SickFRS’s Techdirt Profile

On the post: Post Merger-Failure, Comcast Still Dedicated To Treating Customers Like Shit

SickFRS ( profile ), 18 Jun, 2015 @ 07:45am

Re:

@DanC I think they intended it to be descriptive... but really they should have say Floridian...

On the post: An Innocent Pressure Cooker Pays The Price In The War On Terror

SickFRS ( profile ), 28 May, 2015 @ 10:20am

Re: Not an overreaction...

Seriously? What property did you just describe does not apply to every device that can be made? Let's call this pressure cooker a cardboard box... or let's call it flower vase... or a jack in the box. The bottom line is that a visual inspection of an ordinary item does not indicate nefarious activity. A pressure cooker in a car in plain sight deserves no action, let alone an overreaction. By this type of logic let's hope that terrorists don't start using cars in general to blow things up... oh wait.. yeah, that already happens.. I suppose they should just blow up every unattended vehicle in the mall parking lot.. after all that trunk might be totally loaded with you know a pressurized spare tire that could explode any moment.

On the post: No One Can Bait A Cop Into Doing Something He Didn't Already Want To Do, So Let's Stop Worrying About Activist Recorders

SickFRS ( profile ), 08 May, 2015 @ 05:38am

Bad press.

No one takes a video of paint drying if it dries as they expect it to... but if it bursts into fire while drying then someones going to post that on youtube. It's not a cop thing, it's a behavior thing. The "people of walmart" isn't a video about normal people buying asprin and shoes... why are we surprised that cops bad behavior is more prevalent online that their "good" behavior? After all, the baseline is the good stuff.

On the post: Another Company Thinks The Best Way To Handle A Security Hole Is To Send A Lawyer After The Person Who Discovered It

SickFRS ( profile ), 07 May, 2015 @ 11:51am

Does he forget?

That covert access is far more effective than cutting off the lock or chopping down the door?

On the post: Encryption: What The FBI Wants It Can Only Have By Destroying Computing And Censoring The Internet

SickFRS ( profile ), 06 May, 2015 @ 10:15am

Still misses the point..but just barely this time.

When encryption requires a back door, criminals will use tools that don't comply with the law. Period. Encryption isn't encryption when someone else can easily get into it without your key. PERIOD. So force google to create a backdoor, force them to remove secured apps... but what happens when the bad guys write their own and side-load it? Who controls that?!? No one. And guess what: Data is strongly encrypted and the law can do nothing about it except give them yet another item in a long list of charges to bring against a target.

On the post: Cybersecurity Official Believes Encryption Can Be Backdoored Safely; Can't Think Of Single Expert Who Agrees With Him

SickFRS ( profile ), 23 Apr, 2015 @ 08:52am

Once again...

...ahem.

Back door encryption programs will not be used by smart people who wish to hide data. This will form an underground and/or overseas market for encryption applications that can be downloaded to/from anywhere and that's what they "bad guys" will use. The government will have keys to every front door of every person who is either not trying to hide from the government or too stupid to use the underground tools.

So while they can open your phone at anytime, the national security threat will still force them to jump through the same hoops as now.

On the post: New Jersey Cop Demands Camera From Eyewitness After Police Dog Allowed To Maul Prone Suspect

SickFRS ( profile ), 23 Apr, 2015 @ 05:20am

A mistake

Officers don't lie. They don't abuse. It must be some techno-mumbo-jumbo to make it look this. CGI, man. Wanna buy a bridge?

On the post: White House Floats Idea Of Crypto Backdoor… If The Key Is Broken Into Multiple Pieces

SickFRS ( profile ), 13 Apr, 2015 @ 10:59am

It's the landlord with key issue

When I rented my home the landlord gave me a set of keys. He kept one. Shortly after moving in I went out and bought new locks and replaced them myself... which I will gladly give him the keys to when I move out. He has no key to my doors. Period.

So, when the government requires front door keys why won't the guys they are REALLY worried about just use a different lock? The US laws won't apply EXCEPT for import restrictions... and why is the bad guy going to care that he downloaded a torrent file that has an import restriction when whatever he's hiding behind the encryption is far more nefarious that some stupid government law about which software he's "allowed" to use in the US?

The answer: He doesn't give a crap... and guess what... the gov has no front door, back door or anything else regardless of what law they pass.

See, the gov has this fantasy that that criminals follow laws. If he's hiding something in encryption which is illegal why would he care if his encryption software was legal?

So does this help catch terrorists or pedophiles like they claim it will? No. Those people, or at least those with an IQ over 80 will still be using stuff without giving the landlord a key. Everyone else is either stupid or not hiding something they feel the government wants to see.. Say a man hiding pics from his wife of his new girlfriend...

Totally pointless idea that just needs to die now.

On the post: One ISP's Prices Are So Bad, It Refuses To Tell Anyone What They Are

SickFRS ( profile ), 09 Apr, 2015 @ 10:41am

Poor pricing?

Recently my ISP showed up the competitor in the area... The competitor offered 15MBit in (and like 1MBit out) service for about 60 bucks (pre-tax/fee price) a month. I was paying 90 (pre-tax/fee price and not including my cost for dedicated ip) for 75MBit in (and 10Mbit out). The competitor dropped their pricing and upped their speed. You can now get 25MBit in and 2MBit out for 45 bucks. My provider promptly responded with a notice about my service. Effective immediately my rate would be raised to 110MBit in and 15MBit out... at no additional charge. Now that's how you compete. To compare apples to apples, comparable speeds are offered at 25/4MBit and costs just 30 bucks. I can't imagine anyone's shopping the competitor when they have any choice.

On the post: District Court Says You Can (Probably) Photograph Police, But Only With A Regular Camera, Not A Drone

SickFRS ( profile ), 08 Apr, 2015 @ 10:33am

Re:

Once again, we have to make people violators of things that haven't happened yet. His drone DIDN'T crash so the what-if scenario is invalid. WHAT IF a car passing in another lane swerved into a police officer? So is it illegal now to drive by an accident?

On the post: This Week In Techdirt History: March 29th – April 4th

SickFRS ( profile ), 06 Apr, 2015 @ 05:58am

:)

But those dual full-height floppies though.

On the post: Police Chief Unable To Simply Do Nothing Over Reported Teen Sexting, Brings Child Porn Charges Against Four Minors

SickFRS ( profile ), 02 Apr, 2015 @ 09:24am

Ugh

This is like a cop pointing a gun, yelling "stop or I'll shoot", at a man standing on a ledge threatening to commit suicide.

On the post: President Obama Signs Executive Order Saying That Now He's Going To Be Really Mad If He Catches Someone Cyberattacking Us

SickFRS ( profile ), 01 Apr, 2015 @ 11:59am

Dumb dumb DUMB!

I have a small, still under construction website. Almost from day one my logs have been continuously splashed with hack attempts... this is a daily occurrence, 100s of hits per day. The IP's trace back to a few places but China is a huge part of it. All of them "testing" my security by trying to access various known exploits of products such as wordpress (which isn't even installed on my server) or submitting too much data to see if they can cause some sort of overrun. My site on my server is a nowhere kind of site with very little exposure and certainly no kinds of major publicity or usage. I get less than a handfull of real "impressions" per day... yet, here I am under full onslaught to try and break my security. I have to think that if me, a nobody in the internet world, is getting hammered then every other nobody and even more sites who are somebody are getting hammered just as hard and harder. One might consider this "engaging in significant malicious cyber-enabled activities" don't you think? Tens of thousands of nobodies multiplied by this effort.

On the post: Comcast, CenturyLink Give New Home Owner Kafka-esque Introduction To U.S. Broadband Market

SickFRS ( profile ), 01 Apr, 2015 @ 09:08am

Been there, done that.

Been in a similar boat. Had a telecommute job. Decided to rent a place and with only 1 broadband provider in the whole area (at a whopping 1.5mbit speed for $70) I called them prior to signing any paperwork. The ASSURED me that service was available to my home. I made them double-check even and informed them that this house is 1800 feet from the main road. They went as far as telling me the previous tenant had service at that address. I signed my lease and moved it. Ordered up the service. Tech came out and had to call me since he couldn't find my house... once he found me, he told me there were no lines closer than the 1800 feet... he ordered up a "site inspection" which took 3 weeks to see about running a line and the verdict was: "$3000 to run the line" all payable by ME... and no I could not hire my own contractor to do so.

On the post: Canada Forces A La Carte Rules On Cable Industry, Bell Pouts By Refusing To Show Regulator On Television

SickFRS ( profile ), 30 Mar, 2015 @ 07:55am

Al-a-carte packages?

I've always been a fan of, but I'm not sure this is speaking directly of, a system that a fee would get you X channels for X dollars. Are they saying that I can pay $25 and pick 20 channels of my choosing? Or are they saying I can pay $25 bucks for a small package and then add-on individual ones for a fee. What kills al-a-carte in the us is that the individual pricing is ridiculous. 5 channels individually cost as much as a whole package that includes those 5 channels + 30 more. It's a built in deterrent. I'd probably resubscribe to television if I could pick 100% of my channels for the package price.

On the post: No, You Can't Sue Grindr Because It Hooked You Up With A 13-Year-Old For Sex

SickFRS ( profile ), 19 Mar, 2015 @ 11:03am

Re: ok, but...

Depends on your location really. North Carolina, USA, age of consent: 16. If she/he lies and underage. No excuse. South Carolina, USA, age of consent: 16. If she/he lies and underage, it's valid defense if you can prove it.

On the post: Cable Proudly Declares Smart Shoppers A 'Lower Quality' Of Customer They Have No Interest In

SickFRS ( profile ), 11 Mar, 2015 @ 10:32am

I have exactly ONE choice of broadband. Starting 5 years ago @ 75MB in/8MB out. It cost me then $79 + $20 for a static IP address... so $99 before taxes. I do not recall my after tax rate. Today I have the same provider, I now get 110MB in/15MB out and my cost is $111 AFTER taxes. When I did live in an area where I had two choices, I could pay my 100 bucks for this type of service of I could pay 60 bucks at the competitor for 15MB in/1.5MB out and no static IP address. Higher speeds from the competition was considered business class and started at $160 for 25MB in/5MB out. Currently during prime hours I can pull 104+MB... on the competition during prime hours I could pull 1.5MB if I was lucky.

Where is the competition? I feel my current rate is fair but it leads to two types of customers. One who knows/cares and is willing to pay and one who doesn't know/care and chooses by price.

What's my point? I have none. I'm just tired of monopolies.

On the post: Green Bubbles: How Apple Quietly Gets iPhone Users To Hate Android Users

SickFRS ( profile ), 12 Feb, 2015 @ 10:28am

I just want to start texting iphone users just so i can piss them off.. making note that it's not ME who's making it green, it is, after all, Apple who chose to display it that way.

On the post: Police Union: You Can Have Safe Neighborhoods Or Be Free Of Flashbang-Burned Toddlers, But Not Both

SickFRS ( profile ), 30 Jan, 2015 @ 10:22am

What the law doesn't understand is that most people want what the quote so directly outlines: "I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery"

On the post: What Billions In Subsidies Bought: The Final Map Of Verizon's FiOS Fiber

SickFRS ( profile ), 30 Jan, 2015 @ 10:18am

I live in an area that offers Fios. It's a joke. The Verizon CO building was 1/2 mile from my apartment. Guess what? No Fios. I've lived in 3 locations in various areas all with fios "availability" but none of them have fios. I can't name a single person who has said "I have fios".

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