mistercynical’s Comments

• Oct 27th, 2016 @ 4:01am

  Christmas

  on Car-Freshener Wields Little Trees Trademark To Bankrupt Non Profit That Helped Ex-Cons And Recovering Addicts
  No Virginia, we can't have a Christmas tree this year. The Grinch has a trademark on things that are shaped like Christmas trees and have an odor.
• Apr 21st, 2016 @ 8:45am

  warning, this does not compute

  on News Corp. Claims Google News Is An Antitrust Violation In Europe
  Mike, you've got to stop. Trying to parse comments from Thomson is going to make my head explode or at a minimum set my hair on fire.
• Apr 20th, 2016 @ 5:57am

  Re: Who are they?

  on Authors Guild Petulantly Whines About How Wrong It Is That The Public Will Benefit From Google Books
  I too read quite a bit and don't recognize the vast majority of these authors. Because they are dead set against me being able to learn about their books, I feel that it is only fair that whenever I am looking to purchase a book I check the list of members of the Authors Guild to ensure that I don't inadvertently purchase one of their books and give them even more money to fight fair use.
• Apr 16th, 2016 @ 4:46am

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  on Elizabeth Warren Introduces Bill To Make Tax Season Return-Free
  Let us know how the audit turns out.
• Apr 5th, 2016 @ 10:28am

  Re:

  on You Don't Actually Own What You Buy Volume 2,203: Google Bricking Revolv Smart Home Hardware
  How long? As long as there's a sucker born every minute.
• Mar 4th, 2016 @ 2:19am

  (untitled comment)

  on Techdirt Reading List: More Crypto Books
  David Kahn "The Codebreakers". I bought the first edition of this book when I was in tech school for the then Air Force Security Service in about 1967. I only knew about it because we were told if anybody asked about the book to say "no comment" (NSA: Never Say Anything). There is a new edition which is also insanely expensive. This is the best overall history of cryptography in general but I don't know how up to date the latest edition is on computer cryptography. Find a used copy of the first edition for the general history. You won't regret it.
• Feb 5th, 2016 @ 10:05am

  (untitled comment)

  on It's 2016 And The EU Is Just Now Getting Ready To Decide If Hyperlinking Is Legal
  "Hopefully, the EU Court of Justice recognizes the ridiculousness that would result from such a ruling...". Given many recent rulings regarding copyright and intellectual property, I feel that hope is, well, ridiculous.
• Jan 19th, 2016 @ 12:25pm

  (untitled comment)

  on Hillary Clinton Continues To Say Ridiculous Things About Encryption... Without Ever Taking A Real Position
  Hillary Clinton continues to say ridiculous things about (insert pretty much any topic here).
• Dec 22nd, 2015 @ 5:20am

  Re: Re: The biggest issue...

  on Hillary Clinton Wants A 'Manhattan Project' For Encryption... But Not A Back Door. That Makes No Sense
  "Ay, there's the rub"
• Dec 9th, 2015 @ 11:17am

  (untitled comment)

  on Senator Feinstein Brings Back Horrible Bill Forcing Internet Companies To Report On Your 'Suspicious' Behavior
  Explaining something to her is like me explaining to my dog why it is a bad idea to crap in the floor. He wags his tail and just goes on doing what he is doing. Of course, he is a lot cuter than Dianne wagging her tail.
• Dec 3rd, 2015 @ 7:48am

  Re:

  on Mother Blames Daughter's Suicide On WiFi Allergy
  I have to question an "electronic engineer versed in electronic medical devices" who does not appear to know the difference between ionizing and nonionizing radiation.