for widespread public use.

  This would seem to be the 5G story of the decade.

• On the post: Understanding The 'Splinternet'

  

  NoahVail ( profile ), 14 Jul, 2020 @ 10:54am

  Upgrading to IPv6 requires private- and, in some cases, public-sector investment so this divided access to the internet will break along lines of wealth.

  Frontier Communications has received public & private investment, yet most of it's footprint lacks IPv6.

  Perhaps what is required is a will to deploy IPv6 and a method to isolate CapEx from shareholder meddling.

• On the post: T-Mobile Merger 'Synergies' Culminate In Massive 12 Hour Nationwide Outage

  

  NoahVail ( profile ), 17 Jun, 2020 @ 08:56am

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  It might be alright if copyright locked that away. I'm thinking his post might be due to that awkweird period between police refusing to help the mentally ill and mental health services stepping in. On the positive side, Navy text-yelling seems to be making a comeback.

• On the post: House Democrats Have The Power To Protect Our Web Surfing From Warrantless FBI Searching; Instead, They're Pointing Fingers

  

  NoahVail ( profile ), 23 May, 2020 @ 08:14am

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  Sincere apologies. It's become weirdly busy (and hs graduation, etc).
  I worked on it for a while but I need a lot of rewrites to output stuff that isn't terrible. I will write this out eventually, tho. Both the topic & the audience are important to me.

• On the post: House Democrats Have The Power To Protect Our Web Surfing From Warrantless FBI Searching; Instead, They're Pointing Fingers

  

  NoahVail ( profile ), 21 May, 2020 @ 02:47pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  Sure. I'll post it eventually.

• On the post: House Democrats Have The Power To Protect Our Web Surfing From Warrantless FBI Searching; Instead, They're Pointing Fingers

  

  NoahVail ( profile ), 21 May, 2020 @ 01:34pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re:

  Say what now? Thought the GOP fancied itself the 'party of personal responsibility', the idea that the way to fix them is to go after the other party seems like a shifting of responsibilities.

  PrepStep1: Ignore party talking points. I mean really ignore them. Yes, even if it means letting go an opportunity to attack.

• On the post: House Democrats Have The Power To Protect Our Web Surfing From Warrantless FBI Searching; Instead, They're Pointing Fingers

  

  NoahVail ( profile ), 21 May, 2020 @ 01:07pm

  Re: Re:

  The GOP, as it exists right now, is just so much worse.

  PSA: The path to a better GOP lies thru de-corrupting the DNC.

• On the post: House Democrats Have The Power To Protect Our Web Surfing From Warrantless FBI Searching; Instead, They're Pointing Fingers

  

  NoahVail ( profile ), 21 May, 2020 @ 01:05pm

  Re: You Might Think

  A lot of people think that their side is better than the other, when the reality is that both sides of the political spectrum have career politicians who represent The Swamp, and not their constituents.

  BURN THE BOTHSIDERISM WITCH!!! Because the left & right both finally agree on something - nuance is for traitors. Or maybe only weak people examine problems common to both parties - while one party is more egregious. Or it could be that putting ethics over party victories means evil wins because of you. Or ... well, heck. What are the assumed rules again?

• On the post: As Some Are Requiring People To Give Up Their Info To Dine, Stories Of Creeps Abusing That Info Come Out

  

  NoahVail ( profile ), 17 May, 2020 @ 10:34am

  Re: Re: Re: Re: use phony personal info

  You don't 'register' the sale of a car.

  We're required to title a car & pay the sales tax w/i 30 days of purchase. I bought an antique a year ago & haven't titled it yet. I'll have a small fine to pay when I do.

• On the post: Uh Oh: FBI Serves Search Warrant On Senator Richard Burr, Seizes His Phone

  

  NoahVail ( profile ), 14 May, 2020 @ 01:16pm

  Re: Re: Annnnnnd, he's gone!

  resigning makes breaking the law all better?

  The guy who performed no meaningful oversight of the FBI, resigned his position of overseeing the FBI. We can rest assured someone else will take his place and shill hard for the agency.

• On the post: Uh Oh: FBI Serves Search Warrant On Senator Richard Burr, Seizes His Phone

  

  NoahVail ( profile ), 14 May, 2020 @ 01:11pm

  Re: Re:

  You're saying he's a senator in something other than US Congress. I guess that's an opinion you can have.

• On the post: US Press Continues To Help Prop Up Bullshit 5G Conspiracy Theories

  

  NoahVail ( profile ), 13 May, 2020 @ 12:08pm

  Re: Just to mention.

  Can we find people who understand High Freq radio waves..Like those Old MW towers used in the past, that would warm your body in winter, as it Slowly Cooked your insides

  A millimeter wave, directed microwave energy weapon causes pain by heating the water in a human target's skin - which is as far as it can penetrate.

• On the post: US Press Continues To Help Prop Up Bullshit 5G Conspiracy Theories

  

  NoahVail ( profile ), 13 May, 2020 @ 11:50am

  Re:

  I hate sunlight. And now I hate the thunkskulls that vindicate my sunlight hatred.

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