Nerd Harder: The T-Shirt
from the support-techdirt dept
Limited time offer: Support Techdirt and get a "Nerd Harder." t-shirt!
When the "going dark" encryption debates kicked off, a very, very long list of technology and encryption experts wrote a letter explaining that designing backdoors for encryption was a monumentally bad idea that inevitably would lead to weaker security and more vulnerabilities that made everyone less safe. In response to this, FBI Director James Comey, twisted what the letter said around to claim that the tech industry was claiming that it was too hard to backdoor encryption. But there's a difference between saying "this is hard" and "this is dangerous."
Either way, a bunch of defenders of backdooring encryption started to pick up on this ridiculous framing, leading Julian Sanchez to coin the term "nerd harder!" as a way of describing non-technical policy people insisting that techies can just solve some problem if they put their minds to it. Then, last week, at the Copyright Office's DMCA hearings, I noted a similar kind of thinking, around copyright issues. That time, a lobbyist for legacy content companies insisted that if Silicon Valley was able to build a self-driving car, surely they could build a technology that would stop infringing content, without harming fair use.
It was Nerd Harder all over again.
After commenting on that, a few people suggested that Nerd Harder might make a good t-shirt slogan -- and we agree! So we made one. Nerd Harder may be an absolutely terrible policy idea, but it sure does make a nice looking t-shirt.
And, oh yeah, obligatory xkcd:
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Filed Under: copyright, encryption, going dark, nerd harder, t-shirts
Reader Comments
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Good Grief! I need new glasses.
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Re: Good Grief! I need new glasses.
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Well...
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Re:
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It's available in three different colors! Just check the boxes...
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Re: Why black?!
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Editorial suggestion
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Re: Editorial suggestion
The period really pulls the shirt together. Wouldn't work without the period.
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Re: Editorial suggestion
You can figure out how to remove it. NERD HARDER!
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So Hard
LOOK HOW HARD MY NERD IS!!!
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I can't be the only one...
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NERD HARDER
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Amazing
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NERD HARDER
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