streetlight 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: How The Olympics Bullshit Ban On Tweeting About The Olympics Is Harming Olympic Athletes

    streetlight ( profile ), 02 Aug, 2016 @ 10:10am

    And what about other sports?

    There are always some kind of announcements about a traditional professional American sport broadcast noting that the descriptions are copyrighted. Not sure whether the game itself is copyrighted. That's the sport involving attempts by participants using a wooden device of cylindrical symmetry to strike a spherical object thrown by an opposing participant in order to propel the spherical object away from defensive participants.

  • On the post: Dentist Sues Another Unhappy Patient; Offers To Let Journalist See Patients' Private Files To Dispute Claims

    streetlight ( profile ), 28 Jul, 2016 @ 02:47pm

    Re: He offered BuzzFeed News the opportuinty...

    The OP doesn't specify which records he was willing to share whether they were HIPAA protected or appointment records. We also don't know from the report here how four other law suits the dentist brought against patients turned out. I think we need more information.

    Maybe off topic, but it does seem the dentist didn't find out the cause of the patient's pain because he didn't do much and asked her to go another dentist. A dentist should be able to diagnose the cause of tooth or jaw pain and either make the repair or recommend a specialist such as an endodontist for a root canal.

  • On the post: CenturyLink Claims Broadband Caps Improve The 'Internet Experience' And Empower Consumers

    streetlight ( profile ), 22 Jul, 2016 @ 09:59am

    Re: NotBroadbandAtAll

    7Mbps!! That incredibly fast for Century Link. I know folks who can only get 0.75 Mbps from Century Link. For some reason their parents about a mile away get 0.00 Mbps because there's no possibility of connection.

  • On the post: Netflix Tries To Blame Press Coverage Of Its Price Hikes For Lower Than Expected Subscriber Additions

    streetlight ( profile ), 19 Jul, 2016 @ 01:23pm

    Re: They have to say something to investors

    I just looked up Netflix's stock price today (7/19/2013) and it closed at $85.76, down 13.22% per share. The stock pays no dividend so it's an equity play - buy the stock and increase one's wealth from the increase in the stock price. From the investor point of view, maintaining a constant or declining stock price does nothing without a dividend because you can make more money in a bank savings account. When Netflix becomes a mature company (and it may be there now) maintaining a fixed or very slowly increasing, and not a volatile, share price, it must pay a dividend like other mature companies. For example, Microsoft pays a dividend of $1.44 per annum on a stock costing about $53 or 2.7%. Netflix must improve its product to maintain its user numbers else it won't be able to pay a dividend and be a good investment.

  • On the post: Netflix Tries To Blame Press Coverage Of Its Price Hikes For Lower Than Expected Subscriber Additions

    streetlight ( profile ), 19 Jul, 2016 @ 12:39pm

    Re: Original content is king

    Um..., well HBO now has boxing which seems to have replaced the Wimbledon tennis tournament as its preferred sporting event. Boxing??? It's original content to me is zero stars quality when there is no such thing as a zero star movie.

  • On the post: Netflix Tries To Blame Press Coverage Of Its Price Hikes For Lower Than Expected Subscriber Additions

    streetlight ( profile ), 19 Jul, 2016 @ 11:41am

    Has Netflix reached a saturation point?

    If everyone who wants Netflix has it than there will be little or no growth. Though the price increase from $9 to $10 is 11%, in absolute terms it is small. In the US those that can afford High Speed Internet to deliver Netflix can surely afford $1 per month extra. My problem with streaming Netflix is the quality and small available content along with the churn in that content. When 90% of everything produced since the advent of talkies is available to stream, Streaming Netflix will get a customer.

  • On the post: Verizon Tries To 'Debunk' News Reports Pointing Out Its New Wireless Plans Stink

    streetlight ( profile ), 13 Jul, 2016 @ 10:30am

    A better measure of price per Gigabyte

    It seems to me the cost per Gigabyte should be the amount one pays for data during the billing period divided by the number of Gigabytes used. If you have a 5 Gigabyte/(billing period) plan costing $17.50 per GB, your data bill is $87.50. But if you only use 3.5 GB, your cost per Gigabyte is $25.00.

    I'm using Google's Project Fi and I pay $10 per GB of cell data and if I use less than any multiple of a GB I get reimbursed for the unused cell data on my next bill at $0.01 per Mega Byte. There are cheaper plans than Fi if more than 2.5 GB use per month through other MVNOs, but for low cell data users, Project Fi might be a good choice.

  • On the post: FBI: Clinton 'Should Have Known' Private Email Server 'No Way To Handle Classified Info', But No Charges Will Be Sought

    streetlight ( profile ), 05 Jul, 2016 @ 03:10pm

    Did any classified get our?

    I'm not sure any classified information was released to anyone that shouldn't have access to such. In addition, Mrs. Clinton's server may have been far more secure that that of the State Department. It's certainly true that the information expected to be on the State Department's serves would be of great interest to many including various nations. Snowden types inside State didn't have access to her server so that avenue of insecurity didn't exist. If State's servers are as porous as a colander then it might have been a wise move to use a private email server.

  • On the post: Think Tank: The Library Of Congress Has Too Many Librarians, So We Should Reject New Nominee To Run It

    streetlight ( profile ), 01 Jul, 2016 @ 09:31am

    Must be a slow news day.

    NT

  • On the post: Guy In Australia Pleads Guilty To Criminal Trolling On Facebook, Faces 3 Years In Jail

    streetlight ( profile ), 22 Jun, 2016 @ 10:47am

    Did he threaten to do violance?

    There are some limits to free speech, even in the US. I haven't gone to the trouble of looking up any of Alchin's texts but if he threatened to do harm to his correspondents than that could very well be a criminal offense even in the US.

  • On the post: Appeals Court Trashes Prenda's Appeal, Affirms Sanctions

    streetlight ( profile ), 10 Jun, 2016 @ 03:10pm

    Re: Re: The Prenda Principal

    The Prenda Principal

    Let's call it The Prenda Steele Hansmeier Duffy Principle or PSHD Priciple. Sorta' like a new scientific law. Or maybe a disease.

  • On the post: New York Times Says Fair Use Of 300 Words Will Run You About $1800

    streetlight ( profile ), 10 Jun, 2016 @ 10:37am

    Re: So then..

    So then..

    Just about what I was going to say. Print a quote in a book review or some other publication, $6.00 per word. Same for oral statements. Politicians may be able to fund an election campaign from the money obtained from the NYT.

  • On the post: New York Times Says Fair Use Of 300 Words Will Run You About $1800

    streetlight ( profile ), 10 Jun, 2016 @ 10:30am

    Re: So then..

    Just what I was going to say. Quote a passage from a book in a book review or other publication - $6.00 per word. And politicians might be able to fund their campaign for election from proceeds from the NYT.

  • On the post: Homeland Security Has Not Sent Us A Subpoena

    streetlight ( profile ), 19 May, 2016 @ 12:06pm

    Would this be the canary?

    Right now Mike has clearly said Techdirt has not received a warrant. What if he said, "We can't say whether we've received a warrant" be the appropriate canary? Isn't language fun.

  • On the post: Cable Company CEO Calls TV Business A 'Tragedy Of The Commons' That Ends Badly

    streetlight ( profile ), 18 May, 2016 @ 07:34pm

    Re: Sound more like the tragedy of the market

    Also, like sports broadcast networks (ESPN) that pay big bucks to sports leagues (NFL, NBA) for broadcast rights, then increasing subscriber fees to cable companies to cover these costs, resulting in cable companies increasing fees while people drop the more expensive packages containing sports networks producing major layoffs of sports broadcast personalities. Not sure this is a tragedy of the commons but it could be the tragedy of expensive cable programming and sports broadcast celebrities going away.

  • On the post: David Patraeus, Who Leaked Classified Info To His Mistress, Says Snowden Should Be Prosecuted

    streetlight ( profile ), 09 May, 2016 @ 02:16pm

    Did any of Hillary's emails get out?

    Her server might have been more secure than that of the State Department's. Not sure, though. Also, not sure whether Patraeus's secrets to his mistress went beyond her. The military has pretty severe penalties when officers are involved in illicit sexual affairs, particularly if married at the time. A double whammy in his case.

  • On the post: Michigan Politicians Want People Who Hack Cars To Spend The Rest Of Their Lives In Prison

    streetlight ( profile ), 04 May, 2016 @ 11:06am

    Are these guys from Flint?

    Maybe they've been drinking too much water from the Flint, MI, water system.

  • On the post: Thank Snowden, As NSA Estimates He Singlehandedly Sped Up Encryption Adoption By 7 Years

    streetlight ( profile ), 27 Apr, 2016 @ 10:40am

    Another thing improved encryption technology

    IIRC, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) was found to have purposely compromised encryption technology by producing a poor random number generator used in some encryption products. Once that was corrected I'm guessing various commercial encryption methods improved immensely.

    Perhaps a bit off topic but the push by some government three letter agency leaders and politicians for back doors to encryption probably won't stop the use of secure encryption. Should this be required and implemented then immediately cracked it would be interesting to see the response of those pushing this when their most private correspondence is published including financial records, hotel bills, notes to girlfriends or boyfriends, etc.

  • On the post: Menace To Tax Dodgers David Cameron Has His Own Tax Dodging Exposed By The Panama Leaks

    streetlight ( profile ), 11 Apr, 2016 @ 01:32pm

    When the anit-privacy hawks have their data revealed...

    It'll be interesting how the anti-privacy hawks will feel if they get their way regarding the installation of back doors in hardware and software and their most private and secret information is made available for all to read. For sure as soon as the back doors are installed they will be hacked and there will be no data privacy for anyone unless stored completely off the Internet. Then again, there may be some advantages. Government may become very transparent!

  • On the post: Chase Freezes Guy's Bank Account For Paying His Dogwalker For Walking Dash The Dog

    streetlight ( profile ), 01 Apr, 2016 @ 05:29pm

    Out for shopping today passed sign: ISS

    There's a pretty big building that I passed that houses ISS. Hmm... I wondered if they needed to change their name. I think it stands for Intelligent Software Solutions. And then there's the International Space Station, and there's a company that makes fluorescence equipment. And there are Chase bank branches all over town and I wonder if ISS employees have problems with their banking there. Oh, hum...

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