xmichaelx’s Techdirt Profile

On the post: Yankees' Dumb Ticket Policy Turns Soccer Match At Yankee Stadium Into A Ghost Town

xmichaelx ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2016 @ 12:54pm

Re: Re: [8 minutes before warm up]

There seems to be a lot more people than I'd expect for a local soccer team.

On the post: Tesla Fan 'Incivility' Forces Indiana To Back Off Direct Sales Ban… For Now

xmichaelx ( profile ), 26 Feb, 2016 @ 05:53pm

Another one

Another "small government" Republican.

On the post: NYPD Says It Has No Record Of Asking Disney To Use Copyright To Shut Down Times Square Characters, Despite Public Admission

xmichaelx ( profile ), 19 Feb, 2016 @ 03:19pm

"flaunting the First Amendment"

The word is "flauting."

On the post: ESPN Gets Nielsen To Revise Its Data To Suggest Cord Cutting's No Big Deal

xmichaelx ( profile ), 04 Feb, 2016 @ 02:13pm

Re: Re: Don't forget, ESPN's content isn't doing them any favors

"They should fire every web designer they have and start over with the understanding that the entire Internet is based on text."

I guarantee you that the designers don't like it any more than you do.

This is what happens when people who don't know anything about the web are put in charge of making website decisions.

On the post: The Shittiness Of IP Law Has Taught The Public That Everything Is Stealing And Everyone Is Owed Something

xmichaelx ( profile ), 29 Jan, 2016 @ 11:48am

2 opposite ideas

It's strange that Cushing doesn't point out (that I saw, anyway) that St. Felix is making 2 suggestions that can't work together.

1) Allow people to use songs in their videos as they wish, and
2) Lock down language so that the first to use a word makes money on it.

Either you want the freedom and cultural enrichment that comes with sane IP laws, or you want everyone to pay for everything they say, tweet, or use in a video.

St. Felix can't have it both ways.

On the post: Lawyer: 16-Year-Old Shouldn't Be Upset By Explicit Photos Cop Sent Her Because She's Probably Seen Penises On The Internet

xmichaelx ( profile ), 27 Jan, 2016 @ 01:41pm

age of consent

As others have pointed out, it's hard to get really upset about this considering the age of consent in many states is 16.

Conduct unbecoming? Absolutely.
Lost job? Absolutely.
Is the guy a slimeball? Absolutely.

Jail time? That's a stretch.

On the post: 56% Would Drop ESPN In A Heartbeat If It Meant Saving $8 A Month On Cable

xmichaelx ( profile ), 20 Jan, 2016 @ 11:57am

I'd do it for 10-cents

I watch football every weekend, but would happily get rid of ESPN even it only saved me a negligible amount.

I watch games at the local bar, as god intended. ESPN deserves none of my money.

On the post: John Legere Just Can't Stop The Misleading Bullshit About BingeOn

xmichaelx ( profile ), 12 Jan, 2016 @ 11:49am

Re: Re: Re:

"So I watch most online video in SD, unless it's something where there are smaller details that are part of the plot"

This may shock you, but not everyone watches video solely for entertainment. If you need a screencast (which makes up about 50% of my online video viewing), 480p vs. 720p is the difference between a blurry mess and readable text.

On the post: Pioneer In Internet Anonymity Hands FBI A Huge Gift In Building Dangerous Backdoored Encryption System

xmichaelx ( profile ), 06 Jan, 2016 @ 12:32pm

They should just use it.

I believe that the FBI should immediately begin using Chaum's awesome new security tool. I'm sure it's totally unhackable and does exactly what he claims, and what better way to test it than in a real world scenario?

I, on the other hand, will stick with real encryption.

On the post: Democratic National Committee Punishes Bernie Sanders For Their Own Technical Mistake; Sanders Threatens To Sues

xmichaelx ( profile ), 18 Dec, 2015 @ 11:59am

Seriously flawed analogy

'“It’s like if you found the front door of a house unlocked and someone decided to go into the house and take things that didn’t belong to them.”'

That's not at all what it sounds like, based on the reports I've read. (And I don't care at all about either candidate.)

Here's a better analogy:

You (Sanders) and your neighbor (Clinton) live in a duplex that shares a front door to an antechamber that houses the doors to both of your abodes. You find that the front door lock is broken, so you test the front doors to your and your neighbors house in order to assess the extent to which everyone's security has been compromised. You find that the locks on all 3 doors are broken, so you report it to your landlord (Schultz).

And then your landlord gets pissed at you, locks you into your house, and throws away the key.

On the post: AP's Ted Bridis Fact Checks His Own Bogus Claims, Now Being Repeated By Others, Admitting They're False

xmichaelx ( profile ), 10 Dec, 2015 @ 10:29am

FIX THE NAME, PLEASE!

In your previous article about this, you called him "Tom Bridis." Now in this article, you call him "Ted Birdis."

THE GUY'S NAME IS TED BRIDIS!!!

It's almost like someone at Techdirt doesn't want these articles to come up when you google the correct name.

On the post: USMC Entertainment Liaison Not About To Let The Marines' Good Name Be Dragged Down By 'Low-Culture' Reality TV

xmichaelx ( profile ), 08 Dec, 2015 @ 01:09pm

To quote another proud television Marine:
"SURPRISE, SURPRISE, SURPRISE!"

On the post: Saudi Arabia Says It Will Sue Twitter Users Who Compare It To ISIS; Apparently Skips The NY Times

xmichaelx ( profile ), 30 Nov, 2015 @ 12:46pm

Relevant image

http://www.detroityes.com/mb/attachment.php?attachmentid=3040&stc=1&d=1252785821

On the post: TV Industry Starts Running Fewer Ads To Combat Netflix, Cord Cutting

xmichaelx ( profile ), 19 Nov, 2015 @ 02:27pm

Netflix or GTFO

If you want some of my money, put your shows and movies on Netflix. Hell, offer Netflix Premium and triple the price if you want -- I'll happily pay it. Otherwise you get nothing.

Because 100% of what I watch that's not on Netflix I get using ... umm ... alternative methods.

On the post: Leaked Comcast Docs Confirm What Everybody Knew: Broadband Usage Caps Are About Profit, Not Congestion

xmichaelx ( profile ), 10 Nov, 2015 @ 02:38pm

I thought the tubes were clogged

Remember when Congress needed to protect Big Internet from net neutrality because the series of tubes were getting clogged?

I'm shocked to hear that that was all bullshit. /s

On the post: Wikileaks Releases Final Intellectual Property Chapter Of TPP Before Official Release

xmichaelx ( profile ), 12 Oct, 2015 @ 12:23pm

Fallen?

"2. The Parties also acknowledge the importance of informational materials, such as publicly accessible databases of registered intellectual property rights that assist in the identification of subject matter that has fallen into the public domain."

Things don't "fall" into the public domain; they are *elevated to* the public domain.

On the post: LMFAO The Beer Survives LMFAO The Band's Lawyers To Keep Its Name

xmichaelx ( profile ), 07 Oct, 2015 @ 12:10pm

#titlegore

On the post: Angry Couple Using Trademark To Bully Oyster Bar Over Menu Item Names

xmichaelx ( profile ), 11 Sep, 2015 @ 01:40pm

First sentence ...

"Trademark is for a lot of things (not it isn't), but one of the things it is definitely not for is for jilted ex-business contacts to fight with 3rd parties because they are butt-hurt about not being able to pay the rent."

This sentence is so packed with errors and nonsensical that I wonder if it's a result of round-tripping with an automatic translator.

On the post: Can You Really Be A Copyright Expert If You Think Copyright Should Last Forever?

xmichaelx ( profile ), 04 Sep, 2015 @ 05:01pm

It's actually a good idea

It would be great to treat intellectual property the same as physical property.

That would mean that, if you want to retain ownership, you'd have to pay periodic taxes on your works. Failure to do so means losing ownership to the government.

It's not unlike my favorite solution to the IP fiasco: Charge people $100 every 10 years for copyright renewal. Those works that don't get paid for are released into the public domain.

On the post: The Full Counter-Argument To Game Studios Claiming A Need For DRM: The Witcher 3

xmichaelx ( profile ), 31 Aug, 2015 @ 11:39am

Re: Well, they sold 6 million copies

You're forgetting the millions being made on merchandising and all the inevitable spin-offs that accompany a successful game launch.

Like movies, the game itself often isn't the primary money-maker.

xmichaelx 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (712)