Steven 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (471)

• On the post: Sen. Feinstein Looking To Revive Anti-Encryption Bill In The Wake Of Texas Church Shooting

  

  Steven ( profile ), 14 Nov, 2017 @ 07:53am

  What are they looking for?

  I understand that this is really about ratcheting up the surveillance, but what is the argument?
  
  Call and texts? The carrier has that info.
  What apps are installed? Apple has that info.
  Individual app content? You know what was installed, go talk to them.
  The pictures they took? Do they expect he carefully documented his road to killing in selfies?
  
  No only is this about increased access for police. This is about plain laziness. They don't want to have to put in the footwork. They just one a simple single entry point to his entire digital life.

• On the post: Playboy Sues BoingBoing For Linking To Collection Of Centerfold Pictures

  

  Steven ( profile ), 10 Nov, 2017 @ 12:28pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: BoingBoing clearly wrong

  Oh no! You've committed illegal crime explanation!
  
  Of course describing how a crime is committed is illegal. If it wasn't you could:
  1) Hiddenly plan out a crime.
  2) Anonymously tell people how to commit the crime
  3) ??
  4) Profit!
  
  Clearly all parts of this are illegal. The real trick from from this thing called KNOWLEDGE. You see speaking transfers KNOWLEDGE which is bad, thankfully you clearly lack it.
  
  See I can make up crap too.

• On the post: Playboy Sues BoingBoing For Linking To Collection Of Centerfold Pictures

  

  Steven ( profile ), 10 Nov, 2017 @ 11:45am

  Re: Re: Re: BoingBoing clearly wrong

  You're clearly wrong. Linking i.e. publishing the location to something, is not illegal.
  
  That's like saying if I make a blog post saying "There's a crack house at 123 Overthere St." I'm now a crack dealer and should go to jail.

• On the post: Judge Says FBI's NIT Warrant Invalid, Points Out FBI Agent Knew It Was Invalid When He Requested It

  

  Steven ( profile ), 08 Apr, 2017 @ 01:45pm

  What about the judge?

  Shouldn't the judge have known this was an invalid request? Isn't that the whole point of judicial review, a check on the FBI and other agencies? Isn't the point of a warrant to force these agencies to go through a check to make sure what they are doing is legal?
  
  There should be sanctions placed on judges that issue such invalid warrants.

• On the post: New 'Company' Claims It Uses Algorithms To Create Content Faster Than Creators Can, Making All Future Creations 'Infringing'

  

  Steven ( profile ), 29 Sep, 2014 @ 02:20pm

  Re: Re: That's not their business plan.

  Sorry, but you are vastly underestimating the search space we're looking at. In addition you are skipping over areas of computer science that are still not solved as if they are trivial.

• On the post: New 'Company' Claims It Uses Algorithms To Create Content Faster Than Creators Can, Making All Future Creations 'Infringing'

  

  Steven ( profile ), 29 Sep, 2014 @ 01:37pm

  That's not their business plan.

  If they really think they are going to do this they don't understand just how many things there are, or how many ways they can be put together.
  
  That said, I think they've found a way to sucker some quick cash from a few wealthy folks.

• On the post: Delaware Attorney General Throws Subpoeana At Reddit Over Comment On Photo Of Two People Having Sex Behind A Dumpster

  

  Steven ( profile ), 23 Jun, 2014 @ 12:25pm

  Justice

  I don't know where you found your definition of justice but it's wrong.
  
  Justice: If you're not rich or a personal friend, you've done something wrong and we will find out what it is.

• On the post: Goldieblox May Be Right About Fair Use, But Wrong About Claiming You Need A License To Link To Its Site

  

  Steven ( profile ), 26 Nov, 2013 @ 10:42am

  This seems like a bit of a cheap shot. Sure the language in their TOS is laughable, but I'd bet it's some boilerplate language from whatever cheap way the managed to come up with a TOS. I doubt they sat around and talked about anything in there.
  
  This would be a much more interesting article if we had some response from them about that section, or if they had actually tried to enforce that part of their TOS against somebody.
  
  As it stands it seems more like nitpicking.

• On the post: Ed Snowden Covered His Tracks Well; How Many Other NSA Staffers Did The Same?

  

  Steven ( profile ), 26 Aug, 2013 @ 09:48am

  "only the abuses that the NSA caught"
  
  You mean 'only the abuses the NSA has voluntarily admitted to, while our only means of verification is leaked documents.'
  
  Given that congress is only getting what information the NSA deems it needs, and the FISC is only getting the information the NSA gives it, there is (as far as I know) no oversight to the NSA that actually has access to information on the NSA that doesn't come from the NSA.

• On the post: USTR Needs To Reread Both The Constitution & The Definition Of Transparency

  

  Steven ( profile ), 27 Jun, 2012 @ 01:57pm

  I'm not sure where all this USTR bashing is coming from. We are all aware that these TPP negotiations are taking place. We are usually aware of where they are happening and some of the groups participating. We even know the general topic of the treaty.
  
  How can you just discount all of that information being shared and not see that as the transparency it is?!?

• On the post: Apple And Microsoft Behind Patent Troll Armed With Thousands Of Nortel Patents

  

  Steven ( profile ), 23 May, 2012 @ 08:39am

  Poor Engineers

  That has to be some really soul destroying work for the engineers involved. Knowing that you will never do anything productive. You will only ever be a drag and leach on successful companies.
  
  I almost feel sorry for them. Almost.

• On the post: Rumblefish CEO: Claiming Copyright On Your Incidental Recordings Of Birds Was Merely A Series Of Unfortunate Errors

  

  Steven ( profile ), 27 Feb, 2012 @ 03:10pm

  Just wondering...

  What song did the content ID match the bird songs to?

• On the post: Microsoft 'Anti-Piracy' Campaign Explains Why It's Bad For Businesses To Pay For Microsoft Software

  

  Steven ( profile ), 18 Nov, 2011 @ 10:30am

  Re: ???

  We didn't just call him, we started a petition that he had to respond to.
  
  He thanked us all for our concern, expressed that he shared the same concerns, checked his wallet for which businesses had given him large checks, and then said he would look for broad bi-partisan solutions.

• On the post: Do Tons Of Sprint And Verizon Phones Contain A Rootkit, Potentially Tracking All Sorts Of Info?

  

  Steven ( profile ), 15 Nov, 2011 @ 03:16pm

  Seems a bit of hyperbole

  "The software can also surreptitiously report where the phone is located"
  
  Or they could just use the cell connection data for that.

• On the post: Royalty Collection Agency SABAM Demands 3.4% 'Piracy License' From Belgian ISPs

  

  Steven ( profile ), 10 Nov, 2011 @ 01:18pm

  As bad as I think this kind of fee/tax would be i'd enjoy seeing some country actually put this in place and then see a court case ruling that files over that network are not infringing as the license has been paid.
  
  I know it'll never happen, but it'd be fun to watch.

• On the post: According To MSNBC, If Online Voters Support Ron Paul, Their Votes Count Less

  

  Steven ( profile ), 09 Sep, 2011 @ 11:42am

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

  One thing is missed at first that exaggerates the problem. The width % is not of the longest bar, but of the enclosing element. The max-width: 300px actually cuts the bars down so that they hit their longest length somewhere around width: 55%.

• On the post: According To MSNBC, If Online Voters Support Ron Paul, Their Votes Count Less

  

  Steven ( profile ), 09 Sep, 2011 @ 11:37am

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  I went and looked through the CSS on the page and this is very close to what is happening.
  
  It looks like they give a percentage width to the bars where width% = just under 2* vote %
  
  With Ron Paul over 50% he is maxed at 100% width.

• On the post: Newspaper Claims Satirical Blogger Mentioning Its Name Is Trademark Infringement

  

  Steven ( profile ), 24 Aug, 2011 @ 11:49am

  O'rly

  If I were him my next blog post would be something along the lines of...
  
  Apparently The Observer Dispatch believes that have a trademark on the name, The Observer Dispatch, grants the right for The Observer Dispatch to have complete control of all uses of the name The Observer Dispatch. They appear to believe that any use of The Observer Dispatch that is not officially approved by The Observer Dispatch violates their trademark on the name The Observer Dispatch. What the folks at The Observer Dispatch seem to not understand is my use of the name, The Observer Dispatch, is not in a manner that could be found confusing by those looking for The Observer Dispatch and in no way does my use of The Observer Dispatch constitute trademark infringement.
  
  The Observer Dispatch has no legal authority to force me to stop referring to The Observer Dispatch as The Observer Dispatch. All my uses of the name The Observer Dispatch are done in reference to The Observer Dispatch and in no way imply that I represent The Observer Dispatch.

• On the post: Why President Obama Has The 'Jobs' Equation Backwards; Supporting Patent Reform That Limits Jobs

  

  Steven ( profile ), 08 Aug, 2011 @ 01:13pm

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

  They were AAA rated because everybody 'knew' they were guaranteed by the US government (which turned out to be true) even though all parties would publicly deny that. This was because of the government run institutions (fanny/freddy) that issued them wouldn't be allowed to fail.
  
  Without that government guarantee they wouldn't have a AAA rating.

• On the post: Why President Obama Has The 'Jobs' Equation Backwards; Supporting Patent Reform That Limits Jobs

  

  Steven ( profile ), 08 Aug, 2011 @ 01:04pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re:

  Actually it was an example of lots of really bad regulations, and people who knew that the government would bail out the quasi government/private entities if things got bad.
  
  So it was a result of massive government involvement. I don't know how you could possibly argue it was from a lack of regulation.

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