Wayne Borean 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (100)

• On the post: USTR Refuses To Release Congressional Research Service Study On Legality Of ACTA

  

  Wayne Borean ( profile ), 28 Mar, 2011 @ 08:05am

  Timing

  Could also be a timing issue. Possibly Senator Wyden is waiting for someone to commit themselves to something spectacularly stupid, and then he's going to release it. Politics is after all, the roughest of all the Blood Sports.

• On the post: It Took The NY Times 14 Months And $40 Million Dollars To Build The World's Stupidest Paywall?

  

  Wayne Borean ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2011 @ 05:27pm

  Chapter 11 Coming Soon

  I give them a year, no more. This is so totally bone headed that it beggars belief.
  
  Bye Bye New York Times.

• On the post: Ubisoft Uses 'Copyright' Claim To Block Americans From Seeing Its Own Ad For Ridiculous 'Adult' Wii Game

  

  Wayne Borean ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2011 @ 07:51am

  Canada

  Curious - works fine from Canada.

• On the post: Full Affidavit On Latest Seizures Again Suggests Homeland Security Is Twisting The Law

  

  Wayne Borean ( profile ), 03 Feb, 2011 @ 03:00pm

  That's why I've been recommending

  That no site should be hosted in the U.S., or use a U.S. Top Level Domain. It's just too dangerous, until the case law is settled, because you never know when someone might take offense at what you are doing.
  
  That's why my sites are hosted in Canada, and use the .CA TLD, so that if anyone wants to take offense with me, they have to do it on my home ground.
  
  Wayne

• On the post: Exposing The False Sanctity Of 'Intellectual Property'

  

  Wayne Borean ( profile ), 30 Dec, 2010 @ 09:33am

  Intellectual Poverty

  About four or five years ago I started calling it Intellectual Poverty. Got a few looks over that, until I explained that I'd coined the terms after reading one too many ridiculous patents...

• On the post: Once Again, More State Dept. Cables Show Swedish Copyright Enforcement At The Behest Of US

  

  Wayne Borean ( profile ), 29 Dec, 2010 @ 08:33am

  SAAB

  Oh, come on folks, the answer is so damned simple you should all hang you heads in shame.
  
  SAAB
  
  Not the automobile company, the military aircraft manufacturer. SAAB is one of Sweden's major exports, in addition to supplying nearly all Swedish military aircraft. To function SAAB has to have access to American technology, like radars, computers, missiles...
  
  So when the Americans threaten to cut the Swedes off, the Swedes pay attention.
  
  That's what I suspect happened. We'll have to see if any cables cover the issue.

• On the post: College Football Playoffs Patented?!?; Mark Cuban Warned Not To Infringe

  

  Wayne Borean ( profile ), 23 Dec, 2010 @ 11:29am

  The USPTO is incompetent

  I've said this many times. After reading many insane patents that have been granted, that is the conclusion that I've reached.
  
  I know a lot of people who work for the Patent Office are offended by my opinion. That's their problem. If they persist in allowing stupid patents to be issued (like the infamous Dean Drive), they have no right to expect my opinion to change.

• On the post: Spanish Legislature Rejects Hollywood-Backed Copyright Law Changes

  

  Wayne Borean ( profile ), 21 Dec, 2010 @ 07:28pm

  In Canada, we are waiting with bated breath for the Wikileaks cables from Canada. We expect that we will see the exact same things as were in the Spanish cables.
  
  We'll see what happens.

• On the post: 30,000 Musical Acts Are Making A Living… But Is That Good Or Bad?

  

  Wayne Borean ( profile ), 16 Dec, 2010 @ 01:20pm

  Mike,
  
  I did some research on their article, and wrote True Or False? The Latest Stat: Less Than 30,000 Artists Are Actually Earning a Living, which digs into their numbers, and also into their database, which it turns out is woefully incomplete.
  
  Regards
  
  Wayne

• On the post: MPAA, Pharma Demanding US Push Other Countries To Have Significantly More Draconian IP Laws Than The US

  

  Wayne Borean ( profile ), 15 Dec, 2010 @ 10:49pm

  Chicago Machine Politician. What did you expect?

• On the post: 30,000 Musical Acts Are Making A Living… But Is That Good Or Bad?

  

  Wayne Borean ( profile ), 22 Nov, 2010 @ 05:57am

  Mike, I took a good look at the numbers, and did some research. While what they reported is probably accurate based on the numbers they have, those numbers aren't complete.
  
  I checked their database against some artists, and the database is missing a lot of information. A couple of the artists weren't big (which is why I picked them), so the database doesn't include smaller acts - and the acts that I picked are ones that are working music full time.
  
  This got me wondering. It appeared that the database was biased towards Rock and Roll, so I checked their listing for Stompin' Tom Conners, and it claimed that he hadn't performed a concert since 2004, though his website claims he was busy nearly every weekend this summer.
  
  You can read my conclusions in True Or False? The Latest Stat: Less Than 30,000 Artists Are Actually Earning a Living.

• On the post: Hollywood's Strategy For The Future: Pretending The Government Can Save Them

  

  Wayne Borean ( profile ), 16 Nov, 2010 @ 08:24am

  Translation Issues

  Heh. The problem is that most people don't translate what the politicians and/or police are actually saying. Take Conor Lenihan, an Irish Politician, who has admitted that he is bought and paid for. He didn't say this directly, but when you parse what he did say, that is what he meant.

• On the post: Canada Continues To Grandstand Over Craigslist Adult Services

  

  Wayne Borean ( profile ), 08 Nov, 2010 @ 01:59pm

  What makes you think there's a Federal Liberal or New Democrat who understand technology? :)

  I know there isn't. I am however a Conservative, and if I can help the party understand technology, and possibly gain an electoral advantage, why shouldn't I?

• On the post: Canada Continues To Grandstand Over Craigslist Adult Services

  

  Wayne Borean ( profile ), 08 Nov, 2010 @ 10:55am

  I'm thinking of renewing my Conservative Party Membership

  It's becoming obvious that they need at least one person in the party who understands technology.

• On the post: Cooks Source Editor Finally Responds… Makes Things Worse [Updated]

  

  Wayne Borean ( profile ), 07 Nov, 2010 @ 10:01am

  Cooks Source has been Downfalled

  Suggest that you keep liquids away from your mouth while watching this where we find out Adolf is the real editor of Cooks Source.

• On the post: Fallacy Debunking: Successful New Business Model Examples Are The 'Exception'

  

  Wayne Borean ( profile ), 25 Oct, 2010 @ 06:15pm

  How do you get the guitarist off your porch? Pay for the Pizza.
  
  How do you streamline a musician's car? Remove the Pizza delivery sign from the roof.
  
  What do you call a musician who's been dumped by his girlfriend? Homeless.
  
  *****
  
  You'll hear those jokes wherever you meet musicians. Another thing that you'll hear is that 'Real Musicians have day jobs', must musicians don't regard people like David Bowie or Billy Joel as real musicians. They are the 'outliers' as Mike said, the odd balls.

• On the post: Court Rejects Probation Rules On Teen That Ban Him From Using Social Networks Or Instant Messaging Programs

  

  Wayne Borean ( profile ), 21 Oct, 2010 @ 08:55pm

  Encrytpion

  Unless the judge defined what he meant by encryption carefully, this poor guy wouldn't be allowed to own any modern computer, and quite a few antiques. According to memory Encryption is built into every Microsoft OS from Windows 95 on (it may be in the older ones too, but I don't remember), all of Mac OS X, all of Linux, all of BSD, all of Solaris, all of Aix (and every other proprietary Unix).
  
  The poor bastard is screwed.

• On the post: NY Times Sends Cease & Desist Letter To Kachingle For Trying To Show Them Alternatives To Paywalls

  

  Wayne Borean ( profile ), 18 Oct, 2010 @ 07:51am

  I'm not a journalist. I write about what's interesting and this is interesting. You don't have to like it.

  Well said. And enough of us find your writing interesting to keep coming back, including Anonymous Coward, who is truly prolific with the comments :)

• On the post: Once More, With Feeling: Embracing 'Free' Doesn't Mean You Make No Money

  

  Wayne Borean ( profile ), 28 Sep, 2010 @ 09:29pm

  The Daily Gruaniad

  For those who aren't English, the Guardian, a northern paper was famous for spelling errors, due to the need to publish really early so it could be on the streets of London at the same time as the London papers.
  
  Now to the point - Mike, did you know that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has literally bought coverage at the Guardian? Seriously. I don't know all of the details, but a grant was given for the Guardian to cover certain issues.
  
  The problem with this being, that now that the Guardian has been given this grant, is it likely to treat the Foundation, and Microsoft, the company behind the Foundation differently?

• On the post: Freakonomics Does 'Pay What You Want' Screening

  

  Wayne Borean ( profile ), 18 Sep, 2010 @ 08:19pm

  You've got to be kidding

  Well I wasn't at all impressed by the book, so I'm not willing to pay anything to see this. Which just means that I wouldn't go, even if it was free.
  
  Free isn't worth it, if you don't like the product.

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