Tanner Andrews 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (1401)

• On the post: EU To Open New Silicon Valley Office To Figure Out Better And Better Ways To Destroy The Internet

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 08 Aug, 2022 @ 06:46am

  Electrons Know No National Boundaries

  The EU market is more or less exactly the same size as the US and US companies like money,

  Thanks to the nature of the internet, web services are pretty much available wherever the internet reaches. There are exceptions, such as Red China with its ``great firewall'', and potential exceptions, where EU countries could erect something similar, but in general there is no need to have a physical presence across the pond for your web site to be accessible across the pond.

• On the post: Study Says Trump’s Truth Social Is Much More Aggressive, And Much More Arbitrary, In Moderating Content

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 08 Aug, 2022 @ 12:38am

  another term for them

  magats

• On the post: Virginia Politicians Are Suing Books They Don’t Like

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 04 Aug, 2022 @ 05:07am

  Not Quite Right

  The law only pertains to public schools and does not prohibit parents from deciding what a child may read. The material is available in the public marketplace.

  The plaintiffs intend that sales of the books should be restricted in the public marketplace. Either they must be removed, or they must be put in a special segregated section where minors are not allowed to shop.

• On the post: Irrational Fear Of Undocumented Immigrants May Have Contributed To Botched Response To Uvalde School Shooting

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 04 Aug, 2022 @ 04:07am

  plausible substitute

  I’m not complaining.

  You are ever furnishing a pretty darn good imitation, then.

• On the post: Hackers Already Prepared To Screw Up BMW’s Subscription Heated Seat Model

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 04 Aug, 2022 @ 12:25am

  another possible explanation

  pretty sure their turn signals have been on a similar model

  Not so sure about that. I think that turn signals are illegal in NJ, and the vendor may simply be assuring compliance.

• On the post: Supreme Court Asked To Deny Qualified Immunity To County Engineer Who Decided Entrapment Was The Best Use Of Taxpayer Money

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 04 Aug, 2022 @ 12:05am

  Bald Assertion

  become a single-party state first

  Not sure why you would need a single party state to become a corrupt and oppressive dictatorship. Explanation might have been appropriate. That said, we have pretty effectively achieved one-party control in Florida.

  • executive, gov & lt giv
  • legislature, house & senate
  • specialty, state AG & CFO
  • supreme court

  As well, judges on intermediate appellate courts are all appointed by the governor, and many trial judges as well. There is an oddity, about to be flipped, in that the Ag Commissioner is not of the approved party. This will change based on the upcoming November election. Actual selection during party primary in August. Based on what I have seen, the one-party system works about as well as you would expect if you have paid attention to other one-party states. For instance, that one about 90 miles S of KW.

• On the post: Michigan Supreme Court Says Photographing, Fingerprinting People Without Probable Cause Is Unconstitutional

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 03 Aug, 2022 @ 11:51pm

  Your Papers, Please

  The motto of police states everywhere: ``Your papers, please.'' Endorsed by the U.S. Supreme Court, Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court, 452 U.S. 177 (2004).

• On the post: University Of Chicago Researchers Think They’ve Built A Better Pre-Crime Mousetrap

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 02 Aug, 2022 @ 05:40am

  So, How Come Is It

  Not sure why technology moves backward, but the old site allowed you to flag spammy comments without needing javascript (firefox 78.4.0esr, linux 5.4.72-gentoo). New site does not. Are the folks at the new site unable to find the code from the old site so as to accomplish the same things we were doing years ago?

• On the post: University Of Chicago Researchers Think They’ve Built A Better Pre-Crime Mousetrap

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 02 Aug, 2022 @ 05:35am

  incomplete diagnosis

  The problem is not police but police protectionism.

  Yeah, police protectionism goes with police. It is generally spelled ``Fraternal Order of Police'', but sometimes the union has a different name. Almost always, though, it is to the same effect: they never saw a beating or killing by police where they would not defend the officer.

• On the post: Trump Says It’s Defamation To Call His Lying About The Results Of The 2020 Election ‘The Big Lie’

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 01 Aug, 2022 @ 05:13am

  inappropriate burden shift

  statements of fact are actually defensible as the truth (in the UK, at least)

  Yes, though sometimes the UK judges even require good motive. That used to be the law here in the States as well. Beauharnais v. Illinois, 343 U.S. 250,254 (1952). Fortunately we have finally realized that the burden ought to be on the plaintiff. If he is to show that he is defamed, he needs to prove up

  • untruthful statement of fact
  • of or concerning the plaintiff
  • publication
  • causing injury

  The burden is properly on the plaintiff to prove up all the elements of his case. This was not always held to be the case here, but at least since Hepps v. Phila Newspapers, 475 U.S. 767,769 (1986), it has been considered the rule. From this, we see that if "liar" is the defamation, then he needs to prove that he is an honest person. If "big lie" is defamation, he needs to prove that the election was stolen, a task which seemed impossible in some sixty-odd attempts during late 2020. James M. Trusty of Ifrah Law, PLLC appears to have beclowned himself by being counsel for Mr. Trump and sending out a particularly long and misguided letter for that client. Fortunately,not my file, so I need not send a reply explaining that there is quite a lot of sand in Florida, and what his client might do with some of it.

• On the post: Trump Says It’s Defamation To Call His Lying About The Results Of The 2020 Election ‘The Big Lie’

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 01 Aug, 2022 @ 04:46am

  start at the beginning. continue to the end. then stop.

  “liar” seems like the better starting point.

  Yes, and based on the popular vote the last two times he ran, ``loser'' seems like the appropriate ending point.

• On the post: One Way To Lose Judicial Immunity: Perform Impromptu Warrantless Searches Of People’s Houses

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 23 Jul, 2022 @ 12:45am

  over-reaching

  breaking and entering and theft

  As to the B&E, I doubt it. There is nothing in there suggesting breaking and entering. Rather, it appears that the owner was compelled to admit the judge into the house after the judge threatened arrest for contempt if she was not admitted. Theft, yeah, that is pretty obvious. Taking personal property with the intent to deprive its owner of its use and value is obvious on the face of it. This is illegal in many jurisdictions, a rule dating back to antiquity and once codified as ``Thou shalt not steal''.

• On the post: Ring: Cops Can Still Obtain Recordings Without Warrants Or User Consent

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 20 Jul, 2022 @ 06:24am

  sounds like

  The story sounds similar to Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186 (1986), though it is a nosy cop breaking in rather than a nosy neighbor. Not sure what led the nosy cop to break in, so there may be a backstory to make this the same case. Note that Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003) overturned Bowers based on a right of privacy, which has recently been held not to exist. Those of you doing HCAN in the home should be very circumspect about it.

• On the post: Florida Judge Dissolves Injunction Blocking Paper From Publishing Names Of Officers Who Killed A Man

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 20 Jul, 2022 @ 05:03am

  Hard to Imagine How Marsy's Law is Constitutional

  The selling point was to protect crime victims from harassment or other consequences attendent to the reporting. Sounds almost plausible, I suppose, though in the newspaper column I expressed some skepticism back in 2018 when it was on the ballot. Criminal charges generally require the state to prove up some facts. They are expected to show that the defendant did or refrained from doing certain things to or for the victim. The defendant may want to show that the state's claims are prime porkies, perhaps by showing distance from victim or compliance with required performance. If the victim's identity is concealed, then the state has an unfair advantage. You cannot prove that the victim never suffered an injury, if you cannot first identify the victim. So much for due process, it is now more a matter of hide-the-ball. The idea that a state actor can be a victim entitled to privacy is ludicrous in the first place. But it is part and parcel of Florida protection of the powerful. Want to know if the city manager owns property and lives in the city? Good luck with that, it is confidential. Same for finding out who the cops are that host noisy parties. It certainly makes chains of title more difficult to determine.

• On the post: Paperwork Suggests Donald Trump Has Left The Board Of His ‘Tech’ Company; But Truth Social Says He’s Still There

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 20 Jul, 2022 @ 04:12am

  UK Alt Facts

  [UK] tend not to have a high per capita population of birthers or alt-facters

  Boris Johnson had so many alt facts that he had to abolish the tradition of resigning when caught lying to parliament. Perhaps the strange resemblance to the U.S. cheeto-faced ferret-wearing shitgibbon was more than skin-deep.

• On the post: DC AG Sues Grubhub For Sneaky Fees, Screwing Over Local Restaurants

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 14 Jul, 2022 @ 05:27am

  second step

  while the US custom of adding “sales tax” to the advertised price became a first step for scammers

  The second step is the “enhanced amenity fee” at some shopping areas, such as One Daytona. I understand that there is some small print on the doors to warn the marks, but the chances of the marks actually seeing it seem small. Everything you buy there is supposed to cost an extra 1%, which goes to the owners of the complex. Just in case the tens of millions in tax subsidies were not enough.

• On the post: How Not Overly Enforcing Its IP, Universal Made The Minions Ubiquitous And Beloved

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 14 Jul, 2022 @ 04:45am

  Enforcement May Be Selective

  It is relatively easy to paint a yellow capsule on a wall. Several, even. Yeah, you need a little talent for painting, but your physical requirements are not great. The problem is that it is much more difficult to stamp out plastic toy minions, if you do not have an appropriate factory. So when kids, encouraged by the ``free'' murals, want the toys. the parents will wind up going to vendors who stamp out licensed goods. A smarter mouse would have probably operated on the same theory: easy to paint grey circles on a wall, difficult to stamp out branded goods.

• On the post: Sixth Circuit Says All Animals Are Equal, But Cop Animals Are More Equal Than Others

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 14 Jul, 2022 @ 04:35am

  Hard to Criticize

  Viewing the facts

  • pit bull
  • reaches through fence
  • to bite other dog
  • will not let go even for owner
  • attempting to tear off part of other dog

  I have to say that, in the cop's position, I would have done the same thing to protect my dog. This is not a bad cop shooting a pet. This is a good dog owner protecting against an obvious and extreme hazard. Distinguish cops killing pets without real provocation. This is not such a case.

• On the post: Copyright Is Bananas: Case Over Copyright Of A Banana Taped To A Wall Allowed To Move Forward

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 14 Jul, 2022 @ 04:15am

  evils of metric system

  don’t we have soda bottles in liters?

  Yes, and that was generally harmless. It does not entirely displace 12-oz cans, or 16-oz bottles, though the glass bottles are fairly rare now. On the other hand, we also got metric liquor. A fifth shrank to 3/4 liter, but the price was unchanged. Half-gallons shrank to 1 3/4 liter. Pints and half-pints also shrank, with no corresponding price reduction to the consumer. Other people have observed the difficulties of working on cars where many of the nuts and bolts are odd metric sizes rather than standard SAE sizes. I cannot dispute their objections. Metric sizes also show up on bicycles, for no good reason. Many years ago, I had an office in the Carolinas and I occasionally made calls around the two states. I remember that about half-way back through SC, there was a metric speed limit sign on I-95. It was hard to be sure, because it had served the appropriate metric purpose of being used for target shooting. It seemed as though there was as much bullet hole as there was sign. I wonder if we might put whoever decided to break ``preview'' (firefox, linux, no javascript) out there next to those lonely metric signs along I-95, assuming the signs are still there.

• On the post: Twitter Sues Indian Government Over Orders To Block Content

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 13 Jul, 2022 @ 01:46am

  Time to Flee

  There are some environments which are so toxic that it is unsafe to operate there. I would have a hard time believing that India, with its present dictator in charge, is not such an environment. Having people there means having people exposed to the whims of an unstable despot. Twitter's money may also be exposed to government rapacity. The main benefit of having offices in India is that it saves on postage when paying Indian taxes. The internet crosses borders. Indians could tweet just as well if the Twitter offices were in Pakistan, or in San Francisco for that matter.

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