Danny’s Comments

• Aug 18th, 2016 @ 3:46pm

  Re: Cuba

  on PayPal Stops A Payment Just Because The Payee's Memo Included The Word 'Cuba'
  I have a son named Cuba. Complications for him is the first thing I thought of.
• Aug 18th, 2016 @ 3:46pm

  Re: Cuba

  on PayPal Stops A Payment Just Because The Payee's Memo Included The Word 'Cuba'
  I have a son named Cuba. Complications for him is the first thing I thought of.
• Dec 10th, 2015 @ 11:27am

  Not a huge fan

  on Disney Sending Out DMCA Notices Over Pictures Fans Took Of Their Legally Purchased Star Wars Toy
  Since this commenting system doesn't permit me to insert images, I made my political and satirical response my profile image.
• Apr 2nd, 2015 @ 3:16pm

  a Victorian attitude toward the Internet (as Danny Mittleman)

  on The Internet Never Ends: You Can Deny That Or Embrace It
  I've been a great admirer of Tom Standage for a number of years--and highly recommend his book _The Victorian Internet_ that describes parallels between the head-in-the-ground reactions to the invention and growth of the telegraph during the mid-19th century to that of the Internet in the late 20th century.
  
  I have to think Standage recognizes the dissonance of his remarks, but finds himself in the role of corporate spokesperson for a magazine whose editors don't quite get the irony yet.
  
  Of course the policies of the Economist only serve to hurt the Economist. (Don't they have an SEO consultant on staff?). And to say "we aren't going to do X because everyone else does X" is bullshit. What they are really saying is "you can get quality elsewhere; our product is for the consumer who doesn't want quality."
  
  That approach never works in the long term.
• Mar 16th, 2015 @ 8:24pm

  Mendoza Line (as Danny Mittleman)

  on Hertz Puts Video Cameras Inside Its Rental Cars, Has 'No Current Plans' To Use Them
  If "New Coke" is the Mendoza Line of marketing stupidity, this is a notch beyond that catastrophe.
  
  I sure hope they can field.
• Sep 8th, 2014 @ 6:51pm

  World's second oldest profession?

  on Former Senator Scott Brown's Staff Sends Larry Lessig A Letter Demanding He Stop Referring To Brown As A 'Lobbyist'
  So Scott Brown can't legally lobby. But he can use his connections to drum up lobbying business for Nixon Peabody.
  
  So that means he is pimping lobbyists.
  
  Perhaps it will clarify things if Lessig explains it this way.
• Aug 27th, 2014 @ 6:28am

  Backups. We don't need no stinkin' backups.

  on Justice Dept. Official: We Could Get Lois Lerner's Emails From Backups, But It's Too Hard So Naaaaaah
  I used to work for a company you all have heard of. (Check my LinkedIn profile if you really care which one.) Back in the day (October 1989) our Bay Area office was destroyed by an earthquake you may also have heard about. Live and backup data within the office was destroyed. The policy at the time (now policy is very different) was not to rely on any local offsite backup facility as that could just as easily be destroyed by a quake. Rather, the office had a deal with a taxi driver to come every evening after daily backups and carry around a copy in the trunk of his cab. Next night he'd be back to swap disk packs and would carry the new copy.
  
  The office recovered from the quake using data from the disk packs in his cab.
  
  As to Tim's post: I'm a Democrat who has supported Obama from early on (though break with him on several issues of TechDirt focus). Despite my general support, I agree with everything Tim wrote--something does not smell right here. They do need to recover those emails no matter what is on them.
• Jul 31st, 2014 @ 9:44am

  This is something

  on NY Port Authority Claims To Own The NYC Skyline: Tells Store To Destroy Skyline-Themed Plates
  The phrase "if you see something, say something" should be borrowed by the community on the lookout for over-zealous IP ownership claims and become a standard tool of the trade.
• Jun 18th, 2014 @ 10:09am

  Facebook

  on Court Says Feds Violated 4th Amendment By Holding Onto Suspect's Computer Data Too Long
  Jurors aren't supposed to friend other jurors on Facebook? What's the logic behind that?
• May 1st, 2014 @ 7:56pm

  This remark is just ignorant

  on The Supreme Court's Real Technology Problem: It Thinks Carrying 2 Phones Means You're A Drug Dealer

  "So when Chief Justice Roberts suggests that a person carrying two cell phones might reasonably be suspected of dealing drugs..."

  
  
  My wife carries two cell phones: a personal one with a number she's had as long as I've known her; and a Blackberry her employer provided and requires she carry.
  
  Her employer? The US Federal Government.
• Feb 25th, 2014 @ 8:18am

  Suspension of the rules

  on Rep. Goodlatte Slips Secret Change Into Phone Unlocking Bill That Opens The DMCA Up For Wider Abuse
  If I remember correctly from time I worked in the House, bills scheduled on the suspension calendar are unamendable on the House floor.
• Dec 18th, 2013 @ 9:39am

  Missed the Target

  on Upset About Beyonce Going Digital, Target Refuses To Stock New Album
  I had no idea Target sells CDs. I guess it makes sense they do, though.
  
  But so what they don't carry this one; so much easier to pre-order from Amazon anyway and just have it show up at my door.
• Dec 6th, 2013 @ 7:27am

  Re:

  on US Spy Satellite Logo Not At All Subtle: Octopus Enveloping The Earth
  CHAOS is probably the better name.
• Aug 10th, 2013 @ 2:29pm

  Re:

  on Jennifer Hoelzer's Insider's View Of The Administration's Response To NSA Surveillance Leaks
  Yes. Just as they did with the investment banking sector.
• Jul 29th, 2013 @ 11:56am

  Correlation

  on All About The Money: Reps Who Voted For NSA Surveillance Received 2X As Much Money From Defense Industry
  As Mike pointed out, this is correlation, not causation. And it is not at all unusual that Representatives vote more or less aligned with the lobbies that support them: most all representatives and all lobbies.
  
  The system may be broken, but there isn't anything sinister beyond that going on here.
• Jul 29th, 2013 @ 11:50am

  Re: Treason

  on Feds Say It's Classified Info To Say Who We're At War With
  I logged in to say this as well.
  
  I have been an Obama voter and fan all along, so it is completely beyond me to understand how he has ended up in charge of this Kafkaesque government we seem to currently have.
• Jul 11th, 2013 @ 11:40am

  Sometimes it's a fine line between the two...

  on Congresswoman Claims 'Fair Use' And 'Transparency' Are Just 'Buzz Terms'
  Staffer? I think it more likely this was drafted by a lobbyist.
• Jun 3rd, 2013 @ 1:44pm

  Re:

  on New Filing Presents Evidence That John Steele Uploaded Videos To BitTorrent Himself
  Two things, Mr. Coward,
  
  1. In this case the IP addresses are being triangulated with significant additional information; and
  2. The security expert (Neville) was careful to note that one can't say for sure the user was John Steele; rather that it was someone who had access to his accounts (several of which were accessed from the same IP address.)
• Apr 19th, 2013 @ 6:40pm

  Comment from the Irony Department

  on You've Got (No) Mail! Major Law Firm Blocks Employee Email Access
  I note the "Overreaction Department" tag line on the post.
  
  The firm is taking very reasonable steps to protect their data (and their clients' data). Agreed the security risk is the employee, not the technology. But they rightly recognize that no amount of training will completely eliminate employees mistakes, especially since the scammers keep inventing new ruses.
  
  And the firm is taking the reasonable step of mounting a new network outside their firewall to support employee access to personal accounts. So the firm isn't trying to wall off access completely during the workday, an action that would be problematic on several dimensions.
  
  I'd say the overreaction here is on the part of our poster, not on the part of the law firm.
• Apr 17th, 2013 @ 3:56pm

  Two other disadvantages of separate leg bookings

  on Flight Search Engines And The Multi-City Ripoff
  Not only does one lose out on the airline looking out for you with delayed flights (as was mentioned on Twitter to Mike), but I suspect there are a few other losses as well.
  
  1. If you do have to re-book do to missed flights or change of plans, you would get hit with a separate change fee for each leg.
  
  2. My recollection from doing the separate leg thing in the past we that I couldn't get them to check my bags all the way through.
  
  I was separately buying legs of a contiguous trip. Mike seems to be buying legs with stopovers, so this constraint wouldn't apply to him.

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