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.
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


Reader Comments

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  1. identicon
    jackie, 20 May 2016 @ 9:33am

    Good Grief! I need new glasses.

    I thought it said Nerd Herder.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    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...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    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...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    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

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 May 2016 @ 10:58am

    Why black?! It's summer Dudes!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    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!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. icon
    Kal Zekdor (profile), 20 May 2016 @ 11:55am

    Re: Re:

    I think I should dig out my "Keep Out Of Direct Sunlight" shirt...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. icon
    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...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. icon
    Almost Anonymous (profile), 20 May 2016 @ 1:07pm

    Editorial suggestion

    Consider dropping the period?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. icon
    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.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Pixelation, 20 May 2016 @ 1:25pm

    Re: Editorial suggestion

    "Consider dropping the period?"

    You can figure out how to remove it. NERD HARDER!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    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!!!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 May 2016 @ 5:21am

    Re: Why black?!

    Because white causes screen glare. Summer only exists outside of the lab dude.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. icon
    Dave Cortright (profile), 22 May 2016 @ 1:24pm

    I can't be the only one...

    Who at first glance thought this said "Nerf Herder"

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. identicon
    Jorge, 12 Oct 2016 @ 7:12am

    NERD HARDER

    Nerd Harder, love it.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. identicon
    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.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. identicon
    David, 4 Sep 2018 @ 2:24am

    NERD HARDER

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

    link to this | view in thread ]


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