trollificus 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: State Board That Fined Man For Criticizing The Government Without A License Admits It Was Wrong

    trollificus ( profile ), 08 Dec, 2017 @ 09:44am

    Re:

    Yeah, I think TechDirts' admirable interactions with the Copyright and Patent aspects of governmental overreach puts other aspects of said overreach right in their wheelhouse and a) they generally do a good analysis and b) the stories are interesting to TechDirt readers.

    Or are you imposing some other criteria for which stories are "appropriate". BTW, I also notice this story doesn't have any intersection with 'dirt'.

  • On the post: State Board That Fined Man For Criticizing The Government Without A License Admits It Was Wrong

    trollificus ( profile ), 08 Dec, 2017 @ 09:39am

    Re:

    Are you properly licensed to number? Well, expect a disciplinary action from the Math Certification Board, buddy.

  • On the post: Dianne Feinstein Worries That Net Neutrality Will Block ISPs From Censoring 'Terrorist' Content She Doesn't Like

    trollificus ( profile ), 04 Dec, 2017 @ 09:15am

    lol. Comment deleted.

  • On the post: No Shit: Groundbreaking Study Shows That Giving People 12% Of The Video Content They Want Doesn't Magically Stop Piracy

    trollificus ( profile ), 30 Nov, 2017 @ 03:20pm

    Re:

    And as to the question "Why the hell are you getting into the arts if you don't want as many people to enjoy them as possible?" The answer is that most media product is not created by "an artist" as you apparently envision, but by a corporation. Or a team of artists collectively owned by a corporation. Or artists who have sold their IP to a corporation. When you find art created by individuals (jewelry, small venue musical performances, visual arts, etc), you seldom find exclusivity, DRM or paywalls, and their attitude frequently is "I'd LOVE for people to see my art!". The trick, and it may be difficult for some, is to decline to participate in the parts of the culture the corporations own. Give them nothing. You may find some water cooler talk uninteresting but this action makes economic sense, can be intellectually stimulating and is morally sound.

  • On the post: No Shit: Groundbreaking Study Shows That Giving People 12% Of The Video Content They Want Doesn't Magically Stop Piracy

    trollificus ( profile ), 30 Nov, 2017 @ 02:38pm

    Re:

    "...get it from the people who genuinely enjoy your work and who have money" Po' folks gonna pirate, or do without. Using DRM to ensure they have to "do without" drive an equal or greater number of people to seek out and pirate 'cracked' product without the DRM. SEEMS pretty simple, but a lot of highly-paid people don't seem to understand it.

  • On the post: No Shit: Groundbreaking Study Shows That Giving People 12% Of The Video Content They Want Doesn't Magically Stop Piracy

    trollificus ( profile ), 30 Nov, 2017 @ 02:28pm

    Agree w/ the above. Bless Netflix for pricing their streaming realistically. They "competed with free", and in many, but not cases, won.

    BUT. I am hoarding a lifetimes' worth of reading material against the day they manage to get 50 separate streaming services asking $10/mo each. Ain't. Happenin'.

    And I'm hoarding because I expect they'll go after the free lending libraries next. And also because our local librarians have decided that the lovely main library downtown serves THEIR need to be virtuous better as a homeless shelter than as a library. B'bye.

  • On the post: Drug Dog Testing Process Eliminates Handler Bias. Unsurprisingly, Cops Don't Like it.

    trollificus ( profile ), 30 Nov, 2017 @ 03:41am

    Re: Yeah - that.

    Stay out of Baltimore. Allegedly.

  • On the post: Why Are People Celebrating Al Franken's Incomprehensible Speech About The Internet?

    trollificus ( profile ), 17 Nov, 2017 @ 05:09am

    Re: Re:

    But look out! This time he's got out the greatest tool of perceptive, thoughtful analysts everywhere: sarcasm.
    /sarc

  • On the post: Why Are People Celebrating Al Franken's Incomprehensible Speech About The Internet?

    trollificus ( profile ), 17 Nov, 2017 @ 05:07am

    Re:

    If Google and Facebook and Comcast and Verizon and AT&T being huge and powerful is a problem, why isn't it a problem for the huge and powerful "permanent government" that's currently in place?

    What's that? Our government is made up of well-meaning, decent folk who want what's best for the country and its citziens?

    Senatores boni viri, senatus autem mala bestia

  • On the post: Why Are People Celebrating Al Franken's Incomprehensible Speech About The Internet?

    trollificus ( profile ), 17 Nov, 2017 @ 04:48am

    Re: waste of time?

    Not entirely a waste of time, as it points out basic contradictions that will almost certainly be duplicated in speeches and positions of other Congresscretins. As such, it could be a time-saver.

    And he, Al Franken, having been on the side of the angels for so long, and his infraction so clearly on the minor side of the scale of such things (brutal rape being on one end, ogling and hugging on the other, even though there seems to be some insistence that they are all the same), will be forgiven and allowed to continue with his good works...though none of them seem to involve the internet.

  • On the post: Why Are People Celebrating Al Franken's Incomprehensible Speech About The Internet?

    trollificus ( profile ), 17 Nov, 2017 @ 04:37am

    Re: Al Franken, hater of big.

    "Da Congress of Fools"

    OR Confederacy of Dunces, or Parliament of Whores, the latter from PJ O'Rourkes' surprisingly even-handed 'explanation' of how our government works. Actually depressingly accurate, if shorter on flame and vitriol that I would have liked.

  • On the post: Why Are People Celebrating Al Franken's Incomprehensible Speech About The Internet?

    trollificus ( profile ), 17 Nov, 2017 @ 04:34am

    "Why Are People Celebrating..."

    Nice job fisking the speech, though with such glaring contradictions, it was kind of low-hanging fruit. Franken has to be smarter than this, doesn't he? I mean, elementary logic and basic rhetoric preclude seriously presenting this mish-mash as serious thought.

    But to answer the article title question: Because they see this speech as a sign that someone in the fedgov finally "gets it". They DO want control over what FB and Google allow to be presented to the public, they DO want only "good" content (by their deliberately opaque, and constantly shifting definition) promoted and they DO want "bad" content (again, by their shifting, self-serving definition) blocked.

    We've already seen how "hate" gets expanded to include even the most fact-based and nuanced examinations of Islam, and how, in the matter of anti-scientific GMO alarmism, people who accept the science are somehow lumped in with "climate deniers" (to the point where sweet ol' Bill Nye advocated jailing them for their opinions. nice).

    It isn't the size of the tool, it's the use to which it's put that concerns me, and should concern everyone. The existence of such powerful tools, with governments' twitchy hand hovering above them, should cause people to examine the results of EVERY PREVIOUS EXAMPLE where the government controlled what people read and heard and saw. It has never been "for their own good", and always for "tightening our hold on power".

    I suspect that to him, Al Franken, and his cheerleaders, this case is obviously different, because their own virtuousness is so vigorously and constantly signalled back-and-forth. I am less sanguine.

  • On the post: DOJ: Civil Asset Forfeiture Is A Good Thing That Only Harms All Those Criminals We Never Arrest

    trollificus ( profile ), 14 Nov, 2017 @ 06:49am

    Re: Re: Question: What happens if you just say no to having your stuff taken?

    Probably would depend on how you presented your argument. I can see some ways getting you arrested, not for anything to do with the money they were gonna steal, but for 'resisting'.

    You MIGHT be able to calmly and clearly register your position without provoking them to do any more that just...going ahead and stealing ur stuff anyway.

  • On the post: DOJ: Civil Asset Forfeiture Is A Good Thing That Only Harms All Those Criminals We Never Arrest

    trollificus ( profile ), 14 Nov, 2017 @ 06:45am

    Re: Re:

    Sadly, I can see this as being one actual example of police discriminating by race, ethnicity, etc. If I were a police, looking to get free shit, I'd ignore the white people in nice cars...sure, they got money, but it's not right with them in the car. Cop can't walk away with their money.

    Ah, but look at the percentages of people (by race) who are, as they say "unbanked", who deal in cash that is NOT produced by the drug trade...THEY might be worth a "license plate light's out" traffic stop.

    Unlike some other complaints about police profiling and stuff, THIS is an actual abuse actually visited disproportionately on "marginalized groups".

  • On the post: DOJ: Civil Asset Forfeiture Is A Good Thing That Only Harms All Those Criminals We Never Arrest

    trollificus ( profile ), 14 Nov, 2017 @ 06:38am

    Re:

    lol. Well, it IS a way to get the boys in blue to contribute more to their generous, often-inflated, pensions. A nasty, cynical way that is abusive of the very people they are supposed to serve, but I can see the attraction for politicians looking at the unfunded portion of their pension obligations.

    And really, people in New York elect the politicians who give this kind of thing to them. Good and hard.

  • On the post: Judge Ignores Congress, Pretends SOPA Exists, Orders Site Blocking Of Sci-Hub

    trollificus ( profile ), 14 Nov, 2017 @ 06:03am

    Re:

    "That does seem to be the accepted standard in our courts when those charged with writing the laws are ignorant, corrupt and lazy."

    The greatest delusion that I see in our courts is the one where judges pretend Congress is actually capable of writing clear legislation, even when they aren't just rubberstamping lobbyists work, and that "redress from a misperforming legislative branch" is actually available through the electoral process.

  • On the post: Florida Utilities Lobbied To Make It Illegal For Solar Users To Use Panels In Wake Of Hurricanes, Outages

    trollificus ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2017 @ 06:15am

    Re: Re: Not to worry

    I know this is a dated, and therefore somewhat quixotic response, but how can you fail to have noticed that all previous efforts to "get money out of politics" have resulted in what can only be called an "Incumbent Protection Act".

    Until science can devise a "pie-in-the-sky to electricity conversion device", "money out of politics" is not a solution.

  • On the post: NJ Mayor Can't Stop Streisanding Himself After Being On The Receiving End Of The Crying Jordan Meme

    trollificus ( profile ), 17 Sep, 2017 @ 01:49pm

    Re:

    I know, right? It's like they're unaware that Florida is already the Florida of the United States. No amount of corruption, stupidity or bizarre behavior will overcome Florida (the REAL Florida, site of all "That has to have been in Florida, amirite? Am I?" speculations) for that "honor".

  • On the post: NJ Mayor Can't Stop Streisanding Himself After Being On The Receiving End Of The Crying Jordan Meme

    trollificus ( profile ), 17 Sep, 2017 @ 02:01pm

    "shut up, it's not racist. It's just not."

    Sorry, Mr. Geigner. Because of the weaponized re-definition of the word "racist", it is now the case that only the *accused* can say what's racist, or what they mean when they make the accusation.

    The Internet has reached new record lows in unproductive discourse when you see A telling B that what B said didn't mean what he thought it did because A defines a word differently, and B telling A that what HE said didn't mean what he thought he said because he doesn't really think that (false consciousness). I know. Inconceivable, right?

  • On the post: Critic-Raiding Sheriff Settles With Bloggers Who Sued Him Over His Unconstitutional Actions

    trollificus ( profile ), 14 Sep, 2017 @ 08:43am

    Re: Re: Re: Angry cop

    My oh my, so harsh. I say, after being "fired, prosecuted and serving time", in recognition of his years of fine service, the citizens if Terrebonne could help him out by placing the rock upon him. With vigor!!

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