This Week In Techdirt History: July 30th - August 5th

from the as-it-happened dept

Sat, Aug 5th 2017 12:00pm — Leigh Beadon

Five Years Ago

This week in 2012, it was Olympic time — which also means, time to be frustrated with NBC's exclusive coverage. One journalist who was highly critical of the network ended up getting his Twitter account suspended, then eventually reinstated, with the end result (of course) of a massive Streisand Effect. Meanwhile, a leaked document revealed the unsurprising fact that the IFPI had no plans to share any money it got from The Pirate Bay with musicians, the MPAA was hosting movie screenings to get cozy with congress, and for some reason Homeland Security was getting in on the YouTube takedown game.

Ten Years Ago

This week in 2007, as had been the case for many years and still is to this day, e-voting machines were found to have terrible security. That particular report came from California, but was quickly followed up by a similar one from Florida, and then a source-code review that also uncovered numerous vulnerabilities. And yet election officials, as always, defended the machines — perhaps because of so many of the officials used to work at the companies that make them?

Fifteen Years Ago

This week in 2002, people were digging deeper into the many horrors of the bill that would make it legal for Hollywood to hack your computer in its crusade against piracy. Not that this was the only bad internet bill being considered — Congress was also looking into making even more stringent anti-circumvention laws than those in the DMCA. The same DMCA that, the very same week, was being used by HP to threaten security researchers who revealed a vulnerability in their software (though they later backed down). Amidst all this, we were glad to see some attempts to wake academics up to the dangers of the DMCA.

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Filed Under: history, look back

25 Comments

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orbitalinsertion (profile), 5 Aug 2017 @ 2:42pm

Is it scary i remember each one of these items? It's probably the first time ever for me, but still.
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Lawrence D’Oliveiro, 5 Aug 2017 @ 10:54pm

Re: Is it scary i remember each one of these items? It's probably the first time ever for me, but still.
Welcome to growing older.
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Aug 2017 @ 11:32pm

5 Months Ago - Shiva The Real Indian filed suit against TechDirt the Fake News site. Did you see him (Shiva) on Watter's World today? He's looking pretty impressive as a politician, and gets big coverage all over the media world.

Much better on stage than Mike Masnick was, Shiva didn't choke up or tear up or ask for sympathy for his personal woes. Check it out, he looked great, very Senatorial! Resonates with all demographics, brilliant strategy, on the path to win the next election, and to gut Techdirt like a flailing fish in the meantime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwoz06Zv3x4
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Lawrence D’Oliveiro, 6 Aug 2017 @ 12:13am

Re: Resonates with all demographics
Demographics are very important to winning a court case in the US, aren’t they?
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Aug 2017 @ 12:41am

Re: Re: Resonates with all demographics
In the end, yes of course demographics are important to winning a court case in the US. How well your message gets across or fails to get across to the local jury and local judge determines (in large part) the outcome. Shiva looks like a Jedi-master in getting his message across on Watters World today. Mike not so much (did you see his video where he teared up and couldn't speak?). To my eye, Mike's video looked like overwhelming remorse, and Shiva looks positive, poised and prepared (even polished). Who in Massachusetts will believe Shiva, and who will believe Mike? Demographics are pretty important, IMHO. An MIT PhD graduate vs. a disgruntled dropout that overuses the word "sh*t" in his writing about others. Not too hard for an ordinary person to see the difference between them.
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That One Guy (profile), 6 Aug 2017 @ 12:43am

Much better on stage than Mike Masnick was, Shiva didn't choke up or tear up or ask for sympathy for his personal woes.

Go figure, the one making a threat and not on the receiving end of a multi-million dollar lawsuit is able to be more collected than the one being threatened with said lawsuit. Almost as though it's more stressful to be threatened than to issue a threat...

Think I'll pass on the video, I've got countless better ways to spend or even waste my time than listen to that scum-bag(if I'm being very generous) talk on any topic.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Aug 2017 @ 12:59am

Re:
Or perhaps we are witnessing Mike's own self-knowledge of his blameworthiness and wrongdoing and Shiva's self-knowledge of his impending victory in court and at the polls.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Aug 2017 @ 3:45am

Re:
Claiming all the credits for the work of others is the hallmark of politicians, so he may do well in that field, unfortunately.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Aug 2017 @ 7:01am

Re: Re:
Go home Shiva, you're drunk.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Aug 2017 @ 8:03am

Re: Re: Re: Resonates with all demographics
Shiva has a tendency to swear, a lot, when his claims are being scrutinized. See the Ars Technica article.

If obscenity in language is your yardstick, you can prepare to be disappointed.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Aug 2017 @ 7:54pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Resonates with all demographics
Well, Shiva is in a lot of good company regarding swearing about Techdirt. That's kind of a specific expression of disgust against wholly unfair, stupidly reasoned, absurdly insulting and unwarranted public attack on a well educated, well respected and highly accomplished member of polite society. Mike, on the other hand, spreads his sh*t under his own name (and others) on so many articles that I don't even have an accurate count. Shiva was hurt because of an unfair, unwarranted and totally inaccurate attack, then responded with profanity. Not a great idea, but understandable. Mike spreads his sh*t on everyone and everything around him, both under his name and (I think) under others (while posing as anonymous cowards). Just look for the sh*t, you'll find a lot of it on Techdirt.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Aug 2017 @ 8:06pm

Re: Re:
Some truth to that, no doubt, but I'm don't think that is what this case is really about. Legal disputes in the end have to be expressed in words, and all the papers with all the words regarding this case have been filed for 5 months. All the words are there, but there has been no decision by the judge to proceed or not. I think the only reasonable conclusion must be that Shiva may well have a case, and Mike and Techdirt may actually be in the wrong, and Shiva may well be in the right. Good chance of that, IMHO. The words are all there, and the judge has been thinking about it for five months. Obviously, not an easy issue to decide, would you agree with that?
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Aug 2017 @ 9:27pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Resonates with all demographics
Not surprisingly, you didn't see the article.

https://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-policy/2017/06/who-invented-e-mail-shiva-ayyadurai-history/

Th e swearing was with regards to the claims about email, at which Shiva, very aggressively, threw a cluster of F-bombs. That's your definition of polite society? Up is down and short is long in your world, I suppose.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Aug 2017 @ 11:54pm

Re:
He looks poised? Have you seen how poised he looked in his mug shot? Or when confronted with a police report that he beat his girlfriend? He spent 10 minutes screaming at a popular conservative radio host in Boston.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64bFDjRApgs

It may be impressive, but for all the wrong reasons.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Aug 2017 @ 11:59pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Resonates with all demographics
Well, even the best of us can be driven to profanity in some very difficult situations, like unwarranted public defamation. I was surprised by his language, too, but it seems a very rare incident and directly only at Techdirt and no one else.

You know, that reminds me of a dream I had - I was Robert Mueller and I had my long face buried in Techdirt electronic records. I was investigating Techdirt's part in an international conspiracy to steal trade secrets, copyrights and patents and deliver them to foreign governments. I had the records right in front of me, payments and everything, but every time I tried to figure out the currency, it changed from dollars to francs, that's strange, isn't it? Kept changing back and forth, couldn't figure it out. Then I turned my head to the side, and all the posts on Techdirt became "unmasked", with everyone's real name and location revealed, wow, that was strange. I could see exactly who was who, and decided then and there to prosecute them all and send them all to prison, Then I woke up. Weird, huh? International conspiracies to defraud legitimate companies out of their intellectual property, with Techdirt right in the middle of it getting paid, and something about money from France. Wow. Strange dream. Sometimes my dreams predict the future, though, it's happened before.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Aug 2017 @ 5:09am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Resonates with all demographics
If only your Shiva wet dreams were admissible in court...
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Ninja (profile), 7 Aug 2017 @ 6:33am

"This week in 2007, as had been the case for many years and still is to this day, e-voting machines were found to have terrible security."

Things haven't changed 10 years after they hadn't changed in 2007. One starts to wander into conspiracy theory grounds. Why it hasn't been fixed after more than a decade makes one wonder if it isn't a feature rather than a problem.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Aug 2017 @ 8:23am

Re: Re:
Apparently, Masnick following up on claims against Shiva counts as defamation and he's not allowed to use "shit", but Shiva can scream bloody murder and swears at everyone else to no consequence.

Double standards. Dumb as hell, but hardly surprising from Hamilton.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Aug 2017 @ 9:24pm

Re: Re: Re:
Shiva's outrage is pretty understandable to the average (read "jury") citizen. Mike's use of sh*t is just foul and disgusting, which he depends on to avoid close proximity with normal people. Normal people are disgusted by sh*t, and inspired by stories like Shiva's. The sh*t is Mike's smelly aura of protection, the last time I saw him on stage, he even looked like he just sh*t his pants (both figuratively and literally).
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Aug 2017 @ 10:02pm

Re: Re: Re:
Ok, just one question - when this whole lawsuit between Shiva and Mike started, I thought the $10M was a pretty big number. But now that I have seen Shiva multiple times in person on national and international news, it looks small, that is, I think the damage that Techdirt, Mike and Techdirt posters have done amounts to much more damage than he claimed. Would you agree with that? Shiva's has invested an incredible amount of money, time and energy in the reputation that you all are trashing. That's not in dispute, right? $10M is a small number for what has occurred on Techdirt.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Aug 2017 @ 10:50pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Resonates with all demographics
Yes, good point, understanding what is admissible in court is a very important consideration. Techdirt business records, for example, I think they will be part of discovery. Payment records, income records, bank statements, wire transfers (especially foreign), invoices, money from "charitable" organizations, from "Free Software" organizations, foreign governments and foreign individuals, they all may appear to have a connection with defaming a future US Senator. You wouldn't want a foreign power to be colluding with Techdirt to determine the outcome of a US election, would you? My guess is that all these records are already physically in the hands of Mike's attorneys, hard to see how they would accept the case otherwise, considering the magnitude of the charges. So, not far from court, but not in court YET. Stay tuned. :)
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Aug 2017 @ 1:22am

Re: Re: Re: Re:

Shiva's has invested an incredible amount of money, time and energy in the reputation that you all are trashing.

That does not mean what he claims is true, and indeed it is common that when a person invests time and money in making claims, they are sketchy at best.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Aug 2017 @ 5:30am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
That's reaching a bit, don't you think? When a person invests time and money in making claims, they are sketchy? Everybody? Really? Everybody that makes claims is sketchy? Are you an adult?
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Aug 2017 @ 8:33am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Still waiting on that list, Hamilton. Here we are, months later, and you haven't shown anything aside from your own fantasies and imagination. I'd describe you as akin to solid excrement, but that's just insulting to excrement in general.
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Aug 2017 @ 5:03am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Exactly right, Hamilton. Everyone who puts money and time into making claims has a biased motivation for seeing it come true in the way they want it to be. It's not objective. This could be said of Masnick, and it could be said of Shiva. Neither of them are more worth believing than the other. It's a fair world.

Try not to hurt your head too much thinking about this one, if you think at all.
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