Trevor DeBus 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (97) comment rss

  • On the post: Valve Sued In Germany Over Right To Resell Games

    Trevor DeBus ( profile ), 01 Feb, 2013 @ 09:43am

    Um...

    So it's ok to resell used games that you download from Steam, but god help you if you try to resell music that you download from iTunes.

    What's the difference again?

  • On the post: The International Olympic Committee Has Already Staked A Trademark Claim On The Number '2014'

    Trevor DeBus ( profile ), 28 Jan, 2013 @ 03:28pm

    Stig

    Will any European car makers be able to label their vehicles as 2014 models?

    THINK OF THE RAMIFICATIONS
    ...oh wait, I just saw a 2014 BMW 750li drive down the street, so by then the 2015 car of the year should already be topping sales...

    Does this mean car companies have even BETTER efficiency than the IOC?

    Have you ever driven a Ford or Peugeot?

  • On the post: Should You Brag About Your Law School Grades On Facebook?

    Trevor DeBus ( profile ), 26 Jan, 2013 @ 10:09pm

    Re: Bragging about law school grades

    Same boat. 4 years night school, 35 mile commute working 44 hours per week, married with twin 22 month olds.

    I think it says more that we could handle it and finish than not having responsibilities and getting high grades....

    /Humble brag

  • On the post: Should You Brag About Your Law School Grades On Facebook?

    Trevor DeBus ( profile ), 25 Jan, 2013 @ 06:01pm

    Law School

    I just graduated law school this past December, and am currently studying for the California Bar in February (fun times...)

    I like to take a few minutes every day to take my mind off of whatever it is I am relearning at the time so I don't go crazy (I'm looking at you, Property) and saw this post.

    I wasn't the top of my class. I was happy to be in the middle. However, grading is different depending on the school. Some give out A's through F's, and some are strictly on a point scale. Additionally, grades are given out differently. This guy got a B in torts and an A- in Crim Law. Good for him. Compared to the students at his school, he did pretty good.

    To contrast, I mentioned that I just graduated. To graduate with honors, you need a cumulative GPA of a 2.8. A 2.8! The valedictorian last year had a 3.4. Compared to my school this guy would crush it. Or would he? Unless grading is standardized across schools (not the case for law schools) it is completely subjective.

    Additionally, with our honors cut at 2.8, our Bar pass rate this past July was 78%, and last February was 92%. The State average hovers around 65%. What does that say? Grading scales are subjective.

    I heard a funny anecdote a while back, and have learned it rings true: A students are research attorneys, B students are their assistants, and C students are trial attorneys.

  • On the post: Newspaper Editorial Insists Hackers Must Be Punished, While Misunderstanding Nearly Every Detail

    Trevor DeBus ( profile ), 24 Jan, 2013 @ 11:50am

    Because Reasons, that's why!

  • On the post: Obama Tasks CDC With Study Of Video Games And 'Violent Media'

    Trevor DeBus ( profile ), 22 Jan, 2013 @ 02:15pm

    My Reaction

    I know this is a little later in the thread, and I didn't read all 74 comments before this, but here is what I think (Sorry if it has already been mentioned):

    Say the CDC completes a study that is scientifically inconclusive one way or the other, but suggests violent media MAY pose a risk. Thereafter, pro gun legislators pounce, demanding regulation of these types of media to curb violence. My first inclination is they believe the 2nd Amendment is more important than the 1st Amendment. Will anyone call them out on this?

    Assume that pro gun rep was in the house, and got a bill passed that heavily restricts violent media in response. What would happen if, in the Senate, an anti-gun rep adds an amendment to the bill, placing the same level of restrictions as are being placed on media, on guns themselves. How big of a BF would the pro-gun side have?

    If violent media MAY increase the number of gun related crimes and deserves regulation, shouldn't the actual guns that are actually being used in the actual crimes be subject to the same level of regulation? You can't commit a gun crime if you can't get a gun.

    Just sayin'

  • On the post: Law Professor James Grimmelmann Explains How He Probably Violated The Same Laws As Aaron Swartz

    Trevor DeBus ( profile ), 17 Jan, 2013 @ 03:19pm

    Vague

    I wonder if anyone has contemplated a constitutional challenge of this law, specifically targeting the vagueness of it. If a LAW PROFESSOR can't tell what is illegal, how can a reasonable person?

  • On the post: Do We Really Want EU Bureaucrats Deciding What Google Search Results 'Should' Look Like?

    Trevor DeBus ( profile ), 11 Jan, 2013 @ 02:24pm

    Easy!

    "And I'm not sure how the user is made "better off" by European politicians determining where Google needs to point people with its results."

    Easy! Because these politicians use Google, they are "Users." Because they are Users, and don't like the way Google diverts results to them, the Users are harmed until Google diverts results to them in a manner that the politicians prefer, which makes the Users "Better off."

    Duh.

  • On the post: DailyDirt: Talking Funny

    Trevor DeBus ( profile ), 27 Dec, 2012 @ 08:15pm

    Interesting

    I'm from SoCal, and a few years ago I went to my cousin's wedding in North Dakota. For three days I was the guy with the "cool California accent"

  • On the post: Hollywood Studio IP Addresses Sharing Hollywood Movies Via BitTorrent

    Trevor DeBus ( profile ), 26 Dec, 2012 @ 11:13am

    Strategy

    Am I the only one who thinks maybe some employees at certain movie studios are "sharing" movies from competing studios to undermine their sales? If they believe piracy is such a problem, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to think that by adding copies of competitors' movies to torrent sites, they think it is hurting that other company's sales...

    I mean, it IS business...

  • On the post: NRA: To Protect The 2nd Amendment, We Must Trample The 1st & 4th Amendments

    Trevor DeBus ( profile ), 21 Dec, 2012 @ 07:19pm

    Re: Re:

    Its not supposition that he may abuse it, these are responses to verifiable abuses that actually happened.

  • On the post: NRA: To Protect The 2nd Amendment, We Must Trample The 1st & 4th Amendments

    Trevor DeBus ( profile ), 21 Dec, 2012 @ 02:50pm

    Possible Compromise?

    What if the US took a page from Switzerland and Japan, and upon requesting a gun license, be required to take a gun safety/use course, pass a written and application test, and then submit to a mental and physical exam at a local hospital, a background and renew the license (complete with mental/physical evaluations and weapons exams) every two years?

  • On the post: NRA: To Protect The 2nd Amendment, We Must Trample The 1st & 4th Amendments

    Trevor DeBus ( profile ), 21 Dec, 2012 @ 01:53pm

    Re: Re: Guns

    Virginia Tech is a college and has a full service, fully staffed, campus police force, including armed officers.

    Look above for Colin's article about Columbine happening despite the armed guard.

    Ft. Hood is a Military Base, where 75%+ population is trained in weapons, and 90% of those have access to weapons at some point during the day while on base.

    Additionally, Congresswoman Gifford's attacker was taken down by unarmed citizens who overpowered him.

    The presence of guns does not negate the possibility of someone trying to kill a bunch of people.

  • On the post: NRA: To Protect The 2nd Amendment, We Must Trample The 1st & 4th Amendments

    Trevor DeBus ( profile ), 21 Dec, 2012 @ 11:40am

    Guns

    Also, there were armed guards at Columbine and Virginia Tech, to name a few. That really helped.

    If only there were armed guards at Ft. Hood to prevent that massacre....wait a minute...

  • On the post: NRA: To Protect The 2nd Amendment, We Must Trample The 1st & 4th Amendments

    Trevor DeBus ( profile ), 21 Dec, 2012 @ 11:36am

    Thunder

    The NRA just went full retard. Never go full retard.

  • On the post: White House: We Will Not Support An ITU Treaty That Blurs Telecom Infrastructure With The Info That Crosses Over It

    Trevor DeBus ( profile ), 13 Dec, 2012 @ 03:18pm

    Re: Re: Re: Maybe I'm cynical but...

    Well.

    I agree with you regarding a a general pro murder statute, but that is a straw man argument to my point.

    The UN treaty on Child welfare was a set of GUIDELINES that countries were ENCOURAGED to design their own laws to conform to. There was NO ENFORCEMENT MECHANISM in the treaty. Additionally, the treaty was based on laws ALREADY ON THE BOOKS in the USA, except they were somewhat watered down. The treaty in this scenario didn't make UN the sole arbitrator on all disputes involving children in the US, it merely created a framework that UN members could pledge to follow. This is redundant for the US because THE UN RESOLUTION IS BASED ON OUR FEDERAL LAWS, SO BY PLEDGING THE US WOULD BE PLEDGING TO IMPLEMENT LAWS BASED ON US LAWS. /logic.

    Anyhow, the example you put forth on Murder is different because you are assuming a UN mandate that signatories place a specific law (although general in nature) regarding a crime that affects all states and the federal government, with a means of enforcing said law via the UN, is a direct infringement of the country's ability to govern itself. The example I gave isn't that - it's a pledge to develop laws to promote child well being, as the UN laws as a guide.

    Finally, back to my point, which you kind of helped me prove:

    The US is very paranoid when it comes to UN treaties that MIGHT infringe on the country's rights (for example, above mentioned UN treaty about the children that you love so much) and didn't approve it. This ITU WCIT proposal would be taking away rights and imposing restrictions on rights Americans (used to) have regarding freedom of speech, expression, etc. over the internet. If a treaty that MIGHT infringe won't pass muster in the US congress, a treaty that WILL infringe definitely won't get approved, and I'm sure the US will use its influence to shut that whole thing down.

    :)

  • On the post: White House: We Will Not Support An ITU Treaty That Blurs Telecom Infrastructure With The Info That Crosses Over It

    Trevor DeBus ( profile ), 13 Dec, 2012 @ 01:12pm

    Re: Maybe I'm cynical but...

    I doubt that, seeing how the US has been weary of ANY type of UN treaty that might infringe on US sovereignty, even if that treaty really doesn't (see: UN Child protection treaty that got shut down in congress for harming our sovereignty when in reality it was a weaker version of laws already on the books IN THE US...)

    That is, until the M*AA comes out for it.....

  • On the post: $1.5 Billion In Taxpayer Funds Go Directly To Movie Studios Each Year… And Very Few Jobs Created

    Trevor DeBus ( profile ), 04 Dec, 2012 @ 03:16pm

    Don't Panic!

    Something about this article reminds me about the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The Guide would set up shop on a planet, suck it dry of resources, and move on to the next tar...host.

    Make sure you bring your towel.

  • On the post: Supreme Court Will Finally Say If Genes Are Patentable

    Trevor DeBus ( profile ), 30 Nov, 2012 @ 03:09pm

    Response to: Anonymous Coward on Nov 30th, 2012 @ 3:06pm

    Wouldn't that be the most epic use of "prior art"? ;)

  • On the post: Supreme Court Will Finally Say If Genes Are Patentable

    Trevor DeBus ( profile ), 30 Nov, 2012 @ 02:56pm

    Precedent

    If the SC rules genes NOT patentable and follow the same reasoning as the lower court that it is from nature, it will be interesting to see if that will be used to defeat software patents, as the mathematical algorithms are part of the natural world...

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