TechnoMage 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Apple Store Refuses To Sell To American Citizens Speaking Farsi In Case They Might Send iPhone To Iran

    TechnoMage ( profile ), 21 Jun, 2012 @ 12:52am

    Re: Re: Re: ITARded

    The entire law itself needs work. Even congress has said so.

    One of the research directors at a national lab. was in violation of ITAR, and was working to correct it. So... it is VERY hard to be in full compliance.

    However, that doesn't mean Apple doesn't have to follow that law as it is now. Perhaps to be more fair about it, they should require every person to fill out an e-form stating that they will not export this item to the . This might work for CYA legally, but I don't know on how effective it would be overall. But... it's a start. Also, another idea would be to train every employee to ask where the phone is headed to every customer, same basic idea.

  • On the post: Apple Store Refuses To Sell To American Citizens Speaking Farsi In Case They Might Send iPhone To Iran

    TechnoMage ( profile ), 21 Jun, 2012 @ 12:32am

    Re: ITARded

    "The iPad was to be a gift for her cousin who lives in Iran."-From the article

    The Apple employee did the right thing here legally. Perhaps the clerk was overzealous, and possibly outside the words of the law (and I don't think they were...) but... they were definitely doing the right thing in the spirit of the law. Preventing Iran from obtaining American Technology that has a "dual use"(this is a key word) as a military object.

  • On the post: Apple Store Refuses To Sell To American Citizens Speaking Farsi In Case They Might Send iPhone To Iran

    TechnoMage ( profile ), 21 Jun, 2012 @ 12:27am

    Re:

    Actually YES, it IS Apple's job to stop the export of this product to Iran. (See my post below)

    ITAR is taken VERY SERIOUSLY. First story I found Googling about the WELL known story from Tenn about ITAR violations

    Perhaps you've never had to worry about this law, and great for you if you haven't. But for those of use who do... This is a well known topic.

    TRUST ME... ITAR is not something you want to mess with.

  • On the post: Apple Store Refuses To Sell To American Citizens Speaking Farsi In Case They Might Send iPhone To Iran

    TechnoMage ( profile ), 21 Jun, 2012 @ 12:23am

    ITARded

    This is in relation to ITAR regulations :Govt's ITAR Regulations and ITAR on Wikipedia

    Basically Apple is being over zealous of ITAR regulations, and not taking the time to identify proper persons of who can/can not purchase "dual use" technology(What an Ipad would count as).

    Iran is one of the nations that are on the _strictest_ export level ... basically you can't export ANYTHING to Iran.

    US Permanent Residents (no matter their national heritage) don't fall into this category because they count as a "U.S. Person"[list below]. And if they do take it to IRAN, it is that person's own fault, not Apple's. (dual citizenship/etc is another thing... but w/e)

    A "U.S. person" can be
    a U.S. citizen;
    a permanent resident who does not work for a foreign company, a foreign government, or a foreign governmental agency/organization;
    a political asylee;
    a part of the U.S. government, or
    a corporation, business, organization, or group that is incorporated in the United States under U.S. law.[20]

    Hope this adds some clarity to the discussion. This is not an "Anti-Muslim" policy. It is the law to stop our national enemies from benefiting from our science/technology. N.Korea, Cuba, Iran, Syria (and a few others that I can't think of off the top of my head are on that list, some are coincidentally Islamic, some aren't, that isn't a deciding factor at all, their relationship with the US is what puts you on the ITAR banned list.)

  • On the post: NSA: Figuring Out How Many US Citizens We Illegally Spied On Would Violate Their Privacy

    TechnoMage ( profile ), 19 Jun, 2012 @ 07:43am

    NSA Exempt from most US laws anyways

    My understanding is that the NSA is exempt from most US laws anyways. (I'm not kidding)

    I know for a fact that they can legally hack into other departments of the gov't because they run the military's college cyber defense contest, since they are the only ones legally able to hack into (any branch of) the military's networks.

  • On the post: Would We Prefer HTC To Be Making Cool New Products? Or Just Getting More Patents

    TechnoMage ( profile ), 19 Jun, 2012 @ 01:47am

    My HTC Dream (the first Android Phone, aka G1)

    And every HTC phone I've used has been built solid and worked well. That is what they need to focus on. and to the above commenter... HTC had to make the drivers, the hardware, and balance all the power needs, etc... of the G1 (let alone every phone after that). Look at the list of HTC vs other Devices supported by Cyanogenmod... That requires in and of itself well made products (to get people to donate their time and effort to work on custom ROMS, and quality hardware/software/drivers that can be used in other ROMS effectively)

    Personally I just hope the DoD/Fed. Gov't steps in (like they did with airplane technology/patents after WW1) and basically makes patents in the mobile sphere unenforceable (for national defense purposes)... Heck... There was an article out a while ago saying that some custom hardened(security) Android device was able to launch nuclear weapons... I would wager that it was based off some commercially available device & all of its patents.

    My G1 still works today (even has a 15 min max battery, lol)... despite the plastic case looking like it went through WW2.

    I installed Cyanogenmod after my 2yr warranty was up, and That allowed me to use my phone for a total of 3~4 years easily. (keeping up to date software wise)(not hardware wise...obviously)

    I can honestly say that the G1 had MUCH better drivers than my current Samsung Intercept (yes I know.. POS phone, but I work on top of the line Android devices all day..... So I just have this for phone calls and nothing else) And in the long run it matters which device manufacture has the best drivers (because that has an effect on performance, stability, battery usage, etc) just as much as any other aspect of a hand held.

  • On the post: Charles Carreon Sues Matthew Inman… And The Charities He's Raising Money For

    TechnoMage ( profile ), 18 Jun, 2012 @ 07:16am

    Is this what he thought???

    seriously... wow...just wow.. Suing the NWF and the ACS ... "that will get me support, and stop the 'cyber security attacks' that are being thrown at me"

    really.... I'm half tempted to learn how to run some random script kiddie attack, just to target you now... And I'm very much against black hat attacks like that...

    *the stupidity makes my head hurt*

  • On the post: Myths And Realities About Fair Use

    TechnoMage ( profile ), 01 Jun, 2012 @ 06:44pm

    Non-Commercial use

    I'm starting to wonder what changes to copyright law would happen if we made distribution of copyrighted material for non-commercial uses would do.

    I'm curious if it would stop all this BS with the RIAA/MPAA.

    BUT it would actually allow them to target people selling bootleg copies in alleys and flea markets.

  • On the post: Chinese Microblog Service Introduces Five-Strike Program To Block 'Rumors' And 'Evil Teachings'

    TechnoMage ( profile ), 01 Jun, 2012 @ 11:46am

    Re: The end of religion?

    Actually, you were trying to make a joke... but in China religion is still illegal AFAIK, though they are supposedly cutting back on the number of cases of the state going after churches.

  • On the post: Biggest Kickstarter Project Ever Surpasses $10 Million; Cuts Off Funding

    TechnoMage ( profile ), 14 May, 2012 @ 04:46pm

    Scorsese pshh... Joss Whedon & Firefly

    Q.E.D.

    THAT project would get at least 20 million, easily.

    Especially if they put things like
    1k: first 2~3 new seasons of the show signed by every member of the cast and crew
    20k: spoken role on the show.
    40k: spoken role on the show where you die an honorable death.
    50k: spoken role on the show where you die an non-brown-coat death.
    100k: A special thank you message directed towards you personally in the credits that lasts 5 seconds.

    Or whatever price points they decides for those & others.

  • On the post: 2K Sports Botches Their Perfect Game $1 Million Contest

    TechnoMage ( profile ), 14 May, 2012 @ 06:24am

    Ahh 2k Sports....

    I remember when it was NFL 2k, 2k1... when they were competitive with Madden 2k, 2k1... But that was before Madden bought out the exclusive right to the NFL branding... and basically killed any competition... Because people only wanted to play _real_ sports teams.

    From this article... It sounds like they got real players now at least.. but ehh...

  • On the post: Indie Film Maker Is Creating A DRM-Free Open HD Video Format

    TechnoMage ( profile ), 10 May, 2012 @ 06:18pm

    I haven't even read this article but...

    I can be sure that it will still violate patents... :(

  • On the post: Sen. Harry Reid: The Postal Service Must Be Saved Because 'Seniors Love Junk Mail'

    TechnoMage ( profile ), 27 Apr, 2012 @ 08:38pm

    Re: Privatization

    perhaps it is the time to look into allowing the USPS to either be a FULL part of the fed. government ...meaning that it is ran as a location for people to do fed. business such as get a federal ID, take out a loan (which other countries do), or even my personal favorite:

    Provide a P.O. Box address that is a legal mailing address such as "US Fed P.O. Address 90483409230423423" which will be shipped to my house. This provides an additional degree of anonymity to the recipient and could be an easy way for the PO to raise funds. I'd pay 100$/year for this service. Heck I'd pay another 100$/year to not allow mass mailings to be delivered there (other than magazines, or IEEE/ACM/etc journals I happen to want). Heck.. I'm sure some people would pay 25$/year to get notifications sent to their email when mail arrives, Perhaps a photo of the shipping from and to address.

    I mean... the idea just gives itself legs. The USPS already has the computational capabilities to forward mail, So this seems like an easy way to both monetize, but more importantly to improve the USPS.

    Also I don't think Reid was that far off about the mail... It is sad how some of our seniors don't get out into the community(partially b/c the same people who want to cut the USPS want to cut community funding... but that is another rant...) So they go to the mall or other places like that and just talk to store employees for hours at a time, trying to stay connected to the rest of the world. This argument does sound silly, but I've personally had elderly people do that, so it IS real. Perhaps he should have phrased it better and said that they like to see what is going on in the world and to browse through ads now that they have time... or something... but still..

  • On the post: Prolific DVD Bootlegger Is 92 Year-Old WWII Veteran

    TechnoMage ( profile ), 27 Apr, 2012 @ 03:00pm

    if the MPAA wasn't just stupid about CwF=RtB

    They would just send over 10,000s of Specially Marked DVDs without extras or anything else, just the movie to the soldiers and then politely ask this guy to stop what he is doing, and tell him that we'll do it for you, you can even help us organize how they are sent, distributed, etc... Keep the old guy in the loop and show some humanity all at the same time.

    HOWEVER, this will NEVER happen....

  • On the post: US Gov't Says Megaupload Shouldn't Be Allowed To Use Top Law Firm It Hired For Its Defense

    TechnoMage ( profile ), 13 Apr, 2012 @ 05:31pm

    This will probably be like Casey Anthony

    Even my mom knew the prosecution's "computer forensics expert" was making BS up when she was watching the trial. I was coincidentally taking a class on the topic at the time and laughed so hard at how bad they were trying to rail road her.

    Trying to rail road someone so badly, is why I believe she was found not-guilty, and will hopefully lead to MU being found not-guilty, and the MPAA/DoJ having to pay restitution.

    The DMCA notice and takedown exists for a reason, if MU had it... then it is MPAA/RIAA's fault for having MU take away the search feature.

  • On the post: TSA Freaks Out, Gets Longtime Critic Bruce Schneier Kicked Off Of Oversight Hearing

    TechnoMage ( profile ), 26 Mar, 2012 @ 05:10pm

    What kind of Congress would do that?...

    The same kind of congress that wouldn't let a female on a board discussing female health issues.

    *le sigh*

  • On the post: Hobbit Actors Stephen Fry & Ian McKellen Pay License For Hobbit Pub

    TechnoMage ( profile ), 22 Mar, 2012 @ 06:34am

    Re: It also shows a true lack of marketing acumen.

    See... The only problem with your thought is:

    You'd have to have a Human Being's common sense... Not work in the legal and/or management department of a MPAA(this case)/RIAA company.

  • On the post: What To Do When Facebook Suggests You Become Friends With Your Husband's Other Wife

    TechnoMage ( profile ), 15 Mar, 2012 @ 04:39pm

    Other than Jewish/Christian Religious Traditions...

    What is wrong with bigamy? (I'm not trolling, I've asked this before and never gotten a non-"it is wrong b/c of my religion"-answer, I ask because other cultures allow multiple spouses, etc)

    Also, This guy is just stupid... that is all.

  • On the post: Will 'Matter' Matter? Startup Proposes New Model For Long-Form Journalism

    TechnoMage ( profile ), 08 Mar, 2012 @ 09:00pm

    Investigative Journalism

    If they plan to do good high quality investigative journalism, but to also cite their sources(like a peer-reviewed-journal article) And make an interesting/informative read, I could easily see this being a high quality source of high information reading that people would be interested in.

    I don't know if there is a critical mass of people willing to buy a product like that (or what they end up producing) But...

    That is the point of REAL capitalism: ALLOW a start-up to try something, if they succeed, so be it, if they fail so be it. The real story here is IMHO how Kickstarter is showing how other business models are finally getting chances without venture capitalists.

  • On the post: UK Trying To Censor Parody Video About The 2012 Olympics

    TechnoMage ( profile ), 29 Feb, 2012 @ 03:23pm

    Actually parody isn't legal of the Olympics

    I know USA and other countries had to alter their copyright laws before the Olympics could be held in their country, I wouldn't be surprised if this take-down _IS_ legal in the UK right now.

    I thought Mike had covered this before....

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