Whatever 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Rather Than Coming Up With Brand New Taxes For Tech Companies, The EU Just Issues A Massive Fine On Apple

    Whatever ( profile ), 06 Sep, 2016 @ 07:38pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Techdirt misses again!

    No they didn't. Ireland broke their own laws by giving them a super low tax rate. Normal corporate tax rate is about 15%. Apple? About one half of one percent. Ireland doesn't want their money because they don't want Apple to leave Ireland.

    It's pretty simple: If Apple had to pay normal corporate taxes in Ireland, it wouldn't be worth playing games to get income out of the other EU countries and into Ireland. So suddenly, Apple's income in Ireland would drop by about 90%. The tax income would be reduced further than the current sweet heart deal.

    Apple is avoiding taxes in other countries to take the income in Ireland and pay almost no tax. That's against the EU charter, and thus they are being forced to pay the tax.

    If this stands, you can expect Apple's Irish companies to pretty much disappear.

  • On the post: Another 19th Century Moral Panic: Theater

    Whatever ( profile ), 06 Sep, 2016 @ 05:36pm

    Re: Re: Gotta giggle at this...

    "copying isn't theft", which leaves the reader to conclude that copying isn't a crime.

  • On the post: Do Apple Trademarks Reveal What It's About To Launch?

    Whatever ( profile ), 06 Sep, 2016 @ 05:40pm

    Apple applies for many trademarks and patents, sometimes with a point and sometimes just to be defensive. They file enough that one could bootstrap almost any possible scenario and be "right".

    Hey, maybe the guy can write for Techdirt! ;)

  • On the post: Rather Than Coming Up With Brand New Taxes For Tech Companies, The EU Just Issues A Massive Fine On Apple

    Whatever ( profile ), 06 Sep, 2016 @ 04:02am

    Re: Re: Techdirt misses again!

    "Apple Inc. was ordered to pay as much as 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) plus interest after the European Commission said Ireland illegally slashed the iPhone maker’s tax bill, in a record crackdown on fiscal loopholes that also risks inflaming tensions with the U.S."

    The first paragraph spells it out completely... Ireland illegal cut their taxes, and the EU is forcing them to pay Ireland the taxes owed PLUS interest.

    It's not a fine - it's forcing them to comply with Irish law and not permitting what is effectively selective tax dumping.

  • On the post: Rather Than Coming Up With Brand New Taxes For Tech Companies, The EU Just Issues A Massive Fine On Apple

    Whatever ( profile ), 05 Sep, 2016 @ 03:48am

    Techdirt misses again!

    Mike, with all respect, this is not a FINE. This is Ireland being ordered to take back the insane tax advantages they have given Apple. Their effective tax rate has been much lower than the standard corporate tax rates in Ireland, with some years their tax rate being less than half of one percent.

    It's the EU telling Ireland they can't cut special deals on taxes to steal business from other EU countries.

    Sorry, but you missed on this one!

  • On the post: Another 19th Century Moral Panic: Theater

    Whatever ( profile ), 05 Sep, 2016 @ 01:56am

    Gotta giggle at this...

    I always get a giggle when I read one of these articles. Not because of the content (which is often funny enough) but rather at the somewhat unsubtle attempts to create a sort of mind space for Techdirt's ideas to exist.

    The concept tag teams very well with the sloganism found on t-shirts and in other Techdirt memes. It's a rather obvious way of defining the universe and attempting to lend credence to stands that are often controversial, and sometimes just plain wrong.

    It gives Mike and the other writers here a sort of magic bag of tools for dealing with people who don't agree with them. They can write contrary opinions off as moral panics, and say that history has a long list of these panics - so clearly, any objection is just a moral panic.

    The sloganism is often an attempt to either over simplify or generalize in a fashion that creates an out for many objections. "Copying is not theft" is a perfect example. The truth is far from that simple statement, which leads the faithful to paraphase as "copying / pirating isn't illegal!" - when it fact it is. Copying may or may not be theft (it was until 2006 in the UK, when the fraud act was refined), but there are plenty of circumstances where it's not legal or violated the legal rights of others. The zippy slogan creates a sort of invisibility cloak for all sorts of illegal things, because, well... copying.

    Perhaps my post will be dismissed as a moral panic. The Techdirt audience is well prepared for that vapid dismissal.

  • On the post: Our 'Copying Is Not Theft' T-Shirt Seems To REALLY Upset Some People

    Whatever ( profile ), 01 Sep, 2016 @ 05:48am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: I want to point out

    Techdirt use to have better trolls.

    "Every word you wrote above has been copied, every concept you have tried to proclaim is copied so by your own definition you are a downright thief, a pirate, a lowlife corrupt individual. "

    Show me the copyright on it. Until then, you are just a really horrible, stupid, wasteful troll.

    "If you cannot see the utter ridiculousness of your own arguments then there is no help for you in this life."

    At least I can put an argument together. You, well... not so much.

  • On the post: Head Of Anti-Counterfeiting Lobbying Group Says He's Going To Make Counterfeit Techdirt T-Shirts

    Whatever ( profile ), 01 Sep, 2016 @ 03:03am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    "Bullshit, but that's typical of course."

    If you think about WHY they buy it, you will understand that it's not about the content, but about the delivery method ("I always wanted a rare copy on VHS-C with the spanish subtitles"). They already have the content and no real reason to buy it again just for the content.

    You know that, but you ignore it.

    "Only if the artist is utterly lacking in imagination and has no communication with their fans to work out what extra they'd like to have. "

    Of course - because they have to provide extra because the original product no longer has a market price... it's free. At that point, people are buying the extra, and not the content.

    Thanks for proving my point. Like a blind rat, sometimes you stumble over the truth.

  • On the post: Our 'Copying Is Not Theft' T-Shirt Seems To REALLY Upset Some People

    Whatever ( profile ), 01 Sep, 2016 @ 02:59am

    Re: Re: I want to point out

    Hi Paul, nice to see you are an idiot troll as always.

    "Yep, if you have nothing, just base everything on a prediction of what someone might do, according to your strawman construction of them. Much easier than addressing reality."

    Actually I address reality and point out how Techdirt would treat anyone else in this situation. They would call it "losing their shit". You can almost here Mike ranting and getting worked up over this one.

    "What does UK law have to do with this, and what is deceptive about copying something for personal use?"

    I cite UK law only to show that the term theft has been used in many ways over the past - and well, the English language seems to have come from England, right?

    Copying for personal use, providing you are copying something that is already yours, generally is a non-issue. If you give that copy away, then it's a problem. If you copy someone else's stuff and keep it for yourself, problem. It's basic.

    "Techdirt logic requires an stupid reductio ad absurdum fallacy?"

    No, it just requires idiots like you to try to avoid the point.

    "yet, search Amazon and you'll find huge amounts of public domain content for sale that proves you to be a liar."

    Liar? Gee Paul, I know you are an idiot, but stop trying to prove it. When you buy something that is otherwise free, generally you are paying for the DELIVERY method used, and not the content itself.

    Would you care to cite some examples, or are you just talking off the top of your head again?

    "Would you like to state your points again, this time based on objective reality?"

    You wouldn't know objective reality from the hole in your ass. Seriously, stop making yourself look stupid. I know you desperately want to troll me, but how about dealing with the points instead of redirecting and avoiding? Mike isn't going to hire you to write here, they already have Karl doing the village idiot routine!

  • On the post: Security Startup MedSec Shorts St. Jude Medical Stock To Punish It For Flimsy Pacemaker Security

    Whatever ( profile ), 01 Sep, 2016 @ 02:07am

    Trading a stock in any manner with inside information is right on the edge of legality all the time. Knowing a problem exists and taking stock position that would benefit from it's disclosure would appear to be a perfect example.

    It certainly makes the MedSec look like scumbags profiting from the failings of others, rather than just reporting things as they find them. Making the report to the FDA without taking a stock position would be the moral thing to do.

    Then again, as is often said around here, morals are not the issue.

  • On the post: Our 'Copying Is Not Theft' T-Shirt Seems To REALLY Upset Some People

    Whatever ( profile ), 01 Sep, 2016 @ 01:37am

    I want to point out

    I want to point out that, any other site making pro-copyright posts like this would be branded here as "losing their shit". It's almost farcical to see what lengths you will go to in order to claim that copying (without permission) isn't theft.

    While pirating (aka copying without permission) does not deprive the artist of the original, it does take away certain rights that the artist had, namely the right to license it as they see fit (and to deny you a license if they so wish).

    It's clearly impossible to deny the idea that the end result of piracy is you having something, where before you had nothing. Morally, it's not hard to draw the conclusion that you have stolen something, even if it is just a copy. At best, your copy was fraudulently obtained.

    It should be noted that until 2006 or so, the UK legal system treated fraud as theft - obtaining something via deceptive practices.

    Now, let's apply some standard Techdirt logic to things here. If everyone copies the original instead of purchasing it (or not being able to have it because the artist / creator has decided only to give it to a few friends), then the value of that work is diminished greatly. Instead of being an exclusive work shared by only a few, it's a widely pirated piece available to everyone. What do you think the real value if the artists grants one more copy to someone at that point? Piracy has absolutely stolen the economic value out of the product. Infinite number of copies, market price zero. Having a copyright on something because meaningless, value is lost, therefore yes, something has been stolen. Perhaps each copy steals such a minute amount that nobody seems to notice, but there is a point where enough pirated copies would reduce the value of the artists work (economics wise).

    So there is theft, but the value of the theft is perhaps very small when calculated by itself.

  • On the post: Head Of Anti-Counterfeiting Lobbying Group Says He's Going To Make Counterfeit Techdirt T-Shirts

    Whatever ( profile ), 31 Aug, 2016 @ 02:17am

    Re: Re:

    Actually, mostly it's not enough time. I have guys handy, any color gildan shirts, the thicker ones and not the skinny ones, and he can screen them pretty much the same day - or print them as one offs on a really neat sort of dot matrix printer contraption that will turn out one at a time shirts if need be.

    If you want to place an order for 1000 shirts and send me a 75% deposit, I would be more than glad to have them run. Oh, and FOB here, which is a long way from there.

    Let me know, oh anonymous troller :)

  • On the post: New Zealand Court Grants Kim Dotcom's Request To Have Extradition Hearing Livestreamed On YouTube, Despite DOJ Protests

    Whatever ( profile ), 30 Aug, 2016 @ 10:17pm

    Re: Re: Re: operating companies in various countries and living in another one altogether...

    Not really. All that is needed is (a) proof of knowledge of infringing materials, (b) proof that they did nothing to mitigate the problems, and even (c) proof that they facilitated piracy with their "fast upload" feature that basically allowed people to re-upload something in seconds, even after that file had been hit with a DMCA.

    Kim Dotcom realizes now the errors made, which is why his second file storage site went to extreme lengths to avoid all of these situations. No top lists, no indexed internal links, and so on.

    I also believe that his external sites (owned by his other companies) were encouraging people to the site with promises of pirated material.

    Knowing that your site is filled with pirated material and profiting from it is a crime - and moving the money from the illegal enterprise to other held companies to get the money away from the corrupt enterprise is money laundering. The DOJ has already shown the NZ courts enough for them to tell Kim he needs to go to the US. Now it's just the endless delay tactics of appeal, appeal, appeal...

  • On the post: Court: Okay For Trial To Move Forward Against ESPN For Tweeting JPP's Medical Chart

    Whatever ( profile ), 30 Aug, 2016 @ 10:55pm

    Sympathy

    It's hard to find any sympathy for any of the people / companies involved here. Idiot blows off his own hand, I have little sympathy for someone seemingly that stupid. Whoever gave / sold / profited from giving the medical records to EPSN is a douche nozzle and gets no sympathy. ESPN gets even LESS sympathy, because they double douched in paying for the records and then making them public pretty much in direct violation of doctor patient confidentiality

    ESPN is the biggest douche of all here, so it's not hard to see the courts finding against them. I am just surprised actually that no criminal charges are pending.

  • On the post: Head Of Anti-Counterfeiting Lobbying Group Says He's Going To Make Counterfeit Techdirt T-Shirts

    Whatever ( profile ), 30 Aug, 2016 @ 10:23pm

    ... and I never had sex with that woman - Bill Clinton

  • On the post: New Zealand Court Grants Kim Dotcom's Request To Have Extradition Hearing Livestreamed On YouTube, Despite DOJ Protests

    Whatever ( profile ), 29 Aug, 2016 @ 10:58pm

    Re: operating companies in various countries and living in another one altogether...

    Umm, one problem with your analogy: Apple and Microsoft (and Google, dare I say) have core businesses that are LEGAL, not illegal. That the source income is illegal is key to the discussion.

  • On the post: New Zealand Court Grants Kim Dotcom's Request To Have Extradition Hearing Livestreamed On YouTube, Despite DOJ Protests

    Whatever ( profile ), 29 Aug, 2016 @ 09:30pm

    Re: Re:

    It's actually pretty easy. Kim set up a number of companies around the world (outside of the jurisdiction where MEga was located) in order to "sell" memberships and for money to flow to those companies as commission away from Mega itself. The idea was to make it so that Mega itself turned lots of money but was not profitable, so that if it ever got shut down, Kim could keep the ill gotten gains. He never expected or even considered that the US would go after the whole ball of wax.

    Anyway, you need to read number 19:

    19. Receiving and transporting any money, valuable securities or other property knowing the same to have been unlawfully obtained.

    Since it's easy to show that Mega as a company and Kim as an individual were aware of the pirate material on their sites (see emails, top lists, and the like) and that selling access to it was an illegal act, then the rest follows.

    If Kim honestly believed Mega was entirely legal and above board, he wouldn't have gone to these lengths to try defeat the legal system by operating companies in various countries and living in another one altogether. The only reason such a system would be set up would be to create a legal buffer between the illegal acts (pirated file hosting and distribution) and the money it makes.

  • On the post: Clinton Campaign Happily Using Strong End-To-End Encryption To Communicate; Will They Let The Rest Of Us Use It Too?

    Whatever ( profile ), 29 Aug, 2016 @ 07:05pm

    "Hillary Clinton has been somewhat hard to pin down on the encryption debate -- because she's done what she's done with plenty of issues, generally spoken in broad platitudes without ever making a statement that allows her position to actually be clear. "

    She could be a writer for Techdirt, you guys are pretty good at keeping things muddy as hell!


    Seriously don't worry about Hillary's position. It's pretty typical political stuff: The great good would be to make it so criminals can't hide their action so we need to break encryption, but since I don't want anyone to know what we are talking about we will use encryption for now.

    It's about the here and now versus the theoretical future. Good politicians keep a foot in each.

  • On the post: New Zealand Court Grants Kim Dotcom's Request To Have Extradition Hearing Livestreamed On YouTube, Despite DOJ Protests

    Whatever ( profile ), 29 Aug, 2016 @ 06:34pm

    Kim has pretty much lost the legal battle. Extradition is pretty much a foregone conclusion here, and now Kim is down to trying to score some small win in the court of public opinion.

    What he is hoping is that some statement made by the US during this hearing will go viral, and somehow magically make him innocent of running one of the largest repositories of pirated material at the time it was shut down.

    My guess is his next stop will be 71 Symonds St in Auckland...

  • On the post: One More Time With Feeling: Net Neutrality Didn't Hurt Broadband Investment In The Slightest

    Whatever ( profile ), 26 Aug, 2016 @ 08:48am

    Re: Re: Fail

    I have not hatred here. Karl writes some reasonable articles, but often has way too much hatred for the companies themselves. it makes it harder for him to understand their logic and the ways they want to work.

    Thanks for trolling!

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