Creative Labs has been (ahem) a bit overeager in their infringement suits for pretty much their entire existence. Before patents, it was sketchy trademark suits.
Just to bring this back around to the earlier discussion about warrant canaries and whether or not the government can compel speech (such as "publicly announce that you didn't receive this warrant.")
The prevailing view is that the government can't do this -- but compelling speech is precisely what it's doing here.
To take an optimistic view: this looks like a desperate action by a group that sees that their plans to usurp governments is getting less likely to succeed. It could be a "hail mary" attempt to get something through before the window of opportunity closes.
I have three children: a twentysomething, an 18 year old, and a 12 year old.
My children are like yours. Not a single one of them is likely to ever subscribe to cable. They don't even watch broadcast TV. Their TV viewing revolves around YouTube and, to a lesser extent, Netflix.
"The community would all be better off if nobody shopped at Wal-Mart, but any particular individual is better off shopping there (or so they believe at least)."
It's a somewhat odd version of the Tragedy of the Commons.
Continuity of identity is very useful, Context is important, and continuity of identity provides additional context.
For example, I have a long enough continuous identity here that I no longer feel as much of a need to include various disclaimers and background to ensure that my comments are interpreted correctly.
Also, there are commenters (not just here, but in every forum) who never add anything of value or substance. It's very nice to be able to spot them by identity and just skip over whatever they're saying. This may be of less value to you if you enjoy reading troll comments, but it's of great value to those of us who don't.
I agree, this seems like a bug that should be fixed. But it's a relatively minor one, since (for example) the fake Whatever and the real Whatever are easily distinguished by the fact that the real Whatever is a registered user.
Indeed, I agree with all of that. Our nation has always had this weird issue where we tend to reward the least important people with adulation and money while treating the most important like dirt.
True enough -- even counting third parties, the available roster is very slim. That said, no matter how large the roster is, the odds are that nobody will be 100% perfect -- so you're trying to select the least imperfect candidate you can under any imaginable system. In that sense, it is almost impossible to do anything but pick the lesser of available evils.
Or I could rephrase it more positively as selecting the candidate who is as perfect as possible. That is logically the same thing.
I actually found a candidate that appears to be good to me (so far, my research isn't complete). As in, I could vote for them without even having to hold my nose. But it's not a candidate put forth by the Dems or Reps.
I'm very, very happy about this. It looks like I'll be able to vote the way voting is intended: for a candidate that I largely (although not completely) agree with! That would be impossible if I were to constrain myself to choosing between Dems and Reps.
Re: Latest Asus Router Firmware May Block 3rd Party Firmware
So don't install that update -- and why would you, if you intend to install your own firmware anyway.
The real issue is not firmware updates. They mean nothing, for obvious reasons. The real issue is buying new devices that have the bad factory firmware preinstalled.
I don't think so. From reading YubiKey's statements, the impression that I get is that they're doing this because they want to sell their product to governments and major corporations, and this is what those guys require.
Yubikey may become "dead" in the minds of individuals who care about their own security, but they may be richer than ever if they start selling to major entities.
On the post: Google Goes On The Offensive Against Troll Armed With Old Mp3 Player Patent
Re:
On the post: Senators Wyden And Paul Introduce SMH Bill To Stop Massive Expansion Of Gov't Computer Hacking
Re: Re: Re: Re:
But even if you're correct, it still seems like a minor bug to me.
On the post: Cable Lobbying Group Claims More Competition Would Hurt Consumers
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Once Again With Feeling: Cord Cutting Is Not A 'Myth'
Re: Would cut, but cannot figure how to
If the latter, then there is a ton of that sort of stuff available direct from content producers both on YouTube and elsewhere.
On the post: Court Says Google Doesn't Have A First Amendment Right To Drop A Site From Its Search Results
Re: Motion to Dismiss
On the post: Court Says Google Doesn't Have A First Amendment Right To Drop A Site From Its Search Results
Compelled speech
The prevailing view is that the government can't do this -- but compelling speech is precisely what it's doing here.
On the post: New Leak Reveals Proposal To Extend Corporate Sovereignty Massively To Include Intra-EU Investments
Re: The most ridiculous part of this is...
On the post: New Leak Reveals Proposal To Extend Corporate Sovereignty Massively To Include Intra-EU Investments
The optimistic view
On the post: Once Again With Feeling: Cord Cutting Is Not A 'Myth'
Re: includes forced subscribers too
On the post: Once Again With Feeling: Cord Cutting Is Not A 'Myth'
Re:
My children are like yours. Not a single one of them is likely to ever subscribe to cable. They don't even watch broadcast TV. Their TV viewing revolves around YouTube and, to a lesser extent, Netflix.
On the post: Cable Lobbying Group Claims More Competition Would Hurt Consumers
Re: Re: Re: Re:
It's a somewhat odd version of the Tragedy of the Commons.
On the post: Senators Wyden And Paul Introduce SMH Bill To Stop Massive Expansion Of Gov't Computer Hacking
Re: Anonimity, Cowardice, and Credibility
For example, I have a long enough continuous identity here that I no longer feel as much of a need to include various disclaimers and background to ensure that my comments are interpreted correctly.
Also, there are commenters (not just here, but in every forum) who never add anything of value or substance. It's very nice to be able to spot them by identity and just skip over whatever they're saying. This may be of less value to you if you enjoy reading troll comments, but it's of great value to those of us who don't.
On the post: Senators Wyden And Paul Introduce SMH Bill To Stop Massive Expansion Of Gov't Computer Hacking
Re: Re:
On the post: Public Outcry Leads Minnesota Politician To Drop Terrible Idea For The PRINCE Act
Re: Great to see MPAA and Techdirt on the same side
On the post: Public Outcry Leads Minnesota Politician To Drop Terrible Idea For The PRINCE Act
Re: Re: Step outside
On the post: Judge: Taking Your Facebook Account Private During Litigation Isn't Exactly 'Preserving Evidence'
Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Why Is Congress Undermining President's Surveillance Oversight Board?
Re: The problem is, you're not voting FOR anyone.
Or I could rephrase it more positively as selecting the candidate who is as perfect as possible. That is logically the same thing.
I actually found a candidate that appears to be good to me (so far, my research isn't complete). As in, I could vote for them without even having to hold my nose. But it's not a candidate put forth by the Dems or Reps.
I'm very, very happy about this. It looks like I'll be able to vote the way voting is intended: for a candidate that I largely (although not completely) agree with! That would be impossible if I were to constrain myself to choosing between Dems and Reps.
On the post: Despite New FCC Rules, Linksys, Asus Say They'll Still Support Third Party Router Firmware
Re: Latest Asus Router Firmware May Block 3rd Party Firmware
The real issue is not firmware updates. They mean nothing, for obvious reasons. The real issue is buying new devices that have the bad factory firmware preinstalled.
On the post: Bad News: Two-Factor Authentication Pioneer YubiKey Drops Open Source PGP For Proprietary Version
Re:
Yubikey may become "dead" in the minds of individuals who care about their own security, but they may be richer than ever if they start selling to major entities.
On the post: German Publishers Whine Because They Must Pay To Authors Misappropriated Copyright Levies
Re:
Whaa?
Whether or not an entity has the money to pay is irrelevant to the question of whether or not they should be forced to pay.
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