Yakko Warner 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (227)

• On the post: Tons Of Companies Sued In Class Action Lawsuit Over Uploading Phone Addressbooks

  

  Yakko Warner ( profile ), 21 Mar, 2012 @ 08:42am

  The way some do it could count as a TOS violation

  I was "invited" to join a gaming site called PlayFire.com. During the sign-up process, their site asked me for my Windows Live ID and password, so they could invite my friends to the site. That's how I got the invite in the first place -- someone created an account on their site, in the process giving them their username and password, with which PlayFire logged in as my friend and sent messages to all her friends.
  
  I saw that form and closed my browser. Giving your username and password to some third party is a very basic "NO" when it comes to security.
  
  LinkedIn lets you "find friends" on a variety of networks. If you use Hotmail or Yahoo, their app takes you to that provider's site to log in and explicitly grant access to LinkedIn. (I think one of them lets you select specific contacts to share, and the other lets you set a time limit on the access; both of them send you a link you can use to immediately revoke LinkedIn's access to your address book.)
  
  If you choose Gmail, however, LinkedIn asks for your Google login and password in a form on LinkedIn's site, so it can log in as you to get your contacts.
  
  I presume this is because Hotmail and Yahoo provide an API for this, and Google does not (or LinkedIn hasn't implemented it yet). [Note this is based on my trying it out a year or so ago; things may have changed since then.]
  
  No site should ever directly ask for your login credentials to another site. That's just asking for trouble.

• On the post: Why Do The Labels Continue To Insist That 'Your Money Is No Good Here?'

  

  Yakko Warner ( profile ), 20 Mar, 2012 @ 10:15am

  Re: Re: Re: Re:

  I think he was replying to AC's assertion that CD stores are out of business due to piracy -- although admittedly it's not *that* easy to tell when your only reference is how far a comment is indented once there are a half dozen comments to another reply above it.

• On the post: Does Anyone Who Develops New Products In Hollywood Ask 'Would I Ever Actually Use This?'

  

  Yakko Warner ( profile ), 14 Mar, 2012 @ 01:15pm

  Other uses for that question

  Perhaps before (re-re-re-)making a movie, they could ask themselves, "Would I ever actually watch this?"
  
  If the answer is "not in a million years" perhaps it's time to move on to filming movies that consumers actually want.

• On the post: Slow Down TSA Lynch Mob: That Naked Scanner Expose Video Is Exaggerated & Old News

  

  Yakko Warner ( profile ), 08 Mar, 2012 @ 11:26am

  It wasn't the sewing kit...

  Of course, it seems worth pointing out that a sewing kit is not a dangerous object?

  
  
  The sewing kit was just what he bought to supply his "nefarious plot", what he used to sew the extra pocket to the side of this shirt. The "dangerous object" was the metal box he smuggled through security.
  
  Although I had much the same reaction: let him try sneaking a gun, knife, or cupcake in his side pocket and see how far he gets.

• On the post: Mobile Carriers Don't Want To Give Up SMS Without A Fight

  

  Yakko Warner ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2012 @ 01:03pm

  I don't have texting

  T-Mobile's contract family plans do not include texting, so I don't pay for it. They used to give you a dozen or so messages a month for free, then they threw those away and started charging a nickle, then a dime, and now twenty cents to send or receive every message. If I send a message to my wife, it costs me nearly as much as it would to write a letter and send it through the USPS. How does that make any sense?

• On the post: WaPo's Kaplan Scolded For Demanding $300 From Student Trying To Sell One Of Its Books On eBay

  

  Yakko Warner ( profile ), 01 Mar, 2012 @ 12:25pm

  Re:

  A lot more than that; the video game industry still isn't listening.

• On the post: Key Techdirt SOPA/PIPA Post Censored By Bogus DMCA Takedown Notice

  

  Yakko Warner ( profile ), 27 Feb, 2012 @ 11:08am

  Re: Re: armovore

  Or arms.
  
  They're just trying to make the web 'armless for their clients.

• On the post: Can We Count The Ways In Which Lowe's 'License Agreement' For Linking To Its Site Is Insane?

  

  Yakko Warner ( profile ), 07 Feb, 2012 @ 02:41pm

  Did someone say Google Bomb?

  What would be really amusing is, if, as a result of all these links that we're posting, the top result in Google for Lowes returns this page showing how clueless Lowes is.

• On the post: Can We Count The Ways In Which Lowe's 'License Agreement' For Linking To Its Site Is Insane?

  

  Yakko Warner ( profile ), 07 Feb, 2012 @ 02:37pm

  Re: Somebody at Lowes came up with this?

  I don't know; it doesn't make a whole lot less sense than our Congressmen trying to legislate how the internet should work, without any real clue how the internet does work.
  
  Which, I guess, doesn't exactly invalidate your argument...

• On the post: The End Of The Global Internet? Google's Blogger Starts Using Country-Specific Domains To Permit Local Censorship

  

  Yakko Warner ( profile ), 01 Feb, 2012 @ 04:01pm

  Re: Re: Publishing is global, viewing is local?

  Depends. If Google identifies your IP as Australian, it may 304 you from whatever.blogspot.com.uk back to whatever.blogspot.com.au. I would expect them to do this.
  
  Of course, there will always be ways around that to mask your IP's location (proxies and VPNs).

• On the post: The End Of The Global Internet? Google's Blogger Starts Using Country-Specific Domains To Permit Local Censorship

  

  Yakko Warner ( profile ), 01 Feb, 2012 @ 02:01pm

  Publishing is global, viewing is local?

  A ccTLD, when it appears, corresponds with the country of the reader?s current location.

  
  So you can publish whatever you want, but the reader may not be able to see it depending on where they are. It's still censorship, but it's not as bad as I first thought (that content is actually removed from ever being seen).
  
  I wonder if/how this will work with custom domains (like my own). Surely they won't try to take all custom domains pointing to Blogger and register the ccTLD version...?

• On the post: New Righthaven To Offer 'Hosting With A Backbone'; Will Avoid Unnecessary Takedowns

  

  Yakko Warner ( profile ), 26 Jan, 2012 @ 08:12am

  Re: Re: Re: Re:

  They don't; that's just the name most of the press use for the as-yet-unannounced next console (because it's 2x360).

• On the post: Hollywood Astroturf Group Releases Ad Saying It Needs SOPA To Shut Down Megaupload… Five Days After Megaupload Is Shut Down

  

  Yakko Warner ( profile ), 25 Jan, 2012 @ 12:03pm

  Re: Bizarre

  So, basically what you're saying is, they already have the tools (lie, deceive, make up facts, get the right people to believe them -- tools they've proven and continue to demonstrate they're very adept at wielding) to take down any site they want.
  
  Conclusion: no law needed.

• On the post: Hollywood Astroturf Group Releases Ad Saying It Needs SOPA To Shut Down Megaupload… Five Days After Megaupload Is Shut Down

  

  Yakko Warner ( profile ), 25 Jan, 2012 @ 11:59am

  Re:

  Perhaps, but the net result is the same: SOPA was not "needed", as the takedown proved the site was most definitely not "out of reach".

• On the post: Musician Peter Gabriel Comes Out Against SOPA/PIPA; Website Will Go Dark

  

  Yakko Warner ( profile ), 17 Jan, 2012 @ 11:41am

  Peter Gabriel's all about free stuff.

  He expects to just lay down some tracks and get a steam train for free.

• On the post: Paul Christoforo Doesn't Seem To Know How To Stop Digging A Deeper Hole Of Internet Infamy

  

  Yakko Warner ( profile ), 29 Dec, 2011 @ 11:31am

  Re: Re: Dead business?

  How can you kill that which has no life?

• On the post: What What (In The Butt) Case Continues: Brownmark Told To Pay Viacom's Legal Fees

  

  Yakko Warner ( profile ), 06 Dec, 2011 @ 04:25pm

  If Brownmark needs funding...

  I'm sure they could get the RIAA to jump in with some lawyers, an amicus brief, and a load of cash. Rejecting a court case because of some "fair use" hogwash is something up with which they will not put.

• On the post: Appeals Court Reject's Tenenbaum's Request To Rehear Arguments For Rejecting $675,000 Award For File Sharing

  

  Yakko Warner ( profile ), 18 Nov, 2011 @ 03:23pm

  This whole thing is suspicious.

  Tenenbaum has botched this so thoroughly, it smells like he's being paid by the MAFIAA to get favorable (to them) court rulings on the books.

• On the post: Copyright Trolling For Dummies; Publisher John Wiley Sues 27 For Sharing 'For Dummies' Books

  

  Yakko Warner ( profile ), 01 Nov, 2011 @ 02:53pm

  What is the proper recourse?

  Author owns a copyright on some work. Person takes work, copies it, and distributes it across the internet.
  
  Is the person legally wrong? If so, what is the correct legal recourse for pursuing redress?
  
  If not, why? (Maybe I don't understand the law clearly, but it seems copying and redistributing is not exactly legal...)

• On the post: Content Industry Insists E-PARASITE Won't Rewrite DMCA, But Co-Author Of The Bill Admits That's The Plan

  

  Yakko Warner ( profile ), 01 Nov, 2011 @ 12:03pm

  Does that void the section?

  If the bill contains a written statement to the effect of, "This does not change existing law," and then it is found to change existing law, can that whole section be thrown out since it contradicts itself?
  
  Wishful thinking, I know, but would it hold up?

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