trollificus 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: San Francisco Legislators Dodging Public Records Requests With Self-Destructing Text Messages

    trollificus ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2016 @ 02:05pm

    Re:

    I expect they'll take the IRS "Sry, dog ate our homework. All of it." Defense and expand it to an "Invisible dog ate our records before they were even generated. So...no records." Defense.

  • On the post: San Francisco Legislators Dodging Public Records Requests With Self-Destructing Text Messages

    trollificus ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2016 @ 03:17pm

    It's easy to be cynical. It's a laborious task to be as widely and darkly cynical as is necessary to accurately model the real world.

    TechDirt readership gets top marks for not being surprised that this is going on with the progressive "good guys". Not one single comment on the lines of "This is what I'd expect from the Rethuglicans!" Good. Cynical and informed enough to realize that there are no good guys in that game.

    (But that's the value to politicians of emotional-but-irrelevant "wedge issues". To make people feel strong identification with one as opposed to another of two politicians, when both would, if in power, prefer rule and self-interest over "leadership" or "public service".)

  • On the post: Powerman5000 Takes To Facebook To Complain About Similar Sounding Final Fantasy Song, Fans Rebut Them

    trollificus ( profile ), 16 Mar, 2016 @ 09:41pm

    Re: Not quite

    Uh...George Pal directed the movie based on the 1933 novel by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer. It's not his.

  • On the post: Guy Who Pretends He Invented Email Whines At Every Journalist For Writing Obit Of Guy Who Actually Helped Create Email

    trollificus ( profile ), 09 Mar, 2016 @ 07:17am

    Re: Re: Re: Microsoft

    Conceded: Windows was, mostly has been (Win2K, 98 eventually and WinXP almost from the get-go, were okay), and currently is, a piece of awful, insecure bloatware; acquired by dubious means and promulgated through pure evil business practices.

    Contested: That said, it was OPEN (both bug (security) and feature (user access!)), and, by whatever evile means 'twas done, established a standard OS which accelerated the march of home computing. This was a good thing, even if it was only ever a side-effect of making them filthy rich.

    So yeah, the definition of "success" is even more complex than a simple "great product"/"got rich" dichotomy.

  • On the post: Guy Who Pretends He Invented Email Whines At Every Journalist For Writing Obit Of Guy Who Actually Helped Create Email

    trollificus ( profile ), 09 Mar, 2016 @ 04:15am

    More than creating a clever piece of software at an early age, I will credit him with having a mountain of cynical brass. Also, of course, with a paltry character.

    But I thought those things when I first heard of him. The latter aspect (lack of a human soul) is only now reinforced though, with this ugly, racist, disrespecting of a dead man.

    Self-aggrandizement, seeking undeserved credit, those are not that uncommon, here or in India. Nor is doubling down on a lie when caught out. Cynically playing the race card for personal gain and attacking the recently deceased? Nah, that's reserved for the lowest of the low.

    And if I were one of his Indian compatriots, I'd be backpedaling away from this guy top speed and claiming "He must've absorbed the decadent values of the West." (but then, the BJP is somewhere to the right of Marie Le Pen and racist as the KKK)

  • On the post: Want To Report A Dangerous Drug Dealer? Just Enter Your Personal Info Into The DEA's Unsecured Webform

    trollificus ( profile ), 29 Feb, 2016 @ 12:50pm

    Re: They wouldn't do that

    Hrrrmmm...the cynicism strong with this one is.

  • On the post: Want To Report A Dangerous Drug Dealer? Just Enter Your Personal Info Into The DEA's Unsecured Webform

    trollificus ( profile ), 29 Feb, 2016 @ 12:47pm

    Re: shits given

    In fairness to the decision-makers at the DEA, how likely and how dire are they to expect consequences to be when the IRS basically used the "Dog ate our homework." defense and the DOJ and Congress just went "Darn that dog!'

    Kind of Levyesque? "Do what thou with shall be the whole of the law."

  • On the post: Want To Report A Dangerous Drug Dealer? Just Enter Your Personal Info Into The DEA's Unsecured Webform

    trollificus ( profile ), 29 Feb, 2016 @ 12:38pm

    Re: Re: Brilliant

    Mail filtered to the Spam folder is the same as not received...FOR MY GRANDMOTHER. Not for a federal agency, right?

    Seriously, there aren't procedures to follow, protocols to implement, some vague internal understanding that there are, you know, industry standards and best practices??

    More of a "Give the contract to the bosses' company, they can hack together something." process, apparently.

    shrugs The gov't doesn't even bother to pretend anymore.

  • On the post: Facebook Prude-Patrol Nixes Another Work Of Art By A Feminist, Entirely Proving Her Decades-Old Point

    trollificus ( profile ), 11 Feb, 2016 @ 04:50am

    So...are we to really be against censorship, or just censorship that affects works by right-thinking creators? Because it sure seems a point of emphasis here that this work is by a FEMINIST, conveying an approved message ridiculing/attacking/criticizing the patriarchy, (this=rightthink) and therefore the very kind of thing we especially want to protect

    Do we really need to appeal to the valorization of victimhood, or apply some "Oppressed Group Membership Scorecard" to work against censorship, when it can be done from first principles and logic?

  • On the post: Administration Pursues Charges Against Another Whistleblower

    trollificus ( profile ), 28 Jan, 2016 @ 11:46am

    Re: Lies, lies, and damn lies

    Actually, Snowden was well aware of the fates of some whistleblowers whose unfortunate cases were of recent memory when he was deciding how to proceed. They were attacked, Government service careers ruined, etc., etc.

    Look up Thomas Drake's story and see if that wouldn't scare you off even considering "proper channels".

  • On the post: Administration Pursues Charges Against Another Whistleblower

    trollificus ( profile ), 28 Jan, 2016 @ 11:29am

    Re: A ruling body that goes after people out of spite...

    "...should be making people revolt instead of complacently taking it up the ass."

    Amazing, isn't it? How can people be so naive, clueless...stupid?? I mean, they see this happening and instead of concluding the obvious, that it's the party in power, the president in office, and the permanent bureaucracy in DC, it must be a mysterious "someone running things behind the curtain."

    Yep, pretty clueless "they" are, I'd say.

  • On the post: UK Government Spends Three Years And Large Sums Of Money To Avoid Revealing The Number '13'

    trollificus ( profile ), 28 Jan, 2016 @ 09:53am

    Re: Re: Re: From the Government

    Haha.

    Or are you really confused when someone finds it interesting that governments of both proud democracies are comparable in their total lack of commitment to honesty and transparency?? (their clear statements to the contrary notwithstanding)

    I don't think it's inappropriate to note, in the context of this story, how Obama's promise to have "the most transparent administration in history" is possibly the farthest-from-honored campaign promise made in my long lifetime.

    OTOH, to misrepresent the comment as somehow blaming Obama for the UK govs' actions...that's either the weakest defence of Obama's record ever, or just stupid.

  • On the post: NYPD Tells Public Record Requester It Will Cost $36,000 To Process A 'Sampling' Of Body Camera Footage

    trollificus ( profile ), 28 Jan, 2016 @ 09:34am

    Re: Re:

    Dang, the way cops implement their shoot-on-sight dog-killing policy, I'd assumed they were totally cat people.

  • On the post: Administration Pursues Charges Against Another Whistleblower

    trollificus ( profile ), 28 Jan, 2016 @ 12:03pm

    Why, we just need to vote for a candidate who gives us hope that they'll change things!

    Oh hell, I can't really be so partisan...because:
    If you think the Dems are the good guys in matters like this, you're NOT part of the solution. If you think the answer is to put Republicans in office, you're NOT part of the solution (and a certified moe-ron, to boot).

    We have been so sadly and badly misgoverned* for so long that there is no solution that involves either of the duopolistic, crony-kleptocratic parties we now have. *sigh*

    *-that's misleading. If the goal were misgovernment, we should have to say it has been achieved very well.

  • On the post: Venezuela Sues US Website Owners For 'Racketeering' And 'Cyberterrorism' To Try To Shut Them Up About Exchange Rates

    trollificus ( profile ), 24 Dec, 2015 @ 07:58am

    Re: Re:

    Yes, but they are mistaking congruence for identity.

    A=US courts' interest in protecting the economic well-being of high dollar donors to US politicians.

    B=US courts' interest in protecting the economic well=being of a rabidly anti-US foreign government.

    Safe to say...A /= B. Matter of fact, this level of thinking on the part of the Venezuelan government is consistent with the quality of thought process that would result in a failing currency and economy.

    As pointed out above, the new government could hardly be more incompetent or delusional...though democracy kind of ends when the people elect a party that will refuse to peacefully cede power and the citizens of Venezuela may have done that.

  • On the post: Venezuela Sues US Website Owners For 'Racketeering' And 'Cyberterrorism' To Try To Shut Them Up About Exchange Rates

    trollificus ( profile ), 24 Dec, 2015 @ 07:42am

    Re: Re: There is one factor being overlooked.

    All very true, however...the existence of malfeasance on the part of the US govt over the years in South America does NOT preclude the possibility of gross mismanagement of the Venezuelan economy by the Rev Party government. From what I have read over the years, this seems quite plausible.

    Indeed, given Chavez' use of hysterical paranoid anti-US rhetoric to gain votes from the Venezuelan equivalent of the Fox News crowd, the ABSENCE of any claim in the complaint makes such machinations even more unlikely.

    No, this time, it's pretty much as it appears: The Rev Party tried to sustain itself in power by handouts and government spending that relied on oil revenues with never a concession to the real possibility of price (and revenue) decrease. A government running its' economic policy on wishful thinking, propaganda and censorship doesn't need US meddling to become destabilized.

  • On the post: Iowa College Grants Hecklers More Veto Power, Resulting In Summoning Of Campus Police To Offending 'Free Speech Wall'

    trollificus ( profile ), 05 Mar, 2015 @ 07:51pm

    Re:

    Are you serious?? Trolling? Stupid?

    Because, in the game of "Understand This Article", you have whiffed, airballed, and failed with extreme prejudice.

    But good job proving liberals are sometimes as stupid as those they call stupid. Unless you're trolling, in which case, just 'good job'.

  • On the post: The FCC's Historic Day: Voting Yes For Net Neutrality, Voting No On Protectionist State Telecom Law

    trollificus ( profile ), 26 Feb, 2015 @ 03:45pm

    Re:

    Sadly, the "all cynical, all the time" stance (as, your post) almost always proves correct.

    For those celebrating the FCC vote seemingly for no other reason than that it discomfits corporation and Republicans, I'd ask you to review previous expansions of government power and judge the results (hint: DHS, DEA, NSA, National Zinc, Weasel and Hydrogen Reserve, etc).

    I have the uncomfortable feeling these are the same folks who, while proclaiming to champion reason, logic and fact, disregarded all precedent and historical fact in committing to the absolute belief that Obama was that rara avis, the "honest Chicago politician".

    Not saying Obama's really worse than any other politician in regard to lying, misleading, flowery, obscurantist pronouncements. Just pointing out that he has PROVEN to be no exception to our well-founded doubts about the veracity of politicians in general.

  • On the post: The FCC's Historic Day: Voting Yes For Net Neutrality, Voting No On Protectionist State Telecom Law

    trollificus ( profile ), 26 Feb, 2015 @ 03:24pm

    Re:

    I'll take your word on that whole "straw man" thing. You seem to have a firm grasp, if not an actual death grip on the concept and use thereof.

  • On the post: Seat Belt Violation Greeted With Spike Strip, Smashed Window And Tasering

    trollificus ( profile ), 12 Oct, 2014 @ 06:15am

    Re: "SEAT BELTS SAVE LIVES"

    Well...he WAS added to the "Citizens Tasered For Making Cops Uncomfortable While Bullying" statistic.

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