Richard 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (7496)

• On the post: NSA & FBI Spied On All Emails In Salt Lake City Before & After The Olympics

  

  Richard ( profile ), 21 Aug, 2013 @ 06:57am

  Re: Re:

  and I keep thinking "it's not even a plausible ad hominem - it's just a plsyground insult"

• On the post: White House Says It Had 'No Role' In UK Detention Of David Miranda, But Did Have A 'Heads Up'

  

  Richard ( profile ), 19 Aug, 2013 @ 01:21pm

  Re: Re: Re:

  It was top story on BBC news this evening - and Greenwald said it only made him more determined.
  
  Foot shot I'd say.

• On the post: Blatant Intimidation: Glenn Greenwald's Partner Detained At Heathrow Under Terrorism Law, All His Electronics Seized

  

  Richard ( profile ), 19 Aug, 2013 @ 07:19am

  Hypocrisy

  This is blatant hypocrisy given that the UK govcernment is currently complaining about Spain's use of similar tactics for political ends on the border with Gibraltar.
  
  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23739046

• On the post: Hunter Walk's Favorite Techdirt Posts Of The Week

  

  Richard ( profile ), 18 Aug, 2013 @ 05:04am

  Re: Re: Re: Re:

  Not double think - but a failed sarcasm detector!

• On the post: Who Will Take The Privacy Seppuku Pledge?

  

  Richard ( profile ), 17 Aug, 2013 @ 02:46am

  Re: Faulty premise

  They have whole buildings full of very smart people paid good money to think about this stuff. They won't get it wrong.
  
  they will and did.
  
  
  The smart people didn't get it wrong - they are probably wringing their hands right now. It is their bosses that got it wrong. What's the phrase?
  
  "lions led by donkeys"

• On the post: Massive Overblocking Hits Hundreds Of UK Sites

  

  Richard ( profile ), 15 Aug, 2013 @ 12:49pm

  Yesterday

  Yesterday our attempt to access a paper abput computational intelligence was blocked by websense with the explanation "category sex". The author works at the University of Essex - so this may be another instance of the Scunthorpe problem...

• On the post: Nova Scotia's New Cyberbullying Law Will 'Make Bullies Of Us All'

  

  Richard ( profile ), 14 Aug, 2013 @ 02:11pm

  Re:

  Here's what can happen to the accused should the judge grant the protection order. (This process, by the way, occurs without any input from the accused -- it's solely between the judge and accuser.)
  
  Surely going and getting one of these orders could itself constitute bullying

• On the post: Latest 'Think Of The Children' Scaremongering: Pirated Films Might 'Disturb' Them

  

  Richard ( profile ), 13 Aug, 2013 @ 11:07am

  Re:

  Wrong kind of piracy...

• On the post: Latest 'Think Of The Children' Scaremongering: Pirated Films Might 'Disturb' Them

  

  Richard ( profile ), 13 Aug, 2013 @ 10:57am

  Re: Re:

  The above comment was mine - not signed in - bother!

• On the post: Judge Refuses To Dismiss Suit Against Feds Who Arrested Former Marine For His Controversial Facebook Posts

  

  Richard ( profile ), 13 Aug, 2013 @ 05:42am

  Re:

  Actually it was the Soviet Union that did that.

• On the post: DOJ Decided To Ratchet Up Case Against Aaron Swartz Because He Spoke Out Publicly About Being Innocent

  

  Richard ( profile ), 12 Aug, 2013 @ 10:12am

  Re: Re: Re: Re:

  The incentive for JSTOR to scan and make these valuable documents available is that it has certain property rights in them that permit it to sell access.
  
  Rubbish.
  
  The incentive was - in their own words
  
  "to help the academic community take full advantage of rapidly advancing information and networking technologies"

• On the post: DOJ Decided To Ratchet Up Case Against Aaron Swartz Because He Spoke Out Publicly About Being Innocent

  

  Richard ( profile ), 12 Aug, 2013 @ 10:09am

  Re: Re: Re:

  Why would JSTOR invest millions in scanning documents if someone could just come along, download the whole thing, and make it available for free?
  
  Given sufficent funding JSTOR would have made it available for free.
  
  How come you can't understand any motivation that doen't involve money?

• On the post: DOJ Decided To Ratchet Up Case Against Aaron Swartz Because He Spoke Out Publicly About Being Innocent

  

  Richard ( profile ), 12 Aug, 2013 @ 09:15am

  Re:

  And are you ever going to admit that you're routing comments from my IP address to the spam filter
  
  No need to do that - even a simple natural language understanding program can easily detect your comments from their content!

• On the post: DOJ Decided To Ratchet Up Case Against Aaron Swartz Because He Spoke Out Publicly About Being Innocent

  

  Richard ( profile ), 12 Aug, 2013 @ 09:12am

  Re:

  Further to my previous comment
  
  "Then, JSTOR merged with Ithaka, becoming part of that organization.[9] Ithaka is a non-profit organization founded in 2003 "dedicated to helping the academic community take full advantage of rapidly advancing information and networking technologies."
  
  How can you not see that what Aaron Swartz did was in furtherance of those aims?>

• On the post: DOJ Decided To Ratchet Up Case Against Aaron Swartz Because He Spoke Out Publicly About Being Innocent

  

  Richard ( profile ), 12 Aug, 2013 @ 09:08am

  Re:

  It is a fact that JSTOR spends millions of dollars each year scanning journal articles to include in its database. I have in the past posted links to JSTOR's tax returns that prove this.
  
  So what?
  
  The purpose of that money is precisely to make available the knowledge. Locking it up defeats the purpose of the spending.

• On the post: DOJ Decided To Ratchet Up Case Against Aaron Swartz Because He Spoke Out Publicly About Being Innocent

  

  Richard ( profile ), 12 Aug, 2013 @ 09:06am

  Re: Re:

  Life imitates fiction...
  
  "It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'"

• On the post: Obama's Response To NSA Was To Appease The Public, Not Reduce The Spying

  

  Richard ( profile ), 11 Aug, 2013 @ 04:00pm

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

  Please explain - you make no sense...

• On the post: Obama's Response To NSA Was To Appease The Public, Not Reduce The Spying

  

  Richard ( profile ), 10 Aug, 2013 @ 05:18am

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

  The histories of previous empires have demonstrated that they cannot.
  
  I think the British Empire contradicts your assertion. Democracy in Britain certainly increased during the Imperial period (2nd half of 19th century 1st half of 20th).
  
  Of course increasing democracy certainly was a factor in the ending of the empire but your assertion that empire inevitably destroys democracy is clearly false.

• On the post: Obama's Response To NSA Was To Appease The Public, Not Reduce The Spying

  

  Richard ( profile ), 10 Aug, 2013 @ 04:15am

  Re: The misunderstanding isn't Obama's

  No president will move to reduce the power of the presidency, or of the government generally.
  
  Except Jimmy Carter - and look what happened to him!

• On the post: Obama's Response To NSA Was To Appease The Public, Not Reduce The Spying

  

  Richard ( profile ), 10 Aug, 2013 @ 03:52am

  Re: Re: Re: Re:

  the difference between us and other countries is that we are a democracy. We vote.
  
  Actually you will find that most countries are now democracies by that measure. The mechanics of democracy are a very good cover for autocracy.
  
  True democracy requires more.
  
  It requires the absence of fraud and manipulation of the electoral process.
  
  It requires an electoral system that doesn't severely limit the possible outcomes of the electoral process.
  
  It requires an electoral system that doesn't effectively disenfranchise large parts of the population.
  
  It requires communication media that can give the public a full and unbiased view of the political arena.
  
  It requires that those in power respect the rights and wishes of minorities and do not assume that 51% of the vote gives them the right to do whatever they want.
  
  The US has failed on most of those counts in recent years (as do many other countries) so calling the US a democracy in contrast to others is questionable at best.
  
  I'd place the US slightly below Russia but above Zimbabwe in the democratic league just now!

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