Skeptical Cynic 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Lies, Damn Lies And Statistics: How The BPI Cherry Picks Its Averages To Pretend File Sharers Spend Less

    Skeptical Cynic ( profile ), 11 Feb, 2013 @ 11:58am

    Mike..Love you man, but...

    "Lies, damned lies, and statistics".

    The problem is that too often people rely on information from "studies" that are interpreted and not on the actual properly formatted unbiased results. Those Studies are a case of people show the result they want.

    Not an issue with the stats more with the people's desire to find the info and actually have someone make the opinion for them.

    Too often people accept being told what they should think.

    Other than that good article.

  • On the post: Copyright Boss: 'It's Great Mechanics Now Need To Know About Copyright'

    Skeptical Cynic ( profile ), 11 Feb, 2013 @ 10:51am

    Do the car companies not know of the World Wide Web?

    Maintenance cost are a big factor for a lot of Auto review sites. It is also known as TCO. Total Cost of Ownership.

    So by doing this they are shooting themselves in the foot. People (even those with a lot of smart money) look at the true cost of owning a vehicle.

    When you force people to pay more to maintain their vehicle you make them less happy. And less likely to buy your model.

    I buy new every 3 years. And I pick my vehicles based on features and also cost. All things equalized to a low differentiation factor I will always pick the one with an overall lower cost of ownership.

    So let's go at it this way. The cost of the vehicle is 65K. During that 3 years of ownership I will spent above and beyond the loan value 6% or 9% of the purchase price to maintain it properly.

    I will always decide to buy on the TCO. Always. And anyone that likes to keep their money looks at it the same way. That 3% is not trivial. Not a huge deal but still not a amount of money I would be willing to drop on the street and forget about.

  • On the post: Three Strikes May Decrease File Sharing, But If Sales Keep Dropping, Who Cares?

    Skeptical Cynic ( profile ), 11 Feb, 2013 @ 06:35am

    Here is the next big Mega idea

    Someone is going to set up a service like On Live virtual desktop where the servers are outside the affected countries.

    You log in to your virtual desktop and then hit the torrent sites and start downloading whatever you want. Disconnect and then check back in later to see if they have finished.
    Then download those files via an encrypted connection and file sync program like what is used with Dropbox or Box.net

    Set that up, charge a reasonable fee for bandwidth used and I bet you get a million subscribers in weeks.

    Because all the files and users' account are encrypted you as the operator have no idea what the people are doing with your service. Legally you are in the clear.

    Use "international privacy laws" as the reason you keep no logs of anything that the users access and that all user data is encrypted with a password that only the user knows and that you have no way to bypass.

    Done and done.

    Now where is my business plan software and my log in info for gust.com

  • On the post: Ron Paul, UN Hater, Asks UN To Take RonPaul.com Forcefully From Ron Paul's Biggest Supporters

    Skeptical Cynic ( profile ), 11 Feb, 2013 @ 06:17am

    Guess we should all be glad he wasn't elected

    Truly boned headed move by a politician.

  • On the post: Collateral Censorship: Oxford Union Replaces Assange Speech Backdrop, Citing 'Copyright' Concerns

    Skeptical Cynic ( profile ), 04 Feb, 2013 @ 12:11pm

    Re: Re: Mike, Mike,... You are confused...

    I agree!!!

    I was just raising the stupidness of current law.

  • On the post: Collateral Censorship: Oxford Union Replaces Assange Speech Backdrop, Citing 'Copyright' Concerns

    Skeptical Cynic ( profile ), 04 Feb, 2013 @ 11:45am

    Mike, Mike,... You are confused...

    Copyright is a very complex legal and ethical line. Few people or organizations are willing to try and cross the line.

    So the case of better safe than sorry is not a bad thing...Since nothing will be gained by just agreeing or not.

    Or we could just say we try to not violate copyright but if we do you get $1. Period.

  • On the post: White House Declares It Has 'Broad Powers' When It Comes To Cyberattacks

    Skeptical Cynic ( profile ), 04 Feb, 2013 @ 11:20am

    1984

    Speech should be controlled to only allow that which has been approved.

    Newspeak is alive and defining the US news.

    Please enjoy to your satisfaction.

  • On the post: Copyright Insanity: School Policy Requires Students Hand Over Copyright On All Work

    Skeptical Cynic ( profile ), 04 Feb, 2013 @ 11:04am

    Ownership has limitations.

    All I can say is WOW.

    The words we write are owned by the organization we write them during any type of association? But yet the property (i.e. land, house, invention) we "own" is only ours by the grant of ownership (i.e. patent) provided by the government.

    This makes zero sense.

    Wow. The words we have uttered are at only the most basic (i.e. word order) creative works. Yes if someone would like to use the words in the exact placement that your did and you were the first to every say/write those words you should get at the bare minimum a nod. But what is the worth of that?

    The worth is in the idea behind the words. If I tell you that "Life is a sum of ideas and your effort to execute those ideas to fruition" I think that is creative but not worth much. Why? Because it took little effort to create.

    But if I took the time to explain what the effort might be and then give you step by step instructions then that would be worth a lot more.

    Copyright as it stands assumes a value that is not verifiable or truly substantiated.

    So lets work towards a true value.

  • On the post: Odd: Mega Removing Any File It Can Find That Is Publicly Indexed — Even Completely Legitimate Uploads

    Skeptical Cynic ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2013 @ 08:21pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: I am the anti-AC comment provider

    Ok you are right I did unfairly make a blanket statement that was not valid.

    I posted first because I had the time and also TechDirt Crystal Ball. Which AC's generally don't. I also did not say the First commenter I said the first commenter's which I agree is not a good way to word my statement.

    What I meant in my haste was that I found it funny that those that commented after me were a higher than normal percentage of people that did not post with a handle.

    So enough of the BS. Let's discuss the issue.

  • On the post: Campbell's Hack The Kitchen Shows Anyone Can Have An Innovative Idea, And Anyone Can Screw It Up

    Skeptical Cynic ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2013 @ 07:57pm

    Re: Cost$

    SS, they are not looking to hire an experienced and qualified person they are looking to get software produced for them by some inspired young coder that lives and breathes code because they enjoy it.

    And then reward them in a way they have not been rewarded before.

    If all you have ever gotten from your coding is a wow cool then $10-$25K is pretty large.

  • On the post: DailyDirt: Not-So-Gross National Products

    Skeptical Cynic ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2013 @ 07:51pm

    Re:

    They do
    they really do.

  • On the post: Odd: Mega Removing Any File It Can Find That Is Publicly Indexed — Even Completely Legitimate Uploads

    Skeptical Cynic ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2013 @ 05:47pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: I am the anti-AC comment provider

    Then you are not an AC are you now?

  • On the post: Odd: Mega Removing Any File It Can Find That Is Publicly Indexed — Even Completely Legitimate Uploads

    Skeptical Cynic ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2013 @ 04:00pm

    Re: Re: I am the anti-AC comment provider

    Yeah...Sure...That is the Reason...

    It means you just like all trolls and shills are unwilling to debate and instead prefer to just state BS as facts.

    Techdirt loves to debate and loves to present facts. AC's do not.

  • On the post: Odd: Mega Removing Any File It Can Find That Is Publicly Indexed — Even Completely Legitimate Uploads

    Skeptical Cynic ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2013 @ 03:56pm

    Re: Re: I am the anti-AC comment provider

    I am trying to say that you and all ACs are nothing more than shills for a biased and paid comment group.

    The point is that with a very vibrant community that loves to express it's opinions it is very suspicious that the top/first commenter's are ACs.

    It raises my troll meter to new high levels and makes your comments about as valid as a joke lottery ticket.

  • On the post: Odd: Mega Removing Any File It Can Find That Is Publicly Indexed — Even Completely Legitimate Uploads

    Skeptical Cynic ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2013 @ 03:24pm

    Re: Re: Re: Sad...

    You think last time was Mega's fault that people lost content? Mega is just trying to not get shut down again right out of the gate with no legal recourse and no appeal before they are shut down.

  • On the post: CEA Takes Away CNET's Role In Picking CES Best In Show; Awards Dish Hopper 'Best In Show'

    Skeptical Cynic ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2013 @ 02:53pm

    Re: CNET now has no creds at all

    CNET reviews have for over 10 years been a sponsored joke among us that know better. Sure they get it close to right every now and then, but most times they are just nodding in the direction of their biggest advertiser.

  • On the post: Odd: Mega Removing Any File It Can Find That Is Publicly Indexed — Even Completely Legitimate Uploads

    Skeptical Cynic ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2013 @ 02:45pm

    Re: Sad...

    And so companies have to act to protect themselves. Rightly or wrongly. Because the government has a lot more tax payer money to waste taking them to court than any private company has to fight.

  • On the post: Phone No One Uses Will No Longer Carry Game No One Plays

    Skeptical Cynic ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2013 @ 07:50pm

    So...

    This is posted on TechDirt for what reason?

    Am I missing some importance that is hidden in this article?

    IMHO a wasted page on TechDirt's server.

  • On the post: Obama Administration Considers Joining Publishers In Fight To Stamp Out Fair Use At Universities

    Skeptical Cynic ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2013 @ 10:01am

    Re: Re: University's are stupid

    Yeah too true. But those Student loans have to be repaid and for my second masters those costs were over $1250 just for the books. That total is after what I got for reselling the books that I did not want or could not keep.

    I think this is a golden opportunity for those Class Action Sharks to jump in and get their 97% fee but in this case is may not give any money back to those that over paid but might help those that come after.

  • On the post: Two More Politicians Claim Video Games Are The Real 'Problem'

    Skeptical Cynic ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2013 @ 09:33am

    Re: Re: Re:

    I would too just to vent some frustration!!!!

    It could be called Political Revenge.

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