Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt

from the you-said-it dept

This week, we were concerned to see the Canadian Supreme Court make a hugely problematic ruling that Google must block sites worldwide. Bergman won most insightful comment of the week by summing up one example of why this is a bad way to approach the internet:

It occurs to me

That Google could de-list the Canadian government's own websites, including those of the courts, because Canada's laws that protect the rights of LGBT people violate the laws of places like Iran.

After all, if compliance with laws is global without regard for jurisdiction or sovereignty...

Meanwhile, we were a little more pleased to see a court order a copyright troll to pay all the legal fees of the people he spuriously sued, but as hij pointed out in his second-place winning comment, it'd be nicer to see this happen to the really dangerous, deep-pocketed copyright abusers:

Bring the hammer down on the little guy

It would be nice if judges did this to the large corps that do this to individuals. Seems a bit one sided if the big guys get to screw over the little guys with impunity. Meanwhile Zillow gets to screw over students for transforming their photos into bombastic sarcasm posts.

For editor's choice on the insightful side, we've got a pair of comments responding to the general idea that cops deserve some leeway because they do a dangerous job. First, it's David with some context:

Like a garbage collector or other person employed in the vicinity of heavy operating equipment. Turns out that the risk of dying on the job for garbage collectors is higher than for policemen but they still don't get extra privileges like being allowed to shoot truck drivers when feeling endangered.

Next, it's an anonymous commenter responding to the idea that it's really the public that needs to learn to shape up and behave better around cops:

Wrong, it is up to the trained professional to learn how to approach people, who may behave in different fashions depending on their mental health, intoxication level, etc. If someone panic at the sound of the word gun, and empties a magazine into someone, either their training is insufficient, slanted towards towards shoot first, or they are in the wrong job

Over on the funny side, our first place winner comes in response to a comment requesting that we refrain from using profanity in headlines (not an unreasonable request, but one I have mixed feelings about). Roger Strong, however, had an addendum:

Also don't mention Comcast in your headlines as that inevitably leads to NSFW language.

In second place, we've got another response to the Canadian Supreme Court decision about Google, from stderric in the form of a friendly dig at Canada:

The easiest letter in the world to write, and it would make the whole problem go away instantly:

__________

Dear Canada:

You're Canada. We're Google. Who can the world afford to live without?

Humbly Yours,
Google

__________

For editor's choice on the funny side, we've got a pair of responses to the TSA's new plot of checking what passengers are reading. First, suggestor proposed a small trolling operation:

Titles, such as "Becoming a TSA agent and dealing with the loss of I.Q. thereafter" or "The TSA catalog of resellable confiscated goods" would be neat for book covers...!

On the other hand, Tzzeeeman saw it as a potential new audience:

Excellent. Now I'll have someone to read my bad fanfiction.

That's all for this week, folks!

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team