This Week In Techdirt History: November 1st - 7th
from the from-the-archives dept
Five Years Ago
This week in 2015, the UK government released its "Snooper's Charter" surveillance bill after pretending it had backed down on the worst provisions — when in fact the bill mandated backdoors to encryption and aimed to legalize over a decade of illegal mass surveillance. In the US, documents from the DOJ confirmed the extensive powers of Stingray devices, while legislators were moving to turn the agency's "guidance" on the devices into law. The think-tank behind SOPA was now pushing for the US to encourage other countries to block the Pirate Bay, while attacks on Section 230 were still mainly the realm of some law professors. And then the biggest release of the week came on Friday: the full, very bad text of the TPP.
Ten Years Ago
This week in 2010, we were surprised to see the DOJ weigh in against gene patents, and the USPTO was not happy about it. The Jammie Thomas trial got its third jury verdict with another huge award of damages that highlighted how the framing of the jury instructions changes everything in such a case. A YouTube star was being threatened by music publishers claiming parody isn't fair use, a reality show was sued for copying an idea, and a pizza shop sued a former employee for "stealing" their recipe — while librarians in Brazil were forcefully speaking out against copyright, calling it a fear-based reaction to open access to knowledge. Also, this is the week that the proposal of a Right To Be Forgotten started making the rounds in Europe.
Fifteen Years Ago
This week in 2005, the FCC okayed the big telco mergers of SBC/AT&T and Verizon/MCI, while SBC was making demands of Google, and Sprint was launching its mobile broadband network. The movie industry was trying to plug the "analog hole" and Congress appeared to be going through the motions to appease them without much enthusiasm. But the most memorable development of the week was the discovery that Sony's new copy protection on CDs was a dangerous rootkit, and that other malware could piggyback on it, and that the same DRM was on CDs from other companies... all of which forced Sony to scramble to release a "patch" which didn't really fix the problem, and which itself turned out to come with a bunch of highly questionable baggage.
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Can we get a one-off 4 years ago addendum please?
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Zero Years Ago
Zero years ago we saw the orangutan in chief throw a tantrum at losing -- LOSING -- the presidential election. Just in case that wasn't clear, you LOST, Donny. HARD. Suck it up and go home. You're fired.
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Re: Zero Years Ago
While I agree with the sentiment, just bear in mind that the orange toddler is still president until January 20th.
At some point before then he will stop crying and decide to abuse his power to ensure that the country is in as much of a broken state as possible before he leaves. The people still in government who supported him will then make it their mission to make it as difficult as possible for Biden to achieve the fixes required. Then, if his supporters in the general population don't turn to violence in response to the conspiracy nonsense he's spouting, they will when they're informed that further lockdowns are the only way to stem the rapidly increasing pandemic.
It's fantastic news, but it's far from the end of the damage Trump has done.
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Re: Re: Zero Years Ago
I don't think he's ever started doing anything else. Trump's been crying about his political opponents ever since Day 1 and playing to his base about how persecuted of a minority they are with all their power and resources and privilege. He threw his weight around by making ridiculous demands, then pulling US collaboration out of international agreements when the country needed it most. Really, the most progress he made on the international level was kissing the ass of North Korea - who wasted very little time making the US even more of their bitch than ever before.
The succession of Amy Coney Barrett is the icing on the multi-layered shit cake Trump's been feeding the US since Day 1 and telling them that it's chocolate truffle - and from the outside looking in, I don't feel like celebrating. Whoever won this election, the US would looking at a deeply partisan conflict, with the winning side asserting their legitimacy and the other side losing their minds. Trump's base has made it clear that whatever the outcome, the only thing that matters would be their terms and conditions. Whichever way Trump's base goes, it will not be quietly. Biden can claim to offer red states an olive branch but all that means is the 2nd Amendment fanatics will shit on said branch and pull the country into the mud for an all-out brawl.
Really, the best thing that will immediately result from this is out_of_the_blue's endless pseudonyms shutting the fuck up for a while... but I don't see that lasting long, with Trump's supporters being whipped into a frenzy.
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The reason why we haven't heard anything from Trump Part 1
is because he's holed up in the White House listening to his favourite playlist, which was leaked just now via an insecure IOT device (password MAGA2020).
Donald Trump's Secret Whitehouse Playlist
ABBA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyIOl-s7JTU
REM https://youtu.be/hqN4Rweytb8
Icehouse https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUFOVu1CurM
Elton John https://youtu.be/W6NKrK8M4So
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Re: The reason why we haven't heard anything from Trump Part 2
Eiffel 65 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgztfRBc2jM
Lou Gramm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cRdgIZgobs
ELO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f38qG3Aeb-A
Louise Tucker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRVFVhWdlPw
LeAnn Rimes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GozdIQx1Wow
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Re: The reason why we haven't heard anything from Trump Part 3
Linda Ronstadt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp9G0zkorio
Slim Dusty https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vRViCX9Wic
Breaking BadFinger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R95f7VwXqIw
Graham Bonnet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSBDlsTyT60
The Chicks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c5b8ZtjwwY
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Re: The reason why we haven't heard anything from Trump Part 4
O Brother Where Art Thou https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDDEqgmGIVg
The Beatles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS5_EQgbuLc
Travelling Wilburys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMVjToYOjbM
Elvis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KK6sMo8NBY
Elvis again https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QbSgZxjTuI
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Re: The reason why we haven't heard anything from Trump Part 5
Peggy Lee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPP6UgkmyM4
Skeeter Davis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHa6a3FtPJg
Kansas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH2w6Oxx0kQ
Scorpions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4RjJKxsamQ
Billy Bragg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xC9nSkZ1ZI
Europe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAg5KjnAhuU
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Re: The reason why we haven't heard anything from Trump Part 1
Remember what they say about 2 year olds, when they are silent, they are doing something naughty....
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Re: Re: The reason why we haven't heard anything from Trump Part
Well, he might be seein' red, but he's feelin' blue.
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My pick for a Trump's deposition…
Metric: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRtd8ArvH_s
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