paul’s Comments

• Aug 12th, 2015 @ 6:54am

  (untitled comment)

  on Verizon Thinks It's A Good Idea To Mock New Jersey Taxpayers After Ripping Them Off For Years
  These municipalities are missing an opportunity here. Rather than waste time, money, and breath fighting Verizon, they should instead pour those resources into a municipal broadband offering and cut Verizon out of the loop entirely.
• Apr 17th, 2015 @ 7:22am

  What's the opposite of astute?

  on Presidential Hopeful Carly Fiorina Displays Astounding Ignorance In Slamming Net Neutrality
  This kind of keen analysis of the internet ecosystem shows pretty well the reason for her track record at HP.
• Mar 27th, 2015 @ 8:40am

  WOLF!

  on A Growing Chorus Is Trying To Rewrite The History Of Net Neutrality -- And Blame Absolutely Everything On Netflix
  The problem with this strategy in this case is that the folks to whom they are lying have dealt with Comcast, Time Warner, et al., for far too long. Everyone is so used to their ISP lying to them that even if the ISP told the truth (hey, it could happen!) no one would believe them anyway.
• Jan 13th, 2015 @ 9:27am

  One thing we know it's not

  on Hollywood Privately Acknowledges Six Strikes Program Isn't Doing Much, Guaranteeing It Will Get Much Worse
  The MPAA and their ilk must be truly out of touch if they think that anyone in this country can switch ISPs.
• Dec 19th, 2014 @ 9:07am

  Brilliant but evil

  on Hollywood's Secret War On Net Neutrality Is A Key Part Of Its Plan Stop You From Accessing Websites It Doesn't Like
  If only they employed this level of creativity in devising new business models, or, heaven forbid, their movies...
• Mar 6th, 2013 @ 6:20am

  Lost Property

  on What Happens To Drones When They Fall Out Of The Skies?
  I refer the court to the case of "Finders-Keepers v. Losers-Weepers."
  
  Seriously though, isn't this analogous to someone losing control of their car and having it wind up on your lawn? You don't get to take possession of the vehicle (although that would be sweet). Although I do wonder if you can bar someone from trespassing on your property to reclaim it. Any lawyer-folk want to weigh in on that question?
• May 22nd, 2012 @ 7:34am

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Blame Game

  on How Copyright Extension Undermined Copyright: The Copyright Of Parking (Part I)
  If you were right, I could share your car whether you liked it or not.
  
  Leaving aside the physical-vs-imaginary property issue, the closer analogy in this instance is that if I want to share my car with you I can do so whether Volkswagon likes it or not.
• Jun 4th, 2010 @ 5:25am

  They were once amateurs too

  on If Astronomers Can Happily Share The Business With Amateurs, Why Do Some Journalists Get So Upset?
  I think one key difference is that many astronomers have had a life-long love of astronomy. They were studying the heavens long before any thought of doing so professionally even occurred to them. If they lost their jobs, they would still study astronomy. So perhaps they see a certain kindred spirit with the amateurs.
  
  Professional journalism seems to be more focused on the "professional" then the "journalism." Why that's the case I can't say, but the effect is to set up an antagonism between the "professionals" and the "amateurs."
• Mar 12th, 2010 @ 1:42pm

  It's Libel

  on UK Paper Ghost Wrote Blatantly False Facebook Attack Article By 'Child Protection Expert'
  Given the UK's very strict libel laws, should Facebook be suing them?
• Mar 8th, 2010 @ 3:19pm

  It's a language barrier

  on Why You Don't Want Politicians Doing Your Engineering For You
  The whole hearing is of course pointless grandstanding as only Congress can do it. But we also need to remember that lay people understand the concept of "duplicating the problem" a lot differently than those in the engineering fields. This congressperson is not the only one who was thinking that, I can assure you.
  
  His choice of words was not suitable for his audience. Sadly, there ARE people who are not scientists or engineers, and these things need to be explained to them.
• Mar 8th, 2010 @ 7:28am

  Re: Timebomb waiting to fail

  on Ubisoft's 'You Must Be Connected To This Server' Annoying DRM Servers Go Down
  To be fair, who could have predicted that a server might crash?
• Feb 22nd, 2010 @ 10:17am

  Re: Constitutionality?????

  on School Spying Scandal Gets Even More Bizarre: Student In Question Was Disciplined For Eating Candy
  The word "privacy" may not appear, but the concept most certainly does. The Fourth Amendment is pretty clear: "secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects..." If you want to argue that "secure" is not synonymous with "privacy" in this context, you'll need a mighty sharp blade to split that hair.
  
  Moreover, you even contradict your own point: "ven legal wiretappers MUST discontinue listening if the conversation does not pertain to the reason for the wire tap." Why must they? Because there is a right to privacy.