Tanner Andrews 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (1412)

• On the post: AI Slop Startup To Flood The Internet With Thousands Of AI Slop Podcasts, Calls Critics Of AI Slop ‘Luddites’

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 24 Sep, 2025 @ 07:23am

  tool maker

  ChatGPT gets licensing fees for the song I got it to help me write. Currently, I’m the sole copyright holder.

  Right now, the Gentoo folks do not get licensing fees for the columns I use it to help me to write. I am the sole copyright holder, though the newspaper is obviously a licensee.

• On the post: Gavin Newsom Signs Law Enforcement Face Mask Ban And Everyone Gets Stupid About It, Including Federal Prosecutors

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 24 Sep, 2025 @ 01:29am

  don't bet on it

  people will have a name and a face to hold you accountable for said wrongdoing.

  Maybe they havea face, if there is good enough video recording. A name is very unlikely. They do not seem to bother with visible name tags or even visible badges. Rather, they are visibly indistinguishable from the goons robbing old ladies in alleys. Also, the Federal government is treating release of agent names as tantamont to domestic terrorism.

• On the post: The Washington Post Fires Its Last Black Opinion Columnist For Directly Quoting A Bigot

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 22 Sep, 2025 @ 04:44am

  technology marches forward, or maybe not

  It’s the joy of techdirt’s (now hardly new) transition to “a better platform”.

  It has been a while, preview and flag still do not work without javascript. They worked on the old platform.

• On the post: Somebody’s Lying: Susan Monarez’s Congressional Testimony Is 180 Degrees From RFK Jr.’s

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 19 Sep, 2025 @ 01:00am

  not rare

  Contempt of Congress

  Should be viewed not so much as a possible crime, but as a standard American pastime.

• On the post: World’s Sorest Winner: Trump Demands $15 Billion From NY Times For Not Fluffing His Ego Enough

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 19 Sep, 2025 @ 12:55am

  an unusual situation

  Normally someine is the president's position would pause litigation while he is in office, or otherwise would be immune to discovery. That is, as defendant, he would say that the country required him to focus his attention on his duties. That may work when he is a defendant. He can use the office as a shield. Not saying it is fair or just, but there you are. You can sue him, but you must wait up to 4 years to proceed toward relief. Here, he is plaintiff. If some defendant answers (asserting 12(b)(6) [Fla 1.140(b)] type defenses and others), then he proceeds to discovery. Each defendant who does that may be entitled to a deposition in which he can ask about the specific false statements, and the specific damages, and how the false statements led to the damage. Other topics may also come up. He brought the suit. It is hard to see a court being sympathetic to a plainmtiff who is too busy to participate in his own case.

• On the post: Flock Safety Claims It Can Rid The US Of Crime, Even As Cities Rid Themselves Of Flock

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 17 Sep, 2025 @ 06:51pm

  been there, done that

  You guys are so lawyer brained

  In some cases, that is our job.

• On the post: SCOTUS Says ICE Can Use The Family Guy Skin Color Chart For Arrests (But Won’t Explain Why)

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 14 Sep, 2025 @ 04:32am

  there is no new thing under the sun

  The Constitution may say “the people,” but the Supreme Court has decided some people are more equal than others—and they don’t even have to explain why.

  Actually, the U.S. Constitution as originally enacted provided that some were more equal than others. Generally speaking, white land-owning males counted, others (women, Indians, Negroes) were discounted or ignored.

• On the post: Some Federal Judges Appear Done With SCOTUS’s Shadow Docket Bullshit

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 05 Sep, 2025 @ 01:41am

  the rules are different here

  even experienced federal judges don’t know the rules

  I think the rules have been explained adequately. It is a modified Calvin-ball, and the rules are 1. There are no fixed rules 2. This administration always wins. There, I hope this helps.

• On the post: Disney, ESPN Sue Sling TV For The Crime Of Streaming TV Pricing Innovation

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 04 Sep, 2025 @ 04:00am

  motion to dismiss

  While Disney may or may not be legally correct (the exact terms of these agreements aren’t made public)

  Normally if you are suing on a contract, you attach the contract or at least the relevant portions to your complaint. If you do not do that, your complaint does not state a claim upon which relief may be had.

• On the post: Kristi Noem Lies, Says National Guard Deployments To ‘Blue’ Cities Aren’t Politically Motivated

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 04 Sep, 2025 @ 03:56am

  they are not alone

  It’s a party of liars, cowards, bullies, and please-tread-on-me masochists. What this party lacks completely is integrity or credibility.

  The problem is that right now there is no credible opposition party.

• On the post: From Book Bans To Internet Bans: Wyoming Lets Parents Control The Whole State’s Access To The Internet

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 29 Aug, 2025 @ 01:41am

  could run into some push-back

  Imagine a Wyomingite stumbling across an NSFW subreddit or a Tumblr fanfic blog and deciding it violates the law.

  I am also able to imagine a Wyoming resident typing something into Google that produced results that might be considered improper. For instance, a kid might ask for the definition of "sodomy" and Google might respond. Or he might ask some questions about parts of the bible, including descriptions of some people's occupations. Google has lots of money, and presumably that gives access to lots of lawyers. If some of them are willing to go to Wyoming to appear pro hac vice, they could provide some resistance. There are not a lot of private citizens who want to take that on. Yet it is also possible that someone could do a set-up, bringing a claim against Google and then taking the fall to establish precedent. That would require a lot fewer lawyers to travel to Wyoming, and might well lead to the effective death of the law.

• On the post: With Intel, Trump Continues His Race To Violate Every Clause In The Constitution By Now Arriving At The Takings Clause

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 29 Aug, 2025 @ 01:20am

  update

  President Harry Truman seized the entire U.S. steel industry in 1952 ….

  Found improper, Youngstown Sheet & Tube v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579 (02-Jun-1952).

• On the post: OK Superintendent Plans To Give Transplant Teachers From NY, CA Woke Tests Developed By Prager U

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 23 Aug, 2025 @ 12:09pm

  not the best neighborhood

  Stephen T. Stone has the best test. [...]

  I hope he is paying rent for the space he occupies in your brain. Not that it is the high rent district, but still.

• On the post: Federal Judge Delivers Judicial Smackdown To FTC’s Politically Motivated Attack On Media Matters

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 20 Aug, 2025 @ 01:09am

  already have something similar

  sit down for an hour with every lawsuit, give it the 1000ft sniff test

  Normally we call that a ``motion to dismiss''. The test is whether the allegations of the complaint, taken as true, state a winnable claim. If not, dismiss. Possibly give a chance to amend if it is missing some facts. If the facts show a non-viable claim then there is no need to allow amendment. This is a cheap motion that happens at the beginning of the investigation, even before the defendant needs to investigate anything.

• On the post: Elon Says Teslas Drive Themselves. The Crash Data Tesla Tried To Hide From A Court Says Otherwise

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 07 Aug, 2025 @ 06:46am

  partly there

  The way to handle this is the same way that airliner data is handled: an onboard, highly tamper-resistant black box

  Evidently this is already mostrly in place. The problem is that the Tesla ``black box'' sends the data to the Tesla server -- then deletes it. A legitimate ``black box'' would not delete the data. This does not seem like a difficult change to what is already there.

• On the post: Nestle Petitions To Cancel ‘Seattle Strong’ Coffee Trademark, Arguing It Owns Seattle

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 23 Jul, 2025 @ 03:37am

  good outcome

  Ideally, the name ``Seattle's Best Coffee'' would be found to be improviodently registered, and ordered stricken. Since someone appears likely to litigate anyway, maybe there would not be too much extra cost to accomplish this. It sounds both descriptive and puffy. It is as though I described a product as DeLand's Best Beer. Might be, but I ought not be able to trademark that, even if my product stood head and shoulders above the other brewers' products.

• On the post: DOGE Cuts Turned A Predicted Disaster Into A Deadly Reality In Texas

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 15 Jul, 2025 @ 11:19pm

  thoughts and prayers

  response is thoughts and prayers

  At this point, they should be praying, offering up contrition for their bad act and omissionns such as eliminating the person in charge of coordinating disaster warnings and failing to install tornado sirens.

• On the post: DOGE Cuts Turned A Predicted Disaster Into A Deadly Reality In Texas

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 15 Jul, 2025 @ 11:13pm

  some effect

  cuts probably had little impact in this event

  Not sure I can agree. Sacking the guy whose job it was to coordinate weather warnings might have had some effect on the distribution of weather warnings.\

• On the post: UnitedHealth’s Response To People Cheering Their CEO’s Murder: Silence The Critics

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 15 Jul, 2025 @ 10:39pm

  not a good look for UH

  glorifying actual real world physical not-imaginary-or-hypothetical violence

  Note that the ``real world physical'' is not implicated in the videos subject of the story. Instead, UH is trying to squish criticism.

• On the post: SCOTUS Porn Ruling A Boon For Age Verification Companies; 40% Of Americans Now Live Under Anti-Porn Age-Gating Laws

  

  Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 09 Jul, 2025 @ 12:55am

  anticipatory compliance

  If a web site isn’t in the United States American law has no juruadiction

  So one might think. However, according to the reports, at least the Pornhub family of web sites are complying despite being Canadian.

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