sorrykb 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Twitter Sues Homeland Security Over Attempt To Unmask 'Alt' Immigration Twitter Account

    sorrykb ( profile ), 06 Apr, 2017 @ 02:01pm

    I foresee another great court victory for the Trump Administration here. It'll be terrific, tremendous, believe me.

  • On the post: Garage Door Opener Company Bricks Customer Hardware After Negative Review

    sorrykb ( profile ), 05 Apr, 2017 @ 09:51am

    Re:

    (Which is not to say that the combination of abysmal customer service and poor communication skills is unique to startups, but with most companies -- outside the cable/mobile phone/ISP realm -- it's not yet standard.)

  • On the post: Garage Door Opener Company Bricks Customer Hardware After Negative Review

    sorrykb ( profile ), 05 Apr, 2017 @ 09:48am

    Internet of Shit meets Startup Culture (Who needs customer service people, or a communications team? They'd just get in the way.), with sadly predictable results.

  • On the post: Privacy And National Security Concerns Play Second Fiddle To Administration's Attempts To Control The Narrative

    sorrykb ( profile ), 03 Apr, 2017 @ 09:44am

    Re: Re:

    There's no reason the Trump Administration can't be both incompetent and evil. In fact all evidence points to that.

  • On the post: Congress Leaks Draft Bill To Move Copyright Office Out Of The Library Of Congress

    sorrykb ( profile ), 23 Mar, 2017 @ 04:47pm

    Re: Re: Despairing point of view

    Just contact my rep's office. (She's generally very good, and I'm guessing she'll be on the right side of this, but it can't hurt to give positive reinforcement, especially since she's on the House Judiciary Committee.)

  • On the post: Should You Have Any 4th Amendment Rights In An Airport?

    sorrykb ( profile ), 23 Mar, 2017 @ 08:43am

    Re:

    So when the courts wouldn't allow terrorists from coming in, that was good as they are always right, but when courts want to search an iPhone, that is bad and they are always wrong?
    That's the thing, though. It wasn't a court that authorized the search. Had border agents actually gotten the courts involved by seeking a warrant as required by the 4th Amendment, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

  • On the post: University Puts 20,000 Lectures Behind A Registration Wall In Response To DOJ Pressure On Website Accessibility Compliance

    sorrykb ( profile ), 23 Mar, 2017 @ 11:46am

    No one's going out of their way to cut the deaf or blind out of the international conversation, but demanding all US sites be compliant with the DOJ's requirements is like demanding all books be made available in Braille and audio format. It's something only a few publishers can afford to do.

    You (the general you) don't have to go out of your way to cut deaf or blind people out of the conversation. You just have to keep on doing what you always have, and the conversation will forever be exclusionary.

    It's worth noting that just about every gain in access for people with disabilities in education, public businesses, accommodation, etc (including those we all now take for granted) came about not because the free market saw a need and met it, but because lawsuits or other concerted (and usually adversarial) action made it happen.

    Applying accessibility requirements to all sites may be overkill, but a state university -- a public institution -- should be held to the highest standard. I'd argue that this is an endeavor that merits additional (and specifically designated) federal funding. Make it a "space race", but to incentivize development of non-proprietary technology to make video -- and the Web in general -- more accessible.

  • On the post: Homeland Security Starts Banning Laptops & Tablets On Planes From The Middle East

    sorrykb ( profile ), 21 Mar, 2017 @ 01:07pm

    Re: Unintended consequences

    What if this is all a trick by Big In-Flight Movie to force us to pay for their crap?

  • On the post: Things Looking Even Worse For Prenda's Paul Hansmeier: Bankruptcy Fraud On Deck

    sorrykb ( profile ), 21 Mar, 2017 @ 09:52am

    Re:

    In fairness to Hansmeier, $180,000 in cash hidden under his bed is not a problem. $180,000 in cash found under his bed is.

  • On the post: Things Looking Even Worse For Prenda's Paul Hansmeier: Bankruptcy Fraud On Deck

    sorrykb ( profile ), 21 Mar, 2017 @ 09:46am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Learning to Love Copyright

    Sarcasm is dead.
    Long live sarcasm.

  • On the post: Homeland Security Starts Banning Laptops & Tablets On Planes From The Middle East

    sorrykb ( profile ), 21 Mar, 2017 @ 12:53pm

    Unintended consequences

    (assuming the threat is real)

    Thanks to the vagueness of the threat claim, we now have a very public massively-crowdsourced effort to figure out how laptops and Kindles could be dangerous in a cabin but not in a hold, while phones would be fine either way.

    Along the way someone will figure it out, then find a way to make phones equally as dangerous, at which point say goodbye to all electronics in-flight.

    We'd be forced to go back to paper and pencil. But pencils are very pointy, so we'd probably have to stick to crayons. But crayons could contain all sorts of scary ingredients, so we could only bring on-board TSA-approved crayons purchased post-security. Or possibly only in-flight, just to be safe.

    Upon reflection, I've changed my mind. These don't sound like unintended consequences after all.

  • On the post: Homeland Security Starts Banning Laptops & Tablets On Planes From The Middle East

    sorrykb ( profile ), 21 Mar, 2017 @ 10:58am

    Another possible explanation is that this is about economic protectionism rather than actual protection against terrorism. ...

    Or maybe this is just one more cynical ploy to hurt travelers from Muslim-majority countries.

  • On the post: Phone Searches Now Default Mode At The Border; More Searches Last Month Than In All Of 2015

    sorrykb ( profile ), 14 Mar, 2017 @ 02:27pm

    Re: Re: Green card

    But if I wipe my phone they wouldn't get to see my Contacts list:
    1. AAA
    2. ACLU
    ...
    :-)

  • On the post: Phone Searches Now Default Mode At The Border; More Searches Last Month Than In All Of 2015

    sorrykb ( profile ), 14 Mar, 2017 @ 02:25pm

    Re: Green card

    I suppose the better thing for me to do would be to wipe my phone but still refuse to give the password if asked.

  • On the post: Phone Searches Now Default Mode At The Border; More Searches Last Month Than In All Of 2015

    sorrykb ( profile ), 14 Mar, 2017 @ 02:22pm

    Re:

    I have no family and I'm independently wealthy. I'll make it my mission in life to fuck with the authorities. If they grab me at the border, watch for me.
    If you're independently wealthy and would like to help other people who aren't, you could file suit (but while at the border/around CBP, act in a way that makes your suit more likely to succeed). Or you could just fuck with the authorities. But that doesn't help anyone else who isn't wealthy, who might be subject to violence based on their background, who has family, or who is otherwise vulnerable.

  • On the post: Phone Searches Now Default Mode At The Border; More Searches Last Month Than In All Of 2015

    sorrykb ( profile ), 14 Mar, 2017 @ 12:05pm

    Re: Re: Wiping phone

    I'll be traveling internationally next month. I don't plan to wipe my phone or use a disposable phone. (My phone doesn't have anything especially sensitive on it. And I'll be logging out of all apps etc.)

    I also have no plans to surrender my password to CBP. (Easy for me to say now, I know. I hope I'd manage to commit to that when confronted with the possibility of my phone being seized and me being detained for a day or two.)

    But then I have the privilege of knowing that I'm unlikely to be targeted by CBP in the first place, not because of any special virtue I have, but simply because of my name and my appearance. Others aren't so fortunate.

  • On the post: Phone Searches Now Default Mode At The Border; More Searches Last Month Than In All Of 2015

    sorrykb ( profile ), 14 Mar, 2017 @ 11:55am

    Re: Wiping phone

    If you're a U.S. citizen? The answer appears to be officially, legally, probably, no. Maybe. Unless CBP feels like it.

    https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-future/can-border-agents-search-your-electronic-devices-its-complicated

    We can hope that maybe someone who is not in a vulnerable position (wrt citizenship, employment, family, finances, or anything else) is able/willing to challenge this in court.

    But we know (1) the people most likely to be targeted for abuse are the people worst equipped to fight back and (2) there's no guarantee a court challenge would prevail.

    This is all such bullshit.

  • On the post: EFF: Data Collected From Utility Smart Meters Should Be Protected By The Fourth Amendment

    sorrykb ( profile ), 03 Mar, 2017 @ 09:37am

    Re: Re: Re:

    My take on global warming? Yeah, it is happening. Yeah, humans sped it up. So what? It was going to warm sooner or later, and then it will cool.
    From The Copenhagen Diagnosis:
    While global warming can be stopped, it cannot easily be reversed due to the long lifetime of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (Solomon et al. 2009; Eby et al. 2009). Even a thousand years after reaching a zero-emission society, temperatures will remain elevated, likely cooling down by only a few tenths of a degree below their peak values.
    AC also wrote:
    From the US point of view, if we can't stop it (which I don't think we can no matter what we do) why hurt ourselves before the pain needs to be felt?
    Because while we can't stop global warming entirely, we still have time to mitigate it. Because global warming will exacerbate international and regional conflict. Because the U.S. economy is connected with the rest of the world, and isolationism would have catastrophic consequences. Because the U.S. is in fact already being directly affected by global warming. And finally... Because we shouldn't be selfish assholes.

  • On the post: EFF: Data Collected From Utility Smart Meters Should Be Protected By The Fourth Amendment

    sorrykb ( profile ), 03 Mar, 2017 @ 09:03am

    Re: Re: Re:

    How about when you admit that you don't have the evidence to show that the very real climate change is being even significantly contributed to by us?
    We do have the evidence to show that. That you believe otherwise does not change this fact.

  • On the post: New DOJ Boss Says He Hasn't Read DOJ Investigations Into Abusive Policing, Calls Them 'Anecdotal'

    sorrykb ( profile ), 28 Feb, 2017 @ 02:12pm

    Re:

    Assuming the Republicans don't succeed in doing even more damage to voting rights.

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