Andrew Cook 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (32) comment rss

  • On the post: No, The FCC Is Not (Intentionally) Trying To Kill Third-Party Wi-Fi Router Firmware

    Andrew Cook ( profile ), 03 Sep, 2015 @ 09:18am

    you can head here to comment on the NPRM at the FCC website. You can also file a comment in the Federal Register, but need to do so before midnight, September 8.
    Umm, no, you can't. By some mysterious coincidence, the FCC has taken their docketing, comment filing, et cetera, Web apps offline until 8AM, September 8.

    Oh, and while I have you here...
    Our rules do permit radios to be approved as Software Defined Radios (SDRs) where the compliance is ensured based on having secure software which cannot be modified. The (FCC's) position is that versions of this open source software can be used as long as they do not add the functionality to modify the underlying operating characteristics of the RF parameters.
    It looks like that statement says they're cool with things like OpenBTS and Osmocom, which use software-defined radios to emulate cell towers, and other similar projects. But most consumer-grade WiFi base stations aren't commonly considered software-defined radios and aren't submitted for approval under SDR rules.

  • On the post: DailyDirt: Braiiins… And Brain Implants

    Andrew Cook ( profile ), 06 May, 2015 @ 06:19pm

    As long as it's not psychomotor epilepsy and the surgery isn't in the Neuro-Psychiatric Service of University Hospital...

  • On the post: Police Chief Unable To Simply Do Nothing Over Reported Teen Sexting, Brings Child Porn Charges Against Four Minors

    Andrew Cook ( profile ), 03 Apr, 2015 @ 06:08am

    Re: Re: Re:

    The court could simply order them to not use a camera-enabled phone for a number of months, which is no different to what most parents would do.

    No, the court couldn't. If the charges are sustained, they're a Class X felony, comparable with murder. The absolute minimum even a juvenile court could give is five years probation, plus lifetime sex offender registration -- including the parts about "no contact with anyone under 18" (goodbye school, friends, maybe even family!) and "no residing close to (a number of different places)" (hello apartment in the middle of nowhere!)

  • On the post: Techdirt Is Now 100% SSL

    Andrew Cook ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2015 @ 07:56am

    SHA-1

    It's time to ask CloudFlare to rekey your SSL certificate. Your private key uses the SHA-1 algorithm which, though not insecure yet, is on a steep deprecation path. Last October Chrome started marking such sites with a yellow alert symbol (similar to that used when loading JS from an insecure site), and in February Firefox followed suit. The cert is set to expire on Oct 15, which -- even if it wasn't expiring -- is the last day Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Opera would connect at all, with IE blocking access the following year.

    New certificates use SHA-2, which is based on a similar algorithm but uses much longer key fingerprints, and is therefore much harder to break.

  • On the post: EA's Latest Attempt To Destroy SimCity Franchise: Micropayments For Hammers And Nails And Supplies

    Andrew Cook ( profile ), 30 Dec, 2014 @ 04:32am

    Didn't they learn their lesson when they did this with Dungeon Keeper (http://www.metacritic.com/game/ios/dungeon-keeper)?

    Oh wait, I'm silly! EA doesn't learn!

  • On the post: Pizzeria Attempts To Trademark The Flavor Of Pizza. Yes, Seriously.

    Andrew Cook ( profile ), 30 Oct, 2014 @ 04:32am

    Patent 8,951,662: A System and Method for Producing a Distinctive Pizza, Calzone, or other Bread and Tomato Sauce Product Flavor.

  • On the post: Google Continues To Try To Appease Hollywood, Though It Is Unlikely To Ever Be Enough

    Andrew Cook ( profile ), 20 Oct, 2014 @ 05:48am

    From page 5:

    Piracy often arises when consumer demand goes unmet from legitimate supply. As services ranging from Netflix to Spotify to iTunes have demonstrated, the best way to combat piracy is with better and more convenient legitimate services. The right combination of price, convenience, and inventory will do far more to reduce piracy than enforcement can.
    Hmm, where have I heard that before? ????

  • On the post: DailyDirt: Need More Input?

    Andrew Cook ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2014 @ 10:03am

    I think I'm going to go play Steel Battalion. A game with a dedicated switch for windshield wipers, and that erases your save if you don't push the dedicated -- and shielded -- Eject button in time.

  • On the post: The Court's Own Words: Life Without Title II Has Online Discrimination, Paid Prioritization, Exclusive Deals, And Maybe Blocking

    Andrew Cook ( profile ), 15 Sep, 2014 @ 09:09am

    (Correction to my earlier comment: Tatel wrote the opinion of the court, Silberman wrote the concurrence/dissent.)

  • On the post: The Court's Own Words: Life Without Title II Has Online Discrimination, Paid Prioritization, Exclusive Deals, And Maybe Blocking

    Andrew Cook ( profile ), 15 Sep, 2014 @ 09:05am

    It's a shame the author of this article only discussed the court's opinion starting on Page 45, which explains the one little problem with the FCC's technique, and completely ignores everything else Judge Silberman mentioned before that, as well as Judge Tatel's entire concurrence/dissent. I know the message Mr. Ammori wants to push is "reclassification is the only way," but why should all the positive affirmations in these opinions be set aside and memory-holed? Isn't "the Open Internet Order is justified and good despite Verizon's objections" worth preserving?

  • On the post: How Dianne Feinstein Misled Congress About How 'Useful' NSA Spying Authorities Were In Stopping Plots

    Andrew Cook ( profile ), 04 Aug, 2014 @ 08:11am

    "The FISA applications in this case also revealed [the Constitution of the United States is being used as toilet paper by the applying agencies,] the secrecy of which is unquestionably important to maintain."

  • On the post: Techdirt Is Now 100% SSL

    Andrew Cook ( profile ), 05 Jun, 2014 @ 05:43am

    The Imgur link in a certain news story released today, about the lack of foresight of some high school pranksters, is also not HTTPS, triggering a mixed content warning there as well. Everything has to be HTTPS, including frivolities like that, before the mixed content warning goes away.