sysadmn 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (27) comment rss

  • On the post: Luxpro Sues Apple As Elaborate Lawsuit-Based Publicity Strategy Continues

    sysadmn ( profile ), 05 Jan, 2007 @ 12:04pm

    Yabbut

    misanthropic humanist -
    you left a name off the list -
    Henry Ford.

    A Michigan man who envisioned making automobiles for all Americans created one of the great American industrial success stories with assembly lines and workers' incentives.
    http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/theymadeamerica/whomade/ford_hi.html
    If the look and feel of the Apple device doesn't add value, why doesn't the imitator just change the design?

  • On the post: Once, Twice, Three Times A Loser… Wait, Make That Four

    sysadmn ( profile ), 13 Dec, 2006 @ 01:44pm

    Some companies learn

    I work for a corporation even larger than Boeing. In the last two months, we've received 3 emails restating company policy about data protection. Even better, since we're a multinational, even US personnel data will be protected at the (higher) level required by the EU. Best - every laptop in the business will have an encrypted hard drive (SAFEBOOT) by mid-2007. Sound like a long time, until you realize there are tens of thousands in our division alone.

  • On the post: Tracfone: Without The DMCA, We're Nothing

    sysadmn ( profile ), 04 Dec, 2006 @ 12:52pm

    Contractually?

    Not sure how Tracfone would enforce the limits contractually. When does acceptance of the contract take place? On purchase? On first use? If I never activate the phone, have I accepted a contract? This could be the first real test for "shrink wrap contracts" on hardware. I suspect they'll try all three approaches: overturn the DCMA exemption, set up a legal barrier via a "contract", and simultaneously asking vendors for phones that can't be unlocked.

  • On the post: Newspaper Pretends It Can Block Fair Use And Threaten Those Who Say It Can't

    sysadmn ( profile ), 24 Oct, 2006 @ 02:29pm

    Cheap barriers

    It appears she is a nutcase. However, as the old saying goes "A $5 sign is cheaper than a $500 lawyer." If the bogus notice keeps one person from copying, is it worth it even if the rest of us point and laugh?

  • On the post: Why Do DMCA Supporters Want To Rewrite Ed Felten's History So Badly?

    sysadmn ( profile ), 23 Jun, 2006 @ 06:54am

    Treaties? We doan need no steenkin treaties

    Isn't it funny that we can't change the DCMA, since it would violate international treaties, but we can freely ignore treaties we don't like? Perhaps someone should explain the terms "abrogation" and "non-signatory nations" to the RIAA.

  • On the post: Free Shipping Worth More Than A Bigger Discount

    sysadmn ( profile ), 21 Apr, 2006 @ 05:20am

    Amazon...

    Actually, the other brilliant thing Amazon did was invent a tier of shipping BELOW "standard". By holding an order 1-2 days, then using the usual 1-3 day shippers, they can charge MORE for shipping in 1-3 days! Suddenly, other vendors "standard" 1-3 day shipping becomes Amazon's "express" shipping. And the free shipping on orders over $25 doesn't apply to "partner" purchases - which is becoming more and more of the non-books & music on the site.

  • On the post: Jail Time For The World's Worst Price Fixers

    sysadmn ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2006 @ 10:32am

    No Subject Given

    Actually, they aren't the world's worst price fixers. They were selling below cost to kill Rambus' competing product.

    The case stems from a decade-long fight about who controlled the memory industry: Intel and IP company Rambus, or the largely Asian cartel. It's a fight which has also pitted two US regulatory agencies, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice, against each other.
    The conspiracy has already seen executives from Infineon serve jail time. Samsung, Hynix and Infineon have each agreed to pay fines totaling $645m in what the DoJ describes as "one of the largest cartels ever discovered".
    The memory cartel forced PC manufacturers to raise prices or cut the amount of DRAM installed in a system. The DRAM vendors maintain that they were losing money during this period hand over fist, and that memory was being sold close to, or below, the cost of production.
    The Asian memory suppliers had balked at the terms set by Intel and Rambus in attempting to move the industry to its favored high bandwidth memory technology RDRAM.

    http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2006/01/31/dram_conspiracy/