xmichaelx 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (712)

• On the post: Watchdog Stings Defense Dept., Obtains $1.2 Million In Military Gear With A Fake Cop Shop

  

  xmichaelx ( profile ), 25 Jul, 2017 @ 10:41am

  Re: Re: Dumping grounds

  You get that these weren't actually weapons, right? Or is reading too hard?

• On the post: Court Orders Man Who Sued News Orgs For Clipping His Facebook Video To Pay Everyone's Attorney's Fees

  

  xmichaelx ( profile ), 28 Jun, 2017 @ 12:22pm

  Re: Re: Re: Fair is fair

  "if someone goes to prison for setting a corporate policy that violates the law, the CEO is at the head of the line."
  
  I can think of exactly one time this happened, and it was because the CEO himself had created the policy (Enron).
  
  Otherwise, the idea criminal accountability is part of the CEO's job is ridiculous. Clearly the world doesn't work the way you think it does.

• On the post: NBA Rookie Is Just So Happy To Play For 'Team Name' In The City Of 'City'

  

  xmichaelx ( profile ), 26 Jun, 2017 @ 11:44am

  Re: Re: Laughable or pathetic, not sure which.

  lol! Which dictator did you overthrow today, internet activist Killercool?

• On the post: Colorado Voters Will Get A Chance To Prevent Preteens From Using Smartphones

  

  xmichaelx ( profile ), 22 Jun, 2017 @ 10:11am

  Blast from the past ...

  I remember when I got a computer in the early '80s and read all the stories about how kids who spent all their time at the computer would miss out on their childhood.
  
  30+ years later I'm making 6-figures and have a great life thanks mainly to that computer and all the time I "wasted" in front of it.

• On the post: Piracy Killing Hollywood So Bad That Disney Made More Money In 2016 Than Any Studio Ever

  

  xmichaelx ( profile ), 26 May, 2017 @ 12:09pm

  Re: Re: Re: Actually, numbers are big due to inflation, mergers (now includes FIVE not just Disney), and ANTI-PIRACY: they didn't just sit idle while pirates increased.

  "Study: Megaupload closure boosted Hollywood sales 10%"
  
  Actually the "study" claims 6.5% - 8.5%.
  
  And it's based on the industry's own numbers, which is something of a joke.

• On the post: French Theater Owners Freak Out; Get Netflix Booted From Cannes Film Festival

  

  xmichaelx ( profile ), 16 May, 2017 @ 11:50am

  Re: Forgot France

  Theaters need Netflix more than Netflix needs theaters. Why should Netflix change their business model just to cater to an ancient, lesser model?
  
  Netflix is doing just fine without them.

• On the post: DHS Boss Calls For More Fear, Less Encryption

  

  xmichaelx ( profile ), 20 Apr, 2017 @ 12:34pm

  Re: Re: Re:

  The people of the United States, as represented by the Senate of the 115th Congress.
  
  And no doubt you were whining like a child about how Dems in Congress were demanding hearings rather than rubber-stamping Trump's nominees.

• On the post: Comcast Paid Civil Rights Groups To Support Killing Broadband Privacy Rules

  

  xmichaelx ( profile ), 05 Apr, 2017 @ 10:46am

  Re: Re: Re: Civil Rights Groups...

  I belong to the party that puts America first.
  
  Nice non-answer.

• On the post: Miami Officials Promise To Crack Down On Airbnb Homeowners Who Spoke Up About Bad Regulations

  

  xmichaelx ( profile ), 31 Mar, 2017 @ 12:04pm

  Down with ABNB

  We had 2 ABNB houses in my neighborhood, which is a nice, quiet area near a very touristy area. Since the owners were out-of-state investors who live hours away, they rented to anyone willing to pay.
  
  Not surprisingly, both places became huge party houses. After the 20th or so time the cops were called within 2 months, the owners were shocked to find themselves being charged more in fines than they were making from renters.
  
  Fuck ABNB. They made money while our neighborhood endured months of crime, violence, and disturbances.
  
  Now requests for ABNBs are rejected in my neighborhood by the planning commission, and those who run one anyway get what they deserve.

• On the post: Judge Decides Free Speech Is Still A Right; Dumps Prior Restraint Order Against Mattress Review Site

  

  xmichaelx ( profile ), 21 Mar, 2017 @ 12:11pm

  Re: Re: Re: judges

  What appears to you to be a lack of concern almost certainly is a whoops-got-that-one-wrong-fix-it-now-move-on-to-the-other-458.

  People who say things like this must have lived a life totally free from responsibility. "Whoops" isn't an acceptable excuse for forgetting about things like free speech and prior restraint when people's lives, livelihoods, and Constitutional rights are at stake. Yes, I sometimes make minor mistakes in my job. No court ruling is a minor mistake. It's not like this clueless judge just misspelled something.

• On the post: Man Actually Arrested For Assault With A Deadly Tweet

  

  xmichaelx ( profile ), 21 Mar, 2017 @ 12:28pm

  How 'bout killing autoplay?

  I disable autoplay on my Twitter app, but it always comes back eventually. It occasionally even overrides my autoplay-killing browser extension on desktop.
  
  It's a shame Twitter itself wasn't a party to this lawsuit, since it insists on playing animations without permission.

• On the post: Mashable Says You Shouldn't Own What You Buy Because You Might Hurt Yourself

  

  xmichaelx ( profile ), 22 Feb, 2017 @ 11:54am

  Re: Sick Burn

  To whom do I take those phones for repair?
  
  Whomever you like; it's your phone.
  
  But if you want your money back for a defective product, you'd be smart to return it to the manufacturer.
  
  (But if you're trying to make an analogy, you're failing. We're not talking about defects and reimbursements; we're talking about getting a broken product -- that once worked properly -- fixed.)

• On the post: Ransomware Attack Left DC Police Surveillance Blind Shortly Before The Innauguration

  

  xmichaelx ( profile ), 07 Feb, 2017 @ 12:15pm

  "closed" circuit

  > "the city paid no ransom and resolved the problem by taking the devices offline"
  
  Why would any of this be online to begin with?

• On the post: Recent Law School Grad Sues Twitter Because Someone Made A Parody Twitter Account

  

  xmichaelx ( profile ), 04 Feb, 2017 @ 10:25am

  Re: Twitter

  So you won't be doing business with Fox News? Because that's the only place that's going to hire her, and that's the whole point of her ridiculous Twitter feed and this lawsuit.

• On the post: The Gates Foundation Emerges As A Leader In The Fight For Full Open Access And Open Data

  

  xmichaelx ( profile ), 27 Jan, 2017 @ 11:29am

  Re:

  Apples to oranges. One is a consumer product, the other is knowledge itself.
  
  Sad that Techdirt doesn't get the vast difference.
  
  There is no irony here.

• On the post: The Gates Foundation Emerges As A Leader In The Fight For Full Open Access And Open Data

  

  xmichaelx ( profile ), 27 Jan, 2017 @ 11:21am

  Re: Re:

  None of which has anything at all to do with this article.

• On the post: Cable's Congressional Allies Quickly Urge New FCC Boss To Kill Cable Box Competition Plan

  

  xmichaelx ( profile ), 26 Jan, 2017 @ 10:22am

  Re:

  This might be a bright side, if the cable companies didn't also have an ISP monopoly.

• On the post: Vice Joins Trend Of Killing News Comments Because Giving A Damn About Your Site's Community Is Just Too Hard

  

  xmichaelx ( profile ), 27 Dec, 2016 @ 12:26pm

  it's better this way

  I can honestly say that I haven't seen a worthwhile comment to an article in 15 years.
  
  Yes, some are funny. But outside of that, they are pointless. The "community" aspect that Techdirt seems to think they add is an illusion; it's really just a bunch of people talking into space. They add nothing.
  
  (And yes, this comment is just as useless as any other.)
  
  There was a time when you could go to a site devoted to article discussions and engage with like-minded, intelligent people (I'm thinking Slashdot, pre-2006), but the inmates have taken over all asylums.

• On the post: Iceland vs Iceland Trademark Spat More Clear: Iceland Foods Opposed Iceland's Trademark Application

  

  xmichaelx ( profile ), 08 Dec, 2016 @ 01:10pm

  It's BESIDE the point!

  "which is both difficult to believe and entirely besides the point"
  
  It's "beside" the point. Think about it.
  
  I can't believe I'm writing this to someone who's not a teenager on Facebook.

• On the post: Amazon Looking To Expand Prime Into Live-Streamed Major Sports

  

  xmichaelx ( profile ), 06 Dec, 2016 @ 12:05pm

  Re: Amazing

  "Amazing how the US thinks that its sugar coated sporting "products" are somehow important."
  
  It's possible that they've been led to believe this by the billions of dollars that those sports bring in.
  
  And while I'm here: Twitter has streamed NFL Thursday night games this season, and it's pretty great. The only problem is that Twitter has no discovery mechanism, so it's un-scalable without an complete UI overhaul.

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