Robin Hoover 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (228)

• On the post: How Long Until The RIAA Kills The Best Music Service Around?

  

  Robin Hoover ( profile ), 22 Jun, 2011 @ 04:09pm

  Re:

  ...as by vilifying record labels, somehow it becomes ok to rip off music...

  
  
  that's close to the very best non-sequitur i've ever been exposed to.
  
  please accept my congratulations young lady, you're future is bright.

• On the post: Will Arresting 'Anonymous' Members Help Or Hurt Anonymous?

  

  Robin Hoover ( profile ), 14 Jun, 2011 @ 02:55pm

  Re:

  like!
  
  insight is always helpful, as well as knowing i'm not the only +50'er who's fed up.

• On the post: Will Arresting 'Anonymous' Members Help Or Hurt Anonymous?

  

  Robin Hoover ( profile ), 14 Jun, 2011 @ 02:53pm

  Re: Re:

  this is relevant to my interests. continue kind sir.

• On the post: Will Arresting 'Anonymous' Members Help Or Hurt Anonymous?

  

  Robin Hoover ( profile ), 14 Jun, 2011 @ 02:47pm

  Re: Re: Traditional power structures...

  aka athenian democracy:
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athenian_democracy
  
  distributed authority and collective action can be a very powerful force and a make for a cohesive 'organization'.
  
  but then again so can the representative democracy we live with today.
  
  very interested in watching how this plays out.

• On the post: Reminder: Please Help Us Calculate The 'Cost' Of Overprotective Copyright Laws

  

  Robin Hoover ( profile ), 13 Jun, 2011 @ 05:56pm

  Re:

  poo(.90720) = 1 metric shitton

• On the post: Ron Wyden: Puts Hold On PROTECT IP, Temporarily Withdraws Amendment On The PATRIOT Act

  

  Robin Hoover ( profile ), 26 May, 2011 @ 04:39pm

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

  ...makes you a gigantic douchebag.
  
  Just like the lying, slimy coward that runs this blog, Mike Masnick.
  
  Go fuck yourself.

  
  
  imagine, right here on techdirt: pulitizer-level literature. i'm touched

• On the post: Senator Leahy Supports Bringing Drugs In From Canada… And Also Banning Such Sites From The Internet

  

  Robin Hoover ( profile ), 24 May, 2011 @ 05:51pm

  Re: realpolitik

  as a resident of the great state of vermont, i can assure you that pat is clueless. saw him in burlington recently, kinda felt sorry for him, until i remembered his authority w/in the judiciary committee puts my constitutional rights at risk.
  
  at this stage of his career, he's cashing out from any lobbyist who comes through the door.

• On the post: Harvard Business Review Explains How Big Content Is Strangling Innovation

  

  Robin Hoover ( profile ), 06 Apr, 2011 @ 02:42pm

  Re: Mash-up for Mega Profits

  "Making great content is hard.."
  
  depends on the artist, but overall agreed.
  
  .."and those who own it should be compensated."
  
  wrong, Wrong, WRONG.
  
  the marketplace
  
  will determine if
  
  said artist
  
  will be compensated,
  
  by whatever mysterious criteria the marketplace chooses to employ.
  
  the rest of post was excellent if i may take the liberty of saying.

• On the post: Copyright As Censorship: After 22 Years, Joyce Estate Finally Lets Kate Bush Use Lyrics She Wanted

  

  Robin Hoover ( profile ), 06 Apr, 2011 @ 04:57am

  Re: Star Trek

  in that same vein:
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_%28Bob_Marley_song%29
  
  one of the late reggae star's bob marley's best songs ever was someone else's speech that he simply put to music.
  
  for the copyright maximalists, here's a lawsuit ready for you to take up.

• On the post: Senator Leahy Ignores Serious First Amendment Concerns With COICA

  

  Robin Hoover ( profile ), 05 Apr, 2011 @ 01:42pm

  our shame

  on behalf of all vermonters, my apologies.
  
  did what i could by calling his office and registering my displeasure.

• On the post: The Emperor's New Paywall

  

  Robin Hoover ( profile ), 29 Mar, 2011 @ 05:25pm

  target market

  is as follows
  
  affluent,
  guilty,
  and web-challenged
  
  still fairly sizeable, perhaps even big enough to recoup the 40mil.
  
  imho, the ease the metering and walling crumbles tells me they are not betting the entire farm on this strategy.

• On the post: Android, Economic Moats, And How Zero Marginal Cost Defenses Can Also Be Great Offenses

  

  Robin Hoover ( profile ), 26 Mar, 2011 @ 04:01am

  offense

  indeed mike. fwiw, i'd go even further and suggest that android is a purely offensive strategy:
  
  eyeballs, attention and traffic is how google makes money, and they've come up with a bunch of different ways to 'buy' traffic, as it ultimately makes them money.
  
  conceptually android is no different than paying the mozilla foundation to include the google search bar in their browser.
  
  granted, it's a more incremental strategy than a search bar in a browser in the sense that there's not the almost 1 to 1 relationship, but as time goes on that's what google is left with as more avenues to their search product are created and competed over.

• On the post: Samsung Hires 'Actors' To Pretend To Be Happy Galaxy Tab Testers?

  

  Robin Hoover ( profile ), 25 Mar, 2011 @ 04:52pm

  old school

  .....why not actually trust real people to say that, rather than hiring actors?

  
  
  you know the answer to that one mike: the difference between broadcasting and communicating.
  
  the big dumb corporations know the former, and it's lack of public scrutiny, and are scared shitless of the latter

• On the post: NY Times In Denial: Only Teens & The Unemployed Will Game The Paywall

  

  Robin Hoover ( profile ), 25 Mar, 2011 @ 01:00am

  Re: Re: Re: Re:

  So in six weeks when they switch it to server-side blocking

  
  
  sure sounds big and scary, uh-oh.
  
  by definition, a "meter" counts what any given remote node is doing, and the only way to positively identify a remote node is with info dropped on it's hard drive:
  
  a cookie entitled NYT-M, containing an md5 hash entitled gwh.
  
  if this node both deletes said cookies and! doesn't run mtr.js looking for said cookies, nyt is hosed trying to track this node (aka MY fucking computer).
  
  btw, they're already making several calls to their servers when the script runs:
  
  '//meter-svc.nytimes.com/meter.js?url='
  
  'script.src = NYTD.Hosts.jsHost + '/js/gwy.js';'
  
  to both run their server side tracking suite and to instantiate the paywall gateway w/in the browser.
  
  the $40 mil probably went mostly into the database creation and mgmt needed to run this meter at the required enormous scale.

• On the post: NY Times In Denial: Only Teens & The Unemployed Will Game The Paywall

  

  Robin Hoover ( profile ), 24 Mar, 2011 @ 01:29pm

  Re: Re:

  I run NoScript on my Firefox install. This will get around the paywall. I'd hardly call myself a pirate as NoScript is to me a basic protection, little different than any of the major anti-virus software out there.

  
  
  amen.
  
  if i'm not mistaken, one needs to block nyt.js. i do this on firefox and do not see the mtr.js which i can peruse on chrome, which doesn't have the most fabulous noscript.
  
  and yes, mtr == meter.
  
  ok, i hope mike doesn't get upset, but here's the entire script:
  
  

  
  var NYTD = NYTD || {};
  
  NYTD.Meter = {};
  
  (function(){
  
  var callbackName = String(String.fromCharCode(97 + Math.round(Math.random() * 25))+(new Date()).getTime()),
  head = document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0],
  hash, cookie, timeout;
  
  function getCookie() {
  return /NYT-M=([^;&]+)/i.test(unescape(document.cookie)) ? RegExp.$1 : '';
  }
  
  function getHash() {
  return /gwh=([^&]+)/.test(unescape(window.location.search.substring(1))) ? RegExp.$1 : '';
  }
  
  function removeHash() {
  window.location.replace(window.location.href.replace(/(?|&)gwh=([^&]+)/, ''));
  }
  
  function checkMeter(url) {
  var script = document.createElement('script'),
  serviceUrl = '//meter-svc.nytimes.com/meter.js?url=' + encodeURIComponent(url || location.href) + '&referer=' + encodeURIComponent(document.referrer) + '&callback=' + callbackName;
  window[callbackName] = processMeterResponse;
  script.src = serviceUrl;
  head.appendChild(script);
  }
  
  function processMeterResponse(response) {
  if (response.counted) {
  var meta = document.createElement('meta');
  meta.name = 'WT.z_cad';
  meta.content = '1';
  head.appendChild(meta);
  }
  if (response.hitPaywall) {
  var hash = 'gwh=' + response.hash;
  var url = window.location.search ? window.location.href + '&' + hash : window.location.href + '?' + hash;
  window.location.replace(url);
  }
  }
  
  function loadGateway() {
  track();
  NYTD.Meter.gwy = true;
  var script = document.createElement('script');
  script.src = NYTD.Hosts.jsHost + '/js/gwy.js';
  head.appendChild(script);
  }
  
  function track() {
  mtr_track(
  "WT.cg_n", "Digital Subscription",
  "WT.cg_s", "",
  "WT.z_gpt", "E-Commerce",
  "WT.si_n", "Digital Subscription",
  "WT.si_x", "1",
  "WT.z_gpst", "Purchase"
  );
  }
  
  function mtr_track() {
  if ('dcsMultiTrack' in window) {
  var old_dcsid = dcsInit.dcsid
  dcsInit.dcsid = wt_dcsidArray["Digital Subscription"];
  dcsMultiTrack.apply(this, arguments);
  dcsInit.dcsid = old_dcsid;
  } else {
  setTimeout(function() {
  mtr_track.apply(this, arguments);
  }, 1000);
  }
  }
  
  hash = getHash();
  cookie = getCookie();
  
  if (!hash) {
  checkMeter();
  } else if (hash && !cookie || hash !== cookie ) {
  removeHash();
  } else if (hash && cookie && hash === cookie) {
  if (window.addEventListener) {
  window.addEventListener ("load", loadGateway,false);
  } else if (window.attachEvent) {
  window.attachEvent ("onload",loadGateway);
  } else {
  window.onload = (typeof window.onload == 'function') ?
  (function(old){ return function(){ old();loadGateway() }})(window.onload) :
  loadGateway;
  }
  }
  
  NYTD.Meter.check = checkMeter;
  
  })();
  

• On the post: NY Times In Denial: Only Teens & The Unemployed Will Game The Paywall

  

  Robin Hoover ( profile ), 24 Mar, 2011 @ 01:22pm

  Re: Re: Wow

  +1 internets to noscript

• On the post: Geohot Goes On Vacation; Sony Accuses Him Of Fleeing Legal Action

  

  Robin Hoover ( profile ), 24 Mar, 2011 @ 01:17pm

  Re:

  ...this is fairly typical lawyering.

  
  
  which explains the trade's exemplary social standing......

• On the post: Microsoft Continues Its Backdoor Legal Fight Against Android: Sues Barnes & Noble Over Nook

  

  Robin Hoover ( profile ), 22 Mar, 2011 @ 06:34am

  we can't so you can't

  Selection handles in editing electronic documents:

  
  
  what's just funny is that winmo7 can't select text, yet they're suing others that can.

• On the post: Can Senator Patrick Leahy Actually Provide The Proof That The COICA Censorship Law Is Needed?

  

  Robin Hoover ( profile ), 17 Feb, 2011 @ 04:10pm

  Re: gimme the money

  He can probably prove why he needs the law through his campaign financial statements.

  
  
  exactly! per opensecrets.org my beloved senior senator gets paid north of $350,000 per election cycle by the entertainment industry (yes i'm typing from vermont, home of great skiing and an embarrassed electorate).

• On the post: FiveFingers Blocks Right Finger — Just Asking For Middle One

  

  Robin Hoover ( profile ), 02 Feb, 2011 @ 05:24pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re:

  pressing down on the middle scroll wheel behaves as expected: new tab generated from a link.

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