That Anonymous Coward (profile), 7 Jun 2019 @ 3:30pm
So many prosecutors go all out on these cases most of us would think were nothing, if we knew all the details. But the details are hidden and the media talks about the evil scourge of teens seeing a boob or other naughtybits & how its a slipper slope to them grabbing grannie of the street & raping her.
For fun, it would be nice to see a group look at who is being prosecuted. I'm fairly sure we will find those with the power to put up a fight aren't facing a possible 32 billion years in jail in their cases, if they are even brought, and that low level 'crimes' are treated like the crime of the century with all sorts of headlines & how they could face 32 billion years if they don't take the deal.
We like to see them doing something, but we lack the attention span to look at what that something is.
Teens sexting - SEX OFFENDER!!!!
Driving to fast/to slow/car to clean/car to dirty - DRUG DEALERS!!!! Take all the property.
We demanded laws to 'fix' the current panic of the moment & consider it fixed... until our kid is caught selling his buddy a joint & the state takes the whole house.
We refuse to pay public defenders for a decent defense & then we pretend we are shocked just shocked that so many cases end in plea deals that no sane person would have taken if not for knowing the system was rigged to screw them even more if they tried to fight with both hands tied behind their back.
Stop listening to the headlines about how many cases this tough prosecutor won & demand to know how they won. Are we going to pretend that someone accused of something who at best can expect 5 minutes with a public defender wouldn't take a plea just to avoid the prosecutor piling more charges on for more time? Innocent people can & do confess to crimes they didn't do, a system that claims to be fair and impartial is neither. We've failed to uphold the idea of Justice & we need to change it.
That Anonymous Coward (profile), 6 Jun 2019 @ 2:55pm
How is it with all of the mass surveillance going on, they've never managed to offer any proof of these claims?
They scoop up everything, collect, tag, label it... it should take under an hour to dump something exposing the giant web.
Unless of course somehow they think the leadership deserves different laws... in which case we should demand they all be removed from office. Good enough for us, good enough for them... hell if they knew someone was listening they might have to work out new ways to sell their votes to the highest bidders.
That Anonymous Coward (profile), 6 Jun 2019 @ 2:50pm
" It can't take a "Getting Worse Part 4" to get some real action on this beyond a couple of municipal and state investigations. "
You underestimate how stupid voters are.
They talk a great game about taking care of our Vets, but we fail them on a daily basis.
Oh you are feeling suicidal??
We can have a bed available in 5 months.
You need to travel to our facility on the otherside of the country to have your stump measured, then in 4 months we'll have it ready... of course we know it won't fit by then & you'll just have to do it again.
Dear American Public,
Perhaps it is time to remember your vote should be worth more than corporate donations & use that vote to clean house.
We are paying higher taxes than billionaires, but the promised jobs never appear.
We are at war across the globe defending corporate interests.
We are breaking our word to those who fight & die for us, but our 'brave warriors' in Congress enjoy the best care possible on our dime while refusing to properly care for Veterans, Survivors, Families... here have a benefit for your loss, oh but you can only have 1, but you could assign it to your kids... oh hey your kids are in the top tax bracket now!
Polluted bases, housing that makes the most horrific public housing in the nation look like mansions & the focus on getting the 'right' kinds of unqualified judges into lifetime appointments so we impose our moral demands on everyone with the power of law.
How moral is it to break your promise to those who often give their life in service or once they return because paying a donors company for 100 more vehicles we didn't need matters more.
Fuck Congress, its long past time they learn how it feels to be fucked without lube.
That Anonymous Coward (profile), 5 Jun 2019 @ 2:00pm
Re: Re: Re: Re:
The problem is we reached a point where if you feel it offends you, you have the right to demand it be removed, rather than reply or gasp ignore it.
...you do have a right to demand something be removed if it offends you, though. Nobody has to listen to you, but you've certainly got a right to say that.
The problem is when we reward them demanding it be removed we encourage them to report more things & start down the slippery slope.
Twitter has a feature where you can block idiots & even make sure you never seen a word that offends you... but few people are using it b/c they feel they are winning by reporting other people & getting them a timeout. I use the mute feature but in a way they never intended, I've muted the code that reshuffles my timeline & adds more stupid shit they think I want to see (ProTip: Your analytics don't work on me).
This is a large problem that has only been made worse by trying to not make anyone angry. The system is openly gamed but just in case this one is a real report we have to treat all reports as real.
I think moderation needs to be there, but there are tools and steps along the way that could make it easier. Never show me x word, allow me to ignore people I think are trolls, let me flag something & if enough people agree hide it. Instead they invested more time & effort into their shitty advertising plans & made little effort to connect with their readers.
The problem lies in humanity has assholes & rather than adopting a hardline (no attached images for anyone) they are sure they can stop all the rape gifs, then fail at it, then throw their hands up about how we can't have nice things rather than look at the 'flaws' in their plans that can be exploited.
I would love to see more comment sections where I could talk with authors and others to learn more (oh hey look I actually have an account here) & while it might not work at huge scales, a few simple things make the payoff to the trolls ego negligible. We have our own ZOMG MY SPEECH RIGHTS idiot, and his pay off seems to be getting his posts reported & hidden... he has his own little feedback loop that keeps him erect. He really isn't as important as he imagines & he doesn't get get the impact he imagines. If you stop giving the troll a goatcookie he gets bored.
That Anonymous Coward (profile), 4 Jun 2019 @ 11:30pm
Re: Re:
But rather than invest in asking their users to flag items they just tossed out the idea that people could comment.
Someone can call me a faggot in a reply around here, I will make a witty retort but I don't demand Mike remove it from view forever.
The problem is we reached a point where if you feel it offends you, you have the right to demand it be removed, rather than reply or gasp ignore it.
Comment sections are wonderful things, especially if the author dips in and expands or comments on comments. Thats how Kashmir Hill made the mistake of crossing my path on Forbes, on a story discussing 6 strikes. I knew a bit more than the average person & shared more things about it. Kash moved to other places but occasionally still interacts with me on Twitter.
But I am an outlier, my followers and people I follow run the gauntlet. Righties, Lefties, Sex Workers, Furries, InfoSec, Techdirt Staff, & more.
I don't melt down when I see a forbidden word, I don't feel the need to lecture them about why its a bad word because that just is a waste today, instead I point out they are smarter than that and I expect much better insults from them. I don't demand they adopt my view of things, they don't demand I change. We debate & discuss and sometimes we find out we agree on some parts of things but not others... but then I've always enjoyed the lets see where we align & work from there mindset.
That Anonymous Coward (profile), 4 Jun 2019 @ 3:35pm
Part of the other reasons they closed comment sections is really simple, they lacked the time/effort/will to deal with the growing demands from all sides to remove the comments that offended them. There are people who seem to have an inability to offer a counterpoint & engage in debate, instead they appoint themselves a crusader to protect everyone else from being offended & scream about their pet injustices.
Look at the minefields Twitter and FB have become, is it bad is it good is it evil is it offensive... followed by 100's of people demanding the entire world be changed so they never are offended. For media sites it was much better to believe they should pivot to video b/c some tech company told them to... which just sort of confirmed that the media sites have leadership who have never been online.
You demanded my email to allow me to comment, then marketed to me.
You added 40 popups, 10 autoplaying videos, 5 take over screens, & OMG I am the 1,000,000 visitor I got an iPad and you have detected 47 viruses and I shoudl click here to fix it.... then got mad I blocked that shit.
You tripled down on forcing ads, while ignoring you offer up the shittiest ads.
You took away my ability to comment, are shocked I stopped visiting.
Perhaps it is time to look at your leadership & wonder how they are still in power. They keep making stupid decisions that harm your business, then punish the workers while still getting paid top dollar to keep the course right into the iceberg.
That Anonymous Coward (profile), 3 Jun 2019 @ 10:56am
If only we could force Congress & the commissioners to have the same level of service the rest of us 'enjoy'. But they seem to expect having direct lines to people high up up in companies who will do cartwheels to keep them happy is the best way to understand how us common folks live.
That Anonymous Coward (profile), 3 Jun 2019 @ 10:53am
But we don't need any oversight, no looking at possible reforms, all we need is more of these laws so we can stay king of the mountain.
Why compete when you can spend less time & money to just make sure no one else can climb the hill? How much better might things have gotten if they had to compete with an upstart with a better mousetrap?
But Congress believes if they hand it out, it isn't a monopoly. But this has NOTHING to do with the money flowing into their coffers to keep the job they use to screw citizens they are supposed to do the best for.
That Anonymous Coward (profile), 30 May 2019 @ 4:21pm
This boils down to someone online said something mean about us & we imagine a pathway so we can sue the hell out of these rich guys who probably not even aware we exist nor cared until we launched our 22 kajillion dollar lawsuit... b/c the only reason someone said mean things about us was b/c he used that platform & some people connected to a platform acquired a business with competes with us (a 2 owner business without national reach) so its to force us out of business and not just we had an unhappy customer so we need to get paid.
That Anonymous Coward (profile), 30 May 2019 @ 12:25pm
Someday when the aliens finally visit earth, they will find me tending a garden in the middle of a dead world, still smoking from the war.
What happened here?
IP was their greatest asset.
Oh no. We thought they had evolved enough to avoid this fate.
No one ever said the hairless apes were bright, the awarded IP control over how to put peanut butter & jelly on bread to multiple people.
You need a ride somewhere?
Nah I'm waiting for the next species to evolve & see if they decide imaginary things trump life itself. I'm immortal I have time, come visit again in a while. I'll be here.
That Anonymous Coward (profile), 30 May 2019 @ 12:19pm
I had a CI tell me they bought drugs there, thats PC.
Murdered man & woman, yet the force tried to protect this case until it came out how crooked the cops were.
I had heard he liked to hide the drugs in his butt, thats PC.
Multiple medical exams of his butt, enemas, & finally a colonoscopy when no drugs were found at any point.
My training & experience tells me that a car that is clean/dirty/changes lanes/drives the speed limit/has 1,2,3,4 occupants is PC for drug dealing.
My training & experience tells me if I find money in a car, its the proceeds of drug dealing so I have PC to steal it.
My training & experience tells me that this asshole pissed me off and thats PC so I can throw him in the paddy wagon and take him for a rough ride.
Dear SCOTUS - GFY. They murder, they rape, they violate our alleged rights but the magic of 'qualified immunity' says no one ever told a cop not to wear a red condom when raping a child so immunity for him... and now if you dare to say something the cop dislikes suddenly the magic of PC means a cop already willing to violate the law in front of witnesses can disappear those witnesses. What in the actual fuck is wrong with you people?
On the post: Virginia Prosecutor 'Reform' Efforts Include Nailing Sexting Teens With Child Porn Charges And Screwing Defense Lawyers
So many prosecutors go all out on these cases most of us would think were nothing, if we knew all the details. But the details are hidden and the media talks about the evil scourge of teens seeing a boob or other naughtybits & how its a slipper slope to them grabbing grannie of the street & raping her.
For fun, it would be nice to see a group look at who is being prosecuted. I'm fairly sure we will find those with the power to put up a fight aren't facing a possible 32 billion years in jail in their cases, if they are even brought, and that low level 'crimes' are treated like the crime of the century with all sorts of headlines & how they could face 32 billion years if they don't take the deal.
We like to see them doing something, but we lack the attention span to look at what that something is.
Teens sexting - SEX OFFENDER!!!!
Driving to fast/to slow/car to clean/car to dirty - DRUG DEALERS!!!! Take all the property.
We demanded laws to 'fix' the current panic of the moment & consider it fixed... until our kid is caught selling his buddy a joint & the state takes the whole house.
We refuse to pay public defenders for a decent defense & then we pretend we are shocked just shocked that so many cases end in plea deals that no sane person would have taken if not for knowing the system was rigged to screw them even more if they tried to fight with both hands tied behind their back.
Stop listening to the headlines about how many cases this tough prosecutor won & demand to know how they won. Are we going to pretend that someone accused of something who at best can expect 5 minutes with a public defender wouldn't take a plea just to avoid the prosecutor piling more charges on for more time? Innocent people can & do confess to crimes they didn't do, a system that claims to be fair and impartial is neither. We've failed to uphold the idea of Justice & we need to change it.
On the post: AG William Barr Doesn't Want The Government Spying On The President But Thinks It's OK If It Spies On Everyone Else
How is it with all of the mass surveillance going on, they've never managed to offer any proof of these claims?
They scoop up everything, collect, tag, label it... it should take under an hour to dump something exposing the giant web.
Unless of course somehow they think the leadership deserves different laws... in which case we should demand they all be removed from office. Good enough for us, good enough for them... hell if they knew someone was listening they might have to work out new ways to sell their votes to the highest bidders.
On the post: Getting Worse Part 3: TurboTax Wrapped Its Veterans Site In The American Flag And Then Tricked Soldiers Into Paying
" It can't take a "Getting Worse Part 4" to get some real action on this beyond a couple of municipal and state investigations. "
You underestimate how stupid voters are.
They talk a great game about taking care of our Vets, but we fail them on a daily basis.
Oh you are feeling suicidal??
We can have a bed available in 5 months.
You need to travel to our facility on the otherside of the country to have your stump measured, then in 4 months we'll have it ready... of course we know it won't fit by then & you'll just have to do it again.
Dear American Public,
Perhaps it is time to remember your vote should be worth more than corporate donations & use that vote to clean house.
We are paying higher taxes than billionaires, but the promised jobs never appear.
We are at war across the globe defending corporate interests.
We are breaking our word to those who fight & die for us, but our 'brave warriors' in Congress enjoy the best care possible on our dime while refusing to properly care for Veterans, Survivors, Families... here have a benefit for your loss, oh but you can only have 1, but you could assign it to your kids... oh hey your kids are in the top tax bracket now!
Polluted bases, housing that makes the most horrific public housing in the nation look like mansions & the focus on getting the 'right' kinds of unqualified judges into lifetime appointments so we impose our moral demands on everyone with the power of law.
How moral is it to break your promise to those who often give their life in service or once they return because paying a donors company for 100 more vehicles we didn't need matters more.
Fuck Congress, its long past time they learn how it feels to be fucked without lube.
On the post: Netflix, Which Has Previously Touted Its Ability To Compete With Piracy, Joins Australian Antipiracy Efforts
TFW the hostage takers turn you to your cause.
That is a nice streaming service you have there, it would be a pity if our membership signed exclusive deals with other services.
On the post: European Court Of Justice Suggests Maybe The Entire Internet Should Be Censored And Filtered
We should censor & filter the EU off the internet.
On the post: Killing News Comments Only Solidified Google, Facebook Dominance
Re: Re: Re: Re:
The problem is we reached a point where if you feel it offends you, you have the right to demand it be removed, rather than reply or gasp ignore it.
...you do have a right to demand something be removed if it offends you, though. Nobody has to listen to you, but you've certainly got a right to say that.
The problem is when we reward them demanding it be removed we encourage them to report more things & start down the slippery slope.
Twitter has a feature where you can block idiots & even make sure you never seen a word that offends you... but few people are using it b/c they feel they are winning by reporting other people & getting them a timeout. I use the mute feature but in a way they never intended, I've muted the code that reshuffles my timeline & adds more stupid shit they think I want to see (ProTip: Your analytics don't work on me).
This is a large problem that has only been made worse by trying to not make anyone angry. The system is openly gamed but just in case this one is a real report we have to treat all reports as real.
I think moderation needs to be there, but there are tools and steps along the way that could make it easier. Never show me x word, allow me to ignore people I think are trolls, let me flag something & if enough people agree hide it. Instead they invested more time & effort into their shitty advertising plans & made little effort to connect with their readers.
The problem lies in humanity has assholes & rather than adopting a hardline (no attached images for anyone) they are sure they can stop all the rape gifs, then fail at it, then throw their hands up about how we can't have nice things rather than look at the 'flaws' in their plans that can be exploited.
I would love to see more comment sections where I could talk with authors and others to learn more (oh hey look I actually have an account here) & while it might not work at huge scales, a few simple things make the payoff to the trolls ego negligible. We have our own ZOMG MY SPEECH RIGHTS idiot, and his pay off seems to be getting his posts reported & hidden... he has his own little feedback loop that keeps him erect. He really isn't as important as he imagines & he doesn't get get the impact he imagines. If you stop giving the troll a goatcookie he gets bored.
On the post: Killing News Comments Only Solidified Google, Facebook Dominance
Re: Re:
But rather than invest in asking their users to flag items they just tossed out the idea that people could comment.
Someone can call me a faggot in a reply around here, I will make a witty retort but I don't demand Mike remove it from view forever.
The problem is we reached a point where if you feel it offends you, you have the right to demand it be removed, rather than reply or gasp ignore it.
Comment sections are wonderful things, especially if the author dips in and expands or comments on comments. Thats how Kashmir Hill made the mistake of crossing my path on Forbes, on a story discussing 6 strikes. I knew a bit more than the average person & shared more things about it. Kash moved to other places but occasionally still interacts with me on Twitter.
But I am an outlier, my followers and people I follow run the gauntlet. Righties, Lefties, Sex Workers, Furries, InfoSec, Techdirt Staff, & more.
I don't melt down when I see a forbidden word, I don't feel the need to lecture them about why its a bad word because that just is a waste today, instead I point out they are smarter than that and I expect much better insults from them. I don't demand they adopt my view of things, they don't demand I change. We debate & discuss and sometimes we find out we agree on some parts of things but not others... but then I've always enjoyed the lets see where we align & work from there mindset.
On the post: New Study Shows That All This Ad Targeting Doesn't Work That Well
But our new cryto blockchained based ad serving system will totes make people flock to your company!!!
On the post: If 'Big Tech' Is a Huge Antitrust Problem, Why Are We Ignoring Telecom?
Because the internet is just a fad & those nice Telco donation checks always clear.
On the post: Killing News Comments Only Solidified Google, Facebook Dominance
Part of the other reasons they closed comment sections is really simple, they lacked the time/effort/will to deal with the growing demands from all sides to remove the comments that offended them. There are people who seem to have an inability to offer a counterpoint & engage in debate, instead they appoint themselves a crusader to protect everyone else from being offended & scream about their pet injustices.
Look at the minefields Twitter and FB have become, is it bad is it good is it evil is it offensive... followed by 100's of people demanding the entire world be changed so they never are offended. For media sites it was much better to believe they should pivot to video b/c some tech company told them to... which just sort of confirmed that the media sites have leadership who have never been online.
You demanded my email to allow me to comment, then marketed to me.
You added 40 popups, 10 autoplaying videos, 5 take over screens, & OMG I am the 1,000,000 visitor I got an iPad and you have detected 47 viruses and I shoudl click here to fix it.... then got mad I blocked that shit.
You tripled down on forcing ads, while ignoring you offer up the shittiest ads.
You took away my ability to comment, are shocked I stopped visiting.
Perhaps it is time to look at your leadership & wonder how they are still in power. They keep making stupid decisions that harm your business, then punish the workers while still getting paid top dollar to keep the course right into the iceberg.
On the post: Killing News Comments Only Solidified Google, Facebook Dominance
Re: Re: Re: Techdirt Community
I know, and so many people confuse him with me.
On the post: Sheriff's Deputy Sued After Arresting Man For Criticizing Him On Facebook
Never criticize your betters.... or else.
On the post: FCC Broadband Report: What Broadband Competition Problem?
If only we could force Congress & the commissioners to have the same level of service the rest of us 'enjoy'. But they seem to expect having direct lines to people high up up in companies who will do cartwheels to keep them happy is the best way to understand how us common folks live.
On the post: Qualcomm Used Patent Monopolies To Shake Down The Entire Mobile Phone Industry For Decades
But we don't need any oversight, no looking at possible reforms, all we need is more of these laws so we can stay king of the mountain.
Why compete when you can spend less time & money to just make sure no one else can climb the hill? How much better might things have gotten if they had to compete with an upstart with a better mousetrap?
But Congress believes if they hand it out, it isn't a monopoly. But this has NOTHING to do with the money flowing into their coffers to keep the job they use to screw citizens they are supposed to do the best for.
On the post: San Francisco Police Union Steps Up To Criticize Police Chief Over His Handling Of The Leak Investigation
Ok I will concede the point, it wasn't a slow slide into it... it was a rocket ride into the totalitarian state.
On the post: Why Is The US Government Letting Big Pharma Charge Insane Prices On Patents The US Owns?
Re: Re:
The cash value has already been set & the answer given...
On the post: Why Is The US Government Letting Big Pharma Charge Insane Prices On Patents The US Owns?
What is, Because we elect the corrupt? Alex.
On the post: Libel Lawsuit Has A Bunch Of Crazy Ideas About How Section 230 Immunity Works
This boils down to someone online said something mean about us & we imagine a pathway so we can sue the hell out of these rich guys who probably not even aware we exist nor cared until we launched our 22 kajillion dollar lawsuit... b/c the only reason someone said mean things about us was b/c he used that platform & some people connected to a platform acquired a business with competes with us (a 2 owner business without national reach) so its to force us out of business and not just we had an unhappy customer so we need to get paid.
On the post: Once Again, China Is About To Use The US's Obsession With 'Intellectual Property' Against Us
Someday when the aliens finally visit earth, they will find me tending a garden in the middle of a dead world, still smoking from the war.
What happened here?
IP was their greatest asset.
Oh no. We thought they had evolved enough to avoid this fate.
No one ever said the hairless apes were bright, the awarded IP control over how to put peanut butter & jelly on bread to multiple people.
You need a ride somewhere?
Nah I'm waiting for the next species to evolve & see if they decide imaginary things trump life itself. I'm immortal I have time, come visit again in a while. I'll be here.
On the post: Supreme Court OKs Retaliatory Arrests For Engaging In Protected Speech
I had a CI tell me they bought drugs there, thats PC.
I had heard he liked to hide the drugs in his butt, thats PC.
My training & experience tells me that a car that is clean/dirty/changes lanes/drives the speed limit/has 1,2,3,4 occupants is PC for drug dealing.
My training & experience tells me if I find money in a car, its the proceeds of drug dealing so I have PC to steal it.
My training & experience tells me that this asshole pissed me off and thats PC so I can throw him in the paddy wagon and take him for a rough ride.
Dear SCOTUS - GFY. They murder, they rape, they violate our alleged rights but the magic of 'qualified immunity' says no one ever told a cop not to wear a red condom when raping a child so immunity for him... and now if you dare to say something the cop dislikes suddenly the magic of PC means a cop already willing to violate the law in front of witnesses can disappear those witnesses. What in the actual fuck is wrong with you people?
Next >>