This is a situation where I think this might actually be a good idea. Political speech is supposedly exempt from Libel/Slander laws (or am I wrong about that?) but if you remove that exemption that might remove all of the smear campaigns. Tho I'm sure there is some unintended consequences I haven't thought of. I would like to see Scarborough sue Trump. Or MSNBC, but I doubt their corporate overlords at Comcast would go for it. Being accused of murder with no basis sounds like libel to me and should be easily provable.
I think when Twitter said 'check the facts' and linked to CNN, that was just throwing red meat at the Orange One. They should've linked to a neutral site for the facts check. I haven't heard Snopes being labeled for either side and a lot of people would respect their take on an issue. Snopes needs money and Twitter has gobs of it. Seems like a win-win.
I was about to say about the same, but you beat me to it and said it better than I would have.
Regarding the inclusion of 'news media' in that group, I wonder who he thinks is censoring speech on that front? Could it be Fox News, Sinclair Broadcasting, or One America News Network?
I'm soooooo glad I am not forced to go with Spectrum as an ISP.
It's laughable how ridiculous their commercials are - how they are just the best possible provider out there. When in reality, most of us only have a choice between a wired or wireless provider. So why bother with all the advertising?
I'm lucky we have access to a wireless provider, microwave not satellite, with a decent rate and no cap. Hardly any issues with them at all.
According to the article the machines are the same, have the same software, but don't have the same features enabled. The firmware update would just enable those existing features. I don't see that there is the problem that you are seeing.
There is an article that a group centered at MIT was developing a ventilator that would cost ~$500 compared to the $30K the big manufacturers are charging. It started as a class in Medical Device Design a decade ago, and when this crisis hit this new group went back to that design (which was just a proof of concept with no testing done) and are refining it and testing to get FDA approval. You can read the article at http://news.mit.edu/2020/ventilator-covid-deployment-open-source-low-cost-0326
I don't remember if the DOD was involved in Stuxnet or not, but surely they've heard of it.
How do we/they know that the systems aren't already compromised by hidden backdoors waiting for the right time to be activated and disable the system or use it to attack us?
Point taken, but 480 amendments seems like an exorbitant number. Every change in state law shouldn't be a constitutional amendment. But I guess that was the point of the article.
Where some other commenters were saying that is what democracy is all about, special interests are using this process for 'special' purposes, and hiding those purposes from the public that can't be bothered to read beyond the Facebook feed tailored to fit their existing viewpoint.
This is, IMO, a huge problem in California. The state constitution has been amended over 480 times, compared to 27 times for the US Constitution which is about 100 years older. So many of the initiatives are purposely written to be misleading as to what there actual intent is, which means most of the time deciding what to vote for is trying to decipher a different language. And trying to find out who is funding the initiative usually doesn't give you any help either. If the people we elected were actually there to work for us, instead of their large donors, and there main goal wasn't just to get elected again, we would be a lot better off.
So the states sue Lenovo for this breach that affects consumers, Lenovo pays off the states, but does that $$$ go to the consumers who are affected? Of course not! The states are just running a racket to take money from companies and says 'Don't do that anymore!', but the companies are just going to raise there prices or cut quality on their products to make up the difference. The consumers get screwed on both ends. We essentially are the employers of both sides - (purchases keep the companies in business, and the government works for us, right?) but were the only employers who regularly get screwed by their employees!
Mike, I know this is off topic to this article, but I don't see a way to contact TechDirt other than twitter, so I am jumping in here. I guess I could find away to connect some dots, but I won't bother.
I just read about Sinclair Broadcasting Group on another site and wondered about your take on the subject. I thought you had wrote about Sinclair, but I did a search and didn't find anything.
It might sound like Chicken Little but one could argue that this is one of the biggest threats to our country out there. I won't go into the details, read the link, but one company monopolizing the media/news outlets of the country scares the hell out of me.
Have you written about Sinclair? What are your thoughts?
On the post: When The Problem Isn't Twitter But President Trump
"We're going to loosen the libel laws"
This is a situation where I think this might actually be a good idea. Political speech is supposedly exempt from Libel/Slander laws (or am I wrong about that?) but if you remove that exemption that might remove all of the smear campaigns. Tho I'm sure there is some unintended consequences I haven't thought of. I would like to see Scarborough sue Trump. Or MSNBC, but I doubt their corporate overlords at Comcast would go for it. Being accused of murder with no basis sounds like libel to me and should be easily provable.
I think when Twitter said 'check the facts' and linked to CNN, that was just throwing red meat at the Orange One. They should've linked to a neutral site for the facts check. I haven't heard Snopes being labeled for either side and a lot of people would respect their take on an issue. Snopes needs money and Twitter has gobs of it. Seems like a win-win.
On the post: One Of The Few Government Officials Who Actually Can 'Police Speech' Whines Ridiculously About Facebook's Oversight Board
Re:
I was about to say about the same, but you beat me to it and said it better than I would have.
Regarding the inclusion of 'news media' in that group, I wonder who he thinks is censoring speech on that front? Could it be Fox News, Sinclair Broadcasting, or One America News Network?
On the post: NY AG Opens Inquiry After Charter Spectrum Bungles Its Coronavirus Response
Spectrum is Laughable
I'm soooooo glad I am not forced to go with Spectrum as an ISP.
It's laughable how ridiculous their commercials are - how they are just the best possible provider out there. When in reality, most of us only have a choice between a wired or wireless provider. So why bother with all the advertising?
I'm lucky we have access to a wireless provider, microwave not satellite, with a decent rate and no cap. Hardly any issues with them at all.
On the post: Over-The-Air Updates Could Turn Millions Of Inexpensive Devices Into Much-Needed Ventilators To Treat Seriously-Ill COVID-19 Patients -- If Manufacturer Helps
Re: Over-the-air updates? Are you NUTS?!
According to the article the machines are the same, have the same software, but don't have the same features enabled. The firmware update would just enable those existing features. I don't see that there is the problem that you are seeing.
On the post: The Supreme Court Is Being Asked To End Questionable CFAA Prosecutions
I must not understand this
"The Appeals Court tossed out the honest services fraud charge but left the CFAA conviction intact."
This can't mean that taking money to do something for somebody that (and he knew doing so was “wrong”) is legal. Can it?
On the post: FCC Still Doesn't Know Where Broadband Is As It Eyes $9 Billion In New Subsidies
Swamp
If only somebody could get elected who would promise to end the swampy nature of the federal government.
On the post: Manufacturers Refuse To Allow Hospitals To Fix Ventilators That Are The Last Hope For Many COVID-19 Patients
Building Ventilators
There is an article that a group centered at MIT was developing a ventilator that would cost ~$500 compared to the $30K the big manufacturers are charging. It started as a class in Medical Device Design a decade ago, and when this crisis hit this new group went back to that design (which was just a proof of concept with no testing done) and are refining it and testing to get FDA approval. You can read the article at http://news.mit.edu/2020/ventilator-covid-deployment-open-source-low-cost-0326
On the post: Cool Cool Cool Oversight Office Says It's Incredibly Easy To Hack The Defense Dept.'s Weapons Systems
Does anybody remember Stuxnet?
How do we/they know that the systems aren't already compromised by hidden backdoors waiting for the right time to be activated and disable the system or use it to attack us?
On the post: Cool Cool Cool Oversight Office Says It's Incredibly Easy To Hack The Defense Dept.'s Weapons Systems
Does anybody remember Stuxnet?
On the post: Cool Cool Cool Oversight Office Says It's Incredibly Easy To Hack The Defense Dept.'s Weapons Systems
Re: Top men, Top men.
More likely Moscow, Tehran, Peking, North Korea, etc.
On the post: What Soda Taxes And Lead Paint Have To Do With Internet Regulation
Re: Re:
Where some other commenters were saying that is what democracy is all about, special interests are using this process for 'special' purposes, and hiding those purposes from the public that can't be bothered to read beyond the Facebook feed tailored to fit their existing viewpoint.
On the post: What Soda Taxes And Lead Paint Have To Do With Internet Regulation
This is, IMO, a huge problem in California. The state constitution has been amended over 480 times, compared to 27 times for the US Constitution which is about 100 years older. So many of the initiatives are purposely written to be misleading as to what there actual intent is, which means most of the time deciding what to vote for is trying to decipher a different language. And trying to find out who is funding the initiative usually doesn't give you any help either. If the people we elected were actually there to work for us, instead of their large donors, and there main goal wasn't just to get elected again, we would be a lot better off.
On the post: The $3.5 Million Check Comes Due for Lenovo And Its Security-Compromising Superfish Adware
Show me the MONEY!
On the post: How Congress' Attempt To Break CDA230 Could Kill Airbnb
Off topic question
Mike, I know this is off topic to this article, but I don't see a way to contact TechDirt other than twitter, so I am jumping in here. I guess I could find away to connect some dots, but I won't bother.
http://www.theroot.com/trumps-favorite-news-outlet-is-not-who-you-think-and-1797479368
I just read about Sinclair Broadcasting Group on another site and wondered about your take on the subject. I thought you had wrote about Sinclair, but I did a search and didn't find anything.
It might sound like Chicken Little but one could argue that this is one of the biggest threats to our country out there. I won't go into the details, read the link, but one company monopolizing the media/news outlets of the country scares the hell out of me.
Have you written about Sinclair? What are your thoughts?
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