Michael Haney’s Techdirt Profile

On the post: Culver City Gets Around Pesky First Amendment With Terms Of Service

Michael Haney ( profile ), 30 Aug, 2006 @ 04:33pm

Re: Let's review..

If it went to the Supreme Court they'd declare this TOS document Unconstitutional. You are 100% correct, the preample of the Constitution clearly states that the rights in the Bill of Right cannot be taken away by anyone for any reason. That's what "inalienable" means.

On the post: Recording Industry Still Trying To Shut Down Allofmp3.com

Michael Haney ( profile ), 26 May, 2006 @ 01:20pm

Re:

I smell an RIAA troll posting messages in Tech Dirt.

If the recording industry wants to increase their profits they need to do is just one thing:

=> Stop treating their customers like criminals, end the lawsuits, stop trying to kill P2P, and end the use of DRM forever!

Then and only then will they begin to really make profits, but if they continue on their current course they will eventually become the cause of their own demise.

Plain and simple.

On the post: Earthlink Wins New Orleans WiFi Deal, BellSouth Freakout in 5…4…3…

Michael Haney ( profile ), 26 May, 2006 @ 12:46pm

A Perfect Case of Screwing One's Self

This is a perfect example of a telco screwing itself over because of corporate greed. Just because they are, quote, the "Telephone Company", unquote, it does not mean that they have governmental authority. Too many times I've seem these companies and the "utilities" try to kill off competition by getting laws passed that protect their business models. In the case of Bell South they did just that with New Orleans, but its rather ironic that the same law they passed has turned around and bitten them in a rumpus. They denied the city a vital need during a major crisis because of greed and lost out on a chance to make a boat-load of money. They can scream and cry all they want to the LA state legislature all they want. All New Orleans has to do is say they don't run the network, they just gave Earthlink access to the locations to install their equipment, thus they never broke the law. I'm just rolling around on the floor its so darned funny. This is poetic justice at its finest.

On the post: RIM Asks Why Visto's Patent Suit Is Being Filed In Marshall, Texas?

Michael Haney ( profile ), 03 May, 2006 @ 10:22pm

The Vultures Are Circling

They smell blood in the water. First NTP gets millions out of their suit with RIM despite the very questionable validity of their patents and the latest news that they paid to have prior art suppressed. Now comes Visto looking to cash in on the flow of money.

I say reform the USPO, ban software patents, ban patents on "ideas" that haven't been developed into a product yet, and allow patents to expire like copyrights so if nobody renews them they become public domain.

On the post: Talking Copyrights And Technology In DC

Michael Haney ( profile ), 18 Apr, 2006 @ 01:37pm

I live near D.C.

I live in Alexandria, VA which is only a short Metro ride to downtown Washington, D.C. You can be sure I will try very hard to be there!

On the post: Whistleblower Explains How The NSA Tapped Ma Bell (And All Of Us)

Michael Haney ( profile ), 07 Apr, 2006 @ 11:03pm

Warning Signs

These are all warning signs that something very rotten is going on within our government. Ever since 9/11 and the creation of Homeland Security I've seen things start to go downhill fast.

I'm waiting for the day when they call for a volunteer whistleblower service made up of ordinary citizens who will watch and listen for any possibly disloyal or un-American comments others people. It is coming and anyone who says otherwise is living in a fantasy world. Our Democracy is dying from the inside and the sad thing is nobody but a few people (myself included) realizes its happening.

So, you all have a choice, stand up and put a stop to it now or wait until its too late and risk torture and death when the inneviable 2nd American Civil War breaks out.

I'm calling for a "Revolution of Words and Votes", fight back with words and in the voting booths of America. Elect the current Congresss out-of-office and demand the immediate IMPEACHMENT of President George W. Bush, make demands of your Senators and Representatives to do what is right for YOU and to ignore the lobbyist minority who want the laws changed so they have things their way.

This country is BY THE PEOPLE, OF THE PEOPLE AND FOR THE PEOPLE and we need to make them remember what that really means.

On the post: Calling Space Elevator Proponents: NASA Offering Prizes For Inventions

Michael Haney ( profile ), 07 Apr, 2006 @ 09:40pm

Space Elevator

Thought the cost to build a space elevator would be high the overall cost savings in putting payloads into space using it would be significently lower than that of a shuttle or rocket launch.

Payloads could be hoisted into space above the Earth's gravity, released and then small...cheap to manufacture...boosters could be fired to push satelites into higher orbit. Spacecraft would no longer need heat shielding for re-entering the Earth's atmosphere because the burn is caused the incredible speeds normal craft must travel at. Shuttles launched from a launch platform rig lifted into space on a space elevator don't need as much fuel, don't need heat shielding except for rare emergencies and should be able to stay up for longer periods of time because it would be possible to carry extra fuel and supplies which normally wouldn't have been possible due to weight-to-lift issues with current rocket technology.

Thus, it is within NASA's best interest that they get a Space Elevator working and as soon as possible.

On the post: Should We Charge Ridiculous Patent Filers With Perjury?

Michael Haney ( profile ), 05 Apr, 2006 @ 11:26pm

Re: Kill Patents and You Kill America...

The point is PATENTS are meant to be for PHYSICAL OBJECTS not something abstract like software which has no physical form at all. Also, IDEAS should never be patented at all. IDEAS need something else, something that signifies who thought of the idea first so they get credit for it BUT they are unable to get money from others who use it unless its patentable and they've actually begun development of it....aka its gone from being an idea to a physical thing.

On the post: French Parliament Approves Of Open Formats Bill

Michael Haney ( profile ), 21 Mar, 2006 @ 01:39pm

This isn't related but long ago California passed a law severely limiting how much insurance companies could charge for auto insurance. When those companies started pulling out of California to get around the law the state legislature went and made it illegal for them to leave in order to circumvent the law or face very stiff fines and possible jail time. Overall the penalties were pretty stiff and none of the companies that planned to leave ever left California.

The French could do the same makiing it illegal for media companies to close up shop in France because they don't like the new law. Threatening the recording industry with multi-billion dollar fines and jail time will take the wind out of their sails really fast.

On the post: Looking At How The DMCA Changed The Nature Of Competition

Michael Haney ( profile ), 21 Mar, 2006 @ 01:10pm

DMCA Gives Too Much Power to Corporations

The DMCA gives too much power to corporations and stifles not only innovation but also competition. We've seen many examples of how the law has been abused in order to stop competition. Its time Capital Hill takes a look at the Beast they've created and realize it needs to be brought down. If the DMCA is left in place it will only result in consumers loosing more of their rights, big corporations abusing the law to continue killing off competitors, and cause even more harm to our economy than it already has.

On the post: What? There's A Downside To DRM?

Michael Haney ( profile ), 13 Mar, 2006 @ 06:36pm

Ban it altogether!

Get it overwith and ban DRM altogether. The concept of using software to impare the normal operation of a user's computer should be a crime.

On the post: Techdirt: Looking A Bit Different

Michael Haney ( profile ), 11 Mar, 2006 @ 10:15am

Nice

TechDirt is starting to look like Slashdot.

Cool. I like the new design, it was rather sparce before. This new design adds a more professional look to the site.

On the post: Vonage Complains About Canadian ISP's "VoIP Tax"

Michael Haney ( profile ), 07 Mar, 2006 @ 09:51am

VoIP Legislation

This is exactly why we need legislation protecting VoIP servies from this sort of thing happening. Call it anti-competitive activity, which is exactly what it is and should never be allowed.

On the post: RIAA Turns Its Money Extractor Ray On Satellite Radio

Michael Haney ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2006 @ 03:46pm

Fight Back!

Ok, this has gone far enough. Its time for everyone to band together and focus all our energies to totally eliminate the RIAA with extreme predjudice!

They are running the Recording Industry into the ground with their activities. The only way we'll get the record studios to finally listen is when they start going bankrupt because nobody will dare do business with them.

Call your Congressman and demand that a special investigation be done into the RIAA's activities.

On the post: If Blu-Ray Launched And No One Noticed, Would It Matter?

Michael Haney ( profile ), 28 Feb, 2006 @ 12:05pm

The PS3

Sony is in a lot of hot water over DRM, so I don't see them delving into it anytime soon. Given that the PS3 will be first major product from Sony with Blu-Ray support I'm certain people will notice.

On the post: Innovation At Work: Ma Bell Wants Apple To Pay Up For Video Patents

Michael Haney ( profile ), 10 Feb, 2006 @ 10:39am

If they only used Ogg Vorbis!

If more people, including Apple, embrassed Ogg Vorbis the world would be a happier place.

It's an open source, generalized audio/video compression standard which I found to be very good at producing high quality audio files that sound every bit as good as high quality MP3s. Its not just for sound. There is a standard for video too and it can be used WITHOUT ROYALTIES!

Why, because its open source, stupid!

On the post: Dear EMI: Please Let Security Researchers Protect You From A Rootkit Fiasco

Michael Haney ( profile ), 05 Jan, 2006 @ 04:22am

I have a good question...

Why the heck hasn't the British Government started a serious criminal investigation of First4Internet? Why haven't any states here taken them to court? It is possible to take foreign companies to court, but it takes a lot of paperwork and diplomatic hoop-jumping to do it. I hear all this stuff about boycotting Sony and rebelling against companies using DRM but what about going after the jerks who developed XCP in the first place. I haven't heard a thing about going after them at all despite the fact that its been confirmed that they stole Open Source code to make it.

On the post: I'd Gladly Pay You Tuesday For An E-Commerce Purchase Today

Michael Haney ( profile ), 31 Dec, 2005 @ 07:01am

PayByCash

There's a new up and coming service called PayByCash that a lot of MMORPGs like Everquest II, Anarchy Online, Meridian 59, Ultima Online, and anime retailer Otaku World are using.

On the post: Eliot Spitzer Investigating Digital Music Price Fixing

Michael Haney ( profile ), 25 Dec, 2005 @ 03:35am

The landslide is getting bigger!

I love how this all started with one event, the SonyBMG fiasco. Actually, this whole situation started long before that but it took this to finally make it public. Like a pebble thrown onto a hillside its started at landslide and I don't see it stopping anytime soon.

This whole thing is the kind of major event that shakes up an entire industry, or destroys it. I don't see this as destroying the recording industry but I do see this as forcing the industry to change, kicking and screaming if need be. Some of that is already happening now, but its only an isolated effect. Thing will get worse for the RIAA, more people will come forward, more artists being cheated out of their fair share of the money will enter the limelight of the courts and then all hell will break loose. When the smoke from all of this finally clears the Recording and possibly the Motion Picture Industry will be very different.

On the post: When The Super Market Aisle Starts Looking Like Times Square

Michael Haney ( profile ), 16 Dec, 2005 @ 12:56pm

I See Law Suits

Flashing lights can induce epileptic seizures in some people. About 10% of the population suffer from this. Flashing ambulance lights, strob lights, and even videogame screens can trigger debilitating and even fatal seizures.

Yeah, the lawyers can't wait. I can see them drooling over this already.

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