Nerd Harder: The T-Shirt

from the support-techdirt dept

Fri, May 20th 2016 9:09am — Mike Masnick

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.

We're doing this as a bit of an experiment, and we're using Teespring to make it work. Teespring is a t-shirt, crowdfunding setup, and we need to have enough people order the shirts in order to actually get them printed. So if we don't get enough orders, no t-shirts. But this also means that the campaign is for a limited time -- just through May 29th -- so put your order in now!

And, oh yeah, obligatory xkcd:

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Filed Under: copyright, encryption, going dark, nerd harder, t-shirts

17 Comments

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jackie, 20 May 2016 @ 9:33am

Good Grief! I need new glasses.
I thought it said Nerd Herder.
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Anonymous Coward, 20 May 2016 @ 9:45am

Well...
...that too would make for a nice T-shirt. Y'know, for managerial types. Though, perhaps it should be a polo instead...
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Anonymous Coward, 20 May 2016 @ 9:51am

Re: Good Grief! I need new glasses.
And I thought it said Nerd Hater - I don't need glasses, I need a new perspective...
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Anonymous Coward, 20 May 2016 @ 10:40am

Love the T shirt but I'm not paying £7.99 international shipping for a £13.99 T shirt. it does make you wonder why they don't sub contract making the shirts for European customers to a local maker. Meh probably not enough volume
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Anonymous Coward, 20 May 2016 @ 10:58am

Why black?! It's summer Dudes!
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Anonymous Coward, 20 May 2016 @ 11:48am

Re:
Summer? Summer?? Real nerds don't EVER go outdoors. Daylight kills precious nerding cells. Don't ever do that!
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Kal Zekdor (profile), 20 May 2016 @ 11:55am

Re: Re:
I think I should dig out my "Keep Out Of Direct Sunlight" shirt...
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Mike Masnick (profile), 20 May 2016 @ 12:13pm

Re:
Why black?! It's summer Dudes!

It's available in three different colors! Just check the boxes...
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Almost Anonymous (profile), 20 May 2016 @ 1:07pm

Editorial suggestion
Consider dropping the period?
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Mike Masnick (profile), 20 May 2016 @ 1:11pm

Re: Editorial suggestion
Consider dropping the period?

The period really pulls the shirt together. Wouldn't work without the period.
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Pixelation, 20 May 2016 @ 1:25pm

Re: Editorial suggestion
"Consider dropping the period?"

You can figure out how to remove it. NERD HARDER!
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VLD, 20 May 2016 @ 3:01pm

So Hard
i'm going to nerd so hard in this shirt i'll violate indecency laws.

LOOK HOW HARD MY NERD IS!!!
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Anonymous Coward, 22 May 2016 @ 5:21am

Re: Why black?!
Because white causes screen glare. Summer only exists outside of the lab dude.
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Dave Cortright (profile), 22 May 2016 @ 1:24pm

I can't be the only one...
Who at first glance thought this said "Nerf Herder"
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Jorge, 12 Oct 2016 @ 7:12am

NERD HARDER
Nerd Harder, love it.
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Habib, 23 May 2018 @ 12:51am

Amazing
Which printing method do you apply on a t-shirt? because I love to wear this type of t-shirt.
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David, 4 Sep 2018 @ 2:24am

NERD HARDER
Great article and I found it very useful for me. Thanks for sharing it
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