M. Alan Thomas II 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (216)

• On the post: Dr. Matthew Rimmer Takes A Closer Look At Fair Use

  

  M. Alan Thomas II ( profile ), 01 Feb, 2014 @ 09:19pm

  Re: Re:

  There are plenty of anime that don't draw from Dragon Ball! Mind you, I could probably tell you what they do draw from with just a little research. And I'd be hard-pressed to find one whose lineage I couldn't eventually trace to somewhere in the oeuvre of Osamu Tezuka, who was inspired by Disney and Betty Boop.
  
  Literature studies and film and media studies do not exist because everything is unique and must be studied independently but, in part, because we want to see how they're connected.

• On the post: The Importance Of Anonymity And The Wonders Of YouTube's Saddest Comments

  

  M. Alan Thomas II ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2014 @ 11:44pm

  I think that it's important to note that those high-voted quality comments are, well, high-voted. That is, people can distinguish between insightful and horrible thoughts. The existence of the bad comments does not lessen us because we know they are bad comments; the lack of good comments would.

• On the post: Homeland Security Redacts Drone Info It Already Released Publicly In Report To Congress

  

  M. Alan Thomas II ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2014 @ 01:47pm

  Headline/Title

  I found the headline a bit confusing. I thought from it that the public release had happened in a report to Congress ("Released Publicly In Report To Congress"), not the other way around. Allow me to suggest that, if possible, it be reordered as "Homeland Security Redacts In Report To Congress Drone Info It Already Released Publicly".

• On the post: Buying Positive Coverage Of The Xbox One On YouTube Is Dumb On So Many Levels

  

  M. Alan Thomas II ( profile ), 21 Jan, 2014 @ 01:24pm

  Canary time: Nothing can stop the Machinima producers who haven't agreed to such a deal from announcing that fact; only those who remain silent are suspect.

• On the post: President Obama Surpasses Exceptionally Low Expectations On NSA Reforms, But Reforms Are Still Very Weak

  

  M. Alan Thomas II ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2014 @ 09:20pm

  Smith v. Maryland heavily relies on an older case involving mandatory record-keeping by a third party with special access provisions for the government, provisions that were expanded in the Patriot Act. Those were about financial records, but still; I think that moving the data storage to a mandatory retention model gives them greater legal coverage without necessarily hamstringing them.
  
  Side note: I'd love to see if any of the lawyers around here agree with me that teleco immunity doesn't appear to apply to disclosures not authorized by law (a.k.a. abuse); if they've suddenly got to protect themselves from liability by pushing back on sketchy requests, that would be nice. Of course, they might reasonably believe that any such case would never be legally disclosed, so no-one would ever have standing to sue them.

• On the post: The Fact That The US Intelligence Community So Readily Admits To Fantasies Of Killing Ed Snowden Shows Why They Can't Be Trusted

  

  M. Alan Thomas II ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2014 @ 09:08pm

  I think there's a small but important difference between "want to" and "are willing to." Anyone can be angry and have a fantasy; only nursing hatred and being willing to act on it is over the line. I'm not sure that we can distinguish between the two on the basis of the linked article, especially as it's not clear to what extent the author was soliciting the fantasies.
  
  Yes, I think that it's worrisome that someone we're supposed to trust as beyond reproach would discuss any such thing rather than remaining entirely on the rational path, and I think that it should be held against them. But I don't know that it supports this article's stronger inferences regarding their actual willingness to kill.

• On the post: NYPD Decides To Ape FBI's Tactics And Cite The 'Mosaic Theory' As The Reason It Won't Disclose Budget Data

  

  M. Alan Thomas II ( profile ), 05 Jan, 2014 @ 10:49am

  Re: Re:

  a.k.a. the Writ of Do Your Damn Job

• On the post: NYPD Decides To Ape FBI's Tactics And Cite The 'Mosaic Theory' As The Reason It Won't Disclose Budget Data

  

  M. Alan Thomas II ( profile ), 04 Jan, 2014 @ 08:26pm

  Re:

  I suppose I should also point out that the argument that the NYPD isn't as special as the feds only works if you assume that the feds are special. If I don't like the NYPD making this argument, it's because I don't think anyone should, not because I think it's the province of a different government agency. The fact that other government agencies also do this is irrelevant to that argument.

• On the post: NYPD Decides To Ape FBI's Tactics And Cite The 'Mosaic Theory' As The Reason It Won't Disclose Budget Data

  

  M. Alan Thomas II ( profile ), 04 Jan, 2014 @ 08:22pm

  I have no problems with mosaic theory as a concept (i.e., outside of specific application). After all, the idea that accumulating lots of individually innocuous pieces of data can allow you to assemble a dangerous larger picture out of it is perfectly true. Indeed, we rely on it?if not by name?in many of our arguments against a pervasive surveillance state; it's not that any one piece of data deserves protection, it's that the mosaic as a whole does.
  
  That being said, mosaic theory is only a reasonable defense against information-gathering in some circumstances; the public interest cuts in favor of both individual privacy rights and transparent government. Therefore, the tenuous protection of mosaic theory should be afforded to circumstances that might violate an individual's rights to privacy but not when a citizen is attempting to enjoy their right to know what their government is doing.

• On the post: Man Stopped By Cops For Supposedly Voluntary NHTSA 'Survey' Sues City And Police Dept. For Violating His 4th Amendment Rights

  

  M. Alan Thomas II ( profile ), 04 Jan, 2014 @ 08:09pm

  Given that he successfully refused the search, my naive take would be that he'd have a better case for unlawful arrest / false imprisonment?he was prevented from moving/leaving?than for an unlawful search that didn't actually occur. I expect the latter to be thrown out on those grounds; no search and seizure has happened to the plaintiff and he can't show that it's likely to happen to him personally in the future.

• On the post: Supreme Court To Hear Key Case On Software Patents That Appeals Court Couldn't Figure Out

  

  M. Alan Thomas II ( profile ), 06 Dec, 2013 @ 04:55pm

  The Supreme Court has been known, on rare occasion, to issue 10 opinions (1 per curiam and 1 per justice). By that measure, the CAFC did pretty well.
  
  It is, however, a well-established principle that the courts should usually rule as narrowly as possible to avoid rewriting large sections of the law when they don't have to. Of course, that principle can and should be set aside in favor of clarity at times.

• On the post: UK Court Rules That Software Functionality Is Not Subject To Copyright

  

  M. Alan Thomas II ( profile ), 06 Dec, 2013 @ 01:44am

  Code functions are not a form of expression and therefore cannot be limited by copyright.
  
  Code functions are a form of expression and therefore cannot be limited without a First Amendment analysis (c.f. DeCSS, the DeCSS Gallery).
  
  I can probably figure out how to restate the second to make a distinction between things I like and things I don't like that supports my preferences, but I'm a little tired just now.

• On the post: Miami Gardens Police Arrest Store Employee 62 Times For Trespassing At His Place Of Employment

  

  M. Alan Thomas II ( profile ), 29 Nov, 2013 @ 04:16pm

  Ah, he's black. That explains it.
  
  Someone's asking for some fairly massive false arrest and civil rights suits; qualified immunity does not cover doing something you know is illegal.

• On the post: Political Candidate Continues To Abuse YouTube's Copyright System To Silence Criticism

  

  M. Alan Thomas II ( profile ), 23 Nov, 2013 @ 09:33pm

  Re: Re:

  If the claims are DMCS notices, YouTube has to go through the motions but has a potential right to sue for their compliance costs.
  
  If the claims are not DMCA notices, YouTube is free to ignore them because it's their system rather than a statutory one.

• On the post: Appeals Court To Explore If A Site With 'Dirt' In The URL Loses All Liability Protections For User Comments

  

  M. Alan Thomas II ( profile ), 13 Nov, 2013 @ 05:40pm

  You'd have to ask a lawyer if filing an amicus brief would be advisable, of course, but I'd very much advise asking the lawyer about that.

• On the post: Son Of Writer Of First Episode Of Doctor Who Now Claiming Copyright On The Tardis

  

  M. Alan Thomas II ( profile ), 12 Nov, 2013 @ 11:51pm

  Re: Not quite a lawyer but...

  It's my understanding that script writers for DW were normally commissioned, but I don't know about this particular case.

• On the post: French Court Orders Google To Magically Make Max Mosley Orgy Pictures Disappear

  

  M. Alan Thomas II ( profile ), 09 Nov, 2013 @ 05:22pm

  I think he meant "producing" in the sense of "making a thing available for inspection." It's still idiotic to sue a search engine for doing its job, but let's concentrate on that rather than quibbling over terms.

• On the post: Red Cross Pushing For War Crimes In Video Games To Be Punished In Video Games

  

  M. Alan Thomas II ( profile ), 04 Oct, 2013 @ 06:45pm

  Interestingly, the only game that I can recall playing that penalized in any way for in-game violations (e.g., shooting an incapacitated enemy) was made by the U.S. Army (America's Army).

• On the post: The ACLU Would Like To Remind You That The NSA Isn't The Only Three-Letter Agency Abusing The Rights Of Americans

  

  M. Alan Thomas II ( profile ), 19 Sep, 2013 @ 09:32pm

  In a document that reads as if it were written during the Hoover era, an FBI agent describes the peace group Catholic Worker as having ?semi-communistic ideology.?

  I'd say "semi-socialist" would be more accurate, but the real problem is that neither of those things is illegal or suspicious.

• On the post: WA Legislators Get A Free Pass On Speeding Tickets During Legislative Sessions

  

  M. Alan Thomas II ( profile ), 17 Sep, 2013 @ 01:22pm

  The wording of the constitutions appears to be a ban on arrest and process during sessions and travel, not perpetual immunity to any acts committed during that time*. In other words, the cops could just wait until after the session ends and then mail the legislator the ticket, arrest them, or whatever.
  
  *Except for the speech & debate protections in Congress, where you can only be sanctioned by Congress.

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