Nick 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (233) comment rss

  • On the post: South Korean Spy Agency Allegedly Tried To Influence Presidential Vote – By Posting 1.2 Million Tweets

    Nick ( profile ), 09 Dec, 2013 @ 08:13am

    But! But! Terrorism!

    *Dusts off hands*

  • On the post: Xbox, PS4 Games Hitting Swearing Gamers With Technical Fouls

    Nick ( profile ), 04 Dec, 2013 @ 02:45pm

    Re:

    Strange, you want people to

    "Just quit paying and playing. You're not going to get mega-corporations to stop at any level of spying or control: they want ALL of you."

    But you don't want people to know about this so they can "quit paying"?

  • On the post: Xbox, PS4 Games Hitting Swearing Gamers With Technical Fouls

    Nick ( profile ), 04 Dec, 2013 @ 11:57am

    Re: So either don't use it or don't complain of corporate control!

    Um, you're telling us not to do these articles that inform us of abusive "language filtering" settings. You are trying to claim that if we don't like it, to not support the behavior (by purchasing the product).

    These two arguments DO NOT MIX. If sites like this did not report on the issue (as you are so apt to demand), then people would not know about the issue, thus wouldn't be informed enough to avoid it. In this day and age, return policies are slim to nil, and by the time a customer knows about it, it is too late to refund.

    So, Blue, you should NOT be arguing against these articles. They aren't the site itself "complaining, yet still supporting" the behavior. If the site didn't "complain" (or what is called REPORTING), then nobody would know.

  • On the post: Italy Attempting To Have Copyright Enforced By Regulators, Not Courts

    Nick ( profile ), 03 Dec, 2013 @ 08:22am

    Hmm, well, it's not like the courts being allowed control over copyright has been any better...

  • On the post: DailyDirt: Rediscovering Heirloom Plants

    Nick ( profile ), 27 Nov, 2013 @ 08:36pm

    Oh, heirloom p"L"ants. Man, I haven't played WOW in a year but it still worms its way into article headlines...

  • On the post: If You Don't Care About The NSA Because You 'Haven't Done Anything Wrong,' You're Wrong

    Nick ( profile ), 27 Nov, 2013 @ 07:18am

    Re: Re:

    Interesting. My (admittedly) semi-incoherent angry rant I made up on the spot full of now-obvious declarations has at least sparked some debate.

    Yeah, I lumped the NSA in with other enforcement agencies, but it was primarily because they have the power to enforce laws they want to (selective assassinations) or pass that information to other agencies. So in my mind, they are just an enforcement agency with the capability to spy on me.

    And yes, we DO have what we call "impartial" judges and not machines judging our cases, but all too often to avoid any argument and debate they turn to the letter of the law only for judging a case. How often do you hear of a case getting a bad result, and even the judge them-self upset at it, but feel "restricted" by the law?

  • On the post: Miami Gardens Police Arrest Store Employee 62 Times For Trespassing At His Place Of Employment

    Nick ( profile ), 26 Nov, 2013 @ 10:12am

    Re:

    Well, you can hardly claim this is the government doing it. People who work on behalf of it, sure. But they were undoubtedly abusing their power, and this is in no way the official policy of the police department or the government on the whole.

    Government can have great uses, you just have to have a LOT of checks in place to stop anyone who has power from abusing it.

  • On the post: If You Don't Care About The NSA Because You 'Haven't Done Anything Wrong,' You're Wrong

    Nick ( profile ), 26 Nov, 2013 @ 04:45pm

    This is a serious problem in a black and white justice system. The problem with our society is we don't want EVERY law enforced EVERY time, because we all "bend the rules" from time to time here.

    For example, how often do we hit a stop sign in a empty intersection every day, and occasionally roll through it at 5 MPH or so? How many of us have gone even a single MPH above the speed limit? How many crossed a not-busy road not at an intersection? How many have poured a bird-bath filled by the recent rainshower out in the yard?

    What we want is a law on the book, so that when someone does something REALLY bad, we have something to charge them with. We can point to the big book of laws and say "you can't do that" and get someone that is driving recklessly.

    Unfortunately, the NSA and various other "enforcement" agencies have taken it upon themselves to enforce every law blindly and entirely. If we REALLY wanted speed limit laws enforced, why are we complaining about speed traps and not equipping every car with a GPS hooked up to the car computer? If we want a car to NEVER run a red light, why are red light cameras being shouted down in cities across the country?

    What we all need to agree on and understand, are that laws are for the benefit of making society work, but aren't ironclad. Unfortunately, I am not able to offer a solution to how we can effectively "selectively enforce" laws to everyone's agreement, but I thought that is what judges were for. Impartial observers that look at the SPIRIT of the law and determine if a persons activity breaks that. Forget the letter of the law.

  • On the post: DailyDirt: Imagine All The People, Sharing All The World…

    Nick ( profile ), 26 Nov, 2013 @ 09:05am

    Um, the middle article is (now) worthless. Less than worthless, as the actual sound file with something to listen to was taken down in March, and the same artist is selling a version of it for (inexplicably) the same cost to purchase the files separately, but it isn't the song. So to "patron" the article of it's product would leave you with 8:22 of something I can make with sound recorder (and he likely did).

    Pity they didn't see this as fair use (replacement for the actual product? Yeah right, only if you have the amazing ability to discern 226 different sounds at once).

  • On the post: Statutory Damages Strike Again: AFP & Getty Told To Pay $1.2 Million For Using Photo Found Via Twitter

    Nick ( profile ), 23 Nov, 2013 @ 09:11am

    Re: Re: Agreeing to disagree

    Yeah, great points. The court amount is an absurd amount, but anything less (and even this amount) would be mere pocket change for big corporations that stomp on little guys all the time. It's only through luck and through such blatant wrong-doing by AFP that the little guy won in this case. If even a few things changed, I wouldn't be surprised to see the fine reversed, in which case it's not a slap on the wrist, it's one ruined life.

    Why don't we make fines be based on a percent of an entity's worth? That way, the fine scales evenly no matter your means. This way you can't out-rich the rule of law if breaking a law still takes away half your possessions.

  • On the post: DailyDirt: The U.S. Postal Service

    Nick ( profile ), 20 Nov, 2013 @ 06:17pm

    Re: USPS has a handicap

    This. Exactly this. Stop blaming the Post Office's "seventh straight year of red ink" on "less letters being written" and blame it entirely on an arbitrary law passed by congress that REQUIRES the Postal Service to pre-fund, within the next 10 years, retirement benefits it would have to pay out for the next 75 years.

    In other words, it has to expect to pay out benefits to an employee it may gain 5 years down the road that retires in 30 years and have enough funding on-hand to pay for 40 years of his retirement.

    It's a good idea for companies to have retirement obligations paid for, but 75 years is WAY too far forward looking, 10 years is too short a time to gather it all up, and people should not forget why this is happening.

  • On the post: LG Smart TV Caught Collecting Data On Files Stored On Connected USB Drives

    Nick ( profile ), 20 Nov, 2013 @ 09:47am

    Why is it the companies we GIVE REAL MONEYS TO in exchange for a product try to get more out of use that they can then sell for MORE MONEYS?

    As an alternative to a smart TV, you can get a dumb TV, a set top box, and load up a FREE open source XBMC that does NOT phone home, does NOT sell your information, does NOT give you shit, and does NOT cost you anything. Oh, and it likely supports way more video formats and codecs than any smart tv out there.

    Why anyone pays big companies anything any more to be spied on just astounds me.

  • On the post: Cop Shoots Cuffed Teen In The Face With A Taser, Claims He 'Feared For His Safety' [UPDATED]

    Nick ( profile ), 20 Nov, 2013 @ 07:59am

    Uh, has anyone asked the KID what happened? So far, all we seem to have going here is what the cop says, but I don't recall reading what the kid's version of events say. Sure, can't trust the suspect, yada yada yada. Still, worth a shot.

  • On the post: Yahoo Says It Will Encrypt All Data Center Data Transfers Now Too

    Nick ( profile ), 19 Nov, 2013 @ 07:06am

    Ugh, as if Yahoo doesn't have enough on their plate, fixing the "improvement" to their mail site that has nothing but slow-downs, glitches, and complaints from day-one. Hey, let's add in encryption to it all!

  • On the post: Office Depot Sends World's Worst DMCA Notice To Reddit

    Nick ( profile ), 06 Nov, 2013 @ 01:20pm

    I can see the political cartoons now:

    A stupid looking fat man labeled OFFICE DEPOT wielding a broken club batter-style labeled DMCA, about to whack a hornets nest labeled REDDIT.

  • On the post: Awesome Stuff: Making Travel Better

    Nick ( profile ), 26 Oct, 2013 @ 10:39am

    That last item, the buzzing belt (audible buzz, or a "oohoohoo that tickles" kind of buzz?) sounds like that one ankle strap that constantly zaps you on the north side of your leg, giving you - eventually - essentially a 6th sense in a built-in compass. Why not change a belt (worn on the outside of pants so has to be strong enough to pierce) with a under-the socks/pants light shock on ankle?

  • On the post: Nintendo Shuts Down Recreation Of Original Super Mario Bros. For No Reason Other Than It Can

    Nick ( profile ), 18 Oct, 2013 @ 02:06pm

    Re: 10 years is plenty long for a video game copyright

    Notable releases in 2003:

    Wind Waker
    BF1942: Secret Weapons expansion
    Warcaft III: Frozen Throne
    Star Wars: KOTOR
    Homeworld 2
    Beyond Good & Evil
    Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
    Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
    Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
    Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire internationally

    If only games had a 10 year copyright limit.

  • On the post: Lobbyists Looking To Call Themselves Something Else: Here Are A Few Suggestions

    Nick ( profile ), 18 Oct, 2013 @ 08:46pm

    The REAL Lawmakers.

  • On the post: Nintendo Shuts Down Recreation Of Original Super Mario Bros. For No Reason Other Than It Can

    Nick ( profile ), 18 Oct, 2013 @ 12:50pm

    Re: Re:

    Haha, so you can see ZSnes's interface, but they pretend they gotta "blow" on the cartridge, or that they got a flashing color screen or whatnot? Hilarious.

  • On the post: Experience Stop And Frisk Thanks To This POV Video

    Nick ( profile ), 18 Oct, 2013 @ 12:42pm

    Re: Re:

    Yeah.

    Here, the cop was trying to confuse the issue. When the kid said he didn't do anything, the cop spoke (so quickly he misspoke multiple times) about "how do WE know you aren't guilty?"

    When the kid says the whole point of the altercation was because they talked to some random dude and this was all total harassment, the cop deflected with his hypothetical by asking that "WELL MAYBE WE GOT A CALL ABOUT A ROBBERY NEARBY AND THE DESCRIPTION GIVEN WAS FOR WHAT YOU ARE WEARING? DID YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT THAT?" Uh, gee no officer, I thought you talked to me because I talked to that one guy, simply because the first thing you asked when you stopped me was "Why were you talking to that guy?"

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