Tanner Andrews 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Impossibility Of Content Moderation: Scientist Debunking Vaccine Myths Gets A YouTube Strike For Medical Misinfo

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 11 Sep, 2021 @ 05:46am

    Time to Stop Paying Extra Taxes

    going to get worse and worse as various laws around the world demand that "bad" information be removed quickly

    Only if one maintains offices in those places around the world. Generally the US is relatively safe for most of this stuff.

    If the video sharing service closes offices in India, it is no longer within the reach of Indian laws, even if it no longer has the opportunity to pay taxes to New Dehli. I suppose they could mail a check. Likewise for Brazil, Russia, Red China, Australia, and so many others of which we have read here in Techdirt.

    Note that some services cannot be safely had from US vendors. For instance DNS service ought to be purchased abroad, lest the US govt decide to seize or transfer your domain for saying disapproved things.

  • On the post: Damned If You Do; Damned If You Don't: ProPublica's Bizarre Reporting On WhatsApp Abuse Reports

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 11 Sep, 2021 @ 05:38am

    Reporting can be criticism as well if it's not objectively neutral

    Even if it is objectively neutral, it can constitute criticism. Simply setting forth the numbers on my property tax notices is criticism of our profligate officials.

  • On the post: New Texas Abortion Law Likely To Unleash A Torrent Of Lawsuits Against Online Education, Advocacy And Other Speech

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 10 Sep, 2021 @ 08:09pm

    Re: Somebody is going to test this

    hoping to get sued and then take the case to court
    They could be clever, and have a tame plaintiff sue them. They defend on the ground that the statute is unconstitutional, tame plaintiff confesses error, and there is case law against the viability of the statute.

  • On the post: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Announces On Twitter The Livestreaming On Facebook Of His Signing Of A Bill That Removes 1st Amendment Rights For Both

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 10 Sep, 2021 @ 07:58pm

    Re: Re:

    "American" as in "Confederate States of America"
    Not really. What was an amendment in the U.S. Constitution was actually embedded in the Confederate Constitution: freedom of speech was deemed a core value. Sure, these core values were mainly for white property owning males. I believe that, while there may be very fine people on both sides'', the general intent is to foster white supremacy andaryan'' purity. Obviously non-whites ought not vote; we see that being worked on in several states in the name of election security.

  • On the post: Ten Seconds Of Doing Nothing Is Reasonably Suspicious, Says The Fifth Circuit Appeals Court

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 10 Sep, 2021 @ 06:57pm

    Re: Re:

    can you not sue the judge for aiding and abetting criminal acts by agents of the state
    You cannot successfully sue for anything done in their judicial capacities. They have absolute, as opposed to qualified, immunity.

  • On the post: Miami Beach PD Blocks Enforcement Of New Law Miami Beach Cops Abused To Arrest People For Filming Them

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 04 Sep, 2021 @ 12:00pm

    Re: [cause of problem]

    The law didn’t cause the problem. The extreme overreaction by the officers did.
    The law was an essential element of the problem. Cops could not arrest for violation of the law were the law not in place. And with qualified immunity, the failure of the actual fact pattern to conform with the law is unlikely to produce consequences for the cops. Again, remember, this is Dade we are talking about.

  • On the post: Miami Beach PD Blocks Enforcement Of New Law Miami Beach Cops Abused To Arrest People For Filming Them

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 04 Sep, 2021 @ 11:53am

    Re: The law isn't magic, it didn't make them act like that

    the corrupt cops and giving them a swift boot out the door,
    Using the term corrupt'' as I suspect you are, to identify cops who are unwilling to follow the law or the Constitution, the suggestion of giving them aswift boot'' may leave the police station empty. Well, there may be a secretary or two, but generally no cops. Remember, this is Dade we are talking about.

  • On the post: The Challenge In Content Moderation And Politics: How Do You Deal With Bad Faith Actors?

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 04 Sep, 2021 @ 02:03am

    Re: rules lawyering

    The same is often done in contracts. You leave certain things flexible in order to

    1. not have to argue over them now
    2. hope to never have to deal with them
    3. ultimately find a reasonable interpretation if it becomes necessary.

  • On the post: Reverse Warrants Show Feds Sought Data On Thousands Of Police Brutality Protesters In Kenosha, Wisconsin

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 03 Sep, 2021 @ 06:12am

    Re:

    I think I explained once already:

    What Google is getting is what we used to call a general warrant: give us info on everyone whose phone was in the area, whether or not they were actually in position to commit the act under investigation. That is not readily distinguished from the old general warrant to search everyone who passes by such a location.

  • On the post: eBay's FOSTA-Inspired Ban On 'Adult Content' Is Erasing LGBTQ History

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 03 Sep, 2021 @ 05:43am

    Re: Re: Fighitng the ideals.

    only hope on that front is that Japan tells them to piss off
    Probably not the same Japan famous for pixellating the naughty bits even in porn.

  • On the post: eBay's FOSTA-Inspired Ban On 'Adult Content' Is Erasing LGBTQ History

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 03 Sep, 2021 @ 05:39am

    Re: Re: Re:

    people with stripes ARE pretty uncommon
    Not necessarily. It depends on the dungeons you frequent. However, according to the article, on E-Bay you will no longer be able to buy and sell pictures of them.

  • On the post: Where Texas' Social Media Law & Abortion Law Collide: Facebook Must Keep Up AND Take Down Info On Abortion

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 03 Sep, 2021 @ 06:35am

    An Interesting Potential Issue

    It appears that the State wants to officially stay out of the litigation, going so far as to only give standing to non-state employees. So, let us consider the possibilities.

    Big Tex does something to fund an abortion, perhaps it is enough that buys a girl a train ticket over to a different state. Surely it would be enough to at least let someone consider suit.

    Little Tex, a friend of Big Tex, sues. Big Tex defends on the ground that the statute is unconstitutional. Little Tex tells the court that, upon reflection, Big Tex appears correct, and they provide an agreed judgment to that effect, which the court accepts.

    In such a case, the law appears unconstitutional. If Big and Little were imaginative, they might manage to get the case positioned so that it goes up on appeal, agree there, and have an appellate ruling to the desired effect.

  • On the post: Ninth Circuit: Sorry, But We Have No Way To Hold Border Patrol Agents Accountable For Killing People In Mexico

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 02 Sep, 2021 @ 03:32pm

    Re: Re:

    So putting ten rounds in a 15-year-old who is throwing rocks at you is fine?
    Well, yes, that is what the US 9th Circuit is saying. It comes with some empty language deploring such things, but the actual decision is that this is fine. Also, it does not matter if the ``throwing rocks'' part is a post-hoc fabrication.

  • On the post: Nintendo Shuts Down Another 'Smash' Tournament Due To Mod Use, With No Piracy As A Concern

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 02 Sep, 2021 @ 08:27am

    Re:

    Yes, Nintendo has the legal right to do this
    It would be interesting to see some authority or explanation for this claim. Right now, it strikes me as being much along the lines of a book vendor telling me that I cannot have the radio playing music while I read.

  • On the post: Texas Legislature Says You Can't Teach About Racism In Schools, But Social Media Sites Must Host Holocaust Denialism

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 02 Sep, 2021 @ 05:48am

    Re: Re:

    in short “Notify the user who provided the content of the removal and explain the reason the content was removed” occur because rules aren't enforced evenly.
    They are not enforced evenly in my living room, either. In my living room (or on my web site), I get to make the decisions. They are probably not the same decisions Parler or Stormfront would make. If you want decisions compatible with Parler or Stormfront, then go to their living rooms.

  • On the post: Texas Legislature Says You Can't Teach About Racism In Schools, But Social Media Sites Must Host Holocaust Denialism

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 02 Sep, 2021 @ 05:18am

    Re: Re: Nope

    A social media site with millions of users is not "your lawn" and you will never realistically own one
    I also am unlikely to own the lawn of the Stetson mansion. That does not mean that the owner is under some special obligation to allow me to stand on his lawn and shout offensive propaganda.

  • On the post: Texas Legislature Says You Can't Teach About Racism In Schools, But Social Media Sites Must Host Holocaust Denialism

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 02 Sep, 2021 @ 05:04am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Save It For The Water Cooler

    Many school boards are extensions of county authority, not state.
    That sounds so very strange that I should like to hear of the state where this is the case. Certainly in Florida, which is the one with which I am most familiar, the school boards are creatures of the state, provided for in the state constitution, and having taxing authority independent of the counties. I have seen similar in several other states, and none where the counties have authority over the schools. In some cases the school board and county will agree to use the same district lines, but that is a choice the entities make at their option. As creatures of the state, rather than of the county, school boards in Florida have certain inherent powers and duties. DeSantis, though a goof, may find it difficult to overcome the constitutional autonomy of school boards in order to dictate local mask policy.

  • On the post: Nintendo Shuts Down Another 'Smash' Tournament Due To Mod Use, With No Piracy As A Concern

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 02 Sep, 2021 @ 08:25am

    Why it wants to go to war with its own fans and customers in this way, meanwhile, has been an open question for years.

    It is quite likely that Nintendo's fans and customers are masochists. They enjoy such treatment, and demonstrate it with further purchases.

  • On the post: Sidney Powell, Lin Wood, And A Bunch Of Other Trump-Loving Lawyers Hit With Sanctions In Michigan

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 01 Sep, 2021 @ 12:43am

    Someone Might Actually Pay

    These attorneys will now be paying the legal fees and costs incurred by the multiple Michigan government entities that were forced to defend themselves from this baseless lawsuit.

    The interesting thing is that all the attorneys are on the hook here. From pg 109 of the order:
    IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiffs’ attorneys shall jointly and severally pay the fees and costs incurred by the State Defendants and the City of Detroit to defend this action.
    So, until someone actually pays, they all have judgments against them. That has consequences, assuming always that the defendants properly record the judgment for fees.

  • On the post: Copyright Scammers Getting More Sophisticated, Just As The US Is About To Make It Easier For Them

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 30 Aug, 2021 @ 05:10am

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    I understand the King James version to be a derivative work, largely consisting of translated Greek (New Testament) and Hebrew (Old Testament) writings. So any copyright claimed by the crown might be subject to prior claims.

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