Tanner Andrews 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: White House Potentially Exploring Executive Order On 'Social Media Bias'

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 26 Sep, 2018 @ 01:39am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    American Family Association v. San Francisco. City officials found to have violated the First Amendment for merely complaining about an advertisement they disliked, pressuring TV and radio stations not to carry it.
    Actually, in that case, the trial court found no claim. Taking the AFA allegations that the city cmoplained about adverts as true, the trial court dismissed and was affirmed. The city did condemn the ads and the rhetoric therein, and it was at least plausibly argued that the TV stations responded to that condemnation. This was insufficient to state a claim. The other cases mentioned included some sort of official sanction; even in Bantam Books, the letters were followed up with police visits. The dissent ignored this difference, but the majority of the panel found that without some sort of coersion there was no claim. Government is free to complain, indeed, nearly all politicians have opinions. The difference between AFA v. San Francisco and your other cases was that there was no threat, criminal or regulatory, stated or implied. In the other cases there was threat of government coersion.

  • On the post: White House Potentially Exploring Executive Order On 'Social Media Bias'

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 17 Sep, 2018 @ 12:49am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Shocked

    privately owned phone company and Postal Service can choose not to allow communication over its medium
    Not quite. While the postal service is a creature of Congress, it generally acts as a common carrier. The phone company, railroad, and such like are actual common carriers. In return for certain privileges which may give them effective monopolies, they agree to carry all traffic presented, subject to capacity, at published rates. They cannot turn away farmer Smith's phone calls, or his corn, because they do not like his views.

  • On the post: Another Batch Of FISA Court Docs Confirms The NSA Frequently Abuses Its Collection Powers

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 16 Sep, 2018 @ 10:50am

    Not a Real Article 3 Court

    It is called a court, but it is actually an administrative agency. Under the U.S. Constitution, Congress can create real courts as it will, but they are distinguished by the manner of appointment of judges and the lifetime duration of those appointments.

    Administrative agencies, on the other hand, are also within the discretion of the legislature to create, but they do not fall under Article 3. Generally, the executive gets to control the staffing, possibly with legislative advice and consent.

    Congress created the FISA courts but did not bring them within Article 3. There are no lifetime appointments, and FISA courts do not fall within the common-law rule of public access to the courts.

    Since FISA courts are not real courts, you will generally not see things such as due process adversarial hearings. Due process is expressly ruled out, because it is a secret ``court'' -- the non-government side is not even supposed to know that anything is going on, contrary to any notions of notice-and-hearing inherent in due process.

    Essentially, then, you have the executive (law enforcement) lying to the executive (admin agency ''court''). Right, the executive cannot be trusted to tell itself the truth, and now the executive is complainting about being lied to by the executive.

  • On the post: How Not To Freak Out When Someone Copies Your Product

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 04 Sep, 2018 @ 03:52am

    Re: Re: Re:

    Many in mail order would say the same thing [conceal identities]
    I guess a lot of us did not realize how reprehensible the mail order business was. Admittedly, I buy a lot of my stuff from local merchants, so maybe I just have not been exposed to enough mail order for the full effect to sink in.

  • On the post: Monster Energy Loses Trademark Opposition With Monsta Pizza In The UK

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 03 Sep, 2018 @ 08:57pm

    Utter the Name and Summon the Monster

    utter the name "Monster Energy"

    And along comes a huge, ugly troll, bearing a bunch of overpriced audio/video cables.

  • On the post: Indiana Appeals Court Says Forcing Someone To Unlock Their Phone Violates The 5th Amendment

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 01 Sep, 2018 @ 02:11am

    Re: Re: Re: "It's not a violation of the fifth!" "Prove it."

    If I served on a jury that learned that evidence was tampered with even a smidgen like this or any other way I would enact nullification.
    I think a better way to put it would be that, if either side offered tampered evidence or otherwise knowingly offered unreliable evidence, you would weigh that very heavily against them. In other words, you would be performing one of the core functions of a juror, which is assessing credibility. This has the advantage of fairness: if either side is trying to be dishonest, they suffer the consequences. It also makes it clear during jury selection that you are going in there intending to fairly weigh the evidence, not going in there with bias or intent to do anything improper. Many judges and essentially all assistant state's attorneys would object loudly to the idea of nullification. Indeed, they would probably argue that mention of the term is sufficient to strike you for cause. Since improper nullification is probably not what you intended, you should be clear.

  • On the post: Head Of Department Of Justice Bashes Justice System Because It Blocks Too Many Of Trump's Orders

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 28 Aug, 2018 @ 08:15pm

    Re: Re: One of the advantages of dictatorships...

    Judicial Review, it is not, technically one of the enumerated powers of the judiciary
    It will come as no surprise that the judiciary sees things differently. In Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137 (US 1803), the supremes said that the idea that a written constitution did not imply judicial review would be an ``absurd result''. In other words, when we enumerate the limited powers, judicial review pretty much falls out of that. If you have a written constitution and a judiciary, then you get review for free: no further enumeration is required.

  • On the post: CBP Agrees To Hand Back Almost All Of The $58,000 It Stole From A 64-Year-Old Man At A Cleveland Airport

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 12 Aug, 2018 @ 11:41pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: When privateering was halted officially...

    stray quote in the middle of your markdown
    Yes, it is unfortunate that HTML is no longer supported. HTML is the more common markup language and is more familiar to people, but every so often someone comes up with a ``better'' idea to confuse folks.

  • On the post: School Board Demands Journalists Be Punished For Reporting On The School Board's Redaction Failure

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 09 Aug, 2018 @ 03:37am

    First God made idiots. That was for practice.

    It is hard to see how the school board gets very far in this one. I think the U.S. Supremes decided Florida Star v. B.J.F., 491 U.S. 524, back in 1989.

    Same fact pattern, newspaper obtained and published information that the govt entity thought they should not have. Exception taken. In Florida Star, the trial court found newspaper liable, as did the DCA, but the Supremes reversed.

    Since the newspaper obtained the information lawfully, if through unsurprising govt screw-up, they get to publish it. Even if it had not been obtained lawfully, it is not clear that punishment would be permitted. See NY Times v. U.S., 403 U.S. 713, commonly known as the ``Pentagon Papers'' case.

  • On the post: Progress Isn't Linear: YouTube TV's World Cup Flub Threatens Public's Trust For Sports Streaming

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 08 Aug, 2018 @ 12:00am

    Re: Re: Really?

    the baseball "world series" where only one country takes part.
    I suppose it should be noted that the ``World Series'' is actually named for the original sponsor, the New York World (newspaper). There was never intended any suggestion that people from outside the States should be in any wise involved.

  • On the post: On Speech And Subpoenas, New York Giveth And Taketh (First, The Good News On Platform Jurisdiction)

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 08 Aug, 2018 @ 12:34am

    The Problem with Jurisdiction Shopping

    The problem is that the sorts of services most commonly seen in these cases have users from all over. Arguably they are subject to the laws of the states in which they have users. Zippo Manufacturing v. Zippo Dot Com, 952 F.Supp. 1119 (W.D. PA 1997).

    There, the bulletin board service had many users in the district, and the court found it not unreasonable to hale them into the wilds of western PA. Where does it end: Techdirt has readers in many states, should it be sued for our posts in every state wherein pI and my fellow users are to be found?

    Alternatively, shall we artificially limit access to on-line fora, so that only people in states with good anti-SLAPP laws may post? How shall we enforce this? Technology is not there.

    All of this assumes good faith. That assumption is unsound. Consider Carefirst of Maryland v. Carefirst Pregnancy Centers, 334 F.3d 390 (US 4th Cir. 2003). There, the Maryland atty made a small donation to the Chicago entity via its web site, and used that donation as its basis for claiming jurisdiction in Maryland. Atty's donation was only contact with Maryland, but of course the web site could be viewed virtually anywhere.

    The trial court correctly found no jurisdiction in Maryland, and was upheld on review. But a large entity such as Blue Cross (the Maryland plaintiff, using the ``Carefirst'' name) has the resources to be offended, and to at least require appearance is a foreign jurisdiction. There is no injury to Blue Cross from such abuse. The Chicago entity has the pleasure of paying both its Illinois counsel and the counsel in Maryland.

  • On the post: Two Georgia Sausage Companies Battle Over Trademarked Logos That Aren't Particularly Similar

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 03 Aug, 2018 @ 04:54am

    Re: Re: A Pig is Pretty Much Required in a Sausage Label

    Why? You can make cartridges from other meats too
    Because if you put other types of meat in there, it is not good sausage. It is just a poor imitation, fit mostly to serve to inmates in Yankee prisons.

  • On the post: The US Army Gets Armistice With NHL Team Over 'Golden Knights' Trademark

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 31 Jul, 2018 @ 01:21am

    Re: context?

    These things are over-used. How many sets of bulldogs, tigers, knights (golden or otherwise), or bears are out there? So many I cannot count.

    What makes each unique is the place or other source designation. Thus, Clemson Tigers, Detroit Tigers, Lakeland Flying Tigers, Valencia Tigers.

  • On the post: Two Georgia Sausage Companies Battle Over Trademarked Logos That Aren't Particularly Similar

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 30 Jul, 2018 @ 11:52pm

    A Pig is Pretty Much Required in a Sausage Label

    That is how you designate the real product, as opposed to beef or chicken sausage surrogate. Customers are expecting a picture of a pig.

    The same holds for barbecue joints. The picture of the pig, often in an apron, is pretty standard in the business. People driving in unfamiliar territory recognize that image as signifying not a particular vendor but a particular class of vendor. You can write the name of the joint in the apron, or on the pig's cap, to make a logo. It's still a fairly weak mark, erase the name and you are back to identifying the type of goods.

    Stripling's loses on that basis, so we do not even get to the question of why the two pigs do not look alike.

  • On the post: Guy Gets Tossed In Jail For Contempt Charges Because Cops Say They Need To Unlock His Phones To Get Evidence Of Drug Possession

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 26 Jul, 2018 @ 03:55am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Sounds like his new job is giving up his rights

    "The majority decides the rules that everyone lives under, including those who lost the election. Is this news to you?"
    Well, yes, it is. Because under both the U.S. and our state constitutions, there are many things set beyond the power of the majority to change. The Bill of Rights, for instance, provides several protections which appear largely to protect against the will of the majority. In our state, due to an amazingly dishonest bit of wheeling and dealing by development interests, it takes 60% of the voters to amend. Thus majorities can be spited and ignored in some cases.

  • On the post: Wondering How Suburban Express Is Doing In Lawsuit Brought By Illinois Attorney General? Really Fucking Bad!

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 22 Jul, 2018 @ 01:48pm

    Re: learning about employment law

    Those who know libel law should take a few refresher courses on employment law
    Sorry, not licensed in Illinois. Are you? I ask because it appears that Toeppen may need some help since his atty wants out for non-payment and his insurance does not want to provide representation. Yes, Toeppen can self-represent, but since the AG has dragged in his companies, and companies cannot, I think there may be a need up there.

  • On the post: Wondering How Suburban Express Is Doing In Lawsuit Brought By Illinois Attorney General? Really Fucking Bad!

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 22 Jul, 2018 @ 01:42pm

    Re: John Smith, Slanted Language

    I have to admit that I am unsurprised at ``slanted language'' in a comment section. It is somewhat in the nature of comments that they contain bias and, um, commentary. You want facts, go somewhere and make up your own. And,

    As for Ken White, let's see how well his "snark" holds up in the next few months.
    well, I am pretty confident in Mr. White's longevity. More so than, say, in the longevity of the legal representation enjoyed by Suburban Express.

  • On the post: Scammy Lawyer Award Company Sends C&D To Website For Pointing Out Its Scammy Behavior

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 15 Jan, 2018 @ 10:37am

    Persistence

    I do not think I have received their spam since 2016, but that is most likely due to them falling into some spam trap. I cannot truthfully say that I miss them, since I still see other geniuses like:

    I have had solicitations from all of these since the most recent from lawyersofdistinction.com so I am confident that there are plenty of alternatives for those who are desperate for dodgy advertising or other peculative opportunities.

    At that time, by the way, their address did look like a strip shopping center with a UPS store. Nothing against UPS store operations, I have used them myself when I needed to get packages out quickly. But it makes a poor substitute for a real office, imagine trying to meet clients at such a place!

  • On the post: For Cops Handing Out Bogus Pedestrian Tickets, Ignorance Of The Law Is The Most Profitable Excuse

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 08 Jan, 2018 @ 06:22am

    Re: who cares ?

    local traffic courts are mostly assembly lines designed to extract money from the public. Judges and DA's side with their cop team mates 99% of the time
    Oddly enough, that is not my experience. Florida and particularly my county have some really bad judges, but we have some decent judges as well. And even the bad judges have areas in which they are particularly bad and other areas in which they at least pretend to be fair. Traffic, on the other hand, seems to be an outlier. Maybe it is because so many people are there that they do not want to take chances of an enraged populace, but they do pretty well. Even the hearing officers do pretty well, and if you want a judge instead of a hearing officer then you get one for asking. If the other cases were handled as reasonably as traffic, at least in the counties where I have done traffic, people could have more confidence in the judicial system. Judges and hearing officers both seem to follow the law there. Admittedly, I average less than 2 cases/year in traffic, and your milage may vary.

  • On the post: Indiana Legislator Wants To Force NFL Team To Hand Out Refunds To Fans 'Offended' By Kneeling Players

    Tanner Andrews ( profile ), 08 Jan, 2018 @ 05:27am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Sad thing is...

    The bigger question would be - why do you need to hear your national anthem before games where both teams are from the same country in the first place?
    Because no one knows the state anthems of Florida and New York. Neither, in Florida, do many people distinguish the state anthem, 15.0326, from the state song, 15.0327, though at least many people would recognize the state song. Few people consider that the more likely state anthem or song, Orange Blossom Special, might be deemed dismissive of New York, from which the performer expresses hopes to flee. There. More information than you had in mind, I am sure.

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