ricebowl 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Ron Wyden Puts Hold On FISA Amendments Act; Wants Answers To How Many Americans Have Been Spied On

    ricebowl ( profile ), 02 Aug, 2011 @ 03:10pm

    Re: Re: ya



    It's interesting that you quote those words, but omit their opening, and to my mind far more important, sentences. Please, allow me:

    We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

  • On the post: Sony Blames Anonymous For Latest Hack…

    ricebowl ( profile ), 04 May, 2011 @ 12:46pm

    Wait, what..?

    Did Sony really just point the finger of accusation at Anonymous? With nothing more than a text file to support their accusation?

    ...I suppose after two fairly major network problems in the space of a couple of weeks, it's not like Anonymous can do them any more damage than they've already suffered, but it seems highly unwise to poke that particular hornets' nest.

  • On the post: Scribd Puts User Docs Behind A Paywall Without Them Realizing It

    ricebowl ( profile ), 20 Sep, 2010 @ 07:09pm

    A suggestion.

    I don't know of any simple solution myself, but I suspect that the folks at Super User likely would, if you ask them.

  • On the post: Open WiFi To Become A Liability In The UK Under Digital Economy Bill

    ricebowl ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2010 @ 07:20am

    Hmm, I wonder...

    I wonder who gets to make the allegations? On the assumption that networked photocopiers/laser-printers can be found infringing (Would You Believe Copyright Infringement Notices Are Based On Faulty Information?), I imagine that there is the (good) chance that an IP address in the Houses of Parliament could be found to be downloading torrents. Certainly if the French government, under Sarkozy, is anything to go by...

    Could we get the Houses of Parliament/the British Government suspended from the internet? =)

  • On the post: Imprisoned Terrorist, Carlos The Jackal, Claims Intellectual Property Over Documentary About His Life

    ricebowl ( profile ), 29 Jan, 2010 @ 10:32am

    A demand they might want to consider

    Seriously, despite the shaky legal footing on demanding they have an inherent veto/approval right over the documentary, who'd say no to the wife of a hitman, such as Carlos the Jackal?

    Personally, I'd be terrified...the producers may, of course, have security of some kind. @.@

  • On the post: Kindle Fans Punish Publisher For Delaying Ebook Releases By Giving Books One-Star Reviews

    ricebowl ( profile ), 15 Jan, 2010 @ 01:54pm

    Well, I'm sure there'll be glitch, soon, that negates or deletes the negatives...

  • On the post: UK Man Jailed For Refusing To Decrypt His Files

    ricebowl ( profile ), 02 Dec, 2009 @ 04:27am

    Re: Re:

    "you can't force defendant to provide evidence for his own prosecution."
    That's the point of this story, that here in the UK, apparently, you can. The problem is that now, if you say 'oops, I forgot the password' there's a chance you can be jailed for refusing to cooperate.

    "A suspect has been identified that has an unusual relationship with society and is in possession of various materials that he has chosen not to explain."
    He had nine nanograms of RDX on his hands, four more than the usually-dismissed/discounted by forensics, five nanograms. The other items were, according to the Register, encrypted hard drives and thumb drives. What possible danger do they represent? The fact that he remained silent under interview is typical for a schizophrenic -I'm no expert, but have worked extensively with the client group in various mental health settings.

    Nothing in the story suggests that he had any reason to volunteer information, and precious little to suggest reason to investigate. Perhaps a positive outcome is that the guy's now recieving treatment, but, under a Section of the Mental Health Act, that's not so different to forced captivity in the jail system.

  • On the post: UK Man Jailed For Refusing To Decrypt His Files

    ricebowl ( profile ), 02 Dec, 2009 @ 03:02am

    Re:

    "Oh, Britain. Can you possibly suck as a country more?"

    Every time this sort of thing happens I used to think "that's it, this is as low as we can go." And then something else happens to prove me wrong. So, sadly, I'm forced to say that yes, we probably can.

    "We can't suck anymore than a country that goes to war with no evidence"
    Well no, but that's because we also went to war with no evidence.

    "...or that cons its own people in democratic ballots,"
    My own personal view of recent democratic elections suggests that -obviously, imho- we do that too.

    "...or one that restricts the building of places of worship,"
    Well, we do have a political party that's trying to pursue the Swiss government's recent outlawing of building minarets.

    "...or one that uses it's own people as hostage to political and military advantage,"
    I have no idea what you're talking about here.

    "...or one that chooses to destroy its environment to feed its people,"
    Seriously? America might be the furthest ahead in terms of generating pollution that affects climate, but we're not, per-capita, that far behind.

    "...or one that chooses to join the nuclear arms race,"
    You're serious? You're not aware of the various nuclear subs, and nuclear missiles available to Britain's armed forces?

    "Britians not perfect - neither are many others."
    Well, no one is. But I don't think the anonymous poster was trying to suggest that America was perfect (I'm presuming, all the way through, that the anon. poster is from the US), just that we're somehow becoming a nation even less enamoured of civil liberties than we used to be.

    Virgin Media's deep-packet inspection, BT and Phorm's use of traffic analysis, various legal companies sending out pre-litigation letters offering onerous settlement terms without proof, but nevertheless claiming accuracy and certainty. RIPA being used as a tool to harass parents of school children to check they're not lying when applying to 'good' schools, tracking down dog-walkers that didn't clean up the dog's faeces (which is certainly offensive, but to use RIPA?), and, of course, our legendary cameras-per-capita surveillance system, and impending ID cards.

    You're right: Britain's definitely not perfect; but the target should be to achieve perfection, or its semblance, not to move further from it. Orwell may, or may not, be shocked at the current situation, but I know I'm disgusted by it.

  • On the post: Boston Public Transit Does It Right: Opens Scheduling Data

    ricebowl ( profile ), 20 Aug, 2009 @ 03:21am

    Surprises

    I find it disturbing just how awesome I found that to be. It should, surely, be common-practice to make it easier to use public transport? Still: kudos to the MBTA.

  • On the post: Finnish Courts: Man Who Shared 150 Albums Owes 3,000 Euros

    ricebowl ( profile ), 17 Aug, 2009 @ 02:42pm

    A little closer to rationality.

    Well, with any luck the Finnish court was willing to "ignore the potential multiplying effect of peer-to-peer file-sharing."

  • On the post: Media Analyst Calls Hulu 'Anti-American' For Providing Free Content

    ricebowl ( profile ), 15 Jun, 2009 @ 11:46pm

    It's just buggy programming...

    The 'consume for zero' error isn't her fault; it's just a faulty implementation.

  • On the post: Announcing The Free! Summit… And Some Other Speaking Gigs

    ricebowl ( profile ), 26 Feb, 2009 @ 01:38pm

    Re: Recording sessions

    Thanks for the quick reply, Natalie :) It'll be interesting for those of us unable to make the sessions to see what happened, particularly since Mike's likely (please!) to post about it afterwards.

  • On the post: Where Are The APIs For Government Data?

    ricebowl ( profile ), 11 Jun, 2008 @ 05:16am

    Re:

    Governments do have APIs for certain things, however just because you don't have access to them(and why should ordinary people be allowed) doesn't mean that they aren't there with some web2.0 website.

    Because we, the taxpayers, fund the research and data collection I strongly believe that we, the taxpayers, should get access to the data we funded. Particularly if the data's already supposed to be publicly available anyway; we're not asking for access to sensitive data, just a way to access the data, and manipulate it to a useful format.

  • On the post: Where Are The APIs For Government Data?

    ricebowl ( profile ), 10 Jun, 2008 @ 02:23am

    API?

    But how much more open could they be than allowing people to take the raw data from the unencrypted, left-in-the-open, discs?