Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 20 Aug 2014 @ 12:51pm
Re: He isn't the only one saying this
On the one hand, your express the belief that all users of a service like torrents should not be judged by the few who abuse it, but you then flip around and blame all police for the actions of a very small minority of bad actors.
The two are simply not comparable. We do not judge all cops by the actions of one. We know most cops are decent people trying to do a good job - but as soon as those good people start shielding their own bad actors, when they support a culture of protecting their own instead of the citizens, when citizens are viewed as the enemy instead of the ones they are serving, then those good people are part of the corrupt system.
I am an admitted copyright pirate, and frankly I probably take a bit too much pride in being one, but I must do what I think is right. However, should I get sued for infringement, I don't have a government bureaucracy behind me. At most I could hope for some donations to pay a tiny part of my legal fees. I can't expect that other pirates would hide what I did or obstruct justice on my behalf.
And you might want to examine the autopsy report a bit clearer - while a few parts of it did match with the officer's account, it also showed that the kid was no threat to the officer when that officer killed him.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 19 Aug 2014 @ 3:34pm
Re: How to get around a gag order
You get around a gag order by not agreeing to it at all if want to be principled.
Either negotiating in bad faith (your solution), or intentionally violating the contract you agreed to (and had adequate legal council to understand as Adam did here) is unethical.
Unfortunately this case is one amongst many that is showing that standing up for your principles is something almost no one can afford to do.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 19 Aug 2014 @ 1:53pm
Snopes
Snopes? You're going to trust them? The couple the runs Snopes also runs a network of spam servers that start many of those forwarded stories in the first place, always insuring they'll have a business.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 19 Aug 2014 @ 1:45pm
Half a mil ain't what it used to be... seriously, WTF!
That's the price of a large piece of land with a very nice house where 98% of us live. It's enough to get a few kids through some of the most expensive universities in the country. I'm young, have a good job, and I make considerably more than either of my parents, and that would be my base salary for about 8 years.
Legal costs are completely out of control. When only the rich can afford the justice system, it is tragic to call it justice.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 19 Aug 2014 @ 11:51am
Re: It's a slow news day for someone.
If you want to track the potential dangers of tear gas, try studying the health of Marines. They are all subjected to it in a confined space and Drill Instructors repeatedly so.
Your argument that tear gas is safe is that we study the effects of it on a single group of young adults known for their physical fitness?
Imagine this argument a few thousand years ago: "Don't worry about getting stabbed with a sword, because all Spartan warriors can block a sword thrust with their shield."
Go read what the scientist said: "especially in civilian exposure with kids or elderly or people in the street who might have some kind of lung disease already".
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 15 Aug 2014 @ 9:12am
Re: Causal effect with the police
Is it really the case though that people would have been *so* much more cooperative if the police acted cordially all along?
Almost certainly, yes. Remember that the protest were non-violent until the militarized riot police came in and started threatening people.
Basic psychology. You take normally non-violent people, put them in a group where they are angry and in an emotional state, and give them the impression that their anger is not justified (by telling them to disperse and go away). Then start threatening them with violence (pointed weapons, tear gas), and of course they are going to react and respond in kind. What else would you expect?
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 14 Aug 2014 @ 12:32pm
Re:
They don't care if it's patented already since they can still get a patent on the same thing if they change a few words around in the description that no one skilled in the art the patent covers could understand anyway.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 14 Aug 2014 @ 6:23am
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Not once
Government or business computers, while generally more secure than the average home computer, are also far more valuable a target for malware. And up to date software still isn't protected from zero day or other unpatched exploits.
Those computers are much more likely to have information or access that is valuable. They are much more likely to be a stepping off point to get access to other valuable systems. They are more likely to have more bandwidth available for DDoS or spambot work.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 13 Aug 2014 @ 10:34am
Re: Re: Re: Ambulances?
You're not strictly speak wrong, but the general understanding of what throttling is would confuse this issue. Segregating part of your network for the type of traffic you decide is quite different than what most ISPs would describe as throttling (which would generally involve traffic during peak hours or from heavy users).
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 13 Aug 2014 @ 9:58am
Re: Re: Ambulances?
+1. Having worked with companies and done support on this (latency sensitive financial and stock market stuff), that's a good succinct explanation. Many services don't even need particularly large amounts of bandwidth - they're more latency oriented than bandwidth heavy.
Just remember that these are business-to-business services. No matter how much I scream, I'm not going to be able to get this kinda thing from Time Warner going between my house and Netflix (even if I'm shelling out for their "business class" connection to my house).
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 13 Aug 2014 @ 7:05am
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
If you want true net neutrality, you have to back up and start addressing the issues of how much bandwidth an ISP would generally be required to have per client.
Overselling wouldn't be a problem if the cable and telcos would commit to upgrading their infrastructure at a rate that meets the pace of increasing demand.
You're right that it costs money to upgrade. No one is saying it doesn't, and you complaining about it is just a strawman. It's also the normal cost of doing business in a quickly expanding market with quickly changing technology. It's not the consumer's fault that the telcos' decades old business models about infrastructure costs can't keep up.
Sure, the costs will be passed on to consumers. And I'm fine if those are *actual* costs to upgrade, and not the current "raise your rates repeatedly and offer worse and worse service every year while still not upgrading the infrastructure for the future yet still raking in insane profits" bullshit you can only get from an entrenched monopoly.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 13 Aug 2014 @ 6:46am
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
At the time, DMCA seemed like a pretty good solution to what was one of the biggest internet issues, copyright and liability that came with hosting websites. The notice and takedown idea seemed really quite good at the time, nobody on either side of the copyright debate really saw what would happen.
What a bunch of revisionist history bullshit.
Nobody saw what would happen? If you want links back from 1998, I'm sure I can find a few, but since you never bother to read or understand, I have better things to do with my time.
There was a huge outcry from the beginning against the DMCA, all warnings that ultimately have been proven 100% accurate. Warnings that the takedown process would be abused to prevent legitimate speech and legitimate content creation - it has been to a staggering degree. Warnings that the anti-circumvention clause would be abused to prevent legitimate competition and legitimate security research - and it has. And of course the warning that the law would do nothing at all to stop or even slow piracy - and of course, it hasn't.
The only good thing about the DMCA - protection from liability for ISPs and (at the time very nascent) hosting providers - was fought against very hard by the copyright lobby. It shouldn't have even been needed, as common sense would tell you to go after the person responsible instead of doing the Steve Dallas-type lawsuit against the tool provider.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 6 Aug 2014 @ 1:33pm
Re: It doesn't actually have to BE piracy...
I actually think the quote about undermining intellectual property could be accurate.
When you make your business model about maximizing every single form of intellectual property to truly insane levels (instead of creating content or providing services to customers), then anyone interfering with your business model is undermining intellectual property rights (even if those rights only exist in your head and not even on some unenforceable law).
Of course, I'm the guy who thinks the entire shell game of intellectual property unethical and unsupported by evidence that shows positive benefits, so call me crazy.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 31 Jul 2014 @ 12:11pm
Not network management
And it's all about revenue per customer, not any kind of sane network management. It's just not efficient to do that level of traffic shaping yourself - you end creating more bottlenecks in your own network by having to send all the traffic through devices to block/slow it, and maintain those blocklists and which user/device is in which category of blocklist.
And that ends up even slowing down other users not on one of these limited plans, and other services not involved. Part of the reason I'm so pissed off on the big telco/Netflix fight and the purposefully congested border routers is that it doesn't just harm Netflix - it harms hundreds of other services that also would route through those congested routers - in other words, anyone else who primarily gets transit through Level3. In some cases, the internet is not as robust as is often imagined. Major links dropping packets (for no good reason) can cause all sorts of ripple effects elsewhere, even for someone who isn't a direct or indirect customer of the companies fighting over the link.
The only way I can think of where this would work is for a brand new network that doesn't have existing access to the full internet, and thus everything not white-listed gets blocked before it even enters the network (for either the user side or the transit side). But that isn't the case here, as its going to be going over Sprint/Virgin's network.
On the post: LAPD Officer Says Tragedies Could Be Prevented If Citizens Would Just Shut Up And Do What Cops Tell Them To
Re: He isn't the only one saying this
The two are simply not comparable. We do not judge all cops by the actions of one. We know most cops are decent people trying to do a good job - but as soon as those good people start shielding their own bad actors, when they support a culture of protecting their own instead of the citizens, when citizens are viewed as the enemy instead of the ones they are serving, then those good people are part of the corrupt system.
I am an admitted copyright pirate, and frankly I probably take a bit too much pride in being one, but I must do what I think is right. However, should I get sued for infringement, I don't have a government bureaucracy behind me. At most I could hope for some donations to pay a tiny part of my legal fees. I can't expect that other pirates would hide what I did or obstruct justice on my behalf.
And you might want to examine the autopsy report a bit clearer - while a few parts of it did match with the officer's account, it also showed that the kid was no threat to the officer when that officer killed him.
On the post: Adam Carolla Settles With Podcasting Patent Troll: Even With A Strong Case And $500k In The Bank, It's Too Expensive To Fight
Re: How to get around a gag order
Either negotiating in bad faith (your solution), or intentionally violating the contract you agreed to (and had adequate legal council to understand as Adam did here) is unethical.
Unfortunately this case is one amongst many that is showing that standing up for your principles is something almost no one can afford to do.
On the post: Facebook To Ruin Our Good Time With 'Satire' Disclaimer; The Onion Responds With Satire
Re: Re: Snopes
...
Maybe Facebook is right.
It was a joke, and taken word for word from an XKCD comic.
http://xkcd.com/250/
On the post: Facebook To Ruin Our Good Time With 'Satire' Disclaimer; The Onion Responds With Satire
Snopes
On the post: Adam Carolla Settles With Podcasting Patent Troll: Even With A Strong Case And $500k In The Bank, It's Too Expensive To Fight
That's the price of a large piece of land with a very nice house where 98% of us live. It's enough to get a few kids through some of the most expensive universities in the country. I'm young, have a good job, and I make considerably more than either of my parents, and that would be my base salary for about 8 years.
Legal costs are completely out of control. When only the rich can afford the justice system, it is tragic to call it justice.
On the post: Tear Gas Is A Banned Chemical Weapon, But US Lobbying Made It Okay For Domestic Use... And, Boy, Do We Use It
Re: It's a slow news day for someone.
Your argument that tear gas is safe is that we study the effects of it on a single group of young adults known for their physical fitness?
Imagine this argument a few thousand years ago: "Don't worry about getting stabbed with a sword, because all Spartan warriors can block a sword thrust with their shield."
Go read what the scientist said: "especially in civilian exposure with kids or elderly or people in the street who might have some kind of lung disease already".
On the post: Turns Out When Police Act Cordial, Rather Than As An Oppressive Military Force, Things Work Out Better
Re: Causal effect with the police
Almost certainly, yes. Remember that the protest were non-violent until the militarized riot police came in and started threatening people.
Basic psychology. You take normally non-violent people, put them in a group where they are angry and in an emotional state, and give them the impression that their anger is not justified (by telling them to disperse and go away). Then start threatening them with violence (pointed weapons, tear gas), and of course they are going to react and respond in kind. What else would you expect?
On the post: Intellectual Ventures Aims To Tax Wind Power Producers With New Batch Of Patents
Re:
On the post: Intellectual Ventures Aims To Tax Wind Power Producers With New Batch Of Patents
On the post: More Federal Employees Caught Using Work Computers To Access Porn, Claim 'Boredom' Made Them Do It
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Not once
Those computers are much more likely to have information or access that is valuable. They are much more likely to be a stepping off point to get access to other valuable systems. They are more likely to have more bandwidth available for DDoS or spambot work.
On the post: Can We Kill This Ridiculous Shill-Spread Myth That CDNs Violate Net Neutrality? They Don't
Re: Re: Re: Ambulances?
On the post: Can We Kill This Ridiculous Shill-Spread Myth That CDNs Violate Net Neutrality? They Don't
Re: Re: Ambulances?
Just remember that these are business-to-business services. No matter how much I scream, I'm not going to be able to get this kinda thing from Time Warner going between my house and Netflix (even if I'm shelling out for their "business class" connection to my house).
On the post: Tom Wheeler Responds To Congressional Letters On Reclassification And Muni-Broadband; Doesn't Say Much
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Overselling wouldn't be a problem if the cable and telcos would commit to upgrading their infrastructure at a rate that meets the pace of increasing demand.
You're right that it costs money to upgrade. No one is saying it doesn't, and you complaining about it is just a strawman. It's also the normal cost of doing business in a quickly expanding market with quickly changing technology. It's not the consumer's fault that the telcos' decades old business models about infrastructure costs can't keep up.
Sure, the costs will be passed on to consumers. And I'm fine if those are *actual* costs to upgrade, and not the current "raise your rates repeatedly and offer worse and worse service every year while still not upgrading the infrastructure for the future yet still raking in insane profits" bullshit you can only get from an entrenched monopoly.
On the post: Tom Wheeler Responds To Congressional Letters On Reclassification And Muni-Broadband; Doesn't Say Much
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
What a bunch of revisionist history bullshit.
Nobody saw what would happen? If you want links back from 1998, I'm sure I can find a few, but since you never bother to read or understand, I have better things to do with my time.
There was a huge outcry from the beginning against the DMCA, all warnings that ultimately have been proven 100% accurate. Warnings that the takedown process would be abused to prevent legitimate speech and legitimate content creation - it has been to a staggering degree. Warnings that the anti-circumvention clause would be abused to prevent legitimate competition and legitimate security research - and it has. And of course the warning that the law would do nothing at all to stop or even slow piracy - and of course, it hasn't.
The only good thing about the DMCA - protection from liability for ISPs and (at the time very nascent) hosting providers - was fought against very hard by the copyright lobby. It shouldn't have even been needed, as common sense would tell you to go after the person responsible instead of doing the Steve Dallas-type lawsuit against the tool provider.
On the post: Know Your Troll: Innovative Display Technologies Targeting Any Company That Creates A Product With An LCD Screen
On the post: Reagan Biographer Claims 'Copyright Infringement' Because Another Biographer Used The Same Facts
Re: Re:
On the post: Sky TV Won't Allow Ads For ISP Highlighting Its Anti-Geoblocking Service
Re: It doesn't actually have to BE piracy...
When you make your business model about maximizing every single form of intellectual property to truly insane levels (instead of creating content or providing services to customers), then anyone interfering with your business model is undermining intellectual property rights (even if those rights only exist in your head and not even on some unenforceable law).
Of course, I'm the guy who thinks the entire shell game of intellectual property unethical and unsupported by evidence that shows positive benefits, so call me crazy.
On the post: DRM Performs Another Miracle, Turns Purchased Childrens Books Into Nothing At All
On the post: FCC Is 'Deeply Troubled' By Verizon Wireless's New Throttling Plans
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
But mobile contracts that you generally sign at the store when you buy your phone are another matter and are much more enforceable in this respect.
On the post: Pay Different Prices To Access Different Sites: Virgin Mobile Leaps Through Net Neutrality Exemption With Gusto
Not network management
And that ends up even slowing down other users not on one of these limited plans, and other services not involved. Part of the reason I'm so pissed off on the big telco/Netflix fight and the purposefully congested border routers is that it doesn't just harm Netflix - it harms hundreds of other services that also would route through those congested routers - in other words, anyone else who primarily gets transit through Level3. In some cases, the internet is not as robust as is often imagined. Major links dropping packets (for no good reason) can cause all sorts of ripple effects elsewhere, even for someone who isn't a direct or indirect customer of the companies fighting over the link.
The only way I can think of where this would work is for a brand new network that doesn't have existing access to the full internet, and thus everything not white-listed gets blocked before it even enters the network (for either the user side or the transit side). But that isn't the case here, as its going to be going over Sprint/Virgin's network.
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