Chris 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (1771)

• On the post: California Continues To Be Anti-Innovation: Tells Ridesharing Services That Carpooling Is Illegal

  

  Chris ( profile ), 15 Sep, 2014 @ 07:44am

  Re: It is not ridesharing, it is transport for hire

  When the term "FUD" was created, they had this comment in mind.

• On the post: Dept. Of Law Enforcement Investigates Notorious 'Speed Trap' Town Whose Seven Officers Wrote Up More Than 11,000 Tickets Last Year

  

  Chris ( profile ), 10 Sep, 2014 @ 07:56am

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Not the only ones

  They already do, in fact. There are laws out there to limit what the police can keep in civil forfeiture cases, as a (failed) attempt to keep police from seizing anything and everything in sight for personal gain. In practice, it becomes:
  
  "What? We aren't keeping all this loot, we're giving it all to the feds! We can't help that they donate 90% of it straight back to us, can we?"

• On the post: Huffington Post Finally Removes Most Articles About Fake Email Inventor; Meanwhile, Ayyadurai Threatens To Sue His Critics

  

  Chris ( profile ), 08 Sep, 2014 @ 07:41am

  Re: Journalism

  I'm not sure it also wasn't the past of journalism, except that now it's easier to debunk garbage like this and get the word out about it to others.
  
  I'd certainly rather us not go back to the days when a person's two sources for news were a talking head on the TV and some guy at the local newspaper. If this series had been written back then, who would have been there to correct them?

• On the post: University of Oregon Slaps Student With Five Conduct Charges Over Four Words

  

  Chris ( profile ), 28 Aug, 2014 @ 10:50am

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  So we'll agree that the problems are somewhere in the middle, then? Actually, I think that boils down to one statement that works both ways:
  
  Accusations of rape on college campuses are too often not investigated appropriately.
  
  That include rapes that actually happened but don't get investigated and false accusations that get people tossed out of school without an investigation.

• On the post: University of Oregon Slaps Student With Five Conduct Charges Over Four Words

  

  Chris ( profile ), 28 Aug, 2014 @ 09:12am

  Re: Re: Re:

  Can you show me where I said anything remotely like:
  
  * Rape on college campuses is not a major problem.
  * Victims are always taken seriously.
  * Appropriate investigations are always conducted.
  
  Pretty sure I didn't say any of those. But claiming that "rape is OK!" in college is a gross misstatement of the facts,

• On the post: University of Oregon Slaps Student With Five Conduct Charges Over Four Words

  

  Chris ( profile ), 28 Aug, 2014 @ 07:28am

  Re:

  But go ahead and rape someone in a US college, that's pretty much OK.

  Actually, you've got it backwards. Simply claiming rape is enough in most US universities to get someone expelled, no evidence required.

• On the post: Washington Law Enforcement Hides Stingray Purchase And Use From Everyone, But It's OK Because They're Fighting Crime

  

  Chris ( profile ), 28 Aug, 2014 @ 01:59pm

  Ahh, Yes

  "I’m not in law enforcement, but it’s my impression that it assists them in doing their job more effectively, and that’s to protect the public."

  He must be referring to the fourth amendment: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, unless doing do would assist police officers in doing police officery things."
  
  I think that's in the latest version of the common core curriculum.

• On the post: Health And Human Services Ex-Cybersecurity Director Convicted Of Kiddy Porn

  

  Chris ( profile ), 27 Aug, 2014 @ 08:10pm

  Re: Re: Guarding the chicken coop

  Saying you don't trust the government is to say you don't trust yourselves, which is really important here.

  You're right. I don't trust other people to govern me. Why would I?

• On the post: As Police Get More Militarized, Bill In Congress Would Make Owning Body Armor Punishable By Up To 10 Years In Prison

  

  Chris ( profile ), 27 Aug, 2014 @ 08:29am

  Re: Re: Re: Re:

  I have two data points, therefore these data points are highly correlated and I can strongly recommend sweeping societal changes.

  Yep, this is the internet all right.

• On the post: Recruiting From Competitors Isn't Sabotage: Overstating The Uber/Lyft Fight

  

  Chris ( profile ), 27 Aug, 2014 @ 09:45am

  Companies hiring away competitor's employees = Commercial Sabotage
  Companies agreeing not to hire away competitor's employees = Illegal Colluding
  
  I guess I'll file that one in the same bucket as:
  
  Sell for more than a competitor = Gouging
  Sell for less than a competitor = Dumping
  Sell for the same as a competitor = Price Fixing

• On the post: 'Anarcho-Capitalist' Stefan Molyneux, Who Doesn't Support Copyright, Abuses DMCA To Silence Critic

  

  Chris ( profile ), 22 Aug, 2014 @ 04:05pm

  Re: Re: Re: Color me surprised

  Oh, you misunderstand. I didn't know there was an actual movement.

  The modern movement of what I would consider anarcho-capitalism has probably only really become a thing in the last 50 years or so (to coincide with Rothbard's writings in the area). I'm surprised you haven't met any online, though. We tend to be the target of a lot of vitriol.

• On the post: 'Anarcho-Capitalist' Stefan Molyneux, Who Doesn't Support Copyright, Abuses DMCA To Silence Critic

  

  Chris ( profile ), 22 Aug, 2014 @ 04:00pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Color me surprised

  you can't have a functional capitalist system without regulation, because it will always devolve to monopoly.

  Funny, because I'm of the opposite opinion. You can't have a functional capitalist system with regulation, because it will always devolve to monopoly.
  
  Government interference in the market exists primarily to create monopolies and cartels. Often times, they are even explicit about that fact.

• On the post: 'Anarcho-Capitalist' Stefan Molyneux, Who Doesn't Support Copyright, Abuses DMCA To Silence Critic

  

  Chris ( profile ), 22 Aug, 2014 @ 11:12am

  Re:

  He paints himself as some great philosopher, but he's such a lightweight sophist sometimes that I'm surprised so many people are so enamored with him. Every once in a while he says something that gives me a "Woah, I never thought about it like that" moment, but you have to sort through so much dreck that it's barely worth it.

• On the post: 'Anarcho-Capitalist' Stefan Molyneux, Who Doesn't Support Copyright, Abuses DMCA To Silence Critic

  

  Chris ( profile ), 22 Aug, 2014 @ 11:08am

  Re: Color me surprised

  Given the male-to-female ratio in the anarcho-capitalist movement, the idea of someone professing to be one in order to "get laid" is highly amusing to me. If professing extreme libertarian beliefs has ever dropped panties in the history of the world, I'm completely unaware of it. Perhaps you're thinking of anarcho-communism? :P

• On the post: 'Anarcho-Capitalist' Stefan Molyneux, Who Doesn't Support Copyright, Abuses DMCA To Silence Critic

  

  Chris ( profile ), 22 Aug, 2014 @ 11:04am

  Re: Re: Re: Color me surprised

  Anarcho-capitalism and Obectivism are two completely different things, Objectivists are minarchists (meaning they believe in small government) whereas anarchists don't believe in any government at all (by definition). To say that anarchists believe "you can have all the government you want" is incorrect, as is the assumption that we are all closet randroids.

• On the post: 'Anarcho-Capitalist' Stefan Molyneux, Who Doesn't Support Copyright, Abuses DMCA To Silence Critic

  

  Chris ( profile ), 22 Aug, 2014 @ 11:00am

  Re:

  Ayn Rand was not an anarchist, and anarcho-capitalists generally have a lot of problems with her philosophy.

• On the post: How That Monkey Selfie Reveals The Dangerous Belief That Every Bit Of Culture Must Be 'Owned'

  

  Chris ( profile ), 07 Aug, 2014 @ 12:41pm

  Re: Track Record

  . . . so are you planning on making an actual argument at some point, or just flinging poo?

• On the post: Ebola Cure Not Fully Developed Because Big Pharma Not Interested In Saving Lives Of Poor People In Africa

  

  Chris ( profile ), 07 Aug, 2014 @ 12:34pm

  Re: A perfect example

  Of course, the role of the government in making it too expensive to conduct drug trials on all but the most potentially lucrative drugs must be completely ignored to arrive at this conclusion.
  
  "It'll cost you a billion dollars to get a drug past the FDA."
  "Well, I guess I'll stop research any drug unlikely to make at least a billion dollars, then."
  "DAMN YOU FREE MARKET!!!!1"

• On the post: Court Rules Against EFF In DOJ FOIA Lawsuit… But Mainly Because ODNI Already Declassified Most Of It

  

  Chris ( profile ), 22 Jul, 2014 @ 06:08am

  Re: Hmmm

  The EFF went to court to get ODNI to stop redacting things that shouldn't have been redacted. The court made ODNI do so.
  
  Seems like a clear win for the EFF to me.

• On the post: Internet Industry Hate Taken To Insane Levels: Ridiculous Proposals To 'Nationalize' Successful Internet Companies

  

  Chris ( profile ), 22 Jul, 2014 @ 10:48am

  Same As it Always Was

  The cry of all governments and their sycophants since the beginning of recorded history:
  
  1. You have something.
  2. Give it to me or else.

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