Free Capitalist 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Doctors In Tennessee Have Been Faxing Patient Info To The Wrong Place For Years

    Free Capitalist ( profile ), 30 Sep, 2009 @ 01:01pm

    Re:

    Until he *stops* shredding them and solving the problem for them, no one was going to bother to fix anything.


    ++

    For pointing the absurdly humorous "catalyst" behind the absurdly humorous story.

  • On the post: Dean Singleton: Please Explain How Charging For Something Magically Gives It Value

    Free Capitalist ( profile ), 30 Sep, 2009 @ 12:49pm

    Re: Everyone overlooking the obvious...

    Air is free


    Shhhh Sh Sh Sh

    Don't say that so loud. Dark Helmet has been working a business model running Perriair across the border in an attempt to "Steve Jobs" the air market. iAir or something like that he's calling it.

  • On the post: The Rule Of Law Over The Rule Of Reason

    Free Capitalist ( profile ), 30 Sep, 2009 @ 12:07pm

    Re: Re:

    It is reasonable for the public to want their police forces to use some sort of critical judgment in the conduct of their duty.

    For example, if a police officer's commander ordered him or her to open fire on group of kids in daycare, I would damn well hope they would tell that authority to go fuck themselves.

    What the hell kind of mentality allowed the police to deem the arrest of this woman as appropriate response to her actions?

    If all police officers must conduct themselves in this manner due to procedure, then we are better off eliminating the police on salaries and going with full robotic justice.. not even robocop.. just machines. After all just being human might allow for moral considerations, which would have no place in the legal system or its armed forces.

    And I'm sure this case I'm spelling out is at least partially true... there no room for "interpretation" on the streets. This is why I fundamentally reject all laws defining "victimless crimes" as hostile to the public they are purported to serve.

  • On the post: The Rule Of Law Over The Rule Of Reason

    Free Capitalist ( profile ), 30 Sep, 2009 @ 11:44am

    Re: Re: Re:

    I read a story the other day about a guy who was sentenced to life in prison just for "scratching an itch". Can you imagine that? What is this world coming to?

    Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that his "scratching" involved sex with underage children, but still...


    Four cylinder engines, in general, get better gas mileage than 6 cylinder engines.

  • On the post: Dean Singleton: Please Explain How Charging For Something Magically Gives It Value

    Free Capitalist ( profile ), 30 Sep, 2009 @ 10:04am

    Re: Re: Re: Well, kinda it does ...

    try to give something away free. Then sell it online for $10. You'll notice which one gets a lot more interest, and it's the $10 one.


    Again, that's all well and good, and I pretty much agree. I'll grant too that critical analysis is trumped by the *impulse to buy in many, many people.

    My opinion is that access to information is no longer the exclusive domain of classic-model newspapers (and libraries). Additionally, its my opinion that more people "surf" news than read an entire news site or rely solely on one site for news. This "spreading out" has encouraged further saturation of the information market thus reducing the perceived value of a single piece or source of information.

    Along the same "saturated market" lines, I'm saying most newspapers limit their own value by regurgitating the same headline news that is replicated *everywhere (whither journalism?). Why pay for one source of information when what you pay your ISP already gets you access to the same information without having to get another bill?

    People are impulsive buyers, but most still don't like to pay for the same thing twice.

  • On the post: Dean Singleton: Please Explain How Charging For Something Magically Gives It Value

    Free Capitalist ( profile ), 30 Sep, 2009 @ 09:36am

    Re: Well, kinda it does ...

    I agree with you that people tend to miss the value of something if it is "free". It is kind of analogous to the privileged teenager given a car outright by their parents -- everyone has met one of these.. you know the one that cracked up his car the first week he got it by crashing into a pole while doing donuts in a half-filled parking lot.

    However I agree with Mike in that simply pricing something does not automatically convey value to that "thing". There still has to be a reason people want, or "need" to make the transaction, and then to get a return transaction they have to believe they got what they paid for.

    Before the Internet, a newspaper represented access to information. These days, access to information just isn't the commodity it used to be on a piece by piece basis. It would some excellent journalism to be able to pull in enough subscriptions for an Internet service. That quality of reporting just doesn't exist in most rags, and charging for it is not going to make it look any less a turd than it is when held up to alternate sources.

  • On the post: The Rule Of Law Over The Rule Of Reason

    Free Capitalist ( profile ), 30 Sep, 2009 @ 08:16am

    Re:

    Using MarksAngel's reasoning, yes.

    I stand corrected. MarksAngel is wrong and you are right.

    She was arrested for "treating a cold".

    That makes all the difference and I now feel comfortable that the law and law enforcement worked to preserve the peace and protect average citizens.

    Oppression is oppression. Legal or not. This is an attack on an average, harmless citizen and is inexcusable. The police, the prosecutor, and especially the legislators and corporate lobbyists involved in the creation of this farce of justice deserve to be lynched.

  • On the post: The Rule Of Law Over The Rule Of Reason

    Free Capitalist ( profile ), 30 Sep, 2009 @ 08:02am

    Re: Re: Intent

    I'd say here actions were probably deliberate


    Yes, she deliberately broke a law. In so doing she is inadvertently illustrating once again that the law and law enforcement does not always work for the people, and in my opinion only works for people on occasion by mere coincidence.

    If civil disobedience were not all but outlawed in the fallout of the 60's, the people would have clear recourse for addressing imbecile, hostile tyrannical laws such as this.

    What recourse do we have now?

  • On the post: The Rule Of Law Over The Rule Of Reason

    Free Capitalist ( profile ), 30 Sep, 2009 @ 07:49am

    Re: Re:

    When someone robs a bank to get mortgage money, they aren't arrested for "having a home and needing to make payments", they're arrested for "robbing a bank".


    Interesting, so following that line of reasoning, this woman was arrested for "having a cold".

  • On the post: James Joyce Estate Agrees To Pay Legal Fees To Professor It Sought To Stifle

    Free Capitalist ( profile ), 30 Sep, 2009 @ 07:45am

    Re: Ignorance

    OK, so we have established that this author lived during a time when there was a "public domain".

  • On the post: The Rule Of Law Over The Rule Of Reason

    Free Capitalist ( profile ), 30 Sep, 2009 @ 06:46am

    I'm curious -- does anyone know if by breaking this drug-related law, is this woman is subject to having her rights suspended and her property auctioned off?

    These cases of naked aggression by "law enforcement" against average, harmless people make me wonder if there truly is a "moral panic" impetus coming from the people driving this insanity. Or is the perpetuation of legal hostility to the general populace simply the fulfillment of a for-profit business model in public service.

    In either case, we (the normal people) are the victims, and the suckers.

    "Don't blame me, I voted for Kotos" -- The Simpsons, 1996

  • On the post: Canadian Copyright Group Sending Huge Bills To Schools For Daring To Teach Kids With Photocopies

    Free Capitalist ( profile ), 29 Sep, 2009 @ 12:52pm

    Re: Out of date technology

    Everything Outside the Box Said


    YYYYYYYYESSS! Finally someone gets it!

  • On the post: Canadian Copyright Group Sending Huge Bills To Schools For Daring To Teach Kids With Photocopies

    Free Capitalist ( profile ), 29 Sep, 2009 @ 12:42pm

    Re: Re: Re: Huh...

    Any school found to have photocopied more than 3 times, that is to say one work three times, three works one time each, or one work once and another twice, should be disconnected from the power grid, that they may learn their lesson.


    I like, no, LOVE the way you think, and have forwarded this to my senator.

    In the future I totally recommend you avoid use of the word 'kids'. People get all weepy and idealistic talking about things so closely tied to organic nature.

    Can we re-educate our uneducated midget consumers? YES! WE! CAN!

  • On the post: Canadian Copyright Group Sending Huge Bills To Schools For Daring To Teach Kids With Photocopies

    Free Capitalist ( profile ), 29 Sep, 2009 @ 12:04pm

    Re: Huh...

    What should we do? Let these uneducated consumers continue to consume stolen information? And let's not mince words, by consuming stolen information they are, in fact, complicit midget thieves. Use of these photocopying devices in the consumer education system can bring nothing but evil, and all of these dubious thingamawhoppers should disconnected from the power grid.

    Think of the uneducated midget consumers!

  • On the post: EU Worried About IP Harming Innovation… But Gets It Backwards

    Free Capitalist ( profile ), 29 Sep, 2009 @ 06:47am

    Re: The problem with incumbents..

    The only differences between schoolyard politics and grown-up politics that I can see is the money, and the propensity for children to call "bullshit" more often.

    (Lily Allen's entry and quick exit from the copyright debate is also a palpable analogy to "real" politics)

    How does one get the attention of someone outside of their 'clique'? How do we insert ourselves into a conversation between self-absorbed, self-important gibbering teenagers?

    The only ground rule that seems to be apparent in the government clique is "money talks".

    That means we're kind of screwed until someone can out earn the incumbent interest, or better, put them out of business... which they are trying to prevent.

  • On the post: USTR: We Can't Be Open About ACTA Because We Promised We Wouldn't Be (*Lobbyists Not Included)

    Free Capitalist ( profile ), 29 Sep, 2009 @ 06:06am

    Re:

    I am struggling with why some believe that access by "lobbyists" (somewhat of a misnomer since most are corporate employees according the the USTR website) is problematic.


    What is problematic is granting exclusive access to established corporate interests to information in trade negotiations. When one corporation's lobbyist is given access to policy negotiations, that information should rightly be opened to all competitors and potential competitors (i.e. every citizen in the U.S.). Closed door exclusive negotiations basically define corruption.

    What is also problematic is how the government seems to have stopped legislating and working for citizens, and started working for corporations and "consumers". But this is a much larger issue that would best be dealt with by simply throwing out the entire apparatus (so-called "two party") currently dominating our government.

  • On the post: Can Trent Reznor Reinvent The Video Game Business, Too?

    Free Capitalist ( profile ), 25 Sep, 2009 @ 01:35pm

    Re: Re: Re: New Blood is Welcome

    eternal darkness

    A chilling supernatural weather system just moved into my cubicle. I was already old when I played that game, and it freaked me out. Good stuff (a little cumbersome later on.. but damn.. they really conveyed the environment well)

  • On the post: Music Industry Copies Language Of Copyright Reformers In Pushing For Three Strikes

    Free Capitalist ( profile ), 25 Sep, 2009 @ 12:33pm

    Re: Re: How stupid do they think politicians are?

    "Depends on what country they're in."


    Sadly, no.

  • On the post: Can Trent Reznor Reinvent The Video Game Business, Too?

    Free Capitalist ( profile ), 25 Sep, 2009 @ 12:16pm

    Re: Re: the video game industry does not need reinventing, its thriving... newspapers need the help

    The above poster has major issues. His computer just requested the deadweight between the chair and the keyboard be removed.

  • On the post: Can Trent Reznor Reinvent The Video Game Business, Too?

    Free Capitalist ( profile ), 25 Sep, 2009 @ 09:49am

    Re: Re: Re: Locked up consoles

    Oops forgot to sign on. I'll claim the above mess of unsubstantiated opinion.

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